Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Hi guys

I have just been reading an article about the four Canadian MAFFRE brothers who all served as aircrew in WWII, two of whom were killed in action. It made me wonder how many other sets of brothers served as aircrew. As there were probably many pairs of brothers, I am restricting my enquiry to three or more. I know of the South African Hilton-Barbers, the McRoberts, the Barnwells.

Cheers
Brian

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Hi,

There were three Polish brothers in RAF during WW II. Their name was Slonski - three of them were fighters and all of them KIA during the war. The best known was Jerzy Slonski, shot down and killed in 1941 when he was CO of 306 Sqn.

Best regards,

Greg

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Thanks Greg - that's a start!

Cheers
Brian

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Hi
seem to recall three brothers, was it :-

S/L J W Donaldson 263Sq lost on HMS glorious
S/L A E Donaldson, 263Sq
G/C E M Donaldson

If I am wrong please correct me...

cheers
jerry

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

And to change the rules a little bit, here are two brothers who served together in VC-11 in 1945. As far as I know they are the only brothers to be credited with a share in the same aircraft. They are credited with a Jake on Jan 11, 1945 between 0722 and 0830, 13 m, 350 deg from 13-10N, 115-50E, while flying FM-2s. Source: VC-11 ACA report #6. They are Lt(jg) Alton Stewart Donnelly and Lt(jg) Grant Levar Donnelly.

Frank.

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Brian,

I guess, it was not so rare, I remember at least 3 families in Hungary as well, which sent 3 sons to the air force as a pilot.
In one case, two of them are still living: they are the Frankó brothers (the eldest, a fighter pilot was MIA in November, 1944, the middle served as a fighter pilot too and the youngest not reached any operational unit, his advanced training was not ended till the war's end)

Re: Three or more brothers as aircrew WWII
 

Thanks Jerry, Frank (good to have met you at PRO) and Csaba,

Casba - do you have further details on the Franko brothers, and the names of the other two families you mention?

Cheers
Brian