Description
Bill enrolled in the RAF in 1941 at the age of sixteen. He joined the elite Air Observers School in Canada for ten months’ training and then joined 138 Squadron and flew men and woman from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) into France and other parts of Europe.
It was a secret business, one of the most secret businesses in the RAF at the time. They called themselves taxi drivers. Bill flew the SOE agents to drop off points all over Europe.
By 1944 Bill was flying Lancaster Bombers and Wellington Bombers, dropping arms and ammunition to the Maquis, the French resistance fighters.
Throughout the war his squadron took in 995 agents, dropped over 10,000 packages, lost seventy aircraft and 300 aircrew.
After the war Bill flew over Europe, photographing from the skies. He left in 1947, got married, had children and headed into the family’s building business.
Print taken from the book ‘A TIME TO FIGHT Living and Remembering WWII’
