Donald Bunce: Naval Airman First Class, CGM, the Channel Dash

Donald was born in Oxford in 1921 and was working at Pressed Steel at the start of the war. He had been told that good money could be made by joining the Fleet Air Arm and so enlisted as a Telegraphist Air Gunner, a TAG, in 1940.

I never met Donald; he was my mother's first cousin, but I always knew about him. A story was told about him that stayed with me. It was said that brave Donald was standing up in the open cockpit of his plane, firing his gun at the enemy, but when he looked around, his seat had been shot out from behind him, and because of that, he had been awarded an important medal.

But of course, this wasn't the whole story. It wasn't until I spoke to Donald's son, Roger, that I found out that Donald was one of The Channel Dash heroes.

On February 12th, 1942, three German battleships, the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and the Prinz Eugen, made an almost unopposed 'dash' through the English Channel from Brest back to Germany with a convoy of over sixty motorboats and defended by the Luftwaffe. From RAF Manston, six Fairey Swordfish from 825 Naval Air Squadron, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, with an escort of ten Spitfires, went into attack.

The Imperial War Museum holds recordings of Donald talking about the Channel Dash and his other extraordinary wartime service. It is remarkable to listen to him discussing that operation and to think of what those young men went through.

Only five of the eighteen Swordfish crew survived, including Donald. All the Swordfish were lost. What I have found out from listening to him on his recording was that he did indeed have his seat shot away. He had to brace himself against the plane's fuselage to stop himself from falling into the Channel. Despite the plane being severely damaged and after receiving serious injuries himself, the pilot S/Lt Pat Kingsmill was able to set the plane in the sea near British motorboats.

Donald, the only non-commissioned airman, was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, one of only two awarded to men in the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. The other four survivors, all officers, were decorated with the Distinguished Service Order. The Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously to L/C Esmonde.

Both sides recognised the bravery of the Swordfish crew. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey signalled the Admiralty: "In my opinion, the gallant sortie of these six Swordfish constitutes one of the finest exhibitions of self-sacrifice and devotion that the war has yet witnessed." And from the other side, Admiral Otto Ciliax recorded in his diary: "The mothball attack of a handful of ancient planes, piloted by men whose bravery surpasses any other action by either side that day."

There are memorial stones for the men who lost their lives during Operation Fuller (to give the Channel Dash its proper title) at Ramsgate and in Dover, and a memorial service is held in each town on February 12th every year.

Donald and the other men who flew that day were indeed heroes, and I am proud to have him as a relative.

Sources:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80013994
https://navyhistory.au/operation-fuller-the-channel-dash-by-the-German-fleet-1942/