550 Squadron

F/O W E Town and Crew

F/O W E Town and crew were posted to 550 Sqdn from 101 Sqdn w.e.f. 24.3.45:

Flying some ops with this crew were the following:

F/Sgt D S Gould (W/Op)
Sgt F E Drawbridge (F/Eng) (1 op)

The F/O Town crew came from 101 Sqn (where Hanson is also shown as Hensen). In the 101 Sqdn ORB the F/Eng is shown as R E Wood, but on joining 550 Sqdn the F/Eng is shown as 1925755 Sgt Wood (in the 550 ORB). Checking with Air 78 (RAF personnel SNs) an A E Wood with the SN 1925755 could not be found. Looking in Air 78 on 'R E Wood' a close match of the SN (1825755) is found, which is indeed the SN when Sgt Wood transfers out of 550 Sqdn in June 1945. So it looks likely that Town's F/Eng was 1825755 Sgt Ronald Edward Wood RAFVR. Source: Keith Gould (son of F/Sgt D S Gould (W/Op)). F/Sgt D S Gould replaced W/O F Hanson RCAF (or Hensen) as the W/Op with the Town crew.

Town crew in 101 Squadron ORB

Pictured below is the F/O Town crew:

	L-to-R: F/O Town, F/Sgt Reffell, F/Sgt Francis, Sgt Wood, F/Sgt Gould, F/Sgt O'Reilly, F/Sgt Southgate
	Back Row L-to-R: Lee O'Reilly (MU/AG), Ron Wood (F/Eng), Bill Town - Skipper (Pilot), Doug Gould (W/Op) Front Row L-to-R: Norm Reffell (Nav), Ed Francis (A/B), Deak Southgate (R/AG) Thanks to Steve O'Reilly (son of Lee O'Reilly) for making the photo available

Various Town Crew Photos

Thanks to Keith Gould (son of D S Gould) for making the following photos available.

	Southgate Memorial (montage in local newspaper)
	Street scene, 1st left J B Southgate, 2nd right L F O'Reilly Believed was taken in Brompton Road, Kensington, London. Owles & Beaumont was a drapery store situated at 161 - 169 Brompton Road.
	F/Sgt J B "Deak" Southgate
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	W E Town (Pilot)
	W E Town (Pilot), possibily in NG250
	N E Reffell (Nav)
	D S Gould (W/Op)
	L F O'Reilly (MU/AG)
	J B "Deak" Southgate (R/AG) tries the front seat!