Thanks, Alan

Photos…

Well it has been quite a few months since the last update; I have received numerous photos for posting, with a few biographies to go along. Other photo’s I have not posted as I am awaiting written material from the senders. It is easier for me to add photos once I have inserted the text, so I patiently wait, besides who wants to be indoors during the summer including me.

Nanton

Nanton Lancaster Society Museum is hosting some special events this year, one in particular will be the 14^th and 15^th of August. They have a number of activities scheduled for these two days; one in particular is the unveiling of “Lady Orchid” Nose-art.

Ronnie Jenkins - Pilot for "Lady Orchid"

"Lady Orchid"

As you may be aware I have a detailed story posted on the 434 Squadron web site, as well the Nanton Lancaster web site has a lot of info on “Lady Orchid” and the events for that weekend.

Sgt. Bruce Baird, R/AG for "Lady Orchid"

Emails

Many people submit emails through “Contact Me” plus they sign the “Guest Book”, as well posting in the “Forum”. One downfall is they are reluctant to leave their email address, therefore no one can reply to them personally. All I ask is that you “Contact Me” then I have your email address should someone want to reply to you. (I will not give out your email until I contact you).

Well that is all for now…

Alan

Photo taken between 30 Aug. 1944 and 7 April 1945.

431 and 434 Squadron are briefed for a mission to Essen.

(Above photo with caption description is located in gallery  "Up and Down Time")

Also added in "Biography" section a member of crew 91; F/O "Gordon" Stacey recounts the night he was shot down and evaded capture.

Alan

Being there has been very little submitted to the web site in the past month, this reflects in no uploading of photo’s etc…

So here is a little of what I do behind the scenes, I am married, two teenage kids and a dog. I am employed by Edmonton Emergency Medical Services for the past 23 years. Monday to Friday for the past ten months, prior to that schedule I worked two 10 hour days / two 14 hour nights then 4 days off which gave me plenty of time to get this site on the web.

As for the web site research that is not mentioned, I purchased three rolls of microfilm for $32 each from National Archives Canada, however I knew that without a reader the documents would not be accessible.

Therefore I looked into getting the 434 squadron ORB’s (Aircraft/Pilots/Missions) microfilm digitally scanned by an imaging company, price was $250 per roll. A few other researchers contributed into the cost. The finished product was well worth the investment, however the microfilm technology back in the early days reflected the quality, some documents are very poor for legibility but the majority are all legible. Since then another individual and I have done two more reels, these contain documents about “6 Group” and documents “station notes” involving 434 squadron, total I now have approximately 4000-5000 scanned documents.

You may ask “How much do I charge to provide information to 434 Squadron relatives?” There is no fee. This site is my way of honoring the War Dead and Veterans.

The information I provide to relatives answers many of their questions regarding an uncle or a father. In return I usually receive a photo and some written material, which then improves the quality of the site.

For me “RCAF 434 Squadron” is here to stay and will remain my passion, hopefully other squadron web sites will go online.

Alan

Removed "Family Memories" and "Veterans" galleries, I took the remaining photos in these sections and added them to the "Individual" gallery. Hopefully I will be able to update with other photos of these airmen... P/O Bert Brown of crew 140, F/Lt. John Fern of crew 151, along with F/O Ernie Wilkinson from crew 161.

Alan

Very time consuming, if one web browser uses the outdated Internet Explorer 6 well then you will notice a layout not desirable, Firefox browser displays different size fonts as opposed to Internet Explorer 7. Personally I view this site with I.E. 7, and use Firefox to upload information. Currently I am changing all the fonts on Firefox to match I.E. 7... hundreds of pages.

Added photos and written material on crew 21 (F/O Jones) and crew 168 (F/O Hooper). One interesting submission was WL-W "Wimpy" Lancaster, this is a rare photo with Wimpy flipping burgers, each burger represents a successful mission, to view this a/c see the individual section, crew 168 F/O Hooper.

WL-W "Wimpy"

Thanks to all whom contributed information and/or photos past couple weeks.

Alan

See the 1945 section in "Combat" as the Pilot F/O D.J. Cameron crew 152 escaped being shot down but suffered a tragic loss.

Till next time, keep the photo's and information coming. Alan

Well it has been awhile since last update, and I apologize. Kids out of school, Computer problems, summer and nice weather keeping me outside.

Here is a brief note on my visit to the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum and some very interesting individuals I met and had conversations with (I will create a page with more detail).

For now here is a Mr. Edmund Kluczny, whom I met up with on a private tour of the Nanton Lancaster.

We entered the Lanc together along with a mechanic on Friday afternoon, Mr. Kluczny was very agile and was able to climb over the spars and other obstacles all the way up into the pilots seat. The mechanic and I were very enlightened on many stories “Ed” was able to recall over a span of 45 minutes, I will not get into detail as I will provide more in depth history on Mr. Kluczny on a future page also. Here are some photo’s as well as his mention in Hugh Halliday’s “Honors & Awards” in the AirForce.ca web site.

-

P/O Edmund Kluczny

KLUCZNY, P/O Edmund George (J92663) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.90 Squadron - Award effective 15 March 1945 as per London Gazette dated 27 March 1945 and AFRO 1127/45 dated 6 July 1945. Born at Empress, Alberta, 1921; home in Winfield or Alder Flats, Alberta (cook); enlisted in Edmonton, 4 June 1942. Trained at No.4 ITS (graduated 6 November 1942), No.5 EFTS (graduated 5 February 1943) and No.15 SFTS (graduated 28 May 1943). Commissioned November 1942. No citation other than "completed...many successful operations against the enemy in which [he has] displayed high skill, fortitude and devotion to duty." Public Records Office Air 2/9050 has recommendation dated 14 December 1944 when he was a Warrant Officer (R159445) who had flown 35 sorties (178 hours 21 minutes); commissioned 23 December 1944 with effect from 23 November 1944.

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With the last layout design it took me close to 30 hours, this so far has taken less then an hour and about 80% complete.

Alan

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