My father very rarely talked about this time, and I have none of his personal letters or diaries (I don’t know if he kept a diary). I have a few photographs, one or two single-page documents, and — most importantly — his pilot’s Log Books.
Using the Log Books as a framework, I have searched for sources. I was very fortunate to get in contact early on with Italian aviation historians Alfredo Logoluso, Stefano Lazzaro and Ludovico Slongo. I deeply appreciate their generosity in sharing invaluable documents and photographs of the 1940 campaign in British Somaliland.
My thanks to Matthew Lee, Curator of the Film and Video Archive at the Imperial War Museum, London, Dr. Alastair Noble of the RAF’s Air Historical Branch, and Ben Black in Cwmbran, who all went above and beyond in responding to my requests. And thank you to Peter Devitt, Curator at the RAF Museum, London, for his interest in this story, which prompted me to explore further. Special thanks to Steve Brew, Honorary Historian for 41 (F) Squadron, for generously providing a wealth of archival information about the 1935 deployment to Aden and related topics, and to Janice Wells (née Wintle) for photographs from the albums of her uncle, Corporal John Herbert Wintle, my father’s 39 Squadron colleague and his Air Gunner on 12 August 1940. I am indebted to Rachael McArdle for her technical assistance, provided with professionalism and skillful communication.
Thank you, above all, to my sister Susan Coe who passed along to me my father’s Log Books, which sowed the seed for this project. More recently, my cousin Helen Williams (daughter of my father’s sister Peggy), showed me photographs and other documents which helped me better understand my father’s childhood and early youth in Wales. Thank you, Helen.
My wife and partner Kathy Hodges suggested improvements in virtually every section, even though the RAF of the 1930’s is about as remote from her interests as I can imagine. Beyond this, Kathy sustained my motivation, through our daily discussion of everything under the sun, and through our daily laughter.
I’m sure I have overlooked any number of rich resources, and made many poorly informed judgements. I hope this reaches people who can tell me about them.
First published 1 August 2021
Updates to Halton and India pages, 3 August 2022
Update to Somaliland page, 11 August 2022
Updates to Somaliland page, 3 August 2023
Updates to Aden page, 15 February 2024 (more to come)