Lawrence Curtis 617 Sqdn RIP

Kyt · Jun 28, 2008

Wool trader and war hero dies at 87 (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

A highly decorated Second World War hero who was a leading figure in the Bradford wool trade has died aged 87.

Lawrence Curtis served as an RAF wireless operator with Bomber Command, which lost 55,000 air crew and survived more than 70 operations. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar.

A fly-past by part of the Battle of Britain commemorative flight is due to follow his funeral on Friday as a mark of respect.

Mr Curtis joined the RAF at the age of 18 in 1939 and became a squadron leader with the 617 “Dambusters” squadron.

He joined the squadron in 1943 following the raids on May 16 and 17 which used bouncing bombs to destroy dams in the Ruhr Valley, Germany, in which 56 RAF air crew died.

Mr Curtis participated in the search for the Bismarck and took part in attacks on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In 1944 he took part in the attacks which sank the German battleship Tirpitz.

Also in 1944, during an attack on the Antheor Viaduct in France, his aircraft was hit by flak on a low level marking run and Mr Curtis used his skills to help navigate the aircraft to an Allied air base in Sardinia, where it made an emergency landing.

During an operation to Berlin his aircraft was hit twice by flak before reaching the target. A flak shell burst immediately beneath the aircraft, all four engines stopped and the aircraft started to spiral downwards. The crew prepared to jump, but one engine picked up again, followed by the other three.

He left the RAF in 1946 and studied textiles at Leeds University before entering the Bradford wool trade.

After extensive experience in the international wool business, he formed his own company, Curtis Wools, in 1969, a wool merchanting and processing business based on Canal Road.

He was eventually joined in the firm by his three sons Ian, Simon and Martin. The business continues to trade and owns Howarth Scouring Co, which is one of the largest processors of cross-breed wools in Europe.

Mr Curtis continued to work well beyond retirement age. After he finished with the business he studied French at Shipley College and was also a keen gardener.

Mr Curtis was a keen motor sport enthusiast and a regular participant in the Harewood hill climb along with his sons. His youngest grandson, Tom, 23, is a professional golfer.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, a former Bradford councillor, their three sons and three grandchildren.

The funeral is at St Barnabas Church, Weeton, near Harrogate, at 10am on Friday.
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Joined the RAF in 1939, posted as a wireless operator firstly to 149 Squadron and then 99 Squadron on Wellingtons. He then joined OTU on Whitleys before moving firstly to 158 Squadron, and then 617 Squadron on Lancasters, where he was Unit Signals Leader for 18 months. After bomber operations he joined Transport Command in 1944.

Kyt · Jun 28, 2008

Distinguished Flying Cross. 17th August, 1943
Pilot Officer Lawrence Wesley CURTIS (139644), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 158 Squadron.

Bar to Distinguished Flying Cross. 7 April 1944.
Flying Officer Lawrence Wesley CURTIS, D.F.C. (139644), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 617 Squadron.
As wireless operator, this officer has completed numerous sorties since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His work has been of a high standard throughout and has played a good part in the many successes obtained. He is a most dependable member of aircraft crew, whose exemplary conduct in the face of the enemy is worthy of the greatest praise.

spidge · Jun 28, 2008

A long and distinguished history.

RIP

Pathfinder · Jun 28, 2008

RIP Mr. Curtis

Kyt · Jun 30, 2008

Sqd Ldr Larry Curtis

Sqd Ldr Larry Curtis - Telegraph

Squadron Leader Larry Curtis, who has died aged 87, flew more than 70 bombing operations during the Second World War and had the very unusual distinction for a wireless operator of earning two DFCs.

He had already completed two bomber tours when he arrived on No 617 Squadron in July 1943 as one of the replacements for the men lost on the Dam Busters raid. He joined the crew of the Australian Mickey Martin (later Air Marshal Sir Mick Martin), who was described by his CO, Leonard Cheshire, VC, as "the greatest bomber pilot of the war".

Curtis flew on the squadron's first bombing operation after the Dams raid, a low-level attack by eight Lancasters on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The new CO was shot down and several aircraft were badly damaged. Low cloud thwarted those who got through, and Martin and his crew made 13 attempted attacks before releasing their bomb; the canal, however, remained intact.

Throughout that winter No 617 attacked precision targets, including the V-1 flying bomb sites in the Pas de Calais. On the night of February 12 1944 Curtis took off on his twelfth sortie with Martin. The target was the Antheor viaduct on the vital coastal rail link between Italy and the south of France, and it was at the extreme range of the Lancasters. On arrival, Cheshire and Martin were to illuminate the target from low level to allow the rest of the force to drop their bombs.

Situated in the hills, Antheor was a particularly difficult target; two previous attempts had failed. Martin dived on the viaduct and, just as his bomb aimer pressed the bomb release, anti-aircraft fire hit his Lancaster, knocking out two engines and seriously wounding two of the crew. The bombs had failed to release, the bomb doors could not be closed and Martin struggled to prevent the heavy aircraft hitting the sea.

