 'Whitey' Dahl (Díaz Evans), Vicente Selles Ocino (Chang Selles) & Frank Tinker (Francisco Gomez Tejo) - Three American mercenaries with their mechanics standing behind them. 'Chang' was erroneously reported shot as a spy for Japan but was actually living in Spain as of 1980. A disillusioned Tinker, after the surrender of the Republican forces, shot himself on July 13, 1939. |
_________________________________________________ ITALIAN PILOTS LIKE PIGEONS IF ODDS EVEN
|
Hitler Won't Get PictureCamp Borden, September 23, 1940 - (Staff) - The
Dahls held a family reunion here tonight when Edith Rogers Dahl
paid a flying visit to the Royal Canadian Air Force camp and served
notice on her sergeant-pilot husband that she isn't carrying around
any autographed pictures of herself, just is case "Whitey"
should some day fall into the hands of Hitler and a peace offering
might be needed. |
 |
_________________________________________________
Belleville, August 3, 1941- (CP) - Edith Rogers, the
blond actress who saved Flier Harold (Whitey) Dahl, now a member of the
Royal Canadian Air Force, from a Spanish Nationalist firing squad in 1937,
was never married to the airman, it was learned here yesterday when news
of his marriage, July 26, to Eleanor Bone, was disclosed.
When Dahl was in prison in Spain awaiting execution at the hands of the
Nationalists for the part he had taken in the Spanish Civil War, Miss
Rogers, posing as his wife, sent repeated pleas to General Francisco France
to spare her "husband's" life. Dahl was finally released Feb.
22, 1940.
At the time of his release, Miss Rogers was appearing in a Philadelphia
night club under the billing "She Stopped the Firing Squad."
Rev. W.J. Walker, who conducted the marriage ceremonies of Dahl and Miss
Bone here a week ago Saturday, said today that Dahl had not been married
previously. “I knew about the Spanish affair and understand it was
a publicity hoax," he said.
"I would never have been able to get permission of the R.C.A.F. to
marry Miss Bone if I had been married before," Dahl said. "I
was done a very big favor by Miss Rogers and I'm very grateful for it.”
Dahl's bride also said that Dahl had not been married to Miss Rogers.
"He was in danger of being shot and there would have been no way
out had she not impressed General Franco with her picture," she said.
"My husband liked this girl very much," she added, "and
Miss Rogers sent her picture to General Franco and pleaded for his life
with the best of intentions. But the affair built up into such a story
that neither of them cared to say anything about it while he was in Spain,
or perhaps he would have been shot because of the hoax.”
"When he came back to New York, he decided not to say that they weren't
married. He thought he would appear a sort of rotter. People would have
said: ‘Well, that's a fine thing. A woman saves a man's life, and
then he makes it awkward for her, in that way."'
Dahl, who is 31, is the son of the late M.J. Dahl of Urbana, Ill., came
to Canada in June, 1940, to join the Royal Canadian Air Force as a sergeant-pilot.
He is now a flying officer, stationed at Trenton Air Station. He was in
the United Stares Army Air Force from 1931 to 1936, later flying in Mexico
and then in the Spanish campaign.
Edith Rogers came to Canada during a vaudeville tour last year and visited
Dahl at Camp Borden, where he was then stationed. She told reporters then
that she did not think that Hitler would be taken in by the "female
nonsense" that had influenced Franco. Dahl's bride is the daughter
of Jamieson Bone, former Mayor of Belleville, Dahl has returned to his
post at Trenton following a brief honeymoon.
_________________________________________________
On the plea of blonde, admirably curved Edith Rogers Dahl, Generalissimo Francisco Franco four years ago reprieved her check-bouncing, pilot-of-fortune husband, Harold ("Whitey") Dahl, from the death sentence passed on him for flying for the Loyalists. Overcome by her tear-jerking letter, her eye-filling photo, the General wrote her promising to spare her husband, signed his letter with the polite Spanish Q.b.s.p.—"who kisses your feet."
Last week staunchly Catholic Caudillo Franco learned to his chagrin that he had kissed an unwed foot. Dahl, now an instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force, had married again, reporting himself unmarried. Miss Rogers, who greeted Dahl with limited affection when he returned from Spain last year, admitted that the Mexican civil ceremony he once went through with her was, for some reason, no legal marriage.
At a Salt Lake City vaudeville house where she was billed as "The Blonde Who Spiked the Guns of General Franco's Firing Squad," Miss Rogers commented: "I knew the lid was going to blow off this thing some day. . . . I'm the best damned woman violinist in show business, and I don't need Dahl to sell a violin solo."
