Trying to Trace WW2 Pilot

[PTS47]

Dear all,

I recently bought a second hand book which turned out to contain some doodles I believe to be the work of a trainee RAF pilot circa 1942.

They include Sgt stripes, a flying brevet and what I believe is a Harvard or Brewster Buffalo. They also include a name I can’t entirely make out & what I think is a service number. I believe the name is Peter Fooldes, not a name I have come across and the number is 1338061. I think this is correct for a service number from the period.

Without being NoK or a having death certificate, official routes don’t seem to be much use to me but I would love to trace this guy, or more likely his family, to see if they are interested having the book.

Does anyone have any ideas where I could turn?

Thank you

(I am trying to work out how to add pictures!)

[NutLoose]

You won’t be able to post pictures until you have had 10 posts I think.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be able to help you out in your search.

[Wensleydale]

Placing the name and number into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission search facility does not show any results, so it is likely that he survived the War.

[sycamore]

Try the thread about the SE-5 PILOT search..may help....

[mabmac]

Try www.forces-war-records.co.uk which has an entry for Peter Foolkes with that Service number but no rank. Unfortunately I cannot see the details as it is behind a paywall but it states that it is a 1940 RAF record. Because the service numbers match this must be your man; surname with a "k" not a "d". There is also a second record for a Sgt P Foolkes dated 1943 but without a service number or indication of unit which could possibly be a later record for the same person.

If the first of these records indicate that he was Canadian then he may be the gentleman whose Canadian 2007 obituary is shown at www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/obituaries/peter-foolkes/ as this states that "Peter served with the R.A.F. Bomber Squadron (49 Operations) and then with the R.C.A.F. from 1949 ~ 1965. After retirement, he moved to the Comox Valley where he became a prolific artist. Some of his work can be seen today in the Ladysmith Museum and the Comox Air Force Museum.". At the very least it is interesting to conjecture that there is a link between your "doodles" and this retirement occupation.

[TheAerosCo]

Try the Ancestry website. A quick search shows him born in Hertfordshire in 1922 and with his death recorded in BC, Canada. It also has a number of photos which includes one in a group in uniform. It also indicates his name appears in a number of family trees so that should be a good start.

[lauriebe]

The service number mentioned by the OP is in a batch of airman's numbers issued at Uxbridge and Weston Super Mare from November 1940.

I also found a couple of other mentions of a Peter Fookes on the IBCC website.

The first was in a recorded interview with an ex-Air Gunner, Clifford Watson, who mentions a Peter Foolkes who was also an Air Gunner. Both could have been serving on 227 Sqn at some time during WWII.

The interview can be found here:

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/11758

Mr Watson recalls during the interview that Foolkes was the mid-upper gunner on the same crew as himself and that Foolkes eventually went to Canada and served with the RCAF.

There are also a couple of photos of Foolkes on the IBCC site:

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18531

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18528

Not been able to locate anything else at the moment.

Have just found an additional three photos that might be of interest:

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1309/18543/PWatsonC17010056.2.jpg

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18548

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1309/18530/PWatsonC17010029.2.jpg

[teeteringhead]

Although PPRuNe often (too often?) descends into idiocy and name calling, the very best of it is demonstrated here. BZ to all those helpful researchers.....

[Squipdit Fashions]

FreeBMD (a useful quick UK geneaology search) corroborates TheAerosCo's finding of a birth in Watford in 1922, with a given mother's maiden name of 'Ghost' (!). No record of a UK death may also support a death later in Canada, of which, more below...

The IBCC website contains another image of Pete Foolkes (I can't post links yet, so apologies, you'll need to precede with the usual h t t p s : and cut-and-paste //ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1309/18540/PWatsonC17010044.1.jpg (or search for "Decoration for Local Airman, Three Airmen and a Wrecked Lancaster").

Finally the IBCC Facebook page contains a post showing a Christmas 1944 menu, apparently signed by Pete Foolkes, and Peter Allam comments "This menu was owned by W/O Peter Foolkes, Mid-Upper gunner in S/L 'Ches' Chester's Balderton-based 227 Squadron crew. As mentioned on the menu, fellow 227 crew skippered by New Zealander F/O Merv Croker had a close call at Wick on their return from Politz on December 22nd 1944. After being holed by Danish flak on the outbound leg and having an abortive first run over the target, 10 1/2 hours later they were lost and on their last drops of fuel when Wick heard their Mayday call. A rough landing ended with their Lanc (PB649 9J-K) badly damaged and perched on top of the torpedo dump. Thanks to thick fog, both Croker's crew and Chester's crew (which had flown up from Milltown to collect them) were obliged to spend Christmas at Wick, hence the menu. Both crews survived their tours and the war, but the incident was the end for PB649 and she was dismantled on site. Post-war Pete Foolkes emigrated to Canada and after service in the RCAF he retired to the Comox valley on Vancouver Island where he died in 2007. This is a rather forlorn looking PB649 gracing Wick's torpedo dump, photographed later in the day on December 22nd."

