2 25 41 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1141/34160/LStapleyVA175092v1.1.pdf c79c2ec01b14861649f08988e51e3d5f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Stapley, Victor Victor Arthur Stapley V A Stapley Description An account of the resource Three items. An oral history interview with Wing Commander Victor Stapley OBE, DFC (b. 1922, 1801888, 175092 Royal Air Force), his log book and a portrait. He served in the RAF from 1941 to 1977. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 squadron. Post war he served in Singapore, Malta, and at Christmas Island. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Victor Stapley and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-08-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stapley, VA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victor Stapely's navigator's, air bomber's and air gunner's flying log book Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LStapleyVA175092v1 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Review Oct 2024 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-03-01 1944-03-02 1944-03-15 1944-03-16 1944-03-18 1944-03-19 1944-03-22 1944-03-23 1944-03-24 1944-03-25 1944-03-26 1944-03-27 1944-03-30 1944-03-31 1944-04-11 1944-04-12 1944-04-20 1944-04-21 1944-04-22 1944-04-23 1944-04-24 1944-04-26 1944-04-27 1944-04-30 1944-05-01 1944-05-02 1944-05-03 1944-05-04 1944-05-06 1944-05-09 1944-05-10 1944-05-11 1944-05-12 1944-05-13 1944-05-24 1944-05-25 1944-06-02 1944-06-03 1944-06-04 1944-06-05 1944-06-06 1944-06-07 1944-06-12 1944-06-13 1944-06-27 1944-06-28 1944-06-29 1944-07-02 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Great Britain Singapore Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Belgium--Hasselt England--Bedfordshire England--Essex England--Lincolnshire England--Wiltshire England--Yorkshire France--Domléger-Longvillers France--Amiens Region France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Calais France--Dunkerque France--Le Havre Region France--Lyon France--Mailly-le-Camp France--Oisemont (Canton) France--Paris Region France--Rennes Region France--Rouen Germany--Aachen Germany--Berlin Germany--Cologne Germany--Düsseldorf Europe--Elbe River Germany--Essen Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Stuttgart Wales--Glamorgan Singapore Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Crisbecq France--Achères France--Aubigné-Racan France--Dunkerque France--Pas-de-Calais France--Château de Bernapré Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Terry Hancock Description An account of the resource Flying log book for navigator’s air bomber air gunner’s flight engineers for Victor Stapley, flight engineer. Covers two periods; training and operations 18 January 1944 to 2 July 1944 and post-war service in Flying Control from 19 September 1945 to 23 January 1950. He was stationed at RAF St Athan, RAF Lindholme, RAF Kirmington, RAF Watchfield and RAF Henlow. Aircraft flown in were Halifax, Lancaster, Anson, Dominie, Proctor, Beaufighter, Tiger Moth, Mosquito, York and C-47. He flew a total of 28 operations with 166 Squadron, 3 daylight and 25 night. Targets were Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, Essen, Nuremberg, Aachen, Cologne, <span>Düsseldorf</span>, mine laying, Rouen, Lyons, Aubigné-Racan, Mardyck, Mailly-le-Camp, Hasselt, Calais, Boulogne, Crisbecq Battery, Achères, Gelsenkirchen, Chateau Bernapre, Domleger and Oisemont. His pilot on operations was Pilot Officer Wiggins. 1656 HCU 166 Squadron aircrew Anson Beaufighter Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944) bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944) C-47 Dominie flight engineer Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School mine laying Mosquito Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Proctor RAF Henlow RAF Kirmington RAF Lindholme RAF St Athan RAF Watchfield Tiger Moth training York https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1903/36304/PSparkesW17010015.jpg 80beea4166df3a0599afe30ecc60b8fc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sparkes, Ned William Sparkes W Sparkes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-07-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sparkes, W Description An account of the resource 56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Nuremburg raid and target token Aiming point certificate Description An account of the resource Left - copy of book page 82 (Headed: the Nurenburg raid) with details of American operations, 617 Squadron operation to Lyons as well as attack on Brunswick and railway junction at Vaires. Noted one Halifax missing from a Canadian Squadron on latter operation. Right - target token (le Mans). Consist of artwork of Wellington and Halifax, target photograph and name of crew: P/O Pitt, F/O Page, F/S Meddings, Sgt McIntyre, F/S Heron, Sgt Sparkes, P/O Badgery. Signed by AOC 6 Group. Below - explanatory note on target tokens - given by AOC 6 Group with a bottle of whiskey to all crews who obtained a photograph of aiming point. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-03-13 1944-03-14 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Braunschweig France France--Vaires-sur-Marne France--Le Mans France--Lyon Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Canadian Air Force United States Army Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Artwork Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed document and one printed certificate with accompanying typewritten note all mounted on an album page Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PSparkesW17010015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Sparkes, Ned. Album 4 Group 6 Group 617 Squadron aiming point certificate B-17 bombing Halifax Mosquito Oboe Stirling https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/934/36457/BLovattPHastieRv2.pdf 295406378e70aa4d2aeb43baeaddc085 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lovatt, Peter Dr Peter Lovatt P Lovatt Description An account of the resource 117 items. An oral history interview with Peter Lovatt (b.1924, 1821369 Royal Air Force), his log book, documents, and photographs. The collection also contains two photograph albums. He flew 42 operations as an air gunner on 223 Squadron flying B-24s. <br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1338">Album One</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2135">Album Two</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Nina and Peter Lovatt and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-27 2019-09-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Lovatt, P Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document HASTIE DFC: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A WARTIME PILOT Peter Lovatt [page break] 1 Acknowledgements During the 1970's chance took me to Scotland and Roy Hastie. During the course of several conversations with him, I learned something of his wartime career with the RAFVR before he came to Oulton, which I found fascinating and interesting and worthy of wider audience. Hence the origins of this publication. In the course of writing his life story I relied heavily on these conversations and the letters which he subsequently wrote to me. I should like to thank Mr Harry Palmer for providing me with information about Roy Hastie, and his first tour of operations with Coastal Command. To Mr Peter Mapp, of Devizes, I continue to owe a debt of gratitude for his time and expertise in helping me to prepare this manuscript for publication. I wish to acknowledge the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office to quote from publications and all official records in which the Copyright is vested in the Crown. Devizes Wiltshire October 2003 Peter Lovatt [page break] 2 CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements 1 Illustrations & Photographs 3 Foreword 4 Prologue 7 Chapter 1 Early Days, the Outbreak of War and Learning to Fly 9 Chapter 2 Coastal Command and No. 53 Squadron 16 Chapter 3 Aid to the United States 28 Chapter 4 Marriage and a Caribbean Sojourn 45 Chapter 5 Success in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic; Airborne Radio Countermeasures come to Bomber Command 57 Chapter 6 Radar in Germany and Great Britain, and Bomber Command 59 Chapter 7 No 100. Group and the formation of No. 223 Squadron 72 Chapter 8 Bomber Support Operations: 1944 78 Chapter 9 Bomber Support Operations: 1945 84 Chapter 10 The Post War Years and Beyond 91 Appendix One Glossary 97 Appendix Two The Last Hudson 100 Appendix Three No. 53 Squadron 106 Appendix Four No. 223 Squadron 112 Endnotes 121 Bibliography 124 Index 127 [page break] 3 Illustrations and Photographs Following Page 1 The Battle of the Atlantic is being lost 17 2 Hudson Squadron personnel at No.6 (Coastal) OTU 18 3 Glasgow Daily Record, 29 August 1942 35 4 The Princeton Club 38 5 HRH The Duke of Windsor 48 6 The Goldfish Club 54 7 Air to Surface Vessel, Radar 58 8 Telegram notification of award of DFC 93 9 Letter from AVM E.B. Addison, AOC 100 Group 93 [page break] 4 Forward Roy Hastie was just a very ordinary man, who felt it his duty to volunteer for flying duties when he realised that his country was in trouble in 1940. He duly qualified as a Sergeant pilot in 1941, somewhere near to the age limit of twenty-nine. His first operational tour of duty, which started in January 1942, was with Number 53 Squadron of Coastal Command, equipped with Lockheed Hudson aircraft. This unit later became engaged in attempting to stop German coastal shipping moving much wanted supplies by sea in support of Hitler's war aims, along the coastline of occupied Europe. The Germans defended these convoys ferociously, especially with anti-aircraft fire, with the result that between January and April 1942, only six Axis ships had been sunk for the loss of fifty-five RAF aircraft. Such losses were prohibitive and by July, the AOC-in-C, Coastal Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip B. Joubert de la Ferte, decided to abandon all low level attacks against shipping, pending a decision to re-equip with faster aircraft, carrying a heavier armament. No. 53 Squadron was then ordered to the Western Hemisphere, in order to help the United States Army and Navy fight the U-boat war. Hastie, with all of four hundred and eighty hours flying experience behind him, was instructed to cross the Atlantic with a fully laden operational aircraft, and land at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, which was to be the home of the Squadron for the time being. Shortly afterwards, a new base was found for them in Trinidad, which was further to the south, nearer to the oilfields of the Caribbean and South America, and closer to the centre of the then current U-boat activities. Nine hectic months were then spent on passing on British experience and expertise, to the personnel of the United States Navy and Army, before the British unit was withdrawn to the United Kingdom. Hastie flew his own aircraft back to Docking, in Norfolk, where No 53 was to be based but, in doing so, experienced a traumatic crossing of the Atlantic, bad weather nearly putting an end to both aircraft and crew. Not long after his return, Roy was informed that five flying instructors were required at the Coastal Command Operational Training Unit at Nassau, in the Bahamas and, notwithstanding the fact that originally he had not wished to become a flying instructor, he was selected to fill one of the posts. It was thus in April 1943 that he returned to the United States, this time by sea in the SS [italics] Queen Elizabeth [/italics]. After reaching New York, he journeyed south by rail down the long eastern seaboard of the United States to Miami. Here a boat [page break] 5 conveyed the party across the sea to New Providence Island, where HRH the Duke of Windsor had been installed as Governor and Commander-in-Chief since 1940. During his time as a flying instructor, at No. 111 Operational Training Unit, Roy welded recently qualified pilots, navigators and wireless operators into competent operational crews for Coastal Command. During this period, he had to contend with several serious incidents, including runaway propellers and, on one occasion, the successful ditching of a twin-engined North American Mitchell aircraft, into the sea off the island of Eleuthera, thereby saving himself and the lives of his student crew. Progressing through the ranks of the RAF NCO wartime promotion structure for aircrew, he had by now become a Warrant Officer, and thus it was from this position that he was commissioned as a Flying Officer, just before his time in the Bahamas came to a close, in July 1944. With his tour of duty as an instructor at an end, he was allowed to select his own crew from amongst those he had recently trained, prior to returning to the United Kingdom. By now, however, the Battle of the Atlantic had been won and the U-boat vanquished. Replacement crews were simply not required by Coastal Command, and thus Hastie and crew, kicked their heels in Harrogate for several weeks, whilst the RAF searched for a job for them all. In August, it became known that a new squadron was to be formed at RAF Oulton, and equipped with Liberators, for radio countermeasure duties in Bomber Command. It wasn't to Hastie's liking, operating with Bomber Command, but at least it was a flying job and he could keep his own crew too. Roy Hastie, the crew augmented by additional air gunners and special wireless operators, then successfully completed a full tour of operations in his new Command, at the end of which he was awarded a DFC. Shortly, he departed from Oulton, leaving his crew in the capable hands of his co-pilot, Chris Spicer for possible service in the Far East. In the remaining months of service, Roy was again employed as flying instructor, converting crews in the United Kingdom to the Liberator, which was then being used more extensively, as a transport aircraft in the RAF. Roy tried hard to enter civil aviation and continue to fly, a job which he loved, but at the age of thirty-three he was too old, and even his considerable flying experience was not enough for him to be accepted into the burgeoning civil aviation industry. With some reluctance he returned to Andersons, his former employers, who had not only kept a job open for him during the war, but who had also generously continued to pay his previous salary, throughout his service. It was during the next [page break] 6 year or two that he re-joined the RAFVR and thus was able to continue to fly at weekends; he also participated in a number of Monte Carlo rallies. Two years after retirement in 1979, he died at the age of sixty-seven, whilst playing a round of golf on a course near his home. So passed away Robert Millar Hastie, a patriot and leader of men, and superb aviator. [page break] 7 Prologue The instructor's words were surprisingly loud and clear in his ears above the noise of the idling engine: [italics] proceed to the leeward end of the field, take off into wind and complete one circuit and landing. [/italics] The instructions were plain enough; it was the 24 December 1940, and the pupil pilot had exactly 10.05 hours flying instruction to his credit. The student waited somewhat impatiently as Handle Bar Hank, as the examining officer was known amongst the novices, hampered by his seat parachute, climbed out of the front cockpit of Tiger Moth No 7277 belonging to No 11 Elementary Flying School, Perth, situated at the head of the Firth of Tay. Flight Lieutenant Hughes stood on the lower port wing and proceeded to fold the stiff canvas lap straps neatly into position across the seat of the recently vacated cockpit, finally securing the harness with the locking pin provided. At last, he jumped to the ground and disappeared from view. The engine responded immediately to the forward movement of the throttle and slowly the aircraft began to move forward towards the downwind boundary. The student remembered to use the throttle in short bursts, but try as he could the beginner found it difficult to taxi the DH 82 in the prescribed, zigzag manner. Fortunately, the aircraft responded to full rudder on reaching the take off position and he was able to turn with the help of a little extra throttle, being careful to leave the aircraft slightly out of wind. He quickly went through his take-off vital actions: throttle nut loose, trim lever two thirds forward, sufficient fuel, harness secure and tight and controls full and free. With a quick look round for other aircraft, he pushed the throttle right forward, a touch of rudder to keep straight, stick forward to bring the tail up, a bounce then another and the aircraft was flying. Deliberately he allowed the speed to build up to 55 mph before applying a gentle backward pressure on the joystick for the climb. He continued the climb until 800 feet when he reduced power slightly and then continued to the circuit height of 1000 feet, stick forward to level off and then reduce revolutions as for straight and level flight. There was just time to re-trim before the first turning point came up. Stick to the left, steady, apply a touch of rudder, and watch the turn and bank indicator. Somehow, the nose remained near the horizon as the aircraft came round on to the new heading. Now for the next turn as the trailing [page break] 8 edge of the port wing passed over the boundary hedge providing an opportunity to check that the flight path was parallel to the direction of take-off. Good, now for the landing checks. Time to throttle back, lose height in a gliding turn to port, re-trim and continue to turn but look out for other aircraft. He was now at 600 feet and descending, time to check that the wings were level; watch the airspeed, for goodness sake don't let it fall below 55 mph – it could be fatal. Left hand on throttle, ready to apply more power if necessary. Gently now, ground approaching, time to start levelling out, stick back and hold the aircraft level, stick right back and bump, then another, and the aircraft was down. He had done it. He had soloed. Keep it straight man, you haven't finished yet, use your rudder! He felt good. Easy wasn't it? Adjust trim and now taxi back to dispersal. Well, why not? No one was watching, especially with the other pupils in the circuit and so, without further ado, the student pushed the throttle fully forward and in a second or two was airborne again. On this occasion there seemed to be more time to look around and reflect. Perth had never seemed to be more attractive and was it only eight months since he was in Glasgow at St Mungo Halls, volunteering to be a pilot at the ripe old age of 28? No wonder he had been greeted with a slightly sardonic smile. Perhaps if the recruiting Sergeant could see him now his expression would be different. The second landing was accomplished with only one bump, but strangely though there was not the same warm glow and feeling of satisfaction, especially as taxying back to the marshalling area, he could see Fit Lt Hughes waiting for him. Sensing that something was wrong, he switched off and completed the closing down drills, before climbing out of the cockpit to receive the customary congratulations. Taking off helmet and goggles, he was about to undo his parachute harness when he was taken aside and given his first, but by no means his last, official dressing down for a flying offence. Fortunately nothing had been broken and so all was forgiven. So began the flying career of Robert Millar Hastie, better known as Roy to his family and Jock to the Air Force. It was to be marked by two characteristics, an ability to fly an aircraft well and, on occasions, a facility to disregard instructions.1 [page break] 9 Chapter One: Early Days, the Outbreak of War and Learning to Fly Robert Miller Hastie was born in Glasgow on 13 April 1912, the second son of John and Letitia Hastie. The family lived in an attractive dark red sandstone-housing block in Cathcart, sufficiently well built for it to stand today, as does the nearby Battlefield School which young Robert attended. It was named after the Battle of Langside, which was fought in the area. For some reason, however, even in his very early pre-school days, he had come to be known as Roy, except perhaps when official papers had to be signed. By all accounts he was not the brightest of pupils, although perhaps it might be fairer to say that he was more interested in the 'real' world outside the classroom and one in which he longed to escape. Nevertheless, by the age of eleven he had become a member of the Boys' Brigade and was learning to read music and play the trombone. Quite successfully too it would appear, for the Brass Band won first prize three years' running in the Scottish competition of those days. Soccer, however, was his major interest with swimming being a close favourite and one in which he won prizes and acquired the Royal Life Saving Society's Bronze Medallion. Understandably Roy left school at the earliest opportunity, in 1926 the year of the General Strike. Fortunately, he was quickly established in a law office as a trainee clerk. But it was not to last, for the following year found him in another office learning to be a clerk in the Customs and Excise. In 1928 John Hastie died and because of this, or the influence of an uncle, a well-established engineer, Roy began what was to be a long association with the motorcar industry. It soon became apparent that some formal qualifications were going to be required. To someone in Roy's position, hoping to become a mechanical engineer, this could only mean attending many long hours at night school, perhaps over a period of years and the expenditure of considerable sums of money. All very difficult and only an individual with considerable persistence and determination could hope to make the grade. And so it proved to be. For the first three years, and three evenings a week at that, were devoted to business training much to the surprise of his former teacher who on learning of this latest venture, could only exclaim, [italics] wonders will never cease. [/italics] Business studies gave way to automobile engineering at the Allan Glen's School, the three evenings a week being mainly devoted to draughtsmanship and mathematics. [page break] 10 When the new College of Engineering opened in Shamrock Street as part of Stow College, Roy moved there and by 1937 he had enrolled in the British Institute of Engineering Technology, remaining with this highly regarded institution until volunteering for service with the Royal Air Force, in 1940. Economic conditions were bad throughout the whole of the United Kingdom in 1933, but so severe was the unemployment in Scotland, that Roy thought he had to try and better his chances elsewhere. To do this took nerve, for it entailed becoming unemployed quite voluntary, allowing him a period of six months in which to find a better job. In the event of failure, he would join the RAF with the aid of enlistment papers already in his pocket. And so it came about that after serving some nine months in a local garage as an apprentice motor mechanic, Roy secured a position with the Western Motor Company, as a trainee salesman. When Western sold out in 1937 to Scottish Motor Transport, he found a niche with Anderson's of Newton Mearns, who were then the main dealers for Humber-Hillmans in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. Apart from the war years, he was to remain with the same firm for over forty years.2 Soon after the outbreak of hostilities on 3 September 1939, Andersons found themselves engaged in work of national importance and because of this, Roy was exempted from National Service. In spite of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, which made liable for conscription every able bodied male between the ages of 18 to 41, unemployment in the United Kingdom actually increased to 1,250,000, for the first few months of the war. This state of affairs was not to last, however, for by the autumn of 1940, such was the demand for manpower, the male conscription age was extended upwards firstly to fifty-one, and then to sixty-four. Other measures included the inclusion of all unmarried women firstly aged 20 to 30 years, and then to fifty-nine.3 Then came the abolition of lists of reserved occupations, each case in future being judged on its own merit. Roy had listened to Neville Chamberlain declare war on Germany that Sunday morning, on 3 September 1939, but the voice was dull and flat and drained of all emotion. He read with horror of the sinking of the SS [italics] Athenia [/italics] and subsequently learned of the early successes of the magnetic mine laid inshore by German U-boats and aircraft and of the daring exploit of Lieutenant Prien in October, when he sank HMS [italics] Royal Oak [/italics] at Scapa Flow.4 But all of this had little effect on his outlook. He did however resolve to work a little harder at Andersons which, by this time, was fully engaged in work of national importance. [page break] 11 The stirring action against the [italics] Graf Spee [/italics], by the three British cruisers off the River Plate, in December 1939, ended in the ignominious scuttling of the German pocket battleship. This morale raising event was followed in January 1940 by another, in February 1940, when the Royal Navy, guided by an aircraft of No. 220 Squadron, Royal Air Force, released a number of merchant navy prisoners held in the [italics] Altmark [/italics] which was found sheltering in a Norwegian fjord. The ship was a thirteen thousand-ton tanker, which had acted as an auxiliary and prison ship for the [italics] Graf Spee [/italics]. The incident helped to confirm Hitler's suspicion that Norway was a zone of destiny, which at some time the Allies would have to occupy. The release of the prisoners also helped to offset the dreary and debilitating measures, which the United Kingdom government was imposing on British citizens at home. These matters included air raid precautions, the blackout, a maximum of five inches of bath water and the evacuation of children from cities. It also became difficult to get a seat on trains, already bereft of restaurant cars and eating facilities. After seven months of war, food rationing was finally introduced in March 1940, meat being rationed to start with, at a rate of one shilling and tenpence per week. Above all, mounting shipping losses brought food shortages and higher prices to the shops. And so Roy could have stayed safe and secure at Andersons, but something in him changed his mind. It could hardly have been the 'La drole de Guerre' as the land war in France had come to be known, but not necessarily by the Royal Navy and Air Force. Perhaps it was a premonition of the epic struggles to come. Whatever the reason, one forenoon in April 1940, Roy approached his boss and asked if he might join the forces. The very same day he presented himself at St Mungo Halls, Glasgow, then the RAF Recruiting Centre for the area: [italics] I wish to volunteer as a pilot [/italics] Roy knew that at twenty-eight, he must be very close to the upper age limit, but he hoped that his maturity and experience would carry him through.5 Even so, it did not occur to him that the grin, which appeared on the face of the man behind the desk, could have been other than friendly. He was accepted for training, either as a pilot or observer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, enlisting in the rank of AC2. Somewhat to his surprise he was told that he would not be required for some six to eight weeks and thus he should return home and go back to work. [page break] 12 He had not informed his mother of his intentions, so the delay was convenient; it would allow time in which to find the necessary words. Ten days later, a telegram arrived at Cathcart ordering him to report to RAF Padgate. Roy had been fortunate; to the end of the war the actual number of volunteers accepted for flying duties was comparatively small. Age and fitness were of course important factors in the selection process, together with education, experience and enthusiasm. He could not have known it at the time, however, but a number of other factors also contributed to his acceptance. The United Kingdom's comparatively numerically small regular air force was engaged in expanding as rapidly as possible, whilst at the same time attempting to maintain the highest of standards. Moreover, the newly instituted Empire Air Training Scheme was about to be launched, but had not yet produced any of the thousands of trained aircrew, who would be needed in the days to come, in order to match the requirements of a greatly enlarged wartime airforce. Thus all the conditions for acceptance were set in Roy's favour. The journey south from Glasgow was hectic; the train, like so many in wartime, was overcrowded and started hours late. It arrived eventually however, and RAF Padgate turned out to be a large collection of wooden huts, located some two miles to the Northeast of Warrington, where thousands of young men were destined to receive their introduction into the Royal Air Force. There was no service transport to meet the train at the local station and Roy, with one or two others, had to walk to camp. They eventually crawled into bed about 0400 hours the following morning, only to be woken two hours later by the door being flung open followed by a loud voice shouting: [italics] get your feet on the deck [/italics] The Orderly Sergeant was promptly told to shut up and, following an explanation, he did just that – much to his credit, and they were allowed to sleep on. The next few days were taken up with the issue of uniforms and various tests to confirm their suitability as pilots and navigators. And then, much to their surprise they were told that they could all go home. Roy immediately remonstrated, pointing out that as he was now in the air force, he had every intention of staying in. He made his point, for shortly afterwards he was posted to Blackpool to begin two weeks of formal recruit training. Before leaving Padgate, however, he and a pal named Stan managed to get out of camp for a few hours. This was no mean feat for a couple of raw recruits for it [page break] 13 meant borrowing, quite illegally, two passes from a couple of trainee cooks. It happened to be a Saturday afternoon, and the streets of Warrington were crowded as the two them made their way along the main street, dressed in their brand new serge uniforms. Now Stan's arm happened to be in a sling, the result of a not-so-friendly game of soccer, when suddenly a drunken voice shouted out for all to hear: [italics] look at the heroes who are winning the war for us [/italics] The ironic laughs and cheers of the passers-by remained with both of them, long after they had returned to their billets. Meanwhile, momentous events were taking place across the Channel, which were to lead to the collapse of the allied ground forces on the continent and to the eventual expulsion of the British Expeditionary Force from the mainland of Europe. The German Army, assisted by the Luftwaffe, began its thrust into Luxembourg and the Low Countries at first light on 10 May 1940. The Luftwaffe simultaneously attacked some 70 airfields in France, Belgium and Holland and, helped by parachute troops and Stuka dive-bombers, armoured columns penetrated deep into the allied defences. The attack took place so quickly, that by the end of the month much of the BEF had been forced to retreat to the coast to the small port of Dunkirk. It was here, thanks to the timely preparations made by Admiral Ramsay at his headquarters in Dover, that the Royal and Merchant navies, together with a host of small craft, were able to transport much of the BEF, along with many allied servicemen, to the United Kingdom over a period of seven days. But there was a heavy price to be paid for this enforced evacuation. The cost of lifting 338,226 troops off the beaches, during Operation Dynamo, amounted to seventy-two British and allied ships being lost, through direct enemy action, one hundred and sixty-three from other causes, and a further undetermined number damaged.6 Moreover, during the struggle the Royal Air Force lost 959 aircraft in May and June, of which 477 were fighters, desperately needed for the defence of the United Kingdom.7 The Army in its retreat abandoned much of its equipment, weapons and transport. Whilst the heavier items could not have been saved easily, the same could not be said of the 8,000 Bren guns and 90,000 rifles left behind, which should have been carried by hand to the United Kingdom.8 There was already a chronic shortage of small arms and ammunition, and these unnecessary losses could only have added to the worries of a newly appointed Prime Minister and government. [page break] 14 Indeed, Winston Churchill, shortly after assuming office of Prime Minister on 10 May 1940, realising the alarming deficiencies of weapons and supplies of all kinds, had to set about the task of acquiring the tools for the job. The United States, not yet in the war, and doubtful whether or not the United Kingdom could hold out against a vastly numerically superior German foe, was really the only country which could provide the vast range of items so desperately needed. It was unfortunate, therefore, that at first America insisted on payment in full for all goods supplied – in gold if necessary. The result of the implementation of this policy was the rapid rundown of the United Kingdom's Stirling Reserves which could have led to bankruptcy, but for the subsequent introduction of that generous and far sighted measure which came to be known as Lend Lease. In these circumstances it is not surprising that the two weeks at Blackpool turned into three, at the end of which Roy was sent to Grantham for ground defence duties. Here, at last, the recruits were able to enjoy some of the privileges and advantages enjoyed by the permanent staff of a unit. With only two service shirts and two pairs of socks, the unit laundry was understandably a godsend. It now became clear that Roy had been sent to Lincolnshire pending the start of aircrew training at one of the Initial Training Wings. It was now September 1940, and the Battle of Britain was at its height. The retreat of the British Army to Dunkirk and subsequent evacuation had come and gone and, with it, a new and different kind of prime minister. The threat of invasion seemed very real, as the nation awaited the outcome of the Battle of Britain being fought out in the skies overhead. After an interval of two weeks or so, Roy was moved to Babbacombe, in the West Country. He then went on to the ITW at Aberystwyth, in Wales, for three months intensive training, in elementary navigation, meteorology, principles of flight and associated subjects, before proceeding to No 11 Elementary Flying Training School at Perth. Learning to fly at Scone two miles to the North East of Perth was, as previously related, an enjoyable experience and one which came to an end far too quickly. By 26 February 1941 he had successfully acquired some forty flying hours in his logbook and it was time to move on, leaving behind one or two unfortunate individuals who had failed to make the grade. It was then the custom of the service to ask students, whilst undergoing their flying training, which types of operational aircraft they would most like to fly. This was an important decision of course, for the type of aircraft [page break] 15 generally determined role. Most wanted to fly single-engined fighters but, obviously, not everyone could be given their first choice and Roy was no exception: [italics] twins Hastie, you are older and steadier than the others, [/italics] he was told. And so it proved to be, for after a few days leave he reported to No 3 Flying Training School then located at South Cerney, Gloucestershire. Here he quickly came to hear about the vices of the Airspeed Oxford, the standard twin-engined trainer at the time. It swings badly on take-off, he was told, whilst others insisted that three-point landing was difficult. To Roy it just seemed a little bigger than the Tiger Moth, and after five hours instruction he soloed without difficulty. The course continued uneventfully, until one day after returning from a solo exercise his seat mounting suddenly collapsed on landing. By the second bounce, his eyes were well below the level of the perspex canopy. Fortunately the Oxford kept a fairly straight path and no harm was done. Nevertheless, for someone still learning to fly it was quite an experience, which so easily could have ended in tragedy. On another occasion, night flying was in progress at the nearby satellite of Windrush. It was May 1941 and Roy was on flare path duty, when the Luftwaffe decided to attack the airfield again, having come earlier in the year in March. Fortunately for Roy, he could still sprint quite well and thus escaped the intruders' machine gun and cannon fire. On 24 May 1941, having acquired some 123 hours of flying time, he received his flying badge and was promoted to the temporary war substantive rank of sergeant. He had been serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve for little over a year. [page break] 16 Chapter Two: Coastal Command and No 53 Squadron Attacks against British shipping started the day war was declared and with a nation so heavily dependent on the sea for the majority of its food imports, petroleum and essential war supplies, it was obvious that the shipping lanes had to be kept open. Some 172 British merchant vessels were lost by enemy action during the first eight months of the war, totalling 743,802 tons, and during the three months March, April and May 1941, 179 ships of 545,000 tons were sunk by enemy air attack alone.9 In June there came a recrudescence of U-boat warfare and, through this cause alone, in the next few months no fewer than 152 British, allied or neutral ships were sent to the bottom of the sea. German aircraft even took to dropping propaganda leaflets over southern England, about successes at sea by U-boats, bombers and ships (see illustration). All of this activity occurred in the month that Hitler had decided to attack Russia. Air attacks too, which had been responsible for the loss of 36 ships during May caused the destruction of 73 more during June, July and August. Moreover, air and E-Boat attacks soon compelled the British authorities to discontinue routing ocean convoys through the English Channel, or South of Ireland, and, instead, to send them round the north of Scotland. Whilst at South Cerney Roy had asked to be sent to a Coastal Command OTU. He was therefore surprised and perturbed, to receive instructions to report to RAF Cranwell, to become a flying instructor, the Cadet College having been closed for the duration of the present emergency. Perhaps he should have been flattered, for only those individuals considered to be above average were normally so selected. His feelings were understandable, because most aircrew wanted to fly on operations and yet, if the highest flying skills were to be maintained throughout the service, a proportion of those possessing superior flying skills had to be diverted into the training organisation. Unfortunately, it was rumoured that once in such an appointment, it was extremely difficult to obtain a transfer, or even return to operations upon completion of a tour of instructional duty. Roy did his best for all of fourteen days on the Avro Tutor, but then requested that he be taken off course. It was as well that his immediate superior, Sqn Ldr Lindsay, was sympathetic. He failed him in the only possible way by entering the ominous words in his logbook 'not qualified to instruct.'10 Even after a period of 30 odd years or so, this entry still brought a lump to Roy's throat. But it had the desired effect, for shortly afterwards he was sent to [page break] 17 No 3 School of General Reconnaissance, Squire's Gate, Blackpool, a recognised entry into Coastal Command. In accordance with the then requirements of this Command, all pilots were required, additionally, to qualify as navigators before joining their operational units. The aircraft used for this purpose was the Blackburn Botha, a very unpopular aircraft indeed, for it was extremely heavy and quite incapable of remaining in the air on one engine. Provided both engines could be kept going however, all was normally well, but it did have to be flown with propriety at all times. Unofficially, Roy managed to fly the aircraft as a pilot during his navigation training, as well as the long-nosed Blenheim, which was also being used. Meanwhile the war at sea had not been progressing well, but fortunately by March 1941 there were some successes to report. In that month seven U-boats were destroyed,11 the highest figure since the war began. Partly as a result of these successes, the enemy's main concentration of submarines moved still further west across the Atlantic out of reach of surface escorts, British naval escorts still lacking the necessary range to complete the entire crossing. Refuelling [sic] at sea for ships of the Royal Navy was, of course, a development yet to come. By April, the U-boats were operating within 500 miles off the coast of Canada. Consequently, it was decided to base naval forces and further squadrons of Coastal Command in Iceland, in an attempt to cover the mid-ocean gap. But in spite of this action and other measures, which included the placing of Coastal Command under the operational control of the Admiralty, and the decision to adopt the United States Liberator aircraft for very long-range work, a total of 41 ships were still lost in the month. Unfortunately for the nation, this figure represented a quarter of a million tons of desperately needed allied shipping.12 The mid-Atlantic and Southeast of Greenland remained the main area of enemy activity, where U-boats were greatly assisted in finding individual convoys, by Folke-Wulf Condor aircraft. Some U-boats, however, were sent to Sierra Leone and even further south. The pride of the Royal Navy, the battle-cruiser HMS [italics] Hood [/italics], was sunk in May by the [italics] Bismarck's guns [/italics], which were probably directed by Seetakt radar, although it was itself despatched [sic] by British air and naval forces three days later; the accompanying cruiser, [italics] Prinz Eugen [/italics] escaping to Brest, where it joined the [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] and [italics] Gneisenau [/italics] . The next month, however, brought a slight diminution in the monthly shipping losses and July and August were even better. By September, the greatly [page break] The Battle of the Atlantic is being lost! [underlined] The reasons why: [/underlined] 1. German U-boats, German bombers and the German fleet sink and seriously damage between them every month a total of 700 000 to 1 million tons of British and allied shipping. 2. All attempts at finding a satisfactory means of defence against the German U-boats or the German bombers have failed disastrously. 3. Even President Roosevelt has openly stated that for every five ships sunk by Germany, Britain and America between them can only build two new ones. All attempts to launch a larger shipbuilding programme in America have failed. 