Edward Sismore
Encyclopedia
Air Commodore
Edward Barnes Sismore DSO
DFC and two bars
AFC
(born 23 June 1921) was a British
air navigator
during World War II
and a fighter pilot and a senior Royal Air Force
officer in the post-war years and the thirteenth Commandant Royal Observer Corps
between 1971 and 1973.
During his time as Commandant ROC, Sismore travelling overseas to France
, Germany
and Scandinavia
n countries, visiting similar defence warning organisations. He established a close relationship with the Luftmeldekorpsett
Danish Air Reporting Corps, a unit of the country's Home Guard.
Sismore was given an emergency commission as a General Duties Branch Pilot Officer
in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Towards the end of the war, on 1 February 1945, he was awarded a permanent commission as a Flying Officer
.
In February 1944 Sismore was involved in the planning of Operation Jericho
but was prevented from flying with AVM Embry because of their knowledge of the plans. Operation Jerico was a low-level bombing raid on Amiens
Prison in German-occupied France. The object of the raid was to free French Resistance and political prisoners who were facing imminent execution. He also participated in the successful raid in late October 1944 against the Gestapo HQ in Århus, Jutland, Denmark as navigator to Reynolds.
Notably in March 1945, whilst serving on No. 140 Wing, Sismore, by then an acting Squadron Leader
took part in Operation Carthage
, a precision raid on the Gestapo
headquarters in Copenhagen
Denmark
. Sismore was the lead navigator in the Mosquito Mk.VI
flown by the raid leader (Group Captain R N Bateson). The raid, while not being completely successful with a large number of civilian casualties, succeeded in destroying the Gestapo HQ allowing some prisoners to escape. Sismore was awarded a bar to his DFC and was also honoured with the Danish Order of Dannebrog, Degree of Knight.
pilot, Squadron Leader 'Mick' Martin
, broke the London
to Cape Town
flying record, covering the 6,717 miles in only 21 hours and 31 minutes. They were subsequently awarded the Royal Aero Club
's Britannia Trophy
for 1947. From 1953/56 He commanded 29 Fighter Squadron. Sismore was promoted to Group Captain
in 1962 and during the early/mid 1960s, he served as the Station Commander of RAF Bruggen
in Germany. In the late 1960s he was the Senior Air Staff Officer of the RAF's Central Reconnaissance Establishment at RAF Brampton
.
, Sismore was appointed as Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps
taking over from Air Commodore D F Rixson. His final post was as the Director of the Air Defence Team, planning a new UK air defence environment system.
On 24 May 1973 Sismore handed command of the ROC to Air Commodore R K Orrock. He retired from the Royal Air Force on 23 June 1976.
This was following the attack on the Zeiss works at Jena which was his deepest low level daylight penetration of the war with Wing Commander Reynolds.
As pilot and navigator respectively these officers have taken part in numerous sorties against a wide variety of targets. In October, 1944, they took part in a most successful attack on a vital German target. In this well executed operation, these officers displayed skill and resolution of the highest standard.
"Acting Squadron Leader Edward Barnes SISMORE, D.S.O., D.F.C., (130208), R.A.F.V.R. In March, 1945, Squadron Leader Sismore was the navigator in the leading aircraft of a large formation detailed to attack the Gestapo headquarters at Copenhagen. The operation, necessitating a flight of more than 1,000 miles demanded the highest standard of navigational ability. In this direction, Squadron Leader Sismore's work was outstanding and contributed materially to the success obtained. Again, in April, 1945, this officer flew with great distinction in an attack against a similar target at Odense. This officer, who completed much operational flying, has rendered very valuable service".
Air Commodore
Air commodore is an air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Edward Barnes Sismore DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
DFC and two bars
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
AFC
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
(born 23 June 1921) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
air navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and a fighter pilot and a senior Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
officer in the post-war years and the thirteenth Commandant Royal Observer Corps
Commandant Royal Observer Corps
The Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps was the Royal Air Force commander of the Royal Observer Corps. All the holders of the post were RAF officers in the rank of Air Commodore, initially retired reserve officers then Auxiliary officers and, since the end of World War II, serving officers...
between 1971 and 1973.
During his time as Commandant ROC, Sismore travelling overseas to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n countries, visiting similar defence warning organisations. He established a close relationship with the Luftmeldekorpsett
Royal Danish Air Force
The Royal Danish Air Force is the air force of Denmark with the capability to undertake homeland defense and homeland security roles as well international operations.-History:...
Danish Air Reporting Corps, a unit of the country's Home Guard.
World War II
Sismore started his service as an airman in the RAFVR. However, on 29 August 1942 Flight SergeantFlight Sergeant
Flight sergeant is a senior non-commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure...
Sismore was given an emergency commission as a General Duties Branch Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Towards the end of the war, on 1 February 1945, he was awarded a permanent commission as a Flying Officer
Flying Officer
Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...
.
In February 1944 Sismore was involved in the planning of Operation Jericho
Operation Jericho
Operation Jericho was a low-level World War II bombing raid by Allied aircraft on Amiens Prison in German-occupied France on 18 February 1944. The stated object of the raid was to free French Resistance and political prisoners. The raid is remarkable for the precision and daring of the attack,...
but was prevented from flying with AVM Embry because of their knowledge of the plans. Operation Jerico was a low-level bombing raid on Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
Prison in German-occupied France. The object of the raid was to free French Resistance and political prisoners who were facing imminent execution. He also participated in the successful raid in late October 1944 against the Gestapo HQ in Århus, Jutland, Denmark as navigator to Reynolds.
