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Letter to Mrs S. Scrimshaw
The letter advises Chris' wife that her husband is missing.
Memoir by Arthur Hollis
Second page has colour photograph of Arthur Hollis, wearing blazer with medals, standing in a field at an event. Narrative covers early life in Hornchurch and Carshalton including schooling and hospital admissions. Writes of Dulwich College studies…
Interview with Joe Shuttleworth
Joe Shuttleworth was born and raised in Brisbane but also spent a lot of time with family in the Melbourne area. He volunteered for aircrew and soon began training as a gunner. After initial training he sailed to the United States and on to the UK.…
Interview with Wal Goodwin
Wal Goodwin grew up near Melbourne, was conscripted in the Australian Army but was discharged due to his father’s reserved farming occupation. He later volunteered for the Australian Air Force and received his initial training of meteorology, Morse…
Interview with Jamie Barr
Jim Barr grew up in Scotland and worked as an apprentice engineer before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He trained as a navigator in South Africa and flew operations with 61 Squadron. He describes what it was like to be a navigator with Bomber…
Interview with Lesley Joseph Loosemoore
Les Loosemore describes his upbringing and employment history in Swansea before joining the war in 1945. He describes the Blitz in Swansea before training to be a mid upper gunner for 61 Squadron. He describes his rather intensive training, including…
Interview with Murray Valentine
Murray Valentine was a wireless operator with 61 Squadron and 617 Squadron. He describes his duties as well as his job on board the Lancasters on bombing operations. He recalls going to an operational training unit and flying Wellingtons for three…
Interview with Stuart Michael Heaton
Michael Heaton grew up in Worcester and was a member of the Air Training Corps. He worked in a bank before joining the Royal Air Force and trained as a navigator in Canada. He completed 22 operations as a navigator with 50 Squadron from RAF…
Interview with David Rose
David Rose was born in Swanage, Dorset. His father had been in the Medical Corps during the First World War and suffered ill health afterwards. David believed his father had as much reason to be on the War Memorial as his two brothers who died during…
Interview with George Holmes
George was born in Mansfield and was bought up by his Grandparents until he was seven when he moved back to his parents in Leicester where his Father ran a coffee shop. He was a semi-professional musician playing violin, trumpet and mandolin. He…
Interview with John Harrison
John Harrison grew up in Yorkshire and worked in the Civil Service before joining the Royal Air Force at 18. After training, he flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 106 Squadron from RAF Metheringham before being shot down over Leipzig and…
Extract from Bernard Clark's diary
Transcript of the Diary of Sgt. Bernard Clark RAFVR 30 November – 20 December 1943 with notes by M Warburton. Includes head and shoulders portrait of an airman wearing greatcoat and side cap. Includes crew list of his aircraft. Entries contain…
List of Gordon Catling's operations with 50 squadron
Notes that he was posted to 50 Squadron on 2nd November 1944. Then lists 29 operations flown by Lancaster crew including Gordon Catling from Royal Air Force Skellingthorpe between November 1944 and April 1945. First operation flown as co-pilot on…
Interview with Ronald Marlow
Ronald Marlow went to Middleton Council School, then worked at Forgrove Engineering. He joined the Air Training Corps, volunteered for the Royal Air Force training in London at St Johns Wood. He became an air gunner ad flew Wellingtons, followed by a…
Interview with Elizabeth Eady
Elizabeth Eady grew up in Leicestershire and worked in a factory manufacturing parachutes before she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. After her training, she served as a telephonist at RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Waddington. She was discharged…
Interview with John Firth
John Firth was a flight engineer with 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe June to August 1944. He was shot down in August 1944 on his 20th operation and became a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft 7.
Interview with Ken Johnson
Ken Johnson was born in Doncaster. At the start of the war the family was living in Sheffield but his father decided they should move back to Doncaster to avoid bombing. Ken started work as a joiner and later made cables for barrage balloons. Despite…
Interview with Richard Hollis
Richard’s father, Arthur Hollis, went to Dulwich College as a day boy. He left at sixteen to join the Home Guard , then worked for a firm of accountants for a couple of years before joining the Royal Air Force. He was sent to Manchester University…
Lancaster VN-F at RAF Skellingthorpe
In the foreground a large number of bombs on the ground with tails removed and placed alongside. Five armourers dressed in overalls and side caps surround the bombs; two crouching working on bombs and three carrying tails towards the bombs. Above…
Interview with Les Rutherford. Three
Les Rutherford joined the army and was in the 51st Highland Division which formed the rear-guard defence, allowing for the evacuation of Dunkirk. He escaped out to sea on a barn door and was picked up and taken to England by a French trawler. He…
Interview with Margaret Hourigan
Margaret Hourigan grew up in and around Nottingham. Despite holding Labour principles she volunteered for the WAAF’s as soon as War was declared and was called up in January 1940. She Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a…
Interview with Edward Allan McDonald. Two
Allan McDonald was born in Hull and watched Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus as a child. He worked as an apprentice electrician before joining the Air Force. He served as ground personnel in Northern Ireland until he passed the exams to become aircrew…
Interview with Jeff Gray
Jeff Gray was a farm labourer in Aberdeenshire when he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He trained to fly in Texas and completed 30 operations as a pilot with 61 Squadron. After leaving the RAF he worked for BOAC flying Yorks and VC10s.
Interview with Norman Goodfellow
Norman Goodfellow, born in Wakefield, in 1923. Before the war he worked as an apprentice engineer. Joining the RAF at seventeen he was offered the choice of Pilot or Navigator. Although Norman chose to be a Navigator he initially trained as a Pilot…
Interview with Robert Barnes. One
Robert Barnes was working in a Reserved Occupation and so knew the only way he could join the RAF was to volunteer for aircrew. Before he volunteered he was also a member of the ARP and Home Guard. Robert trained as a flight engineer and was posted…