Lt CW McGregor “Shorty”

A Natural Curiosity

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.

A Natural Curiosity

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.

The Dreaded Telegram

Five pilots from the “Rangitata” group were killed in February. Lt Charles McGregor a No 97 Squadron Pathfinder pilot and 14 other aircrew died in a mid-air collision with another Lancaster over the Dortmund Ems Canal on February 8th. No 630 Squadron Lancaster pilot Lt GR Lacey and his crew lost their lives on February 15th, No 183 Squadron Typhoon pilots Captain Anton Lens and Lt Alan Hill died on the 22nd, No 582 Squadron Pathfinder pilot Captain Edwin Swales lost his life on February 23rd

The Dreaded Telegram

No 9 Squadron Wellington pilot Harold Rosofsky the first to lose his life, Lt CW McGregor and 23-year-old Mosquito pilot Flight Lt Robert Ogilvie DFC, who commissioned in August 1939 and failed to return from a March 24th sortie were among the last and are remembered on the “Roll of Honour” at King Edwards in Johannesburg.

SAAF Airmen in RAF Squadrons

Several participated in the BBC Africa shortwave’s weekly programme “Song time in the Laager” broadcast from London. The airmen in the top image from the left, McGregor, Begbie, Howes, Eagar all former King Edwards pupils in Johannesburg sailed on the “Rangitata” with another former pupil all of whom signed the mounting. That photograph and two others including Lt’s IF Watson, Meyer, Higgins and Quick from the Transvaal appeared in an English magazine in May 1944. 2nd Lt Tony Collett and Naval servicemen in the bottom image were from the Eastern Cape.

SAAF Airmen in RAF Squadrons

The Montevideo photograph of the seconded SAAF airmen tells a story of its own. Twenty-three of those airmen including Begbie, Carby Thompson, Collett, Gale, Higgins, Jennings, Lens, McGregor, Swales and Wright all of whom signed the mounting lost their lives.

Spirits in the Sky

55 573 of 125 000 Bomber Command aircrew lost their lives, 9 838 became “POW’s” and 8 403 were wounded. At least 300 South Africans served as Bomber Command airmen an estimated 176 of whom lost their lives. No 9 Squadron Wellington pilot, Pilot Officer Harold Rosofsky the first to lose his life and the last, No 139 Squadron Pathfinder Mosquito pilot, 23-year-old Flight Lt Robert Ogilvie Day DFC, were coincidently educated at King Edwards in Johannesburg and frame names like Begbie, Bartholomew, Deas, Goodman, Hamman, Hirschfield, Howe-Brown, Lourens, McKendry, McGregor, Wing Commander JD Nettleton VC and Major Edwin Swales VC DFC.