American Eagles (Images of War)

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by P E N & S W O R D A V I A T I O N an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. S70 2AS Copyright © Tony Holmes 2015 ISBN: 978-1-47383-566-5 PDF ISBN: 978-1-47386-654-6 EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47386-653-9 PRC ISBN: 978-1-47386-652-2 The right of Tony Holmes to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. Typeset by Mac Style Ltd, Bridlington, East Yorkshire Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Transport, True Crime, and Fiction, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe. For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact: PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Pre-war Pilots Chapter 2: Early Action Chapter 3: ‘Eagle’ Squadrons Chapter 4: Fighter Command Chapter 5: Yanks Abroad Chapter 6: Nightfighters

Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank the following individuals (some of whom, sadly, are no longer with us) and organizations for the provision of photographs and information included within this volume: Aeroplane magazine, Dugald Cameron, CCB Associates, Eddie Creek, Stephen Fochuk, Robert Forsyth, Norman Franks, the late Roger Freeman, Chris Goss, Peter Green, Peter Hall, William Hess, Roy S. Humphreys, Philip Jarrett, Philip Kaplan, Key Publishing, Paul Ludwig, Dick Martin, Wojtek Matusiak, David Oliver, Dr Alfred Price, the late Bruce Robertson, Andy Saunders, the late Jerry Scutts, Sam Sox and Andrew Thomas.

Introduction American Eagles: US Fighter Pilots in the RAF 1939–1945 provides a photographic snapshot of the volunteer fighter pilots, and the various aircraft – predominantly Spitfires and Hurricanes – that they flew with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Keen to help Britain stem the spread of Fascism, or perhaps seeking adventure in a foreign land, a number of American citizens defied the wishes of their government by crossing the border into Canada and subsequently sailing to Britain to join the RAF. The early volunteers travelled to the UK despite the US government having issued a presidential proclamation in September 1939 specifically banning the recruitment of men for the armed forces of foreign countries from within the USA and its territories. The early arrivals joined four pre-war Americans already serving with RAF Fighter Command, being sent to frontline units defending Britain from attack by the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940. The RAF’s triumph in the Battle of Britain acted as a spur for many more idealistic young Americans to volunteer for combat. They were helped in their quest by Anglophile Charles Sweeny, a wealthy businessman who had lived in London for a number of years. He had initially recruited men to fly in the French air force, but with the fall of France in June 1940 his recruits joined the RAF instead. Sweeny’s would-be fighter pilots initially joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), before heading for the UK. His contact in Canada was First World War ace Billy Bishop, while in America Sweeny worked with artist Clayton Knight to form the Clayton Knight Committee. By the time the United States entered the war in December 1941, the latter organization had processed and approved 6,700 applications from Americans to join the RCAF or RAF. Sweeny, along with his various wealthy contacts on both sides of the Atlantic, bore the cost (more than $100,000) of processing and bringing the US trainees to the UK for training. Initially, the recruits were sent to regular units within RAF Fighter Command as attrition replacements. However, in the autumn of 1940, the RAF created the first of three ‘Eagle’ squadrons that would be manned exclusively by ‘Sweeney recruits’. Although initially frustrated by a lack of equipment, 71 Squadron (followed by 121 and 133 Squadrons) would eventually find itself in the thick of the action once the RAF went on the offensive over occupied Europe from early 1941. Several hundred volunteer pilots also served with regular units within Fighter Command, whilst others flew Spitfires, Hurricanes, Beaufighters and Mosquitoes with RAF squadrons in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Far East. This American connection continued even after the US Army Air Force (USAAF) had created the Eighth Air Force in Britain in the summer of 1942 – all three ‘Eagle’ squadrons had been transferred to USAAF control in September of that year. Indeed, there were a handful of high-scoring American aces in RAF

fighter squadrons during the final eighteen months of the war in Europe. Men such as Don Blakeslee, Billy Fiske, ‘Gus’ Daymond, Jim Dunn, Lance Wade and ‘Foob’ Fairbanks are all featured within the pages of this volume, as well as some of the lesser-known American ‘Eagles’. Spitfires and Hurricanes predominate because of their sheer number, and longevity, in frontline service. However, American fighter pilots also flew Mosquitoes, Beaufighters, Havoc Is and Defiants, and these types are illustrated too in photographs that have been carefully sourced from official and private archives across the globe. Each image is accompanied by a detailed caption that chronicles the wartime exploits of the elite ‘band of brothers’ known as the American ‘Eagles’. Tony Holmes Sevenoaks, Kent November 2014

Chapter One

Pre-war Pilots

Two of the four American pilots serving with the RAF before the war were members of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Willard Whitney Straight (who had become a British citizen in 1936) and Carl Raymond Davis (of American parentage, although he was born in South Africa) were both part of 601 ‘County of London’ Squadron. This unit was dubbed ‘The ‘Millionaires’ Mob’ as it was staffed by ‘well-to-do’ gentlemen from the capital and the surrounding Home Counties. Both Straight and Davis reinforced this image, with the former being a millionaire racing car driver, aircraft designer and accomplished private pilot, and Davis a public school graduate and qualified mining engineer. The latter had been a part of 601 Squadron since August 1936, with Straight joining the following year. One of the first five units to be established with the formation of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in 1925, 601 Squadron had flown a succession of two-seat biplane fighters from its RAF Hendon home. The unit was

equipped with Hawker Harts when Pilot Officer Davis joined up, six 601 Squadron machines being seen here in a textbook Aircraft Close Vic formation cruising over Middlesex in the autumn of 1936. Note 601 Squadron’s distinctive red winged sword emblem stencilled onto the fins of each aeroplane. In 1937 the Harts made way for the closely related Demon, which boasted a Frazer-Nash hydraulic turret for the gunner sitting behind the pilot.

There were also two Americans serving with RAF Fighter Command before the war, namely James William Elias Davies and Cyril Dampier ‘Pussy’ Palmer. Born in Bernardsville, New Jersey, Davies had travelled to the UK with his British parents during the interwar period and joined the RAF in early 1936. Upon gaining his ‘wings’ in March 1937, Davies was posted to the newly reformed 79 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill, in Kent. The unit was equipped with twelve Gloster Gauntlet II fighters, all of which are seen here ‘on the wing’ for a photographic session with The Aeroplane on 25 May 1938. Pilot Officer J.W.E. Davies is almost certainly at the controls of one of these machines, being a founder member of the unit’s ‘B’ Flight.

The last of the quartet of American fighter pilots to join the RAF before the war was Cyril ‘Pussy’ Palmer, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in March 1918. Barely 20 when he received his ‘wings’, Palmer was posted to 1 Squadron at RAF Tangmere during the summer of 1938. One of the most famous units in Fighter Command, it had been based in West Sussex since 1927 and equipped with the sleek Hawker Fury for more than six years by the time Pilot Officer Palmer arrived. No. 1 Squadron had hastily camouflaged its fighters in the wake of the Sudetenland crisis in September 1938, and the unit commenced its re-equipment with Hawker Hurricane Is the following month. The squadron was still in the process of conversion when Flight paid a visit to Tangmere in late 1938, so it could not participate in the aerial photography session seen here. However, its Fury IIs were identically camouflaged to these aircraft of 43 Squadron.

In early October 1938 this marvellous First World War-inspired squadron line-up photograph was taken at Tangmere to mark the end of 1 Squadron’s long association with the Fury – this shot was featured on the unit’s Christmas card for 1938. One of the pilots seen in the foreground is American Pilot Officer C.D. ‘Pussy’ Palmer, clothed in his standard issue white flying overall (dubbed a ‘prestige suit’ at the time) and wearing a flying helmet and goggles.

Merlins throbbing and groundcrew standing to attention, a trio of Hurricane Is from 79 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight have their engines run up on the hardstanding in front of the North Camp triple-bay Belfast hangar at Biggin Hill in 1939. These early production examples of Hawker’s monoplane fighter were fitted with two-bladed, fixed-pitch wooden airscrews, fabric-covered wings and no windscreen or seat armour. The aircraft closest to the camera is L1718/AL-T, which was amongst seventeen Hurricane Is delivered to 79 Squadron from Hawker’s Brooklands factory in November 1938. Passed on to 111 Squadron in late 1939, this aircraft was reportedly lost in France during the Blitzkrieg of May 1940, although the exact details of its final demise remain unrecorded.

‘No. 79 Squadron, Scramble!’ Although staged for the benefit of the attendant press corps, this photograph taken at Biggin Hill on Tuesday, 8 August 1939 nevertheless captures the mood of the final peacetime RAF Air Defence Exercise held in south-east England. Exactly twelve months later fighter pilots would be repeating the selfsame routine several times a day, although they were now intercepting real Luftwaffe aircraft in their hundreds rather than a handful of Blenheim Is hastily repainted with white crosses.

Once in the air, 79 Squadron formed up into Aircraft Close Line Abreast formation and proceeded to fly over the North Downs at medium altitude again for the benefit of the press photographers, who were aloft in an RAF Anson. This particular shot, again taken on 8 August, was captured by the Kent Messenger photographer. The aircraft closest to the camera, L1697/AL-A, was the personal mount of 79 Squadron’s CO, Squadron Leader C.C. McMullen, who led the unit from January 1939 until February 1940. The Hurricane fifth from bottom, L1716/AL-D, was regularly flown by Pilot Officer James Davies. Delivered new to 79 Squadron in December 1938, it remained in RAF service until struck off charge in July 1944.

Hooked up to an Albion AM463 triple-hose bowser, a Hurricane I of 1 Squadron is refuelled on the flightline at Tangmere in early 1939. Note how the engine cowling fasteners have already become chipped and the paintwork aft of the exhaust stubs blackened within weeks of the Hurricane’s arrival in the frontline from the Hawker factory. These telltale signs of heavy use indicate just how hard 1 Squadron pushed itself to achieve operational readiness with the new fighter during the winter of 1938–39.

Pilot Officer ‘Pussy’ Palmer (centre) is seen here in a casual pose with other 1 Squadron pilots outside the unit’s Watch Office at Tangmere during the summer of 1939. Behind the American are Flying Officers S.W. Baldie and C.G.H. ‘Leak’ Crusoe, whilst the individual scratching his head is Flight Lieutenant P.R. ‘Johnny’ Walker, the squadron’s senior flight commander. A member of 1 Squadron’s legendary 1937 Hendon Air Pageant team, Walker enjoyed great success during the Phoney War and the Battle of France, claiming a number of victories. Awarded a DFC in June 1940, followed by a DSO in August 1942, Walker survived the conflict with a final tally of three and two shared destroyed, two unconfirmed destroyed and one damaged.

This worm’s-eye view of Hurricane I NA-G was taken at HMS Peregrine, better known as Royal Naval Air Station Ford, in mid-1939. Situated just a few miles west of Tangmere on the Sussex coast, this airfield was a regular destination for 1 Squadron Hurricanes on navigation exercises during the final months of peace. NA-G’s serial remains a mystery, although it is known that the fighter was frequently flown by Pilot Officer ‘Pussy’ Palmer during this time.

Chapter Two

Early Action

This Hurricane I was almost certainly photographed at Tangmere at around the time Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Note the fighter’s Type A1 fuselage roundel, which had been applied at the factory to newly built aeroplanes at the very beginning of the Hurricane’s production, then abandoned during the Munich Crisis of September 1938 and reinstated on 1 May 1940. All the aircraft delivered to 1 Squadron in October–November 1938 had Type B roundels, which lacked the yellow and white rings, so it would appear that this anonymous Hurricane I was supplied to the unit as an attrition replacement in late August or early September 1939. The ‘old’ roundel was soon modified by an airman equipped with pots of red and blue insignia paint and a brush. No. 1 Squadron’s pre-war NA code letters were not long for this world either.

No. 1 Squadron moved to France on 8 September 1939 as part of the rapid deployment of the British Expeditionary Force following the outbreak of war. The unit flew from several airfields during the Phoney War that ensued, with this photograph being taken outside the mess at Pontavert during the first week of May 1940. No. 1 Squadron was flying from nearby Berry-au-Bac at the time, the pilots enduring tented accommodation with the groundcrews when on duty. These pilots are, from left to right, Peter Boot, ‘Hilly’ Brown, F.J. Soper, Les Clisby (partly hidden), ‘Pussy’ Palmer, R.L. ‘Lorry’ Lorimer, Johnny Walker and ‘Killy’ Kilmartin. Within days of this photograph being taken the Germans had launched their invasion of the west and Berry-au-Bac had been abandoned.

Dashing over the muddy expanses of Vassincourt towards their aircraft, pilots perform a mock scramble – note the smile on ‘Lorry’ Lorimer’s face – for the benefit of the visiting press corps. This scene would be repeated three or four times a day following the launch of Operation Yellow by the Germans in the early hours of 10 May 1940. The pilots in this photograph are, from left to right, Billy Drake, ‘Lorry’ Lorimer, ‘Pussy’ Palmer (in his pre-war ‘prestige suit’), ‘Prosser’ Hanks and Les Clisby.

Representative of the Hurricane Is flown by 1 Squadron to France, L1679 was the regular

mount of future ace Flying Officer Paul Richey for much of the Phoney War. However, it was not one of the original sixteen Hurricanes transferred from Tangmere to Octeville on the morning of 8 September 1939, although it was amongst the first batch of fourteen fabricwinged, two-bladed Mk Is delivered to 1 Squadron from the Hawker factory in October 1938. This aircraft was destroyed in a strafing attack on Mézières by German Dornier Do 17 bombers on 14 May 1940.

