Miss Edna Squire-Brown, an international dancer famed for her Dove Dance, leaves her recently bombed home for St. Georges Church in Forest Hill to marry New Zealand Flying Officer John C. Martin of No. 32 Squadron RAF in September 1940. The wedding is a reminder that all you needed on your wedding day in war-torn London was your future husband and a big smile. Sadly, their nuptial bliss did not last for very long. On 20 June 1941, Martin was attached to No. 222 Squadron RAF at North Weald as a Flight Commander. He claimed two enemy aircraft destroyed on 19 August 1941. On 27 August 1941, the squadron was ordered to escort nine Blenheim Mk. IV bombers during an sortie flying top cover to a raid on the Lille steel factories. On the return journey, German fighters made numerous rear and side attacks. Martin is known to have reached the English Channel flying a Spitfire Mk. IIb but there was then a collision between two British fighters. No one in the air was able to identify the aircraft involved but Martin failed to return as did Flight Lieutenant Thomas B. Little of No. 402 Squadron RCAF in a Hurricane Mk. IIb. Thus, it must be assumed that they were involved.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 07:07:08 +0000
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