By
Ruth Duffy
Volume 48, No. 7, May 04, 2006
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Eamon
Delaney, Michelle Stromberg and Matthew MacDonald present
the 455 Bomber Command banner to the AWM.
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A
FORMATION of aircraft carrying a special cargo made the journey
from Camden in NSW to Canberra last month – the Australian
War Memorial (AWM) in their sights.
NSW Scouts Air Activities Centre’s three Cessna 172s, a Cessna
152 used for pilot training and a motorised glider, carried Scout
and student pilots and Dr Ron Houghton, vice-president of the
Bomber Command Association and Halifax pilot during WWII, as well
as a gift for the AWM.
Student pilots Eamon Delaney, Matthew MacDonald and Michelle Stromberg
passed a hand-sewn banner from 455 Bomber Command Squadron to
the AWM for safe-keeping.
The banner was hand-sewn for Anzac Day marches, but with the members
of the association ageing it was decided to deliver the banner
to the AWM for display to future generations.
Geoff Raebel, a flight activity leader at the Scout Air Activity
Centre at Camden, organised the flight and ceremony.
His late father, Bob, joined Bomber Command in 1941 and was awarded
the British Empire Medal while commanding a RAAF contingent on
the Eastern Front in Russia in 1942.
