july 13-2015-mon - update - appendix 1 - raf fc finding aids

APPENDIX 1 - FINDING AIDS 4 books on the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, WW II - Ted Beaudoin, July, 2015 - 1 -

______________________________________ UPDATES:

Mon., July 13th, 2015: new information Page 28 Sat., July 11th, 2015: new information Page 27

An un-intentional oversight is corrected: at long last, the 3,500 or so civilians from 23 allied nations, along with seconded military personnel and attached civilians from allied airlines who created what became the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command / Transport Command of WW II are forgotten no more Starting as early as 1939, more than 3,500 civilian men and women from 23 allied nations - along with personal seconded from allied military units and those attached from allied commercial airlines to help them - created, with the Canadian Pacific Railway, what became known from mid-1941 to the end of WW II as Englands Royal Air Force Ferry Command. Those who know their history agree that these dauntless men and women helped in a big way to save the world by doing what aviation experts of the day said was simply suicidal and doomed to failure. Of the 10,000 American-made bombers assigned to them, they delivered 9,442 of them to different theatres of war to when and where they were needed. This was a delivery rate that averaged 114 aircraft a day, day-in and day-out for six consecutive, but at great cost in lives: more than 500 air crew and passengers. They started by flying the then-uncharted and dreaded skies over the North Atlantic Ocean. In so doing, they earned the rapid support of the Royal Canadian Air Force - RCAF, along with that of United States Army Air Force - USAAF - and of other allied countries air forces - including, among others, the Czechoslovak Army Air Force - CAAF, Royal Australian Air Force - RAAF, the Royal New Zealand Air Force - RNZAF, the South Rhodesian Air Force - SRAF, the South African Air Force - SAAF, the Soviet Air Forces - SAF, and a number of allied nations commercial air carriers. This phenomenal international support resulted in the overall delivery between 1940 and 1945 of more than 250,000 mostly American-made bombers and fighter aircraft to help the allies gain supremacy of the air and give us todays wonderful international aviation system: years.

Until now, these dauntless men and women have by and large been forgotten and overlooked in the history books. On Monday, May 11th, 2015, this international historical oversight began to be corrected thanks to the Royal Canadian Air Force: soon these civilians and all the military personnel who were seconded to them, along with the civilians from allied commercial airlines attached to them, will at long last receive international recognition, paying a long-term tribute to their remarkable contributions to the freedom we enjoy so much today. Trainloads could be filled with published printed matter and produced film and television exploits of bombing raids and aerial dogfights through WW II, but today one could not fill the back seat of a family sedan with published and produced exploits of how these bombers and fighter aircraft got there. Some recognition has already been gained in Canadas Parliament and its Department of Veterans Affairs in 2000 thanks to nonagenarian Louis Lang, Cote-St-Luc, Qubec, Canada. Louis was a civilian RAF FC radio-operator, who fought tooth-and-nail for more than 20 years after WW II for such recognition. Thanks are also extended to Bob Briggs, Gander, NL, Canada, and other federal government departments (to be named soon) for a new bricks-and-mortar museum in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador to be dedicated exclusively to the RAF FC: more on this story is on Page 22.


______________________________________ About this appendix and the recommended purchase of all research and

manuscripts by the Royal Canadian Air Forces History and Heritage department

Written permission has been received to publish the fact that, as of Monday, May 11th, 2015, Major William (Bill) March, the Royal Canadian Air Force historian in the Office of RCAF History and Heritage at the CF Aerospace Warfare Centre in Trenton, ON, is recommending the acquisition by the RCAF of all the research material, and the three manuscripts which are now in their completion stages, which, if indeed acquired will lead to a fourth book, exclusively for the RCAF.

Briefly, his decision: Based on my conversation with the researcher / author, and a preliminary viewing of the research material / three manuscripts on Ferry Command, it is my opinion that the subject matter constitutes a significant contribution to the history and heritage of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the evolution of civil / military aviation cooperation and the development of air transport / aerospace industry from a Canadian perspective. Therefore, I intend to recommend the following:

a. that the RCAF acquire the research material in order to preserve it and make it available for future use by researchers both within and outside of the Department of National Defence;

b. that the RCAF acquire the manuscript, dealing with the negotiations for, establishment of, and early conduct of Ferry Command as this was an important part of Canada's contribution to air power development during World War II and had an enormous impact on the RCAF during that period. The manuscript to be published using in-house resources and distributed in accordance with standard policies / procedures; and

c. that the RCAF assist in whatever way possible the commercial publication of the remaining two manuscripts in that they will make a welcome and valuable contribution to the overall narrative of Ferry Command.

about this appendix it is a finding aid which will be updated as new developments occur, listing the sources used to obtain information for this quartet of books, each briefly described on Page 23 of this appendix. These books are dedicated to all who created, what became officially known on Monday, July 20th, 1941 as the Royal Air Force Ferry Command - or the RAF FC. Throughout World War II, the RAF FC underwent a number of name and command structure changes, but was popularly known as the RAF Ferry Command. It was an incredible operation, which began with a Canadian national railway company, the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Briefly

In 1939, World War II had not yet broken out into a nearly global catastrophe. It did so soon after these civilians got together and rescued the allied air forces of Canada, England and the United States of America by delivering 9,442 of the 10,000 bombers assigned to them, all of which had been paid for and ordered by England and France, which desperately needed them. These planes were being crated and shipped overseas from their American manufacturers, but they were taking too long to arrive in England. The French orders for aircraft had to be sent to England because, by mid-1940, most of France was in German hands. German submarines were having a field day sinking convoy vessels bearing crated bombers. These bombers were urgently needed by England to patrol ocean waters looking for, and sinking, German U-boats, and the only way to get them as quickly as possible was to ship them by air.

Dauntless and intrepid civilians did what was considered suicidal and impossible: fly the American-made bombers out of Canada and Newfoundland, over the then unknown and uncharted North Atlantic Ocean skies.

Other allied air force military commands existed at the time, but they were mainly used to ferry military aircraft to and from their internal air bases, or to other countries where their bases were located. They were not used to ferry military aircraft across the worlds ocean on any regular basis. Also, they were not equipped, nor staffed, to be able to do the job which the civilians did on their behalf.

This quartet of stand-alone companion books tells the stories of their stunning accomplishments, triggering in the process the involvement of many international commercial airlines and allied air forces in taking up the baton by early 1941. A total of 10,000 bombers had been assigned to their care and delivery. Remarkably, only 558 of these bombers were lost in the process, most of them lost at sea, a few lost as a result of being shot down, and an unknown number which never left the ground after testing. This was slightly more than a 4.5% loss-of-aircraft rate - a remarkable safety record if there ever was one, considering the pioneer frontier-busting nature of the operation and that military experts of the day considered the plan as plainly suicidal.

The RAF FC badge from the Gander Airport Historical Society

web site www.ganderairporthistoricalsociet

y.org


______________________________________ An unknown number of ground support crews also lost their lives on the ground by accidentally being killed by spinning propellers. While the aircraft loss was lower than anticipated - operation commanders estimated that potential aircraft losses could be as little as 10%. Fine, but the losses of aircraft came at a high cost in human lives. As stated earlier, more than 500 aircrew and passengers died during the ferrying of these bombers a death rate nearing 30%, a figure close to the fatality rate of front-line armed service personnel, on the water, underwater, in the air, or on the ground within the allied armies, navies and air forces.

Some background - how this project came to be Three manuscripts morphed following a decade of research into this project, which had its genesis in 1986 with the authors first book on aviation, Walking on Air. This was a 300-page soft-cover biography of the late Sheldon Luck, first Chief Pilot of Canadian Pacific Air Lines. It was re-issued in 2009 in an expanded version with 30 new pages and previously unpublished material and photographs as Pilot of Fortune. It will be re-published following the publication of these four books.

Three chapters in the authors first two books deal with Sheldons experiences in the RAF Ferry Command, when he earned a Kings Commendation for his services for bomber deliveries and, through the RAFs #231 Telecommunications Squadron, becoming known as Prime Minister Winston Churchills mail carrier.

New research began in January 2005, the Year of the Veteran in Canada, and ended in January 2015. By 1945, thanks to the strong support from allied air forces and regional, national and international commercial airlines, more than 250,000 mostly American-made fighter and bomber aircraft were delivered overseas, carrying precious cargo, passengers and airmail across all the worlds oceans to all the theatres of war when and where they were needed. In fact, a relatively small number of American-made Boeing four-engine bombers carried all of the heavy gun ammunition which helped British Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery defeat Germanys General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps at El Alamein in Africa. In 2015, two 75th anniversaries of the 1940 flights commemorate two first deliveries of bombers to England. The first of these anniversary events took place on Monday, January 15th, 1940. It is an event which could have been celebrated in three countries had anyone in political office or high up in military circles thought about it, and involved a Canadian Prairie farmer, Joe Wilson, and his team of two giant horses - Fred and Prince.

