This is a long shot but does anyone know the identity of a Fighter Pilot, believed to be Dutch, serving in the RAF who was liberated by the Canadians in Northern France in Early September 1944. The reason I ask is that he joined up with 3 Aircrew from 166 Squadron who escaped/Evaded capture after being shot down over Agenville 31.8.44. and they were brought back to the U.K together around 9.9.44. I was told by my 166 Squadron friend that he was a Spitfire pilot (but weren’t they all, so he may be wrong on that one!). From the circumstances of the story I think the Pilot had only probably be shot down a short time before the beginning of September rather than been hiding for months/years but I could be wrong!
Maybe someone has an Evasion Report??!
By: snafu - 16th September 2013 at 22:56
Displaying my ignorance, but knowing that some French aircrew adopted different (English?) names so as to avoid their families being the focus of the attention of the occupying Germans…might there be the chance of a Dutch pilot going for this as well?
If this was the case it might make things a little difficult, if it was not well publicised.
By: Lazy8 - 16th September 2013 at 22:44
Oops! Yes, of course I meant 8 not 9. Thank you Andy. A quick edit, above, and I’ve put that right.
Might a SAAF pilot with perhaps an Afrikaner accent be mistaken for a Dutchman, do you think? Could be he’s the man in question.
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th September 2013 at 21:30
Lt Silva was SAAF, but 24 August not September.
Equally, Wandzilak was 26 August.
By: Lazy8 - 16th September 2013 at 21:22
Not having the benefit of the ‘Evaders’ book, I thought to run through Shores & Thomas’ 2TAF four-parter. Part 2 covers the dates in question, so I started at 9/9/44 and thumbed backwards… Flt Lts with obviously Dutch names, shot down in roughly that part of France, bailing out of a Spitfire and successfully evading (or even simply not being recorded as ‘Killed’) are in short supply. Being a little flexible, I have:
26/8 F/L S. Wandzilak, 308 Sqn, Spit IX PL729 Z, N/E Rouen
24/8 Lt. G.D. Silva, 33 Sqn, Spit IX NH375, near Rouen
One might imagine the first of these was a Pole. The second is a little more mysterious – being a Lt. rather than a Flt/Lt. probably makes Lt. Silva a ‘foreigner’ of some sort but I’ve no further information to go on…
I’ve not gone further back than 18/9, to fit in with (my idea at least of) “a short time before”. And of course if one expands the list to include other single-engined aircraft as ‘generic Spitfires’, there would perhaps be a few more names, but not many. Most of the other contenders would appear from their names to be fairly obviously British.
Anyone else got any ideas?
By: kirmington - 16th September 2013 at 18:57
Thanks Gents it was a log shot…I just hoped someone might say ‘Oh yes I know who that is’! Thanks for the info on the 166 crew. Technically my 166 friend wasn’t an evader. He was actually captured by the Germans but escaped a short time later thanks to some local Gendarmes.
By: Lazy8 - 16th September 2013 at 18:06
The website aircrewremembered.com has provided the Lancaster crew:
Lancaster III NE112 AS*M of 166 Sqn crashed at St-Riquier (Somme) at 13:20 on 31 August 44. Sgt W C Alderson and Sgt L Letten were killed and are in the British cemetery at St-Riquier. Flt Sgt G J Kirby, Flying Officer D Pleasance and Flt Lt D A Wallis became PoWs. The two listed evaders were Sgt R D Butcher and Flying Officer E B Tutly, RAAF.
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th September 2013 at 14:46
The answer may well lie in Oliver Clutton-Brock’s excellent RAF Evaders book. However, without a name it is hopeless as the names are listed alphabetically, not by date. I have had brief scan of the body of the narrative text for the period in question but can see no obvious mention.
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September 16, 2013 at 2:36 pm