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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/522/32093/BMannAMannAv3.2.pdf
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Mann, Alan
A Mann
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IBCC Digital Archive
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Mann, A
Description
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An oral history interview with Alan Mann (b.1926). He was an apprentice at De-Havilland during the war and experienced bombing in 1940.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Alan Mann and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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2016-01-30
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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.
Transcribed document
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The other day I watched a programme where a family attempted to show what it must have been like to have lived in the war. It involved dressing up in 1940 clothes and spending time in an Anderson shelter, with sounds of an air raid and the music of Glen Miller. I found I could in no way relate to this and felt it did little to show people what it was really like. The war has been very well documented and there is no shortage of material for people interested in reading about the war, but what was it really like for me?
In 1938 I was eleven years old and lived with my parents in Lewisham. I was aware that there was talk about another war with Germany and saw various preparations taking place. I had recently joined my new school, Brockley Grammar in Hilly Fields and there was talk about the school being evacuated. Towards the end of the year the school was evacuated to Robertsbridge in Kent, I chose not to go.
I remember seeing anti-aircraft guns being installed in Hilly Fields, close to my school, windows being taped up, buildings being protected with sand bags and gas masks being issued. Although I can remember a lot of events I cannot recall the specific dates on which they occurred. However with the aid of the modern computer and by re-reading various books on the subject, I am now able to record events more clearly, but for what purpose? Mainly so that my recollections can be easily accessed for future reference and perhaps somebody else may find something of interest. My father served throughout the First World War and I now deeply regret not finding out more about his experiences.
In starting to write this I find it difficult to accept that the war started over sixty five years ago and must now be considered history, but here goes!
My first recollection connected with the forthcoming war was at a Biggin Hill flying day. Together with my parents we used to visit RAF Biggin Hill for their annual flying display, held to celebrate Empire Air Day and visited the last one on the 20th May 1938. Being very interested in aircraft I was well aware that the Germans had a modern air force and a very formidable new fighter, the Messerschmitt BF 109.
At the show we were treated to air displays by the squadron’s Gloster Gauntlets, Gladiators and other biplane aircraft. As I recall most of the show consisted of ancient biplanes, fighters and bombers, however we did have a fly past by our latest monoplane fighter, the Hawker Hurricane. On the ground we were allowed to see a closely guarded Hurricane and Spitfire! The Spitfire shown was evidently the first production model. Also featured were the latest additions to the RAF, a Wellington Bomber, a Blenheim and a new monoplane the Defiant. I remember leaving the show being very impressed with the Hurricane and Spitfire but also concerned that the squadron’s main aircraft was still the biplane Gauntlet, certainly no match for the Messerschmitt.
Gloster Gauntlets, top speed 230 mph Messerschmitt BF 109, top speed 350 mph
I had seen pictures showing the results of the German air force bombing villages in Spain,
(Spain’s civil war, 1936 to 1939) and was well aware what could be in store for us in the event of
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another war with Germany.
During this period I had attended various local schools catering for those children not evacuated, ending up at a local school called Morden Terrace. Eventually I was offered a place at the South East London Technical Institute (SELTI) and in September 1938 began a three year course in mechanical engineering.
To add some order to these recollections I have decided to place them in the order they happened, beginning with the day Germany invaded Czechoslovakia.
In March 1939 Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and then on the 1st September invaded
Poland. We gave Germany an ultimatum which they chose to ignore. As a result our Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced at 11am on the 3rd September 1939 that we were once again at war with Germany. France joined us as did most of the countries in the British Empire and the Commonwealth.
This was a very sombre occasion as my parent’s memories of the last war were still very fresh in their minds. Shortly afterwards the air raid siren sounded and we expected the worse, but fortunately it was a false alarm. We obtained our main information about the progress of the war from the radio, especially the evening 9 o’clock news. The BBC had decided to name its announcers so that we could distinguish them from imitations by the German propagandists. I still remember the start of the news which began “Here is the news, and this is Alvar Lidell reading it”.
The BBC news bulletins, although censored, gave us an idea of the progress of the war and generally determined how we felt. Initially we expected heavy bombing by the German air force but as this did not materialise we began to feel more confident.
The main evacuation of children from our cities commenced shortly afterwards, although the first evacuation had occurred at the time of the Munich Crisis, a year earlier.
Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939 the British Expeditionary Force was sent to France shortly after Britain and France had declared war on Germany. It was commanded by Lord Gort, who was under the command of the French General Maurice Gamelin. The BEF was considered to be a formidable fighting force and together with the huge French Army we had every reason to think the war would soon be over, however most of us were unaware of the political situation in France at the time. The senior French generals could not agree on a coordinated plan of attack, preferring to wait to see what the Germans would do. In the pre- war years the French had built a series of fortifications known as the Maginot Line and the Germans had built a similar one called the Siegfried Line. Most of the allied forces were sent to reinforce the Maginot Line against the expected German attack.
At this time the French had the largest army in Europe, with the support of a large air force and navy, however its Generals were mostly veterans of the First World War and consequently thought in terms of defeating an expected attack at the Maginot Line.
On the 14th October.1939 our battleship HMS Royal Oak was hit by 3 torpedoes and sunk with heavy loss of life, whilst at anchor in our Naval Base at Scapa Flow.
On the13th December.1939 we lost an aircraft carrier, HMS Courageous. I remember visiting this ship earlier in the year at a Royal Navy open day at Portsmouth and being impressed with its size. The German submarine U29 fired three torpedoes with two hitting the ship. It sunk in less than 15 minutes killing 518 of its crew, including the Captain. This was not a good start to the war!
German warships and in particular their pocket battleship Graf Spee, had been very active in sinking our merchant ships. The Graf Spee was eventually sighted by three of our cruisers, Ajax,
Achilles and Exeter and after a short engagement was eventually scuttled on the 13th December
1939 in what has since become known as the “Battle of the River Plate”. At last we had some good news which helped to cheer us up!
In 1939 Britain only grew enough food to feed one person in three and the German submarines and surface ships now threatened to starve the U.K. into defeat. But it was not just food, many other
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essential things had to be imported such as rubber, wood, crude oil etc, were now threatened.
Petrol (distilled from imported crude oil) was rationed soon after the war started and butter, sugar, bacon and meat rationed from January 1940. so even before the first signs of war in France we were already feeling the effects of the war.
HMS Courageous HMS Royal Oak
The first deployment of our forces was completed by the 11th October 1939 at which point 158,000 men and their equipment had been transported to France. It was lead by our General Lord Gort, aged 53, under the Supreme Commander of the French Army, General Maurice Gamelin, aged 68, both veterans of the First World War. The majority of his troops were stationed along the Franco-Belgian border at the Maginot Line. Belgium and Holland were not at war and so no troops were sent to them.
By September 1939 we had rapidly modernised our Air Force which now featured over 500 of the latest Hurricanes and Spitfires. Although still falling far short of the estimated strength of the German Luftwaffe, it was a considerable improvement on our resources in 1938, at the time of the Munich Crisis.
Most members of the French army were in the infantry. The first armoured divisions had just been formed but the first three would not be ready for action until the spring of 1940. At the start of
the war the French air force had 826 fighter planes, including 370 modem fighters capable of taking on the latest German fighter, the Messerschmitt 109. It also had over 400 modern bombers, plus a large navy featuring some very useful capital ships. By the spring of 1940 the French air force had increased to 740 modern fighters.
Over the next few months troops, materials and vehicles continued to be sent to France and by the 13th March 1940 the BEF had doubled in size to around 316,000 men, with further tanks, guns, ammunition and supplies including an initial RAF detachment of about 500 assorted aircraft. With our combined Forces it did not seem unreasonable to expect that we would quickly defeat the German army. . However after establishing our armies at the German frontier General Gamelin, instead of attacking, decided to wait to see what the Germans would do.
On the 1st January 1940, conscription began of all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 to 27, later this was increased to the age of 50. You were exempted if you could prove you were employed on vital war work. My brother, an apprentice printer aged 20, had already volunteered for the RAF. On completion of his training, as an airframe fitter, he was transferred to an RAF training airfield at Oudtshoorn in South Africa.
In early February we became aware of a German merchant ship called “Altmark” which we understood contained a number of crews from merchant ships sunk by the German pocket battleship
“Graf Spee”. We then learnt that it was located in neutral Norwegian waters, however, despite this,
on February 14th 1940 our destroyer HMS Cossack sailed into Jossing Fjord and with the call “OK
mates the Navy’s here” rescued 299 of our sailors. At last we had something to be proud of, but not for long!
It soon became apparent that Gamelin was not willing to engage in an attacking battle with the
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German army, somehow hoping this could be avoided. This indecision gave Hitler time to decide when and where to attack. When he was ready, on the 9th April 1940, Germany avoided the Maginot Line by invading neutral Denmark and Norway and then followed with the invasion of Holland, Belgium and then attacked France, avoiding the Maginot Line by going through Belgium.
This took the French generals completely by surprise as they were not expecting or prepared for this development and never recovered in sufficient time to confront the Germans with any great force. Without leadership the French morale soon crumbled under the sudden attack from the air and German armour.
The German advance had been achieved by the combined use of tanks, infantry and aircraft in what has become known as a blitzkrieg.The word, usually shortened to blitz, means a “lightning war” and is associated with a series of quick and decisive short battles aimed at creating fear and confusion in the opposing force and delivering a knockout blow before it could fully recover.
The German air force (Luftwaffe) played a very important part in this exercise using the Junkers 87 Stuka dive bomber to create panic and confusion in both the troops and retreating civilians.
Junkers JU 87 “Stuka” dive bomber
When the fighting in France finally began it soon became apparent that the majority of the French forces were already demoralised, due to bad leadership and political corruption and when the Luftwaffe started their bombing campaign the French army quickly disintegrated, leading the way open for immediate action by the German army. French troops were seen to throw away their guns and even discard their uniforms to join the fleeing civilians. There were even reports about some French pilots actually trying to prevent our aircraft from taking off for fear of reprisals, saying "why risk your life when the war is already lost".
On May 10th 1940 Chamberlain resigned due to ill health and Winston Churchill became our new Prime Minister, this despite some hostility from members of our government. Some, like the French, thought the war was already lost and that we should be talking with Hitler in an attempt to obtain the best terms for surrender. Fortunately Winston’s inspiring oratory resulted in a small majority in favour of us continuing to fight.
Without the full co-operation of the French forces and the almost immediate surrender of both Belgium and Holland, General Gort decided that our continued presence in France had become untenable and on the 26th May we began evacuating our troops from Dunkirk.
Although we managed to save 338,226 allied troops we had to leave all our supplies behind, including 615 tanks, 2,472 guns, 65,000 vehicles, 25,000 motorcycles, 416,000 tons of stores, 75,000 tons of ammunition and 162,000 tons of petrol. (These surprising and very precise figures have been obtained from historical records and demonstrate the extent of the disaster).
In just a few weeks Britain had gone from having one of the best equipped armies to being almost non-existent, and this without engaging the enemy in any major battle. We at home could not
believe it and wondered what disaster was going to happen to us next!
During the few weeks of actual fighting it has been estimated that the French lost 757 aircraft
(mostly on the ground) and two million French soldiers had surrendered. However some must have
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fought because the French lost nearly 94,000 dead with 250,000 wounded. The British lost 3,475 dead and 15,850 wounded, with many thousands taken prisoner.
General Lord Gort, commander of the BEF was subsequently criticized for his actions during the short French campaign, but most realised that without support from our allies he had little choice but
to withdraw. His subsequent actions meant that a high proportion of our troops were saved and thus able to fight again, but the loss of so much equipment was extremely serious.
While the RAF’s Hurricanes and Spitfires had already proven themselves against the German Luftwaffe the RAF had lost a considerable number of its valuable front line aircraft and experienced pilots. The operations in France cost the Royal Air Force a total of 959 aircraft, including 477 of its latest Hurricanes and Spitfires and other aircraft including bombers operating from UK. bases. Two hundred and eighty of our fighter pilots had lost their lives or had been taken prisoner.
Well aware of the speed with which Germany had just conquered most of Europe we wondered just how much time we had before Germany turned its attention to us. Before using its ground troops the German Air Force had softened up the target by intense bombing and we expected the same would happen to us. There were plenty of rumours about German agents (fifth column) being already here, the forerunner of an attack by German airborne soldiers. This was reinforced by the German radio frequently giving accurate reports about local conditions in the UK.
This waiting for the expected attack was unnerving while we waited for the sound of church bells, the warning that an invasion had began, however unlike the French and other Europeans we were prepared to defend our Country, although unsure what with! True we had a newly formed Home Guard, formed of civilians either unfit or too old to join the regular forces, armed with a variety of home made weapons and little else, apart from a display of British defiance!
We had heard frequent reports of atrocities being carried out by the Germans on prisoners and refugees which only hardened our resolve not to let them land. Our immediate problem was how were we were going to stop them? After Dunkirk we had no army and a depleted air force with only 331 modern Spitfires and Hurricanes to defend Britain from the expected invasion. If the Germans attacked Britain right away Dowding, who was in charge of Fighter Command, was concerned that his forces would be hard pushed to keep them at bay, and it was an immediate attack that was thought most likely.
Seeing the remnants of our army arriving back in the UK we had to accept how vulnerable our position had suddenly become. On the home front we were already suffering from the effects of both food and material shortages and with the fear of an invasion imminent our future suddenly looked very bleak When war was declared on September 3rd 1939, together with the considerable forces of France, we had every reason to expect a quick end to the war; however things had not gone according to plan and in just ten months we were facing defeat!
Like the French we had many people saying the situation was hopeless and that we should try to get the best possible terms for surrender, but unlike the French we now had a fighting Prime Minister in Winston Churchill. Through his broadcasts he encouraged us to keep our nerve and to fight on. Despite little resources he assured us that we could and would eventually win. Then to make matters worse, on the 10th June thinking the war would soon be over and wanting a share in the spoils, Italy declared war on us.
On the 22nd June Franc finally surrendered. All this happened within a few weeks from Germany commencing the ground war in Europe. We had no doubt what was in store for us and wondered how long we had before the invasion of our island. Winston Churchill, our new prime minister, then assured everybody that we would and could fight on. There can be no doubt that his attitude and speeches helped us to believe we still had a future, despite certain defeat staring us in the face. Unfortunately some modern historians find it difficult to accept the fact that without Churchill’s leadership our government, with some public support, may well have been seeking the best terms for surrender. People alive at this time will remember the importance of Churchill’s oratory on our morale; we trusted him and his leadership.
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Although the French Army was shattered, the French Navy was still very much intact. Darlan,
the Admiral of the French Fleet, had told Churchill that the Fleet would be sunk before it ccould be
surrendered to the Germans; however Churchill was not convinced. If the French Navy had fallen
into German hands the situation at sea would have become critical. Added to all our other problems this could have been the last straw.
Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany Winston Churchill, UK Prime
from 30th January 1933 to 30th April Minister from the10th May 1940
1945 until 26th July 1945
Churchill was therefore faced with a decision, either to trust that Darlan would and could keep his word or that events would quickly determine the result. On the 22nd June France finally surrendered and it was time for Churchill to decide what he had to do.
On the 1st of July Churchill, with the backing of our government, gave Darlan an immediate ultimatum regarding the fate of the French Navy. On the 3rd July the British surrounded the French Fleet at the port of Mers-el-Kebir right outside Oran, Algeria. Churchill's message was loud and clear, “sail to Britain, sail to the USA, or scuttle your ships within the next six hours, or we will be forced to take action”
At first the French refused to speak to our negotiators. Two hours later the French showed the British an order they had received from Admiral Darlan instructing them to sail the ships to the USA if the Germans broke the armistice and demanded the ships. Meanwhile the British had intercepted a message from the German sympathetic French Vichy Government ordering reinforcements to move urgently to Oran. This was not good news. "Settle everything before dark or you will have reinforcements to deal with” Churchill told them but received no reply. Churchill was left with no alternative other than to order an immediate attack on the French ships.
An hour and a half later the British Fleet attacked and in less than ten minutes, 1,297 French sailors were dead and three battleships sunk. One battleship and five destroyers managed to escape. We suffered no loss or damage.
While the French were furious over the events the reaction in England was the exact opposite. For the first time since taking over as Prime Minister Churchill received a unanimous standing
ovation in parliament. Churchill had a message for the British, for Hitler, and for the rest of the world and that message was heard loud and clear, England was prepared to fight on whatever
the outcome!
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Sometimes at weekends and evenings I cycled with a school friend to see what was happening
at our local airfield, RAF Biggin Hill. We had discovered a field in Downe which gave us a good view of the northern part of the airfield. The main road from Bromley to Westerham, which
previously passed through the airfield was now closed, the traffic being diverted through country lanes to Westerham.
From our vantage point we had a good view of the aircraft, which were mostly Hawker Hurricanes. The squadrons had been very active having been involved in the battle for France and our subsequent evacuation from Dunkirk. The aircraft and buildings had been camouflaged during September 1938 at the time of the Munich crisis, when Hurricanes slowly began to replace the Gauntlet biplane fighters. Although we saw little of the German air force it was evident that air battles had been occurring off the coast, from news we heard on the radio. The war news was not good, as we had already lost some of our capital ships and the German submarines were very active sinking our supply ships. The war was already beginning to have an effect on our well-being and we were very apprehensive as to what the future held in store for us.
From the 10th July, now recorded as the start of the “Battle of Britain”, the Germans carried out heavy raids on Falmouth, Swansea, Aberdeen and Cardiff. This was phase two of four phases in the German plan deemed essential to obtain air superiority prior to a successful invasion of our shores.
Phase 1: The Luftwaffe would attack our shipping in the channel to test our RAF’s response.
Phase 2: Eagle Attack, an attack on our air defences and southern towns.
Phase 3: The Attack on Airfields intending to destroy our RAF.
Phase 4: The Blitz, an attack on the civilians in London. causing them to seek a surrender.
Hitler was convinced that in our current situation our government would have no choice but to seek talks in order to secure the best terms for our surrender. By demonstrating the strength of his Luftwaffe Hitler hoped to speed these talks on their way.
On the 19th July Hitler gave us the last chance to surrender on his terms and on the 22nd July Lord Halifax responded by saying that we would continue to fight until we had secured freedom for us and others. This was good to hear, but did little to convince us that we had much left to continue the fight. All we had to stop the Germans was our Royal Navy and a depleted Royal Air Force. Up to now the RAF, mainly consisting of Hurricanes, had shown that they could compete against the Messerschmitt 109 and were more than a match for their bombers. We were aware that the German Luftwaffe had already shown itself to be a very formidable fighting force, much larger than anything we could offer. Our Royal Navy was busy protecting our merchant ships and was prepared for possible action against German capital ships.
At this stage I had personally seen little of the fighting, apart from watching news reels and hearing the news on the radio, both censored in our favour. However this all changed on the 18th August with the introduction of phase three of Hitler’s plan, with attacks on our air fields, including Biggin Hill.
Thirty bombers attacked the airfield causing damage to the motor transport sheds. Two airmen were killed and three wounded. A number of high explosive and delayed action bombs were dropped on the airfield, but it remained operational. Three further raids occurred on the airfield on the 22/23rdAugust and the following two days, but the airfield didn’t suffer any further damage. I was unaware of these raids when, with a school friend, we decided to visit the airfield on Saturday the 30th August.
I remember it was a sunny evening and, with my friend Ron Poole, decided to cycle to our local airfield to see what was going on. We arrived about 5.30 and settled in at our usual place. Nothing much appeared to be going on apart from a few Hurricanes being refuelled when suddenly we saw many aircraft coming in very low and then things began to happen. We heard the rattle of machine guns and then the deafening sound of bombs exploding, much too close for our comfort. The noise was terrific and in a very short time our airfield was in a mess with planes and vehicles burning
everywhere. There had been was no warning that anything unusual was about to happen, but in a
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few moments the scene had changed and the airfield was now in a mess, with fires, explosions and the noise of fire bells and smoke and dust covering the airfield.
When we first saw the aircraft we thought they were Blenheims, but soon became disillusioned! After the initial shock we decided it was time to leave and didn’t visit the airfield for some time after
that.
An official report of the raid reads as follows:
“Saturday August 31st 1940 at 1800 hours.
For the second time that day Biggin Hill was bombed and almost put out of action. Oil tanks were hit and set ablaze, the main electricity cable was hit and cut the power lines to all buildings. With hangars and roadways cratered it was anticipated that the airfield would be out of action for at least two days.
Nine Ju88 bombers had managed to get through the British defences taking everybody by surprise and struck Biggin Hill with a low level bombing attack, dropping 1000 lb bombs and causing mayhem. The transport yard was destroyed, storerooms, the armoury and both officers and sergeants messes were severely damaged, two hangars had been wrecked earlier in the day and now another hanger was almost flattened and on top of all that telephone and communication lines were severed and gas and water mains ruptured. Casualties amounted to thirty-nine personnel killed and thirty five injured”.
Raids continued on the airfield until the 20th April 1941, a total of 25 causing considerable damage. 42 personnel were killed during the raids with many injured. Biggin Hill was considered a very important target by the Germans, but remained operational throughout the war. During this period the weather was very good and we watched many contrails in the sky, caused by the fighting aircraft and sometimes heard machine and cannon fire. The good news was that we were told we were winning the battle.
On the 7th September the Germans put into action phase three of their plan to terrorise the civilian population and, as a result, force our Government into suing for peace. The German Luftwaffe switched their attack from the RAF airfields and attacked London, which became the official start of the “Blitz.” This was very fortunate as it allowed the RAF to recover, but not so good for the Londoners. This switch of the German attacks away from our airfields has been considered by historians as a great German blunder that may well have lost them the war.
On Sunday the 15th September1940 we were informed that we had shot down 183 aircraft for the loss of only 30, good news indeed. In fact actual figures compiled after the war showed that we had destroyed 56 for the loss of 26. However it was apparent that the Germans could not sustain these losses, especially the loss of their experienced aircrew.
In the meantime our bombers had been attacking the embarkation ports and destroying their invasion barges. Goring had promised Hitler that the RAF would be destroyed in a maximum of three weeks, allowing the invasion to take place. This obviously was not happening and Hitler decided to delay the invasion and to concentrate on the invasion of Russia. Unfortunately we did not know this at the time and still thought that the expected invasion could still occur at any moment.
History shows that although we had lost a lot of aircraft, the loss of experienced pilots was more serious. The figures showed that the situation, prior to switching the attacks away from our airfields,
was such that our RAF would have been unable to continue for much longer, perhaps days at the most!
While the critical Battle of Britain officially commenced on the 10th July 1940 and ended on the 31st October, the air raids and destruction continued long afterwards. However for me the real Battle of Britain began on the 26th May 1940, when our troops began to arrive back from Dunkirk, and didn’t end until the fear of an invasion had receded, when the Germans invaded Russia on the 22nd June 1941. This was the period when I felt we could and probably would lose the war.
Phase four of Hitler’s invasion plan began on the 6th of October and continued until the 31st of
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October. As the long hot summer ran into October the German daylight bomber losses became too heavy to sustain, and they started to operate only at night.
The London Blitz started on the 7th of September 1940 and continued until the 19th of May 1941, for 76 consecutive nights, resulting in over a million London houses being destroyed or damaged. During this period many of our other cities were also attacked, resulting in further damage and loss
of life. Coventry, for instance, was almost completely destroyed on the 13th November 1940. In one night, more than 4,000 homes were destroyed, along with around three quarters of the cities
factories. There was barely an undamaged building left in the city centre. Two hospitals, two churches and a police station were also among the damaged buildings. More than 600 people were killed and over 1,000 had been badly injured.
The Blitz had killed at least 60,575 with 86,182 wounded; however the bombing had not achieved Hitler’s intended goal of demoralizing the British into surrender and by June 1941 the threat of an invasion of Britain had passed. Hitler had by this time realised that the British were not going to be terrorized into accepting defeat, as had happened to the rest of Europe. He then turned his attention to attacking Russia and the Battle of Britain was finally over and Germany finally conceded that she had not won the battle to gain air supremacy necessary for an invasion of our island, despite all the odds being in her favour.
When the Battle of Britain officially ended, figures obtained after the war showed Germany had lost 1389 aircraft with 643 badly damaged. As the battle took part over the UK, most of the German aircrew shot down were either killed or became prisoners. We lost 792 aircraft shot down and a considerable number destroyed on the ground. Apparently the loss in aircraft was never serious as these were being replaced. However the loss of experienced pilots was crucial. We had lost 544 pilots killed, with a large number seriously wounded. This represented a very high proportion of the pilots available to continue the battle. It was calculated that if these losses continued the RAF would soon be put out of action, perhaps in days.
What did the battle achieve? The answer is very simple; it prevented the Germans from
obtaining air superiority, allowing us to remain in the war. If we had lost the battle the Germans may well have invaded and we would have had very little to stop them. We would then have become another member of the Third Reich! Some youngsters may well ask would this have been a bad thing? To this I would say look at what had happened to those countries already under German rule and if you really care, take the time to study the considerable amount of documentary evidence available. If this was done then I am quite certain the question would not arise. We should never forget the debt we owe to those who lost their lives fighting the “Battle of Britain” and remember the considerable part my local airfield, Biggin Hill, contributed to winning this battle.
At the start of the Blitz my brother was in Africa, my father was working at the Evening Standard, a newspaper owned by Lord Beaverbrook, and my mother was working part time at the Dockhead School, Bermondsey, where Tommy Steele (aged about 6) was a pupil. We kept chickens in the garden and I had a mongrel dog called Raff and a pet tortoise. My father was trained in first aid and was an air raid warden. Food was in short supply as was clothing and other items considered essential for a normal existence. We still thought invasion was imminent and generally felt very depressed with the war news.
Frequent telegrams were arriving indicating the loss of loved ones. Two of my brother’s friends in the RAF had already been killed and my parents talked of others they knew who were no longer with us. A lot had already happened before the first bombs had fallen on London, mostly bad news, all contributing to our general depression.
Some house-holders had an Anderson shelter. The Anderson shelter was designed to go in a garden and over one million were issued by the end of 1938. Eventually over 2.5 million were issued, free to people earning less than £250 per year, otherwise the cost was £7. They measured 6.5 ft. by 4.5 ft. and consisted of curved corrugated iron sheets. They had to be sunk 3 ft. in the ground
and covered with earth and sandbags, the front entrance had a sandbag blast wall. They were
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designed to accommodate 4 to 6 people. They were cold, draughty and damp, but nevertheless saved a lot of lives. They were usually lit by paraffin oil lamps and unheated. Like most things paraffin, candles and batteries were all in short supply. Everything needed for creature comfort seemed to be unavailable; “after all there is a war on” we were told
My father had strengthened our cellar and placed planks of wood on which we tried to sleep. It had electric light, but very few other luxuries. For the first weeks the Germans seemed to do as they pleased, with little opposition. We heard a few anti-aircraft guns firing, but saw little of any real
opposition from our fighters. On most days and nights we heard bombs exploding and the bells of rescue lorries. The next day we saw damaged houses and heard about people being killed and
wounded. This was mostly by word of mouth as the news on our radio and newspapers were
censured. If we listened to the German radio an Irishman, William Joyce, known by us as “Lord Haw Haw“ gave his version of the air raids. In the evening we listened to the radio and sometimes played card games or Monopoly.
I remember my mother frequently joining a queue, although mostly she had no idea what she was queuing for. It didn’t matter, if it was still available when she got to the head of the queue she bought it anyway. A sausage, rabbit or even offal was considered a luxury. Lack of essential food was becoming a problem, even fruit and vegetables were now in short supply.
The actual Blitz has been very well documented, so I will only comment on my experience. I spent a lot of my school attendance in their air raid shelter. Sometimes I accompanied my mother shopping at Lewisham and Catford, but nearly always spent some time in a convenient surface shelter. We later heard that these were not safe. They were constructed with a brick wall and a heavy concrete roof. Consequently if a bomb landed nearby the blast could cause the walls to collapse and the heavy roof fall on the people inside. We had heard of deaths so caused, but with bombs exploding near by it somehow seemed safer to get under cover. Incendiary bombs were falling everywhere and to make life even more exciting, the Germans added a device which caused the incendiary bomb to explode, causing an extra hazard.
Eventually we had more anti-aircraft guns and these brought another danger, that of falling shrapnel. I remember my father saying that there was more chance of being hit on the head with
a piece of hot shrapnel than being hit with a bomb! One thing I recall is that our Navy brought some ships up the Thames to assist the London anti-aircraft guns. Cycling to Greenwich I remember seeing a destroyer which we were informed was the famous “Cossack,” the destroyer which had achieved fame when it had rescued our merchant sailors from the German prison ship, “Altmark”.
The London Blitz officially ended on the 19th May 1941 but we were unaware of this at the time
and still expected the raids to continue. The Germans had decided to halt the bombing when it
became apparent that bombing alone was unlikely to cause the British civilians to request their Government to surrender. The Germans apparently could not understand this as bombing civilians, or even the threat of bombing had worked very successfully before, as in Belgium, Holland and France.
During the Blitz on London more than 36,000 bombs had fallen, killing 12,696 with over 20,000 seriously injured. More than a million homes had been demolished and many more badly damaged. Germany had hoped that the civilian population would be forced to surrender, but I was not aware of any such feeling. Hitler had certainly made us very angry, but all this did was to make us more determined to continue the fight. Unfortunately we civilians had nothing with which to fight back, however it helped boost our morale when we heard that our bombers were active over Germany, especially when they bombed Berlin!
When I hear people calling our bomber boys murderers I despair, how can they ignore the fact that the Germans were the first to bomb civilians and then to ignore the indiscriminate blanket bombing of our cities, with the intention of destroying the morale of its citizens?
Fire watching had now been introduced and employees became responsible for detecting fires
in their buildings. My father had to spend several nights a week on fire duty. Those of us who
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ventured out at night had to contend with the black out. It was almost impossible to see
anything. In the winter houses and factories burnt a very sub-standard coal called nutty slack, this resulted in a sulphurous gas called smog. It was far from pleasant when this was added to fog and the blackout. Despite the London Blitz being very well documented I feel it is necessary to list a few of the instances in order to show the result of some of these raids.
On the 7th September 1940 300 bombers accompanied by over 600 fighters bombed the London docks and central London, starting over 1,000 individual fires and causing a considerable amount of
damage; 430 people were killed and over a thousand seriously injured. The fires were clearly visible by me in Lewisham.
17th September Marble Arch underground station received a direct hit, killing 17 and injuring
many others. By mid October well over 250,000 Londoners had been made homeless.
11th January 1941 the Bank underground station received a direct hit and killed 117 and
left hundreds seriously injured.
19th March 500 bombers accompanied by a large number of fighters attacked the docks and central London. 750 were killed and over 1,000 injured.
16th April 685 bombers accompanied by 700 plus fighters dropped a large number of high
explosive bombs and incendiaries causing more than 2,000 individual fires. Over 1,000 were killed and many more seriously injured. The all clear sounded at 6 am on Sunday morning when over 700 acres of London had suffered severe bomb damage, with 11,000 homes destroyed or badly damaged.
The bombing had extended as far as Lewisham, Deptford and Croydon. Main line railway stations had been put out of action, including Waterloo and thousands of streets made impassable. Over 600 water mains were broken and the supply of gas and electricity badly disrupted. Telephone lines were broken, adding to the communication problems of essential services. The last fires were finally extinguished four days later. We could clearly see the fires at the docks from Lewisham and heard the sound of bombs dropping ever closer. The Germans seemed to proceed unhindered with little anti aircraft fire or the presence of any of our night fighters. Next day we discovered more wrecked and damaged houses close to where we lived. It took several weeks before services were back to some normality. Fortunately there were few follow-up raids to disrupt the necessary repair and salvage operations.
Although the above lists only some of the serious events even a single person killed would cause hurt and despair to the family affected. During every raid I wondered if I would survive or if I should suffer a serious injury, a loss of a limb or eyesight.
After the raid, those of us not directly affected just carried on as usual. Somehow we were grateful to still be alive and determined to make the most of the next day, after all what else could we do? I think most of us felt that if we could only survive the present day, tomorrow had to be better or perhaps the next day! The last thing we wanted was for the Germans to win. We were pleased every time we heard our bombers had raided Germany, but concerned to hear of our inevitable losses.
The Churchill broadcasts helped tremendously by strengthening our morale. The radio and newspapers also helped by concentrating on whatever good news they could find and censoring the bad. We were certainly not enjoying life and wondering just how much more we could take when suddenly Hitler decided to turn his attention towards attacking Russia, in order to gain access to its oil, mineral and other resources. Hitler expected it to be a quick victory and it nearly was until the Russian winter took a hand. While this saw the end of the concentrated raids, the bombing of civilians still continued.
During the Blitz my father and his crew were busy dealing with incendiaries, while the experts dealt with the unexploded high explosives, sometimes with tragic results. We owed a lot to them
and many others, especially the firemen and ambulance drivers who regularly risked their lives and to the women who were seen driving the rescue vehicles and helping in so many other ways. In one
of the raids, just before Christmas, I lost a cousin Olive who was an ambulance driver. It was
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amazing that so many people were ready to risk their lives while helping others, the events certainly brought out the best in people.
The Italians had a formidable navy based at Taranto, in the Mediterranean and on our navy decided it was time to do something about it in what has become known as the Battle of Taranto.
On the night of 11/12th November 1940 our Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, flying a small number of obsolescent Fairy Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from an aircraft carrier, the HMS Illustrious.
The first wave of 12 aircraft left Illustrious just before 21:00 hours on 11th November 1940, followed by a second wave of nine about 90 minutes later. Of the second wave, one turned back
with a problem with its auxiliary fuel tank and another launched 20 minutes late following
emergency repairs to damage from a minor taxiing accident. We lost two aircraft shot down.
The devastation wrought by the British carrier-launched aircraft on the large Italian warships was the beginning of the rise of the power of naval aviation, over the big guns of battleships and was subsequently copied by the Japanese on Pearl Harbour. The Italian fleet lost about half its strength in one night, and the next day the Italians transferred its undamaged ships from Taranto to Naples to protect them from similar attacks. This was news we badly needed to hear!
Fairy Swordfish
In April 1941 Germany launched their African offensive and invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Then on the 24th May we heard that our most famous capital ship, HMS Hood had been sunk during an engagement with the German battleship, Bismarck. The Hood had a crew of over 1,700 and only 3 survived, we couldn’t believe it! Later we heard that Winston Churchill ordered the Bismarck to be sunk at all costs and on the 27th May it was! Nevertheless we couldn’t help wondering what was wrong with our warships. We knew our Navy was doing an excellent job protecting our merchant ships from submarine attacks, but when faced with the more modern German surface ships and attacks from the air the results were not so encouraging.
Now a teenager I was well aware that my schooling was seriously lacking, although by experience I had learnt about the things that really mattered, the help and friendship of others when most needed. Wealth and status meant little in an ir raid we were all equal, just people trying to survive.
In May 1941, aged 14, I had finished my three years at SELTI and went to work at the Redwing Aircraft Company in Croydon. I was shown how to rivet fuel tanks for Wellington bombers, but the interest did not last long. I sought something more interesting and, on the 17th June, joined the No.1 Maintenance Unit and Barrage Balloon Centre at RAF Kidbrooke as a Trade Lad, on a seven year mechanical engineering apprenticeship. This was also the home of the RAF Skyrockets Dance Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenhoulet and my introduction to dance and swing music.
If I remember correctly I started work at 7.30 until 5.30 and on Saturdays until 12.30, to complete a 50 hour week. We had a ten minute break in the morning and afternoon where we were allowed to sit down. I remember my wage was 17shillings and sixpence (85 p). I worked with a
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Rolls Royce fitter who had recently returned from fighting in Africa. He had been with the 8th army as a gunner in a tank and had suffered ear trouble. When told he had Gunner’s Ear he was puzzled as he thought the doctor had said Gonorrhoea! Our job was to repair damaged Merlin aero engines.
Being a reasonable distance from where I lived meant that I could cycle to work; this in itself could be quite eventful, as I remember arriving at work in a very dishevelled state after cycling into a recently created bomb crater. Cycle and car lamps had to be hooded to prevent any light escaping upwards; unfortunately this also prevented most of the light reaching the ground!
On the 22nd June 1941 Germany invaded Russia. June also saw the start of clothes rationing and the utility system for retail goods. In November, unmarried women aged 20 to 30 were conscripted into the services or other war work. By mid 1943 most single women, between the ages of
20 and 40 were conscripted into the forces or industry. My uncle Reg had to report for work in the
building and repair industry, this meant that he was away from home for considerable periods, his wife Ethel was detailed to work in the local laundry. Apart from young men away in the services we now had families broken up by older members being detailed to join various civilian services on war work. While not affecting my parents or me directly, it did add another concern.
By the end of the year food had become a major problem and we were all feeling the effects of
rationing, this had begun in January 1940. We had been issued with a food ration card and had to
register to buy food from a specific shop. The shop was then issued with the relevant amount
of food for the number of registered customers. However, as food was in short supply, the shops often did not receive enough for all their customers. News that a delivery had arrived at the shop
spread fast and long queues soon formed as everyone was keen to get their share before it was all
sold.
Each person’s weekly allowance was 4 oz of bacon and ham, 2 oz of butter and 8 oz of sugar. In March meat was added to the value of 1 shilling and 6 pence (6p) and. over the next two years other foods added including 1 fresh egg, 1 packet of dried eggs every 4 weeks, 4oz of margarine, 2 oz of cheese, 2 oz of tea, three pints of milk, 1 pound of jam every eight weeks and12 oz of sweets every four weeks.
Other foods rationed between 1940 and 1942 included dried fruit, canned fruit, rice, cooking fat, biscuits and breakfast cereals, while some foods such as potatoes, onions and fish were not rationed but difficult to obtain. Fresh fruit was also in short supply but was not rationed. Only fruit which could be grown in Britain, such as apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries were sometimes available. Imported fruit such as bananas, oranges and peaches were not available in the shops.
Clothes and furnishings were rationed on a points system, in1943 we were each allowed 66 points a year, reduced to 48 in 1942, 36 in ’43 and 24 by the end of the war. A man’s overcoat took 18 coupons, a suit 26 and shoes 9, a woman’s simple dress took 11 and her shoes 7. Children aged 14 to16 got 20 more coupons. However we had a flourishing black market run by “spivs” who managed to obtain most things to be sold at an inflated price.
As well as food and clothing many other items were in short supply. A utility range of household furniture was introduced. The items were plain, functional and hard-wearing, but the only option for people who had lost their homes in the bombing and for newly married couples setting up their first home.
Canteen food was not very appetizing and I remember frequently feeling very uncomfortable after a cooked meal, so mostly stuck to salads or things that I could recognise. In restaurants a meal was limited to five shillings (25p) and could not have more than three courses; with meat and fish unable to be served at the same sitting.
Establishments known as British Restaurants appeared and were run by local authorities, who set them up in schools and church halls, intended as a temporary emergency system for feeding those who had been bombed out. By mid 1941 the London County Council was operating 200 of these restaurants and from 1942 to 1944 there were around 2,000 of them open to anybody. They
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proved very popular and greatly appreciated as a three course meal cost only nine pence (4p in new money).When I used them I had no complaints and found the meal better than some others I had experienced.
Despite the end of the blitz raids by German bombers and fighter bombers continued to cause damage and disruption. Barely a day or night passed without the sound of an air raid warning.
After two years at Kidbrooke I realised that at the end of a seven year apprenticeship the best I could hope for was to end up as a competent fitter, not what I wanted. Somehow I managed to get an interview with the station commander, Wing Commander Clapp, to ask if it would be possible to have my apprenticeship transferred to an aircraft Company, I was 16 at the time! Surprisingly he found time to talk with me and agreed to consider a transfer if I could find an aircraft company to take me. As a result in June 1943, my apprenticeship was transferred to the famous de Havilland Aircraft Company and after a year training in their technical school started work in their engine division at Edgware. The journey from my home in Lewisham was daunting to say the least, Lewisham to London Bridge station, then underground to Edgware followed by a fifteen minute walk to their works at Stag Lane, to clock in at 7.30 am.
I remember people sleeping on the underground platforms and the smell; there were no proper toilets, the smoke filled railway carriages with the windows heavily taped and shut during the blackout, the crowded trains and delays caused by enemy action, the smog and frequently travelling next to somebody being sick, this was all part of the war as I remember it! Despite the problems of getting to work we, apart from office staff, had to clock in and five minutes after starting time the
clock cards would be removed. After that you had to ask the foreman for permission to start work and pay was then deducted per quarter of an hour.
.
Sleeping in the underground stations
I joined the Air Training Corp shortly after it was formed and particularly enjoyed the weeks spent at RAF airfields. For a week we became part of the airfield’s wartime routine, hopeful for a
chance of a flight. During my stay in the ATC I had visited three RAF airfields, at Odiham, Wing and Holmsley South, enjoying flights in six aircraft, a Cygnet, Lysander, Wellington, Ventura, Tiger Moth and Dakota. .
The Commanding Officer at Wing was Wing Commander Lionel Van Praag, a speedway rider I remembered from the pre-war days when I had regularly visited the New Cross Speedway with my father. Lionel won the Speedway World Championship in 1936 riding against Eric Langton and I can still remember the event. Many years later I met a WAAF officer who in 1942 was stationed at Wing, she was surprised that I had even heard of Wing let alone knew the Station Commander’s name!
In March 1941 a new shelter appeared, the Morrison. This was a steel structure designed to hold 2 to 3 people lying down. It had a thick steel roof with open wire sides and intended to be used as a
table. It was not very popular and could be a death-trap if the building collapsed on it. Figures
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revealed that in November 1940 the majority of Londoners were not using special shelters, 27% used the Anderson, 9% public shelters and 4% used the tube stations the rest, including me, slept in their homes.
On December 7th 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbour and at last America was forced into the war. A few days later, on the 10th December, we were shocked to hear that Japanese aircraft had sunk two of our capital ships, our latest battleship the “Prince of Wales” and our battle cruiser “Repulse”, few of the crew were saved. Would the bad news never end?
The first US infantry troops of around four thousand men arrived in Britain on January 26th, 1942 and eventually swelled to more than 1.5 million. We began to see the first of the Americans
and I was not particularly keen on what I saw. To me they appeared brash and cocky, wore smart
uniforms and had plenty of money to spend. It was obvious that they had not just endured three years of war! Not surprisingly they were just what our girls wanted; with their boy friends and husbands away they were not concerned at being seen in the arms of the GI’s. It may be significant that the Ministry of Health launched a campaign to warn the public against Venereal Disease shortly after the GI’s arrived!
Prince of Wales Crew 1,600 plus Repulse Crew 1,000 plus
Commissioned 19th January 1941
Venereal disease I am sure was news to most of us, it certainly was to me. My main contact with girls had been in the factories and I was not impressed. These were girls who had been conscripted for war work and away from home for the first time. Sex seemed to be their main topic and they delighted in embarrassing young apprentices with suggestive talk and displays of naked flesh.
With the shortage of suitable male partners many of the girls had apparently formed liaisons with other females and appeared not to be concerned when caught in comprising positions. Some men working in the factories had recently returned from our Forces and were not impressed to see how their wives might have behaved when they were away. I was reassured to learn that my colleagues also felt uncomfortable when in the company of these girls, especially when serving time in the work shops.
It may have been noticed that I have not mentioned our Army apart from their evacuation from Dunkirk. The simple reason s is that there was very little good news to report and to make matters worse, on the 15th February 1942 General Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in what has been described as the worst and largest capitulation in British history.
