For a more exact match when searching for multiple words, please put the search term in quoatation marks. For example: use "Battle of Britain" instead of Battle of Britain.
…into successful films. Poster for ‘A Bridge Too Far’ (1977), an epic film about Operation Market Garden, and also notable for its long roll call of well known actors. Poster for the less well known earlier film version of Operation Market Garden: “Theirs is the Glory” (1946) Theirs Is…
…co-operation pilot was invaluable. Offered the chance at the end of his tour of duty in London to select his next appointment, he returned to operational flying. Barker was given command of No 625 Squadron, flying Lancaster heavy bombers from RAF Kelstern in Lincolnshire; this was a remarkable position for…
…operations over France including the Rhubarb ground attack missions which Johnson hated—he considered it a waste of pilots. Several successful fighter pilots had been lost this way. Flight Lieutenant Eric Lock and Wing Commander Paddy Finucane were killed on Rhubarb operations in August 1941 and July 1942 respectively. Squadron leader…
…an operation. With him is Colonel Philip Cochrane USAAF, who was responsible for the air transport for the brigade’s operations. Popularly known as the Chindits, Wingate’s force was specially trained to operate behind Japanese lines in Burma; their activities were invaluable to the Allied cause…” © IWM MH 7877 Nelson…
…flying operationally with 151 squadron, he was rested from operations in March 1943. Later that year, Smith was posted to No 2 (Bomber) Group HQ at the request of its air officer commanding, the famous Air Vice-Marshal Sir Basil Embry. In February 1944, he was appointed commanding officer of 487…
…© IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205260100 After a few weeks’ concentrated training at very low level (on one occasion Knight flew under high tension cables near King’s Lynn), Operation Chastise was ordered for the night of May 16/17 1943. OPERATION CHASTISE (THE DAMBUSTERS’ RAID) 16 – 17 MAY 1943 (MH 3780)…
…was appointed to RAF Waddington as the base operations officer. Although the post did not require him to fly on operations, in the first six weeks he flew nine with the junior crews of two Australian Lancaster squadrons. In May he returned to operations and was appointed a master bomber…
“The Operation was regarded as one of the most dangerous operations in World War Two” “The difficulty was to achieve this kind of success without killing a lot of people,” wrote Sismore. “It was a very difficult decision of what to drop and how much to drop.” ‘Goering had stepped…
…their minds would have turned to the teenage sweethearts they’d left behind in Britain. Two years earlier the brothers-in-arms had fallen for Shropshire sisters Lorna and Edna Ellison who lived close to where they were stationed before training for Operation Anthropoid. When they realised how dangerous the task was, Jozef,…
…deck operations: Royal Navy, circa 1943 ‘Commander Mike Crosley was a Fleet Air Arm ace and later a test pilot. Among the operations in which he took part was Harpoon, when a convoy ferried supplies and new aircraft to the relief of the besieged island of Malta in the summer…
…the ensuing Nazi occupation. In the UK, Poulsson joined the first Norwegian Independent Company as a second lieutenant. He was soon recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), created in summer 1940 by Winston Churchill for sabotage operations in occupied territory. The Norwegian resistance reported in autumn 1941 that the…
…and they were mostly involved in tactical co-operation with artillery and the few tank formations. He soon settled into the unit’s work, and gained wide experience in low-level co-operation with the infantry and gunners. In March 1918, he regularly was crewed with Lieutenant John Haslam, an ex-Cambridge student, and the…
‘The last and most audacious underwater attack of the Second World War’ “Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fraser won the Victoria Cross as captain of the midget submarine XE3 in Operation Struggle, a daring attack on the Japanese 10,000-ton heavy cruiser Takao in the Johore Straits, off Singapore Dockyard, just before the end…
…that he had been awarded a Bar to the DFC he had earned for earlier operations. After the Antheor operation Martin was rested and Curtis went on to fly with other pilots who had flown on the Dams raid, in particular the American Joe McCarthy. He was also made the…
…the cavity magnetron. The magnetron was shown to an impressed American National Defence Research Committee on 28 September 1940. This technological revelation galvanised the Americans into action. Manufacture quickly followed of both American systems, and copies of British systems. There was close cooperation between British and American scientists at the…
…cup of tea before starting) is already a 50 hour-ish operation. And I was doing this, mainly, as a long overdue act of filial piety… (While I’ve had the privilege of presenting to all British Majors on promotion at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, my respect for this world, I…
…became a useful fighter bomber. Grandy was next sent to command No 210 Air Defence Group, charged with the defence of Tripoli, then moved to the Suez Canal Zone to command 73 Fighter Operational Training Unit. He tried to return to fighter operations, but instead was given command of 341…
…able to return without papers, after a SWEDISH OFFICER’S Funeral Cortege provided cover for slipping back into Sweden & then back to Britain. Also for his important role working in the small 1940 CONTROL TEAM with R Adm Bertram RAMSAY and Captain TENNANT at DOVER CASTLE for Operation DYNAMO’s (DUNKIRK…
…squadron converted on Supermarine SEAFIRES. His bar to his DSC was for his work on OPERATION TORCH, the landings in Tunisia and Algeria Peter Twiss was posted to the Naval Air Station at Ford, England to fly long-range intruder operations over Germany in Mosquito aircraft and destroyed at least three…
…ended the war as a Guard Commander for the JAPANESE SURRENDER CEREMONY in the big hall at SINGAPORE. Firstly he served with the BURMA AUXILIARY FORCE during the difficult Retreat, then later becoming part of the Reconnaissance element in 46 COLUMN 111 BRIGADE, Second CHINDITS in OPERATION THURSDAY and then…
…one of the most important single actions in WW2. “Operation Primrose”, the rapid brainchild of Commander A Joe Baker-Cresswell RN (who knew his naval history and the importance of the capture of Magdeburg in WW1) and captain of HMS Bulldog and the 3rd ESCORT GROUP from Iceland, had incalculable and…
…US rations; work in Corsica, 12/1943-2/1944. Aspects of operations as bomb disposal officer with Royal Navy Party 1500 in Normandy, 6/1944-7/1944: arrival, 7/6/1944; accommodation; role of unit at Arromanches; initiation to handling anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Aspects of operations as bomb disposal officer with Naval Party 1501 in Antwerp and…
…battalion HQ, among which new duties under his commander and S-3 leader, Captain John Kiley from New York, would be the sand table modelling for operations. His next major operation with the 101st would begin on September 17th, 1944. Operation MARKET GARDEN, it would be the largest airborne invasion of…
…good as in Paris three years before. In March 1943, after four years of combat operations, which had taken a heavy toll of his friends, Fraser-Harris was rested by being appointed Staff Officer Operations to the Flag Officer, Naval Air Stations, at Lee-on-Solent; and he finished the war as instructor…