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Guest: Lindsay Budge
Host: Dave Homewood
Recorded: 30th of October 2015
Duration: 43 minutes 57 seconds (60.3 MB)
In this episode Dave Homewood chats with WWII RNZAF veteran Lindsey Budge of Tauranga, who is now aged 96. He was a herd tester before the war,then spent some time in the Army before he transferred to the RNZAF to train as aircrew. He trained in Canada and by the time he was ready to proceed to England he was a qualified Air Gunner. Lindsay served on Special Operations squadrons, first briefly with the spy dropping Short Stirlings at RAF Tempsford, and then later as the rear gunner of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers that were engaged in electronic warfare amongst the bomber stream with No. 100 Group.
Thanks to Peter Wheeler of the New Zealand Bomber Command Association for his assistance with this episode.
Quick Links:
The New Zealand Bomber Command Association Facebook Page
As a founding member and Secretary of RAF 100 Group Association, I was fascinated to be sent this link and know that others in our worldwide Association Family would welcome knowing about it, especially those RAF 100 Group veterans who don’t have computers.
As Editor of our Association magazine ‘Confound & Destroy’, I would welcome sharing this with members, including our many veterans and their families worldwide; and wonder if a transcript of this interview with WWII RNZAF veteran Lindsey Budge who went on to become an integral part of RAF 100 Group is possible?
As an author of 23 publications, my latest book ‘RAF 100 Group – Kindred Spirits’ came out last month, a weighty volume bringing together the stories of those who served under this secret Group during the war. For many this is the first and only time they will share their secrets, their work, their lifestyle during wartime on Norfolk airfields in the UK. Published by Austin Macauley, I wondered if your own readers might be interested to know about this publication.
I very much look forward to hearing from you, and particularly about whether I can include your interview and at least one photograph, as there may be veterans on our Association who will know him and perhaps even served with him on RAF 100 Group in wartime. Our veterans are always keen to re-establish contact, and to know what became of one of their own.
Best wishes,
Janine Harrington
Hi Janine,
It’s great to hear from you and nice to know there there is still a strong No. 100 Group Association in existence. Whilst the Wings Over New Zealand Show episodes remain under my copyright, they are all there to be shared and enjoyed by anyone around the world. You can download the file directly from the page to keep, as many times as you wish. I have no problem with you copying the episode to disc or USB stick and handing it around to association members, please feel free. And if you want to directly link to the episode page from your website or Facebook or whatever, please feel free to.
I would also not have any problem if you wished to transcribe the audio into text for your members, etc. Please feel free. I have not got the time to do this myself but I have no worries with others doing so. If you do, I’d appreciate a copy for my records, that’s all.
As far as your books go, I am sure members of our New Zealand Bomber Command Association Facebook page will be interested (the link is on the page above), so feel free to post something to that. Also you’d be welcome to spread the word on my Wings Over New Zealand Aviation Forum, here at http://rnzaf.proboards.com
If you or other veterans wish to contact Lindsay he’s in the White pages, here http://whitepages.co.nz/w/103978539/
There is at least one other No. 100 Group veteran still going here in New Zealand, Reg Dunbar who was on Defiants with the Group. He appeared in an earlier episode recorded at a live event at Ardmore. The episode is here:
https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/2015/02/episode-77-wonz-forum-meet-bomber-command-veterans/
Cheers,
Dave Homewood