He describes his childhood in Bishop Auckland and his boyhood spent crippled by osteomyelitis in his lower leg. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1938, starting at Prestwick, going to Uxbridge, then North Coates, Hemswell, training as a Navigator and becoming Acting Air Observer 580504 on April 12th 1939. Then followed the start of the war. His service earned him the Distinguished Flying Medal. He describes the bombing raids and how he was shot down and taken prisoner. He describes life in the POW camps. Then came his release.

He married and came to Beadnell for a short while. He then taught at an Infants’ School in Ford, and worshipped in Ilderton.

The text is illustrated with his own sketches.

Among those mentioned are:
P/Off. David Gould.
Neil Prendergast M.B.E.
Pilot Officer Dudley Davis.

The permission of George Wright’s daughters to include the text of his book on this website has been given willingly. They say he would be thrilled that his book would be read by more people.
They asked that their mother be acknowledged for arranging their father’s thoughts and memories into the book.

For ease of uploading, it has been necessary to divide the book into several sections. These are:
Part 01: Cover – Squadron badge – Contents – No 61 Squadron
Part 02: Preface – Boyhood – A Crippled Youth
Part 03: Prestwick : Uxbridge: Per Ardua Ad Astra – North Coates No.1 A.O.S.
Part 04: Hemswell – Wick
Part 05: The Real War – Death of Glory or . .- Crews’ accounts – Aftermath
Part 06: Dulag and Stalags – The Foolish Things – Going Round The Bend – A Daily Function to Perform –
Part 07: On Parade – The Allies – The Red Star Rises in the East – From Bad to Worse
Part 08: On Your Way, Boy
Part 09: The Hounds of War
Part 10: Warsaw: City of Sorrow and Sadness – To Odessa – Sailing Back to Happiness – D.F.M. for Bishop Auckland W.O.
Part 11: 61 Squadron Crashes at Home – 144 Squadron Crashes at Home - Reflections – Where is George? – John Bristow: A Remarkable Kriegie – Cossacks Returned to Face Stalin’s Death Squads
Part 12: Homage from Young and Old – The Reunion
Part 13: Kenneth Jones’s account of P4344’s Last Flight – The Hampden Operation – 60 years on – Copy from the War Log.

Imperial War Museum
Aircrew Remembered