1
25
12
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1409/44329/STaplinJA1268696v10006.1.pdf
2d3126bde1b9da415cb64008905e7d8e
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
Taplin, J 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
2016-01-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Taplin, JA
Description
An account of the resource
128 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Albert Taplin (b.1919, 1268696 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents photographs and two audio interviews. He flew operations as an air gunner with 408 Squadron before he was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kevan Taplin and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Taplin to his Family
Description
An account of the resource
He apologises again for not writing. He has been very busy. He is writing the letter in a field of poppies.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Taplin
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six handwritten sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
STaplinJA1268696v10006
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
aircrew
Blenheim
RAF Horsham St Faith
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1409/44305/STaplinJA1268696v10007-0001.1.jpg
f27587a74caa92981ff25d31650e6e32
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1409/44305/STaplinJA1268696v10007-0002.1.jpg
83b73ecbd3914d6257578b928aa459f5
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
Taplin, J 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
2016-01-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Taplin, JA
Description
An account of the resource
128 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Albert Taplin (b.1919, 1268696 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents photographs and two audio interviews. He flew operations as an air gunner with 408 Squadron before he was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kevan Taplin and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Taplin to his Family
Description
An account of the resource
Part of a letter to John's family. He has settled down in his new post and is happy. He finds camp monotonous.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Taplin
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
STaplinJA1268696v10007-0001, STaplinJA1268696v10007-0002
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
aircrew
Blenheim
RAF Horsham St Faith
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1409/43997/ATaplinJA880609.2.mp3
ce1338ceb3ea72f9cbb39e7d692cf4af
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
Taplin, J 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
2016-01-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Taplin, JA
Description
An account of the resource
128 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Albert Taplin (b.1919, 1268696 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents photographs and two audio interviews. He flew operations as an air gunner with 408 Squadron before he was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kevan Taplin and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with J A Taplin. Two
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ATaplinJA880609
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stevenage Heritage Project
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1988-06-09
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:33:11 audio recording
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending OH transcription
Pending review
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
John volunteered to join the RAF in 1940 wanting to become aircrew as a wireless operator as he had an interest in early radios. While awaiting his aircrew application to be processed he did his initial training at Blackpool and then onto RAF Yatesbury to train as a ground wireless operator. He was initially posted to Group headquarters at Huntingdon as a ground wireless operator. John then went back to Yatesbury for a wireless mechanics course and then moved to RAF Horsham St Faiths to 139 Squadron with Blenheims, while he was there he was locally trained and flew as an air gunner.
He then went back to Yatesbury for an aircrew wireless operators course then on to Penrhos for an Air Observers and gunners course. From there John went to 10 OTU at Abingdon, while there he flew on one of the 1,000 bomber operations in a Whitley flying from Stanton Harcourt.
Having finished his course John was posted to 10 Squadron at RAF Leeming, still on the Whitley, the squadron converted to the Halifax, John flew in the Halifax II fitted with Merlin engines. The squadron then moved to RAF Melbourne, in Sept/Oct 1942 John’s crew were posted to Leeming to a new squadron No 408 (RCAF) as part of 6 Group.
On an operation to Hamburg 2/3 February 1943 John’s aircraft was badly damaged and the crew baled out, he recounts the difficulties of bailing out from an out of control aircraft. He landed in a tree and evaded capture for three days.
As a prisoner of war, he exchanged identities with a soldier. He was also on one of the long marches from January to April.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1942
1943-02-02
1943-02-03
1945
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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Trevor Hardcastle
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--Yorkshire
England--Wiltshire
Germany--Hamburg
10 OTU
10 Squadron
408 Squadron
6 Group
aircrew
bale out
Blenheim
bombing
evading
ground personnel
Halifax
Operational Training Unit
prisoner of war
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Leeming
RAF Melbourne
RAF Yatesbury
shot down
the long march
training
Whitley
wireless operator
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40572/MAnkersonR[Ser -DoB]-180129-79.jpg
470fc9be5447efacff1e2d9cab639cb7
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
Extract from 102 Squadron Operational Log
Description
An account of the resource
An extract with details of a Halifax, W7677 "O" operation on Mannheim.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05-19
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany--Mannheim
France--Vichy
France--Paris
France--Saint-Nazaire
France
Germany
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAnkersonR[Ser#-DoB]-180129-79
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
102 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
flight engineer
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
navigator
pilot
propaganda
RAF Dalton
RAF Horsham St Faith
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40354/MAnkersonR[Ser -DoB]-180129-01.pdf
543adc7e687241fb89b76505a55c8ec6
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
One Day in May on a Bomber Station
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed description of an operation to Mannheim on 19 May 1942. He describes the preparation, the operation and their safe return to the UK.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05-19
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Sri Lanka
Great Britain
England--Sheffield
Australia
Queensland--Brisbane
England--Yorkshire
Chile
England--Tunbridge Wells
England--Ashington (Northumberland)
England--Birmingham
Canada
Germany--Mannheim
France--Paris
France--Vichy
England--Flamborough Head
France--Givet
Belgium--Brussels
England--Lowestoft
England--Norwich
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
France--Saint-Nazaire
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Germany
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Navy
Royal Australian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
13 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAnkersonR[Ser#-DoB]-180129-01
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
102 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
flight engineer
fuelling
ground personnel
Halifax
incendiary device
mess
meteorological officer
navigator
Pathfinders
perception of bombing war
pilot
RAF Dalton
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Topcliffe
superstition
target indicator
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40201/EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0002.jpg
bcfe7ccb2edcaad86665706f598cc464
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40201/EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0003.jpg
261a7d1f389242e5b02cee6d13b3acb8
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
19/20th May 1942 Target Mannheim
Description
An account of the resource
Batchelder was the pilot of this operation. They bombed inside flares but the navigator insisted it was not Mannheim. Damage to one engine from flak, later they were attacked by a Me 110. They successfully landed at RAF Horsham St Faith, Norwich.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05-19
1942-05-20
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Givet
Germany--Mannheim
Belgium--Brussels
Netherlands
Great Britain
England--Lowestoft
England--Norwich
France
Germany
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0002,
EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0003
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association. Batchelder, HE
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing
flight engineer
Halifax
Me 110
navigator
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Horsham St Faith
target indicator
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1937/38349/LJolliffeFSW197221v3.1.pdf
5df50533165672ea2c3bca8070b9ea36
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jolliffe, Frank Sidney Walter
F S W Jolliffe
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-18
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Jolliffe, FSW
Description
An account of the resource
129 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Frank Sidney Walter Jolliffe (b. 1923, 1314311 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Margaret Lowe and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frank Jolliffe's flying log book. Three
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
England--Hampshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
Singapore
England--Yorkshire
Great Britain
Malaysia
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Log book and record book
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LJolliffeFSW197221v3
Description
An account of the resource
Aircrew flying log book 4, for F S W Jolliffe, navigator/radar, covering the period from 4 December 1956 to 20 July 1961. Detailing his flying duties with 46, 141, 41, 60 squadrons and headquarters number 11 group. He was stationed at RAF Odiham, RAF Horsham St Faith, RAF Coltishall, RAF Wattisham, RAF Martlesham Heath, and RAF Tengah.</p>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
141 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
Meteor
navigator
RAF Coltishall
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Leeming
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Odiham
RAF Wattisham
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/934/36457/BLovattPHastieRv2.1.pdf
295406378e70aa4d2aeb43baeaddc085
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
Lovatt, Peter
Dr Peter Lovatt
P Lovatt
Description
An account of the resource
117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-09-27
2019-09-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Lovatt, P
Dublin Core
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
Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Roy Hastie.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Peter Lovatt
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2003-10
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
Rhode Island--Quonset Point Naval Air Station
Bahamas--Nassau
New York (State)--New York
Bahamas--New Providence Island
Great Britain
England--Harrogate
Scotland--Perth
Scotland--Glasgow
England--Warrington
England--Blackpool
Luxembourg
France
Belgium
Netherlands
France--Dunkerque
England--Dover
England--Grantham
England--Torquay
Wales--Aberystwyth
Iceland
Greenland
Sierra Leone
Russia (Federation)--Murmansk
Singapore
France--Saint-Malo
Denmark
Sweden
Germany--Lübeck
Netherlands--Ameland Island
England--Grimsby
Germany--Helgoland
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lundy Island
Germany--Cologne
North Carolina
North Carolina--Cape Hatteras
Aruba
Curaçao
Iceland--Reykjavík
Greenland--Narsarssuak
Canada
Québec--Montréal
Rhode Island
New York (State)--Buffalo
Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean Sea
Virginia
Florida--Miami
Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base
Puerto Rico--San Juan
Cuba
Florida--West Palm Beach
Cuba--Caimanera
India
Sierra Leone--Freetown
Jamaica
Jamaica--Kingston
Jamaica--Montego Bay
Virginia--Norfolk
Washington (D.C.)
