Portrait photograph of Wing Commander Kenneth John Lawson
Lawson was born in 1913 and attended school in Ealing, London, before being employed by the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company. Before the outbreak of the Second World War he had passed the examination to become an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute. In February 1939 he volunteered for the RAF Volunteer Reserve and was called up at the start of the war.
Lawson was trained as a Navigator before being commissioned in July 1940. He was awarded the DFC in April 1941. His citation shows that he had already completed ’26 major operational night flights as navigator and observer, involving a total of 168 hours flying.’ and noting that Lawson had ‘shown outstanding devotion to duty, even to the extent of spending many hours of “stand-down” periods in perfecting his standard of astro-navigation, an accomplishment which has enabled him to locate targets when other aircraft have failed.’
Lawson’s skill in navigation led to his being sent to Canada for an advanced navigation course as a result of which he was qualified as a specialist navigator. Lawson remained in Canada for six months as a navigation instructor and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. This was followed, in March 1942, by a promotion to Squadron Leader. Lawson was sent to Washington where he acted in a technical capacity for the British Air Commission.
Portrait photograph of Wing Commander Kenneth John Lawson
Object number : P032224
Copyright : RAF Museum
View full record Portrait photograph of Wing Commander Kenneth John Lawson
In December 1942, Lawson requested to return to the UK and to resume operational flying. He was posted to the Path Finder Force as a navigator. Completing another operational tour Lawson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 9 July 1943. The citation for Lawson’s DSO noted that he taken part in a large number of attacks on well-defended and distant enemy targets such as Berlin, Spezia, and Cologne, during which he ‘invariably completed his missions with high courage and devotion to duty’. His citation also explicitly noted that ‘although Squadron Leader Lawson is a specialist navigation officer, he has shown the greatest determination to fly on every possible occasion.’
In May 1943, Lawson was promoted to Acting Wing Commander and became a Group Navigation Officer in the Path Finder Force. During this time Lawson flew on both the De Havilland Mosquito and the Avro Lancaster. Lawson acquired his Master Navigator certificate during 1943
Lawson subsequently applied to become a pilot and, receiving permission from the Air Ministry to train in England, he qualified rapidly and returned to the Path Finder Force in this role. In October 1943, Lawson was promoted to Wing Commander and continued to fly on operations against some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. His last operation was against Nuremberg on 3 January 1945.