Captain Thomas A Plowman

Thomas Anthony ‘Tony’ Plowman was born in 1920, in Brentford, Oxfordshire. He was the son of Robert and Eleanor Plowman, of Enfield, Middlesex.   He initially enlisted into The Hampshire Regiment in 1940, and served some time as a Private soldier, before being commissioned. He was granted an emergency commission as a Second Lieutenant in The Northamptonshire Regiment on 4 July 1940. In 1941 he served on secondment to The Royal Berkshire Regiment, as is noted by an act of bravery of his:

‘On 23 February 1941, Pte. A.J. Walton, The Royal Berkshire Regiment was washed into the sea at Trevone Bay near Padstow. Attached to a rope, 2/Lt. T.A. Plowman, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, at great personal risk owing to rocks and high seas, dived in and swam to the drowning man, both were then dragged back to the rocks. The General Officer Commanding-In-Chief directs that 2/Lt. Plowman’s plucky action be placed on record. S.C. 5/80835/A. (P.2.)’

He was granted the rank of War Substantive Lieutenant on 4 January 1942. Following this, he volunteered for and was transferred to the Glider Pilot Regiment on 9 April 1942, and began his flying training the following month. He flew in a ‘Nickel’ Raid on 14 January 1943, in a Whitley bomber, as Co-Pilot. ‘Nickel’ Raids were a final test during training to drop leaflets over enemy territory. He was promoted to the rank of Temporary Captain on 6 June 1943.

Plowman served with No 2 Squadron, 1st Bn, The Glider Pilot Regiment in North Africa and Italy in 1943, and took part in Operation ‘Ladbroke’ (9-10 July 1943), where he was a Pilot of a Waco glider (C/N: 41). His 2nd Pilot was Sgt. Brian (Paddy) Feehily, with men and equipment of ‘H’ Company, 2nd Bn, The South Staffordshire Regiment on board. His participation in this Operation was described in the book By Land, Sea and Air:

‘Glider 41 carrying Lieutenant A.G. Gotto, two of his men and a jeep failed to take off from strip B. The glider was unloaded, repacked, and managed to take off again at 2030 hrs. After flying for about 9 hours the tug pilot claimed that he could not find the L.Z. and they were forced to return, landing back in North Africa, near Ben Gardane in Tripolitania. The jeep had been intended to pull a 6-pounder gun. As the Waco could not carry both, the gun had been loaded in glider 45. This glider landed safely but 8 miles from the planned LZ. The gun was quickly unloaded but there was no sign of glider 41. After waiting for a while Sergeant Howes and his men decided to remove essential parts from the gun, thus rendering it useless to the enemy, before abandoning it and leaving for the LZ. They later joined up with Major Brennan, the 2i/c.’

Captain Plowman made two entries in his log-book for this operation, the second one had the note ‘lost’ next to it! He went on to take part in Operation ‘Slapstick’, which was the naval operation to land the 1st Airborne Division at the Italian port of Taranto, in Southern Italy in September 1943. In December 1943 they sailed back to the U.K. He was now serving in ‘F’ Squadron, No 2 Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment, and took part in
‘Operation Mallard’, which was the night-time reinforcement Lift to L.Z. ‘N’ near Ranville in Normandy, on the 6 th June 1944. This time he was accompanied by Sgt. Reginald Bruce, and they were carrying part of the Headquarters, with a jeep, of the 1 st Bn, the Royal Ulster Rifles. They landed successfully and Plowman noted in his log-book: ‘landed right spot this time’.

By 1944 Captain ‘Tony’ Plowman was the Second-in-Command of ‘F’ Squadron, The Glider Pilot Regiment. On Operation ‘Market-Garden’, Captain Plowman flew a Horsa glider to L.Z. ‘S’ with men and equipment of the 2nd Bn, The South Staffordshire Regiment, on the 2nd Lift, Monday, September 18 1944, from R.A.F. Broadwell. His 2nd Pilot was again Sgt. Reginald Bruce, and they landed successfully.

Capt Plowman was fighting as part of the crew of a 6 pounder anti-tank gun when he was wounded in the left arm and right ankle and was taken with other wounded to the Tafelberg Hotel and was killed the following day, the 24 September, aged 24, when the hotel received a direct hit. He was given a field burial in the grounds of the hotel and was re-interred to Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery on 20 August 1945.

He was Mentioned in Despatches, for his actions at Arnhem, which was reported in the London Gazette on 10 May 1945. The second son of Robert Lionel Plowman, a sales representative, and Eleanor Williams, of Enfield, Middlesex, he now lies at rest in plot 3. C. 2, of the Arnhem/Oosterbeek War Cemetery.