Hero war pilot and bobsleigh star dies at 97
AN HEROIC Second World War pilot who represented Britain at the Winter Olympics in the daredevil event of bobsleigh has died aged 97.
Edgar Meddings joined the RAF aged just 16 as the conflict began in 1939 and trained as a pilot in Britain and Southern Rhodesia.
A member of No 38 Squadron, he spent much of the war in Bomber Command in the Mediterranean theatre. His squadron was responsible for attacking a number of enemy ships and laying mines, mainly in Greece and Italy.
After the war, Edgar served as a flight simulator trainer in Britain.
Olympics
In 1948 he was one of eight RAF men selected to compete in the fourman bobsleigh contest at the Winter Olympics in St Moritz, Switzerland. The team finished 15th and last. Edgar joined up with No 297 Squadron in time for the Berlin Airlift operations, the first major international crisis of the Cold War.
During the occupation of post- Nazi Germany, the Soviets blocked the Western Allies’ rail, road and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.
They said they would only drop the blockade if the Allies withdrew the new Deutsche mark currency from West Berlin.
Edgar was part response, delivering city from the air.
The operation lasted between May of the supplies
Allies’ to the 1948 and May 1949. Edgar, from Stoke- on- Trent, spent the rest of his RAF career serving in Britain, Kenya, Germany, Nigeria and Singapore.
He left in 1968 but his athletic career continued throughout the rest of his life.
It included spending the last 40 years involved in recreational cricket, partly as a volunteer groundsman at Hinton Charterhouse cricket club near Bath in Somerset.
Kate Borton, the club’s secretary, said: “He was very much an oldschool character who put everyone before himself.
“As an ex- World War two veteran and Olympian he was a great raconteur and happy to speak about his experiences.
“Up until his late 90s he would still go into schools and talk to the children about his life. He was very sharp and only too happy to help anyone.
“He was an all- round lovely family man who will be hugely missed by everyone here.”
Club member Toby Nutt added: “Ed was an absolute gentleman, a true legend of the club and a great champion of young players.
“I will always be grateful for his company and support. He had a long and distinguished innings.”
Edgar leaves his wife Anne, who still works for a local theatre company, and three adult children.
He died peacefully at home on Christmas Day surrounded by his family.
Daredevil... Edgar, second from front, in the bobsleigh team