By late 1939 the two Hurricane units in France (1 and 73 Squadrons) serving with the RAF’s 67 Wing had painted their fighters in near-identical schemes, having forsaken distinguishing two-letter codes (JX for 1 Squadron and TP for 73 Squadron) for a single letter. This change was made to avoid confusion amongst the many French squadrons operating in the area – local pilots were not familiar with the RAF’s code system. Improved identification was also the driving force behind the adoption of the nonstandard red, white and blue rudder, as several aircraft within 67 Wing were attacked by French fighters soon after moving into north-eastern France. These aircraft, on short finals to Rouvres in December 1939, both belong to 73 Squadron. The machine furthest from the camera is fitted with a three-bladed airscrew.

Late in the morning of 23 November 1939, ‘Pussy’ Palmer’s ‘A’ Section succeeded in intercepting a Do 17P reconnaissance aircraft of 4.(F)/122, which force-landed near Moirement, west of Verdun, after being shot up at 20,000ft. During the course of the action Palmer himself was almost shot down when the Dornier’s pilot, Unteroffizier Arno Frankenburger, succeeded in hitting the American’s Hurricane with thirty-four rounds. The German was captured by French troops after crash-landing his stricken reconnaissance bomber, and he was later entertained in 1 Squadron’s Officers’ Mess at Neuville. Before being packed off to a PoW camp, Frankenburger presented his hosts with this photograph of

himself, on the back of which he had inscribed, ‘With eternal thanks on the part of the vanquished Arno Frankenburger – What a pity – A.F.’

A number of Hurricane Is issued to 1 Squadron were eventually passed on to 73 Squadron as the former received aircraft fitted with variable pitch propellers in late 1939 – N2358 was one such machine. Coded Z by 1 Squadron soon after its arrival at Vassincourt in November 1939 (following brief service with 43 Squadron at Acklington), the fighter retained this code letter when it was passed on to 73 Squadron at Rouvres early in the New Year. Parked in 1 Squadron’s muddy dispersal area on the edge of Vassincourt airfield, the fighter is seen here being refuelled from the unit’s Albion three-point bowser whilst its fitter tinkers with the engine. Flown on several occasions by ‘Pussy’ Palmer, N2358 was one of twelve Hurricane Is plucked out of the frontline, or from maintenance units, and sent to the Gloster Aircraft Company for refurbishment. The aircraft were then shipped to Finland in late February 1940 for service with the Finnish air force in its fight with the Soviet Union.

Rearming and refuelling fighters in the field became progressively more difficult as the Germans thrust towards the Channel at great speed following the launching of the Blitzkrieg on 10 May 1940. Even before the offensive, turning fighters around on the ground was a labour-intensive task, as this photograph of a 1 Squadron Hurricane in early 1940 clearly shows. Lacking an Albion three-point bowser from which to refuel, the groundcrew are having to make do with a small, wheeled cart, alongside which are boxes of ammunition. An armourer can be seen tending the quartet of 0.303in Browning guns in the left wing, and at the extreme right of the photograph a pilot (far right) chats with his ‘Chiefy’. This shot was almost certainly taken pre-Blitzkrieg, for only one member of the groundcrew is wearing a steel helmet.

All aircraft maintenance in France took place in the open, as this photograph of a 1 Squadron Hurricane I clearly shows. With the groundcrew off having a tea break, the fighter has been left sitting on jacks awaiting an engine change. A factory-fresh Rolls-Royce Merlin II, unsoiled by glycol leaks or oil smears, sits in its packing crate ready for fitting. This photograph was taken at Vassincourt in March 1940.

More heavy maintenance at Vassincourt. The airmen have enlisted the support of a mobile crane on this occasion, rather than relying on a block and tackle. The Hurricane’s poorly placed reserve fuel tank, immediately forward of the cockpit, can be clearly seen in this photograph. On 2 April 1940 ‘Pussy’ Palmer’s aircraft sustained a hit in the reserve tank when he was bounced by Bf 109s near Saarbrücken. His fighter caught fire and he was forced to bail out.

The most successful fighter unit of the RAF’s Advanced Air Striking Force during the Battle of France, 1 Squadron was credited with sixty-three aerial victories and eleven probables for the loss of two pilots killed, one captured and four wounded. The unit suffered heavy attrition, with twenty-one Hurricanes being destroyed (the bulk of these were abandoned on the ground as a result of the enemy’s rapid advance into France). Of the twenty-two RAF units to see action during the Blitzkrieg, only the Air Component’s 3 and 85 Squadrons, with sixty-seven and sixty-four and a half victories, respectively, outscored 1 Squadron. In this famous press photograph, the officers of 1 Squadron pose for one final group shot outside their hotel (the Marie) at Neuville in early 1940. They are, from left to right, Pilot Officer Billy Drake, Flying Officers Les Clisby and ‘Lorry’ Lorimer (both killed in action on 14 May 1940), Flight Lieutenant ‘Prosser’ Hanks, Pilot Officer ‘Boy’ Mould, Squadron Leader ‘Bull’ Halahan, Lieutenant Jean ‘Moses’ Demozay (French liaison officer), Flight Lieutenant ‘Johnny’ Walker, ‘Doc’ Brown (squadron medical officer), Flying Officers Paul Richey and ‘Killy’ Kilmartin, Pilot Officer ‘Stratters’ Stratton and Flying Officer ‘Pussy’ Palmer. Both Walker and Palmer are wearing carpet slippers!

Having survived thirteen days of near-constant combat, ‘Pussy’ Palmer, along with most of the surviving Phoney War pilots of 1 Squadron, was posted back to England on 23 May 1940. The following month he was one of ten pilots from the unit awarded the DFC (three sergeant pilots received DFMs at the same time) for his actions in France. By then Palmer was commanding ‘C’ Flight of No. 6 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Sutton Bridge. Remaining in Training Command until the autumn of 1942, Palmer was promoted to squadron leader and posted as a supernumerary to 234 Squadron on 6 October. Flying Spitfire VBs from Portreath, on the north Cornish coast, he had completed just a handful of sweeps when he was reported missing in action on 27 October. One of two pilots shot down when 234 Squadron was bounced by Fw 190s over Ile de Batz, on the French coast, Palmer was seen to bail out, but his body was never found.

Like most units that were rushed to France in the wake of Operation Yellow being launched by the Germans, 79 Squadron was rarely photographed whilst on the continent. This priceless shot, which was taken on the day of the invasion – 10 May 1940 – at Merville, shows a trio of pilots from the unit chatting with their French counterparts shortly after their arrival in France. The RAF officers are, from left to right, Pilot Officers L.L. ‘Lew’ Appleton (killed in action on 14 May), J.E.R. Wood (killed in action on 8 July), D.W.A. ‘Dimsie’ Stones and American Flying Officer J.W.E. ‘Jimmy’ Davies (wearing the black polo neck top beneath his tunic). The French pilots, and the Morane-Saulnier MS.406s behind them, belonged to the Merville-based 2ème Escadrille of Groupe de Combat III/I. This is the only wartime photograph of ‘Jimmy’ Davies that has come to the author’s attention.

Very few photographs exist of 601 Squadron’s Blenheim IFs, this rare view showing three examples ‘on the wing’ from Biggin Hill soon after the unit was mobilized following Britain’s declaration of war on 3 September 1939. The aircraft in the foreground was being flown by Flight Lieutenant Roger Bushell when this shot was taken – it was also occasionally flown by American Flying Officer Carl Davis. A pre-war pilot, Bushell was subsequently downed over Dunkirk in late May 1940 whilst flying a Spitfire as CO of 92 Squadron. Soon captured, he later gained fame as ‘Big X’ at Stalag Luft III PoW camp, from where he led the ‘Great Escape’ of March 1944. Bushell was one of fifty RAF officers to be murdered by the Germans following recapture.

Buttoned up in his standard issue RAF greatcoat, and chewing on his trademark pipe, Flying Officer Whitney Straight poses in front of his Blenheim IF at a snowy Tangmere in January 1940. He had this aircraft specially modified through the fitment of armoured seats purchased privately from Wilkinson Sword. Note the fighter’s four-gun pack bolted to the fuselage under the bomb bay, this fitment containing 2,000 rounds of belted 0.303in ammunition.

Heavy snowfall characterized the winter of 1939–40, and Tangmere was not spared despite its proximity to the sea. These 601 Squadron Blenheim IFs were resident at the airfield throughout the harsh winter months, groundcrews struggling in the open to keep the fighters airworthy.

On the morning of 27 June 1940, His Majesty King George VI visited Biggin Hill to present DFCs and DFMs to pilots from 32 and 79 Squadrons following their acts of bravery over France. This photograph was taken during the investiture, which was held in front of the North Camps Belfast hangar – note the medals pinned to the chests of each of the pilots lined up in the foreground. Flight Lieutenant Michael ‘Red Knight’ Crossley of 32 Squadron is

chatting with the king, whilst behind him, waiting their turn to talk with His Royal Highness, are Pilot Officers V.G. ‘Jack’ Daw and D.H. ‘Grubby’ Grice, both from 32 Squadron, and 79 Squadron’s Pilot Officer ‘Dimsie’ Stones and Sergeants H. Cartwright (killed in action exactly one week later) and A.W. Whitby. Recently promoted Flight Lieutenant ‘Jimmy’ Davis was also due to receive his DFC at this ceremony, but he had been shot down and killed over the Channel on the very morning the investiture took place.

This shot was one in a sequence taken by renowned aviation photographer Charles E. Brown during a visit he made to Tangmere in early July 1940. This view shows a section of 601 Squadron Hurricanes being fuelled (the aircraft on the left also appears to be having its magazines reloaded) before undertaking a convoy protection patrol off the South Coast. The unit seems to be relying on a towable bowser to supply fuel, rather than the ubiquitous three-point truck. Note also the belts of 0.303in ammunition draped over the flat-loader trolley, marked ‘601’, to the left of the bowser, the solitary fire extinguisher just forward of the bowser and the fitter holding the radio access panel for the Hurricane parked closest to the camera. Three pilots are visible in this view, although only two have been identified – the individual in the pre-war white overall standing behind the radio fitter is Flying Officer ‘Willie’ Rhodes-Moorhouse, whilst the pilot in the ‘Mae West’ is newly promoted squadron OC, The Hon J.W. ‘Max’ Aitken. Rhodes-Moorhouse would be killed in action on the morning of 6 September 1940, shot down in the same engagement as American Carl Davis.

Veteran 601 Squadron Hurricane I P3886 is serviced on the eastern fringe of the perimeter at Exeter Airport in mid-September 1940. Note the aircraft’s natural metal cowling over its reduction gear, which had been fitted in the wake of the engine failure suffered by the Hurricane on 26 July. Once repaired, the fighter enjoyed success whilst being flown by 601 Squadron aces Sergeant Len Guy (who shared in the destruction of a Ju 88 on 15 August) and Flying Officer Carl Davis (one Ju 87 destroyed and a second shared destroyed, as well as a Bf 109E destroyed on 18 August, followed by a Bf 110 probable thirteen days later). Both pilots had been killed in action by the time this photograph was taken, Guy being shot down over Portsmouth on 18 August and Davis crashing to his death near Tunbridge Wells on 6 September.

Aside from the two Ju 87s credited to Carl Davis in Hurricane P3886 on 18 August, he had forced this Stuka down two days earlier after chasing it across the Sussex coast at low level in P3383. Riddled with the best part of 240 rounds of 0.303in ammunition, the aircraft crashlanded at Bowley Farm, near South Mundham, during the devastating raid on Tangmere on the afternoon of the 16th. Its crew, Oberfeldwebel Willi Witt and Feldwebel Heinz Röcktäschel of 3./StG 2, both died of wounds received during the engagement, with the Feldwebel gunner being killed before the Ju 87 hit the ground. Witt passed away soon after the dive-bomber came to a halt, its port outer wing section ripped off by a tree and its propeller shattered through striking the ground. Remarkably, the Stuka’s undercarriage remained intact in spite of the aircraft’s heavy impact with several trees and a hedgerow.

The Ju 87 downed by Carl Davis has its unused 7.92mm ammunition stripped from its wing guns by armourers from nearby Tangmere. Note the heavy impact damage to the Stuka’s wing root and outer section.

For many years William Meade Lindsley ‘Billy’ Fiske was officially deemed to have been the only American killed during the Battle of Britain, but recent research has revealed that he was actually the first of four US citizens to die during the campaign whilst serving with Fighter Command. A wealthy stockbroker, film producer and international sportsman, as well as the husband of the former Countess of Warwick, Fiske joined 601 Squadron in July 1940, having never flown a Hurricane before. Effectively trained ‘on the job’, he proved to be a gifted fighter pilot, and saw near-daily action from 20 July through to his death on 17 August from wounds he had received in combat the previous day.

‘Billy’ Fiske was buried at Boxgrove Priory, near Tangmere, his funeral being attended by as many 601 Squadron pilots as could be spared – the contingent, led by Flight Lieutenant Sir Archibald Hope, can be seen standing at the churchyard gate. Fiske’s coffin was draped with an American flag, atop which was placed his service cap.

A number of units serving within Fighter Command during the fateful summer of 1940 were poorly recorded on film, and Kenley-based 64 Squadron was one of them. To make matters worse, there appears to be no official listing that matches the codes worn by its Spitfires with the serials of those aircraft known to have been on strength with the squadron. Therefore, the exact identity of SH-E remains a mystery, as do the date on which this photograph was taken and the location. What can be said for certain is that the aircraft is a Spitfire I of 64 Squadron during the summer of 1940, and that it was probably photographed at Kenley or Hawkinge. American Pilot Officer A.G. ‘Art’ Donahue flew similarly marked K9991 and X4018 during his brief spell with the unit in early August. The latter fighter, which he bailed out of on 12 August, had only been delivered to the unit four days earlier, having flown for the first time on 27 July.

