Author Archives
RAF Pathfinders Archive
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Don Bennett, AOC
Bennett’s dauntless, energetic, driven personality would be inextricably woven throughout the character of the Path Finder Force.
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Donald Margach and Guy Gibson
Donald Sinclair Margach was a bomb aimer from Edinburgh, who died in July 1944 when serving with 582 Squadron of the Pathfinders. Like many Pathfinders, he had had a very interesting flying career prior to joining the PFF.
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Pathfinder Stations: Bourn
Pathfinder stations were very variable in quality, ranging from the prewar stations like Upwood and Wyton, which were well-designed and built for permanency, to the wartime stations like Bourn and Gransden Lodge, which consisted almost solely of prefabs and Nissen… Read More ›
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Working on this New Website
Last year, we began a review of our old website: raf-pathfinders.com It had been added to and expanded for many years, and much of it dated back to a time when the ways of creating and running a website were… Read More ›
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Wartime Opposition to Bombing
During the war, public opinion in Britain and the Dominions was firmly on the side of Bomber Command. However, there was also some determined criticism of Bomber Command’s campaigns, not least by George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, who argued the… Read More ›
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RAF Bombers Deliver More than Bombs …
Bomber aircraft did not just drop bombs, they also dropped counter-propaganda such as the miniature Dutch newspaper De Wervelwind:
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Der Feind, The Fiend
This public information poster was printed in Berlin in 1940. The designer was Sander-Herwig. (Information from The Wolfsonian Digital Catalog, Accession number: XX1990.2765) Note the RAF roundel on the wing of the aircraft, and the bomb in the skeleton’s hand…. Read More ›
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Den Burg, Texel, Xmas Eve
The annual lighting of candles on the 167 graves at the War Cemetery at Den Burg, Texel, took place yesterday evening, Christmas Eve. This is a very simple but extremely moving and quietly spectacular ceremony, and for the last three… Read More ›
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Christmas at Graveley, Last Year of the War
From all the team at the RAF Pathfinders Archive Happy Christmas to everyone who has supported us over the years, and may next year, 2021, see life restored to something like normality after the immense problems and sorrows caused by… Read More ›
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The Three Pathfinder VCs
The three Victoria Crosses awarded to Pathfinders were all gazetted in 1945, some time after the deaths of the recipients. The three men who performed extraordinary feats of heroism and self-sacrifice were Ian Willoughby Bazalgette, Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer, and… Read More ›
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23 December 1944, “Heroic Endeavour”
On 16 December 1944, German Panzers spearheaded a surprise attack in the Ardennes that smashed through thinly held Allied lines, catching the Allied commanders completely off-guard. The Allied fight-back included the extraordinary feat of heroism which won Bob Palmer one… Read More ›
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16/17 December 1943: RAF Wyton Display
For more details of the display at RAF Wyton Heritage Centre, see this page.
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16/17 December 1943: Remembering the Thackway Crew
The Archive has its roots in a tragedy which occurred on 16/17 December 1943, afterwards known as Black Thursday. At that time, the crew of Ted Thackway were serving with 97 Squadron, which was stationed at Bourn in Cambridgeshire. The crew’s… Read More ›
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16/17 December 1943: FIDO & Landing Aids
One of the reasons why 16/17 December 1943 was so disastrous was the extreme limitations of landing aids. The only facilities available for such severe bad weather conditions were FIDO and a system known as SBA … 16/17 December 1943 – FIDO &… Read More ›
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16/17 December 1943: 77th Anniversary
Tomorrow it will be the 77th anniversary of the night which saw terrible bad-weather losses throughout Bomber Command – Black Thursday.