On Thursday 17 September 2026 at 12pm, Ewan Burnet will share insights in the RAF Museum's oral history collection. This lecture will be hosted virtually via Crowdcast and in-person at our London site.

Oral history involves the recording of people’s memories, their experiences, feelings and perceptions of events in which they were involved and which they lived through.  More art than science, it has its drawbacks and potential pitfalls – perhaps particularly the tricks that memory can play - but can also provide a compelling first-hand insight into the past, giving perspectives and covering areas likely to be missing from official written documents.  This talk will look at the history of oral history at the RAF Museum, how the oral history collection began, how it has developed over the years and at some highlights.

The RAF Museum has been recording oral history interviews since the 1960s, when Squadron Leader Fred ‘Jackson’ Dymond, himself a Second World War pilot, began a series of conversations with veterans of the First World War, the interwar period and the Second World War.  Jackson Dymond’s last interview was recorded in 1982, but these interviews, still preserved in the RAF Museum’s archive, are the starting point for what is now an extensive and growing collection, covering an ever-increasing range of experience, including the Cold War, the Falklands War, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other areas.

Among the highlights of the collection are interviews with veterans of the First World War, the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain, and of post-war events, beginning with the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949.  The Cold War is well-covered, with bomber crews, fighter pilots, maritime patrol crews and people representing a range of ground roles.  We have veterans of the 1982 Falklands War, the 1991 Gulf War, deployments to the Balkans during the 1990s and of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 21st Century.  The collection will continue to grow as new contacts are made and as events develop.

Ewan joined the RAF Museum as Assistant Curator of Film and Sound in 2008, after previously working in the Imperial War Museums Film and Video Archive. Now Curator of Film and Sound, his responsibilities include care, development and access for the museum’s film and sound collection, in addition to oral history interviews with a wide range of RAF veterans.

RAF Museum

Business Month

Lunchtime Lecture (London): Never let the Truth get in the Way of a Good Story: How Oral History Can Contribute to our Understanding of Air Power History