In the earliest days of the Pathfinders, the PFF had a Staff Officer contingent of only five, of whom William Anderson was one. Another was Robert Murray Buchan, the Navigation Staff Officer. Sadly, Buchan went missing on 25 August with an 83 Squadron crew, a mere ten days after the PFF was formed. The crew was that
Further to our post yesterday on Bill Anderson’s Logbook and the first PFF sortie, we have since learned that “Jacko” was William Grierson Jackson, RCAF, who was a close friend of Bill Anderson. Jackson, who served at PFF NTU, was a pretty amazing character. Anderson describes him affectionately in his memoirs Pathfinders. We have updated
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 could not resist this absolutely
John Searby (left, with Bennett in 1944, IWM: CH 20628) was one of the best known and most revered of the Pathfinder squadron and station commanders. According to the dates in Bennett’s book Pathfinder, he was: CO of 83 Squadron from 9 May 1943 until 2 November 1943 Station Commander at Upwood from 20 November
