David Lorimer
I would like to let you all know what I have found out about this brave chap from Broughty Ferry.
He joined the RAF before the start of WW2 and served as a Wireless Operator and Airgunner. He was awarded his Distinguished Flying Medal in 1940 aged just 18 when the Hampden bomber he was in was attacked by a Messerschmidt Bf109 over Hamburg. Despite the attacker’s considerable advantages in both firepower and agility he managed to shoot it down before it had done much damage to his own aircraft.
Later in January 1942 he was in a Manchester aircraft bound for Cherbourg when the starboard engine failed and caught fire while flying over Wiltshire. The crew elected not to drop the bombs or allow the plane to crash due to the risk to the local population. Five of the crew baled out and the two pilots (Matthews & Wilson) stayed with the plane and attempted an emergency landing. Unfortunately they collided with a line of trees on the edge of their chosen landing ground. Both were killed.
On the night of the 3/4th June 1942 he was part of a crew detailed to take Lancaster R5627 to Bremen. At just after 01:30 the aircraft was attacked by a night-fighter flown by Hans-Heinrich König. Six of the crew died in the resulting crash. The seven members of the Lancaster crew were:-
Pilot Flying Officer Ronald Earle Archibald. Son of Wilbert Earle Archibald and Clara Jennie Petersen, of Rosedale, British Columbia, Canada. He was born in Chilliwack in September 1920. He joined the RAF in 1939 and was posted to operation flying with Bomber Command in September 1941.
2nd Pilot Sergeant Peter Holmes who survived to become a prisoner of war and was subsequently liberated and repatriated.
Navigator Flight Sergeant Ian Frank Pratt. The son of Frank Percy Pratt and Olive Goode, of Margaretting, Essex. He was born at the end of 1920.
2nd Wireless Operator Sergeant Jack Lewis Wallis. Born in 1912, the son of Charles Wallis and Florence Ward, of Wood Green, Middlesex, England.
1st Air Gunner Flight Lieutenant George Liddell Carruthers Beattie Born in 1902 the son of Sir J Carruthers Beattie of Cape Town. He had married Winifrede Jean Laird in 1931 in Marylebone, they had no children. 2nd Air Gunner Flight Sergeant. Maurice Hamilton Denison. Born in 1906 the son of George Ellis Denison and Katherine Myfanwy Jones. He married Lucy Mary Alice Featherstone of Fixby in 1940.
1st Wireless Operator Flight Sergeant David Lorimer D.F.M. Just 20 years old, from Broughty Ferry in the Dundee area the son of Mr David Lorimer and his wife Alexina Smart. He had married Irene Merrill of Leicester on the 2nd of April 1942 in Broughty Ferry.
