1
25
73
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9264/EGortonHGortonLCM440920-010001.2.jpg
e30d885a1f408cfc52fb58fa2505c767
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9264/EGortonHGortonLCM440920-010002.2.jpg
d81e344d50cc0f7e123d7e920acb591c
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Fiskerton
Wed. 20/9/44
Dearest,
This is just a short note to let you know how much I miss you. As yesterday, I am writing this after getting up (10.45 a.m.), so as to make sure I have time for it.
Last night was the fourth night running that we flew, so we are hoping for a stand down tonight. As you can imagine, I haven’t been able to go & see Spalford this week, but will do so at the first opportunity. The tomatoes ought to have come on very well, as we’ve had a good deal of sunshine in the past few days.
I haven’t finished “Cornish Childhood” yet, as I haven’t had much time for reading, but will send it as soon as possible.
Yesterday the Flying Control officer from Cark paid Fiskerton a visit. Everyone who was there in January (of the staff pilots & instructors) is now in training for ops or on ops. Gibb & Price are still there, & everything otherwise
[page break]
2
is much the same.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
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
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his flying and colleagues from Cark.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09-20
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440920-010001,
EGortonHGortonLCM440920-010002
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Tricia Marshall
aircrew
pilot
RAF Cark
RAF Fiskerton
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9261/EGortonHGortonLCM440914.2.pdf
c1fdba4a6226c72608c01b828a34f8f1
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal Air Force crest]
S/Ldr. H. Gorton
OFFICERS’ MESS,
R.A.F. STATION,
FISKERTON,
Nr. LINCOLN.
14/9/44
Dearest.
The course ends tomorrow lunch time, much to my relief. I’ve getting lots of good gen, but it’s a bit tiring to sit all day in a lecture room, & I want to get back to my job.
I’m afraid that I strayed from the straight & narrow a bit last night! There’s a Canadian W/Cdr. in the room opposite me, so I invited him to go to Lincoln, have a meal, & go to the flicks. The meal was all right but the flicks were hopelessly crowded, so we went into the White Hart for a drink. Who should come in but Botting & half the squadron. We were [deleted] more [/deleted] promptly compelled to
[page break]
2
spend the evening with them, and although I used your Fabian tactics it was very difficult. To crown everything, I had to drive back in the dark, & that was no joke.
I had a great surprise yesterday. Whom should I meet in the mess but the one & only Jake, whom I last saw nine months ago at Cark! He opened his eyes a bit when he noticed that I’d been promoted – he last knew me as a F/O – and altogether he seemed more subdued than of old. At least three units have got rid of him since he left Cark!
We finish the course at lunch time tomorrow so I am going to do some shopping in Lincoln, collect my electric fire & other things from Manor Farm, & then go back to Fiskerton.
It seems very strange
[page break]
3
not to hear from you[deleted]r[/deleted] or to be able to go over & see you. I shall be jolly glad when you are back again. I told Botting that I wanted to have my 48 later & he seemed to think it would be O.K.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
P.S. There was a bit in today’s paper about the R.A.F. making a list of the teachers in the air force – not for early demobilisation, - but so that they could teach airmen who needed preparation for civil life.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of training lectures at RAF Fiskerton and of his social activities.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09-14
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440914
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lincoln
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
military service conditions
pilot
RAF Cark
RAF Fiskerton
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9249/EGortonHGortonLCM440610.2.pdf
21f0b74fe2a202cd01d14b5cd7beb655
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal Air Force crest]
[deleted] ROYAL AIR FORCE,
SCAMPTON,
LINCS. [/deleted]
‘PHONE: SCAMPTON 226.
Officers’ Mess,
R.A.F.
Wigsley
Nr. Newark,
Notts.
[underlined] Tele: Spalford 241 [/underlined]
Saturday 8.0 p.m.
Dearest,
I wanted to write to you last night, but I was out all evening. Blunsdon had told me of some accommodation about 3 miles out of Lincoln on a bus route, and I wanted to have a look at it. I hadn’t the necessary energy for cycling about 10 miles, so I took the car (with Derek in it), & then went on to the flicks. I felt rather a heel, using petrol when you weren’t in the car, but it would have
[page break]
2.
been an awfully long way to cycle, and anyway, it was in a good cause. As it happened, the woman had got somebody in at the beginning of this week.
Blunsdon’s navigator told me of a nurse in the same village. She wants a woman to share the house with her, - I rather fancy as a sort of housekeeper, - but he is making enquiries to see if it would suit us.
I was going to have another try at Saxilby or some other village tonight, but decided to wait till tomorrow, & write to you tonight. A couple of blokes
[page break]
3.
are going out to local pubs, & I’ve asked them to see if they can discover anything.
Tomorrow night I’ll have another look, myself. I also want to find someone to do my washing, as the laundry here – like most other things connected with comfort – is badly organised. We couldn’t send any last week-end, & now, apparently, the laundry may go any time in the next 7 days – nobody knows when - & will come back probably a fortnight later. How the airmen manage I cannot imagine, but I think
[page break]
4
it's a shocking system. It’s typical of a lot of things on this camp, however.
We have lectures fairly solidly, starting with an 8.30 parade, & finishing at 4.30 p.m. I, with several others, however, happen to have been chosen (by chance not by merit!) for training in the use of some special equipment, so that will probably mean working late some nights. Actually, there’s quite a lot to learn without that, as the Stirling is a very complicated aircraft, unnecessarily so, I think. I hope to have my first trip on
[page break]
5
Monday, all being well. I’ve been given a flight engineer – he’s called Jones, - but I haven’t been able to see him yet.
We had a rather amusing interlude yesterday afternoon. The C.G.I. told us that we were wanted for a couple of funerals (a crew was killed this week) & we all rushed up to see the Training Wing Adj. to try & pick a funeral that would give us the best holiday. Derek managed to be nominated for Harrogate, but they wouldn’t take F/Lts, unfortunately.
I was studying the Birthday Honours List on Thursday, & among the A.F.C.s
[page break]
6
are F/Lt. A.A. Smith, & F/Lt. P.W. Percy. The initials are the right ones so I don’t think there’s any mistake, but it makes me feel cheesed, [deleted] jus [/deleted] wouldn’t you be?
I met a Cark Wireless Op in Lincoln last week. He says there has been a big clean up there, & practically all the old gang have been posted to Ops now.
One of the instructors here was a pupil in B flight at Ossington, [deleted] May [/deleted] [inserted] March [/inserted] 43. He is now a D.F.C.!
Interruption form Derek! He thinks it would be a good idea if you came up here, because you could then do his laundry! I told him I
[page break]
7
wouldn't dream of such a thing, & he said he was sure you’d be delighted to do it for him! It’s just as well he won’t get the chance to ask, or he might get an unpleasant surprise.
I don’t think I’ve had a letter from you since Monday & it gives me the feeling that I’m sailing uncharted seas, if you understand what I mean. I feel all alone unless I am in constant contact with you.
Aren’t you glad I’m not in the army now? They must be having a hell of a time in France, now, & they haven’t met the real German
[page break]
[missing page]
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of life at RAF Wigsley and colleagues mentioned in the Birthday Honours List.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440610
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Nottinghamshire
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
aircrew
crewing up
flight engineer
military living conditions
RAF Cark
RAF Ossington
RAF Wigsley
Stirling
training
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9210/EGortonHGortonLCM440229.1.pdf
460e41527574cb431aa3b76672c12648
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTONE, [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston, [/inserted]
[deleted] NR. TOWCESTER, [/deleted] [inserted] Nr. Brackley, [/inserted]
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
Tuesday 11.15 a.m.
Dearest,
I am supposed to be flying today, but there seems no chance of a trip at present, so I am spending the morning in front of a fire in the Intelligence Library – a very good place to be, since we had a very sharp frost last night.
Your letter arrived yesterday afternoon from Silverstone, & very welcome it was, too. I should have replied to it last night after dinner, but I was inveigled into a Bridge School that lasted until bed time. One of the four – he was my partner last night, - is pretty good & knows all about Culbertson etc. I kept getting into a flap in the later rounds of bidding, as I often didn’t have a clue as to what he was getting at. Still, we finished 1600 points up, the last hand being a five clubs call, in which our opponents didn’t even bother to play as we had everything! I wish I could have a game with you, though.
[page break]
2
There were some bridge scores on the back of that envelope you sent me, & they brought back some very happy memories.
I think I’ve already said I’d like to read the T.E. Lawrence book. I agree with you about “The Ship”. It wasn’t anything like so good as his other books.
I wish I could have been at the threshing, as I should have liked to see it. I imagine it became a bit unpleasant after the first few rats had been killed, though no doubt at first it would be rather exciting.
