IN YOUR article on August 22 on Flight Lieutenant James Nicholson you stated that he was the only RAF VC.

In all, 32 VCs were awarded to the RAF, RAAF, RNZAF. RCAF and the SAAF. Of this total 22 were awarded to the RAF. The most famous was Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC.

Flight Lieutenant Nicholson was the only fighter pilot to be awarded a VC.

All recommendations for a VC had to be witnessed.

This was very hard to do for a fighter pilot flying solo in the middle of a dog fight.

As an example, Sgt Norman Jackson was a flight engineer in a Lancaster bomber during the raid on Germany.

The plane was damaged and the wing caught fire. Sgt Jackson, wearing his parachute, stuffed a fire extinguisher down his lifejacket, climbed out the top of the fuselage with the plane doing 200 mph to extinguish the fire.

He slipped and fell from the fuselage on to starboard wing and grasped an air intake on the leading edge of the wing.

He succeeded in clinging on but lost the extinguisher.

By this time the fire had spread rapidly and Sgt Jackson was burnt around his hands and face and his clothing was severely burnt.

Unable to retain his hold he was swept through the flames and was last seen with his parachute partly inflated and burning in a number of places.

Sgt Jackson was unable to control his descent and on landing broke his ankle. His right eye was closed through burns and his hands were useless.

He managed to reach a village and was taken prisoner.

He then spent 10 months in hospital. Meanwhile, the Lancaster crashed and the pilot and rear gunner were killed.

The other four members of the crew were taken prisoner for the rest of the war.

His astonishing experience did not become known until after the war when the members of the Lancaster’s crew were repatriated.

Jackson had said nothing about his courage but the navigator and other members of the crew recommended him for a Victoria Cross.

Norman Jackson died in 1994.

Norman Tulip, Southampton