Obituaries

[v2]

Squadron Leader Tom Bennett :salut:
Squadron Leader Tom Bennett, who has died aged 93, flew as a navigator in one of the specialist crews on No 617 (Dambusters) Squadron . In April 1944 Bennett teamed up with his former pilot, Gerry Fawke, to convert to the Mosquito before joining No 617, where the CO, Leonard Cheshire, was perfecting low-level target marking techniques. The Lancaster-equipped squadron had four Mosquitos for this specialist role.
Fawke and Bennett flew their first operation on April 18, with the Juvisy marshalling yards the target. They dived to 400ft to drop their markers before the Lancasters attacked, and the success of the operation proved to be the prelude to a concentrated period of similar operations in advance of the D-Day landings .
Just before the landings No 617 received the huge 12,000lb "Tallboy", often referred to as the "earthquake bomb". Its first use, on the night of June 8, was a spectacular success. Trains bringing German reinforcements from the south of France had to pass through the Saumur tunnel near the Loire. The four Mosquitos marked the target for the Lancasters attacking from 10,000ft, and a Tallboy fell 60 yards from the tunnel mouth. The shock waves devastated the tunnel.
Over the next few weeks, Fawke and Bennett marked the launch emplacements and storage sites for the V-weapons in the Pas de Calais, in addition to the E- and U-boat pens on the French Atlantic coast.
After 26 operations in the Mosquito, Fawke and Bennett reverted to flying the Lancaster. The battleship Tirpitz had been identified in the far north of Norway — out of range of aircraft based in Scotland. A force of Lancasters deployed to the Russian airfield at Yagodnik, near Murmansk, and on September 15 1944 they attacked; but cloud and a smoke screen generated by the battleship thwarted them.
On October 7 another No 617 Squadron special operation was mounted, this time against the Kembs Dam on the Rhine near the Swiss border. Fawke and Bennett led a high-level force as the squadron's CO, Willie Tait, led a low-level attack. Despite heavy opposition, the daring raid was a success.
A month later Fawke and Bennett again attacked Tirpitz, this time from Scotland (as the ship had moved south, within range). Once again cloud interfered with the attack . It was Bennett's final sortie with No 617 .
Thomas Bennett was born on January 27 1919 in Poplar, London, and educated at Raine's Foundation School . He joined the RAF in early 1940, training as a wireless operator/air gunner before becoming a navigator. In June 1942 he teamed up with Fawke and they joined No 49 Squadron, which was re-equipping with the Lancaster. They attacked targets in the Ruhr, and on one occasion their Lancaster was badly damaged and Bennett was wounded.
On October 17 1942 Bomber Command launched one of its rare daylight operations, when a force of Lancasters attacked the large Schneider factory at Le Creusot. Fawke and Bennett flew at the head of the formation as the large factory complex was bombed at dusk.
Bennett attacked Berlin and a radio and radar factory at Friedrickshaven on the shores of Lake Constance, when their aircraft was damaged by flak and they flew on to North Africa on three engines. Shortly afterwards he was awarded a DFM.
After completing his tour with No 617, Bennett was appointed station navigation officer at Woodhall Spa, the squadron's home base .
Bennett remained in the RAF, serving with the Service's RAF delegation in Greece in 1949 before going to the Middle East with No 38 Squadron, flying Lancasters in the maritime patrol role. After a spell as wing adjutant at the RAF's Initial Training School, in 1955 he took early retirement. He then worked in administration for the Port of London Authority until 1980.
Bennett was a staunch supporter of the No 617 Squadron Association and wrote articles for Flypast magazine. His book 617 Squadron: The Dambusters at War was published in 1986.
Tom Bennett married, in 1940, Lilian Waller; she predeceased him.
Sqd Ldr Tom Bennett, born January 27 1919, died January 9 2013

source: The Telegraph

 

[v2]

