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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/473/8356/ABowkerD151117.2.mp3
9057f5e6582c49eede1f793d70248410
Dublin Core
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Title
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Bowker, David
D G Bowker
D Bowker
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Bowker, DG
Description
An account of the resource
15 Items. An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant David Bowker (142854 Royal Air Force) and 14 propaganda leaflets. David Bowker flew operations as a pilot with 103 and 150 Squadrons.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Bowker and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DB: I’m David Bowker giving this interview and, and these are my, my thoughts. When I was, when I was eighteen in 1940. I went to the recruiting office in Southsea and volunteered for air sea rescue in the RAF because we lived at Alverstoke and we watched the practice, the air force practice dropping torpedoes and they were launching, rescuing the torpedoes. Air sea rescue. But anyway the recruiting office wrote to me and said that it was all full but presumably with elder yachtsmen but I could join, I could still join the navy or the air force or the army just as I wished but I had no, I had no thought, no thought of flying at the time and so I was offered, in the RAF, general duties. Well, of course I had no idea what general duties meant but in actual fact it turned out that if you were fit you were going to fly and the disaster was I was sent to, sent to Cardington and then I had an interview at Cardington and I think he was a sergeant and he said, ‘How do you know you’re eighteen?’ And I said, ‘Well I’m eighteen.’ And he said, ‘Well you don’t look it to me.’ But anyway, I had to, I had to produce my birth certificate to prove that I was eighteen. Anyway, I ended up in the RAF general duties and was sent to, was sent to Blackpool and I found that I was streamed into wireless operator/air gunner. Well, that was the very last thing I wanted to do and so myself and another and a friend at the time we went and saw the officer in charge to ask whether we could re-muster to pilot instead of air gunner and of course we had to, we had to be tested with Morse, Morse code, eighteen words a minute, which was quite fast actually. And anyway, fortunately I passed it and we, and then we started all over again and we were sent to, sent to Stratford on Avon on a pilot’s course and from the receiving wing at Stratford on Avon it was, we were billeted in a disused old hotel which, which was completely derelict and we had to even tear up newspapers to, to use in the lavatory. I can’t, I can’t imagine how primitive it was at the time. But anyway we went from there and we had our meals in the Shakespeare Hotel. Airforce food of course. And from there we had lectures in the Shakespeare Theatre given by, given by a corporal on gas and all sorts of things and from there we, I was posted to Scarborough at the Cambridge Hotel and there again it was, it was very primitive. Still with straw palliases for our, on our beds and we kitted out with flying gear in the Grand Hotel, Scarborough and then, what happened then? I remember we went to a, to a, ah yes we went from Scarborough to Burnaston near, near in Derbyshire which, which was a small, a small aerodrome flying, flying Miles Magisters and we were billeted in, in an old house at Repton School in Repton village and again, again our beds consisted of straw palliases which was very uncomfortable. I was wondering when I was going to get a decent bed. Anyway, we learnt to fly in Miles Magisters and from there, from there we, I was posted to Shawbury flying Airspeed Oxfords and there was an entire, day flying and when we were posted to, for night flying we were, we were posted to Cranwell and in the college complete with batman and then feeding in the college and some night flying and that was very satisfactory. But I remember my first solo night flying. I remember it very well because it was pitch dark and then when I took my eyes off the, off the flying panel I felt the plane immediately started tilting to the left and when I corrected myself with the flying in looking at the instruments although I was straight and level it appeared to be flying to the right. But anyway I soon learned, soon learned to look at the flying panel but I must say I do, I do remember having quite a scary, scary time but we returned to, to, and after having the chief flying instructor’s test I remember we were given some sergeant’s stripes to sew on together with the pilot’s wings which we had to sew on ourselves of course. From there I was posted to an Operational Training Unit flying Wellingtons at Pershore and that took us to -
JB: [whisper] Stop it.
[machine pause]
DB: Ok.
JB: It’s interesting to me David that you’d just qualified as a pilot and was there not some hesitation that you, at your young age, was taking charge of a big aeroplane and a crew who might have been older than you?
DB: Yes. Well, basically they were a year or two older than me.
JB: Yes. Presumably they had to be. So how did you feel about that?
DB: Well, I didn’t have any feelings at the time because it was just how things were.
JB: Well now you’re qualified -
DB: In fact some of the older people, when it came to the exams, the meteorology etcetera, one or two of the older people, because I was younger and only recently left school they asked me as if I, as if I knew better than them.
JB: So, now you had got a crew together who were mixed nationalities?
DB: Well yes. Basically all English. The rear gunner was a New Zealander.
JB: What was your navigator then?
DB: He was an Englishman.
JB: Because on him you rely a lot presumably.
DB: Hmmn?
JB: You rely a lot on a navigator presumably.
DB: Yes one does.
JB: Just turn it off.
[pause]
MJ: Alright.
DB: In, in retrospect, thinking about it, when I was on the squadron we, we, the pilots we never had any discussion about tactics or anything. We would, before an operation we were briefed about, about where they had anti-aircraft guns and that sort of thing but as, as a pilot we never had any meetings of pilots to discuss, to personally discuss any tactics that we might have. It struck me as being very extraordinary.
MJ: What about crew decisions? Did you, was it, was there decisions between the crew, between yourself and your crew more than the hierarchy?
DB: Well I don’t, it’s extraordinary ‘cause I don’t think we did. Never had any discussion about it.
[Machine pause]
And it was just left, left to ourselves to do what we, we were very rarely told when to bomb or what height to bomb or anything. It was entirely left to us. In 1942 anyway. Maybe, it was a bit different later but it struck me that we, that the flight commander, you know, never had any, any guidance on, on what to do or anything. It really does, it does amaze me. We were just told where the target was and where the, where the flak was on the way out and that sort of thing. We could go our own direction. We hadn’t, we’d know. We weren’t told any fixed thing. We were entirely left to ourselves to get to the target. I mean, in retrospect to me it’s amazing that we had no, no guidance about this but, but on the, when I was on the squadron at 103 we converted to the original Halifaxes and we were sent to Rufforth near York where, where Leonard Cheshire was the squadron leader at the time and the original Halifaxes were absolutely death traps because if the, if the two engines failed on one side and you had to correct it with the rudder normally with an aeroplane you could correct it if the engines failed but with the original Halifaxes the rudder could lock over and there was nothing you could do about it if the thing went into a spin and, and so they were absolutely death traps and the funny thing was although I completed the course and Squadron Leader Cheshire, he demonstrated to me how the rudders locked over by instantly correcting, you know. You expected it. And when I was flying with him he demonstrated how the rudder locked over but I mean, if, if you didn’t know about it and you didn’t correct it instantly I mean, it got fixed. But very soon afterwards the original Halifaxes had an enlarged rudder, a large rudder and I think it was quite, they were quite satisfactory after that but in actual fact, funnily enough, there was myself and another youngster and when we finished the course the Squadron Leader Cheshire suggested that we would be happier if we went back on to Wellingtons and the fact, of course one was disappointed at the time and I was posted to 150 squadron but I think the whole, the whole of 103 with the Halifaxes because one time after one, after one raid I was diverted back to Elsham and when I was in the, we, I was diverted back to Elsham because Snaith where 150 squadron was was fogbound and so we and, and when I went into the mess I didn’t recognise anybody on 103 and they’d practically all, had so many fatal crashes with the, with the original Halifaxes that the squadrons were converted to, in late ‘42 the squadron converted to Lancasters instead of the Halifaxes.
JB: Coffee?
[machine pause]
MJ: It’s all yours.
JB: I was thirteen when the war began and came from a very privileged background and I do remember that my own experience of world affairs was nil. It was Children’s, Children’s radio. Uncle Mac, or some very silly, childish things and The Children’s Newspaper which now doesn’t exist and that was all I knew about what went on in the world apart from my cosy life and I remember standing in the room with my parents, listening to the radio and Chamberlain giving this dreadful speech, ‘We are now at war.’ And I do remember clearly and now, in retrospect, you actually wonder about it, saying to my parents, ‘Will it be fun? War.’ Now, I do you know it was not fun. And I went straight from there to school where we were bombed heavily because it was right beside Handley Page but nobody in the school told us that what we were hearing was mostly anti-aircraft fire. It was not bombing and we lived a life in air raid shelters frightened to bits simply because of the lack of communication of what was going on. We were not allowed to have radios or anything, in case, this was a very strict Methodist school, in case somebody found out a brother or somebody had been on a boat that had been, you know, sunk or whatever. So we had no contact with the outside world whatsoever. However, it was such that by sixteen I went up to university. London University but transferred to Leicester to study economics. Now, wartime study was different because they altered up the curriculum and I was only allowed to do two years. Well, it’s three years for a degree and I did two years and went in to some ridiculous war work in London and I can remember, we discussed the other day, David and I, what we both did on D-Day and I walked from Hammersmith to where I was living in Marble Arch through crowds of people, all jubilation, and then I could not go back to university and the reason I could not go back was because the men had all come back from the war and, quite rightly, after their war service they took all the places and women lost out because of the generation we happened to be. The luck was that we did this two years, finish. No degree. Frankly, it doesn’t actually matter in the world because people, not many people ask you whether you’ve got a degree or not so that’s really what my war was like.
[Machine pause]
MJ: Thank you David for your wife’s int, before she had to go in a hurry so we’ll carry on with what we were saying.
DB: Right. Yes, I always, in retrospect, was very thankful for, very thankful for being sent to another squadron on Wellingtons because a Wellington could take an awful lot of damage and still fly which, which, of course, happened to me on a, on a raid on Frankfurt. We were very badly damaged and after gaining control at about, at about a thousand feet we managed to, to stay, to stay airborne, to fly home and crossing the French coast at about five hundred feet I remember very well a lot of tracer bullets flying over, following me overhead. We weren’t hit because obviously it appeared that they couldn’t elevate their guns low enough to, because we were so low all the, all the bullets were going overhead but anyway, I mean, because we were halfway across the channel the um -
[Machine pause?]
MJ: It’s on.
DB: Yes. Halfway across the channel the petrol gauge read nothing and my wireless operator told base that we were going to ditch in the channel but we were persuaded to carry on to, and follow the searchlights, to follow the searchlights on to Manston aerodrome. And whether, and I was following the searchlights towards Manston when of course we ran out of petrol and crashed near Lympne and, but of course it’s, I mean it’s a long, it’s a long story but we –
[Machine pause]
MJ: [?] it’s on.
DB: The, when we, when we crashed just north of Folkestone, the second pilot, I don’t believe was strapped in ‘cause I’m not sure that the second pilot’s position had straps but anyway he was killed together with the bomb aimer who was aft who was aft by the main, main boom because the plane caught fire and the, although the second pilot got out he more or less died after getting out the, and the bomb aimer was stuck in and I believe got burnt to death. But anyway after, after this episode we were, the survivors were flown back to, to Snaith and after, after flying on one training trip I was posted to a target towing unit flying, flying Lysanders towing a target for, for, for other squadrons along the coast from Grimsby down to Skegness.
[machine pause]
MJ: It’s on.
DB: But maybe after, after being a survivor, I don’t know why, I don’t know. I can’t think of any particular reason but except that maybe when someone has had a shaky do like that perhaps, perhaps it was normal to be posted to a non-operational -
MJ: Role.
DB: Type of thing.
MJ: Mind you, I don’t think being shot at by [laughs] by trainees is a safer occupation is it?
DB: No. But er I was on the target towing unit for about six months and then was posted as an instructor to an OTU. I mean, I mean at the time one just went along with what happened. I mean, one didn’t, one, I personally didn’t have any say myself on what, on what happened. And if one got posted I didn’t argue with it. No.
MJ: Did you prefer the coastal work or the training?
DB: Hmmn?
MJ: Did you prefer the coastal work or the training work?
DB: Did I?
MJ: You did the drone bit. Did you prefer training the troops or did you prefer being the target if you see what I, ‘cause when you flew -
DB: Well one, one towed the target, it’s a sleeve. You had the operator, you know. I was the pilot but the person at the back there trailed, trailed the, the drogue on long wire. I mean, he had control over how long a wire he put it because we, I don’t know whether you know Spurn Head off the Humber but we towed the target on a very long, a very long wire for the army ‘cause we didn’t really trust the army [laughs] but anyway for the, for the anti-aircraft practice. But there, it was all, it was all quite a, quite a job because we did two or three trips a day. You know, we did work quite hard but after that I was posted to an Operational Training Unit as an instructor.
[Machine pause]
MJ: [pause] It’s on now.
JB: David, in which stage in this saga did you take on the job of testing aircraft that had been in the repair shop to see if they were good enough to fly again?
DB: That was, that was some time after I was -
JB: Shot down?
DB: It er, no, it was after and I was, I was seconded to a maintenance unit.
JB: Yes, but does that come between the target towing, the shooting down and the target towing or does it come after the target towing?
DB: After the target towing. Yes.
JB: After the target towing.
DB: Yes.
JB: So you were just handed this book of instructions for an aeroplane and said -
DB: Well it was –
JB: Take it up and see if it will go. Well obviously it did otherwise you wouldn’t still be here, would you?
DB: No. Well I was very, very, yes, with the Hurricane for instance one had to be ‘cause you couldn’t have any two -
JB: No. There was -
DB: Two.
JB: Nobody else in it.
DB: No.
JB: You couldn’t, it was a one seater.
DB: There was –
JB: But then do you, do you enter in to a thing like this with an excitement of something, that this is something new or with great fear that have they done a good enough job that this is my last moment?
DB: Oh you mean on the maintenance unit?
JB: Yes. I mean did you actually think every time you got in to a different aeroplane they wanted you to test that this is an excitement or did you think oh my God I may be dead by tomorrow?
DB: No. No [laughs] I never thought. I just thought –
JB: Eternal optimist are you?
DB: Well yes.
JB: I see. Your glass is always half full obviously. Yes I see.
DB: Well, until, until the time came when the life raft flew out.
JB: Oh yes. Yes. And this is when you were testing what? A Halifax?
DB: No. A Wellington.
JB: A Wellington. And tell me what happened.
DB: Well the, when I -
JB: The life raft inflated did you tell me?
DB: Well it feathered, you know, when I had to take, I went, took these aeroplanes on test so when I took off I had to feather the propellers and check everything worked and I remember feathering the starboard propeller. There was a tremendous bang and I didn’t know what it was.
JB: Quite unnerving.
DB: There was this huge bang and the inflatable dinghy, the rubber inflatable dinghy had flown out of its case behind the engine and wrapped itself around the tail plane and then as soon as this huge bang and I thought, ‘Christ what’s that?’
JB: Well you would.
DB: Because I lost control. The elevators were locked because this thing was, if you can imagine, the thing had collapsed and prevented the elevators from working.
JB: So how did you get the aeroplane down then?
DB: By the televator well of course it’s a long story.
JB: Well just tell me quickly ‘cause I haven’t got all night. Yes.
DB: Well the controls were rigid rods.
JB: Yes.
DB: And so of course the whole of the tail plane was skewed. The rigid rods didn’t -
JB: Yeah.
DB: Work because -
JB: So how do you correct that to get it down?
DB: Well the fin tabs.
JB: Yes.
DB: Were on a separate thing. That’s the elevator and the fin tabs is another -
JB: David this is -
DB: Another little tab.
JB: This is not visual darling.
DB: Yes.
JB: There’s no good telling me like that.
DB: No. Quite.
JB: No. Just tell me. So you’ve got the plane down by being rather clever.
DB: By using, use of the twin tabs.
JB: Is that when you got your green endorsement in the -
DB: Yes.
JB: For being clever.
DB: Yeah.
JB: And am I correct in thinking that that is when they found out what happened with a lot of the Halifaxes? Is that anything to do -
DB: No. Nothing to do with the Halifaxes. No.
JB: The Halifaxes just had a fault on them to start with.
DB: No. The Halifaxes, the original, the original -
JB: The original Halifaxes, yes, had a fault in them.
DB: The later ones had a bigger
JB: Yes.
DB: Tailfin.
JB: Yes. So it was the tailfin on the early ones that -
DB: Yes.
JB: Caused all the problems.
DB: Or lack of it.
JB: Lack of it. That everybody was killed.
DB: Yes.
JB: Now, I want to go back to when you were shot down.
DB: Yes.
JB: And you managed to get over the channel.
DB: Yes.
JB: Have we all done all this?
MJ: Yeah. We -
JB: But have you also pointed out that the young man who was killed whose name I remember because I write a cross for him every year.
DB: Yes.
JB: Have you, have you remembered to say that he had gone to the CO the day before?
DB: No. That was the bomb aimer. Young Lapping.
JB: Well, it was the bomb aimer.
DB: Yes.
JB: Young Lapping. Yes. His name was Lapping.
DB: No. I didn’t mention it.
JB: Well he’d gone to the CO the day before. This is what you told me.
DB: Yeah. This was the bomb aimer.
MJ: Yeah.
DB: Who was killed? He’d actually, the day before he’d actually been to the CO which I think he was quite a, quite a -
JB: Quite brave.
DB: Brave thing to do.
JB: A brave thing to do. Yes.
DB: To, to tell the CO that he’d had enough. He couldn’t -
JB: He’d lost his nerve. Couldn’t go any more.
DB: And the CO called me in.
JB: As the pilot.
DB: As the pilot. To tell young [Lapping] to pull himself together and then he was killed that night. So -
MJ: Yeah.
DB: But I mean he had, he had -
JB: And as a consequence you see -
DB: A brave thing to do to go to your CO -
JB: Yes. Because -
DB: To say you’d had enough.
JB: There were people weren’t there who were labelled LMF.
DB: Yes.
JB: That’s lack of moral fibre.
DB: LMF.
JB: Who just disappeared off the screen, off the section.
DB: Yes. I had a rear gunner who just didn’t -
JB: Yes. Just didn’t appear -
DB: Who didn’t, who didn’t turn up one evening.
JB: But they weren’t staying on the station.
DB: And the next, the next, by the next morning he’d gone.
JB: LMF. That was the label.
DB: Lack of moral fibre.
JB: Moral fibre.
MJ: What made them give you the job of testing the planes because I don’t know how they decided?
JB: Because, because he was a good pilot. [can’t be plainer than that can we?]
DB: Well I was -
JB: Steady. Steady chap.
DB: Seconded. Well someone, someone had to do it.
MJ: Yeah it’s just -
DB: Well, it’s after an engine change or after a crash. If any plane had been repaired.
JB: Well after this crash -
DB: Or major service.
JB: After you had got the plane back and was told to ditch in the channel. Yes? And you got it back into this wood in Kent and ended up in a tree.
DB: Yes.
JB: And they were killed. The two of them.
DB: Yes.
JB: And you were injured. What, you went off to hospital, all of you, presumably, that were still alive but now we know where the plane is, don’t we?
DB: Yes.
JB: ‘Cause we found it.
DB: Yes.
JB: We know it’s in the wood just –
DB: Yes.
JB: North of Folkestone. We know exactly where it is if we look at a map.
DB: Exactly.
JB: We went to look for it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into the wood ‘cause it’s wired off but we could actually, we could point out where it is but -
DB: Yes.
JB: He has actually got the engine number plate. I suppose it’s a number plate.
DB: Yes.
JB: I don’t know. From, from the plane. But we know -
DB: Yes.
JB: It’s still there, what’s left of it, but of course as a Wellington is wooden it’s probably only bits of an engine there now. So when you’d done all this testing and being shot at by the army eventually they let you not fly anymore did they? Or you trained people. You were training pilots. I know that on D-Day you were doing familiarisations. That’s a difficult word.
DB: Yes.
JB: On, for pilots, training pilots and you took four flights ‘cause we looked into the question of D-Day when the celebrations came up for D-Day and you made four flights that day with different people to familiarise them with -
DB: Yes I’d forgotten. Funny you should remember.
JB: Well -
DB: I’d forgotten.
JB: I only remember because on the celebration of D-Day.
DB: Yes.
JB: I was able to tell you where I was.
DB: Yes.
JB: And you, so, I said to you, ‘Well, where were you?’ and you couldn’t remember so we looked in your logbooks which are still here.
DB: Yes.
JB: As is your, as is your uniform, your Irvin jacket.
DB: Yeah.
JB: Your goggles. Everything. Still here. Got it all.
MJ: [? to take one]
JB: It’s all stashed away in the cupboard here. I don’t think you’d be able to get in to it now though. I think the ravages of time made us all rather fatter.
MJ: Fine.
JB: You should turn it off.
MJ: Off.
[Machine pause]
JB: Now, David. My theory about the logbooks. You’ve still got three logbooks. Yes.
DB: I think it must be right. Yes.
JB: And I think my theory because I have a very nasty mind I think is that the first one is thick.
DB: Yes.
JB: And as -
DB: Yes.
JB: You get further on the logbooks get thinner. Now do you think, my theory is because they don’t expect you to last very long?
DB: No. I would say, I would think so.
JB: You think that’s the answer.
DB: Yes.
JB: So the longer you are active in the RAF during the war
DB: You got -
JB: You got a thinner logbook because there would be no point giving you a thick one if they didn’t expect you to last more than five goes would there?
DB: No.
JB: Do you think that’s true?
DB: The original one is thick.
JB: And the next two get thinner and thinner. Has anyone any theory as to why that is apart from my theory?
DB: Could be economy.
MJ: No. You’re right.
JB: I’m right. Aren’t I right about it? Yes. David, you know young Lapping, who we put a memorial cross for -
DB: Yes
JB: Every year. Am I right in thinking that after he was killed, and he must have been a very young man.
DB: Right.
JB: His father joined up in the RAF.
DB: Yes.
JB: In memory of his son and was also killed.
DB: Yes.
JB: He was killed at a later stage wasn’t he?
DB: Well -
JB: The father.
DB: What? The father was?
JB: Yes. Yes, and I know they come from Yorkshire and I keep meaning to try and get hold of some archivist in Yorkshire and look up that name and see if we can’t sort it. [whisper] Turn it off.
[Machine pause]
JB: Family, we know that
DB: Yes.
JB: And the other chap is dead as well. We know that. David, after you came out of the RAF and every time we drive past Stoney Cross you tell me that was where your last posting was.
DB: Yes.
JB: And it was handing out money to returning crews.
DB: Yes.
JB: You bought a Tiger Moth did you not?
DB: Yes.
JB: And how much did that cost?
DB: The Tiger Moth cost two hundred pounds
JB: And you kept it at Portsmouth Airport as it -
DB: Yes.
JB: Then was. And why did you want it?
DB: Why did I want it?
JB: Yes.
DB: Well, I may have just -
JB: What use did you make of it? You flew to Cowes to go sailing, yes?
DB: Yes.
JB: Because you’d always been a keen sailor.
DB: Yes.
