THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940 k PATRICK B I S H OP U.S. $26.95 VTHE SUMMER OF 1940 WAS SUPPOSED to be the beginning of the end of Britain. Europe had fa...
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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940
k
PATRICK
B
I
S
H OP
U.S. $26.95
V THE SUMMER OF 1940 WAS SUPPOSED to be the beginning of the end of Britain.
Europe had
terrifying speed,
was destroyed, precisely
and once the Royal Air Force
Britain
was
was
next. But that
6 s
where the Nazis stumbled. For 123
days, while
wave
storm troops with
fallen to Hitler's
.•9
Hermann Goering
sent
of Luftwaffe fighters to rain
RAF
thousand
Britain, three
back with a ferocity and
wave
down
after
on
fire
ST
•
V9
airmen fought
agility that
stunned !
the world. historian
Now
and
in this riveting
book, military
the first account of this critical
from the perspective of the
campaign told
scores of sur-
viving pilots as well as diaries and letters never
seen before, Bishop re-creates with astonishing
intimacy and clarity this excruciating, exhila-
war of
nerves. In their
pilots describe
what
it
felt like
own words,
the
when an engine
exploded, a parachute failed to open, a
swarm
of Messerschmitts surrounded their plane, a
bomb
fell
on
their
home
village, or a
comrade's
plane "went in" (their bland term for a high speed crash into the ground).
Had
the
RAF
failed, a successful
invasion would hav^
(continued on back flap)
C ' o s c § £ IL.
pilots themselves.
Drawing on interviews with
rating
CJ
journalist Patrick Bishop presents
levitable
German
— and the 0803
1
(ii
5 $ .2
J
Fighter Boys
PATRICK BISHOP
Fighter Boys The Battle of Britain,
VIKING
SOUTH BOSTON
1940
VIKING Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA)
New York, New York
Inc.,
375 Hudson
Street,
10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand,
London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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M4V
(P) Ltd,
1 1
3B2
Community
Centre, Panchsheel Park,
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Delhi- 110 017, India Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland,
New
Zealand
Penguin Books (South Africa)
24 Sturdee Avenue,
(Pty) Ltd,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London
WC2R ORL, England
American edition Published in 2003 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. First
10
987654321
Copyright
© Patrick Bishop, 2003
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bishop, Patrick (Patrick Joseph) Fighter boys p.
:
the Battle of Britain, 1940 / Patrick Bishop,
cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-670-03230-1 1.
Britain, Battle of, Great Britain, 1940. 2. Great Britain.
Royal Air Force. Fighter Great Britian
Command
—History—20th
—
History. 3. Fighter pilots
century.
Title.
I.
D756.5.B7B54 2003 940.54'4941—dc21 This book
is
2003053522
printed on acid-free paper.
@
Printed in the United States of America Set in
Monotype Dante
Without limiting the
rights
under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
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The
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Please purchase only
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SEP
2003
is
appreciated.
To Kelly and
Bill
Contents
List of Illustrations
viii
Preface
ix
Prologue:
The White Hart
1
Sportsmen and Butchers
2.
Fighters versus
Bombers
i
9
27
3.
'Free of Boundaries, Free of Gravity, Free of Ties'
48
4.
The
81
5.
Winter of Uncertainty
106
6.
Return to the Western Front
126
7.
The
147
8.
Dunkirk
181
9.
Doing
197
Fatal Step
Battle of France
It
10.
Before the Storm
11.
The Channel
12.
The Hun
13.
Hearth and
212
Battle
231
253
Home
263
14. Attrition
284
15.
Brotherhood
16.
17.
'The Day Had Been Autumn Sunset
18.
Rhubarbs and Circuses
Epilogue:
The
316 a Year'
Last Note
348 373
385
399
Notes and References
407
Index
423
of Illustrations
List
Albert Ball (Imperial
Mick Mannock
War Museum) War Museum)
(Imperial
Hurricanes in Vic' formation (Imperial
War Museum) War
Museum)
Number
1
sqn in France (Imperial
War
War Museum) War Museum)
The Ju 87 Stuka
bomber
(Imperial
dive
(Imperial
War Museum) Edgar 'Cobber' Kain
(Imperial
War
War Museum) War Museum) Peter Townsend (Imperial War Museum) Robert Stanford Tuck (Imperial War Pete Brothers (Imperial
Michael Crossley (Imperial
War
Museum) George Unwin and crew member
War Museum)
Brian Lane and fellow pilots (Imperial
War Museum)
viu
sqn. at
Hawkinge
Pilot with mask (Hulton Archive) Members of 66 sqn. (Courtesy of Robin
Appleford
(Courtesy of Robin Appleford)
Robin Appleford
Moira and Sheila Macneal (Courtesy of
Mrs
Tony
Lesley Kingcome)
Bartley (Imperial
Malan (Hulton
Edith
Heap
Brian
Kingcome
War Museum)
(Courtesy of Mrs Edith Kup)
Archive)
110 (Ullstein Bilderdienst)
(Courtesy of Mrs Lesley
Kingcome)
Heinkel
III
over Docklands (Imperial
War
Museum) Heinkel versus
109 (Suddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst)
Geoffrey Page
Me
from 610
Pilots
Denis Wissler (Courtesy of Mrs Edith Kup)
Museum)
'Sailor'
refuelling a Spitfire
Robin, Christine and Pamela (Courtesy of
Al Deere (Imperial
Me
Ground crews
Rob, Robin, Pamela and Christine
Museum)
(Imperial
War Museum) War
fire (Imperial
(Hulton Archive)
Paul Richey (Imperial
Drake
(Imperial
(Hulton Archive)
Museum) Billy
Adolf Galland
Museum)
Kilmartin (Imperial
'Killy'
(Suddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst
Heinkel Ills under
Spitfire in flight (Popperfoto)
John
medium bomber
Dornier 17
Spitfire (Hulton Archive)
Paddy Barthropp Paddy Finucane
(Imperial
Johnny Kent and Library)
War Museum)
pilots (Robert
Hunt
Preface
This book
is
was
a child.
1960s,
when
I
I
grew up
the Second
daily reminders of
be found
in
is
Kent and London in the
World War was
fallen
a real presence.
still
and the muddy Anderson
my
of walking with in
father,
a battleground. Occasionally
from the heavens during the in flames into
my
fighting. Later
Long Beech
One of my
the skies overhead I
found
cart-
we imagined had tumbled learned that a figher pilot
after
being shot
down
in the
1940.
We boys knew all about the Battle of Britain from small, books, describing the great events of the war, that
soon
through a
sister
playmates and
I
earliest
the ridge above the
Way. Not long before
ridge cases rusting underneath the ferns that
autumn of
There were
shelters that could
mother and
Long Beech woods on
village, close to the Pilgrim's
had crashed
and early
weed-choked gaps between houses where
spent in the village of Charing.
ground mist of bluebells
had been
late 1950s
since
suburban back gardens.
My first years were memories
in
in the
it
German bombs had still
me
an attempt to answer a question that has fascinated
as they
square comic
we bought
eagerly as
appeared in the village newsagent. They were our
tory books. There, for the
first
time,
we met
first his-
heroes other than our
hijacked our imaginations.
We acted
out their deeds in our games and dreamed about being them
when we
fathers.
It
was the
grew up. Their
fighter pilots
style
who
and dash made them much more glamorous than
the earthbound drudges of the infantry. Adults
seemed
to think so too.
IX
PATRICK BISHOP
The
Battle of Britain
who
took part
in
was mythologised before
were bathed
it
in the
it
was even over and those
glow of the legend.
At adolescence you shed your old heroes and get while
it
was
slightly
embarrassing to
new
a
For a
set.
recall the passion that the silhouette
of a Hurricane or the smudged snapshot of a young pilot once provoked.
The grown-ups in
also
uniform were
seemed
now
moved
to have
on. This
was the
Sixties.
Men
the targets of mockery.
Then, in the funny way that the recent past becomes suddenly almost as
remote
as the
Dark Ages, the
There were
pilots slipped into history.
plenty of books about the battles they fought and their crucial impor-
grew obscure,
tance to the twentieth century. But they themselves
monochrome
blurred and
like the
photographs they took of each other,
always smiling, as they hung about In the pages that follow
What were
the question:
I
at dispersal,
tried to colour in the picture
Malcolm Smith of the
me
to the veterans
many The
survivors are
My researches have particularly grateful
pleasure.
The
individuals
thanks. like to
is
of their time. Everyone
helpful
and
hospitable.
clear in the text,
this story
I
make
special
acknowledgment
approached was
vivre.
The
written.
Group Captain
calls
I
Billy
I
my
would
Drake, Air
made on them. Group Captain John
Cunningham, Hugh Heron, Squadron Leader Jocelyn
Flight Lieutenant
was fortunate
them was Tim
Millard,
Group
Wing Commander Harbourne Stephen and
Captain Anthony O'Neill,
William Walker were also generous with their time. to be given access to several unpublished texts.
Vigors's splendid autobiography,
in print, a situation
to the
gave
I
Peter Brothers and Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher
Foxley-Norris for the repeated
I
unfail-
contribution of
and to each of them
to
patience.
Meetings were invariably a
Without them the book could not have been
Commodore
and answering
good humour and
Fighter Boys retain their joie de
made
I
Battle of Britain Fighter Association for pointing
whose reminiscences enrich
men
and to answer
am
queries with his celebrated kindness,
ingly courteous,
off.
the Fighter Boys really like?
been helped by the generosity of many people. to
waiting to take
which
Beaumont family
I
hope
will
soon be
for allowing
me
which has yet
rectified.
to see
I
S.
am
Among
to appear
also grateful
G. Beaumont's
FIGHTER BOYS Reminiscences, to the
account of a young for enabling
me
Fenwick family
pilot's life,
me
for sending
Group Captain Frank Carey's personal
to see
Squadron Leader Dennis Armitage supplemented account of the
his written
Charles Fenwick's
Dear Mother, and to Michael Butterworth
summer
his talk
me
with
Kup was kind enough
of 1940. Edith
some of the gaps
to spend a wintry afternoon filling in
with
history.
of her
in the story
me to see his letters. Valerie me some of her souvenirs of the White Hart and allowed me to reproduce some glimpses of off-duty
with Denis Wissler and to allow
love affair
Preston shared with
Robin Appleford has in 66 squadron.
life
would
thank Mrs Lesley Kingcome, her mother
Sheila,
her daughter Samantha and her son Gavin for their hospitality in
Devon
I
and
also like to
for their
memories of the
late
Brian Kingcome, as well as for per-
mission to reproduce the photographs that appear here and to quote
from
memoir, A
his
for talking to
me
from the family
Willingness to Die.
I
am
grateful, too, to Sarah Quill
about her father Jeffery and for showing
archive,
me
and to Yvonne Agazarian for sketching
in
letters
some
of her brother, Noel.
details
Our understanding of the greatly
ethos of Fighter
by the work of the Imperial
Command
War Museum, which more
years ago set out to record the testimony of the air battles of 1940 and preserve
interviews have provided
much
has been helped
them
many
in
of those engaged in
sound
its
fascinating material
for permission to reproduce extracts.
The
staffs
than 20
archive.
and
I
am
These
grateful
of the Sound Archive,
Department of Documents and Printed Books, Photograph Archive and Film and Video Archive were always helpful and
thank Gordon Leith and Information Services
at the
Public Record Office in did
on
my
his
behalf. Jean
me
at the
Kew
I
also
want
to
Department of Research and
RAF Museum, Hendon and for their patience
the staff of the
and the hard work they
Buckberry was a gracious guide to the Royal Air
Force College, Cranwell and vided
team
efficient.
its
library.
The
staff
of RAF, Benson, pro-
with the records of the Oxford University Air Squadron in the
interwar years. In another, very different, area of research,
I
would
like to
thank Rod
XI
PATRICK BISHOP Dean, himself a former
manoeuvres of
Tangmere and
My
task
detail
me
difficult if
it
were not
several aviation historians of the period.
and to Christopher Shores and Clive Williams in their
am
I
Men
for the definitive research contained in
found
through the basic
dogfight in a Harvard trainer in the skies above
a
would have been much more
Wynn
Britain
for taking
for explaining the principles of air fighting.
work done by Ken
RAF fighter pilot,
indebted to
of the Battle of
for the wealth of
two-volume Aces High. The chronology was
greatly
The
writings
Montgomery Hyde, John James, Dr Tony
Mansell,
aided by reference to Francis K. Mason's Battle Over Britain.
of Norman Franks, H.
for the
Dilip Sarkar, Richard C.
Smith and John Terraine were always
illumi-
nating.
Thanks
are
due to the Grub Street team,
the voices of those
who
continue to ensure that
fought the Second World
permission to quote from Dennis David's In Flames
who
by Geoffrey Page,
to
My
War
Biography,
are heard, for
and Shot Down
Hutchinson for extracts from Flying
Start
by Hugh Dundas, reprinted by permission of the Random House Group Ltd,
who
Nine
Lives.
also allowed
me
to use passages
Wing Commander Paddy
of his autobiography Paddy. letting
me
Thomas put me
Franziska
a
and
in the archives
model
in
of
skilful translator
Coudenhove was
Hugh
am
Barthropp allowed
me
to
make use
also grateful to Cassell Military for
reproduce parts of Paul Richey's
and was a
and
I
from Alan Deere's memoir
classic, Fighter Pilot.
touch with German Luftwaffe veterans
my
talks
researcher, a
a source of cheer.
with them.
My
friend Sophia
shrewd and indefatigable
Nick
Farrell,
toiler
Harry de Quetteville
when
Schofield gave encouragement and ideas
the going got
heavy. Charles Moore, Editor of the Daily Telegraph, and Alec Russell,
Foreign Editor, were generous and understanding bosses, and league Ian Jones took the author photograph. Leslie at
Bonham
Bussento
self
an
I
is
due to
would
RAF man,
in
like to
whose
of writing.
mention
my
late father,
endlessly-leafed through
albums the germ of this project perhaps xn
gratitude
col-
Carter for providing a wonderful working environment
at a crucial stage
In closing
My
my
lies. It
Ernest Bishop, him-
wartime photograph
would have
lain
dormant,
FIGHTER BOYS however, were
who
devoted
it
not for the intervention of
I
would
like to
agent David Godwin,
and energy to getting
his great talent
The process was helped enormously by Collins.
my
Fighter Boys airborne.
the professionals at Harper-
thank Michael Fishwick for
his
enthusiasm and
backing, Kate Johnson for her intelligent appreciation of the subject,
Mary Ore and
Peter Ford for their meticulous editing and Melanie
Haselden for the care she took over the picture
The
last
acknowledgement should
gratitude, Marie darling, for tolerance.
Now
it is
your
really
selection.
have come
your support and -
how
first.
shall
I
My put
eternal this?
-
turn.
xin
LUXEM&OURG'N \ Luxembourg
/*• Berry-au-Bac ,*•
.
VerdunSur-Meuse
Reims
|
FC
FRANCE
|
RAF
Fighter
Command
Headquarters
RAF Group Headquarters
Villacoublay
Sector Airfields
D
Other
fighter Airfields
RAF Group Boundaries Sector Boundanes ••••••• Luftwaffe Boundary
\
* Metz
•
. Bar-Le-Duc
The White Hart
Prologue:
At 9 p.m. on Thursday, 15 August 1940, in the Kentish village
in a
low-beamed, tile-hung pub
of Brasted, the conversation faded as a radio was
switched on and the familiar pulse of the electronic time signal counted
down
the seconds to the
The
main
BBC news
broadcast of the evening.
voice of the announcer was calm but the events he described
could not have been more dramatic. Throughout the day huge formations of
German bombers,
protected by large numbers of fighter escorts,
had been crossing the Channel unloading cargoes of high explosive on and
military
The
industrial targets across south-east England.
report
was heard
day's score. At least 182
in silence until the
enemy
aircraft
had been destroyed, he claimed,
against British losses of only 34 fighters.
and
a surge to the
newsreader revealed the
There was a burst of cheering
bar for celebratory drinks. As the radio was switched
off the noise in the pub's stone-flagged bars climbed
back up to
its
normal
convivial level.
Most of the men from the
in the
White Hart Hotel
dusty-green lanes, across wheat
fields
Watching them was an American
London
that evening
fighter station at Biggin Hill, seven miles
were
pilots
ragged,
ripened to the colour of wet sand.
journalist
that afternoon. In his report he
that these noisy youngsters
were
away through
who had
driven
wrote that he 'found
in fact front-line troops,
down from it
incredible
even then
in
the thick of battle'. It
was
true.
The
boisterous
young men, tankards and
cigarettes in
PATRICK BISHOP hand, the top buttons of their slate-blue uniform tunics undone to
were
the world they
had been on duty since the
fighter pilots,
show
first light
summer morning. Some had been
of what had been an unusually misty in action three times.
The day had seen had
won
figures
a remarkable victory,
suggested.
knocked down.
no doubt
most intense
the
It
In
was the new commander,
as the official
aircraft
had been
was
suffer.
32 Squadron. At the centre of the crowd
humorous
eyes,
who
at six foot
than the other
pilots.
Before leading the
warm
sudsy Page
taller
pilots
claimed, but there
thickened, for pints of the
a
The
Flight Lieutenant Michael Crossley, thin
dark-haired, with deep-set
head
German
had been made to
men were from
one
as great a
number
than half the
less
that the Luftwaffe
Half of the
though not
seventy-eight
fact
was
air fighting in history.
&
men
two was
off, as
Overton
White Hart's landlady Kath Preston served from wooden
and half
the dusk
bitter that the
casks,
he had
recorded the events of the day.
Down
to
Hawkinge
1
p.m. and from then on had a remarkably blitzy
afternoon. Chased something 109s going
up
to
home. Got none. They got Grubby Grice instead who
descended into the sea
.
.
.
back to Biggin to
and attacked thousands of 88s and attack thousands of
Slapped
Humph The
Harwich and got mixed up with
down
1
7s
who were
110s, got three. Refuel again
beating up and
seven. 'Polly' Flinders
slapped
down one
Off to Portsmouth
refuel.
bombing Croydon.
took training
each. Day's
and
bag twelve.
flight
out and he and
1
were the Messerschmitt
fighter
escorts shepherding the fleets of raiders that arrived in successive
waves
109s
from
late
mentioned
morning. The
bombers. The '17s'
come
f
110s'
were Dornier in
in this laconic entry
'88s'
were Junkers
were Messerschmitt 17s,
another
88s,
110s,
twin-engined
medium
twin-engined fighters, and
medium bomber. The Germans had
unprecedented numbers, launching attacks across an 800-mile
front that reached
from Edinburgh
Britain's air defences
to Exeter in an effort to
and prepare the way for invasion.
overwhelm
FIGHTER BOYS
The main engagement of after 6 p.m., as the
came
32 Squadron
late in the day. Shortly
sun slipped westward, a force of
Me
110s and 109s
crossed the Kent coast near Dungeness and raced towards
RAF
RAF
defens-
mistake in navigation meant they dropped their
bombs
thought to be the ive system.
A
base at Kenley, a
on Croydon aerodrome
destructive effect. a
symbol of
The
instead.
crashed between buildings.
been
The
effect
civilians.
fifteen
The
minutes streets
devastating.
had warned
had been only
morning
maximum new world
positive about the
but
killed, all
six
of
sounded
air-raid sirens
began.
around the aerodrome were
that
The bombs
which before the war had
There had been no warning. The after the attack
the
back and forth to
terminal,
was hopeful and
that
was
blast rolled
The passenger all
vital station in
of aviation, was wrecked. Sixty-eight people were
them
what they
of people. Newspapers
full
few days
that the air fighting of the previous
a prelude to the real battle. Invasion fears
were excited by
the discovery of parachutes scattered across the Midlands and Scotland -
but no parachutists. The sight of the bombers sent people running to the
dug
earth-and-corrugated-iron shelters they had
Others were too absorbed
drama
in the
back gardens.
in their
Mr
to take cover.
H.
J.
Edgerton
of Couldson watched the Messerschmitts flash past, seemingly only a few feet
over the roof of his mock-Tudor home,
Spitfires streaked after
them. Our fellows attacked them from below and
roared up under them in
terrific
The engines were 'screaming
power climbs/
deafeningly'.
It
was strangely
peril-
RAF
were
I
thought the
going to ram the bombers but they swept past them'. leaving, the Luftwaffe raked
lower-middle-class face.
its
nails across
Bombs tumbled
gun
shelter to find nappies drying
bullets.
A doomed bomber
the walls, putting
on
on the
piled into a
display the
modest
The Hurricanes of 32 Squadron and been unable to block the
attack,
2
Croydon's homely,
into the streets, ripping
mac, blowing out windows and tearing off
from her
exciting.
The aeroplanes flew
ously close to each other and 'time after time
On
20 Hurricanes and
as 'about
roofs. line
being lived
Spitfires
tar-
shredded by machine-
row of semis,
lives
up
A woman emerged peeling
away
inside.
of 610 Squadron had
though they shot down several of the
PATRICK BISHOP raiders as they ran for
home. Despite the deaths and the devastation
were few recriminations about the lack of warning or the
there
level of
protection the anti-aircraft defences and the air force had been able to provide.
On
the contrary, there
fighters charging in to attack.
had deliberately held
pilots
It
no such
In fact
selflessness
over
was
restraints
The
seemed
Mr
to
down on
Edgerton that the
the thickly populated
were imposed
by the
of Fighter
by the
either
1940 fighter pilots were
known
Command were
bathed
as a small,
sciousness, turning day
were
was
war of
Now, with
Their
drama Britain
of the national cona salvation legend.
an increasingly proprietorial
in
dash - and the
Dowding, the
elite.
in the great
were 'our
boys'.
The name conveyed
'fighter boys'.
their youth, their job, their
officially,
it
familial affection. First they
midsummer, they were
held. 'Stuffy'
at the centre
by day into the heroes of
people spoke about them
way touched with
it
air
in the light
vaguely glamorous
had been peripheral, and,
facing possible extinction, they
to use
controllers
few weeks of the
of the Dunkirk evacuation, somewhat contentious.
were
district'.
organization was just four years old. Before the spring of
role in the fighting in France
When
British
The assumption of
pilots themselves.
revealing. Already, after only a
Britain, the pilots
nobility.
intense pride in the sight of the
their fire for several minutes, 'because of the
danger of bringing the bombers
directing the defences or
was
warm
pilots' austere
writing in June a letter of
Then, by
everything:
regard in which they
commander, was the
first
congratulation to his 'dear
Fighter Boys'.
By the end of the summer everyone
The
air battles
Britain
of 1940 were intimate
had been engaged
in Britain affairs.
was
in love
Unlike any external war
thousand years,
in in the previous
with them.
this
one was
fought in the sight of the inhabitants of the island, over the territory the pilots
were giving
monotonous
their lives to defend.
Combat took
roofs of London suburbs, the old market
of Kent, Sussex and East Anglia, the
fields
place above the
towns and
and orchards of the
villages
Home
Counties. Those below had only to look up to see an unprecedented spectacle:
ulean
huge masses of bombers and
summer
sky, scribbling
fighters skidding across the cer-
white vapour
trails
on
its
placid surface
and
FIGHTER BOYS stitching the blue with the red
and from
thrilling,
and gold of cannon and
a distance beautiful
and unreal. Then
tracer.
a Heinkel
It
was
would
stagger out of formation, slide into a stricken dive; a Hurricane
falter,
would
spurt flame, roll
and with
on
its
boom
and
a final flash
to
back and spin down
in frantic spirals,
the violence reached earth in an ugly
tangle of scorched metal and roasted bodies.
The
pilots fighting the battles lived
among
those they were defending.
At 6.40 p.m. that Thursday, just outside Sevenoaks, Michael Crossley caught up with one of the
Me
on
down
fire,
Two
sending
hours
it
later
crashing
110s that had raided
Croydon and
set
it
near the pleasant village of Ightham.
he was accepting drinks from
locals in the pub, a
few
miles from where workers were clearing the wreckage and retrieving the corpses of the dead.
The Battle of Britain had many of the characteristics of a siege. Everyone inside the enclave, active or passive, soldier or civilian,
was
a defender.
The
closeness this engendered could sometimes be almost unbearable.
The
girlfriend
report,
was
a
of Flying Officer Douglas Grice, the 'Grubby' of Crossley's
Waaf at
Biggin
Hill.
The buzz
that her
man had
reached her in a break between driving pilots out to their
was badly burned but recovered. There were much worse later occasion
another Waaf, Edith Heap,
control room, froze as a voice over the
was
falling
into
imagined their true.
stories.
in the
Tannoy reported
in'
Grice
On
a
Debden
'Blue Four'
the sea in flames. She knew, without waiting for
confirmation, that the
Looking up
who worked
'gone
aircraft.
she loved and was about to marry was dead.
wheeling
at the
own
man
Spitfires
and Hurricanes, ordinary people
sons or brothers at the controls. Sometimes
The mother of Tim
Elkington, a
watched from the balcony of her
flat
young
pilot
on Hayling
with
1
it
was
Squadron,
Island as he
was shot
down, baled out and drifted perilously over the sea before finally landing safely.
But you did not need
bond with
ties
the Fighter Boys.
flying Hurricanes
and
of blood or romance to
feel a particular
The backgrounds of the few thousand
Spitfires in the
summer
composition of the nation, a point that
pilots
of 1940 reflected the social
was emphasized by
official
and
PATRICK BISHOP unofficial propagandists. is
'Just
you,
homes.'
3
I,
us and
The most
wrote a war
their ordinariness/
co.;
Many
left
school at fourteen to
become an RAF
RAF
the war, training in their spare time from their often
Houghton had been
a fitter in
a
Coventry
ever to
elite
Squadron, Crossley had been
of those standing in the pub had been in the
Oliver
pilots
among them.
spent months
perhaps the most motley
exist in the British military. In 32
John Proctor had
who
ordinary sons of ordinary parents from ordinary
Command was
Fighter
about the fighter
striking thing
artist
at Eton.
apprentice.
reserve before
mundane
jobs.
William
factory.
Higgins was a teacher in a Derbyshire village school.
Their interests and attitudes were as broad as their backgrounds. Fighter pilots might be philistines or intellectuals,
bon
pious or godless, cynical or trusting. There were
some whose dominant
trait
of recklessness or aggression or amiability
most were too were
ordinarily
of his
a pilot
was
commander and making
There were, though, strong
bound
the
bunch
together.
ing about flying, and
dropped It
made them
stand out, but
complex to be pigeonholed. Fighter squadrons
collections of individuals.
Once combat began,
vivants or ascetics,
on
usually
his
affinities
and
common
characteristics that
a love of flying. Speak-
occasionally they wrote about
memories of the
first
the pilots
it,
understatement for the language of passion.
beautiful, fragile
and
The
at first sight.
so.
fateful decisions alone.
simply machines. They had quasi-human
always love
it
own, beyond the control
was an obsession and an addiction and aeroplanes were
and heavy or
made
the fighting
The most potent was
when
their usual clipped
The nature of
encounter,
qualities.
sensitive. If
pilots'
it
more than
They could be
was
love,
reminiscences are
when the
far
it
brutish
was nearly
full
of
flying circus arrived in
lyrical
town or
a mysterious figure floated out of the sky to land in the field next door.
Charles Fenwick was a
when
Sir
little
boy
in the Kentish village
Alan Cobham's troupe of itinerant
flyers
of Harbledown
passed through. His
aunt took him to see them.
'Would you
What
like to
go
for a
flip?'
a stupendous question!
I
was on
my way
to the plane as fast as
FIGHTER BOYS I
could go.
was small
I
The plane was an Well,
my
idea of beauty,
it all
was
she
age and flopped into the rear cockpit.
all
struts
and wires and canvas with that
compounded from dope and
intoxicating smell
beat
my
for
early Avro, an aerial marvel quite beautiful to behold.
alive.
heading for heaven.
She was roaring
Going
solo in any aeroplane
aviators never lose a faint feeling of insecurity,
experience. Flying with an instructor for the
how
noted queasily
how
wings,
easy
it
and
like a lion
But to
oil.
rattling.
I
was
4
Flying requires courage.
trainees
and hot
fuel
is
tip
Most
no matter how great time in a light
first
how
thin the fuselage seemed,
might be to
alarming.
their
aircraft,
flimsy the
out in a turn. The sensations got more
alarming as they progressed to more powerful machines. The Harvard trainer,
whose 600-horsepower engine provides only
the Merlins of the Hurricanes and Spitfires,
Clamping
into a tight turn, the
forces drag
most
basic
half the thrust of
disconcerting enough.
is
manoeuvre of dog-fighting,
G
your guts to the sump of your stomach and press your head
down on your
chest as
if
you
are being crushed
by
a giant hand.
A
simple half-roll sends the world spinning incomprehensibly, earth and sky alternating in a blur.
When
I
experienced
hard to imagine this
how
this as a passenger, fear
pilots
were able
way without succumbing
to understand
how
they were doing things
you had
so.
away.
felt far
to fling their aeroplanes
to disorientation or panic.
they could shoot
To have
never
at,
and
hit,
It is
It is
around
harder
in
still
other aeroplanes while
the reflexes and eyesight needed to do these
Most
to be young.
pilots
and twenty-six. They tended to be young
were aged between nineteen in their
outlook as well. They
and fashioned and spiced
liked the latest music, films
their talk
with
Americanisms, creating a Hollywood-meets-public-school slang.
The riors in
Fighter Boys belonged firmly to contemporary Britain, ideal war-
what was being shaped
that their technological traditions.
The
skill
as a people's war.
To
the public
it
seemed
was, comfortingly, fused to old values and
pilots' fathers
had fought and died
traumatized Europe and stimulated a
in a
war
wave of pacifist, and then
that
had
defeatist,
PATRICK BISHOP Yet the sons were accepting their duty willingly, almost cheer-
feeling. fully,
and confronting the horror again.
On
August
that
windows of
leaded
night, as the blackout shutters
the
White Hart,
banter and laughter subsided, in.
The
fighting of the day
would have civilian,
to
be
was now
won in
as last orders
were
fitted into the
were
called
unwelcome thoughts of tomorrow edged
had brought only an interim
over and over again.
No
victory,
Britain
would survive
country. Winston Churchill had set the stakes even higher. said,
would decide
the fate of the civilized world.
involved in determining the outcome. Chief
morale and courage of the Fighter Boys. bility.
Not
one that
one present, airman or
any doubt that they were in the middle of a struggle
which would determine whether or not
he
and the
since classical times
It
It
The
a tiny
was the
the
cool, hop-scented
skill,
responsi-
band of warriors been
pilots,
though,
who seemed
the least concerned as they finished the dregs from their pewter
and stepped out into the
battle,
elements were
among them was
was an extraordinary
had such
asked to bear such a heavy burden.
Many
as a free
Kent night.
mugs
Sportsmen and Butchers
In the
summer
of 1940 the
art
old. In that time, aeroplanes
the centre of
modern
inevitable. Innovators
machines. The
moved with at
was only twenty-six years
The invention of
aircraft
depressing speed to
made
fit
air
wars
guns to flying
Hendon, Brooklands and Rheims held before
World War emphasized
the First
air fighting
had moved from the extreme periphery to
warfare.
shows
air
of
thing they were celebrating, with aviators dropping flour outlines of warships traced in chalk
readers with stories of airships
power of
the
bombs on
the
the potential destructive
on the ground. Writers frightened
bombarding
cities,
a
prophecy whose
accuracy was soon to be confirmed.
For the military, though, of aeroplanes that
first
it
was the information-gathering
attracted interest.
observation platforms. In the war
The
game played
first aircraft
in
potential
were used
September 1912
as
at the
annual British army manoeuvres, Red Force and Blue Force were each
equipped with a supporting
air
component. Early on, two airborne
officers
from Blue Force spotted a concentration of opposition troops and correctly guessed their direction. The information helped their side to win.
The
commander, Lieutenant-General
victorious
drew an important conclusion from craft are
of hostile
and reported. Therefore the 1
aircraft.'
James Grierson,
the exercise. 'So long as hostile
hovering over one's troops,' he wrote,
to be seen
Sir
first
'all
step in
movements war
will
air-
are likely
be to get
rid
PATRICK BISHOP This was
how combat
the Great War. The
same
was
to develop in the four years of
was
essential role of aeroplanes
the battlefield, allowing
detecting his
in the air
commanders
movements and
to
the roof off
lift
to peer into the enemy's territory,
trying to divine his intentions. At the
time, spotters hovering perilously over the front lines helped to
direct the artillery barrages that occupied
much
of the effort of both
sides.
The first
from the
rival pilots,
outset, tried to
each other.
kill
of the
recorded encounters took place on 25 August 1914. Lieutenant
was
C. E. C. Rabagliati of the Royal Flying Corps
cruising with an
observer on a reconnaissance mission over northern France
came
5
German
across a lone
aeroplane. Rabagliati
but he had with him a .303 service pistol,
fitted
with
wooden
a
approached each other and Rabagliati fired a
afterwards, 'to
rifle.
stock.
was unarmed,
feet
forward on
became
faster,
in the follow-
demands of war-
more nimble and more
sturdy,
and the weapons they carried more deadly. But the purpose of fighting
remained the same.
cant difference
on the
No bomber heavy enough
battlefield or in the rear
his
.
ing years. Technological advances, accelerated by the that the aircraft
of colliding.
2
5
Such encounters were to be repeated thousands of times
meant
Mauser
carried a
pilot fall
machine tipped up and went down
they
Then, he reported
success.
saw the German
when
The two machines
coming within
hundred rounds without I
s aircraft
The German
shoulder
circled,
my intense joy,
joystick and the
fare,
One
to
make
aerial
a signifi-
had emerged by the end
of the war. The main function of military flying remained observing the
enemy, and trying These gressed.
activities
to prevent the
grew
The RFC went
to
It
finished the
mation was presided over by mander,
Hugh
in the creation
stand out.
10
you.
as the
war
pro-
to France with sixty-two aircraft. In April 1918
became, together with the Navy's Royal Air Force.
enemy from observing
be increasingly important
air
arm, a service in
war with
a particularly forceful
air force,
He became known
as
own
right, the
1,799 aeroplanes. This transfor-
Trenchard. There were others of a separate
its
it
who
and energetic com-
played a crucial part
but Trenchard's passion made him
'The Father of the RAF', a label he
FIGHTER BOYS claimed to detest. The designation had some truth in
the air force with the fierce love of a father; a Victorian father
not flinch from sending his boy to his death
if
West Country, and had
He was born on
attempts to enter
as a second-lieutenant in
He
the Royal Scots Fusiliers and being posted to India.
new
twentieth-
February 1873 in the
failed several
commission
military schools before scraping a
decade of the
a
it.
a difficult childhood. His sister died of diphtheria,
was bankrupted and he
his solicitor father
3
loved
who would
duty demanded
Trenchard combined nineteenth-century mores with century appreciation of the new.
He
though.
it,
spent the
first
century in southern and western Africa. In October
1900 he was shot in the chest while trying to capture Boers and was
expected to
who
Trenchard,
die.
'hated sick people', pulled through,
recovering in characteristic fashion by hurtling
down
the Cresta run at
St Moritz.
He was
tall,
bony, with mournful eyes that seemed to search for
His personality was similarly angular: quarrelsome, morose
and
slights.
and
dissatisfied,
khana
club.
ill
in a letter
who was
atmosphere of mess and gym-
at ease in the genial
By 1912
was approaching
came
it
was
forty,
clear that his career
unmarried and not
from one of
his
learning to fly at the
few
RFC
was going nowhere. He
much
friends,
loved. His salvation
Captain Eustace Loraine,
aviation school
on
Salisbury Plain.
'You've no idea what you're missing,' Loraine wrote excitedly.
and see
men
crawling
like ants.'
Farmans
crammed
that
him was not his
into the
were used
flying
itself,
pilot.
narrow
His
tall,
long-legged frame looked
seats of the primitive Bleriots
to give instruction to trainees.
but
its
potential.
He
What
sensed he had
Trenchard every
how
tried to
its
finally
it
limited his resources.
of the
air
made
later, in
commander.
make
demand made on
and
fascinated
rendezvous with destiny and joined the RFC. Three years
August 1915, he became
'Come
3
Trenchard was not a natural ridiculous
faults
the
RFC
indispensable, straining to satisfy
by the army no matter
The aim was
to obtain
how
unreasonable, or
and maintain control
over the trenches. The balance of power shifted constantly as
the technological and tactical advantage
swung back and
forth
between
ii
PATRICK BISHOP
The
the sides.
level of fighting
was kept
high.
was reconnaissance. Trenchard decided defending the spotter to the
army was
enemy
air space.
and ensuring
aircraft
go on the
to
early
The RFC's main on
business
way
that the best
offensive, reaching over the lines into
This was, at best, a logical response to the three-
dimensional nature of aerial warfare in which there were no fixed to defend tage.
lines
and to wait for the enemy to attack was to cede a moral advan-
At times, though,
of the
of
a steady flow of intelligence
it
terrestrial generals,
and more troops into
could seem
who,
stuck in the
literally
futile attacks
an echo of the
like
numb
thinking
mud, threw more
because they could think of nothing
better to do.
Trenchard did not hesitate to tions to the
among
army and maintain
pilots
men to fulfil the RFC's obligamomentum of aggression. The losses
sacrifice
the
during the great offensives of 1916 and 1917 came close, in
proportionate terms, to matching those on the ground. During the Battle
Somme
of the
were often
pilots
filled
were
hours a day. The gaps
in the air for five or six
by novices coming
straight
from
flying school. Cecil
Lewis, eighteen years old, was asked by a senior officer at
No.
1
Aircraft
Depot
Omer how many
at St
when he
arrived
hours' flying experience
he had.
'Fourteen hours.' 'Fourteen! little flying.
It's
You
absolutely disgraceful to send pilots overseas with so
don't stand a chance
might be quite decent; but fourteen!
The aeroplanes which fighters.
These
carried the
The machines were
efforts
war
.
.
.
My
Another God,
to the
it's
fifty
hours and you
murder.'
4
Germans became known
as
constantly being refined and improved.
produced steady rather than
startling increases in
perform-
ance. The Bristol Scout, in service in 1915, had a top speed of 86.5 m.p.h. at 10,000 feet, to
which
level
it
could climb in twenty-one minutes. The
Sopwith Camel, one of the most ubiquitous types the war, could in ten minutes reach 10,000 feet,
112 m.p.h. Aircraft armaments similarly
12
in the closing stages of
where
it
could travel
became heavier and more
at
accu-
FIGHTER BOYS rate as interrupter devices
were refined
to allow bullets to pass through
the arc of the propeller.
Fighter pilots
came
even though
air force,
to exemplify the character their role
was
and
spirit
essentially secondary.
of the
new
They were
a
godsend to propagandists charged with conjuring romance out of the horror of mechanized warfare. They operated in the clean the
medium
work made
it
inevitable that they
Some
fighting tradition.
would be
linked to an older, nobler
aviators believed this themselves, at least at the
beginning. 'To be alone/ wrote Cecil Lewis, fresh from flying school,
your
have your
life
against the
enemy.
in
in
It
own
was
hands, to use your
a
man saw
own
his adversary
true
was
ent qualities from those that
no textbooks
decisions
made
to refer to.
and develop
men who were
a
good
chivalry and
still
his
own
British side
infantry officer. In the air
entirely
To
The new
had to make
his
air service attracted
independent-minded, adventurous, often unusual, some-
Among
was Albert
Ball, in
whom
the
first
to
emerge on the
the values of the playing field
jostled unhappily with the neurosis of the battlefield. Ball in
you
new. There was no one to
survive, the pilot
tactics.
times to the point of eccentricity.
up
in
that to be a successful fighter pilot required differ-
were on your own. The business was
own
and faced him
5
What was
it,
single-handed
skill,
mortal combat, the only sphere where there was honour.'
'to
Middle Ages, the only sphere
like the lists in the
modern warfare where
teach
of
detached from the vileness of the trenches. The nature of their
air,
a middle-class
home
in
Nottingham where
himself up the class ladder, starting his working
ending up mayor of the
city.
He was
educated
life
his as a
was brought
father hauled
plumber and
at a local
fee-paying
school, founded to promote Anglican principles and a sense of patriotic
duty. There
were cold
baths, perpetual exercise
and an emphasis on
technology. Like tens of thousands of other
he was
able,
young men, he joined up
and was posted to the
as
soon
infantry. Frustrated at the delay in
being sent to the front he took private flying lessons to improve chances of entering the
RFC.
as
Ball fell instantly in love
with
his
flying, despite
13
PATRICK BISHOP the hazards.
rotten to see the smashes/ he wrote in one of his
is
'It
frequent letters home. 'Yesterday a ripping boy had a smash and
we
got up to
right
him he was
through
head and died
his
would be
ent irony, that he if
nearly dead.
his parents felt like a flip.
He great
morning.'
this
'pleased to take
He
you up any time you
offensive.
He would
methods marked him out immedi-
packs of
fly straight into
in again.
was
It
gun
enemy
behaviour struck
his
first
for himself at the edge of the airfield,
home
its
fire.
At
his fellow officers as odd.
a tent, then a
his
He
fitters,
marrows,
lettuce, carrots,
he seemed
to his aeroplane to
less interested in flying for its
Nor
did
rig-
improve
own
than as a means of fighting. The camaraderie of the mess held interest for him.
built
spent hours in the hangars, chatting with the
making constant adjustments
capabilities, yet
wooden hut he
two miles from the squadron mess.
for packets of seeds to plant
and flowers.
gers and
enemy
Aubigny aerodrome, north-west of Arras, he turned down
base, Savy
a billet in the village, preferring
sent
breaking
He would
simple, effective and desperately dangerous.
ground
the
getting in as
at point-blank range,
return from sorties with his machine shredded by
On
aircraft,
change the ammunition drum and bore
off an inconclusive attack only to
cress
wish',
now a lieutenant in the RFC, in time for the He flew a French Nieuport, one of the new gen-
close as he could, firing off a Lewis
He
added, without appar-
6
eration of single-seater scouts. His
first
when
a two-inch piece of wood
arrived in France,
Somme
ately.
He had
sake little
women.
His main relaxation was the violin, which he would play after dinner while walking around a red magnesium eric Hill, described
him
seemed
and he gave
assistance.' all
was
to
kill
as
let
anyone
fly
pilot,
Rod-
gramophone
many Huns
as
with a swiftness and certainty that
it
alone; in fact
with him, and was intolerant of proffered
7
his oddness,
Keith Caldwell, saw
14
effect to
idea: that
most of us uncanny. He nearly always went out
to
he would not
For
Another fellow
sitting outside his hut, playing his
and brooding. 'He had but one possible,
flare.
he was respected.
him
as 'a
hero
.
.
.
A young New
Zealander
and he looked the part
too;
pilot,
young,
FIGHTER BOYS alert,
ruddy complexion, dark hair and eyes.
"loner", but
we found him
to be friendly
.
be a matter of time before he "bought often/
.
.
He was supposed One as
it",
that
felt
to be a
could only
it
he was shot about so
8
Looking
now
at the
photographs of
Ball, at
the thick, glossy hair and
the black eyes set in the taut, uncreased skin, one senses fatalism behind
the easy smile. Almost from the beginning the mild bragging in the letters
home
is
matched by disgust
what duty had
at
of August he was yearning for home.
he sighed
killing for a time,'
nerves he would In
October
still
pilot in the
Yet even
beastly
all this
when complaining
ordered him back to England for a
instructor.
He was
DSO
him with
presented
already famous, the
and
bar.
He went
George, invited him to breakfast.
V
9
By the end
into.
do so want to leave
in a letter.
RFC, with an MC,
King George
him
of
take every possible opportunity to get airborne.
his superiors
new posting as an
'I
led
to
The prime
most
rest
and
a
successful
minister, Lloyd
Buckingham
Palace,
where
his medals.
Despite the peace and the nearness to family that he had yearned for
when back.
in France,
The
he was
pressure worked. In February he
which was being formed against the best of the
as
an
German
with an eighteen-year-old
He
am
have had with you.
I
1917 the squadron
left
only.
He
air force.
visit
him up
was writing simply
full
England.
to 56 Squadron,
new SE5
While waiting he
called Flora
offered to take her
accepted. That night he
was posted
unit to fly the
elite
florist
acquaintance had driven over to instantaneous.
month
and unhappy and soon agitating to go
restless
Young,
at the base.
in
fell
who
The
fighters in love,
as
an old
attraction
was
an aeroplane and she gamely
to thank her for 'the topping day
of joy to have met you/
Ball's
10
On
I
7 April
tour was supposed to be for a
sent daily letters to Flora detailing his successes and
setting himself a target.
Once he had overtaken
the
German champion
Oswald Boelcke, he would come home. At 5.30 p.m. on Monday, 7 May, he lead a squadron of SE5s on an offensive
sweep aimed
at
seeking out
enemy
fighters, believed to
by the German ace Manfred von Richthofen, who
be led
were operating in the
Arras area.
15
PATRICK BISHOP Cecil Lewis described the chocolate-coloured fighters flying into a
'May evening
.
.
.
heavy with threatening masses of cumulus cloud,
majestic skyscrapes, solid-looking as
and
valleys, rifts
and
ravines'.
looking
for.
snow mountains,
the Albatross
among
Richthofen was not
vidual combats. Lewis described
enormous
of an
the other side, he
ground heard
cloud.
melee of indiwhite
Ball 'flew straight into the
to be seen/
But
when
Four German
I
came out
officers
on the
engines and looked up to see Ball's machine
out from low cloud upside black smoke.
in a confused
followed.
I
was nowhere
aircraft
how
Dill scouts they were
the pilots, but his brother Lothar
The formations rounded on each other
face
fraught with caves
Suddenly, high over the Cambrai-Douai
came
road, out of these clouds
was.
11
down with
its
slip
propeller stopped and trailing
disappeared behind a stand of trees and crashed into a
It
shoulder of farmland. By the time the officers reached the wreckage a
young Frenchwoman had pulled the fresh features, but Ball
the pilot clear. There
were no marks on
was dead.
Lothar von Richthofen claimed the victory, though no one on the British side believed him.
became
The most
likely explanation
disoriented inside the cloud - a
to find he
was
flying upside
down
common
was
that Ball
hazard - and emerged
too low and too
late to correct the
error.
'The mess was very quiet that night,' Lewis wrote. They held a sing-
song
in a
and the
nearby barn to try and
men
Down upon
sang the the
hits
Swanee
raise
morale.
The squadron band played
of the time: 'There's a Long, Long River', 'Pack
Up Your
Troubles'.
Trail',
'Way
Then Lewis
sang the Robert Louis Stevenson 'Requiem'.
Under the wide and Dig the grave and Glad did
And
A month
after Ball's
I
laid
let
me
and gladly
me down
lie.
die,
with a
will.
death the London Gazette announced the award of a
posthumous VC, noting 16
live
I
starry sky,
that 'in
all
Captain Ball has destroyed forty-three
FIGHTER BOYS
German
aeroplanes and one balloon and has always displayed most
exceptional courage, determination and
A new time of
when
hero was already emerging from the ranks of the
Ball's
Edward
skill'.
demise, a
'Mick'
man
by the
of very different background and character.
Mannock had been
Ball crashed.
RFC
He knew
in France for just
about him.
all
over
Ball's exploits,
weeks
five
read about in
the newspapers, had been one of the reasons he had applied to transfer
RFC
to the
depot in St
from the Royal Engineers. By the time he arrived
Omer
had reached the
at the
he was already twenty-seven, oldish to be a
by an
air force
erratic route.
main
He
pilot.
He was born on
May
21
1889 to Irish parents. His father had been a non-commissioned officer in the Second Inniskilling Dragoons,
appeared, leaving her with
up
in
life
drank, beat his wife and
Mannock
left
school at fourteen to
class
and
privilege.
When the war came
work
as
converted him to socialism and throughout his
military career he enjoyed alarming conventional
views about
dis-
two sons and two daughters who she brought
poverty in Canterbury.
a clerk. His hard early
who
He was
he was working
with a cable-laying company.
He was
also
an
comrades with
his
Irish nationalist.
as a labour supervisor in
interned until the
Turkey
Red Cross
inter-
vened, returned to England and, with his technical background, ended
up
in the
Royal Engineers with an ambition to be a tunnelling
But the training bored him and he was their talk of cricket, girls
for the
RFC
and dances.
and went off
irritated
No
to learn to
by
officer.
his fellow officers
and
one was sorry when he applied fly,
managing
to bluff his
way
through the medical despite being blind in one eye from a childhood illness.
By the summer of 1917 the enjoyed during the greater
the
Somme
brief period of air superiority the
offensive,
numbers of aircraft and using
Germans had taken
when
it
RFC
had
had been operating with
better tactics,
was
over.
the technological lead with a
Once again
new breed
of
Albatros aircraft grouped into Jagdgeschwaders tasked with achieving control of the sky in whichever sectors lead Jagdgeschwader
1
.
The
commanders
selected. Richthofen
leading pilots painted their machines in glar-
ing colours - blood red for Richthofen - and decorated
them with
ancient
17
PATRICK BISHOP symbols and devices, including the swastika, which had yet to lose
Some
innocence.
One had
advertised their identity in huge letters
inscribed underneath his
its
on the top wing.
name, Kennscht mi noch? - 'Don't you
remember me?'
On
June Mannock was helping to escort
7
when 'we met Huns. My man gave me an
Lille
ten yards
away from him
he was -
red, blue,
down from
slipping
they're Huns.' pilots,
couldn't miss!
On
I
19
was only
I
coloured insect
sixty
rounds
at that
saw him go spinning and
I
Rough
fourteen thousand.
easy mark.
A beautifully
him have
let
of him.
left
bombing mission over
luck but
it's
war and
August he ran into one of the leading German
Leutnant von Bartrap, a holder of the Iron Cross. 'He came over
took place
at
.
took
It
and
.
.
two thousand
the cheers!
me
cut
I
him
The
scrap
view of the whole
front.
off going
feet up, well within
back
minutes to get him to go
five
him before he would
to shoot
him.'
I
much
one of our balloons
And
so
green and yellow.
range, so there wasn't
for
a
land.
I
was very pleased
.
.
.
down and had I
that
I
did not
kill
12
On
other occasions he was
watching Mannock chasing safety of its
own
lines.
'The
a
dozen times
observer,
who were
at the still
German
Hun
would have been content with half a
less considerate.
two-seater trying to reach the
crashed but not badly, and most people
this
- but not Mick Mannock.
machine, spraying bullets
showing
signs of life
we had
to his wild behaviour after
.
full
bouts of remorse.
about
it
dived
and
On being questioned
as
'
13
of such contradictions, mixing vindictiveness with
He seemed
unabashedly
.
.
He
at the pilot
landed, he heatedly replied, "the
swines are better dead - no prisoners for me!"
Mannock was
Caldwell remembered
as 'fun'
to genuinely enjoy air fighting, writing
and
'sport' in the
manner of
the day. But
he also worried constantly that he was going to crack up. Towards the
end he became convinced
common
his
death would be a fiery one.
sight to see an aeroplane plunging earthwards,
wake of smoke. were registered
Fifty-five
of eighty machines shot
as gebrannt (burned).
On most
fitted in the nose, close to the engine. In the
18
down by
fire
was
a
an oily
Richthofen
aircraft the fuel
event of
It
trailing
tank was
the backwash
FIGHTER BOYS from the propeller blew the flames into the aircraft
pilots
was
was no
alight there
were not allowed
to have them.
of a parachute might weaken a
he abandoned
Mannock I
see the
him after
'a
when
nerve
sign of flames'.
down
BFW
a
One day
The
to.
swiftly there
biplane
'my
first
shooting
after
feel sick',
on
5
four! Sizzle-sizzle
16
flamerino'.
down
which he most
wonk!"'
17
It
feared. In
every time he closed his eyes.
to
London on
he talked about
who
bumped
in twenty-
'He bounced into the mess
down
the car. Flamerinoes
be a case of making
leave in June 1918 he
RFC
light fell
of
sick
club, unable to
swamped
in
Northamptonshire.
he subsided into
tears
commander of 85 Squadron. On
asked him
into a friend
how
he was
longer, Taffy old lad,' he replied.
You watch
yourself.
and
said
he
The following day he Inglis,
who had
was done. They ran
who
feeling.
don't feel
'I
I'm killed
I
shall
be
I
in
shall last
Ira
much
good company.
set
18
set off at
dawn with
yet to shoot anything
a novice pilot, Lieutenant
down,
into a two-seater over the
began shooting, apparently for his pupil,
'If
the evening
from 74 Squadron, Lieutenant
Don't go following any Huns too low or you'll join
the sizzle brigade with me.'
it
his diary
became an
visited friends in
his experiences
returned to France as
Donald
as
to die.
of July 25 he Jones,
He
soon
German
sleep because of the nightmares of burning aircraft that
He
no
really
'Flamerinoes'
his fourth
spirits.
seemed
he confided to
with influenza and spent several days in bed in the
wanted
was
September. But he referred to
shouting: "All tickets please!- Please pass right
When
Anyway, one
sight of his victims catching fire upset
made me
horrible sight and
shooting
15
four hours he arrived back in high
that
in difficulties so that
14
the victory in the mess as
-
view was that possession
carried a revolver in the cockpit 'to finish myself as
first
obsession.
staff
went down so
general reasoned, aeroplanes
time to jump.
pilot's
The
aeroplane before he had
his valuable
Once an
pilot seated behind.
escape. Efficient parachutes existed but
it
on
killing the observer,
fire.
show him how
to
German and
Instead of climbing
demanded, Mannock turned back over the burning
left
away
lines.
Mannock
the coup de grace as his
own
aircraft, flying at
rules
only
19
PATRICK BISHOP 200
'saw a flame
Inglis
feet.
machine
after
into a spiral
come out of
to fifty feet
and saw the machine go
him down appear warned
to have
by the time he
German
recorded by his
Ball
tain facets of Britishness,
I
went
The
bullets that
brought
the ground, a danger he had con-
credited with destroying seventy-four
died, nearly reaching the eighty victims
own
manifested in their
separate
Manfred von Richthofen was,
paradigm of Prussian maleness.
jovial arrogance in in 1917.
control.
straight into the
opposite number, Richthofen.
Where Mannock and
caricature, a
fulfilled.
come from
He was
against.
aircraft
side of his
19
Mannock's self-prophecy had been
German
hand
which he apparently went down out of
down
ground and burn.'
stantly
the right
He
ways
cer-
to the point of
explained himself with
an autobiography, The Red Air Fighter, which appeared
The von Richthofens were
though not
aristocrats,
particularly
martial ones. Manfred joined the 1st Regiment of Uhlans after cadet
when
school and was twenty-two
the
war broke
out. Stationed
on
a quiet
Western Front, he got bored and applied to join the flying
sector of the
service. After a
mere
fortnight's training
he was sent to Russia, flying
an observer. By March 1916 he had qualified
as
a pilot
as
and began
operating over Verdun before being transferred back to Russia, where,
he confessed,
from above'.
me
gave
'It
tremendous pleasure bombing those fellows
20
who was on a visit to the the new Jasta fighter units, and
Eastern
Richthofen impressed Boelcke, Front looking for candidates for
him back
to the West.
victim, flying in
'a
was no beginner,
moment
I
last a
sight of
large
for
September 1916 he claimed
machine painted
he knew exactly that
man
in front
favourable
in
his first English
dark colours. Apparently he
his last
hour had arrived
of me must
at the
moment
come down whatever happens".
My
arrived.
opponent had apparently
me. Instead of twisting and turning he flew
fraction of a second a short burst
20
17
got at the back of him.' Richthofen was 'animated by a single
thought: "the
At
On
brought
with
I
my
was
at his
back with
machine-gun.
I
my
straight along. In a
excellent machine.
had gone so
lost
close that
I
I
was
gave afraid
FIGHTER BOYS I
might dash into the Englishman. Suddenly
I
nearly yelled with joy, for
enemy machine had stopped
the propeller of the
turning. Hurrah!
I
had
shot his engine to pieces.'
He had
also mortally
enemy by
the fallen
wounded
two occupants. Richthofen 'honoured
the
placing a stone
on
his beautiful grave'.
So Richthofen's memoir continues,
like the
21
some
reminiscences of
grotesque big-game hunter, constantly noting his score, always on the
He was
lookout for opportunities to increase the bag. nature rather than a 'butcher'.
my
hunting passion
'Therefore
is
one of them comes down
much As
have
later
a
Circus'
I
I
have shot
satisfied for a quarter
do not succeed
I
'When
I
a 'sportsman'
down an
Englishman,
of an hour,' he wrote.
shooting two Englishmen in succession.
in
have the feeling of complete
my
overcome
instinct
satisfaction.
and have become
debris of his victims' aircraft.
was
It
If
Only
a butcher.'
sportsman he was keen on trophies and the mess of
was hung with the
by
his 'Flying
a habit
he
shared with Mannock, another inveterate crash-site scavenger. In keeping
with the hunter's philosophy, he admired his prey and had strong ideas
about what quarry was worthy of him. Between the 'French
and 'those daring
fellows, the English',
tricksters'
he preferred the English, though
he believed that frequently what the
latter
be described
of course, subscribed to the courtly
view of air
as stupidity'. Richthofen,
fighting -
'the last vestige
he was sensible about fighting
is
how
it
took to be bravery 'can only
of knightly individual combat'. But
should be practised. 'The great thing in
that the decisive factor does not
lie
the personal ability and energy of the aviator. to loop
and do
shooting
down
everything.'
the
two
22
sides
It
all
enemy. In
my
was an observation
that
a single
met again
flying
but solely in
man may
may
be able
not succeed in
opinion, the aggressive spirit
was
to prove equally valid
is
when
in the air twenty-three years later.
meant
that in a long fighting career he sustained
only one injury before the end.
Fokker triplane crashed into Ball,
A
the tricks imaginable and yet he
Richthofen's caution
Mannock and
in trick flying
air
It
came on
a beet field at
21 April 1918
when
his red
Vaux-sur-Somme. As with
the exact circumstances of his death are confused.
21
PATRICK BISHOP
The
credit for
was
it
Roy Brown of 209 Squadron
contested. Captain
plausibly claimed to have
been shooting
So, too, did an Australian
machine-gun battery
Richthofen
at
was removed from the wreckage and taken
when he went
in the vicinity.
in.
The body
to Poulainville airfield fifteen
kilometres away. Richthofen was laid out in a hangar on a strip of corru-
gated metal, staring upwards, in unconscious imitation of the effigy of a
medieval knight. In the night soldiers and airmen came in and
rifled his
pockets for souvenirs.
The notion of dozen others
'aces'
placed Richthofen, Mannock, Ball and perhaps a
at the pinnacle
were thousands of other
of their weird profession. Beneath them
aviators
who, though mostly anonymous, none
the less regarded themselves as special.
old
RFC
The
faces that look
photographs are bold and open. The
and modern
smiles. Unlike the
army
types,
flesh
men have modern
whose
require an effort of imagination to bring to
back from the
stilted sepia portraits
you can
life,
looks
visualize the
and blood. The images pulse with confidence.
Unorthodox, even louche, though the establishment, the ethos of the
RFC was
pilots
you were 'Yes,
to the military
public school. Cecil Lewis,
applying to join, was interviewed by a staff
'So
seemed
officer,
Lord Hugh
on
Cecil.
Oundle?'
at
sir.'
'Under the great Sanderson?' 'Er
-
5
yes,
sir.
'Play
any games?'
'Yes,
sir. I
on the
got
my
school colours at
fives,
and
I
captained the house
river
'Fives,
you
say?
You should have
a
good
eye, then.'
After a brief discussion as to whether his six foot three inches a
major handicap, Lewis was
in.
But there were plenty of pilots or the college eight. James started his career as a
22
would be
23
who knew
nothing of the school close
McCudden, one of the RFC's
boy bugler
in the
greatest pilots,
Royal Engineers before transfer-
FIGHTER BOYS
RFC
ring to the
as a
mechanic. Once
inside,
though, class was always
waiting to pounce. John Grider, an American serving with 85 Squadron,
how
recounted
commanding
his fellow pilots objected to
officer,
'because he
was once
a sergeant-major in the old army.
against
him but
McCudden
Tommy
and
demanded meant
that the
RFC
24
of a cavalry regiment of another, more
The airmen
liked alcohol
exceptions. Ball
was
teetotal,
was anything
The
technical
pilots
and women, though there were notable and had no
girlfriend until his
meeting with
Mannock drank
little
and seems to have shown a courtly
Ball,
he was planning marriage before
who was
to a Sister Flanagan
seemed
raffish time.
towards females. Like
Flora.
was
could not afford to be
even though some of the attitudes struck by the
in the spirit
as their
his father
couldn't see that that
the English have great ideas of caste/
ability that flying
exclusive,
I
a
having
nursing in France. For Lewis and
him, though, the bar and the brothel provided fun and
was summed up
appalling strain. Their playful attitude
restraint
his death,
many
like
relief after the
in a 1915 drink-
ing song, describing the finale to a day in which the squadron has only
narrowly escaped a mauling by an Albatros
But safely
at the
'drome once more,
we
Jasta.
feel quite
gay and bright.
We'll take a car to Amiens and have dinner there tonight. We'll swank along the boulevards and meet the
To
hell
with the
In the cafes of
women
happy
Army
girls
of France.
Medical! We'll take our ruddy chance!
Amiens there seemed
to entertain Allied pilots
Then,
to be a large supply of
who were
young
undeterred by the risk
wings on a tunic exercised a strong
of a dose of
clap.
attraction, as
Lewis discovered (describing the incident rather coyly
the third person)
when he removed
eighteen-year-old to her
'Ah!
Tu
as later,
es pilote!
room and
Que j'aime
his greatcoat after returning
its
in
with an
vast black iron-and-brass bed.
les pilotes!'
'Yes?' 'Yais! Yais!'
she imitated, deftly catching a handful of his hair and
23
PATRICK BISHOP tugging
at
Tue
it.
She was on
es beau, tu sais.'
his
knee again, and
under her open blouse the hollow of her young shoulder seemed in
its
promise.
infinite
25
Squadrons would lay on spectacular 'drunks'
which the
at
participants
sucked on a sponge soaked in a cocktail of whisky and champagne, mixed in a bucket.
It
was drinking
death in Mannock's diary
is
a policy of 'no
empty
obligatory.
recorded in the same carefully offhand
- 'poor old Shaw went West', 'We've had
was
to forget. Insouciance
lost
poor old Davis',
etc.
Each
way
Trenchard
chairs at breakfast' to discourage brooding,
replacing pilots instantly, often with greenhorns
who were
themselves
propelled straight to death. During the bad times, the mess at nightfall
could be a very melancholy place.
In such an
atmosphere you grew
you unscathed,
like a
batsman
fatalistic,
who
and
you volunteered
to attack you.
when one
for
You were
left
You took unnecessary
dangerous jobs, you provoked enemy
aircraft
invulnerable: nothing could touch you. Then,
of the old hands, as seemingly invulnerable as yourself, went
West, you suddenly got cold yourself.
time went by and
has played himself in, you began to
take liberties with the bowling, [Lewis wrote]. risks,
as
At
this stage
it
feet. It
wasn't possible to be sure - even of
required most courage to go on - a sort of
plodding fatalism, a determination, a cold-blooded effort of will. always alone!
No
friends right
and
left,
no crowd morale.
And
26
Crack-ups were routine. Pilots got to recognize the signs in each other
and were sympathetic. Mannock,
who was
hard on anyone he suspected
of hanging back, was kindly towards those he saw were reaching the end of their tether, and in contrast to the trenches a certain humanity seems to have guided posting policy so the
bad cases were sent to
less
arduous
duties.
Whatever
their personal dreads, the pilots
were not on the ground. They looked down men' 24
toiling in the
were always at the
'poor
grateful they
little
maggoty
churned and polluted earth below and blessed
their
FIGHTER BOYS
From time
luck.
reality
to time, they
saw the
day for Mannock. Having shot
wreckage and discovered observer's seat.
I
a
down
'little
and the
still
on -
bad
a
he went to inspect the
The journey
exactly like a murderer.
felt
and boots
a two-seater,
black and tan terrier - dead - in the
was rather nauseating - dead men's putties
lines at close quarters
was sickeningly brought home. The 20th of July 1917 was
to the trenches
through the
legs sticking
with
sides
of bones and skulls with the hair peeling
bits
and tons of equipment and clothing lying about. This sort of thing,
off,
together with the strong graveyard stench and the dead and mangled
body of the
By
pilot (an
NCO), combined
two years of
the last
may have
and romance
The headlong
me
for a
few days/
27
the war, whatever faint notions of nobility
clung to the business of
of Ball had given
style
to upset
way
had faded.
air fighting
to cold stalking tactics.
The
general slowness of the aircraft and the narrowness of the speed margins
meant
that the attacker approached gradually, leaving plenty of time to
reflect
on what he was doing
The most sights.
as
he overhauled
his prey.
successful pilots spent hours synchronizing their guns
McCudden would
and
seek out the sluggish two-seaters on reconnais-
sance and, taking great care not to be seen, approach slowly to attack
from the blind spot behind the enemy single carefully
aimed
burst.
his disadvantage if possible/
Mannock dinned seldom on the same
plane, finishing the job with a
'My system was always he wrote before
his
to attack the
death in a crash.
Hun
at
28
into his pilots a basic rule of survival: always above; level;
never underneath. The huge
tactical
advantage
of invisibility, gained by having the sun at your back, was quickly under-
stood by both
sides,
but
all
disadvantages. Allied pilots
catch
Germans on
their
light conditions carried their
would
lurk in the dusk falling in the east to
way home.
Richthofen, despite his fantasies of knightly combat,
every advantage possible
by
his fellow pilots
him
advantages and
when
when he went the odds
to attack without fear of
were
made
sure he had
out to deliver death, protected in the
German
ambush and breaking
favour, allowing off
if
he
felt his
opponent was getting the upper hand. It
was
all
a long
way from
Rabagliati's gentlemanly airborne duel in
25
PATRICK BISHOP August 1914. Yet when the end came the survivors the passing of what they already
Lewis was in a
village
through. 'So
was
it
you have been
saw
near Ypres
over.
I
when
and united
of regret at
the
news of the Armistice came
confess to a feeling of anticlimax
living a certain kind of
a single-minded
felt a sort
as aerial warfare's heroic era. Cecil
effort, its
life
.
.
sudden cessation leaves your roots
moment,
was rapid and soon we began
to explore the possibilities of peace.
should
16
we
go?
What
should
we
do?'
when
for four years, living as part of
in the air, baffled and, for the
29
.
disgruntled. But the readjustment
Where
Fighters versus
The possession of an peacetime
mood
grown huge. By
air force
Bombers
the size of the
RAF was
an affront to the
of economy and war-weariness. Under Trenchard the end of the
war
1
and 188 combat squadrons. Shortly
it
had 30,122
officers,
it
263,410
had
men
after the Armistice a decision
was
taken to prune back the service to a modest force of thirty-three squadrons.
The
Northcliffe press
and air-power enthusiasts
denounced the myopia of the policy and warned
was only temporary. But hardship, public
that
in Parliament
German
disgust with
quiescence
war and
a belief
in Britain's ability to rise to the occasion in a future crisis ensured, until
the rise of Hitler forced a change of mind, that a frugal attitude to air
spending was maintained. In August 1925, the belief that there was no
war on
the horizon
the 'ten-year rule',
became which
official
policy with the Cabinet's adoption of
stated that, in revising defence estimates,
it
should be assumed that the Empire would not be involved in a major conflict for a decade.
Trenchard was put
in charge of supervising the
was philosophical about the new
The
incarnation.
restraints. In his brisk
setting out the post-war organization of the
to 'the prophet Jonah's gourd.
new
RAF
and
we
are
now
plant of deeper root.'
memorandum
he compared the force
necessities of war created
but the economies of peace have to a large extent caused a day,
He
it
it
in a night,
to wither in
faced with the necessity of replacing
it
with a
2
*7
PATRICK BISHOP
The RAF needed
roots
was
if it
army and navy, who were once again eager now to snatch
back control of air
inter- war period.
Staff,
felt
the
new
He needed and
force
the limited
he limited himself to providing
way on
expense could be spared'.
obstreperous nature and tried to available.
to their
own
covetous attitude throughout the
this
of a skeleton force while giving
on which he
detail
war was over
them
Trenchard fought a canny and tenacious defensive
campaign. As Chief of the Air vital essentials
that the
assets so they could apply
They maintained
particular needs.
hands of the
to resist the grasping
make
institutions that
establish
manpower
as
it
3
'the
every possible
He
reined in his
the best use of the tiny resources
would provide
an independent
at his disposal in the
the foundations of
and to arrange
reality,
most
efficient
and
flexible
way. In this delicate job
of State for flying since killing fickle
War its
and
he had the backing of Winston Churchill, Secretary Air,
who
inception, even trying to qualify as a pilot and almost
himself in the process.
and
had, predictably, been enthusiastic about
None
the less Churchill's support could be
when
faced with the opposition of strong
his resolve slacken
vested interests. In a paper written for Churchill, Trenchard concluded that the future
could be approached in two ways. a
The
means of conveyance, captained by
first
was
'to
and army personnel, to carry out reconnaissance drop bombs
at places specified
The other choice was
by them
'to really
and to make future'.
He
it
argued
word White
the
28
navy or army,
air service
the air
which
spirit, like
will
encourage
the naval
spirit,
4
his case for the latter in front
and Churchill's main
mind
simply as
by the navy
a force that will profoundly alter the strategy of the
George, and the Cabinet, his
still,
for the
air
... or observe for their artillery'.
make an
and develop airmanship, or better
use the
chauffeurs, weighted
in
Paper.
who
of the prime minister, Lloyd
accepted, with
points.
some
The proposals were
The document
set
out in a 7,000-
stated that 'the principle to be kept in
forming the framework of the Air Service
main portion of it
financial restraints,
will consist of
is
that in the future
an Independent Force, together with
FIGHTER BOYS Service personnel required in carrying out Aeronautical Research'. that established, the
though Trenchard threw them
rivals,
units within
it
With
RAF was saved from assimilation by its hungry older
would be
a scrap
by allowing that smaller
work with
specially trained for cooperation
army and navy and would probably be absorbed
the
into their organizations
in future.
Starved of money, he planned a small versatile service.
Twenty squad-
rons were to be deployed overseas, ready to react rapidly to local unrest.
Four squadrons would be held
home
at
in reserve. All the rest of the
RAF's resources would be concentrated on
provide a pool of expertise which could be drawn on
New
would have
training establishments
when
tered in places the
To
RAF
facilities.
could
to be set up. Trenchard
The
'air spirit'
RAF
officers
time would hold permanent commissions. officers,
fos-
Of the
flying,
and comparatively few
rest,
officers at
any
40 per cent would
serving for four or six years with another four
The other
reserve.
could only be
Only half the
senior ranks, he proposed a novel system.
be short-service
had
should
problem posed by the youthful nature of military
solve the
to
own.
call its
which meant there were many junior
on the
men
a crisis arose.
rejected the suggestion of the generals and admirals that the
use existing army and navy
and
training officers
10 per cent
would be on secondment from
the
army and navy.
The permanent
officers
were
to
be supplied mainly by an
college, the air force equivalent of Sandhurst or
from the
universities
RAF
cadet
Dartmouth, and
also
and the ranks. Once commissioned, they would be
posted to a squadron. After five years they were required to adopt a specialization,
The new riggers
and
manned
such as navigation, engineering or wireless.
air force
fitters.
Most of the thousands of
the workshops and hangars
bases during the solution
needed a steady supply of
was
war had returned
to recruit 'boys
and
first-class
skilled
train
them
life.
who had and at home
tradesmen
on the Western Front
to civilian
mechanics,
Trenchard's Jesuitical
ourselves'.
They would
serve
three-year apprenticeships before joining the ranks. There were also plans for a staff college, at
Andover, to
train future
commanders, and centres 2Q
PATRICK BISHOP for research into aircraft development,
armaments, wireless and
aerial
photography. Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, was chosen for the cadet college. Halton
was
Park, in Hertfordshire,
well
was
fact that
flat, it
selected for the
windy and had
was
main apprentice
Trenchard liked the
a large existing airfield.
way from London. He hoped
a long
school. Cran-
'marooned
that,
in
the wilderness, cut off from pastimes they could not organize for them-
they would find
selves,
This, he reckoned, aries at
would
more wholesome'.
cheaper, healthier and
life
give
them
cause to envy their contempor-
'less
Sandhurst or Dartmouth and acquire any kind of inferiority
complex'.
5
Halton, on the other hand, was chosen for the apprentices - Tren-
chard
they became
brats', as
known - because
Smoke. Homesick adolescents would be and there were dance
politan parents
them entertained when Cranwell
is
of their metro-
and cinemas nearby to keep
was
over.
in the
summer.
It
had been
a training base for the Royal
Naval Air Service. With the amalgamation of the
had passed into
RAF
ownership.
February 1920, the
in
proximity to the
scoured in the winter by freezing winds that race in from
Wash, sunny
the
its
in easier reach
halls
the working day
of
It
opened
military air
first
as the
RNAS
and the
RFC
it
Royal Air Force College
academy
in
the world.
The
entrance examination was essentially the same as that for the Sandhurst
and Woolwich army cadet
colleges, testing applicants
on
a
broad range
of subjects, including English, history, languages ancient and modern and sciences -
though you could be selected without tackling
In the bleak late winter
cadets arrived, one of
it
was
them wrote
a dispiriting place.
a science paper.
The
first
fifty-two
afterwards, to a 'scene of grey corru-
gated iron and large open spaces whose immensity seemed limitless in the sea of
damp
in single-storey
fog which surrounded the camp'.
wood and
Sleaford road, linked
snow. the
It
main
was not
30
by covered walkways
until 1929 that
college building,
respectable.
iron huts, scattered
money was
which was
6
The new boys
on
lived
either side of the
to keep off the rain available to start
specially designed to
and
work on
look old and
FIGHTER BOYS Despite
ramshackle origins, the college was confident from the
its
beginning that
magazine
it
would be
Writing in the
great.
September 1920, Churchill
in
Nothing that has ever happened
in the
first
issue of the college
set the tone.
man
world before has offered to
such an opportunity for individual personal prowess
as the air fighting
of the Great War. Fiction has never portrayed such extraordinary combats, such hairbreadth escapes, such an absolute superiority to
such dazzling personal triumphs ...
It is
to rival,
and no doubt to excel
these feats of your forerunners in the Service that
yourselves and
you who
I,
make
the
name
Force feared and respected throughout the world.
The RAF thought hard about a
Cecil Lewis into the
RFC on
The
are
now
architects of the
should be open to
it
was looking
new
qualities
day
when
of the Royal Air
Cecil, the staff officer
human
training
7
1919
for. In
who had waved
the basis of his fives prowess,
and define the educational and
corps. it
the sort of boy
committee chaired by Lord Hugh
try
you
for one, look forward with confidence to the
are not at the College will
risk,
needed
was
set
up
to
for the officer
service accepted, in theory at least, that
all talents.
had been
It
clear since the
end of the
previous century that social exclusivity was ultimately incompatible with the technological competence
modern warfare
military figure to understand this officers
had
a
Cecil
though the
qualification
5 .
It
aviators.
was
was not
that
all
officers
insisted
senior his
all
that challenged
must be
so rigid as to exclude
good
wanted boys who exhibited
It
careful,
who
move
first
8
Committee decided
who were poor gentleman
Fisher,
degree of technical understanding, a
the class structure of the Navy.
The
was Admiral
The
required.
though, to emphasize that by
able to
technicians
'the quality this
fly,
of a
they meant
'not a particular degree of wealth or a particular social position but a certain character'.
9
Even
so, the
new
any ambitious lower-class boy and
cadet college must have seemed to
his parents as cold
and daunting
the old ones. Air Ministry officials set out to recruit people like selves.
They wrote
as
them-
to public-school headmasters, advertising the benefits
3i
PATRICK BISHOP of a service career and claiming that flying training was not the raising activity
it
had been
in the
truth and accidents at the college
was dispatched
to the
war years (though were
Alma Mater
frequent).
10
this
was
far
hair-
from the
An Old Etonian
officer
to act as a liaison officer.
Unlike the public schools, few state schools had the resources to provide coaching for the entrance exam. Fees were prohibitive. Parents were
expected to pay up to £75 a year plus £35 before entry and £30 of the second year towards uniform and books;
start
a
bank manager earned £500
this at a
a year. Despite the Cecil
at the
time
when
Committee's wish
that selection should be 'free of the suspicion of partiality in favour of either individuals or classes',
most qadets
The curriculum
at the
beginning was
subjects interspersed with flying,
own
five to a
cubicles.
was packed with
a.
mix oYacademic and
and PT^in^the
though much time was spent
Cadets lived their
drill
in the
They
little
workshops and hangars.
when
they got
week and each day
received £2 15s. (£2.75) a
from
practical
year there was
first
hut until their fourth, senior, term,
activities
were
^-v
\
public schoolboys.
in the interwar years
reveille at 6.45 a.m. to dinner in the mess.
Sports were a fetish, particularly rugby, which Trenchard considered 'the best
game
for
making an
and
officer
a
Keenness on boxing was admired. The
Women
were nowhere
gentleman out of any life
was
material'.
11
clean, spartan, boisterous.
to be seen, except at the end-of-course dance,
and the limited delights of Sleaford, the
local
town, were out of bounds.
Cadets were allowed motorcycles but not cars and the lanes round about
buzzed with souped-up Broughs and Rudges.
Fun was
bruising. First-termers
were forced
other cadets. Failure to perform well earned a ing to Jesus'.
The
forced to sniff his
way
along a pepper
commandant, Air Commodore
trail
that
ended
ride to hounds,
mounts meant beagling was more
practical.
at
an open window,
was
first
a hunting
man
though
The
12
The
in cold water.
C. A. H. Longcroft,
and cadets were encouraged to
32
called 'creep-
victim was stripped almost naked, blindfolded and
where he was tipped outside and drenched
pack.
to sing a song for the
punishment
college
a shortage of
had
its
own
FIGHTER BOYS was
Intellectual activity
There was encouragement from an
limited.
who Cranwell. He
early teacher, S. P. B. Mais,
left
Tonbridge School to become Pro-
fessor of English at
felt
cadets should be treated as under-
graduates and founded a play-reading circle and a debating society.
response was Yet
at the outset, at the
they were
The
initially hesitant.
still
not
cadets had gone to Cranwell to
end of their two-year courses,
fully qualified to do.
A
left
trainers level
and then only
year,
were equipped with
a
compass and
show whether they were
to
primitive and airfields.
first
many
a
less
first
The Avro
as a passenger.
straight.
like a spirit
Navigation was
of simple hops to neighbouring
Cranwell cadets were awarded their wings
they had satisfied their
than nine hours
bubble indicator
flying
flights consisted
was something
without their wings, or
even a high standard of airmanship. One cadet spent an aeroplane in his
this
fly.
shortage of aircraft and the
demands of the curriculum meant graduates
in
The
once
after leaving
squadron commanders that they could indeed
fly.
But Cranwell succeeded from the
The
cadets
knew what was wanted.
start in
created the need for a hybrid warrior
The same
and Cranwell was
its
classical
spiritual
when
champion.
the
of the
It
at
RAF
as a
The entrance exam
matics, experimental science
at sixteen that qualified the successful
was
also the entry
who were
sufficiently
its sister
gateway to the
a
pass,
level, a
who
intoxicat-
on mathe-
boys were essentially
tough examination taken
Many
of those
technical schools therefore,
who
It
sat for
had parents
comfortably off to keep them on past the normal
school-leaving age of fourteen. 1921 a photographer
new
candidate for higher education.
requirement for Cranwell.
entrance to Halton and
classes
tested applicants
and English. To
expected to be up to school certificate
a
scheme was announced. They
means of advancement and
ing world of aviation.
latest
Halton. Five
were mostly boys from the lower middle and upper working
saw the
was
had
home.
was encouraged
aspiration to excellence
thousand applicants responded
air force spirit.
who combined mastery
technology with the mental bearing of a military caste
generating an
Aerial warfare, they understood,
Or
was present
sufficiently self-sacrificing. In
as
300
new
recruits set off
January
from
a
33
PATRICK BISHOP
London terminus wear shabby
to begin their course.
and
suits
flat
The boys
prole hats that
versions of their fathers.
The caption notes
boys was very
many
striking,
the
to
kit,
in
brown paper
parcels'.
13
that
many
of the mechanics servic-
would be educationally
equal,
and superior
The high standard
skill,
that 'the variety of class of
whole proceedings were those
whose belongings were kept within bounds
ical
make them seem miniature
of them having quite an imposing
whilst not the least pleased with the
ing the aeroplanes
Many
are cheering.
at entry
men
meant
flying them.
RAF
14
mechan-
in
other ranks showed
less
deference to their officers than was customary in the army, where most
and
privates
RAF,
NCOs
came from
the uneducated working
the path from the Naafi to the officers' mess
was wider and more
many
frequently trodden than in any of the other services, and
and
fitter
ended up
a pilot.
The system was constructed The
exactly encourage, the process.
were offered fulfilled,
class
a rigger
to allow,
if
not
best three apprentices each year
a cadetship at Cranwell, with the expectation, frequently
that this
would
lead to the highest reaches of the service.
of airman pilots was announced in
before returning to their
gained by being in the
air.
own
They served
The
policy
started about a quarter of the pilots in skilful difficult-to-impress elite
There were 300 places
same hardworking
for five years
but kept their sergeant's
trade,
A new
late 1921 that offered flying train-
ing to outstanding candidates from the ranks.
tough,
In the
class.
meant
RAF
that
by the time the war
squadrons were
within an
in the first intake.
stripes
NCOs
-
a
15
elite.
The regime followed
lines as at the cadet college,
the
with classes and work-
shop sessions from Monday to Friday and Wednesday afternoons off for games. Discipline was milder than in the army or navy, but firm none the
less.
off-base.
Only over-eighteens were allowed
to smoke,
Trenchard was
as
was aware first in
that
as
proud of Halton
by engineering
a
new
class
and then when
he was of Cranwell.
He
of educated other ranks, the
British military history, he was doing something
radical,
almost
revolutionary.
Cranwell and Halton formed the but the
34
manpower
they provided
human nucleus fell
far short
for the
new
air force,
of requirements. The
FIGHTER BOYS commission scheme helped reduce the
short-service
when
1924
duties.
wanted
It
would serve up
men
British-born
deficit. It started in
young
the Air Ministry advertised for 400
officers for flying
of pure European descent
seemed another promising
universities
RFC
started with
veterans,
many
who went up
Cambridge
after the
It
list.
takers.
The
recruiting ground.
to
study engineering, and was encouraged by Trenchard during a 1925.
who
and spend four more on the reserve
to six years
Despite the lack of long-term career security, there were
The
16
idea
war
to
visit in
spread to Oxford, and later to London.
Trenchard had raised the notion of
1919 proposals. Churchill rejected
fliers in his
Samuel Hoare.
the subsequent air minister Sir
Air Force
a territorial air force
(AAF) was brought
ment which came were formed
in
to
power
in
in
It
it.
won
of weekend
the backing of
A bill to set up an Auxiliary
by the short-lived Labour-led govern-
January 1924. The
first
four squadrons
October 1925: No. 600 (City of London), No. 601
(County of London), No. 602 (City of Glasgow) and No. 603 (City of
The
Edinburgh).
pilots
were amateurs who flew
aeroplanes supplied and maintained by the
in their
RAF, and
own
time on
the units were
intended to have a strong local character. Trenchard considered they
would be
a success
belong to one ...
if it
as
it is
was looked upon to belong to a
much
as as
good club or
a
of an honour to
good
university'.
17
This suggested a degree of social exclusivity. There was a strong snobbish tinge to able
and
some of the
rich
first
formations. Flying had always been fashion-
amateur airmen were numerous. The Auxiliary Air Force
provided an opportunity for some of them to band together in cause, with friends
according to
its
from
own
and
club, links
office.
No. 601 Squadron was,
legend, founded in White's, the grandest address in
Clubland, on the initiative of the son of the
Lord Edward Grosvenor,
after
Eton and
Legion, had served as a pilot in the
RNAS
first
future conflicts. Auxiliary squadrons, he
war surrounded by comrades with
in the First
felt,
whom
duke of Westminster.
a spell in the
several forward-looking grandees he believed air
friendship.
a patriotic
French Foreign
World War.
Like
power would decide
would allow men
they shared
ties
to
go to
of place and
Seriousness of purpose was overlaid with thick layers of
35
PATRICK BISHOP
He
upper-class fun.
recruited
noted that he 'chose
from
his officers
own
his
circle.
The squadron
from among gentlemen of
historian sufficient
presence not to be overawed by him, and sufficient means not to be
excluded from his favourite pastimes - eating, drinking and White's'. 18 Candidates were invited to his
home
in
glasses of port. If they passed
muster
it
and
Park Road, in Notting
Hill.
regiment standards with
The
tages and rich food.
After dinner
visiting
his
it
dupe
other squadron
he was
coast.
One
walls, costly vin-
and circumnavigate the
of the company would
it
lie
back and made a show of measuring it
was
were grabbed, the
down
the victim's turn.
Once
was tipped back and
table
his trouser legs.
held an annual training
camp
at
Port
was the summer home of their patron,
combined pilot.
tilted
helpless, his ankles
It
to cavalry
hanging over the edge of a large oval table while
between wood and limb. Then
Members
54 Kensington
game involved persuading
the floor. Another
members
tankards of beer poured
on the
for diners to try
to 'calibrate the table'.
his legs
at
gatherings echoed to the sound of broken glass.
was customary
back with
the angle
to the club bar for gin
They were furnished and equipped
silver, military prints
room without touching on
was on
The squadron's town headquarters were
tonics.
some
Eaton Square and sluiced large
a wild enthusiasm for flying
Lympne on
who
total ineptitude as a
Squadron pride was nourished by manufactured
Auxiliary Air Force units, japes designed to
Sassoon,
Sir Philip
with almost
the Kent
rivalries
with other
annoy the regular RAF, and
self-conscious displays of individualism such as the wearing of bright red
socks with uniform.
The snobbery was smiles.
But
this
in
keeping with the times and provoked indulgent
was not what Trenchard had had
he had emphasized that in the
room
for everyone: 'the
methodical
man and even
man
AAF of
Despite the gilded image, not cants to the
AAF
36
We
It
was
reality,
and the
man
of action, the
open our ranks widely
to all/
the auxiliary pilots were rich. Appli-
needed to be able to
courses cost £100.
recognized the
all
mind. At Cambridge
and university squadrons, there was
initiative
the crank.
in
fly
solo and hold an
a considerable investment.
The
A licence
and
Air Ministry
refunding tuition costs once a trainee had quali-
FIGHTER BOYS Altogether there were to be twenty-one auxiliary squadrons drawn
fied.
from
When
instead of bombers.
Fighter
From
over the country.
all
Command's
1934 they were equipped with fighters
war came they made up
the
a quarter of
front-line strength.
Trenchard retired
end of
at the
1929. His energy
and advocacy had
ensured the survival and growth of the RAF, albeit slowly and painfully.
The RAF was undernourished. From
1921 to 1930 the annual
expenditure estimates hovered between £19 million and £18 million. In 1923 the government had promised to build a metropolitan air force of fifty-
two squadrons
for
home
defence. Six years later, there
twenty-five home-based regular squadrons in service,
eleven auxiliary and reserve units, and no
official
were only
augmented by
hurry to make up the
shortfall.
But the service had an existence and an
one of the
ensign, adorned with
World War
pilots
'friendly fire'.
It
had
its
own
had a sky-blue
their aircraft to shield
slate-blue Astra.
It
white and blue roundels the
red,
had had painted on
good motto - Per Ardua ad
identity.
A
First
them from
uniform and forage cap.
It
had
a
system of squadron organization,
evolved in the battlefields of France, had been established and an
independent rank structure, painfully worked out in face of mockery
from the army
that climbed
chiefs,
the Royal Air Force.
from aircraftman to Marshal of
There was an apprentice school to ensure
a
steady flow of skilled technicians to maintain the aeroplanes and a cadet
school and a short-service commission scheme to provide pilots and
commanders. Great energy and thought had gone into the work of creating the service, comparatively little
on defining
machines, organization and identity. clear idea of
John
its
purpose.
Slessor once
air warfare'. It
A
its
What
it
did not have as yet
we
really
a frank admission, but Slessor
know. Twenty years
The RAF had men, was
post-war Marshal of the Royal Air Force
wrote that 'before 1939
was
purpose.
new
earlier, in
May
1937, he
a
Sir
knew nothing about was
in a position to
had been promoted
to the
post of deputy director of plans at the Air Ministry and was appalled to discover
how
unfitted the
RAF was
to defend Britain.
19
37
PATRICK BISHOP
The
state
of the
air force
during most of the inter-war period was a
found
reflection of a general unwillingness,
in
every coiner of society, to
contemplate another bloodbath. Preparing for war seemed more to encourage than prevent
it.
There were
clear political,
psychological reasons for Britain's reluctance to rearm.
doing so was reinforced by confusion
Everyone agreed that
why
or how.
If
air
there
power would be
was
a consensus
bombers and bombing would play of
effects
German had
aerial
bombardment was
crucial. it
predominant
already
No
particularly for civilians,
German Zeppelin
airships,
required.
Something of the
known, from the
would begin
would be
aversion to
one knew exactly
role.
up around the world subsequently. Many
analysts believed that hostilities
The
centred on the belief that
World War and from
experiences in the First
flared
a
economic and
what weapons were
as to
likely
small wars that
military
in the air
and
British
and
and the
political results,
horrible.
then Gotha and Giant bombers, had pro-
vided a glimpse of what could be expected, from their intermittent and
haphazard bombing campaign on
began
in
the vast majority of
What In
one
and coastal towns that
January 1915. Altogether, in 103 raids they
but 296 of them
all
British cities
civilians.
killed 1,413 people,
They wounded between
3,400 and 3,900,
them non-combatants.
impressed was not the quantity of the violence but the quality.
raid carried out in daylight
on
13
June 1917, fourteen Gothas, each
loaded with a 500-kilogram bomb, reached the centre of London.
bomb
struck a school in Poplar, killing 18 children and
One
maiming
27.
Zeppelins excited particular terror. Their destruction provoked un-British displays of glee, with as the airships
crowds clapping, singing and cheering
in the streets
sank to earth with their sixty-strong crews roasting in the
flames.
Henceforth, civilians could expect to be in the front line and neither military nor political thinking placed
much
faith
in
their
ability
to
endure the experience. As the overture wars of the 1930s established the themes of the great
more and more the
38
coming
symphony of
certain that civilian
ordeal.
As early
violence to come,
it
appeared
morale would be unable to withstand
as 1925, the Air Staff were predicting casual-
FIGHTER BOYS ties
of 1,700 dead and 3,300 injured in London alone in the
four hours of
hostilities, resulting in 'the
moral [original
of the personnel employed in the working of the
The Japanese bombing of Shanghai
in 1932, the
destruction of Guernica in April
Barcelona,
all
1937,
the
twenty-
first
italics]
collapse
vital public services'.
German Condor Legion
20
s
bombardment of
Italian
reinforced notions of aerial warfare's crucial, possibly
decisive, importance.
There were two obvious approaches to countering the danger. One
was
to
improve
Britain's defences to a point
Germany, apart from
was or
identified as
would
the
a brief, fantastical
where the enemy - always
moment
when
in 1922
France
the threat - would be deterred from launching an attack
suffer severely if
war had shown
it
did.
Proponents of
that fighters
were, after a slow
mustered
view believed that
this
to defend British airspace
competent to handle raiding
start,
and
airships
bombers. At the same time, the experience had accelerated the develop-
ment of
effective
gunnery and
anti-aircraft
The second
searchlights.
approach was to concentrate on building up a strong offensive bomber force. That, too, it
left It
would have
Britain with the
a deterrent effect.
One was
will always get through'
Commons
the country.
defence
is
What
offence
quickly than the
The
failed,
and
political
alternative reasoning
was
was dominated
slogans rather than expressions of profound
the idea of the 'knock-out blow', which could bring
victory in a single action.
1932 in a
where
strategic debate of the inter-war years
by two phrases. They were thought.
deterrence
that took hold, both in air force
thinking, although never to the point
The
if
means of striking back.
was the second view
suppressed.
But
The other was
the conviction that 'the
- a phrase popularized by Baldwin
.
November
speech which sent a spasm of foreboding through
that meant, he continued brutally, .
in
bomber
.
you have
enemy
if
to
kill
you want
logic of this bleak conviction
was
more women and
to save yourselves'.
was
that fighters
that 'the only
children
more
21
would have only
a
secondary role to play. Despite the prevalence of these views, successive
governments proved reluctant that could
both
'get
to invest in building
up
a
bombing
through' and strike the 'knock-out blow'.
force
Money 39
PATRICK BISHOP
was one problem. But the understandable to
manage
economy
a vulnerable
in
miserliness of politicians trying
shaky times was informed by
and more complex motives. Many of the public
easily identifiable
of the 1920s and 1930s had served in the war and
They shared
hand.
knew
its
less
figures
horrors at
first
the ordinary citizen's dread of a recurrence, and
shrank away from consideration of the unpopular positions that a
reasoned rearmament policy would have required.
The conduct of Britain's defence
now to
to have
some
seek
in the years
from 1918
to 1936 looks
been extraordinarily negligent and foolhardy.
among
But
at the time.
idealistic alternatives,
It
seemed so
the victor nations the impulse
was
to
exemplified by the great disarmament confer-
ence of 1932-4 and the foundation of the League of Nations. Until the threat
from Germany was naked and unmistakable, the
RAF would
lack
the sort of carefully planned, sensibly timed and realistically funded pro-
gramme
it
needed to develop properly. Progress was jerky and reactive
and frequently triggered by panic. The squadrons for
home
France had an
air fleet
original plan to create fifty-two
defence was provoked by alarm at the news that
of 300 bombers and 300
fighters.
erical threat evaporated, so, too, did the will to
The
arrival
When
that chim-
pursue the scheme.
of Hitler in 1933, and Germany's withdrawal from the
League of Nations and the disarmament conference, produced another
what was known
spurt of activity, resulting in
was
officially
announced
in July 1934, the first
that appeared over the next four years,
Hitler that Britain
A
was prepared
some
sort of
basis
the message be ignored.
The
squadrons was increased from the original
fifty-
more ambitious expansion should
also created a structure to provide training,
home
to sixty-four.
rough parity
and the
for a
two
of thirteen such schemes
to take to the starting blocks in an aerial
race.
planned level of
Scheme
A
also increased the proportion of fighter
squadrons. There were to be twenty-five now, against thirty-nine units
compared
The 40
shift
to seventeen
was
It
was an interim measure designed to signal to
arms
It
expansion scheme A.
most of which never got beyond
the proposal stage, as Britain tried to achieve
with Germany. Scheme
as
and
bomber
thirty-five in the 1923 plan.
a political rather than an air force initiative.
It
was
FIGHTER BOYS opposed by the Chief of the Air
view that
to the
a big
bomber
Edward
Staff, Sir
fleet
was
well-publicized fact that the increased range of
they could
now
the Midlands
The
reach well into the industrial north-east of Britain and
undermined
The argument
approach.
this
that there
rooms where
officials
stuck
German bombers meant
was no
real defence against
being invisibly eroded anyway. Out of sight and mittee
who
Ellington,
central to Britain's security.
military planners
far
bombers was
away from
com-
the
and government ministers and
met, scientists and engineers worked with
RAF
officers
to
develop technologies that would greatly increase the vulnerability of
means of combating
attacking air forces. In the search for scientific
attacking aircraft, attention had been given to a 'death ray' neutralize the ignition systems of aircraft, causing sky.
to drop
from the
Research under the direction of R. A. Watson- Watt, superintendent
of the Radio Department the
them
which would
scheme was
at the
impractical.
fact that aircraft interfered
National Physics Laboratory, suggested
However, the experiments confirmed the
with radio waves and radiated a signal back.
This suggested the possibility of a detection system that could reveal their position, height
and
direction.
