An early Wellington Pilot’s Air Crew Europe casualty group awarded to Sergeant R. Hewitt, Royal Air Force who serving from the outbreak of the war would be involved in the raid on Wilhelmshaven on 17th December 1939 when flying a Wellington his aircraft was riddled by fire by German fighters in the target area, the rear-gunner being killed and the aircraft limping back towards home with a fire on board that was subsequently extinguished. The aircraft would ditch in the North Sea and the surviving crew members would be rescued and returned ashore. Just six months later on the night of 12th/13th June 1940 he would be killed on a mission over France along with the entire crew of his aircraft and is now buried in Drosay Churchyard, France.
Group of 4: 1939-1945 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence Medal; War Medal, all unnamed with typed casualty slip to ‘SERGEANT R. HEWITT.’ And with card box of issue addressed to Mrs. R.A. Hewitt, C/O Ewen, 34 Thornwood Avenue, Glasgow, W.1.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Along with modern photographs of the church and images of the headstones of the crew.
Robert Hewitt saw service with 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force from the early stages of the war and some of his early escapades are covered in the book RAF Bomber Command: Reflections of War:
‘On the evening of Sunday 17th December (1939), 34 year old Wing Commander Richard Kellett AFC, a distinguished pre-war aviator, now commanding 149 Squadron at Mildenhall, was summoned to 3 Group Headquarters at Beck Row, along with Squadron Leader Paul Harris and the Squadron commanders and section leaders of 9 and 37 Squadrons for a briefing on another raid on Wilhelmshaven the following morning. Unfortunately, there would be little cloud cover, for the weather forecast for 18 December predicted clear conditions. At Honington, 9 Squadron was to supply nine Wellingtons for a force of 24, with nine from 149 Squadron and six from 37 Squadron at Feltwell.
Returning to Honington aerodrome after time off on the night of 17 December, 19 year old Aircraftman First Class Ronald Driver learned that the Wimpy crews on 9 Squadron had to report to the crew room, which he did without delay. For a time, after leaving school, Driver helped in the office of his father, a Yorkshireman who was a wool buyer, but in November 1938 he joined the Royal Air Force and before a year had passed he could write the words ‘1st Class’ after his title of Aircraftman. Tall of fine physique, with black, wavy hair, dark eyes and an open countenance, Driver was delighted and excited as were all the other members of the crews present, to hear there was a chance of finding the German Fleet in Heligoland Bight and that they would all be on operations next morning. There were the usual preparations and quests for information arising from such an order and then they were all dismissed to bed.
At 04.30 on the morning of 18 December they were roused, and after breakfast went to the crew room where they stood by until 08.27 when the order came through to take off. They crowded out to find their nine Wellingtons (for a force of 24) all bombed up and ready to depart. Driver clambered aboard 35 year old Sergeant Jack Ramshaw’s Wimpy to make his way to the twin guns in the front cockpit which, with doors closed and the canvas door drawn at the back was entirely separated from the rest of the aircraft by an inch or two of space. The second pilot and navigator was 24 year old Sergeant Bob Hewitt whose wife Helen Annie in Glasgow was expecting a baby. Driver’s great friend, 21 year old Leading Aircraftman Walter Lilley from Kippax was the rear-gunner, Leading Aircraftman J. Conolly being the wireless operator. By 08.35 they got away. They were all in the best of spirits, laughing and joking an no doubt wondering what they would do on their leave, which was due next day. Their aircraft was one of a formation of bombers detailed for the raid. It was a fine day, with a good deal of cloud when they started, and these conditions persisted as they climbed steadily while crossing the North Sea. About 10 miles from the German coast, however, the cloud cleared and the sun shone in a clear sky which gave them no cover whatsoever. It was unfortunate for them that just where clouds would have been welcome they vanished from the heavens and left them very vulnerable to attack.
As they flew over the centre of Heligoland Bight they saw below them about eight German destroyers, which quickly put about and made for port. The Wellingtons carried on over Wilhelmshaven where the first Bf 109 which came up to intercept them was met with a burst from one of the aircraft which sent him down. For about fifteen minutes the Wellingtons went inland, flying in close formation at 18,000 feet. Then they ran into a terrific barrage. Without a wisp of cloud to veil them, they made a perfect target for the German gunners. Just as they were wheeling on the instructions of their 28 year old Canadian Squadron Commander, Squadron Leader Archibald John Guthrie (who was killed moments later) a piece of shell hit Ramshaw’s Wellington and put the wireless out of action. As they were completing the turn they saw the enemy fighters coming up at them. There were droves of them taking off in the distance and climbing to intercept. Most of them were Messerschmitt 110s.
This was the beginning of a terrific air battle. The enemy fighters climbing to about 500 feet above the British bombers, came in to the attack on the outskirts of Wilhelmshaven. In that turning movement of the bombers, six of the Wellingtons were compelled to break formation in order to run up on the others and resume their places. Upon these the fighters pounced and gave them no chance at all. One after the other went down, after taking their toll of the enemy.
