Squadron Leader Owen Ellison
Wellington bomber pilot who mined the Danube and later became a drinking partner to Oliver Reed
SQUADRON LEADER OWEN ELLISON, who has died aged 99, won the DFC for flying his Wellington bomber to attack a wide variety of targets in Italy and the Balkans. The Germans used the River Danube extensively to carry oil and deliver supplies to the eastern front and to their forces in Yugoslavia and Romania. As much as 10,000 tons of material could be carried daily and one barge could transport a load equivalent to 100 railway wagons.
A campaign to disrupt this crucial supply line began on the night of April 8-9 1944, when 67 sorties were launched to drop mines in the river, some with delayedaction fuses. Ellison was flying a Wellington of No 70 Squadron from an airfield near Foggia in southern Italy.
It was regarded as one of the most hazardous operations – the mines were dropped from 250ft on a moonlit night. Ellison arrived at his target near Bazias, east of Belgrade, and successfully dropped his two mines.
He remained at low level and his gunners fired 1,000 rounds of ammunition at six barges being towed by a tug, which immediately abandoned them when it came under fire. On a later sortie to the Danube, Ellison dropped two mines while flying at 150ft; both had a 30-day delay fuse.
The son of a First World War infantry officer, Cecil Owen Ellison was born in York on September 28 1919 and educated at the city’s Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School. He joined the RAF as an aircraft apprentice at the School of Technical Training at Halton and after three years graduated as an aircraft fitter. He served on a squadron based in Nottinghamshire before volunteering to be a pilot.
Ellison completed his training in Canada, and in November 1943 he joined No 70 Squadron, based in Tunisia. For five operations he flew as a second pilot and on December 1 he bombed the marshalling yards near Florence. During December the squadron moved to southern Italy and began an intensive bombing campaign against the railway systems in northern Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia. In March, Ellison attacked targets in Sofia, Bucharest and Budapest.
After the mining operations, the Wellingtons attacked targets to support the 8th Army as it advanced northwards, including Luftwaffe airfields in Austria. By June 1944 the destruction of oil facilities in the Balkan countries had become a priority, and during June and July Ellison attacked seven major targets.
However, on July 6, No 70 Squadron sent 12 Wellingtons to bomb the airfield at Feuersbrunn in Austria. They met fierce opposition from German fighters and five of the bombers were lost, but Ellison and his crew managed to return to base.
On July 23 he attacked the oil refinery at Prahova, near Bucharest, meeting heavy anti-aircraft fire. The following night he dropped leaflets over a town in north Italy, the last of his 34 operations. He was awarded the DFC, the citation making specific mention of his determination and courage during the Danube mining operations.
Ellison spent the rest of the war as a bombing instructor. In May 1946 he left for India and the Far East, where he flew Dakota aircraft with No48 Squadron. He later served as a pilot at the Central Navigation School, flying a converted Lincoln bomber on sorties to evaluate navigation techniques in polar regions.
After 18 months as a flight commander at the Central Gunnery School he was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air before leaving in January 1954 for Korea, where he spent two years with the small RAF element that remained after the Korean War.
Ellison later trained as a fighter controller, and his final appointment was in Germany. He retired as a squadron leader in March 1959.
He joined a publishing firm which sent him to the Caribbean, and after a year there he decided to settle in Barbados. He converted a house, Sunset Lodge, into a 12-bedroom boutique hotel with an English Bar, which is where he met his future wife, Jean. After selling the hotel in 1964 he managed a number of hotels for a Canadian company. He bought one himself, Coconut Creek, in the late 1960s and created the popular Cricketer’s Bar, where he and his wife entertained celebrities, including visiting cricketers.
The Ellisons were renowned for their parties and generous hospitality; among their most famous guests were Engelbert Humperdinck and Oliver Reed, the latter becoming a close friend and drinking partner.
Owen Ellison married Jean Edgehill in 1965; she survives him.
Owen Ellison, born September 28 1919, died September 30 2018