Interview with Edward Ernest Braine

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Description

Object description

British aircraftsman trained as navigator with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1942-1944; NCO served as navigator with 256, No 232 Wing and 600 Sqdn, No 285, Desert Air Force, RAF, Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force in Italy, 9/1944-5/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Birmingham, GB, 1922-1942: family; education; employment; interest in aviation; story of stopping runaway horses during German Air Force bombing. Recollections of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1942-1944: selection process for aircrew, 1941; reception at No 1 Aircrew Reception Centre, St John's Wood, London; origins of flight commanders; medical inoculations; march to Regent's Park Zoo for messing; adjusting to service life; accommodation; method of polishing boots; pattern of training. REEL 2 Continues: volunteer status of recruits; move to tented camp at Ludlow; road building duties; move to No 7 Initial Training Wing at Newquay, 8/1942; accommodation; drilling; pattern of training at Newquay, 8/1942-12/1942; Morse Code training; social life and degree of physical fitness; sight of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley crashing into cliff; threat of German Air Force nuisance raids; aircraft recognition; train journey from Newquay to Birmingham; attending Royal Air Force Regiment courses at Whitley Bay and Filey, 12/1942-1/1943. REEL 3 Continues: attitude to having to repeat Royal Air Force Regiment course; on draft at Aircrew Dispersal Centre, RAF at RAF Heaton Park; nature of voyage aboard HMS Empress of Scotland from GB to Canada including living conditions on board; arrival in New York, United States of America; train journey from New York, United States of America to Moncton, Canada; arrival at RCAF Moncton, Canada; character of RCAF Moncton; move to No 4 Air Observer School, RCAF at RCAF London, Canada; civilian instructors; pattern of training; relations with civilians in London, Canada; acceptance that he would not be a pilot and become a navigator; return to GB, 9/1943. REEL 4 Continues: promotion to sergeant on completion of course; sight tests for night vision at No 7 Personnel Reception Centre, RAF at RAF Harrogate, GB; character of radar training at RAF Ousten, GB; operation of radar in aircraft; relations between NCOs and officers; posting to RAF Charterhall, GB for operational training; crewing up; transfer onto Bristol Beaufighter aircraft; position of navigator in Bristol Beaufighter; accident during training; method of observing aircraft at night; interpreting radar signals. REEL 5 Continues: conversion to De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito. Recollections of operations as navigator with 256 Sqdn, No 232 Wing and 600 Sqdn, No 285 Wing, Desert Air Force, RAF, Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force in French Algeria, Sardinia and Italy, 8/1944-5/1945: joining 256 Sqdn at La Sénia, French Algeria, 8/1944; role of night fighter aircraft; daily routine; air tests; move to Sardinia, 9/1944; attachment to United States Army Air Force station at Bari; move to Foggia; nature of night fighting work; posting to 600 Sqdn at Cestenatico, 3/1945; squadron esprit de corps landing on mesh runway; character of Mk X Radar; failing radar test; crash landing after engine failure; reaction to losses of aircrew; checking through dead aircrew kit; writing final letters. REEL 6 Continues: reasons for losses amongst night fighter crews; use of artificial moonlight; attitude towards different services; move of squadron to Trieste, Italy area to counter threat of Yugoslav Partisans, 5/1945; disbandment of 600 Sqdn and return to 256 Sqdn, 5/1945. Aspects of period with No 38 Personnel Transit Centre, RAF at Treviso in Italy, 1945-1946: posting to command unit; social activities; relations with Italian civilians; story of treatment of Italian woman by Germans; amusing story of visits to Italian civilian home and opera in Treviso. Aspects of period as NCO with 256 Sqdn, RAF in Egypt, 1946: rejoining squadron in Egypt; background to becoming commanding officer's navigator; attitude to becoming senior squadron NCO; return to GB. REEL 7 Continues: demobilisation on return to GB; question of staying on in Royal Air Force; return to civilian life, 1946; attitude to having served with Royal Air Force during 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)
Baker, Lindsay (Recorder)
Braine, Edward Ernest (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2002-07-23
Dimensions: whole: Duration 210, Number Of Items 7
Catalogue number: 23431

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Interview with Edward Ernest Braine

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