{"id":2809,"date":"2022-09-25T23:18:44","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T23:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/SSLHG\/?page_id=2809"},"modified":"2023-06-15T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T12:20:39","slug":"harold-yeoman-raf","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/people\/local-heroes\/royal-air-force\/harold-yeoman-raf\/","title":{"rendered":"Yeoman, Harold (RAF)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Harold Yeoman was born at 13 Westoe Avenue, South Shields on June 22, 1921. &nbsp;He went to Mowbray Road Infants School then won a scholarship to the South Shields Boys High School.<br><br>He joined the RAF in 1940 and started his pilot training aged just 19 at RAF Sywell flying Tiger Moths (biplanes) for \u00a35 and 4 shillings a fortnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6103\" width=\"318\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG2.jpg 424w, https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG2-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Harold Yeoman (Shields Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his crew were instrumental in bombing the Renault factory in Paris, which was producing armoured vehicles for the German army.<br>The former flight lieutenant, who spent most of his RAF career stationed at RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire, said: \u201cThis was a specialist raid. Normally, we would be 18,000ft to 20,000ft when we bombed. This time we were told to go in as low as possible. We were in about 3,000ft to 4,000ft.<br><br>\u201cWe had to be very careful and had no room for error. If we made one mistake we would be on the ground.<br><br>\u201cIt upset me when you\u2019d get back and you\u2019d see empty chairs following the raids. You knew who hadn\u2019t made it back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"427\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG1.jpg 427w, https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Local-Heroes-Yeoman-SG1-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Harold Yeoman and bomber crew (Shields Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tragically, Mr Yeoman\u2019s crew were killed on a bombing mission he had been forced to miss after being grounded because of a medical condition.<br><br>In 1943 he met his future wife Joan who was a Sergeant in the Women&#8217;s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), they married in 1946.<br><br>After the war Harold returned to his job at the weights and measures at South Shields Corporation, he retired in 1986.\u00a0 He lived with his wife Joan in Woods Terrace Westoe. She died in 1985 and Harold died in January 2019, aged 97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sources:<br><br>Shields Gazette<br>Bomber Command<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk\/omeka\/collections\/document\/3527\">Interview with Harold Yeoman \u00b7 IBCC Digital Archive (lincoln.ac.uk)<\/a><br><br>Trading Standards magazine<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaloftradingstandards.co.uk\/inside-trading-standards\/obituary-harold-yeoman\/\">Obituary: Harold Yeoman &#8211; Journal Of Trading Standards<\/a><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harold Yeoman was born at 13 Westoe Avenue, South Shields on June 22, 1921. &nbsp;He went to Mowbray Road Infants School then won a scholarship to the South Shields Boys High School. He joined the RAF in 1940 and started his pilot training aged just 19 at RAF Sywell flying Tiger Moths (biplanes) for \u00a35 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9397,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2809","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7714,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2809\/revisions\/7714"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southshieldslocalhistorygroup.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}