JB: And you flew to Cowes.
DB: Yes.
JB: And you sailed against the Duke of Edinburgh.
DB: Yes.
JB: In [f for fox?].
DB: Yes.
JB: In a dragon boat that you had -
DB: Yes.
JB: Built yourself when you bought a boatyard in Bosworth building wooden boats.
DB: Yes.
JB: And eventually built a boat that went to the Olympics in 1956 where got your silver medal for sailing.
DB: Yes.
JB: Enough.
MJ: [is it?]
JB: Enough said. When you left the RAF -
DB: Yes.
JB: Was it 1946?
DB: Yes.
JB: What did they give you by way of remuneration for all your efforts for six years or whatever?
DB: A hundred and twenty pounds.
JB: A hundred and twenty pounds.
DB: Yes.
JB: Well, that was your total pay off was it?
DB: Yes.
JB: But no pension of course.
DB: No.
JB: But did you get, you got a clothing did you not?
DB: A coupon, I believe we did. I can’t honestly remember.
JB: Well you can remember because we still have the trilby hat and the raincoat here.
DB: Yes. I can’t remember about the coup -
JB: We don’t have the sports jacket anymore and I think that was all.
DB: I can’t -
JB: Did they give you any trousers? They must have given you some trousers.
DB: Yes.
JB: A pair of flannels I suppose.
DB: I expect so.
JB: Yes. But the trilby hat -
DB: Well they didn’t give you -
JB: They gave you coupons.
DB: It was in Ruislip.
JB: Yes.
DB: And we just wandered around on this, you know, and picked the clothes ourselves.
JB: Oh I see. And that was your choice?
DB: You were allowed to -
JB: You didn’t, you didn’t -
DB: To take a jacket and trousers.
JB: You didn’t think of getting a city suit then? You preferred to have a sports jacket.
DB: Yes.
JB: And a pair of flannels.
DB: Yes. Yes.
JB: And a raincoat and a trilby hat.
DB: Yes.
JB: We still have the trilby hat and the raincoat somewhere.
DB: Yes I think we -
JB: They were frequently used by some amateur dramatics who wish to -
DB: I think the raincoats gone hasn’t it?
JB: Yes.
DB: Yeah.
JB: But the trilby hat and the raincoat, I think they’re still in the workshop.
DB: Yeah.
JB: And I think you still, we still give them out for amateur dramatics. Dressing up a tramp. Since they were given to you in 1946 they’re pretty -
DB: Yeah.
JB: Pretty, only fit for that now.
DB: Yes.
JB: So a hundred and twenty pounds was the maximum. Was the total -
DB: Yes.
JB: And that was for being a flight lieutenant.
DB: But I think we got some clothing coupons.
JB: Yes, well that’s what you bought with the clothing coupons but then if you got a hundred and twenty pounds and you were by then a flight lieutenant which means -
DB: Yes.
JB: You’ve gone through five ranks.
DB: Well, where, where have my logbooks gone?
JB: It seems pretty poor pay to me but that’s all you got and no pension of course.
DB: Yes.
MJ: Right, well -
JB: Off.
MJ: Yeah. On behalf of the International Bomber Command I’d like to thank David and Jackie Bowker at their home in Southampton for their -
DB: No, it’s Emsworth. We’re in Emsworth now darling.
MJ: Yeah. On the 17th of -
DB: November.
MJ: November 2015.
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 David Bowker
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mick Jeffery
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
2015-11-17
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ABowkerD151117
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
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.
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
Description
An account of the resource
David Bowker joined the Air Force and was originally training to be a wireless operator / air gunner but remustered as a pilot. He discusses rudder lock on early versions of Halifax. Jacqueline Bowker his wife, discusses her life during the war and being bombed. Returning from an operation to Frankfurt his aircraft crashed and some of his crew were killed. After this he was posted to a target towing flight and later became an instructor at an Operational Training Unit and a test pilot at at Maintenance Unit. He also discusses a time when an aircraft's dingy deployed in flight jamming his controls.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Bedfordshire
England--Derbyshire
England--Kent
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Shropshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Folkestone
England--Spurn Head
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:48:45 audio recording
103 Squadron
150 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
briefing
Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992)
crash
demobilisation
Halifax
Halifax Mk 1
Hurricane
lack of moral fibre
Lysander
Magister
military living conditions
military service conditions
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Cardington
RAF Elsham Wolds
RAF Pershore
RAF Rufforth
RAF Shawbury
RAF Snaith
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1002/11310/SHumphreyE2098310v10001-0001.2.jpg
091b8b4cd9055c7c86d29721594bb274
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1002/11310/SHumphreyE2098310v10001-0002.2.jpg
88a0e22129ad0b233587fc01473ba63d
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Humphrey, Elizabeth
E Humphrey
Description
An account of the resource
Seven items. The collection concerns Elizabeth Humphrey (b. 1924, 2098310 Royal Air Force) and contains a photograph, service material and an exercise book with hand drawn diagrams and training notes. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and served in Balloon Command before remustering as an instrument technician and being posted to 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by F Joseph 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
2018-05-22
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
Humphrey, E
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
'Let's Go Mad' Programme
Description
An account of the resource
A programme for the revue 'Let's Go Mad' presented by The Station Revue Company at RAF Boscombe Down.
Also included are a pass out and an invitation to a dance at RAF Stradishall.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-03
1946-04
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets and one handwritten 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
SHumphreyE2098310v10001-0001,
SHumphreyE2098310v10001-0001=2
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
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Suffolk
England--Wiltshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-03-13
1946-04
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
RAF Boscombe Down
RAF Stradishall
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1723/29026/PLeadbetterJ16060057.2.jpg
ec8c070dd42e20b2b301634fe2a11281
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1723/29026/PLeadbetterJ16060058.2.jpg
ba2f08643367d71eb32bd3e9dc0d24a1
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
Leadbetter, John. Canada
Description
An account of the resource
29 items. Photographs of John Leadbetter's time in Canada.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-21
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
Leadbetter, J
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
'Piccadilly' Moncton
Description
An account of the resource
A camp scene of a road with wooden huts and in the distance a bunch of airmen. On the reverse 'Piccadilly Moncton'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
PLeadbetterJ16060057, PLeadbetterJ16060058
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.
Canada
New Brunswick
New Brunswick--Moncton
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.
aircrew
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40574/PAnkersonR1808.2.jpg
2418f1fbafed06707b2fc753fb21d464
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
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
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
"Boil you ----- Boil"
Camp cooker
Forced air stove
Description
An account of the resource
A cartoon of a prisoner with a forced air camp stove for boiling water. It is dated Oct 17 1944. It is drawn on a prisoner of war postcard.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-10-17
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artwork
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handrawn coloured cartoon
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PAnkersonR1808
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-10-17
arts and crafts
military living conditions
prisoner of war
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/17/37182/PBellOH21010060.1.jpg
b2a9a58ca2295043d8075d6dde975629
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Bell, Oliver
O Bell
Description
An account of the resource
47 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Oliver Herbert Bell (1915 - 1997) and consists of photographs and documents. He served as ground personnel at RAF Cranwell and was then posted to Aden and the Middle East with 12(B) and 8(B) Squadrons before the war. He later served at establishments in Canada and at RAF Blyton and married <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/208">Joyce Bell</a>.<br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by G Sadler and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Achive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bell, O
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
12 Squadron's Move from Khormaksar to Robat
Description
An account of the resource
Four photographs from an album. All four images show tents being taken down or erected and various items being moved around.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935-11
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four b/w photographs on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBellOH21010060
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1935-11
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
12 Squadron
aircrew
ground crew
military living conditions
military service conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/367/6100/PCavalierRG17010045.1.jpg
1bfc592b53e47bc9e8c38084bbc69ffc
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
Cavalier, Reginald George. Album one
Description
An account of the resource
57 items. Photograph album showing pictures taken during Reginald George Cavalier's service as a squadron photographer. It includes material from his photographic course training in 1940, and service with 76 Squadron at RAF Middleton St George, and with 88 Squadron and 226 Squadron with 2 Group and 2nd Tactical Air Force at RAF West Raynham. The album also includes target photographs, images of Christmas parties, visits by VIPs including Eisenhower and the King, as well as captured German ordnance and aircraft in France, the Netherlands and Germany.
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
2017-04-10
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
Cavalier, RG
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
137 Wing relaxing
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph 1 is of a photographer taking a portrait of a French airman. Behind is the photographic lorry and awnings. Captioned 'Photographic tent.'
Photograph 2 is of Reginald George Cavalier painting a partially-clad woman on the canvas of a tent. Captioned 'R.G.C. painting a "Lady". '
Photograph 3 is of airmen outside bell and ridge tents, captioned 'Tent Site. 137 Wing.'
Photograph 4 and 5 are of groups of airmen and airwomen dancing on a wooden platform set on the edge of a coniferous forest. Captioned 'Open Air Dance, R.A.F. Hartford Bridge.'
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five b/w photographs on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCavalierRG17010045
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
Civilian
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
England--Hampshire
Language
A language of the resource
eng
arts and crafts
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
RAF Hartford Bridge
service vehicle
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/29051/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-25.2.jpg
2919258f7f35cefc8571f538975b0057
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
Leadbetter, John
J Leadbetter
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
2016-04-21
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
Leadbetter, J
Description
An account of the resource
166 items. The collection concerns John Leadbetter (1549105, 163970 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs and documents. <br /><br />There are four sub-collections:<br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1725">Leadbetter, John. Aerial Photographs</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1721">Leadbetter, John. Aircraft Recognition</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1723">Leadbetter, John. Canada</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1718">Leadbetter, John. Maps and Charts</a> <br /><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Keith Henry Leadbetter and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1549105 LAC Leadbetter.
The above mentioned cadet is permanently employed in the Clothing Store and it is requested that he be permitted to obtain his meals as quickly as possible.
[signature] W/O
for Senior Equipment Officer.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
1549105 LAC Leadbetter
Description
An account of the resource
A letter allowing Jack to have his meals as quickly as possible.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
RAF Equipment Office
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
MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-25
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
David Bloomfield
mess
military living conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1441/29095/MPerkinsFWJ1143173-150917-04.2.jpg
5d3aa0e14a2ced8c3e482c06a873cef1
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
Perkins, Frederick William James
F W J Perkins
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
2015-09-17
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
Perkins, FWJ
Description
An account of the resource
23 items. The collection concerns Frederick William James Perkins (1143173 Royal Air Force) who served as an engineer on radar research and as an armourer in the middle east. Collection and contains a memoir, propaganda leaflets and photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by F Perkins and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Drawings]
XMAS ABUSUEIR 1944
MENU.
Tomato Soup.
Roast Turkey – Sage Stuffing.
Pork – Apple Sauce.
Roast & Mashed Potatoes.
Cauliflower – White Sauce.
Green Peas – Onion Gravy.
Xmas Pudding – Brandy Sauce
Biscuits – Cheese.
Beer. Nuts. Lemonade.
[Drawings]
A very Happy Xmas to you all
[Signature] G/Capt.
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
1944 Christmas menu
Description
An account of the resource
Menu for Christmas meal at RAF Abu Sueir in 1944. Decorated border and artwork top and bottom.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12
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
MPerkinsFWJ1143173-150917-04
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.
Egypt
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-12
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
David Bloomfield
Anne-Marie Watson
Requires
A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence.
Workflow A completed
arts and crafts
mess
military living conditions
RAF Abu Sueir
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/535/16667/YWarrenHJ619608v1.2.pdf
cdf804b2d199707b2e35c23f0f7ab8ed
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
Warren, Harold James
H J Warren
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Warren, HJ
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. Two oral history interviews with Harold James Warren (1921 - 2017, 619608 Royal Air Force) service material, a note book, diary and photographs. He Joined the RAF in 1938, and after training as ground crew but remustered and after training in Canada, became a flight engineer.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Harold Warren and catalogued by Peter Adams.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-22
2015-10-30
2016-07-12
Rights
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Saturday, January 1, 1944
Snowed most of the day was going to Penfield Ridge but weather to [sic] bad for flying, had a good New Years dinner & tea & saw The Crystal Ball in camp cinema, also had a letter from darling wife & one from Auntie (Chevithorne)
Sunday, January 2, 1944
Nothing much happened today, wrote to Olive, Mam & Auntie, went to bed early no pictures tonight
[page break]
Monday, January 3, 1944
Went to Penfield Ridge to work on 507, didn’t think much of the place, not very good food went to station cinema & saw “Lost Souls at Sea” & got a sore be--- later watched ice skating & then turned in, good bed, only good thing about the place.
[page break]
Tuesday, January 4, 1944
Finished 507 in the morning & waited untill [sic] 4.30 for a pilot to fetch it. come back in 508 good trip. arrived back about 5.30. had tea & went to cinema & saw Laurel & Hardy in ‘air Raid Warden” & Finger at the Window. wrote to wife & went to bed
[page break]
Wednesday, January 5, 1944
Usual day, no pictures, no mail went to skating rink & watched Jock skating, couldnt [sic] pluck up enough courage to go on myself.
[page break]
Thursday, January 6, 1944
Nothing much to do today rather cold, went to pictures saw “Here we go again.” Received a Airgraph from Aunt Edie, wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Friday, January 7, 1944
Usual day, very little work, very cold wind went to pictures & saw “Dangerous Blondes” made up small parcel for wife for Jock to post.
[page break]
Saturday, January 8, 1944
Not much work to do today chiefy in a good mood weather rather cold but cleared up after lunch. went to pictures & saw “Hi Buddy,” came back had a shower & went to bed, feeling browned off no mail from wife.
Sunday, January 9, 1944
Day off today, spent most day in bed sleeping & reading had chicken for dinner. Watched mixed skating at night but to [sic] cold to stay long, wrote to wife & turned in early
[page break]
Monday, January 10, 1944
Late shift this week, went to drill hall to practice football, had a letter from wife, one from Mum & Herbert played football but lost 7 – 2 enjoyed game came back had a shower & turned in.
[page break]
Tuesday, January 11, 1944
Had a good lay in, wrote to Olive & Mum, went to pictures & saw “Road to Moroco [sic]” which was very good & turned in early.
[page break]
Wednesday, January 12, 1944
Just the usual day, not much work, no pictures. wrote to Herbert & wife & turned in fairly early
[page break]
Thursday, January 13, 1944
Had a good surprise today, went to pay accounts & found it was over 5£ in credit so turned it over to wife as I couldnt [sic] draw it here, went to pictures in the evening & saw Betty Davis in “Old Aquiantances [sic]” good picture, also new serial started called “U,S Coastguards”.
[page break]
Friday, January 14, 1944
Work all day today & tv 5 one good thing pay day, went to cinema & saw “It aint Hay” with Abbot & Costello. had two Air Mails from dear wife & one from Mum.
[page break]
Saturday, January 15, 1944
Day off today, wrote to wife before dinner, had a sleep in the afternoon went to pictures & saw Walt Disneys film “Victory throught [sic] Air Power” also “Nasty Nuicance [sic] [deleted] to [/deleted] two good pictures.
Sunday, January 16, 1944
Day off today, had a good lay in, spent most of the day reading wrote to Olive & Mum, played football & lost dirty game
[page break]
Monday, January 17, 1944
Very nice day. Had to work late, just made second house pictures & saw “What a Woman.”
[page break]
Tuesday, January 18, 1944
Nice sunny day plenty of work. 506 crashed, killed 4 pilots. Went to cinema to see the play “The case of the Frightened Lady” by Edgar Wallace & played by the station Dramatics Society very good play & some good acting.
[page break]
Wednesday, January 19, 1944
Nice day today. plenty of work. Found all M/Ps loose on Oxfords no pictures, went to bed early
[page break]
Thursday, January 20, 1944
Very mild today, had second lecture, went to pictures & saw a Walt Disney Film also the second chapter of the serial US Coastguards wrote to wife & turned in early “(Saludos Amingos [sic]”) Hallo Friends.
[page break]
Friday, January 21, 1944
Warm today but froze at night, saw Betty Grable in “Sweet Rosy O grady” good picture turned in fairly early but couldn’t sleep, thoughts miles & miles away.
Second Wedding Anniversary
[page break]
Saturday, January 22, 1944
A bit colder today with a spot or to [sic] of rain had a nice job today took rudder of off Oxford went to pictures & saw James Cagney in “Olkahoma [sic] Kid didn’t go much on it. Had aerograph from Mum & Herbert, none from Olive very disappointed.
Sunday, January 23, 1944
Chiefy in bad mood today all the boys cheesed off went to pictures & saw “Lost Angel” a good picture wrote to Olive & Mum & Herbert & turned in.
[page break]
Monday, January 24, 1944
Late shift this week, 2 feet of snow during night had an Aerograph from Mum but none from Olive went to pictures & saw Mae West in “The Heats On” not to [sic] bad feel fed up tonight, wish I was home.
[page break]
Tuesday, January 25, 1944
Lovely day but cold wind did an air test on 614 OK. No mail again, am getting really getting fed up with no mail every day.
Watched the boys play football & they won for a change. went to last house pictures & saw Barbara Stanwick [sic] in “Lady of Berlesk [sic].” not to [sic] bad plenty of leg.
[page break]
Wednesday, January 26, 1944
Nice day plenty of flying worked late had two air mails from dear wife no pictures in camp at there is an Airmans dance but I didn’t go, wrote to wife instead
[page break]
Thursday, January 27, 1944
Raining most of the day today very slippery to walk had an airmail from Mum went to pictures & saw Robert Young in “Claudia” a very nice picture came back & did the usual Thursday nights bull & turned in fairly early.
Mums Birthday.
[page break]
Friday, January 28, 1944
Rather cold today, worked all day today no mail today but I didn’t expect to get any really went to pictures & saw “Son of Dracula” not much good came back started to write to wife & turned in early
[page break]
Saturday, January 29, 1944
Frosty night this week-end, wrote to dear wife in morning & had a sleep in the afternoon went to last house pictures & saw Ginger Rogers in “The Major & the Minor” good picture.
Sunday, January 30, 1944
Fed up with today nothing to do wrote to dear wife & mum had a sleep & watched indoor football in evening.
[page break]
Monday, January 31, 1944
Early shift this week moved to NO1 hangar not much work finished at five had a Airmail from dear wife & from Mum went to pictures & saw “Flesh & Fantasy” good film came back wrote to dear wife & turned in.
pay day today.
[page break]
Tuesday, February 1, 1944
Very cold today not much flying had two Air Mails from Mum went to pictures & saw Bing Crosby & Dorothy Lamour in “Dixie” good film
[page break]
Wednesday, February 2, 1944
Very cold today, not much flying had a tool kit issued today not a bad kit no pictures today went & saw our team play football which [indecipherable word] sergents [sic] played dirty wrote to dear wife & turned in.
[page break]
Thursday, February 3, 1944
Still very cold & very fine snowing, no flying today, no mail either went to pictures & saw “Fired Wife” a jolly good film plenty of laughs, lot of the boys marking their kit bags tonight wished I was one of them, turned in early.
[page break]
Friday, February 4, 1944
Not so cold today had two Air Mails from dear wife went to pictures & saw “The Falcon” & “Cat girl” two long films so didn’t get to bed before 12 as I was working late so had to go second house
[page break]
Saturday, February 5, 1944
Plenty of work today other shift of week-end but finished work by 6 so went to first house show & saw “Whistling down Brooklyn” a good film plenty of laughs. Wrote to dear wife.
Sunday, February 6, 1944
Plenty of work today other shift of 48 no pictures watched the lads play football
[page break]
Monday, February 7, 1944
Not much to do today on fire watch this week so no pictures
[page break]
Tuesday, February 8, 1944
Very cold today chiefy in a bad mood. no mail today still on fire watch so slept in hangar.
[page break]
Wednesday, February 9, 1944
Plenty of work today. Massey Harris show in Cinema but couldn’t go on fire watch. the boys worked late tonight but I missed it.
[page break]
Thursday, February 10, 1944
Still plenty to do more snow today & very cold had a loving letter from dear wife so answered [sic] that while in hangar on fire watch.
[page break]
Friday, February 11, 1944
Plenty of work today still on fire watch no mail today miss wife & baby very much.
[page break]
Saturday, February 12, 1944
A real blizzard blowing today woke up with snow on my bed hard job to get to guard room. no mail again. went to pictures & saw “Mrs Miniver” very good film.
Sunday, February 13, 1944
A lovely day today snow very glaring still on fire watch finish tomorrow morning
[page break]
Monday, February 14, 1944
A nice day today not much work all kites grounded, had a letter from dear wife & one from Mum went to pictures & saw “Death of Adolf Hitler not much good.
[page break]
Tuesday, February 15, 1944
On 48 today, a windy & we day stayed in camp no pictures tonight had a letter from mother (Hinton) wrote to dear wife & Mum
[page break]
Wednesday, February 16, 1944
Started work today not much to do rather cold had a letter from dear wife & two from Mum went to Hentville & saw ice hockey between our team & Arm ours won 7 6 good game didn’t get back until 12.30.
[page break]
Thursday, February 17, 1944
Nice day today, not much work went to pictures & saw Betty Hutton in “Happy go Lucky” very good. wrote to dear wife & turned in.
Friday, February 18, 1944
Wet day today not much to do had a letter from dear wife & two from Mum, went to pictures & saw “The Lodger” not to bad came back & turned in, wrote to Mother (thirton [sic] )
[page break]
Saturday, February 19, 1944
coldest day we have had so far not much to do had letter from wife & from Mum I Herbert went to pictures & saw Olivr [sic] De Haviland in Goverment [sic] girl very good wrote to Mum & dear wife.
Sunday, February 20, 1944
Not so cold today & not much [inserted] to do [/inserted] today saw a play in the cinema “The case of the frightened Lady” very good play
[page break]
Monday, February 21, 1944
Went on leave today a job to travel, had to put chains on Taxi going up to Mr & Mrs Bints, very nice people quite a big family, plenty to eat & some lovely [deleted] weather [/deleted] apples sent parcel to wife
[page break]
Tuesday, February 22, 1944
Weather not to good got up at 10.30 went for a walk in the afternoon quite worn out saw the school where the family gvv [sic]
[page break]
Wednesday, February 23, 1944
Plenty of snow today couldnt [sic] go far did a little shooting with a .22 spentmot of day reading & eating
[page break]
Thursday, February 24, 1944
Still snowing & every rough roads blocked had a snow Light when kids come home from school & got a good posting
[page break]
Friday, February 25, 1944
Went to Halifax today went down to Kingsdon with Murry & his wife & had dinner there & caught a buss [sic] from there at 2.3 & arrived in Halifax at 6.30 & then we booked up some beds & did a little liqour [sic] trading had tea & Joe rang up his friends & we went up to see them had a very good evening
[page break]
Saturday, February 26, 1944
Did some shopping this morning, went to Joe friends place for dinner & hen did some mre shopping went & saw “Winter Time” with “drags” friend
Sunday, February 27, 1944
Had late breakfast went for walk & went to friend for dinner had a lovely evening in Navy club, best time of all
[page break]
Monday. February 28, 1944
Had a walk & went to Simsons & wished friends good-bye went to pictures in the afternoon & saw “The Uninvited not much good. went to Navy club for ten & caught buss [sic] at 7 for Kingsdon arrived back camp at 12 & had plenty of mail waiting for me
[page break]
Tuesday, February 29, 1944
Started work today but had afternoon off wrote to dear wife & Mum went to pictures & saw Bing in “Missiscippi [sic]” not to bad.
