Captain Vyvyan Howard, who has died aged 102, was a Fleet Air Arm pilot, probably the last to fly a wartime Fairey Swordfish, and the last remaining British survivor of the infamous Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp.
In September 1940, having learnt low-level torpedo-dropping techniques in the Fairey Swordfish, Howard joined the newly equipped 828 Naval Air Squadron, flying the Fairey Albacore torpedo bomber, at Lee-on-Solent.
In 1941 the squadron deployed to the Orkney Islands on anti-aircraft and convoy escort duties, and in June 828 NAS embarked in the aircraft carrier Victorious. On the afternoon of July 30, in bright Arctic sunshine, the squadron attacked German shipping at Kirkenes, close to the Norwegian border with Russia.
The enemy were alerted and had strong air and flak defences. Howard recalled: “We launched our torpedo at a German ship in the harbour. As we turned to make our escape, I heard a roar of cannon fire from below us; we were hit, and the aircraft broke up around us. The next thing I knew we were in the fjord and swimming to the shore and captivity.”
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