Ironically, of the handful of photographs to feature 64 Squadron Spitfire Is during the Battle

of Britain, most were taken by the Luftwaffe. One in a series of shots exposed in a beet field on the French coast near Calais-Marck on the afternoon of 15 August, this view shows a battle-damaged K9964 soon after the fighter had force-landed. Its pilot, Pilot Officer Ralph Roberts, reported to his captors that he had become lost after a particularly vicious dogfight over the Channel. Straying over occupied France, Roberts had been bounced by Bf 109Es from 7./JG 26 and shot down by Leutnant Gerhard Müller-Dühe – who would in turn lose his life when shot down by 32 Squadron’s Flight Lieutenant Pete Brothers over Chilham just three days later.

Newly commissioned Pilot Officer A.G. ‘Art’ Donahue of St Charles, Minnesota, poses for a formal photograph soon after collecting his uniform in London in early July 1940. Fresh-faced and keen to tackle the Germans, he expressed his reasons for putting his life on the line for Britain in the following extract from his book, Tally-Ho! Yankee in a Spitfire. ‘It’s hard to give a specific reason why I became a combat pilot. Of course I’d always wanted to be one, and

once I was in England the significance of the struggle seemed to carry me away. This was mid-July. France had fallen, and the invasion of England seemed imminent. Its success would open up the whole world to a barbarian conquest. I had a growing admiration for the British people and a sincere desire to help them all I could. I couldn’t help feeling that it would be fighting for my country, too. I felt drawn into the struggle like a moth to a candle. That’s a pretty good comparison, too, for it developed that I was to get burned once and be drawn right back into it again!’ Indeed, Donahue fell victim to a Bf 109E from 8./JG 26 on 12 August – just nine days after joining 64 Squadron.

Of the eleven Americans to see action with Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, three of them served side by side with 609 ‘West Riding’ Squadron at RAF Middle Wallop in August–September 1940. Pilot Officers ‘Andy Mamedoff (left), ‘Shorty’ Keough (centre) and ‘Red’ Tobin (right) pose for one of a series of photographs taken of them in, on and around a borrowed Hurricane that was known to have been decorated with a Polish air force marking below the exhaust stubs. This official Air Ministry shot was taken in October 1940 following the formation of 71 ‘Eagle’ Squadron at RAF Church Fenton.

Spitfire I PR-Q (serial unknown) has its guns fired into the butts at Drem, in Scotland, during early April 1940. Although not strictly a photograph of a fighter during the Battle of Britain, this aircraft did go on to see action with 609 Squadron during the summer, flying from Middle Wallop. Note the civilian photographers crouched forward of the aircraft’s port wing. Such firepower demonstrations proved popular with the press, although they were not part of the standard checking procedure for the Spitfire’s armament.

Photographed on the eve of the Battle of Britain, Spitfire I P9322/PR-L is seen taxiing out from its dispersal at Northolt on 1 July 1940. Strapped into the cockpit is Pilot Officer David Crook, who would claim a Ju 87 destroyed and a second Stuka damaged whilst flying the fighter on 9 July. P9322 was in turn holed by cannon rounds fired from a Bf 110C of V.(Z)/LG 1 on 8 August, its pilot on this occasion being Pilot Officer Michael Appleby, who had downed a Zerstörer just minutes before his fighter was hit. Spitfire I R6699 was duly recoded PR-L, and on 18 August it struck a parked Blenheim IF of 604 Squadron at Middle Wallop soon after ‘Red’ Tobin had landed in it at the end of a patrol. Although the fighter suffered damage to its flaps and tail, R6699 was quickly returned to full serviceability.

The second PR-L is rearmed at Warmwell late in the afternoon of 13 August, having just returned from a successful sortie over Weymouth with Pilot Officer D.M. Crook at the controls. R6699 had been used by the future author of Spitfire Pilot to destroy the Bf 109E-1 of 5./JG 53’s Unteroffizier Willi Hohenfeldt, who was captured. Note the pilot’s parachute slung over the tailplane and missing canvas gun port patches. When an airman from 609 Squadron saw a Spitfire taxiing into dispersal with its gun covers missing and wing undersurfaces streaked with powder fouling, as seen here, his standard question to the pilot was ‘Bags of joy, Sir?’ Invariably the reply would be an emphatic ‘Yes!’

Just twenty-four hours after Pilot Officer Crook’s successful sortie over Weymouth, squadron mate Flying Officer Henry ‘Mac’ Goodwin was lost in action in the same location whilst attempting to engage Ju 88s of 1./LG 1 that had used cloud cover to mask their

approach to Middle Wallop. Scrambled in the wake of the devastating surprise raid, Goodwin (who had claimed three victories in the previous two days) headed south in N3024/PR-H and simply disappeared. He was almost certainly bounced by enemy fighters, as a Spitfire was reportedly seen to crash into the sea off Boscombe Pier, in Dorset, a short while later. The pilot succeeded in bailing out, but no trace of him could be found. Ten days later ‘Mac’ Goodwin’s body was washed ashore on the Isle of Wight. This photograph shows a missionready N3024, and its groundcrew, at Middle Wallop in early August. Parked behind PR-H is Spitfire I L1096/PR-G, which survived its long spell with 609 Squadron and was later passed onto the Fleet Air Arm.

Conspicuous by his lack of a ‘Mae West’, Pilot Officer ‘Red’ Tobin was reluctantly roped in for the group shot that was taken at Warmwell soon after the unit had returned from its epic battle with the Luftwaffe on the afternoon of 13 August, now better known as Adlertag (‘Eagle Day’). Thirteen aircraft had been scrambled to intercept Ju 87s of II./StG 2 sent to attack Warmwell and Middle Wallop, the dive-bombers being escorted by Bf 109Es from I./JG 53. During a brief, but frenzied, attack six Stukas and two Emils were destroyed, without loss (two Spitfires were damaged, however). Tobin did not participate in this mission as he was still three days away from being declared operational.

Aside from the three ‘Yanks’ who served with 609 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, the Canadians also had a presence in the ‘West Riding’ squadron in the form of Pilot Officer Keith Ogilvie. A future ace, the Ottawan joined the unit on 20 August and served in the frontline until he was shot down and captured on 4 July 1941. He subsequently took part in the Great Escape in March 1944, but was recaptured after two days on the run. Ogilvie is seen here smoking his pipe and enjoying a joke with ‘Red’ Tobin whilst at readiness in front of 609 Squadron’s Watch Office at Middle Wallop in late August – both pilots were assigned to ‘A’ Flight, and they regularly flew together. Note the American’s preference for flying boots (into which he has tucked a map) and full service dress.

A panoramic view of 609 Squadron’s dispersal at the southern end of Middle Wallop during the height of the Battle of Britain. The Watch Office seen behind Pilot Officers Ogilvie and Tobin in the previous photograph is to the left of the tent. The main Andover–Salisbury road (the A343) ran immediately behind this cluster of buildings, and Spitfires would regularly taxi along the public highway when being moved to and from the permanent hangars at the northern end of the station to the unit’s dispersal.

No doubt in a reflective state of mind, Pilot Officer ‘Andy’ Mamedoff poses alongside his damaged Spitfire I (L1082) on the afternoon of 24 August 1940 – the very day he celebrated his twenty-eighth birthday. Note that he has placed his right leg through the gaping hole in his starboard elevator. Mamedoff’s section had been ‘bounced’ by Bf 109s over Ryde, and he had been singled out by Hauptmann Hans-Karl Mayer, Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 53. In just a matter of seconds the fifteen-kill German ace had hit the Spitfire with two 20mm cannon shells, one of which entered the rear fuselage, took out the radio and almost penetrated the pilot’s seat-back armour. The second shell had shredded the elevator, whilst the 7.92mm machine gun rounds liberally peppered the fuselage and wings.

With Mamedoff out of the picture, the true extent of the damage to the tail can be gauged. L1082 had been so badly shot up that its tailwheel collapsed when the fighter was gently put down at Middle Wallop. In a rare case of reverse ‘Spitfire snobbery’ (where Germans pilots claimed to have shot done a Supermarine fighter rather than a Hurricane because they believed the former to be a greater prize), Mayer actually reported that his victim was a Hurricane. However, a study of combat reports for 24 August reveal that Mamedoff was attacked at exactly the same time, in the same location, and there were no Hurricanes present.

Mamedoff nervously smiles for the camera, having stuck a finger into one of three bullet holes punched through the propeller of his fighter. L1082 was the very first Spitfire I issued to 609 Squadron, having been flown to its pre-war base at Yeadon directly from the Supermarine works at Woolston, Southampton, by the unit’s then CO, Squadron Leader Geoffrey Ambler, in August 1939. Note the camouflage netting hastily thrown over the forlorn Spitfire in an effort to camouflage it from attack by marauding German aircraft. The fighter remained stuck out on the airfield in the open until its tail could be jacked up and the battle-weary warrior towed away behind a Fordson tractor. Deemed too badly damaged to be repaired, L1082 was struck off charge and reduced to components.

‘Andy’ Mamedoff’s unseen assailant high over Ryde on the afternoon of 24 August was veteran fighter ace Hauptmann Hans Karl-Mayer. A man of great physical presence (he had to cram himself into the tiny cockpit of his Bf 109), Mayer was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 3 September 1940, by which time he had increased his score to nineteen kills. Promoted

to the position of Kommandeur of I./JG 53 at the same time, the German ace would lose his life in combat over the Channel on 17 October 1940.

This rare shot of Flying Officer Otto John Peterson was taken soon after 1 Squadron RCAF had arrived at Middle Wallop in late June 1940. Few photographs of the ‘Canadian’ American have survived. Hailing from Eckville, Atlanta, he had joined the RCAF on 7 November 1938 when aged 23. Peterson was assigned to the newly formed 1 Squadron in the autumn of 1939, the unit receiving a handful of precious Hurricane Is from the batch of twenty supplied to Canada in 1938–39. On the morning of 27 September, having seen considerable combat during the previous four weeks, Peterson fell victim to Bf 110s of V.(Z)/LG 1. His Hurricane (P3647) crashed near Hever, in Kent, Peterson’s body subsequently being extricated from the wreckage and buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery. He was the last of three 1 Squadron pilots to be killed during the Battle of Britain.

The pilot of Hurricane I V6697/YO-L carefully taxies away from 1 Squadron’s dispersal with an airman on each wingtip, heading for the grass runway at Northolt. A Gloster-built aircraft, this particular fighter had initially served with fellow Northolt-based 303 ‘Polish’ Squadron, before being transferred to 1 Squadron RCAF on 16 September 1940. It was later passed on to 213 Squadron, and written off in a mid-air collision with Hurricane I R4109 during a mock dogfight near Castletown, in northern Scotland, on 18 March 1941.

An informal view of 1 Squadron’s officer corps, almost certainly photographed at Northolt soon after the unit had been declared operational in mid-August. Otto Peterson can be seen laughing second from left, whilst the short moustachioed fellow in the centre of the group is the squadron CO, Squadron Leader E.A. ‘Ernie’ McNab. Peterson was the only pilot from this group not to survive the Battle of Britain.

As with V6697, this particular fighter was part of the production batch of 500 Hurricane Is built at Hucclecote by Gloster between August 1940 and January 1941. V6609 was delivered new to 1 Squadron on 30 August as an attrition replacement, being the last of four Hurricanes to arrive at Northolt for the unit during the final week of the month. Coded YO-X, it remained in the frontline until shot up by a Bf 109E east of Gravesend on the afternoon of 17 September (Hurricane I V6669 is often misquoted as having been the aircraft downed on this date). V6609’s pilot, Flying Officer Carl Briese, succeeded in carrying out a forced landing at High Halstow, and the fighter was duly repaired and returned to service. Parked at readiness in a corner of the airfield at Northolt during the first week of September, YO-X acts as a backdrop for a photograph of Flying Officers Carl Briese and Thomas Little – the latter pilot was seriously wounded in action on 11 September.

Possibly the only photograph of Carl Raymond Davis in existence, this informal shot shows him at readiness between sorties in 601 Squadron’s dispersal area at Tangmere during the early weeks of the Battle of Britain. As the weather grew warmer and high summer

approached, pilots would often fly in just service dress trousers, a bright pale blue (faded to almost white in most cases) shirt and a black tie, with their 1932 pattern temperate life preserver, or ‘Mae West’, secured over the top. Standard issue 1936 pattern flying boots were also usually discarded in favour of steel-tipped, lace-up service dress shoes, as worn by Davis in this photograph.

The charred remains of Carl Davis’s Hurricane I P3363 sit in the back garden of Canterbury Cottage in the village of Brenchley, east of Tunbridge Wells, on the morning of 6 September 1940. Eyewitness reports state that the flaming fighter broke in two soon after being bounced from above by a Bf 109, the forward section hitting the ground inverted and then flipping over and eventually skidding to a halt right side up. The wings, engines, propeller and cockpit remained remarkably intact despite the ferocity of the fire that engulfed the stricken

Hurricane, and the pilot was discovered still strapped into his seat by Police Sergeant Eric Hubbard. The white area in the centre of this photo is Davis’s parachute, which was deployed by the Matfield policeman upon his arrival at the scene in order to cover the remains of the dead pilot – Hubbard can be seen examining the cockpit. Flying Officer Carl Raymond Davis DFC was later buried close to Tangmere in St Mary’s churchyard in Storrington, Sussex.

