The official AHF British Empire quiz thread

[Sheldrake]

all stumped? I'll give you a clue. This person was the subject of a film , but the battle scenes in the film showing a gallent action against elements of the Das Reich SS Panzer Division probably never took place.

[Rob Stuart]

Ian Willoughby Bazalgette?

[Sheldrake]

Nope. Nice thinking and could have fitted the original description. - but No Das Reich involvement. PS as a side question - what is his connection to "Big Brother"

Have another clue.

This person served in 137 (Mixed) HAA Regiment RA in the air defence of Warrington before taking part in activities which led to a parachute drop into France in June 1944 and the resulting fame, and sadly, death by German bullets, but rather bizarrely not considered as "under enemy fire", and leaving an orphaned daughter.

[Tom from Cornwall]

An SOE agent?

Tom

[Sheldrake]

might be but - vee ask zee qvestions hier!

[Rob Stuart]

It's Violette Szabo, awarded the George Cross - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Szabo. Your reference to the "highest award for gallantry" prompted me to go through the list of VC winners and that was of course a dead end, but then I caught on. Narrowly speaking it's not correct to call the GC the highest award for gallantry but if you had added "for civilians" or some such qualification it would have been too easy.

Rob

[Sheldrake]

Rob, well done. Technically the George Cross is the equal highest award for gallantry with the VC. The distinction is that the VC can only be awarded for gallantry under fire, and in modern times,. to members of the Armed Forces. The bizarre part of the decision to award the GC rather than the VC is that she WAS in the armed Forces as an ensign in FANY and so any decision to award the VC was that she was not under fire - which seems odd since she was executed by the Germans. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casua ... 0ELIZABETH


There has a campaign to have her award amended to be a VC. Violette served as an ATS gunner in 1941 in the air defence of Warrington in the NW. In the RA Commemorative book her Battery Commander wrote of her being very short 5" slim and very pretty. She had to stand on tip toe to operate the AA Predictor. She got married, and was dismissed from the ATS after she became pregnant. After her husband was killed at El Alamein she volunteered for SOE. The choice to risk life as an agent and leave a toddler behind says a lot about personal determination and commitment.

Your go.

[Rob Stuart]

Thanks, Sheldrake. Your GC v. VC explanation is very interesting.

Okay, next question: Who was called the "Triple Front Ace"? (So far as I know there was only the one, among Commonwealth/Empire pilots.)


Rob

[Sheldrake]

The most obvious is Clive "Killer" Caldwell who flew in North Africa, (Against the Germans and Italians) Syria and Lebanon (against the French) and in the South Pacific and New Guinea campaigns (against the Japanese)

[Rob Stuart]

Hello Sheldrake,

It's not Caldwell I'm thinking of, and in any case I would probably call him a "Double Front Ace". He may have flown on operations on more than one front but all his kills were in North Africa and the Far East. The pilot I'm referring was credited with shooting down enemy aircraft in the Med (Greece and North Africa), the Indian Ocean and Northwest Europe. He was credited with many fewer kills than was Caldwell, however.

Rob

[Polar bear]

hi,

sounds like a FAA pilot ...

or a even much better theory
Rob is misleading us, again, as in his "overseas" question .. using RCAF "lingo"
a) the Hudson Bay is called "the Med",
b) a large lake in Indian country (Great Slave or Great Bear lake) is called the "Indian Ocean" and
c) there´s a village or station named Europe in the North-Western territories, that´s "Northwest Europe"
the pilot in question killed accidentally some geese with his propeller in all 3 areas, and as a RCAF joke was called "the ace of three fronts"
how´s that ?

greetings, the pb

[Rob Stuart]

Hello PB. No, I've not resorted to such RCAF lingo in this post. I was planning to do so the next time I get to pose a question, exploiting the fact that in Canada we have a London, a Berlin (renamed Kitchener), a York (renamed Toronto), a Sydney and even a Vulcan, but now you've spoiled for me.

I think it's time for some hints. Here is a skeleton CV for my "Triple Front Ace":

Born in Canada

Joined RAF in 1937

Credited with destroying following aircraft:
-a CANT 506B over Greece in November 1940
-a Ju 52 near Halfaya Pass in January 1942
-an unidentified Italian torpedo bomber off Sidi Barrani in January 1942
-a Zero and a "naval bomber" over Colombo on 5 April 1942
-a LEO 45 in Luftwaffe service in December 1943, apparently over France

Transferred to the RCAF in 1944 and flew F-86s over Korea

Cheers,

Rob

[Rob Stuart]

Time for another hint: Our Triple Front Ace commanded No.143 Wing from 20 January to 8 May 1944. He force landed in France after engine failure on 8 May 1944 and joined the French Underground as a Private, serving until 5 September 1944 (Group "Voix du Nord", sabotage and disorganization of Germans in Pas de Calais area).

Rob

[Sheldrake]

Until you mentioned SOE I was going to suggest Dickie Cork of the Fleet air arm, who became an ace in Battle of Britain, attached to 242 Sqn, then destroying seven Vichy French aircraft in the Indian Ocean and five Italian aircraft in one day on Op Pedestal.

That's an ace on each of three fronts.

[Sheldrake]

Bob Davidson on the other hand fits better, but he fought in the Korean war as well as the far east Middle east and European theatres in WW2 - which makes four!