Obituaries

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Stanisław Rockminster (formerly Stanisław Rochmiński), pilot of the 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron. :salute:

A heroic polish pilot who survived 55 daring missions in WW2 has died just days after celebrating his 100th birthday. Polish-born Stanley 'Rocky' Rockminster had been presented with a special Royal British Legion plaque for reaching the milestone at his care home in Mumbles, Swansea.
In an extraordinary story the brave pilot escaped the Nazis after a tense night time flight at the start of the war, only to fall into the hands of the Russians. He survived over two years of hard labour on a Siberian railway line before he reached the UK in 1942 and quickly enlisted in the RAF. Rocky's duty was to escort the Allies' Bomber Command and would fly his Mosquito at the front to take care of any Luftwaffe in their path, according to a report from the South Wales Evening Post in 2015
The veteran had said: 'If anyone tells you they are not frightened of death, then they are a liar'.
At the end of the war Rocky had stints as an RAF instructor in Cyprus and Malta, before raising a family in Swansea, South Wales with wife Marjorie.
He had four children, 11 grandchildren and 21 great-children at the time of his death. Daughter Barbara Rockminster said: 'He was the most wonderful father you could wish for.'
 
I post this here because of his WWII service. I had no idea he was the youngest DI in the Marine Corps. Can you imagine getting your butt chewed out by a 17 year old?

RIP Mr. O'Brian

Hugh O'Brian, Star of TV's 'The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,' Dies at 91


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Hugh O'Brian, who starred in the long-running series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," died Monday. He was 91.

The actor died peacefully in his Beverly Hills home, according to a statement from Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership.

ABC Western "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," in which the exceedingly handsome, muscular O'Brian starred as the title character, ran for 221 episodes from 1955-61. At the time he was one of television's great male sex symbols.

In 1957 he was nominated for an Emmy for best continuing performance by an actor in a dramatic series for his work on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp."

So popular and so much a part of popular culture was O'Brian that he showed up as Earp, uncredited, in the 1959 Bob Hope Western comedy "Alias Jesse James," as well as in the 1960 TV movie "The Secret World of Eddie Hodges"; when the actor guested on "Make Room for Daddy" in 1956, the episode was entitled "Wyatt Earp Visits the Williamses."

The actor had appeared in many feature Westerns by the time ABC cast him in its series as Wyatt Earp, a lawman who was one of the legends of the Old West.

Later he appeared in features including the 1963 comedy "Come Fly With Me"; in 1965, he starred in the feature "Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians" along with Shirley Eaton and Fabian and had an uncredited role in Otto Preminger's World War II drama "In Harm's Way," starring John Wayne, Patricia Neal and Kirk Douglas.

In 1972-73 he starred with Doug McClure, Anthony Franciosa and Burgess Meredith in the NBC series "Search."

O'Brian had a small role in John Wayne's last film, Don Siegel's "The Shootist" (1976), as the last character ever killed by Wayne on screen — O'Brian, a good friend of Wayne's, considered a great honor.

The actor reprised the role of Wyatt Earp for two episodes of the CBS series "Guns of Paradise" in 1989, and in the TV movies "The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw" (1991), starring Kenny Rogers, and CBS' "Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone" (1994).

O'Brian did plenty of work outside the Western genre, appearing in the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny De Vito comedy "Twins" (1988) as one of several men who donated DNA that produced the "twins" and guesting on "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," "Murder, She Wrote" and "L.A. Law." He appeared in an Animal Planet adaptation of Jack London's "Call of the Wild" in 2000.

Hugh Charles Krampe was born in Rochester, New York. Hugh lettered in a variety of sports.

He spent a semester at the University of Cincinnati but during World War II he dropped out to enlist in the Marine Corps — where his father had been an officer. At 17 he became the youngest Marine drill instructor, according to the TCM website.

After the war, O'Brian moved to Los Angeles to study at UCLA. He had started doing stage work, and was discovered by Ida Lupino, who signed him to appear as the second male lead in the polio drama "Never Fear," which she had co-scripted and was directing; for O'Brian that film led to a contract with Universal Pictures.

