Tom Erskine
War Hero and Suez Veteran

Although Tom Erskine served in the Canal Zone with the Royal Air Force during the 1951-1954 crisis, very little, if anything, is known at the moment about his time there. When Tony Tolan read about Tom’s death in the Derby Telegraph where it gave a brief account of his service in the Forces, Tony noticed not only was he a Suez Veteran, but also had lived an amazing life whilst in uniform.  Wanting to know more about this person, Tony approached his family and from information given to him, although there is only one mention of Suez, thought the story had sufficient interest to include on the web site. Some periods of time may be unfilled, the order of events uncertain, it is difficult to interview a person who has just lost her husband and get all the facts. We thank Tom’s widow for the information she did give to Tony, who has been able to send us the following report.   If we learn of further interesting facts about Tom's service life, this article will be updated.
Thank you Tony.

Aye, Jock Marrs and Dick Woolley.
December 2003.
 

In 1938 when the winds of war were blowing over Europe for the second time in the 20th century, a young man walked into the RAF recruiting office in Aberdeen and volunteered to join this branch of the service. This young man with the good Scottish name was Thomas Dunbar Erskine, One amazing thing is, he was not old enough to join the Forces, lied about his age and was accepted without question. The second amazing thing about his enlistment was that he suffered from Glandular Fever and this fact was not discovered at his medical. In this condition he should never have been accepted to serve, but he was accepted for aircrew!

More amazing things, even miracles, followed this man throughout his wartime service.  After basic training he trained as an Air Gunner, and was assigned to 612 Squadron flying out of Dyce, Scotland, on coastal patrol over the North Sea until 1941.

He was a mid turret gunner on Whitley bombers, which were a very difficult plane to fly as they tended to fly nose down, and several pilots died on landing for not making adjustments to compensate for this tendency. Tom had several lucky escapes, one was when the plane in which he was a crewmember crashed, and this was before he even went onto active service. The Whitley was nicknamed ‘The Widow Maker’ for obvious reasons.

His story reads like a ‘Boys Own’ adventure, and Tom himself would not like to have been described as a hero, but a hero he was. He had a passion for life, and with a tendency to be headstrong he got through the war years unscathed.  At the outbreak of war, when the RAF was stretched for aircraft as well as trained aircrew, the Whitley and the Wellington were the mainstay of the bomber fleet. Tom even did patrols as a mid turret gunner in the old Hawker Hind and Avro Anson and it is a miracle he survived, for they were sitting ducks for the German fighters and he was shot down twice whilst on patrols.

He became a member of the ‘Goldfish Club’ for being rescued from a rubber dinghy after being shot down into the sea.  He did not want to go with his rescuers at first, as he was concerned about the pigeons the plane was carrying, he did not lack compassion or sensitivity.  This showed again when Tom’s plane attacked a U Boat and succeeded in causing severe damage whereby the crew had to abandon it. As they were jumping into the North Sea his skipper told him to keep firing at the crippled sub, but Tom was a humane person and thought these poor sub-mariners were already in enough trouble by having to jump into the very cold water, so he fired wide of them. His skipper was not very pleased with this but Tom had carried out his order to fire, so there was little he could have done about it. On another mission when Tom’s plane was attacked, bullets came through the floor of the plane, literally between his legs.  One crew member was hit in the jaw causing an awful injury which Tom treated the best he could by strapping up his jaw, luckily they made it home safely. On the occasion of Tom being shot down for the second time and had to bale out, he, like others whose lives have been saved by parachute, became a member of the ‘Caterpillar Club.’  He was also involved in the search for the German pocket battleship ‘Tirpitz’, and endured many cold flights over the Norwegian Fjords.

One entry in his flying log dated 14th January 1940 reads:
Time: 11.40 Hrs. Anson N5270. Pilot: P/O Stephen. A.S. Patrol. Flying Time: 50 Minutes.
"Crashed into sea off Aberdeen at 12.30 Hrs, picked up by lifeboat from Danish ship ‘Paris’, transferred to ‘Highlander’ and landed at Aberdeen.  All saved."
 

Anson

Whitley

He was posted to Medicine Hat in Canada at the later end of 1941, where he helped with the training of RAF and RCAF personnel in air gunnery and air traffic control. A great many aircrew from the RAF trained in Canada and have fond memories of their time there.

When the war finished Tom left the RAF having reached the rank of Sergeant and being decorated with the Victory Medal, the Star and Ribbon, The Atlantic Star and Clasp, and the Air Gunner Brevet. He then joined the Merchant Navy for a short while, and here again his lucky streak followed him, the ship on which he was serving sank and once again he had to be rescued. Tom re-enlisted with the RAF in 1950 and was posted to the Suez Canal Zone where he served during the 1951-1954 crisis.  His wife Doreen recalls him saying that despite all he had seen and experienced during the war, he considered the Canal Zone of Egypt to be the worst time in all his 12 years in the RAF and would have sooner served as aircrew again, than have gone to Egypt.

After his service in the RAF Tom had several jobs in Canada, and eventually returned to Cambridge and worked in a veterinary hospital where he met his wife to be who was also working at the hospital, he was not easily deterred in the pursuit of her and they married in 1966. They left Cambridge in 1975 to run a Guest House in Derby, they retired in 1986 and moved to Spondon, a suburb of Derby, where Doreen still lives.

In October 2003, Tom had a fall and was admitted to hospital where he died six weeks later. When I read about Tom s death in the Derby Telegraph I was amazed at this brave mans story. I went to the Chapel one bright September morning at the Markeaton Crematorium in Derby to pay my last respects to a man I had never met, but whose story impressed me so much. I sat quietly at the back as I felt I was intruding on a rather personal gathering of his family, Doreen his wife of 37 years, six children, and 12 Grandchildren.  The Minister gave a very moving tribute to Tom, and at the end of the service I slipped out, and as the mourners left the chapel, pipers played Amazing Grace, very appropriate I thought for a Scotsman. I was glad I had taken the trouble to attend his service. I have visited his widow Doreen since the funeral and given her details on how to claim her husbands GSM for his service in the Canal Zone, if any Vet deserved it, Tom did.

Aye, Tony Tolan.