The forth article in this series has been made possible by Petrina Hugo, who volunteered the following account of her Father, as published for the Spitfire Society Trust in South Africa.
The Petrus Hendrik Hugo that the RAF knew as an Ace fighter pilot in the Second World War was a far different man to the one I grew up with as my father. He was a dedicated family man, devoted to my mother whom he met when she was a volunteer nurse during the war, and as kind and gentle a man as one would wish to meet. Children of all ages flocked to him, climbed all over him and talked to him about anything and everything. He patiently listened and gave answers as well as he could, all the while being extremely tactful, and at times trying not to laugh and hurt their feelings.
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The third article in this series has been made possible by a contribution from Mr John Shipman (j.m.shipman@ntlworld.com author of One of The Few featuring 41 Squadron (Flyer below)). On the week of our Squadron Centenary it is probably most appropriate to share an image of our predecessors enjoying a beer: Some members of 41 Squadron enjoying a drink of beer. Back row from left to right and standing: “Mitzi” Darling, Flg Of Gamblen (missing Hornchurch July 1940), Pilot Off Morrogh-Ryan (killed Snowden 26th July 1941), Edward “Shippy” Shipman, Pilot Off Stapleton (prisoner of war May 1940). Middle row from left to right and seated : Stevens (Adjutant) and Sqdn Ldr “Robin” Hood (CO) (missing Hornchurch September 1940). And standing leaning on a billiard que Flt Lt Webster (killed Hornchurch 5th September 1940), Front Row from left to right and seated: “Lulu” Lovell “Wally” Wallens, Ted Howitt. The articles in this series have been made possible through content shared by our members. If you wish to broadcast a picture/article or short story to our membership via this blog then please send it to the secretary email address (41sqn.association.secretary@gmail.com) and I will post it here. Please indicate if you wish to include your email for any further contact from those who may know something of the same era. The second article in this series has been made possible by Mr Giles Brown, who volunteered the two pictures from the late 1930s. Pupil pilots under initial training at Sywell, winter of 1937/38. Youngest on the course was the "shy and introspective" 18-year-old Tony Lovell, 5th from left, who joined 41 Sqdn (Furies) in September 1938. The aircraft is civilian Tiger Moth GA-EBY. Catterick, Tony Lovell sitting in the cockpit of Terry Webster's Spitfire after Webster came in wheels-up. (Webster's widow told me years ago that "a buzzer sounded when the undercarriage wasn't down, so the little monkeys switched it off..."). I do remember seeing somewhere - or being told - that three of the aircraft they collected from Eastleigh in 1939 came into Catterick without benefit of undercarriage, so the photo may date from then. It certainly looks like an early model of Spitfire. The articles in this series have been made possible through content shared by our members. If you wish to broadcast a picture/article or short story to our membership via this blog then please send it to the secretary email address (41sqn.association.secretary@gmail.com) and I will post it here.
Please indicate if you wish to include your email for any further contact from those who may know something of the same era. Dr Michael Swanwick (mgs@btinternet.com) has volunteered the page of his father's log book below (Full Logbook attached at bottom of this post): I attach a scan of the pages from my father's logbook (George Swanwick) for the period in which he served in the Squadron from Dec 1940 to April 1942. A particular element that caught my eye is the red-lined box on the second page of the scan, which records how he managed to bend a Spitfire fairly thoroughly in his first month with the Squadron. As far as I can see from his logbooks, he never did that again The articles in this series have been made possible through content shared by our members. If you wish to broadcast a picture/article or short story to our membership via this blog then please send it to the secretary email address (41sqn.association.secretary@gmail.com) and I will post it here. Please indicate if you wish to include your email for any further contact from those who may know something of the same era. |
Photo Credit:
Rich Cooper/COAP Association BlogUpdates and news direct from the Committee Archives
May 2020
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