Robert Francis Thomas 'Bob' Doe DSO, DFC & Bar (10 March 1920 – 21 February 2010)

Born: 10 March 1920 Reigate, Surrey, England
Died: 21 February 2010 (aged 89)
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Service/branch: Royal Air Force, Indian Air Force
Years of service: 1939–1966
Rank: Wing Commander
Commands held: No. 10 Squadron
Battles/wars: Second World War, Battle of Britain, Burma Campaign
Awards: Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar

Wing Commander Robert Francis Thomas 'Bob' Doe DSO, DFC & Bar (10 March 1920 – 21 February 2010) was a flying ace of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, and served with honour with the Indian Air Force during the Burma campaign.

Early life

Robert Francis Thomas Doe was born in Reigate, Surrey, on 10 March 1920. After leaving school he started work as an office boy for the News of the World. Doe joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in March 1938 and made his first solo flight on 4 June 1938.

Second World War

After applying for a short service commission, Doe joined the Royal Air Force in January 1939. Doe trained with 15 E&RFTS (Elementary & Reserve Flying Training School) at RAF Redhill, Surrey and combat training with 6 Flying Training School at RAF Little Rissington.

Doe was posted on 6 November 1939 to No. 234 Squadron, a Spitfire Squadron at RAF Leconfield alongside fellow Battle of Britain high-scorer, Australian Pat Hughes. Doe would serve with No. 234 squadron for most of the Battle of Britain. Doe claimed his first victory on 15 August 1940 when he shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 110s followed by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Dornier Do 18 on 16 August, a Bf 109 destroyed (of JG 52) and another Bf 109 damaged on 18 August, a half-share of a KG 54 Junkers Ju 88 on 21 August and a Bf 109 shot down on 26 August 1940. In September, he added to his tally with No. 234 Squadron with three Bf 110s on 4 September, a shared JG 53 Bf 109 on 5 September, three damaged Dornier Do 17s and a Bf 109 shot down on 6 September, and a Heinkel He 111 destroyed on 7 September.

On 27 September 1940 Doe was posted to No. 238 Squadron, flying Hurricanes from RAF Middle Wallop in Wiltshire, claiming his first victory for the squadron on 30 September by shooting down a KG 55 He 111. In October, Doe shot down a Bf 110 on 1 October and a Ju 88 on 7 October, the last of his 14 and 2 shared aerial victories of the battle and of the war. On 10 October, in combat over Warmwell, Dorset with some Bf 109s at 12:00, his plane was critically damaged and he was wounded in the leg and shoulder. Doe bailed out, landing on Brownsea Island while his Hawker Hurricane crashed near Corfe Castle viaduct on what is now part of the Swanage Railway. Admitted to Poole Hospital on 22 October 1940, Doe was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and received a Bar a month later on 26 November. Doe rejoined No. 238 Squadron in December 1940.

In January 1941, while flying a night sortie, the oil in the oil cooler of his aircraft froze. As a result of his engine seizing he landed heavily at Warmwell on the snow covered runway, breaking his harness and smashing his face against the reflector sight, almost severing his nose and breaking his arm. Doe was taken to Park Prewett Hospital where he underwent twenty-two operations by pioneering New Zealand plastic surgeon, Harold Gillies.

On 15 May 1941 he was posted as a Flight Commander to No. 66 Squadron and then joined No. 130 Squadron on 18 August. The series of operations in a two-month period and the need to bring through fresh pilots who could be trained by experienced hands, meant Doe's career as a front line fighter pilot was over for the time being. On 22 October 1941 Doe was posted to 57 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) as an instructor. On 9 June 1943 Doe went to the Fighter Leaders School at RAF Milfield and then joined No. 118 Squadron at RAF Coltishall in July. In August 1943 he joined No. 613 Squadron.

In October 1943 Doe was posted to Burma as the activities on the Western Front changed from defence to attack in preparation for Operation Overlord and the invasion of Normandy; while in the East, the Japanese Army was still advancing on key British Empire assets, including India.

In December 1943 Doe was tasked with forming No. 10 Squadron of the Indian Air Force, commanding it throughout the Burma Campaign until April 1945 when he joined the Indian Army Staff College in Quetta and then from August the planning staff at Delhi. On 2 October 1945, Doe received the Distinguished Service Order.

