John,
Thank you for the kind words and the wonderful pictures of your Dad. What a tough old beast the Beau must have been ! - the "Whispering Death" certainly looks the part (it got its name from the quiet sleeve-valve Hercules engines, one such is in the foreground). And I like the stable-mate they've chosen (a Link Trainer ! - "Dignity and Impudence ?")
I had little to do with them, but on 20 Sqdn in Valley ('50/'51) we had a TT version. I am sorry to say I never even climbed aboard to have a look, being content with our Spitfires and Vampires. Which is a pity because then I would not have to trouble your Dad with a question arising from a tale told in one of my earlier Posts.
A Beau from a nearby strip in Burma got shot-up: the pilot dead or incapacitated, but the aircraft still straight and level. The Nav managed to wriggle forward into the front cockpit, and, lying on top of his unconscious pilot, managed to fly it back home. Tried to belly-land it, unsuccessfully, both killed.
Question: is that really possible (the crawling forward, that is ?)
Now to business: your "....interred in Stalag Luft IVb. A couple of escapes later...." What a story is here from that throwaway remark ! Please get your Dad talking, and get it down here while there is yet time. Remember Fred (RIP), who "spent six weeks dodging the Gestapo", but who left us with the story untold.
My kind regards to your father, and Cheers to you both,
Danny.