I am almost 100% certain that my father, Lt. Jimmy (William James) Macdonald took part in Operation Varsity but I am struggling to find details of his glider chalk number, etc. He had been in 3 squadron 1st Bn GPR and at the time of Varsity he was transferred between No.1 and No.2 Wing GPR. Unfortunately his log book got misplaced years back so I am now reliant on others having this detail. I have research all of the obvious places, the Museum of Army Flying archive, The Last Drop by Stephen Wright, etc, but cannot find the detail I am seeking. Can you help?
As Philip has suggested try writing to the editor of The Eagle magazine:- Mr. David Brook, Birds Hill, Gt. Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13.6NR. David is a GPR Veteran as well as being the editor of The Eagle and holds a wealth of knowledge himself together with all back dated issues of this GPRA magazine. David announced in the December 2011 issue of The Eagle that all material for the March 2012 edition must be with the Editor no later than 12th February, 2012 and that this date was a deadline for all Notices, Letters, Photographs and Enquiries etc. You have time to drop him a line! Good luck. I don't recognise 3 Squadron - could be B Squardron, 1 Wing GPR ? Others I feel sure will be along shortly to help you, but in the interim I strongly suggest you write to Mr. David Brook. Best wishes, Lindsay
John Welcome to the Forum. From your letter in the April 'Eagle', you say that your father was in the group from 1 Wing which returned from the Med in Jan 45. I'm sorry that, so far, you haven't received any response to your request, for information on your father's involvement in Varsity, in the August issue. With his experience, I wonder if he was posted to C Sdn as a Hamilcar pilot. I say 'wonder' because he isn't in the 24 crews whose records exist. A slim chance and there may be info hidden. We keep searching! Steve W.
John Welcome to the Forum. From your letter in the April 'Eagle', you say that your father was in the group from 1 Wing which returned from the Med in Jan 45. I'm sorry that, so far, you haven't received any response to your request, for information on your father's involvement in Varsity, in the August issue. With his experience, I wonder if he was posted to C Sdn as a Hamilcar pilot. I say 'wonder' because he isn't in the 24 crews whose records exist. A slim chance and there may be info hidden. We keep searching! Steve W. Thanks for this Steve it is another possible place to look. It is because of "his experience" and the massive shortage of Glider Pilots that I am convinced that he must have taken part in the operation. Unfortunately the details of the operation do not appear to be complete, so I will just have to keep on searching. Regards John
