Geoff Alington, of Vernon, was interested in flying and airplanes even as a youth in Invercargill, New Zealand.

He had been keen about Meccano, then Hornby trains and Boy Scouts, but he switched to model aeroplanes and joined a club that made a monthly trip to the Southland Aero Club field. By 1937, when he was 19, his favourite plane was a 24-inch model of a DeHavilland Gypsy Moth. It behaved most realistically and impressed the club instructor by its excellent landings.

This fact changed his life when his peers at the Post Office who had served in WWI persuaded him to apply for a Short Service Commission in the Royal Air Force. The club instructor turned out to be a member of the selection board and because he remembered him for this model plane selected him as one of eight out of a hundred candidates.

Alington received his license after a six-month course, arrived in England in summer 1938, and never did return to New Zealand to live. He shared his time at Hanworth, Middlesex with five others from New Zealand and they "had a grand time until things started to boil in Europe." On September 3, 1939 Alington flew twice in the same day - once in peace and once in war. The same year he lost two of his buddies to air accidents.

Alington was assigned to the Coastal Command to be "the eyes of the Navy." He was flying Ansons with a crew of four looking for U-boats around the coast and bringing in convoys south of Ireland.

"When a storm had scattered a convoy they were under radio silence so we would locate them like a mother hen, fly over them in the direction of the escort then find the escort again and pass the word to it by lamp and then drop the previous day's paper over the escort."

In May 1940 he was part of the Dunkirk offensive in the role of keeping an eye on the activities of the enemy. At the Sechelt estuary Alington's plane was attacked by three German 109's. They went down to sea level, which was not recognized by the 109's, so one of them tried to go under them and crashed. The right side of the plane had been torn to shreds by the bullets, but after they landed on the water all four members of the crew were picked up by a destroyer and from there transferred to a fishing trawler.

Later they flew a mission to the coast of France to make contact with the 51st Division there, but found that "it had been over-run and put out of action." On the way back they came across a German fighter dive-bombing a destroyer. They were higher and "got a few shots away." Even though their tracer bullets just skipped off his wing he dropped his load and turned for home. "There was no dog-fighting for us," said Alington. "We were looking for trouble, but not bothering to get into it."

After this Alington was sent with 70 others to help out the beginning of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada. He spent two enjoyable years in Saskatoon training pilots and while he was there met Audrey and got married. She and their first child accompanied him back to England in 1943.
He flew Wellingtons for the Coast Command for the duration of the war. The belly-turrets had been replaced by 24-inch anti-aircraft searchlights, and the planes were equipped with radar, which was new and "wonderful."

Alington decided to return to Canada after the war, partially because his twin brothers had both been killed. He became an orchardist in Kaleden with Audrey's family and stayed there for 25 years, bringing up four daughters. In 1972 Alington returned to flying as an instructor. He came to Vernon to teach at Arrow Aviation, which later became Vernon Flying School. There he didn't mind the long hours because he had a lot of fun.

Nowadays Alington visits his daughters and three grandchildren and sings in two choirs. Until a recent car accident he also rode a bicycle and swam and volunteered in the Hospice kitchen. He lost Audrey, an avid gardener and painter, in 1999, after 58 years together. On the wall at home a visitor can see the silk escape map, with Spain on one side and France on the other, that was carried in the battle dress of all aircrew.

Nov05, Lynn Dewing