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With Remembrance Day approaching, ex-RAF electrician Harry Dexter, of Belper (pictured right with his wife, Doris, in 1967) has been recalling the friends he worked with at the start of the Second World War. One by one, they joined the RAF and met varying fates as the conflict wore on.

At the age of 16, I was serving my apprenticeship at Newton Brothers, electrical engineers, on Alfreton Road, Derby.

The war had just started and we were working overtime, evenings and weekends, to produce generators and rotary converters for the Air Ministry, plus large electric generators, alternators and motors for the Admiralty.

All apprentices were exempt from service in the Armed Forces. The only way to get round this was to volunteer for flying duties in the RAF at the age of 17-and-a-half.

The first one to go was Joe Bird, of Victory Road. He left the winding department to become an air gunner on the Wellington bomber F for Freddie, which featured with the crew in the film, Target for Tonight, and was shown in Derby cinemas.

Joe made several leaflet drops and bombing raids over Europe before being shot down. Sadly, he was listed as missing, believed killed.

Next to go was Frank Alton, of Little Eaton, also from the winding department. Frank flew as a sergeant flight observer in a Stirling bomber, raiding over Germany and across the Alps to Italy.

Sadly, Frank’s aircraft was also shot down and he was listed as missing.

We heard later that Frank had parachuted to safety and was in a German hospital. Later he returned to a hospital in the UK and visited us several times at Newton’s.

He looked remarkably fit, though I noticed he was squeezing a rubber ball in both hands as he spoke. His nerves would take much longer to heal. After demob, Frank took up a post at the power station in Spondon.

A 1954 advertisement for Newton Brothers

Next to go was Freddie Bull, of Chaddesden, a good friend of mine.

He left the winding department and became a corporal group 1 aircraft electrician. Fred served on Dakota Squadrons in the UK and India before being demobbed.

He then obtained a post in the electrical section at the Royal Ordnance Depot, Sinfin Lane.

The next to leave was Jack Kemp, of Little Eaton.

He quit the machine shop to become an air gunner on a bomber squadron. Jack did numerous raids over Europe. One day, his dad, who also worked at Newton’s, proudly told us that his son had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for a complete tour of operations.

The next to go was Frank Mudd, of Kedleston Road, who was in the voltage regulator section. He became a Spitfire pilot. He was followed by Brian Barton, of Spondon, who left the winding department to become a sergeant pilot.

After the Normandy invasion, work orders from the Air Ministry and Admiralty began to slow and gradually we were called up to serve in the Army, Navy or Air Force to replace the lads that had been lost or were being demobbed. I went into the RAF and was trained as an aircraft electrician. Four years later I was demobbed.

In 1952, I joined the Army Fire Service, based at the Royal Ordnance Depot, in Sinfin Lane, Derby, and was there until it closed in 1971.

I can still recall my friends as though it were yesterday. Many other firms in Derby were in the same situation in the war years from 1939-45.

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