Sir Patrick Moore

[AlanW]

Just been announced that one of my personal favourite people, the famous astrologer Sir Patrick Moore, ex RAF BC Navigator, has died.

[WKS]

RIP.

I was always a fan of Patrick Moore's "Sky at Night" program in the '80s, and am saddened by this news. I learned a great deal about astronomy and general sky watching from him, so much so that it became a continuing hobby for me. It is somewhat poignant that he never came to terms with his dislike of Germany, but then he had his personal reasons and no one should really attempt to pass any form of judgement on that. Where my own father remembered the war and his time on Stirlings (and recounted it) as some sort of adventure of youth, others came away from the experience with deeper and longer lasting scars. It was in fact my father who encouraged me to start watching Patrick Moore's programs, and always pointed out the tie (with what I suspect were some remnants of pride in the Service). But one detail always eluded me...

What squadron was Patrick Moore on?

In any case, may he rest in peace.

[AlanW]

I'll have a look around to try and identify his squadron. According to the D/Mail, his dislike of the Germans was the result of the loss of his fiance in a German bombing attack on London. He has been quoted as saying, "if i saw the entire German nation sinking into the sea, i'd push it down".
The war affected many men id different ways. I know my father never said a good word about the Germans, he was a regular soldier who joined up in 1931 and left the army in 1953, and lost a brother out in N/Africa. Us kids always looked at the scar on his arm from a bullet wound recieved in France, which got him home just before the Dunkirk episode.

[charlesoverton]

I don't know what squadron Patrick Moore flew with, but I have definite evidence that I think places him in Ward 5 or RAF Cosford hospital on 30th October 1942...

Mother was at the hospital in RAF Cosford in October 1942… not sure if she was a patient or working there
as a WAAF. In Ward 5, for some reason, she collected a lot of autographs one day… I don’t know if she was particularly dazzled by RAF officers, but at the end of the war she met my father Squadron Leader John Overton (218 Squadron) , and they married in 1947.
I think one of the patients on ward 5 was the late Sir Patrick Moore then aged 19…. Do I have the earliest known sample of this eccentric gentleman’s signature, I wonder? We will never know if the doodle at the foot of the page was by him!



this from Mother’s autograph book 1942



and above as appears on the internet website 2009 http://www.sirpatrickmoore.com/



I wonder what became of all the other airmen in the ward... and whether the title Ward 5 (Mental) was a joke, or whether they were all a bit crackers as one claims in the cartoon.

[K4KittyCrew]

Dear Rev Charles Overton,
Thank you for your your very informative post. I have email you, as requested.
Cheers,
John

[Bruno]

Hello,

I've updated the post of Rev Charles Overton with the adding of the images.
Regards.

Bruno