A guest post written by Dr. Donough Wilson to whom I owe my thanks for the write up and information about the tragic accident of Stirling LK380 ‘Y’, of 90 Squadron, RAF Tuddenham, 12:30, 9th November 1943, 80 years ago today.
Stirling III “Y” Yorker, 90 Squadron, Wratting Common and Tuddenham, July – November 1943
On Saturday 31 July 1943 a newly qualified crew were ‘posted in’ to ‘C’ Flight, 90 Squadron at RAF Wratting Common, Cambridgeshire. They comprised PO. Robert (Bob) Rodger [Pilot]; PO. Cliff Mitchell [Navigator]; Sgt. Robert (Tug) Wilson [Bomb aimer]; Sgt. Leslie Griffiths [Wireless Operator]; Sgt. Roy Child [Mid-Upper Gunner]; Sgt. Howell Jones [Rear Gunner (Australian)] and Sgt. Ed Daveny [Flight Engineer].
Six days later on the night of 6th/7th August, they completed their first mission, which was mine laying near Ile de Ré, La Rochelle, on the French west coast.
Their third mission on the night of the 23rd/24th August was to Berlin. What is significant about this raid is that they were caught and ‘coned’ by searchlights and then attacked by a JU.88 night fighter. As the crew called out information for Bob Rodger to act on, he threw the Stirling into a series of violent corkscrews in an attempt to evade their pursuer and stop themselves being shot down. This action luckily saved their lives and allowed them to fly again.
Between then and the end of September, further missions were flown to Nuremberg, Munchen Gladbach, Berlin again, Mannheim and Boulogne.
Prior to the second Berlin mission, a photographer from the national newspaper “The Daily Sketch” took a photograph of most of “Y” Yorker’s crew walking to their aircraft. Published on the front page of the newspaper, the caption read: ‘Sunset and zero hour before the great raid on Berlin. One of the crew is just aboard’
The photograph depicts from left to right Robert ‘Tug’ Wilson, Roy Child, Leslie Griffiths, Bob Roger, Arthur Stubbs the ground crew chief (nearest camera), Ed Daveny and bringing up the rear Howell Jones. Cliff Mitchell is missing from the photograph*1.
In the squadron records summary for September 1943, Pilot Officer Rodger was by then being listed as the second most experienced surviving pilot in ‘C’ Flight (behind Squadron Leader C. H. Wilson, who would go on to win the DFC and was shot down on 31 March 1944), and on October 1st, was promoted to Flight Lieutenant.
In early October, they flew missions to Kassell, Frankfurt, and Bremen, it was on the Bremen raid that the crew flew a new aircraft, LK380 “Y” Yorker. After Bremen they carried out some training flights before going on leave. Whilst the crew were away, 90 Squadron moved to RAF Tuddenham.
On Tuesday 9th November 1943, Bob Rodgers, now Flight Commander of ‘C’ Flight, took the pilot and two gunners of a new crew who were joining ‘C’ Flight, along with his own crew, on a training exercise in LK380 “Y” Yorker.
The task was to teach the new pilot and gunners the techniques of fighter evasion. The exercise would take place over the Shippea Hill area not far from RAF Mildenhall, which was not far outside of the Tuddenham circuit. The crew of “Y” Yorker were, by that time, considered an experienced crew having successfully completed ten missions over enemy territory, and successfully evading both ‘searchlight coning’, and attacking night fighters.
The three additional crew members joining Rodger’s crew for that exercise were Flight Sgt. Lees Smith [pilot], Flight Sgt. Morley Loyst [Mid-upper gunner (Canada)] and Sgt. Gordon Batten [Rear Gunner]. But missing from the flight was Roy Child, who was grounded with a medical condition.
That meant there were nine crew on board the Stirling that day, including British, Australian and Canadian airmen, a truly multinational mix.
They soon met-up with the training Hurricane IV, KW800, of the Air Fighting Development Unit, from RAF Wittering piloted by Flight Sgt. Ronald Brown (a veteran of Malta with thirty operations under his belt already). Brown had already completed one exercise that day with another 90 Squadron Stirling III, “T” Tommy, On joining with the Hurricane “Y” Yorker’s training quickly began.
“Y” Yorker was observed to be heading south, as if returning to Tuddenham. On approaching the area of the railway line and Shippea Hill level crossing, the Hurricane was seen to dive in a simulated rear attack. It swooped under the belly of the Stirling and then pulled-up into a climbing turn to the right, but unfortunately the pilot misjudged the distance between them, and sliced into the right wing of the Stirling, cutting-off the starboard outer engine along with a four-foot section of wing.
Both aircraft were mortally crippled. Flight Sgt. Brown baled out, but due to the low height he collided with telegraph wires and broke his legs. At 12:30 The Stirling reared up, rolled, and dived into the fen alongside the railway line, 150 yards from the Shippea Hill level crossing on the Mildenhall side. There were no survivors.
The crash site of 90 Sqn ‘Y’ Yorker. Shippea Hill level crossing is behind the photographer.
Although the bomber quickly sank in the boggy fen, unidentifiable partial remains of three crew were recovered immediately. A fourth body was recovered some days later, and a fifth was recovered in 1944. Four crew remain unaccounted for to this day.
In St. John’s Church, Beck Row, alongside Mildenhall airfield, is a memorial in the form of a recovered propeller blade from “Y” Yorker to the nine crew that lost their lives that day.
The Propeller commemorating 90 Sqn’s “Y” Yorker that crashed 9th November 1943*2.
In the Commonwealth War Graves plot adjacent to the church, amongst the other war dead, are the five graves of the airmen who were recovered from “Y” Yorker, each marked ‘An Unknown Airman, 9th November 1943’.
(From front left)The five Graves of the crew 90 Sqn ‘Y’ Yorker – Marked “Unknown airmen”
All of the crew members including those never found, are commemorated on the Royal Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
Dr. Donough Wilson
My sincere thanks go to Dr. Wilson for writing the post. I myself tried to get to St. John’s Church but on the day I went it was sadly closed, I shall endeavour to return and locate the propeller.
Sources and additional information.
*1 The photograph was originally taken by, and published in, “The Sketch” newspaper, in 1943, but in the book “Final Flights” (1989) Ian McLachlan (Patrick Stephens publishers), it is credited to the late Jim Munro, secretary of the 90 Squadron Association. On the Wratting Common history website [www.wcnhistory.org.uk] it is credited to Ron Pearson.
In Part 1, we saw how Little Staughton had developed initialled used by the USAAF as a depot for repairs and refurbishments, and how soon after it was handed back to the RAF and the Bennett’s Pathfinders.
The end of 1944 would be pivotal though, but not the happy celebratory time it should have been, but a solemn and heart rendering time for those stationed here.
On December 23rd 1944, twenty-seven Lancasters along with their three Mosquito reserves, would take off from Little Staughton and their sister airfields at Bourn and Gravely, to be joined by their escorts – three squadrons of Mustangs from 150 Wing, over France. Once out of the English fog and cloud that had harassed the bombers for several days before hand, the aircraft began to jostle for their correct position in the formation. The three formations, each made up of two Flights, A and B, would gradually settle down now able to see each other in the clearer skies above the heavy English cloud.In such a clear sky, it might be ill-considered to think that anything could go drastically wrong – but go wrong it did.
The watch office at Little Staughton is now a listed building.
Assemblies could always be a danger and would be unsettling for any crew. At the back of the six flight formation and unseen to the Little Staughton crews at the front, Graveley’s 35 Sqn’s Flying Officer G.S. Lawson in Lancaster ‘H-How’ (PB683) began closing in on his friend Pilot Officer R. Clarke in ‘F-Freddie’ (PB678). Misjudging the narrow distance between them, Lawson’s aircraft inadvertently made contact with the wing of Clarke’s, sending both aircraft, fully laden with fuel and bombs, spiralling to the icy waters of the English Channel below. As the two Lancasters fell uncontrollably towards Earth, others in the formation could do nothing except watch in horror and prey that chutes would somehow emerge from the two Lancasters. Miraculously, six airmen did manage to escape the stricken bombers before they either broke apart due to the extreme forces exerted upon them, or they hit the water.
A rescue search was mounted immediately. Little Staughton’s reserve pathfinder Mosquito from 105 Sqn, who was sat at the rear of the formation and witnessed everything, remained on station continually radioing the airmen’s positions back to control. He remained there, watching out, until the launch arrived to begin the arduous task of searching for signs of life. But the icy winter waters of the channel were too much for the badly protected airmen, and although six managed to escape the stricken bombers, all the crew of the launch could do was pull dead bodies from the cold water. Only one crewman was unaccounted for, the body of Flt.Lt. John Faulkner was some weeks later washed up on the beach at Dieppe. He remains buried there to this day.
Meanwhile, the front two formations consisting of Lancasters from Little Staughton flew on oblivious to the carnage that had occurred behind them. Being an Oboe operation meant that the aircraft had to fly for fifteen minutes straight and level without any deviation from the beam they were following. Hopefully, the predicted cloud over the target would give them some protection from flak and fighters, hence the reason for using Oboe. When they got there however, there was none, just clear bright skies and it was daylight. Ramrod 1415 was about to feel the brunt of the Luftwaffe’s determined pilots.
The first formation had somehow become detached from the second and third, meaning their escort was way behind and having to race to catch-up. With eight minutes to target they were alone, in clear skies and vulnerable.
It was then that the flak began. 88mm and 105mm shells began exploding all around the aircraft, peppering the fuselages like hailstones on a tin can.
Within minutes the gunners had found their mark, and the first aircraft was hit. Mosquito ML998 ‘HS-B’ with 25 year old Flt. Lt. Eric Carpenter, a Canadian, and Fl. Off. William Lambert as navigator, was on fire with both engines out. Moments later, the Mosquito exploded in a massive fireball. Neither airmen would survive and Little Staughton was now one crew down.
With three minutes to go, not only had the flak intensified but fighters had appeared on the scene too. The master bomber, Sqn. Ldr. Robert Palmer in Lancaster PB 371 ‘V’, received hits causing two engines to cut. His Lancaster was now more than ever difficult to fly but on he went fighting the reluctant aircraft every inch of the way. Then further hits badly damaged the Lancaster’s tail forcing the aircraft to turn over and tumble out of the bright German sky.
As the aircraft tumbled over and over, the rear gunner Flt.Sgt. R Yeulatt, another Canadian, manged to escape his turret, more by luck than skill. After his turret was separated from the spiralling Lancaster his body was forced out between the doors by the wind. This incredible escape would be his saviour – he would be the only survivor of the seven man crew.
With all Lancasters receiving intense fire it was going to be carnage – and it was.
One of the original hangars still in use today.
The second Lancaster to fall from the sky was that of American (RCAF) Flt.Lt. Arndt Reif in PB120 ‘P’. Reid’s aircraft was hit by both flak and enemy fighters. Reif himself was badly injured, and so he gave the order to bale out. Only two crewmen, Flt. Sgts MacLennan and Pearce, both Canadians, escaped with their lives, being picked up on the ground and incarcerated by the Germans.
Flt. Lt. R. Hockley in Lancaster PB141 ’60-F’ went down next. With no controls and one wing on fire, he gave the order to jump, and all seven crewmen managed to escape the burning wreck. Six were picked up by the Germans below, the seventh, 24 year old Pilot Officer Ken Hewitt was attacked by murderous civilians and shot several times. Efforts to save him by a local policeman failed and the murder was the subject to a post war criminal investigation, which concluded that the fatal shot came from Hubert Wester, who was later killed on the Eastern front. No other charges were brought against any of those present.
