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James Feldon "Jimmy" Lambert

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Borden Class Told Not to Fly Dangerously
WORK NOT FINISHED

Camp Borden, April 1, 1941 (Special) - Pilots in training from seven Provinces of Canada, four States of the American Union, Newfoundland and Australia, received their wings at a ceremony in the large drill hall, R.C.A.F. station, here tonight, after several months of training under the British Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan.
The Provinces represented were Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Quebec, and the States were New York, Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana.
The young leading aircraftmen, who received their preliminary training chiefly at Prince Albert, Sask., and Portage la Prairie, Man., will rank henceforth as sergeant-pilots and will be dispersed to other stations.
Group Captain R. S. Grandy, officer commanding the station, extended a hearty welcome to the guests including about fifty relatives and close friends of the young graduates.
Squadron Leader G. V. Priestly, officer commanding No. 1 Squadron, Camp Borden, officiated at the presentation of the badges of proficiency, which will be worn as a token of attaining a distinct step forward in their training.
"You have done a good job; you have worked hard, but your work isn't by any means finished when you leave this station," Squadron Leader Priestly stated.
"You have the best instructors we can get; you have had the best equipment that can be bought. Those who go overseas have much harder work to do yet. I want you to remember that those who went before you have set up a wonderful reputation for the R.C.A.F. You have something to look forward to. I am sure that you will carry out the best traditions of the R.C.A.F.
"Before you finish your training, I want you to remember everything told you. We cannot afford here, or in England, to have dangerous flying. We must keep accidents to a minimum. Dangerous flying causes definite sabotage of the cause in which you are all fighting."
Group Captain Grandy thanked the staff and congratulated the class on catching up on the course despite bad weather during the winter.
The class included K. E. Hobson, Winnipeg, formerly a member of Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and John M. Milmine of Kipling, Sask., whose Scot ancestors fought with Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, and whose paternal ancestors since that time have always been in the armed forces of the Empire as instructors.
The lone New Zealander in the wings class is B. J. Halse, a native of Wellington, who has resided in recent years in Sydney, Australia, where he enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force.
Group Captain Grandy congratulated the class. "You are now in a position to start your real flying career," he said. "Please don't take Squadron Leader Priestly's words too lightly regarding dangerous flying. If you are in the right kind of aircraft to do aerobatics, by all means do, but practice them at the proper height, because it is not only dangerous to yourself but also to the people on the ground."
Among the leading aircraftmen who received their "wings," and qualified as sergeant pilots, were the following:
Royal Canadian Air Force — W. R. McRae, Port Arthur; J. R. Manser, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.; G. R. Cushon, Oxbow, Sask.; P. R. Carrillo, New York City; H. W. McLeod, Regina; A. W. Moffatt, Saskatoon; K. E. Hobson, Winnipeg; W. O. Wallace, Calgary; M. J. Whelan, Toronto; J. G. Woodill, Halifax; W. F. Baepre, Quinton, Sask.; W. E. Munn, Regina; H. Byers, Souris, Man.; S. G. Thompson, Moncton; A. E. Mokanyk, Winnipeg; R. G. Calvert, London, Ont.; J. F. Lambert, Winnipeg; J. C. R. Gourdeau, Quebec; G. B. Whitney, Fort Worth, Texas; L. A. Rowat, Winchester, Ont.; M. R. R. Vair, Toronto; D. F. Henderson, Saskatoon; W. H. Beveridge, Isabella, Man.; R. K. Newstub, Winnipeg; R. W. Denison, Winnipeg; H. R. Preece, Hudson Bay Junction, Sask.; H. M. Compton, Ottawa; W. H. McAdam, Regina; F. E. Monette, Regina; J. M. Milmine, Kipling, Sask.; J. D. Stevenson, Winnipeg; T. C. Callaghan, Sudbury, Ont.; J. Sommerville, New Orleans, La.; O. Levesque, Quebec, Que.; W. T. S. Grayson, Maner, Sask.; H. D. Button, Grand Forks, North Dakota; A. H. MacDonald, Fleming, Sask.
Royal Air Force — R. G. White,; St. Johns, Newfoundland; D. B. Lacey, St. Johns, Newfoundland; P. Gruchy, Grand Falls, Newfoundland; R. Mercer, Grand Falls, Newfoundland.
Royal Australian Air Force — T. Cleary, Brisbane; R. E. Anderson, Sydney; B. J. Halse, Wellington, New Zealand; B. M. Geissmann, Brisbane.

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(AF Casualty list has middle name as Fielden)
Born 8 April 1917
Home in Winnipeg
Enlisted in Winnipeg 16 August 1940
Got winged at Camp Bordon 1 April 1941
Sent to UK & instructed at 1 SFTS (Netheravon?)
Commissioned in 1941
F/O in 1942
Sent to Malta in May 1942
Flew off the HMS Eagle on the 18th
Joined 185 Squadron
Promoted to F/L by July but was
Shot down on 20 July & picked out of the sea
He returned to the UK and was
Posted to 403 Squadron in 1943 as a F/O
Quickly promoted back to F/L,
He was made CO of 421 Squadron in October

MIA 20 December 1943
During a Ramrod of the Douai-Lille area, he was
seen to down an Me109 but failed to return

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Young Sergeant Pilots Arrive Safely Overseas

