Second World War Stories
Preston’s Second World War Stories
Ann Thompson
Photo of my late husband and his RAF Service and
Release Book
Born and brought up in Preston, Tony (1923-1998)
volunteered for the Royal Air Force in 1941. He did his
basic training in Blackpool, where his drill instructor was
Corporal Max Wall, later a musical comedy actor.
Tony served as an aircraft fitter in the Isle of Man, Ireland and
Iceland. At Keflavík in Iceland, he was ground crew by day,
maintaining Blenheim bombers and Anson fighter planes.
In the evenings, he kept the accounts in the Officers’ Mess
bar. Progressing to bar steward, he had a reputation for
mixing unusual cocktails or celebratory punch, served in an
aeroplane canopy. Tony was demobbed in November 1946,
and joined the family haulage business. We married in 1959