In only seven days of fighting Singapore was surrendered and about. 80,000 of our troops joined the 50,000 British, Australian and Indian troops already captured during the disastrous Malayan Campaign. The Japanese treated our troops with appalling cruelty and inhumanity, many dying in captivity. Churchill was not amused and confirmed our opinion that something was seriously wrong with our generals.
October 1942, at last we had the prospect of good news when General Montgomery commenced the greatest bombardment in history with a surprise attack on the German army in North Africa,
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This started on the evening of 23rd October and, together with the RAF, eventually resulted in the end of Rommel’s African Campaign.
Sometime in November, about 3 o’clock in the morning, I remember it was cold and raining, our house at 43 Overcliff Road, Lewisham received a direct hit. My Aunt Ethel and Uncle Reg were staying with us as their flat in nearby Brockley had been badly damaged. We prepared for bed soon after listening to the 9 o’clock news, the siren had already sounded and we could hear the usual noise of aircraft, anti-aircraft guns and bombs dropping in the distance. We tried to sleep in old clothes on wooden planks covered by a blanket. The planks were placed both sides of the cellar accommodating the five of us. With a supply of coal at the far end of the cellar the air was far from fresh. At the time we were hit, although I was awake (the noise of an air raid did not encourage
sleep) I cannot remember hearing the actual explosion of the bomb, but became aware that I was
suddenly in darkness and covered in dust and rubble. It was completely dark, I heard my father calling to hear if we were all right and we all replied saying we were. Evidently both my mother and aunt said that they couldn’t move because they were covered in debris. I was still lying on the wooden planks but found it was difficult to move and breathe because of the dust and rubble.
My uncle had been in the garden to have a smoke and said he clearly remembered hearing the sound of bombs dropping and then reaching the top of the cellar stairs, but little else. He landed on top of my father. My father was asking us to turn off the gas. Something was lying on my legs and I discovered it was the gas meter. I could smell gas and hear water running but was disorientated and couldn’t find the tap to turn off the gas.
I cannot remember how long we lay there, but the next thing I remember was hearing somebody asking if we were all right. A torch shone and soon people were lifting us out. We stood in a rubble
strewn road, in the wet and darkness, but could not see our house! Luckily apart from some cuts and bruises we were all in one piece. I remember feeling thankful that we were all alive but feeling very cold, wet and dirty. There seemed to be a lot of people speaking and helping us and the next thing I remember was being taken to a disused snooker hall in nearby Catford, which was being used as a rescue centre. My memory is vague as to what exactly happened next, but somehow we ended up with a mug of hot tea and clean dry clothes.
My next memory is going back with my father to see what could be rescued. I was surprised to see our house was just a heap of rubble, the house and the adjoining house, number 45 had just gone! Where our garden should have been was a big hole. No chickens, tortoise or dog. We could not even discover the cellar door or the stairs leading to the cellar. How we had survived was incredible, there was nothing left to save!
My uncle said he believed my dog was in the garden with him but despite hoping that somehow he had survived we never saw him again. It was like losing a member of my family and somehow I felt responsible.
A lot of our elderly neighbours had moved into the country and their empty houses were commandeered by the council. We were given one of these houses as temporary accommodation, but we did not realise how temporary it was going to be! A week later a bomb had fallen nearby and the house was declared unsafe. We were then given another house, where we managed to stay for the rest of the war, despite replacing windows and other damage.
During the Blitz and early part of the war we listened to the radio which featured plenty of dance music and variety shows, but I cannot remember hearing any American bands, including Glen Miller. My first introduction to Glen Miller was probably at the cinema. Miller and his band appeared in two Twentieth Century Fox films, in 1941's Sun Valley Serenade and 1942's Orchestra Wives. I remember buying a 78 rpm recording of Joe Loss playing In the Mood which became a UK’s best seller, but this was probably after the Blitz. At the beginning of the war, all cinemas were main introduction to American bands came from listening to radio broadcasts from the American however this did not last very long and most cinemas had re- opened by the time of the Blitz. My
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main introduction to American bands came from listening to radio broadcasts from the American Forces Network; however this didn’t start until July 4th, 1943.
Air raids continued to have an effect on our lives. The raids were being carried out mostly by fighter bombers. These came in very fast and frequently without warning. At 12.30 on Wednesday afternoon of the 20th January 1943, several Focke Wulf 190’s fighter bombers came in fast and low (the balloon barrage was down) and without warning began machine gunning the streets in Lewisham. Many people reported near misses, including my father who was coming home for lunch. As the aircraft flew overhead machine gun bullets hit the houses and streets. My father said that he was aware of the sudden noise of the aircraft but they flashed past too quickly to see much else. They eventually dropped their bombs on a school at Sangley Road, Catford, killing 38 children and 6 teachers. 60 children were seriously injured. The air raids and killing had not stopped with the Blitz.
I recently read in a local newspaper of eye-witness accounts of how the Germans had especially
targeted the school and people remembering seeing the pilots waving as they flew overhead! One woman who was having her hair done heard the noise of the aircraft and rushed outside to see the Germans circling and targeting the children in the playground.
The school was in a built up area and the aircraft were flying very low at over 300 mph, which is 440 feet per second, so the aircraft would have been visible for only a fraction of a second, assuming you were looking in the right direction at the time. It makes no sense that the pilots would risk their lives just to target a school, despite how we felt about them at the time. While these reports may make interesting reading I don’t see the value in reporting incidences that obviously cannot be true.
The result of five years bombing was to be seen everywhere. While the streets were cleaned, nothing could be done to hide the damaged and demolished buildings. On the 3rd March 1943 there occurred the greatest loss of life in one single incident. On that day there had been 10 raids on London and at 8.17 pm the alert sounded at Bethnel Green. In the tube station 500 people were already installed. It was raining and the entrance to the station dimly lit with only a 25 watt bulb. The stairs were wet and slippery. A large number of people were approaching the station when the local “Z” anti-aircraft battalion fired 60 rockets. The noise was deafening and caused an estimated 1,500 people to surge towards the entrance to the station. Somebody slipped and people behind fell down the stairs crushing those below. This resulted in 173 people being killed, including 62 children. There were also a large number of serious injuries.
6th June1944 was D day when we landed back in France. At last the end of the war appeared in sight. By this time we were really feeling the effects of the war, the shortage of food, clothing, loss of loved ones, the long working hours with little time for relaxation and the uncertainty as to what the future would hold. Would this end in disaster? Historians are fortunate in that they are able to review events knowing the result, whereas those actually living the event did not. Unfortunately many of today’s representations of events in the war do not portray them as I and other veterans, remember.
While we were hoping that the war would soon be over we were in for another shock. On
June 13th 1944 the first of Hitler’s revenge weapons hit London, landing at Hackney and killing six. The V1 flying bomb (Doodlebug) carried one ton of high explosive and no pilot. It flew at about 350 mph. By the end of August over 3,000 had been launched with 500 hitting the South East of England and London. They landed at any time, day or night. Eventually the flying bombs were intercepted by our fighters, anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons, the launching sites receiving the attention of our bombers.
I am disgusted how some today are all too ready to criticise the supreme effort made by the bomber arm of our air force. Flying in a British bomber during World War Two was one of the most dangerous jobs imaginable. 55,000 aircrew died during the war with many more taken prisoner, the highest loss rate of any major branch of the British armed forces. Yet there is no official campaign
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medal commemorating the sacrifices of these men. It is seldom mentioned that we lost over 2,000 American and British air crew during the bombing the launch and development sites of the V weapons. Those bombs which did get through caused a tremendous amount of blast damage. We listened for the V1’s engine to stop and knew that we had only seconds to wait for the explosion. When the sites were overrun the flying bombs were launched from the air by Heinkel bombers.
The flying bombs killed 8,938 with an estimated 25,000 seriously injured. Lewisham came third on the list of hits with 114; Croydon came top of the list with l4l and Wandsworth second with 122.
The original German plan was to launch 200 bombs an hour, but the most they ever achieved was 200 a day, but this was enough to severely dent our morale! People were leaving London in huge numbers. In mid July 1944 15,000 were estimated to be leaving the main London stations a day! Between 1.5 and 2 million people had left during the summer, which had been particularly wet and cold. Many businesses and Civil Service departments were evacuated and the absence of people
became noticeable, especially to those having to travel through London. Some of the worst incidents
occurred in South East London, close to Lewisham where I lived. I recall one event which occurred on my mother’s shopping day.
Friday the 28th July at 9.41 a V1 bomb landed at the Lewisham market, killing 59 with 124 seriously injured. The resulting blast destroyed and badly damaged over a hundred shops, flats and houses. It came as a great shock to see so much damage where our local shopping centre had once been. Everybody seemed to know somebody who had either been killed or seriously wounded.
My mother went shopping as usual in the afternoon, unaware that her shopping centre had been
demolished. She didn’t do much shopping that day and had a harrowing story to tell when I arrived home in the evening.
Lewisham market after being hit by a flying bomb on the 28th
July 1944
8th September 1944 the first V2 rocket landed in Chiswick, killing 3 with 17 injured. The
rocket hit at about 3000 mph, with no warning. It carried a ton of high explosive and the impact caused a deep penetration. The effect was like a mini earthquake, with damage being recorded up to a quarter of a mile away.
The high death rate was mainly caused by the lack of any warning. Some of the worst tragedies again occurring in South East London, many close to where I lived.
Over 500 were killed and many more injured in just 14 instances, with the worst one occurring at New Cross on the 15th November, when a rocket landed on a Woolworths store killing 173 and
leaving many more seriously injured. I lost another cousin, Joyce.
27th March 1944 was the last day of the rocket attacks, unfortunately one of the final rockets
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fell on Hughes Mansions, in Vallence Road, Stepney, killing 134 and seriously injuring many
others. The last rocket fell in Orpington on the same day and the final flying bomb in
Swanscombe the next day. The intention of the V weapons was to kill and wound civilians in the hope that it would destroy their morale, but it didn’t happen and future generations should realise this and that they owe their freedom to this generation.
The later attacks affected us even more; because they were unexpected and by this time we were feeling very exhausted and thinking the war would never end, and then on the 30th April we heard that Hitler had committed suicide.
On the 7th May 1945 Hitler's successor, Admiral Donitz, offered an unconditional surrender to the allies and on the 8th May we celebrated Victory in Europe day. On Monday the 7th May 1945 Germany finally surrendered and at last the European war was over. We officially celebrated victory with a holiday on the following day, called Victory in Europe day or VE day. What happened on
this particular day? Did we all get drunk and dance around merrily? I saw little evidence of that. It
is true that there were thanksgiving services, victory salutes and impromptu street concerts, but the majority of us were just thankful that we had survived physically uninjured.
Pierre Clostermann, a French pilot who had flown from Biggin Hill, wrote “That evening the Mess was like some extraordinary vigil over a corpse. The pilots were slumped in their chairs; no one spoke a word or sang anything. Round about eleven o’clock someone switched on the wireless and we listened to some music.”
Lieutenant Colonel H.W.L. Nichols wrote from Germany “We were all taken by surprise when
the surrender was announced on the wireless, as we had no hint of it coming so soon. It was a bit of an anti-climax though and there was no excitement in the mess. We trooped into the bar had a drink on the strength of it and were all in bed by 10.30”. Major A.J.Forest also wrote from Germany “inwardly I felt melancholic, I wanted quiet to absorb this overwhelming blessing, the restoration of peace after six years of war and above all to be alone”
I spent VE day with my parents and had difficulty in accepting that the war was over and would no longer suffer the apprehension felt upon hearing the sound of an air raid warning. Next day we went back to work and found that little had changed and then realised that the war would not finally be over until Japan had surrendered. It looked as if the war with Japan would be hard fought and an eventual end to the war a long way off.
Six de Havilland Students, photographed for the DH magazine
I am standing top left. The aircraft is an Avro Lincoln.
Early in 1945 I had been transferred to work at Hatfield, promoted from a trade apprentice to an aeronautical student. This meant that I could now continue my training in their design offices; it also meant a considerable increase in travelling time, as I was still living in Lewisham. The factory working week was 50 hours including Saturday mornings, reduced to 48 for senior staff and office
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workers. As a student I was now expected to aim towards becoming a member of a professional body such as the Royal Aeronautical Society. To do this I had to attend evening classes, preferably at Hatfield. After much discussion I was allowed to enrol back at my old school, the South East London Technical Institute, in order to study for the Higher National Certificate in mechanical and structural engineering, three nights a week!
It was a rush to get back from Hatfield in time to start evening classes at 6.30 pm; however I cannot remember having any time off due to stress or illness. It was later shown that despite the
horrendous working conditions very few days were lost due to sickness or other causes. If we were lucky we had a whole week off for a holiday, which if I remember correctly, was unpaid. I cannot As far as I was concerned the war might be over but nothing much changed, the daily chore was just the same. Food and other materials were still in short supply and rationing still continued. Thr remember either my family or me actually having a holiday during the war.
As far as I was concerned the war might be over but nothing much changed, the daily chore was
just the same. Food and other materials were still in short supply and rationing still continued. The war with Japan was still going on but seemed too distant to be of particular concern until the 6th of
August 1945, when we became aware of a devastating new weapon called the atom bomb. The
United States had dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima causing extensive damage and loss of life.
The Americans gave the Japanese an offer to surrender but the Japanese generals refused and so on the 9th of August the US dropped a second atom bomb, this time on Nagasaki.
The Japanese government then realized that they had little alternative but to immediately consider a surrender. On the 14th August the Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the allies and on the 2nd of September 1945 the U.S. General Douglas Mac Arthur accepted Japan's surrender thus formally ending the Second World War
Subsequently historians have reviewed the use of this deadly weapon forgetting that we were still at war. Without employing this weapon there can be no doubt that the Japanese would have continued with their horrendous form of unconditional warfare, with death seen as an act of heroism. This would have cost the lives of many more Americans and allied troops. If the Germans or Japanese had such a weapon do these historians really believe they would have hesitated before using it? Who knows what might have happened if the war had continued and Germany or Japan had been allowed to become the first to use an atomic weapon.
One of the last of our Bomber Command raids was on the German city of Dresden. Many historians have managed to convince our younger generation that we had committed a horrendous crime against innocent civilians. They forget that we were still at war having experienced five years of indiscriminate German raids on our cities, with Hitler promising even more deadly attacks. We rejoiced when we heard our bombers had caused maximum damage to their German cities, letting them experience what it was like to be on the receiving end of bombs they had enjoyed dropping on us.
The result of reviewing this one raid on a German city is that the tremendous sacrifice made by our bomber boys during the war has been forgotten. Instead of being considered heroes they have been unjustly vilified, but was the Dresden raid justified? I recently came across a thist statement written by a German scientist:
“Dresden was not simply a cultural centre, there were factories there manufacturing weapons and equipment for the Nazi war effort. To produce an atom bomb a supply of heavy water is needed and
the main source had already been destroyed in Norway. There is sufficient evidence that the Nazis
were producing heavy water in the centre of Dresden, under the impression that because of the large civilian population it would not be bombed. Dresden was also an important rail base for the Nazis to
send troops and equipment to the front and so would be considered an important war target.”
I have also read that right up to his suicide on April 30th 1945 Hitler was still hoping for news that much of the evidence being destroyed in the latter stages of the war, we cannot be certain just how
Page 21
advanced the Germans were towards obtaining such a weapon and did the raids on Dresden on the 13/15th February finally convince him that this was not going the happen?
We will never know if this was true, but if it was suspected that Dresden contained such an important war target then it was right to be attacked. While historians argue that with Germany’s surrender only weeks away we should not have bombed the city. The truth is that I, and probably most of us, did not know the end of the war was only weeks away and felt as though it would go on for ever.
Demobilisation began on the18th June 1945. Bread was rationed after the war, on the 21st July 1946, and food rationing did not finally end until July 1954.
At the end of the war I was aged 18 and with three years of my apprenticeship to complete had enjoyed very little social life. I had had some contact with factory girls but had not been impressed. I
was thankful that I had not suffered any injuries nor lost any of my close family, although my brother
had lost his wife.
During my brother’s stay in South Africa he had married the daughter of the owner of a well known Cape Town newspaper, Cape Argus and on his return to the UK he had to leave without her; however some months later she managed to get a passage on a merchant ship but never arrived. My brother received a telegram to say she had become ill on the voyage and had subsequently died and been buried at sea. It was a sad occasion for me to accompany my brother to Southampton to collect her things, which included presents for us.
In May 1944 there were nearly two million American service men over here, plus
Canadians and other nationalities. The American GIs had plenty of money to spend (the ordinary GIs earning five times more than a British private) and a smart uniform, their accent reminding us of the glamour of Hollywood films. They had gum and candy, silk stockings, plenty of cigarettes and were generally very polite. What else did a lonely girl need? As a result these friendships produced a lot of “Dear John” letters written to their husbands and fiancés overseas. Some of our returning soldiers (over 265,000 had been killed) did not find the expected welcoming homecoming.
To become pregnant out of marriage was considered a very serious breach of family life. I have had personal experience of this when my cousin became pregnant by her American boy friend and was asked to leave home. Despite subsequently keeping in touch with my uncle I never found out what happened to her.
By the end of 1945 the number of divorces had reached 25,000, compared with less than
8,500 in1938. By the end of the war over 100,000 British girls had married American and Dominion servicemen. The number of illegitimate births had reached 64,000 by the end of the war. Venereal disease had become a major concern and there was an added problem of relationships ceasing, when their lovers had to return overseas, some to their wives! The end of the war certainly raised many problems. To many the peace was going to prove a very difficult time!
Perhaps the reader can now see why dressing up in war time clothes, sitting in an
Anderson shelter and listening to a recording of bombs falling has little to do with the reality of my war. One important ingredient missing is how we felt at the time, personal memories which can only be recalled by those that were present at the time. For some the memory may be of a particular instance which is very painful to recall, for me it was part of my teenage experience.
I was too young to do any fighting, but at least I had survived and with my war years still
reasonably clear in my memory have been able to document some of my wartime memories.
Hopefully this recollection will do a little to help; if only to cause the reader to reflect that there was more to the war than can be depicted by sitting in an Anderson shelter. A famous
novelist, J.B.Priestly wrote, “The British were absolutely at their best in the Second World
War. They were never so good in my lifetime before it, and I’m sorry to say that they’ve never been so good after it”
I am very grateful that my computer and reference books have allowed me to quickly
check facts and figures which the passing years may well have caused my memory to distort.
Page 22
Having asked my wife to read this, in order to correct any grammatical and spelling mistakes, she said it was a noble effort, but what was the purpose, who would be interested? I had no idea, I just felt the need to record the war as I remembered it and to express my concern at some of the inaccuracies being displayed in recent television programmes and films. I have no problems with most documentaries; they are generally excellent, especially those of the Great War.
When I see pictures of the terrible trench war I think of my father. He had joined as an
infantry man at the beginning of the war in 1914 and was present at some of the famous battles. However I showed little interest in hearing about his wartime experiences, after all to me it was ancient history! Now I deeply regret the lost opportunity. His war ended on November1918 with a horrifying casualty rate of 35.8 %. But just a few years later he must have been well aware that
another war was a distinct possibility. I can now imagine how he st have felt, with memories of his
war still very fresh in his mind! I also think about the problems faced by my parents and others,
in trying to look after their families.
After the war we learnt that Hitler had not approved any plans for an invasion of the British Isles. None of the plans submitted were considered feasible, especially with the Royal Navy still intact a seaborne invasion was out of the question. But Hitler assumed invasion
would not be necessary, based on what had happened in Europe. After a short blitz on the British civilian population he assumed we would soon sue for peace, especially following the defeat and evacuation of our troops at Dunkirk. Most thought it would be a matter of weeks before Britain admitted defeat, including America but they had not reckoned with the courage of our youngsters in the Royal Air force and the character of the British people, led by our exceptional Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
The war was certainly a defining moment in my teenage life, having come so close to being a witness to the end of the British Empire.
Alan Mann
June 2008
Revised February 2017
I acknowledge that without a computer and access to the Web for additional information and pictures, my teenage memories of the war would have remained just memories.
Alan
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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My recollections of the War
Description
An account of the resource
Reminisces about pre-war and early war days as a schoolboy in Lewisham. Recalls events at the beginning of the war. Includes photographs of aircraft and naval ships. Continues with history of events through the war's early years including conscription, German actions in Europe, battle of France, Dunkirk and the battle of Britain. Included detailed accounts of German air force attacks. Continues with account of the Blitz, details of bomb shelters and casualties. Includes photograph of Hitler and Churchill. Describes Royal Navy attack on Taranto and includes photograph of Swordfish. Continues with German offensives in North Africa and the Balkans. Mentions his job at the Redwing Aircraft Company and joining No 1 Maintenance Unit and Barrage Balloon Centre at RAF Kidbrooke as an apprentice. Continues with more war history and details of rationing. In 1943 transferred his apprenticeship to De Havilland Aircraft Company. Discusses life during the war including bombing and people moving to the country. Mentions D-Day, V-weapons, Bomber Command operations. In 1945 was transferred to Hatfield. Goes on to describe events in 1945 and the end of the war followed by comments on American servicemen in the United Kingdom.
Creator
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Alan Mann
Date
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2008-06
Format
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Twenty-two page printed document with colour and b/w photographs
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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BMannAMannAv3
Coverage
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Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
England--London
England--Hertfordshire
England--Hatfield (Hertfordshire)
England--Herefordshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1938-05-20
1938
1939
1940
1941
1941-05
1942
1943
1944
1945
2008-06
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.
bombing
childhood in wartime
firefighting
home front
Hurricane
incendiary device
Me 109
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Hatfield
shelter
Spitfire
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/522/32102/BMannAMannAv5.1.pdf
2aa1618dd74bb9ce2d79a3df904ab931
Dublin Core
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Title
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Mann, Alan
A Mann
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Mann, A
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Alan Mann (b.1926). He was an apprentice at De-Havilland during the war and experienced bombing in 1940.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Alan Mann and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-01-30
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
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I was born on the 4th November 1926 and had a brother 7 years older than me.
My father was a compositor for the Evening Standard, a paper owned by William Maxwell Aitken, he also owned other newspapers including the Daily Express. As Lord Beaverbrook he became a very successful Minister of Aircraft Production.
His son, Max Aitken, was a Bristol Blenheim fighter pilot with No. 601 Squadron at Biggin Hill, during the early part of the war. He reached the rank of Group Captain with 14 enemy aircraft destroyed and one shared. His awards included the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross.
It was thanks to my father that I was able to develop an early interest in aircraft, ships and racing cars.
From the age of five I accompanied my father to Croydon Airport where he interviewed important arrivals; I was more interested in the aircraft!
A Handley Page W.8 twelve seat airliner.
The photograph was taken at Croydon Airport in 1932, when I was five years old. I am the
small boy in the group on the right. (Picture was taken by my father with his Kodak Brownie box camera).
These visits continued until 1939 when war was declared. I particularly remember the designs of the de Havilland Aircraft Company being ahead of the others, which mostly appeared ancient by comparison. During my later visits to Croydon I remember the Handley Page 45 Airliner, still in regular service with Imperial Airways, alongside the sleek new de Havilland Albatross.
Handley Page 45 De Havilland Albatross
I later read that around 80% of the aircraft to be seen at Croydon, pre war, were built by de Havilland and engined by Major Frank Halford. I also remember visiting Brooklands and seeing Frank Halford successfully racing his own designed and engined car.
Accompanying my Father I remember visiting the Portsmouth Navy Days and the Empire Air Days at Biggin Hill and Kenley, the last being at Biggin Hill on the 20th May 1938.
Early in 1938 I joined my new school, Brockley Grammar in Hilly Fields, in what turned
Page 2
out to be a very short time. I remember there was talk of another war with Germany culminating with the Munich Crisis in the summer of ’38, resulting in the school being evacuated to Robertsbridge, 10 miles north of Hastings. I chose not to go and was left without a permanent school until later in the year, when I joined the South East London Technical Institute on a three year engineering course.
Our Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, proclaimed he had averted another war with Germany, when he arrived at Heston Airport, on the 30th September 1938, waving a piece of paper containing Hitler’s signature, and saying that an agreement had finally been reached over problems with Hitler annexing territory on his borders.
Neville Chamberlain arriving at Heston Chamberlain waving the famous piece of
on September 30th 1938 in a American paper with Hitler’s signature
Lockheed 14 of British Airways Ltd
However this was not to be and Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15th 1939. Once again Britain and France did nothing! Next Hitler began to threaten Poland and at last Chamberlain responded by saying that an attack on Poland would not be tolerated and that an attack on them would be followed by a declaration of war.
On May 22nd Italy signed a pact declaring that they would support Germany in the event of war. On the 23rd August, Russia (Stalin) signed a non- aggression pact with Germany. Thus Hitler thought he had tied up all the loose ends and was now ready to invade Poland.
On September 1st Hitler invaded Poland and we responded by saying that if Germany had not withdrawn their troops by the 3rd September, we would be at war. Again Hitler did not believe that we would do anything and so went ahead with the invasion. As a result, at 1l o’clock on Sunday the 3rd September, Neville Chamberlain announced that we were once again at war with Germany. Shortly afterwards France also declared war on Germany.
On that day I remember my family gathered around the radio listening to our Prime Minister with interest. Upon hearing his announcement there followed a stunned silence; my parents couldn’t believe that we were once again at war, just 21 years after being involved in the horrors of the last war. For me this seemed to be the culmination of events following the evacuation of my school a year earlier.
My brother Bill was twenty and serving an apprenticeship in the printing industry. Together with friends he enrolled in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and became a member before the year was out. I think the feeling was that they thought the war would be over very quickly and wanted a piece of the action before it was too late. My brother was the only survivor of the four that joined at that time.
I was not so sure, during the last Open Day visit to our local airfield at RAF Biggin Hill, I was aware that most of the aircraft on display
were obsolete and no match for the new German Air Force. The Hurricane was in squadron use
and a Spitfire was on show, together with a Wellington bomber, but most of the displays were performed by obsolete biplanes.
Page 3
At that time I was an avid reader of aviation magazines and couldn’t imagine a successful result of our ancient biplanes against the latest Messerschmitt monoplane fighters.
The first of our modern fighters, the Hawker Hurricane only began to enter service in December 1937; although by September 1939 nearly 500 Hurricanes had been produced, equipping 18 squadrons, including the two resident squadrons at Biggin Hill.
If we had gone to war earlier we would have been fighting Germany’s latest monoplane aircraft with obsolete biplanes and without Dowding’s invaluable early warning system.
While our defensive forces were being modernised other divisions of our Air Force were neglected. Our attacking bombers had to make do with obsolete aircraft and suffered the consequences.
When the Battle of Britain is celebrated the invaluable contribution made by our airman, flying inadequate aircraft, is largely forgotten. In fact during the Battle of Britain we lost more aircrew flying the attacking bombers than from our defensive fighters, 544 from Fighter Command, 280 from the Fleet Air Arm and 780 flying obsolete bombers.
I would like to think that the Battle of Britain was won because of the Spirit of our Nation at that time, with all involved having a part to play, including our Merchant Navy, contributing to its successful outcome.
I knew little about our Army but was impressed at what I had seen at the last Portsmouth Royal Navy Open Day. I was well aware of what could be in store for us after seeing the result of Germany’s newly formed air force bombing civilians in the Spanish civil war, a war that started on the 17th July 1936 and lasted until the 1st April 1939.
Then, within a few hours following the declaration of war, the air raid warning sounded and I expected the worst! Fortunately it was a false alarm and with some trepidation had lunch; this was how I remember the start of the war. Upon reflection the 1939 war began to affect my life with the interruption of my schooling during the summer of 1938 and continued until some time after 1954 when rationing finally finished.
Although the actual fighting finally stopped with the surrender of the Japanese on the 15th August 1945, the effects of the war was to be seen and felt long into the 1950’s. Even now I cannot forget the experience and, although fortunate in not having been a member of the fighting forces, at least able to relate to their personal experiences.
I have no doubt that the courage of those that took part in the Battle of Britain saved our country from becoming yet another member of Hitler’s Third Reich. I feel privileged when able to record the remarkable experiences of those who experienced the physical and mental horrors of war and can only apologise to those who consider such memories as unworthy subjects for modern day conversation. It only takes the sound of a Merlin engine to evoke my memories of the war, while to others it is just the sound of another engine.
While it is possible to recreate the physical symbols of war in a museum, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to invoke the spirit of the lives that once inhabitant those objects. They were real people who once lived in the environment of that time, with the daily uncertainties
of what tomorrow might bring, assuming we would still be alive to enjoy it, the food, the music, the radio, all the things that bring back memories of that period. It is these memories that add real meaning to the museum objects on display. Without memories relics just relate to another period in history.
It is perhaps unfortunate that when I hear the modern generation chattering on about their holidays and other current topics I find difficulty in maintaining any real interest, allowing my concentration to drift back to a period which is still very fresh in my memory. I then have to accept that I have become just another old bore that keeps prattling on about the war.
Alan Mann
January 2016
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
My War
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with early life and interest in aviation, including photographs of pre WW2 aircraft seen at Croydon airport. Recollects going to last open day at RAF Biggin Hill. Continues account of events of lead up to and start of the war. Writes a little about the RAF and his personal and family circumstances. Provides some thoughts on the Battle of Britain.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Alan Mann
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-01
Format
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Three page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BMannAMannAv5
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Croydon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1926-11-04
1938
1939
1938-05-20
1938-09-30
1945
1939-09-03
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.
601 Squadron
Hurricane
RAF Biggin Hill
Spitfire
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/717/10112/ABondsJA180702.1.mp3
36d84a4e75bb15dcf8ac8e3351f15fc5
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
Bonds, John Allbon
J A Bonds
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with John Bonds (b. 1920, 1388207 Royal Air Force).
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
2018-07-02
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bonds, JA
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AC: The date is the 2nd of July 2018, it’s 10.40am, I’m Andrew Cowley on behalf of International Bomber Command Digital Archive. I’m interviewing John Allbon Bonds at his address in Petwood Kent. Also present it his wife Ruth. So John, tell me about your early life, your family life, where you went to school, and the jobs you did before you joined the RAF.
JB: Well I went to school in a place called Blackheath Hill, you know Blackheath Hill? Well there’s a school there, and it’s a child’s school I went to there and I became top of the class at drawing. Anyway, after that when it was time to go, I went and then we moved to Blackheath Hill, Days Lane I think it was called, Days Lane, it’s on the left going up Blackheath Hill and from there I spent most of my life you know, when I was a boy. Now then, [background voices] from there, oh yes, as I grew up there, I couldn’t tell you exact date of birth or how long, I must have been something about twelve, something like that, and my father wanted to move out of there, so we moved out of there. He got a barrow, a long barrow, which was pushed, just for pushing, so we loaded our stuff onto where we were at the time and we put all of, most of our gear, which we had, and put it on to a barrow, and then we moved over to Downham, Downham Way. We had to shove, that was long way that was, wasn’t it, anyway, it took us a few hours [interference] and when we got there we stayed, it was near the railway and a cemetery and there I grew up a bit. I’m not sure about school, I don’t think I went to school, I’m not sure. Anyway, it was started, the war, then and I suppose I was going out one day and the aeroplanes were flying over the top and I looked round and they was ‘plop, plop, plop; they were just dropping bombs, smoke bombs, anyway I turned round and went back home again. And there, [sigh] I grew up from there and then, oh, I joined the Air Force. Yes, the war came on then, I joined the Air Force, and from there I was, I became an engine mechanic and I had to go to Blackpool, that’s where you learnt, I was three months there to learn the trade as I didn’t have a clue about aircraft. Anyway I learnt me trade there, and I was still over at Blackpool, and, oh god, Days Lane and [pause] from there I was called up. And I joined the Air Force, and while I was there I learnt the, tried to learn, the engines, which I did, and while I was still living over at, Downham Way again and my family and I went out for a drink to celebrate, and while I was there, there was a young girl kept eyeing me up. And eventually, after a few years, we got married and that was that. We had a child, just one girl, one girl, and she grew up okay, but she was a bit of a devil at times. Anyway from then onwards, I, she moved away, to somewhere, not sure about that, but anyway, and that just left my, oh that girl that I married, yes, where we had the baby, which was the girl that we, just moved away, and from then onwards I joined the, not sure what that was, oh, the Air Force. I was in the Air Force, that was it, I was on the way. [Sirens] Oh yes going from there I was on a, taken to an airport near Biggin Hill, that’s an air place there, that’s Spitfires, and we went up there and we, I did the engines on Spitfires. Anyway I was there for a few months, or maybe a year, I’m not sure, and they took me off there to, [pause] oh dear, can’t remember the place I went to. Anyway it was Bomber Command then, and it was all bombers, and they were, I’m not sure of the bomb machines, there were several names several of them there, bombers called, can you remember, name of bombers what we had?
AC: Well there was Lancaster, Wellington, Hercules, Mosquitoes.
JB: Yes. Wellingtons I think they were, I know it was a rotary one. Rotary, four engined rotary bombers and every now and again we used to get the siren sounded and course we all dived down the shelter, and sometimes the bombers just went straight over, and then one particular day they didn’t and they came over and we all dived in the air raid shelter, no, forget that, I’ve got to go, must remember something else. Ah, no that’s right, carry on, and anyway from then onwards I was on Bomber Command see and we all run for the shelter when they came over and then. [Pause] [Creaking]
AC: Can you remember what stations you were at?
JB: I can probably tell you if I saw a map. Think it begin with C. C.
AC: Coningsby?
JB: No. Not Cambridge is it? Is Cambridge round there? That’s probably where it was. Yes, there, that’s where one day I was working on the engines, and every now and again you had to take the sides off and then pull the propellers around to get, to make sure you had compression. Well anyway, I did this one one particular day and then suddenly bang! The engine went pop and it knocked me right up in the air, onto the floor. [Indecipherable] Lots of people came round to see what’s wrong and I said well, somebody must have switched the engine on! And we found out then that some silly so and so playing up in, it was an engine mechanic and there’s an engine [indecipherable] and something else, but they do all the, all the ins and outs, like well all things which the pilot uses, and anyway the stupid man there, he went, he pushed the wrong switch and it was on my bloody engine and it knocked me flying there. From then onwards I was in hospital and I was in there for about three weeks, and during that time the whole lot went abroad. They went to Egypt, where the war was, and from, after that I was back on the, when I was fit again I was on the aerodrome again, with the bombers and I was okay then. Then after that, if I remember correctly, very few people came back from Egypt, the ones that went, had to come there. That’s about it, that’s about all. I served me time on the, in the Air Force and that was it.
AC: You didn’t go to Egypt.
JB: No, cause I was in hospital, when they went, when they came back there was nobody on the aerodrome, well only a few people anyway. I was sent home and then I went just, I’m not sure I went to another aerodrome, I’m not sure, and I suppose I spent the rest of the time, my time just outside of Cambridge and I used to watch the bombers coming over and they used to come over to my aerodrome and try and bomb us [creaking] because we had bombers at that particular time. Yeah, they used to come over and our aerodrome was situated about twenty miles out and you see, when they came over to bomb London, I could see the flashes coming, from London, you know, where they dropped the bombs and from then onwards it was, and the war kept going on till it finished. Yes, and then I came out and that was it.
AC: What was your job before you joined the RAF?
JB: Nothing particular, I was just a normal.
RB: Builder.
JB: I had learned a trade, engines, that was in Blackpool. I didn’t have much of a trade, I was, ah, yes I did, I was a bricklayer, because when I left school I was a bricklayer and then I carried on after the war like, bricklaying.
AC: Did you have any choice as to what your trade would be in the RAF?
JB: No. Because they sent us to Blackpool, Blackpool was the centre of the particular bombers, I don’t know what it would be, because on engines then, not sure if they were rotary ones or just horizontal ones there, like the, our bomber. Er, gosh, makes you think doesn’t it, things you think of, things you don’t, can’t think of. Yes, and after that the war finished and I took up bricklaying again. I was good at it, I was one of the fastest and one of the neatest bricklayers going, I was wanted everywhere and they made me up as a foreman, and then I was, I just seemed to move around as a foreman and do bricklaying. Oh, there’s one particular one on the coast.
[Other]: Him and his partner built, were the ones, you know the Wembley Conference Centre. They were the head ones to do that, so then he sort of joined up with somebody on the same team and they became partners.
JB: Oh, Wembley Conference Centre, yes, we did, my partner and I, we did all the work inside and we were there a few, quite a few months, building up, and then they asked us to, when we finished they asked if we’d like to go abroad cause they were satisfied with our work, and we said yes, try it if you like and then we found out that it was the, was Dubai desert, right in the centre, and we stayed there working on, I’m not sure what it was, but we stayed there quite a few months and we had, when we went over there we took two or three people about what we knew, that we could, and we, the rest we used their people. They, supposed to go, every now and again, you know, their people would stop, go out, go ‘Allah, Allah’, hit the ground and anyway I used to go round and say get up you lazy sods! Anyway after that we came home, we finished the job, we came home, we were paid cause it was all you don’t know, no government takes any money off you, no and it was just the sheer money I got. From then onwards we, we got married and, three, three other, I mean first marriage, she died. Second marriage she died too, and then there’s Rose here.
AC: In, in your time in the RAF, can you remember things you did when you weren’t working? Where you went out, go to the pub?
JB: No, we were just walking round the fields, you know, and going on jobs. I can never remember going in the pubs or anything like that.
RB: No, he’s never drunk.
JB: And that was that.
AC: What about the living conditions on the aerodrome, what were they like: the food, that sort of thing?
JB: Oh, was quite good, quite good [creaking] specially trying to remember the airfield, yes, oh no, I can’t, but it’s the one, an airfield up -
AC: Is that in Lincolnshire?
JB: No. What’s the nearest airfield from here?
RB: Sorry? Cornwall? You never went to Cornwall.
JB: No, I said what’s the nearest airfield from here? Biggin Hill?
RB: Biggin Hill, you never went there. That’s just up the road. I really don’t know much more of his past life.
JB: I’m sure it was there.
RB: I think you were up country, you’ve always told me you were up country somewhere, but you never went to, you never came down to Biggin Hill. You never went to Cornwall. You did mention St Eval at one time, but I don’t know if that was just something, I don’t really know. I know my dad was at St Eval.
AC: But working on the engines, how did you find that? Did you take to it easily?
JB: Yes, yes. Not sure now.
AC: Did you get to know any of the aircrew?
JB: No.
RB: Yes you did, cause you said one was going to take you up! You used to go up after you’d done -
JB: On bombers yes.
RB: The pilots used to, after he was, worked on them, some of the pilots took him up.
JB: Yes. Some of them, just for safety’s sake for them [emphasis], they used to say well, do you want a trip? And I used [indecipherable] to sit by the pilot because then he felt happy because I, if it wasn’t for me and the plane crashed I’d go with him, wouldn’t I, that was the idea anyway! I’m sure it was Biggin Hill I was on for a while, there I packed up.
AC: So the flights you went on, were they just local or did you go on raids?
JB: Oh just all local, just trying the bombers out, they often used to do that – they would just “jump in,” just going to [indecipherable] then come down again.
AC: How did you find that?
JB: Oh, I loved it, yes, I loved that out there. Sit by the pilot, watching the pilot, seeing what he was up to, yeah.
AC: Can you remember what planes you went up in?
JB: They were bombers, I’m not sure exactly, they were English bombers, [clap sound] god help us. They were round engines. No, I just can’t go any further than that.
AC: Did you have to work on any planes that were damaged, in raids?
JB: No, no. I’m sure that we stayed on the bombers until I retired. They sent me, told me that I could go home then, and then I came home. I got something somewhere, I just can’t remember.
AC: Can you remember any of the people you used to work with?
JB: Well, the one that I did, when I was in hospital, he never came back, and that was about the only fellow that I knew, or used to talk about one another, you know, he was the only one I knew properly, as I say, never saw him again.
AC: What were your injuries you were in hospital for?
JB: Head. Head and shoulders. Yes, I think I was in there two, two, three weeks, something like that. It’s a bloomin’ job to remember.
AC: Was that a local hospital, or a RAF Hospital?
JB: I’m not sure, I don’t know, I’m not sure. It must have been a normal hospital, I remember a few people there which they had normal dressings on you know, like walking about. Apart from that just, my mind’s a blank. Except that I got married, [indecipherable] died, poor woman died, I got married again, and same thing happened, she went to hospital, didn’t come out. And the next one, she was a pest! [Laughter] No, she’s wonderful!
RB: [Laugh] Your coffee’s there, otherwise I won’t make you no more!
JB: Yes. She’s a real darling, she still is to me. Does everything I need.
AC: When you joined the RAF, did you volunteer?
JB: No, I was called up: twenty one. Yes, I was called up when I was twenty one. That’s when I chose the Air Force. I didn’t choose the type of aircraft, they told me I had to go, would I want to go on the working side, like engines, or airframes, well I said engines, cause it was happy work, it was good thing to remember when you came out. Anyway, as I say I had to go to Blackpool and learn the engines for about three months, and that was it, after that I had to, was put on to an airfield [cough] and went on Spitfires. After a time they took me off Spitfires and then put me on to the bombers, which I finally ended up.
AC: Were you working outdoors? Can you remember?
JB: On the airfield, when I was on the Air Force? Working there were houses which all the people --
RB: Hangars.
JB: Or hangars if you like, we used to sleep anywhere, mostly we slept on a bed, you know, empty hangar, you know, and that was that.
AC: Must have been a bit cold!
JB: Sometimes. No, you were well dressed, well warm, had plenty of stuff to put round you. It’s just that part I just can’t remember a lot of.
AC: Can you remember the names of any of the engines you worked on?
JB: No, if you knew any of the names I could probably tell you, but it’s such a long time.
AC: Do you still have any contact with anybody from the RAF?
JB: No, no.
JB: You can remember your call up number, can you?
JB: Something’s in my mind 1388217, but whatever that is I don’t know.
RB: Well it’s nothing I know of!
JB: 1388217, if that was, it might have been my number, I don’t know. Yeah, 1388217.
AC: Did you ever have any thoughts about what was happening when the bombers took off and went on raids?
JB: We just sat around waiting for them to come back again. Yeah, that was at the, main Air Force airfield just outside of Cambridge. That’s about all I can say really, just can’t think of anything else. It’s a long time ago to remember isn’t it. [Chuckle]
AC: Is there anything else you can think of that you believe we might be interested in about your time in the RAF?
RB: There’s something he’s talked about. Is there anything you remember that stands out, any particular time. Any particular time? Things you’d done when you were in the Air Force? You know, you were in there two years, it’s a long time. Places you went, things you done?
JB: No, just a normal LAC!
RB: He’s got quite a hold. Don’t upset that coffee.
JB: Well okay, right.
AC: Okay John, well it’s been interesting talking to you and thank you.
JB:L Sorry I can’t help you but it’s a long time ago.
AC: Of course. I understand.
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 John Allbon Bonds
Creator
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Andrew Cowley
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2018-07-02
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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ABondsJA180702
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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00:31:14 audio recording
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
Language
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eng
Description
An account of the resource
John Bonds was brought up in London and remembers bombs dropping near him. He joined the RAF as an engine mechanic and after training worked on Spitfires before being posted to bombers. He was injured in an accident in a hangar and spent some time in hospital before returning to work on engines once more, enjoying test flights with the pilots. After the war John returned to his trade as a successful bricklayer.
