Interview with Francis Joseph McGovern

British fireman with Auxiliary Fire Service in St Helens, GB, 1939-1941; NCO served as air gunner with 426 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 7/1943-8/1944

REEL 1 Background in St Helens, GB, 1924-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as fireman with Auxiliary Air Force in St Helens, GB, 1939-1941: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force bombing of timber yard in St Helens; bomb damage in St Helens; excitement caused by issue of gas masks; membership of Air Training Corps; sight of inferno on Scotland Road whilst guiding fire engine into central Liverpool, 5/1941; impact of Second World War on civilian population; effect of introduction of double summer time; attitude towards Germans; knowledge gained in Air Training Corps; why he wanted to enlist in Royal Air Force. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force, GB, 1942-1943: call-up to Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 12/1942; processing of aircrew recruits at No 1 Aircrew Reception Centre, St John's Wood, London, 1/1943; how recruits were dissuaded from consorting with prostitutes in London, 1/1943; attending No 14 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Bridlington, 3/1943-4/1943; learning elements of air gunnery at RAF Penrhos; aircraft recognition techniques; use of seat in Bristol Turret of Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV aircraft; attitude to prospect of active service and joining an operational unit, 1943. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as air gunner with 426 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 7/1943-8/1944: posting to RAF Dishforth, 7/1943; move to RAF Linton-on-Ouse; initial allocation to Avro Lancaster crew; daily life of unit; summer 1943; relations with civilians in Linton-on-Ouse and York; first operation to Nüremberg, Germany, 27/8/1943; coping with need to urinate on long flights; clothing worn on raids; tablets taken by aircrew to keep them awake on operations; personal equipment taken on operations; freezing of his Pepsi supply during operation, 27/8/1943; reasons why he never took stimulant tablets; turning back from operation to München-Gladbach, Germany when pilot's escape hatch blew off, 30/8/1943; extra fuel ground crews sometimes put into aircraft; sight of city's defences during raid on Berlin, Germany, 31/8/1943; raid on Mannheim, Germany, 23/9/1943. REEL 3 Continues: conning of aircraft during raid on Stuttgart, Germany, 7/10/1943; German Air Force intruder tactics; position in mid-upper turret and difficulty of escape compared with rear turret; wounding during raid on Leipzig, Germany, 20/10/1943; medical treatment he received for eye and other injuries; loss of his aircrew whilst he was recuperating and his sense of guilt as a survivor; narrow escape during another fatal operation, 14/3/1944; 'Night of the Big Winds', raid on Berlin, Germany with emergency landing RAF Woodbridge, 24/3/1944-25/3/1944; raid on Nüremberg, Germany, 30/3/1944. REEL 4 Continues: state of morale in Bomber Command; start of raids on targets in France, 4/1944; measures which improved confidence and made operations easier from 4/1944; attack on German coastal defences at Houlgate, Normandy, France, 5/6/1944; attack on road and rail bridges in which aircraft nearly bombed from above by another Handley Page Halifax at Counances, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944; army support operation, Caen, Normandy, France, 18/7/1944; opinion of Handley Page Halifax; temporary posting to 432 (RCAF) Sqdn, RAF; attitude towards daylight as opposed to night operations, 1944; last operation attack on supply depot in Paris area, France, 5/8/1944; completion of 39 operations and attitude of Royal Canadian Air Force to men who had been wounded. Reflections on service with Bomber Command, 1943-1944: attitude to service in Second World War; interviewer reads poem 'The Rear Gunner' and asks McGovern to respond to it as a depiction of what the rear gunner felt in Second World War; question of psychological effects of war; superstitions in Bomber Command, RAF.