Squadron Leader Sidney H. Fox DFM

103 Squadron RAFVR

Early Life

Sidney Horace Fox was the son of James and Annie Fox of Turnoak, Wych Hill. James was a butcher from Limehouse in London and Annie was from Bushy in Herts.

Sidney was born in November 1914 and came to live in Woking aged three. He had six brothers (Lesley, James, Stanley, Eric, Arthur and Reginald) and three sisters (Christina, Olive and Gladys).

Before the War

After leaving the county school Sidney worked in London for the accountancy firm Middleton and Tow. He then spent five years with Barclays Bank when he also learned how to fly with the RAFVR.

In September 1940 he married Bessie, a Woking girl.

Military Career

When war broke out Sidney was called up as a Sergeant Pilot with Bomber Command (service number 61467/741912).

On 11 February 1941 while serving with 83 Squadron RAFVR Sidney was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) for distinguished flying, excellent leadership and devotion to duty whilst over German territory.

In a letter home which was published in the Woking News and Mail he wrote about one of his more perilous journeys:

‘On most of the 28 raids on which I have been, we have been fortunate enough to find and bomb our primary targets, our greatest enemy being the weather. On one trip I had no less than 1 1/2 inches of ice inside my cockpit covering all the instruments and controls, not to mention myself.

As we were ten tenths cloud at the time I had to get my navigator, whose cockpit was comparatively free, to set two pencils, one fore and aft and the other laterally, on his table, in order that I might correct any over banking out of the cloud. I naturally have a great respect of the enemy flak, but do not want to have another anxious five minutes as we experienced that night.’

By 1942 Sidney had been granted his commission and was serving with 103 Squadron based at RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire. The squadron had previously flown Wellingtons but these were replaced in August by Handley Page Halifax bombers. 103 Squadron flew over 6,000 operational sorties during the war at a high cost in both men and aircraft.

Sidney rose through the ranks to become Squadron Leader. In his book ‘Ticket To Freedom’ his navigator, I. H. Spiller described him as ‘the epitome of a bomber captain, keen, pugnacious and overtly fearless … the complete commander.’

On the evening of 24 October, 27 year old Sidney was Captain aboard Halifax W1188 which took off from Elsham at 1828. The target that night was Milan in Italy. It was the end of Sidney’s second tour, his fiftieth and final mission before retirement from active duty.

The aircraft was intercepted by Luftwaffe night fighters over France. An ‘incandescent missile’ pierced the fuselage and bound across the navigators table and the port engine caught fire. As Sidney wrestled with the controls and activated the fire extinguishers he gave the order to bale out. Spiller had to kick open the escape hatch which had jammed.

W1188 Flossie II

Spiller wrote this about the doomed aircraft … ‘I rolled to the hatch looking back into the pilots compartment with it’s eerie bright red light, Sid’s stoney face almost gargoyle-like and Sergeant Woods wide open eyes above a countenance serious with concentration. Fitz tapped my head and put his thumbs up …’.

Sid Foxes Halifax crashed between Nant-Le-Grand and Ligny-en-Barrois, 12 kms. South-east of Bar-le-Duc in France.

The wreckage of W1188

The crew that fateful night were as follows:

Squadron Leader Sidney Fox DFM - Pilot. Aged 27. KIA.

Sgt. Henry Wood - Second pilot. Aged 21. KIA.

Sgt. Lawrence ‘Fitz’ Fitzsimmons - Flight engineer. Aged 22. KIA.

Flt. Sgt. H. J. ‘Dizzy’ Spiller DFM - Wireless operator. Escaped to England.

Flt. Sgt. Rowland ‘Peewee’ Maddocks - Bomb aimer. PoW.

Pilot Officer Geoffrey ‘Woolly’ Wolverton - Wireless operator. PoW.

Sgt. Phillip Heath - Air gunner. Aged 27. KIA.

Flt. Sgt. Norman Mercer. Aged 22. Air gunner. Aged 22. KIA.

The Luftwaffe pilot who claimed the ‘kill’ visited Maddox and Wolverton the following day and brought them cigarettes.

Sidney is buried with his crew in Nant-le-Grand Communal Cemetery, near Bar-le-Duc, France (grave 1).

When Dizzy Spiller died in 2011 aged 90 his ashes were interred with his comrades.