Interview with William Harry Reynolds Jones

British officer served as pilot with 22 Sqdn, No 16 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in GB, North Africa and Ceylon, 11/1941-4/1942; served with 254 and 236 Sqdns, No 16 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in GB, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Chester, GB, 1919-1939: family education. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1940-1941: selection for aircrew; call-up to Royal Air Force, 6/1940; story of second in command's remembering of recruits names at No 1 Receiving Wing, RAF at Babbacombe, near Torquay; flying training on De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth; soloing; selection for training on twin engined aircraft on Airspeed Oxfords at RAF Cranwell; night vision testing; opinion of air navigation course at No 32 Air Navigation School, RCAF at RCAF Charlottetown, Princes Edward Island, Canada; return to GB and posting to Coastal Command; opinion of Bristol Beaufort Mk I; torpedo training; problems low-level flying across water; crewing up; blind approach training and importance of trusting instruments. Recollections of operations as pilot with 22 Sqdn, No 16 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in GB, North Africa and Ceylon, 11/1941-4/1942: posting to squadron and reception at RAF St Eval, GB, 11/1941. REEL 2 Continues: description of first minelaying operation to Saint-Nazaire, France; reaction to and fatigue during first operation; squadron activities, 12/1941-2/1942; allocation of problem aircraft for flight to Ceylon; engine problem during flight from GB to Gibraltar, 3/1942; attack on aircraft by Messerschmitt Bf 110 during flight from Gibraltar to Malta; landing at Malta; technique of flying at low-level when attacked by fighter; taking off at dawn; reaction to sight of the Pyramids on route to landing ground at Fayoum Road, Egypt; visits to Cairo, Egypt; move into desert to reinforce 39 Sqdn, RAF; narrow escape from airscrew which had been put on the wrong way round; German Air Force bombing of LG-5 in Western Desert, Egypt; Axis air raid on Alexandria, Egypt. REEL 3 Continues: reasons for missing operation to attack Axis convoy, 3/1942; flight from Egypt to Iraq, 4/1942; landing at RAF Habbaniya, Iraq; break at RAF Habbaniya and RAF Shaibah, Iraq; discovery of problem with tailplane of aircraft; flight from Iraq to India; landing at RAF Secunderabad, India; approach to Ceylon, 4/1942; character of RAF Ratmalana, Ceylon; training in Ceylon; umpiring army exercises near Kandy, Ceylon; attitude to service in Ceylon; return to GB, 8/1943. Aspects of operations as pilot with 254 and 236 Sqdns, No 16 Group, Coastal Command, RAF in GB, 1944-1945: opinion of Bristol Beaufighter; joining 254 Sqdn, RAF at RAF North Coates for patrolling North Sea ports; method of approaching target; incident when his air gunner spotted light following aircraft during patrol. REEL 4 Continues: prior recollection of forced landing in Bristol Beaufort in Ceylon; emergency landings in Bristol Beaufighter; contrast between squadron meteorological officers; involvement in squadron entertainments; attitude to serving with Coastal Command, RAF during Second World War.