I think I’ve explained myself fairly well about your coming up here. My only objection is my memory of how you felt at Cark. It’s still very cold, however. I think it would pay you to wait until it is warmer.
I’m very glad you’ve got an answer to your advert. I don’t object to the price at all if you will be comfortable there. You could try it & still be able to give it up if we found a place near where I am. Also, if it is satisfactory, you could
[page break]
3
get a job in Cardiff. My own opinion is that the director of education there would be only too pleased to take you on in a secondary school. Anyway, the great thing to remember is that Cardiff is much easier to reach than small places that are nearer. From Grantham, for instance, it’s only 2 hrs to London and then 3 1/2 (?) to Cardiff.
As soon as I hear from you when you are coming here, I’ll fix up a place for you to stay, either in the Temperance Hotel or one of the others.
I should very much like to have my bike if it’s serviceable. I should have asked for it before, but I didn’t know how you could take it to the station. I thought that if I asked for it, you would put yourself to a lot of inconvenience, trying to get it to Abergavenny. The position is that I can manage O.K. without one, although it takes
[page break]
4
more time to get about, naturally. The really big advantage of a bike is that I can go to Brackley on it for shopping or to go to the station, if I should happen to get some time off. However, don’t worry about it. If there should happen to be a convenient means of getting it to Abergavenny, then I should like it. If not, it doesn’t matter.
As for that loss of 79 bombers, my own opinion is (a) it was just one of the chances of war that one can’t guard against, (b) some of the aircraft were too early, & thus more exposed to attacks (there’s safety in numbers).
All my love, darling,
Harold
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his social activities and flying. He also writes of the loss of 79 bombers.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-29
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440229
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
RAF Cark
RAF Turweston
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9180/EGortonHGortonLCM440125.1.pdf
b6c6c4bad9b36503f93de1f576ab6462
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
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Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal Air Force crest]
The Junior Commanders’ School,
R.A.F. Dallachy,
Near Elgin,
Morayshire.
Tuesday.
Dearest,
This is the last opportunity I shall have of wishing you many happy returns, so I’ll begin by doing that. I hope your parcel arrived safely, and that you are pleased with the present.
I [deleted] sent [/deleted] set out on Monday morning, in company with F/Lt. (“Dicky”) Laird, a Canadian in charge of one of the towing flights. We changed at Carlisle and arrived at Glasgow at 5.30 p.m. We could have gone on then, but there was no point in arriving in the small hours, so we spent the night at the North British hotel & went to the flicks.
From Glasgow we caught the 10.00 a.m. to Aberdeen and then
[page break]
2
the 3.20 from there to Spey Bay, the station for Dalachy [sic]. This last part of the journey took 4 hours, as the train was very slow, and stopped at all sorts of wayside halts:- there must have been about 30 or 40 of them!
I consider this course to be definitely a good thing! It’s packed full of admin gen, the sort of stuff I’ve been wanting to know for a long time, and there are no unnecessary things like P.T.
We work from 8.30 to 12.30, lectures & talks, and from 4.30 – 7.30, & get three afternoons off during the course (i.e. no evening work)
While I was having breakfast at the North British, I saw S/Ldr & Mrs. Trotter, whom you no doubt remember from Ossington. If the weather had been fine this afternoon I should have gone to Dallachy today. Anyway, I hope to visit
[page break]
3
Dallachy & Banff before I go.
The officers on the course are mainly F/Lts. – about 4 S/Ldrs & the same number of F/Os. They are from all commands, & D.F.C.s are common; in fact, it is a distinguishing mark not to have a medal ribbon of some sort, if only the 1939-43 star!
One of the F/Os is a Cark pupil of last summer; a F/Lt. was a pupil at Ossington Apr – May 1942 (on Terwilliger’s course). He is now on Halifaxes. Another F/Lt. was with me at Desford, & has been instructing on Tigers ever since.
The food & Mess are very good, & the sleeping quarters are quite comfortable, four of us in a large Nissen hut. I haven’t talked to the fourth man yet, but the other two
[page break]
4
are O.T.U. instructors (Bomber & Fighter). As you can imagine, it is very refreshing to meet blokes from other commands and jobs, after being in a rut for a long time.
The only snag about this place is the weather. It’s pouring down this afternoon, & even when it’s not raining it’s cold and windy. Still, I’m very glad I’m here.
I don’t know how long letters will take from Abergavenny here, so I’m not presuming to hope for a letter from you until the end of the week. I must say I’m glad I got that letter on Sat. It would have been an awfully long time without hearing from you but for that.
I’m very interested to know how you got on with the Doctor.
[page break]
5
I hope you got your certificate O.K. Anyway, whether you did or not, I don’t want you to do a full time P.T. job, and I don’t suppose you can get any others.
As for something to study, [deleted] It’s [/deleted] it’s difficult to suggest anything. You can have my typewriter any time you want it, but I don’t think there are any courses you could start before next October. Did nothing come of your enquiries about social studies? If you could decide on a course, you could start reading for it now. Aren’t there any advertised in the T.E.S.?
That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon.
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife from RAF Dallachy. He writes of his course and his journey to from RAF Cark.
Creator
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Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-25
Format
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Five handwritten sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EGortonHGortonLCM440125
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Scotland--Moray
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
military living conditions
Nissen hut
Operational Training Unit
RAF Cark
RAF Dallachy
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9179/EGortonHGortonLCM440122.2.pdf
478a6c4c2946abffb4f44a588929c340
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-05-30
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. 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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Gorton, H
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Saturday.
Dearest,
I’m starting this letter tonight, but I’ll leave it open until tomorrow, when I hope to have my Dalachy address.
You can’t tell how relieved I was to get a letter from you this afternoon. I thought there would be one in the post, but was afraid that it might not arrive until Monday, by which time I should be away.
I was greatly surprised to have no cracks from you on the subject of Bob’s photo! He’s certainly thinner than he was than you knew him, as his first year in the R.A.F. fattened him up a bit. He seems to be back to normal now.
Re my promotion, it’s
[page break]
2
quite the accepted thing now here. We’ve had two newcomers to the Mess, & each time the C.O. has introduced me he has said I’m to be given another ring when Boddy goes, which is supposed to be early in February. As for Facey, Roderick & Gillegin, they give me no mercy, always making cracks bout “Acting F/Lt Gorton”!, & saying how they’ll make my life a misery.
As a matter of fact, however, I’ve begun the other way. On Friday morning Roderick was being a bit obstreperous so I tore him off a large strip & told him he could either do things my way or go somewhere else. It’s made no difference to his friendliness, fortunately, & I’m quite prepared to give all the rest of the instructors the same treatment. I feel that I’ve been
[page break]
3
instructing & receiving orders long enough to know what I’m talking about, & I’m going to have my own way in future. (Is this the swelled-headedness you’re afraid of!)
Incidentally, Riches has been made assistant C.F.I. (a bit of a flannel, in my opinion), & I am to be in sole charge of both A & B flights.
What do you think about my next leave? The earliest date I can have is Mar. 3rd – 14th, but as I’m going to Dalachy for a fortnight & shan’t be back until Feb. 8th I’m not sure if the C.F.I. will approve of my having leave 3 weeks later. I think it may be better if we had the next period, from March 17th. Let me know what you think.
[page break]
4
I agree with you that I shall have to see that I’m not too optimistic about the law, but I don’t think there’s much danger. I also agree that even a few exams passed should be useful in getting a job.
As for exams for you to take, I’m a bit vague at present, but will write more on the subject later.
I seem to have written a lot of letters lately, so you shouldn’t be suffering from a shortage.
I sincerely hope you can wangle a medical certificate, as I want this P.T. teaching idea finally knocked on the head. Perhaps they’ll find you a nice job instead!
All my love,
Harold.
[inserted] Address:
The Junior Commanders’ School,
RAF Dallachy,
Near Elgin,
Morayshire. [/inserted]
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his duties and arranging leave.
Creator
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Harold Gorton
Date
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1944-01-22
Format
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Four handwritten sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EGortonHGortonLCM440122
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
Civilian
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
military discipline
RAF Cark
RAF Dallachy
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9176/EGortonHGortonLCM440120-0001.1.jpg
f6e178f58c511dd32c29512dcccfee29
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9176/EGortonHGortonLCM440120-0002.1.jpg
373434aada366844f0f23418792e623e
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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
2017-05-30
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
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Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark.
Thursday.
Dearest,
I shall have to make this a quick letter, as my fire has gone out, & it’s rather cold here. The only purpose of it is to apologise for writing all the stuff I did in the first part of last night’s letter. I am a clot, darling, & I’m sorry for it. I hope you’ll forgive me.
Mother sent me a letter today to say that she has got my Australian parcel & is sending it on.
