Joseph Berry: The Forgotten V-1 Flying Bomb Ace

61 Bombs shot down, 7 in one night

When his Hawker Tempest was hit by machine gun fire flying at 50 ft over Holland, he quickly radioed to his fellow fighters “Carry on, chaps. I’ve had it”. His Tempest rolled over and crashed onto a farm, destroying the fighter on impact. Those were the last words of a brave man who was responsible for destroying 61 V-1 flying bombs and several German fighters. How many lives Joseph saved by putting himself in the blast radius of each exploding bomb he destroyed will probably never be known but it is certainly in the thousands. Many of the planes he flew were damaged beyond repair by the resulting explosions of his Tempest 20mm cannons and he barely made it back to base. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross 3 times. He was 24 years old.

Sometimes it takes time for Valor to be recognized, but it is not lost. Valor is in you. Set it free.