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R.I.P. Stefan.
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One of the many who did their bit.
Thank you Mr Holmes.
Air Commodore Jack Holmes - obituary - Telegraph
Thank you Mr Holmes.
Air Commodore Jack Holmes - obituary - Telegraph
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
F/Lt Roy Conyers Nesbit a Beuafort last flyer loses his final battle...
Second World War veteran and acclaimed historian Roy Conyers Nesbit has been praised for his modesty and dedication in a tribute from his brother following his death on February, 2014. Roy, 92, died peacefully on February 2 after a five-month battle with oesophageal cancer.
Roy became something of a celebrity in Swindon after racking up 25 books as an author of military history in the last 40 years.
Roy was the second-eldest of four brothers. Michael Nesbit, 90, of Dorking, Essex, was one of Roy's younger brothers.
He said: "He individually researched all of his books. He never once trusted or used other people's work. He personally researched every fact. He was quite modest I suppose. He was one of four brothers, so we always knocked him into shape if he ever got out of line.
"I always admired the dedication he had for whatever he started doing."
Essex-born Roy was a veteran of the Second World War, having joined the RAF at about noon on September 3, 1939, an hour or so after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced on the radio that Britain was at war with Hitler's Germany.
Speaking to the Adver following the publication of his 25th book, The Battle for Burma, January 2010, he said: "After war was declared the sirens went off, but we knew it was just a test.
"I rang up a friend and we met and volunteered for the RAF.
"At the time I was working for Lloyds Bank and my father was with the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street.
"I didn't like my bank studies – I wanted some adventure. I also didn't like the Germans, so I volunteered!"
Roy initially trained as a pilot, only to discover that there was a glut of pilots but not of certain other crew positions. That was how, at the age of 19, he found himself in the role of navigator and bomb aimer in Bristol Beaufort aircraft targeting German U-boats in low-level attacks on their heavily-defended pens on the French coast.
After 50 hazardous missions he became an instructor in navigation and related skills, eventually seeing service in Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe – and later throughout the Far East.
He left the RAF as a 24-year-old Flight Lieutenant in 1946 and studied at the London School Of Economics before working as a director of various manufacturing and retail firms in London until he retired at 63. He then moved to Swindon, where a number of his friends lived.
Roy's writing career began in the early 1970s when political strife led to three-day weeks, which in turn left him with time on his hands, although he had previously had an article published in the magazine Aeroplane. He told the Adver: "I was sitting there, wondering what to do. With tongue in cheek, I wrote a personal account of my experiences in the RAF."
That book, entitled Woe To The Unwary after the motto of his old squadron, was published in 1981 and opened the floodgates for publishers' requests for more.
Have a Blue Sky, Sir!
An interview: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80030105
Second World War veteran and acclaimed historian Roy Conyers Nesbit has been praised for his modesty and dedication in a tribute from his brother following his death on February, 2014. Roy, 92, died peacefully on February 2 after a five-month battle with oesophageal cancer.
Roy became something of a celebrity in Swindon after racking up 25 books as an author of military history in the last 40 years.
Roy was the second-eldest of four brothers. Michael Nesbit, 90, of Dorking, Essex, was one of Roy's younger brothers.
He said: "He individually researched all of his books. He never once trusted or used other people's work. He personally researched every fact. He was quite modest I suppose. He was one of four brothers, so we always knocked him into shape if he ever got out of line.
"I always admired the dedication he had for whatever he started doing."
Essex-born Roy was a veteran of the Second World War, having joined the RAF at about noon on September 3, 1939, an hour or so after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced on the radio that Britain was at war with Hitler's Germany.
Speaking to the Adver following the publication of his 25th book, The Battle for Burma, January 2010, he said: "After war was declared the sirens went off, but we knew it was just a test.
"I rang up a friend and we met and volunteered for the RAF.
"At the time I was working for Lloyds Bank and my father was with the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street.
"I didn't like my bank studies – I wanted some adventure. I also didn't like the Germans, so I volunteered!"
Roy initially trained as a pilot, only to discover that there was a glut of pilots but not of certain other crew positions. That was how, at the age of 19, he found himself in the role of navigator and bomb aimer in Bristol Beaufort aircraft targeting German U-boats in low-level attacks on their heavily-defended pens on the French coast.
