In Memory
John Gwynedd Wynne DFC
8 May 1921 - 19 November 2018
John Wynne in his aircraft ‘Take it Easy’
John Gwynedd Wynne was born on 8 May 1921 in Chester. His father was a mining engineer and his early childhood spent in Malaysia and Japan. His family returned home via India to live in Cornwall. He was educated at Cheam School, Surrey, where he was a contemporary of Prince Phillip and the two boys shared joint first place in the high jump. John completed his education at Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight.
He enlisted in the RAF in November 1940, training as a pilot in Canada. On his return to Britain in February 1942, he converted to Wellington bombers and in September, delivered aircraft to Egypt via Gibraltar, West Africa, and Khartoum. Shortly after, he joined 40 Squadron, and over the ensuing nine months completed 40 bombing operations, some flown from Malta, most from advanced landing strips in Libya. He attacked targets in support of the Eighth Army as it advanced to Tunis and was part of a flare-dropping force, illuminating targets for other bombers. At the end of his Tour, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After a series of appointments as a bombing instructor, he returned to operations in January 1945, joining 214 Squadron at RAF Oulton, under RAF 100 Group.
John Wynne was only 23 years old and already a veteran bomber pilot when he took off on 14 March 1945 in his B-17 Fortress to provide electronic jamming support for a bomber force attacking the oil refinery at Lutzendorf, near Leipzig. It was on his return flight that his aircraft was hit by fire from a night fighter, believed to have been piloted by Luftwaffe ace Martin Becker. With engine failure and a fire on board, the aircraft descended to 4,000ft while John struggled to keep control.
He ordered his men to bail out, believing they were now safely flying over Allied-occupied territory, while remaining at the controls alone, trapped by his equipment. The aircraft was at such a low altitude he knew even if he freed himself and jumped, it was unlikely his parachute had time to open. So, his decision made, he continued flying the damaged plane home to England. Radio contact with other airfields he passed proved impossible, and eventually he made an emergency landing at a USAAF airfield at Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire.
The sudden appearance of a damaged all-black bomber bristling with radio and Radar aerials and only a pilot on board caused immediate suspicion until Wynne explained what had happened, by which time he had been flying for almost 10 hours.
Nine men had bailed out of his plane. Two were injured and taken to hospital where they were treated. The other seven were captured, interrogated and taken to a civil prison. Two days later, they were taken by truck and driven through what was left of the streets of Pforzheim, a German city which a few weeks previous had suffered one of the most severe bombardments of the war. These British airmen were taken to the nearby village of Huchenfeld where they were held in a school. The following day, an angry crowd gathered outside, including members of Hitler Youth. They were dragged out of the building into the street, and it was quickly apparent they would be hanged. Three escaped in the confusion and managed to hide, but in minutes, the four remaining men were shot. Those who escaped were recaptured the following morning and sent to a PoW Camp. The third was picked up later, dragged away, and shot by a Nazi mob.
After the war, some of those responsible for the killings were put on trial and sentenced.
Meanwhile, unaware of what had happened to his crew, John spent the next four years flying aircraft in support of the Radio Warfare Establishment.
In February 1952, he joined 109 Squadron to fly Mosquitoes. But within a few months converted to the new Canberra jet bomber, before returning to 109 Squadron. On promotion to Squadron Leader, he formed and commanded a new Canberra Squadron, No. 76.
In December 1955, Wynne started to fly the RAF’s first V-bomber, the Vickers Valiant, part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, before re-joining 214 Squadron, his wartime unit. Within a few months, he flew a Valiant to Malta and took part in the Suez Campaign, bombing Egyptian airfields.
In 1958, the Squadron began a series of trials and long-range flights to prove the air-to-air refuelling capability of the V-bombers.
In January 1960, John was posted to strategic Air Command at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. He spent 2 years with the USAF, flying the eight-engine Boeing B-52 Stratofortress from Barksdale. On his return to Britain, he spent five years in the MoD on operational requirements for the V-Force, followed by three years in a NATO appointment in Norway specialising in nuclear warfare. This knowledge later proved invaluable for helping to resolve some of the problems facing British sheep farmers as a result of the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl.
He retired from the RAF in 1973.
It was to be 40 years following the incident with John Wynne’s crew after they bailed out over Germany that Dr Curt-Jurgen Heinemann-Gruder, a Lutheran Pastor and former Army Officer, who retired to Huchenfield; learned about the atrocity of what had occurred in the village in wartime. A determined man, he fought against those who opposed his plans for an act of peace and reconciliation and placed a Memorial where the airmen had been killed, dedicating it to them. In 1992, a simple plaque was erected on the wall of the village church bearing the names of all the aircrew victims with the words: ‘Father, Forgive’.
The first John Wynne knew about the fate of his crew was when he read reports of a church service due to be held for the unveiling of this Memorial to them. He had no idea of the ordeal they had faced on bailing out of the plane, believing they had parachuted to safety. Deeply touched at what was now taking place where his crew had died, he commissioned a Welsh craftsman to make a wooden rocking horse, which he presented to a new kindergarten at Huchenfeld. As a farmer in North Wales, he travelled with his wife to Germany, to personally give to the people this rocking horse named ‘Hoffning’, the German word meaning ‘Hope’.
A friendship developed between the villagers of Llanbedr in North Wales where John lived, and Huchenfeld in Germany where his friends had died. The friendship began a tradition of an annual exchange-visit of schoolchildren, hosted by local families in both areas. The two airmen who had escaped the fate of the rest of their crew also became part of this friendship and tradition.
In February 2008, members of both communities attended a twinning ceremony to link their villages formally, marking the climax of a gradual process of reconciliation. Meanwhile, John’s actions were recognised by the peace activist Canon Paul Oestreicher of Coventry Cathedral, who gave him an individual Cross of Nails, symbolising peace and reconciliation originating from the bombing of Coventry Cathedral in wartime.
In June 2011, St Peter’s Church at Llanbedr, home to John Wynne in Wales, received its own Cross of Nails, accompanied by a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. In this, John was instrumental in recognising the importance of building bridges of friendships between communities … especially those in conflict.
John Wynne in recent years had been a farmer breeding Welsh-Cambridge crossbred sheep near Llanbedr in North Wales. He remained actively involved in running the farm until late in life. He was also an ardent conservationist and a founding member of the Red Squirrel Trust of Wales, which continues to preserve the endangered species on Anglesey. He had married his wife, Pip, in 1948, and she and their daughter Elisabeth survive him. Sadly, their son Benjamin died in a farming accident on 8 November 2018 … just eleven days before his father died.
Summarised from Daily Telegraph, December 2018
In Memory
John Gwynedd Wynne DFC
This article is from the Spring 2019 issue of Confound and Destroy