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northern Ireland--Limavady
England--Chatham (Kent)
Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander
Gibraltar
England--Leicester
Massachusetts--Boston
Egypt--Alamayn
Algeria--Algiers
Algeria--Oran
Algeria--Bejaïa
Algeria--Annaba
Italy--Sicily
England--Milton Keynes
Germany--Essen
England--Dunwich
Europe--Scheldt River
England--Sizewell
Germany--Hamburg
England--Kent
Germany--Stuttgart
England--Crowborough
Netherlands--Hague
England--Peterborough
England--Bristol
Germany--Homburg (Saarland)
Belgium--Brussels
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Belgium--Liège
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Aschaffenburg
Germany--Castrop-Rauxel
Germany--Mittelland Canal
Germany--Aachen
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Leuna
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Ulm
Germany--Munich
Poland--Szczecin
France--Ardennes
Germany--Bonn
Belgium--Houffalize
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Grevenbroich
Germany--Dülmen
France--Metz
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Zeitz
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
England--Dungeness
Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Germany--Wiesbaden
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Worms
Germany--Pforzheim
Germany--Darmstadt
Europe--Lake Constance
Germany--Bergkamen
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
France--Aube
Germany--Augsburg
England--Feltwell
England--Croydon
Norway--Oslo
Sweden--Stockholm
Czech Republic--Prague
Italy--Florence
Portugal--Lisbon
Monaco--Monte-Carlo
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
Netherlands--Venlo
Netherlands--Amsterdam
France--Paris
France--Lyon
France--Digne
France--Nevers
France--Lille
Norway--Ålesund
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Bailleul (Nord)
Belgium--Ieper
Belgium--Mesen
France--Cambrai
France--Somme
France--Arras
France--Lens
France--Calais
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Netherlands--Vlissingen
France--Brest
France--Lorient
France--La Pallice
Egypt--Suez
Germany--Berlin
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Cyprus
Turkey--Gallipoli
Black Sea--Dardanelles Strait
Turkey--İmroz Island
Turkey--İzmir
Greece--Lesbos (Municipality)
Greece--Thasos Island
Greece--Chios (Municipality)
Greece--Thasos
Bulgaria
Turkey--Istanbul
Europe--Macedonia
Greece--Kavala
Kenya--Nairobi
Africa--Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Tanzania
Sudan
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Sudan--Kassalā
Eritrea--Asmara
Yemen (Republic)--Perim Island
Ethiopia--Addis Ababa
Sudan--Khartoum
Ghana--Takoradi
Libya--Cyrenaica
Libya--Tobruk
Egypt--Cairo
Iraq
Greece--Crete
Libya--Tripolitania
Tunisia--Mareth Line
Libya--Tripoli
Tunisia--Qaṣrayn
Tunisia--Medenine
Italy--Pantelleria Island
Malta
Italy--Licata
Italy--Brindisi
Italy--Foggia
Italy--Cassino
Italy--Sangro River
Italy--Termoli
Yugoslavia
Croatia--Split
Croatia--Vis Island
Italy--Loreto
Italy--Pescara
Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad
North America--Saint Lawrence River
Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Bahamas
Florida
Italy
Poland
Massachusetts
New York (State)
Algeria
Tunisia
Libya
Egypt
North Africa
Ontario
Québec
Germany
Croatia
Czech Republic
Ghana
Greece
Kenya
Norway
Russia (Federation)
Turkey
Yemen (Republic)
Portugal
Trinidad and Tobago
North America--Niagara Falls
France--Reims
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Monheim (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Gloucestershire
England--Lancashire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Greece--Thessalonikē
Germany--Herne (Arnsberg)
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Libya--Banghāzī
Russia (Federation)--Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Jersey
Virginia--Hampton Roads (Region)
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
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
142 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLovattPHastieRv2
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
1 Group
100 Group
101 Squadron
157 Squadron
2 Group
214 Squadron
223 Squadron
3 Group
4 Group
6 Group
8 Group
85 Squadron
88 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
B-24
B-25
bale out
Beaufighter
Bismarck
Botha
C-47
Chamberlain, Neville (1869-1940)
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
entertainment
evacuation
Flying Training School
Gee
Gneisenau
Goldfish Club
ground personnel
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
He 111
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hudson
Hurricane
Initial Training Wing
Ju 88
Lancaster
love and romance
Martinet
Me 109
Me 110
mine laying
Mosquito
Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945)
navigator
Nissen hut
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
Proctor
radar
RAF Banff
RAF Catfoss
RAF Catterick
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Cranwell
RAF Dishforth
RAF Farnborough
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Kinloss
RAF Leuchars
RAF Lichfield
RAF Lyneham
RAF Manston
RAF North Coates
RAF Oulton
RAF Padgate
RAF Prestwick
RAF Riccall
RAF Silloth
RAF South Cerney
RAF St Eval
RAF Thornaby
RAF Thorney Island
RAF Windrush
RAF Woodbridge
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945)
Scharnhorst
Spitfire
sport
Stirling
Swordfish
Tiger Moth
Tirpitz
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Whitley
Window
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1560/35630/BMillingtonRWestonFv1.2.pdf
8f0a70969cd59c55fef62f5a0d5a383d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Weston, Fred
F Weston
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-11-13
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Weston, F
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Fred Weston DFC (1916 - 2012, 126909 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 101 and 620 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Catherine Millington and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Air Gunner
Based around the WWII service of Fred Weston DFC RAFVR
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Fred. In addition it includes histories of aircraft and squadrons he served in, Details are included of airfields he served at. Additionally there are biographies of various servicemen associated with Fred's squadrons and service.
At the end there is a biography of the officer in charge of Arnhem, Lt-Gen Sir Frederick Browning and his wife Daphne du Maurier.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Roger Millington
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005-01
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridge
England--Letchworth
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Penrhos
Egypt--Heliopolis (Extinct city)
Singapore
France--Cherbourg
Netherlands--Eindhoven
France--Brest
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Dunkerque
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
France--Brest
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Berlin
Italy--Turin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Quiberon
France--Boulogne-Billancourt
Germany--Essen
France--Le Creusot
Germany--Leverkusen
France--Caen
Netherlands--Arnhem
Norway
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Belgium--Brussels
England--Rochester (Kent)
Northern Ireland--Belfast
England--Longbridge
France--Arras
England--Darlington
Italy--Genoa
England--Longbridge
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Nuremberg
Italy--Sicily
France--Normandy
Netherlands--Arnhem
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Netherlands--Nijmegen
Wales--Pwllheli
England--Yorkshire
England--Leicester
England--Sunderland (Tyne and Wear)
Scotland--Edinburgh
England--Rochford
England--London
England--Cornwall (County)
Scotland--Ayr
England--Friston (East Sussex)
England--Gravesend (Kent)
England--West Malling
England--Hailsham
England--Yelverton (Devon)
England--Bentwaters NATO Air Base
England--Great Dunmow
England--Heacham
England--Weybridge
Wales--Hawarden
England--Blackpool
England--Old Sarum (Extinct city)
England--Kent
England--Folkestone
England--Hambleton (North Yorkshire)
England--York
Scotland--Scottish Borders
England--Cambridge
England--Thurleigh
England--Darlington
England--Hitchin
England--Lancashire
Italy
France
Egypt
Germany
Belgium
Netherlands
Great Britain
Yemen (Republic)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Bedfordshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Durham (County)
England--Sussex
England--Essex
England--Herefordshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Surrey
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Leicestershire
England--Swindon (Wiltshire)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
British Army
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Free French Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
85 sheets
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BMillingtonRWestonFv1
1 Group
100 Group
101 Squadron
103 Squadron
105 Squadron
114 Squadron
139 Squadron
141 Squadron
148 Squadron
149 Squadron
162 Squadron
1657 HCU
1665 HCU
18 Squadron
180 Squadron
2 Group
208 Squadron
214 Squadron
239 Squadron
3 Group
301 Squadron
304 Squadron
342 Squadron
6 Group
6 Squadron
620 Squadron
7 Squadron
75 Squadron
8 Group
9 Squadron
90 Squadron
97 Squadron
99 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
B-24
B-25
bale out
Beaufighter
Blenheim
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
Boston
Caterpillar Club
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
ditching
evading
final resting place
Gee
Gneisenau
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Horsa
Hurricane
Ju 87
killed in action
Lancaster
Lysander
Manchester
Me 109
Meteor
mid-air collision
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
propaganda
radar
RAF Bicester
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Bottesford
RAF Bourn
RAF Bradwell Bay
RAF Bramcote
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Coltishall
RAF Drem
RAF Driffield
RAF Duxford
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Evanton
RAF Fairford
RAF Finningley
RAF Great Massingham
RAF Halfpenny Green
RAF Harwell
RAF Hendon
RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
RAF Honington
RAF Hornchurch
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Kenley
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Leconfield
RAF Leuchars
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Little Snoring
RAF Ludford Magna
RAF Manston
RAF Marham
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Newmarket
RAF Newton
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Oakington
RAF Penrhos
RAF Pershore
RAF Ridgewell
RAF Shepherds Grove
RAF Sleap
