Down in Flames
Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson
Battle of Britain, 16/08/1940
Second World War
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James Brindley Nicolson (centre) during his recuperation in 1940, IWM (CH 1700)
James Brindley Nicolson was born in Hampstead on 29/04/1917. “Bill” to his family and “Nick” to his comrades in the RAF, Nicolson showed a passion for aviation from a young age and joined the RAF in 1936, cutting his teeth with 72 Squadron at RAF Church Fenton in North Yorkshire, where he proved to be a talented flier.
On 16/08/1940, when the Battle of Britain was at its height and Goering’s Luftwaffe were striving desperately and hopelessly to destroy the RAF and open the way for an invasion of Britain that would never happen, Nicolson was a Flight Lieutenant serving with 249 Squadron, flying Hawker Hurricanes out of RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. He was 23 years old and had yet to see aerial combat.
Following sightings of a large German air raid spotted heading for Portsmouth, 249 Squadron was scrambled. Nicolson was commanding the three Hurricanes of Red Section. They had just broken off the pursuit of a Junkers 88 bomber, a squadron of Spitfires having beaten them to the punch, when their planes were suddenly raked by cannon shells. A Messerschmitt Bf 110 had dived out of the sun and caught them completely unawares.
Nicolson’s Hurricane was hit four times in and around the cockpit. Splinters of the cockpit’s hood flew into his face, severing his left eyelid, and his heel was shattered. Worse still, a direct hit on the reserve fuel tank, which sat immediately in front of the cockpit, had ignited the fuel and his Hurricane was now ablaze.
As he prepared to bail out, Nicolson saw another Me 110 flying below him; a perfect target. As his cockpit became an inferno, Nicolson opened the throttle and tore after his newly chosen quarry, successfully shooting the German down but suffering extensive third degree burns in the process. Only then did he abandon his burning plane.
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Artist’s impression of Nicolson’s VC action, by Mitchell Nolte, © Forlorn Hope
Successfully deploying his parachute, Nicolson managed to land in a farmer’s field, but received a final, inglorious injury when a trigger-happy member of the Home Guard peppered him with shotgun pellets in the last moments of his descent. He was rushed to hospital, where he was given 24 hours to live. Miraculously, he pulled through, but it would take him a year to recover from his wounds.
On 07/11/1940 Nicolson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. He was the only pilot of Fighter Command to receive the Victoria Cross during the whole of the Second World War. Upon receiving the news, he famously said: “Now I have to go and earn it”.
The VC proved a mixed blessing for Nicolson. It brought with it promotion, but despite being cleared to return to the cockpit Nicolson found himself posted to a series of desk jobs, even after his posting to India in 1942. For a man growing increasingly uncomfortable with the award that he did not believe he deserved, and dominated by the feeling that he had to prove himself in the eyes of his comrades, the frustration must have been intense.
Finally, in the summer of 1943, Nicolson received the combat posting he had been waiting for; commanding 27 Squadron, flying Bristol Beaufighters out of East Bengal against ground targets in Japanese-occupied Burma. Nicolson seized the opportunity with both hands, leading many sorties personally and inflicting major losses on the Japanese, despite recurring bouts of sickness caused by the wounds he had suffered in 1940. He would receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service with 27 Squadron.
Nicolson’s days with 27 Squadron were numbered though. On 06/05/1944 he was relieved of command and appointed Wing Commander of Training at 3rd Tactical Air Force, a role involving instructional flying only.
On 02/05/1945, Nicolson joined the crew of a Liberator bomber from 355 Squadron as an observer for a bombing mission over Rangoon. In the early hours of the morning, two of the Liberator’s engines caught fire, forcing the pilot to ditch into the Bay of Bengal. Only two of the twelve men aboard survived; Nicolson was not among them, and his body was not recovered.
He is commemorated on the memorial at the Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore. His medals are held by the RAF Museum, and at the time of writing are on display at their Cosford site.
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Nicolson’s Mae West and medal group on display at RAF Museum Cosford, © Chris Simpson
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