70 years ago; David Lord VC

A day late, but here’s the naming ceremony for XR810, ‘David Lord VC’:

I don’t have a larger version of this photo unfortunately.

D1566,
You are very welcome. It was one of those occasions that was memorable for all the best reasons.

Camlobe

So on the 19th 2 great man lost there lives. And both found there end over the Netherlands.

Camlobe – Wonderful story – thanks 🙂

There maybe no memorial at the crash site but he does have an indvidual grave stone, there are some RAF crews in the cemetry at Oosterbeek who share a headstone.
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Let’s not forget that whilst Lord was awarded the VC the Air Despatchers who died with him didn’t get any medals.
The Air Despatchers suffered the highest percentage of casualties during Market Garden of any unit so its appropriate that they have their own memorial.
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50 years after in 1994, we were asked to overfly the church in Wrexham in ZA947, then painted up in the colours of David Lord VC’s Dak. We had a number of people on board, but one in particular was on a special pilgrimage. Lt Cdr David Lord RN, nephew of Flt Lt David Lord, and at the time, RNHF Swordfish pilot. I had met and shown him around the Dak at Woodford earlier in the year. At very short notice, we had invited him and his wife along for this trip. Although the weather was atrocious that day, no one on board muttered complaint. We managed to do a couple of (low???) flypasts of the church, and then settled down in unsettling conditions for the RTB. The Nav climbed out of the R/H seat, as I turned to the Lt Cdr and pointing forward said “excuse me Sir, your presence is requested on the Bridge”. The rather surprised senior service relative was installed, only swapping back with the Nav when we were on approach to base.

A commemorative occasion made that bit more special, especially when Lt Cdr Lord and his wife thanked us in an a watery eyed manner and presented us with a personalised Squadron Print of a Swordfish that hopefully is still displayed on the BBMF corridor walls.

Camlobe

It’s a real shame that after 70 years, there’s still no memorial for him on/near his crash site.

Indeed, though there are a couple in Wrexham (Plaque in church and a street named after him)

It’s a real shame that after 70 years, there’s still no memorial for him on/near his crash site.

That’s a good excuse to share this photo (taken by G. Hall) of VC10 XR810 which carried the name ‘David Lord VC’ between December 1966 and January 2012. Unfortunately the scroll is not visible in this shot, but it’s there! It was transferred to ZD241 in January 2012, who carried it until its retirement March 2013.