THE Guinea Pig Club was formed in 1941 during World War by a group of 39 pilots/aircrew patients for Sir Archibald McIndoe at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, Sussex in England.
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It was the social club for injured aircrew and McIndoe was its president until his death on April 11, 1960. He was just 59 years of age.
Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, became the next president.
The treatment of burns was in its infancy. Before that time, many severely burned casualties would not have survived. The term Guinea Pig indicates the experimental nature of the reconstruction plastic surgery work carried out on the club's members and the new equipment designed specifically to treat those injuries.
The original members were Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrew who had severe burns generally to the face and hands.
Most were British, but others included Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and by the end of the war Americans, French, Russians, Czechs and Poles. During the Battle of Britain, most of the patients were fighter pilots, but by the end of the war around 80 per cent of the members of the club were from bomber crews of RAF Bomber Command.
In four years of war, Sir Archibald McIndoe performed no less than 4500 plastic surgical operations. He gave his young men new faces, new noses, new eyelids, new ears and repaired hands. He was really a remarkable man.
By the end of the war there were 649 members of the Guinea Pig Club. From Australia there were 19 and two of these came from Central West NSW. They are George Henry Taylor from Dubbo and Neil Allason Lambell DFC from Gulargambone.
George Taylor was a former proprietor of the Ford Motor Dealership in Dubbo. He did his training as a wireless operator/air gunner with the RAAF in Australia and then went to England to serve with the RAF. George seriously injured both his hands in the forced landing of his Wellington bomber. George died in Dubbo on January 4, 1996.
Neil Lambell was a farmer and grazier at Gulargambone and had his nose reconstructed after being hit by shrapnel on a bombing raid over Germany.
Neil trained with the RAAF as a bomb aimer/navigator and then served with the RAF. After training in Australia, Neil was given three months training in Wellington bombers and then given just one hour's conversion training on Avro Lancasters before being posted to an operational unit at Elsham Wolds in England.
Neil did 29 operation missions, 16 of these with Lancaster ED888. This plane did 140 operational missions, which was a RAF bomber command record. Neil died on November 28, 1968.
McIndoe had to deal with very severe injuries. One man, Air Gunner Les Wilkins, lost his face and hands and McIndoe had to recreate his fingers by making incisions between his knuckles.
Many burns required several surgical operations that took years to accomplish. Particular emphasis was placed on patient social reintegration back into normal life. McIndoe would regularly join patients in social events. He gave those for who he cared for a new sense of purpose in life, a new reason to live. He was like a father to his patients. The Guinea Pig Club held its 66th and last annual dinner in 2007 in the presence of Prince Phillip.