B J May]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> David Bloomfield]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Somerset]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Germany]]> Germany--Leipzig]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> Germany--Münster in Westfalen]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> 1942]]> 1944-02]]> 1944-12]]> 1945-01-02]]> 1945-04-10]]> 1945-03-25]]> 1945-04-08]]> Brian Wright]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tilly Foster]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Gloucestershire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Germany]]> Germany--Wuppertal]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1943]]> 1944-11]]> 1944-12-31]]> Cathie Hewitt]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> China]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> China--Hong Kong]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Sunderland (Tyne and Wear)]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Newcastle upon Tyne]]> England--Weston-super-Mare]]> Germany--Gütersloh]]> England--Durham (County)]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--London]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1943]]> 1945]]> 1947]]> Ted carried out 15 operations. The first two were daylight ones to Mainz and Cologne. The third was a night operation to Kamen on the Ruhr and they encountered an intruder JU188 aircraft when landing, as part of the German Operation Gisela. Other operations included Helmstedt with anti-aircraft fire; Dortmund; Wuppertal; Witten where they were hit on the starboard engine; Recklinghausen where bombs dropped on a munitions train instead of their target; in Osnabrück they were hit in the bomb bay by shrapnel; Heligoland and Wangerooge saw two Halifaxes collide mid-air. Ted describes the spectacle of lines of fuel on fire in an oil plant.
Ted discusses in detail his role as a flight engineer.
Ted stopped flying in September 1945. He dropped old ammunition and bombs in the North Sea and did a safety course at RAF St Athan. He was sent to a maintenance unit in Faßberg, near Belsen, and was demobilised. He became a government Senior Scientific Officer.]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> England--Somerset]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--Dortmund]]> Germany--Soltau]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Helmstedt]]> Germany--Kamen]]> Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)]]> Germany--Osnabrück]]> Germany--Recklinghausen (Münster)]]> Germany--Wangerooge Island]]> Germany--Witten]]> Germany--Wuppertal]]> Germany]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1945-09]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tilly Foster]]> Jean Massie]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Italy]]> Libya]]> North Africa]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Oxford]]> England--Shropshire]]> Italy--Naples]]> Libya--Tripoli]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> The first of his eleven operations was to the Ruhr valley which was uneventful, unlike the one to Helgoland where the aircraft in front of them exploded and they flew through the debris virtually unscathed. On another op, Ben had a grandstand view of the release of a Tallboy bomb and its devastating effect.
At the end of the war Ben retrained as a marine fitter and spent a year in Singapore before being demobbed. After a year as a photographer, he spent time in the camera workshop repairing commercial cameras and became a qualified photographer. Moving to a commercial photographic firm and then Saunders Roe, he specialised in air to air photography, including the SR53 experimental aircraft and Concorde and still retains his interest by visiting air displays.
Ben has had exchange visits with his Canadian former crew and feels, like most bomber command veterans, that they were treated shabbily.
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Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Chris Johnson]]> Terry Holmes]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Wales--Glamorgan]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> Germany]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Singapore]]> 1944]]>
]]> Claire Bennett]]> This Interview was recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Pending OH summary. Allocated C Campbell]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Yorkshire]]>
This item was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.]]>
Geoff Burton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Anne-Marie Watson]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Polskie Siły Powietrzne]]> Great Britain]]> Poland]]> South Africa]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> Russia (Federation)--Siberia]]> 1944]]> 1943]]> 1944-03]]> 1945]]>
Great Britain. Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Log book and record book]]> OHopgoodPD1673132-160226-010002,
OHopgoodPD1673132-160226-010003,
OHopgoodPD1673132-160226-010004]]>
Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1947]]>
Jennifer Barraclough]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Herefordshire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Shropshire]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Sussex]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Scotland--Moray]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> John Shipman]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Jan Waller]]> eng]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> John Shipman]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Training material]]> Royal Air Force]]> John Shipman]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Diary]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> India]]> Pakistan]]> South Africa]]> England--West Kirby]]> England--Blackpool]]> England--Liverpool]]> South Africa--Durban]]> India--Mumbai]]> Pakistan--Karachi]]> England--Cheshire]]> England--Lancashire]]> 1943]]> Maurice Snowball]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending text-based transcription. Allocated]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Training material]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Sometimes Dennis was on special night duty alone in a hut a mile away from the control tower. His job was to operate the lighting system on receiving an order from the control tower. He referred to a memorable incident when a Lancaster landed safely and some of the crew kissed the ground.
When the invasion of Normandy began Dennis was transferred to a C-47 squadron. At the end of the war he went up in a Halifax to retrace some of the routes the bombers had taken and to witness the devastation. He left the RAF in 1947. In 1981 Dennis was seconded to the City University of New York.
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Mick Jeffery]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force. Transport Command]]> Great Britain]]> United States]]> Egypt]]> Italy]]> Middle East]]> England--Kent]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Somerset]]> New York (State)--New York]]> New York (State)]]>
Moviesnaps]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Anne-Marie Watson]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Somerset]]> Peter Andrew Hopgood]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Claire Monk]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Liverpool]]> England--Warrington]]> England--London]]> England--Torquay]]> England--Manchester]]> Canada]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> Saskatchewan--Prince Albert]]> Saskatchewan--Saskatoon]]> England--Harrogate]]> England--Wheaton Aston]]> England--Catterick]]> England--Knutsford]]> England--Chester]]> England--Warton]]> New Brunswick]]> Saskatchewan]]> England--Devon]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Royal Wootton Bassett]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Robert Holman]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text. Memoir]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Navy]]> Great Britain]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Steve Baldwin]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Somerset]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Somerset]]> 1945-08]]> Item 1 is a Mess card from RAF Locking.
Item 2 is an address card for William Jones, part of his mess card.
Item 3 is the reverse of the address card.
Item 4 is the monthly charges at the Mess.
Item 5 is the cover of the mess card.
Captioned 'with sadness in my heart I leave my crew and on to locking to become a fitter'.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Service material]]> Royal Air Force]]>
RAF Form 295A issued to William containing details of his temporary leave.
The photograph is captioned 'Aircrew and Erks' and has ten men in two groups in front of a hangar.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Service material]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]>
Bottom, four men about to hit a tool with a hammer, captioned 'Fitters?']]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Artwork]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Somerset]]> 1945]]>