Charles Lofthouse, Squadron Leader
Hyfler/Rosner
(from The Telegraph)
Squadron Leader Charles Lofthouse, who has died aged 80, had already
survived 37 bombing raids and been awarded the DFC when he rescued five
aircrew from a bomber which crashed on the airfield at Waterbeach in
Cambridgeshire.
At the time Lofthouse was "resting", following a sustained period raiding
heavily defended targets in Germany. In November 1942 he was acting as night
duty pilot in the Waterbeach control tower when a Stirling four-engine heavy
bomber crashed and burst into flames.
The plane was 30 feet above the ground when the pilot in its trainee crew
mistook a shallow layer of fog for the runway and attempted to land. The
bomber came down so heavily that the undercarriage collapsed; the fuel tanks
were punctured, setting the aircraft ablaze.
Joining the fire crew as they sped to the scene, Lofthouse braved burning
aviation fuel and exploding ammunition as he fought his way into the
wreckage alongside two station groundcrew; together they dragged out five
men from the Stirling. For his part in the rescue Lofthouse was appointed
OBE (military).
In June 1943 Lofthouse resumed operational flying. He was posted to No 7, a
four-engine Lancaster bomber squadron in the Pathfinder Force, as a
replacement skipper - the squadron having lost seven crews in two nights.
It was not the best of omens, but Lofthouse had been hand-picked as a flight
commander by Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie, the Pathfinders' well-known
"talent scout"; and, as with so many of Mahaddie's selections, Lofthouse
proved a winner until he was himself shot down.
In seven weeks Lofthouse took part in some of the Pathfinders' best-known
operations. These included five missions to Hamburg (which became known as
the "firestorm raids"), and the attack, on August 17 1943, on Peenemunde,
the notorious V-1 flying-bomb and V-2 rocket centre on the Baltic.
Such was Lofthouse's reputation for both target marking and bombing that,
over Peenemunde, he acted as back-up to the raid's master bomber, Group
Captain John Searby, commander of No 83 Squadron.
Six nights later Lofthouse was marking a target area in Berlin when he was
shot down by a night fighter. He managed to bale out with his crew which,
somewhat unusually, was supplemented by the squadron's station commander,
who had gone along for the ride.
Consequently, Lofthouse suffered the embarrassment of delivering not only
himself and his crew into captivity, but also Group Captain A H Willetts,
thus creating a vacancy at No 7 Squadron's base at Oakington,
Cambridgeshire.
Of this ill-fated operation, Lofthouse later recalled: "We had arrived [over
Berlin] a little early, and were losing a couple of minutes in a turn, when
the sky lit up with tracer. I looked across to the port engines and saw the
outer brewing up. A deep blue flame was growing from the fuel tank which
spread rapidly, producing a huge, bright yellow flame streaming behind the
aircraft, which was becoming uncontrollable.
"I said, 'I think it's time we got out' - at which point Willetts was out
through the nose escape hatch like a rat out of a trap, and the rest of the
crew quickly followed." Lofthouse also reminisced ruefully how he had
welcomed Willetts aboard with a jaunty "Don't forget to bring your
sandwiches for the trip home, sir".
But the crew and their guest were destined for prisoner of war camps.
Lofthouse, when he baled out, landed in a German Army compound, dislocating
a shoulder and breaking an arm. He was later lodged in Stalag Luft III,
scene of the Great Escape. Employing his skills as a draughtsman, Lofthouse
became a member of the team which produced maps and forged documents to
assist the escapees - although he himself was in hospital when the Great
Escape took place.
Charles Lofthouse was born on September 26 1921 at Mountain Ash, Glamorgan.
His father, a former miner, had served as a gunner in the First World War;
he had then taken up painting and decorating and moved to London, where
young Lofthouse attended Kingsbury County School.
After going on a scholarship to Harrow Art School, Lofthouse had difficulty
finding a job in the aftermath of the depression, but eventually got work as
an office boy with H W Dutton, the heating and ventilating engineers. Since
the company had been awarded contracts to equip rearmament "shadow
factories", he found himself in a reserved occupation, and thus unable to
enlist in the armed forces.
In the Spring of 1940, however, young men in reserved occupations were
offered the chance to join up, provided they volunteered for aircrew
training; Lofthouse was accepted for a pilots' course.
After being awarded his wings, he was commissioned as a pilot officer and
posted to No 149, a Wellington bomber squadron in which he was crewed up
with two French Canadians, an Australian, and two Britons, one of whom,
Michael Strutt, was his rear gunner. When the squadron was ordered to
Mildenhall, Lofthouse surmised that it was because of the station's
proximity to Newmarket - where the trainer Jack Jarvis looked after the
horses of Strutt's stepfather, Lord Rosebery.
Following his period as a PoW, Lofthouse was repatriated on VE Day. He had
expected to return to civilian life, but was invited to resume duties as a
flight commander, and he accepted. His peacetime service began with postings
in the Middle East and the Egypt Canal Zone.
Like many bomber pilots, Lofthouse had long dreamt of flying fighters, and
this was realised when he was posted to a Meteor jet unit engaged in early
warning sorties on the east coast of England.
Subsequently he became an instructor at the RAF Junior Staff College, and
this fostered an ambition to build a new career as a teacher. Consequently,
Lofthouse retired from the RAF in 1966, undertook teacher training, and
began life as a schoolmaster in the Birmingham area, later moving to the
south.
When he finally retired to the Cotswolds, Lofthouse devoted much time to the
Royal Air Forces Association, serving as treasurer, secretary and president
of RAFA's South Cotswolds branch.
He also remained faithful to his beloved 7 Squadron, acting variously as its
association's secretary, newsletter editor, and general factotum. Lofthouse
also worked for the provision of a memorial window at RAF Oakington's
church, All Saints, Longstanton, and the establishment of a 7 Squadron roll
of honour there.
In 1947 Lofthouse married Huguette Thomas. He married, secondly, in 1971,
Joy Hartman (nee Gough), a former Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot. She
survives him, together with two sons and two daughters by his first
marriage, and five stepchildren.