Reginald Sidney "Reg" Gray

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Air Minister C.G. "Chubby" Power pins wings on Reg's chest

Power Presents Wing's

Ottawa, Dec. 19, 1941 (CP).—Air Minister Power marked the second anniversary of the signing of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan agreement today by presenting wings to one of the largest classes of pilots ever graduated from No. 2 Service Flying Training School at nearby Uplands.
The class included youths from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, the four countries participating in the plan and also volunteers from the United States and Chile.
The top man in the class was Leading Aircraftman Donald Ian Dewar of Santiago, Chile, who was the first to receive the wings and the congratulations of the Minister.
Ontario graduates included Paul Hubert Roland Bernier, Sudbury; Gordon Page Bray and Albert Lloyd Breckels, Toronto; John Lindley Campbell, London; John Archibald Chapin, Brantford; Harry James Clark and Jack Maxwell Clift, Toronto; John Forest Coleson, Billings Bridge; Norman Davis, Perth; Mark Gerald Donohue, Ottawa; Peter Bruce Lloyd Evans, Hamilton; William Kennedy Ferguson, Peterborough; Robert Alexander Fraser, Smiths Falls; Reginald Sidney Gray, Toronto; Kenneth William Hawkins, Ingersoll; Edward Paul Howarth, Toronto; Gordon Edward Hutchinson, Norham; William James Irwin, Woodstock; Francis Jenkins, North Bay; William Wallace Kennedy, Toronto; William Munroe Kruse, Galt; John Patrick Maloney, Hamilton; Guy Rene Perodeau, Ottawa; Harold Edwards Pittiway, London; William John Sherman, Mansfield; Kenneth William Sim, Toronto; Ronald Brownlee Stitt, London; John Anderson Martin Whitelaw, Toronto; Andrew Whyte, Toronto; Jack Vincent Willbee, Zephyr; Julius Lee Wyatt, Ottawa.

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Class 19, No.58 OTU, Grangemouth

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No.58 OTU - J. Hawkey, P/O Porteous, Reg Gray, Barnes, W/C "Butch" Barton, W. Clymer, F/O Beasley

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"B" Flight, 111 Squadron, Souk el Khemis, North Africa - Scotsman Jock Kirkwood, Englishman (no name), George Hill, Reg Gray, G. Usher (IO), unknown, Henry (Hank) Hall, Jed Gray, Frankie Mellor, Australian Jim Adams with mascot "Spitty". Kneeling - Australian Barry Gale & South African Chris Leroux

Toronto Fliers Make High Scores in Tunisia

Algiers, May 3, 1943 (CP) — Three days ago S/L George Hill, 24, of Pictou, N.S., became officer commanding a famous R.A.F. fighter squadron in North Africa. That same evening he learned he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Next day he led his squadron into an air battle in which six Messerschmitt 110's and one Me-109 were shot down in a large-scale dogfight. For 15 minutes the R.A.F. fighters slashed at a formation of 15 two-motored, long-range German fighters. Enemy aircraft, in the words of one pilot, were falling "wherever you looked."
Hill, former student at Mount Allison University, Sackville, N.B., has destroyed eight and one-fifth aircraft since coming to North Africa early this year. He has one more "destroyed" to his credit—shot down on the day of the Dieppe raid last August.
He fired his guns on his first flight with the squadron as a flight commander, and they have been blazing away ever since. Yesterday's bag brings his squadron to the top of the list in the fighter group, where competition is keener than any goal-getting race in the

National Hockey League
Hill's first score was shared with Sgt. Reg Gray of Toronto. "The Hun aircraft blew up with a great flash. Stuff smeared up my windscreen, and my starboard ailerons were burned by the blast. Jerry's kite just disappeared in a sheet of flame," Hill said.
The whole squadron saw the enemy plane disintegrate as it flew in to pour lead into the enemy formation. Hill shared another "destroyed" with an English flying officer, and shot down yet another himself, bringing his score for the sortie to two destroyed—two halves and a whole. One of the Germans he engaged fought back and Hill returned with bullet holes in his aircraft.
Earlier in the day he had another "go" at the enemy, when he was one of five pilots to share in the destruction of a Heinkel 111. Bill Draper of 9 Humewood Drive, Toronto, raised his score in this campaign to four and a quarter with a victory over an ME-109.
Draper's job was to tackle the enemy's top "cover" of single-engine fighters, which showed no desire to come down and mix it with the Spitfires. Draper, shooting as he climbed to the attack, saw strikes along the cockpit of the enemy aircraft. Then the German aircraft "spun in."
P/O Ross Whitney of Chapleau, Ont., was another Canadian with the same squadron to fire his guns that day. He shared a "probable" ME-110, and he was disgusted that he could not get a "destroyed" all to himself.
Hill is the second Canadian pilot in North Africa to win leadership of a front-line squadron. S/L Jimmy Walker, D.F.C. and Bar, of Edmonton, leads an R.A.F. Spitfire squadron not far away from Hill's.

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111 Sqn. Lago, Italy - "Spud" Murphy (RAAF), Kent Carlson (RCAF), Freddie Charters (RAAF),
M.V. Christopherson, Don Hulbert, Reg Gray (RCAF), Kim Dymond (SAAF) & "Smokey" Stoker

R.C.A.F. PILOTS COVER LANDING

With the R.C.A.F. in Sicily, Oct. 5, 1943 (CP) — For many Canadian Spitfire pilots operating from airfields and landing strips here, the job of covering seaborne landings near Naples was their first in operational flying with bulky, 90-gallon long-distance gas tanks.
Flying with an R.A.F. squadron on the island — the squadron formerly commanded by S/L George Hill, D.F.C. and Bar, of Pictou, N.S — were F/O Jake Woolgar of Edmonton; F/O Don Rogers of Amherstburg, Ont.; F/O I. F. Kennedy, D.F.C., of Cumberland, Ont., and Sgt. Reg Gray of Toronto.
Among other Canadians serving with various fighter squadrons are Sgt. D. J. Schmitz, Humboldt, Sask.; F/L M. Johnston, Selkirk, Man.; F/S Tom Larlee, Woodstock, N.B.; P/O Bruce Ingalls, Danville, Que., and F/O Bob Clasper, Winnipeg.
The big jettison tanks are of metal or fiber, which fit under the fuselage, roughly doubling fuel capacity. With the tanks fitted, Spitfires are said to have an endurance of more than four hours. In event of engagements with the enemy, the tanks can be jettisoned by pulling a lever.

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111 Squadron, Italy, 1943 -
Hank Hall, Reg Gray, "Nobby" Trowbridge (RAAF), Jed Gray, Johnny Church (RNZAF)

Victories Include :

2 / 0 / 0

* Share with George Hill

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Rest In Peace I'm sad to report Reg passed away on October 16th, 2013 in Toronto. His funeral was on the 19th at the Chapel Ridge Funeral home. He rests at the York Cemetary. He was 92 years old and had a great run.

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