With no hope of returning to England, the crew headed for north Africa. After Curtis had sent an SOS, raising an advanced fighter airfield on Corsica, Martin altered course. Curtis remained in wireless contact, but when he requested that a doctor be on standby, he learned that none was available. The crew turned for Sardinia and Curtis made contact with an American airfield there.

With the bomb release circuits destroyed, the crew managed to prod some of the bombs away using a ruler, and the aircraft was able to gain some height. Martin made an emergency landing at Elmas Field, where it was discovered that the bomb aimer, Bob Hay, a veteran of the Dams raid, had been killed. Whilst on Sardinia, Curtis flew one or two unofficial bombing sorties with an American squadron. A few weeks later it was announced that he had been awarded a Bar to the DFC he had earned for earlier operations.

After the Antheor operation Martin was rested and Curtis went on to fly with other pilots who had flown on the Dams raid, in particular the American Joe McCarthy. He was also made the squadron's signal leader. During early 1944 the squadron was pioneering Cheshire's low-level marking technique, and Curtis attacked a number of pinpoint targets in France. He was involved in the highly successful attack against the Michelin plant at Clermont Ferrand.

On June 5 he took part in the brilliant "spoof" raid, which simulated an amphibious landing in the Pas de Calais, and was timed to coincide with the actual D-Day landings in Normandy. Over the next few weeks Curtis attacked many of the large V-1 storage sites in northern France using the 12,000lb "Tallboy" bomb.

On September 15 No 617 flew to an airfield near Murmansk to position for an attack against the German battleship Tirpitz, which was sheltering in a fjord in the north of Norway. The attack was thwarted by the ship's smoke screen. Two months later, when the ship (labelled "The Beast" by Churchill) had moved further south, another attack was mounted from Scotland, and on this occasion the battleship was sunk. It was Curtis's 38th and final operation with No 617.

Lawrence Wesley Curtis was born at Wednesbury on May 10 1921 and educated at Dudley Park School before spending four years at Dudley and Staffordshire Technical College. A keen sportsman and cyclist, he was also a Rover scout until he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in November 1939.

After training as a wireless operator/air gunner, Curtis was posted to No 149 Squadron, flying Wellingtons. He attacked Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, and on one occasion, when searchlights coned his aircraft, the pilot was forced to dive to low level. The aircraft was hit by flak, and the damaged bomber returned at low level to land at the nearest airfield with just five minutes' fuel remaining.

After 30 operations Curtis was rested, and spent time as an instructor at a bomber training unit. During this period he flew on the first Thousand Bomber raid to Cologne when, in a repeat of his experience over Brest, his pilot was forced to dive to roof-top height to escape the searchlights and anti-aircraft fire. He was commissioned in January 1943 and, after converting to the Halifax, joined No 158 Squadron. During an attack against Berlin in March 1943 his aircraft was hit by flak over the target.

All four engines stopped and the aircraft spiralled towards the ground. As the crew prepared to bale out, one engine picked up and the pilot was able to recover and start the remaining three. After attacking other heavily-defended German cities, Curtis was awarded a DFC for his "high courage and devotion to duty".

Having left No 617 he was posted to No 246 Squadron, equipped with the new York transport aircraft. He spent the next year with various Transport Command units before being released from the RAF in May 1946.

Curtis studied textiles at Leeds University before working in the wool trade at Bradford. He established his own company, Curtis Wool Holdings, which he managed with his three sons. The company became the largest crossbred wool processing and trading company in the northern hemisphere, and in 1984 received a Queen's Award for Exports. Curtis retired in 1984.

With a passion for motor racing, Curtis was much involved in amateur motor sport, taking part in many hill climbs and sprints. He remained competitive until he was in his late sixties, when he was still driving a Chevron which had raced at Le Mans.

In his mid-seventies he decided to learn French, and he became sufficiently competent to be awarded a certificate allowing him to act as a tour guide, a role in which he continued until shortly before his death.

Curtis was a staunch member of the 617 Squadron Association and a member of its committee. He remained a close friend of Micky Martin, naming his second son Martin, and made a number of visits to Sardinia to visit the grave of Bob Hay, his bomb aimer killed over Antheor.

Larry Curtis, who died on June 21, married, in 1945, Barbara Craven, who survives him with their three sons.
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Antipodean Andy · Jul 13, 2008

Another one gone. RIP.

Kyt · Oct 14, 2008

Our dad the secret Dambusters hero! - Sunday Mercury

LARRY Curtis flew with the Dambusters and won two Distringuished Flying Crosses for his bravery.

But his family never realised the true extent of his death-defying missions, some of the most crucial in the war, until he died at the age of 87 in June.

