RAF Warboys – Home to the Pathfinders (Part 2)

July 25, 2020May 12, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 9 Comments

In the early years at Warboys, the Pathfinders had had a difficult start. High loses and poor results were compounded by poor weather. But in early 1943 the Lancaster began to arrive, and the old Wellingtons began to be phased out. The weather however, takes no account of this and for the early part of January 1943, it continued to envelop the country preventing flights from Warboys going much further afield than Wyton, a stones throw away from their base. Even so, on the 13th, the Pathfinders took another major step forward, being formed into a new and unique Group of their own, No. 8 (PFF) Group, with Don Bennett (now an Air Commodore) remaining at the helm.

On the 26th, the squadron were able to use the new Lancasters for the first time on operations, a bombing raid to Lorient in which 4 Lancasters from Warboys took part; ‘ED474’, ‘ED485’, ‘W4851’ and ‘W4853’. On the 27th the same four aircraft, with different crews, went to Dussledorf, an operation that saw the use of Oboe Mosquitoes for the first time, and a mission that was followed on the 30th by Hamburg. All aircraft returned safely from each of these early operations – 1943 was beginning to look better already.

This run of ‘good luck’ ran well into April, with a relatively low loss rate per operation. This included on April 16th, the death of Sgt. Patrick Brougham-Faddy (S/N: 577758) and the crew of both Lancasters ‘W4854’ and ‘W4930’. What perhaps makes this incident more notable, was the fact that Sgt. Brougham-Faddy was only 18 years of age, making him amongst the youngest to lose their life in Bomber Command operations. With him lost on that mission was also: his pilot P/O. Harald Andersen DFC; P/O. Kenneth Bordycott DFC, DFM and P/O. Frederick Smith DFM along with ten other experienced aircrew. These losses were a major blow to both the Warboy’s crews and the Pathfinders.

In June 1943, the Navigation Training Unit, a Lancaster based unit formed at RAF Gransden Lodge began its move, taking residency at both Upwood and here at Warboys. The split was not be in everyone’s favour, running a unit on two different sites initially caused some difficulty as the idea of the unit was to train crews in navigation techniques ready for postings to Pathfinder squadrons.

By the time 1943 drew to a close, fifty-seven aircraft had been lost from Warboys, a mix of both Lancaster MK.Is and MK.IIIs, the Wellington now having been replaced entirely within the squadron.

Buildings mark the edge of the bomb site.

The cold winter months of 1943 – 44 signified another major event in Bomber Command’s history – the air campaign against Berlin.

For almost 5 months, November to March, Bomber Command would attack Berlin relentlessly in pursuit of Harris’s doctrine of area bombing. The Short Stirling would be withdrawn as the losses mounting were unsustainable, a similar fate that began to land on the door of the Halifax. Some compared the Lancaster to the Halifax, similar to comparing a “sports car and family saloon”*⁴. The handling of the Lancaster being far superior to that of the Halifax. As a result, the Lancaster squadrons would bear the brunt of the campaign, and Warboys crews would be in the thick of it. The Pathfinders using an updated version of H2S, would operate outside the range of Oboe, the land based navigation system introduced operationally a year before.

The cold of January 1944, did nothing to dampen the flights nor reduce the combat fatalities. Raids on Berlin, Brunswick, Munich and Frankfurt saw heavy losses (seventeen alone failed to return to Warboys in January, all experienced crews) and numerous aircraft returning early. For 156 Sqn this was disastrous, the squadron began to get a name for itself being referred to as the ‘chop’ squadron and consequently morale fell. With high losses the survival rate fell to an estimated 15%, *³ an unsustainable level of loss for any squadron. For the last fourteen days of January the squadron was effectively reduced to non-operational flights, and in a desperate attempt to bolster the men’s spirits and raise morale, a royal visit was arranged for the King and Queen. Both their majesty’s arrived on February 9th, where they talked to aircrew and took lunch in the Officer’s Mess. After a short stay they departed Warboys going on to visit other Pathfinder airfields in the area.

A widely used photo showing King George VI & Queen Elizabeth talking to ground crew of No 156 Squadron at Warboys(IWM CH 12153)

By the end of February 1944, 156 Sqn were prepared to leave Warboys, maybe a new start would give a new impetus. This move would be a direct swap with the remaining Lancasters of the Pathfinder’s Navigation Training Unit (NTU) based there. Perhaps ending the operating of the unit on two sites had been seen as an ideal opportunity to ‘kill two birds with one stone’, moving 156 and reuniting the NTU. Whatever the reason the transfer began with a small advanced party taking the short drive to RAF Upwood.

By mid March the move was complete, and Warboys settled into its new role with a full complement of the NTU, hopefully now, the harrowing tales of loss were a thing of the past. With courses of generally three to five crews every few days, turnover was rapid.

With the Mosquito taking a greater role in the Pathfinders, more crews were needing training in its operation. The 1655 (MTU) Mosquito Training Unit (formerly the 1655 Mosquito Conversion unit) originally formed at Horsham St. Faith in 1942, moved across from RAF Marham in Norfolk; Warboys was now awash with twin and four engined aircraft.

The Training unit would only stay at Warboys until December, at which point it moved to Upper Heyford where it would disband at the end of the year, being renumbered 16 Operational Training Unit (OTU). However, for that short time at Warboys, it grew extensively, gaining five flights including a mix of aircraft for training purposes. Whilst pilots were taught how to fly the Mosquito, the navigators were taught Pathfinder navigation & marking techniques, all prior to joining as a new crew for final training and ultimately postings to a Pathfinder squadron.

Further buildings survive near the bomb site.

Many of the aircraft delivered to Warboys were veteran aircraft themselves, having served with other numerous squadrons. Mosquito DZ606 which initially arrived in April 1944, had already flown at least nineteen operational sorties before arriving here. It was then passed on to another unit (139 Sqn) before returning with a further twenty-nine sorties under its belt. The dedication of ground crews, ease of repair and the reliability of the Mosquito enabled it to complete thirty-seven more operations with other units before the year was out. It was eventually struck off charge in 1945 after being badly damaged.

One other notable example that appeared at Warboys with 1655 MTU, was W4053 which had been the Mosquito Turret Fighter Prototype in 1941. The (bizarre) idea of this was the fitting of a four gunned Bristol turret behind the cockpit, rather like a Boulton Paul Defiant. On tests though, the turret seized when turned to the front effectively trapping the occupant inside. After running further tests with the same results, the project was abandoned and no one was allowed to fly in it again – even though some did try! The aircraft had its turret removed and served with both 151 and 264 Squadrons before passing to 1655 MTU here at Warboys. In November 1944 it was damaged in a landing accident, repaired and then reused by the unit when it was renumbered as 16 OTU at Upper Heyford, where the Mosquito was destroyed in a crash.

With the Mosquito training unit moving away, the Navigation unit remained the sole user of Warboys, but years of use by heavy bombers had had a toll on the runway, their surfaces beginning to break up and cause problems. Warboys was going to need considerable repair work carried out. However, the Navigation unit remained here until the war’s end. On the 18th June 1945 a communique came through from Bomber Command and 8 (PFF) Group, announcing the disbandment of the Navigation Training Unit., Staff began postings elsewhere, the last courses were completed and ‘Cooks’ tours (tours taking ground crews over Germany to see the devastation) were wound down.

Before the closure of Warboys though, two more squadrons would arrive, 128 Sqn and 571 Sqn, both Mosquito Pathfinder squadrons. 571 was disbanded here on September 20th, whilst 128 Sqn transferred out to B58/Melsbroek, then Wahn where it was disbanded in 1946.

After the training units were disbanded all flying ceased. The RAF did return briefly with Bloodhound missiles in 1960 staying for 4 years until the airfield was finally closed and sold off.

With that, Warboys was gone, and its remarkable history now a distant memory. But these memories were not to be forgotten forever. The local village commemorated the loss of one particular pilot who on the 10th April 1944, lost his life whilst flying a Lancaster over the Welsh countryside.

Flt. Lt. John L. Sloper DFC and Bar, was a veteran of 156 Sqn who had transferred out of operational duties to the Training Unit after completing his tour of duty on December 29th 1943. His last mission being a bombing raid to Berlin in Lancaster JB476. Flt. Lt. Sloper had achieved his quota in just seven months. He joined the Mosquito unit to pass on his skills to others, his personality, knowledge and determination making him very popular with the other crews.

A plaque dedicated to the memory of both Flt. Lt. Sloper and those who served with 156 Squadron.

Flt Lt. Sloper (S/N: 147214) was killed in Lancaster ‘JB 471’ during a cross country navigation flight near the village of LLanwrtyd Wells in Breconshire. The aircraft crashed after entering cloud, the ensuing fireball killing all those inside. Flt. Lt. Sloper’s remains were buried at Haycombe Cemetery and Crematorium, Bath.

The site today houses small industrial units, but it is primarily farmland. Only a small section of the main runway exist, and this has farm buildings upon it. This section, has been cut by the original A141 now a ‘B’ road, and evidence of the runway can still be seen either side of the road.

Pathfinder long distance walk.

The farm entrance has a large sign with a Lancaster modelled out of metal. Two memorials on the gate posts mark the runway (since my original visit the sign and one of the memorial plaques appears to have been removed, though I have yet to verify this). Across the road from here, you can see the extension to the runway and the remains of a small building, but probably not war-time due to its location.

There is luckily a footpath that circumnavigates the field called ‘The Pathfinder Long distance Walk’, and uses that iconic aircraft, the Mosquito, as its icon. This path allows views across the airfield and access to some of the remaining buildings.

Entry to the path is toward the village, a gated path that is actually part of the perimeter track. As you work your way round, to your right can be found one of the few Air Ministry designed pill boxes. The manufacturer of these mushroom defences being F. C. Construction, they were designed in such a way as to allow machine gun fire through a 360 degree turn. Often referred to as ‘Oakington’ pill boxes, there are only a few remaining today.

Also, deeply shrouded in hedges and undergrowth, another structure possibly a second pill box or the battle headquarters. With permission from the farmer, you may be able to access these, but they look in a rather dangerous condition.

Further along to your right is where one of the T2 hangars would have stood before its demolition. Tracks lead away from here, and there is what appears to be further examples of airfield architecture buried amongst the trees.

The perimeter track takes you around the rear of the airfield across the threshold of the main runway and round the perimeter track. A local model flying club now uses this part of the site between the runway and perimeter track. To your right would have been the bomb store, now open fields laden with crops rather than bombs. There are a few buildings here marking the boundary of the store, now used for chickens and extensively ‘modified’ by the farmer. They house farm machinery, a far cry from what would have been here many years ago.

The track then takes you away from the site and out across the Cambridgeshire countryside.

The remains of the Ground Control Interceptor (GCI) Radar Station.

Returning back to the road, we go in the opposite direction from the village and come to the entrance of the industrial site. These buildings stand on the perimeter track marking the western corner of the airfield.

Next to this part of the site, is a large telecommunications transmitter, apparently the origins of the site being 1941. Whilst its use and history is somewhat difficult to locate or verify, it is known that this was a Ground Control Interceptor (GCI) Radar Station used to lock fighters onto incoming enemy aircraft. Later, there was a high-powered transmitter here used by RAF Mildenhall and RAF Wyton. It was also used to communicate with the V bombers on long-range flights. The mast believed to be original, has been updated and refurbished for telecommunications purposes, but the block house remains behind high fencing with very strong padlocks!

The majority of the admin sites are located along the A141 toward Wyton, some evidence exists here but the majority have long gone. Return toward the village and find the church; located just on the outskirts of the village.

A superb memorial window and roll of honour can be found here, and it is well worth the effort. In Huntingdon town is the former Headquarters building of the Pathfinders, Castle Hill House, which now belongs to the local council. A blue plaque describes the historical significance of the building.

Castle Hill House, Huntingdon. The Headquarters of the Pathfinders. (Photo courtesy Paul Cannon)

Designed initially as a satellite airfield, Warboys went on to be a pioneering airfield for a new and dedicated team of bombing experts. With 156 Squadron it took the war deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. As a result it suffered great losses, but without doubt it performed one of the most vital roles in the latter parts of the war and it’s a role that should not be forgotten beneath waving crops and developing industry. The name of Warboys should be remembered as a Pathfinder icon.

After we leave Warboys, we head to her sister station to the west, and an airfield with a history going back to World War I. This airfield saw a spy caught and hanged; the making of a film using Lancasters, and more recently the site of a hospital for the treatment of victims of a nuclear war. We of course go to RAF Upwood.

