Category: 97 Squadron Crews on Black Thursday

The Thackway crew crash, referred to in our post just now (28 May 2019), has a tiny echo in the uniform of the moth-eaten bear, known as Bobby Bear, who until recently was on display in the Black Thursday cabinet at the Heritage Centre, RAF Wyton (see the end of this post). The RAF uniform which the bear wears has a wound stripe – see the little flash of yellow on the sleeve in the image below.

The wound stripe, which was an unusual emblem on RAF uniforms, reflects the serious injuries suffered by the owner of the bear, Joe Mack of the Thackway crew, on the night of the crash, 17 December 1943. The uniform, which is a toy approximation of Joe’s uniform, was made for the bear by Joe’s mother, Kathleen, some time before 1948.

WOUND STRIPES ON RAF UNIFORMS

Flight Sergeant W C Higgs’s uniform with wound stripes – on display at the Pathfinder Collection, Heritage Centre, RAF Wyton

In the online Auckland Museum, there is a photograph of George Cotton-Stapleton, RNZAF, with two wound stripes on his sleeve (Auckland Museum ref: WWI 4/213A AWMM)

Bobby Bear has now left the Pathfinder Collection at RAF Wyton for the time being as he has been selected for the BBC programme The Repair Shop, on which expert craftsmen pool their talents and resources to restore heirlooms and treasured antiques. Filming on Bobby Bear’s rejuvenation starts this week.

Hopefully he will be back at the Pathfinder Collection at RAF Wyton early next year. We will keep you up to date with what happens with Bobby Bear and the programme.

See: Update, 15 November 2019

(Below, Bobby Bear, beneath the photograph of Ernest Deverill, at RAF Wyton last year.)

We have been very interested to find out that there is a Millennium Walk which allows walkers to get close to the site of the Thackway crew’s crash (on what was known as The Hay) on 17 December 1943. http://www.hardwick-cambs.org.uk/footpaths-walks/ This is significant because the crash site is on private land, well away from other public footpaths. See this description on the link:

Turn left and follow the public bridleway east to Hardwick Wood, then north to the junction at TL 357 583. From this point an optional diversion may be taken along a pleasant path to TL 361 591 (this point is close to the site of the plane crash on The Hay, on the night 16th/17th December 1943.), but it is necessary to return the same way, as there is no right of way past here.

18 years ago, the Thackway crew were the original inspiration for a website about 97 Squadron and the Pathfinders, which website eventually grew into the one you are looking at today.

A number of key pieces of the aircraft wreckage are now on display at the Pathfinder Collection at Wyton, including the piece of metal with the Lancaster’s engine number, proving beyond all doubt that this was the Thackway aircraft.

Wyton also houses other display cabinets of Lancaster wreckage from that night, including the aircraft of Scott and Deverill.