Slightly off topic, but here is a couple of old photographs of a sorry looking TG601. No idea where they were taken, but possibly in north Africa.
According to my late father's log books, he first flew in it on 2/12/1950 with Pilot Thirlwell on a 30 minute supply drop, and last flight on 4/11/1953 with Pilot Coulston, on a 15 minute flight to Lyneham. And, six flights and nine days later, he finally left the RAF.
His last flight on TG602 with F/L Ryder was on 29/12/1952 when they flew from Abingdon, at 08.45, to Luqa, flight time 6.25 hours, and then on to Fayid the next day with F/L (Ray?) Foreman, as Navigator, flight time 4 hours. For the next month he flew exclusively on TG601 with Pilot F/L Foreman.
As regards Johnny Ryder, they flew together in the following aircraft: TG569, TG580, TG590 and TG615. Their first flight together was in TG602 on 28/2/1952, on a 30 minute double jeep drop in north Africa (Hastings Detachment Kasfareet).