Sources and further reading (RAF Warboys).

*¹ A good blog describes the life of Wing Co. T G ‘Jeff’ Jefferson, DSO AFC AE who served part of his life as a Pathfinder at RAF Upwood. It is well worth a read.

*³ Smith, G. “Cambridgeshire airfields in the Second World War“. Countryside Books (1997)

*⁴ Flying Officer J Catford DFC “View from a Birdcage“Tucaan Books (2005) Pg 51

National Archive: AIR 27/203/18
National Archive: AIR 27/1041/13
National Archive: AIR 27/1041/14
National Archive: AIR 27/1041/16
National Archive: AIR 27/1041/24

For more details of the Pathfinders see the excellent RAF Pathfinders Archive Website.

A website detailing crews, missions, aircraft and other information about 156 squadron is also well worth visiting for more specific and detailed information.

Warboys was originally visited in 2014 in Trail 17.

RAF Warboys – Home to the Pathfinders (Part 1)

July 18, 2020May 12, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 10 Comments

In the south-western corner of Cambridgeshire, are a group of airfields that are synonymous with the Second World War’s target marking units, the Pathfinders. This is an area rich in aviation history, and an area that played a major part in not only the European Theatre of Operations of World War Two, but military operations long into the Cold war and beyond. Within a short distance of each other are the airfields at Wyton, Warboys, Upwood and Alconbury to name but a few, and it is two of these we visit in Trail 17.

Our first stop is the former RAF Warboys, once home to the Pathfinders.

RAF Warboys.

Warboys village is an ancient village with records of inhabitants going back to 7,000BC, it also has links to the Bronze age, the Romans, Vikings and the Doomsday book. Even further back, some 350 million years, there was an active volcano in the area, not far from where we start today.

The farm sign reminds us of the aviation link (it would appear that this sign may have recently been removed).

The airfield itself was initially constructed as a satellite for RAF Upwood, with a requirement for three 50 yards wide tarmac runways; one of 2,000 yards, another measuring 1,400 yards and the last 1,350 yards. There were initially twenty-four frying pan hardstands, two of which were then used as hangar bases, with a further eighteen loop style hardstands added after. This gave a total of forty dispersal points available for aircraft, and they would certainly be needed.

As with many airfields of this time there were two type ‘T2’ hangars, one each side of the airfield, supplemented with a ‘B1’ hangar. A well developed bomb store lay to the west of the airfield, and eleven domestic sites lay to the eastern side of the A141 to the south of the main airfield. These would accommodate up to 1,959 men and 291 women. Even before its completion, Warboys would undergo further development, an order coming through to extend two of the runways to 2,097 yards and 1,447 yards, its was a sign perhaps, of things to come. This extension work meant altering the perimeter track layout and diverting the main road around the airfield as it would be dissected by the new extension (the original road was reinstated post war, the end of the main runway being cut off as a result).

Construction began in 1940 with the airfield opening in September 1941, initially as a satellite bomber station. Whilst intended for Upwood, it was first of all used by Short Stirling’s from XV Squadron as an overflow from nearby RAF Wyton. As a satellite, Warboys was never far from the war when not long after the first Wyton aircraft landed, the Commanding officer of XV Squadron, Wing Commander P. Ogilvie, crashed the Stirling he was piloting (W7439) here in bad weather. Luckily he and his crew escaped major injury but unfortunately the aircraft was written off completely. This crash would signify a run of accidents occurring at the airfield whilst XV squadron used Warboys.

However, XV Sqn’s stay was short-lived, and they soon departed the site their vacant place being taken by the Blenheims of ‘D’ Flight, 17 OTU (Operational Training Unit).*¹

The Training unit was expanding, and their base at RAF Upwood was becoming crowded. Their move over to Warboys on 15th December 1941, was a part of this expansion, and led to four flights being created, each with a range of aircraft including: Lysanders, Ansons, Blenheims and even the odd Hurricane and Spitfire.

In August 1942, the OTU would receive orders moving the unit elsewhere, whilst over at RAF Alconbury, a few miles to the south-west, instructions came through to 156 Squadron to relocate here to RAF Warboys. The instruction specified that the move was to take place on the 5th and be completed by the 7th, it would involve the ferrying of large numbers of crews and their aircraft. On the 5th the first aircraft was brought across, and then on the 6th a further six aircraft were transferred. This was followed by another seven on the 7th.

Following the move the squadron was put straight onto operations, but many of these were cancelled because of the poor autumn weather. One of the first, occurring on August 11th, saw ten aircraft detailed for operations, and whilst all of them managed to take off, three of them X37998 (Flt.Sgt. F. Harker); Z1595 (Sqn. Ldr. J. Beavis) and BJ603 (P/O. C. Taylor) would fail to return. All but three of the sixteen aircrew onboard would perish – the squadron’s first fatalities whilst at Warboys.

The remnants of the main runway are used for buildings.

On the night of 15th August 1942, eight more Wellingtons took off from Warboys for Dusseldorf, of these, three returned early with a forth being lost. The Operational Record Book simply stating “This aircraft failed to return” – a rather unembellished statement that became so common in operational records. Reports about the raid later highlighted the poor visibility and scattered bombing, with little or no industrial damage being done as a result.

Whilst August 1942 was not proving to be in anyway remarkable for 156 Sqn, it would prove to be a very historic month for Bomber Command. On the same day as the Dusseldorf raid, the Pathfinders – an elite force designed to locate and mark targets for the main bomber stream – officially came into being. This idea had long been on the minds of the Air Ministry, causing a prolonged and difficult relationship between Sir Arthur Harris and Group Captain Sidney Bufton (Director of Bomber Operations at the Air Ministry). The fallout culminated in the intervention of the Chief of Air Staff, Sir Charles Portal, who came down on the side of Group Captain Bufton. He disagreed with Harris’s arguments, announcing that the Pathfinders were going to go ahead as planned.

This did not meet with Harris’s approval, he feared the Pathfinders would ‘skim off’ the cream of his bomber force, creating a corps d’elite, whilst Bufton was adamant it would vastly improve Bomber Commands accuracy, something that desperately needed to be done.

Harris gained the backing of his Group Commanders, explaining that removing individual crews from squadrons would be bad for morale within the groups and be divisive amongst the squadrons. He and his Commanders preferred a target marking unit within each Group, thus retaining these elite crews keeping the unity of the squadrons and the skills they possessed together. However, the long fight between Harris and Bufton came to a climax with the intervention of Sir Charles Portal, and an ultimatum was given to Harris, ‘accept the new Pathfinders or leave’.

The job of organising this new command fell to the then Group Captain Don Bennett D.S.O., an experienced pilot himself who advocated the use of target marking to improve bombing accuracy; something Bennett had indeed tried himself. However, it was not going to be an easy ride for the Group Captain, for the squadrons chosen all operated different aircraft types: Wellingtons, Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters. The Wellingtons were becoming outdated and the Stirlings, whilst liked, had their own set of problems. Added to the mix the fact that German defences were improving and electronic counter measures (ECM) were on the increase, difficult times were definitely ahead.

Industry marks the south-western perimeter.

As a new force, only four squadrons were initially used, although more were considered and earmarked: 7 (No. 3 Group), 35 (No. 4 Group), 83 (No. 5 Group) and 156 (No. 1 Group), but it would take time for the new crews to settle and for improvements in bombing accuracy to shine through. All the while Pathfinder crews were operating, the remainder of the squadrons continued in their normal duties, this would allow the Pathfinder force to steadily grow.

For the large part, target marking in the latter part of 1942 would be by visual means only – a ‘Finder‘ and an ‘Illuminator‘ using flares and incendiaries respectively. This would prove to be an unsatisfactory method, the markers often being ‘lost’ amongst the fires that followed, or they were simply too difficult to see. However, photos taken after these early bombing raids showed that the number of bombs falling within 3 miles of the aiming point, post August, had in fact risen to 37% from 32%; those falling within 3 miles of the centre of concentration rising to 50% from 35%.*² Whilst these figures were quite small, and bombing was still relatively inaccurate, it was at least a step in the right direction, and a boost to those who supported both Bufton and Bennett.

So, on the 15th August 1942, Bomber Command operations changed for good, the four squadrons moved to their respective airfields and the Pathfinders began preparations for a new battle. 156 Sqn at Warboys, would be a major part of this. Being one of the four pioneering airfields, Warboys would be joined by Graveley, Oakington and Wyton, as initial homes for the new force.

On the night of the 18th -19th August 1942, the Pathfinders would be put to the test for the first time, and two Wellingtons from 156 squadron were to be a part of it. The raid to Flensburg would not be successful though, one aircraft having great difficulty in locating the target through the haze, and the second having to ditch its flares five miles from the airfield after one ignited inside the aircraft. Of those that did get to mark, it proved to be inaccurate, and one Pathfinder aircraft, from 35 Sqn, was lost.

Airfield defence in the form of an ‘Oakington’ pill box.

The day after this, Group Captain Bennett visited Warboys to give a lecture on the Pathfinder Force and to promote its use; he must have made a good impression for after the lecture six Warboy’s crews volunteered for Pathfinder duties.

Further operations were carried out on the night of 27th – 28th August to Kassel. A good night for visual marking meant that bombing was accurate, and as a result all of the Henschel factories were damaged. However, the cost to the Pathfinders was very high. It was on this operation that the Pathfinders suffered one of their greatest losses. Thirty-one aircraft were missing of which fourteen were Wellingtons and three were from 156 Sqn. The next day, the mess hall was devoid of three crews, those from: ‘X3367’, ‘Z1613’ and ‘DF667’, and unbeknown to those sitting around the mess, there were no survivors. A fourth bomber (BJ883) returned to Warboys after the pilot, Sgt. E. Bowker, suffered severe head pains and was unable to carry on.

Not all operations were as bad. On the night of 19th – 20th September following action over Saarbrucken, a flare became lodged in the bomb bay of one of the 156 Sqn Wellingtons. Whilst sitting there it ignited causing a fire in the aircraft’s belly. The Pilot, New Zealander Sqn. Ldr. A. Ashworth, instructed his crew to bail out, after which the fire extinguished itself allowing him to fly the aircraft back single-handedly, landing at the fighter station RAF West Malling in Kent. The operation itself, undertaken by 118 aircraft, was otherwise uneventful, although haze proved to be an obstacle for the markers.

The last 156 Sqn Wellington raid for 1942 occurred on December 21st and took the squadron to Munich as part of a force of 137 aircraft. The loss of ‘BK386’ crewed entirely by Canadians brought 1942 to a close, and a loss of 15 aircraft this year. To add insult to injury, whilst the majority of the bombers claimed to have hit the city starting large fires, photographs showed that in fact most bombs had fallen outside of the city in open countryside, possibly as a result of a successful decoy employed by the Germans. It had not been the most auspicious of starts for the Pathfinders, nor 156 Squadron at Warboys.

However, by early January, a new aircraft type was starting to arrive at Warboys – Avro’s mighty four engined heavy, the Lancaster MK.I. Created out of the under-performing Manchester, the Lancaster would go on to be one of the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War. Perhaps now the tide of misery would turn and Warboys crews would begin a new era in aviation history.

The beautiful Memorial window dedicated to the Pathfinders.

The full trail appears in Trail 17

Spitfires Galore! – RAF Ludham (Part 2)

June 13, 2020April 26, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 20 Comments

In Part 1 we saw how Ludham began its life and how things got off to a slow but steady start, the period April to August 1942 being pretty much along similar lines, routine patrols, shipping reconnaissances and scrambles. But the autumn signifies the beginning of many changes here at this Norfolk airfield. First however, the resident Spitfire squadron, 610 Sqn, would take part in one of the Second World War’s more famous failures.

One of several buildings located around the perimeter of the airfield.

On August 16th, a need arose for fighters to bolster 11 Group for ‘Operation Jubilee‘ – the raid on Dieppe by allied forces, primarily Canadian. The raid was supposed to achieve a number of objectives, but only one was successful, the main force being held on the beach where vehicles became bogged down in the shingle. 610 Sqn formed part of the aerial umbrella, along with 411 Sqn and 485 Sqn who all jointly formed the 12 Group wing flying from a temporary base at RAF West Malling. On the previous night to the raid, the 19th, ground crews were busy at West Malling fitting long range drop tanks to the Spitfires which according to the ORB, “proved their worth on this occasion“. During the air battle, which raged between the Spitfires, Typhoons and around fifty Me 109s and FW 190s, 610 Sqn claimed two 109s along with one FW 190 as destroyed and two FW 190s as damaged. Three of 610 Sqn’s aircraft went down, one of the pilots Flt. Sgt. Creagh, being picked up from the sea. Interestingly enough, during this skirmish, pilots noted seeing FW 190s in Italian markings! By 09:30 hrs the squadron had returned to West Malling.

