Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 83 continued ... “44 Squadron’s Hampden aircraft I P1324 was badly damaged by flak, which knocked the pilot, Pilot Officer W. Walker, unconscious. The observer, Pilot Officer D. A. Romans RAF (Canadian), realized the aircraft was flying oddly and made his way to the cockpit. Finding the pilot knocked out he accessed the controls by sitting on him. The pilot was later extracted, with difficulty, from the cockpit while P/O Romans kept the aircraft flying, and he managed to fly the aircraft back to a safe landing in England, where he was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross.” (Pilot Officer Walker had died in his seat). On two other occasions he was forced to crash land in the English Channel. On the night of 25/26 August 1940 Flying Officer Romans, DFC, participated in the first bombing raid on Berlin. In February 1941 he was posted to 207 Squadron to fly the ill-fated Avro Manchester bombers. In July, Dave was posted to 90 Squadron to fly the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Shortly before noon on 8 September 1941 the ‘Flying Fortress’ Boeing B-17c bombers of 90 Squadron took off from England to attack the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer anchored in Oslo, Norway. Dave was at the controls of Flying Fortress AN525 D-Dog. His bomber was attacked on two occasions by two German Me 109s piloted by Lieutenants Jakobi and Steinke. The air gunners of D-Dog were able to inflict damage on the German fighters, but at 2327 hours Jakobi was able to seriously cripple Dave’s bomber. Nonetheless, one of the air gunners on D-Dog was able to shoot down an Me 109 before the bomber burst into flames and started to spiral to earth. The bomber crashed in a mountainous region – there were no survivors. A few days later, the local Luftwaffe buried Flying Officer Romans and his crew in a collective grave in the Bygland Church Cemetery. In 1947 the cemetery was visited by his mother and, later that day, Reverend Bolling and his wife accompanied Mrs Romans to the crash site. On 8 September 2001, John Romans of Halifax attended a 60th anniversary memorial ceremony in Bygland - he was Dave’s nephew. The Canadian and British Defense Attachés to Norway were also in attendance. A bronze B-17 propeller was placed at the end of the seven graves of the crew with an inscription, both English and Norwegian, that reads: IN MEMORY OF 5 BRITISH AND 2 CANADIAN AIRMEN WHO ON THE 8TH OF SEPTEMBER 1941 WERE SHOT DOWN AND GAVE THEIR LIVES GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS The names of the crew are also included on that propeller. The remains of Dave Romans and his crew are buried in a collective grave in the Bygland Churchyard. A Halifax street, 'Romans Avenue', honours the memory of Flying Officer David Albert Alton Romans, DFC. continued ...
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