With one Mosquito and three Lancasters now gone, the deaths were stacking up. Fl. Off. R. Terpenning, an Australian, in Lancaster PB558 ‘A’ had by now taken several hits and was flying ‘on the deck’ to try and make his escape. Pounced on by further fighters, time was definitely of the essence.
The Lancaster’s gunners fought bravely to ward off continued determined Luftwaffe attacks. Fuel now streamed from the wing; two engines were out; the top turret had been severely damaged and many controls were out of action, it was a miracle the aircraft was still in the air. Once over Belgium and the relative safety of the allied lines, Terpenning gave the order to bale out, himself being the last to leave. All seven airmen made it safely out of the Lancaster and were back at Little Staughton just four days later.
By now chaos reigned. Communications were bad at best. Only some aircraft received the order to scatter and had done so, others meanwhile received orders to bomb visually and not by Oboe. Some of the formation dispersed, each aircraft beginning its own unscheduled bomb run.
The last of the formation aircraft to come down was that piloted by 22 year old Flt. Lt. Peter Thomas, in Lancaster PB523 ‘J’. It, like the others, had received substantial hits and was doomed to crash. After battling against persistent fighters and damaged controls, Thomas finally gave the order to bale out. With himself and a wounded Canadian P. Off. Frederick (Tex) Campbell upfront, the remaining crew escaped and the aircraft crashed. In the wreckage still at the controls, was the body of the pilot Flt. Lt. Thomas.
Of those who escaped four became prisoners of war, the fifth, twenty year old Flt. Sgt. Vivian Hobbs was killed after his chute collapsed on the descent.
Of the seventeen Little Staughton 582 Sqn Lancasters that went to Cologne that day, five failed to return along with a Mosquito of 109 Sqn. With a further two Lancasters from Gravely a total of eight aircraft were lost that day, along with all but one of their crews. The operation had been a disaster from the start, and the crews had paid the price.
After the operation Sqn. Ldr. Palmer, who was on his third operational tour and 111th sortie, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his determination in continuing on to the target, even though his aircraft was severely damaged. He insisted on flying straight and level to allow Oboe to pinpoint the target. As a result the crew placed their markers precisely on the target allowing those left following to bomb accurately.*3
The full story and VC citation for Sqn Ldr. Palmer, can be read in ‘Heroic Tales‘.
A Robins Aircraft Hangar still in use today.
The return trip to Cologne on New Year’s eve must have filled the crews with dread, however it proved to be uneventful in that all aircraft returned safely and without incident. Although losses were comparatively light for the two units, seventeen aircraft lost from 109 Sqn and around thirty from 582; equating to some 250 airmen in total; it was still a blow to the squadrons and to Little Staughton as a whole.
With a successful and uneventful last operation, the dawn of 1945 must have brought renewed hope for fewer losses and that of a forthcoming allied victory.
The poor weather of the Christmas period however, did little to deter operations over Germany. On 1st January 1945, 582 Sqn were once again in action flying to both Dortmund and Witten. For almost fifteen days crews would be flying operations, training flights or both. It was a gruelling time but losses were low. It wasn’t until the 16th-17th that the first aircraft would go down. Baling out over allied territory all crew apart from the rear gunner, Sgt. McNamara, survived. With 109 Sqn losing only one Mosquito on the 31st – again both airmen returning safely – January had proven light despite the increase in operations.
It was then in February that another Little Staughton airman would earn himself the Victoria Cross, the second for bravery and dedication to duty.
On the night of 23rd-24th February, only ten days after the historical attack on Dresden that resulted in a firestorm, 367 Lancasters and 13 Mosquitoes from 1, 6 and 8 Groups were detailed to attack the city of Pforzheim to the north-west of Stuttgart. This would be the only attack on the city and it would prove almost as devastating as Dresden and Hamburg.
The Master Bomber that night was a 582 Squadron Lancaster piloted by the only South African pilot in the Pathfinders, Captain Edwin Swales DFC. In his Lancaster III PB538 ‘N’, were seven other crewmen, including two navigators.
On the run in to the target, the Lancaster was badly hit by night fighters putting one engine and the rear turret guns out of action. Undeterred, Swales continued to perform his role, guiding the following bombers onto the target with the greatest of precision.
Only when he was satisfied that the attack had been carried out did he leave the target area. Now easy prey to more attacks, soon a second engine was put out of action, controls were damaged with some being inoperable. With a reduced speed and difficult flying conditions he headed for the allied lines, and once safely over them, he gave the order to bale out. All those on board made the jump to safety, leaving Swales at the control trying to maintain steady flight. Just as the last man left, the Lancaster gave up the struggle and was reported to hit high tension cables causing it to crash. Captain Swales was still at the controls when it was found later on.
The attack on Pforzheim was considered to be very accurate, with over 1,800 bombs having been dropped in little over twenty minutes. Over 17,000 people were known to have died that night in the raging fire that followed, and a post-war photograph, revealed that 83% of the built up area had been destroyed by the raid*4.
Swales’ VC was awarded posthumously, being the second such award to go to airman of Little Staughton, and the third of only three to the Pathfinders. His citation appeared in the Fifth Supplement to The London Gazette, of Friday, the 20th of April, 1945, and concluded: “Intrepid in the attack, courageous in the face of danger, he did his duty to the last, giving his life that his comrades might live.” His story also appears in ‘Heroic Tales’
The war was by now drawing to its inevitable conclusion, and the end of the Nazi’s reign of terror was near. For Little Staughton crews however, the job was far from over. By now the allies were so close to Germany that Oboe stations and forward operating airfields allowed accurate Oboe bombing of Berlin. On the 8th March 109 Squadron’s history was made with their first Oboe marking of Berlin and Munich; the longest range they ever attempted. Eighteen aircraft were ordered out to four targets, the other two being Dessau and Hamburg, The night was not the most successful though, with technical problems causing issues with a number of Pathfinder aircraft. On the Hamburg raid, four of the six aircraft marked well, one aircraft lost an engine and had to return early, whilst over Berlin, two of the four markers had to return without marking also due to technical issues. The Dessau raid suffered similar technical issues.
By now the war was in its last stages, and the night of 20th-21st April saw yet another pivotal moment in the history of the war, with the RAF’s last attack on the German capital. 109 Sqn were again in action, and it was Mosquito XVI ML929, piloted by F.O. A.C. Austin and F.O. P. Moorhead, who claimed the honour of dropping the last RAF bomb on the city. It was yet another feather in the cap for Little Staughton crews.
One of the original hardstands now has farmers sheds on it.
Other German cities then took the brunt of the Allied attacks. To the south, allied troops were approaching Hitler’s lair at Berchtesgaden, but the night’s attack in April would not be one to remember, as all Little Staughton’s aircraft suffered technical issues preventing them from marking the target. It is thought that the surrounding mountains had interrupted the Oboe signal leading to poor reception by the Pathfinders. Due to fog and snow, identifying the target was then made more difficult for the following bombers, but with relatively accurate strikes, the raid was considered a success. However, it was not to be the Pathfinder’s final night of glory.
Attention then turned to Manna operations, and 109 began to mark targets in Holland for food parcels. A remarkable effort allowing foodstuffs and urgent supplies to be dropped to starving civilians in Holland.
Whilst bomber command was concentrating on humanitarian flights, 109 Squadron took part in the final raid on Kiel on May 2nd-3rd, with four aircraft taking part. One suffered problems and was unable to mark leaving the remaining three to identify and mark the target. It was solely a Mosquito attack using aircraft from both 8 and 100 Group, after which large fires were seen rising from several parts of the town. After the last remnants of the German army left, it was declared ‘undefended’ and open, and allied troops entered unopposed just 36 hours later.
With the war’s end, the Pathfinders returned to dropping markers for food supplies, and ‘cooks’ tours began, aircrew taking ground crews on ‘sight-seeing’ trips over Germany to show the extent of the devastation caused by the war and the allied pounding of Germany’s towns and cities. An event that really brought home the effects of the war on Germany.
In September 1945 after much speculation and many staff movements, both squadrons were ordered to disband. 582 was first on the 10th with 109 Squadron soon after on the 30th. A glimmer of hope then came for 109 Sqn, when it was reborn through the renumbering of 627 Sqn at Woodhall Spa. To all intents and purposes though it was a different squadron to the one that had worked so hard and with such dedication here at Little Staughton. The operational record books for 582 Squadron simply states: “No further entry, Squadron disbanded as of 10th September 1945“. On roll were 147 airmen and 92 Officers, six of which were New Zealanders. The records also show that the squadron had dropped over 8,000 tons of bombs cumulatively, while 109 Sqn recorded: “This is the finish, all our aircraft were flown to Upwood today.”
Some 522 raids had been flown by 109 Squadron, covering over a staggering 5,400 sorties, while at either Little Staughton, Wyton or Marham, all with a loss of just 18 aircraft. 582 on the other hand had flown over 2,100 sorties in 165 raids with a loss of 28 Lancasters all whilst based at this little airfield in the Cambridgeshire countryside*4.
Throughout the war, thoughts had never been far away from post war aviation and in particular the development of new, larger and faster aircraft, both military and civil. With it would come the demand for bigger airfields and longer runways, which led to a search for possible extensions to existing airfields. Farnborough and the RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment), was the preferred choice, but the site was penned in and unable to have its runway extended to the five miles thought necessary to accommodate new types of aircraft. Alternatives were sought with the final decision being the amalgamation of three airfields: Twinwood Farm, Thurleigh and Little Staughton; a five mile runway linking Thurleigh with Little Staughton which would then be linked by a taxi way with Twinwood Farm. The idea behind the huge development was to replicate the Californian Muroc test facility (now Edwards Air Force Base) to enable testing of new developments in aviation. The idea never materialised though, and would have no doubt faced serious opposition had it ever got to the consultation phase*1.
So, with no real need for Little Staughton it was soon surplus to military requirements, and with their dramatic reduction of assets, its days were sadly numbered.
Following the departure of the two squadrons, the airfield became used as a transport base, before finally closing in December 1945, and being placed into care and maintenance. In the 1950s the runway was given consideration again and work began to extend it for use in emergencies by US military aircraft, but this was also a short lived exercise, and by the end of the decade this too had ceased, and the site was closed to all military activity. For a short while it was used by the civilian Brooklands Aviation company as a repair depot, but was soon returned to farmland although the runway, and some of the perimeter tracks remain, used by a small aviation company along with several of the hangars which are used by light industry.
The Watch Office continues to stand and is now a Grade II listed building, being listed in December 2005 for its ‘special architectural and historic interest’. Historic England describe it as “One of a very small number of control towers of the Second World War period that have survived in a substantially complete state of preservation…This is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a 1941 control tower design for bomber satellite stations, of which 24 out of 45 built survive.”*2
With that, Little Staughton quietly slipped in to the history books. The buildings left standing echoing the hectic activities of two Pathfinder Squadrons, from which over 250 airmen lost their lives.
582 Sqn had been purposefully created for a role, a role it performed to the highest standard and with the greatest pride of any squadron in the RAF. 109 Sqn had performed with the same dedication and determination, meaning that Little Staughton crews were awarded two of the three VCs the Pathfinders earned, the highest honour to be bestowed on any military personnel. In addition to these, numerous other gallantry medals were also awarded to the many crews of both squadrons, a number of whom had flown in excess of 100 sorties whilst based here at Little Staughton.
Remnants of the airfield still exist as farm tracks.
Little Staughton was only operational for a short period of time. But in that time it achieved some of the highest accolades possible in military terms. It brought a great sense of pride to the local area, and a huge influx of men and machinery. Today it stands quiet, just outside of the village which marks its history with a small stone laid close to the end of the main runway. The local church, All Saints, also has a roll of honour commemorating all those personnel who lost their lives here, and a memorial stone close by pays homage to those who served and died in this remarkable place.