Notably in March 1945, whilst serving on No. 140 Wing, Sismore, by then an acting Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
took part in Operation Carthage
Operation Carthage
Operation Carthage, on 21 March 1945, was a controversial British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Second World War. The target of the raid was the Shellhus, Gestapo headquarters, in the city centre, a building that had been used for the storage of dossiers and the torture of Danish...
, a precision raid on the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
headquarters in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Sismore was the lead navigator in the Mosquito Mk.VI
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
flown by the raid leader (Group Captain R N Bateson). The raid, while not being completely successful with a large number of civilian casualties, succeeded in destroying the Gestapo HQ allowing some prisoners to escape. Sismore was awarded a bar to his DFC and was also honoured with the Danish Order of Dannebrog, Degree of Knight.
Post-war
Sismore remained in the RAF after the War, qualifying as a fighter pilot and occupying several senior officer posts. In 1947 Squadron Leader Sismore and former DambusterOperation Chastise
Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis...
pilot, Squadron Leader 'Mick' Martin
Harold Brownlow Martin
Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin, KCB, DSO & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian pilot in the Royal Air Force....
, broke the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
flying record, covering the 6,717 miles in only 21 hours and 31 minutes. They were subsequently awarded the Royal Aero Club
Royal Aero Club
The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...
's Britannia Trophy
Britannia Trophy
The Britannia Trophy is a British award presented by the Royal Aero Club for aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviaton during the previous year....
for 1947. From 1953/56 He commanded 29 Fighter Squadron. Sismore was promoted to Group Captain
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore...
in 1962 and during the early/mid 1960s, he served as the Station Commander of RAF Bruggen
RAF Bruggen
The former Royal Air Force Station Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf near the German-Netherlands border. The base was named after...
in Germany. In the late 1960s he was the Senior Air Staff Officer of the RAF's Central Reconnaissance Establishment at RAF Brampton
RAF Brampton
RAF Brampton is a Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Formerly the home of RAF Support Command, it now houses several elements of Defence Equipment & Support , which itself was a result of a merger between the Defence Logistics Organisation and the Defence Procurement Agency...
.
Royal Observer Corps
On 4 January 1971 on promotion to Air CommodoreAir Commodore
Air commodore is an air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
, Sismore was appointed as Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
taking over from Air Commodore D F Rixson. His final post was as the Director of the Air Defence Team, planning a new UK air defence environment system.
On 24 May 1973 Sismore handed command of the ROC to Air Commodore R K Orrock. He retired from the Royal Air Force on 23 June 1976.
Honours and awards
On the 30th January, 1943, two forces of bombers were detailed to attack Berlin,to prevent a radio brodacast by Goering. To reach the German capital necessitated a flight of more than 500 miles, mostly over heavily defended territory.- 16 February 1943 - Pilot Officer Edward Barnes Sismore (130208) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve of No. 105 Squadron RAFNo. 105 Squadron RAFNo. 105 Squadron was a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force, active for three periods between 1917 and 1969. It was originally established during the First World War as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and disbanded after the war. Reactivated shortly before the Second World War, it was...
was awarded the Distinguished Flying CrossDistinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
in recognition as a result of this raid.
This was following the attack on the Zeiss works at Jena which was his deepest low level daylight penetration of the war with Wing Commander Reynolds.
- 18 June 1943 - Acting Flight Lieutenant Edward Barnes Sismore of No. 139 Squadron RAFNo. 139 Squadron RAFNo. 139 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron that was fighter unit in World War I and a bomber unit from World War II until the 1960s.-Formation and World War I:...
awarded the Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service OrderThe Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
for the raid on JENA.
- 15 December 1944 - Acting Squadron Leader Edward Barnes Sismore DSO DFC along with his pilot Acting Wing Commander Reynolds was awarded a bar to the Distinguished Flying CrossDistinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
.
As pilot and navigator respectively these officers have taken part in numerous sorties against a wide variety of targets. In October, 1944, they took part in a most successful attack on a vital German target. In this well executed operation, these officers displayed skill and resolution of the highest standard.
- 22 June 1945 - 2nd Bar to Distinguished Flying CrossDistinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
"Acting Squadron Leader Edward Barnes SISMORE, D.S.O., D.F.C., (130208), R.A.F.V.R. In March, 1945, Squadron Leader Sismore was the navigator in the leading aircraft of a large formation detailed to attack the Gestapo headquarters at Copenhagen. The operation, necessitating a flight of more than 1,000 miles demanded the highest standard of navigational ability. In this direction, Squadron Leader Sismore's work was outstanding and contributed materially to the success obtained. Again, in April, 1945, this officer flew with great distinction in an attack against a similar target at Odense. This officer, who completed much operational flying, has rendered very valuable service".
- 18 March 1949 - Squadron Leader Sismore was awarded the Danish Order of Dannebrog, Degree of Knight by Frederik IX, the King of Denmark.
- 31 May 1956 - Squadron Leader Sismore was awarded the Air Force CrossAir Force Cross (United Kingdom)The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
whilst commanding No 29 Fighter Squadron.