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BRITTON, Blagdon Cecil

Stats:

rank: F/O
status: survived
airforce: RAF    (no: 198805 )
born: 1921-09-04 Tetbury United Kingdom

added by: Kevin Charles
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Bio / Text:

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Service No: 1461392 (Flight Sergeant)
Service No: 198805 (Flying Officer)

Grading Course at 11 EFTS, Perth (Australia) - completed 31 December 1942. Flying: DH82A (Tiger Moth)

Trained at 4 Air School, Benoni (South Africa): 19 July 1943 - 25 September 1943. Flying: DH82A (Tiger Moth)

Intermediate training at 25 Air School, Standerton (South Africa): 28 September 1943 - 18 February 1944. Flying: Harvard II & III, and Miles Master II.

Authorised to wear flying badge 18 February 1944.

First flew SPITFIRE V on 10 May 1944, at 73 OTU (Abu Sueir, Egypt and then Fayid, Egypt). His logbook lists five SPITFIRES by OTU number but not by serial number: they are listed as: 22, 31, 48, 49, 54. Others are listed as shown - with one exception. SPITFIRE V 'EE359' is listed twice: but is not recorded on this database. (ES359, perhaps? RAF records show EE359 as a MkIII Meteor...). At 73 OTU he flew Harvard IIA and SPITFIRE V (as listed).

Joined No5 RFU (Sinella, Italy) in 1944 - course ending 23 August included 'Aerobatics' and 'Battle formation' in SPITFIRE V (as listed). Key elements included: steep turns; tail chase; dive bombing and strafing; low flying. At this stage BCB had accumulated 304 hours and 55 minutes of flying time.

Blagdon Cecil BRITTON joined 145 Squadron (Loreto) on 28 August 1944. First Op on 30 Aug 'Sector recce' (SPITFIRE VIII JF838) under Sqn Ldr Neville Duke. His flying jacket was 'acquired' from an adjacent bomber Squadron, as 145 had outrun the supply chain; and the 'summer war' was cooling rapidly.

Flew from Fano from 2 Sep '44 (SPITFIRE VIII). Log entry for 16 Sep 1944 (re: SPITFIRE JF810) states "2 D.H. on A/C R/T and hydraulics U/S belly landed base." JF810 is possibly the aircraft pictured with damaged prop and cannons removed.

Flew from Bellaria from 2 Dec '44 (SPITFIRE VIII and SPITFIRE IX).

Flew from Treviso from 3 May 1945 - took part in the Desert Air Force fly past on 28 May.

Commissioned on 11 May 1945

Joined 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron in October 1945: flying first from Rosignano then Lavariano. Converted from SPITFIRE to Mustang on 19 October. His last flight in a SPITFIRE IX (PT957) was on 18 October 1945 - at which point he had accumulated 514 hours and 35 minutes of flying time, 150 of which were on OPs with 145 Squadron. Blagdon loved his SPITFIRES but spoke most fondly of the cockpit heater in his Mustangs...(In the interests of completeness, I have added an image of Blag standing on the tarmac next to his last Mustang.)

BCB Joined 93 Squadron (when 237 was disbanded) in January 1946. He returned to civilian life in late 1946 and, like so many of that generation, spoke little of his war. "Dear boy, I flew towards the end of the war. There really wasn't much going on." The detail in his flying logbook is humbling to read and tells a very different story.

Blagdon died in 2005 after a short illness, valiantly borne. His grave is in Wells-Next-The-Sea.

As an addition, research by the Aircrew Remembered site has identified the taxiing Mustang (see images) as the P-51C ’66’ named 'By Request'.

I quote: 'It was flown by Commanding Officer Col. Benjamin O. Davis of the Tuskegee Airman, 'Red Tails', 332nd Fighter Group. This was one of a few unique P-51B/Cs that had the extended tail fillet fitted to the D-model Mustangs. The name 'By Request' was apparently added after the Tuskegee Airman proved themselves as ferocious escort fighters and Bomber Groups requested them as escorts.'

Squadrons:

Squadrons add
AirforceSqdrnDate
RAF 145 1945-01-03
RAF 145 Squadron 1944-08-28
RAF 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron 1945-10-02
RAF 93 Squadron DAF 1946-01-03

Aircraft:

Aircraftadd
SerialNoteDate
ER583 73 OTU Fayid 1944-06-01
MH568 73 OTU 1944-06-01
EP839 73 OTU 1944-06-01
73 OTU 1944-06-01
ES359 73 OTU 1944-06-29
AR287 1944-07-01
ES124 73 OTU 1944-07-01
EE667 73 OTU 1944-07-01
ER936 73 OTU 1944-07-01
ER570 73 OTU 1944-07-01
JL306 73 OTU 1944-07-01
ER702 73 OTU 1944-07-01
LZ877 73 OTU 1944-07-01
JL226 73 OTU 1944-07-01
BR520 No.5 RFU 1944-08-15
ES192 No.5 RFU 1944-08-15
EP721 No.5 RFU 1944-08-16
No.5 RFU 1944-08-16
EP721 No.5 RFU 1944-08-16
MA339 No.5 RFU 1944-08-21
JK924 No.5 RFU 1944-08-23
JF938 145 Sqn 1944-08-30
JF810 145 Sqn 1944-09-01
JF938 145 Sqn 1944-09-01
JG108 145 Sqn 1944-09-01
JF930 145 Sqn 1944-09-01
JF879 145 Sqn 1944-09-02
JG476 145 Sqn 1944-09-02
JF880 145 Sqn 1944-09-03
JG203 145 Sqn 1944-10-01
JF959 145 Sqn 1944-10-01
JF412 145 Sqn 1944-10-20
LV729 145 Sqn 1944-10-22
JF880 145 Sqn 1944-10-31
LV729 145 Sqn 1944-11-08
MT565 145 Sqn 1944-12-01
MT713 1945-01-03
MT664 1945-01-10
JF474 1945-01-18
JF954 1945-01-18
MT928 1945-01-30
JF419 1945-02-07
JF836 1945-02-08
MT686 1945-02-10
JF564 1945-03-06
145 Sqn 1945-03-06
JF838 1945-03-18
JG166 1945-03-19
JF696 1945-03-23
JF298 1945-03-25
MT569 1945-04-01
MT985 145 Sqn 1945-04-01
MT560 1945-04-05
MT785 1945-04-13
MT634 1945-04-20
EN144 1945-04-25
MT764 1945-04-26
JF274 145 Sqn 1945-05-01
JF450 145 Sqn 1945-05-01
JF964 145 Sqn 1945-05-01
JF750 145 Sqn 1945-05-15
MK569 145-Sqn 1945-06-01
NH242 145 Sqn 1945-06-01
PV122 145 Sqn 1945-07-01
MH418 145 Sqn 1945-07-01
MH526 237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01
MA615 237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01
NH269 237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01
PL443 237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01
PT957 237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01
237 (Rhodesia) Sqn 1945-10-01

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