Not stalking - but for the Spitfire buffs: just found a pilot in the family!

merlin

Well-Known Member
....apologies that this isn't directly stalking related, so admin: please feel free to delete if thought appropriate, however I do know that there are a few Spitfire admirers on here.....

I dropped in to see my parents recently on my way back from a work meeting, and for some reason the conversation turned to the tv programme 'who do you think you are' (celebs unearthing their ancestors, that kind of thing), and I said to my Mum that it brought home how little I actually knew about my own family beyond my own parents.

"you do know about your dad's uncle being a TT winner don't you.....?" Says my Mum.

"errrr, no....."

Cue a few more questions......and it seems that my dad's uncle won the IoM TT in 1951 (but was killed at Hilberry corner the following year practising for the IoM Grand Prix), but the other aspect that I was blissfully unaware of was that he has been a Spitfire pilot!!

He fought in the Battle of Britain, was awarded the DFC with bar, and flew with 603 squadron....and I never knew any of this until about a week ago!!!

Funny what can turn up over a mug of tea isn't it??!?
 
..... a bit more digging. ...it was the 'clubman senior' that he won, riding a norton.

Still can't quite get to grips with getting to the age of 43 & not knowing that I had a relative who was a motorcycling winner and also a BoB fighter pilot....!!
 
My Grandfather also flew a Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. He was in 303 squadron.
He died when my dad was 13 and my dad spent most of his childhood away at boarding school so didn't know a lot about his father but not long ago managed to get hold of his flight log books.
They make interesting reading.
Also when my dad was reading through a book about the RAF during WW2 there happened to be a picture of a pilot standing on the wing of his Spitfire de-badging it and my father recognized it as his dad which was nice.
Funny what turns up
 
I only found out 2 year's ago when my wife's father died, that he was a Rear Gunner in a Lancaster Bomber! he did not say much about his flying day's as it upset him to much, they were shot down over Germany.
But since his death wee found awesome pictures in his attic from his view out the turret in action, very scary indeed!
Hero's and did not even know!
 
You all must be extremely proud for what they did for the country,if only they knew how it turned out. Most of my family have served or are serving, we should all be proud of what they have trained to do and have done all the way to the ultimate sacrifice. There are plenty about in the country that do not deserve such people doing what they did for them to have what they have!
 
... that he was a Rear Gunner in a Lancaster Bomber! he did not say much about his flying day's as it upset him to much...

Friend of the family was a rear gunner in a Lancaster.

Very quiet unassuming guy who finished his number of op's (40 if I remember correctly) and never stepped foot in an aircraft again.
 
Merlin and all, my mother said on occasions that an uncle of mine was a fighter pilot, who was shot down and killed during the war. I never thought a lot of it,but this thread prompted me to have a look on Google.
Up came his name- Sergent Earnest Pounds, stationed at RAF Rufforth in 1943.
thanks all. I will look further into his history.
 
My great uncle Roger White was a Spitfire pilot throughout the war. I never met him sadly, but he did write a book - Spitfire Saga, that is a good read. Mostly he was in the North African Campaign. Another uncle who was with 80 Squadron which flew Spitfires and Tempests from late 1944, was killed in February 1945 over Germany aged just 20, and buried in Hamburg Cemetary. His brother was a captain in the Royal Gloucesters and was killed at the battle of Imjin River in Korea.

And I was taught to shoot by Brian Edrich who had also been a spitfire pilot in WW2 before going on to becoming a professional cricketer and then a cricket coach and head of the RAF CCF at my school. I must be one of the last generation who had teachers who had gone through the war, and when I had air expereince flights in Chipmunks, may of the reserve pilots flying us had flown spitfires, tempests, furies etc during the war and korea. To our delight we would all take off together and then they would dogfight each other through the sky, with us cadets in the back seat trying not to throw up. You would nt have level of fun these days!
 
The generations that fought in both world wars seemed to talk very little about what they did, and where.
My grandfather was in the Parachute Regiment, missed the big jump due to not finishing his training in time and became a despatch rider. He had nightmares about this time of his life till the day he died in his 90's, but this was something I didn't know about until the last few years of his life. He joined up at 16 or 17 after lieing about his age, he was a tin miner before joining, and I always wonder if he was alive now what he would think of way this country has turned out.
In all the years I knew him, he never spoke about what he did, or saw, to me or my brothers. We owe our way of lives to these men and women, and have so much respect for them.
 
Ah as everyone say's the wonderful Spitfire, yes it was a fantastic aeroplane but it was the men and don't forget the Lady ferry pilots that flew them that made them great. My uncle Syd was in Lancasters during the war, my uncle Arthur was on the Burma Road (POW) and my father in law was in the first load to land on D Day. As said none ever spoke about their days at war sadly they have all departed this world.

Jimbo
 
My Uncle Maurice Macey flew most marks of Spitfire with 41 and 127 Squadrons. He was shot down by Flak in a MkIX LF, bailed out and taken POW on 14.8.1944 in Normandy. He was carted off to Poland and was then part of the infamous Death March from Sagen ahead of the Russians advance in 1945 before being rescued by American Forces. He flew that year as part in Douglas Baders Battle of Britain fly past over London and went on in the RAF to convert to Vampires.

He is 90 now but flew with a Spitfire from Biggin Hill again this year.

Next year it will be 70 years ago he was shot down. It's amazing to think he did this before he was 22!
 
Respect to all of this age and who lived through this period . They were fantastic , We have a lot to thank them for let's not waste what they sacrificed so much for.
 
my dad wasn't a pilot but he did have an important job [in my view at least ] he was a flight mechanic working on mainly hurricanes and spitfires but he also had a while in coastal command up at stanraer on the sunderland flying boat amongst others .
I used to love to sit and listen to his stories and still would if he were here
 
Nice thread boyz, enjoyed. Respect for these individuals mentioned, if you are a descendant? that is what makes you what you are...
 
My grandmothers brother was a gunner in Lancasters during the war he was shot down and killed very early on in the war, The wife's grandad was a RSM in the Black Watch he was shot 5 times at the evacuation at Dunkirk he mended to go back and see out the end of the war, I used to go and see him quite a lot, old boy had some horror stories to tell about the war ..... respect to them all !
 
yeh my grandad fought the japs in burma ,and then went to Korea to fight as well.wouldnt speak of the horrors but made him very hard and hated anything jap.no jap stuff in his house ever whatever he witnessed made him hate them .respect to all who fought and died ,when the fightings over they still live it inside must be horrendous to endure the memories .
 
My Uncle was a Lancaster navigator. He flew 72 missions over Germany. Not a record, but not far from it.
He saved the pilot after ditching in the sea coming home after one mission and received the DFC (I think). I read his flying log book not long ago, scary stuff.
After the war he got a job working in Woolworths ! Life took a bit of a downturn, so a few years later he jumped at the chance to re-enlist and fly some secret missions over the Pacific testing a new bomb !
I never got the chance to meet him, cancer saw to that, his family never saw a penny in compensation.
Brave men, all of them.
 
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