Wing Commander “Jumbo” Gracie DFC

[radar101]

30 aug 1940


Wing Commander “Jumbo” Gracie DFC


On this day 75 years ago Edward John “Jumbo” Gracie DFC (1911-1944) was shot down during a dogfight crash-landing his Hurricane I (R2689) He had been leading 56 Sqn and shot down an He111 and damaged another before his shot-up engine cut out. He thought himself unhurt but next day the MO discovered he had a broken neck, requiring admission to hospital!


At the time he was OC B Flt 56 Sqn at North Weald but went on to have a varied career:
Aug 1941 Sqn Ldr: OC 601 Sqn - Aeracobras.
Mar 1942 Sqn Ldr: OC 126 Sqn: Led Spitfires off HMS EAGLE to Malta.
Apr 42-late 43 Wg Cdr: base commander Ta Kali, Malta.
Dec 43 to Feb 44 Wg Cdr: OC 169 Sqn - Mosquitos. KIA 15 Feb 44 - buried Hanover CWGC.
Kills: about 10 confirmed with another 5+ probables.




A colourful character: as OC Ta Kali he is reputed to have set up a gibbet to warn off locals who were stealing aircraft supplies. His Standing Orders included “It is the duty of every airman to kill the Hun”.


On the night of 15 Feb 44 Mosquito II HJ707 VI-B was attacked by a night-fighter near Hanover during a night intruder sortie. The starboard engine caught fire. Gracie held the aircraft for long enough for the navigator, Flt Lt WW Todd, to baled out (POW) but Gracie was unable to leave the aircraft before it crashed. He left a wife, Patricia, and daughter.


One thing that has always puzzled me is that he joined the RAF in 1930 but was set before a General Court Martial and dismissed the service in 1933. What for? Does anyone know how to find the details of a Court Martial?


Whatever, he was recommission as Fg Off – class A RAFR – in 1937 so whatever the CM was about he was obviously still acceptable to the RAF.




56 Sqn still have his tankard inscribed “My body is posted but my heart – never”


Although with the sqn for a relatively short time in 1940 he appears to have stayed in contact throughout his service – a month before he died he gave an ex-colleague “Taffy” Higginson a flight in his Mosquito (recorded in Taffy's logbook).




“We will remember them”

[MMHendrie1]

‘Jumbo’ Gracie was one of the RAF’s characters and should be well remembered.

In early 1942, with Malta’s Hurricanes outnumbered and out-performed by the later marks of Me109, the AOC, who had been pleading for Spitfires, dispatched ‘Jumbo’ Gracie as his personal ambassador to ram the message home at the Air Ministry. He pressed Malta’s case hard and later led the launch of forty-seven Spitfires from USS Wasp on 20 April; forty-six arrived safely. Within twenty minutes, there was massive retaliation from the Luftwaffe and, forty-eight hours later, only seven Spitfires were left in working condition.

For a second delivery on 9 May, USS Wasp and HMS Eagle launched sixty-four Spitfires. Sixty-one reached Malta safely to find Jumbo Gracie in charge of the ground organisation. Within six minutes, Gracie was at cockpit readiness and the first sixteen were ready to scramble within seven minutes, such was the speed with which the airmen completed refuelling and rearming.

Later as a wing commander, Gracie was Ta’ Qali’s station commander. Shortages were affecting everyone and petty pilfering among civilian field workers prompted him to include the following in routine orders: ‘A gibbet has been erected on the corner of the road leading to the caves. Any man, woman or child, civilian or service personnel, found guilty of sabotage, theft, or in any other way of impeding the war effort and subsequently shot, will be hung from this gibbet as a warning to others.’ Pictures of the gibbet reached the Daily Mirror. The Air Ministry intervened and the gibbet disappeared.

Some of Gracie’s Malta's exploits are covered in a new book to be released in November 2015. It is called:

MALTA’S GREATER SIEGE
&
ADRIAN WARBURTON
DSO* DFC** DFC (USA)

‘The Most Valuable Pilot in the RAF’

[ExRAFRadar]

Thanks for the post, interesting précis of what seems to be a remarkable man.

Book noted and will buy. Sadly, and not sure why, but my knowledge of Malta and the Med in general during WW2 is sadly lacking.

Need to rectify that.

[brokenlink]

ExRAFRadar - Can reccomed "One Mans Window" by Dennis Barnham, one of the Spit pilots who flew from the US carriers and stayed on to defend Malta.

[radar101]

I think it was in Dennis Barnham's book that he mentions a talk with Jumbo which alludes to service in Egypt in the inter-war years which might have a bearing on his subsequent Court Martial

[pzu]

Coincidentally, there is a new pub 'The Six Medals' opening shortly in Middlesbrough

Six Medals, Middlehaven (http://www.sixmedalspubmiddlesbrough.co.uk)

PZU - Out of Africa (Retired)