Description
Object description
Ts account (62pp, illustrated with maps and photographs, written in 2007) recording his service (June 1940 – November 1945) as an NCO in 'very high frequency Radio Detection Finding' with the RAF, notably the outbreak of war (September 1939) and working for the General Accident Fire and Assurance Corporation Ltd in Birmingham and volunteering and training for the auxiliary Fire Service in Leamington where he lived (September 1939 – June 1940); volunteering for the RAF and reporting at the Coventry Recruiting Centre (June 1940), training at Coventry and Morecambe (no dates) and serving with the Signals Section at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough (July 1940 – October 1940); a Direction Finding Sub-Station at Castle Bromwich Airdrome (October 1940 – March 1942); a DF tender at a farm at Filgrave, Stony Stratford near Newport Pagnell (March 1942 – October 1942); a Combined Operations Camp, HMS DUNDONALD near Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland (October 1942 – April 1943); the voyage in HMS ORION from Glasgow to Durban, Natal in South Africa (April 1943 – May 1943) and in the BERGENSFIORD from Durban to Egypt (May 1943 – July 1943); the journey by road from Cairo to Tripoli, Libya and Bizerta ( July 1943 – September 1943) prior to landing at Salerno (September 1943) with the Direction Finding (DF) Team of No 5 Advanced Landing Ground Signals Unit and being attached to the American 340th Bombardment Group at Paestum (?September 1943 – December 1943) and then to No 600 Squadron RAF at Capodichino airfield near Naples (December 1943 – June 1944), Civitavecchia, north of Rome, Ancona, Rimini, Cessenatico, Mestre, near Venice, Udine and Klagenfurt, Austria (no dates); his transfer to No 239 Wing (October 1945); and his subsequent return to the UK (November 1945 for demobilization at Cosford (November 1945); and commenting on the Home Front; RAF life, notably hitching lifts home, his duties, his life-long friendship with another RTO, the conditions, inspections, exercises, his officers and NCOs; his off-duty entertainment, playing in the RAF Wittering Band, playing cards, producing the 5 ALG magazine at Salerno, sight seeing and meeting his brother; the Blitz, notably the bombing of Coventry (November 1940); the food, notably crow pie; the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (March 1944); meeting his wife (FANY) in Italy; Army shower units; an inspection by Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten (p.22); VE Day (May 1945); and the local population.
Content description
Ts account (62pp, illustrated with maps and photographs, written in 2007) recording his service (June 1940 – November 1945) as an NCO in 'very high frequency Radio Detection Finding' with the RAF, notably the outbreak of war (September 1939) and working for the General Accident Fire and Assurance Corporation Ltd in Birmingham and volunteering and training for the auxiliary Fire Service in Leamington where he lived (September 1939 – June 1940); volunteering for the RAF and reporting at the Coventry Recruiting Centre (June 1940), training at Coventry and Morecambe (no dates) and serving with the Signals Section at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough (July 1940 – October 1940); a Direction Finding Sub-Station at Castle Bromwich Airdrome (October 1940 – March 1942); a DF tender at a farm at Filgrave, Stony Stratford near Newport Pagnell (March 1942 – October 1942); a Combined Operations Camp, HMS DUNDONALD near Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland (October 1942 – April 1943); the voyage in HMS ORION from Glasgow to Durban, Natal in South Africa (April 1943 – May 1943) and in the BERGENSFIORD from Durban to Egypt (May 1943 – July 1943); the journey by road from Cairo to Tripoli, Libya and Bizerta ( July 1943 – September 1943) prior to landing at Salerno (September 1943) with the Direction Finding (DF) Team of No 5 Advanced Landing Ground Signals Unit and being attached to the American 340th Bombardment Group at Paestum (?September 1943 – December 1943) and then to No 600 Squadron RAF at Capodichino airfield near Naples (December 1943 – June 1944), Civitavecchia, north of Rome, Ancona, Rimini, Cessenatico, Mestre, near Venice, Udine and Klagenfurt, Austria (no dates); his transfer to No 239 Wing (October 1945); and his subsequent return to the UK (November 1945 for demobilization at Cosford (November 1945); and commenting on the Home Front; RAF life, notably hitching lifts home, his duties, his life-long friendship with another RTO, the conditions, inspections, exercises, his officers and NCOs; his off-duty entertainment, playing in the RAF Wittering Band, playing cards, producing the 5 ALG magazine at Salerno, sight seeing and meeting his brother; the Blitz, notably the bombing of Coventry (November 1940); the food, notably crow pie; the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (March 1944); meeting his wife (FANY) in Italy; Army shower units; an inspection by Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten (p.22); VE Day (May 1945); and the local population.
History note
Cataloguer SNR