Family mourns ‘last’ of Lancaster bomber pilots
D-Day hero was still driving and swimming until recently
A LANCASTER bomber engineer and co-pilot who survived 45 missions – including D-Day – has died aged 100. Peter John Gould’s Midland family believe he may have been the last surviving Lancaster bomber pilot. Great-grandfather Mr Gould, who was in RAF No.97 Squadron, was part of the Pathfinder Force on D-Day, fighting in Bomber Command. He received France’s top military honour – the Legion d’Honneur – for his squadron’s actions during the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. His daughter, retired businesswoman Pamela Gould, 70, said her father continued to have strong links with the RAF throughout his life.
Miss Gould, from Pamington, near Tewkesbury, said: “He might be the last Lancaster bomber flight engineer and co-pilot – I’m not sure, but it’s the end of an era.
“I think people do remember their contributions – it’s all part of our history and we’re here today because of them.
“He survived 45 sorties – he reckoned he survived because they’re trained to avoid combat and his crew did it slightly different, which is why he thinks he managed to survive. “I spent a lot of time with him because I cared for him. You find war veterans are very reserved when it comes to the war.
“He wasn’t a boastful man but very down to earth. He would say it as it is.” Mr Gould, who was born in Bombay, India, in 1923, moved to England to join the RAF aged 16.
He trained as a flight engineer and learned to fly at RAF Halton, and in the 1940s began flying the renowned Lancasters.
The Lancaster was considered the most successful British heavy bomber of the Second World War, galvanising
the country’s war effort.
Mr Gould completed a full tour of duty during the Second World War and spent 12 years in total in the RAF – later writing a book on his experiences called ‘The Best 12 Years’.
Miss Gould said after leaving active service in the RAF he continued to be involved in the organisation and enjoyed charitable pursuits.
She said they would attend Aircrew
Association meetings together and that he would sometimes tell her stories of his time as in the perilous wartime skies. Mr Gould, who had four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, died after a battle with dementia, which he developed in the last few years of his life.
Miss Gould says she expects RAF representatives to attend her father’s funeral at Redditch Crematorium on April 9, and says he will be receiving
full military honours.
She added: “He stopped driving at 96 through choice and continued swimming into his 90s. He used to play water polo so stayed very fit,” said Pamela.
“We used to go together to the Aircrew Association, he was very much a part of the RAF still.
“He was very supportive with his charity work and even in later life he was very knowledgeable and joined the u3a and a poetry club.
“Before the dementia over the last couple of years he was really with it, you could have a conversation but what took his life was dementia.
“I’m expecting some people representing the RAF to appear at his funeral.”
People do remember their contributions – it’s all part of our history... we’re here today because of them Daughter Pamela