A blog about a RAF Mosquito squadron
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 19,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
This is the entry for the fifth mission.
It’s another Intruder mission, but after a 45 minute flight test with a Mosquito equipped with the new ASH radar seen here.
Logbook page…
This is the Mosquito flown by Flight Lieutenant Tony Marks with Ted Gosling as the navigator.
Eugene would have been flying on a similar type of Mosquito.
This is the scoreboard I posted before on the blog. Johnny Rivaz kept it as a souvenir after the squadron was disbanded.
Mission No. 5 is well documented.
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.
This is the entry for mission 4.
R. C. Harris wrote the type of mission: Intruder.
The objective was circling around Guterslöhe airfield (Gütersloh) to attack Ju88 night-fighters stationed there which were coming back low on fuel and short of ammunition after attacking RAF heavies.
People can’t imagine the courage needed to fly alone in the dark of night over a German airfield on a cold night in December 1944 knowing that the Germans knew you were there circling the airfield like a spider waiting for its prey…
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.
Another comment…
I am Jan Clarke and I am Capt A R Marks’ daughter, should you wish to contact me please do, would love to see any photos you may have of dad, also information about the various jobs he did with the squadron.
To learn more about Flight Lieutenant Tony Marks, click here.
Theodore Griffiths was stationed at R.A.F. High Ercall in December 1944.
This is the precious memento he kept to remember the Christmas he had in 1944.
Theo is still living and he is well-taken care of. His memory is fading little by little, but his son-in-law keeps his memories alive.
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know like Rich Cooper, you can contact me using this form.
There was a Just Joe IV after all.
Rich sent this picture.
With this message.
Hi Pierre Has anyone mentioned a Just Joe 4? Theo said Just Joe signified just an ordinary person doing what was expected. Rich
All the posts on this navigator are here.
This model was made by Marten, Ted Gosling’s grandson.
This is what he sent with these pictures.
Hi Pierre
Sorry for taking so long to get around to this, but here are the photos of the 1:48 scale Tamiya Mosquito I made as a tribute to my grandfather (Ted Gosling). I did the plane as PZ170 (YP-D) as this was the one he did his freshman flight in.
I also found (on ebay) an ASH radar conversion kit for those lucky enough to own the mammoth Airfix 1:24 Mosquito, here is the link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alley-Cat-1-24-Mosquito-FB-Mk-VI-ASH-Radar-Conv-Set-for-Airfix-AC24001C-/181277008417?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item2a34f3a221
Thanks again for this blog, it is great to have the word of 23 squadron spreading!
All the best and have a great Christmas
Marten Richens
Merry Christmas
This is part of what was sent by someone who found my blog about 23 Squadron.
This person was related to this pilot.
He found what I had written about Flight Lieutenant Frank Thomas and he liked what he saw.
Click here if you want to see what he saw.
So he sent me Eugene Gagnon’s operational sorties when he was with 23 Squadron. It was the most precious information I had received. Then someone else found my blog.
Eugene Gagnon’s navigator’s son wrote me. He scanned almost all of his father’s logbook pages so I could post them here.
This is the first mission they did: the Freshman mission.
mission 1
mission 2
But the page with the entry for mission 3 is missing, as well as all the missions in January and February 1945.
Sometimes I think I am taken this story about a French-Canadian Mosquito pilot too seriously.
This is the next logbook page for entries about missions 4 and 5.
We will take a look at them later on the dates they were flown 69 years ago.
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.
I am posting this article I wrote before once more.
This is what happened on December 12, 1944. The information is taken from the ORB of 23 Squadron.
I don’t have the logbook page to go with it. If I get it one day, I will add it here.
Flying Officer J.A.E. Gagnon and Flying Officer R.C. Harris took off at 17h56 for Twente, in Holland, probably to attack the airfield.
Twente. Unable to complete patrol owing to inability to pinpoint through rain storms and very thick haze. Visibility poor. Brought bombs back owing to lack of targets.
A fun ride… that lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes in rain and haze.
What more does the ORB has for December 12, 1944?
A fight between a pig and a dog!
It’s a pity we have no pictures…
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.
Updated 20 October 2023
Rich Cooper sent me these documents that allowed Theodore Griffiths to take all these precious pictures during WWII.
I have been sharing all of them thanks to Rich.
Everything is precious and deserves to be preserved. It also deserves to be shared.
Pierre
You will remember the camera permit granted to Theo for Alghero? Well here is the one for Malta. The Alghero permit even though it was issued after the Malta permit was far more basic. Theo was a keen photographer who after the war turned his hobby to supplement his income by doing weddings and family groups.
Rich
23th January ’44
19th November, 1943
If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.
RAF 23 Squadron 