Corsair Victoria Cross
A few minutes after 8 a.m. on August 9, 1945, the day when the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and only days before the war ended, Lt. Robert “Hammy” Hampton Gray, the “happy go lucky” Canadian senior pilot on 1841 NAS, led seven other Corsairs off the deck of HMS Formidable on the second Ramrod of the day. The captain of Formidable had asked his Corsair pilots to, “take it easy,” as he believed that the end of the war was probably only days away and unnecessary loss of lives should be avoided.
Gray was leading the first four-aircraft section in Corsair IV, KD658, which bore the code numbers “115.” The other four Corsairs were led by his deputy, Sub-Lt. MacKinnon. Each Corsair was carrying a pair of 500-lb. bombs, in addition to a full load of 0.5 machine gun ammunition. On arrival at the intended objective, a Japanese airfield, Gray realized that the target had been raided by other Allied aircraft and was already seriously damaged. Seeing no point in wasting bombs on an already crippled airfield, he elected to attack shipping that he had spotted enroute in Onagawa Bay. Diving from 10,000 feet and approaching from inland, trying to use the cover of the hills surrounding the inlet, Gray led the Corsairs down to very low level to attack the ships, planning to exit the bay toward the open sea. As the Corsairs flashed over the hills and into the harbor at 400 mph, a hail of anti-aircraft fire blossomed around and in front of them from dozens of guns on the hills and from the naval vessels at anchor. Gray pressed home his attack at less than 40 feet. His aircraft was hit and set on fire, but he released his bombs against the Japanese destroyer Amakusa, scoring a direct hit. At least one bomb penetrated the ship’s engine room and triggered a massive explosion in the aft ammunition magazine. The Amakusa sank in minutes.
Sub-Lt. John Blade, who was part of MacKinnon’s section, dropped his bombs and emerged from the smoke and turmoil to see “Hammy” Gray’s Corsair to his right erupt in flames from its port wing root, jerk into a steep starboard bank, then with its wings ablaze roll onto its back and plunge at full power into the water. Gray was killed instantly. On the radio someone said, “There goes Hammy.” Jinking wildly through the flak, the remaining seven Corsairs reformed under MacKinnon’s leadership and launched another attack on other targets in the bay until their bombs and cannon ammunition were exhausted. On their return to the carrier, John Blade was forced to belly-land his Corsair as the hydraulics had been ruptured; he escaped injury and the others landed safely. The war ended six days later.
Robert “Hammy” Gray’s record of splendid leadership and personal example led to the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross (VC). The Victoria Cross is the British and Commonwealth services’ highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. Gray became one of only two members of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm to win the VC during WW II. The citation for Gray’s VC, first published in the London Gazette on November 9, 1945, included the words: “In the face of fire from shore batteries and a heavy concentration of fire from some five warships, Lieutenant Gray pressed home his attack, flying very low in order to ensure success, and, although he was hit and his aircraft was in flames, he obtained at least one direct hit, sinking the destroyer. Lieutenant Gray has consistently shown a brilliant fighting spirit and most inspiring leadership.”