Plaid MP backs campaign for London memorial recognising Welsh WW2 pilot

Emily Price

A Plaid Cymru MP is backing calls for a memorial in London to honour a Welsh pilot who carried out highly dangerous, clandestine, photo-gathering operations during the Second World War.

The Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) captured over 26 million images of enemy operations and installations during WW2.

The photographs were then used in the planning of major operations such as the Dambusters Raid and D-Day.

Due to the highly secretive nature of their operations, the pilots flew solo, unarmed, and unarmoured.

The death rate was nearly fifty percent and life expectancy for those who served in the PRU was around two and a half months.

Brave

Among those who survived was Edward Gordon Bacon who grew up in Bangor Street in the village of  Y Felinheli.

He joined the RAF and served as a Pilot Officer with the PRU during the Second World War and died in Dec 1986.

The Spitfire AA810 project which is campaigning for a permanent memorial in Westminster recognising the bravery of Edward and other PRU pilots like him.

An engine and propeller from an aircraft which crashed on the Aran Fawddwy, Meirionnydd will be incorporated into the monument.

The project is keen to reach out to families to collect their stories and anyone who may remember Edward is urged to get in touch.

Wreckage

Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts is supporting the campaign.

Speaking in the House of Commons she said: “The project is campaigning for a UK memorial here in Westminster. When this comes to fruition, wreckage from a PRU aircraft will be its centrepiece.

‘This poignant reminder of courage and horrendous risks faced by PRU airmen was collected just last month from a Mosquito aircraft which crashed on the Aran Fawddwy mountain in Meirionnydd 80 years ago.

“The pilot Flight Officer Marek Ostaja-Slonski of the Polish Air Force and navigator Flight Lieutenant Paul Richs were killed at the site on a cross-country exercise.

“Those serving in the PRU carried out some of the most daring intelligence-gathering operations of the war, suffering horrendous losses.

“Yet, there remains no national memorial to honour the sacrifice of the circa eight hundred pilots and navigators from the UK who flew these critical intelligence missions.

“I am particularly interested in tracing the history of Edward Gordon Bacon from Y Felinheli, who was one of the pilots who served under these exceptionally challenging conditions. He survived the war and passed away in 1986.’

“Given the increasing support behind a national memorial it would be fitting to properly acknowledge Edward Bacon’s contribution and provide his home community of Y Felinheli with an opportunity to learn more about his selfless role and largely unknown contribution to the allied success.”

Defenceless

Tony Hoskins, Project Lead at Spitfire AA8810 said: “For some 80 years the work of those who flew unarmed and defenceless aircraft further, higher, and faster than those that had pioneered aviation before them has been largely unrecognised.

“For a role that is still of vital military importance today, we have these young airmen and the female intelligence officers who interpreted their photographs to thank for the freedoms we enjoy

“Their sacrifice was significant, and their contribution is long overdue recognition.’
‘With our proposed monument being more than just names on a wall, we thank Liz for her support in collating the stories of these young men and women, including Pilot Officer Edward Bacon from Y Felinheli, without whose efforts western history may have taken a greatly different path.”