Centaurus
26th Sep 2016, 13:37
Heard the news that Keith Wilson (aka "KK" Wilson) died in Brisbane last week, age 92. KK flew Handley Page Halifax four-engine bombers over Europe during WW2 and was involved in the dropping of Special Operations Executive (SOE) personnel into Occupied Europe. It was a dangerous job with many aircraft shot down. On one particular mission his aircraft was the only one to get home to England.
I first met KK when I flew as his co-pilot on Lincoln bombers based at Townsville in 1953. He was a quiet pleasant bloke. He hated night flying on the Long Nose Lincolns; especially night landings. I didn't blame him since most of the squadron pilots also had trouble with landing the Long Nose at night.
His wife Valda once told me that most of his flying over Europe during the war was at night and he had bad experiences losing friends who were shot down. No wonder he didn't enjoy night flying even in peacetime. The Long Nose Lincoln was a real beast to land at night because of the lack of vision over the nose.
He left the RAAF at age 45 on compulsory end of service and took up various admin jobs before becoming a flying instructor at Archerfield. He never talked about his wartime flying.
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I first met KK when I flew as his co-pilot on Lincoln bombers based at Townsville in 1953. He was a quiet pleasant bloke. He hated night flying on the Long Nose Lincolns; especially night landings. I didn't blame him since most of the squadron pilots also had trouble with landing the Long Nose at night.
His wife Valda once told me that most of his flying over Europe during the war was at night and he had bad experiences losing friends who were shot down. No wonder he didn't enjoy night flying even in peacetime. The Long Nose Lincoln was a real beast to land at night because of the lack of vision over the nose.
He left the RAAF at age 45 on compulsory end of service and took up various admin jobs before becoming a flying instructor at Archerfield. He never talked about his wartime flying.
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