Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer, (7 July 1920 – 23 December 1944) was a bomber pilot in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and a posthumous English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

forces. His award was the result of his valour during the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life

The son of Arthur Palmer and Lillian (''née'' Skuse), Palmer was born on 7 July 1920 at Gillingham,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. He was educated at

Gravesend Grammar School Gravesend Grammar School is a selective grammar school with academy status located in Gravesend, Kent, England. The school accepts boys at age 11 through the 11+ exam accepting a cohort of the top 15–20% and boys and girls at 16, based on the ...

(where a

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

in his memory and his

citation now hang in the school hall), before being commissioned in the RAF.

Military career

Palmer first flew in

operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

during the

in January 1941 and took part in the first 1,000-bomber raid against Cologne in 1942. He was one of the first

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s to drop a 4,000-lb. 'Cookie' bomb. In 1943 he served with 20 OTU at

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. By the end of 1944, Palmer had completed 110 bombing missions, many with the

Pathfinder Force The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, at which a main bomber force could aim, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were norm ...

necessitating deep penetration of enemy territory and low-level 'marking' operations against heavily defended

targets ''Targets'' is a 1968 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Bogdanovich in his theatrical directorial debut, and starring Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Nancy Hsueh, Bogdanovich, James Brown, Arthur Peterson and Sandy Baron. The film ...

. At 24 years old, as a

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediatel ...

serving with No. 109 Squadron (RAF), he embarked on what was to be his final mission, for which he received the VC. On 23 December 1944 over

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Palmer was leading a formation of

Lancaster bomber The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same spec ...

s on a daylight raid to bomb Cologne's Gremberg

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

marshalling yard A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway y ...

s. His Lancaster PB371 was designated

Master Bomber The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, at which a main bomber force could aim, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were norm ...

and using Oboe radio bombing equipment his orders were to mark the targets for the other

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

s to aim for. Victoria Cross Medal without Bar

Palmer was in command of one of 27 Lancasters accompanied by three Mosquitoes from No. 8 Group to attack the Gremberg railway yards. The air raid went badly. The force was split into three formations, each led by an Oboe-equipped Lancaster with an Oboe-equipped

Mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

in reserve. During the outward flight, two Lancasters collided over the French coast with the loss of both crews. On approaching their target over German airspace, they found that the forecasted

cloud cover Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud c ...

had cleared, leaving them exposed during the long straight approach and vulnerable to Cologne's AA defences. It was thus decided to allow the

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s to break formation and bomb visually. The order to abandon the Oboe run did not reach Palmer, who continued with his designated role despite his aircraft having already been damaged by

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

flak cannon. Some minutes before reaching the target two of his

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

caught fire, but rejecting alternative evasive action and being determined to provide an accurate and easily visible aiming point for the other bombers, he managed to keep the badly damaged aircraft on a straight course, made a perfect approach and released his bombs. His Lancaster was last seen spiralling to earth in flames and only one member of his crew, the rear gunner, escaped with his life. The squadron lost a Lancaster and a Mosquito shot down by German flak artillery and

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

fighters, with a further Lancaster abandoned by its crew over Belgium; the losses totalled six aircraft out of the 30 dispatched. Palmer is buried at the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

Rheinberg War Cemetery The Rheinberg War Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Rheinberg, Germany. It was established in 1946 and is home to 3,330 graves from the Second World War. History The site for the Rheinberg War Cemetery was selected in ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. The inscription on his gravestone reads: 'A LONELY IMPULSE OF DELIGHT DROVE TO THIS TUMULT IN THE CLOUDS', a quote from '

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), written in 1918 and first published in the Macmillan edition of ''The Wild Swans at Coole'' in 1919.Pierce 2000 p.274 The poem is a soliloquy giv ...

' (1918) by

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

Bibliography

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Robert 1920 births 1944 deaths Burials in North Rhine-Westphalia British World War II bomber pilots Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross English aviators People from Gillingham, Kent People educated at Gravesend Grammar School Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force squadron leaders Royal Air Force recipients of the Victoria Cross Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Aviators killed by being shot down Military personnel from Kent

Early life

Military career

See also

Bibliography

Notes

External links