Personnel Index - Detail
This pre-war Officer flew 38 Hampden operations (Pilot & 2nd Pilot).
All images are courtesy of his son, Charles Fox.
The very lengthy 'Record of Service' details.....click the images for a larger version (opens in a new window).
Click the image or this link to download the 49 Squadron section of his logbook.
In January 1940, the Squadron move temporarily to RAF Kinloss.
Click the image or this link to load a large version (opens in a new window).
Further details of 49Sqn's time at RAF Kinloss can be read by clicking this link.
P/O Fox was shot down and Charles Fox tells more about his father's incident:
On the 11th of May 1940 on one of the operational flights he was shot down and crash landed Hamden L4068 on the beach at Le Tréport, a few miles up the coast from Dieppe, France. He and the crew were uninjured, but his pride was considerably hurt when he had to walk through the streets of a French village at dawn with the seat of his pants ripped out. A sympathetic “poilu” from a local defence unit, having first served him and the crew horse steaks for breakfast, set about repairing the damage with a needle and thread.
The next night 12th May, when they return in a De Havilland Flamingo R2764 to Hendon he discovered how difficult it is to get one’s clothes off when shirt, vest, pants and trousers had all been inexpertly but effectively cobbled together!
In November 1941, F/Lt Fox was awarded the DFC.........click the image or this link for a larger version (opens in a new window).
At the end of the war in 1945, Squadron Leader Fox was Officer Commanding RAF Station Elmas on Sardinia.
On VE-Day he was required to address the local population and members of his station.
Click the above image or this link to read these documents (link opens in a new window).
Leading the VE Day parade in Cagliari, Sardinia (front right)
Notes from Charles Fox: This photograph is of my parents on their wedding day in 1948.
My mother, Hazel Bartlett, was a WRAF Radar Mechanic in 76 Sqn.
On 3rd-5th October 1954 my father flew, in a Hastings to Malta, then a Valetta to Aden where he stayed until 1957.
My mother and us four older children joined him sometime early 1955. I was born April 1953 so too young to remember much.
However I am pleased to have a photo of me waving an Ethiopian flag at Haile Selassie the Emperor of Ethiopia, when he visited Aden. The house on the left of the photo is our house, it was between the RAF and the commercial runways.
Wing Commander Fox left the RAF in March 1958.
"Posted Out" - 1st Jan 1990.