Gordon Buxton

DURNBACH WAR CEMETERY Coll. grave 8. K. 18-21.

Gordon Buxton was the navigator aboard Lancaster III LM526 which took off at 2125 on 26 April 1944 from Spilsby, Lincolnshire as part of a 226 aircraft operation (215 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes) to attack Schweinfurt. 207 Sqdn contributed 16 Lancasters for this operation. 21 Lancasters (9.3% of the attacking force) were lost. Buxton's aircraft crashed at Forbach, Moselle, close to the Franco-German frontier.

There were no survivors from LM526. Fatalities: Buxton + Flight Lieutenant James Findley Muir (P), Sergeant David Arthur Loveday (FE), Flight Sergeant Selwyn Fawcett (WO), Sergeant David Norman Collins (AB), Sergeant George Stanley Longmate (AG), Sergeant Walter Upsall (AG).

Their fateful trip to Schweinfurt was the fifth operation undertaken by Buxton and his crewmates during April 1944. They had previously attacked Toulouse (5th/6th), undertaken gardening [mine laying] (9th/10th), bombed strategically important rail links at Juvisy, 18km south east of Paris (18th) and taken part in a 260 aircraft attack on Munich (24th/25th). They returned safely on each occasion but Schweinfurt was to be their final sortie.

Resulting from the Schweinfurt raid, Sergeant Norman Jackson of 106 Sqdn was awarded a Victoria Cross:

‘This airman was the flight engineer in a Lancaster detailed to attack Schweinfurt on the night of 26th April 1944. Bombs were dropped successfully and the aircraft was climbing out of the target area. Suddenly, it was attacked by a fighter at about 20,000 feet. The captain took evading action at once, but the enemy secured many hits. A fire started near a petrol tank on the upper surface of the starboard wing, between the fuselage and the inner engine. Sergeant Jackson was thrown to the floor during the engagement. Wounds which he received from shell splinters in the right leg and shoulder were probably sustained at that time. Recovering himself, he remarked that he could deal with the fire on the wing and obtained his captain’s permission to try to put out the flames.

“Pushing a hand fire-extinguisher into the top of his life-saving jacket and clipping on his parachute pack, Sergeant Jackson jettisoned the escape hatch above the pilot’s head. He then started to climb out of the cockpit and back along the top of the fuselage to the starboard wing. Before he could leave the fuselage, his parachute pack opened and the whole canopy and rigging lines spilled into the cockpit. Undeterred, Sergeant Jackson continued. The pilot, bomb-aimer and navigator gathered the parachute together and held on to the rigging lines, paying them out as the airman crawled aft. Eventually, he slipped and, falling from the fuselage to the starboard wing, grasped an air intake on the leading edge of the wing. He succeeded in clinging on but lost the extinguisher which was blown away.

“By this time, the fire had spread rapidly and Sergeant Jackson was involved. His face, hands and clothing were severely burnt. Unable to retain his hold, he was swept through the flames and over the trailing edge of the wing, dragging his parachute behind. When last seen, it was only partly inflated and was burning in a number of places. Realizing the fire could not be controlled, the captain gave the order to abandon aircraft. Four of the remaining members of the crew landed safely. The captain and rear gunner have not been accounted for. Sergeant Jackson was unable to control his descent and landed heavily. He sustained a broken ankle, and his right eye was closed through burns and his hands were useless. These injuries together with the wounds received earlier, reduced him to a pitiable state. At daybreak, he crawled to the nearest village where he was taken prisoner. He bore the intense pain and discomfort of the journey to Dulag Luft with magnificent fortitude.

After 10 months in hospital, he made a good recovery, though his hands require further treatment and are of only limited use. This airman’s attempt to extinguish the fire and save the aircraft and crew from falling into enemy hands was an act of outstanding gallantry. To venture outside, when travelling at 200 miles an hour, at an incredible height and in intense cold, was an almost incredible feat. Had he succeeded in subduing the flames, there was little or no prospect of his regaining the cockpit. The spilling of his parachute and the risk of grave damage to its canopy reduced his chances of survival to a minimum. By his ready willingness to face these dangers, he set an example of self-sacrifice which will ever be remembered.”

Following the publication of the original London Gazette citation, some additional information became available. The wing fire prompted Jackson’s course of action. He climbed onto the Navigation table and deliberately opened his parachute inside the aircraft, while Higgins and Toft sorted out the rigging lines and chute to prepare themselves as ‘anchor-men’. Releasing the upper escape hatch, Jackson squeezed himself out into the freezing 200 mph slipstream. Firmly grasping the edge of the open hatch, he edged his body out, laid flat along the top of the fuselage and lowered himself until his feet met the wing root below. He flung himself forward and managed to grasp the leading-edge air intake and directed the contents of the extinguisher into an engine cowling opening. The flames died down momentarily. The Lancaster banked to port taking evasive action against the returning German fighter which raked the aircraft with cannon fire again and wounded Jackson for the second time. After the impact of the shell fire, the extinguisher was blown away. The flames once again erupted, blowing over Jackson’s body. He lost his grip and was swept off the wing, to be held in the slipstream by the smouldering rigging lines and canopy furiously being played out by Toft and Higgins before they released the parachute. Breaking free from the stricken Lancaster, he descended rapidly. Attempting to extinguish the smouldering cords, he became conscious of the pain of his back and leg wounds, but his hands, shrivelled and contracted by the flames, were mercifully numb. Jackson remembered later that the canopy of the parachute was not only slashed and torn, but, more ominously, had burning holes in it which were getting larger as he fell to earth. Miraculously, his fall was cushioned by a mass of bushes.

Barely conscious, Jackson lay where he landed until daybreak. Then, with a broken ankle to add to his earlier injuries, he crawled to a cottage on the edge of the forest. Banging on the door with an elbow, he was confronted by an irate middle-aged German who verbally abused him, before two young girls took Jackson into the cottage and nursed him. Alerted by the cottage owner, some local Police officials appeared and Jackson, supported by one of them, was made to walk to the nearest town where he was briefly treated at the local hospital. He was paraded through the town where some people jeered and insulted him. Jackson said later that he understood their anger, “After all, how would we have felt after being bombed night after night?”

Jackson spent about ten months in hospital at Obermassfeld slowly recuperating from his injuries before being transferred to Stalag IXc at Bad Sulza, Muhausen. He made two escapes from the prison camp, and on the second attempt succeeded in contacting U.S. troops from Patton’s Third Army near Munich. Norman Jackson was returned to Britain on V.E. Day.

On 26.10.1945, the Victoria Cross was gazetted to Jackson, now a Warrant Officer, and he was invested with the Cross at Buckingham Palace on 13.11.1945, together with Group Captain Cheshire. Norman Jackson left the Royal Air Force with a disability pension of 2 pounds a week.

This account is courtesy of rafcommands.com

Jackson's captain Frederick Manuel Mifflin and crewmate Norman Hugh Johnson died during the crash which he and four others survived to become prisoners of war.