RAF Stradishall
RAF Tangmere
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tilstock
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Waterbeach
RAF West Raynham
RAF Woodbridge
RAF Wratting Common
RAF Wyton
Resistance
Scharnhorst
Special Operations Executive
Spitfire
Stirling
target indicator
Tiger force
training
Typhoon
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1888/34883/MLutwycheCE561197-170703-04.2.pdf
a3db58b65df641f0637bf4b6811cbc96
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1888/34883/MLutwycheCE561197-170703-05.2.pdf
762d74108513f36d784d9903f9eb79fe
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
Lutwyche, C E
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Lutwyche, CE
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Charles Eade Lutwyche (1910 - 1942, 561197 Royal Air Force) and contains photographs and documents. He flew operations as a navigator with 114 Squadron until he was killed 24 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Lutwyche and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span data-contrast="none" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW129935705 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW129935705 BCX0">Additional information on<span> Charles Eade Lutwyche</span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW129935705 BCX0"><span> </span>is available via the</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW129935705 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}"> </span><a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/114386/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
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
561197 Warrant Officer Charles Eade (Bill) Lutwyche
Description
An account of the resource
A summary of Bill's Air Force Career. There are two copies.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Perpignan
France--Nantes
Great Britain
England--Hove
France
England--Sussex
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLutwycheCE561197-170703-04,
MLutwycheCE561197-170703-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
114 Squadron
214 Squadron
49 Squadron
aircrew
killed in action
mid-air collision
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bicester
RAF Eastchurch
RAF Finningley
RAF Halton
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Leuchars
RAF Oulton
RAF Scampton
RAF Tangmere
RAF Thornaby
RAF Waddington
RAF Wattisham
RAF West Raynham
RAF Wyton
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1576/25510/PDentonDH20050.2.jpg
08d82585a851b6457839e7e0c4f4880a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1576/25510/PDentonDH20051.2.jpg
0f337e858af3d368908c4a8bca2d3d5a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1576/25510/PDentonDH20052.2.jpg
a27bd6e3c507319f48b438c633ed6f10
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1576/25510/PDentonDH20053.2.jpg
b06e8b27fbfff1cf062ccc0428cb17e2
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
Denton, Dennis Hugh
D H Denton
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
2020-01-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Denton, DH
Description
An account of the resource
59 items. The collection concerns Dennis Hugh Denton (b. 1920, 1256316 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, album and photographs. He flew 62 daylight operations with 21 and 226 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Angela Sadler and Pamela Hickson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Damaged Blenheim
Description
An account of the resource
Two photographs showing damage to the rear fuselage of Blenheim WV-G V6525. First shows right side, small holes in the skin except a large hole in the roundel. The reverse has RAF Horsham St Faith photographers stamp, captioned '425G Damaged aircraft 23 Jun 1941'. Second photograph shows left rear fuselage, again with small holes in skin but the left elevator is missing. Reverse has same unit stamp and date but serial no is 426G.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-06-23
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PDentonDH20050, PDentonDH20051,
PDentonDH20052, PDentonDH20053
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-06-23
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
18 Squadron
Blenheim
RAF Horsham St Faith
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1186/11759/PWatsonC1704.2.jpg
cf1ce61de2dfa140b6b4109391b34f14
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1186/11759/AWatsonC170719.1.mp3
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Watson, Clifford
C Watson
Description
An account of the resource
Five items. Two oral history interviews with Flying Officer Clifford Watson DFC (1922 - 2018, 1384956, 188489 Royal Air Force), a memoir, his service and release book, and a scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as an air gunner with 150 and 227 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Clifford Watson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-06-28
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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Watson, C
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 19th of July 2017. I’m back in Fenstanton talking with Bill Watson again, about his experiences and we are just going back to the Rhodesia days on initial training, so what was the form there? You started with pilot training
CW: At the Elementary Flying Training School in Salisbury there were fifty of us on the course, at the end of six weeks there were thirty still on the course, twenty had been scrubbed, and there were only fifteen of the thirty still on the course, I’ve gone solo, I was one of the fifteen who hadn’t, so we had to see a fly test and all fifteen of us failed, we all failed [unclear] a fly test, twelve of us notified a grievance and we were interviewed and we wanted to know why I’d failed, I failed, you failed Watson on two points, you did wheel landings instead of three-pointers and secondly you took off and climbed at half throttle. And my final remark there was that I landed exactly as I was instructed, I was running out of landing area so I’d to get down, either get down or go round again and I chose to get down exactly as I was instructed, secondly if I took off and climbed at half throttle I performed a miracle and we could [unclear] one of them and that was it. And that was before the group captain, no, before the wing commander, Speedy Powell was our wing commander in charge of all flying in Rhodesia, a long time later he became our group captain in North Africa and I reminded him about Rhodesia, he said, don’t tell me you failed the pilot’s course, you didn’t, he said, it’s just that there were too many of you on it and there were several hundred people waiting in Bulawayo, they’d already completed the EFTS waiting for Service Flying Training School, bigger aircraft, and there was too big a delay so not everybody could be trained as a pilot. We were offered observer trading and they said there could be a little delay in taking the course and we’d already met people who’d waited six months for the course, we knew better, so we all remustered to air gunner, there’s a picture of that course
CB: Yeah. In your book.
CW: So, we then went to Gwelo, to Gwelo, place called Moffat,
CB: Right. Now, we were talking earlier about how you got paid, we’re going fast forward now onto the Wellington so what were the rates of pay cause you were all sergeants except you in this particular case on the Wellingtons. So, what was the rate of pay?
CW: The same as when I became a sergeant
CB: So, the pilot got twelve and six a day
CW: [unclear]. During the training?
CB: No, after the training
CW: Until we qualified, we were LACs
CB: Right, yes
CW: I think, I think it was seven shillings a day as LACs, I’m not sure, I don’t, I’m not sure. As an AC2 initially I was on three and six a day. And, when the training started, it went to seven shillings a day. And as a qualified air gunner, sergeant air gunner, seven and six. And later as a warrant officer, twelve and six. As a pilot officer, twelve and six [laughs]. We did get a [unclear] once in those days, I don’t recall what it was, every little helps [laughs].
CB: Yeah. But the pilot got paid more.
CW: The pilot was more all the time.
CB: Yeah. So, he got twelve and six a day, the navigator
CW: On the observer course, I’m not sure
CB: In the Wellington, he got twelve and six a day you said, and the others got the seven and six a day
CW: Yeah.
CB: Going fast forward now to, because we, this is just extra information for what we covered before, but fast forward now to the end, at the end of the first tape, we got to the point where you’d had to make an emergency landing at Horsham St Faith near Norwich and you didn’t realise it but there was a hang-up of a four thousand pounder and the question on that was, was the fuse live or not? And having talked to a bomb aimer, he thought it probably had been earlier on, but after that incident, what did you do?
CW: No, we didn’t discuss, at the time we didn’t discuss whether it was live or not.
CB: No. Left it to the groundcrew.
CW: Didn’t’ occur to us. I suppose the bomb aimer was a bit doozy, he was a Canadian [laughs].
CB: After that experience what did you do, cause your plane had been moved to the other side of the airfield.
CW: Well, the skipper informed base and base organised a team to come out and remove the bomb, as the Yanks had damaged the coupling. Was rather amusing really when the Yank came in and said, say, fellow, we can’t get off, take off the overload tank and the skipper said, well, oh, don’t worry about that, leave it, and then the flight engineer, the flight engineer woke up and said, we didn’t have an overload tank, yeah, sure, but it’s, about six foot long, and the bomb aimer woke up and he said, no, no, no, that’ll be the four thousand pound bomb, no, they don’t make bombs that big [laughs], meanwhile I’m just sitting back resting [laughs]. A crew came out and we were there for three days. We tried to enjoy it because I’d been to school in Norwich, I went to see an old girlfriend there, a girl I knew at the arts school called Joyce, went to the door and asked to see Joyce and it was a warrant officer who came to the door, interesting chap, he was on Lysanders
CB: Oh, really?
CW: Taking spies over, oh, he quite a chap [laughs], interesting really
CB: So, you beat a hasty retreat after that, did you?
CW: No, no, oh no, no. No, I used to walk home from school with Joyce, that was all.
CB: Yeah. So, the aircraft was fixed, what happened then?
CW: Oh, then we took it back to base. And the chaps had already taken away the bomb
CB: Yeah.
CW: The question whether it was [unclear] just didn’t arise, at least, I wasn’t aware of any discussion. It couldn’t have been [unclear], could it?
