RCAF pilots in RAF WWII

[planemaker]

That is awesome. My dad also flew in the RCAF, first in Canada as part of the BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan) then eventually Spitfires in England.

Cheers!

Paul
Captain Retired, RCAF

[Tobus]

I love WWII history, and this one is especially cool to me because I'm a twin (though we are fraternal twins, not identical). Being a twin is very different than being a single child, and there is a relationship there that very few people will ever understand. Twins tend to think alike in many ways, and can tell what the other is thinking without asking. I can certainly see why they chose to join together and fight together. They must have been a dynamic and effective pair when flying as wingmen.

What a great piece of family history!

[English Bloke]

Thank you for letting us know about this story. Fascinating.

[tulloch]

Very interesting. Do you have their flight logs? What a world they inhabited in their little planes!

[jhockin]

Very interesting. Do you have their flight logs? What a world they inhabited in their little planes!

I have ( and made copies, for the extended family) something my uncle Doug ( "Duke II") put together, that includes excerpts from his twins flight logs. Makes interesting reading.

[MichaelPHahn]

Thank for sharing. Great to hear of two heroes.

My cousin flew with RAF 71 Eagle squadron. He was killed in action after the squadron was posted to the US Army Air Corp. While he was on tour in the US after the war, Winston Churchill personally thanked his mother for his sacrifice, when he noticed the RAF service pin she was wearing.

[Singlemalt]

Great story and a history to be proud of. My father was also a Canadian in the RAF. He enlisted in the RCAF but after basic flight training in Saskatchewan he was jumping off the wing of his plane and sprained his ankle. He always had a weak ankle after breaking it playing hockey as a kid and not set properly. He always worked to disguise it. After a thorough examination by a Canadian medical officer he was declared unfit for active service. However, the RAF was desperate for trained fighter pilots after the battle of Britain and he had no trouble getting approved by RAF medical staff and transferred services (his parents came from Scotland). He was in London for VE day.

[Dale-of-Cedars]

My father joined the RCAF at the start of the war (under-age like many others) and wanted to be a pilot, but colour-blindness washed him out of flight training. He became a Sergeant-Navigator on Lancasters. He never talked much about ops, but did share that after he got over to England and realized just how deadly serious it was, that he wondered why in he!! he had ever run away from the farm.