Commander David ‘Corky’ Corkhill
Officer who helped sink German and Vichy French submarines with his Walrus amphibious biplane
COMMANDER DAVID “CORKY” CORKHILL, who has died aged 94, fought a German bomber in his Walrus amphibious biplane, and later helped to sink both a Vichy French and a German submarine. On May 18 1940, 18-year-old Midshipman Corkhill’s aircraft was flying the third sortie of the day over Malangen, a fjord near Tromso, Norway, when it was attacked by a German Heinkel twin-engined bomber. Corkhill’s pilot, Lieutenant Pat Benson-Dare, dived to 100 ft and manoeuvred inside the German’s turning circle, while the faster Heinkel made repeated passes, firing all its guns. For 15 minutes Corkhill and crewman Naval Airman William Hill defended themselves with Lewis guns, until the fuel tank and engine caught fire. The pilot was hit, Corkhill knocked unconscious, and the Walrus fell wrecked into the water.
The cold water revived Corkhill, and he swam through the hull and bobbed to the surface alongside a dazed and bleeding Hill. Towing Hill, Corkhill swam for the shore until he lost consciousness again. He was picked up by a Norwegian fishing boat whose captain threatened to throw him back in if he were German. But when Corkhill complained: “It’s f-----freezing”, the fisherman decided that he must be English and took him to hospital in Tromso.
Three days later Corkhill was back in his ship, Devonshire; he promptly resumed flying with a new aircraft and a new pilot. He was awarded the DSC for gallantry and coolness in action against heavy odds off the coast of Norway.
Six months later, on November 7, during the joint Anglo-Free French attempt on West Africa, Corkhill was summoned to the bridge of Devonshire to be told by Admiral Sir John Cunningham: “There’s a submarine out there!” As Cunningham pointed, Corkhill glanced at the compass and noted that the admiral was pointing south. Corkhill hurried off the bridge and, once catapulted off in the Walrus, guided it south. After about 20 miles, he saw the French submarine Poncelet on the surface, heading towards
and being chased by the elderly, much slower, sloop Milford. The Walrus at once joined in the attack, and, as Poncelet dived, dropped two salvoes of 100lb anti-submarine bombs, which straddled the submarine.
Through the clear water Corkhill saw the submarine, surrounded by pockets of air, fading into the depths then drifting to the surface, at which point the crew poured out of the forehatch on to the casing and dived into the water, to be picked up by
Milford. Back on board Devonshire, over a gin the admiral swore Corkhill to secrecy, lest the sinking of a Vichy French submarine should affect Anglo-French relations.
Corkhill was mentioned in dispatches and his pilot, Petty Officer Peter Parsons, was awarded the BEM. Many inaccurate stories about the sinking of Poncelet have since circulated, but Corkhill was glad to set the record straight when he recorded his memories for the Imperial War Museum in 1994.
Anthony David Corkhill was born at Rock Ferry, near Birkenhead, on May 19 1921, the son of a Merchant Navy master. He was educated at Ruthin in Wales and at the merchant navy training ship HMS Conway, until in 1938 he took a short service commission in the Fleet Air Arm and qualified as an observer. Corkhill joined the heavy cruiser
Devonshire in January 1940 during the Norwegian campaign. The ungainlylooking Supermarine Walrus, known as the “steam-pigeon” or “shagbat”, came from the drawing board of R J Mitchell, who also designed the Spitfire. It was launched from a ramp on the cruiser and Corkhill’s job, after the Walrus had completed a sortie, was to climb on to the upper wing and hook his aircraft to a crane lowered by the ship.
In October 1941, after Devonshire, Corkhill joined 819 Naval Air Squadron, flying Swordfish torpedobombers in night operations and mine-laying over the North Sea and English Channel. Promoted to lieutenant in November 1942, he became senior observer of 819 squadron. Flying from the escort carrier Archer, Corkhill’s squadron gave air cover to transatlantic convoys, and during the battle for convoys ON 182 and HX 239, attacked and sank the German U-boat U-752 with rockets on May 2 1943, the first time this weapon was used from a Swordfish.
By August that year Corkhill, at the age of 23, was acting lieutenantcommander, and after courses and miscellaneous flying appointments he was sent to the British Pacific Fleet, but arrived after V-J Day. For the next two years he commanded 814 Squadron in Australia, until he returned to Britain to requalify as a pilot.
In 1948 Corkhill once more got his feet wet when his Firefly 4 suffered an engine failure over the South Atlantic and he was forced to ditch. His luck held again in 1953 when a Mosquito he was flying over Monmouthshire suffered a double engine failure. He landed in a small field, broke the aircraft in half and crawled out more or less unhurt.
Later appointments saw Corkhill promoted to commander in 1954. He served in the carrier Albion during the invasion of Suez, and worked on nuclear strike plans while posted to the Nato staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia.
Corkhill retired at his own request in 1961 when he realised that his newborn daughter would require constant care. He worked for Gillette for 16 years, until his daughter died. The strain brought an end to his marriage, and Corkhill retired to Salcombe. There he became sales manager for Salcombe Dairy, a maker of ice cream using local dairy produce.
On Corkhill’s first day, Peter Howard, the company’s founder, took him round to meet the customers. It was early as he pushed open the door of one pub when he saw the landlady coming downstairs in a loose dressing gown. Straightening his Fleet Air Arm tie, Corkhill asked if all the dairy’s customers were like this.
He was active in many voluntary organisations, including the Church, and was a vice president of the Royal British Legion.
Corkhill was twice married. In 1954 he married Jill Royds; the marriage was dissolved and a daughter predeceased him. He married, secondly, Nora Wright; she predeceased him in 1988 and he is survived by three stepchildren.
Cdr David “Corky” Corkhill, born May 19 1921, died November 11 2015