The ground crew who worked on Pathfinder aircraft were the unsung heroes of the bombing war, working hard through all weathers. Mosquito ground crew had a particularly close relationship with their aircrew, as can be …
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Meteorology and the Pathfinders
The Path Finder Force was a small but vital facet of Bomber Command. Created in August 1942 to improve bombing accuracy, it led the other squadrons of Bomber Command, collectively known as Main Force, by …
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What’s In a Name? 8 Group or PFF?
80 years ago today, on 13 January 1943, in recognition of the outstanding results that the Path Finder Force had achieved in its first six months, it was given parity with other Bomber Command Groups …
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New Year’s Eve, Stalag IVb, 1944/45
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 …
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Remembrance on Texel, Xmas Eve
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 …
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Season’s Greetings
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 …
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Remembrance: Black Thursday
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 …
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Navigational Equipment: Captain Field’s Improved Parallel
Dudley Archer was an outstanding navigator who flew two tours with the Pathfinders (see his impressive decorations in The Pathfinder Eagle). He was on the 582 Squadron crew of Ted Swales on the operation in …
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The Pathfinder Badge, post-war
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 …
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CARRIER PIGEONS IN THE BOMBER WAR
Up until at least the end of 1943, carrier pigeons were carried on all operational bomber aircraft (and also on Coastal Command long-range sorties) as a back-up system in addition to a wireless SOS when an aircraft …