Individual Pathfinder aircrew and their squadrons
Today is the anniversary of the famous Operation Chastise, the raid on the German dams by Guy Gibson’s 617 Squadron, which took place on the night of 16/17 May 1943. To mark the anniversary, we are publishing an article by Clive Smith, 106 Squadron Researcher: FROM GIBSON’S 106 SQUADRON TO […]
The close involvement of the Pathfinders in the radar war waged by the Allies is symbolised by the service of two USAAF airmen – 2nd Lieutenant J.E. Russell (Jack) and 2nd Lieutenant R. Wright (Dick) – with 97 Squadron in the summer of 1943. The Americans were at the squadron […]
The memorial stone to the Steven crew, lost on 14 January 1944 on Texel, the largest of the Dutch Frisian islands, stands in a wooded place called Fonteinsnol on the exact spot where the aircraft crashed. Three of the crew were found dead at the scene. It is thought that one of […]
Today sees the publication of a new article which contains a fascinating conjunction of two accounts, one from the British viewpoint, one from the German viewpoint, of the shooting down of a Mosquito of 109 Squadron on 14 January 1944, eighty years ago. Mosquitos were difficult aircraft to shoot down, […]
This 97 Squadron crew flew on 16/17 December 1943 (BLACK THURSDAY) in Lancaster OF-S, S-Sugar. Unable to land due to the fog, the crew abandoned the aircraft and parachuted to safety. The crew’s survival on that disastrous night was a piece of great good fortune. Sadly, they were all killed […]
Christmas items for the Pathfinders … Firstly, CHRISTMAS 1944 IN A POW CAMP To keep their spirits up, many prisoners created elaborate skit menus of their ideal Xmas meal. Secondly, Christmas 1944 at RAF Graveley, where the menu was of a rather more formal nature. With our very best wishes […]
Lawrence Nicholson was on the COLOGNE OPERATION OF 23 DECEMBER 1944, and we are delighted to be able to publish his hitherto unpublished experiences of that operation. See: LAWRENCE NICHOLSON, 23 DECEMBER 1944 ‘Nick’ was flying with the Lawson crew that night. The crew would go on to complete 57 […]
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. Men from 1st SS Panzer Division in a Schwimmwagen at Kaiserbaracke crossroads, between St. Vith and Malmedy, 18 December 1944 © IWM EA 47958 […]
In three months it will be the 80th anniversary of the loss of the Coates crew on 25 March 1944. Prior to this we would be most grateful if friends, relatives, and other interested parties would get in touch. Two kind and dedicated Dutch people, Ad van Zantvoort and Ingrid […]
It has now been confirmed that the Black Thursday memorial stone will be put in place at RAF Wyton on a permanent basis. John Clifford, one of our trustees and senior curator at the Pathfinder Collection, Heritage Centre, RAF Wyton, wrote to me yesterday: We await the construction of a […]
Every year at this time we remember the Pathfinder crews lost due to fog and low cloud on Black Thursday, 16/17 December 1943. The Pathfinder dead for fog-related crashes were two from 83 Squadron, six from 156 Squadron, fourteen from 405 Squadron, and twenty-eight from 97 Squadron, fifty men in all. Memorial stone for the heavy losses suffered by 97 […]
We are very pleased to publish the first-hand account by Harry Furner, a mid-upper gunner with the Marsden crew, 35 Squadron, of the attack on his Lancaster by an enemy aircraft in June 1944. It is an amazing story of survival against the odds. A fellow member of 35 Squadron, […]
The Edwards crew went missing on the Courtrai operation of 20/21 July 1944. No trace of them was ever found, and they are commemorated on the Runnymede memorial. The bomb aimer on the crew was Jack Skingley. He was married with two children. His daughter, Jackie Maude, recently gave the […]
Today we remember all the Pathfinder aircrew and their ground crew who lost their lives in the 1939-1945 war. And also the dead in other units of the RAF, and of the Army and the Navy, who fought for our freedom in the same conflict. Image shows the service of […]
Harry Bartlett of the 102 (Ceylon) Squadron Association has emailed, asking if the news could be passed on to any remaining members of the Pathfinder Association about the death and funeral details of Harry Hughes, formerly the Chairman of the 102 (Ceylon) Squadron Association and a former Chairman of the […]