Strange Career Path
My dear old departed stepfather had a rather eventful time before reaching the left hand seat of a Lancaster. Operational from day one on Hampdens (49 Scampton) he sort of meandered up the ranks to squandron signals leader (156 Warboys) After he'd flown his 63rd op, Don Bennett stepped in and in an act of what can only be described as mercy sent the old man to Canada to remuster to pilot. The AOC's thinking being that at this late stage of the war Cookie can't possibly turn up on ops again. Wrong! Somehow father telescoped the supposedly lengthy route from Cornells to Lancasters by means both legal and devious and managed another 8 ops. Sadly after all that effort he was found to be suffering from a bowl cancer and invalided out. I often wondered if the strain of everything he's gone through contributed to the illness. I've a picture of his intial pilots course. He seems strangely out of place as a grizzled Flt Lt of 25yrs or age amongst so many young faces