Alfie Martin
Bomb aimer who won a DFC and escaped down the Comet Line
ALFIE MARTIN, who has died aged 97, was the bomb aimer of a Halifax bomber shot down over Belgium during the Second World War; with the aid of the Belgian Comet Escape Line, he avoided capture and returned to his base two months later.
On April 16 1943, Martin’s target was the Skoda works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. With the experienced pilot Squadron Leader Wally Lashbrook at the controls, the Halifax was on the return flight when it was attacked by a night fighter and set on fire as it crossed the French-belgian border. The rear gunner was killed but the rest of the crew bailed out and landed safely.
Martin moved away from the area and in the morning he was discovered by a 12-year-old boy, who took him to his home; there Martin was fed before he headed west. After two days’ walking he met the Coolen, family who looked after him for six weeks. Later he was to write: “Never has anyone been treated better than I was.”
Monsieur Coolen had made contact with a member of the Comet Line and on May 26 two women took Martin by train to Lille and on to Arras, where he joined an American airman. They were taken to a safe house in Paris, where they said farewell to their brave couriers.
After a few days, the two men, with locally produced false identity papers, were ready to depart for the South and, to Martin’s surprise and pleasure, they were joined by Lashbrook. The three evaders were escorted to Dax, from where they cycled on to Saint-jean-de-luz near the Spanish border.
They were hidden in the “last house” at Urrugne where the veteran Basque guide Florentino met them and took them overnight across the mountains into Spain.
After resting they were taken to San Sebastian then to Madrid and Gibraltar before flying home. A month later Martin learned that he had been awarded the DFC.
From a farming family, Alfred Martin was born on March 26 1920 at Finaghy, Belfast, and educated at the Friends’ School, Lisburn. He became a junior clerk with the Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company in Belfast.
He joined the Antrim Fortress Company of the Royal Engineers in January 1939. All his time in the Army was spent in Northern Ireland. He volunteered for flying duties and transferred to the RAF in May 1941, training as an air observer in Canada. On his return to Britain in the spring of 1942 he converted to heavy bombers.
On September 10, Bomber Command launched 1,000 bombers to attack Düsseldorf. To make up the numbers, some aircraft of the bomber training units, flown by instructors and senior students, were included, and Martin flew on the operation in a Whitley. He confessed to being “scared a bit”. Three nights later he flew on another raid, when Bremen was attacked. He then joined No 102 Squadron, based near York.
During the winter he attacked targets in Italy, flew on a raid to Berlin and bombed the U-boat ports of St Nazaire and Lorient.
On his return from Gibraltar, Martin trained as an instructor and on January 8 1944 he left for Canada to join the staff of one of the navigation training schools operating under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He returned to the UK after the war and left the RAF in December 1945 as a flight lieutenant.
Martin never forgot those who had helped him. As soon as possible after the war he made contact with the Coolen family, whom he later visited on a number of occasions, remaining in contact with the children until his death.
He was a strong supporter of the RAF Escaping Society, which provided support for the helpers and their families. He was also a long-standing member of the Northern Ireland branch of the Aircrew Association.
Alfie Martin married Barbara Murdoch in 1953 and she predeceased him. Their two daughters survive him.
Alfie Martin, born March 26 1920, died December 20 2017