Papers of Sir Frank Cooper, 1953-1999, primarily relating to his service as Permanent Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office, 1973-1976, as Permanent Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, 1976-1982, and post retirement, 1983-1999. The papers include correspondence, articles, press cuttings, press releases, reports, speeches, interviews and conference papers on a variety of topics including: the Air Ministry in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Suez War and Operation MUSKETEER, 1956; the political situation in Northern Ireland, 1973-1976; the Falklands War, 1981-1982, particularly the reaction of the Ministry of Defence and of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the sinking of the Argentinean cruiser BELGRANO; the Civil Service, including relationships with the Government, structural reorganisations, Parliamentary Committees and policy making; the Ministry of Defence, including the Defence budget, management policy and accountability, the civilian contribution to the MoD, the relationships between defence procurement, industry and the economy; wider defence issues including the relationships between Britain, Europe, America and NATO, the importance of research and development collaboration, arms sales, the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), the European aerospace industry, American protectionism and technology transfer; British nuclear weapons policy, nuclear deterrence and disarmament, ATBM (anti tactical ballistic missile) defences and the management of the Trident, Polaris and Chevaline projects; British and French maritime forces; and Westland Helicopters PLC, including correspondence from Cooper's time as Director (1982-1985) and parliamentary reports relating to the sale of the company. Also papers relating to projects and study groups including the Joint Study of European Cooperative Measures for Aeronautical Research and Technology (EUROMART), 1978-1991; the EUREKA research and development programme, 1985-1986; EUROGROUP, 1982; the Foundation for International Security, 1984-1990; the British Rocketry Oral History Project, 1997-1998; the Defence Study Group of the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, 1988-1990; and the Institute for Defence Procurement Studies, 1989-1990. Photographs of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in session, 1965-1977 and the Falklands War, 1982, including Royal Marines progressing through Port Stanley, surrendering Argentinean soldiers and piles of surrendered Argentinean weapons. Prints Ulster Impressions by Joan Wanklyn, 1974, RAF Aldergrove by Ken Howard, 1975 and The Great White Whale by Ronald Dean, depicting the SS CANBERRA, 1982.

Copy of diary covering his service as ADC to Winston Churchill at the Cairo Peace Conference and including details of meetings with Col Thomas Edward Lawrence (later known as Thomas Edward Shaw), Mar 1921; photocopy of photograph of Coote, 1917; brief account of his life and career, 1893-1946, written by his godson, Air Cdre B H Newton in 1981.

Printed programme of the review of the British and Commonwealth naval and merchant fleet by HM Queen Elizabeth II at Spithead, 15 Jun 1953, including map of the review published by the Admiralty, 1953

Typescript intelligence report by Courtney entitled 'Remarks on a visit to Soviet Russia-August 1935', with notes, publications and related correspondence, 1922-1936; group photograph of Courtney and officers of the Naval Mission to the USSR [1942]; two notebooks with manuscript notes by Courtney on German and Allied ship movements, USSR [1942]; papers relating to the USSR, 1943-1978, including typescript notes by Courtney entitled 'Soviet Russia and the war', Feb 1943, article by William Laurence Burn entitled 'Anglo-Russian relations: an historical retrospect', from The nineteenth century, Jan 1946; edition of US restricted publication 'The Soviet Union', US Government Printing Office, 1947; manuscript notes on Soviet governmental personnel, 1953; typescript note on internal security in the USSR, 1978; correspondence with the Admiralty, 1949-1958, relating to pay and allowances, Courtney's civilian business matters, 1954-1958, and the Admiralty's refusal to grant permission for Courtney to travel in the USSR as a private businessman, 1953-1955; personal and business correspondence relating to the development of Windermere Island, Bahamas, 1963; correspondence, publications and texts of speeches relating to the Monday Club, 1978-1985, including typescript text of speech by Courtney entitled 'The Soviet fifth column', Jun 1978; correspondence between Cdr Geoffrey Briscoe Penn and the Ministry of Defence relating to the vetting and declassification of the Courtney papers, 1991.

Photocopy of privately published memoir, 'The Great War, 1914-1818: a former 'Gunner' of the First World War looks back', a detailed account of his military career, 1913-1919, covering mobilisation in Edinburgh, artillery, gas warfare and veterinary training, service with the Royal Field Artillery on the Western Front, 1915-1918, notably action around Vimy, May-Jun 1917, Lens, June-Oct 1917, and the Somme front, Feb-Oct 1918, and entry into Lille, Oct 1918, and demobilisation in Brussels, Feb 1919, written in [1974]. Includes reproductions of photographs and extracts from his letters home and his diary.

