In July and August 1946 sixteen Lancasters of 35 Squadron went on Operation Goodwill, a trip to the U.S.A. to show the Americans some of the 'British Flyer Boys' that had helped win the war. My late father was amongst the aircrew and I have an album of photos that illustrate this trip, plus the earlier formation flying to mark the Victory Day parade in June.
I've not seen any mention of this operation in these pages, nor indeed much on the internet so I thought I could rectify that by posting some of these photos on this thread along with a few notes which come from a booklet prepared by the late Bob Hornby from notes and photos shown to him by Colin Earnshaw, who was amongst the groundcrew of Goodwill. In addition some information is taken from Alan Cooper's book 'We Act With One Accord', a history of 35 Squadron.
I hope this is of interest.
If anyone has comments or photos and anecdotes to add, please feel free of course.
As a warm up, this photo of Queen Wilhelmina's Palace, Soestdijk, was taken on the 29th April 1946. Squadron Leader T S Harris flew a plane on a 'flower dropping' mission to mark a Victory in Holland celebration. Unfortunately, the parachute failed to open - splat!
On the 4th of May a flypast over Holland was carried out: R - F/O Robinson, E - F/O Hampson, A - S/L Beetham.
Robinson's crew: W/O Sparling, F/O Wilson, F/S Angel, F/O Robinson, F/L Bullen, F/S Watson, W/O Vaughan.