Gilbert, Leslie (Oral history)

British leading aircraftman served as radar mechanic with Coastal Command Development Unit in GB, 1942; served as radar mechanic with 458 Sqdn, RAF during operations in North Africa, 1942-2/1943; served with 38 Sqdn, RAF in Egypt, Libya, Greece and Italy, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Kentish Town, Cricklewood, and Putney, London, 1920-1941: early interest in wireless; social circumstances; movements around London; education; chemistry and photography hobbies; story of arrest for photographing ships in Pool of London; story of photographing German pocket battleship at Kiel, Germany during Baltic cruise; work as tax officer with Inland Revenue, 1936-1941; family Lithuanian Jewish background; question of anti-Semitism; political influences and membership of Communist Party; awareness of approach of war. REEL 2 Continues: air raid warning on outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; absence of air raid shelter; effects of German air raids; fire watching on Inland Revenue offices; background to volunteering for training as radar mechanic with RAF, 3/1941. Kitting out at RAF Receiving Centre, Cardington, 3/1941. Recollections of period as Initial Training Wing, Skegness, 3/1941-4/1941: billets; food rations; question of identification as Jewish; ; sharing room with conscientious objector; drill; PT; kitchen fatigues; relationship with ORs and instructors. Recollections of wireless training at Dagenham Technical College, 4/1941-10/1941: billets; daily routine; nature of course; question of prior use of civilians called up from wireless repair shops for radar maintenance work. Recollections of radar training at RAF Cranwell, 10/1941-1/1942: shift system of lectures. REEL 3 Continues: training on maintenance of Air to Surface Vessel Radar (ASV) as fitted to Wellington; diagnostic equipment and spare components; secrecy and question of Communist Party membership; background to qualification as leading aircraftman. Recollections of period as LAC radar mechanic with Coastal Command Development Unit at Carew Cheriton, Ballykelly and Tain, ca 1/1942-7/1942: nature of unit; relationship with officer; work on Lee searchlight carried by aircraft; hut accommodation; leave; crashed Vickers Wellington on flight to Northern Ireland; conditions of service; story of Bristol Beaufighter crash during parachute experiment; lack of awareness of religious divisions in Northern Ireland; move to Tain, 4/1942; story of airsickness during test of new version of Identification Friend or Foe system (IFF) fitted in Bristol Beaufighter; volunteering for overseas service. Period at Wilmslow, Manchester, 7/1942: issue of tropical kit; vaccinations. REEL 4 Voyage aboard Avrangi to Port Tewfik, Egypt, 7/1942-8/1942: crowded conditions; degaussing ship; send off from Clyde; composition of convoy; story of accidental shooting down of Sunderland flying boat; crowded conditions; night blackout; visits to Freetown, Sierre Leone and Capetown, South Africa; sailing independently up Red Sea; disembarking at Port Tewfik. Period at Holding Camp. Port Tewfik area, ca 8/1942-10/1942: climate; confusion over status as radar rather than radio mechanic. Recollection of period as LAC radar mechanic with 458 Sqdn, RAF during operations in Egypt and Libya, 10/1942-2/1943: reception; situation on detachment to forward base at Berka, Libya; tent accommodation; food rations; latrines; water supply; view of Eighth Army passing base during their advance; story of engine failure during flight back to rejoin main unit in Egypt, 25/12/1942; story of drunken Australians; story of guarding aircraft at Nerka; daily inspection and checking of radar sets and Wellington ASV including effects of lack of ear protection, common faults and working conditions in aircraft. REEL 5 Continues: prior recreational visits to Cairo; rejoining unit at Shallufa, Canal Zone; local leave in Palestine. Recollections of period with 38 Sqdn, RAF in Egypt, Libya, Greece and Italy, 2/1943-8/1945: joining unit at Shallufah; move along coastal road to Berka III; battlefield debris; climate; tent accommodation; scorpion, locust and fly problems; role of unit on anti-submarine patrols covering convoys; use of aerial torpedoes and 500 lb bombs against German shipping in Eastern Mediterranean; prior service of unit in Iraq; state of unit morale and discipline; operation of ASV radar in Wellington including pilot's reports of efficiency, method of checking and adjusting frequency with wave meter, case of electrocution and discovery of effect of humidity on frequency; dust storms and local agriculture; visits to Benghazi; heat stroke; local leave in Cairo. REEL 6 Continues: visits to nearby US airfield; making wireless; move to Alexandria, 10/1944; voyage to Piraeus, Greece, 11/1944; billets at Glyfada and airfield at Kalamaki; living conditions of Greek civilians and story illustrating treatment by German soldiers; issue of rifles; political situation; Greek propaganda leaflets directed against Greek Resistance; voyage to Taranto, Italy, 12/1944; move to Grottagli; cold weather and makeshift stoves; latrines; relationship with Italian civilians; move to Foggia, 2/1945; re-equipment with new Wellingtons; nature of new 9cm radar sets based on magnetron; role in charge of workshop servicing magnetrons, rectifiers and screens of radar sets; move to Falconara, 5/1945; state of unit morale; travelling through mountainous area; local leave in Florence; visit to opera. REEL 7 Continues: reactions to VE Day, 8/5/1945; leaving unit 8/1945. Period at Naples, 6/1945: demonstrations amongst troops awaiting return to GB; recreational visits. Absence of reception on arrival of ship in Liverpool, 7/1945. Demobilisation, 8/1945. Post-war career: question of return to work with Inland Revenue; training and work as science teacher; effects of war service and reinforcement of Communist political beliefs.