Dad`s log book

[MiloMorai]

Today got to look thru Dad`s flight log book.

 

He enlisted in early 1942 when he turned 21 (was in a restricted trade and his mother wouldn`t sign his papers as she had lost 3 brothers in WW1). He spent 2 years in Canada before going overseas in Oct `44 on the SS Ile de France. After graduating as a WAG in mid '43, he spent a year in Summerside PEI at #1 General Recon School as a instructor accumulating over 600hrs of flight time in Moths, Yales, Ansons and Oxfords. Tho they were navigator training missions they were still on the lookout for U-boats in the Gulf of St Lawrence. He did some more flying while in England (Irish Sea and Bay of Biscay), some in Wellingtons of Coastal Command, ending up just short of 700hrs of flight time by the end of June '45.

 

Many here had a father/grandfather in an Air Force, so how many hours did they have, and a little bit of history?

[DD_bongodriver]

I have my Uncles log book, he was a pilot in RAF coastal command and flew Warwicks operationally for a brief period before the end of war, trained initially in the UK on Moths then went on to the US and flew Stearmans, SNJ's and Catalinas, when back in the UK he flew Anson, Oxford, Wellington and Warwick, he stayed in service after the war and continued flying, though for some reason he didn't have a log of post war flying, he told me he had time in Mosquitoes and Sunderlands, He became an Air Traffic controller and spent time in India and Germany, the ATC continued into his civilian life where he worked at Gatwick before then being a civilian controller on contract to the USAF at Bentwaters and Woodbridge in Suffolk.

 

he was a fluent Russian speaker as my Grandmother was Russian.

Edited September 17, 2014 by DD_bongodriver

[MiloMorai]

I guess no one but Bongo on this board had a relative in an Air Force.

[AndyJWest]

My maternal grandmother served with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in WW1, though admittedly as a clerk/telephonist. In fact she joined up in late 1917, before the RAF (and the WAAF) was founded, so she must have originally been working with the RFC or the RNAS, though as yet I've not been able to find out which.

[FlatSpinMan]

My great uncle joined the Air Force in NZ at the start of the war. He trained on Tiger Moths I think. Then he went off to Canada for further training, becoming a Wellington pilot. I don't recall exactly but he got to the UK in early 1941, possibly 1940. His squadron's first operational mission was to northern France, some coastal target.They ran into trouble and were seen ablaze low over a small Belgian town. The whole crew died, and their remains were buried in a local church yard.

He was about 21. His death wasn't confirmed until about 1946.

[pilotpierre]

My father did his initial flight training in Australia prior to bring posted to Canada as part of the commonwealth training scheme. On completion of his training he was posted to the UK and did a short stint on Wellingtons prior to being posted to a transport squadron flying DC3's.

 

He spent most of his time on a base in UK where there were only 3 Australians - him, another pilot and a cook.

 

My father and the other Aussie pilot were considered to be freaks because they used to shower every day, having to walk through the snow wearing flying boots and a towel wrapped around their mid-drifts to get to the showers. (Daily showering not being in vogue in the UK back then)

 

The Aussie cook used to slip the 2 Aussie pilots an egg before they ventured out on the town. Apparently putting an uncooked egg on a table in a pub ensured an invite home for the evening by one of the opposite sex (due to the shortage of eggs during the war years in the UK).

Edited September 19, 2014 by pilotpierre

[Hoots]

My grandfather joined up in 39 as a wireless op, served in wellingtons, Stirlings and lancasters. Made it through one tour and was shot down halfway through the next in mid 44. Survived as a pow. He always said it was better to be born lucky than rich.

[MiloMorai]

Story dad tells when stationed at Summerside. Three hour flight out over the Gulf were rather boring so the RO would get in the pilot seat and fly the plane. The navigator trainees liked this because the RO would keep the a/c on course better than the pilot. It got so common that the RO would sometimes be the pilot when the a/c took off. One day an Anson hit some birds while taking off, resulting in blood and feathers in the cockpit and the a/c crashing (non fatal). The base commander was not pleased. 

 

Hoots, which Stalag was he in?

[Hoots]

No idea without checking, it was in Poland initially and then he was moved as the Russians advanced I think.