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Remembrance Day in Sardinia: commemorating Bob Hay
Wg Cdr Baz Potts places a poppy on the grave of Flt Lt Bob Hay. [Pic: Sgt Jamie Johnson, RAF] Not all the Dams Raid aircrew who died during the war are buried in the large war cemeteries in Germany....
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Dambuster John Hopgood’s last Christmas, 1942
Flt Lt John Hopgood DFC & Bar. [Pic: Lincolnshire County Libraries] As Christmas 1942 approached, the 21 year old Flt Lt John Hopgood was officially on rest from operational duties. He had...
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Barnes Wallis and the ripple effect
Four graphic design students from Northumbria University have been working on an exhibition project about Barnes Wallis as part of their degree course. I am sure that readers will agree with me that...
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Alex Bateman on trial: Day One
Flt Sgt (later Pilot Officer) John Fraser, bomb aimer in AJ-M on the Dams Raid. [Pic: Bomber Command Museum of Canada] The trial of Alex Bateman for the theft of a logbook belonging to Doris Fraser,...
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Alex Bateman on trial: Day Two
Alex Bateman leaving Wood Green Crown Court today. Pic by Gavin Rodgers/Pixel8000 Alex Bateman accepted a formal police caution in 2003 in a case involving the theft of documents from the Public...
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Alex Bateman on trial: Day Three
Flt Sgt John Fraser is second from the left in the back row in this photograph taken while he was serving in 50 Squadron. Next to him, third from left, is fellow Canadian Ken Earnshaw, who went with...
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Alex Bateman on trial: Day Four
John and Doris Fraser on their wedding day, 29 April 1943. [Pic: Fraser family] The fourth day of Alex Bateman’s trial for the theft of the logbook of Dams Raid bomb aimer Flt Sgt John Fraser began...
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Breaking news – Alex Bateman guilty
Breaking news: Alex Bateman has been found guilty of the theft of Flt Sgt John Fraser’s wartime RCAF logbook. He has been remanded in custody for sentencing on 3 February, and told by the judge that...
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Alex Bateman verdict: jail inevitable
Alex Bateman arriving at court, Friday 13 January. [Pic: Gavin Rodgers/Pixel8000] Alex Bateman was told today that he will be sent to jail after being found guilty of the theft of a wartime Royal...
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The boys who bombed Berlin: Shannon and Burpee together in Express
Pic: Chamberlain family I wrote last year about the selection of David Shannon’s Dams Raid crew, and how four men who had previously flown with him in 106 Squadron were transferred to 617 Squadron at...
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Bateman sentencing postponed until 10 February
Pic: Gavin Rodgers/Pixel8000 BREAKING NEWS: Alex Bateman was due to be sentenced tomorrow, Friday 3 February, having been found guilty on 13 January of the theft of Dambuster John Fraser’s logbook....
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Bateman sentenced two years for Fraser logbook theft
Pic: Metropolitan Police BREAKING NEWS: Alex Bateman was sentenced today to two years imprisonment for the theft of Flt Sgt John Fraser’s logbook. Describing his act as a ‘despicable offence’ in which...
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Alex Bateman jailed for two years: full report
Shere Fraser Lowe and her husband Joe McCarthy Jr outside Wood Green Crown Court today. Alex Bateman has been sent to jail for two years following his conviction for the theft of the logbook belonging...
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Dam Busters in six sheets
Pic: Ray Hepner Collection A giant six-sheet size poster for the 1955 film The Dam Busters recently came onto the market, and was bought by our old friend, the collector Ray Hepner. He is now having...
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Treasure from the deep
Pic: Lisa Clayton Lisa Clayton, who lives in Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent, got a surprise when out for a walk at Reculver beach on Wednesday. She came across a complete endcap from one of the...
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Earnshaw photo album to be returned to family
John Fraser and Ken Earnshaw are respectively second and third from the left in the back row in this picture, taken when they served together in 50 Squadron. Back, L-R: W Mooney, J W Fraser, K...
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All roads lead to Alberta
Shere Fraser in her home in Washington State. Pic: Calgary Herald There is much local interest in Alberta about the return of a photo album to the family of the Canadian Dambuster to whom it belonged,...
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Album return brings Dambuster families together
Shere Fraser, daughter of John Fraser, and Ken Heather, nephew of Ken Earnshaw, embrace after the Earnshaw family photograph album is returned. [Pic: Shere Fraser] A battered wartime photograph album...
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The ‘Doc’ and the key
Key used before the Dams Raid to prevent the Upkeep mines from being detonated prematurely. [Pic: Watson family] Irene Thornton, the daughter of Flt Lt Henry (‘Doc’) Watson, 617 Squadron’s Armaments...
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Déjà vu all over again in Sunday Express as columnist writes same story three...
A colleague sent me a link to this week’s Sunday Express, thinking I would like the fact that it had given me a namecheck and also quoted a commenter on this blog. Fine, I thought at first, but when I...
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