Interview with Robert Morton

British NCO served as pilot with 74 and 616 Sqdns, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 10/1940-7/1941; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag IX-C, Bad Sulza, Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Stalag Luft VI, Heydekrug and Stalag 357 Fallingbostel, Germany, 7/1941-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Blackpool, London and Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1920-1940: family; education; early interest in flying from 1929 including flights; spectacle flying in Alan Cobham's Flying Circus; apprenticeship at Blackburn Aircraft Ltd at Brough, 1937-1939; characteristics of Blackburn B-2; joining Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 8/1939. Aspects of pilot training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939-1940: training at No 3 Initial Training Wing, RAF at St Leonards-on-Sea, 9/1939; flying training at No 4 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at Brough, 4/1940-5/1940; prevalence of cribbing at No 3 Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Cranwell, summer 1940; night flying using Hawker Hart and Hawker Hind at RAF Cranwell, 7/1940; conversion to Supermarine Spitfire at RAF Hawarden; opinion of Supermarine Spitfire. Aspects of operations as pilot with 74 Sqdn, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 10/1940-11/1940: reaction to posting to RAF Biggin Hill; frustration at not becoming an operational pilot. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 616 Sqdn, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 11/1940-7/1941: initial posting to squadron at RAF Kirton in Lindsay; development of formation flying skills; transfer to RAF Tangmere; opinion of Squadron Leader Douglas Bader; orders to test first Supermarine Spitfire VB; shooting up of his aircraft during offensive fighter sweeps over France; how German Air Force fighter pilot refrained from shooting him down; first aerial combat with Messerschmitt Bf 109; shooting down of his aircraft over France, 9/7/1941; Squadron Leader Douglas Bader's leadership qualities; objectives of fighter sweeps over France, 1940-1941. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag IX-C, Bad Sulza, Stalag Luft III, Stalag Luft VI, Heydekrug and Stalag 357 Fallingbostel, Germany, 7/1941-4/1945: capture by German Army troops in France, 9/7/1941; interrogation at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel; transfer to Stalag IX-C, Bad Sulza; entertainment in camp; transfer to Stalag Luft III, Sagan; skill of lumberjack prisoner of war in splitting tree stump. REEL 3 Continues: fragility of three tier bunks at Stalag IX-C, Bad Sulza; organisation of prisoner of war 'combines'; how Department of Written Music supplied musicians with their scores; transfer to Stalag Luft VI, Heydekrug; use of star-trap when performing as genie in pantomime; German closing down of theatre during rehearsals for opera 'Mikado'; reasons for burning down of camp theatre; opinion of camp leader Warrant Officer James 'Dixie' Deans; transfer to Stalag 357, Fallingbostel; punishment for stealing wood at Stalag 357, Fallingbostel; escape attempt from Stalag Luft III, Sagan, 1943; attitude to solitary confinement; escape tunnel at Stalag IX-C, Bad Sulza; etiquette in latrines; treatment of homosexuals; march out of Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, 1945; Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoon attack on prisoner of war column and Warrant Officer James 'Dixie' Deans' reaction. REEL 4 Continues: liberation by American troops; arrangements for return of prisoners of war from Germany to GB via Brussels, Belgium, question of attitude towards Germans.