I don’t think I shall send you any laundry, as I’ll get my batman to send Tuesday’s laundry on to me, so that I shall be all right.
The C.F.I. told me today to take over A flight as from tomorrow in Boddy’s place. He
[page break]
2
also said various things about expecting me to “pull the flight together,” which shows he hadn’t a great opinion of Boddy!
I shall go to Dalachy either by train on Sunday night, or, if the weather looks good, by air on Monday morning. I’ll let you have my address as soon as possible.
All my love, darling. I wish I was going to Aber instead of Dalachy.
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes that he is taking command of A flight in place of a colleague who has been posted.
Creator
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Harold Gorton
Date
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1944-01-20
Format
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Two handwritten sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EGortonHGortonLCM440120-0001,
EGortonHGortonLCM440120-0002
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
Civilian
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
RAF Cark
RAF Dallachy
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9175/EGortonHGortonLCM440119.1.pdf
723c4925a4dfe88748a30cfb6b870089
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Wednesday
Dearest,
I didn’t intend to write tonight – you’re not due for a letter until tomorrow! – but I’ve been thinking of you so much all day & then I got your letter this evening when I came back from my day off, so that I am putting law on one side until I’ve written to you.
I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing for me to have a day off on my own, although I don’t like going about with the others much. The trouble is that I start thinking, & I’m not sure that the results of my thinking are good.
In the first place it makes me wild to think of you cooped up there in a place you dislike, & yet able to move only at the pleasure of the MOLI –
[page break]
2
(Ministry of Labour & Interference!) As I go about I see so many women who seem to be happy & comfortable, & it makes me feel that it’s my fault that you aren’t the same.
In addition, the job prospect doesn’t seem very rosy. I’ve done a good deal of reading adverts lately – I looked at the T.E.S. in Lancaster today but won’t bother you with them as you’re already seeing it.
The conclusions I’ve come to are as follows:
[circled 1] The jobs MOLI will let you take aren’t the ones you want.
[circled 2] Other jobs that would be suitable often demand qualifications you haven’t got, even if MOLI would let you take them.
[circled 3] Even if you did get a job you liked, you might, remembering your Bath experience, find yourself moved from the frying pan
[page break]
3
to the fire. Perhaps I’m being unduly pessimistic, but I’ve been feeling that way all day, so, please forgive me, darling. (It’s so difficult to [underlined] write [/underlined] these things properly, isn’t it?)
My conclusions from all this will probably shock you, & I don’t want you to take them too seriously. I’m only trying to make you knock down the Aunt Sally I’m putting up!
[circled 1] Apart from the difficulty of living with your Mother & Grace (N.B. this difficulty always seems smaller to me when I’m away from Newhouse, so please make allowances for that), you are actually living in greater comfort than you could be anywhere else – good food, a comfortable house, the occasional use of a car etc.
[circled 2] We’re neither of us growing any younger, & as you say, the war, with all the attendant
[page break]
4
discomfort that it implies, will probably last for another couple of years.
[circled 3] [underlined] If we are [/underlined] going to have a family, now is the time to start one, because
(a) we probably shan’t be so well off immediately after the war as we are now, apart from the fact [deleted] (b) [/deleted] that we should get extra allowance & so on, plus the fact that we should be saving Income Tax at 10/- in the £.
(b) I’d sooner be living with you when we did have a baby, because I should consider it as much mine as yours, but on the other hand, [inserted] at Newhouse [/inserted] you would not be on your own in case of trouble.
(C) I don’t suppose the material difficulties – clothes, prams, maternity homes etc. – will be any easier for some time after the war.
(d) We’ve only had a year’s married life on our own, I agree,
[page break]
5
but if we leave this family business much longer, we’re going to be elderly, to say the least, before the child (or children) is able to leave us to ourselves in peace, & that doesn’t seem to me to be a good thing.
Will you please forgive me darling if I’ve said anything that has caused you the slightest pain. I’ve never thought of this family business in this way before & I want you to see what you think of it. I’m not even suggesting that we should have a baby. Quite honestly I don’t think I’ve [underlined] any [/underlined] right at all to suggest it. I’m only bringing this up in case you were intending to have one eventually, because if you say you don’t ever want to have one that’s [underlined] perfectly O.K. by [/underlined] me, & no question about it. Have I made myself clear?
The real trouble is that
[page break]
6
because you were so kind as to marry me (for which I can never be sufficiently grateful), and have been so patient with me ever since, I’ve got the idea that I can unload on to you any ideas I please. Now that I’ve got it off my chest, you can forget all about it.
All the above, incidentally, is because I’ve been thinking about you more than usual today, which is because I bought you a birthday present this morning – so you’ll have to take the rough with the smooth!
I went to Ulverston to buy your present. Unfortunately my train from Cark was late, so that I didn’t catch the next train back to Lancaster, where I wanted to get some more shopping done. As a result I got into Lancaster at 12.30, & by the time
[page break]
7
I’d looked at the T.E.S., all the shops were closed – early closing day. So I went to a flick instead & came back after tea.
I’m sending the present in your biscuit tin when I can get some paper & string. I’ll have to send it early, because I’m going to Dalachy on Sunday or Monday, but I don’t suppose you’ll mind that.
I don’t know whether you’ll like it. If the colour is wrong I can probably change it for a more suitable colour, but beyond question it’s the best they had in the shop. It’s what I call a real present, or at least it’s intended to be so – something not essential, but a pleasure to have. You don’t need to worry about the expense, because I’ve deliberately cut down my smoking so that the money I’ve saved is paying for the present.
[page break]
8.
The main point, which I hope you’ll appreciate, darling, is that I love you so much that I sometimes feel at my wits’ end for ways of telling you, & this present is just a very small token of the love I’m sending with it.
Your letter today was like a drink of water to a thirsty man, & I’ll now proceed to answer it.
Your telegram, of course, did not arrive – at least, not yet. Abergavenny doesn’t seem to be very good at telegrams, does it? This letter was the first intimation I’d had that you knew I’d passed. You obviously saw the paper, as you counted the names. That’s more than I did, as I didn’t bother once I’d seen my name in the list. As a matter of fact, it has made me wish I could take the next exam now, as this new stuff
[page break]
9
seems so easy in comparison with Contract & Tort.
I got back to Cark at 7.45 a.m. – in good time for breakfast. As for the fellow & girl I saw in the train at Hereford, if you must go into details! the safety factor as far as I was concerned was not that they were asleep, but that they were both fully clothed! But, as you say, nuff said!
I agree with you about the shock officers are going to get after the war. I notice it myself very much, & am afraid I shan’t like it when I’m a mere nobody in a shop or café!
Your weather must have been similar to ours. Today [deleted] was [/deleted] [inserted] is [/inserted] the first day we’ve done any flying since Friday – really solid clamps all the time since then. The Fortress people aren’t away
[page break]
10
yet, but are hoping to go tomorrow.
We had a bit of excitement last night, because one Nav. aircraft took off when the weather cleared, & came back in a clamp as bad as ever. It landed in a field outside Lancaster. The aircraft was damaged, but the crew were only shaken. Lucky, weren’t they? Apparently they saw some lights & thought they were at Cark!
I am definitely going to Dalachy now, & am very pleased. It will be my first visit to Scotland, and, as Dalachy is one of Banff’s satellites, I should be able to meet some old acquaintances, if there are any left! If I have time, I shall try to go over to Dyce to see Shaw, as Aberdeen is not far away.
[page break]
11
I’m glad you’re getting the T.E.S., as it’s a hopeless business trying to get a job without it.
I’m feeling very fit indeed, thank you, & hope you are too.
Re the certificates, I entirely agree. That’s just the amount I was wanting us to invest. So I now pass to you for action!
All my love, darling. If only we could be together again! I’m cheesed with this b- war.
Harold.
P.S. I’m gradually coming to the conclusion that I’m not fated to be killed in this war. After expecting to be dead by December ’41 (after 3 months on Ops) & then finding myself pushed into instructing, & after having
[page break]
12
flown 1300 hours without ever having been in difficulties or in danger, & after trying unsuccessfully for a year to get on to Ops, & now finding myself booked for another spell of instructing, I have now come to the conclusion that I shan’t be killed in this war. Is this a case of “famous last words”, or an actual prophecy, I wonder? Time alone will tell.
Look after yourself, darling,
Harold.
P.S. Got a very nice letter of congratulations from that tutor who lived in Jarrow. He says he thinks my passing the exam is a good show.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He considers the prospects of living together and starting a family. He writes of an aircraft landing in a field in Lancaster because of the weather, with some damage to the aircraft but no casualties. He also writes of his impending course at RAF Dallachy.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-19
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
12 handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440119
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
England--Lancaster
Scotland--Moray
England--Lancashire
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
love and romance
RAF Cark
RAF Dallachy
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9173/EGortonHGortonLCM440118.1.pdf
20393169a29fe4a2f7c8bddbc2fbc393
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Tuesday
Dearest,
It’s 5.30 p.m. and I’m writing this letter now because I want to go to the Army Camp flicks after dinner.
