Julian Maslin]]> This Interview was recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1943-06]]> Nigel Moore]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> A R Witty]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> David Bloomfield]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Hull]]> England--London]]> England--Devon]]> England--Torquay]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Liverpool]]> South Africa]]> South Africa--Durban]]> South Africa--East London]]> South Africa--Cape Town]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Northamptonshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> France]]> France--Rennes]]> Germany]]> Germany--Aachen]]> France--Paris]]> France--Normandy]]> France--Evreux]]> Germany--Gelsenkirchen]]> France--Le Havre]]> Atlantic Ocean--English Channel]]> France--Calais]]> France--Dijon]]> France--Tours]]> Belgium]]> Belgium--Kortrijk]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> France--Orléans]]> France--Pas-de-Calais]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> France--Domléger-Longvillers]]> 1943-03-29]]> 1943-07-10]]> 1943-07-27]]> 1943-09-08]]> 1943-10-12]]> 1944-02-25]]> 1944-04-26]]> 1944-04-28]]> 1944-06-14]]> 1944-06-14]]> 1944-06-12]]> 1942-06-13]]> 1944-06-22]]> 1944-07-23]]> 1944-07-24]]> 1944-07-25]]> 1944-07-30]]> 1944-08-03]]> 1944-08-31]]> 1944-12-12]]> 1945-07-07]]> 1945-07-17]]> P J Hogan]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Civilian]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Sussex]]> Scotland--Edinburgh]]> Scotland--Glasgow]]> Scotland--Loch Lomond]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Sheffield]]> 1944-09-20]]> M Brook]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> David Bloomfield]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Photograph]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Cambridge]]> England--London]]> Canada]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> Ontario--London]]> England--Cumbria]]> England--Leicestershire]]> England--Herefordshire]]> England--Hereford]]> Germany]]> Germany--Hannover]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Germany--Hanau]]> Germany--Bremen]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)]]> Germany--Plauen]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Potsdam]]> Germany--Berchtesgaden]]> Netherlands]]> Netherlands--Hague]]> Ontario]]> New Brunswick]]> 1943-10-01]]> 1940]]> 1941-10]]> 1942-07]]> 1942-10]]> 1943]]> 1944-02]]> 1945-03-15]]> 1945-03-16]]> 1945-03-18]]> 1945-03-22]]> 1945-03-25]]> 1945-03-31]]> 1945-04-03]]> 1945-04-09]]> Henry Wagner]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> David Bloomfield]]> He passed through the Aircrew Reception Centre in London, Brighton, and Liverpool, Henry found himself sailing to Durban, South Africa. He tried to become a pilot but failed a test in a Tiger Moth so was placed in the Navigational Training School. He met Graham Walker while there. On 23 December 1943 Henry became a Sergeant with a Navigator’s brevet. (Navigator brevet p27).
After moving through RAF West Freugh, Scotland, Henry was then posted to the OTU RAF Abingdon to learn more complex skills in addition to lectures about the Luftwaffe, Intelligence information and ‘Escape and Evasion’. Henry crewed up at Abingdon. (Photographs of crew p 34-5). The next move was to 4 Group Training School, and this confirmed for the crew that they would be flying Halifax Mark 3 aircraft. Here lectures were ‘all good stuff’.
The penultimate move was to 1952 HCU RAF Marston Moor to learn about the Halifax Mark 3 and meet Sergeant Eric Berry, flight engineer. (Photograph p37). Henry describes the duties of the navigator, the use of the ‘Master Bomber’, some of the anti-aircraft techniques that were used in the technological war. (Photograph using of the H2S p39, pieces of the ‘Window’ radar defence p50).
Finally, they moved to RAF Snaith. There Henry took part in raids on Julich near Essen x 2, Hagen (an aborted mission), Soest, in the Ruhr Valley, Duisburg x 2, Aachen, Munster, and Osnabruck. There was a degree of acceptance that they were statistically going to die during their duties.
Henry was returning from a raid when he appraised the pilot that there was a fire onboard. The pilot to decide to abandon the aeroplane, and Henry parachuted from his plane. He landed in the garden of a domestic house and explains the contents of his evasion-pack. He was captured, moved to the Aircrew Interrogation Centre was in Oberursel and then onto Stalag Luft 7 Bankau, Silesia. Here he rejoined John Trumble with whom Henry had undergone part of his training. There was an army padre at the camp and the influence Captain John Collins had on the POWs both at Stalag Luft 7 and when the men were marching to other camps is described. They arrived at Stalag 3A, Luckenwaldwe. Henry describes Red Cross parcel, daily life there, attacks of dysentery, and ‘Goon-baiting’.
When the ‘gen’ revealed the Russians were only 12 miles from the camp, the Germans abandoned them, and RAF Wing Commander Beamont assumed command of the camp. On 22 April 1945, the Russians arrived. They refused to release the POWs, so Henry and John walked 7 miles westwards where they were met by the Americans and taken to the Reception Centre, Schonebeck.
With VE declared and de-lousing completed they were returned to RAF Wing, Aylebury. He shows the graves of his crew (photographs p 99-101).
On demobbing Henry resumed his university studies and became a teacher. He married and had children. Henry went to a Stalag Luft 7 reunion in 1982.

