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Sergeant Clifford Lawson LEE (926080)
B Flight, 49 Squadron Royal Air Force Date of birth: 10th September 1917 Date of death: 12th February 1942 Killed in action aged 24 Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 88
Clifford Lawson Lee was born at Chertsey in Surrey on the 10th of September 1917 the son of Arthur John Lee, an artist, and Ethel Jane (nee Taylor) Lee, of “Kettlewell”, Kettlewell Hill, Farnham in Surrey. He was educated at Lancing College where he won an Exhibition and was in Gibbs House from September 1931 to December 1936. He achieved his School Certificate in 1933 and his Higher Certificate in 1935. He went on to University College, Oxford in 1936. On the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and qualified as a Navigator before being posted to 83 Squadron. On the 23rd of January 1942 he was posted to 49 Squadron. In February 1942 the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruiser Prinz Eugen were in port in Brest. The Royal Air Force had dropped over 3,000 tons of bombs on the harbour, in previous months, in order to destroy the vessels and prevent them putting to sea to raid allied shipping. Clifford Lee took part in two of these operations against the warships at Brest. On the night of the 28th of January 1941 he took off at 12.36am in Hampden Mk I AT111 and reported bombing the target although it was seen that the bombs dropped short of the target. Flak over the port area was described as "intense and accurate" and the aircraft returned at 7.40am On the 31st of January 1941 he took off in the same aircraft at 5.40pm and when reaching the target the cruisers were obscured by a smoke screen forcing the bombers of 49 Squadron to attack the secondary target of the docks. They did this from a height of 1,200 feet encountering "moderate and fairly accurate" flak before returning to base at 11.36pm During the course of these raids the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had sustained damage for which the port of Brest did not have the facilities to repair them. It was decided that the ships should seek the safety of German ports and so a plan was formed, codenamed Operation Cerberus, to move them by the most direct route, being the English Channel, with cover from the Luftwaffe and at great speed, in order to achieve maximum surprise. At 11.45pm the 11th of February 1942 they set sail supported by six destroyers and a host of smaller vessels and headed out into the channel. For twelve hours they remained undetected by the British who also had a plan in case the ships tried to escape which was codenamed Operation Fuller. When they were spotted the information took a long time to pass up the chain of command to enact Operation Fuller, with the resulting delay in the Fleet Air Arm and the Royal Air Force’s response. At 10.00 am a signal arrived at 49 Squadron requiring 20 aircraft to attack the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The crews were briefed at about midday, their mission being to bomb the ships. One veteran recalled the aircraft being taxied into a hangar to be loaded with bombs and then taxiing out for takeoff. They took off between 1pm and 3.30pm in low cloud and poor visibility which hampered the ability of the aircraft to find their targets and in the event only three of the squadron’s aircraft found and attacked the target and although two bomb bursts were seen near the ships, no hits were achieved. Another aircraft from the squadron attacked a merchant vessel and another attacked two steamers but neither achieved hits on their targets. Clifford Lee and his crew took off in Hampden Mk 1 AE240 EA-P from RAF Scampton for the attack against the German ships. Their aircraft did not return from the mission. The crew was:- Sergeant Mervyn Harry Holt RAAF (Pilot) Sergeant Clifford Lawson Lee (Navigator/Air Bomber) Pilot Officer Stanley William Alfred Way (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Sergeant Edwin George Green (Pilot) Four aircraft from 49 Squadron were lost during the attack, two of which are known to have been shot down, with the others being thought to have crashed into the sea in the appalling visibility. The three German warships docked safely at Wilhelmshaven the following morning, two having been damaged by mines which were laid in their path by other RAF squadrons. He is commemorated on the war memorial at University College, Oxford.

Gibbs House