Pilot Officer Phillip Howard ‘Zeke’ Leckrone of Salem, Illinois, had worked as a flying instructor in his home town before making the short journey across the border into Canada in July 1940 and joining the RAF. After completing a truncated conversion onto the Spitfire with 7 OTU at Hawarden, Leckrone received orders to report to 616 ‘South Yorkshire’ Squadron at Kenley. He missed out on seeing combat with the unit from the Surrey airfield by just a matter of days, although he participated in several ‘Big Wing’ sorties with 616 Squadron in late September. This photograph was almost certainly taken whilst he was waiting at readiness at Duxford, or nearby Fowlmere, for the call to scramble the ‘Big Wing’, as Leckrone is seated in a 19 Squadron Spitfire II – note the partly visible QV code below the cockpit. The fighter’s toughened glass windscreen, GM 2 reflector gunsight, faired in rear-view mirror, headrest and canopy push-out panel are also well shown in this shot. Amongst the initial group of pilots to join the newly formed 71 Squadron, Leckrone became

its first fatality on 5 January 1941 when his Hurricane was struck by Edwin ‘Bud’ Orbison’s fighter at an altitude of 20,000ft. Although the latter pilot succeeded in landing safely back at Kirton, Leckrone failed to bail out of his stricken fighter.

A pair of 616 Squadron Spitfire Is glide in over the perimeter at Kirton-in-Lindsey after completing yet another training flight in mid-September 1940. A standard landing during this time would see the pilot fly a curved approach so as to enable him to keep the airfield in sight at all times. The canopy hood was locked open and the side door left ajar in the halfcocked position so as to avoid the hood slamming shut in a mishap. The pilot then checked the brake pressure and extended the undercarriage, the latter only being dropped at speeds below 160mph – two green lights and indicator bars out in the cockpit told the pilot if the wheels were down. Engine mixture should be rich, propeller pitch lever to fully fine and flaps down (only below 140mph). With all this completed, the pilot aimed to ‘fly over the hedge’ at 85mph indicated and then ease gently back on the control column to keep the Spitfire off the grass until its speed was down to 64mph. The fighter would then gently stall back onto the runway. Flown for the first time on the last day of August 1940, X4330/QJ-G was delivered to 616 Squadron exactly a week later, and it served with the unit into 1941.

The first confirmed victory by an American flying a Spitfire was claimed by Pilot Officer ‘Red’ Tobin of 609 Squadron, who, during a raid on London on 15 September 1940, was credited with sharing in the destruction of a Do 17. Tobin’s victim is thought to have been this Do 17Z (F1+FS of 8./KG 76), flown by Feldwebel Rolf Heitsch, which crash-landed at Lullingstone Castle Farm in Kent.

Yet another American pilot to take his place in 11 Group at the start of September 1940 was Pilot Officer Hugh William Reilley, who, for many years, was recorded by historians as being a Canadian. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on 26 May 1918, Reilly moved ‘north of the border’ to London, Ontario, with his American father and Scottish mother when he was an infant. Reilley and a friend sailed to England in May 1939, where he successfully obtained a shortservice commission in the RAF the following September. With no previous flying experience, Hugh Reilley was put through the long ‘wings’ course that included time at No. 1 Initial Training Wing, Nos 2 and 10 Elementary Flying Training Schools and No. 2 Flying Training

School (FTS). Finally, in mid-August 1940, he arrived at 7 OTU at Hawarden and converted onto Spitfires. Reilley was duly sent to 64 Squadron on 1 September, the ex-Kenley outfit then being in the process of resting and re-equipping at Leconfield. Seen here posing for a formal photograph in his newly ‘winged’ service dress just before he arrived at 64 Squadron in early September, Reilly was posted to 66 Squadron just days later.

One of the first fighter squadrons in the RAF to receive the Spitfire, 66 Squadron was kept out of the action until 3 September 1940, when it was ordered down from Coltishall to Kenley. A week later it moved to Gravesend, where the unit remained until 30 October. This photograph was taken in the ex-civilian clubhouse at Gravesend, which became the resident fighter squadron’s crew room and bar during the airport’s wartime service. The six pilots seen wearing ‘Mae Wests’ in this photograph are at readiness, with the individual sitting on the extreme right in a white ‘prestige suit’ being Hugh Reilley. Seated directly opposite the American, and leaning forward in his chair, is 66 Squadron’s CO, Squadron Leader Rupert Leigh. Standing immediately to the CO’s left, and without a ‘Mae West’, is Flying Officer ‘Bobby’ Oxspring, whom Reilley often flew with as his ‘number two’.

This action photograph was taken at Gravesend in late September 1940, and it shows a 66 Squadron Spitfire coming in to land at the completion of a patrol. In the foreground is R6800, which was regularly flown by the unit’s CO, Squadron Leader Rupert ‘Lucky’ Leigh. He had the fighter adorned with a rarely seen pre-war rank pennant below the cockpit, as well as an insignia red propeller spinner. The latter had been hastily painted after he was almost shot down in error by a section of Hurricanes, Leigh believing that any potential attacker would be so surprised by such a marking that he would have a good look at his fighter prior to pressing home an attack. Parked behind R6800 is a Hurricane I of 501 ‘County of Gloucester’ Squadron, which also operated out of Gravesend at the time, despite technically being based at Kenley.

A later shot in the sequence of photographs taken at Gravesend sometime in September 1940. The steel-helmeted groundcrew have now got the engine running on R6800, and its pilot (almost certainly ‘Lucky’ Leigh) is standing anxiously waiting for the airman to vacate the cockpit so he can in turn strap in. This aircraft is clearly about to venture skyward on its second mission of the day, for its gun ports are missing their canvas covers and the underwing areas are streaked with gunpowder fouling. Rupert Leigh claimed two kills during the battle – an He 111 on 9 September and a share in the destruction of a second Heinkel bomber two days later. The authenticity of these turnaround shots is lent credence by the fact that the airmen are both wearing helmets, which were only donned when enemy aircraft were reported to be in the area.

R6800 was also photographed after the all clear had been sounded, for its groundcrew have now dispensed with their ‘tin hats’. The airman on the left appears to be checking the flight controls, for the aircraft’s port aileron is in the fully up position. Note also the diamondshaped patch of gas-sensitive paint applied to the surface of the wing. This was the very fighter in which Hugh Reilley would lose his life over the North Downs when, on 17 October, his section was bounced at high altitude by a Schwarm of Bf 109Es from JG 51, led by Major Werner Mölders.

Another poorly photographed unit during the summer of 1940 was 151 Squadron, to which 19-year-old American Pilot Officer John Kenneth Haviland was posted at RAF Digby, south of Lincoln, on 23 September. Born in Mount Kisco, New York, in January 1921, Haviland’s father was an officer in the US Navy and his mother was English. Having spent most of his life in England, he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in July 1939 and completed his flying training with 10 FTS. No. 151 Squadron had been badly mauled during the height of the Battle of Britain, and Haviland was one of a handful of replacement pilots posted in following its move to 12 Group. This particular aircraft (V7434), seen in a blast pen at Digby, was a veteran of the battle, as was its regular pilot, New Zealander Pilot Officer Irving ‘Black’ Smith. Indeed he used this very aeroplane to achieve ace status on 2 October 1940, when he forced He 111H-5 Wk-Nr 3554 of 1./KG 53 to ditch into the surf off Chapel St Leonards, on the Lincolnshire coast. V7434’s career with 151 Squadron came to a fiery end on the night of 26 October 1940 during practice circuit training at Digby’s satellite airfield at Coleby Grange. Its pilot, Kiwi Sergeant Douglas Stanley, crashed soon after taking off, and was pulled from the wreckage with horrific burns – he died later that same night in Lincoln County Hospital. Stanley had joined 151 Squadron exactly a week after John Haviland.

Chapter Three

‘Eagle’ Squadrons

The first three ‘Eagles’ pose for the camera at Church Fenton in early October 1940. Pilot Officers ‘Red’ Tobin, ‘Shorty’ Keough and ‘Andy’ Mamedoff had all been pulled out of 609 Squadron the previous month, having fought with the unit during the Battle of Britain. Mamedoff is holding a newly created ‘Eagle’ squadron patch in place on Keough’s sleeve, the badges having only just arrived at the station. The creator of this distinctive emblem was cofounder of the ‘Eagle’ squadrons, Charles Sweeny, who used the insignia of the eagle on his

US passport for inspiration. Indeed, the name ‘Eagle’ squadron was actually coined by Sweeny’s father after he had seen the motif for the first time.

Most of 71 Squadron’s initial crop of pilots were still finishing their training when the unit was formed in early October 1940, being rushed through a truncated syllabus that saw them flying a handful of hours on Magisters, Masters and finally Hurricanes. All four of these Masters seen performing a low-level formation fly-by for the press at Sealand, south of Liverpool, in late 1940 are being flown by future ‘Eagles’. Assigned to 5 FTS, aircraft 29 (N7760), 18 (N7765) and 11 (N7691) are standard unarmed two-seat Master Is, whilst 27 (N7820) was one of a small number of Miles advanced trainers fitted with six 0.303in machine guns and converted into single-seat ‘emergency’ fighters at the height of the Battle of Britain. Fortunately never needed in the frontline, they were retained within Fighter Command as aerial gunnery trainers well into 1942.

An instructor helps an American volunteer pilot look for the seat adjuster in a Master I during a photo shoot staged at Sealand in the autumn of 1940.

Newly winged Pilot Officers ‘Gus’ Daymond, ‘Jack’ Kennerly and ‘Indian Jim’ Moore pose for the camera again at Sealand in October 1940, this trio being amongst the eight pilots posted to Church Fenton on 7 November 1940 from No. 5 FTS. Whilst Daymond and Moore would prove stalwarts of 71 Squadron, Kennerly was most definitely the ‘black sheep’ of the early American volunteers. He was sent back to the USA in February 1941, having been deemed ‘unsuitable’ for the RAF owing to a string of incidents both on the ground and in the air. Indeed, his behaviour was so bad that his CO, Squadron Leader Bill Taylor, wanted him court-martialled, but the RAF was keen to avoid any bad publicity this may have caused. Upon his return to California, Kennerly became something of a celebrity, as he spread the story that he had been sent home to recuperate from eardrum damage caused in a power dive. He was signed up by Warner Brothers Studio to help as a technical adviser on the Ronald Reagan film The Flight Patrol, and in 1942 he released his autobiography The Eagles Roar! Although claiming that the latter volume was a factual account of his time in the frontline, it was total fiction. After the war, Kennerly continued to lead a ‘colourful’ life, robbing a Los Angeles bank in 1951 and then serving time on probation. He finally died of lung cancer in a Veterans Administration hospital in California in 1967, aged just 53.

Squadron Leader Bill Taylor was the first American CO of 71 Squadron, having joined the unit from the Royal Navy upon its formation – he initially shared command responsibilities with RAF officer Squadron Leader Walter Churchill. A serving US Marine Corps officer, Taylor had been on vacation in the UK when war was declared and he had received

permission to join the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. Taylor subsequently saw action flying from the carriers HMS Glorious and HMS Furious during the Norwegian campaign in the spring of 1940. Something of a disciplinarian, he struggled to keep the unruly rabble that was 71 Squadron in its early days in check. Taylor also delayed the unit’s operational debut owing to a paucity of pilots, which made him very unpopular with his men. He was eventually allowed to rejoin the US Navy in early June 1941.

Pilot Officer ‘Nat’ Maranz trudges back to the watch office at Kirton-in-Lindsey after completing yet another mundane training sortie in March 1941. His mount on this occasion was one of a number of war-weary Hurricane Is supplied to the unit between November 1940 and April 1941. Unlike most other 71 Squadron aircraft during this period, Maranz’s anonymous fighter lacks the unit’s distinctive XR codes, which indicates that it may have just arrived at Kirton-in-Lindsey. Note also the nonstandard size serial partially obscured in this photograph by the tailplane.

Having coped with poor weather, poor aircraft and a near incessant stream of visiting VIPs and members of the press since the formation of the unit in October 1940, the ‘Eagles’ were itching for action by the time this group shot was taken in March 1941. All the pilots are wearing 1930 pattern Sidcot flying suits, bar Squadron Leader Taylor and Pilot Officer Tobin. Five of these men would not survive the war, two being killed in action and three dying on active service.

Californian Pole Pilot Officer ‘Mike’ Kolendorski was the first ‘Eagle’ killed in action – four other pilots had previously perished in flying accidents. He was shot down on 17 May 1941 by Bf 109Es from JG 53 after breaking away from his formation during 71 Squadron’s first Channel patrol. An impulsive individual who had a burning hatred of the Germans, his lack of discipline in the air directly contributed to his death. Posing for the camera in his suitably customized Sidcot suit several weeks before his demise, Kolendorski is adjusting the straps for his parachute harness in front of one of the first Hurricanes adorned with an ‘Eagle’ squadron emblem.

The third ‘Eagle’ to perish in combat (by which time another three pilots had been killed in flying accidents) was Flying Officer ‘Red’ Tobin, who had survived six hectic weeks in the frontline with 609 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. He was one of two 71 Squadron pilots killed when the squadron was bounced by Bf 109Fs during a coastal sweep on 7 September 1941. This photograph was taken six months earlier at Kirton-in-Lindsey, when the unit was still flying Hurricane Is.

On 17 March 1941 71 Squadron played host to an official Air Ministry photographer, who covered all aspects of the unit’s daily routine. Throughout the war, fighter pilots on both sides were made to recreate a typical scramble for the camera, and in this shot a quartet of ‘Eagles’ dash along the worn perimeter track to their awaiting Hurricanes. Leading the sprint is Pilot Officer ‘Red’ Tobin, who seems to be finding the pantomime rather amusing – perhaps that is because he is the only one not wearing a bulky ‘Sidcot’ suit. Pilots who flew with 71 Squadron during its early months have stated that these flying suits were never worn on actual operations because of their size. The three men chasing Tobin are, from left to right, Pilot Officers Peter Provenzano (killed on active service flying a P-47 Thunderbolt in Alaska in 1942), Sam Mauriello (killed in a civil aircraft accident in 1950) and Luke Allen.

