Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An exceptional Second World War Norway 1940 operations D.S.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant T. A. McKee, Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy, who, as a young Midshipman (A.), was decorated for several successful strikes in Skuas of 803 Squadron, including the sinking of the Konigsberg, but who was taken P.O.W. following the disastrous attack on the Scharnhorst in Trondheim Fjord a few weeks later, when his Skua was downed by enemy ace Oberleutnant Gordon Gollob: badly wounded and hospitalised, he was to suffer yet further at the hands of a sadistic interrogator - who dug a scalpel into one of his open wounds

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., hallmarks for London 1939, the reverse officially dated ‘1940’, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, Air Crew Europe; War Medal 1939-45, extremely fine (4) £4000-5000

D.S.C. London Gazette 9 May 1940:

‘For daring and resource in the conduct of hazardous and successful operations by the Fleet Air Arm against the enemy, especially on the coast of Norway.’

Thomas Anthony “Tony” McKee, was born in June 1920, a native of Minehead, Somerset, and was studying Norwegian at the Institute of Linguists at the time of being called-up by the Royal Navy in May 1939.

Sinking of the Konigsberg - D.S.C.

Appointed a Midshipman (A.), he commenced aircrew training with the Fleet Air Arm at Lee-on-Solent, and qualified as an Observer in Shark aircraft that October. Posted to No. 803 (F.A.A.) Squadron at Wick in November 1939, he qualified in Skuas and flew many operational sorties in the period leading up to the unit’s transfer to Hatston in the Orkneys in early April 1940. Here, then, the opening chapter of his part in the Norwegian campaign.

At 5.10 a.m. on 10 April 1940, McKee, with Lieutenant H. R. E. Torin as his pilot, took-off with nine other 803 Skuas, the whole bound for a dawn attack on the German cruiser Konigsberg in Bergen harbour. Making their final approach from the south-east, the Skuas took advantage of the dawn sun and, not withstanding heavy flak from Kritiansholme Island, delivered a devastating attack, their 500lb. bombs being dropped from heights varying from 3000 to 1500 feet - and several of them found their mark. Ablaze and badly flooded, the Konigsberg finally turned over and sank some two hours and 45 minutes after the departure of the Fleet Air Arm, taking 18 of her crew with her.

Two days later, McKee and Torin were back over Bergen on another anti-shipping strike and, after an encounter with a U-Boat on the 14th, had a run-in with a Dornier on the 17th, McKee noting in his flying log book - ‘Own aircraft badly damaged. Dornier shot down.’ Events in Norway were now moving rapidly and, on the last day of May, the aircrew and aircraft of 803 Squadron were embarked in the Ark Royal, in readiness to assist at the evacuation of Narvik - indeed McKee, with Lieutenant C. H. Filmer as his pilot, flew several fighter patrols over the next two weeks.



Massacre of the Skuas

But on 13 June 1940, in what became a pivotal action in terms of the Admiralty’s future use of Skuas, Mckee’s operational career came to a dramatic end. Fledgling Eagles, by Christopher Shores, takes up the story:

‘Two minutes after midnight Ark Royal began launching 15 Skuas from 800 and 803 Squadrons, all weighed down with the unusually heavy load represented by a 500lb semi-armour piercing bomb beneath their bellies. R.A.F. support was still anticipated, the Blenheim fighters having made radio contact with the carrier as early as 2257, but in the event they were too late to escort the dive-bombers in to the target zone. Now things really began to go wrong. It had been intended that the Beauforts should bomb Vaernes airfield just ahead of the arrival of the Skuas, thereby keeping the German fighters on the ground. Unfortunately, the bombers lost formation in bad visibility, three returning to base while only four attacked at about 0150. On the ground five men were killed and 27 wounded, but material damage was slight, and the Bf 109Es of 4/JG 77 and Bf 110s of 3/ZG 76 were scrambled after them. The Beauforts could not be caught, but the result was that when the unescorted Skuas arrived over Trondheimsfjorden at 0200 on 13 June it was to find a considerable force of fighters already in the air and waiting for them. Within about ten minutes it was all over. Scarcely a match for the fighters opposing them when not trammelled with bomb loads, in their laden condition the Skuas were almost helpless. Gallantly they pressed on, those that survived making their dives on Scharnhorst.  The results failed to reward the effort; only one bomb struck the warship and by a cruel quirk of fate this failed to explode. The sacrifice had been in vain, and the cost was desperately high. Only seven Skuas - less than half the force despatched - returned to the carrier. Amongst those lost were several of the splendid crews who had played such an effective part in the earlier fighting over the Trondheim area and Narvik. At last at about 0210 the Blenheim fighters of 254 Squadron arrived, but could do nothing to help, and were able only to escort the seven survivors back to their ship. The two German units involved each claimed four victories. Oberleutnant Gordon Gollob of 3/ZG 76, later to become the first pilot to claim 150 victories, shot down one Skua at 0200 ... ’

The Skua flown by Filmer with McKee as his Observer.

Shores concludes:

‘It was the end of the dive-bomber as far as the Royal Navy was concerned. The lesson learned on this disastrous morning, coupled with the evidence so soon to come of the vulnerability of the Luftwaffe’s Stuka to fighter attack, turned the face of the Admiralty resolutely against this class of aircraft.’

P.O.W.

As stated above, and verified in McKee’s own M.I. 9 debrief in May 1945 (copy included), he was despicably treated by a German officer at Trondheim Hospital, the latter several times digging a scalpel into one of his open wounds when he refused to answer certain questions under interrogation.

Moved to Stalag Luft I at Barth in July 1940 - and following a brief interlude at another camp at Thorn - he ended up in Spangenberg Castle in May-October 1941, following which he was incarcerated in Oflag VI B at Warburg until September 1942, in which period, with Lieutenant H. Hearn, R.N., he made a failed attempt to escape via a tunnel. Having then been held in Oflag XX B at Schubib from September 1942 to April 1943, he was moved to Stulag Luft III at Sagan, scene of the famous “Great Escape”. Finally, between January 1945 and his liberation that April, he was held in Milag Nord at Tarmstedt.

Invested with his D.S.C. at Buckingham Palace in November 1945, McKee remained in the Fleet Air Arm after the War and finally retired as a Lieutenant in December 1954.

Postscript

McKee’s downed Skua from the Scharnhorst raid of June 1940 - L. 2963 - was salvaged by the Germans and may today be seen at the Norwegian Aviation Museum at Bodo.

Sold with the recipient’s original Royal Air Force (Form 1767) Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book, covering the period June 1939 to December 1954, including official endorsement to confirm an additional 100 hours flown from the Ark Royal in the period 18 April to 28 May 1940, together with his Admiralty campaign medal forwarding slip.