CB: Depends how the sequence went, as I understand it, talking to a bomb aimer
CW: It might have slipped out, well, it must have slipped out, they wouldn’t have messed around with it live, could they?
CB: Well, they’d defuse it first, wouldn’t they?
CW: Could they do that? I don’t know.
CB: Bomb disposal.
CW: [laughs]
CB: Anyway, we don’t know.
CW: We don’t know.
CB: So, you got back to base, then what happened?
CW: Oh, we just carried on then, as usual. There wasn’t, that wasn’t the last trip, was it?
CB: No. So, what was the last trip?
CW: I don’t know, it’s in the book.
CB: Yeah, we haven’t got the book here.
CW: No.
CB: So, the war ended in Europe, VE Day, 8th of May 1945, what did the squadron do then?
CW: Couple of days before D-Day, I went on leave and I was at home where I [unclear], on D-Day I was at Du Cane Court in Belham, my father’s secretary, my father had just come back from Africa, I was with my wife Hilda during Churchill’s speech and we listened to that, listened to Churchill’s speech on the radio and was quite emotional really, we realised that, we realised we could make a decision on what to do more than ten minutes ahead, it was a tremendous feeling, I found later there was a victory parade on the camp like everywhere else, eventually I suppose I went back to Balderton. From there I was put, I went on a photography course at Farnborough, that was interesting, I went up in a Junkers 88 cause at Farnborough there was the, what do we call it, the?
CB: Well, they had the enemy aircraft evaluation flight
CW: Yes, yes
CB: [unclear]
CW: What was it called, I forget, they were studying enemy aircraft there, I went up, an English pilot in a Junkers 88, I realised that when he, when the Junkers 88 was attacking, he couldn’t and he was aiming ahead of an aircraft, he couldn’t see what he was aiming at, he was aiming ahead, and the bomber was behind the nose of the Junkers 88
CB: Oh.
CW: Which, which I found interesting, yeah, [unclear] the course was a waste of time really because obviously no vacancies and RAF photography had little in common with normal, my type of photography and from there, [unclear], I think the next posting was to Graveley and my diary records that I was adjutant of 106 Squadron and I think and that turned out to be wrong, I was squadron, I was adjutant at a squadron with no personnel and there were twelve officers there waiting for demob, I had an office with a desk and there was a safe and that was it, I know, eventually I said, who the heck am I responsible to? Balderton or the station adjutant? And I was [unclear] back to Balderton. Oh dear. Eventually I was recalled and posted to 61 MU, I think we’ve covered that.
CB: I don’t think we’ve covered that bit.
CW: No?
CB: No.
CW: 61 MU Handforth, I think perhaps that’d go off, no.
CB: We’ll just pause. We’re restarting now and I got to correct myself when I said Bill Watson and I meant Clifford Watson [laughs], so here you were, posted to an MU and the group captain says to you
CW: Yes, he stood up and he said, sorry old chap, I didn’t get your name. Must excuse that fellow, he said, he was in that office before the war when that was natural
CB: Regulars
CW: [unclear] type of thing, that was, he was in charge of this unit, it was a [unclear], a big [unclear], he was in charge of this before the war as a civilian and when the war came he stayed there, was commissioned and continued to run it [laughs], it is rather remarkable, so I then collected my kit and I was told where the living quarters were
CB: Just interrupting before that, he knew somebody you knew in Africa. This group captain.
CW: Oh yes. Oh yes, the group captain at the MU
CB: Yes
CW: Knew the group captain in the earlier days, group captain Speedy Powell, he knew him in the earlier days, and he was very pleased to learn that, but I hadn’t seen him since of course
CB: Cause he was a wing commander running the training in Rhodesia you said.
CW: Yes, he was a wing commander then
CB: Yes
CW: And the group captain in North Africa
CB: Right
CW: Speedy Powell, did you see the film Target for Tonight?
CB: Yes
CW: Well, Speedy Powell was the flight lieutenant briefing officer there, they used to have quite a , what you would refer to as an Oxford accent, very posh accent, nice bloke and a leader from the front, yes, he didn’t come into it later
CB: So, the group captain then told you to get on with your job at the end.
CW: Well, after the interview with the group captain, I went to where I was to be billeted and there, I met the other twelve officers, yes, no, I’m sorry, I’m off track. That wasn’t at the MU, yes, it was, my mind’s a bit hairy, yes, I met the other twelve officers but they were on duty all the time and they were very unhappy, I’ve been there about an hour and an orderly came in with a new [unclear] and I was to be assistant duty fire officer under training but for twenty-four hours, the day after I was duty fire officer, duty officer fire under training, the third day I was duty fire officer, and so it went on when after the fire officers there was cypher officer three days and so on, in line fire picket officer and all that and everybody was on duty every day and there were briefing about this, they weren’t allowed in the mess in the afternoon and so on and they decided that, to complain, not a mutiny but to complain and I drew the short stick or the long stick and I went back to see the group captain and he was quite receptive and I gave him the proper story of what happened and he dealt with the problem and what happened then at 61 MU? Then think I was recalled to Balderton, yes I called to Balderton and then I was sent to Oxbridge for demob and that was in June ’46. And I was given a cardboard box and a demob suit and I went straight to Whitehaven where Hilda was, my wife was sort of looking after things whilst I got there and I got stuck into a job then in Whitehaven, the firm had taken over a rundown radio relay system, it had four hundred installations there and I thought, well, I’ll give it two years and see what I can do and I built it up to two thousand and forty, two thousand four hundred installations in two years, after that I went to London as a [unclear] manager and I opened three more branches and in 1949 I’d come from eleven stone seven, which was my weight throughout the war, to sixteen and a half stone and I saw the doctor about it, a lady, and she said, oh, I think you should have a change of diet, a change of job and a change of environment, I recommend you emigrate [laughs], so I did. Meanwhile, my father had retired to Kenya, he’d sold out the business, the relay business and gone to Kenya, where he’d acquired a farm during the war, which was derelict. And he’d gone to Kenya and I thought, well, I’d go and see the old man. And we did. We didn’t intend to stay but I’d experienced Rhodesia and the desert and England really, didn’t appeal to me very much, frankly, so we went to Kenya and joined my father on the farm. It was six hundred acres in Kiminini, yes, just outside Kitale, in the southern highlands two hundred and fifty miles from Nairobi. I’d been there six months when I’d a letter from immigration saying that I’d violated the terms of a visa so I checked on the visa which said that I was authorised to enter the colony of Kenya within three months of the above date, it made no reference to how long I could stay, so they got it wrong, I saw the labour officer and he said, I’ve seen this before, they have got it wrong, but they don’t mean what they say, I said, well, that wouldn’t stand up in court, when we go to court I produce my visa and it doesn’t say anything about staying for three months, he said, he would never go to court, he’s [unclear] to himself, that fellow, he said, the only way you can stay in Kenya is get a government job and he looked through his file, he said, there is one vacancy which might be suitable, prisons, in the prisons, [unclear], prisons warden? No, assistant superintendent Grade 2, accommodation provided, leave after two and a half years, two weeks home leave, local leave each year, six months home leave after two and a half years, after four years, I’m sorry, after four years, that sounds interesting, shall I make an appointment? And he did. So, I went to Nairobi next day, stayed at the New Stanley and saw the commissioner of prisons the day after and I, after a long conversation I got the job and we moved down into prisons, prison accommodation there which was just outside the wall, it was interesting but I didn’t fancy staying there for the rest of my life so at the end of the year I resigned and that evening I told my father on the [unclear] that I’d resigned from the prison, I’d like to come back to the farm for a while, he said, Cliff, go and see Joe Furniss, the director of civil aviation, go and have a word with him, he’s a decent bloke, I’ve seen, I know him, so I went to see Joe Furniss, so I went to the head office of the directorate of civil aviation and inquired if there were any vacancies and Burt Leeman, staff officer gave me a form to fill in, now I just filled it in when Joe Furniss walked in and I was there in uniform and he started asking questions and in fact I didn’t need a further interview, I was offered the job but he said, the first posting will be to Mbeya, which is in South West Tanganyika, near the Rhodesian, Northern Rhodesian border and join another fellow there, he will be leaving in about four or three weeks and you take over and it’s a one man station, you will be on your own so think about it, I thought about it, please call me in, a few days later, alright, I went back to the prison, to tell the, the commissioner had said, you can leave when you like, you will finish with us in six weeks, that’s your four weeks’ notice and two weeks leave that you’re entitled to but you can leave when you like and I went back to the prison to tell him that I’d be leaving within a few days and before I could say anything, he gave me a letter terminating my appointment, I don’t want this, I just resigned, not through the proper channels, I tore it up, put it in the basket, I said, I’ll be leaving tomorrow, and I did [laughs]. And we went to Mbeya, nice place, that’s where Colin was born, no, John
US: John and Cris
CW: John was born in Mbeya, yeah. It was a one man station where the one man is responsible for absolutely everything that happens on the station, working hours, I was under obligation to meet or to be there attending to scheduled aircraft and there was only one a day on average, the rest of the time I had to deal with any situation that arose, there were no working hours, it was all the time, and we lived on the spot, there was a DFg 10 direction finding receiver there, it didn’t work, it was on a table or a desk about five feet long in metal built up at the back and the receiver was inside the, where it was built up, and the valves on this receiver, five of them, plugged in from the front, the thing didn’t work and one valve wasn’t, didn’t light up but that was the second RS stage, I thought I’ll fix this thing so I requisitioned another valve but they didn’t have any, the facility had been taken out of use at the end of the war, no valve, so I [unclear] out the grid and [unclear] little capacitor, I [unclear], the tune circuits were still there, fixed that but there was no HT so I had to fix that, fitted a modern rectifier instead of the old selenium thing and the set worked, it was beautiful, about a month later an aircraft, what was that aircraft? a type of aircraft, big biplane, can’t remember the name, an aircraft called [unclear], it was flying from Blantyre in Nyasaland back to Cairo
CB: Not a Rapide
CW: Three thousand
CB: Not a Rapide, was it?