‘Scramble’ over, Luke Allen strolls down the flightline at Kirton-in-Lindsey, cigarette in mouth, with fellow ‘Eagle’ Pilot Officer Bill Nichols. The former had joined 71 Squadron soon after its formation in October 1940, whilst Nichols was one of four new recruits sent to the unit in the first week of January 1941. He later became the second ‘Eagle’ to be made a PoW when he was shot down (in Spitfire VB AB909) over Boulogne during a sweep on 7 September 1941.

The weather was most kind to the ‘man from the ministry’ when he spent the day at Kirtonin-Lindsey, and 71 Squadron did its best to accommodate his numerous requests by carrying out as much flying as it possibly could. One of the Hurricane Is sent aloft was V7608, which is seen here in the process of being started. The fighter’s underside is painted in the shortlived Black and Sky scheme, which was introduced by Fighter Command on 27 November 1940. Harking back to the black and white scheme of the first months of the war, the revised finish was adopted after pilots stated that they found split underside colours the best way to locate the position of friendly fighters above them. This particular aircraft had seen action with 253 Squadron from Kenley during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain, after which it was briefly used by 303 ‘Polish’ Squadron, before being issued to 71 Squadron. When the American unit received Hurricane IIAs in April 1941, V7608 was sent to 55 OTU at RAF Usworth, south of Newcastle. The veteran fighter was finally written off when it hit the ground in bad weather near Houghton-le-Spring, in County Durham, on 15 August 1941.

The Sky fighter band and propeller spinner were also introduced at the same time as the allblack port wing, and such was the immediacy with which all squadrons had to comply with this Air Ministry order that serials on fighters across the country were either partially or completely obliterated. Falling very much into the latter category, Hurricane I XR-Z (with its codes applied in non-standard Sky, rather than regulation Medium Sea Grey) has had its serial totally covered, although squadron records indicate that this aircraft was actually V7816. Note the fighter’s exhaust glare shield, which seems to have been a common feature on most ‘Eagle’ squadron Hurricane Is.

Hard-working riggers and fitters pause for a few moments to watch a low-level ‘beat-up’ of 71

Squadron’s dispersal area, performed for the benefit of the camera on 17 March 1941. Although the pilots serving with the unit were predominantly American, all members of the groundcrew were RAF. XR-K was yet another Hurricane I to lose its identity following the application of its fighter band. No. 71 Squadron flew its fifteen combat-weary fighters very hard between their arrival in November 1940 and departure in April 1941, as this machine clearly shows.

Another low-level pass is made over Kirton-in-Lindsey, although this time Hurricane I V7619/XR-F is featured in the foreground. Unlike most other fighters assigned to 71 Squadron at the time, this machine had its serial reapplied over the fighter band sometime after the latter appeared in late 1940. As with V7608 featured previously in this chapter, V7619 had seen combat with 253 and 303 Squadrons during the autumn of 1940, before being assigned to 71 Squadron. And in an odd twist of fate, this machine was also written off in bad weather in County Durham whilst serving with 55 OTU – it struck a hill near Hexham on 26 April 1941. Again, the heavy level of usage experienced by these fighters during their time with 71 Squadron is clearly revealed by the worn paint on the upper surface of XR-F’s port wing.

Very few photographs exist of 121 Squadron’s Hurricanes, which the unit flew from its formation in mid-May through to October 1941. This particular aircraft is Mk IIB Z3427, and it is seen here between sorties at Kirton-in-Lindsey in mid-1941. The unit’s sole ace, Pilot Officer Seldon Edner, used this very fighter to claim 121 Squadron’s first aerial success when he shared in the probable destruction of a Ju 88 (with Sergeant ‘Jack’ Moody) off the coast of Hull on 8 August 1941. Z3427 was later issued to 257 Squadron when the second ‘Eagle’ squadron received Spitfire IIAs in October 1941, and it remained with the Honiley-based outfit until it was earmarked for supply to the USSR. The fighter failed to make it to the Eastern Front, however, being lost in the Barents Sea when the ship it was on was sunk by the Luftwaffe on 11 June 1942.

Sergeant Reade Tilley flew this distinctively marked Hurricane IIB during the summer of 1941 with 121 Squadron. Sadly, the aircraft’s serial and code letters remain a mystery, as does the significance of the Jolly Roger. Tilley claimed a solitary probable victory, over an Fw 190 on 24 March 1942, during his time with 121 Squadron.

Wearing a stylish paisley print cravat and holding a cane walking stick, newly commissioned Pilot Officer Reade Tilley looks every inch the American fighter pilot in the RAF! Assigned to 121 Squadron as a sergeant pilot soon after the unit formed in May 1941, Tilley was posted to 601 Squadron in April of the following year and went with the outfit to Malta. He was in the thick of the action over the besieged island during the spring and summer of 1942, claiming seven victories flying Spitfire VBs with both the ‘County of London’ squadron and 126 Squadron. Awarded a DFC, Tilley transferred to the USAAF in late 1942 and served out the rest of the war on the staff of VIII Fighter Command.

Former North Dakota cowboy Pilot Officer Bill Dunn is seen strapped into Spitfire I X4604 at Hawarden whilst undergoing his conversion training at 57 OTU in August 1941. This aircraft was a presentation machine, paid for by donations from individuals, companies and countries sympathetic to the Allied cause. X4604 was one of five Spitfires ‘purchased’ by tea plantation owners in Ceylon for the RAF.

Despite having been posted into the frontline at RAF North Weald in June 1941, 71 Squadron continued to regularly host VIPs from the USA. In this photograph, a clutch of pilots pose with Congressman J.B. Snyder, Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, outside the unit’s Ops building during a fact-finding visit in November 1941. Note the customized ‘Old Glory’ that features the ‘Eagle’ squadrons’ distinctive emblem. The pilots flanking this gathering in their ‘Mae Wests’ were standing in readiness at the time.

No. 71 Squadron flew Spitfire IIAs for less than a month, but in that time the first ‘Eagle’ squadron ace was crowned in this very fighter. Pilot Officer Bill Dunn succeeded in downing two Bf 109Fs on 27 August 1941 during Circus 86, which had seen nine Blenheim IVs sent to attack a steelworks in Lille, escorted by more than 100 Spitfires. The American had quickly destroyed two Messerschmitts and was firing at a third when P7308 was struck a series of blows by cannon and machine-gun fire from a fourth Bf 109F. Badly wounded in the leg and foot, and with his Spitfire seriously damaged, Dunn contemplated bailing out. However, he then decided that he could make it back to England, the newly crowned ace landing at Hawkinge, on the Dover coast – where this photograph was taken. Notice the battle damage to the rear of the Spitfire. A veteran of the Battle of Britain with 74 Squadron and early cross-Channel operations with 54 Squadron, P7308 was patched up and converted into a Mk VA. It saw further service with 133, 421, 164 and 602 Squadrons, prior to ending its days with 63 OTU in the summer of 1943.

Pilot Officer Wendell Pendleton decorated his Spitfire IIA with a modified version of the ‘Eagle’ squadron motif. When 71 Squadron became the 334th FS in the autumn of 1942, the newly created unit adopted this badge as its official emblem.

When compared to Wendell Pendleton’s ‘eagle’, the artwork adorning Pilot Officer J.M. ‘Moe’ Kelly’s Spitfire V was more representative of the 71 Squadron emblem. The latter pilot’s bird of prey is gripping a Union Jack in one talon and ‘Old Glory’ in the other. Volunteering for service with the RAF at just 19 years of age, Kelly, from Oakland, California, was one of four ‘Eagles’ to later see action flying Kittyhawks with 450 ‘Australian’ Squadron in North Africa in 1942–43. The quartet of Americans had requested a transfer to the Far East to fight the Japanese in the China–Burma–India theatre, but they got no further than Egypt!

Another of the men to leave the UK in search of action was Pilot Officer ‘Bob’ Mannix of Daytona Beach, Florida, who bade farewell to 71 Squadron in late September 1941. Living up to the ‘war cry’ (NUTS TO NAZIS) emblazoned on the back of his intricately decorated ‘Mae West’, Mannix had claimed two Bf 109s probably destroyed before his departure from North Weald. Winding up with Hurricane IIB-equipped 127 Squadron in North Africa in mid1942, the American saw considerable action with the unit during the great battles of the Desert War in western Egypt in the second half of the year, eventually becoming a flight commander. At the end of October Mannix was made CO of Hurricane IIC-equipped 33 Squadron, although his time in charge was to be short-lived for he was shot down and killed by II./JG 27’s Leutnant Willi Kientsch on 18 November whilst attacking an Axis airfield near the Egyptian port of Mersa Matruh.

Pilot Officer ‘Jack’ Fessler’s Spitfire VB AA855 was photographed in a ploughed field near Boulogne by a German soldier soon after it had force-landed in France on 27 October 1941. The aircraft’s pilot was something of an ace at strafing, having destroyed two Bf 109s at nearby airfields just a week earlier. Fessler was not so lucky on this mission, as he recalls. ‘It was a dawn “Rhubarb” over Boulogne. I started a gentle dive at a large freight train engine in the marshalling yards at Boulogne, firing with cannon and machine guns. I continued the attack until I had to pull up to clear the engine. At that moment either the freight engine blew up, or I flew into it – I’ll never know. I felt no impact, but my oil cooler and radiator cooling had both been damaged, and my engine was missing badly. I pulled up to about 2000ft, looked for a place to land, and set down in a ploughed field just outside Boulogne. I used a post-fire to ignite my aeroplane, then took off on foot. It was 0615 hrs.’ Fessler did not get far, for he was handed over to the Germans by French gendarmes within hours of crashlanding.

The first two ‘Eagles’ to be decorated with DFCs pose for the camera whilst at readiness. The double award to Flying Officer ‘Gus’ Daymond (left) and Flight Lieutenant ‘Pete’ Peterson was announced on 5 October 1941, although by the time His Royal Highness King George VI visited North Weald the following month to pin the medals to their chests Pilot Officer ‘Red’ McColpin had also been awarded the DFC. All three pilots subsequently achieved ace status.

Here is the third ‘Eagle’ recipient of the DFC being congratulated by his squadron mates on 9 November 1941. Behind Pilot Officer Carroll ‘Red’ McColpin is his suitably decorated Spitfire VB AB908, which is still to be marked up with his most recent double victory success of 27 October. Achieving ace status in just six weeks, McColpin would subsequently serve with both 121 and 133 Squadrons, thus becoming the only pilot to see action with all three volunteer units.

Texan Pilot Officer ‘Jimmy’ Daley of 121 Squadron poses atop his Spitfire VB at Kirton-inLindsey during a visit by the press on 27 November 1941. Note the white stripe painted onto the pilot’s Type B flying helmet, which was added to make its wearer more visible should he be forced to bail out over the sea. Also an early recipient of the DFC, Daley enjoyed great success throughout the spring and summer of 1942 whilst flying from bases in 11 Group. Made ‘B’ Flight commander in mid-June following the death of Flight Lieutenant ‘Jack’ Mooney in combat, Daley eventually assumed command of 121 Squadron just as the unit transferred to Eighth Air Force control, where it became the 335th FS.

In another posed photograph taken on 27 November 1941, Pilot Officer Daley uses his hands to explain the evasive manoeuvre he had just used to get out of the gunsight of his CO, Squadron Leader Peter Powell (to Daley’s right), during a recent training flight. No. 121 Squadron’s Intelligence Officer, Mike Duff (in the long coat), can be seen earnestly taking notes, whilst fellow ‘Eagles’ Pilot Officer R.F. ‘Pat’ Patterson (sitting on the edge of the cockpit), Flight Lieutenant Hugh Kennard and Pilot Officers Leroy Skinner and Clarence Martin look on. Ten days after this photograph was taken Patterson became the unit’s first combat casualty when he was shot down and killed during a low-level ship-strafing mission

off the Belgian coast. Leroy Skinner was also lost to the enemy, on 28 April 1942, although he would spend the rest of the war as a PoW. Finally, ‘Jimmy’ Daley was killed whilst serving as deputy commander of the Thunderbolt-equipped 371st FG on 10 September 1944, his aircraft being struck by his wingman’s P-47 in a taxiing accident at Coulommiers, in France.

Marching along like Texas Rangers, ‘Old Glory’ flying proudly from the flagpole behind them, all nineteen of 121 Squadron’s pilots (plus Intelligence Officer Mike Duff) fan out for the camera at Kirton-in-Lindsey on 27 November 1941. At the extreme right of the photograph are Pilot Officers R.F. ‘Pat’ Patterson and ‘Jimmy’ Daley (with his head down), whilst in the centre are Squadron Leader Peter Powell (with the knotted thigh straps of his ‘Mae West’) and Flight Lieutenant Hugh Kennard (to the left of the CO).

One of the colourful characters who flew with the ‘Eagles’ was Pilot Officer Leo Nomis of 71 Squadron, who recalled his Sioux ancestry by marking his Spitfire VB BL287 with an Indian chief’s head. Although not an ace, Leo Nomis had a long and varied combat career nevertheless, and made his initial claim for a ‘damaged’ in January 1942. His first confirmed success came when flying this aircraft on 17 April, which he shared with future Spitfire ace Pilot Officer John Lynch, who also registered his first success on this date in Spitfire VB W3740. During an early morning patrol off the coast at Felixstowe they both spotted a Ju 88 at wave-top height and fired on it, although Lynch’s aircraft was hit and he was forced home with his fighter damaged. Leo Nomis continued to make quarter attacks on the bomber, which eventually emitted black smoke and plunged into the sea. He later served in Malta and Egypt, transferred to the USAAF and after the Second World War joined the embryonic Israeli Air Force, where he flew Czech-built S 199s (Junkers Jumo-engined Bf 109Gs).

The most successful American pilot to fly the Spitfire in aerial combat was Pilot Officer John Lynch, who served with 71 Squadron following brief spells with 232 and 121 Squadrons. He is seen here examining the damaged wing of his Spitfire after hitting a telegraph pole near Boulogne during a strafing attack.