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Kent
England--Cambridge
England--Cambridgeshire
Contributor
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Anne-Marie Watson
ground crew
ground personnel
hangar
RAF Biggin Hill
Spitfire
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1117/11607/PSearleROJ1709.1.jpg
46cfaafcdad721ac2ec3e630d4eb9120
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1117/11607/ASearleROJ170725.2.mp3
33cf2589eeaa4c7cc0d0735ed1673ab9
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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Searle, Rex
Rex Ormond John Searle
R O J Searle
Description
An account of the resource
62 items. Two oral history interviewws with Rex Searle (b. 1919, 615463 Royal air Force) He served as ground crew before becoming a flight engineer and flying operations with 432 Squadron. after the war he served with Coastal and Transport Commands. The collection contains his log book, decorations, photographs and two albums.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rex Searle and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-07-25
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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Searle, ROJ
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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CB: Right. My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 27th err 25th of July 2017 and we're in Reading with Rex Searle to talk about his life and times. So what are your earliest recollections of life, Rex?
RS: Oh yes. Recollections. Well, that’s going back some [laughs] Well, pre-schooldays I suppose. Yes.
CB: Where were you born?
RS: In Silverton. Born in Silverton. Yes.
CB: Yeah. And what did your father do?
RS: Oh. He was engineer at the water works. And he used to run turbines in fact. At least he used to watch over them. Yes. That's right. And that was in the, in the local water works of course. Yeah.
CB: Where did you go to school?
RS: To, oh what on earth was the name of that school? Oh, I can’t remember what they call it now.
CB: It was a primary school and then you moved on did you? Or was it a school that had children right up to the age of —
RS: Up to the age of fourteen. Yeah.
CB: Right.
RS: That's right. Yeah.
CB: Were you good at any things at school?
RS: I would say average [laughs] Yeah. Average. Yeah.
CB: And when did you leave school?
RS: At [pause] I was under fourteen. Less than fourteen years I was, in other words. For some reason I left. I can’t remember why. I was early leaving and that was that. I can't think of anything else to go with that.
CB: And then what? What did you do then?
RS: What did I do then? Good heavens. I can't really remember.
CB: If your father was an engineer did you decide to go into engineering yourself?
RS: Well, probably. Probably. I can't remember thinking that but I expect it was. Yes.
RS: Some reason like that.
CB: What sort of job was it?
RS: His job?
CB: Your job. What sort of job did you go to?
RS: When I left school. When I left school. What the hell did I do?
CB: Tell you what. We’ll stop just for a mo.
[recording paused]
RS: I never thought about this one.
Other: About 1933 Dad? Isn’t it?
RS: Yeah. I don’t see how I can answer that.
CB: Do you think you got into a job quickly? Because it's just after the Depression isn't it? 1933.
RS: Oh yes. It was rather quick. Yes. Yes. I sorted some engineering basis and I did go into it and I took it on at the time. Yeah. That’s right.
CB: So what made you join the RAF?
RS: I wanted to fly. Yeah. It was purely and simply that. Yeah.
CB: Where did you join up?
RS: Where did I join up? Where did I? Where did I join up? [pause] What was that in north, north of London.
CB: Hendon.
RS: Hendon. Yeah. Hendon. That's right. I went to Hendon first of all. Yeah.
CB: And what did they say when you, how did you get there? Did you have to sign up somewhere first or did you go straight to Hendon to apply?
RS: I can't remember the details of that at all.
CB: Okay.
RS: Long time ago.
CB: Indeed.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So, what do, what do you remember about joining the RAF? What do you remember about joining?
RS: Well, I think I was quite pleased to get into, into it. Yeah.
CB: And did they give you a number of options for jobs? Trades. Or did you say specifically what you wanted to do?
RS: I did. I did say what I wanted to do. Yes. I'm sure I did. Yeah. Yeah, and that would be flying. Something to do with flying itself, you know.
CB: So which part of flying because there were different trades in flying aren’t there?
RS: Yeah. Well, I wanted to pilot the aircraft but I obviously couldn't do that so I went in as a flying, flying as a co-pilot to start with. And, and then of course I used to take over the various aspects of air crew. Doing each, well as a crew we would swap around doing different jobs.
CB: Yes. But when you joined initially —
RS: Yeah.
CB: You were nineteen. Were you? What year? Was it 1938?
RS: Yeah.
CB: That you joined.
RS: Ahum.
CB: So had you, were you still eighteen or had you reached nineteen when you joined?
RS: Well, that would be a pretty, pure guesswork. I can’t remember.
CB: Well, we can look it up can't we?
RS: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. Yeah. So what I was wondering was what they put you on to as soon as you joined the RAF because what did you do on the ground as a trade?
RS: I went in on to ground crew engineering. Yes.
CB: And then they trained you. How did they do that?
RS: Well, they had a system at the time of putting you in, in to a class as it was and you got experience through that.
CB: Was this at Hendon where you joined originally or did they send you somewhere else?
[telephone ringing]
MS: Sorry. I thought I’d put that to quiet.
RS: No. Hendon wasn’t the original. It was the, it was the secondary. Secondary posting. Yeah. I’m just trying to think what the first one was.
CB: I'm just going to stop it a mo. Cover that.
[recording paused]
CB: We know that your first posting was Cardington but it's how did you get there because you were trained somewhere before that.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And I just wonder where that was.
RS: Oh yeah. That was in [pause] I can think. Now, where on earth was it?
CB: Was that somewhere in the south or was it in Wales or —
RS: Somewhere near Manchester.
CB: Was it?
RS: Oh yeah.
CB: Right. Okay.
RS: Somewhere out there. Yeah.
CB: So they then qualified you as an airframe fitter did they?
RS: Yeah.
CB: And so your rank increased from AC2.
RS: Yes. That’s right.
CB: To what?
RS: That’s right. Yeah.
CB: So what did you go, what did you get after that? Did they make you an LAC or —
RS: Yes. LAC. I did become an LAC. That's right. Leading aircraftsman.
CB: Yeah.
[background noise]
RS: Oh, steady on, Michael.
CB: I'll stop for a mo because you just want to put the hearing aid in again.
[recording paused]
CB: Right. We were just talking about how you qualified as a airframe fitter and you moved up from a —
RS: Oh yes. I went on a course. On an engineering course. That's right. Within the, within the RAF of course. Yeah. And that's how I became a fitter.
CB: And then you went to Cardington.
RS: Yes.
CB: What was in the, Cardington is known for its two very big hangars. What was there?
RS: Yeah. There was a big hanger in which they used to have [pause] What did they have in there?
CB: So they had a big, they had the big airship.
RS: Yeah.
CB: The R100.
RS: That's right. Yeah. That's what there used to be in there, wasn't it?
CB: But what else was there? There were trainers there as well were there?
RS: Yes. There were.
CB: What were they?
RS: They were very small aircrafts. I think its half a dozen of them that we had which we looked after. Brand new they were as well. Yes. Moths. I think they were Moths.
CB: And did they fly or were they always on the ground?
RS: They were always on the ground. Yeah. Until later when they, they flew. They did fly eventually. I know that. Yeah.
CB: So what were the tasks that you undertook as an airframe fitter with those new aircraft?
RS: Well, just looking after them. Inspections. Visual inspections of them and things like that.
CB: What is the role of an airframe fitter? What did he have to do? He wasn't on engines but he was on airframe. So what did you do?
RS: Well, an inspection of the aircraft in. Visual inspection. Looking around. Checking all the bits and pieces. And that's about as far as it went I think.
CB: So you, you were making sure the flying controls —
RS: Oh yeah.
CB: Worked.
RS: That's right. Yes. Yeah. Chocks and plates and all that sort of thing.
CB: This was a fabric covered aeroplane was it?
RS: Not necessarily. No.
CB: Right.
RS: Yeah. Yeah. Hurricanes for instance. They, they were fabric covered or metal covered. Yeah.
CB: Depending on which part of the aircraft.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. The note I've got here said they were, that the trainers were Miles Magisters which had fixed undercarriage of course.
RS: Yes. They did. Yes. Yeah, that's right.
CB: But the Hurricane was more complicated.
RS: Yeah. Yeah. Of course they had the undercarriage that folded in of course, on take-off.
CB: How reliable was that?
RS: Turned out to be very reliable. Yes. Had to be. Absolutely. Oh yes.
CB: So what was going on at Cardington? There were these different aeroplanes but what did they do with them? Were they training? Were they storing? Were they delivering? What were they doing?
RS: No. They were, you know just used as [pause] well as aircraft and putting them in use in some way. I don't know. I can’t remember now. What would they do?
CB: So, then in 1939 —
RS: Yeah.
CB: You were posted to 601 Squadron.
RS: Yeah.
CB: City of London at Hendon. What were the people like who were in that squadron?
RS: What were they like in that squadron?
CB: They tended to be titled and monied.
RS: Yeah. Well, they did. Yes. I don't know what I can say about that. No.
CB: So they were flying later. They moved from Hendon. Do you remember moving from Hendon to Biggin Hill?
RS: Yes. I do remember that. Yes. That's right. We did. And then we split the, oh yes we split the squadron into two halves. Half stayed in England and the other half went to France. I went to France with them. That’s right. I remember. I remember going over there in a Bristol Bombay, yeah. Big old aircraft with a fixed undercarriage.
CB: And what were they doing over there?
RS: Just basing us. Basing us into a, into a position where we were looking after the [pause] Well, looking after the bases of aircraft being flown from there. Yeah.
CB: So, at that time this is, when is this? 1940?
RS: Yeah.
CB: So were they in combat and —
RS: Yes. They were.
CB: What happened as a result of that?
RS: They were they in combat. Yes. That's right.
CB: And this is from Merville. The base was at Merville was it?
RS: Yes, it was Merville. Yes. Quite right. Yeah.
CB: So, casting your mind back to the flying that was going on they were in combat. Some of the planes got damaged. Some didn't come back did they? Or —
RS: That's right. Yeah. Oh yeah these were the days when we were repairing with newspaper or anything else. Dope on the outside of the aircraft, you know.
CB: So we're talking about Hurricanes, are we?
RS: Yeah. Yes. We are.
CB: So why did they need to be patched up?
RS: Because they've received damage through airborne fighting if you like.
CB: So after you've read your newspaper you used it to patch the holes.
RS: Yes, we did [laughs] yeah.
CB: Because we're talking about fabric covered aeroplanes so —
RS: That's right well we didn't have the fabric for it so the next best thing was stick something over it to keep an air flow across it.
CB: So some of your spares weren't there.
RS: That's right.
CB: So how does the system work then for patching a hole?
RS: How does this work for packing it up?
CB: For patching a hole? How do you do it?
RS: Oh, you use red dope and get a piece of whatever you've got and, whether it's the paper or anything else and just doped onto the side. Onto the, over the patch. And that's how they flew.
CB: What does the dope do?
RS: They really made, really just stuck the patching on. Yeah. And then a good fix.
CB: So it makes it a good smooth surface.
RS: Yeah. Yes, it did.
CB: So as an airframe fitter this was your concern. Your job.
RS: Yeah, well that was a matter of using those techniques to over, overcome the necessary repairs if you like. Yeah.
CB: So that's a relatively easy fix by using newspaper and dope.
RS: Yeah.
CB: But what about other spares? Did you have enough of other spares or were they difficult or what?
RS: Well, that was a matter of if we, if we couldn't do anything then we’d make something perhaps. Yeah. For instance it would be bits and pieces in, inside the aircraft that needed new parts and we’d do our best to sort that out really.
CB: What sort of damage did these aircraft sustain in combat?
RS: Well, fire. Being shot. Shot up by pieces. Yeah. Being shot by other aircraft. Obviously enemy aircraft.
CB: Well, the German fighters had exploding —
RS: Yeah.
CB: Cannon shells. So what did that do?
RS: If it was hit by a shell then there would be rather extensive and well we’d do our best with what we could do. If anything at all. Yeah.
CB: But you did hydraulics as well did you?
RS: Did we have — ?
CB: Did you yourself deal with hydraulics?
RS: Hydraulics?
CB: Yes.
RS: On occasion. Yes. Yeah. Or checking them as well.
CB: But they could be damaged.
RS: That’s right.
CB: And instruments. What about that? Cockpit instruments.
RS: Yeah.
CB: You dealt with all those things.
RS: Oh yeah.
CB: Then what were the other trades?
RS: Yes. Yes. Yes. One used to get mixed up with the, the gunners. The gunners. I was nearly shot by them because they were on the, on the wing and they were doing something on there. And obviously they were doing the gun, sorting something out, and they let fly with a lot of ammunition. And it, it went straight past me because I was standing in front of the leading edge, [laughs] I was very lucky there.
CB: Because there are eight guns on these planes so —
RS: That's right. Yeah. But when you are standing on one side and you've got the, the boys up on the main plane and that's when they were let, they let the, these guns be fired.
CB: Did all four —
RS: And they just missed me.
CB: Did all four on that side go together or just one of them that nearly hit you?
RS: Well, they seemed to go all, all at the same time. Yeah.
CB: But nobody else was hit.
RS: No. But there used to be a lot of holes in the top of the, top of the hangar from the guns that went off.
CB: Oh, it happened regularly did it?
RS: Well, it happened more than once. Yeah.
CB: So what caused the guns to go off?
RS: Don’t know. It was something to do with the people on the, the stuff on the wing. Messing around somehow with the gunfire.
CB: So, when the planes had been on an operation how long would the operations last each flight. If they went into action? Roughly.
RS: How long? Well, it could be half an hour. It could be an hour. Yes. That's about all I think.
CB: And when they came back then was there an urgency to get them back again in the air or —
RS: Oh yes. Yes. We had to check them. Check them out. Check them over and keep doing the necessary [pause] do anything that was necessary to repair it if it wasn't so.
CB: So they had to be rearmed and refuelled.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Did you, was part of your work —
RS: Yes.
CB: Refuelling.
RS: Yes. It was. Yeah.
CB: So how did that work?
RS: Oh, you just top the tanks up to what you can get in to them.
CB: So the petrol bowser would come up.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And have long hoses. Where did the hoses go into the aircraft? Was it under the wing or on top of the wing?
RS: Oh, that was, that was on top of the wing. Yes. Yeah.
CB: Close to where the guns got fired accidentally.
RS: Yes [laughs] that's right. Oh dear. I’m still here [laughs]
CB: Meanwhile the pilot's having his cup of tea somewhere.
RS: Yes. That’s —
CB: And finding bullets going over his head is he?
RS: Yes. Yeah.
CB: So what was the disciplinary action taken in that circumstance?
RS: No disciplinary action at all. No. It's just one of those things.
CB: Part of living dangerously.
RS: Yeah.
CB: What prompted the return of the squadron to Britain?
RS: To England? Why did we return to England?
CB: Did you run out of aeroplanes or —
RS: They sort of split the, the squadron into two if you like.
CB: Yeah.
RS: And a half went over to France and the other half stayed in the south of England. Yeah.
CB: But, but when you were in France you had to get out.
RS: Yeah. We did. Yeah.
CB: So what caused that?
RS: Well, the first we knew the Germans were on our tail.
CB: Right.
RS: Coming up. Yeah. Being chased.
CB: So did the, did the fighters fly back to England or had they all been damaged or destroyed?
RS: Well, there was only one over there at that time. Only one left over there. Yeah.
CB: So, what happened to that?
RS: Oh, it flew back.
CB: Right.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So, how many people are there on the ground that you, you had to get back to Britain? What happened there. How did you set off?
RS: How did we set off? Oh. Chasing. We were about thirty miles I suppose from, from the coast and we got back to the Le Havre and from there of course you waited in the water to get across the, across the water to [pause] where was it?
CB: So, which port did you actually leave from?
RS: I’m trying to think what the names were.
CB: Were you at Boulogne? Or Dieppe?
RS: In Boulogne. It was Boulogne.
CB: Dunkirk.
RS: Yeah. Boulogne.
CB: Boulogne. Ok.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So you're on the Merville Airfield.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And who decided that you'd got to get going?
RS: Yes.
CB: Who decided that and what instructions?
RS: Our own instructions. We knew what was coming up and trying to get the hell out of it.
CB: So you all went in lorries did you?
RS: Yes. Yes. Yes, we did. Yeah.
CB: So you got to Boulogne. Then what? Did you get the lorry all the way to Boulogne? Or did you have to walk some of the distance?
RS: We, I don’t know. Followed the, we were on the road for quite a while. Yes. To get to the coast. Yeah. Then it was a matter of getting across the water.
CB: So was the town under attack by the Germans at that stage or not?
RS: No. Not then. But it was very close.
CB: So did you bring the truck back with you?
RS: No. No. They were left behind. Yeah.
CB: So you, you come into the port. What did you what instructions did you have then?
RS: What instructions did we have?
CB: When you got to the port.
RS: Well, we didn’t have any. Any instructions at all. After crossing the, crossing the sea we got out the other side and we were lucky enough to get some chocolate and stuff like that handed to us. And then we carried on ashore I think. And we went off. And I had ended up by going home. Yeah.
CB: Did you go directly to your home? Did you?
RS: More or less. Yeah. Yeah. Went up to North Wales first. Then from there I called in home because I remember sitting in the kitchen waiting for the family to, to get up, you know. Because we had arrived in the middle of the night.
CB: When was this? Was it the beginning of the Dunkirk evacuation or towards the end or in the middle?
RS: Well, it must have been in the middle of it, I think. Yes.
CB: But when you got to the port how many RAF people had been on the lorry with you?
RS: When we got to the ports on the French side? I was, I was on a tanker in fact. It was full of, full of fuel which was it a bit dicey [laughs] Yes. But it got us there.
CB: So you were directed onto the tanker with a mixture of air force and army people or just air force or what was it?
RS: Just RAF. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And which port did it come into in in England?
RS: Which port? Which port? I can’t think of the specific port.
CB: Was it Portsmouth? Or was it Southampton? Or down in Devon?
RS: It’s, I think there was a station. Not a station. There was a railway there.
CB: So they put you on a train and sent to you where? To London? Or did they send you a different direction to North Wales?
RS: No. I went, I went up to an RAF base which was fifty miles north of that point. And —
CB: North of where you landed.
RS: And that's where I I went home after that.
CB: Right.
RS: Yeah. Accordingly.
CB: So, after you went home then what? They recalled you somehow.
RS: I can't remember being recalled. No. But we made our way back to where we should have been, I suppose. Yeah. It’s a bit hazy. All that sort of thing.
CB: That’s alright. So the RAF wasn't going to let you hang around because it needed engineers. What did you do next? You've returned from France.
RS: Yeah.
CB: You've had time at home. Then what?
RS: I can't remember what happened then.
CB: It looks as though you went to Middle Wallop.
RS: I probably did.
CB: When you came back.
RS: Quite likely.
CB: And then the Battle of Britain started.
RS: Sorry?
CB: Then the Battle of Britain started.
RS: Oh.
CB: When you had returned, didn't it? Shortly afterward.
RS: Yeah. It did.
CB: So what do you remember about that?
RS: Well, some people take the mickey out of us because of course we’d run out of the country. Yeah. That's right.
CB: Air force people or civilians?
RS: Air force people. Yeah.
CB: Okay. So you're working as a ground engineer at that stage. Still with your squadron.
RS: Oh yes. Yeah.
CB: Okay. Then the following year then you went abroad. Is that right?
RS: Yes. That's right. Yeah, we did. Yeah.
CB: What did you do there? [pause] So you went by ship.
RS: Yes.
CB: To South Africa.
RS: Oh yes. We went, that's right, by ship and there was crossing the Atlantic all the time. Backwards and forward. So we crossed the Atlantic about four or five times I think coming down there until we eventually finished off in South Africa.
CB: What was life in South Africa like? What was it like being in South Africa?
RS: Well, it was new. New to us. Or new to me. Yeah. And quite exciting really. Yeah. I would say.
CB: So you were supposed to go to Cape Town. That was one of your destinations was it?
RS: No. It was a bit further north than that.
CB: Then you went to Durban.
RS: That's right. Durban. Yeah. Yeah. Durban was the one. Yeah. Of course, we went across the, across Africa as well and right to the other side. I remember crossing there.
CB: A lot of people when they went to Canada and South Africa and Rhodesia were effectively adopted by a local family. Did you have a close experience with South Africans when you were there?
RS: Yes.
CB: A South African family.
RS: Well, we did actually. Yes. We were taken in by a family. And I remember sitting down at a full table [laughs] That sort of thing, you know. Yeah. That was before. Before I left. I went across to [pause] where on earth was that? A bit of a blow that one.
CB: How long were you in South Africa?
RS: I can't remember now. It couldn't have been for very long. No.
CB: Because while the South African family was looking after you were you actually attached to an air force station where you were working?
RS: No.
CB: Or was it just holiday?
RS: It wasn't a holiday or anything. It was just a matter of being picked up by these people and taken in, you know. Somewhere to go sort of thing. Yeah. That's all.
CB: I'm going to stop there for a bit. Give you a breather.
[recording paused]
RS: And into the jungle at the top. On the, on the eastern side there was. And I don't know. There were snakes and all sorts of things there. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So this was just something to do.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Going to see the snakes.
RS: Yes [laughs]
CB: Not to warn you off.
RS: Yeah.
CB: When you stayed with the South African family were you staying in their house or just going for meals?
RS: They had a bungalow. Yes.
CB: Oh right.
RS: That’s right. Yes.
CB: Right. And were you on your own or were you with colleagues?
RS: No. I was on my own.
CB: What had happened to the others?
RS: I don't know. They disappeared. Yeah.
CB: And how did you know where to report next?
RS: How did I know? No idea.
CB: So your next stop was North Africa wasn't it?
RS: It must have been I suppose.
CB: So you went to a Maintenance Unit. 106.
RS: Three.
CB: 103 Maintenance Unit in Aboukir.
RS: Yes. Yeah. I did that.
CB: And you were dealing mainly with Blenheims at that time. What do you remember about that?
RS: That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Blenheims.
CB: So because it was a Maintenance Unit what was going on?
RS: That was 103 was it?
CB: Yes.
RS: 103.
CB: What was going on there?
RS: Not a lot [unclear]
CB: Well, Maintenance Units —
RS: Yeah. It was a Maintenance Unit. Well, I suppose must have been looking after aircraft that had been positioned there, I think.
CB: What I meant was that with the squadron you were involved with frontline servicing. When you went to the Maintenance Unit the aircraft were there for more serious faults to be fixed. So my question really is what sort of work did you have to do on these planes that were more seriously out of action?
RS: Well, patching them up. That's about it I suppose.
CB: Battle damage was a real problem.
RS: Yes. It was.
CB: And what sort of things would you have to do or make?
RS: Get some paper and stick it over holes in the, in the fabric on the aircraft.
CB: You can do that in front line.
RS: That’s the sort of thing we did.
CB: Yeah. You can do that in front line servicing but at the MU it's going to be more serious isn't it? It's going to be structural, mechanical.
RS: Yes.
CB: Or electronic.
RS: I couldn't have stayed in a MU. I must have been, I don't know, elsewhere somewhere.
CB: And there are all sorts of people in these places so who did you meet who you knew already or palled up with for the future?
RS: I don’t think so.
CB: I gather you met your two future brothers-in-law, Eddie and Bert in Alexandria.
RS: Oh, well that's asking. Yeah.
CB: What happened there?
RS: Yeah. I had met them up there. Yes. Yeah. I can't remember what stage that was though. I must have been there at a later date.
CB: What happened in Alexandria? Was it a place to go on leave or in the evenings or were you stationed there some of the time?
RS: I was stationed nearby. A little, a little further to the east of it. Yeah.
CB: And what dangerous things happened to you in the Maintenance Unit? Because you talked about on the squadron guns going off. Well, what sort of dramatic things happened at the MU?
RS: Well, I don’t really know.
CB: Did you get blown out of bed by a bomb? Where did the bomb come from?
RS: Oh yes. That's right. Yes. Oh, that was in Alexandria. Yeah. I was in a hotel there and of course I got stuck in, stuck in Alexandria and had no means of getting back to base so I stayed there. And it was during the night there that we were bombed and I went standing up above the bed that I was on. Towards the ceiling. I came down and I remember running like hell to get over to the sea wall which was close by. I jumped over the sea wall and stayed on the sea side of the wall. And I felt quite safe there [laughs] Yeah.
CB: We don't think much about Egypt being bombed. So where did these enemy aircraft come from? Were they Italian? Or were they German? Flying from where?
RS: They would have been German and from the [pause] well where the Germans were in the, in the desert. Further in the desert, you see.
CB: So from Egypt is that, was it at that time that the experience of the bombing had — what sort of experience did that have on you?
RS: Just bombing. That’s all.
CB: Was there an element of shock in it so that made you react differently?
RS: I don't think so. No. I can't remember.
CB: Some people had nightmares as a result of experiences. What about you?
RS: Not really. No.
CB: Okay. At what point did you volunteer to join air crew from being a ground engineer?
RS: Now, that's a good question.
CB: Was it at that time?
RS: No. That must have come after that. Yeah. I think.
CB: There was a carrot of some kind associated with that was there?
RS: Was there?
CB: Was there? Which was to be able to go to the pastures of Palestine.
RS: Yes. There was that. Yeah.
CB: But actually you didn't go to Palestine, did you?
RS: No. No. I didn’t.
CB: What did they do to you?
RS: The nearest I went there was [pause] well, partly into the desert actually. So it's all a bit hazy. Too hazy. I can’t remember.
CB: So it sounds as though you thought Palestine was a good place at the time but they stuck you on a boat and sent you back to the UK. Is that right?
RS: I don’t think it was like that at all was it?
CB: So it looks as though you were put on a ship and returned in a convoy to England. Arriving at Liverpool.
RS: Oh [pause]
CB: Did you?
RS: I think that must have been a different, different phase.
CB: It looks as though you had to wait on the ship for a while.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Why was that? So you get to Liverpool. Can't get off the ship.
RS: Could be. I don’t know.
CB: A cue to disembark.
RS: No. I don't know now.
CB: So in the background you've been abroad. You've come back. Where did you meet your wife?
RS: Where did I meet her? Where did I meet my wife? Well, she was a girl that I had at home. She lived there.
CB: You knew her already.
RS: Yeah. That's right.
CB: So you then came back to Liverpool. Got off the boat three days later. And then what happened? You went home.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And how soon did you marry? When you got back how soon did, before you married Isabel?
RS: You’re testing me now.
CB: It’s always testing. Working out when people got married [laughs]
RS: I don’t know.
CB: According to this, which is your earlier testimony that you had to wait three days before you could disembark from the ship. But after that, five days later after arriving home November ’43.
RS: Oh.
CB: You married Isabel on the 20th.
RS: Oh yeah. Of course it was. Yeah. Yeah, that's right
CB: These things are supposed to be marked on your consciousness [laughs] Never to be forgotten.
RS: That’s right.
CB: I'm going to stop there for a mo.
[recording paused]
CB: So after you were married. Now you had to get back into RAF activities. You went to St Athan, did you?
RS: Yeah. I suppose that's what the sequence was. Yeah. It must have been.
CB: To train.
RS: Yeah.
CB: To do what?
RS: To do what?
CB: To train as a flight engineer.
RS: Probably.
CB: That's where the flight engineer training took place didn't it? So you were an airframe fitter which meant that you had RAF engineering in you as it were.
RS: Okay.
CB: But in order to —
RS: Yeah.
CB: Do a flight engineer job which is what you'd applied for, volunteered for then you needed training at St Athan.
RS: Yeah. That's right.
CB: And so that's November December time 1943 as you were married on the 20th of November.
RS: Oh.
CB: And then the flight engineer course must have taken you quite some time.
RS: It took a while I suppose. Yeah.
CB: Which was followed by going to the HCU. The Heavy Conversion Unit.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Filling in.
[recording paused]
RS: There was a, a truck that was laden with fuel. Full of fuel and of course it never occurred to me about being blown up at any, any particular stage you know so I'm glad to leave that.
CB: So you just parked that in Boulogne.
RS: Yes. That's right.
CB: This is to do with your escape.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. So was that close to the ship that you parked it or were they nervous about that?
RS: Well, I wasn't driving it so somebody must have driven it away somewhere. I don't know. I don't know what happened to it.
CB: And then when you got on the ship was there a choice of ships? Was it the last ship? What was it?
RS: Well, it was a ship that was in, in dock in Boulogne.
CB: In the harbour.
RS: In the harbour. Yeah. That’s what I was trying to think of. And, well —
CB: What was special about it? It was to do with its load was it?
RS: Yes. You had to unload it and we unloaded by [pause] well taking the load out of, out of the middle of the ship anyway. I don't think there’s much else you can say about that.
CB: What was it carrying? What were you moving from the ship?
RS: Ammunition. That's right. Yeah.
CB: So what did you do with it? Just stack it up on the —
RS: Just stacked it up, I think. Yeah [laughs] What else can you do with it? Could have thrown it over the side I suppose but —
CB: Well there was nobody taking it away was there?
RS: No. No. We just left it.
CB: And then how many of you got onto the ship?
RS: How many got on to the ship?
CB: Well, there must have been a reason for taking it off the ship in the first place.
RS: Well, that’s what they were there. No reason why we should have taken it off. You'd better leave it there and let some other poor sod pick it up.
CB: But there must have been a number of you together were there to get onto this ship?
RS: Only two or three of us. That’s all. That's about all. Yeah.
CB: So the ship left with only, only you on it. You three was it? Or did it have lots of soldiers on it?
RS: Oh no. It had a lot of people on board.
CB: Right.
RS: They were already on there you see. Yeah.
CB: This ship was the Oriana. No.
RS: No. Already on the ship.
CB: Already on it. Beg your pardon. Right.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. And who were they? Were they soldiers? Air force?
RS: Soldiers I reckon. Must have been.
CB: British and French or just British?
RS: British, I think. Yeah. I didn't go into all that.
CB: No.
RS: At the time.
CB: And they sailed. How long did it take to sail to England?
RS: How long? Oh, about half an hour I suppose.
CB: A bit more than that.
RS: Probably. How long does it take to cross the —
CB: Yeah, from Boulogne.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Not too bad.
RS: Not too bad at all.
CB: Into where? Boulogne into Dover? Folkestone? New Haven?
RS: Well, it was, no [pause] I don't know where they went at all. It was a blank sort of place. I think there was some woman there with chocolate and stuff to hand to us. I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ Not much else about it and well it wasn't, it was just along the coast. That was all.
CB: So fast forward now to November ‘43 when you were married. You had some leave afterwards, did you? Where did you go on honeymoon?
RS: Where did we go on honeymoon? Where did we go?
CB: Up on the northeast coast was it?
RS: I remember my father was there and he gave me, gave me something. It was probably some money on something like that. I don’t know. And then he cleared off and we stayed.
CB: Was it the seaside?
RS: Sorry?
CB: Was it at the seaside?
RS: It must have been I suppose.
CB: Scarborough?
RS: No. It was on the south coast wasn’t it?
CB: Oh, was it?
RS: Yeah.
CB: Oh right.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Okay.
RS: It was a long time ago.
[recording paused]
CB: So, let's just start. So, after your honeymoon and then your flight engineer training at St Athan you were then sent to an HCU.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And at the HCU you then joined a crew that had already been formed.
RS: That's right, yeah.
CB: And what were they?
RS: They were Canadians. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And how did you fit into that?
RS: Very well. Very well indeed.
CB: What were they like?
RS: Typical Canadians. They were okay. Yeah.
CB: And they, how did they accept you?
RS: Well, they had to because we were English and they, they were all Canadian and they had to take us. So that was that.
CB: And what was the aircraft?
RS: Halifax. Yes. Yes. Hali 1s. 2s. Yeah.
CB: And what were the engines on those?
RS: Well, the engines, well 1600 cc's. I can’t remember the names of them now.
CB: Were they radials or —
RS: They were radials.
CB: Were they inline?
RS: Yes.
CB: Okay.
RS: Oh yeah.
CB: Bristol engines. Right. Okay and what was your job as the flight engineer?
RS: Oh, act as, act as co-pilot and engineer. That was it.
CB: So, you acted as co-pilot. At what, at what time in the flight envelope were you helping the pilot?
RS: Well, anytime that they wanted to vacate the pilot’s seat. And I'd just get up and take over. Yeah.
CB: What pilot training had you had beforehand?
RS: None. Only experience.
CB: In air experience flights.
RS: Oh yes. Yeah.
CB: And on take-off very often the engineer helped the pilot.
RS: Yeah.
CB: With the throttles.
RS: Yeah.
CB: What did you do?
RS: Well, holding the four throttles and holding it full on during the take-off until there was such time as he was ready to pull back on it.
CB: So, at what stage would you reduce the revs after take-off?
RS: What stage?
CB: Would it be a particular height or after a certain period of time?
RS: Well, after having cleared the field. Yes. And then that would be it.
CB: So these are Bristol Hercules engines. Did you synchronize them after you got into —
RS: Oh, we did. Yeah.
CB: Yeah. And how did you do that?
RS: By watching the shadow of the flaps. Yeah.
CB: So how do you adjust the engines to synchronize them?
RS: By, by moving the favoured engine to slightly to get the shadow correct.
CB: Are you changing the revs or the pitch or both?
RS: What are we doing? Changing the pitch. Yes.
CB: So there's a cruise speed.
RS: Yeah.
CB: For the engine.
RS: Yes.
CB: And you'd set all four to do the same would you? And then adjust the pitch slightly.
RS: Yeah. Having, having done that pair you can do that pair and then look from the other just to synchronize them together.
CB: So you’d do —
RS: Which you could do a little bit with the instruments anyway.
CB: And as the flight engineer then you're on your feet a lot of the time doing various tasks are you?
RS: In the air. Yes. Oh yeah.
CB: So what do you do about the fuel?
RS: About the fuel. Well, we, it’s logged all the time. Yeah. From the word go.
CB: So you're logging the consumption.
RS: Yes.
CB: And then you're managing the disposition of the fuel between tanks. How did you do that?
RS: By taking the amount of fuel that’s in the tanks and even them up. Well, running the engines from certain tanks on that side or that side and then vice versa.
CB: Did you exhaust some of the tanks earlier than others?
RS: No. No.
CB: So they all had the same, had fuel in. Or did you —
RS: Oh yes.
CB: Move it out of the wingtip tanks into the central tank?
RS: No. No. No, we used the, well that's usually, that's how we wanted it you know.
CB: So at the HCU what was your main role there.
RS: At the HCU.
CB: At the HCU. Most of the work was cross countries, was it?
RS: Yeah. It would have been. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
CB: And did you practice fighter affiliation?
RS: Oh, quite a bit. Yeah.
CB: What did that mean for you?
RS: Messing about up in the sky. Yes.
CB: You had to hold on.
RS: Yes.
CB: And did they practice corkscrews?
RS: Yes. We did. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So you'd be especially sitting down for that would you?
RS: Not necessarily. No. Standing up in the, in the astrodome. Yeah.
CB: As a spotter.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So where would you hold on to secure yourself in that position with your head in the astrodome?
RS: Something like that. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Were there —
RS: Whatever is there.
CB: Are there special bars up there to hold on to or what?
RS: I can’t remember now. Don't think there were. No. I don't think so.
CB: So how did you stabilize yourself during a corkscrew turn?
RS: Well, sort of go with the, with the aircraft. However it is.
CB: Because everybody else was seated is what I'm getting at but you're the only one standing up aren't you?
RS: Yeah. That's right. Yeah.
CB: Did you tend to have more bruises than most people?
RS: I don't think so. No.
CB: When you finished at HCU what did you do next?
RS: What was next? HCU.
CB: Then you went on to your squadron [pause] with the Canadian crew.
RS: Well, we crewed up. I crewed up with the rest of the crew.
CB: You did that at the HCU. So then you went to —
RS: Yeah.
CB: To do this for 432 Squadron.
RS: That's right. Yeah.
CB: And still on the Halifax but was it a newer model.
RS: Yeah. Yeah. It’s strong, a Halifax actually.
CB: I’ve got here Halifax 3. If you were on the 1 and 2 how is the 3 different from the earlier one?
RS: Not a lot different really. Yeah.
CB: And you went to East Moor.
RS: Sorry?
CB: You went then to the station at East Moor for 432.
RS: East Moor. Oh yeah. East Moor. Yeah. That’s right.
CB: What was that like?
RS: East Moor. I can't remember anything in particular. It must have been very similar to anywhere else.
CB: But it was fairly new was it?
RS: I expect so. Yes.
CB: What did you live in?
RS: I can't remember.
CB: Nissen huts.
RS: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And how many crews to a Nissen hut would there be? Because there are seven in the crew aren't there?
RS: Yes. That's right.
CB: And what were the ranks? Were any of the crew commissioned or were you all NCOs?
RS: Oh no. They were all — I could be either. I don’t know probably sergeants and some commissioned. Yes. The pilot was usually commissioned.
CB: Right.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Followed by one of the others.
RS: Well, as the rest of the crew was but didn't really run into it do we? I mean it doesn't matter if you're commissioned or not. What you're doing in the air is different. Yeah.
CB: And how well did the crew gel from a professional point of view?
RS: I think we did very well. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And how many ops did you do with that crew?
RS: Thirty-two I think it was. Yeah.
CB: What sort of excitements did you get during those ops?
RS: Well, the usual things like [pause] well, what you’d expect to see.
CB: Because there’s a number of factors aren't there? There's taking off in the aeroplane if something goes wrong. Then it's difficult to get airborne.
RS: Depends how far you've got I suppose.
CB: Did you have a crash on take-off?
RS: No. I don’t think so. No.
CB: Causing you to overrun the runway. Or on landing was it?
RS: It was landing.
CB: Yeah.
RS: Yeah. Landing.
CB: And what did you end up in?
RS: In a pond. Yeah.
CB: What happened then?
RS: I can’t remember a lot about it now actually.
CB: Because it's always an embarrassment if you're landing and the brakes fail.
RS: Well, if that does happen then you would have to just carry on and come to a stop wherever.
CB: So when you overshoot the runway and land in a ditch as your plane did —
RS: Yeah.
CB: Then what's the first action? People get out but what's your, what do you have as a first role before you get out?
RS: I would switch everything off. Fuel in particular, master cocks and that sort of thing. Which I did.
CB: And the engines? Who will have, who will have stopped the engines?
RS: Who would stopped the engines? Well, the engineer.
CB: Oh really. Not the pilot.
RS: No. No. The pilot would be gone [laughs] Yeah.
CB: Right. Okay now what about on operations flak and fighters clearly were major hazards.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So, first of all flak. How much flak did you take?
RS: How much flak? Well, how do you discern that?
CB: Were you damaged much by flak?
RS: Quite a bit. Yeah.
CB: On ops.
RS: Quite a bit. Come back full of holes.
CB: Would you regard that as a regular occurrence?
RS: Yes. I did.
CB: Or only occasional. How many people got wounded from flak?
RS: Well, there's only one drew blood and that was the bomb aimer. He was the only one. He only got a bit of blood on his thumb. That's all he had. Yeah.
CB: That was the thumb he used to —
RS: He was lucky.
CB: Yeah.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Was that the thumb he used to release the bombs?
RS: I expect so. Yeah. Of course.
CB: So when you got back what was the ground crew's reaction to all these holes in their aeroplane?
RS: Well, there's always, always talk about it, you know. What was it? And all that sort of thing.
CB: Did they show that they were a bit upset that you’d bent it?
RS: No. Never upset like that. Never like that. No.
CB: What about night fighters? How often did you encounter those?
RS: Quite a few times. Yeah. A few times.
CB: And what was the result of that?
RS: Well it was a matter of getting rid of them by flying, twisting around and that sort of thing. And losing them in the dark hopefully.
CB: Did the gunners shoot at them?
RS: Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. That’s right.
CB: And was their operation of the night fighters was it on the way into the target or on the way back?
RS: Well, it could be either actually. Yeah. Usually on the way, on the way out I think.
CB: As the engineer on the way in to the target —
RS: Yeah.
CB: What was your role to the actual coming up to the dropping point?
RS: Oh, keeping your eye out for other aircraft. And not much more than that really. Yeah.
CB: What height were you normally flying?
RS: Usually about sixteen thousand feet.
CB: Which meant there were other aircraft above you at eighteen.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Or twenty.
RS: Probably.
CB: So were you looking out for the ones above?
RS: Oh, yes. Yeah.
CB: And what was the danger there?
RS: Well, being bombed from above. Yeah.
CB: And did you see any sticks go past you?
RS: Yes. We did. Yeah. Oh yes.
CB: How close?
RS: Very close, in fact. In fact, when I've been through, you go through you see a load of bombs coming down and you go right through the line of them without touching of course.
CB: Oh you didn't get hit.
RS: No.
CB: That was good judgment or luck.
RS: Yeah. Very lucky.
CB: So you were acting as a spotter there. The fighters aren't going to come in on the final run-in because of the flak. So what are you looking out for? Mainly other aircraft is it?
CB: Other aircraft.
RS: Your own.
RS: Yeah.
CB: And in the —
RS: That’s right.
CB: In the dark, what do you actually see?
RS: You actually see engines. The, the exhaust overheating and that sort of thing, or getting hot.
CB: So there's a glow around because they're radials.
RS: Yeah.
CB: There's a glow around them is there of the exhaust gasses?
RS: That's right. There was that as well. Yeah.
CB: So that's always visible on your engines is it?
RS: Yes. It would be. In the dark.
CB: The engines were mainly reliable but to what extent did you have to tender the engine?
RS: To what extent did I tend the engine?
CB: In other words going wrong or not working right in other words.
RS: Well, it depends on the extent of that. I mean you could lose an engine all together which I had done. Yeah.
CB: You mean it had stopped altogether. Not fallen out.
RS: That's right. Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
RS: It stops and I feather the thing and that's it.
CB: Did you have to do that on some trips?
RS: Yes. We did.
CB: Did you? And in a particular position? Or how many times did you have to feather engines?
RS: There's only once that I can remember. Yeah.
CB: What was that circumstance? What happened there?
RS: Well, something went wrong with the engine. I can’t remember what it was now. I think it was to do with pressure. Yeah. The pressure on the engine. Fuel pressure that is. Yeah.
CB: Lack of fuel pressure.
RS: Yeah. Lack of fuel pressure. Yeah.
CB: And was that an outer engine or an inner?
RS: That was the outer, yeah.
CB: So the gyroscopic effect was greater there. How did the pilot handle that? Losing an outer.
RS: Well, it's like they're in practice. They practice in these things in three engines. Sometimes two engines. So you can go on to two engines and you're quite safe.
CB: So when the fault starts on an engine the pilot calls you and what does he say?
RS: What does he say? ‘Eng. What's wrong?’
CB: Does it start with vibration on the engine?
RS: Not necessarily. No. No.
CB: The event.
RS: If it does it tells you something.
CB: Who decides to feather?
RS: Who decides to feather? Well, it could be the engineer. It could be the captain. Or both. Yeah.
CB: And once you've done it what did you say to him? The bomb aimer says, ‘Bombs gone.’ What do you say?
RS: No. I can’t think now.
CB: Now, with the electronic gear you had a signaller but did you get involved in some of his activities that would be related perhaps to German jamming?
RS: No. No. I don’t think we did.
CB: But did the Germans try to get onto your frequency sometime and —
RS: Well —
CB: And broadcast propaganda to you.
RS: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I heard a female voice at one stage. The female was calling up from below us. Yeah.
CB: What was her patter?
RS: I can't remember what it was now. No. I can’t remember.
CB: Talking about, was she trying to make you feel badly about dropping bombs on to —
RS: Oh yeah, she did say. That's right. Yeah. She did say something about, ‘People down here,’ you know. Yeah. That's right.
