Farley, Hugh Desmond John (Oral history)

British NCO served as wireless operator/air gunner with 206 Sqdn, No 15 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in Northern Ireland and GB, 3/1942-8/1942; served as instructor with No 75 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Gianaclis, Egypt, 12/1942-12/1943; officer served with 221 Sqdn, No 248 Wing, RAF on Malta and Italy, 1943-1944

REEL 1 Background in Ashton-under-Lyne, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; employment. Recollections of enlistment and training as wireless operator/air gunner with RAF in GB, 7/1940-3/1942: reasons for volunteering as aircrew with RAF, 3/1940; call-up to RAF, 7/1940; reception on arrival at No 3 Recruit Centre, RAF at RAF Padgate; accommodation at No 3 Recruit Centre, RAF at RAF Padgate; rations at RAF Padgate and RAF West Kirby; youth of one recruit; incident of being place on charge for not saluting officer; wireless training at No 10 (Signals) Recruit Centre, RAF at Blackpool and No 2 Radio School, RAF at RAF Yatesbury, 1940-1941; radio procedure; pay; back tuning wireless equipment; problems of working in aircraft; use of dinghy by ditching Coastal Command aircrew; flying clothing worn; flight in Bristol Blenheim at RAF Detling, 3/1941; story of meeting girl at dance in Tonbridge and subsequent posting, 3/1941. REEL 2 Continues: air gunnery training at No 1 Air Gunnery School, RAF at RAF Pembrey, 4/1941-11/1941; operating turret in Lockheed Hudson; dealing with stoppages; storage of ammunition in turrets; ground instruction and air recognition; promotion to sergeant at end of air gunnery course. Aspects of training with No 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Silloth, GB, 12/1941: posting to unit; crewing up; reasons for accidents with Lockheed Hudson; take off positions in Lockheed Hudson; wireless operator's desk; use of radio equipment; operational wireless procedure. Recollections of operations as wireless operator/air gunner with 206 Sqdn, No 15 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in Northern Ireland and GB, 3/1942-8/1942: sight of convoys in North Atlantic; posting to squadron at RAF Aldergrove; operating radar; incident of pilot not switching onto main tank; flights over southern Ireland. REEL 3 Continues: splitting up of his crew; operational briefings; threat of German Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft; attending briefing for thousand-bomber raid on Bremen, Germany, 6/1942; confidence in ground crew; armament of Lockheed Hudson; navigator's role as bomb aimer; detachment to RAF Donna Nook for thousand-bomber raid; participation in thousand-bomber raid on Bremen, Germany, 25/6/1942-26/6/1942; RAF losses during raid; sighting German night fighter; fuel situation and anti-aircraft damage to aircraft; reasons for cancellation of second thousand-bomber raid; squadron losses; converting to Boeing Fortress Mk II at RAF Bebecula, 7/1942; duration of operational tours in Coastal Command; reaction to posting to Aden, 8/1942. Aspects of period as instructor with No 75 Operational Training Unit, RAF in Egypt, 12/1942-12/1943: voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 9/1942-12/1942; role as instructor; accident when pilot fired Very Pistol into floor of Avro Anson during exercise. REEL 4 Continues: incident when adjutant cancelled flying; reasons for posting away of group captain; examples of unrest amongst ground crew; commissioning at end of instructional period. Recollections of operations as wireless operator/air gunner with 221 Sqdn, No 248 Wing, RAF on Malta and Italy, 12/1943-7/1944: posting to squadron; shared role; reasons for near ditching during anti-shipping patrol; prior recollection of near accidents at RAF Aldergrove; incident of being accidentally attacked by RAF Bristol Beaufighter over Adriatic Sea; role of operations from Malta; RAF support for Yugoslavian Partisans and targets attacked in Adriatic Sea; recreational activities at Grottaglie, Italy; amusing story of American pilot's poor navigational skills. REEL 5 Continues: operating from RAF Luqa on Malta; accommodation on Malta; amusing story of American airman not understanding 'drift'; background to leaving squadron and return to GB, 10/1944; leave in Belfast and Dublin on return to GB including meeting with German embassy employee. Demobilisation and return to civilian life, 1946. Attitude to having served with RAF during Second World War.