Geri
Thank you very much for bringing Ron's story to us. Although I knew the bare bones of the tale, Ron having told Anne and me when we went to his house to buy the Dak' painting, I couldn't wait for the next instalment.
Where we used to live on the Somerset/Wiltshire/North Dorset border we had a handful of ex-WW2 pilots - Gerry Fray who took the before and after photos of the dams raid from his unarmed Spitfire, Mike Vlasto who was the first pilot to lift wounded Chindits out of the Burmese jungle ( see 31 Sqn 'First in the Indian Skies' ), Dick Maydwell who initially was an Army Officer on secondment to the RAF, and fought with 53 Sqn in 1940 ( see JW411's book on 53 Sqn ), Peter Lillywhite who flew both Spits and Hurricanes after the B of B and Douglas Wilson. I used to bump into Douglas in our local - he had been an airman in the 30s and was one of the few each year that were selected to be NCO pilots. He was a Fairly Battle pilot in France during the 'Phoney War' and was back in Blighty on AL when the Germans attacked France. This almost certainly saved his life. Later he flew with men such as Foxley-Norris ( old Foxey as Douglas called him ) on Max Aitken's Beaufighter wing. Of course by then he was commissioned. He remained in the RAF after the war and retired as a Grp Capt in 71. I think his last posting was OC the JATCRU in Singapore. He may even have flown Sabres on exchange with the USAF during the Korean War. I repeatedly asked him to write his story - his reply always " I can't be bothered with that Old Boy'. He was real 'old school', even omitting to tell his wife that he had terminal cancer!