West Yorkshire’s own squadron

Jul 4 2008 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE interesting piece in the Examiner (1 July) about David Moore Crook DFC did not mention that 609 Squadron was ‘West Yorkshire’s own’, the Auxiliary Air Force being the RAF's equivalent of the Territorial Army.

The 609 was formed from part-time fliers in 1936, and had its headquarters at Yeadon, where a memorial to the 74 pilots killed serving with the squadron (and another 30 subsequently) can be seen in Leeds Airport concourse.

There is an excellent history of the squadron, The Story of 609 Squadron: under the White Rose, written by its intelligence officer, Frank H Ziegler.

John Rumsby