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210381F/Lt. Ian Laird Shaw
Royal Air Force 32 EFTS Bowden
from:Glasgow, Scotland
My dad, Ian Shaw (flight lieutenant J L Shaw), is Scottish aged 91, now has Alzheimers and unfortunately can't remember much except the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, instructing in basic trainer Tigermoths, Spitfires, Harvards, Hurricanes. He joined the RAF in December 1941, aged 21 and was based at EFTS/SFTS bases in Canada. He was definitedly at Bowden in June 1943 in 32 EFTS (we have small a shot with names on the back: I Varrie, R Powell, J Purchase, R Uden, R Saunders, Douglas Woodburn, G Scott, M Tavernor). Douglas Woodburn was his best mate. He also probably was at Braden, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Regina, Trenton, St Catherines, Swift Current amongst others. He has 3700 flying hours, but can't find his log book or service records. He eventually returned to Britain, based at Scone in Perthshire probably with RAF 51 group EFTS, where he met my mum, Cathie Torbet, and got engaged in 1946 just before being discharged in October 1946. He met his best man there (Jack Dalton) and Pooch Nugent was the Base Commander, (he has a road named after him at Scone airport). They married in 1948, in Perth. After the war he went into Air Traffic Control, based at Renfrew, Sighthill in Edinburgh and Oceanic House Prestwick, running oceanic traffic control and was in charge of training sitting for Scotland and on the Training Board at Bournemouth. Retired 1983. If anyone can help fill in the memories from Canada or 1941-46, or recognise him, that would help a lot.
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