_________________________________________________
Realistic Program
RCAF officials laud enthusiastic bearing of 100 attending
Dunnville, July 10, 1942 (Staff Special) Hamilton East Air Cadets, in
training at number 6 Service Flying Training school RCAF at Dunnville,
yesterday met flight Lieutenant H.E. ‘Whitey’ Dahl, the man
who was three times court-martialed and sentenced to death by General
Franco during the Civil War in Spain a few years ago and was saved from
death by a letter written to Franco by an American actress.
Flew Big Aircraft
Flight Lieutenant Dahl, now stationed at the Central Flying School of
the RCAF, at Trenton, arrived at Dunnville on official business yesterday
flying a big plane of the type the lads had not previously seen. Grouped
about this officer, the young cadets asked all kinds of questions, not
about his aircraft but about his own harrowing experiences. This is the
story that he told:
In 1936 he was technical adviser on the purchase of aircraft for the Spanish
Republican government in Mexico. Sent to Spain, he was soon in the air
fighting. He had seven months in the air and during that time was officially
credited with shooting down five planes. He shot down four others but
their destruction was not confirmed. On July 12, 1937 he tore a wing off
his plane and was forced to bail out. He landed between the fighting lines
and was taken captive by a party of Moors who turned him over to Franco.
He spent the next five months in solitary confinement in an old convent,
there being no sanitary arrangements of any kind in his cell. Then he
got his first court-martial together with four Spaniards and two Russians.
All seven were sentenced to be shot. The sentence of the court was carried
out on the four Spaniards with the Russians later being exchanged. A young
American actress Miss Edith Rogers, of Seattle, then visiting in France,
heard of Dahl’s plight and wrote a letter to General Franco in which
she claimed to be Dahl’s wife. Copies of the letter were given to
the press and were played up to such an extent throughout the world that
Franco ordered a new trial for Dahl. Again he was sentenced to the firing
squad, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. A third trial
was ordered and once more the sentence of death was passed. By this time
the United States State Department was active and managed to secure his
release on February 22, 1940. Returning home through Morocco in Africa,
he landed in New York on March 17. Then he came to Canada to join the
RCAF and was enlisted in September, 1940. Promotion has been fast and
he now holds the rank of Flight Lieutenant at the Central Flying School,
in Trenton.
There are exactly 100 young Hamilton cadets in the group at Dunnville
and they have had “the time of their lives” during this week.
So far as they are concerned, no favors are asked or given by station
officers and personnel. They have attended lectures on meteorology, navigation,
armament, aerial photography, signals, etc., and have been given every
opportunity to see the inside workings of the RCAF from every angle. While
not allowed to have flights, they have been taken to the flying fields
and shown every phase of aircraft work. The link trainer provided one
great thrill and the Browning gun, which they were allowed to fire, gave
another. In maintenance flight they were allowed to watch mechanics stripping
down and repairing aircraft and motors. Drill was held every morning as
well as physical exercise. Sports were arranged and this evening a field
meet is being held for them at which medals and prizes will be awarded.
Officers of the station from Wing Commander V.H. Patriarch down our loud
in their praise of the way the lads have conducted themselves and the
very keen interest they have shown in everything. Squadron leader J.V.
Sorsoleil, chief ground instructor, is in charge of their training. Cadet
Flight Lieutenant T.M. Thompson and cadets FO. John Sloan are the Cadet
officers in charge. On Saturday afternoon, at the invitation of Dunnville
Lions club, the cadets, headed by their own trumpet band, will parade
through Dunnville streets.
This morning they lined up with the station personnel for the commanding
officers weekly inspection and on Saturday morning they will have an inspection
of their own by the OC.
Their days schedule during the week was; up at 6:30, PT at 6:45, breakfast
7:30, cleanup and wash up to 8:30. Then from 8:30 to 9, drill. From 9
to 12 was taken up by lectures and instruction. Following the dinner hour,
they spent afternoons at lectures and instructions, the period from 3
to 5:30 being given to Link trainer after air crew were through for the
day.
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Montreal, January 8, 1945 - (CP) - A court-martial will
open here January 15 to judge Sqdn. Ldr. Harold (Whitey) Dahl, RCAF, on
undisclosed charges arising out of investigations in Canada, the United
States and Brazil, it was learned today. The court will be presided over
by Group Capt. M.P. Fraser.
