Norman Cyril Jackson

Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Norman Cyril Jackson was a flight engineer in RAF Bomber Command and the first man of his trade to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Born in Ealing on 8 April 1919, he was a fitter by training and had effectively finished his tour of operations when, on the night of 26/27 April 1944, he flew as flight engineer in a Lancaster of No. 106 Squadron attacking the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt. Homeward bound, the bomber was raked by a night-fighter and a fuel tank in the starboard wing caught fire. Although already wounded by shell splinters, Jackson climbed out of the fuselage with a fire extinguisher, gripped the leading edge of the wing and fought the flames as the aircraft flew on at 140 miles per hour. Swept off the wing with his parachute partly burned, he fell to earth with a broken ankle and badly burned hands, was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. He survived to receive his Victoria Cross in 1945 and died on 26 March 1994.