View source for Arthur Louis Aaron

{{Short description|British fighter pilot (1922–1943)}}
{{more citations needed |date=May 2020}}
{{use British English |date=January 2014}}
{{use dmy dates |date=December 2022}}
{{infobox military person
| name          = Arthur Aaron
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|VC|DFM}}
| image         = ArthurLouisAaron.jpg
| caption       = Military photograph of Aaron
| birth_date    = {{birth date |1922|03|05 |df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Leeds]], England
| death_date    = {{death date and age |1943|08|13 |1922|03|05 |df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Bône]], [[French Algeria]]
| placeofburial = [[Annaba]], Algeria
| allegiance    = United Kingdom
| branch        = [[Royal Air Force]]
| serviceyears  = 1939&ndash;1943
| rank          = [[Flight Sergeant]]
| servicenumber = 1458181
| unit          = [[No. 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF]]
| battles       = [[Second World War]]
* [[European air campaign (World War II)|European air campaign]]
** [[Strategic bombing during World War II#Bombing in Italy|Italian bombing campaign]]
*** Turin bombing campaign {{DOW}}
| awards        = {{ubl|[[Victoria Cross]]|[[Distinguished Flying Medal]]}}
}}
'''Arthur Louis Aaron''' (5 March 1922{{snd}}13 August 1943) was a [[Royal Air Force]] pilot in the [[Second World War]]. He flew 90 operational flying hours and 19 sorties,{{not verified in body |date=June 2023}} and was awarded with the [[Distinguished Flying Medal]] and (posthumously) the [[Victoria Cross]].

==Early life and wartime service==
Aaron was a native of [[Leeds, Yorkshire]], and was educated at [[Roundhay School]] and [[Leeds School of Architecture]]. When [[the Second World War]] started in 1939, Aaron joined the [[Air Training Corps]] squadron at [[Leeds University]]. The following year he volunteered to train as aircrew in the [[Royal Air Force]]. He trained as a pilot in the United States at [[British Flying Training School Program|No. 1 British Flying Training School]] at [[Terrell Municipal Airport]] in [[Terrell, Texas]]. Aaron completed his pilot training on 15 September 1941 and returned to England to train at an Operation Conversion Unit before he joined [[No. 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF]], flying [[Short Stirling]] heavy bombers from [[RAF Downham Market]].{{citation needed |date=June 2023}}

His first operational sortie was a mining sortie{{definition needed |date=June 2023}} in the Bay of Biscay, but he was soon flying missions over Germany. On one sortie, his Stirling was badly damaged, but he completed his bombing run and returned to England. His actions were rewarded with a [[Distinguished Flying Medal]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36215 |supp=y |page=4620 |date=1943-10-19}}</ref>

==VC action==
Aaron, 21 years old, was flying Stirling serial number EF452 on his 20th sortie. Nearing the target, his bomber was struck by machine gun fire. The bomber's Canadian navigator (Cornelius A. Brennan) was killed, and other members of the crew were wounded.{{citation needed |date=June 2023}}

The official citation for his VC reads:<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36235 |supp=y |page=4859 |date=1943-11-05}}</ref>
{{blockquote|''Air Ministry, 5th November, 1943.''
The {{sc1|King}} has been graciously pleased to confer the {{sc1|Victoria Cross}} on the undermentioned airman in recognition of most conspicuous bravery:&mdash;

1458181 Acting [[Flight Sergeant]] Arthur Louis {{sc1|Aaron}}, {{abbrlink|D.F.M.|Distinguished Flying Medal}}, [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]], [[No. 218 Squadron RAF|No. 218 Squadron]] (deceased).

On the night of 12 August 1943, Flight Sergeant Aaron was captain and pilot of a [[Short Stirling|Stirling]] aircraft detailed to attack [[Turin]]. When approaching to attack, the bomber received devastating bursts of fire from an enemy fighter. Three engines were hit, the windscreen shattered, the front and rear [[Aircraft gun turret|turret]]s put out of action and the [[Elevator (aeronautics)|elevator control]] damaged, causing the aircraft to become unstable and difficult to control. The navigator was killed and other members of the crew were wounded.

