大象传媒

Alas my old mate Ted Foster is no longer with us. He joined the Royal Air Force from his home in Leamington Spa as a boy entrant from the age of 16. It was 1936 and already war clouds were beginning to build.

After an apprenticeship at Farnborough as an RAF photographer, Ted ended up, in 1940 in France on 12 Sqaudron with their obsolete Fairey Battle day bombers. (Twelve were particularly noted during this period for Flying Officer Garland and Sergeant Gray, winning the first Victoria Crosses awarded to RAF personnel as a result of their attack on the bridges over the Albert Canal at Maastricht. A similar attack was made by Belgian Air Force Fairey Battles and French Armee d'l Air Breguet 693s with the same sad loss rate.)

As the phoney war disappeared and more and more German aircraft were involved in combat with the Armee d'l Air of both Belgium and France and the Royal Air Force, Ted was given a job to go around and take photographs of any downed German aircraft within a certain radius of his base.

At one particular incident, a German Heinkel He111 had been on the receiving end of a couple of French Morane-Saulnier MS406s (a bit like a French equivalent of the Hawker Hurricane - but while the old 'Hurri' was generally a better machine all round, the MS406 had a better hitting power having cannons fitted). The Heinkel had gone straight in to the ground creating a crater with managled bits of aircraft and young airmen spread around the area.

By now Ted had seen a bit of service and although the sight was not pleasant being at the wreck did not really effect him. He took his pictures and started to look around the area at some of the bits and pieces - maybe a souvenier would be forthcoming.

Something made him go toward some long grass, a little way from the crater. Within its protective fronds he noticed a smallish, leather case, and, upon opening, he discovered a very nice, well looked after and expensive 35mm Leica camera, which went into his pocket.

After he had completed his photographic duties, he then set about looking at his newly obtained piece of quality, German technology. He could tell straight away that their was a film in it, so he rewound it and then opened the back and duly processed the film to negative. The only picture on the film was of three grinning young Luftwaffe airmen all aged, like Ted, around their early twenties. They and their other colleague, missing from the picture, were on a reconnaissance operation when shot down.

Although the negative disappeared long ago, I have copied a print taken from it and enlared it to 10 X 8. Indeed I have copies of most of the pictures Ted privately took during his wartime experiences, which saw him in service from the Western Desert to far away Madagascar. Many of his photographs were taken with the very same Leica, which was stolen from him on a troopship returning to Liverpool in late 1945. The Luger and ammunition he obtained went over the side. The aforementioned copy negative and print are still in my possesion and I would dearly love to put names to the cheerful young faces that will never get any older.

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