NigG,
Shot up bolt upright when I read your #118.
...You said your log book was signed by Sqn Ldr Gill in late April '43... so the big question is.... was this J G Gill or A M Gill? If initials aren't shown, then note that my father's writing was neat and quite elegant. I confess I'm utterly on tenterhooks... trivial though the matter might be!...
Not trivial ! Dragged logbook off shelf and checked. Signature is anything but "neat and quite elegant" - a real "doctor's signature", in fact. Oh why can't I learn to scan and paste ! The "Gill" is readable enough, but it is preceded by a sloping, oval loop, which is far more likely to represent a "J" rather than a "A", and certainly not an "M". My own signature (in those days) commenced with a "J" flourish, and it is not unlike a smaller version of that.
Will PM you shortly with a request on this subject.
How could we have got a new CO and I not remember it ? My only excuse is that they came and went with bewildering rapidity. In my log, I have in succesive months from January '43: R.C. Lindrell (?) Flt Lt for...; R.C. Topley Flt Lt for...; ?. Gill; D.J. Ritchie Flt Lt for...; J.D. Hedley F/O (!) for...; R.C. Topley (again); R.C. Topley (again); and again; and again; and lastly R.F. Penny in mid November (when I went across to 8 IAF).
But I know there was a Sqn Ldr Lambert in February (?), for it was he who put me up for my Commission. Presumably he didn't stay long enough to sign anybody's log book (or couldn't be bothered !) And a newly joined Sergeant has little interest in the CO's office, apart from keeping well out of it, for a summons usually bodes no good..
Cheers, Danny.