PHOTO left - one of many cover ideas for Book 1 in this quartet shows a background black-and-white photo of Joe Wilson, and his horses Fred and Prince - shown towing an American-made Hudson bomber from Pembina in North Dakota, USA, across the USA / Canada border into Emerson, Manitoba. This 1940 tow-job received enormous publicity across North America and in England. While the whole operation was supposed to be a highly-secret happening it often made international headlines, in print and in movie newsreels, throughout North America and the United Kingdom. Secrecy was easily swept aside when the highest of politicians decided public goodwill was more important than secrecy, making it a heyday for the powerful and highly effective German spy machine. (No attempts have been made to ferret information from the highly effective and fully operational German/Japanese espionage / intelligence machine their spies knew full well what was going on and what they spied on and how they did it is briefly written about, from personal experiences, in each of the three books in this set.)

The second anniversary commemorates the first delivery of bombers, having taken place the night of Sunday, November 10th, 1940 with the history-making and obviously highly-successful flight of seven American-made Hudson bombers, flown by motley-

looking, casually dressed and well-paid civilian air crews. These men were the crme-de-la-crme, most experienced, top-of-the-line air crews that civilian aviation had to offer from Canada, England and the USA. This first batch of civilians flew their bombers out of Gander, Newfoundland when it was still a British territory.


______________________________________ Again, as noted earlier, since WW II ended, the world has seen the production of trainloads full of newspaper and magazine articles, books, dramatic and documentary theatre and television films, along with an enormous amount of internet material all dealing with the daring, spectacular and dazzlingly-effective aerial dog-fights and bombing raids. By comparison, so little has been produced in any media as to how all these bombers and fighter aircraft got there in the first place the majority of them built by American aircraft manufacturers, and some in Canada and England. How come so little information about this aspect of WW II?

In all likelihood it could well be because this whole thing began as a British-funded operation, and continued as a British-led operation being run out of Canada.

For many years they were forgotten, unheralded and overlooked by Canadas veterans affairs department, and pretty much forgotten in history books that deal with aviation. They finally received government recognition as veterans by Canadas Department of Veterans Affairs in 2000 - thanks to the lengthy intervention of RAF FC veteran Louis Lang, at far right - of Cote-Se-Luc, Qubec, Canada. He fought a 20-year long battle to obtain veteran status and benefits within Canada for all RAF FC aircrews who flew overseas. He was vindicated in a big way, as seen in this photograph, receiving a commendation as it appeared on a Veterans Affairs Canada web site noting that his efforts culminated with legislation extending benefits to members of the Ferry Command, and other civilian groups, receiving Royal Assent in October 2000. Lou Langs story is in Book 2 of this quartet, Sworn To Secrecy. The web site can be found at

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-us/department-officials/minister/commendation/bio/68 The RAF FC was a totally England-led and England-funded operation, with all civilian employees sworn to secrecy, operating

exclusively out of Canada, and regularly used by the Canadian who became known as Intrepid, a subject of many newspaper and magazine articles and movies for theatres and television. He was one of a few highly-select and influential men who brilliantly wielded major influence at the highest political and military levels in Canada, England and the USA. William Stephenson was Intrepid. His highly-secret Camp X near Toronto, Ontario, Canada made great and regular use of RAF FC aircraft deliveries to ferry many

allied military intelligence personnel who trained at Camp X from the camp to England, to penetrate enemy lines. For military intelligence personnel read the word spies.

(Portrait of Mr. Stephenson, at right: published with permission by famed Canadian artist, Ms Irma Coucill, Toronto, ON).

Each book in this quartet will feature two sections - this appendix along with the first official story, published in 1945, about this organization, written under contract by John Pudney In 1940 he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force as an

intelligence officer and as a member of the Air Ministry's Creative Writer's Unit. It will be APPENDIX 2 in all three books.

During World War II Pudney published articles for this organization, including, in 1945, the only known official history of the RAF Ferry Command. The Harry Ramson Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, USA, provided

interesting background information on Pudney. An accomplished writer and poet, he also penned, one of 28 of his works contained in this archive, The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Royal Air Force.

His 50-page book on the RAF FC is now in the public domain, and is cited as such in each of the three books. His book, Atlantic Bridge, has been found on the internet to have two distinctively separate covers the official cover - at LEFT - is now in the public domain, and

anyone can re-publish it for sale without paying the authors estate any royalties. The second cover, at right, is on a book which is listed as being offered for sale at $25.22 + $3.10 SHIPPING at the following web site

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/atlantic-bridge-the-official-account-of-r-a-f-transport-command-s/q/loc/106/31233942.html


______________________________________ The bottom line on the cover of the for-sale version reads - Prepared by the Ministry of Information for United Kingdom Air Ministry slightly different from the bottom line of the official public domain version which reads: THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF R.A.F. TRANSPORT COMMANDS OCEAN FERRY - NINEPENCE Net. Pudneys book received newspaper and magazine attention soon after it was published, as seen by a brief two-column news item in the Reno Evening Gazette on Page 4 of its Monday, Feb. 19th, 1945 edition, near the bottom of the page no source had been attributed to this story. This particular newspaper article surfaced from the following web site, which has been invaluable in providing archived newspaper stories, which for this subject date back to the early 1930s

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SearchResultsV3.aspx

Across the "Atlantic Bridge"

ON NOVEMBER 11, 1940, seven two-engined airplanes landed at a British airfield after flying direct from Newfoundland. That was the beginning of the RAF transport command's ocean ferry.

In 1940, twenty-six planes were ferried across the "Atlantic bridge." How that vital service has grown is indicated in a booklet put out by the British air ministry which states that 1336 planes were ferried across the ocean in 1943.

The "bridge" now has two "spans," across the north Atlantic and across the south Atlantic, using airfields blasted from volcanic rock, hewn from jungle and levelled from sand dunes.

Many stories that are strangerat least more thrillingthan fiction could be related about the pioneers who blazed this air trail. There was, for instance, Jack Durham, a Texan who flew planes from Nassau in the Bahamas to Africa, "like shelling peas." In four months Durham delivered eleven aircraft and on the twelfth trip he lost both motors in mid-Atlantic, ending his career.

In addition to flying boats and four-engined and twin-engined bombers, the transport command also ferries freight, passengers and official mail. Among its stranger cargo was $30,000 worth of radium, which put the ship's compass out by 14 degrees.

The British air ministry now reports that "The Atlantic air has been mastered; its history is only just beginning." The record of the transport command indicates there is no exaggeration in that statement.

While these sources include web sites, this list also provides the names of individuals, governments, private corporations and companies, agencies and associations whose personnel have provided interviews and / or donated material in the form of such items as letters news clippings - magazine and newspapers CDs containing personal and commercial dramatic, fictional and documentary films. Most of the internet-based information is available at no charge; only a few web sites charge a fee.

This list can help those looking for information, from any source, about their relatives and / or friends who served with the RAF FC in any capacity as civilian employees or as military personnel seconded to the RAF FC from various allied air forces as 1-Trippers or for longer periods of time.

How to find information on the internet about the RAFs Ferry Command operation of WW II In trying to find anything on the internet dealing with the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command operation, it is important to be aware of the official names by which it was known between 1939 and 1945. Simply entering the words Royal Air Force Ferry Command or Ferry Command alone into a search engine will not yield many good results. Why not?

As noted earlier, this is because military air ferry commands already existed before WW II to ferry allied air forces aircraft to their various bases around the world.

Without using the official names of what was popular ly known as the RAF Ferry Command in search engines, results will be sparse and almost limited. But by using the four names shown here on different searches, many interesting results are more likely to show up.

The months of December 1939 and January 1940 saw the start of recruiting of air and support ground crews, and administration personnel, along with the delivery of aircraft from the USA into Canada. The actual flying of bombers across the North Atlantic Ocean only began on Sunday, Nov. 10th, 1940 by personnel hired by the Canadian Pacific Railways Air Service Department - the CPASD. This same operation was also known by two other identifiers ATFERO for Atlantic Ferry Organization and its Return Ferry Organization/Service, the RFO/RFS, for which no known logos have yet been found on the net, nor in corporate archives of the CPR. Nine months later, by May, 1941, ATFERO would be ripped from CPRs civilian hands at the demands of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wanted it placed under the military control of the Royal Air Force,


______________________________________ operating concurrently from what was then known as St- Hubert airport in St. Hubert, south of Montral Island, and Dorval airport on the west end of Montral Island, both in the Canadian province of Qubec: thus the logo showing the British Ministry of Aircraft Production.

Another name change came into place two months after that, in July, 1941 when it became officially known for the first time as the RAF Ferry Command. The fourth and final name and command structure changes took place in April 1943, revealing the final official name of the operation, the one by which is became formally known and recognized throughout the world - todays R.A.F. Transport

Command. Little wonder its been difficult to find useful and accurate results on this incredible airborne armada by using only the words Royal Air Force Ferry Command or Ferry Command. Additional information can also be found by entering the above names in the Way Back Machine, described elsewhere in these pages.

