George Robert Birt, Flight Sergeant, 207 Squadron RAF
Above photo: Robert Birt (1)
Robert Birt was born in 1921. He was the son of Ernest and Mary Elizabeth Birt. Ernest Birt had been born in 1890 and was the son of a schoolmaster at Burwarton School, Burwarton near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
Above photo: The Old Schoolhouse, Burwarton today (2)
By 1911, Robert Birt’s grandfather was headmaster of the school – his profession on the census being described as “Headteacher (Elementary) County Council”. In this same census, Robert Birt’s father, Ernest, is still living with his father and mother at Burwarton School. His occupation is “cashier estate office”.
In 1919, Ernest Birt married Catherine Hobnett. The marriage was registered at Bridgnorth.
A tribute to Robert Birt in The Hereford Times (dated 30th Jul 2009) states that Robert Birt attended Leominster Grammar School. (3)
In the 1939 England and Wales Register, Robert Birt’s parents were residing at West End Villa, Pembridge, Herefordshire (now West End Cottage).
Above photo: West End Cottage, formerly West End Villa (4)
His father, according to the above register, was “an agent for distribution of cattle pigs and poultry food”.
In the “UK, WWII Index to Allied Airmen Roll of Honour 1939-1945”, Robert Birt, at the time of his death, is registered as living at Pembridge.
Given that Robert Birt would have commenced schooling at Leominster Grammar School at the age of 10-14 years old (pre-11 plus school reforms), one can assume that he had been residing in Pembridge from at least 1935 onwards if not before.
Robert Birt, in the above mentioned Hereford Times article, is referred to as having had a childhood sweetheart, Mary Crisp, who attended Leominster Grammar School with Robert Birt. Also, the man who was later to become the husband of Robert Birt's sweetheart and who also attended Leominster Grammar School at the same time as Robert Birt used to be in the same cricket team as Robert. (5)
In 1939, Robert Birt enlisted in Bomber Command, RAF. He was to qualify as a wireless operator/air gunner.
“The bomber war was fought largely by young, civilian volunteers from Britain and the Commonwealth, commanded by men who joined up before the Second World War. The vast majority of aircrew were in their late teens or early twenties. Only 25% were officers.” (IWM).
When war was declared “the risk of Luftwaffe attack on training bases in Great Britain, coupled with the urgent need for larger numbers of well-trained aircrew than the pre-war systems could produce, brought about the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.” (Wikipedia).
“This was often referred to as “The Plan”. “It was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second World War.” (Wikipedia)
“On completion of basic military training aircrew candidates would wear a white flash on the front of their service issue "side caps" denoting their "aircrew under training" status. No matter where they originated in Britain or the Commonwealth, they could be shipped to the next available training course in any of those nations where pilots were trained to fly at "Elementary Flying Training Schools" and the other aircrew trades attended appropriate trade schools such as "Air Navigation Schools" or "Bombing and Gunnery Schools.
Following completion of training, at a graduation ceremony aircrew were presented with their aircrew brevet (flying badge) and either handed their sergeant's stripes or commissioned as officers.” (Wikipedia)
Above photo: Flight Sergeant Rank chevrons (stripes) as awarded to Robert Birt (Wikipedia)
“The next phase of training was usually at one of the Operational Training Units (OTU). Aircrew memoirs repeatedly mention arriving at an OTU in large groups of mixed aircrew trades all assigned to the next course and being left to mingle in a large hall to form crews. The process of forming a crew generally followed the pattern of one or two men who knew each other from training schools deciding to fly together then looking for other members from different trades to team up with. Most crews were formed in this manner. Instructors were usually experienced aircrew being "rested" after completing an operational tour and were tasked to lead the airmen for 5 or 6 weeks on night flying, navigation, bombing, cross country, all-weather and air gunnery/fighter affiliation practice operations in the types of aircraft they were likely to fly operationally. The process was hazardous and crashes due to inexperience cost over 8,000 casualties, including instructors who had joined a crew needing particular support or guidance.” (Wikipedia)
The Role of the Wireless Operator/Gunner
“Wireless operator/air gunner – In the early stages of the war, usually an enlisted man, he could hold any rank from aircraftman 2nd class (until 27 May 1940) upwards but most often a sergeant.” (Wikipedia)
“The wireless operator transmitted all messages to and from the aircraft to their base. He had fewer duties than the other crew members as operations were generally conducted in wireless silence. However, he also served as the reserve gunner and addressed any minor emergencies in any part of the aircraft. If the aircraft got into difficulties, he had to send out positional signals. If the aircraft had to ditch into the sea, he had to remain at his post to send out a distress signal to improve the crew's chance of being located and rescued.” (IWM)
Above photo: A wireless operator on board an Avro Lancaster (Wikimedia)
“In the first half of the war completion of training at an OTU would mean each crew transferring to an operational squadron and beginning their operational tour. Assignment to a squadron was simply a process of making good recent losses and a squadron which had lost three or four crews in the previous week would expect the "feeder" OTUs to have replacement crews (known as freshmen or sprog crews) ready in the system to cover the losses. This effectively meant that any crew could go to any squadron within Bomber Command.” (Wikipedia)
Robert Birt was posted to 207 Squadron. From 1st November 1940, 207 Squadron was based at Waddington, Lincolnshire. In that same month it was the first station to receive the Avro Manchester heavy bomber.
