FEATURES HEROES of the Skies Michael Ashcroft F
rom his ‘Bleriot’ aircraft he emptied two drums of ammunition into the airship…
The Great War was the first conflict in which the civilians of Britain came face to face with indiscriminate death and destruction on a daily basis while the nation’s fighting men were absent at ‘the Front’. This was because of the German use of Zeppelin airships and Gotha bomber raids.
Billy Leefe Robinson acquired hero status after becoming the first airman to shoot down a German Zeppelin over the United Kingdom. Lieutenant Leefe Robinson had his first chance to shoot down one of these airships in April 1916, but failed to do so. However, on the night of 2/3 September, he was given another chance.
He took off from an airfield in Essex in his BE2c 2963 ‘Bleriot’ aircraft at 11.08pm on a routine ‘search and find’ operation. Searchlights over north London spotted the airship – one of sixteen sent from Germany that night – and anti-aircraft guns opened fire on it.
As Leefe Robinson appeared on the scene and closed in, he emptied two drums of ammunition into the airship, but it flew on, seemingly impregnable. He broke off but then
made another attack from astern, firing his last drum into the airship’s twin rudders. First, a reddish glow appeared inside the airship, then, moments later, it burst into flames. Thousands of Londoners looked up and cheered as the Zeppelin plunged from the sky.
Such was the public acclaim for his achievement that Leefe Robinson was awarded his VC in record time: little more than forty- eight hours after the event.
In his book Heroes of the Skies by Michael Ashcroft tells the extraordinary stories of courage by members of the RAF (and RFC), as well as other Allied airmen. He said, “I want to champion the bravery of these pilots and aircrew and I am donating every penny of my author’s royalties from the book to the RAF Benevolent Fund”.
Lord Ashcroft continued: “As a teenager, I was fascinated by flying and I read extensively about the Wright brothers and their first powered flight on 17 December 1903. I marvelled, too, at just how rapidly flying developed from the first flight to the Great War of 1914-18, when air combat was very much a part of the conflict. I had immense respect for the airmen of the First World War, including those who literally dropped their bombs by hand. I took a special interest in the fighter aces, members of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the forerunner to the RAF. Later I became enthralled by the exploits of the RAF airmen of the Second World War.
As a boy, I loved reading about the wartime adventures of our Spitfire and Hurricane
pilots. I was engrossed by the exploits of pilots during the Battle of Britain and I was fascinated by the ‘Dambusters’, the name given to 617 Squadron for its exploits during Operation Chastise (when pilots flew in dangerously low to drop ‘bouncing bombs’ targeting German dams on 16/17 May 1943).
Gradually, my interest in bravery, in general, developed into one for gallantry medals, in particular. I bought my first Victoria Cross (VC), Britain and the Commonwealth’s premier award for gallantry, in 1986. Although originally intended as a one-off, this purchase eventually led me to build up the world’s largest collection of VCs which are on show at the Imperial War Museum.
In October 1989, I privately bought the VC that had been awarded to Flight Lieutenant Roderick ‘Babe’ Learoyd for bravery during a bombing raid over Germany in August 1940. The following year I started to build a wider collection of medals – VCs, Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFCs), Distinguished Flying Medals (DFMs) and other decorations – awarded for gallantry in the air.
Today I own more than eighty groups of medals for gallantry in the air, including twelve VCs. The decorations span nearly 100 years, from the Great War to the on-going conflict in Afghanistan.
Heroes of the Skies by Michael Ashcroft is published in hardback by Headline and costs £20 (RRP). All author’s royalties are being donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund.
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Envoy Winter 2012
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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