Published: Tuesday, 9th March, 2010 12:14pm

A war hero is honoured

War hero George enjoys his flypast with family and friends

IT'S the birthday wish of every little boy - a jet fighter.

And this week one birthday boy's day was made in Innerleithen following a flypast by a Tornado from RAF Lossiemouth.

However this was no ordinary anniversary celebrant but one Flight Lieutenant George Purslow, a former Battle of Britain air gunner and veteran of 50 WWII bombing raids.

George, who was born in the town, celebrated his 90th birthday on February 24 at his home in Mercer Court, and he was delighted to be honoured by his fellow members of No 12 Squadron.

He also took some time out to recall his efforts in the battle that raged over the skies of Britain and continental Europe.

During the Battle of Britain, from July 10 to October 31 1940, British pilots were outnumbered four-to-one and 515 were killed in total.

Following their eventual victory, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches which included the memorable line: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."

George first served with No 12 Squadron as an Air Gunner in Fairey Battles during the Battle of France with No 12 Squadron Advanced Air Strike Force (AASF).

The squadron returned to the UK in June 1940 and re-equipped with Wellingtons in November 1940. He left the squadron in August 1941 having completed 30 operations.

After a spell instructing at an Operational Training Unit (OTU) he rejoined No 12 Squadron for a second tour in June 1943, this time in Lancasters, and was the wireless operator/air gunner for the raid on Hamburg of July 24/25 1943 and also took part in the second and fourth Hamburg raids on July 27/28 and August 2/3 1943.

He completed his second tour in October 1943 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross at Buckingham Palace.

George said: "On September 3 1939, the day that war was declared, I had just finished the air gunnery course, and from Aldergrove in Ireland I was posted to France to join number 12 Fairey Battle Squadron, just behind the lines at a place called Berry-au-Bac near Rheims in the Champagne Area.

"The Fairey Battle was very slow compared to the modern German aircraft, such as the Messerschmit, that we were pitched against. In actual fact, the Fairey Battle was obsolete and should never have been used in the war at all as it was far too slow ; but of course, at that time, Britain was not well equipped for a war and so we had to fly in these ancient aircraft.

"As an air gunner I was placed at the rear of the belly of the plane with a single Vickers gun which had very slow fire power. Even the thought of the sound of a Messerscmit sends a chill up my spine to this day."

At this stage of the war, 1939, George was still only a lad of nineteen and his babyfaced features even caused concern among his commanding officers.

He said: "The aircrews were inspected by Air Marshall Lord Trenchard and when he saw me he asked how old I was. I told him I was nineteen, he didn't believe me.

"The outcome was that the Flight Commander was ordered to check and if I wasn't nineteen, then I was to be sent back to England. A few months later, when the Blitz really started, I was wishing that I had only been eighteen.

"On May 15 I took part in operations to Sedan. This was a night operation and we experienced very heavy anti-aircraft fire on approach. We dropped our bombs and also visited a small town in Germany where we dropped propaganda leaflets.

"When we returned from that raid we found a panic at the base and discovered that the squadron was retreating and we were expected to go with our plane to the next airfield, Eschemines."

George's squadron's losses were mounting alarmingly every day at this stage and despite reinforcements their chances of victory were becoming less and less as the German attack closed in at Dunkirk.

At this point, the average survival rate for an airman was nine raids.

By the middle of June the situation was really desperate and on June 15, orders were given for what was left of 12 Squadron to return to England.

After a spell of leave the few surviving air crews and Fairey battles were posted to Binbrook in Lincolnshire to spend the winter.

And fortunately for George in December 1940 they were re-equipped with Wellington Bombers.

1941 then followed, a year that would forever remain seared into George's memory, as he somehow managed to cheat death not just once but three times.

Geroge said: "The first happened in Nottingham during training. One day, just prior to take off, I was approached by Sgt "Tommy" Tomlinson and he asked me if I would change crews for that particular exercise.

"My own crew were all well known to me but I reluctantly agreed, and so off I flew with another crew on an air firing exercise.

"When my aircraft returned over the airfield we could see a crashed Wellington and the emergency services in action below. On landing I discovered that all my crew had been killed including Tommy.

"When I appeared in the crew room my friends were amazed as I was thought to have been in the wrecked aircraft and presumed dead.

"My second narrow escape, or "shaky do" as we called them, was in April 1941 when the squadron was starting operations over Germany with our new Wellingtons. Wing Commander Blacken arrived from India and decided to go on his first operation.

"He sent for both me and Sgt. McDougall, we were both wireless operators/gunners and were not attached to any particular crew, as I had, of course, lost my crew in the crash at Nottingham.

"After some discussion he suggested that we toss a coin to see who was going and I 'lost' the toss. Although looking back now I obviously 'won'. The W/Cdr was shot down on his first operation, and all the crew were killed.

"My third "shaky do" happened at the end of my first tour of operations over Europe. On August 16 1941, we were over Cologne when the starboard engine was damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Gradually we began losing height and eventually we were over the north sea on one engine.

"I sent out an SOS and by the time we made landfall over Norwich we were flying just above the city and Mac the pilot was wrestling with the controls. The search lights were helping us by "pointing" to the nearest aerodrome and by this time we were in the countryside crashing through telephone lines, electric lines etc. as the remaining engine was losing power.

"At last Mac thought he saw the aerodrome's lights but they were signal lights on the railway line and we smashed into a railway bridge at Briston in Norfolk.

"Three of the crew were killed, P/O Vincent, second pilot, F/Sgt. Nancarrow, navigator and Sgt. Frost, front gunner and three of us landed in hospital, myself, W/Cdr Mac McVeigh and rear gunner Sgt. Danny Murray.

"What we didn't know at the time was that we might have not have ever been able to make a successful landing anyway, as our 2000lb bomb had not been dropped correctly due to an electrical fault and we had carried it all the way back to England. Fortunately it didn't explode when we eventually crashed."

In June 1943, George returned to 12 Squadron at Wickenby, Lincolnshire for his second tour of operations.

However his second tour was to prove no less hair-raising, as on the night of June 25, his Lancaster was hit by anti-aircraft fire, resulting in the port outer engine catching fire.

Eventually they crawled back to base to discover no less than forty-seven bullet holes in the aircraft.

George said: "On another occasion we could feel a terrible draught coming from a hole at the front of the aircraft.

"Our bomb aimer searched about with his torch only to discover an incendiary bomb which he promptly threw overboard.

"The bomb had come from one of our own bombers flying above us over the target. We worked out later that it had hit the outer propeller and had been hurled through the side of our Lancaster."

George finished his second tour of operations on October 3, 1943, following a last raid on Kassel. Later that month he was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, DFC.

From his flying log book, it can be seen that he attacked Cologne no less than six times and Berlin four.

He said: "I completed fifty operations over Europe, many more than the average 'life expectancy' of nine!"

For the remainder of the war George worked as a signals officer before being sent to the RAF Officer's Hospital at Clevelys near Blackpool, for surgery on his injured left leg, as a result of his crash in 1941.

George left the RAF in 1946 and began training as a teacher in Edinburgh. In 1947, he married his wife Mima Bruce, from Walkerburn, and together they had a son, Ian and daughter, Dorothy.

He then spent the following thirty two years as headmaster of Eaglesfield School in Dumfriesshire........but that's another story.