Keith C. Ogilvie

This is a collection of descriptions of the last sorties of 16 Canadian airmen who flew in bombers over Europe in WW II. Qgilvie, who authored his own memories of trips over occupied Europe, edited the brief biographies which describe where the flier was born and a summary of his early life followed by a tour of his many stops across Canada as he trained to be a bomber crewman. If known, his English training is described as well.

Each essay includes photographs of the flier and his crew member plus the plane they flew and in some cases photos from their bomber's camera over a target. In some case, the authors were able to interview people in the former occupied countries who had hidden the fliers or who had buried the bodies in cemeteries as the Germans frequently treated the dead airmen with cold disrespect. He included an extensive bibliography so the readers may follow up with more in depth research.

Ogilvie wrote a previous aviation book, "You Never Know Your Luck", about his father's service in WW II as a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain who eventually ended the war in the famous Stalag Luft III and was the second last POW to leave the tunnel during the Great Escape from that prisoner of war camp.… (mehr)

Author Ogilvie wrote this book about his parents. His father, also named Keith, was a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. Although Keith senior's future wife was a Canadian, he met her in England where she had moved with her mother before the war. The first portion of the book, was predominately made up with entries from from Keith's wartime diary with commentary by Keith Junior.

After Skeets was shot down over France and became a prisoner of the German Luftwaffe, he could not keep a diary so the author relies on memoirs of other men who were held in as POW's in Stalag Luft III as well as notes his father wrote on his way home from Europe after the war. One of Skeet's claim to fame is he was the second last man to leave the tunnel before it was discovered during the Great Escape. He never could understand why he was not one of the 50 prisoners murdered on Hitler's orders.

His mother's experiences living and working in London during the Blitz are not forgotten. He places a chapter covering her experiences after one covering his father's during the same period. He covers their courtship and marriage in brief chapters at the end including one on his father's continued service in RCAF after the war including flying jets.

This book attracted my attention when my wife noticed Skeet's name in a notice about it in the Canadian Legion Magazine and she mentioned he had lived next door to her family in Ottawa when she was young girl.… (mehr)