No. 71 Squadron’s Pilot Officer ‘Gene’ Potter sits atop his rare (and anonymous, thanks to the groundcrew’s best efforts at concealment, which have included the employment of a blanket!) Spitfire IIB in a revetment at Debden in mid-1942. Almost identical to the Spitfire V, only a handful of Mk IIBs served with 71 Squadron alongside the more common Mk VB. The principal difference between the two variants was that the Mk IIB used a Merlin XII engine of 1,150hp and the Mk V a Merlin 45 of 1,440hp. The only external difference between them was the small blister on the starboard side of the engine cowling immediately behind the spinner on the Mk IIB. This covered the redesigned reduction gear associated with the Merlin XII. Potter, who also served with 121 Squadron, was killed in action over Normandy on 7 July 1944 whilst flying a P-47 with the Ninth Air Force’s 368th FG.

Bearing a squadron leader’s pennant on the underside of the forward fuselage just aft of the spinner in place of an individual letter, Spitfire VB BM263/MD-A was the personal mount of 133 Squadron CO, Squadron Leader Eric Thomas. Aside from this highly unusual marking, the fighter also boasted an artwork in the shape of a frothing tankard (again adorned with the CO’s pennant), with the legend MINE’S A BITTER below the windscreen. A veteran of the Battle of Britain and an ace with four and one shared victories, Thomas had been a serving officer in the RAF since 1936. Renowned for being a staunch air disciplinarian, he assumed command of 133 Squadron in November 1941 and trained his men hard. This subsequently served them well when the unit was finally sent into action under Thomas’s leadership in April 1942. Photographed at Kirton-in-Lindsey in early 1942, BM263 (which featured the presentation titling The Lord Mayor (York) beneath the cockpit on the starboard side) was destroyed when it collided with another Spitfire on 19 September 1942. The fighter was serving with 165 Squadron at the time.

RAF Fighter Command suffered heavy losses during its offensive into occupied Europe in 1941–42, and the ‘Eagle’ squadrons were not spared the treatment once they had been introduced to 11 Group. On 12 May 1942, 71 Squadron lost Pilot Officer Ben Mays of Wharton, Texas, during Circus 122. His squadron mate Pilot Officer Harold ‘Strick’ Strickland recalled: ‘As we approached the target area – the Hazebrouck marshalling yards – I noticed that Ben was more than 50yds astern. I called for him to close up, and when I rechecked he was narrowing the gap. At about this time the two other wings with us were attacked by Me 109s and Fw 190s diving out of the sun and firing from long range. When I checked Ben again, he was gone. Somewhere well within a fraction of a second he was hit. Sprague saw smoke and a Spitfire going down. The BBC reported later that 370 RAF bombers had been over the target and eleven Spitfires were missing.’ Mays was killed when his Spitfire VB AB810 was shot down near the target by veteran fighter pilot Oberleutnant Klaus Mietusch, Staffelkapitän of Fw 190A-1-equipped 7./JG 26. The 71 Squadron Spitfire was his fifteenth victory, and Mietusch went on to claim a further sixty kills before becoming the first victim of future Mustang ace Lieutenant William Beyer (of the 361st FG) on 17 September 1944.

On 19 August 1942 all three ‘Eagle’ squadrons were committed to Operation Jubilee – the illfated assault on Dieppe. Each unit flew four missions during the course of the day, the squadrons enjoying varying degrees of success. No. 133 Squadron emerged as the highest

scorers, with four destroyed and two probables. Leading the unit on all four sorties was Flight Lieutenant Don Blakeslee, who had joined 133 Squadron from 401 ‘Canadian’ Squadron on 3 June 1942. Claiming a Do 217 destroyed, two Fw 190s probably destroyed and a third Focke-Wulf fighter damaged on 19 August, Blakeslee, who had received a DFC for his exploits with the Canadians, was the only ‘Eagle’ squadron CO (he had assumed command of 133 Squadron following Squadron Leader Thomas’s promotion to wing leader) to fly all four missions during Jubilee.

Pilot Officer Harold ‘Strick’ Strickland was the first ‘Eagle’ to fire his guns during Jubilee, damaging an Fw 190 at 0530 hrs over Dieppe whilst participating in a twelve Spitfire sweep flown by 71 Squadron. At 39, ‘Strick’ was the oldest pilot to serve with the ‘Eagles’, having made his first flight in a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny as long ago as 1925! He is seen here sitting in presentation Spitfire VB AA881 Manchester Corporation Transporter, which was delivered new to 71 Squadron in early November 1941. Like Strickland, this aircraft survived the war after seeing much action, AA881 having served with 313, 66, 340 and 595 Squadrons after its time with 71 Squadron. The fighter was finally sold for scrap in 1948.

Having survived the chaos and carnage of Operation Jubilee, Sergeant Jack Evans of 71 Squadron was killed in action just eight days later. Part of Circus 208, his unit was one of several tasked with escorting nine B-17s from the Eighth Air Force’s 97th Bombardment Group that had been sent to bomb targets in Rotterdam. Flying Spitfire VB AD196 (possibly this distinctively marked machine), Evans was downed during a dogfight with a number of Fw 190A-2s from 2./JG 26 north-east of Calais. His opponent was either Unteroffizier HansJoachim Fast or Oberleutnant Fülbert Zink, the latter individual being the Staffelkapitän of 2./JG 26. Fast, who scored five victories, and Zink, who claimed thirty-six, would both be killed within days of each other on the Eastern Front in early March 1943.

No. 121 Squadron’s Spitfire VB BM590 cruises over typical English countryside during the summer of 1942. Delivered to the unit literally straight from the factory in June 1942, the aircraft was adorned with the name Olga beneath its cockpit soon after joining 121 Squadron. BM590 was the subject of a series of aerial photographs taken by the Air Ministry in September 1942 to help newly arrived USAAF heavy bomber crews improve their aircraft recognition.

BM590 was thoroughly worked over by the Air Ministry photographer, who had been briefed to take shots of the fighter from all possible angles. The Mk VB’s underwing cannon blisters are just visible in this view, as are its radiator fairing beneath the starboard wing, oil cooler fairing to port and carburettor intake on the under-fuselage centre line. BM590 was still on strength with 133 Squadron when the unit was handed over to USAAF control and redesignated the 336th FS.

This group photograph of the ill-fated 133 Squadron was taken at Biggin Hill on 10 June 1942, midway through the unit’s first spell at Kent’s premier fighter station. The squadron would lose eleven Spitfires to flak or Fw 190s on 26 September 1942 during a disastrous bomber escort mission to Morlaix, in France. Standing, from left to right, are Pilot Officer Leonard Ryerson (killed in action on 26 September 1942), Pilot Officer George Middleton (shot down and captured on 26 September 1942), Pilot Officer Richard Beaty (injured in a crash-landing following the 26 September 1942 mission), Flying Officer Ervin Miller, Pilot Officer Dick Gudmundsen (killed in action on 6 September 1942), Pilot Officer Donald Lambert, Pilot Officer Don Gentile (killed on active service on 28 January 1951), J.M. Emerson (Intelligence Officer), F.J.S. Chapman (Doctor), D.G. Stavely-Dick (Adjutant), Flt Sergeant Grant Eichar (killed in action on 31 July 1942) and Flt Sergeant Chesley Robertson. Front row, from left to right, are Pilot Officer Carter Harp (killed in action on 31 July 1942), Pilot Officer William Arends (killed in action on 20 June 1942), Pilot Officer Gilbert Omens (killed in a flying accident on 26 July 1942), Pilot Officer Edwin Taylor (seriously wounded in action on 31 July 1942), Flight Lieutenant Corburn King (killed in action on 31 July 1942), Squadron Leader Eric Thomas, Flight Lieutenant Don Blakeslee, Pilot Officer George Sperry (shot down and captured on 26 September 1942), Flying Officer Eric Doorly (shot down and evaded on 6 September 1942), Pilot Officer K.K. Kimbro and Pilot Officer William Baker (killed in action on 26 September 1942).

On 29 September 1942 at a wet and windy RAF Debden, in Essex, 71, 121 and 133 Squadrons were transferred to Eighth Air Force control to become the 334th, 335th and 336th FSs. The rain lashed down throughout the ceremony at Debden, although this did not put a stop to proceedings. Here, the pilots of all three squadrons return the salute of Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, Commander-in-Chief RAF Fighter Command, and the various senior RAF and USAAF officers standing to attention in front of the flagpole at the fighter station. Come the end of the ceremony the ‘Eagle’ squadrons were no more, being replaced by the USAAF’s 4th FG.

Chapter Four

Fighter Command

The aerial war in Europe was given the Hollywood treatment in March 1941 when a crew from 20th Century Productions filmed the activities of 602 ‘City of Glasgow’ Squadron for inclusion in the motion picture A Yank in the RAF. This was America’s first attempt at covering the conflict taking place across the Atlantic, and it would spawn a series of copycat films that focused on volunteer pilots in the RAF, including Ronald Reagan’s International Squadron (1941) by Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures’ Eagle Squadron (1941). All three films proved to be little more than propaganda vehicles, with the latter film being dismissed out of hand by members of the real ‘Eagle’ squadrons after they had sat through the premiere in London. ‘That movie upset everybody, and Squadron Leader Peterson in particular’, 71 Squadron pilot Bill Geiger stated after the war. ‘We had been told that it would

be a documentary. It came to all of us as a great shock when it turned out to be very thirdrate. We all felt that we had been double crossed.’

A Yank in the RAF was shot at Prestwick, on the west coast of Scotland, with filming taking a full month to complete. No. 602 Squadron had been one of Fighter Command’s most successful units during the Battle of Britain, although it had not had a single ‘Yank’ serve within its ranks throughout 1940! However, the squadron had been pulled out of the frontline in December 1940 and sent to Prestwick for rest and recuperation, thus making it the ideal candidate for film work. In this shot, squadron pilots scramble en masse from their ‘Old Mill’ HQ building to awaiting Spitfire IAs parked in the nearby dispersal area. All of this activity is being eagerly filmed by a cameraman in the foreground, with attendant ‘extras’ watching on.

Another still from the sequence taken on the day of the great scramble ‘shoot’ at Prestwick in March 1941. This view shows two 602 Squadron pilots preparing to strap into their idling Spitfire IAs. The pilot closest to the camera is already clambering over the cockpit sill into his ‘office’, whilst his section mate is still wrestling with the buttons on his ‘Mae West’. The flying sequences shot for A Yank in the RAF were amongst the best taken during the entire war, and edited segments appeared in other feature films of this period, including Mrs Miniver, Battle of Britain and Dangerous Moonlight.

The first American to turn his back on the ‘Eagles’ was Pilot Officer ‘Art’ Donahue, who had been an early recruit for 71 Squadron in late September 1940. He was posted to the newly formed unit from 64 Squadron, where he had seen several weeks of fighting during the Battle of Britain. Fed up with no flying because of 71 Squadron’s lack of aircraft, Donahue requested a transfer back to his old unit in late October. He confessed to a fellow American volunteer pilot some months later that he considered the ‘Eagles’ to be a ‘motley crew that would never amount to anything’. Donahue flew a considerable number of sorties with 64 Squadron from Hornchurch up until he transferred to 91 ‘Nigeria’ Squadron in late February 1941. The latter unit was based at Hawkinge, from where it had established an enviable reputation as a specialist armed reconnaissance squadron. This particular Spitfire II was delivered new to 91 Squadron in April 1941, and although it remained with the unit for just a month, it is likely that Donahue flew P8194 at least once during this time.

No. 91 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight lines up for an inspection at Hawkinge in May 1942. The pilot standing nearest to the camera is Squadron Leader ‘Bobby’ Oxspring, who had been in command of the unit since January of that year. When ‘Art’ Donahue returned to the ‘Nigeria’ squadron in August 1942, he assumed command of this flight after its previous commander, Flight Lieutenant ‘Billy’ Orr, had been lost on operations on 22 July.

Posing with 91 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight at Hawkinge on 21 October 1941, Flying Officer ‘Art’ Donahue can be seen standing with his hands in his pockets third from the right. Fellow American Sergeant Appleton (forename unknown) stands at the far left. No. 91 Squadron seemed to be a popular posting for foreign pilots, with the shoulder flashes of Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and Rhodesia regularly being spotted in the various messes at Hawkinge.

By the time this photograph was taken in late August 1942, ‘Art’ Donohue (extreme left) had been promoted to flight lieutenant and awarded the DFC. He had also seen action flying Hurricanes with 258 Squadron in the Far East during the ill-fated defence of Singapore and Sumatra. Former ‘Eagle’ John Campbell served with Donahue in 258 Squadron, and he remembered that he ‘was an idealist – one of the few real ones in the squadron. He had high principles. His former flight commander once told me that “Art” had tried to resign his commission so he could be a sergeant pilot. Donahue felt he should be no more privileged than any other fighter pilot in the squadron.’ The author of two wartime autobiographies, the first American-based volunteer pilot to see service with Fighter Command and a veteran of two frontline tours, ‘Art’ Donahue was posted missing in action on 11 September 1942. He had sortied alone at dawn and headed for the Belgian coast in an effort to ensnare a German nightfighter by flying slowly like a bomber. Donahue’s trap worked, and whilst engaging a Ju 88 his Spitfire VB was hit by return fire and he was forced to bail out in bad weather. His body was never found.

Sergeant A.C. ‘Bud’ Younge of Cleveland, Ohio, served briefly with ‘Art’ Donahue in ‘B’ Flight during the latter pilot’s second spell with 91 Squadron. Also seen sitting on the wing of the Spitfire in the squadron group shot above, the American pilot seemingly called all of his aircraft MY MARIAN – this nickname is clearly visible both on CLEVELAND’S CHALLENGE! and the fighter in the background of the group photograph.