4. Britain is no longer in a position to secure her avenues of supply. The population of Britain has to do with about half the ration that the population of Germany gets. Britain, herself, can only support 40% of her population from her own resources in spite of the attempts made to increase the amount of land under cultivation. If the war is continued until 1942, 60% of the population of Britain will starve! All this means that starvation in Britain is not to be staved off. At the most it can be postponed, but whether starvation comes this year or at the beginning of next doesn’t make a ha’porth of difference. Britain must starve because she is being cut off from her supplies. [underlined] Britain’s losing the Battle of the Atlantic means Britain’s losing the war! [/underlined] Mrs Gilder [underlined] PROPAGANDA LEAFLET 1941 [/underlined] Dropped over Sussex by German aircraft. [page break] 18 extended convoy routes, which by now included the run to Archangel and Murmansk, in Russia, had caused a shortage of long-range escorts, just when the U-boats started to be re-fuelled [sic] at sea, thereby increasing their endurance. Thus, in spite of some allied successes, shipping losses remained heavy. Fortunately, exceptionally bad weather over the north Atlantic during the last three months of 1941 helped to reduce the number of ships sunk. It was against this background of the war at sea that Roy arrived at No 6 (Coastal) OTU, Thornaby, in October 1941, to begin some two and half months' intensive training on the Lockheed Hudson. This was the first United States aircraft to see operational service with the RAF during the war, thanks largely to the endeavours of Sir Arthur Harris, later to be better known as Bomber Harris, the AOC-in-C of Bomber Command.13 The Hudson was developed to British requirements from Lockheed's civilian model 14, the first order amounting to some 200 aircraft being placed in June 1938. This was later increased to 350. It was flying with Coastal Command one year later. Some 800 aircraft of this type were bought by the British Government and, with 1,170 being supplied under the terms of the Lend-lease Agreement, over 2,000 Hudsons eventually saw service with the RAF. Further information about this versatile aircraft may be found at Appendix 1. At Thornaby, Roy firstly had to acquire a crew consisting of a second pilot and two wireless operator/air gunners. The second pilot did not present too much of a problem, for a Sergeant Badger was available, who had also successfully qualified with him as a navigator at Squire's Gate. From a roomful of wireless operators/air gunners, Sergeant Palmer and Sergeant Penfold were chosen. Harry Palmer recalls the occasion: [italics] Roy stood out amongst the many youthful and naïve pilots and wrote to his wife at the time that she was not to worry, as he had succeeded in crewing-up with an older fellow who possessed a more mature approach to life. [/italics]14 It was an accurate assessment, which was to stand the test of time, and to this day, Harry acknowledges how fortunate he was on that particular occasion. Their first flight as a crew occurred on 14 November 1941 when they took off from Thornaby, in mid-morning, for a two hour 40 minute navigation exercise. There then followed [page break] Hudson Squadron Personnel [italics] No 6 (Coastal) OTU Thornaby November 1941 [/italics] [italics] Pilots [/italics] Sgt Loney Sgt Nankervis Sgt Morris Sgt Kennard P/O Davey P/O Underhill Sgt Wright Sgt Lynch Sgt Guthrie Sgt Richards Sgt Corden Sgt Morgan Sgt Henderson Sgt Du Plooy P/O Ray Sgt Smith (760) Sgt Thornhill P/O Osborn P/O Moss P/O Young Sgt Walbaneke Sgt Hastie Sgt Badger [italics] Air Gunners [/italics] Sgt Coates Sgt Barry Sgt Owen Sgt Gardner Sgt Rayner Sgt Anderson Sgt Spraggs Sgt Udberg Sgt Smith (171) Sgt Foster Sgt Clouston Sgt Archer Sgt Ashton P/O Plenty P/O Knight Sgt Myers Sgt Davis P/O Hoskins Sgt Sutton Sgt Penfold Sgt Palmer Pool – No 4 Course P/O Ward (Pilot) P/O Mascall (Pilot) P/O McDonagh (Wop/AG) No 5 Course – Senior Pupil – Sgt Benson [italics] Pilots [/italics] Sgt Benson Sgt Warren Sgt Ballard Sgt Turner Sgt Potter Sgt Matthews Sgt Brent Sgt Palmer Sgt Leonard Sgt Parr Sgt Stow Sgt Bradley Sgt Marchand Sgt Dunnett [italics] Air Gunners [/italics] Sgt Hannah Sgt Preece Sgt Hill Sgt Robinson Sgt Collins Sgt Cole Sgt Cordes Sgt Briggs Sgt Forbes Sgt Timberlake Sgt Hanley Sgt Charles Sgt Meak Sgt Hyam Sgt Cliffe Sgt Wade Sgt Kearsey Sgt Mullen Sgt John Sgt Dickinson Sgt Carpenter Sgt Darke Sgt Thrippleton Sgt Smith (341) Sgt Joyce Sgt Hendrie Sgt Chapman Sgt Evans Sgt Hogg Sgt Hewitt Sgt George Sgt O’Beirne [italics] No 48 Squadron – Roster of Aircraft and Crews – 1200 hours 4.2.43. to 1200 hours 5.2.43. [/italics] [italics] [a] Aircraft [b] Load [c] Pilot [d] Navigator [e] W Op/AG [f] W Op/AG [g] Call [h] Meal [i] Ops [/italics] [a] H [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] Sgt Davenport [d] F/Sgt Pearson [e] Sgt Hortenson [f] Sgt Hill [g] 0440 [h] 0500 [i] 0515 [a] W [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] P/O Reid [d] F/Sgt McDermid [e] Sgt Revell [f] Sgt Best [g] – [h] 1130 [i] 1200 [a] G [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] P/O Barrett [d] P/O Bonney [e] Sgt Passmore [f] Sgt Smiley [g] 0440 [h] 0500 [i] 0515 [a] Q [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] P/O Mayhew [d] F/O Stewart [e] Sgt Matheson [f] Sgt Sargent [g] – [h] 1130 [i] 1200 [a] J [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] F/O Fallowfield [d] F/Sgt Sanders [e] Sgt Coulson [f] P/O Day [g] 0550 [h] 0620 [a] K [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] P/O Lawson [d] F/Sgt Bowen [e] Sgt Catterall [f] Sgt Stopford [a] B [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] Sgt Clarke [d] F/Sgt Oakley [e] Sgt Fisher [f] Sgt Pearson [a] Q [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] F/O Fogel [d] F/sgt Crick [e] Sgt Tyers [f] Sgt Huygens [a] G [b] 4 DCs & 2 A/S B [c] F/O Beck [d] F/Sgt Butcher [e] Sgt Hendrie [f] P/O Richmond [g] Late Trip Aircraft available – Q, R, W, X, Z, Y (?) B, E, F, G, H – K (non-ops). Detached – S. Aircraft u/s – J, D, U & T (Minor) V (Spares) Available – S/L Disney & Crew. F/O Turner & Crew. F/Lt Howard & Crew. F/Sgt MacDonald & Crew. Sgt Reynolds & Crew. P/O Harrop Sgt. Touhey. Detached – S/L Fuller & Crew. F/Lt Ainsworth & Crew H.Q. Flight – W/Cdr Devitt. F/Lt Cansdale. P/O Dawson Day off – F/O Bailey & Crew. Sgt Friend & Crew Training – F/O Tammes & Crew. F/O Mulheron Sick – Sgt Thomas. P/O Chattaway. Sgt Chapman D.C.O. – W/Cdr D.J. Devitt S.D.O. – P/O Richmond (1200 hrs 4.2.43 to 1200 hr 5.2.43) P/O Parsons (1200 hrs 5.2.43 to 1200 hrs 6.2.43) S.D.S, – Sgt Hendrie (1200 hrs 4.2.43 to 1200 hr 5.2.43) Sgt Touhey (1200 hrs 5.2.43 to 1200 hrs 6.2.43) [inserted] Air Historical Branch [/inserted] [page break] 19 some 40 more flights together, covering such diverse activities as air-to-ground and air-to-air firing, bombing practice, night circuits and landings followed by further navigation exercises, until the four of them were welded into a tightly knit and formidable flying team. The Hudson, however, was not a popular aircraft at No. 6 OTU, the precise reasons being difficult to determine. Perhaps it was a number of things but especially, the nasty stall and the dropping of a wing, if bounced on landing. Moreover, it was inadvisable to use full flap or to attempt a three-point landing. Whatever the cause of the unpopularity, three crews were lost through flying accidents during this particular period and perhaps it was just as well that Roy's faith in the aircraft remained unshaken; indeed it was to be much strengthened in the months ahead. Never the less, losing friends in this way was a new and unpleasant experience for him. Towards Christmas time he qualified as a 'Day and Night Captain' and, with 124 hours on type, was posted complete with crew to No. 53 Squadron, which was then based at St Eval. On this occasion, however, they were not destined to reach Cornwall. No 53 Squadron had originally been formed at Catterick in 1916, as an Army Co-operation Squadron, but was disbanded in October 1919 nearly a year after the First World War had ended. It reformed at Farnborough in June 1937 with Hawker Hector biplanes in a similar role. By 1939 it was at Odiham, equipped with Bristol Blenheims and went to France in September to join the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force. After the German break-through in May 1940, the Squadron was obliged to withdraw and was eventually evacuated to the United Kingdom. In July, No. 53 was transferred to Coastal Command, but continued to attack suitable targets in France, Holland and Germany from various bases in the United Kingdom. In August 1941 the Blenheims gave way to the Lockheed Hudson. In order to maintain and strengthen the air cover provided to shipping routed via the northwestern and southern approaches to the United Kingdom, detachments were unexpectedly moved in September to St Eval and Limavady in Northern Ireland.15 During the second week of December, the majority of the Squadron was then posted to the Far East in a vain attempt to help save Singapore from the invading Japanese forces, the remnants of the unit following the detachment to Limavady where the Squadron was rebuilt.16 Roy Hastie and crew travelled to their new home in Northern Ireland on Boxing Day, the airfield turning out to have been constructed on an [page break] 20 exposed site at the entrance to Lough Foyle. A frequently quoted description of the place at the time ran: [italics] If you can see the hills its going to rain and if you can't, its already raining. [/italics] With high ground to the south it certainly was not a felicitous spot for an airfield, especially in winter. Very properly, some time was spent after arrival practising [sic] essential controlled descents through cloud (QGH), but shortly they were ready for their first anti-submarine sweep and convoy escort duty. This took place on 7 January 1942 in Hudson AM 530, and lasted for some six hours twenty minutes. Eleven days were to elapse before their next trip which, in spite of taking them several hundred miles to the west of Ireland, was completely uneventful, even if it did bring them back to base well after dark. Such was the tenor of the remainder of their stay in Northern Ireland; more anti-submarine sweeps and an occasional escort task, but almost always the chief hazard turned out to be the weather, the majority of sorties ending with a controlled descent through cloud. They saw no U-boats, which was not surprising, as by January 1942, there were only six U-boats left in the entire Atlantic. Hitler having ordered eight boats to Norway. By now, maritime forces aided by shore-based aircraft had become proficient and effective in guarding our convoys and thus the number of sinkings around the British Isles had diminished, the focus of German attacks shifting away from the Western Approaches to mid-Atlantic. By the beginning of 1942, this had reached the American seaboard itself. Some reduction of air effort from Northern Ireland could thus be contemplated, perhaps for the first time since the outbreak of war. There then followed the sorry tale of the escape of the [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] and [italics] Gneisenau [/italics] through the Channel to Germany in February 1942. This tactical victory by the German Navy, coupled with an increase in the quantity of enemy supplies being moved by sea, focussed [sic] attention once more on the North Sea and the Low Countries. It thus became imperative to reinforce Coastal Command in this area, and one of several moves designed to implement this policy, included the transfer of No 53 Squadron to the East Coast, where they came under the aegis of No 16 group, with its headquarters at Chatham, and responsibility for the Channel and southern North Sea. Accordingly, on the 18 January 1942 the squadron was ordered to North Coates, in Lincolnshire, although Roy and crew did not actually arrive until early in March. Here No. 53 was required to act as a coastal strike unit, patrolling the enemy occupied coast [page break] 21 from the Channel Islands in the South, north-eastwards to the Frisians in the North. Their brief was to report all enemy shipping and, if possible, to attack it. Roy's first sortie from the new base was an uneventful Reefer Patrol, lasting some six hours 20 minutes which, by special arrangement with HQ No 18 Group, took in part of the Norwegian coastline, as well as the Dutch. Although nothing untoward occurred on this occasion, a similar patrol that took place on 11 March 1942 nearly ended in disaster. Off Norway, the Hudson hit a flock of seabirds, two of which succeeded in so badly damaging the perspex nose of the aircraft, that the crew had to take it in turns, for what seemed an eternity, to lie full-length holding parachutes hastily stuffed into the gaping hole in an attempt to reduce the onrush of freezing air. Indeed, Harry Palmer could not remember when he had been so cold and miserable, as on that particular trip. After a very long seven hours 10 minutes, they just managed to make Leuchars, where four very tired airmen emerged from the fuselage, looking very much the worse for wear. A few days later Roy was playing in an inter-squadron football match when an urgent call summoned him to the operations room. Apparently, two enemy-armed merchant raiders had been spotted making their way down Channel and had to be stopped as soon as possible. Before any of the aircraft could get airborne, however, the ships began to steam out of No 16 Group's area of responsibility and the North Coate's attack was cancelled. Amongst the sighs of relief, which followed, there was talk of resuming the abandoned game. But no, the quarry was not to escape that easily. Four crews were hurriedly detailed to fly to Thorney Island to reinforce the Hudson squadron already there. The following day was Sunday, 15 March, and Roy with his crew found himself sitting in Thorney operations being briefed a second time for the same target. The ships were obviously of some importance, for not only were senior representatives of the Royal Navy present, but a rendezvous over Bournemouth had been arranged with a fifty strong spitfire escort. As the briefing progressed however, it became apparent that if the leader of the Hudson force were to release his bombs a fraction of a second early, Roy's aircraft, in the number two position, would be in danger of being blown up. Not surprisingly, he objected to his position in the formation and the attack pattern was changed. They were well over the Channel when news came through that the two ships had retired to St Malo, instead of breaking out into the Atlantic as had at first been feared. Thus the attack was called off, but the sight of so many spitfires at the same time however, did wonders for their morale. A limited amount of formation flying had taken place at [page break] 22 OTU and at Limavady, but it took the spitfire escort over the English Channel on that day, Harry Palmer recalls, to remind them what the RAF could produce when the occasion demanded. They felt such a deep sense of pride at the sight of so many fighters, that they were prepared to take on the whole of the Luftwaffe, if necessary. It was a shocking anti-climax when the attack was aborted. There then followed one of those minor episodes seldom mentioned in service records, even as a footnote. For obvious reasons Roy was not told the full details at the time, but it subsequently transpired that a number of much needed merchant ships, loaded with valuable cargoes, were preparing to make a dash from ports along the west coast of Sweden to the United Kingdom. The ships contained, inter alia, essential machine tools for the ball bearing industry.17 Unfortunately, a spell of intensely cold weather had frozen over many of the harbours, making the sea almost impassable without the help of ice breakers and for the operation to stand a chance of being successful it was essential for them to have a clear run free from ice. Accordingly, a few days later, after the St Malo affair, Roy was briefed to carry out a low-level patrol to the Baltic in order to search for, and record, the position of any ice floes. They took off about an hour and a half before darkness on 28 March 1942 and, flying at fifty feet above the sea, headed for a point just short of Lindesnaes. The moonlight helped them identify the Norwegian coast, as they turned on to an easterly and then south-easterly course, heading into the Kattegat proper. As they rounded the northern tip of Denmark, the lights of the Swedish towns could clearly be seen to port, seemingly turning that country into a fairyland, compared with the austere and darkened countryside of the United Kingdom. Beneath them the sea-lanes seemed to be unusually busy, the ASV radar screen being full of blips.18 But what really gripped their attention was occurring to the south, aircraft from Bomber Command were busily engaged in bombing the city of Lubeck and, although they were well away from the target area, the results were only too clearly visible – the city was on fire. For some time now the fortunes of Bomber Command had been waning and strong criticism was beginning to threaten the whole strategic bombing policy. Fortunately, the newer types of aircraft, with four engines, were coming into service with better equipment, just as Sir Arthur Harris arrived to take over at Bomber Command. He was well aware that successful bombing attacks were urgently required. He acted promptly. Lubeck was carefully chosen, being singularly vulnerable to incendiaries. [page break] 23 By the concentrated efforts of some 234 aircraft, results were achieved that night far exceeding anything previously attained. Roy's return track took him across the Danish peninsula, where they were engaged by light anti-aircraft fire, the defences alerted no doubt by the activities of Bomber Command. Fortunately, no damage was done and they returned to Donna Nook – the satellite for North Coates – without further incident. But it was a long trip, the longest Roy was ever to fly on operations. By the time they got back, eight and quarter hours had elapsed without sight of a single ice floe. On 14 April 1942, three crews were briefed to carry out a night attack against a 1,500 ton German tanker, damaged by the Royal Navy during a previous engagement, which reconnaissance had showed to be aground off the island of Ameland, one of Frisian group. The ship in fact was being used to supply the [italics] Tirpitz [/italics], recently moved to Norway on Hitler's instructions, and thus an important target. The three aircraft took off in the last hour of daylight, adopting a loose flying formation but, as darkness fell, one of the aircraft piloted by Flying Officer Moyer, signalled by aldis lamp. that he was returning to base with low oil pressure. At 5,000 feet the ASV revealed a blip which Sergeant Palmer correctly interpreted as a ship against a landmass background. Roy wanted to be absolutely certain, however, and decided to overfly the target in spite of being warned of the existence, in the area, of a number of flak ships and shore batteries. Because of the moon he decided to approach from the Northwest and sure enough on a heading of 160 degrees the island quickly came into view and then the tanker itself, followed by more water. He waited deliberately before starting to turn, quickly banking to port, a touch more aileron tightening the turn until the aircraft was lined up on the reciprocal heading. The throttles went forward, as the bomb doors were opened. Roy eased the nose down in order to gather speed. So far there was no response from the defences and no sign of the other Hudson. Without warning, the flak ships opened fire, and Roy realised he had to get lower. The target was now dead ahead, silhouetted against the moon, and looming larger by the second. He pressed the bomb release switch just as the shore batteries joined in. The aircraft lurched slightly as the four 250-lb bombs left the bomb bay. Too low, Roy knew he was too low. He pulled back hard on the controls as the tail wheel scraped the top of a low-lying sand dune, and by banking hard to port, he was able to see that at least one of the bombs had scored a direct hit. The crew was jubilant and Roy quickly retrimmed the aircraft [page break] 24 and set course for base. The following day it was confirmed that the ship was breaking up; but no awards were made for this attack. As a souvenir, however, they did find some tufts of Frisian grass adhering to the tail wheel assembly. Harry Palmer remembers the incident well and writes: [italics] I still shiver at the memory, and wonder at the strange 'beauty' of the fairy lights all around us from the enemy tracer and flak and marvel how we came through it safely flying at such a low level. I can still recall the extreme nervous excitement and elation as I tapped out the attack report to base. And I shall never forget the reception we got on touch down – our Wing Commander CO was there with his car when we climbed out of our aircraft to collect us for debriefing. His excitement at our success was tremendous. No awards were made which was surprising really, for of the three crews briefed for the operation, one turned back with oil trouble, and the second was shot down, I believe 50 to 60 miles away from the target. We not only located the target position (which speaks highly of Jack Badger's navigation) but in an extremely low-level attack, we scored direct hit(s) as recce next morning confirmed. The Germans had been busily transferring oil from the damaged tanker when we went in. [/italics]19 During the war the RAF made a point of trying to help Local Authorities, and one obvious way of doing this was to offer assistance to units and individuals of the newly formed (March 1941) Air Training Corps. Recently a Hudson carrying a party of cadets had crashed on the beach near North Coates, fortunately without too much harm. In order to get them over this rather unnerving experience, as quickly as possible, Roy found himself one Sunday afternoon taking a small party of well-bandaged youngsters on a local sightseeing air tour. He flew low over Grimsby, attempting to comply with a stream of directions as to which house to approach next. The trick worked, however, confidence was renewed and the local unit was most appreciative. The briefing for the Rover Patrol on the night of 26 April 1942, was much like any other. Roy was tasked to look for enemy shipping between the Dutch and Danish coasts, with orders to attack if possible but, in the event of the target being too big or too well defended, to call on the Beaufort torpedo squadron which would be on [page break] 25 standby at base. Off Heligoland, he found a convoy of three ships in line astern, hugging the coast heading south for Rotterdam. He selected the largest, a supply ship of about 1,500 tons, as he flew northwards and well to the east in order to position the Hudson for attack. Roy had already decided that this would come in from the Southeast as at Ameland, thus giving him a good silhouette against the moon. Down went the nose, and with full power he selected salvo, in order to release all four 250-lb bombs simultaneously. This time they were really low, and as he pressed the release button he had to pull hard on the controls in order to clear the ship's masts. Two of the bombs skidded through the water and, penetrating the hull exploded inside. Immediately, there were two explosions so powerful that the parachute hatch in the aircraft was blown open. Roy struggled momentarily to gain control and then banked steeply to port in order to view the ship, which by now was burning fiercely. Alf Penfold spotted them first: [italics] skipper – night fighters. [/italics] Roy started to take evasive action against the hitherto unseen German aircraft, and putting the nose of the Hudson down again, he headed off in a westerly direction, shaking off the intruders' attentions as he did so, the attack signal to base being transmitted with great elation by Harry Palmer.20 They returned without further incident and again no decorations were awarded, but at least this time the Air Ministry was kind enough to mention the attack. The ship turned out to be the Danish Motor Vessel [italics] Inge [/italics] of 1,494 tons. At this particular period, operations in the campaign against enemy shipping were not going well, for between January and April 1942, only six ships had been sunk for the loss of some 55 aircraft. Thus, in spite of the fact that attacks were being pressed home more fiercely and frequently than ever before, improved enemy defences were resulting in unacceptable losses. By July these had become so bad that the AOC-in-C Coastal Command decided to abandon low-level attacks completely, pending a decision to re-equip with faster aircraft carrying a heavier punch. Not surprisingly, several crews were lost from No. 53 squadron over this period and as Roy had been through OTU with many of them, he knew the pilots concerned particularly well. He was, therefore, not sorry when the time came for a move, which came early in May 1942, when No. 53 was transferred back to St Eval. Here they were able to contribute to the safeguarding of convoys to and from the south and perhaps more importantly to [page break] 26 add their weight to the increased attention now being paid to one of the two major U-boat transit areas, in their case, the Bay of Biscay. [boxed] [underlined] 27/4/42 – No.21 [/underlined] [underlined] Air Ministry News Service Air Ministry Bulletin No.6797 [/underlined] [underlined] SHIP "TORPEDOED" BY BOMBS [/underlined] “We blew the side out of the ship," said a sergeant pilot of Coastal Command, describing the result of an attack he made in his Hudson early this morning on a German supply ship which was sailing in convoy off the Frisian Islands. The vessel was silhouetted in the moonlight and the Hudson went in so low to attack that the pilot had to pull up to clear the masts. Two of his bombs, skidding through the water, "torpedoed" the ship, penetrated the hull and exploded inside. So great was the force of the explosion that they blew the Hudson's parachute hatch open, and there was an exciting few moments in the aircraft while the crew struggled with. The Hudson banked steeply and the pilot saw the ship's bows blazing fiercely. The flames were so bright, he said, that he could see the wooden deck planks. Before and after the attack the Hudson dodged the attentions of three enemy aircraft and returned without damage. [/boxed] [page break] 27 In spite of following up a number of contacts on the ASV radar, however, it was always to be a great disappointment to the crew that they never found a U-boat on the surface, or presented with an opportunity to attack one. It was about this time too, that a change occurred in manning policy. Having two pilots in a crew placed a great strain on the training system and it seemed logical to reduce the commitment to one pilot and specialist navigator, together with a separate bomb aimer, in the case of Bomber Command. Roy thus lost Jack Badger. who became an aircraft captain in his own right and acquired a navigator in the form of Sergeant Dan Poitven, a Canadian. The remainder of May and June passed slowly with the squadron operating in their new area, looking particularly for U-boats transiting to and fro from their main bases on the west coast of France. Occasionally, the tedium was relieved when they had to search for a missing ship or aircraft and, on one occasion, they actually found a missing Whitley aircraft on Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel. Obviously, the sea fog must have made flying and navigation very difficult indeed, for this particular crew to have attempted a landing on such a small island. About this time their white Hudsons were suddenly painted black in case they were required for the 1,000 bomber raids on Cologne, mounted by Bomber Harris. On this occasion, however, Bomber Command was able to acquire the necessary number of aircraft, without having to call on the Admiralty and Coastal Command. Then, towards the middle of June, strange rumours began to circulate about a possible move to the United States, which had entered the war after the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. Not having an integrated defence system in place, this raid which occurred over a year after the Battle of Britain, had caught the American battleships at anchor and crippled much of their Pacific Fleet. Fortunately their carrier force, which had been at sea, escaped. [page break] 28 Chapter Three: Aid to the United States Army and Navy At first, because of Admiral King's objections, at the time Chief of US Naval Operations, American coastal shipping had usually sailed independently and the U-boats, avoiding the few escorted convoys, concentrated their attacks at such focal points as Hampton Roads, North Carolina and Cape Hatteras, with devastating results. In view of their vast commitments in the Pacific and elsewhere, it was not surprising that the United States found themselves short of surface craft and aircraft to patrol their eastern seaboard. To help out, the United Kingdom had in February 1942, sent 24 anti-submarine trawlers and also turned over to the US Navy ten corvettes.21 In the same month, however, Donitz had sent his larger U-boats into the Caribbean to attack essential oil traffic at source in the Gulf of Venezuela and off Aruba and Curacao. Later, six German and Italian boats were to operate near Trinidad. Losses within 300 miles of the American and Canadian eastern coasts (Sea Frontiers) rose steeply from January to March and were most severe in May (the worst month) and June, in spite of the introduction of convoy in these waters in April.22 The overall allied losses now began to assume alarming proportions. So much so, that Winston Churchill intervened and offered the services of No. 53 Squadron to the Americans to help fight the U-boat war with the latest ASV radar and to introduce current Coastal Command techniques. The offer was accepted.23 Today, crossing the North Atlantic by air is commonplace and routine. But in 1942 this was by no means so, especially for landplanes with ranges of a few hundred miles. Alcock and Brown had made the first non-stop crossing in 1919, but when the first Hudsons were successfully delivered by air from Canada to Aldergrove in Northern Ireland, some 21 years later, it still created something of a record. A total of seven specially prepared aircraft, each carrying two pilots and a wireless operator, departed from Gander on 10 November 1940, on a non-stop crossing of the Atlantic, never before attempted so late in the year. Indeed all-previous attempts made later than September had ended in catastrophe. Captain D.C.T. Bennett, of Imperial Airways, later BOAC, led the flight on this occasion; he was later to join the Royal Air Force and eventually become the Air Officer Commanding No 8 (Pathfinder) Group, Bomber Command. For the difficulties of a [sic] making a similar flight across the Atlantic nearly a year later, see Air Commodore John Searby's account in [italics] Making the best of a Bad Job. [/italics]24 [page break] 29 Roy Hastie, with all of 480 hours experience as a pilot, remembers his instructions were: [italics] To get there in one piece and to land at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. [/italics]25 This destination was then a large US naval base. Being a fully equipped operational aircraft, they lacked the range of the ferry aircraft. They were thus briefed to fly with full crews from St Eval to Prestwick and thence by way of Reykjavik – Bluie West – Goose Bay – Dorval – Rhode Island. At Prestwick, the crews came under the control of RAF Ferry Command, which had been formed the previous year, on 18 July 1941, out of the Atlantic Ferry Organisation, and placed under Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill.26 It was decided that the aircraft would fly across in groups of four, although each captain was free to plan his own precise route. Because of bad weather, several briefings were required; in fact a veteran Atlantic pilot, who was about to fly Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands to the New World in a Liberator, conducted one of these. After four days, Roy took off on 21 July 1942 for Reykjavik, a little behind his particular group, but caught up with them in Iceland seven hours ten minutes later, where RAF detachments had been based since October 1940, albeit in somewhat austere conditions. Fortunately the weather held and they were able to take off the next day for the shorter trip to Greenland. Here at Bluie West, the airfield, which was situated at the head of a fiord, possessed only one runway, landing instructions being passed on the approach over water. With the adjacent mountains and a glacier not far from the runway, first landings could be quite an adventure. As luck would have it, the West Coast was covered with sea fog on that day and Roy and his crew soon found themselves alone. In normal circumstances, finding the airfield should not have been too difficult, particularly as Roy had elected to follow the coastline, instead of taking the more direct route across the southern tip of the island. Moreover, the entrance to the fiord was well marked with a small island, complete with a radio station. The fog changed all this, however, and the first attempt required a very tight turn indeed, just to get out of the wrong fiord. Quite suddenly a Dakota passed Roy and he decided to follow it, but even with the Hudson's flaps and wheels down, he could not avoid overtaking the slower aircraft. Fortunately, this time they were on the correct heading and a successful landing followed. It subsequently transpired that the crew of the Dakota was following Roy into Bluie-West. A faulty oil cooler in one of [page break] 30 the Hudson's engines fortuitously provided an opportunity to look around the countryside a little, and sample amongst other things, Greenland's notorious midges. It came as little surprise to learn that the entire airfield, runway, dispersals, and the camp had all been constructed with the aid of rock obtained by demolishing the mountain at the head of the fiord. This had been a United States reponsibility [sic] , although Captain D.C.T. Bennett of BOAC had had a hand in the selection of the original site.27 The next leg of the trip to Goose Bay, Labrador, that land of trees and scrub and a thousand lakes, was child's play compared with Greenland, but was slightly marred by Roy choosing the wrong runway to land on, scattering a number of workmen as he did so. To be fair, the airfield was still being constructed at the time, and they had been unable to establish any form of radio contact with the ground and so Roy had used the landing 'T' as a guide, in accordance with existing procedures. He was unaware that Canadian 'Ts' swung with the wind, unlike those in the United Kingdom, which were fixed. This could mean a variation of up to sixty degrees unless studied for a minute or two, hence the error. The next leg of the journey took them to Dorval, where all the squadron aircraft had to be thoroughly checked, prior to the start of anti-submarine operations. Whilst this was being done the crews were given a few days off, enabling them to explore Montreal and experience the then novelty of roasted chicken followed by ice cream sundaes, luxuries difficult to come by in rationed Britain. Eventually, the aircraft was ready and they took off on the three-hour trip to Rhode Island. Sea fog then shut them out of Quonset Point and so Roy had to land at the civil airport of Providence, completing the journey by air the following day. During the crossing they had spent some 29 hours and ten minutes in the air, arriving as directed – in one piece. Out of the twenty aircraft of the squadron, which had left the United Kingdom in July, fifteen had arrived safely at their destination, but three were still on route plus a further one at Goose bay. The remaining aircraft ran out of fuel over Newfoundland.28 The United States had now been at war for some eight months, and since January 1942 shipping losses off the East Coast had been heavy. Axis U-boats had taken full advantage of shipping which, because of Admiral King's attitude and American commitments in the Pacific and elsewhere, could not be escorted and thus had to sail independently. Tankers containing oil vital to Britain's war effort were naturally [page break] 31 singled out by the U-boats as priority targets, and even the introduction of the first convoys in the area, unfortunately, only proved to be no more than a palliative. Consequently, the citizens of many Eastern American seaboard towns and cities had the war brought to their very doorsteps, as they watched ships being sunk, mainly by night and witnessed the survivors being brought ashore, some horribly burned and injured. The US Navy base at Quonset was impressive, none of the crew had seen anything like it before for sheer size. Living accommodation and food were of the highest order and Roy, by now a temporary Flight Sergeant and diplomatically classed as a Chief Petty Officer, enjoyed to the full all the privileges attached to that rank. The US authorities were very security conscious and entering the base at night seemed to them as though they were lining up outside Alcatraz, complete with searchlights and machine guns at the battlements. Inside, they were met with the strange sight of fatigue men picking up litter under the watchful eyes of an armed guard. Before leaving Glasgow, Roy had been given the address of the well-to-do Pfeiffer family of New York by an Aunt who had been the family nurse for many years. With a four-day pass in his pocket, this was far too good an opportunity to miss. He caught the train from Providence and soon found himself at Grand Central Station, New York, somewhat conspicuous in his RAF uniform. After wading through innumerable telephone directories and making a call, a voice said: [italics] hello – this is Meg, [/italics] in an accent just as Glasgow as Roy's own. It transpired that Meg was a Mrs Margaret Beveridge, who was looking after the house whilst the family were on their ranch near Buffalo, situated in the west of the state. Fortunately, she had met Roy's Aunt and he was quickly given instructions to catch a local train with what seemed an incredible track number of 105. His stay was short and memorable, being allocated a lovely room overlooking the Hudson River from which he was able to telephone Mrs Pfieffer. On leaving a few days later he little thought that he would ever see these delightful people again. In March 1942, Admiral King swallowed hard and accepted British help with the arrival of Royal Navy anti-submarine trawlers off the Eastern Seaboard, when sinkings had reached an average of over 10,000 tons a day.29 On 1 April 1942, losses [page break] 32 forced Admiral King to adopt a partial convoy system, and by the beginning of July, the convoy system off the US Atlantic coast had been extended sufficiently to provide seaborne escorts for ships sailing all the way from the United Kingdom to New York.30 The tankers then proceeded to the oil ports situated to the south. This had been made possible because of an early decision to pool all maritime anti-submarine resources, American, British and Canadian, into a single organisation and the contribution, mentioned earlier, of the transfer of a number of British anti-submarine trawlers and corvettes to the US Navy. As a consequence of convoy and the introduction into service of weapon innovations such as the hedgehog, the U-boats turned their attentions to seeking easier pickings elsewhere, which they found in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. On 31 July 1942, the American HQ Eastern Sea Frontier Force decided, that No 53 Squadron, which since 23 July had been escorting convoys, as far as the St Lawrence River in the North to New York harbour in the South, should try and help reduce the sinkings in the latest area of operations. Their new base was to be Trinidad, with detachments in British and Dutch Guyana. Ordered south on 7 August 1942, Roy was instructed to carry out anti-submarine sweeps en route between re-fuelling stops planned at Cherry Point, Virginia; Miami, Florida; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. But such was the breathtaking scenery that little serious A/S work was done after Virginia, as they flew low level down the coast of Florida, past the Keys to Cuba and beyond. Indeed their preoccupation with their first view of Miami Beach resulted in them landing at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, by mistake. Somewhat red-faced they took off again only to find about five airfields at Miami proper and, not knowing which was which, decided to over-fly each one until the radio gave them an overhead message. Sure enough the ploy worked, but even the subsequent landing was not without incident. The circuit was busy with dozens of Harvard training aircraft and Roy discovered there were two fields in use, one for landing the other for take-offs, the former with just enough length to take the Hudson. Needless to say, Miami was visited that evening, along with a few thousand US sailors and soldiers. Next day, they took off on the three and half hours flight to Cuba, only to find that part of the airfield was still under construction. Shades of Montreal. The runway in use was not very long, and Roy only managed a short landing with difficulty. Another 53 Squadron crew were not so fortunate but luckily were able to walk away from a very [page break] 33 damaged Hudson.31 That evening they went ashore by liberty boat across the Bay to the local village of Caimanera, with its earth road and houses on stilts partially perched over water. Obviously a poverty stricken, the village possessed a restaurant pub, Tatzs Place, where the crew bought post cards to send home. To the credit of the Cuban postal authorities, these reached their respective destinations in the United Kingdom – much to the surprise of the senders. Refuelling took place at San Juan without incident the following day, 10 August, and the next saw them arrive safely at Waller Field, Trinidad. Here they were to operate under the auspices of the US Army Air Corps, which provided them with essential ground support, although somewhat incongruously one crew chief per aircraft came from the US Navy at Quonset. This state of affairs remained until the US Chiefs of Staff ordered the withdrawal of Army aircraft from anti-submarine duties in mid-1943. In the circumstances, it was perhaps fortunate that a sixty strong RAF ground party, comprising a number of their own fitters and mechanics, accompanied No. 53 Squadron. Two weeks later the squadron moved to Edinburgh Field, a few miles to the south, an airfield which the US 9th Bomb Group had just completed. US personnel came to be in Trinidad, the largest island of the West Indies, outside the Greater Antilles, as a direct result of an agreement, in 1940, between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, whereby certain bases were leased for military purposes to the United States for a period of ninety-nine years. Trinidad turned out to be an island about half the size of Wales, lying a few miles off the coast of South America. It had passed from Spain to Britain in 1797, being formally ceded by the Treaty of Amiens of 1802. The island had been rather neglected by the Spanish, but the emancipation of slaves in 1834 and the adoption of Free trade by Britain in 1846, resulted in far-reaching social and economic changes. In order to meet labour shortages over 150,000 immigrants were encouraged to settle from India, China and Madeira and today Trinidad has one of the world's most cosmopolitan of populations. The island, of course, has long been known for its sugar and coca, but citrus fruit and coffee are also grown for export. Trinidad is well endowed with minerals and from the pitch lake at La Brea comes the world's largest supply of natural asphalt. But, perhaps, it was the island's mineral oil, which transformed the economy. The invention of the internal combustion engine towards the end of the nineteenth century hastened the search for oil. Fortunately for Britain, it was found in [page break] 34 Trinidad. Exploration had begun there in 1909, and by 1937 a British Company, Leasehold Ltd, together with others, which included a subsidiary of the Shell Group, had made Trinidad the main colonial oil producer. It then had an annual output of two point two million tons of crude oil, which in the years to follow was to be greatly expanded. At the time, the Air Ministry wisely contracted to purchase 17,000 tons a year of iso-octane for use by the Royal Air Force. In the period May to July U-boat operations off the East Coast of America had declined and eventually ceased, while the boats concentrated on the Caribbean. Six boats were sent south to this area where better and easier targets were to be found, but these operations were only made possible by the arrival of the Milch Cows [italics] U459, U460 [/italics] and [italics] U116 [/italics] . Until July, the Trinidad area had been the scene of extensive sinkings by these U-boats, especially among the oil tankers, causing concern and apprehension, even after the introduction of convoy in these waters resulted in fewer ships being lost. From July the volume of sinkings within the area had fallen and as a result the U-boats began to move to the perimeter of the Caribbean. By the end of the month the number of independent sailings had become so scarce that [italics] U509 [/italics] and [italics] U134 [/italics] were ordered to the Yucatan Channel west of Cuba. As was only to be expected, however, casualties remained high amongst those ships, which had to be routed independently, mainly on the route to the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa. But even as late as January 1943, seven tankers were lost out of a total of nine belonging to a weakly defended Convoy, TM1, on route to Gibraltar.32 An operations room was quickly established at the new base and furnished with large-scale wall maps, in accordance with current Coastal Command practice. Convoy escort duties and anti-submarine sweeps were undertaken on a daily basis, and although Roy and his crew failed to spot a U-boat during their three months on the island the squadron, together with its detachments in British and Dutch Guiana, made a number of sightings and mounted several attacks causing damage, even if no submarines were actually sunk. These and other operations drove the U-boats further south and east and eventually to the Freetown area off the West Coast of Africa, and the mid-Atlantic area, where some of the most fiercely contested battles of the war occurred between U-boat and ship and aircraft. [page break] 35 A fortnight or so passed when a caller arrived unexpectedly, with his wife, and invited Roy and a friend to spend a long weekend at his home. It transpired that the McLaughlins, who had extended the invitation, had left Glasgow for Trinidad some ten years previously. Harry Palmer was selected and the two of them enjoyed themselves immensely, meeting dozens of expatriates, most of who were associated with the local oil industry one way or another. Later on, Roy took the opportunity to tour the oil fields to see for himself how drilling was conducted, and to watch the crude oil being pumped from the rigs to the reservoir, with the aid of an old steam engine. The invention of the internal combustion engine towards the end of the nineteenth century hastened the search for oil. Fortunately for Britain, it was found in Trinidad and exploration had begun in 1909. By 1937 a British Company, leasehold Ltd, had become the main producer and in the following years the output was greatly expanded. There was, however, little demand for asphalt from Trinidad in wartime, even if the necessary ships could have been spared to carry it. Even so, it still came as something of a surprise to Roy when he found it was possible to drive a car on the surface of the world famous tar lake, overgrown with shrubs and wild grass. About this time Roy received a newspaper cutting from Isa, taken from the Glasgow Daily Record, disclosing the presence of RAF aircraft and personnel engaged in anti-submarine operations conducted from bases in the Western Hemisphere. Hitherto, this information had been regarded as highly classified. As previously mentioned, Roy failed to find and attack a U-boat during this period but No 53 Squadron and its various detachments did make a number of sightings. Two U-boat attacks were made on 15 August, the first one against [italics] U108 [/italics] , which was on the surface but this one escaped. The second took place against a diving submarine to the north of Puerto Rico, when some damage was caused to [italics] U217 [/italics] . Further attacks against U-boats occurred on 16 August and 20 August but none of them were sunk, although some damage was achieved.33 The move to Edinburgh Field took place on 22 August and some aircraft had their turrets removed in order to improve performance. A surfacing U-boat was attacked and damaged on 27 August and another two days later, but without damage. [italics] U217 [/italics] was attacked on two occasions, the last on 20 September, this damaged it sufficiently for it to require extensive repairs. A further attack occurred on 22 September causing damage to [italics] U512 [/italics] and the Commanding Officer of the squadron, Wg. Cdr. Jimmy Leggate, attacked [italics] U332 [/italics] on [page break] [page of log book] Page 4 DAILY RECORD, Saturday, August 29, 1942 R.A.F. Help America To Hunt U-Boats Axis Sinkings Drop In Western Atlantic BRITISH planes and British airmen are now co-operating with United States Navy and Army aircraft in operations against submarines in the Western Atlantic. This was revealed by the Navy Department in Washington last night, the first time the world has been told of the valuable part Britain is also playing against U-boats on the American side of the Atlantic. British fliers have already engaged the enemy in these waters it was stated. The fact that British and Canadian vessels were co-operating with the United States Navy off the Atlantic coast was made known by the Navy Department in June last. Since that time submarine activities have somewhat decreased. The arrival of British [deleted] Swordfish [/deleted] [inserted] Hudson [/inserted] planes in the Western Atlantic, it is recalled, was reported recently in a dispatch from Cuba. The announcement that the R.A.F. are assisting in the defence of American waters ends a “secret” shared by countless residents along the east coast of the United States. [underlined] Graveyard For Allied Ships [/underlined] For an undisclosed period – certainly for weeks’ past – during which operations against enemy submarines have taken a slow but increasingly encouraging turn for the better, veteran British submarine hunters have been assisting in the patrolling of hundreds of miles of the U.S. coast and the Caribbean areas, formerly a mammoth graveyard for Allied ships both on and over the sea. Following the Navy Department’s disclosure of this new and striking chapter opened in the history of the R.A.F Coastal Command, last night’s U.S. papers featured strongly this branch of the R.A.F. which has thus dramatically spread its wings in another theatre of war, and is to-day flying and sailing with America’s coastal defenders. Many Americans believe the welcome reinforcement of the anti-submarine forces thus made possible largely accounts for the undoubted fact that the sea-lanes off these shores are ceasing to be a happy-hunting ground for enemy submarines. Hitler’s “pig boats” are still hunting – in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico – but not so successfully as formerly. There has been a sharp drop in sinkings, and the Navy hopes for a more favourable turn in the Atlantic picture. Nevertheless, they want more of ‘everything’ more American submarine chasers, more American planes, and more “upmixing of British-American affairs, which has resulted in the arrival