The flight then returned to the skies over Dieppe three further times that day, taking off at 11:20 hrs and then again at 14:00 hrs, each time to cover the withdrawal of shipping. The last evening sortie took off at 17:35 hrs. On the 20th, 610 Sqn flew out to France once again, this time though it was to escort US bombers returning from the continent, perhaps seeing the carnage left by the disastrous raid the day before.

By the 21st it was all over, and the sixteen aircraft returned to Ludham where they would receive a message of thanks from the AOC 11 Group – Leigh Mallory.

As the squadron were returning to Ludham, so too came a new delivery, the squadron’s first batch of Spitfire Mk.VCs, with three arriving on the 21st and one further aircraft arriving on the 22nd. These were gradually absorbed into flying duties as the squadron returned to normal patrols and escort duties from Ludham. 610’s tally for the month stood at 123 enemy aircraft destroyed and 41.5 probables.

Over September, flights were pretty much routine once more, then October arrived and Ludham became frantic again. On the 8th, a road party was sent as advanced party to Biggin Hill with a view to taking part in a “Hush-Hush” operation. Unfortunately the operation was cancelled just prior to the party’s arrival, and they had to return to Ludham somewhat disappointed; road and rail transport being provided for the next morning.

That day also saw 610 Sqn Spitfires provide withdrawal cover for “over 100 Fortresses”, which at the time was a “headline” mission, this being the largest daylight raid of the war so far. The incredible sight of this massed formation would be dwarfed in comparison by the wars end with formations consisting of 1,000 aircraft or more, in a stream that lasted for what must have seemed forever. Whilst enemy aircraft were seen in this first momentous occasion, there were no claims of ‘kills’ or ‘probables’ made by pilots of Ludham’s 610 Sqn.

By now, rumours of another move were circulating widely, hopes for a move south nearer to the action were dashed, when signal O2OB, dated 11.10.42, came through instructing the squadron to move to Castletown, near Caithness in Scotland – the opposite end of the country to where they wanted to be.

The move was to take place on the 14th October, and would be a direct swap with 167 (Gold Coast) Sqn, yet another Spitfire VC squadron. The airlift of 167 Sqn was late in arriving, meaning that many men were left ‘Kicking their heels” at Ludham, so a number headed to Norwich and a little light entertainment at the cinema. The transfer then happened on the next day, the 15th, with many of the pilots suffering sickness on the way up, thought to be due to the poor weather. Now 610’s link to this small Norfolk airfield was broken, and a new link in Ludham’s chain of history would be forged – a new squadron had arrived.

167 Sqn stayed at Ludham for five months, after which they took part in exercise ‘Spartan‘, a twelve day posting first at Kidlington and then Fowlmere, before returning to Ludham on March 13th, 1943. Exercise Spartan was a prelude to D-day, a huge military exercise that took place in southern England as a practise for the allied offensive across Europe in June 1944. Like Operation Jubilee, it consisted heavily of Canadian units, and also like Operation Jubilee, there were many shortcomings, the result of which was the loss of Command for three Canadian Generals.

A further short two month stay at Ludham then saw 167 Sqn depart in May for good. This left the Norfolk airfield to the only Typhoon squadron to use the base – 195 Sqn.

Formed in November 1942, 195 Sqn had formed at Duxford, transferring to Hutton Cranswick where they were assigned their Typhoons. A further move to Woodvale then brought them to Ludham where they would stay until 31st July 1943.

The second Watch Office also in a very poor state of disrepair.

On arrival at Ludham the squadron was immediately confirmed as operational, and on the 15th May 1943, the very day the operational notice came through, Sgt. R.A. Hough spotted an Me 109f bombing Southwold. He engaged the enemy shooting him down into the sea, the squadrons first confirmed kill of the war.

With four more Typhoons arriving on the 20th, the squadron was in good spirits and eager to get on. But like their predecessors before them, their month consisted of patrols, practice scrambles and training flights some of which included the squadron’s Hurricane (7778) and Tiger Moth (209). By the end of the month, the Ludham unit had made 362 flights, most as patrols or as training flights. June was similar, the lack of contact frustrating the pilots; a note in the ORB saying “Patrols carried out dawn to dusk, 12 operational sorties being flown, but the Hun wouldn’t play“. The highlight of the day was perhaps the darts match against the local Home Guard, the Home Guard winning that night! As the month progressed, the squadron began to venture further afield taking on trains and oil storage facilities on the continent, scoring many hits and receiving flak damage as a result. On the 8th July the squadron suffered its first Ludham fatality when Flt. Sgt. F. Vause hit the ground in a low flying exercise. A talk by Sqn. Ldr. Taylor reflected the sentiments of the unit when he said they had lost a “Damn good pilot”. He went on to stress the low flying rules.

The end of July came and notification to depart Ludham for Matalsk, and a share of the airfield with 609 Sqn. There was some regret withe the more ‘romantic’ types of the squadron and due honours were paid to Ludham on that last night of the 30th July.

The last Spitfire squadron before Ludham left RAF control was 611 Sqn, with their Spitfire LF VBs. This was a short stay lasting only until August 4th, when they were told to move to Coltishall as Ludham was being closed down in preparation for transference to the USAAF. After one sortie at Ludham the move went ahead on the 4th, but it was not overly welcomed as Coltishall was already busy and accommodation was cramped.

With that, Ludham was closed, and the airfield was taken over by the Air Ministry (Works) whereupon construction work began on three new concrete and tarmac runways, a project that would take a year to complete. During this time new hardstands were installed – a mix of (17) double and (18) single types using pierced steel, some of these were located outside of the perimeter, and a small maintenance unit took care of the running of the airfield. A new two storey watch office was built with the original being re-purposed.

Designated Station 177, Ludham was never actually occupied by the Americans though, even though all the upgrade work had been completed, it remained firmly deserted apart from a small maintenance unit who oversaw its use.

Instead, it was decided to use Ludham as a dummy airfield and emergency landing ground for returning aircraft. A decision that was partly made for them as heavy bombers returning from daylight missions over occupied Europe would often come in over this part of East Anglia, and Ludham was the first airfield they would come across. Because of this, Ludham would see some eight B-17s, a B-24, one P-47, and a P-38 aircraft have to either crash or make emergency landings at Ludham or in the immediate vicinity.

The first to make use of the airfield in this way occurred on October 8th, 1943 barely a month into the airfield’s upgrading. A B-17F #42-3393 “Just-A-Snappin” was badly damaged over Bremen. The aircraft, piloted by Capt. Everett Blakely, made it back to England crossing the Norfolk coast east of Ludham. The aircraft had sustained severe damage from flak, the Number 4 engine, the hydraulics and the brakes all being put out of action. The aircraft made an emergency landing at Ludham crashing into a large tree causing further damage to the air frame. It was salvaged a few days later. This particular aircraft had only been assigned to the 418th BS at Thorpe Abbots, part of the Bloody Hundredth, in the July. It also went under the name of “Blakely’s Provisional Group” and ”Did You Say Ten Cents?“, the multitude of names causing confusion in a number of references.

Part of a door cover from P-38 Lightning named

Part of door cover retrieved from wreckage of P-38H5LO #42-67053 ‘CY-L’, flown by Lt. Goudelock on December 13th 1943. The aircraft crashed in Ludham after flying for 375 miles on one engine (IWM FRE 158)

A second aircraft would attempt to use Ludham as a safe haven not long after this. On the 13th December, 1943 P-38H #42-67503 of the 55th FG, 343rd FS, “Vivacious Vera” piloted by First Lt. Hugh J. Goudelock, sustained damage to one engine whilst escorting bombers also over Bremen. After nursing the aircraft back to Britain he attempted a landing at Ludham when, suddenly, the second engine gave out. This left the P-38 powerless, causing it to crash in Ludham, the pilot sustaining only minor injuries. The strength of the P-38 having brought the pilot back for 375 miles on a single engine,

A similar story was repeated on December 23rd when B-17F #42-3273 “Impatient Virgin” crashed at Potter Heigham, another village only a stones throw from the airfield, while attempting to land at Ludham following damage it received over Munster. A sudden loss of power meant the aircraft had to put down in a field rather than on the airfield, all ten crewmen luckily returned to duty and the aircraft was salvaged.

B-17F “Impatient Virgin” #42-3273 of the 95th Bomb after crashing at Potter Heigham near to Ludham airfield. (IWM FRE 3903)

December had certainly been a busy month for Ludham, even though officially it was closed to flying, it had more than proved its worth as an emergency landing ground.

The work continued at Ludham and eventually, in August 1944, it was complete. By then though the US forces had decided against using Ludham and it was handed over to the Royal Navy (RN).

In the concluding part we saw how the Royal Navy fared at Ludham and how eventually Spitfire squadrons return. The V2 becomes a menace to be dealt with and then the war comes to a close and Ludham’s future is decided.

The full story of RAF Ludham appears in Trail 58.

Squadron Leader Emile Fayolle: A Free, French Pilot.

May 16, 2020April 8, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 6 Comments

June 1940: Britain’s last remaining European ally, France; was now hors de combat, and the French people began to face the gruelling prospect of an indeterminate period of time in the shadow of the Swastika, under German occupation.

As news of the ignominious armistice and the new collaborationist Vichy government under Marshal Petain spread, there were many brave and defiant French servicemen who refused to acknowledge it. Some went underground, founding the Maquis; the French Resistance movement, whilst quite a number decided to get to England, by any available means, following their chosen leader: Brigadier-General Charles de Gaulle. Once in England, they formed themselves into La France Libre, the Free French Forces, with General de Gaulle as their commanding officer.

One such Frenchman was a nearly 24 year-old, qualified Pilote de Chasse, (fighter pilot) who was then serving overseas in the Armee de l’Air at Oran in French Algeria. He was Sergeant Emile “Francois” Fayolle.

Battle of Britain London Monument - ADJ EFM FAYOLLE

Sgt. Emile “Francois” Fayolle (Photo: © Friends of the Battle of Britain Monument)

Born on 8^th September 1916, at Issoire, in Central France, Emile’s father was an Admiral in the French Navy and his Grandfather was none other than Marshal Marie Emile Fayolle, the legendary French Army commander of the First World War. With such ancestry, it was little wonder that Emile refused to acknowledge the humiliating armistice of Compiegne. After much discussion, and despite the warnings of dire consequences from their Station Commander, Emile, his good friend and squadron-mate Francois De Labouchere and two other like-minded pilots, stole two of the station’s aircraft and flew to the British base at Gibraltar. There all four took ship to England, arriving in Liverpool in mid July. Emile Fayolle and his close friend Francois De Labouchere strengthened their already inseparable partnership throughout their RAF training and even made sure they were posted to the same fighter squadron later.

On August 18^th 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Emile and Francois were posted to 5 OTU, (Operational Training Unit) at Aston Down. Both men were by now commissioned as Pilot Officers and at 5 OTU, they would be learning to fly and fight with the Hurricane. Pilot Officers Fayolle and De Labouchere would join 85 Squadron, commanded by Squadron Leader Peter Townsend at Church Fenton, on September 13^th 1940, flying Hurricanes. They would both soon start making their presence felt with the Luftwaffe.

Emile stayed with 85 Squadron for nearly three months, being posted to 145 Squadron on December 3^rd. He stayed with 145 Squadron till April 26^th1941, when he was then posted to Douglas Bader’s 242 Squadron. Although the Battle of Britain was over by then and the German night Blitz on Britain’s major towns and cities had largely petered out, every now and again the Luftwaffe could, and would, still mount a really big raid, such as the one they made on London during the night of May 10th 1941. Exactly one year to the day since they’d started the whole ball rolling by attacking the Low Countries and France, this raid would prove to be pretty much the Luftwaffe’s swansong; their final, despairing fling. Making use of the full moon in a cloudless night sky, the Luftwaffe, in that one night, seemed to drop a month’s worth of bombs and incendiaries on the British Capital. The damage they inflicted was widespread and severe.

