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…& US towns and villages -4×4 inch, 2 x 0.5 inch and ‘2 x 21 inch tripled torpedo tubes but armament had to be changed – CAMPBELTOWN of ST NAZAIRE RAID was of this type) , the 1,060 ton HMS NEWPORT, one of the 50 US destroyers). Naval Party 645…
…63ft 6in, max wt 5,5601b and speed 88mph, rear Lewis gun and bomb s or torpedo, 12 cylinder water cooled 225 or 260hp Sunbeam or 250hp Renault engine) played a significant part in WW1, being the first to be used in a naval engagement, as the only aircraft involved in…
…pulled the hood back and leaped out. Two of my section orbited round me. I was burned, but picked up by a naval motor torpedo boat.” Although still carrying shrapnel from this encounter in his head, Bird-Wilson went on to destroy a further five enemy aircraft during the war. Bird-Wilson’s…
…in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. During an initial attack at night, he was the only pilot out of nine to score a torpedo hit, though no significant damage was inflicted. Bismarck was sunk two days later following a more successful air strike from Ark…
…operational aircraft. This was followed by a tour as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) in the MoD. In 1973 he became the Air Officer Commanding No 1 (Bomber) Group, and in 1974 he led a team of four Vulcans to compete in the annual USAF Strategic Air Command Bombing…
…the ensuing Nazi occupation. In the UK, Poulsson joined the first Norwegian Independent Company as a second lieutenant. He was soon recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), created in summer 1940 by Winston Churchill for sabotage operations in occupied territory. The Norwegian resistance reported in autumn 1941 that the…
…Soldiers Jan and Jozef fled to Britain after Germany invaded their homeland in 1939. The following year the Czech government, in exile in London, and Britain’s Special Operations Executive devised a plan to kill “Blond Beast” Heydrich who was bringing terror to the Czech capital. They began training a team…
…awarded the B.E.M. for his valuable services in Japan – in support of the operations in Korea – in the period September 1950 to June 1952, he served in Germany in the following year, with command of the ‘Old Guard’ to Rudolf Hess at Spandau Prison. Active service resumed with…
…later transferred to No 133, one of the three American-manned “Eagle” squadrons of the RAF, and during the Dieppe operation in August 1942 he shot down a Dornier bomber, probably destroyed a Focke Wulf 190, and damaged two others. He was awarded a DFC after completing 120 operations. In September…
…Leader C G Lott: injured; Hurricane P3464 lost in air operations, 9 July 1940” On July 9th 1940, while leading six Hurricanes on patrol 40 miles south of the Isle of Wight, he engaged a Messerschmitt 110 in a head-on attack. He was badly wounded in the face and lost…
…deck operations: Royal Navy, circa 1943 ‘Commander Mike Crosley was a Fleet Air Arm ace and later a test pilot. Among the operations in which he took part was Harpoon, when a convoy ferried supplies and new aircraft to the relief of the besieged island of Malta in the summer…
…Ground attack operations over France continued for the remainder of the year and on November 7 he destroyed a Fw 190. ‘Dieppe – withdrawal from Beach’ by [Bob Mullen?] (Source unknown: please let us know if you do!) He commenced a second tour with No 312 Squadron in July 1943…
…to England. BJ Ellan book cover depicting Spitfires and contrails Throughout 1943 Lafont flew with No 341 Squadron on operations over France and the Low Countries. By war’s end he had completed 230 operational missions, and he was one of the few to be awarded the Ordre de la Libération,…
…Priory to install the RAF’s first radar operations room. But it was serviced by only five stations, and would have been, in his view, “quite inadequate” to its defensive purpose. It was Chamberlain’s negotiation of the Munich agreement that same day which bought sufficient time for the Chain Home network…
…In the ensuing Battle of Britain, he increased his tally to 20, including five unconfirmed kills. He later fought the Japanese in South East Asia and planned operations against Javanese insurgents. After qualifying in 1938 for a short service commission in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, David was posted…
…he was posted to 61 Squadron at Syerston, Newark, to commence Lancaster bombing operations, and flew seven sorties to various German cities before the raid on Dusseldorf. Handley Page Halifax B Mark II Series I (Special), JB781 ‘KN-W’, of No. 77 Squadron RAF gathers speed on the runway at Elvington,…
…the lunatic asylum, who came out wearing nightshirts and shouting: “Hello Tommy!” ‘Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army. September 1944 On arrival at Oosterbeek, they came under fire from enemy 88 mm anti-tank guns. Dauncey led a fighting…
…30 operations, Alabaster was awarded the DFC. He had been identified as an outstanding navigator and was sent to Canada to complete a specialist course before returning to Bomber Command. He applied to train as a pilot but his services as a navigator were considered too valuable. Soon after the…
…NAVY: for POLAND’s gallant fighting servicemen and their 37 MAJOR POLISH NAVY WARSHIPS and 10 Motor Torpedo & Gun Boats at SEA, as in the AIR & on LAND, also recalling POLISH service men and women in all three of their fighting services. Captain ZUBKOWSKI’s unbroken WW2 PN & RN…
…those whose service was in the ROYAL NAVY’s COASTAL FORCES and specifically the role of their MOTOR GUN and TORPEDO BOATS, in both their DEFENSIVE and OFFENSIVE ROLES, protecting British Home Waters. Their small interdependent crews were involved in a heady mixture of, at times, most dramatic and dangerous work….
…later RASC & Roval SUSSEX, for GREECE & its loyal FIGHTING SPIRIT and STEADFAST ENDURANCE in OCCUPIED CRETE & its ISLANDS, especially with the terrible reprisals; here also for the SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE OPERATIONS in the AEGEAN, several of which he carried out with and here signs commemoratively for that…
…MA CEng FICE CORPS of ROYAL ENGINEERS: served in 1 Section 23 FIELD COMPANY R.E., in 1 TROOP 6 COMMANDO, and took part in the early, successful COMBINED OPERATIONS RAID on VAAGSO & Maaloy in NORWAY 27 Dec 1941 (after Blenheims bombed the nearby German airfield at Herdla) wrecking oil…
Alan Pollock’s Rough Notes: A work in progress – the fuller biographies will emerge in due course: please sign up to the Newsletter (bottom of the page) and we’ll let you know when we’ve done more justice in writing up our extraordinary signatories. James McDowell commemorates the war operations of…
…will emerge in due course: please sign up to the Newsletter (bottom of the page) and we’ll let you know when we’ve done more justice in writing up our extraordinary signatories. BOSTONS & MITCHELLS Representing Royal NETHERLANDS AIR FORCE and OUR EUROPEAN ALLIES in AIR, LAND, NAVAL and RESISTANCE OPERATIONS….