High Wycombe

Dad didn't tell much what he did in High Wycombe.
Probably because he had sworn secrecy and he took his oath very serious.

The only things he told me were personal things.

Like that he had a good stay at the place of a widow and her daughter Lillian. He liked them very much.
Lillian went later to Rhodesia with her husband.
He kept in contact with them for a long time.

-*-

He always said he was very decisive in choosing for the RAF and not the Dutch squadrons.

So he must have been taking part of the pre-training program of the RAF.

High Wycombe had a very active local ATC unit.
ATC: The Air Training Corps, often called the "Air Cadets"
It gave boys aged 15 to 18 a direct pathway into the RAF.
They wore modified RAF uniforms, took classes in navigation, aircraft recognition, and radio communication, and did physical training.
They met in town halls, schools, or local bases. 
The boys were billeted with local families, placed by the British Government, paid by the Dutch Government. There they could get rest after their escape and interrogation, learn the language and habits of their new country, and prepare for the RAF.

High Wycombe was the absolute nerve center of RAF Bomber Command. 
Because of this, the town was flooded with young personnel, trainees, and administrative staff.
The RAF ran university short courses and preparatory academic schemes for young men who showed high aptitude for pilot, navigator, or technical training but were too young.
He has probably learned there aircraft recognition, morse code and aviation mathematics.

He had a booklet with silhouettes of planes, and he knew them all.
He enjoyed teaching me how to recognise planes in the sky: the spitfire was the easiest for a 4 year old.

When I was a bit older he taught me morse code.
We had fun when we were at grams to tap the wooden arms of the chairs to talk to each other, until gram told us to stop with a huge smile.

_*_*_

I have been talking with Tony Iveson and he knew my father in WW2.
They might have met in High Wycombe. 
Or maybe later.

During the war southern Rhodesia hosted the Rhodesian Air Training Group, a network of flying schools part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Thousands of RAF personnel, including instructors, ground crews, new wives were send there because Great Britain was too dangerous and crowded for new pilots to train safely.
So Lillian's husband might have been in the RAF, or attached to the aviation industry, or maybe Lillian herself.



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Requested:

Information at the archives by mail.




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Escape - reason and first part of the route

 

My father left because the germans were looking for him and maybe because an uncle, a priest, was betrayed and shot by the nazis in 1942 because he didn't give them any information.

When dad left he didn't say anything at home.
And he never said a word about how he reached England. 

On one of our travels we stopped in Paris for a few hours.
None had ever been there, hadn't seen a map, and it was pre-Google.
We were walking at Place du Tertre and he knew his way to the steps, small alleys, etc. There were no signs.
How could he know?

He never anwered that question.
"Sometimes people have a feel for a city."
We never returned, he never had any interest to go there any more.

I have been told he might have taken the southern route.
The time he arrived in England fits with this route.

As he had his own resistance contacts it must have been easy to arrange an escape to Belgium. Guided by someone of the underground Dutch-Paris escape line or another group of contacts.
There he must have been put on a train, and smuggled across the Belgian border into France.

On his way he would have been prepared with precise, strict oral instructions, with brief glaces on maps.
He would have known exactly what to do, which turn to take without any hesitation.
He looked a bit French, with his hair very curly, black, longer in the front, so easy to hide his eyes and look just shy. Perfect not to draw attention of the german Gestapo or French police.

Paris was the nerve center of escape networks.
There were lots of hiding places, for instance in appartments. During the stay dad would have had instructions how to behave in the city, navigate between trainstations or metro lines blindy. He'd probably had at last one change of guides, and he had to wait for forged travel permits, so he also had time to learn some language.

When we were in France, dad would never say a word in public. He gave us instructions what to do. Even at the bakery he'd rather have us stumble over out tongue to ask for bread, than help us with the language.
Internalised during ww2?

From Paris he would have traveled south to Toulouse or Perpignan, assisted by the French-Spanish escape line network.

Then he would have made his way by foot over the Pyrenees.

Almost all Engelandvaarders who crossed the border into Spain were arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard.
Many were sent to the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp.
The Dutch government-in-exile would have negotiated their release and then they were sent to Lisbon or Gibaltar, from where they were brough to England by ship of plane.

There he would have been taken to the London Reception Centre, where he would have been interrogated about the route, about facts, people, what he saw, etc etc.
This is in a file, containing his original passport photo from the war, transcripts of the interviews, the exact routemap of his escape.

It should be in the Dutch National Archives. (Nationaal Archief)

_*_*_*_*_*_

A request has been sent (with death certificate) ... was bounced back..."Look for yourself online"  ... requested again ... bounced back referring to the Law of not giving out information of people born later than 1924 ... requested again, referring to the already sent death certificate and diving deeper into the fact that his family has died, my sister has died, and the reasons why I need this information...
Waiting for a reply...

And now?

 

So we now have some info about his time in England.

But still nothing from the archives about the time between his arrival and officially joining the RAF.

He arrived probably during the winter of 1942-1943.

He was interviewed and his choice was joining the RAF, even though he was far too young.

He might have lied about his age, as so many did during the time.

We have proof he went to Nova Scotia as part of the MOD trainigsprogram, and arrived in spring 1943.

