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Group
Captain Frank Griggs
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By
Dr Chris Clark
WHILE serving in the Air Force up to his retirement in 1976, Group
Captain Frank Griggs – who has died aged 81 – rarely spoke about
his time with RAF Bomber Command during World War II.
Close
colleagues only occasionally gleaned snippets of the many extraordinary
incidents in which he was involved, as an Australian pilot in
Nos. 218 and 214 Squadrons, flying Wellington and Stirling bombers
respectively, then in Mosquito Mk IVs with the famous Pathfinder
Force.
Like
the time in January 1942 that his aircraft was hit by flak in
a raid on Brest and had to bring his badly damaged machine home
for an emergency wheels-up landing after barely clearing the cliffs
of the English coast.
Or
the next month when he emerged through low cloud and found he
was right among German battle cruisers which were all firing at
him. Although he dropped his load as he skimmed over Scharnhorst,
the bombs had no time to arm so did not explode, and he was later
forced to explain to a British admiral why he had not flown his
Wellington into the bridge of the enemy ship.
In
June 1942 he almost fell victim to five night fighters while he
was bringing his damaged Stirling back across Holland. By the
time it reached home, the aircraft was so damaged it was virtually
uncontrollable. Still, by extraordinary judgment, strength and
skill, he managed to get the bomber down and received an immediate
award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.
In
July that same year he applied for Pathfinder Force, which marked
the targets for attacking bomber formations.
He
was one of the original six pilots of No. 109 Squadron, and the
46 pathfinding operations he flew brought his wartime total to
73 and also won him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Demobilised
in 1944, he captained domestic airliners for Australian National
Airways for a time, but in 1951 he rejoined the RAAF.
He
flew with No. 1 Squadron in 1952, during the Malayan Emergency,
and next year was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his outstanding
work as flight commander.
In
1963-64 he commanded No. 2 Squadron, operating Canberra jet bombers
from Butterworth during the days of Confrontation with Indonesia.
His last posting was as commander of RAAF Base Townsville for
four years.
GPCAPT
Griggs (ret’d) died on the Gold Coast on May 31. His wife Marie,
daughter Allison and son John survive him.
