1
25
75
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2573/44630/BUreILUreILv1.2.pdf
33ef94d4b6b42cee0b9e403dc49f120a
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
Ure, Ivan Lochlyn
I L Ure
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns Ivan Lochlyn Ure (b. 1922, 1323004 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoirs, prisoner of war log, correspondence, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 10 Squadron before he became a prisoner of war.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Tim and Heather Wright and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
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2018-08-15
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Ure, IL
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
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... just ... Chapters in a Life .. and some History
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed autobiography by Ivan Ure.
Creator
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Ivan Ure
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1997
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Isle of Wight
Norway
Scotland--Argyllshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Sussex
England--Westbourne (West Sussex)
England--London
England--Hayling Island
England--Evenley
England--Somerset
England--Blackpool
Germany
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Nuremberg
France
France--Abbeville
France--Paris
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Poland
Poland--Gdańsk
Lithuania
Lithuania--Šilutė
Lithuania--Klaipėda
Poland--Szczecin
Poland--Białogard
Poland--Pyrzyce (Powiat)
Germany--Lauenburg
Germany--Lüneburg
Germany--Rheine
England--London
Germany--Dresden
Ireland
Ireland--Dublin
Ireland--Cork
Austria
Austria--Vienna
Libya
Libya--Tripoli
Libya--Banghāzī
Egypt
Egypt--Cairo
Egypt--Jīzah
Egypt--Port Said
Kuwait
Bahrain
Iran
Iran--Tehran
Scotland--Oban
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
Polskie Siły Powietrzne
Royal Navy
Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Conforms To
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Pending text-based transcription
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Format
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140 printed sheets
Identifier
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BUreILUreILv1
Publisher
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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.
10 Squadron
4 Group
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
Blenheim
bomb aimer
Botha
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crewing up
Defiant
ditching
Dominie
Dulag Luft
entertainment
flight engineer
Goldfish Club
ground personnel
Halifax
Hampden
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hurricane
Ju 88
Lancaster
Lysander
Me 109
Me 110
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
navigator
Operational Training Unit
perception of bombing war
physical training
pilot
prisoner of war
Proctor
radar
RAF Barrow in Furness
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Cosford
RAF Hendon
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Madley
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Melbourne
RAF Padgate
RAF Sywell
RAF Uxbridge
RAF Yatesbury
Red Cross
Spitfire
sport
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 6
Stirling
the long march
training
Typhoon
Wellington
wireless operator / air gunner
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/891/17971/BLillieCFLillieCFv1.1.pdf
dbc96002e44925d39e3017c027a466a7
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
Huntley, Ronald
R Huntley
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. An oral history interview with Ronald Huntley (b. 1922, 1436327 Royal Air Force), an account of the shooting down and rescue by one of the Liberator crew, and photographs of RAF high speed launches and personnel. After service as a flight mechanic on fighter aircraft, he applied to join the Air Sea Rescue service as a engine engineer on high speed launches. He was involved in the rescue of the crew of a United States Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator shot down in the Bay of Biscay in February 1944.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ronald Huntley and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2017-10-05
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
Huntley, R
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
A SPECK OF HISTORY
FROM LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY
[photograph of Liberator]
FOR MY BRITISH SAILOR FRIEND RON HUNTLEY
WHO SAVE MY LIFE ON FEB 15, 1944
Thanks Ron – Carleton F Lillie
[page break]
BAY OF BISCAY INCIDENT
On Valentine's Day, February 14, 1944, crew 8 of U:S. Navy bombing Squadron VB-103, Fleet Air Wing 7, became engaged in aerial combat with two German fighter planes. Members of crew 8 were:
Kenneth L Wright, Lt. - pilot
Lawrence M Petersen; Lt. (jg) - pilot
Robert W. Lacey, Ens. - navigator
Carleton F. Lillie, AOM2c (AB) - bombardier - bow turret gunner
William E. Middleton; AMM1c- plane captain -top turret gunner
Robert A. Zabic, ACOM (AA) - gunner (all positions)
Richard C. McDaniel, AMM2c – waist gunner
Robert (Bob) Erdman, ARM2c – first radioman – radar operator
Thomas Ryan, ARM2c – radar operator – second radioman
Bennie Faubian, AOM2c – tail gunner
Robert M. Green, AOM3c – waist gunner
The crew members of the lead German fighter Ober Leutenant Kurt Necesany, pilot and squadron commander, Lother Clements radio operator, and Werner Rueger navigator. The Germans were flying Junkers 88s, which were long range twin engine fighters which have been converted from their original purpose as attack bombers. The JU88 carries a crew of three. We are flying a Navy PB4Y-1 “Liberator” (B24) bomber with a crew of eleven.
If this were being reported as a 10-second news bite, only these historical facts would be mentioned: “Today a U.S. Navy bomber was attacked by two German fighters. The Navy plane and one of the attackers were shot down with the loss of three crewman in each plane.” The main point would have been lost. This is not about planes; it is about human lives that are placed on the line in defense [sic] of their respective countries.
This saga, written in 1998, and revised in 2001, is based on a 57-year-old memory. Most of the events will be told in the present tense as if they were happening here and now, but you will notice that my memory and this chronicle flit back and forth between the “then” and the “now” without warning.
Before the aerial encounter, we have been searching for a German submarine down the French coast as far south as Spain. When contact with the fighters is made, we are over the Bay of Biscay, about 50 miles off the coast between Brest, France and the English Channel. We are heading north towards our base at Dunkeswell, England.
For my part, I am bombardier and bow front gunner. Never had to prove it, but I have been exposed to training that will enable me to navigate in the event our navigator becomes
1
[watermark of Liberator]
[page break]
disabled. Regardless, there are times when I can best describe myself as a-scared little boy. Knowing only this much background, you will see this conflict through my eyes as I recall it.
The narrative begins the night before the mission when I have a dream that I consider symbolically relevant. Most flyers I have known tend to be superstitious. As such, a bad dream is considered to be a bad omen. On the night before our mission, I have such a nightmare. I dream that I am walking down an abandoned street of an abandoned neighborhood [sic] in an unknown city. There is total absence of color [sic] except that everything appears pallid gray [sic] . As I walk, I am attracted to an abandoned apartment building. I enter the building and proceed from the entry up two fights of stairs to the second floor. Before me is an open door. Beyond the door is a very large room that is devoid of all furniture except one chest-of drawers. The top drawer has been pulled open and has been filled to overflowing with muddy water. A woman is in the process of drowning a naked newborn baby in the water.
Instead of interfering with her endeavor [sic] , I run to report the incident to authorities. When I reach the entrance lobby, I become confused, and instead of going out the front door, I turn at the landing and continue down the stairs to the basement. Before I can stop, I am in the center [sic] of the basement area. I am dismayed to find I am armpit deep in water and am engulfed by snakes of all sizes.
Thankfully this nightmare is interrupted by the alarm clock that is signaling [sic] us to prepare for today's mission. So, we get out of our "sacks", get dressed, and head for the chow hall. It will soon be daylight. During breakfast, someone takes a picture of our crew, then we head for the briefing room.
The pre-flight briefing covers all topics relative to our mission such as weather and an update of all current activities in the Bay including the probable path of an inbound submarine which was recently detected. While here, each of the crew is issued a small survival kit to be used in case we should somehow end up on French soil without having been captured. The kit contains a map, a couple of chocolate bars, a compass, much French paper money, and a few items for first aid. Now, off to the plane.
I can't shake the nightmare. My intuition is saying, "don't go" but the plane is too nearly ready for take-off to be grounded easily (an act I have never before even considered). Am reluctant to mention the dream to Bennie Faubian, our tail gunner, because, in my opinion, his nervous system crashed several weeks ago, and he is now flying on pure grit alone. I perceive the majority of the crew is too military minded to pay much heed to my concerns. The radiomen, Bob Erdman and Tommy Ryan, are the only two with whom I feel comfortable in sharing my dilemma. While the three of us discuss the situation. I become aware that Faubian has drifted in close enough to overhear us; so he has to be included in the conversation. Faubian immediately reminds us that we are flying 'Worry Bird `today.
2
[page break]
Because of its affinity for adversities, 'Worry Bird' is a nickname he uses to identify this particular plane.
The engines are ready to start before the four of us have developed a grounding plan. We have not been able to determine what equipment on the plane we could easily render sufficiently inoperable to force the flight to be cancelled. So, reluctantly, we climb aboard, and the plane is taxied to the runway.
To the best of my memory, this will be my 23rd mission.
Today's flight starts very much like all the missions before. As soon as we clear the English coast, all guns are test fired. Everything is go except the anxiety in my stomach. This feeling is new to me, for I have never been apprehensive about previous missions. I don't feel paranoid about this flight. but I'm not comfortable with it either.
We fly the route the briefing officer prescribed, and check out all the radar signals. Except for the turbulence in the weather front we recently encountered, our flight has been rather casual, and by this time it's late in the afternoon. We're heading north, back to the base at Dunkeswell. Now, radar is reporting a strong surface signal reflecting off an object in the distance along with two closer blips in the direction of one o'clock level. All hands look to the starboard and conclude that the two specks in the sky are German fighters.
As I watch, I am having several thoughts, three of which I will remember. The first is that the wing spans of these fighters seem too wide to be Ju88s, which I have seen before; so maybe they are Ju188s. My second thought concerns the possibility that my eyes might be blinded or (equally abhorrent) that I might lose my manhood. The third thought is temporarily interrupted.
Within a heartbeat the fighters have maneuvered into position for a gunnery run and are now within twelve hundred yards. The run is underway. There is no hesitation on their part. The planes move with precision and accuracy. These pilots are professional. Now at six hundred yards and within range of my 50-calibers, we exchange fire. I see flashes from their guns and am impressed by how slowly their tracers seem to float toward us. (Previous to this flight, I instructed the ground crew not to include any tracers in the ammunition belts scheduled for the bow turret, for they distract my attention from my gun sight.) For a few seconds, guns from our bow turret, top turret and starboard waist are all bearing on the Germans. Their lead plane displays a momentary erratic wing movement, and I'm reasonably sure he just received damaging hits.
The air is full of tracers, and it occurs to me that for every tracer I can see there are five bullets that can't be seen. I hear loud impacts as their gunfire perforates our plane. One comes much too close as it goes through the sleeve of my electric flying suit, cuts through a wool jacket, a shirt. and my long sleeved underwear. Thank God it only burns a reddish-blue
3
[page break]
crease on the inside of my wrist without cutting the skin. Sparks are flying because the electric solenoid that fires my starboard gun has just been shot loose. The solenoid was located within a foot of my ear. "Thank God" again. (I do not yet realize that my heating cord has been severed next to my leg).
Within these few seconds I have been able to fire several bursts. (A burst is usually composed of from five to twenty rounds). The Germans are now at 3:30 o'clock. Relative to me, they have slid toward the tail of our plane and beyond the turning capability of my bow turret. At this point I become a spectator. I can feel our plane vibrate as our gunners fire away and see the flashes from the German guns: I am watching tracers heading toward us and toward them from our starboard waist gun and top turret. Bill Middleton is in the top turret, but I'm not sure who is firing the starboard waist. For the next few seconds those two positions will have a clear shot with a good angle. If the Germans complete their gunnery run without breaking off, Faubian, in the tail turret, will have a chance to fire a burst or two.
Now all of our guns are quiet. The fighters' one and only run is over. My mouth is dry; I look at my hands and they are steady. I put one hand on top of my head and am surprised that I am able to feel my pulse there. I decide to align my turret with the plane because I have just had a disturbing thought. I will be able to exit this Erco ball turret [underlined] only [/underlined] if I can closely align it with both the horizontal and vertical axes of the plane. As I start the maneuver [sic] , I discover that the vertical control has apparently been shot out, but the turret has horizontal movement. So, I complete the horizontal alignment, and am excited to realize that fate arranged for the turret to be in vertical alignment before it was disabled. I will be able to get out of this trap.
During this brief encounter, my eyes have been on the fighters, but for a fleeting second, my mind drifts from reality back into my third thought that had been previously interrupted. I imagine those fellows are about my age -20 years. I’II bet we all would have been friends if we had been raised in the same neighborhood [sic] . Except for a radioman at each of our airfields no one in the world knows this DUEL is taking place. I wonder what in the ever-loving, blue-eyed hell this crazy war is REALLY about.
Some of the mechanical equipment on our plane has been devastated. At least one of their planes has met the same fate (a fact I will know for sure 54 years later). Our number one engine isn't running, and the propeller is windmilling. Something that looks like a slender stream of white smoke is trailing the number four outboard engine. Pilot Kenneth Wright instructs me to jettison our depth bombs. I comply and then abandon the bow of the plane and join those who are already in the waist section. They are Robert Lacey, Richard McDaniel, Robert Zabic, Bennie Faubian, Robert Green, and Tommy Ryan. Number four outboard engine has just stopped. All hands are ordered to get into our predetermined ditching locations. Someone instructs Ryan to go forward to his assigned position. This is the last time I will ever see my best friend and shipmate.
4
My position is to sit on the deck, facing aft, with my back tight against a thin aluminum [sic] bulkhead that separates the waist from the bomb bay. My hands clasp my knees which are drawn up tight in front of my face. I have never been one to make a public display of my religious beliefs, but I do believe in an all-powerful Creator who has the ability to control my fate and the outcome of all events. At this critical moment in my life, I am earnestly engaged in prayer. I truly expect to cross the `Great Divide' within the next few seconds. For the first time I can ever remember, I feel completely helpless.
To say that I am concerned for my safety is the understatement of a lifetime.
Has my subconscious found a sly and subtle way to console my mind, or is this a genuine manifestation? I tend to believe the latter, for I feel the presence of a being standing beside me with its hand on my shoulder. Immediately, I know I will survive this crash. – [underlined] what a relief [/underlined] !
I feel the plane bump as it ticks the top of a couple of ground swells, then the big finale as the plane and ocean collide.
What happened? I can't remember experiencing the impact, yet l am surrounded by water, I am blind, and I hear fire crackling all about me. Has some flying object hit my eyes so hard that I am in a state of shock and am unable to feel pain? If I have been hit, there must be blood in my eyes. I know what blood tastes like; so I'll touch my eyes and taste my fingers. Then I'll know for sure. As my hand reaches for my eyes. I feel a wool-lined leather helmet that is tight on my head and pushed down snugly over my eyes. I remove it, and immediately can see again - OH, HAPPY DAY - the most joyous moment of my life.
I survey my plight and quickly discern that the crackling sound of the imaginary fire is being made by metal snapping in two as the writhing sea wrenches a helpless fuselage. I am on my knees in a rear bomb bay and will soon be totally engulfed in water. The command deck is bucked up, and the bulkhead I was leaning against is missing. As I face aft, I see daylight and head that way. I comply with the training film and do not pull the toggle on my lifejacket while I am still in the plane.
Everyone who was in the waist has abandoned ship without my having seen them go. Water is halfway up the opening on the side of the waist hatch. The big life raft that we carry aboard all flights is still neatly snapped shut. It looks like a giant wiener as it randomly floats about me. I try to get it through the side hatch, but it is too slicky slick to grasp. I'll get out the starboard hatch while I still can, and then I'll try to coax the raft through from my position outside the plane.
So, I maneuver [sic] myself from the plane. Now that I'm out, it's time to inflate my lifejacket. I pull the toggle. Down I go toward the bottom of the ocean; up come air bubbles headed for the surface. My lifejacket must have gotten shredded as I climbed through that metal rubble on my way out of the bomb bay.
5
[page break]
Retrieving the raft is promptly forgotten as I see Faubian facing a gaping break in the fuselage and wildly flaying his arms about. His boot is trapped in the break, and he can't prevent going down with the plane. I approach him from his back, put my arms around his chest, and prop both my feet against the plane. With all my strength, I try to free his foot. Just then, the turbulent water causes the break to open a little., and his foot is freed.
He spins in the water and grabs me in a bear hug. I didn't realize he was so strong, and I didn't know he couldn't swim. He is frantic and Is In the process of drowning both of us. As I try to free myself from his grip, I become strangled. I can hardly breathe, much less think logically. Finally I get free of his grasp except for his iron grip on my little finger. It gets broken, but now we are separated.
The gyrations of the water move me about 50 or 60 feet to where Richard McDaniel is drifting. His lifejacket is inflated, and he is holding a small oxygen tank. When he sees that my life jacket is useless, he gives me the oxygen tank. Because I'm nearly drowned, I try to climb on top of the tank. It spins me over head down. When I surface, McDaniel slaps me with more than enough force to get my attention. He instructs me to hold the tank under my chin and stay still - I obey.
A miracle wave carries the two of us back to the plane just forward of the wing. The remainder of the survivors are with two small rubber rafts that Middleton has released from the top of the plane. Old dependable Lawrence Petersen and Bill Middleton are busy righting one of the upside-down rafts. With their help and that of Robert Lacey we all manage to get into the rafts before dark.
The sea is extremely rough with ground swells that appear to be 20 feet high; so we decide not to inflate the seats. The rafts are attached to each other with a 10-foot line. Some order is beginning to emerge from this chaos. We count heads. Erdman and Ryan are missing (never got out of the plane). To my surprise, Faubian is in a raft. How? He appears to be unconscious.
We are resigned to facing the night. The temperature is really cold. We are sitting in the bottom of rafts that are half filled with cold water. There is a canvas anchor trailing one of the rafts. When the leading raft clears the crest of a ground swell, the connecting line stretches taut as the rafts separate, and when the trailing raft clears the crest, the rafts bump together. This maneuver [sic] continues throughout the night.
Our big fur collars are turned up around our ears to protect against the wind. The trouble with this is, the collars also make good water funnels. Occasionally a curl will form on top of a ground swell, and if we are under It when it breaks, a ton of water comes down on our heads. Then the relatively warm water in our leather flying suits is flushed out and replaced with cold seawater.
6
[page break]
It is a long night. We can hear the drone of a plane above the noise of the sea. It is heading toward us, and the pilot turns his landing lights on. He continues to come our way. (I vaguely remember someone in the other raft shooting up an identification flare.) My mind is weary, and I'm not sure if the flare is fact or fancy. Anyway, he turns his lights off and veers out to sea. This incident causes me to engage in random thinking. Wonder if the sub we were trying to locate is still in this area? Wouldn't it be great if he would surface and take us prisoners! I seem to hear Grandpa saying, “If wishes were horses, beggars could ride".
Before morning, someone in our raft casually remarks that the pocket containing fishing tackle is not snapped to the raft as designed. It is upside down, the flap is open, and the fish hooks are loose among us. My imagination is off and running again. After all, we are in air inflated rafts.
Think I’ll check for hooks. Now I discover that I can't move my legs. They don't feel frozen; in fact, they have no feeling at all. I want to move my legs, but they refuse to react to instructions. So I take the hands of my companions seated on each side and place them on my chest. I still have feeling in my chest. Together, we three slide our hands down my body and place them under a knee. On signal, we all try and are able to slightly move one of my legs. We repeat the process with my other leg and then we move their legs. Now my thoughts drift to other areas.
Just remembered that I enlisted in the Navy exactly two years ago today (February 14, 1942). I left a carefree life at El Paso, Texas, High School, and within two short years I have become eligible to be a member of the'GOLDFI5H CLUB' which is first cousin to the `CATERPILLAR CLUB'. Now this is an accomplishment to strive for! (Members of the `Goldfish Club' ride their crippled plane down and ditch it in the sea; whereas members of the 'Caterpillar Club' bail out in silk parachutes and abandon their disabled plane in the air.) I'm sure all will agree that I celebrated my enlistment anniversary with a BIG SPLA5H.
It occurs to me that I have $300 worth of English ten-pound notes in my pocket. If I freeze to death the money will be worthless to me. I promise it all to the Good Lord if He will get me to dry land. (I will regret this promise a few days later, but I will be afraid to renege.)
Now the first signs of dawn appear. Someone discovers that Faubian died during the night. We meditate on this fact in silence. My mind flashes back to that dream I had just before our mission began; did it really portend things to come? I contemplate the deaths of my three good and loyal friends. (This train of thought will be renewed a few days later when the film of our last breakfast is developed. Erdman, Ryan, and Faubian are out of focus, but my image on the picture is sharp and clear. What, if any, importance should I give to this fact?) Did my subconscious mind have reason to make me apprehensive about going on this flight? It has been a long, cold night and the volume and diversity of my thoughts defy description. Before long we hear a plane, and I recover from my daze.
7
As it comes nearer, we recognize the plane to be a Sunderland - a British flying boat. The time Is probably 7 or 8 a.m. We signal to him, but he never sees us. Within an hour another Sunderland flies near us on his patrol south, We signal with stainless steel mirrors; but he just keeps going: Soon we see a third one heading directly toward us. This Sunderland circles and comes over us within 30 feet of the water. His crew waves and throws us a big round life raft with canned water in its survival kit. Our spirits skyrocket.
The Sunderland continues to circle within a mile radius until it is relieved by a U.S. Navy PBY 'Catalina' and three fighter planes. The Sunderland that first found us makes one more pass, dips alternate wing tips, and continues on his mission south. After one low run, the fighters move up in altitude to about 3 or 4 thousand feet and fly a big circle around us. We conclude that they have been sent here to prevent our being picked up by the Germans or the French. The PBY comes in over us low and slow with its engines making a popping and cracking sound as if each revolution will be its last: My friends Murrel Tittle and Mono Edwards are waving from the port blister.
"Pete" - Lt. Lawrence Peterson (the leader of our cheering squad) exclaims, "God bless him, that it ‘Whiskey' (Lt, Charles Willis). He has an old familiar flying boat; let’s pray he doesn't commit suicide by trying to land out here in these mountain sized waves". We are all aware that Lt. Willis has a reputation to uphold; so none of us would be foolish enough to bet against his trying to do anything, anywhere, at any time.
More planes are arriving on the scene - two of our Liberators and another fighter or two. With us now are two Liberators, one PBY and three or four fighters. I note that the insignias on the fighters indicate that they represent different countries. One of the Liberators is coming in only a few feet above the crest of the ground swells and heading almost directly toward us.
As it passes over us; l recognize George Moore leaning out from the port waist hatch and waving with both hands. We can hear him yell, "McDaniel", above the roar of the plane's engines and the noise of the sea; We know that George is `Slim's" (Richard McDaniel’s) best friend. "HoId onto something George." The fact that he hasn’t already fallen out of the plane is a big surprise. Someone in the other raft volunteers a personal observation, "That outfit belongs to Lt. Chet Rief and Lt. Bruce Higginbotham: The entire crew from Chet and Bruce on down is just like George - long on nerve and short on caution " I know that observation fits George Moore and Dave Offrell, and there is no reason for me to doubt that it applies to the rest of the crew.
Here comes the other Navy Liberator (PB4Y-1): It is just a little too high for me to recognize the three fellows in the waist hatch, but Lt Ken Wright is positive that Lt. Gus Binnebose is waving from the cockpit window. Regardless, we are gratified to know that our comrades are concerned about us and are doing all they can to ensure our rescue.
8
The planes seem to circle for hours. Who knows how long; our watches have not worked since they were filled with salt water. Finally the planes all streak away over the horizon. Within a few moments, they come back. They are flying low and come directly over us. They circle back and repeat their performance. They have spotted the rescue boat and are directing it to our location.
When we are on top of a wave, we can see what appears to be an overgrown PT boat heading our way. It is soon alongside us. A big British sailor reaches down, lifts me out of the raft, and carries me to the deck below. He supplies all the effort it takes to change from my cold, wet flying gear to warm, dry pajamas [sic] . I can't stand alone, and am not much help to him.
Bunks attached to a bulkhead are stacked several high. I try to get into the lower one alone. Even though it is only 4 inches above the deck, I can't get in without assistance. When we are all secure in our bunks, the ship's crew gives us some hot rum. I was told that the rum was spiked with a sleeping potion, so we wouldn't feel the pain of thawing out. That rum is the last I remember before I awake to find we are about to be unloaded at a British port.
We are taken from the boat to (what appears to be) a British military hospital. I report that a vertebra in my neck feels as if it is fractured. The doctors Ignore my concerns without ever taking an x-ray. (I will find out 50 years later, when arthritis occurs, that a vertebra really was fractured.) We are all treated for severe frostbite, exposure and abrasions, and within a couple of days we are released from the hospital.
