A Sutcliffe

Burnley Express and News, February 13, 1943

NIGHT FIGHTER PILOT
BURNLEY MAN WITH AIR ACES
PILOT OFFICER A. SUTCLIFFE of Burnley, who was awarded the D.F.M on Christmas Day, 1941, while a sergeant pilot with Bomber Command, is now attached to a night fighter squadron in Fighter Command which includes some of the most experienced flyers in the R.A.F.
Before he transferred to Fighter Command, Pilot Officer Sutcliffe made 32 night bombing operations in a Wellington. Berlin was among the targets he attacked, and he also took part in a daylight raid on the German battleship Gneisenau, at Brest. The formation with which he was flying shot down two M.E. 109F’s which tried to intercept them. His own aircraft was severely damaged, but he flew it safely back across the Channel and made a successful forced landing near Plymouth.
FORMERLY OF LOWERHOUSE
Pilot Officer Sutcliffe’s home is at Hayes, Middlesex. In Burnley he lived with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Sutcliffe, in Lowerhouse-lane. Mr. Sutcliffe was an engine driver, and the family attended Rosegrove Methodist Church. They left Burnley about 18 years ago, and Mr. Sutcliffe, who is a member of the Middlesex County Council, has twice been chairman of the Hayes Urban District Council.
Before joining the R.A.F., in May, 1940, Pilot Officer Sutcliffe was an official of the National Union of Railwaymen. He is an old boy of Bishopshalt Secondary School, Hillingdon, Middlesex, where he obtained colours for football and cricket, and represented the school at the inter-school sports at the White City.

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