1
25
98
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2563/44428/MParryWE1172401-220531-06.1.pdf
d7b2535d59dc5249b5da2b66d602bece
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Parry, William Edward
Parry, W E
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer William Edward Parry DFC (1912 - 1996, 1177401 Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 9 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frances Lee and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-05-31
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
Parry, WE
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
Andover's Lancasters
Description
An account of the resource
A lecture given to Andover's Archaeology and Local History Society on 23 February 1996.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-02-23
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Andover
Germany
Germany--Essen
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Nuremberg
France
France--Paris
Germany--Munich
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Italy
Italy--La Spezia
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Poland
Germany--Braunschweig
England--Great Yarmouth
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
Eight printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MParryWE1172401-220531-06
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.
156 Squadron
44 Squadron
50 Squadron
617 Squadron
9 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
crash
ditching
flight engineer
Grand Slam
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
military discipline
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Bardney
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF hospital Rauceby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
Spitfire
take-off crash
Tallboy
Tirpitz
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1523/41481/BLoveGLoveAIv1.2.pdf
80cbfc6ec80ea829173b9674b152e1d5
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Love, Ikey
Albert Ivon Love
A I Love
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
2016-07-10
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
Love, AI
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Albert "Ikey" Ivon Love (1922 - 2016, 1815027 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, items, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 90 and 7 Squadrons before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by G Love and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Memories of Past Times
Ikey Love 1922-2016
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Ikey Love. Covers pre and post war life as well as training, operations and time as a prisoner of war during the war.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Bedfordshire
England--Kettering
England--Leicester
England--Sileby
Egypt
England--Ashbourne
England--Coventry
England--Redcar
Wales--Llandudno
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Lithuania
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Dresden
England--Thurmaston
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Schweinfurt
England--Cornwall (County)
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 Australian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Civilian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1945
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
33 printed sheets
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLoveGLoveAIv1
90 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
C-47
Caterpillar Club
flight engineer
lack of moral fibre
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
Me 110
military service conditions
mine laying
missing in action
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Oakington
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
sport
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 6
Stirling
the long march
Tiger Moth
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36343/PSparkesW17010034.1.jpg
18b261327bfad49f4ce404307658bff8
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
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
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
RAF Upwood and RAF Warboys
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - five men on wearing civilian suit and hat writing in notebook and others in a variety of dress. Captioned '257 Squadron sports day Upwood 1963'.
Top right - certificate of handover of RAF Warboys to Ned Sparkes who was commander of care and maintenance party.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1963
1964-02-28
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1963
1964-02-28
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Huntingdonshire
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
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph and one typewritten document mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010034
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36342/PSparkesW17010033.1.jpg
93bcb6af3305f508ca17b873bbbeba96
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Title
A name given to the resource
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
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
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
A.O.C.'s inspection Warboys 1963
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1963
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1963
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - three quarter length image of an Air Marshall shaking hands with an airmen wearing tunic with half brevet and medal ribbons. Another warrant officer stands to the right.
Top right - document concerning W.O Sparkes i/c servicing control section. Comments on 257 Squadron's servicing control. Mentions that W.O Sparkes was a wartime aircrew flight engineer, rose to rank of flight lieutenant before discharge and re-enlistment.
Bottom right - photograph with an Air Marshall in centre with a flight lieutenant behind left and two warrant officers to the right. All wearing tunics.
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
Photograph
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs and one printed document mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010033
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
aircrew
flight engineer
ground personnel
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36341/PSparkesW17010032.1.jpg
a2bd0d083e556183d43ddb879885eea9
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
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
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
No 257 Squadron Warboys 1963
Description
An account of the resource
Squadron photograph of a large group of airmen wearing tunics and peaked caps and two women in civilian dress sitting and standing in three rows with a Bloodhound surface to air missile in the background.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1963
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1963
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph mounted on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010032
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.
Sparkes, Ned. Album
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2067/34118/BFranceAMStimpsonMCv1.2.pdf
f0ed0aa35f635faae6cf52796ddc629a
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Title
A name given to the resource
Stimpson, Maurice Cecil
Description
An account of the resource
124 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Maurice Cecil Stimpson DFC (1921 - 1944, 155249 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs, documents, and pennants. He flew operations as a pilot with 156 Squadron and was killed 15 February 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Tony France and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Maurice Cecil Stimpson is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/226992/">IBCC Loses Database.</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-09-22
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
Stimpson,
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] This is the time line for the life of Flt Lt Maurice Cecil Stimpson
(08-09-1921 / 15-02-1944) Service Number 155249 Log book No. 68466. [/underlined]
08-09-1929 [sic] Born in Harrow Middlesex
Parents Harry Stimpson and Nellie Louisa Stimpson (nee Titbbit.
Living at Parkfield Lodge, Headstone Lane, Hertfordshire.
Attended Headstone Lane School now known as Nower Hill School Pinner.
There is now a Wooden Monument to Maurice. (Not sure yet when this was created and who paid for it.) It was rededicated by the RAF on Friday the 9th of November 1984.
Attended by Maurice Sister also Nellie Louisa France (Nee Stimpson born 09-03-1915 and passing 24-04-1986 and her surviving son Tony France born 10-03-1948.
There is no date for Maurice starting or finishing at Headstone Lane School yet.
Mr. Nagle current liaison with Nower Hill has been asked if he can provide this information.
01-09-41 joined RAF almost twenty.
01-09-41 / 04-10-41 LONDON A.C.R.C. (Number 1 Aircrew Receiving Centre, that was a receiving centre for new RAF recruits, in Lords Cricket Ground in London between 1941 and 1944.)
04-10-41 / 16-12-41 SCARBOROUGH 10 I.T.W. (The six week training programme at the ITW was designed to improve discipline, physical fitness and mental alertness and provide a sound basic knowledge of the Royal Air force.)
17-12-41 / 07-01-42 PERTH E.F.T.S. (With the outbreak of war the RFS became No 16 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) and the head of Air Schools was re-commissioned as an RAF Officer. ... If they were considered suitable they were posted to begin their training at an RAF Elementary Flying Training School to fly light aircraft.)
Diary comment Flying duel Tiger Moth D.H. 82 7hrs 55minutes
14-01-42 / 01-02-42 MANCHESTER P.D.C. (The Professional Development Center (PDC) provides resources and tools needed to become self-motivated, competent, highly skilled leaders and followers)
01-02-42 / 13-02-42 Chateau Therry [sic] Ship from Greenock to New Brunswick.
Chateau Thierry (AP-31) was built in 1921 and served with the Army until transferred to the Navy on 15 July 1941. 1941 – The ship was transferred to the Navy on 15 July and was commissioned on 6 August.
13-02-42 / 23-02-42 Moncton CANADA 31 P.D.C.
25-02-42 / 29-03-42 Turner Field U.S.A. (Construction of the base and airfield, named Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Albany by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began on 25 March 1941.
Diary Comment Flying P.T.17
29-03-42 / 02-06-42 PRIMARY DARR AREO TECH U.S.A. The 29th Flying Training Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Western Flying
[page break]
Training Command, and was disbanded on 16 June 1946 at Napier Field, Alabama. The wing controlled World War II Phase One primary flying training units of the Army Air Forces Training Command. Headquarters at Moody Field, Georgia for most of its operational service, it controlled contract civilian-operated pilot schools primarily in the Southeastern United States.
02-06-42 / 05-08-42 BASIC MACON GA U.S.A On August 17, 1941, the first class of British Royal Air Force cadets arrived at Cochran Field. Until June 1942, Cochran was used exclusively for British training. Liaison was maintained between the RAF and the Army Air Force through a Royal Air Force Administrative Officer. British cadets differed significantly from American cadets. Firstly, British physical requirements were much lower than for American cadets. The British were either from 17 to 21 years of age or over 27 years old. Many of the older cadets, married with children, worried about their families back home. The giving of tactical training and attendant discipline, along American lines and pursuant to traditional American policy, concerned and irritated the British cadets. They believed that if they had to be trained in the U.S.A., they should be subject to British discipline and be taught British tactics – the Americans should handle flight training only. In addition, unlike American cadets who grew up operating a farm tractor or automobile, the most complicated device operated by the average British cadet was a bicycle. Some training bases reportedly taught British cadets how to operate a motorcycle before attempting any flight training. The last British cadets completed training in the U.S.A. in March 1943.
05-08-42 /09-10-42 ADVANCED VALDOSTA GA U.S.A These facilities were home to nine school squadrons and three base squadrons that supported a maximum capacity of about 4,100 personnel. The initial group of 140 military personnel arrived at Moody on November 25, 1941. Although the $11.5 million construction of Moody Field would not be officially completed until June 1942, the first class of 50 U.S.A. Army Air Corps Aviation Cadets arrived Feb. 19, 1942. By the spring of 1942 the personnel at Moody numbered 3,000 enlisted, 350 officers, 450 flying cadets, and 20 nurses.
09-10-42 GRADUATED
12-10-42 / 27-10-42 MONCTON CANADA P.D.C
27-10-42 / 06-10-42 Possibly travelled home on the Chateau Therry Ship from New Brunswick to Greenock. The ship name has been deleted form[sic] the personal diary.
Boarded the ship on the 27th set sail at 10.00 hours on the 30th anchored on the 4th of November in thick fog delayed disembarkation left ship on the 5th at 15.00. Marvellous reception by the people. Train journey home arrived at 04.00 having started travelling at 09.00 the day before.
05-11-42 / 15-12-42 P.R.C. HARROGATE
15-12-42 / 27-12-42 6.P.A.F.U. LITTLE RISSINGTON
27-12-42 / 18-02-43 6.P.A.F.U WINDRUSH
[page break]
18-02-43 / 01/03/43 1517 B.A.T.CHIPPINGWARDEN
01.03.43 / 30-03-43. 6. P.A.F.U. WINDRUSH
30-03-43 /17-06-43 30. O.T.U. HIXON / 30. O.T.U. SEIGHFORD
07-06-43 MADE PILOT OFFICER BACKDATED FROM 11-09-43.
22-06-43 / 09-07-43 1662 CON. UNIT LINDHOLME
09-07-43 / 17-07-43 1662 CON. UNIT BLYTON
[underlined] 23-07-43 156 SQUADRON OPERATIONAL [/underlined]
24-07-43 HAMBERG, Lancaster ED990
CREW Leonard Overton. Bomb aimer, Clements Navigator, John Arcari wireless, Thomas Cable Flight Eng, D. Davies second Nav, Fredrick Sunderland Air Gun, Alfred Barnett Air Gun, Maurice Stimpson 2nd Pilot.
27-07-43 HAMBERG, Lancaster ED990
CREW Leonard Overton. Bomb aimer, Clements Navigator, John Arcari wireless, Thomas Cable Flight Eng, D Davies second Nav, Fredrick Sunderland Air Gun, Alfred Barnett Air Gun, Maurice Stimpson 2nd Pilot. (This entree was not on the 156 squadron list but is recorded in red in the log book)
02-08-43 HAMBERG Lancaster W4950
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton. Comment Returned Icing
17-08-43 PEENEMUNDE Lancaster JA697
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson, Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
22-08-43 LEVERKAUSEN Lancaster JA674
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson, Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
23-08-43 BERLIN Lancaster JA921
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson, Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton. Comment Returned early.
27-08-43 NUMBERG Lancaster JA674
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton. Comment Landed Tangmere shortage of Petrol.
[page break]
31-08-43 BERLIN Lancaster JA674
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
03-09-43 BERLIN Lancaster EE173
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
05-09-43 MANNHEIM LANCASTER EE173
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton. Comment combat with E/A 109.
06-09-43 MUNICH Lancaster EE173
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton. Comment 1st Marker.
16-09-43 MODANE Lancaster EE173
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
29-09-43 BOCHUM Lancaster JA912
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Harry Toon, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
04-10-43 FRANKFURT Lancaster JA975
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
07-10-43 STUTTGART Lancaster JA912
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
8-10-43 BREMEN Lancaster JA912 CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson
Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
29-10-43 PATH FINDERS BADGE
[page break]
29-10-43 FLIGHT LIEUTENANT BACK DATED FROM 01-11-43
22-10-43 Frankfurt Lancaster JA912
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
10-11-43 MODANE Lancaster JB113
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
[underlined] 29-10-43 Pilot Officer M.C. Stimpson (155249) AWARD OF PATHFINDERS BADGE [/underlined]
17-11-43 MANNHEIM Lancaster JA912
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
22-11-43 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
23-11-43 BERLIN Lancaster JA674
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
26-11-43 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, Harold Robinson Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner A N J Hinds, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
02-12-43 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, W Coyne Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
03-12-43 LEIPZIG Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, W Coyne Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
16-12-43 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
20-12-43 MANNHEIM Lancaster JB223
[page break]
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
23-12-43 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
29-12-43 BERLIN Lancaster JA925
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
01-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
02-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
05-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster JB228
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, John Wright Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
27-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster JB226
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, R Hill Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
28-01-44 AWARDED THE D.F.C.
28-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster ND453
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, John Wright Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
30-01-44 BERLIN Lancaster ND504
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, John Wright Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
[page break]
10-02-44 PRESENTED TO THE KING AND QUEEN AT WARBOYS. Recorded in personal diary and the occasion is detailed on page 94 in the book The Pathfinders (picture of the King and Queen)
10-02-44 Gentleman's evening Pinner with the Colne Valley Electrical Company. Presentation of a cheque and mug for being awarded the D.F.C. Also picture of the evening and paper report. (Maurice's employer before joining up.) Recorded in personal diary.
14-02-44 Went to picture with Hunts, Joe, Johny and I went to see Crash Dive by Tyrone Power. Quite good. (Last diary entry)
15-02-44 Last letter he wrote home was to Marion (Not sure who this lady was but many letters were sent to Marion)
15-02-44 BERLIN Lancaster ND504
CREW Pilot Maurice Stimpson, Bomb aimer Johny Jackson, Navigator, John Wright Wireless Walter Catchpole, Flight Eng Joe Gurton, Up Gunner Bill Smith, R Gunner Roy Dutton.
[underlined] COMMENT: FAILED TO RETURN [/underlined]
[underlined] Personal details of some of the crew. [/underlined]
Bill Smith – 24 Fore Street Seaton Devon.
Roy Dutton – 136 Arabella Street Cardiff.
Joe Gurton – 44 Mountgrove Road Highbury, London.
Walter Catchpole – 294 Beccles Road Lowestoft (Possibly Oulton Broad after Beccles Road)
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
A Biography of Maurice Stimpson
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Maurice covering his birth in 1921 to his death in February 1944.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Harrow
England--London
England--Scarborough
Scotland--Perth
England--Manchester
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
United States
Georgia--Albany
Georgia--Valdosta
Georgia--Macon
England--Harrogate
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Munich
France--Modane
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Leipzig
France
Georgia
New Brunswick
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Lancashire
England--Yorkshire
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.
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
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BFranceAMStimpsonMCv1
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Seven typewritten sheets
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
156 Squadron
1662 HCU
30 OTU
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Flying Training School
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
killed in action
Lancaster
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Blyton
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Hixon
RAF Lindholme
RAF Little Rissington
RAF Seighford
RAF Warboys
RAF Windrush
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1770/31047/BCleggPVLangAGv10016.1.jpg
ad8b2c6c0c3dbfa2947ee6659efc0f50
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1770/31047/BCleggPVLangAGv10017.1.jpg
e02f09e25243994a00ecf24d808c4281
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon. Lang, Alastair - folder
Description
An account of the resource
Fifteen items. Contains description of the terrible three, a biography of Squadron Leader Alastair Lang DFC, photographs, a portrait, details of his flight engineer, operational diary, correspondence, newspaper cuttings and extracts from his log book.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-02
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. 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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Clegg, PV
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Avro Lancaster III ED877 took off at 22.29hrs on the 4th May 1943 from RAF Warboys, Huntingdonshire tyo make a raid on Dortmund, Germany (by 596 aircraft, 42 lost). The aircraft, which was from No. 156 Squadron, was captained by Flt Lt A.G. Lang, DFC RAF.
Jack Leslie Clark “Nobby”, Flight Engineer
They were flying Lancaster Mark 3 Code Number ED877 while over the target at 19,000 feet anti aircraft fire caused severe damage to the tail section. Another Lancaster flying above reported seeing an aircraft below then explode and go into a shallow dive. The skipper, unable to control the aircraft, ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft. Sergeant Clark noticed Captain Lang having difficulty attaching his chute, and reach over to clip it on for him before attaching his own. He had no sooner done so when the aircraft shuddered and went into a steep dive. The tail section broke away, throwing both men forward holding them tightly within the spinning aircraft, unable to move. Exploding anti-aircraft shells momentarily straightened the plunging plane and threw it about, freeing the trapped men. Flight Lieutenant Lang parachuted safely to earth but sustained a broken ankle, and does not remember pulling the rip cord, and wireless operator Ridings was found dead near the crashed aircraft. His chute was open and most of his bones were broken.
[page break]
The bomber-aimer and both gunners were dead in the wreckage, while the body of Flight Lieutenant Gray could not be located. Sergeant Clark was found injured in a grass field nearby
Nobby also has no memory of pulling the rip cord of his chute, and sustained several broken bones and the loss of a piece of his skull. His head had struck a jagged edge of torn fuselage as he was thrown out. Fortunately, compassion prevailed among the German medical staff who attended my uncle, and they replaced his lost skull section with a silver plate. When he was well enough to be moved, he was transferred to a Prisoner-of-War camp, Stalag Luft #3 at Sagan some 60 miles south-east of Berlin, near the Czechoslovakia border. Here his captors, not knowing Nobby’s personality, thought he had become unstable due to his head injuries. During his incarceration the Royal Air Force, through a report provided by his skipper, became aware of Nobby’s action to save his captain’s life. Flight Lieutenant A.G. Lang, DFC was an officer of proven and respected stature, and the only one who could have known the circumstances to make such a report. It was for this unselfish act that, on September 24th 1943, Sergeant Jack Leslie Clark was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal, one of the most prestigious awards made to a non-commissioned officer of the Royal Air Force. The citation read:
Distinguished Flying Medal
125751 Sergeant Jack Leslie Clark, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 156 Squadron. As Flight Engineer, Sergeant Clark has participated in numerous sorties and has displayed great skill and devotion to duty. On one occasion, during an operation against a target in the Ruhr area, his courage and coolness in circumstances of great peril set an example in keeping with the best traditions of the Royal Air Force. END OF CITATION.
There is considerable evidence that, during their lifetime, Nobby and Daisy possessed a strong belief in clairvoyance, premonition, and the spirit world. He would often reminisce about the times he was able to predict with considerable accuracy the cancellation of scheduled operational flights. He did not elaborate or discuss his uncanny ability, however, the instances where he proved accurate so impressed the squadron commander, Wing Commander Rivell Carnac, that often at briefings he would make a half joke of requesting for Nobby’s confirmation. Flight Lieutenant Lang DFC confirms that, one week prior to the ill-fated flight to Dortmund, Nobby took him to one side and said, “Skipper, our crew will shortly undergo a drastic change in environment”. Nobby refused to elaborate.
On the morning of May 4, 1943 when the crew asked their usual question of Nobby regarding going on ops that night, he replied, “I don’t know, but I hope not”.
Flight Lieutenant Lang later recalled that, “It was a measure of the credence we placed on his predictions that I rounded on him and told him not to talk like that”.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Jack Leslie Clark "Nobby" DFM flight engineer
Description
An account of the resource
Relates "Nobby" Clark's experiences after his aircraft was hit by anti aircraft fire and exploded. Initially trapped as the aircraft broke up an span with him eventually being thrown out along with the pilot and parachuted safely to earth despite injuries. Continues with description of fate of other crew members and his time as a prisoner of war and the award of Distinguished Flying Medal for saving his captain's life. Includes citation for DFM and some discussion on clairvoyance and premonition.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photocopied sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BCleggPVLangAGv10016, BCleggPVLangAGv10017
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.
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-04
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Bloomfield
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
156 Squadron
aircrew
bale out
Distinguished Flying Medal
flight engineer
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Warboys
shot down
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1770/31041/BCleggPVLangAGv10001.2.jpg
a62f8f03fb2dad95bd792a3aa08e3e8b
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon. Lang, Alastair - folder
Description
An account of the resource
Fifteen items. Contains description of the terrible three, a biography of Squadron Leader Alastair Lang DFC, photographs, a portrait, details of his flight engineer, operational diary, correspondence, newspaper cuttings and extracts from his log book.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-02
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. 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
Clegg, PV
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined]”The Terrible Three”[/underlined]
156 (PFF) Sqd. Warboys.
Sqd. Ldr. Alastair G. Lang DFC
Fl. Lt. Peter Isaacson DFC DFM
Sqd. Ldr. Lighton Verdon-Roe DFC
This file contains the wartime operational log-book (photocopy) of Alastair Lang, to the night when his Lancaster was hit by flak and exploded over the target. A resume of his life (written originally as his obituary) follows, showing his close friendship with Peter Isaacson and Lighton Verdon-Roe (a real band of brothers if you like).
Peter Isaacson and his crew were then despatched to fly a new Lancaster (taken from the “Dams Raid” batch at Avro’s) all the way to Australia, in the middle of their harrowing tour of operations, and an account of this, together with copies of his log-book of the Lancaster’s journey across the Pacific and subsequent tours of Australia and New Zealand, is given in the form of a life description.
Lighton Verdon-Roe’s time with 156 Squadron and his two friends (above) is given in the form of a chapter about his life in a Biography of his father, Sir Alliot Verdon-Roe. Sadly he was the only one of this “threesome” not to survive the war, like his brother Eric Verdon-Roe who died earlier in a Whitley aircraft from Topcliffe, N Yorks.
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
The terrible three
Description
An account of the resource
Introduction to folder and gives contents of the file and names the three as Squadron leader Alastair Lang DFC, Flight Lieutenant Peter Isaacson DFC, DFM and Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe DFC all on 156 Squadron at RAF Warboys. Mentions Eric Verdon-Roe who was killed earlier in the war.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BCleggPVLangAGv10001
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--Huntingdonshire
England--Yorkshire
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Bloomfield
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
156 Squadron
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
killed in action
Lancaster
Pathfinders
RAF Topcliffe
RAF Warboys
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/563/30558/PEdwardsAE16010001.2.jpg
2a0c734eb1a73966cf6a739b20dfba3a
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
Edwards, Allan Ernest
A E Edwards
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Edwards, AE
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. Collection concerns Warrant Officer Ernest Allan Edwards (b. 1924, Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a flight engineer with 514, 7 and 582 Squadrons. Collection contains an oral history interview, biography, list of 42 operations and photographs of aircraft and people.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ernest Allan Edwards and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-24
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.
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
Crew and aircraft
Description
An account of the resource
Top - seven aircrew all wearing battledress standing in two rows. Captioned 'Geo Wilcock (Nav 1), Nobby Clarke (Nav 11), Dave Hicks (W/Op), rish Miller (pilot), Sid Loseby (R.G.), Ron Baker (M.U.G.), Allan Edwards (F.E.)'. Titled 'Warboys Huntingdon March 1944'.
Bottom - front quarter view of a Lancaster on hardstanding. Titled 'Waterbeach 514 Squadron March 1944'. Captioned 'Lancaster Mk II LL684 A2"B" after having completed 3 operations. Shortly afterwards the photo was taken this aircraft was reported missing --- Frankfurt 22/23 March 1944'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEdwardsAE16010001
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--Huntingdonshire
England--Cambridgeshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-03
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
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.
514 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
dispersal
flight engineer
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 2
navigator
pilot
RAF Warboys
RAF Waterbeach
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/16092/EMoloney[Fam]DonaldsonDW430515.jpg
377634c357647600074d5ca2cd3331d0
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[ink stamp]
[Post Office crest] ACM/ L
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[postmark]
12.14 150 10.55 HECKFIELD ACM 13/16 1.47
SQDN LEADER D W DONALDSON RAF WARBOYS HUNTINGDON
HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS FROMM [sic] ALL MOLONEYS AT GREEN PARK ++
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
Telegram for David Donaldson from Moloneys
Description
An account of the resource
To Squadron Leader D W Donaldson at RAF Warboys. Congratulatory telegram to David Donaldson from his sister's family.
Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-05-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page printed telegram
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EMoloney[Fam]DonaldsonDW430515
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Huntingdonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-15
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Frances Grundy
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/16083/EDonaldsonsDonaldsonDW430515.2.jpg
80e445f5be9559d2e87ac9cb747c9a5a
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
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
Telegram to David Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
Offers many congratulations. '84' was not a squadron but the number of the flat where his aunts and uncles lived.
Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-05-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page printed telegram
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EDonaldsonsDonaldsonDW430515
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Huntingdonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-15
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.
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15974/E84SqnDonaldsonDW430515.1.jpg
33375de49b5f442efa40a5095d4057ad
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[postmark]
201 1.31 WEST LONDON T 13
WING COMMANDER D W DONALDSON RAF MESS WARBOYS HUNTINGDON
MANY CONGRATULATIONS FROM 84
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
Telegram for David Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
Congratulatory Telegram to David Donaldson from his Aunts and Uncles on the award of his DSO. '84' refers to the home address of DWD's Aunt and Uncles; 84 Oakwood Court, West Kensington, not a Squadron.
Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-05-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page printed telegram
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E84SqnDonaldsonDW430515
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Huntingdonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-15
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Frances Grundy
Distinguished Service Order
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15972/E[Author]MDonaldsonDW430515.jpg
24a68860a2c9faa4401459be8ff33f2f
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
Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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
Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[postmark]
122 9. 48 WEST LONDON T 9
WING-COMMANDER DONALD RAF WARBOYS
CONGRATULATIONS FROM US ALL – MARY +
[ink stamp]
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
Telegram to David Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
Congratulations from from Mary Wynne Williams (his wife's cousin).
Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-05-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page printed telegram
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
E[Author]MDonaldsonDW430515
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Huntingdonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-15
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Frances Grundy
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/295/3614/PWallerT1601.2.jpg
34b5bd0d1f27bcf9d0cae341c896cccd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/295/3614/PWallerT1602.2.jpg
26ffcde9850fda590233a0e075018031
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
Waller, Tom
Tom Waller
T Waller
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. An oral history interview with Corporal Thomas Waller (- 2018, 1096366 Royal Air Force) a memoir and photographs. Tom Waller was a fitter/armourer with 138, 109 and 156 Squadrons and served at RAF Stradisall, RAF Wyton, RAF Warboys, and RAF Upward.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Thomas Waller and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-10-27
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
Waller, T
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
156 Squadron armourers at RAF Warboys
Description
An account of the resource
Seven airmen, five wearing tunics and two wearing leather jerkins in front of a wheeled trolley. One airman kneeling in front has corporal stripes and one standing behind has hands on the shoulders of man in front. All are wearing side caps. In the background a single storey building with a small smoking chimney pipe on the left side. On the reverse 'Tom Waller, 2nd from the right. 156 Squadron Pathfinders 1943, RAF Warboys, outside the armoury'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PWallerT1601, PWallerT1602
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--Cambridgeshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
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.
