David Hornell

d hornell1

David Ernest Hornell

Flight Lieutenant David Ernest Hornell, a pilot with No. 162 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron, received the RCAF’s second Victoria Cross.

Born in Toronto, Ontario on 26 January 1910. Hornell joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at the outbreak of the war and was commissioned in 1942. On 24 June 1944 he was the captain and pilot of a twin-engine Canso amphibian aircraft and a veteran of sixty operational missions stationed at Station Wick in Northern Scotland..

Late in the day on 24 June 1944, Hornell’s Canso was at the end of a 12-hour patrol over the North Atlantic when the German submarine U-1225 was sighted on the surface approximately 120 miles north of the Shetland Islands. As the aircraft made its attack run, heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire from the U-boat crippled the starboard engine and started a fire on the starboard wing. With great determination and skill, Hornell held the vibrating Canso on course and delivered his four depth charges on target, sinking the submarine. Read More
 
Preserved Stories Blog: Biography of David Hornell of Mimico Read More