The huge importance of the discovery was
recognized immediately and from February 1935 there was strong
backing for the development of what became
The RAF's own at
more than 200
thinking had been that
m.p.h. at over 10,000
if
feet,
known
as radar.
enemy
aircraft
Now
to fly
it
would be impossible
them from bombing London.
radar could provide that warning, a development which, as one
historian of the
whole
were
and no warning was given
of their approach before they reached the coast, to get aircraft airborne in time to prevent
official
RAF
observed, 'indicated the obsolescence of the RAF's
existing theory of war'.
22
None
the less the belief that
bombers
provided the best security would persist until the end of 1937. The
change was led by government figures
who were
persuaded that there
was no longer any hope of equalling the numerical strength of
the
Luftwaffe before war broke out.
Radar complemented important breakthroughs that were being made in aircraft design.
The development of
military aviation in Britain
had
4i
PATRICK BISHOP been haphazard. The Air Ministry had no designers of its
on
answer
private firms to
problems made
it
specifications for
difficult to establish
new
own and
relied
money
types. Perennial
long-term relationships with
pri-
vate manufacturers, hindering the development of an efficient system of
procurement, research and development such
There were delays of up to cation, acceptance of a design,
six
as existed in
Germany.
years between the issue of a specifi-
manufacture and entry into
The
service.
progress of the Hurricane and the Spitfire from drawing board to the skies
was
quicker, but far
from smooth. By the end of the 1920s
was
it
obvious the biplane era was over. The most powerful machine in the
RAF's hands, the Hawker Fury, could only manage 250 m.p.h. The 1929 Schneider Cup, a competition of speed and endurance between seaplanes,
was won by the Southampton firm of Supermarine with an
monoplane with
a streamlined fuselage
and metal wings, flying
S6, a at
an
average of 328.63 m.p.h. In 1930 the Air Ministry issued specification F.7/30 for a
wing
new
high-speed fighter, opening the competition to single
Monoplanes had been around from almost the beginning
designs.
of aviation but were inferior in terms of manoeuvrability to biplanes,
whose twin
surfaces provided considerably
airframes and
removed In
new
this restriction
Camm,
two designs
chief designer at
as
development anyway.
specification
the following year,
meet these demands the
When
Camm's
which could
aircraft
and
at
a
important decision-
the Air Ministry issued a
design
fly as
was
close
to
new their
The RAF wanted
high as 33,000
feet.
a
To
needed to be streamlined with an
enclosed cockpit and a retractable undercarriage.
of bearing a battery of machine guns.
42
Aircraft
The board of Hawker decided
requirements, and a prototype, K5083, was ordered. fighter capable of 300 m.p.h.
Hawker
too orthodox - evidence of the pres-
levels inside the air establishment.
to continue
new
them airborne
to the Air Ministry for a biplane
ence of some radical and imaginative minds
the
Streamlining, metal
and delivered the future to the monoplane.
monoplane. Both were rejected
making
lift.
engines powerful enough to keep
August 1933 Sydney
Limited, presented
more
It
also
had to be capable
Ballistics experts calculated that at
high speeds an intercepting fighter would have only two seconds
FIGHTER BOYS to shoot
down an incoming bomber.
Eight machine guns, each firing 1,000
rounds a minute, were needed to provide the required weight of fire.
The novelty of the meant
The
crucial question of
PV
by the appearance of the Rolls-Royce
known
as the Merlin.
power had been answered
twelve-piston engine, later
developed 1,030 horsepower, more than twice
It
World War. The
that of the best engine of the First
made
the specification
problems of physics, engineering and design
that fundamental
arose at every stage.
demands of
project and the high
speeds of 330 to 340 m.p.h. possible -
thrust
it
more than enough
delivered to satisfy
RAF's demands.
the
Camm's that
original design
conceded the
had been
fact that
even
only half-way evolved from tubes and
Fury monoplane, a name
called the
after 4,000 blueprints the aircraft
biplane origins.
its
wooden formers and
The
stringers.
was
The frame was of metal was
skin
fabric, heavily
painted with dope to reduce drag, and stressed-metal wings were only
added
development. The outlines of the old Fury were
fairly late in the
certainly discernible in
They
called
it
its
a Hurricane.
But
profile. It
was not
short-lived aircraft of the 1920s. But
and aggression that was
infinitely
it
a
was
definitely
something
else.
new name,
having belonged to a
conveyed
a note of confidence
it
more
reassuring than the placid Harts,
Flycatchers and Grebes of the previous generation.
The Hurricane made in Surrey.
moustached extrovert the cockpit.
pilot,
who had
on
6
November
George Bulman,
flown with the
in the war,
was
in great secrecy.
in
When
were stripped away and the hangar doors opened, there
were murmurs of its
surprise.
low,
It
humped
was painted lines
fitted beautifully flush to the fuselage
pit. It
was
big, bigger
pounds very heavy. off the ground.
It
than any existing
seemed
Bulman,
silver,
which emphasized the
and the sculptured way the rounded
wings
below the
fighter,
and
executives,
who
in overalls
stood
neat,
at
narrow cock-
more than
6,000
unlikely that a single engine could get
it
and flying helmet, approached the
machine and vaulted into the cockpit watched by
Hawker
1935 at Brooklands
a small, bald, ginger-
RFC
The prototype had been developed
the tarpaulins
sleekness of
flight
its first
Hawker's chief test
at the
edge of the
Camm
damp
and other
field,
smoking
43
PATRICK BISHOP nervously.
The Hurricane bumped away
The rumble of
into the wind. roar.
into the distance then turned
the Rolls-Royce engine deepened into a
The machine moved forward, gathering
some thought Bulman would not At the
last
moment
ment and climbed retract
the Hurricane
The
steeply.
speed, but slowly, so that
get airborne before he ran out of field.
earth in an abrupt bounding
left
watched the undercarriage
spectators
and the muscular shape dwindle into the distance
until
appeared and the sound of the engine faded. Half an hour reassuring drone
was heard
again.
Bulman performed
point landing and taxied over to where flight
had been
The
more modern elliptical It
'a
Spitfire,
piece of cake'.
the
first
design,
wings, the
it
dis-
later the
a perfect three-
Camm was waiting to
report the
23
prototype of which flew in March 1936, was a
all
more
metal with a monocoque fuselage and
thin,
sophisticated offspring of the Supermarine C6.
had the same Merlin engine
guns, but at 5,180 pounds
m.p.h. faster.
move-
it
as the
Hurricane and carried the same
weighed 1,000 pounds
The name was proposed by
and went 30
less
the chairman of Vickers, Sir
Robert McLean, whose company had taken over Supermarine. R. G. Mitchell,
whose designs
utions to
become
not impressed. is
most
the
'Just
machine through
carried the
beautiful
the sort of bloody
and
efficient fighter
silly
name
reported to have said on hearing the decision.
film of his
life
The
as devising the
First
name
orders
came
of
its
era,
was
they would choose/ he
24
But
in the
of the Few, which appeared in 1942, he
propaganda is
portrayed
himself: 'A curious sort of bird ... a bird that spits
out death and destruction ... a
The
various evol-
its
Spitfire bird/
quickly, with the Air Ministry ordering 600 Hurri-
canes and 310 Spitfires in the reflected alarm that the next
summer of
1936.
The
accelerated pace
war might come sooner than
expected.
Preparations at every level speeded up as successive intelligence reports,
and the Germans'
own
ment programme was
The
sense of urgency, and the rapid twists and turns of circumstance,
were evident
in the brevity
ceeded Scheme A,
44
boasts, suggested that Britain's reluctant rearma-
insufficient either to deter or defend.
as
of the
shelf-lives
of the schemes that suc-
both government and the Air Ministry tinkered
FIGHTER BOYS with the plan to take account of a situation that always seemed to be
changing for the worst. Only one scheme, Scheme cabinet in February fruition in
March
Scheme
C,
built,
real.
From
1935 forty-five
most of which were
which was approved
in
May
rons as opposed to the 76 designated in
two
1,500 pilots in the next
between
fivefold
planned, coming to
as
1939.
But the expansion was ordered to be
was implemented
1936,
approved by the
F,
1934,
outbreak of war,
when
when
air stations
home
Scheme A. That meant
were 31,000
were
by the time war came.
finished
1935, envisaged 123
years. Altogether the
there
new
RAF was
officers
squad-
recruiting
to increase
and men, and the
the service had an actual strength of 118,000
backed by about 45,000 reserves.
The
Air Minister, Lord Swinton, inherited Trenchard's system of
short-service officers,
who
RAF
outnumbered the cadre of permanent
RAF
non-commissioned
Zealand and South Africa were
all
He
officers.
with public schools, attracting 1,700 entrants.
found among
had supplemented and
since the early 1920s
A
intensified links
further 800 pilots
were
Canada,
New
officers. Australia,
asked to contribute men. The
number
of auxiliary squadrons increased from eight to twenty in the run-up to the war. But
demand
A
more
measures were needed to
satisfy the
pool of pilots would be essential to replace the dead and
Commodore
some of Force'.
started.
A.
W.
his briskness
It
was
to
in the
shires to
be democratic
new
in character,
who had
and linked to
a locality,
up around towns rather than
territorial units
new
attached themselves.
felt
but
to the
The
force should be 'open ... to the
Air
whole
widest sense of that term, namely the complete range
of the output of the public and secondary schools'. Given
was
inherited
and avenues and crescents of semi-detached
estates springing
which the army's
class in the
wounded
Air Ministry,
at the
of thinking, conceived the idea of a 'Citizen Air
Ministry added that the
middle
The Director of Training
Tedder, a Trenchard protege
to the factories, offices
homes
new
and, equally important, to provide a reserve.
once the fighting Air
radical
'inappropriate to grade the
airmen according to their
members on
social class'.
its
nature
it
entry in as officers or
Everyone therefore started out the
45
PATRICK BISHOP same,
on
as
airmen under
Reserve, as
it
was
with commissions being awarded
training,
and leadership
ability
qualities.
25
The Royal
christened, started in
later
Air Force Volunteer
August 1936.
It
gave young
of between eighteen and twenty-five the chance to learn to
fly, at
no
men cost,
They received £25 per annum and were expected
in their spare time.
to
attend an annual fifteen-day flying course at one of the training centres set
up around the country. The aim had been
three years, but the potential
on 800
a year over
number of recruits was much
greater and
RAFVR
by the spring of 1939 there were 2,500
war broke
half of the 1930s
war. The question of
how
it
bombers or
fighters, offence
stage of the
coming war.
In
air force itself
war paid
it
with the
production.
no concern
a
finally
conundrum of
The change was
force.
But the government decided
initiated
The
this
was
goal had always been
democracy, reacting wearily to the threat of a
to fight.
Rearmament had been
Germany was
still
towards
a conflict
late
heading
of its
own
Thomas
at full
new
speed and with
making. Britain was not It
was the minister
Inskip,
force to accept the change in strategic thinking. In a
of 7 December he stated the
and grudgingly
operating at peacetime levels of
a dictatorship,
charge of defence coordination, Sir
who
forced the
memo
to
in air
Swinton
thinking crisply:
cannot take the view that our Air Force must necessarily correspond in
numbers and types of aircraft with the German Air Force. therefore, persuade myself that the
46
first
the Air Ministry pressed for parity
Spitfire,
going to catch up before the war was launched.
I
major
was not
that year the balance shifted decis-
'close defence'.
aircraft factories
for cost
to fight a
that
the great strategic
possible within the time available.
was
transformed from a small,
but by the government. Despite radar and the
German bomber
had no wish
for,
when
December
advent of the Hurricane and
unrealistic. Britain
When
or defence, was settled, at least for the
and
ively in favour of fighters
no longer
RAF
would go about doing
resolved until the end of 1938,
with the
saw the
mass force with the potential
professional elite into a
not by the
pilots in training.
had already entered Fighter Command.
out, 310
The second
to take
I
cannot,
dictum of the Chief of the Air
Staff
FIGHTER BOYS that
we must
principle.
German
give the
enemy
do not think
I
Air Force
.
.
.
it is
as
much
as
he gives us
is
a
sound
the proper measure of our strength.
must be designed
to deliver a knock-out
The
blow
within a few weeks of the outbreak of war. The role of our Air Force
not an early knock-out blow - no one has suggested that
we
is
can
26 accomplish that - but to prevent the Germans from knocking us out.
The
inference
was
clear.
For the time being
at least the
emphasis would
be on defence and making any German attack on Britain too painful to sustain. Despite the strenuous opposition of the Air Ministry
senior
staff,
the Cabinet backed Inskip's view.
belong to the
fighters,
and those
who
The next
and
years
RAF
would
flew them.
4"
'Free of Boundaries, Free of
Gravity, Free of Ties'
The
great
realize
when
RAF
expansion gave thousands of young
men
the chance to
an ambition that had seemed remote and probably unattainable
they
first
conceived
it.
That
flying
was
possible
was
a relatively
still
novel idea. For most people in the world the thought that they would ever actually do so themselves was fantastical.
The
has hardened our imaginations to the fascination
between the wars. Once, airstrip
was the
when first
a relief plane
in the 1980s,
was, or nearly
would ask each other
was
I
as
When
at a
to have
been
so, in the inter-war years. 'Ever
and
exotic. In the eyes
been
who
up?' people
hundreds of thou-
could say yes' were
their daring, their worldliness, their modernity.
women who
It
by the experience.
at the air displays that attracted
and
remote
they landed their
if they expected them
sands in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. Those
admired for
banality of aviation excited in the years
took some adolescent boys for a joyride.
examine them,
physically transformed it
Uganda
time they had been in an aeroplane.
friends ran out to
So
in
it
The men
flew the beautiful treacherous machines were exalted
of many, their courage and
skill
put them
at the
apex of human evolution. Aviators were as popular as film
stars.
distance and endurance filled the papers.
of these
48
stories,
Record-breaking feats of speed,
Men were
the
young men and boys. Almost every
most avid readers
pilot
who
fought in
FIGHTER BOYS
Command
Fighter
Their interest flared with
in 1940 fell for flying early.
the intensity of a great romance. For some, the
with a ten-minute
flip in
magical taste came
first
the rear cockpit of one of the rickety machines
of the flying circuses that hopped around the country, setting up on
The most famous was
racecourses or dropping in at resort towns.
who was
Alan Cobham, a breezy entrepreneur flights across Asia. Billy
when
was already intoxicated with
up. Drake
was enough
'When was
I
was
It
on
crown
half a
to
The
brief
go
hop over the
to set the course of his early
many
got down,' he remembered
his
a dis-
dead end for a middle-class
a
boy, but also because they feared for his safety. Gloucestershire fields
on holiday from
aviation, but his parents tried to
seemed
dissuade him, partly because flying
old,
the circus arrived to put
play close by his father's golf club near Stroud.
by
knighted for pioneering
Drake was sixteen years
boarding school in Switzerland,
led
years later,
knew
'I
life.
that this
1
it.'
Pete Brothers watched aeroplanes in the skies around his Lancashire,
where
his family
owned
in
a firm supplying chemicals to the
food and pharmaceutical industries. In his spare time he
were wary of his enthusiasm.
aeroplanes. His family
home
made model
In 1936,
on
his six-
teenth birthday, he was given flying lessons at the Lancashire Aero Club
hope
in the
ardour.
'My
that the draughty, dangerous reality of flying
father said, "You'll get bored with
into the family business." But
He took his
father flying
I
didn't.
and he,
too,
I
went
it,
would cool
his
down and come
settle
off and joined the air force.'
became
'flat-out keen'.
2
Sometimes, unwittingly, parents planted the germ themselves. Dennis
David was seven years old and on holiday treat,
my
mother and
Company. Though inside me.'
I
I
went up
was
in
Margate when,
'as a special
an Avro 504 of the Cornwall Aviation
surprised
by the
din, this
.
.
.
sowed
a seed
3
Just the sight of an aeroplane could be
James Sanders got up
Genoa where watch
in
his
at five
enough
one morning,
to ignite the passion.
in July 1933, at the villa in
wealthy archaeologist father had
moved
the family, to
a formation of twenty-four Savoia Marchetti seaplanes, led
Balbo, the head of the Italian air force, heading west
on
a
by
Italo
propaganda
49
PATRICK BISHOP the United States, and
visit to
force.'
felt
two
was no question about
a war, there
'There was going to be
certainties.
it,
and
I
was going
to be in the air
4
Throughout the
inter- war years, all
boring pasture was transformed into an
domain
around the country, many airfield
from
cycle
evenings Roland
station at
Tangmere, climb on
watch
Squadron and 43 Squadron taking off and landing
11
Hawker
Furies.
barnstorming
From
the age of seven,
silver-painted biplanes, the sleekest
he 'wanted more than anything later
the
he was
when he had been
and
be on
fighters'.
5
he decided
Twelve years
encounters with aeroplanes and airmen sometimes had the qual-
of a dream. Bob Doe, a shy schoolboy, was walking
when
force-landed in a field close to the road.
touch
and
it
aviation.'
6
feel
what was
me
to
was
I
[the]
'an
RAF
boy
While playing near
biplane fighter
Southern Alps of
walk around
New
a tiny silver machine.
Where
did
it
Who
come from?
going to land?' After the
friends stood 'for long hours
aircraft .
.
.
put
He had
was the
down on
and gazed
in silent
pilot?
a beach,
wonder
Where was he and
one day
I
would
fly a
his
at the aero-
an invitation to
word conjuring up dreams of looping and
a resolve that
in
heard of aero-
.
machine
.
.
the
rolling in
the blue heavens.' As he studied the instruments 'there gradually
50
it,
was now overhead seemed
look into the cockpit. There within easy reach was the "joystick"
me
.
Zealand, a small,
plane until eventually our persistence was rewarded by
within
.
side of the world, near
farm he heard the note of an engine
his father's
up and saw
very sound of the
.
beginning of the mystery of
planes but never seen one. 'The fact that one unbelievable.
after classes
Alan Deere had experienced the same revelation.
called
the sky, looked
in the
home
able to
Thousands of miles away on the other
town of Westport
restless
it
Watching the
flying.
middle of the Battle of Britain, flying Hurricanes from
in the
to his parents' cottage in rural Surrey
the
taken up by a
fastest in the air force,
else to
in their
same aerodrome.
First ity
hedge and
to his bicycle to see over the
he had been entranced with
pilot,
RAF
prep school in Chichester to the
his
flat,
and became an enchanted
On summer
for the surrounding schoolboys.
Beamont would
a
grew
like this
and
FIGHTER BOYS perhaps land on friends.'
this
very beach to the envy and delight of
my boyhood
7
Almost
all
of these recorded episodes
feel like
encounters with
fate.
Brian
Kingcome was making
at yet
another boarding school when, one sunny afternoon, 'there came
his languid progress
the drone of an aero-engine overhead - not a
1930s - and height.
through another term
common
The whole school rushed out
machine throttled back and, that follows the throttling
watch spellbound
to
in the
mid
silence
back of an old fashioned aero-engine, glided
house/ The
pilot
who
chalant and romantic in flying helmet and silk scarf,
four years Kingcome's senior,
whom he
previous schools his mother's
whims had
there a Brian
as the tiny
swooshing
in that lovely, burbling,
to land in the park in front of the
'Is
sound
a small aircraft circled the school a couple of times at roof-top
Kingcome
had known directed
'Have
here?' he asked.
emerged, non-
was
young man,
a
one of the several
at
him
I
in
to.
come
to the right
place?'
He many
had, and there was.
envious eyes,
I
for the first time in a free
My stock soared
climbed aboard and a
world
I
.
.
.
Basking in the gaze of
moment
later
had never dreamed could
from the drag of earth's umbilical
found myself
exist
Whatever
a
world
swoop and
cord, free to climb,
dive, free of boundaries, free of gravity, free of ties, free to
except stand
-
do anything
8
still.
their differences of
background,
all
these boys
were children
of their time. Their enthusiasms were stoked by what they read in the illustrated papers,
aimed
at the
youth market, that sold
These, just as others would do a generation
later, leant
in millions.
heavily on the
preceding war for their material, and particularly on the doings of the heroes
who had emerged from
the
RFC. The anonymous
of the comics of the era, with their almost the
young male psyche, recognized
at
infallible
editors
comprehension of
once the charge that old-fashioned
swashbuckling married to modern technology would carry. The example of the
first
fighter aces fixed itself in the imaginations of a generation
51
PATRICK BISHOP being born just as they had met their deaths. Even thoughts of Geoffrey Page as he
London
engineering at
wanted was practically
fought,
there
how
he
knew about war .
.
was
won
my hero,
know about
to
in the air.
I
imagined
it
how
he died.
Command's
in the First
he flew, also
I
I
I
knew
how
he
thought
I
be Arthurian - about chivalry
to
war were remarkably frank
air
effect appears to
most
single
W.
E.Johns,
World War and whose
appear in Popular Flying magazine in 1932. The
have been mini-
effective recruiting ser-
geant was Captain James Bigglesworth, created by
RFC
how
Ball;
Ball.
9
about what was entailed. The deterrent
flown with the
to study
it.'
Yet the most popular chronicles of the
mal. Perhaps Fighter
Captain Albert
Albert
his Victoria Cross,
death and injury had no part in
.
up
public school to go
left his
University 'were boyishly clear and simple. All
to be a fighter pilot like
all
nineteen the
at
stories
who had began to
novel, The Camels Are
first
Coming, was published the same year. Biggies seems unattractive now; cold, driven
was
by suppressed anger,
a spoilsport
and a
a devastatingly romantic figure to the twelve-
who went on
to emulate
him
a
few years
later.
He
of a bully.
bit
and thirteen-year-olds
Johns introduced them
to a
slight fair-haired,
acting flight glint
good-looking lad
commander
of yellow
fire
that
still
somehow seemed
but [already] an
were never
still
and held
the strain of war, and sight of sudden death, had already
graven
lines ...
it
little
He had
killed six
What
did
it
during the past
matter, anyway?
some time and had long ago ceased
who
men
to
appears disguised as
or
some
to die
it.
relating to
'Mahoney'. Johns made no attempt
Mannock,
to hide the
of the business, emphasizing the man-to-man nature of primi-
tive air fighting. In
maxim
He knew he had
worry about
of the stories were based on real events,
grisliness
month -
a year? - he had forgotten. Time had become curiously
telescoped lately.
Many
a
out of place in a pale face
upon which
was
52
in his teens
... his deep-set eyes
that
one story he repeats with approval von Richthofen's
'when attacking two-seaters,
kill
the gunner
first',
and goes
FIGHTER BOYS on
to describe his hero doing just that. 'Pieces flew off the green fuselage,
and
he twisted upwards into
as
a half roll Biggies noticed that the
enemy
gunner was no longer standing up. "That's one of them!" he thought coolly. "I've given
them
a bit out of their
wrapped
Biggies notes an 'Albatros, pilot leaping into space It is
even
not only Germans
inevitable.
An
own
in a sheet of flame
he passed'.
as
who
die.
.
Getting killed
characteristic features of the Great War,'
word
to Biggies in France, 'was the
went hand
in the shellholes
good
in hand.
manner
At noon a
mess rocking with mirth. By
the perpetrator of it
The
doomed
is
presented as almost
important and enduring message, one the young readers
most
officers'
the
.
.
In another,
11
took to heart, was that there was no point dwelling on
so often
10
'
copy-book."
would be gone
of No Mans Land.'
to the air
Johns wrote in the Fore-
which humour and tragedy
practical joke
might
set the
sunset, or perhaps within the hour,
for ever, fallen to
an unmarked grave
12
Biggies stories are practically
a guide
in
'One of the
it.
war over
documentary
in their starkness, as
the trenches as the non-fictional
memoirs. Their audiences were absorbed and inspired by them. They
changed
Reading them reinforced Pete Brothers's decision to seek
lives.
a short-service
commission
that enthralled
me
RAF. He found them
in the
and excited
me
and made
At the Lancashire Aeroclub before taking up in
pilot in the war.
Cinematic portrayals of the ful
was Dawn
Patrol,
to emulate them'.
his instructor
Replacements
air
starring
were equally
Enrol Flynn,
frank.
The most
from
a
few weeks
send them up against hardened Germans officers,
is
based on a
Orders to
come by telephone from lines.
Basil
in a fortnight.
at flying school.
comfortably quartered miles behind the
senior
New names
chalked up on the duty blackboard to be wiped off within an hour.
bags are returned
a
success-
David Niven and
Western Front. Sixteen men have gone
arrive, fresh
had been
13
Rathbone, which came out in 1938. The 59th Squadron sticky sector of the
commission
a short-service
he had been pleased to find
January 1936,
Sopwith Camel
me want
'beautiful stories
home without
ever being unpacked.
praised the film's 'lack of false sentiment or
mock
The
heroics'
are Kit-
Daily Express
and called
it
53
PATRICK BISHOP 'one of the best and bitterest melodramas about a box-office hit pilots
who
men and
planes'.
It
was
and was seen, often several times, by hundreds of the
No one was
fought in 1940.
put
off.
was the glamour,
It
camaraderie and romance of flying that pulled them back to the local fleapits,
man
not the message of waste and
was
in Britain
By
this
time every young
facing a prospect of early extinction.
might be awful, but
With
futility.
was
it
better than dying
Dying
in the air
on the ground.
programme, thousands of young men were now
the expansion
being given a choice in how they would fight the next war. Before the
RAF
RAF
intake
began,
Between
recruited annually about 300 pilots and 1,600 airmen.
1935 and 1938 the average
it
was 4,500 and 40,000 airmen and
apprentices. Air Ministry officials appealed directly to schools for recruits
and advertised
magazines and popular newspapers the
in the flying
young men they were looking
for
might be expected to read. One that
appeared on the front page of the Daily Express, adorned by a drawing of three Hurricanes, promised 'the
life is
one that
will appeal to all
wish to adopt an interesting and progressive career ous scale
.
.
must be
applicants
.
flying experience
is
physically
necessary'. Pay, in cash
£340 and £520 a year.
Age
were
limits
The educational
half and twenty-eight.
Pat Hancock, a mechanically
in
.
leave
single
is
set at
is
you survived you got a lot in those days. into allowing
me
sition.
many
Flying
pilots
was school
when he saw an it
to apply.'
advertise-
- was offering at the
lump sum of £300, which was it
and sweet talked
if
the applicant
my
end
if
really
father
and
to have faced, at
was undeniably dangerous.
was under twenty-
first at least,
In an era
family oppo-
when men
profession, trade or occupation and tended to stick with
54
a
certificate
14
was needed
seem
service,
not necessary'.
College
pounced on
Parental permission
one, and
between
between seventeen and
'The ministry - bless
a magnificent I
a gener-
minded eighteen-year-old from Croy-
Wimbledon Technical
the Daily Express.
set
commissions to suitable young gentlemen - four years, and
mother
men who
on
but no previous
and kind, was
qualification
standards, although 'an actual certificate
ment
and
.
A £300 gratuity was payable after four years'
or £500 after six years.
don, was at
fit
.
it
chose a
for the rest of
FIGHTER BOYS their
working
life,
offered a very uncertain career. Despite popular
it
enthusiasm, commercial aviation had been slow to expand. Air travel
was confined
flying in peacetime
to
overcome the
pilots
who hoped
objections. Billy
pay him an annuity of £300, a
when he heard
club
at length
about your desire to be
it.
RAF
career. Page's
Page rarely saw he decided
He
to his
a pilot
me, are two
tells
a leading British
him he had 'spoken
Hundreds
to take
up
flying.
and resented the intervention strongly. Later
in the war, shot
while serving in the Royal into the
RAF,
Navy
via the
down and
Air Service.
London
1
killed
lost a
over the North Sea
Page eventually made
'
his
University Air Squadron.
out to be meritocratic in
set
are
refused to pay for the 'stupidity' of pursu-
had been motivated by concern. His father had
it
to
and he has advised
a penny.
mother pleaded with him not
his father
younger brother
The RAF
he
Pilots,
chasing a handful of jobs.'
own way
which
summoned him
Handley Page,
business. Page's uncle ran
strongly against
ing an
detail
of his plans to apply for Cranwell. Flying
manufacturer. Over tea his father told
your uncle
me
their livings
his parents to grant their approval.
was the family aircraft
make
Drake misunderstood the terms and
Geoffrey Page's distant and authoritarian father
London
to
were mostly disappointed. Arguments were needed
RAF would
thought the
persuaded
RFC
to the rich.
its
search for recruits, and
Tedder, as director of training, decided to cast the net wide in the search for the best candidates.
cate level
The requirement
meant boys from poor on
their children
were not always
until sixteen
strictly
families
were
imposed and
to have reached school certifi-
who
could not afford to keep
theoretically excluded. officials
The
rules
occasionally used their dis-
cretion.
Bob Doe's the
father
was
a gardener
News of the World. Doe
exams and got verie Street.
quarters
in
commission. approving
a
left
on the Surrey
school at fourteen without passing any
job as an office boy
at the paper's
One lunchtime he walked over Kingsway 'I
and
announced he
was passed from
when
they found
I'd
estate of the editor of
headquarters in Bou-
to the Air Ministry head-
wanted
office to office.
passed no exams.
a
short-service
They were very
Then
I
dis-
found myself in
55
PATRICK BISHOP front of this elderly chap with lots of braid to like
me/ 16 When he
on
RAFVR and done seventy-five hours' flying, was
forgotten.
Doe
sat the
uniform and he seemed
his
Doe had
discovered that
entrance exam, and with
entrants had passed their school certificate and had
gone
to fee-paying or
schools.
One obvious
source for the sort of healthy, uncomplicated, modern-
minded young men the were sent overseas
RAF was
seeking was the Empire. Senior officers
to Australia, Canada,
to supervise selection.
time
some coaching from
got through. Doe's case was exceptional. Most
his Air Ministry sponsor,
grammar
already joined the
any lack of formal education
The
New
decision to leave
when war seemed to be
felt
to cross the
Europe was
world
at a
a dramatic one.
strong sentiments of loyalty and
The RAF appeal
respect towards Britain.
home
stirring again in
Yet the populations of the colonies
Zealand and South Africa
offered broader horizons to
ambitious and adventurous young airmen as well as touching a sense of obligation.
the
The response was
enthusiastic.
On
catching their
first
sight of
mother country, many of them wondered whether they had made the
right choice.
Alan Deere
left
Auckland
in
September 1937 aboard the SS
Rangitane and arrived at Tilbury docks at the start of an English winter.
The
cold discomfort of the railway carriage and the
southern Essex were depressing reminders of the far-off
flat,
treeless acres of
warmth and sunshine of
New Zealand. We stared in amazement at the grim rows of East End
houses, pouring their
smoke
into the clouded atmosphere,
and were
appalled by the bustle and grime of Liverpool Street Station, so different
from the luxurious gateway
to the
London of our dreams/ 17
Despite the relative elasticity of the cess
RAF
approach, the selection pro-
was thorough and demanding. After the written
medical, candidates were
panel of
officers.
summoned
to a board
The examiners were looking
for
test
and a
strict
and questioned by a
some
technical
know-
ledge and evidence of keenness. Enthusiasm for sports was usually taken as strong
proof of the
immediately to an
latter.
RAF
At
first,
short-service entrants
were sent
off
flying training centre, but the existing facilities
could not cope with the wave of new recruits and Tedder decided to pay civilian flying schools to give ab initio instruction.
56
FIGHTER BOYS
The new boys learned Tiger Moths.
A first
flight in the flimsy,
was
an indel-
trainers left
to their
first
encounter
Blackburn B2
his first lesson in a
at the
named London
Air Park, near present-day Heathrow. In reality
a tiny grass field
with a clump of trees in the centre, surrounded
grandly it
Dennis David had
sex.
thrumming
some would remember,
ible impression, akin, as
with
Avro Tutors and de Havilland
in two-seaters,
by houses. Many
years later he
'still
[found]
it
hard to find the words to
my sheer delight and sense of freedom as the little biplane,
describe
seem-
ing to strain every nerve, accelerated across the grass and suddenly
became
airborne'.
18
was no preparation
Fantasizing about flying aeroplanes
A
few, not necessarily the best pilots, found
Flying Club, 'and
was absolutely
handling the controls and
I
thrilled
managed
fly'.
But
Doe was
many found 'petrified
so thin that
no way did
to cope with
new
have an
first
all
the
lesson
flight in a small, sensitive aircraft
when
first
I
went
The
up.
when you banked round I was I
at the
affinity for it/
20
Winnipeg
with the experience of actually
including an approach ... at the end of this 19
Johnny
gratifyingly easy.
it
begun learning
Kent, an eighteen-year-old Canadian, had
for the reality.
On
manoeuvres
knew
I
I
could
unnerving. Bob
side of the aeroplane
afraid of falling
Hubert
Allen's
through
was it.
In a
first flight as
candidate for a short-service commission the instructor
put the Tiger
done
that,
cutting
Moth
into a
bunt [loop] and
but perhaps he thought
down
to size.
He was
I
I
was
after landing
going to be one of those for cleaning
up
I
mistaken.
I
manoeuvres
was covered
was under-confident this.
in vomit.
air-sick fellows
so
.
.
.
'I
I
'Good God,' he
said,
my
hope you're not
better give the rigger half a
the mess.' ... he strode off to the bar.
Even those who had flown violent
shouldn't have
and turning off the magnetos he peered into
cockpit and noticed that
crown
He
was over-confident and needed
probably acted the part of extrovert to conceal
when
sick.
21
regularly as passengers discovered that the
essential to military aviation differed dramatically
from the pleasant sensations of
straight
and
level flying.
Tim
Vigors, a
57
PATRICK BISHOP
young man from
sporting
godmother,
his
who was
an
and he liked
air enthusiast,
applied to Cranwell. Starting flying training he
As the instructor put the aeroplane into
manoeuvre,
.
.
.
me as we
.
mean
success did not
build and pencil moustache
lead an adventurous
life
Catford in south-east
and nauseous.
all
in a
man whose
made him look like
slow
other sensations'.
would then be
that progress
in his teens, escaping the
London
much he
so
down
turned upside
Robert Stanford Tuck was a confident young letic
by
then the whole weight of
.
.
fear of falling out of the cockpit eclipsed
Initial
it
felt fearful
flying
a loop, a standard, elementary
a 'queasy feeling engulfed
my body fell on my shoulder harness roll
had been taken
a landed Irish family,
long
22
steady.
face, ath-
He had
Errol Flynn.
mundane horizons of merchant navy before
for a career in the
being accepted for a short-service commission. Tuck started off well. But
he found
difficult to
it
progress beyond basics and develop the instinctive
ease of handling, the feel that
was
pilot.
Tuck's cocky judgement after his
flying
was
straight
easy.
and
So
is
first
go
to
become
at the controls
restricted to the basic
it is, if
level flight, shallow turns
learning ladder
was
essential if one
was
that
manoeuvres of take-off,
and landing. But
steep. Diving, looping
a serious
and banking
after that the
tightly are dis-
orientating. Mistakes lead quickly to panic as the actions required to
retrieve the situation are usually counter-instinctive.
the
dud of his
Tuck found he was
intake, snatching at the controls, over-correcting
fering potentially fatal lapses of concentration.
He began
and
suf-
to fear that
something he had come to love would be snatched away from him.
was only when he learned
that flying did not require great physical effort
that his performance started to improve.
avoiding sharp
machine so
movements and
as to
become
part of
The
been an important sensory
secret lay in relaxation,
settling oneself into the fabric its
nervous system. You had to
aeroplane. For the fighter pilots of the First
1927, parachutes,
It
tool. Pilots felt
of the feel the
World War, buttocks had
they lost something when, in
which they were obliged
to
sit
on,
became standard
equipment.
By
the time
privately
58
war broke out
the
RAF was
mass-producing
officers.
The
run elementary flying training schools dotted around the
FIGHTER BOYS country taught a basis in practical
RAF's own vious war,
ron duty, pilots would
The
initial flying
now
The
men were
half-trained
advanced course
for an
flying training schools.
when
with a grounding in navigation
flying,
and gunnery, that prepared pupils
was
idea
one of the
at
that, unlike in the pre-
expected to learn while on squad-
arrive at their units ready for operations.
was done
in biplanes. Pupils
stages of instruction, starting with
underwent twenty-two
experience' - the
'air
first
flip
-
through to aerobatics during the eight- to twelve-week course. Emphasis
was placed on learning
sory practice every week.
forward
flying, that
from
to recover It
a spin,
and there was
was the only manoeuvre,
was taught previous
to the
apart
a
compul-
from
straight-
first solo,
which came
half-way through the course. Most pupils got off alone after between eight
and ten hours
Alan Deere was so impatient to do so he
in the air.
words of his instructor
forgot the last
attempt only two landings.
'I
was
to fly for only ten minutes
really straining at the leash
he had delivered these homilies and, thinking he had throttle ings,
open
.
.
.
and so into the
around again and again
forgotten in the
thrill
I
air,
solo at
last.
finished,
and to
by the time
banged the
One, two, three land-
went, the ten-minute limit completely
and excitement of this momentous occasion/
23
Aerobatics were promoted to give pupils complete confidence in their
machines aerial
them
as well as preparing
for the stomach-churning reality of
combat. Flying blind, encased in a hood, relying only on the instru-
ments, was also taught. Later
means of an earthbound
this hair-raising
flight
simulation trainer, the Link.
elementary training was expensive
advanced training) and those out early on. Those stint at the
who
RAF Depot
training, familiarization
method was replaced by
at £5
who showed
Uxbridge for
cost of
per pupil per hour (double for little
aptitude
finished the course successfully
at
The
two weeks of
were weeded
went on
to a
drilling, physical
with the limited administrative duties required
of young officers and learning the niceties of mess protocol. During the fortnight, tailors arrived to kit out the fledgling officers
and provide an
opportunity for a laugh. Blond, raffish Paddy Barthropp remembered the response to the inevitable question, as they were measured up for their uniforms, which included mess
kit
with very
tight-fitting trousers.
'When 5-)
PATRICK BISHOP the cutters asked their customers which side they dressed the reply
come. "Just make them baggy around the kneecaps."
were given £50
two
'
24
The new
would
officers
to cover everything, including uniforms, shirts, socks,
pairs of shoes
and
a cap
- not enough
you went
if
to the better
outfitters.
moved on
Before candidates
to the next stage of training, the chief
instructor at the elementary flying school
whether
a pupil's abilities best suited
made
him
a
recommendation
as to
to fighters or bombers. Flying
anything required delicacy. Flying fighters required a particular softness
of touch. Horsemen, yachtsmen and
made
the best fighter pilots.
ability
The
pianists, the prevailing
decision
wisdom
was made on the
held,
pilot's flying
but also on his temperament. Success depended on a combination
of discipline of the sort needed to maintain the flying formations beloved of the pre-war RAF, with the audacity and nerve inherent in the dazzling
which the
aerobatics
service also prized as an indication of
worth and
quality.
The David, 'it
pilots
was
inevitable that
a loner. let
themselves had a say in their
seemed the choice was preordained,
it
was just
It
I
me
the other down.'
was
and
25
to
be a fighter
feeling
pilot
.
.
.
like
Dennis
from the outset
that
from the
was
start
I
my aeroplane hoping that neither of us would
Alan Deere
determined to be a fighter
To some,
fate.
pilot'
felt
the
same
certainty, 'had always
and pressed his superiors to be posted
to fighters.
Fighters
were not the automatic choice
tegic thinking of the previous
for
young
all
two decades had
its
pilots.
effect
The
stra-
on ambitious
Most of Deere's contemporaries thought bombers offered
trainees.
better career and he
was one of only four
to
go
a
to a fighter squadron.
But for the majority fighters offered a degree of freedom and individuality that
was not
before the
available in a
war began,
bomber crew -
and, as
a greater chance of survival. Brian
was
clear
even
Kingcome,
who
after Cranwell was posted to 65 Fighter Squadron, considered that 'only
a
man brave beyond belief would
all
went
into fighters.'
ever want to go into bombers. Us cards
26
After leaving the depot, the half-formed pilots
60
moved on
to
one of the
FIGHTER BOYS on
flying training schools to learn
service aircraft. In the early days of
expansion, trainee fighter pilots started out on biplanes like the
Hart or the Audax. These eventually made the North
American Harvard. The
latter
way
was
for the Miles
Hawker
Master and
a twin-seat, single-engined
trainer with half the
horsepower of the new breed of fighters, but which
none the
taste
less
or Spitfire
The scolded
gave a
when
of what
it
would be
like to
instruction
was
him
clumsy performance of the highly
for his
of spinning a Hart,
head to blot out
handle a Hurricane
the time came.
Deere
testing.
temper
after his teacher
difficult
one way, then the other, with
first
The tantrum
vision.
lost his
nearly lost
him
his
manoeuvre
hood over
a
his
commission and
he was told he had been given another chance 'only because the Royal
much money on your
Air Force has already spent so pilots
were taught
set-piece attacks against
numbered according
bomber
27
The
formations, each one
There was some gunnery
to the circumstances.
practice, a small part of
training'.
which involved using
ammunition on towed
live
aerial drogues.
The student in
mess
kit,
pilots lived in the
mess and dressed
dinner jacket or lounge
week. Saturday was dress-down day,
suit,
depending on the day of the
when blazer,
permitted. After successful completion of the pilots received their wings, a brevet
announced
their
thought. Al Deere
felt
a
in
'thrill
any young
It
and
flannels
first
sewn over
achievement to the world.
most momentous occasion
for dinner each night
were
a tie
half of the course,
the tunic pocket that
was
a great
pilot's career',
moment,
'the
Dennis David
of achievement and pride' as he stepped
forward to receive the badge. Finally,
on completion of
squadron. In the
first
training, the
civilized
the shake-up. At Hornchurch, 'a
where 65 Squadron was
most marvellous
life
mine who had an
hundred miles away
would
up
training.
I
didn't
were posted
to a
atmosphere that had prevailed before
to a friend of
fly
pilots
years of expansion, units did their best to preserve
what they could of the
Kingcome enjoyed
new
for lunch,
I
... if
airfield
just go.
I
stationed, Brian
wanted
or station It
to take off
somewhere
went down
have to get permission or [check]
and a
as flying
flight paths.
I
just
61
PATRICK BISHOP went.
you wanted
If
to
go up and do
church was a well-appointed
aerobatics,
you just went.' 28 Horn-
many
station, built, like
everyone except the handful of married
main base
the its
own
found
grounds, with a large dining
own batman and your drinking
There were officers
quarters.
in the
were
the mess
beyond
belief
.
.
There was no bar
anteroom with steward
from which
six shillings (30p)
went on drink and
rest
buy
together to
London,
less
on two
stood in
service.
you did
The gardens
outside
and flower
beds.'
cars,
went on the a personal
cost of mess living.
batman.
which the junior
to visit country pubs and
make
shillings
officers
clubbed
the occasional trip to
than an hour away. The frequency of nights out depended
To
considerations: the price of drink and the price of petrol.
initiate a
pub
crown
all
squash and tennis courts and a small croquet lawn. Pilot
That covered food, lodging, laundry and
half a
in those days so
- the lowest commissioned rank - were paid fourteen
(70p) a day,
The
It
was superb; you had your
beautifully kept with pristine lawns
also
gates.
room and bedrooms. Kingcome
the food
.
was separate from
main
across the road and in front of the
'luxurious
it
officers lived,
of the inter-war
The mess, where
bases, in brick to a classically simple Lutyens design.
crawl,
Kingcome and three or four
(12Vzp) into the kitty.
friends
would each put
They would then board one of
the
jalopies (cost £10 to £25) held in loose collective ownership by the squad-
ron. Petrol cost a shilling (5p) a gallon for the best grade, or tenpence (a little
over 4p) for standard grade. After having downed several drinks
costing eightpence (4p) for a pint of beer or a measure of whisky, they
would
Ten car
still
have some change over to share out
shillings (50p)
was
available,
in Mayfair.
It
would cover
and the
was run by
Command's main
bill at
a trip to
Shepherd's, a
a Swiss called
at the
end of the evening.
town, including train fare
pub
if
no
Market
in Shepherd's
Oscar and became one of Fighter
pound
drinking headquarters in London. For a
the
evening could be rounded off in a nightclub. Biggin station,
home
Hill,
was
to
two
which
like
rebuilt in
September 1932 to
fighter units, 23
arrived in 1936 to a 'nice
62
Hornchurch originated
as a First
World War
a similar design.
It
became
Squadron and 32 Squadron. Pete Brothers
little airfield,
a lovely officers' mess'.
The
station
FIGHTER BOYS had
at
flying, a life
its
members
unexpected
sea-level,
when Croydon was
ways
airliner
Jesse
Owens,
when
enjoyed,
they
of sport, of visits to London and being entertained
surrounding country houses. Because of the
above in
and
a reputation for joie de vivre,
were not
visitors
aboard
closed by fog.
airfield's location,
often dropped
civil airliners
One day
in 1936
600 feet
an Imperial Air-
landed carrying the American Olympic team, including fresh
from
triumph
his
at the Berlin
Games.
On
another
occasion a party of French models arrived after being diverted there on their
well
way
London
to a
was only
a
fashion show. Churchill,
a drink in the
and in walked Winston,' Brothers, old flight said,
him
commander with
"Good
evening,
a dry sherry
sir,
who by
then was a twenty-one-year-
'We
32 Squadron, recalled.
can
we
and he asked
if
get
we
you
a drink?"
got up and
could turn the radio on so he could
it
'
all
The waiter brought
We listened, then he said, "Are you Spitfires?" We didn't like to say, "You've got
Hurricanes."
early
anteroom when the door opened
hear the news.
Hawker
at Chart-
few miles away, arrived unexpectedly one evening
'We were having
in 1939.
whose home
enjoying your
wrong, they're
29
Behind the military briskness there lurked an atmosphere of fun. Jokes
were not always
in the best taste. In 1936, at the height of the
in Abyssinia, Biggin Hill, like every other station,
the annual Empire Air Day.
Hawker Tomtit dropped One, disguised
figures.
wearing
a pith helmet,
Selassie, the
No.
79,
contest to see
who
when some chap
it
white sheet and
throne after the
units.
A new
squadron,
from No. 32 while
We decided we'd have a landing. We had to pack up
were games.
could do the shortest
hit the
'native'
to represent Haile
lost his
a core of pilots transferred
there. 'There
two
but the Air Ministry was not amused.
between the Biggin
was formed around was
it
was unmistakably supposed
The crowd loved
techniques a
old car carrying
in a black beard, dressed in a
jovial rivalry
Peter Brothers
put on a display for
To demonstrate bombing bombs on an
Emperor of Abyssinia who had
Italian invasion.
There was
flour
war
hedge and turned
it
his aircraft
over and smashed
up.'
Tangmere,
at the foot
of the South Downs, was
a particularly pleasant
63
PATRICK BISHOP post.
A
dreamy, prelapsarian atmosphere seems to have permeated the
place in the last years of peace. Billy Drake, arriving there aged nineteen in the
summer of
1937 as a newly commissioned pilot
was sweet. The summer routine involved
Hawker
lunchtime in
Itchenor.
Then
tennis before dinner
and bed.
Social
like the
lounge of a luxury
rising at six
would be
there
mer evening you could the sun going
down
Abyssinia,
were
Germany
sit
flying until sailing
game of squash
or
centred on the mess, furnished
life
Old Ship
with fellow
silent efficiency.
Bosham, where on
at
pilots or a girlfriend
There a
sum-
and watch
over the estuary. Conversation concerned aero-
and
planes, cars, sport
like the
a
life
where Hoskins and Macey, the white-
liner,
coated stewards, shuttled back and forth with
were good pubs nearby;
and
found
were spent swimming or
Furies. Afternoons
Bosham and West
at
officer,
What was happening
parties, rarely politics.
or Italy was hardly mentioned.
If
the
in
drums of war
Drake had barely
beating, the pilots affected not to hear them.
considered the implications of his decision to apply for a short-service
commission.
'I
simply wanted to go
flying,'
might involve going to war never occurred to Life
was not so congenial
country were variable. The
at
who joined
the
me
said.
The
fact that
until 1938 or 1939.'
it
30
every fighter base. Conditions around the
of the expansion meant accommoda-
fast rate
Desmond
tion often lagged behind needs.
Australian
he
RAF on
Sheen, a nineteen-year-old
a short-service
Royal Australian Air Force, arrived
at 72
commission from the
Squadron
at
Church Fenton
in
Yorkshire in June 1937 to be told he was living in a tent at the end of the airfield
when
while the mess was being
31 was completed/
duty to 19 Squadron training in
trenches
at
Duxford
in
When
stayed there until
and we moved
all
as a dormitory.
November
into hangars
Arthur Banham reported for
Cambridgeshire
after finishing his
August 1936, he was put with nine other junior
hut which acted
The whole
place
was
officers in a
a mess, with
over the place where they were laying foundations for the
buildings.
officers lived
The
officers
married quarters weren't built and most
out of the aerodrome altogether.'
Arriving at their
64
'We
the fog and the mists drove us out
until the building
new
built.
first
posts, the
newly
32
qualified pilots learned quickly
FIGHTER BOYS that henceforth everything
would
on the squadron.
centre
focus of their professional and their social
was
wonderful time for most of us/
one's fellow fighter pilots.
'It
remembered John
who joined
'It
Nicholas,
was very pleasant most of
became the
and no one could be more fun to be with than
exciting than flying
age,
It
Nothing could be more
lives.
whom
to be with a
a
65 Squadron in
December
number of young men of
believed in the same things.'
33
Some
one's
1937.
own
of the pre-
expansion pilots had worried that the influx would dilute the clubby character of the old organization and dissolve de corps. Peter
Townsend,
its
tenderly guarded esprit
a sensitive, reflective career officer
who had
passed out of Cranwell as the Prize Cadet, returned to Britain to join 43
Squadron
in
after a posting to the Far East, to find that 'gone
June 1937
were the halcyon days of "the best
was now peopled by strange I
resented the
new
flying club in the world".
faces, different
generation of pilots
urgent appeal and found heaven-sent
Townsend
accepted,
Tangmere
people with a different
who had answered from boring
relief
almost immediately,
that
the
style.
RAF's
civilian jobs.'
these
feelings
34
were
unworthy. In a subsequent mea culpa he admitted that 'my prejudices against
them were
ignoble, for they
erous-hearted friends, then, a
were soon
little later, die,
to
become
the
most of them,
The reasoning was, anyway, wrong. At any time
most gen-
for England'.
in the years before the
run-up to the expansion programme, a majority of officers in the admittedly
much
smaller
RAF
were serving on
The newcomers took serious challenge to the
short-service commissions.
to the existing traditions quickly, offering
way
things
were done. Many were
no
familiar with
the routines of sport, joviality and boisterous high spirits from school days.
Most of the
short-service
commission
pilots entering in the expan-
sion years had a public-school background of one sort or another. Roland
Beamont was
at
Eastbourne College, Geoffrey Page
at
Dean
Close,
Cheltenham, Paddy Barthropp went to Ampleforth and Arthur Banham to the Perse School, Cambridge.
day school, St Dunstan's
Bob Tuck attended
a small fee-paying
and Pete Brothers
a similar establish-
at Catford,
ment, North Manchester School.
Billy
Drake, James Saunders and John
Nicholas were educated abroad. Pat Hancock went to a day school in
65
PATRICK BISHOP
Croydon before moving
to the technical college. Dennis
David had been
to a boarding school in Deal before changing to Surbiton
County School.
Of the
Cranwellians,
Tim
Vigors had been at Eton and Brian Kingcome
at Bedford.
Most of the
even
entrants,
knew something of the
school,
and the Gem. Bob Doe,
ethos,
outsider.
I
was very shy
enough but
I
always
which
as well,
felt
was
I
The overseas
inferior.'
them beyond
them
little
35
The
to
was
friendly
were lowered
barriers
buy
a Hispano-
go on occasional forays into
where they were based.
it
all
There was
Their status as
and
a lot of fun,
a lot of taking the
very friendly. They were
all
good
Taken
liter-
36
Being a good sport was the essential quality in
meant
would count
that athletic ability
which benefited the outdoorsy that 'the natural reserve of
approach' after a
all
arrivals
from the Empire. Deere found
Englishmen gave way to
game of rugby
reluctant to
who
first
quickly
in the
New
don the gloves advised
him
it
in
which
New
a
more
again, but
He was
was persuaded
would be good a
friendly
Zealanders took on the a
boxer
Zealand amateur championships.
name, the bestowal of
became
fitting in.
in a pilot's favour, a factor
beating the English pilots by a colossal score.
had taken part
of a
much an
They were
a lot of hilarity
mickey out of each other, but
officer
I
the rigid categorizations of the British class
conflict.
rest,
lot.
Sheen's father was a plasterer, but he found at 72
extremely well. There was no
ally, it
very
felt
difficulty fitting in.
Squadron that 'everyone got on, with
sports.'
didn't help.
Little Rissington,
had
entrants
Desmond
system.
I
invited to club together with three others to
Cheltenham, twelve miles from
Of his
was 'probably the poorest of the
Suiza saloon for £20, this enabling
colonials put
only from the pages of the Magnet
the things other people had done.
all
when he was
if
a secondary-school boy, felt out of place.
fellow short-service entrants he
hadn't done
they had not been to a proper public
if
to
for his career.
do so by
The
who
He was a senior
abbreviation
nickname, signalled you were
in.
Alan
Al.
Being a good sport, however, went beyond the observance of the conventions, attitudes and observances of middle-class males of the time.
66
FIGHTER BOYS
A mood was
of tolerance prevailed so that individuality, even eccentricity,
prized.
The
business of aerial warfare
and
discipline applied to soldiers
meant
that the type of military
was not appropriate
sailors
Junior officers addressed their squadron superiors as
meeting of the day. After that
was
it
first
their
own
From
pilots,
anyway, succeeded by
the earliest days
towards senior
on the Western
if
amount of
leg-pulling
like all
new
parades.
He was
found to
his
and
arrivals,
not found.
flight
practical joking
spent his
It
initiative
it
was
told that the missing
told that this
at 54
Squadron
'realized that
those
for fellow pilots
on
when
is
all
new
pilots
blow
him being sprayed with life
A fake in
it
in
and
instru-
to check
soot.
disguised a level of
marked out
the
RAF
from
was
writ-
little
imbued with an overwhelming
and for the units
was
it
a particularly earnest pilot
the relieved officer invited to
died,
a very serious
no such item of
The testimony of survivors, and what
who
On
commander down participated'. 37
consideration and fellow feeling that perhaps the other services.
was
Oxometer had been found.
resulted in
at
pay and clothing
to be notified if
boisterous and extrovert tone of squadron
down by
price of belonging.
few weeks
a trick played
a further refinement
was working, which
that
learned that a certain
was the
commander might have
ment was rigged up and
ten
own immediate com-
check the navigation inventory and
which everyone from the station
The
and making
a sceptical attitude
tasks like overseeing the
was some days before he
The joke took on
it
first
commander, he was
equipment existed and that
was
their
Coy newcomers
also required to
matter and the station
officer
the orders of a
concern that an item called the Oxometer was missing.
informing his
in
in the
they had earned their respect. Pomposity was ruthlessly pun-
Hornchurch doing dogsbody
one
combat
Front, pilots took a relaxed
though seldom with
officers,
ished and shyness discouraged.
Deere,
initial
decisions.
view of military conventions and often displayed
manders
in
own and beyond
everyone was essentially on their
air,
commander. Good
on the
'sir'
names. Once
for airmen.
affection
which they served. The camaraderie
came with membership of a fighter squadron appears to have
provided a degree of
spiritual sustenance,
augmenting the warmth of an 67
PATRICK BISHOP absent family or making those with dislocated backgrounds feel they had arrived at a place
where they belonged. The simple cheeriness
masked some complicated
the Fighter Boys' chosen style frey Page's parents
were separated. His
that
father frightened
was
Geof-
stories.
him and he
resented his miserly attitude toward his mother. Dennis David was
brought up by
his
mother
who
after his father,
abandoned the family when he was
troubles,
mother had returned to continue
eight. Brian
working
He
in India.
financial
Kingcome's
to England with her children, leaving her
As Kingcome was
half years.
drank and had
husband
returned only once every two and a
boarding school, he barely saw
at
son
his
during his childhood and adolescence.
The modern assumption
is
must leave
that such experiences
a mark.
Feeling sorry for oneself lay outside the range of emotions allowed to adolescents in Britain in the 1930s.
Paddy Barthropp's mother died
largely absent father.
gedy that meant time of his
day
his father 'resented
death in 1953.
in 1936 'a school bully
idea for
own
if
all
I
I
my
to see
very existence almost up to the
never blamed him/ At Ampleforth one
approached
me
to say that
it
would be
a
.
.
.
the fact that one
most embarrassing of my
life.'
Gresford Colliery near
mine
.
was
it
was
disgusted me.'
38
was not acceptable
out to a step-grandfather,
among whose many
possessions
that there
man
264 miners, the old
He
skint
the next few days were the
.
Wrexham. On hearing
killing
to be disturbed.
.
He was farmed
'extremely rich and very nasty',
ter at the
good
- "In the High Court of Bankruptcy, Elton Peter Maxwell
carried a long-lasting social stigma
want
his
in childbirth, a tra-
read page four of The Times in the school library. There
D'Arley Barthropp"
and
Kingcome admired and respected
had been
'replied that
was the a disas-
he didn't
Barthropp eventually got an
apprenticeship with Rover Cars in Coventry before deciding to join the
RAF
after a visit to the
Hendon
Air Display.
Barthropp was hopeless academically. five times,
pass'
from
and only scraped through a
his
He
RAF
crammer. Roland Beamont
failed the school certificate
board by gaining
'a
phoney
also failed his school certificate
and had to resort to coaching to get the qualification he needed to be eligible for a short-service
68
commission. Denys Gillam,
who
joined the
FIGHTER BOYS
RAF on
a short-service
commission
had been kicked out of his
in 1935,
prep school, then his public school, Wrekin College, for drinking and
exam
irregularities.
He
later
joined 616 Squadron and
wisdom of the pre-war days
fighter squadrons. Against the
were
pilots
'non-athletic
who had
three',
men between
rather weedy, that hadn't
all
in other spheres
succeed.' Teaching a course to a class of
he discovered that 'out of
career,
39
Kingcome was
us, and,
I
knew tended
I
pilot
wing commanders
left.
.
This was,
I
.
.
later in his
four had been
think, fairly typi-
to deliver the opinion later that, 'Fortunately for
RAF
believe, for the
psychological and aptitude
were
in that generation, there
tests,
which would have
might have cost us the Battle of Britain.'
into the ranks of the fliers as candidates
the ground crews to serve as sergeant pilots.
sought to
man
the
among
those
officers.
The RAF
new
already
aircraft
serving
.
I
.
of
suspect
the lower reaches of the
were selected from among
Of the
2,500 pilots originally
and squadrons, 800 were found from aircraftmen
as
or
non-commissioned
apprentice schemes allowed a trickle of
and other tradesmen to receive
.
40
men from
Expansion increased the flow of
[no]
failed a majority
candidates for short-service and permanent commissions and
RAF
to be
were ones
and were determined to
group of twelve
a
thrown out of their school before they cal.'
than the successful rugger
the best pilots that
though there were exceptions. The best
had much success
his preferred
the ages of eighteen to twenty-
'better resilience to stress
player or his equivalent ...
commanded two
flying training,
fitters,
riggers
on the understanding
that
they would return to their trades after five years. There were also two places set aside for the top performers at Halton to
take
up
ing.
Realizing
a cadetship.
go on to Cranwell to
Many, perhaps most, apprentices had dreams of fly-
them was
difficult.
maintain the supply of highly
There was an obvious necessity to
skilled,
expensively trained ground staff to
keep the service flying and prevent apprenticeships from turning into back-door route to a career years,
as a pilot.
some of the keenest and most
None
talented
less, in
felt
to be a system that
was brought up
South Yorkshire, where
the pre-expansion
themselves baulked by
worked on
what was supposed in
the
a
merit.
his father
George Unwin
was
a miner. His
69
PATRICK BISHOP mother encouraged
Grammar
won
education and he
his
Wath
a scholarship to
School, and aged sixteen passed his Northern Universities
matriculation exam. There
The only work on due to leave,
was no money
was down the
offer
When,
pit.
a
RAF
headmaster showed him an
his
him
for
up
to take
month
a place.
before he was
recruiting pamphlet,
he decided to join up.
Unwin chose
the Ruislip administrative apprentice school rather than
the technical school at Halton, as the course there three years. live
on
It
gristly
were eagerly billet.
was
a spartan
mutton
rissoles,
received.
Unwin
initially
life.
The food was
was two
rather than
They seemed
horrible.
to
and food parcels from the outside world
They shaved
in cold
water and lived twenty to a
had no thoughts of flying, but the
sights
and sounds
of the aerodrome kindled his ambition. After passing out in 1931 as a
minimum
leading aircraftman, the
rank to qualify for pilot training, he
applied, but discovered that 'only
one per cent per
months was
six
taken'.
He
repeated the process twice a year without success.
bit fed
the
up
RAF
not being accepted.
at
at sport.
You went through flight
I
past
when
the time
kept his
a very, very tedious process.
it
I
him you saw was going
to see the
was Air Vice-Marshal
own polo
ponies.'
said "horse riding".
He
I
pony and on four
can't afford lets
legs
up and put
in fields.
worked.
I
was playing
I
a
for
I
J.
wasn't being selected.
First
of all you saw your
and
I
was
E. A. Baldwin,
that
at the interview,
commander.
station
I'd
down
getting desperate. At
who
when
loved polo and
the inevitable ques-
he would be prepared.
here, but the local farmer at
The only time
General Strike
was
thirteen
I'd
when
and
we
the next course.
ridden a
I
said,
home
'I
"Of
has a
pony or anything
the pit ponies
were brought
used to catch them and jump
and go haring down the
He was on
If
reached the
pricked up his ears and said, "Really?"
ride it."
in the
their bare backs It
70
me
was
it
AOC
Unwin decided
came up
course,
else.
commanding.
the air officer
tion about hobbies
on
why
couldn't understand
commander, then your CO, and then your
you got point
had everything
was getting
and that was one of the things you had to be, to be
at soccer,
very good
I
'I
It
field until
was
we
41
fell off.'
1935, four years after he
FIGHTER BOYS first
August 1936 he was posted to 19 Squadron
applied. In
a sergeant pilot,
where
commander was
his flight
who had
Broadhurst, an ex-army officer
at
Duxford
Harry
Flight Lieutenant
RAF
joined the
as
and
in 1926
flew in the campaigns against unruly tribesmen on India's North- West
had played
Frontier. Broadhurst
a large part in building the squadron's
won
reputation for flying excellence, which had
was regarded
Unwin, despite
his
ron. His best friend flying course,
background,
the next seven years.
You used
this
because
you
a relaxed
You could
liked.
squad-
terrific
that 19 Squadron's competitive streak
away
away
for lunch.
weekend any time
helped your map-reading. There were no aids
it
do
all,
so
work more than
Unwin would
Making the
transition
from ground
Halton in 1932 to be posted to the
where he worked which the cadets
as a fitter
home
vil-
to air
was
a hit-and-miss affair
and
and
were taught
were
front. Inevitably that
looping and rolling aeroplanes to
a
to
football for the
keen sportsman.
around once or twice and
I
fly.
I
left
on
aircraft
Every morning
'the
was
safe
check the
dual-control aircraft
the plane with them, and long before
Brown played
Ronald Brown
station attached to Cranwell,
a ten-minute flight to
as they
back or the
RAF
officer.
overhauling the engines of the
at the college
would have
for the cadets,
him was
annual exer-
take his aircraft and buzz his
required the patronage of an interested senior
in the
On
saying.'
Upon Dearne.
lage of Bolton
jump
at
to
from the aerodrome and then the background noise was so
cises at Catterick,
ing
for a
fly Satur-
You were encouraged
you couldn't hear anything anyone was
instructors
secondary
his
to fly together for six out of
[navigated] visually. Radio telephony wouldn't
three miles
fly
he had met on the
approach to duty. 'You didn't
take an aeroplane
to fly
whom
Halton from
to
The two were
Unwin found
was compatible with
you
fitted relatively easily into the
who had gone
school in Wallasey in 1930.
days, ever.
and he
it
RAF.
was another ex-apprentice
Harry Steere,
many
trophies,
as the best shot in the
aircraft
we were
able to
meant we were allowed
went on
a pilot's course
I
to
was
my heart's delight every morning. RAF and the group captain command'I
had the opportunity of
think that, plus
my
flying
sporting activity, gave
him
me 7i
PATRICK BISHOP the chance of being selected for pilot training/
42
two airmen
fly in
be given the opportunity to
to
Brown was one of only the three years he
spent at the base. Before he could begin his flying training he was, to his
disappointment, posted as a
fitter
to No. 10
combe Down. When he complained
Bomber Squadron
CO, he was
to the
at Bos-
told he could
not
start the
course until the football season was over and the squadron
had
won
RAF
in
the
cup.
He was
sent to
1 1 1
Fighter Squadron at Northolt
February 1937. Sporting prowess got an airman applicant noticed and pushed his
name at
further
Halton
in
list.
George Bennions, from Stoke-on-Trent, arrived
He was
January 1929.
keen boxer and believed that 'they
a
recommend sportsmen
preferred to
way
up the
to
become
sergeant pilots
[as]
one
of sorting out the wheat from the chaff because there were many,
many
people
at
Halton
was put forward
for a
who
could equally have done the job'. Bennions
Cranwell cadetship, an offer that
though he did end up joining 41 Squadron
commissioned
products were outstanding athletes.
became
Some
in the spring of 1940.
a world-class hurdler,
1936 Berlin Olympics.
Don
through,
as a sergeant pilot
and was
of Halton's most successful
Finlay,
winning a
He was
later fell
to take
silver
who
left in
medal
command
August 1928,
for Britain at the
of 54 Squadron in
August 1940, during some of the heaviest fighting of the summer.
As the
worsened and the demand
situation
of transformation became
easier.
George Johns arrived
ary 1934 as an aircraft apprentice and pilot
at
Halton in Janu-
by the end of 1939 was
a sergeant
with 229 Squadron. 'You immediately said to yourself: I'm working
with these aeroplanes, attitude pilots
you found
were
fm
there.'
to play an
1940. Often they
43
going to
fly
Airmen who
them some rose
had spent more time
deep knowledge of the
aircraft
tions created a certain distance
of the
to
was the
become
in the air fighting of
in the service
many
time. That
from the ranks
enormously important part
gained more flying experience. Unlike a
for pilots grew, the process
than the officers and
officers,
they also had
they were operating. Pre-war conven-
between
officer
and
NCO
pilots,
but
this
faded with the intimacy brought by shared danger and death.
Boosting
72
the
short-service
commission
system
and intensifying
FIGHTER BOYS internal recruitment ensured the supply of pilots
squadrons. But
men were
would be
and badly wounded
killed
needed to
also
Reserve (VR) had been created to it
was presented
men who
to the
around the country to process
The
fill
though
that gap,
turned up
applicants.
training.
By then there were
and
office,
1938 the in flying
was not how sprang up
was reached
with eight in and
while Manchester and Birming-
Bristol,
should be a 'Citizen Air Force', modern
this
this
was how
it
men from
and spent
RAF
who
left
and thereafter spent two nights
a
week
Rochester and weekends flying
He
Patrol.
in
at night school. In
a recruiting office in Rochester.
had stemmed from seeing Dawn
work
school at fourteen to
accountancy
his evenings studying
opened
shop
factory,
turned out. Frank Usmar was a postman's
son from West Mailing in Kent,
in
this
served by two each.
Tedder had decreed that
office
who
There were many of them.
and democratic, attracting 'air-minded' young
an
new
The Volunteer
at the centres that
thirty-five flying centres,
around London and three near
ham were
the
of 1939 there were 2,500 volunteers under
and
in the spring
man
the places of those
fill
in the initial fighting.
target figure set in 1936 of 800 a year for three years
quickly,
and
needed to
Usmar's interest
applied,
was accepted
attending lectures at the
at a local airfield, for
VR
Hall
which he was
paid a shilling an hour. After nine and three quarter hours dual flying on
an Avro Tutor, he went that
it
took
much
a year before
he
solo.
The
longer to get
moved on
part-time nature of the training
new
pilots
up
to standard, and
to service aircraft like the Hart,
meant it
was
Hind and
Audax.
But the system did identify
pilots
showing great potential who could
be brought to operational level quickly
Haw would ditions.
He
never have got into the
left
school at fourteen to
when
RAF
become an
phic works in York, and as soon as he
RAFVR. Td wanted
to
always wanted to
do anything
fly,
else, really,
schoolboy
it
was almost
impossible.'
but
I
apprentice in a lithogra-
was eighteen applied
from when
ever be a chance for me. Until the
the time came. Charlton
under normal peacetime con-
I
was
a small boy.
just didn't think there
for the I
never
would
RAFVR was formed, for a normal Haw went solo in four hours forty
44
73
PATRICK BISHOP minutes, at a time
when
was
the average
and was
eight to ten hours,
considered a natural pilot by his instructor. Not that a slow start necessarily
denoted incompetence. There was a school of thought that said
that the longer the apprenticeship, the better the pilot.
The
reserve offered an escape from dreary jobs in stifling offices. John
Beard was working in the Midland Bank arrived saying that employees extra week's holiday to allow
aerodrome
them
weekends and going
at
Leamington when
at
who joined
the
VR
to train. Beard
to lectures in
a circular
would be granted an began
flying at Ansley
Coventry on navigation,
meteorology and elementary engineering and aeronautics a few evenings
Ron Berry
a week.
school at sixteen and got a job as a clerk at an
left
engineering works in Hull.
on
He
to the city treasurer's department. Early in 1938 he
ment
for the
RAFVR
something
try
in a local
like that'.
To
park every morning
local
moving
stayed eighteen months before
saw an
how
paper and realized
advertise-
'keen
was
I
to
prepare for the medical he ran round the
at
seven o'clock.
He was
interviewed by an
impressive squadron leader in a uniform displaying an Air Force Cross.
'He made
work
me
about doing something other than
feel strongly
in the city treasurer's office.'
The
RAFVR
to choose
also
gave young
which branch of the
clerical
45
men
a say in their
own
chance
fate, a
would be absorbed
services they
into
before the inevitable seeming processes of conscription took the decision
was working
for them. In January 1939, Robert Foster
quarters in London. particularly
want
to
'I
be
thought there was going to be a war and in the
army, or a conscript.
about the problems of being in the
way
to fight a
war than
The RAF seemed war.
Many
of those
as a
common
soldier.'
who joined had
fathers
experiences had
impression. Christopher Foxley-Norris, after leaving the
that undergraduates, .
.
74
.
didn't
never really thought
46
way
of fighting the coming
who had
left
served in the First
a strong
and disturbing
who was commissioned
in the
Oxford University Air Squadron, remembered
when
used to discuss our
I
I
head-
but that seemed a better
air force,
to offer a relatively clean
World War and whose
RAFVR
at Shell
'sitting
around
ability to survive
in the
evening having a beer
trench warfare.
We'd
all
read
FIGHTER BOYS All Quiet
He
died after the
most of us doubted we could stand
The expansion programme
many
originating
flocking to the sity air
My
on the Western Front and those sort of things.
gassed at Loos in 1915.
also
in 1923,
special reserve
I
was
think
47
brought an influx of social scale
new
pilots
-
men
than the young
- into the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) and Univer-
squadrons buttressing Trenchard's design for the
February 1936 eight
father
of cancer.
it.'
from further up the
RAFVR
war
new
auxiliary units
air force.
were created and four
After
existing
squadrons were transferred to the AAF. By the beginning
of 1939, fourteen squadrons, most of which had started out equipped
with bombers, had been redesignated as fighter units, though the aero-
them
planes for
to fly
began
air battles
were often slow
in July 1940, there
in
coming. By the time the great
were twelve
auxiliary squadrons
operating as day fighters and two as night fighters - a quarter of Fighter
Command's
Among in
strength.
the
new
February 1936.
was 609 (West Riding) Squadron, formed
creations
Its first
commanding
officer
was Harald Peake, an
Etonian businessman from a local coal-owning family
chairman of large concerns a
keen amateur
flier
who
Lloyds Bank and London Assurance, and
like
took
old-
who had been
his private aeroplane
on summer tours of
the Continent. Peake had long been eager to raise auxiliary squadrons in the county
when
further units
were required, and
given the go-ahead began recruiting from industrial
among
as
soon
and landowning families of Yorkshire. Stephen Beaumont,
junior partner in his family's law firm, which had Peake as a
one of the
to join.
first
strong social conscience. conviction that
He began
he was
as
the sons of the big
war was
flying at the
when he heard
that a
He was With
a thoughtful
and
Hitler's arrival in
inevitable
power he
and he decided to
West Riding Aero Club
new squadron was
at
dutiful
client,
man
felt
fight in
it
a
a
was
with a
growing
as a pilot.
Yeadon near Leeds, and
being formed, offered his
ser-
vices to Peake.
Beaumont found Peake Very had held commissions
World War and
in the
capable.
He was
Coldstream Guards
later in the Yorkshire
about thirty-seven and at the
end of the
First
Dragoons Yeomanry. Perhaps
75
PATRICK BISHOP of our
because
confidence.
professional
He wanted
relationship
was somewhat
I
who were no more
officers
his
than twenty-five, of
public-school and university backgrounds and unmarried/
twenty-six and engaged to be married but
in
Beaumont was
was accepted none the
less.
Peake could afford to be choosy. By 8 June he had vetted 80 applications
commissions and 200 for posts
for
as airmen. Despite this response, actual
recruitment was slow, only speeding up as war approached.
The squad-
ron had a sprinkling of officers from aristocratic and county backgrounds.
They included Peter Drummond-Hay, on the use of both with
his
work
barrels of his Scottish
would be
country
estate,
caustic about
know
a great
many
employed
all
insisted
discontented
that 'he liked to give
owner of a
as the
large
the county, and indeed in North
of that section of society.
Somewhat
and dismissive of most Yorkshiremen, he was very cour-
teous to women.'
48
Dudley Persse-Joynt was an
Anglo-Irish family, and the
who
better
where he would know
Yorkshire he did
He was
name.
Beaumont wrote
in the cloth trade.
the impression that he
who
a textile executive
first
oil
auxiliary adjutant
executive from an old
was
the Earl of Lincoln,
became the Duke of Newcastle. But most of the members
later
came from
who had prospered in
families
whose
the reign of Victoria and
wealth was founded on coal and cloth. Philip Barran's family
were
textile
and coalmining magnates from
Dawson, was
Leeds. Joe Dawson's father, Sir Benjamin cloth trade and a baronet.
two Yorkshire grandees,
A
later recruit,
John Dundas, was
He was
academically
scholarships to Stowe and Oxford and taking a
first
the staff of the Yorkshire Post, specializing in foreign
from Czechoslovakia
known
as Pip,
his
was
at the
own kinsman
commanding
officer, a
76
winning
modern
He had joined
affairs,
and was sent
Halifax to
Rome.
Barran, always
stocky, boisterous, a rugby player, a trainee
officer eulogized
born leader
history
time of Munich and accompanied
engineer and the manager of a brickworks His
related to
brilliant,
in
before going on to study at Heidelberg and the Sorbonne.
Chamberlain and
in the
the Marquess of Zetland and Viscount Halifax,
and was a cousin of Harald Peake.
to report
power
a
him
owned by
as 'the
who communicated
his
his
mining
mother's family.
very best type of
enthusiasm
AAF
to others'.
49
It
FIGHTER BOYS was he who came up with the nicknames
that
adorned the members of
609 as they prepared for war.
The came
last auxiliary
on
into being
1
squadron to be formed was 616, which
November
1938 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, as
Hugh Dundas had
an offshoot of 609.
officially
Stowe
left
summer
in the
of that
year and was hoping to follow his brother John to Oxford. His father,
however,
on him going
insisted
articled to a firm of
Doncaster
law and he ended up being
into the
Dundas applied
solicitors.
to join 616
Squadron, but mysteriously failed the medical exam three times before being passed
finally
fit
most perfunctory examination',
after 'the
RAF
by an ex-Ireland rugby international for
doctor
which Nelsonian oversight
he was eternally thankful.
Dundas
finally
joined in the
the Earl of Lincoln,
into the
before the war. His
who had moved on from
members included Teddy
moved
summer
last
AAF
St
after
Aubyn,
609,
a Lincolnshire
CO
was
and other squadron
landowner
who had
being forced to resign his commission in the
Grenadier Guards following his marriage to Nancy Meyrick, daughter of 5
who
Kate 'Ma Meyrick,
presided over the Forty-Three, a nightclub in
between-the-wars London whose liveliness shaded into notoriety.
Dundas spent
his
home
time divided between Bawtry, the
of his aunt
and her husband Bertie Peake - a lakeside house where the decor and routines had not changed since the 1890s - and the mess at the squadron station at Doncaster,
where he
also
there that he acquired his nickname.
mess one evening before dinner. button.
Teddy
St
Aubyn and
the mess steward.
Cocky described St
Aubyn
me
as
I
others were there. I
batman.
a
by the
my
was
fireplace in the
was the
side
Teddy
It
felt
bell
the need for
was conveniently placed to sumsaid pointing at
promptly did
"Cocky"? What had
replied that he
sitting
the wall at
"Hey you," he
press the bell."
room and
a
was
'I
On
further refreshment and decided that
mon
had
I
had forgotten
his bidding.
me. "Hey you -
done? Nervously his
why had
But I
he
asked him.'
name, but that Dundas, an
elongated figure with a shock of hair, reminded him of a 'bloody great
Rhode
He
Island Red'.
spent the
The name
summer
stuck to
him
days learning to
for the rest of his fly in
life.
an archaic dual-control
77
PATRICK BISHOP Avro Tutor, probably one of the manoeuvres came quite
difficult
great difficulty in achieving.
upside-down and
bottom of the cockpit I
falling
slow
my
straps, dust
out of the
The
roll in a
search for
tearing dive/
new
Some
so.
hated and had
I
the machine
and
grit
was
from the
around me. Again and again, when inverted,
instinctively pulled the stick back, instead of
fell
rolls
when
quite helpless
was hanging on
I
do
pilots ever to
easily, 'But
felt
I
RAF
last
pilots also
meant an
May
the university air squadrons. In
pushing
it
forward and so
50
increase in the strength of
1938 there were three, Oxford,
Cam-
bridge and London, which had been set up three years previously. That
month they each five to a
a practical link larly at
ations
number of available
had been hoped
It
between the
air force
places
that the squadrons
from seventy-
would provide
and aeronautical research,
particu-
Cambridge. The Oxford University Air Squadron (OUAS) oper-
book records
university a in the
increased the
hundred.
its
primary object
means by which
being
as
interest in the air generally
Royal Air Force can be stimulated'.
Its
provide at the
'to
and
in particular
second function was to
'provide suitable personnel to be trained as officers for the Royal Air
Force in the event of war'. In practice, for most of
its life
the squadron
functioned primarily as a flying club, for which the government paid.
Christopher Foxley-Norris went up to Oxford from Winchester in 1936 and was encouraged to join the
member. The prospect of
already a
accepted was also attractive. to be a crucial accessory
members don
in
cut a dash.
his brother,
who was
the £25 gratuity paid
on being
He wanted
if
to
by
buy
a car,
he was ever to get
They were chauffered
Once
qualified,
with crest and gold It
was very
outstanding people.
RAF
one was
was
a girlfriend.
entitled to
a
Abing-
Pollux, hired
from a
wear the squadron blazer it
get into because there were
glamorous
OUAS
RAF
buttons. Foxley-Norris regarded
difficult to It
which he believed
to their station at
two old Rolls-Royces, nicknamed Castor and
local firm.
d' elite.
OUAS
sort of club to
be
in,
as 'a corps
some very but not
like
the Bullingdon or something upmarket like that.'
The most immediately whose harsh 78
wit, self-regard,
noticeable
member was
good looks and
ability as
Richard Hillary,
an oarsman made
FIGHTER BOYS
him
stand out in a society not short of distinctive characters or large
who had been with him at Shrewsbury, his old school. came across him when we were out on pub crawls and that sort of thing and got to know him quite well. He met
egos. Foxley-Norris
Hillary through friends 'I
I
51 was extremely arrogant and conceited/
and
his progress
the river. 'This
also a
poor
learner,
was not helped by the amount of time he spent on
member proved
very
difficult to get off solo,'
noted
'He would not relax on the controls, he just held on
instructor.
Once
vice.'
was
Hillary
flying alone,
however, he 'improved
instructor judged that he 'lacked keenness ...
has any real interest in flying
The
like a
chief flying
do not consider that he
I
52
5 .
was to have a powerful
Hillary
rapidly'.
his
effect
on
British
and international per-
ceptions of the character and motivations of the pilots of 1940 through his
book The
down and United
Last Enemy,
in 1941 after
It is
him
book
a
as
much
about friendship
in the last years of his short life
University Air Squadrons.
Among them was
were
Sopwith Pup biplane and parked
it
in the
in Carshalton, Surrey, for the
went from
his public school,
ary 1939.
air
He was
'We
who seems
called
came
Wadham
College, Oxford, in
and
a
law degree.
RAFVR
disrespectful.
He was
to attracting
women was
a
Soleil,' said his
adoring young
He
in Janu-
funny and
to have rather resented his easy
him Le Roi
an old
boys to clamber over. Agazarian
Dulwich, to
a brilliant linguist, it
products of the
garden of the family's Georgian
squadron and was commissioned into the
good looking and when Hillary,
all
and those
who had bought
1935, leaving three years later with a boxing blue
joined the
as flying,
Noel Agazarian, the third
son of an Armenian father and a French mother
house
he had been shot
badly burned, and became a best-seller in Britain and the
States.
closest to
which appeared
match
also for
and natural charm. sister,
Yvonne. 'He
was always laughing and clowning. Noel was very much loved by every53
one
who met
had
also joined the
him.'
been commissioned
Peter Pease and Colin Pinckney, both old Etonians,
Cambridge University Air Squadron and both had in the
RAFVR by the
end of
1938.
They met
Hillary
during training and their subsequent intense and poetic triangular relationship
was
to be celebrated in the book.
79
PATRICK BISHOP
The
great variety of backgrounds and schools, the wide divergences
of rank, wealth and privilege,
made
Fighter
Command perhaps
socially diverse elite ever seen in the British military. In a
the
minutely defined social gradations conditioned the reactions of beings to each other, the mingling of the classes caused
The
situation
was described
gentlemen trying to be
men. VRs
that so;
80
many
were
officers.
of the
'ordinary'.
discomfort.
condescending bon mot: 'Auxiliaries are
Very soon the
men
some
human
Regulars are officers trying to be gentle-
are neither trying to be both/
a disappearing world.
true that
in a
most
country where
in Fighter
It
was
distinction
a last, snobbish gasp
would not
Command came
matter.
from
It
was
from backgrounds
But that did not mean that they themselves were
and they were about to do extraordinary
things.
4
The
The new
pilots
had been recruited to
aeroplanes, but the machines
The
rons.
when
first
Fatal Step
were
and the eve of the Munich first Spitfires.
generation of fighter
Hurricanes did not appear in service until January 1938,
Squadron became the
1 1 1
new
fly a
painfully slow in reaching the squad-
first
crisis,
unit to receive them.
was August,
It
before 19 Squadron took delivery of the
At the end of the year most fighter squadrons were
still
flying biplanes.
Ronald Brown, the ex-Halton boy training,
was
first
to test them.
Then
it
commander and
to keep the undercarriage lowered
The
power of the Merlin
found
in fact
it
'quite
it
was
the
the
pilots.
They
reduce speed.
engine, twice as potent as anything they
had previously known, would take time Brown, even though
in order to
when
commanders
flight
was the turn of the junior
were told great
selected for flying
with 111 Squadron
a sergeant pilot at Northolt
Hurricanes arrived. The squadron
were the
who had been
first
to adjust to,
it
was thought.
time he had handled a monoplane,
an easy plane to
1
fly'.
Most
pilots'
accounts of their
experience of the Hurricane, however, reveal a mixture of trepidation
and all
elation.
this
Roland Beamont remembered
power and being
able to get
up
'a
feeling of exhilaration with
hour on the
to 300 miles an
air-speed indicator very easily in a shallow dive at any point in your flight.
This was a great experience for an eighteen-year-old.
:
The Gloster
Gauntlets and Gladiators, which represented the zenith of biplane fighter
8i
PATRICK BISHOP
many
design and served as a stopgap with
new monoplanes were brought in,
fighter squadrons while the
could manage only 230 and 255 m.p.h.
respectively.
For
pilots
used to biplanes, the Hurricane seemed to take a long time
to get airborne. Initially
had
it
a fixed-pitch, twin-bladed propeller that
only allowed one setting. With variable-pitch propellers, which were
soon to come provided
in,
the pilot put the airscrew in
speed but more power, giving
less
equivalent in motoring terms of
first
Once
gear.
for take-off. This
'fine'
maximum
the pilot changed
aloft,
to 'coarse', altering the angle of the propeller blade so that
bigger bites out of the
both types would be
air,
generating
less
power but more
Beamont thought
one and
it
doesn't
.
time manoeuvrable. rock
stable. If
you
.
.
If
and
it
gives
you
it
to
do
a turn
was very manoeuvrable.'
it
it
was
reassuring.
into another at the
same
was absolutely
3
a Spitfire but could turn
more
tightly.
wide-legged undercarriage, which opened outwards, planting the
aeroplane firmly on the ground, tage over the
Spitfire,
made
it
which balanced on
Very a
shells
and
could go straight through
its
Spitfire's
in
said,
an 'excellent gun platform', better,
armament was spread
from the
in
and cannon
aircraft
down,
out, with the
wing-tip; then a
less accurate.
it
than the
two groups of four,
as close
outboard gun a third of the
group of two, then an inboard gun on
when
The Hurricane was
fast
trying to be too clever'.
the guns fired,
making
and nimble but honest.
not quite perfect. Pete Brothers discovered
you mistreated
in fact,
It
be placed to clear the propeller. The
each wing, which could cause some flexing
them
bullets
without bringing the
The machine guns were arranged
in to the fuselage as they could
way
meant
initial
sturdy wings provided solid bracing for the eight Brownings.
was, everyone Spitfire.
it
another advan-
forgiving',
narrow wheelbase. The
canvas-and-girder construction of the fuselage
82
found
you confidence. You get
want
didn't it
The Hurricane was slower than Its
speed. Later
[The Hurricane] was very stable but
did turn
was taking
flying a Hurricane
'simple, straightforward'. Christopher Foxley-Norris aircraft
it
with constant-speed governors that adjusted
fitted
the blade angles automatically.
'You get into an
- the
thrust
'it
could
fall
It
out of the
was
air if
FIGHTER BOYS
The
of the
arrival
new
fighters aroused the fervent interest of
absolute meal of the Hurricane. speeds, pulling turning].
f
travelling at vast
heavy gravitational force exerted when
[the
to see these things in action/
was the
the Hurricane
Spitfire,
G
We were wonderboys,
We were getting constant visits from the press and staff colleges
who wanted tion,
this
all
news-
Brown remembered them making an
papers and newsreel companies.
though
its
Having appeared before the
to plant itself in the public imagina-
primacy did not long survive the
The
beautiful sister.
first
4
technical advance
public perception that
was encouraged by
a
it
of
arrival
more
its
represented a battle-winning
government and
military estab-
lishment anxious to reassure citizens that the criticisms of the rearma-
ment lobby were unfounded. Some cockpits,
wondered whether they would be 111
Squadron had
pilots
pilots,
used to the fixed wheels, open
broad flying surfaces and manageable speeds of the old types,
in
making the
The
difficulties
which
were not
reassuring.
Some
able to cope.
transition
simply could not adjust. Several were
killed.
One
Australian pilot
He
took off without realizing the wheel brakes were engaged. avoided crashing on take-off and landing because the the aeroplane slithered through the grass.
When
field
only
was so muddy
he made a subsequent
landing without lowering the undercarriage, he was rapidly posted away. Pilots liked the Hurricane's
curved elegance of the
was never wanted fly
'a
chunky
Spitfire inspired
plane so loved by
pilots',
lines
and
solid profile.
It
certainly
was the best/
machine better than anyone.
He was
taken the Spitfire through the most the design
team struggled
were preventing
it
to
lean,
something more profound. There wrote
5
Hugh Dundas. 'Everybody
to fly a Spitfire,' said Jeffery Quill. 'Most pilots
the best.
The
Quill
knew
used to want to
the quality of the
a test pilot at Supermarine
difficult stages
overcome profound
from making the evolutionary
and had
of its development, as
technical problems that transition
from being
a
very good aeroplane to a great one. Quill
was
intelligent,
aviation circles, as pilot.
much
His father was
Sierra Leone's
shrewd and popular
Irish,
for his
in
good nature
an engineer
water system before
both
as his
who among
air force
superb
and
civilian
abilities as a
other things had built
retiring to Littlehampton in Sussex.
83
PATRICK BISHOP
He
died in 1926
As
a
when Jeffery was
young boy he watched
the family
and
thirteen
a schoolboy at Lancing.
the aeroplanes at the
home. He decided
early
on
go
to
the youngest of five children and there
was
RFC
base at Ford, near
little
money. He had
Cranwell, where his family would have had to support
him
and applied instead for a short-service commission. His 17 Squadron, flying Bulldogs.
to
Flight at Duxford,
which made
work
readings, dangerous
hoped
for a
permanent
that
RAF
pilot,
Then he joined
was given only
Mutt Summers, working on the
Progress
was
expected of
problem.
It
it,
fitful.
two
years,
posting was
first
the Meteorological
good
to very
He
pilots.
with expan-
in 1935,
were not sure and with some misgivings
Supermarine
offer to join
for
to forgo
daily sorties to take weather-forecasting
commission. But even
sion under way, his prospects
he accepted an
was
into the air force, but he
an assistant to
as
chief test
its
Spitfire.
The prototype could not reach
the 350 m.p.h.
only scraping up to 335 m.p.h. The propeller was one
had been supplied by an outside contractor.
A new
one was
designed by the Supermarine team and added an extra 13 m.p.h. Then
body
the
surface
was not smooth enough. Sinking
would have brought
the airframe
doing so would take
on the prototype
much
to simulate
which
of
better aerodynamic efficiency, but
time and money. The team stuck
round-headed
simpler to punch, then progressively tests to see
rivets into the skin
rivets,
peas
split
which were much
removed them during aerodynamic
surfaces absolutely required flush rivets
and which
did not. Failure to solve these problems
Mitchell
had claimed
and reach the performance
for his design could
have meant the
levels
never
Spitfire
going into service. Quill and the rest of the team
knew what was
how
lot
stake. Later felt
he revealed
close the decision
that the Spitfire, although
it
had
a
had been. 'A
at
going to be a
very good performance
much more
expensive and
difficult
duce. In terms of the ease of maintenance
more complicated aeroplane
.
to look after
it
.
had
it
was
.
aeroplane to mass pro-
was going
and service
you could lower the undercarriage of a Hurricane and 84
of people
too high a price. In terms of ease of production
been bought
at
.
.
to be a .
much
For instance,
take the wings off
FIGHTER BOYS because the undercarriage was in the centre section the wings road. it
put the
off,
You
tail
up on
a three-ton lorry
couldn't do that with a Spitfire.
took the undercarriage off as well
were against the
.
.
If
.
and tow
you took
There were a
.
You could
.
.
it
take
along the
the wings off lot
of people
.
.
who
those practical considerations. Therefore
Spitfire for
.
if
we had
not been able to show a really definite advantage over the Hurri-
cane,
probably wouldn't have been ordered.
it
We
were well aware of
that.'
A was
final, crucial
sent to the
sham
question had to be settled. In
RAF by the
for trials
May
1936 a prototype
and Armament Establishment
Aircraft
at Martle-
programme was
service's test pilots. Before the
complete, the research and development representative on the Air Coun-
Wilfred Freeman, asked the establishment's
cil,
flight
Lieutenant
Humphrey Edwards -Jones, whether
flown with
relative ease
rightly said, "Yes,
it
by ordinary squadron
can,"
'
Quill said later.
On
commander
Flight
the Spitfire could be
'Old "E.-J." quite
pilots.
the strength of this judge-
ment, before any performance testing had taken place, the decision to order was made. Quill reckoned there would have been 'an awful delay if
he'd hedged about that.
It
was one of the best
No. 19 Squadron had been chosen fire
because of
its
things ever done.'
6
as the first unit to receive the Spit-
record of superlative flying, demonstrated at displays
around the country by an aerobatic team which performed such impressive
but not necessarily militarily useful stunts
tied together
with ropes. The
through a 500-hour
series
as flying in rigid
five pilots selected to
by the
sensitivity
Unwin was
you
just breathed
on
perfect flying machine. She hadn't got a vice at
only spin
if
you made her and
she'd
come
you applied opposite rudder and pushed flown anything sweeter.' The nizable to those
who had
Spitfire
Spitfire's
flown
par-
of the controls. There was no heaving
or pulling and pushing and kicking,
was the
put the
of tests included two sergeants, George Unwin,
the Ruislip apprentice, and his best friend Harry Steere. ticularly struck
formation
it,
and
it.
the stick forward
.
as
it
.
really
She would
all.
straight out of
She
.
soon
I've
as
never
engine note was instantly recogdistinct
from
that of a Hurricane,
even though they both had the same Merlin power
unit.
Many
years
85
PATRICK BISHOP
Unwin was coming out of Boots
later
when he heard she
mate."
is,
was
It
taxi driver
you
a noise
It is
Kingcome believed
Brian have.
A
somewhere."
Spitfire
docile,
did everything
it
was
will
'it
had
fast, it
you asked of
8
it.'
never
JefFery Quill
'everything
was
it
fly
the best qualities an aircraft could
all
at take-off.
fitting
that
was so
light
on the
too, the first of
pumped up by
had to be made
pilots
that
which was immediately
were manual and the
hydraulics
lever with the right hand. There
column back and
was
a
forth during the
were recognizable by the way they pitched
It
was easy
to forget the propeller adjustments
to the Spitfire, the
same
had only flown
nineteen,
at
Southampton,
controls, index finger
as they did to the Hurricane.
who
Brian Considine, a trainee executive with Unilever
RAFVR
it
they got airborne. This problem disappeared with the
of a power pump.
when he was
...
He warned them
the controls.
The undercarriage
manoeuvre, and new after
was gentle
airfield at Eastleigh,
natural tendency to waggle the control
and yawed
it
John Nicholas of 65 Squadron accom-
it'.
There were disadvantages,
wheels had to be
"There
9
and thumb would
obvious
said,
7
was manoeuvrable,
showed them
sensitive ...
forget.'
his wife
said to her, "There's a
I
was standing there and
panied Kingcome to the Supermarine
where
Bournemouth with
in
'that peculiar throaty roar ...
joined the
fixed-pitch propeller biplanes
sent to join 238 Squadron at Tangmere.
He was
given one
short trip in a single-wing Master trainer as preparation for his Spitfire
debut.
He
into coarse pitch,
marvellous
it
was
and did ...
CO jumping up
the
he told
me
it
back
thinking
how
'took off in fine pitch and promptly forgot to put
I
I
few
a
made
circles
round the
a nice landing
and down
like a
had wrecked the
thing.
and
monkey I
as
I
field
taxied in
in a rage.
hadn't, but
it
I
When
was
all
could see I
got out
covered in
10
oil.'
The
Spitfire
no forward
To
had
vision
see ahead
it
a very long nose,
when
tilted
was necessary
centre of gravity
was
brakes would
the machine
86
tip
which allowed the
on the back wheel to
swing the
aircraft
from
also unusually far forward, so a
on
to
its
propeller.
pilot virtually
in the taxiing position.
side to side.
The
heavy foot on the
But these, the infatuated
FIGHTER BOYS pilots believed,
were
foibles
not
The
faults.
was
Spitfire
aeroplane than the Hurricane and at least the equal of the Messerschmitt 109. latter
could out-turn.
it
at the
The former was
It
German
rival,
Mark
its
XII incarnation
end of the war when the Hurricane had been phased out and
was already
when
more or
it first
less at
Kingcome judged
came
the peak of
into service ...
rugged, uncouth airframe
.
.
