Here's some of the collection:
Former pilot Alexander McLeish has written his own memoir and has kindly lent a copy for our exhibition:
Harry
(Timber) Wood (1920 -1984) joined the Royal Air Force aged 17, and attended
Cranwell. He got a priority place because his father had been in the RAF in
WW1.
He
sailed to Singapore as WW2 broke out and remained in Singapore until it fell
in 1942, when RAF personnel were evacuated. He was a radio operator
and ran radio stations and outposts. He spent most of the rest of the war
in Ceylon, Diego Garcia and Pakistan before returning to Britain in 1944. He
was initially a wireless operator and worked with Sunderlands and
other flying boats. He then trained as a Navigator. As well as working with the
Berlin Air lift he flew in the far East in peacetime.
He was in the Sunderland that flew under Sidney Harbour Bridge in January 1947 and was sent back to England! Harry flew for the airlift between July to December 1948.
He was in the Sunderland that flew under Sidney Harbour Bridge in January 1947 and was sent back to England! Harry flew for the airlift between July to December 1948.
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A selection from Harry's log book:
Alan Johnson featured in an article for Veteran's World which Legasee wrote:
Memories
of the Berlin Airlift sought…
The charity Legasee Educational Trust has launched a project
to record veterans’ stories of the Berlin airlift. One of those recently
interviewed is former airman, Alan Johnson.
Now 82,
Alan joined the RAF for his National Service in September 1948 and by March
1949 he was posted to the centre of Berlin to work at the Berlin Air Safety
Centre.
'The majority of us
were working shifts at this Berlin Air Safety Centre. Information would come in from the airfields
that were within the British zone of West German such as Fassberg, Wunstorf. We had
a card for each one in which we noted the type of aircraft, the call sign of
the aircraft, the pilot and what it was carrying and when we got the complete
flight coming in or going out we'd hand this back to the Russians who were
sitting about nine feet away.'
Alan remembers the pressure to improve their daily targets
for the airlift, 'Everything would be
trying to run more quickly so we were quite competitive with ourselves and our
own targets every day.'
While living in Berlin, Alan was attached to the Civilian
Control Commission for Germany and he and his colleagues were able to get about
the city quite easily to would visit different places. 'There
was still a tremendous amount of devastation about after the war, but we had a
great deal of freedom and a German lad took us to places we wouldn't have seen
otherwise, like cafes and jazz clubs.'
Alan has very fond memories of his National Service days and
time in Berlin, 'We also had plenty of
access to the Olympic Stadium so we used a lot of the facilities there. It was a very hot summer and we could use the
pools. The Berlin Airlift was an exciting part of doing my National
Service. It was a situation that few National
Service people would ever get involved with because of the semi-luxury way in
which we were living. We were able to do all sorts of things which wouldn't
have been possible for most people in the services. The Airlift was a good experience for me.'
Photos of Alan Johnson now and then:
Still to come: Veteran Tom Churcher, former Squadron Leader of No. 10. Squadron flew numerous flights in the airlift. His collection is one of the most informative we've received so far because it contains an account of his personal role in the airlift, plus the memorabilia he reserved from the 30th anniversary celebrations where he and his wife were guests in Berlin. Amongst the papers he describes a day in the life of an airlift pilot.
