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F/Lt. Donald William Thompson DFC.
Royal Air Force B Flight 51 Squadron
from:Bournemouth
My father Donald Thompson was called up May 1941 and after initial flight training was sent to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and then onto Basic flying training school at Terrell Field, Texas.
By April 1943 he was a qualified pilot and posted to 51 Squadron. Here he carried out 27 missions in his Halifax MK2. One of the scariest moments was on the night of 12th/13th of May 1943 flying Halifax DT637 he was returning from a raid on Duisburg when, with poor visibility, the crew were diverted to Riccall airfield. With a port engine leaking glycolgone and out of action, and running out of fuel, they landed and over shot the runway into a ditch. The Halifax was badly damaged, but the good news was that all of the crew survived. He was later awarded a DFC for services to 51 squadron and promoted to F/O and later in August 1945 to Flight Lieutenant.