Those British sailors risked their lives by going deep into no-man's-territory to rescue us. I will always appreciate them and admire their valor [sic] . I am especially appreciative of the big fellow who carried me from the raft. (I weighed 120 pounds soaking wet.) My thoughts at the time were only of getting dry and warm, but he was sensitive enough to perceive that in the future I might want a token remembrance of the event. So, after I was in dry pajamas [sic] , he picked up my wet leather flying suit and cut the section out of the sleeve that surrounded the bullet hole. He told me that some day I might want to show my children how close they came to not being here.
A tiny segment of my life has just been related. The time span was less than 36 hours, and only three minutes were assigned to actual battle. But, as a result of events that happened during that short encounter, three Americans and three Germans died: Robert Erdman, Tommy Ryan, and Bennie Faubian, -- Werner Rueger, Kurt Necessany, and Lother Clements.
~ ~
Members of crew 8 never flew as a unit again. Some of us flew two or three more missions with other established VB-103 crews before we were sent back to the States.
9
After a few weeks of stateside duty at Elizabeth City, North Carolina word began to circulate that Commander Brewer and Lt. Commander Rand had been selected to organize (or reorganize) VB-107. I, along with Murrel Tittle and Russell Millard (all three from VB-103), arranged an appointment with Lt. Cdr. Rand. He immediately accepted us as the first three members of his crew. After a few weeks at the Naval Air Station, Boca Chico, Florida. the squadron was sent to Upottery, England. We continued to fly in the Bay of Biscay and to blockade France until the last day of the war in Europe. According to my account, I flew a total of 53 missions from England with VB-103 and VB-107. And, the only souvenirs I have from these four years I flew with the Naval Air Force are the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, an Air Medal with a Gold Star, and the Navy Unit Citation.
As a point of reference, I flew in the same Wing with Joseph `Joe" Kennedy, Jr. At that time in history, his brother Jack had not yet become the President of the United States. So, to us, Joe was just another fellow flier who took his chances in defense [sic] of our country, and was unlucky enough to get killed. But then, exactly half of the original members of VB103 were also killed in action.
Until recently. the account of this story was just a fragmented array of memory flashes. Mr. Edward B. “Buck” Cummings encouraged me to record the event just as I personally saw and felt the trauma as it was happening. Mr. Cummings also provided me pictures of the Germans that had been given to him by Mr. Chris Goss, the author of the book “BLOODY BISCAY”. This brief portion of history is in exact accord with the memory of one who has been fortunate enough to reach the carefree age of seventy-seven.
It would be remiss for me not to remember the stoic British people at St. Eval, Dunkeswell, and Upottery. I mention only these three locations, but in my mind, they are representative of all the neighboring [sic] towns and villages that befriended a bunch of young and spirited American flying sailors.
~ ~
I am appreciative of the constructive criticism provided by my son Scott and the research done by my daughter Ann Lillie Chess.
[signature]
Carleton F. Lillie June 8, 2001
1303 Caldwell Mountain Rd.
Hot Springs. NC 28743 s
TEL. (828) 622-7616
e-mail cliilie@madison.maln.nc.us
[photograph]
10
[page break]
A British air-sea rescue craft has ventured deep into no-man's-territory to rescue the survivors of crew 8 who are in the three rubber rafts. We will always appreciate those sailors and admire their valor [sic] [photograph]
[photograph]
Crew 8 of U.S. Navy Bombing Squadron VB-103
Fleet Air Wing Seven ~ Dunkeswell, England
Crew 8 - Upper L. to R
Carleton Lillie
Robert Zabic
Kenneth Wright
Lawrence Petersen
Robert Lacey
Lower - L. to R.
Richard McDaniel
William(Bill) Middleton
Bennie Faubian
Thomas Ryan
Robert Erdman
[arrow]
Ryan Erdman
[photograph]
As a result of events that happened during a three minute aerial duel, three Americans and three Germans died in defense [sic] of their respective countries.
[photograph]
Faubian
[photograph]
Clements Necesany Rueger
Above - L, to R
Thomas Ryan
Robert Erdman
Bennie Faubian
Left -- L. to R.
Lothar Clements
Kurt Necesany
Warner Rueger
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
A speck of history from long ago and far away
Description
An account of the resource
Account of the operation to locate a German submarine and shooting down of a United States Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator by a Ju 88 in February 1944. Author is the nose gunner/bomb aimer and describes the operation, attack by fighters, ditching, escape to dinghies, loss of crew members, survival and rescue by RAF Air Sea Rescue launch. Air-to-air view of a Liberator over the sea on the cover. On page 10 a three quarter length portrait of a man in United States Navy uniform. On the last page top right a air to ground view of a high speed launch. Left top 10 aircrew in two rows captioned 'crew 8 of U.S, Navy Bombing Squadron VB-103 Fleet Air Wing Seven, Dunkeswell, England'. Middle left - two aircrew squatting down captioned 'Ryan and Erdman'. Right middle - an aircrew standing behind a gun turret, captioned 'Faubian'. Bottom left - three aircrew in front of an aircraft, captioned 'Clemente, Necesany, Rueger' Caption at bottom of page 'Above - L to R Thomas Ryan, Robert Erdman, Bennie Faubian, Left - L to R Lother Clements, Kurt Necesany, Werner Rueger'.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
C F Lillie
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2001-06-08
Format
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Twelve page photocopied document with photographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLillieCFLillieCFv1
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Devon
England--Honiton
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
United States
North Carolina--Hot Springs
North Carolina
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02-14
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Peter Bradbury
air sea rescue
B-24
ditching
Ju 88
RAF Dunkeswell
shot down
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1560/35630/BMillingtonRWestonFv1.2.pdf
8f0a70969cd59c55fef62f5a0d5a383d
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Weston, Fred
F Weston
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
2016-11-13
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
Weston, F
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Fred Weston DFC (1916 - 2012, 126909 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 101 and 620 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Catherine Millington and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Air Gunner
Based around the WWII service of Fred Weston DFC RAFVR
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Fred. In addition it includes histories of aircraft and squadrons he served in, Details are included of airfields he served at. Additionally there are biographies of various servicemen associated with Fred's squadrons and service.
At the end there is a biography of the officer in charge of Arnhem, Lt-Gen Sir Frederick Browning and his wife Daphne du Maurier.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Roger Millington
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005-01
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridge
England--Letchworth
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Penrhos
Egypt--Heliopolis (Extinct city)
Singapore
France--Cherbourg
Netherlands--Eindhoven
France--Brest
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Dunkerque
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
France--Brest
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Berlin
Italy--Turin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Quiberon
France--Boulogne-Billancourt
Germany--Essen
France--Le Creusot
Germany--Leverkusen
France--Caen
Netherlands--Arnhem
Norway
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Belgium--Brussels
England--Rochester (Kent)
Northern Ireland--Belfast
England--Longbridge
France--Arras
England--Darlington
Italy--Genoa
England--Longbridge
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Europe--Frisian Islands
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Nuremberg
Italy--Sicily
France--Normandy
Netherlands--Arnhem
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Netherlands--Nijmegen
Wales--Pwllheli
England--Yorkshire
England--Leicester
England--Sunderland (Tyne and Wear)
Scotland--Edinburgh
England--Rochford
England--London
England--Cornwall (County)
Scotland--Ayr
England--Friston (East Sussex)
England--Gravesend (Kent)
England--West Malling
England--Hailsham
England--Yelverton (Devon)
England--Bentwaters NATO Air Base
England--Great Dunmow
England--Heacham
England--Weybridge
Wales--Hawarden
England--Blackpool
England--Old Sarum (Extinct city)
England--Kent
England--Folkestone
England--Hambleton (North Yorkshire)
England--York
Scotland--Scottish Borders
England--Cambridge
England--Thurleigh
England--Darlington
England--Hitchin
England--Lancashire
Italy
France
Egypt
Germany
Belgium
Netherlands
Great Britain
Yemen (Republic)
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Bedfordshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Durham (County)
England--Sussex
England--Essex
England--Herefordshire
England--Norfolk
England--Suffolk
England--Surrey
England--Wiltshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Leicestershire
England--Swindon (Wiltshire)
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
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Air Force. Fighter Command
British Army
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Free French Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
85 sheets
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BMillingtonRWestonFv1
1 Group
100 Group
101 Squadron
103 Squadron
105 Squadron
114 Squadron
139 Squadron
141 Squadron
148 Squadron
149 Squadron
162 Squadron
1657 HCU
1665 HCU
18 Squadron
180 Squadron
2 Group
208 Squadron
214 Squadron
239 Squadron
3 Group
301 Squadron
304 Squadron
342 Squadron
6 Group
6 Squadron
620 Squadron
7 Squadron
75 Squadron
8 Group
9 Squadron
90 Squadron
97 Squadron
99 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
B-24
B-25
bale out
Beaufighter
Blenheim
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
Boston
Caterpillar Club
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
ditching
evading
final resting place
Gee
Gneisenau
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Horsa
Hurricane
Ju 87
killed in action
Lancaster
Lysander
Manchester
Me 109
Meteor
mid-air collision
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
propaganda
radar
RAF Bicester
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Bottesford
RAF Bourn
RAF Bradwell Bay
RAF Bramcote
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Coltishall
RAF Drem
RAF Driffield
RAF Duxford
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Evanton
RAF Fairford
RAF Finningley
RAF Great Massingham
RAF Halfpenny Green
RAF Harwell
RAF Hendon
RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
RAF Honington
RAF Hornchurch
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Kenley
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Leconfield
RAF Leuchars
RAF Linton on Ouse
RAF Little Snoring
RAF Ludford Magna
RAF Manston
RAF Marham
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Newmarket
RAF Newton
RAF North Luffenham
RAF Oakington
RAF Penrhos
RAF Pershore
RAF Ridgewell
RAF Shepherds Grove
RAF Sleap
RAF Stradishall
RAF Tangmere
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tilstock
RAF Tuddenham
RAF Waterbeach
RAF West Raynham
RAF Woodbridge
RAF Wratting Common
RAF Wyton
Resistance
Scharnhorst
Special Operations Executive
Spitfire
Stirling
target indicator
Tiger force
training
Typhoon
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2086/34535/SWeirG19660703v070002.2.jpg
1360dec704fa368b83673ae0c9edacce
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
Weir, Greg. Britt, Leo
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. Collection concerns Flt Lt Leo Britt (Royal Australian Air Force). A Halifax pilot, he flew operations on 462 Squadron between November 1944 and April 1945. Collection contains his log book and a list of aircraft lost on 192 and 462 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-04-26
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Weir, G
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
15
[underlined] AIRCRAFT LOSSES, ACCIDENTS.
HALIFAX. 192 Squadron. [/underlined]
LW626 27 Mar 44, Ditched off Cromer, Pilot P/O Melville, Five bodies found.
LK780 6 Apr 44, Crashed on take off Foulsham, F/S Hicken, crew unhurt.
LW622 24/25 Apr 44, Missing on ops to Karlsrure, [sic] F/O C.W. Crowdy.
MZ564? 27/28 Apr 44, Landed on top of Mosquito on runway no casualties.
MZ570 3/4 May 44, Failed to return ops Troyes, F/S Gibson.
MZ501 24/25 May 44, Failed to return ops Aachen, F/S Hicken.
LW621 4/5 Jul 44, Failed to return SOE ops Paris, F/S Thompson.
MZ638 12 Jul 44, Overshoot crashed Foulsham making 3 eng landing crew OK.
MZ795 18 Nov 44, Crashed Gt Ryburgh caught fire on ret from op crew safe.
MZ806 21/22 Nov 44, Failed to return ops to Aschaffenburg, W/O Harrison.
MZ717 30 Nov 44, Belly landed Manston on 3 eng, F/O Irvine, Repaired.
MZ817 9 Dec 44, Crashed on take off Foulsham, F/O Irvine, crew unhurt.
MZ449 23/24 Feb 45, Failed to return ops to Pforzheim.
NA241 23/24 Feb 45, “ “ “ “ .
MZ342 8/9 Feb 45, Mid air collision with Lanc off Denmark, F/S Butler.
MZ852 12 Feb 45, Crashed into gliders when making 2 eng landing at Greenham Common, P/O Worrad, 2 slight inj,
LV955 4 Mar 45, Attacked by German intruder on return from ops near Foulsham crash landed and caught fire at Fulmodeston Pilot F/O Roberts and Sgt Sutcliffe both badly injured survived the crash.
NR180 6 Mar 45, Failed to return from ops to Chemnitz, F/Lt Irvine.
MZ932 7 Mar 45, Dam by fighter attacks Crash land Rosieres Mosells 1 inj.
LW623 12/13 Aug 44, Flak dam return on 3 eng land W Raynham, F/O Sanders.
LK782 12/13 Aug 44, Dam flak and 3 JU88 3 crew inj W/O Walsh, Ret base.
[underlined] 462 Squadron. [/underlined]
MZ447 24/25 Feb 45, Failed to return ops to Rhur, F/Lt Rate.
MZ448 “ “ “ “ “ , F/Lt Ridgell?,
MZ461 “ “ “ “ “ , F/O Ely.
PN429 “ “ “ “ “ , W/O Oliver.
MZ469 6 Jan 45, Failed to return ops Germany, P/O Rohrlach.
MZ370 8/9 Mar 45, “ “ “ Dortmund, F/Lt James.
NA240 10/11 Apr 45, “ “ “ Leipzig, P/O Ball.
MZ467 16/17 Apr 45, “ “ “ Augsburg, F/O Lodder.
RG384 13 Mar 45, Flak dam ops Frankfurt, Emg landing France, P/O Paltridge.
RG432 14 Apr 45, Dam on ops forced landing airstrip Liege F/O Anderson.
LL598 14 Jan 45, Engine fire crashed nr Letton Hall Nflk, P/O Astell.
MZ402 11 Feb 45, Crashed on landing Foulsham.
MZ479 7 Feb 45, Crash landed eng fire Hethel ret from ops.
NR284 17 Apr 45, Forced landed in field Beetley Nflk Two engs fire.
[underlined] WELLINGTON. 192 Squadron. [/underlined]
HE233 19 Mar 44, X, Missing on ops, Sgt Ford.
- - - 2 Dec 43, E, Overshoot on landing Fourlsham dam crew OK, F/O Roach.
- - - 4 Jul 44, A, Forced landed in cornfield Wood Norton, crew unhurt.
- - - 16 Aug 44, -, Crashed on landing Foulsham caught fire one injury.
LP345? 10 Nov 44, G, Belly landed Foulsham, Pilot Heathcote.
[underlined] MOSQUITO. 192 Squadron. [/underlined]
DZ377 27/28 Apr 44, When landing Foulsham Halifax landed on top of it.
DK327 28 Jun 44, Attacked by another Mosquito over France seriously damaged crash landed Friston on return.
DZ535 23 Sep 44, Single eng belly landing Craymere Briston Nflk, Pilot F/Lt Clark, Nav F/O Dobson both injured released from aircraft by local housewife with carving knife.
DZ292 26/27 Nov 44, Failed to return from ops, P/O Fisher, F/Lt Vinnell.
DZ405 27 Aug 44, “ “ “ “ , W/O Pearn, F/S Foster.
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
Aircraft losses, accidents
Description
An account of the resource
List of Halifax, Wellington and Mosquito aircraft lost from 192 and 462 Squadrons from December 1943 to April 1945. Gives aircraft registration, date, description of incident, some with captain named.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--Cromer
Germany
Germany--Karlsruhe
France--Troyes
Germany--Aachen
France--Paris
England--Kent
Germany--Pforzheim
Denmark
England--Berkshire
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Belgium
Belgium--Liège
France
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page typewritten document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWeirG19660703v070002
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
Tricia Marshall
192 Squadron
462 Squadron
anti-aircraft fire
crash
ditching
Halifax
killed in action
mid-air collision
missing in action
Mosquito
RAF Foulsham
RAF Manston
RAF West Raynham
shot down
take-off crash
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2243/40785/PWickhamHW19010012.2.jpg
9bcad65d7852a9840c1e5f60430d8c22
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
Wickham, Harry William
Wickham, HW
Description
An account of the resource
23 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Harry William Wickham (b. 1919, 124631 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, a biography, service records and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 102 Squadron.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lynne Parry and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-06-29
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wickham, HW
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
Airmen and newspaper cutting
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - full length image of an airman wearing battledress standing in long grass with a single story hut in the background. Captioned 'Mike'.
Bottom left - three-quarter length image of an airman wearing tunic and smoking a cigarette. Trees in the background.
Bottom centre - full length image of an airman wearing tunic with pilot's brevet and side cap with trees behind. Captioned 'The glorious Riccall surroundings'.
Right - newspaper cutting headline '101 airmen saved from North, Halifax "persuade foreign trawler"'. Account of air-sea rescues in North Sea.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three b/w photographs and one newspaper cutting
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PWickhamHW19010012
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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Is Part Of
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Wickham, Harry William. Album
air sea rescue
aircrew
B-17
bombing
ditching
ground personnel
Halifax
pilot
RAF Riccall
Walrus
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2563/44428/MParryWE1172401-220531-06.1.pdf
d7b2535d59dc5249b5da2b66d602bece
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Parry, William Edward
Parry, W E
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer William Edward Parry DFC (1912 - 1996, 1177401 Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 9 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frances Lee and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-05-31
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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Parry, WE
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Title
A name given to the resource
Andover's Lancasters
Description
An account of the resource
A lecture given to Andover's Archaeology and Local History Society on 23 February 1996.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-02-23
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Andover
Germany
Germany--Essen
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Nuremberg
France
France--Paris
Germany--Munich
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Italy
Italy--La Spezia
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Poland
Germany--Braunschweig
England--Great Yarmouth
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
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Eight printed sheets
Identifier
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MParryWE1172401-220531-06
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
156 Squadron
44 Squadron
50 Squadron
617 Squadron
9 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
crash
ditching
flight engineer
Grand Slam
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
military discipline
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Bardney
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF hospital Rauceby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
Spitfire
take-off crash
Tallboy
Tirpitz
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1825/33680/SBrennanJ1210913v20002-0006.1.jpg
c4a3a72f3a81b20bfb1ac85254deb9ad
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Title
A name given to the resource
Brennan, Jack
John Brennan
J Brennan
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
2017-04-05
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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Brennan, J
Description
An account of the resource
Twenty-four items.
The collection concerns Sergeant John Brennan DFM (1210913 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book as well as documents including a Goldfish Club certificate, notes from station and squadron operational record book with details of activities and operations, memoirs, newspaper cuttings and correspondence. In addition, contains operation order and other details for 617 Squadron's attack of German dams on 16/17 May 1943.
He flew operations as a wireless operator with 102 and 35 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by T Noble and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Certificate on ditching and dinghy drill
Description
An account of the resource
Certifies that J Brenna had been instructed and fully understood ditching process and dinghy drill.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-03-12
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-03-12
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
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One page typewritten document
Identifier
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SBrennanJ1210913v20002-0006
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
ditching
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1313/19048/PStachiewiczM17010029.2.jpg
9b4b01251c9f2028819c079237ab9eb6
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Title
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Stachiewicz, Mieczysław. Album
Description
An account of the resource
58 items. An album of photographs, newspaper clippings and papers relating to Mieczysław Stachiewicz's escape from Poland through Romania, Greece, and France to Great Britain, and his tour of operations as a pilot with 301 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. The album also contains photographs of his friends and family.
These items were digitised by a third-party using technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.
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
2017-01-19
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Stachiewicz, M
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Chart of Central England
Description
An account of the resource
A chart of central England used for navigation. It is annotated with navigational fixes. The position of a dinghy is marked with the date 23/6/42.
In the top corner is a photograph of an airman in the cockpit of his aircraft.
There is a yellow post it with 'Nad celem' [Over the target].
Format
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One printed map and one b/w photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
pol
Type
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Map
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PStachiewiczM17010029
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
Polskie Siły Powietrzne
Publisher
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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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06-23
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mieczysław Stachiewicz
aircrew
ditching
navigator
pilot
RAF Hemswell
RAF Wyton
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1878/35267/SSoltysiakB781032v20004.2.jpg
0ac4e0834dcec14f162942baf55f3e6a
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Soltysiak, Bronislaw
B Soltysiak
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
2017-06-22
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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Soltysiak, B
Description
An account of the resource
230 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Bronislaw Soltysiak (1916 - 1987, 781032 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book documents, brevet, button and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 305 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Malcom Soltysiak and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took off at 22.23 hrs from Lindholme to attack Essen as part of a 254 aircraft bombing raid (167 Wellington’s, 43 Hampden’s, 18 Stirlings, 10 Manchester’s and 8 Halifax’s). The raid was hampered by cloud over Essen and the bombing force became scattered. They suffered heavily from the Ruhr flak defences with 14 aircraft lost. A total of 60 aircrew were killed and a further 19 being made POW’s. The raid was a failure with very light damage to the target area. 12 houses were destroyed and 7 people on the ground killed and 30 injured.
Wellington W5519 SM-U was seriously damaged by German night fighters over the Dutch coast. (No night fighter claims could be found for this loss) But the crew managed to return to England and eventually ditched at 03.10 hrs in the North Sea some 4 mies [sic] off Cromer, Norfolk. They were all rescued by trawler from their dingy [sic] and then picked up by the Cromer lifeboat the H.F. Bailey after being launched at 03.58 hrs. and returned. Some required hospital treatment but all survived this crash. It has not been established if they remained inside the aircraft during ditching or they jumped. Research ongoing.
[black and white photograph of the six aircrew of Wellington W5519 SM-U standing in front of the aircraft]
Above and below crew standing in front of Wellington W5519 SM-U (Courtesy Chris Mackey)
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Crew of Wellington W5519 SM-U and description of operation to Essen
Description
An account of the resource
Report on operation to Essen by 254 aircraft, 14 aircraft lost and 60 aircrew killed. Gives account of Wellington W5519 SM-U which was damaged and forced to ditch. All crew were rescue by Cromer lifeboat, At the bottom, a photograph of six aircrew wearing flying jackets standing in front of a Wellington.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Essen
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--Cromer
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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
Polskie Siły Powietrzne
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Typewritten document and b/w photograph
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
C Mackey
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SSoltysiakB781032v20004
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
305 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
ditching
Hampden
killed in action
Stirling
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/759/17820/MCruickshankG629128-150428-290001.1.jpg
fbeda6f2be3dd088d1493bcaa75362cb
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/759/17820/MCruickshankG629128-150428-290002.1.jpg
e4c9fbd3a444ba48dc93120d19acc4ac
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cruickshank, Gordon
G Cruickshank
Description
An account of the resource
76 items. Concerns the life and wartime career of Flight Lieutenant Gordon Cruickshank DFM who joined the Royal Air Force in 1938. After training as an air gunner he flew 52 operations on Manchester and Lancaster with 50, 560 and 44 Squadrons. Collection consists of a 1956 memoir with original photographs donated separately, a memoir of his life on squadron from December 1941, his logbooks. a further notebook with memoir, playing cards annotated with his operations, official documents, lucky mascots, medals and badges, dog tags, memorabilia, crew procedures, as well as photographs of aircraft, targets and people.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Linda Hinman and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
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
2015-04-28
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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Cruickshank, G
Access Rights
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Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] CREW PROCEDURE [/underlined]
DITCHING STATIONS
PILOT
In Pilot’s seat at controls. Safety harness secured
Plugged on i/c to F/E and M/U/G
FLIGHT ENGINEER
Seated on floor aft of main spar, centrally next to Nav. back against the bulkhe add[sic] door, braced, with legs well bent supporting A/B’s back, hands clasped behind head plugged in on i/c.
NAVIGATOR
Seated on floor aft of front main spar, to starboard, back against bulkhead door. Braced with legs well bent supporting F/E’s back, hands clasped be[missing letters] head.
W/OPERATOR
Seated at W/OP’s seat. Safety harness secured. Parachute pack against W/T set. Braced with right hand gripping strengthening post and left hand against supports. (convenient)
AIR BOMBER
Seated on floor aft of front spar, back against Nav’s and F/E’s knees. Braced with feet against rear main spar and hands clasped behind head.
