Memories
Back in July 1999, I received an Email from Michael Elcock. Michael's Father was a flying instructor at Forres (Balnageith farm) after he finished his tour of operations in 1943. He was based between Forres and Kinloss and it was there he met a WAAF member who in turn he married, Michael was born in Forres in 1944. Sadly Michael's father passed away in December 1998.
Michael was so kind to offer me information that I could use for my web site, and I have built this page for this purpose.
This picture is of Michael's Dad taken just before he set off to start his tour of ops in the Middle East. The photo was taken at RAF Bassingbourne in June 1942 in front of his Wellington. He joined up with 40 Squadron when he reached Cairo(of the flight of 19 aircraft which left Lyneham for Cairo via Gibraltar and Malta a few days after the picture was taken,only 9 made it to Cairo. The others all disappeared en route. The fellow on the right is Cam Hill, a Canadian Navigator, the man on the left is Sid Platt, a New Zealander. He was W/O & front gunner.
Michael's father's name was Stan Elcock. He was an Englishman. As you can see in the photo he was a Flight Sergeant in June 1942. He was posted to Kinloss/Balnageith in early 1943 possibly, as a P/O. He finished up there as a Flight Lieutenant. He was there for at least 2 years, and was still there when Michael was born in October 1944. Michael's mother was a WAAF based at Kinloss.
Michael wrote up from a story his Dad told him about a Flight Lieutenant (Alf Doors), who was stationed at Balnageith with himself. The story is pretty well as Michael's Father told it ....
click here to read his story
