Lew and Len Duddridge hadn't planned on entering an occupation that made death their partner. They had dreamed of working as farmers, teachers, bankers, or civil servants, but instead they became wartime pilots. In The Flying Duddridges of Hanley, author Lew Duddridge narrates the story of how he and his brother Len, two brothers from Hanley, Saskatchewan, served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. They were the only two of the thirteen young men from this small town who would live to tell their story. This memoir relays the Duddridges' many flight experiences, such as making their first solo flights in a Spitfire aircraft and crash landing a burning Spitfire after a German FW 190 damaged the engine and propeller. Interwoven with tales about their farm upbringing and their personal lives, The Flying Duddridges of Hanley, brings World War II to life from the perspective of two brothers who became men while experiencing the terrors and tragedy of WWII.

THE FLYING DUDDRIDGES OF HANLEY

By Lew Duddridge

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2011 Lew Duddridge
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-6653-8

Contents

Chapter 1 THE FLYING DUDDRIDGES GET THEIR WINGS.......................1Chapter 2 LEN LOSES A THUMB AND FINDS A SPITFIRE......................9Chapter 3 BLAIR THE SPITFIRE MECHANIC.................................15Chapter 4 I WAS IN MALTA..............................................21Chapter 5 NOW IT'S NORTH AFRICA.......................................29Chapter 6 LEN AND THE TOULON BEACHHEAD................................33Chapter 7 LOOKING BACK................................................41Chapter 8 HANLEY — YES I CRIED..................................67Chapter 9 DOWN ON THE FARM............................................79Chapter 10 SASKATCHEWAN — THE DUST BOWL.........................93Chapter 11 HOW DO YOU KEEP THEM DOWN ON THE FARM?.....................99Chapter 12 OFF TO THE WAR ZONE........................................127Chapter 13 HANLEY SUFFERS HEARTBREAKING LOSSES........................157Chapter 14 WHO IS HILDA...............................................169Chapter 15 SUDDENLY IT'S OVER.........................................189Chapter 16 NOW I'M A NOBODY...........................................195Chapter 17 HANLEY MEETS HILDA.........................................199Chapter 18 THE AIR FORCE CALLS AGAIN..................................209Chapter 19 PRIVATE PLANES = BIGGER GAMES..............................219Chapter 20 NOW IT'S A HELICOPTER......................................223Chapter 21 HE LEARNED TO FLY AT 65....................................229Chapter 22 LEW'S DREAMS COME TRUE.....................................237Chapter 23 I PASSED THE TEST..........................................245Chapter 24 MOUNTAIN FLYING SERIOUS BUSINESS...........................253Chapter 25 THE FLIGHT OF A LIFETIME...................................261Chapter 26 SO NOW I'M 93..............................................289

Chapter One

THE FLYING DUDDRIDGES GET THEIR WINGS

The Duddridge brothers, Len and Lew, had earned their pilot's wings. We had come from Saskatchewan to Great Britain together and now Len was flying the famous Spitfire fighter aircraft in North Africa and I was flying the Lancaster bomber in Britain. Len and I had seen a lot of each other until Len's posting to North Africa became official. He was off to fly in support of General Montgomery's troops who were attempting to defeat Rommel's troops in North Africa. Len had been able to catch a ride on one of the supply squadron aircraft and holiday back in London. After over a year in the misery of the desert he was entitled to get to what he called civilization again and Len knew the holiday would be short and sweet.

The Duddridge brothers were able to compare notes and neither Len's nor my notes made a pretty picture. Back on the farm with dad, in Hanley, Saskatchewan was the place to be. There was no doubt about that, but it just didn't make sense. If every young man and woman in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., had stayed home — Britain would have been left alone. Hitler would have crossed the Channel and we would all be learning the Goose Step. The Jews of Britain would be heading for death camps. The picture would not be a pretty one.

Hitler had bit off more than he could chew. Time would prove this statement right. Hanley was only a small town in the Saskatchewan farming community, but it would send close to 150 young women and men into uniform. Eleven young men from the Royal Canadian Air Force would never see Hanley again. Would Len and I be next? Despite all of this, the war had to be won. Hitler had to be defeated. This was justified.

Each young Canadian had to be his brothers' keeper. Len and I knew as we talked that the two Trask boys and the Hunter boy, the Harbour, Isralson, Kilpatrick, Mason, Popplewell, Parks, Strouts, and Billy Watts were the bitter pill that Hitler had forced Hanley, Saskatchewan to swallow.

Len and I knew and went to school with almost every one of those boys. Popplewell, the least known, worked for Grandpa Hamre's General Store. Chet Popplewell died in his Halifax bomber as it was shot down over Germany. Kilpatrick a navigator on a Lancaster bomber was shot down and buried at Pornic, France. Each death is indelibly etched in my brain. When Len and I get back to Hanley, if we get back to Hanley, Woody and Marion Trask will not be there, none of them will be there, but the world will go on. We will win this war but Len's worries could come true. One of those massive German tank guns could bring his Spitfire down and Charles and Ethel Duddridge will get one of those terrible telegrams — The British Air Ministry regrets to inform you that R17008, Warrant Officer L. J. Duddridge, was killed in action in North Africa on the 22nd of June, 1942.

Yes, Len and I did talk about these things. Yes, it was gloomy but we had youth on our side, we would not be casualties. Yes, we were indestructible. There was no question: to fly in this war whether fighter pilot or bomber pilot was to fly into Death Valley.

If our parents knew the casualty rate of aircrew in Great Britain, even though we had completed our Canadian training, they would be horrified. Len and I understood and we knew the reason for a high accident rate. It was simple! How can you compete with a well-trained enemy if you don't practice to the level of competence that the enemy has reached? Practicing for war is like practicing with death. A tiny error and death is waiting.

Who were we before we became wartime pilots? We had planned on being farmers, teachers, bankers, and civil servants. We had not planned an occupation that made death your partner. We didn't want to go to war but it did sound exciting and we feared Nazi Germany.

When we joined we were ready for the air force, but not necessarily for what we could experience while we served in it.

Collectively, we along with millions of other airmen, soldiers, and sailors from the Allied countries, defeated Germany, but it took five and one-half long years.

When we came home after the war, many veterans did not talk about what they had endured. Some were wounded; some lost limbs or an eye. Many had seen their friends die.

We knew that this war had been forced on us and it wasn't glorious. To some degree we were all wounded by the horror we had seen and the terror we had felt. For many, to talk about the war was to recall that horror, that terror! We wanted to be left to live our lives in peace, to raise our families, and to develop our careers.

Today, of course, the teenagers who were at those Wings Parades during WW II are in their 80s or 90s. When they attend a Remembrance Day service, they know they will see fewer comrades than the year before.

The passage of time will never erase what they saw and felt, but it has enabled many veterans to discuss their ordeals more easily with younger people, in many cases their children and grandchildren. They want young people to know what they experienced during the war.

We should know what they did, and we should express appreciation, but we should not just look at the veterans as if they are characters in a history book. The veterans have something to say to us about the future. They know that obstacles arise that are difficult to surmount, no matter when or where you live. They also know these obstacles will be different from the ones they faced...