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Wallace Cunningham
| Flight Lieutenant Wallace Cunningham DFC (deceased) Wallace Cunningham, known as Jock during his time in the RAF, was born in Glasgow on December 4th 1916. He studied Engineering part-time at the Royal Technical College (later to become the University of Strathclyde) and joined the RAFVR in 1938, learning to fly at Prestwick. When war was declared he was commissioned. He did his flying training at 11 FTS, Shawbury. After converting to Spitfires at 5 OTU, Aston Down, he was posted to 19 Squadron in July 1940. Flew Spitfire Mk.I P8439. On 16th August 1940 he destroyed a Bf110. On September 7th the Duxford Wing of three squadrons flew its first offensive patrol under the leadership of Douglas Bader. The controversial Big Wing took off in the late afternoon to head towards London. A large force of enemy bombers, with their fighter escort, was intercepted and Cunningham shot down a Heinkel 111 bomber over Ramsgate and damaged a second. His next success came two days later when the Big Wing scrambled in the afternoon. After attacking a bomber force, Cunningham found a stray Messerschmitt Bf109, which he shot down. September 15th saw the most intensive fighting and the turning point of the Battle, with all fighter squadrons in the south of England scrambled. Cunningham shared in the destruction of a Bf110 and destroyed a second fighter over the Thames Estuary. Before the battle was over at the end of October, he shared in the destruction of two more enemy aircraft. In October he was awarded the DFC for great personal gallantry and splendid skill in action. After the Battle of Britain, Flight Lieutenant Cunningham remained with No.19 Sqn as a flight commander. In July 1941 he damaged a Bf109 but on August 28th, while escorting a force of Blenheim bombers, he was shot down by flak near Rotterdam and taken prisoner. Flight Lieutenant Cunningham was initially sent to Oflag XC at Lubeck before joining a large RAF contingent at Oflag VIB at Warburg. He was soon involved in escape activities. The tunnelling fraternity he joined was almost ready to break out when its efforts were discovered. Within weeks he was on the digging team of another tunnel and was one of 35 PoWs selected for the escape. But when the tunnel broke the surface on April 18 1942 it was well short of the intended spot. Only five prisoners were able to escape before the tunnel was discovered next morning. Later in the year Cunningham was transferred to Stalag Luft III. At the end of January 1945, the camp was evacuated and the PoWs were forced to march westwards in atrocious winter weather. In late April, British forces liberated the prisoners and Cunningham was flown back to England. He was released from the RAF in 1946. Sadly Wallace Cunningham passed away on October 4th 2011. |
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| Text for the above items : |
High in the Sunlit Silence by Michael Rondot. A solo Spitfire flies high over the aerial battlefield of the Battle of Britain. |
Inspiration by John Young. Official limited edition print of the 60th Anniversary of the Douglas Bader Foundation. Douglas Bader (D-B) leading Dogsbody Section, 616 Squadron, including Johnnie Johnson (YQ-E) , Cocky Dundas (YO-A) and Jeff West (YQ-H) on his final operational take off from Westhampnett on August 9th 1941. |
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