GUY GIBSON-SHOT DOWN BY THE RAF
 

This will probably get moved!
Never heard this one before...Dambusters hero Guy Gibson ‘killed by the RAF’ | The Sun |News|Campaigns|Our Boys

It must be true if it is in The Sun........:rolleyes:

Very sad - if true - both for Gibson (and his nav), as well as for the young gunner and the Lanc crew. It must have been awful living with that belief for 50 years. It is easy to see the similarities between a Mossie and Ju88....sh!t!

Now, the RAF covering something up?.......Never, I just don't believe it!

An ex Lanc rear gunner once told me the reason Gibson went was because 'he got too cocky'.
IIRC Gibson hadnt had that much time on the old Mossie.
That night he deviated from the planned route home. I also thought that when wreckage was found only a few years back there was evidence of a problem with the fuel selector.
Mossie pilots knew the problems re recognition and in the words of Jack Currie ( Lancaster Target) 'gave them a wide berth'. Them being four engined RAF heavies.
It would seem unlikely that Gibson would have strayed so close to become within range and most probably he would have been at a different height as well, that coupled with his deviation makes it unlikely.

Lets hope they don't rediscover what he called the dog! All hell will break loose!

We need Dr Alf Price to study this one. He is a past-master at researching contemporary records on a minute-by-minute basis and matching target and fighter.

He did considerable research for Len Deighton when Len wrote Bomber and could probably trace this incident.

They believe Bader was shot down by one of his own Side too....

Don't mention 'Digger' - as has been said, it's all about being able to call a spade a spade - ho ho.

:E

DD, do't dig a hole for yourself. The dog used to hide in a wood pile.

It wasn't Digger, for goodness sake, it was Trigger! Everyone knows that! :rolleyes:

:E


The Sun lifted the story from issue 54 of Britain At War magazine.

Britain at War: A History of Conflict

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3614/3007x.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/98/3007x.jpg/

Some years ago I bought a deceased Mosquito squadron commander's medals from his widow. She quite naturally wanted to hang onto his logbooks, but she let me have a look through them. Just before D Day there was an entry showing he had been shot down (luckily over England). The widow told me that the story behind the entry was that he was shot down when they were in action with Ju 88s. Later gun camera analysis showed that he had in fact been shot down by one of his own squadron.

Hardly a good career move!

Hands up all air defenders who never took a "blue on blue" shot. Even with JTIDS its not impossible.

Sad that it might be true but no one will ever know.

Thanks Geehovah, some relevant banter there to bring it home to the modern generation. Home many guns kills involved JTIDS?

Banter aside, (sorry couldn't help myself, abuse of an F4 mate is like clubbing seals) frats were common place according to many accounts of WWII, remember Piece of Cake? Scary.

What are the odds on the same Lancaster crew taking out Glen Miller......?

Seriously though, I read about a Lancaster crew debrief when an inexperienced gunner admitted to his captain that he thought he had seen a night fighter close in cloud, but when it came into clear air a few seconds later he saw that it was another Lancaster. His captain gave him a savage dressing down - if he thought it was a night fighter then why didn't he shoot at it?

Loyalty in those times was to the crew - not the Sqn or the RAF. Those who moulded as a crew survived. Had the gunner who is supposed to have shot down Gibson hesitated, and it had been a night fighter, then they were gone. Gibson should have kept clear.

If SoS Def's wishes come true, and tomorrow is a quiet news day, expect that to make the front page of the Sun.

RAF Blue on Blue during WWII.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research...lus%20misc.pdf

Page 82 onwards.

Page 106 for data.

Here's hoping so

If any one has a problem with the dogs name I suggest you don't go and see the new Oz film "Red Dog" as it gets used - probably be edited out for the sensitive overseas market.

What are these niggerling references to dog?:p

I always thought the doc was called Nigel....:bored: