97 Squadron, heavy bombers
Above: Temporary grave marker for the Coates crew, killed 25 March 1944, RPA/H97/Coates The total Pathfinder losses, incurred from August 1942 to May 1945, were given by Donald Bennett, their Air Officer Commanding (AOC), as being 3,618 men. As the AOC of the Pathfinders, Bennett was in the best position […]
Surviving photographs of RAF funerals are very rare. Although many were taken officially during the war, so that relatives living abroad could see that their loved ones had been buried with honour, it seems that such photographs were too sad to keep. Norman McIntyre (fourth from left) with two of […]
The lure of flying for people growing up in the 1920s and 1930s is hard to appreciate now when commercial flying is so commonplace. Then, flying was ultra-modern and incredibly glamorous. For aeroplane-mad children, there were a large number of books, comics and magazines, featuring real aviators and fictional ones […]