It was then that RAF historians and veterans who flew with their dad, who was brought up in Wednesbury, revealed to them their father’s true bravery.

Now, with their help, Larry’s three sons, Martin, Simon and Ian have pieced together their father’s war history and discovered that the man from Wednesbury:

* Flew with the Dambusters;

* Sunk the feared Nazi warship the Tirpitz;

* Flew raids behind enemy lines on D-Day;

* Snuffed out the dreaded V-1 rocket threat.

Last night Martin, 55, said: “My father was a very honourable, distinguished man but we knew him more as a successful businessman than a war hero.

“We now run the wool business he started in Yorkshire after the war and never really knew what he had achieved in the war because he never spoke about it.

“He wasn’t that type of man. He did not tell us an awful lot about his adventures.

“We have had to learn a lot since he passed away in June and have been amazed, and also very proud, to discover what we have done.”

After the war Squadron leader Larry went on to build an international, multi-million pound textile business in Yorkshire, Curtis Wool Direct Ltd.

He was born in Wednesbury in 1921 and was educated at Dudley Park School before spending four years at Dudley and Staffordshire Technical College.

A keen sportsman and cyclist, he was also a Rover scout until he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in November 1939 just in time for the outbreak of war.

But in those dangerous times he quickly grew up and trained as a wireless operator and air gunner and was soon involved in daredevil bombing raids across the continent, surviving 30 operations.

On one raid all four engines of his Wellington bomber stopped and the aircraft spiralled towards the ground.

As the crew prepared to bale out, one engine picked up and incredibly the pilot was able to recover and start the remaining three.

Eventually, after attacking other heavily-defended German cities, Larry was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his ‘high courage and devotion to duty’.

But it was when he joined the famous No 617 Squadron in July 1943, as one of the replacements for the men lost on the Dambusters Operation Chastise raid on Germany’s Ruhr Valley, that Curtis really came into his own.

He joined the crew of the Australian Mickey Martin (later Air Marshal Sir Mick Martin), who was described as ‘the greatest bomber pilot of the war’.

Throughout the following winter Larry’s crew attacked precision targets, including the dreaded V-1 flying bomb sites, which were terrorising London.

But perhaps his most daring and dangerous raid was on a strategic viaduct in Italy.

The pilot dived on the viaduct but just as his bomb aimer pressed the bomb release, anti-aircraft fire tore into the Lancaster bomber they were travelling in.

The unrelenting hail of bullets knocked out two engines, seriously wounding two of the crew.

But to make matters worse the bombs had failed to release and the pilot struggled to prevent the heavy aircraft hitting the sea.

With no hope of returning to England, the crew headed for Sardinia after Larry had made contact with an American airfield there.

But with the bomb release circuits destroyed, it was a race against time before the heavily laden bomber ran out of fuel.

Amazingly the crew managed to prod some of the bombs away using a ruler, and the aircraft was able to gain some height before making an emergency landing.

Distinction

Whilst on Sardinia, Larry, whose motto according to his son Martin was, ‘Never let the buggers get you down’, even flew one or two unofficial bombing sorties with an American squadron.

A few weeks later it was announced that Larry had been awarded his second Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery – a very unusual distinction for a wireless operator.

After the operation Larry was made the squadron’s signal leader and in June took part in the brilliant ‘spoof’ raid, which simulated an amphibious landing in the Pas de Calais, and was timed to coincide with the D-Day landings.

Over the next few weeks Larry attacked many of the large V-1 storage sites in France using the 12,000lb ‘Tallboy’ bomb.

Then in September he made the first attempt to sink the feared German battleship the Tirpitz, labelled ‘The Beast’ by Churchill, which was sheltering in a fjord in the north of Norway

But the attack was thwarted by the ship’s smokescreen.

Two months later, another attack was mounted from Scotland, and on this occasion the battleship was sunk. It was Larry’s 38th and final operation with No 617 squadron.

Larry went on to fly more than 70 bombing operations during the Second World War.

His son Martin and the rest of the family are still coming to terms with the extent of his father’s adventures but are incredibly proud.

Martin said: “We’ve learned so much about him since he died. It has been amazing to discover our father was so brave.

“But like most men of his generation they didn’t see it like that. It was just something they had to do, and did to the best of their abilities.

“Perhaps one of the nicest things about finding out about his life is that since he died I have been contacted by the daughter of his bomb aimer, Bob Hay, who was killed on the raid on the viaduct and buried in Sardinia.

“He went to visit Bob’s grave over there a few times so it was great to hear from her, especially as she lives in Australia.

“It was also fantastic that he had a flyover from two bombers from 617 squadron at his funeral and then a Wellington bomber at the reception, that will stay with me forever and was a true testament to his life’s achievements.”
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John · Oct 14, 2008

Another brave soul has departed. May he rest in everlasting peace.

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Lawrence Curtis 617 Sqdn RIP

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