Roberts, Alexander

Alexander (Alec) Roberts

452 Squadron, RAAF

Letter from DWE 'Bill' Jeffrey ex 452 Squadron-

"It may be of interest to readers of the Spitfire Newsletter that Sgt Pilot Alec Roberts was the only member of 452 Squadron to escape from occupied France and return to the United Kingdom whilst the Squadron was stationed there in 1941-1942.

Shortly after the Squadron was formed at Kirton in Lindsey in April 1941, Alec was forced to bale out whilst on a 'SWEEP' over the French coast.

Fortunately he was sighted by the French Resistance who got to him before the Huns.  He was then transferred from one 'safe' house to another and eventually got through to Lisbon in Portugal whence he was whisked back to England.

The Squadron had since moved to Kenley and he arrived back there in August 1941. My recollection is of sighting a chap in the Sergeant's Mess dressed in RAAF uniform and sporting a green and gold waistcoat under his jacket.  During lunch a few of us were regaled with rather a brief account of his journey to Portugal and a hilarious description of some of the 'safe' houses.

Without Alec's permission I would not go any further repeating from memory any more of his story but I believe he is still a member of The Spitfire Association and lives at Lismore in northern NSW.

The last time I met Alec was at a reunion in the '60's where he told me he'd finished up with a stint in Burma.

We also discovered that we'd both married our respective wives on the same day, 26 May 1945.

So Alec, if Bruce sees fit to bung this info in the Newsletter how about the full story."

Edited by Bruce Read and Julie Halliday