in the U.S. of trained British forces and equipment, and their assumption of a substantial share of the burden of patrolling a 5000-mile American front stretching from Canada to Brazil. [page break] 36 9 October off Parramaribo, slightly damaging it. Further U-boats were found and attacked during November, but none were actually sunk. No 53 Squadron thus made a small but significant contribution to the U-boat's diminishing successes in these waters. These and other operations drove the U-boats further south and east and eventually to the Freetown area off West Africa. Inevitably, however, the sheer volume of shipping traversing the north Atlantic eventually focussed [sic] attention back to the Greenland Gap and the mid-Atlantic area, where some of the most fiercely contested battles of the maritime conflict occurred between U-boat and ship and aircraft. Another invitation for Roy resulted in him going to sea in a US Navy submarine, engaged in exercises with aircraft from No 53 squadron and the US Army Air Corps. The idea was for the aircraft to carry out a simulated attack and the submarine to dive, the interval between the two being the Sub's margin of safety. When looking through the periscope Roy could only think of similar scenes on the big screen, witnessed from the comparative safety of a seat in the cinema. It was not all fun and games, however. Although Trinidad is situated outside the path taken by most hurricanes, several crews were lost through flying accidents in bad weather and especially during tropical storms which, at times, made operations extremely hazardous. Much to Roy's sorrow his own aircraft, brought all the way from St Eval, was lost by another crew (Pilot Officer Risbey) which crashed on landing in a particularly violent storm. What was worse, his USN Crew Chief, AMM3c Boots, was on board in order to make up his flying hours. Roy was upset more than he cared to admit at the time, and this double blow was only softened to some extent by the immediate offer of another aircraft. There was a snag, however, for this particular aircraft had a bad petrol leak. Now the Hudson had no petrol tanks as such, fuel being stored in the wings. Such a leak indicated a crack in the wing and thus an extensive repair, which could only be carried out at San Juan. However, on arrival in Porto Rica, having acquired a new Crew Chief, they learned the work could not be conducted there and consequently they would have to go to Miami. Somewhat understandably no one had been too keen to fly the aircraft in its present condition. Roy and his crew had in fact been volunteers for this particular trip, in spite of it now being their own aircraft. Perhaps at first the crew were glad that they had done so for Roy, without further ado, decided to visit [page break] 37 Jamaica and for no particular reason other then the fact that it was a British colony and none of them had been there before. It was therefore rather unfortunate that the Jamaican runway at the time was rather short, being constructed across a peninsular with sea at either end. To put it mildly, the subsequent landing was shaky in the extreme, and they were extremely fortunate to get away with it. But worse was to follow. The airfield only stocked 87-octane aviation fuel, which was totally unsuitable for the Hudson. Just when it appeared that they might be stranded there for the duration, the Royal Navy came to the rescue. Representatives of the Fleet Air Arm had been on hand to greet them on arrival and, while for the moment these particular naval airmen may not have been seeing much of the war, they certainly knew where stocks of the necessary 100-octane aviation fuel were to be found. The nearby US base at Montego Bay never missed the several hundred gallons required, thus making the subsequent evening spent in Kingston all the more enjoyable. The following morning came all too soon and with it, of course, the take-off. If anything, this turned out to be more spectacular than the landing, if that were possible; but Roy made it all the same after touching the sand once. Miami confirmed that they were unable to undertake the necessary repairs and thus there was nothing for it but to press on to Norfolk, Virginia. The weather forecast was good and heading Northeast over the sea all went well, until some 100 miles from the coast of North Carolina, when they ran into a tremendous weather front. The only way out was downwards. At 200 feet in tropical rain and lightning and with petrol pouring out of the wing, Roy wished just at that moment that he could have been somewhere else. They arrived over Norfolk at a respectable height, but in ten-tenths cloud and with a cloud base of between 200 and 250 feet. Roy turned the aircraft due east out over the sea and commenced to let down, breaking cloud at less than 100 feet. They then headed back to the airfield and landed safely, much to everyone's relief. After a day or so it was decided that they should continue to Quonset which, after all, was 53's main administrative and engineering base, whilst they were in the Western Hemisphere. This arrangement suited Hastie and Co. and especially the new Crew Chief, who came from Providence. They arrived safely on 27 October 1942. Extended leave was granted, whilst the aircraft was being repaired on condition that Roy kept the British Embassy in Washington informed of the crews' movements. This was no hardship, especially as the Embassy was just about the only source of cash [page break] 38 available. The Canadian navigator went home to Montreal, whilst Harry and Alf, the two Wireless Operator/Air Gunners, were generously entertained at the Providence home of a superb Anglo/American couple, a Mr and Mrs Dynes. Understandably, Roy made for New York being met on arrival by the Beveridges. Quite suddenly clothes, of all things, started to present a problem, for they had landed in Norfolk wearing Khaki Drill and, although Roy had his blue uniform with him, New York in October can be wet as well as cold. Some sort of top coat became a necessity and thus shortly after arrival he decided to purchase a US Army style raincoat, which had the advantage of keeping him warm as well as dry, although no doubt grossly contravening RAF dress regulations. At an early opportunity he phoned the Pfiffers, only to learn that their house had been closed temporarily, the family having taken up residence in a New York hotel. He had dinner with them and his host, as generous as ever, arranged for him to stay at the Princeton Club as a guest. The club was then located at the corner of Park Avenue and 39th Street, not far from Grand Central Station. By continuing north and turning left into East 49th Street he was able to explore the Rockefeller Centre and by going further out on to the West Side he managed to glimpse the George Washington Bridge. In fact, over the next five weeks he came to know the geography of the city extremely well, traversing much of it on foot. American hospitality is well known, but to visitors from the United Kingdom in 1942 it was doubly welcome. The depressing effects of the blackout, food rationing, shortages of razor blades and dozens of other items were all forgotten as numerous invitations were received and accepted. Roy was invited to house parties, taken to football games and, after one particular US Army versus Navy match, attended a superb dinner dance at an hotel adjacent to the Empire State Building. It was all too good to be true and, sure enough, one day early in September he had to say goodbye to his many friends and, with mixed feelings, make his way back to Quonset Point. Meanwhile preparations were being completed for Operation Torch, the allied landings in North Africa. This necessitated the withdrawal of many escort ships from convoy duties, to such an extent that the defence of transatlantic shipping had to be drastically reduced. Moreover, two groups of the larger U-boats began to operate off the Cape of Good Hope, whilst the Trinidad area was again being attacked, as was the shipping off the coast of Newfoundland. In spite of these setbacks however, better [page break] [membership card] [page break] 39 countermeasures, including the introduction of Merchant Aircraft Carriers, resulted in the sinking of some 16 U-boats in October. In view of this improving situation and with American war production increasing, it was decided that it was timely to withdraw No 53 Squadron and return it to the United Kingdom. On return from leave Roy learned that some of 53 Squadron's crews had already passed through Rhode Island, en route for Canada and home. He managed to get airborne on 17 December bound for Montreal, only to discover a whole series of faults with the aircraft which included, unserviceable engine temperature gauges, faulty cockpit heating and loose engine cowlings. In any other circumstances they would have turned back, but something made Roy determine otherwise. It may have been due to rumours of an anti-British feeling in Rhode Island, or because of the poor workmanship, no doubt brought about by the dilution of skills associated with a rapidly expanded workforce. Whatever the reason, and however unwisely, Hudson 797 headed for Canada and Dorval where they landed successfully, in spite of a heavy covering of snow. After landing, four frozen airmen ran into the first building that they came to, just to gain a little warmth. It was subsequently learned that the aircraft would have to have a complete overhaul, in spite of the seven weeks spent at Quonset. They were to be at Montreal for five weeks, the crew being accommodated at RCAF Lachine. Perhaps, Roy was fortunate to make friends with a girl working at the airport, which led to an invitation to spend Christmas and New Year at the attractive and comfortable home of a Mr and Mrs Wallis. Lorded and feted like a king, Roy was embarrassed by the kindness and generosity of his hosts, whose three young children adored him. He was encouraged to ski, which was something new, and after being fitted-out with appropriate clothing and the all-essential skis and boots, the entire family set out for the nearby golf course. The youngsters, all under twelve years of age, understandably skied well and thus the family enjoyed themselves hugely, whilst Roy provided the laughter as anyone who can remember his first foray on ski's can testify. At last a lengthy air test, conducted with the aid of a Captain Lilly of RAF Ferry Command, the Hudson was declared serviceable. Roy quickly bade his Montreal friends farewell and, spending his last few cents on presents, took off for Goose Bay and home on 30 January 1943, They arrived in Labrador without incident and took off for Greenland the next day and, fortunately on this occasion, found the airfield there, [page break] 40 Bluie West, without difficulty. It had been enlarged considerably since the previous July, which was just as well as they had caught up with three other 53 Squadron crews, all of whom had been grounded by bad weather further east. So now there was plenty of company, warmth and comfortable American type accommodation – but nowhere to go. With a freezing outside temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, card playing became popular. Whether anyone won or lost did not matter very much, for they were all broke and had to imagine the actual financial transactions. Eventually an advance of pay was arranged, which to Roy's astonishment and chagrin, eventually caught up with him in the United Kingdom; the one time he wanted the RAF's administrative arrangements to fail. It was here in Greenland, while waiting for an improvement in the weather, that Roy and his crew volunteered for a funeral party representing the British Forces. Twenty US soldiers had been found adrift in a lifeboat, casualties of the sinking off Greenland of a troopship bound for the United Kingdom and it had been thought fit and proper to bury them with appropriate military ceremonial.34 Apart from this, an occasional sortie beyond the airfield perimeter helped to relieve the monotony a little. But the stark, inhospitable landscape soon defeated them and they never ventured very far, perhaps rightly so. Now in the RAF, units are required to have some sort of Standing Orders, and although Bluie West could hardly be described as belonging to the RAF, being a United States reponsibility [sic] , Standing Orders for 53 Squadron were conspicuous by their absence. It was thus decided to rectify the situation. Fortunately they were carrying a passenger from the squadron with a sense of humour, one Squadron Leader Rands, who was not only the senior officer among them, but also a member of the Administrative and Special Duties branch, normally responsible for such matters. He was given the task of producing a suitable draft, which he duly did. But then he had to, especially if he wanted to get to the United Kingdom as quickly as possible, being entirely in the hands of the aircrew of the squadron at the time. [page break] 41 SQUADRON STANDING ORDERS By S/Ldr RANDS Commanding 53A Squadron RAF 5/2/43 1. Constitution of the Squadron will be as follows: O i/c A Flight P/0 Rickards O i/c B Flight P/0 Kennard O i/c C Flight F/Sgt Heastie [sic] O i/c RNAF Flight Capt. Jon Tredte Navigation Officer F/Sgt Johnson Equipment Officer F/Sgt Haisell Signals Officer Sgt Owen Squadron Adjutant F/O Gordon 2. Daily Routine will be as follows: Reveille 0530 Breakfast 0615 Briefing 0700 Report to Flights 0730 Start up engines 0745 Cancel all flying 0800 Stop engines 0801 Return to Barracks 0830 Lunch 1230 Dinner 1830 Lights Out 2230 (What a hope) 3. No drinking is allowed in barracks. All liquor to be handed over to the C.O. for safe (?) custody. No receipt will be given. 4. Gambling is permitted in barracks by permission of the C.O. 25% of all winnings to be handed in to the C.O. in order to create a Squadron Benevolent fund (Charity begins at home) Squadron Accountant Officer will be elected when fund exceeds $5. Permission to gamble to be requested in triplicate on Form U.12 (Repeat Form U. One Two). 5. Lady visitors are only allowed in barracks between the hours of 2230 and 0530. 6. Permission is granted for all members of the Squadron to grow beards (if you can). 7. The Squadron Adjutant will call the roll at 1300 daily to ensure C Flight have not taken off for Glasgow. 8. The use of Hudsons for flying is strictly forbidden. These aircraft may have to last until the end of the war and their life must be strictly conserved. X.X.Rands Adjudant [sic] [page break] 42 Ten days of this sort of existence was enough for Roy and so, in spite of an unfavourable weather forecast, he decided to take off for Reykjavik on 10 February 1943. They climbed to 10,000 feet and set course for Iceland, crossing southern Greenland in lovely sunshine. Soon however, and as they approached their destination, the cloud started to thicken below them. Fortunately a gap was found, and Roy brought the Hudson down to about two hundred feet above the sea, where they found themselves in the middle of a raging snowstorm. With daylight nearly gone, Reykjavik was contacted, when luckily in spite of poor radio reception they were given a course to steer and a safe landing followed. The same snow kept them grounded for three days but what was worse, the accommodation provided was of the UK Nissen hut type, complete with the usual inadequate coke stove. Roy's hut had not been used for some time, and was damp as well as cold, forcing the occupants to sleep fully clothed, together with all the blankets they could muster; they were miserable. As if this were not enough, to get to the ablutions required negotiating a pathway cut through the snow where, on arrival, they discovered that only cold water was available35 They could not but help contrast all this with the warm US style billets and hot showers they had so recently vacated at Bluie West. A film show put on one evening, in one of the huts, remained in Roy's memory. The snow was melting and the audience sat on wooden benches, with their wellington-clad feet in six inches of water. The stove sizzled, gently giving off clouds of steam and this, together with a dense haze of tobacco smoke, made actual viewing of the film quite fortuitous. The assembled crews laughed and talked their way through the movie and, in spite of the adverse circumstances, seemed to enjoy themselves immensely; perhaps having members of the WAAF present helped. They waited until 13 February 1943 before getting airborne again, but this time it was for Prestwick and home, Scotland itself being not much more than six hundred nautical miles away. Not being the slightest bit superstitious, the date was of little consequence to Roy, and indeed in the beginning everything went well. Even the first signs of trouble were innocuous enough. The winds started to increase in strength from the Southwest, slowing up their progress considerably. At six hundred feet Roy asked for a M/F fix and later, calling Prestwick by radio, he was told that the airfield there was closed because of gale-force winds. He tried the alternate at Stornoway, but was given a similar reply. Meanwhile, the aircraft was experiencing headwinds of up [page break] 43 to eighty to eighty-five knots, and perhaps for the first time Roy began to realise that this was to be no ordinary trip. Suddenly he remembered Ireland, surely with any sort of reasonable weather he could make Malin Head and then creep around the coast into Loch Foyle and land at Limavady. He pushed the nose of the Hudson down and down through the cloud they went levelling off between two hundred and three hundred feet, only to be met with wild seas, heavy squalls and poor visibility. These rough conditions did not augur well, and with visibility deteriorating and daylight fast receding, the attempt to reach Limavady was abandoned. Climbing back to height, Roy asked for, and received another position fix. He promptly set course for Stornoway, there simply was no other airfield within range and, in spite of previously being told that this was closed, with winds of seventy to eighty knots gusting to one hundred, Roy was set on landing there. It was almost dark before Lewis came into sight. He quickly completed a circuit of the island at three hundred feet, but such were the appalling conditions, he failed to find the airfield. Fortunately, radio contact had been made and Very lights were called for, and luckily these were soon spotted. Landing checks were completed in record time and with no flap, wheels down and an extra twenty knots indicated airspeed, they headed for the runway, where the aircraft made more of an arrival than a landing. They had made it, but only just. It took the combined efforts of a dozen or so airmen to hold the Hudson down, as it came to a stop. Not surprisingly, the crew remembered how good the ground felt under their feet on that occasion. Three days later the weather was fine, and they took off for Prestwick, celebrating their return with a little low flying around the islands off the West Coast. They were soon brought back to reality, however, when they learned that they would have to clear UK Customs. Now this was slightly inconvenient, as there were quite a number of kitbags on board full of presents and, in spite of the United Kingdom being at war, Excise duty still had to be paid on goods purchased abroad. A way was found around this particular dilemma, however, when Roy remembered that the Hudson's air to surface vessel (ASV) radar was classified as secret. Promptly calling for an armed guard to be placed on the Hudson, and clearing the aircraft in the normal way, he saw it towed to a nearby hangar. The ruse worked and later it only took a minute or two to off-load the presents and distribute them amongst the crew. [page break] 44 Service transport was then soon arranged to take them to the main road, where they all piled into a Glasgow-bound bus. Arrangements had been made for them to spend two nights at Roy's home in a happy get-together with his Mother, Sister, fiancée Isa and a host of friends. At some stage of the proceedings, Roy must have managed to be alone with Isa long enough to discuss their wedding plans, when it was decided that this would take place on his next leave. On 19 February 1943, they flew Hudson AM 797 from Prestwick to RAF Docking in Norfolk, where 53 Squadron had found a temporary home. It was perhaps a trifle unfortunate that having just crossed the Atlantic, there were no maps of the United Kingdom on board. They were able to find Norfolk without too much difficulty, but not their destination; and so without further ado Roy landed at a convenient airfield, taxied to flying control where he borrowed a quarter inch map of Norfolk, and promptly took off again for Docking. Here a farewell party was held; it was to be his last trip with No 53 Squadron. [page break] 45 Chapter Four: Marriage and a Caribbean Sojourn The Reverend John Ramsay married Roy and Isa on 1 March 1943, at Mount Florida Church, Glasgow, where Roy had been christened and the two of them had grown up. The plan for the honeymoon was to spend a week in Blackpool and then move to Leicester for a further seven days. All the arrangements, however, necessarily difficult in wartime, had to be left to Isa and Roy's sister and even then the accommodation in Blackpool, was only obtained through the kindness of people Roy had met in 1940, during his recruit training days. Shortly after the reception, the couple left Glasgow about 1700 hours on a journey, which in normal times would have taken a few hours. Because of German air activity over the Midlands, however, it was to be very nearly 0400 hours the following morning, before their train reached North station, instead of the scheduled Blackpool central. Such occurrences were of course not uncommon in wartime Britain but, even so, the start of their honeymoon was hardly auspicious. Their small hotel was situated in the south of the town and with no taxis to hand, there was nothing for it but to walk. And walk they did, carrying their luggage. Fortunately, their landlady having heard about the air raids had waited up for them, and this made the hot tea and biscuits seem all the more enjoyable. While staying with a married sister in Leicester the following week, a recall telegram was received ordering Roy to report to RAF Catfoss, near Hull. This of course, left Isa to return to Glasgow on her own, dealing with Roy's civilian clothes as best she could. Shortly after arrival at Catfoss, Roy learned that he was to become an instructor on Bristol Beaufighters, then coming into service with Coastal Command as a replacement for the Hudsons. The decision to re-equip five squadrons of the Command had been taken the previous September. After two local flying trips in the new aircraft, one standing behind the pilot experienced on type and the second with roles reversed, Roy completed his first solo at night on type, in what was then considered to be a fairly advanced aircraft. But it was destined not to last. After clocking-up about fifteen hours or so, he received another posting notice, which directed him back to Blackpool on 'Beatty' draft – the code name for RAF personnel bound for Canada. Unfortunately, he had turned-in all his flying clothing at Catfoss and thus had to be re-issued with it, this time, however, with items designed to be [page break] 46 worn in northern climates. It transpired that there were five pilots earmarked as flying instructors awaiting embarkation, but strangely the ‘bush telegraph' insisted that they were bound for warmer latitudes than Canada, in fact the Bahamas. On the strength of these rumours, Roy put all his flying clothing into a kitbag and promptly sent it home to Glasgow. By the end of the first week in April they were on board the liner SS [italics] Queen Elizabeth [/italics] , at the tail-of-the-bank off Greenock, along with about one thousand other airmen, mainly trainee aircrew, all waiting to sail westward under the Empire Air Training Scheme. In spite of the addition of a number of naval and army officers, and a few civilians being on board, the ship was comparatively empty, compared with the large drafts of US Army personnel carried on the East-bound voyages from the United States, which sometimes numbered as many as fifteen thousand in a single trip. Soon after embarking Roy was placed in charge of a gang of aircrew trainees from 'C' deck, employed to dispose of the considerable amount of ship's garbage. After the rubbish had been collected daily by the young airmen and deposited over the stern. Roy's official duties were over, and he fell into the habit of spending an hour or two with the naval gun crew who manned the defensive armament mounted aft. For the next four days they sailed through mountainous seas, which Roy found exhilarating, especially when the sea seemed to tower above the decks and even the superstructure, of the then world's largest passenger liner. On this voyage no escort was seen, both 'Queens' normally relying on their superior speed to escape the attentions of any U-boat. But one night, when they were about twelve hours out from New York Roy, and the other occupants of his cabin, were suddenly tossed out of their bunks on to the deck, where they sat huddled together in pitch darkness. The ship's hull was vibrating badly and the noise and shuddering persisted until all went quiet: [italics] what the hell is happening, [/italics] Someone asked? [italics] Have we been hit? [/italics] The tannoy message reassuringly informed them that all was well. Later it transpired that they had been on a collision course with another ship, and the engines going full astern, from a forward speed of nearly thirty knots, had caused the vibrations. The [page break] 47 previous October, the SS [italics] Queen Mary [/italics] whilst engaged in bringing US troops to the United Kingdom, had collided with her escort, the cruiser HMS [italics] Curacao [/italics] , which sank with heavy loss of life. Subsequently, Roy had witnessed the SS [italics] Queen Mary [/italics] enter Boston Harbour for a thorough overhaul, after temporary repairs had been carried out on her hull in the River Clyde. They entered the Hudson River during daylight on 13 April 1943, Roy's thirty-first birthday, and perhaps because of this the skyline seemed to be even more imposing that [sic] previously. They were unable to use the [sic] their usual berth, as it was occupied by the French liner the SS [italics] Normandy [/italics] , lying on its side after being gutted by fire. However, the alternative docking arrangements seemed to work well enough and dis-embarkation started about 1100 hours. The RAF contingent was accommodated at Fort Hamilton, overlooking the Ambrose channel and the entrance to the Narrows. Unable to move very far because of a possible quick departure Roy, along with two companions, took to taking the subway each day into Manhattan to see the sights. Sure enough within a few days they were placed on a train bound for Miami, the journey south taking a miserable three days. On arrival, they immediately boarded another ship bound for Nassau, which was part of the Bahamas, discovered by Columbus in 1492, although the precise landing site remains uncertain to this day. After the Spanish and an interval of thirty-seven years, came the English. But it was not until 1783 that George III formally proclaimed the islands a crown colony, after the Peace of Versailles. The islands then remained much in the doldrums, until prosperity came with the blockade-runners of the American civil war. In later years sponge fishing became the chief industry but subsequently, this was much reduced by fungus disease. By 1940, the major source of wealth was derived from tourists, who came chiefly from the United States. Under the terms of the lease-lend agreement, already referred to, the United States was offered the use of certain British territories, as bases, for a period of ninety-nine years. The Bahamas were included under these arrangements and thus, after December 1941, the United States was in a position to construct bases on New Providence, and the other islands, should they wish to do so. No 111 (General Reconnaissance) Operational Training Unit came into being in August 1942 as a result of an agreement between General Arnold of the US Army Air Corps and Air [page break] 48 Marshal Portal. The advantages of such a location were obvious and it was decided that the unit would be based at Nassau on New Providence Island. It was to be staffed entirely by RAF personnel who would be administered by the RAF Delegation in Washington, with an aim of providing a flow of trained crews to support the Liberator (B24) Squadrons of Coastal Command, at a rate of thirteen crews per month. On a twelve-week course this would require flying facilities, reception, accommodation, messing and recreation arrangements for thirty-nine crews at any one time. Such a task was way beyond the existing resources of the Island and thus it was decided to enlarge the existing Oakes Airfield and to build an entirely new one, tactfully named Windsor Field. Under the terms of lend-lease, the North American Division of the United States Engineer's Department was made responsible for this work. They in their turn employed Pleasantville Construction Incorporated, on contract for the task and this decision, unfortunately, led to trouble. No doubt the Duke of Windsor encouraged the project, as it would benefit the economy, which had been hard hit since the United States had entered the war. But the situation was badly handled; the difference in rates of pay of Americans and Bahamian labour leading to rioting, several deaths and injuries. After two weeks, however, the local men reluctantly returned to work having been offered an increase in pay of five shillings a day. Group Captain R.N. Waite RAF, the first commanding officer, arrived with the advance party in New York on 16 August 1942, having crossed the Atlantic in the SS [italics] Queen Mary [/italics] . Wasting little time in getting to Nassau, he called on the Governor five days later, and as the contractor had not yet finished his work, the RAF contingent was temporarily housed in the Fort Montagu Hotel. Meanwhile the Duchess organised a forces canteen, which was set-up under the auspices of the Nuffield Trust. Flying Training started in November and the following month saw the first conversions on type being carried out on the North American Mitchell. By the end of December, the contractor had completed enough work for the airfield to be formally handed over to the Royal Air Force. Early in the New Year training started in earnest, with student crews undertaking navigation exercises. Moreover, the opportunity was taken to incorporate the escorting of convoys through the Caribbean area into the OTU syllabus. By the time [page break] [photograph] Stanley Toogood [page break] 49 Roy Hastie was due to join the unit as an instructor, anti-submarine sweeps were a regular feature of the training programme. Regular training had now started on the Liberator B24 aircraft, but unfortunately, in March, the first of a number of North American Mitchell's was lost, with its crew, on a training exercise. Sailing through the night under the stars among some of the 3,000 coral islands, cays and rocks that stretch for six hundred miles to the southeast, and go to make up the Bahamas, was an impressive sight. So much so, that quite a few of the passengers on board stayed on deck in order not to miss the really spectacular views. The temperature helped, of course, averaging seventy degrees Fahrenheit in winter and ten-to-twenty degrees higher in summer. Like many people Roy had heard of Nassau and knew it was in the Caribbean, without realising that it was quite so close to the United States, less than two hundred miles or so. As previously mentioned, the governor and Commander-in-Chief was HRH the Duke of Windsor, who had been appointed to the post in July 1940. Previously he had been in France, acting as liaison officer with the British Military Mission, serving in the rank of major general, although unpaid. With the collapse of France, HRH's position became somewhat embarrassing and while in Lisbon, he was offered the job in Nassau. The professional incumbent at the time, Sir Charles Dundas, vacated his post unwillingly in order to make way for his royal successor. The Duke had been appointed on 9 July 1940 and he arrived in Nassau with the Duchess in the following August, arriving in the SS [italics] Lady Somers [/italics].36 No member of the royal family had ever served in such a capacity before, and he must have been heartbroken as he sailed towards the Bahamas, and almost certain exile. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the Windsor's' arrival boosted the tourist trade, especially amongst the numbers coming from the United States, upon which the island's economy so heavily depended. Visitors were soon impressed by the Governor and his wife, and especially by their hard work. When difficulties arose over the reduction of tourists, brought about by the entry of the United States into the war, HRH was instrumental in sponsoring a number of local schemes designed to replace the lost revenue. He formed and chaired an economic committee and tried hard to boost agricultural production. It was also during his tenure that Churchill implemented a previous agreement on 27 March 1941, to lease eight bases in the Bahamas and elsewhere to the United States in return for fifty over-age destroyers.37 [page break] 50 It was unfortunate, therefore, that the Windsor's often offended people, the Duchess in particular, who possessed great charm, but appeared to be more concerned with her status, clothes and jewellery, than the welfare of the islanders. To be fair, the Duke had not trained to be a colonial governor and he could not have found the task an easy one. What is a little surprising, is that he was unpopular with some of the Royal Air Force in Nassau, the Duchess slightly less so. By the end of 1942 Nassau had become a garrison town but in doing so, the arrival of the forces had saved the economy of the Bahamas. Roy's first glimpse of New Providence, the island in which Nassau is situated, was not an inspiring one, an opinion which seemed to be confirmed when the RAF draft arrived at the docks, only to be transported to the airfield in open trucks. He was a little surprised to find the RAF unit such a large one. No 111 General Reconnaissance Operational Training Unit had been formed in August, the previous year, in order to provide a regular supply of trained crews for Coastal Command. The advantages of such a location were obvious, but the unit had to be administered by the RAF delegation in Washington, over a thousand miles away and thus this was not an easy task. The RAF were in possession of the two airfields which were a few miles apart. Oakes, which was still being enlarged and extended, and Windsor Field which was entirely new. Crews under training spent two months at the former, leaning [sic] how to operate the twin-engined North American B25 Mitchell, with Nos. one and two Squadrons; this was followed by a further month at Windsor, on the larger Consolidated B24 Liberator. In all, about 3,000 servicemen manned the unit. Roy, of course, was officially on a 'rest' tour of duty, that is to say a spell away from operational flying. Given the circumstances of finding himself in the Caribbean, and in a flying appointment, he could easily have been forgiven for thinking that he had been given an extended holiday, and at public expense too. Operating in near-perfect weather conditions, over islands which were fringed by incredibly white sandy beaches, set in seas of breath-taking translucent greens and blues, there was indeed a temptation to forget the war, and even at times, the job in hand. Shortly after arrival he spotted a memo pinned to the notice board in the Sergeants' Mess, informing the reader of details concerning services in the local Scottish Kirk, [page break] 51 the Church of St. Andrews. Now at home in Glasgow, he had attended church fairly regularly, and thus it was with pleasure that he decided to go to the Sunday evening services, in spite of the raised eyebrows among some of his friends. He was to be glad that he did so, otherwise he probably would not have met George Cole and 'Binnie', both local businessmen. At the close of the service on the very first visit, Roy was informed that his singing had been very much appreciated, and would he consider joining the choir? He would and did, thus coming to know George and Kate Cole, who subsequently were to become great friends. Such was their kindness, that after the first choir practice he was invited home for supper and was subsequently offered a room for his exclusive use for the rest of his stay on the island. But Roy contributed too, taking most of the bass solo parts in seasonal celebrations, many of which were broadcast by Nassau Radio. Most weekends, when he could get away, were thus spent in the company of the Coles and Binnie, their great friend and many others, swimming, fishing and sailing. Throughout it all, he found it difficult to believe that the war, which had brought him to New Providence, was still on. Roy subsequently returned on holiday, after the war, with Isa in 1953 and again in 1966, to stay with the Coles, who also made reciprocal visits to Glasgow, although sadly, on the last occasion, Kate was on her own, George having died in 1970. For services to his country, George Cole was awarded an OBE in 1968. While all this was going on, of course, there was still a job of work to do, and Roy was determined that he would pass on to his pupil crews the benefit of his experiences and, in the few weeks at his disposal for each crew, train them to the very highest standards possible, fully capable of operating over the sea in an efficient and effective manner. It was sometimes said that 'it was safer to be on an operational squadron, than at an OTU', referring of course to the relative inexperience of the individuals undergoing training. During his time in Nassau, Roy came to realise that was some truth in this generalisation. Casualties were only to be expected and the accident rate, at the time, worked out to be one student crew per course. Sometimes, these were due to human error and, less frequently, to mechanical failure. Very occasionally, aircraft and crew just simply failed to return from a sortie. Just how easily this could happen is related [page break] 52 by the following incident. The twin-engined North American Mitchell was a particular favourite aircraft with Roy, and to relieve the tedium of day-to-day instruction, he often liked to fly it at low level, especially over the sea. On 19 July 1943, it fell to his lot to take an Australian, Pilot Officer Jones and his crew, on an exercise, which culminated in a live bombing attack. The submarine target was represented by some well-defined rocks, which it was hoped to hit, with a 4,000-lb. bomb from a height of about 4,000 feet. All went well up until the climax. As the weapon was released, Roy who was sitting right-hand seat took control and started to bank the aircraft to starboard. This action enabled the crew to have a better view of the result and the rear gunner to photograph the point of impact. Suddenly, there was a loud bang! The Mitchell lost flying speed and started to spin and lose height. Immediately, Roy put the nose down and increased power on the starboard engine, applying full left rudder as he did so. He fought hard to bring the aircraft under control, realising he was losing height far too quickly. Gradually, the gyrations slowed and opening up on both engines, he managed to straighten up and ease back on the throttles, as the altimeter indicated some two hundred feet above sea level. It had been a narrow escape. Roy now had a chance to glance around and first saw the navigator, who had been standing behind him, bleeding profusely having been struck in the face by a dislodged perspex window. The bomb aimer was lying unconscious; he had been propelled up the tunnel leading from the nose by the force of the spin, and had struck his head against the bulkhead. Then Roy noticed the crumpled leading edge of the starboard wing, parts missing from the starboard fin and tail, and oil pouring from the starboard engine. It was high time to go home! Fortunately he had remembered to put out an emergency landing call, and thus Oakes field was ready to receive them. Their luck was certainly in that day, for the undercarriage held and a successful landing was accomplished, albeit without the use of the customary flap. It was later discovered that the nose-wheel door was missing, and the subsequent inquiry assumed that the impact of this hitting the aircraft had been sufficient for control to have been lost and cause the structural damage. The Chief Flying Instructor at the time, however, could not agree that the Mitchell actually entered a spin, preferring instead the term 'spiral'. [page break] 53 It has been mentioned that the Windsor's were not popular among certain sections of the community, and with a large number of servicemen on a small island, and a lot of flying to be done, some complaints from the Governor were only to be expected. One night, Roy was detailed for night flying, after what seemed a week of criticism from government house. He decided that enough was enough, and on take-off deliberately swung the Mitchell to port, so as to pass directly over the top of the Governor's residence. At low altitude and with full power, the noise must have been excessive and fully justifying a strong protest. Roy waited for the inevitable outcome. Fortunately, he had not been first off that night and so had ample time in which to formulate a suitable reply. After about five minutes came the following interchange between the control tower and aircraft: [italics] control to all aircraft — report your position. [/italics] When it came his turn to reply, Roy placed his aircraft a score or more miles from the Island, and thus escaped identification. In spite of the chuckles that followed this particular incident, it could hardly have improved matters between the Governor and the RAF. The next three months passed quickly enough and it was not until Roy found himself on another anti-submarine exercise on 5 October 1943 that the next spot of bother arose. This time the incident occurred in the Exuma Sound area, to the southeast of Nassau, He was with a Pilot Officer Davey and crew, when a runaway propeller developed on the starboard engine. This took Roy a moment or two diagnose, but even when he closed the appropriate throttle and attempted to feather the propeller and cut the ignition, the windmilling increased and with it, of course, the drag effect. It soon became obvious that they would be unable to maintain height on the one good engine, even with maximum power. They were over water, some distance from base, and thus a ditching seemed to be inevitable. Hurriedly, a May Day call was made, and the crew ordered to ditching stations. While all this was going on, Roy had understandably set course for the nearest land, which lay to the east, remembering to jettison the four 250 lb. depth charges, as he did so. The aircraft continued to lose height as they edged towards the island of Eleuthera; rounding its southern tip Roy decided to put the Mitchell down about a quarter of a mile off, and parallel to, the eastern shoreline on a northerly heading. The [page break] 54 aircraft touched the sea lightly and then hit the surface hard, coming to rest quickly and all in one piece. The dinghy inflated satisfactorily, and they clambered in as best they could, carrying Sergeant Allan, one of the air gunners, who sustained a severe head injury during the proceedings, rendering him unconscious. They managed to paddle the few hundred yards to the beach, land and light a large fire, settling down as they could to await rescue. Sergeant Allan was given a shot of morphia from the first aid kit, and made as comfortable as possible as the circumstances permitted. About two hours later their moral [sic] was raised when three aircraft from Nassau flew over them, indicating that they had been located and that all would soon be well. It should be remembered that at the time, Eleuthera was sparsely populated, and not the holiday resort it is today, and really quite isolated from the main centres of population in New Providence and Grand Bahama. Shortly, a small number of local inhabitants arrived and proceeded to guide them through the undergrowth towards the west and the nearest road and habitation. Darkness had fallen and it was hard work, made more difficult by having to carry the unfortunate Allan. Fortunately it had been possible to construct an improvised stretcher out of a parachute slung between two poles. At Bannerman Town, the hamlet on the West Side of the island, a white couple who provided much welcome food and overnight accommodation met them. The next day a so-called ambulance came from the North to take Sergeant Allan to the nearest Doctor and hospital at Governor's Harbour, some forty miles away where he made a complete recovery. At noon, the air sea rescue launch from Nassau arrived to convey the remainder of them to Fort Montague, a near-heroes welcome, and membership of the Goldfish Club. For some time now, the Royal Air Force had adopted a policy of commissioning wartime aircrew on merit. Not surprisingly, Roy was recommended and, in due course, commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAFVR. This was a little unusual, for, in accordance with regulations, as he had already attained the rank of Warrant Officer, he should have been made a Flying Officer. A week or two later the slip was noticed and subsequently corrected. Leave was due anyway, and he decided to spend it in New York; getting to Miami was no problem, with frequent visits by OTU aircraft, almost on a daily basis for [page break] [goldfish club badge and letter] [photograph] [page break] 55 spares and other purposes. But once there, he was on his own. Unable to hitch a lift with either the US Army Air Corps or US Navy, he had to resort to the train. Fortunately for Roy, this turned out to be the crack 'Silver Meteor' and he had a comparatively fast and comfortable ride for over a thousand miles to the North. The months of the New Year 1944 seemed to have sped by with indecent haste, for by July his tour of duty of a little over a year, had come to an end. Roy could hardly believe it, but during his time on the island he had accumulated some one thousand and four hundred instructional flying hours on the Mitchell and Liberator. Along with a dozen or so other instructors, he was asked to select his own crew and complete number 25 Course at the OTU as a student, before returning to the United Kingdom with a fully trained Coastal Command crew. At the end of his time at Nassau, he was assessed as an 'Above the Average' General Reconnaissance Pilot; he acquired the same rating as a Flying Instructor.38 At any time the Bahamas must have seemed like a land of perpetual sunshine and plenty, but in wartime this feeling was obviously more pronounced. To his surprise, he felt glad to be going home, to the restrictions, the blackout, air raids, and rationing. Nor was he alone in this, for most of his fellow instructors who had arrived at No 111 OTU, at about the same time, felt this way too. The party of about one hundred officers and men sailed for Miami, in the second week of July, where they were billeted for two days while preparations were made for the long and tedious journey North to Canada. They eventually arrived in Nova Scotia after a terrible trip, only to find that they had to change trains for Montreal, the airport of departure. Here they flew to Prestwick via Gander in Newfoundland, at the end of July, the flight being made possible by the long-range of the Transport Command Liberators. Fortunately, the weather was good and the 2,000 odd miles were completed non-stop without incident, in fourteen hours, forty minutes.39 [page break] 56 ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION SERIAL . . . 