William Watson "Bill" Downer

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Surrendering in Mid-Air, Italians Show Elation

By FO. BOB FRANCIS, R.C.A.F.
With the R.C.A.F. in Italy, Nov. 5, 1943 - (CP) - One of the first concrete prizes to come into Allied hands after the capitulation of Italy was a three-motored Savoi medium bomber, which surrendered in mid-flight to a single Allied fighter.
The machine was seen over the sea north of Sicily and an R.A.F. Spitfire squadron, with which PO. Bruce J. Ingalls of Danville, Que., was flying, was warned to be on the lookout. “When the Spitfires did find the Italian aircraft, Ingalls said, a Grumman Martlett fighter already was shepherding it toward Sicily.
"We were on the way home after a patrol over the assault beaches," said Ingalls, "when we got the message to watch for this Eytie machine. When we found it the Grumman already had it in tow, so to speak, so we just flew along with them for a while. It finally landed at a field close to our own.
"We didn't see the surrender, but we heard afterward that the crew waved handkerchiefs from every window in the kite as soon as the fighter appeared."

Toronto Flier in Melee
A Toronto Spitfire pilot, PO. Bill Reid, of 141 Old Forest Hill Road, was flying with an R.A.F. squadron which engaged 12 FW-190's over the Italian coast, shooting down three and damaging another. The German aircraft had released their bombs when the Spitfires dived on them. Reid fired at two FWs during the melee, but was not able to confirm any score.
"I got in a burst at the first one in a tight turn, but could not see my fire striking home on him," Reid said. "A moment later I saw one going down in flames, but we couldn't confirm whether it was mine or not"
A moment later he opened fire on another, but did not see any results from this attack.

“Hap" Kennedy Promoted
I. F. (Hap) Kennedy, D.F.C., of Cumberland, Ont., veteran fighter pilot with a score of seven enemy aircraft destroyed, has been promoted flight lieutenant and placed in charge of a flight in an R.A.F. Spitfire squadron in Sicily.
Kennedy was one of several Canadians flying with the squadron from which he transferred on receiving his promotion and in his new unit he again found himself among members of the R.C.A.F. He had five aircraft destroyed to his credit when he joined his first squadron in Sicily, then commanded by Sqdn. Ldr. George Hill, D.F.C., and two bars, of Pictou, N.S. His sixth and seventh victories were FW190's, each destroyed after long chases. The first Focke Wulf was shot down over the Italian coast during a dusk patrol only a few hours after the squadron destroyed six Macchi Italian fighters in a single engagement.
The last came the day after the invasion of Italy, when Kennedy chased the German 50 miles along the Italian coast, damaging the machine with gunfire and forcing the pilot to bail out.
Other Canadians with his present squadron are Sgts. J. C. Turcott, Sudbury, Ont.; Bill Downer, Midland, Ont., and PO. Bill Hockey, Kentville, N.S.

Mascot Goes With Squadron
When the pilots of one R.A.F. Squadron say that where they go goes their mascot, they mean it. In fact, when the first member of the squadron set foot on Italian soil ‘Spitfire,’ a little brown and white mongrel, scrambled out of the aircraft with him.
FO. J.R. Woolgar, Edmonton, one of several R.C.A.F. pilots with the squadron, arrived with some other pilots by transport plane the day the Spitfires landed at their first base here. As he jumped out on the dusty field, the little mascot came out with him, maintaining her reputation of being one of the most-traveled dogs in the air force. Spitfire joined the squadron in Algiers and has covered North Africa, Malta, Sicily and Italy in her travels.

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Germans Fought to Standstill
In Second Major Bid to Drive Allied Invaders Into the Sea
Enemy's Full Striking Force Is Hurled
Against British Sector Without Effect
as Tremendous Aerial Action Continues

Allied headquarters, Naples, Feb. 17, 1944 – (BUP) – A massive battle of infantry, planes and tanks swirled over the Anzio beachhead today, and official reports indicated the Germans were being fought to a standstill in their second major attempt to drive the Allied invaders into the sea. Putting an end to the three day lull that followed the collapse of their first counter-offensive last week, the Germans hurled their full striking force against a narrow sector on the British-held northern flank of the beachhead yesterday morning. Under cover of a terrific rolling barrage laid down by their massed artillery and fighter-bombers, waves of Nazi troops charges against the British positions astride the Aprilia-Anzio highway.

British Lines Holding
Big German tanks lunged in behind the infantry, probing for a weak spot in the Allied lines, and came to grips with British armored forces.
Hundreds of Allied fighters and fighter-bombers streamed into the battle, tangling with the low-flying enemy planes and ripping up the charging German troops with bombs and gunfire.
Front reports said the enemy offensive was met everywhere by determined resistance and it was indicated that the British lines were holding fast.
The German attacks continued throughout the day and all last night, however, and at daybreak this morning they were increasing in fury as the Nazis fought fanatically to achieve a break-through.
(The German high command tacitly acknowledged that its offensive had not yet succeeded in breaking the Allied lines. The Nazi communiqué this morning reported that British troops and tanks counter-attacked in the Aprilia sector, and made no references to German gains.)

On Narrow Sector
The full fury of the German assault again centered on a narrow sector of the beachhead in the Aprilia area, where the Nazis opened their first large-scale offensive last week in an effort to break out their armored forces onto the main highway leading to Anzio and the sea.
The first enemy offensive collapsed Saturday after five days of furious fighting, and Gen. Sir Harold R. L. Alexander declared confidently that the beachhead would be held.
In the intervening three days, however, the Germans were believed to have reinforced their wearied divisions and it appeared that the new offensive was on an even greater scale than their first drive.
Clear weather this time favored the Allies, however, and reports from the battle area said hundreds of British, Dominion and American planes were raking the charging Nazi columns with gunfire and ripping up their supporting lines of communication all the way back to Rome.