A bullet struck Flight Sergeant Aaron in the face, breaking his jaw and tearing away part of his face. He was also wounded in the lung and his right arm was rendered useless. As he fell forward over the control column, the aircraft dived several thousand feet. Control was regained by the flight engineer at 3,000 feet. Unable to speak, Flight Sergeant Aaron urged the bomb aimer by signs to take over the controls. Course was then set southwards in an endeavour to fly the crippled bomber, with one engine out of action, to [[Sicily]] or [[North Africa]].

Flight Sergeant Aaron was assisted to the rear of the aircraft and treated with [[morphia]]. After resting for some time he rallied and, mindful of his responsibility as captain of aircraft, insisted on returning to the pilot's cockpit, where he was lifted into his seat and had his feet placed on the rudder bar. Twice he made determined attempts to take control and hold the aircraft to its course but his weakness was evident and with difficulty he was persuaded to desist. Though in great pain and suffering from exhaustion, he continued to help by writing directions with his left hand.

Five hours after leaving the target the petrol began to run low, but soon afterwards the flare path at [[Bone airfield]] was sighted. Flight Sergeant Aaron summoned his failing strength to direct the bomb aimer in the hazardous task of landing the damaged aircraft in the darkness with undercarriage retracted. Four attempts were made under his direction; at the fifth Flight Sergeant Aaron was so near to collapsing that he had to be restrained by the crew and the landing was completed by the bomb aimer.

Nine hours after landing, Flight Sergeant Aaron died from exhaustion. Had he been content, when grievously wounded, to lie still and conserve his failing strength, he would probably have recovered, but he saw it as his duty to exert himself to the utmost, if necessary with his last breath, to ensure that his aircraft and crew did not fall into enemy hands. In appalling conditions he showed the greatest qualities of courage, determination and leadership and, though wounded and dying, he set an example of devotion to duty which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed.}}

The gunfire that hit Aaron's aircraft was thought to have been from an enemy night fighter, but may have been [[friendly fire]] from another Stirling.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Stirling Bomber |author=Bowyer |date=1980 |page=129}}</ref> Because of that the initial plan was to award him the [[George Cross]], but Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] changed it to the Victoria Cross, because he did not want the enemy to know the RAF had shot down one of its own aircraft.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6yUOR7_fUc For Gallantry: Medals Expert Discusses the George Cross {{!}} TEA & MEDALS], with military historian Mark Smith, 2 Sep 2021</ref>

==Memorials==
[[File:Arthur Aaron by Ibbeson1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Graham Ibbeson]]'s statue of Aaron in Leeds]]
He was an 'old boy' of [[Roundhay School]], Leeds (headmaster at the time was B.A. Farrow). There is a plaque in the main hall of the school to his memory incorporating the deed that merited the VC. On 5 March 2022 (Aaron's 100th birthday) a [[Yorkshire Society]] blue plaque was unveiled at Roundhay School in memory of Aaron.{{citation needed |date=June 2023}}

To mark the new millennium, [[Leeds Civic Trust]] organised a public vote to choose a statue to mark the occasion, and to publicise the city's past heroes and heroines. Candidates included [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe]] and [[Henry Moore]]. Arthur Aaron won the vote, with [[Don Revie]] beating [[Joshua Tetley]] and [[Frankie Vaughan]] as runner-up. Located on a [[roundabout]] on the eastern edge of the city centre, close to the [[West Yorkshire Playhouse]], the statue of Aaron was unveiled on 24 March 2001 by Malcolm Mitchem, the last survivor of the aircraft. The five-metre bronze sculpture by [[Graham Ibbeson]] takes the form of Aaron standing next to a tree, up which are climbing three children progressively representing the passage of time between 1950 and 2000, with the last a girl releasing a [[dove of peace]], all representing the freedom his sacrifice helped ensure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/aaron.htm |title=The Arthur Aaron Statue |website=[[Leeds Civic Trust]] |accessdate=2019-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704054855/http://www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/aaron.htm |archive-date=2007-07-04 |url-status=dead}}</ref> There was controversy about the siting of the statue, and it was proposed to transfer it to [[Millennium Square, Leeds|Millennium Square]] outside [[Leeds City Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/lifestyle/columnists/brave-arthur-deserves-his-pride-of-place-1-2119786 |title=Brave Arthur deserves his pride of place |website=[[Yorkshire Evening Post]] |date=2007-11-01}}</ref> However, {{as of|2012 |lc=y}} the statue remains on the roundabout.<ref>{{Google maps |url=http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&aq=0&sll=53.79846,-1.536064&ie=UTF8&ll=53.798479,-1.536047&spn=0.000324,0.000431&t=h&z=21&vpsrc=6 |access-date=2012-11-19}}</ref>

