BOMBER COMMAND'S 19 VICTORIA CROSS RECIPIENTS
ROLL OF HONOUR
1. Flight Lieutenant Roderick Learoyd
2. Sergeant John Hannah
3. Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell
4. Wing Commander Hughie I. Edwards DFC (RAAF)
5. Sergeant James Ward (RNZAF)
6. Squadron Leader J. D. Nettleton (SAAF)
7. Flying Officer L. T. Manser
8. Flight Sergeant R. H. Middleton (RAAF)
9. Squadron Leader L. H. Trent (RNZAF)
10. Wing Commander Guy Gibson DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar
11. Flight Lieutenant William Reid
12. Pilot Officer C. J. Barton
13. Sergeant Norman Jackson
14. Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski (RCAF)
15. Group Captain G. L. Cheshire DSO and 2 Bars, DFC
16. Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette DFC
17. Squadron Leader R. A. M. Palmer DFC
18. Flight Sergeant George Thompson
19. Captain Edwin Swales DFC (SAAF)
Flight Lieutenant Roderick Learoyd
"On 12/13 August 1940 five Handley Page Hampdens of Nos. 49 and 83 Squadrons, after intensive practice-bombing by night of canals in East Anglia, took off to attack this aqueduct. Other Hampdens meanwhile were to make diversionary raids.
First to bomb was Squadron Leader 'Jamie' Pitcairn-Hill DFC, of No 83 who went in at 100 feet and brought back to his badley shot-up machine. Two Hampdens piloted by Australians followed: one managed to attack but both were shot down. The fourth Hampden went in next, bombed, was hit, and crawled back to England on one engine.
The last of the five, through a storm of flak from guns lining both sides of the canal directly along his path, came the Hampden of Flight Lieutenant Roderick 'Babe' Learoyd, of 49 Squadron, who had already flown more than twenty operations. Though blinded by searchlights and having to trust his bomb-aimer, Sergeant John Lewis, Learoyd attacked from 300 feet in a shallow dive and planted a special 'M' Bomb, fused for ten minutes delay, near the bank of the aqueduct. He then brought his badly damaged aircraft, with its hydraulics ruptured and flaps and undercarriage out of action, back to Scampton. It was 2 a.m., and he had to circle around for three hours before dawn broke and he could risk a belly-landing. For his gallantry and determination, Flight Lieuteant Learoyd received the Victoria Cross."
Sergeant John Hannah
"On 15/16 September 1940 a Hampden of 83 Squadron, piloted by a Canadian Pilot Officer C. A. Connor, was attacking barges in Antwerp. As Connor came in and bombed on his second run, at 2,000 feet, his aircraft was violently struck. Shells hit the bomb bay, the tail boom, the wing petrol tanks, and in an instant the rear interior was aflame. Quickly the aluminium floor then melted, leaving a large hole through which the rear-gunner had no option but to bale out. Sent back to see what was happening, the navigator from up front found himself unable to open the dividing door, saw that the gunner was gone and that the wireless operator, Sergeant John Hannah, was apparently on fire, and baled out too, expecting his pilot to follow. But Hannah, a determined Scot not yet nineteen years old, was able to smother the flames around him. Despite the fact that the stored ammunition was now bursting from the heat, he forced the jammed door open, grabbed an extinguisher and started to put out the remaining fires, beating at the last with his logbook when the second extinguisher went out.
Though burnt on the hands and face he then crawled forward to help the pilot, passing him maps and the navigator's log. With both wing tanks holed, Connor brought the aircraft back and made a successful landing. Sergeant Hannah was awarded the VC for gallantry, determination and devotion to duty. Unhappily, these two men did not survive for long. Connor, who received the DFC, was killed only a few weeks later; Hannah, the youngest airman ever to be awarded the VC, went on to instructional duties but never really recovered his health. He was invalided out in 1942 and died soon after the war, still in his twenties and leaving a widow and three young daughters."
Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell
"On 4/5 April 1941 both Bomber and Coastal Command attacked the German warship Gneisenau in Brest. The damage achieved in this attack was minimal although the actions of the crews involved, proved the determination and courage of both Bomber and Coastal Command personnel. Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell, flying a Beaufort, at the cost of his life and that of his crew, lodged a torpedo in her stern. For his actions Flying Officer Campbell was posthumously awarded the VC."
Wing Commander Hughie I. Edwards DFC (RAAF)
"On 4 July 1941 while on a raid against targets in Bremen nine Blenheims of 105 Squadron and three from 107, led by the Australian, Wing Commander Hughie I. Edwards DFC, crossed the coast at Coxhaven, ignoring the absence of the prescribed cloud cover. Sweeping between barrage balloons they bombed Bremen from chimneypot height - one aircraft collecting telephone wires around the tail wheel. Two bombs hit the Weser works, destroying many aircraft components, and another struck a minesweeper in the Atlas yard - where one of the Blenheims, riddled by flak, crashed down to inflict further damage.
For his extreme gallantry in pressing home this attack successfully from so low a level, Hughie I. Edwards, who himself flew beneath a high-tension cable, received the VC - the first Australian with the RAF to do so."
Sergeant James Ward (RNZAF)
"On 7/8 July 1941, while returning from one of the attack's on Münster, Sergeant James Ward of No 75 (NZ) Squadron was a second pilot in a Wellington attacked by an Me 110 over the Zuider Zee. The rear-gunner was wounded, much damage done, the starboard wing set ablaze. The crew were preparing to abandon the aircraft when Ward volunteered to go out on the wing and try to smother the flames with a cockpit cover which had served in the plane as a cushion. Attached to a rope and with the help of the navigator, he climbed through the narrow astro-hatch - far from easy in flying gear, even on the ground - put on his parachute, kicked holes in the Wellington's covering fabric to get foot and hand-holds on the geodetic lattices, and descended three foot to the wing. He then worked his way along to behind the engine, and, despite the fierce slipstream from the propeller, managed while lying down to smother the fire. Isolated from the leaking petrol pipe, this later burnt itself out. Ward, exhausted, regained the astro-hatch with great difficulty: "the hardest of the lot," he wrote, "was getting my right leg in. In the end the navigator reached out and pulled it in." Despite all the damage, the crew got home to a safe landing - perhaps the most remarkable thing, apart from Ward's exploit, being the fact that the pilot had no idea at the time what Ward was doing.
This deed performed by Ward, a young schoolmaster before the war, earned him the Victoria Cross, and which must surely be unsurpassed for calculated bravery. Sadly, Sergeant Ward was killed on a Hamburg raid only ten weeks later - before he received his Victoria Cross."
Squadron Leader J. D. Nettleton (SAAF)
"On 17 April 1942 six Lancasters of 44 Squadron, led by their South African flight commander, Squadron Leader J. D. Nettleton, flew slightly north of their prescribed track. They passed close to Beaumont-le-Roger airfield just as a German fighter pilot of II/JG2 was about to land there after vainly pursuing a diversionary raider. Recognising the huge bombers he at once sped upwards again, alerted his companions still in the air, and gave chase. The Me 109s were too fast for the Lancasters, and their cannon and machine-gun fire too deadly. Four of Nettleton's six went down; Nettleton and the other survivor, their aircraft badly damaged, escaped as their pursuers, fuel running low, turned for base. Nettleton continued and achieved a surprise attack on Augsburg. The anti-aircraft gunners soon sprang to life, and Nettleton's companion went down.
Nettleton brought his aircraft back, landing away from base. The raid was a remarkable achievement for which Nettleton received the Victoria Cross."
