Evening chaps,
I’m doing a bit of family research and wondered if anyone could help with details. My grandfather was (so I’m told) a rear gunner in a Stirling. Apart from his name, Joseph Beddoe, and a story about him being shot down and adrift in the North Sea, I don’t have much information. In fact that’s all my family know about his wartime experience.
I’m hoping to pop along to the National Archives later this week and see what’s there, but just thought I’d ask if anyone had any details or educated guesses about his Squadron or dates etc. .
Thanks in advance.
By: DocStirling - 26th June 2006 at 10:44
Michael Bowyers ‘Stirling Story’ is a more in-depth book than Falconers. His latest – ‘Stirling in Combat’ is a reprint of his earlier book ‘Stirling at War’, with little new material. It got quite a panning for its errors on the RAF historical forum.
DS
By: Lord Ollswater - 26th June 2006 at 10:32
Thanks for the links, I’ve always found the pages of the National Archives site look very similar, and therefore confusing! One of my Aunts may know something more, I’ll give her a call and let you know what I find out. I don’t know if any of his wartime memorabilia survives anywhere in our family.
As for the ditching, the story I’ve been told is that he was shot down on the way home and spent several days adrift in a life raft in the North Sea (possibly by himself) before being picked up. Whether he was a PoW or not I don’t know. Apparently he was never the same after it.
By: Steve Bond - 26th June 2006 at 10:30
If he was taken prisoner, his name will be in “Footprints On The Sands Of Time”, published a year or so ago.
By: JDK - 26th June 2006 at 10:00
…Apart from his name, Joseph Beddoe, and a story about him being shot down and adrift in the North Sea,…
Get a copy of ‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them’ by John Harris. Fiction, but it’ll make that part of his wartime experience seem very real.
If you want to know about the Stirling, I’d suggest a book called ‘Stirling Wings’ by Jonathan Falconer, published by Alan Sutton, 1995.
For an insight into life in a Stirling unit, ‘The Stories of Flying Officer X’ by H E Bates (there’s various editions and versions of the collection of short stories) who wrote from firsthand experience fictionalised but very real accounts of the crew’s experiences.
As far as I know, they are all out of print, but you should be able to get library copies through inter-library loan, or search secondhand. I use www.abebooks.com
Don’s suggestions are, as ever, excellent. I’d only add try asking at the RAF Commands forum: www.rafcommands.com
Good luck.
By: DocStirling - 26th June 2006 at 09:19
I recall reading a story about a crew that were picked up by a ?Danish fishing boat, but the Gestapo were waiting for them on the quayside. Was he a POW or did he make it home?
DS
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June 25, 2006 at 7:56 pm