As part of recent Remembrance events, James Naish, MP for Rushcliffe, has confirmed that he will be supporting a campaign to commemorate the brave pilots and navigators of the Photographic Reconnaissance Units (PRU) during the Second World War, which included a local pilot from Normanton-on-the-Wolds.
Photographic Reconnaissance Units
The PRU was formed on 24 September 1939 and, throughout the Second World War, it operated highly dangerous, clandestine photographic reconnaissance missions over all theatres of operation. It 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 Allied actions in the war. The intelligence it gathered was used by all the armed forces, providing 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: D-Day and the Dambusters Raid, the monitoring of major shipping movements such as the Bismarck and Tirpitz, and the locating of the V1 and V2 rocket launch site at Peenemünde.
Due to the clandestine nature of their operations – flying solo missions, unarmed and unarmoured – the death rate was nearly 50%. Despite having one of the lowest survival rates of the war – with a life expectancy of around two and a half months – there is no national memorial to the PRU.
The ‘Spitfire AA810 Project’ has, therefore, led the campaign to establish such a memorial to the PRU pilots and navigators.
Local Hero
Among those who served in the PRU was John Fowler.
F/Lt John William Southmayd Fowler was the son of Percy and Mildred Southmayd Fowler and had, pre-war, married Sheila, with the couple residing in Normanton-on-the-Wolds.
Joining the RAF and learning to fly the Spitfire, John was selected to join the RAF’s new clandestine Photographic Reconnaissance Unit operating from RAF Heston.
As part of B Flight, on 9 November 1940, John was selected to fly a reconnaissance mission of the enemy coast between Flushing and Cherbourg.
He failed to return from that flight, and 27-year-old John Fowler remains missing, presumed killed, to this day.
Supporting the campaign, Rushcliffe MP James Naish said:
“I am delighted to support the campaign to commemorate those who served in the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit.
This includes John Fowler, who served under exceptionally difficult conditions, and I would urge anyone who might have any more information on him to get in touch.
I look forward to working with the Spitfire AA810 Project to establish this memorial and to being able to pay my respects there once it is completed.”
If anyone is related to or knew John Fowler, or if anyone knows someone who served in the PRU during the war, please go to the Spitfire AA810 Project website www.spitfireaa810.co.uk or get in touch with Tony Hoskins at Tony@spitfireaa810.co.uk.
