[Allan125]

Hello Hans

I would be very surprised if he had been in any ORB as flying operationally as AVM Embry, as that would have made it official - and not permitted for someone of such high rank (and position - as O.C. 2 Group) to fly on ops - hence W/Cdr Smith (he was also wanted for killing a German guard when he escaped in 1940)

His usual navigator was Peter Clapham, a fighter controller, who had been declared unfit for aircrew duties, and they flew together for years.

In "Mission Completed" he writes "On the night of August 4th, Peter Clapham, who was flying regularly as my navigator, and I had a lucky escape when flying in support of American forces through failure on their part to tell us they had formed a gun-defended area in a zone astride the corridor they had previously told us to follow when we flew over their section of the front to reach our patrol area. We had been in the corridor about five minutes, flying at about a thousand feet, when light anti-aircraft guns opened up on us simultaneously from several directions and we were caught in a criss-cross of fire....." it goes on for about another 11 cm, which I will not be typing (!), but it does not give the squadron, nor location - so as not W/Cdr I S Smith, look for any pilot who has a P Clapham as his nav and you have found him!!

Basil Embry was my father's O.C. at A.A.F.C.E. Fontainebleau in the early fifties.

cheers

Allan