Squadron Leader ESS Nash “Gar”
Edgar Sheppard Stow Nash
- Rank
- Flight Lt
- Later rank
- Squadron Leader
- Honours
- DFC AFC
- Squadron
- No 262 Squadron
- School
- Kingswood College
- In the book
- Pages 86, 87
From the book
More than a “Few” South Africans
Announcements in “The London Gazette” of August 27th 1942 included “ Distinguished Flying Cross” awards to four SAAF pilots and 23 year- old Flight Lt Edgar Sheppard Stow Nash who was born in the Eastern Cape and educated at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, commissioned in 1940 and flying No 612 Squadron Coastal Command Whitleys out of Iceland at the time.
More than a “Few” South Africans
Squadron Leader ESS Nash DFC later flew RAF Pembroke based Catalina’s and when he and his crew took off in late January 1944 destined for Langebaan on South Africa’s West coast, Catalina’s were operating from Lake St Lucia, Durban, Breede River, Bot River and Langebaan with the Durban base having been established shortly before a U-Boat in the “wolf pack” destined for Cape Town waters sank the “Laconia”.
More than a “Few” South Africans
Squadron Leader Nash, a June 1944 “Birthday Honours List Air Force Cross” recipient, became No 262 Squadron’s commanding officer a few months later. Manned mainly by South Africans, the squadron operating Catalina’s and Sunderland’s was re- designated No 35 Squadron SAAF under his command in early 1945.
More than a “Few” South Africans
Closely involved in the RAFVR’s 1937 founding, sixty-four-year-old Pilot Officer Lionel Cohen’s 1939 Flight Lt appointment was announced in “The London Gazette” on February 6th, 1940. That issue included appointment announcements relating to South Africans ESS Nash, DD Snooke and BP Young.