Hero of the Month - May 2024
Published in Britain at War - May 2024
Wing Commander John Connell Freeborn DFC & Bar
Wing Commander John Freeborn held the distinction of flying more operational hours during the Battle of Britain than any other RAF pilot. However, as is so often the case, war stories often contain a mix of tragedy and triumph and his formidable record of service during World War Two was also tinged with controversy and regret.
Freeborn had a general disdain for authority and this trait too led to a series of clashes with his superiors during distinguished flying career that twice led to his bravery being recognised with the award of a prestigious gallantry medal. Later in his life, he helped an author to co-write his (Freeborn’s) biography.
Born on December 1 1919, John Connell Freeborn was the son of a Leeds banker. Although bright, his dislike of petty regulations meant that he was relieved to leave his local grammar school. At the age of 18, he joined the Reserve of Air Force Officers (RAFO). He commenced pilot training and went solo after just four hours and 28 minutes logged flying time, a little over half the typical amount for trainee pilots. His accuracy at firing was also twice the average. Freeborn was duly granted a short service commission in the RAF in January 1939.
Freeborn initially flew Gloster Gauntlets but from February 1939, by then having joined 74 (Tiger) Squadron, he flew Spitfires. In July 1939, Freeborn was one of the 74 Squadron pilots to fly Spitfires to France to celebrate Bastille Day with the French Air Force.
However, with the Second World War only days old, he was involved in an action on September 6 1939 that was later dubbed the “Battle of Barking Creek”. In a tragic misunderstanding, two Hurricanes from 56 Squadron were intercepted and shot down by 74 Squadron, thereby becoming the first victims of Spitfire “friendly fire”.
One pilot survived his crash landing but the other, who Freeborn had shot down, was killed: Pilot Officer Montague Hulton-Harrop was the first RAF pilot to die in the Second World War. Freeborn and a fellow pilot were court-martialled but they were acquitted of any liability or blame despite their own squadron commander, Sailor Malan, testifying against them. In fact, Malan gave evidence that Freeborn had been irresponsible, impetuous, and had not taken proper heed of vital communications. During the hearing, Freeborn’s counsel, Sir Patrick Hastings, called Malan “a bare-faced liar”.
Freeborn left the court-martial relieved that he had been exonerated from blame but angry at what he saw as Malan’s determination to avoid any responsibility for the accident. The relationship between Malan and Freeborn, perhaps understandably, never fully recovered although they flew together again. However, the “friendly fire” incident led to a complete overhaul of Fighter Command’s plotting system for tracking Allied and enemy aircraft.
Freeborn, who was only 19, was left distraught by the accident but became all the more determined to cover himself in glory in the skies. He was heavily engaged in the air battles to save lives on the ground during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Dunkirk in May 1940. Over a period of just six days, the squadron accounted for 19 enemy aircraft including two shot down by Freeborn. The squadron also recorded ten “probable” kills and with only four aircraft lost.
During one combat, his Spitfire was badly damaged and he crash-landed on a beach near Calais. Undaunted, he “hitched” a lift from a returning British aircraft and was soon back flying. During late May, he claimed a Messerschmitt 109 destroyed and three enemy aircraft as “probables”.
However, it was during the Battle of Britain that Freeborn repeatedly excelled, flying into action time and time again against enemy fighters and bombers. On July 10 1939, the opening day of the Battle of Britain, he shot down a Me 109 over Deal, Kent. Success after success followed in aerial dogfights and on August 11 he claimed three “kills” and a “probable”, flying an incredible four missions in just eight hours.
At the height of the Battle of Britain, on August 13 1940 and in the rank of Flying Officer, he was awarded the DFC. His citation stated: “This officer has taken part in nearly all offensive patrols carried out by his squadron since the commencement of the war, including operations over the Low Countries and Dunkirk, and, more recently, over the Channel and S.E. of England. During this period of intensive air warfare he has destroyed four enemy aircraft. His high courage and exceptional abilities as a leader have materially contributed to the notable successes and high standard of efficiency maintained by his squadron.”
Freeborn was undoubtedly one of those whom Winston Churchill was referring to in his famous speech of August 20 when he said: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” I feel privileged that, as part of my medal collection, I am the custodian of his medal group, for we must never forget the bravery of “the Few”.
