Description
Object description
Illustrated memoir published in 2007 (212pp), recording in good detail his RAF service during the Second World War, describing his childhood in Ireland, his move to England in 1938 to work for an insurance company, his enlistment into the RAF (August 1941) and training at Scarborough and Brough near Hull, his voyage to Canada where he undertook flying training at Toronto and Goderich (February - July 1942), a sightseeing trip to New York, USA (July 1942), his posting to Dunnville (July - November 1942) for final training, his voyage back to the United Kingdom in the QUEEN ELIZABETH (December 1942), his first experience of flying Spitfires at Eshott near Morpeth, Northumberland (January - May 1943), having to undertake an emergency landing when his aircraft was damaged in flight, his brief posting to No 234 Squadron RAF at Skeabrae, Orkney and Churchstanton, Somerset (June - July 1943), then as a pilot on operational service flying Spitfires on missions over the English Channel, Northern France and Holland with No 66 Squadron RAF at Kenley, near London (August 1943); Perranporth, Cornwall (September - November 1943); Hornchurch near London (November 1943 - February 1944); North Weald where he joined the newly-formed 132 Norwegian Wing (March 1944 - 1945); Tangmere, Sussex (June - August 1944); then to North West Europe and airfields at Villons Les Buisson (August 1944), Campneuville near Abbeville (September 1944), Grimbergen near Brussels (November 1944), and in Holland at Woensdrecht (December 1944 - February 1945), Schijndel (March 1945) and Twente on the Dutch/German border (April 1945). The memoir provides an excellent account of the life of a typical fighter pilot and includes descriptions of his involvement in the D-Day landings (6 June 1944) providing air support to the Omaha beach sector, escorting VIPs such as Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein across the Channel, providing air support to the Falaise Gap during the Battle of the Bulge (August 1944), the effects of Allied bombing on the French towns near where he was stationed, the state of German prisoners, the debris and dead bodies left following the fighting in the Falaise Gap, visits to V-1 launching sites, the warm reception received from the liberated French in Lille, sightseeing in liberated Paris, and his opinion of the American forces.
Content description
Illustrated memoir published in 2007 (212pp), recording in good detail his RAF service during the Second World War, describing his childhood in Ireland, his move to England in 1938 to work for an insurance company, his enlistment into the RAF (August 1941) and training at Scarborough and Brough near Hull, his voyage to Canada where he undertook flying training at Toronto and Goderich (February - July 1942), a sightseeing trip to New York, USA (July 1942), his posting to Dunnville (July - November 1942) for final training, his voyage back to the United Kingdom in the QUEEN ELIZABETH (December 1942), his first experience of flying Spitfires at Eshott near Morpeth, Northumberland (January - May 1943), having to undertake an emergency landing when his aircraft was damaged in flight, his brief posting to No 234 Squadron RAF at Skeabrae, Orkney and Churchstanton, Somerset (June - July 1943), then as a pilot on operational service flying Spitfires on missions over the English Channel, Northern France and Holland with No 66 Squadron RAF at Kenley, near London (August 1943); Perranporth, Cornwall (September - November 1943); Hornchurch near London (November 1943 - February 1944); North Weald where he joined the newly-formed 132 Norwegian Wing (March 1944 - 1945); Tangmere, Sussex (June - August 1944); then to North West Europe and airfields at Villons Les Buisson (August 1944), Campneuville near Abbeville (September 1944), Grimbergen near Brussels (November 1944), and in Holland at Woensdrecht (December 1944 - February 1945), Schijndel (March 1945) and Twente on the Dutch/German border (April 1945). The memoir provides an excellent account of the life of a typical fighter pilot and includes descriptions of his involvement in the D-Day landings (6 June 1944) providing air support to the Omaha beach sector, escorting VIPs such as Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein across the Channel, providing air support to the Falaise Gap during the Battle of the Bulge (August 1944), the effects of Allied bombing on the French towns near where he was stationed, the state of German prisoners, the debris and dead bodies left following the fighting in the Falaise Gap, visits to V-1 launching sites, the warm reception received from the liberated French in Lille, sightseeing in liberated Paris, and his opinion of the American forces.
History note
Cataloguer APR
History note
Catalogue date 2006-07-14