None
was
by
Spitfire,
strictly limited
RAF, and
that the Hurricane pilots
for a Spitfire if given the choice.
had had to endure some mockery fighters
and
membered that,
as
they did was to
come down
soon
aerodrome, as the
so,
Squadron
to 19
it
aircraft,
Duxford
at
show
loyal
pilots
took them to master the
called the practice of flying
bases to impress their rivals - or
ron was able to do
time
were
No. Ill Squadron
could muster twelve
as they
RAF
at the
particularly
would not have
500 hours of testing. George
finish the
its
contrast, possessed a
to their machines, maintaining to the last that they
swapped them
by
11
meant
fostered
that 'the Hurricane
operational and design poten-
future
the less the competitive spirit that the
Command,
Fighter
its
its
The
.
unique capacity for development/
new
its
could out-climb and out-dive. The
in service in
still
replaced by the Typhoon. Brian
tial
it
certainly a better
Unwin
the
thing 5
to 'beat
low and
off to girlfriends.
first
re-
Once
up the
fast
over
19 Squad-
flew over to Northolt and returned the com-
it
pliment.
The re-equipment programme went
slowly,
moving
pace that peacetime industrial capacity allowed. By the 1938
it
seemed alarmingly out of
September 1938 showed act,
and
how
how
unprepared
it
step with events.
swiftly the
was
do
to
so.
RAF As
it
Squadron had only three
late
summer
The Munich
crisis
of
of
might be called upon to broke, there were just
squadrons equipped with Hurricanes, only half of ready. No. 19
at the limited
Spitfires,
six
which were combat-
which were armed with
machine guns but lacked gunsights. The remaining sixteen operational squadrons had Gladiator, Gauntlet, the sleek,
As the
modern might of the crisis
deepened,
Demon
and Fury biplanes to oppose
Luftwaffe.
officers
of
1
Squadron and 43 Squadron joined
aircraftmen in the hangars to cover the gleaming silver paint that usually
87
PATRICK BISHOP decorated the Furies - to
show them
to their best advantage in formation
and aerobatics - with dismal shades of camouflage green and
flying
brown.
Billy
Drake and
comrades were ordered to sleep
his
be
gars, next to the aircraft to
to expect. airfields,
'I
we had
think
No one knew
at full readiness.
At Biggin
an idea that they would go for us on the
from Hendon
Squadron was recalled from leave and on
79
Hill,
to the station,
At Hornchurch,
readiness and
some
54, 74
Lincolnshire and return stripes
Gladiators, mixing
it
'a
Gladiator'.
crew rooms
called to
wartime
immediate
gunnery practice camp
at
No. 74
Sutton Bridge in
obliterated the squadron
adorning the fuselages of their Gauntlets and
brown ran
available in the stores
now
out. Al Deere,
with 54 Squadron,
heartrending operation having to desecrate one's beautiful
With
not shared by
the return of Chamberlain,
all.
It is
I
his assurance
callous
and wrong to say
it,
but
when
from
was
Britain
"peace in our
13 was horribly disappointed,' Deere admitted later.
likelihood of the Luftwaffe
1938 was small, but the scare the useful effect of speeding
episode also blew
waving
The sigh of relief that gusted across
c
time" was agreed,
force about
their
move
to
close to the aircraft.
home, where they
Hitler, the crisis fizzled out.
The
and 65 Squadrons were
up the paint from the colours
the green and
found
a
summoned
which had been designated
pilots slept in
Squadron had to abandon
badges and tiger
at
12
27 September the auxiliaries of 601 Squadron were
when
what
quite
but nobody really seemed to have any strategy in mind - not
our level anyway.'
base.
in the han-
away
up the
the last
what the future
bombing Britain in the crisis
engendered was
early real
autumn of
and had the
delivery of Hurricanes and Spitfires.
The
wisps of complacency that clung to the
held. Politicians
might maintain that
air
this
time Hitler could be trusted and a cataclysm had been averted rather than simply postponed. But
commanded them, now
many
of the young
pilots,
and those
who
believed that a clash with the Luftwaffe was
inevitable.
By the end of 1938 the Furies disappeared from Tangmere and Hurricanes took their place. Paul Richey arrived there in March 1939. in his twenty-third
88
He was
year and had been brought up in Switzerland, France
FIGHTER BOYS and Albania, where
his father, a
veteran of the trenches, had helped to
He was commissioned
organize King Zog's gendarmerie. already
No.
1
knew Tangmere from
Squadron, he noted the
Half the
warm
new
each squadron
pilots in
atmosphere.
now had to be permanently available on
into the cool blue sea at
the carefree days
when we
West Wittering and lie on the
sand in the sun, or skim over the waters in Chichester harbour, in
the squadron's sailing dinghy, or drive
with the breeze
now
in
days were
our hair and knock
down
control with the
was the same
and
new
The
for everybody.
flying after 4 p.m.,
RDF
Old Ship
at
Bosham
air drill, air firing, practice
(the
name then
given to radar).
pleasant old arrangements of
and weekends and Wednesday afternoons
off,
dropped and the tempo of practice and training quickened. The
was intense but lacked
direction
Italian
seemed
air forces
no
were
activity
in the skies
by the German
over Spain. The preparations also
to lack consistency, with different squadrons following different
programmes. cess
14
and seemed curiously disconnected from
the realities of aerial warfare as had been demonstrated
and
Our
rafters.
- and operating under ground
attacks, dogfighting
super-secret
to the
back under the oak
it
spent in our Hurricanes at
battle formations
It
and
in 1937
during training. Posted there to join
German attack. Gone were
station in case of a
would plunge
visits
It
would soon become
and survival
in the
clear that
some
skills vital
for suc-
changed conditions of air fighting were miserably
under-taught and in some cases ignored altogether. Tactical training before the
would turn out
war was based on two premises
to be fatally mistaken once the conflict began.
The
that first
of these was that close, tight formation flying concentrated force in such a
way
as to
make
fighters
both more destructive and more secure. The
second was the expectation that they would be facing
fleets
arriving in waves, capable of defending themselves with
but unprotected by escorting that the Luftwaffe
109s
fighters.
would be confined
would not have
the range to
The
logic of the
to
German
its
accompany
of bombers
onboard guns
assumption was
bases and
its
Me
the bombers.
89
PATRICK BISHOP Those
who
survived the
war complained
RAF
that the
had
mentality, exalting the sort of flying discipline exemplified ron's aerial rope trick. It
There was
helped groups of aeroplanes to
of good
move through
we
squadron attacks
cloud without colliding
fighters' line
was directed
attacked a single
bomber
The
all
Deere wrote
all
No.
astern. In
drill,
very theoretical and, as
there
was
to
as
it
one
1
after
fighters
3 envisaged three rear,
beam, and
turned out, of little use.
go on.
"FAA
the attack, viz.
flight
commander
attack No. 5 - Go!"
'These attacks provided wonderful training for forma-
sufficient
when
related to effective shooting.
of 32 Squadron
There
time to get one's sights on the target, the business
of keeping station being the prime requirement.' rest
known
to five, depending
bomber simultaneously from
but were worthless
was never
and
flight
two or more
2,
and No.
in line abreast,
number of
later.
achieving perfec-
six fighters attacking
order to attack was always preceded by the
designating the
tion
at a single
was
It
But theory was
also seen
of approach and the number of bombers. Thus, No.
bomber from
rear quarter.
at
numbered from one
the other a single
coming
was
so assiduously practised'. These were
involved a section of three or a flight of
fighters
drill
view to ensuring the success of the
Fighter Area Attacks, and were
on the
19 Squad-
Al Deere wrote later that 'the majority of our
tactics.
training in a pre-war fighter squadron
tion in formation with a
by
a useful point to close formation flying.
or losing contact with each other. But good formation as the basis
a drill-hall
at Biggin Hill
15
Pete Brothers and the
prepared for war by following rigid
scenarios that proposed set responses to set situations, practising
on
'enemy bombers' that flew stolidly on, disdaining to take any evasive 'If there
action.
was
a small
number of bombers your twelve
aircraft
would
be divided up into sections of three. Then three of you would have a go
one bomber, one
after the other. If there
was
a large
number, you would
spread out into echelon starboard [diagonally] setting
them plenty of warning you were coming.
It
it all
up and giving
must have been all theoretical
because no one had actually fought in these conditions before.'
The to the
90
tactics
taught to George
Hendon
air display'
Unwin
than the
in 19
realities
at
16
Squadron were 'more suited of war.
When
put into prac-
FIGHTER BOYS tice for the first
time over Dunkirk, the results were to be disastrous. The
was
severe limitations of the pre-war tactical approach
ent almost immediately, but this did not stop
it
RAF, was posted
September 1940
Squadron
to 152
at the height
was so perfunctory
really that
how
was almost
it
appar-
He remembered
to attack a
ludicrous.'
transferred to
of the fighting in
only a week's operational training.
after
during his instruction being 'briefed on
become
who
war. Roger Hall, a young, pre-war professional soldier the
to
being taught well into the
bomber, but
Three
pilots
it
were
designated to take off in their newly acquired Spitfires and 'attack' a
Wellington which was playing the role of an enemy bomber. Green
though he was, Hall knew that 'when you attack try to get
out of the way. But
The
this particular
was
straight
and
Spitfire
would come down and shoot
level
.
.
.
drill
to get its
a hostile
bomber they
one was simply
flying
above the bomber and the port engine and then
it
first
would
break away. The next one would come and shoot the starboard, then that
the
would break away. Then the
third
one would come down and shoot
body of the machine and then break away, but
all
the time the Well-
ington was just going straight and level, just asking for
laugh about
it
...
used to
I
17
that.'
Brian Kingcome recalled that 'fighter versus fighter wasn't really envis-
aged or catered
and the assumption was that
for',
much
they would be 'pretty that
you had
chute'.
None
pilots
War
and the huge advantage of
except a para-
the less individual pilots did get in unofficial practice, going
who went
might have known a
how
they did take place
they were in the First World
as
faster, better aircraft
off in pairs to chase each other
The
if
lot
to fight in the air
supposed to be taught
around the
sky.
into action for the
about
and
less
as part
flying.
about
first
little,
though, about
to shoot. Aerial
gunnery was
of training and each regular fighter squad-
training stations for practice with live aircraft,
time in 1939 and 1940
They knew
how
ron was expected to go to an annual camp
towed behind other
18
at
one of the armament
ammunition, shooting
at
drogues
or at ground targets. This was occasionally
supplemented by the use of camera guns, from which theoretical scores could be deduced.
It
was
all
a long
way from
reality.
91
PATRICK BISHOP In retrospect the
wrote afterwards, tice, live
fundamental
'I
how
can see
dreadfully
we
neglected gunnery prac-
of a successful fighter pilot
.
.
.
part
it
plays
squadron morale carried us
through the early fighter battles of the war, not straight shooting.' 19
Some Tony
a
means of cine-films, and what an important
or by
in the part safely
amount of time spent on what was
would seem desperately inadequate. 'Looking back/ Al Deere
air skill
never
pilots
Bartley, the
fired at
before the war. Yet the
when he
shot at an
Me
time he aimed his guns
109 in
May
1940.
was
No
nonexistent.
at a flying object
his flight
Unwin,
who became
war was
in
one ever taught you
how
to
was
and the closer you got the more chance you had of hitting'. a
gunner instructor
one of the biggest weaknesses among the
was
commander.
shoot. But he did/ Broadhurst emphasized 'that the key to shooting to get in close
a
his training
George Unwin was fortunate
having Harry Broadhurst, an outstanding shot, as 'Training in shooting
who was awarded
Stowe school, did
after leaving
first
going into action.
aerial target before
son of a colonial service judge,
commission
short-service
an
later in his career,
found that
fighter pilots at the beginning of
their inability properly to calculate
how
the aircraft they were attacking, often opening
far
they were from
long before they
fire
reached what combat experience would teach was the optimum range of 250 yards. In the pre-war days,
when
aircraft
were
simple ring sight, Broadhurst taught his charges to
of the target by measuring yards a
bomber
yards, the ring effective,
it
was
just outboard of the
Unwin never
The apparent explanation
two
new
engines.
aircraft
in 1940.
92
When
and
squadrons took priority over
was simple and
was
pilots
that,
with
new
how to
needed to
ranges, and so
minimum. There was
By then shortage of time was
continuing failure to teach raw pilots into battle.
It
for the lack of firing practice
allowances for practice ammunition were cut to a
no such excuse
the sight. At 250
filled
taught systematically.
had decided that spending money on the equip the
the distance
on the expansion programme, the Air Ministry
tight financial restraints
man and
work out
against the diameter of the circle. At 400
the size of a Wellington exactly
but according to
equipped with a
still
to
blame
for a
shoot before throwing them
Archie Winskill, a softly spoken
RAFVR
volunteer
FIGHTER BOYS from Cumberland, reached 72 Squadron he was
no
at Biggin Hill
on 4 October
1940,
'well-schooled in formation flying and tactics but regrettably with
air-firing experience.
Liverpool
.
.
.
We
knew nothing about
What was needed
my
only fired
I'd
guns once into the sea off
deflection shooting.'
to attack successfully
was the
20
to
skill
manoeuvre open
into a favourable position, the ability to judge the correct range to fire,
and
and usually equally importantly, the knowledge of how
finally,
to angle the shot so plane.
The
attacks,
it
was
latter
stood the best chance of hitting the
deflection shooting. In
the
off', in
same way
the pheasant so that the bird
was recognized and copied
in the clay
later in the
pilots, like
flies
that a
skill
gunnery course long
The
pilots
of Fighter
met them
Command at.
also
went
most
attributed at least
some
it
until
into the
George Unwin
aircraft types
in the air.
made
Some of
he was sent off
had passed.
after the 1940 crisis
about the Germans' strengths,
attache in Berlin
principle
with shotguns. The importance of deflection
of what they would be shooting
before he
The
pre-war Tangmere the
shooting was obvious. Winskill was not to learn to a
at
fighter bases.
Bob Tuck and Adolph Malan,
of their success to their
strike the target
into the spread of pellets.
many
at
To
game shooter aims ahead of
pigeon range installed
war
aero-
but full-on frontal or rear
shooting in a straight line was useless.
required 'laying
deadly
all
enemy
and
war with
'didn't likely
know
idea
a thing'
modus operandi
At the time of Munich, the
a tour of squadron bases
little
British air
and delivered
a lecture
about the Luftwaffe. But detailed intelligence briefings on the enemy
were never given on an organized
basis before the fighting began,
and
during the battles of 1940 pilots were seldom allowed a glimpse of the bigger picture. Their knowledge
them and
their
These shortcomings apparent
when
to
what had happened
in training
to
radio.
and preparation would only become
fully
revealed by the stresses of combat.
The approach of future.
was confined
companions on the base, or what they heard on the
That the
forting to some.
the cataclysm forced the pilots to think about the
crisis
was coming
to a
Watching Europe's
head seemed surprisingly com-
tottering,
somnambulistic progress
once more towards the precipice induced feelings of restlessness and
a
93
PATRICK BISHOP desire to get the inevitable over with. Peter
Townsend, who
time
at the
of the Abyssinian war had been sickened by the thought of the effects of
bombs on men, found was
.
.
.
My
pacifism of the previous year had evaporated;
was becoming rather bellicose Englishman
felt
Townsend
at least as
bloody-minded
as
also noticed that the
Squadron, so that
ing hour,
The
who
pilots
friends
.
had once so resented were
I
genuine
.
.
RAF
by
Western Front had been
extent affectation.
rise
was
to
Nobody now could be
A number
was discovering warmest,
21
hedonistic, light-hearted,
some
inside 43
lived for the shin-
from the
fighter pilots
events outside their world. This
I
really the
who
'fighter boys',
did not take themselves seriously/
attitude cultivated
ing in Europe.
every other
imminence of danger broke down
the growingly tense atmosphere,
'in
parvenu
most generous
I
towards the swaggering, bullying Germans/
whatever barriers remained between the new and the old
that those
now
complete change of mind and heart had by
a liberation. 'A
come over me
the sight of the enemy, clear and unambiguous,
first
days on the
concerned with
little
extent genuine, to
indifferent to
some
what was happen-
of the pilots had first-hand knowledge of the
of fascism from time spent on the Continent. James Sanders,
was brought up
in Italy,
had once
who
age of nine sung, with the
at the
school choir, the slaves' chorus from Verdi's Nabucco in front of Mussolini himself. This encounter
had induced no sentiments of
respect. Later
he
got into trouble at school for using squares of newspaper, bearing the
Duce's photograph, as lavatory paper.
Billy
Drake had been sent by
father, first
Switzerland in preparation for a career in the hotel business. In the establishment,
Germans or Empire
all
'I
was the only English boy and
Italians.
the time.
I
I
it
down about Pat
I
classmates were
intended to challenge them to a boxing bout
twelve times.'
as the referee.
And
so
I
was knocked
22
sixteen
when,
in 1935,
he went to stay with a family
near Hanover and attended the local school.
94
my
spoke to the housemaster and told him what was
happened with him
Hancock was
all
first
got a bit fed up with their sniping at the British
happening and told him every time
his
to a German-speaking, then to a French-speaking school in
'I
saw enough of the Ger-
FIGHTER BOYS
man youth movement
how
In the streets of
they were and
strictly disciplined
Hanover he saw formations of troops marching every-
They were cock
where.
my
know how
to
confident they were that they had a great role to play in the world.'
of the walk
goodness, these are people
opportunity/
Templehof
He wrote
the middle of a sort of
'in
round the sky waiting
what they were saying
Tony
much
annoyed
bit
I
Bartley decided to visit
RAF
but
left after a
at
Hendon
Air Display - they shot if
I
had arrived
was going
but as
first,
I
I
at
to float
landed in the
couldn't understand
and they soon quietened down.
24
Germany
officer, that
Stowe school he had joined fession,
that he
was hanged
just laughed
too serious up here.'
of his rugby team, an
I
mother
for their air display to finish, so
middle of it. They were a
are
thought,
are going to have a go, given an
to his
red lights at us to stop us landing but
They
I
tour of Europe in the spring of 1935 Jeffery Quill had
air
Berlin.
at
who
everything glistened.
.
23
During an stopped
.
.
after
being told by the captain
war was
inevitable. After leaving
a City accounting firm to learn the pro-
What he saw
year.
in the
Reich impressed him
profoundly. In Frankfurt-on-Main, staying with acquaintances of his parents, he city's
just
came
man
across a middle-aged
botanical gardens.
He
with a shaven head in the
learned he was a distinguished Jew
been released from a concentration camp. He
ences and invited his hosts, they
him home
were
to
horrified
meet
his family.
When
son, a Hitler Youth,
would denounce
bouring a Jew
fraternizer'.
in Switzerland,
where he was
'absolutely loathed them.
me
to fly
perfectly well .
.
.
by
over to
new
friendship
his father to the
'their
Gestapo for har-
25
his father travelled for business,
asking
experi-
Bartley informed
he asked for a reason, he was told that
Ben Bowring, who joined 600 Auxiliary Squadron
mans
him of his
told
When
and told him to sever the
or return to Britain.
who had
I
and
at school,
later
knew them
in
socially
were
met Ger-
America, where
through friends
Germany and one
their attitude that they
and
in 1938,
in Britain.
He
and they were always
thing and another.
I
knew
a very cruel type of people
[They] had quick tempers and they thought they were masters of
95
PATRICK BISHOP everything. Since
was something of an
I
athlete, if
I
them
beat
at a
game
they were quite upset and quite likely they wouldn't talk to you for a
day or to
so.
you on
Or
else if you beat
them very badly they would come
having been very unpleasant to you
their knees (like) bullies,
beforehand/
cringing
26
The same unsporting tendencies were
to strike Richard Hillary
he went with an Oxford boat crew to compete Goering Prize Fours'
in the 'General
at
Germany
in
when
in July 1938
Bad Ems. The team's
attitude to
the race appeared languid, an approach which annoyed their hosts.
Shortly before the race
mattresses, great
was
all
we walked down
German crews were
ready. All five
brown
very impressive.
only
come
I
lackadaisical if
Losing
to
assured that the
on
their backs
when one
shirt
me, or rather harangued me,
He had been watching us, he we were
in England: they
for
said,
I
It
of
had no
and could
thoroughly representative of
No German crew would dream
rowing
this race
on
was getting out of my
to the conclusion that
a decadent race.
flat
stupid-looking giants, taking deep breaths.
them came up and spoke chance to say anything.
to the changing-rooms to get
lying
would
of appearing so
and they would win.
train
might not appear very important to
German people would not
fail
but
us,
to notice
I
could rest
and learn from
our defeat.
The Oxford crew won, by two cup, a gold shell-case
fifths
mounted with
of a second, and took
German
a
unpopular win,' Hillary wrote afterwards.
asm or given any impression ated
it,
but as
it
saw the race
hopelessly casual'. This
was some
on the 96
as a
'It
was
trained they
river,
distance
and the
was
for the
form of organization and were
toler-
27
coming con-
We
were
really quite
a particularly British piece of mythologizing
from the
pilots
enthusi-
would have
a sullen resentment/
metaphor
the
certainly an
'Had we shown any
a 'surprisingly accurate pointer to the course of the war.
quite untrained, lacked any
that
we had
was they showed merely
Hillary subsequently flict,
that
eagle.
home
truth. Hillary
of Fighter
was
fiercely competitive
Command would
turn out to be
FIGHTER BOYS just as aggressive as their Luftwaffe counterparts.
had prepared
much It
for the
war
was
of image. The Fighter Boys,
a question
and took
way It
It
was the view the
much
was
political
obvious exertion.
rare
among
was
to pass.
political thinking, let alone ideological
the pilots. All the services
The RAF was
members, the tradesmen and class
come
it
had
a tradition in
enthusiasms were regarded as both unprofessional and
socially undesirable.
working
rather,
had taken of themselves and
pilots
however, that deep
true,
conviction,
which
They would
they wished to be seen. This, very soon, would
was
rowers, wanted
was of amused, easy-going Britons triumphing over robotic
picture
Germans.
like the
their superiority for granted.
though, that victory was attained without too
the
for training, they
of the effort had been misdirected.
to win,
The
As
hard as anybody. The problem was that
as
different in that the majority of
were from the ambitious upper
technicians,
or lower middle class and
its
more
inclined to question auth-
ority than their counterparts in the army. Junior officers could also
be
vocal about decisions by higher authority, especially where life-or-death
matters concerning equipment or tactics were concerned, and the general
conduct of the war would
later
sometimes be
criticised.
At Cranwell, the debating society provided a formal arena for discussion. In siders that
November
an agreement with Germany
and of the world
Britain
1938 the motion was that, This
at large/ It
is
political
House con-
in the best interests
of Great
was only narrowly defeated by
who
thirty-
six to thirty-four votes, after
an intervention by a cadet
that 'the persecution of the
Jews precluded any decent-minded people
from having anything to do with the Germans'.
Among Billy
details
of each
sporting events, that's
talk
The
about
all.
attitude in the 29
it?'
We
.
.
.
Two
appear to have excited 'bought
pilots
didn't read
mess was
it
that the
a
newspaper
to find out
war was
little
interest.
to look at the
what
Hitler
inevitable, so
was
why
Geoffrey Page's recollection was that 'pre-war and
through the war one never issue
crisis
Drake and the Tangmere
doing.
28
the squadron pilots, though, domestic and international poli-
and the
tics
pointed out
subjects
really discussed politics at
were taboo
in
an
officers'
mess.
all.
It
all
wasn't an
You never
talked
97
PATRICK BISHOP and you never talked about the opposite sex/ The
politics
ition
was more
strictly
observed than the second.
first
prohib-
30
At Oxford, the University Air Squadron appears to have been gripped
by the general sense of
they were going to have to
fight, despite
made by Chamberlain and
being
where they were held
beliefs,
By 1939
inexorability.
at
were perceived, he wrote,
had become
irrelevant. Richard
we
offering
Now
and
left-wing contemporaries
He and
pacifists.
his
contempor-
and egocentric
as superficially 'selfish
without any Holy Grail in which
assumed
Individual political
impressed but unconvinced by heartfelt aries
all
supporters.
his all,
members
the continuing optimistic noises
was contemptuous of his bourgeois
Hillary
its
could lose ourselves'. The war, by
up an unmistakable and worthwhile enemy, had provided
it.
they had 'the opportunity to demonstrate in action our dislike of
organized emotion and patriotism, the opportunity to prove to ourselves
and the world that our
effete
veneer was not
as
deep
our
as
interference, the opportunity to prove that, undisciplined
might be,
we were
a
match
dogma-fed youth'.
for Hitler's
These were more complex sentiments than were pilots.
Stephen Beaumont, notably decent and
when he
nearer the feelings of the majority
had pushed himself and
his
we
though
31
by most of the
was probably
intelligent,
reflected
upper middle
felt
of
dislike
on the motives
that
Yorkshire comrades to
class
join the auxiliaries. 'Old-fashioned patriotism? Desire to give back to the
community something
for their
-
some
at least in
cases
favoured social background? Dismay, turning to acute of the bullying they came to see in Germany? all
these things/
The
overseas pilots were
moved by
slightly anachronistic
been fighting
for,
Al Deere replied:
always thought of [Britain] as the
Mother Country. That was
question that
go to war
if this
even hatred
desire to fly? Probably
a simple sense of duty that
even 'In
in 1939.
for Britain.'
33
It
Asked
my generation,
home
the old colonial tie
was the same officer
later
must
what he had
as schoolboys,
country, always referred to
country was threatened,
South African ex-merchant navy
98
dislike
32
have seemed
the
A
- admittedly
New
for
who
.
.
.
we
it
as
There was no
Zealanders wouldn't
Adolph
'Sailor'
Malan, a
settled in Britain in 1935
and
FIGHTER BOYS Union
applied for a short-service commission. Malan's voyages with the Castle line talking to
made me The
had taken him
German harbour realize that
pilots
war was
and
inevitable.'
'spent a lot of time
Their attitude
civilians.
34
men who had no
strong bonds natural with
an upper-class American sportsman, captain
Billy Fiske,
US Olympic
of the
Hamburg, where he
officials, sailors
were joined by
such as
Britain,
to
bobsled team,
who
volunteered two weeks after the
outbreak of war. Several recruits came from Ireland. The
fact that Eire
was
independence
neutral and just emerging
officially
had taken part
first
nor to John Ignatius
in the 1916 Easter Rising,
who was
handsome,
Kilmartin, black-haired and sleekly
from the
a bitter
had made no difference to 'Paddy' Finucane, whose
struggle with Britain father
from
day of the war to the
'Killy'
to fight almost
last.
Acceptance, resignation, a certain thrilled apprehension seem to have
been the predominant
He
decided to defect.
pilot
and emotions
Not everyone answered
slipped away.
one
attitudes
particularly attractive
structure and the
man
.
.
.
the
as the last days
of duty. In 609 Squadron
call
Beaumont
was, Stephen
of peace
recalled, 'not a
We felt no loss at his going.' The squadron
overwhelming importance of esprit meant
that only the
dedicated were welcome.
At Hornchurch, and along the crews.
A
aircraft
far side
were
of the
readiness system
the Luftwaffe
daylight. Al
the waist,
and
airfield
fly at
away from
tents put
up
that
short notice.
no longer posed any
Deere and the other
filling
dispersed
was introduced so
always dressed and ready to
when
now
It
to
one
their hangars
house the ground shift
was
of pilots was
to last until 1943
serious threat to the country in
pilots spent
summer
days stripped to
sandbags to build the walls of U-shaped blast-protection
pens that shielded their
Spitfires.
At Tangmere
1
Squadron and 43 Squad-
ron skimmed their Hurricanes over the Channel waves, targets with volleys
from
their
firing at splash
Brownings that kicked up jagged white
plumes and churned the water. The
effect
seemed devastating
to old-
timers brought up on the spindly fire-power of a single Lewis gun. 'The noise
an
is
RFC
not so
much
veteran.
35
a rat-a-tat as a
continuous jarring explosion,' wrote
By night they climbed
into the Sussex skies, suspended
99
PATRICK BISHOP between the
and the
stars
street lighting that
provided bearings and
allowed them to keep station in the pre-blackout
ground crews would pounce to rearm and
would prove
the rapid turnarounds that
era.
On
landing, the
refuel in minutes, practising
crucially
important in the
fight-
ing to come.
was not
It
work. Squadron Leader Lord Willoughby de Broke
all
arrived with the other
and entertained
members of 605
Tangmere Cottage, opposite
at
Townsend remembered,
Peter
Auxiliary Squadron at
the base.
pilots,
'spent wild evenings, drinking, singing,
dancing to romantic tunes', with 'These Foolish Things', the day, revolving eternally
Tangmere
The
hit
of the
on the gramophone.
All around, though, the peacetime landscape
was changing. The whit-
aprons and parade grounds of Biggin Hill were covered in chippings
ish
in a vain
attempt to disguise the station from the
the lights of
London were extinguished
the blackout.
On
few pinpricks of light
in the air
several nights,
in a trial to test the efficiency
A pilot reported that the ground looked like
just space with a
lowed
air.
like stars'.
of
space inverted,
Barrage balloons wal-
over town and suburb. The skies themselves were
filled
with ominous noises. In August, 200 bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft appeared over London, Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham,
Manchester and Oxford, where they attracted the attention of
and searchlight
fighters
intended as a
without
test
a frisson
Death moved
of Britain's
was
which
was, the it
aircraft:
were French, and the
defences, but
OUAS
at
The Oxford
Lympne
Pilot Officer
RAF
exercise
few could have looked up
in July
University Air Squadron and
was overshadowed by
David Lewis, an experienced
Hawker Hind,
pupil and instructor It
air
a little closer.
flying solo in a
since
The
of apprehension.
RAFVR summer camp air collision in
units.
crashed into a Gipsy
from the Kent Flying School.
log recorded 'the
first fatal
Moth
All three
a mid-
pilot
who
carrying a
were
killed.
accident in the squadron
formed'.
Accidental deaths were commonplace, however, elsewhere in the force, as pilots stalled, hills
ioo
obscured by
fog.
spun
On
in,
air
or flew into 'clouds with a hard centre' -
one murky night
at Biggin Hill, Flying Officer
FIGHTER BOYS Olding was sent up to report on the
of a practice blackout in the
state
Greater London area. Soon after take-off his engine seemed to cut out,
then the pilots in the mess heard an explosion. out, but fearing
would never be
it
foul weather, Flying Officer
magnesium
tender was ordered
able to locate the
Woolaston took
near the crash
flare
A fire
site.
explosion was heard. His Hurricane
A
wreckage
intending to drop a
off,
few minutes
was found
a
in the
later a
second
hundred yards from
Olding's, having flown into the top of Tatsfield Hill.
The ing.
a
Brian
Kingcome was ordered
squadron
by
a
of such events could be profound, but not necessarily
effect
pilot
policeman
a healthy
he drew back the sheet ... .
.
more
I
quite
braced myself for the worst. Gently
at the
broken body and
back to Hornchurch
a lesson here:
whether
I
I
felt
briefly
curiously
wondered
ought to be more
careful,
/
The mood, though, 'was
fatal accidents inevitably
increased as the 300 m.p.h.
the rule books
closely to
short-lived'.
looked
I
On my way
whether there was not stick
body of
young man. The body had been
badly battered, he warned me, and
.
identify the
who crashed near Andover. He flew down and was met who was concerned at the effect the sight of a mangled
body might have on
unmoved
go and formally
to
last-
.
.
36
The number of
plus monoplanes, far harder to control than the biplanes, and in need of
more room rons.
to recover
if
At Tangmere, one
front of his comrades.
a mistake
was made, were fed
pilot slid too slowly
into the squad-
out of a turn and crashed in
Another time they watched
as a pilot clipped the
top of a tree coming in to land and burned to death before their eyes. Afterwards, Peter
Townsend recorded 'we had our own methods of
restoring our morale. In the early hours of that morning, in the mess,
mourned our
lost
somewhat of the
comrade
ritual
in
our
own
peculiar way,
of primitive tribesmen. Fred Rosier took his violin
and to the tune of the can-can from Orpheus hilariously
Other least to
round the mess.'
atavistic instincts
have
sex.
under the age of
we
which smacked
in the Underworld,
were
stirring; the
impulses to marry, or
The pre-war RAF discouraged thirty.
we danced
3
officers
at
from matrimony
This was partly out of parsimony, partly out of
IOI
PATRICK BISHOP considerations of efficiency and the desire to foster a mess-centred squad-
ron
spirit.
What
ponsibilities,
were needed.
were
the service needed
ready to move,
at virtually
single
no
of family
their
number of
requests multiplied.
On
commandant, who,
the Biggin Hill
He was
chap.
sitting
very young" -
meant no married quar-
it
would be very
just 21
difficult to
Group Captain Dick
'fortunately
.
.
- "what
if
Tim London
.
was
refuse?"
I
a very
I
said in that case
it
Grice, staff,
in.
to look
up
Kitty, a girlfriend
who was
staying in
a trip to
town with an
the evening dancing in a club off Regent Street, leaving for a drink.
To
agreed and they repaired to the Regent Palace Hotel.
He
Vigors daringly suggested that she
his surprise she
38
and
Hill pilots
on leave from Cranwell, took advantage of
They spent
"You're
said,
Vigors,
at 3 a.m.
Grice,
charming
send him an invitation to the wedding.'
an immensely popular father figure with Biggin laughed and gave
on, the
getting engaged to his girlfriend,
behind a desk smoking a pipe, and he
was
I
res-
commanding
accommodation and no allowances. As the year wore
Annette, Pete Brothers had to appear before
aunt.
free
where and when they
had to seek the permission of
Pilots
officers before taking a wife. Failure to secure ters
men
notice,
was prevented from taking matters
come back
when
further
a vigilant night porter
blocked his path, protesting that Vigors had 'only booked a single and
anyway
she's far too
calm despite the
"None of your
young
fact that
business!"
lock this bastard out!"
drove her
'
I
for those kind of tricks'. I
retorted.
Kitty,
home and returned
angry and frustrated'.
had never
felt
He
'tried to
"Come on
life.
Kitty, let's get inside
and
however, burst into
tears.
Vigors gallantly
to the hotel 'feeling embarrassed, ashamed,
39
Senior officers, too,
felt
youthful stirrings as the great
trial
Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh- Mallory, the Air Officer
No. 12 Fighter Group covering the Midlands and north, in 616
Squadron
remain
my
so embarrassed in
at their
summer camp
at
approached.
Commanding
visited his pilots
Manston on the Kent
coast.
A
dinner was laid on in his honour in one of the marquees. At the end of the evening the inevitable, well-lubricated
games began. One involved
climbing up the centre pole, squeezing through a ventilation
102
flap,
clam-
FIGHTER BOYS bering over the ridge pole and re-entering the tent through the flap on
Hugh Dundas,
the other side. Several pilots, including
did so without
mishap.
Then someone suggested
that the
sportingly, he agreed. But he
AOC
was not
should have a go. Very
really built for that kind of thing.
had thickened. He got up
In the course of the passing years his figure
the pole
all
But he had
right.
We
ventilation flap.
The
tent
swayed and the ridge-pole sagged
on the other
Someone shinned up
the pole and helped
He came
out
like a
he fought
champagne
and descended from
a height
his
his legs
way through
as
we
before
few days
St
started playing
later
when
Teddy
him with
a
the
Aubyn,
.
.
.
g war."
Teddy
.
.
.
.
else.
sitting in the
sitting opposite
"Well
student of international
was not noted affairs.
But
I
He
us hurriedly
mess tent
after a
me, put down
that's ...
d
it.
his
heard
his
s
soup spoon
That's the start
force, given that,
as a political
morning
came through.
Looking back, Dundas could not say
'
.
left
.
40
pronouncement struck him with such remarked,
fall
the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
who was
tugs.
cork, grabbed desperately at the pole
something
Dundas was
news of
and buttocks
few hearty
of about ten feet in a free
said in a loud, clear voice:
of the
got half-way
that canvas flap.
accepted a very large, very dark whisky and soda and
and
he struggled
as
He
side.
we urged him on and
wiggled and waggled
flying
he
stuck.
Shouting with laughter,
A
last
with exertion, disappeared out into
his face, purple
across the top. His legs reappeared
and
job squeezing out through the
stood below and cheered him on. At
plopped through and the night.
a terrible
as
why
this
he dryly
pundit or a serious
words and knew they were
true.'
The announcement was 3
finally
made
late
September, a day that was generally remembered
warm, sunny and redolent of
all
the promise of
on the morning of as
being exceptionally
young
life.
At fighter
bases the length and breadth of the country the pilots gathered in the
103
PATRICK BISHOP mess or clustered round portable radios rigged up
at the dispersal areas
to hear Prime Minister Chamberlain speak. At Tangmere, the pilots in
Peter Townsend's flight were lying on the grass by their Hurricanes
when
they were told that 'the balloon goes up
They walked
at 11.45'.
over to the mess, covered in pink creeper, and waited while the
faithful
stewards served drinks in pewter mugs. As the broadcast ended, 'the tension suddenly broke.
Caesar Hull, a
RAF on
brilliant
The
fatal step
had been taken; we were
sportsman and aerobatic
a short-service
pilot
commission from South over and over.
rejoice, repeating, 'Wizard!'
He
Africa,
was the
first
to be
and four months
later
bombers. That night,
being released,
Townsend and
raced to the Old Ship at Bosham. 'What a party
we went
we
started.'
Tim
our throats. As one
feet cheering.
The same scene was where Charlton
of
and
We
another
In
reservist,
were digging an
104
at
all!
man we jumped to who would not have
week
RAFVR
pilots
were very pleased about the whole
And then
We
were gath-
before. 'A tremendous cheer went
all
had visions of
the disappointing thing
Romford, where he worked
sergeant's uniform
not
of his fellow
thirty
didn't think about the danger.
the following day.
'a
taking place simultaneously in a classroom in Hull,
Haw us.
war came,
had the declaration of war not been made.'
ered after being called up the all
all
the declaration of
There was not one amongst us
bitterly disappointed
home.'
Windows
Vigors and his fellow cadets were ordered to the
shout of excitement rose from
42
air.
their houses, thinking the invasion
When
out from
comrades
had; at closing time,
ante-room to hear the broadcast.
been
a year
German
41
At Cranwell,
our
his
out into the street and fired our revolvers into the
were flung open, people rushed from had
you'll be
while attacking a large formation of
after
to
first
Simpson survived the war. Hull died
killed.'
the
turned to another 43 pilot
John Simpson, and laughingly prophesied: 'Don't worry, John, one of the
at war.'
who had joined
We
thing.
sitting in a Spitfire
was we were
in the Ind
all
sent
Coope brewery,
William Walker, switched off the radio, put on
and walked out of his block of flats.
air-raid shelter
You're in uniform.
and he offered to
help.
A
group of
'They
said:
his
men "No,
We can't let you do that sort of thing."
FIGHTER BOYS
who had
Charles Fenwick,
that he
had refused
He was
owned
a lovely little car
can be in love,
and
damn
head comes along and puts the
it I
away with
get
The
pilots
No
it if I
.
.
.
could stop him.'
of,
them
remembered Peter Down,
"Who
wants
to each other/
Not everyone was flatness
my
'All
of
a
Weald
groups
was
loved and
in the
sun on
We
had
great roars of
to leave really
who had
were our golf
had the odd car and there were or,
"Who
so light-hearted. Brian
He
wants
my
clubs?"
We
Kingcome was struck by the
looked around
at his
this,
sorrowful
companions
in the
Hornchurch, 'thinking to myself, probably the whole
speech on the radio than
we
.
.
.
No
lot
sooner had Chamberlain finished
expected to hear the
German bombers approaching and
for a while/
I
twenty- three-year-old
of the address, devoid of drama or tension, just
office in
reaction
in Essex, listening to
There were
in.
we had
Lagonda?"
of us will be dead in three weeks his
first
this shit-
45
defeated voice going on'.
hangar
Then
I
second reaction was not
sitting in small
clubs and tennis rackets and things.
shouts
Cambridge,
set for life.
in love
outsize batteries. Earlier the squadron adjutant
joined eighteen months before.
left
was
44
distributed blue will forms to be filled laughter,'
My
'I
bloody German was going to hurt those
of 56 Squadron were
powered by
all
on everything/ His
lid
the east side of the aerodrome at North radios
was
I
of
buoyed up by happiness
was enjoying
'one of absolute shock, horrified shock
long in coming.
so
war could not be avoided.
to believe
as only a twenty-year-old
RAFVR, was one
recently joined the
the few to be surprised by the news.
that
became
murmur
the
norm
of hordes
at dispersal
46
105
Winter of Uncertainty
The war began immediately
in a flurry
of false alarms. Air-raid sirens sounded almost
Chamberlain's Sunday broadcast, sending
after
civilians
hurrying to the shelters. But no Germans came. The defenders were eager for action and trigger-happy. Three days after the declaration of war, a searchlight battery
what was thought exciting
on Mersea
Island in the Blackwater estuary spotted
Channel
to be a hostile aircraft crossing the
news was passed on
to the Northolt headquarters of
which covered the south-east of England. They, sector controllers at
North Weald
to send
up
in turn,
coast. This 1 1
Group,
ordered the local
fighters to investigate. Hurri-
canes from 56 Squadron took off from North
Weald aerodrome and
climbed through the mist into the clear morning sky to hunt for the intruders. at
As they did
so, their traces
were picked up by the radar
Canewdon, on the muddy tongue of Essex
Crouch and Thames that followed
the Fighter
is
estuaries.
not entirely
Command
that sticks out
between the
Even now, the cause of the
tragic fiasco
clear. Air
Chief Marshal
chief, said later that the
functioning, though this
seemed they had located
More
fighters
faulty
and side
disputed.
To
twelve
the operators
enemy formation coming
on the screen and added
Among them were
Hugh Dowding,
from the landward
were scrambled to deal with the apparent
in turn registered
106
a big
was
Sir
equipment was
the baffle designed to block out electronic echoes
was not
station
Spitfires
in
over the
threat,
it
sea.
and they
to the thickening confusion.
from 74 Squadron
at
Hornchurch.
'A'
FIGHTER BOYS
commanded by Adolph
Flight,
Malan, took off
first.
He
one section
led
5
of three
Flying Officer 'Paddy Byrne, an experienced, Irish-born
aircraft.
with a reputation for eccentricity, led another. In the adrenaline-
pilot
charged atmosphere, chaos, then catastrophe, ensued. Pilot Officer
John Freeborn, barely out of Leeds Grammar School but
well-freighted with Yorkshire obstinacy,
was
a very misty
ber looking
we had
morning but
down and
taken
off.
seeing
it
was
we had
Malan was well
was
in front
"Number One
.
.
.
We
at these aircraft
and then pulled away. And so
John
astern.
Freeborn and Byrne opened
trailing
smoke. Freeborn
fire
Flinders,
where
aircraft
and
attack
attacked/
1
Byrne and the third
swooped down
and saw two
felt 'exhilarated' at their
'It
remem-
'I
They made an
we went and
successful. Freeborn,
in the section, Sergeant Pilot
said.
saw these
attack - go!"
order:
man
behind Byrne.
day/ he
cut a line through the haze
Malan gave the
The combat was only too
directly
a beautiful
aircraft
success.
in line
go down
On
way
the
back to Hornchurch he saw what he thought was a Luftwaffe bomber
and was about to attack when Flinders yelled a warning on the it
was
in fact a friendly
manding aircraft
officer,
On
Eric
the day.
to the
Clayton,
squadron and a
'tall,
ground-crew
Tommy
fair-haired
and
member who
eager', accord-
maintained
Rose survived and showed up
He
tried to find
bunk completely. Never saw him/ He sent to
my room
was eighteen years
an incident
his
later in
Malan, but he had 'done a
and Byrne were put under
with a bloke from 54 Squadron to guard
old, frightened to
when he had been
The
affair
arrest.
me
3
bloody death/ Coming soon
.
.
.
after
severely reprimanded for landing with the
undercarriage of his Spitfire up, Freeborn assumed his over.
com-
2
Freeborn was appalled.
I
his
Squadron Leader George Sampson, and told that the
machine. Pilot Officer
was
met by
Montague Hulton-Harrop was dead. He was nineteen years
newcomer
ing to
'I
landing he was
that
he and Byrne had disposed of were Hurricanes from 56 Squadron.
Pilot Officer old, a
Blenheim.
R/T
RAF
career
was
was particularly agonizing because, as squadron adjutant,
he had previously distributed orders to the
pilots telling
circumstances to shoot at single-engined planes.
The
them under no instruction
was 107
PATRICK BISHOP based on the calculation that no Luftwaffe fighter had the range to reach
and that any single-engined machine was bound to be
Britain
The speed with which Freeborn power of
orienting
the heat of the
scrambled that morning, had 'You didn't think about the
felt it
friendly.
was proof of the
forgot the order
moment. Al Deere, who was
too.
'We were
fact that a 109
all
keyed
he
up,'
could never have got as
dis-
also said.
far as
England from the then borders of Germany/ 4
A 5
general court martial was set for 7 October. Sampson, 'an absolute
toff
according to Freeborn, put the pair in touch with
ings,
an intelligence
had been
a leading
officer at Fighter
QC
Command
HQ
Sir Patrick Hast-
Stanmore,
at
who
in peacetime. Hastings agreed to act as prisoners'
and told them to speak to Roger Bushell, another well-known
friend
figure at the
London bar who was now commanding 600
London) Auxiliary Squadron indomitable nature
at Biggin Hill. Bushell,
made him one of the
best-liked
(City of
whose charm and
men
in the air force,
agreed to act as junior to Hastings. The proceedings were held
more and have never been made ever giving the order to attack.
at Stan-
Freeborn claims Malan denied
public.
The defence argued
that the case should
never have been brought. After about an hour the four-man tribunal, led
by the Judge Advocate, acquitted the two.
It
running enmity in 74 Squadron. 'From then
and
I
never got
'Sailor' ality.
and
short,
and spoken
cleft chin.
little.
in
fair hair,
He was coming up
a child
The regime was
pilots.
He had done much
he roamed the veldt with
a
in a
hard
farm near the small
a shotgun,
in the war.
developing
Aged fourteen
board the training ship General
sadistic.
The victim was
life,
sight of Table
spartan, the bullying institutionalized
bordering on the
strokes of the lash.
108
'Malan
a formidable person-
Adolph Gysbert Malan was born within
he was sent off to a maritime college on
discipline harsh,
said,
to twenty-nine, considerably
marksman's eye that would serve him well
Botha.
Freeborn
of a long-
blazing blue eyes and a square, impass-
Cape Province and brought up on
town of Slent. As a
with
most of the other
older than
Mountain
on,'
start
on.'
Malan had already established himself as
He was
ive face
was the
and the
Smoking was punished by
first certified as
medically
fit
six
enough
FIGHTER BOYS to withstand the punishment.
He was
ordered to
strip to 'No.
Trousers' - shorts - and given a rubber disc to bite on.
room and roped down
stretched over a table in the recreation
punishment was administered
bolt while the
Malan once
'The
said:
pher wrote that infinitely
with
Sailor,
it
stayed with
perilous
squadron
The
6
were known).
him
It
was
understood why.' Free-
than anything that happened
vividly as a
down and
stirred
thrashed.
than
The memory
kind of stoicism that became an
a
come/ The experience
reluctant, 'in later years, to join in the horseplay of
initiating customs'.
when
deed of outrage, an invasion of pride
plating for the strenuous days to
made him
I
never saw him more emotionally
and privacy that helped to fashion
armour
on
it
during which he described incidents
he recalled the ceremony of being tied of
punishment handed out
Salt (as the senior cadets
more dramatic and I
in public.
this
Later
to a ring
from the whippings on Malan's back. His biogra-
scars
'in talks
aboard the Botha,
saw
I
him break down.
quite a shock to see
born had seen the
time
first
was to a big chap - an Old
Duck
1
Then he was
also
RAF
5
September debacle was inscribed
in
RAF
folklore as the Battle
of Barking Creek, a reference to a nearby landmark which was a joke location beloved of music-hall comedians. incidents,
hushed up (an
efficiently
all
issued until seven
months
later),
It
was one of
official
which revealed
several similar
communique was not to the air force
government the dangerous inadequacies of the country's
On
the
same day
as the 'Barking Creek' episode, Brian
with 65 Squadron patrolling they passed over the
Isle
at 5,000 feet
them
to hold their
but
it
Kingcome was
over the Thames. Every time
A
Spitfires
were painted black and white
to
sent to the batteries telling
them
did not stop one aeroplane being hit in the
wing
as friendly.
fire,
and the
defences.
of Sheppey, anti-aircraft guns opened up, even
though the undersides of their identify
air
signal
was
and fuselage.
The
basic
the panic
on
problem was one of identification. The 6
sparked
September was, according to Dowding, carrying refugees
from Holland. Other accounts say patrol over the
aircraft that
it
was
a
Blenheim returning from
a
North Sea, or an Anson from Coastal Command. Unless 109
PATRICK BISHOP air traffic
could be quickly and accurately recognized as friend or enemy,
the potential for disaster
was enormous. The problem had already been
solved by a system called IFF (Identification Friend or Foe), a transmitter
which sent back an amplified
when
intentions
with
it.
innocent
aircraft's
picked up in a radar beam. But none of the Spitfires or
Thames
Hurricanes chasing each other around the fitted
an
signal that established
programme was
After the incident the installation
speeded up, so that by June 1940
it
estuary had yet been belatedly
was standard equipment on every
fighter.
The at
fiasco concentrated minds. Al Deere,
Hornchurch, noted that 'on
was engaged on
five
out of
tactical exercises in
'this truly
amazing shambles'.
my
next
with 54 Squadron
six training flights
It
that
felt
some good had come
was, he thought, just what was
needed to iron out some of the many snags which existed convince those
who were
controllers, plotters
on the
drafted in
emergency
system could be considered in any
The mechanisms aircraft,
and the
would be
for identifying
command and
at the heart
call-up,
way
.
and to
of
all
was
whom still
reliable'.
had been
hastily
required before the
6
and reporting the approach of enemy
control structure to counter their attacks,
of the system.
waves.
solid objects reflected radio
tering the metal skin of an aircraft, a cathode-ray tube.
States,
.
refined and tested in the relative quiet of the winter and spring.
Radar was
on
.
responsible that a great deal of training of
and radar operators,
first
I
cooperation with the control and
reporting organization'. In retrospect he
out of
who was
The
Japan and, above
all,
A
It
was based on the discovery
that
projected radio signal, on encoun-
bounced back and
military potential
registered as a blip
was obvious and the United
Germany worked on
applications throughout
the 1930s. Britain got radar late but
it
had recovered
lost
time and by the onset
of the war was protected by two chains of transmitters covering the
upper and lower airspace of the
The twenty
stations,
island's eastern
and southern approaches.
with their mysterious 350-feet-high transmitters and
240-feet receivers, could locate aircraft a
hundred miles away and give an
approximate idea of direction, height and numbers. With radar, the
no
his-
FIGHTER BOYS torical defensive air. It
was
advantage given to Britain by the sea extended to the
particularly effective over large expanses of water
was no confusing
'clutter'.
Even so
it
was
where there
to remain, for several years, an
inexact science.
The
on the cathode-ray tubes under
electronic information pulsing
the intense gaze of the Waafs,
who were
most expert
the
operators,
was
supplemented by the eyes and ears of the spotters of the Observer Corps.
These were volunteers
who
squatted in sandbagged posts, equipped with
binoculars, aircraft identification pamphlets and a crude altitude measur-
enemy
ing instrument, trying to track
head.
The blurred
picture provided
focus after passing through the
aeroplanes as they droned over-
by the two was brought
room
filter
at
into sharper
Bentley Priory, an eigh-
teenth-century Gothic mansion in Stanmore on the north-west edge of
London, where Dowding and Fighter There the reports were interpreted distances of
incoming
aircraft
subjected to a calculation
Command
had
their headquarters.
and the
in the light of other data,
reported by neighbouring radar stations
known
more
to provide a
as 'range cutting
accurate idea of their course.
The graded information was now counters representing ones.
- where
ment of a
raid
it
was
command -
translated
on
map
to a
with red
aeroplanes and black counters friendly
The information was passed on
level of the chain of
HQ
enemy
transferred
on
was watched by the
to the operations
sector,
rooms
to identical
map
and
tables.
each
Command
group and Fighter
controller
at
The develop-
his staff from a balcony.
The
resources at hand to deal with the intruders were indicated on a
large
board rigged with coloured bulbs, which showed which squadrons
would be ness,
the
available in thirty minutes,
which were
at
two minutes'
which were
readiness and
at five
minutes' readi-
which were already
in
air.
Fighter
Dowding,
Command
had
a simple
pyramid
in Bentley Priory, at the top.
One
command step
structure, with
down were
commanders, each presiding over one of the four quadrants Britain's air defence
were covered by
10
had been divided. The
the group
into
which
south-west, and half of Wales,
Group, the middle segment of England and Wales in
PATRICK BISHOP by
Group, and Scotland and the
12
far
North by
13
Group. No.
Group,
11
with responsibility for London and the south-east corner of England, was
was subdivided
the busiest. Each group
main
enemy
naturally into
fell
one or another group's area of activity.
were reported, the duty
aircraft
room,
in consultation
would
deal with
and which
it
When
group operations
controller in the
with the group commander, decided which sector aircraft
would be
'scrambled'. Control of
whose
the fighters then passed to the sector controller,
was
task
manoeuvre
his aircraft into the best position to intercept the raiders.
was helped
in this
by the IFF
The
-
of his
assets.
signal
reports,
'Tally Ho!'
which allowed him
this
pilot to pilot in a
down
the
them
and land.
-
Indianer
meant
'Angels fifteen'
'indians').
15,000 feet. 'Pancake'
'Vector', plus a
number
system - 'bandits
at ten o'clock'
vided an accurate
fix
German
which
target
was
air
first
to
so that
come back
flat out.
The
trusty clock
located.
weeks of the war was
partly
defence had any clear idea of what
virtually everything logical
Germans
- devised on the Western Front, pro-
The experience of Poland had suggested
pitiless, in
was
a blitzkrieg,
sudden
vulnerable. In fact the
and conventional: the
British
Home
first
Fleet,
tucked away in the estuaries and anchorages of Scotland, from where could menace
Germany and
its
navy
in relative security.
of 16 October, twelve Junkers 88 fast
on the
112
bombers
set off
it
On the morning
from Westerland
Island of Sylt just off the Danish coast to attack shipping at the
Royal Navy base first
to
chain and
'bandits' (the
was an order
on where the trouble was
because few of those involved in
and
com-
indicating geometric degrees, gave the
prevailing jumpiness of the
to expect.
command
'Angels' indicated altitude,
course a pilot was to steer. 'Buster' meant
The
flight
was about
battle
code that was very soon to enter public parlance
and the popular imagination. The enemy were called
He
point control of events passed to the pilots.
Orders and information were passed
from
to
keep track
to
- from the squadron or
mander, meant that tnkenemy had been sighted and be joined. At
a
supplemented by a number of satellite aerodromes.
fighter base,
Raids
on
into sectors that centred
at
group arrived
Rosyth on the north side of the Firth of Forth. The
at 2.30 in the afternoon, taking anti-aircraft
gunners
FIGHTER BOYS south of the Forth Bridge -just east of the base - by surprise. The main
was the
target raiders
was
it
HMS
battleship
Hood, but to the disappointment of the
in dry dock. Hitler, apparently anxious to avoid civilian
casualties while there
was
still
a
chance of a settlement with
had
Britain,
ordered that only ships on the water could be attacked.
Two targets presented themselves:
HMS
Edinburgh, riding at anchor
the cruisers
on the eastern
HMS
Southampton and
side of the bridge.
Junkers were each carrying two 500-kg bombs. At 2,500
them dived on
bombs
but the
none
do
significant
damage. Ten
of
feet, several
the vessels and released their loads. Both ships failed to
The
were
men were
hit,
injured,
fatally.
The
anti-aircraft batteries
cruisers,
now opened
up, joined by
which had previously been ordered
fire
from the
to engage aircraft only if
they proved hostile, presumably a precaution taken to counter the reckless
gunnery of the
of two
RAF
first
stations.
weeks. The action took place on the doorsteps
Turnhouse, the
home
of 603 (City of Edinburgh)
Squadron, just to the south of the Forth Bridge, and Drem, where 602 (City of Glasgow)
Squadron was based. The
minutes old before
Spitfires
were
home, they were chased out from 603 Squadron,
down
who added
responding with
all
to sea.
who opened fire,
the port engine.
squadron,
in the air.
was already
raid
As the bombers headed
One was caught by
gunner and shutting
killing the rear
They were joined by another
section
more and
I
saw he was
thought
I
saw
'We went
hit forward. Bits
glow
7
The Junkers
pilots
and two 602
this
pilots,
hit the sea
surviving three
a trawler. also crashing into the
had been involved
account recorded that
singled out Gifford
The
Spitfires stitching the water.
both cases several
official
Patsy
of fabric were dropping off and
inside the fuselage.'
Another Ju 88 was shot down by 602 Squadron,
The
pilots,
I
and gave him some
in again
from the four-man crew were picked up by
sea. In
was
armaments; tracers were shooting past me, and
Gifford, said after the action.
with bullets from the
from the
to the fusillade battering the Junkers. 'He
his
a red
for
three fighters
got a glimpse of a gunner behind twin guns,' one of the
I
several
had been
in their destruction.
a
team
effort,
but
it
George Pinkerton and Archie ii3
PATRICK BISHOP
They were
McKellar, for special mention.
pre-war profession. The squadrons involved were several others in 603 Squadron,
driving a Frazer-Nash car very
daughter and called up.
worked
fruit
farm
auxiliaries. GifFord, like
he spent
a solicitor;
weekends
his
shooting, fencing, taking out girls and
fast,
Pinkerton was thirty years old, and had
flying.
left his
wife, six-month-old
Renfrewshire behind after the squadron was
in
McKellar was twenty-seven, short, aggressive and
in his father's plastering business before joining the
was
time. GifFord
full
was
by name but by
identified not
and
fit,
squadron
to be killed the following spring, McKellar in the
autumn.
The image they presented of different walks of
was
life
coming together
maximum
who had drawn
bomb on
Rosyth raid gave
a destroyer,
Once
HMS
again, the
gence reports had predicted an
attack,
failure or a faulty valve.
civilian
it
was the
blood was given
little
Shoot Nazi
reason for satisfaction.
No
raiders
dropping an
Mohawk, entering the
Firth of
members of the
warning system had
crew,
failed. Intelli-
but from ten o'clock on the morn-
ing of the raid the local radar station
power
first
one of the
to prevent
Forth as the Luftwaffe was leaving, killing sixteen including the captain.
of their country,
fact that
Afternoon Airmen
'Saturday
had not been able
opportunistic
The
men from
the headline in the Daily Express.
In other respects the fighters
air force
emphasis.
Bombers Down', was
The
in the defence
naturally appealing to official propagandists.
amateurs of the auxiliary the
social cohesion, of ordinary
was
sirens
ineffective,
due either to a
were sounded
to alert the
population (though they were activated at military bases).
Despite the rejoicing at the downing of two raiders to
German bombers,
the
superior speed and firepower of the attackers. That ten escaped partly
no
owing
to the fact that the Spitfire pilots
closer than 400 yards,
which was thought
range for the Brownings. The in closer
of the defenders.
also benefited
When
were under orders to be the
most
was
to
go
effective
pilots immediately recognized that getting
would produce more devastating
The bomber crews
114
first
be shot down, the Luftwaffe got off very lightly, given the
results.
from
Hector MacLean,
a certain caution
who had been
on the part
training to be a
FIGHTER BOYS solicitor in a
Glasgow
moving
legal office before
Squadron, was scrambled he 'couldn't believe
it
to
Drem
with 602
wasn't another mess-up
because we'd been ordered off so often to intercept things and
been
a
Blenheim or an Anson or something
he 'followed
it
gingerly thinking ...
down, but there were the
fellas
emptied
I
must not shoot one of our own
crosses so finally
second wave that never came. Until the squadron the following year, the only
coast.
It
was easy
to do.
They could
in preparation for a
south in August
we
could get
pattern of frustration and
single aircraft
bomb and
nip
in,
at
boredom
Having
attack con-
drop a few bombs 8
them.'
over
settled
the
all
squadrons in England and Scotland. Pilots spent their days
fighter
readiness, being ordered airborne to check out incursions aircraft,
'X' raids as
convoy
dreary
rarely attacked.
by unidentified
were too
far off to intercept.
flying
patrols,
in
circles
Then
were
there
over ships that were
On
There were occasional brushes with the enemy.
20 November, 74 Squadron at Hornchurch recorded three pilots fastened
at
they were known, that almost always turned out
to be friendly or else
the
a go.'
Germans he saw were 'mainly
around the boats and get out before
The same
had
I
moved
sneaking over to take pictures and drop the odd
voys off the
Spotting a bomber,
like that'.
ammunition, he hurried back to rearm
his
had
it
on
to a Heinkel 111
its first
success
heavy bomber and shot
it
when
down
over the Thames estuary. The following day two Hurricanes from 79
Squadron
at
Biggin Hill were patrolling over the south coast
were ordered
medium bomber on
nier 17
descended on
On first
3
when
they
to investigate a radar sighting that turned out to be a Dor-
it,
opened
fire
a
weather reconnaissance. They found
and watched
it
explode as
it
hit the
it,
Channel.
February Peter Townsend took part in the destruction of the
German bomber
World War,
after 43
to be shot
down on
British soil since the First
Squadron had exchanged bucolic Tangmere
for the
bleak surroundings of Acklington, high up on the north-east coast near Newcastle. at
wave
leading his section on patrol over the sea, keeping
level to surprise
the clouds, bullets
He was
when he saw
began tearing into
any German a Heinkel.
their
aircraft,
which tended
The crew saw nothing
bomber. Only then did red
to
hug
'until the
tracer
come ii5
PATRICK BISHOP spurting from their rear guns, but, in the I
believed myself
at
.
.
.
invulnerable/
Whitby and crash-landed
elated at the success - then,
of remorse.
He
visited
drink champagne.
behaving,
really,
It
in
foolish rapture of combat,
first
The Heinkel staggered over
snow behind
on hearing there were two
them
was, he thought
when you have
just killed
bomber down was proof of our prowess, and text for celebration.
we
For the enemy crew,
gave no thought. Young,
much
hope of existing
mess
to
way
of
that
was
whom we
a legitimate pre-
had shot
to pieces,
they had existed, but existed no admit, that
we had
longer ourselves. So, meanwhile,
little
we made
9
Death was more that winter.
clock
felt
someone. But an enemy
Deep down we knew, but dared not
longer.
merry/
like us,
to the
horribly uncivilized
later, 'a
cliffs
survivors, a touch
Then he returned
in hospital.
the
Townsend
the town.
The need
meant
to
that pilots
night flying, a
skill
come through
likely to
to
accident than
enemy
action
have fighters on permanent standby around the
were
which
the war. George Bennions,
called
on
to
do an increased amount of
insufficient attention
now
was 'automatically assumed
with 41 Squadron
that they
would
and there would be no problem'. The
had been paid before at Catterick,
just send
Spitfires
you
found
it
off at night
they were flying were
notoriously difficult to operate in a darkness which had deepened considerably with the introduction of the blackout.
The
long nose blotted
everything out straight in front of you, and because the engine had very short stubs,
all
that
you saw
.
.
.
was
a great
moustache of flame
.
.
.
The
only thing you could do was to tuck your head back into the cockpit and take off for
new
on the instruments, which was pilots
have been
A
who
all
right for a trained pilot, but
hadn't done any night flying, or very
little, it
terrible.'
Canadian
round and flew
pilot, Pilot Officer Overall,
straight into a house.
took off one night, circled
Bennions protested
at the stupidity
of sending off pilots in pitch darkness without allowing them to familiarized in conditions of bright moonlight.
him of being
afraid.
Even the most
u6
must
A
first
senior officer accused
His suggestion, though, was eventually adopted.
skilful pilots
found themselves
get
10
in difficulties, especially
FIGHTER BOYS
when
sensory deprivation was combined with incompetence on the part
of those directing them on the ground. Al Deere nearly got killed while
being guided back after a night patrol in
who
church controller, balloons.
It
darkness by the Horn-
total
vectored him straight into a clump of barrage
was no wonder
many
that so
pilots
hated and feared night
flying.
The winter of 1939 through
it
memory
frozen in the
is
of those
On many
as the bitterest they ever endured.
who
lived
mornings, snow
had to be shovelled off the aprons and runways and the Merlin engines of the fighters aircraft
thawed out and run up before any
were often covered
in a crust
down
of ice and had to be scrubbed
with wire -bristle brooms. At Drem, the 'coldest spot on sat in
The
flying could take place.
earth', the pilots
poorly insulated dispersal huts, clustered around a lukewarm stove,
playing 'uckers' - a form of ludo - and waiting for the phone to ring. Very
soon everyone could distinguish the tone of the scramble, from that of the 'admin' to
make
and
flying
life
line.
'ops'
phone, announcing a
The bad weather would continue
in general difficult well into the spring.
Conditions in the cosy brick messes and living quarters of the fighter station headquarters stations could
were bearable enough, but existence
at the satellite
be miserable. The members of 32 Squadron,
ground crew, had arily closed so
to
move
to
Gravesend while Biggin
Hill
and
pilots
was tempor-
deep shelters could be dug and a concrete runway
- part of a nationwide programme to replace the
now
anachronistic grass fields with all-weather surfaces.
The squadron
laid
embarrassingly diarist
recorded that 'the wretched troops lived in the utmost discomfort, sleeping on palliases
NCOs
on the
also slept
floor
on the
and being fed from
floor,
and the
less
a
cooking
trailer
.
.
.
the
lucky of the officers/
Great ingenuity was used in the pursuit of fun.
When
the well-
connected sportsmen of 601 Auxiliary Squadron found themselves based briefly at
Hornchurch around Christmas, the commanding
Aitken, son of the press
officer,
magnate Lord Beaverbrook, used
his
Max
show-
business contacts to arrange for the cast of the Windmill Theatre to
visit.
The men loved
were
the
demure
striptease for
famous. Several members of the
which the Windmill
Women's
girls
Auxiliary Air Force, the
117
PATRICK BISHOP
who were now
'Waafs',
being posted to
RAF
around the
stations
country, walked out in protest, however.
For most
pilots,
though,
newcomers and those
the
life
was spartan and
uncertain, especially for
finishing their training. In letters
home
they
recounted their daily routines, successes and setbacks in a tone of jaunty confidence that seemed designed to calm the fears of anxious mothers
and
and
fathers, brothers
Occasionally, though, a note of doubt
sisters.
or worry breaks through the surface of imperturbability, a reminder that
behind the bravado were innocent young men, barely out of adolescence, green, apprehensive and homesick. Paddy Finucane, then at No. 8 Flying
Training School at to his
RAF
Montrose,
sounds
still
younger brother, Kevin. 'How did you
London when enjoyed
was
I
at
Uxbridge.
immensely. The part
it
I
like
was on
It
liked
like a
schoolboy in a
Robin Hood?
Noel Benson sent long, regular at their
house
saw
at the local fleapit
it
in
and
I
was when old Guy of Gisborne
got a good twelve inches of cold steel in the bread basket.
and shooting scenes were very good
I
letter
The
fighting
.*" .
.
letters to his
mother and doctor
father
Great Ouseburn, near York, throughout the winter of
at
1939 and 1940, detailing his progress.
He had gone
to Cranwell as a flight
cadet in April 1938 after leaving Sedbergh public school. At the end of
November writing
1939 he was with 145 Squadron at Redhill and Croydon and
home
complain that the
to
enough. His main concern petrol coupons,
He seems
the stinginess of the authorities in allocating
much
in the area for
blackout to give
sends are not long
which may prevent him from getting home
to have spent
and friends
is
letters 'daddy'
lifts
home
for leave.
of his spare time quietly, visiting family
lunch and supper, dutifully negotiating the to other guests.
The news from
the squadron
A brother pilot was getting married and he would dog as a present. A bitch in the Benson household had
was mostly domestic. like to give
him
recently littered.
a
Could they send photos of the pups so he can pick one
out? Occasionally he vented his frustration at the inaction of the
war.
One
n8
who had been to France. On
of his acquaintances was 'one of the lucky ones',
posted to one of the four fighter squadrons sent 1 1
phoney
December he was
'pretty fed
up because there
is
absolutely nothing
FIGHTER BOYS doing here. But the big bugs do such is
enough
to
make anyone wild and
probably choke with
shall
damn
stupid things at times that
fed up. If
I
try
I
rage!!!'
now
Eleven days later he had been posted to 603 Squadron, Prestwick near Glasgow, and was 'busy from the flying immediately
it
and say any more
which suited
me
fine/
word
go.
I
at
started
At the end of the month he
reported that he was 'having a very busy time here but like
it
very much.
am "on" from dawn to dusk, so you see have not much free time. am afraid there is no hope whatsoever of any leave for the next month I
I
I
or so/
On
the
first
day of the
New Year,
place as a fully operational
rades
'a
of the squadron.
very decent crowd', and liked the fact
outsiders, the unit
was
still
hobby. So there
really their
He found
that, despite
his
com-
his
an influx of
mostly composed of the pre-war amateurs.
'Being an auxiliary squadron they
was
Benson was trained up and took
member
[all]
is
had jobs before the war and
a lot of red tape brushed aside.
this
The
regulars in the squadron are quite often horrified at the irregular things that they
do but
I
The squadron
must say they get the job done/ routine
meant
that time off
was
scarce. After three
weeks' continual duty, he went with a friend to Glasgow, where they could 'hardly see a thing because just outside the city
smoke fog it
looked
that hangs over the place,
like dusk.
and although
it
we
ran into the
was mid afternoon
Everyone seemed to have long
faces
and
don't
I
blame them
if
girlfriends or
even women. The boyish note, the thank-yous to uncle Reg
for a cardigan
they are always in that muck.' There
and unknown donors
cold, gradually fades,
must be
a Spitfire,
no mention of
combat the
edged out by a mounting confidence. For
day, he announced, he It
for mittens to
is
would
like a car
no other type
badge,
will do.'
'in
On
8
'we chased away another Hitlerite today, two in into the clouds before
we
hellish
his birth-
the form of a Spitfire.
February he reported fact,
but they nipped
got a smack at them'. Early in March he once
again expressed his frustration, this time because the auxiliaries of 602
Squadron were seeing more action than deal of friendly rivalry
between
us,'
his
own
unit.
'There
is
a
good
he wrote. 'We are rather annoyed
119
PATRICK BISHOP
we have
because
been having
not seen any fun
the fun/
all
12
while
lately
other squadron has
this
This fretting at not being in the thick of things
earned him the nickname 'Broody', the commanding Benson's father if,
for
any reason, he was not allowed to
pondering over the
many problems
Noel Benson sounds from as a 'keen type'.
but
it
To be
fly'.
He
also 'had a habit of
confronting him'.
identified as such
13
have been what was known
his letters to
invited mild, affectionate scorn
of 603 told
officer
was always so despondent
'because he
later, in a letter,
won
a pilot official approval,
who
from comrades
considered
conspicuous effort to be slightly embarrassing. The truth was that almost
everyone was keen. They were just reluctant to appear
so.
Denis Wissler seems to have conformed more to the
was
intelligent
was of Swiss
of a
norm.
He
and warm-hearted to the point of vulnerability. His father and came from the family that invented Marmite,
origin,
whose London headquarters he service
social
commission
ran.
pilots. In
he was in the middle of advanced training Lossiemouth, in the
January 1940, aged nineteen, at
1
5 Flying
Training School
north of Scotland. Wissler kept a journal, each
far
how
evening recording the day's events, no matter
much beer had been
a short-
Bedford School, alma mater
in July 1939 after leaving
number of Fighter Command
RAF on
Denis joined the
tired
he was or
taken, in a small red leather Lett's diary.
It is
how
a lively
account: of days flying and fighting and evenings drinking, of flirtation
burgeoning into romance. Sounding through
it all is
one dominant and
recurring theme: his desire to succeed as a pilot and be worthy of the Fighter
Boy camaraderie
He began perfectly
fit
the course
and quite
at
working on perfecting straight
and
satisfaction.
level. 'I
'I
that he, like so
on
even gained height
My
rolls in succession'.
steep turns both
ways
air'.
On
3
January he spent the day
grand,' he recorded with
in the second.'
two
best efforts
Two
were
days later he
a spin (2) a
and
slow
felt
a roll at 1,000 feet
The following week he had
'(1)
to left
with the force of love.
- the manoeuvre of rotating while flying
two and they were
which he was put through
120
in the
his rolls
did
felt
January, flying in the morning and 'feeling
home
he 'had them taped now. then three
1
many,
a flying test in
roll (3) a
loop
right (4) a forced landing (5)
(3) [sic]
low
flying
FIGHTER BOYS (6)
slow low flying
said that
was
it
The
instructor
were
split-arse
a take-off and landing.
and naturally
(7)
quite good, but that
my
steep turns
(ragged and wild).' After a few days without flying, partly
because
of restrictions
imposed by the
instructors,
he was
it
seems
in the air again,
but noted disconsolately that he 'flew very badly today, heavens knows
why
because
I
really felt
flying again, but
somehow
Wissler was a good
he would
like to
on top of the world and was looking forward
pilot.
it
didn't just connect'. Despite the off days,
At one point he writes that he was asked
a long course of lectures
The prospect of dying
and exams and
on
little
On
his
from
a session
from
a spin, to find that his fellow pupils
old Wissler"
aeroplane
'.
'hit
Harvard, an
a
was
or no flying,
as
it
entailed
said
'I
NO.'
pointlessly, crashing into a hillside or misjudg-
ing a landing, was always present.
'I
if
go on an armament course, which would mean rapid
promotion and the chance of a permanent commission, but
and assumed
to
late
aircraft notoriously difficult to retrieve
a fried piece of
A week later
second day he came back
meat
a pupil
.
.
don't
a crash
everyone was saying ''poor
and instructor were
we
something, what,
had heard rumours of .
know
killed after their
yet but
it
brought the
plane down'.
Lossiemouth was an isolated
spot, stranded
on the
chilly extremities
of the Morayshire coast, but there were cinemas and pubs a few miles
away
in Elgin.
Given the town's
variety of films to see.
On
isolation, there
19 January Wissler
seems to have been
and
his friend
a
'Wootty' -
Ernest Wootten, another short-service entrant - saw The Ghost Goes West,
which he judged says about
it'.
a 'grand film
and
really
comes up
to
what everyone
In the next nine days he took in Wuthering Heights, Jesse
James, The Four Feathers and The Lion Has Wings, a stirring story featuring
Bomber and in
Fighter
Command
North Sea harbours
Korda and
starring
Hornchurch using
The hard work
Ralph Richardson. Sequences of 'B' Flight
in the air
... In fact
I
German warships
beginning of the war, directed by Alexander
at the
it
had been shot
at
of 74 Squadron the day after Barking Creek.
was supplemented by hearty
2 February he wrote, 'we did
enough
based on the raid on
no
flying today as the
did nothing until the evening
drinking.
On
weather wasn't good
when Wootty and
I
121
PATRICK BISHOP
went out
"Beach Bar" and met Sergeant Harman, one of the
to the
instructors in
badly that
my
flight,
and
really got
I
more drunk than ever
before, so
couldn't even stand.'
I
Despite the overall cheeriness that emanates from the faded ink,
sometimes
his
mood
faltered
and dejection crept
went down with German measles ('most and was confined to bed. Four days and walked down to
flights.
On
unpatriotic'),
later
February he
8
came up
he was allowed out.
Wootty wasn't doing anything
walked into Lossiemouth where
I
posted a letter
magazine to help while away the time uneatable tonight.
in.
Oh God what
is
and
'I
got up
so he and
home and bought Our dinner was
this evening.
a hole this
in spots
how
glad
I
shall
I
a
quite
be to
go-'
He
was,
it is
clear, painfully
homesick. The laborious procedures and
long delays involved in making a trunk restrictions,
made worst by wartime
call,
never deterred him from ringing home. After a night drink-
ing strong ale mixed with draught bitter he none the less his parents
were waiting
line, 'carried if
I
on
to hear
a small conversation.
had missed one word
On
from him and,
after a lengthy wait for a
could never have forgiven myself
I
Mummy or Pop had said.'
Friday, 16 February, he
and the
of his
rest
class
leaving dinner in the mess and got appropriately drunk.
day he learned he was going to
He wrote wobbly It
the
news
remembered
in his diary
St
writing, registering his delight.
a
The following
in
Wales
to finish his training.
train
home
to ten days' leave in
Athans
on the
were given
It
meant
took several more weeks and another
that he
move
was 'on
fighters'.
to the operational train-
ing unit at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire before he finally took the controls 'I
of the aeroplane that would carry him through the rest of his war.
at last
went
solo in a "Hurricane",' he wrote
'and did five landings in
very is
difficult ...
done by
all
I
fifty
minutes.
It is
now wear the top who fly fighters.'
can
people
a
on Wednesday, 20 March,
grand aeroplane and not so
button of
my
tunic undone, as
14
The remainder of Wissler's time
at
Sutton Bridge was spent on Har-
vards and Hurricanes, frequently practising the disciplined formation
manoeuvres 122
that
were
still
considered to be the best training for
air fly-
FIGHTER BOYS ing. In the
evening there was snooker and darts
The war was moving
Bridge, a local hotel.
was made
request
for volunteers to
go to France
mess or
in the
to replace casualties in
name
the four fighter squadrons based there. Wissler put his
his parents.
At the end of April there was another of
was being posted
the pilots
celled at the last minute.
It
was
flap
when
it
Norway. His order
to
appeared that one to
move was
Dowding had been asked
can-
example of the chaos surrounding
a small
an enterprise that was ill-organized and amateurish from
start to finish.
to provide fighter cover for an expedition to
Sweden and provide help
secure the iron-ore fields of northern
who had been showing unexpectedly
Finns,
forward,
move would
then reconsidered after worrying about the effect such a
have on
at the
At the end of March a
closer.
for the
strong resistance to the Rus-
sian invaders in their 'Winter War'. Following the capitulation of the
Finns to
Moscow
March, the Germans had taken the opportunity on
in
and
9 April to seize ports
war
Norway
airfields in
as bases for
an escalated
now
and the objective changed. The force was
against Britain
charged with seizing them back and 263 Squadron was assigne^fo help
them. The squadron had only been reformed
was equipped with pieces.
was
It
bombers. The
facing
500 Luftwaffe
pilots arrived
having flown in from the
on the
ice
no
were frozen
was no mobile
petrol
330
Their base was to be
to the ice, the controls locked solid,
To compound
bowser or
radar, only
two
at a
it
all
was
a hopeless situation, sup-
nearby port
light
and
guns for
failed to arrive so
airfield
defence and
acid for the accumulators in the starter trolleys used
up the engines.
In the
end these
by Heinkel
Ills,
deficiencies
were academic. The base was attacked
which swept over, bombing and machine-gunning the
Gladiators as they sat glued to the
crews,
museum
aircraft/ including
aircraft carrier Glorious.
supposed to have been waiting
to fire
combat
the look of
near Trondheim on the evening of 24 April,
impossible to start the engines.
there
montl^fpjvjously and
six
now had
of Lake Lesjaskog. The following morning the wheels of
the machines
plies
which
Gladiators,
many
of
whom
were new
ice.
The
already demoralized ground
to the squadron, ran for the cover of
123
PATRICK BISHOP the surrounding forest.
reduced to
were
By
five serviceable aircraft.
and on the
three,
drawn
By the end of
first
day the squadron was
the end of the second day there
were none. The squadron was with-
third there
and re-equip.
to re-form
the
On
May
22
it
was back
Norway with
in
where
Gladiators as part of the force trying to capture Narvik,
its
joined by 46 Squadron, equipped with Hurricanes. This time to operate
down
on twelve
twenty-six
No. 46 Squadron destroyed.
when
be unusable.
the
and claiming to have shot
on twelve days and claimed eleven
Norway from
the Glorious, but had to return to
On their return they had to abandon a second base
was diverted
the squadron
Sergeant Richard Earp,
grammar
ground and went
who had gone
to Halton
from
on
He remembered
it
and
it
Skaanland as 'nothing but a
just rolled
melted snow and lived
You
blankets.
bloody
the squadron left
him back
of
managed
strip
in front
It
was
I
to
fjord.
there and they'd covered
15
of his wheels/
six to a tent. 'All
by a
had was
daylight
They washed
groundsheet and
a
all
came along
the time.
was
It
As the decision was taken to abandon the campaign,
was withdrawn.
on
a fishing boat
to Scotland.
that 'there
up
couldn't sleep.
cold.'
rest
Warrington
his
the place with coconut matting and wire netting. Poor Cross
Earp
Skaan-
to Bardufoss, sixty miles to the north. Flight
The troops had been working very hard out
terribly
at
and the
tail-up,
school before being selected for flying training,
land safely.
two
aircraft
selected, near Harstad, turned out to
first airfield
Cross, ploughed into the soft
in
managed
two Hurricanes, including one flown by Squadron Leader
land after
to land
was
aircraft.
also flew
arrived in
It
Scapa Flow
days, flying 389 sorties
enemy
it
it
When
and was picked up by
a destroyer that
he returned to the base
was hardly any of the
rest
of the squadron
at
took
Digby he found
left'.
On
7 June ten
exhausted pilots of 46 Squadron managed to land their Hurricanes on the Glorious, despite the feat.
absence of arrester hooks, supposedly an impossible
No. 263 Squadron was already embarked.
carrier
was sighted by
On
the battlecruiser Scharnhorst,
the
way back
which opened
long range. The second salvo smashed into the ship, setting
sank within an hour, taking with
124
it
1,474 officers
and
men
it
the
fire at
ablaze.
It
of the Royal
FIGHTER BOYS
Navy and was the
41
members of the RAF,
final disaster in a
of Fighter
Command,
it
including
all
but two of the
doomed campaign. From
was
in the
It
the cold perspective
also a terrible waste of
which would be badly needed
pilots.
men and
machines
months ahead.
125
Return to the Western Front
In Britain the Fighter
Channel
When,
Boys waited for the
a handful of pilots
were getting
September 1939, the
in
fleet
first
week of the war
ment had been agreed
went
too.
Four
to support the
lay ahead.
was
sent to
were
fighter squadrons
army and
protect a small
was
to turn out,
someone
Home
was
would be committed to fight
earlier in the year.
Base had been assured'. His
that once the
to providing
else's battle,
The squadrons flew
earth,
war
off to bases that
forests
fear, justified
aircraft
and
leaving the country's air defences
would have been
and shattered
recovering from four years under the
pilots fatally
familiar to their
them over shell-ploughed
villages
hammer
arrived in high spirits in Le Havre, flying
RAF
to attack Britain.
predecessors. Their daily patrols took splintered
the less pro-
started in France, the
more and more
weakened when the Germans moved on
RFC
Dowding none
he had been promised that no fighters would be sent
until 'the safety of the it
what
of bombers, the Advanced Air Striking Force. This token deploy-
tested, claiming
as
a foretaste of
British Expeditionary Force
France, the air force inevitably sent in the
real battle to begin. Across the
that
were only
of war. No.
low over the town
1
just
Squadron
in a display
of exuberance that impressed both the locals and the Americans crowding the port in search of a passage requisitioned convent, and their Tell, the
126
home. They spent
first
their first night in a
evening drinking in the Guillaume
Normandie, the Grosse Tonne and La Lune. The
latter
was
a
FIGHTER BOYS on
brothel where the carousing could go
dawn. The following day
until
they blew away their hangovers with a choreographed 'beat up' of the
town, looping and rolling
move
waiting to
formation
in tight
to their forward base, the pilots spent the non-flying
hours of the day playing football and writing
'We
evenings cruising the boulevards. in
France would probably be our
time and
we wanted
joined the squadron
make
to
me
confession, 'giving
come'.
all felt
letters
that our
home, and the
first taste
of service
of civilization and peace for a long
the best of it,' wrote Paul Richey,
months
six
last
earlier.
peace with God. The old cure
his
rooftop height. While
at
He took the
at the
who had
opportunity to
make
church of St Michel heard
the strength and courage to face whatever
his
was
to
1
The No. typical
1
had
pilots
of temperaments and backgrounds,
a rich variety
of the established squadrons going into the war. The unit
had served on the Western Front from 1915 and got through the
war
years without suffering disbandment or amalgamation.
was
P. J.
H.
'Bull'
Halahan, whose
had been an
Irish father
inter-
Its
leader
RFC
pilot.
His flight commanders were Peter 'Johnny' Walker from Suffolk, a
member
of the unit's acrobatic team at the 1937
and Peter Prosser Hanks from York, since
September
Canadian,
'Pussy'; a
who had been was
1936.
an
who had been
Mark
RAAF
figure with black
Dundalk
wavy
born
in
died
when he was
scheme
for
enough
to
'Hilly'
cadet,
where he
hair
in 1913,
orphans
and
a
New Zealander,
and
chiselled
as
Leslie Clisby,
Bill Stratton.
'Killy'
was
a
There
romantic
good looks who had been
one of eight children of
a forester. His father
nine and he was dispatched to Australia under a
known
as 'Big Brother'.
lived for five years.
an aunt, and got a job
He moved on
Sir
way
to
as
he was old
New
South Wales,
to Shanghai,
where he had
Shanghai gasworks. In
his spare
Victor Sassoon. Seeing an advertisement
offering short-service commissions, he applied, his
As soon
cattle station in
as a clerk in the
time he rode as a jockey for
made
with the squadron
Brown; an Australian,
work, he was sent to a
interview and
Air Pageant;
There was an American, Cyril Palmer, known
an Irishman, John Ignatius Kilmartin.
also
Hendon
London
was summoned
for
an
via the Trans-Siberian Railway
127
PATRICK BISHOP in
company with
Sumo
group of
a
wrestlers heading for the 1936 Berlin
Olympics.
There were four sergeant Berry, both of
whom
pilots:
had begun
Arthur
Clowes and Fred
'Taffy'
their careers as aircraft apprentices in
1929 and volunteered for pilot training, and Frank Soper and Rennie
The best-known member of
Albonico. Richey,
whose
Fighter Pilot, based
on
the squadron
of
air fighting,
educated
at
intelligent
and
still
in 1941,
the experience and ethos
rings with unalloyed authenticity. Richey
strikingly good-looking.
became
good
artist,
He was
linguist.
Cuthbert Orde,
war
a
a
also
who had been
found him
and serious minded', while acknowledging
tall,
was
He was
the Institut Fisher in Switzerland and at Downside.
and amusing and
before he
to be Paul
and published
his diaries
was one of the best books ever written about
was
blond and
a pilot in the
RFC
'rather quiet, shy
at first
enthusiasm for a party.
his
Richey's comparative sophistication disguised a strong humanitarian streak and an unusual ability to analyse his feelings.
the victims of the war,
with
Billy
down line
be.
It
was
sympathized with
a quality he shared
Drake, another middle-class Catholic boy in
displayed a
By
whoever they might
He
1
Squadron
marked sense of decency.
the middle of October, after several moves, the squadron settled at
an
airfield
near Vassincourt, perched above a canal and a railway
amid lush and watery cow pastures near Bar-le-Duc where Cham-
pagne meets Lorraine. No. 73 Squadron was based not Rouvres, on the drab duties
were
Woevre
to protect the
port of the French
German
To
army
Battle
far
away
at
of the heights of Verdun. Their Striking Force, deployed
around
bombers
in sup-
and Blenheim
light
holding the Maginot Line along the Franco-
frontier.
the north
who formed
were 85 and 87 Squadrons, equipped with Hurricanes,
the fighter element of the air
Expeditionary Force (BEF). auxiliary
plain, east
Advanced Air
Reims and made up of Fairey
component of the
They were joined on
squadrons, 607 (County of
Surrey), in response to persistent for British forces in France to
128
who
15
British
November by two
Durham) and 615 (County of
demands from
the French
government
be strengthened. They would have to make
FIGHTER BOYS
undercarriage airfields
made them
to grief
a
weapon
The
grass
French campaign turning into an unstoppable
on resources had made him determined not
drain
on the rough
narrower wheelbase.
its
also a strategic reason for the decision not to send Spitfires.
Dowding's vision of
the
come
less likely to
of northern France than the Spitfire with
There was
able
The Hurricanes' wide
their Gladiators until Hurricanes arrived.
do with
most
to risk his
valu-
in the enterprise.
pilots
of
1
Squadron were
airfield, a village
billeted in Neuville, a
few miles from
accustomed to being washed by the
having been twice occupied by the Germans,
in 1871
of war,
tides
and 1914. The
On
squadron flew patrols whenever the poor weather permitted.
a clear
day the view from the cockpit was sublime, with the Rhine winding the distance,
beyond
it
way
the Black Forest, and
off, glittering
on the
in far
horizon, the white battlements of the Swiss Alps. As in Britain, friends
prove more dangerous than enemies. Richey, mistaken
were
at first to
for a
German, was attacked by two French
the relatively slow and l'Air.
pilots in Morane-Saulniers,
underarmed standard
fighter of the
On
to
off.
the afternoon of 30 October 1939, a gloriously sunny day, the
unfamiliar drone of
bombers was heard high over the
the pilots scrambling to get airborne and give chase.
airfield,
Ten
the squadron in June, caught 18,000 feet.
up with
sending
miles west of
who
Toul, Pilot Officer Peter 'Boy' Mould, an ex-Cranwell cadet
joined
a Dornier 17 cruising along at
Mould approached from behind, hosing
the
bomber nose
to
with his Brownings. The Dornier, according to the squadron oper-
ations record book, 'appeared to have ive tactics It
him
Fortunately his Hurricane's superior performance allowed
shake them
tail
Armee de
caught
were employed and no
fire
fire
been taken by surprise
was encountered by
as
PO
no
evas-
Mould'.
immediately, plunged into a vertical dive and exploded into
the French countryside.
The only
discernible
remnants of the crew of
four were five hands recovered from the wreckage, along with a mangled
gun and an oxygen to the
debris
mess
bottle with a bullet hole in
as trophies in
was buried with
full
an echo of old military
it,
RFC
which were taken off practices.
honours but Mould
felt
The human
bad about
his
129
PATRICK BISHOP victory, getting very
sorry that
I
J
went and looked
wreck.
at the
What
me down
gets
bloody
the thought
is
it.'
much
of the time there was
practice attacks
on 'enemy'
Battles.
to do, apart
from patrol and
The problem, from
the fighter pilots'
little
point of view, was not that there were too
When
Tm
telling Richey:
2
did
For
drunk that night and
many Germans,
but too few.
they did appear, usually flying high on cautious reconnaissance
them
missions along the frontier defences, there was a rush to get at
could produce
moments of black
fruitless patrols,
bad weather and
of activity. Between them
1
farce.
On
23
November,
after
that
weeks of
exercises, there was, for a change, plenty
Squadron and 73 Squadron accounted
Dorniers and a Heinkel 111. The Heinkel was heading
for five
home when
was
it
spotted at 20,000 feet between Verdun and Metz by a section of three
Hurricanes from
1
who
Squadron,
chased
German
over the
it
frontier.
The
effect
least
eleven of the Hurricanes' guns were frozen because of the altitude, a
fault later
bursts,
of their repeated attacks was limited owing to the
remedied when engine heat was fed to the gunports. The
which
finally
brought the Heinkel down, were
Clowes, the ex-Halton boy
who was one
firing wildly.
One
The French
was only by an extraordinary
to nurse his
machine back
noticed that, ing he
was trembling
violently
in,
destroying half the rud-
tail,
pilot
was forced
display of virtuosity that
to Vassincourt,
when he emerged from
by Taffy
French Moranes rushed
six
of them smashed into his
der and one of the elevators.
fired
last
of the squadron's most dogged
and skilful pilots. As he was breaking away,
it
fact that at
and
to bale out
Clowes was
able
where he crash-landed. Richey
the cockpit, 'though he
and couldn't
talk coherently'.
was laugh-
3
Clowes's experience was one of several dramas on an eventful day. '
Earlier Pussy
setting
it
on
Palmer had led a section from A' Flight against
fire.
The
rear
a Dornier,
gunner and navigator escaped by parachute, but
the pilot flew on. As Palmer
drew
causing the Hurricane to overshoot.
and opened up, hitting the
German
alongside, the
Then he
fastened
aircraft thirty-four times.
on
throttled back, to Palmer's
One
tail
round, which
punctured the locker behind Palmer's head and smashed the windscreen,
would 130
surely have killed
him
if
he had not put
his
machine into
a dive.
FIGHTER BOYS
With clouds of smoke
issuing
but
when
his
wheels up. The others
from the engine, he prepared
to bale out,
they dispersed, strapped himself in again and crash-landed with
returned to the attack, and
time the Dornier went down. Miracu-
this
seemed unharmed
lously the pilot
and Frank Soper,
in the flight, Killy Kilmartin
as
he clambered out of his devastated
machine, giving them a wave as they circled overhead.
The
were reluctant
pilots
to
chivalry clung to the business of
RFC would honour the the mess. gaol,
to
and
abandon the notion
air fighting.
That
have recognized and applauded,
who had
pilot
By now he was
borrow him
night, in a gesture the
Squadron decided to
fought so doggedly and well with dinner in in the
who
Drake,
Billy
1
that a trace of
like
hands of the French
at Ste
Menehould
Richey spoke good French, was sent off
for the evening. His captors reluctantly let
him
go,
on
condition that he was accompanied by a gendarme and delivered to the citadel at
His
Verdun when the evening was
name was Arno
Frankenberger, and he had been a glider pilot
when he
before the war,
joined the Luftwaffe, volunteering for special
The
reconnaissance duties.
pilots did their best to help
ing trophies from the mess and insisting
At
first
over.
on
It
fell
and put
silent
his
head
commission
instead,
riedly/ he said.
of beans.
In these
a vet,
said,
were
improved
who had
a
"You know,
in I
After a
Matthews,
a
planned to follow
about
was
next. 'He left rather hur-
minutes' time he was
five
by
told
bunch of swine, but you're
spirits
remov-
but applied for a short-service
watched what happened
'When he came back
He
British air force
and become
officer.
in his hands. Peter
twenty-year-old pilot officer from Liverpool in his father's footsteps
relax,
was hard work.
he stood up every time he was addressed by an
while he
full
names.
first
him
my
all
officers that the
very nice chaps."
he boasted that the German maps of Britain
were better than the ones of the German pinned up on the mess wall, and that the
frontier the
new
squadron had
variation of the Messer-
schmitt 109 was superior to the Hurricane.
The Hurricane would not come
pilots
had yet to put
this
proposition to the test and
face to face with the Luftwaffe's
the spring of 1940.
The
most
lethal fighter until
intervening months were spent patrolling,
131
PATRICK BISHOP and learning what they could from limited experience. Pussy
training
Palmer's narrow escape had demonstrated the ing behind the pilot's back. In front, there insisted
upon by Dowding
Air Ministry
need
for
armour
a bullet-proof
be
in a request for steel plates to
and impair
gravity
The bomber had the record to
behind the
fitted
removed and
book noted extent,
time on
this
Halahan was not deterred.
wrecked
a
a Hurricane.
and
Battle
The squadron
that 'although this alters the flying characteristics
it
most
certainly adds to the pilot's confidence'.
short-service officer
who
experienced
was sent back
a
on
seat.
.
.
.
The
outweighed the disadvantage. Hilly Brown, the Canadian
benefit greatly
and gave
fitted
The
the aeroplane's centre of
had armour. He tracked down
pilots
steel plating
some
would upset
flying performance. Bull
its
windscreen
protection.
Hawker's were consulted, but again there were objections, the grounds that the extra weight
plat-
of the objections of cost-conscious
The engine block also gave forward
officials.
squadron put
in the face
vital
was
pilots,
at
twenty-eight was one of the squadron's most to Britain with the modified aircraft
demonstration of aerobatics that persuaded the Air Ministry
experts to change their minds.
By mid March
1940,
all
No.
had been equipped, and from then on the armour was
RAF
equipment to
fighters, saving
many
l's
Hurricanes standard
fitted as
lives.
