Researched by Norman Dunn in the early 2000s
One of our known Hebburn World War 2 Hero’s, was Tommy Kidger born about 1918 and ex Hebburn Quay Board School.We probably had a lot more local hero’s who returned from war & just got on with their lives. As I wrote recently I didn’t know my uncle Stan a Hebburn man was a WW2 Navigator in Bomber Command until my late sister Marian ‘quizzed’ him when he was an old man about 2004.I remember her saying getting ww2 experiences out of him was hard.
After leaving school about 1932 Tommy got employment in Reyrolle’s and worked beside my teenage mother in the drilling department.But soon there was talk of war with Hitler’s Germany so Tommy decided to leave Reyrolle’s and joined the RAF to fight for his country. In the RAF Tommy trained to become a Navigator on Bombers.
Coincidentally Tommy had been a classmate of another Hebburn war hero, Howard Langlands at the 'Quay Board School'. Coincidentally there was a 3rd Hebburn hero called Ernie Holmes who also attended. What a marvellous coincidence three Quay School lads in RAF’s Bomber Command WW2.
Sadly Howard Langlands a ‘Bomb Aimer’ was killed when his bomber was shot down by a night fighter over Belgium as it returned to England after a bombing raid on Cologne.
Tommy Kidger survived the war and was awarded the DFC & it was presented by ‘Bomber Harris’ after flying over 30 bombing missions in ‘Stirling’ bombers.
A good friend, the late Frank McNabola married Hebburn lass Sheila Docherty and Sheila was related to Tommy and one day when I visited them at their home in in Jutland Ave I metTommy.
I was overawed sitting talking to a man who had flown in Bomber Command & had the DFC ( Distinguished Flying Cross). My thoughts at the time were ‘What those eyes have seen flying a Bomber in WW2’. It was so fascinating listening to him even though like a lot of people who experienced the War I had to press him to get him to talk. As we know most of these war hero’s rarely talked about the war so I had to really work hard to get him to talk and only managed to get him to mention 2 missions even though he’d done over 30. One mission was to fly across occupied France, over the Alps into Italy to bomb an aeroplane engine making factory in northern Italy then fly back to England.
Another mission he told me was when they bombed the German V1 & V2 Rocket making Factories at Peenemunde. During our conversation I mentioned his classmate Howard Langlands who had been a Hawthorn Leslies joiner & modelmaker before the war had also joined the RAF’. He knew Howard from school days but didn’t know he had also joined the RAF. I told him Howard was a Bomb Aimer and didn’t survive the war as his bomber was shot down over Belgium returning from a bombing raid on Cologne and all the crew died.
I had done research on Howard Langland and managed to get a Quay Board class photo from Norman Robb another Quay School classmate and Howard is on the photo. Unluckily, Tommy wasn’t on the photo because on the day the photo was taken he was off school with the Mumps. Just like many other war hero’s only the Kidger family & friends knew he’d won the DFC.
I have stories on our other two known RAF Hero's for another day. If you read my 1st 'Good old Hebburn' book the Howard Langlands story is in that book.
Below is DFC Hero Tommy Kidger with his daughter Margaret. 
Message Thread
« Back to index | View thread »