Pathfinder Lodge members track down 103-year-old WW2 gunner with connections to Lincolnshire

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Modern-day members of a London Lodge formed from members of WW2’s RAF Pathfinder Force have visited a 103-year-old former air gunner who flew with the squadron.

He’s Sidney Knott, who’s linked to Lincolnshire Freemasonry, being part of the same 582 Squadron as DFC holder Bob Wareing, a member of St Lawrence Lodge in Scunthorpe, and Gerry O’Donovan, father of Brigg-based Sean O’Donovan, a current member of Ancholme Lodge.

Dave Gibson, proposed as a member of St Lawrence by Lodge by Bob Wareing, is a current Pathfinder Lodge Warden. He visited Sidney with fellow Pathfinder Lodge member Eric Francks, and said: “Eric is researching his father’s history with the Pathfinder Force. He discovered that Sidney had been the ‘tail end Charlie’ with his father’s crew, and finding that he was still alive, we felt we had to visit him.”

The picture with this article was taken from another Lancaster during a wartime bombing raid, and shows Eric father’s Lancaster with Sidney in the rear turret on its way to highlight a target for a following flight of bombers.

Dave added: “Sidney recognised Bob Wareing and Gerry O’Donovan from pictures we’d showed him during the three hours we spent with him. He still lives in his own home, supported by one of his daughters who lives a few doors away – and provided us with a lovely lunch.”