CB: People down here doing what?
RS: Well, people are down here and you're dropping bombs. Yeah.
CB: Did she describe the effect of the bombs? What did she say?
RS: No. She didn’t. No.
CB: Now, when you were flying along occasionally you had fighter attacks.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Did you ever have a more passive approach from a fighter? In other words flying near you.
RS: Well, I suppose we did. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: On a homeward bound leg. A fighter came beside you. Is that right?
RS: Yeah. It did once. Yeah. Yeah. At one stage. Yes. Flew alongside us.
CB: Yeah.
RS: That's right.
CB: And what was he doing?
RS: Nothing.
CB: Did he know you were there?
RS: Well, I doubt it.
CB: Right. He just happened to be beside you.
RS: Yeah.
CB: This is in the dark.
RS: Yeah. It was in the dark.
CB: Yeah.
RS: And he was on the light side. So we could see him but he couldn't see us.
CB: Oh, I see.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Right. And in the bombing run there would normally be pretty intense light over —
RS: Oh, searchlights.
CB: The target with searchlights
RS: Yeah.
CB: How did you deal with those?
RS: How did we deal with them? Well, you can't unless you just don't look at them. Don't look into them. Yeah. Otherwise you'll lose your night sight. That's it.
CB: Did the bomb aimer have dark glasses to handle that?
RS: No. Normally no. Or if he did I never saw them.
CB: Right. So what did the pilot do when you were coned by searchlights?
RS: Well, he just twisted the aircraft and that's about it. He couldn’t do anything else.
CB: On the approach to the target did he ever turn off and do a circuit and come back in again into the bomber stream?
RS: Yes. We did that. Yeah.
CB: And why would he do that?
RS: Well, because he's got an aiming point himself anyway and you've got to come back to that.
CB: Do you mean he went over the aiming point and missed that so he had to come round?
RS: Yeah.
CB: What about taking evasive action before reaching the target?
RS: Yeah. Well, what can you do then other than move away from it?
CB: Yeah. The radar gun laying of the flak guns.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Presented a particular challenge.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Flying towards the box of flak must have been daunting. What happened? Did the pilot go straight on or did he turn left and then left and left to come back in?
RS: He would turn left and left. Yes. [unclear]
CB: So your damage was never too bad.
RS: That's right. Yeah. We did sustain damage but not all over us.
CB: So you never had any engines out as a result of flak.
RS: No.
CB: So, of the thirty two ops you did what was the most daunting one would you say?
RS: I don’t know. Each one was different really. Yeah.
CB: They were all pretty daunting.
RS: Yeah. Much the same.
CB: So you reached the end of the tour. What happened then?
RS: You came off flying. A rest period.
CB: Right.
RS: Supposed to be.
CB: Where did they send you next?
RS: Well, nowhere in particular I don’t think. Other than that.
CB: The bit I forgot to ask you about was when you had that mechanical problem with the engine.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Was that before the target? So, you still had the bombs on.
RS: Yes it was. Yes.
CB: So what did you do? Did you go over the target with the engine feathered or did you turn off?
RS: No. We [pause] what happened? Yeah. We did turn off. Yes. I think we just turned off and left it at that.
CB: So, you finished your tour in March 1945 but one of your ops was to Dresden. Was it? Or did you never go to Dresden?
RS: Dresden. Yeah. We did do Dresden.
CB: You did. So what do you remember particularly about that?
RS: There was pretty thick anti-aircraft business down there. Yeah.
CB: And then the 14th of February 1945 you went to Chemnitz.
RS: Yeah.
CB: That was the same time as the Dresden raid.
RS: That's right. From one to the other.
CB: What was that like?
RS: Yeah. What was it like? Well, quite hairy I suppose.
[recording paused]
CB: So the Dresden bit you didn't go on. You went to the diversionary raid at Chemnitz.
RS: Sorry?
CB: You went to Chemnitz not Dresden.
RS: I thought I did both actually.
CB: Did you?
RS: Yeah. I’m sure I did.
CB: So, you finished ops with 432 Canadian squadron.
RS: I'd have to look at the book to find out then.
CB: Yeah.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Because you weren't on flying after that.
RS: No.
CB: You were on a ground tour weren't you?
RS: I can’t remember. I can’t remember.
CB: Well, just have a look [pause] So that's the end of your war time flying with a hundred and seventy five hours and a picture of the crew.
RS: Oh right.
CB: Stopping there.
[recording paused]
CB: So after a ground tour you then left the RAF in ‘46.
RS: Yeah. I don't know what I did.
CB: Most people left around ‘46 ‘47.
RS: Yeah.
CB: You went to Ordnance Survey at Tolworth. You were, what were you doing there with the Ordnance Survey? Were you in the office or were you out and about?
RS: Ordnance Survey.
CB: It’s called mapping and charting. It was called mapping and charting.
RS: Yes [pause] I don’t know. I can’t remember now.
CB: Then in 1950 you re-joined the RAF. There must have been a compelling reason for that. Like the RAF was looking was it for flight engineers again.
RS: Yeah. I suppose they were.
CB: Did that have something to do with the Korean War?
RS: Could have been. I don’t know. I really don’t know.
CB: As a flight engineer. And you probably went on to Shackleton's.
RS: Oh, that was the Shackleton time was it? Yes. Oh well.
CB: So you were posted to St Eval in Cornwall.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So now you're doing maritime reconnaissance which is a bit different from Bomber Command work.
RS: Yeah. Well, not all that different is it?
CB: No.
RS: No.
CB: Not for the flight engineer.
RS: No.
CB: And that involved airborne radar. So did you have to look after the airborne radar as well?
RS: No. We didn't. That would come under the rest of the crew I suppose. The radio chap.
CB: So your role was managing the engine.
RS: Yeah.
CB: On a variation of a Lancaster.
RS: That's right.
CB: Not too different from the Halifax.
RS: That's right.
CB: So then after a while you changed to Transport Command. What do you remember about that?
RS: You go further. That's about all that is.
CB: A lot of work to the Far East.
RS: Yes. That's right.
CB: What was memorable about that?
RS: To the Far East. Well, visiting the Far East [unclear]
CB: Okay. We’ll stop there for a bit.
[recording paused]
RS: By shadowing.
CB: What was shadowing when you're adjusting the engines?
RS: Well, you look at the, a pair of engines on either side and you look into the two and you get a shadow in there. In, in those two. And the same that side.
CB: Yes. But what is the shadow?
RS: And then you want to synchronize them you see.
CB: Right.
RS: To get them to.
CB: So you want the prop blades do you —
RS: Yeah.
CB: To be in synchronization and the shadow is when they're not.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So they want them to so that at the, at the top of the cycle as it were two of the blades are vertical. Is that right?
RS: That's right. Yeah.
CB: Yeah. So why is it important to synchronize engines?
RS: Yeah. Vibration.
CB: Because if they're not synchronized what happens?
RS: You do get vibration. Yes.
CB: What's it do to the aeroplane?
RS: Well, it would shake the aeroplane to pieces.
CB: Right. And with four-engined aircraft this was crucial.
RS: Yeah.
CB: So, if I gather what you said you synchronize one side, then the other and then you make sure all four are synchronized.
RS: Yeah.
CB: Is that right?
RS: Yeah, well you join them. Yeah.
CB: Yeah. And do they fall out of synchronization or do they tend to keep —
RS: Normally they do keep. Yeah.
CB: Their synchronicity. Right. Thank you.
[recording paused]
CB: We're stopping now at ten past five to reconvene another time.
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 Rex Searle. One
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-07-25
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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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ASearleROJ170725, PSearleROJ1709
Conforms To
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Pending review
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Pending OH summary
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01:48:29 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Rex Searle joined the RAF in 1938 as an air frame fitter. He was based at Hendon and then at Biggin Hill with 601 Squadron before the squadron was split and he moved with them to France. He was evacuated back to the UK via Boulogne as the German army advanced in 1940. He continued to work as a fitter until he volunteered for aircrew and began training as a flight engineer. He joined a Canadian crew in 432 Squadron at RAF East Moor. After he was demobbed he later rejoined the RAF and flew in Lancasters and Shackletons.
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Egypt
France
Germany
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
Germany--Dresden
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1943
1945
432 Squadron
601 Squadron
aircrew
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
fitter airframe
flight engineer
ground crew
ground personnel
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF East Moor
RAF Hendon
Shackleton
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/522/8755/AMannA160130.1.mp3
d2a90089f5928af7fb99f9c211eae77a
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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Mann, Alan
A Mann
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Mann, A
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Alan Mann (b.1926). He was an apprentice at De-Havilland during the war and experienced bombing in 1940.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Alan Mann and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
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2016-01-30
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.
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
GC: Right. This is an interview that’s being conducted for the International Bomber Command. My name is Gemma Clapton. The interviewee here today is Alan Mann and it’s being conducted in Bromley in Kent on the 30th of January 2016. I know you didn’t serve in the war but tell me a little bit about life during World War Two as you recall it.
AM: Well, I was, first of all I was, I was born in 1926 and so when war was actually declared it was 1939. I was about twelve years old. Really too young to do much in the war but I went to, I was educated at Brockley Grammar School for about three months until the Munich Crisis which was 1938 and the school was evacuated to Robertsbridge. I didn’t go and for several months I was without a school and then I took an exam to go in to the South East London Technical College which I did for three years. After that I joined the Redwing Aircraft Company at Croydon as an apprentice and I wasn’t very happy with that. I was repairing Wellington fuel tanks and saw that the RAF at Kidbrooke were advertising for apprentices so decided to try my luck with them and at the age of fourteen I joined the RAF at Kidbrooke which was the Number 1 Maintenance Unit. We were repairing aircraft engines and goodness knows what and also half of it was the Balloon Barrage Centre. The Number 1 Balloon Barrage Centre where they were producing and repairing balloons and whatever. The most important thing they had a band there called the Sky Rockets which I used to go and see at rehearsals and got to know them quite well and got to like the big band music. Anyway, I joined at fourteen and my first job was repairing Merlin engines and I worked with a Rolls Royce fitter who was ex-army. He was 8th army. A little interesting story there because he was invalided out of the 8th army. He was in tanks and he had a medical and the doctors said to him, ‘Yes. Well, you’ve got Gonorrhea.’ And he said, ‘I’ve got what? I’ve not been with a woman for ages.’ He said, ‘I’m sorry. You have. And as a result of that you won’t be able to fight in the army anymore.’ Anyway, it turned out to be Gunner’s Ear. So, that was it. That was his story in the army. And anyway I stuck that repairing Merlins for two years. I was then sixteen and I wanted to be an aircraft designer. We all did in those days. The youngsters. Either an aircraft designer or a fighter pilot. I wanted to be an aircraft designer so the head of Kidbrooke at that time was a Wing Commander Clapp and I don’t know how I actually got to see him but I know I was sixteen at the time and he summoned me in to his office and he sat there in his wing commander’s uniform with all his medals and goodness knows what and eventually he said to me, ‘And what do you actually want?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m sorry. I’m a bit unhappy with my apprenticeship. I’ve been repairing Merlins for two years. I can almost do it backwards now.’ And he said, ‘Well, you know, what actually do you want to do? We can, you’ll get qualified as a ground engineer.’ And so I said, ‘Well I don’t want to be a ground engineer. I want to be an aircraft designer.’ And he sort of smiled and said, ‘Well I do know somebody at Bristol Aircraft Company.’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to join them. They can’t make aircraft.’ He said, ‘Well who do you want to join?’ I said, ‘de Havilland’s.’ He said, ‘They’ll never have you.’ I said, ‘Why is that? He said, ‘Well their very exclusive first of all. They prefer university people. And not only that it’s three hundred guineas for a three year course.’ That’s a lot of money. Well at that time the average salary was about four pounds a week so it was a lot of money. Much more than my dad could afford. Anyway, we hummed and hahhed and he said, ‘Well if you want to write to de Havilland’s I don’t mind. You can certainly write to de Havilland’s.’ So I thanked him, came back and wrote to de Havilland’s. I didn’t hear anything for about six weeks or so and then I was summoned to Stag Lane, de Havilland’s’ at Stag Lane, for an interview. And I remember that one of the people that interviewed me was Hearle who was one of the founder members of de Havilland so he was quite an important director and we had a little chat. He said, ‘Why did you want to join de Havilland’s?’ and I was off. They couldn’t stop me. My father was a compositor working for The Evening Standard and his boss was Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Beaverbrook eventually became Minister of Aircraft Production, a very successful Minister of Aircraft Production and his son was Max Aitken. A very competent fighter pilot. He had shot down fourteen and eventually ended up as a Group Captain DSO, DFC and goodness knows what. Anyway, my dad used to keep me in touch with what Max was doing and Max was a fighter pilot at our local airfield. Incidentally, I lived at Lewisham and our local airfield was Biggin Hill. So we used to cycle along as school kids to Biggin Hill and my dad used to, well he was a bit of a journalist as well. He used to go along to Croydon pre-war and interview the people that was arriving and departing. I was more interested in the aircraft naturally and so I got to know the aircraft quite well at Croydon. That’s pre-war. The Hercules, the Handley Paige HP45 which were flying at the time and at the same time was the de Havilland Albatross which was a wonderful looking aircraft for that time. An airliner. And I subsequently found out that eighty percent of the aircraft at Croydon at any one time were built by Geoffrey de Havilland’s aircraft company and engined by Frank Halford. Frank Halford I got to know because my dad used to take me to Brooklands Racing Track pre-war and Frank Halford, Major Frank Halford, he was in the RFC during the Great War. Major Frank Halford had designed his own racing car and engine and he was winning a lot of competitions at that time so I got to know the Frank Halford the engine designer and also de Havilland’s for the famous aircraft he was building. Anyway, to cut a long story short I had a letter from de Havilland saying that they would be willing to take me and I went in to see the Wing Commander Clapp and he also knew that I’d got this letter and he hadn’t any objections. So he transferred the last of my seven year apprenticeship, the last five years to de Havilland’s and I started work one year at [Vanden?] Court learning how to use files and things like that and eventually got my first job at Stag Lane under Major Frank Halford. I stayed there for about a couple of years. In fact I suppose I would have been about seventeen to eighteen at that time and I was working on the first production jet engine which was designed by Frank Halford. It was at that time called the H1 and subsequently became the Goblin. The Goblin was the engine that started off in the jet aircraft and ended up in the first Comet airliner. So that was that and then after my apprenticeship I was – oh well no, no, I missed out a bit. During my stay at Stag Lane I was summoned to another meeting with de Havilland’s. It wasn’t Geoffrey de Havilland. It was Nixon and Hearle again and they offered me a studentship which was at that time the three hundred pounds for a three year course. They offered me, there was about nine students appointed each year from the trade apprentices and I was offered one of these positions as a student and didn’t have to pay. The problem was I was still living at Lewisham and had to commute from Lewisham to Hatfield during the war which was a bit of a job. I had to clock in at Hatfield at 7.30 in the morning, do a fifty hour week for the princely sum of eighty five pence salary. So that was that. That was my wartime experience I suppose. Early wartime experience. But at that time while I was still at school we used to cycle to Biggin Hill. This was early 1939/1940 and we used to watch what was going on. We used to see the Blenheims flying in from Biggin Hill. Incidentally, Max Aitken, who I mentioned earlier was a Blenheim pilot and he was flying at that time from Biggin Hill. I think it was number 601 Squadron but I can’t be sure at this stage and we used to cycle from school quite regularly to see what was happening. And during the early part of the Battle of Britain, I remember it was August the 30th. Do you want to stop it now?
[Recording paused]
So it was August the 30th and Biggin Hill had already been bombed but I didn’t know anything about that at the time so we cycled as usually, as usual. We ended up where the runway would be now but there wasn’t a runway. It was just grass airfield and it was the start. Number 21 would be the runway roughly where we looked down on to the runway and as I said we used to watch the Hurricanes being refuelled by hand and there were still some old Gloster Gladiators and Gauntlets there and a Magister we saw but I can’t remember any Spitfires. Anyway, we were sitting there. This would be about 6 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon when suddenly we saw about twelve, which we thought were Blenheims, coming over quite low and then suddenly there were machine guns, bombs and goodness knows what and we were staggered actually. We didn’t expect anything like this. Nothing like this had ever happened before and suddenly the whole of the airfield was ablaze. There were people running around, there were firebells ringing. Prior to that there was no warning at all of anything happening and they turned out to be Junkers 88s. Anyway, that was that. That was quite a harrowing experience but back to the beginning of the war because really this was my war.
GC: That’s alright.
AM: Alright. Sorry about that. That was my knee knocking I think, or something. Anyway, going back to the beginning of the war again. My war really started with the school being evacuated and I was watching the guns being erected at Biggin Hill. The 3.75 naval guns being erected. Sandbags everywhere and this talk of the Munich Crisis. I was very worried because at that time I’d been with my father to all the Empire Air Days from about the age of five at Biggin Hill and I was aware that in 1939 all we had was a few Hurricanes and the Squadron I think at that time was Gauntlets and I was aware that the Germans had the new Messerschmitts. The Messerschmitts 109 and a whole lot of bombers. Junkers, Dorniers, Heinkels and goodness knows what and all we had was the ancient, really, biplane planes which were adapted from World War One. We had Hampdens and Blenheims and Fairey Battles and goodness knows what. There was a Wellington. Wellingtons. I’m talking about 1938 the last Empire Air Day which I think was in about March or April of 1938. I was there and I had just seen at that time the Spanish War was on and I’d just seen the news bulletins of the Germans bombing a Spanish village. I think it was Guernica or something sounding like that and I knew what was going to happen if the Germans started bombing us. It was just chaos and all we had at that time was a few Hurricanes, Gauntlets, Gladiators and Gloster Gauntlets and I wasn’t very happy at all that we were going to actually win anything. However, we had quite a spell of nothing happening at all which did give us a chance to recover and more or less that was the beginning of my war because I was then twelve years old as I’ve already believe I said, when I actually started the, my war but later on because I could remember what it was like when I met these famous people that had actually done something during the war I was able to relate to them. And these were mostly old people in wheelchairs and things like that. They were huddled up. I used to go over to them and say, ‘What did you do during the war?’ And out poured the stories which I had to record and this was really the bit that I enjoyed in the war. More?
[Recording paused]
Well we covered. It was the 601 Squadron. You see, I remember that. [pause] See my difficulty is that yes I lived through the war but I met a lot of people. Frank Halford. I actually worked with him on this engine there but Frank Halford is the important bit not me. I’m just, I’m just writing about it and I get this feeling that I’m a bit of a hypocrite. I’m saying what I did during the war. In actual fact what I’m doing is relating what other people did during the war.
GC: Ok. Well we’ll take it on a different tangent. As a young man. A teenage boy. What were your emotions of the war? What were, how did it effect how you thought?
AM: Ah. Ah well yes that’s all in here because you see there was a little bit there that while I was in the design department I was fine. I was happy. When I went into the workshops these were all the conscript women and these conscript women were all the young women who had suddenly left home and they were all together. No men. And their language was all sex. And I, as a young boy, was embarrassed. So what happened? As we went by these girls, who were only a few years older than me, eighteen, nineteen and twenty, used to get their breasts out to show us you see and I ran away scared. Now how I can I put that in to writing? But when I’m with Maurice we had the same experience. Maurice worked in another, he was at Stones but with a whole lot of women and they were exactly the same there as my people at de Havilland’s. So my first impression of women was they weren’t very nice. Haven’t changed very much over the years. [laughs]
GC: Tell us. You say about the women obviously were, had a different, different part of the job.
AM: Well you see mentally when you look at the women they were going [unclear] talking about the night before but doing whatever they had to do you see. When I joined them because I had to spend six months there I used to make one bit which was interesting. Then I had to do the same thing again and again until I’d got a bucket full of bits that I was doing and I thought I’m bored. But these women would do that day after day after day and all they would be talking about is what they did last night with their girlfriends because there weren’t any men. So they were a whole lot of lesbians which I didn’t know very much about at the time but only when, but when you look back these were all young virile girls without any men.
GC: Eye opener.
AM: So how can I put that in print? I have done because that is a separate me when I’ve been writing about the philosophy of life as you’ve got that little about my family there. And you see that all. We’re all talking about evolution being through bodies but it’s not. The evolution is through the life because I went down to my grandad and if my grandad walked in today you wouldn’t think he was a prehistoric monster. He looks just the same as we do now but look at his life. So the evolution is achieved. That’s another side of me. We don’t want to put that on tape do we?
GC: It’s all on tape. It’s what we take out [laughs] but I mean tell us about, I mean, you was at de Havilland during the war so you must have seen a lot of changes.
AM: All through the war.
GC: From the start of the war to the planes that finished the war. Can you tell us a little about that maybe? The evolution of the planes.
AM: No. No, because when they made me a student they put me with the propeller side of the aircraft. So I, de Havilland’s had a runway right through the middle. This side was the aircraft company. That side was making propellers and so I was on to the propellers side but I was in the design of the propellers rather than the manufacture but I used to pop out and see what was going on. No. I haven’t done very much at all when you look at it. You see this is really what puzzled me because I was, as I said I joined with, with, Maurice [came with my?] deputy and I had about nine people working for me at that time. Maurice joined as a senior draughtsman. I joined as a section leader when I went back to de Havilland’s. You don’t really want to hear about this do you? Well I was working with, with Maurice on the alternators for the Lightning aircraft. General Aircraft Lightning when I had a phone message to say that George Brown, who was the chief designer of de Havilland’s rather like Roy Chadwick was for Avro. So a very senior man. I had a phone call. Not from him but from his secretary, would I come to see him in the morning? And I said to Maurice, ‘What have I done wrong? What’s happened? Why would he want to see me?’ And Maurice said, ‘Well I don’t know. We’ve been doing alright. We’re doing everything we should be doing.’ And Maurice would tell you If he was here now, he would say that, you know, ‘You were so worried.’ Anyway, I went up to see him. There was a room with all these names, all the famous people sitting around the table including George Brown and George Brown said, ‘Oh hello Alan. Come in.’ Alan? You know, what’s all this? So they were talking, they said, ‘As you know we’ve just been awarded the contract for the intercontinental missile The Blue Streak.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ I had read about it in the paper and he went on talking and I thought why has he brought me all the way up here just to let me listen to all this. I’ve read about all this in the paper. And he said, ‘What we’d like to do is appoint you as group leader of the re-entry head,’ which is the pointed end of the missile. [laughs] I said, ‘What? I don’t know anything about missiles or anything like that.’ And he said, ‘No but we think you’re the right man for the job.’ And I said, ‘But I don’t know anything about it and he said, ‘No. We will give you the professional people and we just want you to keep them in control.’ And I came back and Maurice said, ‘What was all that about?’ And I said, ‘I’ve been promoted to group leader.’ And he said, ‘What,’ you know and [laughs] I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Well you don’t know anything about missiles.’ Anyway, they gave me seventeen professionals. All university people. All famous people in their rights and I was their boss. I don’t know how I ever got it but I kept the same people for five years which is incredible isn’t it? So looking back I don’t know how. I’m not a very interesting person. Come on. Let’s face it.
GC: Alright. That’s ok.
[Recording paused]
AM: As I said I lived in Lewisham and was going backwards and forwards to Hatfield but we had the Blitz and that was dreadful. I, my father had converted the garage er the garage, the, what do you call it? Where we put the coal. The cellar. That’s the word I’m looking for. Converted the cellar, into sort of an air raid shelter. He’d strengthened it and he’d put ladders down in which we could sleep on so when the Blitz started in September 1940 in Lewisham the Germans were bombing East London at that time. It started off and some of the bombs started to fall on Lewisham and Lewisham became a target because of the junction. The Lewisham Junction. Anyway, in November 1940 I remember it quite well. It was pouring with rain, very cold and we had been playing a game of Monopoly in the evening before retiring and we listened to the 9 o’clock news read by Alvar Liddell or somebody like that. They used to announce the names so that the Germans couldn’t give us a bit of duff gen. They used to announce, the announcer was Alvar Liddell or whoever but anyway, we went down to the shelters, er to the cellars as usual. My uncle. I had a pet dog at that time called Raf. It was named after my brother who’d joined the RAF so we called him Raf, this dog, my pet dog and had my uncle and aunt staying with us. They lived at Brockley and they had been bombed out I think a week or two before so they were staying with us and we retired to the cellar as usual. There was my mum, my dad and my aunt. My uncle decided he was going to have a smoke so he was in the garden with my dog, pet dog and that was alright. We, I went to bed in sort of old trousers and old shirt and all the rest of it. Couldn’t get to sleep because this particular night it was very heavily with the bombs falling and the anti-aircraft guns. Dad used to say that we stood more chance of being killed by a bit of shrapnel then we did by being hit on the head with a bomb. Anyway, about 3.30 in the morning there were a sudden, not an explosion, we didn’t hear anything. It was so difficult to put in to words. One minute we were laying there and the next minute there was chaos. Dad was saying, ‘Is everybody alright?’ The lights had gone out. We had — Dad had rigged up some electric lights. That had gone out. I could smell gas. I was feeling wet. I didn’t know where the water was coming from and I couldn’t move. I had something on my, my legs. My dad was saying, ‘Is everybody alright?’ Mum said, ‘Yes.’ I’d got something on top of me and my aunt was saying, ‘Oh I’m wet. There’s something all on top of me.’ And suddenly there was a commotion and my uncle arrived on top of my dad and we sort of laid there stunned. I could smell gas and I don’t know how much we laid there, how long we laid there but eventually somebody shouted, ‘Anybody down there?’ And my dad said, ‘Yes. We’re down here.’ And there was some scrabbling and somebody helped me out and I remember standing in the road, pouring with rain feeling bitterly cold not knowing quite what had happened and ending up really gaining consciousness at Catford Snooker Hall where somebody was offering us some dry clothes and a cup of tea and a bun. And I looked around and mum and dad and everybody was there, my uncle. We had a few bruises and cuts and things and I said, ‘Where’s my dog?’ And there was no dog. Anyway, my, we went back the next morning to see. Dad said, ‘Lets go back and see if we can recover anything.’ There was absolutely nothing. There was no cellar, no cellar door. There was just a heap of rubble and I looked for my dog and we never found the dog and I said to my uncle, ‘What happened?’ And he had quite a story. He was in the garden smoking and he heard this plane coming dropping bombs and we had a saying that if the bombs got louder you knew that you were in the line of damage and he heard these bombs getting nearer and nearer and made a dive to the cellar door and he said he just about got to the cellar door when the bomb must have hit. And anyway the next morning there was no cellar door. We couldn’t even see where the cellar was. And how we survived that I’ve no idea. So that was my story of the Blitz. And other little incidents I suppose. I remember cycling to Kidbrooke when I worked at Kidbrooke. We had — I was cycling with dipped headlights. We had silly little headlights that were all covered with bits of metal so hardly anything ever shone on the, on the ground and I was busily cycling along and suddenly ended up in a great big hole which a bomb had just dropped and I got out of this hole helped by other people. Covered in mud with a bent bike and finished the journey on foot. So that was really my story of the Blitz except I could go on. There are so many, so many little incidents that are just coming back to me. My mum used to go shopping on a Friday afternoon and I remember that this was towards the end of the war I suppose when they were dropping V2s and V1s and she had gone to go shopping in Lewisham Market on a Friday afternoon when I think it was a V1 buzz bomb had dropped and the whole of Lewisham Market was just demolished. It was nothing there and it had happened just a few hours or so before my mother had gone shopping and she came back extremely worried. Incidentally during the war she was a school teacher at the Docklands School and one of her famous pupils was Tommy.
Other: Steele.
AM: Tommy Steele who at that time I think was six or seven years old. So yes she remembered him and I don’t know whether he remembered her. So many little stories that come back but none of them now seem to be very important. So where did we get to? We got to. Oh we’re —
GC: Tell us some more stories ‘cause, no they are interesting.
AM: Just the stories.
GC: Just the little snippets of life.
AM: Right. Well, my brother joined the air force. He was seven years older than me so when I was twelve he was about eighteen or nineteen. Something like that. Anyway, at the beginning of the war he couldn’t wait to go and join the air force so he, like my father was, he was an apprentice in the printing thing and he went to enrol with four of his friends at that time, school friends and got in to the Air Force Volunteer Reserve. They, all the other three of them wanted to become air crew so they became air crew. My brother didn’t want to do that so he became a fitter and eventually he went to South Africa at Oudtshoorn which was a maintenance unit and where they used to teach the empire. Our pilots used to go over there to, to train and another little story there as well because he was at Oudtshoorn which was three hundred miles from Cape Town and we used to hear occasionally from him. Mum used to write every week but we heard about once a month from his story and then bits were cut out of his letters where the censors had just not blue pencilled it out, they’d cut it out. So we had little letters that were virtually shreds and didn’t make a lot of sense. Anyway, to cut a long story short we heard that he’d got engaged to a girl in Cape Town. How he ever got to Cape Town we don’t know but she was the daughter of the owner of the Cape Argos which was the principal newspaper of Cape Town at that time. So suddenly my brother was mixing with a very wealthy family and he married her out there. Sylvie. And we had all the letters and things from the family and eventually when war was finished my brother came home but not with Sylvie. She couldn’t get on the, on the ship so eventually she came to England on a merchant ship and it took months for her to reach us but she never did because she died on board. We never knew why but we, it was rather sad, I had to go with my brother to Southampton to, she was buried at sea but what we got was the presents that she was bringing for us so it was all rather sad. I’d got presents and mum and dad and we never met her but she seemed a very nice person. So that was my brother. When he, while he was in South Africa he, I’m going backwards a bit now. My brother was a bit of a health freak. He used to go to Catford. There was a training centre at Catford where boxers were training and at that time we had a famous boxer called Tommy Farr who was training to meet Joe Louis who was the world champion and my brother used to train with Tommy Farr. Used to run at Blackheath. And history tells that Tommy Farr actually went the distance with Joe Louis and a lot of people thought Tommy Farr had actually won but as it was in America Joe Louis was given the verdict. Anyway, to cut a long story short while my brother was in South Africa he said he was sparring with a boxer which he thought was very good. The boxer was his PTI instructor, Physical Training Instructor, and my brother wrote to us and said that he wouldn’t be surprised if this chappy wasn’t one day a world champion and he was. It was Freddie Mills. Freddie Mills became the light heavy weight champion of the world. So that, that was another story. Nothing to do with me but it was all part of, of the family. What else happened after that I don’t know? Let’s go back to when I was a student at de Havilland’s. A student at de Havilland’s. I was, de Havilland’s at that time was split up into two section. De Havilland Aircraft Company. Three sections actually. De Havilland Aircraft Company, de Havilland Engine Company and de Havilland Propellers Company. I had joined the de Havilland Aircraft Company first of all. Then transferred to de Havilland Engines and eventually transferred to the new company which was de Havilland Propellers. So while I was there the chief engineer was George Brown and the chief draughtsman was a man called Bleasby and we were producing the propellers for the aircraft. Now there’s an interesting story there because I’ve read in a book about the Spitfire that the Hurricane and the Spitfire had gained valuable miles per hour by the fitting of the Rotol propeller. In actual fact it wasn’t a Rotel propeller it was a de Havilland propeller. The people from de Havilland’s went to Biggin Hill and altered all the fixed blade props of the Spitfires and Hurricanes in to the new constant speed air screws giving the Spitfires and Hurricanes about another eight miles per hour which was very important at those days. So it wasn’t, as everybody will say, Rotel. It was de Havilland’s. So I was transferred over to the propeller department and actually finished my apprenticeship with the propeller department. The, oh I met one or two people. One flight test I actually met Mary Ellis and Lettice Curtis, two of the ATA pilots over there. I don’t supposed they’ll remember them but a little story there that Mary Ellis actually, I asked Mary Ellis to sign some papers for my friend Maurice Green and he still has her signature on it. Whether she remembers or not. I don’t know how I managed to get it because I was only a young boy at the time and anyway there you are. That’s another story. At that time I was working. The ATA pilots were bringing in the aircraft and I was helping to replace the propellers and on one instance I was replacing the propellers on a Lancaster in thick snow when I actually fell off the wing onto the snow. Luckily there was about two foot of snow. I was ok but I didn’t go back and do too much more work that day. That, I think, if my memory is correct was the winter of 1947 and it was quite a journey I had from Lewisham.
[Phone rings. Recording paused]
AM: Yeah. A little story there that I used to go from Lewisham to Hatfield. Lewisham to London Bridge by Southern Railway. London Bridge down to the Northern Line through to Edgeware and then get a Green Line bus from Edgeware to the end of Manor Road which was about a ten minute walk from Manor Road to actually clock in at Hatfield at 7.30 in the morning. And if we were more than five minutes late we had to explain why we were late but it was a two and a half journey average to get to Hatfield. So I had to leave quite early. Anyway, on this particular day that I fell off the wing of this Lancaster, not that day but that week when it was thick snow we got to, as far as Edgeware to get the Green Line bus and there wasn’t any buses running so we decided to walk the thirteen miles from Edgeware to Hatfield which we started off in snow blizzard. Walking along the A1 we were hailed by some Land Army girls and said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’ And, ‘Yes we would.’ So we joined them for a cup of coffee, had a little chat and then we went on. We actually got to de Havilland’s, if I remember correctly, about half past twelve and just in time for lunch. We had lunch and they then suggested we got the mail van back to Edgeware which we did. But I was, as I said, when I was at when I was at Kidbrooke I was very interested in the Sky Rockets band conducted by Paul Fenoulhet and I got to know them all quite well and eventually I joined a jazz club and we used to enjoy jazz and met quite a lot of the originators of jazz. George Webb and people like that and eventually ended up with John Petters Jazz Band at Chichester. Once a year they had a Jazz Festival at Chichester at Richardson’s Camp. Holiday camp. Chalets. There was about two hundred and fifty people and on this occasion we, we were there and my wife Joyce said, ‘Oh let’s go and have a sit down for a moment.’ And the room was quite full of people but there was an empty table at the end. A table with two women sitting. Two vacant seats so Joyce and I joined them and it wasn’t long before I said to one of the women, ‘What did you do during the war?’ And she said, ‘Oh we were in the Land Army. I said, ‘Oh yes. That was good.’ So I related my little story and they had a little giggle and would you believe it they turned out to be the two women that offered us the coffee on the A1 way back in 1947. And we knew it was them because we chatted about the little intimate things that they wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t have been there. So there’s another little story. So, so that was that and then the other little story there again. I had to take the Higher National at Hatfield University to become a member of The Royal Aeronautical Society which they insisted all students became members of The Royal Aeronautical Society so I became a student first of all and then was promoted to graduate. So I became a graduate and as a graduate we had to take the National Higher er Higher National Certificate but because I lived at Lewisham they allowed me to go back to my original school to do the Higher National in Mechanical and Structural Engineering which I did in 1947. 1947 I met a friend of mine that, not a friend of mine but somebody that we could have a chat to. He wasn’t in my class actually he was in another class, a class beneath me and we used to meet at the break time for a little chat. I used to look forward to that because we were talking about aircraft and the war and things. Anyway, when eventually I got my Higher National I lost track of him. He went his way, I went my way and eventually I re-joined de Havilland’s having left de Havilland’s. I’ll come to that in a minute, what I did when I left de Havilland but I rejoined de Havilland’s in about nineteen fifty something or other and this was in London and I joined as a section leader on the alternators for the English Electric Lightning fighter. This was to do with the airborne missiles and I worked there for about a year and eventually de Havilland’s decided that because I had so much work I had to have a deputy so they said, ‘Oh we’ll get you a deputy,’ and they did and in walked Maurice Green as my deputy. So we became reunited and we worked together on the alternator section and I had about nine people, I think, working for me. A secretary and all that sort of thing. Maurice was my chief designer really on that and I was sitting behind a desk watching all these people doing the work. Anyway, I had a telephone call and it was from George Brown’s secretary asking me to go to a meeting the following day and Maurice said I went quite pale and said to him, ‘I wonder what I’ve done wrong.’ And he said, ‘Well I don’t know.’ He said, ‘We seem to be doing everything alright.’ So I went with a great deal of trepidation to the meeting, met by the secretary and the secretary ushered me in to the board room and there were all these people sitting there. There was Hearle again and Nixon and George Brown and they were all chatting as I was standing by the door and George Brown looked up and said, ‘Oh Alan. Come over here. Take a seat.’ I thought what’s all this? Still sort of wondering what I’d done wrong and George Brown said, ‘Oh you’ve probably read in the paper that we’ve just been awarded the contract for the intercontinental two thousand mile rocket. The Blue Streak. It wasn’t call the Blue Streak at that time. It just had a number but it was subsequently The Blue Streak and I said yes and he was telling me all about it and I thought I wonder why he’s brought me all the way up here when he could have, if he wanted to talk to me we could have talked on the phone or something. Anyway, eventually what he said what we would like you to do is to become the group leader on the re-entry head. And I thought I don’t know anything about missiles. Why has he chosen me? And I said, ‘I’m sorry I,’ you know, ‘I don’t know anything about missiles or anything.’ ‘No. No. No. We’re going to give you some experts and you know you’ll have people who know all about stress and things like that but what we want you to do is to head the team.’ And I was trying to think of some excuses and I said, ‘Well I don’t, you know, I’m just about getting married and you know I don’t want to travel backwards and forwards to Hatfield again.’ He said, ‘Oh no. No. If you’re interested in taking the job we’ll give you a special section in London. We’ll do this re-entry head bit in London.’ And I said, ‘Well yes I suppose that’s alright. I’ll do it,’ still in a bit of a daze. I remember when I got home my wife said to me, ‘What happened? Did you get the sack?’ I said, ‘No. I didn’t get the sack. I was promoted. I’m group leader.’ She said, ‘Oh. How much more money are we getting?’ I said, ‘We didn’t talk about money,’ I said, ‘We just talked about the job.’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ So she said, ‘Well surely you’ll get some more money. Are you going back to Hatfield?’ I said, ‘No. They’re going to give me an office in London.’ And they did and we kept the same crew. I had seventeen mainly university people. They were all experts in their particular skills. Aerodynamics, stress and all that and I once again sat behind the desk and let them get on with it and I kept the same crew for the five years. Maurice didn’t join me. He became in charge of the airborne missiles which subsequently became the red top which was the missile that the English Electric Lightning had. Well anyway, the re-entry head carried on and we had twelve missiles ready for firing when Duncan Sandys called us to a meeting in the canteen and announced that he was going to suspend it straight away when we had all these missiles. We’d spent all the money and everything, got these missiles finished and it was cancelled and I was made redundant alongside three thousand other people overnight. And there was an article in the Daily Mail I think. There was a programme on Panorama. Yes. That’s right. A programme on Panorama about why was The Blue Streak cancelled? And there was no reason given at all except after the war engineers weren’t valued and the government wanted to spend the money on vote catching things such as education and the National Health and it’s my feeling that at that time we had one of the finest engineering teams in the world and we’ve ended up now with a substandard education and a substandard National Health. I don’t think that was any good at all but there you are. I’m not a politician. So, so that was that. Anyway, I was made redundant from de Havilland’s and at that time I think I’d got married, nineteen forty, yes I had married my girlfriend Joyce and had to get a job quickly so I got a job selling cigarette machines which was quite odd because I didn’t smoke and suddenly, this was on commission and I hadn’t a clue what I was doing and it wasn’t any good so that was that. So I then had to seek something else and joined [Saban Hart and Partners?] and was put with Saunders Rowe in their [Saban and Hart’s?] London office. They were consulting engineers. Saunders Rowe were there and I worked on the Princess Flying Boat and the SR1 flight of aircraft until Duncan Sandys cancelled both of those and once again I was out of work. So I then joined Humphreys in Glasgow as a draughtsman on civil engineering work. I think all this is out. I’ve got the dates all wrong but it doesn’t matter. It all happened sometime or other in my lifetime. And eventually I joined an old established company called Hayward Tyler but this was after the war and very little to do with the war. So, I have got a few notes here and probably reading a few notes would make more sense than me just, just rambling on. One of the things that did worry me was that if we’d actually gone to war in 1938 at the time of the Munich Crisis we wouldn’t have had any decent aircraft to fight at all. While we did have the Hurricane and Spitfire I felt very very sorry for the bomber pilots because they only had antiquated aircraft. The most modern aircraft was the Wellington bomber. The other aircraft, Fairey Battles were shot down like nobody’s business. The Blenheims were absolutely useless. Hampdens and all the motley of aircraft. It was terrible really sending the bomber people to to fight with obsolete aircraft. What a lot of people don’t realise that during the Battle of Britain we only talk about the glamour boys, the fighter boys, and they did a remarkable job but they did have modern aircraft. They had the Hurricane and the Spitfire. The bomber people had the antiquated Hampdens and even the Wellington bombers. Their first daylight visits they were shot down. Very sad and a lot of people don’t realise that we lost more bomber people during the Battle of Britain. Something like seven hundred bomber crew were lost during the Battle of Britain as against about five hundred fighter pilots and people don’t realise that. While they were fighting the Battle of Britain we were bombing the invasion barges and everything. All the German communications and everything like that. We only talk about the actual people fighting from Biggin Hill and all the rest of it. We forget about the Merchant Navy and everything else. We even forget the people themselves because when Churchill at the time of Dunkirk when we hadn’t, when we’d lost our army, Churchill wanted to continue the war and I think he only just scraped through when Lord Halifax wanted to talk about the best surrender terms that we could get and it really was the spirit of the people of that time that backed Churchill. Churchill was just saying we will fight on. ‘We’ll fight them on the beaches.’ We’ll fight them everywhere but he didn’t tell us what we were going to fight them with. We had a Dad’s Army and people laugh about that. We were parading up and down with broomsticks but I remember that very well. We were going to fight them with broomsticks and things like that but it was the spirit of the people. When you remember that France had a, I think it was a bigger army than Germany and they just wouldn’t fight. I heard stories from the pilots at Biggin Hill that were actually at France during the early part of the war with the British Expeditionary Fighting Force. When the sirens went we used to get into our aircraft to fly. The French people used to say. ‘What’s the point? We’ve lost the war anyway.’ And they carried on playing cards or whatever they were doing and they just would not take off. We had to take off. And then of course something like three million French people just laid down their arms and gave in. First sign of bombing Germany everybody gave up. Then they bombed Paris but when they bombed us we just go annoyed. We thought that wasn’t fair. So I think it really was the spirit of the people that actually helped win the Battle of Britain. And this brings me back now to the museums when I go and see the relics at a museum what is lacking is the spirit of 1940 that I miss. I look at these relics and I think that these relics once contained a life and it’s this life that I relate to more than the relics. I remember seeing a Spitfire. I think it was at Manston. It was a relic. It was just a half of a Spitfire and while I was looking at this Spitfire I got the funny feeling that I was being watched and the feeling I got was that the pilot was actually trying to tell me something. I know that sounds odd but I had many experiences like that. I remember being, after the war, trying to get a Heritage Centre built at Biggin Hill to remember the fighter pilots that lost their lives. Fighter pilots and the aircrew and even the civilians that worked there that died during the war there at the most famous fighter ’drome in the world. The number one fighter ’drome hasn’t got a Heritage Centre. Hasn’t got anything. So for nine years I worked with a team of people trying to get a Heritage Centre built. We eventually got planning permission after nine years and it was all volunteer work. We all did, everything was volunteers except when we had to employ the architect the chairman of the company paid for the architect’s fees. He eventually spent something like fifty thousand pounds of his own money and Bromley council gave us the land and we had got the design and planning permission to build this Heritage Centre. Unfortunately there was a chapel. Now the story of the chapel, the Biggin Hill chapel was that during the war during the Battle of Britain there was no chapel. We had a padre and the padre was there really to listen to people’s woes and things like that. Wasn’t a Christian, wasn’t Muslim, wasn’t anything. He was just there to give us some sort of spiritual guidance. Unfortunately, well there wasn’t, as I said there wasn’t a chapel there during the Battle of Britain. The chapel was actually built about 1943 and that was burnt out and then they built another chapel in 1956 that hadn’t got, sorry —
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 Alan Mann
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Gemma Clapton
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
2016-01-30
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AMannA160130
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending OH summary
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.