In October 1940, having been promoted to acting flight lieutenant and appointed a flight commander, his portrait was painted by the war artist, Cuthbert Orde. The Battle of Britain, which ended on the last day of the same month, had resulted in the loss of 544 British, Commonwealth and allied aircrew. A further 522 were wounded. But the Luftwaffe had fared far worse and the likelihood of invasion had been avoided.
Freeborn’s successes in the skies continued and, on December 5 1940, he shot down two Me 109s, shared another and damaged a fourth. He was awarded a Bar to his DFC (effectively a second DFC) on February 25 1941 when his citation stated: “This officer has continuously engaged in operations since the beginning of the war. He has destroyed at least twelve enemy aircraft and damaged many more. He is a keen and courageous leader.”
In 1941, Freeborn married Rita Fielder. After his long period with 74 Squadron, Freeborn was, in June 1941, posted to 57 Operational Training Unit (OUT) at RAF Hawarden, Cheshire, training pilots from overseas to fly Spitfires. Following America’s entry into the war at the end of 1941, he was posted to the United States, where he instructed pilots and tested US fighter aircraft.
As a teacher, Freeborn was a tough disciplinarian, taking such a stand because he knew that his young pilots would die in the skies if they did not remember what they were being taught. He even built some “stocks” for the young pilots who misbehaved but, perhaps unsurprisingly, he was ordered to remove them.
Freeborn briefly returned to operational flying in 1943, when he flew Spitfires with 602 Squadron. This role involved providing fighter escort to bombers attacking enemy shipping and port installations. One June 1, he was given command of 118 Squadron, where he had a similar role.
For the rest of the war he held several key training and operational roles, the latter including services as Wing Commander Flying, 286 Wing in Italy in the period June-December 1944. During this time, he was one of the RAF’s youngest wing commanders. He ended the war back in the UK but departed the RAF in 1946, claiming it was run by “nincompoops”.
After qualifying as a driving instructor, Freeborn later joined Tetley Walker as regional director of one of their soft drinks brands . He took early retirement and, following the death of his wife in 1979, he moved to Spain in in the early 1980s. Freeborn married his second wife, Peta, in 1983. In 2000, the couple retired to Britain, settling in North Wales, but Peta died only a year later.
His biography, which he co-wrote with Christopher Yeoman, was published for the first time in 2009. Called Tiger Cub: A 74 Squadron Fighter Pilot in World War II, The Story of John Connell Freeborn DFC*, it contained a Foreword written by his friend Bob Cossey.
In the Foreword, Cossey wrote; “I have had the privilege of knowing Wing Commander John Freeborn for at least 15 years…Despite his connections with other squadrons (including command of 118) during the wartime years, 74 – the legendary Tigers – is the Squadron to which John always feels he owes the greatest allegiance. He is extremely proud to have flown and fought for it when he did. Today all members of the very active Squadron Association recognise that in John they have in their midst one of the great names of the Battle of Britain. Each year at the Squadron Reunion (which John always attends) they demonstrate that by their absolute pleasure at his being there. They are inestimably proud of him and as proud of the fact that he is proud of the Squadron! When a few years ago he was asked to speak after the dinner, he was given a standing ovation. This is a measure of the respect in which he is held.”
Cossey ended his Foreword with the words, “Read this book and appreciate once again what we owe to all those who fought in the Battle of Britain and beyond. They were young men who sacrificed their youth – and very often their lives – in defence of their country. Furthermore the telling of John’s story is also the story of a great Squadron during one of its finest periods. Chris [the co-author] has done a fine job in recreating for us how it was to have been a Tiger from 1938-41. Enjoy.”
Christopher Yeoman, the book’s co-author, ended his Epilogue to Tiger Cub with the words: “This work has been an absolute labour of love and I am greatly honoured to have been given the opportunity to write about my dear friend and hero, John Freeborn. It is with my greatest hopes that the reader is made aware of the many sacrifices made by those valiant young men who served their country in order to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today.”
Shortly before his death, Freeborn, who was always a proud Yorkshiremen with a fondness for a pint of beer from his native county, said that the British pilot he had accidentally killed more than half a century earlier remained in his thoughts. “I think about him nearly every day. I always have done. I’ve had a good life – and he should have had a good life too,” he said.
By the time his biography was published in 2009, Freeborn was one of the last surviving members of “the Few”. Indeed the book’s publication was well timed for Freeborn, twice married and with a grown-up daughter from his first marriage, died the following year, on August 28, 2010, aged 90.