I recently read about the “Hidden Heroes” project in the “Times of Israel” to identify Jewish RAF airmen and compiled the memoir below for the project.
My late father Aubrey Klevan (born, lived and died in Manchester) served as a Leading Aircraftman in the RAF Voluntary Reserve from 1941 to 1946 as an aircraft mechanic. He was stationed at a number of bases, initially at RAF Melksham, and then Yatesbury, Waddington, Prestwick, Winthorpe and finally Bassingbourn, servicing “Manchester” and “Lancaster” bombers and other aircraft.
He volunteered after a narrow escape while working at the Manchester Jewish Memorial Hospital when it was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Manchester Blitz in December 1940. He was blown across the room by the force of the blast but was uninjured. He had lots of stories to tell about service and wartime life but none quite as dramatic as the ones in the article.
