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| Air Commodore Peter Cribb, One Of Britain's Great Bomber-Cowboys |
| 2011-06-25 |
| Air Commodore Peter Cribb, who has died aged 92, was one of the most successful and gallant master bombers of the Pathfinder Force; he flew more than 100 wartime operations, including one when he made an unauthorised raid on Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgaden. Cribb was already a veteran of more than 70 missions when he returned to operations in May 1944 to fly the Lancaster. He attacked targets in the run-up to D-Day, often acting as the master bomber directing the main force against rail yards and gun emplacements. In July he was put in command of the newly-formed No 582 Squadron and flew 16 daylight sorties in support of the Normandy landings. On July 18 he was the deputy master bomber when more than 1,000 aircraft pulverised the German panzer divisions in front of Montgomery’s stalled army at Caen. Cribb also controlled more than 700 bombers which attacked the V-1 sites before the bombing campaign resumed its efforts against major oil targets in Germany. On October 3 he was master bomber for the attack on the sea walls of Walcheren Island. Coastal gun batteries dominated the approaches to the important port of Antwerp; the aim was to breach the walls and flood the island, most of which was reclaimed polder below sea level. As the first to arrive at the head of 252 Lancasters, he orbited the target and directed eight separate waves of bombers, correcting the aiming point with flares and markers to widen the initial breach. The sea poured in, forcing the German defenders to abandon their carefully prepared positions. Cribb was the last to leave the target after a brilliantly controlled attack, which allowed Canadian ground forces to capture the island and open Antwerp to the Allies. Newspapers hailed the achievement with the headline “RAF sinks an island”. On promotion to group captain at the age of 25, Cribb was appointed to command the Pathfinder airfield at Little Staughton in Bedfordshire, and shortly afterwards he was awarded a Bar to an earlier DSO. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #3 By one description, "master bombers" were not only rare, but worth their weight in gold. In the Pacific theater, they were treated as royalty, because their talent was as rare as a virtuoso violinist. Typically, if you bombed a target, some of your bombs might hit it, causing some damage. But with a master bomber, it would be obliterated, with no need for dangerous follow up operations. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-06-25 17:19 |
| #2 Cribb’s Halifax hit the sea and the tail wheel was ripped off. After he had landed the intelligence officer asked him at what height he had delivered his attack. Cribb replied: “I don’t know. The altimeter reads in feet, not fathoms.” Guess they dont make em like they used to. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2011-06-25 12:42 |
| #1 Air Commodore? Ima jealous |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-06-25 10:53 |