Description
An account of the resource
Alan Mann was born in Lewisham, London and left school aged 14 to begin an engineering apprenticeship at RAF Kidbrooke and with de Havilland. He describes being bombed and what it was like in the workshops. After the war he had a career with de Havilland.
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Language
A language of the resource
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1947
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:59:41 audio recording
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
memorial
perception of bombing war
RAF Biggin Hill
shelter
V-1
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/259/10582/BWhittleGGWhittleGGv3.1.pdf
62b12273ba7246e6f4da622911cd63f9
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/259/10582/BWhittleGGWhittleGGv4.1.pdf
a47ce8d158297d645489242a782484ca
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
Whittle, Geoffrey
G G Whittle
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
2015-06-26
2016-08-22
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
Whittle, G
Description
An account of the resource
12 items. An oral history interview with Squadron Leader Geoffrey Gordon Whittle DFM (1923 – 2016, 1397166 Royal Air Force), as well as his log books, photographs and memoirs.
Geoffrey Whittle flew operations as a navigator with 101 Squadron from RAF Ludford Magna.
There is a sub-collection of 25 Air Charts, mostly of Great Britain.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Field and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sqn Ldr G G Whittle, DFM
I was just 16 when the Second World War started. AS a family we lived on the SE approaches to London and not a long way from RAF Biggin Hill. AS a result I did witness several of the air battles during the summer of 1940. The first major raid against the civilian population of London took place on the first Saturday of September 1940, a glorious summers day. Around 4/5 o’clock the air raid warning sounded and then the sky was filled with Germany bombers, a sight not seen before over the UK.
I moved to Letchworth the following month but returned home at various times which including the Christmas holiday period during which time the City of London suffered its fire bomb raid. That was quite a sight even though viewed from a distance.
At the age of 18 I volunteered for aircrew duties and was accepted for training as an Observer and enlisted into the RAFVR being called up in March 1942. My training all took place in the UK, the flying part at West Freugh in SW Scotland. Not the most glamorous part of the UK but during the winter of 1942/3 a good introduction to our home weather conditions. Graduating on 1 March 1943 it was off to OTU the same night. Weeks on the Wellington was followed by conversion to the Lancaster and then with my crew to 101 Sqn, Ludford Magna in June.
We completed our first op, mine laying, 72 hours after arriving on the Squadron. Sorties to such places as Cologne, Nuremberg, Peenemunde, Turin and Berlin followed. On 27th September we were tasked to attack Hannover. On approaching the target we were coned by searchlights, hit by ack ack fire and a night fighter all within seconds. An engine was set on fire and a fire started in the fuselage. Diving to avoid the night fighter the engine fire was extinguished and then feathered, later to be restarted. After an interesting 10 or 15 minutes and the on board fire also out we set course for base with an aircraft that required a lot of TLC from the pilot and limited navigation aids. Diverted to Lindholm we left a badly damaged aircraft somewhere on the airfield as on landing we ground looped because the port tyre had been punctured by shrapnel. The out come of the incident was that all the crew received immediate awards, Pilot and Engineer CGMs, the Bomb Aimer DFC, W/Op, 2 Gunners and myself DFMs. Unfortunately on our next sortie I perforated an ear drum and was hospitalized and on their third trip without me they were shot down over Belgium, the Pilot, W/Op and my replacement bailed out but the others were killed plus the newly acquired Special Operator.
Some months later I was given a height restricted medical category and did some air/sea rescue work before being earmarked for the Tiger Force which with the end of the Japanese war never materialised. I eventually gained a full flying category and spent some time in the All Weather world on the Mosquito, Meteor and for a short time the Javelin. I took early retirement in December 1961
[page break]
and other duties I expected to join the Tiger Force for the invasion of Japan flying on the Halifax. The end of the war in Europe followed by the defeat of Japan meant that that move was cancelled.
Like many aircrew I became surplus to flying requirements and was invited to enter one of the ground branches. I went to the RAF Regiment and serverd on armoured cars ontil the end of 1949 when I returned to flying, with a full medical catergory and got involved with the all weather fighter world flying the Mosquito, Meteor and Javelin when I again suffered a perforation of the same eardrum. In 1959 I attended the RAF Staff College at Bracknell and on completion of the course was posted to Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory. With the publication of the Grigg Report I opted for early retirement and left the service in December 1961. After a false start in banking I joined the Naafi management team as a District manager retiring as a Departmental Manager in 1988 during which time I spent 18 years overseas on various tours.
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
Sqn Ldr G G Whittle, DFM
Description
An account of the resource
An incomplete memoir written by Geoffrey Whittle starting at age 16. At age 18 he volunteered for aircrew duties and trained at RAF West Freugh. He converted to Wellingtons then Lancasters and moved to RAF Ludford Magna in June 1943. Over Hanover they were badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire and a night fighter. They brought the aircraft back to RAF Lindholme. The crew were awarded immediate awards for their bravery. Despite a perforated ear drum which grounded him for six months he gained full flying category and continued in the RAF until 1961.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Geoffrey Whittle
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two typewritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BWhittleGGWhittleGGv3, BWhittleGGWhittleGGv4
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
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Hannover
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.
101 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bomb aimer
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
flight engineer
Lancaster
Operational Training Unit
pilot
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Lindholme
RAF Ludford Magna
RAF West Freugh
shot down
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1937/38348/LJolliffeFSW197221v4.1.pdf
111122231c809862e71aa1d6a367a0ec
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
Jolliffe, Frank Sidney Walter
F S W Jolliffe
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
2017-09-18
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
Jolliffe, FSW
Description
An account of the resource
129 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Frank Sidney Walter Jolliffe (b. 1923, 1314311 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Margaret Lowe and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
Frank Joliffe's flying log book. Four
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain, Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
England--Norfolk
England--Wiltshire
Singapore
England--Warwickshire
England--Kent
Great Britain
Malaysia
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. Fighter Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Log book and record book
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LJolliffeFSW197221v4
Description
An account of the resource
Aircrew flying log book 5, for F S W Jolliffe, navigator/radar, covering the period from 8 September 1961 to 8 May 1983. Detailing his flying duties with 60 squadron, all weather fighter combat squadron and number 2 air navigation school. He was stationed at RAF Tengah, RAF West Raynham and RAF Hullavington. Aircraft flown in were Javelin, Sycamore, Belvedere, Britannia, Comet, Caravelle, Valetta, Varsity, Lightening, Dakota, Alouette, Chipmunk, Pembroke and Gazelle. His last flight crewing an aircraft in Singapore was on 3rd December 1962 when they had to eject from their Javelin.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
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
Mike Connock
aircrew
navigator
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Hullavington
RAF West Raynham
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/879/17961/ECummingMHolmesWC491112.2.pdf
1180aacf51ea398a86bb1244b03e26a1
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
Holmes, William
William Cyril Holmes
W C Holmes
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. An oral history interview with Flying Officer William Holmes DFC (b. 1921, 131013, 176554 Royal Air Force), his logbook, a memoir by his bomb aimer, official documents, Guinea Pig Club memorabilia, photographs of him and his crew and a memoir of his time training in Canada. He was a Stirling pilot on 149 Squadron in 1944. He flew 17 operations before crashing his aircraft at RAF Thorney Island 18 June 1944 and subsequently becoming a member of the Guinea Pig Club.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William and Bill Holmes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-11-05
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
Holmes, WC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CKG
Tel.: [deleted] Holborn 3184 [/deleted] Temple Bar 1217 Extn. 2169
Correspondence on the subject of this letter should be address to :-
The Under Secretary of State Air Ministry A.R.7.
and should quote the reference :-
A.674635/44/A.R.7.
[crest]
AIR MINISTRY,
LONDON, W.C.2.
[inserted] 12 [/inserted] November, 1949
Sir,
I am commanded by the Air Council to inform you that you have been selected and found medically fit for a short service commission in the Aircraft Control Branch of the Royal Air Force under the conditions stated in Air Ministry Order, A.436/49.
2. You will accordingly be appointed to a commission in the substantive rank of flying officer with effect from the date on which you report for duty. The commission will be for a period of five years on the active list followed by four years’ service in the Reserve of Air Force Officers.
3. It must be clearly understood that service rendered prior to the date of reporting for duty on short service commission does not count for the gratuity referred to in paragraph 24 of Air Ministry Order A. [deleted] 116/49. [/deleted] 436/49.
4. I am to request that you will be good enough to state the date (which should take account of the notice you may have to give your civilian employer, if any) after which you will be available to report for duty in order that the necessary re-joining instructions may be sent to you. Adequate notice of the date on which you will be required to resume Royal Air Force duty will be given, and should you be in civil employment you are advised not to make any final arrangements for terminating such employment until you receive that notice.
Flying Officer W.C. Holmes, D.F.C, /5.
51, Grange Road,
Banbury,
Oxon.
G.207910/JH/11/48
[crest]
[page break]
Tel.: [deleted] Holborn 3184 [/deleted] Temple Bar 1217 Extn. 2169
Correspondence on the subject of this letter should be address to :-
The Under Secretary of State Air Ministry A.R.7.
and should quote the reference :-
A.674635/44/A.R.7.[inserted] /SSC [/inserted]
[crest]
AIR MINISTRY,
LONDON, W.C.2.
[inserted] 9th [/inserted] November, 1949
Sir,
I am directed to inform you that arrangements regarding your appointment to a short service commission in the Royal Air Force have now been completed.
2. I am therefore to request that you will report, in uniform, to R.A.F. Station, Biggin Hill, Kent, supernumerary pending posting, at 10.30 hours on 4th January, 1950 , taking your Service and Release Book (R.A.F. Form 252C), civilian identity card and ration book with you. This letter may be used in lieu of Form 1250, pending re-issue of the Form. You are not entitled to a railway warrant for the journey.
3. Memoranda dealing with uniform, outfit and outfit grant are enclosed herewith. For the purpose of determining your entitlement to any further outfit allowance you commission will be regarded as having terminated with effect from the day following you [sic] last day of paid service.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
M. Cumming
Flying Officer W.C. Holmes, D.F.C.,
51, Grange Road,
Banbury,
Oxon.
[crest] G.238768/BR/9/49/500
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
Two letters from Air Ministry to William Holmes notice of appointment on short service commission
Description
An account of the resource
First letter is notice of appointment on a short service commission of 5 years as Flying Officer in the Air Control branch. Second letter confirms arrangements and reporting instructions to RAF Biggin Hill.
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
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1949-11-12
1949-12-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two typewritten documents
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ECummingMHolmesWC491112
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
England--London
England--Bromley
England--Banbury (Oxfordshire)
England--Essex
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1949-11-12
1949-12-09
1950-01-04
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
Steve Baldwin
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Air Ministry
promotion
RAF Biggin Hill
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/474/8361/LClydeSmithD39856v2.2.pdf
e0d96effd48c511db0b4d3f3418f4285
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
Clyde-Smith, Denis
Clyde-Smith, D
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains 26 items and concerns Squadron Leader Denis Clyde-Smith Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, who joined the Royal Air Force and trained as a pilot in 1937. He flew in the anti aircraft cooperation role including remotely piloted Queen Bee aircraft before serving on Battle aircraft on 32 Squadron. He completed operational tours on Wellington with 115 and 218 Squadrons and Wellington and Lancaster with 9 Squadron after which he went to the aircraft and armament experimental establishment at Boscombe Down. The collection consists of two logbooks, aircraft histories of some of the aircraft he flew, photographs of people and aircraft, newspaper articles and gallantry award certificate.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Clyde-Smith and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2016-09-19
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Clyde-Smith, D
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/.
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
LClydeSmithD39856v2
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Pilot's flying log book for Denis Clyde-Smith covering the period from 10 May 1937 to 31 May 1942. Detailing his flying training, Operations and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Sywell, RAF Sealand, RAF Henlow, RAF Calshot, RAF Watchet, RAF Biggin Hill, RAF Farnborough, RAF Weston Zoyland, RAF Benson, RAF Ringway, RAF Wing, RAF Harwell, RAF Marham, RAF Lichfield, RAF Fradley and RAF Tatten Hill. Aircraft flown in were, Tiger Moth, Hawker Hart, Audax and Fury, Queen Bee, Avro Prefect and Tutor, Moth, Swordfish, Wallace, Magister, Henley, Battle, Gauntlet, Hurricane, Scion, Monospar, Percival 96, Leopard, Vega Gull, Proctor, Walrus, Gladiator, Lysander, Anson and Wellington. He flew a total of 30 operations with 115 Squadron and 218 Squadron. Targets attacked were, Boulogne, Hannover, Dusseldorf, Brest, Berlin, Hamburg, Lorient, Keil, Cologne, Bremen, Munster and Osnabrück.
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
Language
A language of the resource
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
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Great Britain
Germany
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Bedfordshire
England--Berkshire
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Cheshire
England--Hampshire
England--Kent
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Somerset
England--Staffordshire
France--Brest
France--Lorient
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Osnabrück
Wales--Flintshire
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1941-02-07
1941-02-10
1941-02-11
1941-02-12
1941-02-15
1941-02-25
1941-03-02
1941-03-03
1941-03-12
1941-03-13
1941-03-14
1941-03-15
1941-03-16
1941-03-30
1941-03-31
1941-04-03
1941-04-04
1941-04-07
1941-04-08
1941-04-09
1941-04-10
1941-04-11
1941-04-12
1941-04-13
1941-04-14
1941-04-15
1941-04-16
1941-04-17
1941-04-22
1941-04-23
1941-04-25
1941-04-26
1941-05-16
1941-05-17
1941-06-13
1941-06-14
1941-06-15
1941-06-16
1941-06-20
1941-06-21
1941-06-23
1941-06-24
1941-06-26
1941-06-27
1941-06-29
1941-06-30
1941-07-04
1941-07-05
1941-07-06
1941-07-07
1941-07-08
1941-07-09
1941-07-10
1942-05-30
1942-05-31
Title
A name given to the resource
Denis Clyde-Smith's pilot's flying log book. One
115 Squadron
15 OTU
218 Squadron
27 OTU
aircrew
Anson
Battle
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
Flying Training School
Hurricane
Lysander
Magister
Operational Training Unit
pilot
Proctor
RAF Benson
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Calshot
RAF Farnborough
RAF Harwell
RAF Henlow
RAF Lichfield
RAF Marham
RAF Ringway
RAF Sealand
RAF Sywell
RAF Weston Zoyland
RAF Wing
Swordfish
Tiger Moth
training
Walrus
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/497/10707/BCopusPJCopusPJv.1.pdf
3b4590afce6b1c8ba1a3d4a0cfb2e9a3
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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Copus, Jim
P J Copus
Copus, James
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Copus, PJ
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. Two oral history interviews with Warrant Officer Percy James Copus (1922 - 2016, 1430308 Royal Air Force) who flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 97 Squadron. The collection also includes photographs of himself and family, and account and maps of his last operation of the 27 March 1943 on Frankfurt, when his Lancaster was shot down and he became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by James Copus and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
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2016-02-24
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.
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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A few minutes before 7 o’clock in the evening of 22nd March 1944 I took off on my last operational sortie as the mid-upper gunner of Lancaster OF-P ND351. By the end of that night I was a prisoner of war having bailed out of the aircraft as it fell crippled and burning, the victim of a German night-fighter.
This is the story of that night and the year in captivity that followed..................
[Hand written signature] W/O James Copus 97 Sqn. POW STALAGLUFT 1. 2011. Love from Daddy. [/hand written signature]
[page break]
TARGET – FRANKFURT
By P.J. Copus
An extract from 97 Flight Operation Records 22-23 Mar 1944 :-
TARGET – Frankfurt Lancaster III OF-P ND351
P/O R.E. Cooper, Sgt. F.S. Witcher, F/Sgt. McFayden, Sgts. H. Lunt, H.A. Smith, P.J. Copus, R.R. Hinde.
Op 18.50 aircraft missing (4 x TI, 1 x 4000lb, 2 x 1000lb, 600 x 4lb incs, 40 x 4lb incs).
TARGET AHEAD!
We have made our turn to the south of Hanover at 18,000 feet. The target, Frankfurt, is now directly ahead of the aircraft and already burning. My attention is elsewhere, however. The Flak, which we can do nothing about anyway, has stopped, a sure indication that fighters are up. An “own goal” by the Flak crews would mean a double-quick transfer to the Russian front. Any night-fighter attack will come from the rear of the aircraft. Only the rear gunner and myself, the mid-upper turret gunner can offer return fire and so we are a fighter’s primary targets in the hope that he can silence our guns and finish off the aircraft without risk. We are well-aware that the odds are stacked heavily in his favour:
each of our Lancaster’s four Merlin engines produces a double row of exhaust flames
we have shiny turrets which can reflect any stray light
the fighter pilot can quickly re-position his aircraft to improve his view of anything suspicious whereas we have a full bomb-load and can only manoeuvre very gently for fear of tearing the wings off the aeroplane!
Should we be spotted then we [italic] must [/italic] see the slender, head-on fighter profile he gets within range, a very tall order indeed considering that we have to search all that volume of the night sky within our range of vision to the rear of the aircraft. Our rifle-calibre machine guns mean that the best we can hope for, should we be attacked, is to put the fighter pilot off his aim or maybe even make him break off his attack and perhaps lose us again in the darkness. However, since it is possible that the fighter was equipped with radar that he used to find us a second time. In an exchange of fire, we are at a severe disadvantage since the fighter has 20mm cannon as well as machine guns and the resulting weight of fire exceeds our own. Taking all these factors into account means that our chances of survival depend almost entirely on the size of the night sky which although apparently empty contains our friends and our foes in unequal proportions; there are many more of the latter, ground-based as well as airborne, who are as determined to prevent our
[page break]
reaching the target as we are to get there. The element of surprise is no longer a factor. Other aircraft in front of us have already released their bombs and the target is literally sprinkled with fires. The fighters will be more concerned with preventing additional attacks than shooting down aircraft that have already bombed. The chances of being seen in silhouette against the ground fires by a fighter pilot increase as we draw nearer the target. Our course, height and speed were all fixed before we took off in order to reduce the chances of not only of a collision over the target but also of bombs falling on aircraft flying at a lower level. In spite of these precautions, instruments inevitably have minor calibration tolerances and variations of a few hundred feet are number of occurrences is impossible to quantify since survivors of such an eventuality are improbable.
It is as well that we are all too preoccupied to think too carefully about the multitude of situations quite apart from enemy action that could kill us in the blink of an eye.
THE BEGINNING
Our training as a complete crew had involved many 8-hour flights around the UK almost always at night on what were primarily navigation exercises. However, their indirect purpose was to get us all functioning as a team. Apart from that we gunners were just along for the ride. On completion of training in Lancasters we were posted to ....... a Stirling station! In that remarkable manner which it seems only the Military can achieve, we had been wrongly directed and no-one knew anything about us. Our pilot, F/O Cooper told us to stay put and that he would arrange something. He disappeared for two days. On his return he announced that he had fixed us up with a Pathfinder Squadron, No.97.
This is how, one day in late December, we arrived at Bourn in Cambridgeshire. Only a fortnight previously, on the night of 16/17th. December, known as “Black Thursday”, Bomber Command has experienced its worst bad-weather losses of the war, a tragedy which cruelly emphasises the fact that the enemy lurks not only in human form. We were posted to Bourn as a contribution towards making up 97 Squadron’s share of the losses.
THE ATTACK
That night 22nd./23rd. March no-one saw the fighter, a Messerschmitt Bf110, in time. His first attack was probably at the end of a gentle climb from behind and below. The climb reduces the speed differential that the fighter needs to catch the target thereby avoiding the risk of an overshoot or even a collision. This tactic also meant that the bulk of the Lancaster on top of which I was sitting, hid the fighter from my view and even the rear gunner’s view downward is restricted enough to hide the approaching fighter. In any event that initial attack knocked out the hydraulics which operated the turrets. I was then in the embarrassing position of being able to do nothing
[page break]
but watch the ‘110’ flying alongside, straight and level, slightly below us and 200 to 300 metres off our starboard wing. The ‘110’s relative position enabled the gunner, facing aft in the rear of the cockpit to fire bursts from his machine gun with zero deflection into our fuel tanks and number three and four engines. The results were exactly what one would expect; both engines burst into flames. Some of his rounds, passing within inches of my head shattered my turret at about the same time as our pilot ordered over the intercom “Prepare to abandon aircraft” and then very quickly afterwards “Abandon aircraft”. All members of the crew acknowledged the order including the rear gunner who by some miracle had survived the initial attack. The bomb-aimer jettisoned the bomb-load. We were on our way down, both starboard engines blazing furiously.
THE ESCAPE
I tear off my oxygen mask, intercom leads and harness and folding my small seat upwards and out of the way manage to drop from my turret into the aircraft’s fuselage, where it is pitch dark. Although we gunners wear the parachute harness at all times in the aircraft, there is no room for the parachute pack itself in any of the turrets and my own is stored on the port side of the aircraft, aft of my position and opposite the rear fuselage hatch. It takes only a few seconds to find my parachute and clip it onto the harness. The rear hatch is now my emergency exit and I begin wrestling with the release handle. The door is jammed! More determined wrestling. The handle breaks off in my hand! I now have to scramble forward virtually the whole length of the Lancaster’s fuselage encumbered by parachute, heavy flying suit and boots. In pitch blackness! Although the entire fuselage is extremely confined and packed with equipment, this is nothing compared to the gymnastics required to wriggle over the wing-spar. All this must be achieved in the dark making sure that the parachute’s rip-cord does not get snagged and cause premature deployment and with the knowledge that at any moment the aircraft could steepen its dive, suddenly flip into inverted flight or simply explode as the engine fires touch off the fuel tanks in the wing. It is also possible that the fighter could attack again. Any chance of hiding in the night is now gone, our demise highlighted by sheets of flame. There are numerous other scenarios none of which is likely to improve our chances of survival. I dismiss these thoughts and continue floundering towards the under-nose hatch, now the only means of escape. The hatch is in the very forward part of the aircraft and access to it is achieved crawling under the pilot’s instrument panel to the right of his seat. The manoeuvre can be likened to crawling through the knee-hole of a writing desk. The pilot is still at the controls. I can see him clearly. This forward part of the aircraft is illuminated by way of a hole in the fuselage and indicate that I am about to go. He nods briefly in acknowledgement. There appears to be no-one else in the aircraft because I am able to walk upright towards the nose, still in pitch darkness of course, until I simply plunge feet-first through the open hatch! None of us is well-prepared for the experience which follows. Training for bailing out had been limited to little more than a few minutes’ jumping from a bench in the gym and attempting a landing-roll. After all, we all knew for certain that it was only some of the
[page break]
other crews who would have to face the experience. That sort of thing happens only to the other chaps..........
This night, however, it is not the ‘other chaps’. It is us. Our lucky mascots, our youthful confidence in ourselves and each other, our training, all now useless. What happens next is uncharted territory!
The slipstream seizes me and whirls me around furiously and noisily. During one of my violent gyrations, I catch a glimpse of the aircraft as I free-fall away from it. I have kept hold of the ripcord handle and knowing now that I am well clear of the aircraft, haul on the handle. The parachute explodes out of the pack as the airstream seizes it. The opening shock is immediate and extremely violent and I am wrenched into an upright position, completely winded and in some considerable pain from the contraction of the parachute harness. The sudden peace and quiet is extraordinary. The only noise is my own laboured breathing. I am hanging apparently nearly motionless. It is cold. Very cold! We were flying at 18,000 feet when attacked and I imagine the aircraft was down to 15,000 feet when I bailed out.
Surprisingly, my all-consuming thought is that it will take a long time to get back home from this operation!
[photo from R.A.F. Museum’s Lancaster September 2010]
The descent takes an enormous but unquantifiable amount of time. I know the ground will be covered in snow and therefore easy to see. Straining my eyes I can see a vague brightness below. I brace myself and wait for the shattering crash of the landing. Nothing happens! What I take to be the ground is a thin layer of low cloud. Just cloud. As I begin to relax a little, comes the landing; surprisingly gentle. I am in a ploughed field covered with snow. My only injury is some bruising and scratching on my face as a result of pitching forward on impact with the ground.
[page break]
To borrow the Germans’ own favourite expression in these circumstances “For me, the war is over.”
A PRISONER OF WAR
The field in which I had landed was only yards from a row of houses. Their occupants were on me immediately I landed and I was dragged into one of the houses amid much shouting and bravado. It was widely known that German civilians were not exactly welcoming towards aircrew who fell into their hands and I was very nervous about the whole situation. They shoved me into one corner of the room. My ‘chute has been gathered into an untidy bundle and was dumped beside me. In the other corner were grouped a cross-section of the neighbourhood. They were gesticulating and shouting at me in unintelligible German. Some of the shouting, however, needed no translation! In the circumstances I did not feel at all like a ‘Terrorflieger’ as the Nazis called R.A.F. bomber crews. Some young wide-eyed children were among the crowd. As a gesture of goodwill I took some chocolate from my flying-suit pocked and offered it to them. They recoiled hastily, either not knowing what it was or suspecting it was poisoned perhaps. To prove it was safe I ate a little myself and returned the rest to my pocket but the atmosphere was tense and I hoped that some sort of authority had been alerted and would remove me before something unpleasant happened.
Fortunately, the civil police (they were referred to as ‘gendarmes’) arrived promptly and I was hauled off on foot to the local police station where I was thrown unceremoniously, without food or water, into a damp cell in which the only piece of furniture was a bed. There was not even a blanket. I attempted to sleep but it was extremely cold. In an attempt to keep my feet from freezing I managed to squeeze both into one flying boot.
At some point during the night I was dragged out of the cell and upstairs to an office where I was confronted by the local Bürgermeister (Mayor). There were, he told me, the bodies of several aircrew in the mortuary. If I would tell him the names of my crew he would let me know if any of them were among the dead. I felt unable to cooperate in this ‘kind offer’ which was, of course, a fairly transparent ruse to get more information out of me. My response was perhaps equally transparent but served well enough to show that I knew what he was up to. The crew I had been a last minute arrangement as a substitute. However, I added helpfully, I would be prepared to go to the mortuary and point out anyone I recognised. This offer was refused and I was returned promptly to my cell.
In the morning, after an extremely uncomfortable night, I was brought a cup of ersatz coffee and unidentifiable to eat. Shortly afterwards I was dragged out of the cell and outside where a horse cart was waiting. Surprisingly my ‘chute was returned to me and as I flung it
[page break]
into the cart saw Lund, the bomb-aimer, already aboard. He had a leg wound. As I started to climb up into the cart with him, I was pulled back and told that I must walk along behind thus presenting the entire populace who had turned out to watch, with another opportunity to shout and scream abuse as we plodded slowly through the town.
We arrived eventually at some sort of holding area, a single room in an official building into which we were directed. Shortly, after, Lund was taken off to hospital. My parachute was not returned to me and I imagine provided some luxury under-wear for a “Hausfrau” or mistress somewhere. It was not for many years that I discovered that the rear-gunner, Ron Hinde, whom we all knew as “Slick”, although he had acknowledged the order to bail out, had been killed. Exactly what had happened remains a mystery. Clearly something had gone wrong after his acknowledgement of the order to bale [sic] out. As I had discovered there was ample capacity for The Unexpected! The aircraft crashed in woodland outside Hanover and Ron Hinde is buried in Hanover War Cemetery.
It appeared that when the holding areas reached a certain number of inmates, they were moved out for transfer to a permanent camp (Stalag). The first step in the transfer process was to get to Frankfurt. Accompanied by two guards, I was shoved onto a train and began the two-day trip. Progress was very slow, the timetable upset by Bomber Command’s constant rearrangement of the rail network! The guards were pleasant and pointed out landmarks along the way. During one of halts one of my guards announced that he was going to get some water. In due course he returned and sat down, sipping at his water bottle. After a while he offered me the water bottle. “Wasser?” he asked. I took a gulp. Schnapps!
Thus I was delivered to Frankfurt station where a large number of weary and disconsolate aircrew were already gathered. The station was a mess! There were hardly any buildings standing, just several platforms. I did not feel the need to point out that this had been our handiwork! We were crammed into cattle-trucks, thirty per truck. We had no idea where we were going or how long the journey would take. We travelled day and night. There were occasional stops when we were given food and water.
Three days later we arrived at Stalagluft 1.
[page break]
[Sketch of location and layout of camp]
The POW camp, Stalagluft 1 was close to the Baltic coast near a town called Barth. There were British and American aircrew there numbering nearly 10000 in total. The days were spent walking about, playing football perhaps, talking, reading. There was a lively black market trade based on Red Cross food parcels. It was not unknown for the guards to join in, running the risk of joining short-sighted Flak crews and other defaulters in Stalingrad!
It can be imagined perhaps that for young men used to an active, adrenalin-fuelled life, the resulting boredom was a particular form of torture. The reader must remember too, that we had no idea no long this would go on and how it would end. One of the original inmates of the camp had been shot in the middle of September 1939 only a few weeks into the war. How were we new arrivals to know that our own confinement wouldn’t be just as long..... or longer!?
[page break]
[photo of the camp]
But for the resilience of youth and the comradeship, it would have been easy to fall into hopelessness and despair.
One of the first people I met on entering the camp was a chap who had been on the same gunnery course as me on the Isle of Man. A fortnight after my arrival, our pilot F/O Cooper turned up. Although I was unaware of it at the time, he had been wounded in the back when we were shot down and had been in hospital since that time.
The most senior German officer whom we saw regularly during his “rounds” of the camp was a Major Mueller. He was a decent chap, clearly one of the “old school” bearing a duelling scar across one cheek. He was not above joining in and on one occasion, after watching some Americans fencing; took over one “foil” (actually a stick) to show them how it was done. Of course, the camp was run entirely by the Luftwaffe, much preferable, we all felt, to Wehrmacht personnel who not doubt gave their prisoners a much harder time. There was the empathy of airmen albeit on different sides.
The Germans routinely produced their version of The News riddled of course with propaganda: a rain of V.1’s and V.2’s had reduced London to rubble: the Wehrmacht was pushing the Red Army back into Russia: an attempted Allied invasion had been thrown back into the sea while a German invasion was imminent and so on. Fortunately we had our own sources – the BBC via an illicit
[page break]
radio hidden somewhere in the camp. It was not therefore entirely unexpected one night, 30th April 1945, after we were locked up as usual, all the Germans fled! We already knew, as they did, that the Red Army was approaching. We were not overjoyed at the prospect of being liberated by the Russians and were somewhat concerned by what might happen. Had we known then what is known now about how the Russians sometimes handled these situations, we would have been even more concerned!
LIBERATION
For some days after the departure of our guards the only signs of our liberators were in the distance. In the meantime our own officers advised us not to venture outside the camp confines. Free to explore the entire camp we discovered a hoard of Red Cross parcels which the Germans had stopped distributing since December. This windfall allowed us to celebrate in some style. The Russians’ eventual arrival was marked by an hour-long speech , delivered in Russian by a senior officer. Since hardly anyone understood a word we were obliged to follow the speaker’s lead and applaud or cheer at what seemed to be suitable pauses in his oratory. Thereafter we saw very little of the Red Army, a situation which suited us very well!
It was two weeks before we were picked up. Our removal from the camp had been expedited we found out much later, by the highest possible authority. The Russians had apparently revealed that they intended to move us all to Odessa from where we could be shipped home. Or so they said. The British and American Governments did not believe at least the latter part of this stated intention and the mission to pick us up was put together in something of a hurry and without consultation with our liberators. The suspicion was that the Russians intended to hold us hostages to improve their bargaining position when it came to dividing up the spoils of war.
We were marched in batches to the airfield on the southern outskirts of the town. On the way we passed within yards of the perimeter of a concentration camp. The occupants did not appear “liberated”. It is probable that they had simply swapped one captor for another. We knew of the existence of this camp because several of the inmates having presumably escaped in the chaos after the Russians’ arrival had turned up at the gates of our camp begging for food and sanctuary. To have rendered any form of assistance, not that there was much we could have done, would have meant the end of all of us had the Russians discovered that we had helped them.
I returned to England in a USAF B-17. We were eventually taken to Biggin Hill where we were told that none of us would fly again with the R.A.F. and given two weeks’ leave to make up our minds whether to stay on or not. In a “Land Fit for Heroes” there was little on offer in the way of employment and so I elected to stay on in the R.A.F. and chose[sic] to join a transport unit. Here I learned to drive and acquired my driving licence which stood me in good stead for my eventual transfer to “civvy street”.
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
Target Frankfurt
Description
An account of the resource
Account of Jim Copus's last operation to Frankfurt during which his 97 Squadron Lancaster was shot down by a Me 110 night fighter. Includes the task of air gunners, the engagement by the night fighter which disabled all hydraulics including those to his turret. His difficulties in escaping from the aircraft, parachuting and capture by hostile civilians before being handed to civil police. His treatment as a prisoner and his journey to prisoner of war camp at Stalag Luft 1 at Barth. Life in camp, liberation by the Russians and repatriation by United States Army Air Force B-17 to England. Includes photographs of Jim Corpus as a wartime airman, prisoner of war and at the RAF Museum in 2010 as well as one of the prisoner of war camp. In addition there are hand drawn maps of north Germany and the Baltic locating Barth and a diagram of the Stalag Luft 1 camp.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
James Corpus
Format
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Eleven page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Map
Photograph
Identifier
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BCopusPJCopusPJv
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
United States Army
Civilian
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Barth
England--Kent
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-03-27
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Gemma Clapton
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.
97 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
bale out
final resting place
Lancaster
Me 110
prisoner of war
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Bourn
shot down
Stalag Luft 1
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1912/35962/MHayhurstJM2073102-170725-03.1.pdf
21597822f767468bd10a82b71f6e703f
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
Hayhurst, Jose Margaret
J M Hayhurst
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
2017-07-25
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hayhurst, JM
Description
An account of the resource
108 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Jose Margaret Hayhurst (2073102 Royal Air Force) and contains decorations, uniform, documents and photographs. She served as a radar operator in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Whitehouse 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
RAF Badges cigarette card collection
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of RAF squadron badges kept in a booklet.
Creator
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John Player & Sons
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
Great Britain
England--Birmingham
Pakistan--Risālpur (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Germany--Cologne
England--Gosport
Egypt--Alexandria
Jordan--Amman
England--Martlesham Heath
Pakistan--Peshawar
Pakistan--Kohat District
Pakistan--Miānwāli District
India--Ambāla (District)
Pakistan--Karachi
Egypt--Ismailia (Province)
Belgium--Zeebrugge
Belgium--Ostend
France--Somme
Egypt--Ḥulwān
Iraq--Baghdad
England--Copmanthorpe
Iraq--Baṣrah
Germany--Düsseldorf
Egypt--Heliopolis (Extinct city)
Singapore
England--Andover
England--Old Sarum (Extinct city)
England--Folkestone
Scotland--Dalgety Bay
Scotland--Montrose
England--Thetford
England--Winchester
England--Hucknall
Scotland--Abbotsinch (Air base)
France
Egypt
Germany
Belgium
India
Iraq
Pakistan
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Hampshire
England--Kent
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Warwickshire
Scotland--Stirling (Stirling)
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
Format
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18 page booklet
Identifier
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MHayhurstJM2073102-170725-03
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
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104 Squadron
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Title
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Henwood, Priscilla
Priscilla Henwood
P Henwood
Description
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One oral history interview with Priscilla Henwood (b. 1921, 21397/2618 Royal Air Force).
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2017-11-25
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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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Henwood, P
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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MC: Right. This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Margaret Carr. The interviewee is Priscilla Henwood. The interview is taking place at Priscilla’s home in Helderberg Village, Somerset West, South Africa on Saturday the 25th of November 2017. Priscilla, thank you so much for seeing me today. I really appreciate it. Would you like to tell me just a little bit maybe about your early life, where you went to school and your family.
PH: Thank you, Margaret. Thank you very much for taking time on your two day visit to come and visit me. I feel very very honoured. Truly honoured. And it’s lovely to meet you and your family. My early life. Well, my early life. My brother and I were twins. Our parents lived in, were stationed. Well, my father was stationed in the Royal Air Force, or Royal Flying Corps in Palestine in the 1916/17 I suppose. And then my mother was stationed in Salonika in Greece — working with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve. And they all wore grey and scarlet and they were very, very elite nursing sisters. Anyway, she was there until the end of the war and then she went. She somehow managed to go from Salonika to Palestine to meet my father whom she’d known before in her early life in — down in the New Forest. And so they were married in 1919 in Cairo. In the riots. Always riots in Cairo. And I see today two hundred, six hundred people have been killed in Cairo. This is today. Saturday. In November 2017. It’s a tragic country. Anyway, they were married there and went back. Eventually they went back to England. And my brother and I were born at Farnborough. One of the first RAF stations in, in Hampshire. Royal Flying Corps. We were born in October 1921. And my father was stationed near. Then, it all changed then and people were re-routed and reconnected. He left the air force and eventually we lived in London. All sorts of post war problems that we recognise today. They were the same problems back in 1920s and ‘21s. In fact they call the 1918 to 1939 “The Long Armistice.” And so anyway there we were living in Sussex for a while and then my brother and I grew up in London. In Maida Vale and St John’s Wood. And we had a happy time visiting, with going to museums. The Science Museum or the, always Westminster Abbey, the unknown warrior. And so we, we went and we grew up there. I went to school in Maida Vale and then to secretarial College. My brother went to school at Monmouth. And then just before the war in about 1938 I had a great friend whose father was in the War Office and he recognised this war was coming. He recognised that women were going to be recruited in to munitions or farmer’s labourers and all sorts of things. So he arranged for my friend Joan Morgan and myself to join the 600, City of London Squadron. That was a fighter squadron in London obviously. And they wore, they wore red and scarlet cloaks. Or their cloaks were lined with scarlet. They were an elite but they were stationed at Hendon. And this is a bit, this is an interesting part. We used to, I used to go about once a week. I never actually went down to Hendon but they had meetings in the HAC headquarters and at Finsbury Barracks in London. And the idea was that we were to be as a group. We weren’t really the WAAF yet. We were going to be the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and we were going to do exactly what everybody had done in the first war. We would go with the squadron, 600 City of London Squadron. We would go and be typists or telephonists or cooks or drivers, or whatever. Medical assistants. And so then we went to various lectures. Very interesting people from the first war. And learning about how it would be in trenches and stations in Europe when we were conquering Europe. But it was not to be. The training went on. My brother was in the Royal Fusiliers in that time. So we were pretty well prepared for the war when it came. In fact, I was called up before the war. And we went. We were then based at Finsbury Barracks in London and did recruiting. The great thing was we used to recruit young women for the air force and then they’d say, ‘Yes I want to be, I want to be in the air force. I want to be in the secret service. That’s what I want to be.’ So we said, ‘Well that would be nice.’ I said, well we must have, one of the first things we had to do is to go for a medical. And there at Finsbury Barracks we used to take, one of those places to be — ‘No. I can’t go for a medical today. I was out at a party at the nightclub all last night. So can I come back and have a medical later?’ [laughs] In fact one particular person did come back and had a medical and she passed. And the big passing was that I remember my [unclear] — fit, brave one, mentality alert. And so we were launched. And so I did various tasks in Finsbury Barracks. Including working on the telephone exchange at Clerkenwell. And then in October 1940 I was posted. And I went off with a rug in a rug bag and ready to go to the trenches really. That’s what we thought would happen. But anyhow off we went to Royal Air Force Station Bassingbourn. B A S S I N G B O U R N. Which is near Royston in Hertfordshire and Cambridge. And that was an Operational Training Unit for Wellington bombers and we, I was in the equipment section and typing on a Royal machine. And you see, I mean, they said, ‘You’re setting that machine on fire.’ There was a lot of nonsense going on. We were all very young. And one of the people who was stationed there was Hope Embry and her husband Basil Embry became a most highly honoured and significant member of Bomber Command. And he survived the war. I think you can read more about Basil Embry. But he was a lovely person. Obviously, I was all of seventeen and thought I was, I’d conquered the world, you know. I had arrived. But he was, I suppose much older. Probably twenty five you know. And there was Corporal Bates who was in charge of equipment in this Operational Training Unit and he used to tell us a story of how he was in charge of, of parachutes. And his parachute, what it did, what happened was they decided to change where the parachute, they had the rip cord here but then they decided it was awkward, and fear. And he used to tell us this gruesome story of a pilot who used his parachute, forgot it was on this side and they said he’d scratched himself to nothing on the way. We always used to be horrified by that story. And so it was very, very interesting and we saw the Wellington bombers. We met a lot of sergeant pilots. There was one man called Wally Walsh who was from Toronto. And I remember another, Len Day from London. There was several of them. And what we used to do as we became a little more used to Royal Air Force life we’d walk up to the pub at Royston. It was probably not as far as Royston — Bassingbourn. A local pub. Well I always remember before I left to join the air force or to go to Bassingbourn my mother said, ‘Now, Priscilla, you may, you must be very careful what you drink.’ She said, ‘You may have a shandy. Ginger beer shandy. You may have a little sherry, but no cocktails. Don’t you ever have cocktails,’ and since then I never had a cocktail. Now I never drink cocktails [laughs] but it was all very innocent. Two or three of us used to go with these dear men. They were just that much older than us. They never took advantage of us. We all went up to the pub and had a shandy and played shove ha’penny and had a lot of laughter. And those were those early days of the war, before Christmas in 1939. And then I went, I remember I went home for Christmas. Some of the, some of these pilots had had a car and one of them drove a lot of us up to London where my mother was now living in a flat. And so that was the first Christmas of the war. And my brother came down, still in the army, from wherever he was stationed. Bushey I think. And so life was very interesting and we learned a lot. Bassingbourn. And it was very, especially good for me because my, my cousin was still at University in Cambridge. And so I could cycle to Cambridge. In fact one day I walked from Bassingbourn to Cambridge. This was lovely. It was fun. So we did that. And there was talking about photographic interpretation. There was a Photographic Interpretation Unit at Benson just near, and I had never went to Benson but I met people who were there. And it was wonderful work they did interpreting a little dot in the sky. In those days with no, no modern facilities. And they did wonderful work those photographic people. And then we used to go into Royston. So then, in May 1940 a message came, or a signal came. My name was Welsh then. W E L S H. That was my maiden name. I meant to tell you that going to Cambridge I met, I’d already met him but I met Paul who I was eventually to marry or who would marry me. But he was a great friend of my cousin. They were having their last year at Cambridge and then they both went off. He into the army and Paul was, who I married, into the navy. But that’s another story. Anyway, that was so, I didn’t waste much time when I was at Bassingbourn. But I enjoyed every minute. It was all an education. Like a university education I suppose. And so then I was stationed, sent to London to the Air Ministry War Room. W A R room. In, in Whitehall. Near the [pause] I think it’s a, not the Home Office [pause] I can’t remember but it was that end building at the end [unclear] at Whitehall. And the Spanish, the St James’ Steps, King Charles Steps below, in to Green Park. Anyway, I went there as a rookie little WAAF and was put in to a correspondence. What do you call it? Just give me a minute.
