1939 to 1945
A register of the men in Jon Eagar's research, from Battle of Britain pilots to the seconded SAAF pilots who sailed for England in 1943. Search for a name to see what is known about him.
Try Malan, Swales or McGregor.
From the register
The pilot, Lt CW “Shorty” McGregor, one of five former King Edward VII School pupils who signed the photograph mounting, is one of 178 names on the school Cenotaph’s “Roll of Honour”. Apparently, the longest of any Commonwealth school, it includes four airmen involved in the “Battle of Britain”. The school, founded in 1902 had over 2 000 former pupils and master’s on active service.
Having provided additional information about McGregor, van Zandvoort’s subsequent request for help in tracing a South African “…who joined the RAF at the outbreak of war and then returned to Durban, South Africa in 1947”, involved many hours of information gathering, separating fact from fiction and generated enough intrigue for a novel.
Stories from the book
A Natural Curiosity
A signed photograph of SAAF pilots, posted online, brought an enquiry from a Dutch researcher investigating a Lancaster crash. Helping him led to a second puzzle about an older bomber pilot from Durban.
“Discovery is the one way of finding answers.”
Anonymous
Hindsight and History
In the 1960s, boys built Airfix Spitfires and Lancasters while their fathers said little about the war. It contrasts that schoolboy glamour with the reality facing young bomber crews and their families.
“To live through a global war- in this context in the air- is to learn first-hand its meaning and consequences and thereby to be cured forever of “wanting…”
Laddie Lucas “Out of the Blue” April 1985.
Tracing African Wings
No single record lists the South Africans who served in the RAF. Starting from school rolls of honour, the research grew into a database of more than 1 900 names.
“When the first scent of war and adventure reached the Union, hundreds of South Africans began to pack their bags. There followed a minor great trek to…”
Arthur L Gavshon 1941.
Schools
Find the men from your school, and the stories the book tells about them.
Men in the register, by school
The book
By Jon Eagar
A record of the South Africans who served in the RAF during the Second World War, written as "a humble reminder of our indebtedness to a generation we should never forget".
The book is self-published in small numbers.