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Object description
British NCO and officer served as navigator with 604 Sqdn, Nos 11 and 12 Groups, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 8/1940-7/1943; officer served as instructor with No 51 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Twinwood Farm, GB, 7/1943-2/1944; served with 25 Sqdn, No 12 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 3/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Maidstone, GB, 1918-1939: family; education; joining Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), 6/1939; attitude to Munich Crisis, 9/1938. Aspects of training as navigator with RAF in GB, 1939-1940: pattern of training; sight of aerial operations over Maidstone during Battle of Britain, summer 1940. Recollections of operations as navigator with 604 Sqdn, Nos 11 and 12 Groups, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 8/1940-7/1943: joining unit at RAF Middle Wallop during German Air Force attack, 8/1940; unit morale, 9/1940; use of AI (Airborne Interception) Mk 1 Radar equipped Bristol Beaufighters, early 1941; shooting down of first German aircraft a Junkers Ju 88 off near Chawleigh, 5/5/1941; reaction to loss of comrade; operating AI (Airborne Interception) radar; memories of Wing Commander John Cunningham; coping with cold in Bristol Blenheim cockpits; night interceptions, 1940-1941; degree of danger from British anti-aircraft fire over cities; reads log book details of patrols and kills, 1941.
REEL 2 Continues: interception and shooting down of Heinkel He 177 off Beachy Head, 7/3/1943; reaction of RAF to finding Heinkel He 177 operating outside Eastern Front; missing out on reward for five hundredth aircraft in their sector; leaving unit, 13/7/1943; unsuccessful attempts to intercept Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condors from RAF Predannick, 1/1943-3/1943; move to RAF Scorton for defence of Kingston upon Hull, 5/1943. Aspects of period as instructor in night interception at No 51 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Twinwood Farm, GB, 7/1943-2/1944: question of need for skills in flying; story of crash landing in Bristol Beaufighter during instruction, 1943.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as navigator with 25 Sqdn, No 12 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 3/1944-5/1945: joining unit at RAF Coltishall, 3/1944; opinion of De Havilland Mosquito; near accident during landing at RAF Coltishall, 20/6/1944; AI (Airborne Interception) Mk X Radar equipment carried on night intruder work over Germany; reaction to pursuit by German night fighter; move to RAF Castle Camps; shooting down of V1 Flying Bomb, 9/7/1944; techniques for intercepting V1 Flying Bombs; port engine failure during patrol over Lista, Norway, 30/3/1945; attitude to having served with 604 and 25 Sqdns, RAF; memories of victory celebrations, 8/5/1945.
