221 Sqn, Special Duties Flight

[George 118]

Hello,
When did the three crews of 221 Squadron flew their Wellington VIIIs to Malta ? and when did they leave?

[Buckeye30]

Hi George. The date as recorded here was arrival from Iceland night of 29 / 30 Sept. 1941 (see Introduction); the crews were apparently absorbed by 69 Sqn.'s SD Flight on 26 Aug. 1942 at Luqa. The Squadron itself moved to L.G.39 (Western Desert) from UK on 8 Jan. 1942.

Nick

https://aircrewremembered.com/reason...am-dennis.html

[Chris Goss]

I have a photo of one of the Wellingtons from Tony Spooner, one of the pilots

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Buckeye30

Hi George. The date as recorded here was arrival from Iceland night of 29 / 30 Sept. 1941 (see Introduction); the crews were apparently absorbed by 69 Sqn.'s SD Flight on 26 Aug. 1942 at Luqa. The Squadron itself moved to L.G.39 (Western Desert) from UK on 8 Jan. 1942.

Nick

https://aircrewremembered.com/reason...am-dennis.html

Some possible corroboration: TNA AIR 24/908, AHQ Malta, ORBs with appendices (Jun 1940–Aug 1942), shows the following arrivals for 26 August 1942:

1 DC-3 from Shallufa
1 Bisley from Gibraltar
1 Wellington from Gibraltar
3 Hudsons from Gibraltar

8 Wellingtons had flown in from Gibraltar on the 25th and there were a few others during the month. It looks as if the only Wellingtons from North Africa were two on 11 August from Shallufa.

[George 118]

Many thanks

As captain of a special duties Vickers Wellington, Spooner operated from Malta. Hearrived there in the autumn of 1941 accompanied by Bronco and Harpic, his pair of friskymongrel puppies.

I just read on ''winged life'' (a biography of David Beaty MBE DFC*) that one of the pilots left malta on 28 March 1942