Sir Alan Smith
Sir Alan Smith, who has died aged 95, flew as Douglas Bader's wingman during Fighter Command's offensive over northern France in the spring and summer of 1941; he went on to become a fighter "ace", destroying at least five enemy aircraft. Smith joined No 616 Squadron as a sergeant pilot in early January 1941 as the squadron moved south to Tangmere, near Chichester — it was soon in action over northern France on offensive sweeps. On March 18 Wing Commander Douglas Bader (who had lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident) arrived to take command of the three Spitfire squadrons of Tangmere Wing. He always led 616 in his personal Spitfire marked "DB".
Bader selected Smith to be his wingman, and two of the squadrons' most charismatic pilots, Johnnie Johnson and "Cocky" Dundas, to form his section of four aircraft, which used the call sign "Dogsbody". The wing commander's only comment on choosing Smith was: "God help you if you let any Hun get on my tail." Johnson later described Smith as "leech-like, and a perfect number two who never lost sight of his leader".
As operations intensified during the spring, 616 moved to the nearby Westhampnett airfield at Goodwood, and under Bader's dynamic leadership the Wing's successes mounted. The ever-faithful wingman Smith stuck to Bader throughout, protecting his rear during a series of hectic battles; for this reason he did not open his own account until July 2, when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 in the Lille area and also damaged a second.
In what Johnnie Johnson came to describe as "The High Summer", the Bader Wing achieved considerable success, often against the Bf 109s of Adolf Galland's Jagdgeschwader 26. During July, in sweeps over the Pas de Calais, Smith probably destroyed two more Bf 109s and damaged a third. On one occasion his oxygen supply failed and he was forced to descend to low level. Spotting an airfield near St Omer packed with Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers, he determined to inflict further damage on the enemy, and flew the length of the parked aircraft, destroying two with his cannons.
On August 9 Smith was suffering from a head cold and was unable to fly. Bader led the Wing, but from the outset the operation went badly. Bader's aircraft was attacked and, without Smith to protect his tail, he was shot down — to spend the rest of the war as a PoW.
Bader had lost one of his false legs when he was shot down, and the Germans offered free passage to an RAF aircraft to drop a replacement near St Omer, where he was being held. The RAF refused, and a few days later mounted a bombing operation during which a new false leg was dropped by parachute. Smith, who had just been commissioned, was one of the pilots that escorted the Blenheim bombers on the mission.
Smith remained with No 616 for three more months, during which time he damaged a Bf 109. On September 21 he shot down another near Le Touquet. He left the squadron in November, when he was awarded a DFC, the citation concluding: "In combat, he has been of great support to his leader."
The youngest son of Captain Alfred Smith, Alan Smith was born at South Shields, Co Durham, on March 14 1917. After his father had been lost at sea, he left school at 14 to help his mother in her ironmongery store. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve, trained as a pilot, and was called up at the outbreak of war . After a brief spell with No 610 Squadron, he joined 616 .
Following his hectic spell with 616, Smith served as a fighter instructor, and in June 1942 was attached to the USAAF's 31st Fighter Group to convert the Americans to the Spitfire. In November 1942 he joined No 93 Squadron as it departed for North Africa to take part in Operation Torch, the landings in Morocco and Algeria. Flying from airfields in Algeria, Smith and his colleagues were used initially on ground support operations. As the ground war and advance to Tunisia intensified, the Luftwaffe appeared in force and losses mounted.
On November 22 Smith shot down a Bf 109 over Tunisia and probably destroyed an Italian Macchi 202 fighter. Four days later he accounted for two Focke Wulf 190s, and by the end of the year he had shared in the destruction of two more FW 190s and damaged a Stuka dive-bomber. At the end of January 1943 he returned to England, and two weeks later was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his "inspired skill and great leadership".
He spent the next 18 months as an instructor at various fighter schools before departing for the United States to serve as an instructor at one of the British Flying Training Schools in Florida. He was demobilised in December 1945 as a flight lieutenant.
After the war Smith worked for his father-in-law at his Kinross woollen mill, Todd and Duncan, the start of a highly successful career in the textile industry. He was managing director of Todd and Duncan for 14 years.
From 1960 to 1982 (when he retired) he served as chairman and chief executive of Dawson International, a group of companies in the Scottish knitwear industry.
He was appointed CBE in 1976 and knighted in 1982. He was also appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Kinross in 1967.
Although some criticised Bader's "Big Wing" tactics, Smith always remained a great admirer of his former wing commander. In later life he observed: "He was a marvellous leader, a brilliant pilot, a dead shot and everything you relished."
In March 1987, to mark his 70th birthday, Smith returned to Westhampnett (by then Goodwood airfield) and took to the air in a Spitfire.
Sir Alan Smith married first, in 1943, Margaret Stewart Todd. She died in 1971, and he married secondly, in 1977, Alice Elizabeth Moncur, who survives him with three sons and a daughter of his first marriage; another daughter of his first marriage predeceased him.
Sir Alan Smith, born March 14 1917, died March 1 2013

source: The Telegraph

 

[Gnomey]

 

[syscom3]

Abe Baum dies at 91; decorated WW2 US Army officer

Under orders from Gen. George S. Patton Jr., Baum led Task Force Baum, an ill-fated mission in March 1945 to liberate a prison camp deep in German territory, where Patton's son-in-law was being held.

By Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times
March 23, 2013, 9:45 p.m.

Abe Baum dies at 91; decorated WWII officer - latimes.com

Dog-tired, Capt. Abe Baum was snoozing on the hood of a military vehicle when he was shaken awake and summoned to a superior's tent. With worry on their faces, his unit's top officers were clustered around Gen. George S. Patton Jr., who had just issued a secret order for what some historians later described as one of the most ill-conceived missions of World War II.

Baum, then a 23-year-old New Yorker, would become known for brilliantly executing his general's flawed orders. German soldiers still study the shock-and-awe tactics of Task Force Baum. But military scholars still criticize Patton for his command to liberate a prison camp deep in German-held territory — a grim spot where one of the captives happened to be his son-in-law.

Baum, who later became a garment manufacturer and salesman, died March 3 at his home in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., said his wife, Eileen Baum. He was 91 and had congestive heart disease.

The raid on the camp at Hammelburg, Germany, came just weeks before the war's end.

Twenty-five of the men under Baum's command were killed and 32 others, including Baum, were wounded. Many of his soldiers were imprisoned, albeit briefly. Patton was derided when word spread that he'd placed 300 men at risk to free Lt. Col. John Knight Waters, his son-in-law — a charge he denied. Baum maintained a soldierly silence for decades.

Born March 29, 1921, Abraham J. Baum dropped out of high school in the Bronx to help support his struggling family. He made patterns for women's blouses, which convinced the Army that he was an engineer, he joked years later. He enlisted shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Baum fought at Normandy and suffered shrapnel wounds in a mine field. By March 1945, he was a battle-toughened officer with the 4th Armored Division but was nonetheless surprised when he was ushered into the meeting with Patton.

"I thought what the hell am I doing here?" he recalled in a recent interview in World War II magazine.

Other officers questioned Patton's plan, telling "Old Blood and Guts" that taking Hammelburg would require at least 3,500 men — not the 300 he was demanding. But Patton had his own ideas. When told that his first choice to lead the mission had severe hemorrhoids, he ordered the man and a physician into a side room to verify the claim. Baum was next in line.

None of the top brass could dissuade Patton, who did not reveal his son-in-law's presence at Hammelburg. The camp was 60 miles away — a dangerous trek at night, with tanks rumbling through medieval streets. Hammelburg served no strategic purpose. Nobody even knew the camp's exact location.

Despite his doubts, Baum followed orders — spectacularly, according to historian John Toland.

"The gallant force had accomplished something quite different and even more important than Patton intended," Toland wrote in 1965. "Every town it had passed through was in a state of confusion and hysteria," forcing the German Army to throw a huge number of troops at a pint-size threat.

Reaching the camp, Baum found 1,500 U.S. prisoners instead of the 300 he had been told to expect.

"I was stunned," he told World War II magazine. "I could've cried."

It proved to be an academic problem as German forces closed in.

Baum, already burned by rocket fire, was shot in the groin. Patton's son-in-law — the presumed reason for the raid — was seriously wounded. The task force's 53 vehicles were destroyed. Within days, Allied forces arrived to liberate Hammelburg for good.

Gen. Omar Bradley, the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later called the raid "a wild goose chase that ended in disaster."

Patton denied knowing that Waters, a German prisoner for two years, was at the camp. He said he was concerned that captive officers would be shot as the war ended.

After leaving the Army as a major, Baum worked most of his life in the garment industry. A 1981 book he co-wrote with Richard Baron and Richard Goldhurst raised questions that had dogged him during the raid.

When a Patton aide reluctantly let him in on the general's secret, "a cold fury washed over Abe Baum," the authors wrote in "Raid! The Untold Story of Patton's Secret Mission." "Men were dying … and more would die on the way to Hammelburg — all to bring back one man."

If he felt exploited, it didn't last.

"That was all over and done with as far as my father was concerned," said Baum's son David.

Baum became a lifelong friend of Waters, who went on to become a general. Baum and the German commandant at Hammelburg exchanged holiday cards. A couple of German soldiers invited Baum and his family to Bavaria in 2005, where, with vintage vehicles and old U.S. uniforms, they retraced the route of Task Force Baum.

