2
25
36
-
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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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph showing open countryside with railway line running from top left to middle right. Caption '19, W.S 8/9 6.44, NT 8", 0'5 0223, Special Target A. 1 x 14000, 15 secs, F/O Knight'. On the reverse '51:92/5'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-09
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
MCheshireGL72021-181210-010013, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010014
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-09
Title
A name given to the resource
Saumur
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
617 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Tallboy
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16494/MCheshireGL72021-181210-010011.2.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
A name given to the resource
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph shows bomb explosion left side half way up. Tracer tracks across image. On the reverse '51:92/17'.
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
MCheshireGL72021-181210-010011, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010012
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-09
Title
A name given to the resource
Saumur
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
617 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
target photograph
-
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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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] DATE: [/underlined] NIGHT 8/9th JUNE, 1944.
[underlined] TARGET: [/underlined] RAILWAY TUNNEL AND RAILWAY BRIDGE, SAUMUR.
[underlined] ZERO HOUR: [/underlined] 0200 HOURS.
[underlined] LEADER & MARKER NO.1: [/underlined] W/Cdr. Cheshire [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] mos. ‘N’
Navigator: F/O Kelly [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 4 Red Spot Fires
[underlined] MARKER NO.2: [/underlined] S/Ldr. Shannon [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] Mos. ‘C’
Navigator: F/O Sumpter [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 3 Red Spot Fires 1 Wanganui Flare
Abortive – port engine overspeeding.
[underlined] MARKER NO.3: [/underlined] F/L Fawke [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] Mos. ‘L’
Navigator: F/O Bennett [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 3 Red Spot Fires 1 Wanganui Flare
[underlined] DEPUTY LEADER: [/underlined] S/Ldr. Munro [underlined] A/C Letter: ‘W’ [/underlined]
F/Engineer: F/S Appleby – Navigator: F/L Rumbles – W/Operator: F/O Pigeon – A/G M.U.: P/O Howarth – Air Bomber: F/L Astbury – A/G Rear: F/O Weeks [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] S/Ldr. McCarthy [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘Q’
F/Engineer: - F/O Radcliffe – Navigator: F/O MacLean – W/Operator: W/O Eaton – A/G M.U.: W/O Batson – Air Bomber: F/O Daniel – A/G Rear: F/L Rodger – F/L Currie [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[page break]
[underlined] CREWS: [/underlined]
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/L Kearns [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘U’
F/Engineer: P/O Henderson – Navigator: F/O Barclay – W/Operator: F/O Ellwood – A/G M.U.: W/O Bickley – Air Bomber: S/l Richardson – A/G Rear: F/O Petch – F/L Tate [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/L Wilson [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘N’
F/Engineer: F/O Phillips – Navigator: F/O Scott – W/Operator: F/O Allen – A/G M.U.: F/S Vaughan – Air Bomber: F/O Finlay – A/G Rear: F/L Chandler [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/L Clayton [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘H’
F/Engineer: F/O Hill – Navigator: F/O Buttle – W/Operator: F/O Chalmers – A/G M.U.: F/S Sharp – Air Bomber: F/O Watson – A/G Rear: F/S Hume [underlined] bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Ross [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘Z’
F/Engineer: F/O Girling – Navigator: F/O Davies – W/Operator: F/S Hickson – A/G M.U.: F/O Platt – Air Bomber: W/O McClellan – A/G Rear: F/L Scott-Kiddie [underlined Bomb Load: [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Knights [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘A’
F/Engineer: P/O Twells – Navigator: F/O Rhude – W/Operator: F/O Hosie – A/G M.U.: F/S Pengelly – Air Bomber: P/O Bell – A/G Rear: F/S Derham [underlined] Bomb Load: [/underlined]
[page break]
[underlined] CREWS [/underlined]
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] Lt. Knilans [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘R’
F/Engineer: P/O Ryall – Navigator: P/O Geller – W/Operator: F/O Knell – A/G M.U.: Sgt. Crosby – Air Bomber: F/O Rogers – A/G Rear: P/O Learmouth [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Kell [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘P’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Clark – Navigator: P/O Hager – W/Operator: P/O Evans – A/G M.U.: P/O Snell – Air Bomber: F/O Morieson – A/G Rear: F/O Chapman – F/O Lee [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Willsher [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘T’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Hurdiss – Navigator: F/O Playford – W/Operator: P/O Bell – A/G M.U.: F/S Salter – Air Bomber: P/O Everett – A/G Rear: F/O Witherick [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Stout [underlined] A/C Letter [/underlined] ‘Y’
F/Engineer: P/O Gurney – Navigator: F/O Ingleby – W/Operator: F/S Nuttall – A/G M.U.: P/O C-Underwood – Air Bomber: F/O Rupert – A/G Rear: W/O Smith [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Duffy [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘C’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Benting – Navigator: F/O Bell – W/Operator: F/O Pearce – A/G M.U.: F/S McLean – Air Bomber: F/O Woods – A/G Rear: P/O Evans [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[page break]
[underlined] CREWS: [/underlined]
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Standford [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘F’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Judson – Navigator: P/O Butler – W/Operator: W/O Jordan – A/G M.U.: F/S Griffiths – Air Bomber: W/O Clarke – A/G Rear: P/O Jewell [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Cheney [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘V’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Rosher – Navigator: P/O Welch – W/Operator: F/S Pool – A/G M.U.: F/S McRostie – Air Bomber: F/S Curtis – A/G Rear: F/S Wait [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/L Poore [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘O’
F/Engineer: F/S Johnson – Navigator: F/O Roberts – W/Operator: F/S Thompson – A/G M.U.: F/S Tookey – Air Bomber: F/O Elsey – A/G Rear: F/S Castleman [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/L Edward [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘L’
F/Engineer: F/O King – Navigator: F/O Pritchard – W/Operator: F/S Hobbs – A/G M.U.: P/O Johnston – Air Bomber: F/S Brook – A/G Rear: F/S Isherwood [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/l Fearn [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘X’
F/Engineer: P/O Davies – Navigator: F/S Johnson - W/Operator: F/S Baker – A/G M.U.: F/S W-Williams – Air Bomber: F/O Chadwick – A/G Rear: W/O Kemp [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[page break]
[underlined] CREWS [/underlined]
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Saunders [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘P’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Nutley – Navigator: F/S Barron – W/Operator: Sgt. Ward – A/G M.U.: Sgt. Machin – Air Bomber: W/O Allen – A/G Rear: Sgt. Briars [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,0000 G.P. 6 x 7” Clusters
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/l Reid [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘S’
F/Engineer: F/S Stewart – Navigator: F/O Peltier – W/Operator: F/O Luker – A/G M.U.: F/S Holt – Air Bomber: P/O Rolton – A/G Rear: W/O Hutton [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb.
