Born on 3 June 1922, Raymond Frankish Escreet, OH 1933-38 grew up in Withernsea, the son of a fruit merchant.  His parents, Frankish Henry and Janet Escreet worked hard to send Raymond to Hymers College in Hull, when he was 11 years old.  Leaving school at 16 years old, he went to work at his father's fruit and vegetable wholesale business.

He was 17 years old at the outbreak of World War II and when he turned 18, he joined the RAF and qualified as a wireless operator.  He was posted to Number 15 Squadron at Wyton, Huntingdonshire.  He experienced his first bombing raid aged 20, in a Stirling over St Nazaire.

As a Flight Sergeant with 15 Squadron, in June 1943, Raymond was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force for exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty.  He received the award at Buckingham Palace from King George VI.

Although a wireless operator/air gunner, while stationed at RAF Mildenhall, it is believed that he volunteered to pose as the navigator for Dame Laura Knight's oil painting of "Take Off".  The painting shows four crew members in a Short Stirling bomber of the R.A.F. preparing themselves for take off before another night raid on Nazi Germany during World War II.  Two pilots sit in the cockpit, while a navigator, Raymond, studies his maps, and in the foreground a flight sergeant turns a knob on the wireless device.  This picture hangs in the Imperial War Museum. It is reported that the artist wrote to Raymond on 12 December 1943 to say that the picture was finished and to thank him for his help and kindness to her.  After his death, a replica was presented to his mother.

Copyright: Take Off Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 3834)

On 15 March 1945, Raymond Escreet was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and had by then flown many missions with 161 RAF Squadron based at a secret airfield in Tempsford, Bedfordshire. He, with the crew in a Lockheed Hudson Bomber, dropped agents and supplies over occupied territory by parachute, but also landed in isolated locations to disembark and retrieve agents. The Tempsford airfield was disguised as a working farm and although the Germans knew of its existence it was never discovered.  Ray's parents were relieved that he was no longer engaged in bombing raids but had no idea of the top secret activities with which he was now involved.

On 21 March 1945, Lockheed Hudson aircraft FK803 "MA-N" was attempting to drop three Belgian agents behind enemy lines in Operation Benedict in Germany, but was forced to turn back due to bad weather.  Aboard with him were his usual crew - pilot Flt Lt Terry Helfer, navigator F.O. Henry Scurr Johnson and gunner F.O. Forrest Harold (Tommy) Thompson DFM RNZAF - together with the three Belgian agents. Their aircraft was shot down, it is believed, by an American interceptor and crashed in flames in Maulusmühle in Luxembourg. The pilot was the only one able to bail out of the plane. Badly burned, he was sheltered by a priest and eventually reached safety, thus surviving the war.  The bodies of the crew and the agents are buried on the hill above Maulusmühle beside the wreckage of their aircraft, which has been left at this isolated site at the request of the local community and the relatives.

Raymond Frankish Escreet was just 22 years old.

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