Archives, associations, companies, governments, museums, organizations, universities

Australia Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/ - free service, no fees or subscription needed Find and get over

390,815,994 Australian and online resources

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Canada Alberta Aviation Museum & Edmonton Aviation Heritage Society

11410 Kingsway Ave., Edmonton, Alberta - T5G 0X4 http://www.albertaaviationmuseum.com -

Jim Coutts, Editor, In Formation newsletter _____________________________________________________________________

Bomber Command Museum of Canada 1729 - 21st Ave., Nanton, Alberta

http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca Curator: Bob Evans - volunteer: permissions from him and the author, Clarence Simonsen to reproduce Mr. Simonsens article on the wondrous wink-wink, nudge-nudge dog-and-pony show better known as the American recruiting trio of the Clayton-Knight Committee __________________________________________________________________________

Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame PO Box 6090 - Wetaskiwin, Alberta - T9A 2E8

http://cahf.ca David Crone, former curator, Mary Oswald, former editor of the CAHF newsletter The Flyer Harry Hayward, volunteer

________________________________________________________________ Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation

100 Laurier Street, Gatineau, Qubec - K1A 0M8 www.historymuseum.ca

______________________________________________________________________________ Canadian Museum of Flight

Hangar #3, 5333 216th St., Langley, British Columbia - V2Y 2N3 http://www.canadianflight.org

Jerry Vernon, President of the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, provided material for James McClellands paper on the January 15th, 1940, horse-towing of Hudson bombers from North Dakota into Manitoba


______________________________________ Canadian Pacific Air Lines, Canadian Pacific Railway

Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty, President

Punch Dickens: Prior to the Second World War Dickins became the general superintendent for CPRs airline division. When war began he headed the first organization to set up what became the RAF FC. Bob Kennell: (Retired) Manager, Canadian Pacific Archives & Product Licensing __________________________________________________________________________________

Canadian War Museum

1 Vimy Place, Ottawa, ON - K1A 0M8 http://www.warmuseum.ca/home/

Jane Naisbitt, Head, Military History Research Centre - [email protected]

_______________________________________________________________

Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Inc.

Box 3, Grp. 520, RR #5, Brandon, Manitoba http://www.airmuseum.ca/

It is the only museum in the world dedicated uniquely to 130,000-plus aircrew personnel who trained under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Stephen Hayter- Executive Director, provided information about the photo of Jimmy Mattern who made the first crossing of the American - Canadian border to deliver a Hudson bomber on January 15th, 1940.

______________________________________________ Department of National Defense, Directorate of History and Heritage

2429 Holly Lane, Stacey Building, Ottawa, ON http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/index-eng.asp

Warren Sinclair, Chief Archivist - Valerie Casbourn, Assistant Archivist, along with student archivists Nicolas Lamothe, Liam Rafferty and Arthur Wells

Contact: http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/adh-sdh/cl-lc/index-eng.asp ______________________________________________________________________

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

9280 Airport Road, Mount Hope, ON - L0R 1W0 http://www.warplane.comErin Napier, Curator

On John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport grounds Neil McGavock, Co-ordinator of the museums Voices From The Past program

___________________________________________________________________ Clayton-Knight Committee, Canada / USA, major recruiters American civilian air crews _________________________________________________________________________________

Dorval Historical Society

Centre communautaire Sarto Fournier, 1335 Lakeshore Drive, Dorval, Qubec - H9S 2E5 http://www.societehistoriquededorval.org/

and http://montrealmosaic.com/organization/dorval-historical-society

Alain Jarry, historian - Beverley Rankin, Dorval City representative __________________________________________________________________

The Empire Club of Canada (Toronto branch) Fairmont Royal York Hotel, 100 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario - M5J 1E3

http://www.empireclub.org/

In 1943, RAF FC leader, Air Vice-Marshal Marix spoke to this group on the size and scope of RAF FC and its accomplishments as

well as its strength in supporting administrative personnel in Dorval, Qubec

_______________________________________________________________________________


______________________________________ Ferry Command Association

This group is no longer active, having held its last meeting in 2000, in Gander, NL, Canada - however, a small amount of information from this inactive web site can be found through the

Way Back Machine at https://archive.org/web ...

By typing https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ferrycommand.com

onto the URL or address bar atop any web browser the following result shows up:

http://www.ferrycommand.com

UPPER LEFT: a partial screen shot of this page shows that the FC Association web pages have been saved 7 times between February 1st, 2001 and June 2nd, 2002

______________________________________________________________________________________ Flying for your life

http://www.flyingforyourlife.com/pilots/ww2/h/hodson/#.UZebMMq8-So

Source for Keith Hodson, net search result

_____________________________________________________________________ Gander Airport Historical Society (GAHS)

PO Box 238 - Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) - A1V 1W6 http://www.ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/ blog - http://airportcoffeeshop.blogspot.com

Jan., 6th, 2015 Board of Directors: Dean Cull, Peter Hoyles, George Innes, Rev. Marion Pardy, Jack Pinsent, Rick Stead and earlier, Robert Pelley _________________________________________________________________________

Institut Historica Dominion Institut 2 Carlton Street, East Mezzanine, Toronto, ON - M5B 1J3

http://www.thememoryproject.com/about/ re Gordon Saunders The Memory Project, also provided a lead to Basil Hall The Memory Project Archives is an initiative of the Historica-Dominion Institute and is made possible with generous funding from Canadian Heritage.

______________________________________________________________________________________ Juno Beach Centre

828 Legion Road, Burlington, Ontario - L7S 1T5 http://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/ferrying- aircrafts-overseas/

Centre Juno Beach - Voie des Franais Libres, BP 104 - 14470 Courseulles-sur-Mer, France http://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/ferrying- aircrafts-overseas/

______________________________________________________________________________ Library and Archives Canada

Ottawa, Ontario http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

Please see Page 27 for some web sites from Library and Archives Canada

Andrew Elliott - Archivist - Economic, Security and Governance Acquisitions Division, Larry McNally, retired, Archivist: Location of Sheldon Luck - Ted Beaudoin fonds, deposit of memorabilia and other material acquired over eight years of research across Canada, along with recorded interviews (and transcripts) with Sheldon Luck, first Chief Pilot of Canadian Pacific Air Lines - the genesis for the three books in this project and much material on the Royal Air Force Ferry Command / Transport Command. ______________________________________________________________________________

Manitoba Legislative Library

Room 100 - 200 Vaughan St., Winnipeg, MB - R3C 1T5

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/leg-lib/


______________________________________

Milton Historical Society 16 James St., Milton, Ontario - L9T 2P4

http://images.milton.halinet.on.ca/16105/data Contact: Richard Laughton:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ NetLetter

http://www.thenetletter.org/

an Aviation based newsletter for Air Canada, TCA, CP Air, Canadian Airlines and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

Terry Baker, Editor - posted a request in NetLetter # 1320 - issued Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015: Perhaps some of you readers may have had relatives within Canada`s civil aviation community who did join, either as full-pay employees of the British Air Ministry - who funded the RAF FC, or were seconded to it by their own carrier. This notice may add new information.

__________________________________________________________________________

North Atlantic Aviation Museum

135 Trans-Canada Highway, PO Box 234, Gander, NL - A1V 1W6 http://northatlanticaviationmuseum.com/

Bob Briggs, President, Sandra Seaward, Executive Director ____________________________________________________________________

Oakville Images - Oakville Public Library

Central branch location - 120 Navy St., Oakville, Ontario - L6J 2Z4 http://www.opl.on.ca/

Oakville Images is a partnership of the Oakville Public Library, Oakville Historical Society, Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate, the Town of Oakville, Appleby College, Bronte Historical Society provided photograph of John (Jack) Steen Wyndham, a Canadian army radio operator seconded to the RAF FC ______________________________________

Panthon de l'Air et de l'espace du Qubec - Qubec Air and Space Hall of Fame

5365 Chemin de Chambly Saint-Hubert, Qubec J3Y 3N9 http://site.aerovision.org/

Pierre Thiffault, co-founder, Chairman of the selection committee from 2001 to 2010

__________________________________________________________________________________________ Virtual Wings

Oneonta, NY- USA www.virtualwings.org

Paul F. Straney, re T9465, Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees paint schemes

_______________________________________________________________________ Western Canadian Aviation Museum

958 Ferry Rd, Winnipeg, Manitoba - R3H 0Y8

http://www.royalaviationmuseum.com/

published in its Review magazine, James McClellands paper on the two-horse hauling of bombers from North Dakota into Manitoba ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Denmark Jacobus Maarschalkerweerd, lead to Capt. E. Stafford


______________________________________

England Imperial War Museums, 3 locations

IMW London, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ, United Kingdom

IWM North, The Quays, Trafford Wharf Road, Trafford Park, Manchester, England - M17 1TZ IWM Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England - CB22 4QR

http://www.iwm.org.uk/

George Matt, designer - confirming a plaque commemorating - without an arrival date - the Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees T9465 Hudson bomber gift from the Lockheed and Vega aircraft manufacturing plant and their 18,000 employees to the city of London: See also witnesses ______________________________________________________________________________

Royal Air Forces Association

117 Loughborough Road, Leicester - LE4 5ND https://www.rafa.org.uk/

Tried to help author track Steve Bowsher, a RAF member who maintained a Ferry Command Association web site for a number of years while posted in Canadas maritime province of Newfoundland and Labrador

_______________________________________________________________________ Royal Air Force Museum - 2 locations

Grahame Park Way, London and NW9 5LL - Cosford, Shifnal, Shropshire TF11 8UP http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/

