FURTHER COINCIDENCES IN THE SPITFIRE STORY

John S. Scrimgeour of Corby, England has written to advise that still more amazing coincidences have arisen from the "Spitfire Story" as in the Skirmisher of 1996 (page 20) and 1998 (page 36). This is best explained in his own words.

"Dear Jack: We last corresponded in 1996, one of the topics being F/Lt. Scrimgeour and his Spitfire.

Since then I have discovered that the claim should have been the second last Japanese aircraft shot down in World War Two. I don't know for sure, but I presume that there is an American claim to the last one shot down, which would not be surprising in view of their predominance in number in the Pacific Theatre.

Your News from Australia in issue 20 [1998] of the Skirmisher prompted me to get in touch with Mrs. Brady and it now appears that her uncle George and I share great-great grandfathers. (1) One more coincidence to add to the collection!

The information she has sent me has opened up another line of our tree that I had managed to miss completely, so I am now up-dating my records to include their emigration to Australia. I am enclosing these new trees which you might like to have for future reference.

Last time I mentioned that I had extracted quite a bit of census material relating to Scrimgeour families in Crieff from1841 to 1881. It was only later that I realised my own address did not appear in the Skirmisher so my offer of help with any queries from other members was a bit pointless! Am I too late for this to be rectified in the next issue?" (2)

Ed. Note (1) If your editors count is correct, this means that John Scrimgeour of Corby, England is a third cousin to the Spitfire pilot F/Lt. S. George Scrimgeour of Australia, to his younger brother Kenneth and also to Mrs. Brady's father, now deceased. In addition, John's son, Neil, who initiated this amazing series of connections when he built a plastic model of a Mark 8 Spitfire, would be a fourth cousin to Mrs. Brady!

Ed. note (2): No, it is not too late. Thank you also for describing these most amazing coincidences for the benefit of our readers and thank you also for the permission to reprint the trees that are included in this issue.

Ed. Note (3): The information now provided reveals that the second paragraph under news from Australia in the 1998 Skirmisher (page 36), should be corrected. Comparison to the information now provided in tree form reveals that your editor obviously misread part of the information provided by Mrs Brady (which was in paragraph form). With apologies to all concerned the last four lines of paragraph five page 36 in 1998 should have read as follows:

"Her [i.e. Mrs. Brady's] Uncle George lives in Gunnedah N.S.W. with his wife Jean. Their family consists of a daughter Judith (married with two children). There was also a daughter Kay who died in 1964. Mrs. Brady's Uncle Kenneth (a younger brother to George) and his wife Patricia live in Canberra and have four children, Rodney, Steven, Douglas and Annette."

Ed Note (4): Please note also that "F/Lt. S. George Scrimgeour" is identified in tree 6 by his first name, Stanley.

Ed. Note (5): Readers will observe that a number of trees have been included in this issue of the Skirmisher. A few remarks may be in order. First, we believe that those included are particularly interesting because of their origins and antiquity, with one set dating back to the 1600's and the other to the 1400's. Hopefully, we may be able to continue this practise in selected cases, initially for any others dating back to at least the 1600's and perhaps later for those of the 1700's. It is necessary, of course, for any that are published that they be capable of being fitted onto one or two pages. When sending trees to your editors please send a hard copy at first. This is best for initial examination and filing as formats can sometimes be changed dramatically during E-mail transmission. For publication, however, E-mail is preferred because formats and print sizes can be adjusted and transfer to the Skirmisher printer is facilitated.

Click on the Links below for the Family Trees mentioned above:-