I am currently in touch with a 4 Squadron SAAF pilot who is looking for info on the later happenings of his SQN mates. I have found bits & pieces on a handful of them including the fact that a couple must appear in the Aces High book. The SQN aces he is interested in are Andy Bosman & Doug Golding - and I was hoping some kind soul would be willing to scan their entries from the book and load them up (or PM me or whatever works best.....) Another two aces are mentioned as being linked to 4SQN, however, as he hasn't asked about them they must have joined the squadron after he moved on. If the aforementioned kind soul could check the book to see if LtCol J.M. Faure & Major J.L. Hewitson are mentioned as scoring any of their victories while flying Kittyhawks with 4SQN SAAF it would be extra appreciated. Thanks in advance Dave
I have managed to track down a copy of this book via my library service. Hopefully it should arrive at my local branch shortly. I will scan the relevant few pages (in as large a print I can fit on a page) and add it to the booklet of info I am helping assemble for him. I looked into buying a copy of the book but it isn’t that common in Australia, copies of the 1966 edition run to around $100 (on ebay) and I couldn’t even find the 1994 version for sale anywhere. I didn’t know what kind of response I might have got from posting this request, but I really wasn’t expecting nothing. I suppose I am somewhat surprised that I couldn’t even muster one offer of assistance…….
There is a fair amount of info on Captain J L Hewitson in the book “Eagles Strike” by James Ambrose Brown…although mainly flying Tomahawks. Are you sure about the Kittyhawk as an aircraft in your query? Also see the actual WEBSITE for Captain Hewitson that has been put together recently. http://johnguguhewitson.yolasite.com/ Trust this helps and if you need any scans from book just PM me. Regards, Edit: Just found a section in referenced book on Kittyhawk...Page 173 after discussion of the Kittyhawk "...Of the South Africans called on to join the fight Lt. Cohen of No 4 Sqd was badly shot up and crash landed at base. Lt. Lindsay of No 2 Sqd claimed a Mc202 whle Cap Smith and Lt Morton claimed a second; Major Hewison of No 4 claimed a Messerschmitt, a second being shared by Lt Kaufman and Lt Robertson."
There's a lot going on on this board and so sometimes threads get missed. A thread like this needs to be spotted by the right person, sadly in this case it was not. However, it has now and I have uploaded what you need to my web site. Click the links below.... Bosman Golding Faure Hewitson Let me know when you've retrived these so I can free-up the space on my web site. Also, it might be worth noting that when the 1994 version of Aces High came out it was priced at £45 GBP, that's about $70 AUS. Given that it's now out of print and not likely to be re-printed again for quite some time I'd be inclined to think $100AUS wasn't too bad a price for something that is likely to only increase in rarity as the years go by.
Thanks for that - I have added the scans to my hard-drive and I will print them out to add to the file I keep for the pilot to read. cheers Dave
There is a fair amount of info on Captain J L Hewitson in the book “Eagles Strike” by James Ambrose Brown…although mainly flying Tomahawks. Are you sure about the Kittyhawk as an aircraft in your query? Also see the actual WEBSITE for Captain Hewitson that has been put together recently. http://johnguguhewitson.yolasite.com/ Trust this helps and if you need any scans from book just PM me. Regards, Edit: Just found a section in referenced book on Kittyhawk...Page 173 after discussion of the Kittyhawk "...Of the South Africans called on to join the fight Lt. Cohen of No 4 Sqd was badly shot up and crash landed at base. Lt. Lindsay of No 2 Sqd claimed a Mc202 whle Cap Smith and Lt Morton claimed a second; Major Hewison of No 4 claimed a Messerschmitt, a second being shared by Lt Kaufman and Lt Robertson." Thanks Simon – I am just looking through the website now. If I am reading it correctly then Major Hewitson became CO of 4SQN SAAF just after Captain Duff-Richardson was shot-down. I will run the name past him though, they might have served together previously. I have a habit of using the terms Kittyhawk & Tomahawk almost interchangedly - I should be more specific sometimes..... Contained in the log book and file held by Captain D-R is a small snippet from “Eagles Strike” that mentions his efforts. Otherwise the book seems difficult to source down-under Cheers Dave
