George Cecil Crew

Lieutenant Crew's name appears on an Auxiliary Units telephone number list from August 1940 where it is recorded under the heading of Intelligence Officer. There are no other details to record whereabouts he was operating or his role.

Investigation of the 1940 Army List revealed that there were only four officers named Crew. Of these one was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps and another served in the Pay Corps. Graeme Campbell Eley Crew RASC served entirely in the Far East, where he was captured by the Japanese. This meant the Auxiliary Units Officer had to be George Cecil Crew.

His career was unusual as he was originally commissioned in the Royal Engineers. He served with the Royal Engineer Tunnelling Companies, who were later involved in the construction of Operational Bases. It may be that he was brought in to advise on the construction of the first underground hideouts. It may also mean that he had studied mining engineering at Durham, or worked in mining after this, as the officers in the tunnelling units tended to  have experience in this field.

On 19 Aug 1942 resigned his commission and on 20 Aug 1942 transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a Pilot Officer (128066). On 25 Dec 1942 he was promoted to War Substantive Flying Officer.

He served initially with 90 Squadron. In May 1943, on a mission to Rostock in Germany, his bomber was hit on the outward journey. Although some instruments were shot away by German Flak, and other parts of the plane had been damaged, he continued another 150 miles to drop his bomb load. He then successfully flew the plane back to land at his home base. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action.

On 24 Jan 1944, now with 7 Squadron, he took off in Lancaster bomber JB313 from Oakington Airfield in Cambridgeshire. Sometime after midnight, the bomber was shot down and crashed near Schophoven in Germany. Pilot Officer Crew and the remainder of the men on board were all killed and are buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery.