Flight Lieutenant Patrick Dorehill
Lancaster pilot who was part of an audacious low-level raid by Lancasters on a German factory
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT PATRICK DOREHILL, who has died aged 94, was the second pilot of a Lancaster which carried out a daring daylight attack against a factory in southern Germany, earning him an immediate DFC and his captain the Victoria Cross.
After a week of low-flying practice, 12 Lancasters, six each from Nos 44 and 97 Squadrons, took off during the afternoon of April 17 1942 to attack the MAN diesel-engine manufacturing factory at Augsburg. Leading the first formation was 25-year-old Squadron Leader John Nettleton from South Africa.
The Rhodesian Dorehill, aged 20, was sitting alongside him; it was his 16th operation. The audacious raid, the first of its type flown by the RAF, involved a round trip of some 1,250 miles, mostly over enemy territory.
The Lancasters flew over France at extremely low level while an RAF diversion force attempted to draw away enemy fighters. Nettleton’s formation strayed near a Luftwaffe airfield; the returning German fighters engaged the six Lancasters, four of which were shot down. Nettleton and Dorehill’s aircraft was damaged, but Nettleton decided to press on with the one surviving aircraft of his formation.
Over the target, flying at roof-top height, Nettleton and Dorehill met withering fire and the last member of their formation was shot down as it flew alongside them. Nettleton’s bombs hit the factory and they turned for home in the failing light. The second formation of six lost two aircraft over the target. Only five of the 12 Lancasters returned.
In later years, Dorehill admitted that witnessing his colleagues crashing around him affected him, but his sense of duty took over and after three days’ leave he returned to train as a captain. Nettleton was awarded the Victoria Cross and all his crew were decorated; Dorehill received an immediate DFC. A year later, Nettleton was posted as missing in action on a raid to Italy.
Patrick Arthur Dorehill was born on July 4 1921 at Fort Victoria, Southern Rhodesia, and educated at Michaelhouse School, Natal. At Rand University he studied Mining Engineering and briefly worked in the coalmines before joining the RAF in July 1940 and training as a pilot.
After joining No 44 Squadron, Dorehill flew his first operation on August 31 1941. Over the next few weeks he attacked the German capital ships in Brest and dropped mines in the entrances of German-held ports.
At the end of the year the squadron became the first to be equipped with the four-engine Lancaster, and Dorehill flew that aircraft for the first time on January 6 1942. On the night of March 3, flying with Nettleton, he flew on the Lancaster’s first operation of the war, dropping mines in the seas around Heligoland.
After the Augsburg raid, Dorehill was given his own Lancaster and crew and they attacked Bremen on the third “Thousand Bomber” raid. They also attacked industrial cities in the Ruhr. After more than 30 operations he was rested and spent the next 18 months as an instructor at a heavy-bomber training unit.
Dorehill returned to No 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron in December 1943 just as the main phase of the Battle of Berlin commenced. This was at the height of Bomber Command’s strategic bombing offensive and when losses were at their greatest. Dorehill attacked Berlin seven times.
On one occasion he was approaching the “Big City” when a fighter attacked his aircraft. Dorehill succeeded in evading his pursuer but his Lancaster had been repeatedly hit by cannon fire, which damaged the fuselage and the tail plane, and put the hydraulic system out of action. Despite this, he pressed on and dropped his bombs successfully. On return he made a “masterly” crash landing. He was awarded a Bar to his DFC.
Dorehill attacked some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany and on April 9 flew his 60th and final operation, a raid on Danzig. In recognition of his outstanding service he was awarded the DSO.
After a period as a bombing instructor, he trained on transport aircraft and in November 1944 was seconded to BOAC, operating from Whitchurch, near Bristol. On February 23 1945 he flew his first route, taking a Dakota to Castel Benito in Libya and on to Egypt.
He relinquished his RAF commission in November 1945 on joining British European Airways (BEA), the beginning of a 31-year career with the airline and its successor British Airways. He flew the Viking and the Viscount before transferring to jets, the Comet and the Trident. After a period as a training captain, he returned to route flying as a senior captain and retired in 1976.
A keen golfer, Patrick Dorehill was a member of the Crowborough Beacon Club, where he twice achieved a holein-one, the second time aged 91.
Dorehill married Pauline Gamble in 1944 and she died in 1978. His second wife Dora also predeceased him. He is survived by his third wife Hazel and two sons and two daughters from his first marriage.