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Dublin Core
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Title
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Patterson, Ernie
Gilbert Ernest Patterson
G E Patterson
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Patterson, GE
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-08
2019-01-26
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Warrant Officer Gilbert Ernest Patterson DFM (b. 1922 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 635 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AM: Hang on then.
EP: Can’t we just chat before you start doing that?
AM: Ok Right. Well, we can, we can, but let me just say. Just, ‘cause they need this for the recording in a minute, that my name’s Annie Moody, and I’m here on behalf of the International —
EP: Anne who?
AM: Moody.
EP: Is that what you’re —
AM: No. He’s called Gary Rushbrooke.
EP: That’s right.
GR: She wouldn’t take my name.
AM: I wouldn’t, I’d never change my name, Ernie. And I’m doing the interview for the International Bomber Command Centre, and I’m, today I’m at the house of Ernie Patterson in Darlington, and it is the 8th —
GR: Yeah.
AM: Of October 2015, and you can talk now Ernie, and what I want you to tell me, first of all, is where you were born and what your parents did, and what your background was.
[pause]
AM: See you’re not talking now, come on [laughs].
EP: I was trying to tell you I was born at —
AM: Right. Middleton St George. Tell me about that.
EP: [unclear] Road, Number 19.
AM: Right.
EP: My mum was living with her sister at the time, and she had a baby boy a month after I was born, and we were both christened at the St Lawrence’s Church which is down by Middleton One Row. Right.
AM: Right.
EP: Because — he’s died by the way, two or three years ago. That was where I was born.
AM: Right. And you were telling me that that was right near Middleton St George.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Yeah. Which is now Teesside Airport, but which was a big bomber base.
EP: That was part of my working career. I helped to build which is, which was Middleton St George bomber station, and I also worked and helped to build which is now Newcastle Airport.
AM: Right.
EP: When the RAF took it over.
AM: So, you were born there. Did you have brothers and sisters?
EP: Eh?
AM: Did you have brothers and sisters?
EP: Yeah. I was one of six.
AM: Right.
EP: There’s three of us left.
AM: What did, what did your parents do?
EP: My dad was in the Boer War.
AM: Yeah.
EP: He, not the Boer War, rub that out. He was in the Battle of the Somme.
AM: First World War.
EP: And he was badly, he got badly shot up there.
AM: Right.
EP: ‘Cause I’ve been — can I jump? I left school when I was fourteen. I’ll go from there, eh?
AM: Yeah. Ok.
EP: I left school when I was fourteen, and I decided to serve my time as an apprentice joiner at fourteen, and my pay was twenty seven P a week. True that.
AM: Five and four pence.
EP: Five and ten pence.
AM: Five and ten pence.
EP: In old money.
AM: Yeah.
EP: That was then, and I was, and I was in to the deep end straightaway by putting rooves on with improvers, they were called, and when you got to twenty one in my day, you got the sack, ‘cause they had to double your pay.
AM: Right.
EP: You had to go and work for somebody else. In my working career, I’ve been a joiner all my time, which is why — and I’ve got no City and Guilds, Higher National. Nothing.
AM: So that’s what you did.
EP: Experience. I just seen it happen and I just took it all in. Mind before I built this, I built a few garages for people and that give me the incentive and this — I took it on myself. And I was working twelve hours a day some days to get. It hardly rained.
AM: Yeah. So, at fourteen —
EP: Yeah.
AM: You started off as a joiner.
EP: Apprentice joiner. Yeah.
AM: Yeah.
EP: I was getting — the pay was twenty seven, you know, for forty four hours that.
AM: Blimey.
EP: That’s what it was. Twenty seven P.
AM: Did you enjoy it, Ernie?
EP: I enjoyed every work of my time of my working career.
AM: Right.
EP: And I was never out of work. I left school when I was fourteen and I worked until I was seventy eight, and I had a week off on the sick in all that time. Apart from giving the RAF four years.
AM: Four years. So why the RAF? What made you go for the RAF?
EP: I liked Brylcreem, didn’t I [laughs].
AM: What do you mean you liked Brylcreem?
EP: Well, we used to be the Brylcreem boys, weren’t we?
AM: True
EP: I used to use it, so I had to join the RAF, didn’t I?
AM: There must have been more.
EP: But what annoyed me was, I didn’t get the Defence medal because I was non-operational, such as being in the Home Guard or the Fire Service or anything. Yet I helped to build two big bomber stations. That should have counted, shouldn’t it?
AM: Right.
EP: So, you can check on that for me and get it for me. The Defence medal.
AM: Right.
EP: I was in touch with Gloucester, well you know what I mean, and this is what he came on the phone with. He said, ‘You only had two years’. Well, that was the two years when I was training in the air, how to be aircrew.
AM: Right. So, wheeling back a bit. So, when you, so you joined because you wanted to a Brylcreem boy. I’m not sure I believe that was the whole reason, but it’ll do.
EP: I had black wavy hair. I couldn’t. In the Army, you do a lot of marching don’t you? And in the Navy, I’d be seasick.
AM: Right. So, you decided to join the RAF.
EP: So, I joined the RAF. I was whipped in to the cream.
AM: You were whipped in to the cream. Where did you, where did you did you —
EP: I was deferred for a while. I was nineteen when I was called up.
AM: Right. So, what happened between eighteen and nineteen then, because I thought, weren’t —
EP: I was working in 1941, building bomber stations. Middleton St George and the satellite at Croft.
AM: Right. Tell me what you mean then. You were working there.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Working for whom?
EP: Helped to build, helped to build, working on [pause] such as Teesside there. Twelve flat rooves, you know, pitched rooves.
AM: Right.
EP: It was all shuttering, you know. We had to build —
AM: When you say you were working as a joiner? You hadn’t joined the RAF
EP: I’ve been a joiner all my life.
AM: Right. Got you.
EP: I built this place but I had no experience of brick laying. Just I’d seen them doing it.
AM: Just built it
EP: Built it.
AM: So, so from, so you started off as a joiner at fourteen.
EP: Yeah.
AM: And at eighteen you were working on the airport.
EP: 1941. When the war started in 1939 — I can take you to the pair of bungalows. I was seventeen at the time.
AM: Right.
EP: And I did all the joinery work on this bungalow for a builder who, he was working as a boss on another building firm, but he built these pair of bungalows in Darlington. Woodcrest Road. And I did everything on that, I was only seventeen then. Then when the war — that was in 1939, the day the war started. I can see it as if it was yesterday. They stopped building. You couldn’t get, you couldn’t get material to do building. They needed it for war work, didn’t they?
AM: So, what did you, so what did you do at that point?
EP: I got with a firm that was doing [pause] which is — not Middleton St George. Croft. It was a satellite of Middleton St George. I started work there as a joiner.
AM: As a joiner.
EP: It was a satellite of Middleton St George.
AM: Right.
EP: And then from there, I went to, when I got moved from there, for the same firm to Newcastle. I was lodging in Lady Park Road and it was about five shilling a week bed and breakfast at the time. Five shilling a week.
AM: All still as a joiner.
EP: I’ve never been, done anything else
AM: So, when you actually joined up with the RAF then, how old were you at that point?
EP: That was in September 1942.
AM: Right.
EP: I was nineteen, wasn’t I?
AM: You were nineteen.
EP: Work it out. Yeah.
AM: And where did you go to join up?
EP: I just got called up, didn’t I? I had to go.
AM: Right. Ah, so you got called up.
EP: You had to be registered. I had to go.
AM: But for the RAF.
EP: No, I volunteered for that.
AM: Right. So, you got —
EP: Flying was. Aircrew was voluntary.
AM: So, you got called up but you volunteered for the RAF.
EP: That’s it.
AM: Right. Ok. Got you. So, having volunteered for the RAF what happened then? What was the sequence of events?
EP: It was in the February of 1942. I can always remember. I was, I had to go to Edinburgh on an aircrew selection board.
AM: Right.
EP: And it was there they decided to make me a wireless operator. Because they do you tests and they could see that I could, they send you Morse code, and they’d send you a note or something, and they’d send you something else, and you had to say if they were both the same. That’s how they were testing you. But they found I could take Morse code in.
AM: Right.
EP: And they made me a wireless operator.
AM: Right. So where did you go?
EP: It was on my mum’s birthday. 4th of February 1942.
AM: Right.
EP: And I was accepted into the RAF then but it wasn’t until the September that I was called up, and by then, I was eighteen, nineteen or something.
AM: Right. So, so when you were called up, when did you start doing the training for the wireless operator? Where did you do that?
EP: When I was called up in the September.
AM: Right.
EP: ‘42.
AM: Still — yeah.
EP: Blackpool, wasn’t it?
AM: Was it? Blackpool.
EP: You learned the Morse code in the Winter Gardens. And they were all civilian ex-GPO bloody operators. It was Morse code then, wasn’t it? Telegrams and all that.
AM: So, what was it like then? Going, going to Blackpool.
EP: There was RAF all over. Everywhere, every, every boarding house had RAF in. You could see them at parading and that. And Woolworths, I think it was Woolworths or Marks and Spencer where they kept all your documents. We used to have to do guard duty on, on, I remember they used to say you had to learn something if you were challenged at night by the orderly officers and that, but you were protecting government property. And Burton’s was an aircraft recognition place. All these places were taken over by the RAF.
AM: Yeah.
EP: We used to do PT on the sands and we used to — where else did we go? We got [unclear], known as a pressure chamber, that happened there, but we did a route march to somewhere. Shooting ranges. You did everything in Blackpool. Then from there, I was posted to a place called Madley. This was the RAF now, Madley. I was trained to be a ground wireless op. We learned Morse code as a ground wireless operator. Then from there, I went to Yatesbury and I was trained to be an air wireless operator. Then from there, I was sent up to Evanton, up in Scotland and made an air gunner, which I was never in the turret. That was a waste of time because I was never in the turret. I was a wireless operator all the time.
AM: So, you — but your training was wireless operator, and then you were trained air gunner as well.
EP: I was a wireless operator air gunner.
AM: What was the training like at Yatesbury?
EP: Well, you flew in Proctors. Single aircraft with just a pilot and you, and you got, you got your, you had your transmitter, receiver in front of you. You had to push it back to get in, then pull it over like that., and you were experiencing air sickness and all that weren’t you? Then from Yatesbury, we get — do you want me to keep going?
AM: Yeah.
EP: Then from Yatesbury, we went to Abingdon.
AM: Yeah. You’re all over the country, criss crossing the country.
EP: Not Yatesbury. After Evanton, up in Scotland, I was a fully-fledged sergeant there. I got my brevet and then from there, I was sent to a place called Milham. Have you heard of Milham? It was an Advanced Navigator’s Flying Unit, and we flew with scrubbed navigators and wireless operators in Ansons. And from there, we were all sent to Abingdon but we all — pilots, all the —
AM: Right. So —
EP: In this big hangar.
AM: So, Abingdon is the Operational Training Unit where you crewed up.
EP: Where we crewed up.
AM: Tell me about crewing up.
EP: Well, they never said, ‘You’re flying with him’, and, ‘You’re flying with him’, you picked your own crew in there didn’t you?
AM: So how did it happen for you then? Who picked who?
EP: Well, someone just comes. I don’t know who picked me, but this I always remember, he was Jack Harold. He was a pilot and he was about a couple of years older than me at the time. What would he be? He’d be about twenty two and I was twenty, and it was just a matter of you just got together. I can’t remember how it happened, but from there, we flew down as a crew to this satellite of Abingdon, which was called Stanton Harcourt.
AM: So, who, who were the crew at that point? How many of you?
EP: There was seven of us then
AM: Were there a full seven of you?
EP: Seven of us.
AM: Right. Ok.
EP: Do you want me to give you the names?
AM: Yeah. Go on.
EP: Well, there was the pilot, that was Jack Harold which — he’s dead now. Jack Garland, the navigator. Lofty Thompson was the second navigator. Ernie Patterson, me, was the wireless operator. Snowdon was the mid-upper gunner and George Sindall was the rear gunner. And Alan Purdy was the flight engineer.
AM: Right.
EP: How about that from memory.
AM: Well done.
EP: And we trained at Acaster Malbis.
AM: Yeah.
EP: And it was there where Lady Luck was on our side for the very first time. We were sat waiting for this Whitley to come back. Is that? I think, let’s get this right first, but we were fired on the first time, we’d been flying in the daytime in this Whitley, and for some reason, we were flying in the same aircraft on the night cross-country run, and we had this crop who had an instructor pilot and an instructor wireless operator and for some reason, they changed the aircraft. The instructors wanted to fly, you know, we changed aircraft for some reason. They crashed and they were all killed. That was the first time when Lady Luck was on our side. And the second time, the second time we had that Lady — the second time, we were waiting for this Halifax to come back at Stanton Harcourt. It was doing two engine overshoots and that, and they crashed and they were all killed. Lady Luck was on our — and we were waiting for that aircraft. We were sat outside waiting for it to come back so that we could take it over, but it had engine trouble and they crashed.
AM: And this is all while you were all just doing your training.
EP: That was while we were doing — there was about nine thousand killed training.
AM: Yeah.
EP: But let me think. So, when we went on to a squadron, the pilot, you see after, we ended up at Rufforth flying Halifaxes from Whitleys. But this was Whitleys at Stanton Harcourt. But we ended up — but the next one was Rufforth near York, in the York area, and when we graduated, we’ had about forty hours on Halifaxes. We had the chance to go on to Main Force, which was 10 Group which was Melbourne or 635 Squadron, see. So, we plumped for the Pathfinder squadron.
AM: Right.
EP: And we went there for the Path. We were there a month before we did any, any op, and training all the time. And all this time we had this aircraft we were given for pre-flight training in and went to do a DI on it. Daily Inspection.
AM: Ok.
EP: And across, I did a crow flies. I walked towards the plate to it and I found this horseshoe. Threw it over me shoulder like that. I thought I’ll keep that.
AM: And you’ve still got it.
EP: It flew with me. All the flying I did from there.
AM: What was the extra training you had to do as Pathfinders then?
EP: Well, in the first place you had to do two tours. Main Force, you did one tour which was —
AM: Yeah.
EP: Well, we went on this squadron. The pilot flew with an experienced crew to give him, as second dickey, to give him extra to see what it was like before he took his own crew.
AM: Ok.
EP: So consequently, he did thirty trips. We all did twenty nine.
AM: You did twenty nine.
EP: And the pilot and the two navigators — they were posted overnight. We didn’t even get to say cheerio. But I’ve seen the pilot a couple of times since the war.
AM: So, when you got there to 635 Squadron.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Pathfinders. Can you remember your very first operation?
EP: Oh aye.
AM: Go on. Tell me about it.
EP: It was in August. We went to Stettin. You’ve heard of that haven’t you? In Poland.
AM: Yeah.
EP: And we went up. It was an eight and a half hour trip.
AM: For your very first operation.
EP: Yeah, and we lost twenty three bombers that night, I’ll always remember that. But you see with the pilot going around another crew to get experience, he done thirty trips. We had done twenty nine. But when you’re just, you’re supporting the markers.
AM: Yes.
EP: You’ve got markers on the Squadron. Certain ones. But when your brand new, you’re supporting the markers. Well, this is why, after he’d did thirty trips, him and the two navigators, well we never got off supporting those. We were supporting the markers all the time.
AM: On right.
EP: So, I got on with another crew. They’d lost their wireless operator. He was, he crashed, they crashed. That’s another story. They were on two engines coming back to this country and he ended up on one engine and heading for Woodbridge. Crash landed, and the wireless operator was killed and he’d done about eighteen trips and I’d done about the same. And I got him, I got his job.
AM: So, after about eighteen operations, you swapped over on to a different crew.
EP: Yeah.
AM: And who was that? —
EP: No. I’d done twenty nine.
AM: Oh, you’d done - right Okay
EP: I’d done twenty you see. That was a tour you see.
AM: Yeah.
EP: They liked you do two tours because you’ve got all the latest equipment.
AM: Yeah.
EP: And you’re using the equipment that the main force doesn’t have.
AM: Tell me what it was actually like Ernie. Going up and doing that. An operation.
EP: Well, you used to get the battle order going up in the mess, didn’t you? As soon as you saw your name on the bloody battle order, you couldn’t get in the toilet. You had all the toilets there, wash basins there, but you’re going to be coming and then when we come out of the toilets. The fear.
AM: Everybody?
EP: People say, ‘Were you were frightened?’ But constipation wasn’t a problem in those days.
AM: Were you frightened?
EP: Of course, you were. You were shit scared.
AM: Right.
EP: That was it. You wanted to go, that frightened feeling, you wanted to go to the toilet but you were waiting. All the toilets were occupied when the battle order went up.
AM: Right. And then what?
EP: Well, it —
AM: Describe it to me. What it was — you know, from actually getting the battle order right through, doing the operation, and coming back.
EP: Well once you knew where you were going to, you stayed over at the bomber. They didn’t let you out, and you’d maybe be over an hour, an hour and a half waiting to take off. Much of the time you did that, they’d come out, it was cancelled, and everybody went back to their billets, got changed and out for the night. You lived for the day.
AM: Why would they cancel it?
EP: Don’t know. Maybe a lot of cloud. Something.
AM: Yeah.
EP: But I survived. You know how many ops I did, don’t you?
AM: I do.
EP: How many?
AM: Well, he’s told me. Fifty.
EP: One.
AM: Fifty one.
EP: Yeah. We kept going until we all had done the fifty.
AM: But I want to know what it felt like, what it was actually like going. So, on the ones that weren’t cancelled. That’s it. You get in the plane. And then what? [pause], I know [laughs], I know you’re laughing at me but —
EP: Well, you settled down. You got daft you know; it’ll never happen to me. It’s not the [unclear]. As soon as you knew you were going, you thought, ‘Dear me, is this it?’ You know, and you couldn’t, you couldn’t get in the toilets for the [unclear].
AM: Right. Once you’re on the plane though, you set off. In — other people who have talked to us have talked about the bomber stream, but you were the Pathfinders so —
EP: Well, the elite of the Bomber Command was the Path. Now to be Master Bomber which we did five.
AM: Yeah.
EP: You’re the elite of the elite. When I got in to the second crew.
AM: Right. I’ve —
EP: And the first time — they used to mark the target. Mosquitos. There were a lot of Mosquito squadrons and they’d be the first to drop the white flares. The aiming point somewhere there. Now, you had to have a good bomb aimer and he’d pick it out like that. He’d be the first there, and I can always remember, and our call sign was Portland One and we had a deputy with us, and he was Portland Two, and main force was called Press On.
AM: Right.
EP: That was the call and he’s had to set thing up and tell the skipper, he could talk to them, and we would be approaching the target he starts. The Pathfinders. The flares would go down. Some would be on the target, some would be off, then you’d get another colour going out. Green maybe. And you’d tell them to ignore the greens, that’s off the target, and bomb the reds that’s fading away. They were still over the target area.
AM: When they dropped the flares? So, they dropped the coloured flares to mark the position.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Did they drop bombs as well?
EP: Yeah.
AM: Or did you just do flares.
EP: You make the bomb up. Yeah.
AM: You had a full bomb load as well.
EP: You carried it all, yeah, and I can always remember, sticks to my mind, full tanks. If you went on a long trip was two thousand one hundred and fifty four gallon. That, that’s full tanks which sacrificed bomb load for fuel.
AM: Yeah.
EP: If you were going on a long trip. For the Stettin raid, seven and a half hour trip, and we flew over Sweden, didn’t we? As we were flying over Sweden, they opened fire because it was a neutral country wasn’t it. Wasn’t it?
AM: Yeah.
EP: You remember that. Neutral country. And they fired up, and this pilot was listening out and he said, this person said, ‘You are’, he listened to them and they said, ‘You are flying over neutral territory’. And this pilot answered him, ‘We know’. Coming back over the same route, they opened fire again, and this pilot spoke to them and said, ‘You are three thousand feet off target’. And they says, ‘We know’. You get that.
AM: Yeah.
EP: True story that. They would open fire, they weren’t trying to hit you, they were just warning shots. ‘You are flying over neutral territory’. The pilot said, ‘We know’. Then coming back so they opened fire again, he said, ‘You are three thousand feet off target’, and they said, ‘We know’ [laughs]. They weren’t trying to hit you, just warning shots. That was that. And we lost twenty three bombers that night, I’ll always remember that. Some of them come down in the North Sea or something. But the most, the biggest raid I was on, was Hanover, when we lost thirty one bombers that night. And on Chemnitz, we lost thirty five bombers on the two raids we went to Chemnitz. But I did a Master Bomber raid on Dorsten, Kiel, Nuremberg, Osnabruck and Heligoland. How about that from memory?
AM: Wonderful.
EP: And we did two deputy Master Bombers.
AM: So, tell me what, tell me what the Master Bomber does.
EP: You go around and around on operations.
AM: You’re the first one though.
EP: Yeah. You go around, and you can contact your deputy. He’s there, he’s there with you and you’re going around and around all the time. And you see red flares went down and the, no, they might not be on the aiming points, because our bombers identified the aiming point. The target could have been in front or behind the flares or to the left, and you’d tell the skipper to speak to all the bombers. To main force. To bomb in front of the reds, or to port.
AM: And it’s the bomb aimer who drops the flares.
EP: Yeah.
AM: And it’s the bomb aimer who says whether it’s —
EP: Yeah.
AM: Hit the target or —
EP: So, then the next flares would go down. It may be green because it would confuse them and they might be way off, and you’d tell them to ignore them. The Master Bomber would speak to all the bombers and say ignore the greens, bomb the feeding reds, or the instructions he’d given for the flaming reds.
AM: And it’s the Master Bomber who’s saying that.
EP: Yeah. Yeah.
AM: Not you as the wireless operator.
EP: No.
AM: I imagined it would be you as the wireless op.
EP: I had to write everything down he says, because I’m the only one who can write it down.
AM: Ok.
EP: But I’m writing everything he says down. And when I got back, Intelligence took my log book off me. They could tell how that raid went off by reading my logbook.
AM: Right.
EP: This is what I have to get to, after the raid was over, my skipper would assess the raid, whether it was successful or not. He’d tell me, and I’d be in touch with, I’d be in touch with our headquarters which was at Huntingdon. In Morse code it was 8LY, I’ll always remember that. And I put them in the picture about whether it was a success or not in bomber code. Nothing — you didn’t use plain language; it was all in code.
AM: Right.
EP: And bomber code altered you read at 6 o’clock at night. At 6 o’clock the next morning was different. The same thing meant something else, because you had to have all your information on sugar paper. Just for a bit of extra. We used to tear it off and chew it, just to make sure. It was sugar paper.
AM: Sugar paper. I’ve never heard of sugar paper.
EP: Yeah. All the information had to be destroyed, you know, if you crashed you had to eat that.
AM: Oh, you had to eat that. Literally. You’re not pulling my leg.
EP: Yeah. That was, it was sugar paper, you had to eat it.
AM: Right.
EP: And when I first went on the squadron, they gave me a bloody 38 revolver. We had a revolver each. I thought, what are you going to shoot. Who are you going to shoot with that? They’ll fire back at you, won’t they? I had, I had to draw it out. You had to go on the range and fire the bleeding thing. In those days, you fired like that. You used to go up. Nowadays it’s like this isn’t it? Two, have you noticed?
AM: So, its two handed now instead of one handed.
EP: It’s two hands now. In those days you fired like that. Two hands now.
AM: So where was the revolver in the, in the —
EP: Well, I should put mine down me flying boot.
AM: Down your flying boot.
EP: And the ammunition down that one. If you bailed out, then they’d drop out wouldn’t it [laughs].
AM: Can we go back?
EP: That used to be my biggest fear, seeing the bloody places burning. To think I’ve had to bale out into that lot.
AM: You never did though, did you?
EP: It used to frighten the bloody life out of me.
AM: Were you ever [pause] right. Right. Wheel back a minute. When you changed crews. So, at what point was it that you changed crews, and who was the new crew?
EP: That’s him there. That’s Alex Thorne.
AM: Alex. So, Alex Thorne was your pilot.
EP: He was, he was thirty three year old then.
AM: Which was old.
EP: And he’d a lot of experience.
AM: At the time.
EP: Thirty three year old and experienced, wasn’t he?
AM: Yeah.
EP: He was an instructor at one time.
AM: And who else was on the crew with you, Ernie?
EP: Sorry.
AM: Who else was on the crew with you?
EP: Well in that, I can always remember. There was Alex Thorne. Harry Parker, the navigator, the wireless — the flight engineer. Boris was the nav, so the second navigator.
AM: Boris Bressloff.
EP: Graham James — Graham Rose was the navigator. Scott was the mid-upper gunner. Jimmy Rayment was the rear gunner. How’s that? And Joe Clack was the bomb aimer.
AM: Right.
EP: I think we had two or three. I think we had three. But we were experienced crew. As I said, to a be a Master Bomber in the Pathfinders, you were the elite of the elite.
AM: And that was when you became — did the Master Bomber. So how many times, you said you were the Master Bomber five or six, I’ve forgotten.
EP: We did five. Last couple as deputy Master Bomber.
AM: And two deputies.
EP: Towards the end of our, to the end of second tour, if our squadron wasn’t supplying the Master Bomber, we were the only crew stepped down. Different squadrons would supply a Master Bomber for different raids and towards the end there — it’s in the, I’ve got my logbook there.
AM: I’ll have a look at your logbook in a minute if I may.
EP: It’s good reading in there. There’s a couple of raids we were on. Master Bomber there.
AM: Ernie’s showing me pictures here of the —
EP: Take offs. I took ten take offs in Dominies, thirteen in Proctors, fifteen and thirty five in Ansons, forty eight in Whitleys, sixteen in Halifaxes, a hundred and five in Lancasters, three in Liberators, one in Catalina, and twenty two in bloody all other aircraft.
AM: In a Catalina? What were you doing in a Catalina?
EP: I went to India when I finished flying. You’d got —
AM: I’ll come back to that after.
EP: That’s a long time.
AM: Yeah, I’ll come back to that story after. The two pictures are pictures of, describe, just describe those to me. What are they actually pictures of?
EP: Well, that’s — that’s Heligoland.
AM: Right. Yeah.
EP: You’ve heard of that? And on there, you see, there’s a fighter base, the garrison and the U-boat pens.
AM: And who would have taken that picture? The bomb aimer?
EP: No, the aircraft.
AM: The aircraft. The air. Oh, it’s an automatic camera, isn’t it? Yeah.
EP: And that one’s Oldenburg. It tells you that and that was Alex the day I was, they are the target indicator. Did you know that the target indicators cascaded a thousand feet? Did you know that?
AM: No.
EP: There’s a fuse on the end. I can always remember. They were eight pound a piece then. What happened? The flares don’t go up? You see them cascading, don’t you? Well, the pressure at a thousand feet ignites them.
AM: And that’s the flare.
EP: That’s the flare. But the full, full amount of five hundred pound bombs and you’ve got the four thousand pounder, to be carrying the four thousand pound bomb all the time. And you know, they’re distributed off the aircraft you know. They don’t just all go off. It’s distributed so that it keeps the aircraft level.
AM: Yeah. So, you don’t —
EP: So, it doesn’t go top heavy. They distributed off the bombs so the aircraft —
AM: How many would one aircraft drop? How many flares would you drop?
EP: Well six or seven.
AM: Yeah.
EP: Of different colours. But —
AM: So, you’d do your first colour first.
EP: Whatever — you see. You’d make it —
AM: And you’d drop them all together, but you’d know which one had —
EP: Everything’s dropped in a big —
AM: Right. Ok. So, tell me —
EP: You’ve got the full five hundred pound going down together, but they all balanced off to keep the aircraft level, you know. They don’t all go ruddy together. Should keep the nose down.
AM: ‘Cause I’m imagining that you dropped —
EP: You see, at night time, there’s a photo, you’ve got a photoflash and you’ve got a photoflare in the chute. Half way down the aircraft. It’s a quarter of a million candle power. That’s what you measure light with isn’t it? Did you know that?
AM: No.
EP: That’s candle power. And it was a quarter of a million candle power did this flash. Now, when you drop your bombs at night, your camera takes over and takes up the release point in case you’re not in the position, ‘cause you’ve got to be straight and level to get the photograph at night you know.
AM: You’re supposed to be still and level aren’t you, as it’s taking it?
EP: It works out so when your bombs hit the deck and flares, the bombs hit the deck and the flares are going down behind them. The photoflash flashes and your camera takes, all synchronised together so your bombs hit the deck, your flashes and your camera take over. Take a picture. All three together. Nobody operates it. You relied on [unclear], that was one of the things. Marvellous.
AM: Yeah.
EP: But I used to have to be sent back to put my hand down the chute to make sure the bugger had gone. What would have happened if we’d landed and it had stuck? And it stuck on its way down. What would have happened if we’d gone with —? That operated at a thousand feet as well.
AM: So, what did you do if it hadn’t gone?
EP: You had to make sure that it had gone. There was ways of ejecting it.
AM: Right.
EP: What would have happened if you’d got down to a thousand feet?
AM: Oh yeah, I can imagine.
EP: It would have exploded and that would have been the aircraft.
AM: I can imagine.
EP: It would have been on fire.
AM: I can imagine. Yeah. I just had, I just had this picture of you crawling back along the aircraft to make sure it’s gone.
EP: Yeah.
AM: And it’s still there.
EP: Yeah, if it was, you would have had to make sure. There was ways of releasing some the bombs and that.
AM: Why would you have released it.
EP: You can take the plates off. If you’ve got bombs hanging off. Sometimes you’d maybe land with the bombs stuck up, but you make sure they’ve gone. You can always tell. When you lose the bombs, the aircraft goes up like that, you know. When you lose bombs in the air, in day light was the worst. You could see the bloody aircraft go over and over and the bomb doors open, and some of the shear bombs shooting past you, just goes past your wing tips. They knocked turrets off as well, didn’t they? You can’t see them. It was a hell of a thing. Aye. Daylight was the worst. Everyone jockeying to get near the target and the bomb doors were open, and they’re going over to get into position. He drops his bombs and he goes up like that. You’ve dropped yours at the same time and you’re going to be back alongside him again. But that’s what it was like.
AM: If you were at the front. So, you’re the Pathfinder at the front and there’s all the other aircraft behind you, did they come up alongside you then.
EP: You see, you’ve got to be, you had to work to time. Time was essential. You had to be in that position in the air at that very — so you didn’t bump into one another. That was worse? You were colliding with one another. You had to be in that right spot all the time. Otherwise for every, if you go, for every hour in the air to a target, you’ve got five minutes to play with. Now, if you found that you were right, you had to pick a spot where you’re going to lose time. If you were five minutes earlier than where you should be. So, you could either make a big orbit in the bomber stream, which wasn’t very nice, or you could alter course sixty degrees to port. Fly out of the bomber stream for five minutes. A hundred and forty degrees. You fly back in in five minutes. Everything was — and you got back on course and you’ve only gone that bit and that’s where you lost a bit of time.
AM: Who made that decision?
EP: Well, it’s [unclear], it’s all, that’s what you’ve got to do as a navigator.
AM: It was the navigator.
EP: He told us. And we had H2S on there you know, which had an eighteen mile radius. He used to check with the pilot. He used to just tip the aircraft like that, to keep the nose, to keep them on course. You could be on course and off track you know. You could be there, on course, but off track in relation to the ground. See what I mean?
AM: No.
EP: You can be on course and on track.
AM: Right.
EP: That means you’re in the right position on the ground, in relation to the ground.
AM: So, what, what’s HS2? Is that the — ?
EP: That’s the big blister. I forget what it’s called but that — it had an eighteen miles —
GR: Radar.
AM: A radar.
EP: Radius. If you were going past some built up area and you knew what was there. They knew all this. You just had to just, skipper to the tip the aeroplane and it flickered, so it sent the rays out there. It picked the building up and gave you some idea. He was wonderful. You wouldn’t think he was on operations. Our navigator, Graham Rose. He was that all the time. Very vigilant. And he was plotting our position every six minutes. A little diamond on his route. Wonderful navigator. Wonderful pilot. Wonderful. I think this is why we survived. We were in the right place at the right time. I was asked that when they interviewed me at the Teesside airport, when the Canadian Lanc was there — how come I survived like that. I said, ‘I think we were in the right place at the right time’, and I’ve seen bloody aircraft blow up in the sky.
AM: Eric, Eric said didn’t he, another chap that we know, said that they kept safe all due to the navigator.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Who kept them in the middle of the bombing stream all the time.
EP: He was the main man, not the ruddy pilot in my eyes. The navigator was the main one in the bloody Lanc. Definitely. He wasn’t, I’d ask him to have a look, have a look at it. I’d step down. Have a look now. Your pals can’t see bloody much, there’s fog and there’s wingtips. They can’t see bloody much on the ground. It’s everybody else can.
AM: Did you ever get shot at? Well obviously, you got shot at. Did you ever get hit?
EP: Just with flak.
AM: Yeah.
EP: I remember I seemed to suffer more with that with the first crew I was with. We used to get out with all the paraphernalia and walk around the bomb site when we knew we could count. Flak mad.
AM: What? While you were still up there?
EP: No. When we landed.
AM: When you landed.
EP: You could walk around and see how many holes in it. And you could whip through ruddy wires that were all clipped together like that, whip through them like butter if you got hit by flak. You see, in my compartment, I had what they called Fishpond and you could see any aircraft underneath you, ‘cause you had it up. It could fly underneath you and shoot you down. We had no protection at all underneath, they used to fly and fire upwards into you. That’s how he shot. There was a show on recently. A bloody German fighter pilot, that’s what he used to do. Shoot them down like that. Shot many a Lancaster down. He was showing them in his logbook where he shot you down, even took the letters of the aircraft that he shot down, this German pilot. If you could see them, well you see with this Fishpond, it took the centre of the H2S and if an aircraft, a fighter were going underneath you or anything you would see them. It would blip.
AM: Did your gunners ever manage to shoot anybody down?
EP: Well, if they don’t fire at you, you don’t fire back at them, you just bloody ignore them. But what do you do if you get a fighter on your tail, there was a recognised corkscrew. Did you know that? If they’ve got a fighter in front of you know, to hit you, like, when you know you see the American things. They’re coming up the side but I don’t know how they do it, because you’d be all flying that way. He’s coming this way. See what I mean? Well —
AM: Because of the speed of the aircraft. And the guns.