Sources and further reading (Little Staughton)*1 Smith, D., “Britain’s Military Airfields 1939 – 45” Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989*2 Historic England Website accessed 17/9/23
*3 Much of the report from this comes from a combination of Operational record books and secondary resources including Feast., S., “Heroic Endeavour“, Grub Street Publications, 2006.
*4 Middlebrook, M., Everitt. C., “The Bomber Command War Diaries“, Midland Publishing Ltd, 1996
National Archives Operational Records:
AIR 27/2052/2; AIR 27/2052/1; AIR 27/854/8; AIR 27/854/7; AIR 27/2052/7; AIR 27/2052/8; AIR 27/2052/10; AIR 27/2052/9; AIR 27/855/2; AIR 27/2052/14; AIR 27/2052/13; AIR 27/856/7; AIR 27/856/9; AIR 27/2449/1; AIR 27/2052/27
Trail 29 saw a trip to two airfields both of which have now gone. A new addition to this trail, takes us back to the west of Cambridgeshire to the Bedford border and a small airfield that continues to operate as a flying entity. But, and perhaps more importantly, it is one where two VCs were won, and where RAF Pathfinders reigned supreme. Having only a short life itself, and only two front line squadrons, its rather unassuming presence hides a remarkable tale of heroism, bravery and dedication that transports it high into the ranks of wartime history.
In the latest addition to this trail we visit the small village with two airfields, starting with RAF Little Staughton.
RAF Little Staughton
The village of Little Staughton sits on Oxford Clay, a Jurassic marine sediment, and is located about 4.5 miles from Kimbolton and 8 miles from Bedford. The village itself resides in the upper most regions of Bedfordshire, but this is not the original village, that being abandoned following the bubonic plague, and so the village we see today being created as a result.
Little Staughton is unusual in that it has been home to two wartime airfields, RFC Little Staughton which was open between October 1916 and June 1917, and its World War II counterpart, RAF Little Staughton. Both add further complexities to the name by each being located over the county border in Cambridgeshire.
RAF Little Staughton, like many of its contemporaries, was cold and draughty. The staff huts dispersed around the various sites provided little comfort to those inside seeking warmth and shelter from the elements outside.
Built by a mix of construction companies including the AMWD (Air Ministry Works Directorate), it had three concrete and tarmac runways measuring 1,920 x 50 yards; 1,340 x 50 yards and 1,000 x 50 yards with the main runway running in an approximate east-west direction.
Little Staughton (east upward) whilst under construction, 26th June 1942. Note the accommodation and technical areas have not yet been started and the spectacle hardstands are missing. Photo taken by No. 8 OTU. English Heritage (RAF Photography RAF/FNO/24).
Aircraft maintenance and storage consisted of eight Robin and three ‘T2’ hangars with an additional Butler hangar. Butler hangars were built in limited quantity for use on American airfields, and were supplied in kit form from the Butler Manufacturing Company, Kansas. They were made of box-section girders and then clad with canvas to keep out the elements and provide some protection for those inside. Butler stores buildings of which there were two at Little Staughton, were similar, but with rigid frames and beams forming a forty foot span. The presence of these buildings give a little insight into the origins of the airfield, as neither were found elsewhere on RAF airfields.
Around the perimeter track, there were thirty-seven pan style hardstands along with an additional sixteen spectacle hardstands. Personnel accommodation blocks for approximately 2,500 staff of mixed rank and gender, were spread to the east, behind the technical area, and incorporated eleven sites including a waste water treatment plant, three communal sites and a sick quarters. A further site housed the airfield’s transmitter.
Staff accommodation was made by a mix of suppliers and materials. These included Laing, Nissen and Ministry of Works, using both asbestos and corrugated iron. It is also known that ‘Jane Huts’ existed at Little Staughton, timber frames with plasterboard, or later, corrugated iron covering reinforced with chicken wire – hardly a home from home!
The technical area itself housed the usual collection of maintenance and training buildings including: three link trainers, a free gunnery trainer, a parachute store, workshops, an A.M. bombing teacher and various stores built from numerous materials. Located not far from the technical area is the watch office, built in 1942 using the Air Ministry’s Directorate of Works and Building’s design, Drawing No. 13726/41, it was rendered brick with an asphalt roof, with the watch office to the front on the ground floor and a meteorological office, switch room and lavatories to the rear. The first floor has the control room to the front of the building with 2 large windows, and to the rear was the controller’s rest room and signals office. Access to the second floor is via external steel stairs and a balcony provides extensive outside views of the airfield as was common with wartime watch offices.
Opened in December 1942, Little Staughton was handed over to the USAAF to be used as No.2 Advanced Air Depot (AAD) and renamed in accordance with the US naming system as Station AAF127. This provides an explanation as to why Butler structures appear at the site.
The main role for the 2nd AAD (previously known as SAD – Strategic Air Depot) was to expedite repairs, modifications and in-depth maintenance to the B-17s of the 1st Bomb Wing. A role that could prove grizzly as many would have been badly shot up with the inevitable casualties languishing inside. A number of similar bases were established and then further developed by the Americans, these included: Warton, Burtonwood and Langford Lodge. Being the only one at the time in East Anglia though, Little Staughton was given priority and quickly established itself as a high level maintenance base.
A year after it opened however, the US authorities decided to move the depot from Little Staughton to a new base at Abbots Ripton adjacent to the huge American base at Alconbury. Little Staughton, then surplus to their needs, was subsequently handed back to the Royal Air Force and Bomber Command, who, on March 1st, took over control and began moving new personnel and aircraft on to the site.
One of Little Staughton’s technical huts now used for light industry.
8 (PFF) Group, under the command of Donald Bennett, and to whom the airfield was allocated, was undergoing a reduction in squadron flights from three to two at this point, and so a month later to the day, the first aircraft, Lancasters of ‘C’ Flight, 7 Squadron at Oakington along with Lancasters of ‘C’ Flight 156 Squadron from Upwood, arrived to form a new squadron, 582 Sqn, as part of the Pathfinder force and based here at Little Staughton. The squadron would use both the Mark I and Mark III Lancaster, and would be the last of the heavy bomber units to be formed under the Pathfinders.
On April 1st 1944, fifty officers arrived at Little Staughton, and were immediately assigned to the command of Squadron Leader (Acting Wing Commander) C.M. Dunnicliffe DFC from 97 Sqn at Bourn. Sqn. Ldr. Welbourn and Sqn. Ldr. McMillan were placed in temporary charge of ‘A’ and ‘B’ Fights respectively. The squadron headquarters, flight offices, crew rooms and specialist offices were all quickly put to good use and various alterations made to the buildings to suit the new squadron. The crew rooms were perhaps deemed better than some, being described as “commodious” by the new admin staff.
582 Sqn were not alone for long though, being joined within twenty-four hours by the twin-engined Mosquitoes of 109 Sqn from RAF Marham, the various aircraft being ferried in over a two day period.
There would be no respite for the two squadrons though. 582’s Lancaster crews began training immediately, flying cross country flights, “Y” training flights, fighter affiliation flights and so on. 109 Sqn on the other hand began operations to the continent almost immediately. On the 4th, four Mosquitoes were detailed to Essen, two to Rhinehausen, two more to Aachen, Kreffield, Cologne and two more to an unnamed target. Only one aircraft had problems that night, Mosquito IV ‘DZ256’ suffered engine problems and so the pilot instructed the navigator to bale out over the coast. The Mosquito then managed to land at Bradwell Bay, a difficult task in a Mosquito especially as the propeller on the faulty engine could not be feathered.
Bradwell Bay was soon to see more of the 109 Sqn Mosquitoes. On the 8th, a second one crash landed there after being hit by flak over Essen. Thankfully, both pilot and navigator were unhurt in the landing.
The rest of the month was operationally similar. With numerous flights to the continent marking and bombing targets, some requiring markers whilst some didn’t, and in these cases the target indicators (TIs) were brought home. Several aircraft over the month had failed to bomb due to ‘technical problems’, mainly failing oxygen systems, faulty aircraft undercarriage or engine trouble.
A thousand lb Target indicator Bomb at Hendon.
582 Sqn on the other hand, continued throughout the month with training flights inter-dispersed with a small number of operations over the continent. On April 23rd they received a blow, when Lancaster III JA933 ‘S’ flown by New Zealander Flt. Sgt. Wallis B. Forfar failed to return from a seven ship formation to Laon. Sadly all seven crew on board were killed that day, and their bodies remained buried together in Roye New British Cemetery in the Somme. Their known ages ranged from just 19 years of age to 22.
Operations and training flights were interrupted on April 29th, when Air Vice Marshall Don Bennett visited the airfield, and in particular 109 Sqn’s Messes. He presented watches ‘on behalf of a foreign admirer of the Royal Air Force‘ to Pilot Officer Sexton and Flight Sergeant Marchant who had both completed seventeen sorties to Berlin.
By the end of the month both squadrons had been on operations almost daily, the routine of training now taking a back seat. These continual operations meant that the two squadrons amassed in excess of 300 sorties between them. Little Staughton and it’s crews had certainly made their mark.
Over the next few months, operations took both squadrons to strategic targets, V-1 sites were especially targeted, accurately marked by the Mosquitoes of 109 Sqn. Railway yards and road junctions were also hit in an attempt to slowdown advancing German reinforcements into Normandy. The Pathfinder squadrons were making good use of their skills.
July 11th 1944, would prove to be a first for both Bomber Command and for 8 Group in particular. The modification of a 582 Sqn. Lancaster, ND817 ‘S’ meant it was the first to carry the new ‘Oboe’ equipment. It was then piloted by Wing Commander G.F. Grant of 109 squadron, who directed the first ‘heavy Oboe’ operation of the war. Grant, himself a seasoned Mosquito pilot, was able to direct the bombers accurately onto the target, initiating bombing when he bombed, and so aiming to obtain a higher level of success than had previously been achieved.
The attack by seven Lancasters on the flying bomb’s site at Gapennes, proved uneventful in terms of losses or incidents, but was no doubt a notable point in the bombing war. Now they could hit small, precision targets with heavy bombers using Oboe.
A second such operation on July 20th to the flying-bomb site at Foret-du-Croc was not so fortunate though, 582 squadron suffering the loss of the leading aircraft, Lancaster ED908 ‘Z’ flown by Sqn. Ldr. J. Foulsham DFC, AFC.
Using the new Oboe equipment required considerable training, and so four of the crew, including Sqn. Ldr. Foulsham, had been reassigned to the aircraft from 109 Sqn. With two navigators on board the aircraft, the eight man crew were all lost when the aircraft was shot down, crashing with great force on the run-in to the target. Sqn. Ldr. Foulsham may have been a late change on that operation as the ORB doesn’t list him as flying that day. All eight crewmen are buried in the Canadian War Cemetery in Dieppe.
With two more Lancasters lost on July 23rd-24th and another on the night of 28th-29th, 582’s losses were slowly mounting. In one of the Lancasters lost on 23rd, was the South African airman Lt. Swales, who went on to later be awarded the VC in 1945. Whilst the aircraft was lost in an emergency landing, the crew were all safe and they continued flying almost immediately. Additionally, in the last Lancaster to go down that July, was one of Bomber Command’s oldest airmen Flt. Sgt. C. Lewis at age 39. Seven of the eight airmen were lost including Flt. Sgt. Lewis.
August would prove to be one of the heaviest months for operations, especially for 109 Sqn, who would mount in excess of 500 sorties flying against Flying Bomb sites, oil plants, rail junctions, fuel depots and other strategic targets.
