The maths teacher from Hebburn was part of one of the last RAF crews back before dawn on D-Day

A former South Tyneside teacher who lived in Newcastle will be remembered by many former pupils - but we doubt they knew he was a World War 2 hero who flew on dangerous bombing missions.

Joe Carroll in his days as a teacher at St Aloysius RC School in Hebburn. He never revealed his World War 2 heroics. | ugc

placeholder image — Joe Carroll in his days as a teacher at St Aloysius RC School in Hebburn. He never revealed his World War 2 heroics. | ugc

Joe Carroll taught hundreds of pupils at St Aloysius RC School in Hebburn but never once mentioned his illustrious past. We can now share the story thanks to South Tyneside historian Norman Dunn and Joe’s grandson Rory Carroll.

Norman told us: “I was really honoured to help my old teacher’s grandson with a number of St Aloysius class photos from my archive showing the Grandad he never met.

“Amongst them was a coloured class photo from the 1960s when his Grandad was teaching younger and probably easier to manage children.”

Joe was a maths teacher and taught Norman as well as two famous footballing icons - Ray Wood (Manchester United and England goalkeeper) and George Armstrong (Arsenal winger).

Joe pictured in colour during his schooldays in South Tyneside. | ugc

“He was also a Mosquito navigator who bombed V-weapon sites, helped destroy the Gestapo’s Dutch death list, flew on D-Day night, and returned from over 40 confirmed combat sorties over occupied Europe.”

One of the Mosquito planes pictured in 1944. (Photo by Charles E. Brown/Royal Air Force Museum/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Joe’s story is forever linked to Albert ‘Baron’ Humphreys. He was the pilot who took Joe with him on every combat sortie. The two men crewed together from their first training flight to their last operational entry on August 20, 1944.

The elephant toy which Joe brought back from his RAF service in Burman in 1945-46 Burma for his son, Roger Carroll, who is Rory's father. | ugc

One defining moment came in April 1944 when they pulled off a raid which potentially saved thousands of lives.

A pilot at the controls in the cockpit of the Mosquito. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Gestapo was using the names, addresses, family connections on the Dutch population register to identify Jews for deportation and resistance members for arrest. The records were stored at the Kunstzaal Kleykamp art gallery at The Hague.

The RAF dog tag of Joe Carroll who was also a maths teacher in South Tyneside. | ugc

Six Mosquitos from 613 Squadron attacked the building in broad daylight. Joe navigated one of the six Mosquitos and the Kleykamp building was destroyed.

He was back in action on D-Day. As 156,000 Allied troops were crossing the Channel below them, they were flying their patrol over the exact area through which German reinforcements would need to move to contain the landings.

Humphreys and the maths teacher from Hebburn was one of the last RAF crews back before dawn on D-Day. After the European war ended, Carroll served in Burma and India, returning home in 1946.

He was reunited with his wife Mary and their son Roger. They settled in Blaydon and Joe returned to St Aloysius.

The story is not quite complete.

Rory hopes to get in touch with ‘living descendants of Joe Carroll’s wartime pilot Albert ‘Baron’ Humphreys of 613 Squadron RAF, who flew with Carroll on over forty Mosquito operations over occupied Europe in 1943–44, including the famous Gestapo raid on The Hague and D-Day night. “

Rory said: “His family are warmly invited to make contact with Rory Carroll at [email protected].’