Did he take part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan?

He had a badge of wireless operator and I have seen photos of him in uniform using wireless equipment during WW2.
After the war he got a job without any problems, even though he had no Dutch diploma. He became a kind of wireless operator at the National Post, Telegraph and Telephone company.

Before or right after going to Nova Scotia he lived a while in High Wycombe. working at a military base, staying with a widow and her daughter, with whom he kept in contact for a long, long time.

So there is still a lot to find out.

Records - Additional Information

Finally, further information on the units he served with during his RAF career may be found within Operations Record Books (ORBs).

These are a type of narrative of events documenting activities of units and containing information on tasks undertaken by them, and may include duties undertaken by personnel.

ORBs are held, in accordance with the Public Records Act, at The National Archives (TNA), Kew, where they are on open access to the public.

However, please note his name may not be mentioned on many occasions in these documents, although they should provide a flavour of life at the unit in question.
Also, please be aware the quality of ORBs varies, with some containing more information than others.

Further details regarding TNA will be found on their website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk .
A catalogue of TNA holdings is also accessible through the website, and it can be used to search for document references relating to relevant units, under the departmental code “AIR” (Air Ministry).

TNA offers a paid research service, as well as being able to provide a list of independent private researchers, who may be able to undertake work for you, for an agreed fee.
Details are available by following the link on their website: “Records>paying for research”.

Records - Interpretation 5

 

PROMOTIONS, RECLASSIFICATIONS,

REVERSIONS.

Description (Ranks)

AC 2= Aircraftman 2 nd Class.

A C I = Aircraftman 1 st Class.

A C I - F M E – AC2 - F 2 E = in the rank of Aircraftman 1 st Class whilst serving as a Flight Mechanic

{Engines}, 

then (a usual process) reverted to the Rank of Aircraftman 2 nd Class upon qualifying in a

different Trade (Fitter Grade {Engines}).

Note: N. E. = Non-Effective, which would have been stamped anywhere on the record once the

individual had left the RAF.

SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS.

Exams., Courses, Engines, etc.

Description and Degree of Proficiency or Assessment.

Att Course F M E 19. 12 45. Obt 47% = Attended Flight Mechanic {Engines} Course. 

Obtained 47%.

Ex Remust Obtained 60% 

1-6-46 = Exam. Re-mustered from the Trade of Flight Mechanic {Engines} under training to Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

Ex Henlow 3/12/46 52% = Exam. No. 14 School of Technical Training, RAF Station Henlow,

Bedfordshire, No. 24 Group, Technical Training Command.

Note: ‘P. O. R’ = Personnel Occurrence Report. 

Entries such as ‘16/46’, ‘271/45’, ‘114/45’, ‘142/46’,

and ‘135/46’ are a document reference and the year.

Records - Interpretation 4

 

MUSTERING.

Description and Date of Effect.

ACH/F. M. {E} = Aircrafthand {general duties}, 

to be trained as a Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F M E = Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F. M. E UT/F. II E = Flight Mechanic {Engines} Under Training Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

AC2 F2E = Aircraftman 2 nd Class (Rank). Fitter Grade 2 {Engines} (Trade).

Rank.

A C 2 (2 entries) = Aircraftman 2 nd Class.

Character.

This column contains one or more of the following: ‘V G’ - Very Good, ‘Gd’ - Good, Fair,

‘Ind’ - Indifferent, Bad. Each one could be recorded one or more times, or there could be a

combination (for instance: ‘Gd’, ‘Gd’, or ‘Gd’, ‘VG’ etc).

Trade (job).

U/T F M E = Under Training Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F. 2. E. = Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

Proficiency.

A = Skill in Trade.

B = Ability as a Supervisor.

C = Administrative Ability.

Apart from u /t (under training), any of the following could be recorded under A, B or C:

Ex - Exceptional, Supr - Superior, Sat - Satisfactory, Mod - Moderate, Inf - Inferior.

Records - Interpretation 3

 

Bottom page.

Unit From/Unit To

2 RC = No. 2 Recruits’ Centre, RAF Station Cardington, Bedfordshire.
At that time, No. 2 RC was one of several units within No. 22 Group, under Technical Training Command.

2 S of T. T. = No. 2 School of Technical Training, RAF Station Cosford, Shropshire,
No. 24 Group, Technical Training Command. Flight Mechanics and Flight Riggers undertook training courses at No. 2 S of TT at that time.

11 S of T T = No. 11 School of Technical Training, RAF Station Hereford
(a Station in No. 22 Group, Technical Training Command, at that time),

No. 24 Group, Technical Training Command.

24 M U = No. 24 Maintenance Unit (a Repair Depot), RAF Station Ternhill
(a Station in No. 21 Group, Flying Training Command at that time), Shropshire,
No. 43 Group, Maintenance Command.

14 S of T. T. = No. 14 School of Technical Training, RAF Station Henlow, Bedfordshire,
No. 24vGroup, Technical Training Command.

Netherlands [..?..] Dutch

Directorate {for Discharge} - no details.

Discharged (from the Royal Air Force) - no further details.

We do not know the meaning of entries – in this instance ‘HHH’, ‘1/6’,’2D2’, and ‘D2F’ (2 entries) in

the Reason column.