Oldest Pilot in ww2 ?
Dear Cliffnemo & Regle
How I have enjoyed reading your postings !! Fascinating ! Now I wonder if you could tell me about age limits for pilots during the war ?
My father's regular pilot,with whom he "crewed up" in 1944, was Sqdn/Ldr Ralph Van Den Bok,DFC**.They started out together at 12 OTU in July 1944,flying Wellingtons,then Stirlings with 1657 Conversion Unit.After this,they joined No. 214 (FMS) (BS) Sqdn at RAF Oulton,Norfolk,in order to operate B17 F & G "Flying Fortresses".My father was,at the time,a Flt Sgt WOP/AG. A detailed account of 214 Sqdn's exploits,both as a Bomber unit (Stirlings) and Radio Countermeasures (Fortresses) can be obtained by reading "A Thousand Shall Fall" by Canadian Murray Peden ; in fact,it was Murray who "checked out" Ralph on B17s.
Ralph Van Den Bok was born in London,of Dutch and Australian parents,in about 1905,so was obviously not in the first flush of youth when war broke out.He joined the RAFVR in 1940,and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer (probationary) ; I do not know if,at this stage,he had asked to be a pilot,but I imagine his age would have precluded it ?? He would have been about 34. After training as a WOP/AG,he was posted to No.408 (Goose) Sqdn, RCAF,where he became a " WAG ",as the RCAF called them ! He flew a full tour of 30 ops with them,inluding an attack on the Scharnhorst,for which he was awarded his first DFC (as a F/O),in mid 1942. Two months later,as F/Lt,he won a bar to the DFC after escaping from Belgium----His Hampden was shot down whilst returning from a raid on Saarbrucken,by Hauptmann(later Major) Wilhelm Herget.The CO of 408,W/Cdr Twigg,and the Gunner,were killed,but Ralph and Flt/Lt Gordon Clayton Fisher baled out and were repatriated ( Ralph ,by "Comete"). After these exploits,he was then sent to Hagersville,Ontario,for training as a bomber pilot,and received his wings at at age 38 !!! Promoted acting S/Ldr in March,1945,he received a second bar to the DFC in November of that year.He remained in RAF service into the 1950s,but what the enemy couldn't do, a train-crash did,in 1957,and he lost a leg. But ---was he one of the oldest pilots in Bomber Command ??
My father,incidentally,rated an "above average" gunner,eventually became a F/O,serving with 59 and 220(T) sqdns (Liberators) ,then 51 Sqdn ( Yorks),crashing at Dum Dum(Calcutta) in Sept 1946.He survived (several RAF Padres did not),and retired as Second in Command of Civilian Operators at Strike Command,High Wycombe!!He died suddenly,in 1987,aged only 63,the day before going up to London for a reunion with another (Canadian) gunner from his Fortress crew. There are photos,etc,of Sqn/Ldr Van Den Bok and F/O John Tudor Mills on the 214 Sqdn website. I hope you have found this interesting-- I have grown fond of Ralph Van Den Bok ,although Dad never mentioned him---not once !!