Richard Simpson, Curator of Aircraft: Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees and penciled messages of goodwill on its panels

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Ireland Brendan M. Rohan, Commandant - (Irish Army - Retired)

Corcreggan Mill, Dunfanaghy, County Donegal Brendan set up a well-received 2014 tribute with a monument to a 1942 RAF FC Hudson bomber aircrew, whose American pilot, Ernest Lloyd Leak, was forced to land on a local beach

due to low fuel. One of his crew members was Radio Operator and Air Gunner, Flight Sergeant Karl Edward Dzinkowski, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This event was attended by, among others, RCAF Lt. Col. Steve Allen, acting Canadian Military Attach, and Dzinkowski`s daughter, Ramona Dzinkowski, Campbellville, Ontario, Canada all leading to a segment in Book 1 - Earth Angels Rising titled Irish Tribute to RAF FC trumps politics. Book 1 also contains a small extract from a book which he intends to publish, titled On a Wing and a Prayer

_________________________________________________________________ Northern Ireland

Belfast International Airport

http://www.belfastairport.com/ Ernie Cromie, Ulster Aviation Society, lead to Belfast International Airport Deborah Harris and Meg Warner, Public Relations

________________________________________________________________________ Scotland

Far North Aviation - http://www.farnorthaviation.co.uk Wick Airport, Caithness, Scotland, United Kingdom - KW1 4QP

Andrew Bruce, owner - help with tracking T-9465, Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees aircraft

____________________________________________________________________________ NATS

Prestwick, Scotland http://www.nats.aero

From its web site: NATS is the UK's leading provider of air traffic control services. Each year we handle 2.2 million flights and 220 million passengers in UK airspace. Brian Plant, private aviation researcher: background on importance of Prestwick airport to the RAF FC


______________________________________ Prestwick Airport

Aviation House, Prestwick, KA9 2PL http://www.glasgowprestwick.com

Danny Anderson - researcher Bob Chandler - area chairman, RAFA Scotland and Northern Ireland Alan Clark, airport media relations Tom Macfadyen and Doug Maclean - researchers Jim Riach, Editor: Prestwick Air Letter ________________________________________________________________

Scottish Saltaire Aircrew Association http://www.aircrew-saltire.org

Jack Burgess, RAF FC Flight Engineer, 1-Tripper age 92 at the time of writing, he has been a major supporter of this project - his web site contains 9 entries d e a l i n g with the RAF FC. His memories can found in the following entries on the website, which is at http://www.aircrew- saltire.org/ - they are Nos. 18, 56, 93, 120, 140, 163, 167, 180, 203. Entry No. 234 reports on the development of this project.

__________________________________________________________

United States of America http://www.flightglobal.com/

Flight Global magazine, a world-wide, top-of-the-line aviation publication, print and on-line

____________________________________________________________ Google newspapers

http://news.google.com/newspapers

a powerful source of highly reliable newspaper articles dated between

1938 and 1945

dealing with the entire range of stories from the earliest days of what became the RAF FC to the end of WW II

____________________________________________________________________ Lockheed Martin

Bethesda, Maryland http://www.lockheedmartin.com

Karen Hagar and Laura Siebert, public relations

______________________________________________ Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Hyde Park, NY http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/

Robert (Bob) Clark, Executive Director - concerning Churchills urgent 26-paragraph letter in December 1940 pleading for help to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt

_____________________________________________________________________ Trower Aviation

Scobey Airport, PO Box 530 Scobey, Montana, 59263

Charles Trower, owner, provided research help on Canadian / USA border airports used in 1939 and 1940


______________________________________

Harry Ransom Center - The University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas - P.O. Drawer 7219m Austin, Texas - 78713-7219 http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/

Provided backgrounds on Jimmy Mattern and John Sleigh Pudney

_____________________________________________________________________ Internet Archive

300 Funston Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118 internet archive http://archive.org/web/

From its web site archived 419, 000, 000, 000 pages archived since1996 truly an incredible internet resource

Witnesses Roderick B. Goff., weatherman in Gander, NL in December, 1940, witness to T9465, Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees runway crash, and author Crossroads of the World: Recollections from an Airport Town.

While not an eye-witness per se, he was told about the non-fatal crash. Roderick, now in his early 90s, was the weather forecaster on duty the night of Saturday, Dec. 29th, 1940 when this aircraft tried to take off on a flight to London, England. He had left his office for the night and in passing the air traffic control room, was told by the air traffic controllers on duty about the crash that had just taken place.

Gerry Harmann, 1986, Sicamous, BC, lead to his father, Ivan

Ivan Harmann, 1986, Westbank, BC and RCAF Gander, NL After reading the authors original manuscript covering the life of the late Sheldon Luck, Walking on Air, Mr. Harmann said he was moved by the three chapters in that book dealing with the RAF FC and decided to donate a broken propeller tip which he said he had sawed off from the wreckage of Hudson bomber, T9465, the Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees, the morning after it crashed. He was an RCAF mechanic at the time, and had been instructed to clean up the wreck on the runway on which T9465 had tried to take off for a flight to London, England. The Lockheed and Vega aircraft manufacturing companies in Los Angeles, California, and their 18,000 employees had donated this aircraft to the folks of London as a morale-boosting gift. They knew that Londoners were going through a merciless bombing by the German air force, which came to be known as the Blitz of London. This aircraft did NOT arrive the following day, as had been hoped, but one bearing the same name, and containing a few of the panels from the original - signed by some employees, showed up in Wick, Scotland in March, 1941: its story is told in Book 1 of this quartet - Earth Angels Rising.

Elmer McClelland, Emerson, MB, Canada, child witness of the January 1940 horse-towing of bombers from USA to Canada this was a lead from his cousin, retired Winnipeg school teacher James McClelland _________________________

Media: film, television, theatres, magazines, newspapers, publishers, etc

The BBC, numerous documentaries on various RAF FC accomplishments and profiles on some personnel _______________________________________________________________________________

The British Newspaper Archive London, England

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ Christian Halgar - helped establish the fact that no newspaper in England or Scotland reported the arrival of the Spirit of Lockheed - Vega Employees in December 1940, nor any time in 1941


______________________________________ British Path

http://www.britishpathe.com/ various newsreel items over the years, for movie theatres world-wide

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ CBC

Doc Zone - http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/ Ferry Command, The Forgotten Flyers of WW II, 2006

Cowichan News Leader, Cowichan (Vancouver Island), BC, Canada - Peter W. Rusland, reporter

Gander Beacon, Gander, NL, Canada - Brandon Anstey, Reporter - Kevin Higgins - Editor

Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton, ON, Canada: archives

_________________________________________________________________ John OGroat Journal and Caithness Courrier

Wick, Scotland: http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/Home/

Elizabeth-Anne Mackay, Deputy Editor _______________________________

Newspapers: another remarkable searching resource web site subscription, archives millions of newspapers world-wide __________________________________________________________________________________________

Pope Productions St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

http://popeproductions.ca

Produced a 4-hour mini-series Above and Beyond, 2006, about the RAF FC From the web site: Pope Productions is a St. Johns based company specializing in feature film, documentary and television formats. Founded in 1998 by Paul Pope, it has grown to be the most well-known independent production company in NL. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Writers Laura Anderson, reporter, North Shore News, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, story on Ken McClelland Peter Berry, Prestwick, Scotland, author (2005) Prestwick Airport and Scottish Aviation Arthur Bishop, son of famed Canadian WW I pilot Billy Bishop,

a pilot in his own right who made quite a name for himself, and author of Unsung Courage 16 pages of this book deal with the RAF FC

John Croft, Americas Editor, Flight Global magazine Ernest K. Gann, author, Island in the Sky


______________________________________ Joey Gill, Boys of Spring Productions, Toronto, ON, Canada,

Robert Boudreau, director, writer, producer Boys of Spring, planned movie on Clayton-Knight Committee This committee recruited thousands of American civilians, serving as both air and ground crews, most flying with and for the RCAF and some with the RAF FC - Charles Savage, Producer, Working title: The Clayton Knight Committee (USA)

F.J. Hatch, Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 1939-1945 Trish Lewis, blogger, Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA - [email protected] - Blogs: St. Vincent Memories -

Scribblings from Memory - Prairie Woman - Our Mothers - Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured James McClelland, Innisfil, ON, Canada - former teacher in Manitoba, local historian

contributor to Earth Angels Rising, documentary film producer on local Manitoba histories T. M. McGrath, Ottawa, ON, A History of Canadian Airports, Transport Canada, Ottawa

Donald McVicar, RAF FC pioneering, frontier-busting pilot, author of 12 books on the RAF FC W. OBrien, Australia - Murder in Ferry Command - 1942 fiction: murder mystery book based on the RAF FC-

published by NEA Service Inc. - Newspaper Enterprise Association, founded by Edward Willis Scripps, later becoming United Press International after merging with the Hearst organization - published this book in serial format in Australia, USA and in Canada - with Flesherton, ON being one of those places - see Page 25 for another mystery book within ferry commands.