Sqdn. Ldr. Dahl, who came to Canada in June, 1940, from Urbana, Ill.,
to join the RCAF, had previously fought with the Republicans in the Spanish
Civil War. Captured by the Spanish Fascists in 1937, he was saved from
a firing squad when Edith Rogers, a vaudeville player, posed as his wife
and sent her photograph to Gen. Francisco Franco. He was finally released
from his Spanish jail in February, 1940.
The hoax played by Miss Rogers and Dahl on Franco was disclosed when,
on July 26, 1941, he married Eleanor Bone of Belleville, Ont.
Prior to his fighting with the Spanish Republican Air Force, Dahl had
been in the United States Army Air Force from 1931 to 1936. He also did
some flying in Mexico.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, January 15, 1945 - (CP) - Sqdn.-Ldr. Harold
(Whitey) Dahl, who has served in the air forces of four countries and
who once was saved from a Spanish firing squad by the picture of a New
York vaudeville performer, today faced a Canadian court-martial on undisclosed
charges. The charges —to be made public after they are read at the
opening of the court-martial—arose out of investigations in Canada,
Brazil and the United States.
Adjourn to Brazil
The inquiry is being conducted by the R.C.A.F., the service to which Dahl
is attached although he has been operating with the R.A.F. Transport Command.
After preliminary evidence is taken at Dorval airport, it is expected
the court will adjourn to Brazil and then to the United States.
Squadron-Ldr. Dahl, who came to Canada in 1940 from Urbana, Illinois,
to join the R.C.A.F., fought with the Loyalists in the Spanish civil war.
Shot down by General Franco's forces, he was court-martialed and sentenced
to be shot but was saved when Edith Rogers sent her picture to Franco
with a plea that he spare Dahl's life.
Miss Rogers told Franco in her appeal that she was Dahl's wife, and the
hoax was not revealed until the following year when he married Eleanor
Bone, of Belleville, Ont., following his entry into the R.C.A.F. Franco
stayed the execution as a result of the appeal and eventually Dahl was
released after Miss Rogers had appealed to the U.S. state department.
His flying experience in Spain was not the first for Dahl. Before he went
to Spain he had served with the United States Army Air Force from 1931
to 1936 after doing some flying in Mexico.
Canadian Service
Squadron-Ldr. Dahl was stationed as an instructor in Canada after entry
into the R.C.A.F., and served at Camp Borden, Ont., and Moncton, N.B.,
before he was posted to the R.A.F.T.C. Subsequently he was stationed at
the transport command station at Belem, Brazil, where the court is expected
to reconvene after completing the Dorval phase of its inquiry. Evidence
will be taken at more than one place because of the distances separating
various witnesses, with officials deciding that it would be better for
the court to go to the witnesses than to bring all the witnesses to the
court.
Group Capt. M.P. Fraser is presiding at the court-martial, and other members
of the court are Wing-Cmdr. Paul G. Rodier, Wing-Cmdr. E. Labelle, Squadron-Ldr.
Don Grant and Squadron-Ldr. I. Gililland. Squadron-Ldr. T. Bence is judge
advocate, with Wing-Cmdr. H. Norris as waiting member. Squadron-Ldr. W.
Cotton is conducting the prosecution with Wing-Cmdr. V. Lynch-Stanton
as defence officer.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, January 15, 1945 - (CP) - Sqdn. Ldr. Harold
(Whitey) Dahl faced an RCAF court-martial today on 14 charges of improper
disposal of Government-owned property ranging from a vacuum cleaner to
the scrap remains of damaged aircraft.
The charges dealt mostly with alleged transactions undertaken when Dahl
was officer commanding the RAF Transport Command station at Belem, Brazil,
and the time of the transactions claimed by the Crown ranged from Oct.
1, 1943, to April 30, 1944.
Dahl, who has served in the United States, Spanish and Canadian Air Forces
at various times since 1931, was a member of the RCAF, attached to the
RAFTC, while he was stationed at Belem.
Several of the charges were alternative counts. In all, 10 different transactions
were mentioned in the formal charge, most of them connected with the Brazilian
Sociedale General de Exportacao Limitada, to whom the Crown claims Dahl
sold various pieces of equipment with out authority.
Many Items Involved
The vacuum cleaner was mentioned in the first charge, which claimed that
Dahl had “improperly delivered possession" of it to an unknown
person while it was "the property of the public."
Other charges dealt with the disposal of damaged aircraft, radio transmitters,
an astral compass, signal cartridge pistol, emergency, life raft assemblies
and a motorcycle. The value of things mentioned in the various charges
was given as ranging from about $80 to about $1,500.
