John Cruickshank

Before his transfer to the Royal Air Force, John Alexander Cruickshank served for two years as an artilleryman in the British Army. Born in Aberdeen on May 20, 1920, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, the Royal High School in Edinburgh, and Daniel Stewart's College, he entered an apprenticeship with the Commercial Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh in 1938. In May 1939, amid rising international tensions, he enlisted in the Territorial Army as a gunner in the 129th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. Mobilized upon the outbreak of war in August 1939, he served with his battery until June 1941, when he transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve to train as aircrew.

Initial instruction at No. 11 Initial Training Wing in Scarborough preceded flight training under the Empire Air Training Scheme. Posted to Canada in September 1941, he completed elementary flying school in Toronto before proceeding to Naval Air Station Pensacola in the United States for advanced maritime flight training. Upon receiving his pilot wings in July 1942, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAFVR. Operational conversion followed at No. 4 Operational Training Unit at Invergordon, where he trained on Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats. In March 1943, he joined No. 210 Squadron at RAF Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands, embarking on long-range maritime patrols over the North Atlantic and Arctic seas.

For more than a year, operational service comprised routine anti-submarine sweeps and convoy escorts across northern waters. Promoted to Flight Lieutenant in July 1944, Cruickshank (service number 126700) had logged twenty-four operational sorties. On the night of July 17, 1944, he took off from Sullom Voe as aircraft captain of Catalina Mk IVA JV928 (coded DA-Y), leading a ten-man crew. The operational objective was to provide anti-submarine protection for British Home Fleet warships returning from Operation Mascot, an air strike against the German battleship Tirpitz anchored in Norwegian fjords.

Five hours into the patrol, nearly three hundred miles west of the Lofoten Islands, radar operator John Appleton detected a surface target. Descending through cloud cover, Cruickshank visually identified a surfaced German Type VIIC submarine, later established as U-361. The U-boat crew opened fire with twin 20mm anti-aircraft cannons as the Catalina turned to attack. On the initial bombing pass, the flying boat's depth charges failed to release.

Knowing the advantage of surprise was lost, Cruickshank brought the aircraft around for a second pass directly into the defensive barrage. German anti-aircraft fire punctured the hull, killing navigator Flying Officer John Dickson and wounding four other crew members, including second pilot Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett. Cruickshank sustained seventy-two separate wounds, including two severe penetrating chest injuries to his lungs and ten wounds to his lower limbs. Bleeding heavily inside a cockpit filled with explosive fumes, he manually released six depth charges, straddling U-361 and sinking the U-boat with all fifty-two crew members on board.

Cruickshank collapsed from blood loss shortly after the target went down. Flight Sergeant Garnett assumed the controls while crew members rendered basic first aid. Offered morphine to dull his pain, Cruickshank refused the injection, fearing it would impair his judgment if emergency command became necessary. During the five-and-a-half-hour return flight to the Shetland Islands, he repeatedly lost consciousness.

Arriving over Sullom Voe around 3:00 a.m., Cruickshank determined that water and light conditions made an immediate landing unsafe for his less experienced co-pilot. He insisted on being carried forward and propped up in the second pilot's seat, overseeing the flight as the Catalina orbited for an hour awaiting daylight. Once visibility improved, he guided the touchdown on the water and directed the beaching of the aircraft to prevent its sinking. A medical officer administered an immediate blood transfusion aboard the Catalina before transferring him to Lerwick hospital.

The official citation for his Victoria Cross was published in a supplement to The London Gazette on September 1, 1944:

"Air Ministry, 1st September, 1944.

The KING has been graciously pleased to confer the VICTORIA CROSS on the undermentioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery: —

Flying Officer John Alexander CRUICKSHANK (126700), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. No. 210 Squadron.

This officer was the captain and pilot of a Catalina flying boat which was recently engaged on an anti-submarine patrol over northern waters. When a U-boat was sighted on the surface, Flying Officer Cruickshank at once turned to the attack. In the face of fierce anti-aircraft fire he manoeuvred into position and ran in to release his depth charges. Unfortunately they failed to drop. Flying Officer Cruickshank knew that the failure of this attack had deprived him of the advantage of surprise and that his aircraft offered a good target to the enemy’s determined and now heartened gunners. Without hesitation, he climbed and turned to come in again. The Catalina was met by intense and accurate fire and was repeatedly hit. The navigator/bomb aimer was killed. The second pilot and two other members of the crew were injured. Flying Officer Cruickshank was struck in seventy-two places, receiving two serious wounds in the lungs and ten penetrating wounds in the lower limbs. His aircraft was badly damaged and filled with the fumes of exploding shells. But he did not falter. He pressed home his attack, and released the depth charges himself, straddling the submarine perfectly. The U-boat was sunk. He then collapsed and the second pilot took over the controls. He recovered shortly afterward and, though bleeding profusely, insisted on resuming command and retaining it until he was satisfied that the damaged aircraft was under control, that a course had been set for base and that all the necessary signals had been sent. Only then would he consent to receive medical aid and have his wounds attended to. He refused morphia in case it might prevent him from carrying on. During the next five and a half hours of the return flight he several times lapsed into unconsciousness owing to loss of blood. When he came to, his first thought on each occasion was for the safety of his aircraft and crew. The damaged aircraft eventually reached base, but it was clear that an immediate landing would be a hazardous task for the wounded and less experienced second pilot. Although able to breathe only with the greatest difficulty, Flying Officer Cruickshank insisted on being carried forward and propped up in the second pilot’s seat. For a full hour, in spite of his agony and ever-increasing weakness, he gave orders as necessary, refusing to allow the aircraft to be brought down until the conditions of light and sea made this possible without undue risk. With his assistance, the aircraft was safely landed on the water. He then directed the taxying and beaching of the aircraft so that it could easily be salvaged. When the medical officer went on board, Flying Officer Cruickshank collapsed and he had to be given a blood transfusion before he could be removed to hospital. By pressing home the second attack in his gravely wounded condition and continuing his exertions on the return journey with his strength failing all the time, he seriously prejudiced his chance of survival even if the aircraft safely reached its base. Throughout, he set an example of determination, fortitude and devotion to duty in keeping with the highest traditions of the Service.”

King George VI presented the Victoria Cross to Cruickshank at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on September 21, 1944. The permanent severity of his injuries ended his active flying career. Following his discharge from the Royal Air Force in 1946, he resumed his banking career with the Commercial Bank of Scotland, working in Edinburgh and Aberdeen until his retirement. In March 2024, Royal Air Force officers formally presented him with the Air Efficiency Award, rectifying an administrative oversight that had delayed the bestowal for seventy-seven years. Cruickshank died in Scotland on August 9, 2025, at the age of 105, as the last surviving recipient awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War.