Ā鶹Éē

This story was submitted to the Peopleā€™s War site by Bill Ross of the ā€˜Action Desk ā€” Sheffieldā€™ Team on behalf of George Adams, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Adams fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
Other parts to this story can be found at:
INDEX: A7544630

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This is a transcript taken from audio footage made by the Department of Sound Recordings at the
Imperial War Museum,
Lambeth Road,
LONDON SE1 6H7.

It has been copied almost exactly as recorded, therefore the terminology and grammar are as spoken and have not been manipulated in any way. Where place names that could not be found in an atlas, and/or unfamiliar terminology are mentioned, phonetic spellings are used and are subject to alteration.

On some occasions, sentences were not completed; the following symbol is used to denote that: ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦
Only repetition has been suppressed.

Bill Ross ā€” Ā鶹Éē Peopleā€™s War Story Editor.
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Int: Such as?

GA: I think weā€™d been called on, I think it was five picket or guard, and it was howling down with rain, and we stood outside the orderly room, and heā€™d seen us there. He just ignored us, and the adjutant had seen us too, and he fetched him into his office and gave him a wigging, apparently. He came out in a furious temper, took his hat off, laid it on the floor and jumped on it. Of course, we all cheered then. Yā€™ know, itā€™s strange the things he did.

Int: He doesnā€™t sound like a very competent N.C.O.

GA: He was very unbalanced actually.

Int: He could have stopped things surely, the calling out, by putting you, either all on a charge, or erā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.

GA, Thatā€™s right, he could have said, ā€œRight, youā€™ll all report on the square after class.

Int: Did you think he was a bit incompetent at the time, or not too good at discipline anyway?

GA: Well, we couldnā€™t really work him out because we were getting away with it, you see. We thought, ā€œWell, just keep getting away with it,ā€ so, that was it.

Int: Were the other N.C.O.s stricter?

GA: Yes, some of the corporals were more strict, but er, we were rather, er, what shall I say? We were still civilians. We got one or two who were frightened, but the majority wereā€¦ā€¦ā€¦..

Int: You still had a civilian attitude then.

GA: Thatā€™s right, yeah. This is what I found and anybody who made a right fool of themselves, you take the mickey out of them whether they were N.C.O.ā€™s or not.

Int: What about the officers, did you see much of the officers?

GA: Not a lot there. The only time we saw them was if they had a special parade. Heā€™d be on parade, then heā€™d hand over to the flight sergeant and that would be it.

Int: Did you respect your officers?

GA: Well, yes I suppose we did, but at the same time, I suppose we were never in real contact with them there.

Int: One thing I should have asked you earlier, what unit ā€” you joined the R.A.F., did your training unit at Hednesford have aā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.

GA: I canā€™t remember what name it was, I canā€™t remember what number it was there at Hednesford.

Int: Did it have a squadron number or a, what sort of aā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦?

GA: No, it was the Hednesford Training, it was a training school, divided up into wings.

Int: But you donā€™t remember which wing.

GA: No, I donā€™t remember which wing.

Int: How did your training programme start, what was the first thing they taught you?

GA: Well, we were on the riggersā€™ course, and you went through all theā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.

Int: Did they start you with rigging before they started you with basic drill, or did youā€¦ā€¦ā€¦?

GA: No, you started with your basic drill first, you did, I think it was a fortnight of basic drill, and then, on to class.

Int: How did you take to basic drill?

GA: Oh, it was all right, I was always very active.

Int: Did you understand why you were doing it?

GA: No, we thought it was a lot of bull, but you did it, you had to and accepted it.

Int: Did you do any rifle training at that time?

GA: Yes.

Int: How far did they take you with that?

GA: Right the way through toā€¦ā€¦ā€¦all the way through to the funeral drill, and thenā€¦..

Int: Did they teach you to fire it?

GA: ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦..and then firing, down to the butts.

Int: Were you a good shot?

GA: Not particularly, you didnā€™t get long enough, yā€™know, you didnā€™t get many, you got perhaps a couple of afternoons for about half an hour, and that was it.

Int: Did they put you through a fitness training, you know, P.T.?

GA: Yeah. You did, during that period in an afternoon, of your drill, instead of drill, you did cross country runs.

Int: And P.T. as well.

GA: And P.T. in a morning. Even during the class period, that was the first thing in the morning, before classes, P.T.

Int: Did you do route marches as well as cross country runs?

GA: Only the odd one, it was mostly more running.

Int: Did it work, I mean, did you get fitter? Were you a footballer?

GA: I think I was pretty fit when I went in, so yā€™know, I always felt fit.

Int: Did it make you better, or was it normal for you, that sort of fitness?

GA: It was normal really, because we used to train for football.