EP: The German fighter’s going to fire came in front of you ‘cause you’re all going that way.
AM: Yeah. So, you fly into it.
EP: So, if he’s coming at you and you’ve got the back. If you come this way, you’ll hear the rear gunner telling him to corkscrew to starboard. Go like that with a Lanc. Take it down like. The German fighters got to come around like that. He breaks away and he comes down and he, and you come around and you come back up like that. And you can see the bloody propeller just fanning around with the force of gravity all the petrol away from the bloody, from the propellers. From the engine. You can just flip them around. You come go on to there and get back on course. Come at this again. They don’t fire at you. You just keep out of the way.
AM: You just keep out of the way.
EP: Don’t blow your — that you’ve seen them but night time, everything’s is black. You can’t see anything. And coming back fifty miles from base, this is another tip, I had to call up base to get the barometric pressure of the base so that the pilot could put it on his altimeter. Of course, there were no lights on. You’ve got to get other side before you can see the runway lights. And we had FIDO then. Do you know what that was?
AM: I know what FIDO was. Did you ever have to land at a FIDO airport?
EP: Yeah. One or two. I can always remember though the very first trip I did with this new crew, we went to, it think, was it? It was Chemnitz, I think, but we got, I got a call from Group headquarters. We had to go and land at Ford of all places. Yet we had FIDO on account of training command — a lot of them had landed there, but when you get a group broadcast, you’ve got to do what they say. We could have got down and landed at FIDO but I got a message, and we had to go and land at Ford, down near Southampton it was. I can always remember that, and we were stepped up to ten thousand feet. There was that many bombers needing to land there.
AM: What’s it like seeing that because it’s petrol burning, isn’t it? Along the runway.
EP: Aye. That’s all it is. It just disperses the fog. When you fly over, did I tell you, you drop like that when you’re coming in to land. There’s one coming this way, when you’re coming in to land and when you fly over, you can feel the aircraft drop down with the heat does it. But when we went to Ford there, course it’s a straight bloody bomber station. When we did eventually land, these women bloody controllers they were the ones. They used to make their voices very clear. They knew what they were doing. I used to — a women operators at flying control. They brought them all. They’d speak to every bomber ’cause they made touch with you there. Some were calling up on three engines, wanting to get down. Giving them priority, and they’d talk to everyone. Bring them all down like that, speak to every one of them. Then when we landed, where did we go, a little van used to pull up in front of it and big words, “Come on. Follow me”. This little — and you followed this little van and you followed, and he switched his lights off, and you knew that was where you’ve got to stop. The next day, you had to go and find your bomber.
AM: I was just going to say.
EP: There was that bloody many there.
AM: So, you’ve all landed. You’re there. What? And you’re at “foreign”, in inverted commas, airport.
EP: Yeah
AM: And that’s — where did you sleep? Just where ever you can.
EP: Pick your own. That was ok, you just picked your billet. There was empty billets.
AM: Oh right. Ok.
EP: You slept in all your flying gear, and maybe there was a meal for you as well, which you got every time you went on ops. You got proper eggs bacon and chips every time you went on ops. And when you came back, you got it. They were all rationed in Civvy Street. Yeah.
GR: Ford was the emergency landing base.
AM: Yeah.
GR: On the south coast.
AM: Yes.
EP: And the next day, they went to find our bomber and we get, I think, I don’t know whether we got fuelled up or something, but we were hedge hopping all the way back.
AM: What does that mean?
EP: Very low. We called it.
AM: Right.
EP: When you’re very low, you call it hedge hopping. I was that low. It took us about an hour to get back, it took us about an hour to get back because I had to phone up base. Call up base to let them know we were on our way. Did you know bomber aircraft wasn’t allowed to go in the air without a wireless operator?
AM: I didn’t.
EP: Navigator? Yes. I can remember when I was flying in the Whitleys. It’s in that book. The numerous air tests I did, with just me and the pilot. Used to always call for me from the sergeant’s mess. I could find, if he got lost on an air test, I could get him back to base. He didn’t have to have — that was why no aircraft was allowed off the ground without a wireless operator.
AM: Because you’re the connection.
EP: Well, you can call me.
AM: Back to —
EP: You can call it.
AM: Yeah.
EP: The navigator wants to make sure I can get a fix for him from in the air, as a wireless operator you know. There’s three stations in the country, you call that one up and these two are listening to him working you, so then you go through the procedures. He takes a bearings on you.
AM: Yeah.
EP: He takes a bearing on you, and he takes a bearing on you, and he plots them all on his charts and where they all cross — that’s your position.
AM: And tells you where you are.
EP: Five minutes after, you can ask him again if there’s nobody else bloody working them. And you turn them all together, you could see where you are in the sky. You needed a wireless operator all the time.
AM: Yeah.
EP: Yeah.
AM: Gary was telling me a story as we were coming up, about a day when you were ready to take off and your fuel gauges was showing nil.
EP: Oh, that was when the skipper got a DSO for that. We were the Master Bomber that day.
AM: So, what happened? Tell me. What was the story?
EP: We’d been training in the day time right. And the Army couldn’t take Osnabruck. Whoever was trying to take the opposition. So, when you’re doing training, cross country, if you’re not on ops, you’re doing cross country training and bombing in The Wash. And I’ve got to contact base every half hour and I got the [unclear] for me to return to base. So, we came back to base. We were briefed straight away and we were taken out to the bomber and we took off straightaway. That’s how urgent it was. Otherwise, you’re waiting for an hour, an hour and a half before you go, and we took off before we should. In the end, we got in and found we hadn’t enough petrol. Skipper said to Harry, ‘Can you work out how much we’ve got?’ So, he said, ‘We haven’t got enough to get us there and back’.
AM: So that was when it was Alex Thorne.
EP: That was Alex Thorne.
AM: Yeah.
EP: So, he said, ‘We’ll go and we’ll bale out over France’, so, we were taxiing out to take off, got to the end of the runway and he pulled in to one of the dispersals. Broke RT silence and then we had to get the fella — the bowser driver had gone to the NAAFI for his break and they had to get him back. And so, we got the navigator, we cut that leg off and dogleg to the target. Cut that leg out and go to that one. Time was going by. Cut that leg out and go straight to the target. We took off on the wrong runway and flew straight to the target. And we got, and that was the day the highest we ever got, we got up to twenty three thousand feet. I’ll always remember that. And I can remember as we were approaching the target, skipper was weaving to get predicted with the radar. And there was about six bursts of flak on our tail. Straightaway, the rear gunner said, ‘Dive skipper, dive’, and we were up at twenty three thousand feet that day and he put it in to a dive, and you can imagine them reloading and firing and I was in the astrodome looking out. You could see all the bursts following us down as we were going down. You could see all the bursts. You know that, you know the feeling when you’re the last one to go to bed. You go up the stairs, thinking some buggers behind you and that, when you’re a kid, and that’s the feeling I got. When you could, you wanted to go faster. And you ruddy, you could follow this flak burst. That split second earlier, they would have hit us. And of course, the skipper, we started, and all the bombers were approaching the target and we were coming this way, and the skipper got in touch with the deputy, and that’s how the raid went on. And the skipper got the DSO for carrying that raid. We were the Master Bomber that day. We had to go. Now, if we didn’t, it would have happened? No Master Bomber. The raid would have been a flop. But we couldn’t. They couldn’t. They would have promulgated. He got the DSO on that raid. It was on Nuremberg. Another raid. We did a Master Bomber raid on Nuremberg, and we were on the approach. We were approaching the target, we got, I think we were just going to drop our bombs, and we got a wall up and the aircraft went into a dive, and Harry said — he had his back up against the pilot, pushing the stick back for the skipper, and it didn’t respond, and all the bombs gone. It eventually responded on its own, but by the time he had he got it around, it had gone in to the [unclear], because the deputy took over and took them further into Germany. As if Nuremberg wasn’t being far enough. But this [unclear], we were all on our, weren’t we? They’d all gone, the raid was over. There’s these two fighters coming towards us, I could see the gunners were waiting for them. They were two Mustangs. Better aircraft than the bloody Spitfire by all means. And do you know what? One of them came right alongside us. He had his hood back and he was a coloured pilot, American, and he was smoking a big Havana cigar. To let the smoke out. What do you think of that? And the other one was on the other side, and they escorted us back a hell of a way and as soon as they left us, in no time, a Spitfire came alongside and escorted us back.
AM: And escorted you back. Was the one in the Mustang — were they the Tuskegee’s were they called?
EP: I don’t know, but it was a coloured pilot.
AM: Yeah.
EP: And he had the hood back to let the smoke out.
AM: With his cigar.
EP: Smoking a Havana cigar.
AM: Waggling his wings at you.
EP: True story that.
AM: Yeah.
EP: We were escorted back a couple of time, with a Lancaster once, then it got shot down. Jack Harrold. I think it was on the Ruhr. We got, we’d gone three engines and this bloody Lanc flew up alongside. I’ve got a letter from what the skipper wrote to him, I’ve got the letter somewhere, but he found out after he got killed. He got shot down that lad, and in his letter, he said, ‘Do unto others as they would do unto you’. He said, if I’d left you, because when you lose an engine, you know, you lose all bloody sorts, you know, ‘cause all your power and that to your guns and dropping your wheels and hydraulics, and all the power comes from your engine.
AM: So, it’s not just the engine. It’s everything that it was powering.
EP: So, if an engine bloody stops, you know, the ways you could lose if you. I don’t know which engine it was but if you lost power with that you can’t — your wings. You’ve got to drop your wings, crank them around to get to lock them. Now where I sat in my place, I could see, I could see the wheels. I used to tell. When the skipper selected me, when we were coming in to land anyway, you could see the wheels had dropped down and I could feel the power build up then. You could see them do that, and I used to tell them they’d done that. I let him know that at least they had locked. If you’ve got, if you hadn’t got the indication on your panel on the aircraft. It’s a wonderful bloody aeroplane, the Lancaster, wonderful aeroplane.
AM: Wonderful.
EP: I’ve got three hundred and fifty hours flying one, and I think about two hundred and seventy operational ones, and we used to, when we were going on ops or were going on bloody training, we used to do cross-country’s for the navigators. We’d meet up with a bloody Spitfire or a Mustang for the gunners to have, you know, for the fight, and in The Wash, there was a triangle in The Wash. Did you know that? We used to drop ten pound smoke bombs. You could see them. Just ten pound in weight. They were little tiny bombs for the bomb aimer and this used to fascinate me. When we, this was on the way back, that was part of the training, and when you, the pilot would make contact with the base [unclear], whatever, and we were going to drop these bombs, and you had to tell them what height you were at. Do you know what they used to use for the height? Angels. Now isn’t that nice? We’re at Angels 10. Ten thousand feet. Now, isn’t that lovely?
AM: Yeah.
EP: That was a difference of not saying ten thousand feet. Angels 10.
AM: Ten. Angels 10.
EP: Wasn’t that lovely? That’s what they used to tell us what height we were at, ‘cause you just had to keep flying low, turn around and keep coming back and drop a one or two. That was —
AM: So, was there continual training in between the operations then?
EP: Oh aye. You would turn up when you were on ops. Every day was the same. Saturday. Sunday. There was no Saturday and Sunday. Any day. Aren’t you saying something?
AM: That was to Gary who is sat with us. Aren’t you? Have you got anything to say Gary? Any questions? Any extra questions?
EP: I think he’s put a bit of weight on as well, you know
GR: Oh, thanks Ernie.
EP: Haven’t you. Eh?
GR: I’ve lost weight.
AM: Never mind weight. Have you got any questions?
GR: When did you get your DFM?
EP: After we finished, didn’t we? I was recommended for a commission you know, after the war. I think, you know, how that worked if there was officers left. Officer’s mess if a crew get approachable, two of his crew. Now Jimmy Rayment, the rear gunner and me, after we’d, we’d finished flying, I think, I think it was after we bloody got out of the ruddy bomber at Heligoland. That was the last trip I did. And he said he’d recommended us both for a commission. Of course, we got a fortnight’s, leave, didn’t we? We all went on a fortnight’s and while I was on my fortnights, we decided to get married, didn’t we? So, I waited for another fortnight to get my —
AM: Oh, I was going to ask you when you met your wife and all that.
EP: Because what they do — you ask for a fortnight. They say seven days granted.
GR: Yeah.
EP: So, I’d asked for a fortnight, I only wanted seven days and I got the bloody, I got the fortnight and during that fortnight, the war ended. I was married on the 5th of May and the war ended on the 8th, didn’t it?
GR: Yeah.
AM: Yeah.
EP: Did you know that? I was on leave, weren’t I, and I got bloody posted to do another bombing, to another Pathfinder squadron. Off my leave. I thought, well what about my commission? They must have thought, well the war’s over now. We were surplus, or they’ve, ‘cause Jimmy, he went back, didn’t he? And he got his commission but I didn’t. I ended up in bloody India. I had to do something. I ended up in charge of flying control in India.
AM: I was going to ask you what —
EP: And this why, this is why I got the trip in the Catalina. Out there.
AM: So —
EP: I was then put in charge of bloody flying control out there. And I was dealing with flying bods coming from Hong Kong to the UK for demob.
AM: So, hang on. So, the war finished, then you got married.
EP: I got married on the 8th
AM: And then before demob —
EP: I got married on the 5th of May.
AM: Yeah.
EP: 1945.
AM: Yeah.
EP: The war ended on the 8th of May.
AM: Yeah. So then when did you get — so the war’s ended but obviously, it’s a long while before your demob.
EP: That was always first in were first out, but I did get, I was offered my class B release.
AM: What does that mean?
EP: Because I was a builder, wasn’t I? Joiner.
GR: Yeah.
EP: Yeah.
EP: They wanted you in Civvy Street then. Right. I was going to jump the queue and come out before I should do.
AM: So how did you end up in India then?
EP: The thing was if you, if you took your Class B, you go where they’re sending you and you got a fortnight’s leave. Well, I didn’t want that, I wanted to pick my own bloody job, so, I waited for my Class A release which was about five or six weeks after my release would have been up. I got, I took the month’s leave I was entitled to and I went and worked. Picked my own bloody job which was near home.
AM: Right. Tell me just —
EP: You had to go where they sent you when you did that.
AM: Just before you tell me about the job, tell me about going flying your Catalina and going to India.
EP: From Chelmsford I went, I think from there.
AM: Did you go on your own or were Harry or Boris or any of them with you?
EP: Lots of them were posted then until your demob number came up. It was always first in, first out, when your demob number come up.
GR: Was that just you Ernie? It wasn’t any of the other crew. It wasn’t Harry, or Boris or any of them.
EP: No. No. I think Harry — he went flying straightaway with Cheshire, didn’t he?
GR: Yes.
EP: Did you know that?
AM: Yes, I did. Yeah.
EP: Harry. Harry and Cheshire went up in to Scotland and bought two Mosquitos for seven hundred and fifty pound, and one of them only had twenty flying hours in. And Harry flew with Cheshire, setting up Cheshire homes in Europe.
AM: Yes, I remember that.
EP: Harry did that.
AM: So, where, where did, tell me again why you went then, before you were demobbed.
EP: I went to a place called Korangi Creek in India, near Karachi.
AM: And what were you doing?
EP: I was just — you had to do something until your demob number came. I ended up, I was in to accounts but I didn’t do it, go into it. I was in, it was a Flying Boat base which was in the process of closing down, and we were dealing with Sunderland Flying Boats coming from Hong Kong to UK for demob, and I used to have to deal with them. You see, once they left Hong Kong, they were my pigeon. Then when I left them — they left me, I had to organise petrol for them and all the meals and whatever. Fill them up. Then when I, then when they left me, Bahrain was the next stop. But it was, I used to wire Bahrain to let them know it was on its way. It was their pigeon. And it was there, and I used to, and these Sunderland Flying Boats used to take off the next day, and I used to arrange them for the meals for them and accommodation where I was, and I’d go with them to the launch with them, with the Anglo Indians, to see them off. And on this particular, we were in in this launch going along, and this Sunderland Flying Boat coming alongside me. Well, all of a sudden, for some reason, they turn off the bloody flarepath, like that, and this bloody fella driving the launch — he didn’t see him [laughs] and we were all bawling at him. There was a few of us on this launch with him, and I spoke to the pilot about it. He said, ‘I’m sorry’. I’ll always remember that. It was, and I think, do you know what? They approached me to join them. BOAC took it over. He said, ‘You’re a wireless operator. We need wireless operators. Why don’t you join us?’ I said, ‘Well I’m in the bloody RAF, aren’t I?’ When you get out you join us. We need wireless operators. I didn’t.
AM: Why didn’t you, why didn’t you?
EP: I wanted out. I’d already had enough of bloody flying, I wanted out, and they used to approach me. They had ones that would, they had their staff, we had ours. He said, ‘Why don’t you join us? We need radio officers in BOAC’. What might have — because I’d been pulled over the coals by the family for not taking it on. I wanted out, I’d done enough. Anyway, the thing was, I wasn’t up, when I was offered this commission. And the war ended. Whatever happened after that didn’t apply. But in a way — what they did with you, if you got a commission after you finished your flight, Transport Command they’d put you on. And I wanted out, I’d had enough of bloody flying.
AM: Yeah.
EP: But you never know. I’d been lucky up till then and that’s it. Only bloody birds and fools fly. But I wanted out and that was why I didn’t pursue it. I could have pursued it and they might have got me something earlier, and they posted me to another Pathfinder squadron, and I got posted from there. I ended up at Biggin Hill. I could always remember that. How [unclear] I was
AM: What were, what were you doing there?
EP: Just in transit all the bloody time ‘til they decided what to do with me. [Unclear] was there. I met up with him, he was at Biggin Hill.
GR: When did your demob finally come through?
EP: When?
GR: Yeah. When did you actually finish in the RAF?
EP: September ’46.
GR: ’46.
EP: See, another thing, if I accepted, if I’d accepted a commission — another way I looked at it. You get discharged out the RAF and brought back in as an officer, different number and that and you’ve got stay in at least twelve month from being a commission.
AM: Right.
EP: I thought I want out, I want out sharpish. I didn’t. it was another bloody twelve month before I didn’t come out. So that was it. I turned it down, I didn’t pursue it, but that was it. I ended up as a warrant officer which was automatic.
AM: Yeah.
EP: But my bonus out of the war was meeting to meet my beautiful wife. She was in the land army
AM: Where did you meet, where did you meet, Ernie.
EP: She was in the land army. She was in the land army in Wisbech.
AM: Right.
EP: I met her in the November. We were engaged and married in six month.
AM: So, she was in Wisbech. Where? Was that when you were based near there then?
EP: I was based at Downham Market.
AM: Oh, at Downham Market. Of course, you were. Yeah.
EP: I was based about fifteen miles away.
AM: Where did you meet her then?
EP: At a dance.
AM: At a dance.
EP: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
AM: What was she called, Ernie?
EP: Kathleen.
AM: Kathleen.
EP: Yeah. She was a lovely person.
AM: She was your bonus.
EP: I’d have died a thousand deaths to keep her. I could have packed. On Pathfinders, you know, you’ve got to do, they like to do two tours. Main force you do thirty.
AM: Yeah.
EP: Which is one tour, and you go away to be an instructor somewhere and they get you back to do another fifteen, but towards the end of the war, they weren’t doing that. They were just doing the thirty. Now, Americans only did twenty five, and then they went home, didn’t they? ‘Cause they all flew straight and level all the time, but we flew a different pattern altogether. Americans.
GR: Do you know how many ops Alex Thorne did in the end?
EP: He did about fifty three. Fifty four.
GR: Fifty three. Fifty four.
EP: Yeah, but I keep referring to this. When I read anything, I keep referring to this, it’s all in here.
AM: Ernie’s got his logbook.
EP: I’ll just show you some. An operational page [long pause] In red, it’s night time. Green, it’s day time.
AM: Yeah.
EP: And it’s, here in the, the number of ops I lost. On the fifty odd raids that I was on, we lost two hundred and seventy five bombers. But it’s the number of ops and the number of aircraft lost on that raid. So, it’s all, it’s a very interesting book this. Look at all. Look at that page for a kick off. In that. See all the —
AM: Yeah. I’m looking now at, I’m looking now at the different raids so Chennai, Dessau
EP: Chemnitz. See, all the times I was in the air is in the next column.
AM: Eight hours. Yeah.
EP: And the number of ops and the number of aircraft we lost. If you go the other way, that’s there’s some more. Some more. It’s quite a — one of my proud possessions that. Did you know, did you know when you’re selected as a Pathfinder, you’ve got to be marking and you get a certificate. You can be pulled up by the RAF police in the town. You could have a permit to wear those little gold wings. Did you know that?
AM: No.
EP: You’d have a permit and when you finished flying you got a permanent certificate from Bennett. I’ll show you.
AM: I’m looking, I’m looking at this one here. So, the operation — Heligoland.
EP: That was the last one.
AM: As Master Bomber, and then you’ve written in blue underneath, abortive sortie. So, there was a final abortive sortie after the Heligoland.
EP: That was, that was another one. I don’t know whether — I think if you can get within a certain distance, you can count it as one.
AM: It was like a quarter of an operation
EP: So, I did. So that’s it. it could have been fifty two. On the countdown. But go back to where you see more ops.
AM: Oh yeah. There’s —
EP: See.
AM: Yeah.
EP: Do you see all those amongst the people you interview?
AM: Yeah. Lots of people have got logbooks. Some haven’t but some do.
EP: Have you seen them all?
AM: Hmmn.
EP: How many had the DFM then?
AM: Sorry?
EP: How many had the DFM?
GR: Not many.
AM: I can’t. Not many.
EP: Do you know there were twenty thousand DFCs given out? Eight hundred and seventy DSOs. Six and a half thousand DFMs. This is why the DFM is more.
AM: Is more. It’s more.
EP: Did you watch that Antiques Roadshow the other night? Monday night.
AM: No.
EP: There was a lad on there. He’d had his grandad’s DFC, his medals, I have, and his logbook like that, and do you know how much they valued it at? Between three and four thousand pounds.
AM: Blimey.
EP: Now, I’ve got the Pathfinder certificate.
AM: The Pathfinder. Yeah. I’ve found the, I’ve found that one where you were Ford to base.
[Recording paused]
GR: Not with my interviews but when I’ve visited —
AM: So, I’m looking here at Ernie’s award of his Pathfinder Force badge, which certifies that, “1567159. Flight Sergeant Patterson, GE. Having qualified for the award of the Pathfinder Force badge and having now completed satisfactorily the requisite conditions of operational duty in the Pathfinder Force, is hereby awarded permanently his Pathfinder Force badge, issued on the 22nd of April 1945”. Signed by —
GR: Bennett.
AM: Bennett. Who was the air officer commanding of the Pathfinder force. And Ernie’s going to show me his badge in a minute, I think. What’s he fetching me now? I’ll try and get some scans of some of this information.
EP: This is, this is a permit to wear it before you get that.
AM: So, what Ernie’s telling me is that you have —
EP: You could be pulled up by the police.
AM: Come and sit. Come and sit down again and tell me about this
GR: Do as she says [laughs]
AM: So, the permit says, and it’s issued from the headquarters of the Pathfinder Force, again, to Flight Sergeant Patterson. “You have today qualified for the award of the Pathfinder Force badge, and are entitled to wear the badge as long as you remain in Pathfinder Force”, and again, signed by Bennett, Air Vice Marshall. So, what did the badge mean? Tell me. Tell me again. What?
EP: You can see them.
GR: It’s there.
AM: Yeah, but you were telling me. Yeah, I’ve got it. And you were telling me that if you were pulled up by the police
EP: RAF police. They used to have red hats on and —
AM: Yeah.
EP: In the town. Because people used to masquerade as wearing them, in the town, and wear it.
AM: Why. Why did they wear it?
EP: Swaggering.
AM: Oh, to swagger around in it.
EP: Showing off. That’s how they were. Another one.
AM: And I’ve got the letter from Buckingham Palace, “With the award that you have so well earned, I send it to you with my congratulations and my best wishes for your future happiness”.
EP: That’s what, that’s what appeared in the paper.
AM: And I’ve got a clipping in here from April 1945. A Darlington joiner gets the DFM.
EP: That was, that’s in the, I think that was taken on the —
AM: Blimey and I’ve got a picture here of Ernie with a wireless.
EP: That was 1154.
AM: I’m going to scan some of this stuff, but before we finish, I’ve switched it back on because I want you to tell me. I don’t — I don’t think it’s anything to do with the RAF, but you know your, your interest Ernie, in knowing all the different —
EP: I’m making sure my memory is still there
AM: Right. Hang on. Collective nouns.
EP: Yeah. What do you want to know?
AM: I want, I want to know loads of them. I want you to come and tell me some.
EP: You’ve seen the DFM haven’t you?
AM: But first of all, I’m getting to look at Ernie’s DFM.
EP: Have you seen some who have them?
AM: No, let me. I haven’t seen, I’ve not seen your one
EP: Of course they don’t
AM: Let me have a look.
EP: There’s the Pathfinder wing.
GR: That’s the Pathfinder wings which you wore
EP: There’s a Pathfinder wing.
AM: And there’s your DFM. So, the Pathfinder wing is actually a really beautiful — is it —
GR: RAF wing.
AM: Is it on a tie pin?
EP: Yes. It’s alright.
AM: And it’s the RAF eagle looking out towards the left. With the beautiful gold wings and the DFM, of course, is the one with the diagonal striped ribbon as opposed to the DFC one.
GR: And is the only medal with the recipient’s name on the edge.
AM: And is the only medal with the recipient’s name on the edge. Which I didn’t know. So, tell me some of these collective nouns.
EP: What time are you going?
AM: Tell me some, tell me some interesting ones.
EP: I’ve got dinner coming at 12 but I’ll put it –
AM: Why did you become interested in knowing what all the collective nouns are for groups of animals?
EP: I just read them. Some of them fascinated. Like a lot ravens. Unkindness. Isn’t that nice?
AM: A kindness.
EP: Unkindness.
AM: Unkindness sorry. Of ravens.
EP: Ravens. A lot of ladybirds. A love of ladybirds. Isn’t that nice?
AM: Lovely.
EP: Flamingos. A flurry of flamingos. A bale of turtles. A posse of turkeys. How many do you want to know?
AM: All of them.
EP: What they call a lot of moles. A movement. And that’s a nice name, isn’t it?
AM: A movement of moles.
EP: A movement, Moles yeah. And a lot of sparrows. A quarrel.
AM: A quarrel.
EP: You know what a lot of owls are. A parliament. A parliament of owls. It doesn’t sound right does it? Another nice one. A lot of snipe. Have you ever heard of a snipe?
AM: Yeah.
EP: A whisper.
AM: A whisper of snipes.
EP: Of snipe. Yeah, I looked them up.
AM: The wings just whispering. I could —
EP: And a covoy of pheasants. A covoy.
AM: A covoy.
EP: C.O.V.O.Y.
AM: I know that one.
EP: A covoy of pheasants.
AM: Yeah.
EP: No. Partridges that. A covoy of partridge. And a bouquet. A bouquet of pheasants. A town of giraffes. A crash of rhino. A pod of hippos. There’s lots of them. A destruction of wild cats. There’s a deceit of lapwing. An exaltation of skylarks. An ostentation of eagles. A mustering of storks. A flight of swallows.
AM: Just a flight of swallows.
EP: A flight. A flight of swallows. There’s lots of them. And what else? A sloth of bears. A sloth. A skulk of foxes.
AM: Some of them you can really see why and some of them you just can’t.
EP: Some are nice. And you get, what is it? A pace of donkeys, a barren of mules. You know why it’s called a barren?
AM: No.
EP: They don’t breed do they? They’re barren.
AM: Oh, a barren. Barren.
EP: Barren of mules. A mule is a cross between a donkey and a horse, isn’t it? They don’t breed mules. Did you know that?
AM: No. I did know that. But when you said barren, I was thinking baron.
EP: She can’t have kids, can she? I thought that was a good name for them. Mules. And you’ve got a charm of goldfinches. And a chime of Wrens. An army of frogs. A bevvy of otters. Do you know where otters live? Do you know what it’s called? Where otters live? A holt. H O L T. A holt. An army of frogs. A nest of snakes.
AM: What about toads?
EP: I don’t know about that one.
AM: No.
EP: But you get an array of hedgehogs. What do you call a lot of grasshoppers? It’s in the sky. What’s in the sky?
AM: Sun.
EP: Cloud.
AM: A cloud.
GR: A cloud.
AM: Oh cloud. of course.
GR: A cloud of grasshoppers. Yeah.
EP: I can remember the, what the great granddaughter — we met up with her when she was with her mum and dad one day and she had a pen and paper with her and I gave her fifty names.
AM: Brilliant.
EP: Yeah. That’s some of them. Some of them are a fascinating. Some of them — like a lot ravens. An unkindness. That’s my favourite. Nice, isn’t it?
GR: What was crows?
EP: Crows, a murder wasn’t it?
GR: A murder of crows.
AM: A murder of crows.
EP: That’s terrible that is. A mutation of, a murmuration of starlings and a mutation of thrushes.
AM: Is there one for swans?
EP: Eh?
AM: Swans.
EP: Swans. A bank.
AM: A bank of swans.
EP: That’s what it says. Some of them there’s three or four names for them but I just remember one of them.
GR: Yeah.
EP: A deceit of lapwing. An exultation of skylarks.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Interview with Ernie Patterson. One
Creator
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Annie Moody
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-08
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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APattersonGE151008, PPattersonGE1501, PPattersonGE1502
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Format
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01:14:01 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Ernie Patterson DFM was born in Middleton St George in Darlington. At the age of 14, he left school and took on a job as an apprentice Joiner.
He joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 19 in 1941, but whilst he was waiting to be called up, he was helping to build a bomber station and what is now Teesside Airport, also completing work at the satellite station of Croft.
Ernie trained as a Wireless Operator, where he did well with Morse Code. He did his training in February 1942. He was sent to Evanton in Scotland, where he also trained as an Air Gunner.
He flew Proctors, Whitleys, Dominies, Avro Ansons, Halifaxes, Lancasters, Liberators and had a trip in at Catalina Flying Board. Ernie flew with 635 Squadron, which was part of the Pathfinders Force.
Ernie completed 51 Operations, flying to Stettin, Chemnitz and Hanover. He was part of the Master Bomber Crew to Dorsten, Kiel, Nuremburg, Osnabruck and Heligoland.
After the war, he was in charge of flying control in India, handling the closing of a Flying Boat base and arranging for them to be returned to the UK.
Ernie left the Royal Air Force in 1946 and returned to work as a Joiner, retiring from work at the age of 78.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Vivienne Tincombe
635 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
B-24
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing of Helgoland (18 April 1945)
Catalina
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Medal
Distinguished Service Order
Dominie
fear
FIDO
H2S
Halifax
Lancaster
Master Bomber
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Abingdon
RAF Downham Market
RAF Millom
RAF Stanton Harcourt
RAF Yatesbury
Sunderland
superstition
target indicator
training
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/554/15907/PPattersonGE1901.1.jpg
060ccb192e773a320fa5c2d80b95b204
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/554/15907/APattersonGE190126.1.mp3
e165630a23c378907244fd1745908a55
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Patterson, Ernie
Gilbert Ernest Patterson
G E Patterson
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Patterson, GE
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-08
2019-01-26
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Warrant Officer Gilbert Ernest Patterson DFM (b. 1922 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 635 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
BE: So, this interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre, the interviewer is Beth Ellin and the interviewee is Mr Gilbert Patterson. The interview is taking place in Mr Patterson’s home in Darlington on the 26th of January 2019. Joining us is his daughter Catherine Hodgson. Off you go!
EP: Me? Well I was accepted into the RAF on the 4th of February, 1942, and prior to that I was helping to build aerodromes such as Middleton St George which is a bomber station and the satellite to Middleton St George which was Croft, that was, and from there I was called up into the RAF and the first place I went to, where everybody went to, was Blackpool and it was there that I was trained and learned to do Morse Code which was, I’d been accepted for. And we, it was all done in the Winter Gardens and all the teachers were ex GPO instructors and they were the ones, and there you had to get to ten words a minute and you got tested four, six, eight and ten, and if you failed any of them on the way to ten, if you, you sat it three times and if you sat it the third time you’re out.
BE: So you passed.
EP: That was, that was, the first thing you were doing all the foot slogging and everything. The Marks, I always remember the Marks and Spencers was where they kept all your documents. We used to do a guard duty on ‘em, two, two hours on and two hours off and we’d march up to somebody’s back street they’d stop outside somebody’s garage, they’d open the garage door and it was full of rifles and that was where we had to get, we were issued with rifles then and we did rifle drill on the Promenade at Blackpool. We were there about three or four month and we used to do PT on the sands, and the next time we went from there would be a ground wireless operator, place called Madley and from there we went, the next stop was Yatesbury where I trained to be air wireless operator and from there I think we went and we did a, I went to gunnery school up at Evanton and trained to be an air gunner as well, but I was never in the turrets on operations. Am I doing, is this all you want? And that was at Evanton up in Scotland and from there, that’s where we got our three stripes as a sergeant and we marched to the RAF marchpast when we’re on the passing out parade, I always remember that, but it’s hard to remember where I was. Then after that we ended up at, I forget what is was we were at, it was at, I think we ended up at an advanced flying unit where there was sprog navigators and sprog wireless operators and we had instructors with us on this at the advanced flying school, and from there I went, I don’t know I went to there first, after the gunnery school, and we ended up crewing up which was at a place called Abingdon and it was there that you all crewed up and you were all put in a hangar and you had to pick your own crew. You once told you were flying with them, you picked your own crew there. And I think we flew from there, our first time I was flying and their satellite was called Stanton Harcourt and that was where we flew in Whitleys. Then from there we went from Whitleys up to heavy unit on Halifaxes, at Rufforth, that’s near York, have you heard of that? That’s near York, and from there, we were, when we graduated from there we were recommended for that we could have either gone to 10 squadron in Melbourne which is main force or we could have gone to Downham Market on the Pathfinder and we plumped for that. See we, that was our dealing with us then, we could have gone there and got the chop, but this, we got to Downham Market. At Downham Market I was there a month [emphasis] before we went on operations and prior to that we had been training for five month as a crew, you know, before we got on operations, so when we got to Downham we were training on Downham Market for five, for four weeks before we got on operations which was after D-Day and it was there that I crossing the runway to do a DI on a bomber I found a horseshoe which is now over the back door in my kitchen and it were on every bombing raid I went on that, that horseshoe. Look. No kidding that.