M-UPPER GUNNER
Seated on floor aft of rear main spar, to port, facing aft, back against rear main spar, feet on flap jack, and hands clasped behind head. Plugged in on i/c.
REAR GUNNER
Seated on floor aft of rear main spar, to starboard facing atf back against rear main spar, braced with feet against flap jack and hands clasped behind head.
EXITS AND ORDER OR FEAVING AIRCRAFT.
PILOT
First through cockpit roof hatch.
FLIGHT ENGINEER
Second through mid-upper escape hatch.
NAVIGATOR
Third through mid-upper escape hatch.
W/OPERATOR
Second through cockpit roof hatch.
AIR BOMBER
First through m-upper escape hatch.
M-UPPER GUNNER
Fourth through mid-upper escape hatch.
REAR GUNNER
Fifth through mid-upper escape hatch.
ORDER OF BOARDING DINGHIES.
PILOT
Last (4th.) into “J” type dinghy
FLIGHT ENGINEER
1st. into “H” type dinghy.
NAVIGATOR
3rd. into “H” type dinghy.
W/OPERATOR
Second into “J” type dinghy.
AIR BOMBER
First into “J” type dinghy.
M-UPPER GUNNER
Second into “H”type dinghy.
REAR GUNNER
Third into “J” type dinghy.
ACTION BEFORE DITCHING.
PILOT
[a] Orders “Dinghy, Dinghy” prepare for ditching and flashes D.D.D. on call light. Gives estimated time before ditching. Reduces speed, lowers flaps 1/3, jettisons bombs and fuel. Checks security of safety harness. Undoes Parachute harness, Checks radio drill is being carried out. Give Distress call on R/T. Calls out heights to crew.
[b][blank]
[c] Warns W/OP “Ditching imminent” by flashing on call light, calls out heights, switches on landing lights as necessary. Warns crew “Brace Brace” (Disconnects i/c).
FLIGHT ENGINEER
[a] Acknowledges “F/E ditching”. Removes parachute harness. Assists pilot when necessary. Jettisons cockpit roof cover.
[b] Moves aft following A/B to ditching station taking K dinghy and/or parachute. plugs in on i/c and takes up ditching position. Partially inflate “Mae West”.
[c] Shouts “Brace Brace” on receiving instructions from pilot. (Disconnects i/c.) Braces.
NAVIGATOR
[a] [underlined] DITCHING PROCEDURE [/underlined]
Acknowledges/”Nav ditching”. Warns W/OP Passes W/S and D to pilot. Passes distress message to W/OP.
[b] Removes Parachute harness Follows F/E aft to ditching station taking K dinghy and/or parachute. Closes and secures bulkhead door. Takes up ditch position. Partially inflates “Mae West”.
[c] Braces.
W/OPERATOR
[a] Acknowledges “W/OP ditching” Carries out appropriate Distress procedure. Checks security of Safety harness. Gives ext. Lead to A/B. Removes parachute harness.
[b] Continuous distress procedure. partially inflates “Mae West”.
[c] Transmit aircraft [missing letters]s. clamps key. Disconnects i/c) Places parachute back against W/T set. Braces.
AIR BOMBER
[a] Acknowledges “A/B ditching”. Removes parachute harness. checks parachute emergency exit is secure. Moves aft taking “K” dinghy and/or parachute. Takes axe. Helps W/OP to secure safety harness. Places a parachute pack within easy reach of W/OP. Takes ext. lead from W/OP and passes it to M/U/G. Jettisons mid-upper escape hatch cover.
[b] Takes up ditching position partially inflates “Mae West”.
[c] Braces.
M-UPPER GUNNER
[a] Acknowledges “M/U/G ditching”. Rotates turret pointing guns aft. Leaves turret and removes safety harness. moves to ditching station taking “K” dinghy and/or parachute and takes ext. lead from A/B
[b] Establishes i/c with pilot. Takes up ditching position partially inflates “Mae West”.
[c] Shouts “Brace Brace” on receiving instructions from the pilot. (Disconnects i/c). Braces.
REAR GUNNER
[a] Acknowledges “R/G ditching”. Leaves turret and removes parachute harness. Takes “K”dinghy and/or parachute to D position.
[b] Takes up ditching position partially inflates “Mae West”.
[c] Braces.
[page break]
ACTION IMMEDIATELY AIRCRAFT COMES TO REST AFTER DITCHING.
PILOT
Releases safety harness. Leaves a/c. Inflates “Mae West”. Moves along fuselage top to starboard wing and supervises. Throws “K” dinghy packs and parachute packs into dinghies. When all crew have boarded the dinghies boards “J” dinghy himself and gives order to cut painter. Casts off.
FLIGHT ENGINEER
Follows A/B out of A/C throwing out “K” pack and parachute pack. Inflates “Mae West”. Receives “H” dinghy valise from Nav. and throws it into the water. Checks inflation. Assists where necessary. Boards “H” dinghy and stands by to cut painter.
NAVIGATOR
Removes “H” type dinghy valise from stowage and hands to F/E. throws out packs and leaves after F/E. inflates “Mae West”. Rece[missing letters] No. 6 supply pack from M/U/G and p[missing letters] it to F/E. Boards “H” dinghy and c[missing letters] for leaks.
W/OPERATOR
Releases safety harness and follows pilot out of aircraft. Inflates “Mae West” moves along fuselage to starboard wing. Boards J dinghy, Checks dinghy radio and emergency pack from stowage.
AIR BOMBER
Throws out lifeline to starboard through mid-upper escape hatch. Leaves A/C with axe. Inflates “Mae West” goes on to starboard wing and assists J dinghy from stowage. Boards J dinghy and checks equipment in and looks for leaks. Stands by to cut painter.
M-UPPER GUNNER
Removes No. 6 pack from stowage and passes it up to Nav. Leaves a/c after Nav throwing out “K” and parachute packs. Boards “K” dinghy. Assists where necessary.
REAR GUNNER
Operates dinghy manual release Follows M/U/g out of a/c, throwing “K” a[missing letters] parachute pack[missing letters] as possible.
Inflates “Mae West”. Boards “J” Dinghy.
Assists where necessary.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Crew procedures for ditching
Description
An account of the resource
Procedures for all seven crew positions for ditching stations, exit and order of leaving aircraft, order of boarding dinghies, actions before ditching and action immediately aircraft comes to halt after ditching.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four 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
MCruickshankG629128-150428-29
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
ditching
Goldfish Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/17014/PCheshireGL1819.1.jpg
63d2ea6d01657082b47e2c7f55b500b9
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1252/17014/PCheshireGL1820.1.jpg
6ed893dd17cd93ddec61fcdc5ede023b
Dublin Core
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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
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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
Dinghy drill
Description
An account of the resource
A group of aircrew wearing tunic and side or peaked caps standing looking into a swimming pool where a rubber dingy is floating. Reported to be possibly 102 Squadron. On the reverse 13.08.40 No. 4. Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-08-13
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCheshireGL1819, PCheshireGL1820
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
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.
102 Squadron
aircrew
ditching
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/24334/MFordTA1585520-170411-22.2.jpg
a9fc063bbd5e487751b5b348070b8386
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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2017-03-13
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
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Ford, T
Access Rights
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Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] FOOTNOTES [/underlined}
When Pilot is Captain.
(1) [underlined] Captain [/underlined] When a member of the Crew other than the Pilot is Captain, he will give the executive “Dinghy Dinghy” etc. or instruct the Pilot to do so. From this stage, crew members carry out the drill according to their Aircrew Category.
(2) [underlined] Interchange of Drills [/underlined] Whilst all Aircrew members are required to be familiar with each others duties, those of the Rear and Mid Upper Gunners are inter-changeable and will [insert] /be [/insert] practiced accordingly.
(3) [underlined] Extra Man [/underlined] It is the duty of any Crew member adjacent to the extra man to ensure that he is warned to “Prepare for Ditching”.
(4) [underlined] Transmissions [/underlined] Drills are based on “DISTRESS”; developing from “EMERGENCY” where Distress is taken without developing from “EMERGENCY” where “DISTRESS” is taken without previous “EMERGENCY” section, “C” – Course, “H” – Height, A “A” – Air-speed, “P” – Position, and “T” – Time and estimated Ditching position will be transmitted only if time permits and without prejudice to “FULL” Distress signals action.
(5) [underlined] Mae Wests [/underlined] (except Pilot) Crew will inflate as stated but where, in the case of a man of unusually large build, ogress may be restricted, inflate one breath at D.S and fully in getting out.
(6) Parachute Harness (W/Op) Every endeavour should be made to release parachute harness and place straps aside prior to this stage.
(7) Parachute Harness (Pilot) Providing conditions permit and there is ample time, Pilot should release Parachute harness, and place straps aside prior to stage (3)
(8) The figures in brackets in movement (2) indicate the order in which the acknowledgements are made.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Ditching Footnotes
Description
An account of the resource
A list of eight actions to be taken before ditching.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
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
MFordTA1585520-170411-22
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
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Laura Morgan
air gunner
aircrew
ditching
pilot
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2333/42127/PCrossK22010013.2.jpg
51f04bc89ba51f2b2ec076215ff7e9f9
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
Cross, Kathleen. Album
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. An album with newspaper cuttings, photographs and postcards covering RAF personnel and establishments in West Malling, Penarth and Peterborough.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-05-07
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cross, K
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
Ditching of Flight Lieutenant Frank Butterfield and 85 Squadron photograph
Description
An account of the resource
Reporting on the ditching of Flight Lieutenant Frank Butterfield and the plotting of the course of his return by his wife and him collecting his honours at Buckingham Palace. A photograph of 21 airmen in three rows; four seated on the ground, four in director's chairs and the remaining standing. All arranged either side of the motto badge. Annotated '85 Squadron West Malling'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
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. Fighter Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Newspaper cutting and one b/w photograph in an album
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCrossK22010013
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.
85 Squadron
aircrew
Distinguished Flying Cross
ditching
ground personnel
Walrus
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/187/2467/SMarshallS1594781v10031.1.jpg
127f75d875563164a3ceb15110f8de91
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
Marshall, Syd. Album
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Marshall, S
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The album contains wartime and post-war photographs, newspaper cuttings, and memorabilia assembled by Warrant Officer Sidney Charles Marshall (1924 - 2017, 1594781 Royal Air Force). Syd Marshall was a flight engineer with 103 Squadron and flew operations from RAF Elsham Wolds.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Syd Marshall and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-05-08
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
ELSHAM WOLDS’ GREAT PART IN BOMBING CAMPAIGN
Four Years of Magnificent Effort
ELSHAM Wolds began to operate with R.A.F. Bomber Command in July, 1941. The airfield was not quite completed when No. 103 Squadron arrived from Newton on July 11, but the Squadron soon settled in and has remained there ever since.
In nearly four years Elsham has built up a high reputation in the Royal Air Force. There was little delay before the airfield was placed on an operational basis and the Wellingtons were out on July 24, from 11 a.m. to 6.45 pm., attacking the battle cruiser “Gneisenau” at Brest.
Before long the Germans knew of the new bomber station, and in August, 1941, enemy aircraft attacked it. They did no serious damage. They tried again several times in later years, though never in strength.
The “Wimpeys” held the fort while the factories got busy with the production of the new four-engined bombers.
On September 10, 1941, Wellingtons flew to Turin for the loss of only one aircraft. By the end of December, Elsham was able to record as many as 17 Wellingtons airborne on a single night.
On one occasion two sergeants brought back their aircraft after four of the crew had baled out; a flare had caught alight in the rear fuselage.
AMONG THE 1,000
After taking part in the May and June 1,000 bomber raids in 1942, there was a lull.
Halifaxes began to arrive and in August made their first sorties from the station, against Dusseldorf. Hardly had the engineering staff accustomed themselves to these aircraft when there was another change, this time to Lancasters. By November 21 the Lancasters had replaced the Halifaxes and were doing excellently.
On the night of May 23-24, 1943, No. 103 Squadron put up 27 Lancasters, which at that time was a Command record.
The Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C., visited the station in September and addressed the crews.
One of the flights of No. 103 Squadron was transferred to No. 576 Squadron, which was being formed at Elsham. This left 103 a two-flight squadron. The two squadrons were together in close association and friendly rivalry until October, 1944.
OVER BERLIN
No. 103 Squadron had 30 aircraft over Berlin on the night of November 26-27. Elsham became a base station from December 1 and controlled the airfields at Kirmington and North Killingholme.
The wild weather of January, 1944, made life at Elsham what the R.A.F. call “pretty raw,” but the ground staff worked wonders in clearing blocked roads, and runways.
During the spring the Base Commander, Air Commodore Ivelaw Chapman, O.B.E., D.F.C., A.F.C., was shot down over France and taken prisoner. He has recently returned to this country. Air Commodore F.R.D. Swain, O.B.E., A.F.C., who broke the altitude record some years ago, took over from Air Commodore Chapman.
In June both squadrons at Elsham dropped a thousand tons in a month for the first time, and kept this up for some time. In the summer people in the neighbourhood were able to realise the full power of Bomber Command. Daylight operations against V sites, railway centres, and in close support of the Army enabled them to see the sky full of four-engined aircraft day after day.
In October, No. 103 Squadron dropped 1,277 tons, and 86 aircraft of both squadrons operated against Duisburg within 24 hours. On October 31, No. 576 Squadron left Elsham for Fiskerton. With 103 Squadron they had dropped 5,748 tons in the previous five months.
BOMBER COMMAND’S PRIDE
Elsham was the home of Lancaster “M.2,” the pride of Bomber Command. Its long life showed what a high standard of maintenance had been kept up. “M.2.” first flew on operations on May 4, 1943, to Dortmund, with 103 Squadron. It was later transferred to 576 Squadron, and had been on 103 operations by the beginning of 1944. It was retired with 144 trips to its credit, 97 of them to Germany and 15 to Berlin.
During the last winter everyone at Elsham was working at full stretch, and the Lancasters were fully employed on targets like the Ruhr, Ludwigshafen, Nuremburg, Munich, Chemnitz, and Dresden. Many mines were laid in enemy waters.
For the last month of operations No. 103 Squadron was joined by No. 100 Squadron from Waltham (Grimsby), and both were in the attack on Berchtesgaden on April 25.
When there was no more bombing to be done, large convoys of Army vehicles began to drive up to the station. They carried food for the Lancasters to take to Holland. Another task was to bring back hundreds of freed prisoners of war from the Continent.
Many Elsham names will go down in history for acts of heroism. On May 4, 1944, an aircraft of No. 576 Squadron, captained by Pilot-Officer Reed, of Wellingborough, Northants, landed with the flight engineer helping Reed to hold the control column and the air bomber clinging to the rudder pedals. The Lancaster looked a total wreck. It had been shot up by a fighter over Mailly-le-Camp; it had caught fire, a large hole was knocked in the floor, electrical and navigational instruments were smashed, the rudders and elevators were damaged, and the rear-turret was hanging by a threat.
Two Lancaster from 103 Squadron were each attacked by two fighters on July 29, 1944, when bombing Stuttgart. All four of the enemy were destroyed in a couple of minutes.
Another 103 crew shot down a Ju. 88 over Karlsruhe on April 25, 1944, but sustained serious damage. The pilot had to ditch, and the crew were on the Goodwin Sands for seven hours before being picked up.
Just before the end of the war one of Elsham’s aircraft came back with a 250lb. bomb embedded in a wing. The pilot told the crew to bale out, and the baled out himself near base.
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
Elsham Wolds' Great Part in Bombing Campaign
Four years of Magnificent Effort
Description
An account of the resource
A history of 103 Squadron's operations at RAF Elsham Wolds.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One newspaper cutting on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SMarshallS1594781v10031
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--Brest
Italy--Turin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Dresden
Netherlands
France--Mailly-le-Camp
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Karlsruhe
France
Italy
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Govert J. van Lienden
100 Squadron
103 Squadron
576 Squadron
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
Bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944)
ditching
Gneisenau
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Ju 88
Lancaster
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Fiskerton
RAF Kirmington
RAF North Killingholme
rivalry
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/40648/BBarffAColingEFv1.1.pdf
ca6ec78a0413aa7061aef552e3fc1f62
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
Coling, Eric
E Coling
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Eric Frederick Coling (1921 - 2018 1481171 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, photographs, log book, service documents, letters and an oral history interview. Eric flew operations as a bomb aimer with 50 Squadron before ditching, drifting for several days and time and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection was catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
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
2018-01-10
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
Coling, E
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
Eric Coling memoir
"Just a lad with a hole in his jersey"
Description
An account of the resource
Time in the RAF including selection as an observer, enrolment at Lord's Cricket Ground, navigational dead reckoning and meteorology training in Eastbourne and Paignton. Time spent on navigational sorties in Grahamstown, South Africa in Ansons and bombing training in Oxfords. Meeting Winifred Scott after she had been dancing at the MECCA ballroom whilst he was at an Operational Training Unit at RAF Upper Heyford. Training as a bomb aimer, crewing up with navigator Bunny Ridsdale, wireless operator Alex Noble, Canadian pilot Ron Code and rear gunner Ray Moad, flying Vickers Wellingtons, including a leaflet drop over Nantes. Move to 1660 Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby and joining mid-upper gunner Johnny Boyton and flight engineer Spike Langford and flying Manchesters followed by the four-engined Avro Lancaster. Move to No.5 Group, 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe, serving under Wing Commander Robert McFarlane. Operations to Hamburg, where window was used for the first time, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Milan, operation Hydra at Peenemünde and the ‘Battle of Berlin’. Best man at sister, Muriel's wedding, who worked for the Ministry of Information at the Government Code and Cypher school at Bletchley Park. Further training in formation and low-level flying. Aircraft 'L-Love' hit by flak and landing at RAF Kirmington. Mine laying outside Gdynia harbour, Poland. Attack by JU88's and ditching in the sea. loss of Bunny Ridsdale, rescue by Danish fishermen, detention by German naval officer and transfer to Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe Interrogation Centre, and transfer to Stalag 4b, as prisoner of war. Meeting American forces, transfer to Brussels in a DC-3 and repatriation to Great Britain in a sterling. Marriage to Winifred Scott, in St. Peter's Church, Harrogate, with Johnny Boyton as best man. Work with London, Midlands & Scottish railway and later move to Tanzania to work for East African Railways.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Andy Barff
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2014-10
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
South Africa
Great Britain
England
England--Lincolnshire
France
France--Nantes
Germany
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Nuremberg
Italy
Italy--Milan
Poland
Poland--Gdynia
Tanzania
South Africa--Makhanda
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Fourteen page printed document with photographs
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BBarffAColingEFv1
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
16 OTU
1660 HCU
50 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
crewing up
ditching
Dulag Luft
Gee
H2S
Heavy Conversion Unit
Ju 88
Lancaster
love and romance
Manchester
Master Bomber
mine laying
observer
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Kirmington
RAF Padgate
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Swinderby
RAF Upper Heyford
recruitment
training
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/40638/LColingEF1481171v1.1.pdf
72f9230cebd8e195ba94bf7151021cb1
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
Coling, Eric
E Coling
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Eric Frederick Coling (1921 - 2018 1481171 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, photographs, log book, service documents, letters and an oral history interview. Eric flew operations as a bomb aimer with 50 Squadron before ditching, drifting for several days and time and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection was catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
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
2018-01-10
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
Coling, E
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
Eric Frederick Coling's observer's and air gunner's flying log book
Description
An account of the resource
Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Bomb Aimer Eric Frederick Coling from June 1942 to February 1953. Detailing his training schedule, operations flown and post war duties. Served at 44 Air School, South Africa; 16 Operational Training Unit, Upper Heyford; 1660 Conversion Unit, RAF Swinderby and RAF Skellingthorpe. Aircraft flown were Anson, Oxford, Wellington, Manchester and Lancaster Mk 1, Mk3. Eric completed a total of 13 night time operations but on the fourteenth was reported as missing. The operations were carried out as bomb aimer over targets in Italy and Germany: Turin, Milan, Hamburg, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Peenemünde, Berlin and Hannover. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Dennis and Flight Sergeant Code. In his proficiency tests Eric was described as 'average' and as being 'keen and reliable'. His post war flying is recorded.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-07-11
1943-07-12
1943-07-24
1943-07-25
1943-07-27
1943-07-28
1943-07-27
1943-07-29
1943-07-30
1943-08-09
1943-08-10
1943-08-11
1943-08-12
1943-08-13
1943-08-14
1943-08-15
1943-08-17
1943-08-18
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Italy
Germany
Italy--Turin
Italy--Milan
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Peenemünde
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Hannover
South Africa
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 Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LColingEF1481171v1
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lynn Corrigan
16 OTU
1660 HCU
50 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
Bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943)
ditching
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 1
Lancaster Mk 3
Manchester
mine laying
missing in action
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF Swinderby
RAF Upper Heyford
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1422/43013/SBryanCET131166v10003.1.jpg
568b00236c0f134daf67faf0169fd24d
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
Bryan, Teddy
Charles Edward Thomas Bryan
C E T Bryan
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
2015-06-25
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
Bryan, CET
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Charles Edward Thomas "Teddy" Bryan (131166 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 101 Squadron and was killed 3 August 1943.<br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William Hamilton and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Charles Bryant is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/103018/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Officer CET Bryan 1921-1943
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Teddy.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Birkenhead
Germany
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Italy
Italy--La Spezia
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hamburg
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SBryanCET131166v10003
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
103 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943)
ditching
final resting place
killed in action
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
RAF Elsham Wolds
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1830/32834/M78Sqn19361201-170421-14.2.pdf
d2c06051ad7b683d43d2db9cbc660dcb
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
78 Squadron Collection
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
2017-04-21
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
78 Sqn Info
Description
An account of the resource
Eighty-seven items and a sub-collection of seventy-three items.
The collection concerns 78 Squadron and contains documents and photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Tony Hibberd and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
R/64816 Warrant Officer (Class 1) Thomas Breech Miller RCAF, GM
George Medal Citation
MILLER, Flight Sergeant (now WO1) Thomas Breech RCAF (R/64816) George Medal, No.78 Squadron.
Award effective 6th January 1942 as per London Gazette of that date and AFRO 1870/42 dated the 20th November 1942.
[italics] “One night in September 1941, Sergeant Miller was the Air Observer of an aircraft which, following return to the UK after a successful attack on a target in North West Germany had been intercepted and attacked by an Enemy Intruder Aircraft. The controls of the Whitley were damaged, and the starboard engine was put out of action, and the pilot had to affect a forced landing. The aircraft landed heavily with undercarriage retracted, came to rest half over a hedge, and caught fire.
The Rear Gunner and Second Wireless Operator were slightly injured and escaped from the rear of the aircraft. Sergeant Miller was also uninjured and escaped through the top hatch. He then noticed that the Pilot and first Wireless Operator were still in the aircraft, which was now blazing furiously. Undeterred, Sergeant Miller re-entered the aircraft through the top hatch and found the Pilot lying in a dazed condition, as he had been wounded about the face and head. Sergeant Miller pulled the captain through the hatch and carried him away from the aircraft. He returned for the first Wireless Operator, who was lying in the rear of the cabin, very badly hurt and with his clothing on fire.
Sergeant Miller succeeded in lifting him through the hatch and carried him to a place of safety, where he beat out the flames from the injured man’s clothing with his hands, after rolling him on the ground in an attempt to smother them. The flares, oxygen bottles, ammunition and petrol tanks began to explode immediately after Sergeant Miller got clear of the aircraft. He received severe burns to his hands while rescuing his comrades, whose lives were undoubtedly saved by his prompt and extremely brave action" [/italics]
Born in Waubaushene, Ontario, 1921, his home was in Saint John, New Brunswick; He enlisted in the RCAF in Moncton on the 18th July 1940. He subsequently joined 78 Squadron on 30th August 1941. His first operation was on 2nd September 1941 (Frankfurt) His second operation was on 6th September 1941 and this brought him the decoration of the George Medal. Following medical treatment he then rejoined 78 Sqn, was promoted to F/S and flew four more operations. The first on 11th February 1942 (Le Havre) This was his last Op on Whitley’s as 78 Sqn began conversion onto the Halifax) His second was on 29th April 1942 (Ostend) the next was on 30th May 1942 (Cologne) and finally on 1st June 1942 (Hamburg) He was shot down and taken prisoner on this last sortie. He was commissioned on 1st June 1943 (J/96500) and was released and returned to the UK on 12th May 1945. Following the war he studied history at the University of Toronto and diplomatic history at the London School of Economics (Ph.D., 1954). He accepted a teaching position with Lakehead Technical Institute (later Lakehead University) and was active in the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and numerous local organizations. He retired in 1988 and died in Thunder Bay on 10th August 1996. His obituary notice stated that following his second crash he spent four days in a dinghy off the Dutch coast, paralyzed with a back injury, until rescued by Germans.
