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ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
IBCC Digital Archive
@ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
43 followers 12 following 5 posts
The IBCC Digital Archive consists of more than 40,000 documents about those who were caught up in bombing war in Europe 1939-1945. Our ethos is to promote recognition, remembrance, and reconciliation. https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/
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ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
Student volunteers working in the archive today!
Four students and one staff member (Robin) working on PCs in the archive volunteers' office. Four students, another volunteer (Alan), and one staff member (Robin) working on PCs in the archive volunteers' office.
November 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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danellin.bsky.social
25 Mosquitoes from the 2nd Tactical Air Force attacked the Gestapo headquarters at the University of Aarhus, Denmark #OTD 31 October 1944. Around 200 Gestapo members and 30 Danes were killed, and the Gestapo's files on the Danish resistance were destroyed. #History #WW2
Attack on Gestapo Headquarters. Most of area obscured by smoke and dust, two badly damaged buildings in the foreground, attacking Mosquito in distance. On the reverse 'Taken by Sid Moulds over the target 'Aarhus University Gestapo Headquarters raid 31 October 1944.' IBCC Digital Archive item 25517
October 31, 2025 at 9:30 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
Letter from from Kenneth Gill to his family #OTD 27 Oct 1943. His new aircraft has the same nose art as their previous one, and a friend is missing after an operation to Leipzig. Gill flew 45 ops as a navigator with 9 and 617 Squadrons. He was killed 21 March 1945. #History #WW2
155097. P/O GILL. K. R.A.F. STATION. BARDNEY. OCT. 25TH/43. [RAF Crest] Dear Mum & Dad & Nipper, Thanks for your letter, it came yesterday morning, and thanks to David too for his, he's doing well isn't he. We didn't have too bad a trip the other night, the weather was awful but we got back alright, and that's the main thing. The new kite is quite good and behaved very well indeed, the old sign isn't up yet but it will be before long. Hello again, it's the 27th, now. I hadn't time to finish before. I've just come back from the IBCC Digital Archive item 35698 2/ kite and Binder II is up there for all to see. We havn't changed the design any, except to enlarge the disc on her collar and put 39 in it for the trips the old Binder did. We're going to her [sic] her photographed when we've finished. I've just had an airgraph this morning from Ron, he's quite well but he says he's "Brassed off to the teeth" with the war, but so is everybody else I suppose. Leslie wrote the other day too so I'll have to have a session tonight and get straightened up a bit. I've to reply to Margaret too, and pass on some bad news that just reached me this morning. 3/ George is missing from the raid on Liepzig [sic], his 20th. trip I think, that cuts our number down again it certainly makes one think. The weather here has been awful lately, were having our fourth day of thick fog now, goodness knows when we'll get our last three trips in at this rate. Glad to hear Arthur & Aunt Muriel are a lot better now, hope they keep on improving. Well I'll have to close for now, it's time to start work ? again. Cheerio & Chins up. Your Loving Son. Ken. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx & David Lets here [sic] from you again sometime David. Kenneth and Vera Gill's Wedding photograph Full length image of an airman wearing tunic with half brevet and holding peaked cap standing arm in arm with a woman wearing dress and hat and holding a wedding bouquet. IBCC Digital Archive item 35695
October 27, 2025 at 8:50 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
Kassel was bombed #OTD 22/23 October 1943 by 569 aircraft dropping 1,800 tons of bombs & nearly half a million incendiaries. A firestorm was created, the city centre was destroyed, 10,000 were killed & 100,000 were made homeless. 43 aircraft were lost and 240 aircrew were killed.
#WW2 #History
A vertical aerial photograph taken during a bombing operation at Kassel Rail Depot.No ground detail is visible and the image is obscured by flares. It looks quite pretty and abstract. It is captioned '3485 PCK 22/23:10:43 // NT 8" 16000'--- Kassel RD. Z. 2 x 1000 8 x 4 3 x 30 S/L MIllson Y 102'. IBCC Digital Archive item 51110
October 23, 2025 at 7:45 AM
ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
Part 2 of the 51 Squadron collection from RAF Waddington. Lots of log books, memoirs, letters, albums... loads of photos of Whitley and Halifax crews... Wizard stuff!
Five boxes and a photo album on a table in an archive store with moveable shelving.
