Jim Wallwork RIP WW2 Glider pilot

Sad news indeed.

For those interested in the exploits of the Glider Pilot Regiment I’d strongly recommend tracking down a copy of The Wooden Sword by Lawrence Wright.

I wonder if one of the gliders in this picture is his?

Indeed it is.

His is the one on the left as you look at the picture, the closest to the bridge.

There was no finer piece of flying in all of WW2.

If you visit Normandy the bridge, its museum and Cafe Gondree are ‘must do’

Moggy

Here’s a link to the late Jim Wallwork’s own web site…..excellent reading

http://www.britisharmedforces.org/pages/nat_jim_wallwork.htm

Blue skies Mr. Wallwork.

I wonder if one of the gliders in this picture is his? What an amazing feat.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Pegasus_Bridge_1944.jpg

One of my many heroes and I think I will get out ‘Pegasus Bridge’ again to remind me why his action was described as “the greatest feat of flying of the second world war” by Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory.

Blue Skies

Salute to one of the finest pilots in the history of aviation.

If I could have a tenth of his skills I would be a proud man.

Moggy

I struggle to put a glide landing (albeit in a powered aeroplane) exactly where I want it in broad daylight on an airfield. To do in around midnight, in a boggy field next to a canal in France was nothing short of utterly superb but also as a target of such importance too, there can be very few comparable feats.

To lead them in and put where he did could almost not have been planned for in advance of the operation.

RIP to a very fine aviator.

Salute to one of the finest pilots in the history of aviation.

If I could have a tenth of his skills I would be a proud man.

Moggy

RIP

IMHO, one of the greatest feats of airmanship ever…

Blue skies Jim, I hope your arrival at the pearly gates was as close as your arrival at the Orne Canal Bridge.