156 Squadron
ground personnel
Pathfinders
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/295/3611/BWallerTWallerTv10012.1.jpg
a2167b8d3264f611d8b1974dc868257f
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
Waller, Tom
Tom Waller
T Waller
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. An oral history interview with Corporal Thomas Waller (- 2018, 1096366 Royal Air Force) a memoir and photographs. Tom Waller was a fitter/armourer with 138, 109 and 156 Squadrons and served at RAF Stradisall, RAF Wyton, RAF Warboys, and RAF Upward.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Thomas Waller and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-10-27
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
Waller, T
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
Two groups of airmen
Description
An account of the resource
1. Twenty-five airmen in three rows captioned '6 Squadron 8 Flight C Squadron Morecombe [sic] 25th April 1941'.
2. Seven airmen in uniform and side caps in front of a building. Captioned '156 Squadron armourers outside the Armoury at Warboys December 1943'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941-04-25
1943-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BWallerTWallerTv10012
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--Lancashire
England--Cambridgeshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-04-25
1943-12
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.
156 Squadron
ground personnel
RAF Morecambe
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1903/36407/PSparkesW17010056.1.jpg
76132c20792bef40191c06377d6c17f0
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
Sparkes, Ned
William Sparkes
W Sparkes
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
2017-07-16
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
Sparkes, W
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
This report concerns the wreckage of a Lancaster discovered by East Germa [sic] contractors building a block of flats in East Berlin The bodies of the crew were returne [sic] at a ceremony on one of the bridges across the Spee.. [sic] I carried out an inspection for he [sic] C. in C. Germany in August 1976. My diagnostic was confirmed see extracts from various books since written
[underlined] REPORT OF AIRCRAFT WRECKAGE AT RAF GATOW [/underlined]
1. Report by H1601722 WO W S SPARKES of RAF Laarbruch, (Halifax and Lancaster Flight Engineer 431 RCAF Sqn, November 1943 – July 1944). Total hours Lancasters 250 including 70 hours Waddington Lancaster 1968 – 1970.
2. Wreckage was inspected at RAF Gatow on 26 August 1976 in company with WO Bennett RAF Laarbruch. Majority of wreckage was contained in five crates, which, for detailed inspection would have required unpacking and laying out. Readily identifiable items were:-
a. 3 Packard built Rolls-Royce Merlin Engines.
b. 1 Hamilton propeller.
c. 2 Lancaster Main U/C legs and main wheel hubs.
d. Lancaster centre section of main spar.
e. Section of aircraft floor with frame of pilots seat attached.
f. Elevator and Rudder transverse control tubes from under aircraft floor beneath pilots seat.
g. Auto-pilot clutches (“Clutches OUT” position) and auto-pilot gyro unit.
h. H2S indicator.
j. Browning .303 machine gun breech cover and feed mechanism marked in white paint [underlined] JB640. [/underlined]
k. 1 Empty bomb carrier.
3. Following items of crew equipment were identified:-
a. 4 Parachute canopies.
b. [deleted] Remains [/deleted] 2 pairs parachute attachment hooks from an observer type harness.
c. 2 Oxygen masks.
d. Remains of 1 pair suede type flying boots (very large size) bottom part of leather escape type flying boot.
e. 2 Mae West inner stoles.
f. 1 Aircrew whistle, 1 escape map, remains of French Bank note, part of Dalton Computer.
g. The securing portion of pilots Sutton harness with all four straps in position and locked by locking pin.
4. The 3 Packard Merlins whilst extensively impacted damaged were in good condition with very little corrosion. Indications were that they had not been in service for any length of time, no servicing marks on nuts etc, and manufacturers seals still intact on contact breaker covers. The engine data plates were missing from all 3 engines. The propellers had a circular hole 1/2" diameter in one blade 2’ from tip in mid chord area. Two .303 Brownings from wreckage were examined at the Station Armoury, they were complete except for the flash eliminators.
5. Nothing identifiable was found of that section of the aircraft, rear of the main spar, in fact the wreckage consisted of the fuselage forward of main spar and its attached wing stub.
[inserted] [underlined] CONCLUSIONS [/underlined] [/inserted] Lancaster III JB640 was one of 550 Lancasters III’s delivered to the service from June to December 1943, JB640 being delivered to 156 Sqn (PFF Backer up) RAF Warboys on 25th November 1943 ex 32 MU, from where it was posted missing from a raid on Berlin 3 Jan 1944.
The wreckage was of a Lancaster III whose engines were of “low miliage", [sic] it was fitted with H2S, standard on pathfinder aircraft, whereas only 25 percent of Main Force [deleted] fitted with H2S [/deleted] were so equipped.
The hole in propellers blade is consistant [sic] with 13mm calibre damage, this could point to the aircraft being attacked by a fighter, if this was in the target area would almost certainly have been a single engine “Wild Boar” fighter, whose secondary armament was 13 mm calibre.
The part of the fuselage recovered consisted of the fuselage forward of main spar and could have contained all or some of the following crew members:-
a. Pilot – Confirmed by locked Sutton harness.
b. Flight Engineer.
c. Bomb Aimer.
d. Navigator.
e. W/Operator.
The remaining part of the fuselage is either still at crash site or more likely was detached at time of crash and recovered at that time.
As it was not normal practice to swop guns between aircraft, it is probable that the guns recovered were from the front turret of JB640 and it is this aircraft and its front crew members [deleted] whose [/deleted] above who were recovered from the crash site.
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
Report of Lancaster wreckage stored at RAF Gatow
Description
An account of the resource
Report by Ned Sparkes on the wreckage of a Lancaster which had been packed in crates which was inspected at RAF Gatow, Berlin on 26 August 1976. Lists identifiable parts of aircraft and crew equipment. Aircraft was Lancaster "JB640" ot 156 Squadron, RAF Warboys which was posted missing from operation to Berlin on 3 January 1944. Captioned 'This report concerns the wreckage of a Lancaster discovered by East German contractors building a block of flats in East Berlin. The bodies of the crew were returned at a ceremony on one of the bridges across the Spee. I carried out an inspection for the C-in-C Germany in August 1976. My diagnosis was confirmed see extracts from various books since written'.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W Sparkes
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1976-08-26
1944-01-03
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
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
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page typewritten document mounted on an album page
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSparkesW17010056
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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Is Part Of
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Sparkes, Ned. Album
156 Squadron
aircrew
crash
H2S
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
Pathfinders
RAF Warboys
shot down
-
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4294a5246fc1036f5f97be501b1c09f3
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15040/EWaterhouseVDonaldsonDW431130-0002.1.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1213/15040/EWaterhouseVDonaldsonDW431130-0003.1.jpg
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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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Donaldson, David
David Donaldson
D Donaldson
Description
An account of the resource
309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2015-06-02
2022-10-17
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.
Identifier
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Donaldson, D
Grundy, AF
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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[RAF Crest]
Officers Mess
Warboys
30/11/43.
Dear Skipper
It was certainly good to hear from you, & your letter was very much appreciated by all the old crew. Its very good to hear from you when you must have more worries on your mind.
Yes we have nearly completed our trips now, another six, the weather has been holding us up, also the Skipper has his W/C and he is not doing them so often.
We had a very bad week last week, we lost three of
[page break]
our crews. W/C White was a very big loss to us, he had only three more to do. The other crew I don't think you know as they were fairly new here.
We have been trying to get up to Faldingworth but up to now have been unlucky, we [underlined] will [/underlined] make it one of these days.
Mackie has to go for an interview tomorrow at 92 Group H.Q. so it looks as if he is bound for an office job which he says he he won't care for one bit.
Well all the Boys join me
P.T.O.
[page break]
[underlined]3[/underlined]
in wishing you the very best of luck & happy landings in the Halifaxes.
Hoping to see you in the very near future.
Yours,
[underlined] V. Waterhouse [/underlined]
Dublin Core
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Title
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Letter to David Donaldson from Victor Waterhouse
Description
An account of the resource
Writes it was good to hear from David and his old crew appreciated it. Old crew have nearly finished their tour but the weather has been holding them up. Writes of bad week with losses. Continues with news of crew.
Creator
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V Waterhouse
Date
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1943-11-30
Format
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Three page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EWaterhouseVDonaldsonDW431130
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Huntingdonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-11-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Frances Grundy
RAF Warboys
-
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d848a8530d458cb99faa7d5c0ab51a75
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2067/34122/E[Author]T-VStimpsonMC440201-0001.jpg
aabf2fcbc54cd040bbad8e604cd8368a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2067/34122/E[Author]T-VStimpsonMC440201-0002.jpg
4d9e35a6942023b04c45dc0df8df8064
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Stimpson, Maurice Cecil
Description
An account of the resource
124 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Maurice Cecil Stimpson DFC (1921 - 1944, 155249 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs, documents, and pennants. He flew operations as a pilot with 156 Squadron and was killed 15 February 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Tony France and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Maurice Cecil Stimpson is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/226992/">IBCC Loses Database.</a>
Date
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2019-09-22
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
Identifier
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Stimpson,
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Telegram to Maurice Stimpson from Tom and Vera
Description
An account of the resource
The telegram congratulates him on his grand achievement.
Creator
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Tom and Vera
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-01
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
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
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One typewritten sheet and one handwritten envelope
Identifier
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E[Author]T-VStimpsonMC440201-0001,
E[Author]T-VStimpsonMC440201-0002,
E[Author]T-VStimpsonMC440201-0003
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.
Temporal Coverage
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1944-02-01
aircrew
pilot
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/295/3609/BWallerTWallerTv1.1.pdf
cd2cdd3683f81e91523da9c0cbc4fe91
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Waller, Tom
Tom Waller
T Waller
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. An oral history interview with Corporal Thomas Waller (- 2018, 1096366 Royal Air Force) a memoir and photographs. Tom Waller was a fitter/armourer with 138, 109 and 156 Squadrons and served at RAF Stradisall, RAF Wyton, RAF Warboys, and RAF Upward.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Thomas Waller and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-10-27
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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Waller, T
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
THE WAR MEMOIRS OF 1096366 Cpl. T. WALLER MID
[black and white photo of a young man in uniform]
15-5-1941 to 15-6-1946
[page break]
In March 1936, my family moved from Hull to West Leyes Road in Swanland where we lived at West Lodge which had formed part of Reckit's [sic] walled kitchen garden before the demolition of the manor in 1935, but unfortunately the garden was sold in 1944, so in March of that year we moved to Cottingham.
I worked for J Waites and Son at their grocer's shop in Main Street Swanland, which today has been modernised and converted into a mini-market and on Wednesdays I had a half day off.
When in Hull in April 1940, at the age of 18, I had the impulse to go to the recruiting office and volunteer for the Royal Air Force, hoping for training as a transport driver. I duly signed on the dotted line and then returned home and explained to my mother what I had done, to which she responded "What did you do that for, you'll never pass the medical".
In due course a letter arrived informing me that I had to attend the medical examination, which I did and passed as A1 (fit for active service). When I arrived home I told my mother what had transpired, to which she replied "But you can't have!" so I responded saying "Well I have" but to this day I never found out the reasons behind her remark.
Not long after, I received the papers telling me that I had been accepted for service in the RAF and to report to the assessment centre at Cardington [sic], which I did, only to be told that I would be trained as an armourer and not a driver as I'd hoped.
It was disappointing, however I returned home as I had been given a week to sort things prior to starting my enlistment. when I arrived home my eldest brother was there on leave, he was already a mechanic in the RAF, and I told him that I was soon to begin training as an armourer. He told me that this would involve bombing-up and servicing aircraft guns, but he also went on to say that many experienced armourers had been re-assigned to act as air-gunners, in Fairy Battle aircraft, during the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk. Unfortunately many of them were killed in action, creating a shortage of skilled armourers, and that is why I had been assigned for this training.
I said my goodbyes and left the following week as I had to report to Blackpool for kitting-out with uniforms, cutlery, etc and I also had a vaccination and inoculations before starting basic training. This was followed by a day trip to the Derby Road baths and then a week of various lectures before being sent to Morcombe [sic]. It was there that the military training (including square bashing) commenced, this being carried out on the seafront promenade and down the side streets which provided a great spectacle for the local residents and tourists alike.
Next it was out into the fields to practice bayonet drill which involved attacking straw filled sacks suspended between wooden frames. Following the command to fix bayonet the drill went something like this, 'on guard - rifled poised' 'thrust - stick the bayonet into the sack', twist bayonet and 'pull it out' and so it went on.
I and some of my fellow trainees were billeted in a large house with two attic rooms which were used by the owner's sons when on leave from the Royal Navy. The owner and his family were the kindest people you could wish to meet, providing us with good food, comfortable accommodation and they also allowed the married men to have their wives stay over for weekends, this made it a home-from-home for us all.
-1-
[page break]
If any of us were feeling off-colour we would be pampered and well looked after, as one of the daughters was a nurse at the local hospital, and if you happened to mention that you had heard the latest record they would have it within a few days, for you to play on the radiogram.
After the war my sister, brother, his fiancée and I had a lovely holiday with the family as they had re-opened as a guest house again.
After Morcombe it was posting to Kirkham in Lancashire and this was where the work really started with the commencement of the armourer's course. It was found to be nose to the grindstone however I and many of the other trainees didn't really want to be there, for various personal reasons, therefore when it came to filing-down metal for gun parts we would file the metal in the wrong way. When the instructor came round and saw what we were doing he retorted "You can stop that lark! None of you are getting off this course but if you put your backs into it you can do it". After that we had no choice but to knuckle down and get stuck in, which we did and eventually we found that we were beginning to enjoy it, that coupled with the fact that it was quite easy to get to Blackpool, this made life better.
We managed to venture into Blackpool on several occasions and enjoyed some of the various shows at the Opera House, we also found a nice pie shop near the bus station and on the bus journey back to camp it would be a raucous sing-song, what a life!
Once the course was completed we all had to line-up outside the armoury, an officer then came along and said "When your name is called, step forward", my name was eventually called and I duly stepped forward. As selected minions the chosen few, we were informed that we had been posted to Credonhill in Herefordshire, for further training as fitter-armourers we had to go there was no choice.
Down to Credonhill we went and began the new course, which again was nose to the grindstone, however after getting stuck-in the work became enjoyable and the effort paid off as we passed with flying colours. It was there in the September of 1942 that I celebrated my 21st birthday although I was all alone in the billet listening to classical music and from that time on I became hooked on that type of music.
Whilst there we were fortunate in that we could visit Hereford at the weekends, with its fine cathedral, canteen and the river Ouse which gave us a chance to relax and go boating, so I would say that on the whole our stay there was not too bad.
Seven day leave followed which meant a taste of civilian life again and a semblance of normality, that is to say no sergeant bawling at you to come at the double, your own bed to sleep in and a private bathroom with no one making rude comments about your appendage, but alas it was over all too soon.
My first operational deployment came in late 1941 with a posting to Stradishall, (now High Point prison), to 138 Squadron, which was part of the SOE (Special Operations Executive), and I remained there until March 1942 at which time I should have been transferred to Wyton.
At this point it is worth noting a few details about 138 Squadron and its work as it operated for three and a half years, ranging over Europe from Norway it [sic] the north, at times deep into Poland and to Yugoslavia in the south, transporting agents and dropping supplies to the various resistance movement [sic] throughout these countries.
-2-
[page break]
Operation aircraft included the venerable Lysander, affectionately known as the Lizzie, and the Whitley bomber, both of which were originally based at Stradishall before being transferred to Tampsford in March 1942.
Our job was to pack cylindrical supply canisters with whatever was needed, such as arms, ammunition, explosives, radio sets and other vital equipment and supplies, and then load them into the Whitley bomber's bomb bay. The bomber then delivered the canisters to saboteurs and resistance movements in the various countries, dropping them by parachute into rendezvous points where a reception committee of local underground members would be waiting to receive them.
The agents were usually flown to and from their destinations by the squadron's Lysanders, which were quiet aircraft capable of landing and taking off from rough short unprepared airstrips, only staying on the ground for very short periods. You never knew the agent's identity, due to the secret nature of operations, and to preserve their anonymity a telescopic cover was used, extending from the rear of the transport vehicle to the aircraft. Very few people knew in advance of these flights so in winter it was not unusual to be called out in the middle of the night to clear snow from the runway to enable aircraft to take off or land.
My first leave from Stradishall was quite an experience as the train station at Haverhill was well over a mile from the camp and I arrived there just as the train was about to depart, this was when it all started. The station porter asked 'Do you want this train?' so I said 'Yes', but as there was little time he suggested that I obtain my ticket at the other end and virtually pushed me into a carriage. As we approached Hull the ticket collector came round, I had my railway warrant but no valid ticket therefore he more or less accuse me of trying to get away without paying. A dear old soul got up, who I thought was going to hit him with her umbrella and she said 'This lad is fighting for our country' to which I responded 'Don't start another war we have enough with this one against Hitler'. Once in Hull's Paragon station I was taken to the station master's office where the ticket collector explained that he thought I had tried to get away without paying, so I told my side of the story and said 'If you don't believe me ring Haverhill station and they will confirm what I have said'. I eventually got my return ticket.
Not long after returning to Stradishall, 138 Squadron was transferred to Tempsford and I was issued with a travel warrant to go to Upper Heyford in Northants. On arrival I reported to the guard room to present myself and they directed me to the orderly room where, after a while, an officer entered and asked 'Where have you come from ?', 'Stradishall' I replied. The office [sic] then informed me that I was not supposed to be there and said 'We will find you a bed until we can ascertain where you should be'. I was then taken to the cookhouse [sic] for a well deserved meal before being shown to my temporary billet.
Whilst at Stradishall I had written home to let the family know that I was being transferred to another camp and would write again when I got there.
I was at Upper Heyford for about a week before being informed that I should have been transferred to Wyton in Huntingdonshire, so you can imagine my mother's surprise when the police came to her house to see if I was there as I had not arrived at my designated camp on time.
After a while I was told to collect my belongings and that an Anson aircraft would fly me to Wyton. 'Good' I thought, my first flight, so off I went to the orderly room where I was surprised to find out that the aircraft had developed a fault and that I would now have travel by train. I was issued with a railway warrant to Huntingdon, which happened to be the nearest station to the camp, and then driven to the station where I was seen onto the train and off I went, thinking that they were glad to get rid of me.
-3-
[page break]
I eventually arrived at Wyton in late 1942, to join 109 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force, only to face a Court of Enquiry over the fiasco of my transfer and in simple terms it went something like this - Where have you been? your [sic] telling us that you passed through Kings Cross station and were not stopped although we have had the MPs (Military Police) looking for you, they were puzzled! Following my explanation a called[?] was placed to Upper Heyford to verify that I had been telling the truth.
I then settled into my new billet which was occupied by other armourers and when I told them what had happened they all had a good laugh, they knew a new armourer had arrived.
My first order of business was to write a letter home to let them known [sic] that I had arrived, give them my new address and an idea of what had happened to accounted [sic] for the delay in writing.
When I arrived home on my next leave my mother was in a very agitated state as she wanted to know where I had been and why MPs were looking for me. I explained what had transpired and that it was the fault of the orderly room at Stradishall, as they had sent me to the wrong RAF camp, she was pleased that her son hadn't gone AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave) as was first thought.
Following my return to camp the work really started with my first job on an aircraft being fit [sic] a new cartridge chute in the rear turret of a Wellington bomber, affectionately known as the 'Wimpy', which had been brought into the hanger for inspection. It was then taken out onto the runway apron so that the engines could be run-up before it was taken to the dispersal point and knowing I could get a lift back to the hanger I went with the aircraft to check that the turret operated correctly. While onboard [sic] I thought that the pilot was revving the engines up as a test however when I looked out through the rear turret I saw the runway moving away, we were airborne, and it was at this point that panic set in as I didn't have a parachute. I then made my way unsteadily up the fuselage and said to one of the Bods, our name for airmen, "I haven't got a parachute" to which he calmly replied, "Don't worry, none of us have". That was reassuring up to a point, so I made my way back to the rear turret and climber in to enjoy the tail-end Charlie's (rear gunner) view of the countryside. Once we had landed one of the lads asked "Have you flown before?" to which I replied "No that was my first flight", he was surprised and remarked "You're the first one I've seen that was capable of walking in a straight line after his first flight".
Once while working on the front turret of a 'Wimpy' I looked out and saw the Commanding Officer and the Duke of Kent standing on the tarmac.
Wyton was a nice location being handy for the Huntingdon headquarters of 8 Group Pathfinder Force and I also found out that Oliver Cromwell had attended the grammar school in Huntingdon.
My elder brother was medically exempt from service so he and his future wife came down for a holiday at Godmanchester, which was just down the road from Huntingdon, making it possible for me to visit them twice while they were there.
Professor Cox, the inventor of the Target Indicator Bomb and Barometric fuze [sic], came to work at the base and it was the duty of my mate and I to assist him to perfect these, this resulted in us being exempt from postings for three years. The problem we had to overcome was the fact that when the bomb was dropped from an aircraft only half of the 'candles' would burn and it took many attempts before we overcame the problem and got all the 'candles' to burn. On each attempt the bombs were loaded into a Lancaster bomber which then
-4-
[page break]
flew over Thetford forest where an area had been designated onto which the bombs could be dropped. After each bombing run we would travel to the forest in RAF transport so that we could check the results of the drop, first hand.
Another project we had was to redesign the bomb's tail fins so that four could be carried in the small bomb bay of the Mosquito bomber, as it was their task to mark targets for the main bomber streams.
We also made a device known as a 'screamer' which drove the aerodrome mad with its [sic] noise.
The professor received £20,000 for his inventions, which was in great part due to my mate and my self [sic] helping him to perfect them.
On one occasion the professor put some pieces of 'candle' on a work bench in the armoury and ignited them, talk about technicolour. It also produced a thick black smoke that billowed through the hanger, housing Lancaster and Mosquito bombers, causing someone to call the fire brigade thinking that the hangar was on fire. Following this incident we could have been brought up on charges but fortunately the blame fell on the professor who received a serious dressing down for his antics.
Whilst at Wyton I unfortunately contracted oil dermatitis and was hospitalised for quite a while during which time my face was regularly painted with a violet liquid however it didn't do much to help the condition but it did stop it spreading. When the senior Medical Officer went on leave a junior Medical Officer asked "Will you be a guinea pig for me?" and as I had nothing to loose said "Yes". He later came back with a pot of cream, he had concocted it himself, which he then smeared onto my face and miraculously by the end of the week all that was left on my face were red blotches. When the senior Medical Officer returned from leave he found out what had happened and the junior Medical Officer and I got it in the neck however I pointed out to him that the dermatitis had cleared up and with that he stormed off. Some while later the junior Medical Officer came back to to see me and apologised for getting me in to [sic] hot water, he had brought me another jar of him cream but fortunately I didn't need to use it again. I was given a week's sick leave and hoped that the junior Medical Officer would make his fortune after the war.
It was a lovely walk from Wyton to St. Ives, passing through Houghton, across the meadow to Houghton water mill, along the river bank and through a bird sanctuary where on a summers evening bird songs could be heard. On the way we would stop off at Hemmingford Grey which had a good canteen and from here, as in St. Ives, you could go boating. One Sunday my mate and I went to an evening service in St. Ives after which the minister invited us back to the vicarage for supper and this was followed by a game of bowls, on a lovely lawn.
Wyton was the only base I was stationed at that has a bomb dump across the road from the camp, the road being the one from Huntingdon to Warboys, fortunately in those days there was very little traffic about.
In early 1943, 156 Squadron, the second on the base, moved to Warboys which was just down the road from Wyton therefore it was still handy for a cycle rise to Huntingdon.
Our billets were Nissen huts dispersed throughout the woods however if you were in them when all the aircraft took-off the huts would vibrate however to me the noise of the aircraft was a lovely sound.
One evening my mate and I went for a cycle ride and came into a small village called Benwick where we stopped at the local pub for a drink. We wandered out to the back of the pub where we met a lovely family
-5-
[page break]
with whom we started chatting and they asked if we would like a game of bowls, we said that we hadn't played before and they told us it was easy. Off we went to a well kept bowling green for our match and we won as my bowls rolled into the right place, to which they remarked "You must have played before, you have the knack for it and got the bias right", "No" I replied "Beginners luck". They invited us back to their home for supper and said we were welcome to visit whenever we had any spare time. When we were going on leave they would asked [sic] us to come over if we had the time and they would give us eggs and sometime [sic] a chicken to take home.
They had two small sons and a little 18 month old daughter for whom I made a dolls bed, which she still has, and after the war I spent a holiday with them, including a day trip to Hunstanton. Unfortunately the daughter is now the only member of the family left however we still keep in touch regularly and I send flowers on her birthday and at Christmas, this is the least I can do after all the family's kindness shown us during the war.
While stationed at Warboys I got engaged to a WAAF who worked in the telephone exchange where I worked the switchboard once or twice, and here they used to cook for themselves so if they got any kidney when I was going on leave they would give me it to take home, as they didn't like it, this made a tasty treat for my family.
When an aircraft came into the hanger for servicing I would ask the pilot if he was going up on a test flight and if he was I would ask his permission to go up with him, under the pretext of testing the turrets, etc. These were exciting trips as the pilot would hedge-hop the plane, flying low over the meadows and at times you would see a train almost level with you. Near the coast was a farm house and if there was any washing hung out the pilot would fly low over the Ouse and then nose-up so that the washing would blow off the line if it was not pegged tightly onto it, by which time we would be out over the Wash.
On my second flight in a Lancaster the pilot knew I was going up with him and I positioned myself in the mid-upper gunner's turret to enjoy the view. After a while I began to feel really light headed when suddenly there was a tug on my leg from one of the crew, he asked "How long have you been up there" to which I replied "Ever since take-off". "Hell" he retorted "Quick, plug this in to the intercom so that I can speak to the pilot", he then gave me a mask to put on and told me to plug it into the oxygen system. There was no wonder I was feeling light headed and exhilarated as we were flying at a fairly high altitude which meant that I had begun to suffering [sic] from a lack of oxygen and if we had descended quickly it would have damaged my ears.
