We are indebted to The Times for the obituary of David Mattingley, DFC, bomber pilot, who was born on June 14, 1922, and died in his sleep on June 2, 2017, aged 94.
On November 29, 1944, flying Lancaster D DOG from 625 Squadron, Flying Officer Mattingley took off from RAF Kelstern, near Louth in Lincolnshire, to bomb Dortmund in Germany. Seconds after dropping its payload the aircraft was hit by flak. “It blew out all the Perspex of the cockpits, blew up some of the instruments, holed a petrol tank, peppered the fuselage with holes, and me too,” Mattingley said in 2007.
Shrapnel entered his right leg and his right shoulder. The tendons and artery in his right hand were severed, his skull was fractured and he momentarily lost consciousness. His bloody hand was being bandaged by a crewmate when he was hit again in the right knee, thigh and shoulder. Refusing morphine because he feared that it would dull his reflexes, Mattingley pressed on and was hit again over the Rhine.
Because of Mattingley’s crippled right arm, Sgt Cyril Bailey, his flight engineer, operated the throttles as the Lancaster limped home. They made it to the Channel and then to Britain, where Mattingley asked each of his crew if they wanted to bale out rather than risk a crash landing. They stayed. As they neared Kelstern he called to advise that there were wounded aboard, but didn’t say that he was one of them. He landed his aircraft safely but the Dortmund raid was Mattingley’s 23rd and final mission. His wounds had rendered him unfit for active service. He was immediately awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation reading: “His indomitable spirit, superb captaincy and outstanding devotion to duty set an example of high order.” Bailey was awarded the DFM.
Cecil David Mattingley was born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1922, the son of a dentist. Enlisting as a pilot with the Royal Australian Air Force at the age of 19, was posted to Britain and joined 625 Squadron. By the time Mattingley was released from hospital the war in Europe was ending. He was in and out of hospital for the remainder of his life and, despite attention from the finest of surgeons, the pianist and church organist never played again. He returned to his native Tasmania, where he met Christobel at the University of Tasmania’s dramatic society. They were married and moved to Adelaide, where they raised three children. When asked recently how he felt about Germany, Mattingley replied simply: “It was the Nazis, not the German people, who were the enemy.” Later he visited Germany many times, and he counted many German people among his best friends.
He taught English and modern European history at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, for more than 30 years, where he was known as Dink. Being headmaster would deny him his love of teaching, so the school created the position of senior master for him. Most of the school had no idea about his wartime service, nor had many people in his community, and he would quietly shut down any questions about it. However, his story,
Battle Order 204, was published by Christobel, an author of some repute, in the last decade of his life.
The Times article can be found at
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d...548fd10477b5f2