The Crew of Torchy Tess

Mark Wilson of Ottawa sends us a photo of his father, Stanley Wilson (second, from left), as a member of the air crew that flew the Halifax bomber Torchy Tess. The crew flew 28 missions starting in January 1945 as part of 415 (Swordfish) Squadron, stationed in East Moor, England.

Wilson, who was the navigator, kept his log book. “It is very operational but you can read how they ran out of fuel on one mission and had to make an emergency landing in Belgium,” said Mark Wilson. His father returned to Ottawa after the war and had a career selling televisions and appliances.

We thank Mark Wilson for sharing these photos and encourage others to share their photos of wartime or peacetime service to do the same. To submit a high quality photograph (no photocopies), please mail it to Find-Share-Discuss c/o Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON, Canada, K2L 0A1 (photos will not be returned) or by email (large file JPEG) to magazine@legion.ca. Please include your daytime phone number and mailing address along with a description of the photo, its date and the location and the identity of the people (first names and last) and where they are in the photo. Have questions? Call us at 1-613-591-0116.