BROWNLESS, SID

Sid was a past president of the Dunchurch Legion. He flew with the Royal Air Forces #614 Pathfinder Squadron, an elite unit of four-engine Halifax bombers whose purpose was to locate and mark targets by dropping coloured parachute flares which the main force of bombers would then use as aiming points.

Sid’s position in the seven-man crew was bomb-aimer (in RAF Squadrons, both navigators and bomb-aimers wore the ‘Observer’ brevet.)

Sid Brownless

614 Squadron, based at ‘Foggie’ in southern Italy, carried out operations on targets as distant as the Ploesti oil refineries in Nazi-held Romania and Sarajevo in Yugoslavia. Sid completed two tours of operations – 60 missions – with the squadron.   

Sid Brownless' crew. Sid is on the right with the flat cap