It was on this night, during a late evening patrol, that Pilot Officer Emile Fayolle scored his first confirmed ‘kill’. Emile’s victory was one of three that night; all Heinkel 111 bombers and all scored by French pilots. Pilot Officer Demozay of 1 Squadron shot his down over East London, whilst Pilot Officer Scitivaux and Pilot Officer Emile Fayolle, both of whom were serving with 242 Squadron, had their encounters over the London Docks. All three ‘kills’ were confirmed.

On October 14^th 1941, Emile was posted to 611 Squadron, flying the Hurri-bomber: a cannon-armed, bomb carrying, fighter-bomber version of the Mk IIc Hurricane. It wasn’t long before he personally took a heavy toll on enemy shipping. Despite being there for only three weeks, Emile seemed to take particularly well to 611 Squadron’s role, becoming something of a specialist in the rather risky art of fast and accurate low-level attacks. He was posted to a very special unit; 340 Squadron, at Turnhouse.

When the RAF formed 340 Squadron, it was the first, all-Free French, squadron. It was formed as part of the Ile de France fighter group and Emile, as well as his great friend Francois de Labouchere, naturally joined the unit. Promotion, as well as confirmed ‘kills’, swiftly followed. As well as the Heinkel 111 he’d shot down on 10th May 1941, he also had confirmed a FW 190 on 3rd May 1942 and a JU88 shot down into the sea on 11^th May 1942. His tally of enemy shipping stood at an impressive 25 sunk by then. At the end of July 1942, Emile was further promoted; to the rank of Squadron Leader, and given command of 174 Squadron at Warmwell.

On the Dieppe operation of 19th August 1942, his first one as Commanding Officer, his Hurricane took a hit from defending German anti-aircraft fire after he’d led his squadron of Hurri-bombers fast and low into the attack. His battle-damaged aircraft lost height and crashed in the Channel on the way back to England, not far from Worthing. Emile was still in the cockpit.

But that is not quite the end of this extraordinary Frenchman’s story. By the strange vagaries of the English Channel’s currents, Emile’s body was eventually washed ashore in his native France. The Germans recovered it and given that he was wearing what remained of the uniform of an RAF Squadron Leader, but with some French insignia, they presumed him to have been a Canadian. Emile’s body had been in the water for some time and was in no real state to be positively identified, so the Germans buried him in a grave marked “Unknown RAF Squadron Leader”.

It wasn’t till 1998, after much laborious research had been done, that Emile finally got a headstone of his own. He is buried at Hautot-sur-Mer (Dieppe Canadian) Cemetery and he is also commemorated on the London Battle of Britain memorial; with all the other gallant countrymen of his who had flown and fought with the RAF in the Battle of Britain. His fighting prowess had earned him a total of four medals, including the DFC and the Croix de Guerre. At the time of his death; the remarkable, Squadron Leader Emile Fayolle, had been just two weeks and six days short of his 26^th birthday.

By Mitch Peeke

My thanks to Mitch for this story.

RAF Rackheath – The 467th BG, the highest bombing accuracy (pt2).

May 9, 2020April 8, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 8 Comments

In Part 1 we saw how Rackheath had been developed, and how the 467th BG, the resident group had been subjected to a fierce introduction to the war.

Now, in part 2, we continue our visit to Rackheath and the bizarre event of December 1944.

On December 24th, B-24 #42-50675 “Bold Venture III” piloted by 1st. Lt. P. Ehrlich, was one of sixty-two B-24s from the 467th taking part in a maximum effort attack on a range of targets in Germany. Hit by flak over the target, five of the crew, including the pilot, bailed out fearing the aircraft was lost. All five were subsequently captured and incarcerated as prisoners of war. The fires in the engines then extinguished themselves allowing the remaining crew to engage the auto-pilot, taking the aircraft homeward and over allied territory. Once over France, they too bailed out as they were unable to land the heavy bomber, each of these men being safely picked up by allied forces. The plane then continued on, unmanned across the Channel, until it ran out of fuel.

The former hangar has been completely refurbished.

At this point, the story becomes confused. Some say it landed / crashed in a field near to Lower House Farm, Vowchurch Common in Herefordshire. The wreck being salvaged the following day. However, there is little evidence of this event, and other sources (Freeman “The Mighty Eighth“) have it landing in a Welsh marsh a little further west. Whatever the truth is, its a remarkable, but not unique, story of a crewless bomber flying ‘home’ coming to rest safely on British soil.

Also on that Christmas Eve, another Rackheath B-24, #42-95220, piloted by First Lieutenant William W. Truxes Jr , was hit over Pruen. The aircraft then exploded over Rettigny in Belgium, killing Sgt. Walter Walinski (TG); Sgt. Stanley P. Koly (LWG); Fl. Off. David J. Countey (Nav); Sgt. Roland L. Morehouse (BA); St. Sgt. Peter Hardick Jr (TTG); St. Sgt. John N. Ellefson (Radio Op) and Sgt. Alek Onischuk (RWG). Only the Nose Gunner St. Sgt. Robert J. Ball Jr. returned to duty the remainder being taken prisoners of war.

On the 29th the continuing appalling weather caused the loss of two more B-24s, both crashing attempting to take off from a foggy Rackheath (#42- 95115 and #42-51572). A third (#42-94881) was then abandoned over the sea, and a forth (#44- 10607) crashed at Attlebridge also after sustaining damage on its take off. The visibility was so poor that day that the crews couldn’t even make out the edge of the runway. As a result of these crashes, the mission to Prum, was finally scrubbed, but by then fifteen airmen had already been lost.

The dawn of 1945 saw the Ardennes offensive continuing, and at Rackheath B-24 ‘Witchcraft‘ was approaching its 100th Mission an achievement it made on January 14th 1945. In just 140 days since arriving, it had reached its 70th mission an average of one mission every two days, but what made this particular achievement so remarkable was not this incredible average, but the fact that the aircraft had been mechanically sound throughout, not having to turn back from any sortie it had undertaken. A remarkable achievement, and a solid testament to the dedication of the ground crews who kept her in the air.

“The Witch“, as she affectionately became known, would go on to complete a total of 130 missions without a single abort nor injury to any crewman. She became one of the most celebrated aircraft in the 8th Air force’s history. This total would surpass all other B-24s in the whole of the European theatre of operations. Like many though, ‘The Witch‘ eventually returned to the US where she was unceremoniously taken apart at Altus, Oklahoma. In memory of the aircraft, her achievements and the crews who were lost flying B-24s, she is now represented by the world’s last flying Liberator, currently owned and operated by the Collings Foundation, Massachusetts.

Ground crew of the 467th BG B-24 “Witchcraft“. Standing Crew Chief Joe Ramirez, Chamberlin. Front Row Walter Elliot, Geo Dong, Joe Vetter, Ray Betcher.’ (IWM FRE 1979)

As 1945 progressed the end of the war was near. Attempts by the Luftwaffe to curtail bomber intrusions into German airspace were becoming desperate. The introduction of the Me 262 was too little, too late, to make a major difference. But so determined to stop the bombers were the Luftwaffe pilots that many still got through and they were finding the bombers.

Other fighters more determined to bring down the enemy began ramming them. A specialist squadron the ‘Sonderkommando Elbe‘ was set up using volunteer pilots. They were instructed to strike the fuselage of the bomber between the wing and tail thus cutting the aircraft in two, a tactic that would allow the German pilot to bail out of his aircraft whilst taking down the bomber.

On April 7th, the unit was put into action in its one and only recorded attack, as over 1,000 heavies flew towards German airfields, oil storage facilities and factories in north-west Germany. From the 2nd AD, 340 B-24s headed for Krummel, Duneburg and Neumunster. As the force approached they were targeted by a mix of over 100 Luftwaffe fighters including 109s, 190s and 262s. In this mix was the Sonderkommando Elbe. Whilst the tactic would prove to be more devastating to the rammer than the target, one of Rackheath’s B-24s #42-94931 ‘Sack Time‘ was hit in the tail severing the starboard stabiliser. The B-24’s pilot, Lt. Robert Winger, managed to keep the aircraft flying but with little control, he ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft once over allied territory. The B-24 then crewless, fell from the sky.

It is not known whether the attack was a deliberate act by the Sonderkommando Elbe, or as a result of the tail gunner Robert (Bob) Perkins’s action. Perkins in his attempt to defend the B-24, fired desperately at the attacker, Heinrich Henkel, striking the aircraft several times.

Then for three days in mid April, the heavies of the USAAF turned their attention to the gun batteries around Royan. These German strong holds were hindering the allied plans to use the port at Bordeaux, they had to be ousted.

During one of the missions, on April 15th, the 467th would make history again when three of the four squadrons released all their 2,000lb bombs within 1,000 ft of the mean point of impact, half of these being within 500 ft – a record that would not be beaten by any other USAAF unit. This was the ‘icing on the cake’ for the 467th who were building a strong reputation for consistent and accurate bombing. So determined were the Americans to remove the defenders on the ground, that they used Napalm in 500 lb tanks, a rather horrific weapon used to great effect during the Vietnam war.

By the end of April the war was all but over, and at bases all around the UK, air and ground crews eagerly awaited the notice to cease operations. Some units were already being stood down, and very soon operations would begin to drop food rather than bombs. As the end of hostilities was announced, the figures began to be totted up. The 379th BG at Kimbolton were recorded as dropping the greatest number of bombs on a target, with the 467th BG at Rackheath achieving the greatest accuracy. This Rackheath record was due, in part, to the dedication, support and drive of its Commander, Colonel Albert Shower.

On April 25th 1945, the 467th completed its last mission, a total that amounted to 212 (5,538 sorties credited), dropping 13,333 tons of bombs. With 29 aircraft classed as ‘missing’, and a further 19 lost on operations, the war had not been cheap.

The former runway looking north-east.

On May 13th, the 467th were to lead the Victory Flypast over High Wycombe, the headquarters of the Eighth Air Force operations, the choice of a B-24 as lead fuelling the ‘ill-feeling’ between B-24 and B-17 crews even further.

Over the next month, the aircraft and men of the 467th would return to the US, the majority of aircraft departing Rackheath on June 12th, whilst the ground echelons left via the Queen Mary from Greenock, the same port they had arrived at just over a year earlier. Eventually the 467th would be disbanded, renamed the 301st, but for Rackheath it was the end, and within a year much of the airfield was already being ripped up, the runways were disappearing and many of the accommodation buildings had been torn down. The entire site measuring just short of 4 km2 was already beginning to disappear.

Gradually agriculture has taken over, much of the main airfield site are now fields. The technical area has since been developed into an industrial estate with many of the original buildings being re clad, redeveloped, modernised or pulled down. The watch office has thankfully been refurbished and from the outside resembles a watch office typical of the time. Inside it is now offices. The one surviving T2 hangar, has had brickwork added to it, other buildings are almost indistinguishable from their modern counterparts. A memorial, dedicated to the men and Women of the 467th was unveiled on 29th July 1990, by the then 80 year old Colonel Albert J. Shower, returning for one last time to the place he had built up a reputation for hard graft whilst appreciating the need for recreation.

If approaching from the south, take the A1270 from Norwich heading north, leave at the roundabout with Salhouse Road turning right. The Holy Trinity Church is a few hundred yards along this road. Here you will find the village sign, memorial benches and numerous plaques in memory of the 467th. The two wrought iron gates at the entrance of the church were donated by the Coffey crew. Inside here (the church was closed on my visit) a collection of photographs and letters bring the Rackheath to life once more.

The memorial gates donated by the Coffey crew.

When leaving the church, go back but turn right along Green Lane West. This takes you past the remaining hardstands and along to the industrial estate. Enter by Wendover Road, named after Wendover Field in Utah. Turning into Bidwell Road, (following the signs) you will find the main memorial on the the corner of Bidwell Road and Liberator Close.

Coming back again, turn left, follow Wendover Road to the corner with Witchcraft Way, a small road to your left. Here you will see the Watch Office. Also along here are Ramirez Road, Albert Shower Road, the T2 and other buildings of interest. A real rabbit warren, it is best explored to really discover the many buildings and plaques that remain.

The main accommodation areas were located back across the from the entrance of Wendover Road. Today a new road has been cut through this wooded area but within these woods, remains of huts still exist, some with etchings on the walls. All on private land, they are also gradually disappearing from view.

Rackheath was a short lived base, operating for just a short part of the war. But its contribution and the contribution of its crews, was nonetheless immense. With high accuracy and the determination to win, they took the war into the heart of Germany itself. The names of these young men now live on, in the road names and plaques that adorn many of the building and streets around this beautiful and now peaceful area of Norfolk.

