'Stocky' Edwards, B.C.-born flying ace in Second World War, dies at 100

[oldbrownhat]

James 'Stocky' Edwards was heralded as Canada's "top gun" over the North African desert in 1942 and 1943. He died May 14 in Comox

Article here.

...With the rank of wing commander, Mr. Edwards shot down a confirmed 19 Luftwaffe fighter planes and scored many more "probables," the aircraft he put out of action but did not see hit the ground. He also destroyed at least 12 more enemy warplanes at their desert bases before they could take to the air...

...On June 17, 1942... over Tobruk, Libya, Mr. Edwards, in his Kittyhawk, shot down a German Bf 109 but recorded it only as a "probable" rather than a kill since he did not see it hit the ground. Many years later, German records showed that the downed pilot was Otto Schulz, one of the Luftwaffe's greatest fighter pilots, who died in the crash.

Mr. Edwards's wingman that day was Australian pilot Ron Cundy, who witnessed the dogfight. "As I watched the 109 close in, Eddie applied a lot of right rudder and skidded out of the way," Cundy told the Globe and Mail years later. "The 109 was coming in too fast to make the necessary adjustment and as he overshot, Eddie swung back to the left, opened fire and shot him down. It was the coolest piece of aerial combat that I had ever seen."...

​

 

[Kevin G]

In 1980 I was aboard a conventional freighter with a large cargo of bagged wheat In Alexandria Egypt. We were there around 10 days to discharge the cargo.
On a day off I hired a car and driver, along with another fellow went down to visit El Alamein. The entire experience was somewhat surrealistic. Traffic was nonexistent, for much of the ride the blue Mediterranean was on one side and the moonscape like desert was on the other side. Occasionally there were sand drifts, similar to winter snow drifts, across the road. It just seemed counterintuitive that there was so much blood spilled for this real estate.
El Alamein was small, a few huts, a tiny museum that was closed, German and Italian memorials and a United Kingdom cemetery.
The only people we saw were an elderly couple from Scotland at the cemetery. He had flown with the RAF in North Africa and was visiting some of his mates that didn't make it home.
The memorials and cemetery were all nicely done and well kept up. It was very serene. Although this was not exactly a fun filled trip it's an experience I'll always be glad of.
Kevin G