Griffith Taffy Powell, Air Commodore, C.B.E., RAF FC, author, Per Ardua ad Astra,

the story of the Atlantic Air Ferry and Ferryman - From Ferry Command to Silver City Terry Shoptaugh, retired professor / historian, Minnesota, USA, contributor to Earth Angels Rising Joyce Spring, author Daring Lady Flyers, some ATA women pilots - lead to Elspeth Russell

Frank Tibbo, historian, Gander Beacon columnist, Gander, NL, Canada: Please see more on Page 24 William (Bill) VanDerKloot - Atlanta, GA, USA - http://vanderkloot.com/ Film-maker, Flying the Secret Sky - about his father Bill VanDerKloot

Carol (Mercer) Walsh, writer - The Beacon Supplement, July 31st, 1991 convincing England that Gander, NL was the only good place from which to launch aircraft deliveries

Shalto Watt, RAF FC, pilot, author, Ill Take the High Road John Butler (Sammy) Woods, author, Uncharted Skies - a lead from Kathy Mitchell and Barbara Swanston Humphrey Wynn, author, Forged in War, A history of Royal Air Force Transport Command 1943-1947 Bill Zuk, historian, Winnipeg, MB, Canada _________________________________

Others - some of the 125+ men and women featured in the quartet Ernest Allen, Welland, ON - BCATP, 1-Tripper, drew long straw, took boat to England, founder - Wellands Seaway Mall

Mike Allen, son of Ernest, retired 2014 from Seaway Mall holding company; provided his fathers information M. B. "Jock" Barclay TCA Captain on RAF FC flight, a lead from Harry Cooper

Howard Baker, Port Hawkesbury, NS - deceased, Jan. 30th, 2013 at age 99, RAF FC, radio operator

D.C.T. Bennett, leader of original group of civilian aircrews, from England to USA and Canada, 1940

Willie Bidell Wing Commander, RAF FC early, lost at sea, 2nd pilot for Commando - aircraft assigned to Churchill Louis Bisson RAF FC pioneer, top bush pilot, became a priest, bridge between Montral and Laval, QC bears his name his

frontier-expanding flights provided new access across remote regions of Canada to develop air routes overseas Vicki Bouchard, Victoria, BC, brother Wayne, in New Westminster, BC and cousin Garry Stockdill, Yorkshire, England Frederick Bowhill, Sir, Air Chief Marshall, RAF Ferry Command Alex Bowie RAF FC Navigator, information from Scottish Saltire Branch ACA # 162


______________________________________ Bradbrook Captain, and others, re a fatality Roslyn Lloyd George Browne RAF FC, see Keith Thompson Terence Malcolm Bulloch, RAF - seconded to RAF FC as 1-Tripper, made many flights later Dennis Burke, Dublin, leads to Wyndham and others below Bob Care, Oakville, ON, [email protected], his dad, Fred, was one of Commandos pilots. Commando ferried Prime Minister Winston Churchill - SEE VanDerKloot. After WW II, Fred became an early business partner with Tim Horton, of Hortons fame selling new cars with Tim before Tim sold his first donut. Bob generously provided a high-resolution copy for this book. Cover at right: No. 90, THE STORY OF NO. 45 GROUP, ROYAL AIR FORCE, a rare, now out-of-print book of which only 500 copies were produced.

Observation - the words Ferry and Command do not appear on the cover of this publication, which is considered one of two official histories of the operation.

Henry R. Carlyle, OBE, American, RAF FC pilot, Dorion, QC, radio operator, DVA, Canada web site Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England Jacqueline (Jackie) Cochrane - the only woman pilot welcomed in the cockpit as a co-pilot during a delivery flight Bob Coffman, RAF FC, 2nd pilot, lost with Ron Snow and rescued with him, from Alex Bowie A. Colato, RAF FC, Flight Engineer, aircrew on Marco Polo Bob Conger, Atlantic Bridge book source, Aeroknow Harry Cooper, from NetLetter, described February 1944 RAF FC flight back to Canada John Cormack, Wick, Scotland

Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees material, link with Elizabeth-Ann McKay at John OGroats and Caithness Journal Diane Cranstoun, Alberta, photo of cemetery, RAF FC crash in Scotland

Pete Dawson, Vancouver Island, tape-recorded interview with Gord Stemson Walt Davidson, RAF FC, flew with Willie Bidell George G. Denton, friend of Alec Dame and Sheldon Luck Punch Dickens, ATFERO - remembered Sheldon Luck, as noted in Sheldons two biographies, Walking on Air and Pilot of Fortune Murray Benjamin Dilley, RAF FC, Pilot, flew Hudson AM864 L. B. Doherty, civilian RAF FC radio operator Leonard Dorion, radio operator, from Veterans Affairs Canada web site, lead to Henry Carlyle

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/video-gallery/video/7816

Elizabeth Easton, wife Upton, RAF FC weather forecasting "Kelly" Edmison, 2nd Captain, RAF FC return flight, see above: Cooper, Barclay Harold E. Emigh, RAF FC pilot - later was Trojan aircraft builder in Colorado, built 85 airplanes Louise Erdely, lead to Alexander Albulet, a family friend - d. July 2013 - Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: R/O with the RAF FC William Erdelyi, - R/O with RAF FC, Louises father-in-law George P. Evans, OBE - from Thea Strassburg, uncle to Charlie Kotsaftis

Captain Evans was the pilot of airplane named Marco Polo; he often flew with Don McVicar who credited him as being the best instrument pilot ever Captain Evans plane disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean on July 4th,1945

H. J. Farley, Flight Lieutenant, RAF FC, on the Marco Polo flight to Chunking, China Bill Fernie, Wick, Scotland - see Caithness.org group - Hilland Primary School

Allen Flowers crewed with - see above - Willie Bidell - 1st Liberator delivery LLoyd Freckleton, RAF FC pilot Karen Frew-Thompson, Adairsville, GA, US - lead to Keith Rodgers - see below Val Frost, Ottawa:

Father, David Harry Archibald, and Mother, Winnifred (Pat) Keegan-Archibald, TCA, seconded to RAF FC Dorval, QC Liz Fryer, Kitchener, ON, Canada - daughter of Art Jones, Waterloo, ON, sister of Alan Jones


______________________________________ Dick Gentry

Barry M. Goldwater, died in 1988, aged 89. The existence of other allied ferry or ferrying commands often confused those searching for information on the RAF FC. Goldwater had been assigned as a pilot to an organization which was called Ferry Command, but it was not the RAF FC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater:

In an obituary on his death, which Washington Post staff writer Bart Barnes wrote on Page A01 of its Saturday, May 30th, 1998 edition, and which also appeared on-line at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater30.htm During World War II, Mr. Goldwater tried but was unable to get a combat flying assignment. He did get an assignment to the Ferry Command, a newly formed unit made up mostly of overage pilots who delivered aircraft and supplies to war zones all over the world, and he spent most of the war flying between the United States and India, via the Azores and North Africa or South America, Nigeria and Central Africa.

Hugh (Hughie) Green, England TV game show host was RCAF pilot, seconded to RAF FC Carlisle Edgar Grafton Basil Hall, RAF FC Captain

James Stewart Hansen, RAF FC radio operator, seconded from RAAF Nora Hansen, Barrie, ON, Canada: provided background on her Father, James and introduced Art Jones to this project

John Frederick (Arthur) Hayes, RAAF - India, early 1944, where he was seconded to RAF FC

Keith Louis Bate Hodson Joan Hunter, daughter, Cyril Joseph Stamp

Oliver Simon Huss, RAF FC Captain, d, North Dakota, USA, 30 trips, lost at sea Monday, Nov.-30th, 1942 - a lead from D. Jacklin,

a member of the RAF Bircham Newton Memorial Project Adele Jardine, Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, lead to Edison MacLennan Alan Jones, Kitchener, ON, son of Art Jones Art Jones, 92, RAF FC, R/O, Waterloo, ON, seconded from Royal Australian Air Force

trained under British Commonwealth Air Training Plan as 1-Tripper, joined pool of RAF FC radio operators Mickey Jones, friend of Arthur Symons, RAF FC, Caribbean, a BOAC pilot

Kirk Kerkorian, Los Angeles, CA - RAF FC pilot - b June 6th, 1917, d June 16th, 2015 - 10 days into his 98th year Ed Kern, RAF FC, flew with Bidell Charlie Kotsaftis, Aunt is Thea Strassburg, uncle is George Evans, Charlie provided fascinating write-up on George Gerry LaFlamme (maintenance), Ferry Command Association, Canadair Ed Landsell, many pix, RAF FC various bases

Ken Lebeau, RAF FC, crewed with Willie Bidell, 1st Liberator delivery Albert Leeward, brother of Ray Leeward, also RAF FC pilot John Leeward, son of Ray Leeward Linda Raye Leeward-Zibelli, daughter of Ray Leeward, see Joe Zibelli Ray Leeward, RAF FC Pilot -

the Leeward brothers were pioneers in converting used bombers to business aircraft in the USA Frank Leigh Malcolm Lewis, Wolverhampton, England, through Wick re Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees - RAF Squadron #269 Al John Lilly, RAF FC test pilot, later chief test pilot, Canadair when it was owned by the Canadian government and

the first Canadian jet pilot to break the sound barrier on Wed., August 9th, 1950, over Montral, QC, Canada Littlejohn First Officer RAF FC, lead from Alex Bowie George Lothian, early ATFERO pilot, later Trans-Canada Air Lines Paul Lowman, Danish pilot, in 1938 he taught a lion how to aqua-plane, made headlines Roderick MacGregor, from Burke, Paul Newman information Arthur Reginald MacWilliams, from Terry Burke, Ireland - Paul Newman information Ken McClelland, seconded to RAF FC from RCAF, posted with his new bride, Edith Aitchison, in Nassau


______________________________________ Edison MacLennan, lead from his niece, Adele Jardine

Ernest Archibald "PeeWee" McNab, Squadron Leader, seconded to RAF FC July 21st, 1942, pilot - DFC, OBE NOTE FROM: http://flyingforyourlife.com/pilots/ww2/mc/mcnab/ website Other Canadians, members of the Royal Air Force, have already distinguished themselves and won coveted decorations McNab is the first member of the R.C.A.F. to take to the skies against the Germans in this war.