[page break]
Wednesday, March 1, 1944
a bit wet today, not much work to do, dance in camp tonight but didnt [sic] go, no pictures either, wrote to Herbert no mail today.
[page break]
Thursday, March 2, 1944
Not much to do today, pretty cold, had letter from dear wife went to pictures & saw Bob Hope in “Ghost Breakers” very good.
[page break]
Friday, March 3, 1944
Very cold, not much to do no mail today watched the boys play football which they lost went to pictures after & saw “Crash Dive” had seen it before but very good.
[page break]
Saturday, March 4, 1944
Very cold today not much work to do, no mail, feel a bit browned up with no mail.
Sunday, March 5. 1944
Still cold, not much flying, finished early saw “Good by Mr Chips” very good film
[page break]
Monday, March 6, 1944
My birthday today no mail either, had to work all night with svay [sic] gang or oil coolers finished at seven on Tuesday morning. went to see about my ribbon this morning
[page break]
Tuesday, March 7, 1944
I slept all day today woke up at tea time no mail wrote to wife, watched boy play football, lost again 4 – 1 went to pictures & saw Wallace Beary in “Rationing” very good
[page break]
Wednesday. March 8, 1944
Plenty of work today, lovely & warm in the sun no mail again today. no pictures tonight turned in early
[page break]
Thursday, March 9, 1944
Sow again today so no flying spent the time cleaning had a letter from dear wife & one from Mum feel a little better now. went to pictures & saw “Princess O Roque” very good, also saw a news reel of our Mossies [sic].
[page break]
Friday, March 10, 1944
Snowing again today no flying had a letter from dear one & one from Mum answered bouth [sic] went to pictures & saw “Casablanca” very good film.
[page break]
Saturday, March 11, 1944
On fourty [sic] eight this week-end, spent most of the day on my pit no mail, went to pictures & saw “Betty Grable & Bob Hope in “Lets Face it” very good entertainment also some very good shorts.
Sunday, March 12, 1944
Woke up frozen this morning went to breakfast & back in the pit again. wrote to dear one & spent most of afternoon reading saw The Bridge of St Lous Ray
[page break]
Monday, March 13, 1944
A little warmer today had a letter from Mum went to pictures & saw “In Old Oaklahoma” very good film. came back & wrote to dearest & Mum & turned in, getting fed up with no mail from wife. Two Mossies belly landed this morning.
[page break]
Tuesday, March 14, 1944
Nice & warm today plenty of work to do still no mail from wife went to pictures & saw Hedy Lamar in “Hevenly Body” very good film wrote an Airgraph to darling wife & turned in but couldnt [sic] sleep kept thinking of home & dear one.
[page break]
[newspaper cutting]
KILLED IN CRASH – Flt. – Lt. larry J. “Moon” O’Connell, 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. William J. O’Connell, 109 Chestnut street, Halifax, was killed yesterday afternoon when an airplane piloted by a student and in which he was instructor crashed at Greenwood, Kings county. Four occupants of the plane were killed in the crash. (Story
[page break]
Wednesday, March 15, 1944
A lovely day today not much doing though still no ail went to pictures & saw three short films of Canada & English Architect went to Y for a snack come back & wrote to dearest wife. Pay day today.
[page break]
Thursday, March 16, 1944
Lovely day today but still no mail from dearest wife, fed up went to pictures & saw Spencer Tracey in “Just a Guy Maned [sic] Joe” ver [sic] good film
[page break]
Friday, March 17, 1944
Very nice day today plenty of flying. had a record bag of mail four from my sunshine – seven from Mum & was I glad to get them went to pictures & saw Judy Garland in “Little Nellie Kelly” a very good film enjoyed it come back & wrote an airmail to dear wife.
[page break]
Saturday, March 18, 144
Nice day again quite warm not much flying no mail today but I must have had my ration yesterday went to pictures & saw “Is everybody Happy not to bad.
Sunday, March 19, 1944
Very cold today plenty to do, in six hangar all day went to show & saw “Life of a Bengal Lover” very good
[page break]
Monday, March 20, 1944
Bitter cold wind plenty of work to do, am not feeling to good this afternoon had a letter from darling wife which I answered turned in early
[page break]
Tuesday, March 21, 1944
Nice day today did a bit of flying [deleted] at [/deleted] over the bay. had no mail today
[page break]
Wednesday, March 22, 1944
Very nice today worked late tonight wrote to dear wife & Mum
[page break]
Thursday, March 23, 1944
Usual day today had a letter from wife which I answered
[page break]
Friday, March 24, 1944
Very nice today on fourty [sic] eight this week end went up the four this evening [deleted] it [/deleted] had to wak [sic] most of way but had a good feed when we got there.
[page break]
Saturday, March 25, 1944
lovely day today in bed until diner [sic] time went to Moryetsville [sic] for a walk had a [undecipherable word] time.
Sunday, March 26, 1944
Layed [sic] in today until dinner time had some home made ice cream for tea arrived back in camp at 11.30.
[page break]
Monday, March 27, 1944
Lovely day today had a letter from wife which I answered went to pictures & saw Bing in Wedding no good.
[page break]
Tuesday, March 28, 1944
Snowing most of day so not much to do, no mail either went to show & saw John Garfield in “Destination Tokio [sic]” a very good film
[page break]
Wednesday, March 29, 1944
Nice day today plenty of flying no mail today & no show tonight so spent a quiet night in the billet after going for a short walk
[page break]
Thursday, March 30, 1944
Nice day, had a new Flight not a bad guy no mail went to first house & saw “Hostages” good film come back & did Thursday nights bull wrote to druling [sic] wife & turned in.
[page break]
Friday, March 31, 1944
Rained most of day did plenty of work in hangar no mail again to day getting fed up went to pictures & saw “The Wizard of Ozz [sic] “a dead loss film
[page break]
Saturday, April 1, 1944
Nice day today plenty of flying no mail again getting fed up not hearing from wife went to pictures & saw Al Aba & the Fourty [sic] thieves not to bad.
Sunday, April 2, 1944
Lovely day today not much flying 2 Bolies went or search for a Hudson had to work late.
[page break]
Monday, April 3, 1944
Lovely day today plenty of flying had a letter from dear wife & one from Mum. went to pictures & saw Swing Fever pretty good came back – wrote to dear wife.
[page break]
Tuesday, April 4, 1944
Lovely day today plenty of work to do working late this week
[page break]
Wednesday, April 5, 1944
Nice day again plenty of flying no mail today & no pictures tonight so had a qui [inserted] e [/inserted] t night in the billet. wrote to dear wife.
[page break]
Thursday, April 6, 1944
Lovely day today plenty of flying had to work late. didnt [sic] go to pictures had to work late & had to do the usual bull tonight so I was tired.
[page break]
Monday, April 10, 1944
Started work today & very glad to not much to do though as the weather is bad no mail today went to show & saw Jack London not to bad. wrote to wife
[page break]
Tuesday, April 11, 1944
Not much of a day no mail & not much to do fed up went to show & saw Flight for Freedom good show, come back & wrote to wife
[page break]
Wednesday, April 12, 1944
Still dull weather no mail again went to see free film show of travel very good come back & wrote to Herbert & dear wife.
[page break]
Thursday, April 13, 1944
Weather a bit better today no mail went to see R.C.A F show very good best show I have seen for a long time really enjoyed it.
[page break]
Friday, April 14, 1944
A little better today had a letter from wife no pictures tonight so wrote to wife & turned in
[page break]
Saturday, April 15, 1944
Nice day today plenty of flying had a Boly up or trestles, had a letter from Mum went to cinema & saw “Covette 225” good film
Sunday, April 16, 1944
Raning [sic] today, had half day wrote to dear wife & Mum went to cinema & saw Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Past” a de[inserted] a [inserted] d loss.
[page break]
Monday, April 17, 1944
Lovely weather today had to work until 10.30 & no time off next morning either, no mail & didnt [sic] have time to write to wife.
[page break]
Tuesday, April 18, 1944
Nice day again plenty to do did Air test on 84. OK worked late but managed to make second house show & saw “Three Russian Girls” no much good. Mossie [unreadable word] or night flying lulter [sic] berth [sic] crew
[page break]
Wednesday, April 19, 1944
Nice day again plenty of flying had a letter from dearest which I answered went to show & saw “Tender Cornwall [sic] not much good Felt like crying another mossie crashed
[page break]
Thursday, April 20, 1944
Lovely day again plenty of flying late work [unreadable word] had a Airmail from dearest which I answered didnt [sic] go to pictures
[page break]
Friday, April 21, 1944
Lovely day today but not much flying finished at Line went to pictures & saw “Up in Arms” a good picture plenty of laughs wrote to wife & Mum & turned in.
[page break]
Saturday, April 22, 1944
On fouty [sic] eight, went up the farm this morning went fishing in the afternoon & caught four trout had them for tea very nice.
Sunday, April 23, 1944
Had a lay in until dinner time went to church in afternoon come back to camp with Murray had a burst tyre.
[page break]
Monday, April 24, 1944
Nice day today not much to do, another Mossie crashed went to show & saw “Come now Private Musgrove good laugh come back & wrote to dearest & turned in.
[page break]
Tuesday, April 25, 1944
Wet day no flying had an Airmail from dear wife & one from Mum went to pictures & saw the rity [sic] brothers in good film enjoyed it wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Wednesday, April 26, 1944
Cold today, on funeral party one at Kingsdon & one at Muddleton got back at dinner time AVM here dishing out B.E.M.s but no on the parade went to cinema – saw Action in Arabia not tr [sic] bad wrote to wife & Mum. most of the lads gone to dance in Drill Hall.
[page break]
Thursday, April 27, 1944
Still bad weather not much flying no mail went to pictures & saw Frank Sinatra in Higher & Higher very good. went to wet canteen for a drink with the boys that went away. Bert Joe & Tinker a Big Durow [sic] didnt [sic] get tr [sic] bed until 12.30
[page break]
Friday, April 28, 1944
Still bad weather pay day today went to pictures & saw “Pitctary [sic]” not to bad come back & [deleted] some [/deleted] wrote to dear wife
[page break]
Saturday, April 29, 1944
A little better today not much to do worked a little late didnt [sic] get any mail & no pictures cheesed off did a few odd jobs in the room 7 turned in.
Sunday, April 30, 1944
Nice day, not much to do had a fire outside camp but the boys put it out went to pictures & saw Thousands Cheer a good picture [inserted] wrote [/inserted] to wife
[page break]
Monday. May 1, 1944
Nice day not much flying had no mail again went to pictures & saw Yin old Chisorya [sic] not to bad come back & got ready for 00s parade [sic]
[page break]
Tuesday, May 2, 1944
A lovely day, COs parade not much to do though still no mail from dear wife went to pictures & saw The Spawn of the North not to bad come back & wrote to dearest & Mum & turned in
[page break]
Wednesday, May 3, 1944
Lovely day again not much to do had 3 letters from dearest & one from Mum, late work wrote to dearest & turned in fed up.
[page break]
Thursday, May 4, 1944
Lovely day today not much to do or mal – no pictures. cheesed off
[page break]
Friday, May 5, 1944
Still nice weather on fourty [sic] eight this week end had letter from Mum but none from dearest wife went fishing after tea but didnt [sic] catch much.
[page break]
Saturday, May 6. 1944
Had a lay in went to Kingston but couldnt [sic] get any Fish hooks anywhere went fishing in afternoon but didnt [sic] catch much got tired out.
Sunday, May 7, 1944
Had a lay in went fishing in afternoon but didnt [sic] catch much again glad to get back
[page break]
Monday, May 8, 1944
Not a bad day not much to do had a letter from wife & Mum went to pictures & saw Return to Destiny not much cop come back & wrote to dearest & got ready frr[sic] CO’ private
[page break]
Tuesday, May 9, 1944
Not to bad today not much to do no mail went fishing after tea & caught a trout wrote to wife & turned in
[page break]
Weather not to good today so not much to do no mail & didnt [sic] go to pictures
[page break]
Thursday, May 11, 1944
Usual day not much to do no mail again turned in early after watching the boys play football
[page break]
Friday, May 12, 1944
Just another day got up, go to work & go to bed no mail wrote to dearest & turned in
[page break]
Saturday, May 13, 1944
Not a bad day not much to do though had a letter from Mum but none from dearest went to concert in the evening & saw Pontia White Ernesto Vince & Joy Redder some of the Bint family came down & it was very good.
Sunday, May 14, 1944
Rathr [sic] bussy [sic] this morning A/C search Finished at line went for a wek [sic] in evening & wrote to darling wif [sic] & turned in.
[page break]
Monday, May 15, 1944
Rather cold today not much doing went to pictures & wrote to darling wife
[page break]
Same weather again not much flying C/Os inspection started doing our own inspections no mail again
[page break]
Wednesday, May 17, 1944
Cold wind again plenty to do on the inspections no ail again wrote to wife
[page break]
Thursday, May 18, 1944
A little better today still plenty to do no mail wrote to Mum & wife.
[page break]
Friday, May 19, 1944
Cold wind finished at dinner time on fourty [sic] eight this week end posted a parcel to dear wife & had a ride up to the farm from Kingsdon with Aldon. went to young peoples after supper.
[page break]
Saturday, May 20, 1944
Cold wind got up at 10.30 had breakfast & helped Haldon with apple barrels, after dinner went to Kingsdon & fetched Gladys.
Sunday, May 21, 1944
Went to church at Margetast [sic] had dinner in tryed [sic] to sleep, come back with Haldon to Middletr [sic] & caught the buss [sic] good fourty [sic] eight.
[page break]
Monday, May 22, 1944
Lovely day today plenty to do went to pictures & saw Tunisian Victory very good, come back & wrote to dearest, had the good news about going home.
[page break]
Tuesday, May 23, 1944
Lovely day today, plenty to do, wrote to Mum didnt [sic] have any mail from wife, went fishing with Freddy but I didnt [sic] catch anything but Fred caught a lovely trout.
[page break]
Wednesday, May 24, 1944
Very nice day still plenty to do wrote to wife also had a letter from darling wife & one from Mum & Herbert
[page break]
Thursday, May 25, 1944
Still lovely weather & plenty to do went to U.S.O. show in camp not too bad come back & did my washing & turned in
[page break]
Friday, May 26, 1944
Lovely day again plenty to do had & paper from wife, wrote to dearest & Herbert & turned in.
[page break]
Saturday, May 27, 1944
Warm again today plenty to do had to no mail so went to bed early
Sunday, May 28, 1944
On church parade today not much to do wrote to darling wife & turned in.
[page break]
Monday, May 29, 1944
Still warm plenty to do still no mail wrote to dearest & turned in. saw Gilderslene or Broadway not to bad
[page break]
Tuesday, May 30, 1944
Still warm plenty to do did or Ariston in 9187 & 1947 did a few loops & noalls [sic] but didnt [sic] upset me
[page break]
Wednesday, May 31, 1944
Still warm not much to do had two Airmails from wife & two from Mum. went for walk & wrote to wife & got my shirts ready.
[page break]
Thursday, June 1, 1944
Rotten weather, just as we are starting to wear shorts, not much doing no mail again wrote to dear wife
[page break]
Friday, June 2, 1944
Still cold & wet had in letter from wife which I answered did an Airtest in a Horward did some loops & roolls [sic] enjoyed it finished early & went to Form for week-end went to Maryetsville [sic] to yarry [sic] peoples & went to Enids for supper nice evening
[page break]
Saturday, June 3, 1944
Wet day so not much to do although it cleared up in the afternoon picked a 100 chicken in the evening
Sunday, June 4, 1944
Better weather today, went to Maryetsvill [sic] church in the morning had som [sic] photos taken in the afternoon & come back to camp in the evening. no mail waiting
[page break]
Monday, June 5, 1944
Nice weather plenty of flying now as we have two Yindsons [sic] now had a letter from Mum & but none from wife finished work early & went to pictures come back & wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Tuesday, June 6, 1944
Nice weather again had a letter from wife which I answered went fishing & caught 4 trout & an eel.
[page break]
Wednesday, June 7, 1944
Wifes Birthday.
Still nice weather no mail went to pictures & saw Two gi [inserted] r [/inserted] ls & a boy a good film wrote to Mum.
[page break]
Thursday, June 8, 1944
Nice day a letter from dearest which I answered [deleted] went to pictures [/deleted] turned in early nothing much doing
[page break]
Friday. June 9, 1944
Still nice weather no mail again had the C/O’ Lonemill parade, went to pictures & saw Betty Grable in Bin UP Girl very good.
[page break]
Saturday, June 10, 1944
Min bay but looks like rain bought a wrist watch from Freddine [sic] no mail wrote to dearest went to pictures & saw The Phantom Lady not to bad.
Sunday, June 11, 1944
Rained all day today not much to do wrote to wife & Mum & did a few odd jobs & turned in.
[page break]
Monday, June 12, 1944
Foggy this morning but cleared up & was very nice afternoon no mail went to pictures with Freddy & saw “this thing called Love” very good wrote to dearest & turned in
[page break]
Tuesday, June 13, 1944
Still not very nice weather not much to do no mail wrote to dearest & turned in
[page break]
Wednesday, June 14, 1944
A little better today not much doing no mail again getting a bit fed up no mail every day.
[page break]
Thursday, June 15, 1944
Weather still ch evens had an Airmail from dearest which I was very glad to get went to pictures & saw “Untold glory very good wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Friday, June 16, 1944
Wet again today finished at dinner time & went up to the farm, went to young peoples after supper, after young peoples had a tuck in of ice cream & came back.
[page break]
Saturday, June 17, 1944
Up at 9.30 went to Middleton & fetched Gladys with Aldron then went to Kentville in the truck, got back in time for supper did a bit of gardening.
Sunday, June 18, 1944
Didnt [sic] get up until 11.30 had breakfast & dinner at same time went to church in the afternoon had supper & left for camp with Aldron got back to camp at 10.00
[page break]
Monday, June 19, 1944
Started shift work this week or didnt [sic] go in till 10.00 had a letter from dearest 2 & one from Mum finished at 8.00 went to pictures & saw the Ritzy Brothers in Never a Dull Moment very good had supper & turned in
[page break]
Tuesday, June 20, 1944
Rotten weather again started work at 1.0 & finished at 5.0 went to pictures & saw “Home comes Mr Hopper very good film enjoyed it come back & wrote to dearest & turned in
[page break]
Wednesday, June 21, 1944
Still miserable weather finished early no pictures wrote to wife & messed about in generall [sic] & turned in early.
[page break]
Thursday, June 22, 1944
Still lousy weather finished fuvnly [sic] early wentto pictures & saw Ingrid Bergman & Charles Boyer in “Gaslight” very good wrote to Mum & wife & turned in.
[page break]
Friday, June 23, 1944
A little better today started work at 1.0 & finished at 7.30 went to pictures & saw Voices in the Wind a rotten picture come back & turned in.
[page break]
Saturday, June 24, 1944
Weather not to bad finished at 8 went to pictures & saw “Four Gills in a Jeep” very good film come back Ricn [sic] supper & turned in no mail again.
Sunday, June 25, 1944
Still rotten weather finished work at five went to church twice had a chat with the Padre very nice chap wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Monday, June 26, 1944
Early work this week start at 7 & finish at one had in letter from dear wife & two from Mum which I answered went to pictures & saw Four jills in a jeep very good enjoyed it.
[page break]
Tuesday, June 27, 1944
Very hot today can sweat doing nothing 90o in the shade. Finished at one & stretched out on the pit until tea time wrote to Mum went to cinema & saw ‘Lady by Good’ very good film.
[page break]
Wednesday, June 28, 1944
Still very hot finished at one went for a walk & did a bit of fishing no mail wrote to wife & spent the evening on my bed
[page break]
Thursday, June 29, 1944
Still very hot 92o in the shade finished at one did my bullshit did a bit of washing & mucked around in general watched the boys swimming & playing cricket
[page break]
Friday, June 30, 1944
Still hot finished work at dinner time went up the farm went to Maryetsville to Young peoples had come ice cream & come back with Murray in the truck.
[page break]
Saturday, July 1, 1944
Up at 9 lovely day went to Middleton Dominion day very hot watched the parade & auitor[sic] with Enid come back to tea & went down again & went to pictures & saw “Princess O Roque with Enid very good come back in the truck.
Sunday, July 2, 1944
Went to church at Maryetal [sic] in the morning, had a ot of visitors in the afternoon so cancelled visit to Enids went back to camp viv [sic] Middleton until Glnn & Enid.
[page break]
Monday. July 3, 1944
Not so warm today no mail again went to pictures & saw “Show Business very good film wrote to dearest.
[page break]
Tuesday, July 4, 1944
Not to warm this morning but warmer after had the gen today posted to Moose juv [sic] had this letter from wife & one form Mum went to pictures & saw “Women Curvvyeous [sic]” very good wrote to Mum & turned in
[page break]
Wednesday, July 5, 1944
Very hot today dashing around camp with Lawrence shil [sic]went to Middleton to say good bye to Glad went to pictures at the L again – got back to camp at 11 had no mail today
[page break]
Thursday, July 6, 1944
Lovely day finished getting cleared went to farm this afternoon after supper went to Maryetsville for ice cream then went to Enids for another supper said good bye & went back to farm had some tea & said good by to all the family caught midnight buss [sic] & got in at 12.30 tur [sic] carnt [sic] farm with 1 one Ln Mum made the pit & got in
[page break]
Friday, July 7, 1944
Still very hot on baggage party this morning took [indecipherable word] station got payed [sic] & left [indecipherable word] at 11.00. on the [indecipherable word] of 12 & arrived at Digby at 4 00 on the boat at 4300 & arrived St John at 6.30 nice trip left at 5 00 for Montreal no sleepers so not so good.
[page break]
Saturday, July 8, 1944
Arrived Montreal 10.30 [three indecipherable words] at 11.30 very good went to [indecipherable word] & had a few drinks [two indecipherable words] at 6.20 & on the train at 7.30 for the west had sleepers so OK good trip.