Boddy has at last heard that he’s posted & is going early in February. It’s supposed to be a secret where he’s going, but it’s pretty common knowledge here that he’s going to the place he applied for.
He’s as happy as a sandboy about it, but I shouldn’t feel the same about it in his place. He’s going to a job he knows nothing about, and which may prove to be even more deadly than this. In addition, he’s leaving his wife & child for an indefinite period – which may be until the Pacific war ends.
[page break]
2.
Anyway, I am now regarded as a full Flt. Cmdr., & I don’t think there’s any doubt that if I am not posted, and if Group allows the C.F.I. to have his way, I shall get my acting F/Lt., say, in March, with luck. That of course, means that I shall probably stay here at least until midsummer.
I got a letter from Shaw this morning, and am feeling cheesed as a result. He is near Aberdeen, at a P.R.U. Mosquito O.T.U.! he was put up for Ops the same time as I was, and asked for P.R.U. or Transport. His posting came through Jan 1st, the only one at Rissington to get what he wanted. All the others went on to heavies. It’s enough to make anyone envious, isn’t it?
The C.F.I. came back from leave this morning & I have decided to start as I mean to go on.
[page break]
3
Just before lunch, as it had been a clamp all morning, and there was no prospect of flying this afternoon, I suggested that B flt. instructors should have the afternoon off, since it’s our day off tomorrow. I heartily disapprove of having to sit in the office for hours on end, when there’s nothing to do, & the C.F.I. is going to get a lot more suggestions of the same kind.
I’ve just got the text book for my correspondence course, so shall be able to start work properly now.
Apparently the C.F.I. took a dim view of my going to Dalachy on Monday. He thought I was trying to get out of the E.C.7.S visit on Feb. 8. Actually, I’d sooner do the course than get an A2, because I’m expecting to get some useful gen there, but I was able to reassure him by telling him
[page break]
4
that I should be back by the 8th as the course finishes on the 6th.
I’ve copied out two adverts from the papers today, in case you’re interested.
[circled 1] Teacher wanted, days, mornings, or full time; school near Oldham; small class, elementary maths, ability to take other subjects a recommendation; also person to take P.T. one afternoon weekly; particulars
Address: W14
Manchester Guardian
Manchester 2
[circled 2] Berks, Bucks, & Oxon Bureau of Health & Sickness Records will shortly require persons of either sex to collect information from public health, hospital, and other records, and for clerical & typing work incidental to the maintenance of a mechanical health & sickness system. Knowledge of statistics medical terminology, [deleted] typing [/deleted] [inserted] filing [/inserted] etc., advantageous but not essential.
[page break]
5
Training will be given according to duties.
Salaries not less than £182.
Part time considered.
Full particulars from
H. Cotton
Records Officer,
10 Parks Rd.,
Oxford.
Last Date: Jan 29
I don’t know what you think of either of these, but the second one sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
I’ll try to find time to look in the T.E.S. tomorrow in Lancaster.
By the way, would you mind doing some washing for me? I haven’t worked it out properly yet, and I may not need it, but I shan’t have received the washing I sent away today until I come back from Dalachy in 3 weeks time. If I think I shall be short, I’d like to send some at
[page break]
6
the beginning of next week so that you can send it on to Dalachy, but I shan’t do so if I can possibly manage without.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of being posted to RAF Dallachy, domestic details, social activities and of a colleague’s posting. He includes details of two jobs which he think that his wife might be interested in.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440118
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
Civilian
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
Mosquito
Operational Training Unit
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
RAF Cark
RAF Dallachy
RAF Little Rissington
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9171/EGortonHGortonLCM440116-0001.1.jpg
48d6f7726980775d48b5bcb79541b309
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sunday.
Dearest,
I started a letter last night, but my paper ran out, so I am copying it on to this.
I forgot to include Bob’s photo last time. I had sealed the letter when I remembered, & opened it again. Then I decided to put my savings certificates in it, and forgot the photo a second time.
I’ve got one of those six monthly railway passes for you. You will notice that you have to sign it and put your registration number on it.
I got a letter from Wyver today. Moreton Valence appears to be a bad station as far as comfort is concerned, but he’s expecting to live out in Gloucester, and so doesn’t mind. At present he is at Upavon doing a Beam refresher course, as taking staff pilots for Beam practice is part of his job.
I’ve got a temporary room-mate – the navigator of a Fortress that landed on Friday afternoon (They had to land somewhere, and chose Cark because one of the Waafs here is a friend of the second pilot!). He seems to be a very decent quiet type, has no side, & shoots no lines, although he’s done 13 trips.
I was very glad to get your letter yesterday morning. Leaving you does make one’s life seem empty, I agree, but the two days I had with you really did me a world of good. I’ve felt much more able to cope with the R.A.F. since then, though I expect I shall be badly in
[page break]
[duplicate bookmark]
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
Incomplete letter in which he writes of a B-17 landing at Cark.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-16
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handwritten sheet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440116-0001
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
Civilian
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01-16
aircrew
B-17
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9170/EGortonHGortonLCM440114-0001.2.jpg
2cff2a2fb0e5be9f75b7bcf380970295
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9170/EGortonHGortonLCM440114-0002.2.jpg
d32f8fa407a6de93037d770b95bcbcf5
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark,
Friday.
Dearest,
I don’t know if you saw today’s paper, but I have passed the Contract & Tort. I got a third, which isn’t very good, but just good enough. I have just written to my former tutors, thanking them for their assistance.
I got an unexpected letter from home today, It enclosed this photo of Bob, which I think is a very good likeness, & also an airgraph from my aunt in Tasmania. Apparently she has sent me a Christmas parcel, but it hasn’t arrived yet, so I’ve written to find out what has happened to it.
That’s all for now.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
[page break]
P.S. have just heard from a pupil that Shaw (at Little Rissington) has been posted to a Wimpey O.T.U. for heavies. I bet that’ll shake him!
P.P.S. I have been looking at my Savings Certificates, and find that I have exactly 50. On second thoughts I’ll send you my book, & then you can get your mother to put in it as many as you like, after you’ve filled your book.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of family and a colleague’s posting, and of passing his law exam.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-14
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440114-0001,
EGortonHGortonLCM440114-0002
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
Operational Training Unit
RAF Cark
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9169/EGortonHGortonLCM440112.1.pdf
beacffab9569c7c68da2282552cdd995
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Wednesday.
Dearest,
It was wizard to get another letter from you today, but I want you to remember always that you are only to post letters when it is convenient, - none of this rushing down to the village after a tiring morning.
You seem, as usual, to have had better weather than we’ve had here! Yesterday was bright & sunny, but apart from that we’ve been true to type – bags of rain & low cloud.
The A.O.C.’s visit seems to have passed off successfully. I say “seems”, because he visited flying wing when we had gone off for lunch, so I knew nothing about it, except for a marked easing of tension
[page break]
2
when I returned in the afternoon. The chief bind for me was yesterday afternoon, when I had to get about 15 pupils organised in cleaning crew – rooms & offices, & equipped them with brooms, dusters, mops, & buckets! Quite a good occupation for P/Os & senior N.C.O.s, isn’t it?
We’ve now finished with the course we’ve had for the past fortnight, all except for one duff pupil, who’s going to be tested by me on Friday, after our day off, to see if he ought to be suspended.
While I’ve been in charge of the flight, for the past week (Riches on leave) I’ve come nearer to enjoying my work here than I’ve ever done in the past eight months. Having to do a bit of organising as well as flying has kept me from getting bored, & I shall be
[page break]
3
quite sorry when Riches comes back in five days time. There’s no doubt in my mind that being Flt. Cmdr here is one of the easiest and pleasantest jobs I’ve yet struck in the R.A.F., & if there is no help for it, & I can’t get on to Ops, I could stand this as well as anything. Next week, in particular, will be a piece of cake, because Bod is C.F.I. while Price is on leave, so that Stockdale & I will be the two Flt. Cmdrs., & we shan’t have any pupils until Wednesday.
I’ve been making experiments with smoking, too. I didn’t smoke at all for about four days, & since then have only had a few. I can’t quite decide whether it’s worth while stopping altogether or not. The two main reasons for it are the waste of money & it’s being a bad thing to be a slave of
[page break]
4
habit. On the other hand, it seems a fairly harmless pleasure, & as I’m not, I think, addicted to expensive habits, I don’t think the money matters, really. The trouble is that for me there seems to be no media via between smoking no cigarettes and 15 or 20 a day.