Dahl, who once was saved from a Spanish firing squad by the photograph
of a New York vaudeville performer, sat quietly through the legal preliminaries
and while each charge was read to him. He pleaded not guilty to each charge
in turn.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, Jan. 16 (CP) — Indications that the Montreal
part of the court-martial of Sqdn. Ldr. Harold (whitey) Dahl would be
completed tomorrow were seen today as several witnesses gave their testimony
as to the disposition made of various pieces of equipment at Belem, Brazil—with
a vacuum cleaner and a motorcycle still drawing most attention.
Dahl is charged on 14 counts of having improperly disposed of Government
property while he was officer commanding the RAF transport station at
Belem. The court-martial conducted by the RCAF, the service to which Dahl
belongs, will move to Belem for further hearings after evidence available
here is completed.
FO. James R. England, RAF, code and cipher officer at Belem while Dahl
was commanding officer, testified today that in June, 1944, he saw a reconditioned
motorcycle in the scrap yard in Belem and had identified it as one which
had disappeared from the RAF station some months before, after remaining
on the airfield in an unserviceable condition for some time.
Saw Dahl's Signature
He said that he had identified the motorcycle definitely by its serial
dumber and that he recognized Dahl's signature on a document which the
Brazilian dealer had in connection with the motorcycle. The defense however,
produced a statement from the dealer saying that the vehicle was in such
poor shape when he got it that he had taken it apart and sold the parts
separately.
England said that while at the scrap yard he had seen parts of a crashed
plane and that Dahl had informed him the scrap had been given to a group
of Brazilians. He said Dahl had mentioned that he had received "a
nominal sum" to facilitate removal of the wrecked aircraft and that
Dahl had said once that the sum was five milreis or cruzerios (about 25
cents) and later that it was $5. He testified that Dahl had not turned
the nominal sum over to him, and that such should have been done as he
was in charge of accounts.
England said he was under the impression that the nominal sum had been
paid Dahl in order that the Brazilians could remove the crashed plane,
and that Dahl was in reality giving the wreckage away without any real
monetary advantage to himself.
Other witnesses during the day testified that no authority had been issued
to write off the unserviceable motorcycle, nor a vacuum cleaner which
was missing from the station,
Flt. Lt. K.H. Widgery, RAF Signals Officer who took over from Dahl, said
that he had asked Dahl about the vacuum cleaner and that Dahl had told
him he had hoped to use it to get money to provide lockers in the station
barracks. He said Dahl had told him that he was trying to replace the
vacuum privately but that no replacement had arrived.
Pilfering Was Common
Widgery told of visiting a Belem warehouse and finding various aircraft
equipment including a transmitter, a receiver, an astral compass, signal
pistols and lamps and a raft assembly. Under cross-examination by the
defense he said that such equipment was not a normal part of the equipment
of the station but was carried by aircraft coming into the station.
He said under further cross-examination that most of the equipment he
had seen in the warehouse was new or slightly used as though it night
have come from aircraft The defense brought out testimony regarding a
number of aircraft which had crashed in the vicinity during the time Dahl
was officer commanding.
The defense also produced a letter from a Brazilian resident saying that
Belem was "full" of parts of aircraft and that there was a good
deal of pilfering from the air station. Widgery said he believed there
was considerable pilfering. He said that there was no effective guard
over crashed aircraft from which parts were being salvaged.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, Feb. 1, 1945 —(CP)— The court-martial
of Sqdn.-Ldr. Harold (Whitey) Dahl, famed international war flyer who
now is a member of the R.C.A.F., neared its conclusion today. It was back
at its starting point after 10,000 miles of travel, with the defence claiming
"a net has been spread for the accused with every possible thing
that he might have done made out in the charges in the hope that somewhere
he might be trapped.
Summing up the defence against 14 charges of illegal disposal of Government
property, Dahl's defence officer, Wing-Cmdr. V. Lynch Staunton, claimed
the flyer had been a victim of a Brazilian, junk dealer who had him sign
various documents so that the dealer could avoid payment of taxes and
duties on pieces of aircraft equipment which came into his possession.
Best Arrangement
Dealing with documents signed by Dahl and mentioning sums of money said
to have been paid for the scrap remains of aircraft which had crashed
at Belem, Brazil, the defence claimed Dahl had been urged by officers
of the United States army air forces to clear the field of the crashed
planes. New in command of the R.A.F. transport command station on the
R.A.F. field at Belem, Dahl had approached the junk dealer solely with
a view to making the best possible arrangements to get rid of the wrecks.
