MORAN, S/L Charles Cecil (C1063) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.418 Squadron - Award effective 26 October 1943 as per London Gazette dated 9 November 1943 and AFRO 113/43 dated 21 January 1944. Born in Trenton, Ontario, 24 December 1914; educated in Brighton and Trenton, Toronto Teachers Training School (1933-34), Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph (summer of 1934) and Queen’s University, 1935-36). Employed in teaching at West Huntingdon (1934-1938) and Blind River (1938-39). Enlisted Trenton, 9 September 1939. To No.112 Squadron, Winnipeg, 11 September 1939 and attached to Winnipeg Flying Club. To Station Trenton, 6 November 1939. To Camp Borden, 10 December 1939. Qualified for flying badge, graduated 28 February 1940. To No.112 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, Ottawa, 22 April 1940. To Station Ottawa, 2 June 1940. To Station Trenton, 10 August 1940. To No.5 SFTS, Brantford, to instruct, 19 January 1941. Promoted to Flight Lieutenant, 1 August 1941. To Station Trenton, 18 October 1941. To No.118 (Fighter) Squadron, Dartmouth, 16 February 1942. To No.128 (Fighter) Squadron, Sydney, 7 June 1942. To No.129 (Fighter) Squadron, Dartmouth, 26 August 1942. Promoted to Squadron Leader, 1 October 1942; to “Y” Depot, 4 November 1942; to RAF overseas, 22 November 1942. Disembarked in Britain, 30 November 1942. To No.5 (P) AFU, 22 December 1942. To No.51 OTU, 2 February 1943. Served with No.418 Squadron, 19 March 1943 to 29 September 1943; repatriated 19 October 1943; to No.12 Group, Halifax, 30 November 1943; to No.36 OTU, 2 June 1944. Promoted to Wing Commander, 16 June 1944. Unit became No.8 OTU, 30 June 1944. To Greenwood, 31 July 1945. Released 28 September 1945. Medal sent by registered mail 5 September 1945 when home given as St.John's Newfoundland. Died in Ottawa, 22 December 1984 as per Airforce Magazine, issue of July-August-September 1985. Victories as follows: 27 June 1943 with Sergeant G.V. Rogers as observer, joined enemy aircraft in circuit at Avord, destroyed one He.11 and one Ju.88 (also bombed radio masts and attacked a train); 8/9 July 1943, with two other aircraft (Flight Sergeants Hay and Ball) bombed Florennes aerodrome and destroyed one enemy aircraft; 22/23 September 1943, destroyed one enemy aircraft at Achmer; target blew up and Mosquito went out of control; Moran limped to within 24 miles of Manston when port engine and wing caught fire. He ordered FS Rogers to bale out, then followed; three hours in dinghy before being found by Albacores and rescued by ASR launch. RCAF photo PL-15966 (ex UK-3923 dated 19 May 1943) shows him playing checkers with F/O Oscar Martin of Ottawa. This officer has undertaken very many sorties at night and has attacked enemy airfields with much success. During these operations he has also shot down two enemy aircraft. In the latter of these combats, which occurred recently, Squadron Leader Moran pressed home his attack from close range, delivering a burst of fire which caused the enemy aircraft to explode in the air. His own aircraft was damaged by the force of the explosion but he flew to within a few miles of the English coast before he was forced to abandon the aircraft when one of its engines caught fire. His efforts were typical of the tenacity and courage which has always been a feature of his work. Notes: Injured 21 September 1940 when he had to bale out of an aircraft near Brighton. This arose from the collision of aircraft 1018 and 4449 involving the death of AC2 Porter. The pilots were Moran and a F/O Hill, both of whom were deemed to have engaged in dangerous flying. Indeed, Moran was considered the more blameworthy. A memo dated 27 November 1940 (Air Commodore Robert Leckie to Air Officer Commanding, No.1 Training Command) was incredibly damning: (a) He was not authorized to undertake any formation flight. (b) When in the air he allowed two