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Geoffrey "Lucky" Lord

RAF   P/O

Distinguished Flying Cross

Born 10 December 1920 in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.
Schooled at the local grammar school &
The Halifax Technical College.
Worked at his families electrical company.
Joined the RAF as an electrician in 1940.
Flew as an Air Gunner on a few flights while at 29 OTU resulting in him volunteering for aircrew.
He started training as a pilot in Scotland;
No.11 EFTS, Perth, 11 April, 1942 to 28 April '42
Then it was off to Canada;
No.35 EFTS, Neepawa, 20 June 1942 to 15 August '42
No.41 SFTS, Weyburn, 15 August 1942 to 4 December '42
Rated "Above Average" he was winged as a Flight Sgt. & then sent back to the UK on the HMS Avenger.
No.5 AFU, Tern Hill, 29 April 1943 to 25 May 1943
No.5 AFU, Tatenhill, 25 May 1943 to 2 June '43
No.61 OTU, Rednal, 20 June 1943 to 2 August '43
No.61 OTU, Montford Bridge, 2 August 1943 to 6 Sept. '43
No.2 CTW Grangemouth, 6 October 1943 to 28 Oct. '43
With 130 Punjab Squadron:
   Geoffrey "Lucky" Lord
   Catterick - 28 October 1943 to 10 November '43
   Ayr - 15 November 1943 to 30 November '43
   Scorton - 30 November 1943 to 31 December '43
   Acklington - 31 December 1943 to 4 January 1944
   Scorton - 4 January 1944 to 15 February '44
   Tain - 24 February 1944 to 1 March '44
   Lympne - 1 March 1944 to 30 April '44
   Horne - 30 April 1944 to 18 June '44
   Tangmere - 18 June 1944 to 20 June '44
(On 19 June 1944 he crashed behind German lines, eventually sneaking past sleeping German troops, to regain Allied lines.)
   West Hampnet - 20 June 1944 to 27 June '44
(His squadron was assigned to the 2TAF & he was commissioned, 9 July 1944 as a Pilot Officer on Probation.)
   Merston - 27 June 1944 to 11 August '44
   Lympne - 11 August 1944 to 29 September '44
   Hawkinge - 29 September 1944 to 30 September '44
   Antwerp - 30 September 1944 to 1 October '44
   Grave (Holland) - 1 October 1944 to 1 November '44
   Diest (Belgium) - 1 November 1944 to 31 December '44
   Asch (Belgium) - 31 December 1944 to 29 January 1945
   Eindhoven (Holland) - 29 January 1945 to 3 February '45
   Warmwell - 3 February 1945 to 20 February '45
   Eindhoven - 20 February 1945 to 7 April '45
   Twente (Holland) - 7 April 1945 to 16 April '45
   Celle (Germany) - 14 April to 9 May '45
   Fassberg (Germany) - 11 May 1945 to 11 May '45
   North Weald - 11 May 1945 to 24 May '45
   Dyce - 24 May 1945 to 20 June '45
   Kristiansand (Norway) - 20 June 1945 to 13 October '45
(On 6 July 1945 he bailed out of Spitfire NH381, swam for 45 minutes & was eventually picked up by Norwegian fishermen. In Aces High 2nd Edition it states "his aircraft was shot down by Flak from German troops assembling to surrender, and he crashed into the sea". This seems unlikely however as he makes no mention of flak in his logbook - see additional info below.)
   Gardermoen (Norway) - 18 October 1945 to 3 October '45
   Kopenhagen (Denmark) - 3 November 1945 to 4 Nov. '45
   Manston - 4 November 1945 to 3 December '45
   Charter Hall - 3 December 1945 to 24 January 1946
   Acklington - 24 January 1946 to 27 January '46
   Manston - 27 January 1946 to 4 March 1946.
(He listed de Havilland 82A & 82C, Harvard II, Miles Master I, II & III, Auster IV, Spitfire I, II, III, V, IX & XIV and Fiesler Storch as planes he had flown.)
He then returned to Hebden Bridge and the family business that he eventually retired from.
He passed away in March of 1995. 		 

 

Some additional info from an email

Regarding the cause of the accident, a local eyewitness told the newspaper at the time that it appeared to be engine failure. There is no mention of any shooting . The position where “Lucky” was picked up is approximately N 58.01 E 7.45. This is well out to sea among the islands. The closest German gun battery is some 6.5 km to the north east, but the few Germans there at the time were busy clearing their own mine fields under control of British/Norwegian forces.
Geoffrey Lord was indeed shot down behind enemy lines over the continent and managed to escape. A possible explanation is that over the past 7 decades these two stories have been told and retold and has become partly mixed up. There were no pockets of German resistance or any fighting going on in Norway after 7 May 1945. It is very true that the situation was tense with some 300,000 fully armed Germans in the country, but nothing happened.

The newspaper goes on telling that it took Severin Salomonsen and his two sons some 45 minutes to reach the scene and find the pilot. He was by then lying face down in the water and they feared the worst. Luckily they managed to revive him and he quickly got better. His logbook shows that he was up flying again on the 10th. I know he came back to the island and visited the family and also made a few low passes over their house. They lived on the island of Borøya some 4 km north of the place he was picked up. I know some members of that family, but everyone from that generation has passed away.

I am also looking into the history of the plane itself, NH381. At one time it was with 310 sqn. and was flown by Otto Smik who is well known in his own country of Slovakia. It was also with the Norwegian 331 sqn. in April 1945.

I am also a member of the local scuba diving club and I have been diving in the area, but so far with no sign of NH381. It is possibly in deeper water. Both scuba and ROV technology is mowing forward and becoming more affordable, so maybe we’ll find it in the future. I will let you know.

All the best

Terje

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TUESDAY, 24 JULY, 1945. FOURTH SUPPLEMENT TO The London Gazette Of FRIDAY, the 20th of JULY, 1945
Published by Authority - Air Ministry, 24th July, 1945.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards:

Distinguished Flying Cross

Geoffrey LORD (182700), R.A.F.V.R., 139 Squadron

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Lucky in his Spitfire

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Victories Include :

23 Aug 1944
19 Mar 1945

30 Apr 1945
1 May 1945
2 May 1945		 1/2 V-1
one Me109
one Me109
one FW190
one Me109
2.5 BV131s		 destroyed
destroyed &
damaged
destroyed
destroyed
destroyed

5.5 / 0 / 1

plus 0.5 V-1s

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--- British Aces ---

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Thanks go out to

Son Mark & Terje for the photos & infos !

On these pages I use Hugh Halliday's extensive research which includes info from numerous sources; newspaper articles via the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC); the Google News Archives; the London Gazette Archives and other sources both published and private.

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