BE: And were there other things people had, in the plane that were for superstitions?
EP: Pimpernel.
BE: Well, yes.
EP: We got, there we were issued Pimpernel aids. Have you heard of that, eh? Have you heard of it?
BE: Tell me.
EP: That comb on there, I’ve got it, show you, it’s got a compass inside it: that was one, they were called Pimpernel aids. Then there’s also you know the clip on the pencil which navigators had, you know the metal thing that goes on with the blob on the end, that was another one, you could stand it on the end of the pencil point like that and the blob on the end pointed north, this was in case you got shot down, help you to find where you were and which way to start walking.
BE: And the trees. South.
EP: And we went to lectures to see, they showed you pictures of places where you could get shot down and to give you extra idea of where you were and the only thing I learned from it was that the longest branches of the tree point south, [emphasis] that’s the only thing I can ever remember of it! Not that you could do – but we didn’t need any of them – but also you could have pipe which navigators, a pipe, you pulled the stem out the pipe and in the end of that stem there was a bit of cotton wool there was a compass in there! That was in a pipe and you could have a pick whatever you wanted. And you could also get a pair of buttons, which you put on your trousers and if you could pull them off and turn the buttons round like that and there was a pin on one end and there was a dot on the other one and it would point north, that was another helping to find you, where you were. Have you been told this before?
BE: Not, in an interview, no. It’s really interesting.
EP: Right. That was another way of finding, if you needed, to find your way back. But as it was, that was, as you know, main force you did thirty missions, then you went on to, you go as an instructor somewhere, then you go back and do another fifty. But on Pathfinder Force you had to do the fifty, cause you had all the latest gadgets for navigating and they didn’t want you to leave, so you had to do fifty trips on Pathfinders, if you didn’t make it. Now as we went on to, with us being recommended, lots of crews would go on to Pathfinders that were already on a squadron and they’d done ops, but when you go on to, I suppose this happens on a squadron anyway, well if you hadn’t done any operations and you get on to the Pathfinders, your pilot goes with an experienced crew – I bet you’ve known this before cause they’ve told you - and they fly with another crew to show him what it’s like before he takes his own crew. Well what happened on our, with us he did his second, call his second dicky, and he, cause and he and the two navigators who had already done, he’d done thirty trips, we, they were taken off and posted away, cause you had to be good as a navigation team, that was the main thing on a Pathfinder crew, and with him doing his second dicky we only did twenty nine the rest of the crew and that pilot and the two navigators weren’t making the grade as far as Don Bennet went, he was the boss of Pathfinders, and they were posted overnight and I don’t know where they went, but that left us all spare, the rest of the crew. We’d all done our twenty nine. Well I got on to another crew that lost their wireless operator. Apparently they’d been at the same stage as us, well you know what they were doing, and apparently they’d been shot up over somewhere and they were on two engines coming back to this country and he was heading for Woodbridge, emergency landing strip in Surrey, and on the approach he lost another engine and it crash landed. They all got out bar the wireless operator, he was killed and I took his place.
BE: And his name was?
EP: And his name was Jimmy Crabtree. I think he was from Rochdale, I always remember that, and I think he was an ex-police cadet before he joined the RAF. I always remember that.
BE: And what happened about his sister, writing to you?
EP: And his sister, once she got all his belongings and that, there was a picture of me in it and I’ve got a picture of him somewhere, and she said I hope you have better luck than what Terry did. That was from his sister.
BE: You’ve still got the letter?
EP: Eh?
BE: And you’ve still got this letter.
EP: And I’ve still got, I haven’t got her letter, I’ve got his photograph.
BE: His photograph.
EP: That was that time. Then what was the next thing? I got in with this crew and after that we were top dogs after that. We lost the, I was this wireless operator, and towards the end, I’ll go back to when, when you’re on a Pathfinder Squadron you’re not all marking the target, you know what the Pathfinders did, don’t you, you marked the target, but lots of you, you didn’t all mark the target you went as a supporter, you supported, supported the ones who were marking the target. Anyway when you get to be, you were selected to be a Master Bomber and you were a Master Bomber as you get, first there you were marking the target, you find it and marking it for the bombers and I can always remember the calls, the callsign was Portland One and it always reminds me of a bag of cement, I used to say. And as I said you’re first there and you’re orbiting the target, directing operations to where the TIs and marking the target and the skipper’d tell, speak to all the bombers who were listening out to you, and you had to, and time was the main thing. You had to be there on that minute so that you didn’t bump into one another: there was lots of people lost by that. Where the TIs went down off marking aircraft, being a Master Bomber you’re circling and you’ve got a deputy going round with you, and you’d be wherever the target indicators were going down and cascading on to the aiming point, see we’d marked the aiming point and you tell them if you weren’t on the target, the Master Bomber would tell all the bombers to bomb to one left, or to one right or to the cascading red greens or whatever to go, he’d maybe tell you to ignore the bomb the fading green TIs and bomb the red ones, so that’s what the Master Bomber did. When that raid was over the skipper would assess that raid whether it was successful or not and me as the wireless operator, he’d tell me and I used be in touch with this country before any bomber got back, with that information. And he’d say if that wasn’t a success, said we’ll be coming here again. [laughs] That’s what a Master Bomber did, and I can still remember our base callsign was Off Strike and the aircraft was called Cut Out. I can still remember all that. And I’ve got a, I’ve got a thing in the garage now, and it’s got all the callsigns of all the squadron on a piece of lino, [emphasis] which were, and it’s written in chalk and I’ve still got that chalk on that lino from 1944.
BE: Wow!
EP: It’s in my garage now. Nowadays there’d be some sophisticated computer to give you, give ‘em all information like that.
BE: What about the bombs and people getting killed with the wings getting chopped off?
EP: Oh aye, and on a daylight you think you’re the only ones in the sky when it’s dark, at night time, and on a daylight raid when you used to go, you had to watch if you were getting bombs dropping from an aeroplane that was above you: knocking wingtips off, knocking rear turrets off with the gunner still in it – it happened all the time, but.
BE: What about when you used, with the coffee and trying to get through the plane?
EP: I was in charge of six, a flask six coffees in, to me, I called it creosote. I’ve never drunk coffee ever since, it was that terrible and I used to have to go down to the rear gunner with a flask of coffee and emergency oxygen bottle and you had to slide down on there you couldn’t just walk there, you were all over the sky avoiding flak and searchlights and all that. And I can remember, with being on the Path, you had what they called an H2S, which the second nav, you see we had two navigators. The second navigator operated this H2S and it was like a gadget you could see through cloud with it, onto the road, and that was why, with very little of it, we were the first to get it and you could see the ground. I’d just go back to rear turret, bang on his door, he’d open the door and I’d take the top off flask and give him, straight into his mouth and he’d break a lump of ice off his lung, off his exhaust thing on his mask and give it to me and I’d take it back up to the front and I’d throw it on the navigator’s table and the next day when I went to do a DI on that bomber it was still there but it’s smaller. And that was, that was one of the trips. And in that there were six flasks of coffee and they were all breakable so you can imagine they all did get broken, you’d just get the case off the back of your truck, and you’ve got a packet of rations and in it was six boiled sweets, handful of raisins, packet of chewing gum and a block of chocolate. Have you been told that before?
BE: No.
EP: That’s what we got for the rations.
BE: What did you eat when you landed?
EP: When you landed we got egg and bacon, and chips. And they was all rationed in civvie street, we had a ration thing for it. But we had three, I’ll give you three stories. This particular day, when the army couldn’t take Osnabruck, right, if you remember that was one of the places, and we were on, if you weren’t on missions you were on training and I can remember when we’d go on a cross country run that was for the navigators and meet up with the fighters somewhere, exercise for the gunners or we’d end up over the Wash to drop the, for the bomb aimer to practice dropping smoke bombs that were called ten pound smoke bombs. And what fascinated me, and still does, when the skipper talked to the ground, tell them that we were going to start bombing, the target was in the Wash, you used to have to tell ‘em what height you were at, they used the word Angels, right, Angels Five, you were at five thousand feet, you were ready to bomb the site, that sticks in my mind, what a lovely word: Angels Five to describe your height. I always remember that. [laughs] Anyway, this particular day, we, and I had to, me, I had to contact base every half hour in case there was a recall and this day there was. We had to get back and it was to bomb Osnabruck which the army couldn’t take, they were having trouble getting it so we had to go and soften it up, but the thing was, when we got back and we were briefed to where we were going and we went straight away, whereas as a rule, they take, once you know where you’re going, they take you out to the bomber and you’re kept there for an hour, an hour and a half, before you left but this raid was very important for the army. We took off straight away, but when we got in the aeroplane, we found it weren’t full up and one of the ground staff they left it to another lad to put petrol in and he didn’t and we were ready to go out to take off. The flight engineer, that’s him there -
BE: His name?
EP: Harry. Sitting next to me on that picture. Harry, his name was Harry Parker, but his real name was John Henry: that’s him, and that’s him. He said we haven’t got enough petrol to get us there and back skipper. And the skipper said we must have, he said how much have we got and he, the navi, he tried to work it out – the flight engineer – and he said well what was in, it’s not enough to get us there and back and the skipper said we go and we’ll bale out over France!
BE: Coming back.
EP: We got out to take off, got to the end of the runway, he turned on and went on to another dispersal, broke RT silence and I said about that we had no petrol, cause we were, otherwise we would have had time to sort that out, but we could have taken off straight away after being briefed. Anyway, what happened, but navigation leader and had to talk with the navi, they came in a bomber and they were all taking off to go and he, you know when you go to a target you dog leg, you never fly straight there, did you know that? You fly dog leg, that way Jerry’s guessing which way you’re going by doing that, and he has his fighters on a certain place and you don’t go there, that’s how we used to fox the fighters. And he said we’ll have to cut that leg out and that leg out and take off at such-and-such a time. By the time they got the bowser from the NAAFI, one of the NAAFI drivers got the bowser, that’s the thing that carries the petrol in, hundred octane it is by the way, not what you could buy, this was hundred octane, by the time they got him down there, to fill and to give us enough petrol to get us there and back. He said well -
BE: Somebody came, someone came on the plane.
EP: We cut that leg out, we’re going to be taking off at this time. And he said well, the joke that’s coming, he said in the end, we set course fifty minutes late: they were all well on the way by then. And in the end the skipper said well we’ll cut all the legs out, we’ll go straight to the target, and one of the navigators, Buddy, he said we can’t go, bloody suicide going that way, and the skipper said well we’re going, are you coming with us? That’s the line and somebody said I might as well, got nothing better to do. That’s true story that.
BE: Very, very brave.
EP: We went straight, and that was the highest we ever got, we used to bomb at about nineteen thousand feet all the time, we were up at twenty three thousand feet that day and I was always in the astrodome. You know what that is, don’t you, the dome and inside that was a piece of bullet-proof Perspex in that in case you were attacked, we had to do that, and that particular day we were at twenty three thousand feet to try and avoid some of the light flak, or flak, and all of a sudden there was about half a dozen bursts of flak on our tail. Straight away the rear gunner shouted flak skipper: dive! And he put the aircraft into a dive and I were looking in the astrodome and I could look back and you could just imagine they were reloading and firing, and they burst and we were split second in front, away from it, if they’d been a bit nearer they’d have hit us. But we dived out of the way but that’s what happened and do you know the feeling when you’re last to go to bed you think somebody’s behind you, that’s the feeling I had. You could see all these flaks burst right behind, follow you, you could see, following you down like that, you could see where we’d been but anyway where these things gone off. Anyway, we managed to get there in time we did what we had to do and that was it. That was at one of the raids.
BE: How did they check the dive?
EP: Eh?
BE: How did they check the dive?
EP: Oh that was on Nuremburg that was.
BE: Oh right.
EP: D’you want another story? Right, we did a daylight on Nuremburg, do you know on a night raid we lost ninety five bombers, did you know that? You didn’t! Well you, we lost ninety five bombers: Lancasters, Halifaxes in one night, [emphasis] You didn’t know that, well you should have done. The lads must have told you that. I wasn’t on that raid though. And there was twelve crash landed in this country which were write offs, but that was the most we ever lost. Anyway, we did a daylight raid, that was a night raid but we did after that, being in the forty five we did a daylight raid on Nuremburg and we were on the first to drop ours and we got walloped and the aircraft, affected the ailerons or something, we went into a dive, and Harry, he told me he had his back up against the pilot’s control and he was pushing the control stick back with the pilot and it eventually responded and he levelled out so he came round, the raid was over, they’d all, they were all gone and on their way back home to England and we, he came round, just dropped the bombs, and he eventually turned round, tried to find our way home and all of a sudden these two fighters we thought were coming for us, and when they come along, I could see the mid upper gunner waiting for ’em, he was ready to have a go at them, they were coming and they were Mustangs, you’ve heard of them, haven’t you. Have you? American Mustangs, well they flew right along, escorted us back, and there was one on each side of us and this feller at this, on the starboard side, he had his hood back, coloured lad, and he was smoking a Havana cigar, let the smoke out. That’s a true story. [Unclear] They were based over there somewhere.
BE: You had no engine power, gun power, is that right?
EP: That was another time, that. Anyway, when they left, from out of nowhere what came alongside? It was a Spitfire! Where the hell he’d come from? He followed until we crossed into the Channel area and he broke away as he was based over there. That was another story. Are you interested?
BE: Very interested!
EP: And that’s what happened to him. Do you want another story?
BE: Definitely!
EP: I think, we were briefed to go to Leipzig and our second navigator, he was a Russian Jew, his name was Boris Brezlov. He came from Russia with his grandparents and the name was Breslovski and they cut the ski off the end and they called themselves Breslov, anyway he was doing his chart, in flying control and he could sense somebody standing behind him, and he said the waiting [unclear] to go and he said don’t stand there behind mind, bugger off somewhere else and at that this arm came over his shoulder with all the bloody gold braid on it and he seen it and it was Don Bennett, Air Vice Marshall, but he was in charge of the Pathfinders, and he said, and he expected to be taken outside and shot. Said only RAF to tell an Air Vice Marshal to bugger off! That’s another story. True story that, yeah. But, er, is that enough?
BE: If you would like to take a break, we can take a break and come back in a bit.
EP: We’ll take a break.
BE: So we’re just coming back from a little bit of a break.
EP: Well this first pilot I flew with his name was Jack Harold, and he had a car, a Morris Minor, and with him getting posted, he came into the billet, he says anybody want to buy a motor car? And I said to him Jack, yeah I’ll have it, how much you want for it? He says twenty eight pound. And I said to him I said well I’ll have it Jack no intentions of driving and I’ve still got, I went into out Downham, into village, and I borrowed, I took twenty five pound out of me Post Office Saving book, what I’ve got in that drawer over there, and I had three pound in me pocket and that was the twenty eight I give him for the car. And the very first time we all three of six of us went into Downham Market in it and it, what happened, I found the brakes weren’t very good so the next time, before I went the second time I went in the car and I found I’d have a job, and they were all cable brakes and not like they are now, and I of course, clever me, I just thought I’d slacken them off meself and I put, and we got in it and of course when I took off I’d tightened them too much, and they were getting really hot and hubs of the wheels were red hot with binding, they was stretching acting as a brake, I couldn’t hardly move so we stopped and I could see all the hubs of the wheels were red hot so what we all did we did, we had a pee on the wheels to cool ‘em off. True that. Yeah. We did.
BE: [Laugh]
EP: We got back in and went the rest of the way and back without any brakes at all. I managed, I slackened them right off. I thought I’d adjust them by tightening them and we found that all brakes on cars you could hear ‘em when you tune up, you can hear ‘em catching. That’s how they should have been. Cause I slackened them right off and we went the rest of the way there and back without any brakes. And that was where I used to go to what they called the Corn Exchange in Wisbech and that was where you had all dance bands in there, that’s where I learned to dance and where I met my wonderful wife. In the end eventually she used to phone me up in to the mess, at times there weren’t allowed any outside calls come in, security wise, and you know you never seen anybody with cameras, they were taboo, you weren’t allowed cameras but she used to phone me every day and if I wasn’t going to see her on the night I used to say to her how did work go down this morning and when I said that she knew I wasn’t going to see her then on that night. You couldn’t, there were times when they wouldn’t allow outside calls coming in. That’s how security was, when you, like you see on here you talk about. That was it. You never went anywhere. What’s next?
BE: Octane, hundred octane fuel for your car.
EP: Anyway, we got a shop in the village, I managed to salvage one of the lad’s, we had water bottles and a bag that fit it to put it in, and I managed to salvage that and I got three of these bottles and they just went snug into this bag and I used to take them out to the ground staff lads out that, where the bomber was based, but sometimes they only had MT petrol, was a lot less than hundred octane. But course you know they used to, with the petrol that the ground staff lads had, they used to clean the nacelles, you know where the nacelles are on the bomber, it’s where the wheels go in to and they used to clean the engines nacelles with the stirrup pump and petrol in the bucket and pump it away inside the bomber where the wheels go and one guy used to fill these three cans for me with six pints with petrol what they used to clean the engine out, and he’d put it in and leave the bags in the back of the car, he’d, after I’d filled the tank up with that six pints he’d get it after he’d had his dinner, he’d go back to the bomber and he’d put, he’d fill ‘em up again and he’d come back and he’d fill it up again, and that’s a gallon and a half for the night out and I used to pick him up and the six of us in the one car and that. That was very naughty, you aren’t allowed to do that. But we also had FIDO and it used ninety thousand gallons an hour and it used to disperse the fog, you know on the side of the runway. There was only two bomber stations that had it at the time and we were one of them.
BE: So what did you do when you went out with your crew on kind of leave time and your relaxation time?
EP: Leave.
BE: What did you do with, you say you’d go to the Corn Exchange?
EP: That was what we’d do of a night time, it was where a dance bands, that was proper dancing in those days, quicksteps, waltzes and all that, you got a lot of excuse-me dancing there, and that was where I met the wife and she was in the Land Army, have you heard of the Womens’ Land Army, and she was on a shilling an hour, five p an hour, that was her wages for her that. And you know me, as a flight sergeant, do you know what my pay was, sixty two and a half pay, that’s twelve and six a day, that was my pay, a shilling of that was danger money, that was right, sixty two and a half p a day. Now when I left school in 1936 and went to be apprentice joiner, my pay were twenty seven p a week: that was the pay. In those days you could buy a three bedroomed semi-detached house for three hundred and sixty five pound!
BE: Did you mention Newcastle airport?
EP: Then with me being a joiner, I was, when the war started 1939, all building work stopped and I ended up, before I went into the RAF, I ended up working at Middleton St George which was a bomber station weren’t it, and Croft was a satellite to it and I worked there and from there I was called up and went in back to where, you know where I started off with this going to Blackpool. That was when I started.
BE: When did you go to Newcastle Airport?
EP: That was, as I say I was working at Newcastle Airport, it was called Goosepool before, that was it’s name. I can remember when I was a young lad I used to go and meet me cousins that lived near the airport, and we used to go bird nesting where it was Bomber Command, took off from there, and that was there. I can always remember I was working in one of the village for the future crew, soldiers and all was gonna take it over and the army was having a practice, a display, one lot was chasing the others and they [unclear] down to some aircraft flying nearby and some of these soldiers came through these billet holes I was fixing a doorway in and on the frame of the doorframe there was a strap to hold the frame together when you fixed it, and I was stood, what amused me was, one of these, one of them, you know the red the red army banners on and ran through one was being chased by the green lot of soldiers, they was practicing whatever, and he tripped up over this blinkin’ lath and he just dropped, he just fell out of the aeroplane and they were chasing, chasing and he tripped over this lath. [Laughs] He gets, the man said get up and he runs off. I didn’t dare face him anymore, I had to turn away. That was, that was before I went into the RAF, all that. All a long time ago.
BE: What about the characteristic of a Lanc take off.
EP: Did you know that the Lancaster has a pull to port on take off? Did you know that? She knows it.
BE: Tell the story though, be great.
EP: No, but this is it. The pilot had to juggle with it. That’s why we had eight in the crew. There’s two navigators, one was, one of them, the proper navigator, he was a lecturer in zoology at Reading University before he went into the RAF and the other one was, I told you, Boris Brezlov and he came from Russia with his grandparents, and he used to operate the H2S, the gadget we see through the floor.
BE: Their names, Graham Rose, their names?
EP: Graham Rose, he was the navigator, but you wouldn’t think he was on a bloody bomber here, cause I sat here and he sat there, and Boris sat there and I used to stand up and look through the astrodome, cause I got good marks, one exam I had I had excellent night vision, eyesight, this was part of it, when we got near the target he used to shout over tannoy get in that astrodome Pat, that shows I had good eyesight, keep me eye open for fighters, but the thing was you don’t fire at them unless they fire at you. This H2S, do you know what, it was all see through cloud, you could see the ground and now and again you’d get the navigator telling the pilot to tip his wing like that so that he could send the bloody radar to check how near another city was, used to check his and you wouldn’t think he was on a bomber raid he was that involved, with his, every five minutes on his chart was a little diamond track, and he was on course all the time and this is why I put it down to how we get away with it: we were in the right place at the right time. A good crew they were. And we all kept going until we all did, some did about fifty four trips, we all kept going till we all got our fifty in and that. And that, the first crew I was with, we seemed to get more, and out of all the fifty one raids we was on in all we lost two hundred and seventy five bombers, that was, I kept a check of it, and I got three hundred and fifty flying hours in Lancasters alone, and two hundred and fifty of ‘em was operational and I never got the defence medal because I wasn’t, I’d got to do three years non-operational. You see on the phone they said you only did two, they had tabs on you all the time, you only did two and I was still training, that was two training with the crew before I got on ops. And I always remembered, if I’d been in the Home Guard or the Fire Service that would have counted, all the time I was building aerodromes before I went into the RAF, so they could have taken that into account, couldn’t they? That was better than being on Home Guard, that’s what it was. And I can still remember our callsigns, I may have told you this anyway: it was Off Strike: base and Cut Out for the aircraft, and you more or less got your same aircraft all the time unless it was getting a service and that. Wonderful aeroplane, the old Lancaster, wonderful. We had a squadron of Mosquitos with us, you know what, there was about eight, seven or eight Mosquito Pathfinder squadrons during the war and biggest part of them was Mosquitos and we had a squadron of Mosquitos and they originated from Thornaby, which is just up the road, and they could take off with a four thousand pound bomb if the bomb doors weren’t fully closed. I’ve got, show you some pictures. Pull it back. This was, is it still going? This was our, my last raid on Heligoland.
BE: Oh, wow!
EP: That was there. Read the bottom of it, tells you the height we were at and everything. And that’s the raid we did on Nuremburg where we had a bit of hiccup there.
BE: They’re amazing.
EP: That’s all bombs leaving the bomber. Yeah, there was a four thousand bomb following all that.
BE: That’s incredible.
EP: That’s, that was from our own aeroplane. Yeah. This is my log book. Just look at that front page. You see what you can read on the right hand side. Read all the places I was at. We were on that one sunk the battleship von Scheer. German battleship, we were on that raid.
BE: Amazing. The red and the green and the black means different things.
EP: The red’s night time and the black’s daylight bombing raid and the green’s the daylight raids. You see Admiral von Scheer. Now my very first trip was on Stettin, you know where that, that was Poland. Eight and a half hours airborne and it wasn’t put, we went there a few times. On one raid we went up, we came over Norway, over Sweden, down into Poland. Eight and a half hour trip it was, and one time this pilot was listening out on his radio, and Sweden was opening fire, they weren’t trying to hit you, and you’re listening out and they said: ‘you are flying over neutral territory,’ you know, you shouldn’t be doing that, and pilot said, ‘we know, anyway coming back don’t open fire again.’ This pilot answered: ‘you are three thousand feet off target,’ [emphasis] and they answered them, said, ‘we know!’ They weren’t trying to hit you, they were just warning shots. True story that. That’s something to read that, that’s just that one, that’s the last page and that says, [pause] I was awarded the DFM, you know what the DFM is, don’t you, you do! Distinguished Flying Medal. I got twenty quid with that when I got demobbed! Yeah. It’s worth about four thousand pound now. And also, you get me that pen over there, all of that, all that. I’m going to show you some of my proud possessions. Being in the Pathfinder Force, you had to have a permit to wear them, to wear the badge, the gold badge. You could be pulled up, you could be pulled, that was my pilot, you could be pulled up by the Military Police if you were wearing it. Lots used to masquerade and weren’t entitled to it and were pulled up, and this was a permit I had, that was a permit I had to wear it, signed by Air Vice Marshal Bennett. You read that.
BE: That’s amazing! Awarded Pathfinder Force Badge, 23rd of February 1945.
EP: And that, not until you get permission from him, and that’s it, that’s one of my proud possessions.
BE: It’s amazing.
EP: Are you reading it?
BE: Yeah.
EP: You soon read that! And that’s the skipper, the second skipper I flew with. He died in 1990.
BE: His name?
EP: DSO, DFC he got. We all got decorated.
BE: His name.
EP: Eh?
BE: His name?
EP: Alex. That’s his book there look. There’s his name, there’s his book.
BE: Alex Thorne, DFC, DSO.
EP: That’s him there, he was top, a hell of a bloke, hell of a pilot. That’s what I put it down to, my idea, the navigator was the main one. He went, took you over the right spots, but and those, because cameras weren’t around get the very full pictures you get now. All the pictures you see and that’s his book. And that was at the Nuremburg raid. You can see the craters, see all the bomb craters on that one.
BE: Yeah, it’s amazing.
EP: The garrison see, flattened it. and we go on about the Germans, Germany did to us. We got nothing in this country to what the Germans got. The damage we did was out of this world to what, to what they got. Terrible. I thought that was sad, the damage we did. But er, if you want to read that after.
BE: Do you want, about the dinghy training?
EP: What?
BE: Dinghy training in Blackpool.
EP: What was that?
BE: About the training you did in dinghy training. If you came down in the sea and the aids that were on it.
EP: Well that’s it. You remember the comb? There’s the comb with the, with the compass inside. Can you see, if you look, you can shake it you can hear it at times. Can yer?
BE: No, I can’t.
EP: Can you [unclear] see there’s something inside the plastic, in there. Turn it over, there’s a compass in there.
BE: You would not know.
EP: Eh?
BE: It’s very clever. You would not know.
EP: Yeah, you just break it. Used to say you had two pins, two buttons you could sew on your flies, I said you put them on your trousers you’d pull them off to see where to go and your trousers would fall down. I used to crack on about that. But that’s all the page that. When you’ve finished doing this you can read that, but that was one of my proud possessions. You put it back did you? Was that. That was a permanent award. When I got demobbed you got, it was called a gratuity. It’s called redundancy now when you get, you finish work, in those days it was called gratuity, I got eighty two pound for all that and I got twenty pound for me gong, but now with all the memorabilia, with my DFM, me Pathfinder Certificate, that thing there, and me mate and all that: it’s worth two or three thousand quid.
BE: Amazing.
EP: And she kept them, my, in that, it’s all in that cabinet over there. I made that cabinet.
BE: It’s lovely.
EP: What else, pet?
BE: This was about the dinghy training and you used to, how you would detach from the plane and the training in Barrow-in-Furness
EP: Barrow-in-Furness, I don’t know how we go there. But the thing was you had to put all this flying gear on, what someone else had been training on it, it was all wet, trying to put it on and in turn you had to jump off the high dive, into the water, into a dinghy and one of the exercises was: the instructor there, he’d turn the dinghy over and you had, in turn you had to jump in the thing and try to get on to your knees into the round part of the dinghy and a couple of rubber handles on the bottom like that and you got to lift, don’t you, you’re right underneath it aren’t you and all the rest of the crew there would be in the water waiting to get in it and they’re all going get in it and you’re underneath it, [unclear] all get in it [laughter].
BE: So if it came down in the sea what was it equipped with?
EP: Inside of it? I was in charge of a portable tele, transmitter. The handle was folded up and also you’re tied to the bomber, in the right, into the starboard wing there was a plate there and on the inside of the aircraft if you know you’re coming down in the sea, channel, you pull this cord and it inflates the dinghy in the wing and blows this panel off and then you’ve got to get out of the aeroplane and get into the dinghy before it goes down and there’s a knife in there in the socket, you’ve got to cut the wire, if you didn’t it would pull you down in the water wouldn’t it so you’ve got to cut yourself free and make sure you’re all in it, and that’s how and this portable wireless that I was in charge of, what you’d to do you’d just connect this handle and crank it and it sent out SOS on a continuous note so they could take a bead on you, see where you are. I don’t know whether it worked or not, but that was what the job was, this portable and it was covered in about six inches of foam so it wouldn’t sink. And did you know the wings, the petrol tanks on the Lancasters, it’s got about six inches of foam round on about six petrol tanks. You take off two of them, and then you use the others and when you take off the two you landed on and they’re covered in six inches of foam, in case you get hit with flak, of course it’ll seal it again. Once you get, I only ever saw two fellas ever bale out of a Lancaster, they was all in the stream, bomber stream and they were on fire and I only seen two get out and it still kept going along with us, till eventually got away. But I’ve seen aircraft get a direct hit in the air and it just explodes. Pretty terrible, awful sight. Don’t know they’re born now. And do you know what, I don’t get a penny pension for what I went through. You don’t get nowt. I came out A1, if I’d come out wounded I’d have got one: I don’t get any pension.
BE: What about the dispersal, when you landed in fog and you followed a vehicle on the runway.
EP: The very first trip I did with this second pilot, we went to Merseburg and we lost a lot of bombers that night. And coming back it was that foggy where we were based, was working, and it was all, technical aircraft that they landed there, yes I, I had to listen to Group headquarters and the message was to all us bombers: we were diverted to Ford down near Southampton. I always remember that, and we were up at ten thousand feet, and the women, who were controllers, they were marvellous, their voices, women, they used to handle it, bring aircraft down wherever they were at, and you would get an aircraft calling up permission emergency to land short of fuel and someone ill on board and it would er -
BE: You landed, and a vehicle.
EP: And when you do land, you land and all of a sudden a little fifteen hundred weight van would nip in front of you and big words would appear on it: follow me and you would follow him somewhere then and when you get where he switches the light off and he goes and gets another aeroplane. Then the next day you had to go find, there was that many bloomin’ aircraft on the ground it took you ages to find your own aeroplane, course they all look alike on the ground, don’t they. Yeah. And coming back right, we were at the lowest I’ve ever been, we were hedge hopping all the way back. You know what hedge-hopping is? That’s what it means, hedge-hopping.
BE: Tell me.
EP: You used, rather tricky, you come down, had to take down to at least a thousand feet. We were just keeping low to get back, we were that low I couldn’t use the radio to tell them that we were coming home.
BE: What’s hedge-hopping?
EP: That was it, that was called hedge-hopping.
BE: You mentioned about when you checked the plane after you’d landed for the holes.
EP: That was the first trip, more action, you walk round the bomber, with, you all had equipment, to count all the holes you got in there, I can remember the flak used to go straight through the aeroplane you know, no problem at all. I can remember getting out of my seat to look at the astrodome and then when I went to sit on it again I put my hand on my seat to steady me down and there was hole, a bit of flak had gone through there. I wasn’t sitting on it at the time or it’d have gone right through!
BE: Lucky.
EP: That would have made your eyes water wouldn’t it. [Laughs]
BE: It would!
EP: That was it. Was a wonderful aeroplane. Three hundred and fifty flying hours in one and three hundred, and two hundred and fifty is operational. My longest trip was eight hours and fifty minutes, in the air, all at once. You take on oxygen all the time.
BE: What was the time you had a go at flying it?
EP: Oh aye, skipper give me, I had a fly of the bloody thing, you know. He had the automatic pilot in and I sat in the seat and the radome switched it back out back of that and you can feel your nose going, you pull your nose back and when you’re done and you feel going over like that and you pull that back you should go up over you go to pull that down, and the navigator Boris he comically said now try using your hands. [Laughter]
BE: Not your feet! What were the tests where they clipped your column?
EP: When they were testing for night vision tests. There was four of you sat round this thing in front of you and you all had a screen each and so you wouldn’t go forward to see what was, and they’d send a silhouette picture of a German aircraft, you had to identify what make it was and how far away it was. Cause guns we had were only effective at four hundred yards. Did you know that? You didn’t did you? They were Browning guns and they were only effective at four. And so that you wouldn’t cheat and lean forward they used to fasten your coat to the back of the chair, so you couldn’t go forward. Then at gunnery school we were, we were firing air to ground. There was a mixture of tanks, well there was the tanks on the ground and what we’d do, we’d take off, these were in Ansons, a different type of aeroplane, you fly down England, go to the targets were there, and this, with an instructor gunner and he kept saying hold your fire, you know I thought, and you go down - this was right on the edge of the coast where you would see - and you’d fly out to sea, turn round, come in and you come this way your guns would be on the other side then wouldn’t they, coming down there and he kept saying hold your fire and you’d come on and come on and you’d go out to sea at that end, turn round come back, he said this three or four times. I said what am I keep holding my bloody fire for? Then all of a sudden coming along there I heard the word fire so I let go and I was firing all of me bloody guns at target I could see the bullets ricocheting off all off ‘em all over and between the short bursts I could hear him bawling, ‘what the hell you doing? Can’t you see those bloody fellers putting that gun right?’ I just stopped in time or I’d have hit some of them, they were putting something, doing something to the model and that’s why he kept telling me hold your fire, they weren’t ready to be fired at, and I just heard, I just, all I heard was the word fire so like I just let go! Any more pet? [Laughter]
BE: The recent anniversary, at the unveiling of the Canadian pilot at St [unclear] George’s Hotel at Teesside Airport.
EP: This is only four or five, four years ago.
BE: Yes, but this guy that sat next to you how that came, and he had a silk worm.