October 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
Thanks to the good folks at the University of Lincoln Library we now have a trolley!
Library trolley with an archive box on in forint of the moveable shelving in the archive.
October 15, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
I'm giving a talk "Penguins and Chop Girls: Remembering RAF Bomber Command ground personnel 1939-45" Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.15pm, @uolhumanities.bsky.social Brayford campus (room TBC). #WW2 #History @nmtdambusters.bsky.social cityoflincolnbranchha.wordpress.com/.../branch.../
Historical Association Lincoln Branch ‘Penguins and Chop Girls: Remembering RAF Bomber Command ground personnel 1939 -1945’ For every member of aircrew who flew a bomber aircraft in RAF Bomber Command there were up to ten men and women who served in supporting roles. Their diverse trades included aircraft fitters and mechanics, WAAF clerks, parachute packers and drivers, and the lowly AC2 who emptied the latrines and drove the sanitary truck. ‘Penguins’, as flightless ground personnel were sometimes called, were marginalised in the RAF, and the women of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), were frequently reduced to sexual objects. Women who had dated an airman who failed to return were shunned as bad omens or ‘chop girls.’ However, without the effort of all these personnel, the bombing campaigns would not have got off the ground. Using published and unpublished testimonies including oral histories recorded for the IBCC Digital Archive, Dan examines the lives of ground personnel on operational bomber stations. Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.15pm, University of Lincoln’s Brayford campus (room TBC). Refreshments before and questions afterwards. QR code and images of WAAFs
September 25, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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missiontoofar.bsky.social
Really looking forward to speaking with Dan in February on my Great Uncle’s war experience and his memory of it and the challenges in balancing testimony and truth. @danellin.bsky.social @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social internationalbcc.co.uk/about-ibcc/n...
- International Bomber Command Centre
Testimony and Truth Memory and memorialisation. Exploring the evidence behind the account. 57 Squadron Wireless Operator Keith J ‘Steve’ Stevens’ name appears on a tour and a half’s worth of operation...
internationalbcc.co.uk
July 26, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
I'm giving a talk "Penguins and Chop Girls: Remembering RAF Bomber Command ground personnel 1939-45" Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.15pm, University of Lincoln’s Brayford campus (room TBC). Refreshments before and questions afterwards. Register here: tinyurl.com/583zzx44 #History
Flying advertising the talk. It includes two photos of WAAFs. Five outside a building and one working belting machine gun ammunition. There are lots of pin up girl posters on the wall - she's obviously in rather a male dominated environment.
July 24, 2025 at 12:54 PM
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danellin.bsky.social
You don't see this brevet very often...
The Radio Observer brevet came in in 1941 but was quickly replaced by the more familiar trade of Navigator. @nmtdambusters.bsky.social
Head and shoulders portrait of an RAF sergeant wearing tunic with Radio Observer brevet. On the reverse 'A W Mogg'. IBCC Digital Archive item 55136
July 22, 2025 at 11:29 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
Artist Commission Opportunity Exploring Freedom Past and Present working with the IBCC Digital Archive and the Lincoln Arts Centre: lincolnartscentre.co.uk/major-artist...
Artist Commission Opportunity Exploring Freedom Past and Present - Lincoln Arts Centre
Lincoln Arts Centre announces an exciting opportunity for artists to respond to the powerful theme of...
lincolnartscentre.co.uk
July 21, 2025 at 11:15 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
Drop-tank boat races in Brindisi Italy #OTD 9 July 1944. ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/items/show/2...
#WW2 #History @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
servicemen and their boats, on land. Reverse captioned '9/7/44 Brindisi Italy, Darling, after the race! Our boat is [three words unreadable]. Love Jack'. John 'Jack' Culkin and Jimmy Green afloat, in their paddle powered drop-tank catamaran. Headland in background.
July 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
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danellin.bsky.social
Today I interviewed Rolf Williams about his father, James Raphael Williams, a Trinidadian who served in the RAF as a wireless and radar mechanic. We'll get it published tomorrow, and transcribed ASAP. There's a post war twist or two to the story too... @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
Rolf Williams, wearing a blazer and his father's BT tie in front of exhibition panels at the IBCC Digital Archive Offices at the university of Lincoln.
