RIP Charles W. Fox DFC with Bar

[Snowgoose]

I've known Charley since I received my private license. He was truly a giant among men. I wish I had the energy and zest he had for life at 88 and I'm only in my 30's. He will surely be missed.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008 ... 1-sun.html

Decorated Second World War veteran Charley Fox died yesterday in a motor vehicle accident north of Tillsonburg, reports stated.

Oxford OPP could not confirm the news late last night, but did say an 88-year-old Londoner died in a crash in South-West Oxford Township yesterday afternoon.

Fox, born in 1920, was a fighter pilot and flight instructor during the war. He narrowly escaped death in the skies over Europe in the latter days of the war.

Fox earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for the 153 times he attacked enemy locomotives and vehicles during the war.

OPP said an 88-year-old was the driver of a Saab that was southbound on Cranberry Line when it collided with a Pontiac travelling on Ostrander Road.

Traffic on Cranberry Line is controlled by a stop sign at Ostrander Road.

An air ambulance was called, but police said the man died at the scene. The other driver, 29, was released from hospital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Fox

Charles W. Fox (1920—October 18, 2008) was a former Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He attended Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute.

Fox, the son of an Irish immigrant, joined the RCAF in 1939 at the beginning of the war (his brother Ted joined the Royal Canadian Artillery). He graduated near the top of his class in 1941 and was offered a job as a flight instructor in Dunnville, Ontario. He remained in this position until 1943 when he began combat training in Bagotville, Quebec. He flew Spitfires over Europe, destroying or damaging 153 enemy vehicles (mostly trains), and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (with bar).

In 1944, he began his tour of duty with the Canadian 412 Squadron. On D-Day he flew three patrols off the coast of France. On 17 July 1944, he flew from the Allied air base at Beny-sur-Mer in Normandy and strafed an unknown black car; he later learned that one of the passengers was German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was seriously injured in the attack. The Americans also claimed to have hit Rommel's car, but German reports specifically mentioned a Spitfire rather than an American P-47. As Rommel was soon afterwards implicated in the assassination plot against Adolf Hitler, he was allowed to commit suicide and his death was announced as a result of injuries from the air attack. In 2004 Fox was officially credited with injuring Rommel, although he has expressed some regret about the attack, as Rommel was supposedly planning to secretly negotiate an earlier end to the war with the Allies.

Fox ended his tour of duty in January, 1945, and served in the 420 Reserve after the war. He retired in 1956 and began to work at a shoe factory, from which he retired in 1998. On 30 April 2004, was named honorary colonel of 412 Squadron in Ottawa.

[KnownIce]

He will be missed by all who've known him I'm sure. I remember in particular his account of hunting the V-1 fascinating.

[Blue Side Down]

How tragic for such a life to end with a car accident. Charlie was still running full tilt when I met him two weeks ago while he visited around the Tillsonberg field on his way to coffee. What an inspiring guy. He will be missed by many.

[Snowgoose]

http://www.dnd.ca/site/Community/maplel ... sp?id=3887

It’s the younger generation who should be carrying the torch for veterans like 87-year-old Charley Fox, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient with bar.

Yet the honorary colonel for 412 Squadron (his old wartime Spitfire squadron) and decorated Second World War Spitfire pilot, is carrying the torch for a special group of Canadian and allied veterans who, he believes, have not received their “due recognition.”

HCol Fox has started a project called the Torchbearers to recognize all Canadian prisoners of war (POW), six Canadian airmen who were executed along with 44 others after the “Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III (Permanent Camp for Airmen #3) on March 24, 1944, and Polish combatants who served with Canadian air and ground forces throughout the Second World War. HCol Fox served and trained with two of the six Canadian airmen who were executed for trying to escape via tunnels the POWs had dug.

“I have a passion for seeing these three groups of veterans recognized,” said HCol Fox. “I am 87 years old, I hurt from the various injuries I sustained in the war. I live on a fixed income, yet I am absolutely passionate we must do something to give these fallen heroes the recognition they deserve.”

Among his goals: to have a medal struck for all Canadians who served as POW, living and deceased; to have 50 Canadian students travel to , Poland (formerly Sagan, Germany) in 2010 (the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Stalag Luft III) to march and wear the air force battle dress of all the countries of those executed; and to encourage the federal government to officially recognize the contributions of Polish combatants to the success of the CF in Italy, Normandy and through to the liberation of Holland.

“The Polish Air Force served within the Royal Air Force and one of the largest air forces in the European theatre,” said HCol Fox. “Over 14 000 air crew flew with 18 different squadrons. They fought in the Battle of Britain and many other campaigns—they were ferocious fighters.”

So far HCol Fox has discussed the Torchbearers project with senior CF leadership, several mayors of Canadian and Dutch cities he would like to twin, and other officials with an interest in commemorating the allied victory in Europe.

“I’ll be 90 years old in 2010 and I want to be there to see this thing unfold,” said HCol Fox. “These veterans have fallen through the cracks. Something must be done.”

[Hedley]

When I first met Charlie Fox, he was an airshow announcer
that talked fast and drank prodigious amounts of alcohol for
someone his age. Heck, for someone of ANY age. I had no
idea of his WWII exploits until years later.

You'll be missed, Charlie!

[AndrewJ]

Nice to see his passing gets the attention that a loss of somebody of his stature deserves, truly a hero. Front page of the freeps today;

www.lfpress.com

[Inverted2]

Heard there is going to be a big fly-by at his funeral, Harvards, Spitfires, etc.

[Blue Side Down]

The memorial fly past will take place at approximately 12:45 tomorrow afternoon for the closing of the Charley's service. Location will be approximately 1.5 miles SW of London airport. Planned are 9 Harvards, a Hurricane and a Spitfire.

[Snowgoose]

Should we have this thread moved to The Wall.


The thing I remember best about Charley is when I was starting out in aviation. Lots, and I mean lots, of people looked down theirs noses at me when I told them what I wanted to do with my life. Charley's answer was "Great!" Everytime I saw him from when I was a student pilot to just after I made Big Red, Charley was always asking how I was doing, and where I was flying. Even when I had to leave the industry for a while he always had his huge smile on and had some words of encouragement. It was a big honour one day when I took him flying and let him have the controls.

Godspeed Charley.


FLYING WEST
Captain Michael J. Larkin, TWA (Ret.), 'Air Line Pilot' magazine, February 1995

I hope there's a place, way up in the sky
Where pilots can go when they have to die.
A place where a guy could buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade whose memory is dear.
A place where no doctor or lawyer could tread,
Nor a management-type would e'er be caught dead!
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.
The kind of a place that a lady could go
And feel safe and secure by the men she would know.

There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their wings become heavy, when their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung.
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd 'flown west' before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door,
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"

And there, through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he'd taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear
And say, "Welcome, my Son, I'm proud that you're here!
For this is the place where true flyers come
When the battles are over, and the wars have been won.
They've come here at last, to be safe and alone,
From the government clerk, and the management clone;
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds, and the noise,
Where all hours are happy, and these good ol' boys
Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest!
This is Heaven, my Son. You've passed your last test!"