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RAF PATHFINDERS ARCHIVE

RAF PATHFINDERS ARCHIVE

The Pathfinders & the World they Knew

  • HOME
  • LATEST POSTS
  • ABOUT THE ARCHIVE
    • ABOUT THE ARCHIVE
    • Why the Archive Began
    • Collecting Material for the Archive
    • Donating Digital Material – What you need to know.
    • Charity & Contact Details
    • Copyright & Permissions
    • RESEARCH ENQUIRIES
    • Migrating from Old Website
    • Partners: Pathfinder Collection, RAF Wyton
    • Partners: Queensland Air Museum
  • 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
    • PFF Squadron Names and Codes
    • PFF Bases
    • Pathfinder Squadrons in 5 Group
  • 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: Dominion & Colonial Airmen

    RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and colonial aircrew flying with the RAF

  • 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
  • Brock Robertson & His Crew

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on April 5, 2022July 8, 2022

    Oliver Brock Robertson was an outstanding Canadian pilot who flew with 97 Squadron. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross in unusual circumstances in July 1943, just over a month before his death in action. There …

    97 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Medical Services
  • The Loss of the Robertson Crew

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on January 29, 2022February 23, 2022

    We have just added some interesting and unusually detailed German eyewitness reports of the loss of the Robertson crew after the Nuremburg raid of 27/28 August 1943. Lancaster JA958K crashed at Bubenreuth, near Erlangen, around …

    97 Squadron, Casualty Branch, MRES, Burials, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Germany
  • “AN AUSTRALIAN PATHFINDER OVER GERMANY”

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on January 7, 2022January 29, 2022

    Today we are adding to the Library an article by Tim Willasey-Wilsey, Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College London. It concerns Hall Mettam, a member of the RAAF, whom Tim met in Beirut …

    582 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen
  • Geoff Baker, RAAF, 97 Squadron.

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 12, 2021January 7, 2022

    A further addition to the library today … A personal account by Stan Hurd of a friend, Geoff Baker, “an ordinary person who went to war that changed his life. It tells the story of …

    5 Group, 97 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen
  • Air Sea Rescue – Allan Templeton

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 9, 2020September 15, 2022

    Some Pathfinders had very unusual – and dramatic – pre-Pathfinder war service. Allan Templeton was one of these. HIs service in ASR was very noteworthy. Read the Full Article: Pre-Pathfinder War Service: Allan Templeton

    156 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Pre-PFF Service
  • An Aussie Navigator gets his Wings

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 9, 2020July 9, 2022

    Norman McIntyre, later of 97 Squadron, PFF, at the ceremony which marked the completion of his training as a navigator: RAAF Navigator receives his Wings

    97 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Selection & Training, Uniforms, tags and ensignia
  • RNZAF Boys on Ship to Canada

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020

    An unusual photograph of trainee aircrew leaving their homeland: RNZAF Boys on Ship to Canada

    83 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Selection & Training
  • Mentioned in Despatches

    Posted by RAF Pathfinders Archive on October 17, 2020April 5, 2022

    Allan Templeton (his first name was Arthur but he was known by his second name) was a wireless operator from Newfoundland. He had a flying career packed with incident even before he joined the Pathfinders …

    156 Squadron, Dominion & Colonial Airmen, Medal Awards & MID, Pre-PFF Service
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