A very good Pathfinder Force North West Europe Distinguished Flying Medal group awarded to Flight Sergeant N.M. Scott, No. 635 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who took part in 49 raids on occupied Europe in a tour which saw an Emergency landing at Woodbridge which would see his Pilot, later Squadron Leader G.A. Thorne awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross for his skill in saving all bar one of his crew which included Scott from the heavily damaged Lancaster D-Dog in which they had just attacked Gelsenkirchen. Scott was involved in other scrapes during his tour, including on the crew’s first raid as Master Bomber on 22nd March 1945 when they were hit with heavy Flak over the target area, and in a raid on Nuremburg on 11th April 1945 which would lead to an immediate award of the Distinguished Service Order for his pilot when his pilot was once again struck and damaged by heavy Flak over the target. Scott just two days later would be recommended for a periodic Distinguished Flying Medal which subsequently would be announced in the London Gazette of 25th September 1945.
Group of 5: Distinguished Flying Medal, GVIR, 1st type bust; (1824146 F/SGT. N.M. SCOTT. R.A.F.) 1939-1945 Star; Air Crew Europe Star with clasp France and Germany; Defence Medal; War Medal all privately named to the reverse; (1824146 F.SGT. NEIL.M. SCOTT. D.F.M. R.A.F.V.R. NO.635 SQDN.). Mounted loose for wear.
Condition: mounted loose for wear, repair to suspension post of the Distinguished Flying Medal. Good Very Fine
Along with:
635 Squadron Cloth Badge.
4 x reproduction photographs of the crew, 3 of which are identical.
Neil McCallum Scott would serve as a mid-upper gunner in a Lancaster crew as a member of 635 Squadron, piloted by later Squadron Leader G.A. Thorne, Royal Air Force. Scott who had most likely seen earlier service before becoming part of 635 Squadron – A Pathfinder Squadron would go on to fly in 49 raids.
Scott’s first raid would be on Boissons on 23rd July 1944 a V-1 launch site, before he was involved in the raid to Hamburg on 28th July 1944, the first major raid on the city since the firestorm raids of July 1943.
A two week rest followed before he flew three raids in 5 days, the first on the railway marshalling yards at Lens on 11th August, quickly followed by raids to Falaise to attack German troop concentrations on 14th August and a raid on the Stettin port area on 16th August, which marked a return to German targets after the successful support given to the invasion of Normandy.
A raid to Russelheim would follow on 24th August where 412 Lancasters hit the Opel Motor Factory, and on 27th he would attack Homberg in Bomber Command’s first daylight raid since 12th August 1941, then on 29th he would return to Stettin to attack the areas of the port unaffected by the raid just a fortnight before.
September’s flying would begin on the 11th with a raid on the synthetic oil factory at Kamen, before 12th and 13th saw flights to Gelsenkirchen most likely to attack the Nordstern oil plant. Before the 15th saw a highly concentrated raid on Kiel. The final mission of the month on the 20th, would see an attack on German positions at the Calais garrison.
Another two week break followed, before October’s flying started with a raid on the railway lines around Saarbrucken, this at the request of the Third Army who were attacking in Alsace. The next mission was to Gelsenkirchen on the night of 5th/6th October 1944, an eventful raid – the after action report for this mission states that his aircraft crash landed at Woodbridge in Suffolk. He had good visibility over the target, saw the red target indicators at 16.58 hours, the aircraft encountering heavy flak over the target which continued for the whole route out. No observations were visible over the target.
At the end of the raid, Scott’s aircraft made an emergency landing at Woodbridge, the Pilot, later Squadron Leader G.A. Thorne, being awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross in the London Gazette of 5th December 1944, the original recommendation for Thorne’s award reading:
‘This officer was captain of an aircraft detailed to attack a heavily defended German target in daylight on 6th October 1944. On approaching the enemy coasting, trouble developed in the port inner engine, with the result that further height could not be gained and the aircraft was subjected to heavy and accurate fire from the German ground defences. Although the aircraft was hit many times, this officer, by expert captaincy and complete disregard of the opposition, pressed home his attack with the utmost determination and dropped his bombs accurately and on time. When leaving the target, the aircraft was again hit in the port side, damaging the fuel tanks and causing petrol leaks, which resulting in fire; eventually the fire was put out, but the aircraft being considerably lower than others engaged in the operation, was again subjected to heavy and light anti-aircraft fire.
