James, Mary Leontine (Oral history)

997914115
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80032541&media_id=356741" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
1427566943
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80032541&media_id=356742" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
931109730
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80032541&media_id=356743" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
1128674599
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80032541&media_id=356744" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Description

Object description

British aircraftwoman served as plotter in operations room, RAF Fighter Command HQ, Bentley Priory, GB, 1942-1945

Content description

REEL 1: Background in GB, 1923-1942: family; childhood in north-west London; education; left school age 14; employment with hairdresser; problem of travel in London during the war; story of forming and playing in dance band; awareness of political situation in 1930s; background of French mother; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; air raid precautions; reason for enlisting with RAF as plotter, 1941. Aspects of training with RAF in GB, 1941-1942: question of prejudice against women in operations room; reason for official job title Clerk (Special Duties); description of basic training in Morecambe, Lancashire; billets; drill; description of uniform. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as plotter in operations room, RAF Fighter Command HQ, Bentley Priory, GB, 1/1942-6/1945: accommodation in billets; description of operations room and duties as plotter; importance of radar; duties of operations room staff; use of teleprinter; system of colour coding; method of recording information; use of magnetic rod to move steel counters around map; opinion of women as plotters; method of receiving information from radar stations and Royal Observer Corps and plotting position of aircraft; size of operations room; opinion of working conditions in operations room; length of shifts and problem of meal breaks; reason for returning to live at home. REEL 3 Continues: off-duty activities; story of playing with dance band for party; Y service based in operations room; role in operations room during Normandy landings, 5-6/Jun/1944; security precautions; duties monitoring all 11 Group RDF air activity; reason for use of defined corridor for air traffic; on duty until 8am on 6/Jun/1944; reaction to arrival of V1 and V2 flying bombs and method of plotting on map. Aspects of period with RAF Meteorology Section, 6/Jun/1945-1946: description of training; duties plotting weather charts and issuing forecasts; demobilised, 1946. Aspects of post-war life and employment in GB: adjustment to civilian life; employment with fashion firm. REEL 4 Continues: story of writing articles for various journals including Fly Past and Saga Magazine; story of researching and writing article about Rommel's stay in La Roche-Guyon, Normandy, France, during Second World War.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Atkinson, James (recorder)
James, Mary Leontine (interviewee/speaker)
Production date: 2012
Dimensions: whole: Duration 120, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 33569

Object associations

Associated people and organisations

James, Mary Leontine
Royal Air Force, Command, Flying Training
Royal Air Force, Bentley Priory
Associated places

Stanmore, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom
La Roche-Guyon, Normandy, France

Our collections information

We have over 1.7 million object records online, and we are adding to this all the time. Our records are never finished. Sometimes we discover new information that changes what we know about an object, such as who made it or used it. Sometimes we change how an object is interpreted. We sometimes make mistakes in our spelling, transcription or categorisation, or miss information out of our records.

Read more about our collections and the information we hold. Developing our collections information

If you have concerns about the language in this record, or you have information to improve it, please share your feedback.

We receive a lot of comments and can't respond to each one, but we do read them all and will respond where we can.

James, Mary Leontine (Oral history)

Description

Object description

Content description

Object Details

Object associations

Associated people and organisations

Associated places

Our collections information

Related content

HMS Belfast at 80