Interview with James Alexander Porter

British NCO trained as pilot with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada 1940-1941; served with Training Command, RAF in GB 1941-1943; served with 10 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1944-4/1944; served with 635 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force), Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 5/1944; evaded capture in Belgium, 5/1944-6/1944; prisoner of war in Antwerp Prison, Antwerp, Belgium, Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft VII, Bankau and Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde in Germany, 7/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Omagh and Belfast, Northern Ireland, GB, 1922-1939: family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1940-1941: volunteering for service with Royal Air Force AF, 1940; posting to RAF Cranwell; conditions at No 10 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Scarborough, winter 1940-1941; flying training with Empire Air Training Scheme at No 1 Initial Training School, RCAF at Toronto and No 5 Service Flying Training School, RCAF at RCAF Brantford in Canada, 5/1941-9/1941; relationship between Royal Air Force trainees and Canadian civilians. Aspects of period as NCO with Training Command, RAF in GB, 1941-1943: work with student navigators; attitude to being excluded from operations; transfer to Bomber Command, RAF, 8/1943. Aspects of period of training with Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 10/1943-1/1944: becoming pilot to 'headless' crew at RAF Riccall, 10/1943; composition of aircrew; problems with his rear gunner. REEL 2 Continues: conversion onto different marks of Handley Page Halifax; introduction of Handley Page Halifax B Mk.III with different engines; comparison between Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. Recollections of operations as pilot with 10 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1944-3/1944: joining unit at RAF Melbourne, 7/1/1944; rockets fired into flight stream by Germans during raid on Berlin, Germany, 28/1/1944; early return due to mechanical fault during operation to Berlin, Germany, 15/2/1944; explanation of term 'Christmas Tree'; raid on Leipzig, Germany; character of minelaying operaitons, 2/1944; raids on railway marshalling yards in France, 3/1944; incendiary raid on Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 23/3/1944 including nature of United States Army Air Force and Royal Air Force follow up raids; bomb damage witnessed later on as prisoner of war. Recollections of operations as pilot with 635 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 5/1944: reasons for transfer to No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, RAF; posting to squadron; method of marking targets; raid on German radar jamming station at Cap Gris-Nez, France, 5/1944; shooting down of his aircraft Avro Lancaster B.Mk III (ND819) at Luijkesgestel, Netherlands after raid on Duisberg, Germany, 22/5/1944-23/5/1944. Aspects of period of evading capture in Belgium, 5/1944-6/1944: attempt to hide, 23/5/1944; shelter with family in Lommel; family's connection with Belgian Resistance; request to return to GB, 6/1944; attempt to escape to GB via Hoboken, Antwerp, 6/1944. REEL 4 Continues: betrayal and capture by Gestapo in Antwerp, 16/6/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Antwerp Prison, Belgium, 6/1944-7/1944: conditions in prison; coping with prison rations; interrogation; transfer to German Air Force custody in Brussels, Belgium; condition of Brussels-Aachen railway line, 7/1944. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft VII, Bankau and Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde, Germany, 7/1944-4/1945: contact with Royal Air Force 'defector' at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, 8/1944; move to Stalag Luft VII, Bankau; nature of prisoner of war rations; German use of 'ferrets'; how camp radio set was obtained by blackmail; repatriations from camp including radio in prisoner of war's wooden leg; leaving camp, 1/1945; conditions of march from Stalag Luft VII, Bankau to Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde. REEL 5 Continues: arrival at Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde; problems of obtaining rations; crowded conditions in camp; German treatment of Soviet prisoners of war; flight of German personnel from camp, 21/4/1945; liberation of camp by Soviet Army; attempt of Soviet authorities to keep former prisoners of war in camp; arrival of American lorries and problems former prisoners of war had boarding them; opinion of Germans whilst prisoner of war; attitude to having served with Royal Air Force in Second World War.