Category Archives: Introduction

Charles Stanley Horrell

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Charles Stanley Horrell 1

Charles at 20 (1943)

This is Nicole’s grandfather, and this is her message.

My grandfather was in 293 RAF and it was an AIRSEA RESCUE SQUADRON (operated in the Italian Theatre).

He served from June 5, 1941 to October 22, 1945, then from May 7, 1953 to June 2, 1967.

The medals he received were 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp, War metal 1939-45, Canadian Forces Decoration.

His military number was J14992. He was  a  F/L FLIGHT LIEUTENANT. According to his logbook he rescued down flyers but it also provided escort for many dignitaries such as Winston Churchill.

Nicole

Walrus

Supermarine Walrus Mark I, X9506 ‘C’, of ‘C’ Flight, No. 293 Squadron RAF Detachment at Nettuno, Italy.

This is an image from the Imperial War Museum Collection. ROYAL AIR FORCE: ITALY, THE BALKANS AND SOUTH EAST EUROPE, 1942-1945.© IWM (CNA 4757)

Original photo link here – beta.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209638

Warrant Officer J R Berry (wireless operator) and Flight Sergeant E J Holmes (pilot), an experienced air-sea rescue crew, stand in front of their Supermarine Walrus Mark I, X9506 ‘C’, of ‘C’ Flight, No. 293 Squadron RAF Detachment at Nettuno, Italy. Berry and Holmes were both recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal for their work with No. 284 Squadron RAF, and flew several more successful rescue sorties after transferring with their aircraft to 293 Squadron in April 1944. The rescue tally on the X9506’s nose shows 23 aircrew extricated from the waters around Italy.

AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: VICKERS WARWICK.

Warwick ASR Mark I, BV502 ‘ZE-N’, of No. 293 Squadron RAF with its crew, in a dispersal surrounded by spring flowers at Foggia, Italy. BV502 was a redesignated ‘Stage C’ aircraft.

Warwick 2

Warwick Bomber/ASRs, of the Warwick Training Unit (later the Air Sea Rescue Training Unit), on the ground at Bircham Newton, Norfolk. The nearest aircraft, BV277 ‘T’, subsequently served in the Mediterranean Theatre with Nos. 284 and 293 Squadrons RAF.

Charles Stanley Horrell served his country well as his big brother did.

Horrell Brothers

Charles born in 1923, Arthur born in 1920

Charles came back from the war.

Arthur did not.

Arthur James Horrell

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There Is Something I Want to Show You

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This…

Horrell Brothers

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Hi

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This is how this blog was created on WordPress.

Just a comment.

Hi,

My name is Nicole Morley and my Great Uncle Arthur James Horrell was in the 443 squadron. I don’t know if my Great Uncle ever knew William Irvine Gould but I imagine he probably did. I’m doing some research on my Uncle and was wondering if there was anyone who had pictures or information about the 443 squadron or anything related to my Uncle.

You can reach me at my e-mail address 

Thanks

A comment made on my other blog about RCAF 403 Squadron, a blog I started in September 2011 when I first met Greg Bell whose grandfather was this Spitfire pilot.

Click here

How I met Greg is a very long story that you can read on the blog.

Walter Neil Dove was a Spitfire pilot with RCAF 403 Squadron. The 403 and the 443 were squadrons that were part of 127 Wing which was part of 2 TAF. TAF is Tactical Air Force.

Before September 2011, I knew nothing about the 403, the 443, the 127 Wing, 2 TAF, etc.

But I knew who was Johnny Johnson seen here with 403 pilots at the end of March 1945. Most of these pilots were identified.

I thought I knew a lot about WWII but I knew nothing about that RCAF Squadron. In fact nothing about any RCAF Squadrons.

So I started getting interested with all those precious pictures Walter Neil Dove’s grandson had kept. I told him we had to share those with everyone so people would remember not only Johnnie Johnson RAF top ace, but his grandfather and all his comrades-in-arms.

This is how I got to write more than 250 articles on RCAF 403 Squadron with people’s help and share hundreds of exclusive pictures and many untold stories.

Click here. (You should click there…)

RCAF 403 Squadron blog grew some more in February 2012 with its spin-off RCAF 128 Squadron because Greg and I found out Walter Neil Dove was with that almost unknown squadron before being posted overseas.

Nicole, without suspecting anything, wrote that comment at the beginning on the RCAF 403 Squadron blog and she found someone passionate enough to tell all about RCAF 127 Squadron which became RCAF 443 Squadron.

No. 443 was originally known as No. 127 (F.) Squadron, one of several new fighter units formed in Canada as a result of Japan’s entrance into the war and the extension of German U-boat operations to the western shores of the Atlantic. It was originally planned to form No. 127 in April 1942, but the unit did not actually come into existence until the end of June, when Flt. Lt. W. P. Roberts was named commanding officer. Equipped with Hurricanes and Harvards, the squadron carried out training at Dartmouth until the middle of August. Then it moved to its “war station” at Gander, Nfld., where it completed a one-year tour of routine patrols on fighter defence of the great air base. As enemy raiders never appeared, most of the time was devoted to operational training varied with occasional searches for missing aircraft.

To contact me, please use this form or write a comment.