Battle of Britain VC
Only one Victoria Cross was awarded to RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War. It went to Hurricane pilot Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson for extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Britain.
In December 1940, the BBC broadcast an RAF fighter pilot talking about his experiences during the Battle of Britain. That un-named pilot was Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson who had flown Hurricanes with 249 Squadron from RAF Boscombe Down. By the time of the broadcast, an announcement had been made in the London Gazette promulgating the award of a Victoria Cross to Nicolson. For those listening to him telling his story, no connection was made to the recent announcement of his VC.
By the middle of August 1940, the Battle of Britain was in full swing and many of the RAF’s fighter squadrons had already seen action. Number 249 Squadron, though, had been in the relative backwater of RAF Leconfield, Lincolnshire, before the unit was posted south to Boscombe Down on 14 August. Two days later, over Southampton, the squadron had its first taste of battle.
In the space of a under a minute, two
Hurricanes were shot down: Pilot Officer Martyn King was killed, Nicolson severely wounded, and another Hurricane was damaged. On the ‘credit’ side, Nicolson claimed one Messerschmitt 110 ‘probably destroyed’, albeit ‘inconclusive’. Exactly what happened in that brief engagement has since been subject to controversy and confusion.
However, let us look at the transcript of James Nicolson’s BBC broadcast:
“That was a glorious day. The sun was shining from a cloudless sky, with hardly a breath of wind anywhere. My squadron was going towards Southampton on patrol at 15,000 ft when I saw three Ju 88 bombers about four miles away flying across our bows.
“I reported this to our squadron leader, and he replied, ‘Go after them with your section’. I led my section of aircraft round and towards the bombers. We chased hard after them, but when we were about a mile behind, we saw the 88s fly straight into a squadron of Spitfires. I used to fly a Spitfire myself and guessed it was curtains for the three Junkers. I was right. They were all shot down in quick time with no pickings for us. I must confess I was very disappointed for I had never fired at a Hun in my life and was dying to have a crack at them.
“So, we swung round again and started to climb up to 18,000 feet over Southampton to re-join our squadron when suddenly, very close in rapid succession, I heard four big bangs. They were the loudest noises I’d ever heard, and they had been made by four cannon shells from a Messerschmitt 110 hitting my machine.
“The first shell tore through the hood over my cockpit and sent splinters into my left eye. One splinter nearly severed my eyelid. I couldn’t see through that eye for blood. The second cannon shell struck my spare petrol tank and set it on fire. The third crashed into the cockpit and tore off my tight trouser leg. The fourth shell struck the back of my left shoe, shattering
the heel of the shoe and making a mess of my left foot, but I didn’t know anything about that until later. Anyway, the effect of these four shells was to make me dive away to the right. Then I started cursing myself for my carelessness. ‘What a fool I’d been’, I thought. ‘What a fool’.”
Nicolson and his comrades had been caught in a classic Luftwaffe ‘bounce’ by fighters attacking, unseen, out of the sun.
‘RIGHT IN MY GUNSIGHT’
Nicolson’s war was almost over as soon as it had begun, but he continued his report and a traumatic account of what happened next:
“I was thinking about jumping when suddenly a Messerschmitt 110 whizzed underneath and got right in my gun sight. Fortunately, no damage had been done to my windscreen or sights and when I was chasing the Junkers, I’d switched everything on, so everything was set to for a fight. I pressed the gun button for the
Messerschmitt was in nice range.
“He was going like mad, twisting and turning as he tried to get away from my fire, so I pushed the throttle wide open. Both of us went down in a dive. First, he turned left then right, then left and right again. He did three turns to the right and finally a fourth turn to the left. I remember shouting out loud at him: ‘I’ll teach you some manners you Hun’. I shouted other things as well. I knew I was getting him nearly all the time I was firing.
“By this time, it was pretty hot from the burst petrol tank. I couldn’t see much flame, but reckoned it was there alright. I remember looking at my left hand, which was keeping the throttle open, and seemed to be in the fire itself. I could see the skin peeling off yet had little pain. Unconsciously, too, I’d drawn my feet up under my parachute on the seat - to escape the heat, I suppose.
