Harold John Alfred Wright, as a Flying Officer, Bomber Command and Pathfinder Force RAF and RAAF, interviewed by Edward Stokes for the Keith Murdoch Sound Archives of Australia in the War of 1939-45

Places
Accession Number S00582
Collection type Sound
Measurement 2 hr 40 min
Object type Oral history
Physical description audio cassette; TDK D60; two track mono
Maker Wright, Harold John Alfred
Wright, Harold John Alfred
Date made May 1989
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Source credit to The Keith Murdoch Sound Archive of Australia in the war of 1939-45
Description

Discussing enlistment in Royal Australian Air Force; pilot training at Bradfield Park; transfer to navigational training; Empire Air Training Scheme and training courses at Edmonton and Lethbridge, Canada; astro navigation; dead reckoning navigation; GEE and H2S radar ststems; H2X radar system; to England and training on Avro Ansons at Bobbington; posting to Lichfield and crewing-up process; operational flights to Dusseldorf and Bremen; life expectations of Bomber Command crews; lack of moral fibre charges; consistancy of fear during operational tours; physical manifestations of stress; physical surroundings of navigator in Lancaster planes; description of OBOE target-marking system; mining operations and coastal flak defences in Sweden; transfer to Pathfinder Force; background to establishment of Pathfinder Force; impressions of Don Bennett; reactions to loss of colleagues; pride in Pathfinder Service; end of tour of duty and return to Australia; post-war employment with Qantas; post-war involvement in anti-communist activities; motivation to write novel on Pathfinder experiences.