Claire Campbell]]>
eng]]> Text. Memoir]]> Text]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> South Africa]]> Germany]]> Kenya]]> Germany--Winterfeld]]>

Part 2, "No Problem Sport".Covers Alan Gamble's short flying history over France in 1945 before being shot down, and his experiences as a POW in southern Germany and subsequent liberation. The manuscript of Part 2 appears to be complete except for one or more pages missing about two thirds of the way through. This is at the beginning or the end of a fragment bound by metal clips, and could easily have become detached as the outside pages of some fragments' in Part 3 were also lost. It is therefore possible that only one page is missing.

Part 3. "Nil Desperandum".Covers Alan Gamble's post war experiences up to about 1963. This has not been read.

The manuscript of Part 3 is missing pages 24-86, 120 and 170, the latter two being the outside pages of bound fragments. (Page numbering here has assisted in reconstruction).

Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.





]]>
A T Gamble]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Bradbury]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Wehrmacht]]> Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe]]> Great Britain]]> England--Bedfordshire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Skegness]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Blackpool]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Norfolk]]> Wales--Gwynedd]]> Wales--Porthmadog]]> England--Cumbria]]> England--Barrow-in-Furness]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> Germany]]> Germany--Krefeld]]> Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay]]> Germany--Gelsenkirchen]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--North Friesland Region]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Italy]]> Italy--Turin]]> Germany--Peenemünde]]> Germany--Berlin]]> France]]> France--Modane]]> Germany--Kassel]]> Germany--Düsseldorf]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Jordan]]> Jordan--Amman]]> 1943-06-13]]> 1943-06-17]]> 1943-06-22]]> 1943-07-03]]> 1943-07-24]]> 1943-08-10]]> 1943-08-12]]> 1943-08-17]]> 1943-08-27]]> 1943-08-31]]> 1943-10-03]]> 1943-11-03]]> 1945-01]]> 1945-02-03]]> 1945-02-07]]>
Peter Baxter]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text. Memoir]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> Wales--Glamorgan]]> England--Staffordshire]]> Wales--Gwynedd]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Italy--Milan]]> France--La Rochelle]]> Europe--Frisian Islands]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Düsseldorf]]> Italy--Turin]]> France--Lorient]]> Germany--Bremen]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> France--Saint-Nazaire]]> Germany--Duisburg]]> Germany--Frankfurt am Main]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr]]> Germany--Wuppertal]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--Wanne-Eickel]]> Germany--Bonn]]> Germany--Paderborn]]> Italy]]> Great Britain]]> Germany]]> France]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Frances Grundy]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Poetry]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> John Horsburgh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> France]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> North Africa]]> Egypt]]> Terry Ford]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Laura Morgan]]> Tricia Marshall]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal New Zealand Air Force]]> Germany]]> Netherlands]]> Germany--Duisburg]]> Netherlands--Eindhoven]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Ken Turnham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> Germany]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> ]]> Judy Hodgson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tilly Foster]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Essex]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> Great Britain. Red Cross and St John war organisation]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Roger Dunsford]]> eng]]> Text]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Navy]]> British Army]]> Lithuania]]> Poland]]> Lithuania--Šilutė]]> Poland--Żagań]]> 1944-07]]> First page: Jim in uniform, June, young woman with child, three children (one a young boy) sitting on car, young boy and girl.
Second page: Miss June Eve 1942; Marion and Chris 1952; Wedding photograph 15 July 1944, giving names of bridesmaids (Dorothy, Joyce, Joyce, Peggy, Molly); photograph of June in hospital bed, with boy playing electric organ captioned 'Christmas Day 1961, RAF Hospital Uxbridge'. ]]>
Jim Allen]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Claire Monk]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> MAllenJH179996-160512-020002,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020003,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020004,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020005,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020006,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020007,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020008,
MAllenJH179996-160512-020009]]>
Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force. Fighter Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> Canada]]> England--Northumberland]]> Germany]]> Ireland]]> Zambia]]> Iran]]>