This award remains the highest decoration awarded to 78 Sqn to date
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
George Medal citation for Warrant Officer Thomas Breech Miller RCAF
Description
An account of the resource
Account of his aircraft, in which he was air observer, being attacked on return from operation in Germany by intruder aircraft. The aircraft was crash landed and caught fire. Miller escaped through the top hatch but noticed that the pilot and wireless operator were still in the aircraft. He then re-entered the aircraft and rescued the pilot, he then returned again for the wireless operator who he also rescued him and carried him away to safety and beat out the flames from the injured man's clothing and received burns to his own hands.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page printed document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
M78Sqn19361201-170421-14
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. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-01-06
1942-11-20
1941-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
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
78 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
ditching
forced landing
George Medal
Halifax
prisoner of war
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1825/33667/MBrennanJ1210913-170405-010002.2.jpg
2f1a6a61b8b0d2f6a80c8fb8f08c3715
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Brennan, Jack
John Brennan
J Brennan
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
2017-04-05
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
Brennan, J
Description
An account of the resource
Twenty-four items.
The collection concerns Sergeant John Brennan DFM (1210913 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book as well as documents including a Goldfish Club certificate, notes from station and squadron operational record book with details of activities and operations, memoirs, newspaper cuttings and correspondence. In addition, contains operation order and other details for 617 Squadron's attack of German dams on 16/17 May 1943.
He flew operations as a wireless operator with 102 and 35 Squadrons.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by T Noble and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Goldfish club membership card
Description
An account of the resource
Made out for Sergeant J Brennan signed by Charles Robertson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-22
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-22
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Printed document
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MBrennanJ1210913-170405-010002
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.
ditching
Goldfish Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/40647/MColingEF1481171-220427-010001.2.jpg
31df8f0b4621655ac10ba8432fb15f24
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/40647/MColingEF1481171-220427-010002.2.jpg
93d7117b2dd6e1e3623ba15e2a518c0f
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
Coling, Eric
E Coling
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Eric Frederick Coling (1921 - 2018 1481171 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, photographs, log book, service documents, letters and an oral history interview. Eric flew operations as a bomb aimer with 50 Squadron before ditching, drifting for several days and time and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection was catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
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
2018-01-10
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
Coling, E
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
Goldfish club membership card
Description
An account of the resource
Made out for Warrant Officer Eric Coling and signed by Charles A Robinson.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-09-29
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Printed document
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MColingEF1481171-220427-010001, MColingEF1481171-220427-010002
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-09-29
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
ditching
Goldfish Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1334/20641/PSearleROJ17060008.2.jpg
ad79056ebcd77919b4c2ed521b769b1f
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Searle, Rex. Album 2
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
2017-07-25
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Searle, ROJ
Description
An account of the resource
24 items. The album contains photographs and papers relating to Rex Searle's wartime and postwar service.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Halifax and dinghy drill
Description
An account of the resource
Six photographs from an album.
Photo 1 is the nose of Halifax 'W' with the nose art of 'Willie the Wolf' depicting a naked woman pursued by a wolf. There are 44 operations marked.
Photo 2 is an airman on top of a Halifax.
Photo 3 is underneath the nose of a Halifax.
Photo 4 is a side view of a Halifax.
Photo 5 is a section of an aircraft fuselage in a lake being used a launching point for a dinghy. A crew is climbing on board the dinghy.
Photo 6 is a dinghy with a crew on board. A sail has been erected.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six b/w photographs from an album
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSearleROJ17060008
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
aircrew
ditching
Halifax
nose art
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/837/34506/MGoldbyJL139407-200810-030001.2.jpg
9246ad8349501e7183e6a48c1d482239
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/837/34506/MGoldbyJL139407-200810-030002.2.jpg
b688e4146f32b689b90fa6c626412127
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
Goldby, John Louis
J L Goldby
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with John Goldby (1922 - 2020, 1387511, 139407 Royal Air Force). He was shot down and became a prisoner of war in December 1944.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by John Goldby 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
2017-10-25
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
Goldby, JL
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
No 78 Squadron Halifax II
W[deleted] W [/deleted] 7764EY
11th December 1942
CREW
Pilot Pilot Officer K.T. WATSON
Flight Engineer Sgt C.P. BAILEY
Navigator Sgt G.E. COLEMAN
Bomb aimer Sgt J.L. GOLDBY
Wireless Operator Sgt L. McKINNON
Mid upper Gunner Sgt T.R. GALBRAITH
Rear Gunner Sgt W. BAMFORD
On this occasion, flying as second pilot was Sgt R.G HEAD RCAF
Details taken from:-
Nobody Unprepared
The History of No 78 Squadron by Vernon Holland
Aircraft caught fire on take-off.
[page break]
Unable to control the fire the pilot headed for the coast and ditched in the North Sea a few miles off Filey. The dinghy deployed, the whole crew boarded it and was rescued.
Take off would have been at about 1630 p. ditched at 1700., still daylight in those days
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Halifax W7764 Ditching
Description
An account of the resource
Notes taken from a book 'Nobody Unprepared The History of 78 Squadron' by Vernon Holland. John was the bomb aimer on the Halifax.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12-11
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Filey
England--Lancashire
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MGoldbyJL139407-200810-030001,
MGoldbyJL139407-200810-030002
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
Matthew Bruce
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
ditching
flight engineer
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
navigator
pilot
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/9291/PColingE1801.2.jpg
97e5d0f04aa9913fabe0372cf5d19013
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/747/9291/AColingE180110.2.mp3
f279c932578c3e2113a72ab674384a53
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
Coling, Eric
E Coling
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Eric Frederick Coling (1921 - 2018 1481171 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, photographs, log book, service documents, letters and an oral history interview. Eric flew operations as a bomb aimer with 50 Squadron before ditching, drifting for several days and time and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection was catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.
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
2018-01-10
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
Coling, E
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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This is Gary Rushbrooke for the International Bomber Command Centre on the 10th of January 2018 and because of illness I am going to narrate the story of Warrant Officer Eric Coling with his permission. When Eric was four his father who was a London Midland Scottish Railway guard died leaving Eric’s mother to bring him up and his sister Muriel who was eight at the time, on her own. Eric’s mother’s railway pension was ten shilling a week and her rent was also ten shillings a week so she was compelled to take in lodgers. The Railways in the 1920s made extensive use of lodging houses for workers such as guards and drivers who needed to stay overnight before returning home with another train the next day to London or Birmingham for example. To make room for lodgers Muriel had to go and live in a Railway Servant’s Orphanage in Derby and at the age of six Eric joined her. Their mother visited them once a month and they spent four weeks in August at home for a summer holiday. Eric had a tough but practical schooling at the orphanage which was home to around three hundred children. On arrival at the age of six his first lesson was if you want something doing do it yourself. The boy’s warden was an ex-Navy chief petty officer called Joe Peach who divided the boys in to four teams. Nelson, Raleigh, Drake and Collingwood. I was in Nelson. You had to work your way up within the team. Joe Peach was strict but fair. By the age of ten Eric was working in the school’s kitchen garden where they grew all their own vegetables. He learned to mend his own shoes and attend boxing classes. He was told, ‘Don’t start a fight but never walk away from one. And don’t strike the first blow but make sure your first blow counts.’ Sundays were fully devoted to religious activities. The Collect with breakfast which the children were expected to learn. Then morning service. I went to the Congregational Church because my mother was a non-conformist. We were just a small group and I enjoyed it because they made a fuss of us. Sunday School occupied the afternoon and then bible stories and choruses in the evening such as, “And the Burden of My Heart Rolled Away,” And, “I Lost It On Calvary’s Hill.” And I can still remember every word. Eric was a bright pupil and was top of the class but by fourteen was itching to leave and get a job. He went for an interview for a job on the Railway. You had to be five foot tall so Eric was measured. He was told to stand on tiptoes and then, ‘You’ll do lad,’ said the man. So, in early 1936 Eric started working in the signal box at Altofts Junction. He worked a twenty four hour shift system and forty eight hours a week. Sunday was my day off and nights and any hours worked on a Sunday were paid as overtime on top of the basic wage of sixteen shilling a week. He worked as a train recorder who assisted the signalman and logged the handovers of the trains from one box to the next. The signal box at Altofts was complex. There were three up lines, slow freight, fast freight and main, and three similar down lines plus a junction where lines spurred off towards York. The signals and points were managed by ninety interlocking levers which had to be set in the correct sequence for each train. A proud moment came when Eric was fifteen. He was earning enough money to rent his own house in Altofts. He went to see his mother telling her, ‘I’ve rented us a house and it’s got a garden at the front and one at the back as well.’ Eric settled with his mother in the new house but was soon seeking promotion with the railways. He passed exams to become a permanent pensionable LMS staff and then worked in the booking office, again on a twenty four hour shifts system selling tickets during the day and balancing the books at night. War with Germany was declared in September 1939. Eric was seventeen, and a year later he volunteered to fight. He didn’t fancy the Army or Navy so he volunteered to become Royal Air Force aircrew in January 1941. He completed the then tortuous Service bureaucracy and in April was summoned to attend an aircrew selection board at Padgate in Cheshire. On the first day there there was a prolonged searching medical. And on the second day intelligence, aptitude and spatial awareness tests followed by an interview board. Eric was then told that he had been accepted for training as an observer. Later called NavB. I was given a RAF Volunteer Reserve badge which could be worn though I was not officially in the RAF. Official enrolment happened in August when Eric was summoned to the RAF Reception Centre located at Lords Cricket Ground in St Johns Wood. He was enrolled, kitted out and then spent three to four weeks attending time filling useless lectures before his observer training started in earnest. The observer role covered navigation, bomb aiming and gunnery and in September ’41 Eric embarked on a lengthy series of training courses. Thirteen weeks initial training in Paignton. Basic military training. Survival. Followed by thirteen weeks elementary training in Eastbourne where all the basics of navigation and meteorology were taught. Navigation in those days was based on dead reckoning and astrological plotting. Dead reckoning is the most basic form of air navigation but is still a requirement for pilots today. The principle is based on knowledge of a fixed position. First the departure airfield and then any accurate way points along the route. For example, a landmark. And then current position is regularly recalculated based on heading, speed and time flown adjusted using wind calculations and other variables. Various instruments and forms of slide computers assist in the task. It took us around fifteen minutes to make an accurate star plot using a sextant. Therefore, this was of limited use in a moving aircraft. About this time Britain secretly developed Gee, a form of radio navigation based on measuring the time delay between two radio signals to establish a fix. It was susceptible to jamming by the Germans but its accuracy was just a few hundred metres over a range of up to three hundred and fifty miles and it was still in use up until the 1960s. The next stage of training took place in South Africa away from enemy aircraft and in better weather. Several weeks were spent hanging around until we sailed on a convoy from Avonmouth on the first leg of what he refers to as his Cook’s Tour. He sailed in the Highland Chieftain, one of about twenty one troop and freight ships escorted by seven to ten destroyers and cruisers. Eric slept on deck for most of the long slow voyage due to the cramped conditions, heat and sea sickness experienced below decks. Avoiding U-boat attack they refuelled in Freetown, Sierra Leone finally disembarking in Durban and then on to Johannesburg where there was more waiting before arriving at Grahamstown Airfield in June 1942. At Grahamstown, Eric could put into practice all that he had learned flying navigational sorties in Avro Ansons and bombing training in Airspeed Oxfords. He came third on the course and the top three were interviewed for a possible permanent commission by a squadron leader. Questions included, ‘Did you go to Grammar School?’ And, ‘Do you sail?’ At the end of the interview the squadron leader’s closing remark was, ‘I am not sure you’re officer material yet, Coling.’ ‘I quite agree sir,’ replied Eric. ‘I’m just a lad with a hole in his jersey.’ At the end of the year Eric set sail on the next leg of his tour on board the Empress of Scotland renamed from Empress of Japan when Japan entered the war. Just two hundred RAF personnel were transported from Durban to New York on this luxurious cruise liner at twenty six knots. A speed at which escorts were not required. The ship was defended by a single three inch gun turret fitted to the aft deck. After a layover of five weeks in the USA Empress of Scotland sadly dry for this voyage brought Eric back to the UK with two hundred GIs. Now, some two years since he volunteered Warrant Officer Coling was soon to go in to operational service. When you get up in a morning you don’t know what fate may have in store for you. I ended up in Harrogate where most of the big hotels were being used to house RAF aircrew while they waited for their next posting. I was billeted in the Grand Hotel on Cornwall Road overlooking the Valley Gardens. In the middle of January we went on two weeks leave to visit mother in Altofts and on the way walked along the line of carriages looking for a suitable seat. Finally came to a compartment which was occupied by two young ladies in corner seats and an airman in a third corner. He entered the compartment with the intention of sitting in the fourth corner but instead found himself sitting next to a most attractive young lady. Getting in to conversation Eric discovered that the girls had been to the Mecca dancing that evening. He asked his new companion, ‘Did you meet anybody that you would like to meet again?’ It turned out that she hadn’t. Shortly before the train arrived in Harrogate Eric said, ‘Well, you didn’t meet anybody that you’d like to meet again on this trip which is a pity. So would you like to meet me again?’ She immediately replied, I don’t know why but, ‘I’d love to.’ ‘Alright. Name the place and the time,’ said Eric. ‘Tomorrow night. 7 o’clock in the station concourse,’ came the reply, quick as a flash. The concourse was dimly lit whereas everywhere else was unlit due to the blackout. Eric and Winifred went for a drink and the following evening she took Eric to meet her parents. Winifred Scott would eventually become Mrs Coling so as Eric says this only goes to show that when you wake up in a morning you don’t know what fate may have in store for you. Winifred was upset when Eric was then posted to the Operational Training Unit at Upper Heyford in early March 1943 because they both knew that now he would face real danger. The OTU brought together pilots, navigators, bomb aimers and gunners. Eric had been trained as an air observer which included both navigation and bomb aiming so it was not unusual to see two observers in a crew. Eric was posted as a bomb aimer and explains, I wanted to be able to see outside. The navigator was cooped up behind a curtain which was not for me although some quite liked it. The crewing up process was done by natural selection. I met another observer, Bunny Ridsdale who was posted as a navigator. I found out he came from Castleford three miles from where I lived so we formed a team of two. I then met a wireless operator called Alex Noble who told me he was booked to meet a Canadian pilot, Ron Code and a rear gunner Ray Moad so I arranged for us to join the meeting. This took place in a pub over a few pints. We all got on so well so a mutual agreement was arrived at. Eric was now part of a crew. Training at the OTU on Vickers Wellington aircraft was intense. Lots of bombing practice both high level and low level. Long cross-country flights both by night and day. Accidents were common. During the twelve weeks Eric was at Upper Heyford four aircraft crashed with the loss of twenty three lives. One of Eric’s final flights at OTU was a night flight to Nantes in occupied France to drop leaflets designed to counter Nazi propaganda. OTU ended on the 6th of May followed by a period of leave. Eric’s next posting was to 1660 Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire. We arrived there in early June 1943 and added a mid-upper gunner Johnny Boyton and a flight engineer Spike Langford to our crew. Both had been regular ground crew and had volunteered for aircrew. Our crew was typical of Bomber Command. Two Canadians, one Scotsman, two from Yorkshire, one from Lincolnshire and a Londoner. It was a happy and united crew living together, playing together and fighting together. We had a friendship and loyalty to each other. We first flew the twin engine Avro Manchester for six hours and moved on to the four-engined Avro Lancaster completing forty hours almost entirely at night. In early July we went down the road to 50 Squadron which was at RAF Skellingthorpe where we were welcomed by Wing Commander Robert McFarlane. He gave us a brief history of the squadron and then handed us over to a ground officer who took us to a Nissen hut which was to be our home. It had seven beds but no toilet. There was a choice of a five or six minute walk to one or there was plenty of grass outside. Of all the wartime airfields in Lincolnshire and there were a great many none can claim a closer affinity with Lincoln than Skellingthorpe. Although it was named after the nearby village it was actually within the city’s boundary. Walking distance from the centre if you missed the last bus. 50 Squadron had been in action since the early days of the war and remembered, and remained at Skellingthorpe until the end of the war. It was credited with taking part in more raids than any other heavy Bomber Command squadron. More intensive training followed before Eric’s first operational bombing raid on Hamburg on the night of 24th of July 1943. Seven hundred and forty six RAF bombers took part in the operation which was the first in which Window was used. This involved dropping thousands of tiny pieces of metal foil which jammed the enemy radar and confused the night fighters. Thanks to this only twelve aircraft were lost. They bombed Hamburg again on the 27th and 29th of July and after ten days leave Mannheim on August the 9th followed by Nuremberg the day after. They then participated in the mass bombings of Milan on the 12th and 14th of August which contributed to the surrender of Italy a few weeks later. In the spring of 1943 intelligence sources had confirmed Germany was developing long range rockets at a research and experimental centre at Peenemunde on the Baltic coast. Operation Hydra on the night of the 17th of August 1943 was a massive bombing operation against Peenemunde carried out under a full moon. Five hundred and ninety five bombers and Pathfinder aircraft were involved which marks the targets with flares. Eight Mosquitoes carried out a spoof raid on Berlin to divert enemy night fighters. We weren’t told the exact nature of the target except that it was very important and that if we didn’t do a good job we’d have to go back again tomorrow and again and again. We hoped that bright moonlight would enable the different aiming points to be visually marked by the Pathfinder force. In case it was overcast and the target obscured number 5 Group, of which 50 Squadron was part would approach using the time and distance technique in which bombs would be dropped at a set time after passing a landmark. Lancaster Pathfinder aircraft carried the H2S radar system which was the first ground mapping radar able to show areas of water and built-up areas. This aided both navigation and bomb aiming although by sending out a radar signal the aircraft gave away its location to the enemy. The story of that night we took off at 21.30, passed over Lincoln Cathedral and climbed up to eight thousand before setting course. At 22.00 hours we crossed the east coast near Mablethorpe and climbed up to eighteen thousand feet. It was important not to stray south of track and overfly the guns on the German island of Sylt close to the Danish border. We were the third wave of bombers to head for a concentration point at 05 degrees east 55.25 north. From there we set course to Rügen Island and descended to eight thousand feet ready to start our time and distance run on the target. The night was clear and I could see Peenemunde in the moonlight with the second wave already making their attack ten minutes ahead. We arrived over the target area on time and heard the master of ceremonies, Group Captain Searby on the radio telling us to aim right of the centre. Don’t aim short. Hit the centre of the greens. He was actually on board a Mosquito near the target. I then took over. Bomb doors open. Bombs fused and selected. Right a little. Steady. Bombs gone. Close bomb doors. Keep it straight and level. Wait for the photo flash. Twenty seconds later it was finished and we turned homeward on a course of two hundred and ninety degrees. German night fighters had now arrived in force but Eric and his crew luckily escaped detection. We could clearly see them attacking the other aircraft in the third wave and many were going down. The Germans now had Schrage Musik, upward firing guns on their twin engine night fighters which attack the undefended underbellies of the Allied bombers. We lost forty aircraft and two hundred and fifteen crew. This was bad enough but it would have been double without the diversionary raid on Berlin. During August 1943 Eric’s sister Muriel got married. With our father having died when we were young I was needed to give Muriel away. We’d been trying to get rid of her for a long time laughs Eric. I asked the wing commander if I could have twenty four hours leave to attend the wedding. ‘No. You can have forty eight hours leave and I’ll try to keep your crew off operations if there are any whilst you’re away,’ he replied. He was a good man recalls Eric. Muriel worked for the Ministry of Information and a few weeks earlier had been posted to the now famous Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park as a teleprinter operator.
