Looking for info on George Beurling

[tbolt]

Just want to know where I can get info on George Beurling's records . I'd like to research him more .I've known about him since the late 1970s and wonder where his logbooks and personal effects are . All I've seen were his RAF wings at The National Aviation Museum in Ottawa . I wonder if his relatives may have them or some other museum in Canada may have something of his . He was a great fighter pilot and his last shoot down was on Dec 30 1943 at 31and 1/3rd confirmed . I wonder how many more he would of had if he stayed untill the end of the war .

 

[fubar57]

Have you checked out this book?

 

[PAT303]

Curious to know why he stopped flying combat in 1943?.

 

[fubar57]

George Beurling

 

[tbolt]

Have you checked out this book?

View attachment 723467​

No , I've read Malta Spitfire and Hero The George Beurling Story a few times .I've read a lot about him in newspaper clippings and on the web . I'd like to know who has his logbooks and things . They gave him a hero's funeral in Israel . I can't believe he's not buried in Canada . They should make a movie about him . He even tried to join the United States Airforce before the war was over .He left the RCAF around April of 1944 . Story goes he wanted a squadron of long range P-51s to go into enemy territory. I think he resigned to go where the action was and that was long range escorts . It's hard to say what he was doing from April 1944 to the end of the war in Europe .

 

[tbolt]

Curious to know why he stopped flying combat in 1943?.

I think he resigned in around April 1944 to join the USAAF so he could do escort flights in fighters where the enemy fighters were deep inside Germany .I'm not sure what he did from April 1944 to the end of WW2. He was a little hard to handle when he was in the RCAF from what I've heard . By that time he was training pilots on dog fighting. He wanted to go where the action was .

 

[Barrett]

From Shores & Williams' encyclopedic Aces High. GB returned to Canada in April 44 "but no suitable task could be found for him, and he was allowed to retire on 16 October." Thereafter it only says he failed to settle into civilian life and drifted until 1948...

 

[Greyman]

Curious to know why he stopped flying combat in 1943?.

While in 403 Squadron he was arrested for repeatedly stunting around in the squadron Tiger Moth despite direct orders not to (plenty of things lead up to that point, but this was the final straw). In order to avoid the court martial the RCAF transferred him to another Wing.

'Buck' McNair (fellow Malta veteran but also tough-as-nails and famously difficult to get along with) agreed to take him in. Predictably this didn't go well. I'm not sure the full story has ever been told but it involves -- among other things -- Beurling openly criticizing the W/C's flying to the younger pilots and, with a shotgun, taking pot-shots at McNair's Tiger Moth as it flew overhead.

In the end McNair threatened Beurling either get off his Station or he would beat him to a pulp. At that point I assume the RCAF judged he'd used up his many second-chances to keep operational flying.

 

[peter benn]

Hello, relevant texts are:
Earlier personal narrative:
Wings of War, ed. Laddie Lucas
Winged Victory, by Johnson and Lucas
Hero, The Falcon of Malta, by Brian Nolan
Furio Doglo Niclot, Un Pilota Indimenticabile, by Giovanni Massimelo, (Pacific Coast Models) Ital/Eng

Then, after all RAF squadron records were made available to Shores, Cull, and Galea:

Scholarly '90s-10s:
249 At War, by Brian Cull
Malta, The Spitfire Year, by Shores and Cull
Spitfires Over Malta, by by Cull and Galea
249 at Malta, by Brian Cull*

Quicker reads:
Hell Island, by Dan McCaffery
Air Aces, by Dan McCaffery

*I have an extra copy of this one, DM me if you want it, free + shipping.
Peter

 

[peter benn]

Hello, relevant texts are:
Earlier personal narrative:
Wings of War, ed. Laddie Lucas
Winged Victory, by Johnson and Lucas
Hero, The Falcon of Malta, by Brian Nolan
Furio Doglo Niclot, Un Pilota Indimenticabile, by Giovanni Massimelo, (Pacific Coast Models) Ital/Eng

Then, after all RAF squadron records were made available to Shores, Cull, and Galea:

Scholarly '90s-10s:
249 At War, by Brian Cull
Malta, The Spitfire Year, by Shores and Cull
Spitfires Over Malta, by by Cull and Galea
249 at Malta, by Brian Cull*

Quicker reads:
Hell Island, by Dan McCaffery
Air Aces, by Dan McCaffery

*I have an extra copy of this one, DM me if you want it, free + shipping.
Peter

Almost forgot:
Malta Spitfire, by George Beurling, fairly typical WW2 prop, and
One Man's Window, by Denis Barnham, who was in 601Sq (three were 249, 601, 185, different airfields) is simply amazing first person account in an artist's imaginative style. He appears to have psychic out of body experiences when flying. You'll have to read it, and see his artwork.

When sourcing these books, compare eBay, ABE, ALibris, AmazonUsed. Prices are down, there's a few on the market.

 

[Joe Broady]

American Heroes Channel recently aired a 1-hour program on him. It was one of a series called "Air Aces" or something like that.

 

[tbolt]

American Heroes Channel recently aired a 1-hour program on him. It was one of a series called "Air Aces" or something like that.

OK thanks Joe .

tbolt