It’s not a matter of much importance, really, & I keep considering it, trying to decide which is the better course. I’ll not refer to it again, but will let you know later what I’m doing.
This pen nib has had it[deleted]’[/deleted]s best days, I fear. It had a sort of tip on the end, but this has now come off, & I am writing with a rather rough point. I have to press very delicately to prevent myself scratching holes in the paper.
I am at rather a standstill with my law. I’ve read those two books I bought, & ought really
[page break]
5
to be making some notes on the Constitutional Law, but I’ve arranged to take a correspondence course in Legal History, & have got everything arranged except the text-book, & I feel I’d sooner start the course & do that before tackling the [deleted] law [/deleted] constitutional side.
Incidentally, I told Gillegin that you thought that tuberculosis diagnosis was probably silly, judging from your own experience, & he was very glad, because it confirmed the second doctor’s opinion.
I trust you are getting all the letters I write. I send one off every two days, but several times you’ve written & said you’ve had no letter. Looking through your letter I see you got one on Monday, & you should have had another today. Your letters come here very quickly
[page break]
6
because the one I got this morning is postmarked 6 p.m Jan. 4th. That’s peace time speed, isn’t it!
I trust my last letter caused you no uneasiness about my health. I did feel seedy on Monday, but was as right as rain yesterday morning, & have been ever since, thanks, perhaps, to the measures I took. I’m very glad you are feeling better, & hope your Mother will soon be O.K. You’ll have to be very careful with her, because winter colds and flu are very dangerous at her age.
I wish I could see Elizabeth & Bubs again. I think you are lucky to be able to have them to tea, although I suppose I could shoot a line about Jennifer if I wanted. Alice is
[page break]
7
very interested in Bubs, & thought me a poor specimen because I knew so little about her.
If you would care to do so, perhaps you could send me some reports on Bubs, - you know the sort of thing – height weight, vocabulary, etc. etc. I won’t reciprocate (or is it retaliate?) with reports on Jennifer unless asked!
I must confess I’m dubious about this house question. Prices are very high round Aber, aren’t they, & we should be tying up a lot of money in something we hope we shan’t want for long. Of course if prices are going to rise still more, so that we could make a profit on resale, it would be worth doing, but it is at least open to argument that in a reception area like Aber, the demand for houses will not rise much after the war.
[page break]
8
Although I’ve said all this, it’s only by way of caution. If you see something you want & can get at what [underlined] you [/underlined] think is a reasonable price, go for it bald-headed, and I shall be delighted.
I’m afraid, with you, that you’ve “had” Cambridge now. I’m sorry, because it looked as though it would be a good thing, but no doubt something else will turn up.
As for your “mobility”, I should say that you are at present definitely mobile. If you got a house & furnished it, then I think you would be immobile.
Like you, I keep wondering how we shall get through the next two months. If I don’t see you until
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of the weather, the air officer commanding’s visit, and his time as flight commander.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-12
Format
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15 handwritten pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440112
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
Civilian
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
Tricia Marshall
Debbie Hunter
Angus Bustin
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
RAF Cark
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9168/EGortonHGortonLCM440110.1.pdf
3c7bf4be638548675693f18abcbe02f3
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark,
Monday,
Dearest,
Tonight I’m wondering if I’m going to catch flu, & as soon as I’ve written this letter, I’m going straight to bed, hoping I shall be O.K. in the morning. So please excuse me if this letter isn’t up to much.
As for this F/Lt business, I expect it will come off once they post Boddy, but they seem to be finding some difficulty in that.
Anyway, you’ll probably be glad that I’ve stayed here, since Affleck told me this week that all the F/Lts that we knew at Ossington are now on Ops – Botting is one, so perhaps I should have gone quicker if I’d been there.
Each Observer A.F.U. takes staff pilots from (P) A.F.U.s (like Ossington) as well as from
[page break]
2
us, so they have to have a Q.F.I. to convert these people to Ansons. That’s what Wyver is doing.
You’re very likely right about Dana Gillegin. The M.O. Mrs. G. saw [deleted] with [/deleted] was a visitor, who was taking the place of our own M.O. while he was on leave. Our own M.O., who seems to be a first rate doctor, thinks the gland has some connection with a tooth Dana is cutting.
Why don’t you write again to the Cardiff people saying that you wish to clarify your position? As you are quite determined not to do any more gym teaching, & are not qualified for other teaching, why can’t you have a permit to apply for jobs that are suited to your training & experience.
By the way, if I get this F/Lt, I shall have to stay here at least another 6 months.
[page break]
3
I don’t want to suggest your coming here when you might be able to get a decent job elsewhere in a place that suits you, but you might bear it in mind, especially now that Wyver’s digs are vacant.
Actually, I’d prefer you to do something you want to do, rather than tie yourself to me again. In peace time it will be rather difficult to avoid doing that anyway, won’t it?
One small piece of good news is that the coupons & money I paid for my battle dress were unnecessary. I can now purchase goods in stores to the value of 10 coupons – e.g., a pair of shoes, & can probably get my 25/- back.
Actually I don’t want any shoes, & was thinking of holding the coupons in reserve against the time when I buy a new battle dress.
Writing to you has done
[page break]
4
me good, as usual. I feel warmer & more cheerful than I’ve felt all day, & now expect to be normal again tomorrow.
A.O.C.’s visit on Wed!
Bags of spit & polish!
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He mentions the air officer commanding’s visit the following day.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440110
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-01
aircrew
military service conditions
RAF Cark
RAF Ossington
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9167/EGortonHGortonLCM431229.2.pdf
734a706ba9efa8d06281866e11314836
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Wednesday
Dearest,
I’m only going to start this letter tonight, & post it on Friday, as I sent one off this morning. It wouldn’t do to pamper you with too many letters, would it? Or would it?
I’m feeling virtuous just now, because I’ve just put my clean laundry in front of the fire to air. I’ve never done it before, except for that parcel you sent before Christmas, & I doubt if I’ll do it again, but I’m mentioning it just to show that I do occasionally remember what you say.
[page break]
2.
There’s nothing really I want to say apart from one bit of news; it’s just that I want you to know how much I miss you. I know my letters aren’t very good as a rule – all about myself & Ops & that sort of thing, but I want you to remember that I love you more than anything else, even if I don’t say it, & often, when I’m feeling cheesed, just writing to you makes me feel better. It’s only just over two months before I get some more leave, thank God, but it seems ages since I said goodbye at Newhouse. It seems physically
[page break]
3
impossible that it’s only a fortnight ago.
The news is that Coastal Command has asked for 3 of our four Australian instructors & staff pilots to be posted to an Australian Squadron (boats, I think). We’re all shaken to the core, & feel very envious. Moodie & Stockdale will probably be two of them. I wish Fighter Command would ask me to go on Mosquitos!
I said goodbye to Wyver [deleted] ye [/deleted] today. I’m very sorry he’s going, because he’s the best of the whole bunch here. Still, it can’t be helped.
[page break]
4
Thursday 9.30 p.m.
Riches is away on leave today, so I am Flt Cmdr for the time being. The C.F.I. called me into his office & said that he proposed to put me up for Bod’s flight when Bod goes. I’m afraid I didn’t give the news a very hearty reception, as to me it’s rather like a cry of “Wolf.”
Bod hasn’t gone yet & [deleted] he’s [/deleted] I think he’s had the India posting he put in for before Christmas. Still, I think both the C.F.I. & C.O. will get rid of him if they can, as he’s been making such a nuisance of himself the past few months, always binding about Ops.
[page break]
5
Incidentally, if I do get this flight, it will stop my Ops posting for 6 months, but I shan’t mind, & I don’t suppose you will, either.
I had a check ride with the C.F.I. this evening – night flying. He was kind enough to say that I put up a very good show, easily up to A2 standard.
That Australian Coastal Command has boiled itself down to one bloke going, not three, & he [sic] the one who least wanted to go. His wife’s expecting a baby in the next few weeks, & he didn’t want boats anyway!
It was good to get your letter this morning – just like being given a £5 note!
[page break]
6.
I’ll certainly send off the subscription to Smiths’. I’d been wondering about it, & thought they’d have sent you a renewal form.
You don’t say whether the slippers are too big or not. I suppose that means they are, but you’re too polite to say so.
I shouldn’t have known about them but for the fact that Bod had bought a pair for his wife, & brought them in to camp & showed them to me. They were obviously of such good quality that I thought I’d better step in & get you a pair, & they were reasonably cheap, too – 11/6, compared with, I think, 18/6
[page break]
7
I paid last year.
You mustn’t think, however, that I’m going to buy you slippers every year. I hope that next year I shall be able to think of something different.
