Weaponry and Equipment

Royal Engineers

In April or May 1942, the Workshops Section Officer of 231 Field Park Company, Royal Engineers in 11 Corps...

The Glider Snatch

One grey morning in October 1944 as the North Luffenham children made their way to the railway station,...

Me as Backroom Boffin

At the outbreak of the War I was working at Croydon Aerodrome as a secretary in the Drawing Office for what...

Terrapin at Large

Terrapin fired her three stern torpedoes. The original intention had been to lie on the bottom of the...

X-Craft Diver 1943 Introduction

The slight amount of diving practice to which until then X-craft crews had been exposed did not give them...

Escape Into The WAAF's

Spying a WAAF recruiting poster behind her left ear I promptly declared undying love of the RAF. I was to...

Wartime memories of an Aeronautical Engineer

Hitler used to send some lovely women to England to attend these dances and they would try to recruit the...

My Grandad, the Engineer

My Grandad was an Engineer in the Leicester Transport Unit,. He was fixing an engine when another young...

War story from Portsmouth by Sydney Johnson

An M.T.B. had just finished all its trials and was anchored in Flathouse Yard – a small docking area...

A Gunner’s View of D-Day

The regiment was equipped with heavily-armoured “Priests” — basically an American 105mm...

J A Martin DFC - The Flying Fortress Fire

I was posted, after my time at RAF Ford, to work as a Flight Mechanic on Flying Fortresses in the RAF...

Chronicles of W.B.

I was working in Birmingham in 1940 and was staying in digs with a friend... So myself and George slept in...

Fall of Le Havre 1944

By 2nd Lieutenant James Wareing, 141 RAC, The Kentish Regiment, 79th Armoured Division, 2nd British Corps,...

Derby Smoke Screens

I think that these, plus the fact that Derby was in a hollow, together with the normal blackout of all...

Surviving the Blitz: Croydon at War

Joan, now my wife, also lived near Croydon and her home lost all its doors and windows when they were...

Found But Not Lost

On June 6th 1987 the anniversary of 'D' Day, I drove the restored motorcycle back to the Broadwell...

The Submarine Le Rubis

French submarines were instructed to make their way to British harbours, in particular to the submarine...

Rags to Praise

Richard Scott whilst a boiler stoker at the Newcastle Main Post Office had gone to night classes and...

Wartime Memories

I worked as an electrical welder at Foster Yates and Thoms during the second world war in the Fabrication...

The Unexpected

The Very Pistol was stored in a holster on the starboard side of the aircraft near the F/E's positon in...

'They Fell off the Back of a Lorry'

This meant a constant stream of these lorries coming out of the sea, up the beach and through the town of...

Mosquito glue invented in Ewell - Was it a Mosquito that crashed on the Downs?

Plane crash on Epsom Downs There have been several stories and rumours about a De Havilland Mosquito...

An Artillery Piece Saved My Father's Life

And on December 10, approximately 6 weeks after his hernia operation, HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by the...

Diary of a WAAF, 1944/1947

The following is a list of items we were given: 2 tunics, 2 skirts, 1 greatcoat, 1 cap, 1 cap badge, 1...

Painting Tanks Used During the Ardennes Campaign

It was a team of American engineers with electric welding equipment and they were going to weld steel bars...

Secret German Aircraft

Wren S I Johnstone-Wilson had spent the earliest part of the war not with the Royal Navy but as a loader...