Browse Items (24 total)

  • Tags: RAF Compton Bassett

BReidKReidKv1.pdf
Kathleen's journal commences with call up and journey to RAF Innsworth, describing in detail accommodation, activities and compatriots. She continues with a very detailed description of training and activities at Compton Bassett. Following a farewell…

BReidKReidKv30001.jpg
Kathleen describes a farewell concert at an undisclosed location, and says it marked the closure to the first chapter of service life. She goes on to write of arrival at RAF Bawtry Hall with her friend Dorothy and describes the accommodation and…

BFieldPLFieldPLv1.pdf
Peter's memoir starts with his account of life at school (Rendcomb College) from 1931 to 1937 and continues through the decade 1938-1948, starting with his time at Cheltenham Art School in 1938 and 1939. He then continues with an account of wartime…

It documents crew list, Alf's training and post tour activity and the fact that most of the tour was flown on one aircraft, Lancaster III ND527 squadron letters LE-O. Also has Alf's recollections of some of the operations.

From information kindly…

Issued when Alf was on the training staff at R.A.F. Compton Bassett in 1945. The sleeping out pass authorised him to leave the station for the period specified, usually overnight or week-end. The leave pass authorises him to be away from the station…

Ten airmen posed in two rows in front of a wooden building. From information kindly provided by the donor. 'Wireless Operators course at Compton Bassett, Alf Dawson front row far left'.

In accordance with the conditions stipulated by the donor,…

PTrappSV1602.jpg
Sylvia was born in Mansfield where her father was a miner and her mother had worked at Lawns Mills. She had two brothers and a sister. Sylvia was 15 when she left school to work at the hosiery mills and recalls the German manager being deported. She…

PStewerdPD1501.jpg
Peter Steward was born in 1933 and talks of not seeing his father during the war due to his father's service in the RAF. His uncles and cousins also served. After leaving school at 15, Peter worked at the Woolwich Arsenal factory and joined the RAF…

PHollierM1701.jpg
Marion Hollier served as a wireless operator in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force from February 1944 to September 1946. Before the war she worked in a construction firm, The George Wimpey Company, which built aerodromes. She learned the Morse code in…

ADayMH171128.mp3
As her father was in the Royal Navy, Margaret attended school in Gibraltar, Portsmouth, and (after her mother’s death) Malta, before returning to Gosport in the UK when she was eleven. In 1939, she was fifteen and working for a company making soft…

ASmithJG160408.mp3
Jack volunteered for the Royal Air Force in September 1940. He went to RAF Padgate and then on to RAF Blackpool, where he trained as a wireless operator. Jack proceeded to a radio school at RAF Compton Bassett and then RAF Bramcote. He was posted to…

PMusgroveJ1501.jpg
Born in York in 1922, Joseph left school at 14 and started work in a chocolate factory, whilst attending two nights of further education per week. In 1936, a fighter aircraft had landed nearby which stimulated his life-long interest in flying. After…

AYoungM150515.mp3
Margaret Young grew up in Scotland and worked in a ladies' shoe department. She volunteered for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force at the age of 18 and served as a wireless operator. She talks about the medical and reception centre and training,…

ABarfootWE151208.mp3
Bill Barfoot was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. On joining the Air Force, he trained as a wireless operator but re-mustered as aircrew. He trained as a navigator in South Africa, and flew operations with 296 Squadron, supplying the French and Norwegian…

AAtkinsonA150623.mp3
Arthur Atkinson was born in Lancaster, and worked in the local Co-Op until he joined the Royal Air Force. He trained as a wireless operator and served at RAF Ringway before being posted to RAF Coningsby and, later, RAF Skellingthorpe with 61…

PGrimesS1502.jpg
Sydney Grimes grew up near Southend and joined the RAF as a wireless operator in 1940. He flew a total of 41 operations - 24 with 106 Squadron and 17 with 617 Squadron. He then served on 9 Squadron at RAF Bardney for 2 months and, subsequently, with…

AEadyIET160628.mp3
Before the war, Liz worked in aeronautical inspection at a factory which made parachutes. She had an interview in Northolt and enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in October 1942. She went to Uxbridge and chose to be a telephonist. After a…

MTurnerBM2146029-170131-03.jpg
A poem written in December 1942 after her first love was shot down over France. After his death Betty resolved to join the Royal Air Force and became a wireless operator. According to a note, she later found out that some of what she wrote down went…
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