Mystery 'Ace' P/O H. A. Armstrong, RCAF

[Tom Semenza]

Not really a mystery, but one of the pilots listed in Aces High with very little information. For Armstrong only his initials, claims and home town of Toronto are given. So for anyone who is interested, I will share some further info I found on him. From The Canada Gazette (v.77, n.11) his full name is Hugh Anderson Armstrong. He was commissioned from Sgt. (R136192) to P/O (J20653) on 23 Nov. 1942.

Cheers,
Tom

[alieneyes1]

A little more for you, Tom.

Graduated No. 8 SFTS, Moncton, NB, 5 November, 1942.

Regards,

Dave

[JohnE]

But he is in the 135 Squadron ORB for the first time on October 10th 1942!

He later joined 57 OTU in March 1945 from 595 Squadron and then he was posted to 12 FU March 31st.

John Engelsted

[Tom Semenza]

Thanks Dave and John. It appears quite possible that I came to a quite unwarrented conclusion regarding the identity of Armstrong. Taking another look at the Paradie Archive

http://aircrewremembered.com/Paradie...eArchiveA.html

I find the following for H. S. Armstrong (J16531):

RCAF 21 Aug 40
1 (RCAF) ITS - 11 (RCAF) EFTS - 1 (RCAF) SFTS
59 OTU - 135 Sqn 15 Sep 41 - 31 May 44 - Europe and Asia
17 May 45 - Released from the RCAF apparently as a Flying Officer
26 May 51 - Rejoined the RCAF - 25 Apr 56 - Released from the RCAF

According to The Canada Gazette (v.77, n.15), Homer Scott Armstrong was commissioned from F/Sgt. (R68585) on 14 Nov. 1942. So he could very well have been serving with 135 Sqn., as John points out, in Oct. as an NCO pilot prior to his commissioning, unlike H. A. Armstrong who, as Dave points out, was still in Canada in Nov. 1942.

So now I'm thinking that Chris Shores in Aces High and Air War Over Burma may have gotten the initials wrong. John, is there any further indication of his identity in the 135 ORB?

Tom

[JohnE]

No more details in the ORB, I think.

Just to clarify: it was Hugh Anderson Armstrong that joined 57 OTU in March 1945 etc.

John Engelsted