Waddington, Frank Ogden (Oral history)

British NCO served as navigator with 37 Sqdn, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 8/1940-11/1940; served with 37 Sqdn, Air Headquarters Egypt, RAF on Malta, Egypt and Greece, 11/1940-7/1941; served as instructor at RAF Harwell in GB, 1941-1943; officer served with 7 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 12/1943-1/1944; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft III, Sagan and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke in Germany, 1/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1917-1939: family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as observer with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939-1940: training as observer; initial posting to Coastal Command at RAF Bircham Newton; posting to No 15 Operational Training Unit at RAF Harwell. Recollections of operations as navigator with 37 Sqdn, No 3 Group RAF in GB, 8/1940-11/1940: posting to squadron at RAF Feltwell, 8/8/1940; problems of finding targets; navigational techniques; failure to find target at Eindhoven, Netherlands, 15/8/1940; attack on Berlin, Germany, 23/10/1940; number of losses and unit morale; posting to Middle East. REEL 2 Continues: compassionate leave for pilot whose parents were killed during bombing of Coventry, GB, 11/1940. Recollections of operations with 37 Sqdn, Air Headquarters Egypt on Malta, Egypt and Greece, 11/1940-7/1941: arrival in Malta, 8/11/1940; lack of opposition during attacks on Italian ports, 11/1940; move to RAF Kabrit, Egypt, 25/11/1940; nature of operations against Italians to support British advance in Western Desert, Egypt; Christmas leave in Cairo, Egypt, 12/1940; words sung to Egyptian national anthem; move to Greece, 3/1941; relations with Greek civilians; description of Paramythia Airfield; attacks on Rhodes Island and award of Distinguished Flying Medal; return to Egypt from Greece, 3/1941. REEL 3 Continues: waiting to return to GB, 7/1941; hostility of British Army troops towards Royal Air Force after Greek campaign in Alexandria, Egypt; voyage from Egypt to GB via South Africa including hospitality received from South African civilians, picking up foresters in Trinidad and carrying Italian prisoners of war. Aspects of period as instructor at RAF Harwell, 1941-1943: role instructing ferrying crews; reaction to taking part in Thousand Bomber raid on Bremen, Germany, 25/6/1942; navigational error in Western Approaches, North Atlantic, 1943; reaction to returning to operations, 12/1943. Recollections of operations as navigator with 7 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, Bomber Command in GB, 12/1943-1/1944: posting to squadron at RAF Oakington, 12/1943; use of H2S; personal morale; reaction to discovering Berlin, Germany was a target comparison between bombs dropped on Kingston upon Hull and tonnages dropped during a single raid on Berlin, Germany. REEL 4 Continues: start of raid on Berlin, Germany; raid in which his Avro Lancaster was shot down by German Air Force night fighter; lack of panic in aircraft when engines knocked out, 20/1/1944; bailing out from exploding aircraft; parachute descent and landing on street in Berlin, Germany. Aspect of period as prisoner of war in Berlin, Germany, 20/1/1944-21/1/1944: taking cover from bombing; capture and initial treatment in police station; fate of comrades; strange sensation of being in Berlin, Germany, 21/1/1944; reaction to sight of damage in Berlin, Germany and hostility of civilians towards Royal Air Force prisoners of war; initial reaction to being made prisoner of war, 20/1/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany, 1/1944: arrival at centre. REEL 5 Continues: nature of interrogation; importance of Christian faith; living conditions; interrogator's attempts to demoralise him and interrogation techniques used; fate of comrade who died from broken neck received during beating in police station in Berlin, Germany, 20/1/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, 2/1944-1/1945: transfer to camp, 2/1944; memories of Great Escape, 3/1944; memories of Paul Brickhill and other personalities in camp; march away from camp, 1/1945. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: conditions in camp; use of cooker made from Klim tins; passing time; the Food-Acko system for trading goods. REEL 6 Continues: foraging for food in camp; march away from camp, 4/1945; arrival of prisoner of war column in Lübeck area, Germany, 4/1945; relations with German civilians in Lübeck area, Germany; liberation by British Army troops. Aspects of return to GB after liberation, 5/1945: display of photographs of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in shop window; flight to GB; reception on arrival in GB and processing at RAF Cosford; return to Kingston upon Hull.