[telephone ringing – recording paused]
The wedding of Muriel Coling to Jack Flutter took place on the 27th of August. The wedding was at St Mary Magdalen Church, Altofts whose benefactor was Lord Halifax. It was a very high church and having been brought up as a non-conformist I was getting up when everyone else was sitting down. On the same day Eric became engaged to Winifred Marjorie Scott but had to return almost immediately to RAF Skellingthorpe. Eric was now twenty one and was lucky to have survived the war so far in which so many of his colleagues had died. There is a memorial in Skellingthorpe village which reads, “My sweet brief life is over. My eyes no longer see. No Christmas trees, no summer walks, no pretty girls for me. I’ve got the chop. I’ve had it. My nightly ops are done. Yet in another hundred years I’ll still be twenty one.” After the attacks on Hamburg and Peenemunde RAF Bomber Command began to feel that it was at last becoming a truly effective way damaging both German industry and also morale. There remained a hope that bombing alone might win the war. That devastating raids might undermine the Nazi regime to such an extent that the German government would collapse. Maintaining the momentum meant taking the offensive to the heart of Germany. To Berlin. On the 23rd of August over seven hundred bombers, mainly Lancs and Halifaxes plus one hundred Pathfinder aircraft attacked the city centre of Berlin. This was the prelude to what would be known as the Battle of Berlin. The raids on Berlin were unforgettable. The route was almost direct. A seven hour twelve hundred mile round trip. After crossing the Dutch coast we made slight detours to, detours to avoid the defences of Bremen, Hanover, Brunswick and Magdeburg. All our bombers remained unmolested on the way to the target which was the Nazi High Command buildings in the centre of the city. Any illusion of peace were shattered when the fires already burning in the city first came in to view about sixty miles out. The German controllers had ordered their regular night fighters as well as free lancing single engine fighters to concentrate on Berlin. Hundreds of searchlights and flares were picking out our aircraft aiding the eighty eight millimetre anti-aircraft guns and German night fighters. I saw at least nine of our aircraft going down in flames. We weaved and corkscrewed but on the bombing run we had to stay straight and level for at least four minutes. This is where luck plays a big part and many aircraft were shot down at this stage but we escaped safely and set course for home. The battle was so furious that some German fighters were downed by their own anti-aircraft fire. By the end of the night fifty six bombers had been shot down, Bomber Command’s greatest loss in a single night up to this time and more crashed on landing. The Battle of Berlin lasted for a further eighteen raids until March 1944. In all six hundred and twenty five aircraft and their crews were lost and a further eighty crashed on landing in Britain with a further loss of life. It was like visiting the fires of hell. None of the bomber boys who went to Berlin and lived will ever forget. After the Berlin raid, which was Eric’s tenth, pilot Ron Code and radio operator Alex Noble were awarded commissions and the crew were rewarded with a new Lancaster aircraft. The crew of L for love were pleased to have her. They had been with 50 Squadron since early July and had used a number of different aircraft during their operations. L for Love was immediately pressed into service for Eric’s second raid on Berlin on August the 31st which was a smaller scale operation than the first. Although fifty aircraft were lost on the second raid to Berlin L for Love escaped unscathed. Eric explains how he and the rest of the crew were feeling at the time. Now faces that had been familiar had disappeared as though they had caught a bus or train to some unknown destination one could not help wondering if we would also be doing likewise. Flying was no longer exciting. It was just a grim job from which there was no longer an honourable discharge. September 1943 started with ten days leave followed by a week of intense training missions including formation and low flying. Bombing operations for the crew of L for Love restarted on the 22nd of September with less eventful raids on Hanover and Mannheim. On the 27th of September we took off for Hanover again and whilst crossing the Dutch coast they were hit by flak and again hit over the target, this time badly. The radio, radar and rear gun turret were put out of action but fortunately none of the crew were hit and the engines remained serviceable. The journey back over the North Sea was made at low level below cloud and purely by dead reckoning. Landfall was made near Hull which was not the best of places to be as it was protected by barrage balloons. Fuel was low so a diversion was made to Kirmington which is now Humberside Airport. Next morning we returned to Skellingthorpe where our aircraft was made serviceable and ready for its next operation. On the 29th of September, St Michael’s Day we were one of twelve aircraft from 5 Group selected to go mine laying outside Gdynia harbour in Poland where a German Naval force was expected to arrive during the next day. Each aircraft carried six two thousand pound mines and was detailed to lay it’s mines in precise positions outside the entrance to the harbour. We were warned that we would be low on fuel on return because of the very heavy payload and would probably have to land in Scotland. The flight out was uneventful and we looked with envy at the lights of Sweden on the port side. There was bright moonlight and we could pinpoint the town of Hel at the end of the long offshore Hel peninsula quite easily. We made our run at five thousand feet dropping the mines in the target area and though there was some flak from ships in the harbour it didn’t cause us any problems. However, real trouble overtook us just after crossing the Danish coast on course towards Scotland. Ray Moad, the rear gunner reported that two JU88s were trailing us and as they attacked he gave evasive action and opened fire. After a one second burst though his guns jammed and Johnny Boyton the mid-upper gunner could not get his guns on the target. Seconds later cannon shells fired from below us damaged the tail plane and set fire to both our port engines. We dived and escaped into cloud but the aircraft was almost uncontrollable. For fifteen minutes Ron Code fought to keep his aircraft airborne before we jettisoned the escape hatches and ditching, ditching stations were taken. The Lancaster was with two escape hatches on the upper surface of the fuselage along with one in the canopy over the pilot and flight engineer. When the aircraft ditched it was like hitting a brick wall and seawater rushed in through the open hatches. An immersion switch should have automatically released the dinghy from its storage bay in the upper starboard wing. However, this failed. I pulled a cord to release it manually but this also failed. Carrying an axe and an emergency pack navigator Bunny Ridsdale and I climbed out on to the starboard wing and I managed to release the dinghy cover with an axe blow. The dinghy, attached to its lanyard burst out and lodged against the tailplane. By this time the rest of the crew were on the fuselage and rushed towards the dinghy. Ron Code dived in and released the dinghy from where it was stuck under the tailplane and pushed it forward so the other crew could board it without having to dive in. By this time the Lancaster was low in the water and I shouted to Bunny to dive in. However, he couldn’t swim and he attempted to walk back along the fuselage but in the process was swept away by a wave. I dived in losing a boot in the process and reached the side of the dinghy just before the lanyard had to be cut. I was helped in as the aircraft disappeared beneath the waves. It was a black night with rain and a rough sea. We could see the red light on Bunny’s Mae West and hear his whistle but could do nothing to help him. There was about ten inches of water in the open dinghy which was enough to cover our legs. We had ditched around midnight and baled all night trying to get the water out but it was a rough sea and an uphill task. When day broke we flew our kite radio aerial and operated the hand wound generator which sent out SOS signals but to no avail. We rationed the cans of water we had and estimated we had enough for about three days. The weather improved slightly by the fourth day but we saw nothing and by now we were becoming very weak. On the fifth day, October the 4th the weather worsened and again most of us were slipping in and out of consciousness. At about 10 am the dinghy crested away and I spotted a small fishing vessel before the dinghy dropped down again. I had the signal pistol and I fired a red cartridge. Cartridge which was seen by the crew of the Danish fishing boat who rescued us. It turned out that we were in [Scrarrag?] and we, and we pleaded with them to take us to Sweden. However, the Danes were from Aalborg where there was a Luftwaffe base and their families were being held hostage so they had no choice but to return. It took about two and a half hours to reach Aalborg where a German Naval officer who was definitely hostile to us detained us. Thirty minutes later two Luftwaffe officers arrived one of whom was the pilot who had shot us down. They were friendly and shook hands all around. At the Luftwaffe camp we were given a meal and were supplied with suitable footwear. We were told that we would stay the night and in the morning would be transferred to Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe interrogation camp near Frankfurt. Back home in England Erics mother and his fiancé Winifred were told that Eric was missing but that he may have baled out safely. Eric’s personal belongings were to be returned to his mother and she was asked what should be done with Eric’s bicycle? ‘Please can it be returned to me,’ she replied. ‘He’ll need it when he gets back.’ Her faith in Eric’s survival would be rewarded eventually. On the night of the 4th of October Eric and the rest of the surviving crew had their first decent night’s sleep since the 28th of September. Breakfast next day was their first proper meal since leaving Skellingthorpe and after which they were taken to the railway station. Ron Code could hardly walk because his feet were so swollen with trench foot which had developed in the intense cold and damp of the dingy. At the station some Danish women gave them apples. Their three Luftwaffe guards who spoke little or no English did not interfere. We shared our apples with our guards and they gave us some of their food and cigarettes. They were friendly but vigilant. Our destination was Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe Interrogation Centre near Frankfurt. The journey involved a stop in Hamburg where there was noticeable hostility from other passengers towards them. We were pleased to have the protection of the three German guards. The journey continued. The journey continued overnight and they reached Frankfurt around noon. By now Ron Code couldn’t walk and was taken to hospital. Eric and the others were taken by road to Dulag Luft, strip searched and all possessions other than clothes were taken away. After this they were incarcerated in small solitary confinement cells which Eric, Eric learned could be heated to over forty five degrees as a way of softening up prisoners although he personally didn’t have to experience this. The guards never spoke and Eric feels that this was intentional. Solitary confinement in such conditions especially following a traumatic experiences created a sense of intense tension and loneliness. After four days of solitary Eric was taken to the room of an interrogating officer. Eric takes up the story when he says he spoke fluent English and adopted a friendly and sympathetic attitude but played idly with an automatic pistol. When I congratulated him on his English he told me that he had lived in Barnsley for several years. He asked me what squadron I belonged to and I replied that I wasn’t allowed to say so. He smiled and turned over a thick file on the desk. He turned it around towards me and I could read the title, “50 Squadron.” He showed me a photograph of the control tower at Skellingthorpe and read out details of the wing commanders and some squadron leaders who had served there. I told him that it appeared that he knew more about 50 Squadron than I did. He asked me what I knew about Gdynia and why we had gone there. I replied that I didn’t know the reason for the visit and hadn’t stayed long enough to have much idea of what was happening other than the flak thrown up by ships in the harbour. He said, ‘Of course, you were mining the harbour. What kind of mines were they?’ I replied that they were just mines and that I’d never been taught about them other than they explode when hit by a ship. He just smiled and said, ‘I will tell you. They were two thousand pound mines and you would not have been carrying more than five. Even a Lancaster could not carry any more in that distance.’ In fact, we had carried six but knew we would have been very short of fuel on the return to Lossiemouth. I smiled and attempted to look interested but said nothing. He did however trap me into admitting I’d been on the Peenemunde raid when he asked me why we had fired on men in the sea when they were trying to get away from the fires. I said, without thinking, ‘We didn’t fire on anybody. We were in too much of a hurry to get away.’ I was aware that as a POW all I had to give was my name, number and rank. If I had have stuck to that I’d have been in solitary for another four days. I honestly believe that I didn’t disclose any information my interrogator was unaware of. I believe that interrogating officers rarely learned much from POWs. Most information came from listening devices, stool pigeons and aircraft wreckage. Eric’s interrogation ended after forty minutes with his interrogator telling him that no POW camp would be comfortable but the less trouble he caused the less uncomfortable it would be. Eric had some experience and found he was right but without a bit of trouble life would have been more boring than it was. Next day Eric rejoined the other crew members, Ray, Johnnie and Spike and they were taken by cattle truck along with twenty other POWs to Stalag 4b near Muhlberg. Despite the search Eric still had a button compass and a handkerchief map of Germany in his pocket. The two officers in the crew, Ron Code and Alex Noble were transferred to Stalag Luft 3 at Sagan housing mainly aircrew officers, famous for being the camp from which the Great Escape took place. Luft 3 was built on sandy soil to prevent tunnelling and was designed to house habitual escapers but the guards were Luftwaffe personnel too old to fight or younger injured men so the regime was less tough than at other camps. Stalag 4b located in eastern Germany between Dresden and Leipzig was a rectangle of electrified and barbed wire with guard towers complete with searchlights and armed guards at strategic points around the camp perimeter. A road ran through the centre of the camp at the ends of which were the main gates and guard rooms. Along each side of the road were compounds containing huts filled with three tiered bunks and palliasses. Straw mattresses for about two hundred men. Each man was given a dirty blanket and the palliasses were little more than a bag of dirt. This resulted in Eric developing impetigo across all of his face which for many months was treated with German gentian violet paint. The camp was split into different compounds and the RAF kept more or less to themselves. Other compounds held several thousand Army POWs many of whom departed on working parties. A variety of French, Dutch and eventually Italian prisoners and many thousands of Russians. The majority of Russians were housed in a sub-camp, Zeithain and endured deplorable conditions in which was partly designated a hospital camp. Thousands died from malnutrition, typhus and tuberculosis. For Eric in the main camp at Muhlberg the lasting memory was the cold. Most aircrew had only the clothes they had been wearing when they were shot down which were totally inadequate for the harsh winters in eastern Germany. Each hut was fitted with a small stove and there was a ration of coal briquettes totally insufficient to warm the hut. Until the winter of 1944/45 the Germans would not allow working parties outside to collect firewood. As a result the coal store was frequently raided resulting in at least two POWs being shot and killed. Bed boards were used as fuel leaving gaps in every bed risking that the top or middle bunk occupant would fall through on to the man below. The rations were meagre. From our arrival in October and up to Christmas 1943 Red Cross parcels arrived fairly regular from Britain, USA or Canada. The Canadian ones were considered to contain the best food. Each parcel was usually shared between two prisoners. They also included fifty cigarettes, the currency of the camp with which a huge variety of things could be bought from either fellow POW or the guards. As Allied bombing disrupted communications in 1944 they became less frequent and following the Normandy invasion they more or less ceased completely. Then we were dependent on the meagre German rations and for many months lived with hunger. The POWs were aware of the progress of the war. There were several clandestine radios in the camp and newspapers were published. Single copies that were handed around. By the beginning of the 1945 it was known that the Russian Army was not far away and the excitement was intense. On the 23rd of April 1945 the camp awoke to find all the German guards had departed in the night. Shortly afterwards a few Russian troops with an officer arrived but they only remained a short time. The senior Allied officers gave orders that the POWs were to remain in the camp and await events. Despite this quite a few had already decided that they would make their own way to Allied lines. This included the bomb aimer, rear gunner and mid-upper gunner of Lancaster L for Love. The flight engineer Spike Langford decided that he would stay behind. Eric never saw him again. Outside the camp there was anarchy, explains Eric. Russians were killing Germans out of hand and devastating houses just to satisfy their hatred of the Germans. There was looting of food and goods everywhere. Most farms were desolate with the animals taken away for food. Dead bodies of Germans were to be seen in deserted houses quite a few having committed suicide. There was a mass of humanity of all descriptions some going west others travelling east. The Germans who had remained in their houses and were still unmolested welcomed RAF POWs easily recognisable by the distinctive uniforms as a safeguard against Russian intruders and Eric and his colleagues could usually find accommodation for the night. They more or less followed in the path of the Russian front-line troops who treated them with respect. By the 8th of May ‘45 they had joined up with them and were invited to celebrate VE Day with a supper of rabbit stew and a few too many glasses of vodka. Over the next few days, the following day we continued westward and soon reached the River Mulde where the railway bridge across the river had been blown up. We were able to scramble down and up the girders and then meet up with the American forces on the other side. From there we were taken to [Halle?] where some, after some four or five days we were flown to Brussels in a Dakota. We were transferred to a Stirling aircraft and landed in south east England at a flag bedecked airfield to be met by a band of ladies with tea and cakes. I finally arrived home in Altofts on the 18th of May 1945 and soon my fiancé Winifred arrived from London advising me that there was a lot to do in a very short time. Of course, this related to our wedding which took place in St Peter’s Church, Harrogate on the 22nd of June 1945. Eric and Winifred went on honeymoon to the Lake District to start a marriage that would endure sixty six years until Winifred’s death in 2011. Eric returned to the railways working for the London Midland Scottish Railway while remaining an RAF Reservist. However, in 1955 with a family that now included two small daughters Eric moved to Tanganyika now Tanzania to start a new life working for the East African Railways but that is another story. Thank you, Eric.
Dublin Core
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Title
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Interview with Eric Coling
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Gary Rushbrooke
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2018-01-10
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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.
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Sound
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AColingE180110, PCollingE1801
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Pending review
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00:44:06 audio recording
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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eng
Description
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Eric Coling’s father died when Eric was a child which left his mother to cope on her own economically. Eric and his sister were sent to live in an orphanage but their mother was able to visit monthly. When Eric left the orphanage he began working for the railway and was proudly eventually able to own his own home and reunite his family. Eric volunteered for aircrew and trained as an observer. During his weeks at the Occupational Training Unit four aircraft crashed with the loss of twenty three lives. He was posted as a bomb aimer to 50 Squadron based at RAF Skellingthorpe. On his final operation Eric’s plane was shot down and after managing to eventually inflate the dinghy the crew scrambled on board with the exception of the navigator Bernard Ridsdale who was swept away. The crew managed to survive several days at sea until they were rescued by Danish fisherman who returned with them to Denmark. Eric and his crewmates became prisoners of war.
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Denmark
Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--London
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Oberursel
Germany--Peenemünde
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Julie Williams
1660 HCU
50 Squadron
aircrew
bomb aimer
crash
ditching
Dulag Luft
Heavy Conversion Unit
military service conditions
observer
Operational Training Unit
prisoner of war
RAF Skellingthorpe
training
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/554/15907/PPattersonGE1901.1.jpg
060ccb192e773a320fa5c2d80b95b204
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/554/15907/APattersonGE190126.1.mp3
e165630a23c378907244fd1745908a55
Dublin Core
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Title
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Patterson, Ernie
Gilbert Ernest Patterson
G E Patterson
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Patterson, GE
Date
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2015-10-08
2019-01-26
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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.
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Warrant Officer Gilbert Ernest Patterson DFM (b. 1922 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 635 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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BE: So, this interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre, the interviewer is Beth Ellin and the interviewee is Mr Gilbert Patterson. The interview is taking place in Mr Patterson’s home in Darlington on the 26th of January 2019. Joining us is his daughter Catherine Hodgson. Off you go!
EP: Me? Well I was accepted into the RAF on the 4th of February, 1942, and prior to that I was helping to build aerodromes such as Middleton St George which is a bomber station and the satellite to Middleton St George which was Croft, that was, and from there I was called up into the RAF and the first place I went to, where everybody went to, was Blackpool and it was there that I was trained and learned to do Morse Code which was, I’d been accepted for. And we, it was all done in the Winter Gardens and all the teachers were ex GPO instructors and they were the ones, and there you had to get to ten words a minute and you got tested four, six, eight and ten, and if you failed any of them on the way to ten, if you, you sat it three times and if you sat it the third time you’re out.
BE: So you passed.
EP: That was, that was, the first thing you were doing all the foot slogging and everything. The Marks, I always remember the Marks and Spencers was where they kept all your documents. We used to do a guard duty on ‘em, two, two hours on and two hours off and we’d march up to somebody’s back street they’d stop outside somebody’s garage, they’d open the garage door and it was full of rifles and that was where we had to get, we were issued with rifles then and we did rifle drill on the Promenade at Blackpool. We were there about three or four month and we used to do PT on the sands, and the next time we went from there would be a ground wireless operator, place called Madley and from there we went, the next stop was Yatesbury where I trained to be air wireless operator and from there I think we went and we did a, I went to gunnery school up at Evanton and trained to be an air gunner as well, but I was never in the turrets on operations. Am I doing, is this all you want? And that was at Evanton up in Scotland and from there, that’s where we got our three stripes as a sergeant and we marched to the RAF marchpast when we’re on the passing out parade, I always remember that, but it’s hard to remember where I was. Then after that we ended up at, I forget what is was we were at, it was at, I think we ended up at an advanced flying unit where there was sprog navigators and sprog wireless operators and we had instructors with us on this at the advanced flying school, and from there I went, I don’t know I went to there first, after the gunnery school, and we ended up crewing up which was at a place called Abingdon and it was there that you all crewed up and you were all put in a hangar and you had to pick your own crew. You once told you were flying with them, you picked your own crew there. And I think we flew from there, our first time I was flying and their satellite was called Stanton Harcourt and that was where we flew in Whitleys. Then from there we went from Whitleys up to heavy unit on Halifaxes, at Rufforth, that’s near York, have you heard of that? That’s near York, and from there, we were, when we graduated from there we were recommended for that we could have either gone to 10 squadron in Melbourne which is main force or we could have gone to Downham Market on the Pathfinder and we plumped for that. See we, that was our dealing with us then, we could have gone there and got the chop, but this, we got to Downham Market. At Downham Market I was there a month [emphasis] before we went on operations and prior to that we had been training for five month as a crew, you know, before we got on operations, so when we got to Downham we were training on Downham Market for five, for four weeks before we got on operations which was after D-Day and it was there that I crossing the runway to do a DI on a bomber I found a horseshoe which is now over the back door in my kitchen and it were on every bombing raid I went on that, that horseshoe. Look. No kidding that.
BE: And were there other things people had, in the plane that were for superstitions?
EP: Pimpernel.
BE: Well, yes.
EP: We got, there we were issued Pimpernel aids. Have you heard of that, eh? Have you heard of it?
BE: Tell me.
EP: That comb on there, I’ve got it, show you, it’s got a compass inside it: that was one, they were called Pimpernel aids. Then there’s also you know the clip on the pencil which navigators had, you know the metal thing that goes on with the blob on the end, that was another one, you could stand it on the end of the pencil point like that and the blob on the end pointed north, this was in case you got shot down, help you to find where you were and which way to start walking.
BE: And the trees. South.
EP: And we went to lectures to see, they showed you pictures of places where you could get shot down and to give you extra idea of where you were and the only thing I learned from it was that the longest branches of the tree point south, [emphasis] that’s the only thing I can ever remember of it! Not that you could do – but we didn’t need any of them – but also you could have pipe which navigators, a pipe, you pulled the stem out the pipe and in the end of that stem there was a bit of cotton wool there was a compass in there! That was in a pipe and you could have a pick whatever you wanted. And you could also get a pair of buttons, which you put on your trousers and if you could pull them off and turn the buttons round like that and there was a pin on one end and there was a dot on the other one and it would point north, that was another helping to find you, where you were. Have you been told this before?
BE: Not, in an interview, no. It’s really interesting.
EP: Right. That was another way of finding, if you needed, to find your way back. But as it was, that was, as you know, main force you did thirty missions, then you went on to, you go as an instructor somewhere, then you go back and do another fifty. But on Pathfinder Force you had to do the fifty, cause you had all the latest gadgets for navigating and they didn’t want you to leave, so you had to do fifty trips on Pathfinders, if you didn’t make it. Now as we went on to, with us being recommended, lots of crews would go on to Pathfinders that were already on a squadron and they’d done ops, but when you go on to, I suppose this happens on a squadron anyway, well if you hadn’t done any operations and you get on to the Pathfinders, your pilot goes with an experienced crew – I bet you’ve known this before cause they’ve told you - and they fly with another crew to show him what it’s like before he takes his own crew. Well what happened on our, with us he did his second, call his second dicky, and he, cause and he and the two navigators who had already done, he’d done thirty trips, we, they were taken off and posted away, cause you had to be good as a navigation team, that was the main thing on a Pathfinder crew, and with him doing his second dicky we only did twenty nine the rest of the crew and that pilot and the two navigators weren’t making the grade as far as Don Bennet went, he was the boss of Pathfinders, and they were posted overnight and I don’t know where they went, but that left us all spare, the rest of the crew. We’d all done our twenty nine. Well I got on to another crew that lost their wireless operator. Apparently they’d been at the same stage as us, well you know what they were doing, and apparently they’d been shot up over somewhere and they were on two engines coming back to this country and he was heading for Woodbridge, emergency landing strip in Surrey, and on the approach he lost another engine and it crash landed. They all got out bar the wireless operator, he was killed and I took his place.
BE: And his name was?
EP: And his name was Jimmy Crabtree. I think he was from Rochdale, I always remember that, and I think he was an ex-police cadet before he joined the RAF. I always remember that.
BE: And what happened about his sister, writing to you?
EP: And his sister, once she got all his belongings and that, there was a picture of me in it and I’ve got a picture of him somewhere, and she said I hope you have better luck than what Terry did. That was from his sister.
BE: You’ve still got the letter?
EP: Eh?
BE: And you’ve still got this letter.
EP: And I’ve still got, I haven’t got her letter, I’ve got his photograph.
BE: His photograph.
EP: That was that time. Then what was the next thing? I got in with this crew and after that we were top dogs after that. We lost the, I was this wireless operator, and towards the end, I’ll go back to when, when you’re on a Pathfinder Squadron you’re not all marking the target, you know what the Pathfinders did, don’t you, you marked the target, but lots of you, you didn’t all mark the target you went as a supporter, you supported, supported the ones who were marking the target. Anyway when you get to be, you were selected to be a Master Bomber and you were a Master Bomber as you get, first there you were marking the target, you find it and marking it for the bombers and I can always remember the calls, the callsign was Portland One and it always reminds me of a bag of cement, I used to say. And as I said you’re first there and you’re orbiting the target, directing operations to where the TIs and marking the target and the skipper’d tell, speak to all the bombers who were listening out to you, and you had to, and time was the main thing. You had to be there on that minute so that you didn’t bump into one another: there was lots of people lost by that. Where the TIs went down off marking aircraft, being a Master Bomber you’re circling and you’ve got a deputy going round with you, and you’d be wherever the target indicators were going down and cascading on to the aiming point, see we’d marked the aiming point and you tell them if you weren’t on the target, the Master Bomber would tell all the bombers to bomb to one left, or to one right or to the cascading red greens or whatever to go, he’d maybe tell you to ignore the bomb the fading green TIs and bomb the red ones, so that’s what the Master Bomber did. When that raid was over the skipper would assess that raid whether it was successful or not and me as the wireless operator, he’d tell me and I used be in touch with this country before any bomber got back, with that information. And he’d say if that wasn’t a success, said we’ll be coming here again. [laughs] That’s what a Master Bomber did, and I can still remember our base callsign was Off Strike and the aircraft was called Cut Out. I can still remember all that. And I’ve got a, I’ve got a thing in the garage now, and it’s got all the callsigns of all the squadron on a piece of lino, [emphasis] which were, and it’s written in chalk and I’ve still got that chalk on that lino from 1944.
BE: Wow!
EP: It’s in my garage now. Nowadays there’d be some sophisticated computer to give you, give ‘em all information like that.
BE: What about the bombs and people getting killed with the wings getting chopped off?
EP: Oh aye, and on a daylight you think you’re the only ones in the sky when it’s dark, at night time, and on a daylight raid when you used to go, you had to watch if you were getting bombs dropping from an aeroplane that was above you: knocking wingtips off, knocking rear turrets off with the gunner still in it – it happened all the time, but.
BE: What about when you used, with the coffee and trying to get through the plane?
EP: I was in charge of six, a flask six coffees in, to me, I called it creosote. I’ve never drunk coffee ever since, it was that terrible and I used to have to go down to the rear gunner with a flask of coffee and emergency oxygen bottle and you had to slide down on there you couldn’t just walk there, you were all over the sky avoiding flak and searchlights and all that. And I can remember, with being on the Path, you had what they called an H2S, which the second nav, you see we had two navigators. The second navigator operated this H2S and it was like a gadget you could see through cloud with it, onto the road, and that was why, with very little of it, we were the first to get it and you could see the ground. I’d just go back to rear turret, bang on his door, he’d open the door and I’d take the top off flask and give him, straight into his mouth and he’d break a lump of ice off his lung, off his exhaust thing on his mask and give it to me and I’d take it back up to the front and I’d throw it on the navigator’s table and the next day when I went to do a DI on that bomber it was still there but it’s smaller. And that was, that was one of the trips. And in that there were six flasks of coffee and they were all breakable so you can imagine they all did get broken, you’d just get the case off the back of your truck, and you’ve got a packet of rations and in it was six boiled sweets, handful of raisins, packet of chewing gum and a block of chocolate. Have you been told that before?
BE: No.
EP: That’s what we got for the rations.
BE: What did you eat when you landed?
