Seems that I have some more news! I tried the phone number given above a few times at random intervals over 10 days or so but got no reply, so I resorted to good old fashioned snail mail.
I got back home from holiday this weekend and found an email from Colin Bailey, the son of SqnLdr Bailey.
Here’s what he says about his Dad (I’ve edited out the more personal details):
“Dad (who is the short chap standing in the middle of the group, and who retired as a Wing Commander) survived the War and remained in the RAF until 1954, serving in Air Traffic Control. He was an active local councillor and the family lived for nearly sixty years in Barton Mills.
Dad lies at Enborne near Newbury, which is where he died in a nursing home, sadly suffering from Alzheimers.
Dad was for many post-war years the owner of a cafe and petrol filling station called the Suffolk Punch at Red Lodge near Newmarket. He had worked up through the ranks of the pre-war RAF, starting at the lowest level and eventually serving extensively in the Middle East as an armourer. He first met Mum in Cairo.
Dad’s flying and bombing exploits are all on record. As well as winning the DFC and the AFC, he was twice mentioned in Dispatches for his courage when bombing over Germany. He is thought to have achieved, as a Lancaster pilot, the deepest daylight penetration of Germany made by any RAF plane in the war.”
Colin included his address so I will be returning the picture to him. I asked if he knew the others in the crew, to which he replied,
“Checking the back of my own photo, I’m afraid that I found no names of the crew-members, although Dad’s short note says “Graveley, 1944″ (Huntingdonshire), which was the station from which Dad flew on his Pathfinder missions. I understand there to have been Australians in the crew.”
So there we are; mission accomplished! Thank you to everyone who helped along the way. Isn’t the Internet great?
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