Fly Past

100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 71

Top

Rare in-fl ight image

of Marauders of 39

Squadron.

Above

Marauder IA FK375

‘Dominion Revenge’

of 14 Squadron, as

fl own by Wg Cdr

Dick Maydwell. This

machine failed to

return from a strike

on a convoy off the

Aghios Giorgios

Islands, in the Aegean

Sea south of Athens,

on July 20, 1943.

PETE WEST

Below

A torpedo-equipped

Marauder of 14

Squadron in 1943 at

North Africa. It is

one of the machines

fl own by Wg Cdr Dick

Maydwell. KEC

MARTIN MARAUDER

CRUSADERS
Gil Graham was a tail gunner on
14 Squadron’s Marauders and
through the unit’s association journal
The Old Crusader, he wrote of his
experiences. He flew with Wg Cdr
Dick Maydwell, the rest of the crew
comprising: Bill Pratt (second pilot),
F Kennedy (navigator), Bob Sutton
(wireless operator) and Titch Lacker
(mid-upper gunner).
“The policy was that vital military
targets in Rome should be bombed
by a combined force of RAF and US
bombers. The problem was that the
Vatican and other most holy places in
the city were not to be touched.
“In order to be absolutely certain of
this, it was decided that a Marauder of
14 Squadron would fly to the target
area on the morning of the raid, check
the weather conditions and radio
the results back to base. Only if the
weather was perfect would the raid
take place.
“So, on the 19th July, 1943

Marauder I FK142 R-for-Robert,

named Dominion Triumph, with Dick

Maydwell at the controls, took off

from our base at Protville in Tunisia at

03:00 hours, well before dawn. Flying

at our operational height of 50ft [we]

headed across the Mediterranean for

Rome hoping that we would not be

picked up by enemy radar.

“A few minutes after crossing the

Italian coast near Anzio when we

found ourselves streaking across an

enemy field at deck level doing around

260mph. So surprised were we that I

didn’t have time to open up on a row

of Heinkel He 111 bombers all neatly

lined up alongside the runway.

“We got to the target area where

the weather was indeed perfect and

even though this was around dawn,

we were certain that cloud would

not develop later in the day. The

information was immediately radioed

back to base.

“We flew over the target area and

continued to fly north, and to our

delight came to Lake Bracciano where

we noticed a number of seaplanes

anchored. By now we had completed

the essential part of our mission [so]

Dick decided we would try to knock

out one or two of the seaplanes. We

flew down right alongside and I

opened up on them and saw some

strikes hit. Reconnaissance the next

day showed at least three badly

damaged and lying on their side in the

water.

“A few minutes later we came across

a goods train, so we strafed it as well,

but couldn’t assess our results. We

now turned due west and headed

for open sea, but as we crossed the

coast I noticed considerable numbers

of fighters at a higher altitude –

fortunately we ran into a bank of sea

fog before they saw us. This provided

us with excellent cover until we were

off the coast of Sardinia when we

turned south and headed for home,

where we arrived at 08:10 just in time

for breakfast.”