I've been aware of Max Venton all of my life....I am, after all, named after him, but it wasn't until the advent of the internet and the relative ease of researching that it brings, that Max became a "living" peson in my life.
Max and my father volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force in 1941, within a year they were both pilots-under-training in Southern Rhodesia, initially flying Tiger Moths then latterly either Oxfords (in Max's case) or Harvards (in Dad's case). In 1943, after gaining their "wings", Max found that he was posted back to England, whereas Dad, to his disappointment, was kept in Rhodesia as a flying instructor. Dad lost contact with Max, but heard in 1945 that he had been killed whilst on operations flying Lancasters, he thought with an Australian squadron. Sixty years later, and one simple search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website on the internet, gave us much more information including the cemetery where he was buried and the exact position of his grave. I immediately felt the need to visit his grave at the Reichswald War Cemetery near Kleve in north-west Germany, hoping Dad would come with me, but it was a bit too much for him at 82, so I went on my own in August 2005. I noticed the graves alongside Max's were all dated the same and wondered if they were connected in some way, deciding to investigate this further on my return home. Four years later, I am still discovering information about the crew (it was indeed their graves), Bomber Command and its role in WW 2 and the enemies who fought so hard against them in the turbulent skies over wartorn Europe.
My father, Flight Sergeant "Toby" Williams Southern Rhodesia 1944.
This website is their story; it is based upon the information, the anecdotes, the details that I have gathered since 2005, and will no doubt continue to do. It's a tale of heroism, of tragedy, of sadness and overall of the ultimate futility of war. But those who gave their youth and their future in those far off dark skies must not, and will not, be forgotten.
Max and my father volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force in 1941, within a year they were both pilots-under-training in Southern Rhodesia, initially flying Tiger Moths then latterly either Oxfords (in Max's case) or Harvards (in Dad's case). In 1943, after gaining their "wings", Max found that he was posted back to England, whereas Dad, to his disappointment, was kept in Rhodesia as a flying instructor. Dad lost contact with Max, but heard in 1945 that he had been killed whilst on operations flying Lancasters, he thought with an Australian squadron. Sixty years later, and one simple search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website on the internet, gave us much more information including the cemetery where he was buried and the exact position of his grave. I immediately felt the need to visit his grave at the Reichswald War Cemetery near Kleve in north-west Germany, hoping Dad would come with me, but it was a bit too much for him at 82, so I went on my own in August 2005. I noticed the graves alongside Max's were all dated the same and wondered if they were connected in some way, deciding to investigate this further on my return home. Four years later, I am still discovering information about the crew (it was indeed their graves), Bomber Command and its role in WW 2 and the enemies who fought so hard against them in the turbulent skies over wartorn Europe. 
My father, Flight Sergeant "Toby" Williams Southern Rhodesia 1944. 