5 NASSAU, BAHAMAS PAGE 4 THURSDAY 6 JAN 1943 AFTER ORDER BY GROUP CAPTAIN R.N. WAITE, COMMANDING. 13. ORDER OF THE DAY On the 5th October 1943, 1107496 Warrant Officer (now Pilot Officer) R.M. Hastie was captain of Mitchell aircraft F.R.384. Owing to loss of oil the feathering mechanism of the propeller on one engine failed, and the consequent behaviour [sic] of the engine made it impossible to maintain height on the remaining engine. Warrant Officer Hastie carried out his emergency procedure accurately and thoroughly in spite of the difficulty of controlling the aircraft, and his crew were at their correct crash stations before the ditching was made. He showed good airmanship and a thorough understanding of the capabilities of his aircraft throughout and made a good touchdown on the water. The air gunner, R.185473 Sgt Allen, T.W., was in the rear compartment of the aircraft. R.73406 F/Sgt. V.A. Mclennan and 1321794 Sgt. S.J. Trusson, two Wireless Operators, had already escaped but on discovering that Sgt. Allen was still in the aircraft, they crawled back through the bomb bay tunnel and with great difficulty dragged him out. The task of pulling an unconscious man through this small tunnel required strength and determination, The rear of the aircraft was below water so the hatches could not be used. F/Sgt. Mclennan and Sgt. Trusson stood in grave danger of being trapped and drowned had the aircraft sank before they got Sgt. Allen through the tunnel. Their prompt and gallant action prevented a very successful ditching from becoming a tragedy. The conduct and devotion to duty of W/O Hastie, F/Sgt. McLennan and Sgt. Trusson was highly commendable throughout. F/L ADJUTANT For GROUP CAPTAIN, COMMANDING ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION NASSAU, BAHAMAS. [page break] 57 Chapter Five: Success in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic in 1943. Meanwhile, great events had been taking place on the world stage, especially in Russia and the Mediterranean area. After months and months of reverses, it was mostly good news for the Allies. Towards the end of Roy's time with No 53 Squadron in the Western Hemisphere, in October 1942, General Montgomery had fought and beaten General Rommel, at the battle of El Alamein, thereby saving Egypt, and the Suez Canal. Moreover, in November 1943, the Allies had successfully launched Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, landing over the beaches in Morocco and at Oran, Algiers, Bougie, and Bone.40 Sicily was then successfully invaded by British and American forces. Soon Italy was to surrender, and even declare war on Germany in October 1943. At sea, the U-boat had been in the ascendant for many months, and in November 1942 sinkings had totalled 509,000 tons. Fortunately for the Allies, bad weather then intervened which halved the sinkings. Nevertheless, 300,000 tons of shipping was sunk by U-boats during the next month, and the figure seemed set to rise. March of the New Year, 1943, turned out to be the worst month of the war for the Allies, when during the first twenty days of the month forty-three ships were sunk in the Atlantic alone. But the signs were misleading. The Battle of the Atlantic was soon to go the other way, helped by the staff at Bletchley regularly reading the German naval Enigma codes. In fact, the Battle of the Atlantic was reaching a climax during the period July 1942 until April 1943; when, at last, Bletchley broke the U-boat Enigma code, enabling the Admiralty to re-route allied convoys around known U-boat dispositions. This was in spite of the fact that B-Dienst, the Kriegsmarine's radio intelligence service, continued to read British Naval Code No.3, through which the allied convoys were controlled. At last, the Royal Navy abandoned its penetrated Codebook, and there was a welcome upsurge in the numbers of escorts provided to convoys. Moreover, the B24 Liberator, with its long range, entered the convoy protection service, and the Escort Carrier scheme was introduced. Perhaps, above all, the allies had started to use centrimetric radar, due in large measure to the work of two of Professor Oliphant's [page break] 58 team at Birmingham University, John Randall and Harry Boot.41 In fact no allied ships were sunk by U-boats from May until September 1943, and German submarines were now being lost at a loss-rate faster than they could be replaced. The tide had indeed turned, and Admiral Doenitz was never able to prevail again, although he tried hard with such devices as the homing torpedo and the Schnorkel. He told Hitler in May that the Battle of the Atlantic would have to be broken off, at least temporarily. But in fact the retreat was to be permanent. A small lump came to Roy's throat at the sight of the Western Isles, in the early morning sunlight of 30 July 1944. For him this seemed to be Scotland at its very best. But another miserable train journey soon brought him down to earth; this time it was to Harrogate, the centre or holding unit, for individuals, who had received their aircrew training abroad, notably under the Commonwealth air training plan. Strictly, coming from an OTU as fully trained crews, they should not have been sent to such a unit. Expediency won the day, however, although it soon became obvious that the staff were ill prepared to handle Coastal Command crews as entities, all keen to join their operational squadrons as quickly as possible. Alas this was not to be. In view of the situation at sea, Coastal Command was not suffering casualties and simply did not require replacement crews.42 Moreover, the casualty rate in Bomber Command was at a low level. The RAF training machine, which embraced all home and Commonwealth flying schools, was now turning out qualified aircrews by the thousands, and because of reduced casualty rates generally, a surplus of crews was rapidly building up; all of them without much chance of being employed in the role for which they had been trained. The usual procedure in those days, when confronted with a problem of this nature, was to send those concerned on leave, indefinite leave if necessary. When Roy returned from a pleasant week spent with Isa, and his family, in Glasgow, he found the situation unchanged. No decision had been taken about their future employment. After a few days his patience snapped and, with two others, he took off for HQ Coastal Command at Northwood, near London. He subsequently found out what was to happen to them, and it was not to his liking. After all his training and experience in the maritime role, it was confirmed that there simply were no vacancies in Coastal, and that they were all to be posted to a new Bomber Group, with a special and secret role. [page break] [graph] The ratio of Allied ships sunk to the number of German submarines lost, plotted at three-monthly intervals for the duration of the war. The dates on which ASV Mark II, the Leigh Light and ASV Mark III were introduced are as shown. E.G. BOWEN During the first nine months of the war, the ratio was already at the frightening level of ten ships sunk for every submarine lost. The loss ratio mounted rapidly through 1940, until during the three months December, January and February of 1940-1, no less than 96 Allied vessels were lost and not a single enemy submarine. If that level had been maintained, the war would have been quickly over. The failure of the attacks during 1940 can be put down to many factors, but in simple terms it was due to the need for a very protracted training period, during which crews of Coastal Command and the Fleet Air Arm learned how best to use their new equipment. Their problems were compounded by the poor serviceability of ASV Mark I, the lack of test equipment and the total absence of training facilities. It remains true to this day that any military service, when faced with the introduction of a new and exotic equipment, requires meticulous training and a long and protracted practice period before they can make best use of it.42 [page break] 59 Chapter Six: Radar in Germany and Great Britain, and Bomber Command. At the end of World War One in 1918, the German people not only lost their Kaiser but found it difficult to come to terms with a Republican government. National sovereignty, however, remained intact in spite of the loss of their colonies and navy and air force. Their army was retained, but reduced in size, although it remained very much of a pervasive factor in politics until at least 1934. It was unfortunate that the Weimar constitution had not been more widely supported, as it was expected to deal, inter alia, with the unpopular reparations set by the allies. In the period 1922-1923, the currency collapsed and rampant inflation set-in and it took the genius of Dr Schaht, President of the Reichsbank, assisted later with loans from American and other banks to overcome it. The peace treaty of 1919 permitted Germany to retain an Army of 100,000 men for internal security purposes, and a very able and astute general, Hans von Seeckt, took full advantage of this clause and spent six years transforming the Reichwehr into a formidable fighting force. In 1929 the effects of Wall Street and the ensuing depression soon spread to Europe and beyond, the slump becoming world-wide. The Weimar government was simply not strong enough to survive the effects of five million people out of work and the attendant inflation. Parliament and the Constitution became unworkable; bullying and violence appeared on the streets and the way was opened for political parties of the extreme left or right to come to power. The people became desperate for the return of law and order and longed for a stable economic situation. Democracy gave way to National Socialism, when President Hindenburg appointed Adolph Hitler, Chancellor in January 1933. Later, under their new leader, Germany rearmed, introduced conscription and acknowledged the existence of the hitherto secret and prohibited German air force, curing many of its economic ills as it did so. After coming to power, Hitler was to adopt extreme expansionist policies and so set his country on the road to conflict and World War Two. Meanwhile, alarm bells began to sound in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Belatedly measures were initiated in London to try and reverse some of the effects of the disarmament policies adopted after World War one. Quite independently of one [page break] 60 another, both Germany and Great Britain started to experiment with radio direction finding, later radar, the principles of which were already well known. It had all begun in the latter half of the nineteenth century when Hertz, who showed that radio waves could be reflected off metal sheets, continued the earlier work of Faraday and Maxwell. Braun then invented the cathode ray tube. In 1904 Fleming produced the world's first diode valve, whilst Hulsmeyer patented a Hertz wave transmitter and receiver. In December 1924 a break-through occurred when Appleton and Barnett first measured the time a radio wave took to travel from transmitter to receiver, after being reflected by the ionosphere. Important developments then followed in the USA when Bret and Tuve perfected this procedure a year later. In 1927 Kuhnhold succeeded in obtaining discernible echoes of a ship at a range of seven to eight miles. Dr Yagi of Japan then took the development a stage further when he invented his narrow beam directional aerial. Early in the 1930's, the German Lorenz Company developed a blind-landing approach system, based on very high frequency (VHF) radio, to help civil aircraft land in poor weather. By the middle of the decade the system was successful and widely used by the airlines, as well as by the RAF and Luftwaffe. In 1933, Dr Hans Plendl developed the Lorenz beam to help aircraft bomb accurately and within five years he was successful. This was the X-Gerät or X-device, which worked on frequencies of between 66 and 75 megacycles.43 Other systems soon followed such as Telefunken's Knickebein or Crooked Leg, using 30 to 33.3 megacycles, and later the technically more advanced Y-Gerät or Benito which operated on 40 megacycles. 44 At the same time Dr Kuhnold was developing Freya, an early warning set which operated on 150 megacycles and Telefunken was producing the Wurzburg accurate gun-laying radar, with a height finding capability.45 Moreover, before the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Seetakt, a naval gun-ranging radar had entered service. The British had tried hard to discover whether or not the Germans possessed radar. They were hampered to some extent by the lack of appropriate specialists, just at a time when the Intelligence gathering departments themselves were not only being reorganised but expanded. The RAF raids on units of the German fleet early in the war might have provided a clue but failed to do so. A little later, the [italics] Graf Spee's [/italics] Seetakt aerial yielded useful information, but the Admiralty inexplicably pigeonholed the subsequent report. [page break] 61 The RAF came to rely for its air intelligence on a number of different sources. They included prisoners of war, crashed German aircraft, the Oslo Report,* the RAF Y Service, especially RAF Cheadle, the Government Code and Cipher School,** and the Telecommunications Research Establishment.*** In March 1940, the first of these sources disclosed the existence of two new devices namely Knickebein and X-Gerat. In view of the evidence available, Dr R.V. Jones, of air intelligence, became convinced that the German air force did indeed possess aids to accurate navigation and bombing, based on VHF beams and in all probability had also developed radar. The Air Ministry Research Establishment at Orfordness, and later at Bawdsey Manor, provided Fighter Command with its original radar defence system, the Chain Home (CH) which operated on a wavelength of about 10 metres and a frequency of 30 MHz. The AOC-in-C of Fighter Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, had been appointed in July 1936. He was just able, before war was declared in September 1939, to weld a number of disparate elements such as fighters, radar, communications, Observer Corps and guns, into a fully integrated air defence system. Fighter Command was subsequently able to withstand the might of the Luftwaffe in daylight in 1940, something which no other air force in Europe had been able to do, thus eventually compelling the Luftwaffe to attack the United Kingdom by night. In spite of the success of Fighter Command's integrated air defence of the United Kingdom, during the Battle of Britain, the RAF was woefully ignorant of the Luftwaffe's radio navigation and bombing aids. These devices enabled German bomber aircraft to navigate in all weathers over the United Kingdom with confidence, and in most cases find and bomb targets accurately. To find and overcome the Luftwaffe's radio beacons and beams, the RAF formed No. 80 (Signals) Wing, under the command of Wing Commander E.B. Addison. This formation was at first placed in Fighter Command, but at a later dated came directly under the Air Ministry. * A secret report sent to the naval attaché in Oslo by an unknown German scientist. ** The Government Code and Cipher school, Bletchley Park, home of Ultra. *** An enlarged Air Ministry Experimental Establishment renamed TRE. It moved from Bawdsey to Swanage via Dundee and thence to Malvern. [page break] 62 Bomber Command, however, was not so fortunate. it had started the war badly. It was not only short of four engined aircraft, but the current navigation and bombing techniques, extant in 1918, left much to be desired. The successor to the East Coast Research Units was the Telecommunication Research Establishment (TRE) and this facility had been available to assist Fighter Command with the development of airborne radar for its night fighters, and with the work of No. 80 Wing, and thus help to protect British industry from German bombing. Bomber Command, however, felt that any use of radio navigation aids would disclose the position of their aircraft to the German air defence system, and thus declined to make use of such developments. By the autumn of 1941, it was clear also, that the Luftwaffe had developed an extensive network of radar early warning covering Western Europe, by means of devices known as Freyas. These enabled them to alert their defences in good time and to detect the general direction of an impending attack. It was also apparent that their night fighters were tactically employing two systems of local radar detection. Airborne interception (AI) was being used and there was also a method of Ground Controlled Interception (GCI), which depended upon a ground-based radar tracking equipment known as Wurzburg. This enabled a controller on the ground to direct a night fighter, by means of radiotelephone, to the vicinity of a RAF bomber. Fortunately for the RAF, Sir Arthur Harris arrived on the scene at Bomber Command in February 1942, with new ideas and a fresh approach to the task in hand. It was imperative that Bomber Command started to make use of the new technology, which was now becoming available from TRE. First of the new navigational aids to be introduced by Bomber Command, was a radio position-finding system known as Gee, invented by Dr R.J. Dippy.46 It was first used against Essen on the night 8/9 March 1942.47 This was followed by Oboe, an accurate blind-bombing device, also from TRE, which came into service in December 1942. It was better than Gee, but was limited by range. The third navigational aid was H2S, an airborne radar set directed at the ground. It was first issued to the Pathfinders of No 8 group, and was first used operationally by them against Hamburg on 30-31 January 1943.48 Its range was unlimited but it was also a powerful transmitter and thus could be detected by the Germans.49 With these devices, Bomber Command's navigation standards improved immeasurably, but bomber losses due to Luftwaffe night fighters had mounted [page break] 63 steadily throughout 1942; as the German radar-based defences improved, it forced the RAF to adopt new measures. Towards the end of 1942 the Air Ministry approved the use of a series of radio countermeasures, designed specifically to protect bomber aircraft. At a meeting held at HQ Bomber Command, in October 1942, it was decided to use Shiver, the RAF Identification, Friend or Foe system, suitable [sic] modified to operate on the intermediate frequency of the German air-defence radar set, Wurzburg. Since only a temporary success could be expected with Shiver, TRE was asked to develop an effective airborne jammer against Wurzburg. Moreover, it was recommended that Mandrel airborne jammers, in the 120 – 130 Mcs band, should be fitted to two aircraft in every Squadron, and be used against the German early warning Freyas. Shiver was introduced immediately; Mandrel being first used in December 1942. It was hoped to destroy the vital communications link between Luftwaffe fighters and their ground controllers, by modulating each aircraft transmitter with noise stemming from a microphone situated inside the aircraft; each wireless operator being briefed to search a given 150 Kcs situated between 3-6 Mcs, in the HF Range, and to transmit on any frequency found to be in use. This was Tinsel, and it was first used in December 1942. Tinsel and Mandrel were introduced at the same time and thus it is difficult to judge their relative effect. Undoubtedly, there was a fall in the loss rate at the beginning of the New Year, although this may have been partly due to seasonal factors. By March, however, the trend of losses was beginning to rise again as the operating range of the Freya early warning radar was extended and Luftwaffe communications improved. Unfortunately for the RAF, there was no scientific basis for Shiver having any effect on the German radar and, in February 1945, its use was discontinued. Since 1940, when the Luftwaffe navigation and bombing beams were beginning to be identified, No 80 (Signals) Wing had been fighting the radio war on behalf of the RAF from the ground. In April 1943, a Ground Grocer station had been opened at Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, its task being to find and jam German Air Interception signals in the 490-500 Mcs band. This it did successfully, in spite of the range of the jamming equipment being limited to about 150 miles. Fortunately for the British, parts of the Dutch coast could be covered including the mouth of the River Scheldt, [page break] 64 and for some miles inland where some of the most efficient German night fighter units were operating. Mandrel continued to be used, but the loss rate of Mandrel carrying aircraft in No 1 Group appeared to be excessive, giving rise to the fear that Luftwaffe fighters were homing-in on the Mandrel transmissions. In fact the German Freya-Halbe apparatus had been specially developed for this purpose. Consequently, in order to avoid this happening Mandrel transmissions were deliberately interrupted, but this action halved the effectiveness of the jamming. Moreover, the Luftwaffe then extended the frequency range of the Early Warning Freyas, by twenty megacycles to 150 Mcs, placing them out of reach of the current Mandrels. Although it was never possible to raise the RAF Mandrel barrage to the desired intensity, Germany was required to expend considerable effort in keeping the Freyas clear of jamming. In this sense Mandrel had to be considered successful. Early in April 1943, the Luftwaffe started to control its night fighters by VHF in the 38-42 Mcs band and, although this had been foreseen, little action could be taken until more details of the German system had been confirmed. As a first step, a ground transmitter was provided covering the whole of the 38-42 Mcs band and established at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast. It was known as Ground Cigar and started to operate at the end of July 1943. But like Ground Grocer before it, it suffered from lack of range, 140 miles, and gave rise to complaints from the Royal Navy and the RAF "Y" Service, concerning interference to their communications. What was really required was an airborne jammer and Air Ministry was asked for one in May 1943. The demand was for the development of an airborne radio jammer, to be fitted to one aircraft of a bomber squadron, which could undertake the Radio Countermeasure (RCM) role, in addition to its normal bombing task. Consequently, early in October 1943, Airborne Cigar (ABC) was first used operationally in the Lancasters of No 101 Squadron. The equipment comprised a panoramic receiver and three transmitters under the control of an additional crewmember, who had been specially trained and could, speak German. ABC fitted aircraft were placed at intervals along the bomber stream in order to give complete protection to all aircraft participating in the raid, each operator normally expecting to hear and jam Luftwaffe transmissions in his own area. ABC continued to be used in this form by No 101 Squadron until April 1945, [page break] 65 and gave extremely good results against the R/T control of German night fighters in the VHF band There was also a requirement to cripple the Wurzburg radar in the 53-centimetre band, which was used for the efficient GCI control network, built up throughout Western Europe, and for gun laying. After much deliberation and many trials, Window, a form of aluminium foil, was first used against Hamburg in July 1943 and achieved immediate success. Not only were RAF casualties limited but the whole German night-fighter defence organisation was thrown into utter confusion. The Luftwaffe reacted quickly and introduced mass control of their night-fighter aircraft in order to try and direct as many as possible to the target area. Here they were expected to attempt interceptions of RAF bombers with the aid of searchlights, which already formed part of the ground defences. Instructions were issued by HF radio in the 3-6 Mcs band. Along main force routes, interceptions by German night fighters took place with the aid of the old GCI controls, working as best as they could through the interference caused by the use of Window. The RAF responded to the new German procedure of mass control, by jamming the latest ground-to-air communications link. Tinsel was already in use against the Luftwaffe HF R/T but, instead of each bomber aircraft jamming part of the band, there were now fewer frequencies in use and each one concerned the bomber force as a whole. Thus the Tinsel effort had to be directed towards the more dangerous frequencies, and at the same time the strength of the jamming had to be increased. This was done by the use of Special Tinsel. Consequently, a proportion of all bomber aircraft operating on a particular occasion was briefed to use this device, the frequencies to jam being obtained by the RAF "Y" Service at West Kingsdown, in Kent. Special Tinsel was instantly effective but the Luftwaffe overcame it by increasing the numbers of channels in use. This was overcome to some extent by dividing the Special Tinsel jamming effort between Groups, each one being allocated a different frequency. Each division necessarily weakened the intensity of the jamming, but it also forced the Luftwaffe to spend time searching for a clear frequency, which they could use. The RAF then decided to add to the jamming already taking place in the 3-6 Mcs range, and high-power transmitters normally used for overseas radio-telegraphy were [page break] 66 pressed into use. The objections raised previously through the use of Ground Cigar did not arise in the HF band, where propagation conditions are different and ranges of 300-500 miles are attainable by night. This countermeasure was known as Corona and early negotiations were necessary with the GPO and the BBC before it could be used. These details were completed and Corona was first operated under the control of West Kingsdown on the night 22-23 October 1943. With this system it was possible to issue false directions in German, but wisely these were confined to instructions to land, tuning transmissions and warnings about the unsuitability of bases. Corona was highly successful, as corroborated by RAF "Y" Service evidence, but eventually straight jamming superseded the false information. The Luftwaffe then turned to the German high-power broadcast station at Stuttgart to pass instructions to its night-fighters. Consequently, the powerful BBC transmitter at Crowborough was brought into use for jamming on the night 6-7 December 1943. It was called Dartboard and shortly afterwards the German MF broadcasts from Stuttgart, and elsewhere, ceased. All this jamming activity was not easy to control, with No 80 Wing providing all the ground activity and similar airborne equipment being employed by Fighter and Bomber Commands. There was thus a growing complexity of RCM activities, duplication of effort and demands for new equipment not always associated with operational requirements. It was thus decided to rationalise the situation and to bring all RCM, ground as well as air, under one formation, No 100 Group. Such a move had been suggested by Bomber Command in June, approved by the Air Ministry and brought into existence under the command of Air Vice Marshal Addison on 1 December 1943. It was one thing, however, to create such a formation, but to make it work took time, and it was not until June 1944, about the time of D-Day, that the Group started to function as originally intended. By the beginning of 1944, however, Bomber Command was using the following countermeasures on a regular basis: Mandrel against the German early warning system, Window against GCI plotting, Ground Cigar, Airborne Cigar, Tinsel, Special Tinsel, Corona and Dartboard against ground-to-air communications, Ground Grocer and Window against airborne interception. A careful watch was kept on any attempt to avoid these measures and the RAF "Y" Service could be relied upon to give notice of any changes in frequency, especially of German ground-to-air communications. [page break] 67 Such was the effect of British countermeasures that during the early part of 1944, it was noticed that the frequencies the Luftwaffe early warning radars were gradual [sic] spreading from 120-130 Mcs to 70-200 Mcs, together with the use of RAF IFF transmissions for tracking main stream bomber aircraft. Moreover, the Benito system was adopted for the control of German fighter aircraft, in addition to the use of Standard Beam Approach type beams to assist fighter navigation. HF W/T running commentaries, together with VHF R/T on 31.2 Megacycles augmented the Luftwaffe fighter ground-to-air communications. The MF navigation radio beacons, which were normally used for assembly of the night fighters, were also being used to pass executive orders, together with W/T in the VHF band. Lastly, it became obvious that the airborne Lichtenstein B.C. on 490 Mcs, was gradually being phased out. Obviously, the attempt to enlarge the frequencies was to obviate the effect of Mandrel jamming. The Germans first increased them in 1943. Now there was evidence of an even greater expansion taking place in the 70-200 Mcs range, but as radar signals were rare outside 120-150 Mcs, there was insufficient evidence for definite action to be taken against them. Nevertheless, it was further proof that Mandrel was effective. At the same time it was discovered that the Luftwaffe was using radiations from RAF IFF sets for long-range tracking. The simplest method of meeting this new danger would have been to have turned the equipment off, but it was difficult to persuade crews to do this and drastic action had to be taken by sealing the switches and prohibiting use other than in an emergency, and this measure was much more successful. Benito, which worked on the reception and transmission of an audio tone by individual German fighters, was dealt with by modifying an ABC transmitter. A suitable modulator was successfully designed to produce an audio note as near to the Benito note as possible. It was unfortunate that W/T transmissions could not be jammed as easily as R/T. Nonetheless, a successful countermeasure, Drumstick, was devised which came into operation on 21-22 January 1944, within a week of the first use of W/T for passing instructions to fighter aircraft. Fortunately for the British, VHF R/T had a comparatively short life. By modifying three ABC transmitters, a jamming signal was produced which, although not covering 31.2 Mcs completely, did enough to convince the Luftwaffe that future developments in this direction were simply not worth while. The use of MF beacons for passing details of main force was first noticed on 22-23 April 1944. Fortunately, No 80 Wing had previously [page break] 68 experienced these transmissions and thus the countermeasure Fidget was available and used on 27-28 April 1944. Early in 1944 it was noticeable that RAF fighters were experiencing less success with their Serrate equipment and the Ground Grocer monitoring watch was finding less German AI activity in the 490 Mcs band. The Luftwaffe, it was ascertained later, had been using SN2 successfully since October 1943. This was confirmed when a Ju 88 landed in the United Kingdom on 12-13 July 1944, with its SN2 in working order. Window type MB, which had been devised for the D-Day landings, covering the range 70-200 Mcs, was used on operations on 23-24 July 1944 with good results. Although Window proved to be successful against the Wurzburgs, this only operated when RAF bombers were present in the required concentration and thus could not protect stragglers or the Pathfinders. Carpet was designed to fill the gap and jam the Wurzburgs electrically, in the frequency range 530-580 Mcs. Somewhat bizarrely, the extensive and complicated services required of TRE for the D-Day landings were only called upon by SHAEF, at the last possible moment. Great thought, however, was then given to the use of radio countermeasures prior to, and during, the actual landings. Bomber Command's participation involved: in conjunction with the Royal Navy, the simulation of two convoys approaching the French coast between Cap Gris Nez and Le Havre (operations Taxable and Glimmer). a Mandrel Barrage and Screen to jam German early warning radar in the assault area. ABC jamming to protect the forces engaged in Taxable and Glimmer and the airborne assault. Simulation of attacks by airborne forces carrying out operations Titanic 1, 2. and 4. The RCM plan on D-Day worked well and beyond expectations. It contributed to the tactical surprise achieved and was responsible for the delay in bringing forward some of the German strategic reserves. Operations Glimmer, which received some unexpected support from allied ABC patrols, deceived the Wehrmacht and convinced it that the actual assault would be made in the Pas de Calais area. [page break] 69 The Radio Countermeasures used on D-Day were thus not only highly successful but, after the event, provided Bomber Command with a number of new devices to incorporate into their nightly bomber raids. In future Mandrel screens could be employed covering the approach of main force, or in unnecessarily and deliberately alerting the German defences. During major operations with an active Mandrel Screen, the Luftwaffe's valuable early warning time would be reduced or would divert the Luftwaffe Controllers' attentions elsewhere, especially if used in conjunction with a small diversionary force, dropping Window. Another development stemming from the D-Day operations, was the Window diversion. A small number of aircraft dispensing Window, MB MC or any of the M series, could be made to appear several times larger than it really was, on the screens of the German air defence radar. Thus feint diversions could be mounted in support of bomber operations or RCM flights on their own could cause unnecessary German fighter activity and wastage of effort. Hitler unleashed the first of his Vengeance weapons on 13 June 1944, when the UK experienced the arrival on London of the first of thousands of the Luftwaffe's developed V1 flying bombs. The German Army's V2 rocket arrived later the same year in September. The Fuhrer had planned to unleash both flying bomb and rocket together, in greater numbers, and there is little doubt that had he succeeded in his aim and targeted the embarkation ports and landing beaches, the whole of the allied assault could have been placed in jeopardy. He was thwarted, however, by massive allied bombing and sabotage, which not only resulted in the late arrival of the weapons themselves, but also resulted in far fewer numbers of flying bombs and rockets being available. As soon as the flying bombs started to arrive, Duncan Sandys who had been placed in charge of Crossbow matters (flying bomb and rocket) by the prime minister, ordered No 100 Group to send two of their best Intruder Squadrons, Nos 85 and 157, equipped with the latest A.I mark X radar equipment, to assist in the defence of the United Kingdom. This was not a popular move and may well have weakened the support provided by No. 100 Group to the Bomber force generally. In September, after the arrival of the first rockets on London, Duncan Sandys was instrumental in having No 223 Squadron formed, in order to bolster No 100 Group's resources in [page break] 70 finding and jamming the V2 launching sites in and around the area of The Hague, in Holland. The Ju 88, which landed at Woodbridge on 12-13 July 1944, was also fitted with Flensburg. This was found to be a homing device working on the same frequency as Monica. From the aircraft's crew, details were obtained of Naxos, which was said to be a homer on to H2S. Subsequent trials found that Window type MB was completely effective against SN2, and that with Flensburg fitted, it was possible for a Luftwaffe fighter to home into the RAF bomber stream and then select an individual aircraft and complete the interception. It was now quite clear, therefore, that any radar transmission made from a British bomber aircraft whilst over the Continent was a potential source of danger to it, and the accompanying bomber stream. Precisely the fears that Bomber Command had expressed at the beginning of the war, when doubts were first raised about the use of radio and radar devices for navigation and bombing purposes. Monica was instituted as a tail-warning device and a safety measure, precisely to avoid such situations arising, but experiments proved that it did not provide the benefits expected of it. A typical bomber aircraft in 1944 could expect Monica to provide a large number of warnings of the presence of neighbouring RAF aircraft. Limiting the range of Monica could reduce this number, but in the absence of any device that would recognise friendly aircraft, it was found impossible to jam the Luftwaffe's SN2 down to such a range. It was then discovered that there was no significant loss between aircraft fitted with Monica and those without. Flensburg had shown the dangers to the bomber stream as a whole, and consequently it was decided to withdraw Monica, and partial restrictions on its use were applied first in mid-August and a complete ban followed a month later. H2S was an aid to navigation that provided an electronic view of the ground, on which the success or failure of an attack might depend. It was realised that any hint of possible danger arising from its use was likely to lead to the full value of H2S as a navigational and blind bombing aid being placed in jeopardy. Moreover, the whole of the RCM effort directed against the German early warning system could be rendered useless by a few H2S transmissions from individual aircraft [page break] 71 It was thus recommended that H2S should not be switched on until the bomber force was within 40 miles of German held territory and this was adopted in principle, the actual areas in which radar silence was to be observed being decided as part of the planning for each attack The high-powered apparatus developed by TRE for the airborne jamming of German ground-to-air communications was Jostle IV, and it was first used operationally in July 1944. It could jam on any frequency in the HF and VHF bands used by the Luftwaffe to control its fighter aircraft. For VHF jamming, it was possible to cover the whole of the Luftwaffe's frequency with a barrage, and this was normally done. Against the HF range of frequencies, it was necessary to spot jam those in use. These were monitored by the RAF "Y" service and at first, the relevant frequencies were passed to an appropriate aircraft carrying the specialist equipment and operator. Electrical jamming of the Luftwaffe AI, the Lichtenstein SN2, was carried out by Piperack. This device had been developed from the American jammer Dinah, and was fitted to the 100 Group Fortresses of No 214 and the Liberators of No 223 Squadrons. By September 1944, allied ground forces had occupied the greater part of France and Belgium, and with this advance Germany lost much of its elaborate and effective system of early warning, No other single event in the war was responsible for such a reduction in bomber losses. This occurred just at a time when the techniques of deploying the Mandrel Screen, an electronic wall in the sky, which could not be penetrated by German radar, and using Window as a spoof raid were being perfected. From this time onwards until the end of hostilities, these two RCM devices helped to reduce the German night defences to a state of near impotence, from which it never fully recovered. [page break] 72 Chapter Seven: No 100 Group and the formation of No 223 Squadron RAF Oulton in Norfolk had been a satellite airfield for Horsham St Faith and Swanton Morley, when it became the home of No 88 Squadron of No. 2 Group. This formation, however, was transferred out of Bomber Command, in the spring of 1943, to form the nucleus of the new tactical air force, which was going to be required to support the army on the Continent. Oulton was thus available when the decision was taken to base No.214 there, along with an embryo RCM US Army unit. By February 1943, No 214 Squadron had been moved to Chedburgh where it operated with Short Stirlings employed in the conventional bombing role. In January 1944, however, it was taken out of the Order of Battle in order to re-equip with the American Flying Fortress, prior to commencing bomber support operations. This conversion was carried out under the direction of Group Captain T.C. Dickens, who subsequently became the first station commander at Oulton under No 100 group's auspices. It was fortuitous that a number of fully trained Coastal Command crews had returned from the Bahamas to the United Kingdom earlier in 1944. The German V2 rockets started to arrive on London in September, but their existence was already well known in intelligence circles.50 Duncan Sandys, placed in charge by the Prime Minister, of the flying bomb and rocket defences of United Kingdom, decided that a search should be made for the rocket's launching sites and, if possible, to jam any controlling signals. In order to expedite this decision, No. 100 Group was immediately reinforced by an additional four-engined squadron, impetus being given to his decision by the recent withdrawal, from RAF Oulton, of the US Army Air Force's Liberators which, until then, had been employed in the RCM role, generously supporting but learning from RAF RCM operations. Consequently, No 223 Squadron was formed on 23 August 1944 and equipped with B24 Liberators, joining the flying fortresses of No 214 Squadron.51 This then was the radio war which Roy was about to join, although he still felt a sense of anti-climax after the inactivity and depressing atmosphere of Harrogate, as he and his crew made their way by rail to Norfolk, he still could not get used to the idea of Bomber Command. After all, most of his flying had been carried out below 2,000 [page break] 73 feet and now, for the first time, he was to operate to nearer 20,000 feet. He had brought with him from No 25 Course, 111 OTU, Flying Officer Christopher Spicer as co-pilot, Flying Officer Leon (Soapy) Hudson as navigator, Warrant Officer F.M Watson as wireless operator, Sergeant Jim Brown as flight engineer, Sergeant Ches. Weston as mid-upper gunner and Sergeant Sydney Pienaar, a South African serving in the RAF, as tail-gunner. This still left the nose and waist gun positions vacant and of course the all-important special wireless operators, who were to join the crew at a later, date. The Air Ministry, however, had not forgotten the additional gunnery positions. Even so, it was quite by chance that No 96 course was then completing ten weeks of intensive training at No 10 AGS, RAF Walney Island, near Barrow-in-Furness. Towards the end of the previous July, some sixty of the potential air gunners had found themselves on a train from London bound for the northwest. It was a dull, overcast afternoon and conversation was at low ebb, even though they were pleased to be leaving St John's Wood, and London, which six days after D-Day had been subjected to attack by the Luftwaffe's flying bomb, the V1. All had volunteered for the air force in good faith some two years, or so, before when the RAF had gratefully accepted their offer to train as pilots, navigators or air bombers. After a reception process at the same St. John's Wood, they had been sent to Initial Training Wings situated around the United Kingdom for ground training, which was excellent and included such subjects as meteorology, principles of flight, signals and above all, navigation. At the end of three months, they were examined in the core subjects and, if successful, were rewarded by an increase in pay from 3/- to 7/9 per diem, although remaining in the rank of AC2. At the end of this phase of their training, the potential pilots were sent to a number of Elementary Flying Training Schools in the United Kingdom, where they received about twelve hours of dual instruction on Tiger Moths, whilst being assessed on their flying ability. It was unfortunate for them, therefore, that just at this time in 1944, the Air Council faced with an appalling wastage of aircrew at various stages of flying training syllabus, decided to dispense with the PNB system and replace it with a more general approach to aircrew recruitment and training. By raising future entry standards, it was hoped to reduce the chronic losses then being experienced in the later stages of flying training at Elementary Flying Training and Service Flying [page break] 74 Training Schools, much of it taking place abroad, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Until 1944, such had been the demand for aircrew, generated by a number of expansionist plans for the air force as a whole, and the level of operational casualties, that such a measure had not been possible. But by now the Commonwealth Air training Scheme had been in operation for some years, and with fewer casualties than had been anticipated, the Royal Air Force could now safely embark on such a fundamental change. Unfortunately for those affected, the educational psychologists involved in the decision paid scant heed of the effect on those individuals who had already started their training, and especially those who had soloed at Grading School. Nevertheless, all in the flying training system in the United Kingdom had to return to London for reassessment, alongside the new applicants just joining the service for the first time from civilian life.52 And so the re-grading continued. Many former PNB aircrew, against their better judgement, wishes and inclinations, were thus invited to became [sic] flight engineers, wireless operators and air gunners. Those who declined had to accept employment in a ground trade, or transfer to the army, or even became a Bevin Boy. At a stroke the Air Council lost the benefit of several years of training of a thousand or so potential aircrew and, more importantly, the confidence of the Air Training Corps, and its cadets. These volunteers had willingly given many hours of their time in order to fly for the RAF, and who subsequently had gone on to pass their ITW examinations. But with a surplus of manpower, the Air Council could afford to embark on such a fundamental change. Hopefully this new policy led to a reduction in the wastage rate in the flying training programmes. Not long after the start of No 96 air gunnery course at Walney Island, the full implications of the decision to discard the PNB Scheme was felt by these particular cadets, and they made their feelings known in no uncertain manner. The Station Commander, Group Captain L.R.S. Freestone OBE, felt that he had to intervene and tactfully pointed out that once on an operational squadron it would be possible to re-muster as a pilot, as he himself had done as an observer employed on air gunner's duties in World War One. This seemed to mollify those most upset and the course continued. Fortunately for those concerned, the training at No 10 AGS was good, as were the instructors. The simulated attacks carried out by Miles Martinet aircraft, [page break] 75 which were filmed by the cine-gun cameras of the student air gunners, in the Avro Ansons, whilst flying over the Lake District, were especially realistic. After ten weeks of instruction and about twenty hours of flying time, a stringent trade test was held which most of the students passed, one of whom was commissioned. The next step was for the newly qualified air gunners to attend one of the Operational Training Units. Here individuals were formed into crews before undergoing operational training on more advanced types of aircraft. At the time, however, most of the OTUs in the United Kingdom were full with existing courses, and so could not take them, thus indefinite leave was granted. Hardly had the necessary papers been issued however, when a call was made for some thirty-eight volunteers to step forward, who were required to serve on a special squadron, which was being formed in a hurry. With the prospect of indefinite leave, and mindful of the treatment recently meted out to them by the Royal Air Force, no one volunteered. The response from the staff at No 10 AGS was the usual one, using the results of the recently held trade test as a guide, the first thirty-eight names were selected and arbitrarily posted to No 223 Squadron, 100 group, Bomber Command. Disappointment at the loss of leave was to some extent offset by the prospect of an immediate flying appointment, although they were unaware of the full implications of No. 100 Group's part in the radio war. The status of Sergeant Air Gunner with its comparatively low rate of pay of 8/4 per day compared with over 13/- for a Sergeant in the PNB group, however, still rankled. Such was the haste to form the new unit, however, that the very next day the thirty-eight volunteers found themselves on a train bound for East Anglia. It turned out to be an overnight journey and involved changing stations at Peterborough, from North to East. It thus came about that one fine early morning in September, at about 0800 hours, the train pulled into the small station at Aylsham, where the heavy kit was taken to Oulton by motor transport. The aircrew party, accompanied by a lone instructor from Walney Island, marched the two-three miles to the airfield and within an hour or two they had breakfasted, received a welcome from the efficient squadron adjutant, Flight Lieutenant B. James, and were being introduced to their new crews. Roy Hastie and crew, late of Coastal Command, had acquired the necessary additional, albeit reluctant, air gunners, Sergeant R. Jones, Sergeant R.C. Lawrence and Sergeant P. Lovatt. The missing Special Radio Operators were to arrive at a later date. [page break] 76 Gradually No 223 Squadron started to take shape, although a few days were to elapse before the first Liberators arrived at Oulton, with all bomb racks having been removed to make way for the new secret radio countermeasure equipment, including the powerful 600-lb. Jostle IV jammer. Whilst awaiting the arrival of their aircraft, the RAF pilots and other aircrew of the squadron were given checks on their respective roles in the Liberator by members of the 803rd Liberator Squadron from Cheddington, by now an experienced USAAF RCM unit, which had previously been based at Oulton.53 Shortly, local flying commenced enabling individual crews to get used to their newly issued flying clothing and to familiarise themselves with the Norfolk countryside. All crews were then required to undergo the standard tests conducted in the decompression chamber, thus showing the effects of lack of oxygen. This was followed by an air-to-ground firing exercise over the Wash. On 13 September 1944, the entire Squadron participated in a 'Bull's Eye' exercise, or simulated attack, on Bristol, from a height of 20,000 feet. The Liberators were unheated and thus crews were issued with much needed electrically heated flying clothing. At about this time a decision was taken to dismantle most of the nose turret, which was considered to be unnecessary at night. This created a surplus amongst the newly arrived air gunners and one air gunner had to leave Hastie's crew. Sergeant R. Jones offered to go and he was posted to No 214 Squadron at Oulton, joining the Flying Fortress crew of Flt. Lt. Allies.