Aaron's Victoria Cross and other medals are kept at [[Leeds City Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Hammett |first=Jessica |date=2017-09-18 |title=Arthur Louis Aaron: A WW2 Hero From Leeds |url=https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/projects-and-partnerships/educational-partnerships/arthur-louis-aaron-a-ww2-hero-from-leeds/ |access-date=2022-10-30 |website=Leeds Museums & Galleries}}</ref>

Controversially {{see below|{{slink||Genealogical controversy}}}}, he was commemorated at the [[AJEX]] [[Jewish Military Museum]] in [[Hendon, London]],<ref>{{cite web |date=2017-04-29 |title=VC: Pilot Aaron, Hit In The Face & Slowly Bleeding To Death Helped His Crew Fly The Plane Home |url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/fighting-til-end-arthur-louis-aaron-victoria-cross-recipient-earned_medal-xc.html |access-date=2022-10-30}}</ref> as one of three known Jewish Victoria Cross recipients of the Second World War (the others being [[Thomas William Gould]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Victoria Cross |url=https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/jmm-object/victoria-cross/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=The Jewish Museum London }}</ref> [[Royal Navy]], and [[John Kenneally]], [[Irish Guards]]). Aaron may have belonged at school or University to 319 ATC (Jewish) Squadron in [[Broughton, Salford]], where his photograph still hangs, according to Col Martin Newman DL from the HQ Air Cadets archives.{{citation needed |date=October 2022}}

==Genealogical controversy==
Genealogical research carried out in 2018&ndash;2019 by David Rattee shows Arthur Louis Aaron was baptised a Roman Catholic on 15 October 1922 at St. Mary's Church, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.<ref name="sugarman 2022"/> The baptism record is held in the archives of Ampleforth Abbey Trust. Aaron's father Benjamin gave his own religion as Church of England on his WWI army records. Aaron's parents, Benjamin Aaron and Rosalie Marie Aaron ({{nee}} Marney) were married on 8 February 1919 at Addingham Parish Church, near Ilkley. Benjamin Aaron was born on 29 June 1891 at 29 Dewsbury Road, [[Hunslet]], Leeds, West Yorkshire, and baptised on 2 August 1891 at St Mary the Virgin, Hunslet Parish Church, Leeds. Birth, baptism, marriage, death, census records and other published period documentation trace the paternal surname back to William Aaron (b. 1802 [[Hillam]], near [[Sherburn-in-Elmet]], d. 27 September 1877) and Faith Harrison (27 August 1796{{snd}}1 June 1866) of [[Sherburn, North Yorkshire]]. Aaron was a common surname in [[Yorkshire]] well before Jewish immigration to Leeds began.<ref name="sugarman 2022"/> 

It has been stated that Aaron's father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, even though the family denied it after Aaron was killed, giving him a Roman Catholic memorial service; it has also been claimed that he boasted of being Jewish to members of his air training colleagues in the mess in Texas on many occasions.<ref>{{cite book |title=We Will Remember Them |last1=Morris |first1=Henry |last2=Sugarman |first2=Martin |publisher=[[Vallentine Mitchell]] |date=2011}}</ref> A possible cause of the confusion, of which there is no traceable documentation, is that Aaron may have been taken to be Jewish before his death due to his name, and/or passed himself as Jewish in Leeds, or in the RAF.<ref name="sugarman 2022"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="sugarman 2022">{{cite journal |last=Sugarman |first=P. |date=2022 |title=Assumed and mistaken Jewishness: Arthur Louis Aaron VC DFM. |journal=Shemot (Journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain) |volume=30 |number=2 |pages=9–10}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
*[http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ggalgeri.htm Burial location of Arthur Aaron]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041212044932/http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccleeds.htm Location of Arthur Aaron's Victoria Cross]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111007071338/http://www.yorkshiredailyphoto.com/2009/04/arthur-aaron-vc-dfm-statue-leeds-city.html Photo of Arthur Aaron's statue in Leeds]}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron, Arthur Louis}}

[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Leeds]]
[[Category:British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British World War II bomber pilots]]
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[[Category:People educated at Roundhay School]]