Despite losing an eye ‘Ron’ Middleton flew his badly damaged Stirling bomber back from Italy to ensure his crewmates could bale out over friendly territory.
Rawdon Hume Middleton – known to everybody as ‘Ron’ – was the great-nephew of the colonial explorer Hamilton Hume and was born in Waverley, Sydney, Australia on July 22, 1916.
After graduating from Dubbo High School in New South Wales this athletic young man worked as a jackaroo at Leewang station, the large grazing property his father managed in the state.
However, on October 14, 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and completed his initial flying training at 5 Elementary Flying Training School (5 EFTS) at Narromine, New South Wales before moving to Canada for advanced training in February 1941.
On September 15, 1941 Middleton arrived in Britain where he joined 23 OTU and was promoted to Flight Sergeant and learned to fly the huge Short Stirling four-engined bomber.
On January 1, 1942 he joined 7 Sqn at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire – but soon transferred to RAF Waterbeach (also in Cambridgeshire) and then 149 Sqn at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk where he finally began operational flying over Germany, initially as a second pilot. On…
