Description
Object description
Australian officer served with 53 Sqdn, No 14 Group, Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force, RAF in France in France, 1940; prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I, Barth, Stalag Luft III, Sagan and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke in Germany, 1940-1945, including participation in Great Escape, 4/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1914-1938: family; education; views of Great Britain; employment at miner in Kalgoorlie; celebrations of Anzac and Armistice Days; degree of interest in politics. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1938-1939: decision to join Royal Air Force; number of Australians serving with Royal Air Force prior to Second World War; selection board for short term commission; arrival in GB; prior experience of flying; pattern of flying training; question of inter-service rivalry; reaction to soloing in De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth. Aspects of operations as pilot with No 2 Army Co-Operation School, RAF at RAF Andover, GB and 53 Sqdn, No 14 Group, Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force, RAF in France, 1939-1940: camouflaging of airfield at RAF Andover on declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of Germans; difficulty of understanding some British accents; flying at low-level; opinion of British aircraft types; shooting down of aircraft on reconnaissance flight whilst serving with 53 Sqdn, RAF in France, 17/5/1940; capture by German Army troops, 17/5/1940. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I, Barth in Germany, 1940-1942: separation of officers from other ranks; treatment of officers; opinion of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini; conditions in first camp; drabness and boredom in camp; suicide of Fleet Air Arm officer; continuing education; escape committee; behaviour of German guards.
REEL 3 Continues: first escape attempt from Stalag Luft I; character of German guards; visits outside of camp; visit from American consol. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 1942-1944, including participation in Great Escape, 3/1944: reasons for transfer to Stalag Luft III; division of Polish airmen; living conditions and hutted accommodation; roll call; question of security; start of preparations for tunnelling; use of Klim tins for ventilation; importance of not talking about activities; dispersal of sand by 'penguins' from tunnels; character of guards.
REEL 4 Continues: contents of Red Cross food parcels; use of all elements of parcels and packaging; importance of supplies of tea and cigarettes; background to involvement in X Organisation; situation in 1944; role as penguin and with security; his escape number; reaction to putting head out of tunnel; nature of escape plan with partner Flight Lieutenant Edgar Humphries; motivation for escape; his escape clothing and supplies; movements on leaving tunnel including crossing autobahn; capture by German home guard; imprisonment in local gaol; physical condition of civilians at railway station; solitary confinement on return to Stalag Luft III; attitude towards film 'The Great Escape' and actual role of Americans.
REEL 5 Continues: return to main camp after period of solitary; reaction to German shooting of fifty escapers; playing ice hockey and other recreational activities; memories of German officer Captain Hans Pieber; question of an officers' duty to escape; belief in Allied victory and strength of morale; situation in camp, 1944-1945; German farmers acquiring food that prisoners of war could not carry on leaving camp, 1/1945; march away from Stalag Luft III, 1/1945; arrival of British Army troops at Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke and liberation; Soviet forced labourers method of cutting trees down outside camp; memories of Douglas Bader; liberation and memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945.
REEL 6 Continues: Reflections on service with Royal Air Force and period as prisoner of war: question of futility of war; reasons for not continuing to fly with Royal Air Force and return to Australia; attitude to having been made prisoner of war during Second World War.