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Interview with Bluey Mottershead
Born on a farm in Shropshire, his best friend from his youth joined the Royal Air Force as aircrew and was killed at RAF Honington when a German aircraft bombed the station. A desire for revenge made him enlist for flying duties in January 1941. He…
Interview with Joseph Musgrove
Born in York in 1922, Joseph left school at 14 and started work in a chocolate factory and attended two nights of further education per week. In 1936, a fighter aircraft had landed nearby which stimulated his interest in flying which he retained all…
Interview with Peter John Peck
Peter joined the 74 Air Defence Cadet Corps at a unit at Crayford. He then volunteered to join the Royal Air Force. After a recruiting centre at Hither Green, he attended Lord’s Cricket Ground and was called up towards the end of 1943. He went to…
Interview with Douglas Robinson
Douglas was in the Local Defence Volunteers before joining the Royal Air Force as a pilot. After Babbacombe, he did initial training at Scarborough and then in Rhodesia. Initial flight training in Harare on Tiger Moths was followed by service…
Interview with Ron Tomlin
Ron Tomlin grew up in Birmingham and was an apprentice carpenter before working in a munitions factory. He volunteered for the Air Force at 18, and after training, flew operations as a bomb aimer with 10 Squadron. His aircraft was forced to ditch in…
Interview with Gordon Topham
Gordon Topham was born in Salisbury, but his family settled in Norwich, Norfolk and he joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 17, qualifying as a flight engineer in July 1944. Gordon’s father used to drive steam wagons and was involved with…
Interview with Ron Wade
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…
Interview with Olive Crowther
Olive had two brothers and a sister. One of her brothers joined the army and the other was an air gunner on Lancasters. She left school at fourteen and went to work as a mender at Albion Mills. She then worked on Lancaster navigation panels in the…
Interview with Steven Ellams
Steve Ellams is the son of a wireless operator who flew in a number of different aircraft. During the war he flew initially in Sunderlands overseas before being posted back to the UK. He started operational flying in Bomber Command with 199 Special…
Interview with Betty Greenwood
Betty Greenwood was born in 1926 in Belton, Lancashire. She attended Princess Mary high school and was privately educated in Paris but returned due to the threat of war. Aged 16, she was offered various jobs but decided to join the Royal Observer…
Interview with Margaret Habberfield
Margaret Habberfield was born in 1923. At sixteen she joined the Royal Air Force after giving her age as eighteen. She began her six-week general training at Harrogate and was billeted with around 20 other girls. Margaret was then posted to RAF…
Interview with Harry Hambrook
Harry Hambrook was born in Hackney and when he left school he became an office boy. He volunteered for the RAF and became an air gunner. He was posted to 3 Air Gunnery School in Stranraer for gunnery training flying in Ansons. From there he went…
Interview with Geoff Packham
Geoff’s father had been in the Royal Flying Corps and Geoff joined the Royal Air Force at RAF Cardington. He was posted to various stations before going to Halifax in Canada to train as a pilot on Tiger Moths and then Oxfords.
On his return, Geoff…
On his return, Geoff…
Interview with Jill Saunders
Jill Saunders’s father Frank Simon was born in Salford in 1917. He served an apprenticeship as a fitter before joining A.V. Roe. He had joined the RAF volunteer reserve but as he was in a reserved occupation, he was only called up in 1944. He…
Interview with Sylvia Trapp
Sylvia was born in Mansfield where her father was a miner and her mother had worked at Lawns Mills. She had two brothers and a sister. Sylvia was 15 when she left school to work at the hosiery mills and recalls the German manager being deported. She…
Interview with Tom and Gabi Wilson
Gabi Wilson grew up in Berlin and was a schoolgirl in 1939. She discusses one brother training as an interpreter and another brother returning from Russian prisoner of war camps. She worked as an apprentice at a publisher firm. She met her husband,…
Statement of Anselmo Lucchesi about some Allied servicemen
Anselmo Lucchesi claims he helped, from 8 September 1943 to 20 December 1943, ten allied prisoners of war hid in his hut in Striglianella (Pistoia), giving them food and clothes. On 20 December, they moved to Migliana area, near Cantagallo (Prato),…
Statement of Anselmo Torracchi about some Allied servicemen
Anselmo Torracchi claims he helped, from 10 September 1943, some Allied servicemen hid in the woods, giving them food and clothes. His son Francesco often went there to tend one of them. On 7 December, they were recaptured in Cantagallo (Prato). For…
Letter from Sergeant A Pelly to Mrs Brooks
Writes to tell Mrs Brooks about her husband's death as a result of a recent flying accident. States that it was absolutely instantaneous and that, as the crash had been from a low height, he would not have felt anything. Explains that he had been…
Statement of Antinesca Quieti about some Allied servicemen
Antinesca Quieti claims she helped, from 10 September 1943 to 15 March 1944, twelve English prisoners of war of war, giving them food, shelter and clothes. On 15 March 1944 they moved to Florence to escape fascist militiamen.
Statement of Antonio Pistorozzi about some allied servicemen
Antonio Pistorozzi claims that after the armistice some allied prisoners of war from camps in Emilia stayed with him in Sambuca Pistoiese (Pistoia). He gave them food.
He also recollects that in the period between 25 May and 5 June 1944 an American…
He also recollects that in the period between 25 May and 5 June 1944 an American…
An anxious moment
![MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-040001.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/94/889/MBartlettA[Ser -DoB]-150520-040001.jpg "MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-040001.jpg")
Describes events during a mine laying operation in a Stirling to the Gironde River near Bordeaux. Relates how the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire which damaged the tail and an engine as well as wounding the flight engineer. Describes the…
Kaleidoscope – the morning after - 1943
![MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-01.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/94/890/MBartlettA[Ser -DoB]-150520-01.jpg "MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-01.jpg")
Five verse poem describing feelings the next morning after a harrowing night operation. Describes emotions and surprise that the crew survived.
More than one liberty
![MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-02.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/94/892/MBartlettA[Ser -DoB]-150520-02.jpg "MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-02.jpg")
Relates an incident at an officers’ mess ball which contrasts the attitude of peacetime station commander to those found on operational stations. Describes events surrounding a station ball at a training base in the midlands. Includes general…
Roy Gallop
A head and shoulders portrait of Roy. On the reverse 'AR Jardine Photographer'.