Browse Items (257 total)

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ASmithRW190325.mp3
Bob Smith was born in Brisbane, Australia. He recalls moving to the family farm in 1932 and being a member of the Air Cadets during his school years. Upon leaving school, Smith undertook training as a bank clerk. Following the events of Pearl…

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APorteousB161102.mp3
Flight Sergeant Bob Porteous grew up in Australia and after spending time in the bush he joined the Royal Australian Air Force. After training and spending time in the United States, he travelled to Scotland on the Queen Mary. He flew operations as a…

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PLeedhamHJL1801.jpg
Bob Leedham was a flight engineer who carried out twenty-one operations on Stirlings. At the outbreak of war Bob was an apprentice motor mechanic, and along with other apprentices, was left to operate the garage when all the engineers were called up.…

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PMotterheadN1501.jpg
Born on a farm in Shropshire, his best friend from his youth joined the Royal Air Force as aircrew and was killed at RAF Honington when a German aircraft bombed the station. A desire for revenge made him enlist for flying duties in January 1941. He…

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PThomasB1801.jpg
Bessie Thomas left school at the age of fourteen and worked at the Consett Iron Company working as a typist. At the age of eighteen at the time of Dunkirk she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force where she wanted to be a radio operator but there…

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PHowB1601.jpg
Bernie How was 14 when war was declared and remembers aircrew socialising at his father's pub. He volunteered for the RAF at 17 and trained as a flight engineer on Stirlings. He describes a crash on take-off in a Stirling. He completed 35 operations,…

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PHarrisB1604.jpg
Bernie Harris joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for the Royal Air Force, joining in April 1943 and training to become an air gunner. Mentions his father serving in the Royal Flying Corps. Witnessed the London Blitz as a young boy.…

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PSpencerAHG1701.jpg
Arthur Spencer joined the Royal Air Force after leaving school. He began pilot training in Florida but then re-mustered as a navigator and trained in Pensacola. He completed two tours of operations as a navigator with 97 Squadron at RAF Woodhall Spa…

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PSmithAP1801.jpg
Peter Smith was born in Kent and attended school until he was 14. He started working for a woodwork shop and when the war began, they started building army huts. In 1941 he joined the Air Cadets. He recalls how one Sunday he and a friend saw an…

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PBencinaA1601.jpg
Angelo Bencina recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: a cave being modified as a shelter; the descent of bright red and white target indicators at night; a bomb which nearly missed him and didn’t explode; Window radio counter-measures being…

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PBarronAJK1901.jpg
Andrew hitchhiked from Edmonton to Calgary and then on to Mountain View by train. Gunnery training was in a Bolingbroke which had a mid-upper turret; bombing training was done in an Anson. Andrew was then posted to navigation school in Quebec for…

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PBarronAJK1901.jpg
Andrew said that during leisure time the crew drank, sang silly songs but didn’t really socialise much. He recalled an occasion when the Germans sent in about 200 night fighters infiltrating the main force on its ways home. They shot down a B-17…

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AAn00509-160424.mp3
The interviewee was born in Berlin in 1924, his father being a British Army surgeon who was posted there to treat badly wounded soldiers. He went to school in France then attended boarding school in Hertfordshire. He volunteered for the Royal Air…

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APayneAJ150811.mp3
Alan Payne was born in Wendover, Buckinghamshire. He volunteered for aircrew with the Royal Air Force and after initial training was sent to South Africa where he trained as an observer. When he returned to the UK, he was allocated the role of bomb…

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BAdamsHGAdamsHGv1.pdf
Writes of training and briefly about operations on 467 Squadron. Continues to describe events after finishing his tour when he was training crews destined for Tiger Force as well as other training tasks. Writes of a training crash of a Lancaster…

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BBaxterPDBaxterPDv1.pdf
The detailed and wide ranging story of Peter Baxter's service in the RAF from an Airframe Apprentice to Flight Engineer Leader.

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BWagnerHWWagnerHWv1-01.pdf
Hand written by Henry, Part 1 covers his early life and time at university. It goes on to cover in some detail his time in the RAF, his time training in South Africa conversion to the Halifax and operations on 51 Squadron. It also covers his time as…

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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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BLovattPHastieRv2.pdf
A biography of Roy Hastie.

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BBrabinHWBrabinHWv1.pdf
Harry joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 25 June 1942 as a wireless operator/air gunner and received his initial training in Australia before going to Canada for his trade training.

He sailed on the SS Johan Van Barneve to San Francisco and…

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BLazenbyHJLazenbyHJv1.pdf
Harold Jack Lazenby's autobiography.

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SWeirG19660703v080004.pdf
Royal Australian Air Force Log Book for Max Langworthy, pilot. Covers period 8 January 1943 to 15 February 1958. Includes his training, operations and post-war flying. He was based at RAF Babdown Farm, RAF Bibury, RAF Morton in Marsh, RAF Rufforth,…

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LMellefontGJ240907v1.pdf
Flying log book for navigator’s air bomber air gunner’s flight engineers for G J Mellefont, air gunner, covering the period from 25 February 1944 to 10 September 1946. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF…

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MAdamsHG424504-170215-11.pdf
Describes operations by Bomber Command and USAAF aircraft to Hamburg from 24 to 28 July 1943. Mentions it was the first firestorm and the use of Window. Writes that the next firestorm was Darmstadt on September 11 1944. Mentions subsequent firestorms…

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BBarffAColingEFv1.pdf
Time in the RAF including selection as an observer, enrolment at Lord's Cricket Ground, navigational dead reckoning and meteorology training in Eastbourne and Paignton. Time spent on navigational sorties in Grahamstown, South Africa in Ansons and…

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