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Flying Officer Edgar Hibberson

When the Second World War was imminent ‘Ted’, my uncle, and brother of my mother, volunteered for the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and trained as a pilot. He was attested and sent home on deferred service. War was declared and in June 1940 he was recalled as a Wireless Operator. Once qualified he was accepted for retraining as a pilot, and sent to the United States Naval Air Station in Pensicola, Florida, to be trained as a flying boat pilot.

Having received his wings and a commission in the Canadian Royal Air Force, he was dispatched to West Africa where he flew as a Captain on Catalina flying boats. Later he became a Flying Officer, and was Flying Controller before demobilisation in 1946 in Calshot.

Whilst in West Africa he was involved in identifying German battleships from the air. A letter dated November 1942 on Royal Canadian Air Force notepaper from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Edgar’s Commanding Officer in Charlottetown P.E.1.congratulated the crew for finding the position of S.S. Aspen Leaf, which was subsequently found by H.M.S.C. Burlington. The letter was signed by Group Captain J.H.McC Reynolds. I have this and his Flying Log. Attached is a photograph of his crew.

He met his wife, Elizabeth May Lown, whilst she was an A/S/O in the Women’s Royal Air Force. They married in 1944. After the war she became Welfare Officer of the R.A.F.A. Branch in York, then after moving to Nottingham, she took over the Plumtree Branch. After her death in 1992 Edgar took over the job until he died in 1993. He was also Benevolent Officer for the local branch of the British Legion. At both their funerals the British Legion and R.A.F.A. were represented by standard bearers.

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