Passionate about the Israeli war for independence, Baum helped recruit American veterans for the cause. Military leader Moshe Dayan met with him and, in his autobiography, credited Baum with giving him some valuable tactical tips. Baum was offered a top spot in the effort but declined, his son said: The family blouse business needed him.

Baum was awarded numerous military honors, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.

An avid sport fisherman, he moved his family to Florida in 1970. To be closer to his wife's relatives, the family moved to Rancho Palos Verdes in 1976. Baum stayed in the garment business until his retirement in 1991, when the family moved to Rancho Bernardo, north of San Diego.

In addition to his wife, Eileen, and son David, Baum is survived by daughters Susan Locker and Barbara Zoltan and another son, Eric Baum.

He will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

[email protected]
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

 

[Vassili Zaitzev]

 

[v2]

 

[v2]

HOLDEN PETER (PIOTR ZANIEWSKI) born1917 Odessa, Russia, the month before the start of Revolution. Fought as pilot through WWII, fighting for Poland, France and Britain, from the first day of war on September 1st, 1939, for Polish squadron 121 Krakow, then through Invasion of France, 1940, for famous 1/145 squadron, then in RAF as night fighter defending Exeter and Plymouth in 1941. Also 308 and 315 squadrons on submarine patrols and defending Arctic Convoys to Murmansk 1942-1943. Flew Pz1 1s, Caudrons, Bolton Pauls, Hurricanes, Beaufighters and Mosquitoes all in the fury of war and battle. Awarded Polish Star, Croix de Guerre and many British medals. Gained BSc Chemistry, Nottingham University 1948, and then made a distinguished international business career from United Kingdom to India, Australia and South Africa. He did not return to his motherland Poland for fifty years until after the collapse of Communism. Director of South African Fabrics, director and co-owner of Phoenix Clothing, Instinct Sportswear and Lesotho Clothing. Died March 2013 near Howick at 96 years old, peacefully and in full possession of faculties to last day, surviving his beloved Doe (Betty Irene Elizabeth) Holden by almost exactly seven years. Loved and missed by his sons Paul and Tim, and granddaughters Sarah, Rachel and Celeste and also by Merle, Julia, Enid, Kathy, Dan, Robert and by grandchildren Harry and Everett, and by many true friends. He touched numerous lives and helped many people. Finally he flew into the sunset to join long lost comrades who have waited for him.

 

[Vassili Zaitzev]

that's one hell of a service.

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Xjrtaz]

Condolences for the loss of two great WW2 pilots in the last few weeks.
Firstly, Robert `Shorty' Rankin, 61st F.S. 56th F.G renowned for shooting down 5 enemy planes in one mission on 12th May 1944
Secondly, Urban `Ben' Drew, 375th F.S 361st F.G , whose record was first pilot to down two Me. 262's in one mission
RIP guys, clear skies, a strong tailwind and Angels on your 6, you are missed and always remembered

Krys

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[vikingBerserker]

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

 

[ToughOmbre]

Steve

 

[Gnomey]

 

[v2]

Former Czechoslovak RAF pilot Zdenek Škarvada dies aged 95.

General Zdenek Skarvada, a former Czechoslovak military pilot of the British RAF during World War Two, died aged 95 Saturday night, Jana Horakova, head of the World War Two Memorial in Hrabyne, north Moravia, told CTK Sunday.
Skarvada often attended commemorative events in the memorial.
"He died at eleven in the evening on Saturday. As recently as May 8, we were in the Hrabyne memorial, " Skarvada's wife Ivana Skarvadova told the server idnes Sunday.
Born in Olesnice, south Moravia, Skarvada was enrolled at the Military Aviation Academy in Prostejov, south Moravia, in 1935 where he became a military pilot two years later.
In 1939, he left for Poland and than through the Soviet Union to Britain. He served with the 310th Squadron RAF at the beginning of the war. In 1942, he was shot down and spent the rest of the war as a POW.
After the war, he was named an air force captain, commander of the 8th air force regiment and commander of the training squadron of the Military Aviation Academy.
After the 1948 Communist coup, he was discharged from the military in 1950 and worked as a miner.
Skarvada is a holder of the For Bravery Medal he received in 1997.
Three years later, he was appointed brigadier general. He also received a number of war medals.
In 2007, he became the honorary citizen of Ostrava.
During his life-time, Skarvada piloted over 50 types of planes. He said his motto was "Never Surrender!"

 

[vikingBerserker]

 

[Njaco]

 

[Gnomey]