I encourage anyone that  has more information (Flight Log Book entries) or photos on 112 Squadron please send an e-mail to   raf_112_sqdn@yahoo.com before the history is lost.

 

 

RAF 112 Sqn Operations Record Book (copies of the Squadron's Operations Record Book Daily Summaries (RAF Form 540) taken from National Archives copies.) graciously donated by The Howe's......Dad David J. and Son Gerry Howe, Captain, 426 Sqn
Trenton, Ontario, Canada both RCAF members past and present

Record books in this series provide a daily record of events in each squadron entered on Form 540, with appendices including some photographs (many of which may have different covering dates from those of the books themselves) .Also included are some Operations Record Books (ORBs) for Dominion and allied air force squadrons under British command. Though the system of Operations Record Books started after the First World War few books in this series date from before the mid 1930s. The object of the Operations Record Book (ORB) was to furnish a complete historical record of a unit from the time of its formation, including an accurate record of operations carried out. Information was thereby collected for future reference with a view to improving the organization, equipment and administration of the Royal Air Force. 
Records of the Royal Air Force relating to the operations of the air component of the armed forces.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/DisplayCatalogueDetails.asp?CATID=530&CATLN=2&FullDetails=True

These are a daily record of events in each Command or Force entered on form 540, often with appendices which contain documents illustrating and expanding the record.

For those that are able to a good source in England might be Public Records Office, Operational Record Books for RAF Squadrons & "Crete Naval and RAF Sitreps 20/5/41" WO106/3241, also WO 106/3243

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Time unknown persons unknown thanks goes to A Ross for this contribution, any ideas?

This is an early Gladiator serial is L7614, 06/11/40, Flt Lt Kenneth Howard Savage, 112 Sqdn, K Flight, Shot down, KIA, during the Sudan offensive to capture the Italian fort at Gallabat. Shot down by Fiat CR42`s from 412 Squadriglia led by unit the unit Commander Capitano Raffi near Gallabat (called, Metemma, by Abyssinians)......got that by looking under the wing where the pre war serials where painted, know this is a desert picture and 112 Sqdn had L7611 thru L7617 and also L7619 on its unit strength.

L7614 would have been on 33 Sqdn strength when this picture was taken, this is verified by John Cleary via his son at in an e-mail to me,

" Incidentally, my Dad has a photo of the picture with the bowser and the Gladiator with the Man and His Pith Helmet and he thinks it might be 33 Sqdn at Ismalia rather than 112 Sqdn!  A heresy I know given the research that has already been done but once again this shows the importance of recording as much as possible as quickly as possible before it becomes too late to check out accurately"

33 Squadron
Ismailia, February 1938 to September 1938. Heliopolis, September 1938 to October 1938. Ramleh, Mersah Matruh and Helwan, September 1938 to October 1940. Over the period February to June 1940, some Gauntlets reinforced the Gladiators.

 

The next Photo stirred a small flurry of e-mails thanks go out to Greg Peters and Jim Gray Collins

 

Taken in Rome 17  July, 1944, someone had slapped an 8th army crest on the front and written "Water Closet" on the flank.

Dear Rob,
 
attached is another photo from Bernie's album.
I'm sending this via my new broadband email address - should be easier.
 

The caption on this photo says:

"Tex, Jellet & Rowe, plus Nazi tank."  (A mark 4, "Tiger"?)

The three pilots named are in the left foreground, I think.

The one on the extreme left is definitely Tex Gray.

Bernie Peters and these three all left 112 on the same day (31/7/44)-and what a party they had.

I think this photo was taken around that time - possibly by Bernie.

Bernie and Tex Gray were good pals. 

Bernie wrote to Tex at a US address after the war, but no reply was received.

So, if Tex is still out there somewhere, Dad would sure like to hear from him.

 

(Ex-112 Squadron pilot B H (Bernie) Peters passed away, on Nov 27th 2005. From all of us our deep condolences Greg.)

from Bernie's son,

Greg Peters

Sydney Australia.

 

This photo and your message were wonderful holiday gifts.  I can't thank you enough.  "Tex" of course is in the left frame of the photo with that Gray smirk that I have come to believe is hereditary.
 
Give Mr. Peters and his family my warmest greetings.  You guys have been most helpful giving shape to the memory of my uncle.  As you may know,  we haven't heard from Tex since 1956.  I began in 1978 investigating his disappearance.  After the war, it seems, Tex had a flying circus and crop dusting operation in Loundon Country, Virginia.  Some time later, Arthur Godfrey bought the airstrip and Jim's crop dusting venture moved to the site of the old Hondo AFB in Hondo, TX (just outside of San Antonio).  We used to have a copy of an 8mm film of his "flying circus" and crop dusting activities, but it disappeared when my brother sold the family house in 1972.  When I was a kid I watched that film over and over again, and I read his letters home repeatedly and memorized the onion skin copies that he'd kept of letters to others describing his adventures in WWII. 
 
Our family's hunt for information about him has borne fruit.  The "crop dusting" and "flying circus" outfits that Tex had in Loudon County were probably covers.  The CIA in Langley, not far away, was experimenting with low-level defoliant spraying.  It recruited combat flyers who were adept at dogfight and escape and evasion to begin a campaign of anti-guerrilla warfare in the Caribbean and Central America.  An important element in this campaign would have been defoliant spraying to remove the concealing cover of the jungle canopy.  It is probable that Tex's stint at Loudon County was a training period for this anti-guerrilla campaign, a campaign for which he would have readily volunteered because of his ironclad anti-Communist views and his combat experience.  After his training, the Agency may have planted him at the Hondo site.  That site would have been more secluded (for continuing training) and made him more quickly available to the Agency's areas of concern than the DC region.  The family has come to believe that Tex was shot down or crashed in the jungle in Guatemala in 1956 during one mission of this anti-guerrilla campaign, a mission designed to overthrow an unfriendly pro-Communist regime there.
 
If Mr. Peters has any copies of diaries or papers that his family feels willing to share regarding my uncle, I would be most grateful for his input.  In any event, I wish them well. 
 
Thanks again,
 
Jim Gray Collins
Stanford University

Squadron-Leader P F Illingworth (back to camera), the Commanding Officer of No. 112 Squadron RAF, discusses a target with Army officers, prior to setting out on a sortie from Foggia, Italy. Behind them is his Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark III., the plane might be FR864 GA-M the four just visible in the picture, that plane was shot down, 20 Dec 1943.

 

Army officers watch from their jeep as Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IIIs of No. 112 Squadron RAF take off on a sortie at Foggia, Italy

 

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