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] P/O Castagnola [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘O’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Henderson – Navigator: F/O Gorringe – W/Operator: Sgt. Eaves – A/G M.U.: Sgt. Craig – Air Bomber: Sgt. Evans – A/G Rear Sgt. Ronald [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,000 G.P. 6 x 7” Clusters
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] P/O Ross [underlined] A/C Letter: ‘U’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Walter – Navigator: F/O O’Brien – W/Operator: Sgt. Jenkinson – A/G M.U.: Sgt. King – Air Bomber: F/S Tilby – A/G Rear: Sgt. McKellar [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,000 G.P. 6 x 7” Clusters
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] P/O Carey [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘K’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Cherrington – Navigator: F/S Kerr – W/Operator: Sgt. Young - A/G M.U.: Sgt. Fowle – Air Bomber: W/O McLennan – A/G Rear: F/S Price [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,000 G.P. 6 x 7” Clusters
[page break]
[underlined] CREWS [/underlined]
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Hamilton [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘G’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Rooke – Navigator: F/S Jackson – W/Operator: Sgt. Thompson – A/G M.U.: F/S Dadge – Air Bomber: F/O Duck – A/G Rear: F/S Hamilton [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 1 x 14,000lb
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] F/O Levy [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘E’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Groom – Navigator: F/O Fox – W/Operator: Sgt. McGuire – A/G M.U.: Sgt. McNally – Air Bomber: F/O Atkinson – A/G Rear: Sgt. Thomas [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,000 G. P. 6 x 7” Clusters
[underlined] CAPTAIN: [/underlined] P/O Watts [underlined] A/C Letter: [/underlined] ‘N’
F/Engineer: Sgt. Luck – Navigator: F/S Housden – W/Operator: Sgt. Cooper – A/G M.U.: Sgt. Matthews – Air Bomber: F/S McKay – A/G Rear: P/O Heggie [underlined] Bomb Load [/underlined] 8 x 1,000lb G.P. 6 x 7” Clusters
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 list for Saumur tunnel operation
Description
An account of the resource
Provides date - night 8/9 June 1944, target- railway tunnel and bridge, Saumur, zero hour - 0200. Leader and marker no 1 - Wing Commander Cheshire flying Mosquito. Lists pilot and navigator of two other markers flying Mosquito. Lists 25 other crews flying Lancasters with aircraft letter and bomb load. Bomb loads include 1000 lb bombs, 7 inch clusters and 14,000 lb bomb (actually 12,000 lb Tallboy).
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page typewritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCheshireGL72021-181210-010005, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010006, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010007, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010008. MCheshireGL72021-181210-010009, MCheshireGL72021-181210-010010
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ashley Jacobs
David Bloomfield
617 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
Lancaster
Mosquito
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Tallboy
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16492/MCheshireGL72021-181210-010004.2.jpg
bee29088d255f93e853c971d9a3b80c7
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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] INTERPRETATION REPORT. [/underlined]
[underlined] SAUMUR (TUNNEL). [/underlined]
[underlined] PROVISIONAL STATEMENT OF DAMAGE. [/underlined]
The greatest concentration of craters lies to the Southern end of the target area, where severe damage has been done to tracks and embankment. One hit is seen on the tunnel at the extreme South end.
The following items of damage are seen.
1. Direct hit on roof of tunnel only a few feet from S. entrance.
2. All tracks cut at a distance of approx.. 100 yds. from S. entrance.
3. Near miss to road/rail intersection 185 yds. from S. entrance, cutting all tracks and blocking the road with debris.
4. Crater in road approx.. 150 yds. West of S. entrance.
5. 17 craters within a radius of 220 yds. of S. entrance destroying or damaging several small buildings.
6. Two direct hits on buildings approx.. 50 yds. West of the N. entrance.
7. Large crater blocking road approx.. 180 yds. East of N. entrance.
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
Interpretation report - Saumur tunnel - provisional statement of damage
Description
An account of the resource
Concentration of craters at south end of target area, severe damage to tracks and embankment. Notes direct hit in roof of tunnel a few feet from south entrance and lists six other areas of damage.
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
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MCheshireGL72021-181210-010004
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
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This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ashley Jacobs
David Bloomfield
Georgie Donaldson
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One-page typewritten document
617 Squadron
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Tallboy
-
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043f6236c9b8efc864dd8d40ea5db9fa
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
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Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] RAILWAY TUNNEL AND BRIDGE, SAUMUR. [/underlined]
[underlined] NARRATIVE. [/underlined]
On the 8th June, 1944, the squadron had been detailed to attack a special target and by late afternoon the plans for the attack had almost been completed. At this point, however, this operation was cancelled and an entirely new operation ordered. In response to a request from the army, the squadron was to attack the railway Tunnel at Saumur, an important railway junction in Western France. Although the Marshalling Yards at Saumur had already been successfully attacked, enemy troops were still reaching the invasion area from South Western France and the only way to stop this flow of reinforcements was to cut the line which ran just east of Saumur.
The target was very small and to make the attack really successful, extremely accurate bombing was necessary. It was decided to use, for the first time, a new type of bomb which had recently become available in small numbers. This was the 12,000 lb penetration bomb.
The flare force was to carry a load of 1,000 lb bombs and was detailed to attack the bridge, which carried the line across the river at the northern end of the tunnel.
The attack opened on time and although most of the flares fell to the south and east of the tunnel the Force Leader was able to identify the target without illumination. He dropped four red spot fires as markers and these fell on the railway tracks just South of the tunnel entrance.
