238389 Cpl. Gordon Whyte Collins MID.Royal Air Force 126 Squadron from:Ilford, Essex My father, Gordon Collins, was on the ship, HMS Welshman that arrived in Malta as the siege of Malta started. He had volunteered to take the place of another young airman who had a young family because he was a single man. Unfortunately, my father died in 1960 still a young man, so all I have are many photos of Malta, Grottaglie and Sicily and his wonderful books on mechanics (mainly Spitfires). He joined the RAF because he wanted to be a pilot, but he was severely colour blind so he was ground crew. He was a wonderful artist and I believe he painted a lot of ensignia on planes, lorries, etc. The illustrations in his mechanics books are wonderful.
The names of some of the men he was friendly with are: Dick Pulford, Alex Haggerty from Perth, Nobby Porter from Putney, Ginger Gilbert and Bill Stewart from Killiecrankie.
He was offered a commission after the war to teach mechanics, but by then he had met my mother at a dance in Saffron Walden and had had enough of the Air Force. I was only thirteen when my father died so my information is very patchy, but I would love to know more about his time during the war.
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