Chiswick pilot honours WWII VC heroes

Image: ‘Ooeration Shetland’

Flypast to honour Flt Lt John Cruikshank and Flt Lt David Hornell on the 80th anniversary of their VC awards

A pilot from Chiswick is paying tribute to two World War II pilots who were awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Flight Lieutenant John Cruikshank of the RAF and Flight Lieutenant David Hornell of the Royal Canadian Air Force were both awarded VCs for their actions flying Catalina aircraft, which Jeff Boyling of Grove Park now also flies.

This year is the 80th anniversary of the awards – the only VC awards made to Catalina pilots. David Hornell died of his wounds and was awarded posthumously in 1944, but John Cruikshank is still alive, aged 104, and living in a care home in Aberdeen. Jeff plans to fly his plane past the care home in tribute.

He told The Chiswick Calendar how he came to be flying a WWII Catalina amphibious flying boat:

“I trained in the 1990s. I worked for 40 years as a specialist musculo-skeletal physio, but I always wanted to fly, so I retrained as a pilot and got my commercial licence and my multi-crew cooperation certificate, which you need for flying Catalinas as they have two pilots.

“I became an instructor and still teach people to fly Cessnas and Piper PS28s at Stapleford Flight Centre in Essex; I’ve been doing that for 15 years now. I came across the Catalina quite by chance, in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. There was a share for sale, and I realised I had all the qualifications.”

The 81-year-old plane is kept at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford and is the only Catalina still flying outside the Americas. Jeff owns a 25th share.

“We have flown her to Russia, Turkey, Greenland, France, Germany, Denmark and all up the Norwegian coast and raise money to keep her going by doing air shows all over the UK.

“Provided we maintain her in an airworthy state and have pilots qualified to fly her, we can continue.”

Images: Flt Lt John Cruikshank (L); Flt Lt David Hornell (R)

Both pilots severely shot up in engagements with German submarines

Flight Lieutenant David Hornell was awarded his VC after he and his crew attacked and sank a German submarine U-1225. His plane was badly damaged in the engagement but despite the aircraft being on fire he managed to land it on the sea in heavy swell.

“He did an amazing job controlling it” Jeff told me. Of the eight crew on board only three were alive when they ditched. They only had only one serviceable dinghy between them and had to take turns in it. By the time they were rescued 21 hours later flight engineers Scott and Laurent had died. Captain Hornell was still alive at that point but died soon after of hypothermia. He is buried in Lerwick New Cemetery.

Flight Lieutenant John Cruikshank and his crew also attacked a German submarine. The first pass was unsuccessful as the depth charges did

not release. He made the courageous decision to go back and give it another go. This time it was successful, but the aircraft had sustained damage and the Navigator, Dickson, had been killed.

Cruickshank was hit in 72 places with two serious wounds to his lungs and ten penetrating wounds to his legs. Knowing that his co-pilot was too inexperienced to land the plane on the sea, he refused to take morphine so his judgement would not be affected.

The second pilot brought the place back to Sullem Voe, a journey of five and a half hours during which time Cruickshank lapsed in and out of consciousness in a rest bunk. When it came to landing the plane he returned to the cockpit, had to wait an hour until conditions were right, then landed it on the sea and ran it ashore to stop it from sinking.

He needed a blood transfusion before being taken to hospital, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he never flew again.

Flt Lt (Ret’d) John Cruickshank VC standing in front of Catalina flying boat more than 70 years from when his actions in saving his crew led to him receiving the Victoria Cross

Flt Lt (Ret’d) John Cruickshank VC gazes from the cupola of Catalina flying boat more than 70 years from when his actions in saving his crew led to him receiving the Victoria Cross

Images: Flt Lt John Cruikshank posing with a Catalina flying boat more than 70 years after his actions in saving his crew led him to receiving the Victoria Cross

‘Miss Pickup’ represents another Catalina, lost in 1945

Jeff’s Catalina crew will fly their plane from Duxford to Aberdeen on Tuesday 16 July. On Wednesday 17 they will orbit John Cruikshank’s home and on Thursday 18 July they will fly over the cemetery where David Hornell is buried.

They have set up a gofundme page to finance the trip.

Their own plane ‘Miss Pickup’ represents a Catalina lost in 1945 whose crew was rescued after three days and is featured on the large glass panel outside the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.

Image: Jeff Boyling with his Catalina ‘Miss Pickup’

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