Wing Commander Robert Francis Thomas 'Bob' Doe DSO, DFC & Bar list of aerial victories

Date	Service	Flying	Kills	Probables
15 August 1940	Royal Air Force		1.5 * Messerschmitt Bf 110
16 August 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 109	1 * Dornier Do 18
18 August 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 109
21 August 1940	Royal Air Force		0.5 * Junkers Ju 88
26 August 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 109
4 September 1940	Royal Air Force		3 * Messerschmitt Bf 110
5 September 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 109
6 September 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 109
7 September 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Heinkel He 111
30 September 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Heinkel He 111
1 October 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Messerschmitt Bf 110
7 October 1940	Royal Air Force		1 * Junkers Ju 88
TOTALS 14 kills, 2 shared with 1 probable, 5 damaged

Later life

In September 1946 he returned to the UK and held a number of staff positions and commands before retiring on 1 April 1966 with the rank of Wing Commander.

After retirement he opened a garage business. He also wrote his autobiography 'Bob Doe, Fighter Pilot' Bob Doe died on 21 February 2010, aged 89.

Quotations

We do not want to be remembered as heroes, we ask only to be remembered for what we did ... that's all. —W/C Robert 'Bob' Doe British 234 & 238 Squadrons Fighter Command

If you believe in yourself and believe in what you are doing then you are twice as strong as if you don't. That is what I believe and I certainly believed in my right to defend my land.

—Wing Commander Bob Doe. RAF pilot (in National Geographic Featurette document of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King film by Peter Jackson).

I wasn't fighting for the King, I was fighting for me Mum — I didn't want them over here. —Wing Commander Bob Doe BBC Documentary series: Finest Hour

Wing Commander Bob Doe – Daily Telegraph obituary

Yet Doe had struggled to become a pilot, barely passing the necessary exams to gain his wings. He lacked confidence, was poor at aerobatics and disliked flying upside down – not an auspicious beginning for a fighter pilot.

On August 15 1940 – dubbed Adler Tag (Eagle Day) by Hermann Goering, the day he claimed he would destroy Fighter Command – the 20-year-old Doe was on standby with his Spitfire as part of No 234 Squadron at Middle Wallop, Hampshire, waiting for his first scramble. Years later he recalled: "I knew I was going to be killed. I was the worst pilot on the squadron." When the scramble bell rang, Doe was filled with dread but he took off; the fear of being thought a coward was more powerful than the fear of death.

One hour later Doe landed to find that four of his colleagues had failed to return; but he had shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters south of Swanage. The next day he destroyed a Bf 109 fighter and damaged a bomber; and two days after that he accounted for another Bf 109.

The Battle intensified, and Doe's outstanding memory was to be of continued tiredness, which produced the ability to sleep anytime and anywhere.

By the end of August he had destroyed five aircraft. On September 4 his squadron intercepted a large force of Bf 110s over the south coast near Chichester.

Doe shot down three and the following day accounted for a Bf 109 over Kent. More successes followed, including shooting down a Heinkel bomber. But by September 7, just three weeks after it had arrived at Middle Wallop, the squadron's 15 pilots had been reduced to just three.

Doe was rested for a short period before joining No 238 Squadron as a flight commander, this time flying the Hurricane. On September 30 he claimed another Heinkel bomber after a head-on attack, but by this time the Luftwaffe was sending most bombers over at night and the intensity of the day fighting reduced.

He shot down a Bf 110 on October 1 and seven days later claimed his final victory on what turned out to be the last major daylight bombing raid of the Battle, when he shot down a Junkers 88 bomber near Portland.

At the beginning of October Doe learnt that he had been awarded a DFC "for his outstanding dash and an eagerness to engage the enemy at close quarters". This "dash" almost proved his undoing a few days later. As he cleared some cloud his aircraft was hit repeatedly and he was badly wounded in the leg, lower back and arm. He bailed out and landed in a sewage drainage pit on Brownsea Island. It was his last action during the Battle.

In just eight weeks he had risen from being his squadron's junior pilot to a flight commander with at least 14 victories. A few weeks later he was awarded a Bar to his DFC.

The son of a head gardener, Robert Francis Thomas Doe was born at Reigate on March 10 1920. A shy, sickly boy, he left school at 14 to work as an office boy at the News of the World. He was one of the first young men to apply to the RAFVR and started to train as a pilot at a civilian flying school. He gained a short service commission in the RAF in March 1939.

