Tim Elkington

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timlewin
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Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Tim Elkington

Unread post by timlewin »

Non Naval, a pilot, but one of us....

Another Empty Chair At The Table

Late last week, on February 1st. I heard of the loss of a quiet hero, news of which deserves to be shared. Wing Commander Tim Elkington was one of the last of "The Few" now down to perhaps half a dozen old survivors who were prepared to give everything to save this Country when it needed them most. Tim died at age 98, he had been in poor health recently but his spirit remained firm if characteristically laconic. Tim served in the Battle of Britain flying a Hurricane, he was shot down and baled out almost over his mother’s garden near Tangmere. Subsequently he was posted to Wing 151; Wing 151 was a scratch unit assembled hurriedly in Yorkshire following the Nazi invasion of the USSR with Operation Barbarossa. The main part of the Wing was embarked in the aging liner Llanstephan Castle and dispatched with crated Hurricanes to Archangelsk in Arctic Russia some six weeks after the invasion by which time the Nazis were already occupying territory close to the Soviet border near Murmansk. The Wing was about 500 people, pilots and ground crews. The ship sailed with a 12-ship convoy, Operation Dervish, which arrived without loss on the 31st august 1941 at Archangelsk.
Tim was sent in a sub-operation with his group of pilots in the old carrier HMS Argus, Operation Benedict. He flew off the carrier as she sailed unseen through the Arctic Ocean straight into a forward airfield at Murmansk where they went directly into combat. They stayed until December, well into the Arctic winter, by which time the other Hurricanes had been assembled and flown to the front line where they were used in training the Russian pilots and escorting Soviet bombers on raids against the enemy.. Subsequently 3,000 Hurricanes were delivered by the Arctic Convoys. After Tim returned from Russia with his fellow pilots in an RN minesweeper he volunteered as a Camship pilot in the Atlantic. This entailed piloting a Hurricane relieved of its undercarriage after being blasted off a crude lattice work ramp on the bow of a merchant ship in a one-time desperate bit to shoot down enemy spotter planes reporting back on the position of a convoy, job done the pilot had to ditch his aircraft into the ocean as close to an escort ship as possible and hope they fished him out before he drowned or died of hypothermia. Fortunately he was never called on to blast off from his merchant ship, in typical form he told me that he failed to read the small print.
The Russians organised a grand celebration in 2016 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the safe arrival of that first convoy. This was a grand affair to which HRH Princess Anne and her husband Admiral Laurence were the principal guests. My role was to organise the attendance of the contingent of British veterans and their families.
I knew Tim Elkington as I had assisted him in claiming his Arctic Campaign Medal, and his Ushakov Medal from the Russian Embassy, we became friends as a result of this. I managed to persuade him to join the trip to Archangelsk, he had not left the UK for more than 50 years before this. He went with his daughter, a qualified cardiac nurse. They had a wonderful time and were fulsomely received by the Russians as well as enjoying meeting the royal couple, in some ways this return to Arctic Russia closed a circle that had remained open too long.
The Russian TV1 channel subsequently made a TV documentary about Wing 151 in which Tim Elkington is interviewed and provided much of the background info.
Tim stayed with the RAF, he converted to Typhoons later in the War and then jets when they entered service, he retired as a Wing Commander.
Here is a very short 3 minute homemade film of Tim, aged 20, flying his Hurricane off the Argus into Arctic Russia, for all its simplicity, it expresses more than my inadequate words can convey.

https://vimeo.com/289507374

https://vimeo.com/267406251 this is the Russian documentary, in English
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jbryce1437
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Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: Tim Elkington

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

A wonderful story about another hero that we are deeply indebted to. RIP Tim Elkington.

Jim
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
timlewin
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Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Re: Tim Elkington

Unread post by timlewin »

dear Jim, thanks, fortunately I managed to persuade him to let me publish what memories he shared with me on his Arctic adventures, I have all the raw data, now I need to sort it all out. When done I will share it with the forum first
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: Tim Elkington

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

timlewin wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:44 pm dear Jim, thanks, fortunately I managed to persuade him to let me publish what memories he shared with me on his Arctic adventures, I have all the raw data, now I need to sort it all out. When done I will share it with the forum first
Many thanks Tim

Jim
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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