John Hurry
DSO,
DFC, (2 January 1920 – 7 June 2015) was a
Royal Air Force officer who was one of the first pilots to join
No. 83 Squadron of the
Pathfinder Force, marking targets for British bombing attacks on Germany during the
Second World War, and who later flew many sorties during the
Berlin airlift.
[Group Captain John Hurry - obituary.](_blank)
'' The Daily Telegraph'', 15 July 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015."Group Captain John Hurry"
''The Times'', 12 August 2015
Early life
John Hurry was born on 2 January 1920 near Peterborough in southern England. His education saw him attend Donington Grammar School
__NOTOC__
Cowley Academy (formally The Thomas Cowley High School) is a mixed secondary school with Academy status, in Donington, Lincolnshire, England. As of 1 September 2022 it is part of the academy trust known as SLAT (South Lincolnshire Ac ...
.
Royal Air Force
Second World War
Hurry joined the RAF in 1939 on a short service commission and joined No. 51 Squadron as a Whitley Bomber
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World War II, ...
pilot. His service with Bomber Command saw him participate in air raids on synthetic oil
Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds that are artificially modified or synthesised. Synthetic lubricants can be manufactured using chemically modified petroleum components rather than whole crude oil, but can also be syn ...
plants in western Germany. He was then directed to attacking ports on the west coast of France as well as submarine yards at Kiel, Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
and Hamburg in support of the Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
. He received his DFC after 26 operations and became a bombing instructor.
Pathfinders
Hurry became a flight commander with No. 83 Squadron who were assigned to the initial Pathfinder Force. Flying a Lancaster Bomber against Turin in Italy on 9 December 1942 his flares ignited in the bomb bay. He pressed on to the target and dropped his bombs before getting his damaged aircraft back to base.St. Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...
in 1943. Berlin was Hurry's destination several times, along with Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
on the first night of the Battle of the Ruhr. The spring of 1943 saw him rested after 62 raids and awarded a DSO, the citation praising Hurry's “utmost determination” and stating that "his courage and determination have been most outstanding and praiseworthy”.mentioned in dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
and became the chief instructor at a training unit.
Post War
Berlin Airlift
After the end of the Second World War, Hurry served with the Air Division of the Allied Control Commission in Berlin. This was followed by the command of a squadron of York transport aircraft. In this capacity he flew 47 sorties as part of the Berlin airlift into RAF Gatow.
Malaya Emergency
Commanding No. 51 Squadron, Hurry flew men and materials into Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
during the Malaya Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces ...
.
USAF and the Korean War
In January 1951 he took up a two-year appointment with the US Air Force and flew Globemaster transports to Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and on to the Korean War.
NATO
Commanding No. 80 Squadron in Germany, Hurry flew Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
reconnaissance planes with the Second Allied Tactical Air Force. In a competition, his squadron was judged as one of the most proficient in a NATO.Guided weapons
A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gulf ...
were his next area of work for two years, which included visits to the Woomera Range in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
RAF Watton
He took command of RAF Watton in Norfolk in August 1967. The base was home of intelligence-gathering squadrons and an important air traffic control radar site. This period included organising the flypast at Caernarfon for the Investiture of the Prince of Wales.
Brussels
His last posting was as UK National Military Representative at NATO Headquarters
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is headquartered in a complex in Haren, Belgium, Haren, part of the Brussels (municipality), City of Brussels municipality of Belgium. The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegation ...
in Brussels prior to his retirement in January 1975.
Post RAF Career and Later Life
Hurry was the Civil Service Emergency Planning Officer for the south-east region. He also worked for Abbeyfield Care Homes in Amersham
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
as treasurer and chairman.Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
of the Bomber Command Memorial
The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial is a memorial in The Green Park, London, commemorating the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War. The memorial, on the south side of Piccadilly, facing Hyd ...
at Green Park in London.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurry, John
1920 births
2015 deaths
Royal Air Force group captains
People from Peterborough
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Royal Air Force pilots of World War II