Typescript copy of account of Crawfurd's service with 29 Battery, 19 Field Regt Royal Artillery, 3 Infantry Bde, 1 Div during Operation DYNAMO, the evacuation of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) from Dunkirk, France, 1-3 Jun 1940. Also, copy of Crawfurd's obituary from The Times, Aug 1943, and a printed obituary by Col Robert Townsend Hammick, dated 19 Aug 1943, Crawfurd's Commanding Officer, 19 Field Bde, Royal Artillery, 1930-1934.

Papers, diaries, maps and publications relating to Col Ronald Duncan Cribb's life and military service, 1918-1957, including one hundred and sixty five military handbooks, training manuals and regulations, mostly relating to artillery, small arms, signals and the duties of commissioned officers, [1918]-1945; typescript and manuscript orders, notes and memoranda relating to 342 (Hertford) Battery, 86 (East Anglian), Hertfordshire Yeomanry Field Regt, Royal Artillery, Territorial Army, 1938-1939; manuscript narrative diaries relating to service in the Western Desert, Tunisia and Italy, 1941 and 1943; typescript unit diary, 121 Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, with lists of personnel, vehicles and weapons and equipment, 1944; typescript instructions for 5 Army Group, Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of German occupied France, with typescript orders of battle and lists of stores, 1944; two manuscript notebooks [1944]; printed training pamphlets for service in Italy and Normandy, France, with notes on calibration, waterproofing and routes through Germany, 1944-1945; typescript orders, memoranda, printed news-sheets and press cuttings relating to 121 Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, North West Europe, 1944-1945; typescript history, written in [1947] of 121 Field/Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, 1939-1946; edition of the 'History of the 43rd Wessex Div, 24 June 1944-8 May 1945' [1947]; edition of 'The campaign in North West Europe: 275 Battery RA' [1947]; printed menus and invitations, Hertfordshire Yeomanry and 121 Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, 1947-1957; edition of 'The story of the 5th Army Group RA' [1948]; typescript Civil Defence course notes, 1948; agendas of meetings, circulars and correspondence relating to Hertfordshire Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association, 1948-1951; typescript course notes, Field Officers, Tactical Wing, School of Artillery, Territorial Army, 1950.

Papers relating to Crick's service in the Western Desert, 1941-1943, as Instructor, War Intelligence Course, School of Military Intelligence, Matlock, Derbyshire, 1943-1944, and with Operational Intelligence, G2 Division, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF), 1944-1945, including copy of War Diary, General Staff Intelligence Branch, Headquarters 8 Army, 25 Sep-31 Oct 1941; typescript memorandum by Crick 'The possible effect of CROSSBOW on OVERLORD', on how Operation CROSSBOW, (Allied countermeasures against German V-weapons), could influence Operation OVERLORD, (the Allied invasion of occupied Europe), Mar 1944; typescript memorandum by Crick 'The heart of Germany', on the importance of the Ruhr industrial region to Allied strategy, Mar 1944; typescript report by Crick on visit to OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the German Armed Forces High Command), Flensburg, Germany, 11 May 1945. Papers relating to Crick's service with the British Joint Services Mission, Washington DC, USA, 1953-1956, including typescript text of lecture by Maj Gen Sir Kenneth William Dobson Strong, Director of Joint Intelligence Bureau, on UK and US Intelligence collaboration and spheres of influence [1953]; typescript memorandum 'Probable Bloc preoccupations in Asia, including Middle East, until mid 1955' [1953]; papers relating to the reorganisation of the Economic and General Division of the Joint Intelligence Bureau, 1956. Papers relating to the Imperial Defence College tour of Pakistan, India, East Pakistan, Ceylon and Aden, Aug-Sep 1960, including itineraries, travel arrangements, three photographs, invitations and a printed map of the Middle East showing oil wells, refineries and pipelines, 1960. Manuscript and typescript notes for a lecture by Crick entitled 'A career in Intelligence', given at Intelligence Corps course, with one audio tape of 20 minute lecture by Crick on interrogation techniques, Ashford College, Kent, Oct 1984. Edition of In the caves of the mind. Poems by Alan Crick (Privately published, Rye, Sussex, 1992). Newspaper cuttings, photographs and publications, 1938-1959, including German newspaper cuttings relating to the visit to Danzig by Rt Hon Alfred Duff Cooper, First Lord of the Admiralty, Aug 1938; three editions of Battledress. The Cadet magazine, Feb-Jun 1940; nine editions of The Crusader Eighth Army Weekly, Oct 1942-Apr 1943; sixteen editions of 'Interim. British Army of the Rhine Intelligence Review', Jun 1945-Apr 1946; three editions of 'Occupation. British Army of the Rhine Intelligence Review', May-Jul 1946. Edition of '21st (British) Army Group in the campaign in North West Europe 1944-1945. Lecture by Field Marshal Sir Bernard L Montgomery to the Royal United Service Institution, London, October 1945'; six photographs and five copies of photographs of Crick, Western Desert and Germany, 1941-1945, and two group photographs, Staff and Students, Joint Services Staff College, 1948, and Military Attachés Conference, Episkopi, Cyprus, 1959.