He had a brief, uncredited role in the classic noir film "D.O.A.," starring Edmond O'Brien, but he was soon — almost inevitably — doing Westerns, appearing in the Gene Autry vehicle "Beyond the Purple Hills" (1950); "Vengeance Valley," starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker; Budd Boetticher's "The Cimarron Kid" (1952), starring Audie Murphy; Raoul Walsh's "The Lawless Breed" (1953), starring Rock Hudson and Julie Adams; Boetticher's "Seminole," also starring Hudson; Boetticher's "The Man From the Alamo," starring Glenn Ford; "Back to God's Country," also starring Hudson; Raoul Walsh's "Saskatchewan" (1954), starring Alan Ladd and Shelley Winters; "Drums Across the River," starring Audie Murphy; Edward Dmytryk's excellent "Broken Lance," starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and Richard Widmark; and "White Feather," starring Robert Wagner and Debra Paget.

Occasionally he worked outside the Western genre, as in WWII actioner "Fighting Coast Guard" (1951); "On the Loose" (1951), in which he had a supporting role as a doctor; "Son of Ali Baba," starring Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie; the Douglas Sirk-directed musical "Meet Me at the Fair" (1953); the bizarre comedy "Fireman Save My Child" (1954), originally intended for Abbott and Costello; and the Ethel Merman musical "There's No Business Like Show Business," which also starred Donald O'Connor and Marilyn Monroe.

O'Brian dedicated a great deal of his life to a charitable effort he created himself in 1958, the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit youth leadership development program for high schoolers. The organization sponsors 10,000 high school sophomores annually through leadership programs in all 50 states and 20 countries.

The concept for the program was inspired by the nine days O'Brian spent visiting with humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa in 1958.

At the Golden Globes in 1954, O'Brian won for most promising newcomer – male (tied with Steve Forrest and Richard Egan).

O'Brian won a Golden Boot Award in 1991 (the awards, sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund, are bestowed upon those who have made significant contributions to the genre of Western television and movies).

He is survived by his wife, the former Virginia Barber, whom he married in 2006 at the age of 81.
 
Wing Commander Lenny Lambert :salute:

Wing Commander Lenny Lambert, who has died aged 96, escaped from the beaches of Dunkirk as a private soldier and returned to France four years later to lead a squadron in support of the Allied armies as they advanced towards Germany.
By the Normandy invasion in June 1944, Lambert was an experienced fighter-reconnaissance pilot and was second-in-command of a Mustang squadron, No 168 Squadron. Based at an airfield in Hampshire, he flew low-level reconnaissance sorties and carried out a patrol over the beachhead on D-Day. At the end of June his squadron moved to Normandy to operate from a temporary airstrip.
Over the next few weeks, Lambert and his pilots flew in support of the 2nd Army seeking out and attacking German transport columns with reinforcements moving into the invasion area. In October, the squadron replaced its Mustangs with Typhoons and Lambert was appointed as the CO. The squadron's role was low-level attack with cannons. Lambert and his pilots flew ahead of other Typhoons armed with rockets and attacked the anti-aircraft batteries to suppress their fire. On November 29, he led eight of his Typhoons to suppress the guns protecting the lock gates on the Dortmund-Ems canal. His formation flew just ahead of a Canadian squadron who were able to bomb the target accurately. On January 1 1945, when the Luftwaffe launched a mass attack against Allied airfields in the Netherlands, Lambert was airborne on a mission to strafe enemy positions around St Vith. On the return flight his aircraft was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The formation soon ran into a flight of enemy fighters and one closed in on Lambert who was having great difficulty controlling his aircraft. Fortunately, his wingman recognised Lambert's problem, closed in on the enemy fighter and shot it down.
Lambert led his pilots on attack missions almost every day. On January 23 during an armed-reconnaissance sortie near Munster, he and two of his pilots spotted a German bomber and a fighter preparing to land at Rheine airfield. They attacked them and the fighter pulled into cloud. Lambert fired on the bomber, which crashed as it tried to land and was destroyed.
An important task for Lambert's squadron was to try and find the mobile launching sites for the V-2 rockets being launched against London and the port of Antwerp. The sites were well camouflaged but Lambert found a V-2 being fuelled. His Typhoons attacked and the fuel installation and the rocket blew up. On another occasion he was circling at 10,000 feet looking for a site when he spotted a "mushroom" developing on the ground marking the launch of a V-2. The rocket rose and passed between him and his wingman, giving him the closest view of the rocket of any other man on the Allied side. His formation then dived and blew up the fuel tanks and destroyed the site. Newspaper reporters were at Eindhoven when he landed and their headlines claimed "Squadron Commander claims V-2 is pretty!" At the end of February, Lambert was rested and awarded the DFC. The citation commented on his keenness and courage of the highest order and concluded, "He is an outstanding operational pilot".