After departing Rackheath we head a few miles east, toward the coast. Not far away, is another airfield, this time a former RAF site. Long gone it continues to use part of the original runway, two watch offices remain, and a smattering of wartime buildings lay dormant in the corner of now agricultural fields. In part 2 of Trail 58 we visit RAF Ludham.

Sources and further reading RAF Rackheath

For more detail on Mission 311 see: McLachlan, I., “Night of the Intruders” Pen and Sword (1994).

RAF Rackheath – The 467th BG, the highest bombing accuracy (Pt1).

April 25, 2020April 8, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 9 Comments

In Trail 58 we head to the east of Norwich into an area known as the Norfolk Broads; an area created through turf extraction in medieval times. The large, shear sided pits were later flooded giving more navigable inland waterways than both Venice and Amsterdam.

Today, it attracts a wide range of wildlife, and offers a range of boating, bird watching and fishing holidays. The shear size and scope of the Broads attracting some 7 million visitors per year to enjoy the rich nature and peace of the Broads.

But in this area during the Second World War, life was very different. Overhead, the drone of aircraft engines was a constant reminder of a war being fought both across the sea and here in East Anglia.

Between Norwich and the East Anglian coast we visit two airfields, one USAAF and one RAF, both now long closed, they each played a vital part in the destruction of the Nazi tyranny across the sea in Europe.

Our first stop is a former bomber base. Now a huge industrial estate where many of the original wartime buildings have been demolished. But some still remain, refurbished, re-clad and in many cases almost indistinguishable from their original design. A memorial, located in the heart of the estate, denotes the technical area of the former base, and a local church displays a collection of wartime photographs.

Our first stop on this trail is the former US bomber base RAF Rackheath (Station 145).

Rackheath (Station 145)

Rackheath airfield lies approximately 5 miles north-east of Norwich, bordered to the east by the East Norfolk Railway Line, and to the west by the (modern) A1270.

Rackheath village sign denotes its history and links to the base.

Built over the period 1942-43, it was built as a Class A airfield incorporating three runways: one of 2,000 yds and two of 1,400 yds in length, each 50 yds wide and each covered with concrete.

A large number of hardstands lined the perimeter track, some 50 altogether, all being of the spectacle type; with a bomb store to the north of the main airfield site, sitting surprisingly close to the majority of the hardstands and nearby Rackheath village.

A wide range of technical buildings, supported by two T2 hangars for aircraft maintenance, allowed for repairs and crew preparation: crew rooms, parachute stores, dingy stores, armouries, photographic blocks and so on. The watch office (design 12779/41) stood proud of the technical area located to the south-west of the site. All personnel areas – eleven accommodation and three ancillary sites – lay to the west of the airfield, dispersed around Rackheath Hall, an early 19 Century listed building with its notable architectural features and its own turbulent history. These sites, hidden amongst the woodland, were both extensive and well serviced by concrete roads that led to the main airfield site.

Rackheath was initially designed as a bomber airfield, but during the construction phase, it was re-designated as a fighter airfield. However, delays in the construction process, led to it never being operated as a fighter station, instead it was manned by the Eighth Air Force’s 467th Bombardment Group (BG) and B-24 Liberators.

The 467th BG consisted of the 788th, 789th, 790th and 791st Bomb Squadrons (BS), each flying Consolidated’s heavy bomber the B-24 Liberator. The group’s long journey to Rackheath started on 19th May 1943 at Wendover Field in Utah. After being activated on August 1st, they moved to Mountain Home Army Airfield in Idaho, then back to Utah and Kearns, from there onto Wendover Field again where they remained for fifteen weeks undertaking intensive training. On 12th February the ground echelons made their way, by train, to Camp Shanks, New York where they boarded the US ship Frederick Lykes. Their Atlantic journey brought them, like so many before them, to Greenock, a major port on the Clyde on Scotland’s west coast. From here, they boarded trains and made their way to Rackheath.

The air echelon in the meantime flew the southern route, tragically en route, they lost one of their B-24s (#42-52554 “Rangoon Rambler“) with all its crew, over the Atlas mountains in North Africa. The remainder of the group finally arrived here at Rackheath combining with the ground echelons in late March 1944, where they began to prepare for their first operation on April 10th.

Operating initially within the 2nd Bombardment Division (later the 2nd Air Division) 96th Combat Wing (CBW), they flew Liberator ‘H’, ‘J’, ‘L’ and ‘M’ models under the command of Colonel Albert J. Shower, the only US group commander to have brought and remained with the same group until the end of hostilities.

The 467th’s first mission was to bomb Bourges airfield, a relatively light target in which 730 bombers pounded aviation targets across the low countries. On the next day, they formed part of a even larger force of over 900 heavies attacking aircraft production factories in Germany, their honeymoon was well and truly over in one fell swoop.

But the first major event of the war for the 467th was to occur shortly after this on April 22nd 1944, on a day that has since become infamous in American aviation history. Mission 311, was an attack by 803 heavy bombers of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Bombardment Divisions on targets at Hamm, Soest and Koblenz along with targets of opportunity. The Massed formation, escorted by 859 fighters, were led by the 445th BG, 2nd Air Division from Tibbenham. The 96th CBW portion was led by the 458th BG from Horsham St Faith, with the 466th BG from Attlebridge on the low left, and the 467th ‘The Rackheath Aggies‘ on the high right.

As teleprinters rattled across the East Anglian area, B-24s were bombed up, fuelled and checked over by mechanics who meticulously prepared their machines for war. Maps were drawn up, meteorological reports were read out and orders were strict – ‘avoid the Ruhr!’

Once in the air, brightly coloured assembly ships gathered their flocks together in tight formations, and then it was time to set off for Germany. On route, technical problems dogged the lead plane, which led to inaccurate navigation, and ultimately brought the entire force into Ruhr Valley – exactly where they did not want to be.

Dividing up, the massed formations hit a range of targets, Hamm being the focus of the 467th. Surprisingly though, results were good, especially considering the many problems the formation had suffered flying over to Germany. Pleased with their results, the 467th set course for home, blissfully unaware of the dangers that were lurking not far away as they made the return leg of their journey.

The whole operation had been meticulously planned, but it meant that many of the bombers would be arriving home in the dark, an environment alien to many American crews. Experience had told them that Luftwaffe fighters lurked in the dark, unseen and dangerously accurate in their attacks.

When approaching from the east, Rackheath and Nearby Horsham St. Faith were the first two large airfields available, a distance of just some 4 miles separating them. With navigation lights and landing lights illuminating the aircraft, airfields were lit up like christmas trees, each one inviting their bombers home to safety. These lights were also a beacon for the as yet unknown, marauding Luftwaffe night fighters. As the first Rackheath Liberator approached, the air filled with requests for landing permission, fuel now getting critically low and crews tired from the long flight. Gun places were vacated and crews began preparing to land, everyone was starting to relax – they were home.

It was this point that all hell was unleashed over Rackheath. Canon shells ripped in to the wings and fuselage of 1st Lt. Stalie Reid’s B-24 #42-52445, setting both starboard engines on fire. The lead Luftwaffe pilot Staffelkapitaen Hauptmann Dieter Puttfarken of II/KG51, taking his companions, in their mix of night fighters, right into the heart of the flight path of the returning bombers. Here they waited, unseen, until the moment the bombers were at their most vulnerable.

The former Watch Office has been refurbished and used as offices.

As the Liberator began to fall uncontrollably out of the sky, four of the crewmen manged to don their parachutes and escape, the remaining six failing to vacate the aircraft in time. All six were lost in the ensuing crash when the aircraft hit the Earth near to Barsham in Suffolk. For Sgt. Edward Hoke, one of those lucky enough to escape, his troubles were not yet over, for somehow, he was pulled from his parachute, and without a means to slow his descent, he too fell to his death. It was only the third mission of the war for the crew.

Meanwhile, other aircraft began to line up desperate to land. Near misses were now becoming a risk, aircraft suddenly appearing out of the darkness within feet of each other. Then a second B-24 went down – struck by the terror of the night. B-24 #42-52536 piloted by 2nd Lt. James A. Roden was hit by canon fire. So severe and so accurate were the strikes, that it severed the tail of the Liberator from the fuselage. Now split in two, the aircraft went into a spin and eventual fireball. The entire crew were lost that night.

Not content with picking aircraft off in the air, the Luftwaffe night fighters then began to attack, with bombs and guns, the main airfield site, strafing ground targets almost at will. By now crews were starting to panic, some withdrew from the landing pattern and headed off away from the airfield only to run the gauntlet of friendly Anti-Aircraft guns who were not expecting to see heavy American bombers at night. By now it was becoming clear what had happened, and to protect the airfield all lights were extinguished. Aircraft were unable to see the runways, parts of which were now only illuminated by fires of wrecks and bombs. Waiting patiently, or diverting to other bases, B-24s light on fuel, circled frantically the field trying to find some sign that it lay below. The confusion that night, repeated across numerous US airbases, tore a hole in the hearts of the American flyers as numbers of those lost across East Anglia began to filter through.

April 22nd would go down in history as the worst loss in one night to intruders alone, made even worse by the fact that once over home territory, you consider yourself to be ‘safe’. Some American gunners were able to retaliate and there are records of intruders being shot down, but the statistics clearly fell heavily in favour of the intruders.

With that, the 467th had finally cut their teeth, their war was real, and it was having an effect.

On D-Day, the 467th were assigned to bombing shore installations and bridges near to Cherbourg, then as the allies progressed through France they supported them by attacking supply lines at Montreuil. A few days after the D-Day landings, a 467th BG Liberator became the first four engined bomber to land on a beach-head airstrip. The B-24 #42-95237, ‘Normandy Queen‘ piloted by 1st Lt. Charles Grace was hit by flak and badly damaged. Unable to make the crossing back home, he ordered the crew to bail out whilst he and his co-pilot brought the aircraft down onto an allied fighter airstrip, luckily without further mishap. All the crew that day survived to tell the tale.

B-24 Liberator (4Z-U, #42-95237) 791st BS, 467th BG parked on the grass in a field in Normandy – the first four engined heavy to do so. (IWM FRE 8431)

By now the allied onslaught of occupied Europe was well under way. Continual flying began to make its mark on both air and ground crews. The summer months seeing over 28,000 sorties being flown, meaning that many crews were reaching their quotas of missions in a very short space of time.

In early August a reshuffle of command within the Eighth saw several changes at the highest levels. Lower down, in the front line units, further reshuffles saw crews and squadrons move from one unit to another. The 788th BS, who had been taken to form the 801st Group to perform ‘Carpetbagger‘ operations in the lead up to D-Day, now rejoined their original Group back at Rackheath.

The long, cold winter of 1944-45 was known for its persistent fog, snow and ice that hampered air operations, and all just as the German army was about to make its one last push through the Ardennes forest. Christmas 1944 would be sombre time for the US forces, with the loss of both Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle and the fighter ace Major George Preddy who was inadvertently shot down by friendly fire and killed.

For the 467th BG it would also be a period of misery, a period that started with one of the most bizarre events in their history. We shall revisit Rackheath again in Part 2.

An Unknown Airman; No longer

April 18, 2020April 8, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 4 Comments

A Guest Post by Mitch Peeke.

At 10:30 on the morning of Tuesday 3rd September, over the Kent village of Chart Sutton, near Maidstone, the then usual sounds of cannon and machine gun fire, from yet another dogfight high in the heavens, were heard. Then came the other sound; a high-pitched screaming, as a blazing Hurricane plunged toward the earth out of the summer sky, with a long plume of black smoke marking its descent. Farm workers and others watched in horror; the stricken fighter looked set to crash onto the village school, where classes of local children were in attendance. But at almost the last moment, the doomed fighter was seen to veer sharply away to Port and to then crash in flames on the edge of the apple orchard at nearby Parkhouse Farm. The unfortunate pilot was obviously still at the controls.

The force of the crash was so great that identification of the pilot and aircraft seemed virtually impossible at the time, though in typically British fashion, a sharp-eyed local Police Officer watching the events unfold, had managed to note the aircraft’s serial number and the crash was reported to the Hollingbourne district ARP office. Despite this, it would be another forty-five years before the identity of this self-sacrificing pilot would even be guessed at, and a further five years before it was even remotely confirmed. Until then, he would simply be one of the increasing number of unsung heroes; young pilots who were simply posted as “Missing, presumed Killed In Action” as the Weald of Kent continued to be both a witness to, and a graveyard of, the great aerial struggle that was known as The Battle Of Britain.

