Description
Object description
Australian officer served as pilot with 50 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF, 1939-1941; prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I, Barth and Stalag Luft III, Sagan in Germany, 4/1941-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1921-1939: family; education; reasons for choice of career in medicine; recreational activities; employment; activities with Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and importance of Christian faith; social activities; further education. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939-1940: applying for short term commission with Royal Air Force; voyage aboard SS Orama from Australia to GB, 8/1939-9/1939; flying training on De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth at RAF Ansty; postings to RAF Cranwell and RAF St Athan; attitude to mix of different nationalities in Royal Air Force; story of having lunch with Czech President Edvard Beneš; problem of German Air Force raid during lecture; incident of spotting German Navy submarine during training exercise.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 50 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 11/1940-4/1941: reasons for posting to Bomber Command; sight of aerial combat during Battle of Britain; attitude to having Guy Gibson as instructor; opinion of Squadron Leader George 'Gus' Walker and story of post-war reunion; operation to Essen, Germany, 10/4/1941; how his aircraft was caught in searchlights over Eindhoven, Netherlands, 10/4/1941; damage to aircraft and wounding of crew; parachuting from aircraft and sight of crew member coming down in burning parachute. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Netherlands and Germany, 4/1941: landing near canal and receiving help from local Dutch farmer; capture by Germans and journey to prison in Amsterdam, Netherlands; reaction to loss of crew members; transfer to Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany; reaction to apparent lack of bomb damage in German cities. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I, Barth and Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1941-1/1945: period in Stalag Luft I, Barth and first experience of digging escape tunnel; transfer to Stalag Luft III, Sagan 4/1942; use of Soviet prisoners of war to build camp; story of failed attempt to escape with Czech prisoner disguised as Soviet prisoners of war.
REEL 3 Continues: meeting Paul Brickhill; period in solitary confinement; food smuggled in by Soviet prisoners of war from German commandant's vegetable garden; return to camp and problem of adjusting to food; studying German language and role in charge of German money for escapes; bribing German guards to acquire escape items; role as shift boss on escape tunnel; work preparing forged documents; reasons for giving up place on the Great Escape to work as assistant in camp hospital; reaction to news of execution of escapees; work in hospital and opinion of medical team; post-war reunion with former prisoners of war and meeting with former German guard; description of working on tunnel; problem of removal of earth; conditions underground; amusing story of German guard putting mirror in tunnel.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Hermann Göring's attitude to captured airmen. Aspects of evacuation of Stalag Luft III, Sagan and journey across Germany, 1/1945-5/1945; period in prisoner of war camp near Nüremberg; accidental attack by United States Army Air Force aircraft; amusing story of offering job in Australia to German doctor; use of converted pram to carry belongings; methods of obtaining food from farms; encounter with Swiss Red Cross supply trucks. Aspects of period in GB and Australia, 1945-1946: memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945; prior recollection of camp inmates and post-war reunions; refusal of offer of scholarship in United States of America; reaction of Germans to Great Escape from Stalag Luft III; opinion of Lady Frances Ryder Allied Services Hospitality Scheme to help Dominion servicemen; period of leave spent in Stratford-upon-Avon, GB.
REEL 5 Continues: leave in Australia, 1945; memories celebrating VJ Day, 15/8/1945; return to GB for demobilisation; sporting and recreational activities; marriage.
REEL 6 Continues: further memories of leave in GB and marriage; return to Australia following demobilisation, 5/1946; further medical training; later career as doctor in Australia,.
REEL 7 Continues: further aspects of career as doctor in Australia including illness of wife and work with heart patients. Recollections of operations as pilot with 50 Sdqn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB and as prisoner of war in Germany, 4/1941-4/1945: memories blackout and amusing story of eating fish and chips, London, GB; liberation by United States Army troops and and sight of General George Patton, 4/1945; reaction to visiting concentration camp and treating camp survivors; story of United States Army troops massacre of Hitler Youth in wood; flight in Avro Lancaster from Rheims, France to GB, 5/1945; reaction to freedom; memories of Wing Commander Douglas Bader in Stalag Luft III, Sagan; post-war reunion with George 'Gus' Walker.
REEL 8 Continues: further memories of Guy Gibson; opinion of Guy Gibson as an instructor; attitude to comradeship of bomber crew; mine laying operation off Bordeaux, France; role and duties as second pilot in Handley Page Hampden aircraft; navigational techniques; memories of fellow crewmen; attitude to promotion to first pilot; sight of German fighter aircraft being shot down.
REEL 9 Continues: method of disposing sand from tunnel at Stalag Luft III, Sagan; memories of Squadron Leader Roger Bushell in Stalag Luft III, Sagan; exercising in camp; role of escape committee and allocation of duties; role as cook and opinion of food; work in camp hospital; opinion of drugs used; attitude to patients; post-war friendship with Edward 'Weary' Dunlop in Australia; attitude towards war service; attitude to Germans.
REEL 10 Continues: effects of imprisonment on prisoners of war; educational programmes in camp; attitude to service life; memory of VE Day, 8/5/1945; opinion of Americans.