Instead of reading a dusty old book, imagine you could hear participants tell it like it was, in their own words. Collecting audio aviation oral history recordings can sound like such a boring sideline. But when you’re hearing sounds and voices, some that haven’t been heard in years it becomes fascinating.
Last year Lost and Found Aviation Sounds was established to help preserve the sounds and voices of aviation history. Despite being a small team we recently worked on rare wire recordings found in a Washington DC basement, the recordings were interviews with the team that broke the sound barrier in 1947. The tapes had been forgotten for onwards of 25 years, until a member of LAFAS, a sound engineer in Washington DC found them. What makes these recordings special are that they include not just Chuck Yeager, but other people intimately involved with the X-1 test program. Many of these people have long since pasted on, but these tapes recorded at the time; allow their voices to describe the events while they are still “raw” in their own minds. Audio extracts available on our website (http://www.one-voice.co.uk/lafas).
Following a recent piece in a North American aviation journal, a visitor to the LAFAS website sent a cassette filled with interesting material relating to the P47 Thunderbolt flown by his father with the 9th AAF during WW2. Of prime interest to him was a wartime interview recorded with his late father, and broadcast back in his hometown. The original 78 record made of brittle shellac had miraculously survived the war and was found by the son in the archives of a well-known aviation museum. After copying it to cassette he sent it to us to clean up, removing where possible the clicks and hiss to improve the audio quality. An mp3 version of the interview is available to download from our website.
We’re always looking for help in finding “new” material to add to the archive and make sure it is preserved. Do you know of anyone or any museums in your area that might have sound recordings tucked away and forgotten in their archives?
Regards,
Chris Butterfield
Lost and Found Aviation Sounds
Web: http://www.one-voice.co.uk/lafas
email: [email]lafas@one-voice.co.uk[/email]
“Lost and Found Aviation Sounds” is run on a purely voluntary basis, we fund the project ourselves and volunteers donate their time and skills free of charge.
By: radiochris - 2nd May 2003 at 14:10
The EAA’s Timeless Voices Programme is based on video tapping new material. In an email Adam Smith, Museum Director at the EAA’s AirVenture Museum, told me “our primary goal is to collect and preserve video taped oral histories.”
LAFAS on the other hand is concerned primarily with preserving audio material already recorded.
Having spoken to the librarian at the EAA’s AirVenture Museum, they told me they have an small uncatalogued collection of audio material in its basement, the librarian also told me that they didn’t have the time or manpower to organise and catalogue the material. One tape that did have a label on referred to interviews with participants in the Cleveland Air Races!
Regards,
Chris Butterfield
Lost and Found Aviation Sound
Web: http://www.one-voice.co.uk/lafas
Email: [email]lafas@one-voice.co.uk[/email]
By: gbwez1 - 2nd May 2003 at 00:27
On the theme of this thread, the website for EAA’s video oral history effort “Timeless Voices of Aviation” can be found here: www.timelessvoices.org
There are some interresting downloads there.
By: Seafuryfan - 30th April 2003 at 20:27
A Big Fan
I’m a big fan of audio aircraft recordings. I have several in my CD collection which I enjoy playing to fellow enthusiasts on their occasional visits.
My favourite is ‘Black 6’, a digitally recorded CD of the famous Duxford-based 109G in flight from outside AND inside – including ground runs, start-up, aeros, landings, taxi, etc
I used to have the three ‘Sounds at Shuttleworth’ volumes on LP but alas, they were lost during my years of moving around with work. Volume 2 had a glorious recording of a difficult start of spitfire IX MH434 followed by aerobatics – awesome….not to mention a high speed pass by Sea Fury TF956.
The above mentioned albums were made by Flightstream Productions – does anyone have a copy? 🙂
The rarest item I have is a somewhat battered album called “The Sound of the Aeroplane at War 1939 to 1945” which has gems such as the V1, Fulmar, Skua, Sterling, KI102, and ME262.
If the originator of this thread would like to leave me a message I would be happy to lend the record – I have had it converted, uncleaned, onto CD.
Like others, I think an audio recording of personal experiences (groundcrew or aircrew) is a fantastic idea – good luck to the collators of such material.
By: Peter - 30th April 2003 at 16:28
Hey! Great Idea!!!!!
Smashing idea chaps. What better way to get the TRUE story of past raids etc then none other than from the veteran flight crews that participated in the raids!
It is a pity most movie directors dont do this because if they did and kept the actual stopry line instead of glorifying the us forces in british raids etc most war stories would be much better for it.
Kids growing up now dont know anything about the battle britain and how we began bombing germany etc. All they hear is how great the mighty US airforce was and that they won the war single handidly!
Ducking before the ack ack starts…
By: Ashley - 30th April 2003 at 08:45
It is an excellent way of preserving history…for example, I am sure many of us have read Geoffrey Page’s ‘Tales of a Guinea Pig’ /’Shot Down in Flames’ (same book, different title) and immediately been transported into another world…but to actually listen to Geoffrey talking about his experiences is really something else…
The IWM’s Sound Archive has many many aviation gems in it’s collection which are available to the public, click on the link to search our archives:
http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/
Ashley
P.S. RadioChris, sorry I cannot help you either, but I wish you well in your venture 🙂
By: Steve Bond - 30th April 2003 at 08:21
Audio records
I quite agree, this has tended to be an area of aviation history which has not had the attention it deserves.
If anyone is interested, a golden opportunity to capture such material is coming up on 8 July at Cranfield, when the Milton Keynes Aviation Society is holding a Bomber Crew Forum, with 12 guest crewmen addressing the audience. Their experience covers such types as Hart, Wellesley, Bombay, Wellington, Whitley, Blenheim, Stirling, Lancaster, Halifax, Boston, etc, plus many postwar types.
See our website at www.mkas.net
By: Moggy C - 30th April 2003 at 07:26
I can’t actually help, but I just wanted to comment on what a brilliant idea this is.
We all have access to so many stationary and silent photographic records of the aircraft we like. We have so little aural evidence from their drivers and maintainers. Frankly we have very little in the way of recordings of the aircraft themselves too.
Keep up the good work.
Moggy
Sign In
April 29, 2003 at 7:15 pm