I soon recovered and once out over the Wash I tested the guns and began to traverse the hydraulic turret, it stopped working and I thought what's wrong now, so I started to traverse the turret manually. At that point I noticed we were flying on one engine and once again panic set in as I wasn't wearing a parachute but fortunately the other engines started up and we were flying on all four engines again. Once on the ground the pilot came up to me and said "Sorry about that, I forgot you had come along, it was a good job one of the crew found you when he did otherwise I could have done you a lot of damage". I then asked him about flying on one engine and he responded "We often do that because the Lancaster can fly on one engine". That was a flight I will never forget and I later read a book by Wing Commander Guy Gibson in which he mentioned flying his aircraft on one engine.
As armourers we were an ingenious bunch so in our dinner breaks we would fabricate cigarette lighter [sic] out of 0.303" and 0.5" calibre 'rounds' and other odds and ends. Firstly the bullet was removed from the cartridge case and the propellant charge (cordite) tipped out, next came the dangerous part, the end of a file was
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placed on the percussion cap in the base of the casing and then wrapped in a large wad of rags before the file was hit with a hammer, which would detonate the percussion cap with a bang, but unfortunately my mate lost a finger doing this as he didn't use enough rag wadding. We also fashioned Spitfires from halfpenny pieces, these looked nice when polished and crafted model planes from pieces of clear perspex. Another profitable business was making Dutchess [sic] Sets using square and oblong frames into which nails were fixed every half inch and silk threads criss-crossed between them and knotted, they made lovely presents.
I made my nephew a fort out of old ammunition boxes which I took home in pieces, it was that solid you could stand on it, and also managed to obtain an old parachute for my mother, who being a seamstress made good use of it.
Another perk of the job came when a new Lancaster arrived on base as it had thermos flasks, so it was a mad rush to be one of the first to the dispersal point to grab one, which I managed to do.
While serving at Warboys I was promoted to corporal and asked if I would like to go back to school to learn about bombs and fuzes [sic] as this would mean another promotion to sergeant and an increase in pay. At that time I was a fitter armourer (guns) and already involved with bombing-up and de-bombing plus having worked with Professor Cox I already knew a great deal about the Target Indicator Bomb and the Barometric fuze [sic] therefore I declined the offer, I thought to myself that money wasn't ever thing but good mates were, especially at the height of the war, and anyway it would be a waste of my time plus it meant moving into the sergeant's mess.
[/bold] March 1944 [/end bold] 156 Squadron moved to Upwood however my mate and I were still able to visit our friends at Benwick.
One day on camp, while aircraft were being bombed-up for an operation, there was a terrible accident as a bomb exploded with horrendous force, creating a massive crater and the intense shock wave that followed rippled the structure of three Lancasters [sic] making them look as if they had been made from corrugated iron. Fortunately I was in the guard room, having just returned from leave, as the force of the explosion hurled debris over the building. They [sic] following day the crater was searched but nothing was found and we never really knew what had happened, although one train of thought was that someone had accidentally knocked a barometric fuze [sic] causing it to detonate the bomb.
Following this incident the billet was a very sombre place with so many empty beds, so many mates lost, and there was only one funeral from the camp, that of a WAAF driver who was buried in Upwood church cemetery.
When at Upwood it was possible for me to go to Ramsey and board a train for Peterborough, which connected to the main line, and at that time this journey cost around two shillings which in today's money would be around ten pence. From Peterborough I caught a train for York and then one to Cottingham station, but it was late at night when I arrived and there was no one on duty.
The next day I though [sic] I could get back to Ramsey cheaply so I got a single rail ticket from Hull to Brough and was on my way, or so I thought, because just as I was about to board the train I got a tap on the shoulder, it was an inspector and at this point panic set in. He asked "Why are you catching this train" and with a bit of quick thinking I replied "Argyle Street was bombed last night and my boss brought me home to make sure everything was OK and I have to be back on duty by 12.30". The inspector then asked "Which side of the train will you get off at Brough" and as I had local knowledge I replied "That side", pointing to the opposite
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side of the train, he then let me get on. Once onboard [sic] I went right down the train and hid it [sic] the toilet until the train departed, just in case the inspector had got on. I managed to get all the way back to Ramsey on that ticket and it was fortunate that there was no one at the other end to check it however all the way back my nerves were on edge in case a conductor came round and asked to see my ticket, needless to say I never did that again, once was enough.
One date of note was the 10th February 1944 as this was when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the base and it was a bitterly cold frosty morning. The armoury was opposite the officer's mess outside which the guard of honour had formed-up and because it was so cold the officer in charge decided to take them for a run up the road to keep warm. However, just as they turned back the royal party came into view so they had to make a hasty dash back, at the double, to be in place for the royal salute and as we had a great vantage point it gave us a good laugh.
There was a lot of hard work prior to the visit as we painted the curbing stone white, painting them black again after the visit, cleaned the inside of a Lancaster, which was due on ops that night, and washed a hanger floor with petrol, all this for a royal visit, it would have been better for them to have seen it as it was. Somehow what we had done made the papers and we were all confined to camp for a week.
On the 6th June 1944 all the armourers were called out at first light to refit the front turret back into all our Lancasters. We had removed the turrets some months earlier, which gave the aircraft a 25mph increased [sic] in air speed, however the Germans had caught-onto this and began attacking the aircraft from the front because the mid-upper turret guns could not be depressed enough to give adequate frontal covering fire.
The turrets had to be fitted as quickly as possible during that day as the aircraft were needed for ops that night. Cranes were used to lift the complete turret but as we had no scaffolding the only way to fit then [sic] was for us to go in through the pilot's escape hatch and out onto the front of the fuselage to guide the turrets into position, no health and safety rules to follow in those day [sic] which meant that one slip and you would end up head first on the concrete. Once a turret was in position it was fairly straight forward job to connect up the hydraulic lines, fit the covers and check its operation however due to the urgency of the job we had to work without normal breaks so our food was brought out to us and surprisingly we completed the task in time.
I remember it was a cold day with light drizzle however our spirits were lifted when we saw the sky fill with aircraft of all types, some towing gliders, we all shouted "D-Day has started", and I thought it was the most magnificent sight I had ever seen. Due to that days hard work all our aircraft took off on ops that night and we were given the following day off, which we needed as we were bone weary and very wet.
On the 1st January 1945 the New Years Honours List came out and I was surprised to see that I had been mentioned in despatches, quite an honour, and much to mu mother's delight.
At the end of the war, if I had been serving on a permanent aerodrome I would have remained in the RAF, the service that I loved, but unfortunately I was posted to a satellite aerodrome at Stour-on-the-Wold near Stratford-apon-Avon. Here life became tedious with nothing to do but look after 52 rifles in the armoury, a dummy 4,000lb bomb in the bomb dump, there was no paperwork to do and nobody seemed to know what was going on. Somebody delivered a further 20 rifles to the armoury and I asked him "Why have you brought them here" to which he replied "We don't want them" and off he went, this was now the nature of the job.
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Later when demob came I was glad to leave, so off I went to Cardington where I was given a medical and a demob suit together with my discharge papers, a book of money orders to cover demob leave and a rail warrant home. After several weeks of demob leave I once again became a civilian, back to a so called normal life.
In late 1946 I returned to my job at Waite's grocery shop. then in early 1947 I broke off my engagement with the WAAF girl, who was a Londoner, and later started dating a local girl called Lucy Ann Baitson, who also worked in Waite's shop. She lived at Mill Lane in Swanland and we eventually got married at All Saints church in North Ferriby in 1949, but tragically she dies in 1979.
After a long and varied career I finished my working life as chief storeman [sic] at Everthorpe borstal.
Just a note about Wing Commander Don Bennet, a great man who unfortunately never received the recognition or honour that he deserved for his efforts during [the] war. On the 27th April 1942 he became the Commanding Officer of 10 Squadron and while flying a Halifax bomber on a raid over Norway, to bomb the German battleship "Turpitz" in Trodhiam [sic] fjord, he was shot down. Fortunately he managed to escape capture and reached Sweden from where he returned to England via the BOAC Courier Service, ensconced in the bomb bay of a Mosquito bomber. On his return of duty Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris made him the Commanding Officer of 8 Group Pathfinder Force and later after his death his ashes were interred under the RAF Memorial on Plymouth Hoe.
Now, nearly 70 years on, having been ignored after the war by Winston Churchill, the man who said "We had to bomb Dresden", a remark which many still remember today, our brave bomber crews have finally been given the recognition they readily deserve. In Green Park, London, a splendid permanent memorial has been erected, consisting of a sculpture depicting a bomber crew mounted on a large plinth and housed in a grand stone built structure, open on two sides, complete with a dedication to those men.
Having spent the war years serving with bomber squadrons and in hind sight I am now of the opinion that these heroic men should have received the military's [sic] highest awards for what they had to endure. Going out night after night on bombing missions over mainland Europe, particularly Germany, knowing that they would face the ferocity of the German flak guns, night fighters and searchlights. I saw first hand the severe damaged [sic] inflicted on a lot of those aircraft returning from missions, unfortunately many planes and crews never did return and to be honest I don't know how they did it.
Dublin Core
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Title
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The war memoirs of 1096366 Cpl T Waller
Description
An account of the resource
Memoir covers early life, joining and training as a Royal Air Force Armourer and his subsequent wartime career. States that he served on 138 Squadron at Royal Air Force Stradishall and describes its Special Operation Executive operations. Goes on to talk about his postings to Royal Air Force Wyton on 109 Squadron and mentions work on the development of the target indicator barometric fuse. Covers his subsequent move to Royal Air Force Warboys with 156 Squadron and then on to Royal Air Force Upwood and records armourer activity including those on D-Day. Finally talks about the end of the war and decision to leave as well as note about Wing Commander Donald Bennett and the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park.
Creator
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Thomas Waller
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Nine page typewritten document
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eng
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Text
Text. Memoir
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BWallerTWallerTv1
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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Great Britain
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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.
109 Squadron
138 Squadron
156 Squadron
166 Squadron
Absent Without Leave
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bomb dump
demobilisation
final resting place
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
ground personnel
Lancaster
medical officer
memorial
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Pathfinders
perception of bombing war
RAF Kirkham
RAF Stradishall
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
RAF Wyton
Special Operations Executive
training
Wellington
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/283/30730/BJonesTJJonesPWv1.2.pdf
765081f4ed49b9ebdbc981de32e5f147
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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Jones, Thomas John
Tom Jones
T Jones
Description
An account of the resource
62 items. An oral history interview with Peter William Arthur Jones (b. 1954) about his father Thomas John Jones DFC (b. 1921, 1640434 and 184141 Royal Air Force), his log book, photographs, correspondence, service documents, aircraft recognition manuals, medals and a memoir. He flew operations as a flight engineer on 622 Squadron Stirling and 7 Squadron on Lancaster. <br /><br />The collection also contains an <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2566">Album</a> of 129 types of aircraft. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Jones and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2014-12-04
2017-12-07
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.
Identifier
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Jones, PW
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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THE LUCKY CREW
[photograph]
T.J. Jones DFC & P.W. Jones
1
[page break]
Introduction
I, like many children born in the mid-fifties, grew up surrounded by reminders of World War Two. There were the L-shaped trenches, in a field, near my home, which had housed searchlights and anti-aircraft guns. There were also trees and telegraph poles with their fading white collars.
So it was that I would ask that question all little boys asked their Father in those days, “what did you do in the war, Dad”?
My Father would reply, modestly, that he had been a flight engineer on bombers. That was all he ever said no details, no bravado, no hint of heroism, or the horrors he had endured.
In time I learned that he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, but never discovered why.
That is how it was until his sad death on 28th January 2004.
My Mother and I were sorting out some of his papers, kept in an old wartime suitcase, when we came upon a small green notebook. This notebook was to unlock Dad’s story. For there were the memories he never told.
It would appear that he had put pen to paper in the 1990’s, some fifty years after the war. Reading that book, so shortly after his death, made me very sad. It also made me immensely proud of the modest Father I had known and loved for almost fifty years.
And what of the DFC, there was no mention of it. Did his natural modesty prevent him from recording why he was awarded it, or were the memories too painful?
The following pages tell his story.
Peter W Jones
[italics] When we first arrived the command “Attention” was followed by a noise like load of house-bricks falling of a lorry and a cry from the drill corporal
‘You dozy lot, wake up now. Bags of swank.’ At the passing-out parade six weeks later the same command produced a noise like a rifle shot. As we marched away along the promenade, rifles in line, heels crashing in unison, arms swinging shoulders high, we had what the corporal had wanted to see, Bags of swank!
I remember R.A.F. Cosford and the flight mechanics course. how young and eager we were, picking up the service slang and clichés. On arrival we were assigned to wooden huts with eight double-tier bunks down each side, a plain wooden table with two benches, andf a small stove in te middle of the hut.
The first week of every new entry was spent on fatigues. Peeling four feet high piles of vegetables. After every meal the floors and tables of the vast dining halls had to be cleaned and polished.
Guard duties, fetching carrying, pushing, scrubbing. We were at everyones beck and call, but it was fair, every new intake did it.
Wednesday afternoons were spent on field exercises. Prowling through muddy fields and woods, everything that involved mud and muck. Camouflage, grenade throwing, bayonet practice.
[page break]
Anti-gas procedure, groups of us standing in the gas chamber and being ordered to remove our respirators to prove that the room really was full of gas. Dashing out into the fresh air, coughing and spluttering, eyes streaming.
Wednesday nights were domestic nights and everyone was confined to barracks. Everything in the hut had to be cleaned and polished. Fire buckets and extinguishers, every inch of floor space to be polished and sparkling. Table and benches to be scrubbed. The last man coming out backwards the following morning polishing out the last foot prints ready for the flight commander’s inspection.i remember the precision of kit inspection. Each bed laid out with equipment, each piece in it’s correct place and every bed identical to the next.
The months of learning and cramming. Class-rooms and hangars, engines and airframes. Aero-dynamics, physics, mechanics. Hydraulics and pneumatics, fuel systems, carburation, airscrews, ignition systems and instruments. The form too. Maintenance manuals and periodicity talks. A seemingly endless number of subjects, all to be absorbed and remembered.
I remember the parades and the marching to and fro. The sound of a youthful tenor voice in one of the huts singing ‘Always.’ The bugle call at reveille and a P.T sergeant stamping down [italics]
“The Lucky Crew”
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[photograph]
The crew, left to right:
Fred Phillips RAAF, Dave Goodwin RNZAF, Stan Williamson RAAF
Clive Thurston RNZAF, Ron Wynne RAF, Joe Naylor RAF
Thomas Jones RAF, Steve Harper RAF.
This photograph was taken in September 1944 shortly after the crew completed their tour of 64 operations and left 7 Squadron. The aircraft they are standing in front of is Lancaster PA964 MG-K. This was last on the night of 6th October 1944 during a bombing raid on Scholven-Buer. The eight man crew, that night, were captured and held in Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau, from where they escaped in April 1945.
PA964 had survived 244 hours of operationsal flying, much of it in the hands of “The Lucky Crew”.
3
[page break]
FORWARD
Thomas Jones’s memoir gives a vivid description of life in a bomber squadron Pathfinder Fo9rce. The account of his experience as a Flight Engineer on operations in Stirling’s and Lancaster’s depicts the stresses, strains and comradeship of a bomber crew and the extent of a flight engineers tasks.
Very few crews survived as many as 64 bomber operations which Thomas Jones and crew achieved (my own contribution was 60 sorties) so his memoirs form an important contribution to the history of Bomber Command operations and it’s crews.
Wing Commander Philip Patrick MBE DFC
[622 Sqd. Crest] [7 Sqd. Crest]
Squadron crests reproduced by permission of the Secretary of State for Defence.
4
[page break]
I remember a happy childhood, firstly in central Birmingham then the southern district of Hall Green. I didn’t dislike school. My early teens were spent under the threat of war, which was declared when I was eighteen.
The blackout became a way of life for six long years. The nights spent in the air-raid shelter, my mother asking me to come away from the entrance where I was watching the havoc, into the deeper safety of that cold damp cell.
I recall the scream of falling bombs and the shudder of the earth on impact. The noise of the anti-aircraft guns firing a short distance away, like great iron doors slamming, and the hissing rush of the shells fading away as they sped up to the heavens and the German bombers. I remember my sister weeping quietly when it all got too much for her. The metallic tinkle of shell splinters as they rained down on roofs and road surfaces. The reflection of a hundred fires on the cloud as my city burned.
I was both fascinated and appalled at the effects of the nights bombing. On my way to work, at the BSA, in the early morning light I was stepping over the rubble of houses that had been hit by bombs during the night. Of one house a solitary wall left standing and on the bedroom mantelpiece a clock still showing the correct time. A house with no roof and a six-inch wide crack from eves to foundations, and not a window cracked. There was a double decker bus on Coventry Road, Small Heath, standing vertically on its bonnet.
I volunteered for aircrew duties in the RAF, the excitement and the boredom, the laughter and the comradeship the like of which is rarely experienced in civilian life. The songs and tunes of the period, each one associated with a particular time, a certain place or face.
Most of us who survived in one piece had an easy war compared to many others. No wounds, disfigurement or physical pain. No years of imprisonment torture disease, starvation and despair. That is why there is little pain for me to sit quietly, fifty years on, in that little room of memories going back down paths which divide and branch like blood vessels.
I was sent to RAF Cardington in September ’42, with its huge hangers where the great airships were built in the 1920s, for aircrew selection. I can easily recall the aircrew medical where everything was tested, examined, poked and prodded. There followed days of written, oral and aptitude tests. I remember the first time I entered the dining hall, the volume of the WAAF corporal’s voice reducing the occupants to silence, and the embarrassment on realising that the order to “put that bloody cigarette out” was directed at me. After four days home again to await my call-up papers, which I received a few weeks later.
And so in October to RAF Padgate with hours spent waiting in different rooms during induction. Being issued with my identity discs and service number, to be memorised and will be remembered for the rest of my life. Ask the service number of any ex-service man who enlisted all those years ago and he will recite it without the slightest hint of hesitation.
I remember the outstretched arms laden with clothing and equipment in the kitting out stores. The WAAF’s singing “Jealousy” in the station cinema as the little white ball bounced along the words on the screen. I recall the train journey to the Initial Training Wing (ITW) at Redcar on October 17th ‘42, and especially Mrs.Thatcher of 4 Richmond Road. Ken Battersby, Chas’ Curl and myself were billeted with her for six weeks and she looked after us like a mother hen. She made sure we were correctly dressed each morning when we went out on parade. She treated us as though we were her own sons.
The wind was icy on the sea front as we learned foot and rifle drill, fumbling with numbed fingers at the rifle bolt and rear sight. We did route marches and assault courses
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[page break]
in full battle order, reaching the finish gasping for breath, with a supposedly wounded man across our shoulders.
I learned on the rifle range that a 303 when fired from the shoulder didn’t produce the crack as when heard from a distance. It produced a heavy numbing thud inside the head. The following day it would only take the sudden rustle of a newspaper to set the ears ringing again.
When we first arrived the command “attention” was followed by a noise like a load of house bricks falling off a lorry and a cry from the drill corporal “you dozy lot, wake up now, bags of swank”. At the passing out parade, six weeks later the same command produced a noise like a rifle shot. As we marched away along the promenade, rifles in line, heals crashing in unison, arms swinging shoulder high, we had what the corporal had wanted to see, “bags of swank”.
It was then to RAF Cosford in early December and the flight mechanics course. How young and eager we were, picking up the service slang and clichés. On arrival we were assigned to wooden huts with eight double tier bunks down each side, a plain wooden table with benches, and a small stove in the middle of the floor.
The first week of every entry was spent on fatigues. Peeling four-foot high piles of vegetables. After every meal the floors and tables of the vast dining halls had to be cleaned and polished. Guard duties, fetching and carrying, polishing and scrubbing. We were at everyone’s beck and call, but it was fair, every new intake did it.
Wednesday afternoons were spent on field exercises. Crawling through muddy fields and woods, everything involved mud and muck. Camouflage, grenade throwing, bayonet practice. Anti-gas procedure, groups of us standing in the gas chamber, and being given the order to remove our respirators to prove that the room really was full of gas, dashing out into the fresh air, coughing and spluttering, eyes streaming.
Wednesday nights were domestic nights and everyone was confined to barracks. Everything in the hut had to be cleaned and polished. Fire buckets and extinguishers, every inch of the floor space to be polished and sparkling, table and benches to be scrubbed. The last man coming out backwards the following morning polishing out the last footprints ready for the flight commander’s inspection. I remember the precision of kit inspection. Each bed laid out with equipment, each piece in its correct place and every bed identical to the next.
There were months of learning and cramming. Classrooms and hangers, engines and airframes. Aerodynamics, physics, mechanics. Hydraulics and pneumatics, fuel systems and carburation, airscrews, ignition systems and instruments. Maintenance manuals and countless other books. A seemingly endless number of subjects, all to be absorbed and remembered.
There were also the parades and the marching to and fro. The bugle calls at reveille and the PT sergeant stamping down the wooden floor of the hut banging each bunk with a pick-axe handle, shouting at the top of his voice “parade in fifteen minutes, last man out is on a week’s jankers”. And there was the dreaded Trade Test Board at the end of it all, and the feeling of great achievement on making the grade.
The next step on the ladder was to RAF St.Athan in April ’43 and the flight engineers course. Was it to be Stirling’s, Lancaster’s or Halifax’s? Oh youth and innocence, it was all great fun with little thought of the future.
We were billeted in the same type of wooden huts as at Cosford and did the same fatigues during the first week. Most of us had been together since ITW, a lot of us only eighteen, not many over twenty. The Scots lads, Tommy McMeachan, John Mullens, Jimmy
6
[page break]
Cruicshank and John Gartland all killed. Taffy Lightfoot and Roy Eames died over Bremen. Bill Curry shot down and killed whilst still training. There was also Albert Stocker, Arnold Hearne and Jack Walker. How many blurred faces on the edge of memory survived?
I was selected to train on the Short Stirling, the biggest of the four engine bombers of the time, eighty-seven feet long and twenty-eight feet high with the tail up. It had a fourteen tank fuel system with inter-wing and inter-engine balance cocks. Hercules XVI sleeve-valve engines with two speed superchargers and epicyclical reduction gears. The SU carburettors were the size of a car engine. The Stirling was renowned for being the electrician’s nightmare with its miles of electric wiring
There wasn’t a single subject or component part of the Stirling that we weren’t lectured on. After the intensive Trade Test Board examination I remember the brevets and chevrons being sewn on our tunics, the regulation button stick length from the shoulder seam. The young faces didn’t seem to match the rank and many of them wouldn’t survive to wear the flight sergeants crown.
[photograph]
Tom Jones, aged 22
RAF St. Athan, August 1943
And so, in July 1943, to 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at RAF Stradishall to be crewed up and to fly the aircraft we had been trained on. We were billeted in empty married quarters and reasonably comfortable but we soon discovered that they were directly in line with the main runway. All night long crews were practising circuits and landings and every few minutes an aircraft would roar overhead at fifty feet.
There is still another three weeks classroom work to do but now our instructors are not civilian technicians but veritable gods in our eyes, men who had completed a tour of thirty operations. There was no bravado about them but their eyes and faces showed a wealth of experience from which we were to benefit. When they lectured us we hung on their every word.
We were encouraged to visit the flight offices in our spare time, to get in as many flying hours as we could before being crewed up. I remember my first flight as a passenger. The pilot was a Canadian, flight sergeant Moore, who was still undergoing training. I’d always had the impression that an aircraft, once off the ground, flew straight
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and level. How wrong I was! We reached the dispersal and this great black monster and I climbed aboard with the crew, I had a few misgivings. Would I be airsick, would the height affect me? Some people couldn’t climb a ladder, and I had never been higher than the inside of a bedroom window.
We taxied to the runway, hesitated and then began the mad dash toward the other end. The aircraft’s thirty tons lifted off the runway and promptly began to sway from side to side and up and down, the wings actually flapped! The engines were nodding as if in mutual agreement on some topic of conversation. Looking down the fuselage toward the rear turret I could see the whole structure was twisting back and forth. I looked out of the window, a patchwork of fields, tiny houses and on our port quarter the airfield with its three intersecting runways. The height didn’t bother me at all but the continuous movement did. After ten minutes I quietly disgraced myself by being airsick. I, subsequently, flew over 300 hours before my stomach finally settled down.
Later, on the squadron, it became the practice for the ground crew to provide me with an empty tin every time we flew, daring me to make a mess in their spotless aircraft. This saved me from bankruptcy as squadron lore dictated that anyone sick on the floor of an aircraft had to pay the groundcrew to clean it up.
I was talking with a group of engineers in the mess, when an Australian flight sergeant pilot approached asking for me. He introduced himself as Fred Phillips and said that I was to be his engineer. A former insurance clerk from East St. Kilda, Melbourne and twenty years old. He was destined to be awarded the DFC before he reached twenty-one and awarded Bar for his DFC before his twenty second birthday. He introduced me to the rest of the crew. Dave Goodwin navigator, and Clive “thirsty” Thurston bomb-aimer, both New Zealanders. The gunners were Ron Wynne from Hyde Cheshire and Joe Naylor, known as John by everyone, from the village of Wymondham near Melton Mowbray. The wireless operator was another Australian, Stan Williamson from Punchbowl, Sydney.
Our first flight as a crew, on August 29th 1943, was a familiarisation, getting the feel of the aircraft. There were circuits and landings, during daylight and the same at night, over and over again until the different drills and check became automatic. We did three and two engined procedures, cross country flights and bombing practice. We flew 34 hours together, at RAF Stradishall, and were granted “fit for operations”. In my log book was entered my certificate, qualified to fly as flight engineer in Short Stirling’s Mk I and III.
On September 2nd ’43 we were posted to 622 squadron, at RAF Mildenhall. On arrival we spotted our first operational aircraft. It was parked in front of the flying control tower after landing from an operation the previous night. As we approach we could see it was punctured with jagged holes and the rear turret was a mass of battered twisted metal. Dried blood everywhere, a glove, a tuft of hair and a piece of jawbone with teeth still attached lay on the turret floor.
That night in the mess we asked how long it took to complete a tour of thirty operations. No one had ever known a crew that had finished a tour. I realised that we had reached the point where we were expected to pay, in kind, the cost of our training.
When we made up our beds that night no thought was given to who the previous occupant had been. We quickly learned that close friendships were not formed with other crews. A passing joke or a civil word sufficed. New faces appeared, sometimes for a few days, or a week or two, to disappear and be replaced by others. Their passing marked by a visit from the committee of adjustment to clear out their lockers and return personal property to next of kin. Their names rarely mentioned again. Morale gained nothing from speculation. Had it been quick as with a direct hit with flak, or a scrambling dash to get out
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of a blazing aircraft? A human torch falling to earth with mouth wide, in a silent scream of pain and horror? Forget it quickly! Do not dwell.