MC: Secretarial. Typing and —
PH: Just put this thing off a minute.
[recording paused]
PH: Well, I was in the room where all the correspondence came. And in those days in The Air Ministry in 1940 it all came through on tubes. Like you have at the grocer’s shop or the haberdashers. You know ,they all had these tubes coming in, down and these messages would come in. So really it was a very responsible job because extraordinary messages came. One actually I remember was Amy Johnson. Amy. She was the wonderful pilot. And she had been, some said she’d been shot down into the Thames but she, she had crashed in to the Thames in London at that time. That would be about probably June 1940. So this, then I was to be there in the Air Ministry War Room for the next year and actually it was May 1941. We used to go up to, walk up to Westminster to Trafalgar Square for lunch. And Myra Hess played and it was quite peaceful. Then of course the Blitz started. And so then I had very interesting work then but we seemed to just take it in our stride because we did twelve hours on, twelve hours off in the War Room. And we’d have just a, right down in the bowels of the, of the War Rooms. The War Office I’m sure. And we used to have time off and we’d go up and amongst the ramparts of the building. Churchill and Clemmie would be walking about too because he had his secret place down below. Quite close to where we were. And the whole idea, object of the War Room, Air Ministry War Room was to supply the Cabinet War Room with up to date information. So all the correspondence came in and then we distributed to the, to the necessary parts. One of the very important parts was stats. Statisticians. How many tons of bombs had been dropped. Tons of bombs and then piles of bombs I think they called them in America. So stats was very important. And somebody was working at the back at the war room on them and it was very interesting because they were also working in the Battle of Britain. So messages were coming in and they’d, rather like the cricket scores. Twenty four for two. Six for eight. You know. They were counting it all. So that was a very interesting time for me. But then suddenly when I could go into all sorts of details but there was a great feeling of, of confidence and hope. You know, we never thought of any other way but we did realise that by then, by 1940, the end of 1940 just before the Blitz ended, the big Blitz ended there were no more planes. No more pilots. Just one more and suddenly Hitler had a brainstorm and decided he was going to attack Russia. Do something extraordinary. So my part as a WAAF, I was still a WAAF, they suddenly said I must go on a corporal’s course. I said, ‘Oh that’s lovely.’ I can’t remember where I went to that course. It may have been to Alnwick for that. I know I went to Alnwick in South Shields later but, so I did a corporal’s course and came back with these two stripes and was sent. I can’t, I can’t remember. Oh yes. I was sent to Tangmere but to be down in a little GCI station, Durrington near Tangmere. Anyway, I wasn’t long on that course and somebody said I must go on an officer’s course. Oh I know. Sorry. I did go from that corporal’s course. I went up to Chester. To Cheshire. To Honington. RAF. That’s it. From the corporal’s course that other bit. I never went, I didn’t go back to the War Room. I was sent to RAF Honington in, in Cheshire. Near Liverpool. So there I was with a, with a very nice sergeant. Woman sergeant. And she and I became great friends. And we had a big challenge at, as you were, it was not Honington. Honington was where my bomber friends went. It was Hooton Park in Cheshire. And that’s where I was stationed for, from April 1941 ‘til about July I think. And my promotion to sergeant came through and then in the same correspondence I was told I must go to an officer’s course at Loughborough. I remember saying, ‘Can’t I be a sergeant first and then go to Loughborough?’ They said, ‘No. You must stay as a corporal then you go to Loughborough.’ So I went to do the officer’s course at Loughborough and I was there for six weeks I suppose, whatever. And somehow or other I passed and I went to, I was posted to Tangmere. But going back a while I haven’t said enough about that time that I was in Bassingbourn. Can I go back to that? Because these, I told you about these, these chaps who were, they were all sergeant pilots and very fine men. Then they went off to — one went to Honington in Bomber Command and the other one went to Marham. I think he was 215 Squadron in Honington and 9 Squadron in Marham. Also up near Bury St Edmunds and there they flew and then I lost touch with them really but I know that Len Day went to Malta with Bomber Command. And while he stayed in London and then as war went on one lost touch. But I knew they did wonderful work. But I never really found out what happened to them but these people were the salt of the earth and so steady. And so that that time in in Bassingbourn which I just spoke about earlier made a very strong impression on me. It was a short time really but it was, it gave me inspiration and confidence and as I said earlier one always felt secure. They weren’t, there weren’t problems. At least I never found them. Probably there were too. So now I go back to my arrival at Tangmere. The day I arrived at Tangmere everybody was in mourning because Bader, the famous legless pilot, had been shot down that day. That was in August 1941. And there’s this famous story about his legs. They wanted to, the Germans said they’d give safe passage for his legs. And Fighter Command said not on your life. We’ll bring them over, as it was [laughs] if you catch us you catch us. We don’t want any special courtesies. We’ll just bring his legs. And they did. They flew them over. I think they parachuted them down. And Bader went on to have an extraordinary career too as a prisoner of war. But it was very interesting for me to be at Tangmere. There were Hurricanes and Spitfires and they’d had a tremendous bashing in the Blitz and a lot of people were killed and a lot of WAAF were also injured. And some of them were, were honoured with medals for bravery in that Blitz. But this was in 1940 when I was in London. So I, I went after that so all was so called peaceful then. There was no more bombing there. And then they, they had, this was what I was saying earlier. It was a little station near Ford, near Arundel, also in Sussex. Down from Tangmere. And I was put in charge, only having been on a course as an adjutant. And I was put in charge of this little station which was GCI and doing, working in radar. This favourite vital work. So we had this little office down below then, up at the top of the hill where these people were working on the radar. And wonderful things that came from, from that radar time. Interception and all that and I knew the [pause] when I was at Durrington it was probably early in 1941. There was a, it would be probably September ‘41 there was a warning that the Germans were coming to Durrington. They’d be parachuted in to, to get the people who were doing the radar work up at the top of the hill and kidnap them and take them back. And so they said, ‘Now, you people here below who are looking after them, you are going to be getting issued with Tommy guns so that you can protect your people.’ And along came a Home Guard. A Home Guard chap with a Tommy gun and he said to me, ‘I want you to learn to fire a Tommy gun. When the Germans come you’ve just got to pick this thing up and go boom, boom, boom and he’ll be dead and then you,’ [laughs] and then I put it on my shoulder and tried and I couldn’t do a thing with it [laughs]. I said, ‘I’m very sorry but you’ll have to have a bigger chap than me to protect these people.’ So there was a lot of laughter about that and of course the, again Hitler changed his mind and they didn’t come. So then, when I was there in Durrington and got married in the middle but that’s another story. A lovely time. It really was. My brother was, by that time, in the air force and he’d been shot down in the North Sea but rescued after two days and my husband Paul had been in the Malta convoy. He’d been in a Russian convoy but at this time he was in a Malta convoy relieving with The Ohio which was a ship with supplies for Malta. And anyway while he was in this convoy in Italy somewhere they were very upset. They were bombed by an Italian plane which was very interesting, and they said the plane was badly hurt, the ship was destroyed. They’d lost a whole keg of sherry they’d been given somewhere. That upset them. Anyway, he, he survived and we were married in 1942. In the war. Again near Cambridge, near Bassingbourn. So I was stationed. I went on to be stationed at Durrington and then went on another course and my, my husband left South Shields in his destroyer, a new destroyer to go to the Far East and he was away for three years. And I was on another course at Alnwick and enjoyed that. And I was stationed. Then I was sent to Biggin Hill. Stationed at Biggin. Again as adjutant. Sailor Malan was a famous South African pilot. And a lot of the Free French Air Force were there. And they were famous because they had at Biggin Hill, the squadrons there had shot down a thousand bombers. There was a tremendous publicity stunt with the papers. There was a big ball at the Dorchester to which we all went. All the, all the Windmill Girls were given open invitations to come to Biggin Hill for that weekend so there were high jinks with the Windmill and the other, I suppose night club characters would come. And Biggin Hill was the talk of every Sunday newspaper and everywhere in the world. They shot down a thousand planes and all the wonderful men which of course they were wonderful men. There was no doubt about it. And then they were to have a reception at [pause] in, at Biggin and Lord Trenchard was to come. Lord Trenchard, one of the founders of the Royal Air Force. Royal Flying Corps. And he came and the pilots told me that he, he came very much in his military Royal Flying Corps sort of uniform I think. Very impressive. He came and he said, ‘Good day gentleman,’ he said, ‘I come here to give you one message. It’s the bomber’s boys who is going to win this war. Good day gentlemen.’ And he turned and left. All the deflated people who were not really. That was, that was the big thing was the bomber boys who were going to win this war which of course we remember very well happened. And that, the tragedy of that was that the bombers did the job they had to do as we well know with, and I had many friends there and people to do with it and the casualties I knew. But after the war they were treated like [pause] like rats had left the ship. It was disgraceful. And people said, ‘They bombed Dresden. Dresden. With all that china. Look what they did,’ and I’d say, ‘Well Dresden was a route for those bouncing bombers to go thorough.’ They were, they were transporting all these bombs to go through to wherever they did. So those bombs were based before they bombed. These wonderful men who of course I can’t even think of the names as I’m talking but everybody knows them and they, well they saved, saved England really. Saved the world. And we all said if it had not been done, if the bombing had not been done successfully we would all be speaking German today in England. Nobody really saw that. People still don’t realise the precarious critical situation we were in because Churchill would always talk and buoy us up and life went on. And those bombers and the fighters. We all needed each other. And the Coastal Command and Transport Command, and balloons we all needed but it was the bombers who were the vital factor in any war. And their bombing saved Britain and to me it is, one feels ashamed that they’re only now being recognised and still people say, ‘But they bombed Dresden. How could they dare to bomb Dresden?’ Never mind they bombed London and would have absolutely finished us if they’d had their way. So, so where did we go from there? Let’s have a rest.
MC: Do you want me to turn this off for a short while?
[recording paused]
PH: I’m talking with Margaret about Bomber Command and at Hucknall and Scampton and others that I can’t remember, some of those. I was never actually stationed again on a Bomber Command station but we knew about them and recognised them and honoured them and a lot of the, it was an extraordinary life they lived because they lived in a nice cosy little English town where they’d be in tea rooms and life would go on and the station, people stationed nearby and some of the pilots —
[doorbell rings. Recording paused]
MC: Ok.
PH: Can you go back to what I said?
[recording paused]
PH: I was probably talking about, have you been to the War Room in in —? Cabinet War Room in —
MC: In London.
PH: King Charles’ Steps there. And you know how they said there’s nothing more. There’s nothing we can do. And then Hitler, you know, we believe in prayer. I don’t know, we’d had, we’d had a World Day of Prayer and suddenly Hitler changed his mind, we don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not telling anybody what they should or should not do or how they should be but there is something more than we know. It’s not just, it’s not just the computer and wireless and all these wonderful new ways of [pause] somebody said I’m watching a good film. Somebody gave me a stick. You get a stick and you put it in your television and then you watch a film. So we’ve got all these wonderful contraptions and things but we still can’t regulate the weather. We can’t regulate the tides and we can’t regulate the eclipses of the moon and the sun. And what happened two thousand years ago at such a time suddenly happens again two thousand years later, whatever, at such a time. There’s something more than even our brains can do. But so there we are. So I was talking about the faith and they had the, there was faith. We couldn’t have managed without faith in those days of war and I think maybe we might have done better in these last ten years if we hadn’t been prohibiting people from praying at the school. And you mustn’t mention Jesus and you mustn’t talk about Christmas. You talk about the holiday. Anyway, somehow and then other people come and say what’s what about this God? He doesn’t do anything for us. Well poor chap he doesn’t get much chance. He’s not allowed. So I’m not into religious talk but I do believe in faith and I do believe that it was the faith and prayer that brought us through that war. Maybe without, it would have happened, but we haven’t come through very well this lot. So where are we back to? Can you just stop a minute?
[recording paused]
PH: And then the pilots would get married and their wives would come down and stay in the local hotel or boarding house or get a house and next to the RAF station so they’d live a normal sort of life. But then at night time they’d hear boom boom. The bombers going off. Counted them and when they came back five, six, sixth where’s the sixth? And they’d be off to the station to see if their husband had come home. So there was an extraordinary artificial but normal life living right in a war. Yet going as I say, you would go to the flicks. Everybody went to the flicks in those days, and going to the pub. So that I think the wives and the mothers really suffered. Even if they were in a town where they didn’t have a husband or son or somebody they heard the bombers going off and they would listen for them to come back and there would be one short or none would come back or something. And they would be very much aware of these people. So there was a strong [pause] a feeling of rationing, of letters to the Far East. Air letters we did, air letter cards we wrote. And they would be they would be minimised and sent off. And I think that people like myself who were privileged to be in the air force it was a full interesting life. We were all in it together. But for the mothers with the children and the one egg and a couple of potatoes a week and maybe some, a bit of meat — it was, it must have been terrible. And those cold, cold winters. One, one good thing that came in the war at that time was Lord Woolton and his feeding. All those children. They were very bonny — the wartime children. He had a special orange juice sort of proceeded so that all every child had on their ration card — orange juice. No bananas. They didn’t know about bananas in those days. So that the children were well cared for but the mothers had a terrible time. And other people who came into the war at that time and did a lot of, a lot, a great job, were the land girls. And the Land Girls were often employed on, on farms and learned to milk the cows and to make up the hay and all the rest of it. But some of them of course were misused and used as maids. They would milk the cows and then come on in and make the breakfast for the farmer and his wife and his children. And they’d wash up afterwards and then go back to the fields. So the Land Girls were magnificent and did a great job. And the other people I always feel we’d never, they’d never been, to my knowledge, been recognised as they should have been were the mechanics. When those fighter planes landed the mechanics were there. They bashed, probably had some shooting, and the pilot would go off and have a shower and had some breakfast. Meantime this chap would be working on his plane so it was ready and he could take off again. Take off. And it’s the same with the bombers. Those chaps who looked after the — the engineers and the, all the people who worked on the planes. One has never really heard enough recognition of them, or for them. I think that is something that is missing. Maybe you could mention that to your people in Bomber Command. And Fighter Command too. Because they were, they were on the job and of course suffered terribly when their pilot was killed. And they, you know became, you know mates. Worked together. Worked on the plane. And so that was that. So then I told you I was, I did the officer’s course at Loughborough and I went to Tangmere and then did where I’d been. I’d put Hooton Park as well. But then I went to Biggin Hill. I told you this and as I said Sailor Malan was there. And Churchill lived nearby at Chartwell. And Sailor Malan’s wife was there too and she had a baby and Churchill was the baby’s godfather. He was there. It was a wonderful station Biggin. In spite of it being rather choked off by Lord Trenchard telling them that it would be the bombers who would win the war. Separate from Biggin Hill I went, I was sent on another course. Of course they loved to send us on courses. So it was very like being at university but you’re not. And a lot of legal work too. Not that I can remember any of it now, as you can hear. I can’t always remember the names of the stations but from, from Biggin Hill I went on this course and it was and I went to Shrewsbury, Shropshire. To Montford Bridge. And that was another training station. Rather like Bassingbourn had been originally. And I was stationed there as adjutant near another big RAF station — Oswestry. All near Shrewsbury. And the, and at Montford Bridge there were Czechoslovakian and Polish pilots all waiting. Doing circuits and bumps waiting to go. To go off, to fight. They were waiting to go off but the weather was dull all the time. and they were frustrated. And the Poles and the Czechs were not good friends so there wasn’t always a very good atmosphere there. But they were lovely. They used to call me — the Poles used to call me mamushka [gihana?] — little mother. And I, because I had to sort of tell them what to do. ‘Oh Adjie, can’t we do —?’ They wanted to fly but they couldn’t. They nearly went mad because the weather was so bad. And that was in, I’m talking now about 1943. October. That sort of time. And while I was stationed, while I was stationed there I had a phone call to say that my brother had been — it was an accident I think in a Mosquito night bomber and his plane had crashed. And he was alright but his observer wasn’t, and he went to try to rescue him and he was also burned. That was my twin brother. November 1943. Seventy something years ago now, just this week. So then somehow or other I didn’t apply so I left Montford Bridge and I went back to the Air Ministry of War Room in 1943, November. And I was in the Far East operations and was there ‘til the end of the war. ‘Till ’45. But my job there was to monitor signals that came in. And they came in then for one and we had to read them and work out the tonnage of bombs that had been dropped. This was all in the Solomons, in the New Guinea. All near Australia. All the fighting of the Japs which were impossible really. We’d never beat them as it seemed. Anyhow, we had to have this report ready by four in the morning to go through to Churchill to go to the Cabinet War Room where Churchill would be with, of course, all his people. And it had to be accurate. And I remember I made a mistake of saying Zagreb was [pause] and they were dropping bombs, dropping bombs on Zagreb which was west of, of the ocean. Of course it was east. Whatever it was I got it wrong and Churchill in amongst all the other things he picked up this mistake and it came back. He didn’t miss a trick. But it was very interesting time in the War Room with the Far East and the war going on in Italy. That was a new one. Remember we were fighting in Italy. That was an unnecessary tragedy too. And that was the time when I was in London of the bomb. What did they call them? Dropped bombs. I can’t remember. They came through silently and they dropped.
MC: Oh I know.
[pause]
MC: I know what you mean. Yes.
PH: I had a few adventures with that. And we were stationed in London again and it was a very exciting time in a way waiting. Waiting for D-day. Buzz bombs they were called buzz bombs. And they were the ones that were boom boom boom and then you heard them when it stopped that’s where they dropped. And then they had an even worse bomb that just came silently and it just, you didn’t know and the next thing was chaos. I experienced a bit of that when I was living by then at, when a whole group of us WAAF worked for officers all together in Chelsea. We had, there was a flat and somebody else had a room and we all used to get together. And there was quite a bit of bombing then in the night again. And I remember one of our, one of our friends had a flat in Chelsea. She had a lovely flat upstairs which she’d had for some years, it was her home. We were down, we were down below. A couple of us were down below in more the basement. So we would all come down to the basement for the night when the bombing was on. And then next day we’d go up onto the, into her flat when the sun was shining. And a big fruit to have in those days was rhubarb. We’d always have rhubarb. And I remember we had rhubarb at the top of the nook for pudding and he used to call them — we always heard, none of us had had babies but we always heard that the, after your baby you have a wonderful sort of party. You forget all the pain, all the problems, and just sit down and enjoy it. We used to call them our post baby, post bombing breakfast. Then I can remember going back again. Way back to when I was in the War Room in 1940. Again, we were caught one night going somewhere. A friend had had a flat in Ebury Street in, near Victoria Station. So the bombing was pretty hard that night but she had one of these records playing the Warsaw Concerto which had just come out and some Beethoven and boom, boom, boom you know, the sign from France when the code Beethoven’s fifth. So I can remember those days. We were really in trouble but it was alright. We were all in it together. And that’s, as I said earlier was how I felt sorry for the mothers who were left behind with the children and rationing and clothing. Maybe their own sick mother with them. Their diets were not easy. Neither, as I’ve said earlier, were the lives of the people that maintained the aircraft and the ships and the guns in the air force. We have a very fine young woman. Well, she’s not young any more, she’s my sort of age. She was on searchlights in London, and in the park and they used these lights all the time. And that must have been a big, big strain because they were right out on Hyde Park and I suppose Regent’s Park with these lights going, so they were a certain target for the bombers but she survived it all. She’s written her book about it. Then came, going back again now to the War Room and there was D-Day which we were all involved in in the War Room of course. And still the Japanese war going on I was very much involved in that. There were reports coming in. And we, the [unclear] then there was that sudden war. Somebody decided to fight in Holland between Holland and Germany and a lot of casualties there. I can’t, I’m trying to think of the name. We can probably think of it afterwards. But where the army obviously were involved. I’ll think of it, and tell you later but it was in, it was in Christmas 1944 because the, it was D-day was June ’44. 6th of June. But this was another little war that somebody seemed to start and it was on the Holland/German border, and we had a lot of casualties. And then after that came, came May and the end of the war. And I remember we were all, we were, I was on duty in the War Room that night and so we phoned Buckingham palace and asked, ‘Would the king and queen be out?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ So we all went down to Buckingham Palace.
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AHenwoodP171125
PHenwoodP1701
Title
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Interview with Priscilla Henwood
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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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IBCC Digital Archive
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Sound
Language
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eng
Format
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01:00:01 audio recording
Creator
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Margaret Carr
Date
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2017-11-25
Description
An account of the resource
Priscilla was encouraged by a friend’s father to join the 600 Squadron in anticipation of the war. She was called up and was based at Finsbury Barracks, involved in recruitment. Priscilla also worked on the telephone exchange at Clerkenwell.
In October 1940, she was posted to RAF Bassingbourn, an Operational Training Unit for Wellingtons. Hope Embry, wife of Basil Embry was stationed there.
Priscilla was sent to the Air Ministry War Room in Whitehall and received correspondence in pneumatic tube system. She recalls an extraordinary message about Amy Johnson crashing into the Thames. She would see Churchill and his wife. They provided the Cabinet War Office with information, including statistics.
Priscilla went on a corporal’s course and was stationed briefly at RAF Hooton Park. After promotion to sergeant, she was sent on an officers’ course at Loughborough and then posted to RAF Tangmere and the ground-controlled interception (GCI) radar station at RAF Durrington. Priscilla was put in charge of the GCI station near RAF Ford. She did another course at Alnwick and was then made adjutant at RAF Biggin Hill.
Priscilla expresses her disappointment with how Bomber Command was treated after the war. She praises the land girls and mechanics, who were often overlooked.
Priscilla went to RAF Montford Bridge and was an adjutant at RAF Rednal. She returned to the Air Ministry War Room in 1943 and was involved in the Far East operations until the end of the war, monitoring signals. On D-Day they all went down to Buckingham Palace.
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cheshire
England--Sussex
England--London
Temporal Coverage
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1939
1940
1941
1943
1944
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Sally Coulter
600 Squadron
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
faith
ground personnel
Operational Training Unit
perception of bombing war
promotion
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Hooton Park
RAF Tangmere
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1304/18134/PRumfittPA1901.2.jpg
0d65fa7438fd7bffbba43d8f3ba3f3ad
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1304/18134/ARumfittPA190701.2.mp3
d85540f625f890ed0b62b01f83bd9e9f
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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Rumfitt, Pat
Patricia A Rumfitt
P A Rumfitt
Description
An account of the resource
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2019-07-01
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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Rumfitt, PA
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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MC: This interview is being conducted on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewee is Pat Rumfitt and the interviewer is Mike Connock. The interview is taking place at Pat Rumfitt’s home in Lincoln on Monday the 1st of July 2019. Also present is Margaret Allsworth. Ok. We’ll make a start Pat and —
PR: Yes.
MC: I think we’ll start at the beginning with you.
PR: Yes.
MC: Just tell us a bit about where and when you were born.
PR: I was born in Thornton Heath, South London in 1927 and I didn’t meet Lister until I was fifteen. So, I think that date was possibly 1943.
MC: So you were born 1927.
PR: I was born in 1927. I met him when I was fifteen.
MC: So, so what did your parents do?
PR: My father was a stockbroker.
MC: Oh right.
PR: And so we were alternately very well off and very poor. Week by week [laughs]
MC: So —
PR: And we lived in Chislehurst in Kent.
MC: Did you have any siblings?
PR: No.
MC: None.
PR: No. My mother and father were each one of large families. My mother was the youngest one of eight. My father was the middle one of five and I think early on in their lives they made up their minds that if they ever got married they’d have one. At the most one. And so I had, I was part of fourteen cousins who all lived in Kent so I, I didn’t lack company but I had my parents to myself. Which is probably why I’m so selfish because you get very spoiled when you’re only one.
MC: What about those early schooldays? What do you remember about those? Did you enjoy them?
PR: I was, I went to a small private school for a long time in Bromley, Kent and then I went to Bromley Girl’s County School when I was nine. And I was there ‘til I was fourteen when I left and I had managed to get, pass an entry exam into Bromley Art School where I was totally at home because the love of my life is to draw and I was able to do exactly what I liked there. They thought I was quite talented and eventually I went in to commercial drawing in the fashion industry. This is all about me. And that was all by accident. I was at the college one day when, you always had people coming around to look at your work and these people came and they turned out to be from the “Tatler” Magazine. Do you remember? They used to, I don’t think there is still a “Tatler” and straight away because the stuff was all in the room, they said, ‘Who did this?’ ‘Who did that?’ And the tutor said, ‘Patricia. That’s Patricia’s work.’ They said, ‘How old are you?’ I think I was about fourteen, something like that at the time and they said, ‘Well, it’s a gift. You do this easily. Would you like a job?’ I said, ‘Oh, my mother wouldn’t let me work. Not yet anyway. I’m too young.’ They said, ‘Well, if and when you do could we be in touch with your mother?’ I think they didn’t think I had a father but I always referred to my mother for everything. I said, ‘Well, she won’t mind at all. Especially if you like the drawings because she’s very very proud of the things I do.’ Anyway, they persisted and several years later when I really did want a job I rang them up and reminded them who I was and what I did, and I got a job because the “Tatler” has a fashion page. I think it’s only a monthly magazine. It has what they called, “The Fashion Page,” and they wanted drawings of accessories or make up all around the frieze. Nicely, good taste little black and white drawings, you know. So I would draw gloves, shoes, handbags, an eye with make-up, all these things and I was good at it. It was a gift because I didn’t have any trouble doing it and they paid me very well. When my father heard what they were going to pay he said, ‘You should take the job. [laughs] You should take the job.’
MC: So growing up, growing up as a child before the war what was it like? I mean, did you —
PR: Oh, well before the war, ah well mine was quite a privileged life. We had a nice home, a nice garden and until we weren’t able to we used to go abroad once a year for a holiday. My mother liked Italy but, so we would go and I think the last time I didn’t go with them. It was 1938 and my mother went to her beloved Portofino. When they came back she, they, they were then convinced that they wouldn’t be going abroad the next year. They had already got the feeling that we were going to have a war but they didn’t have that feeling in England. They got the feeling in Italy. I don’t know whether they weren’t made welcome. I’ve no idea but when they came back I said, ‘Well, next year I’ll go with you and I can see this Portofino,’ because I’d been there with them when I was younger and I, it’s built on the side of the rocks you know overlooking the sea. It’s lovely. But it didn’t appeal to me very much. It wasn’t a young person’s place. Anyway, then the war came. I was twelve when it started and I was still at the County School. Then I left and went to the Art School which I’ve already told you. I was fourteen when I went to the Art School which was young. They didn’t really want you until you were sixteen but if your portfolio was impressive they would allow you to attend but you didn’t get much else. You only got art and that was considered a bit young to leave ordinary education but —
MC: So this was all growing up during the war.
PR: That was growing up.
MC: During the war.
PR: During the war.
MC: Yeah. So it —
PR: And of course living in Kent we were bombed most nights. I’m not saying we didn’t care. We just got used to it and —
MC: Were you affected directly by the bombing at all?
PR: Well [laughs] we were once because my father decided that my mother and I should go to a place of greater safety than Bomb Alley which was what Bromley, Kent was called which it was and we had barrage balloons, and we were four miles from Biggin Hill which of course was target number one. So if they weren’t going past us to bomb the West End or the East End of London they were going to bomb Biggin Hill. So we were, we were in the middle and so we did have, and I can honestly say we actually got used to it. I certainly got used to being told to, you went in your pyjamas and a plaid sort of dressing gown with a funny sort of cord and Wellington boots which you would go down the garden and climb into an Anderson shelter which of course almost as soon as it was put in the ground half filled with water so you could only go on to the top bunks. You certainly couldn’t sit at the bottom because it was now underwater and all the food in tins that my mother had put in there to save for later during the war all went rusty. All the underwear and woollies and things she put in they all floated away. We had to carry the dog because he was a little Brindle. And the war was a joke. It really, it was. In Kent it was a joke. Then my mother who was running the war from a sitting position, she was in the Red Cross, she was in the ARP, she was a warden, she did everything she could to help. She made tea. My father stood at the end of the drive with a garden fork. He was in the LDV. He was too old to be called up and too young to die. You know. I mean there he was in no man’s land and all he did was defend England with a garden fork with a head about this big that I couldn’t lift up it was so heavy and stood at the end of the drive in front of the house. Then he would be on fire duty and, and he was a home, most of all he was home LDV but nobody liked being on duty with him because they had three at a time. One on duty at the end of the drive and two trying to get a bit of a sleep but when it was his turn to sleep he kept the others awake because he snored. So they really didn’t want my father but it was his garage and he insisted upon being there. So he was [laughs] They couldn’t get rid of him but they put up with, they used to put him on fire duty which meant he was on the roof of the garage, the flat roof looking for the bombers, you know. I mean looking for fire bombs.
MC: Yes.
PR: A very dangerous position they gave him but I think they thought this will get rid of him [laughs] But he survived the war my dear dad. He did. He survived the war.
MC: So, as a young girl growing up what sort of entertainment did you have then?
PR: Oh, well —
MC: I mean, obviously —
PR: We had, from our point of view we were our entertainment was really in Bromley, Kent and it is loaded with pubs. I was far too young to drink but my parents took me all the time. So I would always be either left outside, during the raids of course [laughs] while they were inside drinking with everybody else. It was a fairly, it was a fairly rowdy time you know. People weren’t depressed. We were, we were a bit fed up about the food because that was very severely rationed. And then we got a pig. My mother of course, her name was Gertrude and she was a lady pig and my mother loved her to bits. We could never have her killed for bacon meat. So she lived with us for several years because my mother would not have her slaughtered and we had to give up our meat ration, our bacon ration, everything because we’d got a pig. We kept, we suddenly started keeping chickens. They didn’t lay so that was a waste of time [laughs] I remember this so well that everything was going to be alright. We’re having a chicken. We have a pig. We won’t, we’ll always have meat. We’ll always have eggs. We didn’t have either because the pig wasn’t allowed to be killed and the chickens didn’t lay [laughs] And the bombs went on every night. Then my father decided to send us to [pause] what was the name of the place? Does Berkhamsted sound like a proper place because I think that was, I don’t think that was the county? I think that was the sort of location, and the first night we got there the house next door was blown to blazes. So we were all moved back again to Bomb Alley because it was much more dangerous in Berkhamsted. Well, I don’t think they had another raid. They only had the one and it blew up the neighbour’s house. Five people in it were killed. They’d never had any raids before. I think the Germans knew that all these kids from Kent had gone there with their mothers for a night’s sleep and bang. But it, it literally took the house out. There was just a hole where it had been. It was a detached but it was only six feet from the one we were in. We lost a couple of windows at the top front but that was all. Houses further away lost their windows but we didn’t. The blast went past us.
MC: So how long were you down there?
PR: Well, we came back the next day.
MC: Oh, you didn’t stop.
PR: No. No. No. No. No. Can’t stay there. It’s obviously —
MC: Yeah.
PR: Much more dangerous than Bromley, Kent. So we, my father who had managed to get, because there was no petrol people forget this you know when they’re talking about it and you think how did they get there? But you got very very little. Sort of an eggcup, you know with a hole in the bottom. But my father saved up his coupons and my uncle gave him his coupons and he was able to take us over to this Berkhamsted. The next day he had to use more petrol to come and get us back. He was more worried about the petrol than he was about us. And we used to go to our local Country Club, Bromley Country Club for entertainment. My mother and father liked to dance and that’s where the chaps from Biggin Hill went because it was the nearest, well, only Country Club and they could swim there. They still had the open air pool and they managed to keep it clean and chlorinated and everything. So if the pilots could get away ever because Biggin Hill flew during, as you know was a daytime station. They weren’t night fighters. They were Spitfires. When the Americans came, the Eagle Squadron came there the Eagle Squadron did fly at night, but our Spitfires never did. I know that for a fact because I remember my mother would say, ‘Well, they can come over for breakfast. Then they’ll have to go back because they’ll be going off again at eleven,’ or something like that. We knew all about the timing of their sorties because of when they came and had what my mother could scrape together. We had egg. Powdered egg in tins and she used to make huge mountains of scrambled egg and they liked it. I couldn’t eat it. It was like rubber. It was horrible. But the pilots liked it. Anything they could get their hands on they ate and they of course were allowed alcohol which was forbidden to civilians. You couldn’t walk into the pub and say, ‘I’ll have a double whisky.’ I didn’t drink but I know my father was a whisky drinker and he could only get one every now and again because he knew the barman but it wasn’t really allowed. There was no spirit allowance for the civilians. I think it all went to the officer’s mess. And because we were so near to Biggin Hill we were almost under martial law really because we had, we had to keep secrets, and we had to be careful with what we said and they were careful with what they told us, you know. My mother used to make an enormous fuss of these boys, because they weren’t much older than me and it was like having a house full of sons and she’d never had any. And they loved my mother. She was all bosom and strings of pearls you know and, ‘Oh, tell me what would you like?’ ‘What will you have?’ [laughs] You know, you know I can caricature her but she was lovely. She was a lovely lovely lady.
MC: She sounds it.
PR: Oh, she was. She was great.
MC: So, how old, so let’s get on to Lister then.
PR: Well —
MC: How old were you when you met and how did you come meet Lister?
PR: How did I meet him? Well, this is quite a funny story. My mother became quite tetchy and difficult and the doctor, my father, he said, ‘Well, she’s running the war isn’t she? This is the trouble.’ ‘I think you should get her away. Has she, are any of these enormous number of sisters do any of them live somewhere like Devon, Wales, Scotland? Somewhere where they don’t know about the war.’ My father said, ‘Her eldest sister lives in Edinburgh.’ He said, ‘Well, they don’t know there’s a war on up there. Why don’t you send her there?’ My mother said, ‘I can’t leave. I can’t leave Kent.’ You know [laughs] I mean, it was almost like abdicating because she just didn’t want to go. Anyway, my father insisted. I think she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She was running left and right and everything. And my aunt in Scotland didn’t have a phone so everything had to be done in writing. And the next week we heard back to say she would be delighted to have my mother and I to stay, but the Navy was in in Leith Dockyards and the place was full of Norwegian sailors. My father [laughs] my father didn’t like the sound of the Norwegian Navy but these are all facts and I remember them and I was then fifteen. And so we went to Kings Cross. Daddy took us to Kings Cross using another egg cup of petrol. So he loaded us into a train and in those days the carriages were for eight people. Is it too cold for you? Is it?
[recording paused]
MC: So you were —
PR: We were in a carriage. In those days you had a corridor with a loo at one end, and half a dozen carriages with sliding doors. The trains weren’t like they are now. They were strange little upright, with four seats a side and sort of flock velvet you know. And so my mother, my mother sat in the corner seat and I sat next to her and there were three other people. So there were five of us in these four seats. So I was the one that was sort of like this, you know. I was obviously the youngest. I was also the tallest. I’d certainly got the longest legs. There was more of me to fold up than there was of anyone else but I got the dickie seat, and we sat there because nothing went on time. It went when it could. And I think it was a daytime train. It was normally an eight hour journey and we were on it at about 9 o’clock in the morning. Come up from Kent by car. Got in to the train when suddenly the sliding door was pulled back and there in the doorway was this beautiful young man in a uniform with a kit bag over his shoulder. My mother took one look and said, ‘Oh look. It’s one of the boys.’ She immediately thought pilot. He would be a fighter pilot from Biggin Hill. So she said, ‘Come on in. You can sit. Patsy can sit on my lap. You can sit on her seat.’ So I now lost this dodgy bit of velvet and he came and sat in it and he said to my mother, ‘I’ve got a better idea. Why doesn’t she sit on my lap?’ And my mother said, ‘Because she’s only fifteen and I’m not going to let her.’ [laughs] Anyway, he was charming and very chatty. He and my mother talked all the way to Scotland. No one could use the loo which was a bit difficult because when you pulled into some big station everybody got out and ran about looking for a loo. You were lucky if you got back before it went but needs must and so we all got off and we all got back. I still didn’t get a seat. I still had to sit on my mother’s lap. By the time we got to Edinburgh it took about eleven hours because it was stop start and there were raids. As far up as the Midlands you had to be aware that there would be an air raid. That’s quite frightening when you’re in a train strangely enough. I’d never bothered about it much in the house because you went in the cupboard under the stairs, waited for it to be over, came out, picked up all the broken things and got on but if you’re on a train you can’t do anything. You’re a, you’re a target, aren’t you? Anyway, we got to Edinburgh and my mother and the boy had a fond farewell and then she said, well I heard her say, ‘I shall be there. Not tonight but I shall be there tomorrow night,’ because he was staying at the Officer’s Club in Princes Street and this was where my mother was going to run the bar for the Red Cross. This was her holiday. She thought that she was being sent there so that she could pull Edinburgh’s socks up, you know. But she wasn’t. She was sent there because she was ill. Anyway, the following afternoon she said, ‘Now, Patsy, you’d better get yourself changed because I’m taking you with me to the Club this evening. You can do the tea urn.’ Because I was too young to be anywhere near the booze because they had plenty of alcohol in the Officer’s Club. My mother was going to see to it that this was distributed fairly. I suppose we’d been there about an hour when I recognised sir in a doorway and he went straight to my mother. She was, I was miles away. A good fifty yards long this damned great room was and I was at the far end with this wretched tea urn. We didn’t have tea bags in those days by the way. It was all tea leaves and big jugs of milk you know and only allowed so much and it was made up of powdered milk. Horrible stuff. And I saw him go to my mother and apparently, her version of it was she said, ‘Oh, how lovely. Are you comfortable? Is your room alright?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m sharing. I haven’t met the chap I’m sharing with yet but his stuff is in the room. I’ll meet him later. He didn’t come in last night but his luggage was there.’ So he was evidently sharing with another officer who had gone off to see friends or relatives or something. And she said, ‘Well, what can I get you?’ And he said, just like yesterday, ‘The girl at the end of the bar.’ And so she said, ‘I told you that’s my daughter and she’s fifteen. No. You can’t have the girl at the end of the bar.’ And he said, ‘I can wait.’ And he did, ‘til I was seventeen when we got married. But we met just like that on the train.
MC: So did you see much of him during, during that period?
PR: Yes. He came to us for his leaves and stayed with my mother and father in our house. And he wasn’t too pleased that most days it filled up with fighter pilots because when he had, he was at public school here apparently and the recruiting officers, you may know all about this apparently they went to public schools and took the cream off the top, put them into OFTU, and they, they asked him if he’d like to be in the Air Force. They weren’t going to give him any choice. They only were recruiting for the Air Force, and he said he would love to thinking he would love to, thinking he would like to fly a fighter. Anyway, he went straight in and it was quite obvious that he was mentally capable of flying a Lancaster and that’s what he was trained for. When he was twenty he came out of there.
MC: So, what was he doing up in Scotland then?
PR: On leave.
MC: Oh, did he —
PR: He just went on leave.
MC: Oh, he was only up there on leave. He wasn’t stationed up there.
PR: I don’t know where. No. No.
MC: No. Oh right.
PR: No. He went, he got on at Kings Cross. So far as I know he must have been stationed down here because he didn’t get on anywhere near Bruntingthorpe. He got on in London. Whether he’d had to go to London. I never found that out.
MC: You never knew where he was stationed.
PR: I didn’t know where he was stationed then. I only knew that at the time, at the time we got to know him and he came on leave he was always at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire. And a couple of times I went to visit him in Leicester and I can’t even remember [pause] I stayed in a hotel in the middle of the town there and he used to come in when he could. But I never saw him in the evenings because they flew at night. He was a night bomber. And he never discussed his job. He was obviously very popular because there was always a crowd of people with him. They weren’t all his crew because they weren’t all officers. They were nearly all sergeants and he did when I, when I married him, not when I met him but by the time I married him he had completed one tour which was I believe twenty six missions. He was now half way through the second lot. He got a DFC at the end of the first lot. And for getting through the second lot he got a bar to his DFC. Got another DFC. It was automatic.
MC: So —
PR: You know.
MC: You say he was at Bruntingthorpe.
PR: Bruntingthorpe.
MC: What aircraft? Do you know what aircraft?
PR: Lancasters. Always Lancasters.
MC: Always Lancasters.
PR: Always Lancasters. I never knew him mention any —
MC: When, when did you get married then?
PR: 1945, this is when I got this certificate.
MC: So you said. 1945.
PR: 1945. When I was still seventeen. I wasn’t eighteen until the March. We got married in the February. He was twenty. And he was [pause] actively flying then. He got a weekend. An extended weekend. That’s what they called it. An extended weekend.
MC: Yes.
PR: So he would be home on Friday morning at my mother’s house and he wouldn’t leave there until Monday afternoon to get back to Leicestershire. Well, then I started going with him but we never had a home. We always, I was sort of billeted at the pub at Bruntingthorpe. I had a very nice room there. When he came off every morning he used to join me there for breakfast and of course he was allowed sausages, bacon, so forth. I was lucky to get an egg. But as a civilian you, you had no, you took your ration book and you worked your way through their rations in their pub and we didn’t get an egg a day.
MC: So, what rank was he when you married?
PR: Flying officer.
MC: Oh, he was flying officer.
PR: That’s what he is in the picture. You can see he’s got the ring. The wide ring. By the time our marriage finished and the war was over he was an acting squadron leader. Now, I don’t know whether that means he got the rank. Whether he was only. Everybody else was dead. When I said, ‘You’re now a squadron leader,’ he said, ‘Well, I’m acting squadron leader. There’s nobody else left.’
MC: So, where —
PR: I was still staying at the pub in Bruntingthorpe.
MC: So, how long did he stay in the Air Force after the war was over then?
PR: Oh, well —
MC: When did he come out of the Air Force?
PR: To my knowledge — I only sat it out for another year because I wanted a home. I was sick and tired of being in a billet which was in my case a nice hotel, a nice pub but it wasn’t my home. And I then decided to go home to my mother and that didn’t please him because he was still stationed there. And about a year after that he came out and that’s when he decided because his family were in Australia that he wished to go back there and he wanted me to go. Well, at one stage the Air Force shipped me over. I don’t know whether you know about that system but I went on a boat. It took three and a half weeks. I shared a very small smelly little cabin with another officer’s wife that I’d never met before and we went to Sydney. Well, his family were in Townsville in Queensland. That’s a long way away and I went up country as they call it on a train and I hated Australia. It was hot, dusty. I didn’t like the people. Oh my God. They were awful. Mind you this is seventy years ago. They’re probably civilised now. Apparently everybody loves it but I absolutely hated it. I thought it was [pause] well, outback was the word for it. It was so rough and the people spoke this strange lingo. I couldn’t understand them and they made no attempt to understand me because I was just foreign, you know. I mean, and his family were shipping agents in Townsville in Queensland and obviously well off. Well off enough to send him to England to public school. That took some doing I can assure you. And their house was on stilts and they had strange sort of native people that lived underneath and they were, well you didn’t need a gardener. It was just someone to rake the sand, you know. It was awful, you know. Townsville I suppose now is quite glamourous and probably has spas and clubs but then it was just rough. But it’s seventy years ago so, or more because I was still only what eighteen? Nineteen? Something like that. And I’m ninety two now so if I was even twenty it was seventy two years ago isn’t it?
MC: Yes. I mean is Lister Arrowsmith was his name —
PR: Yes.
MC: Did he have a middle name?
PR: Lister Harvey.
MC: I did do some research.
PR: Lister Harvey Arrowsmith. Yes.
MC: Yes. Yeah. His commission was Gazetted on the 17th of October 1944.
