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Service No: 40507
Ernest Cassidy was born on October 25, 1916.
He joined the RAF in December 1937 and began training at 10 E & RFTS Yatesbury before continuing to the 7 FTS Peterborough.
Assigned to 25 Squadron in September 1938, he carried out night fighter missions during the summer of 1940 before being posted to 249 Squadron in October 1940 to fly Hurricanes.
He accompanied the unit to Malta in May 1941 aboard the HMS Furious to Gibraltar and then aboard the HMS Ark Royal to Malta. At the end of July 1941, he was assigned as Flight Commander to the Malta Night Fighter Unit (MNFU) .
At the end of 1941 he returned to Great Britain and received the DFC on January 2, 1942, becoming Flight Commander at UTU 61 at Rednal until September 1942 and then at OTU 56 of Kinnell until April 1943 In May, he joined Squadron 64 as a supernumerary commander. Before being assigned the following month to 16 Squadron as a Tactical Instructor.
In July 1943, he rejoined 222 Squadron, again as a supernumerary before returning to the Fighter Leader School in August. Later in the month, he returned to 222 Squadron , this time as a commander. He led the unit until November before taking the lead of the 64 Squadron .
In April 1944 he was assigned to Group 13 HQ before joining the RAF in the Middle East in November 1944. He remained in this post until April 1945 when he joined 92 Squadron as a supernumerary.
He took command of 72 Squadron in May 1945.
In July 1945, he became a Wing Commander and commanded Wing 423 for a period of 2 years.
In 1947 he returned to Great Britain and continued his career in the RAF, and was rewarded by the AFC in 1952.
He retired in 1958 with the rank of W / Co.
This pilot flew fighter aircraft for the RAF in WWII, this record has come from the RAF Archives with a log book reference. The log book is available for viewing in the RAF London archives. The data we parsed includes pilot name, rank, awards, and log book dates - but little else, i.e. country of birth or aircraft flown. We have made country of birth the UK until users edit the pilot listing to make a correction, figuring a majority will be UK pilots. We do have a reference number for the operational log book(s) available in the RAF archives, in London, and the reference numbers include: Log Book accession no. MF10088/6. If a user conducts research on this pilot and can fill in this pilot's biography further by clicking edit, or, can visit the RAF archives to inspect the log book(s) and add any aircraft serials or sortie details, this change will be reflected in your profile as recognition. Let us know if you visit the archives.
