Sub Lieutenant David Stewart Clarabut DSC Royal Navy

David Clarabut
David Clarabut, who has died aged 85, dive-bombed the Tirpitz and later rose to prominence in the City.
Conditions in the Norwegian Sea, between snow storms, were ideal for flying when at dawn on April 3, 1944 when Clarabut took off from the deck of the fleet carrier Furious on Operation Tungsten. Clarabut, carrying a 1600 lb bomb, was flying one of twenty-one Barracuda dive-bomber aircraft of 827 and 830 Naval Air Squadrons launched against the German battleship Tirpitz which lurked was some 120 miles away in Kaafjord.

The giant warship Tirptiz had just completed repairs after Operation Source, the attack several months earlier by midget submarines, and was weighing anchor before going to sea for trials. Surprise was complete when at 0529 the first Wildacts and Hellcats screamed in over the mountains to spray the German flak positions with machine-gun fire and, while circling Corsairs gave air cover, the Barracudas took station in line ahead and dived through the clear skies from 10,000 ft. 21-year old Temporary Acting Sub-Lieutenant Clarabut was third in line.
The mountains had hidden Tirpitz from view until a few seconds before the dive, and the battleship put up a dense box barrages, one at 8000 ft and the other at 3000 ft, where bombs were meant to be released. The aircraft of 830 Squadron were led lower and Clarabut dived lowest of all until at 1200 ft and in a 45 degree he dropped his deadly cargo.
A dense column of smoke rose higher than his aircraft and Clarabut flew, hoping to miss mountains on the other side, and as he emerged there was the flash of an explosion between Tirpitz’s bridge and B turret.
In all the Barracudas claimed six direct hits and three probable hits which caused floods and fires, and left the battleship’s upperdeck a shambles, running with the blood of the wounded who included Tirpitz’s captain, and she drifted out of control until she ran aground. One Barracuda was shot down and its crew of three lost during the attack which had lasted barely a minute.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill signalled “Pray congratulate the pilots and aircrews concerned on this most brilliant feat of arms so serviceable to the Royal Navy and to the whole world cause.” Clarabut, with several other aircrews, was awarded the DSC for his bravery, leadership, skill and devotion to duty
David Stewart Clarabut was born on September 12, 1923 at Murree a hill station close to the Afghanistan border, the son of Major General R B Clarabut CB, Indian Army. He was brought up from the age of 6 as a child of empire at English prep schools and educated at Cheltenham College, where his interests were sport and “mischief.” He failed Dartmouth on grounds of eyesight, and he failed the Civil Service entrance exams for the Royal Marines, but volunteered and was accepted for the Fleet Air Arm. His older brother had already been mentioned in despatches for his success in the submarine Thrasher in the Mediterranean.
After initial training at HMS St Vincent, Clarabut was sent in a converted cattle ship and by train to Grosse Isle, Michigan where he flew solo after just eight hours, and was sent to Kingston, Ontario to complete his training, flying Harvards.
There while taxiing at night he ran down and killed a classmate: wartime training gave him no time to mourn or mope but the accident still gave him nightmares sixty years on. He also flew under the Thousand Islands Bridge, and almost at the end of his training he was practising close formation flying when his wingman ran into him. Clarabut’s aircraft entered an uncontrollable spin and he struggled to open the canopy. He bailed out so late that no sooner had his parachute deployed than he struck the hard ice of the frozen Lake Ontario. His wingman saw the hole where Clarabut’s aircraft had broken through into the lake and reported him missing so no rescue party was sent out. Clarabut, who had lost his gloves and boots in the descent, hobbled ashore in the subzero temperatures until he met a woodsman and his son on a sleigh who took him in.
Clarabut returned to Britain in Queen Elizabeth at 30 knots with 17,000 troops, sleeping in shifts of eight hours and eating two meals a day every twelve hours.
After Operation Tungsten Clarabut became a flying instructor in 714, 736 and 708 squadrons: he wanted to stay in the Navy postwar but was released in 1946 on the gorunds of poor eyesight, something which he felt was unfair considering that only a few months beforehand his sight was good enough to find Tirpitz.
However, in 1946 Clarabut joined the family firm of the London and Rochester Trading Company where his training included a period as deckhand in one of the firm’s tugs. By 1949 he manager of the tug and lighterage department and in 1955 he took over all the firm’s commercial activities.
Three years after the London and Rochester was acquired by Hay’s Wharf, Clarabut became in 1969 the group commercial director and chairman, and in 1980 he became chief executive of the reconstituted Hay’s Group before retiring in 1983.
Whatever Clarabut did he rose to positions of leadership. His many city interests included chairmanship or directorship the Steam Ship Mutual Underwriting Association, Lloyd’s Bank South East Region, the Kent Reliance Building Society, and the Hop Marketing Board. In 1972 he was Master of the Worshipful Company of Waterman and Lightermen, and in 1982 was Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights
Clarabut’s great interest was sailing: he joined the Medway Yacht Club in 1948 and was Commodore in 1959. In 1957 he came 2nd in the Dragon Class Edinburgh Cup and represented Britain against Denmark when the Dragons were ferried to Copenhagen in the HM Royal Yacht Britannia during HM the Queen’s state visit. In one year, 1967, he won the Queen’s Cup at Cowes, the Ramsgate Gold Cup, and was first overall in the East Coast Offshore Racing Association.
In 1982 he retired from yacht racing, to pick his golf clubs and by 1987 was captain of Rochester and Cobham. Another interest was the Castle Club, Rochester: he loved the company of his fellow members at lunches and dinners as well as its holidays and excursions, and he was president in 1965.

Clarabut was sporting, starting at Chestnuts prep school when he won his first race, a seventy yard sprint, and received and proudly kept what he thought must be the smallest silver plated cup ever produced, about ¾ inch high.

He had a firm hand shake, stood tall and looked you in the eye. He was honest, trustworthy and loyal and when things went wrong was the first to say sorry.
Clarabut, who died on January 6, 2009, married Deidre “Marzie” Coleman in 1950 who survives him with their five children.