157 & 235 Sqn Aircrew Christian names

[Chris Goss]

Does anyone know the christian names of:

Plt Off G Davidson Nav/rad 157 Sqn
Plt Off H J Thomas pilot 235 Sqn
Flt Sgt T C Price nav 235 Sqn
Flt Sgt E C Day nav 235 Sqn
Fg Off M W Shand pilot 235 Sqn
Flt Sgt R C H Burton nav 235 Sqn

All were on respective sqns late 1943-early 1944

VMT in advance

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Chris,

At present I can only find 912779 Temporary Flight Sergeant Murray Walcott Shand, promoted to Pilot Officer (118814) with seniority from 18 March 1942.
What interests me about him is that on 21 March 1942 he was pilot of a 254 Squadron Blenheim that shot down a He 111 of 9./KG 40 off the south coast of Ireland. I only have the pages from the 254 Sqn. ORB concerning that sortie, but he is still described as a F/Sgt. on March 21st.
This begs a question from me. Should Shand be shown as an NCO or officer when discussing that combat ?

Hope this helps.

Martin Gleeson.

[Chris Goss]

Martin-the 540 would be correct as if you look at the date of the Gazette, the promotion would have been backdated. Thanks

[dp_burke]

The AIR78 microfilm, did you check them?

The only matching initials are that I can see:

Ronald Cecil Harman BURTON 1302367

Shand and Price ought to be easily found in them I'd think.

Plus he is the only match in FreeBMD.org.uk for those initials. Didn;t check Scotlandspeople site

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Dennis-it is Ronald Burton (whose last address is 15 miles from where I am typing this). It is also the same Shand so almost there!

[andy bird]

Cheers Chris for notifying me.

Ron 'Ginger' Burton moved form Twyford in the late 1990's with his wife Bunny to the south-west. Ron died in 1998 having just moved.

Was in contact Murray Shand & Tom Armstrong, too, I'll have to dig out the paper records.

Regards

Andy Bird