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HOWIUSE...
20
WHATI’D LIKETOSEE IN EBAYNext issue:HowIuse... Gmail labelsEBay co ulddowithabetterset of
filters.Att he moment,youcan only
save asearchasyou’re performing
it.Itw ould be goo dify ou couldadd
multiple terms andreceive asingle
email forall item sthatmatch.theplane,butIusedthebasicGoogle
Search,too,becauseitfindsmore
results.
IthenturnedtoeBaytoseeifanyone
wassellingtheoriginalphotos.A
clevereBayfeatureletsyousavea
search,andalertsyouwhensomeone
listsanitemthatfitsyourcriteria.To
setthisup,IloggedintomyeBay
account,thensearchedforthetermI
wanted(‘FaireyBattlephoto’)and
clicked‘Savethissearch’(see
screenshotabove). Now,whenanew
photoappears,eBaysendsmeanemail
containi ng details of theitem.
To findmygrandfather’sexact plane
Ihad to usethe specificsearchterms
‘FaireyP5328’and ‘HurricaneP2959’. I
nowhaveahandful of photos,taken by
differen tpeoplefromdifferen tangles,
of theveryplanemygrandfather flew
on that dayin1940.Davidsent aphoto of hisgrandfather’s DFC
medaltot he FelstedRemembers websiteSunday 1 9May 1940 wasawarmdayin
Congy,France.ElianeDesbrosse,aged
17 ,wasstandingoutsideherfriend’s
housearoundmiddaywhenasudden
noisemadeherjumpandaBritish
planecamedownlowandfast,landing
inafieldontheoutskirtsofthevillage.
Thepilotwasmygrandfather,George
HenryEbert.Eighty-oneyearslater,I
stoodinthesamefieldnexttoEliane-
now9 8 -assherelivedtheevent.
Mygrandfathersurvivedthatcrash,
butwaskilledon6January 194 4when
hisLancasterbomberwasshotdown
duringamissiontoStettininPoland.
I’vealwayswantedtolearnmoreabout
thecrashinFrance.Ifoundsome
detailsfromtheNationalArchives
(www.nationalarchives.gov.uk), butI
hadgreatersuccessusingGoogle.
Ifinditbesttouseacombinationof
keywords,soIsearchedforboth‘G.H.
Ebert’and‘GeorgeHenryEbert’,
adding‘RAF’eachtime.Ifounddetails
ofhisfinalmission,aswellas
informationaboutanincidentin
Francein1 94 0, whenhewasflyinga
Fairey Battle P5328.
Google also le dmetoFelsted
Remembers(www.felstedremembers.
uwclub.net), wherehistorian Robert
Stonepaystributetot hose namedon
thewar memorialint he Essex villageofFelsted,among
themmygrandfather:
http://www.snipca.
com/4 0439 .I
contactedRobertto
givehimsome
informationand
images,includinga
photoofmy
grandfather’sDFC
medal(pictured
belowleft).
AsIwasresearchingmygrandfather,
VincentDesbrosse-Eliane’sgrandson
–wastryingtofindoutwhoflewthe
planethatcrash-landedinCongyin
1940 .Researchledhimtoafileinthe
UK’s NationalArchivesnamingthepilot
asGHEbert.Accordingtothefile,the
planehadbeenhitbyflakwhile
bombingtheadvancingGermans,and
mygrandfatherhadforce-landedtoget
helpforobserverTomJones,whowas
badlyinjured(anddiedlaterthatday).
Vincent foundmethrough Robert
Stone’swebsite.Hea sked me if I’dlike
to meet hisgrandmothertoh eara
first-handaccount of theincident.Isaid
yes, andwemet lastSeptember.
Since that visit, Ilearned that my
grandfather’splanewas taken425 miles
away to ChateauBougon,Nantes, for
repair,but wasaband oned when the
GermansoverranFrance.Iknewthat
many of theadvancingGermans took
photos of theaband oned planes ,soI
wondered whetherIcould findpictures
of my grandfather’sFaireyBattle.
At theairfield,the Fairey P5328was
place dnexttoaHurricaneP2959.A
Google Im agesearch(www.snipca.
com/40440)revealedseveral photos ofDavidLudlowknewhisgrandfatherwasforcedtoc rash-lan dhisaeroplanein
France duringWorldWar2,butdidn’tknowthedetailsuntilhesearchedonline
Google andeBay
Save an eBay search
to get an al ertwhen an
item youwantisl isted19 Januar y–1February