Halahan's refusal to be baulked was characteristic.
He was
determined
to introduce any innovation that added to the safety and efficiency of his
men. Halahan was one of the which
had
fighter aircraft
and would
significantly
Dowding had decided
to realize that the official range at
first
their eight
guns harmonized was misjudged
reduce their destructive power. Before the war
that concentrating
machine-gun
fire in a
cone 400
yards ahead of a Hurricane or Spitfire was the most effective
bringing limits
down
of the
enemy
innocent days
mand were
a big target like a
when
They doubted
defensive
fire.
The
seemed
that
bombers were
it
likely to
bomber, while keeping
way
men
of
at the
decision had been taken in the all
that Fighter
Com-
meet. Halahan and his pilots were unconvinced.
that at 400 yards .303 bullets
still
true and penetrate armour, or that the spread
destroy the target, especially
132
his
if it
was
a small
had the velocity to
would be dense enough
one
like
an
Me
109.
fly
to
During
FIGHTER BOYS the squadron's annual month's shooting practice in the spring of 1939, all
the guns had therefore been quietly
harmonized
250 yards. The
at
modification meant that pilots had to get in closer. But as events in
France were to prove,
more
it
made
the Hurricanes of
1
Squadron considerably
of other squadrons shooting
lethal than those
at the official range,
and eventually the 250-yard harmonization became standard.
Another innovation was borrowed from the Luftwaffe. in
British fighters
France had the underside of one wing painted black and the other
white, which the pilots
German
aircraft
felt
made them look
were duck-egg
like flying
blue, to blend in with the sky
ish their visibility to attackers lurking
adopted by
all
RAF
and dimin-
underneath. Halahan ordered the
squadron machines to be painted the same colour, and also
chequer boards.
this in
turn was
fighters.
Contrary to his bruiser appearance, Halahan was a thoughtful officer
who
tried
and sought
hard to divine the to prepare the
delivering a lecture
likely
squadron
nature of the approaching battle
he could, one evening
as best as
on what the war would mean
for fighter pilots.
was equally concerned about the well-being of those under
his
He
command,
introducing rotas to give pilots and airmen regular breaks and arranging
make
diversions and encouraging excursions to
off-duty time as enjoy-
able as possible. Neuville, a cluster of utilitarian streets relieved rustic half-timbered
by
a
few
houses and presided over by a handsome Roman-
esque church, was welcoming enough. Pilots and airmen were treated
with warmth in the houses where they lodged and durable friendships
were made. The
mess
officers established their
in the mairie.
The
ser-
geants set up an English-style pub in a cafe. Paulette Regnauld, arrived,
who was
remembered them
There was
a certain
when
fourteen
as 'polite
amount of
and
flirting
a big party at the mairie,
More than
sixty years
on she
friendly.
kitchen table in her house in the
retained
town
in well.
chocolate. At Christmas there
where they chased
still
They mixed
but they behaved themselves.
They were generous and gave us meat and was
the aviateurs Brittaniqu.es
some
all
the pretty
5
girls.'
souvenirs. Sitting at the
square, she produced a postcard
from an airman, William Mumford, sent from Uxbridge while on leave
133
PATRICK BISHOP in
February 1940.
A
monochrome of
photograph, printed in the dense
1940 film, showed Pussy Palmer, Killy Kilmartin and several other pilots
The long
standing amiably in front of the church, smiling at the camera.
shadows
cast
by the sinking winter sun throw the well-muffled
woman
houettes of the
taking the picture and her female
across the church steps. jackets.
The
cold
Neuville, for
would
up
fly
to Nancy,
to
is
pilots are in flying
companion
boots and sheepskin
almost palpable.
all its
had
friendliness,
Rouvres to meet
Metz or
On
limitations.
its
their friends in 73
Bar-le-Duc,
unofficial headquarters
welcomed them
The
sil-
Squadron or head
were
off
where the Hotel de Metz was
their
Madame
Jean,
and the wife of the owner's son,
as if they
days off pilots
family.
At Nancy the main attraction was
the Roxy, described by Richey as 'low-ceilinged with a dim, religious
had
light. It
a bar at
one end and
a
dance floor
at the other.
Round
the
plush-draped walls were crowded tables and comfortable chairs. The bar
was
invariably surrounded
officers
by
throng of British and French
a
and "ladies of the evening", waiting to be given a
time and anything else one could afford/ stirred
memories
6
was
It
drink, a
a scene that
as cruel in
northern France as in
at a
time snow and blanketing cloud
was
iron hard, wrecking the
out to take-off or touched
tail
made
Britain.
flying impossible.
wheels of the Hurricanes
down
after a patrol.
occasional and usually inconclusive.
The
pilots
The ground
as they taxied
aircraft
tantalizingly across the sky 20,000 feet overhead.
propellers.
The
were
fitted
were
found they could not
climb quickly enough to reach the high-flying reconnaissance
that their Hurricanes
For weeks
The squadron worked
hard whenever circumstances allowed. Sightings of enemy
lem was
good
would have
for Cecil Lewis.
The winter was
they crawled
air force
aircraft as
One
prob-
with early two-bladed wooden
pitch of the airscrew could not be varied to improve
acceleration and achieve the
capable of delivering.
optimum
rate of climb the engines
The problem was solved when
the
first
were
machine
with a three-bladed constant-speed airscrew, which automatically adjusted to the rate of revs to get the best results, 1940.
134
Halahan was the
first
to fly
it,
was delivered
in April
followed by the more experienced
FIGHTER BOYS of
pilots, all its
whom,
the squadron log recorded, 'were greatly pleased by
superior performance
ally
5
From then on
.
thenW
replaced by
the old Hurricanes were gradu-
models, but some pilots were
woodenpippetters wheii the fighting began In
March
more
still
flying with
in earnest.
became
the weather began to improve slightly and patrolling
Two new
intense.
pilots arrived at the
squadron, Pilot Officer
Robert Shaw and Flying Officer Harold Salmon. Shaw, from Bolton, had
been one of the
first
full-time duty at the
RAF
to join the
and had only been called up to
outbreak of war. Salmon had learned to
and was
in 1933
RAFVR
summoned from
fly
with the
the reserve in September 1939.
Both had done conversion courses to Hurricanes before being posted to France. Halahan
book noted:
'It
was not impressed by
is
observed that
insufficiently trained its
limitations.
They
[radio telephony]
and
[sic]
for active service,
them
out from England are
have had
little
and
It
means time taken
to give these pilots the necessary training
also adds to the precious aircraft flying.'
Both
men were
hours to allow
to remain with the
squadron throughout the summer, with Salmon claiming an
and
a
probable
fighter pilot fighter 3
Me
Shaw was
109.
September he
Sussex
coast
failed to return
Me
110
less successful. In his brief life as a
He was
he shot nothing down.
over the
on R/T
or no practice
and to have never used oxygen.
do non-operational
to
pilots sent
too few hours on type to be familiar with
also appear to
from squadron duties
off
new
The record
their preparations.
himself attacked by a British
August and forced to
in
from
one of the many unremarked young
a patrol pilots
land.
On
and was reported missing,
among
Fighter
Command's
dead that year.
The
pilots
was due
ron. This
to a
more
over the
1
Squad-
partly to their closer proximity to the frontier, partly
aggressive approach that sometimes took pilots scores of miles
German
to take risks
old
of 73 Squadron had seen more action than those of
lines in defiance
was Flying
of standing orders. The most willing
Officer Edgar 'Cobber' Kain, a twenty-one-year-
New Zealander who had first attracted attention when he
the crowds at the 1938 Empire Air aerobatic display. In
November
Day show with
entertained
a particularly daring
1939 he destroyed two Dorniers and in
135
PATRICK BISHOP January 1940
won
DFC. Kain was
a
regarded by his peers as a
term that mixed approval with concern, and
pilot', a
his
'split-arse
approach bor-
dered on recklessness.
Kain soon became
to British
of correspondents based
efforts
five
known
enemy
aircraft
newspaper readers through the
Reims, who, after he had shot
at
by the end of March, proclaimed him the
ace'
first
the war. Halahan disliked this development, as did others further
RAF
down
'
of
up the
chain of command. Halahan preached caution, feeling there was no
point in risking precious lives and machines before the real battle started.
No.
Squadron seldom crossed the
1
altitude, turning
han was ing
it
back
sweep
in a
When
it
draw any German
to
did
it
was
at
high
fighters out. Hala-
also strongly against publicizing the acts of single pilots, believ-
undermined squadron
from the
frontier.
base.
The
and he banned newspaper reporters
spirit,
Air Ministry had
seemed
initially
to
welcome pub-
sending four experienced journalists to act as press officers to
licity,
France, but
it
was soon
in conflict
with the special correspondents.
Despite the eagerness of the hacks to produce patriotic material, fretted
officials
about security and imposed heavy censorship that resulted
in dis-
patches being slashed and rewritten out of recognition. Air Marshal Sir
Arthur Barratt, the commander of the British Air Forces shared the view that creating
squadron members. ordered that offices,
all
When
'aces'
was bad
for the
in France, also
morale of ordinary
Barratt forbade interviews with pilots
and
information must be filtered through service press
news organizations sulked and
withdrew
finally
their
men from
France.
But the newspapers had recognized that Fighter purpose and character were public, their
was
still
known
only vaguely to the British
a rich potential source of stirring
myth-making mission.
of the
copy and were bent on
In an aggrieved article complaining about
restrictions, the Daily Express correspondent,
The young men
Command, whose
RAF who
O. D. Gallagher, wrote:
have not yet spread
their
wings
in
wartime need their heroes. They're entitled to them, and whatever the policy-makers
came 136
may
say
on
this score, they're
to pass, but at a time
when
going to have them.' So
it
authority had decided that the propa-
FIGHTER BOYS ganda benefits of publicizing
overwhelmed
fighter pilots
other con-
all
siderations.
The long-awaited encounter with
the Messerschmitts came, finally, at
the beginning of March.
Cobber Kain had the
Me
the
109
on
2
March over
was badly shot up
German
lines
near Saarbrucken. His aircraft
Werner Molders,
War, who was himself and
status of an ace. Kain's standing,
in the process
in training.
a veteran
of
of acquiring the
his at this stage rare first-hand
experience of the Luftwaffe's machines, pilots and
him back temporarily
authorities to bring
downing an
success,
and he was forced to crash-land near Metz.
in the fight
His attacker was probably Oberleutnant the Spanish Civil
first
tactics,
persuaded the
to Britain to lecture to pilots
Christopher Foxley-Norris, by then preparing to join an army
cooperation squadron equipped with lethally slow Lysanders, was present
when Kain gave
a talk
got up at the back and
What happens
sir.
most
fighter evasion. 'At the end,
"You've told us
was
109
of clearing the
- the same
its
it
seemed
in the spring
equally focussed
raids.
The
bomber
fleets
aircraft's boastful
in the
of 1940.
on by the
and
slightly faster
roles
and attacking
in-
nickname, Zerstorer
nominal top speed of nearly 350 m.p.h.
as a Spitfire
was 'being
most feared aeroplane
RAF was
for the Luftwaffe
coming enemy bombing (Destroyer), and
and they're very short of
which had been designed with the dual
110s,
way
fighter,
six 109s'.
was not how
attention of everyone in the
Me
one
the questioner he
to turn out to be the
Luftwaffe's line-up but that
twin-engined
to evade
8
chased around a church steeple by
The
aircraft
The next time Foxley-Norris saw
The Me
how
somebody
you meet two?" To which the answer was, "Oh,
They haven't got many
unlikely.
fuel."'
if
said,
on
at 21,500 feet
than a Hurricane -
made
it
the
subject of apprehensive fascination. Air Marshal Barratt even offered
dinner in Paris to the
The
distinction
first
fell,
pilot to
shoot one down.
collectively, to three
No.
between them on 29 March destroyed three Bill
Stratton and Taffy
patrol over
nine
Me
Metz
Me
Clowes were ordered up
at 25,000 feet.
Half an hour
1
Squadron 110s.
pilots,
who
Johnny Walker,
in the early afternoon to
after taking off they spotted
110s cruising unconcernedly in sections of three in line astern,
137
PATRICK BISHOP
Once
east of the city.
German machines
'proved very manoeuvrable, doing
coming up
diving out,
attacked, according to the squadron record, the
The ensuing
in stall turns'.
and
half-rolls
dogfight followed the
inexorable physical rules of such engagements, with the advantage
shift-
ing from attacker to attacked and back again as they followed each other's
tails in
bare 2,000
feet.
a
downward
spiral that in
no time brought the melee
to a
Walker and Stratton ran out of ammunition and returned
to Vassincourt, believing they
had crippled one machine, the wreckage
of which was later found. Clowes meanwhile had disposed of two. After
Me
hearing their accounts, the consensus was that the
fearsome this
as their
combat
it
manoeuvrable
by
a
name
may
suggested.
The record concluded:
be stated that the
Me
110,
pilots also reported that
gunner was incapable of returning
fire
were not
as
'As a result of
although very
for a twin-engined aircraft, can easily
Hurricane/ The
110s
fast
and
be outmanoeuvred
appeared that the rear
'it
Me
whilst [the]
110
was
in
combat
because of the steep turns "blacking him out" or making him too uncom-
Two
fortable to take proper aim.' Barratt kept his promise.
he sent
his personal aircraft to
whisk the three to
days later
Paris for dinner at
Maxim's.
On
morning of
the
squadron's
first 109. It
their success, Paul
was
a fine
Richey brought
down
the
day with high, patchy cloud when he
took off with Pussy Palmer and Peter Matthews towards Metz. Noticing puffs of
went
smoke from French
to investigate
anti-aircraft fire
and saw the pale-blue
fighters 1,000 feet overhead.
hanging
of two single-engined
bellies
As they climbed to reach them, they were
nobody had
attacked from behind by three other 109s that
Matthews
called a
warning over the
cane into a sharp turn to the desperate
spun
move
down
left in
R/T and Palmer jammed what was
become
noticed.
his Hurri-
the standard,
to escape a pursuing 109. In doing so he lost control
and turned, and
as the
G
Watching
Matthews
forces drained the blood
blacked out, coming to only at 10,000 his
him, but was unsure whether
138
to
for 12,000 feet before straightening out.
a left-hand turn.
in the sky, they
tail, it
feet.
also dived
his
head he
Richey continued to climb in
he noticed an
was
from
and
aircraft
friend or foe
moving behind
and waited to see
if it
FIGHTER BOYS opened
When
fire.
it
did,
down underneath
he twisted
flattened out violently,' he wrote, 'either he or
my
had seen above dived on
He was
cockpit.
and
I
heard
I
must have
swoop with me on
steeply,
his
of
lost sight
tail.'
when Richey
than Richey. But
one of the other 109s
I
engine and
his
pulled up in front of me, stall-turned graceful
I
port side and whipped past just above
so close that
realized that he
his nose. 'As
me
in the
the air wave,
manoeuvre. He
and dived steeply
left
The German was up
pulled
felt
violently
in a long,
faster in the dive
and began climbing
he started to gain on him. When, eventually, he was a few hun-
dred yards distant, he
'let
him have
My
it.
gun button was
have been
because he took no evasive action, merely
hit
a vertical spiral.
were
pilots
and flame or the
was
hit.
his
had to learn
to feel the
first
same rush of elation
at the sight
my
of smoke
barely perceptible faltering of control that
The temptation It
to follow the
was
dazed opponent
as
the
he
same is
to suppress this impulse
instinct that
he was to improve
enemy
who, unnoticed, may have fastened on
it
makes
its
a
counted out on the canvas.
if
By giving
in to
showed
machine down to
staying alive. fighter
slowly in
9
end was overwhelming. hover over
falling
I
must
pilot
was very excited and dived on top of him, using
I
remaining ammunition.'
Many
and
sticking
wasted ammunition, but he started to stream smoke. The
a pilot
my
his
fiery
boxer
A pilot
chances of
he could lay himself bare to another to his
tail
during
the intense seconds of combat. Sure enough, as Richey broke away, he
noticed another 109 about 2,000 above him. Instead of running for
it,
he turned to face him. The German, either through caution or lack of
ammunition,
fled.
That night there was sergeants' mess. Toasts 'victory' card signed.
village
had
a celebration, first in the officers' then in the
were drunk from
a special bottle of
rum and
Before the party started, Richey 'went across to the
church opposite the mess to say a prayer for the German
killed,
before
I
got too boozy.
the steps and prayed for
he was to discover
a
him and
later, his
The door was
his family
locked, so
I
pilot
knelt
and for Germany.' In
I
on
fact, as
opponent had crash-landed near Saarburg
and survived.
139
PATRICK BISHOP As the countryside thawed out and the days lengthened, that the
Germans were
war was drawing been limited to
stirring
was
it
clear
and the fraught boredom of the phoney
now
to an end. Until
Luftwaffe activity had mostly
daily reconnaissance flights,
with individual or small
groups of Dorniers, Heinkels and Junkers 88s snooping over the Maginot defences and the Ardennes sector of the border between France and
Germany. The Messerschmitts had been
restricted to patrolling their
own
side of the frontier, only occasionally venturing into Allied air space.
From
April the reconnaissance missions
were more frequent and grew
bolder, probing deeper into France, while the fighters
mations of up to forty
aircraft
The longer hours of the day's patrolling slithered out across
in large for-
wheeling brazenly over Metz and Nancy.
daylight
meant longer periods
at readiness
and
now began at 6.30 a.m. when the first Hurricane the clayey mud of the thawed-out airfield and took
German
off towards the
came
lines. In
of April, the squadron shot
two consecutive days
down two Me
110s and
two
at the
beginning
The
109s.
tactics
they had been taught in training were being revised or jettisoned, and
new
ones invented, with each
new
experience.
One was
the designation
of one pilot in a section to act as lookout, criss-crossing the sky to cover all
possible approaches
The value of
a
warning
if
anything was sighted.
'
the 'weaver', or Arse-End Charlie' as he
was demonstrated on Killy Kilmartin aircraft.
and shouting
2 April
when
and Pussy Palmer
became known,
Les Clisby, Flying Officer Lorimer,
set off after high-flying
As they approached, Palmer, weaving
twin-engined
at the back,
noticed
109s above, waiting to pounce, and alerted the others in time for to break off the pursuit
and face the
attackers, shooting
down. Palmer was not so lucky and had petrol tank In
mid
ron was
was struck and
April
it
moved
seemed at a
140
first full
two of them
to bale out after his reserve
war had
finally started
a
new
when
the squad-
base at Berry-au-Bac,
Reims. But after a week, during which the log
'pilots are all fed
up with the
seem of no
day back, 20
them
fire.
few hours' notice to
stand-by hours which
The
on
that the
thirty miles north-west of
noted that the
set
Me
April,
avail',
was the
lack of activity and the long
they returned to Vassincourt. busiest they
had so
far experi-
FIGHTER BOYS Hanks
enced. In one encounter, Berry and Albonico claimed a 109 each,
downed
Heinkel 111 and Mould a Heinkel 112, the
a
time the type
first
had been engaged. At the same time, Walker was leading Brown, Drake and Stratton on another patrol which ran into nine
Brown got one
Drake opened
each. Billy
fire
Walker and
109s.
on two
made
as they
off
and saw one apparently go out of control. The other he followed to the and watched
frontier
crash into a
it
the limit of
The
altitude.
its
pilot dived to shake
Hurricane had a struggle to get within
aged to score
the squadron, the
Halahan noted with with the squadron
two
which almost
first in
satisfaction that
when
exceptions, have
it
came
Me
from the and
Spitfire
of debate
was
clear that the
109s.
The
compared
among
him
and Kilmartin's
26,000
had been
a
had seen
who were
the original pilots
It is
owed much
Messerschmitt,
one or
most commendit
squadron
a
individuality'.
main
threat
relative merits
on both
from the German
side
came
and shortcomings of the Hurricane
sides,
to the engineering
whose
was
to
who were
be an eternal subject understandably
fasci-
wrap
The
resulting design
Camm
problems were
inefficient
on the leading edges
fragility
Me
when
made
it
would
carry.
aircraft its superior
lift
on
take-off
way guns
and landing. Their
could be mounted.
to take the machine's weight, a
that the undercarriage
for a very
broad range
flying slow, requiring a system of
placed severe restrictions on the
which meant
a
109 he attempted to
daunting as anything faced by
as
to increase
Nor were they strong enough
This
was exercised on In the
and Mitchell. The thin wings that gave the
performance were slots
first jets.
around the most powerful engine
a light airframe
Me
prowess of one man. This was Willy
restless creativity
of aircraft from gliders to the
for
action.
nated by the machines opposing them. Like the British fighters, the 109
feet,
good day
to France last September, with
to the Messerschmitt
pilots
at
but eventually man-
the pilots
all
'all
It
off,
worked so well and made
"show" without any publicized it
it
had combats with the enemy.
able that the squadron has
By now
up with
firing range,
Ju 88 to land.
a hit, forcing the
had meanwhile
Killy Kilmartin
hill.
set off in pursuit of a high-flying Ju 88 and caught
had
to be supported
by the
weakness fuselage.
narrow and unstable wheelbase which was the
141
PATRICK BISHOP cause of
many
crashes
on
landing. According to
one estimate,
Me 109s manufactured were written off in this way. The Me 109 was smaller and frailer-looking than both
5
per cent
of all
opponents.
It
was shorter and
sat
lower on the ground.
Its
its
British
wingspan was
only 32 feet 4 inches compared with 40 feet for the Hurricane and 36 feet 11 inches for the Spitfire. Its total
was 258 square
the Hurricane's It
had
Spitfire
wing area was 174 square and the
feet
a top speed of 357 m.p.h., the
and perhaps 30 m.p.h.
whereas
242 square
Spitfire's
feet.
merest shade higher than the
than the Hurricane.
faster
feet,
It
carried
two
machine-guns mounted one on either side of the upper nose decking, each with 1,000 rounds. Each wing housed a 20
mm
cannon and 60
shells.
The
pilots
of
close
up when,
ine a
machine
1
Squadron had
had been captured
trols and, after a practice,
mounted
flown by Prosser Hanks. From 'several facts
heights and at ground level
tricky to fly
and not
features to offset
had
'an excellent
The
aircraft
mental station
The
at
air force
war had,
at
is
is
infinitely
slightly faster.
disadvantages.'
view to the
squadron log noted,
manoeuvrable
The Me
rear'
Boscombe
aircraft
in Spain
109,
at all
however,
The
Down
all
many
is
fine
report noted enviously that
- something the Hurricane
would turn out
was subsequently flown by Brown
needed
the con-
operational heights and although appearing
it
definitely
to be largely accu-
to the
RAF
experi-
for further testing.
the information
and the training of
practical experience of
had gained
Brown took
particularly fond of the ground, possesses
its
fighter
dogfight with a Hurricane
this exhibition, the
mercifully, given Britain the lull
manufacture of little
mock
a
did not possess. This sober assessment rate.
intact. Hilly
emerged. The Hurricane
unquestionably faster
examine the German
May, they were summoned to Amiens to exam-
early in
that
a chance to
modern
air
and Poland. Unlike
1
it
it
could get. The phoney
needed to accelerate the
pilots,
but
it
had provided
warfare such as the Luftwaffe
Squadron and 73 Squadron, the
other four fighter units based in France had had
little
contact with the
enemy. Their job was to support the BEF, which was doing nothing, and the buffer zone of Belgium lay
142
between them and the Germans. Squad-
FIGHTER BOYS rons 85 and 87 were based at Lille-Seclin aerodrome, where they flew sector patrols in their Hurricanes. 615,
which arrived
no position been
called
in
do
to
still
the Luftwaffe even
enemy
pictures of all the
was
It
October
at Seclin in
they had
if
after a rare
down
days before they'd shot
Heinkel 111.
a
their first
arrived just in time to take part
I
ground crew holding on
had been sawn off
to various parts of the Heinkel
with black crosses/ Photographs were also
it
taken of the pilots running to their Hurricanes as
they had just been
if
Beamont was required
scrambled, a deception that
to join in,
even
though he had never flown with the squadron. The Heinkel was the
enemy
who
aircraft to fall in
destroyed
commission
it,
in
with an Air Ministry photographer out there taking
in the celebrations
that
Two
of excitement.
aeroplane.
and
so.
Roland Beamont joined 87 Squadron
moment
auxiliary squadrons, 607
equipped with Gladiators, were
much damage on
to inflict
on
November
The two
France in the Second
Robert Voase
officer,
the pilot
twenty-six-year-old short-service
Jeff, a
was rewarded with
World War and
first
the Croix de Guerre
by
a grateful
French government.
The moment soon
passed.
Beamont discovered
consisted of 'endless patrols looking for
enemy
of eyeballs/
It
was not
until
activity
reconnaissance but
very seldom saw them. There was no radar to help. 10
normal
that
January that he had
It
was just
his first
we
a question
brush with the
enemy. The squadron had been moved to Le Touquet when appalling winter conditions
made
impossible to operate from Seclin.
it
It
was
a
miserable day, with rain and scudding low cloud, and none of the pilots
expected to be flying
room
when
a call
came through from
ordering two pilots up on an intercept.
wing operations
Beamont took off with John
who had answered
Cock, one of the Australians
the
the call for recruits, and
they were directed over their radio telephones to climb through the cloud,
where they saw
really
know what
grey started to that this finally
was
it
a 'small speck' a
was.
could see
I
come out of
a rear
reached the
gunner
few miles ahead. Beamont
it
had got two engines. Streaks of
the back of
firing tracers
German
'didn't
.
it.
.
at 19,000 feet,
.
It
suddenly dawned on
me
The
pair
miles out of range.'
whereupon Beamont blacked 143
PATRICK BISHOP out, the victim of inoxia or
mask had
tube to his oxygen
and diving very
oxygen
fast, in
starvation, caused
He came
disconnected.
time to
months
set off
led
at a succession
from Croydon to
by James Sanders,
of bleak
its first
who
fact that the
upside
to,
down
upright and steer for home.
roll
Nos. 607 and 615 Squadrons had also gained their
by the
fields in the
French base
little
experience from
Pas de Calais. No. 615
at Merville.
One
aged nineteen
after leaving Italy
flight
was
in 1935,
and
securing a short-service commission, had risen to the rank of flight lieu-
He had
tenant and acquired the nickname 'Sandy'.
ferred to the squadron after a display of high spirits landed
with Harry Broadhurst, the commander of
One September morning
him
trans-
in trouble
Squadron.
his old unit, 111
much going
with nothing
at Northolt,
been
recently
on,
Sanders had decided to perform a particularly hazardous trick involving roaring immediately upwards into a loop, then performing a
taking
off,
roll at
the top.
Unknown
place at the time. Such exuberance
He was
of the times. pilots liked,
lute sod'. 11
but
meeting of senior
to him, a
placed under arrest by Broadhurst,
whom
Sanders thought
said, right, off
like to do.
you go/ Sanders
demoted from Hurricanes
With
mood
wonderful
who most
of the
pilot
Broadhurst took him to see the Air Officer
asked him what he would
and from
'a
a regular
who was more
I
Commanding
sympathetic and
was posted
to Gladiators, auxiliary.'
to 615 Squad-
which were twin wings,
11
was an incident
his departure there
but an abso-
Sanders mentioned France. 'He
recalled. 'So
squadron to an
was taking stern
was out of kilter with the
Group, Air Vice-Marshal Gossage,
ron,
officers
that almost altered the
course of the war. Winston Churchill had gone to Croydon to see the
squadron
off,
accompanied by
his wife,
Clementine. The Gladiators were
escorting five transport aircraft loaded with fifty-four airmen and stores,
and so had
their machine-guns,
one on either
side of the fuselage
one under each lower wing, cocked and ready. The
firing
system was
notoriously unstable. As Churchill inspected Sanders's machine,
climbed into the
pilot's seat
knobs and buttons. Just
144
Clemmie
and began asking the functions of various
as Churchill
mounted machine-guns,
and
his wife
stooped to examine one of the wing-
reached for the
firing button.
Sanders
FIGHTER BOYS
moved
rapidly.
dawned on For
got her out of the aircraft
'I
me what
much
an idiot
I'd
fast,'
he
said.
suddenly
'It
been.'
of the winter 615 Squadron was based at Vitry-en-Artois.
Sanders was billeted with other officers in the village in the house of an elderly
women who
dressed in black in mourning for the husband
still
she had lost in the previous war. After dinner in the mess, which the officers set
up
in a local hotel, 'they
would
arrive
back and there would
be Margot with a tray with some hot bricks with some cloth wrapped
round them. but she'd
always say, "Non, non Margot, ce n'est pas necessaire,"
I'd
Then
insist.
a cafe noir.'
When he
morning she'd be there with
at five o'clock in the
returned to see her after the war he learned she had
performed the same services for the Germans, for which even-handed hospitality she
The
was branded
a collaborator
by her neighbours.
found that interaction with their French counterparts
pilots
tended to be more social than professional. Sandy Sanders and his comrades 'used to go and have parties at Lille with their squadrons, then
would go
and they would produce the
to a night-club
were mad keen on that
blonde over there," but
would
one, until
take the girls
two or
subject, but
good
drinking, having a
party.
all
we were
You might
that's as far as
it
say,
away and we'd be
left,
The squadron's
enterprising adjutant
to pilots
'affiliation'
its
12
a suitcase full of
to British servicemen,
time training on
exercises with
over the Channel.
our fun and go away.'
hoping to
and airmen, but custom was non-existent.
The squadron passed out
was the
at that lovely
every one of us, drinking
had arrived with
condoms were known
letters, as
them
interested in
"Look
three in the morning, having a wonderful time with the officer waiting for us to finish
sell
The French
went. But the French, one by
French orderly
French
girls.
we
its
obsolete aircraft, carrying
bomber squadrons and mounting
patrols
On 29 December Sanders managed to get within range
of a Heinkel 111 flying very high above the sea at 26,000 feet and emptied his 1
ammunition
at
January, during a
it
without
visit
H. H. Balfour, that
it
visible result.
The squadron was
by the Under-Secretary of State
was
told
on
for Air, Captain
likely the unit
would be re-equipped with
was not
until 12 April that the first
Hurricanes within a fortnight.
It
145
PATRICK BISHOP machines started to a
few weeks
in
and the squadron,
arrive,
which to get accustomed
calm.
The
sions
and scares of the phoney war
transition
was
in progress
still
to
like
them
when
finally
607 Squadron, had only of relative
in conditions
the frustrations, apprehen-
came
to an end.
As so often on the eve of a great upheaval, the preceding days passed in
an unnatural atmosphere of
France on 2
May
to join 85
Squadron
morning sunbathing, went on lunchtime and spent the
The following day he ever been before'.
On
8
and
in the
good'.
On
directed
On
at Sacerat.
patrol for
one hour
flying at
all
and got
as orderly officer,
Hopper, and
'as
9
May he was on
them
we
'Nothing
else
he spent the minutes
at
'the
when an
patrol again
as
I
have
aircraft.
over a Hurricane,
whole was damn excited controller
'However nothing was
returned home,' he recorded despondently in his diary.
happened during the day apart from some
directly after dinner
was the
May
sunburned
a concert party
some enemy
to investigate
6
forty-five
he was deputed to show
evening went to the show, which on
seen and
It
no
May,
a visiting actress, Victoria
Denis Wissler arrived in
of the day playing pontoon and Monopoly.
rest
did
tranquillity.
last
I
went
good
patrols
and
to bed.'
rest
he would get for some time. The same
evening Paul Richey was walking with a French girlfriend in the evening sunshine in a park near Metz '
"Les canons," Germaine
when
said.
"Nonsense,"
only practice bombing. There are
guns Lines.
all right,
We
thoughts.'
146
they heard a rumbling in the distance.
lots
I
tried to reassure her. "It's
of ranges round here."
It
was the
big ones at that: the guns on the Maginot and Siegfried
walked back towards the town
in silence, thinking
our
own
The
Although
May
10
it
still
Battle of France
had been long expected, the
came
shock.
a
as
The
arrival
of the blitzkrieg on
ness at dawn. 'There
was nothing unusual
all
in that/ the
pilots
with no
dous
little
surprise that
wards
a
we had
Dornier raced
a
drone of
sceptical.
little
we were wakened
anti-aircraft barrage, the
thudding sound
become
before
many
readi-
It
would
start
was therefore
dawn by
a tremen-
aero engines and a deep
never previously heard.
in
on
squadron diary
recorded, 'or in the accompanying warning that the blitzkrieg the following day. People had
summer
night before, a perfect
evening, 87 Squadron had received an order putting
BOMBS!'
Shortly after-
low over the small boggy aerodrome
at
Senon,
near Metz, where pilots and ground crews were living in tents in the
woods, and machine-gunned some French the
aircraft
parked on the edge of
field.
There were similar rude awakenings
at
aerodromes
all
across northern
France that Friday morning. In the Pas de Calais 615 Squadron was in the throes of exchanging
its
Gladiators for Hurricanes. 'A' flight
Le Touquet when Heinkels arrived
damaging three Hurricanes. The assumed
at first
it
was
a
French
at
pilots, billeted in a
air exercise. 'B' flight
Abbeville, also re-equipping. Their base effect.
The duty
pilot,
a Gladiator to attack a
dawn and bombed
was attacked
the
was
at
airfield,
nearby chateau,
was up the road as well,
but to
at
little
Flying Officer Lewin Fredman, gamely took off in
Heinkel
at 20,000 feet
but
failed to connect.
147
PATRICK BISHOP Peter Parrott, a twenty-year-old flying officer with 607 Squadron, was in the
mess
having a cup of tea while waiting for a lorry to take
at Vitry
him and two other
pilots to the
'We heard
base to stand by.
pull up, a three-tonner, the usual transport.
the engine running, the driver ran into the mess, which
of liberty by an airman ... head,
Then we
sirs!"
into the truck
off,
them,
damage.
visible
effect,
my
kit
on
shooting
firing
I
we
aircraft over-
hurled ourselves
didn't stop running.
1
still
running out to the aeroplane.' As
was moving over the
airfield,
airfields in
fly
four
more
sorties that
day to greater
infantry battalions,
through Holland and Belgium's thin defensive membrane. In the
the balance of forces and the weight of experience
air,
on
the ground, the terres-
component of blitzkrieg, the tanks and motorized
sliced
raids
Holland, Belgium and north-east France, using
more than 300 Heinkel and Dornier bombers. On trial
and he
Heinkels and damaging another two.
During 10 May, the Luftwaffe launched heavy coordinated twenty-two
ran into
I
every one of his 2,250 rounds without doing
He would
down two
was an unheard
"There are German
to the airfield.
a stream of Heinkels
set off to catch
any
said,
started to hear the engines so
and went up
the crew-room and got
he took
He
the truck
But instead of waiting with
ingly in the
Germans' favour. Their commander, Hermann Goering, had
at his disposal 3,500
who had
was overwhelm-
modern
aircraft,
many
seen action in Spain and Poland.
of them ere wed by airmen
The two
air fleets
-
Luftflottes
2 and 3 - could muster 1,062 serviceable twin-engined bombers, 356
ground-attack aircraft (mostly Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers), 987 single-engined fighters and 209 twin-engined
age daily fighter strength that the
RAF
Me
could
110 fighters.
Me
The
109
aver-
pit against this, consisting
of approximately forty Hurricanes and twenty Gladiators, was puny in comparison. The
air forces
of Holland and Belgium were also negligible.
The main
deterrent to the Luftwaffe in the
Armee de
l'Air.
On paper it seemed
West was supposed
to be the
equipped to put up a robust defence,
with an available strength on the eve of battle of 1,145 combat
The
vast majority of these, 518 of them,
supplemented by 67 twin-engined
fighters.
were single-engined
The bomber
fighters,
feet consisted of
only 140 machines, and nearly half of these were obsolete.
148
aircraft.
FIGHTER BOYS Despite the obvious imbalance of the force, France should, in theory at least,
have been able to
man bomber
element of
essential
Only
sory.
damage on
inflict significant
blitzkrieg.
the invading Ger-
momentum
applying a brake to the
fleets,
that
was the
But the French fighter strength was
illu-
of their machines, the Dewoitines, which could
thirty-six
reach 334 m.p.h., had the speed to compete on anything like equal terms
Me
with the
armed
109s.
Most of the
fighters
were Moranes, which were under-
and had a sluggish top speed of just over 300 m.p.h.
early-warning system was primitive. Britain had secret before the war, but
May
10
were only
there
The main work of
little
six
let
had been done
mobile
France in on the radar to develop
sets in place, supplied
a corps of observers
who
elan.
was
pilots felt that
Once
the
at their aviator
war began, each
spirit
in the air.
attempt to coordinate the two forces or share
little
The men of
something more than the
mess and the night-club was required
in the
or intelligence. its
pilots.
were brave enough, and worked hard
many RAF
But
showed
l'Air
by London.
called in their sightings
over the public phone system. Then there were the
Armee de
and on
it,
locating the direction of a raid and ascertaining
numbers was done by
the
The French
tactical
air force effectively
they
There
thinking
fought on
own. Given the Luftwaffe's advantages, the
first
day of the onslaught in
northern France was to turn out disappointing and surprisingly painful for them. airfields
The
raids failed to
do serious damage
and the defenders were immediately
pilots
shooting
of
in the air
another Dornier.
Billy
Drake,
in the
who had been
with his section near Metz, saw a condensation to investigate, only to find
said.
and
'When I
I
and
hitting back.
The
5 a.m.,
of a group of Dorniers near Longuyon as they raided
and railway station nearby. Later
sance mission.
to any of the
Squadron were active almost constantly from
1
down one
a railhead
down
The dawn
it
was
next thing
tried to
I
morning they brought separated while flying
trail
above him and went
a Spitfire
on
saw was
a bloody 109
a photographic reconnais-
evade him he suddenly turned up
thought, "Christ!
I'd
on
my
tail,'
he
of
me
in front
better start shooting at him." Suddenly
looked up and there was a bloody great
electricity cable in front
I
of me.
149
PATRICK BISHOP
He knew
me
the area and he lead
into
Drake swooped under the
it!"
high-tension cable and caught the 109 as
it
climbed away.
'I
gave him a
couple of bursts and he went in and that was the end.' It
was the
first
wards he found
time he had been in action. Even immediately
hard to recount the incident in any
it
rather like having a motor-car accident.
said later,
what the
hell happened.'
2
The opening
detail.
You
'It
after-
was,' he
remember
can't
hours, then the whole of the
French campaign, were to pass in a blur for
many
merged
and perpetual exhaustion
into another, day melted into day
one
pilots as
sortie
tinged the whole experience with the quality of a bad dream.
The 3
fighting
on the
first
day did not
when
finish until 9 p.m.,
pilots
of
Squadron, which had been rushed to France that day along with 79
Squadron, knocked
down
few hours of arriving Kenley pilots
after lunch.
and the
rest
at Merville.
and
No.
The few maps
3
Squadron had
civvies to follow
more
on
in a transport plane so they
would be backwards. During forward base
left
hurriedly from to the senior
notice and had time to arrange for mess
It
was not
on the ground had already begun and
retreat
in action within a
were given
available
equipped to enjoy themselves in France.
its
They were
of the squadron followed their lead. No. 79 Squadron
at Biggin Hill was given kit
three Heinkels.
at
all
would be to be.
The RAF's
subsequent
movement
the day 73 Squadron had been pulled from
Rouvres to the supposedly more secure
Reims-Champagne. No.
1
Squadron
also
moved
hot
when
they arrived and the
waited for the next
sortie, a
air
was
itself
from
overhead and dropped fourteen bombs that rippled across the
minute ing
earlier,
field.
We
A
No one
was
sti-
in the
a flotilla
field,
send-
squadron was hurt.
A
though, four farmhands had been working the neighbour-
shout alerted Paul Richey to what had happened.
found them among the
craters.
body twisted grotesquely, one
The
old
man
lay face
down,
his
leg shattered and a savage gash across the
back of his neck, oozing steadily into the
150
It
thick with mayflies. As they
lone Heinkel detached
ing the pilots diving for cover.
airfield at
hurriedly in the after-
noon, from Vassincourt to Berry-au-Bac north-west of Reims. flingly
suitably
earth. His
son lay close by
.
.
.
FIGHTER BOYS Against the hedge
I
found what must have been the remains of the third
boy - recognizable only by a few tattered splinters of bone.
The
five stricken
smashed harrows; we shot them high explosive.
The
sight of
pilots
ring
who
up
later.
The
air
was
foul of the reek of
3
dead
civilians
was
feelings of detestation,
of the
scape.
broken boot and some
to have a disturbing effect
on many of the
served in France, ruffling their careful nonchalance and
Richey flew the effect
rags, a
horses lay bleeding beside the
last patrol
German
'Smoke was
even hatred for the enemy. That evening
of the day over the aerodrome, noting the
visitation
rising
on the normally
dull
from several towns and
and tranquil land-
villages:
bombed
Here and there farmhouses and barns were burning, and the lazy red flames licking
stir-
up nauseated me;
it
was
all
.
.
.
sight of the
so thoroughly evil and
hellish.'
The Picardie
last pilots
bumped down on
and the Pas de Calais
in
the grass airfields of
near darkness.
It
Champagne,
had been an
extraordi-
nary day. Altogether, the fighters of the Advanced Air Striking Force and the Air
Component had flown 208
to have definitely shot
down
sorties.
fifty-five
Between them, they claimed
bombers - Heinkels, Dorniers and
Ju 88s - with a further sixteen probable. British losses amounted to seven Hurricanes shot
was
killed,
down and
eight damaged. Astonishingly, not
pilot
and only three had been wounded.
The Luftwaffe themselves reckoned they had bombers. Conflicting claims persisted throughout the rest
one
lost
thirty-three
air battles
of the
of the year. Wishful thinking, the confusion of battle and propaganda
considerations inevitably inflated British figures.
The Germans
also exag-
gerated their successes and masked the extent of their losses, employing a
system that fudged stark
craft in
realities
by assessing the damage
percentage terms. Whatever the discrepancy,
it
to each
had been
debut for the Luftwaffe in northern France. The Hurricane asleep believing, or at least hoping, that the able than they
who had
had
feared.
'Am browned I
Germans were
off,'
a
air-
bad
pilots fell
less
formid-
complained Denis Wissler,
missed the action, grounded because of his inexperience.
151
PATRICK BISHOP
The
day was to turn out to be the
first
more or
less
best.
Things had for once gone
according to plan. All the time put into perfecting the Fight-
ing Area Attacks, precisely
numbered and
manuals, appeared to have been
justified.
laid 'I
out in the pre-war training
have never seen squadrons
so confident of success, so insensible to fatigue and so appreciative of
own
their
noted the
aircraft/
Component, Group Captain success
which even
was due
satisfied
P. F. Fullard.
relatively untested
Officer
But
it
war
his
been able to locate
squadrons would have to
their targets
were so many of them. The
the Air
luck.
The
607 had enjoyed
like
bombers had arrived without any
to the crucial fact that the
sort of
was beginner's
squadrons
fighter escort in unconscious fulfilment of the
what
Commanding
Dowding fight.
prophesies as to
The Hurricanes had
with relative ease, simply because there
pilots arriving
accustomed to Fighter Command's by
now
from England who were reasonably sophisticated
ground-control system found themselves operating without direction. Relying on reports of sightings from the French observers, interception orders were transmitted from
wing headquarters
The sketchy information
telephone.
that could be
to
aerodromes by
conveyed to the
field
pilots
was/often unintelligible because of the short range and poor
in the air
quality of the K>CTj
from Merville mapless
Setting off
Stephens of 3 section,
and then
to be pointing,
There was no hazarding darkness/
much
'We took
lost.
radar,
The
too
little
off in
whatever direction
hoping to catch the Heinkels,' he wrote.
no
fighter control at
aircraft in the 4
into the dusk, Pilot Officer
Squadron had soon been separated from the
official
in the
all.
Mike of his
we happened was
hopeless.
We were wasting effort and
hope of finding our quarry
RAF
'It
rest
in the gathering
daily report admitted that the fighters 'had
way of an
effective early-warning system'.
5
In the
confusion of the subsequent days, that deficiency could only get worse.
Nor were day,
Me
the Luftwaffe to
when
the
bomber
make
the
again.
On the second Me 109s and
fleets returned, they brought the
110s with them.
The very
limited strength of the France-based squadrons
bolstered by several squadrons from
152
same mistake
1 1
was
to be
Group, including some equipped
FIGHTER BOYS with
from bases
Spitfires, flying
in south-east England.
the A ASF and AC, however, were overwhelmed by
probed deeper and wider behind French
Luftwaffe
roamed over
reconnaissance flights
and
gress of the French
to block the anticipated tries.
The
fighters of
their workload. lines.
The
German
the forward areas, reporting the pro-
moving by prearranged plan
British land forces
German advance westwards from
the
Low Coun-
At the same time, bombers began systematically tearing up the
communication attacking aerodromes, railheads and
defenders' lines of bridges.
The squadrons went
into action again at
May. Reims-Champagne aerodrome was bombed
Saturday,
1 1
by Ju
They were followed by two
88s.
brought
down when
from 79 Squadron
at Merville also
attack the previous day
they had
first
dawn
hours setting up a
first
Dorniers.
73 Squadron scrambled
a Heinkel spotted during a
spent the
on the second
first light
One
at 5 a.m.
of the raiders was
a section.
The new
arrivals
got into action early, shooting patrol.
new
At Berry-au-Bac,
established themselves.
down
Squadron
1
dispersal area, having decided the
had probably been aimed
a tent, a telephone to receive orders
day,
hut where
at a concrete
The new arrangement
consisted of
from 67 Wing headquarters and
a
trench and dugout to dive into in the inevitable-seeming eventuality of
another
Now
raid.
his place at the
that the battle
head of
had
really
begun, Bull Halahan took
his pilots, leading the first action
of the day
which turned back when they saw the
to confront Heinkel bombers,
Hurricanes.
The sound of
gunfire and
bombs rumbled around
the airfields of
northern France throughout the day, but the pilots had no clear idea of
what they were supposed by wing headquarters
own
initiative.
escort Allied
at
to do.
Reims
Squadron had been reprimanded
for taking off
to
and chasing bombers on
told,
was
to
where the headquarters
mount
its
to await orders to
stem the German attack and to ignore
raiders. Later on, after three large
outside the chateau
came through
1
Their job, the pilots were
bombers trying
any overflying
No.
staff
bombs were dropped were based,
a request
a patrol in the vicinity.
The French-based squadrons were supported
that
morning by
fighters
153
PATRICK BISHOP which took
off
from bases
in
southern England on sorties over Holland
and Belgium. Twelve Hurricanes from 32 Squadron were sent off from Biggin Hill to support the Dutch
aerodrome
'We
CO
was nothing
surprise there
'We dived
to shoot
middle, though the wing-tips and
We
for
set that
a large
German
were OK.
all
hands.
squad-
at the
number of Ju
them on
to set
They were
at.
tails
whizzed around looking
between two hangars so we It
directed to the
had only just arrived
and on the ground there were
arrived,
transport aircraft,' he said later.
odd.
They were
Ypenberg, which they were told was in
at
Pete Brothers led the attack as the ron.
air force.
and to
fire
burned out
We thought,
52
my
in the
that's jolly
something and found one parked
on
fire
and climbed back up again/
was not until several months later that the squadron discovered that
Dutch
forces
had recaptured the aerodrome and had blown up the
on the ground, saving one
ports
destroyed by their
trans-
for escape to Britain only to see
it
6
allies.
No. 17 Squadron, based
at
Martlesham
afternoon to patrol the Dutch coast.
in Suffolk,
was ordered
in
The whole squadron took
mid
off in
twelve Hurricanes, crossing into Holland just south of The Hague and turning north.
It
then
Tomlinson, leading
headed on
by
sixteen
split
'A' Flight
The Hague. On
to
Me
109s,
CO, Squadron Leader George
up, with the
back to
circle
Rotterdam while
the way, 'A' Flight
'B'
Flight
was attacked suddenly
which swooped on them, breaking up the formation
into a series of individual
combats
in
what was probably the
dogfight of the war. Something of the hectic confusion
first
mass
was conveyed
in
the officialese of Flying Officer Richard Whittaker's report. 'Eight [came in] for
the
first attack,'
he wrote. 'Afterwards a dogfight developed and
broke away and saw three 109s on the attack
on
his port giving a short burst,
then saw another
and at
I
tail
finally
Me
109 and
got on his
tail. I
we
to stall
and
I
I
did a quarter
but had to carry on past him.
I
circled each other feinting for position
gave him
all
I
very low speeds, trying to turn inside
commenced
of a Hurricane.
lost sight
of the
had.
We had both been flying
one another. At
enemy
this
point
I
aircraft temporarily.'
Breaking away, he flew through the smoke shrouding the coast and
headed for home. Looking down he saw that 'The Hague
154
as a
whole was
FIGHTER BOYS on
same melee, Sergeant Charles Pavey found
In the
fire'.
did a steep turn to the I
on
eventually got
diving down. finishing
my
a pursuing
left,
to his
tail
He
ammunition.
the ground, and
and
aircraft twisted
gave him
finally
down
when he
me round.
and turned,
a deflection shot,
then burst into flames, spinning
followed him
I
109 'could not follow
and the enemy
fired intermittently
I
Me
that,
down
he struck the ground.'
until
to
7
This was one of three definite 109s claimed by 17 Squadron on the
second day, as well as two army reconnaissance machines. But with the first
came
successes
the
was shot down and
Flight Lieutenant Michael
first losses.
killed
when
Hurricane crashed south-west of
his
Rotterdam. Pilot Officer George Slee also died
Two
south of Dordrecht.
others,
(brother of Montague, killed
by
debacle) and Sergeant John Luck,
were taken
prisoner.
own
managed
side in the Barking
flying
had meant
the pilots were encountering
form. Denis Wissler was at Lille-Seclin
noon.
bombs
'I
came
fell
it
when
nearest to death today than
I
my God
cook injured, and Parrot's brother
did
I
run/
A
driver
his
Me
in a
have ever been,
was
to
far
unfamiliar
the Luftwaffe arrived at
his diary.
'I
when two was
in the
killed in the attack
the co-pilot in a Whitley
reconnaissance mission over the
was never
new and
a block of sleeping quarters destroyed.
Tim was
way back
109.
that death
about thirty feet away,' he wrote in
ante-room and
and
Squadron Leader Tomlinson's Hurricane was badly
The hazards of peacetime
now
Creek
to bale out after being hit
Every one of them had been the victim of an
away, but
down
being shot
Officer Cyril Hulton-Harrop
Pilot
his
after
damaged, but he managed to crash-land and make Britain.
Donne
and
a
That night Peter
bomber
German- Belgian border.
sent
In the
on
a
morning
Peter Parrot received a signal saying his brother was missing; later he
was confirmed dead. Mortality concentrated minds. That afternoon Paul Richey had been
hurrying over to his Hurricane to intercept a big formation of bombers
heading for Reims
when he
met previously and alongside me. olics
I
liked.
ran into an
'He asked
confessed briefly.
who might want
absolution.
He I
me
RAF if
asked
said,
I
if
Catholic chaplain he had
wanted absolution, puffing there
"Only old
were any other CathKilly in that
Hurricane
155
PATRICK BISHOP over there - hasn't wanted
and
for ten years but
it
waved him goodbye. But
I
confess Killy
you can did -
try!"
We laughed
sitting in his cockpit
with the padre standing on the wing beside him.' 8 Richey was shot
an hour or so 1
later, after
Squadron and
after
an extended dogfight between
Me
fifteen
110s.
He
down
members of
baled out and landed in a wood, and
being found by some gendarmes was reunited with the squadron
the following day. Five days later he
The shock of
the
first
casualties
was
to take to his parachute again.
was
offset, to
employed
in aerial warfare, the chances
you came
off worse
the First
World War. From
now
slightly
flak near Maastricht
to
where some tanks were parked on
and he decided
armour was
news
clear that the
euphemism
that
for their almost
second day Flight Lieutenant Dickie
by
the
was
it
necessarily a
On the morning of the
him
by the
of surviving a combat in which
the outset
Lee of 85 Squadron had been injured
assured
extent,
were considerably higher than they had been during
someone was missing was not certain death.
some
and heavy fire-power
despite the high speeds
realization that,
who
five
to
when
jump.
a road.
He
his
Hurricane was
landed in a
He came
Belgian. Lee
hit
field close
across a peasant,
borrowed an old coat
to
cover his uniform and went to investigate. The tanks were German. Lee
was taken by the troops barn,
ing
for a civilian, but
from which he soon escaped and made
two days
Officer
On
later.
John 'Paddy'
same day
the
Hemingway, was
and returned unharmed to the
By
his
locked up in a
less
way back
to Lille, arriv-
squadron companion,
his
also badly hit
by
flak,
have destroyed a
total
Hurricanes and eight
ron reported that near Reims
unit.
it
own
part in the battle. Together they claimed to
of fifty-five
pilots. It
enemy
was an overestimate.
had shot down ten
when
aircraft for the loss
the real
Me
In
one
of thirteen
case,
1
Squad-
110s over the village of Rom-
number was two. The
discrepancy was
caused by confusion rather than wilful exaggeration. Air fighting disorienting and distorted the senses, a fact ron's daily report, after
156
Pilot
baled out,
the end of the second day the fighter squadrons could be reason-
ably satisfied with their
illy
none the
combat,
it
which observed
acknowledged
was
in the squad-
that 'questioning pilots immediately
has been found extremely
difficult to
obtain [precise]
FIGHTER BOYS information as to what actually happened as most
themselves into a stupor, were ing plugs [the override boost
still
pilots, after
pressing imaginary buttons and pull-
mechanism
power] an hour or
to increase
was
so after landing'. Building an accurate picture
further complicated by
the inevitable tendency of several pilots to describe the if it
was
their
British fighters
an overall story of failure.
in
of the Allied
same incident
as
unique experience.
The performance of the news
aerobatting
air forces to
almost nothing to slow
its
the
On
German
welcome
was
a
first
day the general response
the
piece of
good
had been hesitant and did
attack
advance, which proceeded with the speed and
energy of a force of nature. The French commander, Gamelin, displayed a paralysing reluctance to
bombing
ized
bomber
fleet
went
finally
raids the
provoke the enemy, fearing that
Germans would respond with
if
he author-
a fury his tiny
could do nothing to match. Barratt fumed, argued and
his
own
way, dispatching thirty-two Battle bombers against
Germans advancing through Luxemburg. Only nineteen of them
the
came
back, the rest having fallen victim to fighters and the
mobile flew
A second
light flak guns.
attack
This time nine were shot
off.
was ordered and
down from
sixteen
German bombers
the ground or the air and
four limped back badly damaged.
The
Fairey Battles were disastrously unsuited to the
modern
slow, clumsy and poorly armed.
The
were impressed by the cheerfulness and courage of
their
aerial warfare.
fighter pilots
They were
crews, but even before the fighting began, chances.
On
fact that
no
demands of
the
no one gave much
day, their vulnerability
first
fighter escorts
were assigned
for their
had been increased by the
to them.
On
1 1
May
they went
into action again in another attempt to blunt the thick black arrows
already punching out in
all
directions across the
HQ
staff
maps.
This time they were occasionally assigned fighters to protect them,
but the results were
still
pitiful
and the
losses heavy.
canes from 73 Squadron had taken off from tect a
group of eight
At 09.30
six
Reims-Champagne
Battles ordered to attack targets in
Hurrito pro-
Luxemburg.
Seven of the bombers were shot down. The following day, 12 May, Battles,
crewed by volunteers
who were
five
only too aware of the odds they
157
PATRICK BISHOP were
were sent
facing,
two bridges spanning
off again, this time with the mission to destroy
Maas, just to the
Halahan were ordered to provide cover.
swarm of
down
claimed to have shot
Battles pressed
on
was
to their
the
way home.
the
way
to the rendezvous
followed they
two Henschel
spotter
badly and he was forced to land.
Two
were knocked down by the
Two more
were brought down by the
The remaining bomber
crew members died
Six
Squadron led by Bull
1
four 109s and
hit
doom.
109s before reaching the bridges. flak batteries ringing the target.
On
vital bridges across the
109s. In the dogfight that
at least
planes. Halahan's Hurricane
The
two
already captured
Eight Hurricanes from
east.
the fighters ran into a
up the
the Albert Canal in an attempt to hold
German army, which had
in the raid
crash-landed
on
and seven were
captured.
The inadequacy of
the support the fighters could offer had already
been demonstrated the same morning when Hurricanes from 85 and 87 Squadrons were sent to meet up with twenty-four Blenheims, which had also
the
been sent from
way
RAF Wattisham
in Suffolk to attack the bridges.
to the rendezvous the fighters ran into a succession of
formations. In the melee that followed,
down and one British
two 87 Squadron
Columbia, was
killed.
The squadron
heavily he found
The
other, Sergeant Jack Howell,
on recovering consciousness
The two were probably Galland,
any other Luftwaffe described closing in
nor did as
soon
I
feel
as
I
and he made
fit
that
within a week'.
victims of a section of Me 109s led by Haupt-
who was
to shoot
down more RAF
pilot operating in the
West. In
on the unsuspecting Hurricanes.
any hunting
fever.
"Come
had one of the eight
was dead on the
158
He
target,
managed
a high-speed
he was no more than
in
my
on!
and
at last the
'I
his
aircraft
poor
rather clumsily avoided action,
I
was not I
gave him
was
than
memoirs he
Defend yourself!"
gunsight ...
burst from a range which, considering the situation,
happening.
were shot
pilots
diary noted that 'although landing extremely
badly bruised and was flying
mann Adolf
enemy
of them, Flying Officer Jack Campbell, a Canadian from
to bale out, but his parachute only half: opened
descent.
On
still
devil noticed
excited,
thought
my
first
too great.
I
what was
which brought him
into
FIGHTER BOYS the
of my companion. The other seven Hurricanes
fire
come
to the aid of their
tions/
9
comrade
The Blenheims were
were
out, ten
bombers effects
were
to
clear
make
of the
Out of
Me
that
at
the twenty-four that set
Allied
a difference, /nor fighters to mitigate the devastating
109s and the flak batteries.
and
deterrent to the Messerschmitts.
to counter the fact that,
raids
Moranes and Dewoitines no
their
Even
The French bombing
if
real
the Allied air forces had been
stronger, the resistance they could offer in the air
A handful
direc-
all
and suffered heavily
w^re nowhere near enough
there/
as ineffective as the British
enough
effort to
lost.
was now
It
but made off in
in distress
equall)| unsuccessful
the hands of the fighters and the i|ak.
made no
would not have been
on the ground, the
battle
was being
lost.
of reinforcements arrived in the evening of 12 May. Sixteen
Hurricanes of 501 Squadron were sent off from Debden and divided
themselves between ing
was unlikely
that
Bapaume and
do anything
to
Vitry-en-Artois. This piecemeal offer-
to quieten the
clamour
more
for
aircraft
was coming from the French government and supported by Winston
Churchill,
who had become
prime minister on the day the blitzkrieg
began.
Dowding had always regarded Fighter
Command
the sovereign strategic objective of
as the protection
of the British
He
Isles.
the outset, to have doubted France's ability to defend
itself.
seems, from
Well-founded
pessimism, a cold streak of realism that contrasted with Churchill's sometimes alarmingly romantic approach and a keen appreciation of the paucity
of his resources led him to view the sending of any
more
the aid of France as an appalling waste.
He would oppose
for further sacrificial offering of pilots
and
already created a effort to
vacuum, drawing
aircraft.
in pilots
stem a German advance that was
every request
But the battle had
and machines
now
fighters to
in a futile
flowing westwards with
the inexorability of lava.
On
13
May, the
first
German
tanks crossed the
psychological as well as political frontier.
who had grasped the ably,
meant the
The more
Meuse
was
Sedan, a
intelligent observers
nature of blitzkrieg understood that
defeat of the Allies
at
this,
inevitable. Churchill,
most probby
his
own 159
PATRICK BISHOP
now moved
admission, had failed to appreciate that warfare
unperturbed by the news of a breakthrough, believing
on the Western Front at the least
a quarter of a century previously, the thrust could
make up
off to France to
the losses.
pilots
The Luftwaffe was
concentrating on creating havoc in the rear of the French and British
armies, smashing road and
of
that, as
be blocked. That day thirty-two more Hurricanes and
were ordered
now
what was
by the standards of the previous war. Thus, he was
a lightning pace relatively
at
men and
network.
The
and wrecking the already
supplies
From now
on, chaos
Allies' ability to
was
much
by the
dictated
power
manage
felt
of the
and Poland. The damage
in Spain
to morale as to flesh,
coup de theatre that terrified
though,
activities
of the advancing Panzers. They had
bone and metal. The mount-
was
ing shriek of the sirens as they tipped into their dive
pilots,
communication
the Heinkels and Dorniers savaged supply lines,
moved ahead
already proved their destructive
they did was as
fragile
movement
to be the status quo.
manoeuvre was
German bombers. While the Ju 87 Stukas
to prevent the forward
rail links
a devastating
even the most cool-headed troops. The Allied
no concern about meeting them. Stukas could only
a top speed of 238 m.p.h.
They were
just over 200 m.p.h.
British fighters later on.
and when cruising trundled along
at
to prove a gratifyingly easy target for
Me
But now, with the
109s in almost constant
attendance, there were few chances of getting at them.
Despite the dramatic developments, 13
was one
raid
pleted with
by seven
damage
May was
Battles over Holland,
to only
a quiet day.
There
which was mercifully com-
one aeroplane. The French
also sent seven
bombers, with a heavy fighter escort, against troop concentrations in the
Sedan area and the pontoons the German engineers had thrown across the Meuse. six
The
effect
of them, including
was
negligible.
Billy Drake's,
Ten Hurricanes were
by Messerschmitts. He had been on
dawn
patrol with five other Hurricanes
when
he started 'feeling very woozy.
had no oxygen so
I
said
I
by anybody. Just 160
as
I
was
I
from looked
1
Squadron
down and
at 22,000 feet
it
didn't look as if they
firing
away,
I
enough
I
10,000 feet
I
sure
was going home. Round about
saw these four [bombers] and
shot down,
were being escorted
suddenly heard a bloody great
FIGHTER BOYS
thump behind me and [blown]
He
me
a
out of the
felt as if
Messerschmitt
his engine.
because
life
hood and went onto all
had obviously got behind and
the flames that
the fuselage and missed
me
in the
my
really
was
I
out but
forgotten to
I'd
brewing up by
this time.
back and that probably saved
were coming
so
back and the leg and flames
tried to get
'I
open the hood and the aeroplane was released the
10
sky.'
he had been struck hard
were streaming from
1
into the cockpit
I
my
went round
able to bale out.'
As he floated down he heard the twin engines of the 110 above him, then tracer twinkled past as the Messerschmitt opened
He
him.
of descent by tipping
tried to accelerate his rate
apparently at
fire,
air
canopy, but the pain in his back was too great for him to
The German veered away and he
hit the
ground only
out of the
lift
arm.
his
to face another
hazard. Drake was wearing an old white flying overall from pre-war days
and
was very blond. The French peasants who ran
his hair
'thought
were
was
I
literally
a
German. They
coming
for me.'
10
all
had scythes and pitchforks and they
His parents' investment in his Swiss edu-
cation paid off when he yelled in French that he
he showed them
his
was
a British pilot.
morphine then
had
that did
moved
When
to the
and shrapnel and to dull the
little
town
agony
something from Drake's room
oil,
the pyjamas he
... a
was prised
The next
after
out,
lunch 'and saw his
11
Then
had an English
pilot.
would need no more. Poor old
came through from the
a long
given
photograph of his mother, a bottle
hospital that they
Richey went to see him and plans were care.
as the debris
He was
hospital.
meagre possessions spread about
a call
bullets in his back.
He had two
he did not return the squadron began to worry. Paul Richey
to collect
of hair
was crowded with
of whom died while he was being treated.
bullets in his leg,
When
wings they became effusively friendly and took him
to a field dressing station in a school near Rethel that casualties, several
to the scene
day, though, the hospital
made
to
Billy!'
move him
to British
was evacuated and Drake began
and painful journey westwards.
That evening eight reinforcements landed
pilots at
and Hurricanes from the new batch of
Reims-Champagne
to shore
up 73 Squadron. 161
PATRICK BISHOP
They were being thrown to a squadron before,
in at the
let
deep end. None of them had belonged
come
alone seen action, having
directly
from
No. 6 Operational Training Unit. The following day more machines and
men, many of them equally inexperienced, were spread around and
3
when
Squadrons. No.
1
Squadron
also received
607, 615
some welcome
arrivals
Flying Officer Crusoe and Sergeants Berry, Clowes and Albonico
returned from a gunnery training exercise in Britain, making the
of the journey on a train that was
On
bombed
Tuesday, 14 May, the Allied
concentrated effort to stem the
last leg
several times en route.
made
air forces
their first
and
last
German advance now pouring through
the gaps in the front around Sedan. Every available British
mustered to destroy bridges on the Meuse on either
side
bomber was of Sedan and
crush the heads of the columns thrusting into France, and a mixed batch
of British and French fighters were ordered to protect them. Altogether eight attacks lightly,
were launched on crossing
points.
The
first
raiders escaped
protected from the flak batteries by the morning mist rising from
the confluence of the Meuse and the Chiers. As the hot day wore on, the
German gunners and
110s.
When
perfected their aim and the sky
first
wave of
accompanied by French Bloch and Morane local time
and flew
with watchful 109s
was launched
the biggest raid of the day
noon, the defences were primed. The
filled
in
mid
twenty-five Battles,
fighters, arrived at 4
straight into a wall of flak.
Then
after-
p.m.
the hovering Messer-
schmitts descended to pick off the survivors. Eleven of the
bombers and
of the fighters were shot down.
six
The second wave of twenty-three
Battles
supposed to be guarded by Hurricanes from
way
to the target, however, the fighters
1
and eight Blenheims was
and 73 Squadron.
were diverted by the
On
their
sight of a
formation of Stukas grouped over La Chesne, south-west of Sedan,
where they had been sent
to
bomb
French troops. The
Me
109s protect-
ing the bombers were slow to realize the danger. Killy Kilmartin shot
down
two, while Hilly Brown,
Bill
Stratton and Taffy
one each before the Messerschmitts intervened -
figures that for
were subsequently broadly confirmed by the German clash that followed, four 109s
162
Clowes claimed once
reports. In the
were shot down. No. 73 Squadron
also ran
FIGHTER BOYS into Stukas, destroying
on
two and
to their rendezvous with the
seriously
damaging two more. Pressing
bombers, however, they were ambushed
by 109s and Sergeants Basil Pyne and George Dibden were shot and
killed. Earlier
been
another 73
pilot, Pilot Officer
down
Valcourt Roe, had also
over Namur. These encounters drastically increased the
killed
bombers' vulnerability
when
Of
they arrived over target.
the twenty-
three Battles that set out, only nine returned and five out of the eight
Blenheims were
lost.
The day saw
the heaviest casualties Fighter
fered. Fifteen pilots
were
Command
had yet
suf-
and two so badly wounded that they
killed
subsequently died. Twenty-seven Hurricanes were shot down, most of
them by Messerschmitts. The dead ranged from beginners Officer Gerald Cuthbert
and Flight Lieutenant John
arrived the day before, to latter
at breakfast
time from Berry-au-Bac with Prosser Hanks and Boy Mould
to chase a large formation of first
were spurred
110s
belching shell.
into action
by
a fitter
who
No
was
last
smoke and flame
after
alone, but they
set off in pursuit
having apparently been
they were posted missing. But
troops discovered Clisby
worry
urged them to
one saw what happened to Lorimer,
had persuaded Richey
was
when
a
a
that
there
also
by
a
cannon
went down. At
was no news, the other
unquenchable willingness to attack
he had 'bought
it'.
month
Some time
short of his twenty-sixth birthday.
forehead
made him look
wiry moustache and
downward
extrovert, profane, perpetually cheerful
had joined the Royal Australian Air Force after
who
hit
later
French
two burned-out Hurricanes.
lines scoring his
heavy jaw,
and
them
On
seen going into a dive, the cockpit of his Hurricane
pilots anticipated the worst. Clisby's
was
which had appeared overhead.
honour of the squadron.
Clisby
first
Me
seeing them, their inclination had been to leave
for the
who had Among the who had set off
pilots.
Squadron,
1
Flying
Sullivan,
some of the most seasoned
was Les Clisby and Lawrie Lorimer of
like
older.
sloping
The premature
He had
and addicted to
as a cadet
a square,
eyes.
He
flying.
He
humorous
aged twenty-one,
being awarded a permanent commission he volunteered to go
to Britain in 1937, despite the talk of war.
He had
turned out to be the
163
PATRICK BISHOP most
of the squadron's
effective
aircraft in his
destroying at least nine
pilots,
awarded the DFC. Lorimer had been posted Squadron and had
losses
to
1
Squadron from 87
a reputation for being unlucky. This
down
time he had been shot
The
German
time in France, and he died not knowing he had just been
prompted
was the
third
in five days.
a debate
among
the pilots about whether they
could continue flying and fighting with such intensity. Pilots were carrying out as
many
as five sorties a day,
outnumbered them, taking
forces that always vastly
were subjected
tive airfields that
of one and a half hours each, against
to regular
off from often primi-
bombardment. Despite the
danger, the privations and the exhaustion, morale and the will to engage the
Germans remained
Officer Frank Joyce
were sent
off
on
and
start,
Me
large formation of
so Joyce
He was
field hospital,
Gangrene
went
on
Mackworth of 87 Squadron
alone.
until
On
in the leg
and
his leg
was amputated.
his mission.
He
also ran into
to get his aeroplane started
Me
110s while they
them
whelming numbers and was shot down. He managed parachute caught
me
fire
and when
David received a
that he
soldiers
letter later
top of it/
a piece
and
strafing
despite their overto bale out, but his
from Mackworth's father
had heard from one of the doctors
name on
were
found him he was dead. His
had buried Chris but had no means of marking writing his
and had to
rescued by some Scottish soldiers and treated at a
a village close to a tented field hospital, attacked
tell
ran into a
but had to be constantly shifted as the Germans advanced.
set in
friend Dennis
Mackworth's
way he
the
he was wounded
Mackworth had eventually managed set off
the evening of 14 May, Flying
110s and immediately launched a single-handed
which he sustained
crash-land.
On
Pilot Officer Chris
a reconnaissance mission over Louvain.
engine would not
attack
largely intact.
his
at the hospital.
'to
They
grave other than by
of paper which they put in a beer bottle on
12
Despite the remarkable mental and physical robustness of the British fighter pilots, fear
and exhaustion began to take
was sustained by
buoyant reservoir of optimism, admitted
'our nerves
164
a
their
toll.
who that by now
Richey,
were getting somewhat frayed and we were jumpy and
FIGHTER BOYS morose.
Few
of the boys smiled
now
- W(| were no longer the merry /
band of days gone
begun
by.' After his first
'to feel peculiar.
snappy. Often
had
I
a hell
dared not speak
I
parachute
jump he had
of a headache and was jumpy and
for feai/
of bursting into tears."
There was to be no lessening of pressure on the
On
come.
15
France was
more
May
lost.
the French
pilots in the days to
government understood
was woken
prime minister, Paul Reynaud,
'We have been
at 7.30
who
a.m. by a
as
it
that the Battle of
'evidently
call
under
was by
the
memory
5
stress
ten fighter squadrons, he
The
request
meeting to
as the
announced
that, to his
line at
mind,
of the previous war, 'the idea of the line
being broken, even on a broad front, did not convey
consequences that flowed from
from the French
and informed him the front
defeated,'
Sedan had been broken. Churchill candidly recorded shaped
3
This realization did not prevent a passionate request for
fighters. Churchill
in English:
already
14
it'.
.
.
.
the appalling
When Reynaud went on
was prepared
to
beg
for
to at least consider the plea.
was placed on the agenda of that morning
s
War
Cabinet
second item. Dowding was present and spoke forcefully
bury a proposal Churchill had already backed away from and which
had
little
or no support elsewhere.
It
was decided
that the
prime minister
inform Reynaud that 'no further fighter squadrons should for the present be sent to France'.
Dowding understood, though,
that the reprieve
was
likely to
be only
temporary. Sure enough, the following day, 16 May, his superior,
Sir
Cyril Newall, the Chief of the Air Staff, decided himself that eight flights
- the equivalent of four squadrons - should be detached from Fighter
Command and sent to France. His initiative followed a conversation with the BAFF commander, Air Marshal Barratt, who had emphasized the terrible fatigue the fighter pilots were now suffering, and additional plans were made for twenty exhausted men to be rotated out for a rest and replaced with experienced pilots from Churchill,
whose
home
squadrons.
attitude towards the expenditure of fighter reserves
chopped and changed with the demands of the hour, agreed and the decision
end
was taken
at that
morning's
War
Cabinet meeting.
there. In the afternoon Churchill flew to Paris,
It
was not
to
where the extent of 165
PATRICK BISHOP the catastrophe
became apparent
He met Reynaud,
to him.
his minister
of national defence, Alain Daladier, and General Gamelin d'Orsay with the smoke hanging in the
burned
garden
in the
manders and
radiated defeat
taneously appealing for yet
more
strength'.
be good
With an eye on
agreed to send difficulties
six
and dejection while simul-
army
a romantic desire
to rally
bravery and
its
posterity he also calculated that
were denied and
these thoughts
was
last
The
to France.
that each
and operate there
which
practical
airfields
meant
remaining Hurricane units not to
have contributed to the French campaign - remained based
The plan was
would not
sent to the Cabinet,
more Hurricane squadrons - the
'it
their ruin resulted'.
of housing them on battered and vulnerable
that in fact the squadrons
Com-
British aeroplanes.
historically if their request
The telegram containing
Quai
at the
of documents being
pragmatism was overwhelmed by
give the last chance to the French
'to
piles
of the arrival of the Germans.
in anticipation
politicians
Churchill's earlier
from
air
morning three would
until the afternoon,
fly
when
in England.
over to a French
airfield
the other three
would
relieve them.
The
effect
was
to reduce further
the Air Ministry, had set as the
what Dowding,
minimum number
in
agreement with
of fighters and pilots
needed to defend the country. He had already opposed the
earlier
decision to send eight flights to France in a letter to the Air Council,
reminding them
'that the last estimate
which they made
as to the force
necessary to defend this country was fifty-two squadrons, and strength has
He
now been
closed by
strength that,
was
when
reduced to the equivalent of thirty-six squadrons'.
demanding to
that
be
left for
that the ministry decide
Halahan and the
1
level of fighter
insistent the appeals for help
French were
now
in
may
panicky retreat and the
pilots received orders to
leaving they destroyed
May
move immediately
from Berry-au-Bac to Conde-sur-Marne, between Reims and
166
be'.
were dragged along with them. At dawn on 17 Squadron
him
'not a single fighter will be sent across the
Channel however urgent and All along the front the
what
the defence of the country and to assure
was reached,
fighter squadrons
my
Paris.
Before
two Hurricanes damaged beyond immediate
FIGHTER BOYS repair
by pushing them into
of the fighters
lost in
cane took
the
off,
a shell crater
and setting them on
France were to go the same
German bombers
pounding the next-door
arrived,
lage of Pontavert, a place of no military significance.
only one night in
new home
its
Many
fire.
way. As the last Hurrivil-
The squadron spent
before being ordered to withdrew again,
to Anglure, sixty miles to the south-east.
Passing through Reims on the
way
Conde, the road party found
to
The
the city deserted but the roads round about choked with refugees.
Germans were following
to intensify panic, block the roads
munications. day,
Many
when Dennis
near the
airfield
columns
a deliberate policy of attacking civilian
and further disrupt the Allied com-
witnessed the carnage and
pilots
felt disgust.
One
David's aircraft was unserviceable, he went for a walk
and met
a
column of Belgian
civilians
trudging into
France.
The
refugees were pushing prams and small handcarts, with a few
horse-drawn
carts,
and there were even fewer
cars.
Women were
carrying their babies, while toddlers staggered along holding their
mother's hand or dress.
and found
unit,
describe.
I
borrowed an old motor bike from an army
a scene of desolation
Old men,
women
which
it
was impossible
to
and children, grandparents and babes
in
arms, not to mention dogs and horses, were strewn over the roadside,
mostly dead but a few with just a
flicker
of life remaining. All had been
torn to pieces by the bullets from strafing
was
to prevent the road being used
hoping to reinforce the east.
German
aircraft,
utterly sickened
Sammy Salmon
me.
whose aim
army, which was
British
British units already fighting the
The whole episode
Paul Richey,
by the
enemy
and Boy Mould came across
refugees passing through Pontavert.
They
further
15
piled
a
group of
up Salmon's Lagonda
with bread, bully beef and jam from the stores and distributed them while listening to their strafing
Hun;
that
ripped out by a
stories: 'This child's father
had been
killed
young woman's small daughter had had her
bomb
splinter.'
When
by
a
brains
they retold the stories later in the
167
PATRICK BISHOP mess, there was at
shocked
a
first
[Walker] almost reluctantly
moment our
"They
said,
atrocities.
to pick
up
The normally languid
who had
a pilot
bombing and
are shits after all."
strafing. It
new
were above committing
pilots
Peter Matthews was sent one day
It
bomber
wasn't just the
was 109s and
aircraft
That didn't seem to
110s.
and machines, and the
daily
to curb the Luftwaffe's
little
went up
this
who me a
life.'
additional pilots
pilots
From
There could be no
17
fighter pilot's job in
from England, did
16
Johnny
crash-landed and 'got mixed up with a terrible
strafing of the roads.
were doing the
The
a disillusioned
concept of a chivalrous foe was dead.'
comfort in the belief that German fighter such
Then
silence.
to be
knocked down
in
squadron excursions
freedom of
action.
what was becoming
The
a battle
of attrition that could end only one way. The newcomers plunged into
an atmosphere of disarray, operating with minimal support and the sketchiest of orders.
had
A pilot
officer
from
'B' Flight
just turned nineteen, arrived at Vitry
of 253 Squadron,
on the evening of
16
who
May
to
be immediately confronted with a stark picture of what was happening.
'We got out of our Hurricanes and army cooperation machines]
Suddenly two Messerschmitt 109s
circling.
came and shot them both down, and
down we
officers,
the latter 'with
mercifully swift end
supposed to do.
on the other on,
gawping
just stood there
We
all
were stuck
to
at
all'.
if
flight
From didn't
was
led
and four
lying
by
a
pilot
the beginning to the
know what we were
There was another squadron
in a field.
and
The
a sergeant pilot
was confusion. 'We
side of the field
someone had
at them.'
no experience
away or
instead of rushing
and comprised
forty-year-old Canadian,
were two Lysanders [unarmed
there
we wanted
run across to find out
.
.
.
to
know what was going
they had a telephone,
we
didn't.'
On
19
May
an order was passed to them to take off and climb to a
given height. Most of the pilots had early-model Hurricanes with fabric wings, no armour plating, radios with a range of only
wooden two-bladed fitted
with a
ascent.
168
new
propellers.
The
flight
variable-pitch propeller,
'He was climbing
.
.
.
and
two miles and
commander's machine was
which allowed
we were wallowing
a faster rate
of
about below him.
FIGHTER BOYS
we
All the instruction
We
tards."
anywhere
catch him
couldn't
over the place.
all
myself completely alone. I
was.
go
it
was
the flight
.
We
.
.
killed,
The following day
pilot.'
to fly
On
16
No
On
taken prisoner.
hit
it
I
I
full
of
or not
I
found
I
know where there, so if
saw an
I
airfield
saw was someone who
base, 'the other three
had
Both were dead. The next
Hurricanes were lost and three pilots first
18
back to England.
men and
units
On
17
were
aircraft
lost, five
May, sixteen
but one was taken prisoner.
were shot down, seven
19
May,
pilots
were
killed,
pilots
Hurricanes
thirty-five
seven were
The following day only twelve
three taken prisoner.
winding down and the
I
was over
captured.
pilot died,
thirty-three Hurricanes
five
was
May, thirteen Hurricanes were
were shot down or crash-landed, eight
wounded and
bloke
wounded and two
four
air
didn't
I
near [the base].
of the force, the losses of
size
got
waited and waited and there was no sign of
Hurricanes were destroyed.
and
first
were ordered
brutal and unsustainable.
killed
The
bas-
we
got out of the way.
off the sun
or the sergeant
pilots
Given the small
were
I
even have a map.
didn't
Merville.
commander
day the surviving
were
so
tail
you
before
Suddenly the
By the time he reached the
and landed
it
down
shot at one but whether
I
trained with me.'
pilots
I
the lead out,
got shot
pilot.
way must be going somewhere
and landed and
found
I
when we took
thought, well,
I
that
up.
Someone was on my
don't know.
He
and so did the sergeant
near,
aeroplanes
him was, "Get
got from
killed,
but by then the battle was
were beginning
to evacuate
back to
England.
The squadron hardest days.
On
with two
were
hit
was
one day alone, 16 May,
CO, Michael
six
which had seven
of their Hurricanes were shot down,
were
Peacock,
to die,
Gifford, the dashing
down
the
first
promise was
On
20
May
an engagement with 109s over Amiens, including the
who had been
in
command
having taken over from the exhausted Oliver. leaders
pilots killed in ten
and three burned or wounded.
pilots killed
killed in
85,
who had won
German
raider of the war.
among
the
dead,
Flight
At
least
one
new
only for one day,
Two more
Lance Smith of 607 and from
Edinburgh lawyer
three
3
squadron
Squadron Patsy
DFC
for shooting
officer
of glittering
a
Lieutenant Ian Soden of 56
169
PATRICK BISHOP
who had been expected Command's war. He flew his first Squadron,
The following day he was up
Me
By
109.
Some been
Tommy
killed a
The
France on Friday, 17 May.
and
a Dornier
down by an Me
who
Rose,
on these
two Germans
figure
was
was
earlier.
losses could not
be
The
justified.
for each British plane lost. Churchill
'three or four to one'.
far less
an
survived the Battle of Barking Creek, had
habitual over-
claiming gave the impression that the fighters were knocking least
later
110 near Vitry.
seemed unlucky. Soden's squadron comrade, Flying
few hours
return
sortie in
dawn, claiming
at
he was dead, shot
6 p.m.
pilots just
Officer
to play an important role in Fighter
We know now
advantagous. After the
first
two
were only two
escorts arrived in force, there
the balance rose to two-to-one in the
RAF's
down
at
even claimed the
that in reality the ratio
days, before the fighter
days, 17
favour.
and 19 May, when
More worryingly
for
the future, in the crucial contest between fighters, the Messerschmitt 109s and 110s shot
down more
Hurricanes than Hurricanes shot
down
Messerschmitts.
The ever,
fighters
were engaged
how some
in a pointless struggle.
of the pilots saw
it.
That was not, how-
Looking down from the heavens,
ranging the length and breadth of the front, the squadrons should have
had
a better notion of
on the ground whose
They
also
enemy keep
how
the battle
vision
knew from
was
was developing than the
restricted to the field in front of
bitter experience the strength
and
in the score sheet, which,
although
it
may have
thing like the truth in the case of a squadron like No. accurate portrayal of the overall picture.
1,
'We were
reflected
was
sure
measure of the Germans/ Richey wrote. 'Already our
at
losses,
rate,
help.'
170
but 19
We we
to
knew
also
far
some-
from an
we had
the
victories
far
and the squadron score for a week's fighting stood
around the hundred mark
wounded.
them. of the
Their morale seems to have been partly sustained by the
fighting.
exceeded our
ability
were anxious
in the air. Yet, despite the evidence, the pilots
message
soldiers
the
Huns
knew we
Richey pressed
for a deficit of
in
two
pilots
missing and one
couldn't keep going indefinitely at that
couldn't keep
it
up much longer without
person for reinforcements,
telling a visiting
FIGHTER BOYS senior officer that sending sections of three or flights of six
bombers was
useless
and that
a
minimum
up
to protect
of two squadrons was needed
to provide proper cover.
But the Luftwaffe was
far better
The squadrons
forces facing them.
equipped for a long haul than the
krieg had been in a state of exhaustion almost
have
now had
six
am
I
tired.
wrote Denis Wissler two days into the
And am up I
was found asleep
in the cockpit after landing
decided to leave him there until
he was hospital.
still
It
'I
washed
hostilities.
again at 3 a.m. tomorrow.' Pilots dozed
squadron comrade Sergeant
off in mid-flight. Wissler's
blitz-
from the second day.
hours' sleep in forty-eight hours and haven't
for thirty-six hours,'
'My God
opening of the
in place since the
air
dawn
Sammy
one evening and
Allard it
was
morning
patrol next day. In the
unconscious, so he was put in an ambulance and sent to
was
thirty
hours before he woke up. The chaos and the influx
of retreating French troops meant that beds were scarce. The pilots
grabbed the precious chance of oblivion wherever
down
in
abandoned houses,
and the wings of
how
appeared, dossing
in barns alongside refugees,
it
under the
stars.
Again and their eyes
minutes before they were awoken again. Sometimes the truth, with warnings and
beneath bushes
seemed they had only closed
their aeroplanes, or simply
again they remarked
it
move
orders
it
was not
coming through
far
from
at all hours,
ruining the possibility of a clear stretch of undisturbed repose. Often,
when
they did
lie
down,
sleep
would not come
easily,
and when
it
finally
descended they would be back in the cockpit, twisting, diving and shooting in a dream-replay of the day's combats. They looked forward to sleep with sensuous yearning, noting the experience as a
records a great meal.
Wissler on 14 May,
'I
took off from Cambrai
'after
the best night's sleep
at I
about
gourmet
7.30,'
wrote
have had since
this
business started.'
Food, by contrast, seemed unimportant. They kept going on bread,
jam and
bully beef, and drank in great quantities tea that the
ground
crews thrust into their hands as they clambered out of their cockpits. the
odd occasions when they were
able to find a cafe that
not crowded out, the food tasted of nothing. No.
1
On
was open or
Squadron took over
171
PATRICK BISHOP door to the Anglure
a cafe at Pleurs, next
mechanically shoved
might
as well
woman
these days'.
crowded
way but
I
flirt
even further from
'It
their
with Richey, he found her 'quite
could scarcely be bothered to look
at a
Germans pushed
the
as
Rumours,
closer.
of which turned out to be horribly accurate, swirled through the
towns and
washing over
villages,
and
soldiers
the atmosphere in suspicion. In this
civilians alike, saturating
humid moral
climate the pilots found
that their allies could be as dangerous as their enemies.
where parachute troops had been dropped
in Holland,
main attack
wreak havoc behind the
to
from the sky an object of distrust,
Now
and
in
20
French dread mounted
many
Women were
the barmaid tried to
pretty in a coquettish
all
bread, eggs and wine,' wrote Richey.
have been sawdust.'
When
minds.
down
'We
airfield.
in
tactics
advance of the
made anyone descending
lines,
as Billy
German
Drake had already discovered.
peasants and soldiers were inclined to attack any parachutist with-
out bothering to establish his identity. Pilot Officer Pat Woods-Scawen of 85 Squadron was shot
down
in a dogfight
accounted for one Messerschmitt himself. twice on the as edgy.
way down by French
Squadron Leader John
He
with 109s in which he baled out, to be shot at
troops. British soldiers could be just
who was
Hill,
flying his first sortie with
504 Squadron after taking over as commander, was forced to bale out
and was blasted with shotgun
pellets
by
a peasant as
he approached the
ground. Having convinced them he was an English airman, he was then arrested
by passing
When
columnist. tion,
British soldiers,
he reached into
they opened
fire,
forcing
further suspicions and he
was
who
accused him of being a
his pockets to
him
to
jump
show some
fifth
identifica-
into a ditch. This aroused
pulled out and beaten unconscious, only
being saved by the intervention of a passing French officer
who knew
him. Fear of tion.
fifth
When
Pete Brothers
from Moorsele
moved
in
first
jumpy, looking over
a sergeant
had
some
landed with 32 Squadron to
Belgium, they found 615 Squadron,
there, 'a bit
That morning
172
columnists was rampant, apparently with
up
the day
who had by now
their shoulders the
failed to turn
justifica-
fly for
at readiness.
whole
time'.
'They'd gone
FIGHTER BOYS
him out of bed and they found he was
to kick
knife in his chest
come
refugee
.
.
civilians
They
was
if it
German bombers had
the
below made them
behind enemy
know
didn't
his
back with a
a fifth columnist or a
him or what/ 21
to rob
The punishment and
.
on
lying
inflicted
rough
liable to
Halahan came across
lines. Bull
on the
soldiers
justice if they landed
He
a crashed Heinkel.
become of the crew, and
asked some French Senegalese troops what had
who had arrived Sammy Salmon's big
was told they had been taken off and shot. Pat Hancock, at
1
Squadron
at the start
Lagonda when they saw
a
of the fighting, was in
German descending by parachute
into a field
near Bethienville. There was a greeting committee waiting for him,' he said.
They had been
Sammy
said,
"We
became
instantly
have
can't
put
I
the French far and wide.' 17
May
now
they wanted to
whose
loss
my RAF
the Chief of the Air
cap on his head and
Staff,
the difference
would be
it
weaken
vitally
Churchill agreed and
to
compromise
two days
in a
later
Britain's
May
the Air
He announced
to
air
He
concluded that
defences further.
ordered that no more fighter squad-
of the eight reinforcement
draw, most of them with only half the 20
dispersed
home would make
in France'.
rons leave the country whatever the need in France.
What remained
We
few more squadrons
the fighter line at
between victory and defeat 'criminal'
we
field.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril
he did 'not believe that to throw
might
him.
22
Newall, had accepted the hopelessness of the situation. his peers that
kill
Hancock. Bloody French." His car
this,
through the hedge he went, into the
a tank,
picked up the German.
By
the field and
tilling
aircraft
Component squadrons
pack up. That evening 87 Squadron
23
flights
prepared to with-
they had arrived with.
attached to the
set off
from
BEF began
Lille to Merville,
On to
the
thirty-minute journey taking hours because of the blackout and roads
clogged with troops and refugees. Roland Beamont described a 'great
mass
...
all
pouring westwards
.
.
.
pushing perambulators, bicycles
loaded up with blankets and pots and pans ... As
them I
in clearly
think they
felt
marked
RAF
that here
vehicles there
were the
British
was
we
tried to get
through
a great deal of hostility.
running away.'
24
173
PATRICK BISHOP
new
Dennis David flew to their tion
was
airfield
nil in
on
to sleep
Lille,
anxiety
grew
rumours were bad ones. fallen
A
able!
.
.
.
were thankful
have clean straw
to
traffic
outside the
retreating Allied troops the squadron
that they
A young
would never get away.
French
them
officer told
and that the Germans were advancing to the
had
All the
'that Arras
coast. Unbeliev-
battery of 75s stopped at our dispersal point and a harassed
capitaine told us
that the
how Gamelin had been
executed by the Paris
Germans had reached Abbeville
were given
[well to the south].'
for the pilots to carry out strafing attacks
on the road between Cambrai and Arras evacuate the ground crews,
'home
discover that 'accommoda-
As the morning passed and the
in a pigsty'.
was joined by the same
seen at
had
we
the village, and
airfield to
to England'.
profound
These
when
last
'An entirely
effect.
and
ately the officers
men
mob 25
and
Orders
on German troops
until troop carriers arrived to
they would switch to escorting them
words, the squadron diary noted, had a
new atmosphere was
read that.
A
mixed
noticeable immedi-
feeling of regret at leaving
hospitable France and an unpleasant feeling that should anything happen to the troop carriers or the Hurricanes
we
should be
left
very
much
alone
in the world.'
By the following day they were home. Dennis David, who had been shot up in a strafing run, crash-landed but plane. After
months looking down
to Surbiton,
moving
left
home
his
to sleep.'
26
last night,'
who The
said
fields
of Kent looked'.
mother sent him
to bed.
He
He went
'slept
without
She became quite concerned and actually
for thirty-six hours.
called the doctor,
be
where
in a passenger
on the plains of northern France he
was struck by 'how small and green the
home
was evacuated
I
sister
was completely exhausted and should squadron, 85, also
made
Denis Wissler scrawled in pencil in
it
back.
'I
just
came
his diary. 'Bath, bed,
booze.' Bull
Halahan decided that
his
men had now had enough and
permission for the longest serving pilots squadron,
who had been
in
asked
to withdraw. The core of the
France from the
first
days, left together;
including the Bull himself, Johnny Walker, Prosser Hanks, Killy Kilmartin,
174
Bill Stratton,
Pussy Palmer, Boy Mould and Frank Soper. Rennie
FIGHTER BOYS Albonico, another of the originals, was not with them, having been shot
down and
taken prisoner on 21 May.
Nor was Paul
Richey.
On
the last
big day of righting, 19 May, he had attacked a formation of Heinkels, and
one was caught
after destroying
He was
in return fire.
hit in the
neck by
an armour-piercing bullet and temporarily paralysed, only regaining the
power
arms when
in his
vertical dive.
tal in
Hurricane was 2,000 feet up and locked in a
He was found by
wards to end up Billy
his
Drake
in the
the French and
American Hospital
also passed
through Paris
moved
in the Paris
after
erratically west-
suburb of Neuilly.
being collected from hospi-
Chartres by an American girlfriend called Helen. Lacking uniform
or identity papers, he was again taken for a
German
at a
French road-
block and feared he was going to be shot as a spy until Helen persuaded
them
to let
her Buick,
him
its
go.
tank miraculously
Le Mans, where the with refugees/ he rifles,
my
27
life.'
British
said,
just trudging.
seen in
They went
to the Crillon, full
much
They'd had
it.
who had
day, walking sitting at a
streets
were crowded
worse, with soldiers without their
was the most depressing thing
I've
stayed behind.
Richey, too, eventually joined last
It
The
At Le Mans there was an emotional reunion with the
squadron members
ouring the
of petrol, and told him to head for
were regrouping.
'and
where she handed over
them
after recuperating in Paris, sav-
days of freedom the city would
down
the Champs-Elysees, he
pavement
cafe
know
came
One
for four years.
across
Cobber Kain
with a Daily Express journalist, Noel Monks.
Kain had chosen to help with the re-forming of 73 Squadron, after those
who remained
of the surviving pilots returned to England, and was due
back himself in a few days. his spirit
was
He was young enough
frayed. Richey 'noticed that
to
still
have acne, but
he was nervous and preoccu-
pied and kept breaking matches savagely in one hand while he glowered into the middle distance'.
28
The following day Kain took off from
the squadron base at Echemines,
south-west of Paris, and started to perform
ground.
Among
the
those at the aerodrome was Sergeant Maurice Leng, a
twenty-seven-year-old Londoner pilots to
rolls perilously close to
who was one
of the
first
be posted to a fighter unit to replace squadron
of the
RAFVR
casualties.
'He'd
175
PATRICK BISHOP taken off in
.
.
.
the last original surviving Hurricane of 73 Squadron with
wooden
a fixed-pitch, two-bladed
airscrew,'
he said
and came across the aerodrome, did a couple of
was
deck. That
known
The sympathy of
it.'
him, was muted.
stupid.'"
'We
all said,
later.
'He took off
flick rolls
and
hit the
who had hardly we all said, "How
the newcomers,
"How sad,"
but
29
The judgement could have served
whole
for the
air
campaign.
It
petered out in a series of withdrawals westwards in ever deepening chaos. Nos.
and 73 Squadrons, two of the
1
to be the last out, together with 501, start
first
four squadrons
which had been
were
in,
France since the
in
of the blitzkrieg, and 242 and 17 Squadrons, which were sent out
No.
early in June.
1
Squadron was
now
new com-
transformed, with a
mander, Squadron Leader David Pemberton, and an almost entirely of
set
pilots.
Pat Hancock, one of the replacement
pilots,
new
remembered
the remaining weeks as 'only retreat, anxiety and lack of knowledge as to
what was going
on.
control, as such,
had vanished.' 30
moved
Communications were almost In the
first
non-existent. Fighter
two weeks of June the
four times, in the end taking the initiative to
was impossible on
finally left
to contact
17 June.
wing headquarters
One
shift itself
when
half-loaded colliers at La Rochelle. Another flew
from
it
They
to obtain orders.
party departed by ship, boarding
unit
two
dirty
St Nazaire.
