Irvin Flying Jacket Reunited with Wartime Owner!
The
fun of this business is not just the excitement of what we will find next, but
also the "living history" of the people involved. A case in point resulting
from research we have been carrying out on a wartime "Irvin" flying
jacket which we have in stock and was bought with a crumpled picture of the original
owner - one Warrant Officer (W/O) J.R. Bristow. The only other information we
had on him was a copy of his "Goldfish Club" certificate which was issued
to him on the 21st November 1944. The Goldfish Club, formed in 1942 by the manufacturers
of the rubber dinghies supplied to the RAF, is open to any aviators who have had
the misfortune to ditch in the sea and survive!
In the hope of finding out about the jacket's previous owner, I contacted the
Club's secretary, one Roy Graham - just in case he had some information on W/O
Bristow. Two days later I took a phone call with the opening words: "you
don't know me but you know of me!" I could hardly believe I was actually
talking to John Bristow himself - and more amazingly he lives not twenty miles
from our office! Unlike many veterans, John was more than happy to talk about
his wartime career (Coastal Command flying Halifax aircraft with 518 Squadron
out of Tiree in Scotland on meteorlogical duties) and in particular, the full
story behind his "Goldfish Club" membership. John, a spritely 80 year
old, offered to drive over to our office and we waited with some excitement to
meet the following week. He duly arrived . . . for a navigator who in a previous
life flew 10 hour missions out and back over the North Atlantic, this was not
an issue!
Our
meeting lasted the full morning and the events of that day back in the dark winter
of 1944 were brought graphically to life. Not only is his memory of these times
absolutely clear, but he also had original photographs of his ditching and subsequent
rescue as well as his log books and of course his coveted Goldfish Badge and certificate.
I
was pleased to reunite W/O Bristow with his Irvin jacket and his parachute bag
emblazoned with his name. I am also delighted we encouraged him to write down,
for the first time, a report of his ditching and rescue which he has kindly allowed
me to publish and illustrate with some of the unique photographs.
What
amazes me now, looking back at the black and white images of these young men nearly
60 years ago is their amazing bravery, and in many cases the ultimate sacrifice,
in the face of the Nazi threat. While meteorlogical flights out into the Atlantic
may not have had the glamour of the fighter boys or of bomber command, the job
they did had far reaching influences on the course and outcome of the war.
John recounted a Met. flight they performed which directly affected the date and
timings of the D Day Landings and we hope to publish a further report on this
crucial mission in due course.
In the meantime we will let W/O J.R. Bristow take you back, in his own words,
to a dark, cold and stormy day in 1944. The date is 21st November and the time
is 10.45 . Halifax LL510 is about to roar down the still frost covered runway
of RAF Tiree on a pre-mission air test....
To read Part 2 of this feature click
here
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