Yet what this tiny piece of the huge Battle of Britain jigsaw vividly illustrates, is precisely the reason that this period of our island’s history is so dear to us.

As I said; the identity of the gallant pilot, who had stayed with his blazing aircraft and steered it away from the village school, remained a mystery for years. In 1989, I’d just moved to that area and was intrigued when one Sunday afternoon, I saw a Hurricane and a Spitfire, obviously from the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, performing a display over a nearby farm. My curiosity was of course aroused, as I knew the BBMF do not spare the engine hours of their aircraft lightly; so I asked around locally the following day and started to piece together the story, which ultimately turned into a full page article for the local newspaper, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the battle.

During the course of my research in 1989, I came across the following reports in the Kent County Archive at Maidstone:

Tuesday 3rd September 1940, Hollingbourne District A.R.P. Office:

10:42. A British Fighter has crashed in flames on Parkhouse Farm, Chart Sutton. Map reference 21/73.

11:12. The aircraft is still burning fiercely and its ammunition is now exploding. There is no news of the pilot yet.

I also found out, thanks to the helpful locals, that even then, 49 years on from the crash, there is in fact a memorial to this unknown pilot, very close to where the aircraft crashed. It is a peaceful, beautifully kept garden, with a simple wooden cross bearing the inscription “RAF PILOT 3rd September 1940”. It was above this little memorial garden that the RAF had been performing their display.

The memorial lies hidden in a shady copse beside an apple orchard, on a south-facing slope that overlooks the one of the most beautiful parts of the county: the Weald of Kent. It is only open to the public once a year, and few people outside of the local Royal Air Force Association’s Headcorn branch and the people of Chart Sutton village, know its location. The whole thing, even now, is still a rather private affair between the local people, the RAF and the memory of the fallen pilot.

In 1970, the overgrown crash site was cleared and a formal garden constructed. There has been a memorial service every year at Chart Sutton Church ever since, which is usually followed by a display from either a lone fighter, or a pair of fighters, from the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Tuesday, 3rd September 1940, is a date that Chart Sutton, and the RAF, have never forgotten.

Despite the fact that a local Police Officer had actually witnessed the crash and managed to log the involved aircraft’s number, confusion arose at the time because two more British fighters crashed in close proximity to the first very soon afterwards; one the next day in fact, at neighbouring Amberfield Farm and one ten days later on 14th September, almost unbelievably at Parkhouse Farm again.

The RAF sent a recovery squad to Chart Sutton on September 26^th 1940, to clear the wreckage from all three crash sites. Although a local constabulary report to the RAF cited Hurricane P3782 as having been cleared from Parkhouse Farm, along with the fragmented remains of its pilot, plus the remains of the other pilot who’d crashed there on the 14th, that single piece of seemingly unimportant paper then got buried, lost in the general Police archives for years. It didn’t come to light again till the early to mid-nineteen eighties, probably during a clearout. It was then reproduced in that epic book, “The Battle of Britain Then & Now”.

Meanwhile, the removed remains of both pilots were interred at Sittingbourne & Milton Cemetery, in graves marked “unknown British airman”. The fighter that crashed at Amberfield Farm had left very little in its wake, having gone straight into the ground, so it is easy to see now, how the confusion over the identification of the three pilots subsequently arose, as aircraft crashes in Kent were of course quite commonplace during that long hot summer of 1940.

That was pretty much how things remained, till in 1980 a museum group excavated the site of the second Parkhouse Farm crash. Forty years to the very day since he’d crashed, Sergeant Pilot J.J. Brimble of 73 Squadron and his Hurricane, were exhumed from the Kent soil and positively identified. Also excavated at sometime soon afterwards, was the site of the Amberfield Farm crash, which was then positively identified as being that of Flying Officer Cutts of 222 Squadron, and his Spitfire. This left the last of the three “unknown airmen” and Hurricane P3782, the number from the now rediscovered police report.

Hurricane P3782 belonged to No. l Squadron, whose records show that on 3rd September 1940, it was allocated to Pilot Officer R.H. Shaw. The squadron log posts both Shaw and Hurricane P3782 as: “Missing, failed to return from a standing patrol” on the morning of Tuesday September 3rd 1940.

There can be little doubt now as to whom the Chart Sutton memorial belongs, but as the engine and cockpit of Shaw’s Hurricane are still deeply buried where they fell, there is nothing to base any official identification upon. Despite this, and the fact that the RAF removed what human remains they could find at the time, it has always been regarded locally as the last resting place of this gallant young airman.

Pilot Officer Robert Henry Shaw of 1 Squadron. By kind permission of Winston G. Ramsay, via Mitch Peeke.

Robert Henry Shaw was born on 28th July 1916, in Bolton to a family in the textile Business. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAF on February 1st 1940 and posted to 11 Group, Fighter Command. On March 11th, he joined No.1 Squadron in France, as part of the force attempting to stem the German advance. The squadron was withdrawn to Tangmere, in Hampshire just before Dunkerque. It was at this time that Robert was inadvertently shot down by the pilot of another British fighter, who had evidently mistaken Robert’s Hurricane for a Messerschmitt 109. However, Robert managed to land his damaged Hurricane back at Tangmere and was himself unhurt.

I had the pleasure of meeting Robert’s brother when we were introduced to each other at the annual memorial service the year after the local newspaper ran my original story. Unbeknown to me, the paper had traced and contacted Robert’s family. His brother, who was completely unaware that Robert’s memory had been honoured annually in Chart Sutton for the previous nineteen years, travelled down for the 1991 service. At our meeting, he told me that Robert, in connection with the family’s textile business, had been a frequent visitor to Germany before the war and was at first mightily impressed by Hitler’s regime. However, during what turned out to be his final visit in 1937, Robert was witness to a public incident that dispelled any illusions he had formed of Hitler’s new Germany. Robert never did say exactly what it was that he’d witnessed, but though obviously tight of lip, he was decidedly firm of jaw. Robert came straight home and joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve, immediately.

The exact circumstances of Robert’s death have never been established, but it seems likely that he and his flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Hillcoat, probably encountered a pack of “Free hunting” Messerschmitt 109’s; ironically, one of the last such hunting pack operations before Goring unwisely tied his fighters to the bomber formations as a close escort. Robert was by then a seasoned and experienced fighter pilot, but the ensuing dogfight would have been anything but equal. Despite the odds being heavily against them, the pair did not shrink from the fight. Flight Lieutenant Hillcoat was also killed.

Pilot Officer Robert Henry Shaw of 1 Squadron Chart Sutton, Maidstone (photo Mitch Peeke)

The Chart Sutton memorial is the village’s way of honouring that last great courageous deed of Robert’s in steering his blazing and doomed Hurricane away from the village school. It was his final, desperate act of pure self-sacrifice that has justly made twenty-four year-old Pilot Officer Robert H. Shaw an immortal part of that Kent village.

Since I first penned this, some evidence has now emerged in the form of an engine plate that was apparently dug up at the site as long ago as 1987, which has now at last been brought out into the light of day. One is left to wonder just how many such artefacts, souvenired at some point in the past, still lie undiscovered in people’s houses!

My thanks go to Mitch for bringing this story to us.

An update to the Allhallows 379th BG Memorial.

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 8 Comments

A note kindly sent in by Mitch Peeke regarding an update of the Allhallows memorial – 379th BG after its winter ‘clean up’.

I had taken the plaque and the storyboard down for the winter, after I got out of hospital (that’s another story!). The storms we’d had plus the unprecedented amount of rain, had inflicted some damage to the base work. Paul Hare and his Grounds keeping team at the Holiday Park once again stepped in. They installed a third, lower stand for me and then carefully removed the decorative stones so they could concrete the entire base, putting the stones back on the setting concrete so that the whole thing is now set and solid. I came back and repainted the original stands.

I then re-installed the original plaque and storyboard, the backboards of which I had re-varnished. On the third, lower stand is a new plate I had made, bearing the only known photos of some of the crew members. The pictures had been taken by Teddy Chronopolis during a training flight in Texas. His daughter, Jeanne, very kindly let me have copies, which I took to the signmakers. Having done that, I went down onto the beach and gathered up loads of Oyster shells and some driftwood. I laid the driftwood at the base of the lower stand with some of the Oyster shells, then used the rest of the shells to lay a complete border around the inner perimeter of the memorial base. The driftwood and shells are to symbolize the aircraft’s final resting place.I then took a photo, which I sent to both Jeanne and Noel. They were both touched by this “Mk II” memorial!

The memorial has now been formally inducted into the Allhallows Village Heritage Trail. The first guided Heritage walk was held on the second weekend in March and was well attended. Unfortunately of course, the Coronavirus restrictions have curtailed such activities at the moment and the Holiday Park is closed to holidaymakers too. But people do still exercise their dogs and themselves along the seafront. Hopefully, things will return to some kind of normality before this summer is done!

Photo by Mitch Peeke 14/3/20

My thanks to Mitch for the update and photo, the memorial is looking splendid!

The original story was told in ‘A Long Way From Home‘.

The unveiling took place on June 22nd 2019.

Loss of Mosquito FBVI ‘NS828’ RAF Swanton Morley.

March 8, 2020July 27, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 9 Comments

On April 25/26th 1944, 487 Sqn (RNZAF) moved from RAF Gravesend to RAF Swanton Morley in Norfolk, taking with them D.H. Mosquitoes. They had only been at Gravesend a few days when news of the new move came through.

487 Sqn had previously been involved in ground attacks on German airfields across the occupied countries, and in several high profile missions. In particular, during the previous February, they had been involved in Operation ‘Jericho‘, the attack on the Amiens Jail, in France. It was also a Methwold based Ventura piloted by Squadron Leader Leonard H. Trent, who, on 3rd May 1943, had led the Squadron in a disastrous daylight attack on the power station at Amsterdam. As a result of his actions that day, Sqn. Ldr. Trent received the V.C., the highest honour bestowed on personnel of the armed forces.

On their arrival at Swanton Morley, 487 Sqn would immediately begin training for new air operations, their part in the forthcoming D-day invasion at Normandy, with the first flights taking off the following day.

On April 27th three ‘targets’ were chosen, the Grimston Range not far away from Swanton Morley, the Bradenham Range in the Chilterns, and lastly the Army Gunnery School site at Stiffkey, on the North Norfolk coast. Each of these were to be ‘attacked’ in cross country sorties by the Mosquitoes.

In one of those Mosquitoes ‘EG-A’ was Pilot Flight Lieutenant John Charles Paterson (NZ/2150), and his Navigator Flight Lieutenant John James Spencer Mellar (s/n: 49175) both of the R.N.Z.A.F.

The day’s sortie went well, until the return flight home was made. It was on this leg of the flight that the port engine of the Mosquito, a Hatfield built FBVI ‘NS828’ under contract 555/C.23(a), began to overheat.

Immediately Flt. Lt. Paterson feathered the engine – now flying on just one. The Mosquito was lined up on approach to Swanton Morley for a single-engined landing, but all did not go well. Unfortunately, instead of putting the aircraft down on the runway, the aircraft overshot the airfield crashing into a field beyond, the resultant accident killing both pilot and navigator instantly.

The Operational Record Book (AIR 27/1935/31) for April 27th states:

“Formation dive bombing on Grimstone [sic] range. Low level bombing on Bradenham Range. Formation cross country with air to sea firing practice off the coast at Wells. In the evening six aircraft carried out formation attacks on gun positions at an army Gunnery School at Stiffkey. Returning from this ‘A’, F/Lt. Paterson developed engine trouble and feathered the airscrew. In attempting to land, he overshot and crashed. F.Lt. Paterson and his navigator F. Lt. Mellar, were both killed.”

Since then, a memorial has been erected in memory of the two men, located on the side of the B1110 Dereham Road just outside the village of North Elmham in Norfolk, it stands not far from the site of the crash site, west of Swanton Morley airfield. After the crash, Flt. Lt. Paterson’s body was buried at Shepperton Church Cemetery, whilst Flt. Lt. Mellar was buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery plot 24. D. 20.

Flight Lieutenant Mellar was 29 on the date of his passing, he was the son of William Edward and Eleanor Mellar; and husband of Dorothy Freda Mellar. Flight Lieutenant Paterson was 24 years of age, he was the son of John Alexander and Alice Louise Paterson, of Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand, and husband of Doris Josephine Paterson, of Shepperton.

Swanton Morley appears in Trail 38.

RAF Leeming Part 2 – The Canadians arrive.

