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Old 12-09-2007, 02:16 PM   #10 (permalink)
spidge
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Location: Melbourne Australia
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Distinguished Pilot of the (RhAF)

Service Profile: Archie Wilson


For the full story.
http://www.defence.gov.au/Raaf/raafm...6-a-wilson.htm

Archibald O.G. Wilson ICD OBE DFC (USA) was a volunteer member of the Southern Rhodesian Territorial Army (part-time) when war was declared in 1939. Within a day he offered his services to, and was accepted for pilot training in, the Southern Rhodesian Air Force (SRAF).

He was commissioned as a General Duties (GD) Pilot Officer, subsequently flying on two tours of operations. He flew Mk I Hurricanes with No. 274 Squadron, P-40 Tomahawks with No. 250 Squadron, Mks I and IIC Hurricanes with No. 237 Squadron. Joining No. 238 Squadron, he flew Hurricane IICs, Spitfire Vs, VIIIs, and IXs in Fighter Command, Desert Air Force in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy and over the south of France.
As a Squadron Leader, Archie took command of No. 238 Squadron in August 1943, and remained in that post until August 1944 when, having completed two tours of operations, he was returned to Southern Rhodesia on posting to RAF Central Flying School (CFS) Norton, for training as a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) and was elevated to 'B' category on Cornells and Harvards. He remained on instructional duties at RAF Mt. Hampden, RAF Guinea Fowl and RAF Thornhill until demobilised and transferred to the SRAF Reserve of Officers in November 1945.



Additional to the list of aircraft flown on active service, Archie also piloted Tiger Moths, Hawkers: Hart, Audax, Hardy,and Hind, Gloster: Gauntlets and a Gladiator, Vampires, Hunters, Canberras, Miles Magisters, Valencias, Blenheims, Proctors, Beech Barons, Avro Ansons Mks I and IXX, DH Rapides, Otters, Dakotas, Pembrokes, Trojans (AL60s), Chipmunks, Kittyhawk, Navion 262, Cessna 206, Mustang, Meteor and Airspeed Oxford.
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My Avatar is the memorial to the 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) who were beheaded by the Japanese on 15th October 1942. http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat...mem_beito.html

"You were given the choice between war and dishonor.
You chose dishonor and you will have war."

(Winston Churchill made this prophetic pronouncement in a House of Commons speech in 1938, just after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Chamberlain returned from Germany with the signed agreement in hand, proclaiming that "peace in our time" had been achieved. Churchill attacked Chamberlain's "politics of appeasement" in this and many other speeches.)

What did the Australians do in ww2 and other conflicts? Check out this site:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/00-pag...ster-index.htm
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