In late 1944, Arthur Harris was partially released of the tight constraints applied to him by the Supreme Allied Commanders, and so he was now able to turn his forces to his favoured targets – the cities of Germany. Although directed to focus on oil, many of these cities had close connections to oil, and so Harris was able to circumnavigate the directive with few complaints from those above him.
As aircrew casualties began to fall and the number of available heavy bombers began to rise, the RAF were now able to increase their operations, dropping almost half of all their wartime tonnage in the remaining few months of the war*4
August 1944 would prove to be another pivotal month in Bomber Command, as the first major daylight raid since 1941 was launched against German targets. 582 Sqn sent ten Lancasters to Minoyecques, whilst 109 Sqn sent eight Mosquitoes to Homburg in Saarland and six Mosquitoes to Minoyecques in support of the Lancasters. All aircraft returned safely to Little Staughton, some bringing indicators back with them as they were not needed due to accurate and extensive marking. The end of the month ended on a more sour note for the two squadrons however, with the loss of one Lancaster along with all of its crew, and two Mosquitoes. It is believed that all four crewmen from the Mosquitoes managed to evade capture, although their fate is not yet known.
Perhaps the most successful operations for 582 Sqn came on October 3rd, when 252 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes attacked the sea walls at Walcheren, targets that dominated the approach to Antwerp. By breaching the sea wall it was hoped that the sea would flood the defences behind, and drastically hinder any defence against an allied assault on the town. Once Antwerp was taken, an estimated 40,000 tons of supplies could then be poured through to the front line of the allied advance, who were now getting very low on supplies and losing momentum as a result.
The operation led by Master Bomber Grp. Cptn. P. Cribb in Lancaster ND750 ‘E’, of 582 Sqn was a great success, with the walls being breached across a 100 foot span, through which millions of gallons of water could pass. The attack was carried out by eight waves of Lancasters with Pathfinder Mosquitoes and Lancasters leading the way. At the back of the formation were 617 Sqn Lancasters carrying Tallboy bombs, but because the bombing was so successful and accurate, these were not needed and 617 Sqn took them back home with them.
By the winter of 1944/45, and although a long way from beaten, the Luftwaffe were now on the back foot and the allies were becoming masters of the skies. By the end of the year RAF daylight operations were commonplace, but they were not without their problems.
In Part 2 we see how Little Staughton crews took the brunt of the Luftwaffe’s determination to take back control of the skies. In one mission alone, they would sacrifice eight aircraft and most of their crews. It would however, bring the first of two VCs to the little airfield.
On 30th September 2023, a dedication was paid to the loss of Lancaster EE118 of 156 Squadron PFF, RAF Warboys, which crashed 80 years prior.
The Lancaster, a MK.III, took off from Warboys at 18:24 on September 29th 1943 on operations to Germany. It was joined by nine other Lancasters from the same squadron to bomb Bochum in Western Germany. Over the target, flak was moderate and visibility was good. Marking was in the form of skymarkers, along with red and green target indicators (TI) and bombing was reported as scattered with smoke rising to 5,000 ft.
On Lancaster EE118 that night was Flt. Sgt. Frederick H. Ray (Pilot); Sgt. David R. Booker (Bomb aimer); Fl. Off. Sydney K. Smith RCAF (Navigator); Sgt. Norman P. Winterburn (Wireless Op); Sgt. William A. Lineham (Flt. Engineer); Sgt. Frederick D. Dickens (Air Gunner) and Sgt. Arthur S. W. Orchard (rear Gunner).
The aircraft had suffered heavy flak damage, several of the instruments were not working including the compass and altimeter, and a 1,000lb bomb remained ‘hung-up’ in the bomb bay, Their return to Warboys would take them over the North Sea, across the Wash and south-east toward Warboys, but they requested landing permission at RAF Downham Market as it was closer. Permission was granted, and the ‘hung-up’ bomb was safely disposed of over the Wash.
The Memorial Plaque to Lancaster EE118.
Downham Market was at the time shrouded in thick fog and the FIDO installation recently added was not yet fully serviceable. Flt. Sgt. Ray made his approach, and with 10/10ths cloud as low as 1,000 feet, it was very difficult to make out where he was.
On his first approach, Flt. Sgt. Ray missed the runway and so headed north, and then turned in a south-west direction to make a new approach from the east. On his run in toward the final turn, the rear wheel caught the tree tops of a Slubberdike Wood, located north-west of the airfield. This slowed the aircraft down sufficiently to prevent it from climbing, and as they passed over Allotments at nearby Wimbotsham village, the port wing clipped a raised air-raid shelter near to the allotment entrance. This caused the wing tip to break off and resulted in the aircraft colliding with a telegraph pole at the end of Hop Pikel field near to Milller’s Lane which flipped the aircraft over bring it down in an orchard.
In the accident, all but the rear gunner Sgt. Orchard were killed outright, Sgt. Orchard being thrown clear from his rear turret.
The noise of the crash alerted local people who went out to see what had caused all the noise, and suspecting an air crash, they searched for wreckage. Gardens at the end of Miller’s Lane were strewn with bits of aircraft and a two young boys by the name of Gutteridge, came across Sgt. Orchard with a large branch across his legs. Fearing he had broken it, Sgt. Orchard begged them not to move it and await medical assistance in case it made the injury worse.
In the confusion that followed, Sgt. Orchard couldn’t remember if the 1,000 lb bomb had been dropped or not, so the police on the scene cleared the nearby houses sending everyone into their various bomb shelters for protection. It was not necessary however, and soon the all clear had been given and they returned to their homes.
Another young boy, 12 years old at the time, recalled how the rest of the crew were found in his garden, 39 Miller’s Lane, and how they were removed by RAF personnel during the night. Wreckage was found across the orchard and in local gardens, until RAF salvage teams took the aircraft away some 3 – 4 weeks later.
An aerial photo of Wimbotsham showing the direction the Lancaster flew on that fateful night. The scar in the orchard is clearly visible. The airfield is in the bottom right hand corner.
On the 30th September 2023, a plaque was attached to the Wimbotsham village sign to commemorate the loss of the crew nearby. The ceremony was opened by Mr. Ian Cable, Chairman of Wimbotsham Parish Council with a greeting and introduction from Reverend Canon Dr. David Karoon. After the hymn ‘O God our help in ages past’, Group Captain Frederick Wigglesworth, Station Commander RAF Marham, gave the Bible reading Isaiah 40:25:31 which was followed by a prayer of dedication led by The Rev. (Wing Commander) Eddie Wynn.
Dr. Karoon then gave a blessing of the memorial after which followed ‘The Airman’s Hymn’ sung by those gathered at the service.
Mr. Dutton gives background information on the Pathfinders with Rev. Canon Dr. Davis Karoon, The Rev (Wing Cdr) Eddie Wynn and Group Captain Frederick Wigglesworth looking on.
Following the Lords Prayer, a further dedication was given by Bill Bower, the R.A.F.A. Chairman, which preceded the Last Post and a minutes silence. The ceremony was closed with some back ground information on the Pathfinders by Tim Dutton, and the Benediction from Dr. Karoon. Lastly, the National Anthem was sung and a thanks to those involved given by Mr. Cable.
In the gathering were relatives of both Sgt. Arthur Orchard and Sgt. David Booker, the bomb aimer, along with villagers who remember the crash in 1943.
Tea, cake and a display of material from the crash and personal letters from Arthur Orchard to relatives of the crew were made available in the village hall, itself a former RAF Downham Market admin building.
The crew in Lancaster EE118 (GT-?)
Flt. Sgt. Frederick H. Ray (Pilot), s/n: 1391599, age 26
Sgt. David R. Booker (Bomb aimer), s/n: 1413457, age 20
Fl. Off. Sydney K. Smith RCAF. (Navigator), s/n: J/14174, age 21
Sgt. Norman P. Winterburn (Wireless Op), s/n: 1439760, age 21
Sgt. William A. Lineham (Flt. Engineer), s/n: 1815307, age 19
Sgt. Frederick D. Dickens (Air Gunner), s/n: 1613337, age 20
Sgt. Arthur S. W. Orchard (rear Gunner) – survived
The Lancaster, a MK.III, was built as part of the fourth production batch of 620 aircraft (the final contract of No. 6427) by A.V. Roe & Co Ltd. at Chadderton. It was delivered to 32 Maintenance Unit (MU) on 27th May 1943 transferring to 156 Sqn. on 22nd June 1943. It was struck off charge after the Wimbotsham crash on 19th October 1943.
A range of resources were used in the compiling of this post, including:
National Archives: AIR 27/1041/40
Chorley, W.H. “Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War – 1943“, Midland Counties, 1996.
Holmes, H. “Avro Lancaster – The Definitive Story“, Airlife Publishing, 1997
Personal letters and photos on display from Arthur Orchard and Derek Neal.
The Eagle Squadrons were three RAF Squadrons made up of American volunteers, their achievements and records are well-known and well documented, however, it was not all plain sailing for these determined and courageous flyers. For one Squadron in particular, 133 Squadron, September 26th 1942 would be a disaster, a disaster that would almost wipe out the entire flight of twelve airmen.
133 Squadron had been on the front line serving at RAF Biggin Hill and RAF Martlesham Heath before arriving at RAF Great Sampford, a satellite for RAF Debden. The ground crews were predominately British, assisting and training the US ground crews in aircraft maintenance and support. All the pilots however, were US volunteers, formed into three separate squadrons but under RAF control.
1st Lt Dominic ‘Don’ Gentile and Spitfire BL255 ‘Buckeye-Don’. The photo was taken after 133 Squadron RAF was disbanded and absorbed into the USAAF as the, 336th FS, 4th FG, 8th AF. (@IWM UPL 15072)
133 Squadron would arrive at RAF Great Sampford on September 23rd 1942, the same day as 616 Sqn RAF departed, they would be the last operational unit to fully use the airfield before its eventual closure.
Initially flying the Spitfire VBs, they soon replaced them with the MK.IX, a Spitfire that was essentially a MK.V with an updated engine. Having a higher ceiling than the FW-190 and being marginally faster, its improved performance took the Luftwaffe by complete surprise. It was so new and improved, that it remained on the secret list until after this particular operational flight.
On that fateful day, September 26th 1942, fourteen Spitfires of 133 Sqn took off from RAF Great Sampford in Essex, piloting those Spitfires were:
BS313 – F/Lt. Edward Gordon Brettell DFC (61053) The only British pilot and leader
BS275 – P/O. Leonard T. Ryerson (O-885137)
BS446 – P/O. William H. Baker Jr (O-885113)
BS137 – P/O. Dennis D. Smith (O-885128)
BR638 – P/O. G.B. Sperry (O-885112)
BS445 – P/O. Dominic “Buckeye-Don” S. Gentile (O-885109)
BS138 – P/O. Gilbert G. Wright (?)
BS279 – F/Lt. Marion E. Jackson (O-885117)
BS447 – P/O. R.E. Smith (O-885110)
BR640 – P/O. C.A. Cook (O-885112)
BS148 – P/O. Richard “Bob” N. Beaty (?)
BS301 – P/O. G.H. Middleton Jr (O-885127)
BS140 – P/O. Gene P. Neville (O-885129)
Unknown – P/O. Ervin “Dusty” Miller (O-885138) (not listed but known to have been on the flight).
They were to fly to RAF Bolt Head in Devon, where they would meet with 401 Squadron (RCAF) and 64 Squadron RAF, refuel and be briefed for the mission. A mission that was supposed to be straight forward and relatively uneventful.
