Warbird Information Exchange

Hi Folks,

I have a very nice treat for you today.

Recently I found out that one of my Dad's friends had moved into a neighborhood very close to mine, so I visited. The gent's name is Gord Wickenden, and he was teacher and principal in the secondary shool system, and is now retired.

Gord knows I have an interest in aviation history and so when I visited he showed me his dad's stuff from WWII. Gord dad's name is Oswald Wickenden. Oswald graduated from training as a P/O (Pilot Officer) and operationally served as a WOP (Wireless Operator). Oswald flew missions on Halifax bombers, and later Lacaster bombers. It is unclear if Oswald flew any mission before the end of WWII on Lancasters, but perhaps you could help clarify this for me.

Anway... Oswald was quite the shutter bug and he took a number of pictures, before, after, and during his missions. Gord still has those pictures and he loaned them to me a few weeks ago. I had a great time scanning them and spent quite a bit of time editting/cleaning them for presentation. Cees also helped identify and provide comments for some of the pictures.

So now I present to you Oswald's pictures...
http://community.webshots.com/album/475149554tjjpEs

Please enjoy the photos, but please note that Gord Wickenden retains the rights to these pictures. They may be used for your personnal use without alteration, but if you would like to use them for any other reproduction including publication you must request permission first.

I would very much appreciate it if you share any comments you have to make the captions as informative as possible.

Regards,

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Thank you for sharing!

Regards,

What can one say, except fantastic pics.

Thanks for posting

Martin

Thanks for sharing Mike,

When I saw these pics for the first time I was stunned and even so when you think about the many familiair photographs that have been published over and over again in as many books, these are a breath of fresh air.

There must be more of these around in attics etc.

Cees

I would not be surprised that there are. What scares the heck out of me is what happens to them when grandma, grandpa, mom or dad passes away. Does the younger generation appreciate what should be done with them? I fear not.

The problem is finding and reaching out to the people sitting on these wonder photographic artifacts. How do you do that?

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

The ideal way would be to launch a nationwide appeal to all veterans and their family to have a look in their photoalbums to see if there are photographs that can be copied for future generations. But mostly and as in your case it is more luck.

Unfortunately photoalbums like these are also sold on ebay and pulled apart for a profit.

Cheers

Cees

Hi Mike,

Great photos and thanks for posting them and you're right about the potential loss of these old photos. An example. I was talking to a guy at work, he mentioned his Dad worked for Fairchild or CCF, can't remember which, in Canada during the war building Helldivers. When production ended he said his Dad took home boxes of detailed manufacturing photo's for the Helldiver's, at some point in the 1990's the father and family didn't want them and they all ended up in the dump. A huge loss.

Brian…

A crying shame the pictures were lost.

That would be CCF in Thunder Bay BTW.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Wonderful
Thanks for taking the time to scan them.
Cheers
Andy

Thanks for posting Mike. Like Cees said "A breath of fresh air"

Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!