Description
Object description
A self-published memoir (200pp, written 2006), entitled 'Against All Odds', and illustrated throughout with family photographs and images from a variety of sources, with details about his life, starting in 1925, with the family living in Lidcombe, near Sydney, New South Wales, relatives in the Reeve and Fordham families, visiting his grandparents in Kogarah, Lidcombe in the 1920s, holidays, music, health, the family moving to Brisbane, Queensland (1929), attending Toowong School, the start of the Second World War, studying Industrial Chemistry at the Brisbane Central Technical College, not being called up due to having a reserved occupation, volunteering for the Royal Australian Air Force Aircrew Reserve, the difference in Brisbane after Pearl Harbor (December 1941), the reaction of having US soldiers in Brisbane, seeing the segregation of black soldiers, his call-up and joining 3 Initial Training School, Sandgate, fellow crew, pilot training at No 5 Elementary Flying School, Narromine, New South Wales, flying Tiger Moths, social events, instrument and night flying, sailing to San Francisco, the United States of America, the journey, travelling by train through Portland, moving to Vancouver, Canada, crossing the Rockies, based at Brandon Camp, Manitoba, training in multi-engined planes at Claresholm (November 1942 – March 1943), No 15 Service Flying Training School, the cold weather, flying an Avro Anson Mk II, skating and ice hockey, promotion to Pilot Officer, travelling to Halifax, Nova Scotia, via Niagara and New York, and meeting family in New Jersey, sailing in The QUEEN MARY to Liverpool (March 1943), moving to Bournemouth, Air Crew Officers Training School, Sidmouth, Devon, lectures by 'posh' English Officers, time as Orderly Officer, being moved to Brighton, meeting his Great Aunt Rose who lived there, posting to No 3 Advanced Flying Unit, RAF South Cerney, Gloucestershire, based at RAF Long Newnton, flying Airspeed Oxfords, navigation problems, learning blind flying at RAF Babdown Farm, landing at Middle Wallop in fog, posting to an Operational Training Unit at RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, choosing a crew and details of his new British crew, further training, flying Wellington Bombers, new equipment, moving to satellite airfield RAF Barford St John, 'pranging a Wimpy', posting to RAF Scrampton, near Lincoln (November 1943), meeting Guy Gibson and 217 Squadron based there, sharing a batman, spending Christmas with the family of his Navigator, Ernie Smallridge, posting to No 1654 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF Wigsley, Lincolnshire (February 1944), flying Stirling bombers, stories of Group Captain Bonham-Carter, posting to No 5 Lancaster Finishing School (LFS), RAF Syerston, near Nottingham, details of learning to fly the Avro Lancaster, posting to 'B' Flight, 9 Squadron, based at RAF Bardney, Lincs, his first operational flight as 2nd pilot with another crew cancelled after a Lancaster crashed on take-off, flying to Paris on three engines, a second trip to Schweinfurt to bomb a ball-bearing factory, flying with a Jamaican navigator, first experience of flak, his first solo missions, 5 Group attacking a power station at St Medard-en-Jalles, Bordeaux, France (April 1944), having to circle over a panzer tank regiment at Moully le Camp, losing planes, leave in London, bombing German transport infrastructure (May – July 1944), everyday life in the squadron, routines, meteorological reports, flying, mid-air collisions, St Elmo's fire, landing with the wheels up after a raid on Brunswick, a replacement engineer, bombing a gun emplacement on the French coast on 5 June 1944 to aid the D-Day landings, the stress of continuous operations, superstitions, taking part in the daytime raid on Caen, dangers of too many planes over the target, seeing a Heinkel 163 jet, his leading an echelon as an experienced crew, the story of an Australian friend, Smith, who had bailed out and evaded to Spain, waving to a FW 190 pilot, using a radar detection device ('boozer') to track night fighters, becoming 'flak happy', promotion to Acting Flight Lieutenant, he and his crew turning down the chance to stay on in 9 Squadron after their 35 mission tour, his crew dispersing and his becoming a flying instructor at RAF Lulsgate Bottom, Somerset, flying Airspeed Oxfords, low flying practice, the story of Australian Allan McSweyn MC who had been captured, escaped and recaptured several times, starting instructor's duties at RAF Bottesford, Leicestershire (September 1944), teaching Lancaster Mk II pilots, adapting to duel control, the importance of flight engineers, returning to 9 Squadron for a party, hearing of their 'special duties' with tall boy bombs, duties as Duty Officer at Bottesford, Christmas in Nottingham, posting to RAF Finningley, Yorkshire (January 1945) to attend a Bomber Command training course, training other instructors at Bottesford, VE Day celebrations (May 1945), other flights over bomb damaged Europe, waiting for repatriation in Gamston, Kent, fruit picking with Italian POWs, the end of the war, delays in getting home, sailing in the ATHLONE CASTLE via the Suez Canal and India, discharge (February 1946), and ending with thoughts on his survival and praise for his crew, with throughout anecdotes, details of his movements, accommodation, food, flying, dances, losing friends, and illustrated with photographs of him, his family, friends, group shots, and aircraft, taken from a number of sources, and a photo of his receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) (January 1948).