The bombing, as usual, was of a high standard. There was a direct hit on the roof of the tunnel, two hits on the tracks just south of the tunnel entrance and the remainder of the bombs fell within 50/100 yards of the aiming point. Two aircraft bombed on the fires as the markers had been extinguished by a direct hit toward the end of the attack.
The attack on the bridge was not quite so successful. In spite of the lack of flare illumination most of crews were able to identify their target and a marker was put down within 50 yards of the aiming point by F/Lt. Fawke. Unfortunately this could not be done until some time after the bombing had commenced as F/Lt Fawke had been standing by to mark the tunnel had the Leader been unable to do so. However, bombing was well concentrated and there was at least one direct hit on the bridge.
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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
Railway tunnel and bridge, Saumur, operation narrative
Description
An account of the resource
Relates that in response to request from the Army a planned operation was cancelled at late notice and replaced by operation against the railway tunnel at Saumur. As accurate bombing was required it was decided to use the recently available 12,000 pound penetration bomb. Flare force was to carry 1000 pound bombs and attack bridge. Leader identified target and dropped red spot flares. Notes direct hit on the roof of the tunnel and others close by. The attack on the bridge was less successful.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCheshireGL72021-181210-010003
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
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ashley Jacobs
David Bloomfield
Georgie Donaldson
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One-page typewritten document
617 Squadron
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Tallboy
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16490/MCheshireGL72021-181210-010002.1.jpg
de1b90ca99d4b152a16bef637fd44c6d
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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
From : A.O.C. HQ. No 5 Group.
To : Conningsby Base, R.A.F. Station, WOODHALL.
A.407. 10th. JUNE (Personal for Officer Commanding) The following message has been received from A.O.C.-in-C Bomber Command. Please give my congratulations to all concerned in the attack on Saumur Tunnel. The results speak for themselves of the astonishing skill and efficiency shown.
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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
Note from Air Officer Command 5 Group
Description
An account of the resource
To officer commanding Conningsby Base RAF Woodhall Spa passing on congratulations on success of Saumur tunnel operation.
Creator
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A.O.C. No 5 Group
Date
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1944-06-10
Format
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One typewritten document
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
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MCheshireGL72021-181210-010002
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ashley Jacobs
David Bloomfield
Georgie Donaldson
5 Group
617 Squadron
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
RAF Coningsby
RAF Woodhall Spa
Tallboy
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/16489/MCheshireGL72021-181210-010001.1.jpg
d04c01c07df3ede246e17b313301f422
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
Cheshire, Leonard
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard
Baron Cheshire
Description
An account of the resource
374 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of Tinian and Saipan, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of speeches given by Cheshire after the war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Royal Air Force file cover - Saumur 8/9 June
Form 2007
Description
An account of the resource
Standard buff file cover subject 'Saumur, 8/9 June. Contents 'Night photos, Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, interpretation report, narrative'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Format
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One file cover
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
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MCheshireGL72021-181210-010001
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.
France
France--Saumur
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Royalty-free permission to publish
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1148/11705/AStopesRoeM150601.2.mp3
ef8f612b8ada6cba1003d1b6a12014ac
Dublin Core
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Title
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Stopes-Roe, Mary
M Stopes-Roe
Dr Mary Stopes-Roe
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Mary Stopes-Roe ( 1927 - 2019), the daughter of the designer Barnes Wallis.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
2015-06-01
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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Stopes-Roe, M
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AP: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Andrew Panton. The interviewee is Mary Stopes Roe. The interview is taking place at Mrs Stopes Roe’s home in Birmingham on the 30th of May 2015. Mrs Stopes Roe is the daughter of Sir Barnes Wallis the English scientist, engineer and inventor.
MSR: All through the 30s we used to go on wonderful camping holidays down to Dorset. The Isle of Purbeck. And my father, they were lovely holidays, he was such fun on those holidays. And one of the games that we played there was skipping pebbles across the water, you know. As one does. Or some people do. Anyway, he used to skip pebbles across the water and he could get his to do eight or nine or something or other. I never could do it. It’s that flick of the, twist of the wrist which I never got and mine used to go plop and plop and down. But it was great fun, you know. That, I mean of course it isn’t exactly straightforwardly linked to the bouncing bomb but it was something that was in our background. And my father asked us four, well he told us four, to collect my mother’s old tin wash tub, to fill it with cold water which we brought out in cans and things from the kitchen and poured into the washtub. And it was placed on the garden table and then my father produced a catapult which he’d had made at the works and he borrowed my sisters’ marbles and he [laughs] he shot the marbles over the water in the water tub. And there were, there was a string spread across the water tub. And my brother who was the eldest and the most clever had to say whether the bobber went under or over the string and how many times it bounced going across the tub. And the rest of us stood and watched just thinking that daddy was playing a nice game. And then our job was to find the marbles when they’d dropped off the other side. The dear old family doctor who’d come up for reasons, I think my mother was worried about — I don’t know what she was worried about but anyway he was such a dear old friend he came a lot. And he stood in the background and there he is in the picture. My mother, who was very snap happy with her little Kodak thing, photographed everything that happened and she photographed that. And there we all are for time until eternity. Standing by the wash tub on the garden terrace. And my mother later reported that we children were all there of course and when, when the, when the raid was public knowledge my mother reported of course the children never said anything. Thinking that we were very virtuous. I mean she put about the idea that we were very virtuous and, you know, careful. Actually, of course, what really happened was we didn’t say anything was because we had no idea why he was playing this jolly game in the garden. And if you say to your friends when you’re sort of thirteen fourteen’ish, ‘Well my father bounced marbles on the water tub in the garden.’ I mean, you don’t do you because it sounds so stupid. So of course, we didn’t say anything. But the minute the raid was reported I realized what that was for. Roy Chadwick’s contribution, apart from designing the Lancaster, which is no mean feat anyway was absolutely critical to the whole raid. My father realized this and he wrote very warmly to Chadwick to thank him for the effort he made in altering the bomb bay of the Lancaster. Without which alteration the bomb couldn’t be carried and therefore no raid. That was never, I don’t think, I know he didn’t think that Chadwick had had enough honour and, and fame for, for what he did. And I certainly don’t think he did. I mean, when does he ever get mentioned? And yet without him there would not have been a raid, which my father knew and he, and he expressed his gratitude and admiration. The whole of that alteration was done on twenty Lancasters, I think in under three weeks or something. I mean, amazing. Well having altered the Lancaster, poor old Lancaster’s undercarriage to carry the upkeep. The bouncing bomb. Then of course my father designed the earthquake bombs — Tallboy and Grand Slam. A Tallboy is pretty big. A Grand Slam is even bigger and the Lancaster had to have her undercarriage altered again. Her bomb bays. In fact, in the Grand Slam, I think I’m right, that the bomb bay couldn’t actually be used. It had to be sort of tied up with rope. Not quite but when it came to Grand Slam, twenty two thousand pound of bomb underneath the Lancaster’s belly Roy Chadwick had to remove the bomb doors completely and attach the Grand Slam under her belly by means of chains. I mean, that was no mean alteration but it worked. And my father is remembered, mainly I suppose, for the bouncing bomb for the dams’ raid. For the engineer’s way of stopping the war which is wonderful. I don’t complain about that at all but he, it is not, he was not a man of war. He was a man of peace. He was brought up to believe very very firmly in the benefits of the society in which he lived. The culture in which he lived. The background against which he lived. And he thought it was his duty, indeed the duty of every man and woman to fight for, to protect this culture. That’s why he did it. Not because he was a man of war. He was not. Of course, you have big wars to fight and you fight them but in the mean, in between the wars he did develop the most beautiful airship, and successful, which I don’t, I don’t think people should forget. The R100. Not the R101. That’s a very interesting story that but not to be told here. But it was from the building of the R100 that he devised the geodetic structure for making curved and strong and lightweight bodies. Heavier than aircraft. That went straight into the Wellington, the Wellesley and would finally have been used in the Windsor which actually it was not used in the, in the war. I don’t think it every reached the bombing stage. So, it was really design that he was so interested in, I think. Apart from defending his family and country. Nation and belief. It was always the design. The best design that he was aiming at. After the war, in fact, before the war ended he’d moved on in his mind to civil aviation and the benefit for keeping together the Commonwealth as it, by then was. By the ability to fly all around the world without having to put down to take on whatever supplies were needed. Because the intervening lands might not be so welcoming. But this of course involved high speed which involves supersonic flight. Supersonic flight, to be achieved successfully as I have always understood it is it requires a different aeroplane. A different shape of the wings of the aeroplane. They should fold back so that it can dart through the, through the upper atmosphere without having these wings out at right angles. So, from that he started to design what was originally called the Wild Goose. In 1948 he started, well he was thinking of it before the war ended. And that is, he wrote some wonderful memoirs of that. That time. Writing actually in letters to my mother. He never wrote without having a purpose if you see what I mean. If somebody was going to read it. He never sent the letters but there they all are. First of all at Thurley old aerodrome in Bedfordshire and then down to Predannack in Cornwall. On the Lizard. And there Wild Goose turned into the Swallow which was a very beautiful aircraft with the swept back wings in high powered flight. But you have to have them in the normal position to take off in the ordinary atmosphere. So that’s the problem. He, the Swallow got to the point at which it could have had trial runs with a, with a test pilot. And his good old friend Mutt Summers and others would have been willing to try to fly the Swallow. But after the disaster, to my father’s mind, indeed quite true, of the deaths of so many brave young men in the dams’ raid he swore that never again would he put another man’s life in danger. He would not have a test pilot. So, and as everybody knows the government wouldn’t support the development any further and so as he sadly said, we sold it to America. What Boeing did with it I can’t remember. But anyway, my father sadly said as I also remember they spoiled it by putting a tail on it. There was a plan. He devised a design for a bridge to go, I think it was underwater. An underwater bridge over the Messina Straits between Italy and Sicily. I don’t quite know what happened to that design but I don’t think it ever got made. Which was a pity because it would have been, you know, rather interesting. He, he designed racing skiffs for boys clubs. That was his love. His love of the water and everything to do with the sea. So, when somebody asked him to do that he did it. He designed at Brooklands where he was working of course for, by this time it was BAC not Vickers Armstrong’s and the stratosphere chamber is absolutely huge. I have, in fact, I it was opened, it was redone by English heritage and opened again about a year ago. And it is there by the, by where he had his research and development department. And in it you could test anything that you wanted to have, wanted to be tested under extreme circumstances. For example, de-icing of trawlers and indeed de-icing of aeroplane structures too in very high altitudes. And there are wonderful photographs of trawlers with, in the stratosphere chamber, ice dripping off their rigging and all this and whatever. It’s amazing. That was his design and there it still is. So that, that was another thing that was quite important. While the Swallow was being developed and perfected in Predannack in Cornwall Leonard Cheshire joined Barnes Wallis again there. I think this is not very often remembered that that was a point at which the two worked together again and my father admired Cheshire very much indeed. I expect Cheshire admired him but that I don’t know because he was very interested in Cheshire’s work for the