Howard Peter "Cowboy" Blatchford
First Canadian Victory of WW2*

MANY CANADIANS RECEIVE AWARDS IN KING’S LIST
Twenty-Two Flyers Are Named For Outstanding Services

London, Jan. 2, 1942 — (CP Cable) — Canadians fighting in the air and on the sea were rewarded by the King yesterday in the New Year's honors list. Of the 24 Canadians included in the list, all but two, are airmen.
Three Air Aces
Among the seven Canadian members of the Royal Air Force receiving the Air Force Cross were listed three aces whose brilliant flying had brought them decorations before—Wing Commander John Fulton, of Kamloops, B.C.; Flt.-Lt. Archibald P. Walsh, of London, Ont., and Flt.-Lt. Lawrence L. Jones, of Port Arthur, Ont.
Fulton received the Distinguished Flying Cross on September 28, 1940, for outstanding skill in a raid on Brussels. Walsh was awarded the D.F.C. on December 19, 1940— I just after the R.A.F. had won its great battle over Britain against the German air force.
Jones not only won the D.F.C. in 1940 but was also "mentioned in dispatches" in the King's 1941 New Year's honors list.
The Air Force Cross, which was, instituted in 1918, is designed for presentation upon officers and warrant officers of the R.A.F. "for acts of courage or devotion to duty when flying, although not in active operations against the enemy."
The Distinguished Flying Cross, which also dates from 1918, is bestowed "for acts of gallantry when flying in active operations against the enemy."
Seven in Dispatches
A distinguished group of seven Canadians in the R.A.F. were listed as mentioned in dispatches. They were Acting Sqdn.-Ldr. R.A.D. Foster, of Prince Albert, Sask.; Acting Sqdn.-Ldr. J.H. Van, of Lake Megantic, Que.; Acting Wing Commander Howard P. Blatchford, of Edmonton; Acting Wing Commander N.W. Timmerman, of Kingston, Ont.; Flt.-Lieut. J.M. Bodman, of Edmonton; Flt.-Lieut. K.B. Corbould, of New Westminster, B.C., and Acting Sqdn.-Ldr. H.R. Beall, whose Canadian home town was not given.
Blatchford and Corbould had previously won the D.F.C. for gallantry in action and Timmerman was awarded the Distinguished Service Order last September 19. All of them have seen the heaviest action and Bodman was reported wounded in action on August 26, 1941.
Flight Sergeant J.F. Bishop, of Calgary, was awarded the Air Force Medal.

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BLATCHFORD, F/L Howard Peter (37715) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.257 Squadron
Awarded as per London Gazette 6 December 1940.

In November 1940 this officer was the leader of a squadron which destroyed eight and damaged a further five enemy aircraft in one day. In the course of the combat he rammed and damaged a hostile fighter when his ammunition was expended, and the made two determined head-on feint attacks on enemy fighters which drove them off. He has shown magnificent leadership and outstanding courage.

