Allotments 4 All

I have heard elsewhere that Tim Elkington of this parish has died.

For those of you not in the know, Tim (see profile below) was a veteran of the Battle of Britain, hence his caption, and an absolute old-fashioned English gentleman of the sort you don't seem to get any more.

https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=525

Blue skies, Tim, and the Hun in the Sun now owes you a drink at the bar.

Adrian

That is very sad news.   I hope he's soaring free.

A true gentleman of the best kind. He will be sorely missed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Elkington

Very sad, he was one of the characters on here. I hope he is flying high again.

Oh Tim I am so sorry to see you have left us but hope you will find a lovely new garden to tend. Thank you for all your help with gardening, recipes and also my family tree :) We go back to the BBC Forum days, I will miss you.  Lots of thoughts going out to his family and friends at this time. xxx

Very sad news. He was a lovely man. Thank you for letting us know gray1720.

Tricia

Sad to read this.  And yes, Wikipedia has been updated also.  He flew up to the big skies today, on 1 February.  RIP  I hope there will be perfect Jack Hawkins tomatoes to tend and eat for him too.   

How sad.   He used to ask for and give advice on a range of subjects.  He will be missed.

Sad news. 

Thanks for letting us know. A sad loss.

There is a nice bit about him here
http://acesofww2.com/UK/aces/elkington/

I posted this elsewhere today after a bit of thought - I thought I'd share it as a says a lot about Tim. Incidentally, it he was he who introduced me to A4A that day.

Adrian

This might be a bit rambly. Please bear with me.

Dad was 10 in 1940. He grew up with the skies full of aircraft, not all of them friendly, and his (distant) cousin Ken even captured two German airman who'd escaped their stricken aircraft. So growing up with his stories you can probably imagine who my childhood heroes were.

A decade or so ago Ailsa and I met a gentleman named Tim Elkington at his home. Tim was a veteran of No 1 squadron in the Battle of Britain and, even for someone in the RAF in wartime, he did a truly astonishing amount of things.

He flew Hurricanes catapulted off merchant ships, with no hope of landing once they'd dealt with a convoy raider. He flew Hurricanes alongside an aircraft armed with a huge searchlight in  the hope of illuminating enemy raiders (it didn't work very well). He flew in Russia alongside the Red Air Force in the Russian winter.

He met his wife first when she was helping people shoot at him (he was flying an aircraft towing a drogue for target practice for ground gunners, she was on the ground with the gunners). Later, in India, he flew a captured Japanese A6M5 "Zero", and the Vultee Vengeance divebomber.

If you want to read more, start here. It's quite a read.
http://acesofww2.com/UK/aces/elkington/

They say don't meet your heroes. The Gods have feet of clay. Well, that day we met one of my boyhood heroes, and he was utterly, utterly charming. I'm not sure we learnt a lot, we mostly chatted about gardening and Ailsa sorted out some computer issues for him. Even at 90-odd he was bolt upright, a magnificent specimen of English manhood, I think Ailsa was quite smitten. Furthermore, he was a gentleman in the old fashioned sense, a species that sadly seems to be getting very rare.

It's not every day that you meet your heroes. It's even rarer that you meet them and they cook you lunch. That's right. Tim cooked.

Tim died yesterday aged 98. The Few grow ever fewer. I hope Helmut Wick, your Hun in the Sun of August 1940, was first at the Valhalla bar with a pint for you. I suspect you got in a crack about still having more hair than him.

A life well lived.

Sad news but so much for his family to remember and be proud of. Not sure if this article has been posted before on here:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/10/last-raf-second-world-war-airmen-honoured-artist-jeremy-houghton

Thats such sad news but what a life !!! Will miss his advice on here :(

Tim's death was just mentioned on the radio 4 news headlines so there may be an item coming up. Edited to say there was- catch it on iplayer.

I spoke to him at Christmas, i will miss him but what a life, what a legend. Blue skies my friend, just blue skies.

Such sad news.  I feel privileged to have met Tim a few years ago when he showed me around his garden and greenhouse.   He will be remembered for his bravery during the war and his helpfulness to us Allotments 4 All members.  He was a lovely, kind gentleman and will be missed. 

Such sad news - a great gent and it seems much loved by all who knew him.  If I can live a life half as full as his I will have lived well.

Such sad news for those left behind
We will miss his knowledgeable input on A4A

There is a full page obituary for him in The Times today (paywall).

These paragraphs give a taste:

"Their flight leader that day was Sergeant-Pilot Fred Berry, at the ripe old age of 26 a father-figure with many years' flying experience. [Elkington was 19, a Hurricane pilot with a few months experience.]

Elkington's Hurricane took a hit: cannon fire from one of the Bf 109s chasing his tail. It was later established that this was being flown by the Luftwaffe ace Major Helmut Wick, so as Elkington, his 18th victim, was later to recall: "He was quite an experienced chap, so I'm not too put out!"

Wick's burst made his starboard fuel tank, positioned in the wing, explode and erupt into flames. It took the injured Elkington two attempts to bale out. Having slid back his cockpit canopy, and slipped his safety harness, he forgot to disconnect his radio and oxygen lines. "No pain, just blood," he recalled, and the fine view he had of Portsmouth "through the haze" was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.

Elkington had not had time to inflate his "Mae West" lifejacket, and as he drifted down 10,000ft in his parachute, the flight leader, Berry, seeing that the teenager would certainly drown without help, performed the brilliant flying feat of using the slipstream of his aircraft to blow Elkington ashore, on to the beach at West Wittering. Elkington would thereafter think of Berry as his guardian angel."

[Pilot Officer Berry was shot down and killed before Elkington got out of hospital, so he never had the chance to thank him.]

"In 2005, after years of trying to track down Berry's family, Elkington finally made contact with the pilot's daughter, and was able to tell her about how her father, with his incredible flying skills, had saved his life. She had had no idea."