F/Lt Knowles E. Crosby

A tribute to Knowles Crosby, D.F.M., award won June 16, 1942, Knowles at the time was a 22-year-old Wireless-operator, Air-gunner and won the medal for his part in helping bring home to England a damaged "Wimpy", a medium two-engined bombing aircraft. With the whole of the underside of their machine ablaze, and the pilot, Flight Sergeant Swanson of Edmonton, battling to keep the kite under control, Crosby and Flight Sergeant Brichta, Toronto, stamped out the flames with their feet, holding themselves up by grasping the bare side spars. They managed to kick the flaming material through the open bomb bay doors and the Crosby administered first aid to the badly wounded second pilot.

Crosby returned to his shot-up radio and endeavoured to send out an S.O.S. Though his instrument could not receive, an S.O.S. evidently got out, for ground crews in England tried in vain to help them to find a landing place. Swanson finally crash-landed the machine in a barley field and, with the exception of the second pilot, the crew stepped out unhurt.

Crosby attended Port Maitland high school, leaving to enter the lumbering business. In 1940 he was employed in a warehouse in the Annapolis Valley when he applied for enlistment in the R.C.A.F. and in September was sent to Brandon, Manitoba, Manning Depot. He was then sent to Initial Training School at Regina, the wireless school at Calgary, finishing his training at Fingal, Ontario, bombing and gunnery school. He arrived in England in June 1941, and first went to an advanced wireless training unit and later to an operational training unit.

In January 1942, he was posted to the Moose Squadron, commanded by Wing Commander, Jon (Moose) Fulton, D.F.C., who had also won the Air Force Cross as a test pilot and was to be awarded the Distinguished Service Order at about the time of his death in the course of a raid early in August 1942, after Knowles had finished his own "Tour", a tour comprising at least 30 operational flights (Ops). Knowles flew on the first operational trip of the squadron. After two trips he joined Swanson and the two completed 28 "ops".

Crosby took part in raids on Cologne, Paris, Rostock and eight trips to the Ruhr Valley. Their aircraft was the tough two-motor "Wellington" nicknamed the "Wimpy" after the character in the "Popeye" comic strip, J. Wellington Wimpy, famed moocher and consumer of hamburgers. It is fantastic that "Popeye" the harmless comic strip gave the name of another of its characters to a second war machine. Popeye had a little pet animal, pedigree unknown - Eugene the Jeep. The name "jeep" was bestowed on the hardy little unit of motor transport and survives today.

The "Wimpy" has a six man air crew. Throughout the late winter and spring some of the attacks were on targets in Occupied France and against Hamburg, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven. The attack against Lubeck on the night of March 28, met with considerable fighter opposition. On April 28, Fulton led a large force against Kiel for which he won the D.S.O. A Canadian in the R.A.F., he had engaged in 1934. May saw mine-laying operations and on May 30, the first "thousand plane" raid attacked Cologne.

By June 16, Knowles was approaching the end of his Tour and had already tasted excitement enough for several lifetimes. That night, the bombers returned to their Happy Valley - the Ruhr, and the aircraft encountered considerable opposition both over the target and on the long trip home. The Wimpy of our friends ran into trouble over Essen when a chunk of explosive shell casing (flak) struck the rear end of the fuselage and forced the pilot, Swanson, to jettison his bombs short of the target. The machine was handled roughly again over Dusseldorf and again just to the south of that city.

Limping home with almost mortal wounds the Wimpy was hit again over Antwerp and the underside of the fuselage caught fire from the front turret to the navigator's table. To add to their woes, a twin-engined Luftwaffe night fighter chose that moment to finish off the blazing aircraft and during the engagement, both the second pilot and the front gunner were wounded; the bomb bay doors dropped open; the wheels dropped down and the aircraft, after stalling, fell from 15,000 to 200 feet before Swanson could regain control. Brichta, navigator, and Knowles Crosby, wireless operator, succeeded in stamping out the fire after which Crosby made the wounded second pilot more comfortable while Swanson, with the help of Brichta's skillful navigation, brought the stricken bomber to its English base, little more than a wallowing mass of steel and rubber.

All three flight sergeants were awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for the night's work. Had the three held the ranks of commissioned officers or warrant officers, they would have been awarded the officers' equivalent of the same decoration, the Distinguished Flying Cross. Knowles returned to the "Moose" squadron in mid-July after 10 days' leave and heard the news of his award.

"I don't know why they gave it to me," he modestly remarked. When pressed for more information as to his trips he commented: "I didn't find the last Ruhr raid so exciting for we were too darn busy during the whole time."