Above photo: RFC Waddington Training Station (Wikipedia)
Then, on 17th November 1941, the squadron moved to RAF Bottesford.
“No. 207 Squadron was formed from No.7 Squadron RNAS (Royal Navy Air Services) in East Africa in 1918. It had served with the Army of Occupation reforming in 1920 and serving in Turkey in 1922. It was one of the few squadrons to remain in place in the inter-war years, returning to Britain and joining Bomber Command. It became an OTU in 1940, reforming again in November 1940 as part of Bomber Command’s No. 5 Group.” (6)
Above photo:207 Squadron – Robert Birt is in the back row, sixth from the left (7)
“From 11 September 1939 until 22 November 1940, Air Vice Marshal Arthur Harris was in charge. The group (Group 5) started the war with 10 squadrons, all equipped with the Handley Page Hampden.
Above photo: Handley Page Hampden (IWM)
The Group continued to fly only Hampdens until the northern winter of 1940–1941 when it began to convert to the new Avro Manchester.” (Wikipedia)
“The squadron's express purpose was to bring “the new Avro Manchester (also ill-starred) into operational service.” (Virtual War Memorial Australia)
Above photo: Avro Manchester 1 (Wikipedia)
“The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the famed and vastly more successful four-engined Avro Lancaster, which was one of the most capable strategic bombers of the Second World War.” (Wikipedia)
“In November 1940, the Manchester officially entered service with the newly reformed No. 207 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command. The type passed all acceptance tests by 21 December 1940, and 207 Squadron had at least 80 Manchesters on strength by the end of 1940.
207 Squadron was” the first British squadron used solely for long-range night bombing. The squadron took the Manchesters on their first raid of the war on 24/25th February 1941, when six aircraft attacked a Hipper-class cruiser at Brest.” (Virtual War Memorial Australia)
Above photo: The forward section of an Avro Manchester Mark I of No. 207 Squadron RAF (IWM)
“Aircrew were first committed to a tour of thirty operational flights, not exceeding 200 actual flying hours, which could last for any period from four months to a year.
The everyday lives of most aircrew, unlike other servicemen, were a unique mixture of danger and normality. At one moment the men were on a bombing raid, a few hours later they were safely at home in the pub.
Bomber operations were extremely stressful and frequently perilous, with a random chance of death or horrific injury. Flying was physically and mentally demanding and constant concentration was needed for many hours at a time. Airmen had to not only fight the enemy, but also a hostile environment in which they might encounter many kinds of adverse weather. Occupational hazards such as lack of oxygen, frostbite and lower pressures at high altitude meant they needed equipment to keep them warm and breathing. These problems were increased by operating at night.
On operations, most aircrew feared anti-aircraft fire, known as flak, although statistically, they were more likely to be shot down by fighters. Shrapnel from exploding flak could cause extensive damage not only to aircraft, but also to the crew. It could result in serious injuries, especially if it struck the head or upper body. The sight and sound of shells bursting nearby were unnerving to an aircrew and a near miss could cause the aircraft to jolt alarmingly.
For aircrew returning safely from an operation, relief at survival was the overriding emotion. Once home they could enjoy a hot meal and a sleep in a warm bed.
Above photo: An exhausted young Canadian pilot after returning from an operation over Germany (IWM)
For the next few days there might be no flying. RAF stations generally had good leisure facilities and there were frequent dances, mess parties and variety shows.
Above photo: Aircrew were given generous amounts of leave, with a seven-day pass every six weeks and shorter periods granted during prolonged bad weather or after difficult operations” (IWM)
On 22nd November 1940, The London Gazette wrote that Robert Birt was awarded The Distinguished Flying Corps Medal.