CW: Rapide? No, a big monoplane.
CB: A monoplane.
CW: I couldn’t remember it the other day, we are wasting time there, Anson, an Anson aircraft, the Anson called [unclear] and they flew [unclear] and I would rely on the beacons, [unclear] can you make any suggestion? I said, transmit on [unclear], can you transmit on 333? Yes, he could, give me a call on 33, so I took a bearing on him and he was way over to the south west, instead of being due south he was south west, so I gave him a QDM, brought him overhead, he was above cloud and eventually he could see Mbeya Peak, brought him over, but he was above cloud, had to get down, meanwhile I had spoken to a Dakota and I could see the cloud was clear to the east where the Dakota was coming from and I checked that he could see the ground so I suggested to the bloke he flies on 090 until he could see the ground and then descend and I brought him back under the cloud and he was really chuffed, I went down to see them, I said, there can’t be much wrong with the DF loop, there was nothing wrong with it, there was a link between the loop and the J type twitch, cause there were three aerials on the Anson, one for HFRT, one for direction finding and the trading aerial and they there, those three were linked to the switch which was linked in turn to the receiver and the transmitter, the screen on the [unclear], on the link, the screen had come undone which put the thing out, it was no longer balanced, so it wasn’t defect, it was a loop, and I took out, all I had to do was change the link and it would have been ok but I took the link out, took the link out, took it up to the workshop, fixed it, put it back and it worked, fine, he was pleased. Following day they took off and two weeks later I got a letter from Joe Furniss, a superior reprimand, using equipment which was not authorised, you must realise that, had that aircraft come down, that aircraft was lost, had it come down, in the bush, you would have been under severe criticism and subject to the law, I thought, Crickey, Joe, that’s not Joe, signed director of civil aviation, and underneath is, underneath is written, bloody good show, Cliff [laughs], bloody good show, Cliff, keep it up [laughs]. I had that letter for many, many years but it disappeared.
CB: Not in your album then.
CW: I don’t think it’s there.
CB: I had a file, well, I still have, with sort of things, and recommendations, also the, what would you call them? References, really. Things that I could quote [laughs]. Where was I?
CB: We’ll just stop there for a moment. So, when you arrived at
US: Guest house.
CW: Sorry?
CB: What was your accommodation when you arrived in this place? What sort of house did you live in?
CW: In Mbeya?
CB: Yeah.
CW: In Mbeya, you refer to the one
US: Yeah.
CW: On the open, on the runway. We lived in the old Wilson Airways resthouse, it was a 1930 terminal building really, and the combined resthouse where people used to stay overnight, there were about ten bedrooms, weren’t there? About ten bedrooms, no electricity
US: No bathroom
CW: Ey?
US: No bathroom
CW: No bathroom, oh.
US: [unclear] the loo [laughs].
CW: And we had oil lamps for lighting. There had been a twelve Volt wind thing but that wasn’t there. But there was a very big place enough for twelve people.
CB: There must have been power to run the DF station. So, why wasn’t there in the accommodation?
CW: But the DF station was about four hundred yards away up the hill. And there was a cottage alongside the transmitting station, a very interesting place, we decided to move up to the cottage, and I ran a line from the transmitter station about fifty yards over, no, maybe a hundred yards over to the cottage, a bit of wiring for lighting and heating in the cottage and we had power then from six in the morning till six at night except on occasions when aircraft were overflying that night and I was asked to put the beacon on and we lived in that cottage and my [unclear] radio shack was in what used to be the boys quarters at the back of the cottage and one day I was talking to another amateur in South Africa, I told him where I was and he said he was in Muizenberg, I said, I remember Muizenberg, we were working down on the beach and a lady invited us to dinner or to lunch and she said, what are you doing for lunch? We said, well, we probably aren’t, come and see me at twelve o’clock, have lunch with me, it’s a big house up there, number so and so, ask for Mrs Macbeth, I’ve not covered this one?
CB: Go on.
CW: No?
CB: No.
CW: Ask for Mrs Macbeth, it’s a big house, and I did, went to the door, the three of us, and I asked for Mrs Shakespeare [laughs]. Well, In Mbeya I mentioned that and he said, you know, that very house is where I’m living, where I’m speaking to you from and Mrs Macbeth told us a few days ago that incident and we had a good laugh and he said, whereabouts in the cottage are you? And I told him, in what used to be the boy’s quarters at the back of the cottage, can you see the backdoor of the cottage from there? Yeah, yes. Have a look, he said, is there a hole about twelve inches above the floor, in the middle of the door, about two inches above the floor? Is there a hole in the door? I said, yeah, there is. Yes, there is, oddly enough, he said, and look on the wall at the back of the door, there should be a big dent in the wall, I’ll go and have a look, there was, well, it had been repaired, you could see where something had been repaired, he said, that was a 303 bullet that went off by mistake, he’d moved, there was a rifle there and he’d moved the rifle, it was loaded and cocked, and it went off, and the bullet went through the door, hit the wall at the back, that was a billion to one coincidence, it was a coincidence on two coincidences but he lived there for a while, during the war and he was in the place where Mrs Macbeth became Mrs Shakespeare. Lovely place. I used to go to work at six o’clock in the morning, sometimes a bit earlier, just as it was beginning to get light, and on occasion, it was still a bit dark, and I went to the top of the narrow road which led down to the DF station, my place of work, and I met the night-watchman the African at the top of the road, he was waving his arms, oh Buana, Buana, [unclear], Tembo mingi, mingi [unclear], matata mingi, Tembo, and he was like this, what he was, he was referring to Tembo, the blend of beer used by the African was called Tembo and I thought the bloke’s been drinking, he’s telling me he’s drunk, anyhow I went down to the DF station, opened up the radio, contacted Nairobi and [unclear] a funny smell, it was getting light, so went outside, we were surrounded by elephants, there must have been about twenty odd elephants there and they were having a meal in the maize [unclear] opposite the station [unclear] some of the Africans were living and they were growing maize all round them and the elephants were there, enjoying themselves with the maize and the Africans came out and they were throwing things at the elephants and three of them got killed, three were killed
CB: How did that happen?
CW: They attacked the elephants and the elephants didn’t like it and all the elephants had to do was knock them over and then kneel on them, what a mess, it was an occasion there, a bit of tribal warfare, and three of the injured came to the cottage, could we take them to hospital? And I did and of course had to give my name, name and address, and I got the bill, I got the bill, it happened again, so I gave my name and address, Ramsay Macdonald, 10 Downing Street [laughs]. It was a very nice place Mbeya.
CB: We’ll stop there for a bit.
CW: From six months leave
CB: From Mbeya.
