Browse Items (86 total)

  • Tags: strafing

SBondS-GwilliamAv10028.pdf
Transcript of interview with Les Francis, who flew as a Mosquito navigator with Alan Gwilliam in the Far East. He covers his training and posting to India and, eventually, Burma. He relates flying experience in Burma on 47 Squadron. He provides…

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BGambleATGambleATv1.pdf
Part 1. "By the Seat of his Pants". Covers from Alan Gamble's years as a schoolboy in Worthing in the late 1930's, up to joining the RAF in 1943, where he trained as a wireless operator in Blackpool. He joined 620 Squadron, which was equipped mainly…

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PBuvoliA1801.jpg
Alberto Buvoli recalls his wartime childhood in Udine, where he lived in the railway station area. He describes how furniture was moved to a safer place at the onset of the war and explains air raid precautions, such as leaving the windows open and…

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PToccacieliG1701.jpg
Guido Toccaceri remembers his wartime experiences as a schoolboy in Milan: the day war broke out; food shortages; his father working at an airfield near Bergamo; train strafing; basements used as makeshift shelters; being evacuated outside Milan,…

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PFilliputtiA16010036.jpg
On a clear day, a four engined United States Army Air Force aircraft attacks the submarine U-156. Bullets are raining down on the figures on the deck of the submarine. Some of the figures are diving into the water, others are running for cover and…

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PHarrisonJ1501.jpg
John Harrison grew up in Yorkshire and worked in the Civil Service before joining the Royal Air Force aged 18. After training, he flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 106 Squadron from RAF Metheringham before being shot down over Leipzig and…

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PMusgroveJ1501.jpg
Born in York in 1922, Joseph left school at 14 and started work in a chocolate factory, whilst attending two nights of further education per week. In 1936, a fighter aircraft had landed nearby which stimulated his life-long interest in flying. After…

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PRobinsonD1601.jpg
Douglas was in the Local Defence Volunteers before joining the Royal Air Force as a pilot. After RAF Babbacombe, he did initial training at RAF Scarborough and then in Rhodesia. Initial flight training in Harare on Tiger Moths was followed by service…

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PWadeR1503.jpg
Ron was born in Stoke-on-Trent. He left school at 14 and tells of his experiences working in a pottery factory doing odd jobs, until he was called up. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 at the age of 22 and trained as an air gunner at RAF…

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SClarkeBE1867619v20025.2.pdf
A narrative about prisoners of war marching initially east from Frankfurt.

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PTeasdaleA22020005.jpg
Audrey left school aged 14 and began work as a clerical assistant for a tailoring firm in Leeds, before moving into furniture sales. She was 23 when the war started and was conscripted on 15 December 1942, electing to join the Women's Auxiliary Air…

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AInstoneTS160407.mp3
Thomas (Stan) Instone was working at a factory making Bristol Hercules engines but volunteered to be aircrew as soon as he was of age. Initially his application was unsuccessful but he persevered and trained as ground crew. He later re-mustered as a…

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PPennyJ1501.jpg
After volunteering for the RAF, Jim Penny began his training which also took him to USA. He was present when the announcement of Pearl Harbour was made and all RAF trainees could openly wear their uniforms as the two countries were officially Allies.…

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ATylerEA171208.mp3
Elizabeth Anne Tyler talks about her family’s farmland, its history and when it was purchased by the Air Force for the construction of RAF North Luffenham. She mentions various episodes of wartime life around Edith Weston, as reported by family…

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SHarriganD[Ser#-DoB]v090002.mp3
Leading Aircraftsman Richard Moore joined up aged 18 and completed his basic training in Lincolnshire. He served as ground crew at RAF Locking, RAF Squires Gate and RAF Wickenby, working on several types of aircraft. He was able to take the controls…

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MB CR 4. Ada Breschi.mp3
L’intervistata è Ada Breschi, nata a Pistoia il 22 settembre 1917, impiegata. L’intervista è effettuata da Claudio Rosati a Pistoia, presso l’abitazione dell’informatrice, il 22 settembre 1983. Dopo l’Armistizio, Ada Breschi aiutò…

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PMuratoriG160314.JPG
Gino Muratori (b. 1929) recollects three Rimini bombings that occurred in November 1944, one of which was aimed at the Ausa river bridge. He mentions his grandmother losing two relatives when their boarding house was destroyed, and recalls how, on 26…

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SHarriganD[Ser#-DoB]v030002.MP3
Anthony Edward Mason grew up in the area around RAF Waddington and was aged seven when the Second World War commenced. He recalls some of the war time activities there, such as aircraft taking off at nigh and coming in to land in the morning. Tony…

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SHarriganD[Ser#-DoB]v150002.mp3
Christoper Franciss Allison, born 1925, (3007708, Royal Air Force) answers questions from school children about what it was like to fly in a Lancaster. He served as a flight engineer on 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington and was demobbed after two…

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PMakensL1701.jpg
Louis Makens worked as a farm worker before the war but volunteered for aircrew. He discusses his training on Wellingtons and operations flying Stirlings with 196 Squadron including a crash landing, and glider towing. His Halifax was shot down 18/19…

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AGardR160601.mp3
After Air Training Corps membership, Ron joined the Royal Air Force. From Oxford, he went to Lord’s Cricket Ground, followed by RAF Bridlington. He was posted to No. 7 Air Gunners School at RAF Stormy Down and passed out as a sergeant air gunner. …

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ABirchallJW170816.mp3
James Burchill was in the ATC before volunteering for aircrew training. He expected to be deferred but was told he had been chosen for immediate service. On one operation he was injured and, by the time he was ready for operational duties again, he…

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MCurnockRM1815605-171114-093.pdf
In the log Dick Curnock recorded crew and friends names and addresses, an obituary of Ginge Wheeldon who was shot by a Typhoon whilst on a march, cartoons, sketches of aircraft, dates of letters received and samples of window.

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BCurnockRMCurnockRMv1.pdf
A memoir written by Dick Curnock. It covers his wartime service and also his service after the war for the RAF. It covers his brother Sam and his accident as a pilot. Dick started his training at Lords in London, RAF Bridlington then RAF Bridgnorth…

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BWatersIWatersDWv1.pdf
Douglas joined the RAF as a wireless operator. His aircraft was shot down on an operation and he baled out but was captured, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.

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