EP: Well we had a Canadian Bomber come on the squadron, didn’t we, you know that, and it based at Middleton St George and I got chatting to this fellow, he flew from there and he -
[Other]: [Unclear]
EP: He had a caterpillar on his lapel, you know what that’s for don’t you? For using the parachute, the lad was saved with a parachute. You know and I’m chatting to him and apparently I was on the same raid as him that was on Hannover, not Hannover, Dortmund, and he was, I was, we lost fourteen bombers that night and he was in one of them, and I showed him, anyhow I pointed out in my log book and he was on that raid and he was there, that same night that I was on the same raid as him and I was down in Norfolk and he was flying from Middleton St George.
BE: And he was taken prisoner.
EP: And he was taken prisoner, weren’t he. He was, he was, good time he had as a prisoner. This is my proud, that’s it, and he didn’t have his log book because when you got shot down they take everything and you never see them. Well I’ve still got mine and anything in the papers mind I check it with this. You see that page there? It shows you Admiral von Scheer, there was a German pocket battleship, the Admiral von Sheer, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, that was three of them and they were all German battleships, they all got sunk you know. Our lads, hell of an aircraft, the Lancaster. I was thinking of buying one and I keep it in the garden.
BE: What about the story when you were demobbed and were sent to India?
EP: Oh, after the war I was recommended for a commission though after, be the same time we got a fortnight’s leave and we had to go back to the squadron and I, we decided get married and I got a wife and a fortnight’s extension of leave. And the [unclear] seven days granted you only got seven days, you had to go back. But this particular, we finished flying they give me seven, they give me a fortnight, and course while I was on leave at home I was bloody posted to another Pathfinder squadron and I never got me commission.
BE: It’s still out there waiting.
[Other]: Aw!
EP: I was a warrant officer.
BE: Where were you sent to in India?
EP: So instead of that, if I’d have taken a commission, you know when you get a commission in the RAF you get discharged and you’re brought in as an officer with a different number and you’ve got to do at least twelve month. But the war was over, I wanted out so I didn’t pursue it. I was going to pursue it, and it had gone a month, they’d mislaid it so I didn’t bother, I wanted out. But they sent me, I still ended up out in India. A place called Korangi Creek, near Karachi, I ended up out there. I was out there about ten month.
BE: And Keith was born, your son.
EP: And Keith was born there.
BE: No he wasn’t. He was born whilst you were out there.
EP: While I was out there. He was seven month old before I saw him. Nowaday they let you sit by their bed when they have babies, in the services. I tried to get out of it by reporting sick, it was the only time I ever reported sick in the RAF, had a hell of a cold, I’ve still got it, the same one, Friar’s balsam in a basin, with a towel over your head, breathe over it, you’re going to India and I still went out there. I ended up in flying control out there, in charge of flying control and it was there where I got a trip in a Catalina. That was a flying boat. But it -
BE: The incident with the boat and the paddle and you nearly died.
EP: We used to go fishing on the creek. If we caught anything we used to give it in to the mess, the sergeant’s mess. And this particular day, we took this little boat fishing and we couldn’t get back into put to shore because we, the current carried us out into the Indian Ocean. And do you know what the paddle was made out of? A lid off a tin of paint on the end of a brush and trying to get back and that and in the end the bloody launch takes, sees the aircraft, the Catalina’s off: they came to get us. But that was it.
BE: But how? How did you do it? How did you [unclear]
EP: I lifted it up, I just flicked it like that, and it flashed awhile on the shore and they saw it and they came out to get us, they knew we were in trouble. And when you get off the little boat off the creek onto the land, it’s like opening the oven door, it was that hot out there. Terrible.
BE: About your flying boots and your ammunition.
EP: Oh aye. With the flying boots we had on, when we went to squadron they issued us with a 38 revolver. We used to have to go on this range they had. In those days you used to fire like that, nowadays it’s like just two hands, isn’t it. You couldn’t hit anything with that so I brought the thing out and they used to give you a packet of ammunition. I used to empty the packet of bullets down my flying boot, so if I’d baled out the buggers would have dropped out wouldn’t they! [Laugh]
BE: What was the laminated thing you had if you came down and you had to say in Polish?
EP: We went, the Russians were and we had a, first time I’d ever came across plastic. We had a plastic thing round our necks with the union jack on it, and we had to say something - we are British airmen or something - and of course with the second navigator come, he knew Russian, he’d come, originating from Russia, he said, if you said it like what we had to say he said if we said it like that we will shoot you. [laughs] Couldn’t get your mouth round it, in case you had problems you’d be easier to fly on than land in Russia, come home. Long trip we did, like Kiel, some hot spots going over there. I can remember was a Mosquito squadron where we were and it landed was in daylight and we were going on the same raid as them, give ‘em a hand, and he said the flak’s that thick you can put your wheels down and ride across on it! [Laugh] Always remember that. Course they’re a wonderful aeroplane. You know that we were losing that many aircraft bombing Berlin, I wasn’t on any of them, I wasn’t qualified by then, we were losing so many they stopped going to Berlin as early as March 1944. We lost seventy bombers on the last raid on Berlin, but the Mossies were going, they could get up to thirty five thousand feet, they couldn’t reach ‘em and they’re the ones that carried the war on on Berlin, was the Mosquito, that’s a wonderful aeroplane it had this two engines, like the Lanc had four engines. And full tanks on the Lanc was two thousand one hundred and fifty four gallon, that was full tanks and we had six tanks. You took off on two and then you used the others – that was your flight engineer’s job to keep switching tanks for the pilot - and you landed on the same two you took off on, so you knew we had plenty of petrol.
BE: What did you write on?
EP: Eh?
BE: What did you write on?
EP: Write on what?
BE: When you were a wireless operator. You made your notes on something.
EP: As the wireless operator, all your information, frequencies and callsign and people it changed every six, every six hours and so you had to have two lots of information and it was all on rice paper and I used to tear a bit off the end and chew it, just to make sure, you had to, it changed. And I can always remember when the skipper was speaking to the main force, he used, they all had a callsign, and most of the time it was Press On, cause we used to say press on rewardless, and our callsign for base was, I’ve told you this haven’t I, was Off Strike, and you flew in your same aircraft all the time from Cut Out, that was the base call, and I’ve got a piece of lino in the garage now with those callsigns in chalk, still on a piece of lino. Would you like to see that?
BE: Love to after the interview.
[Other]: And what about the reunion mum went to with you in the Royal Albert Hall and Bennett was there and you did a present -
EP: That was the Lancaster Hotel that.
[Other]: Oh right. And you presented Bennett with the scroll.
EP: Oh, that’s right.
[Other]: And mum said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
EP: Mum went, and Don Bennett was there as well because he was the boss of Pathfinders, and there was dancing and all that. Do you remember Kenneth Wolstenholme what used to be on the television? He was there and he was dancing with your mum, when he met Kenneth Wolstenholme and was it Benson that -
[Other]: It was a reunion, long after the war.
EP: Yeah. Bennett gave a speech to all the lads that, they were all ex-Pathfinder aircraft crew. The thing he said it made everyone emotional didn’t it.
[Other]: And mum said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and everyone stood up -
EP: That’s true.
[Other]: To acknowledge him. Yeah.
BE: He was our boss. That was where he put his arm -
[Other]: Must have been the seventies, dad.
EP: He was the one that put his arm over Boris’s shoulder, you know, you called, shouted bugger off. Oh, he said, I expected to be taken outside and shot. He said there’s no one in the RAF told an Air Marshal to bugger off! True story that!
BE: Brilliant. Do you want to stop now? Yeah.
EP: Have a cup of tea.
BE: Thank you very much. It’s been absolutely brilliant. I’ve loved all the stories, they were absolutely great. Thank you very much.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Ernie Patterson. Two
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Beth Ellin
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2019-01-26
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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APattersonGE190126, PPattersonGE1901
Language
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eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Format
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01:08:37 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Before joining the Royal Air Force on 4 February 1942, Ernie worked as an apprentice joiner. On being called up he went to Blackpool for training, which included Morse code. Following training at different places he then attended the advanced flying school. After travelling to RAF Abingdon for crewing up they trained on Whitleys and then Halifaxes. From there they went to RAF Downham Market to train on Pathfinders. Ernie was transferred to another crew to replace their wireless operator who had been killed. When flying, members of the crew each had a ration of six boiled sweets, a handful of raisins, a packet of chewing gum and a block of chocolate. He explained about dinghy training. Ernie recall an operation when they had a recall to bomb Osnabrück; another squadron did aa operation to Nuremberg and lost 95 bombers in that one night. The crew did a daylight operation on Nuremberg and they were escorted back by two Mustangs. Ernie remembers buying a Morris Minor from a colleague and describes the mishaps he had due to its poor brakes. Ernie met his wife at a dance at the Corn Exchange in Wisbech. His son was born while he was posted in India. He had 350 flying hours in Lancasters, 250 of which were operational. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal a Pathfinder Award Badge. At the end of the war he was offered a commission but didn’t take it as he wanted to return to civilian life.
Contributor
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Sue Smith
Anne-Marie Watson
Steph Jackson
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Germany
England--Norfolk
England--Oxfordshire
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Nuremberg
England--Wisbech
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Durham (County)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-02-04
635 Squadron
aircrew
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Medal
ditching
FIDO
H2S
Halifax
Lancaster
love and romance
Master Bomber
military service conditions
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
P-51
Pathfinders
RAF Abingdon
RAF Downham Market
RAF Middleton St George
RAF Rufforth
RAF Stanton Harcourt
RAF Yatesbury
superstition
target indicator
training
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/7914/LGodfreyCR1281391v10001.2.pdf
2bb4feee369606f050f7e0e0563b6922
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Godfrey, Charles Randall
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
64 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Charles Randall Godfrey DFC (b. 1921, 146099, Royal Air Force) and consists of his logbook and operational notes, items of memorabilia, association memberships, personnel documentation, medals and photographs. He completed 37 operations with 37 Squadron in North Africa and the Mediterranean and 59 operations with 635 Squadron. He flew as a wireless operator in the crew of Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette VC.
The collection has has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Charles Godfrey and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Godfrey, CR
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-18
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Charles Godfey's observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LGodfreyCR1281391v10001
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Egypt
France
Libya
Greece
Germany
Gibraltar
Great Britain
Netherlands
Scotland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Belgium--Haine-Saint-Pierre
Egypt--Alexandria
Egypt--Cairo
Egypt--Ismailia (Province)
Egypt--Marsá Maṭrūḥ
Egypt--Tall al-Ḍabʻah
England--Berkshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cumbria
England--Devon
England--Gloucestershire
England--Hampshire
England--Kent
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Northumberland
England--Oxfordshire
England--Rutland
England--Shropshire
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
France--Angers
France--Caen
France--Creil
France--Mantes-la-Jolie
France--Nucourt
France--Rennes
Germany--Wiesbaden
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Dorsten
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düren (Cologne)
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Osterfeld
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Troisdorf
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Wesseling
Greece--Ērakleion
Greece--Piraeus
Libya--Darnah
Libya--Tobruk
Netherlands--Hasselt
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Scotland--Moray
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
England--Cornwall (County)
North Africa
Libya--Banghāzī
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Libya--Gazala
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1942-03-23
1942-06-10
1942-06-11
1942-06-12
1942-06-13
1942-06-14
1942-06-15
1942-06-16
1942-06-17
1942-06-18
1942-06-19
1942-06-20
1942-06-22
1942-06-23
1942-06-24
1942-06-25
1942-06-26
1942-06-28
1942-06-29
1942-07-02
1942-07-03
1942-07-05
1942-07-08
1942-07-09
1942-07-10
1942-07-12
1942-07-13
1942-07-15
1942-07-16
1942-07-17
1942-07-19
1942-07-20
1942-07-25
1942-07-26
1942-07-28
1942-07-29
1942-07-31
1942-08-01
1942-08-06
1942-08-07
1942-08-08
1942-08-09
1942-08-14
1942-08-15
1942-08-16
1942-08-17
1942-08-18
1942-08-19
1942-08-21
1942-08-22
1942-08-23
1942-08-24
1942-08-25
1942-08-26
1942-08-27
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-08-30
1942-08-31
1942-09-01
1942-09-03
1942-09-05
1942-09-06
1942-09-08
1942-09-09
1944-05-06
1944-05-08
1944-05-12
1944-05-13
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-29
1944-06-05
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-07-07
1944-07-09
1944-07-10
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-20
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-07-30
1944-08-01
1944-08-04
1944-11-17
1944-11-18
1944-12-04
1944-12-06
1944-12-07
1944-12-12
1944-12-15
1944-12-18
1944-12-24
1944-12-28
1944-12-29
1945-01-01
1945-01-02
1945-01-05
1945-01-07
1945-01-08
1945-01-23
1945-02-01
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
1945-02-04
1945-02-07
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
1945-02-14
1945-02-15
1945-02-18
1945-02-20
1945-02-21
1945-03-07
1945-03-08
1945-03-22
1945-03-24
1945-03-25
1945-03-31
1945-04-11
1945-04-13
1945-04-14
1945-04-25
1945-04-30
1945-05-05
1945-05-07
1945-05-15
1945-05-22
1945-06-08
1945-06-18
1945-08-03
1945-08-05
1944-06-06
1944-08-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Pilot Officer Godfrey from 3 of February 1941 to 25 of September 1945 detailing training schedule, instructional duties and operations flown. Aircraft flown were Dominie, Proctor, Wellington, Hampden, Anson, Defiant, Martinet, Stirling, Lancaster, C-47 and Oxford. He was stationed at RAF Manby, RAF Bassingbourn, RAF Harwell, RAF Lossiemouth, RAF Downham Market, RAF Hemswell, RAF Wittering, RAF Abingdon, RAF Upper- Heyford, RAF Upwood, RAF Gillingham, RAF Cranwell, RAF Melton Mowbray, RAF Church Fenton, RAF Market Drayton, RAF Waddington, RAF Upavon, RAF Sywell, RAF Carlisle, RAF Linton-On-Ouse, RAF Newbury, RAF Cottesmore, RAF Brize Norton, RAF Exeter, RAF Andover, RAF Hampstead Norris, RAF Hythe, RAF Gibraltar, RAF St Eval, RAF El Dabba, RAF Shaluffa, RAF Abu Sueir, RAF Almaza, RAF Blyton, RAF Ingham, RAF Marston Moor, RAF Leeming, RAF Acklington, RAF Middleton St. George, RAF Newmarket, RAF Moreton-in-Marsh, RAF Leconfield, RAF Skipton-on-Swale, RAF Wyton, RAF Warboys, RAF Westcott, RAF Gravely and RAF Worcester. He completed 37 operations with 37 Squadron in North Africa and the Mediterranean and 59 operations with 635 Squadron to targets in Belgium, France and Germany. Targets included: Heraklion, Piraeus, Derna, Tamimi, Benghazi Harbour, Gazala, Mersa Matruh, Ras El Shaqiq, El Daba, Tobruk, Fuqa, Quatafiya, Düren, Munster, Mantes- Gassicourt rail yards, Haine St. Pierre rail yards, Hasselt rail yards, Rennes, Angers rail yards, Caen, Ravigny rail yards, Nucourt, Wesseling oil refineries, L’Hey, Kiel, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Notre Dame, Trossy St. Maximin, Karlsruhe, Merseburg, Essen, Ludwigshafen, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Troisdorf, Dortmund, Nuremberg, Hannover, Munich, Gelsenkirchen, Mainz, Wiesbaden, Osterfeld, Kleve, Wanne- Eickel, Chemnitz, Wesel, Worms, Hemmingstedt, Dorsten, Bottrop, Osnabruck, Berchtesgaden, Ypenburg and Rotterdam. Notable events are that Charles Godfrey undertook a search and rescue operation in a Defiant and during the operation to Trossy St Maximin 4 August 1944 his aircraft, Lancaster ND811, was brought down by anti-aircraft fire. Whilst he survived and evaded, his pilot, Ian Willoughby Bazalgette was awarded the Posthumous Victoria Cross. The hand written notes added to the end of the log book give a description to the crash, and his attempts to evade capture. Pilot Officer Godfrey also took part in Operation Manna, Operation Exodus and Operation Dodge.
11 OTU
15 OTU
20 OTU
37 Squadron
635 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944)
C-47
Cook’s tour
Defiant
Dominie
evading
Hampden
killed in action
Lancaster
Martinet
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Abingdon
RAF Andover
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Blyton
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Carlisle
RAF Church Fenton
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Cranwell
RAF Downham Market
RAF Graveley
RAF Hampstead Norris
RAF Harwell
RAF Hemswell
RAF Ingham
RAF Leconfield
RAF Leeming
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Manby
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Melton Mowbray
RAF Middleton St George
RAF Moreton in the Marsh
RAF Newmarket
RAF Skipton on Swale
RAF St Eval
RAF Sywell
RAF Upavon
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF Upwood
RAF Waddington
RAF Warboys
RAF Westcott
RAF Wittering
RAF Wyton
shot down
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Victoria Cross
Wellington
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/781/9438/LWrigleyJ1029740v1.2.pdf
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wrigley, James
J Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns James Wrigley (1920 - 2010, 1029740 Royal Air Force) and contains an interview with his widow, Alice Wrigley, photographs, his log book, decorations, and a photograph album of his service in the UK and and Far East. The collection also contains a log book made out to Rascal, his mascot or lucky charm. James Wrigley completed 47 operations as a wireless operator with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Higgins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wrigley, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
James Wrigley's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for Warrant Officer James Wrigley, wireless operator, covering the period from 17 November 1942 to 30 June 1954. Detailing training, operations and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Yatesbury, RAF Pembrey, RAF Whitchurch Heath (Tilstock), RAF Lindholme, RAF Bourn, RAF Downham Market, RAF Kinloss, RAF Forres, RAF St. Athan, RAF Abingdon, RAF Hemswell, RAF Binbrook, RAF Marham, RAF Scampton, RAF Negombo, RAF Tengah and RAF Shallufa. Aircraft flown in were, Dominie, Proctor, Blenheim, Anson, Whitley, Halifax, Lancaster, Wellington, Lincoln and B-29. He flew a total of 47 night operations, one with 81 OTU, 39 with 97 Squadron and 7 with 635 Squadron. Targets were, Rouen, Hamburg, Milan, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Peenemunde, Munchen-Gladbach, Berlin, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, Kassel, Cologne, Ludwigshaven, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Brunswick, Ottignies, Le Havre, Lens and Coubronne. His pilots on operations were <span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">Pilot Officer Munro DFM and Squadron Leader Riches DFC. </span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LWrigleyJ1029740v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Egypt
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Ottignies
Egypt--Suez Canal
England--Berkshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Shropshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
France--Le Havre
France--Lens
France--Rouen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Milan
Scotland--Grampian
Sri Lanka--Western Province
Wales--Carmarthenshire
Wales--Glamorgan
North Africa
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-08-02
1943-08-03
1943-08-08
1943-08-09
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-08-12
1943-08-13
1943-08-17
1943-08-18
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-31
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-22
1943-09-23
1943-09-24
1943-09-27
1943-09-28
1943-10-02
1943-10-03
1943-10-18
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1943-10-22
1943-11-03
1943-11-17
1943-11-18
1943-11-19
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-25
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-02
1943-12-03
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-29
1944-01-14
1944-01-30
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1944-03-30
1944-03-31
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
10 OTU
1656 HCU
19 OTU
199 Squadron
35 Squadron
617 Squadron
635 Squadron
81 OTU
83 Squadron
97 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
B-29
Blenheim
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Dominie
final resting place
Halifax
Halifax Mk 1
Halifax Mk 2
Heavy Conversion Unit
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Lincoln
missing in action
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Abingdon
RAF Binbrook
RAF Bourn
RAF Downham Market
RAF Hemswell
RAF Kinloss
RAF Lindholme
RAF Marham
RAF Pembrey
RAF Scampton
RAF Shallufa
RAF St Athan
RAF Tilstock
RAF Yatesbury
training
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wrigley, James
J Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns James Wrigley (1920 - 2010, 1029740 Royal Air Force) and contains an interview with his widow, Alice Wrigley, photographs, his log book, decorations, and a photograph album of his service in the UK and and Far East. The collection also contains a log book made out to Rascal, his mascot or lucky charm. James Wrigley completed 47 operations as a wireless operator with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Higgins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wrigley, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
James Wrigley Service Record
Description
An account of the resource
Form 543 with details of length of service, training units, squadrons and airfields.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven annotated sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020001,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020002,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020003,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020004,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020005,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020006,
OWrigleyJ1029740-170709-020007
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
10 OTU
1656 HCU
19 OTU
199 Squadron
617 Squadron
635 Squadron
81 OTU
83 Squadron
97 Squadron
bombing
Distinguished Flying Medal
Heavy Conversion Unit
Operational Training Unit
RAF Hemswell
RAF Marham
RAF Waddington
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39395/SWhittakerH186316v10003.1.pdf
b3f0cef5bd351194a37240f6696e6218
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Harry Whittaker's flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWhittakerH186316v10003
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Flying log book for Harry Whitaker, bomb aimer and navigator, covering the period from 21 May 1942 to 22 November 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at 10 Advanced flying Unit RAF Dumfries, 19 operational training Unit RAF Kinloss, 1652 Conversion Unit RAF Marston, 9 squadron RAF Waddington, 158 Squadron RAF Lissett, 635 Squadron RAF Downham Market, 17 Operational Training Unit RAF Silverstone, 156 Squadron RAF Whitton, 35 Squadron RAF Graveley and RAF Stradishall and 148 Squadron RAF Upwood. Aircraft flown in were Tiger Moth, Anson, Botha, Hampden, Blenheim, Magister, Lancaster, Whitley, Halifax, Wellington, York and Dakota. He flew a total of 59 operations, one night operation with 9 squadron, 13 night operations with 158 squadron, 19 Daylight and 26 night operations with 635 squadron. Targets were Pilsen, Berlin, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Le Mans, Frankfurt, Essen, Nantes, Haines St Pierre, Calais, Duisburg, Dortmund, Aachen, Rennes, Angers, Foret de Cerise, Cambrai, Lens, Renescure, Wizernes, Coquereaux, Nucourt, Vaires, Cagney, Courtrai, Fervay, Falaise, Tirlemont, Stettin, Russelsheim, Kiel, Soesterburg, Le Havre, Domburg, Gelsenkirchen, Cap Gris Nez, Sterkrade, Bergen, Saarbrucken, and Bari. He also flew 6 operation Dodge and a goodwill tour of the USA with 35 squadron. His pilots on operations were Flying Officer Hale, Flight Lieutenant Johnson, Flying Officer Catlin, Flight Lieutenant Hardy and Flight Lieutenant Stockwell.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943-04-16
1943-04-17
1944-01-28
1944-01-29
1944-01-30
1944-01-31
1944-02-15
1944-02-16
1944-02-19
1944-02-20
1944-02-21
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-01
1944-03-02
1944-03-13
1944-03-14
1944-03-18
1944-03-19
1944-03-23
1944-03-24
1944-03-25
1944-03-26
1944-03-27
1944-05-07
1944-05-07
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-19
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-24
1944-05-25
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-05-29
1944-06-03
1944-06-04
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-11
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-07-05
1944-07-06
1944-07-10
1944-07-12
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-18
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-08-15
1944-08-16
1944-08-17
1944-08-18
1944-08-25
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-08-29
1944-08-30
1944-09-03
1944-09-05
1944-09-06
1944-09-08
1944-09-10
1944-09-23
1944-09-24
1944-09-25
1944-09-26
1944-09-27
1944-09-28
1944-09-30
1944-10-04
1944-10-05
1944-10-06
1944-10-19
1944-10-20
1944-10-23
1944-10-24
1945-07-05
1945-08-11
1945-08-13
1945-08-28
1945-08-30
1945-09-18
1945-09-21
1945-11-08
1945-11-10
1945-11-27
1945-11-29
1946
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Haine-Saint-Pierre
Belgium--Kortrijk
Belgium--Tienen
Czech Republic--Plzeň
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
France--Angers
France--Aumale
France--Bayeux Region
France--Caen Region
France--Calais
France--Cambrai
France--Falaise
France--Le Havre
France--Le Mans
France--Lens
France--Nantes
France--Nucourt
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Rennes
France--Saint-Omer Region (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Vaires-sur-Marne
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Germany--Rüsselsheim
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Bari
Netherlands--Domburg
Netherlands--Soesterberg
Norway--Bergen
Poland--Szczecin
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland--Moray Firth
France--Coquereaux
France--Cap Gris Nez
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
148 Squadron
156 Squadron
158 Squadron
1652 HCU
17 OTU
19 OTU
35 Squadron
635 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing
Botha
crash
Goodwill tour of the United States (1946)
Halifax
Hampden
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Magister
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
RAF Downham Market
RAF Dumfries
RAF Graveley
RAF Kinloss
RAF Lissett
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Silverstone
RAF Stradishall
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
Wellington
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39396/SWhittakerH186316v20001.2.pdf
20668e9a2588d473e96013050d8c980d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ken Calton’s navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWhittakerH186316v20001
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book for Ken Calton, flight engineer, covering the period from 27 March 1943 to 4 October 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructor duties and post war flying duties. He was stationed at 1662 Conversion Unit RAF Blyton, 12 Squadron RAF Wickenby, 156 squadron RAF Warboys, 7 Squadron and 242 Squadron RAF Oakington, 3 Lancaster Finishing School RAF Feltwell, 635 Squadron RAF Downham Market, 35 Squadron RAF Graveley, Lancastrian Conversion Unit RAF Full Sutton and 51 Squadron RAF Stradishall. Aircraft flown in were Lancaster, Lancastrian, Oxford, York, Anson, Mosquito, Botha, and Manchester. He flew a total of 45 operations, 3 night operations with 12 Squadron, 23 Night operations with 156 Squadron, 5 Night operations with 7 Squadron and 7 Daylight and 7 Night operations with 635 Squadron. His pilots on operations were Squadron Leader Young and Squadron Leader Ashworth and Flight Lieutenant Hitchcock. He also flew on 4 operation Exodus, 2 Operation Dodge and one operation Manna. He also completed 5 Cooks tours. Targets were Essen, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Munster, Bochum, Cologne, Montchanin, Krefeld, Mulheim, Turin, Hamburg, Milan, Peenemunde, Berlin, Mannheim, Munich, Montlucon, Hannover, Leipzig, Dresden, Dessau, Kassel, Zweibrucken, Nurnberg, Bremen, Bottrop, Osnabruck, Kiel, Potsdam, Berchtesgaden, The Hague, Rotterdam, Brussels, Lubeck, Juvincourt and Bari.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One photocopied booklet
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-04-28
1943-04-29
1943-04-30
1943-05-01
1943-05-04
1943-05-05
1943-05-23
1943-05-24
1943-05-25
1943-05-26
1943-05-27
1943-05-28
1943-05-29
1943-05-30
1943-06-11
1943-06-12
1943-06-13
1943-06-16
1943-06-17
1943-06-19
1943-06-20
1943-06-21
1943-06-22
1943-06-23
1943-06-24
1943-06-25
1943-07-08
1943-07-09
1943-07-12
1943-07-13
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-26
1943-07-27
1943-07-28
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-08-02
1943-08-03
1943-08-15
1943-08-16
1943-08-17
1943-08-18
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-05
1943-09-06
1943-09-07
1943-09-15
1943-09-16
1943-09-22
1943-09-23
1943-09-24
1943-10-18
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1945-02-13
1945-02-14
1945-03-07
1945-03-08
1945-03-09
1945-03-12
1945-03-13
1945-03-14
1945-03-15
1945-03-16
1945-03-17
1945-03-21
1945-03-24
1945-03-26
1945-04-13
1945-04-14
1945-04-15
1945-04-22
1945-04-25
1945-04-30
1945-05-05
1945-05-07
1945-05-08
1945-05-10
1945-05-15
1945-05-23
1945-06-08
1945-06-12
1945-06-14
1945-06-25
1945-07-03
1945-07-09
1945-08-03
1945-08-05
1945-08-22
1945-08-24
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Belgium--Brussels
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
France--Montchanin
France--Montluçon
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr
Germany--Munich
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Potsdam
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Zweibrücken
Italy--Bari
Italy--Milan
Italy--Turin
Netherlands--Hague
Netherlands--Rotterdam
France--Juvincourt-et-Damary
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
115 Squadron
12 Squadron
156 Squadron
1662 HCU
242 Squadron
3 Group
35 Squadron
51 Squadron
635 Squadron
7 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
Cook’s tour
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Lancastrian
mine laying
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Pathfinders
RAF Blyton
RAF Downham Market
RAF Feltwell
RAF Full Sutton
RAF Graveley
RAF Oakington
RAF Pembrey
RAF Stradishall
RAF Warboys
RAF Wickenby
RAF Witchford
training
York
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39470/PWhittakerH1713.1.jpg
827d2e437d7624fb5e277ba51ddd33f4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39470/PWhittakerH1714.1.jpg
0045ea07347eec966ba512742ada8328
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Bergen
Description
An account of the resource
A near vertical aerial photograph of Bergen Harbour, showing its entire layout, with the town in the centre. In the town the seven-sided lake, Lille Lungegardsvannet, next to the Festplassen can be identified. Above this is the large body of water of the inner harbour, though no shipping is visible. At the lower left corner of this harbour can be see Bergen rail head and station. Further left of this the ground is largely mountainside and too dark to discern any features. At the entrance to the inner harbour is the road bridge to Kronstad and below that, in the outer harbour, three ships can be seen manoeuvring. Close by are several bomb bursts in the water from the raid in progress. Moving left, the breakwater protecting the smaller harbour of Bergen Havn is visible and at least one ship can be seen moored alongside.
The photograph is annotated with the "8B" in the upper right corner and captioned:
2297 DMT 4.10.44 //8" 15900 <--075° 0930 BERGEN
AP.A. F 6x1000. C31 F/L JOHNSON F 635'.
On the reverse is written: '55 Op Bergen Norway Last daylight raid 4 October 1944". An official stamp impression is illegible.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-10-04
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-10-04
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Norway
Norway--Bergen
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PWhittakerH1713, PWhittakerH1714
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Stuart Cummins
Andy Fitter
635 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
RAF Downham Market
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2254/41029/OHaileyKJ1449497-151026-01.2.pdf
d0b6998ef58a2ff8ce6cd211b35ca94d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hailey, Keith John
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Keith John Hailey (b. 1921, 1449497Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 433 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Sheila Mathison and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-08-30
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Hailey, KJ
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Keith Hailey's Service and Release Book
Description
An account of the resource
Keith joined the RAF 11 Nov 1941 and was released as a WO on the 19 June 1946, from the no 104 PDC Hednesford. He served in the Middle East from 26 Jan 1946 until 12 June 1946.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-11-11
1946-06-19
1946-01-26
1946-06-12
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--Staffordshire
England--Yorkshire
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
OHaileyKJ1449497-151026-01
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
433 Squadron
635 Squadron
aircrew
Halifax
Lancaster
RAF Downham Market
RAF Skipton on Swale
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2254/41947/LHaileyKJ1449497v1.1.pdf
d84f6b06132cd9ce39cdd3cfb9662dd7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hailey, Keith John
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Keith John Hailey (b. 1921, 1449497Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 433 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Sheila Mathison and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-08-30
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Hailey, KJ
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Keith Hailey's Royal Air Force navigator’s, air bombers and air gunner’s flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
K J Hailey’s Wireless Operator’s Flying Log Book covering the period 6 May 1943 to 9 May 1945. Detailing his flying training and operations flown as Wireless Operator. He was stationed at RAF Yatesbury (2 Radio School), RAF Manby (Empire Air Armament School), RAF West Freugh (4 OAFU), RAF Honeybourne (24 OTU), RAF Topcliffe (1659 HCU), RAF Skipton-on-Swale (433 RCAF Squadron), RAF Warboys (PNTU), RAF Downham Market (635 Squadron) and RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Elgin (20 OTU). Aircraft flown in were Dominie, Anson, Whitley, Halifax, Lancaster and Wellington. He flew 32 night operations (two early returns) with 433 Squadron and 7 night and 7 day operations with 635 Squadron, a total of 46 (two early return). Targets were Berlin, mining, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Essen, Nuremburg, Aulnoye, unspecified French targets, Ruhr unspecified, Dortmund, Boulogne, Dessau, Kassel, Wuppertal, Zwiebrucken, Nurnberg, Bremen,Bottrop, Osnabruck, Kiel, Potsdam and Berchtesgarten. His pilot on operations were Pilot Officer Smith, Flying Officer Eyolfson, Pilot Officer Watson and Squadron Leader Ashworth.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-24
1944-02-03
1944-02-15
1944-02-20
1944-02-23
1944-03-13
1944-03-22
1944-03-24
1944-03-26
1944-03-30
1944-04-11
1944-04-20
1944-04-22
1944-04-24
1944-04-26
1944-04-27
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-08
1944-05-15
1944-05-20
1944-05-21
1944-05-31
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-09
1944-06-12
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-18
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
France--Aulnoye-Aymeries
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Potsdam
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Zweibrücken
Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland--Moray
Germany
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHaileyKJ1449497v1
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Terry Hancock
Trevor Hardcastle
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
1659 HCU
20 OTU
24 OTU
433 Squadron
635 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
Dominie
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
mine laying
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Downham Market
RAF Honeybourne
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Manby
RAF Skipton on Swale
RAF Topcliffe
RAF Warboys
RAF West Freugh
RAF Yatesbury
training
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/8017/PGodfreyCR1524.2.jpg
827a598593bc782e6d879c0ad59627b6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/8017/PGodfreyCR1525.2.jpg
3e667aae9b19aedf1e1387f317833113
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Godfrey, Charles Randall
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
64 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Charles Randall Godfrey DFC (b. 1921, 146099, Royal Air Force) and consists of his logbook and operational notes, items of memorabilia, association memberships, personnel documentation, medals and photographs. He completed 37 operations with 37 Squadron in North Africa and the Mediterranean and 59 operations with 635 Squadron. He flew as a wireless operator in the crew of Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette VC.
The collection has has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Charles Godfrey and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Godfrey, CR
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-18
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
I.S.9. (W.E.A)
WARNING AGAINST GIVING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR ESCAPE OR HOW YOU EVADED CAPTURE
This applies to Members of all Services and continues even after discharge therefrom.
