RAF hero and the ‘forgotten’ chapter of 1940

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HE WAS not technically one of Churchill’s “few” but Sydney Mould did not want his exploits in the skies over Europe in the summer of 1940 to go unremembered.

He had just turned 20 and was already an RAF veteran of a year and a half when he was assigned to the Blenheim light bomber crews of 23 Squadron, going behind German lines and passing Luftwaffe bombers over the North Sea heading in the other direction to drop their loads on England.

He seldom talked about the war and did not tell his family in East Yorkshire that he had written a memoir of those days.

But after 30 years and in time for his 100th birthday next Tuesday, his son, Andrew, discovered it.

“It’s a forgotten chapter of the Battle of Britain,” he said.

“While our fighter pilots defended our country, it seems we continued to harass the enemy by taking the fight to them. As these were daylight raids, the losses were terrible – Dad lost a lot of friends.

“But he and his comrades were not counted among ‘the few’ who won the Battle of Britain. He wasn’t awarded the campaign medal.”

His father said the war had taught him “patience and tolerance” – mostly from having to deal with RAF red tape. “There was a lot of bull tied up with the Forces,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“I had just got in and settled into a routine when the war broke out. Up until that point you had been treated like gentlemen.

“But I could tolerate it so I enjoyed my time in the service.”

After 1940 he spent four years of the war in North Africa, including at the Siege of Tobruk, and flew more than 140 missions as wireless operator and gunner – mostly in Bristol Blenheims.

Pictures of the aircraft

As these were daylight raids Dad lost a lot of friends. Sydney Mould’s son Andrew, speaking yesterday.

decorate the house in Hornsea he shares with his wife, Brenda.

Mr Mould, who has six children, three stepchildren, 20 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren, recalls in his memoir his love of flying began when his uncle Tom took him to an “air circus” display by the pioneer aviator Sir Alan Cobham at Hedon Aerodrome.

He also writes that his mother was “shattered” when, after presenting himself at the RAF recruiting depot in Hull, he received his call-up papers.

MAIN PICTURE: TONY JOHNSON THEN AND NOW: Sydney Mould, 100 on Tuesday, at his Hornsea home with a picture of a Blenheim bomber in which he flew. Above left, during his RAF service, pictured on the left in the middle row and second from right in the centre picture. Above right, Sydney is far right on the front row in 1942, playing with the Ancillary Rovers football team.