Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
The awards of the recipient’s D.S.O. and D.F.C. were not announced in the London Gazette owing to his American citizenship and the fact he was a 1st Lieutenant, United States Army Air Force, on attachment to the Royal Air Force, at the time.
D.S.O. submitted to the King in December 1943. The original recommendation for an immediate award states: ‘In an attack on Kassel on 3 October 1943, this officer was captain of a Lancaster which was attacked on the route to the target by an enemy fighter. In spite of the rear turret being put out of action and the gunner killed , he carried on and bombed the target. On the 26 November 1943, Lieutenant Knilans was captain of an aircraft taking part in the attack on Berlin when two enemy fighters intercepted. One damaged the mid-turret and put an engine out of action. In spite of this, the captain manoeuvred his aircraft so that no further damage was sustained while one of the fighters went down on fire and the other was damaged by the fire of the rear gunner. Although still well over two hundred miles from the target, the captain decided to continue, bombed from a low height and obtained a photograph of the target. On return to this country it was found that one wheel was damaged but in spite of this, the aircraft was landed successfully in bad weather. Lieutenant Knilans has made seventeen sorties and throughout shown outstanding airmanship and captaincy.’
D.F.C. submitted to the King in March 1944. The original recommendation states: ‘This officer has been operating with a special duties squadron and participated in many sorties against small and precise targets, vital to the enemy’s war effort. These attacks have been made in daylight and from low altitude in the face of intense enemy opposition from the ground. Lieutenant Knilans has participated in sorties against flying bomb and rocket installations and submarine pens at Brest, Lorient and Le Havre and by his imperturbability, courage and efficiency he has contributed largely to the successes achieved.’
Hubert Clarence “Nick” Knilans was born in Delevan, Wisconsin in December 1917, the great-grandson of an Irishman who had emigrated from Co. Tyrone to the U.S.A. in 1848; his grandfather had fought in the American Civil War. His father was a farmer and, on leaving high school, young “Nick” worked on the family farm during the depression of the 1930s.
Drafted for military service in April 1941, Knilans was immediately granted a deferment to continue working on his father’s farm, even though he was then employed as a private detective for ‘Dukes Detective Agency’ in Chicago. In truth, he wanted to join up as soon as possible but his ambition to become a pilot in the U.S.A.A.F. would have been thwarted by his lack of a college degree. Accordingly, he decided to apply to the R.C.A.F. and, having withdrawn his meagre savings from the bank, made his way to Canada.
Duly accepted by the R.C.A.F., he was officially enrolled at Windsor, Ontario on 25 October and commenced his pilot training at St. Eugene, Ontario in March 1942. Advanced to Sergeant on gaining his ‘Wings’, he was embarked for the U.K., where he attended further training establishments and No. 19 O.T.U. in Scotland.
619 Squadron: home on three engines with alarming regularity
In June 1943, he was posted to No. 619 Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. Here, then, the commencement of his remarkable operational career: 18 months of uninterrupted active service with countless ‘close calls’.
His first two sorties, flown as 2nd Pilot in July, were against targets in Cologne and Turin on the nights of 8th and 12th. Both outings led to encounters with enemy night fighters, one of them, a Ju. 88, being shot down by his gunners as their Lancaster neared the Alps en route to Turin.
Knilans was now given his own command and, on the night of 24 July, as part of “Operation Gomorrah”, attacked Hamburg. Owing to a faulty altimeter, however, his landing at Woodhall Spa proved perilous in the extreme. Chaz Bowyer’s Bomber Barons takes up the story:
‘Arriving over base again, Knilans let down for landing but, due to a faulty altimeter, almost nosed into the ground. His port wing dipped into a gravel pit, hit a sand bar, then at full boost staggered upwards, barely above stalling speed. Slashing its way through the tops of a tree grove, the Lancaster almost decapitated several airmen's wooden huts at the edge of the copse before finally gaining a little height. Circuiting cautiously, Knilans ignored his altimeter, relying on his own vision, and brought the aircraft safely down. As he shut down engines in his dispersal hardstanding, he glanced at the altimeter - it was registering 960 feet altitude! Once outside the aircraft, Nick inspected the port wing engines - both had their propellers neatly curled at every tip. The time was 0435 hrs. on 25 July.’
Knilans was back on operations the following night, attacking the Krupps Works in Essen. Over the target, he saw one of our Lancasters coned by searchlights and surrounded by hundreds of flak bursts. Suddenly, the stricken bomber careered towards Knilans, bringing with it the enemy’s fire and his own Lancaster shuddered under the impact of several hits. Notwithstanding the resultant damage, he continued on his bombing run, although he ensured it was a swifter than usual approach.
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