Burtt-Smith, Joseph (Oral history)

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Accepted Non-commercial Use

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Description

Object description

British NCO served as pilot with 115 Sqdn, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 7/1942; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel and Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 8/1942-1/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Clapham, London, GB, 1911-1939: family; education; collecting ballast sand and shrapnel from Zeppelins during First World War; story of father's experience as tram driver during Zeppelin raid; employment as bus driver; learning to fly with Civil Air Guard. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Corps of Signals in London, GB, 1939-1940: enlistment in Royal Corps of Signals on outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; air raids in Marylebone area; dismantling of incendiary bomb in Kensington; public morale. Aspects of training as pilot with Royal Air Force in GB, 1940-1942: transfer to Royal Air Force, late 1940; pattern of flying training; opinion of Vickers Wellington; incident of being fired on by Royal Navy destroyer over Irish Sea, 1942; crewing up at RAF Kidlington. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 115 Sqdn, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1942: crew member who suffered from Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF); first raid as second pilot to Bremen, Germany, 7/1942; reasons for replacement of rear gunner; attitude towards Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF) cases; character of squadron; coning in searchlight over Duisburg, Germany, 7/1942; pulling Vickers Wellington out of nose dive; problems landing Vickers Wellington with jammed undercarriage after raid; raid on Bremen, Germany, 7/1942; personal morale; ditching of aircraft in North Sea after raid on Hamburg, Germany, 26/7/1942-27/7/1942. REEL 3 Continues: story of how he put Vickers Wellington onto automatic pilot whilst he visited the lavatory; navigation problem as metal torch in trouser pocket affected compass reading during raid; landing at RAF Waterbeach in fog; period in dinghy after ditching, 27/7/1942; rescue by German Air Force aircraft. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel and Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 8/1942-1/1945: condition on rescue; contrasting treatment between German Air Force and German Army captors; interrogation at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel; removal to Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf; duping Germans about his medical condition; chaining of Allied prisoners of war as reprisal for treatment of Germans prisoners of war during commando raid on Sark, Channel Islands. REEL 4 Continues: how prisoners of war turned hand binding into a farce with help of former burglar; his swapping identity with soldier to make escape attempt, 4/1943; corruption of German guards with cigarettes; his escape attempt from camp; sabotage of factory at Adelsdorf; further escape attempt and recapture early 1944. Aspects of prisoner of war march from Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf to Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1/1945-4/1945: German orders to march west away from Soviet advance, 1/1945; discovery of farmer's potatoes by Scottish prisoners of war. REEL 5 Continues: German request for work party and prisoners of war refusal to work; disappearance of German guards; advice from Soviet Army officer to make for American lines; journey westwards through Bohemia, Czechoslovakia; sight of German bodies on lamp posts in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945; Czech driver who drove into German prisoners in Prague, Czechoslovakia; return to GB.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Burtt-Smith, Joseph (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1991-12-05
Dimensions: whole: Duration 150, Number Of Items 5
Catalogue number: 12363

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Burtt-Smith, Joseph (Oral history)

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