Barbados during World War I and World War II

Stories about Barbados during the war years 1914 to 1945.

P/O Keith Proverbs

P/O Keith Proverbs: Out Of Tragedy Came Advances in Air Safety and Science

On 10th September 1945, P/O Keith Proverbs (Bajan Captain and 1st pilot) and his crew from 517 Squadron tragically lost their lives when their aircraft a Halifax Met. Mk. III crashed in dense fog trying to land. On this anniversary of that fatal crash we remember the sacrifices made by the RAF Meteorological Squadron crews …

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P/O George Harold Frederick Inniss

P/O George HF Inniss: 31st May 1916 to 5th February 1941

Bajan pilot P/O George HF Inniss aged 24 and crew from 106 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command were killed-in-action on 4th/5th February 1941 when their aircraft a Handley Page Hampden Mk. I, AD750, crashed nose first at La Marronnière farm, La Marsoire, Pont-Saint-Martin, Loire-Atlantique (2 km SE of Aéroport Nantes Atlantique). Their aircraft was hit by …

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Sholto Douglas and Errol Barrow in Barbados

Errol Barrow and his commanding officer Sholto Douglas

This is the story of the deep bond that developed between Errol Barrow and his commanding officer Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Sholto Douglas who was the Military Governor of Germany after World War II. From 1945 to 1947 Errol Barrow served as a Navigator within the Commander-in-Chief, Military Governor’s Flight with …

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Leo Schultz photos album - Training in Canada

F/O Leo Leslie Schultz RAAF – 1921 to 1990

Errol Barrow’s crew in RAF 88 Squadron, “B” Flight, Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) during World War II consisted of: English pilot Andy Cole and the two Australian rear wireless operator and air gunners (WAGs): Leo Schultz and Allen “Shorty” Stewart. BajanThings has covered both Errol Barrow’s time in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and his …

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person reaching out to a robot

A BajanThings 101 on AI Chatbots: ChatGPT and Bard. Why you MUST fact check the output…

Here is a BajanThings 101 on AI Chatbots – using Errol Barrow’s time in the RAF from 1940 to 1947 as the reference source. Artificial Intelligence (AI) ChatBots like ChatGPT and Bard are being promoted as the “next BIG thing”. With any new technology, there are bound to be some teething problems and issues that need …

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Children of the Barbados Ashkenazi Jewish Community circa1954

Peddlers All: Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados

In 1932, three Polish Jews, Moses Altman, his niece, Dina Mass, and her husband, Moses Mass, arrived in Barbados looking for refuge from the harsh economic conditions and anti-Semitism in Europe. Moses Altman’s wife and children (Henry, Simon, Edna (Pillersdorf), Doris (Kaplan) and Mary (Speisman) arrived not long after and were followed by the families …

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Major Teddy Goddard a Bajan policeman from below the cliff

Major Teddy Goddard – a Bajan policeman from below the cliff

Major Teddy Goddard (Theodore Percival Alleyne Goddard) was born ‘below the cliff’ in Clifton Hall Woods, Barbados in 1883. Children born into poor white families had little prospect of bettering their position. Teddy Goddard, had little idea when he enlisted in the army in 1903 for three years that he would be transported to the …

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