Patrick McTaggart-Cowan, respectfully known as Dr. McFog, ATFERO - RAF FC noted Canadian meteorologist, in Gander, NL

Roland Masse RAF FC, 1943 radio operator, lead from Gander Airport Historical Society - GAHS Jimmy Mattern, delivered the Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees T9465 to Canada on Wed., Dec. 25th, 1940,

and also delivered the 1st and 1,000th Hudson bombers to Canada C.P. Meagher RAF FC, radio operator, crew with Marco Polo Kathy Mitchell, daughter, Gordon Upton Bill Moore RAF FC pilot joined 1943, Lebanon, FL, USA Dominique Agrinier Moulign, France - her father was Jean Moulign Jean Moulign, France - piloted 75 crossings as an aircrew member of the RAF FC Erik Douglas Nilson, one of early civilians hired by Canadian Pacific Railways ATFERO

shift supervisor and civilian navigator / mechanic, one of few who told his family that he was sworn to secrecy, so he did not tell his family much at all about his service with the RAF FC - see Linda Nilson-Rogers below

Linda Nilson-Rogers, Mississippi Mills, ON - Canada, lead to her father, Erik Douglas Nilson

Leif Kaare Pay, from Paul Newman Clyde Edward Pangborn, Senior RAF FC captain, delivered 170 bombers Kenneth Albert Graham Prater, RAF FC, Warrant Officer, pilot, died in take-off crash in Cornwall, England, 1945 Jim Reid at www.War44.com - his grandfather delivered fighters and Lancaster bombers Ian Roberts - NJ, USA, paramedic, son of Geoffrey A. S. Roberts, Geoffrey A. S. Roberts, American RAF FC pilot - one of the pilots assigned to the AL504 Commando and

Churchill on a number of occasions; began as a wireless operator for RAF FC Alan Rodgers, RAF FC, Flight Engineer, Otley, Yorkshire, England, the navigator on his aircraft was killed by

German anti-aircraft guns as his plane neared the coast of Normandy; its First Officer was wounded Keith Rodgers brother to Alan Rodgers, who researched about his brother, see Karen Frew-Thompson Franklin Delano Roosevelt, American President at start of WW II Ellspeth Russell, from Pierre Thiffault, she joined the ATA in Canada Anne Sarsfield, civilian whose dad, John Redmond Sarsfield, was in RAF FC John Redmond Sarsfield, RAF FC Gordon Saunders RAF FC, navigator, from The Contact, RCAF 8 Wing, Trenton, ON, Canada Alex Scott, RAF Squadron 269 in Wick, saw Spirit of Lockheed-Vega Employees - signatures on inside panels Bud Scouten, RAF FC, later Canadair test pilot John R. Scott, (Maj., retired) 25 years RCAF, National Governor Air Cadet League of Canada, Chair Ontario Aviation Committee Jim Scouten, son of Bud Scouten Larry Sellick, Ottawa, ON - RAF FC, instrument technician, RAF FC 1942 - 1945,

and the ONLY teenager out of 14 teens recruited to serve an apprenticeship within the RAF FC

Owen Sherry, Sat-July 4th, 1942 - fatal Mitchell Bomber FL 214 crash Cyril Joseph Stamp, father of Joan Hunter M. J. C. Stanley, Wing Commander, seconded to RAF FC from RAF E. Stafford RAF FC, Captain, lead from Jacobus Maarschalkerweerd, Denmark Gord Stemson, RAF FC - aircrew, from Peter Dawson, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada - concerning an air search by aircraft crew on

a Return Ferry Service - RFS - flight, looking for the German battleship Bismarck

George Stockdill, served with RAF FC in Gander, NL, Canada, and in Bermuda from his daughter, Theah Strassburg, St. Louis, Missouri, aunt to Charlie Kotsaftis. Her grandfather was George Evans; she wrote about him on her Facebook Page, March 15th, 2014: My grandfather, George Evans, flew for the RAF Ferry Command. His plane disappeared into the Atlantic on July 4, 1945. Neither his plane nor any remnants of it were ever found.


______________________________________ Barbara Swanston, Campbell River, BC, Canada, leads to her dad, Kenneth Charles Young Charles Marinus Sundby RAF FC Captain, promoted March 1943, 600 trips into China Eric Charles Sundby, nephew of Charles Arthur Randy Symons, pilot seconded from RCAF, youngest of

three Symons brothers who served with Ferry Command, friend of Mickey Jones, RAF FC, Caribbean

Don Teel, OBE, RAF FC Captain, info from Alex Bowie Pierre Thiffault, Montral QC, Canada, lead to ATA women pilot, Elspeth Russell

Pierre also provided information about a teenage RAF FC apprentice who fell from the bomb bay of a bomber, onto ice on Lake St. Louis - now Lac-St-Louis, QC, soon after the bomber took off from nearby Dorval airport

Keith Thompson, RAF FC, Flying Officer Robert Toombs, White Rock, BC, Canada, collector of RAF FC mailed envelopes Harry Traynor RAF FC Captain Myros Tuchak, RAF FC- Flying Officer, commended for valuable services - lead from Air Force Association of Canada Gordon Upton, Navigator, RAF FC, seconded from the RAAF, married Elizabeth Easton Kathy Mitchell, Australia, Gordon Uptons daughter, provided the information John Varner, Special Collections & Archives, Auburn University, Auburn, AL,

Ralph Brown Draughon Library Richard K. Smith papers Bill Walker Canadian Military Aircraft Serials, http://www.rwrwalker.ca Dorothy White, wife of late George White, FAC FC radio operator Wright, RAF FC, FL Engineer, aircrew on Marco Polo

John Steen Wyndham, RAF FC, R/O, seconded from the Canadian Infantry Corps, Boucherville, QC and Gander, NL Kenneth Charles Young, trained under the BCATP in Canada, seconded from Royal Australian Air Force

to RAF FC, from daughter Barbara Swanston Joe Zibelli, put me in contact with his former wife, Linda Raye Leeward-Zibelli, leading to the Leeward family ___________________________________________________

Known RAF FC only, some done, others to follow John Affleck, Flight Engineer, Commando Alexander Albulet, civilian from Louise Erdely

http://gmic.co.uk/

Herbert Lawson Blakely - Britain and Canada Moderator, Gentlemans Military Interest Club - Great Britain & Commonwealth Realms Canada, New Zealand & Australia Medals & Militaria

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Other sources Gerald Champniss, RAF FC, First Officer, flew with civilian RAF FC pilots Bendall, Dalton, Dobbin,

Fitzgerald and Newkirk, and with RAF FCs # 231 Telecommunications Squadron, from his son, Kim Clark Champniss Kin Clark Champniss, Canadian television personality and musician, VJ for MuchMusic in the 1980s

Carl Christie, author, Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command - Oct. 11th, 1997 Clarence Rudolf Dobbin Art Jones - Waterloo, ON, 92 - seconded from the Royal Australian Air Force to RAF FC as radio operator O.P. Jones, RAF FC Captain, Chief Pilot, pre-war Imperial Airways Kirk Kerkorian, Los Angeles, CA, no longer with us

lured to Canada by advertisement placed by the international Clayton-Knight Committee


______________________________________ Louis Lang, one of the few veterans still with us, born 1922, radio operator, RAF FC he

successfully waged a 20+ year-long battle with bureaucracy to obtain full rights and privileges by 1980 for Ferry Command air crews and all others who served on aircraft in other capacities - said he was amazed to learn in the fall of 2014 that Canadas Minister of Veterans Affairs did not even know about the RAF FC.

Sheldon Luck, First Chief Pilot, Canadian Pacific Air Lines, delivery pilot RAF FC, later transferred to #231 Telecommunications Squadron operational division of RAF FC earned Kings Commendation; became known as Churchills personal mailman wherever Churchill flew out of England, subject of two biographies: Walking on Air (1986); a new version re-titled Pilot of Fortune, published as an expanded book in 2009: three chapters of his service within the RAF FC appear in Book 1 - Earth Angels Rising.

