Category Archives: Flt Lt John W Harder

A “new” Spitfire from John Harder’s old squadron

February 25, 2013 – 4:20 pm

One of the people who’s added so much to the story of Flt Lt John Harder has been his “co-conspirator” & joint member of the wartime “John & Tony mutual appreciation society”: Flt Lt Tony Cooper. I’ve met Tony on 3 occasions, since being introduced to him by email, at his home in Lowestoft and […]

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Day2: 1st June

August 29, 2012 – 1:52 pm

Friday saw us heading round & into Kent, initially heading for Herne Bay followed by Reculver, RAF Manston & Plucks Gutter (honest!) before ending up in Canterbury for the evening. We’d decided not to eat at the hotel & instead, once round the south of London on the M25, headed off the motorway in search […]

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Day1: 31st May

August 28, 2012 – 11:16 pm

Having planned our trip in reasonable detail, we decided on a change almost immediately when the opportunity presented itself to travel down early & meet up with Stuart Hadaway. Stuart used to work at the RAF Museum in Hendon & was exceptionally helpful in assisting the research I have done on Flt Lt John Harder. […]

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Normandy Trip – July 2011

December 22, 2011 – 9:53 pm

Normandy Trip July 2011 The first day As we had in July last year, Glyn and I set off looking forward to this trip as for part of it we would be in the company of a relative of one of the “men in the shed”. On this occasion, it would be Bobbie Harder, one […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in M/Sgt Morris Sheppard | Comments (0)

Normandy Visit – June 2011

June 9, 2011 – 9:19 pm

So, after the sleepless start (see previous post for the horrific details of what happens if you’re late to the Chunnel on a Friday night!) & arrival at our hotel (the Formule 1 Hotel at Boulogne sur Mer) as dawn was breaking, we had a reasonable night’s sleep and so, having taken full advantage of […]

By Colin Foster | Also posted in M/Sgt Morris Sheppard, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Visit to Normandy – July 2010

May 28, 2011 – 5:41 pm

This year’s trip was always going to have the opportunity to be special ever since earlier in the year when I’d received an email from Jesse Sheppard (Grandson of Morris Sheppard, one of the “names” in the Shed). The anticipation was increased once it also looked as ‘though Jim, Jesse’s father & Morris’ son would […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in 1st Lt FT Gillespie, M/Sgt Morris Sheppard, Major Ray Elledge Jnr, Pvt Gerald Willen | Comments (0)

Visit to Normandy – July 2009

May 28, 2011 – 5:20 pm

Friday 24th July Flt Lt John Worthington Harder We (Glyn, Benoît (our translator – local lad interested in local history & with very good English) and me) set out on our 2 hour drive (having driven over 8 to get to “the Shed” the day before!) down to Evron, the town where John had crashed […]

By ColinAuthor | Also posted in 1st Lt FT Gillespie, M/Sgt Morris Sheppard, Major Ray Elledge Jnr, Pvt Gerald Willen, Uncategorized | Comments (0)