EP: When you landed we got egg and bacon, and chips. And they was all rationed in civvie street, we had a ration thing for it. But we had three, I’ll give you three stories. This particular day, when the army couldn’t take Osnabruck, right, if you remember that was one of the places, and we were on, if you weren’t on missions you were on training and I can remember when we’d go on a cross country run that was for the navigators and meet up with the fighters somewhere, exercise for the gunners or we’d end up over the Wash to drop the, for the bomb aimer to practice dropping smoke bombs that were called ten pound smoke bombs. And what fascinated me, and still does, when the skipper talked to the ground, tell them that we were going to start bombing, the target was in the Wash, you used to have to tell ‘em what height you were at, they used the word Angels, right, Angels Five, you were at five thousand feet, you were ready to bomb the site, that sticks in my mind, what a lovely word: Angels Five to describe your height. I always remember that. [laughs] Anyway, this particular day, we, and I had to, me, I had to contact base every half hour in case there was a recall and this day there was. We had to get back and it was to bomb Osnabruck which the army couldn’t take, they were having trouble getting it so we had to go and soften it up, but the thing was, when we got back and we were briefed to where we were going and we went straight away, whereas as a rule, they take, once you know where you’re going, they take you out to the bomber and you’re kept there for an hour, an hour and a half, before you left but this raid was very important for the army. We took off straight away, but when we got in the aeroplane, we found it weren’t full up and one of the ground staff they left it to another lad to put petrol in and he didn’t and we were ready to go out to take off. The flight engineer, that’s him there -
BE: His name?
EP: Harry. Sitting next to me on that picture. Harry, his name was Harry Parker, but his real name was John Henry: that’s him, and that’s him. He said we haven’t got enough petrol to get us there and back skipper. And the skipper said we must have, he said how much have we got and he, the navi, he tried to work it out – the flight engineer – and he said well what was in, it’s not enough to get us there and back and the skipper said we go and we’ll bale out over France!
BE: Coming back.
EP: We got out to take off, got to the end of the runway, he turned on and went on to another dispersal, broke RT silence and I said about that we had no petrol, cause we were, otherwise we would have had time to sort that out, but we could have taken off straight away after being briefed. Anyway, what happened, but navigation leader and had to talk with the navi, they came in a bomber and they were all taking off to go and he, you know when you go to a target you dog leg, you never fly straight there, did you know that? You fly dog leg, that way Jerry’s guessing which way you’re going by doing that, and he has his fighters on a certain place and you don’t go there, that’s how we used to fox the fighters. And he said we’ll have to cut that leg out and that leg out and take off at such-and-such a time. By the time they got the bowser from the NAAFI, one of the NAAFI drivers got the bowser, that’s the thing that carries the petrol in, hundred octane it is by the way, not what you could buy, this was hundred octane, by the time they got him down there, to fill and to give us enough petrol to get us there and back. He said well -
BE: Somebody came, someone came on the plane.
EP: We cut that leg out, we’re going to be taking off at this time. And he said well, the joke that’s coming, he said in the end, we set course fifty minutes late: they were all well on the way by then. And in the end the skipper said well we’ll cut all the legs out, we’ll go straight to the target, and one of the navigators, Buddy, he said we can’t go, bloody suicide going that way, and the skipper said well we’re going, are you coming with us? That’s the line and somebody said I might as well, got nothing better to do. That’s true story that.
BE: Very, very brave.
EP: We went straight, and that was the highest we ever got, we used to bomb at about nineteen thousand feet all the time, we were up at twenty three thousand feet that day and I was always in the astrodome. You know what that is, don’t you, the dome and inside that was a piece of bullet-proof Perspex in that in case you were attacked, we had to do that, and that particular day we were at twenty three thousand feet to try and avoid some of the light flak, or flak, and all of a sudden there was about half a dozen bursts of flak on our tail. Straight away the rear gunner shouted flak skipper: dive! And he put the aircraft into a dive and I were looking in the astrodome and I could look back and you could just imagine they were reloading and firing, and they burst and we were split second in front, away from it, if they’d been a bit nearer they’d have hit us. But we dived out of the way but that’s what happened and do you know the feeling when you’re last to go to bed you think somebody’s behind you, that’s the feeling I had. You could see all these flaks burst right behind, follow you, you could see, following you down like that, you could see where we’d been but anyway where these things gone off. Anyway, we managed to get there in time we did what we had to do and that was it. That was at one of the raids.
BE: How did they check the dive?
EP: Eh?
BE: How did they check the dive?
EP: Oh that was on Nuremburg that was.
BE: Oh right.
EP: D’you want another story? Right, we did a daylight on Nuremburg, do you know on a night raid we lost ninety five bombers, did you know that? You didn’t! Well you, we lost ninety five bombers: Lancasters, Halifaxes in one night, [emphasis] You didn’t know that, well you should have done. The lads must have told you that. I wasn’t on that raid though. And there was twelve crash landed in this country which were write offs, but that was the most we ever lost. Anyway, we did a daylight raid, that was a night raid but we did after that, being in the forty five we did a daylight raid on Nuremburg and we were on the first to drop ours and we got walloped and the aircraft, affected the ailerons or something, we went into a dive, and Harry, he told me he had his back up against the pilot’s control and he was pushing the control stick back with the pilot and it eventually responded and he levelled out so he came round, the raid was over, they’d all, they were all gone and on their way back home to England and we, he came round, just dropped the bombs, and he eventually turned round, tried to find our way home and all of a sudden these two fighters we thought were coming for us, and when they come along, I could see the mid upper gunner waiting for ’em, he was ready to have a go at them, they were coming and they were Mustangs, you’ve heard of them, haven’t you. Have you? American Mustangs, well they flew right along, escorted us back, and there was one on each side of us and this feller at this, on the starboard side, he had his hood back, coloured lad, and he was smoking a Havana cigar, let the smoke out. That’s a true story. [Unclear] They were based over there somewhere.
BE: You had no engine power, gun power, is that right?
EP: That was another time, that. Anyway, when they left, from out of nowhere what came alongside? It was a Spitfire! Where the hell he’d come from? He followed until we crossed into the Channel area and he broke away as he was based over there. That was another story. Are you interested?
BE: Very interested!
EP: And that’s what happened to him. Do you want another story?
BE: Definitely!
EP: I think, we were briefed to go to Leipzig and our second navigator, he was a Russian Jew, his name was Boris Brezlov. He came from Russia with his grandparents and the name was Breslovski and they cut the ski off the end and they called themselves Breslov, anyway he was doing his chart, in flying control and he could sense somebody standing behind him, and he said the waiting [unclear] to go and he said don’t stand there behind mind, bugger off somewhere else and at that this arm came over his shoulder with all the bloody gold braid on it and he seen it and it was Don Bennett, Air Vice Marshall, but he was in charge of the Pathfinders, and he said, and he expected to be taken outside and shot. Said only RAF to tell an Air Vice Marshal to bugger off! That’s another story. True story that, yeah. But, er, is that enough?
BE: If you would like to take a break, we can take a break and come back in a bit.
EP: We’ll take a break.
BE: So we’re just coming back from a little bit of a break.
EP: Well this first pilot I flew with his name was Jack Harold, and he had a car, a Morris Minor, and with him getting posted, he came into the billet, he says anybody want to buy a motor car? And I said to him Jack, yeah I’ll have it, how much you want for it? He says twenty eight pound. And I said to him I said well I’ll have it Jack no intentions of driving and I’ve still got, I went into out Downham, into village, and I borrowed, I took twenty five pound out of me Post Office Saving book, what I’ve got in that drawer over there, and I had three pound in me pocket and that was the twenty eight I give him for the car. And the very first time we all three of six of us went into Downham Market in it and it, what happened, I found the brakes weren’t very good so the next time, before I went the second time I went in the car and I found I’d have a job, and they were all cable brakes and not like they are now, and I of course, clever me, I just thought I’d slacken them off meself and I put, and we got in it and of course when I took off I’d tightened them too much, and they were getting really hot and hubs of the wheels were red hot with binding, they was stretching acting as a brake, I couldn’t hardly move so we stopped and I could see all the hubs of the wheels were red hot so what we all did we did, we had a pee on the wheels to cool ‘em off. True that. Yeah. We did.
BE: [Laugh]
EP: We got back in and went the rest of the way and back without any brakes at all. I managed, I slackened them right off. I thought I’d adjust them by tightening them and we found that all brakes on cars you could hear ‘em when you tune up, you can hear ‘em catching. That’s how they should have been. Cause I slackened them right off and we went the rest of the way there and back without any brakes. And that was where I used to go to what they called the Corn Exchange in Wisbech and that was where you had all dance bands in there, that’s where I learned to dance and where I met my wonderful wife. In the end eventually she used to phone me up in to the mess, at times there weren’t allowed any outside calls come in, security wise, and you know you never seen anybody with cameras, they were taboo, you weren’t allowed cameras but she used to phone me every day and if I wasn’t going to see her on the night I used to say to her how did work go down this morning and when I said that she knew I wasn’t going to see her then on that night. You couldn’t, there were times when they wouldn’t allow outside calls coming in. That’s how security was, when you, like you see on here you talk about. That was it. You never went anywhere. What’s next?
BE: Octane, hundred octane fuel for your car.
EP: Anyway, we got a shop in the village, I managed to salvage one of the lad’s, we had water bottles and a bag that fit it to put it in, and I managed to salvage that and I got three of these bottles and they just went snug into this bag and I used to take them out to the ground staff lads out that, where the bomber was based, but sometimes they only had MT petrol, was a lot less than hundred octane. But course you know they used to, with the petrol that the ground staff lads had, they used to clean the nacelles, you know where the nacelles are on the bomber, it’s where the wheels go in to and they used to clean the engines nacelles with the stirrup pump and petrol in the bucket and pump it away inside the bomber where the wheels go and one guy used to fill these three cans for me with six pints with petrol what they used to clean the engine out, and he’d put it in and leave the bags in the back of the car, he’d, after I’d filled the tank up with that six pints he’d get it after he’d had his dinner, he’d go back to the bomber and he’d put, he’d fill ‘em up again and he’d come back and he’d fill it up again, and that’s a gallon and a half for the night out and I used to pick him up and the six of us in the one car and that. That was very naughty, you aren’t allowed to do that. But we also had FIDO and it used ninety thousand gallons an hour and it used to disperse the fog, you know on the side of the runway. There was only two bomber stations that had it at the time and we were one of them.
BE: So what did you do when you went out with your crew on kind of leave time and your relaxation time?
EP: Leave.
BE: What did you do with, you say you’d go to the Corn Exchange?
EP: That was what we’d do of a night time, it was where a dance bands, that was proper dancing in those days, quicksteps, waltzes and all that, you got a lot of excuse-me dancing there, and that was where I met the wife and she was in the Land Army, have you heard of the Womens’ Land Army, and she was on a shilling an hour, five p an hour, that was her wages for her that. And you know me, as a flight sergeant, do you know what my pay was, sixty two and a half pay, that’s twelve and six a day, that was my pay, a shilling of that was danger money, that was right, sixty two and a half p a day. Now when I left school in 1936 and went to be apprentice joiner, my pay were twenty seven p a week: that was the pay. In those days you could buy a three bedroomed semi-detached house for three hundred and sixty five pound!
BE: Did you mention Newcastle airport?
EP: Then with me being a joiner, I was, when the war started 1939, all building work stopped and I ended up, before I went into the RAF, I ended up working at Middleton St George which was a bomber station weren’t it, and Croft was a satellite to it and I worked there and from there I was called up and went in back to where, you know where I started off with this going to Blackpool. That was when I started.
BE: When did you go to Newcastle Airport?
EP: That was, as I say I was working at Newcastle Airport, it was called Goosepool before, that was it’s name. I can remember when I was a young lad I used to go and meet me cousins that lived near the airport, and we used to go bird nesting where it was Bomber Command, took off from there, and that was there. I can always remember I was working in one of the village for the future crew, soldiers and all was gonna take it over and the army was having a practice, a display, one lot was chasing the others and they [unclear] down to some aircraft flying nearby and some of these soldiers came through these billet holes I was fixing a doorway in and on the frame of the doorframe there was a strap to hold the frame together when you fixed it, and I was stood, what amused me was, one of these, one of them, you know the red the red army banners on and ran through one was being chased by the green lot of soldiers, they was practicing whatever, and he tripped up over this blinkin’ lath and he just dropped, he just fell out of the aeroplane and they were chasing, chasing and he tripped over this lath. [Laughs] He gets, the man said get up and he runs off. I didn’t dare face him anymore, I had to turn away. That was, that was before I went into the RAF, all that. All a long time ago.
BE: What about the characteristic of a Lanc take off.
EP: Did you know that the Lancaster has a pull to port on take off? Did you know that? She knows it.
BE: Tell the story though, be great.
EP: No, but this is it. The pilot had to juggle with it. That’s why we had eight in the crew. There’s two navigators, one was, one of them, the proper navigator, he was a lecturer in zoology at Reading University before he went into the RAF and the other one was, I told you, Boris Brezlov and he came from Russia with his grandparents, and he used to operate the H2S, the gadget we see through the floor.
BE: Their names, Graham Rose, their names?
EP: Graham Rose, he was the navigator, but you wouldn’t think he was on a bloody bomber here, cause I sat here and he sat there, and Boris sat there and I used to stand up and look through the astrodome, cause I got good marks, one exam I had I had excellent night vision, eyesight, this was part of it, when we got near the target he used to shout over tannoy get in that astrodome Pat, that shows I had good eyesight, keep me eye open for fighters, but the thing was you don’t fire at them unless they fire at you. This H2S, do you know what, it was all see through cloud, you could see the ground and now and again you’d get the navigator telling the pilot to tip his wing like that so that he could send the bloody radar to check how near another city was, used to check his and you wouldn’t think he was on a bomber raid he was that involved, with his, every five minutes on his chart was a little diamond track, and he was on course all the time and this is why I put it down to how we get away with it: we were in the right place at the right time. A good crew they were. And we all kept going until we all did, some did about fifty four trips, we all kept going till we all got our fifty in and that. And that, the first crew I was with, we seemed to get more, and out of all the fifty one raids we was on in all we lost two hundred and seventy five bombers, that was, I kept a check of it, and I got three hundred and fifty flying hours in Lancasters alone, and two hundred and fifty of ‘em was operational and I never got the defence medal because I wasn’t, I’d got to do three years non-operational. You see on the phone they said you only did two, they had tabs on you all the time, you only did two and I was still training, that was two training with the crew before I got on ops. And I always remembered, if I’d been in the Home Guard or the Fire Service that would have counted, all the time I was building aerodromes before I went into the RAF, so they could have taken that into account, couldn’t they? That was better than being on Home Guard, that’s what it was. And I can still remember our callsigns, I may have told you this anyway: it was Off Strike: base and Cut Out for the aircraft, and you more or less got your same aircraft all the time unless it was getting a service and that. Wonderful aeroplane, the old Lancaster, wonderful. We had a squadron of Mosquitos with us, you know what, there was about eight, seven or eight Mosquito Pathfinder squadrons during the war and biggest part of them was Mosquitos and we had a squadron of Mosquitos and they originated from Thornaby, which is just up the road, and they could take off with a four thousand pound bomb if the bomb doors weren’t fully closed. I’ve got, show you some pictures. Pull it back. This was, is it still going? This was our, my last raid on Heligoland.
BE: Oh, wow!
EP: That was there. Read the bottom of it, tells you the height we were at and everything. And that’s the raid we did on Nuremburg where we had a bit of hiccup there.
BE: They’re amazing.
EP: That’s all bombs leaving the bomber. Yeah, there was a four thousand bomb following all that.
BE: That’s incredible.
EP: That’s, that was from our own aeroplane. Yeah. This is my log book. Just look at that front page. You see what you can read on the right hand side. Read all the places I was at. We were on that one sunk the battleship von Scheer. German battleship, we were on that raid.
BE: Amazing. The red and the green and the black means different things.
EP: The red’s night time and the black’s daylight bombing raid and the green’s the daylight raids. You see Admiral von Scheer. Now my very first trip was on Stettin, you know where that, that was Poland. Eight and a half hours airborne and it wasn’t put, we went there a few times. On one raid we went up, we came over Norway, over Sweden, down into Poland. Eight and a half hour trip it was, and one time this pilot was listening out on his radio, and Sweden was opening fire, they weren’t trying to hit you, and you’re listening out and they said: ‘you are flying over neutral territory,’ you know, you shouldn’t be doing that, and pilot said, ‘we know, anyway coming back don’t open fire again.’ This pilot answered: ‘you are three thousand feet off target,’ [emphasis] and they answered them, said, ‘we know!’ They weren’t trying to hit you, they were just warning shots. True story that. That’s something to read that, that’s just that one, that’s the last page and that says, [pause] I was awarded the DFM, you know what the DFM is, don’t you, you do! Distinguished Flying Medal. I got twenty quid with that when I got demobbed! Yeah. It’s worth about four thousand pound now. And also, you get me that pen over there, all of that, all that. I’m going to show you some of my proud possessions. Being in the Pathfinder Force, you had to have a permit to wear them, to wear the badge, the gold badge. You could be pulled up, you could be pulled, that was my pilot, you could be pulled up by the Military Police if you were wearing it. Lots used to masquerade and weren’t entitled to it and were pulled up, and this was a permit I had, that was a permit I had to wear it, signed by Air Vice Marshal Bennett. You read that.
BE: That’s amazing! Awarded Pathfinder Force Badge, 23rd of February 1945.
EP: And that, not until you get permission from him, and that’s it, that’s one of my proud possessions.
BE: It’s amazing.
EP: Are you reading it?
BE: Yeah.
EP: You soon read that! And that’s the skipper, the second skipper I flew with. He died in 1990.
BE: His name?
EP: DSO, DFC he got. We all got decorated.
BE: His name.
EP: Eh?
BE: His name?
EP: Alex. That’s his book there look. There’s his name, there’s his book.
BE: Alex Thorne, DFC, DSO.
EP: That’s him there, he was top, a hell of a bloke, hell of a pilot. That’s what I put it down to, my idea, the navigator was the main one. He went, took you over the right spots, but and those, because cameras weren’t around get the very full pictures you get now. All the pictures you see and that’s his book. And that was at the Nuremburg raid. You can see the craters, see all the bomb craters on that one.
BE: Yeah, it’s amazing.
EP: The garrison see, flattened it. and we go on about the Germans, Germany did to us. We got nothing in this country to what the Germans got. The damage we did was out of this world to what, to what they got. Terrible. I thought that was sad, the damage we did. But er, if you want to read that after.
BE: Do you want, about the dinghy training?
EP: What?
BE: Dinghy training in Blackpool.
EP: What was that?
BE: About the training you did in dinghy training. If you came down in the sea and the aids that were on it.
EP: Well that’s it. You remember the comb? There’s the comb with the, with the compass inside. Can you see, if you look, you can shake it you can hear it at times. Can yer?
BE: No, I can’t.
EP: Can you [unclear] see there’s something inside the plastic, in there. Turn it over, there’s a compass in there.
BE: You would not know.
EP: Eh?
BE: It’s very clever. You would not know.
EP: Yeah, you just break it. Used to say you had two pins, two buttons you could sew on your flies, I said you put them on your trousers you’d pull them off to see where to go and your trousers would fall down. I used to crack on about that. But that’s all the page that. When you’ve finished doing this you can read that, but that was one of my proud possessions. You put it back did you? Was that. That was a permanent award. When I got demobbed you got, it was called a gratuity. It’s called redundancy now when you get, you finish work, in those days it was called gratuity, I got eighty two pound for all that and I got twenty pound for me gong, but now with all the memorabilia, with my DFM, me Pathfinder Certificate, that thing there, and me mate and all that: it’s worth two or three thousand quid.
BE: Amazing.
EP: And she kept them, my, in that, it’s all in that cabinet over there. I made that cabinet.
BE: It’s lovely.
EP: What else, pet?
BE: This was about the dinghy training and you used to, how you would detach from the plane and the training in Barrow-in-Furness
EP: Barrow-in-Furness, I don’t know how we go there. But the thing was you had to put all this flying gear on, what someone else had been training on it, it was all wet, trying to put it on and in turn you had to jump off the high dive, into the water, into a dinghy and one of the exercises was: the instructor there, he’d turn the dinghy over and you had, in turn you had to jump in the thing and try to get on to your knees into the round part of the dinghy and a couple of rubber handles on the bottom like that and you got to lift, don’t you, you’re right underneath it aren’t you and all the rest of the crew there would be in the water waiting to get in it and they’re all going get in it and you’re underneath it, [unclear] all get in it [laughter].
BE: So if it came down in the sea what was it equipped with?
EP: Inside of it? I was in charge of a portable tele, transmitter. The handle was folded up and also you’re tied to the bomber, in the right, into the starboard wing there was a plate there and on the inside of the aircraft if you know you’re coming down in the sea, channel, you pull this cord and it inflates the dinghy in the wing and blows this panel off and then you’ve got to get out of the aeroplane and get into the dinghy before it goes down and there’s a knife in there in the socket, you’ve got to cut the wire, if you didn’t it would pull you down in the water wouldn’t it so you’ve got to cut yourself free and make sure you’re all in it, and that’s how and this portable wireless that I was in charge of, what you’d to do you’d just connect this handle and crank it and it sent out SOS on a continuous note so they could take a bead on you, see where you are. I don’t know whether it worked or not, but that was what the job was, this portable and it was covered in about six inches of foam so it wouldn’t sink. And did you know the wings, the petrol tanks on the Lancasters, it’s got about six inches of foam round on about six petrol tanks. You take off two of them, and then you use the others and when you take off the two you landed on and they’re covered in six inches of foam, in case you get hit with flak, of course it’ll seal it again. Once you get, I only ever saw two fellas ever bale out of a Lancaster, they was all in the stream, bomber stream and they were on fire and I only seen two get out and it still kept going along with us, till eventually got away. But I’ve seen aircraft get a direct hit in the air and it just explodes. Pretty terrible, awful sight. Don’t know they’re born now. And do you know what, I don’t get a penny pension for what I went through. You don’t get nowt. I came out A1, if I’d come out wounded I’d have got one: I don’t get any pension.
BE: What about the dispersal, when you landed in fog and you followed a vehicle on the runway.
EP: The very first trip I did with this second pilot, we went to Merseburg and we lost a lot of bombers that night. And coming back it was that foggy where we were based, was working, and it was all, technical aircraft that they landed there, yes I, I had to listen to Group headquarters and the message was to all us bombers: we were diverted to Ford down near Southampton. I always remember that, and we were up at ten thousand feet, and the women, who were controllers, they were marvellous, their voices, women, they used to handle it, bring aircraft down wherever they were at, and you would get an aircraft calling up permission emergency to land short of fuel and someone ill on board and it would er -
BE: You landed, and a vehicle.
EP: And when you do land, you land and all of a sudden a little fifteen hundred weight van would nip in front of you and big words would appear on it: follow me and you would follow him somewhere then and when you get where he switches the light off and he goes and gets another aeroplane. Then the next day you had to go find, there was that many bloomin’ aircraft on the ground it took you ages to find your own aeroplane, course they all look alike on the ground, don’t they. Yeah. And coming back right, we were at the lowest I’ve ever been, we were hedge hopping all the way back. You know what hedge-hopping is? That’s what it means, hedge-hopping.
BE: Tell me.
EP: You used, rather tricky, you come down, had to take down to at least a thousand feet. We were just keeping low to get back, we were that low I couldn’t use the radio to tell them that we were coming home.
BE: What’s hedge-hopping?
EP: That was it, that was called hedge-hopping.
BE: You mentioned about when you checked the plane after you’d landed for the holes.
EP: That was the first trip, more action, you walk round the bomber, with, you all had equipment, to count all the holes you got in there, I can remember the flak used to go straight through the aeroplane you know, no problem at all. I can remember getting out of my seat to look at the astrodome and then when I went to sit on it again I put my hand on my seat to steady me down and there was hole, a bit of flak had gone through there. I wasn’t sitting on it at the time or it’d have gone right through!
BE: Lucky.
EP: That would have made your eyes water wouldn’t it. [Laughs]
BE: It would!
EP: That was it. Was a wonderful aeroplane. Three hundred and fifty flying hours in one and three hundred, and two hundred and fifty is operational. My longest trip was eight hours and fifty minutes, in the air, all at once. You take on oxygen all the time.
