The 'Ghost' Squadron

 

 

Casper is the Squadron 'Zap' symbol.  In the 1960's and 70's, units had an individual symbol or 'zap' which would be stuck on or stencilled onto aircraft or vehicles of other units as a sign that one had visited the other and left their mark.  Casper the ghost was adopted by 2433 Squadron because of the story that the Squadron building was haunted.

 

The truth of the haunting of the building is that the legend of of the ghost was well established within the unit by 1970.  The legend, as we understand it, was of the spirit of a Polish Battle of Britain pilot who had died after combat in the conflict.  The RAF Manston History Museum discussed the history of the ghost with the archivist but no-one of Polish decent was found to have died on the station.  There were, of course, a number of aircrew who had died on the airfield during the war but why should they haunt the hut that was the intelligence building?  A theory from a member of the Squadron was that the pilot may have had inportant information from a sortie but had died before he could deliver the details to the Intelligence Officer.

 

There are a lot of loose ends to the story but as the years go by it becomes increasingly difficult to link any peices together - perhaps as it should be - as solving the mystery could destroy the legend.