Epitaph For A Squadron James Gordon [JR Gordon-Finlayson] (Arthur Stockwell 1965)
The Bish's parting gesture: a tribute to 211 Squadron in verse. Gordon-Finlayson waited until he’d retired from the RAF to publish this little book (octavo, 55 pp, 4 plates). Worth searching for, it can be found in national libraries and by patient search in quality militaria bookshops.


With the opening of Middle East hostilities in June 1940, 211 Squadron mounted operations against the Italians in the Western Desert. When Italy invaded Greece in late October 1940, the Squadron formed part of the British Air Forces contingent sent to support the Greeks. Almost destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the Spring of 1941, the Squadron withdrew successfully from Greece to Palestine, to be briefly active against the Vichy French in Syria that May.


A restless spirit, bold yet temperate...”
James Richmond Gordon-Finlayson was the central figure of 211 Squadron in the Middle East. His personality, his ability and the high regard in which he held his men—and was in turn held by them—are very readily apparent in the unfolding story of Wings Over Olympus and in his own verse Epitaph for a Squadron.