Interview with Frank Joseph Tudor

British NCO served as wireless operator with Anti-Submarine Flight, No 10 Operational Training Unit, No 91 (Operational Training) Group attached to Coastal Command, RAF in GB, 11/1942-1/1943; served with 158 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1943-6/1943; served with 35 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 6/1943-5/1944; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft VII, Bankau and Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde, Germany, 6/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Birkenhead, GB, 1940-1942: family; education; German Air Force bombing of Birkenhead, 1940. Aspects of enlistment and training as wireless operator/air gunner with Royal Air Force in GB, 1940-1942: enlistment, 10/1940; pattern of training, 1940-1941; accidental posting to RAF Crosby-on-Eden, 4/1942; air gunnery training at RAF Pembrey; first crewing up at RAF Bicester, 7/1942 including details of pilot Daniel Everett; crewing up for flying Armstrong Whitworth Whitley at RAF Honeybourne, autumn, 1942; flying in Bristol Blenheim and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Aspects of operations as wireless operator with Anti-Submarine Flight, No 10 Operational Training Unit, No 91 (Operational Training) Group attached to Coastal Command, RAF in GB, 11/1942-1/1943: posting to unit at RAF St Eval; pigeons carried aboard aircraft; attack on German submarine in Bay of Biscay, 21/12/1942. Aspects of period as NCO with No 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF at RAF Marston Moor, 2/1943-3/1943: transfer to unit at RAF Marston Moor; opinion of Handley Page Halifax; attitude to going onto bomber operations. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as wireless operator with 158 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1943-6/1943: posting to squadron at RAF Lissett, 4/1943; explanation of chandelier target indicator; briefings; wireless operators role in aircraft; preparations for take off; security danger of testing wireless prior to operations; maintaining radio silence during operation; intercom talk in aircraft; dropping 'Window'; dropping bombs on target; attitude of crew during flight back to GB; debriefing on return; attempt to sleep after raid; origin of Pathfinder Force; transmitting work with Pathfinder Force; abortive operation to Duisburg, Germany, 12/5/1943. REEL 3 Continues: attitude to participating in operations to the Ruhr, Germany; selection for Pathfinders Force. Aspects of operations as wireless operator with 35 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinders Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 6/1943-5/1944: posting to squadron at RAF Graveley, 6/1943; German Air Force night fighter attack on aircraft over Berlin, Germany, 23/8/1943; attitude to being in Pathfinders Force; opinion of Avro Lancaster; shooting down of his aircraft Avro Lancaster B Mk.III (ND762) TL-E after operation to Dortmund, Germany, 22/5/1944-23/5/1944; bailing out over Tilburg, Netherlands, 23/5/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Netherlands and Germany, 1944: capture by German Army troops after attempt to take refuge with Dutch farmers, 23/5/1944; medical treatment in convent; treatment in German Air Force hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft VII, Bankau and Stalag III-A Luckenwalde, Germany, 6/1944-5/1945: interrogation at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel; suspicions of him because there was an extra man in his aircraft on 22/5/1944. REEL 4 Continues: reasons why Germans knew so much personal information; move to Stalag Luft VII, Bankau; transfer to Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde; liberation by Soviet Army; impressions of Soviets; escape to Allied lines, 5/1945; return to GB via Brussels, Belgium. Reflections on service with Royal Air Force: attitude to having served with Royal Air Force in Second World War; reasons for rejoining Royal Air Fore in 1947; psychological effects of being shot down; opinion of Air Vice-Marshal Donald Bennett