Browse Items (231 total)

  • Tags: searchlight

PFordTA17040006.jpg
Two vertical aerial photographs from an album.
Photograph one, Frankfurt at night, is indecipherable. Captioned 'a brilliant spectacle of searchlights, flak sparks and puffs, glowing incendiaries and target indicators'.
Photograph two is taken…

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PThomasAF20060041.jpg
Photo 1 is a DO 217 J2, port side on the ground. Used as a night fighter the nose was modified to house radar.
Photo 2 is a DO 217 N2, port side on the ground. Similar to the J2 but with different engines.

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PThomasAF20040021.jpg
Photo 1, 2 and 3 are vertical aerial photographs of an attack on Bonn. No detail is visible on the ground. Searchlights and incendiary tracks are visible.
Photo 3 is slightly later and shows large fires gaining control. Cologne is at the top left of…

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PThomasAF20040013.jpg
Photo 1 is a vertical aerial photograph of Tours. The city is visible but there are incendiary tracks blotting out much of the detail.
Photo 2 is a vertical aerial photograph taken during the bombing of Tours. Explosions can be seen and a…

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PThomasAF20040003.jpg
Photo 1 is an airman inspecting the damage at the rear of the Wellington, X9746, 'OJ-A'. The fabric has burned off exposing the geodetic structure.
Photo 2 is two airmen inspecting the damaged fabric at the tail of a Wellington.

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Five Group Newsletter, number 24, July 1944. Includes a foreword by the Air Officer Commanding, and features about second thoughts for pilots, gardening, war effort, signals, armament, war savings, navigation, radar navigation, navigation training,…

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MReynoldsWT[Ser#-DoB]-150731-04.pdf
a 29 page duplicated magazine produced by the personnel of Branston Mere Y station. All the items are original, mainly 'in' jokes consisting of stories, jokes, poems and cartoons.

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BWynnWynn1501-036.jpg
This was the operation on which Ian Wynn's aircraft was lost. Captain was Squadron Leader P R Turgel. Item contains: 1. A list of crews on the operation. 2. Map of routes to target. 3. Luftwaffe night fighter combat claims for 25/26 May 1943. 4.…

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PHattersleyCR16010006.jpg
A group of four men and a searchlight inside a makeshift fence. One man is pointing to the sky, two are operating instruments and another is controlling the searchlight. Two men are sitting to one side. They are in a field with trees and, in the…

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MBooneRH1331310-150729-020003.jpg
Details of nine operations carried out between February and May 1943 from RAF Elvington on 77 Squadron flying Halifax. Targets include Cologne, Berlin and several in the Ruhr.

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PSayerT16010006.jpg
At the back a map showing targets for operations in the Ruhr and rest of Germany as well as France and north Italy. There are two indications for German night fighters damaged and shot down. At the top a newspaper cutting headlined 'Huge explosion in…

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PArcherSW1612.jpg
The aircraft is dropping bombs, there is a conventional depiction of an explosion over a river with docks. In the distance searchlights are focused on a target. There is some anti-aircraft fire. The names of the crew are written on the card – 'Sgt…

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NBoldyDA151130-03.jpg
Newspaper cutting from The Times about a day bombing on Danzig and Flensburg.

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Memoro#5249.mp3
Renato Maldarelli (b. 1937) describes the 1943 bombing of Naples. He remembers being woken up by the alarm, his mother wrapping him in a blanket and going down to a cold shelter. He does not recall the fear of being buried alive under his collapsed…

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Memoro#888.mp3
Margherita Franco (b. 1934) describes how an unexploded bomb was found in the garden of their house. She mentions technical terms she learned at that time and describes how her father resorted to the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea bomb…

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Memoro#1546.mp3
Christoph Wagner Brausewetter (b.1929) recalls the hardships civilians endured inside a shelter, the risks involved and the fact they spent more time there than at home. He maintains that the worst year was 1943, when aircraft were no longer able to…

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NGeachDG160401-02.jpg
A poem about bombing with a sketch of two Whitleys flying amongst searchlights.

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BBrookerWHBrookerWHv1.Pdf
WH Brooker volunteered in June or July 1940. He was called up on 27 February 1941 and trained in Pearce, Western Australia. On transfer to UK there were delays in further training.
Initially he served on Wellingtons at Snaith. He describes…

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S78Sqn19361201v30026.pdf
William's memoirs give background on his inspiration for writing it, and is themed "Luck". He writes of joining RAF, initial tests and selection as a wireless operator/air gunner, followed by 18 months deferred service. He describes training at RAF…

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PStangryciukBlackJ1701.jpg
Jan Black flew operations as an air gunner with 300 Squadron. He was badly burned when his aircraft crashed during a training flight and became a member of the Guinea Pig Club. He underwent 10 operations at East Grinstead Hospital. He describes his…

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PIronsH1501.jpg
Harry was under age when he joined the RAF in 1940, after witnessing bombing in London. He went to Blackpool in August 1941 and became a rear gunner. Gunnery school for six weeks at RAF Manby followed, and Harry joined 9 Squadron at RAF Waddington.…

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ClarkeC2.10.16.jpg
Charles Clarke volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was 17 years old and flew operations as a bomb aimer with 619 Squadron from RAF Woodhall Spa. His aircraft was shot down on his 18th operation and he became a prisoner of war. He was held at…

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ARobinsonG150803.mp3
Geoff joined the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer in April 1943. He reported to Lord’s Cricket Ground and went to an Initial Training Wing near Sunderland. He moved to RAF Bridlington, followed by six months’ training as a flight engineer at…

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BNealeETHNealeETHv05.pdf
Memoirs of Ted Neale (written in a non-contemporary diary), recounting his experiences of an air raid on Woolwich, travelling to South Africa for aircrew training and taking part in bombing operations from Italy. Some anecdotes are repeated. This…

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BPageTJPageTJv2.pdf
This is an extract from the author's autobiography, covering his service in the RAF. It tells of his early life and volunteering to join the RAF in January 1940. It details his career from initial training and mustering as an aircraft mechanic…

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