Ed. Tynemouth School m. 1939 Emeline M S A M [Thomson] Pilot Officer (70813), 41 Sqn RAF from Sep 1937 to 17 Oct 1940 (resigned, after being assigned to ground duties following a misunderstanding over an incident in March 1940 when he took off without a working oxygen mask and passed out at 22,000 ft) - see https://www.facebook.com and also http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk prev. exp. 348 hrs on Spitfire, Gauntlet, Hart, Magister, Puss Moth, Hornet Moth, DH60G, Tiger Moth, Blackburn B2, Avro Tutor RAeC Certificate, Newcastle Aero Club, 1937 Address in 1940: 62 Broad Walk, Wilmslow, Cheshire; later moved to Rhodes House, N Berwick, E Lothian, Scotland Postings: Ringway, 4a FPP, 10FPP (as 2nd in Command), 4FPP 3 accidents, none his fault. Demoted from Flight Captain to First Officer on 5 May 1942 for '"flying at 50 ft", but re-instated in June. "A thoroughly reliable officer and a capable and polished pilot on Class 2", although he found the Halifax too much to begin with: "showed below average ability on the Halifax and it became apparent that the size of the a/c rather overawed him and it was therefore necessary to fail him on the conversion." He passed it at the second attempt, though.
"Most stared at man in Adelaide today was 32 year-old Scottish migrant Greg Piddocke, of the ancient Stewart clan. People turned to look at him as he did his shopping in kilt, sporran, and kilt jacket. Mr. Piddocke arrived in the Orion on Saturday with his wife and three sons, Greg, nine, Stewart, six, and Ian, five.
Mr. Piddocke has come to Australia to work on Mr. Byron McLachlan's outback station, Lake Everard, 300 miles north of Adelaide.
"If I'd had a hat in my hand, I could have collected a fortune this morning," he said. "I always wear a kilt except for work."
Mr. Piddocke joined the RAF in 1936 and from 1940 to 1944 he was in the Air Transport
Auxiliary. On the lapel of his coat he wears the badge of the Air Transport Auxiliary and the badge of the British Gliding Association - three white seagulls on a blue background, denoting three licences.
Mr. Piddocke claims to be a jack of all trades. "I can trace my family back to pre-writing days," he said.
"I am not terribly impressed so far with Adelaide. Everybody is so strange and not interested in us. In Scottish cities, we go out of our way to help strangers."
His 11-year-old son Vincent Gregory was a 'dairyhand pupil' in Keysbrook, W. Australia, in 1951. In 1954, he was appointed as an "Assistant (Meteorological Branch), Fourth Division" in the Western Australia Taxation Branch of the Treasury, and by 1972 he was the officer-in-charge of the Rabaul Bureau of Meteorology, in Papua New Guinea. He later moved to Cairns, Queensland, Australia. d. 24 Jun 2011 - Queensland, Australia Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file): |
1937
13 Dec 1949
