Wartime Brothers 1944
Background
Based on Hugh’s R.A.F. logbook from October 1943 to December 1944, Keith’s and Joan’s diaries for 1944 and Hugh’s letters to Joan for this period.
The account will be be built up in stages over 2024, the 80th anniversary of the events mentioned.
Joan lived with her parents in Muswell Hill north London. At the start of the war she was a shorthand typist working for the Legal and General Assurance Society in the Aldwych in central London.
In 1941 she moved to work for the Ministry of Food in Hornsey, where she was also a volunteer fire watcher.
In 1941 she moved to work for the Ministry of Food in Hornsey, where she was also a volunteer fire watcher.
Hugh and Keith lived in Surbiton with their widowed mother. Hugh was an insurance clerk at the Legal & General Assurance Society, where he and Joan met.
Hugh joined the R.A.F. in 1941. After initial training he was shipped to Canda where he spent the next sixteen months. He learnt to fly and did a stint as a staff pilot before returning to the UK in early 1943.
At the start of 1944 he had been flying Lancaster bombers operationally for two months. He had completed seven missions flying with 103 and 576 Squadrons out of R.A.F. Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire.
Keith, now seventeen, had recently left school and was looking for a job.
Hugh joined the R.A.F. in 1941. After initial training he was shipped to Canda where he spent the next sixteen months. He learnt to fly and did a stint as a staff pilot before returning to the UK in early 1943.
At the start of 1944 he had been flying Lancaster bombers operationally for two months. He had completed seven missions flying with 103 and 576 Squadrons out of R.A.F. Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire.
Keith, now seventeen, had recently left school and was looking for a job.