The
squadron had been helping 73 and 242 Squadrons to maintain a continu-
RAF
ous patrol over the port to cover the embarkation of the
remnants of the last
British
army
in France.
They were unable
and the
to prevent the
tragedy of the campaign, the sinking of the Lancastria, which went
down with
the loss of 5,000 lives
when
a
German bomb
through an open hatch. Pat Hancock chased a hell of a
way,
firing at
it
after
sailed flukily
one of the
raiders 'for
but with no success'. Circling over, he saw the
victims struggling in the water and threw
down
his
Mae West
life-jacket.
No. 17 Squadron was also sent to cover the evacuation, and base in tents
on the racetrack
at
Le Mans on
8 June.
set
The same
up
day,
Denis Wissler, back with 85 Squadron after a forty-eight-hour leave, was
summoned by
his
commanding
officer,
Peter Townsend,
over the squadron two weeks before, and
176
told that '17
who had
taken
Squadron had
FIGHTER BOYS wired and asked for two operational but
would have
I
Squadron
to go,
and
for six weeks, but his
mob seem damn nice',
first
way
London
in
where he
'really
and he had grown very fond of them. There were
for a solitary,
him
Alka-Seltzer, lent
before he took
Wissler
He
stopped on
at the
Trocadero,
for Kenley.
left
melancholy dinner
got completely plastered and was put to bed by the wing
commander'. The same kindly
some
had only been with 85
impression on joining was that 'the
only two hours to say goodbye before he the
and that he was very sorry
pilots
that at once'. Wissler
his
officer
woke him up
at 3.30 a.m.
bath robe and sent him for a cold shower
off.
who had been
with Count Manfred Czernin,
left
85 Squadron. Czernin trian diplomat father
was twenty-seven, born
was
who
was
He joined
the
RAF
his
Aus-
English, the
designed Big Ben, and
he had been to Oundle public school. There was none the a dash of Mitteleuropa in his
with him in
where
in Berlin,
en poste. His mother, though,
daughter of Lord Grimthorpe, the polymath
teasing.
with
less
more than
manner, which made him the object of some in 1935
a stint farming tobacco in Rhodesia,
on
a short-service
and served
as a
commission
bomber
after
pilot before
joining the reserve. Unlike Wissler, he had already been in action several
times in France and claimed to have shot
managed
to get lost several times
down
on the way
to
four Germans.
The
pair
Le Mans, taking twelve
hours over a one-hour journey. The squadron then spent several days patrolling over
Rouen and Le Havre, both towns obscured by columns
of black smoke coiling up from burning last
had
Heinkels
his first taste
bombing
of fighting
oil tanks.
when
On
12
June Wissler
at
the squadron spotted three
troopships off Le Havre and attacked.
He opened
fire
on one of the bombers and saw smoke coming from the starboard engine, but modestly did not claim to have shot ever,
fired
casualty'.
at
On
experience:
it
down. Czernin, how-
another Heinkel in cloud and claimed a 'conclusive a later patrol Wissler
had another new and unwelcome
coming under heavy ground
fire. 'It
was most
terrifying,'
he
reported candidly in his diary that evening.
By now the evacuation was almost complete. The squadron returned to
Le Mans
after a patrol
on the morning of Saturday,
12 June, to find
177
PATRICK BISHOP the Naafi had gone leaving behind huge quantities of cigarettes and
whisky, to which everyone helped themselves. a
The army had abandoned
batch of Harley-Davidson motor bikes. Pilots and ground
to Dinard.
On
and broke off to eat at
17 June the pilots
were
took the
The same day they
opportunity to ride circuits round the famous track.
moved
staff
morning
at readiness all
Members of a French squadron based
at a local hotel.
Dinard aerodrome were also there. Peter Dawbarn,
a nineteen-year-
was among the English
who sat down to lunch. There was a radio in a corner of the dining room. When the news came on everyone stopped eating to listen. When the old pilot officer with 17 Squadron,
announcement of the 'they
all
capitulation followed there
burst into tears'.
battle.
Many
a
low opinion of the French.
allies differed,
their spirited fellow officers in the
war had enjoyed
neighbouring
particularly supportive or
No.
crucial phase of the Battle of France.
Frenchman attached
to
it
as interpreter,
to escape to Britain in an fight bravely
and
abandoned
effectively for the
Pilots' atti-
depending on when they joined the
veterans of the phoney
had not found them
Then,
silence.
31
The newcomers had formed tudes towards their
was
pilots
the
escadrilles,
even
even
a
much-loved
Jean 'Moses' Demozay,
Bristol
RAF
Bombay
they
if
during the
visible
Squadron had
1
company of
who was
troop carrier and
and the Free French for the
rest
of the war. The reinforcement nights and squadrons rarely saw the French.
The few recorded encounters were not happy
down
tenant Fred Rosier of 229 Squadron put after
being nearly shot
down
with brand-new American
They were
in the battle at
The French thetic.
Peter
I
was
livid
.
.
.
off,
Lille,
French were there,
They were not
flying.
participating
all.'
the replacement pilots
pilots
the
on previous
they
didn't.'
The
squadron was convinced that
178
near
and they were not
17
saw appeared demoralized and Squadron
trips to
pilots
locals could also traitors
had come
apa-
across
Dinard, which they used as a
base for patrolling, 'but they never took off as far as taking
airfield
32
Dawbarn and
French fighter
an
in a battle, 'to find the
aeroplanes, fighters,
quite friendly, but
at
ones. Flight Lieu-
I
know.
We
kept
seem treacherous. The
were reporting
their
movements
to
FIGHTER BOYS
The
the Germans.
code
fifth
we
every time
starts
Hurricanes
left
hol,
and landed
Boy
style
column take
When
with a party.
they
when and
fighters
that
the
flak
went
main
terit
when on
bombed and
it
came
may
to describing the waste.
no apparent
neighbourhood of
pilots
we
of Fighter
in France. Churchill
1
many
Squadron diary
as
two or
three
facilities
thirty-eight,
three as u/s, due to lack of
all
.
.
.
Wastage has so
poor relations/
Command
feel
had claimed
far
been
only ten of which have actually
in France are the
could
that they
34
proud of their performance
were 'clawing down two or
Germans
ation.
The Hurricane squadrons reckoned themselves
for every British aeroplane lost.
It
was
a vast exagger-
to have definitely
499 bombers and fighters. The true figure was lower but
at least 299.
But with losses of 208 on their
pilots well in the lead.
What
own
side,
it still
left
it
the
Their success was their own. They were
dedicated and aggressive and they
machines.
with
has been most notice-
'It
results as
three'
RAF
strafed,
be struck by shrapnel and on return to aerodrome
proper servicing and maintenance
crashed. Apparently
light
genial tone of No.
has been found necessary to write off
was
were aban-
them before going back
or field to sustain
The normally
a patrol yielding
out of six
down
rest
on the ground crews, who
reflection
regularly
but intact aeroplanes suffering only
repairs impossible.
shot
the missing 386,
made
on
The
Of
because there were no spares, or the chaotic conditions
set
in the
452 fighters sent out,
to be
shift. All
it
Of the
force withdrew.
was no
back. Given
working within, the campaign
damage had
on
aircraft
came
to France never
accounted for only 208. The
as unserviceable. This
only a few hours' sleep in
lap.
the brief journey to
33
in machines.
worked continuously while being
able that
the following day, one Hurricane
Command was
had been ruinously expensive only 66 returned
left
perched on her
pilot
Most of the Hurricanes
faltered
Morse
their escape in Fighter
young woman who made
the tight margins Fighter
fire
are sure as
wrote Wissler. The 17 Squadron
off,'
where they celebrated
at Jersey,
freedom with the
doned
we
operating here
from Dinard, fuselages packed with cigarettes and alco-
carried a passenger, a
German
is
made
the
most of
their excellent
they lacked was an effective early-warning system, or
179
PATRICK BISHOP any proper control or direction from the ground. The tactics
explained, in lives
pilots
fought using
they invented for themselves for objectives that were never if
they were ever understood. Given these handicaps, the cost
looked relatively low. Altogether
fifty-six pilots
twelve days between 10 and 21 May, and
thirty-six
were
killed in the
wounded, with
eigh-
teen taken prisoner. But such losses could not possibly be borne over a
long period, and as soon as
180
this battle
ended, a
new one was
beginning.
8
Dunkirk
At Dunkirk some 500,000 in,
British
and French
soldiers
now penned
were
the sea at their backs, awaiting capture or annihilation.
finishing
them
off was given to the
Goering had proposed the
army
spare his
bombers and
idea. Hitler
fighters of the Luftwaffe.
accepted
for the next stage of the
The RAF was given
The job of
it,
apparently wishing to
French campaign.
the task of protecting the exhausted lines of sol-
zig-zagging across the grey North Sea sands waiting to be rescued.
diers,
This was the heaviest responsibility the
The troops were
appallingly exposed. Defending
mounting continuous either side. to try to
Once
To be
patrols over
had yet had to
air force
them meant not only
Dunkirk port and the beaches on
effective the fighters
would
also
have to push inland
knock down the bombers before they could drop again, they
face.
would be operating
numbers. Despite the losses sustained
at a significant
disadvantage in
in the blitzkrieg, the
had 300 bombers and could draw on 550
their loads.
Germans
fighters to protect
still
them. After
the depredations of the Battle of France, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park,
whose
11
disposal. pilots
The
The
fighters at his
knew what
bursts
immediate
mission, though, had the virtue of clarity and purpose.
they were supposed to do and
why
was profoundly
little this
affecting to the
men
The
they were doing
stoicism of the infantrymen as they waited patiently
bomb ever
Group faced Dunkirk, had only 200
flying over
among
it.
the
them, how-
was appreciated on the ground. 181
PATRICK BISHOP
The burden of
the fighting
was
around London, which would be
ing also decided that the time had
The
into the battle.
Group
11
be borne by the squadrons based
to
fully
engaged for the
come
pilots
throw
to
watched the
the BEF's campaign in France with anticipation.
be
Dowd-
time.
first
his precious Spitfires
painful phase of
last,
To some
it
seemed
to
of a disaster than an opportunity. 'At Hornchurch,' wrote Brian
less
Kingcome,
of war
'the taste
ation
Dynamo',
of 26
May when
sailing barges,
at last
began to
tingle
1
our palates/ 'Oper-
was code-named, began on
as the evacuation
the evening
a vast flotilla of yachts, pleasure boats, fishing smacks,
motor
cruisers
and dinghies joined more conventional
back across the Channel.
craft in carrying the soldiers
There had already been some preliminary skirmishing during the previous ten days.
The Hornchurch
called to the billiards
no
briefing
need
room
room
pilots
on the evening of
15
of the officers mess for a briefing. There was
at the base.
As Al Deere pointed
out, 'there
our operations were purely defensive and
for any;
usually launched into the air at a
moment's
the vaguest idea of what to expect'.
would be going on the
May were
offensive,
2
was no
aircraft
were
notice, the pilots having only
Now they were
informed that they
roaming over the French and Belgian
coasts to seek out the Luftwaffe.
When among - for
at
to start patrolling, there
the 54 Squadron pilots as to
this
pilots.
came
the order
was how
it
was seen - went
Hornchurch and climbing
hum
in the
"Hornet squadron,
first.
The honour
most experienced
bumping over
the grass
to 15,000 feet, of crossing the French coast:
earphones as the CO's voice crackled over the
battle formation, battle formation,
metrically, like the fingers of
wards. As
off
to the twelve
Al Deere described the excitement, after
'There was a air,
who would go
was competition
GO." Sym-
an opening hand, the sections spread out-
my eyes scanned the empty skies
I
was conscious of a
feeling of
exhilaration and tenseness, akin to that experienced before an important
sporting event. There
was no
pened, elation soon evaporated. pilots
crowded round
Gray, a fellow
182
New
feeling of fear
When
.' .
.
When
nothing hap-
the squadron returned, the other
to hear about the
first real taste
Zealander, asked Deere what
it
had
of action. Colin felt like,
'know-
FIGHTER BOYS ing that at any minute a
reported that after a It
'at first
I
Hun was
might pop up and take
tingling
time nothing happened
was Johnny
all
a pot at you?'
Deere
over with excitement but
when
was damn
I
member
Allen, a quiet
bored'.
a
Ju
Deere's turn
88.
the mess that morning, he
commander,
he had a degree
was
called to the
had been shot
phone
in electrical engineering. Leathart
learned that the at
scored
CO
stood out shooting
first,
eating breakfast in
to speak to his flight
James 'Prof Leathart, so called because
meeting with the station commander,
who had
who
came on 23 May. While
Flight Lieutenant
who
of the squadron
because of his strong religious convictions,
down
3
had just come from a
Wing Commander
'Boy' Bouchier,
of 74 Squadron, Squadron Leader White,
while patrolling across the Channel and forced
down
at
Calais-Marcq aerodrome. 'Drogo' White was an example of the RAF's
He had
fundamentally meritocratic nature.
apprentice and been selected for Cranwell,
Honour.
He was
a
and by
a
Henschel
towed drogue
target,
a relatively
126,
capable of
air force,
None of this had saved him from being
average was twenty. his first sortie,
on
Halton
where he won the Sword of
regarded as the finest shot in the
scoring eighty hits out of a hundred
on
started out as a
when
shot
the
down
slow-moving
reconnaissance plane.
Before landing he radioed Johnny Freeborn, asking
him
to
tell
his wife that
This optimistic prediction
came
sounded to Deere,
escort, 'a piece
sent Allen
up
with him,
true sooner than he could have dared to fly
over in a two-seater Miles Master
keep the engine running while White hopped
sea-level. It
flying
he was unhurt and would soon be home.
hope. Bouchier asked Leathart to trainer,
who was
who
in,
then return
with Johnny Allen was asked to
at fly
of cake'. They reached Calais without any trouble. Deere to stand
guard
lurking in the broken cloud.
at 8,000 feet,
The
where Germans might be
bright yellow Master landed and taxied
over to a hangar, where White was presumed to be waiting.
heard 'an excited
dozen
Me
in the
middle of a
yell
Then Deere
from the usually placid Johnny'. Allen had seen
109s heading for the airfield. frantic melee,
Deere dropped down to
try
He
attacked,
and found himself
shooting and being shot
and
alert the Master,
a
at.
which had no R/T, 183
PATRICK BISHOP by waggling on
latched
inside the pilot
he
Me
and reefed
it
fire a
failed,
when
fire
'in
own
engine as the
He
inside.
from about 3,000
bastard',
and pulled
now
and plunged
stall
my
fire,
to
and
top of its climb, heeled slowly vertically into the water's
edge
Again Deere
started after him.
109, causing 'bits to fly off'.
tighter circles. Before the
but for reasons he could not
engagement
until the
German
home. Buzzing with
by
now
his pursuers, so that
very
Then he and round
at
the lead 109
high speeds
end Deere ran out of ammu-
later explain
he continued the
abruptly straightened out and headed east
adrenaline,
Deere and Allen, whose
Spitfire
was
ventilated with bullet holes, did the same. Deere indulged him-
with a victory
roll
over the aerodrome as they came
This encounter was the
first
time a
Spitfire
in.
had gone up against
Messerschmitt and pilots and ground crew were hungry Deere's account was corroborated by 'Prof Leathart,
White watched the combat from as the sky
was
clear.
a ditch before they
Deere was excited and
who had
made
a
for details.
with
their escape
relieved.
It
seemed
that one of the great questions that the fighter pilots, and those
184
pour
were reversed and he was chasing them. Deere opened
for
soon
Hun
upwards, thus writ-
Smoke began
into an extended dogfight, chasing each other
in tighter
as
the
feet.'
on the second
self
Deere
and stayed clamped into
mistake.
at the
which swung round steeply and
nition,
preparing to
he went to look for Allen. As he climbed, he was seen by two
quickly the roles fire
to fly into.
with a perfect no-deflection
found that he could comfortably turn inside
went
He was
vertically
me
presented
made no
I
aircraft,
over in an uncontrolled
109s,
enemy
ahead, leaving the tracer twink-
little
kill this
I
his turn
death warrant.
shot from dead below and
Now
in front for the
a last desperate attempt to avoid
from
pilot straightened
his
a
opponent, he had the
Allen's voice again filled his earphones, calling for help.
the turn. Then,
from
aimed
wake. Deere turned
asked Allen to 'hang on while
ing his
in air fighting. If the chasing
tighter, getting inside his
was always
ling harmlessly in his
He
hard over in an attempt to turn
manoeuvre
deflection burst,
the target
a 109 flashed across his path.
his Spitfire
109, the crucial
succeeded in turning
chance to If
As he did so
his wings.
to
who
FIGHTER BOYS war had
directed them, had been asking themselves since the start of the
been
settled.
Deere believed that
as a result
of his prolonged
fight
with
the second 109 he had been able to assess practically the relative perform-
ance of the two
aircraft.
the tests carried out
The experience of the Hurricanes
on the
Me
feet,
and
109 that had fallen into Allied hands, had
concluded that the Messerschmitt could out-climb the 20,000
in France,
and always out-dive
it,
but was
Spitfire
up
to
less agile at all altitudes.
Deere agreed about the dive. The Messerschmitts, unlike the British
had
fighters,
moment Spitfire
fuel injection,
a beat at the
of zero gravity that preceded a rapid descent. That aside, 'the
was superior
in
most other
4
more manoeuvrable.' The nificantly
and
fields,
Spitfire's
like the
Hurricane, vastly
climbing performance had been
sig-
improved by the advent of the Rotol constant-speed airscrew.
Later that day there
was
squadron. That afternoon a
which meant they did not miss
it
to
be another formative experience for the
took off on cross-Channel patrol and ran into
formation of bombers silhouetted above in the clear sky, heading for
Dunkirk. After climbing above, unnoticed, and gaining the tactical
advantage, Leathart,
The four
who was
leading, ordered a
maximum
No.
5 attack.
sections of three fanned out into echelon formation, each
one
tucked into a neat inverted V-shaped Vic' slanting across the sky in a shallow diagonal, each pilot selecting his target.
would have
delighted their pre-war instructors.
on the R/T shouted: instantly 'split in
all
The
Then
flying discipline a panicked voice
Messerschmitts - Break!' The squadron
'Christ,
directions,
all
thoughts of blazing
momentarily ousted by the desire to
enemy bombers
survive'.
In the tumbling dogfight that followed, the 54
Squadron
pilots
claimed
to have destroyed eight of the attacking Messerschmitts, but unfortu-
nately
no bombers, which were
cess, the
encounter
their
primary
set off intense discussion
they had been taught.
The
criticism
English, very good-looking'
was
led
targets. Despite this suc-
of the value of the
by George Gribble,
tactics
a 'very
twenty-year-old short-service entrant. In
Deere's admiring opinion, he 'epitomized the product of the public school;
required
young yet mature, it,
and above
all
carefree
yet
serious
when
the
situation
possessing a courageous gaity'. Gribble told
185
PATRICK BISHOP Leathart that 'everybody was so
damn busy making
we were
the right position in the formation that
down
for
our
pains'. Leathart,
did not argue.
He promised
Fighter Area Attacks.
who was
certain he got into
very nearly
shortly to take over
that henceforth there
command,
would be no more
5
These cross-Channel clashes taught valuable lessons to the squadrons. fighting,
They provided
but allowed the
experiences. Previously
1 1
Group
a demonstration of the startling reality of air
pilots
an opportunity to recover and digest their
no one had known what
to expect.
During the
days of the Battle of France, 32 Squadron, flying from Biggin
first
shot
all
Hill,
had barely seen the enemy. Michael Crossley noted one day's non-events with typical candour and idiosyncratic punctuation
very frightened, do a patrol, see nothing, nothing, feel
much
a slightly caddish
RAF
feel better,
six feet tall,
with jug
He was
brilliantly
and had
and signed on
who
a natural musician a jokey
manner
the squadron to shoot
down an Me
and was to destroy three more
down
an
Me
109 in the
as
an apprentice with
109,
became
the
In the following
using each sortie to add to
Its pilots'
its
effectiveness
capacity to learn
line until the
186
the
and escorting
meant
and
its
that 32
members' chances
Squadron remained
months and was not with-
end of August.
Squadron commanders and their experiences
week
stock of collective and indi-
its
intact as a fighting force for the next three
drawn from the
pilot in
in the next four days. Pete Brothers also
bomber
of survival.
first
with a perfect deflection shot,
same encounter.
knowledge and increase
when he had
be serious enough
in action almost daily, flying offensive patrols
vidual
De
played the guitar and trumpet
squadron was raids,
an assistant
sometimes appeared to border
that
facetious. Crossley, though, could
as
to be. Shortly after writing the diary entry he
shot
eyes
moustache. Between leaving Eton and joining the
director at Elstree film studios
Havilland.
6
ears, dark, smiling
he had studied aeronautical engineering, worked
on the
diary.
do another, see
better, return to Biggin Hill, feel grand.'
Mike Crossley was over and
squadron
in the
France, land at Abbeville, refuel, hear dreadful stories, get
'All set off to
pilots
drew
their
own
conclusions from
and acted on them without waiting to seek approval
FIGHTER BOYS from above. The nature of the fighting meant that advice or direction
from superiors not involved
Dowding and
their credit,
own
that their
combat
carried
authority.
little
To
commanders accepted
understanding of what was happening could well be
inferior to that of
even the most junior
opinions, listened to
The new
in daily
the best of his senior
what they had
rules of air fighting
front-line pilot.
when
to say and,
They sought
their
needed, took action.
were being made up with each
clash.
To
succeed, merely to survive, required an adaptability that was found chiefly in the
young. In the mayfly span of a fighter
young meant under twenty-two. The older squadrons, in
whom
among
the
first
pilots
to go.
for
all
Roger
and flying
their experience
92 Squadron,
The squadron was
was shot down on
essentially a
the previous October. Bushell
new creation,
to Spitfires
in
man,
South
Africa,
and warm-hearted, and
a
moved
good
a superb skier, coaching the British
He had a permanently half-hooded
ics.
which gave him
its
com-
missed.
from Blenheim
team
with
his
England and went to
to
drinker.
spirit
He was
He was
in the 1936
tough,
also a sports-
Winter Olymp-
eye, the result of a skiing accident,
a truculent look.
Bushell had joined 601 Squadron in the ing
often
was moved from 601 Auxiliary Squadron
Wellington public school and Brasenose College, Oxford. intelligent
were
having been re-formed only
and infusing the nascent squadron
He was born
personality.
to
He would be
his first day.
the
who had
moved up
to supervise the birth, overseeing training, the switch
bombers
skills
Bushell, the peacetime barrister
helped defend Johnny Freeborn and Paddy Byrne and
mand
commanding
the parade ground rigidity of the old tactics
were
strongly ingrained,
pilot's effective life,
mid
1930s, naturally embrac-
credo of taking fun and flying equally seriously, making strong
friendships
and winning admirers throughout the
service. His
charm, the
7
squadron chronicler recorded, was 'magnetic and universal'. His forensic talents
were
at the disposal
of all the squadron,
he flew himself from London to
a distant
fitter
and
pilot alike.
northern base to defend a
ground-crew member, changing out of uniform and into wig and to
demolish the authorities'
set off
on an evening
case.
patrol
On the
Once
gown
evening of 23 May, 92 Squadron
around Dunkirk. Bushell was leading, and
187
PATRICK BISHOP
when
they encountered a formation of Heinkels, heavily protected by
Me
109s and 110s, he ordered an attack.
ing
on the radio
as
Tony
Bartley heard
he plunged into the bomber
force'
and Paul Klipsch. All three were shot down. Klipsch was
and
Gillies
waving
were captured. Bushell was
in the aftermath
He
Luft 111.
Gillies
killed.
Bushell
seen standing by his
Spitfire,
troublesome prisoner and was
March 1944 by the Gestapo
after
being captured
of the Great Escape he helped to organize from Stalag
diary admitted that the losses
and two days
all',
a
'swear-
was, Brian Kingcome thought, 'an amazingly great man'.
The squadron to us
He was
his scarf in farewell.
eventually murdered in
last
him
with John
later 92
were
was moved
to
'a
8
very severe blow
Duxford to
rest
and
re-equip.
The also
Squadron commander, Squadron Leader G. D. Stephenson,
19
went
early,
on the
first
day of Operation Dynamo. Once again there
were more men than machines, and leaders,
drew
lots for
who was
to go.
pilots,
with the exception of section
The twelve
Spitfires left at breakfast
time and encountered about twenty Stukas over the coast near Calais.
They appeared
to be unescorted,
circumstance that should have
a
aroused suspicion, but caution vanished as the into their
first real
pilots,
most of them going
combat, saw the black crosses and the gull wings
crawling unheedingly across the sky and prepared to attack. As they did so, thirty
G. E.
Me
Ball,
110s
came
into view.
One
section, led
broke off to engage them. The
who had
George Unwin,
Flight Lieutenant
rest closed in
missed out in the draw, heard
pened from the returning
pilots.
Stephenson, he
Area Attack No.
meant
a very
1.
by
'That
said,
on the later
good shot
at
it.
The squadron shot down 'Watty'
Watson was
hit
That was the four,
by
a
ordered a Fighting
It
later
188
It
you could
worked, up to a point.
shell,
baled out and disappeared.
in a shallow glide, trailing blue
turned out he landed safely but was taken prisoner. The
squadron claimed losses, if true.
idea.'
9
but then the 109s arrived. Pilot Officer
cannon
Stephenson was seen heading inland
smoke.
what hap-
slow closing speed in formation
"vies" of three, attacking with a very slow overtaking speed so
get a very
Stukas.
The
on
their
arithmetic of the squadrons involved at Dunkirk,
how-
five Stukas
and two
109s, a reasonable return
FIGHTER BOYS was no more
ever,
reliable
than that of the France-based units. Later they
flew another patrol and were again 'bounced' by 109s. Sergeant C. A. Irwin was killed and Pilot Officer Michael Lyne shot in the
nursed
back across the Channel and crash-landed on Walmer Beach.
his Spitfire
This time
He
leg.
seemed
it
one 109 had possibly been brought down,
that only
and that was unconfirmed. Stephenson and Irwin were both very experienced men. Irwin was an of the cadre of ground
ex-fitter, typical
ambition, had got airborne and
staff
who, through
ability
whose professionalism and
technical
expertise stiffened the pre-war squadrons. Stephenson, like White,
been
He was
reaches.
Squadron
which
pilots, 19
skill
It
brilliant pilot
was
said. 'In fact
nothing.
a teaching post,
it
after the first
it
was the end of all we knew because we
From then on
it
good
at air fighting.
'that lovely feeling
hauled into the
was get
in close
in fast
but go in
and
Then thumb down on
ranks. Following the loss of
Jones,
in
to 92
command
who had
it.
at
slow/ Unwin
realized
fast.
and get out
almost
in
his genera-
we knew
And go
fast/
close
-
10
once that they were
'Prof Leathart described
of the gluey controls and the target being slowly
sights.
Tuck were posted
fast
Also that they enjoyed
them were pushed forward
was put
and go out
pilots discovered
smooth shuddering of the machine best of
carried prestige
day that no matter
were dead. That was the end of going
Some of the younger
the trigger again and the
go/
as the eight-gun blast let
to
fill
the holes in the
11
The
commanders'
Roger Bushell, Brian Kingcome and Bob
Squadron
as flight
commanders. Leathart himself
of 54 to replace Squadron Leader E. A. Douglas-
led the squadron
but had not flown with
it
since
on
its first
offensive patrol
and relinquished
on
16
May
command
nine days
in the air
two, three
on grounds of ill-health.
Covering the evacuation meant that or
but
was of paramount importance. Like the 54
Squadron decided
hundred yards. Get
later
and had been an instructor
flawless the technique, the tactics that Stephenson
tion epitomized
a
regarded as a
Central Flying School.
in a service in
how
had
Cranwell and was therefore marked out for the RAF's upper
at
at the
and
sometimes even four times
a
pilots
day.
were
Exhaustion set in quickly.
189
PATRICK BISHOP Replacement squadrons arrived units a rest.
were slow
Some
of the
to appreciate
at the
Group bases
1 1
to allow the spent
new arrivals had seen very little of the war and how serious things had become. On 28 May Al
Deere returned to Hornchurch
after a patrol
and noticed that the
by 65 and 74 Squadrons
persal areas normally occupied
now had
dis-
Spitfires
with unfamiliar markings. They belonged to 222 Squadron, sent in while 65 and 74
of the
were rotated out
flight
for a rest. Later that evening
Deere met one
commanders, Douglas Bader, who questioned him
Bader, as a pre-war regular and an ex-Cranwell cadet, had figure of
myth
RAF by
in the
their first sight of their
a
will-
both
his pilots
Hornchurch comrades and
'gazed, startled, then with mild derision at pilots
They
after losing
wrote that Bader and
legs in a flying accident. His biographer
pistols
become
an extraordinary demonstration of
power, struggling back to serve in a fighter squadron
were not impressed by
closely.
.
.
.
walking around with
tucked in their flying boots and as often as not with beard stubble'.
also noticed that they
seemed
quiet and preoccupied, but did not
consider the significance of this and regarded the guns and the three-day
growth
The
12
accusation of line-shooting could be intended lightly. Jokey boast-
was an
fulness it
as line-shooting'.
established part of ante-room and saloon bar banter. But
could also be something more grave.
It
was one thing
to shoot a line
with no expectation of being taken seriously; another to claim phoney successes or dramatize
narrow escapes
in
an attempt to look heroic.
do so was to break the Fighter Boy code of levity it
one of the few
impressions our, he
later,
social taboos that counted.
he was not pleased.
wrote with
restraint,
The experience of strated that Fighter
the
When
Command
pilots'
that
were
carry. Brian Spitfire
two days of the evacuation had demondid not have the resources to
mount
Kingcome
a quarter
con-
aircraft.
were limited by the amount of fuel they could
calculated that the average operational time a
without overload tanks could spend in the
hour and 190
available
demean-
'.
tinuous patrols over the battle area. There were not enough
Those
and with
Deere read Bader's
The Hornchurch
'was no "line-shoot"
first
at all times,
To
and an hour and a
half,
air
was between an
allowing for five or ten
FIGHTER BOYS minutes
at full throttle
was uneventful).
(though
could stretch to two hours
this
was twenty minutes from Biggin
It
coast. That, theoretically, left the pilots
the beaches.
13
ney. Sailor
that 'the only
Hill to the
French
way we
consumed
fuel vora-
on the outward
pilots tried to preserve petrol
Malan found
the trip
with a good half an hour over
But, in air fighting, the Merlin engines
and prudent
ciously,
if
could
jour-
Dunkirk and
fly to
have enough juice to have a few minutes over the battle area was by coasting and flying at sea-level
up from Boulogne'.
14
Even
return
so, the
journey was often fraught with the dread of falling out of the sky.
At
first,
Park sent patrols off in
sixes
strengths. This ensured that there
was
presence in the Dunkirk area from
and twelves a
more or
dawn
flight
continuous fighter
less
But
to dusk.
and squadron
it
soon became
clear that they did not carry the weight to deter the Luftwaffe bombers
and
fighters,
Command fighters
which always greatly outnumbered the defenders. Fighter
Headquarters had tried to increase the deterrent
by massing them
5
in 'wings
of two or more squadrons, a
which had the drawback of leaving windows the
of the
effect
in the cover, during
tactic
which
Germans could bomb unmolested.
On
28 May,
19,
54 and 65 Squadrons were ordered off as a wing from
Hornchurch. Al Deere, took
off,
It
was supposed
The formation crossed
when Deere saw
a lone
flight to attack. it
on
fire.
He was
Spitfires,
on
a cold
the coast at Gravelines in rain and mist,
Dornier nosing out of
He opened
commander,
to be their last sortie before going off for
Channel, apparently looking for ships to bomb.
setting
to flight
along with 54's eight remaining serviceable
grey morning. a rest.
who had been made up
fire at
a
cloud towards the
He
peeled off with his
300 yards, hitting the port engine and
about to give another burst
when
bullets
from
the bomber's rear gunner struck his engine, hitting the coolant tank.
Merlin engines were cooled by a liquid called glycol, which flowed
around the block through a vascular skein of metal tubing. Any bullet hitting the nose of the aeroplane
The
glycol
drained rapidly away,
moments. Deere was enveloped to white
was
smoke.
He
realized he
likely to
rupture one of these pipes.
and the engine seized
in a fine spray
in
a
few
of glycol, which turned
had no hope of making
it
back to England
191
PATRICK BISHOP and steered landwards, looking for a beach on which to crash-land. The
was
drill
to land wheels up.
Wheels down ran the
He
lethal risk
of
cart-
wheeling
if
down on
the water's edge, slithering through sand and spray and knock-
the undercarriage hit something.
ing himself out
when
head
his
he climbed out and found a
hit the
cafe,
put the
When
windscreen.
where he was
told he
Oost-Dunkerke, half-way between Dunkirk and Ostend. back, the tide
A woman
was coming in and in the cafe
Spitfire,
he came
his
1,
to,
had landed
at
When he lpoked
sea and sand closed over Kiwi
bandaged
Kiwi
1
for ever.
eye and he set off walking towards
Ostend, where, he had been told, he stood the best chance of getting
back to England. Deere, scale
like the rest
of the
had no idea of the
pilots,
of the drama being played out to the south. They had been told
they were participating in a planned withdrawal. so heavy
on the road north
that he turned
The
refugee
was
traffic
back and decided to take
his
chances in Dunkirk. Travelling on a borrowed bicycle, he reached the outskirts of the
the
crisis.
town, where he began to understand the dimensions of
Seeing three British soldiers in a cafe, he asked a corporal
could speak to someone in authority. 'As far as
anybody
replied, 'there isn't
in authority at the
I
where the
hell the rest
of the British army,
down
I
he
know, the corporal
moment.
mates here are the only members of our company this far;
if
5
who
Me
and
my
have got back
of them are and for that matter the rest
haven't a clue/ Deere found
the road. His outstanding impression
control, despite the obvious exhaustion
them
was 'one of
a
few miles
discipline
and
and desperation of the thousands
of troops who, arranged in snake-like columns, stretched from the sand
dunes to the water's edge'.
A
naval officer eventually arranged for
destroyer
hms
him
to be taken off in the
Montrose. During the long wait, the Luftwaffe
was over-
head constantly. There was panic when three bombers swept over the beach,
badly
bombing and
hit,
air battle
192
pursued by
and glided inland. Deere was
a lone Spitfire,
now in
which broke
had been handed over
bomb and
to the
off,
the position of seeing the
from the infantryman's point of view. The waiting
that the sky
could
strafing,
soldiers felt
Germans, from where they
shoot unmolested by the RAF. Trying to board the
FIGHTER BOYS Deere was pushed back by an army major.
destroyer,
explained he was
trying to rejoin his
overhead, he was told: 'For
all
the
good you chaps seem
here you might as well stay on the ground.' unique.
A
fight his
way aboard
only. Flying Officer
abandon
The charge lessly
to be doing over
forced to bale out, had to it
was
for the
Anthony Linney of 229 Squadron, who
that the
had
also
almost reduced him to
RAF
brown
becoming
military,
to
had
let
the
tears.
army down was repeated end-
when
over the next months, provoking angry words and punch-ups
blue uniform and
army
over Dunkirk on 29 May, arrived in Dover to be
who
soldiers,
Deere
Deere's experience was not
a departing boat after being told
his aircraft
abused by
15
who was
from 17 Squadron,
pilot
When
squadron, which was operating
battledress
part of the
met
in pubs.
mythology of the
It
spread beyond the
early war. Fred Rosier,
who had been badly burned while leading a detachment of 229 Squadron in France in May, told how his wife was travelling by train in a compartment with
soldiers returning
was the bloody said,
"Well,
about to
The
I
visit
air force?"
can
tell
him."
from Dover. They were shouting, "Where
and so on. [She] turned to one of them and
you where one of them
-
is
in hospital
and I'm just
16
accusation hurt the pilots, sometimes angered them, but they
tended to understand. The fortitude of the troops impressed them deeply. Looking forget
down on
Dunkirk, they saw a scene they would never
and thanked God they were not part of
his cockpit
saw 'beaches
[that]
were
ing wreckage of engines and equipment geysers from exploding
bombs and
it.
Brian
a shambles, littered .
.
shells,
Kingcome from with the smok-
The sands erupted
.
into
while a backdrop to the scene
of carnage and destruction was provided by the palls of oily black rising
from the burning harbour and houses
still air.
And
Armageddon sea/
17
Much
.
.
.
smoke
and hanging high
in the
yet there the orderly lines of our troops stood, chaos and at their backs, patiently
waiting their turn to
wade
into the
of the smoke climbing into the sky came from oil-storage
tanks around the town. George
Unwin found
that 'you didn't
compass to get to Dunkirk. You took off from Hornchurch just flew
huge
down
the
smoke and you were
there.
.
.
.
need
a
and you
Those tanks were
still
193
PATRICK BISHOP burning weeks afterwards and lation. It
The
was
pilots
a
knew
paying. There little
most
incredible sight.'
the effort they
were
or nothing.
really
it
was
desolation, absolute deso-
18
were making and the
several explanations for the belief they
One was
smoke
the
itself.
Some
said afterwards,
and too low for
Tony
agreed.
'We flew too high
advantage/
by our chaps 19
Others
below 15,000
from the navy and army
feet
because they would be
anti-aircraft guns,
where they would not be
and French gunners could be
own
reported being shot at by their
a
It
was
certainly true
menace and many
pilots
Tuck, had
little
faith in the
defences and decided to ignore the 20,000 feet instruction.
realized that the dive-bombers
feet,
side.
new commander, Bob
Bartley's aircraft
from the ground.
visible
at
which were considered
capable of dealing with low-flying raiders, and to stay above 20,000
that British
dis-
Bartley claimed that orders had originally been given for
the fighters not to venture risk
altitude. Sailor
to be appreciated
Spits to operate at their best
were doing
of the action over the
beaches was obscured by the canopy of filth. Another was
Malan
were
price they
were
at 15,000 feet
.
.
.
Finally
we
anti-
'We dis-
we came down and started knocking off the Stukas ... Bobby Tuck said, "Let's go down and catch these fellows/" Another reason for the RAF's apparent absence was that much of the obeyed orders and
fighting took place
cept the
German
away from
formations before they could reach the target area. In
the experience of George
beaches.
What we
the beaches Fighter
.
.
.
the beaches as the fighters tried to inter-
Unwin, 'Very
tried to
What
little
fighting took place over the
do was stop these people before they reached
fighting did
go on, most of it was
inland.'
Command's performance was weakened, once
absence of a comprehensive warning system, which to predict the approach or strength of the attackers.
21
again,
made
it
by the
impossible
Hugh Dundas, who
had arrived with 616 Squadron to join the battle, thought that 'probably half the times
we
we went
didn't actually get
to Dunkirk, perhaps not quite as
engaged
to be in action every time they strain
194
and
risk
was unevenly
at
all'.
as that,
Other squadrons, however, seemed
went up, which meant
spread.
much
John
that the
burden of
Nicholas, a flying officer with
FIGHTER BOYS
who
65 Squadron
down two
shot
remembered being airborne
109s,
for
'eight hours a day, beginning with being called about three o'clock by
one's
batman
...
must have done
I
more than you'd do
in
two or
Unable to deploy forces
were forced
lers ling.
For
times of
at
maximum
were simply not enough
circumstances one should have had five or
Dundas
time,'
that
to dusk.'
23
Dunkirk would have had
some 338,000 was
'So
who
let's
got
them
its
for
Tony
off?'
aircraft or
of constant patrolmachines.
'In ideal
squadrons there the whole
six
remaining
was
it
do
less that
outcome without them. As
it
was,
launched.
Command
Bartley asked later. 'Fighter
finished.
went
now
-
into the
now
set
2>
air.'
Tim off
Vigors,
on the
who had joined
222
'The town
last patrol.
resemble Dante's inferno,' he wrote
oil stores, fuel
not burnt already were
smoke billowed
were convinced none the
when Operation Dynamo was
after leaving Cranwell,
final sortie
tactic
24
surroundings really did
later. 'All
necessity, the control-
and French troops were rescued, against the 45,000
the end of 4 June
Squadron
pilots
a different
was hoped
not kid ourselves.'
By
and
British
that
all
The
is
22
said later. 'There wasn't anything like the strength to
from dawn
that
peace time.'
in
and wasteful
into the draining
this there
months
three
hours in a week, which
fifty-six
and equipment which had
supplies
on
When
fire
.
pilots
.
.
Vast clouds of flame and
from 610 Squadron flew the
of the day, they did not meet a single
enemy
aircraft.
On
the
who had missed the last boat who waved farewell to them and awaited the arrival of the Germans. The Fighter Command pilots had flown 2,739 sorties. They
beaches they could see the French troops to freedom,
went
gratefully off
on short
leaves to family or friends,
gave them a taste of their former Churchill, searching to find
one shining thing of value to grasp
it.
in a humiliating episode,
success of the rescue operation, he
Commons warned
be noted.
It
was
glowing with
that
regard Dunkirk as a victory, as wars were 'not 'But there
glimpsed
smoke, waste and ruin and reached out
Addressing a House of
went on,
that
lives.
worth
in the
anywhere
it
would be
won by
a
mistake to
evacuations.'.
a victory inside this deliverance,
was gained by the Royal Air
relief at the
He
which should
Force.'
195
PATRICK BISHOP In terms of relative losses, this
of
RAF
German
side, a
after the
war put
shot
down by
Fighter
bold claim to make. The number
German documents found
their Dunkirk-related losses at 132,
anti-aircraft fire.
Command
pilots
On
were
Defiants,
the
killed
human
and
some of which were
side of the ledger, fifty-six
six aircrew,
which made
a brief
the latter gunners
appearance in the
Eight pilots were taken prisoner and eleven pilots and one
gunner were wounded. The the situation. There
figures could not express the
were other
leadership and morale, that
196
a
highly optimistic calculation.
on the Boulton Paul battle.
was
destroyed was reckoned to be 106, against 390 on the
aircraft
air-
whole truth of
crucial elements, concerning experience,
statistics
could not measure.
9
Doing
Pilots returning
from
It
their first proper sortie
were inevitably cornered by
even greener members of the squadron with the question: 'What was like?'
By now,
mand had some reality
of the pilots in Fighter
They knew
idea of the answer.
at
how
and to shoot,
They had heard
it
to
felt
watch
Com-
to varying degrees the
of the things they had so often wondered about: what
be shot
it
was
and enemies
friends
to
die.
the clatter of flying debris against wings and fuselage
and been blinded by the
now
many
the middle of June,
it
oil
spray from an exploding
aircraft.
They knew
the jolt of panic at the yelled warning, the violent, instinctive reac-
tion, the swirling
confusion of a dogfight and the strange emptiness and
quiet that suddenly followed. These
were universal experiences, but the
near impossibility of describing combat meant that the stories of the
not help very much.
initiated did
to withstand
it,
you had
to
At Duxford aerodrome
do
dispersal.
him he would
Under
see
last
to
gauge your
ability
on 29 May, Tim Vigors was woken
He
him
arc lights that cut
crews were making
it,
it.
at 4 a.m.
with a cup of tea by his batman. hug, telling
To understand
gave
his lurcher, Snipe, a farewell
that evening,
and was driven out to
through the pre-dawn murk, ground
adjustments to the
Spitfires.
Then
the com-
mander of 222 Squadron, Squadron Leader Herbert 'Tubby' Mermagen, who,
girth notwithstanding,
had performed acrobatics
before the war, gave the eleven pilots flying with
him
for the
King
that day their
197
PATRICK BISHOP
They were
instructions.
head to Dunkirk
to
in line astern, then patrol in
formation, unless told otherwise, and return to Hornchurch. Vigors, like
most of the
I
had never been
others,
my
walked over to
wrote
later].
make
aircraft to
My mouth was
in action before.
sure everything
dry and for the
understood the meaning of the expression realized that the
my
battling for desire in
life
moment had
life,
was
arrived
being shot
to
kill
with
at
me. Up
until
book where
.
.
first
'taste
was
time in of fear'.
real bullets
now
it
had
by
a
and
was generally only the baddies who got the chop.
my He
I
I
could be
a
the heroes always survived the battles
knew I had somehow
fellow pilots.
life
suddenly
somehow been
all
like a Biggies
scared and
I
man whose one
game, it
my
Within an hour
.
in order [he
to control this fear
I
was dead
and not show
it
to
1
flew eastwards, seeing the sun edge above the horizon.
Then
the
towers of smoke over Dunkirk came into view. As they reached the coast
one of the weavers flying behind and above warned there were enemy aircraft
below.
Mermagen
in the other flight,
led his flight into a diving attack. Vigors
commanded by Douglas
Bader spotted a formation of appeared not to have seen the
and were within 1,000 and turned round to turn of one
German
feet
Me
They climbed up behind them
the Messerschmitts realized the danger
attack. Vigors fighter,
Bader, circling overhead.
109s flying 5,000 feet above that
Spitfires.
when
was
banked hard
to try
and cut
inside the
but was immediately distracted by the alarm-
ing sight of glowing white tracer flowing past his port wing-tip. In that
moment
his first reaction
ability to think.
was 'extreme
practice dogfighting
he went into a second evasive sideways on the
stick,
which threw
many
which had taught him
he would present a steady target to
198
which temporarily froze
my
This was quickly replaced by an overwhelming desire for
self-preservation.' Fortunately, unlike
dive
fear
my
my
he had done some
that, if he tried to
climb away,
Counter to
his instincts,
his attacker.
move and
which flung
pilots,
'pushed violently forward and
Spitfire into a
sudden and violent
whole weight with unpleasant strength against
my
FIGHTER BOYS shoulder harness'.
He had
seemed
It
to have worked.
tracer stopped.
the manoeuvre, and pulling out of the
of height in
lost a lot
The
dive he climbed cautiously back up, glancing around constantly, until he
was above the melee
that
had developed. Then he dived down
action, picking out a 109 that in
was chasing
a Spitfire in a circle,
into the
and pulled
behind him.
Trying to get him pressed
my
right
in
my
sights
thumb on
I
pulled hard back
stick
and
the firing button in the middle of the spade
My
on the top of my control column.
grip
on the
aircraft
shuddered and tracers
my wings. could see them passing harmlessly below him. Keeping my finger on the firing button hauled back even further on the stick, trying to drag the nose of my own shot out from the front of
I
I
aircraft
as
above him. Gradually the tracer came closer to
thought
I
side
I
had him, he realized
his
his
but just
tail,
danger and flicked over on
his left
and dived.
Vigors followed,
still
might have shot
came under
firing,
and optimistically thought afterwards that he
a piece off the 109's
attack
tail.
He
broke off
from behind. This time he forgot
when he
again
his training
and
pulled into an almost vertical climb, blacking out in the process, and
came pilot
to in time to see the Messerschmitt diving past. Then, as every
was
to
remark
in
such circumstances, he found to his amazement
couldn't see another aircraft in the sky ... a
sky had been
filled
with circling and diving
moment aircraft
'I
before the whole
and
now
there
was
not one of them to be seen'. In the
calm Vigors looked
an hour and a throttle
half.
at his
He had been
wide open, and was
in
he was
just possibly
still
hurling his Spitfire about with the
home,
alive. Also, his Spitfire
having damaged a 109's
distracting the
flying for
danger of running out of petrol and crash-
ing into the sea. As he turned for that
watch and saw he had been
his first relieved
thought was
appeared undamaged. Apart from
tail,
he had done nothing apart from
enemy.
His biggest concern was 'how deadly scared
I'd
been when
I
first
saw 199
PATRICK BISHOP
enemy
those
my wing-tip.
bullets streaming past
fear like that before in
my
...
life
I
I
just fervently
had never known any
hoped
could keep
I
under control/ Vigors met Bader on landing and gave a suitably upper-lip account of the engagement. But
when he
where the returning 222 Squadron
were
pilots
saw Hilary Edridge,
discussing the fight, and
it
stiff-
reached dispersal,
and excitedly
noisily
his best friend in the
squadron, neither of them hid their feelings.
'Glad to see
you
in
one
piece,'
I
my whole
'Never been more scared in
That makes two of us,'
word
I
'How
exclaimed.
replied.
'I
bloody
was
did
you do?
life,'
shit scared
5
he laughed.
from the
go.'
The next day Vigors completed day, 222
Squadron ran into
On
his baptism.
the second patrol of the
a formation of Heinkels.
one, but his bullets drifted below
it
He
latched
on
to
and before he could find another the
Messerschmitts arrived. Vigors was chased and pulled sharp right as hard as
he could, blacking out but bringing himself up behind the German and
finding to his satisfaction that he
on opposite
was turning
inside him.
They were now
sides of the circle in a classic dogfighting position. Vigors
kept reefed tight into the turn, on the edge of unconsciousness because
of the
terrific
G
desperation the
forces, until
German
previous day. But by
opened
fire.
'I
saw
his sights. In
dived for the sea, the tactic Vigors had used the
now
my
he almost had the target in
he was right on top of him and
bullets ripping into his starboard
at
wing and
denly he burst into a ball of flame. "Got you, you bastard!"
This exultation vanished
horror
I
saw holes appearing
and then the sky was Spitfire
would
Examining
happy
on
when he
to have
get
'felt
in the
clear again.
A
a tug
sud-
yelled.'
my right wing and to my A 109 darted beneath him
of the controls told him that the
him home.
his feelings
made my
his family estate
on the return journey, he was 'more than
first kill'
and
felt
the
same
near Clonmel, he had 'pulled
satisfaction as
down
when,
a high-flying
pigeon flashing across the evening sky with the wind up his
200
I
on
wing- tip'. roll
200 yards
tail.'
There
FIGHTER BOYS was
sombre moment
at the
thought he had just
killed a
man. He and
adversary would, he pondered, have 'probably got on well together
his if
a
we'd met drinking beer
was on the wrong
The mood
in a pub'.
side/ he concluded. 'He shouldn't have signed
that bastard Hitler.' Later he
was
of the
common
up with
'surprised that he did not feel
remorse'. In the space of forty-eight hours,
shot down,
did not last long. 'But he
Tim
Vigors had tasted
more
many
experiences of flying a fighter in combat, short of being
wounded
or killed. Fifty hours of training
was worth
less
than one hour of the real thing.
By
early
summer
every squadron in Fighter
had clashed with the Luftwaffe on stage, operations in the rising light
of
commander. Then,
dawn
one occasion. At
at least
or the glare of an early
was given
as the riggers
the pilots hoisted themselves
wing root and swung over
instructions
its
and
fitters
narrow
in,
discipline
down
off the wings,
their other foot
on the
seat.
Next came the nerve-
switching on petrol, starting the engine
and checking oxygen and instruments. in
afternoon,
cockpit, stowing their para-
chute in the scooped recess of the steel bucket
calming routine of strapping
at dispersal
summer
a right foot in the step set
They then put
into the
this early
on the ground by the
climbed
up by placing
into the left side of the fuselage.
and flew
except two
proceeded in an orderly fashion. Standing
the squadron or flight
odically
Command
On
the order, they took off meth-
formation until they reached the battle zone. The
of keeping position had the same effect as infantry
drill,
creat-
ing a feeling of security, a sense of strength in combination, that almost invariably evaporated as soon as the fighting began.
Everyone, aircraft.
Good
at all times, constantly
eyesight
was
a life-saver. Exceptional eyesight
a considerable advantage, enabling self
was
scoured the sky around them for
him
in
It
was
for that reason that they
a pilot
to see his victim before he him-
seen. Pilots twisted their heads
up and down,
continuously. In a regulation-wear collar and
raw.
gave
tie,
left
and
right,
necks were soon rubbed
began wearing the
silk
scarves which
time became their sartorial symbol.
On
the outward journey the squadron, flight or section leader could
talk to the other aircraft,
and
his voice
and manner over the
R/T was
an
201
PATRICK BISHOP
mood
important element in shaping the
of the pilots behind him. Confi-
dent leaders gave confidence to those they
many shortcomings
forgiven
Some,
like
if they
and commanders could be
led,
had the
gift
Deere, Kingcome and Bader, did so with a mixture of humour
and profanity, using nicknames, reinforcing the
bound
tion that
of imparting reassurance.
the best squadrons together.
ties
of intimacy and
The
affec-
possibility of giving
encouragement and direction disappeared, however,
in the explosion
of
confusion that followed engagement.
With
the
first
sighting of
Germans, the
first
Tally
low
ho!', the
hum
of anticipation jumped to a sharper pitch. Heads swivelled to the bearing as the pilots last
enemy
searched for the
aircraft.
They went
routine of preparation, dropping the seat to get
from the engine block straps, switching
and
indicators
distance, the
on the
plate behind, tightening
reflector sight, checking the range
flicking the
enemy
and the armour
in front
gun button
aircraft
mass of little
and wing-span
into the firing position. In the
seem always
to
have appeared
malign objects, a different species. They looked bees', 'a milling great
quickly into the
maximum protection
insects',
never
as alien
'swarms of
like 'flies',
like birds,
and
though
of birds could sometimes be mistaken for Germans by nervous
flocks pilots.
Getting closer, the sight of the black crosses, edged in white, standing
out on wings and fuselages, had a profound
them
for the
home
ing
engaged
my
in
that,
instinct as the
and holding him
block of
ice.
Not
of times.'
a couple
in fear.
on getting
felt his
My
brain
became
into a cool, calculating
2
killer.'
the tension
my
Then
it
heart.
was
thumb on
that black-crossed
He
there.'
'all
in a wild leap of
against the straps, teeth clenched,
button, narrowed eyes intent
202
and
on seeing the enemy,
body focused
made me swallow hard body taught
formed
of death, bring-
responded to the designated attack order and manoeuvred into
and concentration
action,
as sinister, redolent
again, training helped to control feeling
found
always
looking on
pilots
with unexpected force the seriousness of what they were
position. Paul Richey
sights
them
time, striking
on
in.
Once fighters
first
effect
the
Hun
It
'into
gun
in the
'pounding heart turn into a coldly clear and
I
was
trans-
FIGHTER BOYS Shooting a smallish, nimble object travelling
when was
at
extraordinarily hard.
The
difficulties
forces that crushed the pilots' heads
down on
weight of molten metal.
when
they finally got within range and opened
with undeviating, linear cleanliness,
no wonder
that
when 5
'giving
it
a squirt
.
The process was more
an arrow. The reflector
projected a dot of red light
was bracketed by
sight,
you scored at a
an
at
lined
a hit.
What
moving
it it
up on
which could be adjusted 'It
was
a static target
regrettably did not
how much
target, or
first
indication that bullets
of bits of debris from the striking the
glycol
air
end.
The other came with
was
little
pilot's
smoke and
human
fire
enough
to the size
flight
of your
also stationary,
you was where .
.
aim
to
Such judge-
.
instinct/
striking their target
3
was the
pilot's
an engine was
sight
hit,
or
oil
windscreen, obliterating vision.
spurting from an engine
marked one
sort of
the death of the pilot. At such speeds, there
men
head might be glimpsed wedged
rarely for long
of
and were
tell
fighter. If
contact between the
more cramped even than
It
frame or wings tumbling away, sometimes
might suddenly swamp the
sight of
line
deflection to allow
were
body of the pursuing
The
sight,
quite helpful in assessing
ments only came from experience combined with
The
talked of
on the angled underside of the windscreen.
a set of range bars
you
enemy they
was
It
akin to aiming a hose than
and the red dot simply indicated the
bullets ... if
the bullets did not
fire,
which replaced the old ring
of bombers or fighters. Kingcome found, distances,
found that
Pilots
but wobbled and wavered.
they spoke of shooting
G
and turned the
their chests,
in their veins to the
firing
m.p.h.,
were multiplied by the heavy
blood
fly
more than 300
you are moving at a similar speed while diving, turning and rolling,
trying to
in the
that of a Spitfire, as
kill
each other.
narrow cockpit of it
flashed past, but
A
a 109, it
was
to register the features or for a look to be
exchanged. The most frequent indication of the connection between shooting and killing was during a rear attack on a Heinkel or Junkers, particularly, a Dornier,
which
at this stage
of the war carried
less
or,
armour
than the other bombers. The four barrels poking from the rear turret
would suddenly had
fallen
slant
upwards, a sign that the gunner had been
forward across the breech of
his
weapon. Some
hit
and
pilots noticed
203
PATRICK BISHOP that, after
shooting at an aeroplane without apparent
denly sensed an invisible change in the
had
spirit
left
downwards
then saw
it,
this instinct
into a dive that
as the
was no longer
pilot
its
of vitality as
aircraft, a loss
confirmed
they sud-
effect,
if
the
machine tipped
any condition to
in
control.
moment
This was the aerial 'a
combat was not
hot-blooded
'a
5
of victory, the
'kill
.
thrilling affair',
savage, primitive exaltation' at the sight of an
was
tion
on
The
'not very edifying'.
shoot
down
was
its
'absolute surprise
back and some
ground.
I
followed
it
make them
behind me, making sure
me
for this.
Others
Maybe
I
and astonishment and
down and saw
.
.
.
after
[as]
so, his reac-
the aircraft
went over
went screaming down
into the
me."
"My God, I
They were probably going
to
come and do
4
shouldn't have done at
going to
that's really
began whizzing around looking
it.'
the sight of their opponent going
down. Johnny Freeborn ran across
a 109 attacking a Spitfire
Dunkirk and went
The Messerschmitt dipped
away, a defensive
in to attack
it.
favoured by the
tactic
that
crash and thought "amazing".' His
it
nothing but pleasure
felt
it
thought,
'I
be
cross. They'll
enemy going down
Pete Brothers came to do
bits fell off
next response was alarm.
but he confessed to
point of a fighter pilot's existence was to
when
aeroplanes, but
Richey maintained that
German
south of sharply
pilots that exploited
the fact that the 109's Mercedes-Benz engine had fuel injection, which
allowed a steep dive without
which meant as a
it
Hurricane or
coming
this
throwing
of power. The Merlin engine did not,
loss
missed several beats
was
at the
Spitfire tipped sharply
moment
of negative gravity
downwards. The way of over-
to flick the aircraft into a half-roll, then straighten out,
fuel into the carburettor.
Freeborn went into the manoeuvre
and plunged down through thick cumulonimbus, emerging to find the 109 right in front of him. 'He
shot the hell out of him.
another one.
terrified.
He
into a farmhouse.
204
I
right
down
The engine stopped and
windmilling.' For once, he
looked bloody
went
was
close
thought,
hit a telegraph
enough
to the
the propeller
to see his
you German
ground and
enemy's
bastard,
and
I
I
was
just
face.
'He
gave him
pole with the prop and went straight
The farmer was ploughing
outside the house ...
I
was
FIGHTER BOYS 5
very pleased about
found
111,
for so long
knew. Everything
.
.
.
how
thrill
my
I'd react in
his first
Heinkel
enormous. show.
first
Despite the expectation of being shot
Now
I
There was hardly time
right.
were under
attack. Flying
at,
was
were often slow
pilots
The throb of
noisy.
indication of danger
was the
and seemingly innocent, later
how
You
see these lazy, long
comes out
first
towards you, gentle
sight of tracer, floating
'like a string
to
a 1,175
horsepower engine blotted out the sound of firing, so frequently the
'tracer
I'd
6
feel scared.'
realize they
the
terrific,
had learned had come
I
down
Sailor Malan, shooting
from tension was
'the release
been wondering
even to
that.'
of light bulbs'. Kingcome described
you, apparently very slowly to begin with.
at
smoke
trails
coming
at you.
They
get faster as
they reach you, then suddenly whip past your ear at the most amazing speed.'
7
Being
fired
on
Unwin had had Dunkirk.
'I
not
...
I
time could have a paralysing
first
effect.
George
four years of flying experience before meeting a 109 over
saw
knew he was just,
for the
little
shooting at
petrified, but,
just sat there
coming from the
sparks
I
me
and
I
front
end of him and
did nothing, absolutely nothing.
I
I
was
don't know, frozen, for ten or fifteen seconds
and watched him shoot
at
me.'
8
The Messerschmitt
missed and Unwin lived to apply the lesson he had learned. Frequently, the bullets
came without warning, seemingly out of
nowhere, arriving with a sudden heart-jolting shock. Peter Parrott was patrolling in France,
unaware of any imminent danger, when he 'heard
a
couple of almighty bangs on the armour plating behind me', and put his
Hurricane into a dive.
from the 109
When
that attacked
he landed he found that only two rounds
him had
hit.
One damaged
another struck one of the fuselage formers. Even if
the
whole thing was going
made coming The
first
the
as
had sounded
as
had
9
in'.
oil
damage made
on board
'it
to break into pieces, the noise they
indication that the engine
appearance of
so,
the radio and
had been
hit
was
usually the
or glycol streaming back over the windscreen. Unless the aircraft unflyable, a pilot's
first
instinct
was
long as possible in the hope of being able to nurse
it
to stay
back to
205
PATRICK BISHOP even
friendly territory,
entailed crossing the suddenly very wide-
if this
looking expanse of the English Channel. the nearest piece of
from
A
side to side to increase
wind
resistance
meant
crash-landing
ground and gliding
flat
finding
slipping the aeroplane
in,
and reduce the impact speed,
keeping the wheels retracted to lessen the chances of them catching in an obstacle and somersaulting. Hitting the ground, bouncing and skidding
through the
danger in the form of smashing
topsoil, the pilot faced a last
head on the thick bulletproof glass of the windscreen.
his
who
Peter Parrott,
France had been posted to 145
after surviving
Squadron, was in the process of shooting
when he was
of the Pas de Calais
line
down
hit
a Heinkel over the coast-
by return
fire
from the rear
gunner, which damaged the radiator and put a hole in the glycol tank. His cockpit was
was the
see
of water vapour and the only instrument he could
full
temperature gauge, which was dangerously high.
oil
Wondering how long
would
the coolant
last
before the engine seized, he
turned towards England, streaming a long
of vapour. Half-way
trail
him up and Roy
across the Channel, the rest of the squadron caught
Dutton overtook to
try
and lead him to
a safe landing place.
the coast at Deal and within inches of crossing ...
I
was around three or four thousand
to put the thing
down with
north and Hawkinge was too
some downs.
are
It
was
for their evening walk.
upward there
He
slope one
was
a I
instead
came
side.
hill,
to an almost
side
dome
for
somewhere
fields.
were out
One was on
the
so to speak - and then fairly
expecting to bounce along the halt,
far to the
Behind Deal there
which went downhill
immediate
crossed
the engine stopped
a lot of people
picked out these three
slightly
.
and looking
Sunday evening and
curved - the
.
Manston was too
on the south
far
was the one on the other
chose the top of the
feet
the wheels up.
.
'We
killing
sharply/ turf,
two sheep
but
in the
process.
Parrott
was soaked
unharmed. He and a
his
in glycol
-
'sticky, filthy stuff'
- but otherwise
Hurricane were soon surrounded by
strollers,
then
policeman arrived and Parrott went off to a farmhouse to phone the
base at Manston. trap.
206
The
first
On
the
way he met
thing he said was,
the farmer arriving in a
"Who's going
to pay for
pony and
them sheep
FIGHTER BOYS then?" In a lordly tone,
and went
in his cart
facing this angry
time
I
"The Air
So
was faced with going down
off.
man
the table.
Manston and
He
left
It
a car
He
said, I
again to ask
if
Ministry."
grunted, got back to the farm,
could use his telephone. By the
I
got there he and his wife were having high
ham on cane.
I
looked lovely but
I
tea.
There was
a large
wasn't invited.' Parrott called
was dispatched together with
a
guard for the Hurri-
was back
the inhospitable couple to their tea and
in action
next day.
The robustness of Hurricanes that
But
even quite badly damaged if
the engine caught
fire
was instantaneous. The
and, to a lesser extent, Spitfires
aircraft
could be coaxed back to safety. to
jump. The decision
smoke and flame
curling backwards,
the only choice
sight of
meant
was
wrapping around the Perspex bubble of the canopy, was enough to the issue. Like their First
horror of burning. tion, the first
no place
World War
When they did bale
for practice
when
when
had
a particular
was, almost without excep-
sliding
flipping the fighter in theory,
training curriculum
drill
become
to
its
this
stan-
was
finally
for leaving their stricken aeroplane.
back the canopy,
on
and
the extraordinary argument that pos-
lead to a diminution of fighting spirit
dropped. Pilots were taught the
enough
pilots
the war started. Parachutes had only
them would
required
it
jumps on the pre-war
dard equipment in 1928,
It
out,
all
time they had been on the end of a parachute. There was
did not change
session of
forebears,
settle
releasing
back so you dropped
but in the urgency of the
your harness then free. It
moment
sounded easy
things conspired to
go wrong.
When
Fred Rosier's Hurricane was
France, he
went
He remembered thing that as
I
I
was
my
trousers
tried to
sitting
and
were
put the
his
fire
back 'and thinking that that was I
all
over northern
that.
The next
suppose instinctively pulled the ripcord.
on
fire out.'
fire. 10
I
remember
Pilot Officer
ron had not even been taught the theory
from
and caught
found the cockpit hood was jammed.
into the drill but
falling,
hit
the skin leaving
my
I
saw
hands
Ronald Brown of 111 Squad-
when he was
forced to
jump
Hurricane over Abbeville. Ignorant of what to do, he simply
pushed the hood back, stood up and was immediately whipped out of 207
PATRICK BISHOP the cockpit by the wind, smashing his legs against the tailplane.
remember
was
it
me
something made I
pulled
beautifully
warm and
- a sharp jerk. And there
it
wanted
I
to
say to myself, pull the ripcord I
go to
Then
sleep.
you bloody
am on my brolly.'
always
'I
So
fool.
11
Prosser Hanks, trying to vacate his Hurricane after being hit and
had the opposite problem.
catching
fire,
glycol.
didn't
I
blinded me.
could see straps I
I
damn
'I
was suddenly drenched
down and
goggles
know where
didn't
I
was and somehow got
and opened the hood to get out but
somehow
got out.'
I
into a spin.
couldn't.
I
I
I
undid the
Every time
I
tried
12
These dramas sometimes happened
members. Seeing comrades
hot
scream then, but stopped screaming and
started to
I
or other
in
the bloody stuff completely
and the cockpit was getting bloody hot so
all
was pressed back.
then
my
have
die,
view of other squadron
in
frequently at very close quarters,
was an
eternal part of the infantryman's experience. For pilots, the sensations
attached to witnessing the death of a comrade slightly
by
Me
France after destroying a
Squadron saw a Hurricane with
it.
seem
been muffled
to have
a layer of detachment. Searching for his base in northern
'Just as
I
am
110, Flight Lieutenant Ian
flying serenely along
drawing up to formate on
Gleed of 87
and steered to join up
this
Hurricane, he dips;
I
catch a fleeting glimpse of flying brick, and seemingly quite slowly, a
Hurricane's cockpit.
I
tail,
with the red, white and blue
up past
glance behind and see a cloud of dust slowly rising.
have had some bullets was?'
stripes, flies
him
in
to have hit that house.
I
my
He must
wonder who
it
13
The
victim
went
end encased
to his
was no body
the horrible details. There
occurred
at
corpse, or
some
distance
what was
left
bodies, of friend or foe,
war. Peter
when
machine, sparing onlookers to confront.
Death usually
from the home base and dealing with the
of
it,
was the
responsibility of others.
were strangely absent from the
Townsend never saw
encountering one
in a
a corpse in his entire
as a journalist
Dead
fighter pilots'
RAF
service, first
he covered the Six-Day
War
in
the Middle East in 1967.
On 208
the other hand, the pause
between the appearance of smoke and
FIGHTER BOYS flame and the end
left
On
inside the cockpit.
plenty of time to imagine
several occasions, the
switched on and his screams, prayers and curses his
what was happening
doomed
pilot's
R/T was
left
the headphones of
filled
companions. Crashing into the ground or sea
high speed was often referred to
at
with standard Fighter Boy understatement as 'going
The blandness
in'.
The
of the term served to soften the hard lines of the reality.
lightness of
expression used for the darkest subjects had a very serious purpose: to
rob fear of its power. Acknowledged, but only occasionally spoken about, fear tainted every
hour of a
enemy. Levels of fear
working day.
varied. Different pilots felt
in different circumstances.
that
fighter pilot's
For
all
but a handful
it
it
It
was the second
with differing intensity
was
a palpable
presence
might be banished during the hours of darkness, driven away by the
beer and the company of your companions, then fatigue, but was always
up and waiting really
was
at readiness
a 'taste of fear'.
It
was sour and
gum
no amount of swallowing or chewing physical sensations
head and
Tim
next morning.
went with
it:
Vigors was
metallic at the
could
make
it
right.
There
same time, and go away. Other
mild nausea, a feeling of faintness in the
known
a slight tingling of the anal sphincter
to pilots as 'ring
twitch'.
Unless a pilot could suppress
fear,
chance of getting killed very quickly. of the unmanning terror that seized
mans during
Hugh Dundas
him on
his first
the Dunkirk evacuation. As so often,
109 turning towards ing lights
he was useless, and stood a good
him and noted
gave a frank account
encounter with Ger-
when he saw an Me
the ripples of grey
coming from the nose of the
plane,
it
smoke and
flash-
took him some time to
understand what was happening. 'Red blobs arced
lazily
through the
air
between
us, accelerating dra-
matically as they approached and streaked close by, across
With sudden, and
I
pulled
from
my
and
felt
I
sickening, stupid fear
my
head.
Spitfire
The
I
realized that
I
my
was being
wing.
fired
on
round hard, so that the blood was forced down
thick curtain of blackout blinded
the aircraft juddering
on the brink of a
stall.'
me
for a
More
and the tail-chasing continued, with Dundas wrenching
his
moment
109s attacked
machine into 209
PATRICK BISHOP the tightest and fastest turn he could squeeze from
'close to panic in the
bewilderment and hot
Fortunately instinct drove
me
neck
all
ation
which was uppermost
Dundas was
in
enemy
my mind
try
And
that day.
and
and
try
that
was the
desire to stay alive/
went away. 'When
is all
comes
it
to
too likely to get the upper
was the impulse which
try again to
my
and turning, twisting
hand. Certainly, that was the impulse which consumed
ment
left
behind. Certainly the consider-
to find this feeling never
the point, a sincere desire to stay alive
He was
off.
fear of that first dogfight.
to keep turning
the time to look for the
He managed one
it.
Germans moved
shot ('quite ineffectual') before the
I
had to
me
mo-
at that
fight against, to
overcome, during the years which followed.'
when he found
Panic descended again later on in the patrol
himself
alone just north of Dunkirk. Instead of calmly working out his course to
Thames
reach the
home, he
estuary and
thought might be the right direction. In over the empty
He found
sea,
a
what he
set off blindly in
few minutes he was
where there was not even
lost,
a ship to take as a bearing.
that the 'need to get in touch with the land pressed in
and drove out
due north and realized that
this
I
Dunkirk and get home
me
flying almost
was wrong, but could not
get a hold of
myself sufficiently to work things out. cravenly thinking that
saw
on
was
calmness and good sense.
all
high
I
I
that
I
turned back the
way I had come,
could at the worst crash-land somewhere off in a boat.' Eventually
he sighted the coast of
France and worked out the simple navigational problem of finding the course for home. As he crossed the estuary at Southend, heading for the little
aerodrome
jubilation
at
had replaced the cravenness of
'transformed
.
.
.
sat in the cockpit 14
child.'
Rochford, he was soaked in sweat, but
He
now
a debonair
like Vigors,
followed the
210
first
tales
of the
He
twenty
felt .
.
.
a frightened
where the ground crew
battle.
had been through
moments
sense of
earlier'.
fighter pilot, rising
taxied over to the dispersal point
testing psychological
human
few minutes
which had so recently been occupied by
were waiting to hear his Dundas,
young
a
'a
a rite
of passage. The most
in a fighter pilot's career
experience of coming under
impulse, having brushed against death,
fire.
is
were those
that
The overpowering
to run away.
The
mili-
FIGHTER BOYS tary impulse
is
to seek cover, but in the absence of clouds that
Dundas had been gripped by
an option in the skies.
both chose to stay and
'scared shitless', yet
By doing so they crossed
made them
though,
Command, and
Fighter
invariably -
made
more than
few minutes. Their
a
The
exceptionally draining.
was recognized
could set in very quickly
early
pilots
Richey
,
after
when he
with some sleeping
When he
bed.
I
was
to collide
again, but the intervals
my
'in
I
all
it
was only
woke up with
night.
'I
never
him
to relive the day's experiences
and
at a 110. Just as
a jerk that nearly
able to
no quick
victory.
go on.
forget,'
It
was
clear
he wrote, 'how
as
sense of progress
who were
certain to finish in death.
Wissler was writing in his diary: 'Oh rest
I
sleep
clung to the
of Fighter
how
start that there
was
long he
would be
potentially
confronting a future which
consisted of the endless repetition of a routine that
But for him and the
out of
ten-minute
at
he lay there was
from the
The absence of any
particularly demoralizing to pilots
them was almost
me
threw
we
'
The question he had asked himself would be
in
had
'I
my heart banging wildly.' He went off to
shall 1
war
kept
airfield
nightmare returned and continued to do so
dead funk.'
air
put to bed by the squadron doctor
Hurricane rushing head-on
in a cold sweat,
bed-rail in a
wake. Paul
its
dared not speak
I
but the sound of bombs on the
did sleep
he found himself
were about
pills
He was
targets.
got back to the squadron.
headache and was jumpy and snappy. Often
for fear of bursting into tears/
awake.
in
being forced to bale out on the second day of the
France, 'began to feel peculiar' a hell of a
line for a rest
became easy
and moodiness
fatigue could drag depression
of
at senior levels
out of the
before their efficiency was so diminished that they
Deep
exhaustion
fact that
on
intensity,
were often - though not
intelligent decisions
move squadrons and
to
inefficiently.
and became warriors.
a threshold
Dogfights rarely lasted
however
fight
was not
'hot fear', Vigors
common
As early
God do wish I
Command,
as 16
this
the real
sense told
June Denis
war would
end.'
war was only just
beginning.
211
10
Before the Storm
During the morning of 4 June, the
down from Tim
pilots
of 222 Squadron were stood
further patrolling duties and given the rest of the day
Vigors heard the good news after returning to Hornchurch from
French coast, during the course of which he and
a sortie over the
Hilary Edridge narrowly escaped being shot
what day
off.
to
do with
down by
109s.
their free time, Vigors noticed the date.
at his old school, Eton.
since they joined the
He
It
Wondering was speech
asked Edridge, his constant companion
squadron together, to go with him to the
cele-
brations.
Driving through the East End they stopped that they
us as
if
were the only people
pub. Vigors noticed
uniform and customers
in
we had come down from
at a
the moon'.
'cast
glances at
The woman behind
the bar
remarked: 'You boys aren't half going to have to look after us now.
hope
that there are
been airborne only
enough of you/ Edridge mentioned a short time before,
them
other customers did not believe
and shooting at
first,
at
I
that they
just
had
Germans. The
then tried to buy them
drinks.
At Eton,
'the sky
was
cloudless and the sun shone
down on
the
brightly coloured scene. Pretty girls in picture hats strolled with their
blue blazer-clad escorts under the big shady trees which surrounded the cricket grounds.
occasionally
212
The
peaceful
murmur
by subdued clapping
as a
of conversation was broken
boundary was struck or
a wicket
FIGHTER BOYS
The war was
fell.
Could
a million miles away.
this
be the same world
which we had battled so few hours ago? Somewhere God had got day wrong/
1
Several pilots had sensed a reluctance
what was happening
that
them. But
after
danger
Now
some
Europe could
that
also
was no longer
it
theoretical, the sense of
the events that characterized the in
British civilians to accept
happen to
of France the public's complacency,
fall
faded.
remote and
as
among
to the rest of
Dunkirk and the
or studied disregard, had treat the
in
this
possible to
detachment from
phoney war gave way
to defiance,
and
cases alarm.
designed to reassure seemed as likely to have the
Official statements
opposite
effect.
On
the
morning of
18 June, the Ministry of Information
how to at home
issued a leaflet telling the population invasion. Citizens
were ordered
to stay
respond to
German
a
to avoid the chaos that
had gripped Holland, Belgium and France, when hundreds of thousands of refugees blocked the roads, paralysing supply lines and the defenders' ability to
manoeuvre. The second instruction
an order make sure that
it is
keep your heads you can also British or only pretending to
newspaper
tell
be
whether 2
so.'
circulating in south-east
The
.
.
.
task
was
create panic
population'.
3
who failed to
'When you
a military officer
to 'organize local fifth
men
of the desperado type'
news among
false
Such advice made people panicky.
A
resolute.
at
traveller
aliens
were moved
after tip-offs
from
spies.
as disaster piled
The bad news brought with
Maugham, docking
civil
Wrexham, manned
and innocents were arrested
But the general mood,
the
commercial
stop his car in time at a checkpoint near
neighbours on suspicion of being
really
column members and arm them
and confusion and spread
coastal areas
is
you
military correspondent of a
by Local Defence Volunteers, was shot dead. Enemy
away from
receive
a fake order ... if
England warned readers to be on the
lookout for parachutists, 'mostly young
whose
stated:
and not
a true order
it
up on the Continent, was a sense of relief.
Somerset
Liverpool after fleeing France in a crowded refugee
ship,
recorded that
who
took our baggage,
'in
the officials in the
who came on
people in the
board, in the porters
streets, in the waiters at the
213
PATRICK BISHOP restaurant,
you
shadow of
it.
right.
We
felt
the
same
'
can hang on."
4
of confidence. Fear of invasion? Not a
spirit
"We'll smash 'em.
On
It'll
take time of course, but that's
morning of
the
from Wordsworth's sonnet 'November,
18 June, The Times
when England
1806'
army, fresh from victories
isolation against Napoleon's
all
quoted
stood in
at Austerlitz
and Jena.
from
'Tis well!
That
day forwards
in ourselves
That by our That
this
own
we must
we
know
shall
our safety must be sought;
right
hands
must be wrought;
it
stand unpropped, or be laid low
Other newspapers remembered
it
was the anniversary of the
Battle of
Waterloo.
That day Winston Churchill legend.
It
had dawned hot and
foundations of a
laid the clear,
new
memorable run of fine weather. The prime minister was due
House of Commons
the
afternoon question time.
away
so he could
sat in the
the text, and
at 12.30,
was
the Treasury benches
and Clement Attlee waiting
He
to address
in the afternoon after the usual
The Cabinet met
work on
House on
British
another gorgeous morning in a
still
Tuesday-
but Churchill stayed
scribbling changes as he
between Neville Chamberlain
his turn to speak.
got to his feet at 3.49 p.m. before a packed House and a public
gallery overflowing with ambassadors
and VI Ps. Despite the grimness of
the situation, Churchill started off optimistically, presenting catastrophe as a sort
He
of triumph.
stressed the great achievement of the
evacuation, not mentioning the fact that the rescued troops had
seem
left
most
He emphasized
the obstacles facing a
invasion, starting with the Royal Navy,
which 'some people
of their heavy equipment behind.
German
Dunkirk
to have forgotten' Britain possessed.
With
the
House
settled
and primed, he moved to the heart of the
speech: 'the great question of the invasion of the air and the impending struggle that
214
it
between the
was
'a
British
and German
very great pity that
air forces'.
we have
Churchill conceded
not got an
air force at least
FIGHTER BOYS
enemy within
equal to that of the most powerful
But
shores'.
Then
note of caution died as quickly as
this
in
May and June
like
superior in quality both in
we have met fields
so
far'.
and having
managed
lost
had been
had 'proved
stated confidently,
men and
many
in
itself far
types of machine to
what
Despite the disadvantages of operating from foreign
many
on the ground, the
aircraft
air force
'had
still
to routinely inflict losses of two-and-a-half to one'. In the fight-
German
ing over Dunkirk, he claimed, 'we undoubtedly beat the force,
struck.
vintage Armagnac. In the fighting in France
RAF, he
the
it
and coursed warmly through the
the old certainty returned,
remainder of the speech
our
striking distance of
which gave us the mastery
and we
locally in the air,
air
inflicted losses
of three or four to one ... In the defence of this island the advantages to
We
the defenders will be very great. three or four to one that
Churchill
went on
condition of Fighter
our fighter
air
we
achieved
hope at
and calm any
strength
is
am happy
'I
improve on the
rate of
Dunkirk/
to predict victory,
Command.
to
about the
fears
House
to inform the
that
stronger at the present time, relatively to the
who have suffered terrible losses, than it has ever been and consequently we believe ourselves to possess the capacity to continue the war in the air under better conditions than we have ever experienced Germans,
before.
who and
look forward confidently to the exploits of our fighter pilots
I
will
have the glory of saving their native land, their island
home
they love from the most deadly of attacks/
all
And
so the speech surged
'What General Weygand Battle of Britain
of Christian
is
on towards
famous end:
called the Battle of France
about to begin.
civilization.
its
Upon
it
Upon
this battle
depends our
own
is
over.
I
expect the
depends the survival British
life
and the
long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and
might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon will
have to break us
'If
we
knows he
in this island or lose the war.
can stand up to him
all
Europe may be
world may move forward into broad, the
us. Hitler
free
sunlit uplands;
whole world, including the United
States,
and
all
and the but
if
life
we
of the
fail
then
we have known 215
PATRICK BISHOP and cared sinister
for, will
new
sink into the abyss of a
and perhaps more prolonged by the
dark age,
made more
of a perverted science.
lights
Let us therefore address ourselves to our duty, so bear ourselves that the British
Commonwealth and Empire
will say "This
was
lasts for a
if
men
thousand years,
their finest hour."
The Times parliamentary reporter,
numb
fingers
coming
to rest at
last,
recorded 'loud and prolonged cheers'.
That evening Churchill repeated the speech, which was broadcast by the
BBC. Some of the
were standing
pilots at Biggin Hill listened to
'Thank God
with a craven
5
ally.'
'We
in the mess.
beer and our feeling was one of relief/
in the hall drinking
said Pete Brothers.
it
we were on
our
This sentiment, though he
own and not saddled did not know it, was
shared by King George VI. Group Captain Grice, the station commander,
had the speech typed up and posted around the though, seem not to have heard
it
base.
- too absorbed
Most of the
pilots,
in the process
of
recovering from the losses of the previous five weeks to hear the prime minister's dramatic definition of the task awaiting them.
been inaccurate
Churchill's analysis had, characteristically,
but correct in
on the
own
essentials.
fighter pilots.
soil
It
It
was
was
and defending
true that the fate of Britain
now depended
also true that, henceforth, flying
their
own homeland,
in details
from
they would enjoy
their
signifi-
cant practical and moral advantages. But the highly favourable ratio of losses
he claimed between British and German
ters to date
aircraft in their
was, as he must have known, an exaggeration.
not have more fighters than the Luftwaffe.
had
at least
and
Spitfires.
760
Me
And
A month
later
encoun-
The RAF
did
Goering
still
109s at his disposal against Dowding's 591 Hurricanes
Fighter
men and machines and
Command in
serious
was,
if
not exhausted, depleted
need of
rest,
in
recuperation and
reorganization.
Dowding was now engaged to strength before injecting
been 216
its
in trying to
next great
new blood and
trial,
nurse Fighter
patching up battered squadrons,
replacing the lost fighters.
particularly hard hit
Command back
were moved out of the
Some
units
front line.
which had
Among them
FIGHTER BOYS was 92 Squadron, which had in
and was posted to Pembrey
lost six pilots,
Wales, in the 10 Group area, where
summer. After leaving France
at the
it
spent most of the rest of the
end of May, 87 Squadron moved
north to Church Fenton near Leeds to re-form. There, Roland Beamont
found only
had made
'the
remnants of the squadron': a few of the Hurricanes that
out of France and half the original complement of
it
The ground crews
been
arrived in 'dribs and drabs', having
way home by
their
Some
ship.
aircraftmen
who had
to
left
pilots.
make
served in France in
other squadrons were not to return to Britain before the middle of July.
The squadron
diary reported that 'during the
went
task of re-forming
ahead
.
.
.
not
fortnight in June, the
made
easier
all
abandoned
France'.
all
in
and half
need of
months
its
it
repair, also
was
pilots
for oper-
fit
ground crew, and whose remaining Hurricanes were
in the relative
flying until
fact
Another veteran unit of Fighter Command's
French adventure, 73 Squadron, which had only seven ations
by the
equipment, service and personal, had necessarily been
that practically in
steadily
first
moved
to
Church Fenton.
calm of 12 Group,
It
spent the next
practising, patrolling
and night
sent back into the middle of the air battle at the begin-
ning of September.
The
fighting in France
and over Dunkirk cost the
lives
of 110
pilots.
Another forty-seven were wounded and twenty-six taken prisoner. The losses tore holes in the ranks of virtually every squadron.
two
units that served in France, only three
death, injury or capture.
The worst
had not
casualties
lost pilots
through
pilots,
it
had
lost,
of eleven days, eight killed or missing in action and
wounded. The commanding dead. Peter
twenty-
had been suffered by 85
Squadron. Out of its normal establishment of eighteen in the space
Of the
officer,
Michael Peacock was
Townsend was moved from
among
six
the
43 Squadron to 85 and given
the task of rebuilding the unit's strength and identity around the core of the seven surviving pilots.
Dowding's policy was, wherever battle-tested units
possible, to take pilots
from the most
and spread them through the system to provide
of expertise that would
stiffen
a core
performance and morale. But there were
few to go around. Many of the most experienced
pilots
were gone. At 217
PATRICK BISHOP Dunkirk alone, Fighter killed
Command
and one taken prisoner,
lost
commanders
three squadron
commanders
six flight
and one taken
killed
two
prisoner, as well as about twelve section leaders, including
NCO
pilots.
Some
senior
veterans were in no condition to return to the battle.
Paul Richey spent his convalescence as a sector controller, overseeing
from Middle Wallop
fighter operations
recovering from the
wounds he
Hampshire.
Billy
Drake, also
sustained in France,
was
sent
in
on
his
return as an instructor to the operational training unit at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire,
to a squadron,
where
and
being posted
pilots finished their training before
Killy Kilmartin to
another
at
Aston Down.
was the young and inexperienced who were pushed forward
It
to
fill
the gaps, including undertrained pilots just emerging from the ranks of
the Volunteer Reserve. Peacetime training
ab
initio
intense.
stage, intended to
to fight in,
was
in
every aspect of aviation. The
marry the
carried out
pilot to the
by operational
the setting up of three
new OTUs, which
the conversion
programme
that promising
pilots in training
their flying training schools
in
(OTUs). The
May and
early
June led to
raced qualified pilots through
two weeks. But shortages were were sometimes posted
without passing through an
Charlton
Haw
OTU,
York and
in
apprentice in a lithographic works. As soon as he applied to join the
RAFVR
but
January 1939 and was accepted.
was
a small boy,'
he
just didn't think there
went
said.
cational qualifications.
218
RAFVR
a chance for
The chances
was
He
always wanted to
commissions
and by
was often
become an
applied again in fly
from when
I
else really.
I
me. Most of the people
at the
for
504 Squad-
was eighteen he had
never wanted to do anything
would be
into short-service
until the
'I
failed the medical.
Td
at
school at fourteen to
left
from
6
had just turned twenty when he arrived
He was born
so acute
directly
the middle of the year the notional length of time in training
being cut in half to twenty-two weeks.
final six-
machine he would have
training units
shortage of new pilots created by the losses of
ron.
The
phase to teach the rudiments of flying was followed by forty-four
weeks of thorough instruction
week
was lengthy and
who
time had very high edu-
any normal schoolboy to get
formed [were] almost impossible.'
7
Haw
in
was
FIGHTER BOYS shrewd and assured despite a natural pilot, a talent
his lack
he
of advanced schooling.
He was
also
touch he
partially ascribed to the gentle
brought to the controls from playing the piano.
months before the outbreak of war he spent three
In the eight a
week
in a
classroom in Hull learning navigation and
weekends, and during at
Brough
airfield,
the test
aerodrome
from
At
flight theory.
his firm,
he went flying
for the Blackburn aircraft works,
by the time the war began he had eighty hours' experience on
so that
biplanes. In
was
a fortnight's holiday
nights
sent
September he had been
home
report to an
called up, but to his disappointment
almost immediately.
initial
training
wing
A month
later
he was ordered to
Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. This was
at St
based in a seaside hotel requisitioned by the Air Ministry to provide
RAFVR personnel with a taste on the promenade,
drilling
VD
and marathon
famous
PT
British boxer.
of service discipline. The routine included
lectures, formal
sessions
under the supervision of Len Harvey, the
month and was, almost everybody
lasted about a
It
warnings of the dangers of
agreed, a waste of time. In
December he moved on
and advanced
was due
to
be posted to an
The shortage of
to Sealand, in Cheshire, for intermediate
and passed out rated above average. In
training,
pilots
OTU
meant
May
he
to convert to Spitfires or Hurricanes.
that just as he
was about
to leave he
received counter orders to join 504 Squadron, which had lost nine of
members - half
its
strength -
squadron was based
at
Wick in
wounded
killed,
France. Five other half-trained pilots
its
or taken prisoner in
went from Sealand with him. The where
the far north of Scotland,
its
duties
included convoy protection patrols, interceptions and the defence of the Fleet,
anchored
friendly losses.
in
Scapa Flow.
Haw
and welcoming, and morale
The process of
found the surviving members 'fantastically
good' despite the
getting used to Hurricanes started immediately,
but progress was hampered by the delay in delivery of replace those lost in France.
By the time he had
new
aircraft to
his first fight
he had
flown a single-engined fighter for only twelve hours. About a month joining he
was over Scapa Flow
spotted a Heinkel
1 1 1
and dived
in a
after
three-man patrol it.
Haw,
when
in a state
after
the leader
of excitement,
219
PATRICK BISHOP followed the attack down. Closing
he noticed red-hot chain
in,
coming towards him. As he broke away
through the narrow cockpit and out the other they were
all
slapping
said later, 'and
through
I
was
me on
one and
how
no doubt about
encounter, he was
this first, crucial,
deal with the next
as
'When
side.
the back and saying
There
lucky.
smashed
bullet
a
now
links'
straight
came back
I
lucky
I
was,' he
Having come
it.'
better equipped to
chances of survival had significantly
his
improved.
Frank Usmar also had
when
leave, awaiting a posting to Sutton Bridge
home
his parents'
in
He was on
his training cut short.
West
Mailing, Kent,
where
a
left
his father
was the
recruiting office v/as called
St
opened
up
in
in
become an
When
accountant.
Rochester he applied to join.
September and did
He remembered
through the
the
his stint
an
He
RAFVR
learned to
of square-bashing
8
of knots'. Waiting
pilots the
squadron had
at Catterick station
It
was
When
his friends
from
Rissington had also been posted directly to the squadron: Pilot
Pilot Officer Eric Lock. All of
Usmar was
McAdam, another Kent boy, and
them had come from
the
RAFVR. Only
to survive the war.
The four had never flown anything was sent down
runway than
to a nearby
Catterick for
bomber them
faster
station
July they flew with the squadron
than a Harvard.
deemed
to
have a
A
Spitfire
less tricky
to practice on. After three satisfactory
landings they were considered competent.
on
its
From then
daily routine,
until the
end of
which mostly con-
of convoy patrols.
As new 220
Dunkirk.
lost at
time he heard that the unit had taken part in the action.
Officer Gerry Langley, Sergeant Johnny
sisted
at Little
'when Dunkirk happened we shot
he arrived he was pleasantly surprised to find three of Little
at
he was asked by a corporal whether he was there
replacement for the first
later that
final stages at a rate
for a ride to the base, as a
village
at Catterick.
Leonards before passing on to No. 6 Flying Training School
Rissington.
at
school at fourteen and was working as a clerk while
studying at evening school to
fly,
few days'
policeman arrived
postman, and told him he was to report to 41 Squadron
Usmar, too, had
a
pilots
were coming
in at the
bottom of the squadron
struc-
FIGHTER BOYS changes were also taking place
tures,
was
at the top.
command
France began
it
flying with
This was a legacy of the First
it.
leader's duties
whole
possible to
were not
Before the fighting in
squadron without necessarily
a
World War, when
a
squadron
extended to the
restricted to operations but
responsibility of supervising a fighting unit. In the Battle of France,
Commanding
officers did fly into battle
with their men, particularly as
the fighting intensified during the blitzkrieg, but initially squadrons
by
led
their flight
Now
commanders.
it
was obvious
proper leadership, a commander's place was in the
The demise of officers
like
that, to
were
provide
air.
Squadron Leader Stephenson of 19 Squad-
ron and Drogo White of 74 Squadron also suggested that veteran pre-war officers, despite their seniority
and flying
were not necessarily best
skills,
who
suited to lead. Despite the evidence, appointments of senior pilots
were
rich in ability
but inexperienced in combat continued to be
over the claims of younger pilots
The obvious
who knew
internal choice to replace
the reality of air fighting.
Stephenson was Flight Lieutenant
He was twenty-two He joined the RAF
Brian 'Sandy' Lane.
years old, and had gone to
dead-end job
St Paul's public school.
after losing a
a supervisor in an electric-light bulb factory.
He was
with permanent dark
which gave him
circles
under
his eyes
cheerfulness. His leadership qualities
him temporary command
Flight Lieutenant Philip instead.
tall
were recognized
after
and good looking a misleading
in the decision to
Stephenson was shot down, but
Pinkham was chosen
as the
Pinkham had been with the Meteorological
new squadron leader Flight, a sure sign
exceptional flying talent. After taking over, though, he played in operations until the
chosen to
little
of
part
beginning of September. The squadron had been
test the claims
of cannon over machine guns as a more
effec-
armament, and he was preoccupied with supervising what
tive fighter
turned out to be a
difficult
experiment. Barely had the task been com-
Pinkham was dead, shot down and
pleted than the
as
His fellow pilots loved him for his energy and
slightly dissolute look.
give
made
Thames
killed
by
Me
109s over
estuary in a suicidally misconceived attack. This time Lane
was given command. In
some
cases,
commanders demonstrated
as
soon
as they
were tested 221
PATRICK BISHOP that they
were not up
to fly off
from Biggin
by Dudley chosen to
a
an ordinary
green section put
down
with green section.
was
led
On
the journey out,
Manston on the North Foreland and pro-
at
ceeded no further. Stephen Beaumont's diary entry noting
was followed by the word, 'why?' 9 After squadron leader played no further part in January as the Air Ministry's
injured in a car crash.
It
commander having
the
lieutenant,
flight
pilot
30 May, 609 Squadron was detailed
over the Dunkirk beaches.
Hill to patrol
Persse-Joynt,
fly as
On
to the job.
He had
in operations.
second choice
He had
this incident
this inauspicious debut, the
taken over
after the first candidate
was
previously belonged to another auxiliary
squadron, and arrived without having done a conversion course to
monoplane
fighters.
Beaumont noticed
great enthusiasm for flying.
him
flying
One
two of the squadron
competent and held formation
early
on
that he demonstrated
spring afternoon he invited
The CO showed
Spitfires.
steadily,
him
no
to join
himself to be
but showed no desire to repeat
the performance.'
By
the end of June he had been quietly shunted out. Beaumont, a
charitable
man, wrote many years
squadron can ever have had
impact on
less
either at the flight dispersals or
all
could 'now
feel sorry for
some sympathy for his post, but ties.'
for
him
as
him
even
his
squadron was to sustain
it.
We
hardly saw
in the mess.'
rather than
He added
blame him
...
I
him
at
that he
can
feel
he must have realized that he was unfitted
none because he never
Some blamed
of a fighting
later that 'no leader
tried to act to his responsibili-
lack of leadership for the heavy losses the in its disappointing intervention at Dunkirk.
Others held the Air Ministry responsible for appointing such an unsuitable officer.
The insouciance of the pre-war days was badly dented by ences at Dunkirk. Four of the
one of the
first pilots
to join
were
609's experi-
killed. Persse-Joynt,
set of wealthy and well-connected Yorkshire friends
at the
core of the squadron, failed to return from a patrol on 31 May. John Gilbert, a convivial bachelor
fresh
complexion and
known
as the 'pink boozer'
taste for beer, disappeared
Ayre, a mining engineer in one of the Peake
222
because of his
with him.
collieries,
Desmond
crashed to his
FIGHTER BOYS death after apparently running out of
down on It
and Joe Dawson was shot
fuel,
June.
