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ELHAS meeting report - September 2009
ELHAS's winter season of talks began with a talk about the life and times of Arthur Aaron VC.
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The guest speaker was retired bank manager Martin Cocker.
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Martin came across the Arthur Aaron story when he moved from Hull to Leeds and joined the Roundhegians rugby club. Arthur was on old boy of Roundhay Grammar School and is featured prominently on the club's Memorial Board.
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Seeing this led Martin to undertake 25 years of research into the life of Arthur, the only person from Leeds to receive the highest honour of the Victoria Cross in World War Two.
Thirty four members and guests attended the meeting and were intrigued to hear from Martin about Arthur's early life as well as about the deed which earned him his well deserved Victoria Cross.
From the amount of information Martin shared with us about Arthur (even showing copies of his school reports) it was obvious to his audience that he regarded Arthur with the deepest respect and relished the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to others.
Martin told us how Arthur had wanted to join up as soon as he left school but was advised to complete his studies at the Leeds School of Architecture first. Whilst doing this he was able, in 1941, to join the first flight of the Leeds University Air Squadron and on finishing his course join the Royal Air Force.
He was immediately sent by ship to Texas to train as a pilot, arriving in America just four days before the bombing of Pearl Harbour. In July 1942 he passed out as a Sargeant and on returning to England was told he was to be trained as a bomber pilot.
He subsequently took up residence at RAF Stradesol and became the pilot of a Stirling aircraft. Altogether he and his crew flew 18 missions including taking part in the "Fire Storm" missions over Hamburg. On 12th August 1943 he embarked on his final fatal flight.
The aircraft was destined to attack Turin. On the approach to attack the aircraft was fired upon and suffered severe damage. The navigator was killed and Arthur severely wounded, having part of his face blown away, damage to his lung and his right arm rendered useless.
Control of the aircraft was taken over by the flight engineer, but when they had the opportunity to land at Bone airfield in Algeria Arthur made determined efforts to take over realising the inexperience of the other crew members would inevitably result in a crash landing.
Finally being persuaded to give up he wrote instructions with his left hand and talked the bomb aimer through the landing. The aircraft landed safely thus the lives of five crew members were saved. Nine hours after the landing Arthur died of exhaustion.
The final part of his VC citation reads "In appalling conditions he showed the greatest qualities of courage, determination and leadership, and though wounded and dying, he set a devotion to duty which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed."
Tragically, Martin revealed that the aircraft had been the victim of what we now call "friendly fire", being hit by a burst of fire from another Stirling aircraft, and it was only through the courageous actions of this brave young man, that this incident did not become a greater tragedy.
The next meeting will be on Monday, October 26, when Michele Lefevre will deliver an illustrated talk entitled "Haunted Leeds"
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Weather for Leeds
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
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