The aim of the mission was to escort US bombers to Morlaix on the Brest peninsula. The usual commander of 133 Sqn, Red McColpin, was not placed in charge that day, instead he had been posted, and a British Pilot, F/Lt. Edward Gordon Brettell DFC, was issued with the task.
McColpin was a strict disciplinarian and his leadership was admired by those who followed him. Without this leadership, 133’s preparation was slack and they ultimately paid the price for this.
After landing at 12:30 hours, they realised there were no facilities at Bolt Head for refuelling, and they would have to go with what they had. This would kick-start a catalogue of errors that would ultimately seal the fate of the flight. Following a briefing in which Wing Commander Kingcombe DFC and all but two of 133 Sqn pilots had failed to show up for, the flight (which included the sixteen 401 (RCAF) Squadron Spitfire IXs from RAF Kenley) took off at 13:50 hours. Of the fourteen 133 Sqn Spitfires sent to Bolt Head, only twelve would be needed, and two pilots were instructed to remain at Bolt Head, they were P/O. Ervin Miller, and P/O. Don “Buckeye-Don” S. Gentile, they would be the luckiest two men of the squadron that day.
The briefing, a very vague and rushed one, instructed the flight to carry out a ‘Circus‘ mission escorting seventy-five B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 92nd BG, 97th BG and the 301st BG, who were bombing Cherbourg and the airfields at Maupertus and Morlaix in Brittany. When the squadron took off the weather was clear, and winds were predicted to be 35 mph at 24,000 feet, but 5 miles off the English coast, they encountered 10/10th cumulus cloud cover at 7,000 feet, and so had to climb above it so that they could locate the bombers more easily.
The take of was a mess, disorganised and lacking both radio information and in many cases maps, the aircraft were lucky not to collide with each other.
Of the three RAF squadrons involved in the mission, 401 would take the high position, 133 the middle and 64 Squadron, the lower. They were to form up over Bolt Head at 2,000 feet and then head at 200o at 180 mph to overtake the bombers before they arrived at the target. If they could not locate the bombers, the flight was to circle the target for three minutes and then depart.
As the flight approached the rendezvous area, one 133 Squadron Spitfire had to drop out of formation and return home, as he had encountered engine problems; this problem was thought to be due to his low fuel. The remainder of the flight scanned the skies for any sign of the bomber formation, and after searching for some 45 minutes, they spotted the bombers, some 50 miles south of Brest. The bombers had in fact already turned for home after having discarded their bombs near to the Pyrenees.
By now the 301st BG had been recalled, as their fighter escort failed to materialise, whilst the 97th BG had continued on. However, due to the heavy cloud cover over the target area, they had been ineffective as no bombing of the target had taken place. The American bombers, who were only three months into their European air war, had inadvertently miscalculated a tail wind putting them off track well away from the Bay of Biscay.
P/O. G.H. Middleton Jr of 133 Squadron RAF was shot down and taken Prisoner of War (@IWM UPL 18927).
The three squadrons formed up on the bombers at just after 16:45 hours, with 64 Squadron on the port side, 401 Squadron on the starboard and 133 Squadron behind. The whole formation then flew north for 30 minutes, at which point it became evident that the wind speed was in fact over 100 mph, and not the 35 mph as stated by the Meteorological Office, or at the briefing! It has since been revealed that this information was known to those in authority, but it had not been passed down the chain of command and the pilots were never informed.
The formation then spotted land, the bombers thought they were over Falmouth and turned right. 64 and 401 Squadron broke away maintaining height, but 133 Squadron dropped down below the cloud base and prepared to land.
133 Squadron then began to search for the airfield, and after searching in vain, they found a large town, this they hoped would give them the vital fix they desperately needed. Flying low over the houses they realised they were not over England at all but in fact still over France. The flight, uninformed of the 100 mph north-easterly wind at their altitude, had also been blown wildly off course, and after 1.5 hours flying time, the situation had suddenly become very severe indeed.
The Squadron flight Leader, Flight Lieutenant E.G. Brettell, wanting to ascertain his exact position, called up a ground direction finding station who provided a bearing and heading – 100 miles off the English coast with a homing vector of 020o. It was at this point they suddenly realised they were over the port of Brest, one of the most heavily defended ports under German occupation.
Immediately, the sky filled with flak and small arms anti-aircraft fire. The pilot in the number 2 position, Pilot Officer Gene Neville (O-885129) in Spitfire #BS140, took a direct and fatal hit, he was killed instantly. Three other aircraft were to be shot down in the melee that followed: Pilot Officer William H Baker Jr (O-885113) in Spitfire #BS446; Pilot Officer Leonard Ryerson (O-885137) in Spitfire #BS275 and Pilot Officer Dennis Smith (O-885128) in Spitfire #BS294 – all four were killed, and all four were awarded the Purple Heart.
2nd Lt. Gene P. Neville 133 (Eagle) Sqn RAF, stands before his MK. IX Spitfire at Great Sampford. He was Killed during the Morlaix disaster. (@IWM UPL 18912)
The remainder of 133 Squadron struggling to defend themselves, they scattered and were forced to land out of fuel, either on the island of Ouissant or on the French mainland.
Of the seven 133 squadron pilots who crash landed on French soil, five were known to have been captured immediately and taken prisoner: P/O. G.B. Sperry; F/Lt. Edward Brettell; F/Lt. M.E. Jackson; P/O. C.A. Cook and P/O. G.H. Middleton Jr., with a sixth, P/O. G.G. Wright, evading the Germans for several days before being captured later on.
Of these initial five, F/Lt. Jackson was injured in his crash and hospitalised for eight weeks. He was then taken to Stalag Luft III from where he was able to escape for about ten days by jumping from the roof of his cell house into a lorry load of evergreen branches that were being taken away from the camp.
Another Pilot, F/Lt. Edward Brettell DFC. was executed for his part in the Great Escape from the same prison camp, Stalag Luft III, whilst P/O. Robert E. Smith, the last remaining pilot, managed to abandon his aircraft evading capture, eventually returning to England on 18th January 1943.
The pilot who turned back early due to his own engine problems, P/O. Robert Beatty, crash landed his Spitfire at Kingsbridge in Devon after he too ran out of fuel over the Channel. During the crash he sustained severe injuries but luckily survived his ordeal and was able to give an account of the mission through what he heard over the radio.
Several of the 401 Squadron pilots, who had continued on, also reported being low on fuel and gave their intention to bail out before land was finally sighted. One of these, P/O. Junius L. Hokan (s/n: J/6833), did have to bail out over the sea, he was last seen in a gradual dive, his aircraft heading seaward. His body was never recovered. Others in the flight that day only just made land fall, one crashed and was taken to hospital where he recovered from his injuries, the others just managed to reach either RAF Bolt Head or RAF Harrowbeer. The Operational Record Books for 401 Squadron state that “many casualties were avoided by the clear thinking and cool behaviour of all members of our Squadron“.
A full report of the days tragic events was issued to Fighter Command Headquarters by Wing Commander Kingcombe DFC, Squadron Leader Gaze and Squadron leader K. Hodson DFC.
S/L Gordon Brettell, 133 Eagle Squadron, executed for his part in the Great Escape breakout at Stalag Luft III (@IWM UPL 25574)
The effect on those left behind in 133 Squadron was devastating. The result of poor preparation, inadequate briefings and sub-standard communication between the Met. Office and Fighter Command had cost many lives, and very nearly many, many more. A number of postings to the Far East soon followed, and many lessons weren’t that day that led to improvements preventing such a tragedy ever happening again.
133 Squadron would continue to operate after this, transferring over to the USAAF being renumbered as 336th FS, 4th FG, three days later as planned, leaving both RAF Great Sampford and the sad memories of that very tragic day far behind.
The former airfield at Upwood in Cambridgeshire had a long and distinguished history. Having its origins go back as far as the First World War, it really gained its fame during the Second World War and post war history; closing as late as 2012 when the military finally pulled out.
During the Second World War it was home to Pathfinder squadrons, who attacked prestige targets. The airfield was home to a range of aircraft; it was also the location for the 1952 film with Dirk Bogarde ‘Appointment in London‘. Post war, it was designed to be a post apocalyptic hospital, able to treat those injured in the event of a nuclear war.
Today the site is gradually being demolished as housing gradually takes over. Many of the original buildings are boarded up and behind screens and threfore inaccessible. The hangars however, are still in use by local industry and so access to part of the site is still available.
In 2020, a mural was painted on one of the buildings to commemorate those who flew from Upwood and the wider RAF in general. It features a Lancaster and three aircrew who each achieved incredible flying feats.
I don’t know what the future holds for the mural, but it’s a fabulous piece of street art and a very worthy one, perhaps it should be preserved.
The mural was painted by Street Arts Hire, and depicts Lancaster GT-Q (ND875) of 156 Squadron, which carried out 108 operations, one of only 35 to ever make it over 100 missions. The three airmen also depicted are:
Left: Flt.Sgt A. Wilson 76 operations
Middle: Flt.Sgt. J. Watson 77 operations and
Right: Flt. Sgt. W. Appleby 80 Operations
On the night of September 8/9th 1943, a force of 257 aircraft comprising 119 Wellingtons, 112 Stirlings, 16 Mosquitoes and 10 Halifaxes took off from various bases around the U.K. to bomb the Nazi gun positions at Boulogne. Included in this force were aircraft from the RAF’s Operational Training Units, and for the first time of the war, five B-17s flown by US aircrews of the USAAF’s 422nd BS, 305th BG at Grafton Underwood. This was the first of eight such missions to test the feasibility of the USAAF carrying out night operations over Europe. After the remaining seven missions, in which the squadron had dropped 68 tons of bombs, the idea was scrapped, the concept considered ‘uneconomical’ although the aircraft themselves proved to be more than capable of the operations.
The Gun battery targeted, was the emplacement that housed the Germans’ long-range guns, and the target wold be marked by Oboe Mosquitoes. With good weather and clear visibility, navigation was excellent, allowing the main force to successfully drop their bombs in the target area causing several huge explosions. However, not many fires were seen burning and the mission was not recorded as a success. Reports subsequently showed that the emplacement was undamaged due to both inaccurate marking by Pathfinders, and bombing by the main force. However, as both anti-aircraft fire and night fighter activity were light, no aircraft were lost during the flight making it a rather an uneventful night.
However, the mission was not all plain sailing, and whilst all crews returned, the night was marred by some very tragic events.
Three Stirlings were to take off from their various bases that night: at 21:00 hrs from Chedburgh, Stirling MK. III, EF136, piloted by F/S. R. Bunce of 620 Sqn; at 21:30, another Stirling MK.III, from 75 Sqn at RAF Mepal, BK809 ‘JN-T*1‘ piloted by F/O I.R.Menzies of the RNZAF; and lastly at 21:58 also from Chedburgh, Stirling MK. I, R9288 ‘BU-Q’ piloted by N.J. Tutt of 214 Sqn. Unfortunately all three aircraft were to suffer the same and uncanny fate, swinging violently on take off. The first EF136 crashed almost immediately, the second BK809 struck a fuel bowser, and the third R9288 ended up in the bomb dump. Miraculously in both the Chedburgh incidents there were no casualties at all, all fourteen crew men surviving what must have been one of their luckiest escapes of the war! The same cannot be said for the second though.
Stirling BK809 was part of a seventeen strong force of 75 Sqn aircraft. Each aircraft was carrying its full load made up of 1,000lb and 500lb bombs. As the Stirling was running along the runway, it swung violently, striking a fuel bowser which sent it careering into houses bordering the edge of the airfield.