After recovering from his wounds, Doe rejoined No 238 in December 1940. On January 3 1941 his aircraft suffered an engine failure on a night sortie and he made a forced landing. His restraining harness broke and he smashed his face into the gunsight. One eyeball had fallen out, his jaw was broken and his nose almost severed; he also broke his arm.

After 22 operations at East Grinstead Hospital he earned his place as a member of the Guinea Pig Club (for patients of novel surgical techniques), and he was able to resume operational flying within four months of his crash. A series of training posts followed at a fighter school, and in October 1943 he volunteered for service in India.

Two months later he formed No 10 Squadron, Indian Air Force, at Risalpur in the North-West Frontier Province, the last Indian Air Force squadron to be formed during the war. He arrived to find 27 pilots, most of them Indian, about 1,400 men and 16 Hurricanes. The rest was up to him.

They flew Hurricane IICs, known as "Hurri-bombers", armed with four 20mm cannon and two 500lb bombs. Doe worked his squadron hard, and once it was declared operational it moved to Burma to fly ground support missions in support of the Fourteenth Army's operations in the Arakan and the Kaladan Valley. After a particularly successful raid led by Doe in support of an amphibious landing, No 10 received a commendation from the commander of the Arakan Group.

Doe's Indian squadron flew intensively, attacking ground targets that were sometimes just a few hundred yards ahead of friendly troops, as General Slim began his southern advance into Burma and towards Rangoon. In April 1945 Doe left the squadron to attend the staff college at Quetta. For his service with the Indian Air Force he was awarded a DSO for his "inspiring leadership and unconquerable spirit and great devotion to duty". At the end of the war he was given the job of running the air display for Indian Victory Week.

Doe remained in the RAF and, after appointments with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, was sent to Egypt in May 1950 to command No 32 Squadron, equipped with Vampire jet fighters. He had never flown a jet before, so on his way to the squadron he managed to stop off at a maintenance unit and borrow a Vampire for a few hours to familiarise himself. By the time he left in May 1953, No 32 had built up a reputation for esprit de corps envied by all the other RAF and Army units on the base.

He returned to Britain to join the Fighter Gunnery Wing as a senior instructor. A series of staff appointments followed, including two years with the Chiefs of Staff Secretariat. This placed him in the corridors of power, and the boy who had left school at 14 had to learn how to write minutes which would be scrutinised and reworded by secretaries and read by the chiefs. Doe found this job to be the most difficult and challenging appointment of his career. In April 1966 he opted for premature retirement.

Doe settled in Tunbridge Wells, where he joined a family-owned garage business before moving on to Rusthall, Kent, to establish his own very successful garage and contract hire and self-drive car company. He took a passionate interest in his garden and three greenhouses, and in his large family.

Much-admired but always modest, Doe never considered himself a hero, saying that he had been "just doing my duty". But he did write about his wartime experiences in Bob Doe, Fighter Pilot, published in 1989.

Bob Doe is survived by his third wife, Betty, and by five children and three stepchildren.

Web References:

• Bob Doe at the Internet Movie Database
• Wing Commander Bob Doe – Daily Telegraph obituary
• Wing Commander Bob Doe – The Times obituary

Sgt. Alan Stuart Harker, (BRITISH) 234 SQN., RAF

Despite claiming eight victories during the Summer of 1940, one of the lesser-known RAF pilots who flew during the Battle of Britain was Sgt. Alan Stuart Harker of 234 Squadron. Born on 16 July 1916 in Bolton, Lancashire, Alan Harker began pilot training when he joined the RAFVR in October 1937. His first solo flight - in a De Havilland Tiger Moth on 12 March 1938 - lasted all of five minutes, Harker afterwards writing in his logbook, 'Whew, what a relief to be down in one piece.'

On 1 September 1939, Alan Harker was officially called up for service and on the 12th he was posted to 10FTS at Ternhill, Shropshire, flying Avro Ansons. When his training was completed, Alan Harker was posted on 5 November 1939 to the newly reformed 234Sqn. at Leconfield, Humber, a fighter squadron originally intended for shipping protection duties which operated a mixture of Blenheims, Battles and Gauntlets. Alan Harker flew the squadron's Bristol Blenheims, but in March 1940 234Sqn. began to receive Spitfires and became operational in May.