* The first German Army managed V2 Rocket landed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 1944.54 It was believed by British intelligence to be controlled by radio and No 100 Group was ordered to confirm this point and jam any appropriate signals found. And so it came about, that on 11 October 1944, Roy Hastie and crew augmented by two Special Operators, Pilot Officer. B.S. Beecroft and Pilot Officer E.P. Youngs found themselves in broad daylight, on their first operational patrol with No 100 * Unfortunately, a month or two later Flt. Lt. Allies was lost on operations with all his crew. Ironically, a Sergeant D. Brockhurst joined Hastie's crew a little later on a temporary basis for Window dropping and other duties, and completed some sixteen sorties before moving to another crew, that of Fg. Off. N. Ayres. Sadly, this aircraft was shot down on the night 20 – 21 March, when the only survivor was a Special Operator. [page break] 77 Group, over the sea in the vicinity of The Hague in Holland, searching for rocket launchings, with orders to jam any radio signals heard.* On their second patrol, carried out three days later, a V2 rocket was indeed sighted and a brief German radio signal heard. The Special Operators with the aid of Jostle 1V promptly jammed this. The signal was intended to cut off the rocket's motor when the exact required velocity had been reached.55 Sometimes they were provided with a RAF fighter escort, but more often than not this arrangement fell through and the patrol was conducted in daylight, without escort, and in sight of the enemy occupied coastline. When this occurred, they all felt very naked indeed. Roy Hastie and crew completed four of these Special Duty or Big Ben patrols before the German Army changed the method of guidance for the V2 Rocket, replacing the radio signal, which in effect cut-off the fuel supply, with a more effective system of integrating accelerometers.56 Subsequently the airborne patrols were withdrawn with effect from 24 October 1944.57 Nevertheless the experience was useful. The crew had been given an opportunity to become used to wearing an oxygen mask, the first time for many of them, and breathing oxygen at 20,000 feet. It also provided an occasion to work as a team in operational conditions and overcome some of the difficulties, which arose from microphones becoming frozen and the ever-present danger of frostbite. * At OuIton there were never enough special operators for an allocation to be made to individual crews. Consequently, they had to fly with a number of different aircraft captains and crews. Nevertheless, Messrs Beecroft and Youngs contrived to fly with Hastie more often than not. [page break] 78 Chapter Eight: RAF Bomber Support Operations – 1944 Their first night operation proper occurred two nights later, when 100 Group operated in considerable strength in support of a small number of Lancaster minelayers of No. 1 Group, which were active in the area off Heligoland. To give the impression of a large raid to the German defences, the Mandrel Screen was positioned over the North Sea and Group Intruder aircraft were active over Holland, Denmark and Western Germany. Hastie formed part of the Special Window Force, which contrived to represent a bomber stream penetrating the Mandrel Screen and then setting course for an attack on Denmark. As a consequence to all this activity, the Luftwaffe indeed appeared to have expected a major bomber raid and four of their nightfighter patrols were heard to be active in the area. Unfortunately for the RAF, one of the minelayers failed to return.58 The remainder of October was taken up with live gunnery training and air testing of aircraft. It was during this period that the Air Ministry took the decision that all commissioned officers on operational squadrons, who were captains of four-engined aircraft, should wherever possible be appointed to the acting rank of Flight Lieutenant. Flying Officer R.M. Hastie fell into this category and the crew was pleased at this increase in their skipper's status when his name appeared as a Flight Lieutenant on the order of battle; at the same time RAF Oulton decided that, for reasons of maintaining moral and where practicable, pilots should be allocated the same aircraft for operations. Hastie and crew ended up with Liberator D.620. Thus it was that as a Flight Lieutenant, that Hastie was briefed to fly to Homburg, on 1 November 1944, as part of the No. 100 Group's Special Window Force, well to the south and in support of a main force raid on Oberhausen. Some 288 aircraft took part in the attack from Nos. 3 and 8 Groups. Unfortunately for the RAF, cloud covered the target area and the bombing was insufficiently concentrated. Nevertheless, the six Short Stirling aircraft comprising the airborne Mandrel screen, which on this occasion was positioned over the Continent to the north and East of Brussels, the Spoof raid on Cologne by Mosquitoes and the Special Window Force to Homburg, all combined to reduce the number of aircraft lost that night to three Halifaxes and one Lancaster.59 [page break] 79 The night 4-5 November 1944 was however different. Two raids were planned, the heaviest of 749 aircraft was scheduled to attack Bochum, while 174 Lancasters were directed back to the Dortmund-Ems Canal. Hastie was detailed to participate in the Special Window Force, which was required to simulate a large bomber stream by Windowing from the occupied coastline, towards the Dortmund-Ems canal, and cover both bombing attacks. The two raids were successful, although the Bochum raid lost twenty-three Halifaxes and five Halifaxes. German nightfighters causing most of the casualties. It is, perhaps, significant to add that the Special Window Force operated in the vicinity of the aircraft attacking the Dortmund-Ems canal, which lost three Lancasters.60 Hastie and crew did not fly again until 18 November 1944, during which time the crew enjoyed a week's leave, granted every six weeks without fail in Bomber Command to all crews on operations, when main force was ordered to attack the oil plant at Wanne-Eickel. Some 285 Lancasters and 24 Mosquitoes were involved from Nos. 1 and 8 Groups. The Mandrel Screen was positioned, this time to the south and east of Brussels. Meanwhile the Special Window Force accompanied the main bomber force through the Screen as far as Leige, before breaking off in a south-easterly direction, flying towards Frankfurt and starting Window operations, thereby simulating a second large bomber force, ostensibly proceeding to attack Hannover. The ploy must have worked, for the total loss for the night was 1 Lancaster aircraft. On the return leg, however, the weather worsened and most of main force aircraft and those of Number 100 Group, had to be diverted to one of the fog free emergency landing fields still open; in this a [sic] case the airfield at Manston in Kent. Manston was unique in that, at night, its vertical searchlights could be seen from France, and its three parallel runways were permanently open to receive any Allied and German aircraft in distress. By the time Hastie arrived at the airfield at 2210 hours, the fog had arrived and so had most of the Lancasters of main force. It was a large station, but even so it was crowded, and in the dense fog the Liberator crew not only had difficulty in finding somewhere to park their aircraft, but later finding their way to operations. They returned to base from Manston with the arrival of the better weather on 20 November 1944.61 [page break] 80 The following night they were required again. Bomber Command put out a large force of 1,345 sorties in order to destroy the local railway yards at Aschaffenburg, where fifty bombs fell in the railway area, but somehow left the main lines untouched; to attack the oil refinery at Castrop-Rauxel, which was severely damaged; to bomb the synthetic oil at Sterkrade which remained untouched; and to breach the Mittelland Canal, the canal banks of which were successfully breached and the Dortmund-Ems Canal, where the aqueduct was breached again and the water drained out of the canal. The Mandrel Screen was positioned over Belgium, but curved away to the south just to the west of Aachen. Eleven aircraft of Number 100 Group commenced Windowing from 1840-1915 hours, in a south-easterly direction towards Karlsruhe, with Hastie's aircraft operating VHF Jostle from 1834-1932 hours. In spite of No. 100 Group's best efforts, losses that night amounted to fourteen aircraft, or one per cent of the total force.62 A week later, on 28 November 1944, Hastie formed part of a Window force covering three hundred and sixteen aircraft, mainly Halifaxes, bombing the Krupp's works at Essen and 153 Lancasters attacking Neuss. The seventy-five Mosquitoes sent to Nuremberg helped to swell the number of sorties for the night to 623. The Window was deposited on a broad front covering the bomber routes immediately prior to the emergence of the main stream from the Mandrel Screen. The ploy worked and the losses for the night were reduced to one aircraft or point two per cent.63 On the last night of the month, Hastie formed part of another Window force covering a mixed force of five hundred and seventy-six aircraft, comprising Halifaxes, Lancasters and Mosquitoes attacking Duisburg. Unfortunately for the RAF, the target was completely covered by cloud, which led to the bombing being poorly concentrated. Little damage was caused to industrial buildings, but some loss was caused to housing. No. 100 Group contributed eighty-eight aircraft, helping to restrict the number of aircraft lost to four, or nought point five per cent64 On 2 December 1944 a major raid was planned against Hagen, with five hundred and four aircraft made up from Nos.1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. The raid had a serious impact on industrial production in the town. No. 100 Group's strong Mandrel Screen, comprising twelve Stirlings and three Halifaxes, covered the approach of main force and the Special Window Force. Hastie helped to provide protection to the bombers with Jostle IV, Carpet and Piperack, with one other similarly equipped aircraft, from a [page break] 81 position of two thousand feet over the top of main force, continually circling the target for the duration of the attack. The total effort for the night amounted to 686 sorties, the Window spoof by 100 Group helping to restrict losses to four aircraft or nought point six per cent.65 Karlsruhe was selected for attack on the night 4 December 1944 with five hundred and thirty-five aircraft. The marking and bombing of the target were accurate and severe damage was caused to the city, especially to the important Durlacher machine-tool factory. Again Hastie was detailed, along with one other crew from the Squadron, to share the task of protecting main force, by encircling the target for the duration of the attack, normally each crew operating Jostle 1V [sic], Carpet and Piperack for fifteen minutes, or so, apiece. One Lancaster and one Mosquito were lost from this raid.66 Next, on 6 December 1944, Hastie was selected to provide similar protection to a force attacking the important synthetic oil-plant at Leuna, near Merseburg, in Eastern Germany, reputed to be protected by three hundred light flak guns and three hundred heavy ones. In the event, an hour or so into the flight, an oxygen leak developed which threatened the safety of the whole crew, as there simply would not have been enough oxygen left in the system for the mission to be completed safely. Reluctantly, they were forced to return to base. This incident, however, was examined very thoroughly the next day at Oulton, which included taking one of the ground engineers on an air test to 20,000 feet, but no leak was ever found. Six days later Roy was on the order of battle again, this time to support a heavy raid with 540 aircraft on the Krupp's works at Essen. The raid was unusually accurate and was accompanied by a forty-nine strong Mosquito diversion attack against Osnabruck. The Window Force was successful, in that it was mistaken for the main raid; strong No. 100 Group support, included forty-three RCM sorties and an equal number of Mosquito patrols. Out of the total of six hundred and seventy-five sorties that night, six aircraft were lost or nought point nine per cent of the entire force.67 Hastie was next briefed to protect main force over Ludwigshafen, the target selected to be attacked on 15 December 1944. It was hoped to bomb two important I.G. Farben chemical factories with three hundred and twenty-seven Lancasters and fourteen Mosquitoes from Nos. 6, 8 Groups. The marking was accurate and the raid [page break] 82 highly successful, although two aircraft were lost, representing a loss rate of nought point four per cent. Two nights later, Hastie was back with the Special Window Force supporting a raid on the old city of Ulm, the home of the large Maginius-Deutz and Kassbohrer lorry factories and other industries. Three hundred and seventeen Lancasters were involved, together with thirteen Mosquitoes from 1 and 8 Groups. This was Bomber Command's first and only raid on the city and it was completely successful. From 23,000 feet Hastie, dropped Window from 1845 – 2018 hours and Messrs Beecroft and Youngs operated VHF Jostle and Piperack from 1836 – 2030 hours, Carpet transmissions occurring between 1841 – 2100 hours. Two other attacks occurred that night, Duisburg was bombed by five hundred and twenty-three aircraft and Munich with two hundred and eighty Lancasters. Both targets were hit hard. No 100 Group's spoof raids by Mosquitoes, Window force and diversions helped to reduce losses to fourteen aircraft, or one point one per cent of the total force operating that night.68 On the 21 December 1944, two hundred and seven Lancasters attacked the synthetic-oil refinery at Politz, near Stettin. One hundred and thirty-six aircraft, Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitoes from 4, 6, and 8 Groups attacked the Cologne/Nippes marshalling yards, which were being used to support the German Ardennes offensive, whilst ninety-seven Lancasters and seventeen Mosquitoes attacked railway targets in the Bonn area. Other diversions took place, along with a large Window force, which operated in the Ruhr area, in an attempt to draw fighters away from the last two mentioned bombing forces, which suffered no losses. Hastie participated in the Window spoof, dropping Window from 1741 – 1849 hours, whilst Messrs Beecroft and Youngs operated VHF Jostle from 1800 – 1923 hours, Carpet 1805 – 1917 hours, intermittently jamming nine frequencies, with Piperack in use from 1800 – 1925 hours. Unfortunately, on the return to Oulton, the weather was poor and Hastie was diverted to Banff in Scotland, a long, long way away for a crew to fly returning from a five-hour trip to the Ruhr. Banff was a Coastal Command Mosquito Strike station, commanded by Max Aitken, the son of Lord Beaverbrook.69 Any thoughts of having a quiet Christmas were soon dispelled, when Roy was placed on the Order of Battle for the night 24 December 1944. One hundred Lancasters were detailed to carry out an accurate attack against the Hangelar/Bonn airfield and ninety-seven Lancasters were ordered to bomb, with the aid of Oboe, the [page break] 83 Cologne/Nippes railway yards. A Mandrel screen was in operation that night with an extremely elaborate double Window Spoof, Hastie participating in the one towards Mannheim, dropping Window from 1742 – 1855 hours. Messrs Beecroft and Youngs operated VHF Jostle from 1753 – 1906 hours, Carpet from 1810 – 1853, jamming two frequencies; Piperack being operated from 1753 – 1906 hours. In spite of the feint attacks and a number of No. 100 Group high and low Mosquito intruders, six Lancasters were lost from the night's operations, one being lost from the airfield attack.70 This sortie brought to an end Hastie's operations for 1944. Armchair critics now believed the German Air Force was beaten, but just how accurate this assessment was will be seen from the reactions of the German night fighters to continuing attacks by Bomber Command in the New Year, 1945. [page break] 84 Chapter Nine: Bomber Support Operations – 1945 Hannover was the target selected for the night 5 January 1945. Two separate bombing raids were made, with a total of six hundred and sixty-four aircraft drawn from Nos. 1, 4, 6, and 8 Groups. Hastie, with one other aircraft from the squadron, was selected to provide support over the target for the duration of the attack. Hastie's Jostle operated from 1820 – 1940, jamming six frequencies, whilst orbiting over the target from 1925 – 1933 hours; Piperack was operated from 1820 – 2052 hours. Houffalize, the bottleneck in the German supply system during Hitler's offensive in the Ardennes, was also bombed with great accuracy. In spite of the RCM operations and a number of diversions, thirty-seven aircraft were lost or three point seven per cent of the force. Hastie next operated on the night 7 January 1945, when six hundred and forty-five Lancasters and nine Mosquitoes successfully carried out two attacks against Munich. Hastie formed part of the Window force, which accompanied the second attack, after the stream turned north-east to cross the Rhine in the direction of Stuttgart, before it turned Southeast to the target just short of Stuttgart. The Window force then continued on towards Nurnberg. Interestingly enough, a Mandrel screen was positioned over France, short of Metz, but not used by main force, in an attempt to double bluff the German night fighter controllers. In spite of the addition of a considerable number of separate Mosquito operations, eleven Lancasters were still lost that night due to the efficiency of the German night fighters and their radar organisation; so much for the view of the armchair strategists.71 Exactly a week later, on the night 14 January 1945, Roy Hastie was detailed to form part of a strong Window force to Mannheim, covering a two-phase five hundred and seventy-three Lancaster attack on the synthetic oil plant at Leuna, a one hundred and fifty-one aircraft attack on the railway yards at Grevenbroich and one hundred and fifteen aircraft attack on the Luftwaffe fuel storage depot at Dulmen. Maximum use was made of the Mandrel screen positioned over Belgium and France, and Hastie accompanied the first phase of main force through the screen towards Frankfurt and Leuna, when the Window force peeled off towards Mannheim. Window was dropped from 1903 – 1950 hours, VHF Jostle and Carpet being operated from 1905 – 2103 hours. Severe damage was caused to the synthetic oil plant at Leuna and out of a total [page break] 85 of one thousand and two hundred and fourteen sorties for the night, seventeen aircraft, or one point four per cent, were lost through German action.72 Two nights later, on 16 January 1945, Bomber Command attacked Magdeburg in strength, together with the synthetic oil plants at Zeitz and Brux and the benzol plant at Wanne-Eickel. This time two Mandrel screens was [sic] positioned, one over the North |Sea [sic] and the other over France and Belgium. The Window Force accompanied the Magdeburg raid, but somewhat unusually, separated from the main bombing stream before entering the Mandrel screen in an attempt to mislead the German controllers into thinking that an attack was about to take place on Kiel or Hamburg. Hastie dropped Window from 1951 – 2110 hours, and VHF Jostle was operated from 2013 – 2215 hours. Carpet jamming occurred from 2020 – 2130 on three frequencies, whilst Piperack was operated from 2014 – 2205 hours. The German controller was not to be deceived so easily, however. Out of a total of one thousand and two hundred and thirty-eight sorties that night, thirty aircraft, or two point four per cent of the force, were lost.73 Six days later Hastie and crew were briefed on 22 January 1945 for a Window raid supporting main force attacks on Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen. One hour into the flight, however, just off Dungeness, smoke fumes started to enter the aircraft. Fortunately for the crew, the smoke started to dissipate after the propeller of number two engine was feathered. In the circumstances the crew, reluctantly, decided to return to base. Better fortune attended them on 28 January 1945, when Roy was briefed to provide VHF Jostle support over the target, Stuttgart. Six hundred and two aircraft were involved from Nos.1, 4, 6, and 8 Groups. The raid was in two parts, with a three-hour interval between them. The target area was mostly cloud-covered and sky marking had to be used, the bombing was consequently scattered. Hastie's VHF Jostle was switched on at 1940 – 2135 hours with Messrs Beecroft and Youngs at the controls, and five German frequencies were jammed with Carpet in operation between 1940 – 2055 hours; Piperack was operated from 1940 – 2135 hours. In spite of this support and a host of minor operations and spoofs, twelve aircraft were lost or one point six per cent of the force.74 [page break] 86 On the first day of the new month, February 1945, Hastie was briefed to provide VHF Jostle support for the two hundred and eleven Lancasters scheduled to attack Siegen. Other targets for the night included Ludwigshafen and Mainz. Conditions were difficult and most bombing was carried out with the aid of sky markers. Messrs Beecroft and Youngs operated VHF Jostle between 1840 – 2030 hours and jammed four German frequencies with Carpet from 1840 – 950 [sic] . Piperack was used from 1910 – 1916 hours. Out of a total of one thousand and two and seventy-three sorties that night, ten aircraft or nought point eight per cent were lost.75 The very next night, Hastie participated in a Window patrol to Mannheim in support of a heavy attack against three targets, Weisbaden, Waune-Eickel and Karlsruhe, involving well over one thousand aircraft. The Window force penetrated the Window screen, positioned from Holland through Belgium to France, along with Weisbaden force but, shortly after entering Germany, flew south-east towards Mannheim. Window was dropped from 2316 – 0004 hours, whilst VHF Jostle was operated from 2306 – 0001 hours. Carpet was used to jam three German frequencies between 2325 – 2355 and Piperack was used from 2306 – 0001 hours. In addition there were forty-three Mosquito operations to Magdeburg, and twenty to Mannheim. The night's operations involved fifty-four RCM sorties and forty-four Mosquito intruder patrols. Out of one thousand and two hundred and fifty-two sorties, twenty-one aircraft were lost or one point seven per cent lost.76 Dresden and Bohlen were the targets selected to be attacked on the night 13-14 February 1945, with over a thousand aircraft. Dresden was attacked in two phases, separated by a period of three hours. Hastie formed part of the second phase of the main stream, the Window force leaving the Mandrel screen independently and making for Koblenz and Bonn, dropping Window from 0002 – 0028 hours and employing Piperack from 0005 – 0055 hours and Carpet from 0006 – 0044 hours. One thousand and four hundred and six sorties were mounted that night, out of which nine aircraft were lost at a rate of nought point six per cent77 The next night Hastie and crew were detailed for a Window patrol to Wiesbaden, in support of a heavy attack on Chemnitz and a smaller one on the oil refinery at Rositz. Hastie dropped Window from 2242 – 2336 hours, and the Special Operators jammed five frequencies with Carpet and used Piperack from 2250 – 0011 hours. Extensive diversions, minelaying and intruder patrols took place but out of one [page break] 87 thousand three hundred and sixteen sorties, twenty-three aircraft were lost or one point seven per cent.78 VHF Jostle support was called for on the night 20 February 1945 when over a thousand aircraft were ordered to attack Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Monheim and the Mittelland Canal. Two Window forces were involved, Roy and his crew being selected to provide protection for the attack on the canal near Gravenhorst. The Mandrel screen was positioned just short of the German border, in Holland. Belgium and France. Hastie shared the same track for a time as the Monheim force, but continued north-eastwards, turning to the West just South of Munster. The Master Bomber, however, abandoned the attack on the canal because of bad weather. Fortunately for the RAF, no aircraft were lost. The Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, was unhappy at this turn of events and sent out a similar force the next night with orders to finish the job. Aircraft were thus sent to Duisburg, Worms and the Mittelland Canal. Hastie's VHF Jostle was operated from 1952 – 2056 hours and Piperack from 1952 – 2118 hours. The Special Operators jammed eleven frequencies with Carpet being switched on from 1954 – 2056 hours. The attack was successful and the canal was well and truly breached. Unfortunately for the RAF, thirty-four aircraft were lost or three point one per cent of the force.79 Hastie was next detailed to fly a Window mission in support of a three hundred and sixty-seven Lancaster attack on Pforzheim and minor Mosquito raids on Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Worms. Two Mandrel screens were positioned over Holland short of the German border and two Window forces emerged flying towards Neuss. Hastie's trip was uneventful until on the return journey they were intercepted by a Bf 110 night-fighter. It had been vectored to the general area by German GCI radar and then used its own airborne set to come up under the starboard wing of the Liberator, completely unseen by Syd. Piennar the rear gunner, or Chas. Weston the mid-upper. From the starboard waist position, Bob Lawrence reported to Hastie that the German aircraft was so close he doubted that he could open fire, adding that he could almost read the instruments on the night fighter's control panel. Instead of corkscrewing to starboard, the normal procedure in such circumstances, Hastie chose to sideslip the Liberator to port, with everyone keeping a watchful eye open. But the German pilot, who was probably inexperienced, had had enough. Realising that he had been spotted, he dived away to starboard and flew off as quickly as possible, thus [page break] 88 avoiding the fire power of six point five inch Browning machine guns and so living to fight another day, On the last day of the month, 28 February 1945, Hastie and crew were briefed to carry out a No.100 Group Window patrol to Frieburg, Lake Constance. Without any main force participation that night, this was a test to keep the German defences on their toes. Window was dropped from 2238 – 2347 hours, HF Jostle was operated from 2323 – 2345 hours, six frequencies were jammed with the aid Carpet and Piperack was switched on from 2245 – 2345 hours. No German night fighters were encountered however.80 The Bergkamen synthetic-oil refinery at Kamen was severely damaged by two hundred and thirty-four Halifaxes and Lancasters of No. 4 and 8 Groups, on the night 3 March 1945. In addition, the Ladbergen aqueduct over the Dortmund-Ems Canal was successfully attacked and a large number of support and minor operations mounted. A total of eight aircraft were lost over Germany from these operations. From a common Mandrel screen over Belgium and France, two separate Window patrols were ordered to commence dropping Window after leaving the screen, but before arriving at the German border, Hastie was briefed to fly the patrol in support of the Kamen attack. Unusually, he was not flying in 'D' Dog, his usual aircraft, but K 343, one of the slowest aircraft on the squadron. Window was dropped from 2120 – 2216 hours, and two frequencies were jammed with the aid of Carpet from 2140 – 2228 hours; Piperack being in operation from 2120 – 2245 hours. Returning to the United Kingdom via Dungeness, Soapy Hudson, the navigator, proposed that in view of the aircraft's slow speed, Reading, the normal turning point for returning Bomber Command aircraft, should be missed out and instead, and a direct course from the Kent coast, set for Oulton. After some discussion, the suggestion was agreed, and, strictly against orders, a direct course was set for Norfolk, taking the aircraft over the heavily defended gun area of the Thames estuary. With IFF switched on and flying just above the normal height set for barrage balloons, the Liberator negotiated the Thames area and in due course approached within R/T range of the airfield. Calling up for landing instructions, Chris Spicer, the co-pilot, was amazed to receive turn number one to land. This was the first and only time they were to receive such an instruction. As the aircraft, with its undercarriage lowered, approached the runway to land, all the airfield lighting suddenly went out and one word passed over the R/T – [page break] 89 Bandits.81 The Luftwaffe had mounted their long-planned Operation Gisella and had sent some two-hundred night-fighter aircraft to mingle with, and follow the bomber aircraft back to their bases. The move took the RAF by surprise and the Luftwaffe was able to shoot down twenty RAF aircraft, including one Fortress of No. 214 Squadron, over Oulton. Hastie and crew could only watch the events as they unfurled from the ground, and wonder what had made them choose to fly home on this occasion via the Thames estuary, thus enabling them to return to base early and so escape the attentions of the German intruders.82 Four days later they were briefed to fly a Window patrol to Munster, in support of a raid on Dessau, in Eastern Germany, comprising five hundred and twenty-six Lancasters of Nos. 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups. Other targets attacked that night included the oil refineries at Hemmingstedt and Harburg. In spite of a Mandrel screen positioned just to the West of Cologne and a double Window feint to the north, which involved dropping Window from 2010 – 2108 hours, HF Jostle being operated from 2010 – 2107 hours, and nine frequencies being jammed by the Carpet and Piperack being used, eighteen Lancasters were lost, or three point four per cent.83 Oil was still the target on 13 March 1945, when one hundred and ninety-five Lancasters and thirty-two Mosquitoes of Nos 1 and 8 Groups attacked the Benzol plants at Herne and Gelsenkirchen. Extensive Window support was provided; Hastie dropped Window from 2004 – 2101 hours and jammed eight frequencies with Carpet and operated Piperack from 2015 – 2100 hours. The Gelsenkirchen attack was successful, although one Lancaster was lost.84 They did not fly again until 23 March 1945 when a Window patrol was ordered in support of a one hundred and ninety-five Lancaster attack on Wesel. Hastie dropped Window dropped [sic] from 2200 – 2225 hours and twelve frequencies were jammed with the aid of Carpet from 2227 – 2322 hours and Piperack was operated from 2206 – 2243 hours. No aircraft were lost.85 April was to prove the last month of the war for Hastie and crew. They carried out a successful Window patrol to Hamburg on 2 April 1945 and again on the night 8 April 1945 when four hundred and forty aircraft attacked the city's shipyards. Jostle support was provided to aircraft attacking the target, with VHF Jostle being operated from 2151 – 2243 hours; Carpet jammed seven frequencies between 2151 – 2243 [page break] 90 hours and Piperack was in use from 2151 – 2243 hours. Three Lancasters were lost. Coming home, however, the German flak around Hamburg was extremely accurate at 22,000 feet and hit Hastie's aircraft, severely damaging No 2 engine, the propeller of which had to be feathered. As this engine drove the pump transferring fuel from the tanks to all the engines, Roy Hastie realised the amount of fuel available for the return flight would be very limited. A debate was held whether or not to divert to a diversion airfield, Juvancourt in France, but this former German night fighter station was not exactly known for its standard of comfort and hospitality. In the end it was decided to try and make for base in the United Kingdom. Throwing as many of the guns, and as much ammunition overboard, as practicable and conserving fuel by using the leanest of mixtures, Hastie brought the aircraft back to Oulton, only to be diverted because of poor weather conditions. Despite protestation, they were sent to Barford St John, in Oxfordshire. This was not far away to be sure, but the extra journey certainly added to Roy Hastie's problems. Barford was a Mosquito training station and the Liberator arrived overhead with not a single light showing below. Firing a red Very cartridge or two provoked some reaction, and the airfield lights were switched on enabling Roy to land on the unfamiliar runway. As the aircraft taxied in to the nearest dispersal, the three working engines cut out, their fuel exhausted. The Liberator, G for George, never flew again. The crew returned to Oulton the following day. Hastie and crew returned to Barford in Liberator D 523 on 12 April, to retrieve aircraft and signals parts from the carcass of G-George. On leaving Roy could not resist putting on a low flying exhibition for the benefit of the Mosquito pilots, before setting course for Oulton. Some days later, a stinging signal came from the station commander at Barford, asking for disciplinary action to be taken against the Liberator pilot for low flying without authority. Roy and Soapy Hudson had to think hard about altimeter settings, which they offered in defence. Fortunately, nothing further was heard about the matter. On the 13 April Hastie was detailed to provide Window support for a raid against Kiel, when Window, Carpet and Piperack were all used to good effect. Their last trip of the war occurred on the night 15 April 1945, which was to provide a Window feint against Augsburg. Both occasions went well, the crew completing their final trip thankfully and with renewed respect for their skipper, Flight Lieutenant R.M. Hastie. [page break] 91 Chapter Ten: 1945 and The Post War Years Victory in Europe Day came and went and Roy, still on leave, began to get a little apprehensive, his release was still some way off and he wanted to fly right up to the last possible moment. In fact it was to be all of three months before he was airborne again, and even then it took a couple of letters to the C.O. of No 223 Squadron, Wg. Cdr. H.H. Burnell AFC, to get him a posting which turned out to be No 1688 Battle Defence Training Flight at Feltwell in Norfolk*. Of course, B.D.T.F. did not mean much to Roy, he was too pleased at the thought of a flying appointment to be much concerned about the meaning of the unit's title. The penny soon dropped, however, as he walked up the road towards the strange airfield and saw a number of parked Hurricanes and Spitfires. Fighter Affiliation, as it was then called, involved flying fighter aircraft and improving the tactical knowledge and skill of the pilots and crews involved. In spite of the thought of more unwanted leave, this was definitely not a job for Roy and he promptly requested a posting, suggesting Transport Command. Meanwhile he was expected to earn his keep at Feltwell and his first task was to fly an Airspeed Oxford to Croydon and back. Two days later he went solo in the unit Proctor and the day after in a Hurricane fighter. His first flight in a Spitfire came on 3 August and although he enjoyed flying all three aircraft very much indeed, he could not enthuse over the unit's general role. Fortunately, a posting soon materialised to No 1332 Heavy Conversion Unit, Riccal, near Selby, York where he was to instruct pilots converting on to the Liberator, which was now being used more extensively in the transport role than hitherto. He was so pleased with the idea that he asked for his release, set for September, to be deferred for a further six months at least. This was agreed. By this time however peacetime rules and regulations were beginning to be reintroduced and insisted upon and thus, albeit a little surprised, he readily agreed to undergo a formal course of training which would turn him officially into a fully qualified peace-time *Unfortunately, Wg. Cdr. H.H. Burnell DSO AFC was killed in a flying accident in Italy in November 1945, testing a Lancaster used to bring British prisoners of war home to the United kingdom. He is buried in Caserta War Cemetery, Grave viii. D,7. [page break] 92 flying instructor. He never did complete that course of instruction at Cranwell and the Bahamas tour was ignored. He was sent to No 7 Flying Instructor's School, Lulsgate Bottom, which is now Bristol Airport, where six week later he was awarded the all-essential piece of paper which officially turned him into a fully-fledged flying instructor. Towards the end of the course a telegram from No. 223 Squadron was sent to his home in Glasgow, informing him that he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. A little later a note arrived from Air Vice Marshal Addison congratulating him on his award. No wonder Roy enjoyed himself hugely at Lulsgate Bottom; he retained his coveted above average rating as a pilot, but was only graded average as an instructor. The Chief Flying Instructor had told him at the end of the course at Bristol: [italics] that as an Instructor he could with advantage take life and work a little more seriously. [/italics] Whilst at Lulsgate, the Heavy Conversion Unit had moved to Dishforth where Roy rejoined them, only to find a few days later that he was required to attend yet another course. This time it was to Prestwick to fly the radar range and to learn the talk-down procedures then employed by Transport Command. He returned to Dishforth in December and until the time came for his release from the service in March 1946, he put his heart into converting a number of pilots and crews on to the Liberator. His last recorded trip from Dishforth was to deliver a brand new shiny aluminium aircraft to the Maintenance Unit at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, and the scrap heap. Towards the end of March, Roy returned to Glasgow complete with his 'demob.' Suit and the small house he and Isa had purchased the previous January. He promptly set about to get this into shape, their first real home since their marriage three years ago. It was fortunate that he had remained on good terms with his former employers, Anderson Brothers, throughout the war, and thus there was little difficulty when he intimated that he hoped to return to work in a few weeks time. The business had been started in the previous century and was still being run as a family concern by three brothers. They were the main agents for Rootes Ltd, Scotland, having been the very first agents for Humber cars ever to be appointed, having started off with bicycles. To Roy the motor trade looked fair to expand after years of wartime austerity, but he was still in two minds about returning to it, flying still having a very strong [page break] 93 attraction. Perhaps Isa had the final word, or maybe it was his age. Whatever the reason, the motor trade won but he managed to keep his hand in the flying game by joining No 11 Reserve Flying School at Perth in 1947. He continued as an active member until the flying side of the RAFVR was drastically curtailed in 1952. This arrangement enabled him to fly Tiger Moth aircraft for three years until the Chipmunk, then considered to be quite an advanced trainer replaced these. He took pleasure in flying in an open cockpit again, well wrapped up in a Sidcot flying suit, especially on a nice day. The spirit among the volunteer reserve pilots was good, all were very experienced wartime fliers and the sense of well being which pervaded the crew room was fully shared with their instructors. One weekend he was sick after completing compulsory aerobatics, which he was never really keen on, much preferring larger aircraft. On another occasion he was in a Tiger Moth over the sea on his way to Donibristle when he was caught in fog. It was too late to attempt a forced landing, so he decided to fly up through it and this can be a disconcerting experience, especially without a full flying instrument panel. On his return he was firmly told that the Tiger Moth should not be taken into cloud. Reading the motor trade journals one day, Maurice Anderson and Roy decided that they would like to have a go at the Monte Carlo Rally, which was then due to restart in 1948. In the event, it was postponed for a further year and their entry was accepted for the following January. At the time new cars were hard to come by and thus they were extremely fortunate to acquire a brand new Hillman Minx. The rally today, is of course, entirely different but in those days competitors entered for the fun and interest, never perhaps believing that they stood a chance of winning – but always hoping. The car was duly prepared in their own workshops for a round journey of nearly 5,000 miles, 2,000 of which would be hard rally driving over three days and nights. Upon completion of these preparations, the Hillman was found to be four hundredweight heavier than its usual kerbside weight and this was to ask a lot of the 1300cc side valve engine. Of course, there was little one was allowed to alter to the actual design of the engine and car and all extras and spares had to be carried, such as an additional road wheel, tyre and chains. No change of tyres was permitted [page break] [Post Office crest] POST OFFICE TELEGRAM [postmark] 905 3.56 NC/T OHMS 25 F/LT HASTIE 245 GLADSMUIR ROAD GLASGOW SW 2 = CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE SQUADRON AND MYSELF ON YOUR AWARD OF THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS = OC NO 233 SQUADRON 245 SW 2 223 NC/T OHMS ++ [inserted] [underlined] By hand [/underlined] [underlined] 25.v.45 [/underlined] Dear Hastie Congratulations on your award of the D.F.C. Yours Sincerely. M Addison A.V.M. F/LT. R.M. Hastie DFC [/inserted] [page break] 94 On this the first of the post-war rallies, there were seven starting points on the Continent ranging from Oslo in the north and included such diverse places as Stockholm, The Hague, Prague, Florence, Lisbon and even Monte Carlo itself. Most of the United Kingdom competitors elected to start from Glasgow, where they easily the largest contingent with over one hundred entries. The entire British entry nearly came to grief when they were delayed at Boulogne because of poor unloading facilities but, having overcome this particular obstacle, they were then faced with a route which was to take them through Luxembourg, Venlo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rheims, Paris, Lyon, and Digne to Monte Carlo which, in spite of all the odds, they reached on time. This was essential if they were to enter any further and local competitions associated with the rally itself. Maurice and Roy had their eyes on the 'Road Safety and Comfort Competition' in which they carried off first prize in class 2. Indeed, they proceeded to win it for the following five years. 