Importance Score: 55 / 100 🔵
A lost Second World War bomber shot down by the Nazis with a British airman aboard has been found after 82 years.
Leslie Norman Row, from Gravesend, Kent, was flying a mission over the Mediterranean when his Baltimore Bomber was attacked.
The plane, part of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), crashed off the Greek island of Antikythera, and Leslie and two comrades lost their lives.
The Aussie pilot, the only survivor, miraculously escaped the wreck after it crashed into the sea.
Now, after almost 82 years of uncertainty, divers have brought closure to the families of the dead, finding the bomber 200 feet (61 metres) beneath the Aegean Sea.
Harry Green, president of the Gravesham and Ebbsfleet branch of the Royal British Legion, said the young airman had made the ultimate sacrifice.
He said: ‘He died in the name of his country, and that in itself says it all.
‘He’s given up his life, he’s given up his future, and all his family.
‘It’s taken a long time to find the plane, and respect to the people who have gone out and found it.’
A lost Second World War bomber shot down by the Nazis with a British airman aboard has been found after 82 years. The plane, part of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), crashed off the Greek island of Antikythera, and Leslie and two comrades lost their lives
Leslie Norman Row (left), from Gravesend, Kent, was flying a mission over the Mediterranean when his Baltimore Bomber was attacked. Right: Aussie pilot, William Alroy Hugh Horsley, who was the only survivor
Leslie, a navigator, flew his final mission on December 3, 1943, when he and his comrades were tasked with photographing the Greek coast.
Also killed were air gunners Colin William Walker of the RAAF and John Gartside of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).
A newspaper clipping about Leslie Norman Row going missing
The only survivor was pilot William Alroy Hugh Horsley, who was handed over to the Germans and spent the rest of the war a prisoner.
After his release, Horsley described how they had been returning from their mission when they were engaged by two Messerschmitt Bf 109s.
He later recounted: ‘The Me-109s delivered seven attacks, during which the aircraft was set on fire in the port wing.
‘The intercommunications systems were destroyed, and Pilot Officer Walker and Warrant Officer Gartside wounded – extent unknown.’
What followed was a rough landing at sea.
He wrote: ‘When I regained consciousness the aircraft was submerged at the nose, and sea water was up to my neck.
‘I released my safety harness, stood up and the aircraft submerged under me.
‘I swam over the spot where the aircraft submerged, but no-one else left the aircraft, which sank in deep water about 300 yards from the northern shore of Antikythera.
‘I then swam to shore in full sight of the spot until picked up by some fishermen from Antikythera.’
For 81 years the plane would remain hidden.
But last year AegeanTec, a Greek technical diving group, rediscovered it.
Believing it to be the lost plane, RAAF Baltimore FW282, they contacted the History and Heritage Branch of the Aussie air force.
Now the identity of the missing plane has been confirmed.
Air chief marshal Richard Knighton, Chief of the Air Staff at the RAF, said the discovery highlighted the longstanding relationship between the three air forces.
Also killed were air gunners Colin William Walker (left) of the RAAF and John Gartside of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF)
The remains of the plane seen at the bottom of the Aegean Sea
Last year AegeanTec, a Greek technical diving group, rediscovered it. Now the identity of the missing plane has been confirmed
‘It’s an honour to acknowledge the bravery of the multinational crew,’ Sir Richard said.
‘This was a generation who embodied the importance of service and comradeship.
‘Their efforts were the base on which the RAF continues to maintain the security of the UK at home and abroad.
‘Their sense of duty inspires future generations of all of our air forces.’
Air marshal Stephen Chappell, chief of the RAAF, hoped the find would bring closure.
‘This aircraft discovery is significant and offers the chance to provide closure to families,’ he said.
‘The efforts of groups such as AegeanTec are critical for us in accounting for those 3,143 Australian aviators with no known grave from the Second World War and the Korean conflict.
‘I am pleased, alongside my colleagues from the RAF and RNZAF, to this week to be able to announce the find.
Divers inspect the wreck of the RAAF Baltimore FW282
The plane was shot down by two Messerschmitt Bf 109s
A Martin Baltimore in flight. The plane was a twin-engined bomber
‘And for us to acknowledge, collectively, the bravery of this combined crew of aviators from our three nations.’
Air vice-marshal Darryn Webb, chief of the RNZAF, echoed the sentiment.
He said: ‘I hope this will bring some sense of closure for the families.
‘The sacrifice of this brave crew has long been remembered, especially by their families, and we can now honour their final resting-place with the respect they deserve.’
Row was born on March 2, 1918, to Albert Edward and Florence Mabel Row.
A commemorative biography of him on the Gravesend Grammar School website lists him as a former pupil, back when it was The County School for Boys.
It says he appeared in a school production of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, was a prefect, and played in the school’s first XV rugby team.
He left school in 1937 and joined the RAF in 1941.
His father, who’d served in the merchant navy during the First World War, joined the Royal Navy reserves during the second, and father and son were briefly reunited in Egypt.
Just a few months later, the younger man was killed.
He is now remembered at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.