The Ministry of Labour are a nuisance, aren’t they, in not sending you your permit.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had flu again. You really must look after yourself, since I can’t do it. Here am I, in very robust good health, unable to do a hand’s turn for you when you’re ill! If you must be ill, save it up for when I’m on leave, so that I can look after you.
Hope Grace & your Mother are better.
All my love,
Harold
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his duties, activities on camp and colleagues’ postings.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-29
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431229
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
Civilian
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter 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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
aircrew
military living conditions
Mosquito
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9166/EGortonHGortonLCM431228.1.pdf
8da006092d8586e8a25e1af3234d2d62
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Tuesday.
Dearest,
I’ve just had dinner & have come back to my room & lit my fire. When I’ve finished this letter I shall get cracking on some Law, which has suffered a little this week-end
My journey back from Farnworth wasn’t too good – 2 1/2 hours late, too late for dinner, but fortunately the Wyvers made me stay & have supper with them – turkey & mince pies
We’ve had good weather the past two days, and I’ve done a lot of flying – nearly 6 hours. Previously I’d only done an hour this month – on the 1st!
[page break]
2.
In addition, the C.F.I. has instituted a lecture at 4.15, after flying. Each instructor in turn is to give the patter on some aspect of flying instruction, & then we criticise him. Mine is single engine flying. Of course, we think it’s a bind, but really it will do us a lot of good. In February, E.C.7.S. are coming to re-cat us, & the C.F.I. is expecting to put us all up for it.
We didn’t feel too pleased today, however, because we discovered we had some taxying to do after the lecture, & I was too late to have tea. Still, a bit of abstinence will probably
[page break]
3
do me good, as the lazy life I’ve been leading has been making me fat.
There’ve been three postings this week-end. F/Lt Smaile (staff pilot) has gone back to Coastal Command; F/o Squibbs who was my room-mate & sent his Ops form in at the same time as I did, has been posted to a Wimpey O.T.U. (for heavies). He put heavies down as his second choice, after Mosquitos, & so he’s going to Bomber Command. If I hadn’t put Mosquitos only down, I expect I should have gone too.
The biggest surprise
[page break]
4
was Wyver. He became a substantive F/Lt on Dec 6th, & has been posted to Moreton Valence as F/Lt resident [deleted] in [/deleted] instructor. I don’t want the job myself, but if I did, I shouldn’t mind Moreton Valence, as it is 7 miles south of Gloucester, on the Bath road. That would be all right if you were still at Newhouse, wouldn’t it?
Gilligan had a nasty shock this afternoon. His wife rang him up after having taken Dana to see the M.O. Apparently Dana has a swollen gland in the side of her neck, and the M.O. says it is
[page break]
5
tuberculosis, inherited from Mrs. G’s family. Tough luck on the kid, isn’t it?
Incidentally, a propos of Wyver’s posting, I now stand a good chance of getting a F/Lt if Boddy or Riches go. It’s no more than a vague possibility, because (1) Bod & Riches are still here, & when Riches’ Ops form was sent up, the C.O. added a request that he should be allowed to keep Riches. Bod may go to India, but nothing more has been heard about it.
(2) Moodie is senior to me, although he says he has
[page break]
6
arranged with Australian H.Q. for a posting on to Mosquitos.
(3) A new F/O has come to the flight, one Villiers, who was with the C.O. in Africa. He is a great pal of the C.O. & is senior to me; on the other hand, he has been instructing on Tigers, and isn’t qualified on Ansons yet.
I’m going into all this detail just to let you know how matters are. If I am given a flight I shan’t object, but I’d really prefer to go on Ops.
I got my income tax assessment form this week. It seems O.K. to me, & is as
[page break]
7
follows: Pay £292.0.0
Uniform Allowance 23.10
1/10 Earned Income 27.0.0
Personal Allowance [underlined] 140.0.0 [/underlined]
190.10.0 [underlined] 190.10.0 [/underlined]
Taxable Income 101.10.0
Tax payable 32.19.9
Add, from Bath [underlined] 3.8.3 [/underlined]
Total £ [underlined] 36.8.0 [/underlined]
Thank you very much for your Christmas Card, darling. It was very nice of you to send it. I don’t usually approve of the verse on Christmas Cards, but I certainly heartily agreed with the lines “Life will be sweet again
[page break]
8
when we two meet again.”
I trust you’ve been able to have a bath, now that you’ve got your Ideal boiler! It must be a great relief to you to have it, & it came just in time, didn’t it?
It’s a pity we didn’t know about Miss Buck when you were up here, isn’t it? You’d have been able to go and see her.
How unfortunate that the Labour Exchange couldn’t give you your permit! As you say, you’ve probably had that Cambridge job, but never say die!
Didn’t I give you
[page break]
9
directions for finding the Norfolk Hotel? Go to the other end of the Strand from Trafalgar Square, & Surrey St is the first street [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] on the right after the traffic lights.
I’m glad you are obeying my “command” about posting letters, though naturally, I shall regret the result. Still, I prefer it that way.
All my love, darling,
Harold
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his colleagues postings and includes details of his income tax assessment.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-28
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Nine handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431228
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
aircrew
Anson
Mosquito
Operational Training Unit
RAF Cark
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9163/EGortonHGortonLCM431221.2.pdf
05fc8e5e361475f855e4f9925cfcbc4d
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Tuesday.
Dearest,
I got your parcel yesterday. It makes me feel almost ashamed, and yet proud, that you should be willing to go to so much trouble for me. I only hope I can find something to send to you in return.
I got a letter from Alice yesterday sending a book token, & expressing the hope that I’ll buy a book that you will like. At the moment I’ve no ideas. Will you send me some suggestions, or shall I send you the book token & let you choose your own?
[page break]
2.
Douglas Dant has sent me a letter & Christmas Card. He is now with the Southgate Borough Council in London, doing the same job as in Bath. If we go to London some time, we’ll get him to come & see us.
Night flying is going very well so far. We flew on [deleted] Monda [/deleted] Sunday night, but have scrubbed Saturday, Monday & tonight, & I’ve only got two more nights to do.
On Friday I think I shall borrow Wyver’s civvies, and go off to Farnworth, returning on Sunday. I’ve
[page break]
3
fixed it with the C.F.I. & with the Adj., so there will be no questions asked. If Newhouse were only a bit nearer, I’d go & see you, but I think it’s too far at Christmas time. It’s not that I’m particularly keen on going home – it will be awfully crowded and uncomfortable – but somehow, the thought of spending Christmas in the Mess seems revolting. I don’t think I could stand the “party spirit” there – with all the alcoholic spirit as well. There’s a dance on New Year’s Eve, but I shall try & arrange to do O.C. night
[page break]
4
flying or something.
The latest news about Ops is very poor. The C.F.I. has been to a conference at Group H.Q., & says that if we want to go to any command other than Bomber Command, we shall have to wait until 1945!
Frankly, I don’t know what to do. My instinctive reaction is to put my name down for Pathfinders straight away, because I don’t fancy the thought if spending another year here. On the other hand, it is a fact that I’ve better opportunities of
[page break]
5
reading law here than I shall ever have anywhere else, but I get a feeling that that’s a rather selfish attitude to take. What do you think?
I’m sorry to be bothering you with my own concerns like this. It isn’t that I haven’t been thinking about you. I keep wondering whether you’ve had any replies to those letters you sent, & wondering whether there’s anything I can do about it. If there is anything, you’ll let me know, won’t you, darling.
It’s going to be a very
[page break]
6
poor Christmas without you. I hope you have a happy time, none the less. If the shops weren’t so bad, I’d have sent something for you to give to Elizabeth & Bubs. Perhaps you’ll visit them on Christmas day & give them my love. I seem to have a very strong feeling this year that children are the making of Christmas, & that without them it’s largely a waste of time.
All my love, darling, & may you have a very happy Christmas.
Harold
[page break]
7
P.S. Please give greetings to your Mother & Grace from me.
N.B. the one consolation about this Christmas is the fact that it may be the last one I spend in the R.A.F. I hope so!
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of night flying, the chances of returning to operations and his plans for Christmas.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-21
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431221
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
England--Farnworth (Bolton (Greater Manchester))
England--Lancashire
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
aircrew
military living conditions
Pathfinders
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9162/EGortonHGortonLCM431212.2.pdf
3abd787c943c30419e5a27ace256aea3
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark,
Sunday.
Dearest,
I got your letter & the hairbrush today. Thank you very much. They should have arrived yesterday afternoon, but all our mail went to Arnside by mistake, so we got it today.
Thank you for the brush. I should have written to ask for it, but I thought you’d just include it with the washing when it was ready. I’m sorry you had to make up a separate parcel.
The letter was particularly welcome. You don’t say anything about your flu, so I hope it is
[page break]
2
better now.