BE: What was the time you had a go at flying it?
EP: Oh aye, skipper give me, I had a fly of the bloody thing, you know. He had the automatic pilot in and I sat in the seat and the radome switched it back out back of that and you can feel your nose going, you pull your nose back and when you’re done and you feel going over like that and you pull that back you should go up over you go to pull that down, and the navigator Boris he comically said now try using your hands. [Laughter]
BE: Not your feet! What were the tests where they clipped your column?
EP: When they were testing for night vision tests. There was four of you sat round this thing in front of you and you all had a screen each and so you wouldn’t go forward to see what was, and they’d send a silhouette picture of a German aircraft, you had to identify what make it was and how far away it was. Cause guns we had were only effective at four hundred yards. Did you know that? You didn’t did you? They were Browning guns and they were only effective at four. And so that you wouldn’t cheat and lean forward they used to fasten your coat to the back of the chair, so you couldn’t go forward. Then at gunnery school we were, we were firing air to ground. There was a mixture of tanks, well there was the tanks on the ground and what we’d do, we’d take off, these were in Ansons, a different type of aeroplane, you fly down England, go to the targets were there, and this, with an instructor gunner and he kept saying hold your fire, you know I thought, and you go down - this was right on the edge of the coast where you would see - and you’d fly out to sea, turn round, come in and you come this way your guns would be on the other side then wouldn’t they, coming down there and he kept saying hold your fire and you’d come on and come on and you’d go out to sea at that end, turn round come back, he said this three or four times. I said what am I keep holding my bloody fire for? Then all of a sudden coming along there I heard the word fire so I let go and I was firing all of me bloody guns at target I could see the bullets ricocheting off all off ‘em all over and between the short bursts I could hear him bawling, ‘what the hell you doing? Can’t you see those bloody fellers putting that gun right?’ I just stopped in time or I’d have hit some of them, they were putting something, doing something to the model and that’s why he kept telling me hold your fire, they weren’t ready to be fired at, and I just heard, I just, all I heard was the word fire so like I just let go! Any more pet? [Laughter]
BE: The recent anniversary, at the unveiling of the Canadian pilot at St [unclear] George’s Hotel at Teesside Airport.
EP: This is only four or five, four years ago.
BE: Yes, but this guy that sat next to you how that came, and he had a silk worm.
EP: Well we had a Canadian Bomber come on the squadron, didn’t we, you know that, and it based at Middleton St George and I got chatting to this fellow, he flew from there and he -
[Other]: [Unclear]
EP: He had a caterpillar on his lapel, you know what that’s for don’t you? For using the parachute, the lad was saved with a parachute. You know and I’m chatting to him and apparently I was on the same raid as him that was on Hannover, not Hannover, Dortmund, and he was, I was, we lost fourteen bombers that night and he was in one of them, and I showed him, anyhow I pointed out in my log book and he was on that raid and he was there, that same night that I was on the same raid as him and I was down in Norfolk and he was flying from Middleton St George.
BE: And he was taken prisoner.
EP: And he was taken prisoner, weren’t he. He was, he was, good time he had as a prisoner. This is my proud, that’s it, and he didn’t have his log book because when you got shot down they take everything and you never see them. Well I’ve still got mine and anything in the papers mind I check it with this. You see that page there? It shows you Admiral von Scheer, there was a German pocket battleship, the Admiral von Sheer, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, that was three of them and they were all German battleships, they all got sunk you know. Our lads, hell of an aircraft, the Lancaster. I was thinking of buying one and I keep it in the garden.
BE: What about the story when you were demobbed and were sent to India?
EP: Oh, after the war I was recommended for a commission though after, be the same time we got a fortnight’s leave and we had to go back to the squadron and I, we decided get married and I got a wife and a fortnight’s extension of leave. And the [unclear] seven days granted you only got seven days, you had to go back. But this particular, we finished flying they give me seven, they give me a fortnight, and course while I was on leave at home I was bloody posted to another Pathfinder squadron and I never got me commission.
BE: It’s still out there waiting.
[Other]: Aw!
EP: I was a warrant officer.
BE: Where were you sent to in India?
EP: So instead of that, if I’d have taken a commission, you know when you get a commission in the RAF you get discharged and you’re brought in as an officer with a different number and you’ve got to do at least twelve month. But the war was over, I wanted out so I didn’t pursue it. I was going to pursue it, and it had gone a month, they’d mislaid it so I didn’t bother, I wanted out. But they sent me, I still ended up out in India. A place called Korangi Creek, near Karachi, I ended up out there. I was out there about ten month.
BE: And Keith was born, your son.
EP: And Keith was born there.
BE: No he wasn’t. He was born whilst you were out there.
EP: While I was out there. He was seven month old before I saw him. Nowaday they let you sit by their bed when they have babies, in the services. I tried to get out of it by reporting sick, it was the only time I ever reported sick in the RAF, had a hell of a cold, I’ve still got it, the same one, Friar’s balsam in a basin, with a towel over your head, breathe over it, you’re going to India and I still went out there. I ended up in flying control out there, in charge of flying control and it was there where I got a trip in a Catalina. That was a flying boat. But it -
BE: The incident with the boat and the paddle and you nearly died.
EP: We used to go fishing on the creek. If we caught anything we used to give it in to the mess, the sergeant’s mess. And this particular day, we took this little boat fishing and we couldn’t get back into put to shore because we, the current carried us out into the Indian Ocean. And do you know what the paddle was made out of? A lid off a tin of paint on the end of a brush and trying to get back and that and in the end the bloody launch takes, sees the aircraft, the Catalina’s off: they came to get us. But that was it.
BE: But how? How did you do it? How did you [unclear]
EP: I lifted it up, I just flicked it like that, and it flashed awhile on the shore and they saw it and they came out to get us, they knew we were in trouble. And when you get off the little boat off the creek onto the land, it’s like opening the oven door, it was that hot out there. Terrible.
BE: About your flying boots and your ammunition.
EP: Oh aye. With the flying boots we had on, when we went to squadron they issued us with a 38 revolver. We used to have to go on this range they had. In those days you used to fire like that, nowadays it’s like just two hands, isn’t it. You couldn’t hit anything with that so I brought the thing out and they used to give you a packet of ammunition. I used to empty the packet of bullets down my flying boot, so if I’d baled out the buggers would have dropped out wouldn’t they! [Laugh]
BE: What was the laminated thing you had if you came down and you had to say in Polish?
EP: We went, the Russians were and we had a, first time I’d ever came across plastic. We had a plastic thing round our necks with the union jack on it, and we had to say something - we are British airmen or something - and of course with the second navigator come, he knew Russian, he’d come, originating from Russia, he said, if you said it like what we had to say he said if we said it like that we will shoot you. [laughs] Couldn’t get your mouth round it, in case you had problems you’d be easier to fly on than land in Russia, come home. Long trip we did, like Kiel, some hot spots going over there. I can remember was a Mosquito squadron where we were and it landed was in daylight and we were going on the same raid as them, give ‘em a hand, and he said the flak’s that thick you can put your wheels down and ride across on it! [Laugh] Always remember that. Course they’re a wonderful aeroplane. You know that we were losing that many aircraft bombing Berlin, I wasn’t on any of them, I wasn’t qualified by then, we were losing so many they stopped going to Berlin as early as March 1944. We lost seventy bombers on the last raid on Berlin, but the Mossies were going, they could get up to thirty five thousand feet, they couldn’t reach ‘em and they’re the ones that carried the war on on Berlin, was the Mosquito, that’s a wonderful aeroplane it had this two engines, like the Lanc had four engines. And full tanks on the Lanc was two thousand one hundred and fifty four gallon, that was full tanks and we had six tanks. You took off on two and then you used the others – that was your flight engineer’s job to keep switching tanks for the pilot - and you landed on the same two you took off on, so you knew we had plenty of petrol.
BE: What did you write on?
EP: Eh?
BE: What did you write on?
EP: Write on what?
BE: When you were a wireless operator. You made your notes on something.
EP: As the wireless operator, all your information, frequencies and callsign and people it changed every six, every six hours and so you had to have two lots of information and it was all on rice paper and I used to tear a bit off the end and chew it, just to make sure, you had to, it changed. And I can always remember when the skipper was speaking to the main force, he used, they all had a callsign, and most of the time it was Press On, cause we used to say press on rewardless, and our callsign for base was, I’ve told you this haven’t I, was Off Strike, and you flew in your same aircraft all the time from Cut Out, that was the base call, and I’ve got a piece of lino in the garage now with those callsigns in chalk, still on a piece of lino. Would you like to see that?
BE: Love to after the interview.
[Other]: And what about the reunion mum went to with you in the Royal Albert Hall and Bennett was there and you did a present -
EP: That was the Lancaster Hotel that.
[Other]: Oh right. And you presented Bennett with the scroll.
EP: Oh, that’s right.
[Other]: And mum said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
EP: Mum went, and Don Bennett was there as well because he was the boss of Pathfinders, and there was dancing and all that. Do you remember Kenneth Wolstenholme what used to be on the television? He was there and he was dancing with your mum, when he met Kenneth Wolstenholme and was it Benson that -
[Other]: It was a reunion, long after the war.
EP: Yeah. Bennett gave a speech to all the lads that, they were all ex-Pathfinder aircraft crew. The thing he said it made everyone emotional didn’t it.
[Other]: And mum said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and everyone stood up -
EP: That’s true.
[Other]: To acknowledge him. Yeah.
BE: He was our boss. That was where he put his arm -
[Other]: Must have been the seventies, dad.
EP: He was the one that put his arm over Boris’s shoulder, you know, you called, shouted bugger off. Oh, he said, I expected to be taken outside and shot. He said there’s no one in the RAF told an Air Marshal to bugger off! True story that!
BE: Brilliant. Do you want to stop now? Yeah.
EP: Have a cup of tea.
BE: Thank you very much. It’s been absolutely brilliant. I’ve loved all the stories, they were absolutely great. Thank you very much.
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 Ernie Patterson. Two
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Beth Ellin
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
2019-01-26
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
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Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
APattersonGE190126, PPattersonGE1901
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
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:08:37 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Before joining the Royal Air Force on 4 February 1942, Ernie worked as an apprentice joiner. On being called up he went to Blackpool for training, which included Morse code. Following training at different places he then attended the advanced flying school. After travelling to RAF Abingdon for crewing up they trained on Whitleys and then Halifaxes. From there they went to RAF Downham Market to train on Pathfinders. Ernie was transferred to another crew to replace their wireless operator who had been killed. When flying, members of the crew each had a ration of six boiled sweets, a handful of raisins, a packet of chewing gum and a block of chocolate. He explained about dinghy training. Ernie recall an operation when they had a recall to bomb Osnabrück; another squadron did aa operation to Nuremberg and lost 95 bombers in that one night. The crew did a daylight operation on Nuremberg and they were escorted back by two Mustangs. Ernie remembers buying a Morris Minor from a colleague and describes the mishaps he had due to its poor brakes. Ernie met his wife at a dance at the Corn Exchange in Wisbech. His son was born while he was posted in India. He had 350 flying hours in Lancasters, 250 of which were operational. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal a Pathfinder Award Badge. At the end of the war he was offered a commission but didn’t take it as he wanted to return to civilian life.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Anne-Marie Watson
Steph Jackson
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Germany
England--Norfolk
England--Oxfordshire
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Nuremberg
England--Wisbech
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Durham (County)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-02-04
635 Squadron
aircrew
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Medal
ditching
FIDO
H2S
Halifax
Lancaster
love and romance
Master Bomber
military service conditions
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
P-51
Pathfinders
RAF Abingdon
RAF Downham Market
RAF Middleton St George
RAF Rufforth
RAF Stanton Harcourt
RAF Yatesbury
superstition
target indicator
training
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/547/11783/PWynneH1825.1.jpg
2695d69ffdc319eadc27dd83dd8e46ac
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/547/11783/AWynneH-AtkinsonG180508.2.mp3
2f104dfd844ef6b76a21ae95d8ac858f
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
Wynne, Helga
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. Includes family photographs and two oral history interviews with Helga Wynne (b. 1926) who reminisces her childhood in Kiel, the death of her future fiancé when the train he was travelling on was bombed, and her coming over to Great Britain in 1948.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Helga Wynne 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
2018-08-02
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
Wynne, H
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
HH: This is Heather Hughes for the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive and I am in [ buzz] Flixborough with Helga Wynne and Gordon Atkinson, and it is the 8th of May 2018. Did I get all of that right? I think so.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Helga, thank you so much for agreeing to tell your story to us.
HW: Yeah. You’re welcome.
HH: Because I think it’s a remarkable story. So, if we could start with your very very early life. Would you like to tell us where you were born and when and something about your family?
HW: Yeah. I was born on the 10 7 ‘26 in Germany. In Kiel, and we lived right in centre in town. We lived about four or five years and then my father went to outskirts from Kiel and built a house. So that is where my life really began. In there. So —
HH: So, was your dad, what was, what profession was your dad?
HW: So my, my father in his younger days he was a sailor and he joined when he was fourteen years of age.
GA: On sailing ships that, wasn’t it?
HW: On the, yeah.
HH: On sailing ships.
HW: Yeah. And he never went back. That was in Danzig. It, it called —
HH: Gdansk.
GA: Gdansk.
HW: Gdansk. Yeah. In Poland.
HH: In Poland. Now. Nowadays Poland. Yes.
HW: But when he was born it belonged to Germany so that made him a German. So after that he got married and like I said already he built his own house. There were twelve children of us. Nine girls and three boys and I’m the ninth in the line.
HH: And in terms of the three girls, the boys and the girls where are you in the whole —
HW: Yeah. That was a big house what he built.
HH: And, and were you the youngest altogether?
GA: No. You were number nine didn’t you say?
HH: Or just the youngest girl?
HW: I more or less was one of the youngest one.
HH: Ok.
HW: The fourth youngest. Yeah.
HH: Ok.
HW: And of course, I had no brothers in the war because one brother who was deaf and dumb so they didn’t take him, and the other two were too young so, but I had all brother in laws in the war and several of them of course they got killed. And one day in my younger day I was in the kitchen with my mother and all of a sudden the door ripped open and the Nazis came in. So, we were frightened to death. We wondered what it was all about and they wanted to see my father. And so, my mother said, ‘Alright. He’s out.’ He was a shipbuilder. Told them where he was and they went and fetched him. So, they came back and he had to show the certificate that he was born in, in Danzig. What they called Gdansk but when he was born it belonged to Germany so that made him German so they were satisfied. They saluted and went out and took my father back. But I must say when first Hitler came in we were very poor. You know, at that time my father was out of work at that time but they looked after us. They brought us food. They brought us coal. And that’s how he got that job. So, he had his good points even if he had his bad ones. So, of course when I was fourteen I had to start working and I went on the farm. And all, all young girls before they started profession they had to go on the farm or they had to go and live with a family to see what life is all about, what they’re going to do when they get older and I chose to go on the farm.
HH: Was that, was that a long way from where you lived, Helga?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. And of course, I had a bad accident there. I was, we were going to feed the cows and it was a loft and go in the loft to get the straw down for the cows and while I was running over it I, it, I walked over a bale of straw and that covered the, the loft like and I didn’t know. Of course, I fell through, landed on my back and if it wasn’t for the bale of straw I could have been dead but that actually saved my life in a way so —
HH: So, did you land on a bale of straw?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. But I still damaged my spine and that.
HH: And did you have medical attention?
HW: Yeah. And I was in hospital for a few weeks and I was in a plastic jacket for six months. Of course, when I got over all this problem I started, I went to, went to Kiel, in town to a Children’s Hospital as a student. And of course, one day we had a what do you call it — ?
GA: Air raid do you mean?
HW: Yeah. Air raid. Yeah.
GA: You’re jumping forward now.
HW: And we were all sheltering in a cellar. Well, it wasn’t really a cellar. It was halfway above the ground and halfway under but the Children’s Hospital, they all had children in there under the age of fifteen. And they all more or less scarlet fever, measles and things like that. It was a private hospital.
HH: And that was in Kiel.
HW: Yeah. That was in Kiel. And —
HH: Ok. So, when did you start working in the hospital? Was it before the war?
HW: During the war.
HH: So, you started work there —
HW: Yeah.
HH: During the war.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, and of course they first they throw phosphor bombs like. All the building was on fire and I was on fire duty like but they wouldn’t let me go up to do anything because we knew the next lot of bombers was coming in with the heavy bombs. So, anyhow, we got all set looking after the children, the bombs dropped in and I got buried. So, luckily in the next room there was two students and they managed to got me out.
HH: They managed to get you out.
HW: Yeah. But next to me was one of the doctors and they couldn’t get her out.
HH: They didn’t make it.
HW: No. The burning steps came on falling. Falling on her. Anyhow, after when I got all over that I met —
HH: Now, when you say when I you got all over that did that take you a while to recover?
HW: Well, it did. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been —
HH: So were you, did you have —
HW: Off sick and that. Yeah. Yeah.
HH: You were. Ok. Yeah.
HW: And then I met my late fiancé.
GA: That’s jumping quite a bit.
HW: Yeah. And —
GA: After the, after the —
HW: Yeah —
GA: Bullets had stopped flying when she met Harold. You know what I mean? It’d be after 1945.
HH: Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HH: But, but you first, you, you had met somebody who was in the German Navy.
GA: Yeah.
HH: Is that right?
GA: You missed that out.
HW: Yeah.
GA: You missed that.
HW: Ok.
GA: Going to Westphalia.
HH: So, tell me about your fiancé.
HW: This is what I get to now. I met him and he was, he was on the ship called Prinz Eugen and it got bombed badly so all his mates got legs and arms off and he said that was too terrible to see so he decide to go to a submarine. He said, ‘I’ll either be killed or be alive.’ So, this is what happened.
HH: How did you meet him, Helga?
HW: He was in Kiel. In, in his—
GA: Kiel was a Naval base.
HW: Yeah. A Navy base. Yeah.
GA: They met —
HW: Training younger sailors like. Anyhow, I got, after a time I was three months pregnant so we decide to get married but it was very difficult, the war being still very heavy. So I went to Westphalia, near the Dutch border to his parents and that’s when we was going to get married. He came on a short leave, only for two days to get married and go back but while we were on the train together it got attacked by a plane during the night. I think it was American plane. Just one among and it fired machine guns.
HH: At the train.
HW: Yeah. And of course, we stood so close together how I didn’t get hit I don’t know. It just ripped my coat and the bullet went into him and killed him. So, two days later we should have been married but it didn’t come off. And anyhow —
HH: Yeah. That must have been really difficult for you.
HW: It was very very hard. Yeah.
HH: How did you cope?
HW: You do when you’re young don’t you? And you know you had to. Life goes on, doesn’t it?
GA: Did you, you stayed with his mother in law at that time, did you? Just after that tragedy.
HW: Did what?
HH: Did you carry —
GA: Did you stay with, with your mother in law?
HW: Yeah
HH: Did you carry on staying with his parents?
HW: Yeah. I had to because the war was really, they was all coming in in Holland and that and, in fact they came in Holland and then on the Rhine and that was near the Rhine where his parents lived. Of course, he got, he got buried there where his parents is because that’s where he got died. And the war finished there in March. Well, it was still going on in Kiel so I couldn’t get back home. So, I went back after the, you know everything was settled in June. I came back. Of course, I had a baby by then and no father to look after it. So, but his parents were quite well off. So —
HH: And did they, did they, did they look after you and the baby?
HW: Yeah. And he’s still there. We’re in touch. He keeps coming to see us. He’s married over there like.
HH: And what’s his name?
HW: Willy, after his father.
HH: His father’s name was Willy as well, was it?
HW: Yeah. Wilhelm. Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: And I’ve, one of my brother in laws he was on the Scharnhorst so he, he got killed of course.
HH: Yeah.
HW: And another one he was only six weeks on the mine sweeper and they run on the mine and he got killed. And another brother in law he was in Hamburg visiting like, my sister and the bombing was going on and he got buried somewhere but nobody ever found him.
HH: So, that must have been just terrible for, that your, for —
HW: Yeah.
HH: For the parents —
HW: Yeah.
HH: Who lost all of those sons.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you see, they are brother in laws but not my own —
HH: Yeah.
HW: Brothers you see.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: And then my other one —
HH: How did your parents cope with that?
HW: They, they never spoke about that.
HH: They just didn’t speak about it.
HW: No. No.
HH: They probably just couldn’t.
HW: No. This is it. Yeah.
GA: Did your, did your mother drove a tram didn’t she? Didn’t your mother drive a tram?
HW: Yeah. My —
HH: During the war your mum —
HW: Yeah. She was a tram driver in Hamburg.
GA: Was your, was your younger sister set in the foot —
HW: Yeah.
GA: The footwell of the tram.
HW: She had one of my younger sister. She was only a year old. She used to sit her in a corner while she was driving a tram. Of course, it wouldn’t be allowed today.
HH: No. But what else could you do then?
HW: Yeah. That’s true. Yeah. You see. To earn a living, isn’t it? You have to help.
HH: Gosh.
GA: Your father was working in the Krupps ship building yards.
HW: Yeah. Of course, that all got bombed badly and so on but —
HH: Did your father survive?
HW: Oh yeah. My parents survived the war because, but he died I think a few years after the war from cancer like and my mother lived twenty years after that on, on her own.
HH: Gosh.
HW: Of course, she sold the house then and went to finish within a home like.
HW: When I met my late husband that was in 1947.
HH: And where was that?
HW: And that, he was a paramedic in Kiel. And we’d been out to a dance and that’s how we met. It was a few months later we got engaged. And then 1948 he brought me over to England and we got married and I think I was one of the first girls in Scunthorpe who got married to an Englishmen because crowds of people come to watch us.
HH: Gosh.
HW: Because I was German, you see. Yeah.
GA: That was at Burton Church, wasn’t it?
HW: Yeah.
HH: And that was at Burton Church.
HW: I got married in the Burton Church and the buses even stopped and looked and took photographs and it was —
HH: So, it was quite a celebrity wedding.
HW: It must have been. Yeah. And I couldn’t figure why but I realised later that I was more or less one of the first one in Scunthorpe who got married to an Englishman.
HH: Gosh.
HW: Anyhow, we got, I got three sons.
HH: You had three sons together.
HW: With Harold. Yeah.
HW: And of course, he, he died in 2000. He had cancer. I nursed him in bed for nine weeks. It was hard but I looked after him ‘til he died.
HH: And how did you find, how was it from your point of view as a German woman coming to live in, in Britain at that time?
HW: Well, when you’re young and in love you don’t see anything different. You’re just happy. I’ve never really been homesick. I’ve been very happy. I had a happy marriage.
HH: But you were made welcome, were you?
HW: Yes. His parents, yeah made me very very welcome. I couldn’t have been looked after any better. They thought the world of me.
HH: And where did they live? Your parents in law.
HW: They lived at Thealby. Not far from here.
GA: About three, four miles, you know?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. They really replaced my own parents. They did. Yeah. Because they never had any girls I was the only girl in the family so of course I would be welcome.
GA: They met your mum and dad, didn’t they? Did Harold’s dad, didn’t, did Harold’s mother or was it just his dad, yeah his dad went to Germany?
HW: Yeah.
HH: Did the families meet?
GA: Yes.
HW: Yes. Yes. I, we went to Germany. Twice we took parent in laws with us and my father in law enjoyed it so much he went on his own with a friend and stayed with my sister.
HH: Fantastic.
HW: And really enjoyed it. Yes.
HH: Brilliant.
HW: Of course, we went nearly every other year with the children like. So —
HH: To keep in touch with your family.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. So, they were in touch. And then with my late, with my eldest son of course they met him and they’ve been over here quite a few times.
HH: Have they?
HW: Yeah. And they still come. Yeah. They are coming again next month.
HH: Lovely.
HW: Yeah. And of course, then a year and a half ago I broke my leg.
HH: Oh.
HW: And of course, it put me back a bit in the wheelchair like. And Gordon looks after me like with doing our best what we can. Several, I broke my ankle. Got a pin in it. I broke my arm while I’ve been here. I broke my big toe. So, I’ve had quite a few breaks, haven’t I? Yeah. I had my eyes done. Cataracts. And now they’ve found out that I’ve got what do you call them? Floaters.
