Victoria Cross Action
On 28 November 1942, Middleton was captain of a Stirling I bomber (serial BF372) detailed to bomb the Fiat works at Turin. It was his twenty-ninth combat sortie, one short of the thirty required for completion of a 'tour' and mandatory rotation off combat operations.
Middleton and his crew arrived above Turin after a difficult flight over the Alps, due to the low combat ceiling of the Stirling. Middleton made three low-level passes over the target to identify it, and on the third of these passes his aircraft was hit by heavy and sustained anti-aircraft fire which wounded both pilots and the wireless officer. Middleton suffered numerous grievous wounds, including shrapnel wounds to the arms, legs and body, having his right eye torn from its socket and his jaw shattered.
He passed out briefly, and his second pilot, Flt Sgt LA Hyder, who was also seriously wounded, managed to regain control at 800 feet and drop the bombs, before receiving first aid from the other crew. Middleton regained consciousness in time to help recover control of his stricken bomber. Middleton was in great pain, was barely able to see, was losing blood from wounds all over his body, and could breathe only with difficulty. He must have known that his own chances of survival were slim, but he nonetheless determined to fly his crippled aircraft home, and return his crew to safety. During the return flight he frequently said over the intercom "I'll make the English Coast. I'll get you home". After four hours of agony and having been further damaged by flak over France, Middleton reached the coast of England with five minutes of fuel reserves. At this point he turned the aircraft parallel to the coast and ordered his crew to bail out. Five of his crew did so and landed safely, but his front gunner and flight engineer remained with him to try to talk him into a forced landing on the coast, something he must have known would have risked extensive civilian casualties. He steered the aircraft out over the sea off Dymchurch, and ordered the last two crew to bale out Eventually they too bailed out, but did not survive the night in the English Channel. Middleton stayed with the aircraft, which crashed into the Channel. His body was washed ashore on 1 February 1943.
The last line of his Victoria Cross Citation reads: "His devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds is unsurpassed in the annals of the Royal Air Force".
Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton VC was posthumously promoted to Pilot Officer, and is buried at Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. His Victoria Cross and uniform are displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
P/O GR Royde (Observer) was awarded a DFC, while F/S LA Hyder (2nd pilot), F/S D Cameron (Upper gunner) and Sgt HW Gough (rear gunner) all were awarded the DFM.
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