Neville Bowker

born in 1918 in the Orange Free State, South Africa, but was brought up in the Southern Rhodesia. He joined the SAAF, but transferred to the RAF in mid 1940, being commissioned in the RAFVR. He attended 70 OTU at Nakuru, joining 112 Squadron on 14 February 1941.He served as a Pilot Officer in 112 Squadron, when the unit moved to Greece in early 1941. During the evening on 11 May 1941 five Bf110s of II/ZG 76, which had arrived at Argos from North Germany four days earlier, swept in over Heraklion airfield to strafe. Insufficient warning allowed only a single 112 Squadron Gladiator to get into the air, but Bofors and Lewis gunners opened fire as the Bf110s swept round the airfield. As they completed their circuit, Pilot Officer Bowker attacked one and a low level dogfight commenced, during which the lone Gladiator pilot attempted to lead his opponents over the gun positions. After a few minutes the Bf110s made off to the north-west, Bowker landing to claim one probably shot down. This claim was definitely confirmed destroyed in the Command Intelligence Summaries. On 14 September, 1941, six Tomahawks from 112 Squadron received an R/T message that there was a ‘bandit’ over Mersa Matruh at 19,000 feet. The formation climbed to about 16,000 feet and spotted a S.79 bellow Flight Lieutenant Harrison engaged the S.79, which he hit. The Italian bomber was then engaged by Pilot Officer Neville Bowker firing his wing guns only as his .5” machine gun had jammed. He reset and returned to the attack and at 150 yards, he saw petrol streaming from the enemy aircraft. He pumped shots into the starboard engine and the fuselage and the S.79 blew up. This was 112 Squadrons 77th victory and the first with their new P-40 Tomahawk IIBs. On the 27 December 1941 he was shot down by small arms fire when strafing, flying a Tomahawk (AN283 ? or was it AN218). The Germans took him prison again, but this time for the rest of the war. The award of a DFC was announced in October 1943, but with effect from 6 January 1942, by which time he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant. Bowker was credited with 2 biplane victories and a total of 10 victories at the time of his capture.

Known Service Details :

Squadron

Rank

Start of Service

End of Service

Known Dates

Aircraft

Airframes

Notes

No.112 Sqn RAF

Flight Lieutenant

14th February 1941

unknown

Gladiator

joining 112 Squadron on 14 February 1941.He served as a Pilot Officer in 112 Squadron, when the unit moved to Greece in early 1941. During the evening on 11 May 1941 five Bf110s of II/ZG 76, which had arrived at Argos from North Germany four days earlier, swept in over Heraklion airfield to strafe. Insufficient warning allowed only a single 112 Squadron Gladiator to get into the air, but Bofors and Lewis gunners opened fire as the Bf110s swept round the airfield. As they completed their circuit, Pilot Officer Bowker attacked one and a low level dogfight commenced, during which the lone Gladiator pilot attempted to lead his opponents over the gun positions. After a few minutes the Bf110s made off to the north-west, Bowker landing to claim one probably shot down. This claim was definitely confirmed destroyed in the Command Intelligence Summaries. On 14 September, 1941, six Tomahawks from 112 Squadron received an R/T message that there was a ‘bandit’ over Mersa Matruh at 19,000 feet. The formation climbed to about 16,000 feet and spotted a S.79 bellow Flight Lieutenant Harrison engaged the S.79, which he hit. The Italian bomber was then engaged by Pilot Officer Neville Bowker firing his wing guns only as his .5” machine gun had jammed. He reset and returned to the attack and at 150 yards, he saw petrol streaming from the enemy aircraft. He pumped shots into the starboard engine and the fuselage and the S.79 blew up. This was 112 Squadrons 77th victory and the first with their new P-40 Tomahawk IIBs. On the 27 December 1941 he was shot down by small arms fire when strafing, flying a Tomahawk (AN283 ? or was it AN218). The Germans took him prison again, but this time for the rest of the war. The award of a DFC was announced in October 1943, but with effect from 6 January 1942, by which time he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant.