Just read this extract from this book. Abbey House & Gardens Malmesbury by Mark Child page 107. Ian Pollard was born in 1945 , some fifteen months after his parents' marriage. At the time of Ian's birth , his father , a wartime air reconnaissance pilot , was already dead at just twenty-three years old. Ian's mother always regarded her husband as a pacifist because the aeroplanes he flew were loaded with films rather than bombs. It was , Ian thought, a hypocritical point of view, since the purpose of his photographs was to enable others to come along afterwards and drop thousands of tons of bombs on the areas he had pictured. Ian spent his early years at his grandparents' council house in Cambridge. I've looked on CWGC and only chap from a PRU Sqn , aged 23 with link to Cambridge, I can find is Douglas Pollard. Casualty Flight Lieutenant (Pilot)POLLARD, DOUGLAS Service Number 150050 Died 01/01/1945 Aged 23 541 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve D F C Son of Frederick William and Nellie Pollard; husband of Peggy Pollard, of Cambridge. Buried at HAMBURG CEMETERY Cemetery/memorial reference: 10A. O. 1. Anyone has any more info on his loss?
looks like lost whilst on photo recon No 541 Squadron was formed at RAF Benson on 19 October 1942 from B and F Flights of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. The unit’s aircraft carried out missions over Europe until the end of the war. The unit disbanded on 30 September 1946. AIRCRAFT Spitfire IV/V/IX/XI/XIX 1942 – 1946 Mustang III 1944 – 1945 No.541 Squadron | Squadrons | Research | National Cold War Exhibition Sqn Histories 541-598
As far as I can see 541 Squadron lost just one aircraft on 1st January 1945...... Spitfire XI PL899 on an Op to Hamburg. One fatality. (F/L. Douglas Pollard 150050 +) Accident Supermarine Spitfire Mk XI PL899, 01 Jan 1945
Clive, Did you spot that your link to Squadron history includes Squadron photo with Douglas Pollard in front row? Tim