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VETERAN MOSQUITO PILOT RECEIVES HIS WINGS AT LINTON
Veteran World War Two pilot Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC AE FRICS RAF (Retired) received his Royal Air Force pilot’s wings at a ceremony at Royal Air Force Linton-on-Ouse recently
Colin, who was born in 1921, was presented with his coveted Royal Air Force flying badge by Deputy Commander Operations, Air Marshal Stuart Atha CB DSO MA BSc RAF who also presented pilots’ wings to current Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots graduating on Number 270 Basic Fast Jet Training course.
Colin Bell joined Royal Air Force towards the end of 1940. His flying training was carried out in 1941 in the United States under the ‘Arnold Scheme’. Following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and having successfully completed his flying training, Colin was commissioned into the Royal Air Force; however, he was retained in the United States by the American Army Air Corps as an advanced single-engine flying instructor responsible for training United States and British pilots flying Stearmans, Vultee and Harvard aircraft types.
Unlike his Royal Air Force pilot colleagues who returned to the United Kingdom immediately after their flying training, Colin
“During his operational tours he carried out 50 bombing raids over Germany, 13 of them over Berlin”
All smiles after the ceremony. L-R: Wg Cdr Rachel Dixon, Colin Bell, Air Marshal Stuart Atha, Air Cdre Wendy Rothery, Flt Lt Penny Broadway
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