After 50 hazardous missions he became an instructor in navigation and related skills, eventually seeing service in Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe – and later throughout the Far East.
He left the RAF as a 24-year-old Flight Lieutenant in 1946 and studied at the London School Of Economics before working as a director of various manufacturing and retail firms in London until he retired at 63. He then moved to Swindon, where a number of his friends lived.
Roy's writing career began in the early 1970s when political strife led to three-day weeks, which in turn left him with time on his hands, although he had previously had an article published in the magazine Aeroplane. He told the Adver: "I was sitting there, wondering what to do. With tongue in cheek, I wrote a personal account of my experiences in the RAF."
That book, entitled Woe To The Unwary after the motto of his old squadron, was published in 1981 and opened the floodgates for publishers' requests for more.
Have a Blue Sky, Sir!
An interview: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80030105
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vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Wing Commander Derek Martin - Last remaining Sunderland pilot dies aged 93
The last surviving pilot of Pembroke Dock's famous WW2 Sunderland flying boat has died aged 93.
In 2009 Wing Commander Derek Martin played a key role in the campaign to raise the remains of Sunderland T9044 from the Haven Waterway.
As a 19-year-old wartime pilot, he'd flown the coastal reconnaissance craft as part of the RAF's 210 Squadron.
Despite being badly injured in a 1941 crash he recovered to enjoy a long and successful career with the RAF.
He had received pioneering plastic surgery after the crash, making him a proud member of the 'Guinea Pig Club', made up of injured servicemen treated by renowned plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe.
The techniques he pioneered at the East Grinstead Hospital helped form the basis for modern plastic surgery.
Wing Commander Martin had been part of the RAF's 210 Squadron based in Pembroke Dock, and in retirement he became patron of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust. He backed their efforts to establish a permanent home for the remains of the salvaged Sunderland T9044, which it was rediscovered by divers almost 70 years after it sank in a gale.
He himself had delivered it to Pembrokeshire in 1940, but just two months later it slipped its mooring during a gale, and sunk when a hole was torn in its fuselage. Its rediscovery was particularly important, as it's the only known example of a Mk1 Sunderland flying boat in the world.
Today many of its parts are on display at the Pembroke Dock Flying Boat Centre, officially opened by Wing Commander Martin in 2009.
On his last visit in 2011 he explained to The One Show's Dan Snow, the vital role Pembroke Dock and the Sunderlands had played in the defence of Britain's entire West Coast.
More: BBC - Berkshire - WWII Guinea Pig hero looks back
source: BBCNews
The last surviving pilot of Pembroke Dock's famous WW2 Sunderland flying boat has died aged 93.
In 2009 Wing Commander Derek Martin played a key role in the campaign to raise the remains of Sunderland T9044 from the Haven Waterway.
As a 19-year-old wartime pilot, he'd flown the coastal reconnaissance craft as part of the RAF's 210 Squadron.
Despite being badly injured in a 1941 crash he recovered to enjoy a long and successful career with the RAF.
He had received pioneering plastic surgery after the crash, making him a proud member of the 'Guinea Pig Club', made up of injured servicemen treated by renowned plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe.
The techniques he pioneered at the East Grinstead Hospital helped form the basis for modern plastic surgery.
Wing Commander Martin had been part of the RAF's 210 Squadron based in Pembroke Dock, and in retirement he became patron of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust. He backed their efforts to establish a permanent home for the remains of the salvaged Sunderland T9044, which it was rediscovered by divers almost 70 years after it sank in a gale.
He himself had delivered it to Pembrokeshire in 1940, but just two months later it slipped its mooring during a gale, and sunk when a hole was torn in its fuselage. Its rediscovery was particularly important, as it's the only known example of a Mk1 Sunderland flying boat in the world.
Today many of its parts are on display at the Pembroke Dock Flying Boat Centre, officially opened by Wing Commander Martin in 2009.
On his last visit in 2011 he explained to The One Show's Dan Snow, the vital role Pembroke Dock and the Sunderlands had played in the defence of Britain's entire West Coast.
