Wing Commander David Penman DSO OBE DFC
In memory of Wg Cdr Penman, instructor at 1804 Sqn, dedicatee of 1804 Sqn HQ.
As the captain of a Lancaster of 97 Squadron in April 1942, David Penman was a participant in — and a very lucky survivor of — what was in percentage terms one of the most costly RAF raids of the Second World War. Seven out of twelve Lancasters fell to German fighters and flak on April 17 in a raid on the MAN submarine diesel-engine works at Augsburg, and Penman and his crew were in one of the five aircraft which made it back home.
The genesis of the Augsburg raid — quite apart from its being intended to relieve pressure on the Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic — was Harris’s profound conviction of the superior merits of high explosive over incendiary bombing. Earlier in the spring of 1942, the RAF had scored spectacular results in attacks on the Baltic ports Lübeck and Rostock. In these, incendiary bombs had not only consumed large numbers of wooden houses in those Hanseatic cities, rendering thousands homeless, but had destroyed port facilities, power stations, warehouses, factories, railway workshops and, in the case of the latter, the Heinkel factory. The Führer was dismayed — and incensed — and ordered the retaliatory “Baedeker raids” on such picturesque towns as Exeter, York and Bath.
In Whitehall the Air Staff were cock-a-hoop over the destruction, and wanted Bomber Command to conduct an all-incendiary offensive. Harris remained unconvinced — Lübeck and Rostock were “tinderboxes” and their destruction proved nothing. Bigger and better blast bombs of 4,000lb and 8,000lb were now available and with the new four-engined Lancaster in service, now was the time to try them.
At this distance the rationale behind the Augsburg raid is a little difficult to fathom. In daylight, a small force was to penetrate enemy air space to a distance hundreds of miles beyond the range of any fighter cover that could be provided in 1942. The attack was to be delivered at low level using 1,000lb bombs.
To draw attention away from the Augsburg mission, however, diversionary raids and strafing attacks were to be carried out on Rouen, Cherbourg and the Pas de Calais. The aircraft were to take off in mid-afternoon so that the force would return from Augsburg under cover of darkness. The force was commanded by Squadron Leader John Nettleton, leading six Lancasters of 44 Squadron in two vics. The six 97 Squadron Lancasters were under the command of Squadron Leader J. S. Sherwood, with the rear trio led by Penman. The two squadrons took off from Waddington and Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire and made rendezvous over Selsey Bill, where they dropped down beneath 500ft to get below the German radar.
Unfortunately, the diversionary RAF air activity had served only to alert, rather than distract, the Luftwaffe. Large numbers of Fw190s and Me109s were swarming in the skies over France, tackling the various nuisance raids, and Nettleton’s formation, which had drawn some way ahead of the 97 group, came under concerted attack not long after crossing the French coast. Within a few minutes the three Lancasters of his rear vic had been shot down, and soon afterwards one of Nettleton’s trio also perished to cannon fire. No 44’s misfortune was 97’s luck. The fighters had had to land to refuel by the time they reached the danger area, and Sherwood and Penman and their comrades crossed France into Germany and reached the target without suffering any losses.
By that time, Nettleton had pressed home his attack and had lost the fifth aircraft of his force, which was brought down by flak over Augsburg. With nothing more to be achieved he set a lone course for home in the gathering darkness.
Arriving not long afterwards, the 97 Squadron aircraft benefited from the smoke which was now rising from the MAN factory, but ran into well co-ordinated flak defences. Sherwood’s aircraft flew into the wall of fire, burst into flames and crashed. One of Penman’s section was also set on fire, but its pilot pressed on and completed his bombing run before blowing up in midair.
Penman’s Lancaster was repeatedly hit by flak, and some of its guns were knocked out, but he pressed home his attack with great resolution and skill, dropping his bombs on the factory from 250ft. That done, he closed up on another Lancaster, which had had one of its engines put out of action, and accompanied the damaged aircraft home through the night, regaining base in the small hours of the following morning.
For this truly heroic effort Nettleton was awarded the VC and Penman the DSO; there were DFCs and a DFM for some of the other survivors of the raid. Meaningful damage to the factory was, alas, slight. The bombing had been a marvel of cool nerve and accuracy in the face of heavy fire, and was acknowledged as such by the Germans. But five of the 17 bombs dropped had failed to explode, and although there was a good deal of general havoc throughout the factory, only 3 per cent of its machine tools had been destroyed.
