Great Britain. Royal Air Force - Raw courage: the extraordinary and tragic story of four RAF brothers in arms

This Book is Dedicated to Mothers

who Tragically Lost their Sons in Wars

Published by
Grub Street
4 Rainham Close
London
SW11 6SS

Copyright Grub Street 2011
Copyright text Norman Franks and Simon Muggleton 2011

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Franks, Norman L. R.

Raw courage : the extraordinary and tragic story of four
RAF brothers in arms.
1. Raw, John. 2. Raw, Peter. 3. Raw, Tony. 4. Raw, Michael.
5. Great Britain. Royal Air ForceBiography. 6. Air
pilots, MilitaryGreat BritainBiography. 7. Air
pilots, MilitaryGreat BritainCorrespondence. 8. World
War, 1939-1945CasualtiesGreat BritainBiography.
9. BrothersGreat BritainBiography.
I. Title II. Muggleton, Simon.

ISBN-13: 9781908117137
ePub ISBN: 9781909166844

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Cover design by Sarah Driver
Edited by Sophie Campbell
Formatted by Sarah Driver

Printed and bound by MPG Ltd, Cornwall

Grub Street Publishing only uses
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper for its books.

Help and valuable assistance has been provided by many people. Martin Smith, who did a wonderful job in finding and preserving the letters, and passing them on. Mr A J Rogers, former headmaster (1995) of Wellington School; Juliet Handley, development officer at Wellington School; the late Roland Beamont CBE DSO* DFC*; Chris Goss; Andy Thomas; Andy Saunders; Graham Day and Anna Gibbs of the Air Historical Branch; Gordon Leith of the RAF Museum; Paul Baillie, researcher; Ealing Library; Wellington School, Squadron Leader Jeff Hesketh FRIN RAF, ex-aircrew, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; Di Holland, BBMF admin support; Dave Bell, tech support officer, RAF Cranwell; Alycia Bennett, RAF Manning Records at RAF Cranwell; the 609 Squadron Association; Dr Jonathan Oates, archivist, Ealing Public Library; Alfie Windsor, HMS Conway Old Comrades Assn; Theresa Thom, librarian, Grays Inn, London; Miss Justine Taylor, archivist, Honourable Artillery Company Museum, City of London; Michael Motum, archivist, Rifles/Somerset Light Infantry Museum, Somerset; Sue Chandler, Richard Epsley, Melanie Oelgeschlager, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; Rosanna Wilkinson, photographic section, Imperial War Museum, London; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Judith Harrison, British Library Newspapers; Paloma Kubiak, Ealing and Acton Gazette ; David Erskine-Hill, Dix Noonen Webb Auctions, London; Edward Raw, barrister, Tanfield Chambers, London; Thibault Williams and Martin Flash, Otters Swimming Club, London; Richard Foster for the photo of HMS Lysander ; Perry King, Creffield Road Residents Assn, Ealing.

Not forgetting our wives, Heather and Jill, who once more have coped with the mounds of paper around the house!

I always enjoy watching the BBCs Antiques Roadshow, the TV programme where members of the public bring along a variety of treasures to show to the antique experts. The specialists usually ask how the item was acquired, and quite often the owner will explain that either it had been handed down through the generations or occasionally that they purchased the item from a jumble or car boot sale. There are also programmes which raise awareness of the value of antiques or vintage collectables so it is now much more unlikely that anyone can discover a hidden gem in a junk shop, jumble sale, or anywhere else for that matter.

Having said all that, I have been extremely fortunate in acquiring a collection of paperwork and letters in that way from a friend and fellow aviation collector, Andy Saunders, who occasionally organises aerojumble sales. Another aviation contact of his is Martin Smith, who had originally discovered the papers and letters which form the basis of this book when he wandered into a south London bric-a-brac shop during his lunch hour. He discovered, on top of a pile of other bits and pieces, a leather suitcase which contained the documents. After a swift read of some of the contents, Martin quickly realised that the papers gave a vivid insight into the lives of a middle-class family during World War II. The letters were written by four sons, three of whom served in the Royal Air Force during the war, while the fourth, still at school, would later fly with the peacetime RAF. Most were written to their mother, who lived in west London, with her return letters to her sons. Martin passed his find onto Andy, knowing he would be able to take the RAF research further.

Andy called me to let me know about this find, which comprised bundles of private and official letters from and about four pilots. He explained that there were also Air Ministry papers, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and diaries, along with some photographs, mementos and badges.

Andy, who is also an aviation author of several books and articles, being much involved in a number of other projects, including television programmes, and helping to excavate crashed World War II aeroplanes, concluded that I might be able to give more time to this research than he could. When he added that there was a fighter pilot amongst the four sons, I needed no further encouragement.

Amongst the handwritten letters were some with embossed letter headings from such places as the officers mess at RAF Tangmere, and RAF Manston. To some this might have looked like a typical collection from a house clearance, but to me it looked like a really interesting project to pursue! It took a while to sort through the mountain of documents, etc, but when that was accomplished, I was able to begin reading the correspondence in earnest. The letters ran from 1938 until 1958 and were written between a mother, Mrs Irene Raw, who lived in Ealing, and her three grown-up sons, John, Peter and Anthony. The fourth and youngest son Robert, but known as Michael, was a boarder at Wellington School, in Somerset, and later an RAF pilot after the war. Also included in the pile of letters were some exchanged between Michael (Mike) and another pilot, Squadron Leader Bruce Cole DFC AFC, who turned out to be not only a friend of the family but a godfather to Michael.

Most of the letters were contained in blue envelopes but then I spotted a small white envelope. In black ink on the front of this envelope was written: Daddys Obit The Times 1932. A cutting inside revealed the tragic news that the head of the Raw family, Commander Frederick Edward Raw, had died of a heart attack on 8 June of that year, whilst gardening at his Ealing home.

From that point, Mrs Raw, had of necessity, become the head of the family, not only of four boys but two daughters too, Beatrice, but known as Trixie, and Patricia, known as Pat. As I continued to read through the letters, more sad and touching news emerged of this familys misfortunes, and it is these events that are conveyed within the pages of this book.

I still wanted to know and learn more about each son, and how each had fared in the RAF, and so corresponded with squadron associations, their old school, the RAF Museum and I also visited the National Archives to check squadron records. I read everything I could find on them. It soon emerged that Anthony had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in May 1942, and the Air Force Cross in December 1943. Peter too had been awarded the DFC in May 1943, while Michael had received the Air Force Cross in January 1955. These awards would have provided Mrs Raw with the possibly unique experience of attending Buckingham Palace on five separate occasions during the reign of three different monarchs, because her husband had also received the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I during his service with the Royal Navy.