A new project, broadcasting short audio and video snippets from extensive recordings with Second World War veterans, made whilst researching, writing, or publishing books.
1939/40
Bomber Command pilot Reg Barker recalls hearing Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s 3rd September 1939 radio broadcast declaring war against Germany, and Reg’s motivations for joining the air force. Reg’s full story features in the book Last Of the Kriegies.
1942
A Halifax bomber, on fire, over enemy territory. Gordon Mellor recalls the night he was shot down in October 1942. I had the pleasure of working with Gordon to publish his book through @FightingHigh ‘ETA – A Bomber Command Navigator Shot Down and on the Run’, which we launched at Duxford. The book not only describes Gordon’s life in Bomber Command but also his evasion via the Comète escape line.
1943
John Bell, who flew 50 ops during the war, describes the unique way in which Bomber Command crews formed. John kindly took up the role of ‘bomb aimer’ in the crew assembled for ‘The Bomber Command Memorial’ book, and, having flown on D-Day, wrote the foreword to ‘D-Day Bomber Command Failed to Return’.
Pathfinder Lancaster pilot Oliver Wells describes his extraordinary survival following a combat with a German nightfighter during the raid to Mönchengladbach on the night of 30/31 August 1943.
1944
John Ellacombe. John talks about his involvement in a low-level raid, flying a Mosquito, directly supporting the Normandy invasion. Recorded when I was writing ‘Five of the Few’.
1945
Explicit language warning! A couple of anecdotes from Bomber Command navigator Harry Hughes, recorded when writing ‘Five of the Many’, concerning his dour New Zealand pilot Roy Montrowe, when they were both flying Mosquitos with 692 Squadron from RAF Graveley in late 1944/early 1945. Harry mentions the FIDO system, dispersing fog using burning fuel in pipes either side of a runway (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation), and also the emergency landing airfield at Woodbridge.
Post-War
Rupert ‘Tiny Cooling’. A sombre extract from the interview with ‘Tiny’, recorded when I was writing ‘Five of the Many’, reflecting on the bombing war and the effect it had on him. The interview took place five years before the Bomber Command Memorial was unveiled.