I hope you’re keeping quite warm in this weather. It’s a good job your [sic] in “our” room & not the other, even if you have company. I must say I wish I was with you tonight, instead of sitting in the Flight Office at midnight.
I’ve been thinking that I’ve been expecting too many letters from you, & forgetting how inconvenient it is at Newhouse. From now on, darling, write as much as you feel like, but post your letters only when it’s convenient, perhaps once a week when you
[page break]
3
or Grace go to Abergavenny.
The Bank statement for Nov. 30 was £126..0.0. Reasonable, I think, considering the heavy expenses we’ve had.
You remember the fuss we had last Christmas about Income Tax – two lots, one of £15..9..0, that we paid, & the other £3..8..3 that we didn’t pay? The Air Ministry Income Tax people have just written to say I still owe the £3.8..3 – they’ve checked the matter with the Bath people, so they’re going to deduct it from my pay. I think it’s probably all right this time, so I’m not going
[page break]
4
to question it, especially since I’m pretty certain they’re not charging me enough tax as it is.
You remember our talking about Coleman last week? McMaster met him in Cleveleys R.A.F. hospital, where he’s been sick for months, since June, I think. Do you remember Doig, the Canadian, commissioned about 12 months ago? He’s now a Squadron Leader on Ops! And Pullen is also a S/Ldr with D.F.C. + Bar! Makes you think, doesn’t it?
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his colleagues promotions and includes details of his finances, his bank statement and income tax.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431212
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
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
Civilian
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
aircrew
promotion
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9161/EGortonHGortonLCM431209.2.pdf
66868d039869def5ab74bd6261e21eda
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark
Thursday
Dearest,
The journey back last night wasn’t at all bad. I’d a carriage to myself as far as Crewe, & lay down from Hereford but couldn’t sleep. I must confess that I was somewhat shocked at Hereford when I looked into a carriage for a seat & found a fellow & a girl asleep together on one seat. Scarcely comme il faut, was it?
I’d two hours to wait at Crewe (plus an hour because the train was late) & went to the W.V.S. canteen. There is an “officers only” room, & you don’t even have to get your own food, as there is a girl who brings what you want. Very pukka, isn’t it?
[page break]
2.
I slept most if the rest if the journey from Crewe, & felt fairly good when I got here. Fortunately it has been a complete clamp all day, so I’ve had no flying to do, and in fact, had half an hour’s sleep after lunch.
Cark has to provide one officer for a “Junior Commander” course (admin.) at Dalachy, one of the Banff satellites. The course starts on Jan. 25th, and if possible, I am going to go on it. I’ve been wanting an Admin course for some time, & I’d like to see if any of the Ossington crowd are at Dalachy. In addition, I shall miss the E.C.7.S visit, so, all things considered, it will be a good
[page break]
3
thing if I can go. The only snag is that I’m dubious about whether the C.F.I. will agree to my being away while E.C.7.S. are coming.
I’ve been having a quiet evening in front of my fire, and shall go to bed early, but I must say it seems a poor substitute for an evening with you. I suppose the war will be over some time, but it’s an awfully long time to wait, isn’t it? The trouble is that much wants more, & the more I have of you the more I want!
Hope you didn’t have another fire. Thank you, darling, for the 48. It was wizard!
All my love,
Harold
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his journey back to RAF Cark after a 48 hour leave.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431209
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
aircrew
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9160/EGortonHGortonLCM431208.2.pdf
64ff7ca1ac28c63d5455df9888ddf448
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark.
Wednesday.
Dearest,
I expect Grace told you about our journey to the station. I made it with a couple of minutes to spare.
At Pontypool Road, there was nearly 20 minutes wait, but the train didn’t arrive until 2.30, and I reached Crewe at 6.0 p.m. Then the fun started. We didn’t leave Crewe until 7.15, & after a slow journey (including an hour’s wait outside Leyland, reached Carnforth at 12.15. At 2.45 a.m. the Whip arrived, & I was in my billet by 3.30 a.m. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? It made me wild to think I could
[page break]
2
have left Newhouse at 7.30 p.m., after another 7 hours with you, & still have had a better journey & probably more sleep.
To crown everything, the room was freezing cold & I think the sheets must have been damp because I had the coldest bed I’ve had in my life, I think.
Still, I feel fitter today than I’ve felt for a week, so obviously I’ve caught no harm.
I’ve been wondering how you’re feeling & how you’ve been getting on. I hope
[page break]
3
your improvement is continuing.
We had a great time together on leave, didn’t we. I think, looking back, it’s probably even better for us to be ill occasionally on leaves. I don’t know if I can say just what I mean, but I didn’t marry you just to be able to take you out, of have you cook & mend for me, but because I wanted us to share the whole of our lives – “in sickness & in health” in fact, with an emphasis on the “death do us part” idea.
What I’m trying to get at, I think, is that being ill
[page break]
4
is one of the ways we can get closer to one another, & the closer I can be to you, mentally & spiritually far more than physically, the better I shall be pleased.
If the above doesn’t make sense, please forgive me, darling, & remember that I send you
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about his train journey and their time together on leave.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-12-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431208
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
Civilian
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
love and romance
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9157/EGortonHGortonLCM431201.2.pdf
2615bb8e7d4a8ddd1b1e0633badcc485
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cork
Wednesday.
Dearest,
I shouldn’t have written to you tonight, only I got your letter today, & want to reply to it. All the aircraft are off on the first detail now, so I’ve nothing to do until they come back.
I’m surprised that my first letter took so long to arrive. Mine seem to be taking longer than yours do, because I’ve had two letters & [inserted] two [/inserted] parcels since Saturday.
I’m sorry about Iltyd’s family. He must have had his hands full, I should think. My people have escaped the flu O.K., except that Alice’s crowd had a dose when I went to that funeral.
[page break]
-2.
I’m glad the curtain material has arrived. I’m longing for the time when I can see it in our own house, aren’t you? If your Mother thinks it’s too good for curtains, what [underlined] should [/underlined] it be used for?
I’m glad you like Damon Runyon. I think his stories are wizard, & the wise cracks even better.
I hope you get your permit from the Labour Exchange. I shall feel very indignant if they don’t give you one.
The Norfolk Hotel is in Surrey St., Strand (I think W.C.2.) Charing Cross is the most
[page break]
3
convenient Underground Station, but that’s about half a mile away. Your best plan is to get a taxi from Paddington. Actually, I should think it would be just as easy to take a taxi from Paddington to Liverpool St. or Kings X (I forgot which) and spend the night in Cambridge. You would then have no journey to tire you out, & would be fresh for your interview. The University Arms is the pukka hotel in Cambridge, and since your expenses will be paid I don’t see why you shouldn’t use it. When I see Percy, however, I’ll ask him
[page break]
4
if he knows any other names.
Don’t forget, while you’re in Cambridge, that my friend Ian Ramsey is Chaplain of Christs College. One of his best qualities is that he is extraordinarily willing & obliging & provided he is not away for the Christmas vac. Will do absolutely anything he can & help you (He’s not the Arthur Rigby type at all!). If you do want anything, don’t hesitate to call on him. I’ll write to him in advance if I know you are going.
Tomorrow I’ll look out all the trains, acting on the
[page break]
5
assumption that you are going to catch the 9.30 from Aber.
Although I’ve written all this about Cambridge, I’m not building on it any more than you are. I just want to help as much as I can, even though I’m not with you, and of course, I do hope that you’ll get the job, for your sake.
N.B. I’m rather glad that there’s something you want to say & have forgotten. It makes me hope that I shall get another letter soon.
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about domestic news and his wife's trip to London and Cambridge.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431201
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
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
England--Cambridge
England--London
England--Cambridgeshire
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
Andy Hamilton
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
aircrew
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9156/EGortonHGortonLCM431128.2.pdf
45feec577b41e0af38f2341e9d98ecae
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark.
Sunday.
Dearest,
Unless something happens, I probably shan’t write again this week. It makes the leave seem much nearer, doesn’t it? I expect I shall catch the 11.8 from Cark, so you will know when to expect me. If there is any change in my plans, I’ll [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] telephone & let you know.
We had quite an orgy yesterday at Farnworth. Not only did I go to the funeral, but afterwards I spent half an hour at a party being held in the church Mother went
[page break]
2
to before she was married, & I was exhibited as a prize (?) specimen. You’d have hated it, & I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it seemed to please her, so I endured it.
One small good thing that resulted from the visit was that Mother gave me your No 8 torch, which she had found under the pillow. I’ll bring it with me on Thursday.
Dad has been passed fit for work, but has got a note from the doctor, saying that he hasn’t to have jobs which would mean bending or exposure to cold. Despite
[page break]
3
this, when he heard that his own job was open, he didn’t know whether to take it. I told him that he’d be a fool if he went back to the foundry, especially now when he’s got the best possible chance of picking & choosing his job.
