The second of January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay (1883—1945) whose papers are held at the Churchill Archive Centre. He is best and rightly remembered as the architect of Operation Dynamo (the Dunkirk evacuation of spring 1940) and of Operation Neptune (the maritime logistics of Operation Overlord which culminated on D-Day, 6 June 1944).
‘Death of Admiral Ramsay’ (Admiralty/British Paramount News film, b/w, mute, 02.10, 2 January 1945). Film: IWM (ADM 431), courtesy of Imperial War Museum, London.
For those like Third Officer WRNS Fanny Hugill (Gore-Browne) who worked for Admiral Ramsay (first in London, then at Southwick Park in Hampshire, and after D-Day in Normandy and Saint-Gemain-en-Laye near Paris), his untimely loss, in an aircraft accident that also claimed the lives of four of his staff, lived long in the memory.
Whilst Ramsay had the satisfaction (which he wore lightly) of Overlord’s success, he was denied his rightful share in the ultimate victory. It has been for others, like Hugill, to honour his memory, as she continued to do throughout her life (she died at the age of 100 in 2023), notably at the symposium on ‘D-Day’s Forgotten Man’ held at Churchill College on 6 June 2014.
It is appropriate that Hugill’s own papers now sit at the Churchill Archives Centre with those of her late husband, John Antony Crawford Hugill, whom she met whilst working for the Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force (ANCXF) at Saint-Germain. While these include the warm tribute to their lost leader paid by Rear-Admiral Creasy, published in the The Times of 5 January 1945, they also reveal a much later private confession, from Ramsay’s regular pilot, Lieut. Cdr. Edward Brett.
An extract from a piece written by Rear-Admiral Creasy to mark the death of Admiral Ramsay, published in the The Times of 5 January 1945. Source: The Papers of Fanny Hugill, HUGL 14.
A pilot’s confession
Brett had been given leave that fateful day to visit his sister-in-law in Cannes and was due to depart for the Gare de Lyon after seeing Ramsay’s flight safely off. His place at the controls had been taken by Lieut. Cdr. Sir George Lewis, accompanied by his radio operator, P.O. David L. Morgan. Ramsay also had with him his staff officers Commander G.W. (‘Bill’) Rowell and Flag Lieut. Derek M. Henderson.
In the mid-1990s Brett gave his account of the tragic incident.
“On the night of 1-2 January it had snowed and all our planes were still blanketed with snow when I reached the airfield, but work had already begun on the [Lockheed] Hudson [AM-550] under the direction of my highly conscientious [Air Engineer Officer] Jack Tolley. He had made pretty good time, and the Admiral arrived just as Tolley was carrying out the engine run-up checks and testing the variable pitch of the propellers….
Sir George and his radio operator [Morgan] took their seats in the aircraft, followed by the Admiral and his two aides. After a further run-through by the pilot, the chocks were pulled away and the plane taxied towards the head of the runway…. The weather was fine, visibility moderate with a slight breeze. The pilot opened the throttle and the plane accelerated very slowly. Judging by the sound of the engine I had the impression that its condition was normal and I detected nothing irregular.
Even so, I was uneasy and I was relieved to see the plane leave the ground. It rose at a shallow but not unusual angle. At between four and five hundred, before levelling out, it went into a slight turn to port. Then suddenly a violent stall, an almost vertical downward spiral, and a fireball…. Without question all the occupants must have been killed instantly and the only consolation was my certainty than no-one had suffered.…
Even now, fifty years later, the sequence of events that morning and the visual memories it has left remain intact…. I went back to St. Germain, where of course I found everyone completely devastated and prostrate with grief. …
It was only when I read The Year of D-Day [Ramsay’s 1944 diary edited by Robert W. Love Jr. and John Major, 1994], that I learned that Sir George Lewis had asked Admiral Ramsay if he could rejoin him as his pilot. Sir George was known to be closely involved with Kay Summersby, General Eisenhower’s ATS driver, and it was said that they had become lovers. That is perhaps the real reason why Sir George wanted to come to Paris.”
By Professor Justin Smith, De Montfort University, Author of The Birds That Wouldn’t Sing: Remembering the D-Day Wrens.
