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How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:54 am
by K4KittyCrew
How many members family / friends, flew in Stirlings?

My Father flew Stirlings at HCU's and Lancasters at Squadron posting.
John

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:23 pm
by Dave_Richardson
My Uncle flew in Stirlings with 149 Squadron. Not for very long, unfortunately.

Dave

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:12 pm
by MAGGIEMAE
My father flew Stirlings with 75 Sqdn RNZAF for one mission :o He then spent the next few months trying not to become a guest of the German Government 8-) He was sucessfull :mrgreen:

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:21 pm
by K4KittyCrew
Hello MaggieMae and welcome to the forum,

We have several member here, two I can think of straight away in Wayne from NZ and Oggie (Dee) who have a very keen interest in 75 Sqn. We would certainly like to here more about your father.
Thanks for the starters.
John

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:37 am
by Denonline
I flew in Stirlings al at 1654 HCU.

Dennis

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:58 am
by K4KittyCrew
Dennis,

Sorry to throw this lot at you but I've never known the actual outcome of such...........

How long were you at your Heavy Conversion Unit?

Was the course based on a given time-frame ( in and out in 3 months, regardless ) or was it based on completion of a given course?

Were the time frames the same with all Units?


Thanks,
John

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:52 pm
by Theletterwriter
Dennis / John

My uncle joined 1657 CU on 20 June 1943, flew 24 hours 25 minutes day and 14 hours 35 minutes night before finishing on 14 July 1943. He then returned to 199 and Lakenheath.

Douglas

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:15 pm
by MAGGIEMAE
K4KittyCrew wrote:Hello MaggieMae and welcome to the forum,

We have several member here, two I can think of straight away in Wayne from NZ and Oggie (Dee) who have a very keen interest in 75 Sqn. We would certainly like to here more about your father.
Thanks for the starters.
John
Here are some of the major points :|

He departed Newmarket on January 23, 1943 on a mission to Lorient, near Morlaix the plane R9248 was hit by flak and he ordered the crew to bail out. Unfortunately no one else survived and are buried in Saint Thegonnec France. He managed to evade capture and contacted the French Resistance and worked his way through France to Spain with several Americans, and Nancy Wake. Their journey is well documented in several books/videos about Nancy as the Gestapo was hot on her heels. They remained friends till my father's death in 2004.

UPDATE August 2011 With the death of Nancy Wake the final chapter has been written about this evasion along with two American B-17/B-24 crew members. RIP Nancy Enjoy your Gin with Dad and all the others you helped during the war.

Obviously this only skims the surface of his adventures but the story is really outside the intent of this thread on people who flew the Stirling.

Bob

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 11:07 pm
by K4KittyCrew
Bob said ......
Obviously this only skims the surface of his adventures but the story is really outside the intent of this thread on people who flew the Stirling.
No problems Bob, please start a new thread at your convenience.
John

Re: How Many Members Family / Friends, Flew in Stirlings?

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:40 am
by Denonline
John, I can only give you the details for 1654HCU.

There were mandatory ground & air training & courses, weather conditions being the determination of the length of the flying training.

Dennis