Hi Colin.
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to upload your Uncle's Diary for everyone's benefit. It is both a fascinating historical document revealing the mind set of the time and a poignant personal record of a life cut off at far too early an age. At about the time your Uncle was flying with 58 Squadron, my Dad was Tail Gunner with 51 Squadron flying out of Dishforth. They may well have flown on the same raids. My Dad was four years younger than your Uncle and thankfully completed his tour and raised a family after the War.
When my Dad died in 1990, I inherited his "Whitley File". I don't know if you have a copy or have already seen the information in it, but just in case you haven't here are a couple of entries that might be of interest to you.
"Z6869 58 Undershot Acklington and crashed at Turnbull Farm, Northumberland, 4/9/41"
"T4266 58 Ditched in North Sea at 5355N:0147E returning from Berlin 18/4/41"
I was interested to see a mention of RAF Meir in Stoke on Trent. I grew up near that city and remember watching the gliders over Meir Aerodrome with my Dad in the 1960s. It was a flying club by then and you would see the occasional Gypsy Moth amongst the dayglo pink gliders. (That always got my dad going!) The base was built on in the 80s and is now a housing estate. The roads are named after aircraft. Nice touch, but the local authority were short sighted not to see the value of a regional city airport (that could have been). The local town would be "Longton" one of the Potteries towns about two miles away. Meir would have been little more than a big village in the 1940s. The place is a complete dump now - known locally as "neck-end". Lovely!
Hope this was of interest.
Jim
Jamieson
thornton271 <cfindlay@...> wrote:
I have uploaded the diary to the Whitley group files folder. It is
in PDF format.
Colin
> ******************************************************************
--- In Whitley_project@..., "steven_e007"
<steven.reynolds@t...> wrote:
> Yes please, I'm certainly interested and there is plenty of space
in
> the files section!
>
> Steve
> ******************************
> --- In Whitley_project@..., "thornton271"
> <cfindlay@w...> wrote:
> > Hi
> > Good to find a group on the Whitley.
> >
> > My uncle P/O Andrew Law was a Whitley pilot. He was killed in a
> > crash (in Z6869 GE-T) in fog when diverted to Acklington on 3/4
> Sept
> > 1941.
> >
> > I have a copy of a diary he kept from joining up in Sept 1939,
> > through training to his first mission in January 1941, after
which
> > it appears to have been censored. I also have a 3 page write up
of
> a
> > ditching in the North Sea (in T4266 GE-O) on 17-18 Apr 1941,
where
> > the crew were rescued after 3 days. I have scanned/typed copies
of
> > the diary and ditching if anyone is interested.
>
Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail
Win a Yahoo! Vespa NEW - Yahoo! Cars has 3 Vespa LX125s to be won Enter Now!
Offline 
Send Email