Overview

• Family statements and press reports confirm that Cruickshank died in August 2025 at the age of 105 and that his funeral will be held privately.
• On July 17, 1944, as commander of an RAF 210 Squadron Catalina flying boat off Norway, he survived 72 wounds after leading two attack runs that sank a German U-boat.
• He received the Victoria Cross from King George VI at Holyrood House in September 1944 after an emergency blood transfusion and months of hospital recovery.
• Unable to return to flying, he served on staff at Coastal Command headquarters and later resumed a banking career, retiring from Grindlay’s Bank in 1977.
• At his death he was one of the last surviving combat recipients of the Victoria Cross from WWII, marking the dwindling generation of decorated Coastal Command airmen.