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INDICATE R.C.A.F. FLYERS HELPED DEFEND SINGAPORE
BEAT HUN FIGHTERS

With the R.C.A.F. Somewhere in England, June 1, 1942— (CP) — Messroom chatter: First indication that R.C.A.F. flyers took part in the defence of Singapore comes with the news that Pilot Officer J.M. Barnes, of Toronto, has become attached to the Royal Australian Air Force.
Joins R.A.A.F.
Barnes escaped from Singapore and was taken to Australia, where the R.C.A.F. permitted him to remain to fly with the R.A.A.F. as a navigator.
Many Australian airmen fly with the R.C.A.F. fighter and bomber squadrons in Britain but this is the first time it has been announced that an R.C.A.F. flyer is to fly officially with the Australians. Details of Barnes' escape were not available in London.
Germany's vaunted Focke-Wolf 190 fighter had its measure taken recently by Canadian Spitfire pilots, who drove off an attack on Boston bombers they were escorting near Abbeville, France.
Wing-Cmdr. Herb Blatchford, D.F.C., of Edmonton, shot down one FW190 in flames and Flight-Lieut. Frederick E. Green, of Toronto, damaged another. Blatchford's aircraft was damaged and he was obliged to make a forced landing when he returned to base. He suffered minor cuts and bruises. Blatchford gave his victim such a blasting that he feared flying fragments would damage his own airscrew and wings.
"I fired two bursts into him at 250 yards," the wing-commander related afterwards, "and saw flashes in his fuselage, followed by smoke. I continued following and firing and he took practically no evasive action. The wreckage finally fell in flames.
"His No. 2 man, I knew, was not far off, but the last I had seen of him he apparently was being engaged by two Spitfires. At this stage my attention was distracted by what I thought was firing from two flak ships below, and while 1 was looking down I got a rude shock. From behind, cannon shells hit my left aileron, right wing and tire and missed my radiator by a narrow margin. The result was that my lateral control was unstable, my right flag was out of commission, the tire was burst and my landing gear was damaged."
Waterdown Flyer Mentioned
Green, recently appointed flight commander, also saw fragments fly off the aircraft he attacked but lost sight of it later and could only claim it as "damaged."
Other Canadians from the squadron who helped repel the Nazi attackers included Flight-Lieut. John P. McColl, Waterdown, Ont.; Pilot-Officers R.I. Alpine Smith, Regina; Jack Brookhouse, Montreal; Lloyd Stewart, Fair Hills, Sask.; Harold Charlesworth, Chemainis, Vancouver Island; Richard A. Ellis, Montreal; Warrant Officer J.D. Stevenson, Winnipeg; Flight-Sgt .Stewart Pearce, Toronto, and Sgt. W.F. Aldcorn, Gouverneur, Sask.
Warrant Officers Francis MacRae, Montreal navigator, and Sgt. Pilot Albert Attwell, of Toronto, both agree "you're safer in the air than on the ground."
MacRae came back from a hazardous bombing trip to a French arms center. After reporting to the intelligence officer, he went to the officers’ mess for a hot drink before retiring. The mess floor had been freshly polished and as he walked in the door he slipped and fell and fractured his left knee.
Attwell also came through the perils of a bombing attack across the channel. Returning from St. Nazaire, his aircraft crashed into a hill in England and he suffered a fracture of the left leg.
The two Canadians share neighboring beds in the same hospital.

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Wing Commander Is Missing

Edmonton, May 7, 1943 (CP) — Wing Cmdr. Howard R Blatchford, D.F.C., of Edmonton, leader of a squadron of Spitfire pilots overseas, is missing after air operations, word received here said. Wing Cmdr. Blatchford is one of Edmonton's best-known fliers and has several enemy planes to his credit. He is the son of the late Kenneth Blatchford, former mayor of Edmonton, and Mrs. [Grace] Blatchford. Edmonton’s airport — Blatchford Field was named after Wing Cmdr. Blatchford's father.

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Air Force Casualties

Ottawa, June 10, 1943 - (CP) - The R.C.A.F. in its 598th casualty list of the war, containing 52 names, tonight listed six men as killed on active service overseas and 12 men as missing on active service after overseas air operations. Fourteen men were listed as previously reported missing on active service in Newfoundland and now officially presumed dead. The list contained no casualties suffered in Canada. Included in the list, with next of kin:
CANADIAN IN THE R.A.F.
BLATCHFORD, Howard Peter. D.F.C., Wing Cmdr. Missing after air operations overseas. Mrs. K.A. Blatchford (mother), Didsbury, Alta.

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Air Force Casualties

Ottawa, Dec. 8, 1943 — The Department of National Defense for Air today issued the following casualty list of the Royal Canadian Air Force (No. 748) with next of:
CANADIAN IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
BLATCHFORD. Howard Peter, D.F.C., W/C previously reported missing on active service overseas, now for official purposes presumed dead. Mrs. K.A. Blatchford (mother), Didsbury, Alta.

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His last word were:

"I'm going down! I'm going down!"
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BLATCHFORD. HOWARD PETER (Cowboy). W/C (P) 37715 - D.F.C., M.i.D. - No.257 Burma Squadron (Thay Myay Gyee Shwe Hii). Lost in the English Channel while escorting bombers to Amsterdam. Blachford destroyed five enemy aircraft (2 shared) during the Battle of Britain while flying Hurricanes with 17 Sqdn. He had been flying Spitfires with 41 Sqdn. when war broke out. In April of 1941 he was assigned to 212 Photo Reconnaissanc Unit at Heston, England. Wing Commander Pilot Blatchford has no known grave, his name is inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial. Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, England.

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*  Shared a Heinkel-111 on October 17th 1939

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--- Canadian Aces ---

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