other aircraft, the pilots of which as far as he could tell were complete strangers and having done so not only did he carry out dangerous manoeuvres such as diving at the ground but was foolhardy enough to indulge in formation aerobatics, without ever considering if they were capable of doing so. (c) He purposely dived the formation dangerously low over his own home in order to show off. (d) He failed to make any provision for the proper equipment with which to communicate to his passenger with the result that the unfortunate AC2 Porter could not have been informed that the pilot was abandoning him and letting the aircraft crash to the ground. (e) He enticed two other pilots to join him and then committed them to dangersous flying, and aerobatics under 3,000 feet and in formation Application for Operational Wing submitted 31 January 1944 listing the following sorties, all with No.418 Squadron. Those flown 15 April to 18 May 1943 were on Boston III aircraft; those flown 11 June to 22 September 1943 were on Mosquito aircraft: 15 April 1943 - Fighter - 2.00 - Evreaux-Dreux-Charters 19 April 1943 - Fighter - 2.10 - Beavais 20 April 1943 - Fighter - 3.50 - Charters 28 April 1943 - Fighter - 3.05 - Melun-Bretingy 9 May 1943 - Fighter - 2.55 - Melun-Bretingy 14 May 1943 - Fighter - 3.05 - Avord-Bourgeois-Orleans 18 May 1943 - Fighter - 3.50 - Avord-Bourgeois 11 June 1943 - Bombing - 35 minutes - Melun (scrubbed) 14 June 1943 - Bombing - 3.45 - St. Trond, Belgium 19 June 1943 - Bombing - 4.20 - Gilze, Holland 22 June 1943 - Bombing - 3.15 - Dijon, bombed train near Paris 23 June 1943 - Bombing - 3.25 - Melun-Bretingy, bombed Melun Criel 26 June 1943 - Fighter - 4.00 - Avord, destroyed one Heinkel and one Junkers 88. 27 June 1943 - Fighter-Bomber - 3.20 - Bombed Orleans 30 June 1943 - Fighter - 45 minutes - Bordeaux, scrubbed, elevator tore loose. 1 July 1943 - Fighter - 4.25 - Bordeaux-Cognac 4 July 1943 - Fighter - 1.45 - Amiens-Laon 5 July 1943 - Bomber - 3.40 - Colloummiers-Melum-Bretingy. Bombed railway northeast of Paris 8 July 1943 - Bomber - 3.20 - Florennes - one unidentified aircraft destroyed by bombs. 12 July 1943 - Fighter - 3.10 - Avord-Bourge. 13 July 1943 - Fighter - 2.55 - Melun-Bretingy 16 July 1943 - Bomber - 3.55 - St. Dizier 25 July 1943 - Fighter - 3.20 - Twente-Enschede 28 July 1943 - Fighter - 2.35 - Eureaux-St. Andre 2 August 1943 - Bomber - 4.05 - Castle Camps [?] 2 August 1943 - Fighter - 40 minutes - Castle Camps [?] 6 August 1943 - Fighter - ten minutes - Stuttgart - starboard engine failure on takeoff. 17 August 1943 - Fighter - 2.55 - Predanick, objective Bordeaux 17 August 1943 - Fighter - 3.10 - Soesterburg 18 August 1943 - Fighter - 4.30 - Stuttgart 22 August 1943 - Fighter - 4.20 - Frankfort 25 August 1943 - Fighter - 3.25 - Gilze-Rijon Beacon 30 August 1943 - Fighter - 2.20 - Bussels-Melsbrock 3 September 1943 - Fighter - 1.35 - Greisfald, early return, mechanical defect. 6 September 1943 - Fighter - 5.00 Munich-Lechfeld 11 September 1943 - Fighter - 4.00 - Kerlin Bastard 15 September 1943 - Bomber - 3.00 - Montdidier-Coullummier. 19 September 1943 - Fighter - 3.05 - Holland 22 September 1943 - Fighter - 4.30 - Hanover. One unidentified enemy aircraft destroyed. My own machine serious damaged by debris when enemy aircraft exploded. Forced to abandon aircraft when burst into flames just off coast of Holland. Later picked up by Air/Sea Rescue. After this last experience, and since a tour on Intruder Operations is 30 trips, I was taken off by AOC, 11 Group, England. At the time of his release he summarized his flying as follows: Tiger Moth (40.00 as first pilot, 5.00 at night), Fleet (75.00 as first pilot, 5.30 on instruments at night), Harvard I and II (356.30 as first pilot, 35.00 on instrumentsm 20.15 at night), Fairey Battle (65.10 as first pilot, 2.15 on instruments), Lysander (50.30 as first pilot, 3.10 on instruments), Tomtit (30 hours as first pilot), Grumman Amphibian (12.00 as first pilot, 3.50 as second pilot, 1.15 on instruments, Fairchild 71 (ten hours as first pilot), Yale (ten hours as first pilot, 2.05 on instruments), Lockheed 10 (19.20 as first pilot, 4.30 as second pilot, 3.15 on instruments at night), Lockheed 12 (18.30 as first pilot, 4.00 as second pilot, 3.00 on instruments, 5.30 at night), Northrop Dive Bomber (12,00 as first pilot, 2.30 on instruments), Lockheed Hudson (16.20 as first pilot, 3.30 as second pilot, 2.00 on instruments, 2.00 at night), Norseman (16.20 as first pilot, 1.15 on instruments), Anson (410.10 as first pilot, 8.30 as second pilot, 42.30 on instruments, 48.30 at night), Boeing (18.20 as first pilot), Cessna (125.20 as first pilot, 6.25 as second pilot, 28.10 on instruments, 15.30 at night), Hurricane I and II (50.10 as first pilot, 2.10 on instruments, 8.15 at night), Kittyhawk (48.00 as first pilot, 2.20 on instruments, 8.30 at night), Oxford (65.00 as first pilot, 5.30 as second pilot, 15.00 on instruments, 12.30 at night), Bolingbroke (2.40 as first pilot), Blenheim (3.30 as first pilot), Bisley (5.20 as first pilot), Boston II and III (40.20 as first pilot, 5.00 on instruments, 5.45 at night, which seems low), Canso A (6.00 as second pilot), Spitfire (5.00 hours), Magister (8.10 as first pilot), Mosquito (237.30 as first pilot, 10.20 on instruments, 100.50 at night), Beechcraft (38..20 as first pilot, 4.20 as second pilot, 20.00 on instruments, 6.00 at night). He gave his totals as 1,813 hours 40 minutes as first pilot, 46.35 as second pilot, 186.45 on instruments and 247.20 at night. He reported on discharge that he had taken an executive position with a new American airline. Selected Assessments: “Was considered that he did not have the experience necessary to command a Flight at an SFTS. His main deficiency is that he has not developed the capacity to accurately judge a pupil’s progress. Work is quite satisfactory and he would be quite all right in charge of Flight other than an instructional one.” (G/C B.F. Johnstone, No.5 SFTS, Brantford, 22 July 1941). “Is developing into a capable squadron commander. Resourceful with lots of initiative. Good organizing ability within and without his unit. Pleasing personality. Good character and deportment.” (Group Captain commanding Station Sydney, 14 August 1942). “This officer has done a satisfactory job as an operational pilot. He has rather an unfortunate manner and usually tries to get things done in a way which does not get the best out of his men. I do not consider that he would make a satisfactory commanding officer for a first line operational squadron.” (W/C P.Y. Davoud, 6 September 1943; other remarks suggest he did not delegate enough to officers in his flight; on 23 September 1943 Davoud specifically suggested Moran be returned to Canada as a flying instructor and should not be reposted to Britain). “This officer is a first class operational pilot. He must learn to be less headstrong and to make a more detailed study of his men in order to get the most out of them as a Flight Commander.” (W/C P.Y. Davoud, 9 October 1943). “Strongly recommended for command of Mosquito Fighter Squadron.” (G/C G.T. Riachardson, No.12 Group, Halifax, 10 March 1944). “This officer’s work as a Chief Instructor has been generally satisfactory. He is a good pilot, conscientious in his work and has a good grasp of Intruder Operations. However, as second in command of this Station he has not satisfied the undersigned. He lacks administrative knowledge and is weak in executive ability, requiring constant supervision. In view of the difficulty in employing this officer elsewhere, and because of his operational record his continued employment in his present capacity is recommended for a period of three months at which time a further report will be submitted.” (G/C E.M. Reyno, Station Greenwood, 16 January 1945).