Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
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Edition area
Edition statement
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1942-2009 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
60 cm of textual records, graphic material and realia.
7 photographs.
88 maps.
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gordon Griffith (1914-2000) served as the navigator of a bomber crew during World War II. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in May 1942 and was discharged in October 1945. During his service, he belonged to the 76th Squadron of the Royal Air Force. As detailed in a letter from Jack Bath (who served as a Mid Upper Gunner) to Tom Kennedy, the crew was formed in early 1944. The airfield was located in the village of Holme-on-Spaudling in Yorkshire, England. Their first aircraft was the Halifax III, which survived sixty missions. Griffith lived in Lincoln, Ontario during the later years of his life.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of Griffith’s in-flight navigator’s reports of bombing raids over German targets, detailing height, speed, temperature, instrument checks, unusual incidents, bomb release time, course flown, special instructions, and observations, and corresponding course maps. Fifty-two of the maps included in this fonds are World War II Bomber Charts, namely Topographical Maps, Lattice Topographical Maps, Radar Plotting Charts, Plotting Series Maps, Aeronautical Maps, and Canadian Air Navigation Charts. There are also three notebooks.
The fonds also contains an air force uniform (Pilot Officer jacket, trousers, felt “long johns,” two Royal Air Force “blue shirts.”); Griffith’s shoulder boards and air force and officer hats; 5 navigation protractors (3 of which are handmade); various patch badges including air force, army and naval items; and sample plexiglass from an aircraft window; a sample of airframe; field wound dressing (unused); and a sewing kit, for buttons, badges, and repairs.
There is also biographical information about Griffith and his crew (including the correspondence to Kennedy from Bath and an article from McLean's Magazine, September 2009 describing Operation Gisela); Leave Guide for London (a YMCA brochure), an issue of Time and Tide: Independent Non-Party dated 14 April 1945; 7 annotated photographs of the Halifax III and its crew, a Crew Roster for the 76th Squadron RAF for the week ending 22 December 1944.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The fonds (24-1010) was acquired from Tom Kennedy in April 2010.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
The maps and charts, which make up the majority of the archive, have been digitized and are available in the digital repository.
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