February 23, 2020April 22, 2020 / Aviationtrails / 10 Comments

In part 1, we saw how 4 Group had been operating mainly Whitleys from Leeming, and how the squadrons here had taken a beating in the European skies. Now, following the departure of the last elements of 10 Sqn. in August 1942, Leeming was all but empty, and ready to be handed over to the Canadians. With the introduction of the four engined heavies, hopefully things would begin to change and the losses of before would be lessened. Harris was now in charge of Bomber Command, new directives and a renewed focus would see the first of the 1,000 bomber raids, perhaps now, the air war would turn.

Formed in October 1942, 6 Group was born out of Article XV of the Riverdale Agreement, which allowed the formation of distinct squadrons manned by personnel from across the British Commonwealth – primarily Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This would, in theory, allow the aircrews of these countries to keep their national identity whilst serving in the Royal Air Force, and allowing the governments of these nations to have a say in the service of these crews. However, Britain did not want this – fearing interference from abroad in strategic matters – and so an agreement was drawn up whereby they would keep their nationality but serve under the full control of the Royal Air Force.

After negotiations on 17th April 1941, it was agreed that there could be 25 Canadian squadrons created (along with 18 Australian and 6 New Zealand Squadrons). But with shortages of trained personnel, and slow progress through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), many of these squadrons took a long time to come, and many units were simply filled with a range of nationalities, thus defeating the original objectives of the agreement.

Ultimately though, 44 Canadian, 16 Australian and 6 New Zealand squadrons were formed operating across a range of fields. Of these, 15 Canadian squadrons operated within Bomber Command – one transferring to the Pathfinders of 8 Group. As the war progressed, and air superiority fell to the allies, Bomber Command took fewer casualties, and so the number of individual nationals serving within each squadron began to rise. By the time the war began to close, these squadrons had had their national identities and character restored, and they were by now, either Canadian, Australian or New Zealand Squadrons in their own right.

Transferring so many units from other countries would initially cause confusion, with similar numbered units appearing in both the RAF, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand Air Forces. To overcome the problem, Canadian squadrons were allocated the first fifty numbers of the ‘400’ block (400 – 449), and so Canadian born squadrons were renumbered accordingly once they had transferred to the UK*⁴. With this, 6 Group was born, and over the next few years it would become synonymous with Yorkshire, utilising the many airfields found within its boundaries.

At Leeming, six of these fourteen units would operate, Nos: 405, 408, 419, 424, 427 and 429, all between August 1942 and May 1946 when the last two resident groups would disband.

The first of these squadrons to arrive would be 419 (Moose) Squadron.

419 Sqn. were only at Leeming a short time, a transition stop between 13th and 18th August 1942, just prior to the forming of 6 Group. Preparations for the move began a few days earlier with an advance party of twenty-five personnel making the journey to Leeming from Mildenhall by train. On the 11th, the squadron was stood down from operations and all hands helped load equipment onto another train consisting of 25 goods wagons. Loading took place at night at Shippea Hill, a small desolate, and rarely used station not far from Mildenhall airfield.

On the 12th, a second train was laid on in which 200 personnel were loaded onto 30 cars, led by Flt. Lt. D. S. McCann, they made their way north arriving at Leeming Bar station at 21.40 hrs. After unloading, a warm and no doubt welcome meal was provided, and then the personnel all retired for the night. Also on the 12th, a further 150 personnel transferred by air, flying in seventeen of the squadron’s aircraft. They made their way from Mildenhall, not to Leeming airfield but to RAF Skipton, where they stayed the night. The next day, they made the last leg of the journey, transferring across to Leeming landing on the one serviceable runway. Here they unloaded and prepared the airfield for operations. However, the stay was short lived, a visit by the Canadian Minister of National Defence for Air, the Honorable Charles Gavan “Chubby” Power, MC. PC., and Air Marshall L.S. Breadner the following day, preceded the squadron’s move out from Leeming to RAF Topcliffe, where operations would finally finally began once more.

Named 419 (Moose) Squadron they were named after their first Commanding Officer, Wing Commander John “Moose” Fulton, and displayed a Canadian Moose in the centre of their unit crest. Not joining 6 (R.C.A.F.) Group until the following year, they flew Wellingtons into Leeming going on to be resident at several of the Group’s airfields. It was 419 Sqn. pilot Andrew Charles “Andy” Mynarski, who would so bravely try to save the life of his trapped tail gunner; Mynarski himself dying from the severe burns he received in the action. The Gunner, Cpl. Pat Brophy, remarkably survived the aircraft’s crash, and it was his testimony that led to Mynarski receiving the Victoria Cross. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario have restored and fly, one of only two air worthy Lancasters as a memorial and tribute to Mynarski’s brave efforts.

Canadian Lancaster KB726 ‘VR-A’ dedicated to Andrew Mynarski on her arrival at RAF Coningsby August 2014. The dedication to Mynarski being displayed beneath the Lancaster’s cockpit.

A rather impromptu visit interrupted changes at Leeming, when P.O. Colin Frank Sorensen (RCAF) was practising aerobatics in the Leeming vicinity in Spitfire P8784. During a manoeuvre his engine cut out, luckily he was able to make a wheels up landing after gliding into Leeming. The aircraft was badly damaged in the landing but the Danish born Sorensen walked away unhurt.

The second of the six Canadian Squadrons to arrive at Leeming, 408 (Goose) Sqn., made their appearance on 14th September 1942, the squadron arriving whilst in the process of changing over from the Hampden to the Halifax. After a busy, but ‘run of the mill’ period, October would prove to be rather significant, although the Operational Record Books wouldn’t quite recognise it as such. The entry for October 1st 1942*³ states:

1.10.42.

Today started a month which proved to be a rather dull one from the historian’s point of view, but a very busy one for the squadron. The printed word can hardly paint the picture of industry of receiving aircraft and modifying them for operations, of air and ground training and of personnel going to and coming from various courses of instruction on Halifax aircraft and equipment.

This entry would kick off a short period of major events that were in no way ‘run of the mill‘! Firstly, on the 2nd October, confirmation was received at Leeming that two of 408 Squadron’s aircrew had successfully evaded, making their way to Gibraltar after being shot down over Belgium in the former Commanding Officer’s aircraft. Their remarkable journey had taken them across the European continent to safety – quite an amazing achievement in itself. Unfortunately, there had been no word as yet as to the whereabouts of the Commanding Officer.

After that on the 11th, the first of the new four-engined heavy bombers arrived, two Halifax MK.Vs, which were subjected to great scrutiny and discussion by the crews. Their presence giving the squadron a renewed keenness to get back to operations. As they milled around the aircraft, morale was instantly lifted, and a new impetus had been injected. By the end of the month there would be thirteen MK.V’s all being modified ready for operations.

Additional changes on the 12th, saw 408 (RCAF) Squadron Conversion Flight along with 405 (RCAF) Conversion Flight merging to become 1659 Canadian Conversion unit (Heavy Conversion Unit) here at Leeming, the record books playing down the historical importance of early October 1942.

This impetus would see 408 Sqn. through to early November without loss, until on the afternoon of 9th November 1942, Halifax V, DG238 piloted by Flt. Sgt. R. Bell DFM, stalled and crashed 5 miles east of Croft airfield. The entire crew were tragically lost in the accident in which they were participating in a fighter affiliation exercise. The event marked not only the first loss for 408 Sqn. since arriving here at Leeming, but the first loss of any Halifax V in the whole of Bomber Command.

However, within a month of the first Mk.V’s arriving at Leeming, 408 Sqn. would begin receiving another mark of the Halifax, this time the MK.II with its Merlin XX inline engines. They would keep this model for a further year until replacing them, for a short while, with the Lancaster.

The November tragedy would round off 408’s year, taking them into 1943 and a new year that would see Bomber Command finally ready – fully trained and fully operational with four engined heavies. Harris would waste no time in using this to his advantage, striking at the many cities deep in the heart of Germany time and time again.

By January 1st, 1943, 4 Group had transferred no less than ten airfields over to the Canadians, their numbers rising as more and more aircrews were passing through the training programme. Along with Leeming, the Canadians now operated from: Croft, East Moor, Middleton-St-George, Topcliffe, Dalton, Skipton-On-Swale, Dishforth, Linton-On-Ouse and Tholthorpe. The Canadians were quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

For 408 Sqn. 1943 finally saw them confirmed as operational with seventeen MK.IIs and one MK.V on their books, it would also see their first operational casualty. On January 23rd, Halifax MK. II ‘EQ-C’ lost power in both starboard engines, this loss of power caused the aircraft to crash near to Ossington in Nottingham. Thankfully though, all the crew escaped unharmed, but it was a rather unfortunate start to 408’s mission record.

Engine fires and engine failures would see several other aircraft crash over the next few months. On return from Koln on the night of 14th – 15th February, Halifax ‘EQ-U’ crashed when the port outer engine burst into flames on the approach to the airfield. After gaining some height the pilot Flt. Lt. R. Boosey ordered the crew to evacuate the aircraft. All but one, an American, survived, his parachute failing to open in time.

Following the attack by a night-fighter on 1st – 2nd March, Halifax EQ-H, also suffered engine failure on the port side. As a result of the attack, the pilot F.O. A. Stewart (RNZAF), dropped his bombs and turned the aircraft for home. Picked up by another night fighter, the lonesome aircraft was again attacked this time the result was more decisive, the Halifax being shot down. After the crash, three of the crew were taken prisoner, the remainder managing to avoid capture going on to evade their enemy.

Enemy action may have also caused a further Halifax’s loss on the night of 12th – 13th March. Whilst on finals returning from Essen, Halifax ‘EQ-S’ lost both port engines as they also cut out. Unable to control the violent yaw, the aircraft came down not far from Leeming airfield, again thankfully all the crew escaped unharmed, the aircraft coming off much worse.

The ground crew doing maintenance work on a Halifax II of No 408 Squadron at Leeming, August 10th, 1943.

The ground crew completing maintenance work on a Halifax II of No 408 Squadron at Leeming, August 10th, 1943. days before they departed Leeming. (National Defence Image Library, PL 19510 – Via Juno Beach Centre)

During March 1943, a further Canadian unit arrived at Leeming airfield – 405 (Vancouver) Squadron. They were the first Canadian unit to have been formed overseas, and the first to carry out an operational mission. It then went on to be the only Canadian unit to be part of Bennett’s elite Pathfinder Group. 405 Sqn. also had the honour of being the first to operate the Canadian built Lancaster, the MK.X, although its entry not occurring until the dying days of the war. Remaining at Leeming from early March to mid April, 405 Sqn. departed for Gransden Lodge on the 19th. Their journey to Leeming had taken them through Driffield, Pocklington, Topcliffe and Beaulieu, a two year journey that had started on April 23rd 1941.

405 (Vancouver) Sqn had earlier taken part in the controversial 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, and had taken part in maritime operations before joining 6 Group. Their stay here being a brief one, being transferred by special train (X771) to Gamlingay station, and onward travel to Gransden Lodge and 8 Group.

It was also during April, that another Canadian unit would pass through Leeming, 424 (Tiger) Squadron, staying here for just one month before moving on. 424 Sqn. took their name from the Hamilton Wildcats, a Canadian Rugby team that played in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, after the people there adopted the Squadron as their own. Formed in December 1942 at Topcliffe, they operated Wellington IIIs which they changed for MK. Xs prior to moving over to Leeming, and eventual departure to North Africa.

The fifth Canadian unit to reside at Leeming arrived on 5th May 1943, in the form of 427 (Lion) Sqn. Four days earlier, orders had been received by 427 Sqn. that their aircraft (Wellington MK.X) were to be flown to RAF Skipton-On-Swale to form a new Canadian Squadron 432 (Leaside) Sqn., after which, their personnel were to be transferred here to Leeming, where they would receive new Halifax MK.Vs.

On the next day, twenty-one aircraft and five crews led by Sqn. Ldr. W. McKay of Vancouver, flew to Skipton, taking with them equipment and personnel. The departure was honoured by a party in the Officers’ and Sergeants’ messes both of which had been opened to all ranks, resulting in a party of true ‘Lion Squadron’ style.

The 4th and 5th then saw the transfer of the crews and equipment to Leeming, the stark contrast between a main station and satellite station coming as a pleasant surprise for the personnel of 427 Sqn. The transition from one to the other meant that there would be no flying for the squadron over the next few days, aircraft not having been fully modified or prepared for operational duties.

With two full squadrons now operating at Leeming, Halifaxes were littered across the airfield, the hardstands almost bursting with the different examples.

