Description
Object description
British NCO served as wireless operator/air gunner with 7 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1942; POW in Stalag VIII B, Germany, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Sunderland, 1922-1939: family; education; employment as joiner's apprentice. 1937-1939; wages; recreational activities; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; reason for volunteering for RAF as radio operator; 1939; enlistment process at Padgate and question of deferred service. Aspects of training with RAF in GB, 1939-1942-: posted to Blackpool; opinion of billets and food; description of uniform and kit; description of basic training; drill; rifle drill in Stanley Park; Morse code; examinations; kit inspection; attitude to military life and discipline; recreational activities; further training at Radio School, RAF Yatesbury; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; heating; washing and sanitary facilities; organised into squads; messing arrangements; NAAFI; social life.
REEL 2 Continues: patrol duty; relations with local civilians; drill; memory of Warrant Officer Stapleton; opinion of instructors; church parade; semaphore and Aldis lamp instruction; description of night vision test; question of eyesight; further training on Morse and question of increasing word speed; use of Creed telegraph machine; nature of messages; use of code and plain language; description of radio equipment and methods of transmitting and receiving messages; reason for wetting finger; frequencies; description of Marconi radio equipment; final examinations; description of first flying training exercises in Dominie.
REEL 3 Continues: method of taking bearings and signal strength; further radio training exercises on Proctor aircraft; types of messages; use of Morse code and Q signals; communication with ground stations; length of training; passing out parade; posted to RAF Pembury for gunnery training; opinion of camp and accommodation; description of gunnery training on Blenheim; stripping down gun; target practice; problem of wind resistance affecting aim; magazines and question of number of rounds fired; description of gun turret on Blenheim; rotation of turret; leave; kit inspection; cleaning huts; posted to Operational Training Unit at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, 1942; crewing up; description of training on Wellington; ground school; radio equipment including R/T; location of radio set on Wellington.
REEL 4 Continues: catwalk on Wellington; position on take-off; problem with heating system; role during take-off procedure; air flow; navigational exercises; circuits and bumps; procedure for crash landing; dinghy drill training; bailing out and parachute drill; escape hatches on Wellington; crew; bombing practice; visibility; gunnery practice; harmonisation of guns; description of cable cutters on wings; de-icing system; number of aircraft at Lossiemouth; opinion of accommodation and food; problem of fuel shortage; description of huts.
REEL 5 Continues: lack of camp facilities; relations with local civilians; recreational activities in Elgin; posted to 7 Sqdn RAF, 1942. Aspects of training with 7 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1942: conversion to Stirling bomber; problem of hand-operated undercarriage; description of training on radio equipment; problem with failures of electrical system; seating position; gunnery practice; description of fighter affiliation exercises with captured German aircraft; opinion of reflector sight; bombing and navigational exercises; escape hatches on Stirling; bailing out and dinghy drills; description of crew and duties; question of comradeship; opinion of food; heating; opinion of accommodation in camp; recreational activities; question of drinking before mission; memory of Cambridge.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude to being in 7 Squadron RAF; Sqdn motto; morale; number of aircraft. Recollections of operations with 7 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1942: daily routine; briefing with communications officer; description of flying clothing and boots; gloves; flying helmet; issued with foreign currency; contents of escape kit; story of bus ticket; final briefing; question of targets and aiming points; pre-flight checks; take-off procedure; story of aircraft hit by flak following raid over Aachen, Holland, 8/1942; problem of navigation; description of crash landing in field; reason for setting guns on fire.
REEL 7 Continues: story of help from Dutch civilians; reaction to aircraft being hit and landing in occupied territory; story of Dutch collaborator; description of arrest and interrogation by Germans; opinion of treatment; reaction to being captured; interrogation; taken to prison in Amsterdam; relations with guards; entrained to Cologne; memory of receiving abuse from Hitler Youth; taken to Dulag Luft camp; question of collaborators in camp; description of various interrogation methods used by Germans.
REEL 8 Continues: description of Dulag Luft camp and facilities; story of train journey to Stalag VIII B, Silesia. Recollections of period as POW in Stalag VIII B, Silesia, 1942-1945: description of layout of camp and barracks; daily routine; exercise; sporting and educational facilities; memory of camp band; canteen and messing facilities; food; Red Cross parcels; cigarettes and chocolate; procedure for collecting Red Cross parcels; communication with home and question of censorship; clothing; washing facilities and personal hygiene; soap; camp currency; exercise; sporting activities; educational facilities; state of health; medical facilities; appell; duties in cookhouse.
REEL 9 Continues: daily routine and activities; lights out; question of working; role of escape committee; story of escape attempts by changing places with member of working party; description of punishment for attempting to escape; opinion of treatment by guards; communication with other prisoners; description of being changed up as part of collective punishment following killing of German prisoners by Canadians on Sark, Channel Islands, 1942; story of killing of POW; attitude to Germans; story of Red Cross parcels; relations with guards; amusing story of young guards; memory of visit by boxer Max Schmelling.
REEL 10 Continues: communication with guards; nicknames for guards; use of clandestine radios; question of ranks; memory of Dixie Dean; role of camp committees; relations between prisoners; comparison of escape attempts by RAF and Army; escape tunnels; role in escape attempts; preparations for escapes; use of bed boards in construction of tunnels; morale among POWs; memory of 21st birthday; different nationalities; question of Irish POWs volunteering for service with Germans; description of liberation and forced march through Germany to Fallingbostel camp, 1945; conditions on march; problem of malnutrition; deaths on march.