Monday, December 12, 2011

Flight Logs & Diary - January & February, 1943

Here is where I can start inserting Mom's 1943 diary pages. I will insert some photos as we go along as well. "Phil & Cynth" are Philip and Cynthia Dutton who were my godparents. Dad is now at Drem - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drem - in Scotland. Dad flew to see Mom on February 13. He landed at the Hawarden airfield which is only a few miles away from Chester. Now how romantic was that for Valentine's Day what with his name being Philip Valentine King Tripe and all!


Flight Log Books - November, December, 1942 + Half January, 1943




Flight Log Books - October 1942


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Flight Log Books - September 1942

Here is a photo of Dad's Spitfire DBH and at the end is Mom and me in September of '42. And if you look very closely, you'll see "Elizabeth" on the fuselage just in front of the cockpit.






Flight Log Books - August 1942




Flight Log Books - July 1942

Below is a letter written to me by my Dad's mother which is really sweet.





Flight Log Books - June & July 1942





Flight Log Books - May & June 1942

I noted the reference to "Tealing" at the top the page on this log and was curious. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it and I wondered... Also here is Mom's diary page from May 27, 1942.

Tealing is a village in Angus in eastern Scotland, nestled at the foot of the Sidlaw Hills. It is just 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the city of Dundee and 8 miles (13 km) south of Forfar.

During the Second World War, the Ministry of Defence built an aerodrome at Tealing and No. 56 Officer Training Unit opened in March 1942, equipped with Hurricane, Master and Lysander aircraft. The number of pilots training at the unit varied from about 35 to 40 in 1942, reaching a peak of 150 on 1943.

It was at the aerodrome that Tealing's most famous visitor arrived. On 20 May 1942, a strange four-engined aircraft appeared in the circuit at Tealing, piloted by Endel Puusepp. It was one of the first Russian TB7s to visit Britain and it brought Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of Defence, on a military mission to meet with Sir Winston Churchill at Chequers. Tealing airfield was probably chosen to attract as little attention as possible and, for security reasons, there was a local news blackout at the time.

Molotov was given the choice of two aircraft in which to continue his journey to England. The one he did not select, as later revealed by Sir Archibald Hope, Senior Controller of Fighter Command in Scotland in 1942, crashed in the Vale of York, killing various members of Molotov's staff and senior RAF personnel. Molotov arrived safely in London for the signing of the Anglo-Soviet Treaty on 26 May 1942.



Flight Log Books - April & May 1942

Dad is now flying Hurricanes.

Flight Log Books - March & April 1942


Flight Log Books - January & February 1942

We are now in 1942 and Dad is flying Defiants, Bothas, Lysanders and Whitleys.



Flight Log Books - November & December 1941

We are finishing up 1941 here. He has moved to Lysanders and note the crash landing in the Hurricane.