I remember there was always laughter and high spirits in the mess, we learned to laugh about flak and fighters, searchlights and crashes. If a pilot bragged about his good landings no one disagreed with him. Inevitably the day came when he misjudged it and bounced down the runway like a kangaroo. His life was made a misery for the next week. Every time he entered the mess all the pilots present deferred to him and wished they possessed his skill. Stories of silly mishaps did the rounds.
An aircraft on its take-off run had reached 85 knots when the pilot cleared his throat. The engineer, thinking he had asked for wheels up selected same and they finished up on their belly astride the railway lines two hundred yards beyond the runways end. This escapade earned an unofficial commendation on the mess notice board.
Flying whilst suffering with a head cold was discouraged as it led to sinus and inner ear problems. One lad had to report sick with a heavy cold and immediately a rumour was circulating that he knew the squadron was about to attack Berlin or Essen and was reporting sick to get out of it. This sort of thing happened all the time, but it was never vindictive, the victim enjoying the joke as much as anyone.
On an operational squadron the learning still went on, each of us learning something of the others jobs and duties. Ditching and parachute drills were carried out regularly when we weren’t flying, timing ourselves to see how many seconds it took us to get out. Bombing practice; cross country exercises in atrocious weather when visibility was less than the length of the runway. Flying in rain, snow and icing conditions.
There was also fighter affiliation, to practice the corkscrew. With the guns the bombers only defence against fighters, it was essential that we practice this manoeuvre with the help of Fighter Command. I recall the Spitfire’s curving arc of attack and the rear gunners call to “corkscrew port, go”. The horizon almost vertical, then swiftly up and to starboard over the cockpit canopy. Everyone hanging on tightly to the front edge of their seats, so as not to hit the roof. The feeling of weightlessness as the aircraft plunged away in a steep diving turn, the earth in front of the windscreen rotating clockwise as we lost height, the call “roll her, roll her”. The pilot pulling back on the stick to put us into a steep climbing turns to starboard. Again the mad dance of earth and sky, the gravitational forces pressing the body down and draining blood from the head; the cheeks and the mouth falling open. The relief as the fighter breaks off the attack, the earth and sky sliding back into place as we level off and assume course, and await the next attack.
It was during fighter affiliation that we discovered how manoeuvrable the giant Stirling was in flight. It was more agile than some aircraft a quarter of its size. However, it was a beast when manoeuvring on the ground.
Our first operation had been to lay sea-mines in the Katigat, a solo aircraft operation with a naval officer on board to trigger the mines. The next night Hannover, having to divert to RAF Tangmere on return due to flak damage to number 7 fuel tank. Two nights later mine laying in the Skaggerak; then Hannover again, Kassel, Ludwigshafen and Berlin. On these first op.’s we came back only three times on all four engines.
My station, when flying in Stirling’s, was at the front main spar of the wings where it passed through the fuselage, and I consequently saw little of what went on outside. The view from the astrodome was limited so when things were running smoothly I would go forward to the cockpit for ten minutes or so to have a look out.
I shall never forget the cloudscapes, climbing through thousands of feet of dark grey nothingness to emerge into a vivid blue sky with a floor of dazzling white stretching to the
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horizon in all directions. Flying along great canyons between the cliffs of cumulus. There was also nimbus, the cloud most respected by all airmen, with its anvil shaped head towering to altitudes we could never hope to reach. Flying through nimbus had us hanging on grimly as the aircraft is flung around by the air currents, us fearing that the wings would be torn off. There were continuous lightening flashes. The propeller arcs alive like Catherine wheels, and lightening cracking back and forth along the wireless aerials and guns. The tremendous energy generate4d within nimbus clouds is unnerving when experienced for the first time.
the sunsets were always beautiful with the changing colours of the clouds. From the brilliance of polished brass, to rose, pink, bronze, purple, and finally to black. All within a short time, but always warm. Dawns were different, they were cold. During the long boring flight home the first greying in the east would silhouette the swaying tail of the aircraft. The horizon slivers of grey-green light.even the first rays of the sun were always cold.
622 Squadron converted to Lancaster’s in November 1943. While the pilots and engineers were lectured by the engineer leader, two pilots were seconded to a Lancaster squadron for a few hours flying instruction then returned to instruct us. Flying in Lancaster’s meant that my station was next to the pilot. Five hours of training flights and we were away again. my logbook made up, qualified to fly as flight engineer in Lancaster Mk’s I and III.
Our bombing sorties took us to Berlin again, Schweinfurt, and twice to Stuttgart. By now we were one of the most experienced crews on the squadron and were selected to train for the elite Pathfinder Force.
We were sent to the Navigation Training Unit at RAF Warboys in March ’44. The bomb-aimer did a course on H2S equipment while I attended lectures on the bomb-site and bomb aiming. During our free evenings the navigator, Dave Goodwin, taught me how to use the bubble sextant and we spent several clear nights picking out the constellations and their stars. Dheneb, Altair, Betelgeux, Alderbaran, Arcturus, and a dozen more. From then on I had to take the sextant shots from the astrodome. We also attended lectures on pyrotechnics and target marking techniques. After nine hours of flying and six practice bombs on the range we were posted to 7 Squadron at RAF Oakington, near Cambridge, on April 2nd.
On arrival we discovered that the squadron C/Owing Commander Rampling had just been killed during a night raid. He was replaced by Wing Commander Guy Lockhart, aged just 27. He was killed four weeks later and replaced by Reggie Cox.
As a Pathfinder crew we were expected to complete two tours of thirty op.’s each with no rest period. Main force procedure was one tour of thirty op’s, six months rest as an instructor, then recall for another tour.
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[photograph]
The pilot would inform us “we are on the order of battle” and the butterflies in the stomach would begin to flutter their wings. They were always there, at the beginning because we didn’t know what to expect, and on subsequent op.’s because we did know. In those days it was a sign of weakness to admit fear but you could tell it was there. Normally quiet lads would chatter incessantly while the extrovert would withdraw inside himself. Others developed little quirks that they never had until their names were on the order of battle.
We would go out to the aircraft to carry out our inspections etc. then to the mess for lunch, but a ban on drinks at the bar. The aircraft would be take [sic] up for a night flying test to iron out any last minute snags. If it was a late briefing a couple of hours in bed, spreading a white towel over the blanket at the foot of the bed to indicate you require waking.
We would be woken with a torch shining on the face, a hand shaking the shoulder, and a voice saying “it’s time to get up”. Sitting on the edge of the bed, head sagging, desperately trying to wake up fully; while someone fumbles about in the dark, cursing, seeking the light switch. Little is said as we walk to the ablutions to wash and visit the toilets. A call of nature during a flak barrage could cause extreme embarrassment.
The pre-flight meal is usually something recommended by the aviation medicine people. A fried greasy dish, which is always disastrous for someone like me with an already queasy stomach, or baked beans which create gas and excruciating stomach pains as the atmospheric pressure falls as we climb to our cruising altitude.
I remember the pre-flight briefings and the walk past the armed guard at the door. The long room filled with trestle tables and benches, each one occupied by a crew. At the end a low stage and almost the entire wall covered by a huge map of Europe, for security reasons behind drawn curtains. A thick swathe of tobacco smoke hangs in the air. Everyone stands as the C/O arrives and the ritual begins.
The curtains covering the wall map are withdrawn and the target announced. A low murmur of voices rises from the assembled crews. Red tapes pinned to the map mark the route from base to the target and back, doglegged to squeeze between the ominous red patches which denote heavily defended areas, avoiding all but one, the target.
The intelligence officer is the first to take the stage with the latest information on the target, factories and products, railway yards etc. The state of the defences and positions of the night fighter stations along the route.
The navigation officer holds the stage for the longest period of time, going over the route. Times of take-off and set course, time and position of course changes rendezvous
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with the aircraft of other groups. “H” hour and the type of markers used, Parramatta, Newhaven or Wanganui. Codes, colours etc. and the inevitable time check. Each leader, in turn, taking the stage to divulge information relative to his section. Bomb aimers, gunners, engineers and wireless.
The Met. man with his charts, cloud information and prospects in the target area. Barometric pressures, temperatures, icing conditions and weather at base on return. The latter always bringing a burst of sardonic laughter from the crews but it was usually taken in good part, even on occasions eliciting a wry smile from the met. man himself.
The whole proceedings coming to a close with a few words from the C/O on the importance of a successful attack.
At a table at the other end of the room the adjutant is accepting the pocket contents of the crews. Wallets, loose change, last letters, even used bus and cinema tickets. All are placed in separate drawstring linen bags and tagged with the owners name rank and number, to be reclaimed on return. It never occurred to me to write a last letter. Was I that confident or thoughtless? On reflection, it must have been the latter.
The walk to the locker room is quiet and leisurely, different to the atmosphere in side. A noisy confusion of men and equipment, loud jocular remarks and laughter sounding a little forced. “Can I have your fried breakfast if you don’t come back?” “Yes, but what makes you think that you are coming back?” It all sounds so cruel and heartless now, but no one ever took exception to this type of banter.
While the gunners get into their heavy outer flying clothes, the rest of us don Mae West and parachute harness, pick up flying helmet, parachute pack and gloves. A WAAF driver would come to the door and shout “crew transport”.
All the WAAF’s I ever met were very efficient and went out of their way to be helpful and pleasant. Most of them could, with a smile, deflate the ego of a too adventurous lad, much to the delight of all present.
Several waiting crews clamber aboard with much scuffling of flying boots, and we begin the journey round the perimeter track to the dispersal points. There is a marked decrease in laughter and conversation now. The coach arrives at the first dispersal, “G-George” calls the driver, and a crew disembark under the nose of their aircraft. With a few mutters of good luck they slouch away. We drive on to “A-Able” and then us “O-Oboe”. We climb out of the coach, and with a wave from the WAAF driver, it draws away. This is when the butterflies in the stomach are at their worst. I pick up my gear and walk with the crew to the tail of the aircraft.
There is no ground crew to be seen. At any other time they would be laughing and joking with us, but not now. They will remain in their rough dispersal hut until we climb aboard before they emerge to prime the engines when we start up. No rules of security will be breached by them asking the name of the target, although they will have a good idea from the fuel and bomb load. They have seen it all with so many crews before we joined the squadron.
Aerodromes, in pictures and films, are mostly depicted as idyllic places. And so they are in Summer, the heat rising in shimmering waves over vast flat areas of grass and wild flowers and everything alive with birdsong. They rarely show the same scene in late autumn or winter, when the grass surrounding the dispersal has been churned up by vehicles into a sea of mud; which in the January frost is turned into ankle breaking ruts. These are the conditions ground crew work in, no protection against driving rain snow and bitter winds; the engine fitters and mechanics working fifteen or twenty feet above the ground on swaying gantries. They grumble and curse but all aircrew have great confidence
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in their skill and dedication. They take great pride in maintaining the cleanest and most efficient aircraft on the squadron, and woe betide anyone that bends it. The aircraft belongs to them, the aircrew only borrow it.
While the rest of the crew stood talking I would start my pre-flight checks. Tail unit control surfaces and tail wheel. Up the port side checking fuselage and wing surfaces, all engine cowlings in place and secure, pitot head cover removed. Examine undercarriage struts and also extensions for oil leaks. Trolley acc’. plugged in, tyres for damage and creep. Check bomb load and target indicators. Down the starboard side to the main door, static vent plugs removed. Inside now. How many times have I felt my way up and down the fuselage with eyes tightly closed so that I could locate every component in the dark? I had to be able to find every fire axe, extinguisher, field dressing and the morphia, portable oxygen bottle, intercom, and oxygen connections. As well as being able to put my hand on every hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical component, know what it did, how it worked, and what in-flight repairs I could carry out. I would also check fuel contents and oxygen supply. These careful checks were meticulously carried out prior to every flight. It was the drill and the ground crew accepted that it did not reflect on their efficiency.
I rejoin the crew outside. There is nothing to do now but wait, and still forty minutes to go before we climb aboard. We smoke one cigarette after another. Everyone wants to be off and to get the job done. We all want to be able to do something, anything, but wait. The airfield is strangely silent, save for the feint whining of a three-ton truck on the perimeter track over a mile away. A rook can be heard crowing in a distant copse.
A car turns into the dispersal and pulls up under the wing. The Wing Commander alights and has a word with the pilot. Satisfied that all is well he wishes us good luck and drives on to the next dispersal. At intervals other cars arrive with the section leaders, each checking that there are no snags. Then the Padre and Medical Officer arrive. The M/O offers us caffeine and airsickness capsules. And all the time the butterflies in the stomach keep up their constant flutter.
Ten minutes to go and time for the rear gunner to get into his turret. With so much bulky clothing he needs help to get in, so one of us pushes him in on his back feet first. We stand outside his turret talking to him through the clear-vision panel.
A few stutters then a steady roar follow the distant whine of a starter motor as an aircraft begins to start up. The pilot checks his watch and says, “time to go”. We say “see you later” to the rear gunner and make our way to the main door, throw in our gear, and climb the ladder in turn, the last man aboard stowing the ladder and securing the door.
There follows the uphill walk to the cockpit, leaning forward against the angle of the floor. Then the overpowering petrol fumes as we climb over the main spar in the centre section. On reaching our seats the pilot and I continue our checks. Flying controls free and working full range, undercarriage warning lights showing green. Brake pressure ok. Propeller pitch, fully fine. Number two fuel tanks on. Radiator flaps to override, superchargers in moderate gear.
The ground crew has appeared, two men climbing precariously up the undercarriage struts into the nacelles where the Ki-gas pumps are situated. With the pilot operating the ignition switches and starter buttons, and myself the slow running idle cut-off switches and throttle levers we start the engines in sequence from port outer to starboard outer. Trolley acc’ plug disconnected and jettisoned, ground flight switch to flight. A short period with engines at 1200 revs to allow them to warm up, then run up each in turn to full power, checking rpm, boost pressure setting and magneto levels. I select bomb-doors closed, a last look around the cockpit instruments and “ok, chocks away”.
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On receiving the hand signal a man on each side of the aircraft runs forward to drag away the heavy wooden chocks at the end of their ropes. With a hiss of released brakes and a burst of power from the engines we are guided out of the dispersal to join the squadron, the ground crew turning their backs to the gale of dust and flying debris.
A squadron of Lancaster’s taxing out to take off is an impressive sight. Each aircraft weighing twenty-eight tons they move round the perimeter track, nose to tail, like great ducks. With up to a hundred Merlin engines roaring and breaks [sic] hissing and squealing they taxi past at up to 30mph. The noise laden air vibrates against the face and the ground trembles.
A small farm cottage on the edge of the airfield is occupied by a young married couple who always stand at their garden gate with a child in their arms as we go by. All the crews return the little girl’s wave, the gunners raising and lowering their guns. Over fifty years later I can still see that little face, surrounded by light curls, laughing, in spite of the noise and clamour.
As we pass the flying control tower, with the silent watching figures on the surrounding balcony, we glimpse the duty controller whose voice we hear over the radio.
I apply twenty-five degrees of flap, then, close the jettison valves and all balance cocks. Elevator trim two degrees nose heavy.
We join the queue at the end of the runway, moving up like cars in a traffic jam as aircraft take off. A burst of power to the engines, now and then, to prevent the plugs oiling up on the rich fuel mixture. A close watch on the temperature, as the engines quickly overheat at idle revs.
The butterflies in the stomach are beginning to subside now there is something to occupy the mind.
The aircraft in front of us is well down the runway as we turn onto the threshold, line up and come to a stop. The green Aldis signal light, at the chequered caravan, dazzles as the final checks are completed. Fuel boost pumps on. Barometric pressure set on the altimeter. Engine temperature and pressure ok. Radiator flaps to automatic. Compasses set to runway bearing. Cockpit windows closed.
The pilot settles himself comfortably in his seat and says, “right, all set” and opens the throttles to 2,000 revs. The cockpit becomes a vibrating Bedlam of noise, the aircraft straining against the brakes. From the corner of my eye I glimpse the fluttering white hankies of the off duty WAAFs who always assemble to wave each aircraft off.
With a sharp hiss the brakes are off, and we begin to roll forward. Steadily the pilot advances the throttles, jiggling them to keep the nose straight. The nose dips as the tail comes up, revealing the runway lights tapering almost to a point 2,000 yards ahead. “They are yours,” says the pilot, who now has rudder control, and I take over the throttle levers. Smoothly up through the gate and on to full power, 3,000 revs and 12lbs. boost. The noise of the four Merlin’s at full power is deafening and normal speech is impossible, even shouting through cupped hands directly into an ear is useless. The rumble of the wheels, felt rather than heard, is added to the world of noise. Halfway down the runway, and the gap between the two end runway lights grows at an alarming rate. 80 knots, then 90. The wheel rumble fades slightly as the wings begin to flex on the increasing cushion of air, the tyres skipping in long hops. 105 knots. The pilot crouches forward in concentration, eases the stick back and with a final bounce we are airborne. The runway lights flash by thirty feet below and we are clear of the boundary hedge. I lift the undercarriage selection levers and as the wheels start to retract two reds replace the two green lights on the indicator. With a slight clunck [sic] the wheels are up and the two reds wink out.
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Speed builds quickly as the pilot holds the nose down. At 165 knots he asks for climbing power and I adjust pitch and throttle levers to give 2,600 revs plus 6lbs boost as we climb away into the growing dusk. At 5,000 feet I lift flaps, the pilot correcting trim as the nose drops.
After the exhilaration of take-off the necessary chatter, over the intercom, dies away and everyone settles down to their individual routines.
I start to fill in my log, a time consuming process with the engine and aircraft details to record. With a full fuel load of 2,154 gallons, an engineer’s calculations must be accurate to within ten gallons; checked against remaining fuel on return to base. Gauges are only used to check for leaks.
After setting course on time over base we cross the coast at Cromer on the shoulder of Norfolk, still climbing. The gunners test their guns into the sea and after a short stuttering burst the smell of cordite wafts into the fuselage.
At ten thousand feet I turn on the oxygen supply. There is a chill in the air now as the temperature continues to fall. At near freezing on the ground it will be about minus twenty-five degrees at 18,000 feet.
Boost pressure and the rate of climb begin to fall off and I reach out to select full supercharge. There is a distinct clunck from all four engines as the higher gear is engaged and with the renewed surge of power we continue to climb.
“We’ll be crossing the enemy coast in three minutes” reports the navigator, and ten miles ahead there’s the reception committee. When we reach that position the pretty red twinkles in the sky will be flashes and explosions, near misses heard above the constant roar of the engines. The blast buffeting the aircraft and sending shell splinters through the thin skin of wings and fuselage.
We begin to weave and stars trace a figure of eight above the cockpit canopy. It’s like being on a big dipper and will continue until we cross the coast on our way home. The coastal flak is left behind and on reaching optimal height I reset revs and boost to cruising power, each engine reducing its fuel consumption to about forty-three gallons an hour.
Apart from the stars and the green glow of the instruments the night is black. The pilot, sat inches from my left shoulder is just a dark shadow. Our eyes straining to see the elusive faint blur that will indicate the presence of another aircraft. If it can be seen it is too close for safety and will have to be watched continuously to avoid collision. We’ll move away if it is ahead of us, many gunners open fire at anything creeping up astern of them, friend or foe.
Suspended three and a half miles above the earth it is possible to fly to Berlin and back without seeing another aircraft or feeling their slipstreams, although there could be several hundred in the stream. Another time the sky would be full of them.
To starboard and ahead a line of fighter flares light up the sky with a misty yellow glow, like someone running along a corridor switching lights on as they go. Immediately the guns are trained to port, the dark side, from where the attack will come. We drone forever along the wall of light, silhouetted, waiting for the hail of tracer. As we pass the last flare darkness closes in again, but the fighters are still with us.
Far ahead a green flare bursts and hangs in the sky, red stars dripping from it at six[1]second intervals. Placed by leading pathfinders the flare marks an accurate turning point for the main force. Ten minutes on the final leg from this point will bring them to the target area. The navigator confirms its accuracy as we round it.
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I check the engine instruments and fuel status. Nothing can be seen ahead, everything is black, and the navigator starts the countdown to “H” hour.
The bomb aimer turns his bombsight on, ensures the bombs are fused, and checks the selector and distribution boards. He feeds the necessary information into the bombsights ‘magic box’ and checks the responses to various settings. Dead on time the Blind Illuminators release their flares, row on row, as if each one is placed on the squares on a chessboard. A great floating carpet of light exposes the ground far below.
Still no defences to be seen, but they will be there loaded and aimed. Lying low and not giving anything away until they know we are certain of our position.
The Primary Markers will be making their run-in now, their bomb aimers searching for the aiming point. The target indicator bursts, releasing its contents which form a giant Christmas tree of the most brilliant red as they fall. A second pass as the Master Bomber closely circles the indicator to assess its accuracy. Finally over the RT comes his verdict “hello tonnage, the reds are ok, bomb the reds”. The complete marking process has taken about three minutes from the first illuminator flare being dropped to permission to bomb. Almost immediately the leading main force aircraft are over and sticks of high explosive and incendiary bombs are falling across the target.
By now the defences have opened fire and the sky directly ahead has become a wall of bursting shells and weaving searchlights.
We enter the flak barrage and the familiar sound of shell splinters ripping through the fuselage can be heard.
Two hundred feet below us an aircraft, with a wing on fire, lazily turns over and goes into a spin. Its crew will be fighting for their lives against the centrifugal force pinning them in their seats. No parachutes appear. We look away as they hurtle to earth and a sure end. Who were they, did we know them. Will we be next?
The target is now a bubbling carpet of fires and bursting bombs. From below light flak is coming up in a trelliswork of slow graceful curves; string upon string of balls of coloured light, deceptively beautiful until they reach you and flash by like the most deadly lightening.
Above and ahead an aircraft is caught in the intersection of three blinding searchlight beams, twisting, turning and diving as it’s clobbered by its own personal barrage.
The flak gets more intense as we get nearer the aiming point. The bomb aimer crouches over the bombsight to assess the rate at which we are approaching the target. Start the run too early and we are vulnerable in straight level flight for longer than necessary.
As the bomb doors are opened the aircraft stops weaving and begins to shudder as the slipstream enters the bomb bay and batters at the doors. The aiming point appears half way down the long arm of the graticule and the primary red indicator is burning itself out and beginning to fade. The bomb aimer can be heard over the intercom guiding the pilot onto the target; “left, left steady, right, steady, steady”. The aiming point creeps agonisingly along the graticule to the cross section. “Now”, his thumb presses down hard on the release button, “bombs gone”. Each bomb is felt as it leaves the aircraft, and there is an upward surge as the 4,000lb ‘cookie’ goes along with the green target indicator. The bomb aimer will look through the clear vision panel in the front bomb bay bulkhead to check that all our bombs have gone. The bomb doors close as he climbs back to the cockpit.
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We begin to weave again. Some seconds later the voice of the Master Bomber comes over the RT, “bomb the greens”. The knowledge that we have paved the way for hundreds of tons of bombs is pushed to the back of our minds.
After the confines of concentration on the bomb run I become aware again of what is happening around us. The world is a mad man’s worst nightmare of colour, noise and explosions. The photoflashes dropped with each bomb load create a continuous flicker like summer lightening. Undersides of aircraft reflect the red glow of the firestorm more the three miles below. We seem to hang motionless under a ghostly grey dome of light. Light enough to see the bombs in gaping bomb bays, and see them tumble past from higher aircraft. Bursting shells surrounds us, bursting too rapidly to count. The only sign of progress across the target area is the lazy slipping backward of thinning balls of smoke as the flak ceaselessly hammers at us. After what seems an eternity, but in reality about eight minutes, the flak begins to abate and darkness closes in again as the target slowly falls astern.
The pilot calls up each crewmember in turn checking for casualties. I connect a portable oxygen bottle and walk the length of the fuselage checking for damage; Ron the mid-upper gunner complains that the light from my dimmed torch is reflecting on the Perspex of his turret and attracting night fighters. I reply that if there is a hole in the floor I want to see it before I drop through. On the next op’ he’ll make the same complaint and I will give the same reply, it has become a ritual performed every time we leave the target area.
Regaining my seat I reset engine power to lower our airspeed to 155 knots. This will increase the flying time of our homeward journey but will economise on fuel at our reduced weight.
I soon begin to feel hungry but know if I eat the sickly-sweet Fry’s Chocolate Cream bar I’ll bring it up again in minutes. The small tins of orange or tomato juice are frozen solid; it’s probably just as well with the constant weaving. I will resort to sucking one of the barley sugar sweets I keep in my pocket to get some saliva back into my dry mouth and throat. What would I do for a cigarette?
A burst of tracer stitches its way across the darkness a short distance away on the starboard beam. Seconds later a twinkling star, level with our wingtip, gets bigger and longer like a comet. Some one’s luck has just run out. The small comet becomes a wild blaze and begins to curve downwards, followed by a plume of red as it hits the ground.
Our eyes feel tired and gritty as we peer into the night, the journey endless. There follows hour after hour with no sensation of speed or progress, broken up by taking regular sextant shots from the astrodome for the navigator, and doing constant calculations of fuel consumption to relieve the monotony. In the back of all our minds is the thought that an unseen fighter may have our blip on his radar screen and is creeping up on us from behind and below.
“The coast is coming up,” says the navigator “we can start letting down now”. I reduce the engine power and the altimeter starts to unwind. There is a faint horizon to the east but we will be safely over the sea when day breaks. Below 10,000 feet I turn off the oxygen supply and unclip my mask, which has been chafing for hours. We weave through the coastal flak belt and a measure of safety is reached, skimming at fifty feet above the grey heaving mass of the North Sea.
A line of cliffs appear on the horizon and with a nod the pilot eases the stick back and we clear the cliff top with feet to spare.
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Almost dead ahead, in the early morning light, a solitary figure follows a horse and harrow. Hearing our approach he moves to the horses head to take the bridle, the horse stamping its forelegs and flinging its head high. As we hammer past at little more than hedge height the figure raises an arm. Is it a friendly wave or a clenched fist on behalf of the terrified horse? We will never know, nor will we know how many times he has done that this morning as hundreds of aircraft follow the same track home.
The horizon tilts as we turn onto the final course for base, gain a little height, and the spire of All Saints church, Longstanton, begins to come into view. We join the circuit at 1,200 feet and request permission to land. From the control tower the friendly voice of the duty controller is clear, “hello, O-oboe, you are clear to pancake, runway 040, wind 026, 7 knots”.
