Flight Lieutenant Doug Newham
RAF navigator who won a DFC for his part in strategic bombing raids on German industrial targets
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT DOUG NEWHAM, who has died aged 100, completed two tours of duty as a navigator in Bomber Command, and was awarded the DFC.
He had completed a tour on Wellington bombers in the Middle East and qualified as a specialist navigator when in November 1944 he joined 10 Squadron, based in Yorkshire; the squadron operated the Halifax bomber. His first operation, on December 12, was to Essen, soon followed by an attack on Mainz.
Newham was the squadron’s navigator leader: in addition to flying on operations he was responsible for monitoring the standards of all the squadron’s navigators, supervising additional training and advising on route-planning.
In the New Year, the primary targets were Germany’s synthetic oil production facilities. Newham attacked the plants at Wanne-eickel, and Böhlen, near Leipzig.
During March he flew operations that included attacks on Chemnitz, Essen and Dortmund. On March 24 the target was Kamen; Newholm was selected as the lead navigator of a force of 340 bombers. The attack was in daylight, and he recalled: “It gave one an isolated feeling of responsibility to look back and see all those aircraft following.”
The following day he attacked road communications near Osnabrück on a daylight mission; this signalled the end of his second tour of operations and he was awarded the DFC.
The son of a First World War veteran who served on the Western Front, Douglas Frank Newham was born on November 13 1921 at Edgware, north London, and educated at Kingsbury High School.
On leaving school he trained as a technician at the GPO Engineering Research Station in London. During the early years of the war he was involved in the development of the Chain Home earlywarning radar system constructed around the coast that was so crucial during the Battle of Britain. He also volunteered as an ARP warden, and at the height of the Blitz was on frequent night duty. With restrictions on those in reserved occupations lifted in 1941, he joined the RAF and trained as a navigator.
With his Canadian pilot, he joined a Wellington squadron. He flew his first operation on November 15 1942 when he dropped sea mines near La Rochelle. After another mining operation, this time off Lorient, and a bombing raid on Stuttgart, Newham and his crew transferred to 150 Squadron.
Following the successful Allied landings in north-west Africa in November 1942, his squadron was ordered to Blida in Algeria as part of the North-west African Strategic Air Force, where they flew sorties against German targets in Tunisia, Libya, Sicily and Sardinia. Attacking from low level, their Wellington was damaged by anti-aircraft fire on two occasions.
On March 20, Newham was acting as the bomb aimer when his crew achieved a direct hit on the docks at Ferryville near Bizerta in Tunisia. Despite later claims made by the USAAF, Newham’s photograph provided the necessary evidence of the results of their accurate attack.
The squadron suffered heavy casualties, and Newham’s aircraft was one of only three of the original 12 to survive.
On return to Britain, he attended a navigation course and was commissioned. Awarded a first-class pass, he spent the next 12 months instructing at a navigation school before joining 10 Squadron.
At the end of the European war, No 10 Squadron converted to the Dakota transport aircraft and began practising glider towing and paratrooper dropping for operations in Malaya, but the Japanese surrender occurred as he was heading for the Far East. He flew on food drops to outposts in north-east Burma, to POW camps, and later on repatriation flights.
He left the RAF in 1946 and joined BOAC, serving as an operations manager in Britain and at overseas bases. In 1949 he moved to Heathrow, a series of huts at the time, and worked in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Authority. He was also responsible for all flights made by members of the Royal family, including routes, schedules, aircraft interior design and in-flight catering. He managed 64 Royal Flights, and in 1969 he was appointed LVO.
Following the amalgamation of BOAC and British European Airways to became British Airways in 1977, Newham was made general manager responsible for the control of operations. His large staff was responsible for the smooth running of oversea bases, sometimes in the face of local strikes, terrorist attacks and revolutionary activity, in particular in some of the Middle East bases. He also developed security measures for each individual aircraft type in the event of a hijacking or for emergency evacuations.
Many years later, one small ornament in his sitting room might well have been overlooked by a casual observer, but shows the high regard in which he was held – a statuette of an SAS soldier bearing the inscription: “To a Kindred Spirit and Willing Accomplice”.
Newham took early retirement from BA in 1982, after 36 years’ service, when he set up an airline security consultancy, which he ran until his final retirement a few years later.
He enjoyed a very active retirement enjoying the outdoors, walking in the Himalayas and in the Lake District. In later life he took up skiing, an activity he gave up when he was 95. He studied for a degree in Geology at the Open University, graduating at the age of 75.
Newham was a modest man with a mischievous sense of humour. When pressed to talk about his war service, he simply replied: “I was one of the lucky ones.”
He was a founder member of the Bomber Command Association and president of his local Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) branch in Cumbria. He was a regular “charity tin rattler” for both RAFA and the RAF Benevolent Fund.
To mark his 90th birthday his children organised a flight in a biplane; it was a gusty day and the aircraft ploughed into a hedge on take-off. Newham escaped and went to the assistance of the pilot. He commented: “It seemed a sensible idea at the time with all the fuel pouring out of a fuel tank.” On his 100th birthday, an RAF Hercules flew over his house in salute.
Doug Newham married Juliette Harris in 1947. She died in 2009 and he is survived by their two sons.