Browse Items (135 total)

  • Tags: Operation Exodus (1945)

ANicholsonA150922.mp3
Arthur Nicholson was working in a reserved occupation before he volunteered for aircrew training. After training as a flight engineer he was posted to 51 Squadron based at RAF Snaith. His first operation was to Essen. His aircraft was shot down on a…

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PDavisSL1501.jpg
Laurie Davis trained as a wireless operator and first went to RAF Silverstone where crews were formed. Because of his bright red hair, he was then known as ‘Red’. The crew worked on Wellingtons for a few weeks and then Stirlings at RAF Syerston.…

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AAllenG150917.mp3
Graham Allen joined the Royal Air Force aged 19. He trained as a mechanic and worked on inspection and recovery of Spitfire aircraft. He later volunteered to be a flight engineer, and flew a tour of operations with 106 Squadron. His first operation…

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SBrennanJ1210913v20004-00020003.jpg
First - over 400 times they led the way. Article about RAF Pathfinders. Crest and details about 35 Squadron. Also mentions 7, 83 and 156 Squadrons as nucleus of force in August 1942. Mentions some of their attacks and numbers of decorations awarded.…

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MKempMWD2221885-160506-01.jpg
Notes persona details and hours flown day and night on 115 Squadron at RAF Witchford. Lists operation to Kiel, Potsdam, Gelsenkirchen, Karmen, Bruchstrasse, Munster, Hamm and Heligoland. List sorties on Operation Manna at the Hague, Operation Exodus…

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BBrookMBrookMv1.pdf
Opens with some details of 625 Squadron and introduction with reasons for writing. Writes of beginning of the war when still at school and experiences before joining up. Mentions activities with Air Training Corps and being awarded an RAF bursary to…

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ACockbillDFA171008.mp3
Born in Newport, Denis volunteered for the Royal Air Force as he was tired of bombing, wishing to get his own back, he joined the Air Corps at 17. Wishing to train as a wireless operator because of his interest in radio technology, he officially…

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MJenkinsFC59301-150515-01.pdf
A biography of FC Jenkins. It covers his birth and marriage but concentrates on his RAF years. He took part in 58 operations and survived the war to continue in RAF service.

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AArmstrongGR170720.mp3
George Rex Armstrong served in the RAF as a flight engineer. He was born in Belfast and grew up in Donaghadee. Decided to join the RAF because he wanted to follow his brother Ted, who flew forty operations with 617 Squadron. Mentions being in the…

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EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450514.jpg
Writes about return journey back to camp. Says they are going to France the next day to fly up to 24 prisoners of war back home. Mentioned that last time they did this they were stuck for two days in bad weather. Speculates that squadron will stay in…

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EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450527-0001.jpg
Starts with apology for not writing but has been constantly flying to France to repatriate allied prisoners of war. Mentions typhoid injection to prevent crews catching it from ex-prisoners. Writes that he believes they will stay in UK but rumours of…

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EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450518-0001.jpg
Writes that he has been flying 8 hours a day repatriation allied prisoners-of-war from Juvincourt near Reims in France. States that the civilian population is short of essentials and that anything can be had for a bar of soap, although as the…

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PBowmanFA1801.jpg
Frederick Bowman was born in Sydney in 1924. He was a member of the Air Training Corps, and when he was eighteen he joined the Air Force. He went to Kingaroy for basic training, and did his wireless course at Maryborough, and Evans Head for bombing…

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PBlakemoreL1601.jpg
Leslie Blakemore was born in Willenhall, near Wolverhampton and he joined the Royal Air Force in 1943. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 514 Squadron from RAF Waterbeach.

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MTerryD938465-170619-03.pdf
A story based on the service of Lancaster ME746 AS-R2 (Roger Squared). There is a slightly shorter version included.

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ADorricottR151007.mp3
Rosemary Dorricott is the widow of Leonard William Dorricott DFM. During the war years she was a young child in Skegness. She was six years old when war broke out. She recalls the air raids on the town and the rationing and blackouts that became a…

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ECahirFSCahirM-P-V450520-0001.jpg
Letter from Warrant Officer Cahir to his mother and brothers. He writes about his capture in Germany after his aircraft was shot down on December 20th 1943 and subsequent capture. He goes on to describe the conditions he was kept in at Stalag IVB…

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PWatsonPHC1701.jpg
Peter Watson was born in South Wales and joined the Royal Air Force in 1943. He wanted to be a pilot but there was a surplus of pilots so he became an air gunner. He crewed-up and flew with 101 Squadron initially, a special duties squadron, and he…

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PMcNallyC1701.jpg
Charles McNally spent his childhood in Dundee and Airdrie, Scotland. He began work at the Post Office as a Telegram Boy before joining the engineering department. This meant he now worked in a Reserved Occupation and he struggled to get permission…

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PLambAM1509.jpg
Alexander Lamb left school in Edinburgh and became a messenger for the War Department. He then took a clerical post with the Department before reaching the age to volunteer for the RAF. He trained as an air gunner and was posted to RAF Mildenhall…

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SBrennanJ1210913v20005-00020004-0001.jpg
Account of the last crew from 405 Squadron flying home from RAF Linton-on-Ouse. Tells the story of an airman groundcrew plucked to replace a flight engineer who had been taken ill and subsequently being transformed into aircrew. Mentions Operations…

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APriceSTG151001.mp3
Gwyn Price was living a rural lifestyle until he volunteered for the RAF. His dream was to train as an RAF pilot but since there was a surplus of pilots he chose to train instead as a flight engineer. On operations Gwyn observed the surreal feeling…

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PBainH1602.jpg
Bettie was born in Wakefield. The family moved to Doncaster when she was eleven and at 21 she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. While in Doncaster she helped at the YMCA café as part of the war effort and that is where she met and married…

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AHarrisDR190508.mp3
Donald was born in Acton, London. He stayed at school until he was fourteen and then worked as a tea boy/general help for O. C. Summers, a firm that laid gas mains in Slough. When that job ended, he worked for another ganger in Shepherds Bush. …

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LDidcoteWG574095v1.pdf
South African Air Force observer’s or air gunner’s log book for W G Didcote, covering the period from 15 December 1942 to 9 November 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructor duties and duties with 90, 186, 218 and 83…

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