Interview with Henry Norman Gostelow

British seaman served aboard HMS Curacao, 1st Anti-Aircraft Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Norway, 1940; officer served aboard Empire Franklin and Empire Morn in North Atlantic and Arctic, 1941-1942; served as fighter control officer with Fighter Direction Control in GB, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; reasons for joining Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 4/1939. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Curacao, 1st Anti-Aircraft Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Norway, 1940: duties on board anti-aircraft cruiser; role of ship as anti-aircraft protection near Aandalsnes, Norway, 4/1940; German Air Force bomb damage sustained to ship at Åndalsnes, Norway, 24/4/1940; role of damaged ship during refit on River Medway and River Thames, GB, 7/1940-8/1940; reaction of officer to his request to become officer cadet. Aspects of training as officer cadet training in GB, 1940-1941: conditions in barracks at HMS Victory, Portsmouth, 12/1940; cadet training at HMS King Alfred III at Lancing College; memories of Harold Marsland, 1941. Aspects of training with Naval Fighter Direction, Royal Navy in GB, 1941: interview with Lieutenant Commander Michael Horden; training at RAF Stanmore Park; importance of language in fighter control; move to Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, RAF at RAF Speke. REEL 2 Continues: later story of attempt to intercept Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor in North Atlantic from SS Empire Franklin, 1941. Recollections of operations as fighter control officer with Naval Fighter Direction, Royal Navy aboard SS Empire Morn during Convoy PQ 18 in Arctic, 2/9/1942-21/9/1942: protection duties; launching Hawker Hurricane from ship; berthing at Bakaritsa, Archangel, Soviet Union1942; unescorted voyage to GB; use of Intourist Club facilities; Soviet use of civilians to test ice; Soviet Army guards' treatment of pilfering stevedores. Recollections of period as fighter control officer with Naval Fighter Direction, Royal Navy in GB, 1943-1945: disbanding of Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, RAF, 1943; refresher course at HMS Heron, Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton; work as instructor at Royal Naval Air Station Drem; work aboard HMS Caicos controlling aircraft from RAF Coltishall attempting to intercept launching of German V1 Flying Bombs, 1944; work aboard Fighter Direction Tender 13 after VE Day; attitude to having served with Royal Navy in Second World War.