Interview with Leslie Walter Harvey

British NCO served as pilot with 54 Sqdn, No 11 Group, Fighter Command in GB during Battle of Britain, 8/1940-9/1940; served with 245 Sqdn, No 13 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in Northern Ireland, 9/1940-10/1940; served with 601 Sqdn, No 12 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB, 8/1941-10/1941; served with 94 Sqdn, No 262 Wing, Western Desert Air Force, RAF in North Africa, 11/1941-1/1942; served with No 4 Aircraft Delivery Unit, RAF in Middle East, West Africa and Mediterranean, 5/1942-5/1944; NCO and officer served as pilot with 567, 695 and 290 Sqdns, RAF in GB and Belgium, 5/1944-10/1945

REEL 1 Background in Ware, GB, 1920-1938: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1938-1940: background to enlistment in Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 10/1938; learning to fly; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; training at No 5 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Aston Down, 7/1940; comparison between Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. Recollections of operations as pilot with 54 Sqdn, No 11 Group, Fighter Command, RAF in GB during Battle of Britain, 22/8/1940-22/9/1940: reception at RAF Hornchurch; encounter with German Air Force fighter aircraft on reconnaissance flight; memories of Squadron Leader Al Deere. Aspects of period as pilot with 245 Sqdn, No 13 Group, Fighter Command, RAF, 1940: reasons for posting to RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, 28/9/1940; role training Polish pilots; use of DF Homer; motorcycle accident and resulting hospitalisation. Aspects of operations as pilot with 601 Sqdn, No 12 Group, Fighter Command, RAF, 8/1941-10/1941: posting to RAF Duxford; use of Bell Airacobra on fighter sweeps over France, 8/1941. Recollections of operations as NCO with 94 Sqdn, No 262 Wing, Western Desert Air Force, RAF in North Africa, 11/1941-1/1942: journey from GB to Egypt, 10/1941-11/1941; arrival at squadron, 17/11/1941; effect of sand on aircraft; shooting down by German Air Force Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft and baling out over Agedabia, Libya, 14/1/1942. REEL 2 Continues: burns he received on baling out; aid he received from Arabs and rescue by 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own), 14/1/1942; evacuation from Benghazi to Tobruk, Libya; narrow escape from hospital ship torpedoed in Mediterranean. Aspects of period as pilot with No 4 Aircraft Delivery Unit, RAF in Middle East, West Africa and Italy, 5/1942-5/1944: duties air testing aircraft; contracting malaria; delivery work in Italy; occasion when he abandoned Supermarine Spitfire during German counter-attack at Salerno, Italy, 9/1943; amusing encounter with American pilot at Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, 1943. Aspects of operations as pilot with 567, 695 and 290 Sqdns, RAF in GB and Belgium, 1944-1945: posting to 567 Sqdn at RAF Detling, 5/1944-6/1944; duties with 695 Sqdn, 7/1944-8/1944; sight of German V2 Rocket whilst with 290 Sdqn over Belgium, 1945; prior recollection of narrow escape at No 5 Operational Training Unit, RAF RAF Aston Down, 7/1940