'Courage Beyond Praise'

‘Channel Dash Heroes’ by Philip E West - Reproduced with permission from SWA Fine Art Publishers. The Straits of Dover 12 February 1942 Sub Lieutenant Edgar Lee helps his badly wounded pilot, Sub Lieutenant Brian Rose, from the cockpit of their downed Swordfish, before it sinks into the depths of the English Channel.

​The heroic actions of the 825 Naval Air Squadron’s eighteen aircrew on the afternoon of Thursday 12 February 1942 is well documented and revered throughout the Fleet Air Arm. Numerous naval history books relate in detail how six British Swordfish biplanes, armed with just a single torpedo each, took on the pride of the German Navy in their ‘Channel Dash’ from Brest Harbour in France.
All six Swordfish aircraft were shot down either by gunfire from the two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the large fleet of escort ships or by aerial engagement of the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Focke-Wulf 190s.
Thirteen of the Swordfish aircrew were killed including Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, 825 Naval Air Squadron's Commanding Officer, who was conferred with a posthumous Victoria Cross. The twelve others, officers and Telegraphist Air Gunners, were each given a Mention in Dispatches posthumously which was the only honour permissible at the time.
The five survivors were, Temporary Acting Sub Lieutenant(A) Edgar Lee, Temporary Acting Sub Lieutenant(A) Charles Kingsmill, Temporary Acting Sub Lieutenant(A) Brian Rose, Temporary Sub Lieutenant(A) Reginald Samples, made Companions of the Distinguished Service Order, and Naval Airman 1st Class Donald Bunce who was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. 

825 Naval Air Squadron Operations Board for 12 February 1942

​Edgar Lee became a teacher and Secondary School Head, ‘Pat’ Kingsmill’ was a well-respected National Health Service Administrator and ‘Mac’ Samples rose to Consul-General in HM Diplomatic Service. Brian Rose, aged 23, was killed in a Barracuda accident on 8 October 1944.  
None of the 825 Naval Air Squadron Channel Dash heroes are alive today. Eighty eight year old Edgar Lee was the last to pass away on 29 October 2009, the year in which the Fleet Air Arm celebrated 100 years of naval aviation. 

Read more on the Channel Dash men here