Global Aviator December/January 2017/18 / Vol. 9 / No. 12 75
with the Fleet Air Arm and on gaining
his wings was posted to No.1841.
Corsairs first went into action
in Home Waters in April 1944 when
1843 provided fighter escort during a
Barracuda strike against the battleship
Tirpitz’, which represented a permanent
threat to Allied shipping, while ever
it remained unscathed in its haven of
Tromso Fjord. Following the attack
of April 3, further strikes took place
during July and August, and on both
occasions Corsairs from 1841 provided
top cover for the Barracudas. On the
August attack 1841 was joined by 1842,
its sister squadron aboard Formidable.
As a result of his involvement in these
operations Gray was awarded the DSC
and also mentioned in despatches.
With the end of hostilities in
Europe, Royal Navy units in the
Pacific were reinforced with vessels
transferred from Home Waters. Prior
to that, the carrier Illustrious was
active in providing aircraft for raids
on oil installations and other targets in
Borneo and Java. A period of intensive
operations was instigated in mid-1945,
and two thousand sorties were flown
from the four British Fleet carriers in
an all-out effort to neutralise Japanese
airfields in the Sakashima Islands.
Between 17 July and 10 August,
aircraft of 1841 and 1842 from
Formidable carried out a series of
strikes in the Tokyo area. It was during
one of these operations on July 28
that Lt. Gray made an attack on a
destroyer in the Onagawa area of the
Inland Sea. In the course of the attack
his Corsair was struck by anti-aircraft
fire directed at his aircraft, which burst
into flames. Undeterred, Gray pressed
home his attack, scoring a direct hiton the vessel. Immediately following
this attack he was killed when his
blazing Corsair crashed into the sea.
The destroyer was later reported as
sunk. When details of the action were
revealed, the award of a posthumous
Victoria Cross was gazetted. Robert
Gray was the final recipient of World
War 2 and the second of just two
gained by Fleet Air Arm personnel.•GENERAL
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