1. It is the duty of all persons to safeguard information which might, either directly or indirectly, be useful to the enemy.
2. The Defence Regulations make it an offence, punishable with imprisonment, to publish or to communicate to any unauthorised person any information or anything which purports to be information on any matter which would or might be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy.
3. This document is brought to your personal notice so that you may clearly understand information about your escape or how you evaded capture is information which would be useful to the enemy, and that therefore to communicate any information about your escape or how you evaded capture is an offence under Defence Regulations.
4. You must not disclose the name of those who helped you, the method or methods by which you escaped, the route you followed or how you reached this country, nor must you even give information of such a general nature as the names of the countries through which you travelled. All such information may be of assistance to the enemy and a anger to your friends. [underlined] Be specially on your guard with persons who may be newspaper representatives. [/underlined]
5. Publishing or communicating information included:-
(a) Publication of accounts of your experiences in books, newspaper or periodicals (including Regimental Journals), wireless broadcast or lectures:
And
(b) Giving information to friends and acquaintances either male female, in private letters, in casual conversations or discussions, even if these friends or acquaintances are in H.M.’s or Allied Forces and however “safe” you may consider them to be.
6. F.O(557-44) A.C.I (1896-43) A.M.C.O. A89-44 prohibit lecturing by escapers or evaders to any unit without prior permission of the Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry.
TO BE COMPLETED IN THE PERSONS OWN HANDWRITING.
I have read this document and understand that if I disclose Information about my escape, evasion of capture I am liable to disciplinary action.
Signed C R Godfrey Date 2/9/44
Full Name (Block Letters) Godfrey Charles Randall
Rank and Number 146099 F/O
Unit 635 SQDN * Group BC
Witnessed by [Signature}
[page break]
WHAT YOU MAY SAY
By signing the attached document you have undertaken to maintain a strict secrecy about your experiences. It is realised, however, that your family and friends are certain to ask you questions. [underlined]Below you will find suggestions for the best way of answering them:- [/underlined]
ROYAL NAVY.
(In similar term to those for the Army and R.A.F., altered to suit particular circustances.)
ARMY (Escapers).
I was captured by the Germans (Italians) and sent to a prison camp in Germany (Italy). I managed to escape and get back to this country, but I cannot tell you how I did that without spoiling the chances of other who are trying to get away. [underlined]I am sure you will understand that I cannot tell you anything till after the war, and I have orders not to say more than I have already told you. [/underlined]
or
ARMY (Evaders).
I managed to evade capture and get back to this country. As many others are trying to do the same, you will understand I cannot tell you anything till after the war. In any case, I have orders not to say more than I have already told you.
R.A.F (Escapers).
I was shot down by flak during a bombing raid. I baled out, and was captured and sent to Germany. I managed to escape from a prison camp and get back to this country. As many other are trying to do the same, you will understand it is not possible for me to tell you anything till the war is over. In any case, I have orders not to say more than I have already told you.
or
R.A.F. (Evaders).
I was shot down by flak and baled out. I managed to evade capture and get back to this country. As many others are trying to do the same, you will understand it is not possible for me to tell you anything till after the war. In any case I have orders not to say more than I have already told you.
Full Name (Block letters) GODFREY. CHARLES RANDALL
Rank and Number 146099 Signed CR Godfrey
Unit 635 SQDN
Date 2/9/44
Witnessed by [Signature]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Escape and evasion warning against giving information document
I.S.9. (W.E.A)
Description
An account of the resource
Fragments of document Intelligence School 9 entitled ‘Warning against giving Information about your escape or how you evaded capture’ Gives rules about safeguarding information. Signed by F/O CR Godfrey 146099 635 Squadron. Dated 2 September 1944. On the reverse covers what can be said by evaders and escapers of Army, Navy and Air Force. Also signed on reverse.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. War Office
Great Britain. War Office. Directorate of Military Intelligence
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two sided printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PGodfreyCR1524, PGodfreyCR1525
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Navy
British Army
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
635 Squadron
escaping
evading
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/781/9437/LRascal-Mascot[Ser -DoB]v1.pdf
1a033c5da9b16bbaa986a4a311e9db9d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wrigley, James
J Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns James Wrigley (1920 - 2010, 1029740 Royal Air Force) and contains an interview with his widow, Alice Wrigley, photographs, his log book, decorations, and a photograph album of his service in the UK and and Far East. The collection also contains a log book made out to Rascal, his mascot or lucky charm. James Wrigley completed 47 operations as a wireless operator with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Higgins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wrigley, J
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Rascal’s flying log book for aircrew mascot
Description
An account of the resource
Aircrew Mascots flying log book for Flight Sergeant Rascal, covering the period from 17 November 1942 to 29 March 1945 (pages not all in chronological order). Detailing his flying caeer during training and operations. He was stationed at RAF Kinloss, RAF Forres, RAF Yatesbury, RAF Whitchurch Heath (Tilstock), RAF Lindholme, RAF Upwood, RAF Bourn and RAF Downham Market. Aircraft flown in were, Whitley, Anson, Wellington, Dominie, Proctor, Halifax and Lancaster. He flew on a total of 47 night operations, 40 with 97 Squadron and 7 with 635 Squadron. Targets were, Rouen, Hamburg, Milan, Mannheim, Nurenberg, Peenemunde, Munchen-Gladbach, Berlin, Hannover, Munich, Leipzig, Kassel, Cologne, Luwigshaven, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Frankfurt-on-Oder, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Ottignies, Le Havre, Lens and Coubronne. <span>His pilots on operations were </span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">Pilot Officer Munro, Squadron Leader Riches DFC and Squadron Leader De Wesselow DFC & bar. </span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
James Wrigley
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LRascal-Mascot[Ser#-DoB]v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Belgium--Ottignies
France--Le Havre
France--Lens
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Rouen
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Munich
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Italy--Milan
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Belgium
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Frankfurt (Oder)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
1656 HCU
19 OTU
635 Squadron
81 OTU
97 Squadron
Anson
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Dominie
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Master Bomber
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
Proctor
RAF Bourn
RAF Downham Market
RAF Kinloss
RAF Lindholme
RAF Tilstock
RAF Upwood
RAF Yatesbury
superstition
training
Wellington
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/519/8751/PLockeBrownK1505.2.jpg
371e73c856271f2648200e3f62e57423
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/519/8751/ALockeBrownKL150706.1.mp3
9c4fb6df19644d66f71d27e692bf46c2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Locke Brown, Kenneth
Kenneth Locke Brown MBE
K Locke Brown
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LockeBrown
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Kenneth Locke Brown (1699916 Royal Air Force). He served with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
KB: [Unclear]
MJ: It's all right
KB: My name is Kenneth Locke Brown, I had been involved with the RAF since I was a child, a long, long, way back, because my father was a pilot in the First World War, and so when I was born in 1923, which is only a few years after the First World War, he was still full of stories about the First World War and his flying experiences. He was a fighter pilot, er and, er, served only as a fighter pilot towards the back end of the First World War, prior to that he was in the trenches, and was promoted out the trenches. But my earliest recollections of the RAF is him trying on his helmet on me, his leather helmet, his gauntlet gloves with a funny mitt to them, and that sort of thing, and so I was enthused with the knowledge about the RAF very early on in my life, and I think he would very much have liked me to have gone straight into the RAF as soon as I left school, but I'm afraid my standard of education, and my intelligence level was not good enough to get me into somewhere like Cranwell or so on, and so I, I didn't get a chance. I had an opportunity to fly, er, at Barton airport in Manchester, which was arranged by my father, but that was my earliest experience, but I always wanted to go in the RAF, and of course you weren't able to volunteer for the services until you were eighteen years of age, so I had a spell between leaving school and going in the RAF when I was a bank clerk. But then I joined up. Now the story about me joining up is interesting in the sense that I wanted to fly, I desperately wanted to fly, and so I volunteered at the age of eighteen for aircrew, and I went and I had all the examinations, medically, intelligence wise, and so on, and I passed them all, er, perfectly okay, and, and I was told that I was accepted as a candidate for aircrew, er, but unfortunately I wouldn't be able to go on a pilots side of it because they were absolutely chock a block with volunteers and so on, 'cause the Battle of Britain had just finished and there was lots of enthusiasm for the RAF and so on. So I went into the RAF just as an ordinary erk, with the, er, knowledge that I was accepted as aircrew, and I wore a white flash in my hat, and I went and did all my basic square bashing and such like, which incidentally, at that particular time of the war, was quite amusing because we all got dragged into the services, and there wasn't the equipment for us. We, we hadn't got necessarily, we hadn't all got trousers, we hadn't all got jackets, we hadn't all got hats, we, looked a right rag bag altogether, but we went out to Redcar and we did our square bashing there, and then we went from there to 3S of TT at Blackpool to do ground, er, engineering. And we were, at that stage, divided into two categories, and I didn't realise at the time, I was, incidentally, all this time, you must realise I was very young, and, erm, hadn't been away from home very much, and so on, so quite innocent, but I was desperate to get to fly and they, we went onto this engineers course, which was divided just by saying those on the left move over that way, and those on the right go over that side, those on the left will go into engineering side, the others will go airframe side. I didn't realise at the time, but those on the left who went into engine side, had the opportunity to become flight engineers, the ones who went on the airframe side didn't have much opportunity to do that, but there was, I was still sporting the fact that I had been accepted for aircrew, so very disappointed, and quite honestly, I was extremely lucky, because those people that went on the engineering side then eventually became flight engineers, and not many of them survived the war. They went straight from there into Bomber Command into, er, warfare over Germany, and so on, because at that age group, and not many survived, quite honestly. So I was incredibly lucky in getting an airframe side. So, although bitterly disappointed as a young person, who didn't really realise what the hell was going on, it is, it is very important to impress upon people just how young people were in those days. There were an awful lot of people were controlled by their family, my mother basically controlled me, I had a, as you know, a mother and father, as I've told you about my father, I was an only son, incidentally, but my mother controlled me, and when I went in the forces, she arranged for me to have half of my pay deducted and given to her, and I mean the pay was negligible, and so I, er, we were managing on seventeen and sixpence a fortnight I think it was, that was all as we had. Anyway, that's another story, er, so I went to 3S of TT, Blackpool and I trained as a airframe mechanic, but the training that they put us through was quite ridiculous, because it was all based on the First World War. We learned how to put patches on aircraft, and sew up the holes that had been done in the fabric of the body, and how to trim the planes, and how to trim the aerials, and oh, all sorts of fancy ailerons and all that sort of jazz, which were all totally useless when eventually I got to go onto a proper fighting unit. Before I went onto the fighting unit, though, I, from this rigger thing which I qualified at, I was sent to Morecombe on an overseas draft, and we were dished out with all the equipment, snake boots, and fancy hats, and all the rest of the things, and we were parading there, hearing about when we were going to go on the boat, was going to go in a matter of a couple of days, and so on, and lo and behold, suddenly my name was called out and I was drawn out of the ranks and said, 'you're not going abroad, because you are aircrew chosen', and I [chuckles] said I hadn't got the qualifications, but that's what they decided, I shouldn't be going to do that. So there I was, still with this white flash in my hat, all I was, was a L, er, I got to be a rank of LAC by this time, stage, er, rigger, or whatever we want to call them, you know, ground crew, ground crew airframes. So, I was dragged off that, I hung around in Morecombe for a little while and it was the summer and it was wonderful, and I am a great swimmer, I was quite a good swimmer, I swam for the RAF at one stage in my career, but that's another story, but, er, I had a lovely time, I had I think four or five weeks, best part of the war really that I ever had, when I spent my time in Morecombe baths. What happened was, we paraded every morning, and they detailed everybody off to go to various duties, and they detailed you off to go to the cookhouse, or so on, you see, and I soon learned that they'd no idea where you were, really. They detailed you to go to the cookhouse, but nobody at the cookhouse was expecting you anyway, so I used to go on parade, as soon as they dismissed us, I used to beetle off to the baths, and had a lovely time. But eventually they caught up with me and 'where were you?' I said, 'ooh, I was here on parade yesterday morning'. 'Well, we've been looking for you, you've been posted, and you've been posted to 97 Squadron, Bourn, on Lancasters.' Well, I thought, that's bloody funny because I haven't learnt anything about, don't know a thing about Lancasters or anything, I, all I know is how to, how to repair a patch in a bi-plane like my father was flying in the First World War. Anyway, subsequently I arrived at 97 Squadron, Bourn, and that would be in the year 1943, and I served as ground crew there, and that was my initial, er, involvement with Bomber Command and the Pathfinders, 'cause that was a Pathfinder squadron. We had many interesting things, but the most important and most dramatic day we had whilst I was there, was Black Thursday. I was on duty in Black Thursday as ground crew and we had a terrible time. We lost so many aircraft, I mean, there's even whole books have been written about the episode and so on, it was horrendous, and the thing that was so horrendous is that they'd been all the way out to Berlin, they'd bombed in Berlin, they'd fought their way back again, and of course, the weather came in on them, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and the only aerodrome around with FIDO, which is the one that they illuminated the runways, erm, was at Downham Market. [unclear] I didn't know about Downham Market at the time, I was at Bourn, but that was the only one where they could get down, so what was happening was these poor buggers had been out there, they were getting short of petrol, and they were crashing all the way round, and two of them crashed within half a mile of the 'drome, one just across the road, we were aware of it, and another one just a field or so away, and some were baling out, some went as high as they could and jumped out, and all those that jumped out survived. The a whole lot of those, but it was a dreadful night, and one that, you know, sticks in the memory. The other thing, on a brighter side about Bourn was that there was a concert party, and I was always a bit of a show-off, and so I joined the concert party, and the historian for 97 Squadron is absolutely fascinated with this, 'cause he's never heard of it, and he's promised me that when he writes his review of his next book, he'll include it. But we had a concert party which used to perform to the aircrew and to the ground people and so on, and it was very, very loose, they used to boo us and jeer at us and tell us to get off, and all sorts of things, but it was great fun, and we, we went round to other aerodromes around, performing and so on. I, I wasn't a professional performer, and I wasn't able to sing very well, but there were professionals in the concert party, and I used to do Stanley Holloway monologues, which everybody knows “Albert the Lion”, and, you know, “Sam Pick Up Your Musket”, but there were some really good ones that not very many people know. I used to do those in my natural Lancashire accent, and I also appeared as a female impersonator, there was a woman called Carmen Miranda at the time who, er, used to perform with a lot of fruit on her head and sing 'I,I,I,I', and I used to do that as well with a backup from a lot of other people. So we had, there were both sides of the thing, but it's a, we all, the thing about the ground crew there that I remember distinctly, is that you never ever heard the ground crew complain about anything. We had appalling bloody conditions to live in, Nissan huts with a stove pipe in the middle, and if your bed happened to be by the stove pipe, well god help you, because everybody sat on your bed to get as near to the fire as they could. It was a long way from the accommodation to get to the dispersal points, which is where the aircraft were kept, all the way round the 'drome, and of course most of us had got our bikes sent from home, and we used to pedal out there day and night, and, er, quite a long distance, I suppose, from where you were billeted to the, well my, my aircraft was billeted on the far side, it'd be two miles, something like that, and of course there were no lights, the, er, 'drome was completely in darkness, and so we, we pedalled around there, and, but nobody ever moaned about it. I think the only thing they moaned was, a bit about the RAF itself not giving us decent equipment to wear, because it was very cold, and particularly if you were sat up on the wing of a Lancaster filling it with petrol, which takes three hours, and not just one person doing, but a number of you. It's bloody cold. It's cold to sit on it, you're elevated, and the weather in that particular year, 1943, ‘44, the winter was very severe indeed, and so it wasn't very good, so there was a lot of moaning about, you know, that all we had was a leather jerkin and a naval type roll neck sweater, big [unclear] sweater. Other than that, just overalls over our ordinary uniform, so it wasn't very good, and gum boots were the order of the day. Anyway, towards the back end of 1943, they were forming a new squadron called 635 Squadron, which was going to be the elite, er, squadron of Bomber Command, it was going to be the elite Pathfinder squadron. Leonard Cheshire had been there at one time, Bennett had been there as well, and don't forget, some of the things I'm telling you are what I've learned afterwards. At the time I was a young lad more interested in trying to get down to Cambridge to go to the dance, or, you know, we, well, it was a very peculiar attitude we adopted, it wasn't very serious I'm afraid, even though we were surrounded by people who were not returning, we'd be servicing an aircraft, and it wouldn't return, and we'd lose the crew, but we [slight pause], the crews were very rarely on the same aircraft. I don't know how many times you've been told this, but very often, they moved from one aircraft to another, sometimes they did four or five flights on their aircraft and so on, and if they got attached to it, I suppose perhaps they got allocated, but in the early days they were flipped around, so you didn't really get to know your crew very well. You know, er, to speak to the officer, you know, and salute him and all that sort of business, but you didn't know them very well, and you didn't relate, you didn't relate to what they were doing. Honestly it sounds terrible, a terrible admission. Anyway, what happened, when they decided to start 635 Squadron, in March 1944, erm, was that they took, I think it was, eleven Lancasters and their crews [background noise], switch it off. Well as I was saying, we were part of the squadron, 97 Squadron, was taken, the leading pilots and so on, were taken to form this elite squadron, 635, at a place called Downham Market in Norfolk, er, and I was fortunate I suppose, I didn't realise, but I was fortunate to be one of the ground crew that had perhaps got a little bit of service in, 'cause service in those days, a matter of months, and you became a, you know, a seasoned person because there were people coming into the services all the time. Anyway, so we were shifted over to Downham Market, and of course, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. For two reasons, one is that I enjoyed Downham Market in a sense that the airfield and 'drome had all been built especially for Bomber Command in this remote little Norfolk town, er, where my present wife lived, and the town was within walking distance from the 'drome, so we had a communal thing with the town, we went down to the pictures, we went down to the local dance on a Saturday night, and we went down town to the pubs and so on. Not every night by any manner of means, because many a night we were on duty and we were on duty all night, but we were closely associated with, with the town and that [slight pause]. My wife's, now, her, her friend was, er, married to a navigator who got the DFC and that sort of thing, you know they, we, we were integrated with, with the town. So that was the period when we were building up to the D-Day landings, we were doing bombing out as far as [slight pause], well, Berlin was the one that kept on being, coming up, and Nuremburg, Munich, well you, you name them, we did them, and again, we didn't really get attached to any particular crew. We did know one or two, but you couldn't say 'that was my crew and I knew all of them', that wasn't the case. These were the, the aerodromes were again, very far flung, and we would be at Downham Market from where the accommodation was and the catering and so on, it would all of four miles to some of the dispersal points, it really was a long way [pause]. Big event there? Well of course, all the main bombing that went on, the thousand bomber raid that went on, we were part of, the losses were staggering because we were right, sorry I shouldn't say 'we', they [emphasis] were right up front, er, one night we were all watching them go off because, you know, the ground crew would prepare the aircraft and then we would always [emphasis] be there to see them off, and make sure everything was okay, and of course you got the signed certificate from the pilot to say that he was satisfied with the state of the aircraft, and so on. But this particular night they went off, on line past you, and you see them go to the end of the runway, and then they’d rev up and off they'd go, and so on, and this particular night one of them didn't make it, he, he didn't get enough revs, didn't get the height, and he hit the top of one of the hangars, and there was an almighty explosion. It was tremendous, and, it's the first time I really had experienced an explosion, and the hangars, which were pretty big buildings because they had to house sometimes as many as six aircraft, having engine repairs and so on, they, for, for engine work we always went in the hangars and so on, er, it hit the hangar, I mustn't do that [aside], it just collapsed like a pack of cards, the sides came in, the ends went in, the top, and, dreadful, and next day people were detailed to go out and salvage what they could. I'm afraid I didn't go, I, I wasn’t, didn't have the guts to do that, but it was a very nasty experience, and that again brought it home a little bit more to us, and I suppose by this time, I was getting a little bit more mature, you know, I wasn't quite the, er, the child that I was when I first went in. But anyway, I was still sporting this white flash in my hat, and people would say to me, 'what the hell's that for?' and I'd say, 'well I'm, I'm been chosen to be aircrew, I'm still waiting for the bloody call!' Anyway, it came. It came and I was told to report to London, and to report to the Home Off-, not the Home Office, the RAF office in London, and I went through the examinations again, intelligence examinations and the physical examinations, and they said, 'there's a new service being opened up called the Meteorological Air Observers, and we're trying to recruit a small number, and train them, to enable them to go out over the Atlantic and bring in the weather.' This was all, I think, pushed ahead because of D-Day, er, if you recall the situation on D-Day, the weather played an enormous part, in fact D-Day wasn't supposed to be on the sixth, it was supposed to be on the fifth and they had to postpone it a day. And [slight pause] they realised that they were not getting any weather in from the, the Atlantic. When the war first started of course, the Germans seized upon the opportunity on the weather ships, they were just sitting targets, and they saw those off within the first week or two, 'cause what they were, weather ships sat out in the Atlantic, manned by weather men who did recordings of the weather conditions, passed them back by wireless to the mainland and so you had an idea what the weather was that was coming in, but that was, that stopped, and so somebody had this bright idea, 'what we'll do is we'll train a number of airmen to go out over the Atlantic, and there'll be a format of coding, and they'll take readings at, er, two thousand feet and then climb to twenty thousand feet and do readings, and then come back, on an eight hour trip’. And we were eventually, after a lot of training, we, we, I was part of that and went to [cough] Aldergrove in [cough], sorry, in, er [cough] okay, okay, it's alright, Aldergrove in Northern Ireland, and I flew from there, and I, that's what I did for the remaining part of the war. I was promoted to flight sergeant within weeks of the end of the war, not the end of the war, the end of my service. Oh, what I didn't tell you in this association with Downham Market of course, that I met this girl at the dance, and we got off together, and we liked each other, so we decided to get married, and that is sixty nine years ago, and I'm still putting up with her now. So, at that point, I think I've run out of stories about Bomber Command. [Microphone noises]. Well, what I was saying to you is that they wanted to get the weather from the Atlantic, and prior to the war, they'd had weather ships out in the Atlantic, but when D-Day came along, they suddenly realised what a small amount of weather information they had, and they were managing with, managing without definite information, working on guess work. So somebody had the bright idea that they'd train a number of people who would go out, in Halifaxes, we went out in, incidentally, a met observer, a trained met observer of which I was going to be one, would sit up in the nose and take readings all the way through these trips, which were long trips, very long trips indeed, and a bit cold because we went out at two thousand feet, went up to twenty thousand feet, did a leg at twenty thousand feet, came down to sea level, did a reading at sea level and then came back at two thousand feet, and got lost half the time 'cause we were half way across the Atlantic! Anyway, we [slight pause], during this period, I got awarded a brevet, and to this day a lot of people don't believe what it says on my brevet, it says it's an 'M' brevet, not an 'N', but an 'M', and I've had to save this one because lots of people have never heard of it.
MJ: I think we're there. Brilliant. So, you didn't have protection?
KB: We had, we had no protection, we were a crew of [slight pause] six, I think, er, pilot, flight engineer, wireless operator, navigator, meteorological air observer - how many's that?
MJ: Six.
KB: Six. Yeah. We had no gunners on board at all.
MJ: Sounds as though it was a bit more risky than you say really, 'cause -
KB: Well no, the biggest risk, if you want to start talking that way, which I keep on trying to impress upon you, I was very young, very innocent, and totally unaware of the danger, I'm just excited to be going flying, never thought for one minute we might have any problems, er, and the only aircraft we lost from Aldergrove was ones that we believed came down in the sea. We had to do this – we went out two thousand feet, we went up to twenty thousand feet, we went on a leg like that, and then we had to come down to do sea level reading, and we had to come from twenty odd, and we had to set the altimeter, the met observer had to give the pilot the altimeter reading at base for him to come down, and we were, I mean it's at night and all sorts of things, pitch bloody black, you couldn't see a thing. We'd come down with our landing lights on, that would, you know, give us some indication, and we did lose, er, well one we believe went that way, and another one crashed in, in Northern Ireland on the, on the return. Our navigators were a little raw, and of course they were in a very difficult navigating situation, because they'd got no landmarks, I mean, they're going out over Atlantic, there was nothing, you know, they were just over sea, they went out with sea, sea, sea, all the way back. So, er, one notable occasion when I was doing it, was when we came back one time, we missed Ireland altogether [laughs]. Completely. We were looking out for, you know, weather, and the first thing we knew was, hit Scotland [chuckles], and when we hit Scotland, there wasn't an, there wasn't an air, there was an aerodrome at Wigtown, but it wouldn't take us, a Halifax, it was only Ansons and things like that, and we had to go right the way across to the other side and land at Lossiemouth, and landed with sort of, hardly any petrol at all left. We had a similar incident when we were, we were operating from Chivenor in Devon one time, we came back there and our navigator made a cock up and we were coming up the er, the Channel, and, er, not the Channel, the estuary and we missed land again, and we were going on, and on, and looking at estimated time of arrival, there was no sign of any land, and looking at the petrol consumption, and everything else like that, and he, he'd missed his bight [?] and we were going straight on for Bristol [laughs]. I'm going to go and have a quick loo, um [microphone noises].
MJ: On behalf of the International Bomber Command Archives, I'd like to thank Kenneth Locke Brown MBE for his interview on the 6th July 2015, at his home in Monmouth. Thank you very much.
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Title
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Interview with Kenneth Locke Brown
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Mick Jeffery
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2015-07-06
Type
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Sound
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ALockeBrownKL150706
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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eng
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
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00:32:23 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Kenneth Locke was born in 1923 and wanted to join the Royal Air Force, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a First World War Pilot.
Between leaving school and joining the Royal Air Force, Kenneth worked as a bank clerk, before signing up as aircrew when he was 18 years of age.
Kenneth tells of his time as a Leading Aircraftsman in Morecambe, training as an aircraft mechanic, before being posted to 97 Squadron in Bourn in 1943, and his first involvement with the Lancasters of the Pathfinder Squadron.
He tells of Black Thursday, a day of heavy losses for Bomber Command and how it affected him and his fellow ground crew.
Kenneth was then posted to 635 Squadron in March 1944, which was based at Downham Market in Norfolk where they conducted operations to assist the D-Day landings, and then was interviewed to become part of a Meteorological Air Corp team, to gather information about the weather over the Atlantic.
Kenneth was promoted to Flight Sergeant at the end of his service with the Royal Air Force
Contributor
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Vivienne Tincombe
Carolyn Emery
Temporal Coverage
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1943
1944
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Norfolk
635 Squadron
97 Squadron
dispersal
entertainment
fitter airframe
fuelling
ground crew
ground personnel
Halifax
Lancaster
meteorological officer
military living conditions
military service conditions
Nissen hut
RAF Bourn
RAF Downham Market
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/689/17878/BBarkerRBarkerRv1.1.pdf
bcfb50858f43146a1da0eb77080cdb6e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Barker, Reg
R Barker
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. The notes for a talk given by Reg Barker to the Haywards Heath Historical Society on 24 June 2014 and an account of his Lancaster being shot down during an operation to Kiel on 20 August 1944. Reg Barker flew as pilot on Halifax with 76 Squadron and Lancaster with 635 Squadon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Reg Barker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2015-11-23
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Barker, R
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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[Photographs]
Flt Lt Reg Barker
RAF Bomber Command
A Miraculous Escape From Certain Death in World War II
by Reg Barker
Former Flight Lieutenant 635 Squadron RAF Pathfinder Force
Can I take you back to the summer of 1944 when, after nearly five years, the tide of war was at last turning in our favour? The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6th had been successful; our armies were fighting their way across France, and Paris had just been liberated after more than four years under German occupation.
My part in this offensive was as an RAF pilot ages 22; the captain of a skilled and dedicated crew of seven. We were a tightly knit team. As their skipper, I remember how privileged I felt to enjoy the loyalty and comradeship of such an exceptional crew. We were all proud to flying Lancaster bombers with Bomber Command’s Pathfinder Force, as members of 635 Squadron.
On August 26th 1944, we were briefed to fly that night from our airfield at Downham Market in Norfolk, to attack Germany’s naval and submarine base at Kiel. Heavily defended with searchlights and anti-aircraft guns Kiel was an important target, because enemy submarines were a serious threat to the ships upon which our armies on the continent depended to maintain their essential supplies.
We were directed to fly in the first wave of twelve Pathfinder aircraft, two minutes ahead of the Master Bomber, who would monitor the progress of the attack and direct the main force of bombers by wireless.
We arrived at Kiel exactly on time, thanks to the superb skill and dedication of our Canadian navigator, Hannes. He calculated a fresh ‘fix’ of our position every six minutes throughout our flight, a remarkable feat of concentration. This enabled him to give me an adjusted course or speed whenever necessary, to ensure that we were always right on time and on track.
We had a good run into the target, with our painstaking bomb aimer, Brian, carefully directing me as he peered through his bomb-sight, “Left…left…right…steady,” to
[page break]
ensure that he would drop our bombs exactly where they were intended. After he called, “Bombs gone!” I held a straight course in order to obtain a photograph of our aiming point. Brian reported that he was pleased with the accuracy of our bombing.
Now we were on our way homewards, thankfully leaving behind the searchlights and flak which had seemed to fill the sky over the target. I was flying the aircraft in a ‘banking search’, weaving so as to help the crew to keep an extra sharp lookout for enemy fighters who might be waiting to intercept us.
Suddenly there was an explosion, a vivid flash and the aircraft was thrown on its back. I managed to regain level flight, assured the crew that I had control and checked with each of them that they were alright. However, we could see flames coming from the starboard wing. Hoping that an increased rush of air might extinguish them, I opened up the engines to full power, but as we increased speed I felt the control column go slack in my hands and I realised that the cables to the tail plane must have been severed. I could no longer control the aircraft, so I immediately ordered the crew to bail out.
At almost the same moment, the nose of our Lancaster plunged violently downwards and the aircraft went into a steep, spiralling dive. Our four Rolls Royce Merlin engines were now driving us at terrifying speed, vertically downwards towards the earth.
The cause of our predicament, as I learned later from our rear gunner, was that the aircraft had broken in two. The tail plane, with the rear turret, had split away from the fuselage. As the rest of us flew on, Dizzy was left behind without the engine or pilot! He recalled afterwards that finding himself alone in the sky, with the tail place swishing gently from side to side like a leaf falling, he felt sure that he could descend all the way to earth that way. Fortunately, he decided to climb out of his turret and to use his parachute. He landed safely.
Without a tail plane, it was no wonder the aircraft had nose-dived so suddenly and so violently. From our flying height of 17,000 feet, we had plunged in seconds to 13,000 feet. As I was lifted out of my seat by the powerful force of ‘g’, caused by the spinning of the aircraft, I could see the altimeter needle racing round the dial, as it clocked 1,000 feet a second in our headlong descent to earth.
Trapped in our tightly spinning aircraft, pinned hard up against the Perspex cockpit roof, and unable to move so much as a finger, I knew it would only be seconds before we reached the ground. This would be the end. There was no time for my life to flash before me, but a fleeting glimpse of the fires raging below prompted a split-second prayer to the Almighty!
As I lost consciousness, I was aware only of the most deafening sound. The blasting and buffeting of the wind through the fuselage, the screaming of the propellers and the roaring and vibrating of the four powerful engines combined into an overwhelming, thunderous, unbearable crescendo of noise. Then – total silence, total peace, total bliss! Instead of a fiery hell, I had arrived in that Heavenly abode which I hoped was destiny!
However, gradually, the silence was broken by a persistent swishing sound. Then suddenly my sight returned and I realised that I was in the sky, and nearby I could see my blazing aircraft coming down beside me. The ‘swishing’ must have been the wind whistling through my clothing as I hurtled towards the ground. I had no sense of falling, but instinctively I grabbed and tugged my ripcord.
[page break]
As my parachute opened, I could see trees below me, brightly floodlit from above by my blazing aircraft. Instantly, I dropped in the treetops and my aircraft crashed a short distance away. Anxious to get to the ground as quickly as possible before I was discovered, I released my parachute harness and climbed down through the branches, landing safely on a cushion of leaves. Overhead, I could hear the main force of the bombers, making their way home to England and, wistfully, I thought of the traditional aircrew breakfast of eggs and bacon, to which they were returning.
My immediate concern was to get away from the crashed aircraft, which was blazing furiously close by, with ammunition exploding in the intense heat of the fire. I could see the stars overhead, recognised the North Star, and set off hopefully towards Denmark, a few miles to the north. Denmark had been occupied by Germans, and I hoped I might meet up with some friendly inhabitants there.
I soon came to the edge of the wood in which I had landed, and I crept along a ditch which ran in the direction I wanted to travel. To my dismay, I heard voices coming from ahead. I might have heard them sooner, had I removed my flying helmet, but I had kept it on because my head was pouring blood (from a superficial shrapnel wound, as it turned out). I hid in the hedge, but it was too late, for the approaching villagers must have seen me silhouetted against the fire.
An excited crowd quickly surrounded me, each and every one of them grabbing my tunic or trousers, holding me as tightly as possible. No doubt this was so that each of them could claim to have captured the English ‘terror flieger’. They were all very old or very young. Although a teenage boy held a revolver to my head with his hand shaking furiously, not one of them harmed me in any way.
Perhaps because of my amazement that I was still alive, I felt an overwhelming sense of calm. This contrasted with the understandable agitation of these villagers, who must have been terrified out of their lives as my Lancaster came screaming down out of the sky.
Soon, two uniformed men arrived and I was handed over, to begin a new chapter in my life as a prisoner of war. To my great surprise and joy, in the hours which followed, I met up with our rear gunner Dizzy, (whose brief solo trip flying the tail plane I described earlier), and also with three other members of my crew who had also survived – our navigator Hannes; our wireless operator Dick, and our flight engineer Harry. Each of them described an identical experience to my own: being trapped in the aircraft, blacking out, and then miraculously regaining consciousness in the sky, just in time to release their parachutes and drop into the tree tops.
Unfortunately Hannes had suffered a broken leg and was on his way to a German hospital. He was liberated the following April by General Patton’s army. Harry, Dick, Dizzy and I all ended up in the same POW camp – Stalagluft 1 at Barth on the Baltic coast, and we were liberated by the Russian Army in May 1945.
