Authors: Martin Bowman
Tags: #Bisac Code 1: HIS027140
204
The first was flown on 21 June by 114 B-17s, which bombed an oil refinery near Berlin before flying on to landing fields at Poltava and Mirgorod in the Ukraine. On 21/22 June, 47 B-l7s were lost and 29 were damaged in a German air raid on Poltava. On 26 June 72 Fortresses flew home, bombing a target in Poland and staging through Italy, then bombing a target in France en route to England on 5 July. The entire tour covered 6,000 miles, ten countries and 29¼hours of operational flying.
205
Aerial Intelligence of the 8th Air Force 1944-45
. George R. Sesler. 1996.
206
They placed him on a mattress and carried him to their battery office. They called a doctor, who arrived after two hours, set Cannon’s leg and bandaged it. The next day Cannon was shipped to a PoW hospital at a prison camp in Eberbach. The doctors at this PoW hospital were Allied prisoners who cared for Cannon thereafter.
207
Because of Soviet advances he and fellow prisoners were marched in February 1945, to Stalag VIIA in Moosburg. Less than two months later, in April, Patton’s 3rd Army liberated Stalag VIIA. For three weeks after his liberation Chipman was attached to the 254th Field Artillery where he flew observation aircraft. His duties were to locate targets for the artillery. He was later sent to Reims, France, inoculated, hospitalised and he finally returned to the 25th Bomb Group. See
Aerial
Intelligence of the 8th Air Force 1944-45.
George R. Sesler. 1996.
208
Pete Dustman flew a compiled total of 54 missions in the Marauder, Mitchell and Mosquito aircraft and completed the tour without a hole in an aircraft or having to land with an engine shut down. Of the 23 aircrew forming 654 Squadron he was the third and last to finish a tour of duty and the last of the original crews.
209
Who assumed command of the 25th Bomb Group on 23 September 1944.
210
Ralph Fisher was reported MIA one week later, 21 January 1945, on another “
Bluestocking
” meteorological mission. His pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Jerry M. Roberts was also lost.
211
Major John W. Walch was one of three crew killed on 19 March 1945 when their A-26 crashed near Bramsche, Germany during an OSS mission to Münster.
212
See
Aerial Intelligence of the 8th Air Force 1944-45
. George R. Sesler. 1996.
Chapter 8
213
Early in 1944 85 (Base) Group was formed for the purpose of providing fighter cover over the continent leading up to and after, D-Day by the transfer from Fighter Command to 2nd TAF of 29, 264, 409 ‘Nighthawk’ (RCAF), 410 ‘Cougar’ (RCAF), 488 RNZAF and 604 Squadrons. In January 1944 the first to transfer to 85 Group was 264 Squadron, which went to 141 Wing. The last, 219 Squadron would transfer from Fighter Command to 147 Wing on 26 August. In November 1944 418 ‘City of Edmonton’ Squadron RCAF and 605 Squadron, transferred to 136 Wing, 2nd TAF. Though V-1 patrols had occupied most of 418 Squadron’s time in July and August they were interspersed with other types of activity, 418 reverting, in September, to
Rangers
and abortive
Big Ben
patrols (trying in vain to ‘jam’ V-2 rockets). 418 finished the war with the distinction of destroying more enemy aircraft both in the air and on the ground, than any other Canadian squadron, in both night and daylight operations. See
Moskitopanik!
by Martin W. Bowman. (Pen & Sword. 2004).
214
Oberfeldwebel Mayer claimed his 26th and 27th victories on 19 November 1944 when he shot down two Spitfires of 412 ‘Falcon’ Squadron RCAF on 4 January 1945 Leutnant Mayer was KIA when he was shot down by a Spitfire of 442 ‘Caribou’ Squadron RCAF. (
The JG26 War Diary,
Vol.2 194345, Donald Caldwell (Grub Street 1998).
215
Ian McRitchie had obtained a Pilot’s Licence in 1937 and after being considered reserved occupation, in 1940 he ‘ran away to war’, jumping ship in Adelaide for Britain to enlist in the RAF. On the ship he was greaser in the engine room, paid threepence a week. He arrived in Bristol in October 1940 after a ten-week voyage. He joined the RAF and as a Flying Officer on Mosquito NF.IIs of 151 Squadron in 1942 he destroyed two Dornier bombers that were attacking England. On 29/30 July he destroyed a Do 217E-4 of II/KG2 and on 8/9 September he got a second Dornier Do 217E-4 when the Luftwaffe attacked Bedford. (See
Moskitopanik!
by Martin W. Bowman. (Pen & Sword. 2004).) In 1944 he had joined 464 squadron and had been promoted to squadron leader. After being shot down on the Amiens raid McRitchie was incarcerated in Stalag Luft I, Barth until the end of the European war and he returned to England to receive the DFC.
