Thread: D B Thomas DFC 90 SQN

Have you lost a month DFC?

Err I am going on when he got his DFC awarded rather than the date of the service he gave to his country Spidge
Tony

Who and what are we talking about? DB Thomas DFC, yes, but who was he, what did he do and did he survive the war?

No reference in Errol Martyn's For Your Tomorrow so, happily, he survived the war.

Originally Posted by Antipodean Andy

Who and what are we talking about? DB Thomas DFC, yes, but who was he, what did he do and did he survive the war?

No reference in Errol Martyn's For Your Tomorrow so, happily, he survived the war.

Hi yes he was a Stirling pilot 90 sqn as per the thread .He was wounded badly on this last mission on 5/6 June dropping the dummies over France and window over the channel on the way there .He survived the injury but sadly died after the war with complications from the injury received .He was from Ashbourne NZ a town 40 km south of Christchurch .He joined up in DEC 1941 ,was commissioned in NOV 43 flew 36 missions .Wounded in stomach on last mission never fully recovered from the injury.He died 5th July 1946 hence the date on thread .DFC awarded 1944 Usual citation . Medals 1939-45 star, ACE star ,DEF,WAR and NZ service Medal . Flew Wellingtons ,Stirlings and 1 as Dicky pilot on a Lancaster to Berlin
Cheers Tony

Hi Tony !

You said he flew missions in November 1943 ..... I found this snippet it may add to your information ! ( or it may not ... but I'll post just in case !! )

In November 1943 90 Squadron were part of No 3 (Bomber) Group and were based at RAF Tuddenham in Suffolk - flying Short Sterling MK III’s on normal bombing operations and a large number of mine laying missions.

Thanks, Tony. That's the type of post we like. Lots of detail.

Interesting to read about the 2nd dickey in the Lanc. Was this towards the end of his time with 90 given the squadron was converting to Lancs at the time of his final trip?

Do you have details of his other trips and what happened on them? Any info on the second dickey he must have done upon joining 90 Squadron and its Stirlings?

Originally Posted by DFC

Err I am going on when he got his DFC awarded rather than the date of the service he gave to his country Spidge
Tony

Apologies Tony, however I could not decipher that from the date and information in the post.

Cheers

Geoff

Originally Posted by Antipodean Andy

Thanks, Tony. That's the type of post we like. Lots of detail.

Interesting to read about the 2nd dickey in the Lanc. Was this towards the end of his time with 90 given the squadron was converting to Lancs at the time of his final trip?

Do you have details of his other trips and what happened on them? Any info on the second dickey he must have done upon joining 90 Squadron and its Stirlings?

Hi Andy as to the flight as 2nd dicky from the records i have of his missions it was his 3rd last mission .I believe as you do that he was about to be
piloting a Lancaster as 90 squadron was going from Stirlings to Lancasters from end June 44 .Unusual as he had only 2 missions on that tour to go .He would then have gone on to being an instructor as most did for 6 months and then a 2nd tour. Maybe he just wanted to go on a mission in a Lanc before he
finished his tour.As to his missions about 3rd were dropping mines another 3rd SOE missions dropping supplies to resistance at low level , hit by low level AA guns and flak 4 times over these drops and others Usual bombing over France and Germany and d day France last mission and end of his tour
Cheers Tony