He was the vital link between the back room boys and and the front line heroes, a truly remarkable man not just for his unparalleled abilities and
courage as test pilot but for his unique experience on Nazi Germany from meeting the top Nazis in the pre--war period through to the liberation of
the death camps and the preparation for the Nuremberg trials. Through all the dangers horrors and losses he face through the war he somehow
remained a truly likeable human being and wonderful raconteur with a mind as sharp as a razor until the very end.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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Building: Built Luego Viento OTR. Now onto new dreams.:)
posted on 22/2/16 at 07:29 AM
My condolences to his Family. He will be sorely missed. He was an Aviators Aviator, his achievements attained with no thought to making them and
setting them are unlikely to ever be surpassed. Most aircraft types flown. Most deck landings. First Carrier landing by a Mosquito.First Carrier
landing with a Jet aircraft. His achievements go on and on.
It is a shame he was not recognised for his achievements by OUR Government, current or any past. SHAME on THEM.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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Building: It is an ex-Locost - it has gone to the IOW!
posted on 22/2/16 at 08:59 AM
quote:Originally posted by jollygreengiant
It is a shame he was not recognised for his achievements by OUR Government, current or any past. SHAME on THEM.
I don't know... OBE, MBE and CBE, DFC and AFC, met King George VI and Churchill several times, has a bronze bust in Somerset, massive
celebration for his 97th birthday (including the First Sea Lord). Oh - and the 3000th episode of Desert Island Discs! Doesn't sound like he was
ignored.
Sad news indeed. He was on an Aircraft Carrier called Audacity when it was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. My father was a CPO on board at that time
and was also one of the lucky survivors (if not I wouldn't be typing this!!).
As stated not many left as I lost my father to cancer some years ago.
Thanks jeffw for the correction, they had sailed from Gibralter. Getting dad to talk about it was not easy, remember his comment "swam around
for a bit and got picked up"!! Understatement!!
The Wiki article only scrapes the surface. He was in Germany at the start of the war and was arrested by the Gestapo who then released him and he
drove through Germany in the middle of the night to get to Switzerland.