More: BBC - Berkshire - WWII Guinea Pig hero looks back
source: BBCNews
Wing Commander Derek Martin - Last remaining Sunderland pilot dies aged 93
As a 19-year-old wartime pilot, he'd flown the coastal reconnaissance craft as part of the RAF's 210 Squadron.
Despite being badly injured in a 1941 crash he recovered to enjoy a long and successful career with the RAF.
More: BBC - Berkshire - WWII Guinea Pig hero looks back
source: BBCNews
The war wasn't just decided by aces with high totals it also required dedicated young, very young men to fly long boring and dangerous patrol missions. Rest in peace Mr Martin thank you for your dedication.
BoB Veteran Flt Lt Len Davies
A Second World War fighter pilot – who was one of the last of the Few – has died.
Stockton-born Len Davies was just 19 when he fought in the Battle of Britain and helped to prevent a much-feared German invasion.
A month after the battle began, Mr Davies was shot down over Kent.
But despite an injury to his leg and a large chunk of his Hurricane cockpit being blown off, rather than bail out he made a forced landing at Eastchurch aerodrome while the runway was being bombed.
He was not out of action for long and soon headed to Malta where he found conditions even worse than the Battle of Britain.
The following year, his squadron was posted to an aircraft delivery unit flying aircraft all over North Africa, the Middle East, India and China.
In 1944, he was moved back to the UK as a transport captain, mainly on Dakotas.
After the war Mr Davies did an engineering degree at Durham University where in the first week he met his wife to be, Katie. The couple had two children, Philip and Janet.
Mr Davies later worked as an engineer for ICI and Alcoa in Teesside, Merseyside, Swansea and finally the Aylesbury area.
The couple settled in Rosedale Abbey and then Whitley Bay, before moving to Cardiff to be near their daughter.
The youngest of eight children, Mr Davies was brought up in Stanley Street, Norton.
He did well at school and gained a scholarship to Stockton Grammar School.
Despite his job being a reserved occupation, he volunteered to join the Auxiliary Air Force squadron based at Thornaby, calculating that when the war came he would have more control over his own destiny as a pilot.
Battle of Britain airmen were known as "the Few" after Winston Churchill said of their role: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Mr Davies' friend Brian Outhwaite, who is writing a book about the Few who came from the North-East, said he would be sadly missed.
He said: "His stories and anecdotes kept me entertained for hours. What a pleasure it was to sit with Len and hear him talk of his life, not just in the Battle of Britain but also of his other adventures during the war."
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo
A Second World War fighter pilot – who was one of the last of the Few – has died.
Stockton-born Len Davies was just 19 when he fought in the Battle of Britain and helped to prevent a much-feared German invasion.
A month after the battle began, Mr Davies was shot down over Kent.
But despite an injury to his leg and a large chunk of his Hurricane cockpit being blown off, rather than bail out he made a forced landing at Eastchurch aerodrome while the runway was being bombed.
He was not out of action for long and soon headed to Malta where he found conditions even worse than the Battle of Britain.
The following year, his squadron was posted to an aircraft delivery unit flying aircraft all over North Africa, the Middle East, India and China.
In 1944, he was moved back to the UK as a transport captain, mainly on Dakotas.
After the war Mr Davies did an engineering degree at Durham University where in the first week he met his wife to be, Katie. The couple had two children, Philip and Janet.
Mr Davies later worked as an engineer for ICI and Alcoa in Teesside, Merseyside, Swansea and finally the Aylesbury area.
The couple settled in Rosedale Abbey and then Whitley Bay, before moving to Cardiff to be near their daughter.
The youngest of eight children, Mr Davies was brought up in Stanley Street, Norton.
He did well at school and gained a scholarship to Stockton Grammar School.
Despite his job being a reserved occupation, he volunteered to join the Auxiliary Air Force squadron based at Thornaby, calculating that when the war came he would have more control over his own destiny as a pilot.
Battle of Britain airmen were known as "the Few" after Winston Churchill said of their role: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Mr Davies' friend Brian Outhwaite, who is writing a book about the Few who came from the North-East, said he would be sadly missed.
He said: "His stories and anecdotes kept me entertained for hours. What a pleasure it was to sit with Len and hear him talk of his life, not just in the Battle of Britain but also of his other adventures during the war."
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo
Video | Homepage - The Northern Echo