John F Ross-Myring RAFVR and crew – 103 Squadron and 582 Squadron - 1945
This crew were posted to 103 Squadron from 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit at Blyton in 1945 and consisted of :-
F/O J F Ross-Myring RAFVR – Pilot.
Sgt F C Marsh RAFVR – Flight Engineer.
Sgt H R Bretherick RAFVR – Air Bomber.
Sgt L J M Rault RAFVR – Navigator.
Sgt G Finnighan RAFVR – Wireless Operator.
F/S G J Nevill RAFVR – Air Gunner.
Sgt M E A'Court RAFVR – Air Gunner.
They completed a number of operations with 103 Squadron and were transferred to 582 Squadron on the 12th April 1945
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Sir Maurice Rault.
Maurice was born in 1920 and brought up on the island of Mauritius. Pre war he worked briefly as a teacher at St. Joseph's College. On June 17, 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and later qualified as a navigator serving with both 103 Squadron and 582 Squadrons.
After the war Maurice opted for a career in the law. He went on to study at the Middle Temple and came in second among more than 500 applicants from Cambridge and Oxford universities among others. He became a lawyer in June 1949 and a magistrate in 1952. He was transferred to the Intermediate Criminal Court in 1960, held the post of Master and Registrar in 1967 and was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions in October 1968. He became Judge in 1970, acceded to the office of Chief Judge in 1978 and was elevated to the rank of Knight in the same year. Sir Maurice Rault presided over the destiny of the judiciary between 1978 and 1982, when he retired.
While he was Chief Judge, he was called upon to assume the functions of Acting Governor General on several occasions. In 1985, the University of Mauritius conferred on him the title "Doctor Honoris Causa". Sir Maurice was the first Mauritian Chancellor of the University of Mauritius and in the mid 80s led an important Commission of Enquiry into drug trafficking issues on the island.
He was also instrumental in introducing a bill into the Mauritian Parliament proposing the abolition of the death penalty on the island which was eventually passed.
Throughout his life he was a great lover of the classics, literature and poetry and an also author.
He sadly passed away in 2004
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The RAF biography of Sir Maurice is now available. See below.
The Incidental Navigator - Sir Maurice Rault, QC.
Edited by Sean Feast from a translation by Danielle Lagesse.
Maurice Rault was no ordinary Bomber Command navigator, and this no ordinary memoir. Born on the small island of Mauritius, Maurice is drawn by a love of two countries – Britain and France – to join the RAF to help rid the continent of Nazi tyranny. He is also driven by a romantic ideal, and a sense of Chivalry from a previous age, to put right what he sees as a terrible wrong, a betrayal of France, and a burning passion to see the Allies prevail. With 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds he experiences the terror of bombing operations over Germany in the last stages of the war, including a dramatic operation to Bremen which is nearly his last. In a few short weeks, his Squadron loses eleven crews – more than seventy men – at a time when the Germans still fail to acknowledge they are beaten. At Elsham he joins a secret society known as ‘the zoo’, to share a love of books and culture as an escape from the horrors of war. Through ‘Gilbert’, ‘Nestor’, the ‘Bigamist’, and the hideous ‘Palmer’, Maurice reveals a different side to war, of compassion and loathing for men facing similar fears. Whether these characters are actual people or imaginary is for the reader to decide, but his affection for his squadron, for Elsham, for ‘the Butcher’, and for his fellow man is very real indeed.
9 in x 6 in, 163 pages, £12 plus p&p.
The book is available from
Amazon - here
Item compiled by David Fell with thanks to the Rault family for their co-operation
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