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Gallantry in Captivity
Article headlines: gallantry in captivity, awards to airmen, many lives saved in Germany. OBEs for Group Captain Laurence F Wray RCAF shot down March 1944 for work done on evacuation of Stalag Luft 3. Wing Commander (acting Group Captain) Henry…
Groups of prisoners
Photo 1 is four men and a woman. One man has an accordion.
Photo 2 is a large group surrounding a couple of men.
Photo 3 is soldiers walking round in a circle, taken through a barbed wire fence.
Photo 2 is a large group surrounding a couple of men.
Photo 3 is soldiers walking round in a circle, taken through a barbed wire fence.
Ice hockey at Stalag Luft 1
Top left - seven men playing hockey on ice. Two are on the ground. In the background a guard tower and line of spectators. Captioned 'B21 Officers v NCO's, Stalag Luft 1. Feb [..]'.
Top middle - the backs of men playing ice hockey. In the…
Top middle - the backs of men playing ice hockey. In the…
Ice Hockey in prisoner of war camp
Each photograph is annotated with the names of the team members.
Photo 1 - 'Tams Blicharz Stone'.
Photo 2 - 'Self Stone Barralet Kelly Dave Effie Tams'.
Photo 3 - 'Tams Effie Blicharz Stone'.
Photo 4 - 'Stone Tams Effie Blicharz (Whites)'
Photo…
Photo 1 - 'Tams Blicharz Stone'.
Photo 2 - 'Self Stone Barralet Kelly Dave Effie Tams'.
Photo 3 - 'Tams Effie Blicharz Stone'.
Photo 4 - 'Stone Tams Effie Blicharz (Whites)'
Photo…
Interrogation of Pilot Officer Geoff Packham on his release from prisoner of war camp
On his return to Great Britain after his release from prisoner of war camp, Geoff Packham was interrogated by his commanding officer. His aircraft was damaged during an operation on Sterkrade by Holten. He baled out over the Netherlands. He was…
Interview with David Fraser
David Fraser enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1939 and was trained as a mechanic. He remustered as soon as he was able and flew four operations as an air gunner with 115 Squadron before his aircraft was shot down over Hamburg, in May 1941. He spent…
Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smythe reminisces about his father, John Henry Smythe, who was from Sierra Leone and served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. John flew as a navigator until his aircraft was shot down in November 1943. He became a prisoner of war in…
Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Eddy Smyth’s father was John Smythe. John left Sierra Leone to join the RAF during the Second World War. He was shot down over Germany and spent two years as a prisoner of war. After the war he trained as a barrister and returned to Sierra Leone…
Interview with Geoff Packham
Geoff’s father had been in the Royal Flying Corps and Geoff joined the Royal Air Force at RAF Cardington. He was posted to various stations before going to Halifax in Canada to train as a pilot on Tiger Moths and then Oxfords.
On his return, Geoff…
On his return, Geoff…
Interview with Jack Kenneth Lyon
Jack Lyon was a navigator/ bomb aimer and a prisoner of war for almost four years. Born in 1918, he was employed with the London Gas Company as a bookkeeper until August 1939 when he transferred to Shell. At the outbreak of the war, Shell closed…
Interview with Jim Copus. One
James Copus grew up in Oxfordshire. He volunteered for aircrew and after training, became a mid-upper gunner and flew operations with 97 Squadron. He remembers a crash while taxiing to take-off, baling out of his empty Lancaster and how he kept…
Interview with Jim Copus. Two
Jim Copus was born in Watlington and volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was eighteen. After training, he flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 97 Squadron from RAF Bourn. On one operation he realised that it was very quiet. He could not…
Interview with John Louis Goldby
John Goldby was born in Kent but the family moved to London the year after. He was inspired to join the RAF when a schoolfriend joined and became a Spitfire pilot. John believes that it was a mid-air collision with a night fighter that led to his…
Interview with Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson reminisces about John Blair. He discusses family life in rural Jamaica as a mixed-ethnicity person, highly respected by everyone. He was a qualified teacher, a lawyer, and a farmer. Reminisces other Caribbeans who volunteered and served…
Interview with Philip Peel
Mike Peel was a Lancaster pilot and served on two squadrons before becoming a prisoner of war late in 1944. He was an active sportsman and played tennis in his eighties but unfortunately is no longer with us. Using his logbook, letters, and…
Interview with Ron Wade
Ron was born in Stoke-on-Trent. He left school at fourteen and tells of his experiences working in a pottery factory doing odd jobs until he was called up. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 at the age of twenty-two. Ron trained as an air gunner…
Interview with Roy Hill
Roy Hill joined the RAF wanting to be a pilot but became a wireless operator air gunner. On his eighteenth operation in a Lancaster flying over the Ruhr he was shot down by a German night fighter. He was captured and incarcerated in Stalag Luft 1 for…
Ivan Ure's prisoner of war diary
Dairy contains drawings, poetry, names and addresses, and cigarette packets.
Jim Tyrie
A biography of Jim Tyrie. He was called up on 1st September 1939 and learned to fly on Tiger Moths. He was shot down on his 7th operation over Berlin. In POW camp he was described as a dedicated tunneller. There is a list of the camps he was kept in…
Jim Tyrie
Six items referring to Jim Tyrie being shot down and being imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp.
Item 1 is a newspaper cutting with a camp photograph of Jim Tyrie and nine other prisoners, all are named.
Item 2 is a newspaper cutting of Jim Tyrie…
Item 1 is a newspaper cutting with a camp photograph of Jim Tyrie and nine other prisoners, all are named.
Item 2 is a newspaper cutting of Jim Tyrie…
Jim Tyrie's Wartime Log. One
A wartime log kept by Jim Tyrie whilst being kept a prisoner of war. He was shot down on 10th April 1941 and imprisoned for 4 years, 1 month and 16 days. It contains cartoons, sketches and maps.
He lists the men who were shot after recapture during…
He lists the men who were shot after recapture during…
Jim Tyrie's Wartime Log. Two
A wartime log kept by Jim Tyrie. He lists his crew on the night they were shot down over Berlin, the construction of tin trays, addresses of co-prisoners, cartoons, London restaurants, newspaper cuttings in German and English and finally more…
John Louis Goldby Biography
A biography covering John's training and service in the RAF.
Letter from Donald Baker to brother Harry
Writes he is OK and asked that he persuade mother and father that he was OK despite shock when he was reported missing. Says he misses freedom and worried that time would hang, but in fact he had plenty to do. Hopes he would see them all in England…
Letter from Donald Baker to his mother
Second letter. Says not much to write about but does a lot of reading and a bit of cooking. Mentions concerts and playing rugby. Writes of concerts, possibly beer and extra Red Cross parcels for Christmas. Mentions friend in camp and that he is…