Robert “Bob” Foster DFC, AE, Wing Commander RAF

Wing Commander Robert W. Foster DFC AE (RAF 605 and 54 Squadrons)
The only recent living link with the events of the 7th September 1943, Bob Foster, passed away on 30th July 2014, in the UK, at the age of 94. Bob had written to and been in telephone contact with Bill Hind’s nephew, Michael Horsfall. Born in 1920, Bob’s story has been told to air historian and well established aviation author Norman Franks, resulting in his book “Tally Ho!” from the Battle of Britain to the defence of Darwin. These years began shortly before WW2, when Bob learned to fly with the RAF Voluntary Reserve, having joined in January 1939. Called up for service in September 1939, he completed his training and was posted to 605 Squadron, equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. By early September 1940 he and his Squadron were in the thick of the air fighting over southern England, operating from Croydon. Surviving the Battle, he later became an instructor, but shortly after joining 54 Squadron, which had Spitfires, he and his unit became part of a group sent to Australia to help defend the Darwin area. Bob’s squadron and two others, 452 and 457, engaged the Japanese incursions throughout 1943. Awarded the DFC for his efforts, he returned to the UK and was given an assignment with a RAF public relations outfit, ending up in Normandy within three weeks of the invasion of 1944. Often serving right up in the front lines, Bob saw war at a very close hand, and then quite by chance became one of the first, if not the first RAF officer to enter Paris with the liberating French army, and again by chance, was in General de Gaulle’s triumphant procession down the Champs-Elysees. Bob Foster was credited with 9 aerial victories and he retired from RAF in 1947, returning to his pre-war workplace Shell. He retired from Shell in 1975.