229469 WO. Philip Henry "Tubby" Gaunt Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 49 Squadron from:Leicester My late father, Tubby Gaunt flew with 49 Sqn. completing his first tour on Hampdens, out of Scampton, 1941 & 42, as wireless op air gunner, having trained in South Africa to be a pilot. Gaining his wings he moved on to Wellingtons at Foggia, with 37 & 70 Sqns.
After 23 operations, he iced up and force landed in Gorski Kotar. He and all his crew were safe and fairly sound, where they were helped by Titos partisans, and repatriated back to Tortorella, then back to Liverpool by troop ship. It was late April 1942, and thinking he had done his bit, they demobbed him in November 1945.
Starting in 1939 having a forced landing at Manston, and a little while later a mid air collision with a Lancaster, later to survive his crash in the mountains of Gorski Kotar, Croatia as it is now, he lived a charmed life indeed.
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