Potter, Peter

Title

Potter, Peter
P Potter

Description

39 items. Collection concerns Peter Potter, (1925 - 2019, 1876961 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a rear gunner with 626 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, his logbook, memoirs and photographs

The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Potter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.

Date

2015-09-14

Publisher

IBCC Digital Archive

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Identifier

Potter, P

Collection Items

Peter Potter and his pilot
Left - a man standing wearing academic robe and mortar board in front of a brick wall. Captioned 'Thomas Henry Hooper Ford - my pilot'.
Right - four airmen wearing tunic and side caps, two sitting in front and two standing behind. Captioned 'Price,…

Eighteen airmen
Eighteen airmen wearing greatcoats and side caps standing and sitting in three rows. Submitted with caption 'Potter Training Squad'.

Peter Potter
Top - head and shoulders portrait of a sergeant wearing tunic with air gunner brevet and side cap. Captioned 'graduation'.
Bottom left - head and shoulders portrait of a man wearing civilian clothes. Captioned 'escape photo'.
Bottom right -…

Peter Potter
Head and shoulders portrait of P Potter for use on escape documents if captured, submitted with caption 'Peter Potter Escape Photo'.
Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.

Peter Potter
Full length image of a man wearing blazer with medals and squadron badge and tie standing on a patio outside a house.
Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.

Family in car
Family in an old car in a field, car has “Fobbing” written on the side, submitted with caption; 'Mum with pigtails, self on bonnet, Chris Olive & Jean'.
Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.

Four aircrew cadets
Four airmen wearing tunic and side caps, two standing and two sitting in front, Captioned 'Price, Swan, Potter, Moore'

Two photographs and a note
Top - seven aircrew wearing flying helmets and Mae West, three squatting in front, four standing behind under the wing of a bomber aircraft. Captioned 'The crew under a Halifax wing'.
Middle a note giving names of crew 'L to R standing, Jim Jackson,…

Empty your pockets
From Dispersal Point. Men leave behind their identities to become aircrew. Submitted with caption; 'RAF Poem'.

A true war story
Humorous story of a young airman billeted with a war widow.

Joining up/Training
An account of Peter Potter's experiences following signing up to join the RAF.

RAF Hixon - Peter Potter
Peter describes his training on Wellingtons, crewing up process and other events while training - including a brake failure on landing and ending up on a railway line outside the airfield boundary.

Conversion to 4 engines and posting - Peter Potter
The document details conversion to 4 engines Halifax and Lancaster at RAF Hemswell and then to RAF Wickenby on 626 Squadron. Mentions allocation of aircraft and nose art.

Westkapelle - Peter Potter
Provides an account of return from an operation to Westkapelle, when they flew over author's father's farm and local village, where they threw out window.

Training - Peter Potter
The account covers some aspect of aircrew training, including decompression chamber and parachute training.

On take off - Peter Potter
Provides an account of crew actions during take off, and includes one occasion when a tire burst on the aircraft ahead, halfway down the runway, causing it to slew. Luckily, they were able to get airborne and avoid the other aircraft.

Two stories from Pembrey - Peter Potter
The first account tells the story of one comrade who did not take part in Christmas festivities, due to being excessively religious, and resulting events. The second is a risqué story about an innocent comrade.

Bridlington - Peter Potter
Tells the story of a comrade who got drunk on pub crawl, fell into an emergency static water tank on his way back to camp, and consequences.

Bombing - Peter Potter
The account highlights some of the issues causing lack of precision when bombing. It recalls their most successful operation, dropping mines in the Kiel Canal for 500 feet.

Claim for campaign stars and/or defence medal
Part made out for Warrant Officer P L Potter qualified for 1939/45 star.

After ops - Peter Potter
It states that the tour was completed on 17/18 December 1944 and he was not called upon to fly again, as the war in Europe was nearly over.

My finest memory - Peter Potter
Peter tells of an incident whilst he was training Prince Albert, and how the Prince's stutter impacted certain actions.

Main Ops - with crew only - Peter Potter
The document describes various operations undertaken during 1944.

Copy of Peter Potter's flying log book
Flying log book excerpts from P L Potter’s log book, covering the period from 3 May 1944 to 17 December 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Hixon and RAF Wickenby. Aircraft flown in were Wellington and…

Letter of appreciation
Letter from King George to WL Potter thanking him for work with GHQ Auxiliary Unit, submitted as; 'Secret Army Letter'.

Additional information about this item was kindly provided by the donor.
View all 39 items

Collection Tree

  • Potter, Peter