GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
John Hamilton “Jocko” Norton was born in Southend, Essex in October 1896 and, after leaving school, was employed as an insurance broker at Lloyds of London. Enlisting in the Essex Yeomanry as a Trooper in August 1914, he was commissioned in the Reserve Regiment of Cavalry, via the Special List, that November, but remained employed in the U.K. until transferring to the Royal Flying Corps and gaining his Royal Aero Club Certificate in February 1916.
France
Posted to No. 12 Squadron out in France in July of the same year, he completed around 80 operational sorties before being transferred to No. 13 Squadron in March 1917, Army co-operation work that comprised bombing raids and spotting for the artillery, in addition to photography, and other hazardous work too, as evidenced by the following extracts taken from his Flying Log Book:
28 July 1916 - an attack on a bridge in the Somme region: ‘Bombs fell near railway track. A.A. very good. Lt. Watkins caught fire from direct hit. Own fuselage badly shot.’
29 August 1916: ‘Bombed Bois de Loupart. Attacked by hostile machine - two rounds through cockpit, one through coat. Forced landing. Ran into telephone pole. Crashed machine’s wings dismantled.’
15 September 1916: ‘Bombed Bapaume. Squadron came down to 500 feet. Tyson hit. Archie and Onions very bad. 20 hostile machines. Recrossed at 1000.’
17 September 1916: ‘Bombed Marcoing station. Blew up large ammunition dump on railway line. Formation attacked south of Cambrai by about 40 hostile machines. Honey and Patterson lost. Four
F.Es lost from escort.’
In March 1917, Norton transferred to No. 13 Squadron as a Flight Commander, which appointment quickly led to the award of his first M.C. for gallant work during the battle of Arras in the following month, as per his citation, of which his Flying Log Book states:
7 April 1917: ‘Wire reconnaissance. Examined wire from 200-400 feet four miles behind line. Engine and machine badly hit by M.G. fire - awarded Military Cross.’
Just a couple of days later, on the 9th, his BE2e was hit by shellfire and he was compelled to make a crash-landing, though he and his Observer, Captain T. L. Tibbs, emerged unscathed from the wreckage. While, on the 28th, during a contact patrol, his aircraft was attacked by five enemy machines, the resultant damage causing another rapid descent. But Pilot and Observer once more emerged unscathed, Norton in fact going on to complete around 60 operational sorties before being ordered back to the U.K. to take up appointment as an instructor at the Central Flying School at Upavon in June.
Palestine
A brief home appointment in No. 62 Squadron having followed in August-September 1917, Norton was next posted to the Middle East, where he joined No. 113 Squadron in Palestine, a component, in common with No. 14 Squadron, of 5th Corps Wing. Moreover, his name appeared on a list of pilots attached to the following Routine Order:
'The following officers are detached for special duty and will proceed immediately to headquarters of the Arab forces near Akabah. All officers upon arrival will report to Colonel T. E. Lawrence, or his representatives in Akabah, attached to the headquarters of Shereef Feisal, and will remain under their orders during forthcoming operations.'
Thus ensued a memorable chapter in his active service career, a chapter described at length in a series of articles that were subsequently published in The Liberty magazine in America in 1934 - ‘I Flew Lawrence in War-Crazed Arabia, by Captain John H. Norton, as told by J. B. L. Lawrence’. As a result of the lack of dates it would be difficult to corroborate these articles against his Flying Log Book, but it seems quite probable that he met Lawrence on several occasions.
Norton's Flying Log Book for this period reveals around 80 operational sorties, the Bar to his M.C. being awarded for the above cited deeds near Jaffa on 10 January 1918, although his award of the D.F.C. may have been won for later services as C.O. of ‘C’ advanced Flight, No. 142 Squadron, in which capacity he remained employed until returning to the Home Establishment in September 1918. In August 1919, however, he returned to the Middle East, this time as Staff Captain (S.O. 3, Air) at the Palestine Brigade’s H.Q. in Ismalia and his final appointment, prior to resigning his commission in September 1920, was as a Flight Lieutenant in No. 111 Squadron.
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