Memories of an Airman
An account by Charles Saunders of his service in the RAF during the war. He served as a mid upper gunner flying in the Halifax with No 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington and carried out 18 operations. VE day ended his flying career and he was retrained as a radiographer and worked in that trade until he was demobilised. His account gives many details of his training including dinghy drill and parachute training.
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98 page document
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BSaundersCFSaundersCFv1
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My life in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command
An extract of my RS service from my autobiography by Sqn Ldr T J Page DFM, RAF (ret'd)
Includes several b/w photographs of people and aircraft. Writes of early life and mentions beginning of the war and volunteering for the air force in January 1940. Continues with account of initial training and mustering as an airframe mechanic and subsequent technical training. Describes first posting to 257 Hurricane Squadron, advance training and subsequent postings as fitter IIA including travelling around the country to fix aircraft. Continues with account of aircrew selection and training as a flight engineer which included visit to A V Roe factory at Chadderton. Followed by account of aircrew training and his roll as a flight engineer on Lancaster and Manchester and crewing up. Includes list and photographs of crew. Posted to 49 Squadron at RAF Fiskerton. He then provides a detailed description of duties of each crew member and the interior of a Lancaster and lists flying kit used. Goes on to describe all activities concerned with preparation for and flying an operation and includes very detailed account of first operation to La Spezia. Continues by describing highlights of a number of operations and mentions battle of the Ruhr, weather, aircraft damage and , being shot at and diverting to RAF Dunholme Lodge with casualties. List the subsequent history of all his crew after completing their tour. Continues with account of staying on the squadron as flight engineer leader and flying on several more operations. Summarises his operational flying and gives account of subsequent postings as a staff flight engineer instructor. Goes on with detailed account account of post war postings and activities including flying Lancaster to Egypt and Lincoln to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He was posted to HQ Bomber Command at High Wycombe where he was able to partake in gliding activities which he describes in detail. Continues with account of journey to posting at RAF Mauripur in Pakistan. Continues with account of the rest of his RAF career and left the RAF on 6 May 1968.
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Thirty-five page printed document
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BPageTJPageTJv2
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My life in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command
Writes of early life and mentions beginning of the war and volunteering for the air force in January 1940. Continues with account of initial training and mustering as an airframe mechanic and subsequent technical training. Describes first posting to 257 Hurricane Squadron, advance training and subsequent postings as fitter IIA including travelling around the country to fix aircraft. Continues with account of aircrew selection and training as a flight engineer which included visit to A V Roe factory at Chadderton. Followed by account of aircrew training and his roll as a flight engineer on Lancaster and Manchester and crewing up. Includes list and photographs of crew. Posted to 49 Squadron at RAF Fiskerton. He then provides a detailed description of duties of each crew member and the interior of a Lancaster and lists flying kit used. Goes on to describe all activities concerned with preparation for and flying an operation. Continues by describing highlights of a number of operations and mentions battle of the Ruhr, weather, aircraft damage and , being shot at and diverting to RAF Dunholme Lodge with casualties. List the subsequent history of all his crew after completing their tour. Continues with account of staying on the squadron as flight engineer leader and flying on several more operations. Summarises his operational flying and gives account of subsequent postings as a staff flight engineer instructor. Concludes with account of post war postings and activities.
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Seventeen page printed document with b/w photographs
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Interview with Tony Gerard
Tony lived in South Pool before moving to Liverpool with his job in a bank. He also belonged the Air Training Corps. After about a year he decided to sign up for the Royal Air Force. His assessment and medical were at Liverpool. He was called up to in November 1943. He then went to the initial training wing at RAF Bridlington for six weeks, before going to RAF Weston-Super-mare to train on Lancasters and Halifaxes. He was then posted to RAF St Athan for about ten weeks before being posted to RAF Scampton and finally to RAF Swinderby working on Stirlings as a flight engineer. It was there where he met the rest of the crew. After Lancaster finishing school he went to RAF Tuddenham and joined 90 Squadron. From there their first operation was to Siegen. On one trip an enemy fighter flew alongside them and the crew held their fire so not to draw attention to their aircraft. He did some formation flying on some of the operations. Later he joined 7 Squadron on Pathfinders. During this time, he remembered an incident involving his motorbike which he lent to a colleague who had an accident with a police car. The bike had to be written off - tony had only ridden it once. The crew then went back to RAF Tuddenham where they took part in operations Manna and Exodus. Tony was posted to RAF Valley and then went by sea to Iraq driving lorries. The crew sailed back to Liverpool and went to RAF Burtonwood. After being demobbed he went back to banking in Liverpool until he retired.
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2018-11-22
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01:11:06 audio recording
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