Description
Object description
Contemporary ts transcription (12pp, 31 May 1943) of an interview by the American broadcaster George Hicks, working for the American NBC Blue Network, conducted with Sergeant Pilot Jack Watson RAFVR, a Halifax pilot in No 10 Squadron RAF, about Sgt Watson's part in the Dortmund Raid a week earlier, at that point the raid with the largest bomb tonnage of the war, with details about his training in the US, reasons for joining up, his pre-war job as a Policeman and working through the blitz on Birmingham, his family including his eight month old son who had been born when in the United States, his thoughts on America, descriptions of the Dortmund Raid, this being his fifth mission but his new crew's first, details of how night time raids are organised, being attacked on over 20 occasions by Ju 88 night fighters over Holland on the return journey, the rear gunner shooting one down, one engine being knocked out and another stalling due to taking evasive action, the return to the UK on three engines, and landing despite two tires being shot out, as well as praise for his new crew. Sgt Pilot Jack Watson was killed just three weeks later on 20 June 1943. Together with: Watson's original USAAF Diploma for passing his Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School, Napier Field, Alabama (3 July 1942); colourised photographs of Watson in RAF uniform, and as a Pilot Cadet in the USA; original b&w photographs he took while training in the USA; a photocopy of his report on the Dortmund Raid from the squadron war diary (1p, May 1943); and a brief biography of Jack Watson.
Content description
Contemporary ts transcription (12pp, 31 May 1943) of an interview by the American broadcaster George Hicks, working for the American NBC Blue Network, conducted with Sergeant Pilot Jack Watson RAFVR, a Halifax pilot in No 10 Squadron RAF, about Sgt Watson's part in the Dortmund Raid a week earlier, at that point the raid with the largest bomb tonnage of the war, with details about his training in the US, reasons for joining up, his pre-war job as a Policeman and working through the blitz on Birmingham, his family including his eight month old son who had been born when in the United States, his thoughts on America, descriptions of the Dortmund Raid, this being his fifth mission but his new crew's first, details of how night time raids are organised, being attacked on over 20 occasions by Ju 88 night fighters over Holland on the return journey, the rear gunner shooting one down, one engine being knocked out and another stalling due to taking evasive action, the return to the UK on three engines, and landing despite two tires being shot out, as well as praise for his new crew. Sgt Pilot Jack Watson was killed just three weeks later on 20 June 1943. Together with: Watson's original USAAF Diploma for passing his Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School, Napier Field, Alabama (3 July 1942); colourised photographs of Watson in RAF uniform, and as a Pilot Cadet in the USA; original b&w photographs he took while training in the USA; a photocopy of his report on the Dortmund Raid from the squadron war diary (1p, May 1943); and a brief biography of Jack Watson.