Sunday, July 9, 1944
Still on the train not so warm today not much to see but this evening we saw Lake Superior nice sight.
good food & turned in early slept well
[page break]
Monday, July 10, 1944
Still on the train. left the lake [indecipherable word] so not much to do or see, arrived at Regina at 3.30 & left again at 4 for Moose Jaw arrived Moose Jaw at 8.30 & got back to camp at 9.0 had supper & turned in
[page break]
Tuesday, July 11, 1944
Not much to do today working in [indecipherable word] gang fetched baggage from station, wrote to wife & turned in.
[page break]
Wednesday, July 12, 1944
Didn’t get up very early started work at 12.30 wrote to Mum, quite a few snags finished at 11.00 & had late supper & turned in
[page break]
Thursday, July 13, 1944
Stormy today started at 12.30 & finished fairly early no mail but cant expect it yet I suppose.
[page break]
Friday, July 14, 1944
Very hot today plenty of work finished at 11.30 no mail. wrote to dear wife.
[page break]
Saturday, July 15, 1944
Nice day plenty of work other shift on week-end had three letters from wife one from Mother & three from Mum wrote to dear wife & turned in
Sunday, July 16, 1944
Had a lay in started work at 12.30 wrote to Mum. Finished at 11 & turned in
[page break]
Monday, July 17, 1944
Lovely weather today plenty to do
[page break]
Tuesday, July 18, 1944
[blank page]
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
1944 diary
Description
An account of the resource
Hand-written 1944 diary. Detailed entries of flying, camp life, the weather and letters to and from home. Many references to going to cinema. Last entry 17 July 1944.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
H J Warren
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed diary with hand-written entries
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YWarrenHJ619608v1
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
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.
Canada
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
Anita Raine
David Bloomfield
entertainment
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1059/17858/BCuthillMSFHCuthillMSFHv1.2.pdf
d66316de5999379fe68c605357542a50
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
Cuthill, Margaret
Margaret Scott Foster Harper Cuthill
M S F H Cuthill
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. An oral history interview with Leading Aircraftswoman Margaret Cuthill (b. 1926, 2151005 Royal Air Force) (nee Logan), a written memoir, her service and release book and seven photographs. She served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force from May 1944 to October 1947 as a teleprinter operator.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Cuthill 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
2018-12-13
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
Cuthill, MSFH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[blank page]
[page break]
[underlined] Oct 09 [/underlined]
[underlined] 1944/47 WAAF Life & after [/underlined]
Aged about 17yrs old I befriended a girl named Doreen at the Red Cross evening class One day she said I've volunteered for the WAAF as a Radar Operator, later on I began to feel I would like to join & train as a Nursing Orderly, but you needed to be 18yrs old & I was 17yrs & 9mths – I couldn't wait. I asked my parents if they would allow me to volunteer – they didn't mind.
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
So I went ahead and at the recruiting office in George St Edinburgh I was [deleted] recruited [/deleted] enrolled as a Teleprinter Operator & was off to Wilmslow training camp for 4wks on 24th May 1944.
There we were kitted out with all our uniforms, taught Service discipline, & about all ranks in the RAF, respecting your seniors, saluting officers at all times.
Our drilling & PE came rather tough for us not being use to all that exercise, but gradually
[page break]
[underlined] 3. [/underlined]
became accustomed to it. (we had to).
I soon settled down to life in a Nissen Hut. After 4wks I learned to mix in with about a dozen girls from all walks of life & many parts of the UK. I felt a little home-sick at odd times but I was accustomed to living away from home.
We were not allowed out of camp for 4wks. We were taken out on two occasions as a group & marched into Wilmslow town – to the YMCA.
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
Our [deleted] were [/deleted] pay parade every fortnight & you had to be well turned out – because the beady eyes of the Pay Officer [inserted] women got £3 [/inserted] Some girls went wild not having been [deleted] with [/deleted] in men's company for wks. There were two girls who broke out of camp – the disciplin [sic] was peeling potatoes & washing & cleaning ablutions (toilets) for 2 days.
After finishing Elementary Training at Wilmslow, I was posted to RAF Cranwell on a Signals Course as a Teleprinter Operator I loved the life there for 10wks. June/Jul/Aug. A very good summer
[page break]
[underlined] 5. [/underlined]
I was billetted in a married quarters house 3 girls to 1 room – not alot [sic] of space. The Sgt in charge of our house was the WAAF [deleted] Band leader [/deleted] Drum Major [deleted] on the drums [/deleted]. She was a superb person, elegant – suited her position – fair hair & tall & attractive
Our house was on the edge of the airfield – there were light aircraft trainers – we use to sit in the garden watching them. It was all very new – not having seen the flying before. (me)
[page break]
[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
The Teleprinter Operators marched to [inserted] (over TANOY) [sic] [/inserted] music [inserted] to work [/inserted] & typed to music, there [inserted] fore [/inserted] becoming touch typists The camp was not far from Sleaford – a small village/town where we would walk to the shops [inserted] and railway station [/inserted] There was plenty of entertainment on camp. On Sat evenings there was always a dance held in the Appretices [sic] Gym Hall with their own Band. Their signature tune was "You Take The 'A' Train". I loved it, – I had an Apprentice friend, but
[page break]
[underlined] 7 [/underlined]
I can't remember his name. He gave me a cap badge – it was the Apprentice Wheel – which I attached to my handbag – but that was lost. He was a very nice young fellow, several months younger than me at just 18yrs old.
Our T/Course finished mid Aug & we then had an end of Course parade in front of Cranwell College where there was a vast parade ground. Our
[page break]
8
Air Commandant of the WAAF "Lady Walsh" took the Salute while the various Apprentices Bands played and others.
Cranwell was a happy time for me in the WAAF.
From Cranwell I was posted to:- 14 MU Carlisle (Maintenance Unit). We were given 7 days leave from end of Course – so I travelled from Edinburgh to Carlisle
[page break]
[underlined] 9. [/underlined]
My train journey turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The train was rather long & mostly full of service personell [sic] – so when we arrived at Carlisle Station – I was all set to get off but being in one of the two end carriages we were not by a platform & the train pulled away I was devastated all but tears, but there were plenty of comforters – male & female around – so my journey continued to [deleted] Pre [/deleted] York.
[page break]
[underlined] 10 [/underlined]
On my return to Carlisle there are always Military Police by the gate – so I had to explain to them in order to use the transport – & [inserted] on [/inserted] arrival face the Station Warrant Officer – who starts bellowing at you about alot "bull" not a very good welcome I learned later that his nickname was "SPAM"
The Signals Section was large & accommodated many teleprinters – cable & post office machines. So we served many small units around [inserted] SE [/inserted] & Carlisle Post Office
[page break]
11.
We had civilian supervisors that is where I earned my LACW. (Leading Aircraft Woman.)
We lived in Nissen Huts about 14-16 girls. Our heating was a large coke stove in the middle of the Hut. Our beds wrought iron unsprung & 3 horse hair biscuits like large flat cushions [inserted] 2 [/inserted] white coarse sheets & 3 very rough grey blankets. 1 bolster pillow looking more like a draught excluder.
[page break]
[underlined] 12 [/underlined]
The ablutions were about – 50yds away – Baths were limited in as much as they wer [sic] always occupied [underlined] or [/underlined] there [deleted] was [/deleted] were no plugs.
The NAAFI was quite good –
We had a number of W/Indian lads there – they usually worked in the workshops – sometimes on your way into the NAAFI in the winter evenings you got [inserted] a [/inserted] scare from a few of them hanging around the entrance – black faces & white eyes piering [sic] at you.
[page break]
13
There I played netball & got my little finger (pinky) of my right hand bent.
I joined the EVT Classes Education & Vocation Training I made a leather writing case – with thonging all around the edge & a zip. My friend Mary and I use to go out to Carlisle quite a lot – to Cinema & also there was marvellous new NAAFI Club – lots of entertainment & lots boys aircrew – was the attraction. I became friendly with a fellow called Peter – he was posted into 14 MU with
[page break]
[underlined] 14 [/underlined]
many others aircrew – [deleted] he was [/deleted] they were made redundant at the end of their course – he was a navigator. I was friendly with him for a while and then he was posted away to Stafford. He came up to Edinburgh for a long weekend & met my parents, John & Renee in So Queensferry.
He had mentioned about me going over to Longtown not far from Carlisle to meet his mother however it just happened that we met by accident in Carlisle but I got the feeling I was not welcome –
[page break]
[underlined] 15. [/underlined]
There were a group of airmen & WAAF who always gathered round a table in the NAAFI – including Peter – also there was an Airman very much senior to [inserted] all of [/inserted] us & distinguished so there were lots of discussions going on. However many years later in Cirencester with Anne, Linda & a bump, I saw this man whom we named the Professor – I felt annoyed with myself for not making myself present with my family.
"that is me" –
[page break]
[underlined] 16 [/underlined]
At Carlisle we had a number of Jamacians [sic] on Camp – they all seem to fit in well & off [sic] course the girls loved to jitter bug with them (at least some of the girls).
Sometimes they wer [sic] a bit scary in the dark on our way to the NAAFI.
Our Signals Section was supervised by civilians. One of the supervisors invited Mary & me to her home in Carlisle where she lived with her mother very comfortably. She invited us to have a bath & meal & then took
[page break]
[underlined] 15 [/underlined][sic]
us to the cinema – we saw "Song of Bernadette (Jennifer Jones) I loved watching her (mainly about life in a Convent). We both thoroughly enjoyed our Sups generosity.
On 'D' Day 45' some of us WAAF stood or sat on one of those long trailer's called a Queen Mary. (a bit like one of our long car trailers we have today 2000) parading through Carlisle. (not very enjoyable).
In camp we were given a special meal served by officers
[page break]
[underlined] 16 [/underlined][sic]
& all the boys were given a cigar. Next to our camp was a small airfield 15 EFTS Kingston. They trained on "tiger moths". The Pub in Kingston was the first time I had a drink with the girls – a shandy which I disliked.
During my time in the WAAF I never went out drinking [inserted] or [/inserted] even after.
I 1946 I was posted to 90 Group Egginton Hall Derbyshire – a large country house – with a river
[page break]
[underlined] 17 [/underlined]
running through the estate. The story went that there was a ghost "A White Lady". I never saw her. – but felt nervous at times when we would have to walk by that area where she was suppose [sic] to be on our way to evening / or night shift.
Not many personnel on the station. Our Sigs Office was what would have been a servants bedroom – level with the courtyard.
There were a small number of Italian prisoners there wandering around sweeping up etc Sometimes I would push open
[page break]
[underlined] 18. [/underlined]
my [inserted] (sash) [/inserted] window level with the ground & have a chat with them.
My frind [sic] Joan was Telephonist there She liked classical music. Sometimes [inserted] we [/inserted] would [inserted] go [/inserted] into the Reading Room where you could play records. Joan liked 'Corgi [sic] & Bess' but next time we found it broken. Our nearest town was Derby for entertainment & Market Drayton was walking distance
In camp some of the girls & RAF would go moonlight bathing in the river.
I played table tennis there.
[page break]
[underlined] 19 [/underlined]
I was there for 6 months While there for a few months I was made an Acting Corporal on temp basis while they awaited a permanent one. I wasn't exactly happy – felt to [sic] conscious. However it was only a few mths. from there I was posted to 16 MU Stafford & Handforth near to Wilmslow Where I trained for the WAAF. It was a very scattered station
We lived in groups of wooden huts – isolated from our place of work
[page break]
[underlined] 20 [/underlined]
This was 1946/47 – the very bad winter where everything froze. We use to fill a pan with ice to heat [inserted] it [/inserted] up for my hot water bottle – which four of us would share the [indecipherable word] warm water to wash in a.m.
Each day a truck called a 15 tonner with seats & cover would collect us for work 800 hrs.
The ablutions were about 200yds up a slope from our huts. They were all frozen & baths
[page break]
[underlined] 21 [/underlined]
As you can imagine desperation for baths etc
Whilst living there Mary & I went to Bell [sic] Vue stadium to watch the Scramble dirt track racing. It was at this camp I had my purse stolen from my bedside locker. It upset me, mainly because the purse was a gift from an Uncle of mine & was suede in the shape of an old style lum hat. I became frindly [sic] with a Cpl there for a short time – He wanted to be serious & said we could make a go of it, but
[page break]
[underlined] 22 [/underlined]
I said no, I'm still very young & finished He was much older than me by about 8yrs. He came from Mersey. I was demobed [sic] from there Oct 1947.
Our Signals Officer – gave me a very nice report.
After WAAF life – I lived at home for a short time while I worked at Romains [sic] & Patersons in Princess St, Edinburgh for some months with their firm in Boston doing the [deleted] Ex [/deleted] Export work.
[page break]
[underlined] 23 [/underlined]
Still trying to find a job as a Teleprinter Operator. Then I found a job as a Dictaphone Opr at Bruce Peebles engineering firm, for a short time & then a job as a Teleprinter Opr MOD 'Redbrae' Prestwick. All these jobs while short term, I quite liked them – I didn't ever feel settled but I made friends, & from there I met Dad in Edinburgh & the rest is history.
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
1944/47 WAAF Life and After
Description
An account of the resource
Margaret Cuthill's account of her time in the WAAF. At the age of 17 she volunteered for the WAAF and was enrolled as a teleprinter operator. She was sent to Wilmslow for training. After four weeks of drill and physical exercise she was posted to Cranwell on a signals course. Work was interesting and there was plenty of social life. After training she was sent to a maintenance unit at Carlisle.
After the war she was posted to Eggington Hall in Derbyshire, then Handforth. She returned to Edinburgh and worked for civilian firms before becoming a teleprinter operator at Prestwick.
This item was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Margaret Cuthill
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
28 handwritten pages
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
BCuthillMSFHCuthillMSFHv1
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
Jamaica
England--Carlisle
England--Cirencester
England--Derbyshire
England--Handforth
England--Lincolnshire
England--Longtown (Cumbria)
England--Stafford
England--Wilmslow
England--York
Scotland--Edinburgh
Scotland--Prestwick
England--Cheshire
England--Cumberland
England--Gloucestershire
England--Staffordshire
England--Yorkshire
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
Angela Gaffney
African heritage
aircrew
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
navigator
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
Nissen hut
physical training
RAF Cranwell
sanitation
sport
Tiger Moth
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1312/18895/PMadgettHR19030035.2.jpg
6f5ae548af3d2e6bd95dbd94b5247afe
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
Madgett, Hedley Robert. Canada and Royal Air Force Album
Description
An account of the resource
44 items. Photographs of training and travelling in Canada as well as his Bomber Command crew, squadron and aircraft.
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
Madgett, HR
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
34 S.F.T.S Medicine Hat, Alberta
Description
An account of the resource
Top left - a road running from the bottom with a row of single story huts on the left. Telegraph poles along right side of road. Caption 'the camp'. Bottom left - a cluster of single story huts in the middle distance. Captioned 'our billets'. Right - a large square building in the middle distance with an unidentified aircraft on its left. Captioned 'No 5 Hangar'.
Format
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Three b/w photographs mounted on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PMadgettHR19030035
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.
Canada
Alberta--Medicine Hat
Alberta
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
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.
hangar
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/375/6526/POtterP16020017.1.jpg
afe317bb0f4fc89bc049725a746c55a1
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
Otter, Patrick. Album
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. A multi page album containing images of scenes from 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook, and photographs of ground personnel in various situations including a bomb dump, an officers’ mess, a control tower, and medical and dental facilities. It also contains photographs of a sports day, family photographs and a sailing trip.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
POtterP1602
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
2016-03-07
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.
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
460 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph 1 is of a Lancaster AR-Z waiting to take off.
Photograph 2 is of 460 Squadron's crest.
Photograph 3 is of a Lancaster in the air, close to the ground.
Photograph 4 is of the pilot in the cockpit of a Lancaster, captioned 'Lancaster waiting for take off 2nd aircraft in view through windscreen'.
Photograph 5 is of six airmen in a bar with beer glasses in their hands.
Photograph 6 is of an airman inside an aircraft.
Photograph 7 is of nine airmen marching, viewed from the side.
Photograph 8 is of a Lancaster in the air, close to the ground.
Photograph 9 is of six airmen walking, viewed from the side. Behind is a small building.
Format
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Nine b/w photographs on an album page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
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POtterP16020017
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 Australian Air Force
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
460 Squadron
aircrew
ground personnel
Lancaster
military living conditions
pilot
RAF Binbrook
service vehicle
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/247/7524/YDorricottAArmy2465v.1.pdf
16cef0bde6e585ad0ab8bee9626b6e37
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
Dorricott, Leonard William
Leonard Dorricott
Len Dorricott
L W Dorricott
Description
An account of the resource
72 items. An oral history interview with Rosemary Dorricott about her husband Flying Officer Leonard William Dorricott DFM (1923-2014, 1230753, 1230708 Royal Air Force). Leonard Dorricott was a navigator with 460 and 576 Squadrons. He flew 34 operations including Operation Manna, Dodge and Exodus. He was one of the crew who flew in Lancaster AR-G -George, now preserved in the Australian War Memorial. He was a keen amateur photographer and the collection contains his photographs, logbook and papers. It also contains A Dorricott’s First World War Diary, and photographs of Leonard Dorricott’s log book being reunited with the Lancaster at the Australian War Memorial.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Dorricott and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-07
2015-11-05
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. 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
Dorricott, LW
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
3 Deseado
A Dorricott
2 Besford Sq
Belle vue
Shrewsbury
Salop
[underlined] Oct 28th 1914 [/underlined]
Embanked for [one indecipherable word]
29th Oct 1914 at South Hampton, [sic] on a passenger boat named SS Deseado, set sail about 7.30pm
[page break]
On the 30th sea fairly calm but weather stormy. On 31st fine day. We were [deleted] in the bay of Biscay on Sunday 1st Nov. It was very ruff [sic] it tossed us about and cleared all the crocks off the tables when we were having dinner.
We came in view of land on Tuesday
[page break]
between the coasts of North Africa and Portugal also of Spain. The rock at Gibaraltar [sic] were a site [sic] worth seeing we could see them fairly well although it was a bit misty. All round the coast it was very mountainous. We could see the forts very plainely, [sic] and we could see them
[page break]
signaling [sic] from the one side to the other.
The towns in Spain looked very funny the houses were all white.
The rock Giberaltar [sic] stood out in the water more than the other, and it is a very high rock, the fort [sic] are placed at the very edge. There were
[page break]
some very high Mountains on the coasts of North Africa, they were also very picturess. There is about 8 boats with soldiers and horses in with us besides crusers [sic] to guard us.
We passed some of the troops from India going to the front, we passed them at Giberaltar [sic] on Tuesday,
[page break]
about 5pm they were 4 and 5 Borderers.
[deleted] The last sight of land again on Tuesday morning. [/deleted]
It is the finest day we have had since we started, the sea looked splendid. We could see one of the towns [inserted] in North Africa [/inserted] lited [sic] up from the ship, on Wednesday night splendedly [sic] We also passed the 2nd Shropshires going to England on
[page break]
Thursday about 7pm they are going to have 6 days furlow before going to the front.
We passed more troops going to England on Friday Nr Malta about 4pm. We landed at Malta about 4.30.pm on Friday, and ankored [sic] there for the night, about 2 mile out
[page break]
from the shore Malta is a very nice town and is situated close the to the shore. we could see the lights of the town very plainly, and when the surch [sic] lites [sic] came over us it lit the boat up like day.
We had to wait for escorts at Malta because our other
[page break]
left us, to take the troops to England that we met from India.
The building in Malta look to be very well built their [sic] are some very fine churches their [sic] We started from Malta on Saturday morning aboat [sic] 8.30 [inserted] am [/inserted] with a fresh escort of Battle ships and torpeado [sic] boats we also had
[page break]
a submarine with us it was tugged by another boat. It was very ruff [sic] on Sunday again especialy after tea. It was not quite so ruff [sic] as last Sun when we were in the Bay of Bisky [sic] We were inockulated [sic] on Tuesday 10th Nov, we also reached Port Said on Tuesday about
[page break]
9 pm and stayed their [sic] till 5am on Wednesday morning we could see some of the streets, and see some of the Hotels. The natives are a tan colour. They were working all night, they were shouting all the time, makeing [sic] very funny noises There is a very big dock their [sic] with
[page break]
all kinds of boats in it. We saw them loading the vessels with coal, they carry it in wiskets from of [sic] a coal lanch [sic] We came into the Suez canal about 7pm There is a railway running along the side of the canal it run’s [sic] for miles and miles. Most of the native’s [sic] live in tents other’s [sic] live in stone build [sic]
[page break]
sheds, with a [inserted] slightly [/inserted] slooping [sic] roof, there are some very picture’ss [sic] building such, as “Palais. D Administration. Du. Canal” this is a very fine building We saw droves of camels, donkes, [sic] and mules, on the desert we also saw them drawing the [deleted] the [/deleted] sand and, spar from the hillocks The spar resembled [deleted] britez [/deleted] britze very
[page break]
much. They get it from big hillocks close to the canal They fill truck which run on rails for the donkey’s [sic] and mules, to pull, with slime, and the camals [sic] have to take the big lumps on there [sic] backs, in wooden boxes, the boys lead them about, and the men load them up
[page break]
The nataves [sic] run after the ship after pennies which the soldiers threw to them. The canal is about 100 yards wide and about 90 miles long. We passed a ship load of English passengers at “Gare De. Ballah, near the railway station We saw a lot of Royal Engeniers [sic] from [deleted] Lankeshire [/deleted]
[page break]
Lancashire at “Gare. De. Kantara the barricks, [sic] in which they stayed were very good looking building’s, [sic] build [sic] [deleted] of [/deleted] with stones, the roofs [sic] were flat.
We had five of the natives on board selling, tirkish –[sic] delite, [sic] post cards, cigeretts, [sic] and matches. We saw about 7 dredgers at work
[page break]
in the canal.
It is supprising [sic] to see the number of natives that work in the hillocks getting the spar The engins [sic] on the railway are something similar to the Midland railways Company’s engins, [sic] they go about 30 miles per hour.
The trees are very different to ours
[page break]
there is one class of tree that looks [inserted] like [/inserted] our fir, We saw some of the Kirkers’ from India at “Gare. De. Kantara camping in tents. We had to stop again for a fresh escort just out side a town called “Port Suez” or the town of Suez on Wednesday
[page break]
night, we were also there all day on Thursday.
