k. wooder 92 squadron

[tintin]

hello there,
I am new to the forum and hope that I have posted in the correct place....

I am looking for any information on a pilot from 92 squadron, rank flight sgt, his name is K. Wooder ? and was supposedly lost on the 23rd May 1940, although I cannot find any trace of him as I have checked with the CWGC as he has no known grave and is not remembered on the Runnymede memorial.

[Bruce Lander]

Hi,
I believe this was a fictional name used to disguise the identity of Paul Klipsch in the book "Fly For Your Life" by Larry Forrester , not an unusual practice in books written in the 1950's I suppose due to the possibility of upsetting relatives of the person involved

Bruce Lander

[Buckeye30]

Sgt. P H Klipsch was shot down by an Me.110 in P9373. 92 Sqn. lost 5 Spitfires including Roger Bushell later in the Great Escape.
Regards
Nick

[Peter Cornwell]

92 SQUADRON, HORNCHURCH

Spitfire P9370. Shot down in combat with Bf109s of I./JG27 during offensive patrol and crashed and burned out on beach near Cap Gris-Nez 11.30 a.m. Possibly that claimed by Oberlt Gerhart Framm (Staffelkapitän) of 2./JG27. Pilot Officer Patrick Alexander George Learmond missing. Aircraft a write-off.

Spitfire P9373. Shot down in combat with Bf110s of II./ZG76 during offensive patrol and crashed vertically at Wierre-Effroy 6.05 p.m. Believed one of those claimed by Fw Werner Hahn of 6./ZG76. Sergeant Paul Henry Klipsch killed. Aircraft a write-off.
Subject of major recovery filmed for the Channel 4 ‘Time Team’ television programme in June 1999 and broadcast on UK television in February 2000.

Spitfire N3290. Damaged in combat with Bf110s of II./ZG76 during offensive patrol and belly-landed near Saint-Martin-Boulogne and burned out 6.07 p.m. Possibly one of those claimed by Uffz Karl Huber of 6./ZG76. Flying Officer John Gillies captured. Aircraft QJ*U a write-off.

Spitfire N3194. Damaged in combat with Bf110s of II./ZG76 during offensive patrol and belly-landed near Ambleteuse, north of Boulogne, 6.20 p.m. Possibly one of those claimed by Fw Karl Langenberg of 5./ZG76. Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell captured unhurt. Aircraft QJ*Z a write-off.
Bushell became a key member of the escape committee at Dulag Luft and an inveterate escaper. Later, as ‘Big X’ at Stalag Luft 3 Sagan, he master-minded the ‘Great Escape’ of 76 prisoners on the night of 24 March 1944 but was one of 50 escapers murdered after recapture. He was killed by the Gestapo while en-route from Saarbrücken to Mannheim on March 29, 1944, and cremated at Neue Bremm concentration camp.

Spitfire N3167. Forced-landed at Hawkinge badly damaged in combat with Bf110s of II./ZG76 and possibly that claimed by Hptmn Erich Groth (Gruppenkommandeur) near Calais 6.25 p.m. Flight Lieutenant Charles Patrick Green badly wounded in thigh, admitted to Shorncliffe Hospital. Aircraft damaged but repairable.

[tintin]

thanks for all the replies so far, so do you think it is possible that Larry Forrester has changed Klipsch's name in 'Fly for your life' to Wooder, as he did keep everyone else's names the same, but of coursr this would answer why I have not been able to trace anything on Wooder.

[Peter Cornwell]

Bruce LANDER's post #2 of this thread is perfectly correct. There was no Flight Sergeant WOODER lost by No.92 Squadron on the disastrous sortie of 23 May 1940 and the circumstances described can only match the loss of Paul KLIPSCH. As an NCO pilot he was probably not that well known to TUCK who probably simply couldn't recall his name. Access to official documents being still fairly tightly restricted when Larry FORRESTER was putting Fly For Your Life together in 1956, this detail did not receive the forensic attention that it would today.