Page 98 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

BERNARD JOHN GUNTER, Pilot Officer/Air Bomber - RAF
61 Squadron Bomber Command
1914 - 8th March 1943

Pilot Officer Bernard John Gunter was born in 1914 in Coventry, Warwickshire the eldest
son of Basil Gunter and his wife Amy. Bernard married 22-year-old Ethel May Harrison in
the summer of 1939 in St. James' Church, North Cray just as war was being declared. The
couple had one daughter.

As a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, Bernard was trained by the RAF to fly many
types of aircraft, such as Spitfires and Lancaster bombers. He was assigned to Bomber
Command No. 61 Squadron, who flew Lancaster bombers, and were stationed at RAF
Syerston in Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire from May 1942 to November 1943.

No. 61 Squadron was originally formed at Rochford, Essex on 2nd August 1917. It was
disbanded in 1919 and reformed in 1937 as a Bomber Squadron. It flew with No. 5 Group
and took part in many notable operations including the first bombing raid on a German
land target - (19th/20th March 1940).

The Squadron began operations against German targets in early 1940 as well as carrying
out 'gardening' operations around the coasts of occupied Europe. They continued to take
part in night offensives throughout the war as part of Bomber Command's Main force.

In the summer of 1942, No. 61 Squadron was twice loaned to Coastal Command for anti-
submarine operations in the Bay of Biscay. It was detached from its base in Rutland to St.
Eval in Cornwall and on the very first occasion that it operated from there (17th July), a
crew captained by Flt. Lt. P.R. Casement became the first Bomber Command crew to bring
back irrefutable evidence that they had destroyed a U-boat at sea.

On 8th March 1943, just a month after being promoted to Pilot Officer, Bernard Gunter's
aircraft was brought down during a sortie over Germany.

Pilot Officer Bernard John Gunter, 24-year-old Pilot Officer Kenneth Browne from London,
28-year-old Air Gunner Edward Carr from Lancashire, Flying Officer Pilot Francis
Richardson, 28-year old Flight Sgt. George Mitchell from Glasgow and 21-year-old Flt.Sgt.
Air Gunner Douglas Forbes from Dundee, were all killed. All the former colleagues are
buried side-by-side.

Bernard Gunter's widow and daughter went to live with family in Skegness, Lincolnshire.

In Memoriam: Bernard Gunter was Buried in Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany

98