One of the occupants of one of the houses, Mr. P. Smith, saw the aircraft approaching and ran into the street to warn others to get clear. As the aircraft struck the rear of the houses, it burst into flames causing some of the bombs to detonate. This brought considerable rubble down on the occupants of the second house, Mr and Mrs John Randall.
Mrs Randall managed to get out, her legs injured, whereupon she was met by a local fireman, Mr. A.E. Kirby of the National Fire Service. Mr. Kirby went on to help search in the wreckage of the house until his attempts were thwarted by another explosion. His body, along with that of Mr. Randall, was found the next day.
Two other people were also killed that night trying to provide assistance, those being F/Sgt Peter Gerald Dobson, RNZAF and Section Officer Joan Marjorie Easton WAAF. F/Sgt. Dobson was later mentioned in despatches. Three members of the crew lost their lives as a result of the accident, F/O. Menzies and F/O. N. Gale both died in the actual crash whilst Sgt. A. Mellor died later from injuries sustained in the accident.
A number of others were injured in the crash and one further member of the squadron, Cpl Terence Henry King B.E.M, was awarded the British Empire Medal “for his bravery that night in giving assistance“.
The mission on the night of September 8/9th 1943 will not go down as one of the most remarkable, even though it was unique in many respects, but it will be remembered for the sad loss of crews, serving officers and civilians alike in what was a very tragic and sad event.
The crew of Stirling BK809 were:
F/O. Ian Robert Menzies RNZAF NZ415002. (Pilot).
P/O. Derek Albert Arthur Cordery RAFVR 136360. (Nav).
P/O. Norman Hathway Gale RAFVR 849986. (B/A).
Sgt. Ralph Herbert Barker RNZAF NZ417189. (W/O).
Sgt. Albert Leslie Mellor RAFVR 943914. (Flt. Eng).
Sgt. Bullivant G RAFVR 1395379. (Upp. G)
Sgt. Stewart Donald Muir RNZAF NZ416967. (R/G).
Middlebrook M., & Everitt C., “The Bomber Command War Diaries” Midland Publishing, (1996)
Further details of this accident, the crews and those involved can be found on the 75 (NZ) Sqn blog. This includes the gravestones of those killed and a newspaper report of the event.
My thanks also go to Neil Bright (Twitter handle @Blitz_Detective) for the initial information.
Part 2 of this trail saw a range of units arrive at Grangemouth, each one bringing new aircraft and new personnel to this small Scottish site. Some, playing a rather sinister role, eventually move on to leave Grangemouth’s longest standing unit here to see the war out.
58 OTU was initially set up to train night fighters, but was quickly turned into a Spitfire training unit, the purpose to train pilots to fly the Spitfire, many of these trainees would be Polish. In fact, so many were training here that by February 1941, the unit had grown from a small half sized unit to a full unit with in excess of 50 Spitfires and 20 Masters available to the trainees. To help accommodate the aircraft, Grangemouth was paired with a satellite airfield located at Balado Bridge*8 between Edinburgh and Perth.
The training unit would become the longest standing resident unit at Grangemouth and this would set the scene for its future.
The turn of the year though, really saw little change, except the weather got even colder. More rain and fog was joined by frost, and on several days the airfield was closed, its ground simply unsuitable for any flying activity.
Even though the weather was playing havoc, the work that both 58 OTU and the resident 614 Sqn would do in conjunction with the Polish airmen, led an affiliation between 614 and the Polish forces on January 10th 1941; an acknowledgement of the good work that was being done jointly between the two.
March 1941 then brought the news that 614 Squadron would be moving on, to Tranent (Macmerry), perhaps a welcome move as the last few months had seen flying hours drop to around 200 in the day and less than 20 at night. Several accidents had left aircraft badly damaged, crewmen injured and the squadron short of aircraft, it had not been a good year. But by early in the month, the move had taken place and 614 had departed to its new home where it could continue to carry out its sinister role.
With that, the OTU remained the main sole user of Grangemouth until on 10th March 1941, when the Aircraft Delivery Flight Grangemouth was set up. (A month later it would be re-designated 4 Aircraft Delivery Flight). During its lifetime it would operate a number of aircraft: Oxfords, Dominies, Lysanders, Beaufighters, Mustangs and Typhoons. The role of the flight was to ferry aircraft from one location to another, taking new aircraft to new squadrons in support of 13 and 14 Groups.
Delivering aircraft was not without its problems either. On October 2nd, a Hurricane IIA was being transferred by Sgt. Arthur Carl Young of the Flight from Martlesham Heath to Grangemouth. The pilot became disorientated in cloud, and so bailed out leaving the Hurricane to its fate crashing in an area near Goole.
The numbers of trainees at Grangemouth had grown significantly by 1942, so much so, that within 58 OTU a dedicated squadron was formed. Designated as ‘A’ squadron, it was manned by both British and Polish instructors, many of these were hardened veterans including Sqn. Ldr. Henryk Drobinski who had multiple kills and awards to his name.
But Grangemouth would be a multinational training centre, taking pilots from all around the world. The diversity of languages must have been a headache for some, the non- English speaking airmen having to learn very quickly indeed.
Collisions played a large part in the accident roll at Grangemouth, such was the nature of the training programme and those learning to fly the Spitfire, close formation flying being a large part of the syllabus here at the airfield.
In his biography “Challenge in the Air” (William Kimber, 1988), Miroslav Liskutin describes how on a six week course, six of the thirty pilots on his course were killed, a fact they simply lived with.
On April 17th, two pilots were killed when Spitfires R7073 and X4905 collided over Falkirk. One was killed outright, whilst the other died during an attempted crash landing following the incident. Sgt. Siemienczuk (26) along with P/O. Malkiewicz (24), both from Poland, were subsequently buried in Grangemouth Grandsable Cemetery located to the south of the airfield site.
In fact, 1942 saw no less than six collisions or near collisions, all of which resulted in either one or both pilots being killed. All these young men were in their 20s and from countries far beyond Britain’s own borders.
As the demand for training increased and subsequently the numbers of trainees increased, it was decided to increase the length of the main east–west runway by some 300 yards. This would allow for a greater amount of time to land and come to a stop and would allow for faster or larger aircraft to utilise the airfield should the requirement demand. Whilst the necessary work was carried out, operations and training flights continuing unhindered.
The extension of the runway however, didn’t prevent further accidents from happening whether in the air or on the ground. Collisions with parked aircraft appear on several occasions, although and perhaps the worst incident, would occur some distance away from the airfield site.
On January 16th 1943, three Spitfires from the OTU were out on a formation flying exercise when they collided with a hillside killing two of the three airmen. It is what happened subsequent to the crash that is perhaps more incredible.
The accident occurred on Saturday 16th January 1943, when bad weather intervened in their flight plans. Initially they were ordered to land at the satellite airfield at Balado Bridge, but an accident there prevented this and so they were diverted to Perth.
In dense mist the three Spitfires X4614 (Ia), AR254 (Ia) and P8276 (IIa) remained in formation resulting in all three colliding with a 648ft high hill known as King’s Seat in the Ochils, 3km north of Dollar, Clackmannanshire. In the collision, two of the three pilots F.O. Hugh Gordon ’Bud’ Reynolds and Sgt. Gordon Murray Duda were both killed instantly. The third pilot, an RAAF airman, Sgt. Vincent P Daly, managed to see the hillside in time and pulled his Spitfire’s nose up at the last minute to reduce the impact on the hillside. As a result, he survived sustaining only a broken leg and other minor injuries.
F.O. Reynolds, his Spitfire behind him. *6
The crash site being high up in the hills and covered in snow, would not be reached for some time though, and so Daly, even though suffering from a range of injuries (a compound fracture, bruising and cuts to head and body), managed to drag himself down the hillside where he was found two days later by a local farmer.
Daly had managed to use his scarf at the time of the crash, to tie his legs together making a make shift splint to support his broken tibia. He then set off, in freezing conditions, down the hill side toward safety and help. During the decent, he began to contract double pneumonia and suffered severe frostbite to both his toes and his nose – the tip of which he lost.
Once he had been located, Daly was transferred to Larbert Military Hospital, where he made a partial recovery, having to use special shoes and a walking stick to walk. Once out of hospital, he was sent back to RAF Grangemouth, but he never recovered sufficiently to fly again in the RAF. He died in 1969 in his home country, Australia, at the age of just 48 from a heart condition.
Reynolds and Duda were both flying with the RCAF (Duda being an American) and their bodies were eventually found and brought back to be buried at Grangemouth Grandsable Cemetery.
In memory of the airmen and as a lasting tribute a Cairn has been erected at the site (as is common in Scottish mountain crashes) in 2009, and was marked with a flypast by the BBMF Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster.
Later that year, on October 5th 1943, 58 OTU would finally be disbanded in name, the aircraft and training programme being reused under the new name 2 Combat Training Wing still here at Grangemouth. For just the next two weeks or so, the unit would operate under this guise, before on the 15th yet another renaming would take place and it would become 2 Tactical Exercise Unit. Continuing to use the Hurricane, Masters and Spitfires, it operated until 25th June 1944, at which point it was seen as surplus to requirements and disbanded for good. This move began the slow and inevitable run down of the airfield.
Between 1944 and 1945 Grangemouth was used by several maintenance units, including both No. 14 MU and No. 243 MU, who used the site after the departure of the OTU to store materials and ammunition. This took the airfield into the late 1940s, at which point there followed a period of limited flying, primarily through a number of RAF gliding schools.
The first of these was No. 6 Gliding school , who were formed here in January 1945 using Cadets, Grunau Baby IIBs and Sedburgh TX.1s. In 1947 a second school, No. 2 Gliding School was also reformed here after being disbanded at Dumfries earlier in the war.
Then on April 1st, 1948, No. 13 Reserve Flying School was formed here at Grangemouth, under the control of Airwork Ltd,. This organisation ran a number of flying training units around the country including two at Scone outside of Perth. 13 RFS used six Tiger Moths and were led by Wing Commander F. Nugent. The School was disbanded a year later in 1949, with almost 200 trainees on their books at various stages.
In 1949, the two Gliding Schools were also amalgamated, the Scone operations continuing at the demise of Grangemouth and absorbing all their equipment.
A third school No. 4 Gliding School then joined Grangemouth in 1951, and eventually all three were absorbed into one under the control of No. 2 Gliding School. A year later the grand terminal building, which had now stood throughout the war, would be destroyed by a major fire, which further helped the demise of the airfield categorically killing any future it may have had.
By 1955, neither Glasgow nor Edinburgh councils had shown any interest in the site as an aviation project, despite the money that had been spent on it previously. Scottish Aviation had also pulled out its resources and so, with all glider schools gone, the terminal building destroyed and no prospect of further flying, the land was put up for sale with an £11m price tag.*9
With that, the airfield was closed. The great dream of civilian aviation at Grangemouth would never materialise again after that. The runways became a proving ground for the young, and new car drivers honed their skills on the concrete paths. By the 1960s, the site was being ripped up and built upon, houses very quickly filled the gaps and the oil refinery took over most of the site. The runway extension, built to allow for longer landings, now holds the Charlotte Dundas Shopping centre along with further housing.
Grangemouth’s humble existence started off as an amazing dream, one that was shattered by the calling of war. A future that was so promising for Scotland’s Aviation industry sadly failed to materialise. Instead, Grangemouth became a training ground for many young men who were far away from their homes in Europe and across the commonwealth. In all, 80 air and ground crew lost their lives while serving at Grangemouth, 60 of those being aircrew. The majority of these lay buried in the local cemetery close to the airfield where they served all those years ago. There are many famous names synonymous with Grangemouth too, many of these were ‘Aces’, highly decorated pilots who achieved many ‘kills’ in their attempt to turn the tide of war. Becoming trainers they also set many trainees off on their long journeys to the war’s end. One such pilot was Neville Duke the test pilot, who went on to achieve great things in the aviation industry.
