Hello: I was contacted on facebook by Gary Clarke a week ago. He wanted to know if I was the son of William Law Sandilands of 76 Sqdn who was killed on 28 October 1944 over Holland and was looking for photos. I replied in the affirmative but Gary has not since replied.
Does anyone know if there are photos of all the 76 Sqdn crews and where they might be accessed? Also, my mother told me that I was named after the nickname of my father's plane, viz "The Jolly Roger". Officially, his plane was Halifax III MZ599 MP-U, piloted by S/L Robert Langton AFC DFM. (My father died 3 months before my birth.) - Roger Sandilands, Glasgow.
Hello ,I was researching 76 sqdn myself and was told to get in touch with the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington and duly did and also visited last year ,unfortunately I had more info about my query than they did but,they do have a very good research facility and for £5 they will do a search so, it may be of use to you,regards,Graham D.
Hello, I think if you get in touch wiyh the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington they may have some photos of 76 sqdn aircrew.I have two photos but they are pre-1944.One is of all the crews preparing for the raid on Kassel and one is of my uncle's crew with a white Lancaster behind probably taken at a heavy conversion unit airfield.I would be interested to hear how you get on. My uncle's aircraft was shot down on 3/4 november 1943 on their way to Dusseldorf . Coded MP-X serial LK932,it was flown by FLT/Lt Denis Hornsey and the crew were all safe but captured except for the pilot who evaded with the help of the Comete line of the Belgian resistance and got back through Spain and Gibralta. After the war he wrote a book called The Pilot Walked Home and just recently his daughter has had the book reprinted and is a very good read.I hope this helps and feel free to contact me about 76 sqdn any time E-mail gpd2017@hotmail.com,regards Graham D.
Just a quick one about Archive at Elvington. Not much information on 76 Squadron, They have 2 folders which I went through but much of the information can be found freely on the internet. I took all my info last year when I was having a Halifax tour and left it with them. This year went to IBCC in Lincoln and when I got my folder out half my info was missing and had not been put back with other documents. The point of this is when I emailed and asked regarding the missing documents they said they had no information in the records from myself even though they had said they had scanned all the documents and information and would even show it to the man in charge of the turret gunners display. These documents were the basis for the start of my research 14 years ago and yes I should have made sure they were there before I left but with historic documents you expect Yorkshire Air Museum to be a lot more careful. I have stopped my research now as I personally feel I have failed my family and my Uncle by loosing the documents. So the moral of the story is if you want Information and documents to be kept for future generations contact the International Bomber Command Center they logged all my documents that remained and had them for 2 weeks and sent them back to me at their expense via DHL Courier. Searchable Database will be up and running in the near future. Just be more careful and trusting than I was.
-- Edited by Starman 1957 on Sunday 9th of September 2018 04:56:52 AM
-- Edited by Starman 1957 on Sunday 9th of September 2018 04:58:10 AM
-- Edited by Starman 1957 on Sunday 9th of September 2018 05:05:32 AM
Hello Starman. I am shocked to hear that Elvington research facility has lost your documents and I will be more careful when recommending them in future. I have only recentlybeen back in touch with my cousin whose father was a mid-upper in 76sqdn. He contacted me after seeing my blog on the forum and was surprised to find that I still lived in the same house that his father was born in and told me the story of his father's flying log being thrown out with his belongings after a marriage break-up. As you know these documents are priceless and not recoverable I think it is a sad day when no one has the feeling for anyone who was connected by these things. Regards,Graham D.
I spoke on the phone recently to John Wright, an archivist at Elvington, about whether they have a photo of my father's Sdn76 crew, and he said he would investigate, but nothing yet from him. - Roger Sandilands
