THE BACKGROUND
In 1984 one of the aircrew on 30 Squadron noticed an advertisement in the RAF News which announced that there would be a reunion in London of former members of the Squadron who had participated in the Second World War. The Squadron CO at the time, Wing Commander John Bell, answered the advertisement to tell Alan Napier that the Squadron was still very much alive and would be delighted if some of the current serving members could ‘muscle in’ on the London reunion to meet some of their forebears. So it was that the Hercules crews came to meet up with those who had flown Blenheims, Hurricanes and Thunderbolts some 40 years previously.
At that meeting Air Vice-Marshal David Dick and Wg Cdr Bell realised that the following year would be the 70th anniversary of the Squadron and they decided that now would be a good opportunity to establish a Squadron Association and to hold the inaugural get-together at Lyneham. So, in 1985 some 120 current and former Squadron members sat down to dinner together. There were air and ground crews covering the period from 1920 to the current day, and so the tall stories went on into the early hours.
David Dick was appointed the first chairman of the Association with Alan Napier as secretary and Benn Lugg in charge of accounts and membership. One of the first tasks that the chairman set was to establish a memorial at Maleme, in Crete, to honour those who were killed during the battle for Crete in 1941, but who have no known grave.
This was a daunting task, but the Association gave freely to the fund and, by chance, David, on a visit to Crete to locate a suitable site for the memorial, met a benefactor. Elef Tsiknakis, a Cretan, was a boy when the Germans invaded Crete and he had traumatic memories of the suffering that he and his family endured. He wanted to help and he was true to his word, giving money and finding the site. Thanks to all their work the memorial was built and stands today next to the bridge in Maleme where the Squadron faced the German paratroopers in 1941.
David continued to run the Association for many years, but in 1997 ill health forced him to relinquish the chair, which was then taken by Group Captain Bell (Rtd). The committee at the time included Wg Cdr Tony Main (Secretary), Sqn Ldr Peter Knapp (Accounts), Wg Cdr Dicky Evans (Deputy Chairman), Flt Lt John Smith (History), and Flt Lt Mike Reilley (Publicity). Together they decided that, as well as an annual reunion, their main goals should be to record and provide secure storage for the Squadron memorabilia, which is quite extensive, and to continue the work which David Dick had started on the Squadron history. Pleasingly, both these goals were achieved. Most of the work on the history was done by the charity Air Britain, which researches and publishes RAF histories, but Flt Lt Peter Cochrane also carried out a lot of the research. The history was published in April 2001 and the book, ‘Flat Out’, can be purchased from Air Britain.
In 1999, the Squadron CO, Wg Cdr John Barrass, suggested to the committee that there should be a memorial in Ratmalana, in Sri Lanka, to honour those Hurricane pilots who died in the Battle of Ceylon in April 1942, when the Japanese fleet attempted to launch an invasion. The committee supported the idea and John took on the task. With determination and persistence he raised the money and arranged for the design and construction of the memorial. All that was needed was a site. Again, help came from an unexpected quarter, this time from Staff Sergeant Noel Pusey of the High Commission staff in Colombo. As a result of their work, the memorial was completed in 2001, and appropriately the first member of the Association to visit it was ‘Canada Mac’ also known as Don McDonald, who flew a Hurricane on 5 April 1942.
Wg Cdr Tony Main took over the Chair in 2002 and Gp Capt John Bell was invited to succeed David Dick as President. Today the Association is some 250 strong. Naturally, the membership is changing with time but we look forward to many more reunions and the chance to keep up with colleagues and families. Please visit Reunions & News for details of the next Annual Reunion.