On the up wind leg. Pitch fully fine, 25° of flap, fuel boost pumps on, brake pressure ok. We reduce speed and altitude as we turn to port on the cross wind leg. Downwind now, and an airspeed of 135 knots. Wheels down and the two red lights appear on the indicator panel, to be replaced by two greens as the undercarriage locks down. As we enter the funnel at 800 feet, the runway stretching out ahead and below; my stomach registering the rate of descent. At 500 feet the pilot applies full flap and I begin to call out the airspeed and altitude. We cross the boundary hedge at 10 feet and 110 knots. The pilot checks back on the stick to round out as I pull the throttle levers right back to the stops. With a scream and two puffs of smoke from the tyres we are down and rumbling along the runway, the engines popping and muttering quietly until I return them to idle speed as we clear the runway.
We taxi to the dispersal point and the waiting ground crew guides us into position, and with the chocks in place the pilot and I go through the shut- down procedure. As the last propeller comes to a jerky stop a deathly silence descends. We push our flying helmets back off our heads and sit for a few seconds listening to the faint whine of the instrument gyros slowing down. There is a feeling of great weariness, of being totally drained.
The rest of the crew is already out of the aircraft; we join them and light a cigarette, the first drag harsh to the dry throat. Our legs and inner ears trying to adapt to the firm ground again. One of the ground crew, at my shoulder, enquires about damage. He seems to be speaking from twenty feet away, his voice weak and distant after the roar of the last seven hours.
Transport arrives, and after leaving our gear at the locker room we carry on for interrogation. Just inside the room is a smiling WAAF dispensing strong sweet tea, from a large urn; and beside her the padre with a large box of cigarettes and a bottle of rum with which to top up our mugs. While waiting for a table to be vacated I take the opportunity to complete my log by calculating the air and track miles per gallon of fuel. I arrive at the figure 0.9mpg. We occupy a table as a crew leaves and the intelligence officer reaches for a fresh report sheet. We go through the trip from take-off to landing. He needs to record our timing, bombing accuracy and concentration. Enemy defences and fighter opposition. Times and positions of aircraft we witnessed go down. When we can tell him no more we leave and walk slowly to the mess for a meal.
I remember the fresh smell of damp earth and mown grass and the chill breeze on my face after the hours of wearing a stuffy oxygen mask.
In the mess the cheery WAAF’s behind the serving hatch ask us if we had a good trip, we would reply “yes thanks, piece of cake”. If you came back it was always a piece of cake.
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Breakfast was two slices of Spam, a fried egg and lots of dry bread. I always had to force my breakfast down. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew that once in bed I wouldn’t be able to for some time. I would lay there unwinding, listening to everyone else restlessly tossing and turning. When sleep did come it wasn’t a gentle drifting away but a sudden cutting off of thoughts and feelings, like a door slamming shut.
Later that same morning, at the Flight Office, we would learn that we were on that night’s order of battle and the butterflies in the stomach would begin their fluttering all over again.
And so it went on Dortmund, Rennes, Aachen, Berlin, Lille, Duisburg, Amien, Hamburg, Kiel, Stuttgart, Emden and many, many more.
[photograph]
I have a vivid memory of our last operation, on September 10th 1944. We had returned from an attack on German positions at Le Havre at 7am, and were on the order of battle to go again that afternoon. Just before take-off we were informed that this was to be our final op’ and we were being stood down.
On our return we approached base in a long shallow dive to beat up the airfield. At 200 knots we thundered along the runway at zero feet to pull up hard at the far end, the g forces pulling down the flesh of our cheeks and the lower lids from our eyes. This manoeuvre was strictly forbidden; but surely everyone must have felt on return from their last op’ the same jubilation and relief as the tension fell away. We had been a crew for a year, had flown 450 hours together and completed 64 operations without a rest period. We had done it, beaten the odds, and joined an exclusive club.
After landing, and a mild rebuke from the tower who must have understood, the grins on the faces of the ground crew were as broad as our own. Our backs were pounded until they were sore; few crews survived that many missions together.
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We celebrated that night with the ground crew at The Hoops Inn at Longstanton. The night was at our expense as a token of our appreciation. It was well worth the two days of hangover.
We had flown Op’s all Summer. I seem to remember many crews adopting a diet of beer, cherries and strawberries, the latter cadged from the land-girl’s at Chiver’s orchards at Histon. This was also the time of the great beer shortage, the only time in the history of England when crews were drinking it faster than it could be brewed. When not flying of course.
These were the days and times of such as Jonnie Denis, James Frazer-Barron, Alan Craig, Brian Frow, Tubby Baker, Ted Pearmaine, Eddie Edwards, Robbie Roberts, Brian Foster, Gerry South, Flash McCullough and so on. Remarkable days and remarkable men, I wonder what became of them.
Great times we had together. We were like brothers sharing our last cigarette or sixpence. Off duty rank meant nothing and we were all on first name terms, but we all knew where to draw the line between respect and over familiarity. Life was one big round of merriment, pranks and youthful high spirits; but once aboard the aircraft we were as sober as judges. Drills and checks were carried out to the letter and nothing ever left to chance. At no time was there idle chatter over the intercom, not even when we were flying for pleasure.
[photograph]
High spirits
Op’s were never discussed at any time during the twelve months we flew together. After an op’ we came out of the interrogation room and that mission was never talked about again, ever. What was there to say? They were all the same, the noise, the fighters, and the flak; and always the cold.
As I sit here, fifty years on, I can remember events clearly but can’t put the name of the target to them; and yet others spring to mind straight away.
Normally the navigator sees nothing outside the aircraft from take-off to landing. On our first German target the pilot called him forward to see what a target looked like. He stood in the cockpit for a few seconds then raised his eyes to the sky in front of us. His only words were “bloody hell”! And my reaction? I distinctly remember thinking, ridiculously; “they are trying to kill us”.
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On one Berlin trip we were forced down by ice from 19,000 feet to 8,000 feet. We had to throw out all the ammunition and any non-essential items to try and lighten the aircraft. Waiting for the order to abandon aircraft, I remember clearly saying quietly “don’t cry Mom when you get the telegram”. Luckily we ran out of the icing area at 8,500 feet and managed to get back to base so late that they had given up on us. I don’t know what I would have said to the crew if my microphone had been switched on at that particular time. I think that was the closest we ever got to meeting our maker.
I think we had been to Berlin when we had to land at the first airfield we came to on the way back. The three engines still running had cut out through lack of fuel ten feet above the runway coming in to West Malling. The aircraft landed very heavily, the undercarriage gave way and we slid along the runway causing serious damage. With our bumps and bruises, we had to return to Mildenhall by train via London. We got some very odd looks in London and on the train as the only clothes we had was our flying gear.
I later discovered that this 746 aircraft Op’ was the last in which Stirlings (which we were flying) were used over Germany.
Leaving Karlsruhe we were attacked by night fighters and during the twisting and turning of evasive action the navigator lost our precise position. After flying on a rough course for some time he found out where we were when we flew alone over Strasbourg and into a heavy barrage of accurate predicted flak. The next morning we went out to the aircraft, and starting at the tail, counted eighty-seven holes between the rear and the mid[1]upper turret before we decided to stop counting. The rest of the aircraft and wings were equally peppered with jagged holes. We had used up a little more luck from our reserve.
I recall one occasion returning from a daylight op’ with a full bomb load and bouncing badly on landing. “Round again” shouted the pilot and I opened the throttles to full power. We roared across the grass at an angle to the runway directly toward the Longstanton church. The pilot coaxed every inch of height from the aircraft as the church loomed closer every second and flashed beneath us with inches to spare. Looking down I saw the villagers scattering. A child standing in the lane staring up at us screaming with fright at our sudden appearance and deafening noise. A woman wearing an apron, running to scoop up the child in her bare arms and racing to safety. Farm animals stampeding in the nearby fields. It all registered on the mind in the second or two we were over the village. After landing the rear gunner said, jokingly, that if we had warned him he could have leaned out of his turret and removed the steeples weather vane as a souvenir.
We once endured the long weary drag of nine hours to Stettin, in Poland. The navigator recording, over the target, an air temperature of minus forty-nine degrees. The inside of our aircraft feeling little warmer. That night must have been the coldest of my life.
We were half heartedly shot at over Sweden. As Sweden was a neutral country it had no need for the blackout suffered by Europe and so I saw for the first time an illuminated city from the air. It looked like a giant dew covered spiders web.
We were coned by searchlights several times and came back with the scars to prove it, the shell splinter holes and the night fighters trade marks.
On a raid to Stuttgart the main door lock broke and the door opened over Germany. It was eventually closed and secured with parachute cord. On return to base we discovered that a couple of incendiaries had failed to release over the target, but as soon as the bomb doors were opened they fell out and immediately burst into flames directly under the aircraft. Our mad scramble to get out of the aircraft was slowed somewhat by the knots in the cord securing the door. The ground crew were quick to push the aircraft away from the fire.
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Another engineer once told me that we were known as the lucky crew, usually last back and rarely on more than three engines. As a marker crew we occasionally had to fly over a target a second time to re-mark it. Fred Phillips was the Deputy Master Bomber on about fifteen sorties, and Master Bomber on three. This meant we had to stay over the target for up to twenty minutes as he directed the raid giving instructions to markers and main force over the radio, this could be picked up by the Nazi direction finding equipment which could then set the night fighters onto us. This was always a very risky time. It helped to be lucky and we seemed to have had more than our fare [sic] share.
A few days after our last op’ we were posted to RAF Backla on the shores of the Moray Firth, from where we were posted our separate ways. We wished each other luck, shook hands and parted, never to meet again.
[photograph]
“The Lucky Crew” RAF Oakington September 1944
Never to meet again.
In late November ’44 I was posted to RAF Nutts Corner, near Belfast. 1332 Heavy Conversion Unit, Transport Command was stationed there and I took a course on York C1 aircraft. Back to the classroom again. After passing the ground school exams I was told that I was to join the permanent staff back on Stirling’s. It appeared that a Stirling had taken off on an exercise and completely vanished with its crew. My operational experience on Stirling’s made me the obvious choice as a replacement engineer. My hopes of travelling the world vanished at the stroke of a pen; I simply had to do as I was ordered.
My new duties were to fly as engineer with a pilot instructor and student pilot who was converting from other types of aircraft, many of them flying boats that didn’t have an undercarriage. A lot of the student pilots were foreign. They were all very enthusiastic and
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eager to convert to Stirling’s, their occasional over enthusiasm and language difficulties made for an interesting time. It was disconcerting to be on the final approach with wheels up and red flares going up like a firework display from the caravan on the threshold. On touching the pilots arm and pointing to the undercarriage selector lever he would grin happily and give a thumbs-up sign, quite prepared to continue his approach and execute the perfect belly landing. The only course of action was for me to open the throttles wide and force an overshoot, then try and impress on him the error of his ways.
My nights and weekends were spent in Belfast with “Tommy” Thompson, “Mac” MacDonald and Roy Baker visiting the Four Hundred Club and the Grand Central Hotel.
Mr and Mrs Cree of Cliftonville Circus invited me to spend Christmas ’44 with them; I was treated like a member of their family. A wonderful thing to do for a lad so far from home at Christmas.
I remember watching an incident involving my pal Roy Baker. A Stirling was coming in to land when a tyre burst, the undercarriage collapsed as the aircraft went into a ground loop at over 100 knots. When it came to a halt all the crew emerged from various escape hatches except Roy, the engineer. He was still inside diligently carrying out his emergency drill, turning fuel cocks off, electric’s off, closing engine cooling grills etc. He finally emerged with a self-satisfied look on his face, then realised that both wings had been torn off, complete with engines and fuel tanks, and were at least quarter of a mile away. He was cheered when he later entered the mess.
Nothing ever eclipsed the beauty of Northern Ireland from the air, with it’s patchwork of fields of brown and straw yellow and the most brilliant green, it looked truly beautiful.
A few weeks later the unit moved to RAF Riccall, just south of York. The ageing Stirling’s were taken out of service and replaced with, American built, Consolidated Liberators. These were the last aircraft I flew in as engineer. I was taken off flying duties and made Adjutant of the Flight Engineers Ground School. Of my service in the Royal Air Force this was the job I had least enthusiasm for, sitting behind a deck [sic].
[photograph]
Tom & Ivy Jones 1946
Whilst at Riccall I met Ivy Ridsdale, a Yorkshire lass, at Christie’s Dance Hall in Selby. We would be married in February ’46
In November the unit moved to RAF Dishforth, which meant a seventy mile round trip on a bicycle to visit Ivy at her home in Hambleton, near Selby.
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After an interview at Group Headquarters in York I received my final posting to RAF Bramcote. On arrival I was made Station Armaments Officer. Another desk job.
Eventually I was sent to RAF Uxbridge. After a brief medical and signing a few papers I stood holding a cardboard box containing a suit and hat. My four years service with the RAF Volunteer Reserve was at an end. I have never regretted it. I learned a lot and did things I would never have had the opportunity to do in civilian life. Overall, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I have not met again or heard from any of the crew I flew with on Op.’s, perhaps none of them survived the rest of the war. I would love to know if they did, but to meet them again? I think not. I didn’t fly with a group of men in the autumn of their years; they must remain young as I remember them then. Besides, time and people change, we might not even like each other now.
At briefings the aiming point had always been designated as factories, oil installations, docks, railway yards and the like. Residential areas near the targets were never mentioned, but they were there; and the thousands of people who lived in them. The fact that we were personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians has lived with us all our lives.
Some unfortunates, through no fault of their own, reached the point where they could no longer carry on. Irrespective of how many Op.’s they had completed they were deemed lacking in moral fibre. I never knew or heard of any member of aircrew that had anything but sympathy to them.
I remember some of the lads who had a tough time. The empty sleeves, and trouser legs of the amputees. There were lads with no faces. Noses and ears no more than shrivelled buttons, and heavy newly grafted eyelids. Their mouths little more than a slit in a face rebuilt with shining tightly stretched skin grafts. Some had hands shrivelled and clawed like eagle’s talons. They sought no sympathy or favours but carried on doing a job they could manage. When they went drinking with us their laughter was as hearty as ever, their spirit unbroken and no sign of bitterness.
I have tried to put to the back of my mind the countless times I saw aircraft shot down and the lives of their young crew snuffed out in agonising seconds. But try as I might the images remain as graphic as if it only happened last year.
As a crew we were detailed to attend the burials of crew that had got back to base, only to crash on landing. A cruel fate, so near yet so far. After the service in the village cemetery, we saluted each open grave in turn. I cannot count the number of times we did this.
What made us do it time after time? Was it patriotism? Was it the pride in volunteering being greater than the butterflies in the stomach? Was it the fear of letting down the crew, or of the life long stigma of lacking in moral fibre? Perhaps it was one or all of these. Who knows? And what do I have to show for it? My discharge papers and identity discs, my flying log book, a few medal ribbons and a thousand memories.
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[photograph]
Letter from George VI
[photograph]
Tom and Ivy Jones 2002 and Distinguished Flying Cross
[photograph]
Thomas John Jones DFC
April 19th 1921 – January 28th 2004
Epilogue
My sweet short life is over, my eyes no longer see,
No country walks, or Christmas trees, no pretty girls for me,
I’ve got the chop, I’ve had it, my nightly op’s are done.
But in a hundred years I’ll still be twenty-one.
R. W. Gilbert
One of Dad’s favourite poems.
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Decorations
24/12/43 PHILLIPS, Frederick Augustus, PO (Aus409939) RAAF 622sqn This officer has taken part in several sorties and has displayed a high degree of skill and determination. One night in Nov 1943, he piloted an aircraft detailed to attack Ludwigshafen. Whilst over the target area his aircraft was hit by shrapnel. The petrol tanks were damaged and the petrol supply could not be regulated. Nevertheless, PO Phillips by skilfully using the engines, flew the aircraft back to this country. Some nights later, whilst over Berlin, one engine of his aircraft became u/s. On return flight considerable hight [sic] was lost and ammunition was jettisoned in an effort to lighten the aircraft.. In the face of heavy odds, PO Phillips succeeded in reaching base. This officer has displayed great keenness and devotion to duty.
Awarded DFC.
14/11/44 PHILLIPS, Frederick Augustus. Flt Lt (Aus409939) RAAF 7sqn Flight Lieutenant Phillips has a splendid record of operations. At all times he has set a fine example of leadership, coolness and unfailing devotion to duty which has been a source of inspiration to the squadron.
This officer has consistently displayed fine flying spirit and cheerful determination in the face of the most adverse circumstances.
Awarder Bar to the DFC Lon Gaz 14/11/44
14/11/44 NAYLOR, Joseph William 1817796 Flight Sergeant, No 7 sqn Air Gunner.
FS Naylor has completed 53 operational sorties, including 44 with the Pathfinder Force of which 34 have been as marker. This NCO is a rear gunner in a marker crew which has carried out extremely successful day and night sorties with this squadron and has proved himself to be an exceptionally good aircrew member. Throughout his career, he has shown courage and tenacity of a high order and in the face of danger has displayed outstanding fearlessness.
Awarded DFM Lon Gaz 14/11/44
Flt. Lt. GOODWIN, David Graham, Lon Gaz 14/11/44 awarded DFC
F.O JONES, Thomas John, Lon Gaz 12/12/44 awarded DFC
F.O. THURSTON, Harry Clive Edgar, Lon Gaz 14/11/44 awarded DFC
F.O. WILLIAMSON Stanley, Lon Gaz 14/11/44 awarded DFC
P.O. WYNNE, Ronald, Lon Gaz 12/12/44 awarded DFC
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I can’t actually put a time or place on my earliest recollection of my father; I do have a lot of pleasant early memories. Cycle rides with me sitting on a seat on Dad’s crossbar. Trips on steam trains to see my Nan in Birmingham, which would include a visit to Dudley zoo. Days out in York with a look in Precious’s toy shop, which usually resulted in a new car or truck to add to my ever growing collection.
I recall that Dad was always at work. When I was small he worked as an engineer at Rostron’s Paper Mill in Selby. There he regularly worked six and a half days a week, cycling to work in all weathers.
He always had time for me though, and would spend hours with me reading the likes of Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, Moby Dick and Black Beauty. He would also make me things, like my railway layout with its tunnels and buildings.
When I went to school, he would help me with my homework. I can still remember all about the Kenyan coffee trade, thanks to him. He also sent [sic] hours, in vain, trying to teach me to draw, sadly his artistic genes where ]sic] not passed down to me.
He had endless patience, and would never ever cut corners on any job or project he tackled. Maybe that was thanks to his RAF training.
He was a very skilled engineer and model maker, producing scale working models of stationary steam engines and balsa wood models of aircraft. His last project was of a Hawker Hurricane, with a three foot wingspan, which he gave to the boy who lived next door.
[photograph]
Fully working twin cylinder stationary steam engine made by Dad in the 1970s
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When he retired he turned his hand to art producing many beautifully detailed sketches and water colours.
[drawing]
Lioness, sketched by Dad in May 1979
One of his other passions, after he retired, was taking long walks with his dog accompanied by his three friends. My Mother used to refer to them as “Last of the Summer Wine” after the TV program of the same name.
Dad was a very generous man. My mother told me an amusing story of Dad buying her two bunches of flowers, but only giving her one bunch. It transpired that he had gone into the local chemists, where the girl behind the counter had commented how pretty the flowers were. So Dad being Dad, gave her one of the bunches.
Dad’s health started to decline when he was in his late seventies, which curtailed his walks, but he remained active at home, spending hours in his shed.
Sadly he died on the very snowy night of January 28th 2004 from lung cancer.
There are so many things I wish I had said to him when he was alive, and now so many questions I would like to ask.
And what of the other crew members?
I managed to get a copy of Fred Phillips’ service record from the RAAF in Canberra. It revealed that he returned to Australia after the war and was de[1]mobbed in March 1946. He moved to Centennial Park, Sydney and joined Qantas Empire Airways as a first officer. I learned from Keith Perry, who had been a friend of Freddy’s in the 40’s that he became the senior training captain
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with Qantas in the 60’s. Then out of the blue I received an e-mail from Eric Petersen, a pilot with Qantas. He was a friend of Fred Phillips and had been showing him around the internet search engine Google. Somehow they came upon my late father’s entry on www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk. I had put him on the website shortly after his death, along with the rest of the crew, in the hope that someone might remember them and contact me via a link.
It was incredible to find Fred Phillips was alive and well. Sadly his wife, Hazel, had recently died. He lives in North Richmond New South Wales, and has two daughters and numerous grandchildren.
Fred was able to tell me that, sadly, “Thirsty” Thurston and Dave Goodwin had both died some time ago in their native New Zealand. After the war Dave Goodwin vowed never to fly again. Fred was still in touch with Frank Shaw, who had been the O/C electrics, instruments and bomb loading at Oakington. Frank can be seen second from the left on the cover picture.
Stan Williamson remains elusive. I have contacted the Australian Pathfinders Association, but no information about him has yet surfaced. I also have a friend, Air Commodore “Blue” Connolly RAAF, searching for him in Australia.
An article, about the crew, in the Melton Times newspaper produced a number of telephone calls. One was from “John” Naylor’s wife, and another from his 92 year old sister. On seeing one of the pictures of the crew his sister commented that she “never knew her brother smoked”. Sadly “John” had died two years previously.
He had returned to Wymondham after the war and became a conductor with Barton’s Bus Company in Melton Mowbray. He eventually married his sweetheart Constance and moved to Ab Kettleby where he eventually became a tree surgeon. His business thrives today, safe in the hands of his son.
I tried a similar article in the Manchester Evening News, in an effort to get any information on Ron Wynne. The day after the story ran I got an e-mail from a Barry Wynne, saying that his father Ron Wynne was alive and well and living near Stockport, Cheshire. Barry also said that his Father would like to speak to me.
That weekend I rang Ron Wynne, it was quite an emotional moment for both of us. Ron took a few seconds to compose himself, then started telling me what he had done after the war. There were also bits of information about Steve Harper too.
Unfortunately, I think Mr. Wynne has had second thoughts about meeting or writing to me. This I can understand, it must have been quite a shock to hear from the son of someone he had last seen sixty years ago, and I may have stirred long dormant sad memories.
So what of Steve Harper? He had joined “The Lucky Crew” in April or May ’44 after an incident which had killed most of his previous crew. It would appear his aircraft had been shot down by a German fighter as it made its approach to RAF Oakington. Steve became the crew’s specialist map reader and took over as Bomb Aimer. “Thirsty” became their radar operator and second navigator.
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Sadly Steve was seriously wounded in the chest by shrapnel on his second operation after leaving “The Lucky Crew”. He survived but I cannot find out any more about him.
These eight men were not the bravest of the brave, but they were the personification of bomber crews in their day. They did their job, and did it very well. They were 100% professional, and must have been a shining example to junior crews.
Finding Dad’s memoir has made me start looking at his generation in a slightly different light. I have always respected these people, but now I look at men and women of his age and wonder what they did all those years ago, what did they have to endure, and what memories are securely locked away.
I attended the 7 Squadron Association reunion in April 2005, in an attempt to find out more about the squadron in ‘43/’44 and about the crews. I met some wonderful people there, but sadly the number of veterans attending is dwindling fast.
I also attended the Association memorial service at Longstanton Village Hall in November 2005. I had never been to Longstanton before and as I drove down the narrow country road which links the village with the A14 I got my first glimpse of the steeple of All Saints church. A shiver ran down my spine when I realized that I was looking at the steeple that Dad’s aircraft narrowly missed in 1944.
After the very moving memorial service, in the village hall, I braved the cold driving rain to have a look inside All Saints church. Sadly the church is closed due to a major structural problem with the ceiling, which will cost tens of thousands of pounds to repair.
All Saints church is the “spiritual home” of 7 Squadron. Many graves of crew who perished can be found in the peaceful leafy churchyard, and inside is the magnificent squadron memorial window and squadron standard.
The dreadful weather, that day, prevented me from exploring the village further. But I shall return and walk in my late father’s footsteps around the village. Sadly a pint in The Hoops, where the crew celebrated in 1944, is out of the question as it closed in the 1970’s.
In his memoir, Dad remembered clearly a young blonde girl who would wave to the crews as they taxied before taking off on raids from RAF Oakington. With the help of people in Longstanton I managed to find out a little about the girl. Her name was Marion (she would have been 6 or 7 at the time) and lived in a farm cottage close to the perimeter track of RAF Oakington, with her parents Hubert and Clara Dogget and her brother Donald. Sadly Marion had died in 1998.
In September 2014 I made another breakthrough in my research into the crew. I had posted the photograph of them messing around in the first floor window on The International Bomber Command Centre Facebook page. The photograph was spotted by a chap in Australia who posted the following comment, “OMG that’s my grand dad!”. It was from “Thirsty” Thurston’s grandson Greg. Over a number of e-mails he told me that after the war Clive Thurston returned to New Zealand and became a station master. He married his sweetheart
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Colleen and they went on to have seven children. By the time of his death in 1984 they had twenty two grandchildren, and 30 great grandchildren. Dave Goodwin also returned to New Zealand and became an electrical retailer. He also vowed never to fly again. It appears that Dave stuck to his word and traveled [sic] by sea on his frequent visits to Australia..
I was deeply saddened to learn that Fred Philip had died in Sydney on October 4th 2016.
My search continues.
People like “The Lucky Crew” must never be forgotten, it’s because of them that we can enjoy our freedom. We must also remember the ultimate price paid by 55,573 members of Bomber Command during WWII.
If it were not for these crews the war would have dragged on longer, and who can guess at the outcome.
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[photograph]
All Saints Church,
Longstanton, Cambridgeshire.
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[photograph]
7 Squadron memorial window,
All Saints Church,
Longstanton, Cambridgeshire
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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
The lucky crew
Description
An account of the resource
Memoir including photographs of the crew and aircraft. Thomas Jones was a flight engineer on Stirling and Lancaster and completed 64 operations on two tours. Describes early life, joining the RAF, selection and training., crewing up and first posting to 622 Squadron flying Stirling at RAF Mildenhall in September 1943. Gives account of activities and operations on first tour. Squadron converted to Lancaster and he was then posted to 7 Squadron at RAF Oakington. On completion of second tour went to 1332 Heavy Conversion Unit Transport Command near Belfast, Norther Ireland. Lists crew with decorations which is followed by account by his son Peter Jones.
Creator
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T J and P W Jones
Format
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Thirty-three page printed document
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Identifier
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BJonesTJJonesPWv1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Conforms To
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Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Suffolk
England--Lancashire
England--Bedfordshire
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
England--Shropshire
England--Suffolk
Atlantic Ocean--Skagerrak
Germany
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Schweinfurt
England--Huntingdonshire
Germany--Dortmund
France
France--Rennes
Germany--Aachen
France--Lille
Germany--Duisburg
France--Amiens
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
France--Le Havre
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-09
1942-09-17
1943-04
1943-07
1943-08-29
1943-11
1944-09-10
1944-11
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Steve Baldwin
1657 HCU
622 Squadron
7 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
flight engineer
ground personnel
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
military living conditions
mine laying
navigator
Oboe
Pathfinders
pilot
RAF Cardington
RAF Cosford
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Oakington
RAF Padgate
RAF St Athan
RAF Stradishall
RAF Warboys
searchlight
Spitfire
Stirling
training
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/530/25990/MShawSR3002545-160211-15.2.jpg
64233735a3dc7bb38205a8314df55045
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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Shaw, Stanley R
S R Shaw
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Shaw, SR
Description
An account of the resource
37 items. An oral history interview with Stanley Shaw (3002545 Royal Air Force) Photographs, documents and his log book. He served with a Repair and Salvage Unit and attended many crashes. He later served in North Africa and the Middle East.
