At that point in Bomber Command’s war a new generation of aircraft had started to enter service, though the arrival of Arthur Harris as AOC-in-C was still eight months off. Nonetheless, June and July 1941 were a turning point. That was the period studied by the civil servant D A Butt, before, in August 1941, he produced his report, addressing the Command’s accuracy.
Butt concluded that only one in three bombers, claiming to have attacked the designated target, had dropped their bombs within five miles. For targets in the Ruhr the figure was one in 10. Change at the top of the Command and in the way it operated was inevitable.
Against that background attacks were launched on a number of German cities on 29/30 June.
At 23.09 on the 29th a Short Stirling of No 7 Squadron took off from RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire for Hamburg. The skipper was Flying Officer V R Hartwright, DFM and one of his air gunners was Flight Sergeant Charles Walter Dryburgh Brown who, in the Battle of Britain, had flown in Blenheims of No 236 Squadron. The rest of the crew consisted of Sergeant T G Young, Pilot Officer H D Brander, RCAF and Flight Sergeants J R Dale, D H G Poole, DFM and A G Reading.
Over Germany the Stirling was attacked by a Messerschmitt Bf 110, flown by Oberleutnant Helmut Lent, and crashed at Zeven not far from its target. There were no survivors and the crew all lie at Becklingen.
At almost the same time as the Stirling left Oakington, a Wellington of No 115 Squadron became airborne from RAF Marham, Norfolk for Hamburg. The captain was Pilot Officer A F McSweyn, RAAF and his tail gunner was Sergeant James Vivian Gill, a Yorkshireman by birth, whose eventual entitlement to the Battle of Britain Clasp had been earned in Blenheims of No 23 Squadron. Also in the crew were Pilot Officers S W Wild and W Hetherington and Sergeants T L Davidson and E A Gibbs.
First there was a spectacular success. Approaching the target, Gill claimed a Messerschmitt Bf 109 shot down. However, an attack followed from a Bf 110, flown by Unteroffizier Herbert Ludwig, in which Gill was badly wounded. From the ground, the attack was witnessed by inmates of the PoW camp at Sandbostel.
The Wellington was abandoned by the entire crew. Gill landed in a tree. He released his parachute and fell 40 feet to the ground. He died in hospital at Sandbostel on 2 July.
Pilot Officer Wild, the second pilot, also injured, joined Gill in hospital. All the others became PoWs, although Pilot Officer McSweyn was free for three days and was captured while attempting to steal a Bf 110. He escaped on multiple occasions, eventually reached the UK and was awarded the Military Cross.
After his release the now Flight Lieutenant Wild wrote a statement, discovered by Edward McManus, in which he recorded that Sergeant Gill had continued to fire at the attacking fighter, despite his wounds and the fact that the Wellington was ablaze.
Wild recommended Gill for a posthumous award. It is not apparent what he had in mind (he made it clear that he knew that a DFM would not be awarded posthumously). The only possibilities were the VC and a mention in despatches. No VC was forthcoming and there seems to be no evidence of Gill receiving a Mention.
Geoff Simpson, FRHistS
There is no photograph of J V Gill in the Database. If anybody has one, or a better individual shot of C W D Brown, I would be delighted to hear from you at geoffsimpsonemail@gmail.com.
