Hi again,

Sorry for the delay in posting, but here’s an image of Pilot Officer Colin Dickson.

[ATTACH]161644[/ATTACH]

He hailed from Kempsey, NSW Australia. Enlisting in 1942, his initial training was conducted at Kingaroy, 8EFTS Narrandera and Uranquinty before shipping out to the UK.

Regards,

Owen

Hi Moggy,

Thanks for this post.

In coming across it I noted the township of Kempsey mentioned. My mother hailed from there so I called her. An ex-WAAAF, she knew Colin Dickson well and his Lanc was known as “Naughty Nan”. Her other great friend R.B. ‘Bob’ Eggins also served with 467 Sqn and was killed 04MAR45.

If further information is needed, I have some more details at hand.

Regards,

Owen

An interesting thread. I had often wondered the same thing. On discussing it with a veteran of the conflict previously, he raised the point that some of the piston aircraft may have survived, but most of the jets would have “created a crater”.

Like JoeB, I’ve seen the images of allied aircraft on display, but they were seemingly pieced together wrecks on static display.

As for getting access to the region…..

Cheers

Owen

Hi All,

That’s disappointing news. At least some of it was salvaged.

On the subject of “Casablanca”, every time I fly into LAX there’s an old style building in sound condition near the freight operations. I’ve been told that this was also used as the terminal in the movie “Casablanca”. Any thoughts?

Cheers

Owen

Hi All,

As always, there are so many that spring to mind.

At first glance I would say the P-51D Mustang, though the Hawker Hurricane also holds a soft spot for me.

Ideally, I would truly like to find one of my father’s old RAAF steeds and fly it. In a perfect world, a Meteor he flew in Korea, but I’d be happy with anything from a Tiger Moth to a Vampire. I know some of them are still out there. If only…;)

Cheers

Owen

Hi Willip,

I’ve received an answer back and it seems unlikely that A17-503 ever wore a silver scheme. The consensus agrees that by that stage of the war an all over yellow scheme with black serial and nose numbering would be the most likely.

I can email you a file that I was forwarded with some images from the AWM of Tigers from that era if you’d like. Below I have attached a copy of the RAAF data card for A17-503.

[ATTACH]159264[/ATTACH]

Cheers

Owen

Truly sad news.

I first met Col as a boy with my Dad and then later in life I would drop into Scone on my student pilot Navs before doing the same as an young instructor climbing the greasy aviation pole.

My overwhelming memory is a man of modesty with time for young blokes like me with stars in their eyes. We must have been a real inconvenience to the operation at Scone; sniffing around the hangar for the various machines that passed through the doors. Spitfire, Mustang, Bird Dog, Kittyhawk, etc, etc. Yet he always took the time to stop and say g’day.

Clear skies Col.

Owen

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