The “UK, WWII Recipients of The Distinguished Flying Medal 1939-1945” directory states the following -
“This airman as wireless operator has completed 200 hours operational flying. He is an exceptionally skillful wireless operator/Air Gunner and has on many occasions obtained W/T (wireless transmitter) bearings under the most difficult and arduous conditions, showing at all times coolness and initiative”.
These 200 hours of operational flying that Robert Birt had completed would have been in the Handley Page Hampden bomber. The type of operations that he would have been involved with where as follows.
“With the outbreak of war in 1939, Hampdens were initially used to perform armed aerial reconnaissance missions, observing German naval activity during daylight.
Above photo: Handley Page Hampdens (8)
However, despite its speed and manoeuvrability, the Hampden proved to be no match for Luftwaffe fighters; in December 1939, Bomber Command is claimed to have discarded the belief that aircraft such as the Hampden could realistically operate by day and instead chose to predominantly employ them under the cover of darkness during night-time operations. During 1940, Hampdens of 5 Group 207 Squadron’s Group conducted 123 night-time airborne leaflet propaganda missions, losing only a single aircraft in the process. On 19 March 1940, Hampdens took part in the first deliberate bombing of German soil in a night-time raid upon the seaplane hangars and slipways in Hörnum, Sylt. The type continued to operate at night on bombing raids over Germany. On 25 August 1940, Hampdens from various squadrons participated in the RAF's first bombing raid on Berlin.” (Wikipedia)
“The successes of Bomber Command were purchased at terrible cost.
(9)
Of every 100 airmen who joined Bomber Command, 45 were killed, 6 were seriously wounded, 8 became Prisoners of War, and only 41 escaped unscathed (at least physically). Of those who were flying at the beginning of the war, only ten percent survived. It is a loss rate comparable only to the worst slaughter of the First World War trenches. Only the Nazi U-Boat force suffered a higher casualty rate. (10)
On 12th August 1941, Robert Birt went on his last operation. He was aged 20 and was one of a five-man crew flying in an Avro Manchester 1 bomber.
The following International Bomber Command Centre Losses Database Report is as follows -
“Last op 12.8.41
Take off Waddington, Lincs. Bomber Command.
Day/Night Raid (69% Moon)
Operation Berlin
Reasons for loss Hit by flak, crashed at Tetlow Berlin.” (11)
The plane, in fact, crashed in the early hours (0200 hours) of the following day.
Out of the five-man crew only 1 crew member survived. That crew member was taken prisoner.
Robert Birt is buried at The Berlin War Cemetery 1939-1945.
Above photo: Robert Birt’s headstone and grave (12)
He was laid to rest alongside his captain and two colleagues.
Above photo: Robert Birt’s headstone and also two of his crew’s headstones either side (CWGC)
The site of Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetery was selected by the British Occupation Authorities and Commission officials jointly in 1945, soon after hostilities ceased.
Above photo: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery (CWGC)
Graves were brought to the cemetery from the Berlin area and from eastern Germany. The great majority of those buried here, approximately 80 per cent of the total, were airmen who were lost in the air raids over Berlin and the towns in eastern Germany. The remainder were men who died as prisoners of war, some of them in the forced march into Germany from camps in Poland, in front of the advancing Russians.
The cemetery contains 3,595 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 397 of them unidentified.
Ernest Birt, Robert’s father, died in 1962 at the age of 72. His mother, Mary Elizabeth, died in 1979 at the age of 89 in Ludlow.
What is interesting is that of the three men commemorated on the Pembridge War Memorial who were in the RAF in the 2nd World War, two of them were in the same RAF squadron – 207. Given that there were 96 British RAF squadrons during the 2nd World War, the chances of both these men being in the same squadron would have been slightly more than 1 per cent.
Rory MacColl
Sources
1/ https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/4520138.leominster-berlin-pay-tribute-war-heero/
2/ https://www.cottages.com/cottages/the-old-school-house-luxury-accommodation-the-old-kitchen-uk32062
3/ https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/4520138.leominster-berlin-pay-tribute-war-heero/
4/ https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101167039-west-end-cottage-pembridge
5/ https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/4520138.leominster-berlin-pay-tribute-war-heero
6/ https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/allied/royalairforce/sqdview.php?pid=405
7/ http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/news_fp.html (Copyright Clive Smith)
8/ https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/aircraft_hampden.html
9/ https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/bomber-command/bomber-commands-losses/
10/ https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/bomber-command/bomber-commands-losses/
11/ https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101934/
12/ https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/4520138.leominster-berlin-pay-tribute-war-heero/