Widespread Air Attacks
Dive-bombers attacked the Ostiense and Tiburtina railway yards in Rome yesterday for the second straight day, while medium bombers and fighter-bombers sprayed high explosives and fragmentation bombs over the entire beachhead area.
The Allied bombing attack concentrated on Campo Leone, key rail and road point through which the Germans were reported moving men and tanks into the battle lines.
Heavy bombers joined in the thunderous aerial assault, blasting at railway bridges and marshaling Yards at Ancona, Cecina and many points in the Florence area
Other medium raiders hammered similar targets at Orte, Orvieto, AIbinia and Perugia, and R.A.F. Wellingtons followed through with an attack on the west coast seaport of Stefano.
The Allied air fleets flew more than 1,200 sorties throughout the day and night at a cost of four planes. The Luftwaffe flew some 130 sorties over the Anzio beachhead in support of the Nazi ground offensive, and the Allied communiqué said nine enemy planes were shot down. Of the nine shot down, five fell to Spitfire pilots including three destroyed by Canadian pilots. Flight-Lieut. James Francis Edwards, of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, who holds the D.F.C. and D.F.M., shot down his first plane during his second operational tour of duty.
Edwards served one operational tour in the desert campaign. He scored 10 and a half destroyed planes there. Yesterday's raised his score to 11½. He was widely known for his long range accuracy. Yesterday was no exception. He destroyed a FW. 190 at the extreme range of 500 yards.
The other Canadians who destroyed planes were Flying Officer B. J. Ingalls, of Sayabec, Quebec, and Warrant Officer W. Downer, of Midland, Ont., each of whom destroyed an FW. 190.
Allied airpower also blanketed the main 5th Army front around Cassino, where the Germans launched a small-scale diversionary attack to coincide with their main offensive against the beachhead.
Bombers returned to attack the ruins of the 1,415-year-old Benedictine monastery on Mount Cassino yesterday, piling new wreckage about the heads of Nazi gunners entrenched behind the massive walls of the abbey.

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Air Force Casualties

Ottawa, May 21, 1944 — The Department of National Defense for Air today issued casualty list No. 888 of the Royal Cana­dian Air Force, showing next of kin of those named from Ontario as follows (in part) :

Missing After Air Operations
DOWNER, William Watson, P/O  J. A. Downer (father), Midland

Previously Missing - Now Officially Presumed Dead
GOSLING, Leslie Cyril, D.F.C. and Bar, F/L, North Battleford, Sask.

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DOWNER, P/O William Watson (J86143) - DFC - No.93 Squadron (deceased)
Award effective 15 April 1944 as per London Gazette dated 21 December 1945 and
AFRO 155/46 dated 15 February 1946.

Pilot Officer Downer has flown as a pilot with this squadron throughout the Italian campaign. In his first combat in October 1943, he damaged a Messerschmitt 109 and over the Anzio beachhead he destroyed three enemy aircraft in one week. He has since destroyed two more bringing his total victories to five. Pilot Officer Downer has proved himself a keen and determined fighter pilot. He has always shown the utmost keenness to press home his attacks.

NOTE: Public Record Office Air 2/9629 has the original recommendation (by Squadron Leader J.H. Cloete), made on 29 March 1944 when he had flown 504 hours (130 in the previous six months); his operational hours totalled 117 (79 sorties). The text was much longer than the final citation:

Warrant Officer Downer joined the squadron in September 1943 and has flown throughout the Italian campaign. His quiet, diffident manner gave no hint of the cool determination with which he would face the enemy, though he damaged a Messerschmitt 109 in his first combat in October 1943.

It was when the testing time came, over the Anzio beachhead, that he showed his true quality. He opened his score on 13th February 1944 by destroying one Messerschmitt 109, following this on 16th February 1944 by destroying one Focke-Wulf 190 and again destroying one Focke-Wulf 190 on 19th February, making a total of three in a week.

On 27th March 1944 he destroyed two Focke-Wulf 190s in the course of a single sortie. With a total of five destroyed and two damaged to his credit, Warrant Officer Downer is strongly recommended for his courage and example which is an inspiration to all who have flown with him.

The Group Captain who commanded bis wing concurred on 31 March 1944, writing:

Warrant Officer Downer has proved himself to be a keen and determined fighter pilot. He has always shown great enthusiasm to press home his attacks on the enemy. I strongly recommend this award.

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RCAF Honors

Ottawa, Jan. 2, 1946 — Air Force Headquarters today announced the award of the Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross to a Member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to 20 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force for services rendered overseas. Those from Ontario named in the honor list are (in part) :

Distinguished Flying Cross
P/O W. W. Downer, Midland

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Ontario Men Honored At Investiture in Ottawa

Ottawa, Dec. 9, 1947 - (CP) - Passage of time will never dull the memories of the Second Great War for a group of men and women summoned today to Government House.
It was another investiture, which saw men of the Navy, Army and Air Force, most of them now in "civvies," decorated for wartime gallantry.
There were 87 awards, ranging from the George Medal to the British Empire Medal, but all the winners weren't there to receive them. Many a widow, father, and mother, stepped before Viscount Alexander, Governor-General, to take the medal for a serviceman who didn’t come back.
The Distinguished flying Cross and Bar went to a slight dark-haired woman in black, Mrs. A. J. Ruttledge of Simcoe, for her husband, F/L Ruttledge.
Nicholas Saruk came from Alvena, Sask., to receive the Distinguished Flying Medal for his son, the late F/S M. A. Saruk.
"A determined fighter pilot," was the wording of the citation which won P/O W. W. Downer the DFC, but it was his father, J. A. Downer of Midland, to whom Viscount Alexander presented the medal.

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Victories Include :

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