Flying Officer L. T. Manser
"On 30 May 1942, the night of the Thousand-Bomber raid, Flying Officer L. T. Manser, a 20 year old pilot of 50 Squadron, was coned by searchlights as his Manchester neared Cologne. Quickly the radar-predicted flak struck. Despite serious damage Manser flew on and bombed the target, only for his aircraft to be hit again and fire to break out, briefly, in the starboard engine. The Manchester lost height badly, but Manser was determined to bring it, and his crew back to England. He delayed giving the order to bale out until, over Belgium, he could no longer avoid a crash. He then managed to hold the bomber steady until all his crew had jumped, but in so doing sacrificed his own chance to escape."
Flight Sergeant R. H. Middleton (RAAF)
"The Australian Flight Sergeant R. H. Middleton and his crew proved that heroism was still alive in operations over Italy. On 28/29 November 1942 while en route to Turin, Middleton coaxed his labouring Stirling over the Alps with great difficulty and heavy consumption of fuel. Despite this he pressed on, and determinedly set about identifying his target. On his third run, at 2,000 feet, anti-aircraft fire twice caught the Stirling, and one shell burst in the cockpit. Fragments struck Middleton in the leg, the chest and the face, destroying his right eye. He slumped back unconscious and the aircraft plunged down to within 800 feet of the ground before the second pilot, Flight Sergeant L. A. Hyder, though also badly wounded in the legs and head, managed to regain control. Incredibly enough, he completed the bombing. Over Turin the flak struck again, but Middleton came around, and insisted on relieving his wounded comrade at the controls. Though there were great holes in the main planes and the windscreen was gone, Middleton managed to bring the Stirling back over the Alps, only to be hit again as he crossed out over France. Somehow the Stirling gained the coast of France, by which time hardly any fuel remained. With the aircraft so badly damaged, and both pilots wounded, Middleton felt that a safe landing was impossible. He turned along the shore and ordered the crew to bale out. Five did so successfully. He himself was too weak to jump, and he was apparently intending to ditch just off land when, with the last fuel running out, the aircraft plunged into the sea. Middleton perished and was posthumously awarded the VC. Two of the crew who had insisted on staying to help him also perished."
Squadron Leader L. H. Trent (RNZAF)
"On 3 May 1943 twelve aircraft from the New Zealand Ventura squadron - No 487 Squadron - took off to bomb a power station at Amsterdam, under escort. One, losing its escape hatch, quickly turned back; the other eleven carried on. But unfortunately a pre-arranged diversionary sweep by Spitfires had taken place half an hour too soon, and had alerted the German defences: FW 190s were consequently waiting to deal with the Spitfire escort, Me 109s with the Venturas. Remorselessly, over the sea and then over Holland, the 109s picked the Venturas off, until only the leading aircraft, piloted by Squadron Leader L. H. Trent, survived. In desperate straits Trent still pressed on and attacked the target - only to overshoot. then his aircraft, too, succumbed: bullets tore into the controls and the Ventura plunged to earth, hurling Trent and his navigator out at 7,000 feet. Mercifully both managed to pull their ripcords, to become prisoners of war. Of the 11 Venturas which had crossed the Channel, only one, badly shot up, made the journey back. When details of Squadron Leader Trent's exceptionally gallant and determined leadership became known after the war, he was awarded the Victoria Cross."
Wing Commander Guy Gibson DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar
Flight Lieutenant William Reid
"On 3/4 November 1943 Lancasters of No 61 Squadron were ordered to attack Dusseldorf.
Two hundred miles from Dusseldorf Flight Liuetenant Reid's aircraft encountered a
Messerschmitt 110 night-fighter and then, when he shook that off, a Focke-Wulf 190. Their
attacks shattered Reid's cockpit windows; put the intercom, the oxygen supply, the
mid-upper turret, and the compasses out of action; wounded the flight engineer in the arm
and Reid in the head and chest; mortally wounded the wireless operator; and killed the
navigator. Despite all this, Reid pressed on, bombed the target accurately, and then,
steering by the pole star and the moon, set about bringing the aircraft home. At one point
he lost consciousness, and the wounded flight engineer had to operate the controls.
