On the 16 of February 1941 a Short Sunderland flying boat of 95 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command took off from her base at Freetown, West Africa on what should have been a normal escort mission protecting a convoy of Merchant Ships... Instead it was involved in an incident that was to make headline news in the national press back in the UK.
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Alan Gardner
His son Chris, reflects on the Log Book entries of his late father...
The first entry in this page of the log book has always struck me as rather poignant: it's for an Air Sea Rescue search for H/95, and noted as unsuccessful. On the opposite page, it's recorded as an 11hr 35m flight, 8hrs 35mins of which are recorded as being at night.
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George "Tiddler" Gregory
In 1942. George duly arrived in Bathurst. Formerly a Navigator, he went into Ops. He kept a splendid album of his time there, which is included in the Photos section of this website. He also kept a hand-written book, detailing every aspect of the RAF.
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Tom Harvey
"As the Flight Lieutenant Captain of a brand new Mark III Sunderland flying-boat, for three weeks I had worked-up an eleven-man crew at the RAF Ferry Training Unit at Oban, when on 19 July we set out on a thirteen hour flight to Gibraltar".
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Peter Inman
"This was the first leg of a journey to our new base near Freetown in Sierra Leone. There we were to join No 490 (NZ) Squadron at RAF Jui, located on a crocodile-infested mangrove swamp some 15 miles inland...".
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Bob Lord
"Life at Port Etienne certainly was never dull, and many retentive good, bad happenings whilst there, but mostly fortunately the former. On the positive side our operating side gave us plenty of opportunity for free time whilst at the same time the Sunderland patrols were covering mainly adequately the sea-lanes down the coast looking out for the German U-boats ".
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Jack Rixson
"Jack" joined the RCAF in 1941, graduated as a pilot, posted overseas to 422 Squadron RCAF, in 1943, where he was united with Squadron member, his brother Charles was the 21 year old Captain of a Sunderland Flying boat, he was posted in 1944 to 95 Squadron, RAF, West Africa where he finished his operational tour.
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Derrick Turner
On the 18 of February 1942 a Short Sunderland flying boat of 95 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command took off from her base at Freetown, West Africa on what should have been a normal escort mission protecting a convoy of Merchant Ships... Instead it was involved in an incident that was to make headline news in the national press back in the UK.
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Geoff Walker
"In due course, I was posted to 95 Squadron, located on the banks of a large creek at Jui, some miles from Freetown in Sierra Leone. Flying down the coast from Bathurst was very interesting, with the dense jungle spreading as far inland as far as could be seen."
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