On 5th June 1917, Sir F. Banbury, M.P. asked the Under Secretary for War, Mr. Macpherson, in Parliament, whether he was aware that the Royal Flying Corps had taken possession of 81 acres of Kenley Common and were felling trees on land that the City of London was under statutory obligation to maintain for the use of the public.
On 3rd February, 1943, 416 squadron, RCAF, were escorting Ventura bombers to St. Omer when they were attacked by FW190s of JG26. P/O John Rainville was lucky to escape with his life..
2020 has been a very different kind of Remembrance, but our problems pale by comparison with the way people must have felt during the Remembrance of Armistice Day in November 1939.
When Flight Lieutenant John Trull's engine failed over Lille on 20th February, 1944, he must have wondered if he would live to see another day, let alone marry his sweetheart...
On 7th January 1937, would-be aircraft designer, Richard Taylor, lost his life at Hamsey Green aerodrome when the wing of his 'Taylor Experimental' monoplane failed during the early stages of a test flight.
The prolific author and historian Dilip Sarkar MBE was a close friend of the late, great, Air Vice-Marshal Johnnie Johnson, officially the top-scoring RAF fighter pilot of the Second World War, but was unable to join us for our RCAF100 tree dedication as planned; instead, Dilip has sent these thoughts to share
We are indebted to Martyn J. Wheeldon, for sharing his memories of his Father, 1989603 Sapper Ernest Arthur Wheeldon.
At a time when everyone faced mortal danger, the vital task of dealing with unexploded bombs stands out as one of outstanding risk and danger. Sadly, the exploits of those brave men were sometimes left unrecorded, and this seems to be the case for a terrible tragedy that took place in Whyteleafe.
On 8th December, 1940, Sgt. Bronislaw Malinowski, crashed in Hurricane Mk.I, (R4101, SD-I), at Wye, near Ashford, through illness - he had fainted, but was only slightly injured in the crash.
No.46 squadron lost Sgt. Fred Charles William Rogers, when he crashed his Gloster Gauntlet II, (K7795), into a hill at Pepperscombe Farm, Steyning, in Sussex.
At around 9.25am on 17th January, 1938, three Gloster Gladiators of No.65 Squadron took off from their base at RAF Hornchurch for formation flying practice. The flight had been ordered by F/Lt. Leslie Charles Bicknell so that a relatively inexperienced pilot, Sergeant Geoffrey Edwin Gaskell, could get some formation practice with two of the squadron's more accomplished flyers - Pilot Officer Adrian Hope-Boyd and Pilot Officer Roland Robert Stanford-Tuck.
Sheila used to fill in for Douglas Bader's secretary when he was away and got to know Bader quite well. TheĀ staff used to refer to the management by their initials and Bader was known as "B."