James Anderton (RAF officer)

Flight Lieutenant James Lawrence Anderton  was a company director, motorcycle dealer, pilot and RAF officer.

James Anderton founded Anderton Bros Motor Cycles Ltd of Bolton, Lancashire with his brother Syl Anderton in 1935. He qualified as a pilot before World War II but was drafted into the RAF Volunteer Reserve at the outbreak of hostilities, and remained in RAF service until the surrender of Japan in September 1945. He served in several RAF squadrons and an Operational Training Unit, as a heavy bomber pilot—flying Vickers Wellingtons and B-24 Liberators. While serving in 37 Squadron he participated in the bombing of the German battleship Gneisenau. When an instructor at No. 21 Operational Training Unit he participated in the first Thousand-Bomber Raid over Cologne, Germany. In 1944, Anderton was posted to 99 Squadron in Dhubulia, India. There, he participated in the longest formation mission of the war, to bomb targets in Burma—including the Burma Railway. He was awarded the Air Force Cross and was three-times Mentioned in Despatches.