My maternal Uncle, Sidney P Smith, flew on Yorks with 51 Sq from Waterbeach between May and December 1947. According to his logbook most trips were via Lineham (sic) to Changi with stops at Luqa, Fayid, Habaniya, Mauripur and Negombo and variations. Nothing in the log suggests he was personally involved in any engine failures or similar.
His RAF service was one of many things I was never able to have an adult conversation with him about; he died suddenly in 1983 at the age of 60. At the time I was in my early twenties and too busy chasing girls etc to be a devoted nephew, expecting that like his Mother and her brothers he'd make 80+.
I'd long assumed that his records were lost but after his widow (who remarried) and her second husband both died his logbook, dog tags, several manuals and some photographs were found and returned to myself and my sister.
Last edited by Airbanda; 12th Nov 2015 at 19:55.