CW: From Mbeya. Aircraft to Entebbe and then six months leave. End of leave, back to Tanganyika, this time to Mwanza, Mwanza was on the southern end of Lake Victoria where we were, where we lived in an old German villa which was about a hundred feet up the hill overlooking Lake Victoria, nice view and Hilda enjoyed the paintings from there. Whilst on leave, I spent a month getting qualified in the job I was doing, that’s another story, when I joined the department, the smaller aerodromes or the aerodromes other than the international ones were manned by post office people, there was a radio station and a European wireless officer, wireless operator and that was his sole job, the rest of the work was done by Ministry of the Public Works Department and Administration and when I joined it coincided with DCA, my department taking over total responsibility and they took over the radio stations and the Europeans running them but those people were ex-army with no background of aviation at all, they were running into trouble so they decided that they would all get qualified and that included me, so I spent a month doing a bit of squatting and then I got a flight aero licence, Ministry of Aviation licence and a PMG first class licence was, either one was enough, and being stupid I decided to get both but in fact the DCA didn’t know it, but the PMG licence with the aero endorsement was no longer in use, well, I got a PMG anyhow. There were several emergencies at Mwanza and one night we had to put the flight path out, the flight path was using [unclear] like watering cans with a big [unclear] full of paraffin with a wick and that had to be laid out and it was used for the first time since the war, there was, the [unclear] came, now what happened there? There was an aircraft should have arrived at Dar-er-Salaam and hadn’t so they opened up all stations, no contact for over two hours with the aircraft, all stations were opened up overnight, during the night, Nairobi found opened up, I had to get to the airport quick and open up the BHF and I sped down the main street doing about sixty and I was picked up by the police, anyhow I didn’t slow down, full speed to the control tower, dashed in, upstairs, switched on the VHF, everything else with beacon, was working full time now, switched on VHF and three Askari [unclear] European came bounding up the stairs and I said, be quiet! Just be quiet! And I called the aircraft. The second time I called in, the aircraft replied and I gave them QDMs to get to Kisumu and he landed and that was the night we put the flight path out and he landed just before dawn, I was charged and it cost me, I think it was a hundred shillings in [unclear] for speeding and I said to the magistrate, what was more important than speeding was getting on to the radio and working that aircraft and getting him, giving him some help, find a hundred shillings, well, [unclear] later on I used to help the radio, the police radio technician and now and again he’d give me a day off cause he used to be in our department and he knew my job, no, I’m sorry, I’m jumping the gun here, that occurred at Kisumu later, oh dear, are we on tape? We can’t delete that, can we?
CB: We can.
CW: At Mwanza, yes, that was a difficult station, my car then was a
US: [unclear]
CW: An A70
CB: Oh yes, Austin A70.
CW: [unclear] after the airport and there was a jackal, no, not a jackal.
US: Hyena?
CW: Hyena, was a hyena coming down the road at ten knots, I was doing sixty and we collided, went over the top, oh well, but the rule is if you damage an animal seriously, you destroy it, that was the rule in there which was fair enough, so I stopped and went to where the hyena had landed and it got up and wobbled off, so I didn’t have to shoot it, one [unclear], there was an aircraft at Mwanza, it was, belonged to the Lint and Seed Marketing Board, that was a posh name for a cotton board, and this chairman used to go out to the farms and deal with quality control and so on and I used, went out many times with him and finally he allowed me to fly the thing, when he’d learned that I’d been on a pilot’s course, he said, if I’ll come in and go, wow, lovely, no problem at all, and took off, flew around and landed and after several flights on that I was quite happy and then one day he said, I’m going out to New Saza, New Saza goldmine, care to come? And we did, I was passenger, and he left me at the goldmine, got in a Land Rover and went to deal with his cotton, and a couple of hours later he came back and he was laid on the backseat of the Land Rover, he’d been bitten by, what was it? I forget the name of the snake now, a very poisonous snake and he was unconscious and there’s an Indian doctor he said, he’s got to get to hospital quite quick, well, there’s only one way, we’ll put him in the aircraft and I flew the thing back to Mwanza but that, I don’t think that’s in my diary
CB: No
CW: As soon as I was airborne I called Mwanza on HF, spoke to the assistant who normally wouldn’t use the radio, I called him by name and phone, get an ambulance to meet the aircraft, I’ve got an urgent case and he did, I got this trouble, do you mind?
CB: We’ll stop. So, behind the house you had leopards.
CW: Yes, we were told about it when we arrived, but we sort of brushed it off. Yes, in the back garden there was a big, what used to be an outside kitchen and access to it was a five steps, was a well-appointed place and I used that as a workshop, as in my spare time I repair radios, and that paid the school fees and so on, I must have repaired well over a thousand radios, literally, I know that number from the number of invoice books I got through, they were African, mostly African radios, dry battery sets, and the plug on most of the dry batteries was a very crude affair, and it was too easy to put the plug in the battery the wrong way and when you do that, you put HTU where the [unclear] and I was buying wholesale batteries, scores at a time, and I wasn’t charging very much, a set of four batteries, four valves, the repair each of the sets needed a new set of valves of course
CB: Yeah
CW: And that was costing me one pound per set roughly, but the shops were charging more like five pounds for a repair, I was charging fifty bob
US: It’s rather hot
CB: We’ll stop there just for a moment. So, you were charging fifty bob?
CW: I charged fifty bob, the [unclear] were charging more like six pounds so I was doing that all the time, had a very nice workshop and one evening, it was dark and I was carrying between my fingers a couple of pounded milk tins, empty tins, and I got at the bottom of the stairs, steps and this leopard sitting on top there and it just looked at me and then it jumped and I went down and the thing went over the top, it wasn’t attacking me, it was getting away.
CB: Yeah.
CW: There were no records of any attack on people, not even on Africans, their diet was the hyena and monkeys and so on. But the leopard
CB: And what?
CW: Oh, I, but I nearly cut these two off, I cut, the tendons were cut and that was hanging off, anyhow I [unclear] to hospital and the doctor put the whole thing in
CB: Plaster?
CW: Plaster and I was having penicillin injections
CB: Ah, right.
CW: After a couple of weeks the pain was really dreadful and the only painkillers were Paracetamol so, oh dear,
US: That was your idea to have sausage roll? Oh, sorry
CW: You’re too kind. And I said, the pain’s wicked, please have a look at it, no, he said, it’s better where it is, I thought, no, there is something wrong there, I said, doc, if you won’t take it off, take that plaster off, if you won’t I will and the nurse had a word with him so he took it off. Oh, what a mess, it was like a tapioca pudding, all piled up, I said, you’ve got to get
CB: The infection
CW: That hand, gangrene is the trouble, he said, that hand’s got to come off, oh,
CB: Thank you.
CW: He said, you’ve got to get, that needs surgery,
CB: Excuse me.
CW: And the nearest surgeon’s in Dar-es-Salaam, they’re all at a conference, I said, ok, wrap it up, I’ll get to Nairobi, you couldn’t get to Nairobi just like that [laughs]
CB: Flying
CW: In aircraft at three o’clock, I’ll be on it and I went to Nairobi, no ticket just [unclear] crew
CB: Right
CW: And into hospital and they fixed it, but the tendon, the tendons had grown onto the scar tissue
CB: Oh!
CW: So that’s all I can do
CB: Yes
CW: With those two
CB: Yeah
CW: They were very good at the hospital, I was in there a month
CB: Were you?
CW: Yes, a month. But all they did in ten days there was a big bowl on the floor full of something and it was soaking and it was a few days before they identified the particular [unclear]
CB: This was a salt-based fluid, was it, that you were putting on? [unclear]?
CW: Yeah.
CB: We’ll stop there for a bit because we’ve got some brilliant sausage rolls.
CW: [unclear] Police came there from all over the place.
CW: To protect the Queen Mother. Yeah.
CB: And the Queen’s pilot and another chap on the crew, I took them to the hotel and when I took them back I was stopped by the police at the entrance to the airport, you need a permit to get in there, I said, I don’t need a permit, everybody needs a permit, I said, look, if I don’t see to that aircraft, the Queen Mother is going to be awfully annoyed, oh. I didn’t know the copper, he was from somewhere else, of course I got in. The hangars on that airport were taken over by grain storage and they were full of maize and there was enough maize there to feed the entire population of Africans for two years. And maize was being taken out, more fresh maize was put in and one day there was a problem on the door, one hangar, and when that was dealt with they found a propeller up above the hangar door and they told me about it, so I recovered the propeller and put it in the transmitter room, about a year later the grain storage me a letter from a chap in England who referred to the propeller and eventually there was a survey going on, with somebody’s surveys, the survey people
CB: Aerial photography survey, was it? Skyviews or somebody?
CW: Somebody aerial surveys, a popular firm, when they returned to England, they took the propeller back with them so all the chap had to do was collect it from them. Many years later, the level of the lake came up eight feet when they built the dam at Jinja in Uganda but somehow the Nile was diverted and the level of the water came up eight feet, I actually saw the shadows of a couple of aircraft which were submerged in the lake, they were amphibians
US: [unclear]
CB: What, Walruses, were they?
CW: No, they American [unclear], Catalinas
CB: Catalina, yeah.
CW: A couple of Catalinas were submerged just off the end of the runway in the lake and they were about two feet under water when I saw them, when I saw their image, now they are under ten feet of water and the lake rose eight feet. And that became the largest inland lake in the world, bigger than the one, Lake Ottawa, because when the lake came up, when the level came up it spread out and one or two villages got submerged, so that [unclear]
CB: What happened when Princess Margaret came?
