The Airmen's Stories - Midshipman (FAA) G W Roberts

George William Roberts was born in October 1920 in Warwick, the son of James Edmund Roberts (1894-1979) and Eleanor Mary Roberts (nee Bird 1897-1995).

JE Roberts had served as a Captain in the 2/7th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment in WW1 and was awarded the Military Cross (gazetted 3rd June 1918).

He was still in the regiment in 1940 as a Lieutenant, though he had earlier reached the rank of Colonel.

The family home at the time was in Danes Hill, Woking.

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GW Roberts must have trained at 7 FTS Peterborough as the photo below (from his album) shows Hawker Hart K3133, which collided with K3131 at 7 FTS while both were attempting to land on the same runway. Both pilots survived.

Roberts was serving with 808 Squadron at Wick in early July 1940, flying Fulmars on dockyard defence.

He embarked with the squadron in HMS Ark Royal on 22nd October 1940 and served with it in the actions in the Mediterranean in 1940/1941.

Above: arriving aboard Ark Royal.

His photo album holds a photograph that he must have been given after joining the ship as he would not have been aboard to witness it, however it is worth recounting here.

On 3rd July 1940 a British fleet, Force H, was off the French naval base at Mers-el-Kebir (Oran, Algeria) negotiating the surrender of the French fleet moored there, which otherwise could have fallen into German hands.

There was no progress and the British were forced to open fire. Lt./Cdr. Ben Breese had been aloft in a Swordfish (nicknamed Mitzi) of the battleship HMS Valiant, it was fitted with floats to enable it to be launched by catapult and then land on the sea from where it would be retrieved by a crane.

Breese was tasked with spotting for Valiant's guns.

As the bombardment ended, the fast French battleship Strasbourg escaped. Force H gave chase, leaving Breese aloft.

He was ordered to land on Ark Royal. As he made the descent his crew, Sub-Lt. Peter Starmer and Naval Airman Roy Tolley, loosened their straps in preparation for leaping overboard in anticipation of the Swordfish skidding over the side. But Breese made a near-perfect landing, going straight down the middle of the flight deck to stop dead after a few yards.

An airframe mechanic on board the carrier then bashed a dent out of one float with a mallet and declared the aircraft fit to fly. When Ark Royal arrived at Gibraltar a few days later Breese and ‘Mitzi’ were lowered to the water to taxi to Valiant, which recovered them by crane.

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There is also a photograph, taken by Roberts, captioned 'Jock's First' (below).

This refers to Lt./Cdr. John William 'Jock' Moffat, who joined the ship in January 1941, this must have been his first carrier landing.

He is credited with launching the torpedo that crippled the steering mechanism of the Bismark. His crew was made up of Lt.(A) JD Miller and (TAG) AJ Hayman.

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On 11th October 1941 Roberts was posted to 800 Squadron in HMS Indomitable. The mostly uncaptioned photos from this time suggest that he took part in 'Operation Pedestal', the relief of Malta in August 1942.

He witnessed the sinking of the carrier HMS Eagle (below), sunk by the German submarine U-73 south of Majorca on 11th August 1942. 131 officers and men were lost.

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Roberts later served at Macrihanish and then went to HMS Khedive on 31st December 1943 for air gunnery duties.

Its possible that he returned to Indomitable as he married Jean Cook in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 4th July 1945. The carrier had docked there two days earlier to embark the F6F Hellcat fighters of 1839 and 1844 Squadrons, the first of their type to enter service with the FAA.

The photos below are from his album, any captions are included.

No. 4 RN Flight Wing.

HMS Khedive.

HMS Indomitable.

HMS Khedive.

Above: an Italian Caproni 314 torpedo bomber.

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Roberts was killed on 30th May 1946, whilst serving with 736 Squadron FAA as a Gunnery Instructor at HMS Vulture, a training airfield near St. Merryn, Padstow, Cornwall.

Fairey Firefly MB677 flew into a hill in bad visibility, exploded and disintegrated at Trenance Downs, near St. Austell.

He was 25 and is buried in St Merryn churchyard, Cornwall.

Additional research and all images above courtesy of Barbara Susan Roberts (daughter) via Helen Voller.