208276 Act.Grp.Capt. William Robert Sadler Royal Air Force 142 Squadron from:Newmarket, Cambridge My late father, Group Captain William Robert Sadler, was posted to 142 Squadron RAF to command on 24/9/40 and remained with the squadron until 4/7/41 when he moved to HQ 1 Group. During his time with 142 Squadron, at Binbrook and Eastchurch, he oversaw the conversion to Wellingtons from Battles, the training of the squadron in night bombing, and then led it on raids on four occasions (flying Q for Queenie). When the Wellingtons arrived he found that no thought had been given to training captains of aircraft in how to captain a multi-crew aircraft where the crew was dispersed and members could only keep in touch by intercom. He, therefore, typed and carbon copied his own manual to all captains, and I believe Group later showed an interest in this and that it formed the basis for the official RAF manual. I still have a copy of his original, photos of him and his air and ground crews, some of the red, white and blue ribbon he flew from his wireless antenna, and his log books and clippings from newspapers about raids. My father survived the war, unlike sadly the rest of his crew who perished after his posting. After I was born in 1943, my father was posted to Turkey to teach at the Air Staff College, and to work to keep Turkey out of the war on the Axis side. After VE Day he returned to Binbrook as station commander, and I can remember being in my pram with Lancasters taking off overhead, and three German POWs working around the house; one gave me a wooden model of a Lancaster for my third birthday. My father then went to Copenhagen as Air Attache, to Andover as Deputy Chair of the RAF Officers Selection Board, and to Washington with the NATO Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Group. He retired from the RAF in 1954 to devote the rest of my life to painting. He painted professionally and successfully for another 46 years, dying in 2001 a few weeks after his last exhibition. We try to have at least one exhibition of his paintings every year.
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