The collection also contains two photograph albums; one of his RAF service and one of his time in a cycle club.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Stanley Shaw and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-01-14
2016-02-11
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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Aircraft Recovered by No 9 Party, 54 MU
Description
An account of the resource
A list of 29 aircraft recovered during 1944-45 by No 9 Party, 54 Maintenance Unit.
Creator
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Stan Shaw
Format
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One handwritten list
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Identifier
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MShawSR3002545-160211-15
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Bedfordshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
England--Thurleigh
England--Ely
England--Felixstowe
England--Desborough
England--Northamptonshire
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
B-17
B-24
B-25
Battle
C-47
Halifax
Lancaster
Mosquito
P-51
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Bourn
RAF Castle Combe
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Desborough
RAF Duxford
RAF Felixstowe
RAF Gransden Lodge
RAF Graveley
RAF Henlow
RAF Hethel
RAF Kimbolton
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Mepal
RAF Oakington
RAF Podington
RAF Stradishall
RAF Sutton Bridge
RAF Swannington
RAF Swanton Morley
RAF Tempsford
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
RAF Watton
RAF Woodbridge
RAF Wratting Common
Stirling
Walrus
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/910/11152/AKilbeyJ171111.2.mp3
28aecfa076b0b40da4273e7ad42ac656
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
Kilbey, Jean
J Kilbey
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Jean Kilbey (b. 1924).
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
2017-11-11
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
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Kilbey, J
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
SJ: Have a chat.
JK: Sorry. And I don’t hold it.
SJ: No.
JK: You do the holding.
SJ: So if you just want to have a chat.
JK: Right.
SJ: Then I can see if it needs to go any nearer.
JK: Well, it’s very very nice to meet you, Sandra and Peter. And for you to meet my two very good friends who have come to be with us because my friend Francis Trevor Stephens was her uncle.
SJ: Ok. Thank you.
JK: Anything else? No.
[recording paused]
JK: And my being able to tell them how Trevor Stephens, DFM was a childhood friend of mine from the age of two. I knew him and he once said, we used to fight though when we were children and he once said he didn’t know why God made me [laughs] But we were such good friends. And I can’t really go in to how we met. His grandparents were [pause] what were Nellie and Charlie? His grandparents or parents? His parents.
JM: They were his parents.
FM: His parents.
JK: Well, they had a building company, a big one and they got a contract to build the school that I went to. But before they built it his father built the caretaker’s house. In those days they did that sort of thing. And he brought the family from Sutton Coldfield to Rugby to live in that house which was virtually at the bottom of my parent’s garden. And that was how we met when we were two or three, or three and four. And my friend Francis who is here with me, her father was about six. So, that’s how long the friendship [pause] how long ago it started and it’s been there ever since. Always they’ve been there. And Fran’s granny, her nanna was my Auntie Nell, the mother of Trevor. Always included in everything for our family and Trevor was. And when Dennis, Francis’s father was twenty one, just before the war they, was it just — I think it was well anyhow his parents bought him a little MG car. And then Trevor took it over when Den went in the army. I think my friend might be able to say yes or no but Dennis got a medal. Didn’t he get a medal in Italy?
FM: Yes. He did. Yes.
JK: He did didn’t he?
FM: They both —
JM: Yes.
FM: Got medals. Yes.
JK: He did.
FM: Yes. Yeah.
JK: Yes. I don’t know how Auntie Nellie coped with two sons who were away fighting.
FM: No.
JK: No. And dad did. Yes. So that’s how long our friendship goes back and we had wonderful times together. Where had we used to — oh, do you remember Francis when it was the Scout or the Guide Jamboree?
FM: Oh, yes.
JK: In Sutton Park?
FM: Yes. I remember that. Yes. Yes.
JK: And it rained and rained and rained. How long ago was that?
FM: Gosh.
JM: ’53.
JK: Was it John?
FM: The Coronation year was it?
JM: Was it?
JK: Yes. I think it was.
JM: Yeah.
JK: Yeah. I think it was. Yes. And we, because we lived in Solihull for quite a long time which is about what fifteen miles from Sutton Coldfield so we were often over there. Oh, I don’t know. I’ve got so many memories of the Stephens and the Stewarts it would be in those days. My maiden name. My married name is Kilbey. But, oh no. So many memories. Lovely things. I just loved my Auntie Nell. And Fran’s grandfather, my uncle Charlie he was gassed in the First World War and he never really recovered from it, did he? All through his life.
FM: He died early. Quite early didn’t he? He was just sixty two wasn’t he?
JK: Yes. Yes. But dad was in the Royal Engineers I think.
SJ: Yes. He was. Yeah.
JK: Yeah. My father went to Russia at the end of the war for a year with the Royal Warwicks and I bet they weren’t clothed then like they would be now. I used to love him telling me stories of Russia. What they did. And he was only a little man. They’re my parents in that photograph there. That was when it was, I think that was taken for their golden wedding but I’m not a hundred percent certain. They might have been. They didn’t live to see their sixtieth both of them. No. So, is there anything more you feel I might be able to, that I haven’t dwelt on?
JM: Do you remember the actual time when Trevor never came back from the last mission?
JK: Oh yes.
FM: Yes. She does remember.
JK: Oh, I do remember it well because I don’t know who phoned mum. Phoned through to Rugby. And mum phoned for a taxi, went down to Rugby station, got the train to Birmingham and then I take it, probably a bus out to Sutton to be with Auntie Nell. Oh yes. Mum went to her that day. Yeah. And of course he was missing at first. And while he was missing his commission came through and they’d made him pilot officer. And then they did go to Buckingham Palace, didn’t they? To get their medal.
JM: Did they? I don’t know.
JK: I think they did because there was a film made with Dirk Bogarde in, called, “Appointment in London,” and that was the story of an airman going to Buckingham Palace for his investiture. Some years ago but I always said that was Trevor’s film. Always did.
FM: Yeah.
JK: But he, it says in Trevor Smith’s he was mad about flying always. And my husband’s father got his wings in the First World War. And Graham, he was, you probably don’t know but I think Fran and John might know the BTH company in Rugby which was the British Thomson Houston they, you could have an apprenticeship there for five years combined with a university course at the local, what was it called? The Rugby College of Technology. And dad was, he was [pause] what do you call it when you didn’t have to join up but you could volunteer for submarines or air? To be a pilot. So, Grah went. We weren’t even engaged then and Grah went to Coventry, to the headquarters for that. To volunteer for aircrew. And they found he was colour blind. They didn’t want to know him. Thank God for that. But he joined the Home Guard and what those boys did. They’re college work, working from 7.30 in the morning ‘til 7.30at night and then they used to be in the evening and Sunday training with the Home Guard because they were called a mobile unit and if we’d been invaded anywhere in England they were all young men. They would have gone. And they used to go on exercises with live ammunition. But we used to take it in our stride, you know. Is that tea all right, John because if it’s old?
JM: It’s alright. It’s fine. Thank you.
JK: And [pause] oh yes. They really had to train hard. I, I before I had to have this room all disorganised I’d got all the information of Graham when he was in the Home Guard. And it was very interesting but I think I’ve lost it. Unless. I don’t think it’s in here. No. That’s the Memorial Flight. I’ve got the —
SJ: Going back to —
JK: Trevor.
SJ: Trevor Stephens.
JK: Yes.
SJ: Did he volunteer or —
JK: Yes. He volun —
SJ: Was he conscripted?
JK: No. He volunteered. He joined the, what did they used to call them? The? Well, it tells you in that. Who’s got the [pause] it tells you there dear. Yes. It tells you here that he [pause] well it is in this. I know because I’ve been reading it today before you came.
JM: Well. I seem to remember that Dennis, Francis’ dad —
JK: Yes.
JM: And Trevor’s brother.
JK: Yeah.
JM: He told me that Trevor was never interested at school.
JK: No.
JM: In anything.
JK: No. No. Flying.
JM: He just didn’t want to know.
JK: No.
JM: But all of a sudden, he was absolutely mad keen on flying.
JK: Absolutely.
JM: And because he wanted to fly he then had to get his head down and start studying.
JK: Yes.
JM: And within no time at all he’d qualified.
JK: Well, the —
JM: Passed all the exams.
JK: Yes.
JM: And was able to then go into flying school or whatever they did.
JK: Well, somewhere, and I don’t know where they are now I’ve got all the letters he used to write to me from Canada when he went. You know, when they were training there.
FM: Yeah.
JK: No, he —
FM: Because he sent mum and dad a wedding present from Canada.
JK: Did he? Yeah.
FM: A silver tray. I was going to bring it to show you.
JK: Oh. I’d have loved to have seen it.
FM: A silver jug and a sugar bowl and it was engraved on the occasion of their wedding. I think August ’42.
JK: No. Wait a minute. Oh yes. Wait a minute. He joined the Sutton Coldfield squadron of the Air Training Corps at the age of seventeen and a volunteer at the age of seventeen and a half before enlisting in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. He was, he was commissioned as a pilot officer during the month in which he died. While he was still missing his commission came through. I knew I had seen it on this but you’ve got the photographs I took of him from your dad’s car when they came over to Rugby.
FM: Yes.
JK: Oh yes.
JM: We do. Yeah.
JK: He’s, oh yes. But that was your father’s but old Trevor took it over.
SJ: Do you know anything about Trevor’s training?
JK: Oh, well it was in Canada. Oh God. Yeah. I wish. I don’t know where those letters are, dear. Oh yes. He used to write to me regularly. You know, as a brother to a sister. I think this is lovely that this Trevor Smith says, “I remember well my late father telling me in my early teens in the 50s that I had been named in the memory of a decorated wartime RAF bomber pilot — Trevor Stephens DFM.” I’m going to cry now. “The son of the owners of Stephens Builders who ran their business in Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield. I did nothing with the information at the time even though it fitted well with my popular reading of the day, “The Cruel Sea.” “The Colditz Story.” “Reach for the Sky.” That was a wonderful film and a friend of mine didn’t want to go and see it because she thought it was all going to be about film stars. I said, ‘You fool. It was — ’ [laughs] “There it remained in the mental filing cabinet until last year on retirement when I joined — ” do you know anything about U3A?
SJ: Yes.
JK: Right. I used to me. I’m not in it anymore. I can’t go. I was in it for what? Thirty years I suppose. On the committee and everything. There it remained until I joined the creative writing group of the U3A and the chap with Margaret Emery nee Stephens of the writing group established that we had both lived in Boldmere.” And that was it was his cousin.
JM: It’s Margaret who you’re in touch with at the moment.
JK: Yeah.
FM: Yes. Yeah.
JK: Yes. And that was not, what was his name? Noel.
FM: Yes.
JK: The father.
FM: Yes. Noel.
JK: Yes.
FM: Who was my dad’s uncle.
JK: Yes. Yes. Charlie’s brother.
FM: Yes, that’s right.
JK: Yes. “The story of the link with Steven’s Builders and their son revealed that Trevor Stephens was Margaret’s cousin and that the family held not only newspaper cutting but,” I think I did have a newspaper cutting of him but I don’t know where it is. Because I know in one thing they wrote about him when he landed the plane and got the DFM it said, “But Flight Sergeant Stephens held his nerve and brought the plane down.”
FM: Yes. That’s so interesting. Have you read this article because —
JK: Haven’t you read that? I thought you did dear. I’m so sorry.
FM: Last, last but one flight.
JK: Yes.
FM: Where his rear gunner was injured.
JK: Yes.
FM: And half, some of the plane was missing and he managed to, he was losing height and managed. He thought he was going to land in France.
JK: Yes.
FM: But he struggled on with I think one engine working.
JK: Yes. Yeah.
FM: Losing height all the time and then he managed to land in, back in England.
JK: And then Fran’s brother who lives in Kenya doesn’t he, now? Paul.
FM: Yeah.
JK: He said to his father, how many years ago would it be? Fifteen? Twelve? He said, ‘You know, dad we really ought to go Berlin to the graves and see Uncle Trevor’s grave.’ So, Dennis got, they got in touch with the War Graves Commission only to be told that there was no cemetery there. It had all been bombed by our own bombers later on in the war. But he’s on Runnymede Memorial and I suppose on the one in London. Yes.
FM: Yes.
JK: Poor dear. I’m not crying. I won’t. No. I won’t.
FM: No.
JM: No.
JK: Because we’ll both start if I do.
FM: Yes.
JK: Oh dear.
SJ: What else can you tell us about Trevor’s life?
JK: Oh dear. What else can I tell her? Oh, well he used to write to me if ever he met a girl. What was, when he was I don’t know where he could have been but once or twice he wrote to me asking if I could find out anything more about certain girls. He’d met one who lived in Rugby and did I know her? Could I tell him anything? I can remember that letter very clearly. Well, this little tray Judy’s brought me for this, am I still recording? Oh my God.
JM: It’s alright. It’s just natural. Just carry on.
FM: [laughs] Oh dear.
JK: Well, you know on a Thursday Nigel drives for ITA. You know what that is? Independent Transport. And they request lifts to take them to hospitals, these people, you see. And he meets some very interesting people and they say, and they say to Nigel, ‘Is your mother Jean Kilbey?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Oh, well I know her through the Conservatives,’ or this that and the other. It’s ever so funny and so they do a scheme at this Citizen’s Advice Centre if anybody’s lonely, oh have your coffee dear. Or tea. Would you like it warmed up because Francis will make you another one.
JM: It’s alright.
JK: Go make him another one, Francis. If you’re lonely they can arrange for people to come to see you. Well, the two people who organise it, ‘Oh, go and see mum. She’ll talk you to death but go and see her.’ So, two people came to see me. Two very nice people. I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘I’ve always got somebody to talk to on the phone. I’ve got so many friends. So many family,’ I said, ‘I’m never alone like that,’ you know. So they rang me up the other day. About two days ago and said, ‘This is Pam from Citizen’s Advice.’
[phone ringing]
JK: Excuse me. It might be for you. You never know.
[recording paused]
JK: Peter. Well, then you know we were always very sad that we never heard again from who did he [pause] who used to come with him? He flew Lancs and he went right out of our lives as soon as war was over. He got through the war. Then of course there was Dick.
FM: I was going to say —
JK: Not Dick.
FM: Not Dick in Canada.
JK: Not Wilshire. No.
FM: No.
JK: What was his name? Frank somebody.
FM: No. I don’t remember that.
JK: But he just, well he got through the war.
FM: Yes.
JK: But he just went out of our [unclear] but the other friend that we’ve just mentioned they, they emigrated Canada, then to America and he, well I stayed with them in America for a couple of days and he had a heart transplant. While I was staying with them, what would it be fifteen, I don’t know. Years ago. He said, ‘Have you got your passport with you, Jean?’ ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘It never leaves me.’ He said, ‘Right. We’re going to Mexico tomorrow.’
FM: Fantastic.
JK: And what it was he used to go into Mexico. You left your car in a car park and you walked in to Mexico. And there he could buy much cheaper the tablets for his heart condition. I’ve done some very interesting things through Trevor in a way.
FM: Yes. Yeah.
JK: That is another story about Trevor. Did you know that John?
JM: No.
JK: You’ve learned something. Do you know so many friends have said you ought to have written a book.
FM: Yes. Yeah.
JK: I can’t now. I’m too old. And you see that picture up there? Well you were there when — do you know what it is?
FM: This here.
JK: This one.
FM: No.
JK: Have a guess what that is.
FM: Is it the Sahara?
JK: No. It’s a picture taken on Mars by the American cameras.
FM: Good heavens.
JK: When our camera, it didn’t do it and there my American friends whom I’ve had so many wonderful holidays with they brought it over for me when I was eighty. And I met Gale. He used to come to, do you know the Rutherford Laboratories here? Well, he used to come. He was the American team for the infra red. What’s the astronomy, satellite or something. I used to know it all dear. You think I’ve got a good memory. I have but some things get a bit misty. And he used to come to our restaurant. You know, for meals. And then he brought his first wife over. Well, then they divorced and then he married Lee. Oh, they’ve given me wonderful holidays in California and New England. Absolutely wonderful. They really have. And now I just sit here and think.
SJ: Yes. Lots of memories.
JK: Memories.
SJ: Going back to Trevor. What else can you think of?
JK: Of Trevor. Well, I know we used to go down if we came over we would only come over for the day. When we had lunch at Nan’s big oval table.
FM: Yeah.
JK: And Trevor, I don’t think Dennis came we walked to the park. To Sutton Park.
FM: Oh lovely.
JK: They got it out the way. I’ll tell you a funny story about Trevor. It’s a bit rude but it’s very Trevor. Uncle Charlie was absolutely super man. He was a devil but he was a lovely and when to begin with when they finally left building my school which became my school in Rugby, it’s all been knocked down, every bit of it now. But of course I’ve still got the [pause] I gave you one, didn’t I?
FM: Oh. The, yes. The —
JK: The Minerva. Yes. Where is she? She’s there somewhere. Uncle Charlie lived with us for about three weeks I think when the family had gone home to tidy everything up. And he used to say to people years later if I was at their house, ‘Well, I used to change her nappies. I knew her very well.’ But the occasion about Trevor was he hadn’t been very well and it was the days when the doctor came to see you and he did his own medicines. So, oh he said, ‘Send Trevor down in about two hours.’ It was all in Sutton Coldfield, in Boldmere I suppose to get it. So Trevor goes down, gets his bottle, brings it back, gives it to his dad. You know this, don’t you?
JM: Yes.
FM: You told me the other day.
JK: Well, it’s absolutely true and so Charlie said, ‘God,’ he said, ‘That’s like, like gnat’s water.’ And at that moment the phone rang and I don’t know who answered it. It would have been in the hall. It wouldn’t have been in the room. And the doctor, and there had had been a Mrs Stephens had taken in a sample in to be tested and Trevor had taken it because he had seen Stephens on it. I mean, I think that is absolutely lovely. I said to somebody [laughs] Oh dear. He was always prone to little things like that.
FM: Yes.
JK: But, oh dear. When he went missing. Mummy went straight over to be with her friend, Nellie. My dad adored Nellie and Uncle Charlie adored my mum. Both of them, didn’t they?
SJ: How old was Trevor when he was shot down?
JK: Twenty. Well, it says twenty one but I don’t think he would have been twenty one ‘til the following June.
FM: No.
JK: He was no more than twenty one.
FM: No. No.
JK: Was he shot, was he shot down with a fighter or was it [pause] do you know Peter?
PJ: According to this. Yeah.
JK: A fighter got them.
PJ: Yeah.
FM: Over Berlin wasn’t it?
JK: Yes. But I think that was dreadful when Paul said to his dad, ‘I think we ought to go and see Trevor’s grave,’ and there wasn’t one because we’d bombed it all. And you see that grandson there? You see that picture of him? Not a big one. The little one. That’s when he was fighting in Afghanistan. He’s a major in Number 42 Commando. Oh, it was dreadful while he was there. His mother, his wife and I then they married. They came home and married and then they had the twins who were born so premature. And when little, and she lived to be five months old. The little girl. And all at once Judy rang me, ‘Mum, we’ve just had terrible news. Celia isn’t expected to live tonight.’ Something had happened to her heart because she was so premature but she’d been gaining weight. And now look at him. Isn’t he gorgeous?
FM: Yes. He is, isn’t he?
JK: He really is. Absolutely gorgeous. And as I say that’s his father beside him. Who is, that was his wedding photograph. When he passed out of Sandhurst, not Sand, yes Sandhurst I suppose it was. He gave us all a photograph of him in that frame. But it wasn’t a smiling photograph. It wasn’t Sandhurst. Lympstone, the Marines. Sandhurst is the Army. Lympstone is Marines. But I’ve taken that wedding photograph and put in there. I love it.
FM: Yeah.
JK: And there’s a little, his name is Harrison but I call him Prince Harry. I wonder what, now you, what’s June’s daughter name?
FM: Megan.
JK: Yes. Megan Merk.
FM: Yes.
JK: I know.
FM: Yes.
JK: Yeah. Well, that Meghan Merkhal.
FM: Yeah.
JK: And she’s been divorced.
FM: Yes. Yeah.
JK: But I love the Cambridges. Oh, I think their lovely. I really do.
FM: Yeah. So, no more news of Trevor then? You can’t think of anything else?
JK: No. Not really. Well, I suppose —
FM: Do you remember him having any girlfriends?
JK: No, he didn’t.
FM: No.
JK: No. His life was flying.
FM: Yes.
JK: But when he was, when joined up and that was where he met Dick. They went to Paignton. To the Hotel de Paris.
FM: In Devon.
JK: When they joined. When he joined up that’s where he went. That’s where he met Dick Wilsher. Yeah. It’s coming back a bit.
JM: Yeah.
JK: Yes. That’s where he met Dick. Spelled W I L S H E R, isn’t it? Wilsher. Stayed with them in America when I was there with those other friends. It was wonderful. I was, they were staying, oh God where was it? I had to go on the train and have my lunch on the train. It was a long journey. I was staying in [pause] God where was I? I’ve done so much travelling, dear. Australia, New Zealand, America, South Africa. Anyhow, I went. What was the name of the place they were? Oh. Anyhow, I went down and Dick met me at the station and oh I had a lovely, oh we went on a ride. We went on, I want to say Golden Gate but I don’t think it was. We had a lovely ride out on a big boat. While I was with them we did all sort of things.
FM: Lovely.
JK: You see I can’t easily get upstairs now to get all my albums out.
FM: No.
JK: They’re all in there. I’ve got a stairlift but and I’ve got another zimmer upstairs but it would be a bit tricky. So, no. Dick. It was the Cafe de Paris in Paignton where they went when they joined up and you see Dick although he’s dead now because he had this new heart he was on, Trevor went on Pathfinders. Dick went on general duties. But what he did, which I’m sure you’ll find interesting he was the back-up planes after the Dambusters. He was in 617 Squadron. Yeah. He was. And I had, I well, you see unfortunately I had everything I could have just put my finger on. My albums were all together. I don’t know where it is now. God, I think it’s out in the garage and I could have said, ‘Well, here’s a photograph of them.’ And the neighbour has given me that big set for the end of my bedroom. The end of my room. The big one there and the big one there. I watch it at night you see. And so I said, he said I think it was a wedding anniversary, not sixtieth, might have been the golden wedding he said, ‘We’ve got everything so we bought a much bigger telly. He said, ‘And we’d like to give, if you’ll have it we’d like to give you one that’s the same as I’ve got.’ So I didn’t say, ‘No, thank you.’ I bought him a bottle of whisky for it. Then I had my Macmillan Coffee Morning at the Cornerstone and made eighty, nearly eighty pounds for them.
JM: Good.
JK: Seventy five.
FM: Lovely. Wonderful.
JK: Yeah. You see you’re supposed to have it in your house. That’s the idea.
FM: Yes. Yes.
JK: But I can’t.
FM: No.
JK: So, I go to my Cornerstone. They were so lovely. I can’t go very often now because I can’t drive and friends came there and they send you a special [pause] you open it up to put the money in. You don’t see what they’re putting in. And they send, and they send you balloons if you’re in your own house. They send you all sorts of things. And flags.
FM: It’s a fundraising pack isn’t it?
JK: Oh yes. Have you seen it? Yes. Oh yes. It’s lovely. All for free. And I’ve already said if I’m alive I’ll do it next year [laughs] Oh I love doing things like that.
FM: Yeah.
JK: Well, I used to. So much. And don’t forget for twelve years, six of those were without Graham we had the restaurant in [unclear] and I was used to doing so much there. Do you remember coming there? Did you?
FM: Yes.
JK: No. Where were you living when you came with your eldest daughter and —
FM: I don’t remember.
JK: And Auntie Nell. You brought them to see us.
FM: Yes.
JK: It must have been in the Vintage.
FM: You were living above the Vintage. Yes.
JK: Yes. Well, it was the Vintage then.
FM: Yes.
JK: We had the lovely flat upstairs. Yeah.
FM: Yes. Yes.
JK: Yeah. Oh dear. I’ve been around. Done some things.
FM: Yes.
JK: And now I’ve met you two nice people. So —
PJ: Finished?
SJ: Sorry?
PJ: I’ll just finish then.
JK: Yeah. Alright. Are you coming to speak in to this?
PJ: Yeah. It is Saturday the 11th of November 2017. Interviewer Pete Jones. We were here today at Mrs Kilbey’s home in Wantage, Oxfordshire. On behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre to interview Mrs Jean Kilbey who was telling us about her very good friend Pilot Officer Trevor Stephens DFM. Also present are Sandra Jones representing the IBCC and Pilot Officer Steven’s niece and her husband Fran and John Mole. Mrs Kilbey, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for the IBCC. Please tell us about oh, I messed that bit out. On behalf of the IBCC we would like to thank you all for taking part in this interview. That can be edited.
JK: Anything I could do for them I would do, dear
Dublin Core
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Title
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Interview with Jean Kilbey
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Sandra Jones
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-11-11
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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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AKilbeyJ171111
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Pending review
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00:32:58 audio recording
Language
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eng
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Civilian
Description
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Interview with Jean Kilby about Trevor Stephens DFM. He wasn’t interested in school until he discovered a love of flying. In order to fulfil his dream to fly he worked hard on his education and volunteered for aircrew. He trained as a pilot and was posted to 156 Squadron. On the 22nd of November 1943 he and his crew left RAF Warboys for their final operation. They were shot down by a night fighter and are buried in Germany. He was twenty years old.
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Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
Temporal Coverage
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1943
156 Squadron
aircrew
pilot
RAF Warboys
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2054/33664/PBarnettA2101.2.jpg
0ad8c8274bbf442f0f22fa06619c1755
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2054/33664/ABarnettA210811.2.mp3
4f633204fcd2bf40ed3bc381344fca36
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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Barnett, Alfred
A Barnett
Date
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2021-08-11
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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.
Identifier
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Barnett, A
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Alfred 'Barney' Barnett (b. 1922, 1390286 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as an air gunner with 100 and 156 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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RP: This interview is being conducted on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln. The interviewer is Rod Pickles. The interviewee is Alfred Barnett. Also present is a friend of Mr Barnetts’, Brian Leveridge. The interview is taking place on the 11th of August 2021 at Mr Barnett’s home near Bodmin in Cornwall. Good afternoon, Mr Barnett. May I call you Barnie?