My greatest sorrow has been the loss of two members of my crew: Brian, our bomb aimer and Taffy, our mid-upper gunner, both of whom are buried in Kiel War Cemetery. Brian had left the aircraft through the forward escape hatch, but just after he jumped, the aircraft made its violet nose-dive. I believe he must have been struck by part of the aircraft and had been knocked unconscious, for he was found in a field with his parachute unopened. Taff died in the aircraft. Once it started its uncontrolled spinning dive, it would have been impossible for him to extricate himself
[page break]
from his cramped turret. Like myself, he would have been trapped by the irresistible force of ‘g’. After blacking out, he could have known nothing more.
Of the 16 Lancasters dispatched by my Squadron on that fateful night, 3 were shot down, together with their 21 highly trained and experienced aircrew. 12 were killed and 9 of us became POWs. The German authorities later acknowledge the attack on Kiel to have been ‘a very serious raid’ with extensive damage.
How did the enemy manage to shoot us down without our having any warning? This was a mystery until years later, when we learned about ‘Schrage Musik’, (Jazz Music) whereby German fighters were able to home in our H2S radar transmitter, which was housed in a blister underneath our fuselage. We also learned that they had been equipped with upward-firing guns. Unknown to us, these advantages enabled them to position themselves directly below us, where they were completely hidden from our view and where their guns could inflict the greatest damage.
The remaining mystery is how the four of us who were trapped under the cockpit roof could have had such a miraculous escape from certain death, only seconds before our blazing Lancaster exploded on the ground. Perhaps the ‘g’ force created by the tightly spinning aircraft acted upon the combined weight of our four unconscious bodies to cause the roof to break apart and to hurl us in the night sky, where we quickly regained consciousness in the cold night air, just in time to be saved by our parachutes.
After the war, the Irwin Parachute Company presented me with the golden caterpillar brooch. This is a constant reminder that I owe my life to the caterpillars which had spun the silk thread that was used to manufacture my parachute. Over 70 years later, I wear my caterpillar with gratitude and humility.
Reg Barker
Former Flight Lieutenant
635 Squadron
RAF Pathfinder Force
[page break]
[Photographs]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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A miraculous escape from certain death in world war 2
Description
An account of the resource
An account of operation as Pathfinder against German naval and submarine base at Kiel when his aircraft was shot down by 'Schrage Musik' equipped night-fighter which cause the aircraft to break in two. Describes crew actions during bomb run and subsequent explosion in aircraft, fight to maintain control, difficulty in bailing out, parachute decent, capture and fate of crew (two killed). States sent to Stalag Luft 1 with three others from crew. Notes other losses on that operation and analysis of how they were shot down. Award of Irvin caterpillar badge. Includes at top left b/w wartime photograph of Reg Barker wearing tunic with pilots brevet and peaked cap, top right current colour photograph of Reg Barker. Bottom left colour photograph of Reg Barker wearing baseball cap and blazer with medals and bottom right colour photograph of Reg Barker signing a colour print of Lancaster.
Creator
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R Barker
Format
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Five page printed document with one b/w and three colour photographs
Language
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eng
Type
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Photograph
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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BBarkerRBarkerRv1
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Germany
Germany--Kiel
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Germany--Barth
Temporal Coverage
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1944-08-20
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
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Georgie Donaldson
635 Squadron
Caterpillar Club
faith
final resting place
grief
H2S
Lancaster
Master Bomber
military ethos
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Downham Market
shot down
Stalag Luft 1
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/689/9430/MBarkerR[Ser -DoB]-151001-01.pdf
b48880a1d568ec27ce83eae2a8005d70
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Barker, Reg
R Barker
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. The notes for a talk given by Reg Barker to the Haywards Heath Historical Society on 24 June 2014 and an account of his Lancaster being shot down during an operation to Kiel on 20 August 1944. Reg Barker flew as pilot on Halifax with 76 Squadron and Lancaster with 635 Squadon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Reg Barker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-23
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Barker, R
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] TALK TO THE HAYWARDS HEATH HISTORICAL SOCIETY at FRANKLANDS HALL by REG BARKER – JUNE 24, 2014 [/underlined]
As a veteran of Bomber Command I am very lucky to be alive. As you know, more than 55,000 of our less fortunate colleagues lost their lives in WW2.
At last, we have a superb memorial in Green Park in London to remind everyone of their sacrifice.
I like to think that the Memorial also recognises the 55,573 families who lost a son, or a brother, or a father, or an uncle. These families still grieve today for the loved ones whom they lost.
In December 1943 I was a guest at two weddings attended by 3 other Bomber Command Air Crew. In the following months, all 4 of us were shot down over Germany. 2 of us were killed and 2 of us survived as Prisoners of War. [underlined] THAT WAS THE REALITY for us Air Crew! [/underlined]
In spite of the losses, our Morale [sic] was very high, because we knew we were doing an important job to help bring an end to the long struggle to defeat Hitler and the Nazis and to [underlined] win the war! [/underlined] If we had [underlined] LOST [/underlined] our Country would have been INVADED, the Jewish population would have been rounded up and sent to CONCENTRATION CAMPS – where they would have been worked to death – or starved to death – and Men & Boys between the ages of 16 and 6 would have been sent to Germany as SLAVE-WORKERS, producing weapons of war, GUNS, AMMUNITION, AIRCRAFT and TANKS for HITLER’S GERMANY.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
I volunteered to join the R.A.F. as Air Crew on my 19th Birthday. After initial training in this Country, I was sent across the Atlantic to Canada. There I was issued by the Canadian Air Force with a grey flannel suit. Was I going to spend the War playing GOLF in Canada? No, the plan was for me to travel to the United States, supposedly as a CIVILIAN, because at that time the U.S. was a Neutral Country. Neutral? Their President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great friend to this country and the U.S. Air Force was training R.A.F. Pilots. How neutral was that?
So I was fortunate in being sent to the Southern States of Georgia & Alabama to be trained as a PILOT!
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered the War and needed to expand their Air Force. So after I had completed my Pilot Training and been presented with my Silver Wings, I was told by the R A F that I was to serve with the US. Air Force as a Flying Instructor at Napier Field in Alabama, where the sun shines throughout the year!
During the following 12 months, I taught 26 American and R A F Cadets to fly the HARVARD, a advanced trainer which was great to fly and fully AEROBATIC!
As an Instructor, I was allowed to take to the skies in a Harvard at any time. So I gained a lot of extra flying experience.
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
I have always felt that I was extremely privileged to be the right age to be trained as a PILOT – and to end up flying the AVRO LANCASTER – The most successful R A F bomber of W W II.
The Lancaster’s performance, its ruggedness, its reliability and its sheer charisma endeared it to its crews, who felt proud to fly this famous aircraft.
In a letter which he wrote to the head of AVRO after the War, our Commander in Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, said:
“Without your genius and efforts we could not have prevailed, for I believe that the Lancaster was the greatest single factor in winning the War.”
More than 7.000 Lancasters were built- and half of that number [inserted] 3,500 [/inserted] were lost on operations against the enemy. Sadly, there are only 2 still fling in the whole world – our own Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster – and the Canadian Lancaster which flew here in August [inserted] 2014 [/inserted]. They have [inserted] been [/inserted] flying together at Air Shows around the country. Did any of you managed (sic) to see them flying together? I saw them at Eastbourne - & I must say they did look like 2 elderly ladies compared with aircraft of today!
[page break]
[underlined] 4. [/underlined]
In September 1940 – when the Second World War had been going for a whole year – and the R A F FIGHTERS had fought off the German Luftwaffe in the BATTLE of BRITAIN – our PRIME MINISTER – Sir Winston Churchill – stated :-
“The FIGHTERS are our Salvation – but the BOMBERS alone PROVIDE THE MEANS OF VICTORY.”
• Bomber Command was the only FORCE which operated against the enemy from the day war broke out, right to the very end of the War.
• Bomber Command played an [inserted] ESPECIALLY [/inserted] important part in weakening the enemy in the run up to D-Day, by bombing their AIRFIELDS, damaging their RAILWAYS, destroying their wireless and RADAR stations and attacking their heavily fortified GUN BATTERIES on the coast.
• Bomber Command also played a very import part in deceiving the enemy, making Hitler believe that our Armies would invade the French coast near Calais; and thus give our Armies tune ti get asgire & establish themselves in Normandy.
• We were very effective in putting an end to the VIs, the DOODLE-BUGS which caused so much damage to London & the South-East in 1944.
[page break]
[underlined] 5. [/underlined]
Our four engined heavy bombers – Lancastsers Halifaxes and Stirlings – all carried a crew of 7.All 7 members worked closely together and we became a TIGHTLY-KNIT TEAM. As PILOT and CAPTAIN, it was my job to [underlined] fly [/underlined] the AIRCRAFT, but I depended on all the other members of my CREW to play their part.
We depended on our [underlined] Navigator [/underlined] to work out the course for us to fly – and the speed – to ensure that we would arrive at each night’s TARGET on time. The [underlined] FLIGHT-ENGINEER’S [/underlined] task was to monitor the behaviour of our 4 engines. Our [underlined] WIRELESS OPERATOR’S [/underlined] job was to keep in touch with our base in ENGLAND.\our [underlined] BOMB AIMER’s [/underlined] vital role as we approached the target was [inserted]to [/inserted] peer through his BOMB¬SIGHT and call instructions to me to ensure that he could release our BOMB LOAD at exactly the right spot:-“LEFT-LEFT, RIGHT, STEADY.”
When SEARCH LIGHTS were coming dangerously close or our 2 [underlined] GUNNERS [/UNDERLINED] thought we were about to be attacked by an ENEMY FIGHTER THEY WOULD SHOUT “CORK-SCREW PORT GO”. Having carried out this manoeuvre, the Pilot realised that the gunner was rather agitated, so in order to calm him he said “It’s alright Ginger, keep calm, GOD IS WITH US”! In a desparate (sic) voice, the Gunner replied “God may be up your end, but there’s a blasted Junkers 88 Fighter up this end!”
[page break]
[underlined] 6. [/underlined]
When I was flying 4 engined bombers – if a violent manoeuvre was needed to keep us out of trouble, I pretended I was doing aerobatics in a HARVARD. On one such occasion, a cannon shell from the ground hit our rea turret, but because our air craft was tilted at 90˚ with our wing vertical to the ground, a cannon shell went sideways through our rear turret without exploding!
It made a large hole, the size of a dinner plate in the Perspex on each side of the turret. My rear gunner saw a blue flash as the shell passed in front of his face, but he was unhurt. If the shell had hit the rear turret from beneath, it would have exploded and sent us all to our deaths.
On Operations we flew Halifax Bombers with 76 Squadron based at HOLME – or – Spalding Moor in Yorkshire and later we were chosen to fly Lancasters with a Pathfinder Squadron, No.635, based at Downham Market, in Norfolk. It was when we were flying as Pathfinders, five minutes ahead of the MAIN FORCE, that we were eventually shot down.
That happened on Aug. 26th 1944, the day after the Allied Armies in France had liberated Paris, after it had been occupied by the German Army for more than 4 years.
Our target that night was the German Naval Base at KIEL.
[page break]
[underlined] 7. [/underlined]
[underlined] KIEL was an important TARGET because it was where the German SUBMARINES were based. [/underlined]
Much of Britain’s FOOD came from other countries in SHIPS. Enemy submarines sank so man ships that there was a severe shortage of some foods. The Government therefore had to introduce FOOD RATIONING, which meant that each person was allowed to buy a fixed amount of food each week
In 1941 the RATION was 1 egg a week, and TEA, SUGAR, BUTTER and MEAT were also rationed. Lots more foods were rationed later, including SWEETS! There were NO BANANAS at all throughout the War.
Not only were German submarines such a serious threat to our FOOD SUPPLIES, after D.Day when our Armines in France had to be supplies with EVERYTHING by SEA, they were a serious threat to the ships which had to cross the Channel each day.
[page break]
8.
After we had successfully bombed our target, we set course for home.
Suddenly there was an explosion, a vivid flash and the aircraft was thrown onto it’s back. I managed to regain level flight, but soon realised that the cables to the tail plane were damaged and that I could no longer control the aircraft, so I gave the order to bail out.
At almost the same moment, the nose of our LANCASTER plunged [inserted] VIOLENTLY [/inserted] downwards and the aircraft went into a vertical spinning dive. Our four Rolls Royce Merlin engines were now driving us at a very high speed headlong towards the earth.
The reason for this calamity, as I learned later from our Rear Gunner, was that the whole tail section of our aircraft had broken away from the fuselage. His turret was still attached to the TAILPLANE, but he had NO ENGINES – and NO PILOT! Fortunately he was able to climb out of his turret and descend to earth by parachute.
Because the aircraft was spinning furiously, I was lifted out of my seat and pinned hand up against the cockpit roof along with 3 other members of my crew.
Such was the “g” force, that it was impossible to move so much as my little finger – and it quickly caused me to black out, to become unconscious.
[page break]
[underlined] 9. [/underlined]
THEN A MIRACLE HAPPENED!
[underlined] I found myself in the Sky [/underlined] – regaining consciousness in the cold night air – and I could see my blazing aircraft close by!
Instinctively IO tugged at the RIPCORD and as my parachute blossomed above me, I could see that I was about to drop into the tree tops, which were FLOODLIT by my BLAZING Aircraft.
As I landed in the TREES, my LANCASTER crashed a short distance away. I climbed down through the branches and landed safely on a cushion of leaves.
Overhead I could hear the main force of bombers making their way home to England and wistfully – I thought of the air-crew breakfast of eggs & bacon to which they were returning!
An excited crowd quickly surrounded me, each and every one of them grabbing my tunic or trousers, holding me as tightly as possible, no doubt so that each of them could claim to have captured the English “terror flyer” which they called me.
After being captured I spent five days and nights in solitary confinement. I was interrogated each day and I was subjected to various threats, but I stuck to the rule of disclosing only my name, rank and number – and this was eventually accepted by each of my interrogators.
[page break]
[underlined 10. [/underlined]
How did the enemy manage to shoot us down without our having any warning? Years later I learned that [inserted] JU88 [/inserted] German fighters were able to hone in on our H2S Rader Transmitter. I also learned that they were equipped with upward firing guns. Instead of attacking us from above and behind [inserted] AS WE EXPECTED [/inserted], they were able to position themselves directly below us, where they were completely hidden from our view. The Germans gave this system the code name “Schrage Music” [sic], meaning Jazz Music. Many of our Bombers were lost this way. It has always been a great sorrow for me that while 5 of us survived [symbol] as Prisoners of War, 2 members of my crew lost their lives – my Bomb Aimer and my Upper Gunner.
THAT NIGHT, my Squadron lost 3 LANCASTERS of the 16 which they had sent to bomb KIEL. This was a loss rate of almost 20%, together with 21 experienced Pathfinders.
The remaining mystery is how the 4 of us who were trapped UNCONSCIOUS under the cockpit roof could have had such a miraculous escape from certain death. Perhaps the centrifugal force, the “G” force, created by the spinning aircraft caused the Perspex roof to give way under the combined weight of our 4 unconscious bodies – and to hurl us out into the sky. We quickly regained consciousness in the cold night air, just in time to be saved by our parachutes.
[page break]
[underlined] 11. [/underlined]
I spent the last 9 months of the War in a prison camp – STALAG LUFT 1 – where there were 9,000 air crew from many nations – Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Poles, Czechs, - as well as huge numbers of R.A.F. from this Country.
During the early months of my captivity, we POW’s received a Red Cross Food parcel every week. They were a real life-saver! However during the last 4 months of the war, we received [underlined] NO [/underlined] parcels! We had to survive on the German ration of 1 bowl of thin potato soup each day – with 2 or 3 slices of Black bread. By the time the Russian Arrived to liberate us on May 1st 1945, we were really starving! That was a day of great rejoicing!
The Russians found a huge store of Red Cross parcels and issued each of us with 4 parcels! So for the next 2 weeks that it took to organise our return to England, every day was like Christmas Day!
Having flown to German in a Lancaster, I was flow home in an American B.17, a Flying Fortress. We landed at Ford Airfield, just along the coast in Sussex.
[page break]
[/underlined] 12. [/underlined]
After the War the Irvin Parachute Co. presented me with a gold caterpillar brooch. This is a constant reminder that I owe my life to the caterpillars which had spun the silk thread from which my parachute was manufactured. I wear my caterpillar brooch with Gratitude and Humility!
If you have been to see the Memorial, you will have noticed that in W W 2, we Air Crew were 9 feet tall. We have all Shrunk a bit since those days!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Talk to the Haywards Heath Historical Society
Description
An account of the resource
Opens with mention of Bomber Command memorial in Green Park and 55,573 despite killed, moral was high due to belief that winning was vital. Tells story that he was guest at two weddings in 1943 with three other members of Bomber Command and that all four were later shot down with two killed. Tells of training in United Kingdom and southern United States and that he was kept on as an instructor for a year after his wings award. Says he was privileged to fly Lancaster which was rugged and reliable and quotes congratulatory latter from Sir Arthur Harris to the head of Avro. Mentions 7000 Lancaster built and 3500 lost in operations. Mentions that Bomber Command was only organisation to fight throughout the war and talks of its contribution to war including D-Day preparation, deception operations and V-1 attacks. Outlines the role of all seven members of the crew and how they operated as a team, especially when attacked by fighters. Tell story of being hit by an anti-aircraft shell while in 90° bank. States that he flew on Halifax with 76 Squadron and then Lancaster with Pathfinders. Shot down on an operation to Kiel. Explains importance of Kiel as submarine base and effect they could have on on British food supplies. Describes events when shot down where tail with rear gunner was detached from fuselage and he was pinned in cockpit by g force. Describes miracle escape, parachuting and reception on ground. Later found out that was shot down by Ju-88 which could home on H2S and had upward firing guns. Five of his crew escaped aircraft and two were killed. Describes life as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1 and repatriation on B-17 to RAF Ford.
Creator
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Reg Barker
Date
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2014-06-24
Format
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Twelve page handwritten document
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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MBarkerR[Ser#-DoB]-151001-01
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--Haywards Heath
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Germany
Germany--Kiel
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
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Sally Des Forges
635 Squadron
76 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
bale out
Caterpillar Club
H2S
Halifax
Harvard
Ju 88
killed in action
Lancaster
memorial
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Pathfinders
perception of bombing war
prisoner of war
RAF Downham Market
RAF Ford
RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Red Cross
shot down
Stalag Luft 1
submarine
training
V-1
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/7923/OGodfreyCR1281391-151118-060001.2.jpg
c5c7960f5ebd300e17f11524adc9374e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/7923/OGodfreyCR1281391-151118-060002.2.jpg
f6e7df41f066e97c7e79f87e97da75d5
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Godfrey, Charles Randall
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
64 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Charles Randall Godfrey DFC (b. 1921, 146099, Royal Air Force) and consists of his logbook and operational notes, items of memorabilia, association memberships, personnel documentation, medals and photographs. He completed 37 operations with 37 Squadron in North Africa and the Mediterranean and 59 operations with 635 Squadron. He flew as a wireless operator in the crew of Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette VC.
The collection has has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Charles Godfrey and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Godfrey, CR
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-18
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Charles Godfrey medal entitlement certificate
Description
An account of the resource
Indicates that 146099 F/Lt Godfrey is entitled to wear the 1939/45 Star, Africa Star, France and Germany Star and the Defence Medal. Qualified for 1939/45 Star June 1944. Signed by Group Captain Royal Air Force Downham Market. Annotated '635 Squadron Bomber 8 PFF'. On the reverse unreadable station stamps.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06
Format
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Two sided typewritten certificate
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
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OGodfreyCR1281391-151118-06
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
635 Squadron
Pathfinders
RAF Downham Market
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/81/7989/PGodfreyDC15080001.2.jpg
89296872ec756b9eb1a0c428c82f3646
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Godfrey, Charles Randall
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War (1939-1945)
Description
An account of the resource
64 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Charles Randall Godfrey DFC (b. 1921, 146099, Royal Air Force) and consists of his logbook and operational notes, items of memorabilia, association memberships, personnel documentation, medals and photographs. He completed 37 operations with 37 Squadron in North Africa and the Mediterranean and 59 operations with 635 Squadron. He flew as a wireless operator in the crew of Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette VC.
The collection has has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Charles Godfrey and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Godfrey, CR
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-18
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Charles Godfrey's Pathfinder crew
Description
An account of the resource
Eight aircrew sitting on chairs in front of a wall. All are wearing battledress and side caps. Charles Godfrey is fourth from the right.
Format
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On eb/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
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PGodfreyDC15080001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
635 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
flight engineer
navigator
Pathfinders
pilot
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/781/9675/AWrigleyA160826.2.mp3
e5dab3d583280a1b468c8b3e09ee048b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wrigley, James
J Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns James Wrigley (1920 - 2010, 1029740 Royal Air Force) and contains an interview with his widow, Alice Wrigley, photographs, his log book, decorations, and a photograph album of his service in the UK and and Far East. The collection also contains a log book made out to Rascal, his mascot or lucky charm. James Wrigley completed 47 operations as a wireless operator with 97 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Higgins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-09
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
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Wrigley, J
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Int: What was your mum’s name? What was she called, your mum?
AW: She was called Edna Morris, before she got married.
Int: Right.
AW: Before she got married, yeah.
Int: Right, and then she married your dad.
AW: Me dad; they were called Bennison and I grew up, I left Bennison but the family I lived with were called, well, when my auntie first had me, she were called [loud rustling] Collymore and then she married a Kilgowan. He was, they were Irish family that had come over when all the troubles were on and there were five brothers of them, and one sister, in their family, and they all had Temperance Bars here. One of them had a Temperance Bar in Matley, he had a Temperance bar, do you know where butt of Black Lane was, in Matley?
Int: I’m just trying.
WS: Over near Picturedrome.
Int: Yes, I remember that.
WS: You know that road just where Picturedrome, past Picturedrome, well there was a pub and one or two shops and this Temperance Bar and that belonged to one of the Kilgowans.
Int: Right, ooh.
WS: And er, no they were no relation to me.
Int: Ah, right. Those who you went to live with is it?
AW: Well, me Auntie Collier went to live with, she was me mother’s sister, but she married this Kilgowan. He was no relation to me, he was er. You see as soon as my mother died, I mean she died in childbirth, she died when me brother were born and me dad left a couple who he knew who all the time he knew, who couldn’t have any children, they adopted him.
Int: Ah, right.
AW: Well in those days you didn’t have any trouble about adoption, you know, little was done, and they adopted him and he grew up not knowing that he was adopted, and I knew him because we all went to school together, round there. Well when school, I went St Mary’s and he went St Thomas’s, and er, I had some more cousins that lived near there, lived, everybody knew everyone in them days, you know.
Int: Yeah.
WS: And it seems [emphasis] that one of my cousins was, heard his mother and one of the other aunts, my other aunts, and another one of my aunts, and another aunt, talking about it, and about me being his sister, and that’s how it got out, about, that we were brother and sister.
Int: So you’d been at the same school.
WS: I don’t really know, I didn’t know he was my brother. I must have been about twelve, something like that, before I got to know that.
Int: Did your dad remarry then?
WS: He went down Birmingham actually, when I were five years old. I was, lived me auntie then and he would for a, you know when all the big car factories were down Birmingham? Well, he was a manager at one of the car factories down there.
Int: Oh, right!
WS: And he met this woman and they got married but she didn’t want to know he had a family, she didn’t want to know anything about us. So I never saw me dad, from being five years old until our George, well it was the year that Jim was out of the service, before he went back in. What would it be? 19, year was over, 1945, he were demobbed in ’46: it was round about 1946. I didn’t see him from being five years old, that would have been about 1925 until 1946, and then I saw him again.
Int: Can you remember him?
WS: Oh I can remember him now. He only had one arm. He was in the first war, First World War, and he got wounded and taken capture by the Germans; he was in German prisoner of war camp during the First World War and instead of treating him they took his arm off, took [indecipherable] off one arm.
Int: [Gasp]
WS: Now I saw him then in 1946. She had, his wife, they lived in Birmingham, me dad and this woman, they had big house that they lived in and all the rest of it, not that I bloody saw any of it. She had a sister lived in Matley, and he came up to see his sister, and he called in the aunties and I can always remember because Jim’s face was still full of that rash and that, and I went up to me aunties and I saw him and she was there. That was the first time I’d ever seen her.
Int: Since you were five! Tsk. Flippin’ ‘eck.
WS: Since I were five. And I never saw him again. That was it. Never saw him again. They went back to Birmingham.
Int: And that was it.
WS: That was it. Now there was money, I know there was money, and where the bloody hell that went to I don’t know, I think it all went to his sister’s children.
Int: Did they have any children theirself? No?
WS: No.
Int: No, so, flippin’ ‘eck that’s awful i’n’t really. It’s quite sad really, that.
WS: [Indecipherable] and I never asked half the time because I was with me auntie and she got married to this bloke and I must have, I was turned five because I was five the last time I saw him, me dad, and they got married after and later she had two children of her own, was a big difference between us, now she had a son and a daughter. Now me and the son got on like a house on fire, we were like sister and brother, but the girl, she was spiteful with me; she was a bitch she was.
Int: Oh.
WS: And eventually she married a bloke and they went to live in America and finished up in America.
Int: ‘Eck.
WS: And I never saw them for years then after, because her mother followed them, her dad had died and her mother followed them over to America. He was only about [indecipherable] when he died. He had lung cancer, through smoking, all them years ago, that were just after the war that, not far after the war, and she suddenly, she floated off to America so I never saw that family, you know! And when I was married to Jim, I left home actually, and got my, and got a house, when Jim asked me to get married he’d come home at Christmas holiday, at Christmas, on leave, and before he went back he asked me to get married when he come home again. And he said I’m not home till July, and he said when I come home in July, let’s get married our lass, so I said okay. So he went back up to Newcastle where he was stationed, and I –
Int: What was he doing in Newcastle? What did actually he do there?
WS: He was on a fighter station doing this Morse Code.
Int: Oh, right.
WS: He got muddled with it because he had to go into hospital in middle of the course so he lost his course, so he was a loose cannon, all his course had moved on and another course had moved in, to Blackpool, at Blackpool, and they sent him up to Newcastle to bide the time away.
Int: To catch up?
WS: Till they got him into another course.
Int: Right.
WS: And er, he’d gone, went back up to Newcastle and he would write, we used to write to each other every day. Every day, and he kept on about getting married when he come home and I’m thinking yeah, but where we going to go when we get married? There’s no room for us here and there’s no room for us at his mother’s: what we gonna to do? So I thought, and I got very little spending money, very few clothes, and I was getting more, and I was working hard, I mean they worked damned hard at war work. Half past seven in morning till half past five at night, five days a week, with only one hour off, no lunch break, just one hour for dinner, cause we were on war work.
Int: What were you doing?
WS: And I used to work Saturday morning as well!
Int: What was your job then, in the war?
WS: I worked in the mill, in the cotton mill, we were doing cotton for, everybody had to go on war work, no matter how much money you had, you had to register, and you had these girls you know, in London, they all had to go to work and they were all had to go where they were sent, if you weren’t working already you went where you were sent.
Int: Right.
WS: You had to register.
Int: Where were you sent?
WS: I went to the cotton mill in [indecipherable].
Int: Oh right, you said you had to travel.
WS: I already worked at the cotton mill, but when the war started we went on to war work you see. And Jim worked in the cotton mill as well.
Int: Is that how you met?
WS: No, no. And er, and then when it were getting nearer to, to him coming home like, I said to me auntie, instead of tipping my wage up can I board? And she said as long as you live here you tip your wages. So I went Saturday morning, [indecipherable], what you do when you’re younger! Saturday morning I come out of work, we used to work Saturday morning: half past seven in morning till half past twelve at dinnertime, every Saturday that was all, them were the hours we worked all week, half past seven till half past five every day, we were on that for five days and then half past seven till half past five Saturday morning, on war work, everybody had to do it, and I come out of work and there was a shop, a place up Blackburn Street and this bloke used to let houses and sell houses, you know, he was an agent, and it were called Wilkinson’s and I went marching in and said have you got any houses on rent? He said yes love, we have, I’ve got two at present, one behind St Thomas’s Church and one up at Grosvenor Street. That was right near where I already lived, and I thought oh, Grosvenor Street, so I said can I have a look at the one at Grosvenor Street and he said certainly love, here’s your key, and he give me the key! And I go out and have a go and have a look at this house up Grosvenor Street, it was exactly [emphasis] as this one is built, well the door was there like it should be, not there, I mean that door shouldn’t be there.
Int: Yeah, it’s been knocked through ha’n’t it, there.
WS: And it was exactly [emphasis] as this house is built, only it were brick instead of stone, and it were the same way round as well: front door there, the kitchen door there, you know, and I thought oh this’ll just suit me. So I went back to him and I said how much is it? And he said seven shilling a week. Well, I wasn’t even getting that spending money, but I had saved up whilst Jim were away and [indecipherable] gave five shilling a week out of thirty shilling I were taking home, and I were twenty two! So I said to her, again, you know, can I, I said all right then I’m leaving home and I’m going, I’ve got a house and I’m going to live in it. Well I didn’t have a stick of furniture [laughter] so I thought what’ll I do now? So I went to Gordons – remember Gordons? Furniture.
Int: Yes! I do.
WS: That was going then, and the one in Matley up on Church Street and I went there and I asked if I could get some furniture on the never never, yes certainly love, how old are you? I said twenty two. Well you’ll have to get somebody to sign for you, to vouch for you, and I thought oh Jesus, what do I do now! So I went home and I boldly asked her and she said I’ll not sign it for you, I’ll not sign it for you. Anyway later on I learned from me cousin, our Charlie like, he were like me brother, and he told me, he said they had a big row between them, me mum and me dad, and I said what for? He said over you. And I said [indecipherable] what’ve I done now? Well, it’s because he was asking me mum how much wage you were getting, and me mum told him and when he said well how much money, how much spending money she get, and he said he went mad when she told him. She’s twenty two and you were only giving her that bloody much he said, and apparently they had a real ding dong row over it, he said and now you won’t sign it, he said she wants to get married he said, her and Jim have gone together for a long time, they’ve stuck together all the way, all the time, now they want to get married, she wants her own space. Because there were three of us sleeping in the bed.
Int: Oh gosh!
WS: You know, and then Charlie were one of them, yeah.
Int: Yeah. Common them days.
WS: Course you wouldn’t get council house and he said she wants her own space, she not a girl now, she’s a young woman, she needs to have her own space, he said. Right, so when I come home that night he said come here, I want you, he said I believe you have a paper that you want somebody to sign. And I looked at him, I said you daren’t and he said where is that paper and he signed it for me. And I worked what furniture I wanted, put a deposit on that I’d saved and I said right I’m going to live in there, and I walked out of the house, got all my clothes and I walked out.
Int: Did you ever see Charlie again then?
WS: Pardon?
Int: Did you ever see Charlie again?
WS: He died while they were in America.
Int: Oh, so when they went to America, right.
WS: So I marched in the house and people were giving me all sorts of things, I had all sorts of things with me, blankets, blackout curtains, because we had to have blackout curtains then, and all this, and I wrote to Jim and said I’ve got a house, and Jim wrote back what you mean you’ve got a house! But I wrote to him and told him. Anyway we were getting married in July, and about four days before his leave I get a letter from him: don’t send any more letters to this address, I’ve got to go down London on a course; my leave’s been cancelled! I thought well that’s all I need. Anyway he then went down to London on this course in the July and then he walked in the door on 1st of October, on his birthday, and we had, and he walked in and he said come on, get your coat on, we’re going to Bury. I looked at him, I said we’re going to Bury? I hadn’t seen him since what.
Int: July!
WS: I hadn’t seen him since Christmas. I hadn’t seen him since Christmas cause he didn’t get his July leave, it got cancelled you see.
Int: Oh! So it was nearly like twelve months!
WS: Yes. It was nine months.
Int: Nine months.
WS: Oh, that was nothing during the war. Jim’s sister got married the Christmas before and we stood for them, he were on embarkation leave, that meant he were going abroad. She never saw him for three years after, and they were only married six months. That’s what always tickles me, they were only married six months.
Int: They were like strangers really, been away three years away from each other.
WS: A lot of them had had children and they didn’t know their dads, they’d never seen their dads. You know, they were pregnant when their husbands went off. A lot of them were like that. And they’d never even saw their dads. A lot of the kids got um, got sent you know, out up into the country, away from London, a lot of London kids, and they never saw their mothers and fathers again because their mothers got killed in the air raids and the fathers were killed in the war. And it was a lot like that.
Int: Yeah. Sad, i’n’t it really. It’s awful.
WS: Yes, it was really sad all that, and yet people didn’t even realise all the side effects of what the war caused.
Int: No.
WS: Anyway, Jim came, we went up to Register Office and she said to Jim, hmmhmm, it was a woman Registrar, and she said to Jim, how long are you on leave? He said seven days and she said do you want to get married while you are on leave? He said yes, she said right, now how will twelve o’clock on Saturday noon suit you? I can fit you in then. We got married, he came home at Thursday and we got married at the, and he kept saying to me on Thursday night, all quiet, I’ll stop with you tonight!
Int: [Laugh]
WS: You bloody won’t I said, go on. I said go on, go home to your mother Jim, and his sister stayed with me, she stood for me, and she stayed with me Friday night and then we went up to Register Office, four of us, and I got, we got married and er –
Int: Who was your witness then? Who was it who came with you? Did you had to have a witness.
WS: Well you had to have two people stood for you.
Int: Right.
WS: Two people stood for you. Jim’s best mate, he wasn’t in the services because he was deaf and he got, he was on the deaf side and they won’t take ‘em if they’re deaf because of the, they can’t hear guns and whatnot, and he gradually finished up, he was deferred for oh, about twelve months, August and must have been the two years and they give him a job in the pit. There was a big Pay Corps place at [indecipherable] called Black Lane and they did Pay Corps for the Yanks when they came over and for our troops as well and they took him there and he got a job up there, in the Army.
Int: Oh. So he was your witness at the wedding then, was he?