Leonard Horace Lambert was born in Yardley, Birmingham, on October 21 1919. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a private soldier in April 1939.
During the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk, Lambert and his colleagues became isolated and had to make their own way to the coast in an abandoned truck. The small party arrived near Dunkirk after the main evacuation had finished and spent five sleepless nights on the beach. They commandeered a small boat and were eventually picked up by a naval vessel. Lambert had been wounded and he was to spend three months recovering from his ordeal. He volunteered for service in the RAF and trained as a pilot in Canada before being posted to an army-cooperation squadron. Flying the US-built Tomahawk, he attacked shipping and coastal targets and photographed areas in northern France in preparation for the eventual amphibious landing in Normandy. To maintain security and mislead the Germans, photographic sorties along the whole of the north coast of France were flown at frequent intervals to monitor enemy defences, survey the beaches and monitor the building of the V-1 launch sites.
When Lambert returned to England in March 1945, he was an instructor at a fighter pilot training unit before spending a year on the air staff in West Africa. He returned to fly fighters in September 1946 when he joined the Central Fighter Establishment to help develop tactics. In January 1949 Lambert left for the RAF base at Gutersloh in West Germany where he took command of No 16 Squadron, which had just re-equipped with the Vampire jet fighter bomber. To support the Berlin Airlift, the squadron moved to Celle near the border with East Germany to mount patrols and be a rapid reaction fighter force in the event of any "incidents". When Lambert left the squadron in January 1951 he was awarded the AFC. A tour on the operations staff at Allied Air Forces Central Europe, based near Paris, Lambert commanded the fighter wing at the former Battle of Britain airfield at North Weald in Essex. During an exchange appointment with the USAF in California he met Marilyn Monroe and Howard Hughes, the latter offering him a job in his aircraft plant. For his last appointment in the RAF he worked in the operational requirements division at the Air Ministry. He retired in February 1961 and initially worked for Computing Devices of Canada before starting his own company. Later he became the managing director of Natural Power Systems, specialising in solar and wind energy and continuing to work into his eighties. Lambert did not forget his experiences in France and in recent years made numerous visits to Normandy, the Pas de Calais region and to Dunkirk. He became involved in the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships and in 1975 he discovered the sailing clipper Falcon II moored on the riverbank at Thames Ditton in a sorry state. It had made five trips to Dunkirk. Once he had restored it he gave it the name Alabama. It is thought to be the oldest surviving Dunkirk veteran. After the war he became friendly with the German fighter "ace", Adolph Galland. They reminded each other that they had met twice before – over Antwerp in late 1944. Lambert enjoyed sailing and good wine, and he and his second wife gave many house parties at their villa in Italy. In October 2015 Lambert joined six other veterans at a ceremony in Gloucester where he was presented with the Legion d'honneur for his services during the liberation of France.

Lenny Lambert married Diana Boff in 1947. The marriage was later dissolved and he married, secondly, the Hollywood and Broadway actress Virginia Campbell who died earlier this year aged 102. His two sons and two daughters from his first marriage survive him.