AB: Certainly.
RP: Right. Our first, our first question is the usual one. Could you just tell me a little bit about your early days, and your childhood and what prompted you to join the RAF?
AB: Well, at the beginning of the war I was in Kent and I got rather annoyed with the Germans bombing London. Bombing. And the only way to hit back was to join the Air Force. That’s how I came. So, I joined. I don’t regret it. I went to Padgate to start with. Then I thought the easiest way, well I hadn’t got a lot of brains, I thought the easiest way would be an air gunner because don’t forget the air gunner, the rear gunner defends the aircraft and so I became and I think within a matter of a few months I went to 100 Squadron at Waltham. That’s Grimsby. I think I did six trips there and then with Len Overton we volunteered to go to Pathfinders under DCT Bennett, and I went to 156 Squadron. And I think I did, we were just coming on my third tour. I got put off because I got involved in low flying at Skegness. We forgot the clock tower. We missed it but only by just. And then I went to, to an OTU. I didn’t care much on some of the fellas there because all they wanted was to keep off operations so I went over to see Air Marshall Bennett at Huntingdon, and before I finished the conversation I was back on the squadron.
RP: What rank were you at this time?
AB: Flight lieutenant.
RP: A flight lieu. Yeah.
AB: I went through the ranks and I got commissioned. Well, it was Bennett that gave me my commission and how he gave that, I was rather keen of looking after my guns because we had a Fraser Nash FN-4 before the Browning 303s and I was out working on them one day and a character came along in an old Irvin jacket and he said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Cutting the Perspex off the turret.’ He said that’s going to be so and so cold. I said, ‘Yes, but Perspex stops a lot of your vision.’ So, we took out all the Perspex off, and just sit in the open. I know it sounds daft. And also with my guns it had Palmer firing gear which is a stupid ruddy thing because of the hydraulic firing gear and if the temperature was about minus fifteen the hydraulic fluid used to freeze. So I did away with that, and I put bowden cables through so I could push down and get at least two guns working at the same time. And then the next thing I was told to go to Huntingdon, 8 Group Headquarters. When I went there the character sitting there was Air Marshall Bennett. So, he gave me a commission and I was quite happy. I linked up with Len Overton and —
RP: Len Overton was the pilot, yes?
AB: He was the pilot.
RP: He was the pilot.
AB: Funny thing I was flying as well, because Bennett liked all the crews to be able to do the other person’s job and —
RP: So, what aircraft were you flying at this time?
AB: Lancasters.
RP: You were flying Lancasters. Yes.
AB: Yes. I was at Warboys. And so I got put off. I think I’d just done my third tour then. I went on. I went to an OTU and I’ve never met so many bloody stupid people trying to keep off flying and I was ruddy daft wanting to go on it. And I’m afraid I’m a bit more loud-mouthed but I say what I think.
RP: So where was the OTU? What station was this at? The OTU.
AB: At, oh it would be in my book.
RP: Yeah. Ok.
AB: And by the time I finished having a word at 8 Group Headquarters, by the time I got back everybody thought I was I was going to be court martialled but I was posted straight back to the squadron and I was quite happy then.
RP: Because you were actually working on the OTU. You weren’t a trainee. You were actually part of the trainers.
AB: Yes. I was doing the training.
RP: Right. Right.
AB: I’ll tell you one fellow. I went back. You may have heard of him, Ken Letford [pause] He flew F-Freddy when they did that broadcast over Berlin.
RP: Oh right.
AB: We was old school friends together and I always remember that. Meeting him. He’s still on, I think, I think he’s still alive at Wyton, and and that’s where it all came. So, I did my time there. Then I got sent, when the war was ending I got sent out to Germany on the British Bombing Survey at Bad Nenndorf. Then I got mixed up with CSDIC, Combined Services Detailed Interrogations. Messed with Colonel Stevens, Major Warden, Lieutenant Langham. Do you remember that case? They were, they were doing interrogations at CSDIC, and people were saying you know, that they was ill-treated. Well, if someone, you’re doing an interrogation and he throws a hot coffee in you face it kicks you in the crutch you get awfully annoyed. You know that.
RP: You would. Yes.
AB: Yeah. So there. Then I came back and went, was out in Germany on British Bombing, then I got to war crimes Nuremburg in CSDIC. Then I came back. The only funny thing is I had a Boxer dog. I got it for a Group Captain Ford but he couldn’t get it back to this country so I kept it and we landed at Croydon. The Veterinary Unit in Hanover knew all about it. Unfortunately, the bloody dog went and bit the customs officer there [laughs]
RP: Oh dear. That’s not going to get you into the country, is it?
AB: It did. The dog went into quarantine.
RP: Right.
AB: At Hag Bridge. That cost me a lot of money but he became a champion in this country.
RP: Oh right.
AB: [unclear]
RP: Crikey.
AB: It was a lovely dog.
RP: Yeah. So, so going back to your flying was the Lancaster the only aircraft you flew then?
AB: No. I was in, look in my logbook.
RP: Yeah.
AB: Wellingtons. Whitleys.
RP: So, would, would a Whitley be the first one before the Wellington or —
AB: Yes.
RP: Because they were quite an early type.
AB: I think the first ones were the Bothas, I think.
RP: What did, what did you do your training on then? What was the aircraft?
AB: On a Botha.
RP: Oh, it was a Botha. Yeah.
AB: Yeah.
RP: Of course, they weren’t, they weren’t really any good for warfare but they were good for training.
AB: No. No. No. Polish characters, which don’t forget, the Poles did a lot of good work in this kind of country.
RP: Yes. Yes.
AB: And I met some very nice Polish people. I know a lot of them are condemned but don’t forget if they got shot down in Germany that was their end. Then I got sent out to Germany on British Bombing Survey at Bad Nenndorf, and while I was there I went to War Crimes Nuremberg. To the trials there. And then I had a funny job of picking people up. Now, my German is almost nil but there were so many displaced persons floating around Germany, and if you sit and keep quiet, and you’ve got a job for me I could get away with it.
RP: Right.
AB: And as you were travelling in an old car, our old Hannomag with this Boxer dog picking people up from say Hamburg right down to Munich.
RP: What? These were displaced people.
AB: Yes.
RP: Yeah. Ok.
AB: And it’s amazing. I never realised the Germans were so meticulous in keeping records of people.
RP: Oh yes.
AB: And you say go to one place, and say [unclear] oh that’s so and so. He went to so and so, and I used to travel Germany going from one to another and picking up and I never had any trouble at all. I only had one character who tried to pull out a small automatic. Fortunately, I had one before him, so he was all right.
RP: So —
AB: Then I came back to this country and Air Commodore Wynter-Morgan, Air Marshall Combe. I ended up living with Air Marshall Combe at the Woodpeckers at Brockenhurst. Then I went to the Ordnance. I went to 12 Group Headquarters. Became their group armament officer. Then I went back to the Ordnance Board. That was formed in 1414. That was in Kensington. That was organised the year before the Battle of Agincourt. Then I became secretary to the Pyrotechnic Panel. That’s anything from say a small hand-held signal to a bloody great rocket. Then I went from there. Where did I go from there?
RP: Can you, when, when did, you obviously stopped flying by the time you’d been sent to Germany.
AB: Yes.
RP: So, when, your last flight was a sort of a wartime thing.
AB: Yes at [unclear]
RP: It did. Yeah.
AB: Yeah. But then I used to fly from different places.
RP: Yeah. But your actual career as a flyer ended with the war. Yeah.
AB: Yeah. More or less as a transport from A to B.
RP: Yeah. Just looking at this 1942, you’ve got a Botha here on air to sea exercise and that. So, between the time you left school and joined the RAF what were you doing then as an option?
AB: I was hoping to become a vet.
RP: Oh right.
AB: Slightly different.
RP: Yeah.
AB: And that’s what I was working on then so, but when the war came along I joined up.
RP: Where did you join? Where were you living when you joined then?
AB: I was living in a place called Blackheath.
RP: Yes.
AB: It was Kidbrooke at one time. Then London expanded.
RP: Yes.
AB: There was an airfield there at Kidbrooke. That’s the start of the old M2. Remember it?
RP: Yeah.
AB: Do you know London at all?
RP: Not very. Not that well. I know it.
AB: Oh.
RP: But I never lived there.
AB: They turned there. Then what was it? When I went to 12 Group Headquarters as a Group Armament Officer I met a bloody twit called Donaldson. You may remember him. He flew hundreds of aircraft at six hundred and six miles an hour.
RP: Oh right.
AB: But he had a brother and his brother was a very nice fellow but Donaldson, the one that did that was a complete bloody twit. Excuse me. Now then —
RP: I think you’re allowed to say that.
AB: There was a court martial going on for low flying. So, what does he do? There’s a place called Newton. He was beating the airfield up. He thought that was funny. There’s a poor blighter there losing his, well his rank and everything for doing a bit of —
RP: Doing a bit of that. Yeah.
AB: It was only a bit of low flying.
RP: And he gets, he gets away with it.
AB: Yeah.
RP: Ok. So, so did you finish the war as a flight lieutenant then?
AB: Pardon?
RP: Did you finish the war as a flight lieutenant?
AB: Yes.
RP: Was that your rank when you finished?
AB: Yeah.
RP: Yeah.
AB: So, there it is. I had quite an interesting little job.
AB: Oh yes.
RP: Wandering around the continent picking people up. I’ll tell you something funny. Brian, can you pull that box over there please. That plastic box.
AB: The people you were picking up were they suspicious people then? Were you, were you thinking of —
RP: The plastic box on the floor.
[recording paused]
RP: Ok, Barney. If we could go back to your training days.
AB: Yeah.
RP: In the RAF. What was your first training base and what did you do there?
AB: Padgate was my first base.
RP: And what, what were you doing there?
AB: Well, that was when I joined the Air Force. And I went from there to Blackpool to do more or less the square bashing. And then from there I went to a place called Morpeth.
RP: Oh yeah.
AB: Flying in Bothas to do air gunnery.
RP: So that was the air gunnery training.
AB: It’s the training. Yeah. Then from there I went to 100 Squadron at Grimsby called Waltham. I did six trips there with a fellow called Overton. Len Overton and —
RP: So, what aircraft were you on now?
AB: That was on, started off on Lincolns. Not Lincolns. No. What was the one before?
RP: Manchester was the one before.
AB: Manchester. That’s it.
RP: Yeah.
AB: I got rather put off there because when I went there I looked up at the sky and one was coming down in flames and I didn’t like that.
RP: They were a bit under powered were they?
AB: Yes. Then we got converted on to Halifaxes and went to a Lancaster squadron. That’s typical, isn’t it?
RP: So where did your Halifax, where did you do your Halifax training?
AB: That was a place called Lindholme, I think.
RP: Oh yes. Yeah. Yeah.
AB: It was Lindholme. Then I went to Waltham. Did six trips there. From there we got sent down to Warboys in Huntingdon to more or less NFU training for Pathfinders with Bennett. Rivett-Camac was the CO at the time. He was an excellent fellow. Then they brought this fellow, Collings in which was a complete twit. And I did, I did two tours and we was due —
RP: How long was a tour? How many?
AB: Well, it was supposed to be thirty trips.
RP: Right.
AB: Or if we’d done a double tour it was forty odd.
RP: Right.
AB: But I’d done I think it was getting on for fifty trips, and then we got court martialled for low flying over Skegness. JB921. Everybody saw that bloody number and I still remember it.
RP: So what was the result of the court martial then?
AB: Well, they couldn’t do much with us all because we were all nutty as a fruit cake and I got sent off and I got sent to an OTU, and I rather fell out. Maybe I’ve got a big mouth but I fell out because they, they didn’t want, no they, these people working there they thought they had a safe little job and I wanted to get back on flying.
RP: So, you, this is where you were doing the training.
AB: Yes.
RP: You weren’t a trainee.
AB: No, I was instructing.
RP: You were instructing. So what was the aircraft on the OTU then?
AB: That was Wellingtons. Whitleys and Wellingtons. And so, I took myself off and went to see Air Commodore Ayres. Well, first of all I went to 8 Group Headquarters in Huntingdon and asked could I see the big chief. And it was Air Commodore Ayres said, ‘What the hell are you doing now?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m wasting my time because I’m not going to be instructing.’ So, he said, ‘Right.’ So, I went in to see Bennett. Air Marshall Bennett. He was an Australian. Very much down to earth. He said, ‘You’re wanting to come back?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ So, of course he commissioned me because it was him that saw me cutting the Perspex out of a turret and joining up the guns so they would fire if the hydraulics froze. I could still fire the guns.
RP: So, what rank were you when you got your commission then? What rank?
AB: Flight sergeant.
RP: You were a flight sergeant. Ok.
AB: That was the rate I was on and I was quite happy. Then I was flying away. We dropped food over into Belgium. Holland rather as you saw in the logbook. Then I got sent to London to go to British Bombing Survey Unit at a place Bad Nenndorf.
RP: To come back to the Operation Manna. Were you flying, flying Lancasters then?
AB: Lancasters. Yeah.
RP: So, but that was, this was just dropping food.
AB: Yeah.
RP: So how many sorties did you do on Manna then?
AB: I think [pause] look in my book. I think I —
RP: Yeah.
AB: That little blue book.
RP: Yeah. Yeah. I can do that but —
AB: I did, I think it was eighty. It was either seventy eight or eighty trips.
RP: Crikey.
AB: You were supposed to have done twenty five or I think thirty five. Then there were two tours. You’d no need to fly again.
RP: No.
AB: But I think I’d done eighty. I was trying to do a hundred. For some reason I was a bloody nutcase. I was trying to count, I suppose.
RP: So, how many sorties do you think you flew during the war then? If you —
AB: I think I did eighty.
RP: That’s a lot isn’t it? And you were never, and you were never injured or shot down.
AB: Oh yes. We got, we came back in a bit of a heap a couple of times and up on the Norfolk coast there’s called, a place called Woodbridge.
RP: Oh yes. Yeah. I’ve heard of it.
AB: You may have heard of it.
RP: I’ve heard of Woodbridge.
AB: But it’s a bloody great big concrete slab.
RP: I think. I think, yeah. Yeah —
AB: And if you landed there the bulldozers used to just sweep you off the runway into a big heap.
RP: If you crash landed.
AB: Yes.
RP: Right.
AB: Because you usually, you come back there. I met some very nice people. One of the best characters d ever met was a fellow called Rivett–Carnac. His brother was Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire but he was a wonderful leader but he was as crazy as they come. Then they had Group Captain Collings. Well, we couldn’t create a mutiny but, so actually it was Bennett told us to write a little note saying we wanted to transfer and he came in. I remember he came in. He took his coat off. He said, ‘We’re all equal now.’ He said, ‘What’s the trouble?’ I said, ‘Well, the CO’s a bloody twit.’
RP: This is Bennett you’re talking to.
AB: Yes.
RP: Yeah. Right.
AB: You could talk to him.
RP: Right.
AB: I’m not kidding you.
RP: Yeah. Yeah.
AB: Before we finished our conversation the character Collings was off the station.
RP: And what, what happened to him then? Do you know?
AB: I don’t know. I’ve got a photograph of him somewhere walking along with the queen.
RP: Oh right.
AB: Was. But he was. No. What I found, I found there were some people who like to get themselves the cosy little jobs, shut the window and say, ‘Blow you chap. I’m all right.’
RP: Right. So, they had a comfortable war.
AB: Yes.
RP: Yeah.
AB: Well, the funny thing was I was more of a nervous wreck, you may think I’m a nutcase now, when I wasn’t flying then when I was flying.
RP: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you mentioned Len Overton. Did you tend to stay with the same crew on your various posts?
AB: Well, part of the time I stayed.
RP: Yeah.
AB: With Len Overton.
RP: Yeah.
AB: The funny thing is for some reason. I don’t know how because I’m not up with the signals to know all this sort of thing. Computers.
RP: Yeah.
AB: But someone sent me a photograph and I’ve got it there because I was his best man but somehow I got this photograph and it’s over on the side there and, but Len Overton, he didn’t want to come back. I think, I think his nerves were a bit shattered. But I always thought it’s a challenge and besides the ruddy Germans knocked my old mums house down.
RP: Oh right.
AB: With two bombs.
RP: Yeah. Which was why, which was what persuaded you to —
AB: Yeah. And I saw what happened to London.
RP: Yeah.
AB: I remember that Saturday seeing all these aircraft when the big fire was in London.
RP: Yeah.
AB: And maybe it’s just me.
RP: Right. Of the, of the aircraft that you were in. The Lancasters. The Wellingtons.
AB: Yeah.
RP: What was your favourite then? Which one did you —
AB: Lancasters.
RP: You liked the Lancaster.
AB: Yes.
RP: Yeah.
AB: You could really throw a Lanc around. You could. It could take a hell of a lot of punishment. I remember we was over Hamburg. If you remember [unclear] history we did, I did I think it was five nights and seven days of bombing Hamburg and one of the funny things is we dropped the marker bombs which was Pathfinders, we dropped the marker bombs, and one of them got hit by one of the German rockets underneath and blew it back through the bomb doors. And a fellow called Tommy Cable got the immediate award of the DFM because he hacked this marker out of the aircraft because it was back inside the aircraft.
RP: Yeah.
AB: It was a little bit uncomfortable.
RP: Crikey.
AB: But he had, Tommy Cable came from Grimsby. But no, I I found it alright. I wasn’t really interested because for some funny reason I was a technical officer. I wasn’t a general duty for flying. I was, do you know the general duties? They do the flying.
RP: Yes.
AB: Technical officers. I was a technical armament officer. How I got in there I don’t know but I was. I went to the Number 1 Air Armaments School at Manby. I did specialist armament.
RP: What year was this then? How far in?
AB: Oh, this would be the beginning of ’44.
RP: Oh right. So, you’d, you’d done a lot of flying before then.
AB: And I went back to, I went back to Manby and I qualified as an armament officer and I was supposed to have gone to Warnborough and Christmas Island. Thanks very much to a horse that broke my arm because I used to ride young horses.
RP: Right.
AB: So I used to go, if you look around here like that over there. The wife had a, ended up about seventy horses. Well, you know that don’t you, Brian?
BL: Ahum.
RP: Crikey.
AB: Fabius was one of the famous horses she had.
RP: I see there’s a few up there.
AB: Oh yes. Now, my little wife she died of actually diabetes. She smashed her skull. She had a mark on her face where a horse stepped on her face. Are you married?
RP: Well, I was. My wife died in January.
AB: Oh. Women are not always easy to live with are they? But what, you know but she was a wonderful little thing.
RP: Yeah.
AB: Brian may have met her. But the big trouble she had bad diabetes.
RP: Oh right.
AB: She was on sixteen injections a day
RP: Oh, my goodness
AB: And they can play hell with them.
RP: Yeah.
AB: It can. It’s not them. It’s their complaint that you had to live with and quite often you fall out being bloody war declared. You would sit down and think where the hell did that start? Some stupid little thing.
RP: So, what year, were you married? During the war or after the war?
AB: After the war.
RP: So, you were single. You were single during the war then so you —
AB: Yes.
RP: You were fancy free during the war.
AB: I didn’t have time for anything else.
RP: Well, that was my next question but obviously you’ve answered it.
AB: Yeah. No. I met little Thelma. Actually, I’ll tell you how I met her. I brought a horse down from Leicester. It was a thoroughbred I brought down, and how I got that horse, it was a Mr Skinner, and I used to buy these horse because when I used to take off I used to fly around and see who had got horses.
RP: Right.
AB: The next job, where’s the nearest pub? So, that night I’d be in the pub, keep chatting. People used to be very suspicious but when they found you’d put old clothes on and were working with the horses, not just for something to sit on I found that I got along fine.
RP: Yeah.
AB: Different parts whether I was Leicester, Lincoln, there, and this here horse, and I was having a meal with them and I was speaking about this horse. Course he had a very good, must have been about three thousand acres. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘You can’t catch that bloody thing.’ I said, ‘Yes you can.’ He said, ‘Well, if you can catch it,’ he said, ‘How much will I give you?’ I said, ‘Ten pound.’ He said, ‘Right.’ He said, ‘I’ve won ten pounds.’ I went out with a bit of string and I learned from an old gypsy how to catch horses. Now, it may sound strange. This old gypsy. I thought, ‘How does he do that?’ What he always used to carry was a little bit of the afterbirth. I know it sounds crude but it was just like a little piece of dried up —
RP: Yeah.
AB: Crinkly paper. Now, if you have that on your hand horses are very inquisitive animal. If you walk and turn your back on a horse he’s saying well, what’s he up to? Walk away. A horse will follow you.
RP: Right.
AB: So, I’ve had a rather odd life.
RP: You have.
AB: Do you think I’m an odd person?
RP: Well, can we go back to your technical officer days then? So, having been a technical officer.
AB: Yeah.
RP: In 1944 but you still went back to flying from that. Yeah.
AB: Yes. Yes.
RP: So you had a dual role basically then.
AB: Right. Because I was a technical officer. I wasn’t a general duties.
RP: Right.
AB: And I went to Newton up near Nottingham.
RP: Yeah. I know where Newton.
AB: To 12 Group Headquarters that was. Donaldson was there. Do you remember Donaldson? He flew at six hundred feet.
RP: Yeah. You said. Yeah.
AB: But he is the biggest stupid show off. His brother was a very nice fellow and I went there, and I went there and as group armament officer for 12 Group. And then I fell out with Donaldson because he, there was another character court martialled, a fellow, a very nice fellow for low flying and Donaldson was beating the airfield up and because I told him about it he made it so I phoned up Air Commodore Wynter Morgan. He was at the Ordnance Board in London. I told him what had happened. He said, ‘Right, pack your bags. You’re down here.’ And I went in and then I joined up with Air Marshall Combe. Now, Combe, Air Marshall Combe he lived at the Woodpeckers at Brockenhurst. He was the Combe out of Watney Combe Brewers. His wife was a Mitchell and Butler Brewery, so money married money and I got on fine. I travelled all over the place with him and we lived, in fact I lived with them. And I, I got on alright, and he got on alright and he put up with me.
RP: So, where were you stationed when the war ended then? Where, where did it all come through —
AB: I was in Germany.
RP: When the war ended.
AB: Yeah. But he was [unclear]
RP: Because you were still. But the war had, had the war ended or was it about to end?
AB: No. It had more or less ended.
RP: Yeah.
AB: It ended when I was out there.
RP: Oh right.
AB: I got suddenly sent out there. I was at [pause] wait a minute. I was at Upwood in Huntingdon.
RP: Because you were still flying up to the —
AB: I was flying but then I more or less stopped flying and I suddenly got sent out to British Bombing Survey.
RP: Did they explain why they’d stopped you flying then? Why did they pick you for that then? Did they explain?
AB: They kept putting me on these other jobs.
RP: Yeah.
AB: So, I found it alright. I used to travel around all over the place. I was my own little boss and I got flying pay and technical pay so I didn’t complain.
RP: Even though you weren’t flying.
AB: Yeah.
RP: Yeah. Because of your qualifications. Yeah. Yeah.
AB: Yes. You see, if I stayed, if I stayed as a flight lieutenant. If I became a squadron leader I’d lose my flying pay.
RP: Oh right. I see.
AB: And my technical pay.
RP: Were you ever offered promotion then?
AB: Yes.
RP: You were.
AB: So, as a flight lieutenant I had all the perks and none of the —
RP: None of the aggro.
AB: Ugly bits.
RP: Ok. Very good. So, what, if you had to pick one then of your of your sorties that you did are there any memorable sorties that were a close run things that you can remember?
AB: Yes, there is one. You look in the book. It’s at Hamburg. I think we’d done about the third night we’d been over Hamburg. The bomb doors opened, bombs away, and we had what they called markers. TI markers. Target Indicator markers, and as they went down we got hit by one of the Prince of Wales feathers they called them. These here big rocket things, and it blew the bomb back in to the nose of the aircraft and it hadn’t exploded which is a bit off putting and we were spinning down because a couple of the engines had been knocked out. We were spinning down. We couldn’t jump out because of the centrifugal force.
RP: This was in a Lancaster. Yeah.
AB: Yes.
RP: Yeah.
AB: Then the aircraft pulled itself out. And after the war I met a character that remembered seeing this aircraft come down because the flare was still burning in the bomb bay.
RP: Goodness me.
AB: It was a bit uncomfortable but he pulled out and we got back to this country.
RP: So, you flew back from Germany in that condition then.
AB: Yes, and we landed at a place called Woodbridge which you know.
RP: Yeah. Yeah. Right.
AB: We put the aircraft down there.
RP: So —
AB: Thought thank God for that one.
RP: So, one, one final question for you then Barney. Would you do it all again?
AB: Not for this country. No. I’m sorry.
RP: No.
AB: Not for this country. They buggered around. I spent five and a half years in hospital. Halton, Wroughton, Headley Court, Ely, Stoke Mandeville.
RP: Crikey.
AB: Thanks to Mr Robbins. He’s dead now.
RP: Why was that?
AB: You may have heard of him in Truro. He took two sections out of my spine. I’ve got the reports in the, in the other room there somewhere.
RP: Was this from an injury? A wartime injury.
AB: Yes.
RP: Oh right.
AB: And some of the bloody twits you met, because let’s face it sometimes you feel you get around, sometimes you can’t, and it’s not for, just for me. How about some of these other poor devils? Sorry.
RP: No. No. You’re entitled to say that and it’s been fascinating. I’d really —
AB: Yes. It is.
RP: I’d like to say thank you for —
AB: But no. This country. Let’s face it. Churchill. Don’t forget Churchill ordered a raid on Nuremburg because, and we lost ninety four, ninety six aircraft, not counting those that were damaged coming back because he dictated beyond. Bennett was against it. Harris, Air Marshall Harris or Air Chief Marshall Harris was against it. He ordered it. It was either ninety four or ninety six. You can look up your records that we lost and that’s not counting those aircraft that came back, ‘cause Churchill was a big blabbermouth. Now, if you follow through Churchill never let the RAF Bomber Command go on any victory parade.
RP: Yes. I know that. Yeah.
AB: You know that don’t you? What I’m saying.
RP: Oh yes. I know.
AB: And we were complete outcasts to him. He was a soapbox orator Churchill. I suppose he did do a good job because he more or less took over from, after Eden wasn’t it? And —
RP: Chamberlain.
AB: Chamberlain, Neville.
RP: Chamberlain. Yeah.
AB: No, Eden —
RP: Eden was he was his foreign secretary.
AB: That’s right. The foreign one.
RP: Yeah. Yeah.
AB: Chamberlain was, “Peace in our time,” at Croydon airfield.