You might let me know when we meet whether you want to have a couple of days in London next week. If I go alone, I shall travel on Monday, spend the night at a Services officers’ club, & return on Tuesday afternoon. If you are with me, we can return Wed. or Thursday.
[page break]
3
It’s rather a pity really that the exam should take place during my leave, but it can’t be helped. I only hope I can learn enough law between now & a week tomorrow. I certainly shan’t lack for something to do.
I wish I was with you tonight, darling.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. Have bought 4 ties from Stores, at 9d & I coupon each. Normal shop price is 4/-!
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of arrangements for his leave and a funeral at Farnworth.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431128
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--Cumbria
England--Farnworth (Bolton (Greater Manchester))
England--Lancashire
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9155/EGortonHGortonLCM431125-0001.2.jpg
63ca99629b1de06e5c848c7bd41bbd44
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9155/EGortonHGortonLCM431125-0002.2.jpg
5d7d26e9dc0e61d4dd559c83826044fc
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cork.
Thursday.
Dearest,
It was good to get your letter yesterday, & know that you are O.K. I hope the furniture comes soon, but I’m not hopeful.
Do you realise that I shall be seeing you again next Thursday? I expect to catch the 11. [indecipherable word] from Cork. I forgot the time I get to the junction, but I think it’s 7.30. Don’t meet me if it’s inconvenient, as I can easily walk out.
I’ve been drawing fresh stuff from stores, - new silk & leather gloves a whistle, chamois gloves, & “frocks white” – a [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] roll necked white pullover that is
[page break]
2
practically as long as one of your frocks.
Otherwise, there’s not much to report, & I’m writing this at lunch time in the Mess, so find it difficult to think. My aunt – mother of Dora has just died. [inserted] (79) [/inserted] The funeral is on Saturday, my day off, so I’ll go home on Friday & attend it.
Roll on Thursday.
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about their next meeting, his new clothes from RAF stores and the death of his Aunt Dora.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431125-0001,
EGortonHGortonLCM431125-0002
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
Civilian
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
Andy Hamilton
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
aircrew
military living conditions
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9154/EGortonHGortonLCM431121.2.pdf
d25f86aa791b364a1ed46ca1eb335f01
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cork.
Sunday.
Dearest,
It is 8.0 p.m., and after I’ve finished this letter I’m going to settle down & do some law. I’ve done a fair amount of it this week, & if all goes well shall be O.K. for the exam. The only snag is that I’m expecting to run short of coal, & that will put a stop to my activities unless it is warm enough for me to use my electric fire.
I didn’t write to you on Friday because I thought I’d wait for a letter from you, & when one didn’t arrive at [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] lunch time I must admit I felt disappointed. However,
[page break]
2
when I got back to the Mess in the evening your letter & the book had both arrived by the afternoon’s post, so all was well.
Thanks for both of them darling. I’m well into Dorothy Thompson now & except for a slight [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] impression of ballyhoo that it gives me ( I can’t believe that she’s as important as the book makes out ), & a certain slipshod quality about the writing, I’m enjoying it very much.
Still, I’d sooner you kept yourself supplied with books than passed them on to me. I hope you’re going to send off your next requisition soon, because
[page break]
3
I shall have posted this book by Wednesday at the latest.
I’ve done very little flying since you left, 2 ¾ hours, I think, to be exact. Friday was a good day for flying, but I never left the ground, as I started organising trips, & for once, got a bit of the Ossington touch into Cork’s casual atmosphere.
Yesterday morning was a clamp, & Gill & I played Wyver & a Canadian staff pilot at bridge. I felt very strange at first, after playing so much two handed bridge, but we made a good combination, as I had exceptionally good
[page break]
4
cards & Gill played very well indeed. We finished the morning 4000 points up. One thing that surprised me was that if only one of a suit was called, we didn’t bother to play the hand, but let the caller have his 20 or 30 points.
In the afternoon I went to Grange to shop & have tea, & later met Bod, & we went to the flicks – Robert Taylor in “Bataan”, a grim film, but better than the usual American war film.
I bought some woollen pants, just the sort I’ve been looking for, although a little
[page break]
5
lighter in weight than I should have wished. They’re Jaeger & expensive (9/10) but I think they’re worth it. The funny thing was that I found I’d come out without enough money for 3 pairs, & had to be content with two. I’ll get another pair as soon as I can. They’ve made a hole in my coupons, however, but I don’t think I shall need much more stuff before the next issue. After having had more coupons than I’ve needed it seems funny to be running short.
Don’t feel you need give me any. After I’ve bought
[page break]
6
the third pair, I shall still have 11 coupons, & I don’t expect to have to buy anything else for months, as I am well equipped with everything.
Your letter doesn’t say anything about whether you are well or ill, so I trust that you are feeling as fit as I am. I hope you have good luck with the furniture.
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about his law studies, a novel he is reading, flying duties, playing bridge, films he has watched, shopping for woollen pants, and his remaining ration coupons.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431121
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
Civilian
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
Andy Hamilton
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
RAF Cark
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9153/EGortonHGortonLCM431119.2.pdf
05bc237a71e0c9f09464063218d56bef
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cork,
Friday.
Dearest,
I hope your cold is quite cured now despite the bad weather we’ve been having. It’s been pretty cold here, but I’ve been able to keep warm. I’m writing this in the Mess in front of a red hot log fire, & the fire will have warmed my room [deleted] before [/deleted] by the time I get there.
Gilligan is away on commission leave. It came through while I was away. It is back dated 9 months, but he has to wait 2 ½ months before he gets his F/O & then that will be back dated. Funny isn’t it?
I was a bit shaken
[page break]
2
yesterday to learn that all the Flying Control blokes have been made F/Lts. We’re all feeling pretty cheesed about it, because theirs is a pretty poor job & they’re all quite new officers – just got their F/Os. The only one who deserves it is an ex W/O who has done 1000 operational hours.
Otherwise, there’s not much news. I start O.C. night flying tomorrow, [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] but Thursday will be my last night, so it shouldn’t be much trouble.
As usual, I’ve done no work since I’ve been back. We shall have no pupils until next Thursday, & I haven’t been near
[page break]
3
an aeroplane yet.
One good thing I’ve discovered is that I can read Law during the day in the Education Block where there’s a reading room that no one goes into during the day. That’s quite useful as the Mess is impossible for reading, & I’m not supposed to light my own fire before 6.0 p.m.
Let me know when you’ve any news.
All my love,
Harold.
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about life at RAF Cark, other officers who have been promoted, and studying for his law exams.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431119
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Rights
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
Andy Hamilton
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
aircrew
military living conditions
promotion
RAF Cark
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9151/EGortonHGortonLCM431118.2.pdf
4d2f5ade82e60e63aeee939f362b1557
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
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
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
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Cark.
Thursday
Dearest,
I’m sorry I forgot to post that letter on Tuesday morning, but I had such a rush to get in the Mess in time for breakfast that I forgot it.
I’ve definitely sent off the entry form for the Law Exam – 10/6d entry fee, & £1..2..6 term fee to Lincoln’s Inn. I hope I shall be able to cope with the exam!
There’s no news of my posting yet. If I stay here long enough to go on leave, I shall have to interrupt my leave to go to London. It will be a bad show, won’t it, unless
[page break]
2
you come with me.
This is a funny life, here. I keep [deleted] thing] [/deleted] thinking “Now I shall have some work to do,” & nothing ever happens. I’ve worked out that on the basis of my flying time this month, I’m being paid at the rate of 1/8d a minute!
We had a V.D. film this evening. It was actually very good, though a little unpleasant, but I had to go out after quarter of an hour as I couldn’t stand the fug inside.
Last night I went to see the Wyvers, & saw their little boy. He’s a real imp, much
[page break]
rougher & heavier than Dana, but behaved himself quite well while I was there. I find these kids very attractive, & they make me wish we had one, but I’m a bit dubious about the way I should stand up to looking after one all the time. (The above isn’t a hint, by the way; it’s just a passing reflection – we can’t cope with children at the moment).
I was Orderly Officer again on Tuesday. I told the Adj I took a dim view of being on twice in 7 days, but apparently, he’d discovered that I’d done nothing on my last tour,
[page break]
4
and wanted me to work for my living. I felt I’d better not protest too much, in case he turned nasty about last Wednesday.
I can’t think of anything else to say, darling, except that I wish I was home on leave with you, or better still, home permanently. I hope you felt no ill-effects from your journey. Look after yourself.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. Do you want any more travel vouchers?
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his duties and colleagues and discusses his law exam.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM431118
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
Civilian
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
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cumbria
aircrew
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Cark