(By HAROLD FAIR) London, May 21, 1941 – (CP) — A contingent of young sergeant pilots from Canada's training fields, including Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Americans, stretched the stiffness out of their sea legs today after joining the throngs of Canadian fliers who preceded them here.
Size of this latest contingent of Commonwealth Air Training Plan graduates was not made public. It was merely said they were all sergeant pilots.
During the crossing by convoy from an Eastern Canadian port, they sighted no Nazi submarines nor aircraft. But they had a spell of bad weather and looked down grimly into the water at one drifting piece of ship wreckage that reminded them of Hitler's undersea warfare.
Among the Canadians were Howard Clark of Toronto, Raymond Goudreau of Quebec City, Omer Levesque of Mont Joli, Que.; D. Chapman of Vancouver, J. J. Doyle of Glace Bay, N.S.; H. R. McDonald of Edmonton, Bill Munn of Regina, J. F. Lambert of Winnipeg, George McClusky of Kirkland Lake, N. J. Ogilvie of Ottawa and Sid Ganon of Montreal.
Adjutant of the voyage was stocky Bert Johnson of Windsor, Ont., who joined Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters in England as official photographer.
Among the Australians who received final training in Canada was Peter Kingsford-Smith, nephew of the late Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, famous trans-pacific flier. Four United States youths were in the group. They were Harry Garvin of New York City, Edwin Davis of East Orange, N. J.; James Walker of Corpus Christi, Tex., and J. B. Spangler of Bethlehem, Pa. "They can leave us here as long as they want and you can't say too much for English hospitality," said Howard Clark. Looking wistfully into the sky as a flight of R.A.F. bombers roared over, he remarked: "Boy, look at that formation. I'd sure like to be with them." Goudreau and Levesque said England was "swell." Goudreau added, smiling: "They ask us to speak French just to see what it sounds like."

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Canadians Down 7 Nazi Craft, Score Probable, Smash 4 More

With the R.C.A.F. Somewhere in England, Dec. 20, 1943 - (CP) - Canadian fighters, supporting widespread Allied bomber activity over France and Belgium, today destroyed seven German planes, probably got another and damaged four more for their biggest victory since Nov. 3, when R.C.A.F. fighters shot down 11 Germans.
F/O Andy MacKenzie, a 32-year-old former flying instructor from Montreal, was the leading scorer with a pair of enemy planes to his credit and another probably destroyed.
The Canadians' bag included five fighters, destroyed by the Red Indian squadron flying under the new commander, S/L Jimmie Lambert of Winnipeg, in support of medium bombers attacking military objectives in Northern France. Lambert himself was one of the successful Red Indian pilots along with Mackenzie, F/L Ed Gimbel of Chicago and F/O Tommy De Courcey of Windsor, Ont.
Two German bombers, a Junkers 88 and a Dornier 217, were destroyed earlier in the day over Brussels in sweeps supporting the United States heavy bomber raid on Bremen. An R.C.A.F. communiqué gave no indication what the German bombers were doing in the air at the time.
Four Canadian fighters were lost during the day.
F/L Cam Cameron destroyed the Junkers while F/O D. Givens of Montreal and F/O L. A. Dunn of Toronto shared in the destruction of the Dornier.
MacKenzie, who was engaging the enemy for the second time in 35 sweeps, shot down a Focke-Wulf 190, scored a "probable" against a Messerschmitt 109 and then got another Focke-Wulf. He shot down the second Focke-Wulf after shaking a couple of Nazis off his tail and coming out of a turn to find himself on the tail of two German planes chasing Gimbel.

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RCAF WHITTLES DOWN GERMAN AIR STRENGTH

Ottawa, Jan. 14, 1944 - (CP) — R.C.A.F. fighter squadrons continued to whittle down Germany's air strength during the last week, although bad weather kept the bomber squadrons at their home bases preparing for the next phase of the air assault on Europe, the R.C.A.F. reported today in its weekly summary of operations.
The weather also had a curtailing effect on fighter activities, but fighter squadrons flew several sweeps over France and on three days escorted United States and R.A.F. medium and light bombers which continued the daylight offensive against targets in Northern France.
Two German planes credited to Canadian Spitfires were destroyed by Toronto pilots during a sweep over France led by W/C Buck McNair, D.F.C., and two bars, of North Battleford, Sask. F/L R. W. Orr came down at nearly 600 miles an hour from 18,000 feet to get an FW-190. He poured fire in the cockpit and saw the Nazi crash in flames into a wood. F/O H. K. Hamilton also went down low to get his FW-190 which was seen burning on the ground later.
The week also brought confirmation of a "kill" by F/L Karl Linton of Plaster Rock, N.B., during a recent dogfight over France, raising the score of the Red Indian Squadron on that day to six destroyed and three damaged, enough to establish the squadron, led by S/L Jimmy Lambert of Winnipeg, as one of the highest scoring in Britain during the last six months.
The "heavies" of the RCAF bomber group were out only once during the week when Halifaxes laid mines in enemy waters.

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Air Force Casualties

Ottawa, 31 Aug. 1944 — The Department of National Defense for Air today issued Casualty List No. 976 of the Royal Canadian Air Force, showing next of kin of those named from Ontario as follows:
OVERSEAS

Previously Reported Missing on Active Service, Now Presumed Dead

LAMBERT, James Fielden, S/L, Winnipeg.

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Victories Include :

21 May 1942
  6 June 1942
30 July 1943
20 Dec 1943
one Me109
1/3 u/i floatplane
one Me109
one Me109
destroyed
destroyed
destroyed
destroyed

3.33 / 0 / 0

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Photo from "421 Squadron History"

Personal info & score from "Those Other Eagles" by Christopher Shores

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