1
that the auxiliary ethos of amateurism, albeit of a dedi-
was obvious
cated kind, and the quasi-familial bonds of place and friendship could not
new
survive the a
new commander. George
predecessor.
had become
On
circumstances for long.
He was
22 June the squadron got
Darley was a great contrast to his hapless
twenty-seven years old, a short-service entrant
a regular. Darley
who
had no trouble making the adjustment
from peace to war. He already had wide experience, ranging from oper-
He knew
ations in
Aden
auxiliary
system intimately, having been adjutant and flying instructor to
two
units.
He
to controlling duties in Britain
said later that
he assumed
and France.
the
appointment arose from
his
his
'awareness of problems peculiar to such squadrons, which were small
squadrons of personal friends in
which
losses
were
the
He
pilots'.
kill /loss ratio'.
probably grown up together, and
particularly keenly
general atmosphere in 609
younger
who had
set
On his
felt'.
arrival
he found
was depressed, which did not help the
about trying to 'restore morale by improving
10
Beaumont
This robust assessment was typical of Darley's approach.
man who
judged him 'not a appointed pilots
at their
were
radiated charm, superficial or not'. Dis-
performance and cast
down by
nation to rebuild the squadron
spirit
and get back into the
Overton remembered that
sight of the man'.
the loss of friends, the
annoyed rather than inspired by Darley's determi-
at first
Officer Charles
'the
It
was not
we
fighting. Flying
couldn't stand the
long, though, before 'our attitude
what he was doing
to great respect for
'initially
for
all
changed
of us'.
Darley decided early on that the older pilots would have to go. Beau-
mont, 'I
now
knew
over
that
I
thirty,
was
commander, but did not
try.'
The
I
and the
do not think any of
phoney war by the
first
core of pre-war
relieved'
when he heard
not suitable as a fighter
my
of the
arrival
RAFVR pilots.
pilot, let
the news.
alone a flight
contemporaries would say
original composition of the
altered during the officers
was 'inwardly
really
I
squadron had already been of short-service commission
By the end of the autumn, the
members was gone, most of them
dead.
The same 223
PATRICK BISHOP
By the time of the
process overtook
all
summer
death and shared danger had melted most of the pre-
war
righting,
the auxiliary squadrons.
high-
distinctions.
Darley also put his
men
through
a
heavy training programme of mock
attacks with himself acting the part of the
A
enemy.
in the fighting
lull
gave the squadrons a chance to practise and to try and apply the lessons of the recent fighting.
mation gathered
in
No
attempt was
combat,
made
to pool the hard- won infor-
alone to analyse
let
it
and use the findings to
refine tactics. Intelligence officers restricted themselves trying to establish
the veracity of claims.
was up
It
work out
to squadrons to
own
their
approaches. Despite the redundancy of the old system, the temptation
was
to use
practised a
coming up with new
solutions.
'We
wing formation with the Hurricane squadron yesterday,
eigh-
it
as a starting point in
teen machines in formation,' wrote Pilot Officer John Carpenter to his parents from 222 Squadron's base in Kirton-in-Lindsey. that
was
it
quite
ing,
do
at
after his stint in
Debden, applied himself with
France and with 17
a particular dedication to train-
only too aware of his lack of success and touchingly determined to
well.
For a week he spent every day practising formation flying and
some new well'.
But
attacks evolved it
was
28 June, after
he thought
two
his
still
by the squadron, which
air drill that
it
was
not work out too
appeared to matter most.
On
Friday,
formation flying was 'pretty good but apparently the I
off at the
moment.
9.15 p.m.
and weren't released
We
were suddenly
until 10.35
tomorrow.' The pattern was
and
CO
CO
didn't
he was
'a bit
was the weak link, though the
really bad'. Wissler confided to his diary that
browned
3 a.m.
'did
flying sessions in front of an audience of senior officers,
and wing commander thought say
have been told
good from the ground.'
Denis Wissler, back from leave
Squadron
'I
called to readiness at
now we
have to get up
at
to continue until the end of the
month.
The heightened Luftwaffe activity.
state
of
From
alert
was
the middle of the
regular small raids, mostly at night.
The main purpose seems 224
in response to the
to have
resumption of
month Goering launched
The bombs
did
little
been to unsettle
serious damage.
a population
which
FIGHTER BOYS suddenly found
the front line, and to probe the effectiveness of
itself in
the air defences.
As
if
on
cue, several attacks
As night
that followed Churchill's great speech.
bombers
set off across the
warm
evening
groups of
German
had been mounted on the
North
fell,
Sea, arriving in the early hours of the
morning, and scattered bombs haphazardly on towns in eight counties
in
East Anglia and the north, killing twelve civilians and injuring thirty.
Blenheim twin-engined
went up
to
from Wittering
fighters
meet them. One was shot down by
turn was destroyed by Flight Lieutenant
Midlands
in the East
which
a Heinkel,
in
Raymond Duke-Woolley, an
ex-Cranwellian from 23 Squadron.
To of the
the south the searchlight batteries around Southend at the
Thames picked up
Squadron
at
a formation of bombers. Sailor Malan,
Rochford, was in bed.
direction of Westcliff-on-Sea, to their
first
son, Jonathan.
He
where
heard the
his wife
Malan stood
bombs
Lynda had
falling
mouth with 74
from the
just given birth
watching the raid and
outside,
getting increasingly agitated at the rumble of falling
bombs. Normally,
night interceptions were considered risky from bases in the area because
of the danger from anti-aircraft
Thames
estuary. But
was
it
and the
moon was
nearly
full
asked for permission to attack the raiders,
which was eventually granted. Shortly climbing to 8,000
along the coast and around the
a clear night
He
and Malan was worried.
artillery
after
midnight he took off and,
found a Heinkel 111 held in the beam of the
feet,
battery searchlights. Closing in from behind he signalled to the ground that
he was
and when the
in a position to attack,
stopped he opened
fire.
before he had to break
There was only time for
away
to avoid collision.
into a steep dive, the windscreen
anti-aircraft
a three-second burst
As he pushed
was smothered
guns
in oil
his Spitfire
from the
stricken
bomber, which crashed on to the beach. Turning back, he saw another Heinkel caught in a cone of light above him.
opening
fire at
a vicarage
200 yards.
It
caught
garden near Chelmsford
fire
in
He approached it
and sank from the
cautiously,
sky, landing in
an eruption of flame that was seen
for miles around.
Finding bombers in the darkness on any but the brightest moonlit
225
PATRICK BISHOP
was
nights
much Tim
Ford
8,
happened
it
or science.
skill
Waaf from
Vigors invited a
dinner at a restaurant in Lincoln. his
When
a near-impossible task.
the result of luck as of
On
was often
it
the evening of 19 June,
the Kirton-in-Lindsey control It
was
as
They
a Saturday night.
room
to
set off in
with his lurcher, Snipe, in the back. Dinner was followed by
RAF pub
drinks at the King's Head, the
some bomber
pilots
and
where he ran
in the area,
into
'got seriously stuck into the beer'. Vigors prided
himself on his ability to stop drinking before his capacity to walk or drive
became impaired. That night
my way
steered
on
this gift failed
him. 'With great care,
to the dead-straight road
which leads north from
Lincoln towards Kirton-in-Lindsey/ he wrote headlights only
showed
later.
'My blacked-out
the road about twenty yards ahead. Mercifully
the local council had had the foresight to paint a broken white line the middle of the road. Fixing this line
and the mascot of
on the
a racehorse
slowly and carefully up the road. panion.
I
I
didn't talk
bed. Sleep
slid gratefully into
called 'bedspin',
known
in the corridor outside his
Squadron to report immediately to
I
proceeded
s
better than
staggered off the bed, flying boots
my
slid into
and weaved
rather bemused. persal
my com-
did
donned
a pair of bright-red
was prevented by an
it,
a
attack of
phantom
room,
one
calling for
pilot
from 222
dispersal. Vigors, for reasons
this. Let's
my green
pilots'.
message was broadcast on the
hard pressed to explain, decided to volunteer. '"Hell,"
Snipe. "Anything
go and see what the silk
my way back to the
dressing car.
I
he was said to
flap is."
gown, donned
I
my
Snipe followed, looking
Even with maximum concentration on the
drive to dis-
path was alarmingly erratic'
His rigger was waiting for him with a parachute. get airborne quickly as a large coast.
'My
pulled
it
jumped on
rigger
over
my
He urged
number of 'Huns' had
the
the line
I
had
Vigors to
just crossed the
wing and handed me
my
helmet.
I
on
full blast.
learnt that the best cure for a
hangover
head, connected the oxygen and turned
Somewhere along 226
right headlight
much and nor
to non- aviators as 'the
While he was struggling to control
later
down
knew I was too drunk to concentrate on anything but driving.'
pyjamas and
Tannoy
my
between
front of the bonnet,
After dropping off his dinner date he
what he
I
it
FIGHTER BOYS was
a strong
same
dose of oxygen.
I
hoped
fervently that
on bedspin/
effect
Somehow he towards the
got airborne and waited for control to vector him
No
raiders.
The
radio
was dead. Desperation
instructions
from the ground there
orders came.
dispelled the fog of alcohol.
Without
was no hope of intercepting any enemy
was
would have the
it
He
to land as quickly as possible.
aircraft.
The obvious
had come, maintaining the same speed, hoping
this
thing to do
back the way he
started to turn
would bring him
back to Kirton. Swinging round he saw the silhouette of another
moon.
crossing the
German bombers.
returning
and opened
tail it
went
down
had two engines and was
It
fire.
Soon
one of the
clearly
moved behind and underneath
Vigors
its
the
smoke and
port engine was belching black
into a screaming dive towards the cloud below.
He had
shot
a Heinkel 111.
Elation at this success
he was
now
was dampened quickly by the no means of finding
miles off course with
realization that
his
way home. He
decided to descend through the thick cloud, hoping that
emerged he might spot the runway the area switched still
aircraft
on
to guide
its
lights
of one of the
night-flying aircraft
when he
bomber
bases in
home. At 700
feet,
blanketed in murk, he was on the point of climbing again in order to
bale out
when he broke through
him, glimmering out of the
He
a flarepath.
him was one of
protege off for a drink.
had
cloud. In front of
black of Lincolnshire, were the lights of
knew from
his
Cranwell days. The
his old instructors,
who
took
now moved
task,
Fighter
him
Command were
defending their loved ones and
were doing
enough
to
it
pyjama-clad
further into the public eye. Fighter
engaged
was recognized.
in the essential warrior
homes from marauders, and they
over the roofs of those they were protecting. This was
make them
a further layer
at
person
into the centre of the national consciousness as
the importance of their role, underlined by Churchill,
The men of
his
first
was
11
Malan's double success pushed pilots
bottom of the
landed, exhausted and deeply relieved, to find he
Barkston, a grass field he to greet
flat
the
heroes.
The
stylish
way
they did their duty added
of lustre.
227
PATRICK BISHOP
The
Fighter Boys were
good
It
was
important that they were properly rewarded. In the aftermath of the
May
and June
fighting, the
extraordinarily
medals began to arrive
morale.
for
in quantity.
On
27 June,
King George VI went to Hornchurch to present a batch to a group of pilots
who had emerged from the anonymity of their squadrons
on the way
to
becoming national
Tuck and Johnny
Allen
and were
Al Deere, Sailor Malan, Bob
figures.
all
received the Distinguished Flying Cross for
gallantry in the face of the
enemy. James 'Prof Leathart was awarded
the Distinguished Service Order.
The ceremony took
place
sunny morning. Afterwards the king took sherry with the
mess and chatted with them about the
officers'
the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt, a subject
Deere was particularly proud. 'As
a
New
relative
lifetime,
a
warm
pilots in the
performances of
on everybody's minds.
Zealander, brought up to
admire the Mother country and respect the King
honour of a
on
as
her head,
it
was the
an ultimate milestone of my flying ambitions - the
Distinguished Flying Cross presented by the king, in the field of action/ Afterwards, on the spur of the
moment,
the pilots rushed from the mess
and lined up along the drive leading to the main gates to visitor as
he drove
off.
12
salute the royal
Underneath the top dressing of irony there was
simple, solid patriotism.
Malan, Deere and Tuck were the brief comet ten.
trail
the point of getting married, just before his death,
to an actress, Joyce Phillips. His
ship to England for
photograph for the
first
mother and
sister
Judy were on
their
the wedding when the accident happened.
in the Daily Express
time.
almost famous, following behind
of glory blazed by Cobber Kain. Kain was not forgot-
He had been on
way by
now
showed
the
The caption reported
A
two young women meeting
that 'the
two
girls
talked of
Cobber and themselves. They played on the piano "Somewhere
in
France with You".'
Some
pilots
melancholy
happened
had put off thoughts of matrimony
situations.
after five
Harold Bird-Wilson had never forgotten what
members of
17
Squadron were shot down on
When
their
the unit withdrew to England,
first
patrol over northern France.
'the
wives of the missing people came daily to the
228
to avoid just such
officers'
mess and
FIGHTER BOYS
hung around waiting .
.
.
some of us
One
of the missing
were dead.
three
made
good
nature shines out his
boring
girl
with smiling eyes whose
from the old photographs. Motoring up to training stint at St Leonards once a
initial
was, he wrote to his mother 'the only thing that makes
then for a few hours everything
Before
then as
I
I
his
heaven'.
is
mind, and wrote to
joined the war
I
had
life
They went
indeed'.
By
short, of
the varied types of girls
all
me
to sobs or
made me
I
but just because error'
am
I
That being so on.
The
question
I
will tell
I
many
girls.
had thought. To cut
if
Since I
was
a long story
have met they one and
all
I
either
kissed
their part
Now after all this time of 'trial convinced that my love is no passing breeze.
you what
desire of both of us is
.
the end of July
feel slightly sick, particularly if
loved somebody
completely
.
.
shows and
to
any of them, not through any lack of physical attraction on
and
bearable
have had plenty and have made the most of them to see I
month
tell his father.
chance of meeting
little
completely in love with Bunny as
bored
14
Very well
ate at the Strand Palace Grillroom
he had made up
The other
a prisoner.
very inconvenient time for Charles Fenwick.
at a
with Bunny, a dark-haired
in love
London from
home. Another was
it
things calmed down.'
13
The war had come
He was
husbands
for information as to the return of their
vowed that we wouldn't marry until
is
else.
I
would be glad
to have
your opinion
needless to say to get married, the
when.
The answer, of course, was him know 'which
as
soon
as possible.
He
your vote
side of the balance
asked his father to
will
go
in'.
let
His father
wrote back sympathetically, but argued firmly against matrimony. Fen-
wick was unhappy, but he submitted. 'Dear later.
'Thanks.
down
to earth
he wrote a few weeks
You win, you brought me out of all
Women, and ier
Pa,'
intact
although just a
a spin
that the wives of
some of
When
at Northolt, later in the
the chaps
I've
come
bit shaken.'
wives in particular, complicated things.
took over 229 Squadron, based
and
were
Fred Ros-
year he 'found
living in the vicinity ...
It
229
PATRICK BISHOP wasn't long before better
if
their
in that these
And
I
said
affecting,
I
thought, morale,
stopped chaps living out.
I
wives moved, because
it
was
it
would be
wives would count the number of aeroplanes leaving and
the
number of aeroplanes coming
see
if
Willy was
right.
all
It
back, and
were on the telephone
far better
when we were
was
together and in the mess and developing a
June drew to an end
in
first-class
squadron
all
to
living
spirit/
15
an atmosphere charged with anticipation. The
countryside was littered with chopped-down trees and derelict cars
pushed into
fields to
block the arrival of the Germans. Overhead, flabby
barrage balloons rolled in the sion.
warm air. Odd incidents betrayed the tenwho had never piloted an aeroplane in
At Debden an aircraftman
his life
took off in a Hurricane, flew over the
airfield
and plunged to the
ground, killing himself. In the dispersal hut of 72 Squadron
woke up everyone
a sergeant pilot
lenges to the It
was
German
hot, as
that era descended
in the dispersal hut, shouting chal-
as
another
One
on the
bright
pilots
company of "The Father of
'We were
ing sun and his very
we
all
squatted
all
lined
first
down
and
morning
in the
not
a legendary figure at their
base at
'We were honoured by
the
the Royal Air Force",' the squadron diarist
up
at dispersal
was
gesture
in the
ground, too, he spoke of [the] duties
summer month
of 72 Squadron
Acklington on the coast of Northumberland.
recorded.
Acklington
paratroopers he dreamt had just landed.
memorably hot
very distant past: August 1914.
from
at
standing there in the blister-
to dismiss the parade
shade of the nearby activities
responsibilities of the
of World
- suggesting
trees. Sitting
War
I,
on the
associating the
airmen then with those that faced us
at
present - with the encouraging conclusion that there was no doubt in his
mind
230
that
we would win through
again.
16
II
The Channel
A
few weeks
were ordered
after
TrencharcTs
visit,
three Spitfires
off to investigate an unusual aircraft
near a convoy steaming off Sunderland.
equipped with crosses.
Battle
floats,
It
was
a
from 72 Squadron
which had appeared
Heinkel
He
59 biplane,
and was painted white and adorned with red
Undeterred by the innocent-looking markings, Flight Lieutenant
Ted Graham
led the aircraft into line astern
seaplane with 2,500 rounds.
It
and attacked, spattering the
crash-landed close to the beach and
four-man crew was captured by an escorting right to ignore the red crosses.
The
cruiser.
aircraft carried
its
Graham had been
cameras and was on
a reconnaissance mission.
The
victory of 72 Squadron, though
little
indication of the
new
direction the air
it
did not
war was
know
taking.
it,
was an
Trenchard had
been wrong on that hot morning when he linked the duties and responsibilities
of the
First
World War airmen with those of the
the shade at his feet.
The
one carried out by the
would have in the First
to carry
task facing
RFC on
was much
the
them was very
different
from the
Western Front, and the burden they
greater.
World War were an adjunct
decided nothing. Fighter
pilots sitting in
The
duels over the trench lines
to the
Command was
main
military effort
entering a battle that
and
would
decide everything.
The German
forces
had been allowed
ation after conquering France.
It
a short period
was time now
for
of relative relax-
them
to deal with
231
PATRICK BISHOP
The question of how
Britain.
commanders
Different
was
this
to
be done had never been
and conflicting
in different services held strong
views. Hitler himself had not devoted
much
clear.
time to the subject, having
always hoped he could negotiate an agreement with the British govern-
ment
that
would
leave
him
free to rule
collapse of France failed to
would have
Britain
which
stated: 'Since
the will to
resist,
it
seemed
his intentions in
England has
still
Order No.
16,
issued
on
not given any sign of being prepared
decided to prepare an operation to invade England and
ate the English
through.
home
Germany
against
it
that
16 July,
to reach an agreement, despite her militarily hopeless position,
necessary, to carry
the
be forced into submission.
to
announced
Hitler
weaken
When
Europe unmolested.
and,
The
if this
objective of this operation
is
I
have
becomes to elimin-
country as a base for the continuation of the war if this
should become unavoidable, to occupy
it
fully/
With
words 'Operation Sea Lion
these
5
officially
Various invasion plans has been drawn up by the
came
into being.
German navy and army
since the start of the war. Initial doubts as to the feasibility of the exercise
had
largely dissolved in the intoxication of victory.
naval
commander Grand Admiral Raeder none
appeared
on
could,
to, that a its
British resistance,
opposed landing. What the German High that the defeat of Britain,
from the
skies,
sceptics like the
the less hoped, as Hitler
combination of blockade and
own, crack
Even
aerial
bombardment
removing the necessity
Command
all
for
an
agreed upon was
whether through invasion or being battered
depended on German command of the
air.
That made
the destruction of the Royal Air Force a precondition of success. Hitler spelled
it
out.
A
prerequisite of the landing, he wrote in his order,
that 'the English air force
morally and in actual attack
must have been beaten down
fact that
started.
232
crossing'.
Hitler directive confirmed an operation that had, in fact, already
The German Armed Forces Supreme Command
anticipated the next stage of the
up
to such an extent
can no longer muster any power of
worth mentioning against the German
The
step
it
was
operations.
war and had ordered
By the beginning of July the
(the
OKW) had
the Luftwaffe to
air force
had the use of
FIGHTER BOYS
Norway
the entire North Sea coastline from
The new phase began with an
spring attacks.
to France
from which to
intensified
programme of
reconnaissance missions, like the one brought to an end by 72 Squadron,
probing defences and photographing potential
seemed
to be
no more than
a
these
first
continuation of the harassing missions that
Command
had disturbed the sleep of Fighter
Then
At
targets.
during June.
of attacks on the convoys, scurrying heavily laden
a series
through the Channel to deliver
many
as
cargoes as possible while the
going was good, announced the overture to the Luftwaffe's next great
symphony of violence.
A much
ber 1939 had envisaged the
earlier Hitler directive issued in
air force
'waging war against the English
economy' once the Anglo-French armies had been disposed ing convoys, the Luftwaffe
hoped wear
to lure Fighter
down and weaken
it
which would
was engaging economic
Command it
the Channel
to British shipping
would
air attack,
two
it
II,
objectives: to close
to clear the air of British fighters.
Goering decided
would
take
at first that
only a
intelligence, equally
between
smash the RAF. The job was given
from Fliegerkorps at
and
2 July set
number of aircraft would be needed. German
to
By bomb-
deliver the fatal blow.
inclined to optimism, reckoned
month
of.
But they also
before the opening of the main
his usual overconfidence,
limited
targets.
into a battle of attrition that
The Luftwaffe operation order of
With
Novem-
a fortnight
to a battle
and
a
group drawn
based in the Pas de Calais, and to Fliegerkorps VIII
Le Havre. Oberst (Colonel) Johannes Fink was made Kanalkampf-
fuhrer,
commander of the
over the Channel.
air battle
years old, sombre, religious and intensely patriotic.
He was
forty-five
He had been one
of
the five pilots allowed each year to receive flying training under the stringent terms of Versailles.
When
the order came, he
bomber wing, Kampfgeschwader
of a
based
at
Arras
some way back from
2,
the coast.
two groups of Stuka dive-bombers and two waders 26 and
53.
Osterkamp,
a First
Albert Ball.
To
The
fighter
was
at the
equipped with Dornier
To
this force
head 17s,
were added
fighter wings, Jagdgesch-
element was led by Oberst Theo
World War veteran who had been shot down by
close the
Channel and grind down the
British fighters,
233
PATRICK BISHOP Fink had
at his disposal seventy-five
Down
number of Ju
could provide a similar
commanded by Wolfram von of Manfred,
who had
flown in
the coast, Fliegerkorps VIII
87s and fighters.
and put
The
on the Western
his unit
Front. Later he
as a battle-winning
his theories convincingly into practice in Spain,
was responsible
for the Guernica atrocity, Poland,
White
known
of Dover. By the end of the
Cliffs
as Freya, to track ship
and
aircraft
and
fighters.
The German
Nez within
month he had
radar,
movements and an eavesdrop-
ping service which listened in to the radio controllers
where he
Belgium and France.
Fink set up his headquarters in an old bus on Cap Gris sight of the
was
unit
Richthofen, 'the Stuka general', a cousin
had become an energetic advocate of dive-bombing tactic
more
twin-engine bombers, sixty or
Ju 87 Stukas and about 200 fighters.
traffic
air force
between
RAF
commanders,
sector
and
pilots
crews were in no doubt about the outcome of the battle ahead of them. Their power, as the chief of operations of Luftflotte
wrote
later,
'was
now
zenith
at a
.
.
.
the pilots
Werner
3,
were highly
Kreipe,
skilled
.
.
.
1
Their morale was very high and they were confident of victory/ Standing behind the Channel battlegroup, should job,
was the weight of
France.
Luftflottes 2
and
Between them, by the end of
bombers, 656
Me
109 fighters, 168
Ju 87 dive-bombers as well
as
Me
3,
it
prove insufficient for the
the Luftwaffe deployment in
July, they
had 769 serviceable
110 twin-engined fighters and 316
about 100 reconnaissance
Poland and the
aircraft.
Many
over France and the
pilots
had fought
Low
Countries, and replacements were being turned out of training
in Spain,
air battles
schools at the rate of 800 a month. Set against this the
canes and
Spitfires, as
lack of aircraft
had 1,069
RAF
could muster only 504 battleworthy Hurri-
well as 27
was matched by
two-man Boulton Paul
a shortage of pilots.
pilots to fly his aeroplanes.
On
1
That meant two
Defiants. July,
The
Dowding
pilots for
each
aeroplane. This healthy-looking equation took no account of inevitable losses
through death and
injury.
He
cast
around
for volunteers
from
other branches of the service and borrowed fifty-two pilots from the Fleet Air
Arm. But there were
The 234
far
too few to sustain a war of
attrition.
battle for the Channel, the Kanalkampfas the Luftwaffe called
it,
FIGHTER BOYS opened on
3 July.
The Luftwaffe moved
aeroplanes that day towards
fifty
tentatively at
About
Britain.
on reconnaissance missions, trying
to
photograph
part of the intelligence preparations for the
main
bombs
airfield
were
and ports
airfields
attacks.
of Dornier 17s appeared over Manston, a forward
exposed patch of
sending only
first,
a quarter of these
A
as
small group
perched on an
land on the North Foreland, and dropped a few
flat
before being chased
away by
from 54
the arrival of Spitfires
Squadron. In the north, 603 Squadron destroyed three Ju 88 bombers in aircraft shot
down was
for the effort involved. Twenty-eight squadrons
had flown
separate incidents. a
poor return
more than
The
day's total of five
enemy
120 patrols, a total of 570 individual sorties.
The following day
the Luftwaffe launched the
first
serious attack.
opening raid lasted four minutes. Thirty-three Stukas appeared fast
time in the misty sky over Portland on the Dorset coast. They were
the best
known and
the
most feared of the German aeroplanes. They
were the chief symbol of blitzkrieg, howling down releasing their one large
or
The
at break-
human
in near vertical dives,
and four small bombs on bridges,
beings with terrible accuracy.
vulnerability
had been raised
their lack of
speed
at
made them
The
rail
junctions
doubts about their
first
Dunkirk, where British fighters found
relatively easy to
knock down. But they
seemed impressive enough on the second day of the Kanalkampf as they plunged on ships and aircraft ship
installations in the naval base, sinking
and setting
By the time
fighters arrived
were long gone. At
it
moved through
fire in
Weymouth base,
Germans came
again.
Me
109s
pounced on
an
anti-
Bay.
from the nearest
2 p.m. the
Dornier 17s escorted by thirty as
on
a tanker
Warmwell, they
Two
groups of
a nine-ship
convoy
the Straits of Dover. Eight Hurricanes from 79
Squadron were scrambled from Hawkinge, another forward
field a
few
miles south of Manston, but as they engaged the raiders they were
bounced by the Messerschmitt escort above and one over St Margaret's Bay and fighters
killed. In addition,
were given the freedom
to
roam on
pilot
was shot down
small groups of
'free
German
hunting' sweeps over
the coast, looking for targets of opportunity and daring the British fighters to
come up and
challenge them.
A
patrol
from 54 Squadron was
235
PATRICK BISHOP surprised
shot up their
Me
by one such group of
two of
French
airfields
within the fifteen to twenty minutes that was
that their fuel capacity allowed
target.
Dowding had not expected
strictly limited resources.
to protect shipping his fighters
them over
and had told both the Admiralty and the Air
by the
have
It
Channel from the Pas de
took
Calais,
effectively
was
than ten minutes to get across the
less
but Hurricanes and
quarter of an hour to climb high enough to attack
response was to
move
would be nearer
the attackers. But this
time to gain
more
could form up inland beyond the
fact that the raiders
range of the transmitters.
needed
Spitfires
them
effectively.
a
One
the squadrons to forward operating bases so they
meant they would have even
less
vital altitude.
Dowding had guessed
the
German
thinking correctly.
He had to
being drawn into an engagement that would leave Fighter pilots
to
Staff that
could provide only limited help. Radar's usefulness in provid-
ing a warning and allowing assets to be deployed restricted
all
was wasteful and ultimately unsustainable, given Fighter
Patrolling
Command's
which appeared out of cloud,
109s
the aeroplanes and disappeared, anxious to get back to
exhausted and
aircraft
its
avoid
Command's
depleted before the main attack was
launched. Only token cover was provided for the convoys. Park, the 11
Group commander, ordered fighters
roaming provocatively twenty and
Channel. But even with able.
his pilots to avoid challenging the
On
this
Sunday, 7 July,
thirty miles inland
German from the
prudent approach, casualties were unavoid-
six fighters
were shot down and four
pilots
killed.
The following day
a thick
cushion of cloud was piled up over the
Channel, providing the Luftwaffe with limitless cover for attacks on shipping.
With
several convoys scheduled to
move through
the waters off
the south and south-east of England, there were plenty of targets to
choose from.
A
large
morning and was due air activity
to pass
set off
Dover
after
from the Thames
midday. Radar reported intense
at
Biggin Hill
met
A section
the convoy in the early afternoon
time to intercept a group of unescorted Dornier
236
early in the
over Calais and Park ordered up patrols in the area.
from 610 Squadron in
convoy had
17s,
which
it
attacked,
FIGHTER BOYS
them
forcing
to drop their
Pilot Officer A.
from
bombs
Raven was
harmlessly in the sea. In the encounter
shot down.
He was
seen
swimming away
but apparently drowned. Nine Hurricanes from 79
his Spitfire,
Squadron were sent from Hawkinge to take over. Soon airborne, they
Me 109s engaged in Wood was shot down in
were swooped on by
the Kent coast. Pilot Officer
J.
after getting
a free
hunt over
flames; he
man-
aged to bale out but burnt to death while descending. Flying Officer Mitchell crashed to earth behind
sequent
which blazed
fire,
Dover and was immolated
E.
in the sub-
an hour. No. 79 Squadron had been in
for
action almost continuously since the Battle of France and
exhausted. Three days later they were
moved
far
men were
its
away from
the fighting
to Sealand, in Cheshire, to recover.
some
Despite the fact that serious fighting had barely started,
On
were already heavily depleted.
dead and two injured larly distressing.
was on
been considered
The
Squadron
Garton and Evershed, bringing the
Pilot Officers
that he
9 July, 54
losses
muster eight
in ten days.
'Prof Leathart fire
a
total
The death of Garton had been
last
heard him over the R/T, screaming
meant, the squadron diary recorded, that aircraft
air activity
down and
him and
face
'We opened
my its
Spitfire.
the fire
and thirteen
pilots'.
and saw a
Me
flight
109s.
ahead.
it
To
his fourth
He managed
on
to shoot
a reconnais-
one of the
two machines powered head-on towards each
the Messerschmitt
was on top of me,
his
On
out to sea to investigate a report
other.
together and immediately a hail of lead thudded into
was
circle
a terrifying blur
of
a clearly defined shape,
my
reflector sight,
and
which blotted out the sky
2
hit.'
Deere's engine was on bile.
'could only
turned towards another. The pilot swung round to
One moment
Then we
it
Al Deere narrowly escaped
silver seaplane apparently
wingspan nicely enclosed within the
the next
particu-
promising pilot and a potential leader.
sance mission, escorted by fighters
six
and being chased by four Germans. Evershed had
of the day he was leading his
of enemy
pilots,
of casualties to
being killed on the same day Garton and Evershed died. trip
two
lost
units
fire
amazement he
and seized up, leaving the airscrew immo-
realized that the blades
were bent almost
237
PATRICK BISHOP double with the impact of the released the cockpit hood, but
coming
to rest
was stuck
the ground to deter at the
in
from the wooden posts planted
in
Germans
landing.
Perspex hood until
fists
were cut and bleeding,
cornfield, flopped
With
it
the strength of desperation,
smashed open and then hauled
it
himself out, sucking in lungfuls of fresh
His
His only hope lay in a
down
on the edge of a
a great rending of splintering timber
he punched
fast.
at the toggle that
by smoke, he nursed the aeroplane over land
crash-landing. Half-blinded
and, before
He yanked
collision. it
air.
his hair
and eyebrows singed and
both knees badly bruised from where they had been dashed against the instrument panel
squadron
at
when
his seat
broke free in the
Rochford next day, he was asked
had hoped
'Frankly
I
sortie to
London,' he wrote
quite obviously
I
for a
if
day or two off the later.
'I
was
Rejoining the
collision.
he was station,
fit
enough
to
fly.
perhaps a quick
pretty sore and a bit shaken but
couldn't be spared.'
Deere's commander, Leathart, admitted that he, too, was exhausted
and hoping fervently that they would be taken out of the long.
The
calculation of
how much
flying a
how many losses it could sustain before ineffective
was
sensitivity
was needed
a fine one,
and
trusted
by
their pilots.
a peculiar
to judge
54 Squadron, belonged to
its
it
squadron could endure and
morale buckled and
Dowding and
The
RFC
Park, both of sixty.
Dowding had
romantic occupation In general, though, 'stuffy' as
after
were
He had come
around the
to
fringes
had
a
good war with the
squadron leader and ending up a brigadier
a dashing side. Apart
when he took it
up, he
from
was
flying, a
a
dangerous and
good and brave
skiier.
he seemed grave, careworn and short of friends -
the universal nickname acknowledged.
The
loss
of his wife
only two years of marriage and the responsibility of bringing up
their son, Derek, himself a Fighter
Command
added another layer of seriousness to
238
whom
his feathery moustache and pained
unlikely aviator, but he
in France, serving as a
general.
With
became
decision, in the case of
Dowding was approaching
artillery.
demeanour he was an
it
combination of ruthlessness and
correctly.
flying late, qualifying as a pilot in 1914 after serving
of the empire in the
line before
a
pilot
with 74 Squadron,
solemn nature. These were not
FIGHTER BOYS normally appreciated by fighter
traits
Then and
pilots.
'Dear Fighter Boys', as he addressed them,
more importantly
mous
You
going to be well/
3
that as long as his
felt
Dowding
hand was on the
at his
'We had
ter.
up
if
a
great loyalty to him.
tremendous
I
esprit de corps
not necessarily
recommend him
'We
among
all
in
admired our
Waaf operations room
you might
think
you met him he was always very
bond with
headquarters at Bent-
the stiffness.
Stuffy enormously,' said Elizabeth Quayle, a
built
was
tiller all
pilots.
The women who worked with Dowding
warmth behind
'He was
he claimed to be
to spiritualism,
communication with the souls of dead
ley Priory could sense
later.
in turn felt a strong paternal
men. Later on, when he turned
his
and
affection for him,
felt
assurance. 'Even junior people like myself had enor-
confidence in him,' Christopher Foxley-Norris said
a father figure.
though, his
later,
call it affection.
He was
us.
considerate.'
4
plot-
He
very remote, but
These
qualities did
and superiors.
to his senior colleagues
Dowding's heavily worn sense of duty and touch of lugubriousness -
what Trenchard had
some of
bully in
women who
glowed with
he shot
discipline
in 11
and purpose.
at Gallipoli,
He was
a
work was
men
summer months
of foreign airmen
now
Many seem
a point
Altogether 145 of
and October 1940.
of showing himself to
in his
own
Hurricane,
to have seen the long, lined forty-four, at
some time
of 1940. pilots
was
alleviated a
little
by the
arrival
entering the system. Most were Polish pilots, a
number of whom had managed
end of 1939 and made
someone who
still
New Zealander who had RFC in France, where
Group, flying around the bases
Dowding's chronic lack of
large
his big
then transferred to the
which made him look much older than
during the
ing.
When
more approachable, but
listening rather than talking. face,
- brought out the
bad grace that dismayed the
down twenty Germans. He made
men
his
a
side
served under him.
Keith Park was less taut,
been wounded
Jimmy'
those above and around him.
would be disposed of with
over, he
and
called his 'dismal
their
way
to France,
them served
Billy
to escape
through Romania
where they
in Fighter
carried
at the
on
fight-
Command between
Drake, after recovering from his
injuries,
July
helped
239
PATRICK BISHOP
them
to train
up.
He found
dent minded. They were
them,
as
most did
a
touch older than
more experienced/ They could
also 'be a handful
any orders except from
was
Discipline
all
their
own
people'.
RAF, Very indepen-
in the
we were and .
.
touch
a
they wouldn't take
.
5
and divisions between
less strict in the Polish air force,
way
ranks less marked. Officers and crews socialized with each other in a
never seen in a British squadron. The reputation for hot-headedness and indifference to air
drill
was soon
long after the war. Language
established
and stuck with them
explained
difficulties
were
alleged reluctance to follow orders. There
some of
until
the Poles'
also
deeper reasons.
Experienced pilots were unhappy with the formation
tactics that per-
sisted
throughout the summer, believing them to be stupid and danger-
ous. Contrary to another popular myth, the Poles
and
reckless, It
was
their casualty ratios
Saxon vehemence. Some it
pilots
found
this
could seem embarrassing, even
accusing Polish pilots of shooting at parachutes, but there
The
practice.
in line
particularly
with those of British
pilots.
though, that they hated the Germans with an un-Anglo-
true,
others
were
were not
is little
distasteful. Stories circulated
Germans
as they floated
hard evidence to show
this
was
down on a regular
leading historian of the Polish air force in Britain,
Zamoyski, does concede that
'it is
To
aggression admirable.
some
true that
pilots
still
Adam
finished off
parachuting Germans by flying directly over them; the slipstream would
man would
cause the parachute to cannon and the a stone'.
fall
to the
ground
like
6
Given the differences of language, culture and approach, the Poles and the other Continental pilots, Czechs, Belgians and French, fitted surprisingly easily into the fabric of the fighter squadrons. British pilots did not try to
master the consonant clusters of the Slavic names, simplifying and
jollifying
them
two of the
instead, so that Karol Pniak
three Polish pilots
who joined
and 'Vodka', and the new soubriquets
and Boleslaw Wlasnowalski,
32 Squadron, became 'Cognac'
slotted democratically in alongside
the other squadron nicknames. Pete Brothers found the
good value unease
240
.
when
.
.
a
socially
German
everybody mixed pilot
in'.
who had been
newcomers
However, there shot
'very
was some
down was brought
to
FIGHTER BOYS Biggin
Hill.
room,' he
hut and
up .
.
The
said. 'In
we had him brought
himself.
We
had
him
a chat to
our eyes on the Poles,
We thought,
him," which
We
on the roof of
together
sitting all three
our eyes off them
they'll
some
tomorrow want
we
to
fell
Not
"I
said,
want
you
sure
are
was
English,
foreigners in 32
all
to Spain
led
away
He
later
He
He
you
have
and
lost
I
why
couldn't understand
war
alongside
as a pilot in the civil
him
down
air force,
He
fourteen Republican
air-
and when the country was
arrived at Biggin Hill early in
to be not a 'Nazi sympathizer so
much
mercenary', but he was regarded as too boastful for the squadron's
liking.
The 32 Squadron
he had flown an
Me
pilots
were very impressed when he told them
109 in Spain and they expected
problems when encountering one from the other shoot one
down by was
will
who had
to Britain.
August. Brothers considered as a
said,
a twenty-eight-year-old Belgian
joined the Belgian
way
We
your names down because
Squadron were popular. Comte Rudolphe de
claimed to have shot
overrun made his
for a
7
and fought for Franco
the Luftwaffe. craft.
all
well-treated."
off our stools laughing.'
Hemricourt de Grunne was
gone
to write
all
distance
the chance in their circumstances,
the Luftwaffe will blacken the skies,
make
said
probably murder
drink in the mess. 'He said could he have paper and a pencil.
"Why?" He
We
a car.
and decided we'd better keep
The German, who spoke
certainly.'
our guard-
he wasn't going to commit
109s," but
who were
"If we take
it
in dispersal
would have done, given
I
in
at readiness in the dispersal
had the wing of a 109 propped
to Biggin Hill with
German, "One of your
to the
most
over.
still
which [Flying Officer Rupert Smythe] had shot down
He'd come back
away.
we were
the evening
against the hut, .
and stuck him
police captured the chap
to
down on
his
second day
another, an event that caused
meet
his
the Channel in
death
May
at the
2,917 airmen
hands of
side.
but a
no
to have
He managed
week
later
to
was shot
some amusement. De Grunne
a 109,
drowned
after a fight
over
1942.
Virtually every squadron
Of the
in action,
him
who
was enriched by
flew in Fighter
the end of October 1940, 2,334
were
a dash of overseas blood.
Command between
British, 145
were
10 July
Polish, 126
and
from 241
PATRICK BISHOP
New
Zealand, 98 from Canada,
29 from Belgium, 25 from South Africa, 13 from France,
Australia,
from the United
11
from Czechoslovakia, 33 from
88
States, 10
from
from Jamaica and Newfoundland. Some alities.
With him
pilots liked the
New
Zealanders.
'I
it
lacked something, the other compensated for
who were
made an
he said
felt,'
of the different part of the world they came from
and Poles
mix of
Squadron Tony Bartley had South
in 92
Canadians, Australians and
when someone
from Rhodesia and
Ireland, 3
very brave and
absolutely indestructible
we had team
.
.
a .
.
.
.
We
Frenchman
.
1
each
nation-
Africans,
later, 'that it,
because
had Czechs .
.
Together
Everybody's morale was
[compensated] by each others. The whole thing, put together, was undefeatable.'
8
Dowding was
less
convinced, at least as far as the Poles
were concerned. He worried about identities
their
numbers
diluting squadron
and from the end of July began making plans for separate Polish
squadrons.
Manpower was more of a concern than
machines. The appointment
of Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Air Production in
immediate
effect in galvanizing
Hurricanes and
pace with aircraft
Spitfires off the
losses.
The
fighters
had proved
their flying ability against the
summer
doubts about the effectiveness of the British
when compared
Me
machine-guns carried by the
The Colt-Browning guns rounds in only 7.7
total,
mm
enough
an almost
production lines was sufficient to keep
of the Luftwaffe. But the early
machine-guns
May had
manufacture, and by July the flow of
the
to
fighting
fighters'
had increased
armament of eight
combination of cannon and
109.
in the Hurricanes
and
Spitfires carried 2,660
for fourteen seconds' firing.
The
bullets
were
in calibre, the same as the ones used by infantrymen,
though the introduction of the De Wilde incendiary type had increased their effectiveness.
and two
7.9
mm
The Me
109 had
machine-guns
enough room
in the
they were 20
mm
two wing-mounted Oerlikon cannon
sited
wings to carry
in calibre
above the engine. There was only sixty
cannon rounds per gun, but
and usually explosive. The machine-guns
each carried 1,000 rounds. It
242
seemed
clear early
on
that the
Me
109 carried the heavier punch.
It
The deadly schoolboy. Albert Ball, The glossy
Above:
shortly before leaving for France. hair
and blank stare disguised a strange
temperament. aeroplanes and
He shot down 43 German won the Victoria Cross, yet the
'beastly killing' filled
Right:
him with
disgust.
Mick Mannock in the fur-lined kit on both sides wore to combat the
aviators
bitter cold in the It
gave
them
the illusion of tradition.
rose
winter skies over the trenches.
a primitive
look that heightened
belonging to a
Mannock was
a
classical
complex
warrior
man who
from humble beginnings to exemplify the of the Royal Flying Corps. He died in one
spirit
of the 'flamerinoes' that haunted his
nightmares.
L\
Above: Hurricanes flying in
'vie'
formation.
Left: Pilots
in the
spoke of the
language of love.
beautiful, fast
It
was
and elegant and
had almost no Right:
Spitfire
Number
it
vices.
1
sqn in France.
Halahan (in sheepskin flying jacket) surrounded by his pilots • Bull
front of the
Maine
winter 1939/40.
at Vassincourt,
I
Above: 'Black
John
'
'Killy'
1
wavy hair and
Kilmartin.
chiselled
good
looks.
Above:
Looking the
Robert Stanford
part.
Tuck with
swastikas
recording his successes.
Left:
Michael Crossley
later in the war.
Above
right:
Tough Unwin
Tyke. George
clambering out of Spitfire
while a
his
membc
of the ground crew stands by to get to work
Lane (left) and two other 19 sqn pilots are debriefed by an Right: Brian
intelligence officer
returning from a
on
sortie.
Above:
The main
threat
Below: 'Sailor' Malan.
and hard on
— the Me 109
Hard on himself
his pilots.
Below: Geoffrey Page, aged 17.
Above:
Me
110 fighter-bomber.
Below: Dornier 17
*
^r-~
s
medium bomber. -
ft
s~A
7m
Ground staff swarm over a Spitfire
Right:
refuelling and rearming. Without the skill and
bravery of the ground crews, the Battle of Britain could never have
been won.
Above: Adolf Galland. 'Complicated and deceptive.
by fire from fighters. German bombers number of hits without being brought down.
Below: Heinkel Ills raked
could withstand a huge
A
'
'
'
fi-: f " i*'*
'*'
'
*'-*>,
"
Mp^ 'iBPv^
'£&':*•
&|&
|5 P |
i
from 610 sqn grab a brief respite from the The airfield is Hawkinge and it is the middle of
Below: Pilots ,
fighting.
the day.
Above:
Tony Bartley aged
23, leading a
squadron
in
North
Africa.
Far
left:
Decent,
vulnerable and doomed.
Denis Wissler in the year of his short
Left:
last
life.
Edith Heap,
Denis Wissler's fiancee.
Below: Brian
moved
Kingcome before 92 sqn
to Biggin Hill.
Above:
Below:
on
A Heinkel
A Heinkel gunner tries
a Spitfire
111 silhouetted over Docklands.
to bring his
which has just flashed past
gun
to bear
after a rear attack.
The end of the Paddy Barthropp
Above: line.
(right) after
being shot
down in May
1942.
This is it, chaps. Paddy Finucane in the
Right:
cockpit of his Spitfire,
not long before his death.
Below: Johnny Kent (centre) with
FO
Zdzislaw Henneberg (left)
and
FO
Marian
two of the 145 Poles who, with Czech pilots, fought Pisarek,
with Fighter in the
Command
summer of
1940.
FIGHTER BOYS
RAF
has been calculated that a three-second burst from an
fighter
weighed about thirteen pounds. In the same time a Messerschmitt could deliver eighteen pounds.
9
The
of cannon
rate
fire
was much slower -
only 520 rounds a minute against 1,200 for a machine-gun - but the shells
exploded on impact and one or two
down
could bring
hits
a metal-
skinned Spitfire (though the Hurricane's old-fashioned fuselage construc-
and
tion of struts, formers
fabric
made
This was an
less vulnerable).
it
advantage in circumstances where a fighter pilot chasing another fighter pilot
could expect to have his target in his sights for only a few seconds.
To be fire,
machine-gun
effective,
shoot off a
fire
vital control
or
needed
to
smash the engine,
the pilot.
kill
The
rounds
bring one down.
One
bomber
by several
fighters
on
plating,
meant
might be needed to
of the most dispiriting experiences a fighter pilot
could have, captured on
hold a
fired
it
greater size of the
bombers, with their extra structural strength and armour that thousands of
set
many
a
camera-gun sequence, was to catch and
in a perfect deflection shot
only to watch
it
cruise blithely
through the blizzard of tracer.
The German bombers had crews and
to their
when
melted
the engines
fitted to
become
To
self-sealing fuel
the metal
was
and
cover
most this
tanks with
rear,
making an
profitable line of approach. If
vulnerable spot, shooting
armour and
membranes
that
pierced, automatically plugging leaks. But
a very difficult task for a fighter
penetrate
oil
were unprotected from the
astern the fighter's
was
steel plates that offered partial protection
down
a
attack
armour
from
plating
bomber would
armed only with machine-guns.
redress the balance,
cannon were needed.
This realization produced a flurry of belated activity. Experiments had
been going on for
at least
two years
to
engineering problems were involved. excellent
weapons, with
a high
fit
cannon
to fighters. Formidable
The Hispano guns were
muzzle velocity delivering
a
potentially
powerful and
penetrating blow, but the fighters' wings had to be able to absorb the recoil.
The armament
also
needed to be
magazines did not create too
One
solution
was
to
fit
much
fixed in such a
way
that the
drag and impede flying performance.
the guns so they lay
on
their sides.
the effect of slowing the flow of shells to the breech
But
this
had
and interfering with
243
PATRICK BISHOP the cartridge-ejection system. Also, despite their bulkiness, the magazines
held only sixty rounds each, giving the fighter a negligible
six
seconds of
firing time.
These problems were well known. None the ting the guns to a
new
Spitfire type, the
Mk
IB,
them
At the end of June the
first
three
into service. at
in Fighter
Command was
Pilots
huge
blister
who was one
George Unwin,
were absolutely and level/
were delivered
You could only
useless.
the nose of the bullet dip and
jam
They
to fly them.
first
[when] absolutely straight
fire
forces
in the
They had
on top where the magazine
of the
G
found that the mildest
to 19
squadron
Spitfire
given the task of trying them out.
to have special wings with this
fit-
with a view to putting
Duxford, which as the most experienced
Squadron
fitted,' said
work began on
less
were enough
breech
when
make
to
they pressed
the firing button. Air-gunnery tests were very disappointing, with guns
When the more
misfiring constantly. at a
towed
aerial target,
Dowding was under
experienced pilots lined up to shoot
only one direct hit was scored. pressure from the government to send 19 Squad-
ron into action as soon as possible to
He
conditions.
resisted deploying
test the
in the 11
it
new weapons
Group
area,
in battle
where
it
was
certain to encounter 109s. In the next six weeks, operating mainly out of
Fowlmere
hazardous
in the less
encounters with
German
air
of 12 Group, the squadron had five
formations.
raiders they did spectacular
When
the cannon shells struck the
damage, shooting away propellers and
tail-
planes and setting engines ablaze. But virtually every aeroplane suffered
stoppages on every outing.
On
squadron went up to intercept a large force of bombers and the south. In the clash Flying Officer James a foot, but
managed
teen years old and
probable
Me
to bale out. Pilot Officer
new
on landing and was
to
backed by
244
Again
Coward was
fighters to
shot up, losing
Raymond Aeberhardt,
nine-
was forced down, turned over
many guns had jammed and
only two
110s could be claimed against the losses.
Squadron Leader
summer
to the squadron,
killed.
from the
31 August, eleven Spitfires
make
Philip
the
his pilots,
Pinkham,
who had
struggled throughout the
new armament work, had had
enough. Strongly
he petitioned Dowding for the return of
their old
FIGHTER BOYS machine-gun equipped
fighters.
The
and he listened to what
we had
to say/
had
He
a miserable face.
have your eight-gun
Spitfires
except that they were ing Unit, shedding
On
the
said, "I
next day the great
George Unwin remembered. 'He
still
over the windscreen/
oil all
climbing, they
Me
Thames
saw
a
10
men
109s above
into the
pilots,
in the
machines with
On
at 15,000 feet.
them
the way, and
to the south, approaching the
them another group of RAF
estuary. Before they could reach
some of the experienced
off in these
mass of forty bombers escorted by the
fighters attacked the formation, turning
him up
did,
clapped-out Spitfires from an Operational Train-
all
Hornchurch aerodrome
same number of
shall
we
back by tomorrow morning." And
morning of 5 September, Pinkham, who had not flown
orders to patrol
there
won't teach you to suck eggs. You
operations of the previous weeks, led his
while
man was
it
Pinkham ordered
bombers while the
rest
To
southwards.
the dismay of
five Spitfires to
follow
of the squadron took on the
escorts.
They were
attacking
from almost the worst possible
position, lacking
height and blinded by the glare from the south. 'He flew straight into the
sun/ said Unwin
was
last
was
later. 'It
a pretty
incompetent thing to do/ Pinkham
seen flying towards a group of Dorniers before apparently falling
victim to the Messerschmitts. David Cox, a twenty-year-old sergeant
was
flying
with him that day, described the decision
but morally right
.
.
.
The squadron had been
which was coming
tion
in to
as 'tactically
who
wrong
told to intercept this forma-
Hornchurch/ 11 What Pinkham
attack
should have done, he believed, was to have flown a dog-leg to gain height and bring the squadron in at a speed and position to have taken
on both escort and bombers. Pinkham, though, lacked the popular with his men.
man.
He
shal'
Born
.
treated a sergeant pilot the
joined the
in
Wembley and
RAF
on
outstanding flying Flight
tactical
Cox thought him
skills
and then posted
at
as
he would
Kilburn
an instructor.
first
treat
Grammar
commission and
had been selected as
this.
He was
very fine chap, a real gentle-
'a
same
educated
a short-service
experience to see
an
air
mar-
School, he
as a result
of his
for the Meteorological
He was
twenty-five
when he 245
PATRICK BISHOP died. Despite his sense of
duty and diligence, his lack of combat experi-
command
ence meant he was a poor choice to
The cannon problem was
eventually overcome by the installation of
had been under consideration from
a belt-feeding system, a solution that
the outset.
The
decision to persist with an unpromising experiment
meant the squadron had been
known
to be faulty.
small, but
it
had
Thanks
to luck
and
also deprived Fighter
skill,
of the
relatively
full
use of a
much more damage on summer
if it
the
had been armed
old weapons.
Despite stages, the
Dowding s
reluctance to
Germans were now
commit resources
arriving in such
impossible to ignore them. Fighter doctrine as laid planners, based
on the premise
had been shown to be
that
happening
in the skies. Pilots
should attack
were
that
the pre-war
enemy bomber formations
quarter attacks at the same
12
level'.
by
in equal
five or ten to one.
numbers by
At the same time the
same document suggested off their escort
and
if
As
continued to
relation to
written, fighter squadrons routinely found themselves
by bombers by
for the
what was fighters
astern and
memorandum outnumbered
accompanying
fighters, the
that half the flight or squadron should 'draw
necessary to attack them'.
These instructions were meaningless by the middle of July. 13th, six Hurricanes
was
this failure, the
'whenever possible,
told that
it
arrive unescorted,
Command
little
opening
down by
utterly unrealistic. Unruffled
be based on cheerful hypotheses that bore
in the
numbers
bombers would
revived analysis by the senior officers of Fighter
was
had been
losses
Command
inflicted
Luftwaffe during the middle passage of the its
were
sent into action with guns that
seasoned unit which would have
with
a fighter unit.
from 56 Squadron
led
by
Flight Lieutenant
On
the
Jumbo
Gracie took off from Manston to protect a convoy coming through the Straits
of Dover. Gracie, according to Geoffrey Page, was Tar from being
the popular conception of a fighter pilot.
high-pitched voice,
more of
He was
fat
and pasty and had a
a Billy Bunter than a Knight of the Air/
Despite his appearance, he was famously energetic and aggressive. controller told
them twenty bombers on
had been picked up on the 246
their
radar, protected
by
way
The
to attack the ships
sixty fighters flying
above
FIGHTER BOYS them. Grade ordered Pilot Officer Taffy Higginson to take his section off
He meanwhile
to deal with the bombers.
up
into the midst of the fighters
of twenty to one.
'I
led his section, including Page,
where they prepared
suppose with hindsight
stupid/ Page said later. 'But
think
I
was
I
I
button on the guns was on
should have been scared
swarm of
above us and
aircraft
we were
The
by going
latter reacted to the arrival
chance to provide but
funny.
Me
us'.
'as if
hand of God has wiped the
the
.
reckoned
fire
is
a
minor
Then came
was completely
an exceptional fighter
needed
fine one.
to fly fighter aircraft suc-
the First
No man
talent.
pilot.
World War
pilots,
braver than the next
is
men do
fighter pilots can only regard with awe.
A
things
fighter
have to show that kind of courage. Unreasoning,
unintelligent, blind courage
when
has to be cold
He must
Spitfire to
in fact a
He
tremendous handicap
fights
with
a first-class fighter pilot
have an aggressive nature. than defence.
is
he's fighting.
There are three things
of a
among
that, unlike
which we
pilot doesn't
then the 109s
.
13
the air raid wardens in Coventry or Plymouth, these
under
mouth go
merely good from the outstanding was a
courage, these days, .
.
tracer'.
slate clean'.
his colleagues as
Sailor Malan, considering the qualities
.
gunners the
felt his
that never ceased to amaze: the sky
line dividing the
cessfully,
Me
For the next few minutes he 'registered nothing but
Page was regarded by
The
109s and
their rear
defensive firepower. Page
wings bearing Iron Crosses, and streaks of
phenomenon
empty
they
into a waggon-circling
'dived into the circle, firing rather wildly
came down on flashing
When
found the Germans' caution when faced by three Hurricanes
still
He
maximum
safety
enormous
this
climbing up.'
manoeuvre, following each other around to give
the
aircraft
trimming up the aeroplane
"fire", generally
reached the height of the fighters, they found both
dry,
my
so busy getting
approaching combat. Then suddenly there was
for the
odds
battle at
making sure the camera gun was switched on and the
ready,
110s.
do
to
He must
at all
his head,
must have.
to him.
He
not his heart. First,
he must
think in terms of offence rather
times be an attacker.
It is
run away. Second, both his mind and
against the nature
his
body must be
247
PATRICK BISHOP alert
you
and both must react are fighting
eyes and clean hands and
they must be sensitive.
ambling along
at
any
instinctively to
you have no time feet.
He
tactical situation.
His hands and feet control
can't
ham
be
handed.
When
feet,
plane and
this
your
Spitfire
is
390 miles an hour a too-heavy hand on the rudder will
send you in an inadvertent and very embarrassing
your
When
he must have good
to think. Third,
your mind, your
must function
instinct
you're right side up or upside down.
Malan might have added
to his
possession of very
list,
Your hands, whether
14
himself was said to have been able to spot China, at five miles'.
spin.
as well,
'a fly
good
eyesight.
He
on the Great Wall of
15
Page was certainly aggressive. Writing to a friend from
his
Cranwxll, late in the evening after a night in mess, he confessed:
days at 'I
enjoy
me beyond belief to see my bullets striking home and Hun blow up before me.' But the sight, he admitted, 'also sick. Where are we going and where will it all end? feel
killing. It fascinates
then to see the
makes I
am
me
feel
selling
my
Given the
I
soul to the devil.'
disparity in forces
16
it is
remarkable that more
not killed in the Channel battle of July. As
it
pilots
was seventy-nine
worst losses came on the 19th, the disaster resulting from the
were
died.
The of
failure
machines rather than of men. The Boulton Paul Defiant was a strange conception from the outset. Instead, a
It
had no
gunner swivelled around
in
into the fuselage behind the cockpit.
managing
just over 300 m.p.h.
a reasonable rate
partner into a
ever went
of fire, but
good
this
position.
an
The
fixed
gun
electrically
that fired forward.
powered
extra weight
meant
turret it
sunk
was slow,
The four Browning guns could generate only counted
if
the pilot
manoeuvred
his
The aeroplane was an anachronism before
it
into action, reflecting thinking about aerial fighting that had
gone out with the
First
World War.
It
was the very weirdness of
its
design that explained the Defiants' brief success. During the Dunkirk
campaign, the Germans had
going in from the bullets.
248
On
rear,
at first
mistaken them for Hurricanes and,
were unpleasantly surprised when they
spat back
one day, 29 May, 264 Squadron claimed to have shot down
FIGHTER BOYS
German
thirty-five
doubt that they
aircraft.
It
was an exaggeration, but there was no
inflicted significant losses.
The Germans soon learned
the difference.
On
Hawkinge been
Squadron were moved forward to
19 July, the Defiants of 141 at breakfast
in battle,
time and sent off on patrol. The crews had never
had only arrived
and were unaccustomed to
11
week before
south from Scotland a
in the
Group
control procedures. At 2.30 p.m.,
twelve Defiants were ordered off to patrol just south of Folkestone.
Three machines had to be
left
behind with mechanical trouble. There
was no warning from control when, of
Me
109s
squadron for the
of an hour
attacking from
them
correctly,
moved
pilot baled
sea.
The remaining
and
set
killed
beyond six
on
on
down with
their
out and was picked up
wounded from
The gunner baled out but was drowned and
fire.
Four made
it
back,
repair. Altogether, in the space
if
the
was caught
the pilot
was
two of them damaged, one
of less than a quarter of an hour,
machines had been destroyed and ten
have been even greater
risk
The
Defiants tried to hide in cloud, but one
crash-landing.
no
at
in the first attack.
gunners, clamped into their claustrophobic turrets, went
One
in efficiently
below and astern where they were
from the guns. Four Defiants were shot down
aeroplanes.
swarm
later, a
from the Richthofen Geschwader crossed the path of the
in the air and, identifying
kill,
a quarter
men
killed.
The
losses
would
Hurricanes from 111 Squadron had not arrived
to scare the Messerschmitts off.
Two
days later what was
left
of the
Defiant squadron was sent back to Scotland.
Some
mand
of the losses of July seemed particularly wasteful. Fighter
insisted
Com-
on mounting night interceptions even though the chances
of catching anything were
tiny.
ing the hours of darkness.
Most
Seven
pilots
were
killed in accidents dur-
pilots feared flying at night.
It
was very
dangerous and the results were almost never worth the
risk.
Beaumont, the most uncomplaining of
one night
Middle Wallop
at the
exhausted, there
As they
end of July,
down
at
dusk
was
told,
to hold his flight at readiness.
was no moon and
settled
pilots,
it
was
Stephen at
He was
pitch-black.
in the dispersal
hut they devoutly hoped
they would not be required. Half an hour before midnight the operations
249
PATRICK BISHOP
room ordered one
pilot
up
to investigate an unidentified aircraft near
Ringwood. Beaumont thought dangerous', and said so.
ally
Darley, but
was
this
was
He
contacted his commander, George
'stupid, ineffective
and potenti-
with some sympathy, that orders were orders. Fly-
told,
ing Officer Jarvis Blayney, the son of a Harrogate doctor and one of the
pre-war squadron members, was sent up
heart but his engine overheated and then
down
trundled
it
managed
from
to take off
turn.
He
side to side to see
and climb to 1,000
feet.
dim glow of the
cruised overhead, desperate not to lose sight of the
lights
with a heavy
set off
was Beaumont's
the runway, swinging his Spitfire
the line of the flarepath and
He
He
first.
below, and was greatly relieved to be told to forget the interception
and come back and to the Operations
land.
He
suspected afterwards that Darley 'had been
Room, expressed
and got the controller to
recall me'.
his
views on the
futility
of this order
17
July had been unsettling for the pilots, just as the Luftwaffe intended it
to be.
Kept
Germans' develop.
dark about Fighter
in the
intentions, the pilots
Most seem
to
Command's assessment of
had no idea
as to
how
the battle
would
have shared Brian Kingcome's feeling that what
they were engaged in was 'part of a continuing routine, certainly not
an isolated historic event war, which
The
.
.
.
.
.
.
merely part of the normal progress of the
we assumed would
pilots
the
continue unabated until
final victory.'
18
understood, though, that for the coming weeks and months
they were the most important people in Britain. All eyes were on them.
BBC had been broadcasting morale-boosting talks by fighter pilots. On 14 July, Harbourne Stephen of 74 Squadron went on the radio to describe how his squadron, though greatly outnumbered at Since
May
the
Dunkirk, had escaped unhurt and knocked
down
several
encounter, and recounted Malan's exploit of bringing
bombers
at night
turned up
at
bombers
down
over Essex. The day before, a team from
Debden
to shoot a feature
on the
Life
fighter pilots
in the
the
two
magazine
who were
beginning to be famous across the Atlantic. Denis Wissler was one of those ordered up to provide
Afterwards the a picture.
250
The
1
7
Squadron
pilots stand
some formation
pilots
were
around
flying pictures for them.
called to the
in frozen,
mess and posed
monumental
poses.
for
Only
FIGHTER BOYS one
is
looking at the camera as the mess steward in a starched white
jacket distributes 'half-cans' of beer in silver mugs. straining to be epic.
One
of the subjects
is
The
effect
is stilted,
starting to look bored. Denis
Wissler, in the centre of the shot, planted squarely in a leather armchair, is
hand
scratching his nose, beer in
he skims a magazine. Later, the
as
'everyone joined in a harmless battle, hurling the
caption reports,
one another'. The
flashbulbs of Life's photographer at
appear for another year, by which time half the
men
not
article did
were
in the picture
dead.
Were
they supermen, the journalists wondered, or the boys next
door? Godfrey Winn, a star writer for the Sunday Express
Squadron on 18
were both. The
July, decided they
who
article
visited 54
was
called
of a Miracle Man'. 'He has captured the imagination of the
'Portrait
whole world
.
.
.
What
is
he
like as a
man?' asked Winn.
He went on
to
provide a composite profile.
of
First
he
all
is
with the greatest never got
tells
you
difficulty
if
you
all
press
he reached
his colours as if that
laughter at
He
a very ordinary fellow.
and over again to you. And
keeps on stressing that over
him he
will assure
certificate
had anything
to
you
that only
standard at school and
do with
it.
He
roars with
the references to himself as a knight of the sky and he
that the reason
why
he
is
a fighter
because they discovered he was better
Typical pilots laughed a
lot,
and not
at flying
were addicted
a
bomber
pilot
is
upside down.
to music, playing
Connie
Boswell singing 'Martha' over and over again on the gramophone. They didn't read
much, except
risque bestseller.
moment
that
he
for thrillers like
They were starts to
and completely
And,
Winn
Orchids for Miss Blandish, a
ordinary, until they stepped outside. 'The
walk towards the flarepath you see the
mation take place before your eyes less
No
...
He becomes
transfor-
impersonal, merci-
self-disciplined.'
did not need to add,
Unofficial propagandists
more than
match
for the
Germans.
were already reassuring the public
that any
a
imbalance in the odds would be compensated for by the superiority of
251
PATRICK BISHOP British
machines and men. The
that the Luftwaffe 'use
long as they are
reporter of the Daily Express revealed
air
machines with a
made
to last
attempt to train their crews
.
.
.
life
staking
carefully.'
of 50 flying hours. That all
is
as
on numbers they don't
O. D. Gallagher in the same paper
declared that 'our Spitfire boys enjoy a confidence in themselves that the
Luftwaffe pilots cannot have'. officer 'It
He
going over to debrief a pilot
told a recent story of an intelligence
who had just
returned from a
was some minutes before he could get anything out of the
sat in his cockpit, eyes bright, grinning, saying:
they're easy!" as they read
the truth.
252
'
These
them
"God
fantasies provided the pilots
in the mess.
Only they knew
sortie.
fighter.
they're easy!
He
God
with a cynical laugh
how
far
they were from
12
The Hun
The German airmen facing
two
attacking Britain respected the
enemy they were
and liked to think the feeling was mutual. Contacts between the
air forces in
the approach to the
war had been
frequent, cordial and
remarkably open. In October 1938, General Erhard Milch, one of the
main
architects of the reconstructed
German
air force, led a
senior Luft-
waffe delegation to Britain and was given a tour of important lations.
His hosts were nothing
Hornchurch, the
them by the
pilots
if
not hospitable.
When
instal-
Milch went to
were told they could answer any questions put
visitors except those
concerning defensive
tactics,
to
the control
of operations and the recently arrived reflector gunsight. Inquiries about the latter
were
to be turned aside with the reply that
had not yet learned
how
to use
aircraft to
clamber on
and asked
into the cockpit, noticed the gunsight
prevaricated, as ordered, only to be interrupted
said later
he had to
Milch one to take
The
visit
stifle
home
who
how by an
it
to.
He
peered
worked. Tuck
air
vice-marshal
offered a detailed demonstration.
the urge to ask: as a souvenir?'
'Sir,
why
don't
we
Tuck
give General
1
followed several encounters in which each side had tried to
intimidate and deter the other ness in the
was so new they
it.
General Milch chose Bob Tuck's
accompanying the Germans
it
air.
It
was
a
by
phoney
'revealing' the extent of their prepared-
exercise in
which candour was mixed
with deception, leaving everyone suspicious and confused. Milch did take
253
PATRICK BISHOP
away with him during a
trip to
a strongly favourable impression of the cadets
he met
Cranwell and told Hitler of their high quality. Afterwards gift,
two
and the
first
'ace'
Oswald Boelcke, which
library.
With them came
a letter expressing the
he sent a thank-you
German
modernistic portraits of Richthofen
fine,
still
hang
hope
in the college
that the images
'might encourage the feeling of mutual respect and help to prevent that
our two Forces have to forced to do
But again, for
men
some twenty
years ago'.
British pilots
who had
served in France could feel
they had seen machine-gunning and
Kingcome's sardonic said later,
'a
wavered when
style
great tragedy in
shoot one down.
images of them
He had
life'
bombing
came
it
that he
had never had
They were
machine not the man'. This
a chance to
3
over the Channel
shooting, as they often said later,
was
attitude
who
pilots
which did not strongly engage
when
harden
to
attack shifted inland and over the
Many German airmen
was, he
It
derived from
queues of refugees'. For
military encounters
respect
refugees. Brian
special hatred'
'a
little
to Stukas.
sights in France, the July battles
were straightforward their emotions.
my
conceived
'strafing the endless
had not seen such
German
2
than three years later they were fighting each other once
less
and
each other again as they were unfortunately
fight
'at
the
the focus of the
homes of those they
loved.
believed that they shared with British pilots an
experience and outlook that transcended differences of nationality and the fact that their governments
were
to claim they
had no
was over with the
would now have
fall
were
at
war.
Some
of those
desire to fight Britain,
and
kill
survived
had assumed the war
when
of France and were saddened
to try
who
men whom, from
told they
a distance, they
admired.
Their feeling that they had counterparts was to
some
much
in
extent justified.
common The
with their British
pilots facing Britain in
1940 in both fighters and bombers had mostly been attracted to the Luftideological reasons, but because they loved flying, or the
waffe, not
by
idea of
'Flying brought
it.
me
piloted a Junkers 88, said later.
him an escape from 254
a lot 'I
of happiness,' Georg Becker,
knew
genteel poverty.
I
was good
He was
at
it.'
The
the son of a
air
civil
who
offered
servant
FIGHTER BOYS
who
died in a train crash, leaving his wife struggling to bring up four
on
children
a state pension.
It
romantic than being a foot
become famous
was
also
soldier'.
for shooting
4
down
'a
glamorous thing to do
.
more
.
to
four Hurricanes in three minutes in 5
August, flying in the Luftwaffe was 'new and exhilarating
Many
.
who was
For Gerhard Schopfel,
.
by German airmen would
aspects of the pre-war existence lived
have been recognizable to their British counterparts. Off duty, Becker
comrades 'went
and
his
fast,
lunch and dinner
mess and drank.
to the officers'
all
together.
We
Brandenburg,
Some of us had They
we had
We'd
cars.
a
had break-
had the week planned out so we
knew when we would be working and we arranged our that. In
We
boat and would take
it
free
time around
out with friends.
drive to the coast or into Berlin at weekends.'
called each other by nicknames and enjoyed dogs, cars, sport
and jokes. Like the pre-war RAF, they thought of themselves semi-detached from the drab,
world. But this was
terrestrial
where the
the 1930s. At Becker's base they 'had dances invite girlfriends
and the mayor
but they also had to invite people
who we
used to
call
the
little
Nazis.
ignore them. There really believe
it.
were some
We used to
German airmen were which committed them
stick
them
could
officers
town
in
council
They had joined
in
to 'yield unconditional obedience to the Fiihrer
German armed
mean
forces.
Few
did every other
member
of the pilots were active Nazis. That
they were reluctant to
fight.
As with the expansion of the
the birth of the Luftwaffe offered young,
modern-minded German
an opportunity for adventure and an escape from
They had not joined
didn't
required to take an oath of personal loyalty
of the
did not
who
in the corner as well.'
German Reich and Volk, Adolf Hitler'. So
ranks
Germany
nice Nazis there too, people
of the
men
elite,
We used to get them drunk and stick them in a corner and basically
1933.
RAF,
like the
an
as
mundane
lives.
the air force necessarily to go to war, but inside
its
war became simply an extension of duty.
The Luftwaffe had been conceived inter-war years
bombers and Dornier,
was developed with one eye on
fighters of 1940
Hugo
in subterfuge. Civil aviation in the
military potential.
took their names from
men
The
- Claude
Junkers, Ernst Heinkel, Willy Messerschmitt -
whose 255
PATRICK BISHOP companies started out manufacturing commercial Deutsche Lufthansa, was created
in 1926,
many
to provide the Luftwaffe with
of
and its
aircraft.
its
A state
airline,
training schools
were
The government
pilots.
encouraged youth to be 'air-minded' through gliding clubs which pro-
way
vided a cheap and practical
of teaching the elements of flying and
by 1929 had 50,000 members. Some of the preparations were
Germany
1923
secret. In
negotiated a hidden agreement with Soviet Russia to sup-
Moscow, an
ply military training at the Lipetsk air base, south-east of
arrangement that lasted ten years. By the time the Luftwaffe's existence
was
officially
teams and
announced
in
March
1935,
it
could rely both on the design
factories of the strongest aircraft industry in
machines and
a large reserve
of young
Europe
air enthusiasts to
to provide
supply pilots
and crews. Adolf Galland, one of the two most famous of the German 1940,
took to the
first
air in a glider.
and carried him only
The
flight lasted
only a few seconds
above the ground near
feet
of
his
home
in
to persuade
him he had found
his
family were descended from a
Huguenot who had
left
Westphalia, but vocation.
few
a
The
pilots
it
was enough
France in 1742 and become
bailiff to the
Graf von Westerholt. Successive
Gallands had held the post ever since. Adolf's father was a traditionalist,
an authoritarian
who
was profoundly
Catholic, so
administered discipline with his
much
fists.
so that her devotion
His mother
was
to get her
into trouble with the Nazis.
Like
gun
some of the most
early,
estate.
successful Fighter Boys, he learned to handle a
and by the age of six he was shooting hares on the Westerholt
At school he was
dull.
When
particularly the sagas of Boelcke
he read anything,
and Richthofen. At the
the Gelsenkirchen Luftsportverein, he shone and
Later he gliders
would claim
'felt'
commercial
recognized and he was in
that pilots
256
air
summoned
undergoing secret military
months
who
was war
stories,
local glider club,
became
the star pupil.
served a long apprenticeship on
the air better. In 1932, aged twenty, he
pilot training at the
it
was accepted
for
school at Brunswick. His talents were to Berlin to ask
training.
He
if
he was interested
spent a few, mostly wasted
training alongside Mussolini's air force.
There was
a stint as a
FIGHTER BOYS Lufthansa pilot flying airliners to Barcelona. Then, excited by the prospects opening up
came
power, he joined the
to
at the
end of 1933,
in military aviation after the Nazis
1937 he went back to
air force. In April
Spain as a pilot in the fighter section of the Luftwaffe-directed
He
Legion, flying inferior
was back
in
Germany
By the time the new Messer-
51 biplanes.
numbers
schmitt 109s were arriving in sufficient
in the Air Ministry.
the blitzkrieg that he started to do
It
to
dominate the
was not until
glance, to resemble
He
counterparts.
some of
liked wine,
was
officers. All this
intelligence to the failed to
true.
war
men who
his chief's intolerable
cigars.
He
[he]
life
against the British
He was one
ran the war.
and senior
pilots
of the boys, but also intimate
an admirer of Goering
He
until
admit-
private meeting with
mutual respect had been forged
... for the rest of his
Good German. He
that
him
Wednesday afternoon he had
spell
6
of Hitler's personality'. His
later to play the part
was a prominent guest
at
he enjoyed a sort of friendship with Bob Tuck.
Some
of a pro-
post-war fighter-
He and Douglas Bader were photographed
together and
pilots
were never
persuaded. In the view of Christopher Foxley-Norris, 'Galland was a start
who
first
high-wattage bonhomie allowed
At the
RAF
his
chilly analytical
behaviour made admiration impossible.
would remember how on
pilot reunions.
at
appeared good-
and was harsh with
He was
been drawn under the intensely focused
fessional
seemed,
in his attitude to discipline
ted to his biographer that, after leaving his Hitler, 'he felt a
He
But Galland also brought a
reach his standards.
with the big
and
he
air,
1940 and
for.
more flamboyant of
the
women
humoured, gregarious and relaxed
May
what he became famous
Galland had a complicated and deceptive personality. first
Condor
of July, Galland was
Molders, who, flying an
Me
109,
still
in the
7
shit.'
shadow of Werner
had shot down fourteen
aircraft in
Spain
followed by a further twenty-five during the French campaign. Moelders
was
tactically intelligent
pairs that
and
in Spain
developed the system of flying
in
was eventually adopted by the RAF. He was introverted and
grave-looking, a serious Catholic
who
passively disliked the Nazis. This
did not prevent
them loading him with honours and high
from accepting.
He was
the recipient of the
first
rank, nor
him
Knight's Cross to go to a
257
PATRICK BISHOP and became
fighter pilot
Molders had been shot
a general of fighters before
down
early in
he was twenty-nine.
June by a young French
pilot
and
taken prisoner but released after the armistice was signed between Ger-
many and
France. At the end of July he
fighter wing,
head.
He
On
JG51.
Spitfire
Sailor Malan. His Messerschmitt
leg
wounds
to
make
of his
skill
who ended
behind istic
his
whom
was, however,
a
good
teacher. Galland
acknowledged that successful pupil
Molders instructed during advanced training
the French campaign with fourteen Victories', just
When
Wick
shared the same, atav-
they wrote, they expressed themselves in the same forest
and
hillside, as that
I
Wick
the enemy, adding to the
used by Richthofen,
want
these wishes
and die
to fight
as possible.'
8
A
Spitfire
November. Galland saw
from Fighter
his task as
and to destroy the enemy. Only
initiative,
long as
am
I
being
in this
him
him near the
Isle
derision.
Then
a
happy
of Wight
'to attack, to track, to
way can to a
hunt
the eager and skilful
narrow and confined
task,
and you take away from him the best and most spirit,
joy of action and the
9
Such words could never have been spoken or written by
Command
can
with me as many of the Command fulfilled one of
killing
valuable qualities he possesses: aggressive
Fighter
I
fighting, taking
fighter pilot display his ability. Tie
passion of the hunter.'
'as
honour of the Richthofen Gesch-
by shooting him down and
rob him of his
declared that
and the success of the Fatherland,
[his fighter unit]
enemy
in
and
as Boelcke's successor).
down
wader man.
its
they regarded as a spiritual forebear (although Molders saw him-
more
shoot
He
was learned from Molders. Another
drawn from
language,
self
month.
for a
mentors. Galland, Molders and
approach.
whom
his first outing at
was badly damaged and he received
him out of action
inspirational
was Helmut Wick, and
of the
his presence felt later on.
He was much
command
in
from 74 Squadron but was then engaged
by
that kept
made
Sunday, 28 July, he
down one
shot
was put
a pilot of
without provoking bafflement, embarrassment or
there were the medals.
The
leading
German
pilots
were
encrusted with layers of Ruritarian decoration. They started off as holders
of the Knight's Cross, rising through clouds of glory to acquire the King's
258
FIGHTER BOYS
Oak
Cross with
Oak Leaves and
Leaves, Knight's Cross with
culminating in the highest honour of
all,
Swords,
the Knight's Cross with
Oak
Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. These honours were worn prominently
and the condition of wanting one but not having one was
at the neck,
known
which further
by
The RAF had
as 'throatache'.
might add
exploits
a scrap of cloth
sewn over
the Distinguished Flying Cross, to
a bar or two,
and which was signalled
the left-hand breast pocket of the tunic.
Only one Victoria Cross, the highest gallantry award, was
Command dates
in 1940.
To
qualify for consideration for the honour, candi-
had to have demonstrated outstanding courage
whelming odds.
summer
in the
When
of 1940 were doing
most
this
Group
pilots in 11
days.
German
were
pilots
with the afterglow of a succession of victories and enjoying
which had come
the fleshly comforts of a sybaritic country rapid
of over-
in the face
might have been argued that most
the Kanalkampf began in earnest, the
warm
rested,
It
won by Fighter
accommodation with
its
occupiers.
It
to a fairly
was perhaps with some
went
tance that they resumed operations. But they
off cheerfully
reluc-
enough
and morale remained high as the scope of the campaign widened, deep-
ened and lengthened. Partly by design, partly by force of circumstances, the
German
The bombing British fighters installations,
theory,
campaign would climb an ascending
air
on shipping and the
attacks
would
way
give
to raids
culminating in an all-out
would
deliver
into submission,
one of two
making
on aerodromes and defence
air
own
war Galland and
escalation, in
would be beaten
much
Or
it
would
of the preparatory
several other leading veterans of the cam-
knew from
the beginning that the Luftwaffe
could not achieve a strategic victory in the
believe at any time that
would
The
would already have been achieved.
After the
its
assault.
results. Either Britain
a full-scale invasion unnecessary.
paign would claim that they
on
draw up the
free hunts to
hold out, forcing a landing, in which case destruction
scale of violence.
we
surrender,' he said.
'We
didn't
could win the battle, to the effect that Britain
'We
couldn't force England to surrender by
attacking without any operation
asking that the High
air.
Command
from the army or navy
order the invasion.'
.
.
.
We
were
10
259
PATRICK BISHOP But the army and navy commanders, even the Luftwaffe's
supremacy, or
at least air superiority.
conundrum were reduced by Goering' s
The gap between and
most
that a
war of
ignorant, impetuous approach.
the airmen's understanding of their
was winnable and had gone on
attrition
was good, abuse
we had
we needed
wanted.'
was capable of bringing
lavish as
soon
as the
He began
to
The
momentum
faltered. 'At the begin-
we were
more machines and manpower
far
not doing enough,
to achieve
of the
take long for
to
it
men
become
clear that the Luftwaffe
was not how
it
seemed
would
few weeks. The operation was not being mounted from but in the flush of several victories
The German bombers and
-172 from enemy
fighters
when
only a
a standing start,
with relative ease.
had suffered steady
the big push
British defences.
they were facing the most
wanted
won
last
losses during
action and 91 in accidents - but their pilots and
crews were confident that
overwhelm the
difficult
The
came they would be
make
the invasion
said Schopfel,
who was
believed that
we had
think that here the landing
was
date,
but were none the
would be
work and we were
it
which could defeat Germany.
possible with our help
England the way
We thought we had
'We
would work,'
serving with Galland in Jagdgeschwader 26.
be able to reach out to London. the English in
sure
beaten the English over France and
a force
able
fighter squadrons accepted that
opponent to
they could wipe the Hurricanes and Spitfires from the sky. to
was
at the outset.
arriving at the airfields of northern France in July
believed their superiors' predictions that the campaign
less sure
what he
11
would not
Many
260
to assure Hitler
Britain to negotiations.
complain that
facing a daunting task. But that
to
capabilities
great respect for him,' said Gerhard Schopfel, 'but later our
feelings changed.
July
own
and crews learned early that praise was abundant when the going
pilots
It
air
resolving this
optimistic pre-war feasibility study to persuade himself
that the air force
but
The chances of
commander's expectations was wide. Goering had latched on
their
to the
ning
own leader,
Germany had
agreed that the invasion could not go ahead until
we
We
'We
did not
believed
and that our wings would it
would be
possible to beat
beaten them in France.'
FIGHTER BOYS
The
up of Luftwaffe
build
was
forces in France
August, but on the morning of 24 July, before the
was
in place, Galland
announced
operations. At 11 a.m. a British
the
Medway and
wing apparatus
full
were ready
that his three squadrons
convoy nosed out Dornier
a force of eighteen
With them went an
to continue into
escort of forty
Me
1
into the
7s
109s, led
was
for
Channel from
sent to
by Galland.
bomb
Spitfires
it.
of
54 Squadron at Rochford were ordered up to meet them. At the same time, a further nine Spitfires, of 610 Squadron, took off
Dover and
to patrol over
from Biggin
Hill
cut off the raiders' retreat. Another six Spitfires,
of 65 Squadron, which was operating from Manston, were also sent into the area, and seeing the Messerschmitt escorts
were preoccupied with
fending off 54 Squadron tried to attack the bombers, but were driven
away by
and well coordinated
fierce
fire
No. 54 Squadron was pleased with with Galland' s 'Battle
of the
fighters,
Thames
from
its
showing
which went down
Estuary'.
their gunners. in
its first
encounter
in the unit's history as the
The squadron
diary described
it
as 'the
biggest fight since the second day of Dunkirk and in the face of consider-
on the enemy by the squadron
able odds the casualties inflicted
ing three
new
encouraging'.
pilots)
A
exaggeration, as
shot
down by
can be considered eminently satisfactory and most
claim was it
(includ-
made
for sixteen
Me
109s destroyed; a great
turned out. The more likely figure was two.
Colin Grey; another by Sergeant George Collet,
One was
who
then
ran out of fuel and was forced to land on the beach, writing off his Spitfire.
In the clash the squadron lost
one of its
best-liked
and most prominent
Me
109 near Margate.
members. Johnny Allen was attacked by an Another
pilot
saw him putting down
in a forced landing
stopped but the aeroplane under perfect control. again and he turned towards Manston, but Spitfire flicked
on
to
its
exactly
first
member
two months
German
aircraft,
Then
the engine started
cut out a second time.
back and went into an uncontrollable
crashed to earth near Cliftonville.
been the
it
with his engine
He was
spin. Allen
twenty-four-years-old and had
of the squadron to
previously. In the
The
fire a
shot in anger almost
meantime he had destroyed seven
winning a DFC. The story of
how
he had been shot
261
PATRICK BISHOP
down
over the Channel during the Dunkirk evacuation, been miracu-
lously picked later the
up by
a naval corvette
same evening dressed
had been recounted before.
Winn's
in
Sunday Express three days
.
.
.
out of place' in the boister-
ous squadron atmosphere, yet an elemental part of the mally undemonstrative
diarist
squadron mess
open-faced, shyly smiling youth. Deere
and religious
as 'quiet
in the
uniform and carrying a kitbag
article in the
The photographs show an
remembered him
and appeared
in naval
noted that
'the loss
.
.
unit.
will
.
The
nor-
be greatly
felt
by the squadron'. Despite this death and the over-optimistic assessment of the damage inflicted
a
moral
on the victory.
squadron was right to regard the encounter
109s, the Its
pilots
stayed to fight, refusing to be driven
been
of the fact
a result
many
of the
German
that,
pilots
the dive to drop steeply
as
had been considerably outnumbered but had off.
The over-claiming may have
with their fuel warning
had used
down
lights
glowing
red,
their Messerschmitts' superiority in
to sea-level before racing for their
home
field.
The German
pilots
angued by Galland,
returned
home
to the base at Caffiers to be har-
who was dismayed by
and apparent unwillingness to engage the England, he told his biographer, had
'The tenacity of the
RAF
relatively inexperienced,
how
inept his
no sudden
own
pilots
blitzkrieg,
262
This
discipline
first sortie
over
as an unpleasant surprise.
being heavily outnumbered and
had been remarkable.
It
had shocked him
to see
were; and that would have to change. This was
bundling a disorganized enemy backwards across
indefensible plains; this against an
men's lack of
Spitfires.
come
pilots, despite
his
was the
enemy who was going
real business of
to stand
and
hardened 12
fight.'
air
combat,
13
Home
Hearth and
summer,
Early in the
as a
was
ports, Pete Brothers
wave of Germans
flying
low over
closed over the Channel
Calais
when he looked down
moment his
and saw a cinema belching smoke and flame. In that to the
war changed.
could be next.
It
Britain table
terror
to
bombs were
and suburbs where,
Odeon
suddenly thought that the
came home
middle of August,
was not the
'I
until then,
bombing
remained obstinate.
me
that this
falling
Bromley
was deadly serious/ By the 1
every day on placid coastal towns
nothing
that Hitler It
in
attitude
much had
ever happened. This
had reserved the
was unintended and
right to order if
accidental, the inevi-
consequence of the stepped-up attacks on factories and defence
installations prior to the big assault. Civilian casualties
were small com-
pared with what was to come. But the sense of violation was great.
Bombs
tore
putting
all
away
walls,
opening up homes
the ordinariness of family
years before,
if
the
wind was
life
as if they
on intimate
on the Western Front and
sound of gunfire was the
enemy was
all
dolls'
display.
houses,
Twenty -five
in the right direction, the inhabitants
Dover and Folkstone could sometimes just hear the lery
were
feel a slight thrill
around, and for the
first
faint
of
rumble of artil-
of proximity.
Now
the
time in a thousand years
visible.
The defenders fought
the battles of high
summer in view
of the people
they were defending. Often the pilots were diving and shooting over their
childhood homes. Roland Beamont could see his family house in
263
PATRICK BISHOP Chichester every time he took off from Tangmere. John Greenwood, a
with 253 Squadron, flew head-on into a formation of Ju 88s
pilot officer
when
over Surrey and was horrified
between Epsom and Tolworth.
fell
seeing the
The
My
bombs exploding I went down
bomb had been
nearest
When
home.
'they jettisoned their loads
several
family lived in Tolworth and to
level to
have a
look.'
hundred yards away from his
mother,
who
2
his
told
sheltering in the cupboard under the stairs during
the raid. Peter Devitt of 152 Squadron
was
Sunday evening when he saw Dorniers
bombs on Youngs
their last
ground
he got back to Kenley he telephoned
him she had been
which
flying near
from
fleeing
depository,
where
all
Sevenoaks one
a raid dropping
was
his furniture
stored.
In
some
extraordinary cases, parents watched their sons fighting.
August an intense engagement broke out between
16
formation and Hurricanes from
was
hit in the fuel
Tim
down
when
used the
Elkington,
at
One
of the British fighters
managed
to bale out
and was
Sergeant Frederick Berry swooped past
aircraft's slipstream to
landed safely
Squadron.
German
a large
tank by a cannon shell and burst into flames. The
pilot, Pilot Officer
into the sea
1
On
blow the parachute over
West Wittering and was whisked away
drifting
him and
land. Elkington
to hospital.
The
whole event was witnessed by Elkington's mother watching from the balcony of her Until
the
flat
on Hayling
August the
war and
Island.
fighter bases
3
had been insulated from the violence of
the comfort and orderliness of mess, living quarters, flower
beds, tennis courts and squash courts
were undisturbed. The calm was
about to be smashed. The mess waiters, batmen,
and
riggers; the great host
sky,
were now
a
much danger
in as
Germans swarming
of supporters
who
clerks,
Waafs,
fitters
men
in the
sustained the
as the pilots themselves.
across in ever-bigger concentrations,
Watching the
many
pilots felt
sense of revulsion they had not experienced before. The urbane Brian
Considine 'hated them
were allowed
to
do
it
.
.
.
thinking of what they were going to do
and what they had already done'.
4
if
they
Christopher
Foxley-Norris described the sentiment as 'the sort of wave of indignation
you get 264
if
you
find a burglar in
your house'.
5
No
matter
how
the feeling
FIGHTER BOYS was expressed,
make
it
gave an edge to the
pilots'
them on
to
greater efforts and take bigger risks.
August had opened
quietly.
Dowding and
He
phase.
new and more
cor-
intense
could view the coming clash with some confidence. Factories
were producing more
fighters than the
Germans were destroying and
production targets were being overtaken. 650 combat-ready
aircraft. In
had an adequate number of necessary, he and Park
Some,
commanders
his senior
of a
rectly interpreted the lull as the harbinger
in all
courage, driving
August he had roughly
1
pilots.
By
month
before, he also
trying to fight only
had kept most of the squadrons
had done
like 54,
On
contrast to only a
a disproportionate
amount of
only a quarter of the strength of Fighter
when
strictly
relatively fresh.
the fighting. But
Command
had been on
extended duty during July. The problem, as the weeks ahead were to
show, was not the quantity of
but the quality.
pilots available
Many
those swelling the ranks had been hurried through training and were
not fully familiar with their machines.
meant
that these novices
unprecedented Hitler 5
had
The
would be thrown
of
still
accelerating pace of the battle straight into aerial fighting of
intensity.
set the date for the start
of the
new
phase as on or after
August. Another directive, expressed in general terms and without
naming
specific targets, called for the air force to attack 'flying units, their
ground
installations,
industry'. This
was
in
and
their supply organizations [and] the aircraft
keeping with the imperative to destroy the Royal
Air Force before any invasion could begin. In another the three services to be ready to launch Seelowe then, a landing
15
September
told
if,
by
had become necessary. Field-Marshal Kesselring, the
leader of Luftflotte Paris,
by
document he
2,
which covered
a line
drawn
east to
west just above
and Field-Marshal Sperrle, commanding Luftflotte
fered over the approach. Kesselring favoured a dispersed
would reduce the
risk
of concentrated, heavy
short, furious effort, hurling
3
below
it,
dif-
campaign that
losses. Sperrle
backed
a
bombers, dive-bombers and fighter bombers
en masse to smash the British defences.
Both agreed a sledge-hammer blow should ation
start the assault.
The
oper-
was given the Wagnerian code name of Adlerangriff, the 'Attack of 265
PATRICK BISHOP
was eventually
the Eagles', and Adlertag ('Eagle Day')
The preceding days were knock out radar
filled
August.
with dress-rehearsal raids and attempts to
weaken
stations to
set for 13
the defenders' capacity to respond.
On the morning of 12 August, Dover radar station was bombed, then a few minutes
later those at
The damage looked were back on the
Rye, Pevensey and the Kentish hamlet of Dunkirk.
spectacular but
within
air
six
hours.
was quickly repaired and
tucked away. The very flimsiness of the
to achieve
aim of a
its
total
Lympne and Hawkinge
attacking
Lympne, which
decision to target
emergency
in to exploit the advantage,
on the Kent
airfields
since
satellite field for fighters in trouble,
installations
might be
was an
faulty or incomplete.
110s closely followed
by Dornier
settled,
were
staff it
Spitfires
killed.
was seen
Once
that the
fill
The
raid
and particularly the ground
weeks
as the
The temporary
on
its
by
loss
craters
Man-
strafed
and four of the
catastrophic.
None of
to
it.
was
the
its
hit again
and again.
of radar meant that a huge
launched
Spitfires,
it
The
fleet
of bombers pro-
morning was already well
later that
was picked up and
a force
of forty-eight
operating in separate squadrons, sent up to
first
loon barrage defending the
pilots,
of Manston, would have to suffer over
The bombers were heading
force split into two.
in action again within
gave an unpleasant foretaste of what staff
target before
Hurricanes and ten
266
and importance of
A few hours later,
cleared and the chalk dust
damage was not
aerodrome was
a fighter escort
way
confront
smoke
in the holes so that the airfield
twenty-four hours.
tected
an
caught on the ground was badly damaged and ground crews
laboured to
the next
as
17s dropping 150 high-explosive
bombs. The landing ground was pitted with the
The
early indication
on the crown of the North Foreland, was
ston, sitting vulnerably
ground
coast.
June had only been used
that the Luftwaffe's information about the nature
Me
Luftwaffe
blackout of radar, but raids could
While the radar was down, bombers raced
by
of the
dangerous blind spots in the cover that could last several hours.
result in
RAF
stations
criss-cross construction
made them remarkably resilient to blast. The
transmitter towers
was never
all
The installations were small and well
group swung
city
Portsmouth. The bomber
for in
through
and ploughed through
a
a
gap
in the bal-
storm of
anti-
FIGHTER BOYS
Bombs
aircraft fire.
hit the
Royal Dockyards and the railway station and
sank some small ships in the harbour, killing twenty-three people and
wounding
hundred. The second group of fifteen Ju 88s turned for the
a
of Wight and dived on the radar station
Isle
The German
ing to
resist. Instead,
come
Ventnor.
behind and above the bombers, tempting
fighters circled
the British fighters to
at
up.
was an
It
invitation that they
were
learn-
the Hurricanes of 213 Squadron waited for the
first
group to emerge from the Portsmouth defences and pounced on them,
down
shooting
the machine of Oberst Johannes Fisser,
The second group was
the attack.
609 Squadrons, as
it
upon by
also set
home from
turned for
Noel Agazarian, James 'Butch' McArthur, a civil
forward base
at
London on
for
ness
I
a
twenty-four-hour leave
a faulty radio.
and sweeping
'circling
said to myself,
before the
Warmwell, Dorset, where they were
came through. They took
was delayed by
Ventnor. Three 609
who
"what
all
pilots,
war had been
to set off from the
under canvas,
living
the order to go to readi-
who
off immediately, except for Crook,
He
arrived over the
over the sky '
a party!"
at least
200
Isle
of Wight to find
Huns
.
