`Guy Gibson.V.C.
Guy illustrated his log book graphically With pithy remarks and large letters underlined in many coloured inks and the heading for the 1st. Jan. 1941 was "WITH THE NEW YEAR I AM POSTED AS CFI TO 51 OTU. CRANFIELD. THIS BEING HELD AS A REST FROM OPERATIONS !!! He then signed it Guy Gibson S/L.
He flew during the whole of the month in Magisters,Oxford,Lysander,Dominie,Blenheim, and Wellington. In only one of these trips,20 in all, did he fly as a C.F.I. for a test on a Sgt. Murphy. Another typical flight that month was in a Lysander to West Malling with "Dave Humphreys . 48 hour pass was in the remarks column.
March 1942 he only flew from the 1st. until the 12th. (3 flights) and his next entry is on April 1 1942 when he was still at Cranfield but by now had added the "Manchester" to his list. He does not always keep a record of his stations and there is no list in the back of the book. (It is a copy ).
After May 6th.1942 There is an entry "Fell ill and went to Rauceby for two weeks" and his next entry is June 14th. "in an Oxford to Cardiff for two weeks sick leave. On July 4th.1942 with no mention as to where,( My remark ,Syerston) he is back on Operations, this time for the first on Lancasters with the remark "Usual crew. Operations bombing Wilhelmshaven, 10,000 ft. (Low, my remark) load 5x2,000 H.C. Good Prang . The trip took 4hrs night flying.
In March 1943 he made a NFT on the 1st. and then on the 11th. he made this entry. "Lancaster X. My last trip 71st. bombers.Operations Stuttgart. Flew there/back on three engines and a quarter. good trip. Flak light. Photo.Main attack fell S/W of main town." The next two pages are a summary of his career in which he made 42 ops on Hampdens, 99 Fighter ops on Beaufighters and 29 on Lancasters !!!!!!! 170 in all. HIis next entry on the following page just states Awarded bar to D.S.O. 25th. March 1943. I will leave you there and hope that it gives you the information that you want. Obviously he was not in Canada during this period. If this interests you all ,I can go on the next few months with what he wrote about certain things...very little actually. Regle
Last edited by regle; 21st Mar 2010 at 18:12.