Metcalfe, Frank (Oral history)

British officer served with 82 Sqdn, No 2 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1940; hospitalisation for injuries at St Albans, GB, 1940-1941; trained on Oboe at Telecommunications Research Establishment, Malvern, GB, 1942; served as Senior Controller of Oboe with Pathfinders Force and No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Shildon, GB, 1917-1938: family; education; employment. Aspects of period with Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in GB, 1938-1939: reasons for joining Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve; learning to fly at No 4 Elementary and Reserve Flying School at Brough; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of operations as pilot with 82 Sqdn, No 2 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1940: arrival at squadron on day squadron suffered heavy losses on raid on Aalborg, Denmark, 7/1940; low-level anti-shipping attacks; avoiding German Air Force fighters; degree of effectiveness of Bristol Blenheim attacks in 1940; operations conducted during 1940; injuries after ditching damaged Bristol Blenheim in sea after raid on Hamm, Germany, 11/11/1940. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 1940-1941: plastic surgery to face at St Albans; effects of injuries; activities on return to duty, 1941. Aspects of period training on Oboe at Telecommunications Research Establishment, Malvern, GB, 1942: initial scepticism about benefits of Oboe; degree of effectiveness of Gee. REEL 2 Continues: 109 Sqdn, RAF's use of German beams to attack capital ships at Brest, France; explanation of how Oboe worked; success of Oboe on practice bombing ranges; why ground controllers had to be ex-aircrew; range of Oboe. Recollections of period as Senior Controller of Oboe with Pathfinders Force and No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945: success of first use of Oboe by Pathfinder Force during raid on Krupps factory in Essen, Germany, 5/3/1943; calculations controllers had to perform once target was known; work of 'cat' and 'mouse' stations; use of 'black pips' to measure aircraft speed over the ground; initial question of who should drop the bomb, the navigator or the controller; commanding mobile ground station at Florenne, Belgium, 1944; success of attacks on German batteries on D-Day, 6/6/1944. REEL 3 Continues: lack of losses using Oboe marking; setting up first mobile control station in Normandy, France, 1944; training Oboe controllers at Worth Matravers, 1944; American request to use Oboe system as navigational aid; problems he faced doing his job; orders from Air Vice-Marshal Donald Bennett to inspect every Oboe station prior to D-Day, 1944; memories of Air Vice-Marshal Donald Bennett; German attempts to counteract Oboe; degree of mathematical background needed by Oboe controller and academic training after Second World War. Aspects of period as civilian in Shildon, 1917-1939: memories of miners strike after General Strike, 5/1926; economic conditions during and after strike; effects on father's business of aftermath of strike; career's advice received from mother; father's political views and how he obtained contract from local Boot Fund. REEL 4 Continues: sight of hunger marchers at Ferry Hill; effects of economic conditions during 1920s-1930s on outcome of 1945 General Election; demobilisation from Royal Air Force, 1945.