July 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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danellin.bsky.social
My boss and friend, Professor Heather Hughes, Head of the Digital Archive is leaving the university. With all our wonderful volunteers, Alex, Robin, and I will do our best to follow Heather's example and continue to build the IBCC Digital Archive.
Professor Heather Hughes, Head of the Digital Archive is leaving the university. She has sent this message to the archive volunteers. “It's goodbye from me. I shall be leaving the University at the end of July but have quite a bit of leave to take, so in practice this is my last working week. The Digital Archive will continue to thrive in the very capable hands of Dan, Alex and Robin; it has been a real privilege to work with them over the past decade, and of course with all of you, to build something quite remarkable. It is the only resource of its kind and we should all be very proud. Thank you for all you have done towards our collective achievement...” Photo of Heather making a speech about the IBCC Digital Archive standing in front of a screen that is displaying a photo of her and me. The IBCC Digital Archive. The Archive of the Bombing War 1939‐1945 The IBCC Digital Archive is hosted at and managed by the University of Lincoln. Our work would not be possible without our team of volunteers who have donated thousands of hours to the various tasks of preservation and publication. The legacy of the bombing war in Europe during the Second World War is still controversial - the ethos of the Archive is to promote recognition, remembrance and reconciliation. In keeping with these values, the IBCC Digital Archive focuses on people’s stories of RAF Bomber Command and the bombing war in Europe (1939-1945), from multiple perspectives: on the ground and in the air, military and civilian, and on both sides of the conflict. The Archive is shaped by a commitment to presenting history from below, a historical narrative which attempts to account for wartime events from the perspective of common people rather than leaders, key figures, and highly decorated personnel. Sources are published ‘as is’, rather than having been interpreted. This is an archive, not an encyclopaedia. Owners of original items lend these to us for digitising and they are then returned to them. Once digitised we have no access to the originals. If you have material that you are willing to share with us so that we can share it with others, please contact us. More than 40,000 documents have been published so far. They include interviews with eyewitnesses, personal papers, and memorabilia belonging to more than 2,000 private collections worldwide. These shed light on the human dimension of people who were caught up in bombing war in Europe, in doing so revealing the unprecedented scale of loss and destruction. For the most part, they consist of previously unknown documents and materials never examined by historians. A crowd of mainly airwomen at the end of runway, waving off aircraft. IBCC Digital Archive item 48010 Royal Air Force Journal Volume 4, number 5, May 1946, the final edition. On the cover Joe Soap the Erk is making a curtain call on a stage and waving a bowler hat. The Journal contains information from the Air Ministry, stories from around the world and humour. IBCC Digital Archive item 22465
June 26, 2025 at 8:24 AM
ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
We're completing the process of moving the archive to new servers and we're currently getting some redirect issues. For now, please use the web address rather than links to the archive from other pages. ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net
IBCC Digital Archive
The IBCC Digital Archive consists of more than 40,000 documents about those who were caught up in bombing war in Europe 1939-1945. Our ethos is to promote recognition, remembrance, and reconciliation....
ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net
June 10, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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danellin.bsky.social
His collection in the @ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social contains correspondence, photographs and documents. ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/collections/...
May 21, 2025 at 8:11 AM
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danellin.bsky.social
Shit.
Photo from the Knox collection soon to be added to the IBCC Digital Archive at the University of Lincoln. @nmtdambusters.bsky.social #WW2
A Halifax aircraft in two pieces above the clouds falling towards the ground. It has broken around the mid -upper turret position. The tail section is top left, entre right is the main fuselage and wings.
May 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM
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historyrage.bsky.social
🗓️ 💥 #OnThisDay in 1943, the Dambusters Raid was launched, breaching German dams. But as @jamesjhistory.bsky.social rages, there's more to Bomber Command than just Dambusters and Dresden. Other squadrons are available too! ✈️ 🌊

Listen now: pod.fo/e/228102
<a href="/hashtag/onthisday" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#onthisday #otd #WWII
May 16, 2025 at 8:30 AM
ibccdigitalarchive.bsky.social
This article does a pretty good job of explaining what the IBCC is all about. The archive aims to tell the story of those caught up in the bombing war, in the air, on the ground and on both sides of the conflict.
Don’t forget Bomber Command
Official indifference to those who served in Bomber Command is not new. Churchill said little about the bomber offensive in his war memoir.
www.spectator.co.uk
May 6, 2025 at 10:11 PM