Whilst elements of the site are still visible, (the two original hangars and traces of one of the runways as part of a Inchyra play park) the airfield leaves few distinguishing features and you would be forgiven for not knowing such a site ever existed close to this growing Scottish town.
In 2013, the cadets of 1333 (Spitfire) Squadron led by Squadron Leader Tom McMorrow, finally saw their plans come to fruition when they were present at the unveiling of their Spitfire memorial outside the original hangar that remains standing today.
Their work and dedication ensures that the memories of those who not only who died here, but served at Grangemouth will go to survive so that we can enjoy the peace we have today.
*2 Delve. K., “The Military Airfields of Britain – Scotland and Northern Ireland“, Crowood Press Ltd. 2010.
*3 During this early part of the Grangemouth’s operation, the unit names became interchangeable, the use of ‘civil’ in 10 CANS being dropped in many situations, and 10 AONS being referred to in the ORBs as early as September.
In Part 1, we saw how Grangemouth was created through incredible vision, but how the impending war shattered that dream. Also how it then went on to become a training airfield, training young pilots to fly Spitfires. This was not an easy task, the weather playing havoc with training schedules and an ill prepared airfield adding to the cauldron of problems that would culminate in the inevitable accidents and resultant deaths.
On October 1st 1939, F.O. James A. B. Somerville (known as Young Hamish, to his family) was taxiing his Spitfire I. (L1047), when P.O. J.S. Morton flying Spitfire I (L1059) landed on top of him. In the resulting accident Somerville was killed outright and his aircraft totally written off. P.O. Morton was uninjured and his aircraft received only minor damage, however, the accident would no doubt have a lasting impact the injuries to F.O. Somerville being so severe. *5
On October 6th, the order to move the entire 602 Squadron finally came though and the next day the main portion of the unit transported its belongings to Grangemouth. More poor weather prevented another early departure by the aircraft, but by lunchtime, all ground and air crew along with their Spitfires, were over at Grangemouth. Lacking in accommodation, airmen had to be billeted off site in the town itself, whilst Officers took up residency in one of the vacant houses just north of the airfield. The war had finally started for this small airfield in Central Scotland.
602’s stay at Grangemouth was to be short lived though. With threats of German attacks coming from the east, it was decided to move 602 elsewhere, and within a week new orders had come through to move lock, stock and barrel to RAF Drem, in North Berwickshire. By the 13th October, the Spitfires and all their personnel, were gone and Grangemouth was vacant once more.
602 Sqn would go on to make further ‘firsts’ whilst at Drem, when on the 16th of October, pilot George Pinkerton would intercept and shoot down, a Heinkel 111. In doing so, he would be the first pilot to to fire in anger in the skies over Great Britain. It would also be 602 who would down the first ‘intact’ enemy aircraft onto British soil. Known as the Humbie Heinkel, it would become famous for this reason.
It would then be all change again, and on the 19th October 1939, Grangemouth would see the arrival of a new squadron and a new aircraft. 141 Squadron Led by Pilot Officer H. Anderson, another former Turnhouse unit, brought with them Gloster’s Galdiator, an outdated but much loved biplane that began being supplemented during November by the more updated Blenheims.
Like their predecessors, airmen were billeted in three halls in the town whilst officers occupied two vacant houses -110 Boness Road and its neighbour. Whilst accommodation was far from ideal, it would do for now and all those assigned here were soon in and settled.
On the next day, a funeral guard of honour was provided back at Turnhouse for the burial of several German airmen. Those who were to stay behind had the unenviable task of filling sandbags, which were to be used around the dispersal points to protect aircraft from attacking bombers; a task that was eventually postponed due to yet more heavy Scottish rain.
In the following weeks little happened at Grangemouth. Six Gladiators were eventually brought in and used for local flying practise. The squadron tried to use the Air Observer School Ansons and although permission was eventually granted by Fighter Command, no instructors were available due to the School’s own backlog of hours. Further sand was delivered and yet more bags were filled, the monotony of such duties being broken only by the trickle of a small number of Blenheims from Hullavington.
Training flights were fraught with danger, and there were several accidents including on November 12th 1939, a crash on a night approach by Sgt. P. Green in his Gladiator. Sgt. Green was unfortunately injured in the accident, but after being taken to nearby Falkirk hospital for treatment, he made a good recovery. Also in November five Gladiators were sent to Acklington for firing practice. Due to bad weather though, all five had to make emergency landings en route, P.O. Louden hit a wall and P.O. Smith landed badly. In both incidences the aircraft received substantial damage but thankfully neither pilot was injured. The other three aircraft reported no damage after their various forced landings.
P.O. Louden would have a second lucky escape in the following January when the Blenheim he was flying, overshot the runway and crashed beyond the airfield boundary. Again the aircraft was badly damaged but P.O. Louden was once more unhurt.
The weather in southern Scotland can be terrible, and persistent heavy rain not only caused cancelled flights, but also made the ground boggy and difficult to traverse. Even the floodlight tractor became bogged down and stuck in the mud causing further problems for night flying activities.
The routine of local flying, link training and lectures then became the norm for the days leading into the new year. January 1940 saw snow, rain and fog play a large part in the daily lives of those stationed here, causing as many issues on the ground as it did in the air. In the following month, the squadron was given new orders to transfer to Prestwick, a move it made on the 13th. But before they had time to unpack and settle in, further orders came in to return back to Grangemouth, their stay at Prestwick lasting no more than a week!
The early part of the year saw yet more night flying practice and yet more landing accidents. The Blenheims taking a bit of beating as heavy landings caused considerable damage to landing gear and aircraft structures.
By April 1940 another new aircraft was being delivered to the Grangemouth squadron, the Boulton Paul Defiant I. A ‘fighter’ that had failed miserably in its initial role – falling foul of the enemy’s superior aircraft – but would later become more effective as a night fighter. The first of these aircraft was delivered on April 4th 1940, by from 24 Maintenance Unit (MU) based at Ternhill.
141 Squadron continued to re-equip with the Defiants, and by the end of June 1940 they were carrying out target practice at various sites around the UK. Excitement then came to the airfield when on 26th June 1940, crews were called to standby – the first air raid warning of the year sounded over Grangemouth. No bombs were dropped but an enemy aircraft was seen to be shot down. Those pilots from 141 Sqn who were put on stand by at the airfield were not needed and probably disappointed for not having the opportunity to put into practice their new found flying skills.
Replica Supermarine Spitfire Mark I X4859 PQ-N -which crashed 15th September 1941 over Avondale estate killing Sergeant Eugeniusz Lukomski. It stands at the front of the former airfield as a memorial to all those who trained here, especially the Polish airmen. Unveiled by 1333 Grangemouth Air Cadet Squadron in 2013.
A second warning sounded again on the 28th June, but once more those 141 Sqn pilots put on standby were not required, another disappointment for those waiting for the signal to scramble and a chance to get their revenge.
On that very same morning (June 28th 1940), new orders came through to 141, their posting to Grangemouth had come to an end. It was all move once more. Busses began to ferry the staff and their equipment from Grangemouth back to Turnhouse, a move that lasted for most of the day. By the late afternoon all aircraft and personnel had made the transfer across and the settling in process would begin once more. This wouldn’t be the end of the link however, for a small detachment would return in July before the ties between Grangemouth and 141 Sqn were finally severed for good.
The month of June would see many changes at Grangemouth, not only did 141 Squadron depart, but there would be three other units all arrive within days of each other before the month was out.
On the 8th, 614 Squadron arrived, followed the next day on the 9th by No 52 (Army Co-operation) Wing and then on the 28th, 263 Squadron. It would be a hectic time for this small and ill prepared airfield.
Two of these units, 52 ACW and 263 squadron would both be short lived stays, neither remaining beyond the end of September 1940.
The role of No. 52 (Army Co-operation) Wing, was a tactical move to help defend the northern regions from enemy attack. These Lysanders and Defiants were brought in to free up valuable Spitfires and Hurricanes who could subsequently be moved south to protect London and the South East. Here in Scotland, they could protect not only the industrial regions of the north from attack, but assist in army training operations ready for their return to the continent – whenever that would be. Being located at Grangemouth, they were in easy reach of both the west and east coast, an area they began patrolling almost immediately. This stay would be yet another short lived one though and they soon would move on elsewhere just a month after their arrival.
The second of these short stay units were the Hurricanes from 263 Squadron. 263 had been re-established at RAF Drem earlier in the month, after flying on board naval carriers, including HMS Glorious until she was sunk on June 8th 1940. They were now firmly a land based unit, and gradually getting back to full strength.
The other change came with the introduction of Westland’s Whirlwind for 263 Squadron. The underrated and rather obscure fighter being brought in to replace the Hurricanes they had been using since their reformation the month before.
In early September 1940, the time for change came once more, this time it was 263 who were to transfer from Grangemouth back to Drem, taking their newly acquired Whirlwinds with them. This would be the squadron’s only spell at Grangemouth before their final disbandment in 1963.
The first of these June moments however, was to be the longer lasting one, remaining at Grangemouth until March 1941. 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron arrived on June 8th 1940, transferring north from Odiham
Over the next two days, twenty-two Lysanders would arrive, the crews being billeted in tents around the airfield site; hardly an ideal situation considering the location of the airfield and the weather they were experiencing at the time.
614 Sqn was another of the twenty-one Auxiliary Air Force units, and the only one formed in Wales. It had been operating in France assisting the Army as artillery spotters, providing coordinates for the French and British gunners desperately trying to stem the tide that was the blitzkrieg.
Once settled, 614 Squadron began practise flights dropping messages and performing tactical reconnaissance sorties. By the 17th June 1940, day long patrols were being carried out along the east coast of Scotland, covering an area from Inverness to Berwick, flying over the coastline and up to 5 miles inland. None of these patrols provided any signs of enemy action though.
Over the next few weeks further patrols and practise flights took place, one aircraft was damaged when struck by a second trying to land, and others had to land in fields due to bad weather or engine failures. There were no causalities but some of the aircraft were badly damaged in these incidents.
614 were also used to test gas spraying techniques in a chemical warfare role. Parts of Grangemouth were off limits and heavily guarded, and permits had to be issued to those personnel needing access to such areas. The idea behind this was that of the enemy launched an invasion force along the Scottish coast, then mustard gas (stockpiled at Grangemouth) would be used against them. This secret and somewhat underhand method of warfare was carried on by 614 once it moved to Macmerry in the following year.*4
In July 1940, internal changes saw the headquarters, motor transport unit and armaments sections move from one part of the airfield to a farm located at the northern side of the site. Simultaneously 180 airmen moved into the recently requisitioned annex at the local Grange School, whilst a further 100 moved into the school itself. A temporary measure that would only last until the next school term started. Other duty personnel were moved to tents around the airfield, perhaps somewhat reluctantly, especially as within days, heavy rain would flood them out resulting in them being billeted off site as well.
Over the next few weeks little flying took place as bad weather continued to cause problems. Airfield defences continued to be erected and a visit by the Inspector General Sir E. Ludlow-Hewitt, broke the monotony of the pouring rain.
On August 10th 1940 an accident occurred when Lysander P9186 piloted by F.O. N. Merrett and F.O. J. Harper collided with Lysander N1251 flown by P.O. Cheminant. During the evasive tactics exercise the aircraft struck Merrets Lysander losing virtually all its main-plane. The aircraft then crashed to the ground killing both occupants. The second aircraft, whilst damaged, managed to land safely.
