Leslie Maurice KNIBBS, son of Maurice Theodore KNIBBS and Margaret FREEMAN , was born 23 October 1924 in Eton District, Berkshire, England. He died 09 March 2004 in British Columbia, Canada. June Rosemary UNKNOWN was born 26 January 1929. She died 18 June 2006 in Salmon Arm, Shuswap County, British Columbia, Canada.


Children of Leslie Maurice KNIBBS and June Rosemary UNKNOWN are:
1. Michael KNIBBS, b. Private See Michael KNIBBS & Robyn UNKNOWN
2. David KNIBBS, b. Private See David KNIBBS & Patti UNKNOWN

Notes for Leslie Maurice KNIBBS:

Also known as: Lez

Leslie's experiences during his time in the Air Force are told, in his own words in "RAF wings over Florida: Memories of World War II British Air Cadets", by Willard Largent. This is available via
Purdue University Press e-books.

Les became a member of the RAF volunteer reserve in late 1942 and was placed on deferred service until June, 1943, when he was told to report to the Air Crew Receiving Centre in St. John’s Wood, London. He soloed in five hours in a Tiger Moth, which was a record at that time, and was posted to Scarborough in Yorkshire for a post-Initial Training Wing. He spent a few weeks on a Bomber Command airfield in Lincolnshire and had several flights on Lancaster bombers for orientation purposes.
In April of 1944 he was posted to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, for training at one of the Canadian flying schools, but later in the year was sent to 5BFTS at Riddle Field in Clewiston, Florida.
There, he trained on the PT-7 Stearman aircraft and then moved onto the Harvard AT-6. He learned instrument flying, aerobatics, tight formation flying, and air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery.

The "Wings" ceremony was held on 31 March 1945, after which he returned to Canada for a short while and then traveled back to Britain. He joined RAF Transport Command to fly DC-3s but then the war in Europe ended and so too did Les's future flying training.

His big regret was that he went through years of training, passed scads of examinations, and went for years with low pay, but was never able to do the job he was fully trained to do.








Leslie is mentioned briefly in each of these books.
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Leslie left the Royal Air Force in June, 1947 and emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1949.
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Our gratitude goes to the members and volunteers at Find A Grave web site for recording the details, in memory of Leslie.

Sources for Leslie Maurice KNIBBS:

  1. FreeBMD,
  2. findagrave.com, gave date. 
  3. Passenger List,

Notes for June Rosemary UNKNOWN:

From the Vancouver Sun and The Province on 6/27/2006:
KNIBBS - June Rosemary. January 26, 1929 - June 18, 2006. With deep regret we announce the sudden passing of June Knibbs in Salmon Arm from Cancer on June 18, 2006. She is survived by her sons Michael (Robyn) and David (Patti) and 6 grandchildren; Angela, Tyler, Cara, Cassi, Cameron and Ami. Her sisters in England, Sally Hamblin and Janice Merrin and family and many relatives and friends. A celebration of life service will be held at 2:00pm at Fischer's Funeral Service at 4060 1st Ave, South West Salmon Arm on July 1, 2006.

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Our gratitude goes to the members and volunteers at Find A Grave web site for recording the details, in memory of June.

Sources for June Rosemary UNKNOWN:

  1. findagrave.com,