It was at this time (8th) that the BBC visited Leeming, making a documentary film illustrating the flight of the commanding Officer and his crew and how they had gallantly won their collection of medals. It was impeccable timing as another medal was also awarded that day, the squadron’s first DFM to Flt. Sgt. Higgins for his part in recent operations.

Over the next few days, aircrew took great pride in adorning their new aircraft with painted motifs, a tradition that had become steadfast in American circles and now more frequent within Bomber Command.

On the 24th May, the M.G.M. film company officially adopted the Squadron, in a grand ceremony outside the hangars, in which speeches were made and medals were awarded. During the ceremony a draw was held in which seventeen names were put into a hat and one drawn out. The lucky winner got to chalk the name of Lana Turner on his aircraft, Turner being one of M.G.M’s biggest stars and an icon of Hollywood glamour. The lucky pilot was Sgt. Johnson who had the privilege of chalking her name on his aircraft in front of a cheering crowd.

Lana Tuner – the pin up of Canadian crews. Wikipedia (public domain)

On the 28th the squadron finally became operational with the first mission the next day to Wuppertal. With thirteen aircraft booked to fly, one suffered technical difficulties and so only twelve made it into the air. All returned to Leeming with only one having to land away at Thurleigh due to severe damage. 427 Squadron’s war had now officially begun at Leeming.

As the summer progressed so too did operational sorties. An increase in sorties also meant an increase in risk. After all the parties and the celebrations, 427’s morale was high, but it would be short-lived, the dangers of the air war were about to be made very clear to the crews of Leeming.

On the night of 12th – 13th June, Halifax V DK183 (427 Sqn) was brought down by a night-fighter over Germany. In the attack three crewmen were killed, another was injured and three others were taken prisoner, but there was yet more to come.

A near tragic accident was only just avoided on the 16th when Flt. Sgt. E. Johnson landed after a training flight. On landing, the aircraft swung badly, and in avoiding a group of airmen, Johnson crashed the Halifax – thankfully without injury.

June continued its onslaught when on a mission to Krefeld, three of Leeming’s longer standing 408 squadron aircraft were shot down. Of the twenty-one crew aboard only seven made it out alive, all the survivors being taken prisoners of war. On the following day (22nd – 23rd) it would be 427 Sqn’s turn and another four aircraft would be lost. This time, only two of the twenty-eight survived, both being picked up by German forces and incarcerated in POW camps. In two nights, forty-nine airmen had been lost, nine of them ending up in German internment camps. But the bad spell was not yet over, another three 427 Sqn aircraft; DK135, DK144 and DK 190 along with a 408 Sqn MKII, JB858, were lost two nights later – another fourteen airmen were gone and seven more taken prisoners of war. The end of June simply couldn’t come soon enough.

But July would carry on in the same vein, 408 Sqn. losing two aircraft on the night of 3rd – 4th July, JB796 ‘EQ-C’ was lost with all but one of the crew, whilst JB913 ‘EQ-F’ was lost shot down by a night-fighter just after midnight. Two of this crew evaded whilst the others were taken prisoner by the German authorities. Both aircraft were on operations to Koln.

With a further three lost at Gelsenkirchen on the night of 9th – 10th July, two more on July 13th – 14th and one further aircraft on 27th – 28th July; the summer would come to a close with 408 having lost forty-two Halifaxes since being made operational earlier that year. 427 Sqn were not far behind in the loss stakes, the Canadians were taking a heavy battering and the mess halls must have seemed remarkably light.

It was during this time that the pilot of 408 Sqn Halifax ‘JD174’, F.O. Donald Thomas Bain RCAF (s/n: J/9412) would earn the DFC for his actions in saving his crew. The aircraft had departed from Leeming 9 minutes after midnight on the night of the 14th to bomb Aachen as part of a 374 strong force of allied bombers. After having the hydraulic system badly damaged by night fighters, Bain lost his attackers only to be subjected to further attacks on the homeward leg of the flight. Again, F.O. Bain managed to loose his pursuers, and once over the English coast realised that the damage to the hydraulics was more extensive than perhaps they first thought. The undercarriage could not be lowered, and so a belly landing was the only way the aircraft was going to be put down. However, with his bomb bay still full of bombs, this was not an option and so F.O. Bain gave the bail out order, turned the aircraft toward open ground and departed himself. After landing badly and breaking both ankles, F.O. Bain was discovered by a local farming family who, suspicious of his accent, dragged the wounded airman back to the farm house where he managed to convince them he was in fact Canadian, and not an enemy spy in disguise. He was then treated for his injuries and allowed to return to operational duties later on.

Bain’s received a DFC for his actions in saving his crew, the citation appearing in the Third Supplement of the London Gazette on August 6th 1943 which stated:

“Flying Officer Donald Thomas Bain (Can/J.9412), Royal Canadian Air Force, No. 408 (R.C.A.F.) Squadron. One night in July, 1943, this officer piloted an aircraft to attack Aachen. Whilst over the target area, the bomber was seriously damaged when engaged by an enemy fighter. Despite this, Flying Officer Bain made several determined runs over the objective. On the return flight 2 more enemy fighters were encountered but Flying Officer Bain out-manoeuvred them. By superb airmanship and great tenacity he succeeded in flying the crippled bomber to this country. He displayed commendable courage and a fine fighting spirit in circumstances of great difficulty.”

At the end of August, 408 Squadron were then transferred out of Leeming moving to RAF Linton-On-Ouse, another of 6 Group’s airfields a short distance away. With 427 Sqn. now being the only squadron on site, there was once again room for one final Canadian unit to join them.

The last Canadian squadron to use Leeming arrived on August 13th 1943, 429 (Bison) Sqn who like 427 Sqn. had swapped their Wellingtons for Halifaxes. The transition for the majority of these squadrons taking the same steps, from Wellington to Halifaxes and onto Lancasters and eventual disbandment.

429 Sqn. were only based at two airfields in their entire operational history, East Moor where they were formed, and Leeming where they were disbanded.

In January 1944 the Halifax Vs of 427 Sqn. were replaced by the MK.III. All this changing between aircraft models was proving to be a headache for the ground crews. Whilst some components were common and easily maintained, others were not, new tooling being required particularly when changing from radial to in-line Merlin engines.

By now the air war was swinging in the favour of the allies and tactics employed by the Luftwaffe were becoming more calculated and desperate. Attacking a bomber from its blind spot – underneath – had long been a method used by Luftwaffe night fighter pilots, and as a result mid upper gunners were rapidly becoming redundant. To counteract this, it was considered achievable by removing the Halifax’s turret in 429 Sqn aircraft and covering over the resultant hole. Now a window could be inserted into the belly of the aircraft and the redundant gunner, laying on a mattress, could be used to look out for attacking aircraft from beneath*⁷. The lighter load also meant that the aircraft could gain a little more speed and altitude, always a bonus when in a heavy bomber over occupied territory.

In the early part of 1944, Leeming suffered a series of puzzling fires, all minor, but none the less strange. The civilian workforce were suspected and as a result four were relieved of their duties in June with another 24 being reprimanded for their behaviour*⁷.

Halifax B Mark III, LW127 ‘HL-F’, of No. 429 Squadron RCAF, in flight over Mondeville, France, after losing its entire starboard tailplane due to bombs dropped by another Halifax above it. © IWM (CE 154)

On July 18th 1944, Operation ‘Goodwood’ was put in place. The operation required the bombing of five German held positions to the east of Caen, prior to the British Second Army’s attack. 429 Sqn. were part of this massive raid of 942 aircraft of which 260 were Halifaxes. Whilst flying on this mission Halifax LW127 was struck by falling bombs from aircraft above, its tailplane being severed completely off on the one side. Now difficult to fly, the pilot Flt. Lt. G Gardiner (RCAF) gave the bail out order, of the seven in the aircraft that day, three lost their lives, one evaded and three others were taken prisoner. A second Leeming aircraft (427 Sqn.) LV985, was also lost that day, this time with the loss of all those on board. This apart, the mission was considered a complete success with Bomber Command dropping 5,000 tons of bombs and US Forces an additional 1,800 tons.

The striking of bombers from above was not an uncommon one, for a similar event occurred on August 3rd, when another 427 Sqn Halifax LW163 ‘U’ was hit no less than three times by falling bombs from above. The pilot, F.O. L. Murphy, managed to keep the aircraft flying, delivering his own bomb load on target before returning to Leeming this time making a safe landing. Once on the ground the damage could be properly assessed, a hole had been made through the fuselage behind the turret, with a further hole through the starboard mainplane.

The supply of materials was always difficult during war time, and a shortage of bombs at Leeming caused another headache for ground crews. A shortage of 1000lb bombs meant that bombs had to be ‘borrowed’ from Dishforth until new supplies could arrive. The lead up to D-Day was particularly busy, with some 37,000 bomb tails having to be collected from Skipton in readiness for an all out maximum effort.

In May 1944 the Halifax IIIs of 427 Sqn. were replaced by Avro’s magnificent showpiece the Lancaster Mk.I and MK.III; a four engined heavy that had been born out of the disastrous, under powered twin-engined Manchester. For a year 427 Sqn. flew operations in the RAF’s ultimate bomber. By the end of the war, 427 Sqn. had dropped over 8,500 tons of bombs, in just over 3,200 sorties, the majority of these occurring in 1944. In total 101 crews had been lost in operational sorties between 1943 and 1945 from Leeming, a stark ending to a bright and happy start. 427 Sqn was eventually joined in the flying of the Lancaster by 429 (Bison) Sqn. who eventually swapped their Halifaxes for the Lancaster in May 1945.

With the end of the war in Europe and eventually the war in Japan, celebrations began in earnest at Leeming. Its doors were thrown open to the locals and many parties were held in celebration. Trips were offered to the WAAFs and ‘thank yous’ paid to the ground crews through flights over bombed German cities.

In August 1945, the last two squadrons of 6 Group passed over to 1 Group, operating under a new command following the disbandment of the ‘Base’ concept. Leeming being No. 63 base disbanding on August 31st, 1945. The base concept, implemented during the war, improved both administrative and technical services across a group of stations, streamlining the two processes by giving overall control of several airfields to one ‘base’ station.

By now Britain’s airfields were littered with unspent ordnance and it had to be disposed of. The skies continued to be full of the sound of heavy bombers taking these bombs out over the sea where they were dropped into the waters below. With disbandment on the horizon and a return to civvy street, there would be one last roll of the dice and one last casualty to remind the Canadians that flying can be a dangerous game.

On November 5th 1945, whilst on a training flight, Lancaster RA571 ‘AL-D’ of 429 Sqn crashed into a hillside, four of those on board, one an aero-mechanic, would not be returning home to a civilian life.

In the remaining months crews from both 427 and 429 took part in the repatriation flights under Operation ‘Dodge‘. Flying out to Italy, many crews ‘extended’ their stay before returning home to Leeming. By May 1946, most crews had by now departed and on the 31st, both 427 and 429 Squadrons officially disbanded, the Operational Record Books*⁵ stating:

“The return to Canada of Nos. 427 and 429 Squadrons, the last of the Canadian Heavy Bomber Squadrons which so ably operated in Bomber Command throughout the war and subsequent emergency, cause a regrettable break in an unforgettable relationship of the air, founded during (unreadable) heroic days and nights when the command bore the brunt of the offensive against the enemy.”

It goes onto say:

“During the war, the R.C.A.F. Squadrons in Bomber Command (unreadable) for themselves the most commendable operation which will forever remain prominent in the history of air warfare, and in the annuls of Bomber Command. Not the least of these are the proud operational records, too long to mention here, of Nos. 427 and 429 RCAF Squadrons.”

it ends:

“I sincerely hope that our mutual ties of comradeship which have been closely knit in war will endure, and that they will be fostered throughout the peace by the more peaceful activities of our two great nations.”

Both the importance and the contribution of Canadian crews (or any other nation for that matter) can never be understated. Trained through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, they would go on to form a third of the total number of Bomber Command air crews operating during the Second World War. They would become some of the elite bomber crews, one of the fourteen squadrons forming part of Bennett’s Pathfinder force in 8 Group.

With that, Leeming was put into wind down, the rear party departed and Leeming was then at peace once more. But the skies over Yorkshire would not stay quiet for long.

In the final part of this trail, Leeming enters the jet age, its future still in the balance as many of Britain’s airfields are closed and sold off. But with new aircraft coming on line and a new threat looming from the east, Leeming survives and takes on a new role.