disabled, the sick and the needy and was a great supporter of the Cheshire homes. Always. And that’s not very often, I think, remembered. On that same line my father devised, he became the first president of the Bath Medical Engineering Institute and he, because he had designed lightweight calipers for children. You know, he had seen children hobbling about with great hefty things on, calipers on their legs and he designed lightweight calipers. And thus, he became the President of Bath Medical Engineering Institute which was a position which he held for quite some years. I’ve often wondered what it was that made him even think of, you know, sort of a bit far from bombs and flying at supersonic speeds. But looking back over his life his father, who was a doctor, got polio myelitis in 1893. And my father was then six and I mean, it was a pretty, it was a crisis for the family because of course at that stage there was no cure. He just was laid flat for six months. Money was scarce and so on. And in the end my grandfather had an enormous metal caliper down his leg. And I remember, as a child we used to wonder what on earth was under his trouser leg because it had this very sort of rigid angle at the knee and when he wanted to bend his leg he had to bend down and press the metal and it made a click and we were fascinated. But I suspect the trouble the family went through then stuck in Barnes’s mind for the rest of his life. One of the outcomes of the raid on the dams was that precision bombing became a possibility which it had not been before. You did not have to have carpet bombing once you had got a squadron with the skill and aptitude of 617. And they were amazing. You could actually precision bomb without damaging vast numbers of ordinary civilians. This was very important. My father had, had it in mind and the Tallboy and Grand Slam were on his drawing board but of course they couldn’t be used without the efficiency and skill and bravery of 617. So that the two were totally, totally linked. The development of the skill and competence of the squadron and the skill of the designer. One outcome of the dams’ raid, the success of the dams’ raid which is not often mentioned I think is the vital importance of precision bombing which 617 Squadron achieved. Previously, while of course there were many targets that would have benefited us greatly if we could have smashed couldn’t be broken by ordinary sized bombs and dropped from a great height. To do, to smash the really heavy armaments construction places in France and North Europe you needed things like the Tallboy and the Grand Slam. The earthquake bombs which my father had certainly begun to design. I don’t know how far he’d got by the time the dams’ raid was achieved but of course they, they were not any use without the capability for precision bombing which 617 had now achieved. Once the Air Ministry, War Ministry had realized this, that there was this ability to deliver a weapon. They did say to my father, you know, finish designing the earthquake which he then went and proceeded to do. And it was, I mean that the, the development of the precision bombing capability is not always, I think, given the merit that it should have been given. Those men were extremely skilled. Without their ability and of course the bomb. The tools to go to be used. The bombs. The earthquake bombs. The Tirpitz would not have been sunk. The first target to be hit by an earthquake bomb was the Saumur Tunnel. That was the Tallboy. Tallboy then went on to crack the V1 bomb launch sights. I remember those. They were famous. They came over. They made a droning noise. When you heard the droning noise you just were pretty near it, pretty careful to listen. If the droning noise stopped you were in trouble. Get under the kitchen table or something of the sort. But if the droning noise went on you were alright. It was somebody else. That was the V1s. All seen from a child’s point of view. And the other thing, the next, the next big, I think the most famous Tallboy success was where the V2 rocket was going to be. Rocket was going to be launched from. The V2 rocket was going to be launched from Northern France, a place called Wizernes, and it was from some sort of a launch. It was undercover. Under a great flat concrete surface of a depth which would be quite impossible for ordinary bombs to reach and which no amount of scatter bombing could possibly destroy. But we still have one of the 617 old boys. If I can call them that. John Bell. Who launched from, who launched a Tallboy. I don’t remember which plane. Which plane it was dropped from but —
AP: He dropped it from a Lancaster.
MSR: Oh, I know it was a Lancaster.
AP: Oh sorry.
MSR: I meant the, oh goodness me.
AP: I think it was KCA.
MSR: Was it? Oh, I’d better put that in it case it’s wrong.
AP: We’ll just say sorry about that. We’ll just keep talking. He was a bomb aimer.
MSR: Yeah.
AP: And he was the one who released that Tallboy.
MSR: Yes.
AP: On the dome.
MSR: Yes. The only way to destroy that dome was by an earthquake bomb. And John Bell, who is still with us who was the bomb aimer on the Lancaster that went over this Wizernes rocket pen and his bomb dropped on the, on this concrete dome. Lord knows how much concrete was piled in there but anyway the Tallboy destroyed it and the V2 rocket didn’t have a chance.
AP: So, they were never able to launch it.
MSR: No.
AP: Because it was in a chalk quarry, this is the interesting geology bit, it was in a chalk quarry and the dome was, there was a whole load of rockets underneath it. John’s bomb didn’t hit the dome. It just hit the outside of the dome and because it was chalk the earthquake shockwave crumbled the chalk.
MSR: Yeah. Yeah. This rocket, V2 rocket pen was actually constructed within a chalk quarry. A quarry for mining chalk and while my father had always said that if you could get a bomb into the, down into the earth deep enough it didn’t have to be actually on the spot because the earthquake effect would destroy the target that you were aiming at. I remember him saying that if it would, if water could increase the strength of an explosion at thirty feet then if you could only get a bomb down in the earth at sufficient depth the same sort of earthquake effect would, would work. And it did. And because it was in this chalk quarry the chalk all shook and crumbled and the whole thing collapsed. But it was the earthquake effect. Not having gone straight down through the concrete surface. But that was what my father had predicted would happen. He would get a bomb deep enough into the earth which the Tallboy did and the Grand Slam even more.
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 Mary Stopes-Roe
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Andrew Panton
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
2015-06-01
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AStopesRoeM150601
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Description
An account of the resource
Discusses her father’s designs work and remembers both skipping stones on a river during holidays with her father and catapulting marbles over a washtub in their garden. She goes on to discuss the Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation, the bouncing bomb and the Tall boy and Grand Slam bombs. She talks about the importance of Roy Chadwick and the Lancaster, and her father’s other designs that included the R100 airship, the geodetic structure of the Wellington, and designs for civil aircraft the Wild Goose and the Swallow.
