Air Force Lookups - if you need help

[kyt]

My, aren't we all a chatty bunch

Hi Darren

I have a feeling that you have probably got most the info/sources that I could mention, but just incase:

Offence to Defence: History of Royal Air Force Binbrook by S. Scott (ISBN: 1870384075) (only a small booklet really)

No 460 Squadron Memorial Binbrook, Lincolnshire Series number A3211, Control Symbol 1973/1486 (not yet digitised but can be ordered from http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp )

http://www.gordonstooke.com/460squadron/contents.htm

and type in Binbrook into the Flight Magazine Archive search and you will find lots of mentions http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/index.html

BTW - are you saying that you have been unable to access the Squadron ORB that I linked?

K

[binbrook74]

Hi thanks for that info kyt.
I have the book on binbrook by stewrt scott and know him too.
I have been able to access the 460 orb but wondered if there was any other binbrook related material on there as cant work the site out .Maybe you could find out for me if possible.
Cheers
Darren .

[charlotteCH]

KYT...  a question about an RAF chaplain.. in WW2 there was an  chaplain- Anglican I'd think- named Gower-Williams.. had a wife name unknown and a daughter, Joy, who was alsoin the armed forces- RAF if I remember correctly.

Is there anything in your reference material that would tell a little about him?  He was very kind to my brother, and the Gower-Williams made him very at home at their place.

maybe thi sis outside your field on reference... but just asking in case...

charlotte

[kyt]

I cannot find an RAF Chaplain by that name but there was an Army one called Lewis St. Clair Gower Williams MC. He had been a Lt in the South Wales Borders until 1926, before transferring to the RACD.

He is then a curate in Surrey in the early 1950s. He passed away on 15 April 1977

I don't know if this is the same man as you were after but is the only one listed as a Chaplain in the LG. However, this Gower Williams had two daughters called Lulu and Vivien Joy, so seems a pretty good match.

K

[charlotteCH]

Kyt, You got it in one... "my" Gower-Williams had a daughter  called Joy.

Don't know how my brother became friendly with them but they took him in 1943-44 and cabled my parents when he was his MIA.

Thank you. 
charlotte

[kyt]

It maybe worth trying to find out where he may have been based during the war, as many people befriended RAF men based in their locality, often sending an open invitation to a local airfield.

I don't know how one would go about researching a Vicar's "assignments" but someone may know.

Just as an additional bit of information. Vivien Joy's engagement to a Candian pilot was announced in The Times on 7th March 1945. Sadly he was killed 2 weeks later during Operation Varsity (the crossing of the Rhine) in Halifax NA311 (24th March 1945):

F/O D.R. McGillivray RCAF - Pilot - killed
W/O J.E. Bunn RCAF - Tail Gunner - killed
F/O G. Dixon RAFVR - W/Op - killed
F/O E.M. Hales RAFVR - Air Bomber - killed
F/Sgt J.B. Walker RAFVR - Navigator - killed
F/Sgt A. Aherne RAFVR - Flt Engr - killed

McGillivray's details on the CWGC give no personal information, but the engagement announcement states that he was from Vancouver.

Very sad.

K

[charlotteCH]

Kyt, Thank you so much for that additional info.. I often wondered what happened to the family and Joy in particular.  How sad for her.  I have photos of her here from my brother's album... maybe she was the link for him to her parents  . I do know that he spent a week at a time at her parents even though he had swarms of relatives in England..
They were a very kind family and poor Joy.

Thank you kyt,

charlotte

[dragonq]

Hi,

I am also researching my late uncle, John Adolphe Prior, who died on 7th August 1944 in a gardening mission to Brest. His plane, LK383 OJ-A, was the last Stirling lost on a bombing mission during the war. We believe it was taken out by flak over Brest. The plane was lost without trace, believed crashed into the sea.

I am in the process of trying to trace the other crew members, who were

DOUGLAS ALAN MOORE ADAMS (PILOT) of Derby, husband of Maud Elizabeth Adams
JOHN PRIOR (NAVIGATOR) of Wolverhampton (my uncle)
EARL STANLEY CARY of Vancouver (from the RCAF, believed to be another pilot flying second dickey), son of Ernest Albert and Ida Catherine Cary
JOHN EDWARD ASHFIELD CUTHBERT of Stroud, husband of J.M. Cuthbert and son of Edward and M. Cuthbert
TERRY KILCOYNE of Blaxton, Yorkshire, son of John and Rowena Kilcoyne
JOHN WILLIAM ROBINSON of Middlewich, Cheshire, son of Levi and Martha Ann Robinson
LESLIE HARRY MERCER of Tunbridge Wells, husband of D.M. Mercer

The first thing I want to do is to sort out the other members of the crew by role, ie, who was the rear gunner, etc. I also want to find out a little bit about the men, and if there are relatives out there, it would be wonderful to contact them.

A web page is being set up for this plane. Unfortunately it is in French, but there is still a lot of information if you can read that language. Hopefully an English web page may follow if I can get together enough information.

http://www.absa39-45.asso.fr/Pertes%20Bretagne/Finistere/7%20aout%201944/7_aout_44.htm

[liverpool annie]

Hi dragonq and welcome to RootsChat ! 

You probably have this already ... but I found this ...

http://www.lostbombers.co.uk/bomber.php?id=6346

The experts will be along later !! 

Annie