207 SQUADRON ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORY
 Wallace McIntosh DFC*, DFM |
Imperial War
Museum Duxford
|
 click for contents list & description |
Wallace and his first tour pilot on 207, Fred Richardson DFC,
at the tail of Duxford's Lancaster
.. and joined by 207's Frank Haslam snr, W/Op evader; Bill
Verralls DFC, Pilot;
and Alec White, Air Gunner
Wallace with Bill Verralls DFC and old friend Ken Williams, a
Friend member of 207
Wallace signing for yet another purchaser, to the benefit of
207 funds
Wallace and author Mel Rolfe hard at it
 with Oliver Clutton-Brock, Friend Member of 207, also at Duxford for the signing of his book on RAF Bomber Command POWs in German hands Footprints on the Sands of Time: Oliver wrote Massacre over the Marne, which lead to our visit to Margny. |
 Oliver signing his book: for contents list visit RAF Ex-POW page on Footprints |
 publisher's details of the book click on Footprints on the Sands of Time |
Gunning for the Enemy
Wallace Mclntosh, DFC AND BAR, DFM
When, recently, the Bank of Scotland carried out a survey asking people to name Great Scots, 'Wallace Mclntosh - War Hero' was chosen among such illustrious names as John Logie Baird, David Livingstone and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Born into grinding poverty, Mclntosh was a few days old when given by his young mother to her parents to bring up. As a boy, he was trailed round Aberdeenshire and Perthshire in the 1920s while his grandparents desperately sought work and shelter. He had not heard of Christmas until he was seven, and never celebrated his birthday until his late teens, but he could steal, kill and skin a sheep before he was twelve and snare anything that could be cooked in a pot. Leaving school at thirteen he was determined to escape the constant struggle to survive.
Gunning for the Enemy tells the moving story of how the RAF finally accepted Mclntosh after at first rejecting him, but then initially gave him the lowliest of jobs. Only by a fluke was he trained as an air gunner. During his time with 207 Squadron, based at Langar, Notts and Spilsby, Lincs, he flew over fifty sorties in World War Two. Although Bomber Command did not record details of 'kills' by air gunners, Wallace, who shot down eight enemy aircraft with one probable, is widely believed to be its top sharpshooter. He had many hairy incidents and his prodigious memory for detail enables him to recall numerous amazing escapes from death as by day and night he and his comrades dramatically took the war to the enemy.
His is a story of outstanding courage, told with wit, pace and honesty by Mel Rolfe who has previously enjoyed acclaim with such books as To Hell and Back and Flying into Hell. Now in his eighties, Wallace Mclntosh is a remarkable and unforgettable character who overcame all the appalling odds against him, creating hope from nothing and success in life beyond his wildest dreams.
£17.99 UK $32.95 USA
Mel Rolfe is always pleased to hear from or about any Bomber Command aircrew veterans who might have a good story to tell. Born in Buckinghamshire, Rolfe was a clerk in London, first for an insurance company then a stockbroker, before becoming a journalist. He now lives with his wife Jessie in Lincolnshire. His previous books relating to the Second World War include Hell on Earth, To Hell and Back and Flying into Hell.
Front cover painting by Timothy 0' Brien
GAvA. Back cover images show Flying Officer Wallace Mclntosh
in 1944; an aiming point photo taken of Deelen airfield from
17,500ft on 15 August 1944; and Wallace holding his wartime
decorations, March 2002.
CATEGORY: BIOGRAPHY/ WORLD WAR II
ISBN 1-904010-45-8
For further details of military aviation books from Grub
Street, please write to:
Grub Street, The Basement, 10 Chivalry Road,
London SW11 1HT
e-mail: milhis@grubstreet.co.uk www.grubstreet.co.uk
Distributed in the USA by Casemate, 2114 Darby Road, 2nd
Floor, Haverton, PA 19083, tel: 610 853 9131;
in Canada by Vanwell Publishing Ltd, 1 Northrup Crescent, St
Catharines, L2R 7S2, Ontario; in New Zealand by Forrester
Books, 10 Tarndale Grove, Albany, Auckland; and in Australia
by Capricorn Link, PO Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, email capbooks@bigpond.com
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE: Hard times
CHAPTER TWO: Three square meals a day
CHAPTER THREE: The sharpshooters
CHAPTER FOUR: Highly-tuned sprogs
CHAPTER FIVE: Into battle
CHAPTER SIX: Joining the toffs
CHAPTER SEVEN: Part of the furnishings
CHAPTER EIGHT: Trickling on
CHAPTER NINE: The tragedy of Mailly-le-Camp
CHAPTER TEN: Terror in the treetops
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Three kills in a night
CHAPTER TWELVE: Fighter alley
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Hanging on
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The end of the trail
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Betrayal
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Civvy Street
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: A Pilgrimage
Operational Record
A page from John Grey's Logbook
Flying Officer Wallace McIntosh's Logbook
Flying Officer Wallace McIntosh's DFC Postagram
Flying Officer Wallace McIntosh's Chopper Club Membership
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
all images: Frank Haslam: page last updated 26 Jun 03: 17 Jul 05