- Matt Braddock
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Matt Braddock
Matt BraddockPublication information Publisher D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd First appearance 1952 In-story information Team affiliations Royal Air Force, United Kingdom Abilities Master pilot, skilled boxer, champion level darts player. Matt Braddock, VC and bar, is a fictional World War II bomber pilot who appeared in the pages of the Victor and Rover comics in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of his stories were published in book form as I Flew With Braddock.
Braddock was known for his fearless nature, superb piloting skills and no-nonsense attitude. He had no time for petty rules and regulations, and remained at the rank of sergeant, refusing to be promoted to an officer rank. However this didn't stop him from standing up to incompetent superiors, or defending other enlisted men from overzealous courts-martial. He spent almost as much time clashing with superior officers as the Germans, and on two occasions in I Flew With Braddock he came fairly close to being court-martialled for assaulting a superior officer (although one incident was a misunderstanding and the other was under severe provocation). The narrator of these stories was his hero-worshipping navigator, George Bourne.
Braddock was so highly regarded that he had carte blanche to pick his own flight crew, and was frequently called upon to advise high ranking commanders of the RAF. Braddock flew several types of aircraft, but his most prominent command was the Lancaster Bomber "F Fox". At the start of I Flew With Braddock the crew was Braddock and Bourne, 'Ham' Hancox Co-pilot and Flight engineer, Tom Tanner Bomb aimer, 'Nicker' Brown Radio operator, 'Hoppy' Robinson Mid-upper gunner, and Les Howe Tail gunner. Les Howe clashed with Braddock early on and was replaced by 'Baa' Lamb, and later 'Hoppy' Robinson was badly injured in a raid and replaced by Arthur Atkins.
Some of Braddock's more outstanding exploits included:
- Sinking a U-boat with a rocket armed Mosquito fighter-bomber.
- Bombing Peenemünde, severely setting back German rocketry experiments.
- Successfully transversing the Alps to attack an Italian port, after the entire raid had been scrubbed due to hazardous weather.
- Shooting down a German fighter with a flare gun.
- Sinking the Degen, a German aircraft carrier. This was notable in that Braddock successfully bombed the ship after his plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, destroying the bomb sight and knocking out his bomb aimer. Braddock himself took the responsibility of dropping the bomb, and managed to score a direct hit with the naked eye.
I Flew With Braddock also included some genuine episodes in the British bomber offensive against Germany e.g. the first thousand bomber raid on Cologne, and developments such as the GEE navigation system, Pathfinder units and the "Pink Pansy" incendiary bomb.
Braddock, in addition to his piloting abilities, was a skilled boxer and champion level darts player.
The author of these stories was not clearly stated (I Flew With Braddock just gave the author as "George Bourne", the fictional narrator) but is believed to be Gilbert Lawford Dalton.
External links
- Sample Matt Braddock Story & a 2nd
- Sample comic page and brief character profile
- Red Dagger restrospective with brief bio of Braddock
- Guide to the stories in The Victor
D. C. Thomson comics Currently Running Comics Adventure Comics Adventure · Bullet · Buddy · Champ · Commando · The Crunch · The Hornet · The Hotspur · The Rover · The Skipper · Spike · Starblazer · The Vanguard · The Victor · Warlord · The WizardGirls Comics Humour Comics The Beano · BeanoMAX · The Beezer · Buzz · Classics from the Comics · Cracker · The Dandy · Fun Size Comics · Hoot · The Magic Comic · Nutty · Plug · Sparky · The TopperPre-School Comics Notable Strips Alf Tupper · Baby Crockett · Bananaman · The Bash Street Kids · Beryl the Peril · Black Bob · Biffo the Bear · The Broons · Calamity James · Cuddles and Dimples · Dennis the Menace · Desperate Dan · Ginger · Gnasher · Ivy the Terrible · Keyhole Kate · Korky the Cat · Little Plum · Lord Snooty · Matt Braddock · Minnie the Minx · The Numskulls · Pansy Potter · Roger the Dodger · Oor Wullie · Wilson the Wonder Athlete · Wolf of KabulComic annuals The Beano Annual · The Beezer Book · The Bimbo Book · The Dandy Annual · The Hotspur Book for Boys · The Sparky Book · The Topper Book · The Victor Book for Boys · Warlord Book for BoysCharacter annuals Bananaman Annual · The Bash Street Kids Annual · Beryl the Peril Annual · Black Bob Book · The Broons Annual · Dennis the Menace Annual · The Desperate Dan Book · Oor Wullie AnnualNotable Artists Leo Baxendale · Gordon Bell · Nick Brennan · Paddy Brennan · Sid Burgon · John Geering · Barry Glennard · Ken H. Harrison · Laura Howell · Malcolm Judge · David Law · Allan Morley · Dave Mostyn · Robert Nixon · Nigel Parkinson · Tom Paterson · Jim Petrie · Ken Reid · Bill Ritchie · David Sutherland · Kev F. Sutherland · Dudley D. Watkins · Wilbur Dawbarn · Karl Dixon · The Etherington Brothers · Wayne Thompson · Andy Fanton · Phil Corbett · Nigel Auchterlounie · Lew Stringer · Alexander Matthews · Jon Rushby · Trevor Metcalfe · Barrie Appleby · Charles Grigg · Tom WilliamsThe Victor Book for Boys Characters Categories:- Comics characters
- Fictional recipients of the Victoria Cross
- Fictional air force sergeants
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