Thomas Percy Gleave was born in 1908 and commissioned in the RAF in 1930. I know that he was CO of 253 Squadron in July 1940, at Manston in 1942 and by 1944 he was a Group Captain. Can anyone tell me any more about him?
Squadron Leader T. P. Gleave, No.253 Squadron, RAF. Hurricane P3115. Shot down in flames during attack on Ju 88's and crashed near Hazel Wood, Mace Farm, Cudham 1.02 pm. Squadron Leader T. P. Gleave baled out grieviously burned and admitted to Orpington Hospital. Aircraft a write-oof. There are various parts of the aircraft wreckage on public display at Air Museums in the south. Photographs of the engine in ATB's Battle of Britain.
Drew Famous for an understatement after bailing out of his burning Hurricane he was taken to East Grinstead, burns unit, his wife hurrying to be at his bedside on arrival asked him what happened his retort was "had a row with a german". As aq guinea pig, part of McIndoe's Army ( McIndoe was the plastic surgeon) he had several operations and went back to duty later in the war. Ps I should be working
Thomas Percy Gleave. Born on September 6 1908, Gleave was educated at Westminster High School and Liverpool Collegiate School and joined Sefton Tanning Co in 1924. He first flew with the Liverpool and Merseyside Flying Club at Hooton in 1927, as a Founder-Member, and began instruction in early 1929, gaining his ‘A’ Licence on 6 July. Later in the year Gleave went to Canada and worked for a tanning company in Acton, Ontario. He flew at the Toronto Flying Club. He returned to the UK in 1930 and joined the RAF in September. Gleave was posted to 5 FTS, Sealand on September 27 and after training joined No.1 Squadron at Tangmere on September 8 1931. In an attempt to be the first man to fly to Ceylon, Gleave left Lympne on October 11 1933 in a Spartan, G-AAMH. Four days later he was forced down in a down-draught in the mountains east of Kutahya, in Anatolia, Turkey. He forced-landed in a tree on the side of a ravine, not far from Sarbona Pinar and had to abandon his attempt. From February 1934 Cleave was at CFS, Upavon on an instructor's course. He was posted to the staff of 5 FTS, Sealand on May 13 and went on loan to the Oxford University Air Squadron for a short period soon afterwards. On December 17 1936 Gleave was appointed as the Flying Instructor to 502 (Ulster) Special Reserve Squadron at Aldergrove. He converted the squadron to Auxiliary status and was re-posted as Adjutant and CFI. On January 1 1939 Gleave joined Air Staff, Bomber Command and carried out liaison duties in the Fighter Command Operations Room at Stanmore. On September 3 he was posted for full-time service there as Bomber Liaison Officer. On June 2 1940 Gleave was given command of 253 Squadron at Kirton-in-Lindsey. He was posted away on August 9 but allowed to stay with the squadron until called upon by AOC 14 Group. On August 30 Gleave claimed five Bf 109s destroyed but was credited with one destroyed and four probables. The following morning Squadron Leader HM Starr, CO of 253, was shot down and killed. Command of 253 reverted to Gleave once more but he himself was shot down at about 1.00 pm, during a massive air attack on Biggin Hill by a German bomber force. He baled out, grievously burned, and was admitted to Orpington Hospital. Gleave later went to Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, where he underwent plastic surgery by Archie (later Sir Archibald) Mclndoe and his brilliant colleague Percy Jayes. On July 20 1941 the Guinea Pig Club was formed at the Queen Victoria Hospital, with Mclndoe as President and Gleave as Vice-President and a Founder-Member. In August 1941 he was given a temporary non-operational flying category and on the 19th began flying once more, with a grafted face and limbs, less than twelve months after being burned. He became operational again in October. Gleave took command of RAF Mansion on October 5 and was there when the 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau' made their 'Channel Dash' on February 12 1942. Aircraft took off from Manston to attack the battleships. After the action Gleave recommended Esmonde for a posthumous VC and other awards for the five survivors of the Swordfish attack. All were granted. Gleave went to RAF Staff College on April 13 1942 and returned to Manston on July 10, in time for the Dieppe operation, for which Manston was a main refuelling and re-arming base. On September 9 Gleave was promoted to Group Captain and posted to the Special Planning Staff at Norfolk House, St James Square, London. He was made Group Captain Air Plans for the Allied Expeditionary' Air Force under Leigh-Mallory in November 1943. With Colonel Phillips Melville of the USAAF as co-operator he wrote the Overall Overlord Air Plan. For his outstanding work Gleave was made a CBE and awarded the US Legion of Merit, later changed to the Bronze Star because of protocol difficulties. In the wake of the invasion Gleave moved across to France. On October 1 1944 Gleave was made Head of Air Plans under Eisenhower at Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force. He returned to East Grinstead in mid-July 1945 for further plastic surgery and in September became SASO to the RAF Delegation to France. Gleave returned to the UK in early November 1947 and went to Reserve Command, later Home Command, where he held various staff appointments. In February 1952 he joined the directing staff at RAF Staff. 'Men of the Battle of Britain' - Wynn.