Recovering, Reid then took over again. Despite mist, a partial collapse of the
undercarriage and blood running into his eyes from his head wound, he put down
successfully at an airfield in Norfolk. For his actions, Flight Lieutenant William Reid
became the eleventh member of Bomber Command to win the Victoria Cross."
Pilot Officer C. J. Barton
"On 30/31 March 1944 an attack was scheduled for Nuremberg. One of the many acts of
heroic determination that night was of Pilot Officer C. J. Barton in a No 578 Squadron
Halifax.
Suffering heavy damage in a fighter attack before reaching Nuremberg, the navigator, the wireless operator and another member of the crew baled out owing to a misunderstanding over the intercom. Barton nevertheless carried on to the target, bombed, and on three engines set course for home. Reaching the Durham coast just as his petrol ran out, he made a forced landing which cost him his life, but from which the three remaining members of the crew escaped only slightly injured. For his actions Barton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross."
Sergeant Norman Jackson
"On 26/27 April 1944 Sergeant Norman Jackson was the flight engineer in a Lancaster of 106 Squadron. After successfully bombing Schweinfurt the aircraft came under attack from a fighter, which scored many hits. Fire soon broke out on the upper surface of the Lancaster's starboard wing between the fuselage and the inner engine, and near a petrol tank. Though wounded, Sergeant Jackson volunteered to try to put out the flames. With his captain's permission, he jettisoned the hood and climbed out onto the fuselage. He had stuffed a fire-extinguisher into his jacket and clipped on his parachute, but the parachute began to open before he could get to the fire, and the straps and part of the canopy trailed back into the cockpit. Still he persisted, while two of the crew held on to the rigging lines. Then Jackson slipped, and lost the fire extinguisher, but saved himself by clutching an air intake on the wing leading-edge. By that time the flames were licking at his hands and face, his parachute was burning, and he was swept over the wing. Seeing what was happening, his comrades released his rigging, and themselves baled out shortly afterwards.
Despite his wounds, his burns, and a broken ankle on landing, Jackson got down still alive. At daybreak he crawled to the nearest village and was taken prisoner, to spend the next ten months in hospital. Later he tried to escape, the second time successfully. Recognition of his extreme courage and determination came after the war, with the award of the Victoria Cross."
Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski (RCAF)
"On 12/13 June 1944, while on an attack on communications at Cambrai, an episode occurred typifying the utter selflessness in face of danger of so many of the bomber crews.
A German fighter caught a Lancaster of 419 Squadron, and riddled it with bullets from below and astern. With the port engines out of action and the aircraft ablaze in two places, the pilot ordered the crew to bale out. The mid-upper gunner, Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski from Winnipeg, was about to leave the aircraft when he saw that the rear-gunner was trapped in his turret. He made his way to the rear turret through flames, but all his efforts to move it were in vain and his clothing and parachute caught fire. The rear-gunner, recognising the hopelessness of the attempt, then waved Mynarski away, making signs that he should bale out. Returning through flames to the escape hatch, and with his clothing still on fire, Mynarski turned round to face his trapped comrade, stood to attention, saluted, and left the aircraft. He died soon after he reached the ground; but the rear-gunner by a miracle survived the crash of the aircraft, and it was his report that led to the posthumous award to Mynarski of the Victoria Cross."
Group Captain G. L. (Leonard) Cheshire DSO and 2 Bars, DFC
"In July 1944, Leonard Cheshire completed his 100th operation. It had been a raid by 617 Squadron, with Cheshire leading, against the 'large site' at Mimoyecques, which turned out to be the shelter for Hitler's V-3 - a giant 25 barrel long-range gun capable of shelling London. Cheshire's Air Officer Commanding in 5 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane, deciding that 'enough was enough', thereupon took Cheshire off operations, so preserving a truly remarkable man for - as it turned out - a lifetime of near-saintly service to fellow men in ill-health or distress. His Victoria Cross, awarded in September 1944, related not to any one action but to his whole career as a bomber pilot. The citation stressed how he had developed low-level marking, and rightly stated that "his careful planning, brilliant execution, and contempt for danger" had "established for Wing Commander Cheshire a reputation second to none in Bomber Command."
Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette DFC
"On 4 August 1944, against a launching site at Trossy St Maximin, Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette's Lancaster of 635 Squadron was hit by flak as he neared his target - the bullets put both starboard engines out of action, started fires in the starboard wing and the fuselage, and seriously wounded the bomb-aimer. Bazalgette nevertheless pressed on, and his accurate marking and bombing led to the success of the whole attack. By the time it was over one of his port engines, too, had failed, the starboard wing was completely ablaze, and the mid-upper gunner had been overcome by fumes. Bazalgette ordered those of his crew who could to bale out, and then, in an attempt to save the helpless two still aboard, brought the blazing aircraft down in some clear ground. Unhappily it exploded, killing him and the men he had tried to save."
Squadron Leader R. A. M. Palmer DFC
"On 24 December 1944 the Pathfinder Force attacked the Cologne-Gremberg railway yards. With no sign of the forecast cloud bombing orders had been changed en route: instead of bombing on OBOE leaders, each aircraft was to bomb visually. This was because OBOE bombing accuracy depended on the pilot holding a straight and level course on the final approach, and in clear weather the Cologne guns were notoriously effective. Unfortunately the first OBOE leader, Squadron Leader R. A. M. Palmer of No 109 Squadron but on loan to No 582, failed to receive the message in the air. As he approached the target on his straight and level course, flak hit his aircraft in several places and set two engines on fire. Believing that he was setting the bomb pattern for others to follow he still pressed on, despite also coming under attack from fighters. He scored direct hits on the target, then spiralled down in flames.
Statistically, Palmer was a dead man long before he perished: he was on his 110th operation. The citation for his posthumous Victoria Cross referred with justice to "his record of prolonged and heroic endeavour".
Flight Sergeant George Thompson
"On 1 January 1945 a 'daylight' operation on the Dortmund-Ems Canal provided yet one more example of the courage and determination, in this case amounting to heroism, which so generally inspired the crews. Flight Sergeant George Thompson was a wireless operator in a Lancaster of 9 Squadron. Just after his aircraft had bombed, flak tore holes in the fuselage and started several fires. Thompson saw that the mid-upper turret was ablaze, and that the gunner inside was unconscious. At the cost of severe burns to his hands and face he managed to reach the gunner and carry him clear. By this time he was aware that the rear turret too was on fire, and that the gunner there was likewise overcome by fumes. With his already burnt hands Thompson beat out the flames on the rear-gunner's clothing and pulled him clear, then he made his way forward, edging round a hole in the flooring, to tell his captain what was happening. Despite much damage to the aircraft and a fire in one engine, the pilot managed to reach Belgium and successfully crash-land, only for Thompson and one of the gunners to die later from their injuries. The citation for the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to Thompson rightly referred to his "superb gallantry and self-sacrifice."
Captain Edwin Swales DFC (SAAF)
"On 23/24 February 1945, while on a raid to Pforzheim that Bomber Command's last Victoria Cross of the war was won - a posthumous award, as was so often. Captain Edwin Swales DFC, a South African with 582 Squadron, was acting as Master Bomber. In the target area shots from a fighter put on of his engines and the rear turret out of action. Still Swales persisted, giving instructions to his fellow raiders while the fighter closed in again and scored hits on another engine. Having remained until he could see that the attack was thoroughly successful, Swales then tried to fly his battered Lancaster home on two engines, though the blind-flying instruments were useless and he was running into heavy cloud and increasing turbulence. Knowing that he could not hold the plane aloft much longer, over Belgium he ordered the crew to bale out. He kept the aircraft steady until the last of his crew had jumped. Then the Lancaster plunged to earth, Swales still at the controls."