Letter from John Valentine to father of his pilot

Letter from John Valentine to father of his pilot

Letter to P Floyd, father of his pilot Philip expressing his admiration for his skill as a pilot and sorrow in having to inform him of Philip's probable death. Gives an account of being shot down.

1942-08-13

Two sided handwritten postcard

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SValentineJRM1251404v20013

Kriegsgefangenenlager [underlined] Datum: 13 – 8 – 42.[/underlined]

I had the honour to be Navigator on your son’s machine. I flew with him for many months & had a great admiration for his skill as a pilot & character as a man.
It is with deepest sorrow that I have to inform you of his terrible death. On our last [indecipherable word] trip he had tremendous difficulty to face & six other lives depended on his handling of the ‘plane. During the period of acute danger, he acted with amazing coolness and skill enabling five of us to bale out un hurt. The machine was then too low for him to follow us & it crashed with our gallant skipper still inside. The five survivors and their families owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude & will ever more respect his memory.
Yours very sincerely, J. R. M. Valentine Sgt. R.A.F.
[page break]
Kriegsgefangenenpost
Postkarte
P. FLOYD ESQ
AYIAN
REDGARD RD
MINEHEAD
SOMERSET
ENGLAND