Olsen, Ronald Wingate (Oral history)

British NCO served as pilot with 619 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-4/1944; served with 627 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 2/1945-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Chester-le-Street and Birmingham, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; employment; reasons for rejection of attempt to enlist in Royal Navy, 1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1940-1943: reasons for joining Royal Air Force, 1940; induction at No 1 Air Crew Reception Centre, RAF, St John's Wood, London, GB, 1941; selection for aircrew; soloing on De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; flying training in Canada, 1942; navigating on prairies; hospitality of Canadians; pattern of training on return to GB, 1/1943; blind approach training course with 1507 (Beam Approach Training) Flight, RAF at RAF Finningley; crewing up at No 16 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Upper Heyford, 5/1943; leaflet dropping raid on Bourges, France, 4/7/1943; opinion of Vickers Wellington; emergency landing at RAF Stradishall; converting to Avro Lancasters at RAF Swinderby, 8/1943-9/1943. Recollections of operations as NCO with 619 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-4/1944: posting to RAF Woodhall Spa, 17/9/1943; first raid to Bochum, Germany, 29/9/1943. REEL 2 Continues: effect of aborting raid on Leipzig, Germany, 20/10/1943; bad weather on raid to Kassel, Germany, 22/10/1943; first raid on Berlin, Germany, 18/11/1943; importance of surviving first five to ten operations; aircraft used on raids on Berlin, Germany, 22/11/1943 and 2/12/1943; aircrew reactions at briefings to prospect of bombing Berlin, Germany; nature air defences in Berlin, Germany, 1943-1944; knowledge gleaned from army anti-aircraft expert carried on during raid on Berlin, Germany; frostbite injury received on operation, 20/1/1944; operations to Berlin, Germany, 12/1943-2/1944; problems with wing icing. REEL 3 Continues: night fighter attack during raid on Berlin, Germany during in which his aircraft lost port outer engine; technique of corkscrewing; method of running into target; night fighter attacks; mishap with iced up coffee in cockpit during operation; occasion when machine gun iced up; question of losses during raid on Nüremberg, Germany, 30/3/1944; story of navigation problem during raid on Berlin, Germany. REEL 4 Continues: operation to Berlin, Germany in which Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire acted as marker; problem with hung up bomb; aileron problem on night flying test; last raid of tour against Schweinfurt, Germany, 26/4/1944. Recollections of operations as pilot with 627 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 2/1945-5/1945: flying De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito from RAF Woodhall Spa; character of accommodation; method of marking targets; first raid on Ladbergen, Germany, 7/2/1945-8/2/1945; his experiences during raid on Dresden, Germany, 13/2/1945; marking Mittelland Canal, Germany, 20/2/1945; raid on Horten, Norway, 23/2/1945. REEL 5 Continues: final raids spring 1945; mining Kiel Canal, Germany, 3/1945; story of pilot who ditched off Dutch coast; final operations against Germany and Czechoslovakia; decision not to volunteer for service in Far East, summer 1945. Reflections on period as pilot with Bomber Command, RAF, 1943-1945: sight of devastated German cities, 1945; after effects of experiences; degree of knowledge of targets bombed; story of briefing for raid on Peenemünde, Germany; fate of those branded with Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF); attitude towards Germans.