Squadron Leader William Herbert Irving was born in 1918 at Pontypool and was educated at West Monmouth School and Monmouthshire Technical College.
Before the war he was an apprentice to the South Wales Electric Power Company and joined the Territorial Army in June 1939. He was soon commissioned in the Royal Artillery and sent to France, where he commanded a battery. Evacuated from Dunkirk,, he took 50 of his unit’s 75 men with hm, commandeering a lifeboat before being picked up at sea.
After the evacuation, he vowed if he had to cross the channel again, he would fly. True to his word, he applied for a transfer to the RAF and by1941 he began training as a pilot, earning his wings in November that year. He then went to went to 42 OTU flying Bristol Blenheims and was posted to 614 Sqn on Blenheim MK IVs in April 1942. He then flew in the 1,000 bomber raids with 614 Sqn in late May and early June 1942, operating from RAF West Raynham, attacking night-fighter airfields in the Netherlands.
Irving was deployed to North Africa with 614 Sqn as part of the Operation Torch landings in November 1942. Operating from Algeria they were quickly in action as part of No. 326 Wing alongside Nos 13, 18 and 114 Sqns.
On 4 December 1942, he was part of a formation of nine Bristol Bisleys (Blenheim MkVs) attacking a German airfield in Tunisia. The nine, slow bombers were attacked by around 50 Me 109s. Three of them set upon Irving’s aircraft. He tried to evade them by flying at almost ground level along a valley floor, weaving furiously. His rear gunner destroyed one of them, with one probable and one damaged, but Irving’s port engine and starboard aileron were hit, and he continued to nurse his stricken bomber for another 15 minutes before belly-landing in the desert. He and his crew escaped unharmed and walked to Allied lines. All nine of the attackers were shot down with few survivors. The leader of the attack – OC 18 Sqn, Wg Cdr Hugh Malcolm was killed and was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
Flying Officer Bill Irving – North Africa 1943
Irving left 614 Sqn for 18 Sqn later that month before going on to fly Lancasters with 100 Sqn and later 626 Sqn. By 31 January 1945 he had completed his second tour, flying 26 operations over Germany and occupied Europe in addition to his first tour of 46 operations. He was awarded the DFC in September 1945 for his overall conduct and for the number of operations he completed and was demobbed on 16 June 1946.
After 614 Sqn was reformed at RAF Llandow in May 1946, he rejoined the Squadron in October 1946, officially becoming its first post-war Commanding Officer in January 1947. He guided 614 Sqn through its reformation and development as a fighter squadron during the Cold War, flying the Spitfire MkXVI and Mk22.
614 Squadron 1948 = Squadron Leader Irving (centre with dog)
Civilian aircraft sometimes flew from Llandow and on 12 March 1950, an Avro Tudor airliner was returning from Ireland carrying 78 Welsh rugby fans from an international match. The aircraft crashed, killing all but three on board. Personnel from 614 Sqn -at Llandow for a Training Weekend – rushed to the scene of the crash and were horrified to find among the dead was their Commanding Officer, Sqn Ldr Irving. He had organised a trip to Ireland from his local pub in Llantarnam. Days later, officers of 614 Sqn carried his coffin, draped in the RAF Ensign at St Hilda’s church in Griffithstown near Cwmbran and later his ashes were scattered from a 614 Sqn Harvard trainer aircraft. A flight of the squadron’s Spitfires flew past in final salute.
The crashed Avro Tudor aircraft