On Friday we went on shore in coal boats drawn by a tug. When we got on the shore we went for a march around the town of Suez and to a-nother [sic] town about 1 mile away. The town is a lovely place. the houses are build [sic]
[page break]
of stone, and then plastered [deleted] over [/deleted] over There is generaly [sic] a lot of fancy wood work in the front of the houses which makes them look pretty. It is supprising [sic] to see the different coulors [sic] of the people there, there are some white people their, [sic] mostly French and Spaniards
[page break]
Then there are the natives which are tan coulored, [sic] also a lot of niggers. When we were on the march they stopped us and told us to go and paddle in the sea, which we enjoyed very much, as it was very dusty, and our feet were hot from marching. Then we went and had some
[page break]
thing to eat, a hard roll like a dog biscuit and a sardines.
Then we went to see a football match between the right and left half [indecipherable word] of our brittalian [sic] they had to finish before the proper time as it was getting dark, we then made our way to the shore but it was to [sic] ruff [sic] to go across to our ship in the coal
[page break]
boat, so we had to stop the night in a cargo boat called “Neghileh” we were packed like sardines in a box, some of us had to sleep on the top deck, our company were sleeping in a poky old hole were [sic] there had been a lot of hay, and which smelt [sic] of tobacco [indecipherable word] very bad, we
[page break]
had to sleep in our cloths [sic] and had our boots for a pillow, we did not have much to eat and only water to drink. We came back again on (Sat) morning about 9pm and glad we were to get a good breakfast. We saw some of the native police x they look very well in there [sic] uniform
[page break]
but I should not like there [sic] job as the natives are a ruff [sic] lot to deal with, the mounted police have splended [sic] horses. I only saw 2 bicicles, [sic] and I did not see a motor car at all their. [sic]
There has about 75 thousand Indian troops come into the harbour today Monday 16th Nov
[page break]
for the front.
We started again from the Suez harbour on Wednesday morning about 9am. The town of Suez is in Arabia. Our company were inockulated [sic] again on Thursday 19th Nov. We have two big gun’s [sic] on boat they are 4.7 bore. I saw the sailors practising
[page break]
this morning Friday our sailors are very good with them they hit the target almost every time, we have been rear guard biggest part of the way yet.
We [deleted] got to Aden on Monday at 11am were [sic] we stayed to post letters, and waite [sic] for a fresh escort. On Tuesday
[page break]
there several vessels came into the harbour with Austrailian [sic] and New Zeland [sic] troops on them, they were going to Aldershot for a short time and then going to the front if they were wanted. Aden is a very quiet place it look’s [sic] a lonely place to live at.
[page break]
There is a big barracks their, [sic] were [sic] they bring rigements [sic] that have disgraced there [sic] self as a punishment. They do not keep [inserted] them [/inserted] their [sic] more than 12 months because it is so lonely [insered] and difficult to get water [/inserted] We started from their [sic] on Thursday at 1.30 On Sunday 29th I was vaxanated [sic] most of the company were done on (Sat)
[page break]
[underlined] December 1914 [/inderlined]
We reached Bom Bay [sic] on Tuesday Dec. 1st at 7pm we ancored [sic] just outside the town till Wednesday morning and then we went in the dock, we were allowed [sic] off the boat from 4pm till 9pm to go just around the dock buildings
[page break]
only. Bom Bay [sic] is a very pretty place. Their [sic] is a big Y.M.C.A. their [sic] They use bullocks mostly to do the hauling an ploughing and use ponnies [sic] to do the cab work There is a splended [sic] market their, [sic] it is much bigger than the one at Shrewsbury.
[page break]
We started from Bom Bay [sic] for Calcutta on (Thur.) about 12 oclock. We were traveling [sic] on the Great Indian Peninsula and the Bengal Nagpur railways. The [indecipherable word] ride through the cuntry [sic] was lovely we saw droves of cattle, sheep, and goats, and a lot of monkeys
[page break]
India is a cuntry [sic] with a tremengous [sic] quantity of fruit growing in it We saw large quantites [sic] of bananas Oranges and [deleted] coca [/deleted] cocoa [sic] nuts We were three days going from Bom Bay [sic] to Calcutta we only stoped [sic] just to get our food at different stations.
[page break]
We landed at Calcutta on (Sun) about 3.30. We went on a [indecipherable word] boat called the “City of Marseilles” as soon as we could after landing. It was not so fine a boat as the Deseado We started from Calcutta on Monday morning about 7.30 for
[page break]
Rangoon. We arrived at Rangoon on Thursday morning about 7am. We disembarked about 10am. the natives brought us roses, cigars and matches and gave them to us. We then marched through the town up to our barracks, we had 3 bands
[page break]
playing us up there. The barracks are very nice places, we each have a bed and a locker of our own. Rangoon is a splendid place by what I have seen up to now. There are several other barracks were [sic] we are with different rigements [sic] in them.
[page break]
Part of our company and D company had to march back to the ship about 4 pm because we had to go back [inserted] to [/inserted] an island about 300 miles from Rangoon to guard convicts. the island is called Andaman island. We were allowed to go off the ship from
[page break]
3pm till 9.30 pm on Friday I went for a strool [sic] through the town and afterwards to the picture palace Rangoon is a buisness [sic] like town you can get almost everything you can menshon [sic] from the shops.
The shops are [indecipherable word] very much
[page break]
different to what they are in England. There is very [inserted] little [/inserted] frontage to them they are all open in the front so that you can see them making the things inside them. There are a good many British people in Rangoon. I was in the Y.M.C.A. on
[page break]
Saturday evening it is a lovely place. On Sunday morning the Wostershire [sic] regiement [sic] came on the boat they were going to England and then to the front. We are going to get of [sic] at Port Blair on one of the Andaman, [inserted] isles [/isles] and then the boat is going to take
[page break]
the Wostershire [sic] regiement [sic] on to Calcutta.
We left Rangoon about 11.30 [inserted] am [/inserted] on Sunday, we reached Port Blair on Tuesday morning at 7am. [inserted] Dec 10th 1914 [/inserted] Port Blair is a nice little place we have decent barracks, nearly the same as those at Rangoon
Dec 21st my birthday
[page break]
Dec 22nd I was on guard for my first time I was on guard with 2 more at a wireless station on the Aberdeen island about 1 mile from Ross island There is about 13000 prisoners on the two island There is a very big prison on
[page break]
the Aberdeen island were [sic] most of the prisoners are kept We did not have a very good day on Christmas day we had stew for dinner, and each man had 1 packet of cigarettes and a cigar, we also had a bottle of pop. we did not have any milk in our tea and
[page break]
very little sugar. On New Years Day we had bacon and 2 eggs for breakfast, beef and potatoes and pudding for dinner we were also allowed 1 [inserted] tin [/instered] herrings between 3 for our tea, so that is all the Xmas and New Year we have had.
[page break]
On New Years Day we selebarated [sic] what is called procklumation [sic] day in India the chief commisoner [sic] was there.
Ross island [inserted] is [/inserted] a very small island it is about 2 miles all around it It is very quiet here [inserted] there is [/inserted] no place of ammusement [sic] of any kind
[page break]
The natives of these islands are called Andamanese. They are supposed to be one of the lowest tipe [sic] of umanity [sic] there is in exstance [sic] They wear no cloths [sic] at all except a string tied around their middle and some of them not even that.
[page break]
They are not very big about 4’2” or 3” in hight [sic] with very black curley [sic] hair There [sic] skin is also very black.
Up to about 50 years ago they were savages, and used to kill everybody that went into their quarters unless they belonged to their tribe. Their [sic] is twelve tribes
[page break]
of them, At one time they were a very big race of people and used to cover biggest part of Burma, but have been driven down by the other races from the north, till their [sic] is very few of them left, these islands are the only places their [sic] are any left except a few in
[page break]
the south of Burma They are very good shots with bows and arrows, and live entirly [sic] by fishing and hunting. Their [sic] is one tribe still that are savages called gallowoys, and often when convicts go to cut timber from the part off [sic] the island in which they live,
[page break]
they kill them Since we have been at Port Blair there has been a fight between the gallowoys and the other Andamanese It was over some of the convicts cutting some cocoa [sic] nut trees down the gallowoys killed several convicts, then the other Andamanese
[page break]
that are more civelezed, [sic] and are emploued [sic] by the government of India to keep the gallowoys quiet went to stop them and then they started to fight but it did not last but a day or two or we should have had to have gone to help the Andamanese
[page break]
The reason they started this settlement here was because years ago when sailing boats were mostly used, in stormy weather this part becomes very rough so that boats used to get drifted onto these islands when crossing the bay of Bengal these islands
[page break]
are in the direct line boats take when crossing the bay.
When the boats got drifted unto the islands, and were waiteing [sic] for the sea to get calm the Andamanese used to rush down upon them and kill them and take all the things belonging them
[page break]
This was a big loss to the government (then the so called East Indian company) So they determined to start a settlement here so that if any boats got drifted the [inserted] people [/inserted] would be able to come on shore in safety, They had very great diffucalty [sic] in starting it they had to drive
[page break]
the natives off. and had many big battles with them, but after a time they began to get more freindly [sic] towards one another They afterwards started a convict settlement [sic] and build [sic] a big prison on Aberdeen Island which has about 13000 convicts in it.
[page break]
On Sunday 28 Mar I saw a shark which the convicts had caught, with a ordainary [sic] fishing line. it was only a younge [sic] one and was exactaley [sic] 8 feet long. its two side fins are 20 inches long and the fin on the tope [sic] of its back is 15 inches long.
[page break]
We left Port Blair for Singapore on Good Friday Apr 2 we started at 6pm on board a small troop ship called Mayo. The 2nd forth [sic] Somersets realeived [sic] us. We landed at Rangoon on Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) about 8.30. We were allowed to [inserted] go [/inserted] off the boat from 10am
[page break]
to 6pm. I first went up to the barracks to see some off [sic] my pal’s [sic] that were in the hospital that had been left behind the rest of the brittalion [sic] when they went to Singapore. After dinner I went to see the pogoda [sic] it is a magnificunt [sic] place, it is the
[page break]
finest pogoda [sic] in the world and is supposed to be one of the seven wonders of the world. It would be useless to attempt to describe it. We saw some very find carveing [sic] at the show room at port Blair but it is nothing to be compared with
[page break]
the carveing [sic] in the pagoda. Their [sic] is four entrances to it and you have to go up a lot of steps to get to the palace were [sic] [indecipherable words] are along the bottom of the steps there are people selling all kinds of things, especialy [sic] candles, also a lot of natives begging The natives have
[page break]
to take off their shoes before approaching the idle [sic] which they wish to worship. I afterwords [sic] went to the enclousure [sic] were [sic] the wild [inserted] beasts [/inserted] are kept. I saw several kinds of snakes, bears, lions, tigers, elephants, camels, dears [sic], monkeys, parots [sic], and many more things I cannot remember
[page break]
the names off [sic].
We started for Singapore on Easter Monday with the men that were left in charge of the lugage [sic] at Rangoon and those that were left behind in the hospital that were [inserted] now [/inserted] able to travell [sic]. We reached Singapore on Sat 10th Apr; Singapore
[page break]
is a very fine place, must hotter than Port Blair.
We started from Singapore on Tuesday 13th for Hongkong [sic] in China on a boat called Eumaeus. We reached Hongkong [sic] on Sun. 17th Apr.
[page break]
[2 blank pages]
[page break]
[numbers]
[page break]
[6 pages of addresses]
[page break]
[notes]
[page break]
[addresses]
[page break]
[list of locations and other notes]
passed a ship full of English passengers
[list of locations]
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 Dorricott's army diary
Description
An account of the resource
A handwritten notebook containing the war diary of A Dorricott from October 1914. He embarks the SS Deseado at Southampton and sails through the Bay of Biscay, past Gibraltar to Malta. They continued with naval escorts to Port Said, through the Suez canal, a stop at Aden then on to Bombay, Calcutta then finally Rangoon. After a stay there he sails for Singapore then Hong Kong. He describes the trip with comments about Australian and New Zealand troops on their way to the Western Front, the coaling station, his living conditions, the food, and the animals he saw.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
A Dorricott
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handwritten notebook
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Diary
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YDorricottAArmy2465v10001,
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
British Army
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Nicki Brain
Alan Pinchbeck
Karl Williams
David Bloomfield
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.
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Burma
Burma--Rangoon
China
China--Hong Kong
Egypt
Egypt--Port Said
Egypt--Suez Canal
Great Britain
England--Southampton
India
India--Mumbai
India--Kolkata
Malta
Singapore
Yemen (Republic)
North Africa
England--Hampshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1914
1915
animal
military living conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1246/16359/MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190001.2.jpg
eae263d7595b20d046702e707bd50556
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1246/16359/MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190002.2.jpg
d9157cfc4abd9e8768da9b76ada16e5d
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1246/16359/MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190003.2.jpg
05bc991d69a1bba13b0bad3eebafcdb5
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
Neale, Ted
E T H Neale
Description
An account of the resource
123 items. The collection concerns Edward Thomas Henry Neale (b. 1922, 1395951 Royal Air Force) who served as a navigator with 37 Squadron in North Africa, the Middle East and Italy. The collection contains his training notebooks from South Africa as well as propaganda leaflets dropped by the allies in the Mediterranean theatre.
The collection also contains a photograph album, navigation logs and target photographs.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Alison Neale 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
2015-07-31
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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Neale, ETH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
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[circled] 2 [/circled].
A GASTRONOMIC JOURNEY. (EXPERIENCE.).
The London Zoo restaurant was noted for the fact that I can’t recollect anything about it. We were Aircrew cadets, gathered in the area around Lords cricket ground. Here we were, gathered from all over the U.K. into what was known as No 1 Aircrew reception centre, billeted as I was, in large unfinished flats all over the area, assembled at certain times & marched to the Zoo restaurant for our meals.
I must modify my first statement, one part of the meal that I remember with enjoyment was the big churn of fresh milk, from which we filled the large oversized china mugs. I [deleted] had [/deleted] & still have a love Of [sic] fresh milk, probably dating from the time when the school judged that I was undernourished and was given extra milk, we had small bottles with cardboard tops, with a small part in the centre which you pushed in, then put in a straw. I really loved that and still liked it. After being kitted out &measured for our uniforms we then moved on to Scarborough for Initial training Wing No 12. billeted in the Grand Hotel, if only the food could have lived up to that name. This started off a long & pleasant association with Fish & chips, since it became our staple diet since the R.A.F. food was always pretty awful. Beside the hotel was a small cafe which specialised in flapjacks, this was to serve the taste of the many Canadians that were training alongside us, they apparently supplied the real maple syrup to go with the flapjacks which we all enjoyed since it seemed to be quite plentiful. Almost all our traing [sic] consisted of marching along the seafront road, backward & forwards under the eagle eye of a drill corporal, trying to get us to march in step, with always one cadet who instead of marching left leg right arm would always finish up left leg left arm and was selected to march on his own along the promenade
[page break]
under the joyful gaze of all the Bank Holiday holiday makers who were there in their thousands, even in wartime. The beach was all wired off but we were given access to the sea, part of our toughening up, since the water was freezing, we were told that the beach was mined so we kept well to the marked out paths. Off to one end of the hotel was an indoor swimming pool on which floated rubber rescue dinghys, one man ones & large round 12 bodies capacity. One of our games was to go to the upper balcony, climb up & grab the iron truss bar which ran right across from side to side, we would go out hand in hand to the middle of the pool & then slide down one another to see how many we could achieve, we found it impossible to get one person fully down before the grip on the bar was broken & down we went in a heap. We also attempted to get about 20 or so people in to the 12 man dinghy, which was a shambles, with the dinghy finishing up upside down, we were so full of high spirits & really enjoyed ourselves, fortunately no body drowned. We were marched up to the castle on the hill, to the north of the bay where we enjoyed sessions of clay pigeon shooting, then one day we were marched to the local golf course where we were given our flying clothing, inner flying suit, one piece with a long zip, outer suit fur collar, zips & press-studs, once again one piece, leather gauntlet gloves, inner silk gloves pair of goggles, sun glasses in a metal case, 2 pair of air force blue socks, silk & wool mixture for warmth, a leather flying helmet with earphones & an oxygen mask all complete with wiring to plug in to the aircraft. I remember being taught how to inject morhine [sic] into any crew member who might be injured during flight, the name TUBUNIC AMPOULE still sticks in my mind, although thankfully I never had to use one. Up to Peasholme park
[page break]
for the week-end band concerts, and apart from polishing the lino with a “bumper” a sort of heavy mop, black leading the grate & whitening the fire surround, the three of us who shared a room found life pleasant enough, and the sun shone.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
A Gastronomic Journey (Experience)
Description
An account of the resource
Ted Neale's recalls his absence of memory of the food at No 1 Aircrew Reception at Lords Cricket Ground, apart from the fresh milk. He was posted to Scarborough where the food was so bad that they ate fish and chips and flapjacks at a nearby cafe. There was a lot of marching and swimming, some in the freezing sea and some in an indoor pool. They received their flying uniforms at the golf course. He says they found 'life pleasant enough'.
Creator
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Ted Neale
Format
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Three handwritten sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190001,
MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190002,
MNealeETH1395951-150731-0190003
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--London
England--Scarborough
England--Yorkshire
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.
Contributor
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Steve Baldwin
aircrew
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1939/37264/BBarryCGBarryCGv1.1.pdf
3ad447a1e9fa6577251414f6e7674dec
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Title
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Field, Peter L and Cynthia G
Peter L Field
P L Field
Cynthia G Field
C G Field
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-09-19
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
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Field, PL-CG
Description
An account of the resource
144 items and five photograph albums in sub-collections. The collection concerns Peter L and Cynthia G Field and contains memoirs, correspondence, photographs. Peter Field (b. 1920) served as a wireless operator and Cynthia (b. 1921) served as a WAAF in 2 Group. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2137">Album One</a> Photographs of various people.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2138">Album Two</a> Photographs of people and places, postcards.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2141">Album Three</a> Photographs of parents house over the years.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2144">Album Four</a> Photographs of family events, places and people.<br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2146">Album Five</a> <span>Photographs of wartime colleagues, Cook's tour aerial photographs of bomb damaged German cities, and family and friends as well as two letters home.</span><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Susan Elizabeth Field and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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Title
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A memoir of life in the WAAF during the war
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with description of feelings and actions beginning of the war. Mother had tried to persuade her to join land army and mentions brief experience and unsuitability for farming. Decided to join the RAF. Details enlistment and initial training with description of training, facilities and food at West Drayton. Continues with telephonist training at Worcester and subsequent posting to 11 Group at RAF Uxbridge. Describes Uxbridge: accommodation, food, work, manning switchboard and working conditions. Continues with detailed description of actions during Battle of Britain. Goes on with description of bombing of London and living through raids to London and local area. Gives detailed description of living accommodation, colleague, room mate and activities. Mentions tying for commission, turning down re-mustering as wireless operator. Continues with posting to Biggin Hill and describes unit and work. Subsequently sent o HQ 2 Group at RAF Huntingdon. Describes location, work, people and activities at new location. Mentions promotions to corporal and sergeant. Gives detailed description of off-duty activities and entertainment. Continues with very detailed description of her work and activities of Bomber Command and the group including Mosquito operations, friends and colleagues. Mentions thousand bomber raid against Cologne and other highlights. Continues with account of the rest of her time at 2 Group and subsequent move to Norfolk. Finally in early 1944 posted to RAF Leeming. Describes location, facilities, work and NCO s course at RAF Wilmslow as well as resident squadrons, aircrew and other personnel. Gives account of getting to know a whole crew well who subsequently volunteered for Pathfinders and went missing on operations. Continues with account of time at RAF Leeming and RAF Skipton on Swale. At the end 36 photographs of her father, his army units, her mother, friends, herself, WAAF colleagues, family, family home as well as Ian Hay, her NCO course, WAAFs and airmen at Leeming and some post war photographs of bomb damage in Germany.
Creator
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Sergeant C G Barry
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1940-08
1941-11
1942-05-30
1942-05-31
1944
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Worcestershire
England--Worcester
England--Middlesex
England--Kent
England--Huntingdonshire
England--Huntingdon
England--Yorkshire
England--Cheshire
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
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Format
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Seventy-six page printed document with text and thirty-six b/w photographs
Conforms To
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Pending text-based transcription. Allocated
Identifier
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BBarryCGBarryCGv1
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
105 Squadron
139 Squadron
2 Group
427 Squadron
429 Squadron
bombing
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
ground personnel
Halifax
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
Mosquito
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Leeming
RAF Skipton on Swale
RAF Uxbridge
RAF Wilmslow
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/24267/BFordTAFordTAv1.2.pdf
9ad332315706a2ad016a7765c7b9ea0e
Dublin Core
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Title
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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
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[bold] A RATHER STRANGE TIME [/bold]
WRITTEN AND READ BY TERRY FORD FOR AVON TALKING MAGAZINE FOR THE BLIND USED 27/07/07
It is now 63 years since I did a tour of operations as a Lancaster Bomber pilot, but it is only recently that I have come to realise what a very strange experience it was.
In August 1944, at the age of 21, I arrived at 75 (NZ) Squadron as the pilot and captain of a crew of seven. We had no New Zealanders in our crew.
So why had we been posted to a New Zealand Squadron? Well you see, it was because the squadron had lost over a third of its members, 13 crews, within a period of 10 days, and there simply were not enough trained New Zealand air crews to fill the vacancies. Hence our appearance.
The first thing that happened on our arrival at the squadron was that we had to sit down and make out our wills. Not a very encouraging start to squadron life!
And so our operational tour began.
Our life on the squadron was really unique in that, whilst the navy could be at sea for weeks and months at a time and the army endured months of dangerous action and hardship, we lived a life of comfort and ease.
During the whole of my life in the RAF, I always slept in a bed, usually with clean sheets, and ate regular cooked meals.
By this time in the war there were virtually no bomber raids by the enemy, so life on the station was as safe as peacetime.
We visited the local pubs and cinemas, danced with the WAAFs at the station dances and generally had a relaxed time.
Until, that is, the station communication system, the Tannoy, clicked on and a voice said “Squadron Commander to Operations”, and a little later, “Duty armourers to the Armoury”.
A bombing operation was on.
I felt an immediate tightening of the stomach and a quickening of the pulse.
Then the Battle Order was published, giving a list of the crews selected for the operation and the time of the briefing.
With each announcement the tension grew, until we arrived in the briefing room and the Squadron Commander announced the target. Relief if it appeared to be an easy one, more tension if it was not.
Then after all the planning and preparations were completed, we were on our way.
We never went straight to the target, we always did dog-legs in the hope that the enemy would not know which target we are going to until we were nearly there.
[page break]
I concentrated solely on the course I was flying on each leg, and then on the target as we arrived.
Attention was always on the immediate present, never the future. This applied to our life in general.
