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Bill Vanderkloot, Ferry Command

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Bill Vanderkloot, Ferry Command

Old 3rd Nov 2017, 22:32
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Bill Vanderkloot, Ferry Command

Many years ago I watched the DVD "Flying The Secret Sky" which told the incredible story of how a bunch of civil pilots and engineers ferried over 10,000 aircraft from the USA to the UK via Montreal Dorval and Gander in the second world war. The RAF had decided it was too dangerous but a group of American and Canadian civil pilots proved it could be done despite all the risks of icing and the long overwater flights, so Ferry Command was born. I have always been fascinated by the stories and I admired one of the pilots in particular, Bill Vanderkloot who is up there with my other top aviation heros.

When Winston Churchill wanted to make a dangerous flight to Egypt and Moscow during the war one would have expected the Royal Air Force to fly him. Instead he was advised to use Bill Vanderkloot, an American civil pilot. They flew from RAF Lyneham via Gibraltar to Egypt and then onto Teheran and then Moscow. Vanderkloot flew Churchill numerous times on secret missions.

I have read all the snippets on Bill Vanderkloot that I could find on the internet. He was born in 1915 and after the war he flew corporate aircraft, I think in the New York area. He retired in 1970. I just wonder if anyone had any details of what aircraft he flew after the war and if there are any books about this remarkable man? I regularly fly the atlantic but unlike Bill Vanderkloot in WW2 I fly in pressurised aircraft with Satnav and a flight deck kept to a comfortable 23 degrees Celsius. When I get my oceanic clearance from Gander I sometimes think of Bill who flew to the UK in over 20 different aircraft including ones as small as the Lockheed Hudson. I also think of his 500 or so colleagues that died attempting the crossings and whose remains and corroding aircraft may well be on the sea bed directly underneath my Nat track. Their return journeys to Canada were also fraught, initially on ships that were at risk of being torpedoed by U boats and then latterly in the freezing bomb bays of B-24 Liberators.

If anyone has any additional info on this remarkable man, first hand stories or any stories not available on the internet I would very much like to hear about them or read them.
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Old 4th Nov 2017, 15:14
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They showed the movie again on one of the more obscure Freesat channels. Interesting guy and a very interesting programme
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