Description
Object description
British officer served as pilot with 19 Sqdn RAF during Battle of Britain, 1940; shot down over Holland and taken prisoner, 28/Aug/1941; POW in Oflag X-C, Oflag VI-B, and Stalag Luft III, Germany, 1941-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in Scotland, GB, 1916-1938: family background, childhood and education in Glasgow; employment as apprentice engineer and draftsman at Watson Laidlaw & Co. reason for joining Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve following Munich crisis, 1938. Aspects of training with Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in GB, 1938-1939: joined flying club in Prestwick, Scotland; value of skills acquired as assistant scout master; opinion of CO and flying instructors; story of vertical descent in Tiger Moth; problem of aircraft hitting seagull; various memories of other pupils; description of learning to take off and land from grass air strip; types of aircraft flown; transferred to Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve at Rochester Airport, Kent; further training on Avro Tudor; cross country exercises; method of transport; reaction to outbreak of war, 3/Sep/1939. Aspects of training with RAF in GB, 1939-1940: issued with sergeant's uniform; posted to Bexhill and billeted in hotel; drill; question of pride in serving with RAF; posted to Intermediate Flying Training School at RAF Shawbury, Shropshire; description of flying training and types of aircraft including Hawker Hart and Hawker Hind; awarded wings. Aspects of training with No. 1 Sqdn RAF at Aston Down, Gloucestershire; opinion of instructors; description of training on Miles Master and Harvard; reaction to flying monoplane; attitude to flying Spitfire and description of training including cockpit drill, start up procedure and taxiing;
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on cockpit drill before take-off; description of take-off procedure during scramble; flying speed and increased pitch of propeller; problem of using hand pump for undercarriage; flew in Tiger Moth armed with 20lb bomb in case of invasion following Dunkirk evacuation, 1940; story of flying Spitfire under bridge over River Severn; attitude to taking risks and death; reaction to being commissioned and awareness of class differences; posted to 19 Sqdn RAF at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, GB, 7/1940. Aspects of operations with 19 Sqdn RAF during Battle of Britain, 7-10/1940: story of pilots returning from operations at Dunkirk; rank of pilot officer; role of 19 Sqdn at Dunkirk; opinion of Dowding and CO Sdqn Ldr Pinkham.
REEL 3 Continues: description of further training on Spitfire including mock dog fights, night and formation flying; duties on convoy patrol along coast; story of first scramble and combat operation including first kill; description of cannon on Spitfire and rate of fire; further comments on method of scramble and state of readiness for take-off; description of intercepting large formation of German bombers and attacking Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter escort; method of attack and locating target; use of sporadic bursts to avoid emptying machine guns; flew within 50 feet of German aircraft; location of Browning machine guns in Spitfire's wings; story of pursuing two Messerschmitt Bf 110s along Thames Estuary and shooting one down; attitude to killing pilot; story of flying over the Thames in wing formation and becoming mixed up with Hurricanes; story of shooting down Heinkel 111; attitude to flying an old Spitfire from an Operational Training Unit; story of engaging two Messerschmitt Bf 109's overhead; maximum fuel load on Spitfire; description of post-combat procedure including replacing patches over guns, refuelling and debriefing; attitude to flying; opinion of Leigh Mallory; opinion of fighter aces including Bader, Tuck, Mallard and Malan; attitude to leadership qualities; comparison of armaments on Hurricane and Spitfire; opinion of qualities required to be a good fighter pilot; attitude to fear and death.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Big Wing formation and effectiveness; attitude to bombing of London; story of visiting Supermarine factory in Southampton to persuade women building wings for Spitfires to work longer hours; story of realising when the Battle of Britain was won; description of role in operations on 15/Sep/1940; casualties; story of engagement with Messerschmitt Bf 109; question of excitement and sense of purpose during combat; reaction to loss of pilots in Sqdn; opinion of Czech pilots and Germans.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude to shooting down German pilot in parachute; role in attacking E-boats; various memories of Douglas Bader in Sqdn and as POW; opinion of 'Sailor' Malan and Brian Lane; opinion of sergeant pilots; story of visit to RAF Duxford by King and Queen and award of DFC for operations during the Battle of Britain; number of aircraft shot down. Aspects of operations with 19 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1941: description of operations including convoy patrols, missions over France, daytime sweeps and escorting bombers; problem of locating German bombers during night raids on London and Coventry; method of navigation at night; use of flashing beacons at aerodrome to facilitate landing; story of night flying exercise with Czech pilot; problem of landing after Germans bombing runway; story of nearly being killed while doing a roll during a garden fete; description of being shot down over Rotterdam by ship's gun, 28/Aug/1941; reaction to being hit; landed on beach and suffered a broken knee; taken prisoner and put into German artillery officers' mess.
REEL 6 Continues: taken to civilian jail in Amsterdam; travelled by train to Frankfurt, Germany. Aspects of period as POW in Germany, 8/1941-4/1945: kept in solitary confinement in Dulag Luft, Oberursel; questioned by German posing as Red Cross representative; transferred to Oflag X-C, Lubeck; opinion of camp and food; clothes and equipment confiscated; story of POWs being forced to clear up after German officers' mess destroyed in air raid; transferred to Oflag VI-B, Warburg; story of meeting officers from 51st Highland Div; role of Senior British Officer in camp; relations with guards; educational classes and physical exercises; method of assessing number of Germans in camp; amusing story of failed escape attempt; story about Douglas Bader stealing a shovel; story about POWs playing brass band instruments; reason for moving to new camp; story of POW physicist building clandestine radio set; description of making radio from scavenged and stolen items and bribing guards to obtain parts; radio broken down and taken in parts to new camp; story of POW journalist Sqdn Ldr Sidney Smith transcribing and reading out radio news.
REEL 7 Continues: further comments Sidney Smith; use of stooges to keep watch; RAF section transferred to Oflag XX1-B in Szubin, Poland; opinion of camp and location; story of using ice to seal cracks in windows during winter 1941-42; story of officer's plan to escape in a packing case; story of acting as double in parade for escaped POW; reaction to POW being killed trying to go over wire; transferred to Stalag Luft III, Sagan, 1942; relations between commandant and Senior British Officer; opinion of accommodation; description of sporting activities and educational classes; camp built on sandy soil; description of digging tunnels and method of disposal of soil; story about wooden horse tunnel escape plan and opinion of accuracy of film 'The Wooden Horse'; reason for Douglas Bader being moved to Colditz Castle; description of making parts for radio and mould for golf club head; use of bed boards to reinforce tunnels; description of making golf balls; transferred to POW camp near Berlin, 1/1945; problem of shortage of food; story of Germans abandoning camp and sending coded messages to Air Ministry in London; organised foraging parties to find food; description of escape kit issued to pilots; instructed by Air Ministry to stay in camp; problem of sewage; story about Russian party with car; story about female Russian soldier and German POW; repaired puncture and given petrol; Russians liberated camp but would not allow Americans to enter; taken in trucks to River Elbe and handed over to Americans; problem of overeating in mess; taken to Brussels then returned to GB; attitude to staying in RAF after war; length of time as POW.
REEL 8 Continues: Post-war life and employment in GB: marriage, 8/1945; description of career as engineer; story of visit to Auschwitz concentration camp; story of reunion with Czech pilots in Prague.