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LeoHatchet

A veteran interview with

Leo Hatcher

Leo gives a superb, detailed account of his time as a rigger on Sunderland Flying boats on the Berlin Airlift. Flying with 235 Squadron

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About Leo Hatcher

Leo Hatcher shares his memories as a young Royal Air Force (RAF) conscript in 1947 aged eighteen. With an older brother already in the RAF as an engine fitter, Leo was inspired to do the same. He instead became an airframe technician, or ‘rigger’, on the Sunderland flying boats (also known as the Short Sunderland).

Stationed at Finkenwerder near Hamburg, Germany, supporting the Allied Forces’ post-war operations in June 1948, he recalls witnessing first-hand the utter devastation wreaked upon German cities from the air.  In contrast to the tensions between the Allied Forces and the Soviet Union in Berlin, he remembers the friendliness of Berliners who would gather on the beach of Lake Wannsee to watch the Sunderlands come and go.

Told with warmth and poignancy, Leo’s reflection of his role during the Berlin Airlift offers a vivid account of what it was like to fly in one of these iconic aircraft, in addition to describing the logistics of delivering vital aid to a divided city.

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker
Reviewed by:
Dani Cole

Copyright:
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Home | Veterans | Leo Hatcher

A veteran interview with

Leo Hatcher

LeoHatchet

Leo gives a superb, detailed account of his time as a rigger on Sunderland Flying boats on the Berlin Airlift. Flying with 235 Squadron

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Hatcher, Leo. A Veteran Interview with Leo Hatcher. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, 26 Jan. 2013 https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/leo-hatcher/. Accessed 18 May. 2025.
APA Style:
Hatcher, L. (2013, January 26). A Veteran Interview with Leo Hatcher [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved May 18, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/leo-hatcher/
Chicago Style:
Hatcher, Leo. 2013. A Veteran Interview with Leo Hatcher. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, January 26. Accessed May 18, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/leo-hatcher/
Harvard Style:
Hatcher, L. (2013). A Veteran Interview with Leo Hatcher. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee, 26 January. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/leo-hatcher/ (Accessed: 18 May 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Hatcher, L. A Veteran Interview with Leo Hatcher [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; 2013 Jan 26 [cited 2025 May 18]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/leo-hatcher/
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