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
Format
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00:23:12 audio recording
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
617 Squadron
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bouncing bomb
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
childhood in wartime
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
Grand Slam
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Catechism (12 November 1944)
Tallboy
Tirpitz
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wallis, Barnes Neville (1887-1979)
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/442/7891/PTwellsE15070102.1.jpg
562f20235d483b7d35f20eca008644b6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/442/7891/PTwellsE15070101.1.jpg
a07a594dfbfd69774e61cd30f6b4b21c
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
Twells, Ernie. Album
Description
An account of the resource
A scrapbook containing photographs and documents of Ernie Twells' wartime and post-war service including squadron reunions. The photographs and documents are contained in wallets in a scrapbook. The wallet page has been scanned and then the individual items rescanned. The scans have been grouped together.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-26
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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Twells, E
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AIR2 9025 X/N 07353
[underlined] NON-IMMEDIATE AWARD - P/O E TWELLS [/underlined]
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
24.07.43 Hamburg 5.30
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
25.07.43 Essen 4.40
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
27.07.43 Hamburg 5.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
29.07.43 Hamburg 5.30
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
15.08.43 Milan 8.40
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
27.08.43 Nurnberg 8.05
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
31.08.43 Berlin 8.05
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
03.09.43 Berlin 8.45
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
06.09.43 Munich 8.45
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
03.10.43 Kassel 6.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
04.10.43 Frankfurt 6.35
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
08.10.43 Hanover 5.35
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
18.10.43 Hanover (Ret) 3.30
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
20.10.43 Leipzig 7.20
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
22.10.43 Kassel 6.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
03.11.43 Dusseldorf 4.40
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
10.11.43 Modane 7.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
22.11.43 Berlin 7.00
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
23.11.43 Berlin 6.55
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
26.11.43 Berlin 8.55
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
16.12.43 Berlin 7.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
20.12.43 Frankfurt 6.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
27.12.43 Berlin 7.15
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
01.01.44 Berlin 8.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
14.01.44 Brunswick 5.45
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
08.02.44 Limoges 8.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
12.02.44 Antheor 7.35
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
02.03.44 Albert 4.00
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
04.03.44 St. Etienne 6.40
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
10.03.44 St. Etienne
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
15.03.44 Metz 5.35
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
16.03.44 Clermont Ferrand 7.15
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
18.03.44 Bergerac 6.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
29.03.44 Lyons 7.20
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
05.04.44 Special 7.30
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
10.04.44 Special 4.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
18.04.44 Juvisy 5.35
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
22.04.44 Brunswick 5.55
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
24.04.44 Munich 9.50
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
05.06.44 Special 3.55
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
08.06.44 Saumur 6.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
14.06.44 Le Havre 4.10
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
15.06.44 Boulogne 2.20
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
19.06.44 Watten 2.55
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
20.06.44 Wizernes 2.00
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
22.06.44 Wizernes 3.00
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
24.06.44 Wizernes 3.25
[underlined] DATE TARGET TIME [/underlined]
25.06.44 Siracourt 3.15
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
Ernie Twells' Operations
Description
An account of the resource
A list of 48 operations undertaken by Ernie Twells. It details date, target and flight time.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
A typewritten sheet from a scrapbook.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Service material
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PTwellsE15070101, PTwellsE15070102
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.
Germany
France
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-27
1943-07-28
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-10-22
1943-10-23
1944
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06
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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
617 Squadron
619 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bombing of the Siracourt V-weapon site (25 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944)
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/416/7525/LTwellsE171780v1.2.pdf
73558e079e66be61a7b00685db613f4a
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
Twells, Ernest
Ernie Twells
E Twells
Description
An account of the resource
19 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Ernie Twells DFC (1909 - 1979, 6042416, 805035 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books training notebooks, his medals and lucky mascot. It also includes a scrap book of photographs.
Ernie Twells served as an engine fitter before remustering as a flight engineer. He completed 65 operations with 619 and 617 Squadrons including sinking the Tirpitz.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ernest Twells and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2015-10-26
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
Twells, E
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Ernie Twells’ navigator’s, air bomber’s and air gunner’s flying log book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LTwellsE171780v1
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
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.
Description
An account of the resource
Royal Air Force Flying Log Book for Ernie Twells, flight engineer, covering the period from 15 June 1943 to 19 August 1945. Detailing training, operations flown and post war flying. He was stationed at RAF Swinderby, RAF Woodhall Spa, RAF Bramcote, and RAF Nuneaton. Aircraft flown in were Lancaster, Wellington and Dakota. He flew 65 operations. 24 Night operations with 619 Squadron. 25 Daylight and 16 Night with 617 Squadron. Targets were, Antheor Viaduct, Berlin, Boulogne, Brest, Brunswick, Dusseldorf, Essen, Etaples, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Juvisy-Paris, Kassel, La Pallice, Le Havre, Leipzig, Lorient, Lyon, Milan, Modane, Munich, Nurnberg, Pas de Calais, Rilly La Montagne, Saumer Tunnel, Siracourt, St Cyr-Paris, St Etienne, Tirpitz-Alten Fiord, Tirpitz-Tromso. Toulouse, Watten and Wizernes. His pilot on operations was Flight Lieutenant Knights.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Italy
Great Britain
Norway
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lincolnshire
England--Warwickshire
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Brest
France--Etaples
France--La Pallice
France--Le Havre
France--Lorient
France--Lyon
France--Modane
France--Paris
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Saint-Étienne (Loire)
France--Saumur
France--Toulouse
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Essen
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Munich
Italy--Milan
Norway--Tromsø
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Braunschweig
France--Watten
Germany--Düsseldorf
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-26
1943-07-27
1943-07-28
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-08-15
1943-08-16
1943-08-27
1943-08-28
1943-08-31
1943-09-01
1943-09-03
1943-09-04
1943-09-06
1943-09-07
1943-10-03
1943-10-04
1943-10-05
1943-10-08
1943-10-09
1943-10-18
1943-10-19
1943-10-20
1943-10-21
1943-10-22
1943-10-23
1943-11-03
1943-11-04
1943-11-10
1943-11-11
1943-11-22
1943-11-23
1943-11-24
1943-11-26
1943-11-27
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
1943-12-20
1943-12-21
1943-12-27
1943-12-28
1944-01-01
1944-01-02
1944-01-14
1944-02-08
1944-02-09
1944-02-12
1944-02-13
1944-03-02
1944-03-03
1944-03-04
1944-03-05
1944-03-10
1944-03-11
1944-03-15
1944-03-16
1944-03-17
1944-03-28
1944-03-29
1944-03-30
1944-04-05
1944-04-06
1944-04-10
1944-04-11
1944-04-18
1944-04-19
1944-04-23
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-06-05
1944-06-06
1944-06-08
1944-06-09
1944-06-14
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-06-22
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-07-17
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-25
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-04
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-11
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-16
1944-08-18
1944-08-27
1944-09-11
1944-09-12
1944-09-15
1944-09-20
1944-09-21
1944-10-28
1944-10-29
1944-11-12
1944-11-13
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
1660 HCU
617 Squadron
619 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
bombing of Kassel (22/23 October 1943)
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bombing of the Siracourt V-weapon site (25 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944)
bombing of Toulouse (5/6 April 1944)
C-47
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944)
Operation Catechism (12 November 1944)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bramcote
RAF Swinderby
RAF Woodhall Spa
Tirpitz
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/209/3348/ABellJR150727.2.mp3
9d02f41eac38212c78457bf9772c6f97
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
Bell, John Richard
John Richard Bell
John R Bell
John Bell
J R Bell
J Bell
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Wing Commander John Richard Bell DFC (-2024). He was a bomb aimer with 619 and 617 Squadrons in Flying Officer Bob Knights’ crew.
