No. 41 Squadron Association
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Sharing Our History 6

27/8/2016

6 Comments

 
​The sixth article in this series has been made possible by Steven Taylor, who volunteered the following story of his father, Capt Earl Taylor (USAF). :
Picture
I sent for my fathers service records but was informed that his were destroyed in a fire at the federal records center. I am sending them my recollections of his service assignments and hope they can reconstruct the other sources.  I will copy you on any new information I can gather. I do know he was in the 54th Fighter Squadron flying P 38s in the Aleutians during WWII. Then flew P 51s teaching the South Korean pilots in Japan and Korea. It gets a little hazy in my memory until he joined the 84th FIS at Hamilton AFB near San Francisco where he flew F 94s and F 89s becoming an executive officer before being assigned exchange duty with the RAF.  His first RAF posting was at Middleton St George. 
Here are some of my reflections of the 2 years we spent there. Our first assignment was at a. RAF station near York where my dad went through an orientation assignment. I believe we were there for 3 or 4 months. We next move to a station close to Darlington and at that point I believe it was with 141 Sqd. Our next location was a move to RAF Coltishall. Where we remained for the rest of the tour. That is where the Javelins were and I believe the switch to 41 Sqd took place. Prior to that move I believe he was flying Meteors. 

Just prior to our return to the US there was an exercise at RAF Wattisham where the accident occurred in July of 1958. You may have access to the accident report that we have never seen. I don't remember many names unfortunately other than his RO was a Canadian exchange officer whose name was Brian Bedford.

http://www.startribune.com/in-spirit-a-father-rejoins-the-thanksgiving-table/110508944/
Above is a link to the newspaper article written about our trip to explore the history of my Dad's service with the RAF.  
I would be interested to hear from anyone that knew or has heard stories about my father. We did get to meet on our visit to Wattisham: 1 member of the ground crew and 2 members of the emergency rescue team that arrived at the crash site. 

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.
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6 Comments
Steve Brew link
2/9/2016 07:21:31

Though a WWII and Korean War veteran of the USAF, Earl Taylor was killed on active service with 41 Sqn while on exchange. As such, he will forever be recognised as one of 'ours' - a permanent member of the 41 Sqn family. May he rest in peace.

Reply
mark taylor link
23/1/2018 18:49:49

I y name is mark taylor and I am earl taylors youngest son ilive in sacramento cal. please send me any info regarding my father I am very grateful for your time and energy thank you very much mark .

Reply
Alastair McFarland (Webmaster)
24/1/2018 20:44:57

Hi Mark,

Could you please email: 41sqn.association.secretary@gmail.com

I will be able to send on any information we have from there.

Reply
Charlotte
9/9/2021 21:42:21

Hi, I’m Brian Bedford’s daughter, I’ve only just found this website. Perhaps you would like to get in contact.

Reply
Charlotte Oke
22/10/2021 16:29:37

I too would like to have the information of the crash report please, as the daughter of Brian Bedford. Thank you.

Reply
Steve Taylor link
10/3/2023 00:07:19

Hello, I haven’t visited this page for awhile and just saw your posts. i have never been able to get the accident report myself. I assume you read the newspaper article referred to above so you know the story of our visit to Wattisham and our meeting the wonderful people that knew my dad and I would assume you dad. I also assume that is him pictured with my dad in fron of the Javelin. I don’t have much more to add. If you have any new information about the accident or your dads recollections or stories I would be grateful for sharing.sorry I took so long to reply.

Reply



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  • Home
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Media
    • Photos >
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2014/15
      • 2011
      • 2010
      • 2007/08
    • Archive
    • World War II Aircrew
    • Professional Photographers >
      • Centre of Aviation Photography
      • Peter Lewis
    • 41 Retro (Jaguar) >
      • Misc
      • 1976-1980
      • 1981-1985
      • 1986-1990
      • Gulf War
    • Outer Marker (Jaguar)
    • Plane Focus (Jaguar)
    • Videos
  • Forum
  • Info
    • Association Documentation
    • Seek and Support Fund
  • Hall of Heroes
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