CW: Yes, they made a big fuss when Princess Margaret came, there was a passenger ship called the Sybil which was completely refurbished and that was put out for her disposal
CB: On the lake
CW: On the lake. I had to fit a radio to work aircraft from the Sybil, railways and harbours had to fit a radio to work their network and then they had to fit a police radio so there were [unclear] of radio on the Sybil, that’s ridiculous and in the end she didn’t go, she didn’t go on the Sybil, oh, and not only that but the Wigen, the Wigen came and was based there while she was there, just in case she ran into trouble out of sea, out on the lake, ridiculous, apart from that the road to the airport was seven miles from town to the airport and it was on Merron Road, just sand, Merron Road to the airport and for that [unclear] visit became a tarmac pit, they put down layer of [unclear] and then spread it and it was a beautiful road, really wonderful road and the princess went on it, thought that jolly good and about two weeks later it rained [laughs] and the rain went under the tarmac, what a mess, it was back to Merron Road, goodness knows what that cost. What else happened at Mwanza? Got one of Hilda’s pictures at each end of the terminal building and he said, what did you [unclear]? Those pictures, get them draped, I said, I don’t have any [unclear], any drapes, snaps his fingers to his PA, Pa [unclear] to local purchase order, what is it you need [laughs]? And we [unclear]
US: I never actually saw them because we weren’t there then, Colin and I had been sent home
CB: This was the regional commission you were talking about.
CW: Regional commission, yes, regional commissioner, PC, provincial commissioner
CB: Ah.
CW: Well, he was the senior man in the province, and he wanted to see it draped so we did that. I gave one to the director, by then the director was Stacy Coles, commander station Coles, was actually a retired naval captain but he used the rank of commander because, well, there were too many captains there, captains of aircraft so to get, avoid confusion, he called himself commander. Stacy Coles later, yes, that was a point, I got a message from Nairobi, that Stacy was in jail, at Kisumu, I went to see him, and what happened he was due for home leave and he was issued with air tickets, by government tickets but Air France gave him some complementary tickets with a stopover of two weeks in Paris being entertained royally, but they did some favour of some sort to the director and with that in line he used the Air France tickets and the others went back to the treasury and the others went back to the treasury but it wasn’t, they were debited or rather credited to the wrong bank, they were credited to his bank and he wasn’t aware of it until he got back and he was arrested, arrested for theft cause he wasn’t used, he used, he’d cashed in the tickets in fact, he did no knowledge of it, he was set up by an Indian in the treasury and that Indian was caught about a year later, but meanwhile Stacy was given three years in imprisonment but after a year he was released and I don’t, that’s when Joe Furniss became director.
CB: Right, stopping there.
CW: After about a fortnight an Askari brought the radio back to me, not working, one valve had been unplugged and wrapped in paper and put back in and there was a letter in there for me, Cliff, do you think you can put a transmitter into this? There’s a spare hole on the chassis [laughs], I had in fact built a one valve receiver, which people got to know about because I’d used it on, with a key transmitting to an aircraft, who was a one valve transmitter radar, not receiver and I’d used it and it became known in the trade, could I put a transmitter in? Well, that was fair enough, that was quite easy, I did, put a transmitter in, I had a spare crystal for some cash frequency which was clear and I took the set back to him, for an aerial we used the iron mattress on the [unclear] but the airport was only a mile away, across from the prison, the prison was a mile away from the airport, only a mile, and I was able to talk to Stacy as I built another tiny transmitter for the low power, couldn’t use one of the big ones, so had two low power transmitters there, I knew the prison’s officer there and I met him in town one day and he said, bloody funny thing, Stacy came to me, Stacy said, he told me there was another prisoner being transferred to Kisumu, he said, I don’t want him in my cell, make sure he’s not in my cell, please, how the hell did he know that another prisoner was coming? I said, Stacy can hear the key clicks on the prison transmitter and he probably tuned to Nairobi or something, tuned to the prison network, he said, no home then, yeah [unclear], he could in fact listen in to the prison radio,
CB: Right
CW: Because he was a good communicator and he knew the Morse code [laughs]
CB: How did they find out who this man was, who had corrupted the ticket refund?
CW: I don’t know, I think he bragged about it, yes, he bragged about it in the wrong place
CB: How long were you out there? In the end, when did you come back?
CW: After eighteen years
CB: What prompted you to return?
CW: Sorry?
CB: What prompted you to return to the UK?
CW: Independence
CB: Right
CW: That comes later, yeah, after several, several trips, every two and a half to four years, we came home on leave for six months
CB: Right
CW: So that was from Mwanza we returned to Entebbe and there, Entebbe was a very snooty place, it was the domestic, was the domestic site with Kampala, government people all worked in Kampala but they lived in Entebbe, very snooty, on arrival I was met in Entebbe by a chap I knew well, he, I’d worked with him, and he took me to the club, Entebbe club, sat there in front of the fire on a very hot day and having a drink of some sort, and a fellow came in, came to us, he said, exactly who are you? To my chum, he said, I’m exactly Harry Jenkins and this is exactly Cliff Watson and who exactly are you? And every word he said was exactly this, exactly that, what exactly do you do? Where are you employed, exactly? Well, I’m exactly in charge of the exact radar, cloud radar, cloud of the radar system and Cliff’s exactly in charge of the, everything, all the other communications at the airport and he said, you’re exactly high commission people, exactly, yes, yeah. Everything was all exactly. Are you a member, he said, exactly? Are you exactly a member? I said, not exactly, it’s just about to expire, are they exactly like, everybody like you around here? He said, well, government people sit here, high commission people sit at that end and commercial people at that end. And I said, well, exactly so what? Well, he said that’s just a matter of protocol. He said if they’re, my chum said, if ever are exactly like you I don’t think I’ll exactly renew it and he didn’t [laughs] and I didn’t join the club. What else?
CB: So, you had to leave.
CW: Oh, I was doing radio repairs at Entebbe
CB: Yeah.
CW: And a fellow brought me a portable shaver for repair and I got spares for it, I fixed it and took it back, he said, oh, this is not the one I left you, [unclear] I’ve never seen another, he said, this belongs to BOAC, I said, I can see that, but this is the one you brought, oh no, definitely not, it was, I’d never seen another, never handled another, I said, well, if that BOAC’s I’d better hand it back to them and I did. It had been pinched from BOAC and I handed it back to BOAC. Oh, and then, chap from the chief secretary’s office brought a radio round and it was in a mess and I went through it and fixed it and I gave him a bill and he thanked me, he said, of course I’m not allowed to pay you old chap am I? Why not? Well, you’re a government servant, you are not allowed to take on private work. I said, I’m not a government servant, I’m a high commission servant, different, I said, anyhow, forget paying, I’ll put the bloody thing back exactly as it was, well, no, no, no, I said, if that’s not paid by twelve o’clock tomorrow I’ll do that. And he sent some Africans with the money. And they took the set. But I didn’t do any more radio repairs in Entebbe, not even for Africans. I didn’t like Entebbe, it was, it was too [unclear], then Joe Furniss came on a visit, quite frequently visits, and I said, well, Joe, there’s no challenge in this job, all I got to do is supervise an operator on the key or on the teleprinter and a European on the RT, on HF. There’s not a job at work, I don’t need to supervise the engineers, they’re ok. Ok, let’s see what I can do and he organised [unclear] leave of this chap leaving Kisumu and I was posted to Kisumu, that’s where the Katalinas were submerged at the end of the lake, Kisumu, not Mwanza, so we left Kisumu, I did about three years at Kisumu and then Nairobi, I was posted to Nairobi, I was there in charge of the tape relay centre in Nairobi and then I moved into head office, I thought it was all gradual promotion and in the end in head office I was in charge of all communications and all personnel involved in that. Eventually we went on leave and back to Nairobi, meanwhile a white paper so-called had been issued that we’re going to get independence and independence, they gave a date and everybody would be gone by that date, everybody would have handed over by that date and we had to give six months to, six months notice within two years for that handover and a fellow, and African joined me, fellow called [unclear] and he had a very posh briefcase, with his name on the front, in cold [unclear] BFC in brackets honest and he came to me, he was to take over from me, I said, this BFC what in communications presumably? Oh yes, yes, in communications, what, how far, how deep did you go into the engineering aspect? He didn’t know what I was talking about, no, he was stuttering away, communication in many ways, seeing with the eyes, that is communicating, and listening with the ears communicating, and you got around, you can communicate on buses, aircrafts and he talking a lot of gibberish, I said, did you [unclear] this [unclear] what university? And it was all there on a piece of parchment he brought out BFC honest, it didn’t mention what it was all about but it was utterly futile then he [unclear] out another document, a pilot’s licence on the front, pilot’s licence [unclear] BFC a [unclear] thing A5 size and he gave it to me, I opened it up and the fly sheet under the front cover I lifted it up because on the front page it said, pilot’s licence valid in all parts of the world, in all countries in the world for all types of aircraft [unclear] and then I lifted the fly sheet and across, right across it there’d be a big stamp not valid in the USA. I said, you went to university, you got a BFC and a pilot’s licence, how long were you in the States? Six months, it was very difficult, very hard, very hard work, I asked what sort of aircraft did you fly? He wasn’t sure, he didn’t, he’d forgotten, but whilst I was in head office DCA established a training school, well, we established it, expanded into air traffic control and everything and we were all, most of us had to pick out of the hat the subject we were going to teach and we had, yes, we had twelve blokes, or was it six? six blokes, we had six Africans at university and they weren’t doing so well so we re-established a training school, or [unclear] did and these chaps during the summer recess, the students were going to come and do a bit of revision and we’d to take the subject out of the hat and mathematics [laughs], I’d got mathematics, oh dear, well, ok, I got a school certificate standard in mathematics which was university entrance exam with five credits, so I was at university entrance exam, these fellows were in the second year university and I had to go and teach them and revise their mathematics, and other people had other subjects, we’re not on there, are we?
