Clifford John's Story.
Clifford John FarmeryEarly Life
Clifford was born in Crewe to parents Mr and Mrs Farmery of Derrington Avenue Crewe. He attended Crewe Secondary School from 1930 to 1936. Before the War he was employed by the Inland Revenue Department at Stafford
Military Service
Clifford joined the RAF in April 1939 aged 19 and was accepted into the pilot training programme.
He joined 10 Squadron of Bomber Command based at RAF Leeming in December 1940 as a Sergeant Pilot flying Whitley V bombers. For his first 8 combat missions he flew as Second Pilot to an experienced captain but for subsequent missions he flew as Captain.
Whitley V bomber of 10 Squadron
Some Notable missions with 10 Squadron
15/16 February 1941 to Sterkrade
Clifford flew as second pilot on this mission and before reaching the target searchlights locked onto the aircraft blinding the crew. They expected to be attacked by a night fighter at any moment and had to jettison the bombs over Duisberg and take evasive action.
Operation Report for the Sterkrade mission
27/28 May 1941 to Cologne
Heavy AA fire was observed and on return to base holes in an aileron were noted indicating how close they were to being shot down.
Operation Report for the Cologne mission
23 July 1941 to attack the Battleship Scharnhorst at La Pallice in France
Mission briefing for the Scharnhorst attack
Operation Report for the Scharnhorst attack
Scharnhorst War Diary for the morning of 24 July 1941 translated
Bombs hit the port but missed the ship. Correlations between the Operation Record ( OR) and the Scharnhorst War Diary (WD) are interesting.
Both documents mention that the bombs missed the ship.
The OR states that Searchlights were numerous but ineffective and the WD states that communication with the search lights was sabotaged during the raid ( presumably the RAF had arranged this with the French Resistance).
The OR states that Flak was light during the attack and the WD state states that the ship’s Flak guns didn’t fire during the attack (presumably to avoid giving the ships location away
He completed a full tour of 30 missions with 10 squadron and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.
Crewe Chronicle 22 November 1941
In September 1942 he was promoted to Pilot Officer and in December 1942 he was promoted again to Flying Officer. In 1942 and 1943 he acted as an instructor for bomber crews in training.
Crewe Chronicle 19 September 1942
Training Accident
At 16.30hrs on 15th June 1942 Clifford was instructing a pilot at 10 Conversion Flight in a Halifax bomber. The plane was taking off from Skipton on Swale landing ground and had reached 90 mph when the port outer engine failed, this caused a swing to develop. The pilot attempted to stop the aircraft but on wet grass the aircraft the brakes had little effect. He then deliberately swung the aircraft to avoid over-running into the River Swale but in doing so the aircraft ran over a ditch causing the undercarriage to collapse. Clifford sustained injuries but recovered
In late 1943 he was promoted again to Squadron Leader and was posted to 77 Squadron based at RAF Elvington operating Halifax bombers.
On 21st January 1944 Clifford flew his first mission of his second tour as captain of a Halifax II bomber on a mission to bomb Magdeberg in Germany and was killed when his aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter. All of his crew perished in the attack with the exception of the bomb aimer who parachuted to safety, was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW.
Halifax bomber of 77 Squadron at Elvington
Clifford was buried at the Berlin 39-45 War Cemetery and is commemorated on the Ruskin School memorial.
The medals that Clifford was eligible to receive.
Berlin Cemetary