Hope that's of help PTS47 - as Teeteringhead says, these topics do bring out the (often needed) very best of PPrune and this one has inspired me to finally join after many years of 'lurking'.....

[PTS47]

Thank you to everybody who has replied - I am amazed at the information in your responses. I believe I have found the family via social media and I have messaged them. I believe Sgt Foolkes served on 90 Sqn as a Stirling Mk I/III rear gunner after 1651 OTU at Waterbeach.

I'm interested in finding out if he was ever in pilot training. If he joined up in Nov 1940, but doesn't leave 1651 OTU until March 1943 he must have been doing something to fill that time. The doodles from 1942 clearly show a pilot brevet and what I think is a Harvard, and the book is called 'The Art of Flying' so I have a feeling he may have started out as a pilot. The 90 Sqn F540 is digitised, where as the 1651 OTU records are not so I've drawn a blank for now.

If I find out anything else I will keep you updated.

[Squipdit Fashions]

As you suggest, it could well have been the case that he underwent pilot training first - in the interview with Cliff Watson linked by Lauriebe above, Cliff actually alludes to the fact (22 minutes in) that he himself was deliberately 'scrubbed' from the Rhodesian air training scheme to be 're-brigaded' as an Air Gunner.

He also mentions (c.1 hr 27 min) that Pete Foolkes was 'rescued' (my words) from the station clay pigeon range (perhaps teaching deflection shooting, at 84 OTU, RAF Desborough?) to become the mid upper gunner on Cliff's crew, moving Cliff back to the rear turret...looking at the pictures, perhaps Pete was too tall to fit the rear turret himself....

Good luck with your search and please do let us know how you get on....now to find out what happened to their erstwhile skipper, Sqn Ldr Chester...seemingly, according to Cliff, 6 trips completed, removed following a board (of officers?) or summary of evidence...one dearly hopes not the dreaded 'LMF'?

[lauriebe]

One further snippet, a Sgt Foolkes is listed as a member of 44 Course at 12 OTU, Chipping Warden. That course started on 17 Nov 42. No further details are shown against the name though.

Listing is here:

Men of 12 Operational Training Unit, Chipping Warden (http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/men_of_12otu.htm#44_course)

Similarly, I think it highly likely that he did start training as a pilot.

[Squipdit Fashions]

Regarding Pete Foolkes' time on 227 Sqn, you may also like to contact the RAF Balderton Research Group - they have a Facebook page, a website (rafbaldertonFMG.co.uk) and have posted an excellent stills montage on YouTube (search YouTube for 'RAF Balderton'). There's plenty of pictures of crews and aircraft from 227 Sqn and, whilst I can't spot Pete or Sqn Ldr 'Ches' Chester's crew amongst them on a quick scan, many of the crew pictured may well have been known to them. I'm sure the group may also be able to help with further research, and would be interested in anything you find. Contact details for them are on the website.

Also, if the Comox Valley Air Force Museum have some of Pete's art, they may also know more or be interested in any research on him. They too have a website, with contact details.

[PTS47]

Hi all, just a quick update on this thread. I have managed to make contact with Peters Foolkes' family in Canada and have shared with them all that you have shared with me. They recognised the handwriting in the book instantly, and the style of the drawings. They hadn't seen many of the photos you have managed to find. I'm sure you can imagine how interesting (and slightly emotional) it was for his children to see them.

I am hoping to find out more about Peter from them. I know he had spoken about training as a pilot on Tiger Moths at some point before becoming an AG, and they knew the story of the crashed Lancaster. I am also arranging for the book to be sent to them.

Thank you to everybody who has contributed.

[lauriebe]

PTS47

Many thanks for the update.

Good to hear that the book will now return to the family.

Would be grateful for further updates if/when you might have something.

[dduxbury310]

NZ426913 Mervyn Richard Croker embarked NZ for Canada 1/4/43, arrived New York 24/4/43; completed advanced training with RCAF, thence to UK. After service attached to RAF he disembarked in NZ on 24/10/45. Credit, For Your Tomorrow by Errol Martyn, Volume 3.

[lauriebe]

Photos of PB649 at Wick after the Politz.

I missed these in my first run through the IBCC site.

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18538

Also the Christmas card mentioned in the interview.

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18552