By: Grayam Gourlay. Bob grew up in Long Branch, Ontario (just west of Toronto) He had one sister ...

By: Grayam Gourlay

Bob grew up in Long Branch, Ontario (just west of Toronto)

He had one sister

His parents owned a General Store in Long Branch

1939, at 16 Years old, he enlisted in the RCAF

Started by learning how to fly the Harvard

Did training runs along Georgian Bay

Joined Squadron 602 (City of Glasgow)

Flew the Supermarine Spitfire

-Sept 12 1925:First auxiliary airforce-1933: first to fly over Mount Everest-1938: changed its role of light

bomber to fighter unit-1938/1939: Received Hawker Hectors,

replaced with Gloster Gauntlets, then Spitfires

-October 1939: First shots over Britain

First auxiliary equipped with Spitfires

Rommel-commander of all German forces in the invasion of Normandy

Heading back to front lines Ken Charmy alerted allies Squadron 602 claims to have attacked Rommel RAF awarded Squadron 602 with this incident. Many other claims.

Flew dawn patrols Flew convoy patrols Flew bomber escorts into France and

Belgium Conducted skip-bombing Served in the Orkney Islands Along the English Channel from Cornwall to Sussex

Flak (anti-aircraft weapons) Luftwaffe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYVwqHM488

3 types of flak Barrage (least accurate) Continuously pointed fire (most

accurate) Predicted concentration

Losing the Spitfire in the English Channel

Bombing the train yard.

LancastersMarauders

3 squadrons (Numbers 132, 453 and 602) briefed to escort 108 Marauders bombing Deurne in Holland. Rendezvous just off Dutch coast. The operation was carried out to plan. Bombing was good. Very light inaccurate flak. No enemy fighters up. Weather was good over Holland. Bad weather when squadrons took off. Weather cleared by the time the wing returned.

April 27th , 1944 Bob was detached from 602

He was with 602 for 20 months

Bob moved back to Long Branch, Ontario Met Pauline Laboret Married on September 11th ,1948 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Worked for Exide Batteries for many years and was the Vice President when he retired

Adopted a baby boy named Douglas Bolton

2 years later adopted a baby girl named Robin McMillian

Changed their names to Garth and Leanne Gourlay

Brought Bob to the Warplane Heritage Museum

Bought Bob an hour of flying time in a Harvard

Bob had pneumonia from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) Bob passed away Feb 2nd , 2008 Pauline followed a year and a half later from cancer