Tracing Capt Gerry Durrand, Atlantic Ferry pilot

[robstitt]

Thanks for the heads-up, Martin. Must have been quite the challenge picking an open landing spot as the landing ground filled with gliders.

A couple of observations on the documenary:

Neither the RAFCC record card for Hadrian captain Seys nor for Dakota captain Longhurst refers to a combination proving flight to Maine. However, their previous individual flights were to Houlton, Maine, in Ventura AJ229 and Dakota FD797 respectively, and I suspect that this is the root of the confusion - it's easy to cross wires navigating the 'date in' and 'data out' entries on the cards. Hadrian co-pilot Gobeil made no reference to Maine in his detailed account of the operation in the CAHS Journal.

A small point: a photo of an amphibious PBY-5A, FP529, is used to illustrate the type's participation in the operation. The actual Catalina, FP159, was a PBY-5B flying boat and, as detailed in post #37, had to alight somewhere other than the on-land bases used by the Hadrian/Dakota combination.

Robert