I am proud to possess a limited print with the signatures of the pilots including Thomas Gleave. One of my prized possessions. Regards Tom
Thanks to those who replied. I have heard a story that after Gleave claimed his 5 Bf109s on 30 August 1940 he went off looking for the 4 that had only been classed as probables somewhere to the west of Maidstone. He cant have found them and I have not heard of any coming down in that vicinity on that date. Does anyone know otherwise?
Hi forum. I'm new here:first post. Some Sunday evening googling about another aircraft crash at Mace Farm in the 1950s found me arriving at this forum and thread and, by way of explanation for (what you guys might not think) such peculiar searches I currently live on Mace Farm. Strangely enough at the current farmer's 80th birthday celebrations the other week he was describing details of a badly burned pilot that his mother picked out of a hedge and looked after during WWII. Being based next to Biggin Hill there is no guarantee that the pilot he was describing is the one pertinent to this thread but the details do bear a remarkable similarity, even down to the guinea-pig club. The reason he was telling the story was to elaborate his part in it, some 50 years later. Whilst ploughing a field in the 1990s he noticed a glint, and on closer inspection discovered the lid of a cigarette case. He took it home, cleaned it up, and found a pair of initials inscribed on the front. These matched those of the pilot his mother had tended all those years previously (apologies that I can't remember what they were) and putting two and two together, and after some searching, he managed to reunite the case with the pilot's daughter. What amazed him most was the number of times the cigarette case must have been ploughed-in and ploughed-out during all those intervening years. If any of you are interested in the genuine story as told first-hand, rather than by me, drop me a line and I can put you in touch with the farmer. He also has a good knowledge of where bombs fell on the farm (some of which still remain apparently), should that also be of interest. Ewan
Lovely story Ewan... Can the farmer recall the initials as if it is Greave then I am sure the family and the Sqn Assn would love to hear from him! Dee
Crikey. 7 years later (that went quickly) and someone got in touch about this, prompting me to have another chat with the farmer. I can confirm that it was indeed Thomas Gleave who landed by parachute here and who lost his cigarette case. He wrote a book about his 1939-41 experiences titled “I had a row with a German” and authored by “R.A.F. Casualty”, MacMillan & Co Ltd, 1941. This I discovered as the farmer has a copy with a dedication by Gleave dated 17/3/42 and sent as a thankyou for the help he received after landing on the farm, which he describes on pages 72 and 73. Rather remarkably, his aircraft was not officially found until 1967 and, if I manage to get it to work, hopefully there will be a picture attached of the press cutting that the farmer has kept describing the event.
Resurrecting an old post...... I'm currently half way through the excellent book 'Had a Row with a German' that I finally managed to track down for a decent price (online copies for sale are steep, so it's a shame there's not been a re-issue). In reference to the five 109s he claimed in a day but was credited with one, the bbm.org site claims that post war research confirmed all five but provides no further details. The descriptions of the actions are all pretty much "and then he went down vertically", and it was Gleave's first time in firing range, so I did raise an eyebrow. Does anyone have further details of the 'post war research' mentioned? Gleave did have ten years flying experience by this stage and was classed as 'exceptional' so i'm intrigued!
