Charles Powell Bomford

CHARLES POWELL BOMFORD was born at Robinstown, County Meath on the 5th of May 1915 the eldest son of Captain Francis Charles Bomford, Leinster Regiment, and Dorothy Maud (nee Price) Bomford, of Kells, County Meath  later of Ballycommon, Co Tipperary, Ireland. He was christened at Kells and was known in the family as "Bunty". He was educated at Wykeham House Preparatory School, Worthing as a day boy and entered Crosby House at Eastbourne College in September 1929. He was one of those boys who, while backward in work, none the less make a valuable contribution to school life. Of Irish extraction, with a touch of the dare-devil that must have stood him in good stead in his service career, though at the College it never went beyond bounds; for indeed his was a most attractive personality, popular with masters and boys alike, and he had enough sense of responsibility to make him a good house prefect. He was an outstanding athlete. A useful wing three-quarter who had to be content with 2nd XV colours, he had his fives colours for two years, won the Light-weight Boxing Cup, and was in the athletic team for two years, captaining it in 1933. But it is as a cricketer that he will chiefly be remembered: he was second in the batting averages of 1932 and headed those of 1933; he headed the bowling averages in 1932 and was third in 1933. The ‘Characters of the XI’ in The Eastbournian record that ‘his contempt for successful bowlers is extraordinary’, and indeed his hitting, both as a schoolboy and later for the OEs, was at times as brilliant as any ever seen on the College Field.

Bomford left school in July 1933, and, after a short spell as an assistant master at Wykeham House Prep in Worthing and as a trainee with Phillips and Powis in Reading, he joined the Royal Air Force on a short service commission and was granted the rank of Acting Pilot Officer on probation on the 30th of March 1936.  He was confirmed in the rank of Pilot Officer on the 3rd of February 1937 and was promoted to Flying Officer on the 3rd of September 1938. By the summer of 1940, he was serving with 107 Squadron, based at RAF Wattisham.

Charles Bomford and his crew took off from RAF Wattisham at 10.45am on the 9th of June 1940 in Bristol Blenheim Mk IV L9323 QM-? for an operation to attack German armour which was reported to be in the area of Poix in France. The aircraft was carrying a bomb load of 4 250lb general purpose bombs and 120 4lb incendiaries. They were also carrying 1,600 rounds of small arms ammunition.  On their way to the target they were hit by anti aircraft fire but continued on and dropped their bombs. Shortly afterwards they received a direct hit on the tail section and crashed at 11.30am on a hillside near the village of Torcy-le-Petit, killing Charles Bomford and his Observer, Sergeant Robert Anthony Bowman. The Air Gunner, Pilot Officer Francis Anthony Frayn, although injured, escaped from the aircraft and later made his way safely back to the UK.

His father received the following telegram dated the 10th of June 1940: - "Regret to inform you that your son Flying Officer Charles Powell Bomford is reported on 9th June 1940 as missing as the result of air operations. Letter follows. Any further information received will be immediately communicated to you. Should any information reach you from any other source please inform this department.

On his return to England, Francis Frayn wrote the following letter at the RAF Officer's Hospital at Torquay dated the 19th of September 1940: - Sir, I have the honour to make the following report on the force landing of Blenheim aircraft of 107 Squadron on the morning of June 9th, 1940. Before getting into the target area, the aircraft received damage from anti-aircraft fire. After completion of the bombing, a barrage of anti-aircraft fire was put up around the aircraft. We received a direct hit in the tail and lost height. A few moments after this a hit was registered on the turret, causing injury to my left foot and right thigh. I endeavoured to rotate the turret and found that the hydraulic oil pipes were broken. On getting out of the turret, I saw smoke issuing from the centre section of the machine. I endeavoured to make contact with the observer by inter-communication, and found it impossible. I then decided to abandon the aircraft, and having jettisoned the camera, smashed the IFF instruments, I noticed we were far too near the ground for me to make a successful parachute descent, so I opened the hatch on the top of the aircraft, and as the machine crashed into a wood, I jumped without using the parachute, approximately 10 feet from the ground.  My next recollection was seeing the machine some distance away upside down, with the starboard wing on fire. I noticed somebody trying to get through the front under hatch. I endeavoured to make my way to the aircraft but my progress was very slow owing to the injuries I had received. When I got near the nose of the aircraft, I saw Sergeant Bowman, the Observer, attempting to get out. I tried to give him some assistance and as I was doing so, an explosion occurred, probably caused by some petrol tanks becoming ignited. After this I remember nothing until regaining consciousness in a field, having been rescued by two French soldiers. I asked them if any other members of the crew had been saved and they told me none. I should imagine that Flying Officer Bomford was killed either by shrapnel or machine gun fire, and that Sergeant Bowman endeavoured to land the aircraft. I noticed that Flying Office Bomford was lying out of his seat."

Frayn was taken by French troops in the direction of Dieppe from where he was evacuated back to England.

In The Eastbournian of April 1941 appeared the announcement that he was presumed killed in action. In 1945 the RAF sent an investigator, E.J. Copping, to establish what had happened to the two men who had died. He reported that he interviewed the village Mayor, M. Allais, who told him that the aircraft had crashed at 11.30am in a field known locally as La Bastille, Section B No. 95 and that the two dead were buried on the spot. The following day the Germans ordered that the bodies be moved to the local cemetery. He also spoke to a M. Brunel who gave him a piece of a parachute pack which bore the faint inscription "F/O Bomford". Brunel also stated that, although both of the bodies had been burnt, the pilot had still been wearing his parachute at the time of his death.

Bomford and his observer are buried in the Torcy le Petit Communal Cemetery, Seine-Maritime. He and his Observer were initially buried together, but now lie in separate graves alongside each other.

He is also commemorated on a tablet in St Columba’s church, Kells, County Meath, Ireland.

His brother, Lieutenant Richard Lyndon Bomford 10th Battalion Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), was killed in action on the 29th of May 1944.

The following anecdote, related by a member of the College Staff, is typical. ‘I was staying at Harwell aerodrome in 1935 or 1936, and there was great excitement because the squadron were about to be equipped with Blenheims; a single Blenheim for the pilots to practice on arrived while I was there. No one there had ever flown a twin-engined ‘plane before, nor a monoplane; but Charlie Bomford took it up, flew it around a bit and made a reasonable landing, and so made it look easy for everyone else.’

 

John Hamblin (email 11 Dec 2019)