Black History Month: The remarkable legacy of Squadron Leader Ulric Cross

To mark Black History Month 2024, we are honouring the life and legacy of Squadron Leader Ulric Cross, DFC, DSO. His exceptional bravery and skill in the RAF during the Second World War earned him recognition as a Trinidadian war hero and one of the most decorated Caribbean airmen of the era.

Philip Louis Ulric Cross DFC DSO, known as Ulric, was born on 1 May 1917, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Ulric arrived in Britain in November 1941 and began his training as a navigator in the RAF. After completing his training, he was commissioned as an officer and assigned to 139 (Jamaica) Squadron, based at RAF Marham.

Ulric distinguished himself as a skilled navigator and was selected to join the Pathfinder Force, a prestigious unit tasked with the dangerous responsibility of marking targets for bombing raids with precision.

His outstanding performance earned him a promotion to Flying Officer, and in June 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

The following year, he received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his ‘exceptional navigational ability’ and dedication to duty. Despite the risks, Ulric declined the option to take a break from flying completing 80 missions over occupied Europe and Germany.

Speaking on his service, Ulric said: “I did almost eighty operations. I was lucky... I crash landed I think five or six, seven times... the strange thing is that when you’re really young you feel immortal. You knew that obviously the possibility existed, that every time you got up in an aeroplane and flew over Germany you wouldn’t come back.”

He continued: “I never felt I was going to the aid of the mother country. Some people did but I would say the majority of us didn’t. Reasons differ, but certainly for myself, you’re young, this was a tremendous adventure and you were doing it for the right reasons.”

After leaving the RAF as a Squadron Leader in 1947, Ulric pursued a legal career, practicing law in Ghana and Tanzania. He later returned to Trinidad, where he became a High Court Judge. In 1990, he was appointed Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Ulric passed away on October 4, 2013, at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy of courage and service both in the skies and in his contributions to law and diplomacy.

This information is credited to: RAF Museum, Stephen Bourne's books Mother Country: Britain's Black Community on the Home Front 1939-45 (The History Press, 2010) , The Motherland Calls: Britain's Black Servicemen and Women 1939-45 (The History Press, 2012) and War to Windrush: Black Women in Britain 1939-48 (Jacaranda Books, 2018).