Gordon Frederick "Ocky" Ockenden

"Welcome Home" Gord Ockenden is greeted at the train station by proud parents Ruby and Frederick, and sister Dorreen. The war is finally over

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OCKENDEN, F/O Gordon Frederick (J21398) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.443 Squadron
Award effective 18 December 1944 as per London Gazette dated 29 December 1944
and AFRO 379/45 dated 2 March 1945

This officer has proved himself a resourceful and efficient pilot whose fine fighting spirit, enthusiasm and devotion to duty merit high praise. He has completed numerous missions including escort and patrol sorties and bombing and low level attacks. He has destroyed or damaged at least thirty-five enemy vehicles and in addition he has destroyed four enemy aircraft and damaged one.

RCAF F/O Gordon Ockenden DFC CD

Born 20 July 1923 at Vermillion, Alberta
Home in Edmonton.
Newspaper clerk before enlistment in Edmonton
Trained at No.3 ITS (April 1942 to June 1942)
No.21 EFTS (20 June to 12 August 1942) and
No.8 SFTS (12 August to 3 December 1942)
Commissioned 4 December 1942
Flying Officer, 4 June 1943
Trained further at No.1 OTU, Bagotville, then to
No.127 Squadron (CDN), 20 Apr to 14 Dec 43
        (which included flying coastal patrols)
With No.443 Squadron, 13 Feb to 18 Dec 44
Flight Lieutenant, 4 December 1944
Served at No.10 OTU
then to Canada, August 1945
Released 25 September 1945 but
Rejoined in January 1946 rising to

Air Vice Marshall (Major General)

"All soaped up" in France D-Day plus 2 weeks 

28 HUN PLANES DOWNED FRIDAY BY CANADIANS

London, Sept. 29, 1944 (CP)
Spitfire pilots of three Canadian fighter wings destroyed at least 28 German aircraft today, raising their score for the week to more than 80. The RCAF reported from Belgium that pilots of a Belgian-based wing under the command of Wing Cmdr. W. R. MacBrien of Ottawa, shot down nine German planes and damaged two others. A Reuters News agency correspondent in a field dispatch credited wings commanded by Wing Cmdr. Dal Russel, D.F.C., of Westmount, Que., and Wing Cmdr. J. E. (Johnny) Johnson English-born leader of a Canadian wing, with 10 and nine, respectfully. Ft. Lt. Gordon Ockenden of Edmonton, Flt. Lt. Gordon Smith of Nelson, B.C., and FO. R. A. Hodgins of Ottawa each scored double victories as MacBrien's wing smashed up German formations of fighters over Nijmegen, Holland, near the northern tip of the British 2nd Army's corridor through Holland. Single kills were credited to FO. A.J. Horrell of Windsor. Ont., FO. K.M. Langmuir of Toronto, and Flt. Lt. Cap Foster of Grimsby, Ont. Flt. Lt. B.T. Gilmour of St. Thomas, Ont., and FO. F.R. Kearns of Quyon, Ont., each claimed to have damaged an enemy plane. Foster's victory was a "revenge" kill. The Grimsby pilot was forced to bail out behind the Allied lines Sunday when an ME-109 blew up the engine of his Spitfire, but today he got another ME-109 in his sights and brought it down with a four-second burst. "I was pretty mad and thinking of what happened to me the other day," Foster said. "He blew up,and I had to dodge the debris. I guess things are evened up now." Names of the scorers in the wings commanded by Russel and Johnson were not immediately available.

Post War Significant Postings Included:

Flying Norseman and Dakota aircraft with No.6 (Com) Flight -
       - and No.435 Squadron (Jan 1946 to Nov 1948)
Air Defense Command Headquarters (Nov 1948 to Sept 1953)
61 AC&W Squadron Metz, France (1956 photos)
30 NORAD Region (June 1960 to August 1964)
Command of Station Camp Borden (1967-1970)

NORAD Command Center in Colorado (1971-1975)
Canadian Defense Liaison Staff, Washington (1976-1978)

Retired in 1978

Became Director International Marketing Defense Products -
   - Bristol Aerospace, Winnipeg (1978-82)
Took semi-retirement to Kelowna in 1982
   - but maintained contact with Bristol
1988 became President, TRIMAN Consultants
National Vice-President, RCAF Association (1985-88) and
National President, RCAF Association (1988-92)
Appointed Honorary Colonel, No.443 Squadron, Nov1992

Left from Kelowna, B.C. 14 April 2000

7 June 1944,              1/2   Bf.109   destroyed   (shared with F/L H. Russel) near Caen
23 Aug 1944,             two  Bf.109s destroyed and
                                  one  FW190 damaged NE of Caen
29 September 1944,   two  Bf.109s destroyed northeast of Nijmegen