By expert and cool judgement, F/O Thorne avoided further damage to his aircraft, but on reaching the enemy coast, the aircraft was again hit by heavy flak, resulting in the failure of the port outer engine and the starboard rudder was shot away. By skilful handling, under most difficult circumstances, the pilot brought his aircraft back to this country on the two remaining engines and decided to carry out a landing on an emergency airfield. As he was turning towards this airfield, the starboard inner engine failed, leaving only the starboard outer engine serviceable. Height was lost rapidly and F/O. Thorne, realising that he could not reach the airfield safely, made a crash landing in the first available field, without injury to his crew. Throughout this action, this Officer displayed exceptional qualities of leadership and coolness, and his determination and captaincy is deserving of the highest praise.’
The Book ‘Lancaster at War 4: Pathfinder Squadron’ covers the return landing of the Lancaster (D-Dog) at Woodbridge:
At 18.00hrs the Suffolk Coast could be seen ahead. Jim (Crabtree, wireless operator) had cancelled the Mayday, Harry (Parker, flight engineer) was confident that the fuel would get them to Woodbridge and Jim Raymont (Rear Gunner) and Jock (Scott, mid upper gunner) had moved from their turrets to crash positions in the fuselage. The three push-out panels in the fuselage roof had been loosened to be ready in case of a crash landing, Boris (Bressloff, 2nd Navigator) said his ‘Gee’ box told him they were on course, and Thorne wondered what it would be like to land at Woodbridge with its runway, 3000 yds long and 250yds wide.
D-Dog’s height had been reduced gradually to 1,000 ft as the coast was reached. Thorne was prepared for a two engine landing hoping that it would not be too rough with only one rudder and half its engines. He also had in mind the undercarriage – had it been damaged? He would never know. At what he believed was a height of around 500ft, with a runway lined up nicely ahead, the starboard inner engine cut out. With only one engine still working D-Dog swerved to port in a despairing dive. He quickly pulled back the throttle, D-Dog righted itself, forced its way through a line of saplings, bumped on a line of rising ground beyond and miraculously came to rest in a field on the other side of the rise. A few seconds of silence was broken by a minor explosion on the port wing, Harry pulled out the escape panel from the cockpit roof, climbed out on to the starboard wing and turned to help out Reg [Keary, bomb aimer]. Thorne looked down the fuselage although he could not see anyone, so he followed the other two. As they jumped from the wing on to the ground there was a sound of exploding ammunition from the rear of the fuselage and the crackling of fire around the port wing. They could see Gray [Graham Rose, navigator], Boris, Jim Raymont and Jock. It took a few seconds for them to realise that Jim Crabtree was missing. A frantic search failed to find him and D-Dog was now burning furiously. It was not until later that evening that a RAF rescue team from Woodbridge found his body beneath the charred remains of the aircraft...
The next thing Thorne remembers is waking up in a wood to which the crew had taken him on the boundary of the field where they had crashed. With them was a lady who had hurried over from her nearby farmhouse, undeterred by the explosions still erupting from the burning D-Dog. She asked them if they would like some tea, a kindly thought much appreciated by the crew who were devastated by the loss of Jim Crabtree. She hurried back to her home and soon returned with what must have been her best tea-set on a silver tray with a white lace cover.
Shortly afterwards an ambulance arrived with a RAF rescue crew who took them to Woodbridge where the MO quickly found contusions on various parts of Thorne, Harry Parker and Joe Keary. They were taken by ambulance to Ipswich Hospital ‘for observation’ while the other six were taken to the squadron where they learned that 10 aircraft had been lost on the Gelsenkirchen operation. Harry and Joe were passed OK after three days and returned to Downham Market. Thorne was kept for further treatment to a head injury but after a couple of days he also returned to the squadron, to find that the others had all gone on seven days leave.’
After the events of the 6th October, a break of 19 days followed before Scott would participate in a heavy raid on Essen which laid waste to much of the cities remaining war industries, including parts of the Krupp enterprise which were effectively rendered inoperative for the remainder of the war. A large area raid was carried out on Cologne on the night of 28th October, before the final mission of the month was flown to Walcheren to attack German ground positions in the area.