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
2015-07-27
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. 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
Bell, JR-UK
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The interview is taking place at Mr Bell’s home in Storrington on 27th July 2015. During this interview Mr Bell recounts his experiences as a bomb aimer in 617 Squadron.
JB: I and my crew begged Wing Commander Cheshire when we asked if we could join his squadron and he was sat in his office, very nice man to talk to, we were an experienced crew and he still wanted to know why we wanted to join his squadron, so we told him that we would like to be flying a little lower, nearer the ground, but he said ‘oh, but we’re not going to be doing that any more, we’re operating normally’ which of course they were but they were operating mainly over targets in northern France, practically to the build up to the invasion obviously and one installation that I remember on operation was against the [unclear] works at Limoges which was the first time that Leonard Cheshire had marked the target with his own flares and, er, having found that marking was essential he came over the factory at about two to three hundred feet and dropped twice, to drop flares on the target and to ensure that the French workers in the factory could get out and get into the shelter, the word being that we should try to avoid killing French workers during our bombing campaign. He was a very compassionate man and very easy to talk to and very good, very easy to get on with, he didn’t stand on ceremony and he didn’t order you to do things, he just asked you to follow him, whatever he was prepared to do, he was an exceptional man, an exceptional leader. Early in 1944 the Allies became aware of [unclear] reconnaissance of some large structures, concrete structures being built in the Pas de Calais area of France. They did not know what they were at that time although they suspected they were something to do with the V weapons programme which had been discovered after the attacks on Peenemunde. Following the attack on Peenemunde it was known that the Germans were developing two weapons, a rocket programme and also a pilot’s - aeroplane programme carrying, each carrying one tonne of explosive warheads. The V1 launch site was discovered in the Pas de Calais area early in 1944 and also at that time the two large concrete structures which the Allies were not sure of their purpose but felt they were probably connected to the rocket – V2 Rocket programme. The V1 sites were attacked by Bomber Command throughout the next three months of 1944 and the construction of the - what became known as the V2 programme, the two sites, one in the Eperlecques Forest and one near Saint-Omer at [unclear] were watched as the building progressed but they were large concrete structures and could not be attacked, although they were attacked with conventional weapons but not put out of action until the 617 Squadron was equipped with the Tallboy in June 1944. The site at [unclear] near Saint-Omer consisted of a chalk quarry with a cliff at the far end of the quarry and on the top of the cliff we saw the construction of a concrete dome, obviously built there to protect the workings within the cliff. 617 Squadron were assigned to attack it on – several times in June and July, I think about four times altogether, mainly because of cloud interfering on two occasions and Tallboys were used to destroy all the facilities of the site and in fact one landed close to this concrete dome which obviously destroyed the foundations of the structure. One of the operations I was on was the 17th July 1944 and it was a clear day and we approached the site from the north-west and from a long way away I could see quite clearly, from the bomb aimer’s position, the dome covering the installation in the quarry. We approached at the normal speed of close on one hundred and eighty to two hundred miles an hour and at a height of around eighteen thousand feet. I signed up er [pause]
AP: It’s OK John, just keep -
JB: I switched on the bomb sight and carried out all of the normal procedures for the bombing run and directed the pilot to - on the bombing run. This took some time, we were on the run for at least five minutes and the - I had the dome in my bomb sight for all of that time and at the appropriate moment the bomb was automatically released. It was a clear day and I saw the bomb – the Tallboy going down and I followed it all the way down to the target and it exploded just beside the dome, there was an enormous explosion, so that was recorded as an almost - a direct hit and in fact I did shout out ‘Bullseye’ to the crew to let them know that we’d had a pretty good hit.
AP: And the consequence of what happened, about what it did, can you talk a little bit about what – later on you discovered that -
JB: Later, much later, we discovered that the foundations of the dome - the supports of the dome had been severely disrupted and it had tilted to one side. Obviously the site was then unusable, other Tallboys had bombed the whole of the site and the whole facility was useless by then. On the 25th of July 1944 the squadron continued its attacks on the V weapons sites in the Pas de Calais, we bombed the first V2 site that we’d seen at the Eperlecques Forest and this was a large concrete structure which would have taken a great deal of destruction by Tallboys to put it out of action. It - there were several direct hits on the target on that particular day and eventually the installation was put out of action by our attacks and only the oxygen-producing facility was maintained there. Both sites were never able to launch V2s as they were programmed to do. A third construction site was discovered at a village called Mimoyecques, also in the Pas de Calais area, and it was noted that there were a number of concrete underground installations with a pattern of openings in the tops of the structures. The purpose was not known although it was thought that they were – it was going to be used for the launch of some sort of rocket projectile. The whole site was bombed by the main force of Bomber Command and also by 617 Squadron and their Tallboys were able to penetrate deep into the earth and destroy the foundations of these concrete structures, thereby putting it out of action. It was only discovered - the true purpose of the site was discovered after the Armies – the Allied Armies moved through following D-Day and found that it was a site designed to launch projectiles with a warhead of several kilograms towards London and the number of missiles that would have been launched could have been as high as three thousand a day. The intention of the site was to bombard London with projectiles from these - from this supergun, each carrying a warhead of around thirty kilos of explosive and the intention was from the number of projectiles that they could launch would result in some three thousand shells, so-called shells landing in London every hour and the destruction of the site obviously saved London from an enormous barrage of artillery from long range. This site at Mimoyecques was extremely difficult to bomb because it was all buried underground and there was very little to see on the surface except two concrete structures but er – and of course the whole of the site had been bombed pretty heavily by the normal weapons by aircraft from Bomber Command and the United States Airforce so the 617 crews had difficulty in seeing the site but nevertheless were accurate enough with their Tallboys. On July 6th 1944 617 Squadron aircraft, led by the CO, Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire, attacked the site at Mimoyecques with Tallboys and completely destroyed the site. This operation on the V3 site at Mimoyecques was Wing Commander Cheshire’s one hundredth bombing operation throughout his bombing career from 1941 onwards and he was stood down from bombing following that day, he was then awarded the Victoria Cross for completing all the operations and for his valour in doing so and his leadership and he was followed in command of the squadron by Wing Commander [unclear] Tate, Wing Commander Tate. In 1941 Barnes Wallis who had given great thought to the bombing of various targets in Germany, particularly those underground