PR: Was it?
MC: 1944. To flying officer. Yeah.
PR: Yeah. He was flying officer when I married him.
MC: Yes. Yeah. But you don’t know what squadron he was with.
PR: I still don’t know the number of the squadron.
MC: No.
PR: Do you know I don’t think I ever asked.
MC: So when —
PR: He was just flying a bomber.
MC: Yeah. I know he did his first tour in 90 Squadron.
PR: Did he?
MC: Yeah. Tuddenham.
PR: Collingham.
MC: Tuddenham. Tuddenham.
PR: Tuddenham.
MC: RAF Tuddenham. T U D D E N H A M.
PR: That’s where he started was it?
MC: That’s where he did his first tour, yeah. As a pilot. But I don’t know much about, more about him than that.
PR: He had a [coughs] when people say, people used to fall back in amazement when, because he had the obviously he had a DFC on his uniform, and they all knew because it was length of service that got you that in those days. You didn’t have to do anything particularly brave. It was as he said, ‘I’m only doing my job.’
MC: Yeah, but to complete a full tour, full tour of operations on Bomber Command.
PR: Well, exactly but then he, when I took, I said, ‘Why are they so surprised that you’ve done so many? Because you don’t seem to think it’s very clever.’ He said, ‘It’s experience.’ I said, ‘How do you mean experience?’ Because he was still what, twenty?
MC: I know.
PR: And most of the people who worked with him were a great deal older and sometimes I think he had trouble with them because he had such a baby face, and he was excessively handsome. And I think most of the men thought Christ, look at this. You know. This is competition. And he was. He was beautiful. He really was beautiful. That’s why I married him. I had no other reason. I was only seventeen. I only knew how he looked.
MC: So, did you have any children with him?
PR: No.
MC: Oh. No.
PR: No, we didn’t. But we didn’t have a home either. We had great plans for having children but I always regarded the thing as a bit [pause] I think I always thought of it as temporary. I think I was too young to get married, and in the first place my father didn’t want me to. He said, ‘Patsy, you’re too young.’ And I just said, ‘Oh, you’re just, daddy you just don’t want me marry anybody.’ And he, he really didn’t want me to get married. My grandmother couldn’t wait for me to marry him because she fell in love with him the moment she saw him. My mother’s mother. And she said, ‘Oh, Patsy where ever did you meet him?’ I said, ‘I was with mummy on a train.’ And she said, ‘Well, he’s the one for you dear. Don’t you ever let him go.’ This was the first time she’d met him. She was seventy eight at the time but she just went mad about him.
MC: Did you know at the time he was from Australia? Did he have an accent?
PR: I knew that, I knew he’d been born there but I didn’t realise because when I first met him he was in an ordinary RAF officer’s uniform. It wasn’t until much later he said, ‘I’ve got to get a new uniform. I’m in the wrong thing.’ And he had to go off to Gieves and Hawkes and get another lot made and this time in the dark blue which I didn’t like at all. I didn’t like it. And then he had Australia on his shoulder then after that. But up ‘til then he’d just been RAF and of course several years in a public school had eradicated that ghastly accent so even I hadn’t ever heard it and he wouldn’t have dreamt of using it. Certainly not with my mother and father, you know because they would have said, ‘What was that? Whatever was that?’ You know. Because it is a horrible accent. It is still now. And most of them still speak like that.
MC: Yeah.
PR: Well, it isn’t a case of being snobby. It’s unattractive. It’s like the South African. It’s horrible.
MC: So what, do you know what happened to him after the war?
PR: I know he went back to Australia and when I was in my early twenties he came back here. He wanted to talk me out of getting, because I still hadn’t got it. It took me six years to get the divorce and in the end my father got it for me. I needed it because you see I had left him. He didn’t want me to go and every time we tried to get it to court our solicitor would say, ‘He doesn’t want to know. He’s not going to. You’re not going to get a divorce from him. He doesn’t want you to and you haven’t done anything. He’s not divorcing you. You’re divorcing him and he hasn’t done anything. You can’t get a divorce from him.’ And then my father, who was a stockbroker said, ‘I’ll get someone in the City, Patsy. I’ll get you a divorce lawyer. We’ll get out.’ I don’t know how he did it but on the sixth year of trying I got my divorce. But the year before that when that first started he came back here as a civilian and just appeared at my mother’s house and said he’d come for me. I was out. When he arrived I was actually out to dinner with somebody. I was horrified when I got home. Mummy said, ‘Lister’s here. He’s staying in London. He’s not staying with us.’ I said, ‘What’s he doing here?’ She said, ‘Well, he’s apparently come back for you. He hasn’t got the message yet.’ I said, ‘Well, did you explain to him that we are at last hopeful of getting — ’ She said, ‘He doesn’t want a divorce, Patsy. It’s going to be increasingly difficult. Especially as he’s now here.’ I said, ‘Well, has he come back here to live?’ She said, ‘He didn’t say. He just said I’ve come back to collect Patsy. She is my wife and I want her back.’ He wanted to take me to Australia.
MC: So, but you didn’t go.
PR: Oh, I made a mistake in going the first time. I shouldn’t have gone but I was curious because I thought well maybe I’ve got, I was grown up enough then to think well you are married and the least you can do is go and find out if it would work. The Air Force put me on a boat. They weren’t flying people anywhere. And there were mines of course. The sea was heavily mined so we took our lives in our hands those of us that went on that boat. And it was a terrible journey. Oh God, it was awful. I hated it and I liked boats but I didn’t like that one. It was very uncomfortable. Very hot.
MC: So you finished with the RAF after that then. The Royal Air Force.
PR: Well, not really because it’s addictive isn’t it? The Air Force. I’ve never got I will never get divorced from Biggin Hill because that was brilliant. What a place. What a place. I wasn’t made very welcome there because I’d married a bomber so all my mother’s boys didn’t like that. Those that survived you know she heard from for years afterwards. They all married and they all had families and they all wrote to my mother. It was as if she was a sort of surrogate mother. She’d made them so welcome I think when nobody else had. She welcomed them all and gave them our rations and everything else she could lay her hands on. My father wouldn’t let her deal on the Black Market so it all had to come out of our rations and there were plenty of opportunities to deal on the Black Market but he just wouldn’t. On principal he wouldn’t. He said, ‘I couldn’t eat it. No. I couldn’t eat that. We’ve got a pig.’ [laughs] You know.
MC: So I mean obviously Lister Arrowsmith, you don’t, you don’t know much about his squadrons as you said. What squadrons he was on.
PR: No. No. I don’t know. All I know is that when I last spoke to him he was an acting squadron leader. Well, so far as everyone was. But he didn’t have, because I said, ‘Oh God, have I got to sew those rings on?’ He said, ‘No. I’m only acting.’ So I think it wasn’t established.
MC: Was he at Bruntingthorpe at that time?
PR: Yes. He was still at Bruntingthorpe but of course when he came back to England he was a civilian and he’d been a civilian for at least four years. So, as I say it took me six years from start to finish to get my divorce. And I think in the end he realised it was useless because I was a different person. By the time he came back I’d grown up and I was now working in London. I worked with my father at the Stock Exchange. In his office. His brokers. And I was totally different from the little girl he’d married, you know. I mean, you had to be. If you worked in the City you had to look as if you worked in the City and I did. I used to go up on the train with my father but my father had an enormous influence on me always. I miss him dreadfully but I don’t think, I don’t think he actually spoiled me. He just wanted the best. If I wanted something he would move heaven on earth to get it. The way he did the divorce, you know.
MC: I think that’s, you know, I mean it’s a brilliant story, Pat. I mean it’s —
PR: Yeah.
MC: It’s lovely. Thank you very much.
PR: Well, there’s nothing —
MC: Thank you for talking with us.
PR: I can’t really tell you anything. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. You can find that out on your
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 Pat Rumfitt
Creator
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Mike Connock
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
2019-07-01
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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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ARumfittPA190701, PRumfittPA1901
Format
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00:45:49 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Pat Rumfitt was born in 1927 and experienced a privileged upbringing living in Kent as an only child before the war. She describes the resilient attitude to bombing in Bromley, walking to their flooded Anderson Shelter in her dressing gown and wellies, and evacuating only to return the following day after a near-miss. Rumfitt recalls her dissatisfaction with food rations and her parents acquiring chickens and a pig to ensure they had food, yet neither generating produce. She details her mother’s proactive involvement with The Red Cross and her caring nature for the pilots at RAF Biggin Hill. In 1941, at the age of 14, Rumfitt attended Bromley Arts School, where she was later offered a job with Tatler magazine and pursued commercial drawing in the fashion industry. She also visited Edinburgh with her mother in 1942, where she met Lister Harvey Arrowsmith, a flying officer based at RAF Bruntingthorpe. She married Arrowsmith in 1945, at which time, he had completed 26 operations and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, Rumfitt visited her husband’s home in Australia but strongly disliked the culture and filed for a divorce, which took six years to finalise. Finally, she describes her lifelong fondness for RAF Biggin Hill, and her mother remaining in touch with the officers that she cared for.
Contributor
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Tilly Foster
Julie Williams
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Civilian
Royal Australian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Australia
Great Britain
England--Kent
England--Suffolk
England--Leicestershire
England--Bromley
England--London
Scotland--Edinburgh
England--Essex
Temporal Coverage
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1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
90 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
childhood in wartime
Distinguished Flying Cross
evacuation
home front
love and romance
pilot
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Bruntingthorpe
RAF Tuddenham
Red Cross
shelter
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1051/11429/ANorwoodG160201.1.mp3
af850e59b7c9af6724ffc5903a78c5f1
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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Norwood, Gerard
Gerard Thomas Norwood
G T Norwood
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Gerard Norwwod (1604811 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as an air gunner with 460 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-02-01
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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Norwood, G
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
GN: Hughie Edwards, VC.
NM: Ok. Carry on.
GN: And this is one of the records I’ve worked out because of, well we’ll come to it when we, when we get to this bit because this is I have to tell you not all about it because it’s a bit deceiving.
NM: Ok. Let me just make a start. Can I just make —
GN: Deceiving because —
NM: Can I just make a start Mr Norwood and then we’ll —
GN: I’ve got quite a few photographs but —
NM: Yeah.
GN: This one is one that makes me —
NM: Gerald Norwood interview.
GN: Terrible of this country for their attitude of veterans of Bomber Command. But I’ve been to Australia a couple of times. The last time we went to Australia we had dinner at the French Embassy in Canberra and the Ambassador said, ‘Is there anyone here of you that flew on D-Day?’ I said, ‘Yes. There was quite, one or two of us.’ And he said, ‘Well, give me your names.’ He said, ‘We cannot issue you a medal,’ he said, ‘But we’ll see what we can do.’ But since they’ve done this they have given all Australian, but you have to be Australian to get it but they sent to the English people that weren’t born in Australia or anything a diploma to say you operated on D-Day for France and, but, but this country gave us nothing. You know. This is only because I went to Canberra you see. If we hadn’t gone to Canberra we wouldn’t even have known about that. But anyway let’s get on. Let’s sort this out for you.
NM: That’s interesting.
GN: Because —
NM: Can I, can I just make an introduction?
GN: Yeah.
NM: And then what I’d like to do is ask you a few general questions.
GN: Yeah. Yeah. Certainly.
NM: Then the idea is they don’t want to hear me talk. They want to hear you talk.
GN: I see. Yes.
NM: So I shall, I shall keep quiet. I might make a few notes.
GN: Yeah.
NM: And then there might one or two questions as we go through it.
GN: Right.
NM: But the idea is to listen to you tell your story. Ok. So, the date is February the 1st. I’m with Gerard Norwood.
GN: That’s right.
NM: At his Lancaster Lodge appropriately, in Well Cottage, Ivinghoe Aston in Leighton Buzzard.
GN: That’s right. Yeah.
NM: In Bedfordshire.
GN: Yeah.
NM: And so can I ask you to tell me a little bit about your background? Your childhood, your growing up before you joined the Air Force.
GN: Yeah. Now, well, this is why I’ve got this actually because I was born in Berkhamsted but we lived in Bricket Wood and unfortunately when I was two years old my father died. I didn’t even know my father really because I was too young to remember him. And my mother struggled along but eventually she got married again and when we moved we moved into Watford. But unfortunately, my elder brother and myself we couldn’t get on with our step-father and we left home and went in to lodgings when we were fifteen years of age. And when the war broke out and I was with my brother and we were trainees at an engineering factory as a centre lathe turner. And it was only after working for about from 1939 to 1942 in the factory working twelve hour nights seven nights a week when all my friends had been called up or volunteered for service I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing just turning wheels and things? Doing nothing really for the war effort.’ It was absolutely nothing. So I thought well I’ll volunteer. So I went to, from one Friday morning, I came off of work and went up to Deansbrook Road, Edgeware Drill Hall to volunteer. Well, when I tried to volunteer the Army man said, ‘Show me your registration card.’ So I showed him. He said, ‘No. Sorry. You’re a Reserved Occupation. You can’t.’ I tried the Navy and the same thing happened. I went eventually to the Air Force because pre-war I had, when I was about twelve to fourteen years old I did, when we first moved to Watford I did something and I joined an Association which at that time was made by this man and they lived in bungalows just off of Watford bypass and he started the ATC. But it wasn’t called the ATC. It was called the Air Defence Cadet Corps and we marched in the Lord, last Lord Mayor’s Show before the war and if you check you’ll find not only all the donations of the people that made it but a list of Cadets and you’ll find my name is down there somewhere at the bottom. So I thought to myself well let me try the Air Force. So I tried the Air Force and he said, ‘Well —’ he said, ‘You can’t.’ He said, ‘The only thing you can volunteer for is air crew. If you want to fly,’ he said, ‘I can, I can put you down.’ So I did do. I said, ‘Well, you can do that.’ And about three weeks later I got a letter from the Air Force to report to Oxford University to sit an examination and a medical. And I went to Oxford and then after going through all the different phases there I was put forward to the selection board and the air vice marshal there said, ‘We are very surprised that you, with the education you had because you only had a normal school education for two years from twelve to fourteen —’ When we moved to Watford because I went to, because at Bricket Wood there was no school and you couldn’t, there was no transport or nothing. No buses to take you. You had to walk. And the only schooling we had was at the top of Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood you turned right was Munden and at that time it was Sir Holland-Hibbert but he was Lord Knutsford afterwards when his mother died and he had his own private school for his worker’s children. And all the local children had to go to that school because it was the only one there. And the only teachers we had were two women but they, they were, they were absolutely brilliant because they were really strict but they taught you in such a manner that you couldn’t forget what they told you because the things like, well say the rivers of Scotland. Tweed, Forth, Tay, Dee, Don, Spey and Clyde. I mean the way they taught you you never forgot and that’s what he said, ‘We were very surprised because you passed everything except mathematics and if you are willing to go to night school for three nights a week before you go to work for six weeks on mathematics we will swear you in today and give you the King’s Shilling.’ Which I did and well, after about three or four months I was called up and went to St Johns Wood and did the square bashing and so forth. Then we were transferred and it was, by this time it was about November ’42. They transferred us to Ludlow in Shropshire under canvas and it was pouring with rain. It was absolutely mud and every morning they used to call you out and say, ‘Right. We want twelve of you. The first twelve here will go to this ITW.’ And I missed out on two or three and eventually I got one and I went to Number 7 ITW at Newquay. But unfortunately, I’d been at Newquay I suppose about six or seven weeks and I was struck with rheumatic fever and I had to be taken to sick quarters and of course I lost about three weeks training. And when the exam came I failed the exam because I had no, no possibility of catching up with the others and I was sent then to Blackpool, the Suspended Air Section at Blackpool awaiting discharge to go back to my job. I was there probably two or three weeks and I got called up to the office and the officer said, ‘Are you sure you want to go back to Civvy Street?’ I said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do.’ He said, ‘There is.’ He said, ‘If you’re willing, and you don’t want to go back to Civvy Street you can re-muster today and I’ll guarantee that you’ll be a sergeant in six weeks to seven weeks.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll do that. There’s no point in me going back.’ I said, ‘I’ll do that.’ And which he did and I was, from there I was then sent to Pwllheli, in North Wales. Llanbedrog was the village and there was a small airfield there and surprisingly enough they started you know with a round circular thing on the ground for air firing and so forth and then you had to go up in a Blenheim. You turned because they packed three or four of you but each one had different coloured bullets, well, and some Lysander was towing, towing a drogue so you had to fire at a drogue. And surprisingly enough for me one of the pilots, they were nearly all Polish but one pilot stood out and it was a friend of mine. He’d just come back from Rhodesia, and he’d got his wings and he was flying a Lysander. So he said, ‘What number are you going?’ I said, ‘Number three.’ He said, ‘Right.’ So when number three came up the drogue came sliding nearer and nearer with the Lysander. Of course [laughs] I got more shots at it than anybody else. Fortunately, of course, I passed and after six weeks there I was passed out. I was a sergeant gunner and from there I was trained. I went to Driffield to finish off and before I went to Conversion Unit and so forth to pick up a crew and I’ve got a photograph of myself somewhere when I first went and then I went from there to, I think it was Faldingworth. I think it was. No. It wasn’t Faldingworth. It was [pause] Seighford. Gunnery Flight at Seighford and picked up a crew. And then I got struck down with rheumatic again and I went in to hospital and when I came out I hadn’t got a crew because unfortunately the pilot, we were all in one room and you made up your own crews. The crew I’d picked, we’d picked, I picked and made up had crashed on take-off and were all killed. So they said to me, ‘Do you want to go back and pick a crew up? Or we can transfer you to ITW again because we have a crew there but their conversion from Wellingtons on to Lancasters and they’ve only got one gunner. They want a rear gunner. They’ve only got a mid-upper.’ So I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do that. So that’s how I got transferred then to pick up Flight Sergeant Teece and his Australian crew and that’s how I joined 460 Squadron. Of course, I stayed on 460 after that. But on the way back from Magdeburg one of the ops we did we we were coming around on the outer circle and we called up, ‘Lancaster M on circuit.’ And they said, ‘All aircraft down five hundred feet and —’ Your turn to land. And the skipper called up and they said, ‘Prepare to land.’ And he was on the outer circle coming around for the funnel and the four engines stopped and we were probably about a thousand feet up or something. They said, ‘No way of baling out or anything. Much too low.’ And he said, ‘Hang on chaps. We’re going in.’ And I just hung on and we hit the ground and he was a very good skipper. He must have pulled the stick back just before we hit the ground tail first and the tail broke off by the rear spar and the turret turned over, banged me in the chest. Unfortunately it hit me right where the parachute harness buckle is in the middle and it knocked me straight through the turret doors and I woke up looking at the sky. So [laughs] and stars. So I was very fortunate there but unfortunately one or two of the crew were injured but Teece said, ‘I’ll do anything but I will not take the responsibility of a crew.’ He said, ‘I’ll fly anything but it’s got to be solo because,’ he said, ‘I don’t want the responsibility of their lives.’ So the crew got split up but the wireless op and myself they said, ‘You can stay on the squadron as spares.’ So, I said, ‘Well, we might as well.’ Ron said, ‘Yeah. Ok. I’ll stay on as well.’ Which he did. Buddy Mansfield. But about four ops later he was with a crew and we heard the crew calling up and the man panicked. The skipper panicked. Well of course panic. If anybody panicked that was it. It was fatal. You had to remain calm and we heard him calling him up, ‘I cannot bring my port wing up,’ and he was going around in circles and crashed. But little did I know that it was the aircraft that Ronnie was in. So of course, Ron, old Ron got killed. When I came back the wireless op officer he sent a special car out to pick me up instead of the lorry or the van. So I said to the WAAF driver, ‘What’s the problem?’ She said, ‘Oh, Dusty Miller —' the signals officer, ‘He’ll tell you when he sees you.’ So I said, ‘Oh, fair enough.’ So when I got to interrogation Dusty Miller was there and he said, ‘I cannot describe how I feel.’ I said, ‘Well, you know I’ve taken Ron to my home two or three times.’ He was the only one I really palled up with because you didn’t make pals because you were all the same and there was, you were all comrades but you were all doing the same job. But you didn’t make fast friends because you’d never know whether they were, whether they were coming back or not so you didn’t really get really involved with them. Ron was the only one I really took to. But anyway, Dusty said, ‘Well — ’ he said, ‘It was an easy op wasn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ Because it was after D-Day and it was only a field battery or something. He said, ‘I have to get my flying hours in to keep my flying pay.’ You had to give so many hours to keep your flying pay even if you were in charge of a section. So I said, ‘I know you had to keep your flight time.’ He said, ‘Well I tried to talk Ronnie into standing down and let me take his place so I could get my flying in.’ And he said Ron said, ‘No. I’m going.’ He said, if he’d have changed,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t be here.’ It was just fate you know. But anyway, after that of course I was with all different crews. I never made really good friends. I made just normal comrades and I flew then with quite a number of crews on their first op and one of the crews, that’s one that I’ve got here. When we, oh that’s one. One of the, this was the one I think. Yes. And I used to, oh yeah, this is it. I used to say to the skippers when they went out there you know when you were with the spare gunner or a spare wireless op but you always had to go with sprog crews on their first op [laughs] Always, always on their first operation and I used to say well, to the skipper, well, if you don’t mind me saying so the Australians were very good because no matter what their rank was and even if they were squadron leaders they would listen to you and do what you said. And I used to say, ‘The first thing you do no one talks unless they’ve got to because no one shouts or anything because you start panicking because if you panic that’s it. You’ve had it.’ So, I used to say to the skipper, ‘What you do, you should, you don’t need to call up your flight engineer because he’s sitting next to you. You don’t need to call up the bomb aimer because he’s lying down beside but call up the rest of your crew in turn about every half an hour to make sure they’re all awake.’ Because some of them were fatal. When the doctors came out before you took off, while you were waiting he used to feed you with wakey wakey pills to keep you awake and they used to, a lot of them used to take one. As soon as he was out spit them out and that was fatal if you didn’t take your wakey wakey pills because you could go to sleep and I said, ‘Make sure that all your crew are awake because it’s fatal if one of them’s not.’ And it was this particular crew that I said to [laughs] said to them, so they said, ‘Oh ok.’ They did but we were on the way to Frankfurt and all of a sudden the mid-upper started firing and I swang around the turret to have a look where he was firing and I said, I called up, I said, ‘Stop firing. It’s another Lancaster.’ It was another Lanc but because, you know I suppose he was on his first op but when we got back in to briefing after they were briefed we used to go and get your rum ration drink and a coffee and newspaper people were there. [laughs] And that was the newspaper people took photographs of those. So that was Flight Sergeant Daley’s crew and I did a couple of ops with them. And a little while after that I flew with Dan Cullen and his crew and I flew with Bourke and his crew then. One of the crews on the squadron that had done about fourteen ops their rear gunner was killed so they said to me, ‘Would you? Did you want to take his place?’ So I said, ‘Yeah. I might as well take his place.’ I said, ‘Of course. No, no problem.’ And that was Pilot Officer Mullins, that was his crew and I did sixteen ops with him to finish the tour. So, he, Ron Mullins, he married a girl from Grimsby and she’s written to me from Australia a couple of times and sent me different photographs but he died about five years ago. Ron. But no they, they, they were marvellous blokes. As I say I’ve been back to Australia twice now. Two I think. The last time we went to Australia was because we had one aircraft on the squadron which was always a spare aircraft because they used to load up one aircraft that had no crew with bombs and petrol load in case we got a mag drop or something somebody we used to transfer them to the spare aircraft and G-George was always the spare. And sure enough everybody [laughs] every, somebody had a fault because G-George was always shot up and would always come back. It did ninety two ops that aircraft. There wasn’t much of it left of the original aircraft of course but everybody flew with him. But when the war finished they took it to pieces. They shipped it to Australia and it was refurbished and rebuilt and it was presented to the Canberra War Museum and that’s when I went and that’s why, how I got there. I went to Canberra when they put G-George up. So then as I say since then I’ve got into different things like that and I was very surprised at the way that the Australian people and the government of Australia and New Zealand have treated their veterans and Bomber Command and this country has tried to hide the fifty five and a half thousand young men who were all volunteers that got killed, under the carpet. And Bomber Command. And this is why now I’ve done everything I could to help them to make sure that that they’re now not pushed under the carpet because I think, I mean in Australia you’d be surprised. They do everything they can. I mean, even now every month they send me a list of all the Association meetings and their Bomber Command meetings and everything. They really look after their veterans you know and the ones that got killed well you know they put Memorials up and everything and I was surprised when they put, they put the Lincoln up. I was surprised. But even then other people have had to do it. The government hasn’t done it. It’s been done by the public. So this is why I’ve done all these things as I say when Steve said to me will I go to London to sign these photographs I said yeah. And I went to Little Gransden Airport and signed photographs and books there two or three times. And quite a number of the public surprisingly enough that buy the books you know they all come up for a signature and they’re willing to donate so much money for every signature and that raises money to help the Memorial and this is why I do it. But unfortunately, about eighteen months ago I was struck with a, well a tumour I suppose you’d call it and I had an operation which was cut from there to there and I couldn’t walk for about six or seven weeks after. But fortunately, I have this specialist in Watford. He’s absolutely marvellous. Mr Arbuckle. He’s absolutely, he lives in Stanmore actually and he does a lot of work at Bupa Hospital as well but he gives certain days to the National Health Service and he was the one that operated on me because I said to the wife on the first night I felt bad I said to her, ‘Look. You’ll have to get an ambulance or ring up for an ambulance to get me to hospital because I don’t think, you know I think there’s something wrong.’ So they did. They took me in to Watford General and Mr Arbuckle came around and he was there and he said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘We’ve had a scan on you.’ And he said, ‘You’ve got two options. You either give me permission to operate or you die tomorrow because that’s what it is.’ He said, ‘I either operate or you die.’ I said, ‘Well, you operate. That’s it.’ You know. Which he did do but he said, ‘It is a terrible operation.’ He said, ‘Because the colon has to be split and —' he said, ‘It won’t be joined and you will have two holes to take everything from your body.’ He said, ‘If you’re willing to do that and to have two bags.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got no option,’ I said, ‘Otherwise I die.’ And he said, ‘Well, fair enough. The next morning after the operation and they came around I was in the Intensive Care for about three days and he came in and he said, ‘You’re a very lucky man.’ So I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I could join your colon. So you don’t have — ’ I’ve still got the scars where they made the holes but there’s no, I’ve got no tubes there fortunately. And he said, ‘You’re a, you’re a lucky old bastard,’ he said and he really is genuine. He’s been on the telly a couple of times actually but he’s an absolutely brilliant surgeon. And now I go every six months. He makes me have a scan and then when he gets the results of the scan he calls me up and I have to go and he says, ‘Now, fortunately the last eighteen months nothing has grown,’ he said, ‘Because I took a tumour and sixteen other pieces from your body.’ And he said, ‘But nothing has, nothing has grown.’ So fortunately, I was lucky there so he said, ‘There’s another life you’ve got.’ So I said, ‘well,’ I said, ‘I’ve survived an aircraft crash.’ That what I did. So I said, ‘I’m really extremely lucky.’ I said, ‘I admit.’ I mean ninety four years of age I mean you know if you live that long you are lucky because I mean you look at people now some friends in the village here he’s a millionaire and two years ago his wife died. She was forty five years of age. Cancer. Terrible. You know. So when you think of these things like that you realise how lucky you are.
NM: Amazing.
GN: I think to myself, ‘Well, I must do all I can because you haven’t got all that long obviously.
NM: Can I —
GN: Yeah.
NM: Can I take —
GN: This is what, this is what —
NM: Can I take —
GN: This is what the Australians sent me about the —
NM: Oh, the —
GN: And this is what they sent me.
NM: Legion of Honour commemorative medal.
GN: Yeah.
NM: This is the French is this? So you’ve got the Legion of Honour.
GN: Yeah.
NM: From France.
GN: Yeah.
NM: For your work on D-Day.
GN: Yeah. And they, they even sent this. me, this is the D-Day operation and we’ll be on there somewhere with Mullins. One of them shown. Oh, this is the one that Steve Darlow sent. Even if I would sign the, go to London to sign the photographs so I said yeah. Will do. Which we did do and one of these people in the village here surprisingly enough he’d done all they can to help Bomber Command and they had this made up for me and that’s, that’s, that’s the photograph of flying back from Frankfurt. And this is when I first went home. That was when I first passed out of Flying School. Air Gunnery School. And they, I don’t know where they got the information. They must have got it from somewhere but [pause] they had this book made up. But they had all this information from records and what I’d done, it’s all done and we were attacked by a fighter and God knows what. Yeah. Very good.
NM: So, can I take —
GN: So if you want any photographs or anything.
NM: Yeah. Can I take you back to your first crew. Well not your first crew because they were killed after your rheumatic fever.
GN: Yeah.
NM: But the crew you then joined. Was it Teece did you say was the pilot?
GN: Yeah.
NM: Tell me, I mean how many operations did you fly with that crew and can you tell me —
GN: With Teece?
NM: How many? Can you tell me any stories? I mean, you obviously had the crash after the Magdeburg raid but —
GN: Yeah. Well —
NM: What was that, what was that crew like to fly with and where did you —
GN: Very good. They were all very good. I can honestly say, I mean people used to say and it’s been mentioned a few times. LMF. Lack of moral fibre if anybody [pause] I can honestly say with all the aircrew that I’d seen and flown with I had never seen one that was really afraid. They seemed to keep it within themselves. They didn’t spread it as it were you know to make everybody panic or anything. I never found anyone that was afraid. They were all just doing their job and that’s it but what, surprisingly enough after the crash from Magdeburg I was on the squadron and I went down to the local pub one night and went into there and I was on my own and having a drink and I got talking to one of the older members of the village. He was an ex-1918 soldier and he was a farm worker but he’d retired. But when the war broke out and the farm labourers were, he went back to work to keep the country moving. And he was very old and he said to me, ‘You’re very, you’re very despondent. You’re very, ‘ he said, ‘You don’t look as if —’ I said, ‘No..’ I said, ‘I’m wondering whether I’m doing the right thing with Bomber Command.’ I said, ‘Dropping bombs, you know.’ I said and I explained to him how I felt but his words to me changed me entirely because he said to me, ‘Son, don’t feel guilty.’ He said, ‘You’re giving to the enemy what the enemy has given to us and to others.’ And I thought well that’s it. So why should I feel guilty about doing this? And that’s how I was after that. I didn’t worry at all. I just, I just got on with what you were doing and that was it. And that was with Teece. That was Berlin, Teece. Yeah. I remember Teece to Stettin. Berlin. Magdeburg was the one we crashed. And then I flew with Flight Sergeant Daley, sprog crew to Stuttgart and then one I did with them to Frankfurt and after that I did with Pilot Officer Bourke to Berlin. Then with Pilot Officer Bourke to [unclear] and I did two ops with him. Then I did [[ Cullen, Dan Cullen, still alive actually Dan is. He’s ninety nine actually. Yeah. He’s still alive Dan is. And after that it was Lancaster Q-Queenie Mullins. And I did sixteen ops with Mullins ‘til he’d finished his tour.
NM: So did you ever fire your guns in anger? See any night fighters?
GN: No, because if you studied fighter affiliation to really, the guns there were put there to, to sort of
think you might think you have something to defend yourself with but if you really studied it they didn’t defend you because they were only 303s. They tried .5s but they burst their mountings because they were too powerful so they could only put 303 Brownings in the turret and the tracer bullets used to go about two hundred yards and then pfft all over the sky. I mean they just hadn’t have the power and the fighters had got cannon shells which were much more powerful and if you studied your fighter affiliation and you kept your eyes open and caught the thing, the fighter you used to call the skipper up, and say, ‘Stand by skipper. There’s a fighter on the port quarter down.’ So you watched him and he was flying like that. Now, if he suddenly dipped his wing, started to turn that was it because he’s got fixed guns. Her can’t move his guns because they’re fixed in the wings like a Spitfire. So the only way he could keep you in his sights was in a curve of pursuit and if you, as soon as he’s turned his wings, started to come in, ‘Dive port, skipper.’ Dive into his turn. He couldn’t get you. But you had to be awake and you had to know how to call up the skipper and if you did that you didn’t need to fire your guns because you wouldn’t have hit him anyway. This one pilot, the only time you fired your guns at him is if he did come close to you, within a few hundred yards and then give him a burst. But otherwise, it was just a waste of time. So if you got that fighter and they did take you up on fighter affiliation at the Gunnery Schools with the Spitfire but you didn’t have the guns. You had a camera. And if you, if he came in to attack and if you learned your fighter affiliation properly they had a job to shoot you down. The only thing that really [bothered] wasn’t the German night fighters it was the anti-aircraft because there’s no doubt about it we came back across the Thames Corridor past London on the way back if you went to France or somewhere and the anti-aircraft were firing at the Germans and the anti-aircraft shells were bursting miles below us but the German anti-aircraft was, we could be twenty five thousand and they still burst above us. They had marvellous defences and when you come to think of it the people don’t like to say it but when you have a thousand bomber raid then you’ve got four waves. That’s two hundred and fifty aircraft in one wave and you weren’t all at the same height. You were all stepped down. Up and down. Well, all those aircraft going through the bombs coming down a lot of our aircraft were lost with our own bombs. They must have been. Impossible to think every aircraft would get through and I used to say to the skipper, ‘When you get to the target area and the bomb aimer is giving you directions, ‘Left. Left. Right.’ I said, ‘All you’ve got to do is put your nose down and lose about two thousand feet and belt like hell as fast as you can through the target area because then you’ve got less seconds for any of those bombs to touch you.’ And that’s what they used to do. They all used to all take notice of it and surprisingly enough every one of those crews finished their tour. They all finished their tour. I couldn’t believe it. Mullins, Cullen, Daley all finished their tour. Some of them were posted to Pathfinder Force and from the squadron but they all finished a tour. They all did their thirty ops. So I thought well there must have been some good I told them you know because they all survived and that was it.
NM: So did you ever have to call evasive action on an operation?
GN: Call any —
NM: Did you have to call evasive operation if you were in —
GN: Oh yeah. Yeah. Many times.
NM: So you saw, you saw fighters.
GN: Yeah. I saw fighters. Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s mentioned in the, in there. One of the, I keep forgetting which one it was now. We were attacked by a fighter and things went [pause] No. If if you as I say if you know your fighter affiliation you could if you wanted any photographs I’ve got loads of these photographs to give anybody.
NM: So you had to call it several times on your —
GN: Pardon?
NM: You had to call evasive action several times on your —
GN: Yeah.
NM: Your, your tour. Tell me a bit more about what you did on D-Day then. The operation on D-Day.
GN: Yeah. Yeah. Because the operation on D-Day that was, that was the one that they sent to on the field battery. It was a field battery and that was the most marvellous sight that you could ever see but you could never describe it to anyone because well it was just really impossible to describe. It’s a pity that you couldn’t have photographed it a bit because we, we bombed at just inside the French coast and it was we’d taken, we took off late. We didn’t take off about five or six. It was late in the evening and we bombed this field battery and we turned around and came back across the Channel. And as we came back across the Channel I looked behind and the Channel, it was breaking dawn, you could just see it was absolutely full of craft going across it. And then you’d look up. There were the gliders going in being towed across there. And the battle ships laying off on the English coast firing across the tops. An absolutely wonderful sight. It’s really impossible to describe it. I mean you would never see it again obviously but it was, it was an absolutely marvellous sight. That was at St John Wood on the twenty fifth anniversary of the RAF. That was, that was St Johns Wood. Yeah.
NM: So, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Stettin, Hanover. Any other particular targets?
GN: Any one —?
NM: Any other particular targets that you recall?
GN: Well, that is the only particular targets that I recall was the one at Magdeburg when we crashed obviously. Frankfurt, when we, we got back and the reporters were there. And the other one was one where we got attacked by fighters. It’s in here somewhere.
[pause]
NM: Did they get close enough so that you could recognise the aircraft?
GN: Oh yeah. Brunswick was the 14th 15th of January 1944.
NM: Were they close enough so that you could recognise the fighter?
GN: Yeah. We were attacked by a twin engine fighter.
NM: A twin engine.
GN: Yeah. Yeah.
NM: That was —
GN: Junkers 88. Twin engine one. That’s at the top here. Yeah, I think [pause] Yeah, I don’t know where they got those records from. They must have gone somewhere. They must have got them from, well surprising enough every, every one that I’ve had to ring up or go to they’ve all done all they could to help. I mean I, I, after the war I suffered with deafness and it was only somebody that said to me, ‘Well, get in touch with the Air Force and see what they can do.’ And I got in touch with the people at Blackpool and I was surprised because the woman said, ‘Oh yes.’ She said, ‘I know exactly. Exactly what you’ve done,’ she said, ‘Because we have all your records. They’re all underground here. We have a mile underground with all the records of what everybody has done and we know what you did.’ So, they said, ‘Well, we’ll send you to Mount Vernon Hospital to give you a check-up here and they did do and they said, ‘Well, you’ll, you know, you’ll be deaf within a few months.’ So I had to have hearing aids but they gave me a pension because they said, ‘Well, it was a deafness of the four Stirling engines noise that lost your hearing because none of the family have suffered with hearing and I got a war pension from it. And then, you know they all seem as if they can’t do enough for you surprisingly enough. The only thing that annoys me is the politicians and really and truthfully even the British Legion because I marched in the annual Cenotaph march two or three times but the British Legion did everything they could to push Bomber Command out. They didn’t want it. Not much had been known because you’ll upset people because you’re Bomber Command. Even the British Legion. And that’s what annoyed me about it because I mean those fifty five thousand young man, I mean they were all average eighteen to twenty two but they were all young. I mean they fought, gave their lives to stop being ruled by a military politicians but no. They, now the politicians want to push them under the carpet. This is what annoyed me with it. Whichever you must think it’s bad and this is why as I say I think it’s wonderful the way they built this Memorial. The people in the, [unclear] the pop group bloke who did a lot towards it.
NM: Robin Gibbs.
GN: Yeah. Robin. Yeah. Marvellous really because people like that they recognised what they’d done and if those fifty five thousand are not forgotten and really it might stop it ever happening again because nobody wants it to happen. I mean, it’s just a terrible thing really. But I mean when one or two old people have said to me when I’ve asked them well what you’ve got to realise is that the war started because the Germans went in and bombed Poland, Warsaw without even declaring war. And they dropped bombs on the city killing the Polish people so why shouldn’t they have it back because really and truthfully even with the Middle East now with Israel they’re the only country that if anybody goes and does anything to them they go straight back and do it to them. And they‘re the only people with any guts to do it because it might, it might stop it. I mean it’s, it’s silly really that people would be being annoyed about Bomber Command I think but there you are. That’s just what they feel I suppose. Well, that’s it.
NM: So you finished your tour.
GN: Yeah.
NM: With 460.
GN: Yeah.
NM: What happened after that? What did you do?
GN: Well, I was surprised really at what the Air Force did because surprisingly enough I got annoyed about one thing because after we finished and I went into Wymeswold or somewhere I think. Yes. It was Wymeswold I went to on rest. It came through on Orders and everything the whole of Ken Mullins’ crew were decorated. I was the only one that was left out and I thought well if they don’t want to recognise me I don’t want to do any more. So when it was my turn to come up they said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know want to do anything but fly.’ I said, ‘If I can’t fly. Nothing.’ So they said, ‘Oh dear. Can you drive?’ I said, ‘No. Never had a car. Never had the money for a car,’ I said. They said, ‘Well, that’s fair enough.’ The next thing they‘ve posted me to Kirkham and Wesham just outside Blackpool to a driving school for six weeks starting on Austin 7s, finished off on Thornycroft and trailers and stripping engines down and things. Marvellous time. I passed out and I passed my test with the police on the big Thornycroft lorry and the next thing I know I was posted. So I said, ‘Where am I posted to?’ And they said, ‘Brackla, Scotland.’ On the Moray Firth. I said, ‘Oh.’ Well, we got up there. Nothing to do. So I was there, must have been two or three months just hanging about and doing nothing really. Just drinking and so forth. And then they said ‘You’re posted.’ And I said, ‘Where am I posted?’ They said, ‘Biggin Hill.’ I said, ’That’s Fighter Command.’ They said, ‘Well, you’ve been posted to Biggin Hill.’ So I went to Biggin Hill. When I got there they said, ‘Oh, well —’ by this time of course I’m a flight sergeant you see so he said, ‘Oh well, we’ve got a job for you.’ I said, ‘What’s that then?’ ‘They said, ‘Driving the padre.’ And he was a real gentleman, the padre so I said, ‘Oh well, that’s alright.’ But he lived outside the camp. About two mile up the road from Biggin Hill.’ But he used to get as drunk as a Lord and I'd be sitting in the sergeant’s mess, the phone would ring and the steward would say, ‘You’re wanted on the phone.’ I used to say, ‘Right.’ Well, they’d say, ‘Officer’s mess here. Bring the car for the Padre.’ I used to go up. They used to bring him out paralytic, put him in the car. I used to take him home, get him out the car and take him up to the door, ring the bell and then run like hell because his wife would come out creating [laughs] because he was drunk. But he was, he was, when he was sober he was marvellous because we used to go around visiting airmen who were home on leave and taken ill and so forth and he used to have to go and visit. Or anybody got killed or anything he used to have to go to the funerals and so forth. And then they called me up to the Orderly Room and they said, ‘You’re posted.’ I said, Where am I posted to?’ They said, ‘Number 5 Staging Post.’ I said, ‘Where’s 5 Staging Post?’ They said, ‘Norway.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go Norway. What the hell do I want to go to Norway for?’ They said, ‘Well, you’re posted there.’ So when I was, when I told the Padre I said, ‘They posted me.’ He said, ‘Well, where? Where to?’ So I said, ‘Norway.’ He said, ‘Do you want to go?’ ‘I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go. I might as well stay here.’ So he said, ‘Leave it with me. I'll see what I can do.’ He said, ‘Well, where do you live?’ I said, ‘Watford.’ So he said, ‘Oh, well. I’ll see what I can do.’ So, a week later they said it’s cancelled. ‘You're not. You’re not posted.’ A few weeks after that they said, ‘You’re posted.’ I said, ‘Oh, not again. Where am I posted to?’ Where do you think they posted me to? Number One Group Headquarters, Transport Command. Where was it? Bushey Hall Hotel, Watford. By this time I'm a WO and he said, ‘There's no officer there because they had to have an officer or a Warrant Officer in the section, Transport Section to draw the money for drivers that were out on driving when the Pay Parade was on so they got their money when they came back. So, they said they must have [pause] So he said, ‘You can be a Warrant Officer and sit in the office and just run it.’ Keep track of petrol because the transport on the station like the fire engine and the ambulance had to be run up every day to make sure it started in case anything happened. So of course, it used fuel and you used to have to balance the fuel to make sure the tanks were okay. And that's why they sent me to Bushey Hall. And I was there for about eight months I suppose and Group Captain Butler and one or two of them surprisingly enough, well I suppose it was, it was his life but used to ring up and he used to say, ‘Group Captain Butler here.’ ‘Yes Sir.’ ‘I need a car tomorrow because I'm doing a run around the circuit on all the stations. I'll be away for three or four days and I want a car to take me around to all the stations. I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He said, ‘Who’s the driver?’ I said, ‘Well, LAC —’so and so. ‘Is it possible to have LACW — ’so and so? His fancy woman. A WAAF driver and I used to say, ‘No. That's quite alright, sir. I think we can manage that.’ And then he [laughs] they used to ring up and say, ‘Butler here. Do you want a new uniform?’ And then when I was notified to go to Uxbridge to get demobbed Butler said, ‘Stay in. Don't get demobbed. Stay in.’ But I was, I was married by then and and I said, ‘No. I’m alright.’ But that’s where they sent me and I finished up right on my doorstep. I couldn’t have been any closer. And I thought to myself well I’ve moaned and groaned but I said, I thought well I’m lucky really because the way I’ve been treated. You know, I mean I couldn’t fault it really. It was, you know absolute, well, it was so easy there up at Bushey Hall and of course the Yanks had just moved out of Bushey Hall and the Air Force had taken it over again and it was with the golf course and everything there, you know. Bushey Hall. And, well of course you live right near it don’t you? But that was another thing was that when my father died my mother had to do local work and one of the big houses halfway up Mount Pleasant Lane was Mr, Mr Bristow and my mother was doing housework for them. And Mr Bristow offered my mother to take her two boys, that’s my elder brother, my real brother, the others were step brothers and myself to send us to the Royal Masonic Orphanage, Bushey. We could have gone there. My mother wouldn’t let us go. But we could have been educated absolutely spot on there but that was one of those things, you know. She said no. She wouldn’t part with us so we didn’t go. But well as I say I think I’ve been very lucky that someone up there, at leas Old Nick has to take me. So, you know.
