BRITAIN’S last surviving World War Two Victoria Cross hero, John Cruickshank, has died aged 105.
The RAF flight lieutenant won the medal for destroying a Nazi U-Boat while piloting a flying boat in June 1944.
PRESS AND JOURNALBritain’s last surviving World War Two Victoria Cross hero, John Cruickshank, has died aged 105[/caption]
His crew spotted the sub threatening UK vessels and defied heavy gunfire to launch a bombing run.
But the bombs did not release, forcing him to turn back and attack a second time.
He successfully dropped the bombs himself by straddling the U-Boat with his Catalina flying boat in the Norwegian Sea.
The pilot, from Aberdeen, suffered 72 injuries from anti-aircraft fire including two wounds to his lungs and ten to his legs.
His navigator John Dickson was killed and his co-pilot and two other crew members were seriously injured.
Flt Lt Cruickshank managed to limp the aircraft back to its base in Shetland where he was given a blood transfusion before he even left the plane.
He never flew operationally again and left the RAF in 1946 for a career in banking.
Last week he became the last to die of 181 who won the country’s highest military honour during WW2.
His funeral will be conducted in private.
PARAF flight lieutenant John won the medal for destroying a Nazi U-Boat while piloting a flying boat in June 1944[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