CB: Yeah.
CW: Well, I’ve been, talk, teach mathematics and I knew two other chaps and I spoke to one, to John Molengeke, I said John, mathematics, where do you, where are you having difficulties? Well, he said, you can put a figure and another figure under that and you can take the bottom on from the top one and get another figure and he was serious, I said, come on, John, don’t take the mick, don’t mess about, what’s that you are having trouble with? Oh, with that and there are other things with a cross, I said, you can put a figure and another figure and it is so many times that first figure, yeah, ok, so I listen to them, and then I went to see the boss, I went to see the director and I said, look, please, on the next math lesson you do it, you have a go and you’ll be surprised, oh, he said, I was never much good at maths anyhow, no, he said, that’s not my thing, that’s not my cup of fish, and I described exactly what had happened, I said, that’s not mathematics, they are at university doing what? There’s no good in trying to take on real mathematics but they were still there when I left but I didn’t do any more teaching [laughs].
CB: So, this was all when you were at Nairobi headquarters?
CW: Whilst on HQ and [unclear] I did a bit of flying on the Anson and that was later changed for a Heron, I mean, I was the only one there with a flight RO licence and we’d been somewhere, well, we’d done an air test on the Anson and it was in the hangar and, no, I’m sorry, it just had a [unclear] and we were going to convert it to do an air test, the following week we’d been on quite a safari with it, so it was in the hangar, we’d get in or we were going to get in, we did the air test, no we didn’t, I’m getting very confused, the aircraft had a [unclear] and we had to take it out to do an air test and as we went by the side of the wing, the tip of the wing, the skipper, who was not our normal pilot, he put his hands on the tip of the wing and chinned himself and there was a horrible creaking noise and the wing root, the wing root had collapsed, so we had dihedral on the starboard wing and the port wing it was anhedral, we just couldn’t believe it, it just had a major inspection, but the major inspection doesn’t remove the cladding on the wing, look at the wing root, which was wood, all wood and white ants had got in there, termites, well, of course, when we were flying the thrust on that was downward, well, was like that, forcing upwards, but when he forced it downwards it collapsed and we’d been flying about a week before
CB: Sounds frightening.
CW: What a way to go, in an Anson [laughs].
CB: So, you were saved.
CW: We suggested that the men, the schedule of tests by doing precisely that [laughs] we [unclear] did anything else, and remove the cladding, which was canvas, remove the canvas cladding and have a look at the wing root
CB: So, then you move to the Heron.
CW: Oh, then we, that [unclear] the fire practice on the Anson
CB: The Anson, yeah.
CW: We took the radio out and it was used in fire practice and we got a Heron where the equipment was quite different, modern equipment, not wartime stuff,
CB: It’s all, all metal.
CW: It had a twilight in the, in that one [laughs]
CB: So now we are getting close to when you returned, are we?
CW: Oh yes, we
CB: Why did you return? There was political upheaval at the time so
CW: [unclear]. Yes, we returned, oh, there’s a long way to go yet, we returned and my first job was in Whitehaven.
CB: Oh.
CW: They’d broke, they’d taken on a rundown old Sissan and I gave myself two years to build it up and we did build it up and I left there after two years went to London, we’d mentioned
CB: We have, yes, that was earlier, you started with that, didn’t you? Long after the war.
CW: Yeah.
US: You got to [unclear]
CW: Oh yes, yes, we got back, yes, initially we went to Wales, yes, I got off track there, that was silly, we initially went to Wales, lived there and that’s where two met
US: [unclear]
CW: I was invited to go and see a chap in Surrey who was starting, who was running, managing a telecommunication business and I went to see him but on his letter heading there was a big factory and on the right of that a little cottage and I was invited, he was looking for a development manager, so I went to the big factory and asked to see him, oh no, he doesn’t work here, he is in the cottage over there, so I went there and he said, we’ll be getting invitations to tender for radio systems, your job will be designing the system to what they want and then we get the equipment eventually installed and so on, he said, can you type? I said, well, with two fingers, yeah. Why? Do I need to? Why do I need to? Well, you need to for a little while until we got cracking. I said, what sort of cracking, what sort of staff have we got? Well, we have, we’ll recruit the staff easily enough once we start. I said, no, that’s, I’m sorry, chum, but it’s pie in the sky, to do that you need an organisation, you need a laboratory, you need production and no, you need engineers, accountants, no, forget it, anyhow thanks for the invitation, and that was it. From there I went to Croydon and the job there was running the communications centre [laughs] and I was, they said, they talked about things and said, well, we’ll let you know, ok, but before I got to know I moved to
US: Cambridge.
CW: Cambridge. I didn’t [unclear] the letter which offered me the job, I went to, I made several visit all over the place, one was a job which I found to be communications, comuter engineer, comuter service engineer, when I found out what the job was I said, no, that’s [unclear], I’ve never seen a computer, I don’t know anything about them which was true so that didn’t work so I went to the resettlement bureau at Victoria, overseas services resettlement bureau at Victoria and the bloke said, well, I told him where I’d been and that I didn’t [unclear] any of it, I’m not very keen on what I see, he said, what is it you wanted to do? Well, I wrote to Pye but there are no vacancies. Pye Telecom? Yes. What department? I wrote to Pye Telecom telling them I was looking for a job in communications, dealing with communications equipment and he said, do you still want the job? I grinned, [unclear], get me [unclear] at Cambridge. Ernie? Yes, Jock, yeah, another bloody colonial there for you [laughs]. That’s’ how he spoke, that was how he, how he introduced the thing. He said, he said that you, a vacancy at systems planning department, I said, that’s what I’m looking for, ok, when can you go? When can you go and see him? Tomorrow. Ok and he arranged that, he arranged it for the day after tomorrow, I went to Ernie, saw Ernie and during the interview, he got so many interruptions by telephone that I had lots of time to think of the answers [laughs], and I really enjoyed my work by Telecom. A silly job came to me one day, an associated company had designed a system for Reunion Island, I’ve not mentioned this, have I?
CB: No.
CW: No. They’d drawn up this system, they were grateful if we’d give it our approval, I think that’s an odd thing, it’s a simple enough system, everything, every transmitter around the sea, around the shore, every message is repeated by the transformer on the land and in the middle, I thought, something funny here, I come up with a decent map of the Reunion, well, we didn’t have one, try the university library, so I did, went there, had the chap at the reception, do you have the entry permit? What, to get in there? Yes, you need an entry permit, oh dear, how do I get one of them? Just fill in this for me, filled in the form, name, address, representing, at the bottom university degree college, I said, oh dear me, so I wrote in there, DFC, Hamburg, DFC Hamburg, oh, ok, mate, and he, that’s fine, and he gave me a pink sort of postcard, a little card, put my name on it, signed it, put the date on it, there’s your entry permit.
CB: This is the unintended end of the Clifford Watson interview when we ran out of battery unexpectedly.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Interview with Clifford Watson. Two
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
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
2017-07-19
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AWatsonC170719, PWatsonC1704
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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01:57:53 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Clifford Watson remembers his training as a pilot in Salisbury, Zimbabwe, but being scrubbed at the flying test. Tells of when he flew a Ju-88 at RAE Farnborough. Talks about the different wages in various trades. Tells of an emergency landing at RAF Horsham St Faith and the removal of a four-thousand-pound bomb. After being demobbed in 1946, he initially worked for a firm on relay systems installations at Whitehaven. Afterwards, he moved to Kenya, where he was employed as a prison officer, and then to Tanganyika, where he worked for the Directorate of Civil Aviation. Gives a detailed and vivid account of his time spent in Africa: tells of the visit of Princess Margaret; repaired radios for the local population; tells of submerged Catalinas in Lake Victoria; underwent surgery in Nairobi for the amputation of two fingers; encounters with the local wildlife; helped an aircraft to land safely. Remembers carrying out radio repairs at Entebbe. When he went back to England, ended up working for Pye Telecommunications.
Contributor
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Peter Schulze
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Kenya
Tanzania
Zimbabwe
Kenya--Kisumu
Kenya--Nairobi
Tanzania--Mwanza
Uganda--Entebbe
Africa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
Catalina
Ju 88
RAF Farnborough
RAF Horsham St Faith
training