The following sound recordings consist of excerpts of two interviews made with members of the aircrew by the BBC in London in 1943. Other interviews include those made with Pearl Osbourne and Colin Windley in March of 1999 at Cornwall in England. Pearl and Colin were both residents of Praa Sands when Sunderland EJ143 appeared on the beach on the night of June 2nd 1943. Interviews two surviving members of 461 Squadron will soon follow.
Please Note: A website specifically related to the entire Sunderland crew and the events of 1943 is currently under construction. Much of the material appearing here will soon be transferred to the new site. The name of the site is based on Sunderland EJ134's Squadron designation which was UT-N of 461 Squadron or 'N'/461. The new site will be www.n461.com
The following recordings are in mp3 format. Ensure your sound is enabled and click on the highlighted quotes.Here Ray describes an incident that occured on February 13th 1943.
Dear Everybody,
A cable came today from Dad dated 27th February, arrived here on March 5th. Don’t know what the congratulations are for, unless its our escape from ‘Jerry’, we were a bit lucky to get away from four fighters, two JU88s & two FW 190s, the Focke Wulfs are probably Germanys best fighters now. We were all glad to see the English Coast, it was miles away when we had the scrap, which lasted about 40 odd minutes, instead of just a few seconds or a minute or two as they usually do.
Had a weeks leave, most of it was spent between Kodak House (R.A.A.F. Headquarters in England) & the B.B.C. where five of us out of the crew made a record of the scrap, Sunderland’s battle over the Atlantic. It’s to be broadcast in the overseas programme...
The following is a brief excerpt from that recording...
"...I held my fire 'til he was about 200 yards..." (62kb - 0:20sec)
Pearl Osbourne lived in the coastal village of Praa Sands during WWII with her husband Tom, who was a local Policeman based at Helston. Although she was in her eighties and confined to a wheelchair when interviewed in 1999, her memory of the events of the evening of June 2nd, 1943 when Sunderland N/461 arrived on the beach at Praa Sands were still sharp.
N/461 at Praa Sands - 3rd June 1943
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"My husband was in the police force..." (573kb - 4:52sec)
Colin Windley was ten years old the night Sunderland N/461 came in at Praa Sands. The following morning he went down to the beach.
N/461 at Praa Sands - 3rd June 1943
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"I went down the following day..."(738kb - 6:17sec)
Four of N/461's crewmembers were interviewed by the BBC's Jonathon Lock following their ordeal. Ray was not present during this recording as he was in hospital recovering from head injuries. In this short excerpt, nineteen year old English Flight Sergeant Eric Fuller explains what happened to Ray during the action.
BBC Interview - 3rd June 1943
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"...Flight Sergeant Fuller, what about you personally..." (50kb - 0:07sec)