{"id":150,"date":"2025-12-15T12:09:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/?page_id=150"},"modified":"2025-12-15T21:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:27:22","slug":"g-aoei-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/history\/g-aoei-history\/","title":{"rendered":"G-AOEI History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘EI was initially based at Squadron HQ at Amiens Montjoie, but, in November 1939, was detached with Pilot Officer Peter Lockett to 51 Wing, initially at Abbeville and, from April 1940, at Dieppe St Aubin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

G-AOEI – History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

G-AOEI was built for the RAF by de Havilland at Hatfield and delivered in the summer of 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bOn the outbreak of War, EI\u2019s first deployment was with 81 (Communications) Squadron in Northern France. \u00a0The Squadron provided support to the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force by taking personnel, messages and supplies wherever they were needed. \u00a0It was the only RAF Squadron to be equipped almost exclusively with Tiger Moths. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bEI was initially based at Squadron HQ at Amiens Montjoie, but, in November 1939, was detached with Pilot Officer Peter Lockett to 51 Wing, initially at Abbeville and, from April 1940, at Dieppe St Aubin. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bDuring their six months together, Peter accumulated more hours on EI than any other wartime pilot. \u00a0Among their shared adventures was a forced landing in a field due to fog, scouting \u00a0locations where new airfields could be built for the RAF and ferrying a Chaplain to his Sunday services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bFor the six months after the Dunkirk evacuation, EI\u2019s whereabouts are something of a mystery. \u00a0It seems possible that EI became a prototype for the use of Tiger Moths as emergency anti-invasion bombers as part of \u201cOperation Banquet Lights\u201d. \u00a0The operation was so desperate that it was surrounded by great secrecy and pilots were required not to log flights where bombing was practiced using bricks. \u00a0The remains of EI\u2019s bombing equipment were found by EI\u2019s first civilian owner, Flying Officer Malcolm Freestone, when he took delivery of EI from the RAF in 1955, including the bomb release gear in the rear cockpit, cable runs and rack attachment points outboard of the undercarriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bFrom October 1940, EI was based at Hendon and for the next two months became heavily involved in training 28 members of the Czech Reserve who had been posted to 24 (Communications) Squadron to gain familiarity with the wide range of British types it operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bEI remained with Communications Squadrons at Hendon until being sent to storage in October 1944. \u00a0EI\u2019s main role at this time was to provide currency flights and a self-drive taxi service to Staff Officers, many quite senior, most of whom were undertaking desk tours in London. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bThe most senior officer known to have flown EI at this time was Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod who, at the time, was the Member of the Air Council with overall responsibility for training. \u00a0EI\u2019s reluctance to start on his final EI flight home from Netheravon, where Garrod had been watching a demonstration of airborne forces, was noted in his logbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bThe highest-timed EI pilot during the Hendon period was one of the Czech instructors, Franti\u0161ek Altman, who earned an AFC for flying VIPs, including Winston Churchill, and is said to have been Lord Trenchard\u2019s first choice for communications flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other Czech instructor who flew EI, Alois Vrecl, was a pioneer of Czechoslovak aviation and had the most colourful aviation career of all EI\u2019s known wartime pilots.  He had flown for the other side during World War One, claiming three combat victories over Russian aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘EI was initially based at Squadron HQ at Amiens Montjoie, but, in November 1939, was detached with Pilot Officer Peter Lockett to 51 Wing, initially at Abbeville and, from April 1940, at Dieppe St Aubin. G-AOEI – History G-AOEI was built for the RAF by de Havilland at Hatfield and delivered in the summer of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":60,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-150","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/150\/revisions\/184"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harcourt.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}