Dad flew 32 sorties and was one of the last surviving pilots of PO-S for Sugar, the Lancaster that completed 137 operational trips and is now preserved in Hendon museum, London. During one of his many trips in this Lancaster on 18th July, 1944, whilst over Revigney he and his crew fought three ME109’s from 17,000 feet down to 400 feet but sustained heavy damage to the starboard wing. By cross feeding the fuel from the starboard wing to the four engines to reduce the weight they carried on, bombed the target successfully and returned to Waddington, England. They were greeted by their ground engineer’s comment of “Where the bloody hell are all the rivets?!!.” One hundred and twenty eight were missing from the wing root.

When he completed his operational tour, Dad, was posted to Upavon in February, 1945, Number Three Flying Instructor’s School and in May 1945, he completed Bomber Command instructor’s school teaching pilots operational know-how and returned to Australia in October 1945 on the cessation of hostilities and was demobbed on 17th January 1946

From here Dad joined Australian National Airways as Crewmaster until 1949, in a non-flying capacity, but because of his passion for flying he returned to England with his wife and young son, on the “Mooltan” to join the RAF and fly. In November, 1949, he was on a flight refresher course in Little Rissington on Harvards and Spitfires where he obtained and Instructor Rating on single engine aircraft. He was subsequently posted to Feltwell Number Three Flying Training School until November, 1952, on Instructional duties. After winning a Ground Instructors International competition Central Flying School of the British Empire requested his presence as Senior Aerodynamiscist and he joined them in August, 1952. In July 1954 Dad did a Meteor Jet conversion at Little Rissington and in the September was posted to Acklington as a Flight Commander in Jet Fighter Training as an Instructor.

In January, 1956, Dad underwent civil conversion and training to DC3’S at Trans Air, Croydon. In June of that year he joined BOAC subsidiaries as a pilot and was posted to Nigerian Airways based in Lagos, Nigeria, as a civil pilot. In September, 1958, he returned to BOAC pool London and in April of the following year he was posted to Accra, Ghana, once again on the West Coast of Africa, to fly with Ghana Airways. The political unrest in Ghana hastened his return to Australia in February, 1965, where he carried on civil flying including instructional duties as Director of Flight Operations of Nationwide Aviation Space Academy, Cessnock, N.S.W. until he surrendered his Flying Licences in 1980 at the age of sixty as required by the Department of Civil Aviation.
A long and colourful aviation career.

During his retiring years he and Mum joined the Grey Nomads, that group of retirees that travel with their campervans and caravans along the coast of Australia. They made many friends of all Nationalities in their travels and probably one of their most favoured haunts was Etty Bay. During this period of his life he remained passionate about the Squadrons associations travelling to different re-unions with his caravan.

Dad has been instrumental in organising the return of 123 members to England for the 50th Anniversary of VE Day, attending the Runnymeade Air Force Monument for over 4,000 deceased airmen, 2,000 who have no known grave!
He has returned to Germany four times for the Reunion of the Submariners lucky enough to escape when he led the raid that bombed two submarines and their tanker in Oslo Ford.
During one of these visits he returned to Berlin and helped in the identification of four Australian airmen who were lost on 18th January, 1944 and whose aircraft wreckage was discovered in 2000 in a wooded area outside Orienburg, 25 miles north of Berlin.

Dad was the immediate past President of the 467 –463 RAAF Squadrons Association (Qld) a position he held for twenty three years and served his second term as the National President of 467 - 463 Squadron Association co-ordinating their 15th Biennial Reunion held in Brisbane from 2ND to 6TH May, 2005.

