Looking for ex-Canberrra Crew that knew Colin Gordon, Navigator

[Heathen_Sol]

Hi,

I am looking to hear from anyone that flew with Colin Gordon.

He was a an RAF navigator on various aircraft including the Canberra [No 73 squad in Akrotiri I think].

He unfortunately passed away after a short illness long before I ever got to meet him.

Anyone that flew with him would remember him as he was 6 foot 4 inches tall!

I have done some research and it would seem that the time he was in the
Raf was extremely interesting and dangerous [V bombers, Cold war, Suez, accidents]

Does anyone remember him and have any anecdotes from this time?

Thank you in advance.

p.s.
Sorry for sketchy details but I do not have much info at the moment.

[philrigger]

:confused:
He unfortunately passed away after a short illness long before I ever got to meet him.


How does that work ?

'We knew how to winge but we kept it in the NAAFI bar.'

[bad livin']

Perhaps the gent is enquiring after a friend/relative/spouse's father/brother/cousin/uncle?

:rolleyes:

Best of luck in your search.

[Heathen_Sol]

Just to clarify!

Bad livin has worked it out...

He would have been my father-in-law.

My wife would love to hear any stories that anyone has as her father gave her a great interest in aviation.

Since I am always reading Pprune I thought I may as well try to see if I can get any response as I have not got anywhere with my own research.

I know he was involved in the V bomber force and Canberras but that is about it!

I have fond memories of the Vulcan bomber from airshows as I was blown away with a bomber performing more like a fighter.

I would have really enjoyed hearing his experiences from this time but I never got the chance.

Any help would be much appreciated by my wife and I. vbmenu_register("postmenu_3381144", true);

[Hipper]

As I was kindly advised on here recently, you could ask that his next of kin contact the address below in order to obtain a copy of your father's Service records; this is the address you need to write to:

PMA IM1b1b
Personnal Management Agency
Royal Air Force Innsworth
Gloucester
GL3 1EZ

They only accept requests from next of kin so if his widow is still alive, she will have to do it. She would not be charged but others will be; it costs £30. Write initially with as much info as you have - squadrons, service number, dates, rank, full name.

The resulting papers are written in RAF gobledy gook (like on here!) but there are translations on the net, such as this link:

http://www.associations.rafinfo.org.uk/acronyms.htm

This should give you more information, particularly squadrons. You could then look for their squadron associations.

This could be a useful site:

http://www.rafweb.org/Index.htm

And this about Vulcans:

http://www.john-dillon.co.uk/V-Force/index.html

Good luck.

[Heathen_Sol]

Thank you Hipper, for taking the time to provide such a detailed post.

I will indeed try this method to obtain further information.
I can then use this information to post with more accurate details that may jog some Pprune members memory.

Thanks again.

[interpreter]

Try GAPAN. I was at a GAPAN outing to Cosford a couple of years ago and there was a GAPAN member talking about his time on Canberras in the late 50s at Akrotiri. However I think he was on PRs as I had met him in those days as a young Photographic Interpretetaion Officer from JARIC(ME)