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RAF PATHFINDERS ARCHIVE

RAF PATHFINDERS ARCHIVE

The Pathfinders & the World they Knew

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  • About the Pathfinders
    • The PFF – A Quick Overview
    • PFF – Unique Conditions of Service
    • The Pathfinder Eagle
    • PATHFINDER AIRCREW: Courage, Love and Loss in Bomber Command’s Elite Force
    • Publicity and the Pathfinders
    • The Pathfinders – Controversial Beginnings
    • Harris and the Pathfinders
    • Harris Chooses Bennett as PFF AOC
    • PFF Losses in First Month, 1942
    • Early Months of the Path Finder Force
    • What’s in a Name? 8 Group or PFF?
  • PFF Squadrons & Bases
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  • Leadership
    • Don Bennett, Air Officer Commanding
    • Bennett, PR and 5 Group
    • Bennett and the Tirpitz
    • Donald Bennett, IWM Sound Recordings (1986)
    • Hamish Mahaddie, IWM sound recordings (1972 & 1989)
    • Anderson’s Logbook: First PFF Sortie
    • Robert Murray Buchan, Navigation Staff Officer
  • Library
    • Library
    • “A CHANCE ENCOUNTER” by Dr Olav Heinemann, Duisburg-Essen University
    • “AN AUSTRALIAN PATHFINDER OVER GERMANY”, by Professor Tim Willasey-Wilsey, King’s College, London
    • GEOFF BAKER, RAAF Pilot with 97 Squadron, by Stan Hurd
    • MARK GLEED, Navigator with 139 Squadron, by Len Gleed
    • The Loss of the Robertson Crew – German Reports
    • THE DANISH SHOULDER FLASH, by Mikkel Plannthin
  • FEATURED ARTICLES
    • A War Artist and the Pathfinders
    • Carrier Pigeons in the Bomber War
    • Christmas 1944 in a POW Camp
    • New Year’s Eve, Stalag IVb, 1944-45.
    • Lancaster Gunners “Hotting Up”
    • Leslie Barr and P/O Prune
  • The Night of the Fog, 16/17 December 1943 (Black Thursday)
    • The Night of the Fog, 16/17 December 1943 (Black Thursday)
    • Why the Archive Began
    • Pathfinder Losses on 16/17 December 1943
    • 97 Squadron Aircrew Flying on 16/17 December 1943
      • De Wesselow Crew
      • Kirkwood Crew
    • 16/17 December 1943: FIDO & Landing Aids
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  • Category: 97 Squadron

    97 Squadron, heavy bombers

  • New Year’s Eve, Stalag IVb, 1944/45

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 31, 2022December 31, 2022

    Following on from our recent feature on Christmas 1944 in a POW Camp, here is the Archive’s farewell to 2022 and welcome to 2023, with another item from Albert East’s time in Stalag IVb: New …

    97 Squadron, Prisoners of War
  • Remembrance on Texel, Xmas Eve

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 25, 2022December 25, 2022

    Jan Nieuwenhuis sent the following message late yesterday: “Today late this afternoon, we again placed candle lights in front of all the war graves at the Texel War Cemetery…” With grateful thanks to Jan Nieuwenhuis …

    97 Squadron, Occupied Countries, RAF Losses & Memorials
  • Season’s Greetings

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 23, 2022December 23, 2022

    See our new Feature Page: Christmas 1944 in a POW Camp To all our supporters and to everyone who has kindly donated information, documents, photographs and artefacts related to the Pathfinders this year, we wish …

    97 Squadron, Prisoners of War
  • Remembrance: Black Thursday

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 16, 2022December 16, 2022

    This detail from a photograph shows part of the funeral procession for 405 Squadron members, mostly Canadians, who were buried on 22 December 1943 at Cambridge City Cemetery. At the rear are Bill Bessent (nearest …

    156 Squadron, 405 Squadron, 83 Squadron, 97 Squadron, Significant Events: Black Thursday
  • The Pathfinder Badge, post-war

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 12, 2022January 6, 2023

    When checking through the pages of our old website, in search of images of Pathfinders wearing their PFF badges post-war, I found one of Charles Owen, an outstanding pilot and captain with 97 Squadron in …

    97 Squadron, PFF post-war
  • Remembrance Day 2022

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on November 11, 2022November 11, 2022

    Remembering all the Pathfinders lost in the war, and those who survived but suffered from terrible memories in after-years, and all their friends and families. Image above: Remembrance scroll, sadly issued in many thousands, this …

    97 Squadron, PFF REMEMBRANCE
  • Princess Elizabeth and Ralph Saunders

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on September 10, 2022September 10, 2022

    We have just received this wonderful photograph, taken in 1945, after Ralph Saunders’ return from prisoner of war camp. Ralph was shot down on the Leipzig operation of 20/21 October 1943 when flying with the …

    97 Squadron, Prisoners of War
  • PFF Squadrons in 5 Group

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on September 1, 2022

    A question which comes up perennially about the Pathfinders is why some of them were flying with 5 Group as opposed to 8 Group (as the Pathfinders had become in early 1943) and why they …

    5 Group, 83 Squadron, 97 Squadron, Donald Bennett, AOC, History of the PFF, PFF CHARACTER & HISTORY
  • Princess Elizabeth and the Navigator

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on June 3, 2022June 3, 2022

    As one of our two contributions to the Jubilee celebrations, here is a picture of the Queen when she was still Princess Elizabeth. The RAF navigator who is fourth from her left is Flying Officer …

    97 Squadron, ARCHIVE NEWS
  • Hit by Incendiaries over the Target: the true story of Brock Robertson’s DFC

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on April 5, 2022April 5, 2022

    Brock Robertson won his Distinguished Flying Cross for an operation to Hamburg on 24/25 July 1943, just over a month before his death. What the official citation for the award deliberately omitted to say was …

    97 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Medal Awards & MID, Reports and Admin
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