November saw just two raids, the first of which listed on 4th November 1944 to Bergen, is most likely a mistake and should read Bochum in the Ruhr which Bomber Command hit with 749 aircraft and did so much damage to that no further raid was required on the target for the remainder of the war, just two days later he would once again target the Nordstern synthetic oil plant, a raid which did huge damage to the city of Gelsenkirchen.
December included a raid on Karlsruhe on 4th December which destroyed the Durlacher machine-tool factory, before a short break until the 15th when Bomber Command attacked the I.G. Farben chemical factories in Ludwigshafen. The 21st saw a raid on the marshalling yards at Cologne, before an airfield near Dusseldorf was hit on the 24th, this in support of allied troops defending against the German Ardennes offensive which had started on the 16th. Another mission in support of allied troops took place on 26th when ground targets in the St. Vith area would be hit.
In January 1945, Hannover would be hit on the 5th, the railway junction at Hanau on the 6th, and a large scale raid on Munich on the 7th. A raid to Merseburg is shown on 14th January, before on the 16th an area raid on Magdeburg would take place and on 22nd he would participate in a raid on Gelsenkirchen.
A raid on Chemnitz began February, before Wesel was attacked on 16th when the local railway system was struck. The southern part of Dortmund was struck on 20th February, Worms was hit in an area raid on 21st and the synthetic oil plant near Kamen was destroyed on 23rd February.
Chemintz was hit once more on 5th March as part of Operation Thunderclap, a series of heavy raids that began with the attack on Dresden a few weeks previous and sought to bring a decisive end to the war by forcing a collapse of the German civil organisations. Dessau was hit for the first time on 7th March 1945 in a heavy area raid, the first time it had been struck in the war.
The 8th March saw Scott’s crew take place in a raid on Kassel the after action report for this mission stating that the ‘First red target indicator was seen cascading at 21.27hrs, followed by another lot which fell very close to the first. We bombed the centre of these two. Our own flates were seen cascading. Judging by photo flashes and incendiaries, bombing appeared to be very well concentrated. On looking back after to be very well concentrated. On looking back after leaving target several explosions were seen, a particularly large one being observed at 21.52 hrs.
Witten was then struck on 19th March and the Deutsche Vacuum Oil Refinery at Bremen was hit on 21st. The 22nd saw the crew’s first raid as Master Bomber, this being covered in the book ‘Lancaster at War 4 – Pathfinder Squadron:
‘Then came their first as Master Bomber in a daylight raid on the industrial complex at Dorsten in the northern part of ‘Happy Valley’. They returned with, according to the ground crew, 40 flak holes in D-Dog. Whilst orbiting the target after dropping their 8,000lb load of TIs and bombs a piece of flak must have hit the tail plane, locking the fore and aft controls so that D-Dog went into a shallow dive. After what seemed an eternity of pushing and pulling on the control column - although it may not have been for more than a minute - Thorne heaved a sigh of relief when the column miraculously became movable and normal control was resumed. Only Harry, sitting next to Thorne, knew what had been going on and nothing was said to the others in the crew until they were back in the briefing room.’
Osnabruck was struck on 25th March, the after action report states that ’09.45. 5. Contacted D.M.B. and at 09.47, he instructed M/F to bomb from their flight plan height. This was repeated 09.50. 5.At 09.58 Red Target Indicators were seen to cascade onto cenre of the built area near the target (there may have been red and green mixed in but it was not possible to distinguish the green.) At 09.59 we broadcast ‘bomb centre of reds’, these target indicators were quickly obscured by smoke and at 10.01 we broadcast ‘bomb centre of smoke column.’ At. 10.01.5 we broadcast ‘Bomb and back up centre of port smoke pall ‘this instruction was given because there were two columns of smoke and the westerly one appeared to be billowing up. From position of A.P. by LO.05 the two columns of smoke were one, we broadcast ‘Bomb centre of smoke do not overshoot. M/F obeyed the aiming instructions given very well, and there bombing was very concentrated. As we came away the built up area containing the aiming point was a mass of smoke which was rising up to 8,000 feet.
