New Book on Tommy Broom, Pathfinder Mosquito Nav

This hit the press recently and today in The Sun

A MODEST war hero’s secret bravery has finally been revealed after 60 years – over pints at the pub with a pal.

Tommy Broom, 94, had never spoken of his escapes from the Nazis, bombing missions and THREE gongs.

But Tom Evans, 82 – a friend since the 1950s – found a few war-related notes Tommy penned for his grandchildren and asked if he could write a book.

For the next two years the former World War Two RAF squadron leader told all over a twice-weekly beer.

Tom was astonished to discover former Mosquito bomber Tommy flew on 83 sorties and won three Distinguished Flying Crosses.

On one mission his plane crashed at 250mph after hitting a pylon at 80ft in Nazi-occupied Belgium.

Tommy said: “I thought we were going to die.” He and his pilot were knocked out, but the French Resistance found them.

They dodged the Nazis using false papers on a 1,500-mile journey through France and Spain to return home via Gibraltar.

On another mission, he dropped a 4,000lb bomb into a railway tunnel mouth from just 50ft to destroy a Nazi supply line in 1945.

He said: “We shot up a couple of hundred feet into the air before the blast.”

Tommy told his tale at The Poacher in Portishead, Somerset.

Widower Tom said: “He wouldn’t have dreamt of being boastful.”

Tommy said: “I’d never mentioned anything . . . you don’t, do you? When the war was over it was over.”

It’s on Amazon for 14 quid.