Buddy and Peter Messenger
Hi Corin,
I have recently joined the forum and read your post.
I had the privilege of knowing both your Great Grandfather and your Grandfather.
I rejoined BOAC in 1949 after returning from flying duties with The RAF and, being a Bristolian with flying experience, was posted to the crew scheduling department of No. 3 Line at Filton Airport. At that time No. 3 Line had recently been rebased from Dorval Airport, Montreal, Canada to Filton. This coincided with phasing out the then current Lockheed Constellation 049 aircraft and replacing it with the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser.
It was at this time that I met Buddy who was a Senior Captain flying the Srat. My recollection of him is of a jovial , pleasant smiling individual who was liked by everyone.
In those days flying the atlanic was not as we take for granted today. All the Senior Captains kept a jealous record of their total crossings but Buddy was always by far the leader.
Eventually Buddy left (a very sad loss) to tke up a position with an airline in, I believe, Africa.
Some years later when I was in charge of all Flight Crew Scheduling and Training Administraion one of the aircraft in my charge was the DC 10 and it was there that I met Peter. Being much closer to my age I knew him better and I had the pleasure of being on a training flight whilst he was undergoing training.
That is a short summary of my relationship with them, if you wish to ask any questions, please do. I will do my utmost to answer them bearing in mind that all this took place many years ago.
Your family should be very proud of them both.
Regards,
Norman (Crook)