WS: So we had Jim’s sister and Arthur, Jim’s best mate, and just the four of us went to Register Office and I can always remember because when me and Grace walked in the Registrar wasn’t there and Jim and Arthur were making paper aeroplanes! [Laughter] I thought just look at him, he’s getting bloody married and look, playing aeroplanes over there. And we went back [indecipherable] come back and I’ll make you dinner. So we went back and she made us a nice dinner and then we went and went and had a walk, I can’t remember what we did after. That night we went into the Wool Pack the four of us, for a drink, and that were my wedding day.
Int: So that was your wedding day. Aww.
WS: That was, that was. I didn’t have any new clothes to get married in either.
Int: Oh! That’s awful, in’t it, and when you think these days, what people do when they get married.
WS: Yeah, and I don’t think, I just, think I’d had a new pair of shoes not long before and I think that was only new thing I had on really.
Int: So how long after you were married did Jim go back?
WS: He were only home seven days.
Int: Seven days.
WS: He came home on the Thursday, we got married on the Saturday, and he were going back the following Thursday.
Int: Oh dear, where was he going back to then?
WS: I just, I can’t remember where it was he went back. I think it were Pembrey, in Wales, he went back. And he went back and he was, he was an airman, airman he was, the lowest rank in the Air Force he was, when he went back and the next time I saw him, I got a letter from him: I’m coming home on the forty eight hour, this week end, because we’re posted after, he crewed up at Pembrey, he’d already got together with his crew then.
Int: Is it the same crew that he was always with then?
WS: Yeah, and he came home and he come walking in and he’s a Sergeant! [Laugh]
Int: Ooh!
WS: And he were only an airman when he went and when we got married, and it weren’t long after we got married, after, and I went down, yeah, I went down to Pembrey to see him and I stayed a weekend at Pembrey and he was with his crew then and then he got posted on to the squadron and that’s when he started his operations.
Int: Right. So where did they fly from, with his squadron, his first flights, his operations?
WS: His operations, I keep trying to, he was at Hemswell first of all and he wasn’t, they weren’t there long and then they formed, the Air Ministry formed the Pathfinder Force it was, and they chose the elite squadrons, the elite crews out of the Bomber Command to form this new squadron, for the Pathfinder Force and it was in all the papers about it, [indecipherable] bloody thing you’ve got here!
Int: The Pathfinder got a badge.
WS: Pathfinder Force, and they got chosen for one of the elite squadrons to join.
Int: Wow!
WS: And they started Pathfinder Force up then, very important.
Int: That’s brilliant. You must have been very proud.
WS: They formed 635 Squadron. He was on 9, he was on 97 Squadron when he just went in.
Int: 97.
WS: Then, they formed 635 Squadron.
Int: 635.
WS: And he was at er, I can’t remember where he was, I can’t for the life [emphasis] of me remember where he was.
Int: When did he become a Warrant Officer, then? When was that? Or was that later on?
WS; Well he was, funny really because he was, we got married in 1942, and he was a rookie, what they called a rookie, the lowest rank, and in 1943 he was a Sergeant, and then beginning of 1944 he was a Flight Sergeant, and later on in 1944 he was a Warrant Officer. He just went up like that; he was Warrant Officer in no time flat.
Int: Was he a Warrant Officer when he did the, er, he put the Book of Remembrance in the, was it Lincolnshire Cathedral?
WS: Pardon?
Int: When he did the Book of Remembrance.
WS: Oh yes, he was a Warrant Officer then.
Int: Right. And that was at Lincolnshire Cathedral that, wasn’t it?
WS: No, the first one was at um, at London, at the, they had a chapel, the Air Force had a chapel in London.
Int; Oh, right.
WS: It’s in a big, one of the big cathedrals.
Int: Right.
WS: And it’s a side, you know, they had these sides.
Int: That’s right.
WS: That one again, and they put the book on there and every aircrewman that got killed in it and every day they turn a page over. But the other one was at Lincoln Cathedral, and Lincoln, like round Lincolnshire, it’s very flat, and there was Air Force, there was oh, Waddington, Scampton, they were all.
Int: All the air bases.
WS: Hemswell, loads and loads of airfields round there.
Int: Right.
WS: They had a book with all the aircrew who were killed who served in Lincoln, round Lincoln, in Lincolnshire.
Int: That’s why, right, why they had that one in Lincoln.
WS: In Lincoln Cathedral.
Int: The Remembrance.
WS: Now I believe [emphasis] they’re building a memorial in Lincolnshire, another memorial, in Lincolnshire.
Int: Really?
WS: It’s going to be a tall tower and that will have all the names of all the aircrew who served in Lincolnshire.
Int: Right.
WS: There was Waddington, there was Scampton, oh I forget what they all were, but the, Hemswell was another one, they had all these different airfields. Most of them were closed after the war of course, but um, Scampton was right next door to them. When we went back in again Jim was stationed at Hemswell again, but Scampton was right next door to us, cause when we used to shop at Lincoln, and when we were going to Lincoln we used to go past Scampton. Now that was where the famous crew came from, who were the, the, who bombed the dams.
Int: Oh, the Dambusters.
WS: The Dambusters. They were stationed there at um, at Scampton right next to us. And when they made the film about the Dambusters, you know, that big film, well they made, all the flying was done from our airfield at Hemswell and all the indoor shots were shot at Scampton, and we, what’s he called? What you call him, bloke in the film star?
Int: Yes, I know who you mean.
WS: Yeah. Well he had a caravan up on the airfield that he lived in while they were shooting.
Int: Really! Gosh!
WS: And we used to go up and watch them shooting on the airfield. Lots of shooting was done.
Int: Whilst they made the, and you watched them make the film?
WS: Pardon?
Int: You watched them make the original film!
WS: Yeah, the original film, and he was up there, and in the, and Guy Gibson, who was the pilot, the leading pilot on that raid, he had a dog and he got killed on the night they did the raid; on the night they did that raid on the dams his dog, a motorbike ran over him and it got killed.
Int: Oh no!
WS: He had it at Scampton, this dog, and it were called Trigger, and what’s he called? I forget what its name was. I can see ‘im as he is cause he lived in Trigger Park up on the airfield, and he had the dog with him all the time, but played the part of Guy Gibson’s dog on the film, yeah, I can always remember that. We used to go up on the airfield.
Int: So did you actually see the guy who took the part, you know, who lived in the caravan? Did you see him at all?
WS: The film star? The big film star? Yeah, we watched them shooting it. Yeah, he was there, he used to wave to us when we went up ah, [laughter] Oh, it sounds exciting now when you tell people.
Int: So what was Jim’s crew? What were they called, the crew? Can you?
WS: G for George.
Int: That was his er -
WS: That was the aircraft, G for George.
Int: What was his crew called though? What was his actual crew called, you know, the names of the lads he worked with?
WS: Well, I can’t remember them all.
Int: Oh, cause there was different crews was there?
WS: They were, I mean I never met his crew because they were always on the station. I mean he used to get, used to send ‘em home every seven, every six weeks they sent them home for seven days it were that bad, what they had to go through, they used to send them home out of it, go for a week. And Jim used to come home and every time he went back I never know whether I was going to see him again, you know.
Int: Yeah, oh dear.
WS: And when he come home that morning, it, I know that his best mate was called Ted Pike, and he was the bomb aimer. That was the only one I knew; Jim used to go out with him. But then they had Harry, he was the navigator, but in his big job he was something in London, a stockbroker I think.
Int: Oh!
WS: He used to take ‘em all out, all the crew and all his ground crew because they had their own ground crew as well, you know, that looked after ‘em and the aircraft and everything. And each crew had their own ground crew, and he used to take all the aircrew lads and all the ground crew lads, he used to take them all out for a meal every month. Used to take everybody, slap up meal and then they got killed. His mother was living in a cottage nearby when they, that night they got killed, and Jim walked in through the door that Saturday morning, I’ll never forget, whenever Jim came home he never showed what, hide it.
Int: Any emotions.
WS: I could [indecipherable], never showed, till after the war that I found out what, you know, people in civvie street didn’t know. In fact most of it’s only come out since all this.
Int: TV footage and that.
WS: And all this, this new memorial and that, by the television it’s only just come out and by the lads, some of the lads, well the blokes they are now, talking about it on you know, what they went through, on television.
Int: That’s right.
WS: You know, a lot of them talking about what it was like during the war, when they were flying and I never realised, you never realised what.
Int: No.
WS: And every time he come home, you’d never have thought he was aircrew or anything, he was always slap happy, and that morning he walked in through the door, I didn’t know he were coming home, I were sat in [indecipherable] and he walked in and I’m just coming out of the kitchen as he walked in through the door, and I went, I wanted to take in his face and I’d never seen him look like it before, and looked at him and he said just, to me, I’ve lost me crew. I looked at him, and I said you what? And he said I’ve lost me crew. Well I had no idea what he were talking about, you know, I said what you talking about, you’ve lost your crew? He said Alice, I’ve lost me crew, they never came back. Now I was struck dumb because he always flew with them, and yet he was coming in through my front door, but all his crew have gone. And I thought why? Why are you here and your crew have crashed, they’ve not come back, well he didn’t know they crashed, they hadn’t come back. I looked at him and I said, they don’t come back, I said. He said I’ve been waiting all night for ‘em he said. When I went to look up on the board last night, yesterday, he said I knew we had an op on and I went to have a look on the board at my crew, he said and I’m not on with me crew. He said I went into the office I want to know why I’m not on with me crew! And they said you’ve done your quota, over your quota already Jim, and we want, somebody else wants to fly. We’ve got lads on the camp that haven’t got their flights in and we’ve got to get them, we’re not allowed to send you out any more now. So he said, I had a row with them. No Jim, no matter what you say, high up say you haven’t to go tonight. He said so I watched them take off, he said I went in the what’s it called room, in the room, you know, where they call them in.
Int: Oh yes.
WS: Well what they did, every aircrew, every aircraft had a number and they used, when that number flew out, they used to push them into the middle.
Int: You see it on old films, don’t you, the women doing it.
WS: And then when they came back they used to pull them back.
Int; Ah!
WS: So all the ones that are left in the middle were the ones who hadn’t come back.
Int: Missing.
WS: And they sat in the crew room all night.
Int: Were they.
WS: They were sat in the crew room all night, waiting for them coming back.
Int: Had they gone on a bombing raid, over Germany?
WS: A bombing raid, oh yeah, a bombing raid, and they hadn’t come back. He said I waited all night, and they hadn’t come back. He said so they’re reported missing, believed killed, and he said er, and they sent me home, he said. The CO said Jim will you go home to your wife, he said there’s a pass there, seven days leave. He said and don’t [emphasis] come back to this camp again. You’re posted up to Scotland, you’re going up there as an instructor, he said, no messing about. Go home to your wife! And he said no, because he was in such a state when they didn’t come back. And he kept blaming himself a bit for it because first time I’ve never flown with ‘em and they haven’t come back, first time I’ve never flown with ‘em, not brought ‘em back, love. And I said Jim, you can’t look on it like that and he said aren’t you bothered? And I said Jim, all I’m doing is looking at you standing there, tsk, I said my feelings are different than yours. You’re mourning a crew that you’ve just lost, I’m bloody glad you walked in my front door this morning, and my feelings weren’t the same as Jim’s.
Int: That’s it.
WS: All right, I felt sorry for them, felt sorry for Jim, but I was so relieved that he’d come and that he was there, you know.
Int: Well yeah!
WS: And they wouldn’t let him fly because he’d done forty eight and done more than the rest of ‘em you see, and er, that’s what happened that night. Then he got posted up to Scotland. Of course I hated that because I didn’t see him then, I didn’t see him till, well I forget how long it was before l saw him again. I’d had our George by then, cause I were having our George when it happened, and I’d already had our George and Jim had never seen our George then.
Int: So you had George before Jim came back home.
WS: Yes. I’d had George before this. I had our George, Jim went up there in August, up to Scotland, and I had our George in September, and it were months before Jim come home so he didn’t see our George till our George were, you know, I forget how old George was when he see him first time.
Int: When did he get his DFM then, Jim?
WS: Well he was awarded it in 19-, he was a Flight Sergeant when he got, when he was awarded it and that must have been in 1940 – beginning of 1944. Either end of 1943, or beginning of 1944 but he didn’t get, he just had his ribbon up. He didn’t get his medal until, he got his medal, aher, the week after our George was born, I was in [indecipherable] at home when he got his medal.
Int: [Gasp]
WS: And he’d gone on a flight. He were on, he were up in Scotland and he were doing a training flight with two, two er, he had two trainees with him and they were on this training flight and something went wrong with the aircraft and they had to land, do an emergency landing on the isle of Tiree. So they always had an engineer with them you see, and he had a look what were wrong and he said to Jim will you ring back, will you send back to camp, we need a spare part, ask them if they’ll send a spare part out. So Jim, being the wireless operator like, he had to contact camp, will you send us such and such spare part out, we’re stranded on Tiree. So the following day this aircraft came over from base, with the spare part, landed, and they said to Jim, we’re going back and you’ve got to come back with us; you’ve got to come back to camp. So Jim said what for? He said don’t bloody ask us he said, you’ve got to go to admin as soon as you get back, you’ve got to report to admin straight away; he said urgent. So when Jim got back, that was on the Friday, Jim got back to camp and he goes to admin: right, best blue, all polished, all buttons polished, everything smart, there’s a, here’s your tickets to Edinburgh, [laugh] there’s a transport waiting for you to take you to the train. You get on that train, get to Edinburgh and there’s, there’s the place you are staying for the night, you stay there, [clapping sound] and tomorrow morning you have got to be at the Palace of Holyrood House at such and such a time, to meet the King and Queen!
Int: Oh!
WS: He had to go to Palace of Holyrood House. He got there Friday, he stayed the Friday night to Edinburgh and he met up with another bloke who were going to Palace as well, so they kind of, they was strangers, but in the services, you know, they all kept together.
Int: They were all one family.
WS: They had a night out and then they got their best blue and everything ready and the medals all polished and everything ready for, they had to have their medals on and everything, ready to go down and they, like seeing investiture’s on, where the King and that is what happened.
Int: Aw!
WS: And was something I missed.
Int: Aw, it’s a shame that, but I mean you must have been proud of him mustn’t you, you know, that was so.
WS: You know, he wrote it up, he said I’m sorry about that he said, but you see they wouldn’t have investitures at Buckingham Palace then, because of the air raids in London and if the Germans, the Germans knew everything that were going, on and they did their, they knew a lot of brass, you know, top brass, at Buckingham Palace.
Int: It was dangerous to be there, yeah.
WS: So wherever the King and Queen went, they used to have an investiture, and they were staying at Balmoral on their holiday when Jim were up there overnight, they had this investiture at the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh and went down there. He said and then after they had a reception at night and he met Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, they were there.
Int: [Gasp] Wow!
WS: Said he had a belting time. I said why do you always bloody have a belting time!
Int: [Laugh] Cause he went out to America didn’t he, on the?
WS: Yeah, well he went out to America. When he re-joined, after the war was over, he went to, he went there, he had to wait till he got rid of that rash, that he had on him.
Int: Oh yeah, you were telling me about that.
WS: And then he went to Hemswell and it were snowed up and it hadn’t any [indecipherable] when he got there, but he had to stay the night because he couldn’t get back! He had to go, he had to come back on a snow plough day after, to Gainsborough, and he come home and he were home until the police came and told him he had to report back and he were home about, they were at home at least a month, all the camp, couldn’t get back, it were that bad. Used to get really bad over there. He went back, he went to the camp then and he were only there, I think he were there about six weeks. When he came home and he said I’m going to America! Looked at him, I mean, I know he used to, they used to fly out to the Middle East, fly out that way, but never that way! [Laugh] And I said I thought he were kidding, I said yeah. He said I am, he said I’m on seven days’ leave he said, I’ve had to go to Binbrook, he said we’re flying in from there. I said I wondered why I hadn’t had a letter from you for a few, he said well we had to go over to Binbrook and get kitted out and everything he said, so they give us seven days leave before we go. So I said how long you are going for? Ten weeks. So they flew out to Canada first and they went to a couple of places in Canada, and then they went down to America. And it was kind of showing the flag kind of thing, and there were sixteen aircraft which is a squadron, so it’s like a full squadron going, and they were there for ten weeks. All over America they went; well they were flying from one place to another, they went all over, but they were doing flying pasts and things like that and you know, showing off all over America, and all the Americans wanted to see them, and the Lancaster bomber.
Int: Yeah.
WS: And they weren’t Lancasters, they were Lincolns, because the Lancasters all had gone down the pan and they’d gone over to the Lincolns then, but you could hardly tell the difference between them.
Int: Wow.
WS: But it was a bigger version of the Lancaster and it had a blip on the thing, where they stored what they called the window; the window was all metal strips like that, they used to drop it and it used to jam the radar. Enemy radar.
Int: Oh yeah! The strips, yes I’ve seen that.
WS: They called it window.
Int: Oh, right.
WS: And they used to get cross, oh they used to go all over the bloody aircraft and these, when they came back from abroad and anywhere they went, in Middle East sometimes used to go out to Gib, to Gibraltar, quite a few times, to do, for five days, to do a go up, do an exercise with the Mediterranean Fleet and service and that and when he used to come back they used to have to fly to a certain station, I forget what they were called now, but they always had the customs and excise there, so when they went they used to search the aircraft for contraband, for the blokes bringing whiskey and that, all sorts.
Int: [Laugh]
WS: But they had this great big blip on the thing, the Lincoln where they, when they were in the Lancaster they had to just drop it out through the bomb bay, so when they designed the Lincoln they made this blip on it and it was always locked when they got the stuff in and they used to bring them back absolutely packed with cigarettes, whiskey, gin, all sorts.
Int: [Laugh]
WS: They were massive things you know. They used to lock them and when the customs and excise come on they used to say oh I’m very sorry sir, but you can’t go in there, it’s top secret and they used to have top secret written all over [laughter].
Int: All the whiskey was in there, and the cigarettes!
WS: All for the Sergeants Mess, the Sergeants and the Officers Mess they used to, oh they were all sorts.
Int: So when they went out to America what was that for? That was like part of?
WS: That was showing the flag, showing our flag. They went out to, in America they went mad over 637 Squadron.
Int: The 637 Squadron.
WS: Well, the thing, well they were disbanded and all the crews had gone, had left the Air Force and that, so they wanted to show, so they made a squadron up and they flew out as 637 Squadron.
Int: Ah, right.
WS: And that’s why 617 Squadron, and they flew out as the Dambusters and that’s why they went out. And it was kind of showing the flag and the Americans wanted to see ‘em, and thought they were absolutely brilliant, our aircrew lads.
Int: Oh, right.
WS: And they went out, and they flew all over the place and he come back with all bloody sorts. Beautiful pair of leather shoes I got, [laughter] couldn’t get out of me toes, high heel shoes, oh they were beautiful! And inside all the WAAFs kept saying, kept going into his locker and getting these shoes out and said, Jim are you sure your wife’s feet are only that bloody big! [Laugh] He said it was a joke among all the squadron about these shoes! And he brought white flour home. They went down to the flour state, what’s it called, Michigan is it, I forget now, but where they, Kansas, where they do, make all the white flour over there. And they all come back with big bags of white flour – well we’d never seen white flour since the war started.
Int: Well we’d have all the rations would still be on won’t they, and things.
WS: So I had white flour and all that; he brought all sorts home. When he get home he tell me about this shoe and they keep bloody appearing round the squadron these shoes, are you sure your wife’s feet are only that big!
Int: Ah, those were the days.
WS: Yes, I tell you something, they had a bloody good time. I have a photograph somewhere, I don’t know where it is, it must be upstairs at home, in the boxes under the stairs.
Int: You’ll have to show me that one day, find it.
WS: It’s about that, and they’re absolutely blind drunk on it!
Int: Oh are they! [Laugh]
WS: Well, everybody feted them over there.
Int: They made them very welcome then by the sounds of it.
WS: And they feted ‘em over here, yeah. Everywhere they went when they were meant, doing all these flypasts. They did a flypast over the Empire State Building! [Laugh]
Int: Wow!
WS: And all sorts of things like that, all sorts of things like that, but they had ten weeks out there and then he came back. He’d only been, how he came to get picked I don’t know because he’d only been back in a few weeks when he got sent.
Int: Right.
WS: He sent me a letter, he said don’t write here for a bit, I’ve got to go to Binbrook, and I thought what the bloody hell is happening, he’s only been in five minutes and you know, he’s going somewhere else! And then he wrote to me and said he was going to America, then he come home on leave then, and he went there to be, they went there to get, to all join together, to form a squadron.
Int: And then they flew out from there did they?
WS: And then they flew out together you see and they went via Reykjavik, all that way over, they landed at Reykjavik and then they went from Reykjavik to Canada and they did two stops in Canada first of all and then they went down into America and they were at camps, they went all over. They’d been able to fly from one place to another. They went all over.
Int: So they’d be treated like superstars would they?
WS: Oh yeah, apparently they were feted everywhere they went.
Int: Right. How long after that was he, did he finish then in the RAF? Was it quite, how long did he stay in the RAF after that? Not very long.
WS: Well, I was with him then, I had the three kids then, with him. He was at Hemswell first of all when I went.
Int: Yeah, that’s when Brian talks about his time at Hemswell.
WS: I had our Susan then, and our Susan was born at Hemswell and then we got posted up to Marham and er, it was a Yankee station at Marham where we were, they were all Yanks on there, and they didn’t walk down garden paths, they just strolled all over the bloody fences all the way down when they were going out. [Chuckle] They was hilarious were them Yanks there. And then I had our Brian at Marham and then we all went back to Hemswell again when they’d finished. What he were doing at Marham, they were on B29s, they were going to convert. The Lincolns were beginning to fade out and they were, just on big jets, the big jets were beginning to coming in by then.
Int: Right.
WS: Well of course they needed all new crews, they couldn’t use the old crews. It was all new training because it was [clap] like it is now.
Int: Yes. A lot different.
WS: Yeah. So they were going to use American B29s on Lease Lend, from America, so Jim was sent up there with some more. He always got picked for everything that went on. From Hemswell up to Marham to do a course on the B29s with the Americans. The Americans training on this because you know, they got ‘em bit different aircraft to our and they had all mod cons on them aircraft and he trained on there and he did all his training, and then he came back to Hemswell while I was having our Susan I suppose and he went back up, and then he were back with us for a bit and then he got posted there, but we had to wait till a married quarter came empty before we could move.
Int: Oh right.
WS: And then eventually we moved up there, to Hemswell, to Marham, no we didn’t, Jim went up and I had our Susan because Jim got two weeks compassionate leave, and then I were left on my own with our Susan, and our George then, until we got married quarters and then we went to live up there. And then had our Brian while we lived at Marham and then we all got posted, when he finished training, we had three years there and they trained everybody, all the squadrons. They used to go in a squadron at a time and Jim and the others who were at Marham used to train ‘em on B29s; Jim was an instructor again. And then we all moved back to Hemswell and he was back on his old, they back on their own squadron, Jim was on 97 Squadron, on 199 Squadron he was on there, so they went back to their old squadrons, at Hemswell, and then we were there for quite a good few years and [indecipherable] again and then all of a sudden he got, I’ve got, I’m going off. Where are you going this time? Bletchley Park. Now that was the big place.
Int: Wow!
WS: Where they did all the, er, what’s it called, yeah, that was the thing, and it was all secret service there.
Int: Omega thing was it called? Omega? What was it called, that secret, yeah?
WS: Yeah. I forget that.
Int: And he was trained to do, down there was he?
WS: Yeah.
Int: Wow!
WS: Well he went down there and it was all secret service down there. He had to take the, you know the secret service over there, that you, they had to take the secret service; you had to take the oath.
Int: The oath.
WS: You had to go on the bible, take the oath, you had to do all that when he went down there, sworn to secrecy about what they were doing and then he said I’m posted, I said where you going this time? Germany. I said Germany! I thought whew and it weren’t very long before we were out in Germany as well, with him there.
Int: Oh!
WS: Oh, we loved it there, it were beautiful there, oh it was gorgeous. And then all of a sudden they had redundancies, they started redundancies.
Int: Oh, right.
WS: And Jim, being the aircrew were going out then you know, they was all going out.
Int: They were phasing it out.
WS: And we, Jim had a family who they had to pay all this money to every month cause if you had a family, and you’re in the services, they had to pay you so much, the wife so much for each child and then pay the wife as well, you see I got wage as well from them.
Int: Right.
WS: Then Jim’s money as well. So all the people like Jim got.
Int: They were chosen, to be the ones to go.
WS: He did draw a bloody big redundancy off ‘em, and his pension, so we were all right.
Int: So you were okay, yeah, which has seen you through till now, hasn’t it really.
WS: Yeah.
Int: It’s been good that, for you.
WS: You’re right there, but we’d had a good few years of fun and, it were fun and it was.
Int: Yes.
WS: It was going out to, always having babysitters, the lads, the young lads used to babysit for me [laughter] and made ‘em their supper and give ‘em, left a drink for ‘em and they’d sit in for you all night, they were great they were. And we always had babysitters [indecipherable] and we used to go out to the mess and we never used to come home, and we were home three o’clock we were home early!
Int: [Laugh] So a good time was had by all then!
WS: They were crackers, honestly. What happened was, they had such a bad time of it during the war, that when people were off duty, a lot of time the officers used to come from their mess and come over to the Sergeants Mess The Sergeants Mess used to invite them, they couldn’t go to the Sergeants Mess unless they were invited.
Int: Right.
WS: And our lads couldn’t go to the Sergeants Mess and in the Sergeants Mess it was all prim and proper but down in the Officers Mess I mean, but in the Sergeants Mess aha, you could get away with anything then [chuckle], in the Sergeants Mess. Used to be chaos when we got in the Sergeants Mess. So once they’re off during the service, during the war once, I don’t know [indecipherable] when there was no operations on they got congregated down at the Sergeants Mess and apparently it were, they used to do all sorts of bloody daft games, and they used to really let their hair down, because they had to do.
Int: Well, the sort of things that they would witness.
WS: It was something they needed to do.
Int: Yeah. I can imagine!
WS: And the officers, the top officers used to go to the Sergeants Mess with them as well, and they used to, I know they used to play one game, one silly bloody game called Cockalarium, I’ve no idea what it was – don’t ask! [Laughter] I’ve no bloody idea, Jim never would tell me, and that’s what they used to play. And some of them used to get bloody injured doing it too, they used to, they were mad, you know, they used to have bouts of bloody madness, but you know, they had to do it, let their hair down.
Int: They needed to release, yes, the pressure and the, yeah.
WS: Or else they would have gone, you know, tsk, you know.
Int: Yeah.
WS: Jim would have gone spare, Jim said to me after about it. If we hadn’t had those nights we would have gone you know, he said.
Int: Oh I suppose they never knew form one flight to the next if they were going to ever come back!
WS: Well this is what it was: they used to climb in them aircraft and they never knew whether they would come back or not.
Int: They never know. It’s awful.
WS: And some of the lads who were talking on there about it, the first scary, the first one that we went on, you know, when last year thing, and there were a lot on the telly about it, and he was saying when we first went, the first operation we went on, he said we flew out all right, we had nice flight out, he said we got over the target, he said when I saw the target, he said I thought we’ll never fly in that, we can’t possibly fly in that. He said but we were doing. He said you would never have believed [emphasis] that anybody could fly in that, there were aircraft milling about, there were fighters milling, fighting at you, he said.
Int: Yeah. Well you see it on the television don’t you, old films that they’ve made of it, or even the real thing and it just looked horrendous that er, they were being shot at from height.
WS: They had a mid upper gunner, they had a rear gunner, and a mid upper gunner, one right on top, and they had guns, and he said their guns were like pea shooters towards the guns that the German fighters had. He said, they were just like pea shooters. You might as well he said, throw away the gun, he said you couldn’t even begin to, you know, to fight against them he said, because they had, they were such powerful guns.
Int: Yeah, superior to what Jim’s were.
WS: And er, and that night, I mean that night that Jim’s er, Jim’s rear gunner got killed, he were only eighteen. He’d volunteered, he’d only been in six months, just done his gunnery training and got crewed up with Jim’s crew. And that night he got killed and Jim had to take over from him because Jim was a wireless operator air gunner.
Int: Right, so he’d had to train to do both things.
WS: He had to take over from this lad, and there were holes all over the bloody turret, they couldn’t get it to turn round properly because it were on a swivel like this.
Int: Yeah, you’ve seen it, haven’t you, you know.
WS: They couldn’t get it to turn round properly; it were jammed, and they didn’t want Jim to go in it, you know. They begged him not to go in that night, and Jim said it me job, I’ve got to go in that turret and they were thousands of miles away, over Berlin, and they flew all the way over like that and apparently it was freezing cold in the turret to start off with, cause they’d no heating in there.
Int: Yeah, it were just like -
WS: And being all high up there, and the wind was whistling through it. And when they got back to the, and the aircraft was, the pilot was having to nurse the aircraft back, you know, because it was badly shot at the back, and when they got back to the channel - they hadn’t to contact base until they got the other side of the channel because the Germans could hear ‘em.
Int: They had to keep silence, yeah.
WS: Tapping away, you see, so he said when they were crossing the, the skipper said for god’s sake Jim, come back here, said it you’ve got to come back now, you’ve got to contact base now, we need to contact base. So Jim went back and his skipper said right, you contact base: we’re coming in to land, badly damaged and a casualty on board. So Jim sent the message back through to headquarters said: we’re badly damaged and we’ve got casualty on board, permission to land. So they cleared the airfield for ‘em and they guided them in and said safe to land, and the pilot started to land, and as he started to land like that, the rear turret fell off.
Int: Oh!
WS: It crashed in a bloody thousand pieces on the ground.
Int: So Jim could have been sat in that.
WS: Jim could’ve been sat in that.
Int: Oh.
WS: And er, and the pilot, of course as soon as that [emphasis] came off, the back of the aircraft, the aircraft started, you know [indecipherable].
Int: Yeah, different weight.
WS: So they had to nurse it down, the pilot, nursed it all the way down, and they landed, they went through the perimeter fence, two farmer’s fields, apparently, with all the fire engines and an ambulance chasing at the back of them. [Laughter] And he managed to get it down, so they all could get out as quick as they possibly bloody could because if you even get a spark near the engines - they’re full of petrol - they blow up.
Int: Yeah.
WS: The whole air, that’s why a lot of aircraft went, because they got shot and the fire hit the engines, as soon as it touched the engines it blew up.
Int: They just exploded.
WS: So they all scrambled out the best as they could and they got er, the young lad’s body out and put it in the ambulance.
Int: Aww. Must have been awful that.
WS: And I always had the feeling that that was why Jim got the DFM. I’m not sure.
Int: He never, he never mentioned it? Told you why he got that.
WS: No, he never talked about it, and I never asked him.
Int: Yes, yeah.
WS: I left it at that.
Int: It’s a common thing that though, apparently, isn’t it, that lots of people don’t want to talk about their experience.
WS: I always had a feeling that that was why he got it.
Int: Oh, right.
WS: The pilot got the DFC, the Distinguished Flying Cross, he got the DFM. They’re both the same [emphasis], but because you’re a pilot, you’re an officer, they call it a cross and if you’re below an officer, it’s a medal.
Int: Right.
WS: The, Cameron said he were going to stop all that, because the medals are both the same, you know. Only because you’re an officer it’s a Distinguished Flying Cross [emphasis]. But because you were in the ranks, it’s a Distinguished Flying Medal and Cameron said [indecipherable] he would a lot of people have said it, it’s about time they packed it in and called them all same. Because it’s all for the same thing.
Int: It’s all for bravery, i’n’t it.
WS: But I am firmly convinced that’s why Jim got his medal; he never said. Because apparently none of the crew wanted, it was his job to do that, in the, while he was, while they were flying over Jim was not allowed to touch his, while they were over Germany.
Int: Oh, the radio.
WS: Over enemy territory. And of course the Germans were all over the continent, they were in France, they were in Holland, they were everywhere, every bloody where except us, and so they weren’t allowed to contact base once they got over the channel, once they got to the channel they had to go radio silent, but Jim, and Jim was sat underneath the pilot – you know where the pilot sits.
Int: Well, I’ve not, vaguely.
WS: Well Jim was sat underneath the pilot, there, where hi little cabin was, but if anything happened to the aero, the gunners, his job was, he was supposed to take over.
Int: He had to take over, right.
WS: But that [emphasis] night it was so badly damaged that they didn’t want him, they begged Jim not to go in it, they didn’t want him to go in it. Some of the lads had told me about that, they said we did all sorts not to let him, they did all sorts to not let him in that night.
Int: Oh, to try not to let him in it.
WS: And he stuck to it, and he flew thousands of miles and apparently he could hardly move his fingers after, his fingers, you know.
Int: Well it would, it was so high up and it was cold.
WS: And the wind blowing through the thing up there and then of course as soon as the, he’d only been out of the turret for a few minutes then the whole bloody thing went off.
Int: Wa’nt he lucky, when you think about it, flippin’ ‘eck, doesn’t bear thinking about really, does it. Dear me.
WS: No, and apparently they said that one [laugh] of the lads, some of the groundcrew was talking to me about it, when we were still in, he said to me never seen anybody ran as bloody fast out of that aircraft than what they did when it were on. Cause they had the same groundcrew all the time, they had their own groundcrew. So they got to know the lads who looked after their aircraft and that.
Int: Right, patching it up all’t time.
WS: I met one or two of them, when we were still in after the war, and when I went back, when I went with Jim, I met one or two of them and they talked about that night and I didn’t know about the bloody thing falling off until they told me!
Int: Dear me!
WS: And I thought my God Jim, you had a charmed life.
Int: Well, it’s four o’clock, I suppose I’d better, it’s going a bit dark now, I suppose I’d better head off back.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Alice Wrigley
Description
An account of the resource
Alice Wrigley was married to James Wrigley, a wireless operator on Lancasters. She talks about her early life after losing her mother, her marriage to Jim and how war work enabled her to become independent by sorting out somewhere to live whilst he was flying operations. She tells of the postings they had, people they met, the losses and particularly of how some of the lighter side of dealing with the stress of the war and beyond. Alice also describes the incident which she believes led to Jim being awarded the DFM.
This item was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.
