These photographs originate from the private albums of WWII SAAF pilot Ernest Weddell. It was kindly made available to me by Ernest's son in law, Perry Davies. Perry made the effort to locate and scan these photographs and send the scans to me; thanks for that Perry! The photographs are placed on this web site in order to share these gems to enthusiasts and the wider public as a gesture of homage to our brave SAAF pilots of past glory. Please respect the copy rights of these photographs and contact me to obtain the necessary permission if you want to duplicate some of this material in other web sites or printed matter.
thanks
Tinus le Roux
April 2012
Ernest Arthur "Ernie" Weddell
Ernest Weddell joined the SAAF in 1940. He obtained his wings in 1941 Ernest did an instructors course at Kimberley in 1941 and was involved with pilot training until 1943.
Ernest joined No. 16 Squadron in 1944 and flew operations in Italy until the end of the war when the squadron stood down. 16 Squadron at that time operated with Beaufighters and they flew mainly ground attack missions. Ernest served as a flight commander in the squadron.
The 16 squadron Beaufighters were fitted with high resolution cameras in the nose of the machine and high quality photographs were taken during ops. Many photographs in Ernie's collection are of these photographs.
1)
1a) Ernie with the girl he later married , Joan Constance Fieldhouse - they were together for over 60 years - until Ernie died in 2002
1b) Training 1940 with Hart variant trainers
2) At Kimberley instructors course 1941
2a) Climbing a pyramid
2b)
3) Ernie and his navigator Lt. de Jager, 1944-'45.
4) Lt. de Jager.
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6) 16 Squadron 1944, Weddell sitting with beret in front
7) Cartoons in mess
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10a) Winter 1944/45
10b)
10c) US general addressing members of 16 squadron
Inspection by " some bloody yank general " - Ernie was not a fan of his American allies after witnessing the appalling lack of flying discipline shown by a negro Mustang squadron . Ernie was forced to land at their base & before leaving saw 2 of the Mustangs crash on take off .
10d) Mac & Wimpy's funeral - dated 9.10.1944
10e) ( standing l to r ) Moon , Butch .
( sitting l to r ) Ernie & Dave .
These 4 shared the tent in the photo .
10f) The officer's mess - in here were the funny pictures of the them being shot at by flak .
10g) Tony , Ernie , Ronnie & Clive - pilots ?
10h) No names , but such a good photo - Ernie in the middle ( cup in left hand) .
10i) ( standing l to r ) Bodley , Russell ,Wellington , Mc Kenzie ,Biggs , Hickey , Hewitt , Mullan , Youlden .
( sitting l to r ) Mc Clelland , Stanbury ,Kendal , de Jager , Weddell .
10j) Church at Shalufa .
10k) Weddell in back row with beret.
10j) " Lord " Visser - part of Ernie's ground crew ?
OPERATIONS 1944-1945
11) Scan from Steve McLean's book: Squadrons of the SAAF.
AUGUST 1944
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20) zoomed pic: Pluto
SEPTEMBER 1944
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26) Note barricades on bridge
OCTOBER 1944
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NOVEMBER 1944
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33) Cerovljani-train busting
DECEMBER 1944
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40) Lussin piccolo-17.12.44
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JANUARY 1945
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FEBRUARY 1945
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50) Note AA emplacements and AA crew running to the AA pit.
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52) Zuzemburk-13.2.45
6 February 2013 I received this very interesting e-mail from Uros:
Hi!
Just wanted to let you know that I found your webpage:
http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/ernest-weddell.php
Under photos no. 52 and 53 (Zuzemberk), the first house on the right from
bombarded church is my late father's birth house (an old house, we use it for a
weekand cottage now). Father told me that it was damaged during one of the
bombardments during war, but as I recall it was damaged from a ground missile,
and to the side away from the church - but I could be mistaken (or him, since
he war born during WWII), and it was repaired later so I can not locate the hit
of the missile.
Very interesting what one can find on internet these days.
If you have any more photos of that area I would be pleased if you could share
them with me (for my private purposes only).
I used to play in those ruins of the church when I was little. Approx. 20 years
ago, it was rebuilt using original blueprints.
You can probably see it on google, here are GPS coordinates:
http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerkev_svetega_Mohorja_in_Fortunata,_%C5%BDu%C5%BEemberk
And ortophoto:
http://www.slovenia-heritage.net/tp/ponudniki_povsod.asp?id_vrsta_ponudbe=46&id_informacija=284&id_meta_type=
Nowdays photo:
http://www.druzina.si/ICD/spletnastran.nsf/zupnija/zupnija-zuzemberk
Regards and have a nice day, Uros
53) Zuzemburk-13.2.45
54) Vace-15.2.45
55) Vace-15.2.45
message received from Sinisa Mozina on 5/3/2014:
Hy!!
I am from Slovenia.
It is nice to see so many old photos of Slovenia.
There is one mistake I noticed:
55) Vace-15.2.45
The place on picture is called Moravce (46° 8'9.18"N, 14°44'37.95"E)
56) Novo mesto-21.2.45
57) Novo mesto-21.2.45
58) Perusic-24.2.45
59) Novo mesto-25.2.45
60) Vace-27.2.45
Interesting e-mail from Marko 12/02/2014
Hello
It is nice to see so many photos around my place.
I am from Slovenia.
Thank you for those photos.
There is one mistake I noticed:
60) Vace-27.2.45
It is not Vace or Vače in our language. but it is Stična.
I saw this name in the text on the picture.
It was hard to verified by looking because surrounding has changed so much.
There are a lot of houses around this area now.
Link to the place:
https://maps.google.com/?q=45.957378,14.806426
--
Marko Kotar
MARCH 1945
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APRIL 1945
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69) Message received on 5/3/2014 from Mr. Saje
Dear Mr. Tinus le Roux!
I am preparing an article about the Second World War for a publication on the history of my hometown, Straža. In said article, I would like to include photo No. 68, which I found on your website, http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/ernest-weddell.php. The photo was created on April 30th 1945, and it was taken by Ernest Weddel, a pilot. This photo is the only known aerial photo of my hometown during wartime, and it is completely unknown in my country.
The publication of this photo would contribute significantly to the recognition of my hometown, which is why I would like to politely ask for your permission to publish the photo in the publication. I would also like to ask you to grant favourable conditions for the publication of the photo.
At the same time, I would like to ask if there were more photos that were taken at that occasion, but were not published on the website? If so, would it be possible to obtain and publish those photos as well?
Your permission would really mean a lot, so I honestly ask you to consider my request.
Kind regards,
Jože Saje
70)
Interesting e-mail 27/2/2014
Dear Mr Tinus,
My name is Aleksander Krampelj, staying Ribnica, Slovenija. I saw your website regarding the picture from the pilot Ernest Weddel.
My father remembered those days when was Ribnica attached by English pilot and bombed. As a young boy escaped those bombs and stay alived.
The only question is : Do you have some more picture from Ribnica, from that day? or general for town Ribnica.
Best regards
Krampelj Aleksander
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