216
A cousin of Wing Commander Bell-Irving.
217
The Honorable Michael J. Wedgwood-Benn DFC, at 22, was the eldest of three sons of William Wedgwood Benn DSO DFC Ld-H (
Legion d’Honeur
) and CdG (
Croix de Guerre
), a WWI veteran pilot and prominent politician who was created Viscount Stansgate on 22.12.40.
218
One of the great RAF navigators in WWII, after fighting in the French 61st Regiment of Artillery in WWI and at the beginning of WWII Livry-Level DSO DFC* CdG* DFC (USA) did at least four tours of operational flying in Coastal Command, on special duties and in 2 Group Mosquitoes. He could not be persuaded to have a break from operational flying. On 31 August 1944 ‘Buck’ Taylor and his navigator, Flight Lieutenant Johnson were shot down on a
Night Intruder
to Strasbourg-Sarreborg when they attacked a train. Flak set fire to their port engine and the wing collapsed. They baled out and evaded capture, returning to England on 29 September 1944. Taylor rejoined 21 Squadron on 28 October after a spell in the RAF Hospital, Swindon. By January 1945 Squadron Leader Taylor DFC* Ld-H CdG* MID had flown a total of 48 low level day and night bombing sorties.
219
Bommen Vielen Op Hengelo
by Henk F. van Baaren, translated into English in The Mossie Vol. 16 April 1997.
220
On 28 June Wing Commander ‘Daddy’ Dale and other squadron personnel attended Mike Benn’s funeral. As soon as he heard the news, William Wedgwood Benn, who was also in the RAF at that time with the Allied Control Commission in Italy, returned home. Mike’s younger brother Anthony who was training as a pilot in Rhodesia at the time received a telegram reporting his brother’s death. Tony Benn became a Sub-lieutenant in the RNVR but the war ended before he could see action. De-mobbed in 1946, he became Viscount Stansgate upon the death of his father but later renounced the title to become the well-known Labour politician.
221
In fact, the soldiers clubbed to death were a reconnaissance party of the SAS, code-named ‘
Bulbasket
’, who were dropped south-west of Châteauroux on 5 June to harass the
2nd SS Panzer Division
on its move from Toulouse to Normandy. The main party was dropped on 11/12 June and joined up with the Maquis. On 3 July their main camp in the Foret de Verrieres was attacked by German troops. Nine SAS members got away but 31 SAS and Lieutenant Tom Stevens, a USAAF evader who had joined them, were taken prisoner. One officer was wounded before capture and was tied to a tree and publicly beaten to death in Verrieres. Three SAS prisoners were also wounded and taken to hospital in Poitiers, where they were given lethal injections. The remainder, including the American and two other SAS captured previous to this engagement, were shot in the Foret de Saint Sauvant near the village of Rom. The German unit responsible for this atrocity was believed to be the 158th Security Regiment from Poitiers. The SAS survivors signalled the UK with the information of their disaster and that the unit responsible was billeted at Bonneuil Matours.
222
2nd TAF decided that rather than have all its fighter units flying tactical reconnaissance, its three recce Wings should each contain a PR unit. B Flight of 4 Squadron in 35 Wing (84 Group) and A Flight of 400 Squadron RCAF in 39 Wing (83 Group) therefore received PR XVIs for the role. At the end of May 1944 both flights reverted back to Spitfire IXs. 140 Squadron, operating in 34 PR Wing (HQ), retained all its PR XVIs, which they had equipped with Gee and Rebecca so as to fly long-range blind night photography operations, first from Northolt, and later, the continent.
223
140 Squadron provided photo coverage throughout the winter of 1944-45, moving to France in September to keep in touch with the action. In January 1945 Flight Lieutenant Kirk got a new navigator, Flight Lieutenant Anthony Guy Humphryes, who was the unit’s navigation leader. Kirk recalls. ‘We did 17 operations together. Our best joint effort was on the night of 24 February, when were sent to photograph the railway sidings at Mönchengladbach. We approached the target three times. Each time, just as we were set to release the flashes, the “natives” were decidedly hostile. Lots of little red balls kept coming up at us, starring off apparently quite slowly, then, as they got nearer, whizzing very rapidly by. I didn’t think we’d get very good pictures while all this was going on. We had a moment’s consultation as to how best to cope with the situation. ‘I decided to do the run in reverse. I asked Tony to navigate us to the far end of the run and give me a reciprocal course to steer. He put his skills to work, and at the correct moment we turned onto the target, straightened up, and raced over the marshalling yard. Down went the flashes one after another, going off like bolts of summer lightning. We didn’t mind the gunners shooting at our tail as we left. Perhaps the million candlepower flashes put them off a bit! Next morning, the photos delighted the interpreters, as well as Tony and I. This night, added to our other efforts, earned us a DFC each.’