1950 was to be an unlucky year for the British entry, as again they elected mainly to start from Glasgow. Heavy snow was falling as they left Nevers and not long after, they all came unstuck on a hill where the first cars had failed to make the gradient. Consequently, those following on just piled up behind. Eventually, however, they got clear and driving as quickly as possible as the snow and ice conditions permitted arrived in Monte Carlo with some minutes to spare. They were placed in 39th position overall. The following year they damaged their car for the first and last time in all of the six competitions in which they entered. It happened around 0200 hours on the third day when they hit another British competitor, on rounding a sharp bend in the mountains, who was trying to extricate himself from a ditch. To be fair, the snow and ice conditions were making driving difficult for both parties concerned. In 1954 they won their class and were also the overall winners, even surpassing Mike Couper in his Rolls Royce. Three years earlier, in 1951, Roy had elected to complete a week of his annual flying training with the RAFVR with Transair Ltd, flying from Croydon hauling freight with Avro Anson aircraft. The main outward bound cargo invariably seemed to consist of newspapers destined for Paris, Brussels and Jersey with a take-off time around midnight. Return trips were frequently eventful depending on the load. On one [page break] 95 occasion, so many carpets were brought back from Lille that pilot and co-pilot had to clamber into the aircraft through the cockpit windows. Another time they brought back sausages from Jersey which were still rarities in those days, rationing not ending until 1953. Roy finished the week by taking a trip to Paris just before midnight, returning to Croydon by 0500 hours the following morning. He then grabbed a quick two hours sleep and following a snatched breakfast drove 500 miles to Perth non-stop. He flew with the RAFVR for the last time on 23 May 1952, at the end of his annual training. Roy Hastie continued to work at Andersons until reaching normal retirement age, when he fully intended to find some sort of work just to keep busy. But after retirement he found himself sufficiently occupied around the house doing odd jobs, playing an occasional round of golf and attending a Coastal Command re-union or two at RAF Northwood. He disliked intensely the thought of growing old, made worse by increasing deafness brought on, no doubt, by excessive noise sustained in the days before ear defenders were worn, when not so much care was taken of individuals' hearing, especially the hearing of aviators. He need not have worried, for two years after retirement he died on 1 December 1979, while playing a round of golf on a course near his home. It is perhaps fitting that the last words should come from the Minister at Mount Florida Church, which he and Isa had attended for so much of their lives. [underlined] Tribute to Roy Hastie DFC AE RAFVR [/underlined] Mr Roy Hastie died suddenly on 1 December 1979. At the funeral service, Mr Neilson paid the following tribute to his life and work:’ Roy Hastie was a man who stood out among other men – and was recognised and respected for it. He combined a quiet dignity with a vital sense of fun and love of laughter. It is appropriate that the last memories of those who knew him best are the fun of his last hours. Roy was a man with a very large spirit. His war record with the RAF reveals the courage of the man, a quality that won him many decorations, among them the highly prized Distinguished Flying Cross. His adventurous spirit led him into driving in the Monte Carlo rallies and once again his efforts were crowned with success. Throughout his life he never lost his love of flying, or driving, and entered into the sportsman's life with typical zest. He was a deeply committed Christian, [page break] 96 whose devotion to the Church of Christ led him to give over thirty years' service on the Board of Management of Mount Florida Church and forty-two service in the choir where, he said, he spent some of the happiest days of his life. Of course it was in his own home that he gave and received so much that made him the man he was, and it is there that his fun-loving personality and his ever-ready practicality will be much missed. It is hard to grasp that such a full life has been stopped short. And yet the hope of Christ is that the fullest life is yet to be. For the Christian death is not the full stop at the end of the sentence of life, merely the comma where there is a moment's silence before beginning again. While we feel the full effect of that silence, we hear the words of Jesus saying: [italics] I am the Resurrection and the Life whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.' [/italics] [page break] 97 Appendix One: Glossary ABC – Airborne Cigar. This was British equipment, which countered German VHF transmissions in the 38-42 Mcs band. ADI (Sc) – Assistant Director of Intelligence (Science). AI – Air interception by means of radar carried in fighter aircraft. ASV – Air to Surface Vessel. Coastal Command search radar. AVM – Air Vice Marshal. Benito – German navigation and bombing beam system in which range is determined by measuring the change in the modulation phase of the returning signal. Carpet – British airborne jammer used against German Wurzburgs. CH – Chain Home. Original UK Early Warning radar operating between 15 and 27 Mcs. CHL – Chain Home Low. UK search radar operating on 200 Mcs. Corona – A British measure designed to disrupt German R/T night-fighter control links, usually in the 2.5-6 Mcs band. Crossbow – A committee set up by the prime minister, Winston Churchill, in April 1943, under Duncan Sandys to evaluate intelligence of German preparations for rocket attacks against the United Kingdom, and make proposals for countermeasures. Dartboard – British ground measure designed to disrupt German GCI control channels, first used operationally on 6-7 December 1943. Dina – US airborne high power jammer. Drumstick – British ground measure designed to disrupt HF W/T transmissions in the 3-6 Mcs band. Fidget – A British ground measure designed to jam German MF R/T and W/T transmissions. Flensburg – German equipment used by night fighters for homing on to Monica Transmissions. Freya – German Early Warning ground radar, originally working on 125 Mcs but later modified to operate over the range 75 – 180 Mcs. Freya Halbe – German equipment for homing on to Mandrel, the British airborne Freya jammer [page break] 98 Gee – British navigation aid. Aircraft position is obtained from the intersection of two sets of hyperbolae, determined by three ground stations. Ground Cigar – A British measure designed to disrupt German night fighter control Channels in the 38-42 Mcs band. Ground Grocer – A British device designed to jam German Wurzburg GCI and gun-laying radars H2S – Airborne plan position equipment, which permitted identification of the ground. Originally used ten-centimetre wavelength. IFF – British identification friend or foe system Jostle – Airborne frequency modulated jammer used against German R/T. Lichtenstein – German AI which operated on 490 Mcs. Mandrel – British noise modulated Barrage jammer, used against the early warning Freyas. MB Window – Window, designed to cover 70-200 Mcs, Freya and FuG 220. Monica – RAF tail-warning airborne radar equipment. Naxos – German equipment used for homing on to RAF ten centimetre equipment Fitted to Bomber Command aircraft. Oboe – British blind bombing device, using accurate ground control. Piperack – British jamming equipment used against German AI, Lichtenstein SN2 RCM – Radio Countermeasures. Seetakt – German coast watching and seaborne gun-laying radar, using 370 Mcs. Serrate – RAF fighter homing equipment used against German AI. Shiver – A British device designed to jam German GCI and gun-laying radar in the Wurzburg 53 centimetre band. SN2 – German AI equipment in 90 Mcs band (later 36.2-120) SWF – No. 100 Group Special Window Force. TRE – Telecommunications Research Centre, latterly based at Malvern. Tinsel – RAF selective jammer of German night fighter R/T control link, on 3-6 Mcs. V1 – German flying bomb, developed by the Luftwaffe. V2 – German Army long-range rocket [page break] 99 Window – A British measure developed by TRE designed to disrupt German early Warning, Ground Controlled Interception, Gun Laying and Air Interception radars, by generating spurious responses therein with metal strips of paper. Wurzburg – Accurate German height finding radar, used with anti-aircraft artillery. X-Gerat – German navigational and bombing beam, operating in the range 65-75 Mcs. Y-Gerat – Advanced German navigational and bombing beam. [page break] 100 Appendix Two: The Last Hudson The RAF has taken over from Lockheed the last Hudson allotted to Coastal Command. This is an inevitable result of the progress and development of the Command, but few of those who know the Hudson will view its passing without some regrets. Although not a British machine it is in the great tradition of versatility which so many British types have established. It is difficult to think of any aspect of air warfare to which Hudsons have not been able to adapt themselves. They have been everywhere, seen everything and done everything. They have fought with fighters, bombed, depth-charged, patrolled, photographed, rescued, ferried and trained. On every front from Iceland to West Africa and from the Denmark Strait to the Bismarck Sea, Hudsons have been to the fore. Squadrons from Great Britain, Canada, the USA, Holland, Australia and other countries, have at various times been equipped with Hudsons, and their pilots and crews have grown to like and trust their machines. Their reliability was exceptional. Whether operating from the grass and mud of Bircham Newton, the deserts of North Africa or the mountains and valleys, which made up the old runways at Aldergrove, the Hudsons could stand the strain. Even the antics sometimes seen at Silloth did not seem to knock them unduly. They have struggled home with almost everything shot away; they have bounced off the sea, off rocks and off the masts of enemy ships. Their loads were steadily increased and gadgets hung all over them, so that their recent appearance with a complete lifeboat slung underneath occasioned no surprise. When first introduced into the service the Hudson was regarded with some suspicion. It was, people said, a dangerous aircraft, and could be entrusted only to pilots who had flown thousands of hours and who did not mind being the centre of an occasional bonfire. Gradually this prejudice, which may have had more than a touch of British insularity about it, was overcome. It was found with careful instruction pupils with less than 200 hours and a certain amount of intelligence could comfortably cope. Many Hudsons were in fact ferried safely across the Atlantic by crews drawn from Canadian training schools. The man who swung and collapsed his undercarriage, or forgot to change his fuel tanks would have done something similar on any other type of aircraft. Such difficulty or novelty as there was in flying the Hudson proved valuable experience when many [page break] 101 squadrons later converted to Fortresses and Liberators. Moreover, it is certain that the tacit agreement that it was permissible to do a "wheeler" was a great source of relief to many a pupil to whom the insistence on three-point landings seemed an unnecessary refinement. The Hudson was the first American aircraft to go into service with the RAF. It was an adaptation of the Lockheed B.14 civil airliner and was fitted with a British Boulton and Paul gun turret. The mission, which visited the USA in the spring of 1938, recommended the purchase and the name 'Hudson' was officially adopted in August. The aircraft began to arrive at the beginning of 1939, and the first squadron to receive them was No. 224, in the spring of that year. Two days before the outbreak of war Hudsons became operational. They now began to come across in a steady flow, until by the autumn of 1941, 11 Hudson squadrons were operational in Coastal Command. This was the greatest number at any one time. In all there have been six marks of Hudson: the first three with Wright Cyclone engines, and the last three with Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasps. Although pilots seem to have preferred the Mark 111 as an aircraft to fly the various types marked a general improvement. The main additions were the provision of self-sealing fuel tanks, fully feathered propellers, side and belly guns. To handle the Hudson is extremely pleasant. For a comparatively big and heavy aircraft it is very manoeuvrable- rudders, ailerons and elevators all being light and effective. This made the Hudson very suitable for low-level bomb or depth charge attacks. The view from the pilot's seat was good in all directions, and the clear view panel in the windscreen was invaluable in bad weather. The cockpit layout was comfortable and convenient, as is the case in most American aircraft. The landing speed was considered rather high and this, combined with the extremely effective flaps, made three-point landings difficult outside the OTUs, good, safe wheelers were the general rule. The original tendency to swing was largely overcome by the tail wheel lock. The Hudson's bomb-load was decidedly low, but this was somewhat offset by the large gun armament. All Hudson pilots have a particular cause to thank 'George' whose reliability and accuracy in this aircraft obviated much fatigue, and enabled pilots to spend much more time searching the sea or sky. [page break] 102 The early days of the war, so boring to so many, were full of activity for Hudson crews. Constant patrols, reconnaissance and escorts were flown over the North Sea, and a very large [sic] of the early air skirmishes were fought in these aircraft. Their opponents were usually Dornier flying boats and Heinkel 111's, with occasional brushes with Me.109's. From these battles the Luftwaffe gained considerable respect for the aggressiveness of the Hudson pilots and the capabilities of their aircraft. One Dornier lasted just 35 seconds against a Hudson's guns, and on another occasion eight Me.109s were insufficient to dispose of a Hudson which got home in spite of being seriously damaged. Many warships and convoys owed their personal survival to the activities of these East Coast Hudsons. The escort of the damaged destroyer Kelly, which they successfully defended against repeated attacks by Heinkels, and the discovery of the Altmark slipping along the Norwegian coast with 400 British prisoners, are only two of the exploits of these ubiquitous machines. It was at this time also that there began the intimate and unfriendly association between the Hudson and the German battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which were shadowed, bombed and blockaded until their escape in bad weather from Brest in February 1942. The opening of the campaign in Norway brought more work for the Hudsons. On the morning of 9 April 1940, one of their wireless operators succumbed to the temptation of listening to the 8 o'clock news in preference to Group, and was able to tell the captain that the coast off which they were patrolling was well on the way to becoming enemy occupied territory. A Hudson thus became the first British aircraft to visit the new battleground. Henceforth the coastline was ceaselessly patrolled, and the bombing trip to Stavanger became a routine run. The versatility of the Hudson was beginning to be appreciated. The German attack on Holland and Belgium called for an all round effort. The usual eventful patrol off the Dutch territorial waters was abruptly transformed into a highly unsafe mission, which could, and frequently did, involve battles with Me.109s, night and day bombing, as well as escort and reconnaissance. The oil storage tanks at Rotterdam became as well known to the Hudson crews as the airfield at Stavanger. In all these operations the Hudsons were accompanied by other Coastal aircraft, as well as by Swordfish, Skuas, and Albacores of the Fleet Air Arm. Many are the stories of mutual aid and rescue. 15 Messerschmitts attacked one small force of Skuas and [page break] 103 Albacores, out of ammunition and running for home. The chase was seen by three patrolling Hudsons who drew off the fighters, shot one of them down, and enabled the naval machines to escape; the Hudsons too got safely home. As the attack on the Low Countries swiftly developed towards the evacuation from Dunkirk, an ever-increasing strain was laid on the aircraft of Coastal Command, and the Hudsons took their full share. They were constantly on patrol over the stream of shipping, fighting off bombers and dive-bombers, doing a job for which the pilots had not been trained, and for which the B 14 Lockheed airliner had most certainly not been designed. The 'Sands Patrol' became a daily routine, almost always involving an unequal battle. One patrol of three Hudsons attacked a formation of 40 German bombers heading for the ships. The formation was turned back with two of its number shot down and five badly damaged. The Hudsons then resumed their patrol. Drifting, bomb-shattered ships, struggling lifeboats and rafts were covered from the air and rescuers guided to their help. When the evacuation was completed Coastal Command's first American aircraft had played a worthy part. Filling in their time with bombing missions to the invasion ports, factories and installations on the long enemy coastline, as well as with their ever-lasting patrols, the Hudsons began to work up to the great anti-shipping offensive. To ease the strain on their overworked railways the Germans introduced coastal convoys between ports in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France. This long line of communication was clearly asking to be hit. The Hudsons hit it. In company with Blenheims and Beauforts they harried the convoys day and night, at sea and in harbour. Increases in anti-aircraft armament and escort vessels failed to stop the Hudsons coming in from 50 feet, to plant their 250 pounders into the sides and decks of the enemy merchantmen. At least one pilot found on the wings of his Hudson small bits of wood, which the German had recently been using on one of their ship's masts. Sometimes losses were severe, but frequently the attackers would all arrive safely back at base – a great tribute not only to the crews, but also to the Lockheed designers and the men and women who built the aircraft. Incidentally these workers were not content with putting their best into the job during working hours, but even gave up their spare time to build a Hudson aircraft, which they presented to the RAF, and which the then A.O.C.-C., Coastal Command officially accepted in December 1940. [page break] 104 The climax of the Hudsons' anti-shipping activities came in the late Autumn of 1941, when British, Canadian, and Dutch Hudson squadrons were responsible for the brilliant attack on Aalesund, when five ships were hit, two factories set on fire, and a barracks and a W/T station bombed, all carried out unaided by nine aircraft. Meanwhile on the other side of the British Isles a less spectacular but equally vital battle was going on; the Battle of the Atlantic. It was natural for the Hudsons to play their part in this struggle also, and they did so with equal distinction. Instead of the comparatively short trips with plenty of excitement, the anti-submarine Hudsons had to undertake long trips over the ocean often through very bad weather. In this theatre their great reliability at once won the trust of all that flew them. Hour after hour their engines would perform faultlessly, whatever the conditions, and the majority of crews never experienced a failure. Their comfort and roominess was another asset in this type of work. Occasionally the Atlantic Hudsons were called upon for anti-aircraft as well as anti-submarine escort duties, and the battle between the Hudson and the Kurier, ending in the destruction of the latter in full view of the convoy it had come to bomb, is a well-known page in the history of the Hudson. The Kurier too was an adaptation of a civil machine, but apparently Lockheed's produced a better job. Perhaps the most famous exploit ever performed by a Hudson was in August 1941, when for the first time in history a submarine was captured by an aircraft. A Hudson depth-charged a German submarine, the U-570, forced her to the surface and received her surrender. Their patrols and escorts in the Atlantic took the Hudsons to a wide variety of climates, Iceland, Scotland, the Western Isles, Ireland, Cornwall and Gibraltar. North Africa and West Africa were normal Hudson bases, while at times of stress they operated from the USA and even Greenland. A [sic] in any weather, fly far out to sea and through thousands of feet s [sic] is usual with this type of work there few highlights or epic deeds. But it [sic] an important chapter in the story of the Hudson; a chapter which might indeed have been more exciting had the aircraft been less dependable. The high average of serviceability and the very large number of flying hours, which the A/S squadrons were able to keep up month after month, was an eloquent tribute to their aircraft. Ground crews and maintenance personnel grew very fond of their charges and took pride in keeping up their reputation for reliability. [page break] 105 For a long time Hudsons were the mainstay of the Meteorological Flights. Every day, almost without a break, they would take-off in any weather, fly far out to sea and through thousands of feet of cloud and ice, to bring back vital information. Air/Sea rescue is another important Hudson department; indeed, their reputation for saving life is as almost as great as for extinguishing it. It is not only in Coastal Command that the Hudsons have distinguished themselves, operating with Bomber Command, many Hudsons took part in the 1,000 bomber raids, and in the Mediterranean theatre their versatility was invaluable. They even reverted to their original civil purpose, and Generals have been photographed at ease in the cabin of a Hudson as it flew them comfortably across the Western desert. The year 1942 marked the beginning of the end of the Hudsons. In January one squadron began to re-equip with Fortresses, and heavy four-engined G.R. aircraft were delivered in increasing quantities. Many Hudsons, however, continued to operate successfully from Iceland, Gibraltar and elsewhere. The necessity of replacing the Hudsons is a measure of their success. On the West Coast they had so harried the U-boats that the enemy was forced to move out of their range. The number of submarines sighted or ships sunk within Hudson range of our coasts is negligible, if not nil. Further out the battle still rages, but the Hudsons cannot take part. On the East Coast the Hudsons, with other squadrons, have been so successful that the enemy was obliged to maintain a considerable force of his latest fighters in Norway and the Low Countries; to build a chain of radar stations all along his coasts; and to provide protection for his coastwise shipping a very heavy concentration of anti-aircraft guns and escort vessels. Against such defences the Hudsons have been forced to give way to aircraft which are better armed and faster. But they have done a magnificent job. Thousands of people on the ground at sea, and in the air will never forget the familiar tubby shape which so often meant protection and help, and which was the magnificent forerunner of the very many valuable machines, which have come from the other side of the Atlantic.86 [page break] 106 Appendix Three: No. 53 Squadron (United in Effort) When the first four squadrons, and almost only operational units, of the Royal Flying Corps were sent to France in 1914, it was thought at the time that the war would be over quickly and thus little heed was paid to reinforcements. Unfortunately, hostilities did not end by Christmas and, as the conflict continued, demands came for more and more squadrons. As a first step it was proposed to deploy thirty squadrons in the field, with a further five in reserve. With remarkable foresight, However, Lord Kitchener immediately doubled these figures. No. 53 Squadron came into existence as part of this expansion, forming at Catterick in Yorkshire on 15 May 1916, with FK3 aircraft. Towards the end of the year, it moved to the Royal Flying Corps depot at Farnborough for re-equipping with the Royal Aircraft factory's BE2C aircraft, before deploying to France, in December. They arrived safely at St Omer in France, then RFC headquarters, where they were allocated to 2nd Army's 1X [sic] Corps, moving to their new base at Bailleul after a few days. Here they were to spend a little over a year as a Corps or artillery co-operation unit. In April 1917 they were given another aircraft, the RE8, an aircraft then increasingly being used for this type of work. Their first real test came with the Battle of Messines, a necessary preliminary to the Ypres offensive. Messines was a success and with the defeat of the German counter attack on 8 June 1917, the main phase of the battle came to a close. Throughout the action the work of the Corps and other squadrons was invaluable, nevertheless Trenchard was careful to conserve the strength of the RFC for the major battles, which he knew, were to come. Next came the battles of Ypres, which themselves formed part of a larger Allied plan to re-occupy the Belgian coast, and involved the capture of Passchendale, Staden Ridge and subsequently the Roulers-Thourout railway. Responsibility was given to General Gough of 5th Army, then in the south and on the right of the British line. Arrangements, however, were made for him to reform 5th Army in the Flanders area, to which was allocated a number of additional squadrons. On 7 July 1917 Trenchard issued instructions for the employment of aircraft and the start of a limited air offensive on the 2nd and 5th Army fronts. Air activity was [page break] 107 intense from the 12th until the end of the month, when 5th Army reported a measure of local air superiority. Ypres was postponed twice, until at the end of the month the main attack was launched from the river Lys in the south to the inundated area near St. Janshock in the north. In spite of bad weather, limited gains were achieved by the end of the first day, helped in part by a number of low flying attacks carried out against German troops on the battlefield. The weather then deteriorated, enabling the German army to bring up reinforcements. In spite of the best efforts of 5th Army on 16 August 1917, the day was an overall failure. Preparations then went ahead for the resumption of the Ypres offensive about 20 September 1917 and these included the transfer of 11 Corps from the 5th to Plumer's 2nd Army. No. 53 played its full part in the battle, transmitting its share of calls for artillery support, which went out on the first day. Indeed, it was one of the [sic] to use air-to-ground wireless telephony for fire direction. By 4 October 1917, the army had advanced as far as Poelcappelle and Broodseinde, in deteriorating weather conditions. The troops then resumed their advance in appalling weather conditions. The Canadians captured Passchendaele on 6 November 1917 and four days later the bloody and costly battles of Ypres came to an end. The classic tank attack that occurred at Cambrai, in 3rd Army's area on 20 November 1917, brought remarkable successes, but later German counter attacks led to severe fighting, which after ten days threatened 3rd Army. Fighting continued until 7 December when the battle of Cambrai finally came to an end. Cambrai was significant in that it not only showed new tactics and surprise could be successful, but the German counter attacks on 20 November also disclosed a new opponent and a portent of things to come. Russia was now out of the war, freeing-up German divisions for the west together with vast quantities of captured guns and equipment. With an extended British line, Haig repeatedly asked for more men without success. He was thus forced to reduce the number of battalions in a division from twelve to nine, and adopt a more defensive strategy than hitherto. Germany could afford to think in terms of an offensive and indications to this effect were noted in February 1918. In January, commanding [page break] 108 officers of RFC squadrons were given an additional aircraft per squadron, enabling them, for the first time, to lead their units in the air. On 2 March 1918 it was accepted that a German attack would probably come in the area held by the 3rd and 5th Armies and a number of RFC squadrons were moved accordingly. No. 53 had already been moved to an airfield near Noyen, in the south, prior to being attached to 1X [sic] Corps. But before this attachment could take place the Germans started their offensive. This started on 21 March and No.53 was employed on line patrols along the length of 5th Army's front, bombing and machine gunning. In the face of superior numbers the British had to give ground and the Army's air squadrons were withdrawn to Fienvilers on the 24th and Boisingham the following day, finally reaching Abeele on 7 April 1918. Fog was intense until the 22nd, when pressure became intense along the whole of the battlefront. In spite of the German positions being bombed by night and day, the situation remained critical. On 4 April 1918, the Germans made their final thrust north and south of the Somme, but little ground was lost and they sustained disproportionate numbers of casualties. With the failure of the German attack on 5 April, the carnage of the Somme came to an end, although fighting continued for a little while longer. Disaster had only been averted by the narrowest of margins and whilst all this was occurring, the RFC and RNAS were merged on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. Before this offensive had died down, however, air reconnaissance disclosed fresh German activity in the area of La Bassee. Ludendorff had realised the importance of Arras and the high ground adjacent to Lens, but had failed to take either on 28 March 1918. He thus turned his attentions to the weakened British line north of La Bassee and struck hard on 9 April after a bombardment the previous evening, when many of the shells contained mustard gas. No. 53 acted as a Corps squadron of 2nd Army, assisting artillery register main roads, lines of advance and bringing down destructive fire on known German batteries. Firm action on the flanks concentrated the German advance in the centre where, in spite of intense air support, the British line was forced to give way. The 12th day of the month was particularly critical, causing Haig to issue a much quoted Order of the Day. Bailleul fell to the Germans on the 15th, but three days later a lull came to the fighting. Kemmel Hill then fell but by now the German [page break] 109 offensive had lost much of its momentum and with allied resistance hardening, the Battle of Lys came to an end on 30 April 1918. The Squadron returned to the United Kingdom after the war ended and disbanded in October 1919. It reformed in June 1937 at Farnborough, as part of the re-armament programme, once again as an Army Co-operation Squadron, but equipped this time with Hawker Hector biplanes. By September 1939 the Squadron had been given Bristol Blenheims and was stationed at Odiham. It went to France on 18 September 1939, as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force, and made many reconnaissance flights, photographing strategic objectives in Germany, in spite of being seriously hampered by bad weather during the winter months that followed. When Germany invaded France and the Low Countries in May 1940, No. 53 Squadron was immediately engaged in reconnaissance over the front line and the reporting of German troop movements. As the British Army was pushed back the Squadron was obliged to withdraw to safer airfields, until it was eventually decided to evacuate the Air Component to the United Kingdom. Before it left, the Squadron's aircraft made their first bombing attacks of the war when German columns were bombed on roads in Belgium. From the United Kingdom, the Squadron continued to fly daily on reconnaissance missions, some of them over Dunkirk during the enforced evacuation of the BEF. In July 1940 the Squadron was transferred to Coastal Command, but somewhat unusually, continued to attack land targets in addition to its reconnaissance role. Invasion barges in the Channel ports were bombed and sunk, and the Squadron attacked larger ships in the docks. Among its regular targets were Boulogne and Calais, and the German North Sea port of Emden. During the Battle of Britain its Blenheims bombed German held airfields in northern France and Holland. Whilst all this was going on, Detling where the Squadron was based, was heavily attacked by the Luftwaffe on several occasions, causing casualties to personnel and damage to aircraft. More attacks were made on German held ports, especially Rotterdam and Flushing, and Brest, which was sheltering the [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] and [italics] Gneisenau [/italics] at the time. [page break] 110 Early in 1941, the protection of convoys was added to the Squadron's tasks, which extended to bombing the French ports of Lorient and La Pallice in the Bay of Biscay, from where many of the U-boats operated. The squadron's Blenheims were exchanged for Lockheed Hudsons in August 1941, when further strikes were made against German and German controlled shipping at sea. Anti-submarine patrols were flown to protect British convoys in the North Sea and the English Channel, and later, whilst operating from Cornwall, the Squadron extended its patrols over the Bay of Biscay and the Eastern Atlantic. On several occasions U-boats were attacked but no sinkings were achieved at the time. In June 1942 No 53 was transferred to the United States, in order to demonstrate British anti-submarine tactics to the United States Navy. It carried out anti-submarine operations off the North American coast until August, when the Squadron was moved south to Trinidad and began a series of operations in the Caribbean. These included anti-submarine patrols and in November 1942, one of the Hudsons attacked and damaged a U-boat on the surface but was shot down in the process. On other occasions ships' lifeboats were found and rescue vessels directed towards them. On returning to the United Kingdom in December 1942, the Hudsons were replaced by Whitleys which, a few months on anti-submarine patrol duty, were replaced by the Consolidated Liberator. The Squadron was fully operational with its new aircraft by June 1943 and, flying from the south coast of England, scored its first confirmed success against the U-boats when one of its Liberators sank U-535 in the Bay of Biscay. Following this incident, several more attacks were made on U-boats, some of which put up strong opposition with anti-aircraft weapons. Long range German fighter aircraft also put in an appearance at this time and had to be contended with, with the result that several Ju 88s were shot down at this time by Squadron Liberators. On 13 September 1943 the Squadron sank its second U-boat in the Bay of Biscay, this time at night. In the same month, Squadron aircraft were instrumental in the interception and sinking of a German merchant ship attempting to run the blockade; they also helped the Royal Navy in the sinking of four German destroyers trying to protect the vessel. Early in 1944, the Squadron split into two parts for a short time, [page break] 111 one part operating from Cornwall and the other from an airfield in Northern Ireland from which it hunted submarines in the Western Approaches. As the year progressed more and more attacks were made on U-boats, and in August 1944 the Squadron's efforts were rewarded by its sharing directly with the Royal Navy in the sinking of two U-boats. Prior to this, in June 1944, No. 53 Squadron made its contribution to the allied landings in Normandy. By patrolling for the Western extremes of the Channel and its approaches several weeks, thus helping to prevent U-boats and German surface craft from attacking the vast armada of shipping carrying the Allied land forces for the invasion. In September 1944 the unit went to Iceland where it operated in the last months of the war. The Squadron was then transferred to Transport Command, tasked with flying troops out to India to reinforce the Army engaged in the war against the Japanese. Operating from St. Davids, it initially undertook practice flights over the route to India, and in August re-equipped with Liberators specially modified for transport operations. In September the Squadron moved to Merryfield and commenced operations in the full transport role on the first day of October, when trooping flights from the UK to India began. Subsequently the Squadron was disbanded and re-formed and by April 1947 was back in the transport business, which included the training of parachute troops and towing gliders. Scheduled services to and from the Middle East commenced in January 1948 and in July it participated in the Berlin airlift. Hastings aircraft were introduced in 1949. In November 1956 it took part in the Suez operation and in the following year moved to Lyneham where it was re-equipped with Beverleys. It then took part in a number of trials and operations in and around Aden and the Persian Gulf. It lost its identity in June 1963 but was re-formed at Brize Norton in November 1965 with the Belfast, the only heavy lift aircraft in the Royal Air Force. The Squadron was then employed in the withdrawal from Aden in 1967 supported the operations in Cyprus in 1974 and given many other tasks. Finally, in September 1976, the Squadron was disbanded as part of a programme of defence cuts.87 [page break] 112 Appendix Four: No. 223 Squadron (Alae Defendunt Africam) The allies landed at Salonika in October 1915, thus adding to the commitments already being shouldered by our naval and land forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. Three months later came the tragedy of Gallipoli and, after the evacuation, a reappraisal of tasks. Such was the position when Wing Captain F.R. Scarlett arrived on the scene in February 1916, to take command of RNAS units in the area. In future, the Royal navy was to watch the Dardenelles, safeguard those Greek Islands in allied occupation, maintain the blockade of the Central Powers, support the Army at Salonika and carry out anti-submarine patrols. Moreover, by conducting operations in Asia Minor, Turkish forces would be prevented from being deployed to other fronts. He quickly proposed an expansion of naval air activities, recommending that an additional air wing be formed without delay. After consideration, however, the Admiralty felt unable to agree but consented to maintain No 2 Wing at Imbros, at a strength of four flights, commanded by Wing Commander E.L. Gerrard. Their Lordships added that, as personnel and equipment became available, two additional flights would be allocated to the Eastern Mediterranean area. In addition to the formation already mentioned, there was an airship base at Mudros, two seaplane carriers and two balloon ships. Air operations in the Gulf of Smyrna, started against the Turks in March 1916, with the object of attracting artillery and other units in the area, thus effectively denying their use elsewhere. Next, with the help of an advanced base which had already been established on Long Island, a British naval force, assisted by French aircraft, started a series of bombardments against targets on the Turkish mainland. While this was in progress, reports were deliberately spread of an allied landing and, to lend credence to this, a French infantry division was sent to Mitylene together with a flight of aircraft. Here, an airfield was constructed at Thermi and, when the French aircraft were withdrawn, a small number of RNAS aircraft, known as 'B' Flight, were sent from Imbros to Mitylene, two of them being employed to Long Island. This handful of aircraft and men were destined to become ‘B' Squadron RNAS in January 1917 and, eventually on 1 April 1918, No. 223 Squadron Royal Air Force. Not surprisingly the [page break] 113 Turks reacted quite strongly to all this activity and, as a result, Long Island had to be evacuated, its detachment being transferred to Thermi. Two advanced landing grounds were then selected. The first at Thasos in April 1916 when it was learned that the Central Powers intended to establish a submarine base on the Bulgarian coast and a second, in June, on the Island of Kheos in order to support operations in the Smyrna area. In order to base aircraft within striking range of appropriate targets, there then followed a general re-distribution of naval aircraft. 'A’ flight was sent to Thasos at the end of May 1916 and it was from here, during the next two months, that the bombing of enemy communications in Southern Bulgaria gave way to attempts to set fire to ripening crops with incendiary bombs. Bomber units in general, however, were to be kept as mobile as possible. A new airfield was then considered necessary on Mudros for testing of aircraft and the instruction of crews, as well as acting as a departure point for bombing missions. Consequently, Marsh airfield was constructed and 'D' flight moved there on 2nd June 1916. At the end of August, however, 'D' flight was moved again, this time to Stavros on the mainland in order to work with No. 80 Brigade. This enabled 'A' flight at Thasos to extend its reconnaissance duties over the Bulgarian lines of communications and to take full advantage of opportunity targets. While these operations were in progress in the North, 'C' flight at Mudros and `B' flight at Mitylene were busy in the Dardenelles and Smyrna areas. Bombing attacks were mounted against Constantinople but in November 1916, perhaps by way of reprisal, the Central Powers retaliated by raiding Mudros. Throughout 1917 'B' Squadron, operating from its base at Thermi, carried out anti-submarine patrols in the Smyrna and Arvalik areas and bombed the Panderma-Smyrna railway, as well as other targets. At the end of February, however, a mobile German bomber unit appeared on the Dojran front in Macedonia, which gave cause for concern. Consequently, the RNAS was asked to help and the result was the formation of 'E' Squadron with four Sopwith one and half-strutter aircraft and one Sopwith Triplane. It was moved to Hadzi behind the Dojran front where it combined temporarily, with a RFC detachment to form the composite fighting Squadron. In [page break] 114 order to achieve this, however, and unfortunately for the RNAS, the necessary aircraft and personnel had to be taken from 'B' and 'C' Squadrons who were thereby reduced to half-strength. Meanwhile, 'A' Squadron continued its bombing from Thasos against the communications in Macedonia and especially the Xanthe-Drama railway. The last of the additional units was formed in April 1917 when 'F' Squadron, with Sopwith bombers and fighters, was deployed to the mainland at Amerkoj, and later Marian, for operations in the North of Salonika. In May, recently captured prisoners reported that the Central Powers had ordered the assembling of submarines at Kavalla. A naval bombardment was thus ordered against this new target, which was supported by the RNAS. 'A' Squadron from Thasos took part, together with the Mudros seaplanes, which directed the fire of the bombarding monitors and the [italics] Raglan [/italics] . 'E' and 'F' Squadrons then flew sorties against the ports at Kavalla from the airfield at Marian. Eight British aircraft were then lost at Marian after a mysterious explosion occurred, and as a result of this incident, personnel and aircraft of 'F' Squadron temporarily reinforced 'A' Squadron. 'E' and 'F' Squadrons were then merged into one unit and the new 'F' Squadron, after re-equipping at Mudros was sent to Thasos. From here, further attempts were made to burn crops in June 1917, after which the new unit was withdrawn for work elsewhere. 'D' Squadron, however, continued to operate from Stavros in support of naval personnel on the British right flank but, by the end of July, the Squadrons at Thasos and Stavros had become so short of aircraft that they had to be reorganised. Meanwhile 'B' Squadron at Thermi was well placed to undertake offensive action against the Panderma-Smyrna railway and many attacks were launched against this and other targets in the Smyrna area throughout 1917. The latter included airfields at Paradisos and Kassimir, ripening crops and granaries and shipping in Smyrna harbour. In October 'B' Squadron was ordered to move to a new base on the island of Mitylene at Kalloni, and while the move was actually in progress the Turks shelled the old airfield at Thermi, causing some damage. But by this time the unit had become so short of personnel, especially pilots that six squadron aircraft had to be sent back to [page break] 115 the depot at Mudros. When the two services were merged on 1 April 1918, \No. 223 Squadron was based at Mudros where it was to remain until disbanding in May 1919. This could have been the end of No. 223 Squadron, but for the emergence of a new German Chancellor in 1933 – Adolf Hitler. It thus came about that, as part of the RAF's expansion programme of 1936, No.223 Squadron was reformed from a flight of No. 45 Squadron, which was then based in Nairobi, and equipped with Fairey Gordon single-engined day bombers. By February 1937, these aircraft had given way to the Vickers Vincent 6, with the unit being employed in support of the British Colonial administration of Kenya and the Sudan. Within eighteen months No. 223 Squadron was making tours of British East Africa, including Rhodesia and Tanganyika, with Vickers Wellesley 1 and 2s, Gloucester Gladiator 2s and Bristol Blenheim 41s, and maintaining important links with the South African Air Force (SAAF). From August 1939 to June 1940 when Italy entered the war, personnel of the Squadron trained hard for the long struggle ahead. Some idea of the standard achieved may be judged by the fact that within twenty-four hours of Mussolini's declaration of war, No.223 Squadron, operating from its Summit base in the Sudan, made its first attack against the Italian airfield at Gura. It then continued to support General Platt's campaign to capture Eritrea and Abyssinia by bombing Italian positions in the vicinity of Kassala and Asmara, as well as the airfield at Tessenei, where hangars were damaged and a number of aircraft destroyed on the ground. Just how proficient No. 223 had become can be gleaned from the words of Denis Richards in Volume One of the History of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945, when writing about the temporary evacuation of British Somaliland in 1940. 