This Page is a tribute to Joe Colquhoun and an
annotation of the flying log from his service as an Air-Bomber
in the RCAF during World War II.
Uncle Joe's Log
Introduction
We all loved Joe Colquhoun. The war years were
only a small part of his long, fruitful, and we hope, fulfilling
life. None the less, they were significant years for him. As a youngster,
I was fascinated and pestered him for stories about the war. He
would politely, but firmly turn the conversation to other topics.
Later in life, he overcame this reticence and told some stories repeatedly
and in great detail, always promising "to make a long story short". But
these stories gave only a glimpse of his wartime career.
The Log Book turned up after his death and was
displayed at his funeral along with other mementos. Sadly, abbreviations
and jargon made a great deal of it incomprehensible. With this "Annotation
and Notes", I hope to make Joe's log more "accessible" and
meaningful to family members. I hope this will bring you all a little
closer to Joe and his memory.
I have tried hard to get the right level of detail.
It would be easy to overwhelm the reader with details far beyond
their level of interest. To avoid this I have tried to indicate
good sources of more detailed information for those who wish to read
further.
I should also apologize for the huge amount of
absolutely shameless plagiarism. I have lifted large chunks of
text and many pictures directly from the work of others. My only
excuse is that I have not done this for profit or academic credit,
and that I hope these lifted materials will draw at least some of
you to the original sources and beyond. To that end I have tried to give
credit, where due, to the original sources.
Tips: - the Table of Contents gives a good summary of his
career,
- the training pages can be gone
through quite quickly, or not,
- don't miss
Pages 43 & 44
.
Any complaints, comments or further details should be directed to
me, John Davidson at: [email protected]
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Table Of Contents
Sources