224
Wellings was returning to ops on Mosquitoes with 107 Squadron and did not have a navigator so he asked Hemmings if he would fly with him? Hemmings readily agreed and his transfer to 138 Wing at Lasham was arranged. On 13 August 1940 Wellings had gained an eleventh hour reprieve when, taxiing out for the suicidal trip to Aalborg airfield in Denmark, he and his crew were recalled because their posting had just come through. Wellings, who had a son named James and was married to Stella who lived about twenty miles from Lasham, often rode home on his motorbike on stand down nights to ’spend a night between the sheets’ as he called it, as at Lasham they were living under canvas tents with blankets only with a view to moving into France wherever airfields could be cleared.
225
Of over 10,200 British airborne troops landed in the Arnhem area, 1,440 were killed or died of their wounds. 3,000 were wounded and taken prisoner and 400 medical personnel and chaplains remained behind with the wounded and about 2,500 uninjured troops also became PoWs. There were also 225 prisoners from the 4th Battalion, the Dorsetshire Regiment. About 450 Dutch civilians were killed. The operation also cost 160 RAF and Dominions aircrew, twenty-seven USAAF aircrew and 79 Royal Army Service Corps dispatchers were killed and 127 taken prisoner. A total of 55 Albemarle, Stirling, Halifax and Dakota aircraft of 38 and 46 Groups failed to return and a further 320 damaged by flak and seven by fighters while 105 Allied fighter aircraft were lost.
226
Later Air Marshal Sir Peter Wykeham KCB DSO OBE DFC AFC.
227
The Jutland resistance organisation hid Sandbäk until he was well enough to travel and, six weeks later, having read with some interest his obituary in the Danish papers and the German announcements of his death Sandbäk and his wife escaped to London via Sweden. Their children were safely hidden until the liberation.
The Sixth Floor
by Robin Reilly. (Leslie Frewin 1969).
228
On 29 October 47 Lancasters – 18 from 9 Squadron and 18 from 617 Squadron, attacked the
Tirpitz
which was moored near the Norwegian port of Tromsø. 32 Lancasters dropped
Tallboy
bombs on estimated position of the capital ship (30 seconds before the attack a bank of cloud came in to cover the ship) but no direct hits were scored. One of 617 Squadron’s Lancasters, which was damaged by flak, crash-landed in Sweden and its crew were later returned to Britain. On 12 November 30 Lancasters of 9 and 617 Squadrons attacked the
Tirpitz
again and at least two
Tallboys
hit the ship, which capsized to remain bottom upwards. Approximately 1,000 of the 1,900 men on board were killed or injured. One Lancaster, of 9 Squadron, was severely damaged by flak and landed safely in Sweden with its crew unhurt.
229
‘Peter and I did have one interesting Interlude in Stockholm, where we chanced to meet the farmer and-his wife who had-received-us-so warmly upon our unceremonious arrival at Harplinge and we tried to return the compliment. After this we did not fly together again, going our separate ways. Mine led to Transport Command and the Far East. After the war all who participated in these raids received commemorative cufflinks from the Danish government.’
230
‘Ed had done the requisite fifty trips and I’d managed 52 because Ed had an argument with a motor cycle early in our tour and finished up in hospital. While he was in there I did two trips with an Irishman, Flying Officer Smith. Ed and I went on two weeks leave and I expected that we would be sent on rest to an OTU but I was in for an unpleasant surprise when I returned to pick up my kit and move on. While I was away 2 Group had moved the goal posts. A tour was now 85 ops with a month’s leave around the halfway mark, 200 operational hours or twelve months on the squadron, whichever came first. I was told to take another fortnight’s leave and come back for another 35 trips. It was rather like being given the death sentence. Having survived 52 ops I couldn’t believe that my luck would last for another 35. I never saw Ed McQuarrie again and it is only in recent years that I learned that the RCAF would not go along with the extended tour and Ed was shipped back to Canada.’
231
138 and 140 Wings lost nine Mosquitoes and many more were damaged. 2 Group lost a total of 21 Mosquitoes with 40 damaged. Les Bulmer concludes: ‘21 Squadron lost 1 aircraft (Hugh Henry ‘Fiji’ Fielding-Johnson and Flying Officer L. C. Harbord), 464 two and 487 Squadron took a hammering, losing 5 aircraft. This was a pretty high price to pay and it was never repeated.’