NM: So you were demobbed. So, what, what did you do then?
GN: And then I got demobbed and well with the money that I had with the gratuity coming out the Service and so forth I was married and we moved to Bexley Heath in Kent and I spent all my money buying a house, furniture and so forth and I went to work with my wife’s father in his engineering factory. And he had an engineering factory just outside Woolwich and I was working with him and we were doing work for the British American Optical Cigarette Companies, John Players and [Donegan] and Wills of Bedminster, Bristol. And I used to have to go down to these places and unfortunately for me I didn’t realise it at the time but a friend of theirs, a family, their son was carrying on with my wife. And it was only through luck one morning I got up to go to work and I thought, and I smoked so I stopped about twenty years ago but I used to smoke a lot then and I thought where’s the cigarette lighter? And her handbag was up there. I thought, oh well, the wife’s got a lighter, and I found a letter and there was no, you couldn’t say that there was nothing going on because it was absolutely written there. I thought well I must, must go because I might lose, do something that I shouldn’t and I went down, I went to work and her father came in and I said, ‘Look.’ He said, ‘Oh. Leave it with me.’ And he said, ‘I’ll come back.’ And he went and she just ran out of the house and that’s it. I never saw her again. And he said, we found that she had arranged for a furniture van to come the next day to take, even take the ruddy furniture out of the house and leave me with nothing. And they, they just, and I said, ‘That’s it. I’m packing up and I was out of work. I had no home. I got in debt with the Building Society. So I had to [unclear] and as it stood with the furniture and everything and of course I lost everything and I’d no money and I managed to get lodgings and fortunately the chap who I lodged with he was the manager of a shop and he said, ‘I’ll see if I could get you a job with me.’ He said, and we did. I got a job with him and it was Crown Wallpaper shops and he said, ‘Right. We’ll train.’ And I was with them for about six months and they said, ‘Right. Now we are opening a new shop at Dorking and you’ll be the manager.’ And I opened the shop at Dorking and after about nine months or so they moved me to a bigger shop at Epsom and then by this time I’d already got divorced because while I was at Dorking a local solicitor got in touch with me and said, ‘Mr Roberts from Bexley Heath, his solicitor has been in touch with us and wants you to divorce your wife.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ll think about it but what I should have done is said to him, ‘Yes, if I get back all the money I wasted on her. I want the ring and everything.’ But I didn’t. I said, he said, ‘You know if she comes knocking on your door,’ he said, ‘You’re bound by law to take her in.’ I said, ‘I don’t care if she does because,’ I said, ‘There’s no way that I’m taking her back and the point is my firm will move me and you’ll have to try and trace me,’ I said. So he said, ‘Well, I’ll explain it to them.’ And he came back to me and he said. ‘Well, they’re willing to pay all costs.’ So I said. ‘Well, if they’re willing to pay for everything. The divorce.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ Right. So he said, ‘Well I’ll get in touch with them and say you’ll do it.’ And he did do. He got in touch with me and said we’ll come up in the law courts. In those days it was a KC was Kings Council because the King was still alive then and we went in to, in to the court and the KC said to me, ‘When I put you in the witness box,’ he said, ‘Don’t look at me. Look up. You’ll see a round hole above where the judge is sitting.’ He said, ‘Look straight at that and all you say is yes, my lord. No, my lord. Don’t go into any conversation. Just say yes or no.’ He said, ‘I’ll ask you in a way that there’s only one question. One answer.’ So, I said, ‘Right.’ Went in. Bang. Bang. Bang. It was all over in about ten minutes. We just came out, he said, ‘Quick, wasn’t it?’ So, I said, ‘Yeah.’ But it cost him four hundred and fifty quid in those days. They paid it but I was still, I didn’t get anything back but I got divorced and then I eventually met the wife who is now and she lived at Chipperfield because I came to Watford from Epsom one day to see my brother. He lived in Watford and we went out and we met her, you see. And we palled up and gradually I thought well this is a long way apart you know. So I said to the area manager of the shop, I said, you know, ‘Any chance of getting a move somewhere?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I think we could arrange it.’ So they moved me to Ruislip and I got this job in Ruislip so I was a manager of the shop in Ruislip then for a few years and we got married and it was only after I suppose a year or so at Ruislip after we got married and I saw in the paper, “Reps wanted.” So I applied and I got a job at the Eveready Company, the battery people, as a representative and I was with them for quite a few years as a rep and then my brother said to me, he said, ‘I’ve bought a cab. A taxi.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you come in?’ So I thought well I’ll have a look at it to see. So I decided to sit the, sit the test so I did do but unfortunately for me somebody got in touch with Eveready and said that I was doing part time taxi work and they said, ‘You’ll give up the taxi or we’ll sack you.’ So I said, ‘Well, fair enough.’ I said, ‘You can do what you like.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to give it up.’ And then I was with, I was a taxi driver then for my own taxi for twenty five years until I retired. That’s right. There you are. But, no, I had a marvellous time even taxi driving really because I picked up so many people, you know. Hughie Green, I couldn’t stand him on the television. “Opportunity Knocks.” But I used to drive him about quite a lot when he lived at Baker Street and he was a marvellous bloke. And he used to fly his plane in to Leavesden Airport, and I used to pick him up there at Leavesden Airport and take him up to Baker Street. But the first thing he used to say, ‘You know the first drop?’ I said, ‘Yeah, [Cornice] Drive.’ ‘No. The pub.’ [laughs] He wanted a drink. So then Sir John Mills from, he lived at Denham. I picked him up quite a few times. Diana Dors. I mean there was so many different people and so many actors and that that you picked up. It was surprising. I had a marvellous time really. I couldn’t complain about that but the wife didn’t like it because she didn’t like the job and the hours, you know. It was the thing but there you are it was one of those things I suppose. So —
NM: So the RAF taught you to drive and —
GN: Pardon?
NM: The RAF taught you to drive.
GN: Oh yeah. Yeah.
NM: And you became a taxi driver.
GN: Of course. That was another thing.
NM: That was the rest of your life.
GN: And oh, that, that [laughs] you just, you’ve now surprised me when you were just you’re now surprised me with something I’d completely forgotten because when I first come out the first time I’d spent all that and I couldn’t afford a car so I let the licence lapse and of course when I come to meet the wife that is now and I thought about a car I found my driving licence but I’d have to pass the test again. So I bought an old Singer car and I applied to pass the test and they said Slough. Safety town in those days when they first brought out the safety crossings and so forth. So I said, ‘Yeah. Right.’ They said, ‘Well, we’ll have to send you down.’ And I said, they sent me down. I put the, put the application in and I got a letter back saying yes, you know, a week’s time. Come so and so, something else. So I reported there. The instructor came out. He said, ‘Right. Lets go.’ And we started off and he said, ‘Now when we’re going along along I will suddenly put my hand on the windscreen.’ He said, ‘I want you to do an emergency stop.’ So I said, ‘Yes. Right. Fair enough.’ Boom. Bang. The ruddy seat broke and he went back [laughs] in the back of the car and he said, ‘God, where did you learn to drive?’ I said, ‘Kirkham on Wesham.’ I said, ‘At Blackpool. British School of Motoring.’ He said, ‘Well, I can’t fail you.’ He said, ‘Because I was one of the instructors.’ [laughs] And he passed me. That’s it. So I got a driving licence again. There you are. But I forgot all about that. Well, it was so funny at the time because it was a little old car, you know. It wasn’t worth much but still and as I say he finished up in the back of the car. But no, I suppose when looking back on life I have been extremely lucky because things have happened that you know you wouldn’t think you would get over but I’ve never really survived, thought that I would go. I mean even during the war I was surprised. Surprisingly enough the night we went to Magdeburg we were standing outside the aircraft waiting to take off and the doctor came around, I took, took the pills and so forth and there was an atmosphere and I thought something is going to happen. But I wasn’t afraid because although I knew that something was going to go wrong that I would survive. That I would still be there so what it was I don’t know but it was and after that every time anything has happened I’ve always known that I was going to survive it. I don’t know why but it’s just one of those things, you know. You feel, like when I went in for the operation it didn’t frighten me because I knew I was going to survive. But the wife and my daughters came in the hospital and they said that I was still unconscious and the tubes are out here and up your nose, down your throat and everywhere and of course they thought well that’s it. He’s going to go. You know. They didn’t think I would survive. I said, but surprisingly I knew that I would survive. I don’t know why but there you are. It’s one of those things. I suppose you know you think yourself extremely lucky if you’ve got those premonitions that you will survive whatever happens. I’ve even, I’ve even did that with a car. With a, with a car because I was doing a lot of driving and I was, I did a silly thing. I drove all day Friday, Friday night I drove somebody down to Cornwall. Saturday morning I drove back to Margate to pick somebody up to bring back to Watford and it was in the wintertime and there was a bit of snow on the ground and I came, I dropped them in Watford and I came up Watford High Street and I got to where the Town Hall roundabout is and there was, there is another roundabout where the Technical College is. And when it happened I don’t even remember driving around those roundabouts but I must have fallen asleep at the wheel because I woke up in a crash. I went straight into a lamppost. The whole front of the car collapsed, the steering wheel collapsed and the door came off and I managed to drive the car because it was automatic. I didn’t have to change gear. I still drove the car off the main road around to the little road that runs off the roundabout by the Technical College. Parked up. Absolute write off but I hadn’t got a scratch. Afterwards I thought amazing. When they looked at the car they said, ‘How did you survive it?’ Because the steering wheel was all collapsed and gone. Everything. And the whole front of the car had gone. So there again. I survived it. I don’t know. My wife, my daughter said to me once, ‘You’re very lucky. You’ve got nine lives like a cat I suppose.’ But there you are. One of those things. But anyway, is there anything more we can help you with?
NM: Just looking back at your time in Bomber Command I mean you’ve touched on it a few times already but what are your main reflections as you look back?
GN: My main what?
NM: What are your main thoughts and reflections as you look back on your time in Bomber Command?
GN: Well, I I think it was a terrible thing to have to do but I think it was something that had to be done because I think personally that Bomber Command dropping the bombs shortened the war because I think it would have gone on longer. So I don’t think to myself that I don’t feel guilty about dropping bombs because I think it did do something to help stop the war because I know, I know that when I first got demobbed that they went, I went back to the firm when I got demobbed out the Service. I was in Watford. Although I was married we’d got digs in Watford and everything and I went back, they said, ‘Oh, you’ll get your job back that you volunteered from.’ So I went in and I reported there and I was just clocking in and a chap came up. He said, ‘Who are you.’ I said, ‘Sorry, sir. I’m just starting work.’ Where’s your card?’ I said, ‘What card?’ He said, ‘Your Union card.’ I said, ‘I haven’t got a Union card.’ ‘You can’t start here.’ I said, ‘Well, fair enough. I can’t start then.’ So I waited until the managers come in and when the managers come in they went in to the office to see this shop steward or whatever he was then, he came in. ‘He can’t start here. He’s got to have a Union card.’ I said, ‘I’ve just fought a dictator.’ I said, ‘You’re dictating.’ I said, ‘If you’d have come to me and said, ‘Look, it’s now a fully-fledged Union shop. Will you join the Union?’ I said, ‘I would have said yes but,’ I said, ‘The way you’ve told me I’ve got to join the Union. Do this. Do that,’ I said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to do it.’ And they couldn’t sack me. They had to keep me for six months. But six months to the day the manager called me in to the office. He said, ‘Look, take a week off and find yourself another job.’ He said, ‘Because,’ he said, ‘We’ll have to let you go next week.’ I said, ‘Fair enough.’ They gave me a week’s holiday and I found another job. But that’s what turned me against Unions because it was the attitude. They were, I said, ‘We’ve just fought a war against a dictator.’ I said, ‘You don’t dictate to people. You ask them.’ But there you are. That’s the way it is I suppose. That’s one of the things that put me off of Unions and going in to a factory again. But there you are. Never mind.
[recording paused]
And it lasted a long while but that’s the only thing as I say I hope it’s done some good to stop any more wars if we can because no war, every, any war is a terrible thing. I don’t know why people have to fight. We know most wars are caused by either politics or religion and why they have to fight and kill people because they don’t believe what you believe in. You haven’t got to turn around and kill them. But they do. Why? That is one thing I can never understand. Why they can do that because it doesn’t matter what they believe in really. Everybody is the same. You are free to do and believe what you want. But there you are. They don’t. I suppose they think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know. Anyway, do you want a cup of coffee or anything?
NM: No. I’m fine. Thank you very much.
GN: Are you sure?
NM: Yeah. I really appreciate it. Yeah. No, I’m fine. Thank you.
[recording paused]
GN: He was a prisoner of war, Reg was. For the rest of the war. And it was Reg who said, that’s Reg White. That’s another one of 460s ones. And these and Reg said to me, ‘Would you be willing to go to Dunstable once a month? To the ATC at Dunstable?’ I said, ‘Yeah. Why? What for? What for Reg?’ He said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘The officer in charge of 460, of ATC at Dunstable has got in touch with 460 Squadron in Australia and they have given him my name and he’s asked me would we go to visit them. So I said, ‘What for?’ He said, ‘Well the thing is,’ he said, ‘They are 460 Squadron ATC.’
NM: Oh right.
GN: But they want to change it because they don’t like the number and he said, but the Air Force got in touch with him and said you don’t change. You don’t want to change it because 460 Squadron was the top squadron of number 1 Group, Bomber Command. And Peg Leg Ray was the, Air Commodore Ray was the, was the CO then and they said, ‘Would you be willing to go and visit the ATC? So we did do and we got invited to their do’s and meet the Mayor of Dunstable and so forth and we were given the Freedom of Dunstable and everything. And we, and then it, unfortunately he’s now left. He’s been promoted. He’s gone to another ATC and the one that’s there now is not interested in doing a veteran’s do, so we had to leave it. And this one is [pause] and this was the order of a wreath laying and so forth. We went to that one. That’s the Australian War Museum in London. We went to that one.
NM: So what was it like serving on a mainly Australian squadron as opposed to being an Englishman on an English squadron?
GN: Oh they were marvellous blokes. I couldn’t fault it. People say about them but alright they were a bit rough and tumble but once you got to know them they were absolutely marvellous blokes. Yeah. There’s the original paper.
NM: Did you get any ribbing for being an Englishman?
GN: Any what?
NM: Did you get any ribbing for being a Pommie?
GN: Oh yeah, they called, oh yes. They did everything they could, you know. Only in fun. They did it all in fun. They were marvellous blokes because on the ground you were all the same. But when you were flying you did what they say. The officer takes over but when you were on the ground you could never be broke because if they ever said, one bloke said to you, ‘Go on. Let’s go down the pub.’ Say, ‘Oh no. I’m a bit skint.’ ‘Come on. I’ve got two pound. Come on. Off we go.’ But you were the same as them. You had to be the same as them and you got on well with them and as I say I’ve, to me they were absolutely marvellous. I think it was probably better than going on a British squadron because I think they were all marvellous blokes and of course with all the, even the, a lot of the ground crew were Aussies as well, you see. Not only were the aircrew Aussies but I mean in charge of our aircraft, Teece’s aircraft was Flight Sergeant Tickle. He was an Australian. An absolutely marvellous bloke. Australia. Hoping that 460 Squadron Association —
NM: So this was, this was your —
GN: Veterans will try and trace anybody, relatives of Ron.
NM: So this was your pal, Ron on 460. This is, I just, I have to catch up on the recording here. You, at the Spire you found his name.
GN: Yeah. Ronny Mansfield. Yeah.
NM: And you took a photograph.
GN: Well, hoping that they can find somebody and I could send them a photograph and, a couple of photographs that I’ve got and so forth I could send out to them but I don’t suppose I’ll go to Australia again. I’m a bit too old now because the trouble is with going abroad now at my age is the insurance. They charge you a fortune.
[recording paused]
GN: I always had a job to get into the turret because you’d got the rear bulkhead doors and you had a gangplank down in to the turret but when I’d got my electrically heated suit on and everything and I got in to the turret I couldn’t get my hand, or arm around to open the rear turret doors once I’d centralised the turret to get out if anything happened. So Ronnie’s job was to come down if anything happened, open the bulkhead doors, come down, open the turret doors to let me out. So that’s how I got so friendly with him because that that was agree that if anything did happen to us he would help me out because our parachute was in the fuselage you see. It wasn’t in the turret with me was it? So I’ve got to get out to get the parachute to jump out you see. But I don’t know whether you know the story of Alkemade do you? Sergeant Alkemade [pause] Well Sergeant Alkemade was given a certificate by the Germans because Alkemade was in a damaged aircraft and it was crashing and Alkemade couldn’t get out to get his parachute. So he turned the turret on the beam because the aircraft was on fire and he opened the doors and fell out backwards as they were at eighteen thousand feet. And he lived because it was near the Black Forest and it was in the middle of winter and the thing that saved him was the pine trees that go like that. He hit the pine trees and they broke his fall but he fell in to a twelve foot snow drift and when the Germans found him he had a broken leg and broken arm and one or two things. They wouldn’t believe him that he had jumped without a parachute but they had to because he’d still got his parachute harness on with the buckle and the clips. So when you put your parachute on the front and pulled the rip cord they come out and swing you over but his was still intact. It had no burst, it proved that he had jumped without a parachute and lived. That was Sergeant Alkemade. Whether he’s still alive or not I don’t know but it’s in one of the gunnery books I’ve got. It’s called, “The Tail Gunner.” The book. And Alkemade was one of them.
NM: So as a rear gunner do you —
GN: I was a rear gunner. Yeah.
NM: Did you feel a long way from the rest of the crew? Did you feel very isolated?
GN: Well you did feel a little bit a long way but as I say you felt satisfied that they all would all do what they could to get you out and as I say Ron was, his first job was to come down and open the bulkhead doors and go down and open the turret doors for me because there’s no way I would have got out I don’t think if I had to have got out quick. But fortunately it never happened that I had to get out quick and the only time as I say that I did get out the turret was when I was knocked through by the guns. They put me in hospital for about a fortnight because, oh they rushed me in to hospital because I’d bit my tongue. Holding on in some way I’d bitten my tongue. I had blood coming out my mouth and they thought it had hit the ribs and broken, it broke three of them off the ends and turned the end to the lung and pierced the lung. And they sent a telegram to my mother saying I was dying. To go and visit me in hospital in Louth. Yeah. The old County Infirmary. They sent her a, you know, that I wouldn’t live because they thought my lung was punctured but it wasn’t. Fortunately, it missed. It didn’t quite touch the lung. They’d knotted up. The only thing is now that if I walk very far I get a terrible pain there and they thought worse. Heart trouble. But the doctors say no. It’s not heart trouble. It’s the muscle of the lung because the rib is too near the lung.
NM: That’s from following that crash.
GN: Yeah.
NM: After the Magdeburg crash.
GN: Yeah.
NM: Wow.
GN: Yeah. I was fortunate there that that didn’t puncture the lung but there you are. It’s just, I suppose it’s fate really. As I say I’m not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion but I believe in fate. I think it’s just fate. What’s going to happen is going to happen. That’s it and there’s no way you can stop it, you know. So one of these things. But anybody that’s religious well good luck to them if they want to believe it, you know but the damned fools all fight over it. It’s just, it’s to me it’s utterly useless and a waste of a life because there’s no reason for it. But there you are. I suppose it’s one of those things. Religious fanatics and there you are.
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Interview with Gerard Norwood
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Nigel Moore
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2016-02-01
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Format
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01:39:03 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
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
Description
An account of the resource
Gerard’s father died when he was very young and was so raised by his mother and his stepfather, who he and his brother disliked. He was working at an engineering factory when the war broke out and continued until 1942, at which point most of his friends had gone to war, so he decided to volunteer for the air force after failing to join the army and navy. He joined the air defence cadet ward, and then volunteered for aircrew. Six weeks later he got a letter calling him to Oxford University for an examination and a medical – Gerard passed everything except mathematics. After 3-4 months he was called up. As a sergeant he went to Sifford to pick up a crew and so was transferred to another operational training unit as a rear gunner. While there he caught rheumatic fever and was in hospital when his crew were killed as their plane crashed on take-off on a training flight.
He flew with Flight Sergeant Dalish to Stuttgart, and then Frankfurt and Berlin. He describes how he had to call evasive action several times during his tours. He flew on D-Day to bomb just inside the French coast.
On a flight all four engines stopped and although they did manage to land the skipper refused to fly as a skipper again saying he would not take on the responsibility of the lives of a crew and would only fly solo. Gerard says they did not often make friends outside of their crew because too often they did not come home.
After finishing his tour with 460 Squadron he was posted into Blackpool to a driving school, passing his test and then being posted to Scotland and then to RAF Biggin Hill. Gerard later got married and moved to Kent and went to work with his father-in-law at an engineering factory
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Staffordshire
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Berlin
France
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
William Evans
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-14
1944-01-15
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
460 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
crash
Ju 88
Lancaster
military service conditions
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Binbrook
RAF Seighford
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36497/MLovattP1821369-190903-62-01.1.pdf
e9891efa9d1c16d6be963b2ca020c36f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36497/MLovattP1821369-190903-62-02.1.1.pdf
bdbdeeb28a2c1b19b1ed1f87649c704c
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt 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
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Lovatt, P
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Radio War Waged by the RAF Against Germany 1940-1945
Description
An account of the resource
A thesis written by Peter in 2002, for his Phd.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Peter Lovatt
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--London
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
England--Norfolk
England--Norfolk
France--Dieppe
France--Cherbourg
England--Norwich
England--Swanage
England--Malvern
Germany--Berlin
England--Cornwall (County)
Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
England--Devizes
France--Paris
England--Chatham (Kent)
Austria
Poland
England--Cheadle (Staffordshire)
England--Daventry
England--Orford Ness
England--Aldeburgh
England--Bawdsey (Air base)
Scotland--Dundee
Scotland--Perth
England--Christchurch (Dorset)
Russia (Federation)
Scotland--Firth of Forth
Germany--Baden-Baden
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Borkum
Denmark
Norway
Germany--Bredstedt
France--Brest
Netherlands
Germany--Husum (Schleswig-Holstein)
Norway--Klepp
Germany--Stollberg (Landkreis)
Netherlands--Den Helder
Netherlands--Bergen op Zoom
France--Seine-Maritime
France--Cape La Hague
France--Manche
France--Morlaix
Germany--Lörrach
Italy--Noto
England--Tunbridge Wells
England--Harpenden
England--Somerset
England--Henfield (West Sussex)
England--Petersfield
France--Dieppe
England--Portsmouth
Scotland--Orkney
England--Rochester (Kent)
England--Essex
France--Le Havre
England--Hagley (Bromsgrove)
England--Gloucestershire
England--Bridport
England--Coventry
England--Bristol
France--Cassel
France--Poix-du-Nord
England--Radlett (Hertfordshire)
England--Henfield (West Sussex)
England--Cheadle (Staffordshire)
France--Bayeux
England--Kingsdown (Kent)
England--Harleston (Norfolk)
France--Barfleur
France--Cape La Hague
France--Le Mont-Saint-Michel
France--Cancale
France--Penmarc'h
France--Groix
France--Saint-Nazaire Region
France--Saint-Malo
England--Seaton (Devon)
England--Salisbury
Wales--Swansea
England--Droitwich
France--Brittany
England--Manchester
England--Chatham (Kent)
France--Chartres
France--Vannes
Poland--Lubin (Województwo Dolnośląskie)
Egypt
Libya
England--Lydd
England--Helston
England--Chivenor
England--Marske-by-the-Sea
England--Nottingham
England--Birmingham
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Italy
France
England--Milton Keynes
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Devon
England--Dorset
England--Hampshire
England--Herefordshire
England--Kent
England--Northamptonshire
England--Staffordshire
England--Suffolk
England--Sussex
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Yorkshire
England--Lancashire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Warwickshire
Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)
France--Ouessant Island
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Jersey
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 Air Force. Fighter Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
80 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLovattP1821369-190903-62-01
100 Group
101 Squadron
109 Squadron
214 Squadron
218 Squadron
Anson
B-17
B-24
Blenheim
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Do 217
Gee
Gneisenau
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946)
ground personnel
H2S
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
He 111
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hudson
Ju 52
Ju 88
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
Oboe
P-51
Pathfinders
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
radar
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Defford
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Oulton
RAF St Athan
RAF Waddington
RAF Wyton
Scharnhorst
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Whitley
Window
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1770/31029/BCleggPVLangAGv10003.1.pdf
13b407b4f35f848ca8db13e91e8d8071
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon. Lang, Alastair - folder
Description
An account of the resource
Fifteen items. Contains description of the terrible three, a biography of Squadron Leader Alastair Lang DFC, photographs, a portrait, details of his flight engineer, operational diary, correspondence, newspaper cuttings and extracts from his log book.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-02
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. 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
Clegg, PV
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
Biography of Squadron Leader Alastair G Lang DFC
Description
An account of the resource
One of three friends at RAF Warboys along with Peter Isaacson and Lighton Verdon Roe. Notes that Lang did 19 operations with 150 Squadron, 3 while on Operational Training Unit and 28 on 156 Squadron before his aircraft blew up over a target and he became a prisoner of war. Writes of friendships and activities and japes of the terrible threesome at RAF Warboys. Concludes with account of operation to Dortmund when his aircraft exploded and he and his flight engineer were somehow thrown out. Followed by general biographical details of wartime and post war career.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Nottinghamshire
Scotland--Moray
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1942
1940
1942-09-21
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Nine b/w photocopied sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BCleggPVLangAGv10003
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
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
PV Clegg
12 Squadron
150 Squadron
156 Squadron
617 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
Distinguished Flying Cross
ground personnel
Lancaster
Lincoln
Meteor
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Newton
RAF Warboys
shot down
Spitfire
Stalag Luft 3
training
Wellington
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1560/35630/BMillingtonRWestonFv1.2.pdf
8f0a70969cd59c55fef62f5a0d5a383d
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
Weston, Fred
F Weston
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
2016-11-13
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
Weston, F
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Fred Weston DFC (1916 - 2012, 126909 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 101 and 620 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Catherine Millington 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
Air Gunner
Based around the WWII service of Fred Weston DFC RAFVR
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Fred. In addition it includes histories of aircraft and squadrons he served in, Details are included of airfields he served at. Additionally there are biographies of various servicemen associated with Fred's squadrons and service.
At the end there is a biography of the officer in charge of Arnhem, Lt-Gen Sir Frederick Browning and his wife Daphne du Maurier.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Roger Millington
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005-01
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridge
England--Letchworth
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Penrhos
Egypt--Heliopolis (Extinct city)
Singapore
France--Cherbourg
Netherlands--Eindhoven
France--Brest
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Dunkerque
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
France--Brest
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Berlin
Italy--Turin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Quiberon
France--Boulogne-Billancourt
Germany--Essen
France--Le Creusot
Germany--Leverkusen
France--Caen
Netherlands--Arnhem
Norway
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Belgium--Brussels
England--Rochester (Kent)
Northern Ireland--Belfast
England--Longbridge
France--Arras
England--Darlington
Italy--Genoa
England--Longbridge
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Nuremberg
Italy--Sicily
France--Normandy
Netherlands--Arnhem
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Netherlands--Nijmegen
Wales--Pwllheli
England--Yorkshire
England--Leicester
England--Sunderland (Tyne and Wear)
Scotland--Edinburgh
England--Rochford
England--London
England--Cornwall (County)
Scotland--Ayr
England--Friston (East Sussex)
England--Gravesend (Kent)
England--West Malling
England--Hailsham
England--Yelverton (Devon)
England--Bentwaters NATO Air Base
England--Great Dunmow
England--Heacham
England--Weybridge
Wales--Hawarden
England--Blackpool
England--Old Sarum (Extinct city)
England--Kent
England--Folkestone
England--Hambleton (North Yorkshire)
England--York
Scotland--Scottish Borders
England--Cambridge
England--Thurleigh
England--Darlington
England--Hitchin
England--Lancashire
Italy
France
Egypt
Germany
Belgium
Netherlands
Great Britain
Yemen (Republic)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Bedfordshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Durham (County)
England--Sussex
England--Essex
England--Herefordshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Surrey
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Leicestershire
England--Swindon (Wiltshire)
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 Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
British Army
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Free French Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
85 sheets
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
BMillingtonRWestonFv1
1 Group
100 Group
101 Squadron
103 Squadron
105 Squadron
114 Squadron
139 Squadron
141 Squadron
148 Squadron
149 Squadron
162 Squadron
1657 HCU
1665 HCU
18 Squadron
180 Squadron
2 Group
208 Squadron
214 Squadron
239 Squadron
3 Group
301 Squadron
304 Squadron
342 Squadron
6 Group
6 Squadron
620 Squadron
7 Squadron
75 Squadron
8 Group
9 Squadron
90 Squadron
97 Squadron
99 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
B-24
B-25
bale out
Beaufighter
Blenheim
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
Boston
Caterpillar Club
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
ditching
evading
final resting place
Gee
Gneisenau
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Horsa
Hurricane
Ju 87
killed in action
Lancaster
Lysander
Manchester
Me 109
Meteor
mid-air collision
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
propaganda
radar
RAF Bicester
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Bottesford
RAF Bourn
RAF Bradwell Bay
RAF Bramcote
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Coltishall
RAF Drem
RAF Driffield
RAF Duxford
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Evanton
RAF Fairford
RAF Finningley
RAF Great Massingham
RAF Halfpenny Green
RAF Harwell
RAF Hendon
RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
RAF Honington
RAF Hornchurch
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Kenley
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Leconfield
RAF Leuchars
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Little Snoring
RAF Ludford Magna
RAF Manston
RAF Marham
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Newmarket
RAF Newton
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Oakington
RAF Penrhos
RAF Pershore
RAF Ridgewell
RAF Shepherds Grove
RAF Sleap
RAF Stradishall
RAF Tangmere
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tilstock
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Waterbeach
RAF West Raynham
RAF Woodbridge
RAF Wratting Common
RAF Wyton
Resistance
Scharnhorst
Special Operations Executive
Spitfire
Stirling
target indicator
Tiger force
training
Typhoon
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1939/37264/BBarryCGBarryCGv1.1.pdf
3ad447a1e9fa6577251414f6e7674dec
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
Field, Peter L and Cynthia G
Peter L Field
P L Field
Cynthia G Field
C G Field
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
2017-09-19
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
Field, PL-CG
Description
An account of the resource
144 items and five photograph albums in sub-collections. The collection concerns Peter L and Cynthia G Field and contains memoirs, correspondence, photographs. Peter Field (b. 1920) served as a wireless operator and Cynthia (b. 1921) served as a WAAF in 2 Group. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2137">Album One</a> Photographs of various people.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2138">Album Two</a> Photographs of people and places, postcards.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2141">Album Three</a> Photographs of parents house over the years.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2144">Album Four</a> Photographs of family events, places and people.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2146">Album Five</a> <span>Photographs of wartime colleagues, Cook's tour aerial photographs of bomb damaged German cities, and family and friends as well as two letters home.</span><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Elizabeth Field and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
A memoir of life in the WAAF during the war
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with description of feelings and actions beginning of the war. Mother had tried to persuade her to join land army and mentions brief experience and unsuitability for farming. Decided to join the RAF. Details enlistment and initial training with description of training, facilities and food at West Drayton. Continues with telephonist training at Worcester and subsequent posting to 11 Group at RAF Uxbridge. Describes Uxbridge: accommodation, food, work, manning switchboard and working conditions. Continues with detailed description of actions during Battle of Britain. Goes on with description of bombing of London and living through raids to London and local area. Gives detailed description of living accommodation, colleague, room mate and activities. Mentions tying for commission, turning down re-mustering as wireless operator. Continues with posting to Biggin Hill and describes unit and work. Subsequently sent o HQ 2 Group at RAF Huntingdon. Describes location, work, people and activities at new location. Mentions promotions to corporal and sergeant. Gives detailed description of off-duty activities and entertainment. Continues with very detailed description of her work and activities of Bomber Command and the group including Mosquito operations, friends and colleagues. Mentions thousand bomber raid against Cologne and other highlights. Continues with account of the rest of her time at 2 Group and subsequent move to Norfolk. Finally in early 1944 posted to RAF Leeming. Describes location, facilities, work and NCO s course at RAF Wilmslow as well as resident squadrons, aircrew and other personnel. Gives account of getting to know a whole crew well who subsequently volunteered for Pathfinders and went missing on operations. Continues with account of time at RAF Leeming and RAF Skipton on Swale. At the end 36 photographs of her father, his army units, her mother, friends, herself, WAAF colleagues, family, family home as well as Ian Hay, her NCO course, WAAFs and airmen at Leeming and some post war photographs of bomb damage in Germany.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sergeant C G Barry
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1940-08
1941-11
1942-05-30
1942-05-31
1944
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Worcestershire
England--Worcester
England--Middlesex
England--Kent
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Huntingdon
England--Yorkshire
England--Cheshire
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. Fighter Command
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seventy-six page printed document with text and thirty-six b/w photographs
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Allocated
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BBarryCGBarryCGv1
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
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
105 Squadron
139 Squadron
2 Group
427 Squadron
429 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
ground personnel
Halifax
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
Mosquito
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Leeming
RAF Skipton on Swale
RAF Uxbridge
RAF Wilmslow
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22490/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-001.1.pdf
8eff2c723259c9391a752f40cbb27826
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock 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
The Kriegie June 1988
Description
An account of the resource
News sheet with details of the Southampton reunion in 1987, Recco Report -stories about ex-POWs, Obituaries, members reports, KLB Club for prisoners from Buchenwald and a flight in a Blenheim.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
14 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-001
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 New Zealand Air Force
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Southampton
England--Hampshire
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
The RAF ex-POW Association
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
Beaufighter
Blenheim
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
entertainment
ground personnel
Hurricane
Lancaster
Manchester
prisoner of war
RAF Abingdon
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Binbrook
RAF Kinloss
Red Cross
Spitfire
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
wireless operator / air gunner
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22507/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-004.1.pdf
7f988e11cd713fb18e3bb9057ddea4e7
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock 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
The Kriegie June 1995
Description
An account of the resource
News Sheet of the RAF ex-POW Association. Articles describe The Great Escape Memorial Service, held in London, the Memorial to Sir Arthur Harris and the aircrews of Bomber Command, an account of a visit to Sagan, March 1994, obituaries, a visit to RAF Honington in October 1992, a reunion in Vancouver, Recco Report - stories about Kriegies and books written by former POWs,
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1995-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
12 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-004
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 Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Navy
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Poland--Żagań
New Zealand--Auckland
Canada
Ontario--Toronto
Canada
British Columbia--Abbotsford
British Columbia--Victoria
England--Headcorn
Australia
New South Wales--Penrith
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Leipzig
England--Stafford
England--Nottingham
Poland
New South Wales
Ontario
Germany
New Zealand
England--Kent
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Staffordshire
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.
106 Squadron
138 Squadron
42 Squadron
460 Squadron
78 Squadron
aircrew
Beaufighter
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
Dulag Luft
escaping
evading
flight engineer
Fw 190
George Cross
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Lancaster
Manchester
Me 110
memorial
Military Cross
prisoner of war
RAF Alconbury
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Honington
Scharnhorst
Spitfire
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
the long march
Victoria Cross
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22544/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-012.2.pdf
9b4c8e2553331a037c7dc2406bba8fd6
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock 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
The Kriegie November 2011
Description
An account of the resource
News-sheet of the RAF ex-POW Association. This edition covers a charity motorcycle rode commemorating Roger Bushell, Charles Hancock's Long March told by his daughter, Book reviews, Alfie Fripp's revisit to Stalag Luft 3, Goings-on at Zagan, a dinner at RAF Henlow and a three part TV series about the Long March.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011-11
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
18 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-012
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 Australian Air Force
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Dover
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Netherlands--Arnhem
Germany--Celle
Germany--Barth
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Colditz
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Germany--Füssen
Italy--Stelvio Pass
England--Capel (Kent)
Austria--Kaunertal
Liechtenstein
Austria--Feldkirch
Germany--Baden-Baden
Germany--Trier
Netherlands--Dokkum
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Poland
Germany--Spremberg
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Bremen
England--Bristol
France--Lille
Italy--Turin
Denmark--Esbjerg
Netherlands--Amsterdam
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Düsseldorf
France--Dunkerque
Belgium--Ieper
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
Italy
France
Germany
Denmark
Austria
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Gloucestershire
England--Kent
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.
103 Squadron
104 Squadron
166 Squadron
207 Squadron
214 Squadron
218 Squadron
220 Squadron
35 Squadron
460 Squadron
50 Squadron
619 Squadron
77 Squadron
88 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bale out
Blenheim
Boston
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
entertainment
escaping
Fw 190
Hudson
Lancaster
memorial
mess
navigator
P-51
prisoner of war
RAF Abingdon
RAF Attlebridge
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Hendon
RAF Henlow
RAF Leeming
RAF Waddington
shot down
Spitfire
sport
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 6
the long march
Wellington
Whitley
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22571/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-018.2.pdf
016c5b36e006bb2bf9b025c8d8d14b3a
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock 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
Ex-RCAF The Camp Jan 1990
Description
An account of the resource
News-sheet of the ex-Air Force POW Association. This edition covers POW's in Perpetuity, the Red Cross, a new memorial at Plymouth Hoe, Geoof Taylor -author, advance notice of a reunion in Vancouver, lost members, ex-POW histories, Obituaries, a message from the President, Gen from around the circuit and photographs from the 1989 Ottawa reunion.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1990-01
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-018
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 Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Plymouth
France--Dieppe
Canada
British Columbia--Vancouver
Ontario--Ottawa
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Luckenwalde
Ontario--Toronto
Alberta--Edmonton
Belgium
France--Fresnes (Val-de-Marne)
France--Saint-Nazaire
Alberta--Hinton
Germany--Berlin
England--Cambridge
England--Oxford
England--Southampton
Germany--Cologne
France--Le Havre
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Lübeck
Manitoba--Brandon
Switzerland--Geneva
United States--Mason-Dixon Line
England--Skipton
France--Falaise
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Germany--Essen
Virginia--Norfolk
Italy--Sicily
Italy--Calabria
Italy--Naples
Italy--Florence
Austria--Spittal an der Drau
Poland--Toruń
Poland--Gdańsk
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Europe--Elbe River
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Mühlberg (Bad Liebenwerda)
Italy
Poland
France
Virginia
Ontario
Alberta
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
United States
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Hampshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Oxfordshire
Manitoba
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.
10 Squadron
214 Squadron
4 Group
40 Squadron
405 Squadron
408 Squadron
415 Squadron
419 Squadron
420 Squadron
424 Squadron
425 Squadron
426 Squadron
427 Squadron
428 Squadron
429 Squadron
431 Squadron
432 Squadron
433 Squadron
434 Squadron
6 Group
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
bale out
Beaufighter
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bomb aimer
Caterpillar Club
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Dulag Luft
escaping
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946)
Halifax
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hurricane
Lancaster
Me 110
memorial
Military Cross
navigator
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Alconbury
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Digby
RAF Hendon
RAF St Eval
Red Cross
Spitfire
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stirling
strafing
training
Typhoon
Victoria Cross
Wellington
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/776/9988/PBrittainJT1724.2.jpg
f42a2e4b0dab6429a25a20e885f6f392
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/776/9988/PBrittainJT1725.2.jpg
2603a50da411a4ebcb7291a3aa029f27
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
Brittain, John Taylor
J T Brittain
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The collection concerns Sergeant John Taylor Brittain (2227748, Royal Air Force). After training as an air gunner at Morpeth and conversion and training at Silverston, North Luffenham and Feltwell, he was posted to 195 Squadron at RAF Wratting Common in February 1945 and flew on operations as a mid upper gunner on Lancaster. The collection consists of his flying logbook; official documents; letters to colleagues and his mother; photographs of people, events, places and aircraft; as well as an album concerning his boat.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Whitehouse and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2017-07-25
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
Brittain, JT
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.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Airman in Tiger Moth
Description
An account of the resource
Front quarter view of starboard side of a Tiger Moth on the ground. A man wearing side cap is visible in rear cockpit. On the reverse 'Moths, Biggin'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBrittainJT1724, PBrittainJT1725
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
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.
RAF Biggin Hill
Tiger Moth
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/776/9989/PBrittainJT1726.1.jpg
2ba6155ca086bd9dcfea8ce265885e03
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/776/9989/PBrittainJT1727.1.jpg
f11bf7fa188585bbd9f91899f3b6f7f0
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
Brittain, John Taylor
J T Brittain
Description
An account of the resource
42 items. The collection concerns Sergeant John Taylor Brittain (2227748, Royal Air Force). After training as an air gunner at Morpeth and conversion and training at Silverston, North Luffenham and Feltwell, he was posted to 195 Squadron at RAF Wratting Common in February 1945 and flew on operations as a mid upper gunner on Lancaster. The collection consists of his flying logbook; official documents; letters to colleagues and his mother; photographs of people, events, places and aircraft; as well as an album concerning his boat.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Whitehouse and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2017-07-25
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
Brittain, JT
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.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Spitfires on dispersal
Description
An account of the resource
Four spitfires parked on dispersal. A fifth aircraft is parked behind with no propeller. In the background buildings. On the reverse 'Spits, Biggin Hill'
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBrittainJT1726, PBrittainJT1727
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. Fighter Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
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.
RAF Biggin Hill
Spitfire
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1333/20525/PSearleROJ17030021.2.jpg
58b32aa360e5f8874da5583c23bc7f55
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
Searle, Rex. Album 1
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-25
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
Searle, ROJ
Description
An account of the resource
74 items. The album contains photographs and papers relating to Rex Searle's pre-war family life as well as his wartime and postwar service.
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
Biggin Hill 1939-40
Description
An account of the resource
Four photographs from an album. Photo 1 is three airmen in a cockpit of an aircraft. Photo 2 is a Bleheim with several airmen standing at the front. Photo 3 is an airman standing by a stream. He is wearing a thick woolen polo necked pullover, boots and has his hands in his pockets. Photo 4 is looking aft from an aircraft cockpit. There is a gun with a gunsight.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four b/w photographs from an album
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSearleROJ17030021
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
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
Blenheim
ground crew
ground personnel
RAF Biggin Hill