Looking every inch the fighter pilot, a young Pilot Officer Don Blakeslee pauses for the camera before easing himself into the cockpit of his Spitfire VB BL753 at Gravesend in May 1942. A graduate of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Blakeslee had been in the frontline with 401 ‘Canadian’ Squadron since the autumn of 1941. He had claimed one Bf 109 destroyed, three damaged and two Fw 190s probably destroyed (the latter two in BL753) by the spring of 1942, although he refrained from adorning his fighter with any form of personal scoreboard – he did, however, name BL753 LEOLA in honour of his wife. Blakeslee refused to allow his various crew chiefs to apply nicknames, kill markings, ‘girlie’ art or personal insignia to his aircraft upon joining the 4th FG, despite having increased his score to fourteen destroyed by July 1944. Delivered new to 401 Squadron, BL753 later served with 65, 132 and 316 Squadrons, before being shot down by flak while spotting for naval gunfire over Bayeux on 25 June 1944. It was assigned to 63 Squadron at the time.

Wearing his trademark white scarf, Pilot Officer Don Blakeslee (seventh from the right) of 411 ‘Canadian’ Squadron poses with his fellow pilots at RAF Digby in late May 1942. Serving with this unit for just a matter of weeks, Blakeslee would soon be posted to 121 Squadron. Fellow Americans Pilot Officer W.F. Ash (smoking a cigarette, second from left in the front row) and Sergeant John McFarlane (standing, second from left) can also be seen in this group shot. The latter pilot eventually followed Blakeslee to the 4th FG, serving with the 336th FS from 28 June 1944 to 12 March 1945. McFarlane ended the war with the rank of major, having been the 336th FS’s Operations Officer for much of his time with the unit. His tour was cut short when he was forced to bail out of his Mustang because of engine failure whilst leading a group of fighters on a bomber escort mission to Swinemünde, in northern Germany, on 12 March 1945. McFarlane, who claimed one aerial victory and three strafing kills during his time with the 4th FG, successfully avoided capture by escaping through Sweden.

This classic Charles E. Brown photograph from May 1942 shows 222 Squadron Spitfire VB AD233 in flight over Essex during a training sortie from North Weald. The fighter has been adorned with a small rank pennant just below the windscreen, denoting its assignment to the unit’s CO, Squadron Leader ‘Dickie’ Milne. When the latter pilot finished his tour in May 1942, AD233 was passed on to Squadron Leader Jerzy Jankiewicz when he became the first Pole to command a British-manned fighter unit. Also a Battle of Britain veteran, Jankiewicz had served with 601 Squadron in 1940. Indeed, he had fought alongside American Carl Davis up until his death on 6 September 1940. The Pole’s period in command of 222 Squadron was to last just seventy-two hours, however, for on 25 May 1942 he was shot down and killed in AD233 by Fw 190s of JG 26 during Rodeo 51. His replacement was ex-Chicago newspaper reporter Squadron Leader ‘Newt’ Anderson, who had been posted in from 71 Squadron. The first American to lead a British-manned fighter unit, Anderson was in turn killed in action (again by JG 26) on 29 June 1942 whilst leading the North Weald Wing during Circus 195.

When 611 ‘West Lancashire’ Squadron traded its weary Spitfire VBs for brand new Spitfire IXCs in late July 1942, it became one of the first units in Fighter Command to receive the vastly improved version of Supermarine’s frontline fighter. Based at Redhill at the time, the squadron moved further east to Biggin Hill on 23 September, where it was soon able to demonstrate the aircraft’s clear superiority over all other RAF fighters then in service. Essentially a Mk V airframe fitted with a two-speed, two-stage supercharged Merlin 61, the re-engined Mk IX had a top speed of 408mph, compared with its predecessor’s 357mph. Flying the latest variant of Spitfire, and based at 11 Group’s most famous fighter station, 611 Squadron was regularly visited by the press during the latter months of 1942. The Mk IXC in the background, EN133/FY-B, was occasionally flown by Austrian-American Flight Lieutenant Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, the fighter serving with the unit until it was shot down off the coast of France by Fw 190s from II./JG 26 on 14 March 1943.

A closer view of EN133, which was inspected by the press during a visit to Biggin Hill in February 1943. Factory-fresh in the previous photograph, which was taken in November 1942, the Spitfire now looks every inch the frontline fighter following three months of continual action.

On 9 December 1942, 611 Squadron sortied all twelve of its Spitfire F IXCs for the visiting press at Biggin Hill. This particular shot was taken by a Flight photographer standing alongside the main runway at the base, and it shows the final four-ship of the formation heading north-west in the direction of the Salt Box and Bromley.

A handful of photographers also got airborne on 9 December, including Charles E. Brown, who took this fantastic shot as the squadron flew over the urban sprawl of south London. After taking a series of photographs showing the aircraft in a loose diamond formation astern, Brown and his contemporaries then worked with the lead four-ship of fighters, headed by the unit’s Australian CO, Squadron Leader Hugo ‘Sinker’ Armstrong, in FY-F (BS435). EN199 was also included in this quartet, the aircraft boasting an unpainted replacement wing root panel that undoubtedly caused some gnashing of teeth within the squadron’s engineering section when they saw the results of the sortie! Armstrong and BS435 were lost on 5 February 1943 when his small flight of three fighters tangled with eight Fw 190s of 5./JG 26 at low level over Boulogne. EN199, and its pilot, Squadron Leader J.H. Slater, fell victim to II./JG 26 over the French coast just weeks later on 14 March whilst participating in Rodeo 188.

No. 611 Squadron’s Austrian American Flight Lieutenant Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, who was then the unit’s senior flight commander, is seen here in the centre of this photograph with his left hand on the propeller blade. This shot was taken on 15 May 1943 to mark the occasion of the thousandth aerial victory scored by fighters flying from Biggin Hill, the first having been claimed by American ‘Jimmy’ Davies of 79 Squadron in November 1939. An Austrian who fled to the USA with his parents in the early 1930s following the rise of Nazism in neighbouring Germany, Colloredo-Mansfeld had returned to Europe in 1941 in order to fly with the RAF. Nicknamed ‘Collie’ by squadron mates, he was a wealthy individual who enjoyed giving his friends presents – including an MG sports car to Kiwi ace Johnny Checketts. ColloredoMansfeld had great success with the Spitfire IX, claiming three kills, three probables and four damaged between January and July 1943. Awarded a DFC for his fighting qualities, ‘Collie’ was made CO of 132 Squadron in August 1943. He remained in command until he was shot down and killed by flak whilst heading back to England over the French coast on 7 January 1944.

One of the few serving USAAF pilots to see action with the RAF after the establishment of the Eighth Air Force in the UK was Francis Gabreski, who would later become the leading American ace in the European Theatre of Operations. Of Polish ancestry, and a fluent

speaker of the language, he somehow convinced his superiors that he should be posted to a Polish unit in the RAF to gain combat experience before the arrival of other USAAF units in England. Gabreski reached England (from Hawaii, via Washington, DC) in October 1942, and then spent the next two months ferrying all manner of USAAF aircraft to various airfields in the UK. After a chance encounter with Polish pilots in a London club, Gabreski was sent to 315 ‘Polish’ Squadron at Northolt in December 1942. He subsequently flew eleven combat and two air search and rescue missions with the unit before being posted to the Eighth Air Force’s 56th FG. Captain Gabreski is seen here climbing out of the cockpit of Spitfire F IXC BS410/PK-E at the end of his first mission (Circus 252) on 21 January 1943.

Two Polish pilots from 315 Squadron pose on the tailplane of Spitfire F IXC BS513/PK-Z, which was flown by ‘Gabby’ Gabreski on several occasions while he was ‘learning the ropes’ at Northolt. The future Eighth Air Force ‘ace of aces’ made the following comment after his first flight in this aircraft: ‘By the time I landed at Northolt I understood why the RAF had decided not to use any of the P-40s we had sent them on lend-lease for combat over Europe. The Spitfire was in a wholly different league, and so apparently were the Luftwaffe’s fighters.’

Rather than an American in a Spitfire, here we have a Spitfire in America! This F IXC (MK210) was one of two Supermarine fighters modified by engineers at Wright Field, Ohio, the aircraft having all available interior space converted into fuel tanks, two P-51 drop tanks being plumbed in under the wings. Both Spitfires successfully crossed the Atlantic in this configuration in mid-1944.

The last American to become a Spitfire ace was Squadron Leader Henry ‘Hank’ Zary from New York, who was the CO of 403 ‘Canadian’ Squadron. His fifth victory came when he shot down a Bf 109 on 21 April 1945. His combat report for this engagement read as follows. ‘I was “Kapok” leader on an Armed Recce in the Parchim area, when returning, I sighted two Me 109s apparently attacking ground targets. They were climbing, when we gave chase. They climbed to about 7000 ft and I closed on the starboard aircraft, telling Flg Off Leslie to take the port one. Closing to 600 yards, line astern, I opened fire with a four-second burst to 400 yards, strikes cutting a third of the starboard wing and fin and rudder off. Strikes were also observed on the cockpit and the aircraft crashed out of control. Flg Off A A Roy confirms this report. Gyro gunsight and cine camera used. I claim one Me 109 destroyed.’ Sadly, Zary succumbed to pleurisy soon after the war, passing away in an Ottawa hospital in early 1946.

Squadron Leader ‘Hank’ Zary was flying Spitfire XVI TB752 when he claimed his fifth victory on 21 April 1945. The aircraft survived the war and spent many years as a gate guard at RAF Manston airfield, in Kent. The subject of a 15,000-hour restoration by the Medway Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1978–79, the fighter has been displayed in the Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum at Manston since 1981.

Flight Lieutenant David ‘Foobs’ Fairbanks of 501 ‘County of Gloucester’ Squadron claimed his only Spitfire victory on 8 June 1944 when he shot down a Bf 109 near Le Havre and damaged another. He extended his total to twelve and a half victories after converting to the Tempest V, which he flew with 274 and 3 Squadrons.

Tempest V EJ558/SD-R of 501 Squadron is seen here taxiing at Bradwell Bay on 15 October 1944. It was the usual mount of Flight Officer ‘Bud’ Miller, whose impressive V1 tally is displayed below the cockpit. With nine ‘doodlebugs’ destroyed, Miller was thought to have been the only USAAF pilot to have become a V1 ace. Having flown Mosquito intruders with 605 ‘County of Warwick’ Squadron, ‘Bud’ Miller joined the elite Fighter Interception Unit in the summer of 1944 to fly the Tempest V on night interception duties. In July the flight formed the nucleus of 501 Squadron, which was quickly deployed to counter the threat of night-launched V1s. EJ558 was delivered to the unit at the end of August, and it was regularly flown by Miller, who by that time had already become a V1 ace. He was flying this aircraft on the night of 24 September when he achieved his ninth, and final, V1 victory near Bradwell Bay. Miller had returned to the US by the end of 1944. EJ558 survived the war, only to be scrapped shortly thereafter.

Chapter Five

Yanks Abroad

American Pilot Officer Reade Tilley arrived on Malta with 601 Squadron as part of Operation

Calendar on 20 April 1942. His previous spell in the frontline with 121 ‘Eagle’ Squadron on the Channel front had prepared him well for combat in the central Mediterranean, as he quickly claimed a series of kills once he had joined 126 Squadron’s American flight in early May. Achieving ace status on 23 May, Tilley was awarded a DFC at this time as a result of his numerous aerial successes.

Pilot Officer Reade Tilley looks on from the cockpit as his groundcrew service his Spitfire VC between sorties at Luqa in late May 1942.

Ex-Boston policeman Pilot Officer Donald McLeod of 126 Squadron arrived on Malta on 21 March 1942 and shot down two Bf 109s on the 24th and 25th of the month. However, he was himself shot down in flames on 2 April and bailed out wounded. McLeod later transferred to the USAAF and scored two more victories with the 83rd FS.

Native Oklahoman Claude Weaver dropped out of high school in February 1941 to join the RCAF. Once in the UK, he was assigned to 412 ‘Canadian’ Squadron. However, within three months he was headed to Malta, flying a Spitfire VB off HMS Eagle on 15 July 1942. Posted to 185 Squadron at Hal Far, Weaver began scoring immediately. He shot down a Bf 109 (in BR292) on the 17th, followed by two Bf 109s on the 22nd and two more on the 23rd (all four in EP122). Weaver then claimed a share in a Ju 88 on the 24th. During the latter part of the month he flew night intruder sorties over Sicily in a bomb-carrying Hurricane. On 31 July he was shot up by ace Oberleutnant Gerhard Michalski of II./JG 53 and forced to crash-land in EP343. By the time Weaver force-landed on Sicily during yet another sweep of the island on 9 September, his score had increased to ten and one shared destroyed. A year after being made a PoW, he was able to escape at the time of the Italian Armistice and make his way to Allied lines. Posted back to the UK, Weaver was sent to 403 ‘Canadian’ Squadron. He scored two more victories before being shot down and killed during a ‘Ranger’ over northern France on 28 January 1944.

Officers from the Regia Aeronautica examine BR112/X of 185 Squadron on the beach at Scoglitti on 9 September 1942, its pilot, Sergeant Claude Weaver, having already been taken prisoner. The American ace had engaged some Macchi C.202s over Sicily, quickly shooting one of them down. His Spitfire was then hit, however, and he force-landed on a beach and was captured, although he later escaped. Weaver’s aircraft had part of its camouflage overpainted in a dark blue shade, which was deemed to be more suitable for the local operating conditions.

Flying Officer P.A. ‘Woody’ Woodger was another American volunteer who arrived in Malta in mid- August, but he did not last long. During an offensive sortie over Sicily on 27 August 1942, in Spitfire VC EP200/GL-T, Woodger was forced to crash-land after his fighter was hit by anti-aircraft fire. EP200 had been one of thirty-two Spitfire VCs flown from the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle to Malta as part of Operation Insect on 21 July 1942.

