description
Object description
American civilian survived sinking of SS Athenia in Atlantic, 3/9/1939; aircraftman and NCO trained as pilot with Empire Training Scheme in Canada, 1940-1941; NCO served as pilot with 43, 416 and 133 Sqdns, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 9/1941-9/1942; officer commanded 336th Fighter Sqdn, 4th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, US Army Air Force in GB, 9/1942-6/1944; POW in Germany, 6/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Memories of sinking of SS Athenia in Atlantic, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training as aircraftman and NCO with RAF in GB and Canada, 1939-1941: enquiries about enlisting in RAF, 1939; opinion of Empire Training Scheme in Canada, 1940-1941; keenness to get into combat. Recollections of operations as pilot with 43, 416 and 133 Sqdns, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 9/1941-9/1942: posting to 43 Sqdn at RAF Tangmere, 9/1941; reasons for lack of combat experience; initial experience of combat; vulnerability of 'tail end Charlie'; squadron morale and camaraderie; attitude towards German Air Force; opinion of chivalry of German pilots; question of Allied pilots' chivalry towards Germans; question of quality of German pilots and aircraft; contrast between RAF and German Air Force formation tactics, belief that German would not invade GB.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of and characteristics of Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire; character of 416 Sqdn, RAF, 1942; lack of xenophobia demonstrated towards non-British personnel in Fighter Command; fighter sweeps with 416 Sqdn over Pas de Calais, France, 1942; formation of Eagle Squadrons by Charles Sweeny; sense of frustration with fighter sweeps over Pas de Calais, 1942. Recollections of operations as commanding 336th Fighter Sqdn, 4th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, US Army Air Force in GB, 9/1942-6/1944: role escorting bomber raids with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt; effect of introduction of North American P-51 Mustang; prior recollections of participating in Dieppe Raid, 19/8/1942 and personnel and leadership of 133 Sqdn, RAF; attitude towards bomber escort work; amusing story of grateful American bomber crew; sight of American tail gunner firing at German fighters in doomed bomber; behaviour of American bomber crews; importance of raids on Berlin, Germany.
REEL 3 Continues: experiences as POW during heavy raid on Berlin, Germany, 6/1944; question of morality of bombing and story of Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris post-war attitude to it; importance of strafing German Air Force on the ground; necessity for low flying on strafing missions; his shooting down during strafing mission to Neubrandenburg Airfield, 20/6/1944. Aspects of period as POW in Germany, 7/1944-4/1945: evading capture for two weeks; treatment by Gestapo in Neubrandenburg, 7/1944; escape from German captivity, 4/1945; contact with German resisters in Munich, 4/1945; entry into Dachau Concentration Camp with American forces, 4/1945.
REEL 4 Continues: question of inmates' revenge on guards at Dachau Concentration Camp, 4/1945; physical and psychological condition of inmates. Reflections on flying experiences in US, GB and Germany, 1945-1990: story of flying replacement leg to Douglas Bader when he was a POW; story of Douglas Bader's behaviour at post-war meeting of German and Allied pilots at Hoffbrauhaus, Munich, Germany during 1970s; Adolf Galland's speech about role of pilots; meeting Orville Wright, 1945; story of Wright brothers solving torque problem; Wright brothers' practical attitude to aerodynamics; Orville Wright's attitude towards invention of aircraft and lack of vision about it's potential; amusing story of Orville Wright travelling aboard a jet airliner; Orville Wright's reaction to sitting in cockpit of jet aircraft.
