One you may not have seen before ....

[RobNZ]

Hi there,
wonderful tunic. My great uncles bomber captain was Southern Rhodesian too. They were all killed in 1941 when their Wellington was shot down over Koln. I wonder how many Souther Rhodesian pilots there were, not too many I would think

RobNZ

[LeeG]

Ian, thank you so much for sharing the photos and that story. Love those Rhodesia flashes.

[Ian Hulley]

Having had a little time to do a tad of research my uncle Pilot Officer W.N.Eales (Bill) was actually flying with 97 Squadron R.A.F. NOT 90 Squadron when he was shot down. The date of the raids on Duisburg appears to have been January '43 rather than December '42. Looking at the recollections on the squadron website :- http://www.97squadronassociation.co.uk/aircrews.html (Bill is listed under Woodhall Spa 1942) it appears to be normal proceedure for the pilot to take a stricken plane out of the main bomber stream and to hold it while the crew bail out.They don't have him down on their list as being S.R.A.F. but hopefully they'll put that rightwhen I contact them.

He was reported for flying low over Calver (Derbyshire),when his girlfriend was home, by the ARP warden in Baslow (the next village down the valley) he wasn't reported by the Calver warden .... 'cos that was my Grandad his future Father-in-Law. Makes you wonder what they were doing up our neck of the woods,the Dambusters used the Derwent Dams to practice on but there's not much else round here.

Hope this clears some items up.

Cheers,Ian.

[Si1964]

Ian,

Thank you for sharing the story and pic's, a truly incredible and very interesting.

[Ian Hulley]

A further update :- This from Mr Desmond Evans who runs the website linked above :-

"As you are probably aware he was only with us a very short time. His one Operation he carried out on December 20/21st December 42 was to be his last.It is interesting to note that the discovery of his Body with his other comrade was found more or less on the anniversary of his Death.This happened in so many cases, and even today is still happening.I will list that Operation this week on the Website with the addition of the dicovery of his and his Co Pilots bodies.I had a look at the Website you sent which interested me very much. I only knew of one other Rhodesian Pilot, I wish I could recall his name,but for the life of me I can¹t. I know he was with 83 squadron which shared Coningsby with 97 squadron in 1944."

It appears S.R.A.F. pilots were a rare breed indeed,I now need to find out which squadron(s) Bill served in prior to his all-too-short stint with 97.

Cheers,Ian.

[Para82nd]

Very cool!