237377 WO. Alexander Petrie Collie DFM.Royal Air Force 58 Squadron from:43 Osborne Place, Aberdeen My father, Alexander Collie did not disclose a lot of information to us about his time in the RAF. He had several crash landings returning from bombing raids, one landing crashed into a hen house, he had a photograph of the crew standing beside the plane with feathers everywhere, unfortunately we do not now have the photograph.
He was awarded the DFM for cutting loose a bomb stuck in the bomb release bay, the aircraft had been damaged by anti aircraft fire and had been in collision with a night fighter, the plane could not gain height because of the weight of the bomb and the damage to the tail fin. Once the bomb was cut free the aircraft managed to climb from 500 feet to 1000 feet and crawl home to the nearest airfield.
His squadron was later posted to the middle East.
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