News and items about the RAF Pathfinders Archive
These photographs of the lighting of the candles on Christmas Eve for all the war graves in Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands, were sent to us by Jan Nieuwenhuis, who several years ago, together with Bram van Dijk, began this poignant and touching annual ceremony of gratitude to the fallen. As in previous years, […]
The RAF Pathfinders Archive, which was founded in 2017, has recently undertaken a major reorganisation to take it forward into the next 8-10 years. Perhaps the most significant change has been the move of all the Archive’s physical artefacts to RAF Wyton’s Heritage Centre, where they form a complement to […]
Leading photo: Sean with Ted Stocker, Pathfinder, 2009 Sean Feast has been appointed Chair of The RAF Pathfinders Archive, the charity that seeks to protect the history of the corps d’élite of RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War. He succeeds Dr Jennie Gray, the founder of the archive, […]
The Lancaster of the Coates crew, 97 Squadron, was shot down at Weebosch, near Luyksgestel, Holland, at 12.30 in the morning of 25 March 1944. All seven crew members died. This crew had flown on BLACK THURSDAY, 16/17 December 1943, in Lancaster JA908-OF-N. The aircraft had been badly damaged during the Berlin […]
This morning we are publishing a set of three photographs of the lighting of the candles for all the war graves in Den Berg, Texel, on Christmas Eve. They were sent to us by Jan Nieuwenhuis, who together with Bram van Dijk (very sadly, no longer with us) began this […]
NEWS FLASH: Today, 16 December, there was supposed to be a dedication ceremony at RAF Wyton for the new memorial to Black Thursday, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled on the authority of the Station Commander. A different date will be arranged in the New Year. Every year at […]
There is really excellent news about the long anticipated Black Thursday memorial. This memorial stone was most generously provided by Benoît Howson, who designed it in conjunction with Dr Jennie Mack Gray. It is a very great honour that this memorial will be sited permanently in the Memorial Garden at […]
To our subscribers …. Due to a stupid but seemingly unfixable glitch in the sending of posts to our subscribers, the recent email on the Memorial to Black Thursday has discarded its link back to the website. Hopefully, this post will address the problem for our subscribers. The placing of […]
The Townsend crew have appeared before on this website. Except for the flight engineer, DEREK CARROTT, they were all Canadians and one of them, WING COMMANDER GRAY, was a thirty-six-year-old of comparatively senior rank flying as a gunner. The crew, who were never found, are remembered at Runnymede with the […]
William Anderson was one of the handful of Staff Officers at PFF HQ who was in at the very beginning. Anderson was an outstanding navigator, and there is much more come about him; however, in this month which celebrates the 80th Anniversary of the formation of the Pathfinders, we simply […]
To all our friends, supporters, and generous donors over the years – We celebrate the formation of the Path Finder Force on 15 August 1942 and remember with great gratitude what they did for us. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.
A cautious approach was taken towards the creation of the Path Finder Force in summer 1942, reflecting the controversy about whether it was required at all and whether it would manage to live up to its supporters’ expectations. It was given ‘lodgings’ with 3 Group, and a hotch-potch of squadrons with […]
Sir Arthur Harris, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, had been strongly opposed to the setting up of a separate elite target-marking force, believing this would leave to rivalry and jealousy within the non-Pathfinder squadrons (known as Main Force) who would inevitably resent having their best crews taken away from […]
Donald Bennett was Harris’s personal choice for the command of the Path Finder Force; he took up his post on 15 July 1942, one month before the PFF officially came into existence. Bennett , right, with one of his top officers, John Searby, 1944 At 32 years of age, Bennett […]
The 80th Anniversary of the formation of the Path Finder Force is fast approaching, and to celebrate we are running a series of features about the Force, its leadership and its history. The PFF was officially formed on 15 August 1942, but its leader, Donald Bennett, took up his post […]