Air Force stories in the Desert Island Discs Archive

I am listening to Beware The Wild Winds right now Pete, it’s bloody awesome!! Well done and thanks again!

Cool. I am charging the iPod right now and will have a listen soon.

The original request came in the form of an email to Angel Radio (a UK nostalgia station broadcasting on VHF and DAB in the south of England and worldwide on the Internet) from a small radio station broadcasting on 106.8 in the Auckland area (I think their transmitters are at Helensville and Orewa) asking for information from any listeners who had wartime memories of Kiwis in the RAF in this area. As a programme producer and presenter at Angel and a member of staff at the Tangmere museum it dropped into my lap and I ended up producing the complete programme.

It was broadcast on ANZAC day by a number of the small stations affiliated to radioauckland.net and also picked up by TRN (The Radio Network?). It obviously reached a wider audience than the intended Auckland area because I got a very nice email about the programme from a lady in Christchurch whose father was a pilot with 486.

Pete

Awesome Pete, many thanks, I will definitely have a listen to this. Which kiwi station was that done for? I certain;y missed it at the time.

Thanks, Dave. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Here’s a link to a programme called “Beware The Wild Winds” which you might also enjoy. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fh78jvm9pfvbxfl/Pete%20Pitman%20-%20Beware%20The%20Wild%20Winds%20-%20UK%20Version.mp3

Telling the story of New Zealanders at RAF Tangmere, it was done for a New Zealand radio station and broadcast on ANZAC Day 2012. This version has the additional UK introduction.
Pete

Pete, I meant to come back to this and say how much I really enjoyed your piece on Guy Gibson’s Desert Island Disc appearance. Really well done, thanks very much for posting it.

I also found Sir Douglas Bader’s episode rather entertaining. He had quite a laugh, like one of those Ronnie Barker silly old duffer laughs. 😉

Thanks Pete, I have downloaded and will certainly listen when i get a chance.

Thanks Joe, I’ll grab Lewis’s episode too for future listening.

Cecil lewis DID is a great aviation one as well.

Sadly Guy Gibson’s recording is unavailable, it must be lost 🙁

I don’t think there ever was a recording but there is a transcript of the programme in the BBC library. A commercial recreation is available with the late Richard Todd reading Gibson’s words. Unfortunately, Todd was well into his 80s when the recording was made so, sadly, his reading of the 24 year old Gibson’s words doesn’t quite work for me.

Rather immodestly, perhaps I could mention my own version which I made for Angel Radio – a UK nostalgia station – in 2009. It was rebroadcast with a new introduction on 16 May this year as a tribute to all those who took part Operation Chastise. In the unlikely event you may want to listen to it, you can get it here for a couple of days:https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xvaej40fx4gtae/Pete%20Pitman%20-%20Guy%20Gibson%27s%20Desert%20Island%20Discs_Dambusters%20Anniv%20Edition.mp3 Please remember it was written as an entertainment programme for a general audience.
PP