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…Cheshire (II) British officer served with pilot with 102 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 6/1940-1/1941; served with 35 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1941-2/1942; commanded 617 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-7/1944 including award of Victoria Cross, 7/1944;…
…“magnificent courage and leadership”. During a “rest” in command of a bomber training unit he flew on all three of the Thousand Bomber Raids in the spring of 1942. On the first, one of the four engines of his Halifax failed on the outbound route, but he pressed on and…
…campaign. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 7 Sqdn, Pathfinders Force in GB, 8/1942-2/1943: state of Bomber Command when Air Marshal Arthur Harris took over, 2/1942; frustrations amongst experienced aircrew; decision to launch first 1000 bomber raid, 5/1942; growth of Bomber Command, 1942-1945; start of Pathfinder Force;…
…Messerschmitt 110 nightfighter as it crossed the Dutch coast. Vertical aerial photograph taken over the centre of Dusseldorf at 11 pm on 10 September 1942, at the height of the major night raid by 479 aircraft of Bomber Command. Most of the area photographed is covered with widespread incendiary fires,…
…5 Continues: objective of raid on the Amiens Prison; requirements of low level precision bombing; selection of personnel for raid; reprisal raid on SS unit in Brittany; attack on German armoured division at Poitiers, France, 8/1944; raids to deprive German forces of sleep; lack of German fighter opposition; effectiveness of…
…instructor at a bomber training unit. During this period he flew on the first Thousand Bomber raid to Cologne when, in a repeat of his experience over Brest, his pilot was forced to dive to roof-top height to escape the searchlights and anti-aircraft fire. He was commissioned in January 1943…
…the rank of group captain, Johnson was transferred to the world of bombers, as Commander of the new Victor V-bomber station at Cottesmore, Rutland. He relished the opportunities to imbue bomber crews with fighter philosophy and to fly their powerful jet aircraft – and also to hunt with the Cottesmore…
…Assuree [Victory of the Allies is Assured] (Shows Lancasters on a night raid) © Art.IWM PST 15041 Grayston and his young Australian pilot, Les Knight, had teamed up to fly Manchester bombers with No 50 Squadron, and remained together when they joined No 617 Squadron in March 1943. The flight…
…went into action in support of Sir Arthur Harris’s bomber formations. One night, flying over Cologne, they were attacked by two enemy night fighters, one of which shot out their port engine, obliging them to make a perilous return back to base. Another night, supporting a raid over Mannheim, Gregory…
…crippling losses of bombers deployed to France at the outbreak of the Second World War; already a veteran at 24, he was made a wing commander and appointed to command No 75 (NZ) Squadron, the first Commonwealth squadron in Bomber Command. Shortly after the declaration of war in September 1939…
…Assuree [Victory of the Allies is Assured] (Shows Lancasters on a night raid) © Art.IWM PST 15041 Neither of these two sorties, nor the rest of his wartime operational career as a pilot and squadron commander, would have been possible had he not escaped from captivity after crash-landing his bomber…
…was a highly decorated bomber captain who flew more than 100 raids with RAF Bomber Command and the Pathfinder Force before embarking on a distinguished career in civil aviation. After completing his training as an air observer, Alabaster joined No 51 Squadron, operating the twin-engined Whitley. He made his first…
…PoWs. In September 1944 Ercolani returned as CO to No 99 Squadron, where he won the respect and affection of his airmen (“erks”, in RAF slang), who affectionately dubbed him “THE Erk”. He led many of the most difficult raids himself, often taking his heavy four-engine bomber as low as…
“I saved her life in the war… and later she became ‘Audrey Hepburn’” “Michael Burn was one of the last survivors of the naval commando raid on St Nazaire, after which he was captured and imprisoned at Colditz. Michael Burn (left) captured, indicating the success of the raid with his…
…September 11 when they shot down an enemy night fighter. A month later they were supporting a Bomber Command raid on Brunswick when two more fell to their guns, from one of which a parachute was deployed. On the night of November 4 the two men, by now dubbed by…
…Nadine helped shepherd and return to England, whose 50 Sqn Manchester’s gallant 20yr old skipper, Flying Officer Leslie Manser VC RAFVR was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross on their 30May42 1,000 bomber raid, allowing his crew to escape by parachute, an inspired co-pilot then Sgt later Wg Cdr Leslie Baveystock…
…established himself as a fearless leader. On July 12, he shared in the destruction of a Heinkel bomber; but he was forced to bale out the following day when he destroyed another and then was hit by crossfire. With no badges of rank in evidence – he was wearing pyjamas…
…of the Danish Order of Dannebrog. He also received the Air Efficiency Award.’ (Daily Telegraph Obituary) The Shell House Raid (narrated by Martin Sheen) Stunning footage of Operation Carthage (the Shell House Raid) Operation Carthage (a.k.a. Shell House Raid) (Sismore on Mosquito missions) An IWM Oral History by Sismore: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80010764…
…Wing under Wing Commander Douglas Bader. Non Multi Sed Multa (“Not many, but much”) Three months later he joined No 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron and on August 19 1942 took part in the aerial support of the Dieppe Raid. On this day he shot down a Dornier Do 217 German bomber….
…period for the RAF. These included withdrawal from bases east of Suez; the cancellation of major aircraft projects; and the dismantling of the strategic nuclear bomber force which he had done so much to nurture. (The cut had been made so that the Navy’s Polaris submarines could take over Britain’s…
…first success on September 7 when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Ashford and a few days later he accounted for a Heinkel III bomber. On the 15th, during intense fighting on the day that is immortalised as Battle of Britain Day, he shot down a Dornier bomber…
…few moments he was airborne, being directed by radar to an enemy aircraft; and when his flight leader turned back with engine trouble, Crosley decided to pursue the enemy alone. He closed until the wingspan of the three-engined Italian bomber filled his gunsight, then pressed the trigger. At that moment…
…as a test pilot. Awarded a DSO and Bar and DFC and Bar, mentioned in dispatches and leading a fighter wing before he was 24, Beamont went on to lead the English Electric Canberra – the first RAF jet bomber – and English Electric Lightning flight test programmes. Subsequently he…
…ERCOLANI Wing Commander Lucian ERCOLANI DSO* DFC Survived 3 day ditching, 214, 99, OC355 & 155 Sqns LIBERATORS Kanchanburi RIVER KWAI RAID Representing: WELLINGTONS & the 1000 BOMBER RAID on Cologne [and ~ ‘All Five Big Ones’] #106 David EVANS Air Chief Marshal Sir David EVANS GCB CBE CBIM &…