Escape by parachute from a WW2 B17 and subsequent clandestine travel back to England
 

https://www.390th.org/war-stories/do...um-and-france/

I discovered this amazing story as a link in the Aviation History and Nostalgia Forum under the title "Gaining an RAF Pilots Brevet in WW2.
That thread is still to me the most entertaining series of aviation stories in Pprune and well worth the absorbing hours of reading.
Cent.

Fantastic story, thanks for posting the link.

It is a real pity that Pprune readers of this forum have shown very little interest in this thread. That said, and further to the posts above, see http://www.pprune.org/military-aviat...ww-ii-551.html
I really recommend readers scroll forward to posts number 11007, 11008, 11013 and 11014. These tell the of tale of a young newly graduated Halifax pilot shot down on his first operational flight over occupied Europe. Beautifully written. Another reader has kindly cut and pasted the story and all I can say it is well worth reading for those of us still interested in the experiences of those aircrew who faced the dangers of being shot down during the air war over Europe in WW2

Good story, thx for the link.

Centaurus your comments are legend. PPRUNE has descended into generally childish comments and personal attacks all of which lack substantive argument..

I enjoy your posts, but then I too grew up up without having my bottom pampered - it was often smacked...

Centaurus, thank you, I always enjoy your posts.

I very much appreciate your posts Centaurus and casually monitor prune, but regrettably prune has degenerated and is not what it was, although don't let that stop you imparting your knowledge and experiences. I also enjoyed Cliff's stories and the B17 crew member story.

I think, Centaurus, that there's possibly more interest in this and your other posts than you think.

The thing is that they're usually well written and informative, rather than poorly worded and controversial, leading to two issues:

(1) Some people can't deal with it when there's nothing to argue about or complain about the spelling or grammar (some of us complain but under our breaths!).

(2) The information or entertainment level is high, and they can't be improved upon by additional content/comment.

(3) [yes, I know I said two] It's possible that some of your posts or links are just far enough away from some people's reality that they've no context to relate to themselves and their lives, and so they move on.

WIth (3), and in particular regard to this story of Geo Duffee et al, I wonder if WWII is now becoming too distant for many to appreciate or comprehend?

FP.

FP. Thanks for the kind words. I agree with your highlighted comments. If nothing else, it looks like 1551 Pprune readers read or glanced through the posts and maybe found them interesting. My own interest in passing these stories down the line from other forum contributors probably stems from my personal recollections of the war in the air over Kent as a school boy in WW2. Exciting times for me living in the relative safety of the countryside but deadly for the population of London 30 miles away.

That's me to a tee.

Centaurus, you are on my (short) list of must-read contributors.

Centaurus, evidently not alone here but I lurk 99% of the time and rarely contribute. Maybe I should contribute more. At any rate, your posts are always gold and if you have any published works I would pay for them. I believe that you may have been on a podcast recently (Go Flying Australia). If that was you I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, it was very entertaining.

Magnum1. Check your PM's.

There was a poster here, now departed this vale named BelArgUSA.. He was born to an American downed pilot and a young Belgian lass in '44. After being liberated from a POW camp, his father returned to the family, did the "right thing" and brought his new bride to the US. He was a PAA pilot, lost his job during bankruptcy wound up at Aerolineas Argentina as a B747 captain, retiring to Florianopolis before passing away.

There are several great books on the Comet Line and escapee stories. I post the books I read later.

GF

Great read.

Thank you for bringing this to our (collective) attention. :ok:

Best to all,

Aus'

Magnum1. Check PM's. Cent

@Centaurus, I'm not sure if PPRune has the user tagging or 'mention' facility enabled but it may be worth trying:

@MagnumPI , check your PM's

Note I used the '@' symbol before the username and used identical capitalisation of the [corrected] username - YMMV!

FP.

Bad form replying to one's own message I'm sure but I thought it may be worth seeing if the usertag function will notify the user of a post 'mention'. As usual the docs are a bit cryptic so this may not work first time....

MagnumPI

Centaurus