George Sproates
Pulse 1 & sannatuu:
I too am sorry to hear that Frank has died - at 98 it sounds as if he had a good innings.
I've continued looking into George Sproates' background and I'm now pretty much convinced that there was only one and that he was Frank's friend in early days. Searches on the London Gazette give just one Sproates for the timescale of interest, and I believe I now have a continuous track from 945221 Sgt G Sproates to his commissioning as Pilot Officer (114580) and on to his early retirement as Group Captain on 31 March 1971. And that last date poses an immediate question - Sannatuu mentions a death 'in the 60s' and if that's correct, I'm back to Square 1. Equally, Frank believed George was OC Akrotiri - but that view is not supported by the RAFWEB list of Station Comanders. 'My' George was promoted to Gp Capt on 1 Jan 64 and, as many may recall, during the 60s the multi-role base that was Akrotiri had a series of Air Commodores as COs. If George was in Cyprus, entirely possible, perhaps it was in the staff of HQ NEAF?
The 272 Sqn connection on Beaufighters in Egypt for Frank and George is certainly there. George went missing in March 1942 and appears in the POW records as having been held in Stalag Luft III. As Frank appears to have been unaware of that, perhaps he himself had gone missing earlier on. And if so, that might explain Frank's surprise at George taking a commission, because that fact was known on the Squadron in early 1942.
Interestingly, George was Mentioned in Despatches for ops in Korea in 1951. So, given the RAF's limited participation in the war out there, was he then on Sunderlands? Or perhaps even on an Exchange with the RAAF? Also, as a Sqn Ldr, he was one of the student navs for the polar Aries flights in December 1954, shortly before joining 10 Sqn as OC in April 1955. And that's about as far as I've got for now.
Sannatuu, I think we're dealing withe same man - one born in the Durham area on 18 June 1921 and who died towards the end of 1971 around Gosport. If your partner thinks that might be him, let's get together to see how much more we can establish together.