| Matt Braddock | |
|---|---|
 Matt Braddock | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd |
| First appearance | 1952 |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations | Royal Air Force, United Kingdom |
| Abilities | Master pilot, skilled boxer, champion level darts player. |
Matt Braddock,VC and bar, is a fictional World War IIbomberpilot who first appeared in prose adventures in thestory paperThe Rover in 1952, and later as a comic strip inThe Victor (1961–83) andWarlord (1974).[1] Some of his stories were published in book form asI Flew With Braddock.
Braddock was known for his fearless nature, superb piloting skills and no-nonsense attitude. He had no time for petty rules and regulations, and remained at the rank ofsergeant, refusing to be promoted to anofficerrank. However this didn't stop him from standing up to incompetent superiors, or defending otherenlisted men from overzealouscourts-martial. He spent almost as much time clashing with superior officers as the Germans, and on two occasions inI Flew With Braddock he came fairly close to being court-martialled for assaulting a superior officer (although one incident was a misunderstanding and the other was under severe provocation). The narrator of these stories was his hero-worshippingnavigator, George Bourne (aDr. Watson-type narrator, a relatively sophisticated device for juvenile fiction).
Braddock was so highly regarded that he hadcarte blanche to pick his ownflight crew, and was frequently called upon to advise high-ranking commanders of theRAF. Braddock flew several types ofaircraft, but his most prominent command was theLancaster Bomber "F Fox". At the start ofI Flew With Braddock the crew was Braddock and Bourne, co-pilot andflight engineer 'Ham' Hancox,bomb aimer Tom Tanner, radio operator 'Nicker' Brown, mid-upper gunner 'Hoppy' Robinson, andtail gunner Les Howe. Les Howe clashed with Braddock early on and was replaced by 'Baa' Lamb, and later 'Hoppy' Robinson was badly injured in a raid and replaced by Arthur Atkins.
Some of Braddock's more outstanding exploits included:
I Flew With Braddock also included some genuine episodes in the British bomber offensive against Germany e.g. thefirst thousand bomber raid on Cologne, and developments such as theGEE navigation system,Pathfinder units and the "Pink Pansy" incendiary bomb.
Braddock, in addition to his piloting abilities, was a skilledboxer and champion leveldarts player. In the stories set in the pre-war period, he is portrayed as a steeplejack who took flying lessons and then joined the auxiliary air force.
The author of these stories was not clearly stated (I Flew With Braddock just gave the author as "George Bourne", the fictional narrator) but is believed to beGilbert Lawford Dalton.[citation needed]