John Fisher]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> France]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> France--Lyon]]> France--Reims]]> Germany--Berlin]]> 1942]]> 1944]]> Cathy Brearley]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> France]]> Great Britain]]> Norway]]> Zimbabwe]]> Zimbabwe--Bulawayo]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Brian Wright]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force. Transport Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Germany]]> Germany--Mannheim]]> India]]> India--Kolkata]]> India--New Delhi]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1944]]> Adam Sutch]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Durham (County)]]> Germany--Duisburg]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1939]]> 1944]]> Andrew Sadler]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> George sailed from Liverpool to Freetown, where he enjoyed seeing sailors and WAAFs in their whites, the green landscape and the locals selling their wares. He had some free time in Durban and received great hospitality from expats but felt embarrassed by apartheid. He began flying at No. 48 Air School and here his trade changed from air observer to air bomber, so he describes the navigational support role played by air bombers. He received his brevet and while 20 of his course were sent to North Africa, he and four others returned to England. George says he went to an OCU in North Wales and then describes crewing up, going onto Lancasters and being posted to 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington.
While at Kirmington George married and his wife would come to visit, staying with a local family and making life-long friends.
George describes two memorable operations: Kiel, where he saw a Lancaster hit by falling bombs and Nuremberg, where his aircraft was coned by searchlights. He recalls how, on returning to Kirmington, the sight of the village church and a field of poppies was a beautiful welcome home and that he used to climb a hill near his billet to relax and look at the view.
At the end of the war George flew several trips on Op. DODGE and says that they flew at 2,000 feet because the passengers had no parachutes and so the aircrew did not carry them either. He also describes a visit to East Kirkby, where he was made to feel very welcome. He was asked what it was like to fly in the Lancaster and how it stood up to corkscrewing.
Sadly, George's lasting emotion of his service is of how quickly the closely-bonded crews were split up and sent back to their home countries at the war's end, often without time to exchange addresses or even say goodbye.]]>
Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Andy Fitter]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Sound]]> Germany]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Great Britain]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Abingdon]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Grimsby]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Stratford-upon-Avon]]> Sierra Leone]]> Sierra Leone--Freetown]]> South Africa]]> South Africa--Durban]]> South Africa--Port Elizabeth]]> Wales]]> Wales--Anglesey]]>
John had his commissioning interview on the same day as his wedding and joined 170 Squadron at RAF Hemswell in December 1944 where he carried out eight operations. He describes one of the eight operations to Bottrop when they were hit by anti-aircraft fire but managed to return safely.
John volunteered for the Pathfinders and was posted to 582 Squadron at RAF Little Staughton, flying Lancasters. He explains how they initially acted in a supporter role before progressing to dropping flares and markers.
John took part in Operation Manna in Rotterdam and fetched some prisoners of war from Juvincourt in France. He then went to RAF Dunkeswell where he test flew some Lancasters before returning to RAF Little Staughton from where he was demobbed. He describes the Cook’s tours he did for groundcrew and WAAFs.]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Devon]]> England--Gloucestershire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Manchester]]> England--Scarborough]]> England--Shropshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Canada]]> United States]]> New Brunswick]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> Germany]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Germany--Bottrop]]> Netherlands]]> Netherlands--Rotterdam]]>
Ian Price]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Northumberland]]> Wales]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Germany--Braunschweig]]> Germany--Magdeburg]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Augsburg]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> France]]> France--Versailles]]> Germany]]> Adam Sutch]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Scarborough]]> South Africa]]> Germany]]> Germany--Dresden]]> 1945]]> Bill was transferred to 44 Squadron based at RAF Dunholme Lodge. He tells of his operation to Harburg, which was their intended target, but they ended up over Hamburg in the middle of a bombing operation because wind had not been accounted for. Bills also recounts how his aircraft was one of the first to drop their bombs on Dresden; he contends that the city was a legitimate target and distrusts the judgement of those who did not take part to the operation. After the war, he spent time in Rhodesia and also in Pretoria, where he tells of his encounter with an Afrikaner who threatened him because of his ethnicity. After the war, Bill worked at Ampleforth College controlling stores for the catering side. After writing a war novel which he had published in a local newspaper, he then tried his hand at writing westerns with Hales Publishing. His pen name was Jim Bowden, after the place he was stationed in Canada. He also writes under the pen name of Jessica Blair, and is now on his 26th book.]]> Annie Moody]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> Germany]]> Germany--Dresden]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> South Africa]]> South Africa--Pretoria]]> Zimbabwe]]> Canada]]> Alberta]]> 1945]]>