Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. 1942. Group portrait of Number 22 course, Pilots and Observers ...

Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. 1942. Group portrait of Number 22 course, Pilots and Observers at 27 Operational Training Unit (OTU). Back row, left to right: Sergeant (Sgt) Ron Pender, was shot down over Berlin in 1943 and taken as a prisoner of war (POW); 411555 Sgt Joseph Albert Turnbull OTU, accidentally killed in the United Kingdom on 13 September 1942; Don Charlwood, survived thirty operations with pilot Geoff Maddern; Alan Kennedy, (navigator with Laurie Simpson), their crew became POW's in late 1942 or early 1943; Sheilds, Sgt Jim Tarleton Rayment, navigator; 411566 Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) Douglas George Williams, No. 103 Squadron (Sqn) (bombaimer for Edward Vivian Laing's crew) killed in action (KIA) in a flying battle over Holland on 21 January 1943. Middle row: Sgt Petersen; Colin McLeod, (bombaimer in Laurie Simpon's crew), taken POW with Alan Kennedy and the rest of the crew; Harry J. A. Wright, navigator with Arthur Sydney Cook's crew for fifty three operations with No. 103 Sqn RAF, later serving with the Pathfinders force, where he completed seventy eight operations, all in heavy bombers, he was awarded the Disinguished Flying Medal (DFM), in August 1943 for a large number of targets in Germany and Italy, also the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for a night attack on Modane in September 1943, and Bar to DFC for a consisently high standard of leadership and courage in December 1944; 411562 Flt Sgt Keith Robert Webber, No. 103 Sqn RAF, (navigator for Edward Vivian Laing's crew) KIA in a flying battle over Holland on 21 January 1943; 405154 Flt Sgt John Massey Jefferies, No. 103 Sqn RAF, (navigator for Colin Bayliss) lost on operations over France on 21 December 1942; 401848 Flt Sgt Colin McDowell Miller, No. 12 Sqn RAF, (navigator for Douglas Clarke Morphett) KIA in a flying battle over Germany on 18 January 1943; Geoff Maddern, survived thirty operations and became a highly regarded instructor, he was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) and the DFM for many operational sorties against the enemy. Front row: 406693 Flt Sgt Edward Vivian Laing, No. 103 Sqn RAF, KIA with Flt Sgt Williams and Flt Sgt Jefferies in a flying battle over Holland on 21 January 1943; 406476 Sgt William John Percival Fletcher, 27 OTU, RAF, killed in the United Kingdom on 13 September 1942; 406567 Pilot Officer Albrecht Maxwell Jensen, 142 Sqn RAF, KIA in a flying battle in the Middle East on 23 February 1943; Pilot Officer (PO) Laurie Simpson taken POW with the rest of his crew in late 1942 or early 1943 after being shot down; PO (Baron) Keys, killed in a mosquito explosion; 401567 FO Arthur William Frederick Quick, 1655 Mosquito Training RAF, accidentally killed in a mosquito explosion over the Irish Sea on 5 November 1943; Colin Bayliss was the only survivor of his crew in the fighter attack on 21 December 1942; 406614 Sgt Arthur Sydney Cook (later Squadron Leader), No. 156 Sqn RAF, completed fifty one operations and was killed on the eve of his twenty second birthday in a flying battle over Germany, he was awarded the DFM and the DFC for a night attack on Nuremburg in August 1943, 406573 Flt Sgt Douglas Clarke Morphett, No. 12 Sqn RAF, KIA in a Berlin raid on 18 January 1943.