.
.
"My God/'
6
The circling aircraft were the Me They found themselves
when
leading
from 152 and
Spitfires
Crook had been about
aviation pilot, and David
who was
1
in a tactical
10s
on station to protect the bombers.
dilemma. The
British
squadrons were
launching small, successive attacks on the bombers. The escorts faced the choice of
coming down
in
twos and threes to
try
and chase away the
which case they would be engaged by other
attackers, in
British fighters;
or they could descend in a great flock, which
meant breaking up
the
defensive umbrella and creating a free-for-all in
which the
and
Hurricanes could get
among them
bombers before
lost ten
When two Me
relatively
Spitfires
unmolested. The raiders had
their fighters, circling 10,000 feet ahead, could
react.
they finally arrived they were punished, and four
and
109s
arian shot
resumed
down two and Crook
their plan to set off for
intended, and
The
were destroyed
toll
were back
among
in the space
Me
110s
of a few minutes. Agaz-
one. After landing the British pilots
London, arriving
in the battle again the
five
hours
later
than
following day.
the defenders had been high, with eleven pilots killed
267
PATRICK BISHOP and
six
on the
Among
wounded.
the injured
was Geoffrey Page. He was
sitting
grass in front of the dispersal tents at Rochford having afternoon
tea after a long day of fighting
when
the field telephone rang and the
order was given to take off in squadron strength to meet ninety bandits
approaching from the south able.
They caught up with
mouth of
the
the
Only ten
at 15,000 feet.
were
avail-
the Dorniers as they were heading north past
Thames, having dropped
their loads.
on the nearest Dornier
leading section, closed
aircraft
As Page,
he saw
17,
ammunition coming from the whole formation. They'd as the target ... all these things that
looked
'all
in the
this tracer
me
singled
like lethal electric-light
out
bulbs
kept flashing by until suddenly there was an enormous bang and the
whole
aircraft exploded'.
made
Like most of the pilots Page had never drill
was taught
Instinctively
He remembered
toy gun'.
was not
It
now
it
came
to his rescue.
he released the heavy webbing Sutton harness strapping him
to his seat, slid the cockpit
back.
however, and
in training,
The
a parachute descent.
hood open and
'popping out of the
enough
fast
rolled the Spitfire aircraft like a
him from
to save
on
to
its
cork out of a
the flames. Page
was
not wearing gloves. His hands, and the area of his face not protected by the oxygen mask,
were
terribly burned.
Free of the machine, he found himself 'tumbling head over heels
through space. looked
at
of the
rip
it.
I
remember
My brain
seeing
ordered
it
my
right
arm extended and
to bring itself in
and
I
sort of
pull the metal ring
cord on the parachute, and that was agony because with
cold metal ring and badly burned
hand
it
was
like
an
electric shock.'
Somehow he yanked the cord and looked up to see the parachute som
A
overhead.
happened.
My
by the explosion. wards. all
My
around.'
legs It
him he was
stock of his situation. left
shoe and I
was
were
was
a
my
safe for the 'I
slightly
trousers
burnt and
moment, and
drifting
noticed quite a funny thing had
had been blown
just about almost I
off completely
naked from the waist downcould hear the fight going on
sound he had never heard before. Engine noise
blotted out the noise of fighting.
268
blos-
ball-crunching shock between his legs as the harness
arrested his descent told
down he took
this
FIGHTER BOYS took Page ten minutes to
It
up
down
him he should
would not obey. As he
down on
didn't get
top of
away from
sink and take
me
to
it
make
it
'like
it.'
an octopus's tentacles.
Desperation
drill
and shrouds
settled in the sea the parachute silk
him
The
next.
spring open. His roasted hands
the parachute quickly
with
do
to
on the harness through
twist the release catch
ninety degrees, then bang
As the water came
into the sea.
meet him, he ran through what he was meant
to
taught
sank
drift
I
knew
that
if
I
would get waterlogged and
it
numbed
somehow
the agony and
the metal disc flipped open.
The next pilot
wore over
mayed
was
thing
to inflate his lifejacket, the
He blew
his tunic.
Mae West
into the rubber tube
to see bubbles frothing through the holes
and was
where the
been burned through. There was nothing to do but swim for swelling eyes, he could just see the English coast, and
unbuckle, he struck out.
brandy
flask given
He remembered
had
fabric
it.
Through
weighed down by
him by
his
that in his jacket pocket
my
closed
fellow pilots had said,
there, let's
have a
qualified.'
tunic flap
when the
'a
I
but
I
was swimming along
and extracted the
lot
flask.
I
to the
tussle as
He had been
when he heard
descent had been spotted by the coastguards,
he persuaded
was not
a
his rescuers,
this
probably
he unbuttoned
his
it
out of my wrists and
the
in the
water half an hour
chug of an engine. His
who
sent a launch to search
with a stream of obscenities, sea
and taken back
attired in a top hat, greeted
him
7
Page was very lucky. Fighter the
may have
the cap off with his teeth
German he was dragged out of the
Margate where the mayor, strangely
on the quayside.
thought that
I
bottom of the Channel'.
and almost given up hope
that he
"No, one day
He wrenched
Despairingly, he floundered on.
for him. After
weeks when the bar had
wave came along and knocked
went
a
Geoffrey, you've got a flask
said,
There was a further agonizing
dirty big
whole
"Come on
tot of brandy,"
an emergency." As
was
mother.
'Quite often in the mess over the previous
To
dis-
waterlogged uniform and a helmet which his fingers could not
his
to
that every
Germans
it
was the
pilots
on both
'shit canal'.
To
sides hated the Channel.
the British
it
was
'the dirty
269
PATRICK BISHOP
Bomber
ditch'.
was shot up or
pilots
a
second engine to get them
Hurricanes, Spitfires and
failed.
down on
Putting
had
the sea
was almost
intake slung under the fuselages of
Me
home
if
the other
109s had only one.
The
invariably catastrophic.
all
three types
dug
sending the machine cartwheeling in a curtain of spray before within seconds. Parachuting was barely
less
hazardous.
The
equipment was primitive and
Wests that
relied for their
had
dye to
to
further
pilots
buoyancy on wads of kapok and
great efforts to pinpoint
'(circled)
the verge of spinning
how
to
I
fly
overhead watching for any
dead.
after
Many
knowledge
in the
a pilot spent the last
water. Three pilots
is
-
a
Flying Officer Percy
most
difficult
thing to
too big and the aircraft
hostile aircraft.
water
an hour, a motor boat
that he
Sergeant Ronald
is
on
the time. Another tried to get the ships over
keep an eye on a Mae West
When,
in sight
of the Hurricane
all
pilot,
into the sea near a British destroyer. Michael
round keeping him
as the turning circle
while
a rubber bladder
downed comrades. The day
Constable Maxwell recorded in his diary
do
Mae
water to signal their whereabouts to rescuers.
made
was seen parachuting
Weaver
British
inferior to that of their enemies.
before Page was shot down, another 56 Squadron Baker,
away
be inflated by mouth. The Germans had rubber dinghies and
stain the
The
sank
it
from land you were, the slimmer your chances of being picked up. safety
air
into the water,
finally
minutes of
had escaped death
drowned
as
that day.
it is
It is
extremely hard
so small.'
picked
his life
him
orders to his sector controllers, instructing
them
up, Baker
was
savouring the bitter
in the air only to
A week later
8
meet
it
in the
Park drafted revised
to send
up
fighters to
engage large formations only over land or within gliding distance of the coast as
we
cannot afford to lose pilots through forced landings in the
sea'. Belatedly, a
an
RAF
committee was
set
air-sea rescue organization
up
at the Air Ministry to establish
with spotter
aircraft
and launches.
But the incompetence of the Air Ministry in failing to put efficient rescue arrangements in place before the fighting began would come to be regarded by the pilots as shameful. 'Eagle Day'
began inauspiciously
of the preceding days faltered.
270
for the
Germans. The
fine
weather
There was cloud over the Channel and
a
FIGHTER BOYS thin drizzle
fell
on southern England. Goering
patchily
weather reports predicted the
would
would
skies
would begin
clear in
the final destruction of Fighter
postpone operations was slow in passing
Command. The
down
uled raid of the day was already forming up 110s, led
the afternoon. That
leave time, he decided, to deliver the smashing
still
by the Kanalkampffiihrer
The
hesitated.
The
the line.
when
it
blow
that
decision to
sched-
first
arrived. Sixty
Me had
himself, Colonel Johannes Fink,
taken off early in the morning and climbed to an assembly point where they had been told fighters were waiting to escort them. But instead of slotting in alongside
them, 'they kept coming up and diving
most peculiar way.
I
ready. So
this
went on and found
I
follow ...
thought
I
didn't
my
surprise that the fighters didn't
to 9
On
to pass
it
fighters,
it
no radio
aerodrome on the
at
It
was
a strange choice of target.
Command
station,
tance given the Luftwaffe's current preoccupations.
were present. Dowding had began the relative quiet of the north to
11
with one group
split,
Sheerness and the other for Eastchurch
Eastchurch was primarily a Coastal
in the
between them and
on.
of Sheppey.
Isle
seemed, had received
link
reaching the English coast, the formation
heading for the naval base
of saying they were
their
worry much.' The
bombers were unable
in the
was
the signal changing the orders, but with the
way
down
of
By chance,
to shift rested squadrons
fill
gaps in the front
line.
impor-
little
fighters
down from
At Wittering
Midlands 266 Squadron had been passing a pleasant summer.
August
its
members
On
spent the day bathing and boating on the lake
next to their dispersal point and were drinking in the mess in the evening
when
the message
south
at
dawn.
came through
'After
that they
two months'
were to prepare
the
ground
staff,
RAFVR
the bar
when we
was much who had joined the to
warn
was reopened and the news celebrated
until
A month
later,
the previous December.
'I
went out
10
about
3
many
of those toasting the approach of action were dead.
a.m.
all
move
intense inactivity there
excitement and speculation,' wrote Dennis Armitage,
squadron from the
to
retired for an hour's shuteye.'
The squadron was supposed
to
go to Northolt
to Wittering in the afternoon. Like so
many
for the
day and return
plans of the time,
it
had no
271
PATRICK BISHOP
made than
sooner been
desperate circumstances rendered
it
redundant.
weeks of the summer, squadron leaders would get used
In the hectic
to responding to constantly changing orders as
Dowding
Command's
and lunge. The
meet each German
stance to
266 ended up spending
all
day
Tangmere, where they arrived
at
feint
pilots
of
Northolt before being ordered on to
The following morn-
in the early evening.
ing they were told to prepare to
shifted Fighter
fly to
Eastchurch the next day, where
they were to escort Battles - the sluggish, death-trap bombers that had fared so badly in France ports.
No one had
brought
on
raids
a razor or a
dispatched to base to fetch basic
Before they
left
on E-boats
French and Dutch
toothbrush so an aeroplane was
kit.
they were ordered up to patrol over Tangmere, but
with
strict instructions
not to engage the
sary.
Twenty minutes
later that
enemy
unless absolutely neces-
changed to an order to head south and
bomber formation approaching Portsmouth.
attack the large first
in
was the
It
time the squadron had been properly in action. 'Having done so
much messing
about, waiting, wondering
getting your teeth into something
membered.
11
He
shot
down one
was
what was going a great
of the three
by the squadron. But there was
thrill,'
to happen,
Armitage
re-
German machines claimed
a price to pay. Pilot Officer
Dennis
who the day before had been celebrating the move south, was down in flames. He was twenty years old. His body was found a
Ashton, shot
month
later
by
Armitage place built
The
finally arrived at
on
officers'
minesweeper and buried
a naval
a
bog with
mess was
Eastchurch that afternoon to find 'an odd
a small, L-shaped, undulating landing ground'.
'an
wood. You entered by some
enormous erection of steps onto a great
length of the ante-room, which full-sized billiard tables.' In the
cavernous
fireplaces.
It
light girders
and
verandah running the
was big enough
to
plyfull
have housed a dozen
middle was a wide chimney and four
was rumoured
designed for use in India but had after
at sea.
that
somehow been
supper there was a conference
at
the building had been
misplaced. That evening
which the
station
commander
explained the plan. Armitage and the others were told that the planned
dawn 272
take-off had
now been
cancelled because there
was no
precise intel-
FIGHTER BOYS ligence
on the whereabouts of the E-boats and
bombs
for the Battles.
He promised more
everyone had had a good night's
and enjoyed
rest
by Fink. The
to find
first
bomb
my bed waltzing
a late breakfast.
The whole
but the
bombs
about the room, which seemed most unpleasant
nothing but a
crew
place shook as
.
.
.
little pile
hurt from a
we were
if
.
.
.
having
the bogginess of the a
major earthquake,
buried themselves deeply before exploding, leaving
of earth.'
huts, killing sixteen
slightly
One bomb
men and
bomb which
struck one of the ground-
struck the gutter above the
room where
ground. The same blast
it
shook the chimney and monumental
fireplaces in the mess,
in soot.
ducked
Another
hit the
where
when
sev-
for shelter as the raid began.
They emerged smothered
bomb
exploding the squadron's
demolished
a hangar,
stock of ammunition, already preloaded in metal trays ready to the guns
was
injuring several more. Armitage
he was sleeping and exploded before
eral pilots
Germans
landed shortly after 7 a.m. Armitage 'awoke
but was caused by what in reality was a blessing land.
when
at 10 a.m.,
This pleasant prospect was disrupted by the arrival of the led
were no
that as yet there
information
slip
into
the fighters returned to rearm. But only one Spitfire
was
destroyed and the rest of the fighters, carefully dispersed around the field,
air-
were untouched. After the engine notes of the departing Germans
had faded and the the squadron
initial relief
had got
was
the brutal truth
could be
more
could not
last.
subsided, the 266 pilots recognized that
off lightly.
that airmen,
easily replaced
The dead airmen were even highly
than
pilots.
Hurricanes from 151 Squadron at North the raiders as they headed
home.
Such
relative
Weald were
Fink's early
a tragedy,
skilled riggers
and
but
fitters,
good fortune
sent
up
to harry
unconcern about the lack
The RAF fighters attacked only singly, but we were a bit scattered, so we simply used the cloud layer. If the fighters were up top we dived down. If they were below we climbed up. But we of fighter protection faded.
lost five aircraft ...
condition
down
I
went
I
HQ
furious.' After landing 'in this over-excited
straight to the
the line exactly
people at
was
what
I
phone, got on to Kesselring and shouted
thought about
it.
I
asked what
.
.
.
the
thought they were doing to send us out unprotected. Poor
273
PATRICK BISHOP old Kesselring
was so overwhelmed he was unable
edgeways. Eventually he
said, "All right, all right,
word
to get a
come over
I'll
in
per-
'
sonally."
'Eagle Day'
may
not have started well for the Luftwaffe, but the
brightening weather offered a second opportunity. By early afternoon the
meteorological reports proved correct.
The sky
given for the main attack to begin.
was launched, not
across the Channel but
It
from the south-west.
cleared.
A
The order was directly
huge mass of
from
aircraft
began forming up above the Cherbourg peninsula, made up of 120 twin-
Me
engined Ju 88s and nearly 80 Stukas, protected by about 100 110s.
At 3.30 p.m. they began to appear
as a thick cluster
radar screens, stretched out across a forty-mile front and
the direction of the Channel Islands. the ports and air bases of the
The blow seemed
West Country,
eighty Hurricanes and Spitfires from Exeter,
Wallop
commit
fighters to
carried
it
to
Command's one
action.
10
its
bombs around
an array of enemy
coming from
to be
aimed
in Dorset,
Middle
number of
the raiding force split off
failing accurately to locate the
base
the village.
a quiet sector. aircraft.
at
to intercept them.
standards, a very large
One group pounded Southampton. Another
through.
Group was
Squadron
Warmwell
The momentum of
and headed for Middle Wallop, but
dumped
of blips on
10 Group's area. Nearly
Hampshire and Tangmere were scrambled
in
This was, by Fighter
109s and
Most of the
Kenneth Gundry,
pilots
had never seen such
who had
only arrived
at
257
as a pilot officer ten days before, tried to describe the nature
of the experience in a letter to his parents.
We
separated as a flight and found ourselves sitting under about eighty
Me
110 fighters milling around in a huge
fifty
or
Jerries
more Me
Two
of our five got
split
buzzing around and then the next thing
earthquake solid.
109s.
in
On my
my A/C left
[aircraft]
and
my
Above them were about
circle.
I
control
away by
few a
stray
ruddy great
column was almost
another Hurricane was floating about over a complete
network of smoke
trails left
by cannon
shells
and incendiary.
been attacked by another unseen bunch of Me 110s
274
a
knew was
.
.
.
We
had
[After] shaking
FIGHTER BOYS the bleeder off
my
tail
I
managed
some
to get
down
away, with.
I
and
me
We just
with plenty of others to contend
he landed he found that the
Despite
was
all.
of his Hurricane was 'shot to heir
tail
two and hanging
splintered in
some
on over
feeling of the frenzied struggle going
heads and added to their burden of worry.
gripping the pilots. Later in the letter he described
whooped with joy and
rear
gunner put up
observer,
guess, but he finally
I
red-hot metal and
crashed
The
.
.
we
how
Tangmere
at
satisfaction of downing a
Stuka squadron
left
went down
pilots,
who
shot
despite the presence of a fighter escort.
ary icy professionalism slip
.
'one poor
and about
directions. His
replaced later by the
in a
complete inferno of it
for several hours afterwards.'
German bomber was enormous. As one
the Dorset coast for
guns of 609 Squadron
'managed to
all
.
.
could see the column of smoke rising from where
from our 'drome
.
show and was
marvellous
a
him from
dived on
their
also reflected the vengeful
It
swine of a Ju 88 was spotted while going back from a raid seven of us
off.
schoolboy language, Gundry's account must have given
its
his parents
12
couldn't find any at
his starboard aileron
mood
and dropped clean
joined up with another Hurricane and Jerry just seemed to
dissolve.
When
out of range leaving
but ineffective
fairly close
deflection shots into him, but he used his extra speed
home
down
The
by George Darley,
it
six
attack
who
ran straight into the
of the dive-bombers,
was
led with custom-
described later
the squadron through the fighters then
how
went
he
right
through the Ju 87 formation, taking potshots without throttling back. This enabled the chaps behind to position themselves without having to
avoid me.'
squadron
13
John Dundas,
time party over 'Eagle Day'
Command
Lyme
In
claimed one of the victims, wrote in the
Warmwell
ended
could
feel
fact
The human
as
an anticlimax.
some
memorable
It
satisfaction at
Luftwaffe
tea'
u
had decided nothing. Fighter its
performance.
losses at sixty-seven with thirteen
forty-seven
cost
for a
Bay, and an unlucky day for the species Ju 87.
ments put the German side.
who
diary: 'Thirteen Spitfires left
Initial assess-
on the
aeroplanes had been
British
destroyed.
had been greatly disproportionate. The Luftwaffe
lost
275
PATRICK BISHOP eighty-nine pilots and crew killed or taken prisoner, while only three British pilots died. In a
war of resources
The Germans were more
Command's
destroying Fighter
these ratios
were comforting.
successful, though, in their
infrastructure. Despite the early
and the large numbers of fighters put up to block the
had managed
had averted
to get through.
a catastrophe.
An
new aim
It
raids, the
of
warning
bombers
was the Luftwaffe's bad judgement
that
afternoon raid devastated the aerodrome
at
Detling, near Maidstone, killing sixty-seven people, military and civilian,
demolishing messes crowded with airmen and flattening hangars. Once again
seemed an
it
mand base and None
the less
be wrought
if
its
it
unlikely target to choose.
destruction had
no
effect
It
was not
on the
a Fighter
Com-
fabric of the defences.
provided a stark demonstration of the havoc that could
the
bombers were directed on
as the sector bases
which acted
to an important target, such
as the synapses for the fighter control
system.
Luftwaffe activity slackened off on 14 August.
noon
A
raid
was launched
at
that resulted in a swirling dogfight involving 200 aircraft over
Dover. Manston was attacked again, and Middle Wallop,
more
success.
able.
At
A month previously
this frenetic
phase of the battle tired
Group
in.
The following day was
time with
such action would have been memor-
took the opportunity to rotate area and bring fresh ones
this
counted
it
as a
lull.
Dowding
and battered units out of the
bright and clear, not
what the
1
Luftwaffe's
experts had forecast. In the expectation of bad weather, Goering had
summoned
his
commanders
to Karinhall, his princely hunting castle
near Berlin, for an 'Eagle Day' post-mortem. The intended spectacular assertion of to try
power had
something
reported clearing scale attack. This
flopped, achieving
different. skies,
time
it
When
little
far.
in
Now
losses.
It
was time
reconnaissance flights over Scotland
Goering decided to press on with another
would be made on two
for the first time to the north of England.
based
but
Denmark and Norway, had
taken
The little
full-
fronts, taking the battle
forces of Luftflotte
5,
part in the fighting so
they were to be brought into play. At the same time virtually
every unit of Luftflottes 2 and 3 in France was brought to readiness. The
276
FIGHTER BOYS aim was to breach and overwhelm
eastern and southern flanks of the island
from Edinburgh
the
Germans were
able to
anything ever seen in aerial warfare.
opened just
battle
On
umbrella of fighters,
front stretching
muster were greater than
the
German
side
when
Stukas, strongly protected
bombed Hawkinge and Lympne on
bombs, but the there,
Me
aircraft
by an
the Kent coast. a
hangar and
scattered small fragmentation
also
they were designed to destroy were no longer
having by chance been ordered off half an hour earlier by the
Biggin Hill
by
They
a barracks block.
were 1,790
serviceable Spitfires and 351 Hurricanes.
after 11.30
At Hawkinge they dropped heavy bombs which destroyed
damaged
whole
ominously curved crescent. Set
fighters arrayed in a huge,
them Dowding had 233
against
The
on an 800-mile
the
to Exeter.
The numbers
bombers and
down
Britain's air defences
commander, Group Captain on Manston, the
110s
third in four days,
ing to the luckless 266 Squadron,
bombed out
Grice.
There was
and two
a separate raid
Spitfires
which had moved on there
belong-
after
being
of Eastchurch, were destroyed on the ground. As well as
being the target for snap attacks, Manston's position in the Germans' path meant that any ing
was
home
aircraft
with bombs or ammunition remain-
use the station as an opportunity target before racing
likely to
across
enemy
Channel.
the
This
vulnerability,
the
base's
historian
remarked, 'created an atmosphere of danger in which death could
without warning
The
first
at
force
wegian coast
in
any time of the
from Luflotte
mid-morning.
It
day'.
5 set off
from Stavanger on the Nor-
was made up of seventy-two Heinkel
Me
bombers, protected by twenty-one
dromes
come
15
110s.
Their targets were aero-
in north-east England, particularly Dishforth
and Usworth.
A
group of Heinkel seaplanes flew ahead of them, heading for Dundee, hoping to draw away the defending the aircraft
Catterick
showed up on
were brought
the defenders.
As
drifting steadily
to readiness.
a result
The
ruse worked, and
the radar, squadrons at Acklington,
Once
again luck
came
when
Drem and
to the aid of
of a navigation error, the bombers had been
northwards
the coast at the point at
fighters.
as
they crossed the North Sea, so they neared
which the
feint attack
had successfully lured the
277
PATRICK BISHOP British fighters.
When they now the
southwards, but by
realized their mistake, they turned quickly
were
fighters
and heading towards
in the air
them. Led by Squadron Leader Ted Graham, 71 Squadron intercepted the raiders twelve miles out to sea over the land.
'None of us had ever seen so many
wrote Robert Deacon
Elliot,
Fame
aircraft in the
many
tried to
speak he was hampered by his chronic
got
between the
Graham took time
remembered,
out,' Elliot
it
lines
we
did, the
number of bombs
them
went.
falling
It
was, he recorded,
'fired at
it
on.
coming up
One, a
and
it
was
fantastic.
a shambles.'
He saw
'a terrific scrap'.
Me
110,
blew
just
its
head about ten
destroyed without
in the rear, so
When
they
You could
had
'two separate
see
fallen victim to
He was
port engine
feet away.'
As
loss.
17
liter-
Despond Sheen,
enveloped in a cloud of black
up again and have
went up
at
me
and
I
shot at
and
in flames
it
it
went
The squadron claimed fourteen
usual, the whirling confusion of the engage-
ment made accuracy impossible and considerably downwards. But there
and moral damage was
Huns
His shot appears to have ignited a
up'.
another go and a 110 came straight down, head-on
my
gap
a
16
the explosion, but 'started to climb
head-on climbing up, and over
There was
the aircraft and dropping into the sea, literally by
long-range tank fitted underneath.
smoke from
110s
rapidly jettisoned
The formation became
ally disintegrate'.
who
was
he
time he
stutter. 'By the
do not think they saw us to begin with.
I
away from
the hundreds.
Me
When
to giving his order.
'the attack
of bombers and the
in there
sky at one time/
a twenty-six-year-old pilot officer. Faced
with so
choices,
Northumber-
Islands in
inflicted
ageously. Others scattered their
the score
would
was no doubt
on the
bombs
raiders.
in the
A
later
be revised
that serious physical
few pressed on cour-
Newcastle area before turn-
ing out over the daunting expanse of the North Sea. Squadron after
A
squadron came up to hound them on their way.
second large
raid,
launched from Alborg in Denmark, was also heavily punished.
The battle.
losses suffered It
by
was never again
Luftflotte 5 effectively
to
mount
278
with eighty-one
air
crew
it
a significant daylight attack
north on Britain's defences. The Germans had aircraft,
removed
lost
from the from the
20 per cent of their
killed or missing. In the
north there was
FIGHTER BOYS little
show
to
bomber
for
made no
base and the destruction
heavily
as a
it
was
a
immediate
difference to the
much more damage. The
battle. In the south, the raids did
Martlesham, used
had been hammered, but
Driffield airfield
it.
airfield at
forward base for squadrons from Debden, was
bombed and knocked out
was attacked but escaped
Middle Wallop
for forty-eight hours.
Croydon was the worst
lightly.
The bombs
hit.
smashed into the terminal buildings, where smart travellers had presented themselves in the inter-war years for flights to the Continent, and
destroyed hangars and stores.
Some bombs had
delayed fuses, exploding
hours after the aeroplanes had gone. They killed sixty-eight people and cast a pall of
nervous gloom over the base. The destruction was
terrible
but not catastrophic. Croydon was of secondary importance, unlike Kenley, which had apparently been the real target.
The
fifteenth of August
German
attacks of 16
as the
German commanders,
fires
a raid
came
seemed
in close to
more
bitter qual-
much punishment
as possible.
to have taken
inflict as
Hornchurch just
of 54 Squadron sent up to meet
it
down
Deere was not with them.
three
109
all
way back
the
The grimness of tactic,
the
on the way without
up on
exceptional
meet them. his
Spit-
way back loss.
to the
For once Al
forced to abandon his machine a similar sortie,
pursuing an
Me
to the Pas de Calais.
sang-froid
which had been one of the
doned
all
the defenders' determination
bombers crossed the Kent coast
to
noon, the nine
was evident
the head-on attack, which began to be adopted by
required
up
a
not only prevented the bombers
He had been
the previous day after being shot
on
after
from reaching the aerodrome, but chased them French coast, shooting
home with
heavy and were pressed
as
day before. But, to the increasing concern of the
with the British pilots eager to
When
morale that the
the spirit of the defenders appeared as resilient as
ever. If anything, resistance ity,
'Black Thursday' in the folklore of the
a tribute to the Luftwaffe's
August were almost
same energy
the
was
air force. It
became
Among
first
and was at
fatal
Dungeness
if
at
some
in a
new
pilots. It
misjudged.
When
noon, 111 Squadron,
units to develop the technique, climbed
the pilots
was Henry
Ferriss,
who had
aban-
medical studies to take up a short-service commission before
279
PATRICK BISHOP
war and had just
the
celebrated his twenty-second birthday.
He was one
of the most tenacious and experienced pilots in the squadron and had
down
shot
straight
at least nine
enemy
aircraft.
On
this
day he flew
Hurricane
his
towards an approaching Dornier 17 and opened
fire.
Neither
turned away and the two collided and crashed to earth. This event
pilot
did not dissuade 111 Squadron from continuing with the tactic.
Bowring, a Blenheim pilot
who answered
seater fighter units, arrived at the squadron a
few days afterwards. His
motivation was to avenge the death of his best friend, a fellow
George Moore. said later.
'I
didn't really think of having
'What had overcome
it
was the
was being done
for everything that
any fear
beam
duced an immediate and dramatic aircraft crumple,'
Bowring
said.
18
pilot,
time/ he
own back
He found
pilots
the
were grimly
or rear attacks, head-on assaults pro-
effect.
He
at the
desire to get one's
to your friends.'
head-on attacks 'nerve-racking' but worth while. The pleased to notice that, unlike
Ben
a call for volunteers for single-
'You could see the front of the
bomber
also noticed that the
reared up from their seats and stumbled backwards in a
futile
pilots
attempt to
escape the stream of bullets.
Sheer weight of numbers meant that the Germans
At
1
p.m. on 16 August
it
got through.
still
was the turn of Tangmere, most bucolic of
German
A
Fighter
Command's
raid the
day before had done some damage before being beaten away by
bases, to feel the full force of the
43 Squadron. This time the Stukas, escorted by great buzzing mass over the
down from
Isle
the lead aircraft, they closed
and
officers'
shelters. Six
tion Unit
109s,
gathered in a
of Wight. Then, as a signal
water, and tipped into their dives.
along with the
Me
on Tangmere,
attack.
flare
looped
just across the
The remaining hangars were
flattened,
mess, the station workshops, stores, sick quarters
Blenheims belonging to the fledgling Fighter Intercep-
were wrecked. The bombs
killed ten
of the ground
staff
and
three civilians.
Most of the Hurricanes of the
air,
but too
late to
dive-bombers as they interception.
280
One of
1,
43 and 601 Squadrons were already in
block the attack. They managed to destroy seven fled.
these
Two
Hurricanes were shot
was flown by
Billy Fiske,
down
during the
of 601 Squadron.
FIGHTER BOYS William Meade Fiske was the son of an international banker from Chicago, an Anglophile
who had gone
the former wife of the Earl of
and moved
Warwick,
in the sporting circles
He had
pre-war members.
Cambridge University, married
to
on the Cresta Run
set a record
from which 601 Squadron drew
volunteered for the
RAF
two weeks
its
after the
outbreak of war and was posted to join his friends in 601 Squadron
Tangmere on
10 July. Fiske
He had never flown squadron.
How
down was never
he was shot
ambulance crew,
who
19
hell'.
at
a fast learner.
his first flight
with the
He managed
established.
carried out of the cockpit
by an
reported that he was suffering only from super-
by the squadron adjutant who reported
But
later that
shock. Fiske
social standing
s
intent
The tragedy
on drawing America
laws to fight in the cause of humanity.
commemorate
'an
also
into the war. Fiske
A
flew with
echelon as selves as
it
his
was
to
pre-
defied the neutrality
plaque was placed in St Paul's
American Citizen
Who
Died That Eng-
He was one of eleven pilots from Fighter Command that summer.
the United States
now becoming
Command's
land Might Live'.
Death was
as
had propaganda uses
who had
sented, plausibly enough, as an idealist
Cathedral to
was 'perky
and American citizenship ensured that
death was extensively reported.
government
that he
day he was dead, apparently having succumbed to
5
who
and
burns on the face and hand. The following day he was visited in
hospital
a
pilot
making
a Hurricane before
on the aerodrome and was
to crash-land
ficial
was an above-average
was
to the pilots.
courageous under
warning was sounded
as familiar to Fighter
rear
The ground crews were proving them-
fire as
the
men
they supported.
When
a raid
Warmwell, three 609 airmen, Corporal Bob
at
Smith and Leading Aircraftmen Harry Thorley and Ken Wilson, ran out to
wind down the
Spitfires inside. killed.
The
thick steel-plated doors
A bomb
on
a
hangar to protect the
smashed through the roof and
pilots using the airfield as a
forward base
felt
all
three were
particular
sym-
pathy for the airmen stuck on the ground under continuous threat of
bombardment but unable
to defend themselves.
John Nicholas of 65
Squadron watched an airman grimly driving a petrol bowser out to refuelling point during a raid.
The
driver
was decapitated by
a salvo
a
from 281
PATRICK BISHOP
Me
an
went up
109 and the bowser
Deere and the other
in flames. Al
54 Squadron pilots were baffled by the insistence on keeping Manston
and hated
operational,
advantage.
It
tion height.
was too was
It
from
flying
there. Its
forward to allow a straight climb up to intercep-
far
and ground crew when, by the
a great relief to pilots
end of the month, the
There seemed no
was
airfield
virtually closed
when
it
had such
a
damaging
Command
was
If so, it
and wasteful thinking on Dowding's
meaning of
later.
believed that to pull back
moral victory to the Luftwaffe.
BBC
south London. The following day the
account by a young
shook
lutely
as if
it
fell
open.
I
expect
if
I
it
beautiful
August
sitting in front
night.
come back
up the
hit
.
to. It
street
was
had been blown
Two
I
in
The
things struck Miss
shelter,
house abso-
told listeners.
'It
found myself longing to be
open
I
was
in the
should have been longing to be
.
.
.
I
It
was
'a
arrived a stream of people began
they came quietly in groups of three or small children crying from sheer weari-
home by
their fathers.
And what homes
just a small street of small houses, but
in
Wimble-
go to a
could just see a dim outline of a few people
I
ness as they were carried
was
in the
The only sound was from
glass
and
of their houses ... as
to enter further
to
a bedridden old lady.
lasted,
had been
to
house/ After dark she went out to inspect the damage.
in the
four.
on the suburbs of
broadcast an eyewitness
was made of cardboard/ she
horribly alarming while
a
acquaintance with the
woman, Marjery Wace, who had been
company with
was
would have handed
don when Dorniers passed overhead. She refused instead keeping
suspicion
uncharacteristically stupid
now made their first chilly warfare. On 16 August bombs
aerial
The
airfield so
on the morale
part.
had
Civilians, too,
as a fighter base.
effect 20
of the pilots and ground crews,' Deere wrote that Fighter
down
advantage in continuing to use an
tactical
far forward, especially
advanced position was no
and the whole
Wace
insides of the
as she walked around.
to have
now
the
rooms destroyed/
One was
that 'there
a great deal of truth in the soldiers' attitude to the chances of being .
.
it's
simply a question of luck.' The other was the sight of women
patiently cleaning up. There's a strange impulse in every housewife to
go on sweeping whatever 282
state the
world
is in,'
she observed. 'For quite
FIGHTER BOYS a
number of people
explained to
me how
they had swept up rooms that
they agreed no one could possibly live in again/
The
was widening and deepening, but the
violence
comfort
thought that the Germans,
in the
high price.
On
21
18
August they
at last
had
pilots
in inflicting
their
it,
could take
were paying
revenge on the Stukas. At
about 4 p.m. nearly thirty Ju 87s approached the radar station
on the Sussex coast and prepared blinding
swooped
them in,
to attack.
by
when
the fight that ensued, sixteen dive-bombers
more crashed on
Once
in their eyes,
the
way home. The
the Stukas plunged,
age was done, shooting losing eight of their
own
down
it
were shot down and two
escorting
Me
109s offered
was impossible
four Hurricanes and
The episode persuaded Luftwaffe commanders front-line
bombing
fighting,
though
few more
stoked Goering
s
a
anger
to
two
little
keep up with after the
dam-
Spitfires,
but
withdraw the Ju 87
to
strength for the remainder of the sorties
at the lack
them and
summer
were flown. News of the
losses
of progress and the elusiveness of the
he had predicted. Once again he called
Karinhall to harangue
In
in the process.
from the
issue
new
his chief officers to
directives.
Dowding,
looking back over ten days of heavy fighting and trying to guess battle
who
was launched.
the attack
them. They managed to catch up with the British fighters
swift victory
Poling
from four more squadrons. The
fighters
Stukas were just going into their dive
protection.
The sun was
at
to the presence of the Hurricanes of 43 Squadron,
to be joined
a
would develop. Both commanders now knew
be long and that stamina and morale would decide
too,
was
how the
that the fight
would
it.
283
14
Attrition
Life for the
squadrons based in the south was, by the end of August,
being lived in a daze of exhaustion, exhilaration and
dawn
stretched from
woken
at 4 a.m.
The day
to dusk.
and driven out to
the half-light. Pilots
made two,
started
dispersal,
Duty now
fear.
when
where they
the pilots were ate breakfast in
three and four sorties a day, lasting
up
to
an hour each, and on bad days could expect to be in combat on half of
them. The weather provided no 1
August, twenty-two were
'fine'
respite.
Of
or
culminating in a glorious
'fair',
end of the month when the summer reached
at the
were only ten days during which cloud or
The
the thirty-seven days from
pilots
came
and yearned
The
zenith.
was
and
There
were recorded anywhere.
morning
to hate the sight of another cornflower-blue
for fog
fatigue
rain
its
spell
drizzle.
paralysing.
Moving
to Kenley
from the north, Chris-
topher Foxley-Norris was struck by 'how incredibly tired people were.
They would go sitting
down
ble 'had
to sleep while
at breakfast after a
much
morning
dropped off to sleep and with
was gently swaying in front
you were
of him. As
to the
to
we
and
fro in his seat, his
watched,
fatal results.
1
them/ Al Deere,
noticed that George Grib-
head nodding lower and lower
his
bacon and eggs untouched
his face pitched 2
pilots.'
forward into
his eggs,
These blackouts could
Denys Gillam was one night ordered up
investigate a raid despite the fact that he
284
flight,
amusement of the assembled
have potentially
talking to
had been flying
all
day,
and
to
fell
FIGHTER BOYS
The
off to sleep in the cockpit.
up and there were was, and
I
realized
a
lights in front
of me
they came,
knew
I
and
I
many
pilots
to
was building
the speed
couldn't
was upside down diving hard
I
weeks from August
In the hectic
When
next thing
make out what
for the
ground/
mid September days
off were rare.
down
simply went to bed. Sleep came
coma. Frank Usmar of 41 Squadron woke up,
it
3
like
hours
after ten blissful
unconscious, to learn that a full-scale raid had taken place while he was out.
The hours waiting
The
pilots
lounged
in
at dispersal
Lloyd
Loom
appeared to offer the chance of
rest.
maga-
chairs or deckchairs, reading
zines, playing chess or draughts or cards, occasionally kicking a football
or tossing around a cricket ball or dozing in the heat. There
sometimes beer, and
drink,
smell of cut grass and
octane
a Naafi
was
tea to
van would deliver sandwiches. The
hedgerow flowers mingled with the
stink of high-
and the drone of insects overlaid the twanging of plates and
fuel,
wires as the Hurricanes and Spitfires baked in the sun.
But the imminence of danger made
had one ear cocked
to ring,'
impossible to relax. Every pilot
for the jangle of the telephone
scramble. 'Hanging around
phone
it
was the worst
Robin Appleford, a
pilot
eighteen years old, one of the youngest 4
later.
a rush
For years
after the
and the order to
part, waiting for the
bloody
with 66 Squadron and,
men
flying that
summer,
at
said
war, the sound of a telephone bell would bring
of anxiety. But the
call
did at least dispel the vapour of unease
that clung to the dispersal hut in the hours before action. Appleford
found that
'at
readiness
.
.
.
you were never
actually ready
order came, but as soon as you started running out to the
you
was
all
sound of the operations phone.
He
started the engine,
it
right'.
too noted that 'when you were run.
.
.
Once you got
in
5
The apprehension was sharpened by ahead.
once
and were roaring away you seemed to have another feeling
aircraft
altogether.'
aircraft,
the
Frank Usmar also hated the
ning to your machine, the adrenaline took over
your
when
Some
come down
the knowledge of
what
lay
glimpses of the fighting of August and September have
to us through snatches of cine-film shot
guns to be mounted on fighters
at the time.
by the few camera-
Most of the sequences
are
285
PATRICK BISHOP only seconds long, but they manage to convey something of the confusion and desperation that flooded each high-velocity encounter.
make
also
it
clear
how crowded
numbers of aeroplanes clashed
inside a
They
would become when
the sky
large
few cubic miles of air. In one
clip,
filmed by Noel Agazarian as he closed on a bomber, the wing of what looks like an
missing
it
by
Me
110 flashes out of nowhere across the path of his fighter,
a matter of feet, creating a jolt of shock that carries
the years. Despite the shakiness of the images,
drama. The cameras were activated
down
can see the essential
the guns
were
so the
fired,
thing the viewer notices are the white smudges of tracer crawling
first
out towards the hunted
aircraft.
ous, or impervious, ploughing
Often the intended victim seems
on through the sky while the
bullet trails floats harmlessly by.
The
fatal
moment
instantly recognizable.
is
A
from an engine.
flares
moment
A
very few sequences
banner of smoke and
fire,
kill.
a gust of flame
long enough to record
the
bomber
erupts in a
blotting out the attacker's vision as he
through the cloud of debris and burning
a
piece of debris detaches
last
when
of complete destruction
oblivi-
skein of
Sometimes the camera records
from the enemy machine and goes spinning by, or
itself
the
when
we
fuel that
is all
that
swoops
is left
of his
victim. Official
arriving back exhausted after a sortie, they
gence
officer to
fill
in
an
'F
describe the extraordinary
when,
were required by the
intelli-
form' combat report, were inadequate to
drama of what was happening. Even
wards, the participants often found
enough
pilots
words, particularly the formulas employed by the
to describe the things they
Tom Gleave, who led 253
it
had seen and done.
Squadron
at Kenley,
succeeded with a vivid
account of an encounter with an enormous force of
above Maidstone
at 17,000 feet.
'and stretching fore
and
-
all
until
'Shown up
aft as far as
riding above the haze, each
row
clearly
flying in line astern
was
It
now
was
full-scale battle,
Me
by the
the eye could see
of them heading south south-east. untested in a
109s cruising
sun,'
he wrote,
were rows of 109s
and well spaced out
a fantastic sight.' Gleave,
in a section of three Hurri-
canes. Undeterred by the ludicrously uneven odds, he charged
286
after-
hard to find language powerful
in.
Flying
FIGHTER BOYS rows of Messerchmitts, he lined up
into the
a target
and
fired at 175 yards
range.
The
what appeared
thin streaks of yellow tracer flame ran parallel for
be about seventy-five yards and then bent away to the succession of curves.
The
left in
a
of pneumatics, the smell of cordite in the
hiss
cockpit and the feel of the nose dipping slightly under the recoil
excitement to the
first
real
Most of my shot appeared cockpit. illusion
was the
It
combat to
in
my
lent
all
short-lived career at Kenley.
be going into the engine cowling and
tracer, fired
of the shot entering
to
on
a turn,
which produced the strange
at right angles.
The Hun flew
straight for a
while and then turned gently on to his back. After a short burst of about four seconds
I
stopped
firing
and
as
shattered perspex spiralling aft like a
did so,
I
saw
sunlit pieces of
shower of tracer. The
Hun
slewed
while on his back, his nose dropped and he dived beneath out of
slightly
my
I
sight,
going straight down.
Gleave himself came under
fire
immediately afterwards and discovered
he was in the midst of a mass of
109s. 'Tracers passed
above and below,
curving downwards and giving the impression of flying in a gigantic cage of gilt wire.'
The
6
large
numbers of
aircraft increased the
combat. Dennis Armitage remembered 'the
you shot underneath not ten minute'. quarters 'It
was
7
The
it
fighter pilots
was impossible
.
To
.
below
.
that there
all this
machines, but
Kingcome
said later,
would erupt bodies.
It
at
such close
them were men. 'when suddenly
brought
it
home
to
who you were killing.' overwhelming feeling when con-
8
actually people in there
the novice fighter pilot, the
fronted by
at
aircraft's belly as
speed of ten miles a
to ignore the fact that inside
firing at
were
of an
at a relative
were shooting
really quite a shock,' Brian
an aeroplane you were
you
feet
rawness and intimacy of
flick
apparent chaos was bewilderment. Non-aviators,
taken through the manoeuvres of a dogfight, are
when
made immediately
aware of how extraordinarily disorienting even the most basic moves can be.
Sky and earth,
left
and
right,
up and down,
alternate at intervals of
287
PATRICK BISHOP fractions of a second, allowing
has
no time
for adjustment.
Thought,
instinct.
Flying a hugely powerful, nimble and sensitive machine
in
Flying one in such a
itself.
and manoeuvrable
fast
process,
is
Many
considerably
still
more
difficult.
were attempting
state'
had
Arm
still
Army
Dowding
Co-operation
But the high number
mainly been achieved by compressing
and rushing novices into
were unprecedented
the
also contributed.
do the
to
The squadrons were
first.
Bomber Command and
No amount
unavoidable. that
on
a feat
while avoiding being shot oneself in the
sitting at dispersal
squadrons, and the Fleet Air
is
guns to bear on another
they had been at any time since the spring.
got 53 volunteers from
training courses
as to bring
having barely mastered the
manned than
of pilots 'on
way
target,
now
of those
second while better
in fact,
part in the proceedings. Fighter pilots in extremis operate
little
action.
It
was
painful but
of practice was sufficient preparation for battles in size
and intensity and whose
tactics
evolved
every day. Inevitably the untried pilots least
two
were often quick
cases of pilots being killed
to
fall.
There were
on the day they reported
at
to their
squadron. Flying Officer Arthur Rose-Price arrived at Kenley on the
morning of 2 September
on
to join 501
down
Squadron and was immediately sent
he went off on another
patrol. In the afternoon
and was shot
over Dungeness. Pilot Officer Jaroslav Sterbacek turned up
Squadron
Thames
at
Duxford on
3
short-service
109s.
Both
men were
310
By the evening he was dead, shot
practised pilots. Rose-Price held a
commission before the war and had been an
Sterbacek had served with the Czech l'Air.
at
August. Within a few hours he was over the
1
estuary, attacking Dornier 17s.
down by Me
de
sortie
air force
and
later
instructor.
with the Armee
Neither of them had any real combat experience. As was shown
repeatedly, flying
skill
alone did not guarantee success as a fighter
pilot,
nor necessarily improved chances of survival.
Terence Lovell Gregg, a youngest
war
as
Zealander,
who
at
seventeen was the
pilot to receive a flying licence in Australasia,
an instructor and on operations
command 288
New
of 87 Squadron
in the
room
duties
had spent the
when he was
second week of July.
He was
given
acutely
FIGHTER BOYS aware of
manders
his lack
of practical knowledge and allowed his
squadron
to lead the
until
he
felt
he was ready.
com-
flight
On
15
August
an order came to intercept a formation of a hundred Stukas and Messer-
Gregg
schmitts. Lovell
He took
air.
ing Germans.
alarm
I
just Is
had time
became
straight into the
9
in the
Roland Beamont,
who
setting course directly for the approach-
to think, "I
to the right
wonder what
and come
.
.
.
we seemed to be
you ever saw. Then
"Target ahead,
us."'
command
to take
sort of tactic he's
in behind?"
'
To
his pilots'
he was going to do neither. Instead he 'bored
clear
middle
tion of aeroplanes said:
come
he going to turn up-sun and try and dive out of the
them or go round it
were
to find they C
going to employ. at
the time had
off with eight of his pilots, including
was surprised
sun
felt
come on
chaps,
Lovell Gregg's Hurricane
crashed into a copse and was
going into the largest forma-
his voice
let's
came on
the radio and
surround them! Just nine of
was soon
in flames.
He
tried to land,
killed.
Most of the victims of the
August and September had
fighting of
joined their squadrons before July, and had at least had learn control procedures and get a taste of
some time
to
what was coming before the
who had gone into battle hopelessly unprepared. Many were sergeants who had come through the RAFVR, like Geoffrey Gledhill, who arrived at all-out assault
began. But
6 Operational Training training. After
Wallop.
among
the dead there
were
also those
Unit at Sutton Bridge on 6 July for his fighter
only four weeks he was posted to 238 Squadron
A week later
he was shot
Pilot Officer Neville
down and
Solomon, another
at
Middle
killed.
RAFVR
ticularly unfitted for action. After basic training
graduate,
was
par-
he had been taught to
fly
Blenheim fighter bombers, then abruptly sent on 19 July to join 17 Squadron
at
Debden.
When
it
became
clear
he had no Hurricane experience,
he was sent back to Sutton Bridge for a conversion course. after
twenty days, on 15 August. Three days
first sortie,
he was reported missing.
He was
the squadron diarist to learn to spell his as
later,
He was back
apparently after his
not around long enough for
name
correctly
and
is
referred to
'Soloman' in the three sparse mentions he receives. In 54
Squadron Al Deere received two replacement
pilots
from
New 289
PATRICK BISHOP Zealand
who had
trips in a
trainer,
off for
one solo
lasted
them up
two
and
flight
circuit.
Then they were
and they both finished up
trips
in
phoney war,
on
would
pilots
to pass
on what knowledge they
would
'take
enced
pilots
enced
pilot
knew about
One
During
of the longer-serving pilots tried
could. In 87 Squadron, Roland
tips as to
Beamont
of our most experi-
and send them off to do dogfight practices
advantage once you
know your
upon
10
.
.
just
what he could do
.
The
how
to
experi-
little
he
improve
his
because there were ways you could use your aeroplane to better
skills,
to
Some
new pilots and put them in the hands
and give him
These
.
.
hospital.
parachute.'
by demonstration would show the junior it
.
get at least twenty-five hours' experience
a Spitfire before being posted.
our
Dover
in a Miles
They'd go
Spitfire.
into battle
was pulled out of the Channel. The other landed by the
and made just two
Spitfire
then brief them on the controls of the
Master
two
never previously flown a
Hurricane. There was only time to take
to use
knew
it
very well. The essence of combat flying was
aeroplane's absolute limits so that
them you could
without endangering you or the aeroplane.' For most incoming
pilots,
gentle. In 616 Squadron,
an effort was made
had one
as
experience.
'to
though, the learning process was not so
where Denys Gillam was
120 hours only and their entire attention the plane rather than to fight.
One
they'd done
was focused on the
alive as
wheel
long as
in front
I
did,'
'I
sitting ducks.'
can give credit to him for the
he said
little
to
ability to fly
could get them to the battle reason-
was joined they were
Leonard Haines.
always
I
was about 100
sergeant pilot with 19 Squadron, was taken under the Officer
commander,
a flight
two. The trouble was that they had too
The average amount of flying
it
called
11
give replacement pilots a sporting chance.
my number
ably well, but once
when you were
actually get to the limits of the performance
later.
'He used to
12
David Cox,
a
wing of Flying
fact that
say, just
keep
I
stayed
my
tail
of you and just stick to me. Don't worry about shooting
things. If you can follow
me,
you'll learn to
throw
a Spitfire about,
which
13 I
did.'
Others doubted the value of the practice. Bob Doe, the
290
summer with
who had
spent
234 Squadron in the West Country and destroyed
at
FIGHTER BOYS least five
enced
German
pilot
aircraft,
would
.
Although
.
.
treat his plane purely as a
know what was happening
that he wouldn't
two
noticed that 'when action happened an experi-
this
gun platform, which meant
phase only lasted for a matter of seconds,
number two would be concentrating on doing impossible things with
staying with his leader,
machine, and
his
enemy around
time he would not be seeing the
number
to his plane or his
poor
who was
most dangerous
at the
him.'
his
14
John Worrall of 32 Squadron rejected three newcomers
who
arrived
without having passed through an Operational Training Unit, considering they
would weaken
the unit and that sending
them
was
into action
tantamount to condemning them to death. Sailor Malan took a tougher
One
view.
of his young pilots was clearly never going to succeed
fighter pilot.
He
was, he told his biographer,
You knew
felt
that
off/
to
or
But Malan
him
tell
was only
He had
of guts.
lots
of time before he was picked
He
But everything was against him.'
were on patrol one day with
this
looking round, he had gone.
him
boy
as a
to be killed.
world would have been
and recommend him for an oper-
to drop out of the flight,
pilot.
picked
a question
that 'the cruellest thing in the
felt
ational training unit.
good
it
boy born
'a
flying
A Jerry must
struggled very hard to be a 13
Fate took
No. 4
its
Then
astern.
'We
course.
suddenly,
have sneaked up behind and
off.'
The demand
meant
for pilots
standards, inevitably,
were
relaxed. Can-
now made
didates
who would
have been rejected before the war
Fighter
Command.
Eustace Holden, a twenty-eight-year-old flight com-
mander with 501 Squadron, remembered enough, but ...
it
was easy
He thought
it
for
me
Holden took him
side
at all
sure that he
who was
was up
and 'had to
it
'nice
have been there
to be in this front-line squadron, but
and
squadron.
The poor chap was very
awful but
I
still
arrival
could see him being shot up in no time
I
one
new
to see that he shouldn't
was marvellous
he wasn't good enough. to
a
into
it
a
few words
I
thought
...
it
I
better
nearly in tears and
thought that he should
said that
go.' Later, the
it
he
I
at
all.'
wasn't
left
the
made me
feel
if
whole squadron
took off on an interception. 'This one chap was lagging behind, don't know. There were three Messerschmitts up above ...
I
why
I
kept telling
291
PATRICK BISHOP
him
come
to
come
on,
on, catch up.
And
never seen again.
I
enough one of these chaps
sure
came whizzing down and shot him down
in the Channel,
and he was
blamed myself for that/ 16
Bad weather between
19
and 24 August brought
a respite
from the
The pause coincided with another
grinding routine of daily heavy raids.
reassessment by Goering of the direction the battle was taking. The
impression of overwhelming force created by masses of
aircraft
moving
inexorably in rigid formation towards their targets was misleading.
Luftwaffe was suffering badly. fifty aircraft
ties
each day and
were 172
officers,
On
human
lost
more than
Among
the casual-
15,16 and 18 August losses
dead, seriously
were heavy.
wounded and
it
missing, including 23
of senior rank. The morale of the crews was fraying. The pilots
were
German
off.
One commander, Oberst
fighter
They got
at least as tired as their British counterparts.
leave or time
The
little
Carl Viek, based at Wissant
overlooking the Channel, tried to keep his
men on
the ground in bad
weather and send them off for a swim, and forbade those he judged to be closest to cracking up from
mand from
On
19
headquarters for
his
flying.
This attitude earned
him
a repri-
'softness'.
August Goering summoned
ference and another blast of criticism.
his
commanders
He blamed
the
for another con-
bomber
on
losses
the failure of the fighters to give proper protection, only just stopping short of an outright accusation of cowardice.
now
obvious
Stuka once
fact that
it
went
it
was impossible
into
its
for
The charge ignored
an
dive. Also, as
Me
109 to keep
were severely
ing the
bombers by the amount of fuel they could
restricted in the time they could
often watched in dismay as the Messerchmitts
Goering
home
He
the
free hunts,
RAF's
a
left
spend shepherd-
Bomber crews
carry.
them
to their fate
main task now was the
and
close escort
dismissed the expert view of experienced
men
like
way of dealing with
the British fighters
which by some estimates accounted
for the majority of
Galland that the most effective
was
up with
before their petrol gave out.
insisted that the fighters'
of the bombers.
by
he must have known, the
fighters
turned away to run for
the
losses.
The Me
109s
would now
also
have to cover the
Me
110s, which had proved themselves vulnerable. Fighters would be pro-
292
FIGHTER BOYS
The
tecting fighters.
Stukas, Goering conceded,
They would be withdrawn
the job.
role of supporting the
army when
it
were
unsuited for
fatally
path across Britain.
The performance would not have been complete without some ting. Several
commanders were
dismissed, and
bloodlet-
younger more aggressive
promoted, among them Galland.
officers
On
same
the
Dowding and Park conducted
day,
Following the meeting, the sector controllers in with
proper
until they could fulfil their finally blitzed a
new
11
their
own
analysis.
Group were
issued
augmented other orders issued two days
instructions that
viously, designed to close the loopholes in the defence revealed
pre-
by the
preceding ten days of heavy fighting. Between 8 and 16 August, Fighter
Command had
about ninety
lost
wounded, many of them to being solved, pilots ability to resist
seriously.
pilots
With
were Dowding
depended on suppressing
and another
s
losses to a level that
maintained
It
was
to
essential
them. Dowding and Park resolved
were going
expended
manner
to be lost should be
in the
most
possible.
Preventing pilots from flying over the sea was one In addition, orders
were again issued
manders to stop squadrons taking on German in
way
casualties, impossible to halt
that the lives that
losses.
its
them continuously
regenerate themselves and maintain their effectiveness.
effective
on
most precious resource. The
continuity and experience in squadrons, allowing
to reduce
had been
fifty
the aircraft problem
way
of stemming
to controllers fighters as they
and com-
swooped
over the coast on free hunts. Park had tried to hold his fighters back
from these costly
clashes,
but the encounters had persisted.
It
was now
emphasized heavily that the overwhelming priority was to knock the bombers, an approach which,
done to the British side
The
airfields,
slow the
it
was hoped, would
limit the
damage
further injure the Luftwaffe's morale and
attrition
down
on the
of fighters, and more importantly of pilots.
survival of the fighter bases, particularly the
aerodromes, Northolt, Tangmere, Kenley, Biggin
1 1
Hill,
Group
sector
Hornchurch,
North Weald and Debden, had become an overwhelming concern. They
were the junction boxes south-east.
They housed
in Fighter
Command's
the sector operations
control system in the
rooms which responded 293
PATRICK BISHOP to the information
coming
in
from radar and the Observer Corps and
juggled the available resources to meet each threat. Their destruction
would
or serious disruption
The
reflexes.
Command's
paralyse Fighter
British inferiority in
numbers meant
protective
depended on
survival
advance knowledge of the direction and dimensions of German attacks
and of
command and
a
assets.
Without
numbers would
The key
control structure that
it,
RAF
the
would be
made
the
most
use
efficient
and weight of
fighting blind
inevitably carry the day.
stations
had got
off lightly in the opening phase of the assault
and misconceptions directed
as the Luftwaffe's faulty intelligence
it
to
RAF
bases which were unconnected with the immediate defensive
effort.
But the devastation done to Tangmere on 16 August, and the raid
on Kenley two days
which destroyed most of the hangars and
later,
forced the evacuation of the sector operations room, suggested the
German aim was improving. Park ordered
when mass
Group be asked
bases north of the
On
Thames
air,
commanders
and
now
church, North Mallory, the
Debden, North Weald and Hornchurch.
at
Weald
in
on the ground. The
Weald and Manston.
commander of
new
12
targets
Only
19
Squadron turned up
at
smoke and
rest
were guided
fire rising
raids destroyed messes, stores
but barely affected the bases'
a feud
fought out
and
opened
and
294
North
to their desti-
into the clear afternoon
living quarters
and
at the highest levels
a debate
on
tactics that
grouped together
in
a
few
ability to operate.
throughout the
rest
start
what came
way
to be
years.
to deploy fighters
known
of
of the summer,
rumbled on into the post-war
Leigh-Mallory believed that the most effective en masse,
in
time to get in a few shots with their still-malfunctioning
The disappointing performance by 12 Group was to mark the
it
in
were Horn-
Group, was called on to provide cover
directive.
nations by the columns of
aircraft,
first
Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-
cannons before the raiders departed. The
The
RAF
France resumed their attack on the
in
increasingly
keeping with Park's
sky.
in the air fending off
to provide patrols to protect the sector
24 August, with Goering's admonitions ringing in their ears, the
Luftwaffe the
London were
the squadrons based around attacks, 12
the controllers to ensure that,
as a 'Big
was
Wing'.
FIGHTER BOYS
He had
assemble such a force over Duxford before sending
tried to
London
the rescue of the north
over the order.
It
The
delay
a distinguished
meant
RAF
that,
Tom
according to '
historian,
fifty
to sixty aircraft
when
conditions were
Gleave, speaking later as
of thirty-two Big Wings launched by 12
Group, only seven met the enemy and only once did a Big first at its
to
but there had been confusion
stations,
took time to put a formation of
together - at least three-quarters of an hour, even ideal.
it
intended point of interception'.
17
Wing
arrive
Despite this dismal record and
the almost universal scepticism of the pilots, Leigh-Mallory and Douglas
Bader, regarded as the author of the idea, persisted in championing the tactic after the
been
war and
insisting that a battle-winning innovation
had
wilfully neglected.
On
the night of 24 August
bombs
fell
on
central
London
for the
first
time since 1918. Goering had given his commanders the right to choose
where they should aim order the
their attacks, reserving for himself the right to
bombing of Liverpool and London.
wish to jeopardize the chance of a
political settlement
civilians.
On
bombers
set off westwards across the
the night of 24th /25th a fleet of
ment of Short's
aircraft factory at
on, unmolested
by night
Channel to resume
their explosives,
and dumped
their
oil
a
their
hundred
bombard-
storage farm at
however, they flew
bombs on the
depart-
Green and East Ham. The breach of orders was
blamed on an error
in navigation. Goering, anticipating a
Hitler heard the news,
demanded
to
ated an explosive chain of events.
ington and
Hampden bombers
bombs, most of which landed leaflets.
The
raid
storm of rage
know who was
and threatened the guilty with a transfer to the
31
a massacre of
stores of Oxford Street, City offices, the terraced streets of Stepney,
Finsbury, Bethnal
when
fighters,
by
more than
Rochester and the
Thameshaven. Instead of unloading
ment
Hitler did not, at this stage,
infantry.
The following
The
responsible error deton-
night, eighty-one Well-
flew to Berlin and dropped incendiary in
open country and allotments, and
was followed, on
Churchill's orders,
on
28,
30 and
August, and would accelerate a dynamic that was to have dire
consequences for Londoners in the months ahead.
For the moment, though, the bombing of central London appeared
295
PATRICK BISHOP an aberration. The Luftwaffe continued
On
fields.
daylight
its
west and attacks were launched on Portland, Dorset.
airfield in
from
1
7
pounding of the
air-
25 August the weight of the attacks shifted to the south and
The
on Warmwell was intercepted by Hurricanes
raid
Squadron and only
two hangars and
bombers got through,
a handful of
destroying, with a lucky
and teleprinter
cables.
On
back to the
Group
airfields,
1 1
Weymouth and Warmwell
the
bomb,
the station's telephone
morning of 26 August the
attacks
swung
with a formation of forty Heinkels and
twelve Dorniers making for Biggin they were protected by eighty
hitting
Hill. In
Me
keeping with the
109s and
some Me
new
orders,
110s, a ratio
almost two to one. Park sent up seventy Hurricanes and
Spitfires
of
and a
handful of Defiants to block them, and the raid was eventually turned
away without reaching its
target.
The second wave was aimed
at
Debden
and Hornchurch. This time forty Dorniers were protected by eighty 110s and forty 109s.
of the
Me
The
meant
110s
screen was the forty off attacks
the time they approached their targets, however,
were running low on
the escorts ability
By
Me
109s,
began to
falter
bombers turning south
fuel.
The
increasingly apparent vulner-
that the effective strength of the fighter
who had
on both bombers and
raid
the schizophrenic task offending
their fellow fighters.
before
it
reached Debden, with most of the
shortly after crossing the Essex coast. Half a
dozen Dorniers pressed on unprotected, and dropped bombs three airmen, destroyed buildings and severely
Hornchurch
raid
was launched and was Fifteen
was aborted before
it
damaged an
reached
its
target.
that killed
aircraft.
A
third
without significant damage being done to
bombers had been shot down
The
wave
Portsmouth and Southampton,
in the afternoon against
also repulsed
Me
for
no
real result.
crews and their commanders complained that they were
targets.
The bomber
still
not receiv-
ing adequate protection, a charge that cannot have been amiably received
from the
fighter units,
which
lost fifteen
Me
109s and five
former paying the price of trying to protect the But
this
was
a battle
of
attrition. Fighter
Me
110s, the
latter.
Command's
satisfaction at
having beaten off the attacks was tempered by the knowledge that tory or defeat would be determined by the
296
ability
of Fighter
vic-
Command
FIGHTER BOYS to absorb protracted punishment.
At
its
meant having
simplest that
a
steady supply of men and machines to replace losses. But equally impor-
and the maintenance of squadrons
quality of morale
was the
tant
as
functioning fighting units.
A
day
spirit
like
26 August could have a devastating effect on the fabric and
of a squadron. No. 616 Squadron had arrived
19 August, having spent
most of the summer
and was anxious to get into the and
jubilation
there
was
marked our
last
original auxiliary pilots
were
Hugh Dundas
hours
at Leconfield'.
mess with plenty to
still
there.
we
never occurred to us that
'it
in Leconfield in Yorkshire,
action.
a genial lunch in the
Kenley on
at
Dundas
recorded
that, 'Joy
Before setting off
Most of the
drink.
reflected afterwards that
should not continue together
indefi-
nitely'.
They
arrived at the
blitzed the day before.
new
Wrecked
aircraft:
the field and the landing ground
The atmosphere
Kenley had been
station to a sobering scene.
and
edge of
lorries littered the
was dotted with newly
filled craters.
mess 'was taut and heavily overlaid with
in the officers'
weariness. Both the station operations staff and the pilots of 615 Squad-
ron [who were based there] behaviour.
The
fierce rage
.
.
.
showed
of the station
signs of strain in their faces
commander when
and
a ferry pilot
overshot the runway while landing a precious replacement Spitfire was frightening to behold.'
On
26 August, Spitfires of 616 were scrambled and directed to Dover
and Dungeness
in anticipation of the first raid of the day.
They
too late to attack the incoming Heinkels, but were quickly set the
accompanying
Me
109s.
George Moberly's
aircraft
was
arrived
upon by
hit
and he
baled out. His parachute failed to open and he plunged into the sea to his death.
Sergeant
Marmaduke
the squadron early in 1940, cratic
was
Ridley, an ex-apprentice also killed.
Teddy
St
who had joined
Aubyn, the
ex-Guards officer and ante-room wit, was shot
down and
aristo-
badly
burned.
Moberly had learned to
leaving Ampleforth, the
fly privately after
Catholic public school, and had been one of the the squadron.
He visited Dundas the
day before
first
two
officers to join
in hospital at
Canterbury,
297
PATRICK BISHOP
where he was recovering personal
me
told
killed.
be.'
18
had
I
after
me
and
have
to
his property,'
me
Dundas wrote. 'He
his personal belongings if
he were
strong feeling that he had a premonition that he
a
about
would
who
Moberly's death was particularly painful for Denys Gillam,
Two
as his best friend in the squadron.
other
same
Roy Marples and William Walker, were
pilots,
who had been
day. Walker,
RAFVR,
which he joined while
had been woken that morning tea.
being shot down. 'He talked to
his family
wanted
that he
counted him
the
about
affairs,
There was
a
young
at 3.30
trainee executive at a brewery,
a.m. by his orderly with a cup of
sombre
a first breakfast at 4 a.m., the usual
were
silence. If pilots
at dispersal at 8 a.m., a
still
down
shot
posted to the squadron from the
affair
eaten in
second breakfast - eggs,
bacon, sausages, coffee - would be brought out. Walker was to be grateful for his
second breakfast that day.
made up of himself,
Aubyn and
St
found he was
to his flying helmet.
took off
'I
been so
of aircraft, was
full
where
idea
seemed
I
down ness,
now
I
was concerned
sensibly kicked off his
to bale out, but
my
helmet and
The
sky,
for 'what
from the water,
seemed
He
swam
fell
out.
without a single plane
tried
I
was
at
still
in view.
I
had no
I
was over the Channel.'
heavy flying boots and watched them Splashing
Goodwin
It
and eventually on passing
to see that
like ages'.
down and
spiral
releasing his har-
know whether
it
was
noticed the hull of a wrecked boat protruding to
very cold and very
The wreck he was
sitting
it,
clambered up and awaited rescue.
tired.
He
was, in
fact, close to
on was one of many
that
He was
the Kent coast.
had come to
grief
on
Sands. After half an hour a fishing boat appeared and he
was helped aboard and given
civilians,
when he
which moments before had
he looked around, saw land, but did not
He was
Me
and was caught when the
to take ages to reach the clouds,
England or France.
now
Yellow Section,
was and 10/ 10th cloud below obscured any view of land.
through them
Walker
off with
attached to the cockpit by the radio lead fixed
still
20,000 feet and pulled the ripcord.
298
Ridley,
pounced over Dungeness. He decided
109s
to leave
the
He took
tea
and whisky.
taken into Ramsgate harbour, cheered by a small crowd of
given a packet of ten Player's cigarettes - the Fighter Boys'
FIGHTER BOYS favourites -
He was
and taken to
where
his injured leg
put to bed under a canopy of electric
would thaw
The
hospital,
hypothermia.
his
It
was
lights,
Buckinghamshire.
On
Manston, shell-shocked
the
driver to take
him
way
.
warmed
up.
action.
The
.
.
RAF
hospital at Halton
they had to pick up an airman from
almost constant bombardment. They
after the
some
kit.
He
then told the
to dispersal so he could bid au revoir to his comrades.
dismay, 'hardly any pilots remained.
ling losses
was hoped
of bread and butter. The following day
slices
passed by Kenley so Walker could pick up
his
it
had been bombed and the kitchen was out of
hospital
only food available was two
To
which
eight hours before he
he was put in an ambulance to be taken to the in
was examined.
nor had
members of Yellow
I
had not heard of the appal-
heard of what had happened to the other
I
The ambulance picked
Section'.
its
way
across
London, taking detours where the roads were closed by bombing. The seventy-mile journey from the coast took almost twelve hours.
Within eight days of arriving killed or missing,
down
flown
who
in
high
although only a
ron, asked for 'It
with
it
to
at
flight
commander was
wouldn't do
it
20
On
up replacement
pilots.
them
the chance to recover,' he said
2 September, Gillam
this
and
to about four
was shot down and wounded, and the
moved
to the relative safety of Colti-
near Norwich, to re-form.
The
on
continued on 28 August. By
now
a pattern
had
The
first
arrived over the Kent coast at breakfast time and split up, with
one
blitz
developed
wave
rest to train
By then we were down
following day the remaining pilots shall,
who had
effectively leading the squad-
and Dowding was very put out by
kept us there another week. pilots.'
pilots
to suggest that the squadron should be taken out
of the line for a short time to give
They
Half of the
from Leconfield were gone. Denys Gillam,
be given a week's
was very unpopular
later.
Kenley, 616 Squadron lost five pilots
five others hospitalized.
spirits
19
in
airfields
which Luftwaffe
attacks
came
in distinct phases.
formation heading west and the other turning north towards Rochford. Fighters
were sent up, including twelve Defiants, which went
the bombers, oblivious to the
Me
in to attack
109s hiding in the sun. Four Defiants
were shot down and three damaged. Five of the crew were
killed.
One,
299
PATRICK BISHOP Flight Lieutenant Robert Ash,
who had
given up a risk-free job in the
general duties branch at the relatively advanced age of thirty to volunteer for air-crew duty,
had baled out but was found dead. There was a strong
When
suspicion that he had been shot while dangling from his parachute. a
second raid approached Rochford
clamoured to go into
later in the day, the
remaining crews
The
inevitable, lethal
Henceforth, they would only
The
was
action, but this
consequences of deploying Defiants
third phase, as
were
in daylight
at last
and
airfields,
and the Hurricanes and
bomb-
the radar, appeared to be another
groups of fighters were
six
ordered up to intercept. Instead of bombers they found 110s,
recognized.
fly at night.
shown on
ing attack aimed at sector
refused.
Spitfires
were lured
Me
109s and
into just the sort of
and unproductive clash Dowding and Park were so desperate to
costly
avoid. Six
German machines were and four
British fighters
Among them was
shot down, but so, too, were six
pilots killed.
Noel Benson of 603 Squadron. After the war,
it
was
the thought of the novice pilots going unprepared to their deaths that the public found particularly poignant.
The
of August and September death came evenly,
and the debutant
some
Benson went into
inkling of the nature of
eager for the well,
alike.
fray.
the squadron It
moved
flying, finally
trawlers
low clouds
as
were being attacked but soon
Benson was experienced
300
as
we
as well
full-scale
in
then in night flying and intruders. Benson's im-
am
enclosing a photo that a
am
'I
got his wish for
German
home.
Montrose,' he wrote.
until
'I
in the cockpit starting
engine to go off on a genuine interception.
some
with only
Hornchurch from Turnhouse
to
had been engaged
patience glows through one letter at
battle fully trained,
not
if
occasional attempted interceptions of
chap took
on the experienced
October 1939. Benson, nicknamed
in
'Broody because he got despondent
when
falling
Sedburgh public school before Cran-
to
5
Scotland on 27 August.
that in the fighting
what he was confronting but touchingly
He had been
from where he graduated
action
was
fact
I
up the
believe that at the time
as usual, the
enemy went
into the
appeared.'
prepared as
it
was
possible to be without having
combat. His commanding
officer
wrote to
his
FIGHTER BOYS father after his death: 'Your son
about him and he was the
He at
lasted just
one day. George
of the squadron Prior,
I
all
his wits
had expected
to lose/
an ex-serviceman
who had
served
Kent on the evening of 28 August, watching seven German
in
He
overhead.
aircraft
excellent pilot with
standing outside his cottage at Leigh Green near
was
Gallipoli,
Tenterden
last
was an
later described in a letter
how
single British plane
'a
suddenly dived into them from above, the pilot tackling them single
He was
handed.
once by one of the enemy and
hit at
He
ing from his machine.
I
saw smoke pour-
then turned and dived towards the ground to
about 1,000 feet to save himself, then straightened out/ Prior believed that
Benson had
from farm
deliberately stayed with his aeroplane to steer
buildings. 'He could certainly
plane got further alight: instead he all
...
the houses and the post office and
he drove on with
behind
it
He
reached the spot, death in
Mr
his
finally 'his
this last act
Service Corps depot
I
fields
a charred
of self-sacrifice'.
yards all at
away. By the time Prior
mass of metal
he met
...
21
Prior wrote his letter at the request of another resident of Leigh
Green, Mrs Marguerite Sandys,
Benson
to
who campaigned
for several
months
for
be awarded some posthumous medal, but the request was
down by
turned
the Air Ministry.
indication of how civilians
The
gratitude of the villagers
bombardment was
like.
On
Many knew
all
too well what
24 August Portsmouth had been
subjected to a four-minute blitz by 250-kilo
which slipped through
was an
and airmen were being drawn closer together.
Ordinary people were in the war now. aerial
Army
now ablaze. saw the flames then. He gave his life to save us
machine was
his
on, avoiding the farm etc. and
a large
crashed a few
away
have saved himself before
machine
and he had no chance
Leigh Green/
his
went
it
a fighter screen
and
bombs dropped by Ju
laid
88s,
waste the naval base as
well as the town, killing 107 civilians and injuring 237.
The advent of night-time
Command classed
erred
raids disrupted the lives
of millions. Fighter
issued warnings to local defence authorities of likely raids,
from yellow, the lowest
on the
side of caution.
reached out beyond coastal
threat,
through purple, to
The bombers roamed cities
far
red. Officials
and wide
to the industrial Midlands
as they
and the
301
PATRICK BISHOP
The
north.
way
their
was ruined
sleep of everyone in their paths
and the war production
to shelters
effort
switched off the electricity until the raiders had
Nowhere
random when running
away from Biggin
wife
the small
ting ready, sitting in her
Bombers would
what he thought would be the away.
five miles
bedroom with
One
It
his
safety of
afternoon
late
get-
windows open putting on her
the
bomb and
a
could have gone into the back of her head.'
22
came
a splinter
through the open window and smashed her mirror. That got
angry.
jettison
from her husband. 'She was
a visit
and so on, when someone dropped
lipstick
as factories
home. Pete Brothers moved
for
town of Westerham, about
August she was preparing for
in
in
Hill to
slowed
left.
in the south-east felt entirely safe.
their loads at
made
people
as
me pretty
Brothers
moved
her to Lancashire to stay with his parents.
on
Fighters
Lovell Hughes,
working on
a
who was
farm
fighting overhead
boys,
when
hunts occasionally strafed roads and
free
Penshurst in Kent. The excitement of watching the
at
downed somebody, used
waggling their wings and also nasty times
alone on
when
a
my own
hedge and
moving/
it
Joan
marry Christopher Foxley-Norris, was
was tempered by the danger from the
they'd
bombs and shoot
later to
villages.
the
and
fired at
field,
shout, "Well done!" But there
were
Germans came over and they would drop
their
we would
a lone raider
me
come low over
The
the
anything that
at
Luftwaffe.
moved came
and missed
.
.
.
to
.
.
.
One
night
along, low, so
They
fired at
I
I
was
cycling
flung myself in
anything that was
23
Despite the increasing threat they had posed to the civilian population,
crashed
German crews could
expect decent treatment. Oberleutnant
Rudolf Lamberty was forced to crash-land
on
18 August.
excited
me.
I
Climbing out of the flaming wreckage, he saw some Very
Home Guard men
was
with shotguns
themselves to the ground while the
German
crew were led along 302
.
.
.
they pointed their guns
busily engaged in putting out the
During the confrontation, another
When
Dornier 17 near Biggin Hill
his
aircraft
a
raid
bomb
came
fire in,
on both
my
at
sleeves/
and everyone threw
splinters tore the air
around them.
had departed, Lamberty and the
road to the entrance to the base.
On
rest
the
of
way
his
they
FIGHTER BOYS
met some all
civilians.
The first question they asked was: "Are you glad it's we weren't and said so/ Lamberty wanted to get
over for you?" But
of his parachute and offered
rid
him
would make good
it
it
to
silk shirts.
one retrieved them, put a cigarette
were surprised
his tunic pocket.
mouth and
were
English.
lit it
a
Some-
They
for him.
Lamberty had bought
few days previously. He was driven
a
where he was given
hospital,
civilians, telling
asked for help getting his ciga-
in his
to see the cigarettes
Guernsey
in
He
hands were too badly burned to open
rettes as his
them
one of the curious
to the base
cup of tea with a straw to drink
it
through. His face was smeared with Tannifax anti-burn cream and he
was brought
food.
Lamberty was unable
mouth was burned. The ent dish to see
taken to a
if
room
capable and
that
it'.
as the inside of his
it
would tempt him. He and another
for a mild interrogation, 24
left
to eat
nurses misunderstood and brought
but 'they saw
Next day he was transferred
him
a differ-
were
officer
we were
not
to a civilian hospital.
Such courtesy was conditional on the defeated behaving themselves. After a raid
on Tangmere
German crew happened
in
which two airmen were
to be
marched
killed, a
past the bodies.
One
captured
of the Ger-
mans, 601 Squadron's historian recorded, was imprudent enough to f
laugh.
A
his stride
senior
RAF
who was
walking to meet them lengthened
and punched the German on the nose. That evening the
oners were given hangars.'
officer
brooms and made
to
sweep up the bomb debris
25
The method of dealing with
the
selves repeatedly against Fighter
ously, refined
and adjusted by
German
do so
effectively
were slower, but
in
Whatever Park might
the bombers,
without protection. By
labour had evolved between Hurricanes and agreed,
defences, evolved continu-
bitter experience.
on
now
Spitfires.
down bombers. The
ability
the
Me
Spitfires,
and higher operational
it
was imposs-
rough division of
a
Hurricanes,
compensation were sturdier
and provided a more stable gun platform. To them ing
they threw them-
raiders, as
Command's
say about the necessity of concentrating ible to
pris-
in the
fell
it
was
in construction
the job of shoot-
with their greater speed and manoeuvr-
altitude,
were more
suited to fending off
109s and 110s hovering overhead.
303
PATRICK BISHOP
The defending
was at
greatly
As always,
attacking.
improved
them from out of
that they
were almost invariably
fighters
by those they were
if
outnumbered
he was flying higher than the enemy and coming
the sun.
were scrambled too
Pilots operating
greatly
a fighter pilot's tactical position
It
was
late to
from the forward
vantage as they had even
a constant complaint
by squadrons
climb to an ideal attacking height.
coastal bases
were
at a particular disad-
time to react before the raiders were over-
less
head or gone. Some commanders used
their
own
and flew
initiative
inland to gain height before turning back in the direction of the enemy.
The
first
aim of the
attacks
was
to try
of the bombers. This disrupted the
and
field
split
up the
of covering
disciplined ranks
the gunners
fire
could provide for each other, churned up the formation into smaller and less
groups and separated individual machines from the
defensible
warmth of the 'If
making them much
pack,
you could break up the
we knew
that they
easier to pick off.
leaders, that
were the pathfinders
Bird- Wilson, a Hurricane pilot
with
1
was the for the
ideal situation because
bombing
7 Squadron, said later.
raid,'
Harold
The bomber
formations were very good and they [followed] their leader's bombing.
The
leader dropped his
protecting fighters
down
hurling tactics/
saw
a Hurricane attack
go
in,
else/
When
'they used to
us and through us and then back up again
.
.
.
the
come
"yo-yo"
26
The
effectiveness of head-on attacks
who
come,
at
bombs followed by everyone
was now
established. Brian King-
arrived with 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill at the beginning
of September from the relative tranquillity of Pembrey in South Wales,
you attacked
discovered that the escorts 'never had time to get to you
if
from head on before you had managed
one good
go
at the
bombers'.
27
The
attacker
had
to
a
have
at least
solid
good chance of shooting down
the leader, thereby removing the raiders' controlling intelligence as well as
unnerving the following
nerves.
been an
Its
pilots.
The
tactic,
though, required tungsten
invention was sometimes attributed to Gerry Edge,
auxiliary officer before the war.
He
flew in
May
who had
with 605 Squad-
ron over France, where he showed exceptional aggression, shooting
down 304
at least six aircraft
and damaging many more. Count Czernin of 17
FIGHTER BOYS Squadron was another
Me
but also against
He used
practitioner.
110s, as a
means of overcoming
a defensive circle to enable the rear
curtain of
fire.
The
trick
was
not only against bombers
it
their habit of forming
gunners to put out
and out with the
to get in
a retaliatory
maximum
speed
before one or other of the Messerschmitts in the circle broke off to fasten
on
to the attacker's
tail.
commander Squadron Leader
Czernin's
Me
Williams, tried a head-on attack on an
wing was shot
off
by the forward
fire
110
Cedric
on 25 August. His
left
from the German and he crashed
into the sea off the south coast.
The squadrons being
fed in to replace exhausted and depleted units
had been training hard during
and gaining
their time out of the front line
what experience they could from the interceptions they were to
make
against intruders. But
on systematically
pass
little
effort
called
on
seems to have been made to
to the squadrons waiting their turn in the front
line the tactical lessons that
had so
far
been drawn from the
fighting.
On
30 August, 222 Squadron, which had arrived from the north the day before,
began operating from Hornchurch. By the end of the day eight
Spitfires
had been shot down, one
had been flying tails,
tactics
in tight
pilot killed
and three wounded. They
formation and using a weaver to protect their
recognized as faulty months before. Individual squadrons did
what they could
to
modify
which allowed more
their techniques, trying out flying patterns
flexibility
October squadrons were
still
and
a greater field of observation.
flying in
V-shaped
Vies', in
But in
which the leader
When
was supported by two wingmen, each formated
closely
Archie Winskill joined 72 Squadron, they
hadn't got out of this
'still
on him.
rather archaic business of flying in tight formations of three, ridiculous.
It
meant
.
.
.
keeping in formation and watching your leader
rather than flying in the loose
which
left
you completely
two formations which
free to
roam
The German formation, known
who experimented
with
the
sunward
wingman who side
and
the skies.'
as 'finger four'
in Spain.
The
the
Germans
did
28
by the
and eventually adopted
it
developed by Werner Molders leader and a
which was
it,
basic unit
RAF
pilots
was the one
was the
pair: a
flew roughly two hundred yards behind on
slightly
below so
his partner did
not have to look
305
PATRICK BISHOP into the glare to see him.
The wingman's job was
The formation was known The
was
tactic
early
Two
as a Rotte.
and
basically protective,
Rotte
to protect the leader.
made up
if efficiently
sides
would
applied
warning of an attack coming out of the sun. Once
however, both
a Schwann.
battle
give
was joined,
found that cohesion and control vanished and most
of the time pilots had only themselves to rely on. Since the end of the brief pause lasting from 19 to 24 August, the
Luftwaffe had been launching several major raids a day involving hundreds of
aircraft.
large attacks
by
On
the
a total
first
of
day of the resumed
at least
6 a.m. to 6.45 p.m. After night
assault, there
were
six
500 bombers and fighters lasting from the
fell
Germans returned and
the
resi-
dents of southern and western England, South Wales, the Midlands, East
Anglia and Yorkshire heard the drone of well as the raid on London,
bombs
fell
enemy
engines overhead. As
on Liverpool,
Sheffield, Bradford,
Hamp-
Hull and Middlesbrough and were scattered over areas of Kent,
Reading and Oxford.
shire,
On
were no mass
the 25th there
two were launched by
at least
programme of night
full
26th
there
400
attacks until the afternoon,
aircraft,
and once again there was a
attacks, concentrating
by
against
Thames
Folkestone area, then Kent and north of the
On
on the Midlands.
were three main phases directed
Portsmouth-Southampton
when
the
Dover-
the
estuary, then the
area, involving nearly 500 aircraft, followed
widespread night bombing. Bad weather on the 27th brought a
a
respite.
The following day
raid
on Liverpool by
tics.
A
there
night.
were four main
The 29th brought
huge force of several hundred
building up over the French coast. force
were
It
fighters and the small
aircraft
a
raids
and
a
momentary
150-bomber shift
of
tac-
appeared on radar screens,
turned out to be a ruse. Most of the
number of bombers were
clearly
intended as bait to lure up the British fighters, a stratagem which did not succeed.
Given the weight of German numbers and the pilots
occur.
and controllers
On
it
was
30 August, the Luftwaffe succeeded in pressing
tating attack
306
alike,
strains
on Biggin
Hill.
imposed on
inevitable that breakthroughs
The base had been
heavily
home
would
a devas-
bombed
twelve
1
FIGHTER BOYS days before but had remained operational. As one of the key bases in
Group's defences, strategically positioned facing the
main
further intensive efforts
The
raid
first
came
would be made
line
noon,
in just before
down from
Group
12
the
into
fighters
his
all
air
to patrol Kenley
in the cornfields
fell
inevitable that
it.
when
group of ninety
a
airfields.
Park ordered
and two squadrons were sent
and Biggin
nonetheless slipped through and dropped
most of which
was
escorts crossed the Kent coast-
and peeled off to attack the London perimeter
almost
it
to destroy
bombers and an equal number of fighter
of London and
at the gates
direction of the Luftwaffe attack,
1
Hill.
A group
more than
of Ju 88s
thirty
around the base and the
bombs,
village next
door.
Once again a
the station's luck
seemed
to
have held. Instead of waiting
few hours to launch the next phase, the Luftwaffe maintained the
sure with successive
afternoon. In
waves of bombers
two hours from
pres-
rolling over the south-east
all
4 p.m., about 400 aircraft swept in over
Kent and the Thames estuary, confusing the controllers trying to plot so
many
courses and direct fighters towards them. At about 6 p.m. a small
group of eighteen Ju 88s suddenly appeared, flying very low over Biggin Hill.
No warning was
elsewhere. after their
the effect
When
given and there was no one overhead to stop them,
on the ground
79 Squadron being
the raid swept
was
Waaf
directly
whom
were
in
were
killed
a
trench
many. One of the four remaining hangars ser-
quarters and airmen's barrack blocks. All gas,
one shelter caved
staff
on
workshops, the armoury, storerooms, the
and water mains were cut and telephone
but one of
ground
killing
as well as
geants' mess, the
all
airmen were just leaving the mess
One bomb landed
devastating.
crowded with airmen,
walls of
in,
time and 610 Squadron patrolling
evening meal. Only sixteen 500-kilo bombs were dropped, but
was destroyed,
electricity
at the
lines severed.
under the shock, burying later
dug out
alive.
a
The
group of Waafs,
Altogether thirty-nine
and twenty-six wounded.
The following day 610 Squadron was moved north
to Acklington, to
be replaced by 72 Squadron. At noon, while the squadron airmen were waiting with their
kit to
be picked up, the noise of
anti-aircraft
guns
307
PATRICK BISHOP signalled another raid,
which
the runways so badly cratered that they
left
were unusable and 79 Squadron, returning from operations over Dover, had
to be diverted to
Croydon. The ground crews worked themselves to
exhaustion during the afternoon,
filling in
Squadron arrived they were able to wrote Robert Deacon
human in the
Elliot,
land.
one of the
factor - no panic, everyone doing
air.
Bomb
the holes so that
when
The amazing thing about it,' new pilots flying in, 'was the utmost to keep the
their
aircraft
craters in the airfield being quickly filled in, food being
delivered to dispersals to avoid waste of time returning to messes. lines installed to 29
lost.'
72
Land
run out from ops to squadron dispersals to replace those
The base was
to be attacked five times in forty-eight hours,
raid arriving as the station
commander, Group Captain
one
Grice, led the
burial service for fifty Biggin Hill staff at the small cemetery at the edge
of the aerodrome. Despite the effort and the stoicism, the base was no place to leave precious pilots and aeroplanes.
Squadron
was
shifted a
in better
few miles away
to
had twenty and
at
had replaced,
it
pilots 'on state'.
six seriously
wounded.
unusual. Between
1
Carl
baths for three days.
had been pulled out of the
Over the two months, nine
out.
Such
filled
By the time
Raymond
figures
it
killed
Moorhouse had obtained
whose
auxiliaries,
with sportsmen, playboys and adventurers,
was taken out of the
and winner of
before they were due to
Two
line
most of its
move
original
of the pre-war members,
a Victoria Cross,
were
killed
First
World
on the day
to the relative quiet of Exeter. Rhodes-
his pilot's licence
aged seventeen
near Eton, where he went to school, had been engaged
308
were
were high but not
Davis and Willie Rhodes-Moorhouse, son of a
pilot
the war, and
pilots
were numerous shootings
In addition there
were gone, dead or posted away.
War RFC
line
July and 6 September, 501 Squadron lost twelve
insouciant ranks were
pilots
610,
first
and 601, squadron of the dashing pre-war
lost eleven.
arrived, 72
Biggin Hill and Gravesend since July. At the start the unit
down, crash-landings and balings
pilots,
it
shape than Biggin Hill and had the added advantage of the
The squadron being
after
Croydon, which, though damaged,
Airport Hotel, where the pilots took their
after
The day
was an outstanding
pilot
who had
shot
at
at
Heston,
every stage
down
of
at least nine
FIGHTER BOYS bombers and
fighters,
awarded the
DFC
.
more and been
shared in the destruction of several
His death was a reminder that
were no protection against the
and experience
skill
inevitable shortening of the odds that
each combat brought.
Squadrons
501 and 601 absorbed their losses over a relatively
like
lengthy stay in the a
With
line.
others the heart
was torn out of the
unit in
few nightmarish days. Between 12 and 16 August, 266 Squadron, which
had arrived
such good
in
spirits,
determined to do well
of relative inactivity in the Midlands, had suffered
a
bombing
raid
on Manston on the
been battered on the ground since three pilots
when
wounded
fit
full
go on every
to lick their
Pilots died horribly, riddled
the weight of their parachutes,
a stick
in
had
down
to nine,
and had to be helped is
no place other
when
driving a
after arriving in the south,
they
wounds.
with splinters from cannon
down
pilots
Dennis Armit-
trip.
so unimportant as
Twelve days
were sent back to Wittering
burning petrol, dragged
is
was caught
There had been twenty-
he observed, 'there
use of the legs 30
to
walked with
in the left leg,
single-engined aeroplane'.
in
it
second time the
their arrival.
man had
into his Spitfire. Fortunately, as
than bed where
17th, the
they came south. By the end they were
which meant that every age,
six pilots killed, includ-
two badly wounded. Next
ing the squadron leader, and
summer
after a
shells,
into the chilly depths of the
heavy boots and
doused
Channel by
fur-lined flying jackets.
Unless they were killed outright, they had time to recognize they were finished.
of
strike
Often they died in front of their fire,
in'.
On
they heard them
The
who
witnessed the
the faltering engine and the long inexorable dive, trailing
smoke and flame. 'on',
friends,
a
few occasions, when the R/T was switched to
die,
screaming prayers and curses
survivors reacted to the losses in the only
way
as they
they
'went
knew how,
with nonchalance and a touch of manufactured, protective heartlessness.
There was no open grieving. 'You didn't spend days moping around,' said
that
George Unwin. 'You just
was
devil's
31
it.'
In 32
said,
"Poor old so-and-so's bought
Squadron there was
it,"
and
a black tradition of inking in
horns on the dead man's picture in the squadron group photo-
graph. Pilots in
some squadrons put money
into a kitty kept behind the
309
PATRICK BISHOP bar in the mess so they could be toasted on the evening of their death.
There was hardly ever time to attend a often complicated
funeral. Burial
arrangements were
by the absence of a body. The dead men were burned
to cinders, or at the
bottom of the
or
sea,
still
welded, phantom-like, to
the controls of their beloved Hurricane or Spitfire buried in
mud
or sand
or water.
Death was
and
'the chop'
were memories and
all
that
was
a handful of young
left
behind of those
who
man's possessions: cigarette
The
cuff links, perhaps a tennis racket or a set of golf clubs.
bureaucracy effects left
- 2 snapshots; 2 Religious
with glass broken).
sorting out kit
1
emblems.
Eversharpe
was described
lighters. 3 cabinet
pencil.'
32
poem by
in a
RAF the
blue leather wallet contg.
illustrations, 2 Religious
Mascot. 2 silver cigarette cases. 2 cigarette (1
'1
it
case,
Among
personal effects with poignant precision.
listed
behind by Paddy Finucane were:
got
1
Black Cat
photographs
The melancholy
business of
Flight Lieutenant
Anthony
Richardson:
The
Made out
officer in
charge
the inventories, point
and nine
by point -
Four
shirts, six collars
Two
uniforms complete, some flying
pairs of socks, kit,
Brushes and comb, shaving gear and shoes -
(He
tried a
There was
jumper on which
dirty washing, too,
Being certain to get
A
Then
With
like himself,
there
were
had seen letters, all
a pale, eager face
Frequently there was a
car,
moment, or driven around
310
which was
a bore,
lost in the delay.
Photos and snapshots
a 1938
fit!)
squash racket with two strings gone, and a cap
That
bought
didn't
a better day.
beginning 'Darling Dick',
of the same
and
girl,
fluffy hair.
." .
which would be auctioned until
claimed by a
relative.
at a
convenient
Geoffrey Page
Ford convertible that had belonged to Ian Soden,
who was
FIGHTER BOYS Soden had acquired
killed in France. pilot.
member, Mark Mounsden, wrote to
do with
saw the jinxed
Later he
was recuperating.
left
and
it.
to
him
was
it
his for five
in
in all likelihood
was
at the
brooding about death.
pounds.
where he
wheel.
It
was too common-
who were
soon to be encountered by those
behind. 'The death of a friend or enemy,' wrote Page, 'provided food
for a
few moments of thought, before the next swirling dogfight began
to distract the
the art
was
.
.
mind from
.
stupid thoughts such as sadness or pity
to cheat the Reaper
Events such as being shot
and perhaps blunt
down and
was necessary
to
Behind the blank
Crook was with Peter Drummond-Hay, had amused leisure,
his fellow officers
when he was
with
it
English Channel ...
next door.'
I
took
his
my
wrecked
on the
David
loss.
of landed
room
went
the
window where he
Spitfire at the
things and
who
original
Now
bottom of the
to sleep in Gordon's
35
burden of the
Inside the squadron, the emotional
heavily
in the
still
spectacu-
during our hurried dressing eighteen hours before.
he was lying in the cockpit of
room
ache of
Squadron
his aspirations to a life
was
.
comment/ 34
shot down. Returning to their shared
following day, he saw 'Peter's towel
had thrown
a 609
more
a passing
exteriors, though, they felt the
.
were
crash-landing or baling out
draw anything greater than
.
his scythe a little/
almost too commonplace to merit mention. 'Something lar
him what he
vehicle being driven through Torquay, officer
dead
Squadron
a fellow 56
in hospital asking
Page replied that
A badly burned
There was no point place,
estate of another
was shot down and badly burned,
After Page
wanted him
from the
it
leader.
