Sanders, James Gilbert (Oral history)

British officer served as pilot with 615 Sqdn, RAF in France, 1939-1940 and during Battle of Britain, 1940

REEL 1 Background in Richmond and Genoa, 1914-1936: family; education; growing up in Genoa; facing court martial in Genoa for alleged insult to Mussolini. Enlistment and service with RAF in GB, 1936-1939: reasons for joining RAF; his advocacy for loose formation flying; flying Hawker Hurricane Mk I; problems with early Hawker Hurricanes; attitude of commanding officers of 111 Sqdn, RAF; occasion when Harry Broadhurst put him under arrest. Aspects of period as officer with 615 Sqdn, RAF in France, 1939-1945: posting to unit flying Gloster Gladiators; story of possible consequences of allowing Clementine Churchill to sit in his aircraft, 11/11/1939. Recollections of operations as officer with 615 Sqdn, RAF during Battle of France, 5/1940-6/1940: escorting Fairey Battles on Maastricht raid, 10/1940; his shooting down of German fighter; successes against German bombers; his crashing near Valenciennes; journey to Bethune and Abbeville; flying Bristol Blenheim from Abbeville to RAF Norholt; being placed under arrest by station commander at RAF Norholt; operating over Dunkirk with 264 Sqdn, RAF from RAF Manston. REEL 2 Continues: return to 615 Sqdn and operating from RAF Kenley; arrest by farmer after forced landing after reconnaissance over France, 22/6/1940. Recollections of operations as officer with 615 Sqdn, RAF during Battle of Britain, 1940: importance of being an experienced pilot; shooting down of his number two by British Hawker Hurricanes; qualities of Messerschmitt 109; use of incendiaries in ammunition; question of what aircraft cameras might reveal; his head on attack on formation of German Dorniers; attitude towards Douglas Bader's big wing, 8/1940; his engagement with German Dorniers during attack on RAF Kenley, 8/1940; his reaction to being sent to Prestwick. Aspects of operations with 253 Sqdn, RAF, 1940-1941: background to attachment to unit for experimental night fighter work; question of Hugh Dowding's foresight about night-fighting techniques. REEL 3 Continues: story of deceiving Italian pilot into dropping his bombs over a forest. Recollections of operations with various night fighter squadrons in GB, 1941: background to formation of night fighter squadrons and his movements; interception of German bomber over Retford; opinion of Boulton Paul Defiant; his attitude to night and day fighting; post-war meetings with Italian pilot who fought in Battle of Britain; German Air Force technique on attacking on the quarter; question of bomber crews deserved decorations more than fighter pilots; German Air Force attacks on Hull; meaning of term 'X raid' and 'Jim Crow Squadron'; period as commanding officer of 60 Out at RAF East Fortune; story of Russian diplomats death in aircrash. REEL 4 Continues: attitude to working on training. Memories of time at Fighter Command Headquarters, 1944. Attitude to having served with Fighter Command in Second World War. Story of warning 12 Group of temperature inversion. Story of light ship bombed by Germans near RAF Hawkinge. Question of after effects of service with RAF in Second World War.

In the 1830s and 1840s, white entertainer Thomas Dartmouth Rice performed a song and dance act in “blackface”, supposedly based on an African American enslaved man. The popular character, known as “Jim Crow”, portrayed Black American men in a derogatory way and “Jim Crow” was used as a derogatory name for Black Americans. The term Jim Crow is often used to describe the laws and rules of racial segregation which were put in place in the southern states of America after 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. In this period, Black Americans did not have equal civil rights. It is possible that the meaning and origins of “Jim Crow” in British Second World War military operations is connected with this usage.