Talfryn Thomas (actor and Lancaster crewman)

[Nick Hector]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone can tell me the serial number of the Lancaster in which Talfryn Thomas who played Pte. Cheeseman in Dad's Army was shot down/crashed?

Apparently he took up acting to help himself recover from the ordeal.

Nick

[Larry]

Was he made POW?

Or was the crash in the UK?

Any suggested dates for the incident or even a Sqn number?

[Nick Hector]

I believe the crash was in the UK as no mention was made of him being a "Kriegie". I have mostly been flipping through Bill Chorley's Bomber Command Losses volumes on OTUs and HCUs in the hope of stumbling across it. I don't think the lost bombers website is set up to facilitate searches for crew-members names which would make my quest a heck of a lot easier

[Dave Homewood]

If it helps pinpointing the event, Tal was the only survivor from the crash, according to Andi Jones of Cardiff who was writing a biography on Tal's life. Andi had interviewed Tal's brother, and he'd written an article on Tal especially for a Dad's Army fan magazine I used to run, publishd in June 2001.

Andi wrote that Tal spent six weeks in a military hospital with a mental breakdown after the crash, and was then released from the RAF. So the crash was certainly in Britain, and I suspect it may have been following a raid. Tal had flown several ops apparently so it's unlikely to be an OTU accident. I'd be interested to find out more too, and find what squadron/s he served on.

Andi described Tal as being an "aircraft instrument reader". I'm not sure what he meant by that. Perhaps a radar operator? I will see if the email I had ten years ago for Andi still works and if he can add more detail.

[Allan125]

Hi Nick

According to this link I found via google (which says 31,300 results for him) he was a rear gunner - no squadron of course, nor a date for the crash unfortunately

http://www.famouswelsh.com/Welsh-Act...tv.php?fwp=419

"My father was a cousin of Talfryns. I recall he told me that Talfryn was a rear gunner on a bomber that crashed in the war following this Talfyn had 'shell shock' and initially took up amateur dramatics to help his recovery. Best wishes with the biography"

cheers

Allan

[Larry]

The first Lancaster operational sortie was by 44 Sqn on 3rd March 1942 (minelaying) and first night bomber sortie was by the same unit on 10th -11th March 1942.

As 1943 and 1944 Bomber Command Losses books are the thickest- try searching these first

[dp_burke]

its worth bearing in mind that it might not be a Lancaster at all, many times one see's relatives saying grand dad served on Lancasters, its a popular aircraft. He might be on a Halifax, Stirling, might even end up found on a lowly training Anson.

I looked up his death registration and his named registered at death was

John Talfryn Thomas

so in records you might be looking for a J. T. Thomas, John T Thomas etc.

The birth registration that I would link to him in Swansea would also indicate his offical name is John Talfryn Thomas.

[Nick Hector]

Many thanks, guys.

I first found out about Talfryn Thomas being a bomber crewman in Britain at War magazine, I believe. They briefly told the story of his crash and how during his recovery, he got into acting and comedy. I believe, as stated by another member above, he was a rear gunner and that the crash took place in 1944.
Many thanks for the info that it is not likely to have been an OTU or HCU crash.
Some of you might have tried yourselves already, but a search of the Lost Bombers website didn't help much. The keywords "Talfryn Thomas" brought no results and "Thomas" brings up 13 pages worth of search results.

As an interesting aside for those of you who have an interest in the subject, have a look at Chorley's 1942 volume, sometime in September (can't remember the date and don't have the book in front of me, sorry) there was a Halifax crash involving a certain Sgt. Denholm Elliot who was taken POW.

[dp_burke]

Running the risk of being given out too by people for mentioning the Lost bombers website, just noting that the author of the site did not make any mention of the fact that he typed out the Chorley BC books to create the site, typo's and all. Sadly the gent has since passed away it seems.

Note that mens names are typed into that databse in the format J.T.Thomas (no spaces) so a search in the text field should turn up if its in there. Do some test searches for names you know are in there. You won't find Talfryn since christian names are not typed in.

[Allan125]

Originally Posted by dp_burke

its worth bearing in mind that it might not be a Lancaster at all, many times one see's relatives saying grand dad served on Lancasters, its a popular aircraft. He might be on a Halifax, Stirling, might even end up found on a lowly training Anson.

I looked up his death registration and his named registered at death was

John Talfryn Thomas

so in records you might be looking for a J. T. Thomas, John T Thomas etc.

The birth registration that I would link to him in Swansea would also indicate his offical name is John Talfryn Thomas.

Both good points - we tend to forget that some showbusiness types change their names, or alter them as in this case, and that not everybody flew in a Lancaster - the same as not every fighter pilot flew a Spitfire!!

Nick - if you got the information from "Britain at War" magazine it might be worth dropping them a line to see if they have any additional (unprinted) information.

Allan