Squadron Leader John Sauvage
Bomber pilot who took part in the operation later immortalised in the film I Was Monty’s Double
SQUADRON LEADER JOHN SAUVAGE, who has died aged 100, was decorated three times during his career as a bomber pilot. After the war he was a pioneer in the development of the air charter and holiday airline business. In April 1943 he joined 97 Squadron, part of Bomber Command’s Pathfinder Force, having already completed a tour of operations flying Hampden bombers, for which he was awarded the DFC.
In June he was the pilot of one of four Lancasters of 97 Squadron selected to act as marker crews for a larger force attacking Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance, where the old Zeppelin sheds had been converted to a factory manufacturing early-warning radar equipment crucial for the Luftwaffe’s highly effective air defence system.
Sauvage had to make four runs over the target before dropping his target indicators over the centre of the factory, which the main force then bombed. A later reconnaissance flight confirmed that considerable damage had been achieved.
To confuse the German night-fighter force waiting for the bombers to return to their bases in England, the Lancasters flew on to an airfield in North Africa after bombing the target. It was given the code name “Operation Bellicose”, and this was the first time such a “shuttle” operation had been mounted. Sauvage’s Lancaster had been badly damaged over the target but he managed to fly to Maison Blanche in Algeria and make a safe landing. He was awarded a Bar to his DFC.
Over the next few months he attacked many targets in the Ruhr. He also went to Milan three times, and to Turin, and he flew on the large raid that devastated Hamburg on the night of July 24-25 1943. Three weeks later he took part in the famous raid to bomb the German’s secret experimental station at Peenemunde.
On August 23 he flew on the first raid of the Battle of Berlin, which he attacked on two more occasions. His final, and 64th, bombing operation was to Leipzig on October 20. He was rested, and soon after he was awarded the DSO. The citation described him as “a great leader whose example has been a source of inspiration”.
Joseph Henri Jean Sauvage, a native of the Seychelles, was born on February 9 1919 and educated at St Louis College, Victoria, in the Seychelles. To further his education he obtained sponsorship to England and arrived just before the outbreak of the Second World War. He joined the RAF in September 1939 and trained as a pilot.
By the end of 1940 he was flying Hampden bombers with 44 Squadron. He attacked targets in Germany and in France.
On one occasion in July 1941 when he was attacking Cologne his aircraft was held in searchlights and attacked by an enemy night fighter. His aircraft was so badly damaged it was difficult to control but he managed to return to base and make an emergency landing. In September he attacked Berlin, a target at extreme range for the Hampden.
In early 1942 he received his first DFC and spent the next 14 months as a bombing instructor. After finishing his tour on 97 Squadron in January 1944 he began flying
the long-range York transport aircraft to the Mediterranean and beyond.
As part of an elaborate deception plan in the run-up to D-day, Operation Copperhead was implemented. Intelligence staff had noticed that ME Clifton James, an actor serving in the Army, had an uncanny resemblance to General Montgomery.
On May 26, Sauvage took off from Northolt to fly James/montgomery to Gibraltar, a hotbed for German spies and where he attended a number of high-level meetings with the Governor and other senior representatives.
His presence would suggest that the Allied landings were to take place in the south of France. Sauvage then flew “Montgomery” to Algiers for more meetings with Allied commanders before he was flown to Cairo, where he remained in hiding until after the Normandy invasion. The operation was later immortalised in the 1958 film I Was Monty’s Double, directed by John Guillermin and written by Brian Forbes, in which Clifton James played both himself and Monty.
In June 1945 Sauvage headed for India, where he flew with the VIP Flight, counting among his passengers the numerous Commanders-in-chief, including Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand. In early September 1945 he was the pilot when Vice-admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten flew to the Philippines for his only meeting with General Douglas Macarthur, the US Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area.
By mid-1946 Sauvage had left the RAF to begin a long career in civil aviation. With Silver City Airways he flew converted bombers to Australia and South Africa before joining Skyways Limited, flying Yorks and Lancastrians (a civilianised Lancaster), and between November 1948 and August 1949 he made many round trips to Berlin from airfields in Germany during the Soviet-imposed siege of the city.
In January 1950 he flew amphibious aircraft in Central and South America for Shell Aviation, headed by Douglas Bader. Six months later he joined the fledgling airline, Eagle Aviation, created by a wartime friend, Harold Bamberg.
Flying Yorks, the airline gained a government contract for trooping flights to military bases overseas. By 1954, and restyled Eagle Airways, the airline had entered the new package holiday and inclusive tours market. The fleet expanded rapidly from Viking aircraft to the Viscount and then the Boeing 707.
Over a period of 17 years Sauvage, having started as a pilot, became the training pilot, then the chief pilot, and finally the managing director.
In 1967 he left to become the managing director of Britannia Airways, later becoming the chairman and chief executive of the Thomson Travel Group.
He continued to develop the Group, making Britannia a major holiday travel airline. In 1975 he was appointed OBE for his services to the airline industry. He retired in 1986.
Sauvage retired to Tewin in Hertfordshire, where he enjoyed golf and reading. He was the most decorated Seychellois of the Second World War and the Seychelles High Commissioner attended and spoke at his 100th birthday celebration.
John Sauvage married Rosemary in August 1950, and she survives him, along with three sons and two daughters.