In December 2003 I had the privilege of returning to the UK with Dad to visit some of the old haunts of WWII. He was most passionate about the 467 and 463 Squadrons associations and we visited all the places of note from the Squadrons view point. We stayed at the Horse and Jockey for a night and Dad was very nostalgic as we walked through the village. The nostalgia came to the front again when we visited the Waddington Air Force Base. We viewed the officer’s mess and the propeller memorial to the crew of JO-G and to those that lost their lives on 467 and 463 Squadrons.
We visited S-Sugar at Hendon and Dad was visibly moved to visit his old war horse again.
We also visited the Battle of Britain memorial Flight and I was allowed into their Lancaster. It was my turn to be emotional because I had never sat in the pilot’s seat of a Lancaster before. Dad was a very proud man and to be able to show his son some of his history made him extra proud and made me feel very humble.

Dad has touched the lives of many and he and his jokes and stories will be sadly missed by all and especially by his surviving family.

EASTER AND ANZAC DAY 2006

SCENARIO 1

I promised my father that I would carry on the tradition and the honour of the Squadrons that he held so close to his heart. I also promised that I would parade his medals with his mates and with his 467-463 Squadrons banner.

Unfortunately MS Diane Strub, my sister, has stated to me that I was to be bypassed with his medals and thus stripped of the honour of parading them. She gave them to his grandson, her son.

These medals were passed directly to her son, my Father's Grandson, and she claims was at fathers request. These medals were surepticiously removed with out family discussion and consent, and the Honour of the eldest son was abrigated by not being able to march the medals.

It was agreed by my father and myself that these medals would pass through me to Peter Strub many months before he passed.

Sister's statement to me was that this was Dad's wish. She also stated that "You know what he was like, he would never put anything in writing". If this is so then it makes it very hard for me to support all that he stood for, all that he found Honourable, all the Tradition that he believed in, and his request to me to support, in the spirit that he enthused, the 467-463 Squadrons Associations. One of his favourite phrases was to hand over to the next generation.

It has also been stated to me by Mother that she phoned Sister when she realised the medals were to be given away and demanded their return. Mother states that she was told "The medals are here and that is that". Mother has also stated to me that she was so distressed and ashamed that she could not talk to me about this.

SCENARIO 2

My Sister stated to me that it was Dad's request that these medals be moved to her Son. It is possible that due to his speech impediment that Diane has misunderstood which Peter he was referring to. My nephew is also Peter and my sister may have confused what his request was. In this case then it is not Father bypassing me but a simple confusion of names and terms. I still can not use this as an excuse for her because of the failure to discuss the movement of the Medals.

CONCLUSION

Irrespective of which ever scenario applies, my sister failed to discuss the movement of the Medals with the other 2 stakeholders, namely mother and myself. The agreement that I had with Dad to march his medals with his mates and then to hand to Peter Strub was never heard by other members of the family. The entire decision was based on the words that my sister heard or thinks she heard. All in all I am very sad that this has happened because it was not my Mother's wish and also not my Father's wish. My words that were also from Father were totally disregarded and never listened to or heard. The decision was carried by minority and greed.

Some words that will always haunt me ---

"We don't need you but you need us"

Mother has stated to me that she was invited around to her daughter's house on Mothers Day for the evening meal. Mother has said that it was demamded of her that she signs the letter she has been given. Mother has said that she was very distressed and asked to be taken home because she was stood over by her daughter and grandson and demands to sign this letter or we will remove support from you were issued. Mother states that the words used were along the lines of "I missed out on the rings, i will not miss out on the medals" (Sister), "I will not support you the same way you supported your mother" (Sister), "We don't need you but you need us" (Son in Law several times). Mother believes that she has signed this letter under duress and intimidation. Mother was counselled by friends and other members of the Squadrons Associations not to sign but felt that the loss of support from her daughter would be devastating to her well being.

This letter was handed to Mother some months after notification that the Medals had been moved. It refers to Dad's mental health, his speech, but does not state a direct time. I have read this letter and it is amateurish in it's design. It is obviously the knee jerk reaction of a person feeling guilt or fear that I would ask for the medals to be returned to Mother through the courts of Australia. This indicates to me a panic attack that maybe they know they are wrong.

THE ULTIMATE INSULT