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Rawdon Hume 'Ron' Middleton (1916 - 1942) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Early Life
Middleton was born on 22 July 1916, and spent his early years in the Central Western district of New South Wales. He was an athletic young man, and excelled in cricket and Rugby football at school. After leaving school, he worked for a time as a jackaroo at Leewang station, the large grazing property his father managed.
He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 14 October 1940, and after training as a pilot in the Empire Air Training Scheme, joined 149 Squadron Royal Air Force, flying Short Stirling bombers in February 1942.
Victoria Cross Action
On 28 November 1942, Middleton was captain of a Stirling I bomber detailed to bomb the Fiat works at Turin. It was his twenty-ninth combat sortie, one short of the thirty required for completion of a 'tour' and mandatory rotation off combat operations.
Middleton and his crew arrived above Turin after a difficult flight over the Alps, due to the low combat ceiling of the Stirling. Middleton made three low level passes over the target to identify it, and on the third of these passes his aircraft was hit by heavy and sustained anti-aircraft fire. Middleton suffered numerous grevious wounds, including shrapnel wounds to the arms, legs and body, having his right eye torn from its socket and his jaw shattered.
He passed out briefly, but regained consciousness in time to recover control of his stricken bomber. Middleton was in great pain, was barely able to see, was losing blood from wounds all over his body, and could breath only with difficulty. He must have known that his own chances of survival were slim, but he nontheless determined to fly his crippled aircraft home, and return his crew to safety. During the return flight he frequently said over the intercom 'I'll make the English Coast. I'll get you home'.
After four hours of agony and having been further attacked by flak over France, Middleton reached the coast of England with five minutes of fuel reserves. At this point he turned the aircraft parallel to the coast and ordered his crew to bail out. Five of his crew did so and landed safely, but his front gunner and flight engineer remained with him to try to talk him into a forced landing on the coast, something he must have known would have risked extensive civilian casualties. Eventually they too bailed out, but did not survive the night in the English Channel. Middleton stayed with the aircraft, which crashed into the Channel. He body was washed ashore early in 1943.
The last line of his Victoria Cross Citation reads: 'His devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds is unsurpassed in the history of the Royal Air Force'.
Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton VC is buried at Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
References
- They Dared Mightily (Lionel Wigmore,1986 - the definitive guide to Australian VC Winners)
- Heroes Have Wings (Peter Firkins, 1993 - stories of Australian aviation heroism, written by a former Bomber Command tail gunner)
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