大象传媒

My father, Stewart Campbell, joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1939, when he was 18. He learned to fly at training centres in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland, and then made a 3-month voyage to Alexandria to join HMS Illustrious as a Swordfish pilot. When he arrived in January 1941, Illustrious had just been badly damaged escorting a convoy to Malta and Greece.

So after a few months with the holding squadron at Dekheila, he was posted to 830 Squadron in Malta. They had the job of stopping supplies to Rommel's Afrika Korps, by attacking ships with torpedoes, laying mines off Tripoli, and bombing land targets. Losses were high, and in November 1941 my father was among four planes forced to ditch off the coast of Sicily. They were taken prisoner by the Italians, and held at Montalbo, Padula and Bologna.

In 1943 my father was transferred to a German prisoner-of-war camp, Marlag Nord, from where he was able to escape with a friend and return to UK. They were each awarded the MBE. Then he did some test flying with the ATDU Unit before joining 811 Mosquito Squadron at the end of the war.

He did not speak much about his experiences, but after his death I learned more from his papers and photos, and this is now on my website ^{About links}

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