On 17th May the Annual 10 Sqn Association Dinner was held at a hotel near Swindon. Organised by Sandy Butler, the evening was a pleasant success although the numbers of members attending was sadly much lower than in previous years.
It was a great pleasure to welcome Wg Cdr Jim Rycroft, the Officer Commanding the Squadron at Brize Norton and those who had the privilege of flying in one of his Squadron’s Voyagers earlier that day were able to thank him personally for this rare and much-appreciated treat that their membership allowed.
See below 4 x pdf files which show photos of the flight and a report and photos of the dinner, during which two presentations were made.
Tartan 59 Photos by Zoe Westwood
Tartan 59 Photos by Matthew Greaves
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From RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia
Those of you who have been interested reading about our recent relationships with 10 Sqn RAAF ‘Down Under’ near Adelaide, Australia, may choose to read about the dynamic former Officer Commanding 10 Sqn RAAF. We knew that she, Marija (Maz) Jovanovich had left the Squadron in December last year, just as it was re-equipping with the Poseidon ‘intelligence’ aircraft which changes the Squadron’s role from its former maritime one flying the Orion.
What we didn’t know until now was that she has not only been promoted to group captain rank (she's the first female to reach that rank in the RAAF) but she has also been busy doing a few other things as well ! ......... producing baby Angus being just one.
Thanks to Ian Macmillan who follows her fortunes on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
See Maz’ https://twitter.com/maz_jovanovich?s=43 recent post here:
Since December, I have handed over command of mighty 10 Squadron (including retiring the ⯑⯑ P3), and @Sydj04 and I have moved interstate, prepped a house for sale, done a kitchen reno, HAD A BABY, [Angus] and started new jobs. Today our Adelaide Hills house settled. Tonight we celebrate. pic.twitter.com/Oe93jOD9lL
We think that 'Congratulations from us in the UK' are in order on at least two counts.
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To learn more about 10 Sqn's RAAF Edinburgh base in South Australia, follow this link:
Establishment of RAAF Base Edinburgh | Air Force
15 February 2024
Irvin Hanson joined the Association a couple of years ago, in an attempt to learn more about his father Ronald Hanson's activities during WW2.
After training, Ron flew as a wireless operator and air gunner on 10 Squadron’s Whitley bombers, early in WW2, just as those two trades had been officially designated as warranting ‘sergeant aircrew’ rank. Before joining 10 Sqn he had been forced to bale out from an aircraft over the UK and for a second time again, whilst on 10 Sqn. Following his Whitley being shot down over the North Sea, Ronald then spent the rest of the war as a PoW, mainly in Poland, before undertaking the Long March, in the winter months just before the European war's end.
Irvin has compiled his father’s WW2 history so that the Hanson family will have a lasting record of his father's war and this has been written and self-published by Irvin to now become available from YorkBookshop.com
A few questions about 'clandestine ops' are as yet still unanswered and maybe provide the possibility of a future sequel.
Priced at £12.99 and entitled ‘Third Time Lucky’, the book is not available from high street sources but may be easily bought by on-line purchase from YorkBookshop.com to whom an additional P&P charge would be payable. To obtain more details and your copy, visit this link for all the details:
Third Time Lucky (yorkbookshop.com)
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY - 12 NOVEMBER 2023
A Service of Remembrance was held at the 10 Squadron Memorial on Melrose Farm, Melbourne, Yorkshire on Remembrance Sunday and, as well as a contingent from the active Squadron from RAF Brize Norton, which included the most recently-appointed Officer Commanding, Wing Commander Jim Rycroft, approximately 60 other guests attended and braved the mist, fog and gloomy weather in a chilly temperature of about 6°C.
That said the Service was warmly conducted in style by Chairman Mike Westwood who was standing in for Rev Jim Gould whose health precluded his attendance this year. As usual after the Service local helpers Mike, Gary and Ian were on hand to distribute welcome cups of hot tea and coffee and biscuits for all to thaw out with.
Special mention must be made to appreciate Iris McClements attending the Service. Iris is the widow of the late 'Mac' MClements who was a WW2 Halifax Air Gunner, founder Member of the 10 Sqn Association, and also made an Honorary Lifetime Member before his death in January 2022. Iris herself was in the Royal Observer Corps, stationed in York during WW2, and was the only surviving veteran of the war to be present at Melbourne this year. On the cold day that it was, she deserves our respect in attending.
Speeches were made by Association Chairman Mike Westwood and a particularly warm welcome was given to French visitors Jean-Francois and Veronique Le Cuziat from the America Gold Beach Museum in Normandy, close to 10 Squadron’s WW2 targets on D-Day in 1944. Even their lovely Schnauser dog ‘Ulotte’ was made welcome.
The current Officer Commanding the present-day Squadron, Wing Commander Jim Rycroft then addressed all present and updated everyone with a synopsis of what the Squadron has been up to in the past year. Particular mention and our thanks are due to all those below who made up the Squadron contingent. As ever they were immaculate in their dress, drill, involvement with others attending, and in so doing were an outstanding credit to the Squadron.
The 10 Sqn personnel who gave up their weekend time to impress us all were:
Wg Cdr Jim Rycroft OC10 Sqn
Flt Lt Johann Sponneck Standard Bearer
FS Andy Emberton Standard Party WO (FS in lieu of WO: auth - OC10)
FS Liz Craig Standard Party Escort
Chf Tech Nicholas Spring Standard Party Escort
Cpl Ash Davis ProjO & Association Standard Escort
Cpl Duncan Fellows Association Standard Escort
Cpl Craig Baxter-Leggett Drill Instructor/Parade Support
Unfortunately, there was no large-scale meeting planned for Sunday lunch in the pub this year because our long-standing haunt at the Plough Inn at nearby Allerthorpe, had closed recently in September. It is still uncertain whether that is to be a permanent event or whether it was merely a change of ownership and landlords.
For further information about the Remembrance Sunday Service and to see the many photos kindly taken by Roger Pescott, click on this:
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY link
The link will open a pdf file containing all the images and a few comments too.
Considering that it was a gloomy dismal day, Roger’s photos are superb.
