Michael Frank Suckling

21/7/1941 P.R.U. Spitfire R6903, mission to photograph the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst, over La Pallice, France when he was shot down into the sea and killed by flak defences.

21/5/1941 03.30 two of RAF Wick's P.R. Spitfires were made ready for a reconnaissance patrol over the Norwegian fjords. Later that morning Flying Officer Greenhill, D.F.C., and Pilot Officer Michael "Babe" Suckling took off from Wick and headed for Norway. It was Suckling who sighted and photographed two large warships in Kors Fjord, near Bergen. As he taxied his Spitfire up to dispersal at Wick, he was met by two aircraftmen waiting to remove his aeroplane's camera. Shoving back the cockpit canopy, Suckling exclaimed: "I've seen them! Two of Them! I think they are cruisers, although one could be a battleship!"

All crews returning from a mission were debriefed by the Station Intelligence Officer who had to be tireless in collecting facts, expert in checking them and concise in presenting them. While Suckling was being debriefed by Wick S.T.O., the wet prints of the photographs he had taken were brought in. The S.T.O. examined them and saw what the pilot surmised was indeed the truth. Suckling himself flew the prints down to Coastal Command Headquarters at Northwood, near Watford, making the last stage of the journey from Nottingham in a friend's car. Admiralty and R.A.F. photographic interpreters confirmed that they were the "Bismarck" and the "Prinz Eugen".

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