The Airmen's Stories - Sgt. J T Lawrence

John Thornett Lawrence was born on 16th April 1920, the son of a master baker, and attended the Crypt School in Gloucester.

He joined the RAFVR about October 1938 as an Airman u/t Pilot. Called up on 1st September 1939, he completed his training and joined 235 Squadron on 5th October 1940.

On 23rd November 1940, whilst still with 235 squadron, he was wounded following an attack on two flak ships off the Danish coast.

Commissioned in August 1941, he served as a staff pilot with 3 School of General Reconnaissance until 1942 when he was posted to 202 squadron in Gibraltar flying Sunderlands and Catalinas.

On 10th January 1943 he was in transit to escort a tanker convoy in the Atlantic, about 100 miles south of Madeira. Most of the crew, including Lawrence, were smoking when they detected a strong smell of petrol, while the engineer reported fuel cascading down his station. The crew, who were not carrying parachutes, hastily threw their cigarettes out of the windows and shut the throttles to reduce height as quickly as possible.

At 500ft Lawrence reopened the throttles, but he found the aircraft difficult to control. He decided to land in the bay of Porto Santo, an island north of Madeira, where the engineer repaired a broken fuel line while Lawrence kept one engine running. Having completed the job the engineer appeared to lose concentration and suffered a broken arm from contact with the propeller. He was recovered by one of the crew and Lawrence started the other engine and took off just as a Portuguese gunboat appeared around the headland.

He remained with 202 Squadron until 1943 when he was posted as an instructor to 111 OTU, operating Liberators in Nassau, Bahamas Islands.

On another occasion he was returning to Gibraltar from a patrol off the coast of Sardinia when they came across a Spanish Air Force Cant Z506 flooatplane in flames and sinking. Lawrence landed and picked up the six crew, the commander was difficult to bring aboard as he had jettisoned his wooden leg.

In 1945 he was posted to 86 Squadron at Tain, again flying Liberators.

Lawrence was awarded the AFC (gazetted 14th June 1945) and the Chevalier of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) 1945 and the Croix de Guerre (Belgium) 1945.

He remained with 86 Squadron until his last day of war service on 2nd July 1946 and was released with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

He was awarded the Air Efficiency medal in 1946.

Lawrence rejoined the RAF in April 1947 on a permanent commission.

He served as a personal assistant to the AOC Central Germany from 1947-48. He then became Director of staff at the Flying College at Manby for 3 years until 1951 when he was given command of 14 (F) Squadron, operating Venoms at Fassberg in Germany.

In September 1952 he and a crew of 11 planned to fly an Aries (a converted ultra-long-range Lancaster with multiple fuel tanks) almost 3000 miles over the North Pole to Whitehorse in the Yukon.

The starting point was Keflavik in Iceland, but overnight there was a fuel leak. Because it would take too long to fix, the crew decided to leave the tank empty, fly only to the North Pole and return to Keflavik. However, off the coast of Greenland the Aries lost another tank. The senior navigator was keen to continue, but it would mean refuelling on the return journey at Thule, a US airfield in northwest Greenland.

Heading for Thule, Lawrence found the area covered in cloud. The Aries was fitted with an unreliable radio compass and he started to descend, breaking cloud at 1000 ft. He was over the sea, but it was snowing and visibility was about 1000 yards. Unsure of their position, Lawrence decided to climb and at 14000 ft. he could see clear skies to the west and chose instead to attempt a forced landing in the far northeast of Canada.

He set course, but shortly the port engine began to misfire. Suddenly he was able to make contact with a radar unit at Thule and was safely guided down to the runway there. It was dark because airfield lighting had not yet been installed and Lawrence landed by the lights of contractors lorries. He and his crew had been in the air for 17½ hours.

He remained with 14 Squadron until 1955 when he took up an appointment as Personal Secretary to the Secretary of State for Air.

This was followed by postings as staff officer at HQ 6 ATAF Izmir (1956), OC Flying Royal Radar Research Unit (1958-61), Group Captain Ops HQ AFME Aden (1961-64), CO at RAF Wittering operating Victor B2 bombers armed with the Blue Steel missiles (1964-67) and AOC 3 Group Bomber Command (1967).

Lawrence was awarded the CBE (Military) in 1967.

In 1968 he attended the Imperial Defence College as a student and went the next year to the MoD as Director of Admin plans.

From 1971-73 he was Director General Personnel Management RAF, overseeing the creation of the RAF Personnel Management Centre at Innsworth.

His final post was as Air Officer for Scotland and Northern Ireland which he held until his retirement from the RAF with the rank of Air Vice Marshal on 16th April 1975.

Lawrence was awarded the CB in 1975.

He then joined Rolls Royce and worked for them for six years until he retired on his 61st birthday.

Lawrence died on 18th December 2019 aged 99.