“Well, I gave the Hun all I had and the last I saw, he was going down with his right wing lower than the left. I gave him a parting burst, and as he disappeared started thinking about saving myself.”
From this dramatic account of a desperate action, with the pilot overwhelmed by ‘red mist’ and exacting retribution on his erstwhile attacker, there is little wonder he was recommended for a Victoria Cross.
However, Nicolson left another testimony: his personal Combat Report. In it, having described the combat, he goes on:
“I then abandoned aircraft with difficulty and after dropping some 5,000ft pulled cord – I was shot in buttocks by an LDV just before landing”.
Censored for public consumption, this wasn’t mentioned in the BBC broadcast. However, the combat report, dictated to his CO, Sqn Ldr John Grandy, whilst Nicolson was in hospital, also added:
“I cannot swear whether firing button was at ‘safe’ or ‘fire’ “
At odds with definitive statements made in his broadcast, it contradicts what he later said in his BBC broadcast about having ‘everything switched on’.
That aside, there is no doubting that Nicolson stayed with his burning fighter trying to turn the tables on his attacker. And there is no doubt that he was fired on from the ground in his parachute.
A local Southampton man, Robert Stanley, took up the story:
“In 1940 I served in the LDV. On 16 August I saw a Hurricane descending
with a trail of smoke. The pilot baledout and I decided to follow him to be on hand if help was required.
“I set off in hot pursuit of the airman, now drifting westwards. Keeping him in sight I was horrified to see tracer bullets winging towards him from the ground. Arriving where he landed, I helped release him from his parachute.
“At this point a group of Royal Engineers came yelling into the field clearly intent on harm. I ran towards them shouting: ‘No! He’s one of ours!’, and with a Policeman managed to calm things. Clearly, they’d been responsible for the shooting as the gunfire came from their nearby HQ.
“Later, I found 11 recently fired .303 cases in a field near their base. The LDV got the blame for it, but I know it was the REs - because we in the LDV had .300 rifles, not .303.”
Nicolson, peppered in the buttocks, heard the shooting, and concluded his wounds to be shotgun pellets. In fact, they were probably splinters from cannon shells which exploded around him.
ACQUIITED HIMSELF BRAVELY
As to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 ‘probably destroyed’ by Nicolson, there is yet more confusion. His attacker was reportedly the same aircraft, but there were no Messerschmitt Bf 110s in combat in that area, no Messerschmitt Bf 110s are shown in Luftwaffe records as lost or damaged and no Messerschmitt Bf 110 pilot made any victory claims. There was, however, a Messerschmitt 109 pilot who did make victory claims over two Hurricanes in exactly the right place and time; Oblt Heinz Bretnütz of 6./JG 53 who claimed his 13th and 14th aerial victories – clearly, Nicolson and King.
The involvement of 249 Squadron with Me 109s is also confirmed in a report by Sqn Ldr John Grandy, dated 19 August 1940, stating Nicolson was involved with an ‘unknown number of Me 109s.’ Nevertheless, confusion by Nicolson and in official reports has led to the accepted version of events as involving Messerschmitt Bf 110s.
Whatever the facts, one thing is certain; James Brindley Nicolson acquitted himself bravely in combat and endured terrible injury in efforts to down the enemy.
Fully recovered by September 1941, Nicolson was posted to India in 1942. Between August 1943 and August 1944, as Squadron Leader and CO of 27 Squadron, he flew Beaufighters over Burma, earning the DFC.
As a Wing Commander, Nicolson was killed on 2 May 1945, when the 355 Squadron B-24 Liberator in which he was flying as supernumerary, caught fire, and crashed in the Bay of Bengal. No trace of him was ever found.
His medal group was sold at auction by his widow in 1983 for £110,000, then a record for a Victoria Cross, and was purchased by the RAF Museum, Hendon.