HELP NEEDED PLEASE TO FIND THE LAST MISSING MEMBER OF A No. 97 SQUADRON BOMBER CREW. 'Timeless Images' has been contacted by Dave Donaghy & Sandy Cannings, asking for our help with information regarding a crew member of Sandy's Father's on No. 97 Squadron at Bourn and Coningsby in Nos. 8 (PFF) & 5 Groups; March to August 1944. The crew, which had previously operated with No. 100 Squadron, was Captained by P/O, (later S/Ldr. DFC & Bar), William Mitchell Reid, RAFVR, and comprised: F/Sgt. William Stanley Richards, DFM, RAFVR. Flight Engineer. F/Lt. Ronald Douglas Holbrook Parker, DFC, RAFVR. Navigator. ... F/O Geoffrey Douglas Moir, DFC & Bar, RAFVR. Bomb Aimer. W/O Benjamin Harthill, DFC, RAFVR.Wireless Operator. F/Sgt. Douglas Percy Cannings, DFM, RAFVR. Mid-Upper Gunner. F/Sgt. Gordon Brown, DFM, RAFVR. Rear Gunner. All ranks and decorations given are those held at the end of this highly-decorated Crew's tour. It is the Rear Gunner, 1113002 F/Sgt. GORDON BROWN, DFM, that Dave and Sandy seek. He is believed to have hailed from Yorkshire and may have played professional rugby before the war. His birth date is estimated at pre-1923.
My Grandfather was F/Sgt. William Stanley Richards, DFM, RAFVR. Flight Engineer and sadly passed way several years ago (1981).
I have been trying to research his career as I have no images etc of him during this time and he very rarely spoke of his time in the RAF (I was also very young so never asked him anything).
I do have a copy of his service records that is about it.
Geoffrey Moir was an English teacher at Ashburton High School, Croydon, when I was there. I left in 1975. The school buildings have been redeveloped in the last 10 years, but the site is still a school, now called Oasis Academy. Croydon Council might be able to help with current information.
There is a picture of him in this publication dated 1993:
Hello there. Geoff Moir lived and worked in the Falklands for a time and was my first teacher there in the mid 1980s. He attended my wedding here in the UK in 2004 and we were in touch until he passed away a few years later. I'd love to know more about his war record if you did have more information, we did speak of it and I recall his once showing me a picture of his old squadron and lamenting that he was one of the last left. My email address is bennyontour@yahoo.com.
