Description
Object description
British NCO served with Royal Air Force in Aden, Aden Protectorate, 1940-1942; served as flight engineer with No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1943-1944; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel and Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg, Germany, 1944-1945; served with 59 Sqdn, Transport Command, RAF in GB and during Berlin Airlift in Germany, 1945-1949
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Winchester, GB, 1919-1938: family; education; life in family public house; recreational activities; employment as apprentice motor mechanic; driving experiences; story of road accident. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1938-1940: reasons for enlistment as aircraft fitter, 1938; kiting out on enlistment; basic training at RAF Cardington; training as aircraft fitter at RAF St Athan.
REEL 2 Continues: accommodation and messing at RAF St Athan; leave; adjusting to service life; inspections; contact with home; physical fitness; posting to maintenance unit; removal of engines from aircraft; embarking on board troopship. Aspects of period as NCO aircraft fitter in Aden, Aden Protectorate, 1940-1942: climatic conditions; daily routine in Aden; working on Bristol Blenheim aircraft; flights in Bristol Blenheim to East Africa.
REEL 3 Continues: return to Aden; loss of Lady Opal Brooke-Popham's suitcase and fur coat; transporting petrol up country into Aden; application to become flight engineer. Aspects of torpedoing of Mendoza in South Atlantic off South Africa, 1/11/1942: period spent in lifeboat; treatment as survivor in South Africa; voyage aboard SS California from South Africa to GB. Aspects of training as flight engineer with Royal Air Force in GB, 1943: pattern of training as flight engineer; role of flight engineer. Aspects of operations as flight engineer with a No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1943-1944: crewing up; daily operational routine; use Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) system; climbing into aircraft; preparations for take off.
REEL 4 Continues: taking off and flying across coast; importance of switching off Identification Friend or Foe (IFF); bailing out of aircraft after collision over Berlin, Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel and Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg, Germany, 1944-1945: landing and attempting to evade capture; capture by Germans; reuniting with crew members; transiting through Hamburg during Allied air raid; interrogation at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel; transfer to Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg; reception on arrival in camp.
REEL 5 Continues: production of camp magazine; post war book produced from camp magazine; layout of Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg; character of hutted accommodation; construction of tunnel and German captors' discovery of it; German captors' filling hole with sewage; digging of escape tunnel; voting on camp representative in prisoner of war camps containing Royal Air Force captives; collection of camp rations; Soviet prisoners of war attempts to obtain remains of rations; manufacturer of glue; showering; arrival of female Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) prisoners of war Warsaw Rising, 10/1944; Red Cross parcels.
REEL 6 Continues: contents of Red Cross parcels; arrival of bread ration from Netherlands; correspondence with GB; parcel containing escape material; counting of prisoners of war during roll call; reasons for Royal Air Force personnel exchanging places with British Army personnel in next compound; relations with German guards; Soviet prisoners of war capture of German dog; liberation by Soviet Army, 4/1945; contact with German civilians in woods after disappearance of camp guards; foraging for food; reasons for German destruction of property; behaviour of Soviet Army on River Weser; return to GB; reception at RAF Cosford.
REEL 7 Continues: use of 'blowers' in camp; use of illicit radio; return to home in Winchester. Recollections of period as flight engineer with 59 Sqdn, Transport Command, RAF in GB and during Berlin Airlift, Germany, 1945-1949: posting to squadron, 1945; route flown to Singapore, Malaya; start of Berlin Airlift; flying in Avro York aircraft; character of operational flights to Berlin, Germany; working shifts; second hand story of Don Bennett making elementary mistake on take off; cargoes flown into Berlin, Germany; role as flight engineer in Avro York aircraft; recreational activities during Berlin Airlift; transporting children from Berlin during airlift; flying Commonwealth crew members back to Australia.
REEL 8 Continues: arrival in Melbourne, Australia and return flight. Reflections on service with Royal Air Force: reasons for leaving Royal Air Force in 1951; story of trip to Scotland and encounter with Royal Family; return to civilian employment, 1951. Reflections on service with 59 Sqdn, RAF during Berlin Airlift in Germany, 1948-1949: encounters with Soviet Air Force aircraft; degree of contact with German civilians.