Date
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2016-08-26
Format
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01:14:14 Audio recording
Language
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eng
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AWrigleyA160826
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
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Germany
Great Britain
United States
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lincoln
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
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1943
1944
1945
Contributor
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Anne-Marie Watson
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
635 Squadron
aircrew
Distinguished Flying Medal
ground crew
ground personnel
Lancaster
Lincoln
love and romance
mess
Pathfinders
RAF Hemswell
RAF Scampton
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1412/26737/MTindallAJ173966-150815-01.1.pdf
a1be5ac8a0b08b29a93ddf0e2b323d17
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Tindall, Arthur John
A J Tindall
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-03
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Tindall, AJ
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Arthur John Tindall DFC (1388739 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 97 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by June Tindall and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
EE179 OF-T Transferred to 44 Sqn. Shot down 3/12/43. Attacking Berlin = no survivors.
JB470 OF-T Transferred to 635 Sqn. Shot down (Nightfighter) 12/4/44. No survivors.
ND355 OF-T Transferred to 635 Sqn. Crashed at Bokel 27/8/44. 5 survivors – all POW.
ME625 OF-T Collided with ND981 OF-H on 23/6/44. Both crashed = one survivor.
ND 589 OF-D Returned to Avro. Converted to Air Sea Rescue Mk.III. Finally scrapped Oct. 46.
PB181 OF-D Transferred to 83 Sqn. Collided with 97 Sqn aircraft on 8/2/45. Both aircraft crashed. No survivors.
[underlined] The Targets [/underlined]
7/10/43. Stuttgart. Fairly successful raid, but Boblingen (16K north) was attacked by second wave
8/10/41 Hanover Very accurate bombing. Hanovers worst raid of the war.
18/10/43 Hanover Raid scattered. Most bombs falling in open country north and north west of city.
20/10/43 Leipzig Very scattered bombing due to “appalling” weather.
22/10/43 Kassel Main raid “exceptionally accurate and concentrated.. There was a firestorm.
3/11/43 Colonge Bombs hit centre of city “with extreme accuracy”
18/11/43 Berlin Marking and bombing carried out blind – very scattered result
22/11/43 Berlin The most effective raid on Berlin of the war. Vast area of destruction.
23/11/43 Berlin Although cloud covered, most aircraft on target. Much damage.
26/11/43 Frankfurt Less than half of Force reached target. Very scattered bombs.
26/11/43 Stuttgart Bombing very scattered. Little damage.
2/12/43 Berlin Incorrect wind forecast – widely scattered bombing, Siemens factories hit.
3/12/43 Leipzig Accurate bombing. Leipzigs worst raid of the war.
16/12/43 Berlin “Reasonably accurate” Housing and railways badly hit.
20/12/43 Frankfurt German decoy fire site and dummy TIs caused scattered bombing.
24/12/43 Berlin Suburbs hit. Pathfinder radar problems and thick cloud.
14/1/44 Brunswick Unsuccessful – 10 houses destroyed, 4 people killed. Nearby villages bombed.
27/1/44 Berlin Again thick cloud. South and eastern areas of city bombed.
30/1/44 Berlin Heavy damage in city centre – but much bombing in surrounding countryside.
21/2/44 Stuttgart Considerable damage in city centre. Bosch factory heavily damaged.
25/2/44 Augsburg. Controversial result – beautiful town completely destroyed.
1/3/44 Stuttgart Housing, Daimler Benz factory and main railway station badly damaged.
15/3/44 Stuttgart Poor PFF marking- most bombing fell in open country SW of city.
18/3/44 Frankfurt Extensive damage in central, eastern and western areas of city.
22/3/44 Frankfurt Damage even more severe, especially in western district.
11/4/44 Laon Only a corner of the railway yards was hit.
22/4/44 Brunwick First 5 Grp low level marking- not very successful.
23/4/44 Munich Much devastation particularly to railway installations.
26/4/44 Schweinfurt Failure – most bombs fell outside Schweinfurt.
28/4/44 Kjeller Airframe factory. Very successful accurate bombing.
31/5/44 Maisy Gun Battery. Thick cloud. Only 6 aircraft bombed.
6/6/44 St Pierre du Mont Railway installation – No report due to invasion confusion.
6/6/44 Argentan Much damage to railway installation.
9/6/44 Etampes Railway and road systems badly damaged
12/6/44 Poitiers This attack was the most accurate of many attacks this night. Railway yards.
21/6/44 Gelsenkirchen Oil Plant – all production ceased for several weeks.
24/6/44 Prouville Flying Bomb site, so many craters, difficult to assess results.
4/7/44 St Leu D’ Esserent. Underground F/bombs store. Very accurate bombing.
20/7/44 Coutrai Railway yards and junctions. Devastated.
24/7/44 Donges Oil Depot. Devastated.
25/7/44 Stutgart No German report available on this raid.
31/7/44 Joigny-laroche Railway yards. Very accurate attack in excellent weather.
6/8/44 Bois du Casson Flying bomb site. Very scattered bombing.
11/8/44 Givors “Exceptionally accurate “ attack on Railway yards.
14/8/44 Brest Clemenceau & Gueydon both left sinking.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Fl/Lt. A.J. Tindall DFC [/underlined]
[underlined] Operations with 97 Squadron [/underlined]
[underlined]7/8 October 1943 [/underlined]
Lancaster Mk.III EE179 OF-T Target: : STUTTGART
Crew: Sgts A.A. Johnson. J.A. Pearson. K. Swale. P/O J. Peden. Sgt [inserted] A.J [/inserted] [deleted] J.A [/deleted] Tindall Sgt J.H. McGregor. F/Sgt E.H. Hansen.
Bomb Load: 1 x4,000lb. 10 x 500lb.
Time up: 21:06 Down 03:24
Primary target Stuttgart attacked. 18,000ft. 8/10ths cloud. Bombed point between yellow and red TIs in bombsight. Own results not seen. Two glows from fires seen.
8/9 October 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB190 OF-Y Target: Hanover
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 1 x 4,000lb. 6 x 1,000lb.
Time up: 22:57. Down: 03.40.
Primary target bombed. 19,000 ft. Clear sky. Vis. good. Bombed on one yellow TI marker in bombsight. Had no time to verify results visually as Flight Engineer was ill. One particularly big fire was noticed.
18 October 1943
Lancaster Mk.III EE179 OF-T Target: HANOVER
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 6 x 2,000lb.
Time up: 17:23 Down 22:11
Primary target Hanover bombed. 20,000ft. 10/10ths cloud. No moon. Bombed centre between two red and one green TIs. Big red glow illuminated cloud followed by a similar one three minutes later. Nothing else seen.
20/21 October 1943
Lancaster Mk.III EE179 OF-T Target: LEIPZIG
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 1 x 4,000lb. 7 x 500 lb.
Time up: 17:47. Down 00:07
Target Leipzig attacked. 21,000ft. 9/10th cloud. Bombed on one red cascading TI marker in bombsight. No other TIs seen. Nothing else observed except scattered incendiaries.
22 October 1943
Lancaster Mk.III EE179 OF-T Target: KASSEL
Crew: Normal, plus F/Lt E.F. Cawdery, 2nd Pilot.
Bomb Load: 1 x 4,000lb. 6 x 1,000lb.
Time up: 18:30. Down 23:28
Kassel attacked, 20,000ft. No moon, no cloud, vis. good. Bombed centre point between two red TI markers. TIs well concentrated over aiming point. Too early on target for results.
[Page Break]
3 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III EE179 OF-T Target: COLOGNE
Crew: Normal, plus F/L Cawdery.
Bomb Load: 1 x 4000lb. 6 x1,000 lb. 4 x 500lb.
Time up: 17:26. Down: 21:36.
Target Cologne. Moonlight clear sky, hazy below. 20,000ft. Bombed on cluster of red and green TIs- red actually in bombsight. Many bomb burst seen to slightly overshoot reds. Long line of fires seen as aircraft left target.
18/19 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: F/L Cawdery now pilot. F/Sgt Johnson with another crew shot down and killed on this raid.
Bomb Load: 4 x 2,000lb.
Time up: 17:30 Down: 00:05.
Berlin attacked from 20,000 ft. 10/10th cloud. Vis. poor. TIs at first appeared spread but improved later. Starboard inner engine and bomb doors holed by heavy flak.
22 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: F/L Cawdery, normal crew.
Bomb Load: 7 xTI. 1 x 4, 000lb. 3 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 17:25. Down: 23:10.
9/10ths – 10/10ths cloud, tops at 6,000ft. Vis. good. Bombs released on cluster of three TIs red and one green.
23 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: Normal
Bomb Load: 4 x TI, 1 x 4,000lb.
Time up: 17:30 Down: 23:50
Berlin bombed from 19,000ft. Aiming point identified by cluster of TI reds and few greens. Large patch of fires seen on arrival in target area.
26 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: FRANKFURT
Crew: Normal
Bomb Load: 6 x TI. 1 x4, 000lb. 6 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 00.35. Down: 06:00.
Frankfurt attacked from 20,000ft. Target identified by red TIs. Sudden glow observed below clouds at 02:50 hrs. No markers seen.
26/27 November 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: STUTTGART
Crew: Normal
Bomb Load: 6 x TI. 1 x4,000lb. 5 x 1,000 lb.
No times entered in ORB. Average for other aircraft Up 17:30 Down. 00:10.
Stuttgart bombed from 21,000ft. Only one TI red seen over target but fires were reflected on clouds, and ref glow was seen for 60 miles on track home.
[Page Break]
2 December 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 5 x 2,000lb.
Time up: 17:20. Down: 23.50
Target located by aid of “Y” and bombed from 19,000t. On target too early to observe results. Glow from fires seen on return. Red TIs appeared to be accurate.
3 December 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: LEIPZIG
Crew: P/O E.E. Osler replaces F/O Peden.
Bomb Load: 1 x 4,000lb. 4 x 2,000 lb. 1 x 500lb.
Time up: 17:20. Down: 23:30
Leipzig bombed from 17,000ft. “Y” equipment used for locating target. Vis. good. Aircraft was early on target but on leaving glow from fires could be seen.
16/17 December 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: It is now [underlined]S/L [/underlined] Cawdery. F/O Peden is back. Plus F/Lt. E. Clarke as 2nd Pilot.
Bomb Load: 5 x2, 000lb.
Time up: 16:50. Down: 00:35
Berlin bombed from 19,500ft. Vis. good. 10/10ths cloud tops at 3,000ft. TIs and Wanganuis fairly well concentrated. No results seem owing to cloud.
20 December 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: FRANKFURT
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 6 x 2,000lb.
Time up: 17:25. Down: 21:59
Frankfurt bombed from 19,000ft. 6-7/10ths cloud. Vis. very good. Target located on “Y”. One Wanganui flare observed falling at 19:27hrs. Many yellow TIs fells after 19:30hrs. Little immediate results but huge red explosion seen from distance at 19:48hrs. Fires were visible from 70 miles.
24 December 1943
Lancaster Mk.III JB470 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 5 x2,000lb.
Time up: 00:21. Down: 07:15
Target attacked from 20,500ft. TIs and Wanganuis well concentrated. Cloud prevented observation of results. Rear gunner observed glow from some distance on track home.
14 January 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: BRUNSWICK
Crew: Normal, plus S/L J. Simpson, 2nd Pilot.
Bomb Load: 16 x flares. 3 xTI. 1 x 4,000lb. 4 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 16:51. Down: 22:01
Primary target attacked in fairly good visibility. Bombs released in centre of concentration of Wanganui flares. Majority of Wanganui flares scattered.
[Page Break]
27/28 January 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: BERLIN
Crew: PROMOTIONS!! S/L Cawdery. F/Sgt Pearson, F/Sgt Swale. F/L Peden. F/Sgt Tindall F/Sgt McGregor. F/Sgt Hansen.
Bomb Load: 4 xTI. 1 x4,000lb. 4 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 17:20. Down 00:25
Primary target bombed on H2S. Wanganui concentration good and compact. No results observed owing to 10/10ths cloud.
30 January 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND415 OF-Z Target: BERLIN
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 5 x Flares. 4 x TI. 1 x 4,000lb. 4 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 17:30. Down: 23:45
Berlin successfully bombed. Bombs dropped in centre of concentration of Wanganuis. No fires or bomb burst seen, but slight reflection on clouts form red and green TIs.
21 February 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: STUTTGART
Crew: It is now [underlined] P/O [/underlined] Pearson
Bomb Load: 4 x Flares. 4 x TI. 1 x 4,000lb. 5 x1,000lb.
Time up: 00:25. Down: 07:00
Bombed target at 19,000ft with H2S. Weather 4/10ths cloud tops 5,000ft. Vis. good. Large explosion seen.
25/26 February 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: AUGSBURG
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 21 Flares. 1 xRSF. 3 x TI. 1 x 4,000lb. 3 x 1,000lb.
No times entered in ORB. Average for other aircraft up 19:00 Down 02:10
Augsberg bombed from 18,000ft. Vis. good with a clear sky. H2S used for bombing. Green TIs were clear and formed circle round target. A red/green salvo appeared to overshoot.
1/2 March 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: STUTTGART
Crew: Normal
Bomb Load: 4 x Flares. 2 xTIs. 1 x 4,000lb. 5 x 1,000 lb.
Time up: 23:40. Down 06:45
Stuttgart bombed from 20,000ft. 10/10ths cloud, vis. good. Good concentration of Wanganui flares. Good explosion observed of orange coloured flames.
15/16 March 1944
Lancaster Mk.III JND355 OF-T Target: STUTTGART
Crew: Normal. It is now [underlined] P/O Swale [/underlined]
Bomb Load: 20 x flares. 4 x 4 TI. 1 x 4000lb. 2 x1,000 lb.
Time up: 19:25 . Down: 02:20
9/10ths cloud over Stuttgart. Vis. good, bombed on H2S. The first Wanganui went down at 23:11hrs Three minutes later a good concentration of Wanganuis at about 5 miles to the east – one only which was being bombed by Main Force. No results could be observed.
[Page Break]
18/19 March 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND355 OF-T Target: FRANKFURT
Crew: Normal
Bomb Load: 20 x Flares. 4 xTI. 1 x4,000lb. 1 x 1,000 lb. 2x 500lb
Time up: 19:25. Down 00:15
Frankfurt bombed from 18,000ft on H2S. Nothing was seen in target area except flash from own bomb. After bombing 4 or 5 large flashes seen.
22 March 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: FRANKFURT
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 20 x Flares. 4 xTI. 1 x 4,00lb. 1 x1,000lb. 2 x 500 lb. 1 x red/yellow Flare..[sic]
Time up: 18:45. Down:23:50
2/10th cloud over target, vis. good. Bombed from 18,500ft on H2S. Two green TIs descended and one red/yellow stars fell at the same time as aircraft bombed target at the same spot. One 4,000lb HC observed to explode over built up area.
11 April 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: LAON
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 6 x 1000lb GP. 6 x 1,000lb MC.
Time up: 01:25. Down: 05:10
Vis. good over Laon. No cloud. Bombed from 15,700ft in centre of green TIs. Red and greens were tight together and marking was constant. Bursts of own bombs seen. Target could not be identified visually but was seen from light of photo flash.
[underlined] RAF CONINGSBY [/underlined]
22/23 April 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: BRUNSWICK
Crew: It is now [underlined] P/O [/underlined] Tindall. F/Sgt Hansen replaced by F/Sgt R..M.Clarke
Bomb Load: 12 x 4 7” flares. 1 x 4.5” flare. 1 x green TI.
No times entered in ORB. Average from other aircraft Up: 23:05 Down 04:50
Weather over target 6-8/10ths cloud. Hazy, visibility bad. Flares scattered. One RSF seen to south-east, outside area of flares.
24/25 April 1945
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: MUNICH
Crew: W/O Clarke as rear gunner
Bomb Load: 12 x cluster flares. 1 x green TI No.4
Time up: 20:53. Down 06:27.
Bombing by visual on markers at datum point, H2S over target. Had good run from yellow TI. Our flares went straight across town which was clearly seen. Concentration of fires seen after leaving target. Glow seen for 100 miles.
26/27 April 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: SCHWEINFURT
Crew: W/O Clarke as rear gunner.
Bomb Load: 12 x 7” flares. 2 x green TI No.4.
Time up: 21:33. Down 05:44
No cloud, slight haze, visibility good. Bombed on H2S. Several lots of flares were down and one green TI which Master Bomber was instructing aircraft to bomb. All flares dropped on one run as original 6 not gone before orders were received to back up.
[Page Break]
28/29 April 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ME625 OF-T Target: KJELLER (OSLO)
Crew: W/O Clarke as read [sic] gunner.
Bomb Load: 6 x clusters 7” flares. 1 x yellow TI no.4. 5 x1000lb MC.
Time up: 21:08. Down 04:12
Good visibility permitted visual identification of runway on airfield. Flares dropped across runways between aiming point “A” and “B”. RSF on roof of one building (Aiming point “A”). Bombs dropped running due west across target. As we were early to bomb, results not seen but rear gunner saw stick of bomb bursts on building as we were leaving the area.
31 May/1 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND981 OF-H Target: MAISY
Crew: S/L J.A. Ingham. P/O J.A. Pearson. P/O K. Swale. F/L J. Peden. P/O A.J. Tindall.
F/O F.P.L. Broome (Permanent). W/O E.H. Hansen
Bomb Load: 6 x 7 4.5” clusters. 8 x1, 000lb MC. 3 x 4.5” reco flares.
Time up: 23:03. Down 02:23
Target located by yellow T1 and H2S. Yellow (Oboe) at 00:45 hrs followed by two others at 00:47hrs in target area. Slightly visible above cloud. Instructed at 00:50hrs approx. on VHF, confirmed by W/T to return to base by ordered route. Landed Chipping Norton.
6 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: ST. PIERRE DU MONT
Crew: S/L J.A. Ingham. (Deputy Controller) Normal crew.
Bomb Load: 11 x1000lb MC. 4 x 1,000 lb GP.
Time up:02:52. Down:06:56
Weather over St. Pierre du Mont 10/10th cloud base 8,500 – 9,000ft. Broken low cloud below. Target identified visually and by Oboe markers red TIs. Layer of cloud made it impossible to bomb from any greater height than 9,000ft. Controller gave orders to decrease height but 2,000ft. Oboe markers not down on time; first one seen in sea just off shore. PFF very good and green TIs were rather scattered at first. Bombing Oboe seemed to be fairly good. Sticks seen bursting or target. Visibility was impeded by ice on the bomb aimer’s Perspex and pilots’s windscreen. VHF rather noisy on channel B and changed to channel C on Controllers order. Still a lot of interference probably due to people transmitting at the same time.
6/7 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: ARGENTAN
Crew: Normal plus F/L W.G. Cooper (Vis. B/Aimer)
Bomb Load: 2 x red/green star Flares. 3 x green TI no.23. 15 x 500lb MC.
No times entered in ORB. Average for other aircraft Up 23: 30 Down 03:20
Good vis. 10/10ths Stratus cumulus 6-7,000ft. Target located visually. Green TI lighting actual buildings. Backing up was on the target too. Marking went through very well indeed in spite of the fact that most of the illuminating flares overshot by about 2 miles. Oboe marker was not seen but it may have burst on the ground. On reaching the target 00:53hrs, appeared to be large buildings in the town itself well on fire. Attack appeared successful. Marking appeared 60 yards west of aiming point and bombing generally was w [sic]
[Page Break]
9/10 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: ETAMPES
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 2 x TI green. 2 xTI red. 2 x TI yellow. 2 x Flares green/red stars 10 x 500lb MC.
3 x 4.5” rec. flares.
Time up: 21:56. Down: 02:10
Weather 10/10ths cloud, base 7,500ft. Vis. moderate, slight haze. Target traced by Oboe marker. First flares were 2-3 minutes late. Oboe marker also one minute late. Initial marking was not quite as ordered and a long time elapsed before permission given to bomb at H+14, meantime some aircraft had bombed. Released green TI on RSF on Controller’s orders 00:05hrs approx. (after one dummy run), then attacked by fighter for two minutes. Patter between gunners and pilot was seriously impeded by VHF. In spite of this, the gunners succeeded in shooting the fighter down on Controllers instructions. As an anti-climax, our bombs released safe as during attack by enemy aircraft the switch was put in Safe in case we had to jettison, and this was forgotten when bombs were dropped. Controllers instructions on VHF passed on by W/T Spoof yellow TI seen to cascade after attack but quiet useless as a decoy.
12/13 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: POITIERS
Crew: S/L Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal crew..
Bomb Load:2 x flares green/red. 2 x 1 000lb MC. 2 x TI green. 1 x TI yellow. 9 x 7” clusters.
Time up: 22:27. Down: 04:47
Good vis. broken stratus layer at 6,500 ft. Location by H2S. Bombing started by overshooting as markers were a bit scattered and tended to be to port. After large red TI was dropped, bombing improved but some sticks were still scattered far and wide. Oil or petrol explosion at 01:52hrs 300 yards south of large red.
21/22 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: GELSENKIRCHEN
Crew: S/L Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal crew.
Bomb Load: 4 x TI red. 1 x TI yellow No.16. 9 x7” cluster. 2 x flares green/red stars.
Time up: 23:08. Down: 03:29.
10/10th cloud, tops estimated 3,000ft. Target identified by yellow Oboe marker. First Oboe went down at 01:30.5hrs. This was ahead. At 01:32hrs another Oboe went down starboard quarter approx.. 1 ½ miles north of first Oboe, cascading from about 5,000ft, which was confusing as we were not expecting more than one (at H-hour only). Saw one red TI go down some miles north of main cluster. We took over from Controller at 01:20hrs as he was having engine trouble. Ordered Flare Force not to drop flares and sent Marking Force home. . [sic] Ordered Main Force to bomb southerly TI at 01:38.5hrs.
24/25 June 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: PROUVILLE
Crew: S/L Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 4 x TI red No.16. 1 x TI yellow No.16. 2 x flares red/green stars. 9 x7 x 4.5”clusters.
1x 4.5” rec. flare.
Time up: 22:49. Down: 02:10
No cloud, ground haze, vis. moderate. Target located by yellow Oboe marker. This fell 2 minutes early at 00:10 and a second at 00:11hrs almost together. No Mosquito marking seen except one RSF which appeared momentarily. Controller asked for Mosquitos to mark but nothing happened. Further flares were requested and dropped. No Wanganuis dropped to indicate so second flares were dropped on H2S. At Controller’s request own aircraft dropped two red TI on H2S and backed up with two more on 4th run. Controller ordered bombings on red TI dropped by D/97 – at 00:35hrs approx. Final Cease Bombing signal and order to go home not heard. Over target for 30 minutes.
[Page Break]
4/5 July 1944
Lancaster Mk.III ND589 OF-D Target: ST. LEU D’ESSERENT
Crew: Now [underlined] W/C [/underlined] Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 6 x T1 green. 2 x TI yellow. 5 x 1,000lb MC. 1 x 1,000lb MC (LD)
Time up: 23:30. Down: 03:35
Searchlight belt extended 15 miles approx. further SW, no indication of radar control, attacked by two fighters at 01:10hrs – 49.47N 0135E at 14,00oft and sustained damage to mort mainplane. Handed over to Deputy 2 by W/T – acknowledged 01:16 hrs approx.. Target not attacked.
20/21 July 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB181 OF-D Target: COURTRAI
Crew: W/C Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 9 X 7” clusters. 3 X yellow TI No. 16. 2 x Wanganui flares green/red star.
Time up: 23:08. Down: 02:16
Nil cloud, moderate base. First Oboe went down slightly early. Marking very rapid and successful. Bombing at first was a little wide north and south and west. After first few sticks bombing was good. Clouds of smoke tended to obscure markers. Controller called in VBU at 01:00hrs (attack had been ordered 00:57hrs). Some fighter activity.
24/25 July 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB181 OF-D Target: DONGES
Crew: W/C Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 6 x7” clusters. 2 x yellow TI No.16. 5 x 1000lb MC (LD 6 hours) 2 x Flares green/red stars.
Time up: 22:42. Down: 03:47
Nil cloud below 16,000ft. Slight haze. Target identified on H2S. Raid opened up with Oboe marker one minute early. Flare illuminated target, marked by Mosquitos, assessed as being 200 yards east of aiming point. This green TI was backed up and produced a concentration of markers round the aiming point. Bombing order given at 01:14hrs. Bombing seemed to be quite concentrated around the green TIs.
25/26 July 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB181 OF-D Target: STUTTGART
Crew: W/C Ingham Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 6 x 4 flares white. 2 x TI red LB. 1 x 4,000lb. 4 x 500 lb. 1 x flare green/red.
Time up: 22:00. Down 05:20
8/10ths thick cloud, tops 18,000ft. Vis. moderate. Target located on GPI run. General concentration of TIs was good, mainly red, some greens seen.
31 July 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB181 OF-D Target: JOIGNY-LAROCHE
Crew: Normal Crew, plus F/Sgt M.H. McBride, Front Gunner.
Bomb Load: 4 x 500lb MC ( ½ hr). 11 x 1,000 LB (1hr).
Time up: 17:20 Down: 23:20
Weather good, no cloud, slight haze. Located target by visual on canal and yards and by TIs. Lax attention to height caused trouble when the two forces divided. A gap of at least 500ft should be left between the two forces. Navigation could be better controlled if the Path Finder Force were not divided. Flying speed after the target was increased above that laid down by 10mph at least. It would be better policy to reduce rather than increase speed after leave the target, to allow formation to close up the straggle due to bombing, and also to allow any aircraft damaged to have a chance to keep up. Landed at Swinderby.
[Page Break]
6 August 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB133 OF-C Target: BOIS DU CASSON
Crew: Normal
Time up: 09:12. Down 13:59.
There are no individual crew reports for 6/8.44. No Bombs Loads are listed But there is a resume of the operation carried out that day.
[underlined] Weather [/underlined]
Clear, break over target, cumulus tops 15,000ft to 20,000ft in target area.
[underlined] Results [[/underlined]
Crossing English coast Controllers Gee and intercom failed. As planned to home to target on Gee, handed over to G/38 (F/L Drinkall-missing)). [sic] Controller and Deputy changed position, Controller having fixed up poor intercom on 1196 (after 7 minutes) stood by in advisory capacity. About 40 miles inland a big cumulus cloud was lying across track. Deputy descended to 16,000ft and broadcast that he was going to take Force below the cloud. Controller warned him not to go below 15,000ft, and next advised him to turn to starboard. Deputy ordered Force to diverge and dive through cloud. Formation broke up in cloud. On emerging, Main Force were scattered over many miles of sky. There were some attempts to gather into a bunch (or bunches) but impossible to regain proper formation. As a result some aircraft appeared to bomb the primary. The number bombing was not large enough to impede daylight bombing runs and the other bombing of the target that did occur was believed accurate. Other aircraft bombed as best they could with some mistaking pin-points owing to icing troubles and the rush. Attack scattered over a large area.
Aborted : S/97 aborted mission, unable to identify target
Missing J/97 ND 840 (F/O Bucknell)
Opposition encountered: Moderate heavy flak seen. Fighters in target area attacked aircraft which were most dispersed on breaking cloud.
11/12 August 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB181 OF-D Target: GIVORS
Crew: W/C Ingham (Deputy Controller 1) Normal Crew.
Bomb Load: 6 x red TI No. 16. 2 x yellow TI No . 16. 1 x yelow [sic] TI B22.
2 x Flares green/red. 4 x 1,000lb. 1 x 1 ,000lb (LD)
Time up: 20:39. Down: 05:17
Weather clear. Target located by illuminating flares. Unable to contact Controller so took over controlling. First flares fell two miles east, not illuminating target properly. Flares very scattered, heard green Force Controller ask for reserve flares. Marker Leader requested Wanganui but it did not function as a skymarker and went sraight [sic] down. We postponed H-hour for 5 minutes at 01:00hrs reserve flares then forthcoming, which gave good illumination. First red TI (at 01:012 hrs) assessed as 600 yards south, then second red TI more accurate on aiming point. This was backed up by third red which fell at least 500 yards to west. B/U asked to back up centre TI at 01:07hrs, which promptly went out. This left two inaccurate ones so instructed B/U to drop red directly between two and did so myself at 01:11 hrs. These TIs were subsequently thought to be in marshalling yard itself and were assessed by Marker Leader as 300 yards east of aiming point, so Main Force were ordered to bomb these with zero wind and ignore most westerly red TI, which was not cancelled as main concentration was obvious. Bombing subsequently well concentrated on these, though some ticks overshot to north and south. One or two fires seen. Yellow datum point TI not dropped by us as top pre-occupied as Controller. Landed at Witchford.
14 August 1944
Lancaster Mk.III PB 181 OF-D Target: BREST (Shipping)
Crew: Normal.
Bomb Load: 8 x1,000lb. ANM 65
Time up: 17:44. Down: 22:26
Weather clear, good visibility. Target identified visually. Two of our stick of bombs observed bursting on the cruiser. Tanker was seen burning after the attack. Winds received B3 100/7, B1 200/9, B4 126/5, B5 148/9. Winds sent 150/6 at 20:12hrs. Bombing heading received at 20:16 hrs as 010T.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arthur Tindall's service and operations
Description
An account of the resource
A list of aircraft, operations and details of each operation undertaken by Arthur Tindall.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Ten typed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Rendsburg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Augsburg
France--Laon
Germany--Munich
Germany--Schweinfurt
Norway--Kjeller
France--Normandy
France--Argentan
France--Poitiers
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
France--Abbeville
France--Oise
France--Donges
France--Joigny
France--Paris
France--Givors
France--Brest
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
Belgium--Kortrijk
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Braunschweig
France--Étampes (Essonne)
France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes)
France
Germany
Belgium
Norway
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MTindallAJ173966-150815-01
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1944-06
1944-07
1944-08
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
44 Squadron
635 Squadron
83 Squadron
97 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944)
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
Distinguished Flying Cross
flight engineer
Gee
H2S
Lancaster
Mosquito
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Oboe
Pathfinders
RAF Coningsby
RAF Swinderby
RAF Witchford
target indicator
V-weapon
wireless operator
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Harry Whittaker DFM
Description
An account of the resource
Harry standing on a step beside a wooden door. On the first copy is annotated 'Harry Whittaker DFM Log Book 158 Sqd 635 Sqd 35 Sqd'.
A second has no annotation.
A third copy has ' F/Sgt Whittaker (Bombadier) (Charlie) on the reverse.
A fourth copy has 'Harry Whittaker (Charlie) Bomb Aimer on the reverse.
A fifth copy is his cropped head and shoulders.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five b/w photographs
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWhittakerH186316v10001, SWhittakerH186316v10005, PWhittakerH1707, PWhittakerH1708, PWhittakerH1709, PWhittakerH1710, PWhittakerH1729
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
158 Squadron
35 Squadron
635 Squadron
aircrew
bomb aimer
Distinguished Flying Medal
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39397/SWhittakerH186316v20002.2.jpg
7fcf9a73e8d6b7e56262c93230aa50b2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
635 Squadron Group Photograph
Description
An account of the resource
A large group of airmen and ground crew arranged in four rows in front of a Lancaster. It is captioned '635 (Pathfinder) Squadron RAF Downham Market Norfolk May, 1945'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-05
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-05
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWhittakerH186316v20002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
635 Squadron
aircrew
ground crew
ground personnel
Lancaster
Pathfinders
RAF Downham Market
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1950/39398/SWhittakerH186316v20003.2.jpg
8f8d994bd5b2fcc72dabeca9e16a5784
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Whittaker, Harry
H Whittaker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Whittacker, H
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Harry Whittaker (Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 158 and 635 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Whittaker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Artie Ashworth's Crew
Description
An account of the resource
Eight men in two rows at the front of their 635 Squadron Lancaster.
Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWhittakerH186316v20003
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
635 Squadron
aircrew
Lancaster
Pathfinders
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39491/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020009.1.jpg
a33100e9dd812b7c416a01d00eac38a6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39491/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020010.1.jpg
6c034791d4bf3fc8659981a525ae513d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norman, W C
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Norman, WC
Description
An account of the resource
17 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Christopher Norman (1592453 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as an air gunner with 626 Squadron and was killed 5 October 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew King and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. <br /><br />Additional information on William Christopher Norman is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/117379/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Record sheet for 1603457 Sergeant Harding
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One card with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MNormanWC1592453-170521-020009, MNormanWC1592453-170521-020010
Description
An account of the resource
Records 12 sorties or 7 full operations
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-19
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-24
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-05
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Angers
France--Longues-sur-Mer
France--Montdidier (Hauts-de-France)
France--Rennes
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
102 Squadron
635 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
flight engineer
Halifax
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39494/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020007.1.jpg
7f0552019aff5a3ef81cfda5c38aa054
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39494/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020008.1.jpg
5dd9c39ae5e2e924dfc05fbddc5de26f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norman, W C
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Norman, WC
Description
An account of the resource
17 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Christopher Norman (1592453 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as an air gunner with 626 Squadron and was killed 5 October 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew King and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. <br /><br />Additional information on William Christopher Norman is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/117379/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Record card for 1018307 Flight Sergeant Ball I
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Records 11 sorties or 7 full operations
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-04-22
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-19
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-24
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-05
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Longues-sur-Mer
France--Rennes
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One card with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MNormanWC1592453-170521-020007, MNormanWC1592453-170521-020008
102 Squadron
635 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39496/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020005.1.jpg
889ca6695be29df67fd85f4257039535
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1855/39496/MNormanWC1592453-170521-020006.1.jpg
7f2d7b68f5afa4b5502b3d10c0c8cad7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norman, W C
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Norman, WC
Description
An account of the resource
17 items. The collection concerns Sergeant William Christopher Norman (1592453 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as an air gunner with 626 Squadron and was killed 5 October 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew King and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. <br /><br />Additional information on William Christopher Norman is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/117379/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Record card for 1335368 Flight Sergeant Waspe E J
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Description
An account of the resource
Records 12 sorties or 7 1/3 operations.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-31
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-01
1944-05-03
1944-05-19
1944-05-21
1944-05-22
1944-05-24
1944-05-27
1944-05-28
1944-06-05
1944-06-07
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Germany
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
France--Angers
France--Longues-sur-Mer
France--Montdidier (Hauts-de-France)
France--Rennes
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One card with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MNormanWC1592453-170521-020005,
MNormanWC1592453-170521-020006
102 Squadron
635 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944)
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)