Page 58 - John George Blair

Draft article from the Durham Peeler – Jack Blair

Chief Inspector Jack Blair retired in 1976 after 32 years’ service in Durham. He died
in 2010 aged 85 years and is survived by his widow Mrs Jenny Blair. Jack is one of
many World War 2 veterans who have recently been awarded, in Jack’s case
posthumously, the Bomber Command Clasp to the 1939-45 Star. The award is made
‘in recognition of their bravery and unique contribution in protecting Britain during
World War 2.’

Jack was from Fatfield and volunteered for RAF aircrew service in 1943. He was
selected for pilot training but wanted to be a flight engineer and qualified as such on
the Lancaster bomber early in 1944. He carried out 28 operations in Europe up to
the end of the war and served in the RAF until 1947 when he was appointed to
Durham County Constabulary.

Jack did discuss his involvement in Bomber Command and was always mindful of
friends and colleagues who lost their lives during the campaign. Of the 125,000
aircrew, more than 55,000 were killed.

Before he died in 2010, Jack asked Jenny to try and preserve several items of his
RAF service memorabilia which included photographs and documents including his
flying log book. The items were entrusted to Nigel Dunnill, a retired inspector who
served in Durham and Northumbria forces who commented,

“I met Jack several times and he told me about some of the events during his RAF
service. I have done quite a lot of research and so much information is now available
on the internet relating to almost every operation that Jack and his crew were
involved in. This is information that was not available during Jack’s lifetime and I
think he would have been very interested in this. I felt that the award of the Bomber
Command Clasp would be a fitting tribute to his memory and was pleased when Mrs
Blair allowed me to guide her, as next of kin, through the application process and the
award was made earlier this year. I know that Jack would have been delighted to
have received the award and the recognition for all his former colleagues.”

Jack spoke about, in particular, three events during his RAF service. The first was
his involvement in air operations in France in the days leading up to and immediately
following D-Day on 6 June 1944 which has been commemorated during 2014 on the
70 anniversary. He was also very proud of the humanitarian operations carried out
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in 1945 in support of Operations ‘Manna’ and ‘Exodus’ dropping food to a starving
population in areas of Holland and airlifting British prisoners of war, for repatriation,
from Europe to England.

But Nigel Dunnill explains, “Perhaps one of Jack’s most memorable events was the
day that he and his crew were shot down over Holland and their Lancaster ditched in
the North Sea. Their crew along with many others were tasked to carry out an
operation to destroy an occupied airfield north of Arnhem. From RAF records it is
known that Jack’s Lancaster crew departed from Coningsby in Lincolnshire at 09.25
on 15 August 1944 arriving in the operational area at noon. The aircraft in the