Any Aerial Private Ryans?

[Coochycool]

I recently finished reading Bomber Pilot by Leonard Cheshire and was taken by an incident whereby some of his messmates survive a ditching after running out of fuel....

"For a brief instant, as they were swept up onto the top of a wave, they had a fleeting vision of a Whitley silhouetted against the horizon, and, standing on its fuselage, their Flight Commander. And that was the end. Against the furied roar of the waves they drifted away towards the dawn. They did not know the Flight Commander's brother was not to return that night either".

Cheshire mentions how he knew his brother Christopher to be over the same target on at least 4 occasions, first on Whitleys, later on Hampdens.

Leaving me wondering if anyone on here knows of any examples where multiple siblings are lost on aerial Ops? Perhaps it was not such an uncommon event?

And were there ever similar machinations as Saving Private Ryan to avoid such events?

[Innominate]

My old school had four pairs of brothers serving in the RAF:

• The Cheetham family lost two sons - one in Bomber Command, the other in the Desert Air Force;
• The Hoggard family lost one son; the other won a DFC;
• The Pextons also lost one son; the other won an AFC as aninstructor in Canada and then a DFC in Bomber Command;
• One of the Purdon brothers was lost in Bomber Command, the other in a flying accident as a staff pilot at a training unit for navigators.

I suspect such multiple losses were more numerous in the Army; either way, the effect on the families much have been dreadful.

[Brian Abraham]

I suspect such multiple losses were more numerous in the Army

There were certainly some tragic events. Five Sullivan brothers lost with the sinking of the light cruiser USS Juneau, and four Borgstrom brothers killed over a six month period, two USAAF over Europe, one Army, one Marine.

As a result in 1948 the US instituted the "Sole Survivor Policy" which protected members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service.

[Mechta]

MacRobert's Reply:

History of The MacRobert Trust

Not lost on the same op, but all lost whilst flying. Their mother donated £25000 to buy the RAF a Short Stirling, with subsequent Squadron aircraft bearing the same name.

[OyYou]

I did some research into the Soden brothers who are commemorated on the Winchcombe memorial in Gloucestershire. One brother flying with 56 squadron was killed flying a Hurricane in 1940 during the Fall of France and was subsequently awarded a posthumous DSO. The citation for which was worthy of a VC. The other brother was killed when the SS Laconia was torpedoed on its way from North Africa. He had survived the Battle of Britain flying Spitfires and North Africa campaign flying Tomahawks. The Third brother served in Burma and died of Blackwater Fever in the jungle.

For the purists. It should not be possible to be awarded a posthumous DSO as you cannot be made a member of the Order if you are not alive at the time of recommendation. George V1 made a special allowance in this case as the next of kin had already been informed on the condition that it should never happen again.
Regards