Charles Jeffrey Gray
Charles Jeffrey Gray (1922-2016) was a British airman and later author.
Early life[edit]
Gray was born in Aberdeenshire and attended the local school until the age of 14 subsequently becoming a farm labourer.
World War II service[edit]
He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1941 to 1945, as a pilot in RAF Bomber Command 61 Squadron.[1], participated in the Nuremberg Raid in March 1944[2] and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in 1944[3]. He left the RAF in 1945 with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. Subsequently awarded Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur[4] for his involvement in the liberation of France in 1944.
Post-war career[edit]
After the war he joined BOAC flying Yorks, Stratocruisers, Comets and VC10 rising to the position of Training Captain on the VC10 fleet[1][5]
In 1973 he left BOAC to join Gulf Aviation (later Gulf Air) as Manager of Flight Standards establishing a training program for nationals to ultimately replace the ex expatriate pilots[6]
After retiring he wrote an account of the wartime crash of a Wellington bomber in Farnham Common entitled The Stain on the Glass[7]
In 2007 the newspapers carried a story concerning the sad state of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, which was largely destroyed in a Bomber Command raid on the night of 22nd Nov. 1943[8]. He wrote to the Chairman, Wolfgang Kuhla, to say that although he had not taken part in that particular raid which did the damage he had taken part in subsequent attacks and suggested they open an international restoration fund and offered a contribution of £500[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. The fund raising went well and raised six hundred thousand euros, the National Memorial Foundation another two hundred and twenty thousand and the Berlin Lottery a million[16].
In October 2013 Gray went met the British Prime Minister, David Cameron as part of a group of Bomber Command Veterans to thank him for his hard work in gaining recognition for WW2 Veterans.[17]
Bibliography[edit]
- The Stain on the Glass (1984)[18]
- It’s Pull to Go Up - Autobiography (2017)[19]
- Collected Articles (2017)[20]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "No.50 & No.61 Squadrons Association - F Lt Jeff Gray DFM". www.no-50-and-no-61-squadrons-association.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ "Still we insult their sacrifice: The RAF's worst ever night raid". Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
- ↑ Gray, Charles Jeffrey (17 March 1944). "Supplement to the London Gazette" (PDF). The London Gazette.
- ↑ "List of foreign recipients of the Légion d'Honneur", Wikipedia, 2018-06-15, retrieved 2018-06-17
- ↑ "Incidents and Accidents". www.vc10.net. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ "Former British WWII pilot fights to save Berlin church". Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ↑ "A subtle combination of detective work and investigative journalism". Tavistock Times Gazette. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ Germany, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg. "Peace Landmark Crumbling: Berlin's Famous Church Ruin Needs Renovation - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International". SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche | Europe-Cities". www.europe-cities.com. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ Smee, Jess (2008-09-14). "Germany: Crunch time for Berlin's Hollow Tooth". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ Reid, Crystal R. (2008-09-14). "Berlin landmark of WWII is in dire need of benefactors". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ "Englischer Bomberpilot löst Spendenaktion aus: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche Berliner erhalten bei der Rettung des Wahrzeichens Unterstützung aus dem Ausland +++ Schon 55 000 Euro gespendet - WELT". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ "Flight Lt Jeff Gray". Vulcan Flying Heritage Collection. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ Schmiemann, Brigitte. "Englischer Bomberpilot löste die Spendenaktion aus" (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ↑ (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Rescuing Berlin's Most Famous World War II Ruin | DW | 17.08.2008". DW.COM. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
- ↑ "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
- ↑ "Bomber Command Veterans meet PM". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ↑ Gray, J. (2009). The Stain on the Glass. R. Gray. ISBN 978-0-473-15561-2. Retrieved 2017-07-06. Search this book on
- ↑ Gray, J. (2017). Its Pull To Go Up eBook Version: A Pilots Tale. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-473-38526-2. Retrieved 2017-07-06. Search this book on
- ↑ Gray, J. (2017). Collected Articles:. p. 2. ISBN 9780473398255. Retrieved 2017-07-06. Search this book on
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