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Who were they?
Both George Burges and John Waters survived the war, as depicted in "Faith, Hope, and Charity", and went on to complete careers with
the RAF, each retiring at the rank of Wing Commander. 'Timber" woods did die in combat, but not at Malta as depicted in "Faith, Hope,
and Charity"; rather, he was shot down over Greece in April 1941 while flying a Hurricane.
As depicted in "Faith, Hope, and Charity", George Burges was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his leadership and aerial
combat successes during the weeks of June and July 1940.
George Burges
7 destroyed, 2 probable, 6 damaged
surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_burges
'Timber' Woods
6 and 1 shared destroyed, 1 unconfirmed destroyed,
2 probables, 1 damaged
surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_woods
John Waters
4-6 destroyed, 1 damaged
surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_waters
An extremely detailed, day-by-day, sortie-by-sortie account of Gladiator activities at Malta, to include every sortie flown by each of
these three pilots, can be found at this link.
In "Faith, Hope, and Charity" a photo of the three pilots is shown in the Scrapbook. That photo, shown below, is actually of three
RAAF Gladiator pilots, Flying Officer Alan Rawlinson, Flight Lieutenant Blake Pelly, and Flying Officer Alan Boyd in front of one of
their RAAF Gladiators. These three pilots flew Gladiators in North Africa (Eqypt, Libya) beginning in 1940, but not at Malta. All
three survived the war. The photo best suited the purposes of "Faith, Hope, and Charity", and compensatory tribute to these RAAF
pilots was made by their names being mentioned as those of the pilots commended for their air-to-air gunnery by the Squadron Commander
in the final Briefing Room guncam footage sequence.
The three pilots flew primarily three specific Gladiator aircraft, serial numbers N5531, N5520, and N5519 (N5519R). The aircraft were
not individually assigned to any specific pilot, but were flown as their availability dictated on any particular day or sortie. Note
that in "Faith, Hope, and Charity", the serial numbers were fictionalized/modified as 5531H (Hope), 5520F(Faith) and 5519C(Charity).
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