Ananda Kularatne

Pilot Officer Ananda Kularatne RAF (December 25 1921—February 15 1944) was a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) aviator and World War 2 RAF Bomber pilot.

Early life & education
Ananda was born in Colombo, Ceylon on December 25, 1921 the eldest of three children of two well known educationists P. de S. Kularatne and Hilda Muriel Kularatne (nee Westbrook). He attended Ananda College, Colombo from 1933 to 1939 and then University College, Colombo until 1941.

Ananda learnt to fly at the Ratmalana Airport and in October 1941, in the darkest days of the war, he left home to come to what must have been a cold, war-torn England to join the Royal Air Force as a pilot.

Military career
Young men in their late teens and early twenties could not wait to get into the war and it is surprising how many came from what were then the colonies. There was some discussion in the Buddhist family Ananda was brought up in.

Ananda arrived in England on 30th November 1941, one week before the attack on Pearl Harbour, and signed up immediately in the RAF. He was awarded his pilots wings in February 1942 and completed his training in July 1943. He was then posted to 102 (Ceylon) Squadron, on active service, based at Pocklington in North Yorkshire. Ananda trained with Edward Amerasakera later to become Commander of the Air Force, Royal Ceylon Air Force.

From July 1943 until February 1944 Ananda and his crew of six carried out 25 raids over Germany, Italy and occupied Europe including the maximum effort raids on Hamburg, Peenemunde and Berlin. He was counting the missions up to the figure of 30 which meant the end of the tour of duty. The survival rate was very low and 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew lost their lives during the war. Losses were so great that crews often did not mix as they were never sure who would be missing at the breakfast the morning after a raid. Bomber crews led a double life of living in the quiet English countryside during the day and entering a blacked out Europe at night in the battle for survival against the flak and nightfighters. By early 1944 Ananda and his crew were amongst the longer surviving crews in the squadron.

Much has been said about the morality of the strategic bombing campaign during World War 2 however we were not there and Great Britain was fighting for its very survival. What is true is that attitudes to aerial bombing are quite different today.

On the night of 15th February 1944 RAF Bomber Command launched the largest bomber force sent to Berlin with a total of 891 aircraft dispatched. The Halifax bomber, Ananda was flying, took off at 5.27pm and the squadron record books states “Aircraft missing, no news after take-off” The aircraft was shot down over the Baltic on the approach to the German capital. No trace of the aircraft has been found. However the body of the Australian Air Gunner Alf Stapleton was found on the beach and buried in Rostock near the north German Coast. He is now rests in the RAF cemetery in Berlin. Ananda and the rest of the crew are remembered on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede for those aircrew lost with no known grave. The aircraft was almost certainly shot down by a nightfighter with upward firing guns which crept underneath its target and fired unseen into the wing fuel tanks. 43 Aircraft were lost that night and a total of 265 men were killed, 54 prisoners of war and 5 evaded capture.

Marriage
Towards the end of his training Ananda had met Holly Bradley at a tea party for service personnel given at the house of his English grandparents in London. Holly was in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and it was a whirlwind romance. Ananda had to introduce himself to his future in laws by letter as he was to meet them first only at the wedding. They were married in Blackpool in North West England in September 1943. Only two of his six crew could attend, due to a shortage of accommodation. Joe Filmer from Canada was his best man and Alf Stapleton from Australia also came, both were air gunners. Ananda had just been promoted to Pilot Officer a few weeks earlier.

Ceylon lost one of its brightest stars and who is to say what might have been with the coming of independence. Yet we know little of the man, on active service Ananda only saw Holly on leave and she was not aware of the other life he led. The story however continues. Holly was pregnant when Ananda was lost. They had already decided on a name taken from the Leslie Charteris series of detective stories featuring Simon Templar, Ananda’s favourite books. Simon Ananda Kularatne was born the following August, six months after his father was lost.

So in a period of eight months Ananda had met a girl, proposed, married, become a father and died in action.

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