Post by hurricanejim on Jan 28, 2017 21:30:31 GMT 12
Good evening,
I’d like to share with you an encounter I had with one of the Wigram volunteers I had about ten years ago, maybe more.
When I was a child I went to the Air Force Museum in Christchurch. This was sometime in the mid-2000s and my Mum and Aunt had allowed for my brother and I to have the whole ‘works’: a guided tour of the hangars, workshops and closed off areas to museum visitors.
I was aviation mad and loved Spitfires and Hurricanes, and had recently read a book with fervour about the Bismarck and was really interested about how the outdated Fairey ‘Stringbag’ Swordfish torpedo bombers flew just above the waves out of range of the enemy anti-aircraft guns in order to launch their torpedoes. I amassed a small gathering of volunteers retelling this story in one of the workshops, how a seven-year-old boy could retell this story with such passion must have amused a fair few of them. I attracted the attention of one of the men in particular. His name was Doug Gooday, and he had been on one of the Royal Navy ships that had witnessed the Bismarck go down (or was it the Hood?). He showed me a photograph of the burning ship and I remember him in his dirty overalls and big glasses with a big grin on his face. Later on, during the tour he found us again and gave me a signed picture of a Fairey Swordfish and a piece of turbine out of a jet aircraft. I treasure these two items to this day.
I would have loved to have found out what he did during the war and how he ended up witnessing the destruction of arguably the most famous German battleship of the 20th Century, perhaps even in history. I only found out recently that he died in 2009. I was too late to go back and thank him as an adult. A Google search only finds elements of what must have been a legendary wartime career.
An Englishman, Doug served in the Fleet Air Arm. He also worked on convoys to Russia and runs to Malta. Afterwards he worked as an engineer with Airwork (NZ) at Harewood. I think he was a gunner on the Fairey Swordfish in those early war years. I believe he is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. I would love to pass on my story to them, or even my thanks to a generous action by a proud old aviator. I would also love to share my story with the team at Wigram who Doug volunteered for, and I would like to thank them for cementing my love for history and aviation.
Doug signed the Swordfish print DOUG GOODAY P.O AFARE and I’ve been curious to know what it means. I’d also like to find out more about what he did in the war but I don’t want to go snooping too much out of respect for his family. I just thought I’d share my story with you. Doug was a kind man and I’m glad I got to meet him.
Kind regards,
James Eunson.
I’d like to share with you an encounter I had with one of the Wigram volunteers I had about ten years ago, maybe more.
When I was a child I went to the Air Force Museum in Christchurch. This was sometime in the mid-2000s and my Mum and Aunt had allowed for my brother and I to have the whole ‘works’: a guided tour of the hangars, workshops and closed off areas to museum visitors.
I was aviation mad and loved Spitfires and Hurricanes, and had recently read a book with fervour about the Bismarck and was really interested about how the outdated Fairey ‘Stringbag’ Swordfish torpedo bombers flew just above the waves out of range of the enemy anti-aircraft guns in order to launch their torpedoes. I amassed a small gathering of volunteers retelling this story in one of the workshops, how a seven-year-old boy could retell this story with such passion must have amused a fair few of them. I attracted the attention of one of the men in particular. His name was Doug Gooday, and he had been on one of the Royal Navy ships that had witnessed the Bismarck go down (or was it the Hood?). He showed me a photograph of the burning ship and I remember him in his dirty overalls and big glasses with a big grin on his face. Later on, during the tour he found us again and gave me a signed picture of a Fairey Swordfish and a piece of turbine out of a jet aircraft. I treasure these two items to this day.
I would have loved to have found out what he did during the war and how he ended up witnessing the destruction of arguably the most famous German battleship of the 20th Century, perhaps even in history. I only found out recently that he died in 2009. I was too late to go back and thank him as an adult. A Google search only finds elements of what must have been a legendary wartime career.
An Englishman, Doug served in the Fleet Air Arm. He also worked on convoys to Russia and runs to Malta. Afterwards he worked as an engineer with Airwork (NZ) at Harewood. I think he was a gunner on the Fairey Swordfish in those early war years. I believe he is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. I would love to pass on my story to them, or even my thanks to a generous action by a proud old aviator. I would also love to share my story with the team at Wigram who Doug volunteered for, and I would like to thank them for cementing my love for history and aviation.
Doug signed the Swordfish print DOUG GOODAY P.O AFARE and I’ve been curious to know what it means. I’d also like to find out more about what he did in the war but I don’t want to go snooping too much out of respect for his family. I just thought I’d share my story with you. Doug was a kind man and I’m glad I got to meet him.
Kind regards,
James Eunson.