Revisiting the draft section…
10 April 2014
Freddie Offord was a Mosquito pilot with 23 Squadron.
I did not know this.
Excerpt
Leavesden Aerodrome: From Halifaxes to Hogwarts will definitely appeal to air enthusiasts but it is also a valuable social document since it concerns an industry that once employed thousands of people from the local area. Among these was Richard’s father Eddie Riding, who worked as an inspector for the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate.
Raised in Hendon, Richard later moved to St Albans and has been living in Radlett for the past seven years. Sadly his father was killed in an air crash in 1950 when Richard was eight so he was not able to ask for anecdotes first-hand but the book includes many of Eddie’s pictures complete with Richard’s intriguing anecdotes drawn from his father’s log book.
Eddie apparently flew sidekick to a charismatic daredevil airman named Freddie Offord.
Freddie Offord
“I’ve tried so hard to find out about him,“ says Richard. “I believe he moved to Canada after the war but I’d love to find out more. I was speaking to someone the other day who attended a big demo at White Waltham in September 1945 and apparently Freddie used to dive onto the airfield with both engines feathered – not running and going into a barrel roll. It’s the type of manoeuvre that nobody else would ever attempt, but he was a typical type, a real character.“
Someone wrote me this message…
He had noticed Offord’s name here.
This is what he said in his message.
My uncle, Freddie Offord, flew with 23 squadron in 1942/43 and is referenced in one of the records below for Nov. 18th in a flight over St. Dizier. Quite interesting to find this entry here and then read his personal log entry. I also have entries in my Freddie’s log for the Mossie YP-W featured in the foreground of the photo above.
My uncle went on to be a test pilot with de Havilland at the factory in Leavesden.
Bob
A charismatic daredevil airman named Freddie Offord?
I want to know more.
RAF 23 Squadron 