A pilot who seems to have been forgotten in the country of his birth, and almost as forgotten in the country for whom he fought and died for - Squadron Leader Lance C. Wade (23 confirmed victories): http://www.historynet.com/magazines/aviation_history/3035576.html
Thanks Kyt, don't know how I missed this the first time around. The article makes for fascinating reading (some of the American description of RAF terminology/practice etc was amusing but, hey, a great story) adn although the name seems to be ringing a bell with me, I can safely say I was not aware of Lance Wade (suspect I'm thinking of another Wade). Would be intriguing to find out more about the e-book thatis mentioned by one of the readers commenting at the end of the article. Also be interesting to check out the Texas museum's Wade display. Great post.
:doh: I knew I had heard the name before! http://lsfm.org/index.php?pgid=19 (scroll down till you see a pic of the Hurri).
With just 15 hours on her since restoration, the Hurri has had an altercation with a two-seater Spit. Both pilots okay. Vintage planes severely damaged in Galveston air show | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Searching my usual sites, I found this photo of Lance Wade but no article that gives more information than the one here. Unfortunately, to become famous in the Allied air forces in WW2, it helped to survive, then you got to write books or give interviews to biographers, sign paintings etc, or maybe to extend their heroic exploits into peacetime - hence the fame of such as Bader, Johnson, Cunningham, Duke etc. I don't begrudge these men their fame at all. But who remembers Pat Pattle, Stanley Lock, or Paddy Finucane, who died young and do not even have a grave? As we get further away from the war, even those in the former category are no longer household names. The article mentions that Wade died in the crash of a "twin-engined Auster light bomber". Some mistake here, obviously. The Auster was a single-engined light Observation and communications aircraft. Or do they mean an Anson, or some other type? Any more info on this, anyone? Adrian
Wade was killed in an Auster which was on a routine flight but went into a spin. How it became to be a described as a twin engined bomber........:noidea:
We do! ;-) Does Ian Gleed have a known grave? Was just reading about a Kiwi pilot shot down on the first 1,000 bomber raid. He was buried but his grave lost after the war so he is commemorated at Runnymede. Sad.
