Sergeant Edgar Gould
Edgar Gould was already an experienced and highly skilled mid upper gunner when Drum
mond joined the crew of MacRoberts Reply back in November 1941 on a raid against the German battleships moored in Brest harbour. Following this 'debut' Drummond would take charge of the first of his four 'Goblins'. He and Edgar would not fly together again until that fateful day in April 1942. The first picture shows Edgar as a young boy on the beach at Bognor Regis with the rest of his school chums. He was particularly good at sports, especially cricket. He is sat front row third from the left (with a cross marked on the picture)
A wonderful family photo of the Gould family. Left to right... Cyril (brother), Dorothy (wife), Edgar, Flo (Cyril's wife), Harold (brother-in-law) and Hilda (sister)
When the first 'MacRoberts Reply' was launched the RAF and Ministry of War made a really big deal of it, here was a aircraft paid for by a grieving mother who had lost three sons who served with the RAF. The £25,000 Lady MacRobert donated to buy the aircraft was given so the RAF could strike at Germany in their name. Besides a promotional film, which can be found easily on Youtube, there were many 'stills' taken which became part of the propaganda campaign. Sergeant Edgar Gould served on board the original MacRoberts Reply and in the above photo he is second left giving a thumbs up.
Two great photographs courtesy of Sergeant Jim Ely's collection, in the first Edgar is third from the left, in the second he is fourth from the left,
In 2015 the first Godmanchester Bomber Command Veterans Day was held in the town, here Phillippa Kirby (Edgar's Granddaughter) talks to Warrant Officer Donald Jeffs, a later member of the MacRoberts Reply crew. Donald remembered Edgar and spent some time sharing recollections.
