James lectures on Bomber Command story in WW2

James Ruddock-Broyd (G46-52) has found a second career (or is it third or fourth?) in lecturing. He writes:

I was so intrigued with a Bomber Command story bought for a £1 on an RBL stall at VE 80 that I have made a Talk of FIRST WAVE with permission of author Kenneth Ballantyne and   the Biographee’s son David Payne. It is the life of WO Reg Payne, wireless operator in 50 Squadron which did 30 Missions over Germany in 154 days of 1943-44 and lived to age 98.

The crew were selected by Pilot Officer Michael Beetham age 20 who 30 years later was Sir Michael and Chief of Air Staff and then Marshal of the RAF.

As I was preparing the Talk for our Retirement Village in Witney I met Carterton RAFA Treasurer Gerry Monaghan, RAF 55 years, who arranges Talks for the Families Club at RAF Brize Norton and the presentations were given in July and June 2026 respectively.

Invaluable assistance was given by friend Roy Tarbox who was an engineer on MOD aerospace programmes and we were able to produce 60 slides which made it the first time I had spoken with a full set of images. The copyright situation was complicated but was clarified with help of the solicitor author as they were free presentations and a handout was produced including 21 specified Acknowledgements and Copyright sources.

Three of us got feel of the story by visiting David Payne’s home at Kettering to see the collection of Dad’s related paintings and artefacts. This was followed by seeing the site of the old airfield at Skellingthorpe, the fairly new International Bomber Command Centre at Canwick Hill, Lincoln and the Lancaster Centre at East Kirkby where a Lancaster does ‘ridings’ for 30 mins for a handful of passengers.  

I started the talk explaining why an Army signaller should be interested in a Bomber  Command story by saying we had a bomb at the end of the garden in Sudbury in October 1940 and from 1942 were continually flown over by B17 fortresses from nearby USAAF Acton which was one of the 35 RAF and American airfields in Suffolk.

As the book includes citations of some airmen VC holders I made mention of the three Framlingham VCs and to the painting by Sir Alfred Munnings (1891-92) of the Charge by Lt Flowerdew (1894-99) in 1918 which was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook who in WWII was Minister of Aircraft Production where my uncle Edward Ruddock worked during that War.  

Picking up further airmen VCs at East Kirkby, we issued a handout of summary citations of 11 awards in Bomber Command and dedicated the Talk to the 55,573 who died in that Command. Some 75 heard the story at the two locations which included the Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire.

A typescript of 11 pages of speaking can be supplied on request to ruddockbroyd@gmail.com