Nevertheless Churchill himself signalled to the two squadrons his appreciation of their devotion and bravery, as did the First Sea Lord. Harris spiritedly defended his decision to attack Augsburg by day on the grounds that it was a compact target with easily recognisable landmarks in the vicinity. Privately he could see that a rate of attrition of almost 60 per cent was no way forward for Bomber Command as a strategic weapon. That was the end, for some time, of daylight precision bombing sorties for the RAF.
Penman had been on bombers since before the war and had experienced all the difficulties of Bomber Command’s early attempts to make its campaign effective against all the odds of inadequate aircraft and navigation equipment. Born in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School, he joined the RAF with a short-service commission in 1937 and, after training as a pilot, joined 44 Squadron the following year.
When war came the squadron was operating Hampdens and during the phoney war period it took part in North Sea sweeps, searching for German naval targets. When the bombing of Germany began, after Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940, Penman was involved in raids on the Ruhr and Düsseldorf and farther afield to Berlin and Leipzig, a long haul for the Hampden. He was awarded the DFC on completion of 32 operations, the citation praising his coolness and courage in pressing home attacks.
After the end of his second tour of operations, with 97 Squadron, he had a spell as an instructor before, in 1944, being posted to Burma. There he flew Dakota transports supplying General Slim’s 14th Army by air as it pursued the retreating Japanese towards Rangoon. Flying from India, he was also involved in the air supply of nationalist forces in China.
After the war he was given a permanent commission and, remaining in India, he commanded 31 (Dakota) Squadron on many supply and transport sorties during the chaotic months of Partition. Returning to Europe, he flew supply sorties in to Berlin during the airlift occasioned by the Russian blockade of the city in 1948-49. Among subsequent appointments was command of a wing at the pilot training school at RAF Leeming, where he was also deputy station commander. At the end of that tour he was appointed OBE.
He retired from the RAF in 1974, but remained busy instructing young pilots with the Air Training Corps. Over the next ten years he instructed hundreds of cadets on Chipmunks, continuing flying until he was 65, when he was at last compelled to retire.
He is survived by his wife Winifred and by their son and daughter.
Wing Commander David Penman, DSO, OBE, DFC, bomber pilot, was born on October 14, 1919. He died on November 27, 2004, aged 85.
In memory of Wg Cdr Penman, instructor at 1804 Sqn, dedicatee of 1804 Sqn HQ.
As the captain of a Lancaster of 97 Squadron in April 1942, David Penman was a participant in — and a very lucky survivor of — what was in percentage terms one of the most costly RAF raids of the Second World War. Seven out of twelve Lancasters fell to German fighters and flak on April 17 in a raid on the MAN submarine diesel-engine works at Augsburg, and Penman and his crew were in one of the five aircraft which made it back home.
The genesis of the Augsburg raid — quite apart from its being intended to relieve pressure on the Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic — was Harris’s profound conviction of the superior merits of high explosive over incendiary bombing. Earlier in the spring of 1942, the RAF had scored spectacular results in attacks on the Baltic ports Lübeck and Rostock. In these, incendiary bombs had not only consumed large numbers of wooden houses in those Hanseatic cities, rendering thousands homeless, but had destroyed port facilities, power stations, warehouses, factories, railway workshops and, in the case of the latter, the Heinkel factory. The Führer was dismayed — and incensed — and ordered the retaliatory “Baedeker raids” on such picturesque towns as Exeter, York and Bath.
In Whitehall the Air Staff were cock-a-hoop over the destruction, and wanted Bomber Command to conduct an all-incendiary offensive. Harris remained unconvinced — Lübeck and Rostock were “tinderboxes” and their destruction proved nothing. Bigger and better blast bombs of 4,000lb and 8,000lb were now available and with the new four-engined Lancaster in service, now was the time to try them.
At this distance the rationale behind the Augsburg raid is a little difficult to fathom. In daylight, a small force was to penetrate enemy air space to a distance hundreds of miles beyond the range of any fighter cover that could be provided in 1942. The attack was to be delivered at low level using 1,000lb bombs.
To draw attention away from the Augsburg mission, however, diversionary raids and strafing attacks were to be carried out on Rouen, Cherbourg and the Pas de Calais. The aircraft were to take off in mid-afternoon so that the force would return from Augsburg under cover of darkness. The force was commanded by Squadron Leader John Nettleton, leading six Lancasters of 44 Squadron in two vics. The six 97 Squadron Lancasters were under the command of Squadron Leader J. S. Sherwood, with the rear trio led by Penman. The two squadrons took off from Waddington and Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire and made rendezvous over Selsey Bill, where they dropped down beneath 500ft to get below the German radar.