Official and personal correspondence and typescript and manuscript texts of speeches of Lt Gen Sir Napier Crookenden relating to service as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, 1969-1972; correspondence relating to service as Col Commandant, Prince of Wales Div, 1970-1974;photographic slides, film, audiotape and related papers relating to Crookenden's Kermit Roosevelt Lecture Tour of the USA, 1971, relating to the Army's role in Internal Security, with specific reference to operations in Northern Ireland, 1969-1971; research notes and correspondence relating to Dropzone Normandy: the story of the American and British airborne assault on D Day, 1944 (Allan, London, 1976), Airborne at war (Allan, London, 1978) and Battle of the Bulge, 1944 (Allan, London, 1980).

Manuscript extracts from Regimental diary, Second Boer War, South Africa, 23 Dec 1900-4 Mar 1901; six letters relating to operations against Boer forces in the Transvaal, South Africa, 1899-1901, with manuscript sketch map of a Boer night attack, Lake Chrissie (Chrissiesmeer), 6 Feb 1901, approximate scale 1: 10, 660. Photograph album with 106 photographs, mostly relating to service in South Africa, 1900-1904, Ireland, 1904-1905, and the UK, 1906-1907; photograph album with 485 photographs relating to service in Scutari, Albania, 1913, with German map entitled Scutari (Militärgeographisches Institut, Berlin, Germany, 1912), scale 1: 200, 000, and typescript copy of article from the Yorkshire Post entitled 'The West Yorkshires in Scutari. Incidents of International Control', 28 Aug 1913; photograph album with 283 photographs, mostly relating to service in India, Aden, Egypt and the Sudan, 1925-1928.

Papers of Brig John Crum, 1946, relating to the history of 8 Anti Aircraft Brigade, comprising typescript document by Capt Laurence Edgar Cates, 'History of 8 A A Brigade', detailing their work, June 1941-August 1945, including service in Iraq, 1941-1943, and Italy, 1943-1945; also copy of The History of the 17th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1938-1945 by Lt Col Henry Swanson Eeles, (Courier, Tunbridge Wells, 1946).

Report, ‘Notes on Italian Somaliland, 1947’, compiled by Crum as Secretary to the Four Power Commission on the Italian Colonies, with details of the history, geography and trade of the region (typescript, 28pp). Also an inscribed cigarette box presented to Crum, 1948, in recognition of his work for the Commission.

