Tommy Broom

Squadron Leader Thomas John Broom, DFC & Two Bars (22 January 1914 – 18 May 2010) was a Royal Air Force officer who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross three times for bomber operations during the Second World War.

Early life

Broom was born in Portishead, Somerset on January 22 1914 and educated at Slade Road School.[1]

After leaving school Broom got a job in a local garage, he soon grew bored and in 1932 joined the RAF where he trained to be a navigator.[2]

RAF career

Broom was mobilised to France at the outbreak of the Second World War, assigned to No. 105 Squadron operating Fairey Battle light bombers.

After the German Blitzkrieg through France in 1940, Broom returned home and transferred to 13 Operational Training Unit at Bicester, where he taught navigators the skills required for combat. He returned to 105(B) Squadron in 1942 and completed another tour, after which he was posted to 1655 Mosquito Training Unit where he remained until May 1944. Subsequent to this he returned to front-line flying until the end of the war, with 571(B), 128(B) and 163(B) Mosquito Squadrons. Broom completed in all 83 operations.[3][4]

It was whilst flying with 571(B) squadron that he became the navigator for Ivor Broom. They remained lifelong friends until Ivor Broom's death in 2003.[5]

Later life

Broom left the RAF in September 1945. He worked for the Control Commission in Germany. Unable to speak German, he was allocated an interpreter, a young German war widow. In July 1948 they married and returned to Portishead in 1949.

Later Broom worked in the accounts department of Esso Petroleum.

His wife, Annemarie, died in 1963.

Apart from the war years and his time in Germany, Broom spent all his life in Portishead.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Squadron Leader TJ Tommy Broom DFC (deceased) - Art prints and originals signed by Squadron Leader TJ Tommy Broom DFC (deceased)". Battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  2. ↑ "Obituary: Tommy Broom". Scotsman.com. Retrieved 2015-04-13.
  3. ↑ "SQUADRON LEADER TOMMY BROOM DFC**The Legendary Pathfinder Mosquito Navigator - Naval & Military Press". Naval-military-press.com. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  4. ↑ "The dramatic wartime exploits of an apparently modest account clerk that were discovered ... over a pint of ale". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  5. 1 2 "Squadron Leader Tommy Broom". The Telegraph Online. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
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