Interview with Victor Alexander Ralph

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Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
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Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
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Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
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Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
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© IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

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Description

Object description

British aircraftsman served as radar mechanic with Royal Air Force in GB, Gold Coast, Italy and Malta, 1941-1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Brockley, GB, 1922-1939: family; education; membership of Federal Union, 1939. Aspects of period as civilian living in Brockley, GB, 1939-1941: membership of 57th (Catford) Bn County of London Home Guard including guarding unexploded bomb, 1940; damage to family home; degree of fear during German Air Force attacks; employment at Shepperton; effects of German Air Force attacks on family; public morale; spending Christmas in Ilfracombe, 12/1940. Aspects of enlistment and training as aircraftman with Royal Air Force in GB, 1941: volunteering for Royal Air Force, 1941; reasons for volunteering for aircrew; training as wireless/radar mechanic at Leicester; move to No 2 Radio School, RAF at RAF Yatesbury; memories of Arthur C Clarke at RAF Yatesbury. Aspects of period as radar mechanic at RAF Worth Matravers, GB, 1941-1942: posting to station; duties; failure of Chain Home Low Station to detect low flying German Air Force raiders attacking Swanage; degree of efficiency of radar and radar operators, 1941-1942. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as radar mechanic with RAF Takoradi on Gold Coast, 1942-1944: posting to Gold Coast, summer 1942; voyage aboard HMS Rajputana from GB to Gold Coast, duties at radar station; threat from Vichy French; arrival of 26 Sqdn, South African Air Force; role of RAF Takoradi; living conditions at RAF Takoradi; relations with civilians; work on masts; voyage from Gold Coast to GB, 1944; memories of German V1 attacks at Chain Home Radar Station at RAF Canewdon, 1944. Recollections of period as radar mechanic with Royal Air Force in Italy and Malta, 1944-1945: arrival in Naples, Italy, 8/1944; billeting at Portici; treatment of men who had been classed as having Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF); relaxation in Portici, Italy; posting to Malta. REEL 3 Continues: work on Chain Home Low station; job setting up radar station on Gozo Island, Malta; move to Taormina, Sicily, Italy; method of rotating radar aerials; commendation unit received for efficiency; how he became airman-schoolmaster, 1945; reasons for not signing on as Educational Vocation Training Scheme instructor; return to civilian life working for building firm; attitude to having served with Royal Air Force in Second World War.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Ralph, Victor Alexander (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2002-05-08
Dimensions: whole: Duration 90, Number Of Items 3
Catalogue number: 23132

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Interview with Victor Alexander Ralph

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