The Rhenania oil plant at Harburg would be struck on 4th April, before the U-Boat works at Kiel were struck in a raid which capsized the German warship Admiral Scheer and damaged the Admiral Hipper and Emden. The following day on 10th, the railway yards at Leipzig were struck, before on 11th an action packed raid to Nuremburg took place which saw Scott’s pilot awarded an immediate Distinguished Service Order, this being published in the London Gazette of 15th June 1945’ The citation covering the events of the raid:
‘In April 1945, this officer piloted an aircraft in an attack Nuremberg. In the run-up to the target, Flight Lieutenant Thorne’s aircraft was subjected to heavy and concentrated fire from the ground defences. The bomber was hit. The port aileron was affected and the aircraft became difficult to control. In spite of this, Flight Lieutenant Thorne made several runs over the target to ensure an accurate attack. He afterwards flew damaged aircraft to base where he effected a safe landing. This officer, who has completed very many sorties since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and never failed to complete his allotted task, displayed the highest standard of devotion to duty throughout’
The original recommendation (in part incomplete) covering events as follows:
‘On the 11th April 1945, this officer was detailed to act in the capacity of Master Bomber on the important target of Nuremburg. The attack was carried out in daylight. While running up to the target to mark on his bombing run and successfully marked. The damage sustained… aircraft affexted the aileron control, the port aileron being… the ‘up’ position. Although his aircraft was very difficult… this officer, throughout the attack, made a further series of… the target, many of them at a low altitude and gave aiming instructions to the Main Force. Having completed his task he then flew his… back and made a successful landing without further damage. This officer, has as Master Bomber, shown outstanding ability.. correct and instantaneous decisions in the most arduous circumstances… together with his tenacity, has set the highest example to the… No matter what duty this officer has been assigned to during his career, he has never failed, and his efforts are deserving of.. praise.’
This raid would also result in the recommendation for Scott’s Distinguished Flying Medal, which was put forward 16th April.
Scott's last recorded raid would be on Heligoland on 18th April 1945, his last recorded mission, the after action report covering the raid as follows:
‘Heligoland (Wave. 6) M.B. At 13.26 we contacted D.M.B. and at 13.27 we instructed the main force to prepare for a visual attack from flight plan skymarkers. Main Force were early and at 13.35 we broadcast ‘run up to target and stand by for instructions’. This was because no markers were then down. At 13.37 we broadcast ‘Orbit to starboard, do not bomb’. At. 13.38 D.M.B. told us that he had dropped but told us to ignore his yellows. He also informed us that that Red T.I.’s were on. The D.M.B. yellows appeared to fall into the sea to the east of the island. By this time, the main force were orbiting and we broadcast at 13.38.5 ‘make good orbit and try to come in again on right heading.’ The red target indicators were quickly obscured by the smoke, so at 13.41 we broadcast ‘bomb centre of upwind edge of smoke’. Our yellow target indicators were seen to fall on the built up area slightly west of the aiming point and at 13.42.5 we broadcast ‘bomb to port of our yellow target indicators by width of one heading T.I. 160. Our yellows were not easily distinguishable owing to smoke, and at 13.44 we broadcast ‘If you cannot see Yellow Target Indicators bomb the white smoke. At 13.45 ‘bomb centre of brown smoke’. At 13.47 ‘bomb to starboard of upwind edge of smoke’ and 13.49 ‘we instructed D.M.B. to go home, at 13.50 we repeated for the benefit of some stragglers ‘bomb to starboard of upwind smoke’. The fires left burning from the previous attacks were still giving off smoke, but this was drifting south east leaving the great part of the built up area clearly visible. This appeared to be well pitted with bomb craters. Main Force bombing was very concentrated and as the attack progressed the whole of the built up area, was covered by white, brown and black smoke, fires were also visible a particularly large fire with billowing black smoke being seen int eh south east corner of the built up area, a very successful attack.’
Neil McCallum Scott would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in the London Gazette of 25th September 1945, the recommendation which confirms Scott as an Air Gunner of a Lancaster and Flight Sergeant with 635 Squadron at RAF Downham Market states:
‘This N.C.O. Air Gunner has completed a total of 46 operational sorties against the enemy. Many of the attacks in which he took part were directed at the most heavily defended German targets.
Throughout Flight Sergeant Scott has maintained a high standard of skill and efficiency, and his conduct in the face of the enemy has always been exemplary.’