RP: That’s the one.
AB: Yeah.
RP: Ok. Well, I’d just like to say thank you. It’s been fascinating, and I do appreciate your time so thank you very much. That’s lovely.
AB: It’s all over is it?
RP: That’s, thank you. Yes. Thank you very much.
AB: Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve —
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 Alfred Barnett
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rod Pickles
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-08-11
Type
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Sound
Format
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00:33:21 Audio Recording
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ABarnettA210811, PBarnettA2101
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
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eng
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Bad Nenndorf
Germany--Nuremberg
Description
An account of the resource
When Alfred’s mother’s house was destroyed during Luftwaffe bombing, he was determined to join the RAF and fight back. He trained as a gunner and completed two tours and a spell as an instructor. After his final tour of operations, he joined the British Bombing Survey and CSDIC (Combined Services Detailed Interrogations) based at Bad Nenndorf in Germany. He was also involved in the Nuremberg War Trials.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1944
100 Squadron
156 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
Botha
crash
Lancaster
Manchester
military discipline
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
RAF Grimsby
RAF Warboys
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1028/11400/PMeadowsA1601.2.jpg
9558bfe4803a10c6c83c4742b6c88d79
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1028/11400/AMeadowsA161021.1.mp3
66a5e2b841a54c2a4c185925e0bb1c61
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
Meadows, Alfred
A Meadows
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
2016-10-21
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
Meadows, A
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Alf Meadows (1916 - 2016, Royal Air Force). He was a driver for much of the war and served on 571 and 608 Squadron Pathfinders.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
RP: This interview is being conducted on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Rod Pickles. The interviewee is Alf Meadows. The interview is taking place in [deleted] on the 21st of October 2016. Also present is Alf’s daughter Hilary Preston and her husband David. Alf, this interview is all about you so if we could just have a little bit about your early life please and any memories you might have of that early life.
AM: Ok. Well, I was born in London. Forest Hill I think it was. I don’t remember the incident but I’ve been told. And when I was nine my dad got a job. Well, he had the job before but because of the circumstances he was offered a home in London to be nearer the work. And so I moved into Southwark. Number 1, Southwark Bridge Road at nine. And I went to school at St Olave’s Grammar School in, in London. So that’s where my memories really start. And I had an office job pushing a pen. Which I didn’t like but I couldn’t change it. I stayed at for far longer than I should have done. But then of course in September ’39 the war broke out and I immediately jumped at the chance of joining in as all the stupid youngsters did. I applied to be a pilot in the RAF but I couldn’t pass the medical test. I had to blow mercury up a tube and hold it there. And I couldn’t hold it there for long enough so they said, ‘What do you like doing?’ I said, ‘Driving.’ They said, ‘Right. You’re a driver.’ Ok. ‘You’re an RAF driver,’ and they sent me to Blackpool to learn how to drive. I had already got a driving licence but that didn’t stop that. My first posting was to near Salisbury in Wiltshire. I can’t remember the name.
RP: RAF Old Sarum.
AM: Old Sarum.
RP: Old Sarum.
AM: But it was a very, well it was thirty miles north of Southampton and I did see the bombing of Southampton sitting in an armoured car outside a hangar at the aerodrome. And when the bombs dropped in Southampton the hangar doors behind me shook. But I felt I was a safe distance away. But otherwise, apart from that it was a quiet situation and I must have got fed up with it because I know about Christmas time or after Christmas I suppose, I went and asked if I could have a more lively posting. And in no time at all I found myself [pause] where did they send me for that training? And in no time at all I was on a, on a troop ship in Glasgow waiting to set sail. Well, when it set sail I, it was a packed — I was sea sick for a week so I can’t say much about that. But when I came to I did find the trip on time and Pole stars and things. I knew we were heading near the coast of America and heading south until finally after three long weeks we finished up at Freetown in West Africa where presumably we refuelled. And after a day or two turned and continued south. So we had no idea where we were going. We were joined by a battleship and accompanied by a battleship there so we thought it might be somewhere interesting until finally finished up one evening in a beautiful harbour. And we saw the lights going on on the mountainside. And of course most of us realised it was Cape Town. We wondered what would happen then but within a very short time we were on a train and there was only one way you can go on a train from Cape Town and that’s north. So we went through many of the mining districts. Kimberly and so on and finally Bulawayo. And we wondered very much where Bulawayo was and we continued for another hundred miles until the small midlands township of Gwelo which we found out we was surrounded by at least seven RAF camps for various training. From Tiger Moths to [pause] I’ve forgotten that name again.
RP: Harvard.
AM: Harvard. Single-engined Harvards for pilot training. And I wound up at Thornhill at one of these camps. And I stayed there on, I think it was three and a half years. It was very interesting. These pilots had been through the Tiger Moth stage and they were doing the flying on their own and we had quite a lot of adventures on that. Picking up, finding our way to wrecked aircraft and picking them up and so on. But I was trying all the time to get a posting for aircrew but, and at last it came. That was after a good three years. I think it was three and a half years. And while I was taken off the driving for that and I was sent to an out, outlying bombing station where I was LACICMT. LACICMT. ME. Motor. MT. Motor Transport.
RP: Yeah.
AM: That was something. I — what did I have there? Oh, I had two or three vehicles and a mechanic and a first aid man. And it was our job to keep an eye on the bombing ranges and supervise the bombing. Which I did for six months. And finally my posting came through for the aircrew training. Where did I go for that? I’m trying to remember. Anyway, it was one of these camps in Rhodesia but that didn’t last very long because I went to a, a flying training, to a Tiger Moth camp as first training and I managed to put the Tiger Moth through a fence. They didn’t, wouldn’t stop. I found that, that was how I found the Tiger Moths didn’t have any brakes [laughs] So, I remember being interviewed by those smart RAF gentlemen who said he didn’t think piloting was my mark but perhaps I’d make a better navigator. So I was posted to Moffat which was a navigator training station. And in due course I passed though the test there and became the proud owner of a badge. Shortly afterwards we were posted. When that, when that course finished we were posted. Most of them hadn’t been abroad for long and so they went off to somewhere for action stations but I’d been out there for, I think it was four years and so I got posted home. Harrogate.
RP: So how did you get back? Did you come back by ship?
AM: Yes. We came back through the, through the Canal. And Gibraltar. And there we stuck back at Harrogate. We stuck there for months. I got moved around a bit. There was one spell we were at Gretna Green where we got a bit of flying in. They teamed us. There were a lot of RAF, newly trained RAF pilots there and a lot of newly trained navigators. When we had time in between the five mile runs that we did every afternoon [laughs] they’d give one of the pilots the key of the Tiger Moths and gave me a map and say, ‘Go and get lost for a couple of hours.’ And that was enjoyable. It was over the Lake District. We used to shoot up the Lake District mountains which was rather fun. What happened then? But we just went on waiting and I was nearly a year waiting for the operation. Before going to a squadron you had to go to an operational. Operational Training Unit. OTU. And that came eventually. And you told me some time ago where it was. It was somewhere in the Midlands. And that was fun and I enjoyed that. And it was there that I had a very lucky stroke because we were doing cross-country. A night cross-country. And we were given a wind, course that navigation then was all by wind and, wind and luck. And we were given a wind that was completely wrong, and when I got a fix that I knew was right I had the choice between using my fix or using the one I was given. Well, it was very tempting to use the one I was given but I was so sure of my reckoning that I used mine. I was one of the, we were one of the few kites to get back in time. The others all got lost all over the country. They were using the —
RP: So, this was in a Mosquito.
AM: Yeah.
RP: In a Mosquito.
AM: They used the wind they were given because they didn’t trust their own [laughs] So I think that’s how I got my above average grading. And that got me a posting to this Pathfinder squadron.
RP: So that was at Warboys.
AM: Warboys.
RP: Warboys.
AM: Yeah. Well, I was there some [pause] it was only a matter of a few months. And I was teamed up. What they did then was teamed up a pilot with lots of experience and a newly trained navigator with a good record. And I was teamed up with this chap. He was a Welshman. He’d been an instructor in Canada for years and years and so he was a highly skilled pilot but he didn’t fancy going. He was either recently married or just getting married and he didn’t fancy flying Mosquitoes. So I got turned off from, separated from him and flew with all kinds of — a Anybody who had a, had a flight and hadn’t got a set navigator I flew with them for a bit.
RP: What rank were you at this time then?
AM: Flight sergeant.
RP: Flight sergeant.
AM: I nearly said flight lieutenant but I wasn’t [laughs] And, well, that lasted perhaps a couple of months and I did those low-level ones. One to Hamburg. And one to somewhere on the Danish coast where there was a German training course. Yeah. So that was over, mainly over the North Sea.
RP: Was that a reconnaissance flight rather than a bombing run? Or were you —
AM: It wasn’t a bombing run. No. It was just to show we were still around. As the one, I think it was Hamburg where we passed low enough to get fists shaken at us which was much preferable I thought [laughs] to what they could have done. And then that finished and well it was at that time that the Americans dropped the atomic bomb and so our posting, I suppose that was with Taffy. That was the Welshman who didn’t want to go and win the war for anybody.
RP: So what, how did you get chosen for a Mosquito? Was there a choice of aircraft or were you told?
AM: Oh no. It was, this was at 608 and that was the Mosquito Pathfinder Squadron.
RP: So you were given to the squadron.
AM: Yeah.
RP: You didn’t have a choice of aircraft.
AM: Oh no. They were all, that was, it was Pathfinder Force. That is something I never did understand because I felt at the end of the war I should have got something from Bomber Command. But when I made some enquiries this Pathfinder Force wasn’t Bomber Command. I never did understand it. So I haven’t got any. They gave me, what was it they give me instead? France and Germany Star. Which wasn’t the same as the Bomber Command that I expected. So I rather wondered if and why and what I had any connection with Bomber Command and I’m still wondering.
RP: Well, I think they, because they were Pathfinding for the bomber force.
AM: Yes.
RP: I assume that was the connection, wasn’t it?
AM: You see our job was dropping flares. We didn’t carry bombs. You had several coloured flares for the day. Three or four different colours. And our job was to go in second, minutes ahead of the bombing, bombing force and low down. At rooftop height. Drop the flares on where you could. You see the early bombing raids of the war were way off. If you got a bomb within five miles of the target you were doing well. So they had to improve it and they did it with the improved navigation schemes and then the bombing force [unclear]
RP: So who actually was dropping these flares then? Was that your responsibility?
AM: That was mine.
RP: So you were sort of, not exactly a bomb aimer.
AM: No. I did —
RP: But as one of your duties.
AM: Well, I go. I had. Yes. I did. I think I was a navigator bomb aimer.
RP: That was your designation. Yeah. Yeah.
AM: Yeah. What used to be called an observer in the early days. So, if we were going very low, dropped these coloured flares and get out of the way quick because the bombers would drop them from above. It used to be funny because I didn’t do any of the operational ones. But they, they used to get home and be sitting having their cup coffee when the heavy bomber crews turned up. Nobody believed they’d actually been. Anyway.
RP: But did the Mosquito feel safe to you then?
AM: Oh yes. Lovely.
RP: You felt safe.
AM: A lovely aeroplane. Very fast. I know I saw over four hundred on the clock once going downhill. But then the war finished and I got demobbed. Went to a teacher’s training place and stayed there how many years? Thirty perhaps.
RP: So it was your choice to be demobbed. You could, could you have stayed on do you think?
AM: I don’t remember that we were ever asked.
RP: That was just something that you —
AM: I’d had five years of it so I would probably have said no thank you.
RP: So what, what’s the most memorable thing from that five years do you think? Of your career in the RAF?
AM: To survive it uninjured.
RP: Even, even in Africa.
AM: Oh yes. We used to have some adventures there. Some of them are written down in that.
RP: Yeah.
AM: Bit of —
RP: We can take that later. Yeah.
AM: Yeah. All sorts of things. It was very much driving in rough country. An aeroplane, or the pilot didn’t choose where he put down if he had trouble.
RP: No.
AM: And he’d be fifty miles off the nearest road. The bush track. There’s one yarn in there that springs to mind. It was an Anson I think it was and I don’t know where it had come from and it ran out of fuel. And this chap put it down successfully on an open space. And then of course it was a question of what are you going to do with an undamaged Anson fifty miles to the nearest road. So, I was very friendly with the education, not the education —engineering officer and so we had a, we went out and had a look. It was a long open space. And he said, ‘I think that we could, instead of dismantling the thing and taking it away back to camp fifty miles without any roads,’ he said, ‘I think, you know I think if we swing it off the ground he could take it off.’ So that’s what they decided. So we went out, cut the grass and the mole hills and things and then had to find a pilot to take it. And they produced a young man who was most unhappy about it [laughs] He said, ‘I’ve been through the Battle of bloody Britain. I’m not going to break my neck here.’ And, but then he either had to risk it or say no and that would have ended his career. So we sent, we went out eventually and spent some days smoothing it out as best we could. And then they brought him out. He had a look at it and he didn’t like it one little bit. But in the end we, he had, we got it he got it all lined up and we were holding it back by the wings while he ran the engines up. I think it could only have been just out of fuel. I don’t know. The first time we tried it slinging sideways and that didn’t improve him. I was near the wing somewhere and I could see the perspiration running down his nose and dripping off his nose. And they did it again and the second time, oh just before it they decided there was something wrong with the pump for the pumping up the undercarriage. No. And so he had to have somebody aboard to do that for him. He couldn’t do it himself. And so they asked for volunteers. Straightaway one of the ground crew said, ‘Ok. I’ll go.’ What struck me was the difference between these two. The pilot — he knew what he was doing. He was bracing himself. And this other chap just wanted to get back to camp quickly. And I’ve always remembered that. There was one lad who knew what was happening. The other bloke just wanted to get back to the dance hall. Anyway, eventually it took off and we saw it go down the hill, disappear out of sight and then climb away beyond. And came back and took our heads off as he came back. One of the —
RP: He made it back to base then.
AM: Yeah. Oh yes.
RP: So you mentioned, I mean going back to base. Was there a reasonable sort of social life out in Africa then?
AM: What’s what?
RP: A reasonable social life. Did you, I mean –
AM: Only camp, and that’s all. Gwelo was not a lively place I must admit. Salisbury I think was a bigger town. What’s it called now? I’ve forgotten. I expect, no, you wouldn’t remember. When I, when I was posted in the first place they didn’t know, they knew I was on a troop ship but of course they didn’t hear from us, from me for six weeks getting to Salisbury. And eventually I must have got a letter home I suppose because I remember I was told that my mum said, ‘Six weeks? Salisbury’s only ninety miles down the road.’
RP: Different Salisbury.
AM: Different Salisbury [laughs] She couldn’t understand why I’d taken six weeks to get there.
RP: Yeah.
AM: So I had an easy time there. I mean those little adventures I had were just that. I did get struck by lightning once though.
RP: You got struck by lightning.
AM: Well, the aeroplane.
RP: Oh the aeroplane. Oh right [laughs]
AM: That’s another one of those. That was when I was starting the navigator training. Air appreciation flight it was.
RP: Right.
AM: And we were tootling along and I was checking the drift because we didn’t have all this modern sophistication. We had to find how much the aircraft was drifting owing to the wind. And I’d done my stint and got back into the seat. And my partner was just, he lived in Taunton by the way, Owen [Bogg?] and I was, got back to my seat and he was just pushing past to get by, to lie down to sight the drift and both engines stopped dead. There was a lot of exclamations. I can’t repeat it because he was an Afrikaner. Just as well [laughs] I don’t know what he said but it was quite rough. I think his first shout was, ‘Prepare to take crash stations.’ And then he changed it. No. His first shout was, ‘Prepare to jump.’ And then a few minutes afterwards, ‘Alright. I’ve spotted an open space. Take crash stations.’ And we sat down and braced ourselves and eventually we bumped into trees. We were over trees about like those out there. And we hit the tops, tops of those and then hit the bigger and eventually came to a stop. Came to a stop. The fuselage. It was an Anson, I think. The fuselage broke in half. When I looked back over there, there was one engine lying on the ground a few hundred yards behind and the thing slid to a stop. And nobody was seriously hurt.
RP: Good grief.
AM: Except the monkeys who came out of the trees and were gibbering. Wondering what had happened. And, well we had a radio I suppose. And eventually got in touch with a local police station and they sent a truck out to pick us up. And eventually we got back [Soliloquy?] that’s come back hasn’t it? A village nearby. And got ourselves a lift back to camp.
RP: It didn’t put you off flying then.
AM: We were very lucky. There were quite a few of us and there was no serious injuries. You never met Harry I suppose. He was, he lived by the, he worked on the railway in Taunton. I came to see him after we came home but I don’t know what happened to him.
RP: So who was Harry? Was he —
AM: Pardon?
RP: Who was he? Harry. Your friend. What did he, was he the same as you?
AM: He was a navigator trainee as I was. Yeah.
RP: So when, when you came back.
AM: Here. After the war.
RP: Yeah. So back in England in the RAF did you find you were quite happy with the RAF life or was — ? Did you take to it?
AM: I had a year without any real contact. They just posted me around one town to another. I didn’t do anything useful for a year because they had too many pilots and navigators trained. There hadn’t been the losses that they’d expected I presume. But eventually I got to the OT. Occupational Training Unit.
RP: So in that year what did you actually do then? You just, you were on an RAF station then.
AM: Yes.
RP: Just.
AM: I had a lot of leave. But the place was flooded with trained aircrew. And I suppose the operational units were crowded. Oh. I had a [pause] I don’t remember much of that but it was the best part of a year I know. Then finally I went to — where was it? I did say I believe. Somewhere in the Midlands for the OTU.
RP: Yeah. Because you went to Banbury first and then to Warboys. Yeah. Ok.
AM: Oh, I went. Oh yes. Right at the end of the war and 608 was closed down and so I was posted then to Warboys. But I didn’t do any flying in Warboys. I was there probably a month. A week or two. I don’t remember. And then I got my discharge. Oh, that’s right. Those last few months I was still a flight sergeant and got flying pay but I was sent as a driver to a hospital as their ambulance driver. So I spent those last few months, no probably weeks back at driving the RAF vans.
RP: You must have been the highest paid ambulance driver in the RAF.
AM: I think so. That didn’t, that didn’t dismay me. And I suppose I did that for a couple of months. That would be some of that year of course. And I had the ambulance quite a bit. I know I went to a hospital in Banbury with somebody who had a head injury. I don’t know really how much use I did but that filled in several months. A couple of months perhaps out of the — and that was interesting. I’m trying to think of the name of the little town.
RP: So, have you, have you ever been back to Banbury or Warboys or anywhere you were before? No?
AM: No.
RP: Old Sarum?
AM: Oh wait a minute. I did call. I did call back at [pause] once coming back from going up north I called in. Where was it? I was at the [pause] where was it? With the RAF Mosquito squadron, 608.
RP: You went to Banbury or Warboys.
AM: Warboys.
RP: Yeah.
AM: No. That was afterwards.
RP: That was afterwards.
AM: It was before that. The one I was at the longest.
RP: I thought it was Banbury.
AM: Downham Market.
RP: Downham Market. Yes. Downham Market.
AM: I did call in there one day because I know I found the [laughs] I went and found the crew room and it was full of chickens. It had been turned into a chicken shed.
RP: Well, most of, most RAF places have.
AM: It was some years after the war of course. Yeah.
RP: So, then for the rest of your life you were a teacher then. Yes?
AM: Yes. And, well yes. When I got out of teaching. I finished up working for the Road Safety people. I was a schools liaison officer. And I was a driving instructor too.
RP: That driving experience came in useful then.
AM: Yeah. No. Hilary won’t remember my driving, driving instructor experiences. No. I did it in your very early years I’m sure.
RP: Ok.
AM: And then when we retired in the early ‘80s we could retire then you see at sixty or sixty one I think it was. We spent twenty five years of travelling. Which are, there are worse ways of spending —
RP: Oh yes. Absolutely.
AM: Yeah.
RP: Well, thank you Alf it’s been fascinating listening to all that.
AM: If you —
RP: I’m delighted to have listened to it. Thank you.
AM: Well, if anybody finds anything interesting in it they’re welcome.
RP: I’m sure they will. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Ok thanks very much.
AM: We’ve got several copies of that.
HP: I’ll —
RP: Have you got, you’ve got more. Oh yes.
AM: Yes.
RP: They would like to see that. I’m sure.
AM: I know we’ve got three copies.
RP: Oh right.
AM: I’ve got two.
HP: So, should we photocopy it or scan it?
RP: Well, I’ll contact Peter and see what he says.
HP: Get them to give me a call.
RP: Because what they normally do sometimes if you’re not happy about scanning it you can send it to them. They scan it and send it back to you.
HP: Yeah.
RP: Or if you’re happy to scan it.
HP: Dave can scan. Can’t you?
RP: According to those instructions if you’re happy to scan it and send the JPEGs to them they’re happy with that.
HP: Ok.
RP: If it fulfils that format on there they’d be more than happy.
HP: Well we, ok.
RP: I’ll tell Peter I’ve given you the instructions so that, no that’ll be fascinating. That’s the sort of, exactly the sort of thing they want to see. Especially photographs. They love those.
AM: There are some photographs in there.
RP: They’ll like that.
AM: Whether there’s any, I’ve got any more I don’t know.
RP: But if you’ve got any more you know.
AM: Not any more war times things I don’t think.
RP: But obviously I’ll mention the logbook to them because you never know. They might know about this museum at West Malling. They might be able to track it down.
HP: That would be interesting.
RP: Where the archive went to.
AM: I’d like to. That was silly of me to give that up. It was a new museum opening.
RP: Right.
AM: And they were scrambling for bits to put in it.
RP: If they find it I promise you’ll get to read it.
HP: That would be good.
AM: There’s not a lot in it.
HP: If it’s located it would be good.
RP: But they have, yes they do have, it’s amazing how many logbooks sort of suddenly appear because its always been at the bottom of a cupboard.
AM: Yes.
RP: You know. It’ll suddenly appear.
AM: Did you ever meet that friend of Eddie’s?
HP: Oh no. The Peter.
AM: No. Not the teacher.
HP: Peter.
AM: Peter yes. My brother had a pal who was — what was he on? Lancs I think. And he oh the hours he did. Oh, he did thousands.
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 Alfred Meadows
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rod Pickles
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
2016-10-21
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AMeadowsA161021, PMeadowsA1601
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:33:23 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
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
Description
An account of the resource
Alfred Meadows was born in London. He was keen to join the RAF as aircrew but didn’t pass the medical. He was posted as a driver to RAF Old Sarum from where he witnessed the bombing of Southampton. He was posted then to South Africa. He describes one occasion when he and a team recovered an aircraft fifty miles from the nearest road. Alfred still wanted to be aircrew and was finally successful and was trained as a navigator. He was posted back to the UK and joined 608 Pathfinder Squadron.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
South Africa
Zimbabwe
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Norfolk
England--Wiltshire
Zimbabwe--Gweru
608 Squadron
aircrew
crash
ground personnel
Mosquito
navigator
Pathfinders
RAF Downham Market
RAF Warboys
Tiger Moth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/743/31060/BCleggPVVerdonRoeLv1.2.pdf
83bc6da28284a7e751660162e8b591d5
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
Clegg, Peter Vernon
P V Clegg
Description
An account of the resource
Eight items and five sub-collections. Main collection contains a log of Pathfinder operations from RAF Wyton 1943 -1944, histories of the Avro repair facility at Bracebridge Heath, and Langar, a biography of Squadron Leader David James Baikie Wilson, biography of Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe, a book - Test Pilots of A.V. Roe & Co Ltd - S.A. 'Bill' Thorn, and two volumes of book - Roy Chadwick - no finer aircraft designer, Sub-collections contain a total of 29 items concerning the Aldborough Dairy and Cafe as well as biographical material, including log books for Alan Gibson, Peter Isaacson, Alistair Lang and Charles Martin. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1772">Aldborough Dairy and Cafe</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1768">Gibson, Alan</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1769">Isaacson, Peter</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1770">Lang, Alastair</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1771">Martin, Charles</a><br /><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Clegg and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2015-07-02
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
Clegg, PV
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
Biography of Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe DFC RAFVR -156 (PFF) Squadron
The antics of Lighton, Alastair Lang and Peter Isaacson
Description
An account of the resource
Second son of Sir Alliot Verdon-Roe founder of A.V. Roe & Co Ltd to be killed in the RAF Bomber Command in WWII. Starts with b/w photograph of head and shoulders portrait of an RAF officer wearing tunic with pilot's brevet, medal ribbon, pathfinder badge and peaked cap. Continues with early life, joining the Royal Air Force, training and posting to one of the first pathfinder squadrons. Goes on to describe his operations from September 1942 including losses on the squadron. Introduces his friend Alastair Lang and describes various antics and further operations. Gives description of marking, H2S, Oboe and Mosquito aircraft. Writes of Peter Isaacson's arrival on the squadron and of further activities, antics and operations. Continues with account of Pat Day, their intelligence officer and further operations including one to Dortmund where Lang was shot down. Describes Lighton's last operation to Duisburg from which he failed to return. Concludes with round up and stories of Peter Isaacson and Alastair Lang.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
26 b/w photocopied sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BCleggPVVerdonRoeLv1
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 Australian Air Force
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Gloucestershire
England--Shropshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Yorkshire
Germany
Germany--Flensburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Cologne
Italy
Italy--Genoa
Italy--Turin
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Hamburg
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
France
France--Lorient
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
France--Saint-Nazaire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Kiel
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1942-09
1942-09-01
1942-09-02
1942-09-13
1942-09-14
1942-09-16
1942-09-17
1942-09-19
1942-09-20
1942-09-18
1942-09-19
1942-08-18
1942-08-19
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-10-15
1942-11-07
1942-11-08
1942-11-20
1942-11-22
1942-11-23
1942-12-09
1942-12-11
1942-12-20
1943
1943-01-30
1943-02-02
1943-02-03
1943-02-04
1943-02-07
1943-02-13
1943-02-16
1943-02-19
1943-02-24
1943-02-25
1943-02-28
1943-03-01
1943-03-03
1943-03-04
1943-03-08
1943-03-27
1943-03-19
1943-03-21
1943-03-28
1943-03-29
1943-03-30
1943-04-04
1943-04-05
1943-04-12
1943-05-04
1943-05-12
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
PV Clegg
156 Squadron
35 Squadron
460 Squadron
7 Squadron
83 Squadron
aircrew
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
Flying Training School
H2S
Halifax
killed in action
Lancaster
Mosquito
Oboe
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Breighton
RAF Shawbury
RAF South Cerney
RAF Warboys
RAF Wyton
Stalag Luft 3
Stirling
target indicator
training
Wellington