Petet, and Danny, thank you very much for your words of encouragement. I have found some details of the raid and the combat Dad was involved in, but some if it is conflicting, so any more information would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure if it would be appropriate to post on this board or via PM; either would be fine by me.
I believe it was at #81 OTU that they crewed up. I am not sure when the crews sorted themselves out into their respective crews. I understand that the RAF left everyone to decide who they would fly with rather than the more expected method of some nameless faceless entity assigning crews. Going through the logbook, I see that Dad flew almost exclusively with his eventual Skipper. Of the 24 flights in Whitleys, 21 were with his Skipper, and 1 each by other pilots. I remember Dad saying they used to watch the pilots doing circuits and taking notes to see who flew smoothly, or as he put it, flew ropey. However, when they did do their crewing up ( would it have been at the beginning or end of the course ) it was the Skipper who sought out Dad specifically to join him, then Dad introduced him to a fellow RCAF navigator; the Skipper sized him up then invited him to become a member of the crew. I am not sure how the Wireless Op was added.
Jeff