Unfortunately, the diversionary RAF air activity had served only to alert, rather than distract, the Luftwaffe. Large numbers of Fw190s and Me109s were swarming in the skies over France, tackling the various nuisance raids, and Nettleton’s formation, which had drawn some way ahead of the 97 group, came under concerted attack not long after crossing the French coast. Within a few minutes the three Lancasters of his rear vic had been shot down, and soon afterwards one of Nettleton’s trio also perished to cannon fire. No 44’s misfortune was 97’s luck. The fighters had had to land to refuel by the time they reached the danger area, and Sherwood and Penman and their comrades crossed France into Germany and reached the target without suffering any losses.
By that time, Nettleton had pressed home his attack and had lost the fifth aircraft of his force, which was brought down by flak over Augsburg. With nothing more to be achieved he set a lone course for home in the gathering darkness.
Arriving not long afterwards, the 97 Squadron aircraft benefited from the smoke which was now rising from the MAN factory, but ran into well co-ordinated flak defences. Sherwood’s aircraft flew into the wall of fire, burst into flames and crashed. One of Penman’s section was also set on fire, but its pilot pressed on and completed his bombing run before blowing up in midair.
Penman’s Lancaster was repeatedly hit by flak, and some of its guns were knocked out, but he pressed home his attack with great resolution and skill, dropping his bombs on the factory from 250ft. That done, he closed up on another Lancaster, which had had one of its engines put out of action, and accompanied the damaged aircraft home through the night, regaining base in the small hours of the following morning.
For this truly heroic effort Nettleton was awarded the VC and Penman the DSO; there were DFCs and a DFM for some of the other survivors of the raid. Meaningful damage to the factory was, alas, slight. The bombing had been a marvel of cool nerve and accuracy in the face of heavy fire, and was acknowledged as such by the Germans. But five of the 17 bombs dropped had failed to explode, and although there was a good deal of general havoc throughout the factory, only 3 per cent of its machine tools had been destroyed.
Nevertheless Churchill himself signalled to the two squadrons his appreciation of their devotion and bravery, as did the First Sea Lord. Harris spiritedly defended his decision to attack Augsburg by day on the grounds that it was a compact target with easily recognisable landmarks in the vicinity. Privately he could see that a rate of attrition of almost 60 per cent was no way forward for Bomber Command as a strategic weapon. That was the end, for some time, of daylight precision bombing sorties for the RAF.
Penman had been on bombers since before the war and had experienced all the difficulties of Bomber Command’s early attempts to make its campaign effective against all the odds of inadequate aircraft and navigation equipment. Born in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School, he joined the RAF with a short-service commission in 1937 and, after training as a pilot, joined 44 Squadron the following year.
When war came the squadron was operating Hampdens and during the phoney war period it took part in North Sea sweeps, searching for German naval targets. When the bombing of Germany began, after Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940, Penman was involved in raids on the Ruhr and Düsseldorf and farther afield to Berlin and Leipzig, a long haul for the Hampden. He was awarded the DFC on completion of 32 operations, the citation praising his coolness and courage in pressing home attacks.
After the end of his second tour of operations, with 97 Squadron, he had a spell as an instructor before, in 1944, being posted to Burma. There he flew Dakota transports supplying General Slim’s 14th Army by air as it pursued the retreating Japanese towards Rangoon. Flying from India, he was also involved in the air supply of nationalist forces in China.
After the war he was given a permanent commission and, remaining in India, he commanded 31 (Dakota) Squadron on many supply and transport sorties during the chaotic months of Partition. Returning to Europe, he flew supply sorties in to Berlin during the airlift occasioned by the Russian blockade of the city in 1948-49. Among subsequent appointments was command of a wing at the pilot training school at RAF Leeming, where he was also deputy station commander. At the end of that tour he was appointed OBE.
He retired from the RAF in 1974, but remained busy instructing young pilots with the Air Training Corps. Over the next ten years he instructed hundreds of cadets on Chipmunks, continuing flying until he was 65, when he was at last compelled to retire.
He is survived by his wife Winifred and by their son and daughter.
Wing Commander David Penman, DSO, OBE, DFC, bomber pilot, was born on October 14, 1919. He died on November 27, 2004, aged 85.
