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Richard G B Summers
| Wing Commander Richard G B Summers (deceased) Richard G B Summers was a navigator on Blenheims with 219 squadron at the age of 18. He fought throughout the Battle of Britain and after the cmapaign served in West Africa and Gibraltar. After the war he served on V-Bombers and received an OBE for gallant and distinguished service during the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya during the 1950s. Richard Gordon Battensby Summers was born on 18th October 1921 in Beverley, East Yorkshire and was educated at Ermysteds Grammar School at Skipton. In April 1939 Richard joined The Royal Air Force as a direct-entry Airman u/t Observer. On 26th June he went to the Bristol Flying School, Yatesbury for basic navigation training, moved to B&GS Warmwell on 30th September and then completed his training with an astro-navigation course at St. Athan in November. On 4th December 1939 Summers was posted to Church Fenton to join 242 Squadron, as a navigator at the age of 18. The squadron was equipped with Blenheims. He went to 219 Squadron at Catterick on 16th April 1940. Summers left the squadron on 28th September to go to the Ferry Pool and Defence Flight Takoradi, in West Africa. In early July 1941 Summers aircraft made a wheels-up forced-landing on a beach in Liberia. To escape internment he walked 48 miles in bare feet before putting out to sea and being picked up by a British merchantman on the 5th. For this incident, Summers was awarded the AFM (gazetted 1st January 1942). Commissioned in May 1942, he was posted back to the UK where he was appointed Bombing Leader on Hudsons at No. 1 (Coastal) OTU Silloth on 12th October. Summers was posted to 48 Squadron at Gibraltar on 22nd May 1943 as Bombing Leader. He returned to the UK and on 1st March 1944 became Bombing Leader at No. 1 APC Aldergrove. Summers went on a Specialist Armament Course on 19th April, firstly at 2 School of Technical Training Cosford and from late June at the Empire Air Armament School at Manby. He was appointed Armament Staff Officer at HQ 15 Group Liverpool on 17th November 1944 and he moved to RAF Lossiemouth on 7th August 1945 as Station Armament Officer. Staying in the postwar RAF, in October 1946 Summers was posted to the staff of ACAS (Training) at the Air Ministry as an Acting Squadron Leader. Pre-selected for the RAF Staff College in 1949, he graduated at the end of 1950 and was appointed Command Weapons Officer at HQ Bomber Command. From August 1953 until January 1956 Summers was Deputy Station Commander at RAF East Leigh, Kenya during the Mau-Mau Emergency. He was made an OBE (gazetted 6th March 1956) for 'gallant and distinguished services in Kenya'. Back in the UK, Summers returned to flying and commanded 109 Squadron at Binbrook. In December 1956 he was promoted to Acting Wing Commander and took command of No. 2 Wing RAF Cosford. In July 1959 he did a RAF Flying College Course at RAF Manby. In January/March 1960 Summers did a conversion course on Vulcans and was then appointed Wing Commander Operations at RAF Finningley, a Vulcan station. In December 1962 he was posted to the staff of SHAPE in Europe, for 'nuclear activities'. He returned to the UK in December 1966 and became a staff officer in the Department of the Chief of Defence Staff. Summers retired from the RAF on 18th October 1968 as a Wing Commander. He died on 7th May 2017. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Response to Call by Robert Taylor. You can almost hear the roar of their mighty Merlin engines and feel the prop-wash in this salute to the Hawker Hurricane. This classic portrayal of this much-loved fighter depicts a pair of Mk.I Hurricanes from No.32 Sqn leading the scramble away from their forward airfield. Often making three, four or five such scrambles a day at the height of the battle, this time they are racing to intercept Luftwaffe intruders who have been spotted crossing the Kent coast. |
The Greatest Day by Robert Taylor. Sunday 15 September 1940 and Luftwaffe supremo Hermann Goering believed victory over the RAF was at hand. Today, he decreed, would be the day that his 'glorious' Luftwaffe would finally break the back of Fighter Command's stubborn resistance. Or so he believed. In response to a massed formation of enemy aircraft detected heading for London, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park commanding 11 Group scrambled his squadrons. He also requested that 12 Group bring Douglas Bader's 'Big Wing' down from Duxford. Every available pilot and machine was committed. Prime Minister Winston Churchill turned to Park and asked "What other reserves have we" "There are none", Park replied. Bader now had five squadrons racing south, meeting what remained of the enemy on the outskirts of London. With a successful morning behind them the RAF fighters raced back to re-fuel and re-arm. Just after 14.00 hrs another enemy battle group was observed and this time the formations were even larger. Bader's Wing was scrambled once more. |
We All Stand Together by Robert Taylor. Spitfires of 616 Squadron scramble from RAF Kenley during the heavy fighting of the Battle of Britain, late August 1940. Below them a Hurricane of 253 Squadron, sharing the same base, is being prepared for its next vital mission at a distant dispersal. All through the long summer of 1940, as Britain stood alone, a small band of fighter pilots took part in the greatest aerial battle in history. Day after day the men of Fighter Command valiantly took to the air to defend their country from the Luftwaffe and the threat of German invasion and Nazi tyranny. Outnumbered, but never out-fought, they fought to the point of exhaustion and, in doing so, paid a heavy price. But they won. |
Those Valiant Few by Robert Taylor. The Battle of Britain commenced at the beginning of June 1940, and for the next two and a half gruelling months the young men of Royal Air Force Fighter Command, duelled with the cream of Goerings Luftwaffe over the skies of southern England. It was to become the greatest aerial conflict in aviation history. Always outnumberd, the valiant young pilots fought with a determined fierceness and intensity, and never once did their spirit waiver. By the end of September the battle was won, but many had made the ultimate sacrifice. |
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