Unlikely though it may seem, in spite of the number of casualties we had, I never saw a dead or wounded man. Although we were only too well aware of the numbers of comrades who were being killed or wounded, we never saw them.
We also had a very casual attitude to those friends who were killed or missing.
The war had been going on for five years and so many friends had died that it had just become a sort of routine. So when a good friend on the squadron was killed or missing, it was just “Bad luck pal” and we might try to grab something of his before the snatch squad took away his possessions for safe keeping.
We never thought about the loved ones we had left behind. I never heard any of my companions giving a thought to how their parents would feel if they were killed, nor did I think about it myself.
There was always a varying amount of tension, strain and excitement during an operation, but I only remember two occasions of real, deep fear.
The first was during a daylight raid on Eindhoven airfield.
For reasons I won’t go into, we were late arriving. The rest of the squadron had already bombed and departed, as had the escorting fighter, so we were left to bomb on our own.
As we turned for home, I suddenly say two single-engined fighters in the distance, heading towards us, and I knew that if they were German ME 109s we had had it.
It was then that I felt real fear, but suddenly for whatever reason, the planes veered off and disappeared and my fear went with them.
The second time was another daylight raid, this time on Duisburg in the Ruhr – Happy Valley, with the heaviest flack in the world.
As we arrived at Duisburg and turned onto our final course, the flak in front of us was so heave that the smoke formed a completely solid blank wall, with red flashed inside as the flak burst and with Lancasters tumbling out of the blackness as they were hit.
It seemed as though we were about to fly into hell itself and my mouth went completely dry.
This was just for a few seconds and as we settled into our bombing run, I was so concentrating on the bomb-aimer’s instructions and accurate flying that I forgot my fear and we got through safely.
Another extraordinary experience was a mining trip to the Baltic at night.
On mining trips we flew entirely along and although there was no flak, these trips were long and very dangerous.
From England we crossed the North Sea and Denmark and then did a timed run from a designated island to drop our mines.
It was on that run I thought, “How strange is this. Here we are, hundreds of miles from home, with the ice cold Baltic Sea beneath us, with enemy Germany to the South, Norway and Sweden to
[page break]
The North and cut off to the West by Denmark, where enemy fighters will be waiting for us as we return, and yet here I am, snug, warm and comfortable in our aircraft, feeling quite at ease.
We made it back safely of course and life continued as before. Days of comfort and ease, interspersed with hours of acute danger and strain.
The number of trips flown grew until the relief of completing our 35th and last operation.
And so I say goodbye to the crew and proceeding to an Operational Training Unit, which was not entirely without danger, but where the sound of the Tannoy no longer brought me that tightening of the stomach and quickening of the heartbeat.
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 Rather Strange Time
Description
An account of the resource
Terry Ford's wartime experiences written and read to Avon Talking Magazine for the Blind.
Creator
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Terry Ford
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2007-07-27
Format
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Three typewritten sheets
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
BFordTAFordTAv1
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 New Zealand Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Netherlands
Germany--Duisburg
Netherlands--Eindhoven
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Laura Morgan
Tricia Marshall
75 Squadron
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
coping mechanism
entertainment
fear
ground personnel
killed in action
Lancaster
Me 109
military living conditions
military service conditions
mine laying
Operational Training Unit
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/478/31022/BBrookMBrookMv1.1.pdf
4cd3acd12de048eadb4febb65de3b363
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
Brook, Maurice
Dr Maurice Brook
M Brook
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Brook, M
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Maurice Brook (1640523 Royal Air Force), his memoir and a squadron photograph. He flew operations as a navigator with 625 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Maurice Brook and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[centred]By Request
A RETROSPECTIVE [/centred]
Bomber Command No. 625 Squadron
[picture of a Lancaster]
No. 625 Squadron
[picture of badge] Motto: “We avenge”. Badge: Within a circular chain of seven links a Lancaster rose. The Lancaster rose is indicative of the aircraft used by the squadron, and the seven links the number of personnel comprising an aircrew.
King George VI, March 1945. Authority:
No. 625 Squadron was formed at Kelstem, Lincolnshire, on 1st October 1943, as a heavy-bomber squadron equipped with Lancasters. It formed part of No. 1 Group and between 18/19th October 1944, and 25th April 1945, took part in many major raids on enemy targets. Following its final bombing mission it helped to drop food to the starving Dutch people, ferry British ex-POWs home from Belgium and British troops home from Italy.
Bomber Command WWII Bases:
Formed 1.10.43 as No. 625 (Bomber) Squadron at Kelstem. Main nucleus-posted in about middle of month-was “C” Flt of 100 Squadron.
Kelstem, Lincs: Oct 1943-Apr 1945
Scampton, Lincs: Apr 1945 onwards
Bomber Command WWII Aircraft:
Avro Lancaster B.I,B.III: Oct 1943 onwards
Code Letters:
“CF”
[centred] Maurice Brook February 2011 [/centred]
[page break]
For years I resisted family requests to talk about my experiences as a navigator in Bomber Command. Apart from a natural reticence of not wanting to “shoot a line”, to use RAF slang, I knew that memory alone could mislead, as proved to be the case. More important was a selfish concern that real but unpleasant and perhaps unmanageable memories would emerge. Virtually daily, in quite[sic] moments, I have brief flashbacks. Conventional wisdom is that this is evidence of post traumatic stress disorder. My argument, which disconcerted a conference of psychiatrists, is that it is a biological mechanism for coping and providing there is no evidence that it interferes with normal functioning there is no need for treatment, which might undermine effective coping.
Last year, I was told that, “I owed it to the grandchildren at least, to make them aware of what an earlier generation had done in extreme youth. Ever son-in-law, Clive, remembered a wish I had once casually expressed for a final visit to Lincolnshire, a Lancaster bomber and perhaps visit the hotel where the Dambusters were housed. Out of the blue, he telephone last Autumn to say he had booked a VIP day in April at East Kirby airfield. There, among other things, there would be a ride in a Lancaster on the ground. The previous night was to be spent at Woodhall Spa, the very hotel used by the Dambusters. With that breathtaking announcement made, in his usual persuasive way, he suggested that as a quid pro quo I might respond to the requests to write about my experiences.
My navigator’s log book was stolen when we moved house from Effingham and memory can be false after over 60 years. To be as accurate as possible, I got my service record from the RAF and paid a researcher to cull the squadron records in the National Archives. I had tried to do this some years ago, but found the microfiches almost unreadable. The experienced researcher did a reasonable job, but may have missed some operations. To my surprise, it proved the unreliability of memory. I would have sworn I joined 625 squadron in the winter of 1944, but the record shows I did not do so until early March 1945. What I recollected as months was only weeks, which itself says something about the impact on me of the experience.
So, as they say, “to begin at the beginning”.
[centred] 1939 – 1941 [/centred]
I was on school holiday when my mother and I listened to Neville Chamberlain’s broadcast, September 3rd 1939, telling us we were at war with Germany. A neighbour came in, whose husband, like my father, had been permanently damaged by service in the first world war, which had ended only some 20 years earlier. I remember her saying to my mother, “at least your lad is too young to have a go.”
At school there was an awareness of the threat to freedom from fascism. We had Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Mussolini’s biography in the school library and were urged to read them. One master was a Jewish refugee who had escaped with his young daughter in 1938. Some of the boys had been on a school trip to Germany in 1938 and returned with Nazi
[page break]
memorabilia given to them by members of the Hitler Youth. Throughout 1938 preparations for defence were apparent, such as air raid shelters being built on the school playing fields, gas masks being issued and air raid practices.
I was able, with bicycle, to join the Air Raid Precautions Service as a messenger boy. This involved spending nights in the control centre at the local council offices, waiting to be sent with messages if telephones were put out of action. Not much happened and my usual duty was to be sent out, in the blackout, to buy fish and chips. One night, in early 1940, there was a raid on Leeds as I war returning with fish and chips. There was a drone of engines, searchlights and then anti-aircraft guns opened up. A piece of shrapnel hit my steel helmet, but somehow cut my lip. That was my initiation which, of course, gave me status in the control centre as their first real casualty. I told my parents that I had, “bumped into a wall in the blackout” and was told to be more careful.
During 1940, the school summer holiday was cancelled and the staff arranged a special programme: learning to play bridge, producing a play, music appreciation, outdoor games etc. One highlight was a demonstration of unarmed combat by the headmaster with the school caretaker. The Home Guard was being formed, initially called the Local Defence Volunteers. Our headmaster was the captain and the caretaker was the senior warrant officer. A squadron of The Air Training Corps was also formed, with the headmaster as CO and the caretaker as warrant officer. We were taught basic navigation, mathematics, aircraft recognition, morse code, drill etc. We had a week at Holme on Spalding Moor, then a base for Hampden bombers. We saw them take off after dark one night on a leaflet raid. Our first flight was on an Avro Anson and I was airsick. I was never airsick again until May 1945. Fooling about with my school-friend Walter Murton, I jumped through an open window in the NAAFI but didn’t duck enough and cut my head on the upper frame. The MO stitched it up and I was swathed in a turban of bandages, which gave rise to all kinds of speculation when we were back at school. Unfortunately, it put Muriel, who was in the same class, off for a time.
Dunkirk brought home to us all how desperate the situation was. We had a military hospital not far away and the head used to arrange for groups of wounded soldiers to come to the school and be given tea by the girls. We had a young staff who were beginning to leave, to go into the army or air force. They were being replaced by men from retirement and young women. Older brothers were already involved, one as an air gunner, whose schoolboy brother brought a clip of live machine gun ammunition into school and no one turned a hair. The brother of one of my primary school teachers was a Halifax pilot and cycling home from school I sometimes saw his plane circling over my home village of Outwood before going off on a raid. He was lost after a few operations. The headmaster had some of the older boys to his home at weekends where we were taught and practised rifle shooting. We also spent hours cleaning grease from case loads of old American rifles and making sure they were in working order. All this activity was a practical response to Churchill’s call, “to fight on the beaches and the landing grounds, etc., - we will never surrender.” Invasion really seemed imminent and we were preparing for it.
I had become a sergeant in the Air Training Corps and the RAF were offering university bursaries for suitable candidates volunteering for aircrew. The minimum age was 17 ½ , which I was in October 1941. My father agreed, reluctantly, to sign the papers and I made
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an advance application. This was accepted, after a long medical and intelligence test, in July 1942, at a centre in Viceroy Court outside Birmingham. I was then sworn in as a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, becoming the property of the RAF.
CAMBRIDGE
The RAF deal was that their bursary covered attendance at a university first year engineering course, and completing the initial aircrew cadet training at the RAF proper, by simultaneously being a member of the university air squadron. Long vacations were suspended during the war, so the normal degree was covered in two years. The first year equivalent was from October to March.
In October 1942, almost 18 years old, I arrived at Christ’s College. Walter Murton, accepted under the same scheme, went to Corpus Christi. I had two rooms with coal fires. A ‘scout’, old enough to be my father, cleaned, made the fires, got the coal in etc. One of the many new and not entirely comfortable experiences. Wearing of academic gowns was compulsory for undergraduates and you had to be back in college by 10-30pm or the gate was locked on you. The lecturers were first class and eminent in their fields. We did aeronautical engineering, applied mathematics, some meteorology, physics and electronics. Practicals were done in the Cavendish laboratories. To be in these famous labs and lecture theatres was something to remember. Other aspects of university life were enjoyed. I joined the Harriers and went running every Wednesday afternoon, likewise rowing, another new experience. Sunday evenings were often spent at the University church listening to first class speakers. There were many free lectures in the evening by well known politicians of the time, often firebrands: Krishna Menon I remember: Lord Gort, ex-governor of Gibraltar talked about his angel and god experience when governor of the beleaguered Rock, and communist Harry Pollitt. Sundays, arranged by the Communist Society, I spent with many other students on a bench at the Eye factory mindlessly stamping out rivets or washers to aid the war effort. It was a useful insight into the monotony of unskilled factory work.
The university air squadron was commanded by the headmaster of the Leys public school, but the staff were all RAF. We wore RAF uniform with a University Air Squadron shoulder badge and a white flash in our caps. The training was intensive. The New Zealander drill sergeant told us that when he was posted to the CUAS the CO said he was to remember that, “these cadets are the sons of gentlemen and are to be treated as such”. An interesting insight into prevailing snobbery. Amusing and tedious but it had a purpose. The CO’s comment I suppose had some substance in that period. We had several titled members, some sons of very senior RAF officers and army generals, the son of the then chairman of ICI. Needless to say, the effect on this New Zealander (colonial was we all then saw him) was that he made life really tough for us. We became good at drill and his inspections made sure we were super smart with polished buttons etc. Morse signalling was practised until it was second nature and we learned to take down messages with interference fed into the system. Aircraft recognition was practised by a brief flashes on the screen. In time we got to be over 90% accurate. More navigation teaching and an introduction to astronomy by learning the main
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constellations and important stars and planets. With Britain blacked out star gazing was easier than it is now. Social aspects were not neglected. Formal mess dinners were held with speeches and silly games afterwards and etiquette rules taught about behaviour in the officer’s mess - never go in your greatcoat, or wear your hat or fail to speak to the CO if he is in there, how to pass the port and so on. The whole ethos was that we were to show that we were demonstrably better than the normal RAF intake and I suppose it rubbed off in encouraging higher achievement.
After university and air squadron exams most of us had about two weeks at an aircrew reception centre, in commandeered luxury flats at St. John’s Wood eating in the zoo restaurant. From the RAF records I have obtained, I see my character was then rated as “very good” and “ recommended for a commission”. You were never told about your appraisals in those days. Time was taken up by more medicals in the pavilion at Lord’d: tests for night vision and ability to cope with spin. We did daily PT in the open under the shadow of anti-aircraft guns in Regent’s Park. One of the group in my ex-luxury room with eight airmen was a dedicated member of The Oxford Movement, who rose early every morning to say his prayers, but he was well tolerated and no one made fun of him.
From St. John’s Wood it was back to Cambridge as proper RAF airmen. This time living in Selwyn College, part of which had been commandeered. We were there about a month and given Tiger Moth training at Marshall’s field outside Cambridge, before being posted to Heaton Park Manchester, where I was billeted in the spare room of a couple in Crumpsall. He was an ambulance driver in Manchester and had already experienced raids. Other members of the family lived nearby and I soon learned that one son was a Japanese prisoner. I walked each day to Heaton Park for breakfast and all other meals. Apart from frequent daily inspections the days were taken up with useless tasks to keep us occupied as we were there awaiting a troopship sailing to Canada.
CANADA
Late autumn, 1943, hundreds of us were gathered in a large hangar at Heaton Park, given ration packs and marched to board a train, which travelled through the night reaching what some recognised as Glasgow docks the next morning. There we were marched onto a liner (either the Andes or the Aquitania) converted into a troopship. Every inch below decks was occupied with bunks or hammocks. we were given timed tickets for one meal only a day and practised lifeboat drill several times. Late afternoon we slid out of Glasgow and started the lone crossing relying on speed and zig-zagging to escape U-boats. Hygiene was primitive. Showers were just about possible , using special soap for salt water, but it wasn’t advisable in case of attack. Each day, the deck mounted gun was used in target practice. I think the journey must have been about three weeks. One dawn, we saw the impressive Statue of Liberty as we entered New York Harbour. The water was covered in floating debris. Not a pretty sight, but a relief to be there..
Train from New York to Monckton, New Brunswick, another aircrew reception centre. I
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was there long enough to be accepted into the hospital laboratory as an assistant. That made the days pass, but got me on a disciplinary charge for missing a parade. This remains on my record. From Monckton to London Ontario and the air navigation school, using Avro Ansons and civilian pilots. For the first time, navigation theory was being put into practice. Alongside daily lectures and practicals we flew on given routes around the Great Lakes at night, using ground observation (no blackout there) and code flashing beacons strategically placed. Some astro-navigation was involved, but no electronic aids. The pilots presumably always knew where they were, but they always obeyed trainee navigator instructions. More than once, planes were flown across Lake Erie to land short of fuel many miles from London. I avoided such embarrassment, but learned what it was like to be uncertain of your position and yet get yourself out of the difficulty.
[photograph]
Trainee Navigators Avro Anson. London, Ontario.
Temperatures at ground level of minus 20F were not uncommon as was regular snow, but flying was never suspended. With no blackout and abundant rich food, the contrast with the Britain we had left was marked. The other big impression was how big everything seemed to be, railway trains, cars, buses, wide roads and lots of space everywhere. I wrote to Muriel practically every dyad she did likewise. There was a special form we had to use that was transmitted electronically: an aerogram, I think. You wrote in black pen and the recipient received a photo-reproduction. The process was surprisingly quick, but you had to be careful what was said because they were all censored. The cadets on the course were from all backgrounds. An ex-Newcastle policeman and a miner, both in their thirties and with families. They had reserved occupations which exempted them from normal military service, but volunteering for aircrew always took priority. Also, there were virtual schoolboys like me; a couple of air gunners who had re-mustered after operational experience and a young East End Jew boy with a scar on his face from an air raid in which his girl friend had been killed in his arms. The instructors were Royal Canadian Air Force,
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mainly peacetime teachers, one of whom I met later in the UK at Operational Training Unit preparing to go on operations as navigator.
At the end of February 1944, I graduated from Navigation School and was commissioned as a pilot officer in The Royal Canadian Air Force, aged 19. A free month followed, hitch hiking in the USA prior to reaching Halifax, New Brunswick, to join the designated return troopship (Andes or Aquitania). The only difference in conditions on the return trip was that officers were separated from the sergeants.
[photograph of Pilot Officer Brook in March 1944]
Newly Commissioned
[centred] HOME AGAIN [/centred]
We docked in Liverpool to a quayside military band, before taking a special train to Harrogate, where the RAF had taken most of the major hotels for aircrew reception. It was a bus ride from home and I took advantage whenever I could. With a two day pass I could get to see Muriel wherever she was stationed in the army. I got myself a temporary job in the adjutant’s office censoring mail, primarily so I had access to the blank passes and could write and stamp my own.
Posting to an Advance Flying Unit at Millom in Cumberland followed. Here, navigating in blackout conditions on Avro Ansons without radar aid was the norm, having respect for the mountainous terrain in the area. The given route and height left little room for error. Crashes did occur as a harsh penalty for error. We were taken to swimming baths where we had to wear dark glasses, jump fully clothed, wearing Mae Wests (lifejacket) from the top diving step into the pool, locate a dinghy that was upside down, clamber in then blow a
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whistle to attract other crew already in the water. It was cold, unpleasant, physically draining but obviously potentially a survival skill.
By August I was considered proficient and posted to an operational training unit (OUT) at Husband’s Bosworth, a wartime airfield in Leicestershire.
[centred] OPERATIONAL TRAINING [/centred]
All new arrivals for the OUT course spent the second evening together in a large mess room. We were to sort ourselves out into crews for Wellington bombers. Being cautious and diffident, I did nothing at first but watched the scene with a mixture of amusement and cynicism. Within the first hour a dapper, mature, commissioned bomb aimer (itself unusual), came to me. He said he was Jim, had found a pilot and wanted a navigator, was I interested? So I said yes and joined the pilot (also commissioned) who was not much older than me but I judged him as less mature, but I was committed. Two sergeant air gunners asked to join us and we learned they were the sole survivors from a crash in training. The rear gunner was 18 but the mid-upper was 35, like Jim. Jim has chosen to be a bomb aimer because the statistics showed they had a high casualty rate, like rear gunners, and he had an unhappy marriage and wanted out with some glory! Later, he met a future wife and changed his views. Ron, a bright yellow wireless operator asked if he could fill the vacancy he recognised. He was welcomed as being very experienced, after being a ground wireless operator in West Africa. His colour was a side effect of the anti-malarial treatment used at that time and it took years to fade.
The next day, training started on Wellingtons and I had an introduction to Gee, a navigation aid that worked by receiving oscilloscope signals from widely dispersed transmitters. By plotting the readings on special maps, a good fix of ground position was possible until, as I soon learned, German counter measures could confuse signals. OTU. Included practice parachute jumps from a tower, lectures on how to contact the underground, how to behave as a prisoner of war and basic survival techniques. We also, in turn, observed other crew members in a tank as the oxygen level was reduced. They showed inability to do simple sums or drawings, yet were supremely confident they were doing well. This taught us the need always to use oxygen about 10,000 feet. It was my job to instruct the crew, “oxygen on.”
As a crew we had to practise bombing on a range almost daily, machine gunning a towed target drogue and fighter affiliation exercises in which the object was to evade a theoretically attacking fighter. Inquests after exercise identified errors. Most al all, we had a series of night raids, under code numbers, to carry out. These specified routes with many turns at sharp angled where sloppy timing of the turn would put you outside the line of the next course to follow. In a real raid this would put you outside the mainstream and therefore increase vulnerability. We were to follow the given routes and return to base exactly on the estimated time of return. Some of these routes took us briefly to enemy territory, which exposed us to searchlight and anti-aircraft activity and kept the gunners alert to night fighters. Sometimes we dropped ‘window’, foil strips, to confound radar. Aircraft were occasionally lost to enemy activity. It was this OTU period that must have created my false impression of when I started operations proper, as the exercises were very realistic.
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Whenever I could get away I went to where Muriel was stationed, meeting her as she came off duty or saying goodbye as she went on duty. The bridge over the Dee, at Chester, was one place, near Western Command Headquarters. Goodge Street station was another haunt, when Muriel was with General Eisenhower’s signals centre located in tunnels underneath the platforms. There was a café near Goodge Street where we sometimes had the luxury of a hot orange drink that was off the ration.
February 1944
[photograph of Maurice Brook with Muriel]
Our young pilot was not good at putting the crew at ease, because his own obvious tensions were transmitted by his tone of voice and forgetfulness. For example, on take off he left his oxygen mask microphone switched on and dangling, so that the engine roar was amplified and transmitted to the whole crew, making it impossible for anyone to pass a message until we were well airborne and passed the critical danger period. He was told about it, but consistently forgot under pressure. On our last training flight an instructor flew with us to assess the crew. It was a filthy night, with thunder and lightning and very strong winds. At one stage, with a headwind, I thought I was in error. My calculation of ground covered suggested we had hardly moved and we seemed to be stationary over Anglesey. The wireless operator received a diversion instruction, away from our weather-closed airfield in Lincolnshire to one in the west country. I calculated a new course and time of arrival at a specified airspeed and we got over the right spot, though the weather was still bad. It then became clear that our pilot was so stressed he could not go through the landing drill and he began to prepare us to bail out. At that point the instructor took over as captain and managed to land just before the fuel ran out.
