Interview with Doug Beasley. Title Interview with Doug Beasley. Description At the start of the war, Doug Beasley left school at 16 to start work. Initially a member of the Air Training Corps, he was sent for aircrew selection when he became There was a month wait to enlist as a pilot, so he opted to become a flight engineer. Many of his fellow intake were ex-police officers, older as they were not released from the police until they were 30 years old.
It was here that he was formed in to a flight crew when they transferred from their Operational Training Unit. At this stage they were flying the Halifax II and V. It was with this unit that he flew his first operation, a leaflet dropping operation over France on 12th August He describes in detail many of his operations, mainly over Germany. One in particular occurred in January when his aircraft was attacked by a Ju 88 night fighter.
After completing his tour of operations, 38 rather than the normal 30, he became an instructor with an operational flying unit flying Wellingtons. He left the RAF in to return to civilian life. Creator David Kavanagh. Date Temporal Coverage Spatial Coverage England--Torquay. Wales--Vale of Glamorgan. Great Britain. Germany--Ruhr Region. Coverage Royal Air Force. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command. Language eng. Type Sound. Format audio recording. Conforms To Pending review. Pending revision of OH transcription.
Contributor Nick Cornwell-Smith. Julie Williams. Maureen Clarke. Identifier ABeasleyDG March So if I just put that there. DB: Yeah. DK: Yeah. DB: Right. DK: It is. Sometimes get caught out with the batteries going or something. DK: They are nice. A very handy little β DB: Yeah. DK: Little bit of kit that. So, if I can just ask you β DB: Yeah.
DK: What were you doing immediately before the war? DK: Oh right. DB: And I was studying really accountancy. I also was in the Air Training Corps immediately I was sixteen. And that meant that as soon as I was eighteen I went to, to the Aircrew Reception. DK: Right. DB: Selection. DB: People. DK: Was the Air Force your first choice then? DB: Oh yes. Well, I was in the Air Training Corps. DK: What was the first things you had to do when you joined the Air Force?