'With this evacuation, carried out on 18 August, the Italian air force made only one serious attempt to interfere. For it was reluctant to attack as long as there was even a single British fighter in the offing, and it was more than upset by an incident which had occurred that morning. Starting from Perim Island to add a few more miles to their range, a detachment of five Wellesleys of No.223 Squadron- which Longmore, the Air Commander in the Middle East. had switched to Aden from the Sudan at the beginning of the offensive – had set off for Addis Ababa. The capital had thus far been [page break] 116 neither reconnoitred [sic] nor attacked. By a brilliant feat of navigation four of the aircraft now forced their way over wickedly mountainous country and through heavy cloud and ice to bomb the airfields outside the town. Despite severe damage from anti-aircraft fire and the opposition of one tenacious Cr 32, all four Wellesleys returned safely to base; so, too, did the fifth' Another detachment was sent to Khartoum in November, but rejoined the Squadron a month later at Wadi Gazouza in the Sudan, where No. 223 was to remain until April 1941. Communications and airfields in Somililand [sic] were also attacked and support provided to the Abysinian [sic] patriot forces. Eventually it became clear to the Italians that they were going to lose the campaign and, with it, their entire East African Empire. Consequently, some reduction in our air order of battle could now be considered and on 8 April 1941, No. 223 along with three other squadrons, were ordered to move north to Egypt where, with the arrival of general Rommel and the German Afrika Corps, the North African campaign was not going well for the Allies. Indeed, such was the position that reinforcements of all kinds were now urgently required for the decisive struggle, which was to be fought in the Western Desert. After its operational experience in the South, it probably came as a shock for No. 223 to become a temporary Operational Training Unit, for the Blenheim 1 and the new American Maryland, Boston and Baltimore aircraft. These were now beginning to arrive by sea and after being flown overland by the Takoradi route. Here in the unattractive desert at the wartime airfield of Shandur, aircrews were trained for Nos. 12, 21 and 24 (SAAF) Squadrons. In addition, from October, a strategic reconnaissance unit was maintained at Fuka with Maryland aircraft. Later on this invaluable unit was sent to other bases in the Western desert such as El Gubbi, Tmimi and Sidi Azeiz. About a year later, in April 1942, No. 223 its task completed, converted its crews on to the Baltimore and once again resumed the role of an operational squadron, moving West to Landing Ground 116, Maaten Baguish. The Kittyhawk fighter was then developed as a fighter-bomber, which freed the light bombers from low level work and enabled them to operate at more appropriate medium and higher altitudes. During the next two months a detachment was deployed to Baheira and it was from here that Wing Commander W.A. Wild led the Squadron's first attack, with their new aircraft, against shipping in Benghazi harbour. June brought a new Commanding [page break] 117 Officer, Wing Commander T.M. Morgan, and this month turned out to be one of almost continuous movement. As the Axis forces forced the Allies to retreat Eastwards No. 223 deployed firstly to Landing ground LG 99, Amiriya, with two detachments LGs 86 and 98 and then to LGY, Qassassin. By September they were back at LG 86 with further detachments at LG 'Y' and LG 209. Earlier in the war the British army under Wavell's guidance had successfully advanced against the Italians into Cyrenaica, reaching as far as El Agheila in the West by February 1941. At this high point the British forces in North Africa, however, were gravely weakened by the despatch [sic] of an expeditionary force to Greece. Erwin Rommel then appeared on the scene and with his Afrika Corps, assisted by the German Air Force, forced the British to retreat to Tobruk. This fell on 21 June 1941 and the next day Hitler promoted Rommel to the rank of Field Marshal, at forty-nine, the youngest in the German Army. AS the German offensive gathered momentum the light bombers became much in demand. It was unfortunate for the British that No. 223 Squadron had to be withdrawn temporarily, from the order of battle, just at this critical period because of rear turret problems. The other units however, the Bostons of the two South African Squadrons, 12 and 24, continued to operate and attack German and Italian columns advancing on El Adem. During the further retreat of the British army to El Alamein, all the light bomber forces attacked troop concentrations, transport columns, airfields and even merchant shipping which was bringing in vital supplies for Rommel's final assault, prior to the Axis forces entering Cairo and capturing Egypt. No. 223 carried out as many as five raids a day on several occasions, fortunately for the crews concerned, with the aid of a very necessary fighter escort. Nevertheless, Rommel who had by this time become a figure of awe, especially to the 8th Army, continued to advance successfully. Within a month, however, the land battle had stabilised around El Alamein, the front running down from the Mediterranean in the north, through the Ruweisal Ridge down to the Qattara Depression in the south. Air operations then became less intense, although attacks by allied aircraft against Axis positions and concentrations of mechanical transport were maintained, especially during the latter half of August and the beginning of September when Rommel renewed his attacks against the southern sector of the Alamein position at Alam Halfa. [page break] 118 With the arrival of General Montgomery earlier in August, however, had come a new spirit, which soon pervaded the whole of the 8th Army, providing it with the confidence so badly needed. Montgomery was indeed the man of the hour and the El Alamein position held. Rommel had been decisively stopped. The crucial British offensive opened on the night 23-24 October 1941. Understandably it was a time of maximum effort for No. 223 and its No. 3 South African Air Force Wing, No. 55 Squadron and the newcomers in the form of the 12th United States Army medium bombardment group. With the allied brake-out [sic] on 18 November 1941 came intense air activity and it was about this time that Lord Trenchard paid a visit to the squadron, accompanied by the AOC, Air Vice Marshal Coningham. This memorable occasion no doubt sustained air and ground crews alike during the subsequent round-the-clock bombing of retreating Axis forces, which the situation now demanded. By December the 8th Army had passed Benghazi and was fast approaching Mersa Breza when it was decided to give No. 223 a well-deserved rest from operations. They were moved temporarily to Iraq, less a detachment to the Western Desert by the end of the month. Meanwhile Montgomery continued his successful advance westward. In January 1942, Wing Commander T.M. Morgan led sixteen aircraft, without escort, to Crete for the first time where the harbour and installations at Suda Bay were successfully attacked. This was followed up by returning the same day, to bomb the Island's airfields, which were also attacked during subsequent visits. The Squadron was then honoured by a visit in February 1942 from the Emir of Transjordan, which month found Montgomery leaving Tripolitania and approaching Mareth, having taken the surrender of Tripoli on 23 January 1942. No. 223 was reunited at Sirtan West in Libya on 8 March and continued to operate by day and night against Axis transport and gun positions, often with as many as eighteen aircraft. The end of the North African Campaign was now in sight, but the Axis forces continued to fight just as hard as ever, as they proved at Kasserine in February and again at Medine and Mareth a month later. For No. 223 Squadron it was time to be on the move again. They arrived at Medenine on 2 April 1942 only to remain for less than two weeks before deploying to Le Fauconnerie. [page break] 119 At the beginning of May, Wing Commander (later Air Marshal) P. de L. le Cheminant took over the squadron in time for the 12th May when at 15.35 hours, No. 223 along with 55 squadron, led the last raid of the North African campaign – a precise bombing attack- against the German 90th light division who had refused to surrender their position eight miles north of Enfidville at Zaghouan. As the aircraft returned to base, the enemy finally surrendered and fighting in North Africa came to a close. With hardly a pause the unit then took part in saturation attacks against enemy gun positions on the heavily fortified island of Pantellaria. These were intensified during June, when No.223 came under command of the Tactical Bomber Force. Somewhat surprisingly, the island surrendered at 13.29 hours on the 11th month after the unit's last sortie The Squadron then ceased operations, withdrawing to the Tripoli area (Enfedawithe South and Regville) along with other units of the Desert Air Force and began to prepare for the invasion of Sicily, details of which were disclosed by Air Marshal A.M. Coningham when he visited No. 223 at the beginning of July. The subsequent invasion successfully took place on 9-10 July 1943 and made rapid progress, No 223 Squadron giving direct tactical support to ground forces and attacking railway centres. By 20 July 1943 a detachment of the squadron moved to Malta, which was being used as a temporary base for aircraft attacking targets situated at extreme range. Soon however, on 4 August 1943, the main party embarked on Landing Ships at La Mursa, Tunis for the three-day voyage to Licata, Sicily. Two days after arrival they moved to Monte Lungo landing ground, near Gela West, but on the 23rd of the month the Squadron advanced to Gerbini, Number 3 Landing ground at Sigonella, on the Catania Plains. Here followed several weeks of intensive operations against enemy gun and troop positions and concentrations of mechanical transport, which came to a climax with the enemy's evacuation of Sicily, which was completed by 17 August 1943. Italy was invaded on 3 September 1943 and the Squadron was established at Brindisi on the Italian mainland, on 27 September 1943, where operations were conducted against bridges and transport in an attempt to delay the enemy's retreat northwards. A rapid advance by the allies entailed No 223 having to move to Foggia, [page break] 120 No. 1 Landing Ground (Celone), towards the end of October in order to keep within range of the fighting and targets situated behind enemy lines. Principal targets were communications of all kinds, the town of Cassino being attacked by 223 for the first time on 11 October 1943. Soon, however, the German defences were strengthened and during the month one of the squadron's aircraft was badly hit by anti-aircraft fire causing it to crash. Fortunately the crew, which included a photographer, baled out successfully and later returned to the unit. Long periods of stand-down then followed because of bad weather but, for eight days at the end of November, it cleared sufficiently for concentrated bombing to take place against the Sangro line. No. 232 Wing relinquished operational and administrative control of No. 223 on 14 March 1944 when No. 3 South African Air Force Wing took over, main targets allocated during the month being the major railway stations. The same day the squadron moved to BiFurno Landing Ground – Compomarino – near Termoli and it from here that targets in Yugoslavia, in support of partisans, were attacked. May was the squadron's busiest month, its activities ranging from attacking ammunition dumps near Loretto, to enemy gun positions in support of combined attacks by the fifth and eighth armies. During a raid on Split harbour in June 1944, a squadron aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and had to ditch off the island of Vis, the crew of four managing to return to base in spite of the pilot and navigator being dragged under water. By the end of the month another move occurred when No. 223 moved to Pescara, where further attacks were concentrated on roads and railway bridges. It was decided to amalgamate No. 223 with an Australian squadron in August and thus shortly thereafter it lost its identity as a Royal Air Force unit. Almost immediately however, its numberplate was allocated to a new squadron forming in the United Kingdom at RAF Station, Oulton in Norfolk.88 [page break] 121 Endnotes 1 – Correspondence Author – Hastie. 2 – Correspondence Author – Hastie. 3 – The Times, [italics] British War Production [/italics] (Printing House Square, 1945) p.2. 4 – Andrew Williams, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic [/italics] (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2002) pp.16, 33. 5 – See Geoffrey Wellum, [italics] First Light, [/italics] (Penguin Books, 2003) who became a fighter pilot at the age of eighteen. 6 – Winston S. Churchill, The [italics] Second World War, [/italics] Vol.II (Cassell & Co Ltd, 1949) p.102. 7 – Denis Richards, [italics] Royal Air Force 1939-1945, [/italics] Vol.1 (HMSO, 1953) p.150. 8 – Winston S. Churchill, [italics] The Second World War, [/italics] Vol.II, p.125. 9 – Winston S. Churchill, [italics] The Second World War, [/italics] Vol.III, p.127. 10 – RAF Form 414, Pilot's Flying Log Book- F/O R.M. Hastie 11 – Central Office of Information, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic, [/italics] (HMSO, 1946) p.27. 12 – Ibid. p.30 13 – Sir Arthur Harris, [italics] Bomber Offensive [/italics] (Collins, 1947) p.27 14 – Letter to author from Harry Palmer 15 – Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort [/italics] (Air-Britain Historians Ltd, Tunbridge Wells, 1997) p.39. 16 – Ibid. p.40. 17 – For a detailed account of George Binney's operations see Ralph Barker, [italics] The Blockade Busters (Chatto and Windus, [/italics] 1976). 18 – Air to Surface Vessel Radar. 53 Sqn was probably fitted with ASV mark II at RAF St. Athan in 1940, under the direction of the Telecommunications Research Establishment. See E.G. Bowen, [italics] Radar Days, [/italics] (Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1987) pp.94-95. 19 – Correspondence between author and Harry Palmer. 20 – Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort, [/italics] p.41. 21 – Central Office of Information, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic [/italics] (HMSO, 1946) p.39; Werner Rahn, [italics] 'The War at Sea in the Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean,'[/italics] in Research Institute for Military History, Potsdam, Germany (eds) Germany and the Second World War: vol. VI, The Global War (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2001) p.302 22 – Winston, S Churchill. [italics] The Second World War [/italics] (The Reprint Society, 1953) p.113. 23 – Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort [/italics] p.43. PRO Air 8/668. 24 – [italics] The Military Chest, [/italics] ed. by D.B. Picton-Phillips Volume 2 No 5 (Picton Print, Wiltshire, September/October 1983) pp.31-33. 25 – Correspondence Author – Hastie. 26 – Denis Richards, [italics] Royal Air Force 1939-1945, [/italics] Vol.1 (HMSO, 1953) p.405. 27 – For an interesting description of landing at Bluie-West-One, see Ernest K. Gann, [italics] Fate is the Hunter, [/italics] (Hodder, 1961) pp.152-164. [page break] 122 28 – Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort, [/italics] p.43 29 – John Costello and Terry Hughes, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic, [/italics] (Collins, 1977) pp.200-201 30 – Ibid, p.202 31 – Probably Plt. Off. R. Guthrie and crew, see Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort, [/italics] p.43. 32 – Central Office of Information, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic, [/italics] (HMSO, 1946). p.57. 33 – Jock Manson, [italics] United in Effort. [/italics] p.43. 34 – Possibly, the Henry R. Mallory, see John Slader, [italics] The Red Duster at War, [/italics] (William Kimber, 1988) p.242. 35 – Ministry of Information, [italics] Atlantic Bridge, [/italics] (HMSO, 1945) Chapter 4, pp.39-40. 36 – Michael Pye, [italics] The King over the Water, [/italics] (Hutchinson, 1981) p.15 37 – Michael Pye, [italics] The King over the Water, [/italics] pp.15, 107. 38 – RAF Form 414, Pilot's Flying Log Book- F/O R.M. Hastie. 39 – Ibid. 40 – Winston S. Churchill, [italics] The Hinge of Fate, [/italics] (The Reprint Society, 1953) p.494. 41 – Colin Latham and Anne Stobbs, [italics] Pioneers of Radar, [/italics] (Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 1999) p.61. 42 – E.G. Bowen, [italics] Radar Days, [/italics] p.109. 43 – Alfred Price, [italics] Instruments of Darkness, [/italics] (Macdonald and Jane’s, 1977) p.21. 44 – Ibid., pp.22-23 & 47-48. 45 – Ibid., pp 60-61 & 62-63. 46 – Colin Latham and Anne Stobbs, [italics] Pioneers of. Radar [/italics] p.253. 47 – Sir Arthur T. Harris, Despatch on War Operations 23 February 1942 to 8 May 1945 (Frank Cass, 1995) p.9. 48 – Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries, [/italics] (Viking, 1985) p.335. 49 – Mark Arnold-Foster, [italics] The World at War, [/italics] p.268. 50 – R.V. Jones, [italics] Most Secret War, [/italics] (Hamish Hamilton, 1978) p.430 51 – PRO Air 17/1376, No 223 Squadron's Operations Record Book, F.540 52 – Mark K. Wells, [italics] Courage and Air Warfare [/italics] (Frank Cass, 1955) pp.18-20 53 – Martin Streetly, [italics] Confound & Destroy, [/italics] (Jane's, 1978) p.79 54 – R.V. Jones, Most Secret War, pp.458-459 55 – David Irving, The Mare's Nest: The war Against Hitler's Secret 'Vengeance' Weapons (Panther Books, Granada Publishing Limited, 1964) p.115 56 – PRO Air 41/46, p.77; David Irving, [italics] The Mare's Nest, [/italics] p.141 and footnote. 57 – PRO Air 25/782, para.25. 58 – Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Record 1939-1945, [/italics] p.608 59 – PRO Air 24/782; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.612-613 [page break] 123 60 – PRO Air 24/782; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational record Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.613-614 61 – RAF Form 414, Pilot's Flying Log Book – Hastie; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp. 619-620 62 – PRO Air 24/303, Air 27/1376. Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.620-621 63 – PRO Air 24/782; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Record Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.623-624 64 – PRO Air 27/1376; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Record 1939-1945, [/italics] p.625 65 – PRO Air 24/301; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command war Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.625-626 66 – Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] p.627 67 – PRO Air 25/783, p.5; [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.630-631; PRO Air 27/1376 68 – PRO Air 27/1376; [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, [/italics] pp.632-634 69 – PRO Air 27/1376 70 – PRO Air 24/303; PRO Air 27/1376 71 – Ibid 72 – PRO Air 24/303; PRO Air 27/1376 73 – Ibid 74 – PRO Air 27/1376 75 – Ibid 76 – PRO Air 24/307; PRO Air 27/1376 77 – Ibid 78 – PRO Air 27/1376; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] pp.666-668 79 – Ibid 80 – PRO Air 14/2894; PRO Air 27/1376 81 – PRO Air 24/311 82 – PRO Air 14/2894; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] p.674 83 – PRO Air 24/311; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book 1939-1945, [/italics] p.676 84 – PRO Air 27/1376; PRO Air 14/2894 85 – Ibid 86 – Based on information kindly provided by the Air Historical Branch. 87 – Based on information kindly furnished by the Air Historical Branch. 88 – Based on information kindly furnished by the Air Historical Branch. [page break] 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY SOURCES. A – UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS 1. Air Ministry Air 8 – Department of Chief of Air Staff Air 14 – Bomber Command. Air 14/2894. Air 20 – Unregistered Papers. Air 20/1962 Air 24 – Operational Record Books-Commands. Air 24/301, Air 24/303, Air 24/307, Air 24/311, Air 24/782. Air 25 – Operational Record Books-Groups. Air 25/782, Air 25/783. Air 27 – Operational Record Books-Squadrons. Air 27/1376. Air 41 – Air Historical Branch Monographs & Narratives. Air 41/46 Form 414, Pilot's Flying Logbook – F/O R.M. Hastie 2. Personal Correspondence Letters Roy Hastie – Author Letters Harry Palmer – Author PRIMARY SOURCES. B – PUBLISHED DOCUMENTS 1. Official Histories, Diaries and Memoirs Air Historical Branch – Information. Central Office of Information, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic [/italics] (HMSO, 1946). [italics] Coastal Command's War Record 1939-1945. [/italics] Harris, Sir Arthur T., [italics] Despatch on War Operations [/italics] (Frank Cass, 1995) (This publication is identical to the actual Despatch to be found at the Public Record Office under the Reference Air 20/1962). Jones, R.V. [italics] Most Secret War [/italics] (Hamish Hamilton, 1978). Ministry of Information, [italics] Atlantic Bridge [/italics] (HMSO, 1945) Richards, Denis, [italics] Royal Air Force 1939-1945, [/italics] Vol.I (HMSO,1953) [page break] 125 SECONDARY SOURCES 1. Published Books Arnold-Foster, Mark, [italics] The World at War [/italics] (Collins, 1974) Barker, Ralph, [italics] The Blockade Busters [/italics] (Chatto and Windus, 1976) Bowen, E.G., [italics] Radar Days [/italics] (Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1987) Churchill, Winston, S. [italics] The Hinge of Fate [/italics] (The Reprint Society, 1953) Churchill, Winston, S. [italics] The Second World War, [/italics] Vol.II (Cassell & Co Ltd, 1949) Churchill, Winston, S. [italics] The Second World War, [/italics] Vol.III (Cassell & Co Ltd, 1950) Costello, John and Hughes, Terry, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic [/italics] (Collins, 1977) Gann, Ernest K., [italics] Fate is the Hunter [/italics] (Hodder, 1961) Gilbert, Martin, Winston S. Churchill: [italics] Finest Hour 1939-1941, [/italics] Vol.VI (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1983) Harris, Sir Arthur, [italics] Bomber Offensive [/italics] (Collins, 1947) Irving, David, [italics] The Mare's Nest, The War Against Hitler's Secret 'Vengeance' Weapons [/italics] (Panther Books, Granada Publishing Limited 1964) Latham, Colin, and Stobbs, Anne, [italics] Pioneers of Radar [/italics] (Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1999) Manson, Jock, [italics] United in Effort [/italics] (Air-Britain Historians Ltd, Tunbridge Wells, 1997) Middlebrook, Martin, and Everitt, Chris. [italics] The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Record 1939-1945 [/italics] (Viking, 1985) Price, Alfred, [italics] Instruments of Darkness[/italics] (Macdonald and Jane's, 1977) Pritchard, David, [italics] The Radar War [/italics] (Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, 1989) Pye, Michael, [italics] The King Over the Water [/italics] (Hutchinson, 1981) Rahn, Werner, 'The War at Sea in the Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean' in Research Institute for Military History, Potsdam, Germany (eds.) Germany and the Second World War: Vol. VI [italics] The Global War [/italics] (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2001) Slader, John, [italics] The Red Duster at War [/italics] (William Kimber, 1988) Streetly, Martin, [italics] Confound & Destroy [/italics] (Jane's 1978) Times, The, [italics] British War Production [/italics] (Printing House Square, 1945) Wells, Mark K. [italics] Courage and Air Warfare [/italics] (Frank Cass, 1955) Williams, Andrew, [italics] The Battle of the Atlantic [/italics] (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2002) Wellum, Geoffrey, [italics] First Light [/italics] (Penguin Books, 2003) [page break] 126 2. Chronologies, Pamphlets, Journals and Proceedings Picton-Phillips, D.B. ed. [italics] The Military Chest, [/italics] Vol.2 No 5 (Picton Print, Wiltshire, September/October 1983) [page break] 127 Index 100-octane aviation fuel . . . 37 220 Squadron . . . 11 80 (Signals) Wing . . . 61, 63 87-octane aviation fuel . . . 37 Aachen . . . 80 Aberystwyth . . . 14 Admiral Doenitz . . . 58 Admiral King . . . 28, 30, 31 Admiral Ramsay . . . 13 Admiralty . . . 17, 27, 57, 60, 112 After Order . . . 56 Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill . . . 29 Air Component . . . 19, 109 Air Marshal Portal . . . 48 Air Ministry Research Establishment . . . 61 Air Training Corps . . . 24, 74 Air Vice Marshal Addison . . . 66, 92 Airborne Cigar . . . 64, 66, 97 Airborne interception . . . 62 Airspeed Oxford . . . 15, 91 Alcatraz . . . 31 Alcock and Brown . . . 28 Aldergrove . . . 28, 100 Allan Glen's School . . . 9 [italics] Altmark [/italics] . . . 11, 102 Ameland . . . 23,25 AMM3c Harry Boots . . . 36, 58 Amsterdam . . . 94 Anderson Brothers . . . 10, 92 AOC-in-C . . . 4, 18, 25, 61 Appleton . . . 60 Archangel . . . 18 Ardennes offensive . . . 82 Aruba . . . 28 Aschaffenburg . . . 80 ASV . . . 22, 23, 27, 28, 43, 97, 121 Atlantic Ferry Organisation . . . 29 Avro Anson . . . 75, 94 Avro Tutor . . . 16 Babbacombe . . . 14 Bahamas . . . 4, 5, 46, 47, 49, 50, 55, 72, 92 Ball bearing industry . . . 22 Baltic . . . 22 Banff . . . 82 Bannerman Town . . . 54 Barford St John . . . 90 Barnett . . . 60 Battle of Britain . . . 14, 27, 61, 109 Battle of the Atlantic . . . 3, 5, 57, 58, 104, 121, 122, 124, 125 Battlefield School . . . 9 Bay of Biscay . . . 26, 110 Beatty draft . . . 45 Beaufort . . . 24 Beecroft . . . 77, 82, 83, 85, 86 Belgium. . . . 13, 71, 80, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 102, 103, 109 Benito . . . 60, 67, 97 Bergkamen . . . 88 Binnie . . . 51 [italics] Bismarck [/italics] . . . 17, 100 Blackpool . . . 12, 14. 17, 45 Blenheims . . . 19, 103, 109, 110 Bletchley . . . 57, 61 Bluie West . . . 29, 40, 42 Bob Lawrence . . . 87 Bochum . . . 79 Bohlen . . . 86 Bomber Command . . . 2, 5, 18, 22, 23, 27, 28, 58, 59, 62, 63, 66, 68, 69, 70, 72, 75, 79, 80, 82, 83, 85, 88, 98, 105, 122, 123, 124, 125 Bonn . . . 82, 86 Boston Harbour . . . 47 Boulogne . . . 94, 109 Bournemouth . . . 21 Boys' Brigade . . . 9 Braun . . . 60 Brest . . . 17, 102, 109 Bret . . . 60 Bristol Channel . . . 27 British Embassy . . . 37 British Expeditionary Force . . . 13, 19, 109 British Institute of Engineering Technology . . . 10 Brussels . . . 78, 79, 94 Brux . . . 85 Bull's Eye . . . 76 Caimanera . . . 33 Canada . . . 17, 28, 39, 45, 55, 100 Cape Hatteras . . . 28 Cape of Good Hope . . . 34, 38 [page break] 128 Captain Lilly . . . 39 Caribbean . . . 2, 4, 28, 32, 34, 45, 48, 49, 50, 110 Carpet . . . 68, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 97 Castrop-Rauxel . . . 80 Catfoss . . . 45 Cathcart . . . 9, 12 Catterick . . . 19, 106 Centrimetric radar . . . 57 Chain Home (CH) . . . 61 Channel Islands . . . 21 Cheddington . . . 76 Chemnitz . . . 86 Cherry Point . . . 32 Chipmunk . . . 93 Church of St. Andrews . . . 51 Coastal Command . . . 1, 2, 4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26,27, 28, 34, 45, 48, 50, 55, 58, 72, 75, 82, 95, 97, 100, 101, 103, 105, 109, 124 Cologne . . . 27, 78, 83, 89 Cologne/Nippes marshalling yards . . . 82 Commissioned as a Pilot Officer . . . 54 Convoy system . . . 32 Convoy, TM1 . . . 34 Cornwall . . . 19, 104, 110, 111 Corona . . . 66, 97 Cranwell . . . 92 Crossbow . . . 69, 97 Croydon . . . 91, 94 Cuba . . . 32, 34 Curacao . . . 28 D.C.T. Bennett . . . 28, 30 Dakota . . . 29 Darmstadt . . . 87 Dartboard . . . 66, 97 D-Day . . . 66, 68, 69, 73 Denmark . . . 22, 78, 103 Denmark Strait . . . 100 Dessau . . . 89 DH 82 . . . 7 Digne . . . 94 Dinah . . . 71 Dishforth . . . 92 Distinguished Flying Cross . . . 92, 95 Donibristle . . . 93 Donitz . . . 28 Donna Nook . . . 23 Dortmund . . . 79, 80, 87 Dortmund-Ems Canal . . . 79, 80, 88 Dorval . . . 29, 30, 39 Dover . . . 13 Dr Hans Plendl . . . 60 Dr R.V. Jones . . . 61 Dr Schaht . . . 59 Dr Yagi . . . 60 Dresden . . . 86 Drumstick . . . 67, 97 Duisburg . . . 80, 82, 85, 87 Duke of Windsor . . . 3, 5, 48, 49 Dulmen . . . 84 Duncan Sandys . . . 69, 72, 97 Dungeness . . . 85, 88 Dunwich . . . 63 Durlacher . . . 81 Dusseldorf . . . 87 Dutch Guyana . . . 32 E-Boat . . . 16 Edinburgh Field . . . 33, 35 El Alamein . . . 57, 117, 118 Eleuthera . . . 5, 53, 54 Empire Air Training Scheme . . . 12, 46 Empire State Building . . . 38 English Channel . . . 16, 22, 110 Enigma . . . 57 Escort Carrier . . . 57 Essen . . . 62, 80, 81 Exuma Sound . . . 53 Faraday . . . 60 Farnborough . . . 19, 106, 109 Feltwell . . . 91 Ferry Command . . . 29, 39 Fidget . . . 68, 97 Fighter Affiliation . . . 91 Fleet Air Arm . . . 37, 102 Flensburg . . . 70, 97 Flight Lieutenant B. James . . . 75 Flight Lieutenant Hughes . . . 7 Florence . . . 94 Florida . . . 32, 95, 96 Flt. Lt. Allies . . . 76 Flying badge . . . 15 Flying instructor . . . 4, 5, 16, 92 Flying Officer Christopher Spicer . . . 5, 73, 88, Flying Officer Leon (Soapy) Hudson . . . 73 Flying Officer Moyer . . . 23 Food rationing . . . 11, 38 [page break] 129 Fort Hamilton . . . 47 Fort Montagu Hotel . . . 48 Fort Montague . . . 54 France . . . 11, 13, 19, 27, 49, 71, 79, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 103, 106, 109 Frankfurt . . . 79, 84, 87 Freya . . . 60, 63, 97, 98 Freya-Halbe . . . 64 Frieburg . . . 88 Frisians . . . 21 Gander . . . 28, 55 Gee . . . 62, 98 Gelsenkirchen . . . 85, 89 General Arnold . . . 47 General Montgomery . . . 57, 118 General Rommel . . . 57 General Strike . . . 9 George Cole . . . 51 George Washington Bridge . . . 38 German Army . . . 13, 69, 76, 77, 98, 117 Gibraltar . . . 34, 104, 105 Glasgow . . . 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 31, 35, 41, 44, 45, 46, 51, 58, 92, 94 [italics] Gneisenau [/italics] . . . 17, 20, 102, 109 Goldfish Club . . . 3, 54 Goose Bay . . . 29, 30, 39 Government Code and Cipher School . . . 61 [italics] Graf Spee [/italics] . . . 11, 60 Grand Central Station . . . 31, 38 Grantham . . . 14 Gravenhorst . . . 87 Greenland . . . 17, 29, 30, 36, 39, 40, 42, 104 Grevenbroich . . . 84 Grimsby . . . 24 Ground Cigar . . . 64, 66, 98 Ground Controlled Interception . . . 62, 99 Ground Grocer . . . 63, 64, 66, 68, 98 Group Captain L.R.S. Freestone OBE . . . 74 Group Captain R.N. Waite RAF . . . 48 Group Captain T.C. Dickens . . . 72 Guantanamo Bay . . . 32 Gulf of Mexico . . . 32 Gulf of Venezuela . . . 28 H2S . . . 62, 70, 71, 98 Hagen . . . 80 Hamburg . . . 62, 65, 85, 89 Hampton Roads . . . 28 Hangelar/Bonn . . . 82 Hannover . . . 79, 84 Hans von Seeckt . . . 59 Harry Palmer . . . 1, 18, 21, 24, 25, 35, 121, 124 Harvard . . . 32 Heligoland . . . 25, 78 Hemmingstedt and Harburg . . . 89 Herne . . . 89 Hertz . . . 60 Hillman Minx . . . 93 Hitler . . . 4, 11, 16, 20, 23, 58, 59, 69, 84, 115, 117, 122, 125 HMS [italics] Curacao [/italics] . . . 47 HMS [italics] Hood [/italics] . . . 17 HMS [italics] Royal Oak [/italics] . . . 10 Holland . . . 13, 19, 70, 77, 78, 86, 87, 100, 102, 103, 109 Homburg . . . 78 Homing torpedo . . . 58 HQ No 18 Group . . . 21 Hudson, Lockheed . . . 2, 3, 4, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 32, 36, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 88, 90, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 Hudson River . . . 31, 47 Hulsmeyer . . . 60 Humber-Hillmans . . . 10 Hurricane . . . 91 Iceland . . . 17, 29, 42, 100, 104, 105, 111 IFF . . . 67, 88, 98 Integrated air defence system . . . 61 Isa Hastie . . . 35, 44, 45, 51, 58, 92, 93, 95 ITW . . . 14, 74 Jack Badger . . . 24, 27 Jamaica . . . 37 Jersey . . . 94 John Hastie . . . 9 John Randall . . . 58 John Searby . . . 28 Jostle IV . . . 71, 76, 80 Juvancourt . . . 90 Kaiser . . . 59 Kamen . . . 88 Karlsruhe . . . 80, 81, 86 Kassbohrer . . . 82 Kattegat . . . 22 Kiel . . . 85, 90 Kingston . . . 37 Knickebein . . . 60, 61 [page break] 130 Koblenz . . . 86 Kuhnhold . . . 60 La Brea . . . 33 Labrador . . . 30, 39 Leicester . . . 45 Leige . . . 79 Lend Lease . . . 14 Leuchars . . . 21 Leuna . . . 81, 84 Lewis . . . 43 Liberator . . . 5, 17, 29, 48, 49, 50, 55, 57, 76, 79, 87, 88, 90. 91, 92, 110 Liberator D.620 . . . 78 Liberator, G for George . . . 90 Lichfield . . . 92 Lichtenstein B.C . . . 67 Lieutenant Prien . . . 10 Lille . . . 95 Limavady . . . 19, 22, 43 Lindesnaes . . . 22 Lisbon . . . 49, 94 Loch Foyle . . . 43 Lord Beaverbrook . . . 82 Lorenz beam . . . 60 Lorenz Company . . . 60 Lough Foyle . . . 20 Lubeck . . . 22 Ludwigshafen . . . 81, 86 Luftwaffe . . . 13, 15, 22, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 73, 78, 84, 89, 98, 102, 109 Lulsgate Bottom . . . 92 Lundy Island . . . 27 Luxembourg . . . 13, 94 Lyon . . . 94 Magdeburg . . . 85, 86 Maginius-Deutz . . . 82 Mainz . . . 86 Malin Head . . . 43 Mandrel . . . 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 97, 98 Mandrel Screen . . . 69, 78 Mannheim . . . 83, 84, 86 Manston . . . 79 Master Bomber . . . 87 Maurice Anderson . . . 93 Max Aitken . . . 82 Maxwell . . . 60 McLaughlins . . . 35 Merchant Aircraft Carriers . . . 39 Metz . . . 84 Miami . . . 4, 32, 36, 37, 47, 54, 55 Mike Couper . . . 94 Miles Martinet aircraft . . . 74 Mittelland Canal . . . 80, 87 Monheim . . . 87 Monica . . . 70, 97, 98 Monte Carlo . . . 6, 93, 94, 95 Monte Carlo Rally . . . 93 Montego Bay . . . 37 Montreal . . . 30, 32, 38, 39, 55 Morrison Field . . . 32 Motor Vessel [italics] Inge [/italics] . . . 25 Mount Florida Church . . . 45 Mr and Mrs Dynes . . . 38 Mr and Mrs Wallis . . . 39 Mr Neilson . . . 95 Mrs Margaret Beveridge . . . 31 Munich . . . 82, 84 Munster . . . 87, 89 Murmansk . . . 18 Nassau . . . 4, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55 Nassau Radio . . . 51 National Service . . . 10 Naxos . . . 70, 98 Neuss . . . 80, 87 Nevers . . . 94 Neville Chamberlain . . . 10 New Providence Island . . . 48 New York . . . 4, 31, 32, 38, 46, 48, 54 Newfoundland . . . 30, 38, 55 No 1 Group . . . 64 No 10 AGS . . . 73, 74, 75 No 100 Group . . . 2, 66, 69, 72, 76, 82 No 11 Elementary Flying Training School . . . 7, 14 No 11 Reserve Flying School . . . 93 No 111 (General Reconnaissance) Operational Training Unit . . . 47, 50 No 1332 Heavy Conversion Unit . . . 91 No 1688 Battle Defence Training Flight . . . 91 No 214 Squadron . . . 72, 76 No 223 Squadron . . . 2, 69, 72, 75, 76, 91, 119, 122 No 3 Flying Training School . . . 15 No 3 School of General Reconnaissance . . . 17 No 6 (Coastal) OTU . . . 18 [page break] 131 No 7 Flying Instructor's School . . . 92 No. 53 Squadron . . . 2, 4, 19, 28, 33, 106, 109, 111 North Africa . . . 38, 57, 100, 104, 117, 119 North American B25 Mitchell . . . 5, 48, 49, 50, 52 North Carolina . . . 28, 37 North Coates . . . 20, 21, 23, 24 Northern Ireland . . . 19, 20, 28, 111 Norway . . . 11, 20, 21, 23, 102, 103, 105 Nova Scotia . . . 55 Number 25 Course . . . 55 Nuremberg . . . 80 Nurnberg . . . 84 Oakes Airfield . . . 48 Oberhausen . . . 78 Oboe . . . 62, 82, 98 Odiham . . . 19, 109 Operation Dynamo . . . 13 Operation Gisella . . . 89 Operation Torch . . . 38, 57 Oslo . . . 61, 94 Oslo Report . . . 61 Padgate . . . 12 Paris . . . 94 Parramaribo . . . 36 Pas de Calais . . . 68 Pearl Harbour . . . 27 Perth . . . 7, 8, 14, 93, 95 Pfieffer . . . 31 Pforzheim . . . 87 Pilot Officer Davey . . . 53 Pilot Officer E.P. Youngs . . . 76 Pilot Officer Jones . . . 52 Pilot Officer Risbey . . . 36 Pilot Officer. B.S. Beecroft . . . 76 Piperack . . . 71, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 98 Pleasantville Construction Incorporated . . . 48 PNB . . . 73, 74, 75 Politz . . . 82 Prague . . . 94 President Hindenburg . . . 59 President Roosevelt . . . 33 Prestwick . . . 29, 42, 43, 44, 55, 92 Princeton Club . . . 3, 38 [italics] Prinz Eugen [/italics] . . . 17 Proctor . . . 91 Professor Oliphant . . . 57 Propaganda leaflets . . . 16 Providence . . . 5, 30, 31, 37, 47, 50, 51, 54 Puerto Rico . . . 32, 35 QGH . . . 20 Quonset Point . . . 4, 29, 30, 38 Radar . . . 17, 22, 27, 28, 43, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 84, 87, 92, 97, 98, 99, 105 Radio countermeasures . . . 63, 68 Radio direction finding . . . 60 RAF Catfoss . . . 45 RAF Cheadle . . . 61 RAF Cranwell . . . 16 RAF Delegation . . . 48 RAF Docking . . . 44 RAF Northwood . . . 95 RAF Oulton . . . 5, 72, 78 RAF Padgate . . . 12 RAF Walney Island . . . 73 RAF Y Service . . . 61 RCAF Lachine . . . 39 RCM plan on D-Day . . . 68 Reefer Patrol . . . 21 Reichwehr . . . 59 Reverend John Ramsay . . . 45 Reykjavik . . . 29, 42 Rheims . . . 94 Rhode Island . . . 4, 29, 30, 39 Riccal . . . 91 River Clyde . . . 47 River Plate . . . 11 Rockefeller Centre . . . 38 Rootes Ltd . . . 92 Rositz . . . 86 Rotterdam . . . 25, 102, 109 Rover Patrol . . . 24 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve . . . 1, 6, 11, 15, 54, 93, 94, 95 Royal Life Saving Society's Bronze Medallion . . . 9 Ruhr . . . 82 Russia . . . 16, 18, 57, 107 San Juan . . . 32, 33, 36 Scapa Flow . . . 10 [italics] Scharnhorst [/italics] . . . 17, 20, 102, 109 Schnorkel . . . 58 Scone . . . 14 Scottish Motor Transport . . . 10 Sea Frontiers . . . 28 Sergeant R.C. Lawrence . . . 75 [page break] 132 Seetakt . . . 17, 60, 98 Sergeant Allan . . . 54 Sergeant Ches. Weston . . . 73 Sergeant Dan Poitven . . . 27 Sergeant Jim Brown . . . 73 Sergeant P. Lovatt . . . 75 Sergeant Palmer . . . 18, 23 Sergeant Penfold . . . 18 Sergeant R. Jones . . . 75, 76 Sergeant Sydney Pienaar . . . 73 Serrate . . . 68, 98 Shell Group . . . 34 Shipping losses . . . 11, 17, 30 Shiver . . . 63, 98 Short Stirling . . . 78 Siegen . . . 86 Silver Meteor . . . 55 Sir Arthur Harris . . . 18, 22, 62, 87, 121 Sir Charles Dundas . . . 49 Sir Hugh Dowding . . . 61 SN2 . . . 68, 70, 71, 98 South Cerney . . . 15, 16 South of Ireland . . . 16 Special Tinsel . . . 65, 66 Special Window Force . . . 78, 79, 82 Spiral . . . 52 Spitfire . . . 91 Sqn Ldr Lindsay . . . 16 Squadron Leader Rands . . . 40 Squire's Gate . . . 17, 18 SS [italics] Athenia [/italics] . . . 10 SS [italics] Lady Somers [/italics] . . . 49 SS [italics] Normandy [/italics] . . . 47 SS [italics] Queen Elizabeth [/italics] . . . 4, 46 SS [italics] Queen Mary [/italics] . . . 47, 48 St Eval . . . 19, 25, 29, 36 St John's Wood . . . 73 St Malo . . . 21, 22 St Mungo Halls . . . 8, 11 St Lawrence River . . . 32 Sterkrade . . . 80 Stornoway . . . 42, 43 Stow College . . . 10 Stuttgart . . . 66, 84, 85 Suez Canal . . . 57 Sweden . . . 22 Tatzs Place . . . 33 Taxable, Operation . . . 68 Taxable and Glimmer, Operations . . . 68 Telecommunications Research Establishment . . . 61, 121 The Hague . . . 70, 77, 94 Thornaby . . . 18 Thorney Island . . . 21 Tiger Moth . . . 7, 15, 93 Tinsel . . . 63, 65, 66, 98 [italics] Tirpitz [/italics] . . . 23 Transair Ltd . . . 94 Transport Command . . . 55, 91, 92, 111 Trinidad . . . 4, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 110 Tuve . . . 60 [italics] U108 [/italics] . . . 35 [italics] U116 [/italics] . . . 34 [italics] U134 [/italics] . . . 34 [italics] U217 [/italics] . . . 35 [italics] U332 [/italics] . . . 35 [italics] U459 [/italics] . . . 34 [italics] U460 [/italics] . . . 34 [italics] U509 [/italics] . . . 34 [italics] U512 [/italics] . . . 35 U-boats . . . 4, 5, 10, 16, 17, 20, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 46, 57, 58, 105, 110, 111 Ulm . . . 82 V1 . . . 69, 73, 98 V2 . . . 69, 70, 72, 76, 77, 98 Vengeance weapons . . . 69 Venlo . . . 94 Virginia . . . 32, 37 WAAF . . . 42 Waller Field . . . 33 Wanne-Eickel . . . 79, 85, 86 Warrant Officer F.M Watson . . . 73 Warrington . . . 12, 13 Weimar . . . 59 Weisbaden . . . 86 Wesel . . . 89 West Kingsdown . . . 65, 66 Western Approaches . . . 20, 111 Western Motor Company . . . 10 Wg. Cdr. H.H. Burnell . . . 91 Wg. Cdr. Jimmy Leggate . . . 35 Wiesbaden . . . 86 Window . . . 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 98, 99 Windrush . . . 15 Windsor Field . . . 48, 50 [page break] 133 Wing Commander E.B. Addison . . . 61 Winston Churchill . . . 14, 28, 33, 97 Worms . . . 87 Wurzburg . . . 60, 62, 63, 65, 98, 99 X-Gerät . . . 60 Y-Gerät . . . 60 Youngs . . . 77, 82, 83, 85, 86 Yucatan Channel . . . 34 Zeitz . . . 85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot Description An account of the resource A biography of Roy Hastie. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peter Lovatt Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-10 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. United States Rhode Island--Quonset Point Naval Air Station Bahamas--Nassau New York (State)--New York Bahamas--New Providence Island Great Britain England--Harrogate Scotland--Perth Scotland--Glasgow England--Warrington England--Blackpool Luxembourg France Belgium Netherlands France--Dunkerque England--Dover England--Grantham England--Torquay Wales--Aberystwyth Iceland Greenland Sierra Leone Russia (Federation)--Murmansk Singapore France--Saint-Malo Denmark Sweden Germany--Lübeck Netherlands--Ameland Island England--Grimsby Germany--Helgoland Netherlands--Rotterdam Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay England--Lundy Island Germany--Cologne North Carolina North Carolina--Cape Hatteras Aruba Curaçao Iceland--Reykjavík Greenland--Narsarssuak Canada Québec--Montréal Rhode Island New York (State)--Buffalo Gulf of Mexico Caribbean Sea Virginia Florida--Miami Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base Puerto Rico--San Juan Cuba Florida--West Palm Beach Cuba--Caimanera India Sierra Leone--Freetown Jamaica Jamaica--Kingston Jamaica--Montego Bay Virginia--Norfolk Washington (D.C.) Newfoundland and Labrador Northern Ireland--Limavady England--Chatham (Kent) Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander Gibraltar England--Leicester Massachusetts--Boston Egypt--Alamayn Algeria--Algiers Algeria--Oran Algeria--Bejaïa Algeria--Annaba Italy--Sicily England--Milton Keynes Germany--Essen England--Dunwich Europe--Scheldt River England--Sizewell Germany--Hamburg England--Kent Germany--Stuttgart England--Crowborough Netherlands--Hague England--Peterborough England--Bristol Germany--Homburg (Saarland) Belgium--Brussels Germany--Bochum Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Wanne-Eickel Belgium--Liège Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Hannover Germany--Aschaffenburg Germany--Castrop-Rauxel Germany--Mittelland Canal Germany--Aachen Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Neuss Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Duisburg Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg) Germany--Leuna Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Ulm Germany--Munich Poland--Szczecin Germany--Bonn Belgium--Houffalize Germany--Mannheim Germany--Grevenbroich Germany--Dülmen France--Metz Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Zeitz Germany--Gelsenkirchen England--Dungeness Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Wiesbaden Germany--Dresden Germany--Leipzig Germany--Koblenz Germany--Chemnitz Germany--Dortmund Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Münster in Westfalen Germany--Worms Germany--Pforzheim Germany--Darmstadt Europe--Lake Constance Germany--Bergkamen Germany--Dessau (Dessau) Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) France--Aube Germany--Augsburg England--Feltwell England--Croydon Norway--Oslo Sweden--Stockholm Czech Republic--Prague Italy--Florence Portugal--Lisbon Monaco--Monte-Carlo France--Boulogne-sur-Mer Netherlands--Venlo Netherlands--Amsterdam France--Paris France--Lyon France--Digne France--Nevers France--Lille Norway--Ålesund France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) France--Bailleul (Nord) Belgium--Ieper Belgium--Mesen France--Cambrai France--Somme France--Arras France--Lens France--Calais Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Netherlands--Vlissingen France--Brest France--Lorient France--La Pallice Egypt--Suez Germany--Berlin Yemen (Republic)--Aden Cyprus Turkey--Gallipoli Black Sea--Dardanelles Strait Turkey--İmroz Island Turkey--İzmir Greece--Lesbos (Municipality) Greece--Thasos Island Greece--Chios (Municipality) Bulgaria Turkey--Istanbul Europe--Macedonia Greece--Kavala Kenya--Nairobi Tanzania Sudan Eritrea Ethiopia Sudan--Kassalā Eritrea--Asmara Yemen (Republic)--Perim Island Ethiopia--Addis Ababa Sudan--Khartoum Ghana--Takoradi Libya--Cyrenaica Libya--Tobruk Egypt--Cairo Iraq Greece--Crete Tunisia--Mareth Line Libya--Tripoli Tunisia--Qaṣrayn Tunisia--Medenine Italy--Pantelleria Island Malta Italy--Licata Italy--Brindisi Italy--Foggia Italy--Cassino Italy--Sangro River Italy--Termoli Yugoslavia Croatia--Split Croatia--Vis Island Italy--Loreto Italy--Pescara Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad North America--Saint Lawrence River Newfoundland and Labrador--Happy Valley-Goose Bay Bahamas Florida Italy Poland Massachusetts New York (State) Algeria Tunisia Libya Egypt North Africa Ontario Québec Germany Croatia Czech Republic Ghana Greece Kenya Norway Russia (Federation) Turkey Yemen (Republic) Portugal Trinidad and Tobago North America--Niagara Falls France--Reims Europe--Frisian Islands Germany--Monheim (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Ruhr (Region) England--Norfolk England--Suffolk England--Gloucestershire England--Lancashire England--Leicestershire England--Lincolnshire Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Greece--Thessalonikē Germany--Herne (Arnsberg) Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea) Libya--Banghāzī Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Jersey Virginia--Hampton Roads (Region) Russia (Federation)--Yagodnik West Indies West Indies West Indies West Indies France--Pas-de-Calais Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Puerto Rico Europe--Ardennes Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Wehrmacht. Kriegsmarine Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 142 printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BLovattPHastieRv2 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke Peter Bradbury 1 Group 100 Group 101 Squadron 157 Squadron 2 Group 214 Squadron 223 Squadron 3 Group 4 Group 6 Group 8 Group 85 Squadron 88 Squadron air gunner aircrew anti-aircraft fire B-17 B-24 B-25 bale out Beaufighter Bismarck Botha C-47 Chamberlain, Neville (1869-1940) Churchill, Winston (1874-1965) crash crewing up Distinguished Flying Cross entertainment evacuation Flying Training School Gee Gneisenau Goldfish Club ground personnel H2S Halifax Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) Harvard He 111 Heavy Conversion Unit Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) Hudson Hurricane Initial Training Wing Ju 88 Lancaster love and romance Martinet Me 109 Me 110 mine laying Mosquito Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945) navigator Nissen hut Oboe Operational Training Unit Oxford Pathfinders pilot Prinz Eugen Proctor radar RAF Banff RAF Catfoss RAF Catterick RAF Chedburgh RAF Cranwell RAF Dishforth RAF Farnborough RAF Horsham St Faith RAF Kinloss RAF Leuchars RAF Lichfield RAF Lyneham RAF Manston RAF North Coates RAF Oulton RAF Padgate RAF Prestwick RAF Riccall RAF Silloth RAF South Cerney RAF St Eval RAF Thornaby RAF Thorney Island RAF Windrush RAF Woodbridge Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945) Scharnhorst Spitfire sport Stirling Swordfish Tiger Moth Tirpitz training V-1 V-2 V-weapon Whitley Window wireless operator Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1992/37846/BNogalJNogalJv10002.jpg 8352bb29200f38714cfea5d36b936e5a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1992/37846/BNogalJNogalJv10003.jpg d5000aaf82fbc1997110c01335adebec https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1992/37846/BNogalJNogalJv10001.jpg fb012c310cf57213cd4feb53afe1a9d0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nogal, Jozef J Nogal Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-11-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Nogal, J Description An account of the resource 58 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Jozef Nogal (b. 1911, Polskie Siły Powietrzne) and contains his prisoner of war log, documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 305 Squadron and became a prisoner of war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Wanda Elizabeth Atkey and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document J. Nogal [censored] I was born in Posieke District Bialyste[sic], Poland 17th March 1911 of Polish Nationality. My father Franciszek Nogal deceased January 1931 My mother Franciszka Nogal (Zalewska) deceased May 1935 both parents of Polish Nationality. I attended schools at Wyszkow on River Bug District Warsaw. My father was employed by Polish Railways. I have two brothers and two sisters. My elder brother, Tadeuz Nogal, married with three children lives in Warsaw holding an executive post at Head Office of Polish Railways. His address is 87 Oliwska Steet, Warsaw 9. My younger brother, Franciszek Nogal, married with one son is in charge of Railways Signalling System at Breslaw, Silesia, and lives at 44 Staszyon Baune, Breslaw. Sister Kaziniere Maria married to railwayman Jan Malon, lives at Siedlec 6 Roza Street, has four children. Younger sister Vanda married to Stationmaster Wladyslaw Pudlo, with two children, lives at 30 Podhalanska Street, Nowy Sacz District Krakow. I left school at 18 to volunteer to Polish Air Force. 1930 I became a Pilot with rank of Non-Commissioned Officer and was posted to one of the squadrons at Warsaw. After five years flying I applied to the Air Ministry for permission to join Officers’ Training College. Permission was granted and after exams I joined the College. My training lasted three years. At the end of that period I was promoted to Second Lieutenant (Pilot Officer) and -1- [page break] was posted to Lwow (Lemberg) South East of Poland where I was till the beginning of war 1939. I took part in short battle of Poland flying in reconnaissance squadrons. 