D B Thomas DFC 90 SQN (Stirling pilot NZAF) RIP a good job done 5th June 1944 Dropping Decoys over Normandy Operation Titanic
Err I am going on when he got his DFC awarded rather than the date of the service he gave to his country Spidge Tony
Who and what are we talking about? DB Thomas DFC, yes, but who was he, what did he do and did he survive the war? No reference in Errol Martyn's For Your Tomorrow so, happily, he survived the war.
Hi yes he was a Stirling pilot 90 sqn as per the thread .He was wounded badly on this last mission on 5/6 June dropping the dummies over France and window over the channel on the way there .He survived the injury but sadly died after the war with complications from the injury received .He was from Ashbourne NZ a town 40 km south of Christchurch .He joined up in DEC 1941 ,was commissioned in NOV 43 flew 36 missions .Wounded in stomach on last mission never fully recovered from the injury.He died 5th July 1946 hence the date on thread .DFC awarded 1944 Usual citation . Medals 1939-45 star, ACE star ,DEF,WAR and NZ service Medal . Flew Wellingtons ,Stirlings and 1 as Dicky pilot on a Lancaster to Berlin Cheers Tony
Hi Tony ! You said he flew missions in November 1943 ..... I found this snippet it may add to your information ! ( or it may not ... but I'll post just in case !! ) In November 1943 90 Squadron were part of No 3 (Bomber) Group and were based at RAF Tuddenham in Suffolk - flying Short Sterling MK III’s on normal bombing operations and a large number of mine laying missions.
Thanks, Tony. That's the type of post we like. Lots of detail. Interesting to read about the 2nd dickey in the Lanc. Was this towards the end of his time with 90 given the squadron was converting to Lancs at the time of his final trip? Do you have details of his other trips and what happened on them? Any info on the second dickey he must have done upon joining 90 Squadron and its Stirlings?
Apologies Tony, however I could not decipher that from the date and information in the post. Cheers Geoff
Hi Andy as to the flight as 2nd dicky from the records i have of his missions it was his 3rd last mission .I believe as you do that he was about to be piloting a Lancaster as 90 squadron was going from Stirlings to Lancasters from end June 44 .Unusual as he had only 2 missions on that tour to go .He would then have gone on to being an instructor as most did for 6 months and then a 2nd tour. Maybe he just wanted to go on a mission in a Lanc before he finished his tour.As to his missions about 3rd were dropping mines another 3rd SOE missions dropping supplies to resistance at low level , hit by low level AA guns and flak 4 times over these drops and others Usual bombing over France and Germany and d day France last mission and end of his tour:fear: Cheers Tony
I do not have this full records so the France and Germany missions are a bit blank,The records are missing I am still after info on these apart from lanc mission 3rd last mission as 2nd pilot Cheers Tony
I imagine at the time of his trip in the Lanc he didn't know he had two trips left (although he must have known he was due for a rest). It would have been business as usual and training one of the squadron's most experienced pilots on the new aircraft would be the thing to do. His varied experience would have been of particular use for an OTU so time in a Lanc would have made him more so, I imagine.
Hi Andy thanks for joining my little band so to speak . As to the Lancaster bit .I never thought much about the varied missions he had but ,absolutely correct Mining drops , Low level drops over France and Holland for SOE and the usual if you could call it that bombing missions ,so if he had just a bit of experience on a Lanc would have made him a very useful pilot instructor to have around at a OTU.One thing I did leave out was the fact that he did take about 4 months to heal from his wounds (obviously not completely) as he did instruct and ending up flying Mosquitoes at an OTU just before the war ended and then flew another 42 hrs after the war before things started to go bad for him health wise a real pity . Cheers Tony:agree:
