Letter to Lewis Ellis from Gus Knox
Title
Letter to Lewis Ellis from Gus Knox
Description
Writes he is still on leave after three months and expecting word to move. Mentions possibility of going to Europe but unlikely. Comments on being posted as a crew and on waiting around and not on operations. Writes of activities including cycling, and building radio. Notes he had not heard from Lewis for four months. Catches up with news of friends, including one who was killed. Concludes with comments about son Lewis.
Creator
Date
1944-09-13
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Six page handwritten letter and envelope
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EKnoxATEllisEL440913
Transcription
[partially obscured crest]
[underlined] BY AIR TO UK [/underlined]
[postage stamps]
D.D.A./89
F/S E.L. ELLIS,
GB 1238597 R.A.F.V.R.,
54 WULFRIC,
SHEFFIELD 11,
YORKSHIRE,
ENGLAND.
U.K.
[page break]
MR. ELLIS IF [missing words] AND [missing words] LEFT.
F/O A.T. KNOX
NZ 415535
11 HASBURY AVE.
EPSOM S.E.3
AUCKLAND
N. Z.
[P.C. – 90
OPENED BY EXAMINER
[page break]
I.
13th Sept 1944.
11 Hasbury Ave.
Epsom S.E.3.
Auckland.
Dear Lew,
A few more lines to give you the news from N. Z., although it is rather scarce at present. I am still on leave now, as you can see by the address. It is over three months since I arrived home and I am daily expecting word to move.
I don’t believe I told you before, but I am coming your way if everything goes as expected. If we wait here much longer however I doubt whether
[page break]
II
we will make the trip as things in general seem to be folding in Europe. We were very fortunate, in that we were posted as a crew. The skipper, the navigator, the first engineer, and myself, of course. We can pick up gunners etc. wherever we go.
All this waiting is getting monotonous though, and the waste of flying hours is awful, I should be close on my 2,000 hrs. by now. Still its a good holiday, the weather has not been too good, but I assembled my bike and have done a fair bit of
[page break]
III
cycling. Didn’t half make the old bones “creak” again either, the first few times. I also finished a five valve superhet receiver for my amateur station after the war. It seems to go O.K. too. It had me really thinking in some parts, its surprising how soon one can forget all the little kinks that go to putting a radio together.
I havn’t [sic] heard from you for over four months now old boy, in fact I have only had one overseas letters [sic] since I have been home, and that one was from Alice Jones.
[page break]
IV
I still write to her and we have kept up a regular correspondence. Mickey has not written for a long time, I think the mails are a bit uncertain at present, and I am hoping for something soon.
I trust all is going well with you, and all are O.K at home. “Young Siddley” will be getting on now, I suppose he wants to fly also like his brother. I should like to see him and perhaps all being well I may pretty soon.
Do you remember the Canadian pilot Gaunce who was in the room opposite us at Paulson, well in
[page break]
V
Mick’s last letter she told me he had been killed. It appears to have been quite a “pile up”, as there were several killed including Gaunce’s drogue operator. Doesn’t sound too good does it? Do you recall the nick name F/S Press used to have for him, “The long-eared, so and so” wasn’t it’?
My young Lewis is a wizard kid, not a bit of trouble and pretty smart too. He should be with a name like that, and with a father such as he has. (No hot air in our family, eh!) Not much. I think his name pretty
[page break]
VI
good myself, Lewis Leslie Knox, sounds very classy. My wife and Valerie all O.K. and these past three months have been very pleasant, I will find it hard to leave I think.
This just about ends my news for now so I’ll close and be on the lookout for some news from you soon.
Cheerio old man and all the very best to you and yours. Give my regards to your people when you write or see them.
Bye for now
Yours as always
Gus
[underlined] BY AIR TO UK [/underlined]
[postage stamps]
D.D.A./89
F/S E.L. ELLIS,
GB 1238597 R.A.F.V.R.,
54 WULFRIC,
SHEFFIELD 11,
YORKSHIRE,
ENGLAND.
U.K.
[page break]
MR. ELLIS IF [missing words] AND [missing words] LEFT.
F/O A.T. KNOX
NZ 415535
11 HASBURY AVE.
EPSOM S.E.3
AUCKLAND
N. Z.
[P.C. – 90
OPENED BY EXAMINER
[page break]
I.
13th Sept 1944.
11 Hasbury Ave.
Epsom S.E.3.
Auckland.
Dear Lew,
A few more lines to give you the news from N. Z., although it is rather scarce at present. I am still on leave now, as you can see by the address. It is over three months since I arrived home and I am daily expecting word to move.
I don’t believe I told you before, but I am coming your way if everything goes as expected. If we wait here much longer however I doubt whether
[page break]
II
we will make the trip as things in general seem to be folding in Europe. We were very fortunate, in that we were posted as a crew. The skipper, the navigator, the first engineer, and myself, of course. We can pick up gunners etc. wherever we go.
All this waiting is getting monotonous though, and the waste of flying hours is awful, I should be close on my 2,000 hrs. by now. Still its a good holiday, the weather has not been too good, but I assembled my bike and have done a fair bit of
[page break]
III
cycling. Didn’t half make the old bones “creak” again either, the first few times. I also finished a five valve superhet receiver for my amateur station after the war. It seems to go O.K. too. It had me really thinking in some parts, its surprising how soon one can forget all the little kinks that go to putting a radio together.
I havn’t [sic] heard from you for over four months now old boy, in fact I have only had one overseas letters [sic] since I have been home, and that one was from Alice Jones.
[page break]
IV
I still write to her and we have kept up a regular correspondence. Mickey has not written for a long time, I think the mails are a bit uncertain at present, and I am hoping for something soon.
I trust all is going well with you, and all are O.K at home. “Young Siddley” will be getting on now, I suppose he wants to fly also like his brother. I should like to see him and perhaps all being well I may pretty soon.
Do you remember the Canadian pilot Gaunce who was in the room opposite us at Paulson, well in
[page break]
V
Mick’s last letter she told me he had been killed. It appears to have been quite a “pile up”, as there were several killed including Gaunce’s drogue operator. Doesn’t sound too good does it? Do you recall the nick name F/S Press used to have for him, “The long-eared, so and so” wasn’t it’?
My young Lewis is a wizard kid, not a bit of trouble and pretty smart too. He should be with a name like that, and with a father such as he has. (No hot air in our family, eh!) Not much. I think his name pretty
[page break]
VI
good myself, Lewis Leslie Knox, sounds very classy. My wife and Valerie all O.K. and these past three months have been very pleasant, I will find it hard to leave I think.
This just about ends my news for now so I’ll close and be on the lookout for some news from you soon.
Cheerio old man and all the very best to you and yours. Give my regards to your people when you write or see them.
Bye for now
Yours as always
Gus
Collection
Citation
G Knox, “Letter to Lewis Ellis from Gus Knox,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 16, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/43251.