Doug Gregory DFC R.I.P.

Sad news today to read that Doug Gregory DFC has died. He was knocked down by a car whilst walking to collect his newspaper and died in hospital two weeks later. Here is the Telegraph obituary;

Doug Gregory - Pilot obituary

 Doug Gregory DFC

Doug Gregory served as a pilot during World War 2 on 141 Squadron at the same time as my Grandfather, Howard Kelsey. He later wrote a book called Aeroaddict (here's a link) which I am using to fill in some of the colour and flavour of their time on the squadron. My Grandfather was very tight-lipped about his wartime experience, so I am having to use other sources to try and find out more about what RAF life was like back then.

Here's a clip of Doug talking about flying Beaufighters; Doug Gregory and the Bristol Beaufighter

As a mark of respect I thought I would post a scan of one of Doug Gregory's combat reports. By this time he was flying DeHavilland Mosquitoes. One night in July 1944, along with his navigator Steve Stephens, he shot down a JU88 over Beauvais, France.

On August 5th that year he was awarded the DFC. It is typical of Doug that the comment beside the log-book entry mentioning the award of his DFC reads “I still don't know why”.

So another night fighter pilot is added to the 'celestial score' but I hope his memory will live on.