The collection presents an integrated record of US decision making during the 1962 nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Much of the documentation focuses on the period from Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy's 16 Oct 1962 briefing of President Kennedy on the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba to Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev's 28 Oct 1962 decision to withdraw the weapons. Papers include intelligence reports, diplomatic cables, political analyses, military situation reports, and meeting minutes relating to the immediate backdrop to the crisis, the crisis (16 Oct-28 Oct 1962), and its aftermath. Papers concerning the background to the crisis relate to US attempts to overthrow Cuban Prime Minister Dr Fidel Castro following the Bay of Pigs invasion, Apr 1961; US and Soviet nuclear capabilities and doctrine in the early 1960s; the deployment of US Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) to forward bases in Europe; and the concern over the resurgence of Soviet military aid to Cuba in the summer of 1962. Papers relating to the crisis include US intelligence reports confirming the construction of Soviet missile bases in Cuba; National Security Council minutes relating to a potential invasion of Cuba by US conventional forces, possible US air attacks against Cuba and the resultant Cuban casualties, the possibility of imposing an economic blockade around Cuba, the maintenance of US U-2 High Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft flights over Cuba, and the possibility of Soviet retaliatory military actions against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states in the event of US attacks on Cuba, 16 Oct 1962; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) daily intelligence reports concerning Soviet missile bases and possible Soviet surface to surface SS-4 ('Sandal') nuclear missiles in Cuba; reports from the UN Security Council and General Assembly from the US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Ewing Stevenson; meetings between Kennedy and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Andreevich Gromyko; US estimates of Cuban ground forces; articles from Soviet news agency TASS denouncing American motives in Cuba; reports from US Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara regarding the possible withdrawal of US missile bases in Italy and Turkey in exchange for Soviet withdrawals from Cuba; discussions of the possible US 'Naval Quarantine' of Cuba; CIA estimates relating to possible Soviet first strike military capability with missiles in Cuba; NSC reports relating to the construction of IRBM and Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) bases in Guanajay and San Cristóbal, Cuba, 21 Oct 1962; President Kennedy's announcement to world heads of state regarding the US 'Naval Quarantine' of Cuba (24 Oct-20 Nov 1962) to prevent further Soviet arms shipments of offensive weapons and development of further missile bases, 23 Oct 1962; message from Khrushchev to Kennedy stating that the US 'Naval Quarantine' is an act of aggression against both Cuba and the Soviet Union, 23 Oct 1962; statements by US Ambassador Stevenson, Cuban Ambassador Mario Garcia Incháustegui, and Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin in the UN Security Council, 23 Oct 1962; documents relating to the operational readiness of US continental nuclear forces; minutes from UN Security Council meeting, 25 Oct 1962; letter from Khrushchev to Kennedy suggesting that the Soviet Union would withdraw missile bases in return for a US 'non-invasion commitment' towards Cuba, 26 Oct 1962; negotiations over verification of the Soviet missile withdrawal; the US non-invasion 'guarantee' to Cuba and the Soviet Union; and, the question of Soviet Ilyushin IL-28 ('Beagle') bombers and troops remaining in Cuba. The collection also includes retrospective studies of the missile crisis, including the US Department of State internal history of the crisis, US Department of Defense comprehensive reports describing the actions of military commands and units during the missile crisis, and US government records relating to the US-Soviet rapprochement developed in the 1970s and 1980

Papers of Gp Capt Henry John Cundall on his RAF service, 1937-1961, comprising photocopies of flying log books, Jan 1937-Oct 1960, and file of papers on RAF service, 1937-1961. Log books include outline record of service, 1937-1960, details of ranks held, awards, and types of aircraft flown; file of loose papers includes photocopies of RAF College Cranwell examination papers for Flight Cadets, Apr 1938; Bomber Command training transfer card, Dec 1938; Royal Aircraft Establishment graph of speed; certification green cards for Cundall as a pilot, 1951 and 1956; notes on 'Morale and leadership' in the RAF, Jan 1951 note on the correct recording of flying times for pilots' flying log books [1952]; Chart of ranges of Meteor 7 aircraft, according to altitude and condition, [c.1952]; Checklist for Canberra B2 and T4, [c. 1956]; 'Drills for abandoning Canberra aircraft in extreme emergency' [c.1956]; press cutting from The Times , 31 Jul 1961, 'Constant preparedness at missile station', re Bloodhound missiles at RAF Watton, Norfolk, quoting Cundall as Commanding Officer; letter of appreciation from AM Sir Hector McGregor, Fighter Command HQ, Bentley Priory, 31 Oct 1961, on Cundall's retirement; press cutting from The Sunday Times , 16 Jan 1983, 'Operation Oboe: flying heroes 40 years on', referring to Cundall; press cuttings from Eastern Daily Press , 3 Feb 1995, 'The Wooden Wonder goes to war' and 'Mosquito master of skies: hazardous missions from Norfolk', relating to launch for The men who flew the mosquito , by Martin Bowman (Patrick Stephens, Sparkford, 1995); Note on minimum weather requirements for flight clearance for pilots holding white certification cards and green certification cards, [1951]; Graph of static thrust and RPM for an Rolls Royce Avon engine, [1950s]

Papers relating to his service in the Royal Naval Air Service and RAF, 1917-1918, dated 1917-1918, 1955, 1990, principally comprising log-book covering his flights in the UK, 1917-1918; photographs of aircraft and personnel, including Cunliffe. Texts and notes for lectures relating to photography, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932. Photographs of Cunliffe in his service uniform and with colleagues from King's College London, [1915-1922].

