Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 31, 2006 19:10:50 GMT 12
www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.855710.0.vampire_pilot_and_war_hero_kiwi_dies_aged_89.php
Vampire pilot and war hero ‘Kiwi’ dies aged 89
By Robin Thompkins
AIR ace George Kiwi' Francis, holder of the Air Force Cross and bar and Distinguished Flying Cross has died in a Mudeford nursing home at the age of 89.
Mr Francis joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1940 and flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in North Africa and on the Dieppe raids.
Following the end of the war and the advent of jet aircraft, Flt Lt Francis was chosen by the RAF to pilot the De Havilland Vampire jet on a testing and demonstration tour of the Middle East and Far East.
In the 1950s he also saw active service in Malaya and Singapore flying rescue helicopters during the communist insurgency.
In an interview with the Daily Echo, he recalled being fired on by communist bandits after beaching the Vampire on an island in the China Sea as one of his most exciting episodes.
During his 34-year RAF career, he flew more than 30 different aircraft types including helicopters on air-sea rescue missions and was involved in trials of Concorde and the Harrier jump jet.
Mr Francis retired in 1974 and lived in Southbourne where his family had settled when he was posted to the RAF radar station at Sopley 10 years earlier.
With his wife Mollie he was a keen dancer and follower of jazz and big band music and an active member of the Bournemouth branch of the Air Crew Association Widowed in 2004 and battling against illness, Mr Francis moved last year to the Avon Reach complex at Mudeford where he died earlier this month.
Mr Francis, whose funeral was held at the Hinton Park woodland burial ground, is survived by his two daughters and two grandchildren
Vampire pilot and war hero ‘Kiwi’ dies aged 89
By Robin Thompkins
AIR ace George Kiwi' Francis, holder of the Air Force Cross and bar and Distinguished Flying Cross has died in a Mudeford nursing home at the age of 89.
Mr Francis joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1940 and flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in North Africa and on the Dieppe raids.
Following the end of the war and the advent of jet aircraft, Flt Lt Francis was chosen by the RAF to pilot the De Havilland Vampire jet on a testing and demonstration tour of the Middle East and Far East.
In the 1950s he also saw active service in Malaya and Singapore flying rescue helicopters during the communist insurgency.
In an interview with the Daily Echo, he recalled being fired on by communist bandits after beaching the Vampire on an island in the China Sea as one of his most exciting episodes.
During his 34-year RAF career, he flew more than 30 different aircraft types including helicopters on air-sea rescue missions and was involved in trials of Concorde and the Harrier jump jet.
Mr Francis retired in 1974 and lived in Southbourne where his family had settled when he was posted to the RAF radar station at Sopley 10 years earlier.
With his wife Mollie he was a keen dancer and follower of jazz and big band music and an active member of the Bournemouth branch of the Air Crew Association Widowed in 2004 and battling against illness, Mr Francis moved last year to the Avon Reach complex at Mudeford where he died earlier this month.
Mr Francis, whose funeral was held at the Hinton Park woodland burial ground, is survived by his two daughters and two grandchildren
