In 1940 Tom returned to England and
joined the Royal Air Force and started
training as a pilot at No 1 EFTS at
Hatfield on 7 December 1940 learning to
fly in a Tiger Moth. His first solo
was on 8 January 1941 after around 12
hours flying experience. On 12 March
1941 he moved to training on Avro Ansons
with No 12 FTS at Grantham.
He was promoted to
Pilot Officer on
1 June 1941.
On 8 July 1941 Tom had his first flight
in a Wellington bomber at 21 OTU at
Moreton-in-the-Marsh; he completed
training on 22 August 1941. Tom
married Joan (nėe Holder) by special
licence on 31 August and then joined his
first operational squadron – No 101 - on
4 September 1941 at Oakington (later
known as Long Stanton) flying Wellington
bombers.
Tom flew with 101 Squadron until 30
November 1941 and carried out over 40
hours of night bombing raids over
Cherbourg, Cologne, Le Havre, Ostend and
Stettin.
Tom then joined No 40 Sqn – Wellington
bombers - in Malta on 1 December 1941.
The flight out there with a crew of 5
took nearly 10 hours from Portreath on a
route that took them past the Isles of
Scilly, Cape Roca (concidentally on the
Atlantic coast of Tom’s country of
domicile - Portugal) Cape Trafalgar to
Gibraltar. Log book records “A very
good trip – no airspeed indicator – good
navigation”.
The next leg from Gibraltar to Malta
got off to a spectacular start on the
night of 5 December when after 10
minutes flying, aircraft controls packed
up, an SOS was sent out and they
returned – quickly – to Gibraltar; the
Log Book memorably records the first
night landing by a Wellington bomber on
Gibraltar aerodrome. Family
recollections indicate that there were a
few feet to spare when the aircraft came
to a halt. They flew to Malta the next
day. Tom flew 38 operational sorties
with 40 Sqn between December 1941 and 20
February 1942 with bombing raids on
Tripoli in North Africa, Patras in
Greece and various targets in Italy
including Catania, Comiso and Taranto.
Towards
the end of February 1942 the squadron
was moving to India, but Tom had done
his stint, so after a long delay made
his way to Cairo. In Cairo he met up
with his brother Jack who was also in
the RAF. Whilst he was away his son
Robert Fraser was born. In early May
1942 Tom then made his way back to
England on a Pan American Airways flight
from Heliopolis via Khartoum, Kano and
Lagos.
Entries
in his Log Book then pop up on 19 July
1942 when he joined No 12 OTU at
Chipping Warden flying in Avro Ansons,
Oxfords and Wellington bombers Mk III;
part of the job was dragging a drogue
for other pilots to aim for. Flights
often took a low level route over the
village of Broom in Warwickshire - much
to the delight of his wife Joan, but to
the concern of elderly residents
there.
In the autumn of 1942 Tom did 5
broadcasts for the BBC for Portuguese
listeners; he spoke Portuguese as a
second mother tongue and had been asked
to help the propaganda effort by telling
of bombing raids over enemy territory –
he was paid £6 each time, although the
Air Ministry kept half!
According
to his son, Robert, rumour has it that
Thomas was better at flying that riding
a bicycle! (picture courtesy of Robert
Fraser McCrorie)
Tom left 12 OTU on 1 May 1943 for 3
weeks well earned leave with his wife
and young son. He joined No 1657
Conversion Unit on 26 May and for the
next 2 weeks to 11 June flew nearly 40
hours in Stirlings. He wasn’t too keen
on Stirlings but didn’t have any choice.
There
is a absence of entries in Tom’s Log
Book after 1657 Conversion Unit (it is
understood that it was common practice –
probably still is - to do the Log Book
during a quiet moment). However, it is
known that he joined No 75 New Zealand
Squadron based at Newmarket flying
Stirling Mk III bombers and took part in
around 4 or 5 night bombing raids over
Germany. At 23:48 hours on 22 June
they took off from Newmarket in aircraft
EF.408:
o
Pilot: Flight
leutenant TF McCrorie RAF
o
Navigator: Flying Officer W
Stuckey RAF
o
W.Op/AG: WO II RD Todd RCAF
o
W.Op/AG: WO II RE Todd, DFM, RCAF
o
Bomb Aimer: Flt Sgt JL Richards RNZAF
o
Flt Eng: Sgt E Grainger RAF
o
Rear Gunner: Sgt RA Kennedy RAF
Robert
and Richard Todd were twin brothers from
Manitoba, Canada.
The mission was a bombing raid on
Mulheim but at 02:26 hours on 23 June
the aircraft was shot down by a
nightfighter operating from Leeuwarden
(IV/NJG1) 8km east from Oosterland in
the IJsselmeer. All the crew were
killed or posted as missing in
action. Bodies of five of the crew were
recovered. The Tods twins lie buried side
by side at Medemblik General Cemetery,
Sgt Kennedy is buried at Middenmeer General Cemetery. Two others were
recovered on the other side of the
IJsselmeer; P/O Stuckey is buried at
Makkum Protestant Churchyard.
Tom’s body was washed up on the shore of
the IJsselmeer lake.
Tom is buried in the village churchyard
in Molkwerum; his funeral service was
attended by most of the inhabitants of
the village but the occupying German
forces stayed away from the cemetery
that day. His grave is well tended by
the local school children and Tom’s son
Robert has visited on 2 occasions and on
the second occasion he was accompanied
by Tom’s widow, Joan.
Tom flew over 700 hours in the RAF in
the service of his country.
Tom’s headstone includes an engraving
which includes the quote: There is
some corner of a foreign field that is
forever England.
F/L
Thomas McCrorie is buried at Molkwerum
Protestant Churchyard, grave 190.
