Letter on behalf of Leonard Cheshire to Group Captain Dawes at Bomber Command

SCheshireGL72021v10033.jpg

Title

Letter on behalf of Leonard Cheshire to Group Captain Dawes at Bomber Command

Description

To senior personnel staff officer at Bomber Command giving history of Sergeant McLean, Distinguished Flying Medal, an air gunner who shot down at least four aircraft while serving on 102 squadron before medical downgrade. Is now fit again but posted to Coastal Command. Wishes to come back to Bomber Command. Hopes they will welcome experienced crews. Handwritten note 'signed by S/L Munro with suitable acknowledgements'.

Date

1944-02-18

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

One-page typewritten letter

Rights

This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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.

Contributor

Identifier

SCheshireGL72021v10033

Transcription

R.A.F.Station,
Woodhall Spa,
Lincoln
18th Feb., 1944

Dear

The Sergeant Gunner, whose name I give below, served for some 12 months with No 102 Squadron in No 4 Group with a distinguished record, shooting down at 4 aircraft, and was awarded the D.F.M.

He was grounded for medical reasons, and when fit again, applied to come back to Bomber Command. He was posted instead to Coastal Command, and now languishes at an O.T.U.

He has appealed very strongly to me to get back, because his only interest lies in Bomber Command, and he is unduly anxious to operate.

I pass this on to you for what it is worth, because I know you would welcome experience crews. I am sure that is the matter is hopeless, you will forgive me for wasting your time.

With my very best wishes,
Yours
Signed by S/L Munro with suitable endorsement

Wing Commander,
[underlined] No 617 Squadron [/underlined]

1059877 Sgt MacLean
No 4 C.O.T.U.
Alness

G/Cpt. H Dawes OBE
S.P.SO., HQ, Bomber Command

Collection

Citation

Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, “Letter on behalf of Leonard Cheshire to Group Captain Dawes at Bomber Command,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/16956.

Item Relations

This Item dcterms:relation Item: Letter to Leonard Cheshire from Sergeant Thomas Joseph McLean DFM
This Item dcterms:relation Item: Letter from Leonard Cheshire to Sergeant Thomas McLean