Editorial

This editorial is taken from this scanned image sent by Rich Cooper.

photo 2

This is the front cover.

photo 1

Editorial

EIGHT weeks at Souther Field have left us only two more in which to complete the course and, because printers are impatient people, it is time to say goodbye.

Regret at leaving is mingled with pride in having traveled at least a third, perhaps the thorniest part, of the road to our “Wings;” and if we part from our friends and various tutors now, it is with the assurance that we are not, yet, going far, and shall return from time to time to visit them.

We owe a great debt both to our flying instructors, patient and—for their peace of mind—fearless men all, and to those who have guided us through Ground School, whom doubtless we shall remember again over Germany in darkness, where a warm front meets a cold, and we have a spluttering engine.

We are grateful to Lieutenant Rood and his staff for a number of things, not least for helping strangers in a new, if charming, country; and from Mr. Graham and his employees we could not possibly have expected more in comfort, good food, and sympathetic consideration We thank them, one and all, from our hearts.

To turn to our own domestic affairs, we bid a belated, but sincere, farewell to Flight-Lieutenant Speck and wish him the best of luck wherever he may go. At the same time we extend a hearty welcome to our new Administration Officer, Flight-Lieutenant Easton Smith.

We record, with deepest regret. the tragic deaths of Peter George Hills and Harold Norman Evans in a bathing accident at Jacksonville, Florida, on 2nd November, 1941. These two young fliers, of Class 42C, had just completed their training here and met their deaths while on leave before proceeding to Basic School at Macon. We do not need to emphasize the tragedy of this particular ending to two young lives on the threshold of such a great service to their country, and our deepest sympathies arc accorded to the bereaved families and to the many friends who knew and loved them here.

—E. H. M. RELTON.

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4 thoughts on “Editorial

  1. I have just located this site on my iPad. My relative, Donald Hepworth Bentley, was a flt/sgt with 23 squadron based at Luca in Malta. His navigator was a Sgt Causeway. They were both killed September 1943 and are buried together in the cemetery in San Marino. The grave has the propeller from the Mosquito mounted on it.

    I have photos if any one interested.
    They were 23 years old and had trained in Canada.

    Sent from my iPad

    1. Until I started researching Eugene Gagnon back in 2010, I knew nothing about…
      23 Squadron
      Little Snoring
      Tommy Smith
      George Stewart and Paul Beaudet
      BCATP
      Paulson, Manitoba…
      Bud Badley…
      Rich Cooper…
      Souther Fields…
      A document written in 1942 where we learn about two kids who died in a tragic accident before proceeding to Macon.
      I could go on forever.

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