Elderly DFC recipients - Lionel Cohen and Louis Strange

[adrian roberts]

Lionel Cohen and Louis Strange.


I knew that a small number of airmen flew in both World Wars, though no British Empire pilots were aces in both. But via my First World War studies I have found two WW1 airmen who were awarded DFCs in WW2. One of these, Lionel Cohen, was a 69-year old Acting Wing Commander!


Cross & Cockade, the WW1 Aviation History Society, ran a series of articles in its periodical on the aerial aspects of the war in German East Africa. This made a brief mention of Lt Lionel Cohen of the South African Horse, saying that he was “attached to [7 sqdn RNAS] due to a shortage of observers”, and that on 12th June 1916 he was “shelled while landing in Voisin 8705”. But intriguingly, the photo and footnote mentioned that he was a Boer War veteran who was awarded a DFC in 1944 aged 69.


I enquired on the Great War Forum, and found out plenty more. He was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1875, lied about his age to join the army and served as a trooper in the Matabele War in 1893. He was an Intelligence Officer in the Boer War, and afterwards went into the diamond business. Presumably he stayed in South Africa, because he volunteered for the South African Horse in WW1. He was awarded an MC at the beginning of 1917; the London Gazette reference gives his unit as “South African Horse attached RNAS”. He was awarded a DSO in 1918; the LG has him as a T/Capt in the Intelligence Corps - I don’t know if he remained in Africa or was in France by then.


After continuing his career as a diamond merchant, in February 1939 despite his age he volunteered for the RAFVR and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Admin and Special Duties Branch. Admin not being his thing, he managed to get into Coastal Command as a liaison officer to the Navy. Although he was not required to fly at all, he nevertheless managed to fly 45 operations with Coastal Command as an observer or air gunner. This included an attack on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, presumably in a Beaufort. He was slightly wounded once and Mentioned in Despatches twice, and as mentioned above eventually awarded a DFC in 1944 by which time he was a Wing Commander.


He had two daughters who were WAAF officers. He died in 1960 aged 85.


There was a cutting from the Times Archive about the DFC award on the GWF, but I was unable to reduce it to a size where I could post it here. I could email it if anyone wants it. By the way, he sometimes used the pseudonym of S O Samuelson, which initially confused things when I asked about him.


Then there was Louis Strange DSO OBE MC DFC* - the bar to his DFC was awarded in 1940. His longevity in aerial combat was remarkable as he is believed to be the first British airman to make contact with a German aircraft, on 22nd August 1914 (both aircraft were unarmed). Then on 22nd November 1914 he and his observer Lt Small were the first British airmen to shoot down a German aircraft, when in an Avro 504 they attacked what Strange called an Aviatik but the records suggest was an Albatros BII. (On 25th August three unarmed British aircraft had forced a Taube to land, but Strange and Small were the first to use a gun successfully. A French crew had shot down a German on 5th October).


His most famous incident was in July 1915, when flying a Martinsyde S1 scout, with a Lewis gun on the upper wing, he stood up to change the drum. The aircraft suddenly inverted, he fell out of the cockpit, and found himself hanging from the drum by his fingertips. Amazingly, he managed to swing his legs up to the cockpit and kick the joystick so that the aircraft righted itself and he fell back in, only a few hundred feet from the ground.


He ended the war as a Lt-Col with a DSO, MC and DFC, but left the RAF due to ill-health, later becoming a director of Spartan Aircraft. In 1940, aged 48, he rejoined the RAF and was a ground control officer with the BEF in France at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation. There was a Hurricane with his unit that was to be abandoned due to a small but supposedly unrepairable fault. He made an unorthodox repair, and though he had never flown a Hurricane before, and it had no guns and was missing some instruments, he flew it back to England, pursued by several Messerschmitts. He turned and feinted an attack on them with such ferocity that they broke off the attack - one account says that one of them flew into the ground. He was awarded a bar to his DFC for this. Later, he was OC Ringway aerodrome in Manchester, from which paratroop training was carried out (using Whitleys from which the rear turret had been removed to facilitate exit, a rather small gap I would have thought), and made several jumps himself.


He died in 1966 aged 74. Sadly his last years were marked by Alzheimer’s Disease.

[Ron Goldstein]

Hi Adrian
Re Lionel Cohen DFC
A truly fascinating character and there is so much on the internet about the man once you start chasing links.
Like this piece, for instance, on the RAFCOMMANDS site:


"Wg. Cdr. Lionel Frederick Cohen.DSO, MC, DFC, RAF."

Was Wg. Cdr. Cohen the oldest Airgunner in the RAF????.

Born in 1874, Lionel Cohen (usually known as "Sos") was the son of a Newcastle-Upon-Tyne shipowner.On leaving school Cohen went to South Africa where he served as a trooper during the Matabele War. Cohen participated in the Boer War in an intellegence capacity and after the war became one of the first owners of the "Rand Daily Mail". On the outbreak of WWI Cohen re-enlisted as a trooper and was later commissioned in the South Africa Horse. A small RNAS force was providing reconaissance facilities for the armies of General Smuts and on hearing this, it appears he transfered to the RANAS as an Observer. By the end of the war in 1918 he had been awarded the DSO and MC. Returning to Britain Cohen enlisted in the RAFVR. At the outbreak of WWII he was posted to Coastal Command HQ in a staff appointment, at the age of 64. Moifying his appointment to that of "Liasion Officer" Cohen maintained that he could only gain knowledge of the problems confronting Coastal crews by flying with them on their patrols. It is said that Cohen took part in a long Liberator sortie with 120 Sqd on 30 July 1943. Liberator III, N/120. Captain F/O Turner, over Artic waters, and insisted on doing his full share of A/G duty, he became so cold that he needed much help to leave his turret on landing at Iceland. In February 1944 Cohen was awarded the DFC, and soon after celebrated his 70th birthday. Cohen passed away at the age of 86 in 1960.

The question is, Was Wg.Cdr. Cohen the oldest airgunner in the RAF????.

Peter.

[Peter Clare]

Gazette entry for Cohen's DFC


Gazette: Archive View=

[Kyt]

Funny Louis Strange should come up again - there was a discussion of him over on rafcommands.com - in particular about how it was that he received the Aircrew Europe Star with France and Germany clasp though there being no evidence (as yet) that his war service would not entail receipt of said clasp.

As yet, they have not been able to resolve the issue.

[adrian roberts]

I hadn't come across the rafcommands.com website before. Bookmarked it now!
Thanks Chaps

[Ron Goldstein]

Hi Adrian et al

If this amazing character interests you, there is more on Lionel Cohen at: WW2 - The Second World War

[adrian roberts]

Ron - I've just seen Martin Sugarman's article on Cohen which he posted the link to on the Great War Forum.
This is the direct link:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?bl...78773102765796

The more I read the more amazing this man gets!