The air was filled with the thunder of machine guns. Messerschmitts whirled about. Charles Driver kept gazing all around him, getting in bursts whenever a fighter came within his sights. Ramshaw carried on imperturbably as though he were flying over Hyde Park instead of taking part in an air battle over Wilhelmshaven. Ten minutes after the battle began Lilley got his first 110 full in the sights. Within seconds the centre turret, which was manned by Conolly, was caught by a cannon shell that put it out of action, so he scrambled back to his wireless set and managed to fix the generator to give some power, although it was barely turning over. While Conolly was doing this, a constant stream of fighters kept diving on the tail of the aircraft in an attempt to shoot it down, but Lilley kept them at bay. By now the Wellington was becoming separated from the other bombers. The enemy fighters, determined to destroy it, kept diving to the attack. Waiting his opportunity , the rear-gunner blazed away at a fourth 110 (Though 12 German fighters were claimed shot down, just three were lost and a handful damaged.) A little later the intercom system was smashed. Then Lilley’s guns jammed but he made no attempt to leave his exposed position in the tail where he was a target for every enemy aircraft that came along. Instead he was giving his friends in front a chance to survive. While he was grappling with his guns the enemy fighters, who failed to drive him from his turret, simply riddled him. So died a young hero.
Meanwhile the Messerschmitts were making a fierce attack on the front turret in an effort to silence its guns. Driver, seeing one enemy aircraft firing at him from starboard, gave him a burst, which sent him smoking down to the sea. Immediately another Messerschmitt 110 appeared overhead and claimed the gunner’s attention. Driver barely had time to see it go into a three-quarter turn when he found himself under the fire of another fighter on which he had to swing to his guns. While he was fighting with this aircraft, the Messerschmitt (believed flown by Oberleutnant Gresens of 2/ZG76), which went into the turn came up beneath him and simply blew out the bottom and the side of the turret with cannon shell. ‘The first thing I knew’ said Driver afterwards, ‘was that I felt pretty cold around my feet and legs. I looked down and saw water below me. He sat there in the top of the turret with his legs dangling over the North Sea and nothing between him and the sea but the little seat on which he sat. The air seemed to be full of fighters with others climbing to the attack.
‘The next thing I knew’ he continued ‘was that my guns refused to fire. I looked to see what the matter was and saw they’d been blown in halves at the barrels’ The cannon shell had cut through the barrels helf way down and sheared both of them clean off ‘Then a hail of cannon shell passed in front of me and blew the Perspex off’ he went on. He sat there quite in the open, exposed to the full blast of the bomber flying at top speed, and the bitterness of the blast on that December day can be imaged. His guns were useless. There was nothing more he could do, so he decided that the time had come to retreat. As he swung on his seat, he saw that the turret was on fire behind him, where some of the woodwork had been ignited by the cannon shell or tracer. Whipping the glove off his right hand - he wore silk gloves under his thick flying gloves to keep his hands warm – he began to beat at the flames with it. Soon he was beating as hard as he could go with both hands as the few reaming rounds exploded. In about ten minutes he had completely smothered the fire ,which threatened to endanger the whole aircraft and then he climbed out of the shattered turret to join the rest of the crew.
When Driver appeared Ramshaw sat at the controls whistling and looking perfectly happy. The front of the aircraft was shot off, the rear-gunner was dead, the middle turret knocked out, the intercommunications system wrecked and the wireless damaged, enemy fighters were attacking from all directions, bursts of bullets were passing in front of him into the control board, but Ramshaw went on whistling ‘Are you ok?’ he said to Driver. The Aircraftman put his thumbs up. Directly Hewitt saw him, he put his arms round the front-gunner being under the impression that when his guns ceased firing he had been shot. Without saying a word the second pilot gave a jerk with his thumb over his shoulder and a nod of his head and Driver knew that he had lost his best friend. They made their way aft and extricated the dead gunner with difficulty, laying him on the floor of the fuselage and covering him. At that moment Bob Hewitt was shot in the arm ‘It doesn’t hurt’, he said and went forward to help the Captain.’
The aircraft would eventually ditch in the North Sea where the surviving crew members including Hewitt were picked up and returned to Grimsby. Driver would receive the Distinguished Flying Medal on 26th December 1939, the second such award of the war.
It would be on the night of 12/13th June 1940 that Hewitt would lose his life, when 29 Hampdens and 8 Whitleys were dispatched to military objectives in France but only 15 found suitable targets. A Hampden on 11 Squadron was lost when it hit a balloon cable at Harwich, crashing and setting fire to a flour mill on the docks. All the crew were killed. The night following, 163 bombers were detailed to bomb a wide range of communications targets in France, Belgium and Holland. A Wellington of 9 Squadron at Honington flown by Sergeant Bob Hewitt, who three weeks earlier had got his own crew after surviving the ditching off Cromer in December, was lost on the operation on Pont de l’Arche. In Glasgow Hewitt’s wife Helen Annie waited for news but Hewitt and his five crew were dead. They were all laid to rest at Drosay Churchyard, Seine-Maritime. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes him as the son of Robert Hewitt and Jane Parker Hewitt (nee Harvey) of Glasgow, and the husband of Helen Annie Hewitt of Glasgow