We returned to Husband’s Bosworth the next day and were sent on a week’s leave prior to being posted to a four engine conversion unit. On return, Jim and I quickly found that we shared serious reservations about our pilot. The gunners, already extra twitchy because of their accident history, and the wireless operator told us they were unhappy and expected the officers in the crew to do something about it. Jim and I went to see the adjutant to say that as a crew we were unwilling to continue flying with this particular pilot. It was a delicate
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task because, although all aircrew were volunteers, refusal to fly was treated as ‘lack of moral fibre’. Reduction in rank and disgrace followed. However, the adjutant surprised and relieved us by saying, “you will be posted as planned but your pilot will remain behind for further training.” “A new pilot will be waiting for you at the conversion unit”.
[centred] Four Engine Heavy Conversion Unit [/centred]
It would have been around October, when we arrived at Sturgate, a base near Scunthorpe, for training on Halifax, four engine bombers. We were introduced to Dave Lennox to be our new pilot and captain. Already a flight lieutenant with many hours of instructor service in Canada, he had joined a Scottish regiment in 1938, risen to regimental sergeant major, been to France and back through Dunkirk. Then he had applied to re-muster as aircrew and trained as a pilot. We also acquired a second pilot as flight engineer, making a full crew of seven.
From our first practice flight, Dave established his authority and inspired confidence in us all. He was calm, ensured we only used the intercom for messages not chatter, repeated my instructions and followed them exactly. Once, on take off just before becoming airborne, he said quite calmly, “We have burst a tyre”. We completed the exercise for the day and as we prepared to land he said, “take up crash positions, I am going to try to put the burst tyre on the grass and the other on the runway, but we might tilt over.” He landed smoothly and stayed upright. What a relief and what a further confidence boost for the crew.
The weather was freezing and the Nissen hut in which we were housed had no fuel. The first night, after dark, a group of us went to the fuel compound, which had a high wire fence with barbed wire. By standing on the shoulders of a big chap on the ground, throwing a greatcoat over the wire, I (being relatively light) was able to get over the top, hang down and then drop. A bucket came over with a rope attached which I filled and returned three or four times. Finally I did a monkey crawl up the tope and was pulled up and over. The whole process took less than 15 minutes and was over before the patrolling guards came round again.
Then, a strange thing happened. I was posted to Hereford to No 1 Aircrew Officers School. I found Walter Murton also had been posted there from his further pilot training. We were given intensive military training by the RAF Regiment and taught to use a variety of weapons, unarmed combat, grenade throwing, stalking a sentry. We had to undergo assault course training over a wall, under wire, through water, jump off the back of a moving lorry in the dark somewhere in Wales and make our way back to the unit. The only explanation we were given for this bizarre treatment was that it was necessary to train a number of aircrew officers so they could lead the defence if an airfield was attacked. The school is now the base for the SAS. I failed to finish the course because I ended in hospital, paralysed, suffering from exposure. A week in hospital with daily physiotherapy put me right, though I had to endure daily visits from the local vicar, who seemed to have got the idea I must have come down in the sea! However, it got me away and back to the proper air force. When Walter returned he was trained as a glider pilot for the Rhine crossing where he would have had to lead his infantry passengers after they landed.
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[centred] 625 Squadron and Operations [/centred]
The preliminaries
Later than I originally thought, possibly for the reason I explained earlier, the crew were taken on March 2nd 1945 to Kelstern, a wartime airfield in the Lincolnshire Wolds, near Louth. We were met by the squadron commander, who outlined a familiarisation on Lancasters before we would be ready for operations. We three officers shared a small room in a Nissen hut, the sergeants had beds in a barrack room for about 20, heated by a central coke stove. Though nothing was said, we were all aware that we were probably occupying the places of missing aircrew as the squadron commander said nothing about crews that had recently left because they had completed their tours (30 operations). For the sergeants, I felt sympathy. Sometimes, usually during a morning, the belongings of one or more residents from their hut would be removed, because they had not returned the night before. “Gone for a Burton” was the slang expression. This was a derivation of, ‘he went for a beer and hasn’t come back’. A day later, the beds would be re-occupied by newcomers. Thinking back, we all seemed to avoid developing friendships with members of other crews, an understandable defence mechanism. Unlike an army unit, there was no feeling of dependence on and mutual responsibility for one another. The reliance and complete trust was confined to members of each individual crew.
We were introduced to our Lancaster. V for Victor but also V for victory, just returned to service after an overhaul. It had already a distinguished survival record, with over two tours to its record. A “lucky plane” was our assessment, which did great things for morale, even before we got inside. Inside, it was compact, with just enough room for each function. Whereas the Halifax seemed like a spacious airliner, the Lancaster felt like a proper war-plane.
Our first Lancaster. V – Victor [photograph of the Lancaster]
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My ‘office’ was next to the wireless operator and only a step away from the astro-dome. I encountered two new navigation aids. The first was an air position indicator (API). Once set with the latitude and longitude of a start point, it automatically integrated every subsequent movement of the aircraft in direction and speed. This gave a continuous reading of exactly where the aircraft was above the ground, assuming no wind. Of course, there always was wind, otherwise a navigator would have been redundant. The API improved precision, compared with the previous method of noting changing direction, airspeeds and duration of each of them, then doing a series of time consuming mathematical calculations. A second, new navigation aid was called H2S. I had a screen on which a rotating beam showed illuminated ground objects, detected by a revolving aerial under the aircraft that transmitted an electronic beam to earth and picked up the reflections. Towns, clusters of buildings, lakes etc., showed up on the screen as glowing smudges. We had special radar maps that more or less reproduced what the ground objects would look like on the screen.
We were photographed as a crew, for the squadron record.
Don Abbott – flt. Engineer Wally Birkey – rear gunner Ron Wilsdon – wireless op. Ken Cowley – upper gunner Jim Harbord – bomb aimer Dave Lennox – captain Maurice Brook – navigator
[photograph of the crew]
We had to avoid shaving for five days and then were individually photographed in shabby civilian clothing. We were given the prints to carry so that if we were being helped by the underground they could use them to make false permits as foreign workers.
Daily flights took place to become familiar with the aircraft. Dave practised aerobatics and evasive action and said Victor handled like a fighter. We had bombing practice near Gibraltar Point. The gunners had target practice and I had to master the new electronic aid and use of the API. According to the records from the National Archives, we were on the squadron for two weeks before our first operation. My recollection was of a much shorter period. Moreover, I recollect Stettin, Essen, Frieburg and Munich as operations. None of these appear in the archive record, so I could be wrong.
I seem to have spent a long time on the preliminaries in this account. I suspect it has been subconscious behaviour to delay coming to terms with the real thing, which I must now do using the archive record only.
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The real thing.
One would think that our first operation would be one to remember, yet I have no memory whatever. On March 15th., the record shows we attacked Misberg, near Hanover. We took off at 17-53 and landed back at 01-09. Surprisingly, those 7 hours are a memory blank.
There was a routine on an operational station. In the morning a tannoy (loudspeaker) message “all operational aircrew to remain on base”’ meant operations were likely but not certain. The officers mess had a small blackboard headed, ‘Battle Order’. If an operation was confirmed, the squadron commander chalked the names of the captains and navigators on this board and a likely time of briefing. By then, ground crews would be moving trolly loads of bombs to each aircraft and bowsers would be delivering fuel. Jim used to go out to check the ‘bombing up’ and the gunners checked or preferably loaded their own ammunition belts. There would be much speculation about the target as there was a ratio between bomb load and fuel load that helped in guessing the likely distance. I used to go to the intelligence room or the navigation room to collect up to date maps and note reported changes in enemy anti-aircraft and fighter placements.
The Tannoy would indicate the briefing time and crews would amble along to the crew room and change into flying kit. Silk underwear and under gloves, then woollen, then battle dress, a Sith & Wesson 48 and ammunition, Mae West (lifejacket) and parachute harness. During this process, the ample toilets were much used. Parachutes were collected, each directly from the WAAF who had packed it, also a small plastic box of escape kit. This contained forged money, maps printed on thin fabric capable of also being used to strain water, water sterilising tablets, a simple fishing line and some glucose tablets. We also each got a thermos flask of cocoa.
As you entered the briefing room, you read over the door “Press on Regardless”. In the briefing room, each crew sat at a trestle table facing a raised platform A curtain covered the end wall. In would come the station commander and acolytes. The curtain was dawn aside revealing the target and the designated routes in and out. These were never direct, especially inward, with frequent marked changes of direction. The meteorology officer would brief on weather en-route and on return. Bombing leader explained the bomb loads, bombing heights and the target markers (coloured flares) to be dropped by pathfinder force. The C.O. explained the reasons for its target selection and the total number of aircraft taking part in the mission. This was usually several hundred. After questions, all left except the navigators. We made careful notes of the turning points and target times. We were also taken to our dispersal sites in a blacked out bus driven by a WAAF. The engines were usually already running. I would greet the ground crew and clamber aboard.
Once I had reported my arrival Dave would taxi out. As we rolled along the perimeter track, I would pin down my charts, check the API and that the altimeter was correctly set, prepare the first log entry which would read “airborne”. By then we would be at the runway. An airman would check the tyres and give a thumbs up to Dave. Then from a caravan at the other end of the runway a green Aldis lamp would flash. There was complete radio silence and pre-arranged drill had to be followed. The engine would roar with the brakes still on,
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then as the aircraft strained, the brakes were released and we began to roll, gathering speed. Dave would call, “full power” as he with the engineer pushed the throttles forward and held them there. Hurtling down a runway, sitting on tons of high explosive, was always a period of tension. The aircraft seemed to stick to the ground until, slowly, it became unstuck. A steep climb began and the undercarriage was retracted. We were on our way. I had a bit of a ritual in logging the exact time in minutes and seconds that we left the ground.
Each aircraft took off as it was ready. Once airborne we had time to kill. I usually gave dAve a course that took us over my home territory and then turned him to meet our first departure point on the given time. Frequently, the UK legs were Reading then Beach Head, after which the route varied according to the briefing instructions. Residents of Reading would have endured the noise of several hundred aircraft as they formed the stream going south. I could get accurate Gee fixes of ground position and Jim would usually confirm the time of crossing each coast, from which, using the API, I would calculate my first wind speed and direction. This was used to calculate the compass course for the next leg. As we reached 10,000 feet I would check that oxygen was on for each of the crew. Our operational height was usually between 10 and 15 thousand feet.
March 16th., we were briefed for a major raid on Nurenberg involving 277 aircraft. This I do remember. Gee signals were soon being jammed and fake signals were appearing, so I was glad to use H2S, difficult though it was to link the responses on the screen to the charts in front of me. There were many changes of direction towards the target. Precise timing of a turn was essential to remain within the stream. For example, on an accurate turn, 30 seconds wrong could put the aircraft outside the stream when on the new course and therefore vulnerable. We had a drill. I would warn Dave, “prepare to change course to….” and I would give a compass heading. He would acknowledge and repeat the given heading. As the time to turn approached, I would do a verbal count down ending in “now’ and there would be be an instantaneous change of direction. Frequently, the aircraft would vibrate as though running over cobbles. This cheered the crew because it was due to the slipstream of another aircraft and meant that we were still in the mainstream. Only later, on a daylight mission did we realise how close you had to be to get this effect! Ron had a long trailing aerial that he reeled out below the aircraft and this was regularly chopped off by the propellers of following planes. As we proceeded to the target, Jim and others kept reporting fires on the ground. Nearer the target, Jim took over guidance leading to the bombing run. After take off, this was the next certain period of extreme tension. For several minutes, Dave would have to fly level and respond to, “left left, right right, steady, steady” as Jim lined up his bombsight on the target markers laid by pathfinders. I would follow on the H2S, with my thumb on a bomb release button which I could use, if Jim became unable. All the while, we would rock from time to time from nearby anti-aircraft bursts and occasionally a searchlight would light up the cabin, but thankfully pass over without locking on. “Bombs gone” from Jim would be accompanied by an upward leap as the aircraft suddenly became lighter. “Steady, steady,” would be Jim’s calm injunction for several seconds more until the camera had operated, recording our ground bursts. These were analysed on return for accuracy. “Camera off” would be Dave’s signal to open throttles and turn on the course I had given him to pre-set on the compass before starting the bombing run. The long return then began with Dave usually checking that the gunners were awake and alert. We had taken off at 17-45 and landed back at 02-05 and bombed from 16500 feet. Climbing out after landing, as the engines stopped, the overwhelming impression was of a
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peaceful silence and the smell of clean air. A quick briefing of the ground crew about any mechanical problems and into the crew bus and to the de-briefing room. Here, a WAAF intelligence officer sat behind a table and we sat facing her. We had been given a mug of cocoa laced with rum by the chaplain, who had usually had one for himself each time. On the wall was a large table listing crews, take off time, estimated time of return and comments. You noted the ones marked overdue, sometimes crashed, ditched or missing. 3 of the 26 planes dispatched had not returned. The weather observations I had to make en route were reported. Jim gave his report of target marking, etc. When the number of fires was reported, as though the enemy had marked the route, we were told these would be aircraft burning on the ground. These words had schilling effect, reinforced by the news that soon emerged that 24 (8.6%) of the total force of 277 had been lost, an unsustainable rate of attrition. Bacon, eggs, sausage, beans in quantity and it tasted good. Back to the hut and dog tired we were soon asleep.
March 18th., Hanau was the target, taking of 39 minutes after midnight and landing back at 07-47, bombing at 04-35 from the relatively low height of 10,300 feet. It was a lively trip, with several night fighter warnings that caused stomach churning, as Dave took violent ‘corkscrewing’ evasive action. Two members of another crew returned wounded, but safely.
There was a brief closure for very bad weather, then on March 22nd we were off to Bruchstrasse, for a relatively uneventful trip of 6 hours, from 01-08 to 07-05, bombing at 04-19 from 17,000 feet.
The next day we were briefed for a specific target in Bremen : Bremen railway bridge the record says. I thought it was Bremen docks, but I suppose they could be the same. Less than 5 hours, up at 19-47 and down just after midnight, after bombing at 10-05 from 16500 feet. The camera recorded clear direct hits right on target, which reflected well on the crew and especially Dave and Jim.
Target photograph - Bremen - 23 March 1945
[photograph]
[page break]
By now, I think as a crew we had acquired some recognition within the squadron and we were selected to radio back to base the wind speeds and directions I was using. Aircraft from other squadrons were similarly detailed. The responses were collated at base and an advisory wind radioed to the mainforce to use or not, as each navigator decided.
Two days after Bremen, we did our first daylight operation. On March 25th Hanover was the target. We left at 06-37 reached target at 09-47 and were back for lunch by 12-26. In daylight on a perfect sunny day of blue skies, we realised how close you had to be to the aircraft in front to feel the slipstream effect. It was a sobering thought. As we left Hanover I looked back from the astro-dome to see a column of dense black smoke rising to nearly our bombing height of 17000 feet. I remember feeling a surge of sympathy for the burgers on that Sunday morning, coupled with the thought that there would have been plenty of warning to give them time to reach shelters.
On March 31st, another clear Spring day, a major daylight operation was directed at long-suffering Hamburg. The bomber stream was accompanied by American Mustang and Lightening fighters, but we soon encountered anti-aircraft fire. The gunners reported an aircraft to our starboard on fire. I looked out of the astro-dome and saw it flying level with thick black smoke pouring out. Then it slowly, very slowly, began a dive. We were all hoping to see parachutes. Eventually, three bundles fell out, all on fire. No parachutes opened. Then it was back to work. There was less dog-legging on the escorted raid, so we were up at 06-35 and back by 11-41, reaching the target at 08-52 from 17,000 feet.
Enthusiasm for escorted daylight raids seemed to be growing in the command, as April 3rd was the day for another. This time to army barracks at Nordhausen, a very specific target which we were to identify ourselves and not rely on pathfinder force. We were up at 13-28 and reached the target successfully at about 16-15. It was cloudy as Jim started the bombing run and just as he was approaching the target it was covered by cloud. Jim, properly and unusually, aborted the run. Anti-aircraft response was desultory and Dave decided to go round again for another try, whilst I would track on H2S ready to act if cloud remained. Cloud remained. I had a good image outlining the barracks and pressed the bomb release. Photographic reconnaissance later that day showed successful destruction.
Two days later, April 5th, we were transferred to Scampton, near Lincoln. This was a permanent RAF base and had been home of 617 squadron, the Dambusters. The officers mess had portraits on the walls of VC’s won from Scampton. Living was more comfortable than Nissen huts and some of us had long serving civilian batmen.
April 9th was memorable and provides one of my regular flashbacks. We were detailed to lay mines in Kiel harbour. Taking off at 18-15, we flew with the mainstream for most of the route, until it turned south to the main target and we carried on alone to Kiel. My job was to navigate to a promontory to the north of the harbour, where Jim would take over visually. This was successfully achieved, and we started the pre-determined time and distance run, along which Jim dropped mines from 14,000 feet at 22-46. Needless to say, as a lone aircraft we had the full attention of both ship and shore batteries, but the drops were made and Dave accelerated on the course I had given him in advance.
Soon afterwards the flight engineer reported an engine on fire. It was quickly extinguished
[page break]
and ‘feathered,’ ie. stopped with the propellers fixed in position. It was not long before there was trouble with another engine, fortunately on the opposite side from the first failure, which also had to be feathered. It had probably been damaged by shrapnel from a near miss. For me, the consequence was loss of all electronic aids, as these engines had generated the electric current. I knew that Dave’s course needed alteration, but how? My first priority was to be sure we avoided the fortified islands of the Heligoland Bight, so I gave Dave an alteration that I guessed would keep us over the sea, well to the North. The next problem was how to get back, bearing in mind that we were slowly losing height and were uncertain of what might next go wrong. Ron got radio fixes on European radio stations, the location of which he knew, but these were not very useful. Bearings on the BBC, which would have been ideal, were impossible because those transmissions were revolved continuously and rapidly around different transmitters, precisely to prevent them being used as direction finders. It was cloudy, but breaks appeared. From time to time I could locate the Pole star, so I got out my sextant and got Ron to note the precise time I took a shot on it. Using tables, which I carried, I could work out our latitude from the sextant reading and the time it was made, measured to the second. I made an estimate of the wind from the last determination made outside Kiel and did a judgement modification for the lower height and changing air pressure from which I gave Dave a new course, behaving verbally as though I knew exactly what I was doing.
My reasoning was that if I kept him on the right latitude we would reach the English coast where there were two emergency airfields: Manston in Kent and Woodbridge in East Anglia. If we came down in the sea, Ron would have time to radio base with our course and latitude, that would help air sea rescue. It was moonlight and as luck would have it we reached the coast. Jim soon recognised where we were, virtually on course for Lincoln! We landed at 02-00 and the plane was taken out of service.
No time for worrying about what might have been. The next night we were briefed to attack an oilfield in Czechoslovakia at Plauen. A long. long, way, that was met with murmurs of disbelief when the curtain was drawn aside at briefing. It was a wet night and a visiting orchestra had come to give a concert in one of the hangars. They came to the take off point to wave us off at 18-27. We reached the target, not without incident, and bombed nearly five hours later, at 23-12 from 17500 feet A large fire was raging as we left. I never looked out but the cabin was illuminated and the gunners expressed their awe. It was nearly four hours later, at 03-02 when we landed As we turned off the runway, the engines stopped with all the fuel gone. One aircraft failed altogether en route, one was missing for several days but eventually turned up, having had a forced landing in our zone of Europe after running out of fuel.
Four days later, we had caught up on sleep and had Potsdam as the target, which was much the same as Berlin for opposition. Assuming that Gee would be heavily jammed, I studied the H2S charts and especially the shapes of numerous lakes in the are, [sic] to improve the chances of identifying what I would see on the screen. This also was a long trip. Take off was 18-08 and the heavily defended target was bombed over four hours later at 22-58 from a height of 19,500 feet. This highest operation we did was no doubt intended to make it more difficult for anti-aircraft gunners. In another four hours plus we were back, at 03-20, This was our last offensive operation.
A daylight raid on Berchtesgaden, Hitlers mountain retreat, was next but our crew was
[page break]
withdrawn. It was soon after dawn, as we stayed in the crew room waiting for the others to return we saw the trail of a V2 rocket that had been fired. It was an awesome sight and a reminder of the dangers still posed to London and our Southern cities.
On one operation, I can’t recall which, we were asked to take a major from the Royal Artillery responsible for London air defence so he could study German tactics. They had developed sensitive radar controlled searchlights working in groups. A master light was bright blue. Once it located a plane, several white lights locked on, apparently automatically, making evasion difficult. The guns seemed to be linked as well. As we approached the target he was busy making notes and seemed disappointed that we had not been illuminated. Then we were. Instantly, Dave went into a steep corkscrew dive, then climbed steeply, successfully getting out of the beams. Our major was very quiet after that and when we got back said he didn’t know how we coped.
Remaining alert throughout was always a necessity and when the home airfield was reached extra vigilance was needed. German night fighters would try to follow landing aircraft and catch them at their most vulnerable. Although radio silence was observed at take off, there was full radio contact with the controllers on return and their calm warm voices were always cheering, especially if an aircraft needed special clearance to get down quickly. One morning, at about dawn, we arrived at Kelstern when there was low level fog and the airfield was obscured. Dave heard the controller give clearance to an aircraft ahead and then to us. He kept getting glimpses of the one in front and then lost it but picked up the perimeter lights and landed quickly. As he touched down he said, “wrong airfield”. Our perimeter lights were adjacent to those of our sister station Binbrook and his error was understandable.
Mercy Missions
The assumption that the war was coming to an end did not mean there was any significant reduction in opposition. It its not widely known that after Dresden, in February 1945, some 7000 members of over 1000 aircraft of Bomber Command were lost ; over 10% of the total losses of over 55,000 aircrew from the command throughout the war.
Five days after Potsdam, we were called to a special briefing as we saw army lorries arriving. We were told that the Dutch population was in dire straights from starvation. The German Command had refused a request, through the Red Cross, to allow army lorries to cross the border with food supplies. When asked to allow safe passage to an air drop, they had also refused. Nevertheless, we were told that we were not to fire unless fired upon.
The first dropping zone was a racecourse near The Hague. There was a murmur of apprehension when we were told that 50-60 feet was the height from which to drop. This was about what the Dambusters did, but only after a lot of low flying training. Off we went at 11-29 am with bomb bays full of tons of basic food. Normal navigation was not possible or necessary. I stood behind Dave with a map and basically it was like guiding a fast car. As we swept over the houses and streets we could see adults and children waving excitedly. Some were weeping, soon so was I as still do when reminded. You could have recognised anyone, we were so low.
The doors were opened above the racecourse at 13-29 and it was soon covered in crates of supplies. We had a chocolate ration which we tied in handkerchief parachutes, which Wally threw from the rear turret. We saw German machine gunners swing their weapons towards us and Wally did likewise to them, but no one fired. It was probably the combination of emotion and the effect on the eyes of such low flying that I was airsick for the second time in my life. The squadron records say we dropped from 400 feet. This I cannot believe. We were below church spires and just above chimney pots.
