Description
Object description
British NCO served as pilot with 40 Sqdn, RAF in GB, Malta and North Africa 4/1941-5/1942; officer served as instructor at No 12 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Chipping Warden in GB, 6/1942-9/1942; officer served served as pilot with 150 Sqdn, No 1 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1942-10/1942; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Stalag Luft III, Sagan and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 11/1942-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wrexham, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; early interest in aviation; decision to join Royal Air Force; employment in family business, 1936; attending air show. Aspects of enlistment and flying training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939- 1940: background to volunteering for aircrew; attending aircrew selection board; call-up to No 1 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Cambridge, 12/1939; reaction to being assigned to ground defence duties; posting to elementary training school; pattern of flying training in Miles Magister; abortive selection for fighter aircraft training in Canada; degree of awareness of brother in law's experiences during Battle of Britain; pattern of training on twin engined Airspeed Oxford; relations with instructors; opinion of Airspeed Oxford; origins of fellow trainees.
REEL 2 Continues: posting as sergeant to No 11 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Bassingbourn, 1941; pattern of training on Vickers Wellington; crewing up. Recollections of operations as pilot with 40 Sqdn, RAF in GB, Malta and North Africa, 1941: posting to squadron at RAF Wyton; first operation as second pilot; flying as second pilot in Vickers Wellington; nature of operations; allocation of crew; types of targets attacked during tour; acting as rear gunner during flight with flight commander; duration of tours; volunteering for Middle East tour; squadron losses; attitude to Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF) cases; preparations for flight to Middle East.
REEL 3 Continues: flight from GB to Malta via Gibraltar; landing at Malta; reasons for not continuing journey for five weeks; posting to 38 Sqdn at RAF Shallufa, Egypt; on detachment to Malta and rejoining 40 Sqdn, 11/1941; accommodation; types of operations flown; encounter with Italian Air Force fighter aircraft over Naples, Italy; targets; conditions on Malta and casualties; Christmas misdemeanours and subsequent court proceedings, 12/1941; commissioning.
REEL 4 Continues: end of tour and return to GB, 1942. Aspects of period as instructor at No 12 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Chipping Warden in GB, 6/1942-9/1942: leave on return to GB; attending instructors' course; difficulty of flying Vickers Wellington B.Mk III on one engine; instructional duties; volunteering for second tour. Aspects of operations as pilot with 150 Sqdn, RAF in GB, 9/1942-10/1942: posting to squadron at RAF Snaith, 19/9/1942; nature of operations flown; marriage; story of shooting down of aircraft during mine laying operation off Stavanger, Norway, 21/9/1942; crash landing on lake and escape from aircraft; condition of crew. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Norway, 21/10/1942-28/10/1942: aid from Norwegian civilians; capture by Germans; interrogation in Stavanger.
REEL 5 Continues: journey to Oslo; interrogation in Gestapo Headquarters, Oslo; flight from Oslo to Berlin, Germany, 28/10/1942. Aspects of period as prisoner of war at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany, 10/1942-11/1942: interrogation and treatment; degree of information known by interrogators. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 11/1942-1/1945: reception on arrival at camp; hospitalisation; move into North Compound; rations; importance of Red Cross parcels; accommodation in huts; description of huts and fence; sporting and recreational activities; inmate with psychological problems; relations with guards; periods in cooler.
REEL 6 Continues: appointment of Squadron Leader Roger Bushell as Big X and decision to construct three tunnels; joining tunnelling team under Canadian Flight Lieutenant Wally Floody; problems of distribution of sand; method of warning of approach of German ferrets; entrances to tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry; dispersal of sand from tunnels; tools used and ventilation of tunnels; construction of tunnels using half way houses; tunnel collapses; decision to complete Dick tunnel prior to move of American prisoners of war; discovery of Dick tunnel, 9/1943; concentration on completion of Harry tunnel; use of theatre to disperse sand; completion of tunnel, 3/1944; selection of escapers; duties in tunnel during Great Escape; leaving tunnel after its discovery, 3/1944; preparations for his escape; allocation to huts on night of escape.
REEL 7 Continues: treatment by German guards on capture in tunnel; hearing news of shooting of escaped prisoner of war whilst in solitary confinement in cooler; start of tunnel during winter 1944-1945. Aspects of march away from Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 1/1945-2/1945: preparations for march; conditions on march; cramped conditions in train. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: arrival at camp, 2/1945; relations with guards; orders to march away from camp, 4/1945; accidental attack on prisoner of war column by Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoon aircraft, Gresse, Germany, 19/4/1945; listening to news on radio in German farmhouse; liberation by British Army troops and return to GB, 5/1945.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with Royal Air Force in GB, 1945-1967: reasons for rejoining Royal Air Force; instructional duties; attitude to work with ferry unit; flying Hawker Hunter; duties on Cyprus, 1954-1958; taking command of 148 Sqdn, RAF at RAF Marham and role of squadron in Cold War; posting to Far East, 1964; commanding RAF Gan, Maldive Islands in Indian Ocean; work on air selection board; preference of De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito and English Electric Canberra and contrast with Vickers Valiant; sporting activities; leaving Royal Air Force, 1968.