Bad landings caused extensive damage to several aircraft in the month that followed, whilst three others were grounded awaiting spares. Luckily none of the occupants in the poor landings were injured, but it did mean the squadron was now six aircraft down causing issues with both cover and patrols.
The last few days of September 1940 brought other incidents and fatalities. Outside the airfield, a dispatch rider was killed in a head on collision with a car, and an enemy bomber dropped a bomb in the vicinity of the airfield. No damage was done to the site but it brought home the fact that war was never very far away. At this time work also began on building the asphalt runways, which up until now had remained as grass. With luck, the heavy rain that had continued throughout the summer would soon not hinder flying activities.
At the close of September 1940, 754 hours had been flown by crews in daylight but only 17 had been flown at night; it had not been a great summer all round.
On the 4th November (1940) news came though that Grangemouth was transferring from 22 Group back to Fighter Command, the news brought little more than hope, those units already here remaining where they were and with what they had.
The miserable weather of 1940/41 brought little to cheer about at Grangemouth. Perhaps the greatest interest, apart from a hopeful christmas break, was the formation of a training unit in December. On the 2nd, 58 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was set up and provided with Spitfires along with a selection of Fairy Battles, Hurricanes and a Whitley amongst others. The OTU was supposed to have been formed earlier in November, but when Sqn. Ldr, (later Air Vice Marshal) Henry Hogan arrived, it was not ready for the OTU and so he left disappointed having to return the following month.
The last part of the trail shows how Grangemouth met it demise. Once the dream of a visionary it slowly begins to decay as the war comes to an end and units are gradually pulled out, surplus to requirements. The end comes slowly, but not before its last and longest standing unit arrives.
In this latest trail around Britain’s wartime airfields, we travel to central Scotland, and the foothills of the Highlands. Travelling west from Scotland’s capital Edinburgh, we head toward an area of outstanding beauty where the flat lands begin to meet the lower highlands. Here during the Second World War, lay an airfield that never reached its full potential, but it did play a major part in the training of the RAF’s fighter pilots.
In Trail 64, we visit the former RAF Grangemouth.
RAF Grangemouth.
Grangemouth lies 1 mile from the town that gave it its name and 3 miles from Falkirk. The Firth of Fourth, Edinburgh’s major sea outlet, crosses west to east north of the airfield providing not only major docks and shipping services, but dry docks for submarines and other naval vessels as well. It is the natural sea outlet that led to Grangemouth’s very existence when founded in 1768 by Sir Lawrence Dundas, following the creation of the Forth and Clyde Canal that linked Glasgow to Edinburgh.
The Shipping that this development brought led to a huge expansion of the docks at Grangemouth. Exports increased along with the number and size of the docks available. Then during the First World War, these were taken over and renamed HMS Rameses, by the military, who set up a mine manufacturing and training school here. Once usefulness of mines was realised, old merchant vessels were quickly adapted to drop mines and these were both stored and loaded here at Grangemouth.
The airfield itself was located to the south of these docks, and would play a large part in their defence, especially as a major oil refinery has been located here for many years. The expansion of this refinery, albeit a turbulent one, has since taken over the airfield site leaving little trace of its history behind.
Accommodation for those personnel stationed here was often rudimentary to say the least, tents providing cover for many whilst the local town hotels were used for the luckier ones. A substantial number of houses along Boness road, just beyond the airfield perimeter, were also known to have been requisitioned over a period of time, some used for sick quarters whilst others became aircrew billets.
Life for Grangemouth airfield began long before the current industrial modernisation of the area though, initially being earmarked as a civilian site for commercial operations before war broke out. It was opened on May 1st, 1939 and was intended to have as many as four grass runways, the longest being 1,360 yards long. It would be operated and run by Scottish Aviation Ltd., who were based at Prestwick. Built by a number of companies including the construction company Wimpey, it would have at least twenty dispersals, two of which had blister hangars on them by the war’s end.
The main Edinburgh road originally passed between the airfield and the Firth, thus restricting any wartime expansion northwards. Now replaced by the M9 to the south, this road is now a minor road through housing serving a thriving residential community.
When it was handed over to the military, the site was then developed further, some of the rudimentary accommodation was replaced by more substantial blocks, and the grass runways were replaced with tarmac. The airfield was by then, able to cater for upwards of 600 personnel of mixed rank and gender.
With a total of eight Blister hangars added, its maintenance facilities were then extended far beyond those of its civil requirements.
It ambitious origins began in early 1939, with the purchase of 500 acres of farmland to develop into what was intended to be Scotland’s largest airport, initially serving routes to London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Shetland Isles. During its construction, two large civil airport hangars were built along with a large and luxurious terminal at a cost of some £160,000 (£14,000,000 today).
The luxurious Terminal building (Falkirk Herald)
Even before the site was completed, the grass runways were active with the first commercial ticket being sold to Provost Robert Peddie for the princely sum of £9.00 10 shillings. The ticket gave him passage south in a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, but more importantly, this inaugural flight meant that Grangemouth was now commercially ‘operational’, even though it had not yet been officially opened.
On July 1st, 1939, Air Marshall Viscount Trenchard, the ‘Father of the RAF’.*1 arrived at the airfield declaring it officially open for business. Known as Central Scotland Airport, it was part of the expansion of the much troubled North-Eastern Airways, a company that had only been formed five years earlier, on March 4th 1935 by a group headed by the wealthy racehorse owner and banker, Ralph Beckett, 3rd Baron of Grimthorpe.
A KLM operated DC-3 at Grangemouth. It is thought this was taken at the opening of the airfield,. The terminal is in the background. (Feel Falkirk website P12358)
Flying in direct competition with the rail service LNER, North-Eastern Airways operated flights from London to Newcastle and then onto Grangemouth before heading northward again to Perth and beyond. The majority of their fleet were Airspeed AS.6A Envoys, with the Rapides following on later.
North Eastern Airways Timetable April 1939 @Bjorn Larsson
North It was intended that more routes would soon open up encouraging new operators and prosperity to the area, unfortunately this was only a pipe dream and with increasing costs and cheaper rail tickets challenging the operator, these routes were soon closed proving uneconomical to run in light of strong competition. The onslaught of war then hammered the final nail in to the coffin of commercial operations, By September 1939, all flights had ceased, and the future of Grangemouth was no longer in the hands of civilian operators.
Whilst these commercial operations were the prime reason for the purchase and development of Grangemouth, Scottish Aviation’s interest, and that of Air Marshall Trenchard was more than a passing coincidence. The company had early on in the proceedings, secured a government contract to train pilots for what seemed to be an inevitable war with Germany.
Scottish Aviation set up their own civilian run training group 35 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School (ERFTS) to fulfil this contract. They operated some fifty-one aircraft including: the Audax, Hawker Hinds, Tiger Moths and soon after Avro Ansons, with an intended capacity of 200 trainee pilots at any one time*2
Soon after the declaration of war, a reformation of military training operations took place, and a new unit was established here with 35 ERFTS being disbanded and reformed as 10 Civil Air Navigation School (CANS). The use of the Ansons continued. This name however, would only last until November, when a further re-naming took place, forcing the disbanding and renumbering of the unit to 10 Air Observers Navigation School (AONS)*3
10 AONS, continued to soldier on with the Ansons. Then on 2nd December 1939 it was all change again when the unit was absorbed into the Prestwick school, 1 Air Observers Navigation School. Grangemouth, now closed to all civilian operations, was passed to full control of the RAF’s Fighter Command and 13 Group. It would seem there were to be big changes ahead.
Meanwhile, back on August 25th 1939, the RAF began mobilisation, orders were sent round military airfields to begin preparing for war. One such order came through to the Abbotsinch based 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, instructing them to inspect the buildings at Grangemouth with a view to moving there shortly afterwards. Sqn Ldr. Farquhar and two other members of his staff then travelled by car to Grangemouth, inspected the site and made their findings known later that evening.
On September 1st 1939, at 23:45 hrs, a notice came through to 602 Squadron to mobilise all units and prepare for war. With a considerable amount of preparation already having been done, the squadron were able to pronounce themselves ‘mobilised’ by 10:30 hrs the following morning. Commanding Officer Sqn Ldr A.D. Farquhar with Flight Lieutenants W. Robinson “A” Flight, and G.D. Pinkerton “B” Flight, led the way, taking the Scottish unit to war.
602 Sqn had the grand distinction of being the first of the Auxiliary Air Force squadrons to be formed, an honour that occurred in 1925. Although the first staff member, adjutant Flt. Lt. Martyn arrived at Renfrew to begin proceedings on September 12th 1925, the squadron’s official birthday wasn’t recorded until September 15th.
The two hangars and terminal building. These hangars are the sole remaining structures left on the site. See photo below. (Falkirk Herald Website)
Between its formation and its impending move to Grangemouth, 602 Sqn had operated a wide range of aircraft: Hawker Harts, Hinds, Hectors Gauntlet IIs and from May 1939, Spitfire MK.Is. The Spitfire being a major leap forward in terms of flying technology, speed and power. This change gave 602 yet another ‘first’, being the first Auxiliary unit to receive the new aircraft type.
Two days later on September 3rd, official notice Movement Order 3 of 1939, gave notice of the imminent move, and preparations immediately began at Abbotsinch. The aim of the squadron’s move to Grangemouth was to protect the valuable iron foundries, dockyards and numerous chemical factories that were now abundant along the banks of the Fourth.
Apart form organising the move, the first few days of war were unsurprisingly uneventful, with orders to “Stand by” being given to both A and B Flights coming to nothing more. The routine quickly changed to night flying practise, and as a result, the first ‘casualty’. In the dark, with little lighting to guide them in, a Spitfire crashed on the airfield whilst trying to land but luckily no one was injured and the aircraft only suffered ‘minor’ damage.
The quietness of the Phoney War, enabled the C.O. to test a new device that would stop the obscuring of the windshield from oil thrown out by the propeller. The unit was made, fitted and tested in the air, and photographs along with a detailed report was submitted to Fighter Command on September 6th. On the 8th, Sqn Ldr. Tidd of 13 Group came to see the item in action for himself, and finding it most suitable, had it used on all aircraft. As a result, the idea played a major part in future Spitfire development.
Left: One of the two original hangars still used at Grangemouth.
On the 30th September, a further visit to Grangemouth led to the decision that only a small detachment, and not the entire squadron, of 602’s Spitfires could be moved to Grangemouth, not at least until the accommodation, currently held by the Navigation School, had become vacant. These few aircraft and their ground crews would operate from Grangemouth between 09:00 and 18:00 hrs each day with ground staff and pilots being billeted on site during their tour there.
The next day, October 1st, a small detachment comprising of six aircraft, along with ammunition and all the necessary flight equipment, departed Abbotsinch for Grangemouth. The desired early departure was unfortunately delayed by poor weather, something that was going to dominate the next few years at Grangemouth, and so the group, led by Flt. Lt M. Robinson, didn’t arrive until later than planned that day.
It was also at this time that 602’s sister squadron and rival, 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, another Turnhouse unit, would begin to receive their Spitfires. As these were new aircraft to the squadron, each Flight, ‘A’ and ‘B’, would travel to Grangemouth to train. ‘B’ arrived first, flying between 17th and 24th, followed by ‘A’ Flight between the 25th and the 30th. These daily flights meant a considerable amount of movement in and out of the airfield, and with so many trainees in unfamiliar aircraft, accidents were almost inevitable.
In Part 2, we see how Grangemouth goes on to develop further, how the weather played a role in its operation and how with so many young men eager to learn, mistakes were made with dire consequences.
Aviation Trails 