Copy of text entitled 'Last shell fired at Dunkirk', a brief account of the evacuation of F Troop, 112 Field Battery, 30 Field Regt from Dunkirk on 2-3 June 1940, 1985.

Midshipman's log book, by Currey, 1876-1878, including service on HMS DUKE OF WELLINGTON, Flagship of Adm Sir George Elliot, Portsmouth, Dec 1876-Jan 1877, HMS ALEXANDRA, Mediterranean Fleet, Jan 1877-Aug 1878 and HMS CRUISER, Mediterranean Fleet, Aug-Sep 1878; papers and plans relating to anti-submarine warfare, 1913-1915, including typescript draft text of lecture by Currey entitled 'Hints on organised coast defence v submarines' [1914]; fifty six manuscript naval signals, Aug-Dec 1914, including signals to R Adm, 5 Battle Sqn from the Admiralty on support to be given to operations by Chatham Royal Marine Force at Ostend, Belgium, 26-27 Aug 1914, signals relating to the loss of the battleship HMS AUDACIOUS to a mine in the Atlantic, 27 Oct 1914, and signals ordering RN battlecruisers HMS INVINCIBLE and HMS INFLEXIBLE to sea, 4 Nov 1914 (prior to the Battle of the Falklands Islands, 8 Dec 1914); journal and signal book kept by Mid Richard Reynell on board Currey's flagship, HMS PRINCE OF WALES, 1914-1915.

Copies of diaries, 1911-1916, covering his flying training, 1911-1914, his service with the Royal Naval Air Service in the UK, [1914]-1915, Gallipoli, 1915, Bulgaria, 1915, and Egypt, 1916. Copy of account of his imprisonment in Turkey, Mar-Jul 1917, written in [1917], with newspaper cutting describing conditions in prisons in Constantinople, [1917]. 'The story of the men and aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm', illustrated pamphlet prepared for the Directorate of Navy Recruiting by the Central Office of Information, dated 1985.

Copy of account of his failed attempt to join 8 Lancashire Fusiliers in France, covering his journey from Le Havre to Amiens, and his return from Amiens to the UK via Cherbourg, 17 May- 5 June 1940, written in [1940-1945].

Papers relating to his RAF career, [1914-1939], principally comprising log book covering his service in the UK and Middle East, 1929-1939; photographs of aircraft, notably flying boats, [1914-1939].

Papers of Gp Capt Albert Peter Vincent Daly on his Army and RAF service, 1910-1945; comprising papers on service as Private with 1st Canadian Expeditionary Force, Aug-Dec 1914; notebook 'My Experiences with the British Expeditionary Force, France, 1915' giving account of service with 4th Connaught Rangers, 6-11 May 1915; transcripts of letters to his mother, 1914-1918; copy of Daily Sketch , 13 July 1915, containing paragraph on Daly; papers on service with 8 Sqn and 29 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, Western Front, 1916-17, including account of being shot down by Lt Werner Voss on 1 Feb 1917, and subsequent imprisonment as prisoner of war; cutting from German newspaper (with English translation), 24 April 1918, article by W Scheuermann, 'Richthofen's Last Flight' on the death of Baron Von Richthofen; papers on service with RAF, 1919-1939, including copy of The London Gazette , 1 Aug 1919, containing list of officers granted permanent commissions in the RAF; service with Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission, Bulgaria, 1920; service with 60 Sqn, North West Frontier Province India, 1922-1923, including two "Blood Chits"; and service as Air Attaché, British Embassy, China, 1930, including Chinese passports; account of service in World War Two, as Station Commander, RAF Marham, 1937-1940, St Athan, Wales, 1940-1942; Base Commander, North Africa and Italy, 1942-1944; President of Courts Martial, Italy, 1944-1945; Representative of British Red Cross, Sweden, 1945; photographs of Daly, his decorations and of RAF Marham, 1939, with Fairy Hendons of 38 Squadron and Handley Page Harrows of 115 Squadron