At the end of the war, many Pathfinder squadrons had photographs taken of their aircrew, occasionally including some of the ground crew as well. There are a number of these celebratory photographs on this site under different subject headings, but here in celebration of VE Day tomorrow are three of them grouped together. End of War Celebratory Squadron Photographs
Category: 105 Squadron
Alistair Wood’s Story – Part Two
We have published the second part of Alistair’s story tonight, which picks up from when he completed his first tour with Main Force and concludes with his Pathfinder tour on Mosquitoes, then VE Day, and the Cook’s Tour which he undertook with his pilot, Hicklin. Alistair Wood: Part 2, 105 Squadron, Pathfinders
Joan Beech and 105 Squadron
More on Joan Beech’s book One Waaf’s War and the pages which describe 105 Squadron. Here is a priceless anecdote about a pilot named Jimmy Mills whose navigation skills when driving a car seem to have been slightly off-whack. Joan Beech and 105 Squadron
105 Squadron: War Graves, Bergen, and RAF Bourn
In May 1941 105 Squadron was flying Blenheims and was based at Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland. The war graves in this photograph on our sister site are for two members of the squadron who were killed that month in Norway.
In June 1943, 105 Squadron joined the Pathfinders. Based first at RAF Marham, Norfolk, it was transferred to RAF Bourn in Cambridgeshire as 97 Squadron left.
Joan Beech, in her biography One Waaf’s War (Costello, 1989), describes the day that the squadron’s Mosquitoes arrived at Bourn:
On the morning of March 23rd 1944, as I cycled up the hill to work, the new aircraft started to arrive, ‘beating up’ the airfield to make sure we were aware that 105 Squadron was here. They were small, twin-engined planes which, as they circled and landed, looked so tiny next to the hulking great Lancs.
The ‘Wooden Wonders’ had arrived.
Farewell to 2018
It has been a very successful first year for the RAF Pathfinders Archive, and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed in any way, from sending Pathfinder material to making donations to buying our publications to supporting us on Facebook. We have had an astonishing 59,000 views of this website this year, and more than 13,000 visitors. This is a truly great result and reflects the ever-growing interest in the Pathfinders and Bomber Command.
If there had been more time, I would have liked to have done a review of the exciting new material we have received this year, and compiled a list of best photographs. Oh, well, 2019 should be the year for that.
I will leave you with one of my favourite photographs received in 2018. It is of a Pathfinder Mosquito navigator with his Main Force Halifax crew. Alistair Wood is bottom right. After completing a first tour with 76 Squadron, he went on to do a second tour on Mosquitoes with 105 Squadron at Bourn, my all-time favourite Pathfinder station. We will be publishing some more information on Alistair soon.
SEE YOU ALL IN 2019 AND OUR VERY BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR
JENNIE MACK GRAY – CHAIRPERSON