Browse Items (415 total)

  • Tags: Tiger Moth

PSmithNG1701.jpg
Norman George Smith grew up in Western Australia. After leaving school he became an assistant in a timber mill workshop before volunteering for the Australian Air Force at the age of eighteen. He flew operations as a pilot with 463 Squadron from…

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PMeadowsA1601.jpg
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…

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PCulpinBW1801.jpg
Bob Culpin worked for the civil service before joining the RAF in 1941. He was posted to Alabama for pilot training but was remustered and instead, completed a navigation course in Miami. When he returned to Great Britain, Culpin formed a…

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PPageF1608.jpg
Frank Page grew up near Teddington Locks and was working for an engineering firm when the war started. His house was bombed and he remembers recovering bodies from the ruins and says he joined the RAF to get his revenge on the Germans. His pilot…

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BWilsonRCWilsonRCv1.pdf
Reg summarises Bomber Command's role in the war then details his personal experiences from training days. He covers in detail the navigational techniques he used. He describes the operation he was on when he was shot down.

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BMilesRJMilesRJv1.pdf
A detailed Biography of Reg' service and post service life.

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BHumesELHumesELv1.pdf
Recalls joining the RAF as a flight mechanic in 1939 and then employed as a barrage balloon operator. Describes his subsequent selection for aircrew and training in London, St Andrews, Manchester and in advanced navigation at Dumfries. Next covers…

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ADavisR[Date]-01.mp3
Ron Davis talks of his joining the RAF and early training at Cardington, Bournemouth and Halton. He trained as fitter and was posted to RAF Scampton on Hamden with 49 Squadron. Tells many stories of life as groundcrew at Scampton including his…

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BCleggPVWilsonDv1.pdf
Biography of Squadron Leader David James Baikie Wilson, DSO, DFC and Bar (1917 - 1947). He flew operations as a pilot with 214, 196 and 617 Squadrons before becoming Head of Aerodynamic Development and Testing, and Test-Pilot at A V Roe & Co Ltd.…

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Introduces Michael G Hanson an RAF reservist and tells of time sailing before stating training. Covers elementary and advanced training before joining 233 Squadron at RAF Leuchars on Hudson. Relates life on the station, in local area and on maritime…

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BLovattPHastieRv2.pdf
A biography of Roy Hastie.

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BLovattPHastieRv1.pdf
An incomplete biography of Roy Hastie. Only pages 1 to 46, 104 to 106, 128 to 133 and 34 additional unnumbered pages are included.

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BHopgoodPMHopgoodPDv1.pdf
The detailed biography begins with government measures at the start of National Service. Philip Hopgood volunteered and enlisted at Padgate, Warrington. He was classified as medically Grade 1. Initial training was at RAF Regent's Park (Lord's Cricket…

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BThickettPSaundersEJv10017.jpg
Details of Sam's citation for his DSO, further training in Navigation and as an instructor. He then returned to transport in the Mediterranean. His last flight was from Malta to Cairo.
There are three photographs of his wife.

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BThickettPSaundersEJv10014.jpg
After a spell with 512 squadron mostly transportation flights Sam returned to the UK, flying as an instructor.
A the end of 1943 he returned to Bomber Command, 627 Squadron.
There is a photograph of the squadron grouped in front of a Mosquito.

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PHarrisJ1901.jpg
Jack Harris was born in Gillingham, Kent. At sixteen, he undertook employment as a clerk in the intelligence department of the Air Ministry. He describes the brief evacuation of his department to Harrow in 1939 and receiving permission to leave his…

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PYeomanHT1601.jpg
Harold Yeoman volunteered for the RAF hoping to become an air gunner and was surprised to find he would be trained as a pilot. He describes a crash landing in a Wellington returning from an operation to Cherbourg and being sent to Essen twice within…

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PBarronAJK1901.jpg
Andrew was born in Chichester in 1923. The family moved to Wolverhampton when he was about two years old and then to Dulwich just before the war. When he was 13 or 14 his mother enrolled him at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, where he spent…

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ATompsonA160125.mp3
Anthony Tompson worked as an engineer for the Post Office before he volunteered for the Air Force. While training as a pilot in Canada it was discovered he had a difficulty with perception and he trained instead as a navigator. On return to the Great…

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AMunroL150604.mp3
John Leslie Munro was born in the area of Gisborne, New Zealand. He only completed two years of secondary education because of the economic slump and in 1936 began work on a sheep ranch and then a mixed farm. On the outbreak of the Second World War,…

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VSmithNG[Date].mp4
Norman George Smith completed his Australian training as a pilot before being posted to the UK. He was posted to 463 Squadron where he completed ten trips before the war ended. Although he was an officer Norman would borrow his navigator’s jacket…

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AMilesR20090123-0001.mp3
Reg Miles's memoir in three parts. Part one Reg describes his childhood in St Peter’s on the Isle of Thanet, his family, school, lack of money, and holiday jobs. Reg joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice, known as a ‘Brat’, in January…

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AThomasPG180302.mp3
Peter was born in Nelson, Lancashire and had two brothers. He was sixteen when he left school in 1940 and got a job until joining the Royal Air Force in 1943. He went to London Air Crew Reception Centre before going to Initial Training Wing at RAF…

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APetersC150428.mp3
Cyril Peters joined the Royal Air Force at Cambridge in 1940 and trained as a pilot in Canada and the United States. On his return to Great Britain he served as an instructor before flying operations as a pilot with 77 Squadron. He became a teacher…

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PHawkinsIFV1501.jpg
Ian Hawkins was training to be a teacher when he decided to volunteer for the RAF, joining in 1941. He commenced training under the Arnold Scheme in Canada and the United States and passed the course as a pilot. He returned to England as a sergeant…

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