P/O Norman James crew 107 (31 missions)

Norman James (“Norm”) was born in Spring 1923. His father was a police officer and being in his late 30’s was spared from serving in WW1 due to age and occupation. His mother had originally married in 1916 but her husband was killed at the front shortly after. It was to be six years later that she met Norm’s father and remarried.

With WW2 was looming Norm’s parents steered him to a career in the Civil Service. However being a “hands on” person, Norm had other ideas and joined the GPO as a telephone exchange engineer and where he enlisted with the GPO Home Guard.

During the early years of WW2, Norm and his family narrowly escaped injury when their house was bombed, he was asleep under the stairs at the time. Three houses in a terraced row were taken out near the docks at Fulham where they lived. They relocated to the suburbs, but were once again bombed out!

Flight Engineer P/O Norm James, 434 Squadron Croft.                   I.T.W. Torquay. Sept 1943

Norm volunteered as aircrew rather than wait to be called into the Army. He trained with the RAF and was then seconded into the RCAF as they were short of F/E’s, where he was assigned 434 Squadron. Although his regular “kite”, Halifax G for Ghost, did not survive the 31 ops, the regular crew of Norm’s flight did, and all went on to survive long lives. The full crew were not to reunite until the late 1970’s and again in the 1980's at a Squadron reunion in Canada.

Allied Airforces Annual Reunion 22 October 1983, Royal York Hotel, Toronto Ontario, Canada

"Bill" W.A. Thompson (Nav); Murdoch Harvie D.F.C. (Pilot); Norm James (F/E); Fred A. Hitchman (MU-AG); 

Gordon W. Galloway (W/Op) "Bob" R.E. Weale (B/A); Paul Tobey (Ground Crew) Percy W. Dallner (R/AG);

Following his tour Norm was posted to India, travelling by sea, to serve on transport aircraft supplying the northern borders, bolstering against the potential invasion from the north. At the end of the war he was offered a commission which he declined, opting instead to enlist in the London Metropolitan Police who were recruiting amongst the overseas forces.

Norman (circa 1947) coloured in b/w, atop of Trenchard House, the section house (unmarried quarters) to West End Central police station covering the W1 area of London, Picadilly, Soho etc. 

Joining the Police secured an early repatriation plus the guarantee of a job. Norm married in 1954 and raised two children. Serving 30 years in the Police, after which he transferred to the police civilian staff until finally retiring aged 65. Norm’s final flight to the stars was 24 Dec 2010.