FEATURE-Argentine pilots break silence over World War Two | Reuters There was also an article in a recent aviation magazine about this - I need to find it in my piles.
My Dad was a P.O.W. with a guy serving in the R.A.F. from Santiago Chile. I have often wondered who he was and what his story is.
Seems they are in the news a lot. http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/Community/mapleleaf/article_e.asp?id=3967
Great, informative posts, thanks guys. Must have been a real kick in the guts to have fought for freedom and then have those who you fought against find safe haven in your country. The great melting pot that was the RAF never ceases to amaze me. McLarty would appear to have flown during a pretty intense time in North Africa (well, it was all intense). Anyone know what squadron he was with on Hurris? if I'm correct in him needing to make 200 hours of operational flying to complete his tour and having done 199 trips, he would have been flying pretty hard with the constant moving of LGs and hitting the nearby front line.
Re: Hobsbawn Halifax W7652 (DY-P) of 102 Squadron lost 16/17 June 1942 on a mission to Essen Took off 2305 fromm Topcliffe. Hit by Flak within seconds of bombing and, subsequently, abandoned in the vicinity of Wesel. Sgt Batchelor, the last man to bale out, did so from just 800 feet and landed on farmland approximately 2 km N of Hamminkeln, 8 km NNW of Wesel. His award, an immediate DFM, was Gazetted 16 Junw 1942 Sgt H.E.Batchelor DFM PoW Sgt F Bell PoW Sgt G R D B Hobsbawn PoW Sgt F L Ringham PoW P/O E McG McRae RCAF PoW Sgt R H Rivers PoW I don't have any details of his first names but there were a number of Brits who had emigrated to South America, mainly to take up jobs in farming and mining, who joined up during the war. Technically they were considered British rather than Chilian etc.
33 Squadron mate. There was discussion about him on the old rafcommands board: <CENTER><img src= "http://www.rafcommands.com/rafcommandsbanner.gif"><BR> - "Hurricane 33 Sqn shot down."
Excellent, thanks Kyt. This is why I ask such questions. There's always a wonderful answer. Great to hear McLarty is still going strong...well, in 2004 anyway.
Aha found the article. It's in last month's (I know terrible memory) Aeroplane magazine. It mentions the fact that 12 Whirlwinds were purchased for 263 Squadron the "Fellowship of the Bellows" organisation Fellowship of the Bellows - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I remember the author of Night Hawk (the Karel Kuttelwascher biography), Roger Darlington's next project was "presentation" Spitfires along the lines of the Fellowship. Mind you, I last spoke to him in in the mid-90s so I don't know how he ended up with it all. RD is KK's son-in-law. Ah, it appears he has been busy but the book was written by someone else. The wartime record of the RAF aircraft known as "The Darlington Spitfire"
Do you mean this one Andy: https://www.air-britain.co.uk/cgi-b...=presentation&PN=Recent_New_Books_.html#a6#a6 A book I've been drooling over but haven't gotten around to joining Air-Britain yet, for the discounts.
Nope, this one: 1840370769: The Darlington Spitfire: A Charmed Life by Peter Caygill (Used, New, Out-of-Print) - Alibris But thanks for another book on my list!
Oh right sorry - I thought you meant he was going to write a generic book on presentation aircraft before these guys did. Ditto on the another book on list.
Nah, you're right, Kyt, it was the way I worded the post and I didn't edit it after I found the Darlington Spitfire book. I do remember sending him a bit of detail about other presentation Spits - I seem to remember an East Indian one in particular.
Well there was No. 65 (East India) Squadron RAF, which I believe was named in honour of the presentation Spits provided by the collections from that part of India.
