Who's the short guy standing on the parachute? - Crew of "G" for George, 460 Squadron RAAF

WHO'S THE SHORT GUY STANDING ON THE PARACHUTE?
CREW OF "G" FOR GEORGE
460 SQUADRON RAAF

Thanks to Michael V. Nelmes from the Australian War Memorial and co-author of the great book "G-FOR-GEORGE - A Memorial to RAAF Bomber Crews 1939-45" I now know that the above is John Critchley's crew and the "short guy" is George Knott an English flight engineer.

Subject:     G-George crew photo
Date:              Wed, 19 Jul 2000 17:16:46 +1100
From:            Michael Nelmes

Looking over your G-George website again I realised I can help identify the crew in the photo with the guy standing on the parachute. It's John (Jack ) Critchley's crew, who flew the last 3 operations of G for George - their first ones.

It's reproduced on p.155 of my book with the crew list - but note that the caption (with positions as per the AWM caption) seems to have the L to R order mixed up. I've just found the original print of it, which was sent by the English flight engineer George Knott, and he had them identified in a photo taken presumably on the same occasion but at the rear door of 'George'.

By matching faces and ranks, I come up with: L to R: Brown or Armstrong, Armstrong or Brown (sitting), Samson, Critchley, Starkey (sitting), Shaw, Knott (on parachute). The first two are the only ones I can't say for certain. Anyway, that answers the question of who the short guy on the parachute is!

As related in the book, all survived the war and Armstrong, Critchley, Starkey and Knott at least lived into the 1990s (I interviewed John Critchley in Melbourne just a few years ago.) (Wilfred Starkey passed away on 22 October 1999)

Subject:    "G" for George photo of crew on home page
Date:             Tue, 12 Dec 2000 18:01:56 -0000
From:           "Malcolm Grohmann" <mjgrohmann@hotmail.com>

I have just visited my grandad (Mr George Knott, age 78) last weekend (today 12th dec 2000) who I haven't really seen for over 8 years. He use to fly in G for George (1944). He told me that he was an engineer on the last three flights before it went to Australia. I said that there would probably be lots of information on the internet about this particular aircraft which I would be happy to find and show him. Unfortunately he doesn't have a computer and is not up-to-date with modern technologies. However he did show me a photocopied log book of all of his flights and an original photograph of himself and some of the crew. So, while scanning the web this afternoon, I was pleasantly suprised to find the photo on your home page. HE IS THE ONE STANDING ON THE PARACHUTE!!!

It would be nice if you could acknowledge him under the photo - he would like that.

I'm going to be printing some of the information for him anyway but if you have anymore info on any of the crew that he flew with, I would be very grateful. And if you have any details missing I would be happy to ask him.

Subject:    Your address please
Date:             Fri, 12 Jan 2001 14:12:26 -0000
From:           "Malcolm Grohmann" <mjgrohmann@hotmail.com

Its Malcolm Grohmann from Bristol, England. Thankyou very much for updating the web page for George Knott (the one standing on the parachute). I managed to print out some of the pages for George (my Grandad) and he liked them very much.

I received a letter from him this morning - asking if he could have Peter's address so he could send you more photos and a few items of news and also Mike's address as he wrote "I can't let that cobber down under get away with calling me a short ass" - that made me laugh.

Actually, he wanted to inform you of the correct order of the crew in the photo and if you know of Starkey's address in the UK? as he has had no contact with him since. (Wilfred Starkey passed away on 22 October 1999)

I need your help

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