Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckeye30
Steve. on Forester's return flight from Blida--Tuddenham his pilot was F/L Day (probably W. Day DFC) don't know if it's his regular pilot though. They were in Stirling III "U". Not happy to be fired on by Allies in both Algiers and Taranto harbours.
Nick
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Hello,
Here are the details of the regular crew of J11555 A/F/L (Pilot) William Selfridge DAY DFC RCAF (see Hugh Halliday's RCAF Awards site):
We (Day's crew), arrived at Downham market on December 18 1943, from Tuddenham, feeling somewhat miserable at leaving our friends of 90 Squadron where we had flown on 20 operations, and looked forward to completing our tour. Our skipper, S/L Bill Day, DFC , took up the post of A Flight Commander. A tall likeable Canadian from Nova Scotia. Bill was an excellent pilot who had logged several hundred flying hours before he joined us. A perfectionist, he expected and got 100% support from his crew. In an emergency he could have filled any of our jobs; an ideal choice for Flight Commander.
Like most crews in Bomber Command at that time, we were a mixed lot made up of UK and Commonwealth volunteers.
Sgt John Morris, the navigator, was a quiet studious Welshman from Swansea, an unflappable type who inspired confidence and was respected by us all. In fact, John became the father figure to whom we all turned when any problems arose or a decision had to be made.
Sgt Jock Fitzsimmons, flight engineer, a Scotsman and a regular serving airman, was the only married man in the crew. Jock had already proved his competence and reliability in early ops.
P/O Don Beaton, bomb aimer, hailed from Blantyre, Nyasaland, and was a keep-fit fiend and even became the RAF Sports Champion. Don later was awarded a DFC with 214 Squadron.
Sgt Jimmy Fenn, WOp/AG, was a cheerful and capable Londoner.
(AUS412998) Sgt Colin Mitchinson DFM (joint citation with Day's DFC), our rear gunner, hailed from Sydney, Australia. He was an exceptional gunner, with an Fw190 and Ju88 to his credit.
I, Sgt "Jimmy" James (the author of Avenging in the Shadows), a midlander from Northampton, was the mid-upper gunner, the baby of the crew, having joined up at age 17.
We were a happy crew, and also a lucky one. Each of us was later commissioned and all survived the war. Five of us completed a second tour, and three were given awards, two DFCs and one DFM.
Coming in as new boys to the squadron we had some misgivings as to how we would be received. We need not have worried for the first person we met was Jake Walters, another Canadian pilot, who was with us at 26 OTU, Wing, where our two crews had shared the same Nissen hut . We had gone through Conversion unit at Waterbeach together. It wasn't long before we met more old acquaintances and friends with whom we had served during training days. By the end of the first day we were feeling right at home in our new squadron.
See: Avenging in the Shadows/Ron James, p.121.
See also:
https://www.214squadron.org.uk/Crews...ress.htm#SR388
Col.