or buried installations, and he saw the need for a bomb other than a blast bomb, which was currently in use, a bomb to penetrate the earth and explode below causing some sort of an earthquake. His thought at that time was for a very large bomber flying at forty thousand feet and carrying a ten tonne bomb which of course was quite impractical at that time, but in 1943 the launch of the Air Ministry brought out his project again and asked him to design something that could be carried by perhaps the aircraft of the day, the Lancaster, and so he designed what became known as the Tallboy and he designed it in three sizes – four thousand pounds, twelve thousand pounds and twenty-two thousand pounds, all at that time called Tallboys. The four thousand pound was tested and was found not to be as stable as they thought it should be so the fins on the tail were turned to five degrees from the vertical and this helped to - the bomb to spin as it was dropped thereby giving it great stability and the twelve thousand pounder then became known as the Tallboy and the twenty-two thousand pounder was called the Grand Slam, the twelve thousand pounder was issued to 617 Squadron immediately after D-Day and the first operation was against the Saumur tunnel on I think the 9th of June 1944 and the – it was a complete success in destroying the tunnel and from then on the squadron operated almost solely with Tallboys and later with the Grand Slam, the weapons being central in the destruction of the V weapon sites and any other installation that had been buried below the ground. It had also of course - was later found very – found to be the ideal weapon for destroying bridges and canals so a great weapon by Barnes Wallis again used by the squadron. On the 5th August 1944 we carried out a daylight attack on the U-Boat pens at Brest. This was in bright daylight, sunny day, and I can remember dropping my Tallboy onto the area of the pens and I think it hit fairly close by. My memory of the day is that there was an enormous amount of flak, very heavy flak over the target area but we were, we were not hit, we escaped. My job in the crew in the Lancaster was as a bomb aimer and also as front gunner if need be and my job was to guide the pilot towards the target and then to concentrate on dropping the bombs on whatever the target was and dropping them as accurate as possible and my abiding picture of the whole of all the operations I did, particularly those over Germany at night, was of approaching the target area - the city that was under attack or was about to be attacked and to be met with a wall of anti-aircraft fire. The German gunners would fire their shells into a box at around twenty thousand feet, which was the height we were aiming at, aiming to be at, and we just had to fly through that. It was a pretty awesome sight to behold some miles before we reached the target but by concentrating on what we had to do we just had to ignore it, there was no way you could ig – you could dodge anti-aircraft shells, you just have to fly through them and hope that you’re not going to be hit even by a small amount of shrapnel which of course could damage a vital part of the aeroplane but we were very fortunate that all our operations – that we got through all of them unscathed. Following the raid on the German dams 617 Squadron later became, became used to operate on many other targets for which it was equipped with a bomb sight, a new bomb sight, the stabilising automatic bomb site, also known as SABS. This was a precision-built bomb sight and it was not, it was not used in any other – by any other squadron, mainly because it was difficult to build and very few were actually made. The invention and design of the Tallboy weapon by Barnes Wallis was the – a most important weapon that arrived at the right time in 1944. It was the only weapon that could have destroyed the targets against which it was used, conventional weapons at that time were blast weapons and would have had little or no effect on the structures that the Tallboy attacked and it was, it was essential of course to use it against targets which were buried underground and also, er, heavily armoured targets like battleships, the [targets ?] could never have been bombed by anything else other than a Tallboy so the Tallboy was really the crux of the whole bombing campaign from 1944 onwards to, to hasten the end of the war by destroying those targets which the Germans hoped to use to counter the invasion forces, it just was the [emphasis] weapon that was needed at the right time. The Tallboy was carried in the bomb bay and supported in there by a strap which had – the connection of the strap was electrically operated by the bomb sight at the critical moment. The top of the bomb had a hole drilled in it and in the roof of the bomb bay was a metal plug and the plug was – so when the bomb was hoisted into the bomb bay it married up with the plug and the strap was fitted underneath it and that secured it into the bomb bay. At a critical moment the bomb sight automatically triggered the release mechanism for the bomb, the strap separated and the bomb dropped out. The wireless operator’s job was to go back and wind in the two straps – two parts of the strap. The one thing about the Tallboy was that it was expensive to produce and they could not be produced very quickly so they were in limited supply and we were told that if you can’t drop the bomb, if you can’t see the target, don’t drop it, just don’t drop them all over France said Leonard Cheshire and we were instructed to bring them back which we did on several occasions when cloud obscured the target and – or smoke and if we couldn’t see it clearly then we would bring the Tallboy back and landing with a twelve thousand pounder was not funny and one had to be very careful – the pilot land very carefully which he did of course and there were never any accidents with them as there were never any accidents with the crews that brought back the twenty-two thousand pound Grand Slam when they couldn’t drop it so the aircraft was built to carry it and we never had any problem with it. Following the raid on Brest on the 5th August I completed – that completed my 50 missions constituting two tours of operations that I could retire from operating now and attend to further duties in training other crews in the training, training line. The squadron went on to other targets on U-Boat pens and military and, and naval targets throughout the rest of the war.
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ABellJR150727
Title
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Interview with John Richard Bell
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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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Type
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Sound
Language
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eng
Format
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00:21:47 audio recording
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Pending review
Pending OH summary. Allocated T Holmes
Creator
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Andrew Panton
Date
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2015-07-27
Description
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John Bell completed 50 operations as a bomb aimer with 617 Squadron before becoming an instructor.
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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France
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
France--Mimoyecques
France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)
France--Saumur
Germany--Peenemünde
France--Watten
Temporal Coverage
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1944
1945
Contributor
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Gill Kavanagh
617 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of the Mimoyecques V-3 site (6 July 1944)
Bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944)
bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944)
bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944)
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
Grand Slam
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Tallboy
V-1
V-2
V-3
V-weapon
Wallis, Barnes Neville (1887-1979)