DAVIES – Derek

1809290 – Derek Sewell Blackburn Davies – Barbados – Flight Sergeant  – 224 Sqn – Liberators – Specialist Air Gunner

Joined the RAF on 3rd September 1942, serving for nine months in the RAF regiment.
Received aircrew training as an air gunner receiving his wing in April 1944.
Posted to 224 Squadron joining the crew of Flight Lieutenant Merrington flying in B24 Liberators.
Flew 33 operational sorties which included the covering of the D-Day landings with the B24s along with other aircraft thus preventing other U-boats and other units of the German navy from penetrating the main landing sites.
Seconded in November 1945 to the Colonial Office in London to assist with the repatriation of other West Indians to their homelands serving F/Lt Arthur Wint, F/Lt Peter Bynoe, Squadron Leader Ulric Cross
Repatriated to Barbados arriving there on 24th December 1946.
Later received the Barbados Service Medal.

[Source: Derek Davies]

2 additions to “DAVIES – Derek”

  1. Paul C. Aranha adds:

    Norman Francis ARANHA was born in Nassau, BAHAMAS on January 14, 1926
    and died in Nassau, BAHAMAS on February 24, 1985.

    After training, in Canada, he saw action, as a Air Gunner of B-24 Liberators in the Royal Air Force, in Egypt, Ceylon, India and Burma.

    He was a crewmember of the first aircraft to land in Singapore, at the end of World War II.

    His final rank was Warrant Officer.

    September 12th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
  2. site adds:

    While the United States could boast the black fliers of Tuskegee, few people are aware of the important contribution made by 500 RAF aircrew recruited from the Caribbean and West Africa. Overcoming the legacy of the official British Colour Bar to serve over Europe as pilots, navigators, flight engineers and air gunners, these men were pioneers in the truest sense. After suffering a loss rate of more than 30% and, in some cases, incarceration as black PoWs in Nazi Germany, the men returned to their countries of origin and were lost from the historical record. Mark Johnson has spent 17 years researching this tale, based on personal interviews with survivors, one of whom was his Jamaican great-uncle, a former navigator with Bomber Command s No 102 (Ceylon) Squadron and a holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross. He outlines their backgrounds and motives for joining up and also describes their combat experiences and explores the possible significance of their legacy for integration and race relations.

    November 20th, 2019 at 2:32 pm

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