HH: Oh, those are horrible.
HW: Yeah.
HH: I’ve had those.
GA: Yeah.
HW: And they won’t operate because they said after they do it it wouldn’t do any good.
HH: No.
HW: So therefore —
HH: You just have to wait.
HW: Yeah. I’m gradually going blind now. Yeah. Because it’s really getting bad.
HH: Well, you know what my mother says? Old age is not for the faint hearted.
GA: It is. Indeed, it’s not.
HW: That’s right. And I have to use my magnifying glass for everything now.
HH: Yeah.
HW: But I —
HH: Tell me a little bit about your life between 1948. I mean your husband worked where?
HW: Yeah.
HH: Harold.
HW: He worked, he worked at the steelworks.
HH: In Scunthorpe.
HW: Yeah.
HW: He was, in the army he was in the medic.
GA: A medic. The Royal Medical Corps.
HH: So, so did —
HW: Yeah —
HH: Did he, he was demobbed was he?
GA: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. He was demobbed and then he sent for me.
GA: It was basically National Service he did, wasn’t it?
HW: Yeah.
HH: Oh, National Service.
HW: Just for two years.
HH: Ok.
GA: Just after the war you see.
HH: Just after the war.
GA: ‘47 48.
HH: Right.
GA: Something like that.
HW: And course —
HH: So, then he, he finished his National Service.
HW: Yeah.
HH: And then, and then went to work. Met —
HW: Yeah.
HH: Met you, married, you got married and then he was in the steel works.
HW: He was in the medic in the, in the Army like. He could, he could have carried on because they wanted him in Scunthorpe but the wages I’m afraid wasn’t very good.
HH: No.
HW: And the steelworks it was better.
HH: Much better.
HW: So he went to the steelworks.
HH: And you?
HW: As a smelter.
HH: What did you do when he was away at the steel mill? Looking after children?
HW: Yeah. This is, well I was only here a year when we had the eldest son like.
HH: And that was, what year was your oldest son born?
HW: We got married ’48. He was born —
HH: ’49.
HW: ’50. Yeah.
HH: Oh, ’50.
HW: No.
HH: ’50.
HW: ’50, yeah. Yeah.
HH: And the other ones? What years were they born?
HW: Two years later. Well, I’m afraid I lost him six months ago. He passed.
GA: 12th of August last year, wasn’t it? When he died.
HW: Yeah. He passed away. He had lung cancer and, yeah, I’m afraid.
HH: And that was the middle son.
HW: Yeah. That was the middle one.
HH: And then the youngest one?
HW: The eldest one lives in Wales.
HH: In Wales.
HW: Yeah. I’m afraid it isn’t very good news there because he’s got cancer in his throat.
HH: Whereabouts in Wales do they live?
GA: Near Swansea.
HH: Ok. South Wales.
GA: South Wales.
HW: Yeah.
HH: So it’s quite a long way away.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
GA: Oh, a long way. Yeah.
HW: It is. Yeah. Well, he came about two weeks ago.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Didn’t he? They keep coming up like but of course it’s a long way. I mean he’s got three children and they’ve all got family. So I’m a great grandmother to six others.
HH: Six. Six times a great granny.
GA: Yeah.
HH: That’s wonderful.
HW: Yeah. Three. Three times grandmother.
HH: That’s wonderful.
HW: Yeah.
HH: So, you, you have a very large family.
HW: Yeah. Oh, yes and they come regularly to see us. Yes. Yes.
HH: That’s great.
HW: It is. Yeah.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: But they all live apart. Nobody near us like. They live in Goole and oh one lives in [unclear] doesn’t he?
GA: Yeah.
HW: The other one in Hull.
GA: Katie. She’s in Hull.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah. That’s, that’s, that’s families today.
GA: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
HH: I mean it is remarkable I think that you have been so settled here for so long in the same house.
HW: Yeah.
GA: To work.
HH: Sixty seven years.
GA: Ever since you’ve been here you’ve always worked on the farm doing the potato picking and —
HW: I always worked on the farm.
HH: So, you went back to farm work which is how you started.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. In, whatever children went to school I went on the farm to work. I used to drive the tractor.
HH: Fantastic.
GA: Every farm had a team of ladies out of the village that did the potato riddling. Picking —
HH: Amazing.
GA: Sugar beet and things like that.
HW: Yeah.
GA: And that’s what you —
HH: That’s quite hard work.
GA: Oh yeah.
HW: Yeah. But I was tractor driving so it was easier. And I even saved a little boy’s life.
HH: How come?
HW: Well, they had a swimming pool there on the, on the farm like and while I was coming —
GA: It was —
HW: Back with the tractor these little kiddies come running and said one of the boys fell in water. So of course, I jumped off the tractor and run straight to the pond and there was a big sheet over the top and I said he couldn’t be in there but then we ripped the sheet off. The foreman and I ripped it off and luckily right in front of me he come up and he was all blue and that. Unconscious.
HH: Well, that’s where your nursing experience —
HW: Yeah.
HH: Would have been really helpful.
HW: Yeah. It did. I gave him the kiss of life and brought him around. We wrapped him up in blankets and somebody rang ambulance up. Of course, I had to get home and get changed because I was soaking.
HH: Wet.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. That was something. Anyhow, a few years later I met the mother and I asked how the little boy was going on. She said he was going on fine but he had a lot of ear complaint.
HH: Oh.
HW: Yes.
HH: Yeah. But he was alive and well.
HW: But he was alive. Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Yes.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Yes. It was at the time the front page, wasn’t it?
GA: I think it was. Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. The foreman —
HH: So, when did you stop working on tractors then Helga?
HW: I was, I was nearly seventy when I still went potato picking, wasn’t I?
GA: You used to help me. Yeah.
HW: Not picking but on the machines sorting them. I was nearly seventy and I was still on the farm helping. I enjoyed it. It was outing, plus extra pocket money as well.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah. You’ve had a very eventful life.
HW: Yeah. I presume I had.
HH: Yeah.
HW: But I enjoyed it whatever.
HH: And do you still keep in touch? Have you got any of your siblings still alive?
HW: I’m afraid all my sisters and brothers all died. I’m the only one left.
HH: Oh, so you’re the last one.
HW: Yeah. One went —
HH: Gosh.
HW: One went to Australia. That’s the youngest one and the others all stayed in Germany. One was married to a Greek but she came back to Kiel with her husband and family. But they’ve all passed away I’m afraid.
HH: Gosh.
HW: So, I’m the only one left.
HH: Well, that’s remarkable.
GA: You’ve one or two nieces and nephews that you still —
HW: I’ve got quite a lot of few nephews and nieces.
HH: And you still, you still keep in touch with them.
HW: One or —
GA: One or two of them anyway. Yeah.
HW: One or two.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Because there’s so many I could not keep up writing to them all.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: And if you’re on telephone it becomes quite expensive, doesn’t it? To ring them.
HH: Indeed it does. Especially because you’ve got your own large family too.
HW: Yeah. Well, this is it. Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. I’ve got my own family over here so they come first.
HH: Yeah. Yeah. Do they know your stories? Does your family know your stories? All these stories?
GA: Yeah.
HW: Well, they would do, wouldn’t they? Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HW: But —
HH: So you’ve talked to them about your life.
HW: Yeah.
GA: Briefly.
HW: Yeah.
GA: Given them bits and pieces over the years.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: That’s it. Yes.
HH: Yeah. It is a remarkable life.
HW: I did. Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: But it’s like I said I enjoyed the good so you had to take it bad if it comes
HH: Yeah. But you lived through some very difficult times in the world.
HW: Yeah. Well, that was during the war that was hard. When, when I met my late husband we were actually nearly starving because that week I met him we was a whole week never had nothing to eat at all. And I went to see him where he was in the hospital like and I just collapsed so —
HH: Because of hunger.
HW: They said, yeah, he said, he went to his mates and said, ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with the girl. She collapsed.’ So, he said, ‘I’ll tell you what’s the matter. They’re starving.’ ‘No. No. No. She would have told me.’ He said, ‘They wouldn’t,’ he says, ‘They’re too proud.’ So of course, he got one of the cooks to give me some dinner.
HH: And that helped.
HW: And, yeah it did. Yeah. And after that he did Black Market with cigarettes and soap and different things.
HH: To get food for you and your family.
HW: Yeah, because I lived with my sister. She lost her husband and she had three little children so we were all in the same boat. So, he looked, brought food for them as well which is —
HH: Yeah.
HW: Was very very nice.
HH: So, what, what did you think of, what did you think of Britain when you first arrived?
HW: I couldn’t find much different really. No. Because I mean people had their own houses and garden the same like they have in Germany.
HH: Could you already speak English?
HW: Not a lot. No. Harold, he spoke very good English and I learned, I learned it rather quickly because you’ve got to.
HH: So, did he speak German?
HW: He spoke German. Yes. Yes, and —
HH: So, that’s how you communicated.
HW: Yeah. Because I lived with mother in law and it was hard sometimes. She used to say, ‘Set table.’ Told me fetch some plates. Of course, I brought no end of things in. ‘No. No. Plate.’ You know. Eventually you got to —
GA: She taught you English money didn’t she and how to shop? Sent you into the shop.
HW: Yeah.
GA: And stood back, you know. Didn’t she?
HW: She, I had to go shopping on my own like. And when I couldn’t tell them what I wanted I used to point. And I wanted some cotton in the market once and I knew how much it was because I quickly learned about the English money. I thought well I have to learn that quick. Of course, when I got my cotton that lady gave me short change. So, I come out and I said to mother in law, ‘This is not right,’ I said, ‘I should have —' so and so. So, the following week the same happened again. So, mother in law told, told that lady then so she said why didn’t she tell me? And the same when we went in, in one of the shops, in the chemist, I wanted something and I said to mother in law, ‘What do I say?’ And she told me in English what I had to say. Of course, I went in and could I have so and so. And they all looked and said, ‘What did you say?’ So, they made me repeat it again. Of course, I changed my tune and they still didn’t understand so I had to repeat it again. So, I came out and told mother in law. I said, ‘They don’t understand what I said.’ So, she said, ‘What did you say?’ So I told her. Well, she said, ‘They should have understood that. Come on I’ll go in with you.’ So, she went in with me and explained. Why? They said, ‘Oh, she had such a lovely accent we liked to hear it.’
HH: So, they were just making you say it over and over again.
HW: Yeah. Anyhow, I didn’t mind after that but I thought at first well shall I ever learn the language?
HH: Yeah.
HW: But —
HH: Do you ever get the chance to speak German now?
HW: Yes. Yeah. When they ring up from Germany of course I speak English and at odd times, the odd word you forget but it, naturally it comes back. Your mother language always comes back, doesn’t it?
HH: I think so.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Same when I write a letter. You know, I can write without any problem.
HH: Yeah. It’s amazing. Yeah. And Gordon now you’ve got an interesting connection with that part of the war as well with your uncle.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Was it an uncle? So tell us about your —
GA: My mum’s —
HW: Tell us about your —
GA: My mum’s cousin it was.
HW: Oh, it was your mum’s cousin.
GA: Cousin’s sons it would be. Yeah.
HH: So, tell us a little bit about that.
GA: Well, it was I think about 1913 or so that my mother’s cousins sold up in Scunthorpe, Ashby and lived with my mother’s parents and such like for a, and such a time and they sailed from Liverpool, I think it was Liverpool on the Empress of Ireland and emigrated to Canada. And this was only sort of a year or two years after the Titanic disaster and it was six months before they got to find out for definite but the Empress of Ireland sank in the Gulf of St Lawrence and, but it turned out that my mother’s cousin had landed in Canada. I don’t know whether it was Toronto, Quebec or where it was but, and the Empress of Ireland had smashed in to a coal ship in the Gulf of St Lawrence and sunk with about hundreds of lives on it. But it was six months before they found out and that was the start of these three lads that came over during the war you see. Because I think Leslie who died in the air crash would be twenty four when, when he died so that would have put him, you know born you know, I haven’t work out the exact numbers out but you know, 19 —
HH: Yeah.
GA: ’15, something like that wouldn’t they? And there was Leslie, Hughie and Frank. Two came as soldiers in the Canadian forces and Hughie was in the Canadian Air Force.
HH: Air Force.
GA: And —
HH: And he was at Linton on Ouse.
GA: Linton on Ouse where he flew from. Yeah. I’ve got, I’ve written off to Cranwell to get his full record but it’ll be another few weeks before we, we receive those, I think but —
HH: So, you learned all of this from your visit to the IBCC. You didn’t know.
GA: I knew. I knew, my mother knew he’d flown from, she thought it was an airfield somewhere near Newcastle.
HH: Yeah.
GA: You know.
HH: North.
GA: Because all this east coast is, is just littered —
HH: Yeah.
GA: With bomber airfields, isn’t it? If you know what I mean. And to the best of her knowledge he’d flown out there. She didn’t know whether it was a Lancaster or, it turned out it was a Halifax. And I still haven’t found out what he was but we thought he was a rear gunner but we don’t know for certain. We’ll probably get that clarified when we get the Cranwell details back but, and presumed lost in the North Sea and that’s all she ever knew. And she said, ‘I would like to know where he —’ you know. And I’ve never been able to find out or ever gone in to such detail. And then when we went to this Canwick Hill, you know, the bomber thing there the lady helped us there find it on the computer and we saw it on the thing.
HH: On the wall.
GA: On the wall and everything and got more detail and then got all that detail printed off.
HH: That’s great. So, his name was Arthur Leslie Horton.
GA: Arthur Leslie Horton. Yeah. And he was in the Thunderbird Squadron I think, wasn’t he? At Linton on Ouse.
HW: It is a lovely place, isn’t it?
GA: Yeah.
HH: Did you enjoy your visit?
HW: Yeah. We went to the, what was it?
GA: Where the video and all that is.
HW: Yeah.
GA: That was —
HW: Well, that brought memories back to me.
HH: Well —
GA: You know, when we saw all these you know on the ceiling. On the —
HH: The thing is that, you know one of the things that we were trying to do in that exhibition was to tell the story from both sides.
HW: Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HW: This is it.
HH: As a way of achieving some measure of reconciliation. But listening to your story Helga you are, your family and your own story is a story of —
HW: Yeah.
HH: Reconciliation in and of itself.
HW: It don’t matter —
HH: You know, you are a walking model of reconciliation.
HW: It doesn’t matter what country you come from they all got mothers haven’t they? And we’re all born the same way.
HH: I think that’s the important thing is that too often people are made out to be heroes or villains but actually they are humans.
GA: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
HH: And we all have human emotions, don’t we?
HW: This is it. Yeah.
HH: And we all have, feel pain.
HW: It’s just different nationalities, isn’t it? That’s all it is.
HH: Yeah.
GA: The ordinary, you know the ordinary soldiers on either side they would shake hands with one another, wouldn’t they? Didn’t, didn’t your mother have a friend who had how many sons killed?
HW: Yeah. My mother’s friend had eleven children. She had, no twelve, she had one girl and eleven boys and they all went in the Army and got killed bar one. And the one what was life was deaf and dumb and all the others got killed. And when I went over with my late husband she took me to see her and she hugged my husband and said, ‘You can’t help the war.’
HH: Yeah.
HW: ‘You are like us,’ she said.
HH: Yeah.
HW: And I really felt that. That she really welcomed him.
HH: Yeah. Which is —
HW: My father actually didn’t want me to come to England because leaving home and all that but when we came over and back and forward he was quite happy to see I was happy and —
HH: That’s good.
HW: And particularly when he met the parent in laws as well.
HH: Which is great.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah. And you were a friend of Helga’s late husband, Harold.
GA: Yeah. Yeah, Harold was —
HH: Did you work together?
GA: Yeah. We helped one, yeah we both had country pursuits in common. He was a rabbit trapper, you know. In the war rabbits was the diet of most people you know with having ration books. Rabbits weren’t on that. He worked as a rabbit catcher very early. I mean his —
HW: Well, your parents and Harold’s parents were —
GA: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Friends, weren’t they?
HH: Oh gosh.
GA: Harold’s, Harold’s grandmother lived next door but one down the village. You know, just a cottage just across the road. So, we’ve known them all, well you as well haven’t we, ever since that time and that.
HW: Yeah. They all lived down the —
HH: A long time.
HW: Yeah.
GA: Being on the farm and that, Harold had long weekends off and he used to come over and stay over with me didn’t you and such like because it was, I’ve enjoyed working on the farm. I’ve been on the same farm ever since 1960 if you know what I mean.
HH: Gosh.
GA: And it’s been a way of life and you worked fifty, sixty hours a week and such like and you’re quite happy to do it.
HH: And what, and what jobs have you done on the farm Gordon?
GA: Well, we’ve had pigs, cattle, sheep. We’ve had all sorts of livestock and, and the arable work. I’ve done all that you see. And Helga’s helped like when we were doing like we used to have to chop sugar beet out and Helga has helped me doing that haven’t you?
HW: And looked after the —
GA: And Harold’s helped me in the garden.
HW: On the —
GA: And such like. He loved gardening and he helped me there sort of thing. We helped one another.
HH: Well, you’ve still got a beautiful garden.
GA: We’ve tried our best to keep it a bit nice, yeah.
HH: It’s so pretty.
GA: Yeah. Yeah.
HH: It’s so pretty. To come in and see such a pretty garden.
GA: Yeah. It’s just coming to the end of the bulbs and that. It’s next, the next couple of three weeks and it all gets changed to summer bedding and such like.
HH: Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
GA: Yeah.
HH: So, you are still working on the farm?
GA: Only a few hours a week sort of thing. Just go and —
HH: But still you are.
GA: Trim the grass and things like that. Yeah. Yeah.
HH: And how far away is the farm?
GA: Just down the, in the village there. Yeah. Oh, it’s been a way of life but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing. I did what I wanted to do all my life sort of thing.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
GA: But when we was, you know when that photograph was taken and that we used to stand out there and see these thousand bombers going out.
HH: You remember that.
GA: I remember them all coming up there because I should be, I should be five when Leslie visited us. I remember him clear as anything playing ball with me in the back garden and such like. And you don’t realise all the things that’s going on but, but you used to see these bombers going. I think they used to come up from Suffolk, Norfolk and go out over the Humber with a fighter. You know, squadrons of fighters.
HH: They probably used the Humber for navigation.
GA: Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
GA: And then you used to see them coming back in the morning. Some with only one or two engines going and things like that. Limping home and that. And obviously we didn’t know how bad it was but we never realised how many didn’t come home and that.
HH: Yeah. Yeah. Losses. Terrible losses on both sides really.
GA: There was, wasn’t there? Yeah. Yeah.
HW: When they came over Kiel we used to watch them come over like and we used to shoot at them but when they got a bit close we had to go in the cellar quick.
HH: And you had, you had warnings did you with sirens?
HW: Yeah. We did. Yeah. About half an hour before time. Of course, we had shelters to go in to.
HH: What were the shelters like?
HW: They wasn’t bad at all. Mind you we had no bombs near the common but in the hospital where I was when they dropped three bombs there, just the three hospitals, they dropped three bombs there and there was a big shelter only five minutes away from there and they reckoned it just rocked but nothing, you know, got disturbed.
HH: In the shelter.
HW: So, they must have been pretty strong. Yeah.
HH: Yeah. Because I’ve seen pictures of some of the shelters in Germany that were quite tall. So, were these underground ones that you are talking about?
HW: No. They were on top or they were underground as well and on the top?
HH: And they were. Oh, ok.
HW: Yeah. High underneath as well.
HH: Ok. So, they went down underground.
HW: Yeah.
HH: And they were up.
HW: Yes, there was a few —
HH: I understand.
HW: A few hundred people in them. Maybe a thousand or so. Yeah. Yeah. They were very strong. Yeah. Some of them in Hamburg are still there. They managed to get windows in and I don’t know what they are using them for. Flats or what. I’ve no, no idea.
HH: Goodness.
HW: It’s amazing, yeah.
HH: So when was the last time you visited Germany?
GA: When we went on that cruise wasn’t it?
HW: Yeah. Yeah, about —
GA: We went, well Harold died in 2000, didn’t he?
HW: Yeah.
GA: We’ve been here. We’ve been on several cruises and there was one, we’ve been out to the Baltic. We did the Baltic and one calling places was Warnemunde, wasn’t it?
HW: Yeah.
GA: And you got in touch with some of your, well Willy and that and also Herta’s son.
HW: Yeah.
GA: And such like. How many of us was there at —
HW: Twenty three.
GA: Twenty three of them. Not, you know about an hour’s car drive from Warnemunde. We met at one of her niece, her great —
HW: My nephew’s house.
GA: Nephew’s house.
HH: That’s wonderful.
GA: And about twenty three of her relations were there and that.
HW: For a day like.
GA: And then they took us back to our cruise ship that was docked there.
HW: And we had a day outing and we’d chosen to see my nephew. Well, all the other of the cruise ship went to see Berlin but I wasn’t interested in going to Berlin.
HH: You wanted to see your family.
HW: Yeah. Well, that’s it. Yeah.
HH: Fantastic.
HW: Yeah. We had altogether ten cruises, didn’t we?
GA: I think. Yeah. We have done between us. Yeah. So —
HW: So, we had a good life after all.
HH: And the next cruise?
GA: No. I think we’ve —
HW: No. I’m afraid I won’t be managing anymore. I’ve got a heart problem as well so I’ve got to be very careful now what I do.
HH: Well, it’s wonderful that you were, you went as far as the IBCC.
HW: Yeah.
HH: So that’s jolly good.
HW: Yeah.
HH: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
HH: And I’m glad you enjoyed your visit.
HW: Well, we did. We enjoyed —
GA: It was very —
HW: What we’d done. Yeah.
GA: Yeah. Really good. Yeah. Took your, not your grandson’s wife and your great grandson, didn’t we?
HW: Yeah.
GA: Have you got a picture of them there? Where was them pictures that you took? I don’t know where they are now but —
HW: Which was them?
GA: When Luke and Liz were there.
HH: You, you all went together, did you?
GA: Yeah. Yeah.
HH: What did they think of it?
GA: Oh, they was really thrilled with it, weren’t they? Yeah. I don’t know if I’ve got that —
HH: Oh, well, that’s wonderful. Well, thank you very much for talking to, to us, both of you, Helga and Gordon. Thank you for sharing all of these stories with us. They, they are remarkable and we feel very privileged to have them for our archive. Thank you.
HW: Yeah. Thank you. That’s all.
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 Helga Wynne and Gordon Atkinson
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
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
2018-05-08
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
AWynneH-AtkinsonG180508, PWynneH1825
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:47:51 audio recording
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
Civilian
Wehrmacht. Kriegsmarine
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
British Army
Description
An account of the resource
Helga (00:00-34:00) was born in Kiel in 1926. Her father was a sailor, who then worked at Krupp shipbuilding yard; her mother was a tram driver during the war. None of her brothers were called up, either because of age or disability. Mentions Hitler and daily life in pre-war Germany. While working on a farm she injured her back, was hospitalised, and then worked at a children hospital in Kiel which was bombed. Helga then met a Kriegsmarine serviceman and were going to get married. The train they were travelling on was attacked by an allied airplane which killed him but spared Helga. In 1947 Helga met Harold, a Royal Medical Corps paramedic who served in Kiel. They resettled in England and got married at Burton in 1948, an event which stirred much curiosity. Helga was welcomed by Harold’s family in Fieldby, and they also met Helga’s family in Germany. Harold worked at Scunthorpe steel works; she worked on a farm until retiring at 70. Harold passed away in 2000. Helga elaborates on the meaning of reconciliation, recalls the difficulties learning English and the reaction of villagers at her ‘lovely accent’.
Gordon (34:00-47:51) discusses family members emigrating to Canada and returning during the war. One served at 426 Squadron at RAF Linton on Ouse, a rear gunner on a Halifax who was lost in the North Sea. Gordon discusses his friendship with Harold and recollects seeing Bomber Command aircraft flying out and coming back during the war.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Kiel
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Lincolnshire
Canada
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Graham Emmet
Julie Williams
Carolyn Emery
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945
426 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bombing
childhood in wartime
ditching
Halifax
love and romance
perception of bombing war
RAF Linton on Ouse