Wing Commander Lenny Lambert, born October 21 1919, died September 6 2016

 
Wing Commander Colin Colquhoun, courageous Spitfire pilot :salute:

Wing Commander Colin Colquhoun, who has died aged 93, flew Spitfires during the Italian campaign and his leadership and courage earned him the DFC; he later excelled as a formation and aerobatic pilot.
In June 1944 Colquhoun joined No 111 Squadron, based at an airfield near Rome. The British Eighth Army was advancing north and the squadron's Spitfires attacked motor transports and the enemy's lines of communication in support of the ground forces.
In July the squadron left for Corsica and on August 16, the day after Allied troops landed in the south of France for Operation Dragoon, Colquhoun and his colleagues flew into Ramatuelle airfield near St Tropez.
From various bases in the area, Colquhoun flew ground-attack sorties ahead of the advancing troops. By the end of September the campaign was over and the squadron returned to Italy. Bomb racks were fitted to the Spitfires and Colquhoun led attacks against road and rail targets. During the spring offensive of 1945, ground-attack sorties increased as the land forces mounted a major offensive over the River Po.
At the end of the campaign, Colquhoun was awarded the DFC for "the outstanding part he played in operations over north Italy". The citation mentioned "his daring leadership" and concluded: "The excellent results achieved have been due largely to his fine fighting spirit, cool courage and devotion to duty."
Colin Ian Colquhoun was born at Felling-on-Tyne on August 25 1923 and educated at Berwick Grammar School. He enlisted in the RAF Volunteer Reserve in February 1942 and trained as a pilot in South Africa under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
At the end of the war, Colquhoun spent six months at the RAF headquarters in Greece before returning to Britain to fly on various fighter squadrons. In September 1946 he joined No 247 Squadron, just as it was becoming the RAF's first squadron to be equipped with the single-engine Vampire jet fighter.
A month later a second squadron, No 54, received the Vampire and Colquhoun moved across the airfield at Odiham to join as the flight commander. The CO decided to form an aerobatic team of three aircraft and Colquhoun became the deputy leader.
In July 1947 the team made its first public appearance at the Blackpool Air Show as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. This was followed by other displays, and after performing at the International Air Show in Brussels it received a signal from the secretary general of the Belgian Aero Club saying he was "greatly impressed by the brilliant British display". Later that year a fourth member joined the team.
In the spring of 1948 the USAF invited the RAF to send a squadron of jet fighters to take part in a series of airshows. No 54 Squadron was selected and on July 12 six Vampires took off for Canada, making stops in Stornoway, Iceland and Greenland en route, to become the first jet aircraft to cross the Atlantic. This was a major achievement for a short-range single-engine aircraft. Colquhoun flew two of the legs before the formation arrived in Labrador.
The squadron gave a number of displays at airshows in Canada, including brilliant solo displays by Colquhoun, before flying to the United States where they were feted by their USAF hosts and the press. More formation displays and Colquhoun's solo sequence at East Coast venues followed. The visit culminated in a performance at the opening ceremony of Idlewild Airport (now JFK).
On August 12, the six Vampires left Labrador for the return crossing of the Atlantic, with Colquhoun flying one of the jets. For his work helping to establish the RAF's first jet aerobatic team and for his many solo displays he was awarded the AFC.
After his involvement in the North American tour he specialised as a fighter weapons instructor, serving at the RAF's Central Gunnery School and at the School of Air Land Warfare. He spent two years at the Air HQ in Malta as a weapons specialist and then returned to be an instructor at the Fighter Leader's School. He was appointed MBE in 1954.
In May 1955 he transferred to the Engineer (Photographic) Branch, specialising in supporting RAF photographic reconnaissance squadrons in Germany, Britain and in Singapore. He returned to Germany in 1968 as the senior photographic officer at the RAF's headquarters at Rheindahlen.
Before retiring from the RAF in 1978 he served in the MoD on the engineer photographic policy staff, and later at Headquarters Strike Command. After his retirement he was lay administrator at Wells Cathedral for six years before working at Hindhayes School at Street in Somerset. He played golf but was a very private man.
Colin Colquhoun married Joyce Hunter in August 1951 and she died in 1986. Their daughter survives him.

Wg Cdr Colin Colquhoun, born August 25 1923, died September 12 2016

source: The Telegraph
 
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