Tommy Mahan Don McVicar - probably the most prolific pilot / author to come out of the RAF FC Donna McVicar-Kazo, Don McVicars daughter, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

works with her brother Gordon and her daughter Christianna Cannon in publishing web sites about her father, along with publishing updated and new versions of his books dealing with the RAF FC - More on the next page

Peter Monahan, source for Blakely Mowat RAF FC, Flight Officer, crewed with Willie Bidell Frederick Scrafton - See Ron Snow Tim Sims Ron Snow, Radio Operator, RAF FC - Ancaster, ON Rick Smith, source for Crafton George Stockdill George White RAC FC, radio operator, his wife is Dorothy John Steen (Jack) Wyndham radio operator, seconded as a navigator from Canadian army Greg, grandson to Wyndham Ted Barris, lead from John Scott, prolific author on Canadas role in WW II ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Miscellaneous From Terry Bakers NETLETTER, item dated December 3rd, 1944, in the Lancaster TCA-100 of the Canadian Government Trans- Atlantic Air Service. The TCA pilots were Captain M. B. "Jock" Barclay with 2nd Captain being "Kelly" Edmison. John Fisher, from Jock Barclay, TCA captain, concerning airmail service in support of RAF FC, 1944

_________ From Gordon McVicar, other RAF FC personnel, from his website - http://www.donmcvicar.com/survivor.htm Capt. Don Douglas, Richmond, BC, Canada Capt. Herb Huston, Long Island, NY, USA

Capt. Don Teel, Palm Beach, FL, USA Capt. Paul L. Lowman, S. Miami, F/L (RCAF)

Art Teulon, Ft. Lauderdale, F/L FL R/N John J. McGrail, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Jerry LaGrave, Rawdon, QC, Canada F/E Tom Colohan, Dorval, QC- Nav (RCAF)

A.J. Fry, Long Sault, ON 1/O Fred Hotson, Toronto, ON

Gwen Heinrich, Kirkland, QC Capt. A.F. Jarrett, Charleston, WV, USA F/E Frank Staskow, Pointe Claire, QC

Alex Reeve, Langley, BC Tony Westmacott, Victoria, BC

Don Clarkson, Saltspring Island, BC Glynn Jones, Sydney, BC

R/N Norm Grover, Ottawa, ON Bill Baker

Jeff Heinrich R/N (RCAF)

Bob Walker, Hudson Heights, QC R/O W.R. Lohnes, BC

Capt. LLoyd Freckleton, Mission, BC R/O Jean Lalande, Maple Ridge, BC

Capt. F/L (RCAF) Allan G. McCrae, Etobicoke, ON Nav. F/L (RCAF) E.E.

(Ted) Biss, Mississauga, ON F/L (RCAF) Edgar (Ed) Gordon Levy, Cornwall, ON

G.A. (Bud) Heck, New Smyrna Beach, FL F/O Jim Ross

Norman Lucas, Vankleek Hill, ON Henry Flory

Andre Duchesnay, Montral, QC F/L R/N (R.C.A.F.) Art Manwaring, Toronto, ON

Herb Huston Art Jarrett Oonah McFee

John McGrail C.N. Slim Munson

Bill Whipps

APPENDIX 1 - FINDING AIDS 4 books on the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, WW II - Ted Beaudoin, July, 2015

- 20 - __________________________________________________________________________________

RCAF Association Royal Canadian Air Force Association web page - http://rcafassociation.ca/uploads/airforce/2009/07/ALPHA- GI.GL.html: Frank S. Adams, Crew Chief, RAF FC George Brown, R/O, RAF FC Richard Coates, R/O, RAF FC John McIntyre, R/O, RAF FC Alec Paddon Gibbs, RAF FC, Flight Sergeant, June 1943 to August 1945 George MacDougall Gillespie, Squadron Leader, RAF FC, June 1943 to August 1945 (instructor and flight commander) William Lorne Gillespie, RAF FC L.H. Warriner, awarded AFC for Ferry Command _________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.google.ca/cse?cx=partner-pub-3123997639891114:6450456476&ie=UTF-

8&q=Ferry+Command&sa=Search&ref=&gws_rd=cr&ei=vg_7VPjqG8KdygTkk4KIBA#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Fer

After entering the words ferry command into a search engine, this web site links the searcher to the North Atlantic Aviation Museum web site dedicated to preserving one of the worlds few remaining Hudson bombers. The museum is in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

_____________________________________________________________________________

Donna McVicar-Kazo [email protected]

Donna McVicar-Kazo, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA: Her father is Don McVicar, one of the more prolific pioneer civilian pilots of the RAF FC. She has spent many years making certain that her dads books on the RAF FC not only be preserved, but re-published in their entirety. One of her web sites containing many never-before- published photographs, graphics and other memorabilia is at

http://www.donnamcvicarkazo.com/aviationgallery.html

The photo at right is the first one which appears on this website, showing, from left: Don McVicar, D.C.T. Bennett, C.H. 'Punch' Dickens, and Griffith 'Taffy' Powell, skilled pilots and aviation heroes, at the 1980

Ferry Command Reunion in Dorval, QC, Canada. She, along with her brother, Gordon McVicar - www.donmcvicar.com, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, and her daughter, Christianna Cannon, work in unison in preserving her Dads works.

Photo above left My dad, Don McVicar, with his very own De Havilland Mosquito which he raced across the US in pursuit of the Bendix Trophy, 1948. He wrote about this adventure, which almost took his life, in his book, Mosquito Racer published by Airlife - now out of print. My mission is to republish all 13 of Dad's highly regarded aviation memoirs, first on the Kindle format, and one day, as bound books again.

CAUTION: All of Ms McVicar-Kazos material is protected by copyright - - and permission is needed from her for commercial reproduction by others: commercial production means the financial payment to a third party for using her graphic and / or text for private financial gain. W hen it comes to copying her material for personal use, it would be courteous to seek her consent to download into a personal home computer.

NB: Please see Page 26 for Donnas new publishing venture on Fathers Day, Sun, June 21st, 2015


___________________________________________________ concerning all copyright material

The google.com search engine web page address below shows many Royal Air Force - Ferry Command images many of these images - graphics, photographs and video clips - are in the public domain and can be used for commercial purposes however, its highly recommended that a searcher carefully review any graphic / photograph, or video clip to determine whether what is shown is in fact public domain or copyrighted.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ferry+command&biw=1085&bih=579&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=y8

ATVebCCYTlggTXuoQI&sqi=2&ved=0CFMQsAQ

The yahoo.com and bing.com search engines yield similar results

https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEV2gg9xNVXpIAaIHrFAx.?p=Ferry+Command&fr=yfp-t- 684&fr2=piv-web

NOTE: The vast majority of information which can be obtained from internet searching is truly free of charge a number of exceptions exist however with some archives and aviation / military museums, such as the Imperial War Museum in England, and possibly, the RAF historical section.

RIGHT: a snip shot of the above google.com URL showing the words FERRY COMMAND in the google search engine bar, and a small hint at whats inside this particular page.

ALSO NOTE: For those new to search engines, requests of a search engine can be made by keyboarding UPPER and / or lower case, as the programming language used by search engines ignores UPPER and lower case and treats every request made as if it had been keyboarded in lower case.

Authors Note This appendix is being sent to all who have contributed to this project. They have been, among others, individuals, associations, companies, government departments, civilian and military aviation interests, museums, libraries and educational and archival institutions. Each completed book will contain this appendix, to which will be added a complete alphabetical listing of every source of information - in the form of interviews, donated and loaned memorabilia, graphics and photographs - all of which has contributed to this project and its three books.

NB: The Library and Archives of Canada is known to have archived some material on the RAF FC, but has not been contacted to this end.

This is the next-to-final stage which effectively corrects a historical oversight public recognition and the paying of a long-overdue tribute to ALL the civilian men and women from 23 allied nations - and to the military personnel seconded from allied air forces to help them create and sustain the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command operation. Concurrently, tribute is also extended to the worlds commercial airlines who helped these remarkable civilians.


- 22 - ______________________________________

Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador: worlds ONLY museum to be dedicated exclusively to the RAF Ferry Command

North Atlantic Aviation Museum 135 Trans-Canada Highway, P.O. Box 234, Gander, NL - A1V 1W6 Telephone: (709) 256-2923 - Fax: (709) 256-8561

Email: [email protected]

About Robert (Bob) Whitfield Briggs From his early years supporting bush operations with Maritime Central Airways in Greenland and northern Canada during DEW Line construction, Robert Whitfield Briggs joined Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) at Gander in 1954. Already an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer, he obtained his Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) license in 1955 and B license in 1965. He added his radio

operators license and private pilot license, and eventually served as AME flight engineer, AME crew chief, planning manager, quality assurance manager and director of technical services for EPA.

By the time he left EPA in 1979, Bob had accumulated a raft of AME endorsements, ranging from the WWII-era PBY-5A flying boat to Boeings then-newest 737. He launched Briggs Aero Limited in 1980, offering line maintenance, repair and overhaul services for all types of aircraft, from the classic bush planes of yesteryear, through the supersonic Concorde and 'Beluga' Super Transporter to the Boeing 777. Briggs Aero held contracts with airlines across the U.S., Europe and Africa.

