ME669

A Lancaster of No. 106 Squadron in which Sergeant Norman Jackson flew against the ball-bearing works at Schweinfurt on the night of 26/27 April 1944 — a sortie he volunteered for, beyond his completed tour, so his crew could finish together. When a fuel tank in the starboard wing caught fire after a fighter attack, Jackson — already wounded — clipped on a parachute, took a fire extinguisher and climbed out onto the wing in flight to fight the flames before being swept off into the night. He survived, badly burned, as a prisoner of war, and was awarded the Victoria Cross.