Comments on: Tholthorpe airfield memorial

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 10:18:04 +0000

Thank you for his service

By: Jennifer Fraser

Jennifer Fraser — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 21:54:50 +0000

July 28 vs July 29 of the same year are two different raids. I wouldn’t presume they were issued out of the same airfield unless you know this for certain. Many of these raids contained hundreds of planes and crews. And whether the two men knew each other, well, Windsor was a big place with many neighbourhoods and high schools, so it would be a coincidence if they did know each other, but maybe. Who knows! Usually flight crews remained as a team for as long as they were still flying or so my Uncle Bob told me (No relationship to my father’s cousin). He was shot down over Berlin, December 29, 1943, flying a Lancaster bomber and was part of a raid which contained 712 bombers! He was captured after several harrying days trying to escape notice and spent the rest of the war in Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf and Oflag VIIB Eichstätt. Sadly I don’t know which base he flew from but I do know that it was in England.

By: David Davis

David Davis — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 08:52:16 +0000

My mother’s fiancé, Gordon Kenneth Vimy Ridge Vincent DFC, also from Windsor, was a pilot of a Halifax that was also shot down over Hamburg on 28th July 1944, presumably on the same raid. Do you have any details, as I assume that they knew each other?

By: Ken Platten

Ken Platten — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 12:00:03 +0000

A good friend of mine flew as part of the RCAF based at Tholthorpe. He was Thomas F. Ford then aged 20 and was a pilot. He flew Lancasters with the Snowy Owl Squadron and was awarded the DFC for bravery. He died in Mallorca aged 96 in May 2021. He left a few diaries which make very interesting reading.

By: Jennifer Barton Fraser

Jennifer Barton Fraser — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 17:26:54 +0000

My father’s first cousin flew out of this airfield and never returned home. He was Thomas Cranston Barton, aged 21, from Windsor, Ontario Canada, although born in Scotland, I believe. He was a Halifax pilot, shot down on July 29, 1944, over Hamburg Germany, his body never recovered. His name is on the Runnymede Memorial as well as others as Thomas G or Thomas Granston Barton due to a mistake on his RCAF death notification which was later corrected. He was a handsome young man and my great Uncle Joe and Auntie Meg were devastated by his loss. Rest in peace, Tommy.

By: Denis Thievin

Denis Thievin — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 19:05:47 +0000

Thanks for the informative pages. My father flew 28 operations out of Tholthorpe with the Alouettes as a wireless operator. The experiences of those 20-year-old men would have scared the hell out of today’s generation, the very people who enjoy the fruits of their bravery and typically know nothing about it.