November 12, 2014 at 5:34 am
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to gather reference material about the Spitfires flown by Australian BoB ace, Flt. Lt. Clarence (Pat) Hughes. In particular, I’m trying to glean as much information as I can about the Spitfire he was shot down in during his final sortie – Spitfire X4009. Issue 75 of ‘Britain at War’ magazine (July 2014) contained a short article about Joe Roddis, one of the men responsible for maintaining X4009. I have sent three emails to the magazine over the last 2 months, seeking additional information about Pat’s Spitfire. So far, I have not received a reply, nor any acknowledgement of my requests. Is there at protocol for such requests? I would dearly love to ask Mr. Roddis a couple of questions about this aircraft and would welcome any advice about how to contact him. Thanks in advance.
Wayne
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th November 2014 at 10:10
A pleasure. We aim to please!
Andy Saunders
Editor, ‘Britain at War’ magazine.
By: Wayne Kohlmann - 17th November 2014 at 09:46
Hi Andy,
Thank you, so much, for your prompt reply and offer of assistance. Thanks to you, and the previous editor of ‘Britain at War’ magazine, I have received an email containing the information I was looking for. Please extend my sincere thanks to those who assisted you. I’m happy to hear that you have commissioned a future article on Pat Hughes and that it is scheduled for next summer – I can’t wait to get a copy of that issue! Thank you, once again.
Kind and warmest regards,
Wayne
By: Arabella-Cox - 12th November 2014 at 06:47
Hello Wayne
I have recently taken over as Editor of Britain at War, so you may consider that you have made contact!
Please email me again on [email]andy.saunders@britainatwar.com[/email]
I will endeavour to help you, although I fear I have no recall of your emails and these may well have pre-dated my tenure at the magazine which, officially, commenced on 1 September.
We do try to answer or acknowledge all emails within ten days, but sometimes they slip through the net and I apologise if this has happened here. However, we only have a team of one (me!) and, in mitigation, the workload is extremely heavy and we have a large volume of email and postal correspondence.
However, I’m afraid that I will need to refer your email to the previous editor under whom the article in question was produced since I have no access to the contact details you are seeking. I am sure that if Mr Mace is able or willing to help you then he might consider passing correspondence to Mr Roddis but, as a matter of policy, we would not be able to give you either the contact details of Mr Roddis or Mr Mace.
You may be interested to know that I have commissioned an article on Pat Hughes for publication next summer.