A Ruddy Awful Waste

A RUDDY AWFUL WASTE

FLT LT ERIC LOCK DSO, DFC & BAR; THE BRIEF LIFE OF A BATTLE OF BRITAIN FIGHTER ACE

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Steve Brew is the Historian for 41(R) Squadron RAF, a Test and Evaluation Squadron based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, currently flying Panavia Tornado GR4's and Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4's. He has lived and worked in Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and speaks in addition to his English mother-tongue also fluent High German and Swiss German.

The author of "Blood, Sweat and Courage" (Fonthill, 2014), "Blood, Sweat and Valour" (Fonthill, 2012), "Greycliffe; Stolen Lives" (Navarine, 2003), and a large number of freelance magazine articles, Steve Brew has been involved in recording and promoting the Squadron and its history for over a dozen years. His website, 41 (F) Squadron RAF at War and Peace, April 1916-March 1946, has been online and regularly updated since early 2003. He has a strong affiliation with the current Squadron, its pilots and ground crew, and their families.

In his role as Squadron Historian, Steve Brew has assisted in the preparation and organisation of, and has actively participated in, a number of 41 Squadron events held at RAF Coningsby. Three of the larger events were the unit’s Centenary in 2016, its commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2010, and the celebration of the Squadron’s 95th Anniversary in 2011. In doing so, he has helped the Squadron bring together hundreds of pilots and their families to remember their service and sacrifices, and to celebrate the proud history of this illustrious Squadron.

Mike Bradbury was born into a farming family at Bridge Farm, Stapleton, six miles south of Shrewsbury. On leaving College, he worked the family farm until 1985 when he started his own haulage business, and retired in 2000. Mike joined the Royal Observer Corps at the age of eighteen, becoming a Leading Observer (Corporal) in 1960 and Chief Observer (Sergeant) in 1961. He was commissioned as an Observer Officer (Flying Officer) in 1971, and held this rank until the Corps was stood down in September 1991. He is now the treasurer and standard bearer for ROCA and a member of the Shrewsbury RAFA. Mike is related to Eric Lock by marriage via two of his aunts, and currently lives in Shrewsbury.