This group photo was posted in 2013 on this blog which I had dedicated to 23 Squadron’s forgotten heroes. Since 2010 when I created this blog many unsung heroes GP have been remembered. I should make a list…
Bud Badley, in the red circle, is one of them. I wonder if Alex Wilson is.
Courtesy George Stewart DFC
The first forgotten unsung hero I had come across was a French-Canadian Mosquito pilot who survived 33 operations, but who died in a plane crash on October 21, 1947.
Courtesy Peter Smith
Courtesy Jacques Gagnon, Eugène Gagnon’s nephew
In February 2010 I met Marcel Bergeron whose hero, when he was a teenager, was Eugène Gagnon. Marcel wanted to know more about what had happened in the war since Eugène didn’t talk much about the war even less about 23 Squadron or Little Snoring.
Courtesy Alex’s brother
In 2010 I knew full well what was a de Havilland Mosquito so this request piqued my curiosity and I decided to investigate.
This blog, which has now more than 500 articles, was all about piquing your curiosity, and eventually honouring unsung heroes like Alex Wilson, Bud Badley’s navigator.
More about the crew…
On 26 September 1944
2 Mosquitoes of 23 Sqn RAF carried out a Day Ranger mission to Grove.
They were:
Mosquito HR211 (YP-T) – F/O Stewart & F/O Beaudet
Mosquito HR216 (YP-Z) – F/O Badley & Sgt. Wilson
The 2 Mosquitoes took off from RAF Little Snoring at 09:55 hrs and both aircraft appeared over Grove where the German air defence was taken by surprise. F/O Stewart managed to strafe a Ju88 which was parked in the outskirts of the dispersal area. The German aircraft was heavily damaged. The light flak of the airfield opened fire, but a single German soldier with a handheld weapon caused the most severe damage. He hit Badley’s Mosquito in one engine and he hit the elevator, so that Badley could only ascend if he used his trim tab. The 2 Mosquitoes did not stay long over Fliegerhorst Grove. They headed west and crossed the west coast of Jutland north of the Ringkøbing Fjord. F/O Badley and F/O Stewart had chosen to cross the coast right at the radar station Ringelnatter. F/O Stewart strafed the Wassermann M radar and damaged the machinery, used for rotating the tower, so the radar was out of order for a number of days. In return Stewart’s Mosquito was hit, but F/O Stewart managed to get back to England and make a “safe landing”. Badley’s Mosquito was seriously damaged, but he managed to cross the North Sea and get back to England where he was directed to RAF Woodbridge. F/O Badley ordered Sgt Wilson (navigator) to bail out, but Wilson happened to release his parachute in the cockpit and Badley’s only option was to attempt a landing at RAF Woodbridge. Badley landed a heavily damaged Mosquito on one engine and without using the steering wheel. The raid gave a DFC to Badley for bringing the Mosquito back to England.
Crew:
F/O (NZ416998) Duncan Lequesne ‘Bud’ BADLEY DFC (pilot) RNZAF – OK Sgt (????) A.A. WILSON (nav.) RAFVR – OK
Source
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/170469
To be continued…?
RAF 23 Squadron 