I didn't get to 53 Squadron until 1972 and I was immediately taken by the squadron spirit. Even in those days we had loads of WWII survivors coming to our reunions and could even manage to muster a few WWI survivors. I was given the job of squadron historian and I resolved to write it all down. It took me over 20 years to do it and, in the process, I met and made some amazing friends. It would be fair to say that several of them who had survived times when the attrition rate was pretty high, expressed something akin to guilt at having survived when so many of their friends had died.
Going back to the wonderful photographs taken at Stalag Luft I that Geriaviator kindly posted, perhaps an explanation of Captain S Pepys (The Essex Regiment) might be in order?
53 Squadron was a Corps squadron flying Be2s/RE8s in WWI. When the squadron re-formed at Farnborough in 1937 equipped with Hawker Hectors it was as an Army Cooperation squadron within 22 Group. Unusually, the Commanding Officer was an Army chap by the name of Major A P C "Pat" Hannay MC (Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders). I think he was the first Army officer to command an RAF squadron. It would be fair to say that Pat Hannay was one of the finest gentlemen that I ever did meet and his after dinner speeches were quite wonderful.
O.C. "B" Flight was Lt E D Joyce (Royal Artillery) and O.C. "C" Flight was Capt K J McIntyre (Royal Tank Corps). Most of the squadron pilots were from the RAF (like Alistair Panton - who joined the squadron in 1938) but the Army were well represented; Ian Bartlett was Durham Light Infantry and Brian Daly was a Lancashire Fusilier.
53 Sqn was the very first squadron to be equipped with the Blenheim IV and they went immediately to France when war was declared, finally settling into Poix de Picardie alongside 59 Squadron (also Blenheims). They were not part of the AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force) but were part of the Air Component of the British Army Field Force.
The name of the game was to carry out reconnaissance flights over Germany in daylight, a highly risky occupation, which soon attracted a lot of casualties. The plan was changed so that the aircraft did not go straight back to Poix (if they survived the outbound leg they would be unlikely to survive going back the same way) but went across the North Sea to a UK airfield.
Alistair Panton's DFC was awarded on 06.03.40 and I think it was for such a flight that he flew on 08.10.39 in Blenheim L4847/D. He encountered heavy flak and when he was photographing a railway line near Bremen he saw nine Bf109s taking off from Stuhr aerodrome with him as the apparent target. He stuffed the nose down and flew out to sea at 10 feet eventually landing safely at Mildenhall.
Which takes me back to Capt Pepys. Halfway through 1940 an edict was issued that the Army officers could either carry on flying as normal but they would have to join the RAF or else return to Regimental Duties. Most of them stayed flying which explains why we still had a Capt S Pepys (The Essex Regiment) when he was also P/O S G L Pepys RAF!