Int: What about some of the lads who werenā€™t sporting, did they think it helped them?

GA: They found it hard, but it helped them I think, in the end, yes.

Int: So, you did this first, this bit of basic training, and then you went on to your fittersā€™ course. Now you mentioned that there were E and A fittersā€¦ā€¦

GA: No, riggers. First of all there were the riggers; on the riggersā€™ course first, then the mechanicsā€™. Engines were mechanics, riggers were airframe.

Int: And you were on airframe first.

GA: Yes.

Int: And so, you didnā€™t learn anything about the engine at the start.

GA: No, nothing about anything for the first fortnight.

Int: So, what about the airframe, as a rigger, how did they start training you?

GA: Well, you went through on your aerodynamics, theory of flight, and then onto actual aircraft; everything right the way through to er, hydraulics, all the hydraulics of the planes, the undercarriage hydraulics, the legs, brakes, pneumatics with the brakes and hydraulic brakes, and then all the way through, fabric work, er, woodwork, metalwork. It was quite involved really, and they expected ā€” on the metal work especially, they expected it to be good, really, you know, you were working with files, into a thou., something like that, and it had to be good.

Int: And did you take to it?

GA: Yes, I did, I enjoyed it really.

..........Reel 2..........................

GAā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦..The more modern aircraft had a tubular fuselage, aircraft such as the Hurricane. On wood, one thing we had to do was to splice two pieces together; youā€™d got rope splicing, youā€™d got control wire splicing, right the way through, anti corrosion work. Itā€™s a very good trade in the R.A.F., it was a long long course really and they were trying to get as much into us as they could from middle of July until we finished just before Christmas.

Int: So, the aircraft had doped linen as their outer skin, they all had that did they?

GA: No, the Hurricane had it ā€” we did one or two metal patches.........

Int: Some of them had metal...........

GA: A metal fuselage, yes, we did one or two, but the bulk of it was fabric.

Int: And depending on whether it was a metal tubular frame, or a wooden frame, thatā€™s an awful lot to learn, because previously, in the First World war for instance, it was just fabric on wood.

GA: It is, yā€™know, youā€™d everything, hydraulics, the lot.

Int: So hydraulics wasnā€™t dealt with by the engine people, that was your part.

GA: No, that was your riggers. And you had a written exam, at the end of each period. As you progressed through, you came up to your final board, and youā€™re interviewed separately then. Each one went individually; it was an oral interview with a warrant officer or a flight sergeant. They took you right through the whole course from beginning to end, thatā€™s when everybody started to quake.

Int: With all this to learn, and that is a lot to learn, did you actually have to swat at night?

GA: Yeah, we did, we had all the books out, it was just like being at technical college.

Int: Did you have any trouble with anything?

GA: No, I did all right because Iā€™d been at technical college right up to joining the forces, it didnā€™t trouble me at all really.

Int: What about some of the others, I mean, did you have your high flyers who were really good?

GA: Yeah, weā€™d got some quite high flyers, Iā€™d a friend whoā€™d been on engines, in fact heā€™s still a friend now. He comes down to see us from Scotland; he was brilliant.

Int: What about people at the other end, people who couldnā€™t do the maths or the hydraulics or something?

GA: It used to disturb them, they used to get worked up about it.

Int: What happened to them if they failed?

GA: We didnā€™t have many failures on that course. We had one or two, but they were posted as aircraft hands, on to general duties, yeah.

Int: And you didnā€™t fancy that.

GA: No, I didnā€™t fancy that at all, because it was quite good that course, and I wanted to get through.

Int: Is there anything else you remember at your time at Hednesford?

GA: Yes, at the Battle of Britain there was a big panic on the station, rifles were drawn, we were told it looked as if the invasion was going to take place.

Int: Would that be September the 15th?

GA: Something like that, yes. It was a hot summer too, and we were all drawn up, we were told what to expect. They told us, ā€œGo back to your wings and youā€™ll be issued with rifles,ā€ and that was it. As the weeks went by, it died down and the rifles were taken back, and that was it. Everything became normal again. But it was a really big panic.

Int: Have you ever been panicked?

GA: No not really, I donā€™t think so. Also, while we were up there, Iā€™d an Auntie in Coventry and weā€™d been down, one Saturday, a week before the big raid, and we were on our way back down to the centre of Coventry to take the bus back to Hednesford. There was a raid that night; the first we knew about it; there were no air raid sirens. We were with this friend from Scotland and we both said, ā€œThatā€™s a Jerry.ā€ Next thing, there were the whistles of bombs, chimney pots and windows flying all over, so we stayed there all night, we had to go down to the police station and get a document signed stating that weā€™d been held up and there were no busses running. We got back to camp next morning. We had to go in front of the C.O., but that was all right, he accepted it.

