AIR HERO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 January 1943, Page 4

AIR HERO

AWARD OF THE VICTORIA CROSS TO AUSTRALIAN BOMBER CAPTAIN. LIFE GIVEN IN VALIANT EFFORT. ' rr ~ (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, Noon.) RUGBY, January 13. The Victoria Cross has been awarded to Flight Sergeant Rawson Hume Middleton, of the Royal Australian Air Force, who was captain and first pilot of a Stirling bomber detailed to attack the Fiat Works at Turin on November 28 and was reported missing next Great difficulty was experienced in climbing to 12,000 feet to cross the Alps and this led to an excessive fuel consumption. So dark was the night that the mountain peaks were almost invisible, and Sergeant Middleton had io decide whether to proceed or turn back. There was barely sufficient fuel for the return journey. Flares were sighted ahead, and he continued his mission and even dived to 2,000 feet to identify his target. Three flights were made over Turin at this low aliitude before the target was identified. The aircraft was subjected to fire from light anti-aircraft guns and a large hole in the port main plane made it difficult to control the aircraft and a shell which burst in the cockpit shattered the windscreen and wounded both pilots. Sergeant Middleton’s right eye was destroyed by a shell splinter and he was also wounded in the body and legs. The second pilot and the wireless operator were also wounded. Sergeant Middleton became unconscious. The second pilot managed to get control of the plane and the target was bombed. When Sergeant Middleton recovered consciousness he ordered the second pilot to receive first aid and took control of the plane. He decided to try to make for the English coast, so that the crew could leave the aircraft by parachute. On its way home over the French coast, the aircraft was once more engaged and hit by intense, light anti-aircraft fire, but Sergeant Middleton mustered sufficient strength to take evasive action. After the crossing of the Channel there was only sufficient fuel for five minutes’ flying, and Sergeant Middleton ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft while he flew level with the coast for a few miles, after which he intended to head out to sea. Five of the crew left the aircraft, while two remained to assist Sergeant Middleton. The aircraft crashed in the sea and the bodies of two members of the crew were recovered next day. The gallant captain apparently was unable to leave the aircraft, and his body has not been traced. His devotion to duty is unsurpassed in the annals of the R.A.F. He was born in 1916, at Waverley, New South Wales, enlisted in the R.A.A.F. in 1940, ..and trained in Canada as a bomber pilot