The dealer, the defence said, had asked for documents showing title to
the salvage from the aircraft and Dahl had signed such documents, written
in a foreign language, in the belief that the dealer was negotiating honestly
with him. Various sums of money mentioned, it was claimed, were represented
to Dahl as necessary formalities to make the proof of ownership legal,
while the true purpose of the insertion of the mention of sums of money
was to clear the dealer from payment of various taxes.
The prosecution replied that the court would not be able to believe that
a man newly-arrived in a strange country would enter into agreement with
strangers and sign documents without having a clear understanding of what
he was signing.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, Feb. 1 (CP) — Sqdn. Ldr. Harold (Whitey)
Dahl, internationally known flyer, was acquitted on 10 of 14 charges by
a RCAF court martial late today, with the courts announcing that its findings
on the other four counts would be announced later.
The acquittal on a majority of the charges was announced after a three-hour
period, during which the court was closed, while it considered its decision.
Twice during that time, proceedings were re-opened while part of the testimony
of witnesses heard at Dorval and at Belem, Brazil, was read back to members
of the court martial.
Dahl, who escaped death by a Spanish firing squad in the Spanish Civil
War when Edith Rogers, an American night club entertainer, sent her picture
to Gen. Franco and claimed she was his wife, had been charged with improperly
disposing of various pieces of Government property while he was station
commander of an RAF Transport Command unit at Belem.
All of the charges, except one, on which acquittal was announced, had
to do with the disposal of the remains of crashed aircraft which had been
declared irreparable. The other acquittal was on a charge of disposal
of an unserviceable motorcycle.
Charges on which decision will be announced later dealt with the disposal
of a vacuum cleaner, a radio transmitter and receiver, an astro compass,
signal lamps, and emergency life rafts.
The sum of money which the charges claimed had been paid Dahl by Brazilian
merchants totaled 13,600 cruzieries (about $620) in the charges on which
no decision was announced.
The findings of the court in these cases will be submitted to the Judge
Advocate-General at Ottawa, and subsequently will be announced there.
Wing Cmdr. V. Lynch-Staunton, summing up the defense plea, claimed Dahl
had been the victim of a Brazilian junk dealer, who had sought to avoid
payment of taxes and duties on pieces of aircraft equipment which came
into his possession by having Dahl sign various documents.
The defense claimed Dahl had been approached by American officers to clear
the field of crashed planes and Dahl had approached the junk dealer to
make the best possible arrangements to get rid of the wreckage. He had
been asked to sign documents in a foreign language, while the sums of
money listed in the documents had been represented as necessary to make
the proof of ownership legal.
It contended that natives had stolen equipment, such as life rafts, signal
lamps and radio equipment, and had sold them to the dealer who found Dahl
would easily put his signature on documents without question, and had
used him as a means of gaining clear title to the goods.
The prosecution replied that the court would be unable to believe that
a man would enter into agreement with strangers and sign documents without
having a clear understanding of what he was signing.
_________________________________________________
Montreal, Feb. 2 (CP) — Testimony that Sqdn. Ldr.
Harold (Whitey) Dahl had "a clean service record in all particulars"
was given today at a brief resumption of the court martial which tried
him on 14 charges and has already acquitted him on 10 of them.
The charges dealt with alleged improper disposal of Government equipment
while the internationally known flier was station commander of an RAF
Transport Command unit at Brazil.
At today's brief session, Prosecuting Officer Sqdn. Ldr. W.R. Cotton,
RAF, was sworn in as a witness and testified before the RCAF court martial
that Dahl had a clean service record. Today's evidence was given in connection
with the four charges remaining against Dahl, on which a decision will
be announced later from Ottawa.
_________________________________________________
Ottawa, April 11, 1945 - (CP) - Sqdn. Leader
Harold E. (Whitey) Dahl, United States veteran of the Loyalist forces
in Spain and early war recruit in the RCAF, has been convicted of
four charges in connection with improper disposal of about $680
worth of aircraft equipment and other articles, and sentenced to
dismissal from the air force, it was announced tonight. Dahl, released in 1939 from a Spanish prison by Gen. Franco after an American torch singer pleaded direct to the general that whitey was her husband, had been commanding officer of a Royal Air Force Transport Command station at Belem, Brazil, where the improper disposal was alleged to have taken place. |
 |
_________________________________________________
--- the Prelude ---
--- American Aces ---
--- Canadian Aces ---
_______________________________________________
On
these pages I use info from the Air
force Association of Canada's web site
in Hugh Halliday's excellent Honors & Awards section,
Newspaper articles via the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC)
as well as other sources both published and private