18th September 1939 when all was over I flew to Rumania and landed near Czerniowice where I was disarmed and sent to Detention Camp at Tulcea. On the 22nd of October I escaped to Balcio which is a small fishing port on Black Sea where on the 5th November that year I boarded Greek ship Papagos and was on my way through Constantinople, Malta and Marseilles to join Polish Air Force in France. 13th November I arrived at Lyon. Through Winter 1939 and early Spring 1940 I was put in uniform again in the rank of Sous-Lieutant and was at Lyon Bron training to fly various types of French aircraft in preparation to join Polish Squadrons but in May 1940 I was sent on loan to French Air Force and was posted to No. 301 base at Chateaudun. There our main job was to protect the base against German sorties and evacuate aircraft and equipment to the South of France. At the end of May I left France, flying from Marseilles to Algiers where I received an order from the Polish Authority in England to report as soon as possible to that Country, where Polish Squadrons had already been organised. As a result of that order I left Algiers by train to Oran and Casablanca, from Casablanca by boat to Gibraltar and again by boat to Liverpool. After a short rest at Blackpool I have [inserted] BEEN [/inserted] posted to R.A.F. Station, Benson, Oxfordshire for refresher course. In December 1940 I joined Polish Squadron 305 at Syerston, Nottingham. On 3rd May 1941 I was shot down over Germany and taken prisoner of war. -2- [page break] 1945 – after the war – I returned to England where I was stationed at various R.A.F. units in Great Britain, until I was demobilised in 1949. Meantime, in 1948, I married Miss Jean Margaret Glindon at the Registry Office, Epsom. After my demobilisation I was employed by Messrs. E.L. Wallis & Son Solicitors, as Clerk/Interpreter at Hereford. My wife at that time lived with her widowed mother at Cheam, Surrey, working as a Hairdresser. In 1949 our daughter Wanda Elizabeth was born. By the end of September that year they moved to Kingston, taking a flat at 37 Lancaster Close. Two months after, I left Hereford and joined my family in Kingston, finding myself a new job with Moss Bros. London. March 1951 I changed my job again and joined Phillips Furnishing Stores, where I am up to the present time. I am responsible here for Central Merchandise Office, which consists of Buying Office, Wages Department, Petty Cash and General Office Manager, etc. etc. -3- Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Jozef Nogal's Autobiography Description An account of the resource Jozef flew with the Polish Air Force and escaped to Romania after the German's invaded. He further escaped to France and flew there against the Germans until he was instructed to head for the UK. He was shot down and taken prisoner. After the war he returned to the UK and continued flying with the RAF. He details the various jobs he took in civilian life. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jozef Nogal Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Kingston upon Thames Poland--Białystok Poland--Warsaw Romania--Tulcea France--Marseille France--Lyon France--Châteaudun Algeria--Algiers Algeria--Oran Morocco--Casablanca Gibraltar England--Liverpool England--London England--Surrey England--Lancashire Poland--Kraków Ukraine--Lʹviv Ukraine Poland France Morocco Algeria North Africa Romania Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Polskie Siły Powietrzne Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three typewritten sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BNogalJNogalJv10001, BNogalJNogalJv10002, BNogalJNogalJv10003 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Frances Grundy Maureen Clarke 305 Squadron aircrew escaping pilot prisoner of war RAF Benson RAF Syerston https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2003/38297/LBrownCR1334289v1.pdf 1fe47202b7a12860ceb8e665d188f006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Brown, Cyril Robert C R Brown Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-12-13 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Brown, CR Description An account of the resource Two items. The collection concerns Cyril Robert Brown (b. 1921, 1334289 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and a photograph. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 106, 9 and 617 Squadrons. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Crosby and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cyril Robert Brown’s flying log book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943-06-12 1943-06-13 1943-06-14 1943-06-15 1943-06-21 1943-06-22 1943-07-03 1943-07-04 1943-07-09 1943-07-10 1943-07-12 1943-07-13 1943-07-24 1943-07-25 1943-07-26 1943-08-07 1943-08-08 1943-08-10 1943-08-11 1943-09-23 1943-09-24 1943-09-27 1943-09-28 1943-10-18 1943-10-19 1943-11-10 1943-11-11 1943-11-18 1943-11-19 1943-11-23 1943-11-24 1944-01-01 1944-01-02 1944-01-03 1944-01-14 1944-01-20 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-01-28 1944-02-15 1944-02-16 1944-03-04 1944-03-05 1944-03-10 1944-03-11 1944-03-15 1944-03-16 1944-03-17 1944-03-20 1944-03-21 1944-03-23 1944-03-24 1944-03-25 1944-03-26 1945-03-03 1945-03-04 1945-03-16 1945-03-17 1945-04-04 1945-04-07 1945-04-08 1945-04-26 1945-04-27 1946 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada France Germany Great Britain Italy Norway Scotland England--Lincolnshire England--Nottinghamshire France--Angoulême France--Clermont-Ferrand France--Lyon France--Metz France--Modane France--Saint-Étienne (Loire) Italy--Po River Valley Germany--Berlin Germany--Bochum Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Cologne Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Essen Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Kassel Germany--Krefeld Germany--Leipzig Germany--Leverkusen Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Mannheim Germany--Munich Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Germany--Würzburg Italy--Milan Italy--Turin Manitoba--Portage la Prairie Manitoba--Winnipeg Norway--Tønsberg Scotland--Moray Germany--Hannover Germany--Ruhr (Region) Manitoba Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Leitch Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LBrownCR1334289v1 Description An account of the resource C.R. Brown’s Flying Log Book from 5 April 1942 to 7 May 1946 detailing training, operations and instructional duties as a bomb aimer. Based at Portage La Prairie (No. 7 Air Observers School), Paulson (No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School), Winnipeg (No. 5 Air Observers School), RAF Kinloss (No. 19 Operational Training Unit), RAF Winthorpe (1661 Conversion Unit), RAF Syerston (106 Squadron), RAF Bardney (9 Squadron), RAF Woodhall Spa (617 Squadron), RAF Swinderby (1660 Conversion Unit), RAF Skellingthorpe, RAF Sturgate and RAF Waddington (61 Squadron). Aircraft flown: Anson, Battle, Whitley, Manchester, Lancaster and Stirling. Records a total of 35 night operations. Targets in France, Germany, Italy and Norway are: Angoulême, Berlin, Bochum, Brunswick, Clermont-Ferrand, Cologne, Dortmund-Ems Canal, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Hanover, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Lyons, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Metz, Milan, Modane, Mölbis, Mülheim, Munich, Nordhausen, Nuremburg, Oberhausen, St Etienne, Tonsberg, Turin and Würzburg. Later notes include a Cook's Tour flight and participation in Operations “Dodge”, “Spasm”, “Wastage” and “Frontline”. His pilots on operations were Flight Sergeant Brown, Pilot Officer Whetter, Flying Officer Ham, Squadron Leader Howroyd, Flying Officer Cole, Flight Lieutenant Hadland, Flight Lieutenant Lipton and Flying Officer Bain.&nbsp;<br /><br />This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 106 Squadron 1660 HCU 1661 HCU 19 OTU 61 Squadron 617 Squadron 9 Squadron Air Observers School aircrew Anson Battle Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bomb aimer bombing Bombing and Gunnery School bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) Cook’s tour Heavy Conversion Unit Lancaster Manchester Operation Dodge (1945) Operational Training Unit RAF Bardney RAF Kinloss RAF Skellingthorpe RAF Sturgate RAF Swinderby RAF Syerston RAF Waddington RAF Winthorpe RAF Woodhall Spa Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Stirling training Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2231/40679/PBirdJH18010084.1.jpg 7d6942a1d7e3b2b9b150bf14b840591f https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2231/40679/PBirdJH18010085.1.jpg 2ba1dd21c5f391ec61c3d83afcd960a9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bird, JH Description An account of the resource 50 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer J H Bird (b. 1921, 184015 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, note books, newsletters and a <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2251">photograph album</a>. After training in south Africa, he flew operations as a pilot with 104 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lissie Wilkins and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-02-15 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Bird, JH Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document R.A.F. Wellingtons, Liberators and Halifaxes last night continued the Allied air forces' massive aerial support of the Riviera landings with an attack on Valence aerodrome between Marseilles and Lyons. Results of the attack were obscured by haze. [page break] [unrelated small advertisements] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report on the Attack on Valence Description An account of the resource A brief newspaper report on the operation at Valence aerodrome. The reverse has small ads. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France--Marseille France--Lyon France France--Valence (Drôme) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One newspaper cutting Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PBirdJH18010084, PBirdJH18010085 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Babs Nichols B-24 bombing Halifax Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40808/MGrayDA1006912-210610-08.pdf 384c9d54c3aad9ec9489cb3e9f984b90 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gray, Donald Arthur Description An account of the resource 57 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Donald Arthur Gray (b. 1922, 1006912 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Catherine Burrows and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06-10 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gray, DA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron Operational Record Description An account of the resource A list of operations conducted by 460 Squadron 22 November 1942 to 11 May 1945 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany--Stuttgart Italy--Turin Germany--Mannheim Germany--Duisburg Germany--Munich Germany--Essen Germany--Berlin Germany--Düsseldorf France--Lorient Germany--Hamburg Germany--Cologne Germany--Wilhelmshaven Italy--Milan Germany--Bremen Germany--Nuremberg France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Kiel Germany--Frankfurt am Main Italy--La Spezia Poland--Szczecin Germany--Dortmund Germany--Bochum Czech Republic--Plzeň Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Germany--Krefeld Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany--Wuppertal Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Remscheid Germany--Peenemünde Germany--Leverkusen Germany--Mönchengladbach Germany--Kassel Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Leipzig France--Modane Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Augsburg France--Nord (Department) France--Rouen Germany--Karlsruhe France--Maintenon France--Lyon France--Mailly-le-Camp France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe France--Bruz France--Merville (Nord) France--Eu France--Dunkerque France--Tergnier (Canton) France--Dieppe France--Cerisy-la-Salle France--Yvelines France--Evreux Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Le Havre France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Reims France--Somme France--Vaires-sur-Marne France--Pas-de-Calais France--Vierzon France--Oisemont (Canton) France--Orléans France--Dijon France--Caen France--Tours Europe--Meuse River France--Calvados Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Seine-Maritime France--Creil France--Pauillac (Gironde) France--Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay France--Aire-sur-la-Lys France--Lillers France--Douai France--La Pallice Germany--Braunschweig France--Falaise France--Falaise Region Netherlands--Nijmegen Region Belgium--Ghent Germany--Rüsselsheim Netherlands--Tilburg Metropolitan Area France--Le Havre Germany--Salzbergen France--Calais France--Audinghen Germany--Neuss Netherlands--Vlissingen Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Emmerich Netherlands--Breskens Germany--Helgoland Germany--Wanne-Eickel Germany--Düren (Cologne) Germany--Aschaffenburg Germany--Freiburg im Breisgau Germany--North Rhine-Westphalia Germany--Merseburg Germany--Ulm Germany--Bonn Poland--Gdynia Belgium--Saint-Vith Germany--Rheydt Germany--Merseburg Germany--Zeitz Germany--Wiesbaden Germany--Bottrop Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Dresden Germany--Mecklenburg (Region) Germany--Chemnitz Germany--Pforzheim Germany--Dessau (Dessau) Germany--Kassel Germany--Hanau Norway--Oslo Germany--Paderborn Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Germany--Halle an der Saale Germany--Potsdam Germany--Berchtesgaden Poland Germany--Freising Germany--Herne (Arnsberg) Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg) Belgium--Kortrijk Netherlands Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea) France--Vire (Calvados) Germany France--Nieppe Forest Germany--Ruhr (Region) France France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pas-de-Calais Belgium Italy Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Nine typewritten sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MGrayDA1006912-210610-08 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1945 460 Squadron bombing Lancaster mine laying Operation Exodus (1945) Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945) V-1 V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2455/44440/BUprichardWGUprichardWGv5.1.pdf e9094cf7f3f86e5f7920a0344a7f8e76 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Uprichard, W G Description An account of the resource 93 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader W G Uprichard (b. 1912, Royal Air Force) and contains his memoirs, correspondence, maps and photographs. He was an apprentice at RAF Halton, flew operations as a pilot with 51 Squadron, and served as a flying instructor for the Atlantic Ferry Flight. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Darryl Uprichard and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-04-25 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Uprichard, WG Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Frightening Experience (written by W G Uprichard) Description An account of the resource A flight through thunderstorm activity leading to structural damage. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource WG Uprichard Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Bristol England--Southampton England--Scunthorpe Italy Italy--Turin Belgium Belgium--Ostend Belgium--Antwerp France France--Paris Switzerland Switzerland--Geneva France--Dijon France--Lyon Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Seven printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BUprichardWGUprichardWGv5 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke 51 Squadron air gunner aircrew navigator pilot RAF Abingdon RAF Leconfield Whitley wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2455/44443/BUprichardWGUprichardWGv6.1.pdf dc963574edfe27089ac187104df03ec5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Uprichard, W G Description An account of the resource 93 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader W G Uprichard (b. 1912, Royal Air Force) and contains his memoirs, correspondence, maps and photographs. He was an apprentice at RAF Halton, flew operations as a pilot with 51 Squadron, and served as a flying instructor for the Atlantic Ferry Flight. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Darryl Uprichard and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-04-25 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Uprichard, WG Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Necessity is the Mother of Invention (written by W G Uprichard) Description An account of the resource A flight to Turin and the solution of a mechanical problem involving urinating on a frozen pipe. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource WG Uprichard Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Italy Italy--Turin France France--Paris Switzerland Switzerland--Geneva France--Lyon Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Seven printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BUprichardWGUprichardWGv6 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke aircrew anti-aircraft fire bombing navigator RAF Abingdon RAF Dishforth RAF Harwell RAF Linton on Ouse Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2620/45920/EMackieNAJCooper[Mr]850102-0002.jpg 1c598cc14b26d194afd43a3b838ce46c https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2620/45920/EMackieNAJCooper[Mr]850102-0001 b.jpg b6da80663ba773bba89c92b8d9471869 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mackie, Norman A J N A J Mackie Description An account of the resource 135 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Norman A J Mackie DSO, DFC (b. 1920, 88410 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, correspondence, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 83 Squadron and was shot down on his second tour after 52 operations. He evaded to Switzerland and subsequently re-escaped through France to Spain. On return to Great Britain, he retrained on Mosquito and flew a further 40 operations on 571 Squadron. He continued to fly in the RAF after the war. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Laura Carter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-08-11 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mackie, NAJ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from Norman Mackie to Mr Cooper Description An account of the resource Norman is aware that Mr Copper is intending to write a book about the RAF Escaping Society and seeking stories from members. He describes being shot down on the 20th operation (Stuttgart) of his second tour with 83 Squadron. He recounts his adventures evading through France, eventually to Switzerland. After internment by the Swiss he worked for the air attaché (Air Commodore Freddy West) but, subsequently, escaped again through France to Spain. He concludes with some details of his bale out aided by his navigator, who also evaded to Spain, and of his remaining crew, two became prisoners of war and two were killed. He also mentions his investigations into the Luftwaffe crew who shot down his crew. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource N A J Mackie Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-02 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-03-11 1943-03-12 1943-12 1943-04-16 1943-04-17 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Huntingdonshire Germany Germany--Stuttgart France France--Vitry-le-François France--St.-Dizier (Haute-Marne) France--Châtillon-sur-Seine France--Dijon France--Lyon France--Thonon-les-Bains Switzerland Switzerland--Geneva Switzerland--Bern France--Annecy France--Toulouse France--Narbonne France--Perpignan France--Cerbère Spain Spain--Figueras (Gerona) Spain--Zaragoza (Province) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Civilian Wehrmacht Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed letter Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Pending review Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EMackieNAJCooper[Mr]850102 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke 83 Squadron air gunner aircrew bale out bomb aimer bombing escaping evading final resting place killed in action Lancaster Me 110 navigator Pathfinders pilot prisoner of war RAF Wyton shot down wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2686/47843/LKimberleyTHF1286586v1.1.pdf b4ed57aa93f606d69bb71e4a4ff58433 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Kimberley, Thomas Henry Frank Kimberley, THF Description An account of the resource 17 items. The collection concerns Thomas Henry Frank Kimberley Collection (b. 1916, 105979 (Army), 1286586, 177918 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book documents and photographs. He flew operations as a cameraman and air gunner with 88, 101, 320, 467, 617, 463, and 9 Squadrons as well as the Bomber Command Operational Film Unit. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Paul Richard Kimberley and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-06 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kimberley, THF Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Thomas Kimberley's observer's and air gunner's flying log book Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Lynn Corrigan Terry Hancock Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LKImberleyTHF1286586v1 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-07-12 1943-07-29 1943-07-30 1943-07-31 1943-08-12 1943-08-13 1943-08-14 1943-08-15 1943-08-30 1943-08-31 1943-09-03 1943-09-04 1943-09-09 1943-10-25 1943-11-23 1943-11-25 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-03-25 1944-03-26 1944-03-27 1944-05-06 1944-05-07 1944-05-09 1944-05-10 1944-05-12 1944-05-13 1944-05-14 1944-05-15 1944-06-15 1944-06-16 1944-06-21 1944-06-22 1944-06-27 1944-06-28 1944-07-04 1944-07-05 1944-07-18 1944-07-19 1944-07-25 1944-07-31 1944-08-07 1944-08-08 1944-08-14 1944-08-15 1944-08-19 1944-09-11 1944-09-12 1944-09-15 1944-09-19 1944-09-20 1945-05-06 1945-05-08 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) Great Britain Italy Netherlands Norway Russia (Federation) Belgium--Brussels England--Buckinghamshire England--Hampshire England--Lincolnshire England--London England--Norfolk England--Nottinghamshire England--Sussex France--Audinghen France--Aunay-sur-Odon France--Brest France--Caen France--Châtellerault France--Creil France--Joigny France--La Pallice France--Limoges France--Lyon France--Paris France--Poitiers France--Quesnoy-sur-Deule France--Rouen France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe France--Vitry-le-François Germany--Berlin Germany--Essen Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Mönchengladbach Germany--Rheine Germany--Rheydt Germany--Wuppertal Italy--Milan Netherlands--Tilburg Wales--Carmarthenshire France--Secqueville-en-Bessin France--Quesnay France--Thiverny France--Châtellerault France--Laroche - Migennes Germany--Remscheid Russia (Federation)--Yagodnik France--Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pas-de-Calais Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Description An account of the resource Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Thomas Kimberley covering the period 5 March 1943 to 25 September 1945. Details his training and operational duties. He flew 35 operations, 20 night time and 15 daylight, as cameraman / air gunner with 9, 88, 101, 320, 463, 467 and 617 Squadrons. He was stationed at RAF Pembrey (1 AGS), RAF Swanton Morley (88 and 180 Squadrons), RAF Ludford Magna (101 Squadron), RAF Hartford Bridge (88 Squadron), RAF Lasham (320 [Dutch] Squadron), RAF Waddington (463/467 RAAF Squadrons), RAF Bardney (9 Squadron), RAF Woodhall Spa (617 Squadron), RAF Fulbeck and Syerston (Bomber Command Film Flight Unit) and Soviet Air Force Yagodnik (617 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Blenheim, Mitchell, Boston, Lancaster, Oxford, Anson and Mosquito. Targets, in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Norway were the power station at Le Grand-Quevilly, Hamburg, Remscheid, Milan, Mönchengladbach, Rheydt, Berlin, Pas de Calais as part of Operation Starkey, Brest, Audinghen, Magdeburg, Limoges, aircraft factory Lyon, Essen, Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Paris, Poitiers, troop concentrations at Aunay-Sur-Odon, ammunition dump at Châtellerault, Gelsenkirchen, marshalling yard Vitry-le-François, bomb storage depot Creil, Caen, bomb storage depot Thiverny, St. Cyr, marshalling yard Loigny, Laroche, German troop concentration at Secqueville-en-Bessin, Quesnay, night fighter airfield at Gilze-Rijen and an oil storage plant at La Pallice. Tommie also took part in Operation Exodus to Brussels and Rheine, U-boat convoy escort, Operation Starkey, and Tirpitz via Yagodnik airfield. Pilots on operations were Flight Officer Riseley, Flight Lieutenant Hull, Flight Lieutenant Mackay, Flight Sergeant Fawcett. Flight Lieutenant Pushman, Sergeant Laamens, Lieutenant Commander Breedveld, Second Lieutenant Manschot, Flight Officer Durston, Wing Commander Cheshire DSO, DFC, Flight Lieutenant Marshall, Wing Commander Tait DSO, DFC, Wing Commander Petty, Wing Commander Kingsford-Smith DSO, DFC, Flight Lieutenant Schultz, Flight Lieutenant Merrill DFC, Flight Lieutenant Buckham, Flying Officer Anthony Bowen Loftus Tottenham (418209), Flight Lieutenant Skelton DFC. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 101 Squadron 180 Squadron 320 Squadron 463 Squadron 467 Squadron 617 Squadron 88 Squadron 9 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew Anson B-25 Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) Blenheim bombing bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944) bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944) Boston Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992) Hudson Lancaster Mosquito Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operation Exodus (1945) Oxford propaganda RAF Ballykelly RAF Bardney RAF Farnborough RAF Ford RAF Foulsham RAF Fulbeck RAF Hartford Bridge RAF Lasham RAF Ludford Magna RAF Northolt RAF Pembrey RAF Swanton Morley RAF Syerston RAF Waddington RAF Woodhall Spa tactical support for Normandy troops Tirpitz training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2692/48087/EStaniewskiJStaniewski[Fam]430516.pdf bc023aca3213d3431b726c12b2189cac https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2692/48087/EStaniewskiJStaniewski[Fam]430516-Transcript-0001.jpg 79ddef2f7e7b22f1a87fc4dc35b6828d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2692/48087/EStaniewskiJStaniewski[Fam]430516-Transcript-0002.jpg ce8c6ea882ffd3c52d4c6c1fd18a7734 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2692/48087/EStaniewskiJStaniewski[Fam]430516-Transcript-0003.jpg 3c0cd9b5ce2a425ae73fd9f7fd7922d5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Staniewski, Józef Józef Staniewski Staniewski, J Description An account of the resource 32 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Józef Staniewski (<span>P.782318&nbsp;</span>Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and documents. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 300 Squadron and was killed 24 June 1944.<br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Alison Fenton and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Józef Staniewski is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/122153/">IBCC Losses Database</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-03-13 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Staniewski, J Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from Józef Staniewski Transcription of letter from Józef Staniewski Description An account of the resource He writes that he is a prisoner and has been trying to escape. He reached Bucharest after escaping then sailed to France, first Marseilles then Lyon. He joined the Air Force but sailed to England when France capitulated. He has had a reply from Kazia, his sister, still in Poland. He writes expecting to die, to his family. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Józef Staniewski Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943-05-16 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Romania Romania--Bucharest France France--Marseille France--Lyon France--Paris Great Britain England--Coventry Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng pol Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Ten handwritten sheets Three typewritten sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EStaniewskiJStaniewski[Fam]430516 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-05-16 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription. Other languages than English Pending text-based transcription Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive aircrew https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2413/50166/BOlenynEOlenynEv1.pdf f334d06f3402ffabf17f46f4b549e7c6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Olenyn, Eugeniesz Description An account of the resource 20 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Eugeniesz Olenyn (b. 1914, Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, biography and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 305 Squadron before becoming a prisoner of war. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Krystyna Thompson and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-03-28 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Olenyn, E Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gen's Story Eugeniusz Olenyn autobiography Description An account of the resource An autobiography of Eugeniusz Olenyn's life. The first part of the memoir talks of the many trials Genek went through both in attempting to rejoin his Polish Air Force unit and, once the Germans overran the country, escape to England. Ganek landed in Oxford where he experienced his first taste of fish and chip together with tea containing milk. He left Oxford after dinner to travel to Blackpool where the Polish Air Force were based. Here he was re-equipped, swore on the Bible and received his British nationalisation after which he was promoted to LAC as a member of the Polish Air Force. Genek crewed up at 105 Squadron RAF Syerston. He describes the movements of the aircrew from the pre-raid meeting to landing back at base afterwards and talk in detail of his first eight operations. Genek became a POW on an operation Bremen. He explains how his plane was hit, his parachuting out, and how he was captured. Genek recounts the conditions in the many camps where he stayed. Genek explains about the contents of Red Cross parcels and how they were distributed amongst the men. Genek describes the long march and the POW repatriation process. Genek was sent to the permanent Polish Air Force station at Dunholme Lodge. He talks for the problems of accessing his back-pay and life in the camp and the attraction of Blackpool for the Polish airmen, it was here he met the lady who would become his wife. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eugeniusz Olenyn Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 69 printed pages Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BOlenynEOlenynEv1 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Poland Ukraine--Lʹviv Poland--Tarnopol Romania Romania--Bucharest Bulgaria Bulgaria--Balchik France Turkey Turkey--Istanbul Greece Greece--Crete Cyprus Lebanon--Beirut Malta Italy Italy--Sicily Italy--Sardinia France--Corsica France--Marseille France--Lyon France--Paris Great Britain England--Oxford England--Blackpool England--Sheerness England--Chatham (Kent) England--Carlisle England--Nottingham England--Nuneaton England--Coventry England--Hinckley England--Crewe (Cheshire East) England--Newark (Nottinghamshire) Netherlands Germany Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) France--Le Havre Germany--Bremen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Osnabrück France--Brest Germany--Duisburg Netherlands--Amsterdam Germany--Frankfurt am Main Poland--Kutno Poland--Warsaw Latvia Latvia--Rīga Latvia--Jelgava Poland--Świnoujście Poland--Szczecin England--Sheffield Atlantic Ocean--Fehmarn Belt (Baltic Sea) Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Germany--Gröditz Lebanon Ukraine Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Polskie Siły Powietrzne Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Pending review Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke Claire Campbell 105 Squadron 106 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson anti-aircraft fire bale out Battle bombing C-47 Dulag Luft entertainment escaping ground crew hangar Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) killed in action love and romance Magister mess Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945) navigator observer pilot prisoner of war RAF Bramcote RAF Carlisle RAF Dunholme Lodge RAF Henlow RAF Hucknall RAF Swinderby RAF Syerston Red Cross searchlight sport Stalag Luft 3 Stalag Luft 5 training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2852/50507/CDaviesIDW-190418-010006.1.jpg 2e106d34802bbc8676ba265ad960f578 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Davies, Idwal Davies, I D W Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Davies, IDW Description An account of the resource 159 items. The collection concerns Idwal Davies (b. 1923, 1515585 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2859">Album,</a> service documents, letters, and decorations. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 620 Squadron. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Dafydd Glyn Davies and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-04-18 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lyon Description An account of the resource A navigation chart of Lyon and the surrounding area. Two routes have been hand drawn on the chart. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Lyon Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDaviesIDW-190418-010006 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. aircrew navigator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2922/53644/BChandlerRChandlerEBv1.pdf c0c9426a2c2aaa00d1467caf068de345 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chandler, Edmund Basil Edmund Basil Chandler Chan Chandler Description An account of the resource 181 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Edmund Basil "Chan" Chandler DFC (b.1921, 911217 Royal Air Force) and contains <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/collections/show/2988">an album</a>, his log book, correspondence, documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 49 and 617 Squadrons and <span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW231431038 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231431038 BCX0">No.1 Film Production Unit</span></span>. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Mark Chandler and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-09-08 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Chandler, EB Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chan Chandler's biography Description An account of the resource A biography of Chan's life. He flew 95 operations as Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, Gunnery Leader and Cameraman with 49 and 617 Squadrons and survived nine days adrift in the North Sea. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and a rare Soviet Medal for Valour, flew in the first 1,000-bomber raid, and filmed the liberation of Europe with the RAF’s No.1 Film Production Unit. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Navy Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Wehrmacht. Kriegsmarine Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Croydon Germany Germany--Helgoland England--Seaford England--Brighton England--Morecambe Germany--Hamburg Netherlands Netherlands--Texel France France--Brest Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Mannheim Germany--Kiel Germany--Düsseldorf England--Great Yarmouth Germany--Rostock Netherlands--Arnhem Germany--Sylt Germany--Cologne Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Berlin Germany--Neubrandenburg Germany--Kassel England--Yate Germany--Essen France France--Rennes France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Duisburg Switzerland Italy Italy--La Spezia Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Friedrichshafen Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Peenemunde Germany--Mönchengladbach Germany--Hannover Algeria Algeria--Blida Belgium Belgium--Liège France--Limoges Italy--Sardinia France--Albert France--Saint-Étienne (Loire) France--Woippy France--Clermont-Ferrand France--Bergerac France--Angouleme France--Lyon France--Paris France--Saumur France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Le Havre Czech Republic--Plzeň Germany--Rheine Germany--Limburg (Landkreis) Norway Norway--Gardermoen Norway--Oslo Germany--Flensburg Denmark Denmark--Copenhagen Norway--Tromsø Germany--Lübeck Belgium--Brussels Europe--Frisian Islands North Africa Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 20 printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BChandlerRChandlerEBv1 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Claire Campbell Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-04-16 1941-05-10 1941-05-12 1941-06-30 1941-08-12 1941-08-13 1941-08-13 1941-08-17 1941-08-19 1941-09-02 1941-09-08 1941-09-28 1942-05-30 1942-06-01 1942-06-05 1942-07-31 1943-08-30 1944-02-08 1944-06-08 1944-06-14 1944-06-15 1945-06-19 1945-06-25 115 Squadron 467 Squadron 49 Squadron 5 Group 617 Squadron 83 Squadron 9 Squadron air sea rescue Anson anti-aircraft fire B-17 Battle Bismarck Blenheim bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942) bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943) bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944) bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944) briefing C-47 Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992) Churchill, Winston (1874-1965) Defiant Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Service Order ditching forced landing Gee George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952) Gibson, Guy Penrose (1918-1944) Gneisenau Goldfish Club H2S Halifax Hampden Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) incendiary device Ju 88 Lancaster Manchester master bomber Me 109 mess mine laying Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy Mosquito Nissen hut Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944) Oboe Operation Exodus (1945) Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945) Pathfinders pilot prisoner of war propaganda RAF Andover RAF Boscombe Down RAF Castle Combe RAF Castle Kennedy RAF Coningsby RAF Croydon RAF Earls Colne RAF Fiskerton RAF Honington RAF hospital Rauceby RAF Kinloss RAF Manston RAF Martlesham Heath RAF Middle Wallop RAF Northolt RAF Old Sarum RAF Scampton RAF Tangmere RAF Upper Heyford RAF Uxbridge RAF West Freugh RAF White Waltham RAF Wittering RAF Woodhall Spa RAF Yatesbury Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Scharnhorst searchlight Spitfire Stirling Sunderland Tallboy target indicator target photograph Tirpitz training V-1 V-2 V-3 V-weapon Wallis, Barnes Neville (1887-1979) Wellington Window wireless operator / air gunner https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2922/54728/LChandlerEB911217v1.pdf ca23e636498927559f6bcc725f82cff1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chandler, Edmund Basil Edmund Basil Chandler Chan Chandler Description An account of the resource 181 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Edmund Basil "Chan" Chandler DFC (b.1921, 911217 Royal Air Force) and contains <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.omeka.net/collections/show/2988">an album</a>, his log book, correspondence, documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 49 and 617 Squadrons and <span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW231431038 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW231431038 BCX0">No.1 Film Production Unit</span></span>. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Mark Chandler and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-09-08 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Chandler, EB Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource E B Chandler’s observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book Description An account of the resource Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book for E B Chandler, wireless operator/air gunner. Covering the period from 13 November 1940 to 22 June 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at 4 Bombing and Gunnery School RAF West Fraugh, Anson Flight RAF Upper Heyford, 16 Operational Training Unit RAF Upper Heyford, 49 Squadron RAF Scampton and RAF Fiskerton, Central Gunnery School RAF Castle Kennedy, 617 Squadron RAF Coningsby and RAF Woodhall Spa, 1 Film Production Unit, 233 Squadron and 514 Squadron. Aircraft flown in were Dominie, Battle, Anson, Hampden, Hereford, Blenheim, Wellington, Whitley, Manchester, Lancaster, Defiant, Oxford, Maryland, Mosquito, Boston, Dakota, Stirling and Halifax. He flew 86 operations, 55 night time with 49 Squadron and 5 daylight and 24 night operations with 617 Squadron. Targets were Bremen, Hamburg, Frisian Islands, Brest, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Kiel, Heligoland, Dusseldorf, Brunswick, Sylt, Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Oslo, Kassel, Rostock, Essen, Rennes, St Nazaire, Duisburg, Spezia, Pilsen, Friedrichshafen, Nuremburg, Peenemunde, Mönchengladbach, Hannover, Antheor Viaduct, Flixecourt, Liege, Amiens, Limoges, Albert, St Etienne, Woippy, Clermont-Ferrand, Bergerac, Angouleme, Lyon, St Cyr, Juvisy, La Chapelle, Saumur tunnel, Le Havre, Boulogne, Pas De Calais, St Omer, St Pol, Limburg and Ypenburg. His pilots on operations were Sergeant Welch, Sergeant Woolston, Sergeant Green, Sergeant Bachelor, Squadron Leader Tench, Sergeant Broomfield, Sergeant Samuels, Flight Sergeant Rowlands, Wing Commander Slee, Squadron Leader Barnard, Flight Lieutenant Green, Sergeant Gumbley, Wing Commander Johnson, Flight lieutenant Taylor, Sergeant Blackmore, Flight Lieutenant Munro and Flight Lieutenant Wilson. He also flew one Operation Exodus and one Operation Manna. The log book also contains various photos and sketches of crews and aircraft. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LChandlerEB911217v1 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 1941-04-16 1941-04-17 1941-04-26 1941-04-27 1941-05-02 1941-05-03 1941-05-04 1941-05-05 1941-05-06 1941-05-07 1941-05-08 1941-05-09 1941-05-10 1941-05-11 1941-05-12 1941-05-13 1941-05-16 1941-05-17 1941-05-25 1941-05-26 1941-05-27 1941-05-28 1941-06-18 1941-06-19 1941-06-22 1941-06-23 1941-06-25 1941-06-26 1941-06-28 1941-06-29 1941-06-30 1941-07-01 1941-08-12 1941-08-13 1941-08-14 1941-08-15 1941-08-17 1941-08-18 1941-08-19 1941-08-20 1941-08-26 1941-08-27 1941-08-29 1941-08-30 1941-08-31 1941-09-01 1941-09-02 1941-09-03 1941-09-06 1941-09-07 1941-09-08 1941-09-09 1941-09-12 1941-09-13 1941-09-15 1941-09-16 1941-09-28 1941-09-29 1942-05-30 1942-05-31 1942-06-01 1942-06-02 1942-06-05 1942-06-06 1942-07-31 1942-08-01 1943-03-22 1943-03-23 1943-03-26 1943-03-27 1943-03-28 1943-03-29 1943-03-30 1943-04-11 1943-04-12 1943-04-13 1943-04-14 1943-04-16 1943-04-17 1943-05-13 1943-05-14 1943-05-23 1943-05-24 1943-05-25 1943-05-26 1943-06-11 1943-06-12 1943-06-15 1943-06-16 1943-06-20 1943-06-23 1943-07-24 1943-07-25 1943-08-01 1943-08-02 1943-08-10 1943-08-11 1943-08-17 1943-08-18 1943-08-30 1943-08-31 1943-09-01 1943-09-22 1943-09-23 1943-10-03 1943-10-04 1943-10-08 1943-10-09 1943-11-11 1943-11-12 1943-12-16 1943-12-17 1943-12-20 1943-12-21 1943-12-22 1943-12-23 1944-01-04 1944-01-05 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-01-25 1944-01-26 1944-02-08 1944-02-09 1944-02-12 1944-02-13 1944-03-02 1944-03-03 1944-03-04 1944-03-05 1944-03-09 1944-03-10 1944-03-15 1944-03-16 1944-03-17 1944-03-18 1944-03-19 1944-03-20 1944-03-21 1944-03-22 1944-03-23 1944-03-24 1944-03-25 1944-03-29 1944-03-30 1944-04-10 1944-04-11 1944-04-18 1944-04-19 1944-04-20 1944-04-21 1944-06-06 1944-06-07 1944-06-08 1944-06-09 1944-06-14 1944-06-15 1944-06-18 1944-06-20 1944-06-21 1944-06-24 1944-06-25 1945 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Czech Republic France Germany Great Britain Italy Netherlands Norway Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Germany--Ruhr (Region) Belgium--Liege Czech Republic--Plzen England--Lincolnshire England--Oxfordshire Europe--Frisian Islands France--Albert France--Amiens France--Angouleme France--Antheor France--Bergerac France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Brest France--Clermont-Ferrand France--Flixecourt France--Juvisy-sur-Orge France--Le Havre France--Limoges France--Lyon France--Pas-de-Calais France--Rennes France--Saint-Étienne (Loire) France--Saint-Nazaire France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) France--Dunkerque France--Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer France--Woippy Germany--Berlin Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Bremen Germany--Cologne Germany--Duisburg Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Essen Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Friedrichshafen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Hannover Germany--Helgoland Germany--Kassel Germany--Kiel Germany--Limburg (Landkreis) Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Mannheim Germany--Monchengladbach Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Peenemunde Germany--Rostock Germany--Sylt Italy--La Spezia Netherlands--Hague Norway--Oslo Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway Czech Republic--Plzeň France--Saumur France--Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer Europe--Frisian Islands France--Pas-de-Calais Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 16 OTU 49 Squadron 514 Squadron 617 Squadron aircrew Anson Battle Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) Blenheim bombing Bombing and Gunnery School bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942) bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943) bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944) bombing of the Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Le Bourget railways (18/19 April 1944) bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944) bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944) bombing of the Siracourt V-weapon site (25 June 1944) bombing of the Watten V-2 site (19 June 1944) bombing of the Wizernes V-2 site (20, 22, 24 June 1944) Boston C-47 Defiant Dominie Halifax Hampden Lancaster Manchester mine laying Mosquito Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Normandy deception operations (5/6 June 1944) Operation Exodus (1945) Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945) Operational Training Unit Oxford RAF Castle Kennedy RAF Coningsby RAF Fiskerton RAF Scampton RAF Upper Heyford RAF Wainfleet RAF West Freugh RAF Woodhall Spa Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Stirling training Wellington Whitley wireless operator / air gunner