Int: Did you have much disciplinary trouble yourself while you were there?

GA: No, not really, in fact, all the time I was in the forces, I.............

Int: The wildness, it was just high spirits rather than breaking the rules.

GA: Yes, we did break rules, everybody did, we broke out of camp and all sorts of things, but..........

Int: But you were never caught.

GA: No, I was never caught; I never did a dayā€™s jankers really.

Int: Do you remember any of the things you did do?

GA: Yeah, at Gloucester. Thatā€™ll come up later probably.

Int: You finished at Hednesford round about Christmas did you?

GA: Just before Christmas. We had ten daysā€™ leave, and I was posted up to Dumfries Bomb and Gunnery School, a few days before Christmas.

Int: And what was your rank then?

GA: A.C.1

Int: So what happened when you got up to Dumfries, that was a bomber and gunnery school?

GA: Yes, and they were pushing hard to get bombers and gunners through, so weā€™d got quite a lot of work on. I didnā€™t get Christmas at home, because Iā€™d had the ten daysā€™ leave. We went on to Whitley Bombers.

Int: What was the Whitley like then, as a bomber?

GA: It was slow, rumbling, terrible.

Int: You thought that at the time?

GA: Yes, I managed to get quite a few trips up there and it was just on local flying, , after doing tests, theyā€™d say, ā€œHop in,ā€ and youā€™d have a trip round.

Int: Was that the first time you had a flight at Dumfries?

GA: Yes, the first one.

Int: What did you think of it?

GA: It was marvellous, I thought.

Int: Did you still hanker after being aircrew then?

GA: It was fading a little bit, I think.

Int: Why was that?

GA: I donā€™t know, I canā€™t tell yer because I hadnā€™t been with her, weā€™d had no accidents up at Dumfries, and I was very interested in the work I was doing, and, it just slid by, sort of, and it never came up on DROā€™s asking for anyone, so, I was happy with the crew I was with, and it just slid by.

Int: How was your work organised at Dumfries?

GA: We reached a period where it was very heavy. Weā€™d quite a lot of Whitleys that were going unserviceable, most of it through strain, landings and things like that. We were working very hard.

Int: The Whitleys were just being used for training, from there.

GA: Thatā€™s right.

Int: So it was just the landing and theā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.

Ga: Yes, youā€™d got quite a lot. Theyā€™d go out, do a gunnery job, do a bombing job, out over the Solway, somewhere like that, back in, down and, they were getting quite a lot of usage and we were getting quite a lot ofā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦.

Int: What was the main thing, I mean, you say strain and landing, what was the sort ofā€¦ā€¦ā€¦?

GA: We were finding, as I remember now, cracks in some of the undercarriage structures.

Int: How would you fix that?

GA: Well usually, it was too much just for a flight, so it used to come in ā€” we were on maintenance ā€” it used to come into maintenance and youā€™d put, sometimes youā€™d put new undercarriages on, and things like that.

Int: Youā€™d carry that sort of thing as a spare in maintenance?

GA: Yes, if it was necessary. We were short actually, this was why they were getting very tight for time, to get them through. We were working, what? seven in a morning. You were there sometimes until one oā€™clock the following morning, back at seven, and then, it was a very bad winter. After Christmas, it was terrible up there, in 1941. So we were down there at five oā€™clock in the morning, first of all down on the runway, shovelling snow off. Youā€™d nothing else to move it with, so you shovelled it off.

Int: Didnā€™t they have a bulldozer?

GA: No, nothing like that then. All the camp was down on the runway at five oā€™clock in the morning with shovels.

Int: Was that everybody or just the aircraftā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦?

GA: Everybody practically, everybody apart from the cooks.

Int: What about officers and N.C.O.ā€™s?

GA: I canā€™t remember actually, some of the officers were out, but I canā€™t remember seeing many of them. The corporals were there, the odd sergeant I think, but mostly it was the other ranks. You were on the runway, youā€™d work on the runway with lorries, throwing it in to clear the runway for the morning flights, then back in for breakfast, then back to the hangar for repairs.

Int: At seven?

GA: At seven, yes, and then back. Some nights, we were getting three to four hours sleep, thatā€™s all.

Int: Weā€™ve mentioned problems with the undercarriages, what else was happening with these old Whitleys?

GA: A lot of engine oil leaks and things like that. It was just general.

Int: That wouldnā€™t be your side of things.

GA: No, it was the mechanicsā€™.

Int: Youā€™d still not had any engine training had you?

GA: No, I never did any engine training at all, I stuck completely to air frame.

Int: Did they never sort of give you a bit of training, in case something went wrong?

GA: No.
Pt 3: A7541651

Pr-BR

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