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Description: | British aircraftman served as mechanic with Royal Naval Air Service and No 4 Sqdn Royal Flying Corps in France, 1918. NCO served as mechanic with RAF in GB and North West Europe, 1939-1945
REEL 1: Background in London, 1900-1914; family; education; description of employment as mechanic with taxi firm, 1914-1917; memory of outbreak of war, 4/Aug/1914; story of enlisting with Royal Naval Air Service, 1917; attitude to war; reaction of parents. Aspects of training with Royal Naval Air Service in GB, 1917-1918: posted to RAF Withnoe for basic training; description of camp; story of venereal disease; attitude to military life and discipline; story of kit bag; accommodation; description of journey to France, 3/1918. Aspects of operations with Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps in France, 1918: posted to No.1 ASD, St Omer; transferred to Marquise near Boulogne; duties as mechanic putting engines into aircraft; posted to No 4 Sqdn Royal Flying Corps, Linscelles, 1918; memory of Armistice. 11/1918; working conditions; hangars; accommodation; workshops.
REEL 2 Continues: further description of duties at Marquise; role as engine fitter; reason for wanting transfer to transport section; description of duties with No 4 Sqdn; aircraft starting procedure and armaments; vulnerability of pilots and aircraft; description of various aircraft; supplies of parts; story of breaking up German aircraft at Doulogne, 1918; story of French soldier; accommodation; recreational activities; medals; demobilised, 1919. Post-war life and employment in London. Aspects of operations as mechanic with RAF in GB and North West Europe, 1939-1945: called up from Training Reserve and posted to No. 11 Flying Training School, RAF Shawbury. 1939; general duties; amusing story of band; posted to 904 Balloon Sqdn, Clapham, 1940-1941; description of duties in charge of winches on barrage balloons; memories of air raids; posted to RAF Bruntingthorpe as acting sergeant with Mechanical Transport Repairs, 1942-1945; nature of duties and relations with air crews; memory of collecting belongings of dead airmen.
REEL 3 Continues: daily life and living conditions; posted to 5205 Sqdn RAF, Brussels, 5-7/1945; duties with vehicles; memory of VE Day in Brussels, 5/1945; description of bomb damage in Hamburg and Lubeck; social life and recreational activities; story of black market activities; posted back to GB, 8/1945; memory of VJ Day celebrations in GB, 8/1945. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | O'Connell, Rory | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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