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Bomber Command Hero: Cyril Barton VC
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Cynthia Maidment and Joyce Voysey
Surrey sisters Cynthia Maidment and Joyce Voysey on the 70th anniversary since their brother Cyril was awarded the Victoria Cross
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Artstop studios
Rhyhope Hospital Memorial, by Dan Savage
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Find out more about being a WWII RAF airman like Cyril
Bomber Command 578 Squadron Burn - 70 Years On: A Granddaughter's tribute
It’s 70 years since a brave young lad from Surrey gave his life to save a north-eastern town. His two surviving sisters tell Emily Horton how they have dedicated their lives to continue his legacy
A letter from Buckingham Palace congratulating you on your son being awarded the Victoria Cross - the highest military award for bravery - would, in most circumstances, bring a smile to a proud mother's face. But for Ethel Barton, whose son Cyril was one of the 55,573 Bomber Command airmen who died during World War Two, the posthumous honour was met with only: “but it won’t bring him back.”
Those words have remained with her daughter Joyce, a New Malden resident, for 70 years and still bring tears to her eyes as she recalls how her big brother gave his life to save a Sunderland town.Cyril was a regular lad from Surrey, yet his heroic actions following a disastrous operation to bomb Nuremberg showed that the 22-year-old was far from ordinary. His efforts to complete his mission with minimum loss of life have been recently commemorated by a plaque at Ryhope Hospital in Tyne and Wear, where he died 70 years ago after his last flight on March 31.
Joyce recalls an idyllic childhood with her siblings. Cyril had always had a fascination with aeroplanes and dreamed of becoming a pilot. Growing up, he was a cub scout in Oxshott and attended Beverley School for Boys in New Malden. On leaving school at 16, he became an apprentice at Tolworth’s Parnall Aircraft factory. As an engineer, Cyril did not have to enlist, but he yearned to attend flight training school and in 1941 volunteered for the Royal Air Force.
His father, a veteran of the trenches, reluctantly gave his permission. In a letter to his son, he wrote: “Stick to your principles and faith (this will be very hard in the RAF) and I am confident that you will win. May God bless you and help you in the days that lie ahead.”
Cyril became a Bomber Command pilot and skipper to a crew of six at 578 Squadron Burn, in Yorkshire. They called themselves Barton’s barmy bomber boys, and together they took to the skies to drop bombs on Nazi targets. During the arduous flights, Cyril would turn to his faith and his diary, even detailing his embarrassment at trying to say his prayers at night in front of his crew.
Flying the Halifax bomber, one of the first large aircrafts, their equipment was basic and made Cyril’s success at surviving 18 operations all the more impressive. Unfortunately on the 19th mission, disaster struck. German fighter planes attacked, their shots rendering the intercom useless as well as the machine guns. With three crew baling out and his aircraft badly damaged, Cyril faced a frightening predicament. However, such was his character that he decided to fly on and on reaching the targets, left the cockpit to release the bombs himself.
Incredibly, he got back to the English coast, but mistaken for an enemy aircraft, was turned upon by British guns. Cyril flew back out to sea but fuel was running low. He came back to the coast over the town of Ryhope, but before finding somewhere to land, two engines stopped. Cyril ordered his remaining crew to take up crash positions, then, on one engine, he attempted to land clear of the town, finally missing houses by metres. He died soon after impact, but his comrades survived.
Cyril’s last letter, entrusted to younger brother Ken, was to be a poignant reminder of his modesty and bravery:‘I am quite prepared to die. Death holds no terrors for me. I've done nothing to merit glory.’
And yet, ultimately, he had. The citation to his medal confirms this: ‘In gallantly completing his last mission in the face of almost impossible odds, this officer displayed unsurpassed courage and devotion to duty.’
Cyril’s other surviving sister, Cynthia, lives near Haslemere, and she and Joyce remember their brother each June at his grave in Kingston Cemetery.
“I have always kept his grave and as my children have grown up,” Joyce says. “I have encouraged them to lay a wreath each year and now my grandchildren.”At the cost of his life, Cyril carried out one of the most courageous actions in military history. He remains an inspiration to many across the world whose futures were secured by brave young men struck down in their prime.
To learn more, visit 578squadron.org.uk
