Plans are in hand to officially recognise the unsung heroes of special wartime units of the RAF’s - including a young man from Llangollen.
Earlier
this month the UK Government confirmed that a scheme to erect a memorial honouring
the Photographic Reconnaissance Units (PRU) had successfully moved to the
planning stage.
The intended location for the memorial would be outside the Treasury, close to the entrance of the Imperial War Museum’s Churchill War Rooms, facing St James’ Park.
The location has received approval in principle from the Royal Parks and Department for Culture, Media and Sport to proceed to the next stage, which includes ground surveys, design, and planning.
Clwyd East MP Becky Gittins has met with the team behind the project to highlight the work of the PRU, including Leading Aircraftman John Oliver Roberts was born in Llangollen and joined 682 Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron based in the Mediterranean.
The Photographic
Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) was formed
in September 1939 and throughout the Second World War it operated highly
dangerous, clandestine photographic reconnaissance operations over all theatres
of operation, and captured more than 26 million images of enemy operations and
installations during the war.
The purpose of the PRU was to provide up-to-date intelligence to strategically plan the Allied actions in the war. The intelligence it gathered, flying Spitfires and Mosquitos, was used by all the armed forces, giving same-day intelligence on enemy activity.
The intelligence provided by the PRU was used in the Cabinet War Rooms – now the Churchill War Rooms located underneath the Treasury – and was instrumental in the planning of major operations, including D-Day and the Dambusters Raid, the monitoring of major shipping movements such as German warships Bismarck and Tirpitz, and the locating of the site of the V1 and V2 rocket launching site at Peenemünde, as well as many other intelligence successes.
Due to the clandestine nature of their operations – they flew solo operations, unarmed and unarmoured – the death rate was nearly fifty percent. However, despite having one of the lowest survival rates of the war – life expectancy in the PRU was around two and a half months – there is no national memorial to the PRU.
Therefore, since 2021, the Spitfire AA810 Project has campaigned to establish such a memorial to the 1,746 PRU pilots and navigators.
While
the PRU had many different nationalities serving in it, it was still made up
predominantly by servicemen from throughout the United Kingdom. Among those who
served in the PRU was Llangollen’s John Roberts.
LAC John Oliver Roberts was born in Llangollen and joined 682 Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron based in the Mediterranean.
He died whilst off-duty when he drowned bathing in the sea on June 16, 1943 in La Marsa, Tunisia. His body was not recovered until three days after he had been reported missing and he is buried in the Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia. He was aged just 19 years old.
Becky
Gittins said: “I am pleased to support this fantastic campaign to commemorate
those who served in the Photographic Reconnaissance Units.
“This includes John Roberts, from Llangollen, who served our country under what must have been exceptionally difficult conditions.
“It is so important, particularly during the 80-year anniversary of VE day, that we recognise the vital contribution that the likes of John and others from Clwyd East made to the war effort. The 26 million images the PRU garnered, provided our armed forces with critical intelligence on the activity of enemy operations.
“I am also delighted that the memorial will recognise the work of photographic interpreters – a third of whom were women – whose skills and analysis for the PRU produced the war winning intelligence that it did, ensuring that the pilots sacrifice was not in vain.”
More information on the Spitfire AA810 Project, the history, the plane and its pilots, and the Memorial campaign can be found on its website: www.spitfireaa810.co.uk.
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