Harvard association co-founder credited with important shot in Second World War

Charley Fox in dress uniform standing in front of a restored spitfire. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Although his father was credited with knocking German Gen. Erwin Rommel out of the Second World War and took out several enemy trains, his son Jim feels Charley Fox’s greatest contribution was raising awareness about the war, including through the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association.

Charley Fox grew up in Guelph, and signed up with the air force in Hamilton in 1943. Charley trained in Harvards and earned his wings in Dunnville. He graduated second in his class and was selected to remain in Canada to train other pilots.

Before heading overseas, Charley learned about the hazards of combat when a trainee in a Hurricane came up from below him and knocked the engine out of his Harvard. The plane went down, but Charley was able to escape and parachuted to the ground from 1,000 feet up.

He headed overseas in August 1943 and went into active combat. Charley was referred to as ‘the old man’ by the other pilots in Europe, although his son jokes he was only 23, but he was married and had a son on the way when he left Canada.

He flew three flights on D-Day.

“Dad shared the comment that it was a spectacular sight,” Jim said. “He had never seen so many ships and landing craft.”

Charley’s squadron went to France in 1944, and that summer they were assigned to look for “targets of opportunity,” which included German trains and military convoys.

“They happened to spot a German staff car on the backroads of France,” Jim began the story that made his father famous.

Charley and his wingman attacked, not knowing until later that they took out Rommel. Although the German general survived the attack, he had injuries that forced him to return to Germany. At the same time, there were two or three assassination attempts on German leader Adolph Hitler. He found Rommel was involved and sentenced him to death. Many believe that due to Rommel’s popularity, he was given the choice of either committing suicide or facing a firing squad. With the former option, he was guaranteed his family would be unharmed.

“He committed suicide although the German people were told he died from injuries from the attack,” Jim said.

Charley gained a reputation for attacking trains, and earned the nickname ‘The Trainbuster’.

“He had a pretty good knack of how to approach trains,” Jim said. “His record was that he put a lot of trains out of service.”

Charley was shot up 11 times during the war, including having a hole blown in his wing, but was never shut down. He took part in a ceremonial flight to mark the end of the war on May 8, 1945. Charley spent the next few months ferrying enemy planes to England before returning to civilian life.

Jim recounted that, as a two-year-old, his mother lived with his grandparents, and his dad came home. His mother asked where his dad was.

“Me, as a two-year-old, I ran into the living room and picked up the picture of my dad,” he said, explaining that was all he knew of his dad to that point.

That changed, and he accompanied his father to many of his talks in later years. Charley joined the reserve air squadron until it was disbanded. He then flew sold aircraft to buyers across the continent. The family went through some ups and downs until Charley landed a job with a London shoe manufacturer, Lyons. He moved up through the company and retired as vice-president, and he continued to live in London.

A big life change for Charley started when he became involved in the fledgling Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association in 1980.

“It was through CHAA he got to talk about some of his wartime experiences,” Jim said. “That opened the door to talking about his experiences.”

Charley went into schools and talked about the war. He didn’t finish high school, and Clarke Road Secondary School in London thought enough of him to present him with a Grade 12 diploma. Jim became a teacher and moved to Kitchener.

Jim remembers one trip he took with his father to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, where both Canadian and American personnel work. He did a presentation, but it was the casual talk in the bar after that impressed his son.

“My dad was on a bar stool, and he was surrounded by American and Canadian airmen, asking about his strategies, about how they came up from underneath a plane. It was amazing to see the respect,” Jim said. “He was treated like royalty when he got down there.”

Charley worked to help the Harvard association get the planes flying again, and often served as the commentator when they flew at air shows across Canada and the U.S.

He was honoured with a Paul Harris Fellow, the highest honour in the Rotary Club by the Kitchener-Waterloo club. An overpass in London was also named after him.

“He was a humble person really,” Jim said of his father. “He didn’t expect to have these tributes. He was asked to be honorary colonel of the squadron he was in.”

While the Harvard association became a big part of his life, he was leaving a presentation to cadets at the Tillsonburg Airport in 2008 when he was killed in a car collision near the airport at 88 years of age.

“We figured he was distracted and pulled out in front of another car,” Jim said. “It’s ironic he survived his experiences in the war, was shot up 11 times but never shot down, and was killed on a side road outside Tillsonburg.”

A full military funeral was held, as well as a memorial ceremony in Ottawa with the 412th Squadron, for which he was honorary colonel.