Canadian Pilot Follows In Grandfather's Footsteps Serving With RAF In Africa

A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Chinook pilot is following in his grandfather's footsteps by serving with the Royal Air Force on operations in Africa.

Captain Scott Stewart is an exchange pilot with the RAF's 27 Squadron based at RAF Odiham, Hampshire. 

The squadron is currently deployed to Gao in Mali, providing a heavy lift capability to the French military deployed on Op Barkhane, the French Counter-Insurgency Campaign in the Sahal region of west Africa.

Capt Stewart's grandfather Corporal Robert Brown, originally from Lanarkshire in Scotland, served with the RAF during the Second World War after signing up as an airman at the age of 18 in 1940.

After serving in the UK during the Battle of Britain, he was posted overseas to north Africa, joining 204 Group which later became the Headquarters of the Desert Air Force and then 205 Group.  

205 Group was formed to oversee the bomber campaign in north Africa in support of what became the 8th Army.

Before Cpl Brown died just over a year ago, he was able to see his only grandchild off as Capt Stewart left for the UK on his exchange.

Capt Stewart said: "My grandfather was so excited that I was going on this exchange. 

"He was so proud of his RAF service, and now here I am serving in Africa as well."

This current tour is Capt Stewart's second tour with 27 Sqn to Mali and on his return, he will be posted to 450 Sqn RCAF to fly the Canadian CH-47F Chinook from Petawawa Air Base in Ontario, Canada.

Capt Stewart described his time with the RAF as a "blast" and said he and his wife "will always remember being invited to the Queen's Buckingham Palace Garden Party".

His grandfather, Cpl Brown, served as a radar technician in Burma after his time in Africa and when the Second World War was over, he became a police officer in Devon. 

He married a former land girl who he had met on his return from the war and they had two daughters. 

The eldest, Sue, emigrated to Canada when she was 23, and later married. 

Captain Stewart said: "After my grandfather's retirement from the police in England, he and my grandmother moved to Canada to join us all in British Columbia.  

"He told us his fondest memory was of seeing elephants in Burma during the war.

"The elephant, by the way, features on the squadron crest of 27 Sqn in which I am now serving. He would have liked that!"

Cover image: Capt Scott Stewart in the cockpit of a Chinook in Mali (Picture: MOD).