An American in the RCAF, Squadron Leader John J. Lynch, CO of 249 Squadron, is seen here in the cockpit of his Spitfire VB EP829 admiring the handiwork of a chalk-wielding groundcrewman on 28 April 1943. Hailing from Alhambra, California, Lynch had just claimed one and one shared Ju 52/3ms destroyed to take the tally of victories scored by Maltabased aircraft past the thousand mark. Having initially seen action with 71 Squadron, and following brief service with 232 and 121 Squadrons, Lynch scored the bulk of his ten and seven shared victories flying with 249 Squadron from Malta. Indeed, his tally of kills made him the most successful American Spitfire pilot in theatre by some margin.

Another view of Spitfire VB EP829, in which John Lynch was credited with five and a half victories during April 1943. To the unit letters T-N his groundcrew added a small T, as the combination of this aircraft with Lynch in the cockpit was clearly dynamite!

American pilots also saw action flying RAF Spitfires in North Africa from the summer of 1942, including Flt Sergeant MacArthur Powers of 145 Squadron. He was flying Spitfire VC

BR390/ZX-N on 2 November 1942 when he damaged a Bf 109.

It was whilst flying a Spitfire VC of 33 Squadron from Bersis (like ER335/RS-O and ER337/RS-J) that Flight Lieutenant O.C. ‘Sandy’ Kallio of Ironwood, Michigan, almost certainly claimed the last victory credited to an American pilot in an RAF Spitfire over Africa. This event occurred on 1 May 1943 when he shot down a Ju 88 from III./KG 26 whilst escorting convoy Liquid in the Mediterranean. Subsequently serving as CO of 145 Squadron and seeing action over Italy in Spitfire VIIIs, Kallio claimed an Fw 190 destroyed on 18 February 1944 for his fourth, and last, victory.

Claiming ten of his twenty-two and two shared victories in Spitfires, Texan Lance Wade was one of the most successful American exponents of the type. All of his earlier victories had been achieved in Hurricane Is and IIs with 33 Squadron in 1941–42, but in early 1943 he joined 145 Squadron, which he was soon promoted to command. Wade scored his first Spitfire victory at the beginning of March, and by the time he left 145 Squadron after being promoted to wing commander in November 1943 he had claimed ten victories in Mk VBs, Mk IXs and Mk VIIIs. Having survived two years of near constant aerial combat, Wade was killed during a routine flight in an Auster on 12 January 1944.

Lance Wade’s successor as CO of 145 Squadron was another successful American,

Squadron Leader ‘Sandy’ Kallio, whose tour was cut short when he suffered a broken leg during a crash-landing on 19 February 1944.

Upon recovering from his broken leg, Kallio was made CO of 417 ‘Canadian’ Squadron, which he led until November 1944. This unit was equipped with Spitfire VIIIs, including JF627/ANM, fitted with extended high altitude wingtips.

Chapter Six

Nightfighters

When first formed in Ayr, Scotland, in July 1941, 410 ‘Canadian’ Squadron was equipped with the Boulton Paul Defiant I, in which all the armament was concentrated in the poweroperated turret. The unit’s first CO was American-born Squadron Leader P.Y. Davoud.

The first American to command a nightfighter squadron, Wing Commander Paul Davoud and his dog ‘Beau’ examine 409 ‘Canadian’ Squadron’s ‘scoreboard’ fashioned from the propeller blade of one of the aircraft downed by the unit. Davoud, who had joined 409 Squadron in September 1941, claimed the unit’s first success in November of that same year.

Splattered with mud, Beaufighter IIF T3145/KP-K of 409 Squadron, seen here at Coleby Grange, was the regular aircraft of Wing Commander P.Y. Davoud. He flew the fighter for the first time on a night flying test on 23 February 1942, accompanied by Flying Officer Pynn, and again the following night on ground-controlled interception training. All his claims, however, were made while flying with Pilot Officer T.R. Carpenter. Davoud had arrived following the death of the previous CO while converting to the Merlin-engined Beaufighter, which could be tricky to handle. Davoud led a Typhoon wing later in the war, while T3145 was relegated to training duties. It crashed in September 1943.

In June 1942 Wing Commander Davoud’s 409 Squadron re-equipped with the Herculespowered Beaufighter VIF, one of which was X8191/KP-P, seen here. The nose- and wingmounted air intercept radar aerials can be clearly seen in this photograph.

Photographed while on detachment at St Eval, Havoc I BT462/YP-Z of 23 Squadron was first flown by one of the unit’s successful American pilots, Sergeant G.R. Wright, on an intruder mission to Beauvais on the night of 21 June 1942. Wright, who had initially joined the RCAF, was posted to the RAF’s 23 Squadron after completing his flying training. He began his operational career with the unit on 7 May 1942 when he undertook the first of many night intruder missions. Wright took BT462 (which had previously served with 44 Squadron) aloft for the first time on the night of 21 June when he performed an intruder mission to Beauvais. His last sortie in BT462 was flown on 5 July when he bombed the marshalling yards at Amiens. Wright converted to the Mosquito soon afterwards, and it was whilst flying this type that he claimed to have destroyed a Do 217. He was, however, lost during an intruder mission on 7 September, by which time BT462 had been destroyed in a mid-air collision with another Havoc (on 20 July 1942) after being transferred to 605 ‘County of Warwick’ Squadron.

Flying Officer Stanley Cornforth from Pittsburgh initially flew Havocs with 23 Squadron, before converting to the Mosquito II. He flew DD712/YP-R for the first time on 15/16 October 1942 when he performed an intruder mission to Twente airfield, in Holland. Cornforth had enlisted in the RAF and joined 23 Squadron in early 1942. Following a handful of missions in the Havoc, he converted to the Mosquito along with the rest of the unit – his first mission with the type, to central France, was flown on 22 August. All-black DD712 was delivered to the squadron on 8 September and flown on its first operation in the hands of the unit’s CO, and ace, Wing Commander Sammy Hoare, sixteen days later. DD712 failed to return from its sixth sortie on 29 November.

In mid-1943 Wing Commander Paul Davoud (closest to the camera) returned to operations as CO of Mosquito FB VI-equipped 418 Squadron, which was tasked with performing intruder duties. Squadron personnel included several successful American-born pilots serving in both the USAAF and RCAF.

The nose of this 605 Squadron Mosquito displays the score achieved by its usual pilot, ace Flight Lieutenant David Blomeley, although it was also flown by two of the squadron’s USAAF pilots. For example, on one of the first sorties of 1944, Technical Sergeant V.J. Chipman flew it on an intruder mission to the nightfighter base at St Trond, in Belgium.

While flying 410 ‘Canadian’ Squadron Mosquito XIII HK429/RA-N on the night of 3 February 1944, USAAF pilot Flight Off Dick Geary almost had a mid-air collision with an Fw 190 near London. The aircraft was also occasionally flown by fellow USAAF pilot First Lieutenant Archie Harrington.

Canadian ace Flying Officer Rayne Schultz demonstrates to his 410 Squadron colleague Flight Officer Dick Geary (right) how he shot down three enemy bombers in December 1943.

No. 410 Squadron’s First Lieutenant Archie Harrington from Janesville, Ohio, claimed seven victories between March and November 1944, making him jointly the most successful American nightfighter pilot of the war.

Included in 418 ‘Canadian’ Squadron’s contingent of American personnel was First Lieutenant ‘Lou’ Luma, a USAAF pilot on secondment to the RCAF. He and his regular navigator, Flying Officer Colin Finlayson (to rear), are seen here surveying the damage to the fin of their Mosquito after an eventful intruder mission.

Posing in front of Mosquito VI HJ719/TH-U MOONBEAM McSWINE on 3 April 1944 are two of 418 Squadron’s outstanding intruder crews. They are, from left to right, Squadron Leader Howie Cleveland and his navigator Flight Sergeant Frank Day, and Lieutenant James ‘Lou’ Luma (USAAF on secondment) and his navigator Flying Officer Colin Finlayson. Both pilots had recently become aces, with Luma achieving this distinction on 21 March when, during an attack on Luxeuil airfield, he shot down two enemy aircraft, destroyed two more on the ground and damaged four others. Hailing from Montana, ‘Lou’ Luma had been posted to 418 Squadron to gain experience of nightfighter operations. He had originally joined the RCAF, and after training transferred to the USAAF. By early spring 1944, usually paired up with Flying Officer Colin Finlayson, he had taken his score to three aircraft destroyed. On the evening of 21 March they flew this aircraft in company with another Mosquito on a ‘Day Ranger’ mission to Luxeuil. The pair wreaked havoc when Luma shot down an ancient W 34 followed by a Ju 52/3m transport to make himself an ace. They then attacked the airfield, where Luma destroyed a Do 217 and an He 111 and damaged four other aircraft. He left the unit soon afterwards and returned to USAAF service, while HJ719 was lost following an engine fire in late June.

These Mosquito NF XXXs of 410 Squadron await their next sorties at B 48 Amiens/Glisy during the autumn of 1944. The nearest aircraft is MM788/RA-Q, which was flown on occasion by American six-victory ace Flight Lieutenant ‘Pop’ Edinger. An American citizen from Michigan, Edinger had enlisted in the RCAF and joined 410 Squadron in June 1944, making his initial victory claims over Normandy. In September he moved with his unit to France, and flew this aircraft for the first time on the night of 18 October, accompanied by his navigator, Flying Officer C.C. Vaessen. Their three-hour patrol of the Nijmegen area was uneventful, and they continued to fly MM788 occasionally, but made no claims with it.

One of 410 Squadron’s star pilots was First Lieutenant Archie Harrington (right), who became an ace in spectacular style on the night of 25 November 1944 when he and his

navigator, Flying Officer Dennis Tongue, shot down three Ju 88 nightfighters. He is seen here with Pilot Officer Keeping.

First Lieutenant Harrington’s aircraft on 25 November 1944 was Mosquito NF XXX MM767/RA-O, which is seen here still displaying the remnants of its black and white Allied Expeditionary Air Force stripes under the fuselage. Harrington had also used the aircraft to claim his fourth victory on 29 October, when he shot down an Fw 190 near Venlo, in Holland, for his fourth victory. He and his regular navigator, Flying Officer Dennis Tongue, routinely flew MM767/RA-O, and on the evening of 25 November they were vectored onto Ju 88G nightfighter Wk-Nr 712295 of 4./NJG 4, which they shot down near Muntz. Almost immediately Tongue gained another contact, and, after a chase, Harrington downed a Ju 88G from 5./NJG 4. A third contact resulted in the destruction of yet another Ju 88G a short while later, Harrington’s fire having hit its cockpit, engines and wing roots. Within an eighteen-minute period, the American was credited with three aircraft destroyed, taking his final score to seven. Having survived the war, MM767 was transferred to the French air force.

Beaufighter VIC EL232/J of 227 Squadron lifts off from Malta soon after the unit had formed in August 1942. It was heavily involved in attacks on enemy air and sea transport, and sustained correspondingly heavy losses. One of the squadron’s leading pilots was Flight Lieutenant Carl Johnson, an American serving with the RAF. He achieved four victories plus one shared before being killed in action. Originally from Oregon, 32-year-old Johnson had a brief but distinguished career with 227 Squadron on Malta after joining the unit in September 1942. On the 25th of that month Johnson claimed his first success when he shot down an Italian Cant Z.506B flying boat. The squadron’s role was mainly to interdict enemy shipping, and during one such mission on 14 November (while flying EL232/J) he shot down an escorting Bf 109. Johnson quickly followed this rare fighter kill by downing a Ju 88 minutes later. On 22 November, again flying EL232, Johnson destroyed a pair of Ju 52/3ms to become an ace. However, the following day, during an attack on a heavily armed E-boat, he was shot down and killed along with his navigator, Sergeant R.A. Webb.

No. 23 Squadron, equipped with Mosquito IIs like DZ228/YP-D, flew effective night intruder missions over Sicily from Malta in the early months of 1943. One of its successful pilots was Flying Officer Stanley Cornforth, who was lost in action over Sicily in DZ234/TP-Y during the night of 1/2 April 1943.

RCAF pilot Flying Officer Ernest Edgett, who is thought to have originated from Massachusetts, flew from Malta with 272 Squadron. He achieved several victories with the unit flying Beaufighter VIs such as X8105/S, which was photographed at Luqa in 1943.

Beaufighter VIF V8447/N of 89 Squadron was regularly flown during mid-1943 by Pilot Officer Paul Park, an American serving with the RCAF. The aircraft was photographed at Castel Benito, Libya, on 3 August 1943 after it had crashed on landing following the bursting of a tyre. Its pilot on this occasion was seventeen-victory ace Wing Commander Dennis David, who had assumed command of the unit fifteen days earlier. After training in Canada, Paul Park had been posted to North Africa, where he joined 89 Squadron and gained his first two successes while helping to defend the port of Algiers in late 1942. In early 1943 he claimed his third, and final, success, but continued to fly defensive patrols from Libya. On 29 June Park went on a dawn patrol in V8447, and that night he was scrambled for a further, albeit uneventful, mission. He continued to fly this aircraft regularly over the next two weeks, the last time being on 11 July.

Pilot Officer ‘Tex’ Holland poses with Beaufighter IF V8502/H whilst serving with 46 Squadron. Hailing from Homestead, Florida, he achieved several victories over the Greek islands with the unit in 1943–44. Holland had initially seen combat in North Africa flying Wellington bombers with 70 Squadron in 1942, before retraining as a fighter pilot. Posted to the South African Air Force’s 7 Squadron in Syria, he had then joined 46 Squadron. Holland returned to Canada in December 1944 and saw out the remaining months of the war as an instructor.