Interview with George Frederick Reid

British aircraftman and NCO served as armourer with RAF in GB, 1935-1939; NCO served as observer with 49 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1939-12/1940; served as navigator with 97 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1941-4/1941; officer served as pilot with 233 Sqdn, No 46 Group, Transport Command, RAF in North West Europe and Burma, 1945; served with Transport Command, RAF in India and Afghanistan, 1945-1948

REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1918-1935: family; education. Aspects of period as aircraftman and NCO with Royal Air Force in GB, 1935-1939; enlistment, 9/1935; opinion of training; roles as armourer and observer; reaction of officers' mess to declaration of Second World War, RAF Aldergrove, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as observer with 49 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1939-12/1940: inadequacies of Handley Page Hampden for night operations over Germany, 9/1939-12/1940; magnetic mine-laying operations codenamed 'gardening', 4/1940; raid on armaments factory were 'target not sighted', Cologne, Germany, 11/5/1940; nature of raids on Germany, 5/1940; air observer role on operations, question of difficulties faced during bombing operations; navigation methods employed; dangers of hitting Lincoln Cathedral; memories of Guy Gibson at RAF Scampton, 1940; raid on aqueduct on Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany, 25/7/1940. REEL 2 Continues: use of soluble aspirin fuse on raid; story of how Flight Lieutenant Roderick Learoyd won Victoria Cross for raid on canal aqueduct north of Münster, Germany, 12/8/1940; Air Vice-Marshal Chief Arthur Harris' belief in low-level raids being suicidal; unpopularity of emergency landing of Handley Page Hampden at RAF Tangmere during Battle of Britain; rivalry between Bomber and Fighter Commands; long distance raids on Stettin, 5/9/1940 and Berlin, Germany, 8/9/1940; aspects of leaflet raid on Danzig, Germany, 10/11/1940 including nature of leaflets, glazed icing experience, use of Swedish radio stations for navigation, return journey and aim of raid to disrupt Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov's visit to Berlin, Germany; first night fighter patrol in Handley Page Hampden over Bristol, 7/12/1940. REEL 3 Continues: frostbite casualties. Aspects of period as navigator with 97 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1941-4/1941: first raid operating Avro Manchester, 26/2/1941; opinion of Avro Manchester; start of training as pilot, 1941. Recollections of operations as pilot with 233 Sqdn, No 46 Group, Transport Command in North West Europe, 1945: role during Operation Varsity, the crossing of the River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; role piloting a Douglas Dakota towing Airspeed Horsa Glider and loss of glider carrying 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; sight of sky full of aircraft during Operation Varsity, 3/1945; acting as pilot for Ministry of Aircraft Production's Fedden Mission, taking Sir Roy Fedden and his team to examine jet engine technology in German; German personnel brought out to work at Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, GB, 6/5/1945; aspects of arrival in Copenhagen, Denmark, 5/5/1945 including reception by Danish civilians; question of being first Royal Air Force aircraft to land in Denmark; attempt by senior German Army officer to surrender to Royal Air Force wireless operator. REEL 4 Continues: German Air Force officer committing suicide; role as 'liberator' to Danish Resistance and populace. Aspects of period as pilot with 233 Sqdn, No 46 Group, Transport Command in Burma, 1945: supply drops to civilians and Force 136, Special Operations Executive; investigating Royal Air Force aircraft crash near Tiddim; meeting British Army officer who had been operating behind Japanese lines for three years. Recollection of period as pilot with Transport Command, RAF in India and Afghanistan, 1945-1948: role of planning Indian Independence from air force point of view; nature of Plan Asylum, the precautions taken in event of massacre attempt on Europeans during Indian Independence, 1947; secret plan blown by Indian communist clerk; role training Afghans to fly, 1947-1948; repairing King of Afghanistan's Rolls-Royce car, 1948; diversity of Afghans flying training and opinion of pilots; further details of Plan Asylum; disturbances in Dehli, India, 1947; disturbances during Indian Independence Day in Peshawar, 15/8/1947. REEL 5 Continues: piloting Supermarine Spitfire from Peshawar to Amritsar and sight of masses of bodies along Lahore-Amritsar railway line, India, 8/1945.