Content description
A self-published memoir (200pp, written 2006), entitled 'Against All Odds', and illustrated throughout with family photographs and images from a variety of sources, with details about his life, starting in 1925, with the family living in Lidcombe, near Sydney, New South Wales, relatives in the Reeve and Fordham families, visiting his grandparents in Kogarah, Lidcombe in the 1920s, holidays, music, health, the family moving to Brisbane, Queensland (1929), attending Toowong School, the start of the Second World War, studying Industrial Chemistry at the Brisbane Central Technical College, not being called up due to having a reserved occupation, volunteering for the Royal Australian Air Force Aircrew Reserve, the difference in Brisbane after Pearl Harbor (December 1941), the reaction of having US soldiers in Brisbane, seeing the segregation of black soldiers, his call-up and joining 3 Initial Training School, Sandgate, fellow crew, pilot training at No 5 Elementary Flying School, Narromine, New South Wales, flying Tiger Moths, social events, instrument and night flying, sailing to San Francisco, the United States of America, the journey, travelling by train through Portland, moving to Vancouver, Canada, crossing the Rockies, based at Brandon Camp, Manitoba, training in multi-engined planes at Claresholm (November 1942 – March 1943), No 15 Service Flying Training School, the cold weather, flying an Avro Anson Mk II, skating and ice hockey, promotion to Pilot Officer, travelling to Halifax, Nova Scotia, via Niagara and New York, and meeting family in New Jersey, sailing in The QUEEN MARY to Liverpool (March 1943), moving to Bournemouth, Air Crew Officers Training School, Sidmouth, Devon, lectures by 'posh' English Officers, time as Orderly Officer, being moved to Brighton, meeting his Great Aunt Rose who lived there, posting to No 3 Advanced Flying Unit, RAF South Cerney, Gloucestershire, based at RAF Long Newnton, flying Airspeed Oxfords, navigation problems, learning blind flying at RAF Babdown Farm, landing at Middle Wallop in fog, posting to an Operational Training Unit at RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, choosing a crew and details of his new British crew, further training, flying Wellington Bombers, new equipment, moving to satellite airfield RAF Barford St John, 'pranging a Wimpy', posting to RAF Scrampton, near Lincoln (November 1943), meeting Guy Gibson and 217 Squadron based there, sharing a batman, spending Christmas with the family of his Navigator, Ernie Smallridge, posting to No 1654 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF Wigsley, Lincolnshire (February 1944), flying Stirling bombers, stories of Group Captain Bonham-Carter, posting to No 5 Lancaster Finishing School (LFS), RAF Syerston, near Nottingham, details of learning to fly the Avro Lancaster, posting to 'B' Flight, 9 Squadron, based at RAF Bardney, Lincs, his first operational flight as 2nd pilot with another crew cancelled after a Lancaster crashed on take-off, flying to Paris on three engines, a second trip to Schweinfurt to bomb a ball-bearing factory, flying with a Jamaican navigator, first experience of flak, his first solo missions, 5 Group attacking a power station at St Medard-en-Jalles, Bordeaux, France (April 1944), having to circle over a panzer tank regiment at Moully le Camp, losing planes, leave in London, bombing German transport infrastructure (May – July 1944), everyday life in the squadron, routines, meteorological reports, flying, mid-air collisions, St Elmo's fire, landing with the wheels up after a raid on Brunswick, a replacement engineer, bombing a gun emplacement on the French coast on 5 June 1944 to aid the D-Day landings, the stress of continuous operations, superstitions, taking part in the daytime raid on Caen, dangers of too many planes over the target, seeing a Heinkel 163 jet, his leading an echelon as an experienced crew, the story of an Australian friend, Smith, who had bailed out and evaded to Spain, waving to a FW 190 pilot, using a radar detection device ('boozer') to track night fighters, becoming 'flak happy', promotion to Acting Flight Lieutenant, he and his crew turning down the chance to stay on in 9 Squadron after their 35 mission tour, his crew dispersing and his becoming a flying instructor at RAF Lulsgate Bottom, Somerset, flying Airspeed Oxfords, low flying practice, the story of Australian Allan McSweyn MC who had been captured, escaped and recaptured several times, starting instructor's duties at RAF Bottesford, Leicestershire (September 1944), teaching Lancaster Mk II pilots, adapting to duel control, the importance of flight engineers, returning to 9 Squadron for a party, hearing of their 'special duties' with tall boy bombs, duties as Duty Officer at Bottesford, Christmas in Nottingham, posting to RAF Finningley, Yorkshire (January 1945) to attend a Bomber Command training course, training other instructors at Bottesford, VE Day celebrations (May 1945), other flights over bomb damaged Europe, waiting for repatriation in Gamston, Kent, fruit picking with Italian POWs, the end of the war, delays in getting home, sailing in the ATHLONE CASTLE via the Suez Canal and India, discharge (February 1946), and ending with thoughts on his survival and praise for his crew, with throughout anecdotes, details of his movements, accommodation, food, flying, dances, losing friends, and illustrated with photographs of him, his family, friends, group shots, and aircraft, taken from a number of sources, and a photo of his receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) (January 1948).
History note
Cataloguer SJO