Farley, Hugh Desmond John 'Jack (Oral history)

British NCO served with 206 Sqdn, RAF in GB, 1942; served as instructor with 75 Operational Training Unit in Egypt, 1942-1943; officer served with 221 Sqdn, RAF on Malta and Italy, 1943-1944

REEL 1 Background in Ashton under Lyne, 1921-1939: family; education; employment. Recollections of enlistment and training as wireless operator/air gunner with RAF in GB, 1940-1942: reasons for volunteering as aircrew with RAF, 3/1940; call up, 8/1940; reception on arrival at RAF Padgate; accommodation 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 RAF Blackpool and RAF Yatesbury; 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; story of meeting girl at dance in Tonbridge and subsequent posting. REEL 2 Continues: air gunnery training at Number 1 Air Gunner School at Pembrey; 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; posting to Operational Training Unit at RAF Silloth; crewing up; reasons for accidents with Lockheed Hudsons at RAF Silloth; 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, RAF in GB, 1942: sight of convoys in 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 Focke Wulf FW 200 Condor; attending briefing for thousand bomber raid on Bremen, 6/1942; confidence in ground crew; armament of Lockheed Hudson; navigator's role as bomb aimer; sending of detachment to RAF Donny Nook for thousand bomber raid; participation in thousand bomber raid on Bremen, 25/6/1942; 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 Consolidated B17 Flying Fortress at RAF Bebecula, 7/1942; duration of operational tours in Coastal Command; reaction to posting to Aden. Aspects of period as instructor with 75 Operational Training Unit in Egypt, 1942-1943: voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 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, RAF in Malta and Italy, 1943-1944: posting to squadron; shared role; reasons for near ditching during anti-shipping patrol; prior recollection 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; recreational activities at Grottaglie; amusing story of American pilot's poor navigational skills. REEL 5 Continues: operating from RAF Luqa in Malta; accommodation in Malta; amusing story of American airman not understanding 'drift'; background to leaving squadron and return to GB; leave in Belfast and Dublin on return to GB including meeting with German from embassy. Demobilisation and return to civilian life, 1946. Attitude to having served with RAF during Second World War.