Description
Object description
Photocopied ts memoir in two volumes (163pp and 150pp) relating to his service during the Second World War as a pilot with the Royal Air Force and his post-war career in the entertainment business: volume one covers his training at Babbacombe, Torquay, and Burnaston and qualification as a Sergeant Pilot (March 1941), his training as a fighter pilot on Blenheims and posting to No 107 Squadron RAF at Massingham, Norfolk, his short overseas tour to Gibraltar and involvement in the Malta mission (late 1941), his promotion to Pilot Officer (December 1941), his posting as bombing instructor at an Operational Training Unit (February 1942), his training on Mitchell aircraft and return to operations, his posting to Norfolk (late 1943) to join a new wing of Mosquitos, then as an instructor to crews on Mosquitos at High Ercell, his promotion to Squadron Leader and return to Norfolk as Flight Commander of No 2 Group Support Unit to train aircrew on Mitchell and Boston squadrons (1943 - 1944), his posting as Flight Commander of A Flight, No 98 Squadron RAF, Dunsfold (Autumn 1944), then to Melsbruck Aerodrome, Brussels (September 1944), his command of the staging post at Eindhaven (March 1945) and move to Celle, then Luneburg (May 1945), his involvement in the construction of a permanent staging post at Schleswig, his return to Germany following the disbanding of his unit as staff officer to Transport Command attached to BAFO HQ at Buckeburg (late 1945), his command of 19 Staging Post at Berlin-Gatow Aerodrome (January 1946), and his demobilisation (Spring 1946); volume two includes his refusal of a post with the Allied Control Commission as an intelligence officer, his contact with Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt in the 1950s at the Reform Club, London and later interrogation by the Ministry of Defence over this association (1970s), and his service on the Committee of the RAF Association relating to Battle of Britain commemorations. The memoir includes good details of operations and bombing raids on North West Europe, in particular on Bremen (July 1941), raids on Libya and Sicily from Malta (1941), on the Pas de Calais area to wipe out V-weapon launch sites (1944), and operations in support of Allied forces in the Netherlands (1944), with vivid descriptions of the part played by him in operations and his emotions as a pilot, and notes on conditions for Belgian and German civilians, his duties unloading supplies and organising the transit of displaced persons (1945), his horror at the destruction and corruption on the Continent, his visit to the freshly liberated Belsen camp, a comparison of the Christmas celebrations for the military and German civilians (1945), his meetings with prisoners such as Himmler, William Joyce, and Ribbentrop (1945), his visit to Warsaw where he witnessed the spread of Communism, and his moral stand against the flourishing black market in Berlin.
Content description
Photocopied ts memoir in two volumes (163pp and 150pp) relating to his service during the Second World War as a pilot with the Royal Air Force and his post-war career in the entertainment business: volume one covers his training at Babbacombe, Torquay, and Burnaston and qualification as a Sergeant Pilot (March 1941), his training as a fighter pilot on Blenheims and posting to No 107 Squadron RAF at Massingham, Norfolk, his short overseas tour to Gibraltar and involvement in the Malta mission (late 1941), his promotion to Pilot Officer (December 1941), his posting as bombing instructor at an Operational Training Unit (February 1942), his training on Mitchell aircraft and return to operations, his posting to Norfolk (late 1943) to join a new wing of Mosquitos, then as an instructor to crews on Mosquitos at High Ercell, his promotion to Squadron Leader and return to Norfolk as Flight Commander of No 2 Group Support Unit to train aircrew on Mitchell and Boston squadrons (1943 - 1944), his posting as Flight Commander of A Flight, No 98 Squadron RAF, Dunsfold (Autumn 1944), then to Melsbruck Aerodrome, Brussels (September 1944), his command of the staging post at Eindhaven (March 1945) and move to Celle, then Luneburg (May 1945), his involvement in the construction of a permanent staging post at Schleswig, his return to Germany following the disbanding of his unit as staff officer to Transport Command attached to BAFO HQ at Buckeburg (late 1945), his command of 19 Staging Post at Berlin-Gatow Aerodrome (January 1946), and his demobilisation (Spring 1946); volume two includes his refusal of a post with the Allied Control Commission as an intelligence officer, his contact with Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt in the 1950s at the Reform Club, London and later interrogation by the Ministry of Defence over this association (1970s), and his service on the Committee of the RAF Association relating to Battle of Britain commemorations. The memoir includes good details of operations and bombing raids on North West Europe, in particular on Bremen (July 1941), raids on Libya and Sicily from Malta (1941), on the Pas de Calais area to wipe out V-weapon launch sites (1944), and operations in support of Allied forces in the Netherlands (1944), with vivid descriptions of the part played by him in operations and his emotions as a pilot, and notes on conditions for Belgian and German civilians, his duties unloading supplies and organising the transit of displaced persons (1945), his horror at the destruction and corruption on the Continent, his visit to the freshly liberated Belsen camp, a comparison of the Christmas celebrations for the military and German civilians (1945), his meetings with prisoners such as Himmler, William Joyce, and Ribbentrop (1945), his visit to Warsaw where he witnessed the spread of Communism, and his moral stand against the flourishing black market in Berlin.
History note
Cataloguer PJB
History note
Catalogue date 2003-10