Flt Lt Ken Sumner
Bomb aimer whose targets included Hitler’s alpine retreat
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT KEN SUMNER, who has died of Covid-19 aged 96, was a bomb aimer who was awarded an immediate DFM for his actions after his Lancaster was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
On the night of April 26 /27 1944, Bomber Command launched a raid against Schweinfurt. It was Sumner’s 27th bombing operation. Some 250 miles from the target in the vicinity of Strasbourg the aircraft was hit by flak. This considerably afflicted the bomber, with several hits on the bomb bay and Sumner’s compartment in the nose of the Lancaster. Sumner informed his captain that he had been hit, but insisted in staying in his position.
Sumner continued to drop “window” (metal strips to jam enemy radars) until reaching the target area, when he successfully directed his pilot on a good bombing run. He dropped the bombs in spite of damage to the bomb release wiring and then operated the aiming point camera.
On the return journey he remained at his post to drop window and to assist the navigator by getting visual fixes of the bomber’s position until they cleared the enemy coast. Only then would he allow his wounds to be dressed.
The Lancaster had to make an emergency landing at an airfield near Peterborough and Sumner was immediately taken to hospital.
The citation for Sumner’s DFM concluded that “his conduct in the incident came as no surprise to his crew and squadron colleagues to whom his devotion to duty, efficiency and high personal courage have been an inspiration.” His pilot, Flying Officer Taylor, was awarded the DFC.
Kenneth Law Sumner was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, in May 1923. His family travelled to England shortly after and settled in the North East. Ken attended Durham School, joining the OTC.
He enlisted in the RAF in 1941 when he was just 18 years old and trained as a bomb aimer. After a brief spell with No 83 Squadron, in November 1943 he joined No 44 Squadron based at Waddington near Lincoln. This coincided with the beginning of the main phase of the Battle of Berlin, when Bomber Command suffered its heaviest losses. Sumner’s first four operations on No 44 were all to Berlin over a nine-day period. By the middle of January he had paid two more visits to the “Big City”. He also attacked Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich.
After recovering from his injuries, he was rested from operations and commissioned. He spent six months on the staff of the bomber base at East Kirby and in March 1945 he joined No 617 Squadron, famous as the Dambuster squadron.
The squadron was equipped with the 12,000lb “Tallboy bomb”, and some crews dropped the even larger “Grand Slam” earthquake bomb of 22,000lb. Sumner dropped “Tallboy” on the shipping area at Ijmuiden on April 7; the U-boat pens at Hamburg two days later; and on the 16th the target was the German battle-cruiser Lutzow at Swinemunde. On April 19 he dropped a “Grand Slam” on Helgoland and his final sortie of the war was against Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgaden.
Sumner was released for the RAF in 1946 when he moved to work on the family farm in North Yorkshire. In 1953 he moved to Gosforth and, with his son, he established NDY Coach Sales of Stanley in Co Durham.
He was an ardent supporter of Newcastle United, where his son-inlaw, the businessman Freddy Shepherd, was the one-time owner of the club. He enjoyed watching Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club and the sports teams at his old school in Durham. He competed six times in the Great North Run and walked the Great Wall of China at the age of 80.
Ken Sumner married his wife Phyllis Reynolds (known as Rennie) in 1946 and she died in 2015. They had two sons and a daughter.