1921 (Approximate) - July 14, 1994
Flying Officer George Grant Wharry, J21994 was a Typhoon pilot with No. 245 RAF Squadron during the Second World War. He later was promoted to Flight Lieutenant.
In December 1941, Wharry had been an AC2, according to the papers. It appears he was very sportsminded, playing hockey and tennis in the Edmonton area.
From Hugh Halliday's book, Typhoon and Tempest, pages 34, 35, and 40: "On August 7, 1944, No. 245 Typhoon Squadron (a rocket-firing unit) mounted five separate operations; the unit diaries wrote of a 'major defeat of tank forces by rocket-firing Typhoons.' This unit alone claimed the following: Tanks: flamers 15, smokers 7, damaged 4; motor vehicles: flamers 9, damaged 13;, armoured fighting vehicles (other than tanks): flamers 4, smokers 4, and damaged 3.' At least three members of the RCAF F/Os George Leslie Dakin (J17855) and George Grant Wharry (J21994) plus WO C.E. West took part in these strikes. The flak varied with every trip -- meagre on one, intense on another. All the RCAF participants came through that day unscathed, but on the 8th Dakin was wounded in the face by shrapnel. Although blinded by blood, he managed to land on an advanced air strip."
"On November 22, 1944, when the weather was poor the diary of No, 245 reported such a trip to the front: The CO, F/L Cockburn and F/O Wharry went up to the front to see a castle held by 40 to 50 fanatical young Nazis, pranged by tanks, mortars, and machine guns. The Hun replied with mortars, one bomb landing 10 yards from our party. It's safer in the air is the opinion of the CO.'"
Many thanks for the Wharry Family for the images and documents (that show his progress through the British Commonwealth Training Programme) provided.
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