Norman Cyril Jackson

Norman Cyril Jackson VC was a sergeant in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. On a bombing raid over Schweinfurt, Germany, in April 1944, he performed the actions that would earn him the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Serving as a flight engineer, his bomber was attacked by an enemy night fighter, which set one of the engines on fire. Despite being wounded by shell splinters, Jackson crawled out onto the wing of the aircraft while in flight to extinguish the flames. Although he succeeded in extinguishing the fire, the slipstream blew him off the wing, and he was forced to parachute to the ground, where he was captured and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war.

His extreme bravery and devotion to duty were recognized with the Victoria Cross, and he remains one of the most celebrated RAF heroes of the Second World War.