Group Captain Jim Mitchell RIP

Kyt · Aug 31, 2008

Group Captain Jim Mitchell - Telegraph

Group Captain Jim Mitchell, who died on July 30 aged 92, earned a DFC and Bar as a bomber pilot during the Second World War, then faced a different kind of danger when he flew on a rescue mission to the High Arctic in 1950.

Mitchell took off in a Dakota from Edmonton, Alberta, with an RCAF doctor on board, for Eureka, a tiny outpost 500 miles from the North Pole where a meteorologist had developed blood poisoning. There were no navigation directional beacons that far north, and Eureka was so close to the magnetic pole that the aircraft's compass was useless. After making two refuelling stops in the Northwest Territories, Mitchell had to monitor his fuel reserves very carefully to ensure that the aircraft was light enough to land on the 2,000-foot runway at Eureka but could divert to Thule, in Greenland, if necessary.

The doctor volunteered to parachute in, but Mitchell decided to risk landing on the rough gravel strip, marked with oil drums, and two hours later took off with the patient aboard. Since the runway was not long enough for a conventional take-off he used a jet-assisted pack to become airborne.

After refuelling at Resolute Bay he flew on to Churchill, on the edge of Hudson's Bay, where he was confronted with landing the Dakota in a crosswind gusting to gale force. The complete rescue operation took 40 hours, during which Mitchell had fewer than four hours sleep; it was the longest mercy flight then undertaken by an RCAF crew. The patient recovered, and Mitchell was awarded the Air Force Cross for his "determination, bravery, fortitude and devotion to duty".

The son of a foundry worker, James Frederick Mitchell was born on April 23 1916 in Toronto and went to local schools. A clerk at Robert Simpson's store, he did not tell the recruiting officer when he joined up that he had been taking night courses in radio technology for fear the he would be made a navigator instead of a pilot.

Following training in Canada and then becoming an instructor in England, Mitchell joined No 9 Squadron, flying Lancasters. His first bombing operation, on July 3 1943, was an attack on Cologne; he was next involved in two more in the devastating "firestorm" raids on Hamburg. Over the next few months he attacked most of the major industrial targets in the Ruhr as well as on Berlin, Leipzig and Magdeburg. His first DFC was awarded in April 1944 for displaying "high skill, fortitude and devotion to duty".

After some 20 operations, Mitchell joined the Pathfinder Force with No 83 Squadron. From early 1944 he marked targets at many German cities before the squadron attacked pinpoint targets in France in preparation for the Normandy landings, and then was deputy master bomber on several of these raids. Awarded a Bar to his DFC, he was assessed as a cool and courageous captain, who had set a sterling example to all in the squadron. He had flown 49 operations over enemy-occupied territory at the height of the strategic bombing campaign when casualties were at their worst.

Returning to Canada in 1946, he served for two years as secretary to the RCAF Chief of the Air Staff before taking command of No 105 Communications Flight at Edmonton. After his Arctic mission he served at Nato Headquarters in Paris, then commanded No 408 Squadron at Rockfield, Ottawa, in surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the Arctic. This sometimes involved tracking Soviet activities and, after one operation, the Soviet embassy presented him with a photograph of his Lancaster, taken from the ground.

After commanding the airbase in Winnipeg he spent his last four years at the North American Air Defence headquarters, Colorado Springs, then became a management trainer for the Canadian Public Service Commission.

Jim Mitchell is survived by two sons and a daughter.
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Antipodean Andy · Sep 7, 2008

An impressive pilot. RIP.

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Group Captain Jim Mitchell RIP

Kyt Άρης

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