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perfect light but I could see we would have to get even closer to be successful...The Wing
Commander assured me he could. He switched off the intercom and I felt the Wellington go into a steep bank. Round we went in the tightest turn I had ever experienced. The Wellington behaved perfectly as we came round, almost standing on a wing-tip...The aircraft was practically catapulted upwards as it gave birth to its giant bomb. The pilot increased the power as we climbed away. Every ounce of speed was necessary as we only had eleven seconds to get clear of the area before the blast... We circled back and saw a complete section of the viaduct had been destroyed and that a train emerging on the north side had been caught up in the blast."
256:– also equipped with Wellingtons. Bagnall, though popular and outgoing, was a disciplinarian who eschewed the easy familiarity between ranks that had marked the tenure of his predecessor at 40 Squadron, John Morton. One of his first achievements as commanding officer was to re-equip the squadron with the updated and more powerful Wellington Mk III and Mk X, which replaced the obsolescent Mk IC model in service at the time.
292:
twin-track viaduct was in a near impregnable natural position, running across a narrow defile protected by cliffs on three sides. The lead
Wellington, captained by Bagnall, was armed with a 4000-pound 'blockbuster' barrel bomb on a short time-delay fuse; it was accompanied by 11 other Wellingtons and two pathfinder planes to light up the target with flares.
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Bagnall married
Caroline Welham in 1945. After retiring from the RAF, Bagnall and his wife spent the next 11 years sailing the world in his 60-ft ketch, Tirrenia II. He eventually settled at Hergest Croft, Kington, Herefordshire. He was an active sportsman, playing rugby for Wasps after the war, and
295:
The bomb-aimer, Flight
Lieutenant Allan Brodie, recalled: "We made five dummy runs, each one bringing us closer to the viaduct. The cliffs reared above us and to the north I could see the buildings on the outskirts of the town of Recco. On the sixth run a stick of flares exploded, providing us with
334:
In July 1950 Bagnall was posted as an RAF intelligence officer to
Singapore, then still a British colony. He returned to the UK in May 1953 as part of the planning team responsible for the RAF Coronation review held in honour of the new queen, Elizabeth II. In August 1953 he was posted to the
291:
Bagnall's exceptional qualities as a pilot were well illustrated in a bombing raid on Recco railway viaduct, slightly to the east of Genoa, during the night of
November 10, 1943. It was an interdiction mission, aimed at denying the Germans reinforcement of their positions further south. The
30:
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Electing to stay in the RAF after the war ended, Bagnall accepted the temporarily reduced rank of flight lieutenant and in July 1945 was posted to RAF Defford in
Worcestershire, where he worked as a pilot experimenting with radar equipment at the Royal Radar Establishment.
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One night in
September, 1943, Wing Commander Bagnall participated in an attack on the marshalling yards at Battipaglia and his accurate bombing was a feature of his praiseworthy efforts. This officer has rendered magnificent
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bomber station at RAF Scampton and, less than a year later, was doing a stint as a staff officer on Bomber
Operations at the Air Ministry. His last position, which he took up early in 1963, was at the
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267:'s North West African Air Force, supported Allied troops in their final battles against the Germans in Tunisia. It then moved on to the Sicilian and Italian landings and campaigns.
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233:(RAF) pilot and was commissioned in 1938. In May 1939 he was posted as a pilot officer to No. 216 Squadron, a bomber transport unit flying
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station at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk. He retired from the RAF, with the rank of wing commander, on 23 September 1965.
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213:, New Zealand, to Alfred Ernest Bagnall and Henrietta, and was educated at King's Preparatory School and
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in 1917, transferred to the Joint
Planning Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (
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In March 1943, aged 24, Bagnall was promoted to wing commander of another No. 205 Group unit,
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In April 1944 Bagnall, by now the longest-serving war-time commander of 40 Squadron since
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in 1944. He was awarded his earlier (UK) DFC while with No. 108 Squadron, in May 1942.