There was a sea fret as we turned for home, which obscured the visual horizon. Instrument flying, so low, was hazardous and altimeter readings could not be relied on if there had been a change of air pressure. In the midst, we were aware of a blinding flash ahead of us lasting a few seconds. When we got back and reported this, we learned that an aircraft from another squadron must have exploded on hitting the sea.
The next day there was another flight, aptly named Operation Manna. We were excused, but I volunteered to substitute for a sick navigator in an Australian crew. We were airborne at 11-03 and landed back at 14-33, having dropped supplied near The Hague. The same street scenes were seen. Flying with this Australian crew was a new experience. There was banter and chatter most of the time and the pilot seemed to revel in seeing how low he could get.
As soon as the war had ended, many of our army prisoners were being released in Europe and a quick return home was needed. On May 11th., we flew to Brussels airport as part of Operation Exodus, where we collected 24 released soldiers. They were packed into the back, between the spars and I gave them a lecture to the effect that if they oved none of us would get back. Their weight in the back affected the trim of the aircraft, for which Dave had to correct. Any change in the trim, especially at take off, could be dangerous. One aircraft crashed on take off, killing all on board. A sad homecoming for some. We flew them to Dunsfold, where they were quickly processed and sent on leave.
Our job was done. We never flew together again. Of over 7,300 Lancasters built, V-Victor was one of only 34 to complete over 100 operations.
A final line-up Mary 1945
[photograph of the crew with their Lancaster]
[page break]
[centred] PEACETIME [/centred]
We soon had a Labour government, that was keen to arrange orderly release to civilian life and keep the troops occupied, especially with the war with Japan still active.
I spent a lot of time as liaison officer to a Polish squadron at Dunholme Lodge, and heard moving stories of their lives. Most of them had left Poland in 1939, knew nothing of their families and were wary of returning to a communist regime. Many of them had transferable skills and were able to remain in this country.
I also spent time with the unit education section that was preparing to run educational courses in a big way.
The atomic bomb ended the Japanese war and our squadron stand by for Tiger Force to go to Japan was ended. I was called to Bomber Command headquarters to see group captain Neville. The upshot was my promotion to Flight Lieutenant to return to Scampton and create and run a big educational operation. This was a new experience which involved day and evening courses for over 400 men and women. For the domestic science course, I remember sending the two WAAF instructors to RAF supplies at Cottesmore with blank requisition forms, signed by me as Bomber Command HQ. They came back delighted, with rolls of parachute silk, aircraft linen and cotton etc. Needless to say, their classes were well attended and several wedding dresses were created from parachute silk. We were given a large library specially ordered for the Educational and Vocational Scheme. I was busy and stretched, but it worked. Eventually, I was asked to remain and promised further promotion, but this was not what I saw as the future.
With peace assured. Muriel and I arranged to be married in February 1946 against not a little family opposition. In those days, you needed parent’s permission to marry if you were under 21. Muriel was 21 in February 1945 and I reached this majority in October, so we were able to do what we wished and crumble the opposition.
[photograph of Maurice and Muriel when they married in Bude, Cornwall in February 1946]
Dublin Core
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Title
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A retrospective - Bomber Command No 625 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
Opens with some details of 625 Squadron and introduction with reasons for writing. Writes of beginning of the war when still at school and experiences before joining up. Mentions activities with Air Training Corps and being awarded an RAF bursary to attend Cambridge university as a member of the RAFVR. Relates experiences on the university air squadron. In 1943 departed for training in Canada describing the journey and training as navigator. Goes on to describe training back in England on Anson, Wellington and Halifax. before going to No 1 Aircrew Officers School at Hereford. Was posted to 625 Squadron on 2 March 1945 at RAF Kelstern flying the Lancaster. Writes of his experiences on the squadron including operations to Misburg , Nuremburg and other targets. After cease of hostilities describes operation manna sorties to Holland and prisoner of war repatriation flights. Concludes with peacetime activity and reflection on his time in the RAF. Includes some photographs of people, a target and aircraft.
Creator
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M Brook
Date
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2011-02
Format
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Twenty-two page document with photographs
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Photograph
Identifier
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BBrookMBrookMv1
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
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Conforms To
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Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cambridge
England--London
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Ontario--London
England--Cumbria
England--Leicestershire
England--Herefordshire
England--Hereford
Germany
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Hanau
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)
Germany--Plauen
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Potsdam
Germany--Berchtesgaden
Netherlands
Netherlands--Hague
Ontario
New Brunswick
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-10-01
1940
1941-10
1942-07
1942-10
1943
1944-02
1945-03-15
1945-03-16
1945-03-18
1945-03-22
1945-03-25
1945-03-31
1945-04-03
1945-04-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Bloomfield
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
1 Group
625 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aerial photograph
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
bombing
briefing
coping mechanism
crewing up
debriefing
Gee
ground personnel
H2S
Halifax
Lancaster
love and romance
military living conditions
military service conditions
mine laying
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
navigator
Nissen hut
nose art
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
P-51
RAF Heaton Park
RAF Husbands Bosworth
RAF Kelstern
RAF Millom
RAF Scampton
RAF Sturgate
searchlight
target photograph
training
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Window
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1723/29014/PLeadbetterJ16060033.1.jpg
e5715c6c1ae5d0467e0c002c8a09232a
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
Leadbetter, John. Canada
Description
An account of the resource
29 items. Photographs of John Leadbetter's time in Canada.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-21
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.
Identifier
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Leadbetter, J
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 Snowy Camp
Description
An account of the resource
A view across a snowy landscape with wooden huts.
Format
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One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
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PLeadbetterJ16060033
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
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Canada
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.
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/630/30904/MPotterPL1878961-150914-29.2.jpg
5b9ad1acdf458fa08fcdb1fbcc28b73c
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Potter, Peter
P Potter
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Potter, P
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. Collection concerns Peter Potter, (1925 - 2019, 1876961 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a rear gunner with 626 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, his logbook, memoirs and photographs
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Potter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-09-14
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
A TRUE WAR STORY
A young airman hammered and shouted at a guardhouse gate a RAF Station asking
to be let in. At 2.30 am the action could have been suspicious. However, because
there was a severe frost and he was only wearing a pair of pyjama trousers he was
allowed to enter the post. Very young, and shaking with the cold, he did not
appear to be a spy or a threat and as he told of his reason for disturbing the Guards
they gave him a bed in the cells. Apparently, he was posted to the Station as a spare
bod having just received his Brevet.
On arriving at the railway station, he was met by a Sgt. and taken to lodgings as
there were no beds available at the RAF station until the next night. The landlady
was a young widow (war) and he was given a delicious meal and shown his room.
At about 9 pm, having listened to the news, he retired to bed and was soon asleep.
He was woken by a hand entering his pyjamas, jerking away he looked round to
see the widow had joined him in bed. He was between her and the wall and for
what seemed an eternity he tried to avoid the questing hands of the lovely nude
widow. Because she was naked, he felt unable to touch her and so could not escape.
Meanwhile she was promising him all the delights a man could wish for, her hands
caressing any part of his body left unguarded. In defence he curled up into a ball,
not that it did any good as the lady was most persistent. At about 1.30 am the
widow had to answer a call of nature whereupon he was out of bed and outside
with alacrity. He made his way to the RAF Station with all haste, which is why he
had only his pyjamas on and had no 1250 or other papers.
In the morning the orderly Sgt and MP were sent to pick up the possessions he had
left behind. They were detained for quite a while. The widow was most irate and
said she did not want anyone like that again and that she couldn't understand any
man like that. She'd had dozens of lads sent in the last 3 years and not one had
complained.
The young man could not get a crew to fly with. If he couldn't cope with a loving lady how
could he face the belligerent Hun. Eventually he was posted, but so was the story.
Dublin Core
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Title
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A true war story
Description
An account of the resource
Humorous story of a young airman billeted with a war widow.
Format
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One page printed document
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
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MPotterPL1878961-150914-29
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Civilian
Contributor
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David Bloomfield
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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
home front
military living conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2294/41607/PKellettR1901.1.pdf
4474e1062c17fba28daea7d4b774cab6
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
Kellett, Richard
Kellett, R
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. The collection concerns Air Commodore Richard Kellett (Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and prisoner of war diaries. In 1938 he flew a Wellesley from Egypt to Australia and later flew operations as a pilot and the commanding officer of 149 Squadron. He was captured near Tobruk in 1942 and was Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the Wooden Horse escape.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel Kellett and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-12-19
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
Kellett, R
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 Wartime Log
Description
An account of the resource
A book used as a photo and sketch album. It contains sketches of his wife, Dorothy Frances Lydiard Kellett (nee Abbott), two sketches of horses, images taken during plays including ‘Morning Star’, '10 Minute Alibi', '‘Thunder Rock’, 'A Revue' 'Gaslight', 'Mid Summer Nights Dream', 'Blithe Spirit', and 'French without Tears'. There is a photograph of John Crichton and his band, a cartoon series ‘A Winter's Day at Sagan’ showing the life of a prisoner of war from dawn to dusk POW, and photographs from sports events including running, throwing, rugby, high jump, prize giving, shot putt and long jump. Other photographs show groups of prisoners and a man sitting on a single bunk. The final item is a map of the Eastern Front hand coloured in red.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard Kellet
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PKellettR1901
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Photograph
Artwork
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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.
Poland
Poland--Żagań
aircrew
arts and crafts
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
prisoner of war
sport
Stalag Luft 3
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22479/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-108.1.jpg
163ca40497bbe70603918e771a8e55ea
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
Accommodation for Dick Curnock
Description
An account of the resource
A note to the Heliopolis Palace Hotel requesting accommodation for Dick Curnock.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
RAF Cairo
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typed slip with handwritten annotations
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
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-108
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Egypt
Egypt--Cairo
North Africa
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.
aircrew
military living conditions
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2565/43505/PSaundersJWG18020023.2.jpg
dae50d279060f49c229d0b0d92c50002
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2565/43505/PSaundersJWG18020024.2.jpg
548ea93810db83c98ba15fa9b7787b29
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
Saunders, John Walter Gifford. Training
Description
An account of the resource
118 photographs and a diary. The folder covers John Walter Gifford Saunders’ travel to South Africa on board the Highland Princess accompanied by 1,700 other Royal Air Force and British Army personnel. In 1942/1943 John visited family in Durban before continuing his journey to Zimbabwe by train. During his time there, he went to the Victoria Falls, relaxed with friends and took part in training exercises including camping in the largely uninhabited wild region far from towns. Subjects includes accommodation, transport, landscape, and local scenes.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Clive Saunders and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan, with additional contributions by Ella Keogh and Lucy Liu.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-03-07
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
Saunders, JWG
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Accommodation huts
Description
An account of the resource
A row of five single storey, pitched grass roofed huts arranged along a tree lined roadway. The entrances have screens and lights above with utility wires passing above. On the reverse 'This snap shot shows an avenue of huts similar to the one I am in'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Zimbabwe
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Requires
A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence.
PSaundersJWG18020023; PSaundersJWG18020024
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
PSaundersJWG18020023, PSaundersJWG18020024
military living conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/630/30870/BPotterPLPotterPLv40003.1.jpg
ed2ae20db9ce1d9ece01d82b8be769a2
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/630/30870/BPotterPLPotterPLv40001.1.jpg
7ac63ca589c661fd55eee32c210fe53c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/630/30870/BPotterPLPotterPLv40002.1.jpg
a3e069c8efadc65715f6e6f5747a91f4
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Potter, Peter
P Potter
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Potter, P
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. Collection concerns Peter Potter, (1925 - 2019, 1876961 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a rear gunner with 626 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, his logbook, memoirs and photographs
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Potter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-09-14
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] Account of operations[/underlined]
Getting caught in searchlights was always bad. If this happened the usual evasive action was taken, plus Johnny Payne and I would throw out 'window'!
We had no idea if it helped but we evaded almost immediately every time.
Luck or not it seemed to work.
Air pressure at height reduces the higher you go and can cause some unusual
effects. Nitrogen bubbles in the blood can cause a sensation similar to
intoxication. Also releasing the ground pressure in a flask, particularly hot
beverages, causing the contents to expand and boil.
For example one thing I remember was a chap who had never flown at height
trying to eat a sandwich, breaking a tooth, and then to make matters worse
opening a flask at height and the contents (tea) boiling out scalding his hands
aud then freezing his gloves and hands solid. Frostbite caused him to drop
out sick for a time.
On night Ops we flew on the outside of the stream until 30 or 40 miles from
the target when we moved to the right track for bombing, trying to find a spot
with nobody above us. There is nothing more unsettling than being on the
point of dropping the bombs and seeing an aircraft immediately above you
with its bomb doors open with bombs still to be dropped. This happened
three times early in our tour. To see bombs falling in front and behind your
wing and tail tends to make you more cautious and think of a solution. We
flew on the edge and higher than the main stream which allowed us to dive
into the stream if attacked, which in fact got rid of the attacker every time.
On a cross country a Flying Fortress came close to us and indicated a race.
Tom opened up and we moved steadily ahead of him; After about 5 minutes
Tom throttled back. It came alongside again and to our surprise the pilot gave
us the ‘V’ sign and waved, then moved away. Two days later a jeep called at
the guardroom and left a 40 oz bottle of Bourbon 'for the guys who were flying
the Lancaster UMF with the naked babe on' three days before. How they
found out our station I have no idea. We never found where they were based.
Tom and I collected the bottle and gave each bod in the guardhouse a tot
before leaving. For several days we had personnel who didn't normally travel
around the station coming to look at the 'Babe' and the c.o. commented it was
probably in need of modification but as nobody had complained about it there
was no hurry. Later when there was a stand down, our crew and the ground
crew got together to finish the bottle off with a toast to all USA Forces,
especially USAAF.
On one other occasion, on our way home over the Kattegat, a twin engine
aircraft flew alongside us for 20 minutes, quite close, possibly a Mosquito but
no recognition was possible due to bad visibility. No attempt was made by it
that could have been considered hostile and we thought it was one of ours or
Swedish. One thing we did not do was fire, except in defence, which would
give away our position. I am convinced that some chaps fired at imaginary
aircraft and made themselves targets.
[page break]
Of all my ops the ones I remember more than the others were: Kiel Canal, Aire (abortive) when we hit downdraft of a cu-nim cloud and the plane was almost torn to pieces and Frankfurt and Saarbrucken when we landed with fun load of 62,000lbs with 3 engines. e also had a second dickie on board) (Aire Abortive is reported separately).
When we flew it was necessary to keep a sharp eye out for enemy aircraft, mostly at take-off and landing. Many of our aircraft were shot down for not being alert at an times. There was never a time you could relax, even in
England. We were an concerned about the possibility of becoming Prisoners
of War and found out as much as possible from evaders and escapees who
came to give us such information as they had, e.g. no labels or names.
numbers on clothing. I had a Swiss knife with a German inscription on it and
some German matches and watch I believe had been taken from a Prisoner of
War or perhaps a dead German. I also had a French pipe and pouch of French
tobacco which I did not use as I could not replace it and which by the time I
finished flying was nearly all dust.
Flying an aircraft which is open to the elements requires plenty of clothing. In
most bombers the wind could get into the fuselage from several points. To try
to keep warm was impossible and so we wore many layers of clothing, Le. one
pair of silk socks, 2 pairs of wool, 1 pair sea boot socks thigh length, silk Long
Johns and vest, silk balaclava and a wool one, 1 wool and 1 cotton vest, 1 RAF
shirt, wool Long Johns, I roll neck sweater, 1 8ft long silk scarf, 1 tunic,
trousers, flying inner suit, electric heating suit, Irving trousers and jacket or
Kapok electric buoyancy suit, silk gloves, wool mittens, electric inner gloves,
leather gauntlets, leather lined flying helmet, fur lined flying boots, Mae West
Parachute Harness. In our pockets we had a torch, all the personal items
mentioned, the escape kit which would have maps of the area, several
currencies, concentrated Horlicks tablets, water purifying tablets etc. in our
clothing were hidden knives, films, maps, compasses etc. There was also a
Thermos, sweets, concentrated caffeine tablets (Wakey, Wakey) which caused
eyes to become dry and sore on a long Op. We also had a parachute to carry.
Despite all the clothing and heating by the time we reached our operating
height the cold would be creeping in and within half-an-hour we would be
freezing. When the temperature was below minus 30 degrees or more the
pain began to penetrate every part of the body. It was not uncommon to suffer
frostbite even with the heating still on. In F2 we also had hot air pipes from
the engine exhausts which were pushed into the flies to give extra
warmth to the legs, but still could not dispel the cold.
Before an Op. every piece of equipment was checked. Nothing was left to
chance. We and our ground crew would be crawling all over the plane making
sure nothing was missed. The ground crew of F2 were, 1 believe, the best on
the station (Wickenby). Proof I believe is the fact that F2 was one of only 2
Lancaster's on the Squadron to survive the war.
To increase our chances, we spent time in the sections to keep up-to-date and
also in the Intelligence section, often helping there.
Briefing was conducted before each Op when we were given all information
known at the time about the target and defences and weather en route. Very
often both would be wrong but we expected that and took things as they came.
Winds, cloud cover etc were never left to chance.
[page break]
Interrogation on our return was more intense and I am afraid here we were less co-operative. After long hours frozen to the marrow all we wanted to do was get into bed to warm up after a hot meal (egg, chips and beans) and so we had nothing of note to report wherever possible, even if we had had a brush with a fighter. Any report unusual would mean an interminable questioning of every member of the crew when we were dead beat and just wanted to rest and relax. Only if something was completely new would we bother.
I flew with 3 other crews on Ops, one officially and the other 2 unofficially, due to chaps being unable to get back to the station, as previously mentioned. The official Op was with F/O Oram who was on his last Op and had lost both gunners when he had to ditch. The first was to Kiel and the others to the Ruhr.
Our ground crew were a grand bunch of chaps. The electrician, George Gant, lived not far from my parents. On every Op he would bring a 3/4 inch steel plate, heavily padded, for me to sit on 'for special protection'. Whenever there was a stand down we would take the ones 'with nothing to do to a show, cinema, dance or just a drink. There would sometimes be a dance on the station and so we would lend or procure SNCO or Officer's uniform for them if the dance was at one of those messes. Nobody, to my knowledge, ever complained as most crews did this. We always made sure to get all drinks when on the station and gave each one a pound to spend as he wished when off the station. Also, when any of them went on leave they were given a pound a day if single and if married double this with an extra pound for each child.
Each of us shared the cost but the Canucks insisted on paying twice the
amount of us natives. The Canadians also bought two rounds to our one, etc. Three of Us gave local farmers a hand when we could and in return we were given any farm produce they had. Over our time at Wickenby we were given chickens, ducks, beef, pork, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, bread, dripping, etc., and twice when we couldn't leave the station for a while a delivery was brought in by the local policeman.
Taking off from the station on a summer or autumn evening, turning towards the continent, meant I was often presented with some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen and climbing often prolonged them. We flew into darkness with bright skies behind, night below and daylight above and the only real danger from the dark areas, which meant there was no time to linger on the exquisite sight behind us.
On each Op I took note of the route and times etc. of different dog legs so that I would be able to estimate a course to be taken if the Navigator and navigational equipment were damaged. My hope was that I could give the Skipper a course to the centre of the British landmass from wherever we might be at that time and that one of us would be able to check drift, wind speed and direction and knowing aircraft speed, roughly work out ETA over Britain. All details had to be kept in my head. We put it into practice only once as an experiment and arrived over Cromer instead of Lincs. From Kiel. I did navigate sometimes when on cross-countries and was OK but had all the aids which I could not rely on in an emergency.
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
Account of operations
Description
An account of the resource
Mention action on getting caught in searchlights, effects of altitude on aircrew, avoiding bombs from above, encounters with B-17 while on operations and getting a bottle of Bourbon from the American crew later. Mentions encounter with probable Mosquito, operation to Kiel Canal, friendly aircraft being attacked on return to base, conditions while flying, clothing, operating procedures, briefing and post flight debrief. Describes ground crew and work they did. Concludes with comments on summer operations and that he took notes on each operation of routes and times. Pages numbered. 29, 30, 31 and 2,3 and 4.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page printed document
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
BPotterPLPotterPLv4
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Kiel Canal
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Saarbrücken
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
P Potter
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Bloomfield
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
aircrew
B-17
bombing
briefing
debriefing
ground crew
Lancaster
military ethos
military living conditions
military service conditions
Mosquito
nose art
RAF Wickenby
searchlight
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/17/37184/PBellOH21010065.2.jpg
8740cfbdd3c74e673247bd73669e9d2b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Bell, Oliver
O Bell
Description
An account of the resource
47 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Oliver Herbert Bell (1915 - 1997) and consists of photographs and documents. He served as ground personnel at RAF Cranwell and was then posted to Aden and the Middle East with 12(B) and 8(B) Squadrons before the war. He later served at establishments in Canada and at RAF Blyton and married <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/208">Joyce Bell</a>.<br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by G Sadler and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Achive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-02
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bell, O
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Aerial View of Robat
Description
An account of the resource
An aerial view of the airstrip and camp at Robat. It is captioned 'No 12 (B) Squadron Robat Aden S Arabia 1935/36'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBellOH21010065
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1935
1936
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocation impractical
12 Squadron
aerial photograph
military living conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2584/44513/PDaviesDC19010006.2.jpg
c389c6921014f2077b19a7c77a32975b
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
Davies, David Charles. Album
Description
An account of the resource
One album with photos of personnel and aircraft.
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
2019-10-01
2020-02-26
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Davies, DC
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
Aiming point certificate and aircrew
Description
An account of the resource
First, a sketch of a Lancaster in flight, captioned 'Duisburg, 6/7 Sept. 1942 F/Sgt Turner, Sgt Anderson, Sgt Davies, Sgt Hunter, Sgt Coombes, Sgt Cass, Sgt Osterloh. 61 Squadron.' Signed 'A Pollen P/O 1942.' Second, the damaged port engine of a Lancaster on which a man in uniform is lying in a prone position. The bomb doors are open and a bomb tally is painted on the fuselage below he cockpit. Third, 12 aircrew in uniform sitting on and amongst beds in a barrack. David is sat on the floor, front row, third right with his arm resting on the next man's shoulder.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-09-06
1942-09-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Germany
Germany--Duisburg
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
Artwork
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One annotated sketch
Two b/w photographs
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PDaviesDC19010006
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
A Pollen
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.
61 Squadron
aircrew
arts and crafts
bombing
Lancaster
military living conditions