From Our Twitter Feed

John Crammond

I am indebted to Kevin Scotland for submitting information and photographs of his grandfather, John Crammond, who was a Flight Engineer on 44 Sqn from June until October1944. He joined 44 Sqn having gone through the Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Winthorpe and No 5 Finishing School at RAF Syerston. His first operational mission on the Squadron was an attack on Beauvoir in France and his last was a mission to Bremen on 6th October 1944, by which time the Squadron had moved from Dunholme Lodge to Spilsby.

After his 44 Sqn tour, he returned to Winthorpe as an instructor. By the end of the war he had completed 28 operations, including one in September 1944 during which Wg Cdr Guy Gibson was shot down.

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John Crammond with his crew

Each crew member signed the reverse of the above photograph:

Sandy Henderson, navigator, RCAF
Jack Beechey, mid upper, RAF
William Shute, bomb aimer, RCAF (although American)
Bob Slade, pilot, RCAF
Don Spankie, rear gunner, RCAF
John Crammond (my grandfather), f/engineer, RAF
Fred Bishop, w/op, RA

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Crew signatures on reverse of photo

VE Day London Flypast 1946

Another of our followers on Twitter is the granddaughter of John Charles Thompson DFM, a Lancaster Flight Engineer serving on 44 Squadron at the end of the war. Unfortunately I can only identify her by her email address: p.spurr@hotmail.co.uk . Her Tweet was as follows:

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Lancaster formation over London 1946

My Grandpa flew over London in a Lancaster Bomber during the 1946 VE Day celebrations. He was John Charles Thompson DFM, a Flight Engineer of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron. Here is his plane is circled carefully in pen, and his logbook, with his neat script, marking the occasion.
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John Thompson’s logbook

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John Thompson in front of a Junkers Ju 52