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biplanes at Heliopolis in Egypt. By May 1942 he was acting squadron leader of
185:(23 September 1918 – 28 December 2000) was a New Zealand-born officer in the
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430:"Douglas Bagnall – Historical records and family trees – MyHeritage"
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For the next 12 months the squadron, which soon became part of the
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323:), where he became assistant to the Deputy Chief of Air Staff,
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Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
495:. Bishop Auckland, Durham: The Pentland Press. p. 242.
670:
New Zealand Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
590:. Farnham, Surrey: Triple Cat Publishing. pp. 59–60.
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in Sicily, Italy and the North African desert during the
339:, based in Essex, England. In 1957 he moved to the
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274:for his part in an attack on marshalling yards at
278:, Italy, during the Allied amphibious assault on
311:, at a SHAEF Air Staff briefing in February 1945
34:Bagnall outside his tent in North Africa in 1942
518:. 2 November 1943. p. 4813. Archived from
460:"RAF London Gazette Index Search Bagnall 40790"
560:. 18 January 1944. p. 359. Archived from
8:
665:People educated at King's College, Auckland
631:"'Wimpy' pilot led daring bomber attacks".
28:
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685:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II
602:"Life Events (BMDs), World, R Bagnall"
303:Wing Commander Douglas Rivers Bagnall
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307:with Air Marshal H.E.P. Wigglesworth
189:. Bagnall led a number of successful
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209:Douglas Rivers Bagnall was born in
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325:Air Marshal H. E. P. Wigglesworth
219:Victoria University of Wellington
680:Military personnel from Auckland
406:. 3 January 2001. Archived from
398:"Wing Commander Douglas Bagnall"
533:– via nzhistory.govt.nz.
359:Douglas Rivers Bagnall died in
337:USAF's 20th Fighter Bomber Wing
282:in 1943; and the United States
575:– via nzhistory.govt.nz.
1:
637:. 11 January 2001. p. 7.
507:"Distinguished Service Order"
217:, before reading commerce at
549:"Distinguished Flying Cross"
261:15th United States Air Force
606:livesofthefirstworldwar.org
272:Distinguished Service Order
150:Distinguished Service Order
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284:Distinguished Flying Cross
158:Distinguished Flying Cross
154:Distinguished Flying Cross
193:operations in support of
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690:Royal Air Force officers
215:King's College, Auckland
205:Early life and education
586:Brodie, Allan (1989).
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270:Bagnall was awarded a
229:Bagnall trained as an
170:Douglas Rivers Bagnall
22:Douglas Rivers Bagnall
588:Adventure in My Veins
491:Gunby, David (1995).
363:on 28 December 2000.
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97:Years of service
317:Major Leonard Tilney
612:on 14 February 2018
567:on 14 February 2018
525:on 14 February 2018
440:on 14 February 2018
410:on 14 February 2018
403:The Daily Telegraph
356:was a keen golfer.
129:No. 40 Squadron RAF
557:The London Gazette
515:The London Gazette
493:Sweeping the Skies
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247:Vickers Wellington
191:Vickers Wellington
243:No. 205 Group RAF
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50:23 September 1918
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67:(aged 82)
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634:Evening Post
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614:. Retrieved
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65:(2000-12-28)
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660:2000 deaths
655:1918 births
616:14 February
571:14 February
529:14 February
464:RAFCommands
444:14 February
414:14 February
276:Battipaglia
265:Carl Spaatz
263:in General
80:New Zealand
649:Categories
469:14 January
434:MyHeritage
367:References
305:(top left)
241:, part of
77:Allegiance
46:1918-09-23
345:Lightning
249:bombers.
100:1938–1965
72:, England
361:Hereford
211:Auckland
125:Commands
85:Service/
70:Hereford
53:Auckland
536:service
280:Salerno
341:Vulcan
309:(left)
225:Career
146:Awards
131:(1943)
87:branch
565:(PDF)
552:(PDF)
523:(PDF)
510:(PDF)
321:SHAEF
180:
178:,
120:40790
618:2018
573:2018
531:2018
471:2019
446:2018
416:2018
105:Rank
60:Died
40:Born
182:DFC
175:DSO
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479:^
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375:^
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44:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
