Kim Philby
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s1928542
Kim Phily - Sister
I have been informed that Kim Philby had a sister - an auburn-haired beauty who was married to a British Royal Air Force officer who was killed in an aircraft crash in about 1964. Her name was possibly Elizabeth, she had studied Russian, spent time with her husband in Germany, and possibly worked at some stage in her life for a British security organisation. Is anyone able to confirm or deny these assersions or add further information about her life? Thank you!
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replied to:  s1928542
goldensands
Replied to:  Kim Phily - Sister I have been informed that Kim Philby...
Kim Philby had several sisters - one (Diana / Didi) was married to my Uncle John Edward Brown who amongst other things served as Monty's pilot and was awarded a DFC. She smoked 120 cigarettes a day and died around 1990. They had four children. Didi was highly intelligent and completed the Times crossword in half an hour. She and her husband ehjoyed Golf both captaining various Golf Clubs. I never met the other sisters.
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replied to:  goldensands
s1928542
Replied to:  Kim Philby had several sisters - one (Diana / Didi) was...
According to Haysom and Jackson’s book “A Hero in the Shadows”, which deals partially with the Sigint/Elint organisations in Germany in the late 1940s, an experimental listening station, 1514 Signals Unit, was established by Flt. Lt. Eric George Ackermann at Bückeberg near Obernkirchen in Lower Saxony. On the 16th January 1950, two British Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenants joined the unit, J.J.R. (Jim) Crichton and P.S. (Paddy) Engelbach, both were Russian interpreters. During the War, Paddy Engelbach, while flying a Mosquito over northern France, was shot down. He survived the crash but spent the remainder of the War in Stalag Luft III in Sagan.
In 1946 Engelbach married Helena (Libby) Philby, who was Kim Philby’s sister and who, in the 1930s, had worked with her brother in the Middle East in Section V (countermeasures) of the SIS, analysing enemy wireless traffic. It is reported that Libby was a fluent Russian speaker and a very good pianist. The work of her husband at Obernkirchen was not dissimilar to that of Libby’s wartime activities in the Middle East. Although Kim Philby had been a dedicated Communist since graduating from Cambridge in 1934, he was not suspected of spying until 1951, so there can be no question of Libby’s close connection with an R.A.F officer being considered a security risk.
On the 15th February 1955 Engelbach was killed in a flying accident when his Venom N.F.2 clipped a tree on take-off at RAF Coltishall. Widowed at a young age - she was only 31 - Libby eventually remarried, but not until 1980.
If anyone can throw more light on the Engelbachs (in particular Helene Philby) and the Crichtons stay in Germany in the late 1940s/early 50s, I would very much like to hear from you.
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