On 10 August Harker landed at St. Eval, Cornwall, with the undercarriage of his aircraft still retracted. Although he could hear the control tower shouting at him over the radio to lower his wheels, he was so exhausted that he was unable to respond. Nevertheless, he was summarily reprimanded by the squadron CO for carelessness which resulted in Category 2 damage to Spitfire P9468.

On 14 August, 234Sqn. moved to the airfield at Middle Wallop and into the thick of the action, the airfield being bombed all that afternoon by He111s and Ju88s. The next day 234Sqn., together with the Hurricanes of 43Sqn., was ordered off to intercept a raid on Portland being conducted by Ju 87s escorted by Bf110s and 60 Bf109s. While 43Sqn. attacked the Bf110s and Ju87s, 234Sqn. attacked the Bf109s but a single squadron could do little against the Messerschmitts and it was overwhelmed by numbers. Three of the squadron's Spitfires were lost and Sgt. Harker considered himself, fortunate to escape with his life. This experience was obviously taken as a salutary warning for on the 16th, when Alan Harker was chased by three yellow-nosed Bf109s, he obviously decided that discretion was the better part of valour and, determined to be more careful, took refuge in cloud. One interesting aspect of the fighting on the 15th and 16th was that the squadron received false R/F messages from the Germans ordering it to 'Pancake' (land immediately).

Sgt. Harker's first victory came on 18 August when Ju87s attacked the airfields at Gosport, Ford and Thorney Island. While three other RAF squadrons attacked the dive-bombers, 234Sqn. engaged the Bf109 fighter escort provided by I. and II./JG27. In the air battle which ensued, no fewer than 16 Ju87s were shot down and of the six Bf109s which JG27 lost that day, two were claimed by Sgt. Harker and witnessed by P/O Gordon.

On 4 September, 234 Sqn. was patrolling near Tangmere when it was ordered eastwards where it encountered the Bf 11 Os of III./ZG76. In the running battle which followed, several pilots from 234 Sqn. claimed to have destroyed Bf110s, Sgt. Harker claiming one which he saw crash near Brighton. His logbook for the day contains an entry stating that the squadron shot down all 15 aircraft in a German defensive circle, but while it is true that the Luftwaffe lost no fewer than 17 Bf110s on this day, only six were from III./ZG 76 - the Gruppe attacked by 234 Sqn. - and there were also a number of other Spitfire and Hurricane squadrons operating in the same area.

On the 6th, Sgt. Harker claimed two Bf109s destroyed, both of which crashed near Eastbourne, plus two damaged, the kills being confirmed by Sqn.Ldr. J. S. O'Brien who also claimed two Bf109s himself. Events on the 7th did not go so well for the squadron, although' Sgt. Harker claimed another two Bf109s plus another damaged. Confirmation was provided by P/O R.F.T. Doe, 234Squadron's top scoring pilot and one of only 17 pilots with ten or more kills during the Battle of Britain. However, two of the squadron's pilots were lost including the CO, Sqn.Ldr. O'Brien. An odd entry which appears in Alan Harker's logbook for this day mentions that he attacked a 'German-flown Hurricane on P/O Doe's tail.'

Sgt. Harker claimed another victory on 22 September, a dull and foggy day in which the Luftwaffe sent a Ju88 from 4.(F)/121 to carry out a weather reconnaissance flight. Sgt. Harker shot down this aircraft and saw it crash in flames into the sea 25 miles south-east of Lands End. Although his logbook states there were no survivors, the crew was in fact picked up by a trawler after ten hours in their dinghy. Harker claimed another Ju88 damaged on 15 October. He was awarded the DFM on 22 October and was commissioned in March 1941.

At Warmwell on 1 April 1941, Harker was wounded in the arm during a low-level attack by He111s, and on 19 May he was shot down while carrying out a convoy patrol off Weymouth and crash-landed in a field near Warmwell.

On 4 August 1941 Harker was posted to 53OTU at Llanlow as a Flight Commander, and from 27 June 1942 was a gunnery instructor at the Central Gunnery School at Sutton Bridge before moving to Llanbedr in December 1943 to form a Rocket Projectile School.

Posted to Italy on 5 July 1944, Harker then served as Motor Transport Officer with a mobile radar unit and was then Operations Officer with an/American Liberator squadron and later a Polish squadron, both of which were engaged in supply-dropping operations.

Released from the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant in November 1945, Alan Harker returned to civilian life and became a heating engineer. He died on 6 August 1996.