Who were the first RAF Aircrew to Complete a Bomber Command Tour?

I’ve had a look at the rest of the 24 Sq ORB for 1940. Sadly, it remains fragmentary for the summer and, from the autumn, the entries appear only to list the pilot crew. So whilst there is no mention of Mr Goldsmith being crew in a Flamingo, it is entirely possible that he was.

There is a list of the entire crew and passengers for Hertfordshire R2510, the sole military version of the Flamingo, which crashed at Hendon on 23 October killing 5 crew and 6 passengers, including Air Vice Marshal Blount. The non-pilot crew comprised Cpl A H K Robertson (Wireless Operator), LAC W J Wynn-Harley (Flight Mechanic) and LAC L D Rudling (Rigger). The flight was part of the daily scheduled service to Belfast where the Army was regrouping following the evacuation.

I don’t know whether all Rapides had wireless but I do know that some did.

I tried a quick Google to see if there is any evidence that Mr Goldsmith went on to train as a pilot, but to no avail. I did find that his wedding to Diana Goodfellow was announced in The Aeroplane on 29 May 1942 at which point he held the rank of Sergeant.

There’s a very comprehensive interview with another of Churchill’s pilots, Charles Willis, available on IWM’s website. He describes how, in view of the work 24 Squadron was doing, all personnel were carefully selected.

It is obvious from my research that those involved were very aware of the importance of the Squadrons work, particularly when it involved the PM.

Echo India

OK, who were the first RAF crew t complete a tour together AFTER the crews started to be permanently put together? I’m guessing this is not known either as they did not need to publicise it for propaganda like the USAAF did with the Memphis Belle?

Interesting Echo India, I’d gotten the impression from him that he was a pilot. I wonder if he was a Wireless Operator instead. He definitely seemed to have worked with the Flamingos, he had a nice photo of one on his wall in his flat, and who’d have that up on the wall if they had no connection to the type? I recall him telling me about how Winston’s Flamingo aircraft had a big armchair fitted for him. Years later I actually saw a photo of that exact fit out.

As Zidante previously posted – not an easy question to answer !
I cannot give an answer to the question but I can give some info about 1 RAF pilot.
TG ‘Hamish’ Mahaddie DSO,DFC,AFC started out in the RAF as a Metal Rigger apprentice at Halton (17th entry) in 1928.
He managed to get on a pilot’s course and was awarded his wings in 1935 with promotion to Sgt Pilot.
He returned to the UK in 1937 and was posted to 77 Sqn as a (wellesley ?) then Whitley pilot – commissioned in 1940 he finished his first ‘tour’ in July 1940 after completing 33 operational sorties.
He of course carried on to fame with the Pathfinders (both real and the ‘TV version’) and Mahaddies Air Force for the B of B film.

Details taken from the autobio ‘Hamish’

I have had a flick through the ORB for 24 Squadron, which operated the communications flights to France, from late 1939 until the fall of France. They contain a couple of references to AC Goldsmith as flight crew on a DH89 in early 1940.

As the Squadron records, whilst extensive, are far from complete, particularly in relation to the detachments in France, I also checked the logbook entries for F/Lt Ian McLeod who was detached with a Rapide and Vega Gull to Arras from February 1940 until the evacuation. These show that AC Goldsmith was part of the detachment from early April, regularly flying as crew with McLeod in the Rapide. It appears that McLeod flew him and two other Aircraftmen to Boulogne to evacuate.

I have copies of McLeod’s log book entries for his flights with Churchill, before and after the fall of France, and Goldsmith is not mentioned.

If you ever find out more about Mr Goldsmith, please let me know as it would be of interest to my research.

Echo India

Thanks, yes that makes sense. I’d forgotten that there was no rigid crews in the early days, just whoever was available and rostered on. The RNZAF was ahead of the RAF in this respect it seems, while our bomber crews mixed and matched in the early days too, they formed up crews as soon as Hudsons came on strength in mid-1941.

In terms of the RAF there will have been a first individual airman to complete the 200 flying hours of a tour, but no crew. I wonder if he was recorded anywhere.

Did the RFC/RAF bombers have set crews at all during WWI or between the wars? Or was it always ad hoc with whoever was available?

Supplementary:
Summarising, Bomber Command hit the ground running changing as they went at the start of hostilities, including personnel being posted to form new units from active ones.
Although the USAAF structure evolved with time, they formed and trained Stateside as units initially, and came over as operational units, so the opportunity to complete a tour as a crew was there from the start.

I fear this is an impossible question to answer as there is no answer. Initially, a tour was 200 hours operational flying. The problem with an answer here is that initially as the force was expanding, crews as a rigidly composed unit weren’t apparent in the same way as later in the war. If you look at the ORBs up to 1942/3 you tend to see that individuals ‘often’ flew together but there was a lot more fluidity than later when it would be a case of ‘spare bods’ filling in for e.g. illness etc.
The establishment of the OCUs and later the HCUs formed the more familiar seven man units, but initially as the force expanded from regulars to include volunteers then I would expect that people finished their tours (or got posted elsewhere for other reasons) more or less individually.