大象传媒

This story was submitted by John C Haywood, volunteer Lincoln CSV. I fully understand the sites terms and conditions.

The story so far:
I was born and grew up in Sheffield with my father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters. My father had served in the first world war with 'C' Company of the York's and Lancs Regiment fighting on the Somme, Ypres and Hill 60, this earned him two and three quarter chevrons, one for each year on the front. His mates he joined up with all being killed during these actions.

When the second world war arrived and having had front line experience, he was given command of the A.R.P. unit in our area. We had all the usual equipment stationed at our house, stirrup pump, steel buckets,tin helmets,incendary bomb grabs, and ladders. Father who had a regular job at Firth Derians Steel Company, now under part of the Meadowhall shopping complex site, was out most nights fire watching and collecting incendary bombs.

If only the German bomber crews knew what was down the road from where we lived. Brightside Lane was end to end factories. One factory made crankshafts for the Merlin engine for early marks of Spitfire, the only one producing them at the time, next door armour for tanks, and a little further on they made steel plate and gun barrel's for battle ships. Later on in the war they produced the cases for the Tall Boy and Grand Slam bombs used by 617 Sqd the Dambusters. We spent a lot of time in the air raid shelter looking out of the door watching the bombs drop on Sheffield city centre, unfortunately it was obliterated, and so was thousands of private dwellings. The Marples Hotel in the city centre took a direct hit killing every one inside, there was live music and a dance on at the time.

I have lived most of my life up to now loving aircraft, maybe the sound of German bombers, Lancasters and Spitfire's flying low over our home was impressed on my mind, who knows, and so in the eighties I gained my pilots licence. I have collected reference books on WW2 aircraft, and been involved with research and recovery.
In the ninties together with my partner Heather we began re-enacting the A.T.A. Air Transport Auxiliary, and in 2003 I was the co-ordinator for the Amy Johnson Centenary. Amy was in the A.T.A. when she drowned in the Thames estuary while delivering an Airspeed Oxford aircraft.
We have been on several small T.V. documentaries, news, and radio, several times, and visited schools to talk about the forties and show are collection of forties artifacts..
I also co-ordinate an event each January at the Petwood Hotel Lincolnshire for re-enactors. The Petwood Hotel was the mess for 617 Sqd Dambusters.
Heather and I attend forties events each year at the East Lancs Steam railway, Crich, Haworth, Pickering, Quorn, Embsey and many more as well as forties dances.
I am in the middle of writing a book of poetry about R.A.F. bases in Lincolnshire between 1939-1945. Poems I have written have been broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio and are on view at the Petwood Hotel, Thorpe Camp, the Dambusters Inn Scampton Village, the museum at R.A.F. Scampton and museums in the south. I have met several well know R.A.F. veterans, 'Pit' Pittam, Jack Curry, Ginger Lacey, Leonard Cheshire and Michael Bentine (of the Goons) Michael was the inteligence officer at R.A.F. Wickenby. Veterans attend most of the forties events and their stories should be captured for posterity.

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