Flight Lieutenant Philip Gray joined the RAF in 1942 and underwent training at No. 4 British Flying Training School (BFTS) Falcon Field, Arizona, USA. Posted to 186 Heavy Bomber Squadron at Stradishall, Suffolk, UK, where he piloted Avro Lancaster I & II bombers. Philip flew 16 operations with 186 squadron, later transferred to 622 Squadron, Mildenhall. With 622 squadron he participated in the food-drops to the people of The Netherlands as part of Operation Manna, transporting former Prisoners of War (POWs) from France to Britain under Operation Exodus, Operation Baedeker, the low-flying observation of the bomb damage of Germany, and Operation Post Mortem in June 1945 testing the effectiveness of German air-defence radar.
After the war, Philip flew with Fighter Command on the Island of Sylt, West Germany as a staff pilot, flying Hawker Tempests, deHavilland Mosquitos and Gloster Meteors on air-to-air firing ranges.
In 1971 Philip Gray and his wife immigrated to New Zealand where he scripted a book titled 'Ghosts of Targets Past' (Grub Street, 1995) which he finished after immigrating to Canada in 1990.
Philip Gray became a member of the Canadian Air and Space Museum in 2000, and made ten annual visits to the Duxford Air Museum, UK.