Bob served as instructor for the aircraft maintenance program at the College of the North Atlantic, Gander Campus, from 1986 through 1990. He is a past recipient of the Earl Blakney Aviall Canada Ltd. Award for outstanding performance in aircraft maintenance and, in 2004, was inducted into the Canadian Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Hall of Fame.

He officially retired in 2011 after 60 years in the aviation industry, but remains active in the community. He has served on the Board of the North Atlantic Aviation Museum since 1987 and currently sits as its President. He has also held board positions with the Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce, Gander Rod and Gun Club and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association, and memberships in the Aeronautics and Space Institute and Canadian Rangers.

In 2013, the Town of Gander named Briggs Street in the Eastgate subdivision in his honour, recognizing his lifetime contribution to the aerospace industry and his dedication to preserving and promoting Gander's aviation heritage.

Soon major changes will show up at the museum, A on the google maps photo at right - located a short distance west of the Gander International Airport

http://northatlanticaviationmuseum.com/atlantic-ferry-command/ LEFT a photo from one of the museums web pages showing its Lockheed Hudson bomber, staff and supporters

http://www.ganderairport.com/about-giaa/history-growth/

From the museums main web site: Ganders beginnings date back to 1936 when the construction of the international airport began in earnest. By the end of 1937, a 900-person team had begun construction. A few years later the airfield had four paved runways - the largest airport in the world at the time. On January 11, 1938, the first airplane landed at Gander. It was a Fox Moth VO-ADE, operated by Imperial Airways for the Newfoundland Government and flown by Captain Douglas Fraser. By the outbreak of war in September 1939, Gander was ready for civil operations. The value of a functioning airport in such a strategic position was unique. Gander was the only operative airport in the Maritimes.

Thus, the airport at Gander became the main staging point for the movement of Allied aircraft to Europe during World War II. Ganders location on the Great Circle Route made it an ideal wartime refuelling and maintenance depot for bombers flying overseas.

Top left of page: Bob sent a sketch of what the proposed building could look like - it will be named Ferry Command Memorial Hall.


- 23 - ______________________________________

The public trilogy and the fourth, RCAF book - titles below are all working titles and are subject to change Book 1- Earth Angels Rose - a compendium of long and short stories from hundreds of sources, containing anecdotes, personal memories of trials and tribulations, tales of heartache and sagas of wondrous successes, of the when how why where and who went into the creation of the largely civilian-driven military operation of what became popularly known throughout WW II as the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command.

Book 2 - Sworn To Secrecy - nonagenarians remember - and remembered and their children, todays adults contains a series of anecdotes and extended narratives by nonagenarians and the 20+year long struggle by Louis Lang, Cote-St-Luc, QC, Canada who succeeded by 2000 in obtaining full veterans rights and benefits for all RAF FC personnel who served and went overseas during WW II. The secrecy factor where civilians were concerned, affected many children, who waited for years to learn what their relatives did within the RAF FC: the great majority of civilians hired by the RAF FC kept quiet for many, many years about their experiences in the operation, not realizing that the secrecy act which they swore to uphold, had an expiry date on it, leaving their children in the dark until recently. Book 3 - A teenager serves in the RAF Ferry Command - the never-before-published and remarkable story of Larry Sellick, Ottawa, ON. On one fateful day in 1942 Larry became the only one of 14 teenagers from what was then known as the Town of Mount Royal Air Cadet Squadron - then one of 135 air cadet squadrons in Canada who were brought into a RAF FC apprenticeship program. That was the day in which one of his friends fell from a bomber onto the ice on what was then known as Lake St. Louis - today, Lac-St-Louis, QC, near Dorval airport. As soon as they learned of this event, witnessed by one man featured in this tale all the other teenagers quit the program on that same day. The result: Larry immediately became the only teenager who served within the operation, often carrying out hazardous duty, for example, like the many times he crammed his small body into the tail end of Prime Minister Winston Churchills single-tail Liberator bomber, Commando, to see what was going on inside while the pilots test-flew the airplane repeatedly over much of Qubec province. Less than three months later, this Commando was lost at sea. Larry recalls making a total of 50 test flights over the Montral area, usually crammed into the inner workings of bombers being flight-tested. Book 4 - Earth Angels Rising - will be produced by and for the Royal Canadian Air Force with a strong focus on how the RCAF contributed to the overall RAF FC operation.

__________________________________ NOTE: Canadas Aviation Hall of Fame - http://cahf.ca/ The Belt of Orion Award for Excellence was founded by Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988 to honour organizations, groups, societies or associations who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of aviation in Canada. When the manuscripts are completed, copies will be sent to Canadas Aviation Hall of Fame at

6426 - 40 Ave., Wetaskiwin, Alberta Canada, with a request that the names of the civilians and seconded military personnel who served in the RAF FC be entered into the Halls prestigious Belt of Orion Award for Excellence. If any group deserves such an accolade, it is the men and women featured and presented in this work. _______________________________________________________________

PHOTO right: Monday, May 11th, 2015 - RCAF Historian, Major William March took this photo when he visited the author, spotlighting a small amount of research material amassed over a

decade, in addition to many gigabytes of digitized interviews, news stories and photographs from newsreels, books, newspaper and magazine clippings, along with memorabilia loaned for use in the books being produced, such as photos and personal memoires from personnel who served in the RAF FC.


- 24 - ______________________________________

About Frank Tibbo: The following bio-bit - in italics - about Frank is quoted from a November 2005 review of his 206-page book, Charlie Baker George, the story of a Sabena Airlines DC-4 crash in Newfoundland in 1946, which claimed the lives of 26 of its 44 passengers his life has been involved with aviation. He has worked with Aviation Meteorological Services and spent most of his working life as an Air Traffic Controller. He first became aware of the mysterious crash of Sabena OOCBG while working

in the Control Tower of Gander International Airport. The more he learned about flying (Commercial Pilots Licence in 1969), the more intriguing the case of the Sabena became. He has been a newspaper columnist since 1992 and has written more than 600 articles on his favourite subject - Aviation. For those interested in the comings and goings of the RAF FC, Frank has compiled a digitized 409-page history of Gander, which is located in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, on Canadas North Atlantic Ocean coast. It contains more than 200 newspaper columns which he wrote for the Gander Beacon since 1992. These well-written, informative, and intriguing columns contain much information concerning the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command operation, right from its earliest set-up days in 1940. It contains a total of 67 separate entries dealing exclusively with the Royal Air Forces Ferry Command operation - from its earliest beginnings, and 116 separate entries summarizing the Royal Canadian Air Forces contributions to the Gander airport, the surrounding community of families and the RAF FC. Englands Prime Minister Winston Churchill once described Newfoundland as the largest aircraft carrier in the worlds oceans. Quite an accolade for this island, which was a former colony of the United Kingdom. When it became Canadas 10th province on Thursday, March 31st, 1949, it was re-named Newfoundland and Labrador. All proceeds from the sales of Franks 10 Mb PDF document - which downloads easily as an e-mail attachment - are going to the Central Northeast Health Foundation. All of these articles and photographs are available on-line from Frank by contacting him and donating $10.00 to the Central Northeast Health Foundation. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, mail off a cheque - payable to the Central Northeast Health Foundation, along with a note containing your e-mail address, to Frank Tibbo, 37 Raynham Ave., Gander, NL - A1V 2J3. Or you can send him an e-mail at [email protected] and he will get back to you. Note: The file is copyright-protected - - by Frank, and must be for your own personal use ONLY - not commercial reproduction it will be e-mailed to you as soon as your cheque is received. A hint of some of his stories besides those of the RAF FC: Fighter aircraft and turrs; a submarine in Gander Lake; bomber at the bottom of Gander Lake; Ganders first child; flight refueling; McNamaras; mining the runways; sabotage; spies; The Bismarck; German aircraft overhead; Pigeon Squadron; jumping without parachutes; the Commonwealth Graves; Ganders Pal the Heroic Dog; Joeys Pigs; Sunday school student in Jail; Censored Mail; bombs dropping on Soulis Pond; Lancaster tragedy; Lord Haw Haw; liquor and goats; Ganders UFO; Sabena crash; Honey Bucket incident; Ganders historic Houses; Blue Jay; WV-2 crash; the Czech crash; Arrow Air; plans to invade Gander; Union East; $50 for a building lot; murder at the Airport; The Airport Club and many others.


- 25 - ______________________________________

Heres an interesting one - from Project Gutenberg: a free, 80-page on-line mystery e-book for the young ones today - or for anyone who likes reading a good adventure / mystery this one dealing with the allied air force ferrying operations, and the roles women - and some men - played in ferrying aircraft within their own countries. No allied air force of WW II allowed women to ferry fighter aircraft and bombers overseas, thus forcing the creation of what became known as an Air Transport Auxiliary - ATA - unit, ferrying aircraft within individual nations or from their manufacturers, as in the case of England, to various theatres of war. One of the chapters in this quartet of books is dedicated to the valiant women who did their very best to t

july 13-2015-mon - update - appendix 1 - raf fc finding aids

Documents

air crew

allied countries air

south african air force

allied airlines

soviet air forces saf

allied commercial airlines

allied military units

attached civilians