Aces High, Volume 1 by Christopher Shores

Author:Christopher Shores
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909808423
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing

‘Grubby’ Grice was born on 15 July, 1919 in Wallasey Village, Cheshire. He served as a Private in the Artists Rifles, TA, before joining the RAF in November 1937 on a short service commission, being posted to 32 Squadron in August 1938. He was heavily involved in fighting over France in May and early June 1940, but on 6 June, he was shot down by return fire from an He111 and force-landed near Rouen. Meeting elements of the army in woods nearby, he got a lift into Rouen, meeting another RAF pilot and obtaining a car and driver. They reached Evreux, but were bombed next morning and finding another car, reached the HQ of the Expeditionary Air Force at Dreux, reporting to the AOC. They were sent off in a Rapide to Hendon, but were diverted at Le Havre to Jersey, flying on to England next day. On the following day he received a DFC, the citation recording six victories. Back in action from Biggin Hill, he was shot down by Bf109s on 4 July and force-landed at Manston, whilst on 15 August, having just claimed a Bf109, he was shot down in flames, baling out of N2459 into tge sea. Rescued by an MTB, he had on this occasion been burned somewhat, and spent some weeks in hospital. In October he was posted back to Biggin Hill, but as a controller; in this role he moved to Northolt in June 1941, and then in January 1942 to become GC1 at Boarscroft, near Tring. In March 1942 he became Senior Controller at North Weald, and then in December 1943 at Tangmere. In December 1944 he moved to HQ, 11 Group, to a staff job, and then in April 1945 to Fighter Command HQ. He left the RAF as a Wing Commander in April 1947, having been awarded an MBE. He had also married one of the WAAF cipher officers from Biggin Hill. He then took his articles as a solicitor, qualifying in June 1950 and thereafter practising in a London firm until his retirement in December 1982. He remains in retirement in Buckinghamshire at the time of writing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.