It
was
his
losses
most
fell
melancholy duty to write the
letters
informing parents that their sons were gone. Dennis Armitage took over 266 Squadron after Squadron Leader Wilkinson was killed and the senior flight
commander was
day's flying
shot
down and
severely burned. At the end of a
from Hornchurch, while the other
he would be
left
with the paperwork.
'I
pilots
made
would get down
off to the pub,
to the awful job
of writing to the parents or wives - not often wives I'm glad to say - of the lads
who had
not
several letters before
I
come back was
satisfied,
...
but
I
I
tried
am
hard
at first, tearing
afraid before the
end
I
up had
3ii
PATRICK BISHOP developed a more or than the
name and
stereotyped letter which needed
less
address adding.'
Some squadron commanders made families.
more
little
36
great efforts to comfort grieving
No. 603 Squadron had been too occupied with the fighting to
send a representative to Noel Benson's funeral, which took place in St Mary's
Church
wreaths from instead.
to
They
his
in the Bensons'
village of
Great Ouseburn, and
brother officers and the sergeants' mess were delivered
did,
Hornchurch
home
however,
for lunch,
invite his father, a Yorkshire doctor,
down
which was disturbed when the squadron was
Dr Benson
scrambled. Writing to his brother,
described
how
he had
last
seen his son only two days before his death when, by a happy chance,
on
the squadron stopped overnight in the neighbourhood
from Scotland to Hornchurch and he had been
able to
supper. 'You can imagine our joy at the chance of seeing
both
we and he knew
full
well what
it
its
journey
come home him
for
again, tho'
meant! That "they were flying
South".'
Dr Benson's
We
grief
was
all
the
have no regrets for him.
He was happy
with his squadron, on service.
was devoted
to his
home and
knew him. He never gave and
that
known
more moving
He
eminence
in his profession
him very, very sorely.
lost
to his father
us a moment's
On
1
He
flying.
and mother, loved by
all
who
I
have never
had been spared he would have achieved
sacrifice,
but
we
are left to miss
37
The Woods-Scawen
family lost two, on
September, Patrick, a twenty-four-year-old flying
with 85 Squadron, was shot
down
in the skies
over Kenley, within
Farnborough.
He
baled out
parachute failed to open. The following day his younger brother,
Charles, a pilot officer with 43 Squadron,
312
Cranwell and
anxiety except for his safety
sight of his old school, the Salesian College, his
at school, at
of that I'm certain. Early he has been killed
only one son.
consecutive days.
but
understatement.
loved every minute he was
and gladly he has made the supreme
officer
its
was inseparable from the career he had chosen.
a finer character. If he
Dr Benson
for
was cornered by
Me
109s near
FIGHTER BOYS Folkestone and badly shot up.
He was
parachute to work.
The
ability
knowledge
the
He
of units to absorb deaths and injuries was reinforced by
however heavy
that,
men and machines was
greater.
their
The
own
exaggerated, inflating the
by
their
on
number of German
mizing the wastage on the British
losses, the
German
daily official tally put out
Air Ministry and reported in the press and
the inflation
but too low for his
also baled out,
twenty-two.
side.
own understandable
BBC
the
who
pilots,
by the
invariably
destroyed and mini-
aircraft
The
was
toll in
contributed to
habitual overclaiming, believed
them, and the figures were an important factor in maintaining morale. But
it
was
favour. losses
essentially true that the balance of destruction lay in the
On
German and
only one day in August the 29th, were
British
roughly equal.
The Luftwaffe was
suffering.
their superiors that Fighter fighters, yet
The crews had been
Command was down
to
told regularly
unbowed. They began
to
still
was
Wronsky was
hit
a
by
there wait-
wonder how much
longer they could go on. Being shot up in a bomber, limping the hated sea,
by
handful of
its last
every day the Spitfires and Hurricanes were
ing for them, aggressive and
31
RAF's
home
over
harrowing business. The Heinkel of Major H. M. anti-aircraft fire
near Portsmouth on the night of
August/ 1 September. 'We saw flames right away; the starboard
engine was on
and
fire
we
thought the whole machine must burn.' They
turned back out to sea and smothered the engine with foam from extinguishers, scrabbling for their parachutes that a bulkhead.
bombing
As they approached the French
raid in progress near Calais
mistaken for a raider.
home
It
was
coast, they
and swung away so
clear that they
base at Villacoublay near Paris.
were stacked up against
The
saw as
a British
not to be
would never make
decision
was made
but in their haste they had put their parachutes on upside
to
their
jump,
down and no
one could locate their ripcord. By the time the mistake had been sorted out they were too low to bale out.
The ground
rose
up
across the top of the
in front hill,
of us - a
hill.
The machine
ploughing through bushes.
We
struck and tore lay there
all
313
PATRICK BISHOP
One man had been
injured.
man had been
Another I
had
so badly cut
foot,
broken arm.
We
quiet, listening to a hissing noise.
trapped and injured as
was only
we
were,
the oxygen bottles.
we
We lay there
thought
day the
after
raiders.
British pilots
was
fire,
The port engine had been hurled
were
inflicting
.
.
that it
right out
38
heavy punishment on the
But the Germans continued to come. As August turned into Sep-
tember there appeared no 31
it
.
in the
should be burned to death. But
of the machine and was lying eighty yards in front.
Day
that he died later.
hurled right through the perspex of the nose
broken nose, broken
a
sudden
on the head
August the
let-up in the grinding, sapping routine.
with
British fighters suffered their heaviest losses so far,
forty aircraft destroyed, nine pilots killed
half of them burnt.
On
and eighteen badly wounded,
September Biggin
1
On
Hill
was
hit again.
The
follow-
ing day there were four major attacks on airfields and aircraft factories.
The
pattern
was maintained
September.
until 6
Among
Group
the 11
squadrons absorbing most of the violence, exhaustion was
now
a
perma-
nent condition. 'The Luftwaffe,' wrote Peter Townsend, leading 85
Squadron from Croydon, 'by sheet weight of numbers us down;
we were weary beyond
ing-point/
Townsend was one of the
arrived while the pilots as
we
roared,
'never
felt
me. But
I
I
The
Croydon
few days
was
blast
all
but
made our
I
felt
hit us
engines
had
later the
killed,
hit
things
must end badly
39
His instinct was
to care.'
and he was forced to jump. That evening
hospital extracted a heavy-calibre bullet
squadron, after
was taken out of the
The most buoyant and
moments of
that
was too weary and too strung-up
manders were
its
two
from
senior flight
his
com-
line.
resilient personalities
were
now
suffering
doubt. In Al Deere's squadron there were only four pilots
who had been 3i4
The Germans
to his emotions. Until then he
was so blind with fury
accurate. His Hurricane
A
victims of 31 August.
way
was wearing
any particular hatred for the German airmen, only anger. This
time, though,
foot.
.
our nerves taughtened to break-
off the ground.
For once, Townsend gave
doctors at
.
were grabbing lunch. 'Their bombs
full- throttle,
falter.'
for
caring,
.
with him
at the start
of the summer. His confidence in
FIGHTER BOYS victory
began to
'fighting a
falter as
war with very inexperienced
progressively worse.'
crumble.
One
night,
by despondency
Then he
he considered the stark
as
40
Even
he was
chaps. That could only get worse,
Sailor Malan's granite imperturbability could
he told Archie Winskill
he
reality that
sat in his
room
in
later,
he was overwhelmed
Hornchurch and began
dried his tears, persuaded himself they
were only
to cry.
a sign
extreme tiredness, pushed away the images of the day and tried to
of his
sleep.
41
3i5
15
Brotherhood
Despite the desperation of the situation, the level of optimism
had remained remarkably high throughout the summer. Fortitude
pilots
was
a Fighter
Boy
virtue. In
short
its
life
the
RAF
light-hearted tradition of assuming the worst and
Underneath the careful insouciance
German
how
attack
fierce one's protective instincts
Many
felt
seriousness
honoured
meant
that
be
to
strain
Group
was
all
316
of an
enemy
1
though the conventions of un-
from squadron
to
as
much
at the time.
squadron and base to
of the fighting they had had to endure.
Roland Beamont this
Group and
12
said afterwards, 'no matter
extraordinary
spirit.
The squadron
pilot
to believe that there wasn't anything special about the
had been asked
to
do - which he had been trained
he was extremely privileged to be
Britain.
The
surprising
there were longer gaps between engagements and the tension was
was encouraged
this
'It's
greatest in 11 Group. Further out in 10
where you were, there was
of
resolution.
at the sight
Kingcome remarked.
fighting,
how much
less acute. 'Nevertheless,'
task he
become
a
mocking misfortune.
seam of
few would have admitted
quality of morale varied
base depending on
The
lay a thick
had established
had uncorked something old and potent.
violating one's homeland,' Brian
The
among the
in
one of the key units
country because that was what
Without any exhortation
at
it
all,
was
all
about
the pilots,
all
.
.
for
- and that
in the defence .
the battle for
the ground
staff,
the people concerned were just reminded quietly by the squadron
FIGHTER BOYS
commanders and this
was the
the flight
commanders, whenever
softly
and adopted
tity
clear values
he took over 74 Squadron
was
it/
in
and
its
short
'He gave no quarter.
nothing/
I've
was
It
developed a singular iden-
attitudes. Hectoring,
were exceptions.
in early August,
If
you
you
led his
in sharp contrast to the
'Extremely tough but prepared to
Sailor Malan, as a
tried,
when
hard master.
failed/
men:
3
Tony
Bartley
kick their arses
'I
approach adopted by another
On
air.
man/
said Foxley-Morris.
make allowances and
the ground
it
concessions/
was necessary
Discipline, of a traditional military type, in the
was
it
got a good squadron. Otherwise they'd wind up
outstanding leader, Al Deere. 'Al was a kindly
was done
when
was regarded
failed once,
remembered Malan explaining how he once a day and
life
tough nut indeed/ said Christopher Foxley-Norris.
a very
4
we were
2
usually had limited results. There
'Sailor
necessary, that
spoken appeals worked because they were addressed to
which had already
a fraternity
was
job anybody could have in the world and
finest
extremely privileged to be doing
These
it
jarred.
None of
much
for
that
the pilots had
joined because they were attracted by convention and the comforts of blind obedience. Relations inside squadrons, vice units,
were based on tolerance and
respected. At the
same time, mutual
more than
laissez-faire.
in
any other
Individualism
ser-
was
and the shared dangers
reliance
inherent in flying tied individuals together. Each unit had a personality
and
style
was
a spirit
of
its
own
that
its
members made an
the self-important. Yet equally, insignificant.
Doing
his
There
effort to sustain.
room
of collectivity. In the best squadrons there was no
no one was allowed
to think themselves
rounds of the fighter stations the war
Cuthbert Orde came to the conclusion that
'a
for
artist
squadron of pilots can be
divided into three groups: natural leaders and fighters at the top; then
main body of solid
the
talent containing the
germ of leaders of the
chaps whose qualities will develop with experience; and then tail,
two or
three perhaps,
distinction but
who
who
will
I
future,
suppose a
never be quite good enough to earn
nevertheless are pulling their weight for
all it
may
be
worth'.
What
social distinctions
had existed before the
start
of the
summer 317
PATRICK BISHOP were eroded by the character as pilots
righting.
were
The
auxiliary squadrons lost their exclusive
wounded
killed,
we
or posted away. 'Eventually
got pretty well used to everybody/ said Peter Dunning- White, an old
Harrovian
member
before the war.
'It
of Lloyd's and one of the blades of 601 Squadron
5
Death rubbed out the
class.
what kind of type you were
didn't matter
you behaved well/ The new
pilots
of the line dividing the pre-war
last traces
members of 66 Squadron were, according in
'a
it,
Regular
life.
Hubert
to
motley throng, consisting of young
truly
long as
and the part-timers from the volunteer reserve. The
short-service officers
walk of
as
came from everywhere and every
force
air
peacetime been dockhands,
men from every who had in
motor-mechanics; there was even an
with
ex-dirt-track motor-cycle expert
served
sergeant-pilots
officers,
clerks,
who
Allen,
Every conceivable type was rep-
us.
resented/ ,
Some of the
'Clickety-Click personalities
mental book which came out in 1942. Ten
were revealed pilots
Of those who
dead before the book was published.
killed
did contribute, three
were
pseudonyms. 'Bob' was
RFC
veteran,
who
joined the
1938. Allen described
him
RAF
...
he can take
his
beer
having broken gay, carefree lin
down
like a
commission the ist
..
.
on
a short-service
liable to
shy he
may
the son of an
commission
in
known
after
blush every
now
and then
appear off-hand
at first,
a
but
of reserve, you would find a loveable,
youth of twenty-two years/
month
appeared under
man, comes from the north and has
A little
his barriers
Bodie, nineteen, also
pilots
as 'a tallish, good-looking, fair-headed bloke,
with a typical schoolboy complexion,
typical Yorkshire outlook.
The
Bobby Oxspring,
Flying Officer
to write a
were
short chapter about themselves and their war. Three others
before they could get started.
an unsenti-
in
were asked
as 'Rob',
war broke
'Bogle'
was Flying
Officer Cre-
who joined on a short-service He was 'a strong individual-
out.
decidedly unconventional in appearance, usually wearing a uni-
form which would not pass muster on
a
ceremonial parade, with a
colourful scarf around his neck and a large sheath-knife in his boot. His
language
is
remember.'
318
foul but he possesses
more
character than anyone
I
can
FIGHTER BOYS Pilot Officer
RAFVR,
was 'young and noisy
from an underground
able,
ing of a
A
John K^Jdal - 'Durex' - who had gone through the
little
train pulling
out of a station to the ricochet-
Something had to happen before he would shut up.
rifle bullet.
of Durex went a long way.' Sergeant Douglas Hunt, 'Duggie', an
Company who
apprentice at the Bristol Aeroplane
very droll manner and a
had
'a
the
war
on the
he can imitate every noise conceiv-
...
so that the
terrific
scheme about
was Sergeant William Corbin, known
list
Formby except
a revolution after
whole of the country can be governed by
was 'always moaning, usually about that he
was born
in
leave.
pilots'.
as 'Binder'
He was
RAFVR,
joined the
because he
the image of
Kent and proud of it/
Last
George
6
who had gone to a technimaths and science teacher. He had joined
Corbin was from Maidstone, a builder's son then trained to be a
cal school,
RAFVR
the
in April 1939
28 August as a sergeant. His
and arrived first
at
66 Squadron at Coltishall on
impression was that the officers were
all
public-school boys, an observation that did not bother him. His academic abilities,
he
felt,
made him
their equal.
men who were
The
between
risks
would appear unreasonable and unjust
clearly was. pilots
was
less
By the geants,
and
might
many
fight.
to
under
a third
was
it
though
it
officer
when
years,
and
officers.
They were
initial
training
the majority of
what constituted an boys and those
who
for flying
who
fitted
officer
and
looked as
most
trades.
Their duties were
award
The
ser-
indis-
there, principally, to fly a
commission
was based on obscure
their leadership potential.
NCO
of the pilots flying were
RAFVR.
decision whether or not to
commission those
class.
just
from those of
on completing sideration
between
At the time
illogical
any stage be required to return to their old
at
summer
of them products of the
The
it,
were ex-apprentices who had been accepted
late
tinguishable
division
hangover from the inter-war
sergeant pilots training but
in later years.
remarkable and most accepted
The maintenance of the
a
privi-
doing the same job and taking the same
lege
seemed much
and
distinction in status
practice
easily into
criteria.
to a pilot
One
con-
seems to have been
pre-war conceptions of
a
gentleman. That meant public school-
if
they belonged to the middle or upper
Even here the formula was shaky. Don Kingaby, who turned out 3i9
PATRICK BISHOP to
be one of the best
was educated
school - King
at a public
when he
sergeant
Command, was
pilots in Fighter
summer of
finished training in the early
same backgrounds
sergeant pilots shared the
a vicar's son,
and
Ely - yet was classed as a
s,
1940.
Many
who had been
as those
classified as their superiors.
The nature of the essence
made
more than
RAF
more
it
required
it
was
emerged from the working
class. In
to Mill Hill public school,
was
RAF
74
command
man who had Squadron Tony Mould, who went
a sergeant. His
of a
squadron leader, Francis
career as an apprentice
ated the rationalizing process, but in the
fitter.
The war
summer of 1940 odd
Sergeant and
officer pilots
gradations
wem^Cseparate messes and enjoyed
Away from
ent levels of comfort.
appointed bases, officers could
still
which did not extend
RAFVR
posted from the
to 222
have
their
own batman
Squadron
by
or orderly, a
Hutchinson was
February 1940. At that
in
that route
were 'regarded
lowest of the low,' particularly by the regular sergeant pilots arrived in the squadron
but
when
it
from the workshops. They treated us
came
Hutchinson noted that
'as
the scratchiness
wore
grand, although
you did get
batman
to
an
officer
you had
off eventually.
wake you up
you
who had
differently
lived rather better.
Your accommodation was not so
You
individual or double rooms. in the
their privileges but
You had
a scratchy uniform, although
morning and make
your trousers or polish your buttons. You did officers
as the
to the action then everything disappeared/
a nicer uniform. [As a sergeant]
a
differ-
the front-line stations, in properly
to the sergeants. Ian
time, he said later, pilots arriving
at first,
acceler-
V
remained.
privilege
RAF,
possible for an expensively edu-
cated son of privilege to be under the
White, started his
technical
Its
egalitarian than the other services. In the
army or navy,
in the
to be a meritocracy.
it
it
have
your tea or press
yourself.
nothing more. Nobody
didn't
You envied
felt
the
aggrieved.'
7
Maurice Leng, a sergeant with 73 Squadron, agreed. 'We were very close.
There was no
camaraderie.'
Some 320
officers versus sergeants nonsense. Just a
marvellous
8
officers, like
Geoffrey Page, found the division stupid.
'I
felt it
FIGHTER BOYS
wrong
terribly
exactly the
man who
that a
same
hasn't got an officer's rank
thing as the officer.
plane and then say "Cheerio" and
goes off to the sergeants' mess. system.'
9
Once
You
you go
off to the officers'
always thought that
I
asked to do
is
can't climb out of
at dispersal distinctions usually,
was
it
your aero-
mess and he
a very
but not invariably,
appeared. In 41 Squadron under Squadron Leader Hilary Hood,
him
dis-
differ-
were minimal. Sergeant Frank Usmar remembered
ences between pilots
Hood
wrong
as 'a lovely chap.
When you
were
at dispersal
to say, "Well, if you've got half-a-crown, let's
And we'd
play this innocent
We were
sitting there
was nothing
it
for
have a game of cards."
game and we'd be one
big happy family
.
.
.
waiting for the telephone to ring and to keep your
mind off what's going to happen you play cards and make fun of things.'
Hood was
on
killed
September when
5
his Spitfire collided
with that of
another squadron member, Flying Officer John Webster, while they were attacking
bombers over the Thames
The new squadron that
was about
room with our
half a
leader
was
estuary.
less convivial.
dozen of us - were sent
'One day the
NCOs
for to report to the orderly
on and buttoned up above the throat and
greatcoats
-
but-
CO that was a court martial offence for officers to play cards with the NCOs but they were too much
tons polished.
gentlemen to
We
tell
were
told
by the
us to stay out.'
He
it
ordered them to stop.
sergeants returned to dispersal, the officers asked
summoned. When they heard decision. 'So
we
the story,
why
When
the
they had been
they glumly accepted the
used to lay on our bed in the corner or in the armchair
waiting for the bell to ring to scramble, feeling cheesed off and miserable,
and the same thing applied to the
officers at the other
longing to play cards or something, but unable to do
end of the room, 10
it.'
Off the base, where there was no one to object, sergeants and
The
often drank together.
was wider, though some officer
pilots
with 56 Squadron,
Eric Clayton,
who
social
reached across
known
maintained
gap between
pilots it.
officers
and ground crews
John Coghlan,
as 'Slim', was, according to
his Hurricane, 'a friendly,
a flying
Corporal
amusing and
unflappable character, overweight and unfit he perspired freely and had a prodigious intake
of
ale'.
Clayton and
his fellow
airmen would often
321
PATRICK BISHOP
bump
him with
into
his girlfriend in their favourite Ipswich pubs,
resulted in beery and jolly evenings'.
was evident from the
fact that
11
The
pointlessness of the distinction
almost every sergeant pilot flying in the
summer
of 1940 was sooner or later commissioned.
went on
to high
RAFVR
command.
Neil
and was posted to
1
up Marshal of the Royal Air
was
It
when
Cameron,
Squadron
bank
at the
called
on
to take over instead, while he followed behind.
those
who
about
humour and
possessed
of esteem notion of
An
it.
mickey-taking
12
Yet on the ground
or
made
and a propensity for knock-
the establishment of hierarchies
admired success but did not subscribe to the
difficult. Pilots
'aces'
egalitarian spirit
show deference
to outstanding performers.
interview with Count Czernin appeared in the
he spoke freely about ized a
that
most
November claimed
among
press, in
bullets
the enemy.
And
who
flew in Fighter
victories.
were not
striking
Command between in that.
July and
They knew
qualified as
2 June
seven
a demoralizing effect
on
air.
a self-effacing
to establish an order of precedence
Between
home, had
Spitfire,
they understood very well the courage that was needed
Kingcome was not
He
which
cardboard medal. The
There was no shame
simply to maintain yourself in the Brian
an
Squadron organ-
themselves that the simple presence of a Hurricane or
if its
'kills'.
a large
When
never shot anything down. Fewer than 900 of
pilots
the 2,330-odd pilots
London
his successes, his colleagues in 17
mock ceremony and awarded him
was
least
Squadron
and fighting prowess did not necessarily increase the standing of
flying
even
the occasions
he asked Sergeant William Dymond, a regu-
lar,
qualified',
On
to lead 111
'felt
fact
the
end of September, ended
and
he wasn't
sergeant pilots
who joined
clerk
meaning.
least
Ben Bowring was
Flying Officer
a
Many
Force.
rank held the
in the air that
'which
and
enemy
man, but he
among pilots based on
one of the most successful
13
October he
aircraft
resisted attempts
is
pilots
the
number of
of the period.
credited with shooting
down
and damaging many more. The true figure
at is
almost certainly considerably higher as he was careless about recording claims.
Kingcome was
flattened nose
322
tall,
amused,
and droopy eye, the
sceptical, slightly offhand.
result
of
He had
a pre-war car crash,
a
which
FIGHTER BOYS did nothing to reduce his attractiveness to that
attributes
might make him an object of envy to other men. Yet he was popular
and respected. it
women. These were
He was
was due. His
He
convivial and loved a party.
with attempts to
irritation
gave credit where
him
classify
as a
hero was
genuine. So, too, was a bluntness that could disconcert. 'He didn't suffer fools, there's
him
in 72
no doubt about
it,'
said Sergeant
Squadron and liked him.
13
who
David Cox,
He worked
hard
flew with
at insouciance.
Geoffrey Wellum, nicknamed 'Boy' because of his youth and innocence, described waiting at dispersal and thinking, in an atmosphere thick with anticipation, that 'only
.
.
turn a page?
The
known
doesn't.'
and
after the
Germans he had knocked down. This was regarded by the majority
Bader, the
las
most famous
feelings in those
who
Spitfire
who
good
his successes
practice, according to Birdy as 'a bit
of a line shoot'. Doug-
mixed
fought alongside him. His bombastic nature and
many ways
the antithesis of the Fighter
and
ability to
followed him. There was reticence, though, about his
sharp tongue and fondness for the limelight. David leader, there's
admired him. To
well
marking the number
ethos. All paid tribute to his courage, aggressive spirit
enthuse those
'a
who became
Those
fighter pilot of the period, aroused
tendency to dramatize was in
Boy
did he last
war were regarded with some
and painted swastikas on the fuselage of his
Bird- Wilson,
when
Kingcome, Bob Stanford Tuck advertised
reserve. Unlike
of
reading and sucking
14
Fighter Boys cultivated ironic modesty. to the public during
is
But on second thoughts,
watch quietly and he
I
who
Brian Kingcome,
.
a matchstick, looks relaxed.
like
no doubt about
that.
I
Cox regarded him
think
him, though, would be a
you could difficult.'
little
say
as
you
Dennis
David, a generous-hearted man, found him, 'very apt to being a bit smart, a bit short'.
15
'enormously
Christopher Foxley-Norris thought he was inspirational'.
16
bullying and foul-mouthed.
The worst ness,
was
criticism,
that a pilot
To
the
ground crews he could be arrogant,
all
the
more damning by
'not entirely genuine'.
that
you knew what you were doing and
out
fuss.
Some
of those
show-off', but
17
made
was
'a
who
fell
did
it
To be
its
apparent mild-
a 'gen
man' meant
well, honestly
most emphatically
and with-
into this category
323
PATRICK BISHOP were unknown outside the ranks of Fighter Command. Johnny Dewar,
who
was
lead 87 Squadron,
He was
pilots.
a
member
ten years older than most of his
of the whisky family and renowned for his
hospitality. After graduating
every corner of the
at least
inter- war
posted to France and fought
from Cranwell,
his career
had taken him
to
RAF He took the squadron over after it was .
all
through the
summer until he was reported
missing on 12 September 1940, shortly after being promoted wing com-
who found him 'full of who also served with him,
mander. His leadership impressed Dennis David,
common ordinary decency'.
18
thought 'he might have been
Roland Beamont,
a rather paternal type
manner, gentle, quiet mannered resolute and all
of thirty-two at the time.
Most of the
pilots
of schoolmaster in his
totally unflappable.
We thought he was an old man/
were between nineteen and twenty-six years
The extreme circumstances they found themselves
in
appreciative of father figures than they might have
Among the most popular men in commanders who were admired keeping the bases going and the
Fighter
for their
RFC
as 'unique as
Fighter
Command'.
been
in peacetime.
several station
good nature and
efficiency in
looked
Wing Com-
pilots properly
mer. Cuthbert Orde, the former
for the
pilot
after.
worst part of the sum-
turned war
artist,
described
an individual and probably the best-loved 20
old.
made them more
Command were
mander Victor Beamish ran North Weald
him
He was
19
man
in
He was charming and slightly eccentric, roaming He had been the RAF's heavyweight
the base in mechanic's overalls.
boxing champion
in India in the 1930s
where he had been born,
selected to play rugby for Ireland,
way, County Cork, with their
in 1903.
shooting
While
fit.
down about
a
He
do
less
than his best
'I
him
friendly face
324
too.
and
a
To
trot
Dunmanat the
bar
around the aero-
fighters
and earning the
don't think any pilot
would dare
Victor was about,' wrote Orde. 'Not because
he might get ticked off but because he would staff liked
were standing
he would
dozen bombers and
if
in
flew continuously throughout the summer,
respect of pilots almost half his age. to
his pilots
'half-cans' in the evening,
drome, trying to keep
and had narrowly missed being
Eric Clayton he
ready smile
.
.
.
was
feel 'a
ashamed.' The ground
large burly figure with a
energetic with a powerful sense of
FIGHTER BOYS
He was
duty; hot-tempered but quick to apologize.
He was
warm-hearted Irishman. great leader/
died in the
The
21
Beamish shot
air,
also ready
down
Dick Grice was a veteran of the
First
World War. He was
women, were
Pilots,
a
RFC
won
and had
station
smoke and flame
slim,
to check
particularly solicitous
concerned figure picking
on the welfare of
towards the female
all-clear,
his
the Naafi.
He
the 200
left
When
was natural little
in,
to
Bird- Wilson,
on
that inside each
groups
the
He was
women who
at
collapse
her post and sent
names of European
squadron
who would last
sit
pilots
capitals
Hill added.
made
special friendships
together at dispersal or return to
drink after a night in the mess or
down
at
Squadron Denis Wissler was particularly close to Birdy
and
trips to bar,
after-
Waafs who were
on the point of
have the name of Biggin
each others' rooms for a the pub. In 17
and
she returned she found he had arranged for a pull-
behind, embroidered with the
she had holidayed
or formed
Tannoy
praised their courage and nourished their morale.
through overwork, he overrode her demands to stay
over she
men and
his 1,000 charges.
staff,
the manageress of the Naafi appeared
her on leave.
in the
way through
indispensable to the functioning of the place, and the
When
It
staff,
reassured by the sound of his calm voice over the
wards the sight of the
manned
DFC
a
comforting presence during the repeated
ground crews and
warning of an imminent raid then announcing the
now
end and
office to the
over the Channel in 1942.
Hill.
of the base.
his praise, altogether a
and
Group Captain Richard Grice dominated Biggin
personality of
blitzes
with
resisted the pull of desk
pugnacious but
a
'Pitters'
- Geoffrey Pittman -
his favourite
companions
cinema or hop. Robin Appleford and Rob Bodie gravitated
naturally to each other, both the babies of 66 Squadron, both good-
looking.
They teamed up
for forays into
untaxed banger, once piling into a
bomb
through the blackout. Like inclined to alliance pilots.
like.
London
in
an unlicensed,
crater as they raced
home
George Unwin formed an
with Frank Steere; both were pre-war sergeants and superb
Richard Mitchell and George Johns, West Country boys and ex-
Halton apprentices, teamed up together inevitable that there
would be
in
229 Squadron.
outsiders, those
It
was
who somehow
also
never
325
PATRICK BISHOP
managed
low threshold
the
cross
to
that
16 October, Wissler noted the departure of
with the squadron for several months, but in the dramatis
led
until
On
acceptance.
to
two
pilots
who had been
then had failed to feature
personae of his diary. They were 'both dim types whose
posting was expected'. Fitting in
was made
easier
and most important an
elite.
Like
matrix was
all
test
elites,
elastic,
of becoming a fighter
difficulty
had been passed. The new it
was indulgent towards
stretching to
and background. There were to embrace.
by the very
Being posted to a squadron meant that the
pilot in the first place.
Fundamental
accommodate
were joining
pilots
own. The
its
first
social
differences of personality
common attitudes that were reasonably easy
to the outlook was
humour.
It
was black, broad,
coarse or feeble, usually schoolboyish but constant and all-pervasive.
The and,
practical joking
when
and ragging
traditions of pre-war days survived
the situation allowed, evenings regularly ended with boister-
ous mess games. 'A wonderful evening terminating
wrote the
CO,
unofficial diarist of 73
The
a night in late July.
strong as he was, failed to prevent a not unusual ceremony of being
debagged.'
when beat
Squadron of
at the Schooner,'
22
a raid
him
to
Ian Hutchinson
came it.
in.
When
He
was playing the piano
reached for his
he placed
it
on
steel
with meteorological balloons persal hut in response to a
filled
beer cascaded over his
bombarded
with water
mess one night
helmet, but another pilot
his head,
shoulders. In 74 Squadron Peter Chesters
in the
as
phoney scramble. The
his fellow pilots
they ran from the
trick only
worked
dis-
once.
Later the pilots had their revenge when, while again fooling about
on
a
he managed to get wedged between the walls of a hut and the
roof,
surrounding blast barrier. His comrades relieved themselves on him before helping killed after
him
out. Chesters
when he misjudged
shooting
down an Me
his
was
high-spirited until the end.
height doing a victory
roll
109 the following year.
Mishaps that ended short of death were a subject of getting shot
He was
over Manston
down by a bomber rather than by one's equal,
hilarity,
an
Me
such as 109.
The
joking, as was recognized, served a need. 'One of my greatest recollections
of the time was laughter,' Roland Beamont said later. 'Obviously there was
326
FIGHTER BOYS
laughter got a
little
We
saw
where
.
.
.
high. Perhaps there
really rather
The
he landed with
amusing. The
concerned and
all
pilots
was
a bit of hysterics in
you saw
things in very sharp outline. If
parachute, the fact that
tory for
Maybe sometimes the
of tension in seeing the funny side of things.
a release
fact that
a cause
a bit of
a
it
chum on
a
damage was thought of as
he wasn't killed was extremely
of merriment/
were further bound together by
some-
satisfac-
23
own
their
argot, a mixture
of public-school slang, technical jargon and transatlantic coinages picked
up from
films
and records. The public-school contribution included
boredom
boyish expressions of enthusiasm as well as
preoccupation). Anything tedious, a broad category,
would complain of an uncongenial tably,
when
it
came
activity that
was
'binds
it
(a
to serious matters, understatement
very British
a 'bind'. Pilots
me
rigid'. Inevi-
was
obligatory.
'Walking out' was parachuting out from a burning aeroplane. Colliding with the ground or sea
Many
a pilot's
'had
it',
asm
for
hundred miles an hour was 'going
it',
or 'gone for a Burton'.
Hollywood movies and American a rich
new
'popsies'.
still
in'.
death was announced with the laconic news that he had
or 'bought
them with were
at several
word-hoard.
To
the
But among the racier
The
Fighter Boys' enthusi-
singers
more
pilots,
and bands provided
traditional types, girls
young women became
'dames' or 'broads'.
Most
pilots
invariably
were on the look-out
accompanied by
the obvious
alcohol. Fighter
unwisdom of the combination,
gone together. Beer, the tangy sudsy
and fun was almost
for fun,
Boys were drinkers. Despite pilots
and alcohol had always
bitter of the
county breweries that
covered the country, was what they customarily ordered, served in
dimpled mugs or pewter tankards, up to eight pints it,
when
They drank
they were not in the mess, in pubs whose nostalgia-wreathed
names became
as fondly
remembered by
which they served: the Red Lion the
a night.
White Horse
at
at Whittlesford, the
Old Ship
at
Bosham,
Andover, the Golden Cross near Canterbury.
At the height of the get to the
the pilots as the airfields at
summer
battles,
every effort would be
made
to
pub before closing time no matter how hard the day had been.
Pilots at Biggin Hill
welcomed
the shortening of the days as the
summer 327
,
PATRICK BISHOP
wore
on, as
it
meant they could reach the
would be driven
there
by the
tannoy speaker mounted on
his car
is
the
CO.
rail
at the
this
booming
across the countryside.'
The White Hart
He'd
pints of bitter."
got a bunch of chaps in the car and and was calling up the bar.
hear
a
White Hart
a mile away,' said Pete Brothers.
want three scotches and two
I
sooner. Often they
and we'd be down
and you could hear him coming from "This
brass
commander. 'Dick Grice had
station
You could
24
at Brasted, a pleasant village that straggles
along the
road from Westerham to Sevenoaks, became the most celebrated of the Fighter Boys pubs. There had been an inn
teenth century.
had steep-pitched
It
rooms made cosy with beams and
The White Hart was not across the fields, but
it
over by a reserve navy
the nearest
pub
Teddy
the customers were Moira and Sheila,
attractive.
sophisticated and beautiful
young
handsome twins and
women
.
.
.
comes from impeccable
commodore on duty posted
a hopeless mission
fighter pilot
on
who
away
who had
taste'.
Among
the daughters
lived near
by
'tall,
They exuded 25
able quality that
was the widow of a
floors.
presided
Preston, and his wife Kath.
married to an
air
The bar was
Kingcome's description,
in Brian
large
lintels,
to Biggin Hill, seven miles
of Sir Hector Macneal, a friend of Beaverbrook
Red House. They were,
since the seven-
site
and stone-flagged
fireplaces
was the most
officer,
on the
roofs and thick
tile
at the
elegant,
the indefin-
Moira, the elder, was
to the Middle East. Sheila
disappeared after being sent on
a winter night at the start of the war. She
was
left
with a small daughter, Lesley.
Behind the blackout curtains the
pilots
would banter among them-
with the Macneal twins and,
when
selves
and with
gently
moved on by
the local policeman at closing time, look for some-
where
else to drink.
Tony
local customers,
flirt
Bartley recorded the last frantic minutes of a
typical session.
Time gentlemen
please,' yelled the
barman.
'Who's for the Red House?' said one of the twins
unanimous howl of approval
.
.
.
We
.
.
.
There was
piled into the station
wagon
sardines again, and after a short drive arrived in front of a fine old
328
a
like
FIGHTER BOYS manor house. The twins had gone ahead and were waiting
red-brick
us at the door.
was shown
I
whisky thrust into
After
move
its
my
drawing room and had
Someone put on
hand.
to
go by creating
where the
to
pilots
26
Squadron ensured there
own
its
very large
a
the radiogram.
to Biggin Hill in September, 92
was always somewhere
Manor House,
into the
for
Southwood
club in
had been moved by Grice,
who
dis-
persed the squadrons around surrounding country houses because the
bombing made
incessant
The squadron had
it
too dangerous to stay on the base
a jazz pianist
of professional standard in Bob Holland.
Other musicians from among the Biggin for
jam
sessions.
Writing to a
'wizard billet which
with a dance
is
musicians to go with drink
Fun was necessary latter reads:
to forget
'Poor old
morning. They must
move
Even
at the
would manage
at
somewhere
... to get to the pub.
like
lady
would give us some to
Our hell!'
killed this
us soon for a rest/
27
two
summer/ remembered Geoffrey
Back we'd come,
the job
we were
extra time, then
morning.
really
who
been based in
time
closed at 10.30, so the rush getting from
We'd make
tavern was enormous.
some
We
idiot
to be
The
land-
would suggest we
cars, drive
had
it.
up and
stay in
back on readiness
not in 100 per cent condition to be doing
doing but happy about
Beak Street or Hatchett's hostesses.
land, having
a daily
Page,
Manston, trying to get on the ground
in the
at four.
London perimeter
West End. 'There was almost
London. We'd bundle into various
a night club until
young
what the
Drummond were
Williams and
The pubs
aircraft to the local
in
still,
line in the
North Weald. 'We'd
at
your
went up
but
terrific,
VR
what was happening. The next
sorties to the
was with 56 Squadron day
taken over
a night club here every night.
height of the battles, pilots at the
routine at the height of the
all
we have
pursued fun with the same enthusiasm that they brought to
Pilots
bases
Bill
enthused about their
country house
something
to
drafted in
drums, double bass and plenty of
We just have
it.
mounting up
bill is
flying.
piano,
would be
Hill staff
Waaf friend, Holland
in a fairly large
floor,
at night.
it.'
in Piccadilly to
These encounters never
They went
to the
bask
admiration of the
in the
'led to
Bag o'Nails
anything because you
329
PATRICK BISHOP had
to get
mirth/ light
28
back to the
Back
airfield ... It
was
just schoolboy enthusiasm
North Weald, Page would sober up
at
pre-dawn
by walking around the perimeter, acting the part of the keen young
officer
by pretending
Some
pilots
to inspect the
Al
in
men
guarding the fence.
squadron would dispense with bed
Deere's
don
altogether after a very late night and simply
doze on deckchairs first
in the
and
in the
dew-laden grass
Circus
'to hit
hours' sleep,
we
the high spots. Often
went back on the tube
New
stayed
which were open
The Antipodeans would meet up House and
at
Zealand House
to
all
Romford and
after a
few
into the cockpit.'
in the Strand. Irving Smith, a
at
Jermyn 29
bar close to Australia
at the Tivoli
evening but was delayed. His quarters
some
New Zea-
friends there
one
North Weald had been bombed.
separated from his kit and had been
Tawney. He sent
night at the
and then
night,
all
lander with 151 Squadron had arranged to meet
He was
Hornchurch, would
squadron friends and take the tube to Piccadilly
his
Street Turkish Baths,
waiting for the
at dispersal,
scramble of the day. Archie Winskill, based
go to Romford with
and
their flying jackets
moved
to Stapleford
message to the bar saying he would not be coming,
a
but then discovered there was a train that could get him to London by closing time. garbled,'
He
he said
arrived to find later.
dead. After that there
Away from
They
was
them holding
all
thought
a great thrash.'
the metropolis the fun
I'd
a
wake. 'My message was
been shot down and was
30
was
less sophisticated.
Squadron, based in Exeter, lived in two hotels but had the local people. Their
the Royal Marines,
who
main
social contacts
invited
them
little
No. 87
contact with
were with the police and
to drinks at headquarters. Internal
squadron celebrations could have the quality of a provincial Rugby club piss-up.
The
unofficial diary of 73 Squadron,
Yorkshire, records a dinner held to pilots
at
Church Fenton
balloon tied to his duly escorted to
VR
sat miserably,
tugging
collar badge. After
The Ship by
the
C O and
in
the departure of one of the
on 29 August.
Throughout dinner Henry
330
mark
based
at a large
he had eaten
his
Reggie Lovett
hydrogen fill
he was
[a flight
FIGHTER BOYS commander], a night!
in
company with
several other
members of the
loudly for assistance. After several unsuccessful attempts he into the awaiting vehicle
room where we
at last fulfilled
On
morning
he was carted up to
arrival
less said the better!
a certain
However
his
at 5 o'clock the
They were
eventually found in a place
and
for good,
spent the rest of the night in strong disinfectant!
as a result they
31
took a sympathetic attitude to drink. In July 1940 the
authorities
Judge Advocate General of the the Air Force Act
predecessor that
it
RAF,
Foster
MacGeagh, pointed out
that
had purposely avoided precision over what exactly
He drew
constituted drunkenness.
attention to the observation of his
was 'one of those
than to define comprehensively
5 .
He
things that
it is
concluded that
no person should be convicted of drunkenness
satisfied that
following
very soiled-looking figure was seen searching for his
where they were very nearly washed away
is
floor
our promise and put Henry to bed with
teeth with almost frantic energy.
that
inserted
boots on. During the night sundry untoward incidents occurred
about which the
The
was
where he peacefully passed out on the
while being driven back to the mess.
his
What
sqn.
At 11.30 p.m. he was duly carried out of The Ship screaming
he was so
much under
easier to recognize
only safe rule
'the .
.
.
is
unless the court
the influence of drink as to be
drunk according to the view of ordinary, reasonable men'. 32 In
fighter
squadrons, that allowed considerable leeway.
Commanders understood more and more
the need for release.
When
his pilots
grew
fatigued Beamish arranged the rota to try and give every-
one one day in four off duty. Sometimes he would accompany them to town, impressing the younger
men
with the familiarity with which he
was greeted by the female habitudes of the night
commanding Swanage
152 Squadron,
would send exhausted
clubs. Peter Devitt, pilots off to a
to rest for forty-eight hours. Staying in with a
did not guarantee either success or survival. Charlton
'throughout the war, people in squadrons
who
and not go out and chase
far
people
who were
a
little
a
bit
few
pints
were
on the wild
pub
in
cup of cocoa
Haw
found that
used to go to bed early
more
likely to
buy
it
than
33
side'.
33i
PATRICK BISHOP Laughter and drink edged out thoughts of death. The lowest hour of
was always the
the day
sitting at dispersal in silence, smelling the
first,
familiar smells of crushed grass, metal, oil for the arrival of the coffee
wagon
and high-octane
waiting
fuel,
from
to dispel the beer taste lingering
the night before, nervous sickness stirring in the bowels in anticipation
of the
Each
first
pilot
he survived
The
the next morning.
Then, an hour
later,
home
it
to
was only
mood was
the
a cloud.
transformed.
So
far,
was almost welcome.
was
It
The
so good.
if
everyone had
as if the
first,
the worst,
bacon and eggs swimming
in greasy Naafi trays
tired.
by the
dispersal hut.
were
pilots
Their nerves were on the surface now, exposed by the
constant ebb and flow of emotions and sensations:
many had gone up on
satisfaction.
So
returned.
seemed
It
them
and the sudden appetite
But towards the close of day the foreboding returned. The
and
was
end would not come that day. Clambering out of the
that the
strained
sun had
the pilots' natural optimism persuaded
it,
cockpits, the relief showed in the shouted banter
for
same ordeal
in order to face the
ring of the ops telephone
Having got through
hope
it
they were back on the ground and
emerged from behind over.
fragile.
braced himself to face a day which might bring death or hor-
rible injury. If
made
was the time when courage was most
scramble. This
fear, hatred, anger,
the last sortie of the day and not
to be tempting fate.
It
was without eagerness
that
they trotted out across the lengthening shadows towards their Hurricanes and
Spitfires,
and with thankfulness that they bumped down over
the grass or concrete and headed for the pub.
The
.
resolution of the pilots, their ability to keep going
up day
after
day, over and over, with each trip shrinking the odds of survival,
sustained by interlocking feelings and convictions.
ment was
loyalty,
country and sidered
and
it
came
bad form
in Fighter
The
essential senti-
There was loyalty to the
Noisy expressions of patriotism were con-
inhabitants.
its
in several forms.
was
Command.
It
took outsiders to see
how
deep
and passionate the attachment was. Tim Vigors had been schooled England and spent
much
of
his
youth
Irishman to the extent of having a tricolour painted on the nose of Spitfire.
332
He wrote
later that
in
there, but considered himself an
he was 'not possessed of that uncaring
his
patri-
FIGHTER BOYS
many young Englishmen
otism which caused so
down
in
probability
all
tective feeling for
many
of
today'.
my
the
and purple mountains of Tipperary,
would have been
my
unselfishly to lay
.
with the same wild, pro-
fired
country which was responsible for the deaths of so
brave friends and almost certainly would not be alive
.
.
.
34
Next to
down
I
fields
.
But he believed that had the battles
their lives for their country'.
been fought 'over the green
.
the
this lay loyalty to
man
dynamo
next to you
that drives
is
comrades. The determination not to
the
main ingredient of military courage and
The
wars.
all
let
was not
strongest feeling
to dis-
appoint your friends/ said Peter Dunning- White. 'There was no question
of not flying. leaders.
It
You
3
daren't not take
was impossible
off.'
to funk
it
^
This was particularly true of the
without everyone seeing you turn
away. Belonging depended on sharing the
though
how
it
was by no means
fearful they
essential, achieving
might be,
Hutchinson ended up
some
success.
wanted very much
pilots
ceed, even the least experienced. on, Ian
and the dangers, and
risks
As the
as the
attrition
to fly
of the
No
flying
from
chap came to I
said
me
and
said,
"Can't
I
OK. He went up and he was
lovely chap. myself.'
The
I
hadn't allowed
him
fly?"
had been
I
killed. It
to gain
flying
was such
a
pilot in his fly.
'We
call
came.
One
all
the time so
shame.
enough experience so
He was I
a
blamed
36
pilots
were
fighting a battle for the survival of Britain.
afterwards that the significance of their effort started to
Most
suc-
summer ground
most senior sergeant
near Southend and the scramble
a base
matter
and to
squadron, able to decide for himself whether or not he would
were
also,
pilots held the
struggle
silent
between good and
war continued. Beyond
It
become
was only apparent.
conviction that they were engaged in a evil.
That feeling
intensified the longer the
their allegiance to hearth,
home and
squadron, a
loyalty to
humanity drove them on. Brian Kingcome remembered look-
ing at the
body of a dead German airman,
88 he
a
member
of the crew of a Ju
had helped shoot down near Minehead. 'Gazing
lying in front of
me
I
at the
young man
could not accept that he had been some kind of
non-political combatant.
He seemed
too close to the ideal Aryan
mould 333
PATRICK BISHOP cherished by Hitler to be a coincidence or accident, and any charitable .
.
.
...
thoughts
might normally have harboured simply remained frozen
I
found myself looking
I
Stories circulated of
him with
at
German
loathing.
37
breaches of the unwritten conventions
of aerial war, in particular the cold-blooded shooting of pilots as they
dangled defencelessly on the end of parachutes. The pilots of 266 Squad-
ron believed that their commander, Squadron Leader Rodney Wilkinson,
had been
killed in this
way on
16 August. 'He
of holes as a
told, as full
stirred
was seen
to bale out of his
body was found, so we were
crippled aircraft apparently unhurt but his
Dennis Armitage reported. 'This incident
sieve,'
up intense hatred of the Germans. Perhaps they had some
cation in that a fully trained and experienced pilot replace than the machine he
was
flying,
was
far
justifi-
harder to
but our "Wilkie" was
much
loved and the thought that he was shot up while dangling helplessly from a parachute filled us before.'
38
with a vindictive hate that had not been there
Other accounts say he died colliding with a
Me
109.
Squadron
Leader Harold Starr of 253 Squadron was certainly machine-gunned to death by a Messerschmitt after he baled out over Eastry in Kent on 3
1
August. Flight Lieutenant Robert Ash, flying as gunner with a Defiant
of 264 Squadron, baled out after being hit on the morning of 28 August.
The
pilot also
dead
jumped and landed with minor
with bullet
Dewar had been
wounds
in his
British pilots
had ever responded
There were some suspicions, though, that Polish
fastidious. Peter
and went
home
Downs when he in parachutes.
boys. Poles.
I
Ash was found
shot while descending.
There were no accusations that kind.
injuries, yet
body. Dennis David believed Johnny
Matthews was on leave
He was
to Ewell.
at the
They owned
well
to
were
who
they were.
less
beginning of September
teaching his wife to drive on
looked up to see 'Hurricanes shooting
knew jolly
pilots
in
Epsom
down Germans
They were 303 Squadron
39 it.'
As the German attack widened to include
civilians, British sensibilities
hardened. Pilot Officer Richard Barclay of 249 Squadron reported in his diary
how
he had led a chase of two
crash-land near Manston. 'Just as he
334
Me
was
109s,
one of which
at tree-top height
tried to
Sergeant
X
FIGHTER BOYS shot at the
E/A [enemy
On
crashed in flames.
aircraft]. It
heartily agreed.'
all
bombing of Coventry.
X about
The
Barclay noted:
Paddy Finucane's detached
unsportsmanship,
his
'We
in the
attitude
40
towards the Germans changed after a blitz.
I
"Listen, Ski,
when
another one.
It is
down
the fighting
this
war
is
a terrible
now was
over
way
we must make 41
right thing to
do
is let
outright.
Malan
you shoot
'If
in
Germany
is
them
get back.
With
no one
we must
told Geoffrey
now tried to them down they
whit the wiser. So
a
that
Killing
it
and maiming were none the
German
less
aeroplane, they
were aiming
pilot,
the
RC
Tony
Lovell,
who was
a
figure the
I
think
if
42
not things to boast about.
themselves and the outside world at the
George Bennions 'was relieved when they baled ron
he lands ...
as
has a better effect on their morale.'
pilots told
I
dead rear gunner, a dead
a
up
navigator, and the pilot coughing his lungs
when
it is,
For some, the point of
Sailor
kill.
said:
sure there will not be
to settle anything. Until
to hurt as well as to
down bombers
don't get back and
at a
was the longest
'It
understood, Paddy
I
every bloody Jerry from the sky."'
avoid shooting
Most
billeted.
doctor acquaintance, that he changed tactics and
Flavell, a
you do
Drobinski,
can remember,' he told Finucane's biographer. 'We talked for
about an hour. Speaking slowly to ensure
shoot
'Ski'
When he
country house near Tangmere where he was
Finucane stood shaving while Drobinski listened. shave
and
all.'
returned he was visited by a Polish pilot friend, Boleslaw
room
etc.,
are inclined to think that per-
he visited Southampton to see friends shortly
at his
and
following day the squadron heard of the
haps Sergeant X's action yesterday wasn't so bad after
after
trees
returning Butch [Flight Lieutenant Robert Barton]
tore a terrific strip off Sergeant
we
some
flew straight into
that,
when
they shot
machine not the man.
out'.
Another 41 Squad-
devout Catholic, 'used to go and see
padre and pray for forgiveness
.
.
.
He
he'd shot something down, very upset.'
well of 56 Squadron, another fervent Catholic,
43
used to get very upset Michael Constable Max-
left
behind
in his diary
an
account of the complex evolution of his feelings as he closed in on a
Dornier that he had managed to isolate from the
fleet.
335
PATRICK BISHOP While attacking the formation had
the others
left
in
had made
I
and
came
kill. I
had no
kill
.
.
and merely wanted he wanted was a
was
it
thought
do was
to
close
shower of tracer
no compunction
felt
I
a
in the
just felt a primitive urge to chase
in
and
.
[But then] suddenly
all this
changed.
The
to land.
in the air
I
have experienced
that he
had had enough
He had
over.
given in and
down. Four humans were
and
damaged machine
in a
heroically trying to land. This last
unpleasant
saw
I
was
fight
safe place to get
They were up
plane.
I
wanted
I
got within range, and
I
shooting something damaged. to
all
even though
fear of his bullets,
me whenever
at
took a joyful pleasure
I
leave the formation, and
it
once
excited, but
began to experience the most wonderful and
I
jubilant excitement imaginable. that
was frightened and
I
all
in that
that the pilot
few minutes [were] the most
in this war.
was
I
safe,
they were in
danger of death. They crashed and no one got out.
The next
had with some other
day's entry describes an encounter he
who was friendly with the squadron. 'He is "Oh how absolutely splendid of you, do hope they
with a local lawyer
pilots
told of the Dornier.
were
Constable Maxwell found
killed!"'
all
I
have ever heard and
I
was staggered by
its
remark
this 'the filthiest
bloody sadism
...
it is
I
this
loathsome attitude which allows papers to print pictures of wounded
Germans. They must be act
is
killed
and
I
hope
No
matter
[sic]
- but
it
can be done
how powerful
Robin Appleford if
bloody
stiff
.
was
but the
.
must be done
ruthless
the pilots' motivations might be, they could fell
with the stresses of the day.
'got that sort of sick feeling
all 45
this.'
the time.
I
Peter Devitt
think most
was
'scared
most of the time and anybody who
says he wasn't frightened
46
Even Wing Commander
just as frightened as
everybody
else'.
Teddy Donaldson, who was notably unsparing of his ron, admitted that the experience of tackling
outnumbered was 336
.
silently.'
they were honest would confirm
people
.
44
not dispel the surges of fear that rose and
.
many myself
kill
the unpleasant duty of the executioner which
and merciless
.
to
'very, very, frightening'.
47
enemy
pilots in 151
Squad-
when
hugely
aircraft
But the level of fear climbed
FIGHTER BOYS and
away. In between the peaks were periods of excitement, even of
fell
No
boredom.
Few were One
fearful.
could have operated
pilot
ever overwhelmed by pilot in 501
One
to his aeroplane.
me
no," he
shows I'm
said, "that
show you're
a
coward
to
vomit
Spitfire.
coward."
a
at all if you're
Constant exposure to
used to
I
CO, and
But he wouldn't and eventually he
get
say, look,
you on
said,
I
to bombers.
"Be buggered,
himself landing.'
killed
grounding him."
down
shot
before.
49
"This chap's
He had been
'
a
hut
.
.
.
did,
had nightmares
and
I
long time.'
was
night-flying
He's not to
squadron
Some
They were given
me
and
wanted
when
Down
a
man was
under a
tree near
.
I
seemed
could
fly
an instructor
at
recognized the symptoms in
line to
Down knew Sir
a pilot officer,
Boscombe Down.
that
would not be
Christopher Quintin Brand,
surprise he appeared
to see
to be doing
else.
end of his
two days
later
our dispersal point away from everybody
"What do you want
break ...
at the
though he was only
week's leave, but
a
of experience of anybody
map and
.
Hurricane. This went on for quite
asked to see Air Vice-Marshal
said,
a
.
used to wake up in the disper-
I
for a rest, usually as
commander of 10 Group. 'To my
and led
had been
really got the jitters
he led the remnants of 56 Squadron out of the
else
I'm
the day
leaders understood
himself. In the middle of September,
the
fly again.
a chap's
my
an Operational Training Unit. Peter
He
Later
member
at night.
and had him posted away
enough.
officer.
50
Good squadron limits
grass
remembered, 'broke into
mentality in the most peculiar ways.
sal
sick.
in flames, the fate of another
I
on the
his pilots sitting
suffering the delusion that he
Fatigue, Birdy Bird-Wilson
others, as
doesn't
though, inevitably caused psychological
fear,
said:
it
"No,
48
bathed in sweat and ordered him to report to the medical
doc appeared and
'terrified
would you
prepared to go on bloody bombers."
damage. Pete Brothers came across one of
'the
he ran out
as
of George Unwin's sergeant pilots was
have a word with the
to
but for some the struggle was
fear,
Squadron would pause
not of the Germans but of the like
gripped by terror.
if
I
me
all
the
about?"
And
I
just said
work because of the
knew my England without
I
lack
looking at a
anywhere within reason, whereas the squadron
337
PATRICK BISHOP
commander
Three or four days
left.
ability to
later the signal
many
posts for
strung-out pilots. 'You
come
into the bar
and they'd have a
back again the same twitch.
drinking your drink, whatever
And
them.
If it
so they realized they
to be kind ...
number of
then, off."
He had
'
Down
me
were doing it
that he
was
it
-
it's
In early
it
One
many
to
while you're
a very cruel
way
pilot
came
and so
53
duty could
his
fulfil
engine
I
to Donald-
said,
failures.
"Right
He'd
Denys Gillam
just
wit-
'went to pieces on the ground, just as he was
The doctor
[was] seeing us
was the
He
off.
He
didn't fly again.'
hit this
54
commander himself whose nerve was
Martlesham Heath to replace two
at
had been
killed
on the same day on the same
covered that 'morale in the squadron was naturally.
They were
bunch of young
a
.
.
.
flight
suspect.
Naturally they were thinking,
down, what the
sort of
chance have
first sortie
controller ordered
if
these
we
commanders who
operation. Brothers
way down
chaps, only
pre-war experience. The others were chaps with
dis-
the bottom,
two of them with
minimum
training.
two experienced chaps can be shot
got?'
they flew with the squadron leader, the ground
them
As they did so they saw
338
them except
September Pete Brothers and Bob Tuck were posted to 257
Squadron
On
really taken
and they returned
really did,
a bit terrified
chap on the chin, hard, knocked him out.
one case
were staging
instructed in both.
to help
cases a pilot's inability to
getting into his aeroplane.
In
could
might be, you did the same back to
already noticed 'too
who
I
terrible facial twitch or a
disappear in the middle of a battle and go home.'
nessed one pilot
on the shoulder
facial twitch,
not be overlooked and action had to be taken.
son and 'admitted to
said, "All
52
to operations thereafter.' In a small
they had a
cured chaps in the end,
It
He
.
51
who
body twitch and there was nothing you could do act
.
saw chaps who had
shock extremely badly/ said Birdy Bird- Wilson, 'They'd
a pat
and Aston
training units at Sutton Bridge
.
came through saying
take myself off as an instructor to Sutton Bridge/
The
do so
me
have spoken to you," and he gave
right, nice to
and
time didn't have the
at the
to patrol a line
above Maidstone
at 20,000 feet.
a large formation of bombers with fighter escorts
FIGHTER BOYS approaching and alerted the squadron leader. 'He
and
to patrol the Maidstone line
do otherwise." So we
told to
all
what
that's
pissed off and
Later Brothers worried that perhaps he had
then this
this
happened
chap just
a
"We've been
said,
do
we'll left
made
combat
to avoid
we've been
until
him and got stuck
in.'
misjudgement. 'But
a
second time, then a third time, and
wanted
told
A
at all costs.'
we
decided that
few nights
after
they arrived, after fortifying themselves with beer, they rang up Keith
Park and asked for him to be sacked. ately posted
from
'lack
The
away
fibre'
were held
was
in
fortified
Commons, when he
Island,
deemed
duties like
was immedi-
to be suffering
towing drogues.
in the country.
Churchill had
speech on 20 August in the House
home
expressed the thanks of 'every
in
our Empire, and indeed throughout the world', towards the
who were Never
in a
leader
by the knowledge of the admir-
by everyone
acknowledged the nation's debt of
pilots
were put on menial
pilots' resolution
ation they
The squadron
Other
to a training unit.
of moral
55
'turning the tide of world
in the field of
human
conflict
was already
so few.' This gratitude
war by
their
was
much owed by
so
our
pilots,
prowess and devotion.
visible to the pilots
so
many
to
every time they
ventured off base.
Yvonne Agazarian became the most envied
girl in
her convent school,
which had been evacuated to Rugby, when her handsome, adored brother Noel arrived to
about him,' she
said.
visit
her during a leave. 'The
girls
'He seemed a wonderful, incredible
figure.'
Bartley found that after the Churchill speech fighter pilots
epitome of glamour.
was unbelievable. They loved
It
They bought us
loved.
us,
drinks, appreciated everything.'
London, Robin Appleford and Rob Bodie would wear
were gaga
57
were
and
On
I
practice of
When men tunics
walked into
a pub, eyes
mean
trips to
girls.
now
well known.
would
stray to their
wearing the top button undone was
in air force blue
'the
their flying boots,
ensuring a flow of free drinks and the undivided attention of the
The
Tom
56
and the word would go around that there were Fighter Boys
the bar.
The
pilots
were
polite to civilians,
in
sometimes actually welcoming
the chance to talk about things other than the fighting. Mostly, though,
they preferred the
warmth and
security of their
own company. 339
PATRICK BISHOP
The
RAF
war Billy
had been courtly and
Drake met were the
drinks in the ladies'
was
all
parents.
correct.
sisters
room
At Tangmere, the young
women
be entertained to
balls at the station,
in the mess,
and
in the
summer
very proper. These were very innocent
They knew you/ The
attitude of the pre-
of brother officers or the daughters of
They would attend
family friends.
It
was women. The
great exception to the rule
of the
raffish life
RFC
sail
and swim.
You knew
affairs.
was
pilots
the
alien to
modern young men of Fighter Command. There was no bought
the
as such. If
anybody was oversexed they
didn't talk about it/
sex
dealt with the situation but they
58
For most respectable young
men
in 1940 the
world of sex was remote
War would bring it closer, but for many it would remain No one knows how many of those who died in the battles
and mysterious. out of reach.
of the year went to their deaths without having slept with a pilots liked to portray
however, had given them matters of sex. Most of
and playing
fields
little
them had passed
The
ladled
on
wrote
home
their adolescence in classrooms
before entering service
entrants had been in conservative jobs for revelry.
by the heavy hands of
reassuringly to his
were
all
heroes.
rassing. After a
a jolly
decent
lot
all
wanted
father
to
go
for us.
for a
opportunity
their outlooks,
Paddy Finucane
from Rochford on
a rattling
and thought the boys
They could not do enough
while they
swamped
'We had
9 August, after a party at a local hospital,
and the nurses were
little
their parents.
mother and
RAFVR
The majority of
life.
where there was
conservative mores of the time
thickly
woman. The
men of the world. Their upbringings, chance to acquire much sophistication in
themselves as
It
good time
in blues
[sic]
got rather embar-
walk round the grounds.
Yours truly played the game and admired the beauty of the evening but not letting myself in for anything/
Time, everyone knew, was
was the if
classic
most
pilots
any kind of relationship was
Perhaps there was no time
seemed
it
was
at
all. It
affection,
to be looking for. Striking
difficult in a
life
which was punctuated by only
up
of constant geographical
heavy weight of duty that kept you occupied
daylight and
340
short.
chat-up line of the military seducer. But
possible love, that
shifts, a
59
brief
for
all
the hours of
and unpredictable
FIGHTER BOYS periods of leave. Keeping in touch by telephone required serious dedi-
Three-minute
cation.
calls
were
all
that
wartime
restrictions
allowed and
Rob Bodie
they could take hours to be put through. Robin Appleford and
were
One
lucky.
two wealthy
Head
night at the Tiger's
who
civilians
women
By the end of the evening the
in tow.
with
in Chislehurst they fell in
had two young women, Christine and Pamela,
had switched allegiances
and the four spent several happy weeks together,
until the pilots
were
posted away.
An RAF
uniform, a
wings, could be a passport to sex in the
pilots'
summer and autumn of 1940. Charles Fenwick went to the aid of a young
woman who was London
being pestered by an army officer in the bar of a
The
hotel.
cinema. 'As soon as
intervention led to drinks, lunch and a trip to the
we had
around her shoulders her hand under
my
.
in the
north and
.
down
then before
I
raincoat and into
through the roof with a thirty-five-year-old
.
settled
surprise.'
woman
left his
watch
to
a flick
put
my
arms
can say Jack Robinson, she
my
married to a wealthy
own
slips
me
trousers nearly shooting
Fenwick had already
wife to her
I
lost his virginity to
industrialist
who
devices. She collected
lived
Fenwick
from the Tangmere mess and drove him around the surrounding pubs, embarrassing him by leaving her Dutch cap on the bar while she rum-
maged
her handbag for cigarettes.
in
60
The most obvious source of women was of the bases.
summer Waafs were The
girls
ably educated
hold their
of the
first
to be
man's world, yet also
in a
ton in Yorkshire, arrived at Debden in the
motor transport
the tractors
which
out the
flare
show they could
hard, their hours
RAF commanders
and
of
alive to the possibilities
woman from Nun Monk-
autumn of 1940
to
work
in
and
paths to guide the pilots in at night.
were
married quarters they lived in three to a
discipline,
to
pool, driving Albion two-and-a-half-ton lorries
laid
The women worked
Both the
the middle
war-time intakes were adventurous, reason-
by the standards of the time, anxious
own
By
found on most of the main fighter
romance. Edith Heap, a well-brought-up young
the
WAAF.
the
their
own
long,
billet
and the airmens'
were cold and damp.
female officers imposed
wary of the consequences of having young men and
strict
women 34i
PATRICK BISHOP in close proximity,
and they did what they could to
The Waafs were only allowed
limit their social lives.
off the base with permission
and had to
be back by 10.15 p.m.
was impossible, of
It
Edith
Heap and her
course, to keep the
friend Winifred Butler
own
public-school boys of their
them
or ran
were a
baby Jaguar,
a classier
motor than most
own
Red Lion
at the
Crown
They had two
Jefferies, tall, 'quite
knockout to look
at',
at
car,
could afford, which she
pilots
London. The
for trips to
at Bishop's Stortford.
the base
Martlesham Heath. The friends
and often taken out to dinner
girls
were popular
Duxford or the Rose and
particular admirers, Jerrard
with a
dark
silver streak in his
and Richard Whittaker. The relationships never had time to
hair,
develop.
was posted
'Jeff'
Squadron
at
One day
commander
as flight
most.
On
met Denis Wissler of
Edith
he had visited a
man, anxious after.
offered
to
meet the
His and Edith's at the tractor
him
He was
17 Squadron.
more
310
eager,
sophisticated than
'place of doubtful virtue' in
the impression shining from the diary's pages
some sand
unit,
France with 85 Squadron in May, he confided
his first trip to
to his diary,
Czech
to a
Duxford. Whittaker was killed over France.
particularly boyish-looking, but perhaps slightly
ever
them around
funny and independent-minded. Edith had her
them borrow
let
apart.
across the pilots, mostly
age, as they drove
to the satellite station at
attractive,
sometimes
Waafs and airmen
came
right first
girl, fall
is
Le Havre. But
of an innocent young
marry and
in love,
encounter was gauche.
live happily
He playfully threw
she was driving and the engine stopped. She
the crank handle and ordered
him
to start
it
again, which,
sheepishly, he did.
Wissler' s
months
at
Debden and Tangmere
France were dominated by the search for a nice
seemed at
girl.
to be there
the action.
On
when
the squadron did well. five machines,'
He, though, was
'
"A"
Flight
were over
he wrote on 12 July. 'What
in 'B' flight,
which did not get
into
the 28th he practised aerial gunnery shooting at a drogue.
'The scores were awful,' he recorded.
342
from
and the
His keenness was unquestionable. But he never
Martlesham and shot down
a party they had.'
after his return
desire to succeed as a fighter pilot
'I
failed to hit the thing at
all.'
The
FIGHTER BOYS following day he had better luck. 'Up at 4.30 and forward to Martlesham
Heath.
I
was with
Wilson and
being half-heartedly attacked by
down
oil
to the water,
coming out thought
I
low down and made another head-on
He was
the water.'
a Heinkel 111
We made
Spitfires.
then an astern attack, pieces and
A
we met
one uneventful patrol
after
slowly went
Bayne and Flying Officer
Flight Lieutenant
a
which was
head-on attack and
The E/
in all directions.
was
it
attack. This
Bird-
trying to get
time in
[it]
away
went
into
credited with a share in the destruction of the
Heinkel.
Many
of the diary entries, though,
9 August he broke
fizz
his wireless transmitter
with mild
dissatisfaction.
and was fined ten
covered in
oil.
gone wrong
He went
today'.
61
to
bed
'in
a
damn bad temper
.
.
ing happened.
His days were spent in long periods
On
the 20th the squadron
moved briefly
On the
25th he was in
he was deep in the action.
at last
over Portland.
He saw two Me
operations record
When
share.
book notes
110s he had fired just
the squadron learned that
of September,
it
The squadron
The
girl
was rumoured
it
this
stayed in East Anglia.
was Winifred
was
less precarious.
He
of Richard Whittaker.
now
hell
'a
of a scrap'
One
that
Debden
at the
a further
move
to return to
hope
'I
not,'
a
he wrote.
night his friend Birdy Birdgirl
was
he
knew and
her
was keen on her but
stalled until his situation
thought Denis might take her mind off the
The
friend
was Edith Heap. Both
women
had
graduated from driving to the highly responsible work of plot-
ting, shifting
show
or noth-
Tangmere and
to
would precede
Butler. Bird- Wilson
was already engaged, an arrangement
became
little
on going down, but the
Wilson asked him to come out to dinner with a friend.
at readiness,
one 'probable' and only gave him
out of the firing line to Northern Ireland.
by
and
everything has
.
followed by frustrating patrols and interceptions in which
loss
On
while watching the daily inspection of his Hurricane, got himself
later,
start
shillings
the indicators around the
map
table in the control
the progress of the raids and battles. As they drove
room
away from
to
the
base for dinner in Bishop's Stortford, Birdy sat in the front with Winifred,
and Denis and Edith were gradually the conversation
in the back.
'We got on
became two
like a
tete-a-tetes,'
house on
fire
and
Edith remembered.
61
343
PATRICK BISHOP Driving back, they heard a colossal bang, saw flames leaping up from
some
distant fields
and went to
They found
Edith's hand.
had jettisoned
raider
his
investigate. In the excitement,
a stable block ablaze
bombs. The
fire
they resumed the journey to Debden.
thought
The woman
had been
in question
attentive
That seemed
and fun but not
sergeants' mess. She was, he reported in his diary,
Margaret Cameron
called
party
was over
On
They had
.
else. It
had been
a 5
specially interested.
'a
at a party in the
sweet
little
Waaf
'quite a kissing session after the
5 .
morning of Tuesday, 24 September,
the
be that/ Edith
to
he had met not long before
5
Denis held
a departing night
brigade was already there, so
was taking out someone
at the time. 'Denis
lovely dinner, he
where
17
Squadron was ordered
south to intercept bombers approaching the Thames estuary. Their Hurricanes were
on
closed
it,
still
climbing
when
they were surprised to find a gaggle of Spitfires diving
towards them, followed closely by
made one
they saw the formation. As they
attack,
broke
it off,
a large
number of Me
then climbed to
make
a
109s.
of four Messerschmitts above him. Realizing he was about to levelled
off.
There was
of a blow on
my
left
a blinding flash
of a dive and came back to Debden.
and
a bit
hit
my port wing
and
arm and then blood running down.
hell
of it had
on
me just
Denis
second on a group
I
I
he
stall,
felt
went
a hell
into a
A cannon shell hit my right wing
above the elbow and behind.
5
Somehow
he
got the Hurricane down, but the shell had blown away most of the port
and he was unable to
flap
stop, slewing off the
runway
into a pile of
stones and cutting his face.
He was visitors. girls
taken to Saffron
Edith and Winifred
went out
to
Walden came
hospital.
The following day he had
to see him.
He was hungry and
buy cakes and sandwiches. The following day he was 5
released and spent the evening at
He
also, as
[Cameron],
he recorded as
I
the
'a
ruefully,
hell
of a party in the sergeants mess
5 .
put up a hell of a black with Margaret
rather deserted her for
two other
5
friends
.
On
Sunday,
5
before going off on seven days sick leave, there was another bash in the sergeants' mess. arrival
344
The
pilots
would
arrive after dinner in the
mess
for the
of the band and the dancing would carry on until 10.30
when
'
FIGHTER BOYS Waafs had
the
to leave. Denis
among them. 'Met
was delighted
Heap and
Edith
to see his hospital visitor
with her
in love
fell
at sight,'
he
wrote before going to bed that night.
When
he returned from visiting
another party,
time
this
imminent move
ron's
with
'Jeff',
later,
just
who was
at the 'B' Flight dispersal
because that,
I
to
hut to mark 17 Squadthere,
wrote
go
a rather
had not gone
not me.' Edith
was yet
and Winifred were
to Martlesham. Edith
We
commandeered me.
we had
there
visiting the base, in attendance. Denis, Edith
danced and chatted
honour of the occasion the Waafs were allowed 'Just as
London
his parents in
felt
to stay until midnight.
stormy Jeff arrived
to find him.
I
told
him
evening.' In
all
me, furious
in front of
was up
it
he was being unreasonable.
him
to
He had
to
do
not written
while being at Duxford, and anyway had spent most of the evening dancing with Winifred. Edith didn't care.
was bowled
'I
over. Denis
and
I
arranged to write each day and meet again as soon as our duties allowed
now
Denis was
it.'
me
as
much
again. Edith
to
a
as
I
like her.'
managed
spend the night
House
'My God
awestruck entry
time,' ran the like
smitten.
in his diary. 'She It
room and
at
He just
that's
not
at the
room. 'He
said,
They decided
Cambridge. 'We couldn't get into the Garden
came back
right,
is
Red Lion
it?"
at
saying,
And
sat
on the bed and
"Will you marry me?"
was ordered. They drank
it
"No,
said,
I
can only have
to say to her.
I
said,
"Yes."
'
moved
in
Cambridge
to order an
engagement
They went
their separate beds.
to Dolphin Square, across the
Marmite factory which 'Pop' Wissler
isn't."
Champagne
day Denis insisted they drive to London to break the news to His parents had
it
leaned against the dressing
I
And
and went to
"We
Trumpington.
During dinner he told her he had something
table.
so sweet and seems to
to arrange a twenty-four-hour pass.
They found two rooms
upstairs to her
is
real thing this
was ten days before they saw each other
Hotel,' she recalled. 'Denis
double
seems to be the
it
ran. ring.
On
the
The next his family.
Thames from
way
the
they stopped off
Edith telephoned the base to
plead for an extension to her leave, which was granted as long as she was
back for duty the following day. Denis rang ahead to Dolphin Square to say
he was bringing a
friend.
When
they arrived, Edith 'got ever so
345
PATRICK BISHOP apprehensive. the
flat
he held
my
hand.
me
I
into the
shaking in
in a blue
home
shoes.
kissed.
funk by
I
A
told
from the
yell
till
this
the corridor to
time/
62
Denis had
about Edith and was worried
in the dark.
'I
want
don't
them
to hurt
them/ he
for concern. 'Denis shot
the news.
sitting
in his
I
room and
just stood there I
emerged
to
be
belonged to the family from that minute/ There
bombing
drinks, then dinner. Despite a
through dinner
way down
the
them so/ There was no cause
bathroom while he
my
hugged and were
love
calls
them
diary about keeping 'for
was
I
and
said nothing in letters
wrote,
On
think he did as well.
I
we
raid,
everyone 'laughed
ached, completely ignoring
all
the banging and
all
crashing going on outside'.
him
Edith took
meet her
to Yorkshire to
another forty-eight-hour leave together
wedding,
set for 4 January, the date
at
family.
Dolphin Square, planning the
of the Wisslers'
Denis had been anxious to get married
my
demanded. 'Oh
charge now,' he wrote.
you say the word, but
darling
rests
Oh,
Oh
need you by me,
I
Three days 11
darling, I
I
with you, in
love
you
so, so
WAAF
patrol over a convoy. to intercept sixty dive
getting married a
so,
I
am
I
at
do so love to be with you.
much.'
63
Towards noon the squadron was scrambled again bombers apparently heading
same
for the at
work
ships.
in the con-
after the
summer
of Debden. The 17 Squadron Hurricanes were vectored on to a
would bring them
everything that
346
I
Martlesham Heath from an uneventful
into contact with the
in Essex. Edith tracked the fighters,
was going on and
Over the tannoy came
down
little if
living for the time
room, which had been moved to Saffron Walden
plot that
said.
dis-
I
Denis was in Blue Section. Edith and Winifred were
blitzes
as the regu-
he returned from London, on the morning of
after
November, Denis landed
trol
and was
my sweet. wonder what you
Cambridge.
do miss you
anniversary.
grand you putting in your
'We might speed up
it all
bought yourself while you were shall find out.
it is
own
as quickly as possible,
delighted that she had already applied to leave the lations
Then they spent
into the sea.
'I
Winifred the all
Germans over Burnham raiders.
a voice yelling that Blue
knew who
'We could hear
the battle that took place,' Edith
that was.
It
Four was going
was Denis.
I
didn't say
FIGHTER BOYS anything.
coming
I
just sat there because
back.'
herself to
Bill
it
wasn't true. She tried to
was waiting
No
The following day
at
she
went
to break the
was savage and shocking.
flying into the
He had
A
.
.
bombers,
after the
got back to Saffron,
Yes
it
was
true,
he was
to the Wisslers.
later she
was
Pop
invited to
down by Me
leave, a
he made
some
probable.
Oh
his last diary entry.
day when the squadron had
well. 'Each of the blokes got at least one,'
destroyed and
109s while
order to break off the attack had been
Three days before, while on
fifteen
I
news
little
apparently been shot
Once again he had been absent during done
.
forcing
Martlesham and to pick up Denis's belongings. His body had
not been found.
given.
'When
me
still
parachute.'
Wissler's grief
lunch
for
They were
her fears by going to the
stifle
to talk to her old colleagues.
[her former superior]
missing.
finished our work.
She went off duty but was unable to eat lunch,
hope
motor depot
we had
he wrote. 'Total score
God, fancy missing
a party like
that.'
347
i6
'The
Day Had Been
Saturday, 7 September, like
sunny, cloudless and hot.
It
a Year'
the preceding days of the month,
all
was
perfect
bombing weather.
was
In the early
morning the Germans flew the usual reconnaissance missions
to note the
damage from
Command
braced
the raids of the day and night before. Fighter
itself for
the
wave of what was expected
first
to be another series
of attacks on the bases. But no bombers came. For
Out
screens remained blank.
It
could not
last.
was broken. The
Dowding and Park
first
over the Pas de Calais.
looked up
the
at his aeroplanes.
came
cliffs
the last phase of the
The
first
air
were forming up
Hermann
Goering, dressed
uniform clustered over with gold
His dissatisfaction with the performance of to take personal charge of
attack before the invasion of Britain was
It
was followed almost immediately by another;
then another. In his headquarters, table
braid,
formation of bombers swept overhead, nursed by an
escort of Messerschmitts.
crowding the
3.54 p.m. the
in that aircraft
below,
commanders and crews had driven him
launched.
at the
listened to the silence with
ominous was brewing. At
report
On
operatically in a powder-blue
his
wondered
at dispersal the pilots
foreboding. Clearly something spell
hours the radar
then gratefully took the opportunity to doze in the glowing
inactivity,
sunshine.
six
map and
Dowding looked
guessed that every
at
the counters
aircraft the
Luftwaffe
could muster was heading for Britain's shores.
By 348
the time the last
German
pilot
had taken
off,
there were nearly
FIGHTER BOYS 1,000 machines in the
350 bombers and more than 600 fighters
air:
stacked up in towering ranks. At the
and
Junkers cruising in layers that
bottom were the Dorniers, Heinkels
began
the Messerschmitts, ready to plunge
on
At the top were
at 14,000 feet.
the British fighters,
which would
have no choice but to accept the challenge and come up to be annihilated.
The enemy
twenty miles wide planes ever
moved through
force
still,
warm
air across a front
throbbing grid, the biggest mass of aero-
in a tight,
then to be assembled.
till
the
Dowding had only one
action open. At 4.17 p.m., twenty-three minutes after the
first
course of
radar sight-
ing,
he ordered eleven squadrons to scramble. By 4.30 every Hurricane
and
Spitfire fighter
within a seventy-mile radius of London was in the
or awaiting the order to take
off.
Richard Barclay of 249 Squadron was already airborne.
Pilot Officer
He had been
air
patrolling over the Essex coast, looking
down
at Clacton,
Burnham-on-Crouch, Westgate, places he knew from childhood holidays,
When
baking in the haze.
home, the squadron
the alert came, he told his parents in a letter
'started to
climb hard, turning to get a good look
around and there several miles away was a black
Hun bombers
about 70-100 other attack,
formation - and
in close
Hun
dots:
little
I
line in the sky
- 35
gradually began to distinguish
fighters/
As the squadron turned
to
he
switched on the electric sight and turned the gun button from 'safe' to 'fire'.
and
as
And then I
things
broke away
I
began to happen.
We went in at the bombers
saw two dropping back from the formation
streaming white smoke from one engine but before the situation the Messerschmitts were
because from until the
him
time on
end of the
anything on
went
this
my
tail
past beneath
a burst.
fight ...
and
my
I
at the
nose.
on me.
me
whoopee!
A
I
could take stock of
say 'me' rather than us
never noticed another Hurricane in the sky
I
turned quickly to see
if
there
was
same moment two Messerschmitt 109s turned quickly diving on one and gave
Nothing happened. Presumably
of my 8 guns gave burst and
I
I
great confidence.
I
I
missed him but the noise
gave the second
sudden burst of brilliant flame,
Me
a cloud
109 a
of smoke
349
PATRICK BISHOP and
a vast piece flew off
and down he went, but no time to watch
because there's something behind
and saw
Me
[an]
away from
Ten thousand
He
on.
feet
shooting ...
turned to the right
I
109 go past with a vicious yellow nose and the large
black crosses on the fuselage/
Barclay dived
me
the
1
German
fighters, levelling off at 6,000 feet.
above he could see the bombers beating inexorably
climbed up, keeping
his distance so as
not to be spotted. As he
approached, the formation swung towards him and he raced into the leader in a head-on attack, but had to break off
ammunition.
He
thought he had
been damaged. Oil obliterated
down
hit
when he
an engine. His
his windscreen.
over the Thames estuary. Thick
coils
He
ran out of
own had
certainly
switched off and glided
of black smoke hung over
the water from oil-storage tanks blazing from an attack the previous day.
There was no chance of making
it
Hurricane into a belly landing on a
back to North Weald.
field five
He
slid
the
When
miles from the base.
he got back the squadron had landed, rearmed and refuelled and was setting off again.
There was no aeroplane
for Barclay
much
over for the day. The squadron had spent north and had only arrived in Essex a
week
and
of the
before.
his fighting
summer
The
sights
The odds today have been we are all really shaken.'
seen that afternoon disturbed him. able,'
he wrote in
his diary, 'and
Similar frantic scenes
block of
summer
over the
fields
were taking place
inside
sky as hundreds of aircraft clashed.
was
in the
he had
unbeliev-
an 800-square-mile
The cerulean blue
of Kent and Essex was scribbled with the white curlicues
of condensation
trails
and stitched with the
glitter
of cannon and
tracer.
Alone, frustrated, awaiting the return of his comrades, Barclay saw three
bombers approaching the aerodrome 'had
come back
to finish the job they
had
started
bombs had been dropped on North Weald. But They were no longer
He assumed they on the 3rd' when 200
at 16,000 feet.
the
bombers
interested in the airfields of Fighter
sailed on.
Command.
Their target was London.
The
decision to attack had been
made
inevitable
by
Churchill's
ordering of retaliatory raids on Berlin for the Luftwaffe's mistaken bomb-
350
FIGHTER BOYS ing of the capital
on the night of 24/25 August.
gaden when the
RAF
Wellingtons and
Hampdens
went
31st. Hitler
4 September:
they attack our
'If
then
cities
we
strike
speech on
their cities/
Armed
the
now
deputy that Hitler
his
in a
wipe out
OKW,
Earlier General Jodl, Chief of Staff of the
Supreme Command, had warned
will
then again
later,
and promised
to Berlin
at Berchtes-
arrived over Berlin
early the following morning. They returned two days
on the 30th and
was
Hitler
back with concentrated forces when the weather
Forces
intended to favourable'.
is
Considerations of revenge, taken in hot blood, should not have been
allowed to
The
alter the
course of the invasion preparations.
climate of sycophancy pervading Hitler's court and the desire
for self-preservation
meant
that
no one would
contradict the Fiihrer.
The mass
Goering, anyway, seems to have approved of the plan.
could have several beneficial
effects.
They would continue
of destruction of Britain's infrastructure. Inevitably, they
RAF
even more
no choice but
Germans
tightly into the
war of attrition.
to defend the capital.
that Churchill's
It
mine
civilian
the
Command
had
Fighter
government was unlikely
those that had traumatized
would draw
was now becoming obvious
without further, more violent coercion.
A
raids
the campaign
to the
to seek negotiations
devastating attack such as
Warsaw and Rotterdam might
morale and turn the population against
its
fatally
under-
political
and
military leaders, forcing them, essentially, to surrender.
Almost every bomber unit
2,
told his
men
to
make
was spent forming up time
it
was thrown
in France
eral Fink, the forty-five-year-old
veteran
at the
their wills before they
that the fighter escort
into the attack.
Gen-
head of Kampfgeschwader took
off.
So
much
time
had run out of petrol by the
reached Sevenoaks and had to turn back. The bombers' target
was the Victoria Dock. The huge bend U-Bogen as the Luftwaffe called
it,
in the
Thames
at
Docklands, the
glinted treacherously in the sunlight,
pointing the way. Despite the lack of an escort, Fink's formation relatively
untroubled by British fighters on the
scramble had been given too attacking height
late for
by the time the
Once over London, though,
first
many
way
in.
was
The order
to
of the squadrons to reach
waves of bombers crossed the
coast.
the Spitfires and Hurricanes began to appear.
35i
PATRICK BISHOP
They
bomber formations from
dived through the
a terrific height,' Fink
remembered. 'Obviously we had too many machine-guns attack any other way.
We
had the impression
chosen one bomber and was diving to attack feeling
when
ping
bombs and got away
its
some damage. Fink was
wounded and managed
it
was
make
to
it
still
not
many
fighters
bursting
flak.
Coming
to attack
targets.
commanding
Tower
When we
from
Gruppe of the
'We
all
Docks there were
[the]
Weitkus had time to take photo-
own amusement,
sirens
with
London was
a Spitfire in the chaos of diving first
was the
victor.'
his Leica.
chaotic.
smoke
had sounded
By
'You
machines and
3
Weitkus swung round and
miles distant, a great banner of
move
11
Bridge and the docks.
reached
fires started'.
Whoever saw who
The
it
but the guns seemed quite good/ They 'placed the
in to land at Arras,
stricken city.
a horrible
at Arras.
the time they had finished, the sky over a 109
was
It
a tribute to the sturdiness of their Dornier 17 that
well and large
tell
...
the only one of his four-man crew not to be
graphs of the burning docks, for his
couldn't
it
had
holding formation. The fighters inflicted
back to the base
Geschwader with orders
bombs very
that each fighter
to
you.' But the fleet succeeded in drop-
Oberstleutnant Paul Weitkus was
had sketches of our
them
2
down on
they came
for
there, 150
stained the horizon above the
at 4.43
p.m. People were slow to
The
to the shelters, reluctant to leave the sunshine.
first
bombs
to
ripple across the docks were incendiaries that started blazes that acted as
beacons to the bombers that would flow
in
an almost continuous stream
throughout the evening and early morning. The half an hour.
were
full
The
all-clear
was sounded
of rescue workers
when
at 6.15
the next
raid lasted less than
p.m. The shattered streets
bombers
dumping
their loads of high explosive into the
beneath.
The docks were
hit again,
first
arrived at 8 p.m.,
churning smoke and flame
and the Royal Arsenal near by
Woolwich. Bombs landed on Victoria and Charing Cross Battersea
power
station.
for the steps of the
Those who had remained
underground
forting wail of the siren
more
foul.
and
in the city centre ran
Hours passed without the com-
announcing the Germans had gone, the
tinuing to get heavier and
352
stations.
stations
at
air
con-
People spread out newspapers and
FIGHTER BOYS tried to sleep.
raid as
heavy
The banter slackened and conversation turned must surely mark the
as this
below ground
serious.
A
of the invasion. Even
start
could hear the noise and vibration of
in the shelters they
the anti-aircraft batteries.
The gunners were unable
to identify their targets as
for the searchlights to penetrate the
The warehouses and
from each
Thameside refinery disgorged river in
burning sheets.
bombs and soot,
oil,
was impossible
around the Port of London were stacked with
stores
bombs
combustible goods which, as the that ran hungrily
it
and murk that rolled overhead.
filth
A rum
dry,
landed, blossomed into flames
flammable structure to the next.
molten sugar that covered the
a torrent of
store caught
the streets ran with blazing
A
the barrels exploded like
fire,
spirit.
The
air
was choked with
bound together
chemicals, burning paint and rubber,
into a
slimy viscous vapour by the water of hundreds of hoses playing on the inferno as ineffectually as a
men were Whole
surrounded, cut
shower of
on
a volcanic eruption. Fire-
vaporized by the superheated oxygen.
off,
were abandoned
areas
rain
to
burn themselves
out. This
was the
that the pessimists peering into the future of war in the 1920s
had predicted, the proof of what would happen through.
London was experiencing
huge draughts of cold
demonic
to nourish It
the
of its
life
air at its
base that fed
that could only
The its
the
and 1930s
bomber got
fire rose,
sucking in
intensity, giving
end when there was nothing
it
a
left
it.
was the poor
work was,
Polar,
own
a firestorm.
when
hell
that suffered most:
Wapping.
for the sight
quarters, clustered
It
was easy
for the
of the big bend in the
were almost bound to
hit a
around the Port of London where
Bermondsey, Woolwich, Deptford, bomb-aimers. They had only to wait river,
worthwhile
then release their loads. They
target. If not, the
bombs tumbled
into the blank, terraced workers' streets, toppling the thin walls, pulveriz-
ing the
were
little
houses into dust and
killed in
London and
the suburbs. This
splinters.
That day and night 306 people
1,337 seriously injured.
was just the beginning. The
raids
Another 142 died
in
would continue, with
one exception caused by bad weather, for seventy-six consecutive nights.
The
fighters
had been unable
to provide
any serious protection for the
353
PATRICK BISHOP population of London or prevent the
and disrupting to
vital installations.
bomb unmolested and
Once
German bombers from smashing night
flew hundreds of
two squadrons of Blenheim night
sorties.
fighters at
RAF
The
disposal,
its
was
the Luftwaffe
fell,
free
had only
one of which,
600 Squadron, had been prevented from taking off by the clouds of
smoke blanketing Hornchurch. Even
daytime fighters had performed poorly. The order to
in the
scramble had been given
now
had revealed
make
the
most
itself
became
first
Command's ragged
late to position
raiders turned for
inflict a certain
and
They shot down
unimpressive. fighters.
But in the process they
were the
pilots
edge of London and watching the the
city,
final total for the
the capital. But
was
More impor-
machines.
killed.
at
Bentley Priory on the western
fires reflecting off
the underside of the
the day offered hope.
towards the commercial and
The Germans
seemed unlikely
London without
RAF
that the first
to the point
where
it
satisfied itself that
it
of
a fluctuation?
Luftwaffe would concentrate
having
airfields
political target
permanent change, or merely
this a
day was
German bombers and
appeared to have shifted the focus of violence away from the defence installations
as the
their defensive formations
thirty-eight
But to Dowding and Park, standing
smoke massif rising over
dilute their destructive
lost twenty-eight
who had been
By
themselves to block
amount of punishment
home, usually with
But by then the damage was done. The
intact.
assets.
September
raid of the afternoon of 7
to scatter the formations
power. They were able to first
of Fighter
were too
clear, the fighters
armada or
the air
and
Until
before committing resources, a tactic designed
effective use
the time the nature of the
tant
The caution was understandable.
the practice had been to hold back until the direction and size of an
attack to
late.
its
effort
It
on
had ground down the
no longer posed an insurmountable obstacle
to an invasion.
The was the
destruction of the air force, and in particular Fighter starting point for
all
consulted the two Luftlotte Sperrle
354
was dubious but
a landing.
Goering had
about the attack
on London.
German planning for commanders
Command,
easily persuaded. Kesselring
was supportive. He
FIGHTER BOYS assumed
that
would merely be evacuated
rons
tion of airfields
was not
men and
obliterated, the squad-
to bases further north, so the destruc-
The
a vital objective.
Goering's headquarters was
handful of
were
the southern fighter stations
if
anyway
that the
doctrine prevailing in
RAF
was down
its last
machines, posing only a minor threat to the
Dowding and
bombers. This misapprehension was understandable.
numbers of
Park's tactics of using limited rarely
to
encountered large defensive
fronted with a similar situation
forces.
fighters
meant the Luftwaffe
The Germans'
would have been
to
inclination con-
have used whatever
machines were available en masse. The assumption was that the RAF's
away and
resources were draining
the residual resistance could be swept
aside in the fighting over the capital.
was
lion'
Wehrmacht
It
week
decision
timetable for 'Operation Sea-
on the announcement of the
was imminent. The barges and boats
arations
move
A
pressing.
The
that
Channel were clogging the
across the
were
ports.
final
prep-
to carry the
It
was time
to
on.
was
true that the
London
before the
They were under
RAF
pilots
were weary and apprehensive. The
attack the strain
attack in the air
was becoming
and on the ground,
intolerable.
flying three or four
missions a day before returning to shattered bases where they were
always half-listening for the whistle of falling bombs. 8
September, dawned cloudy, the
The
was profound.
a reasonable rest,'
shaken
among
pilots
Sunday,
and commanders
weather was bad today, thank goodness, so
wrote Richard Barclay.
after yesterday.'
Officer Robert
relief
When
4
It
had been
a
Fleming had been shot
'I
think
bad day
we
are
we had
all still
a bit
for 249 Squadron. Pilot
down and managed
to bale out,
but was severely burned and died of his wounds. Flying Officer Pat Wells
was missing, though he was located tal.
Two
quickly.
now the
others were
Two
five
wounded. But the
days
pilots
later,
burned and
in hospi-
were young and recovered
days later Barclay was recording his pleasure that he was
'on state' almost
month when
all
the time, an
a surplus
improvement on
the beginning of
of pilots meant his flying opportunities were
limited.
Dowding and Park had
placed their faith in a system of rotation,
355
PATRICK BISHOP
moving squadrons out of the
front-line stations of
1 1
Group when they
judged they had had enough and replacing them with units which had benefited from a period in the relative quiet of a base in the north or west.
was the only way
It
to approach an open-ended struggle
would be decided when one
side or the other recognized that
its
which losses
were unsustainable. There had been times when the temptation had been strong to throw
all
Fighter
Command's
resources, dispersed
round the
country, into one great confrontation with the Luftwaffe. But
had
resisted.
Nor was
there any question of falling in with the
and withdrawing the main east
Dowding
around London to
Whatever the
it
Manston
was
from
its
positions in the south-
vulnerable bases well behind the capital.
military logic, political considerations,
morale of the reason,
fighter force
less
German assumption
would not allow
civilian population, said, that
until they
Dowding had clung
were impossible
lion-hearted pilots as Al Deere.
It
and above it.
It
was
the
all
for this
to exposed satellite bases like
to hold, to the dismay of even such
was an approach
that required strong
nerves and a fine appreciation of each unit's stamina and ability to absorb
punishment. The system functioned more smoothly
if
there
were
occasional gaps in the intensity of the fighting to allow redeployments to
be made with a
minimum
of
difficulty. Its existence
depended on the
bases in the south-east actually being able to operate.
Only two hours of
8
raids
were launched during the mainly cloudy daylight
September: on the Kent coast and the Thames estuary. The
controllers ordered a limited response,
day of
which allowed most squadrons
partial respite. Pilots flew 65 patrols involving 215 sorties.
previous day there had been 143 patrols involving 817
dawn.
On
The
sorties. In the
evening the bombers returned to London in force and pounded the until
a
city
the 9th there was a flurry of attacks in the late afternoon
on the suburban
belt south of
aircraft factories.
Once
London, apparently mainly directed
again the
were given good warning and
damage was
limited.
at least twenty-six
at
The defenders
bombers and
fighters
were shot down. Park was
356
now
using his squadrons in pairs, throwing
them
into the
FIGHTER BOYS formations in concentrated force. causing the Luftwaffe
The
commanders
to
had
tactic
modify
a demoralizing effect,
their orders.
A
signal
was
intercepted from Gruppe headquarters directing crews to 'break off task fighter opposition
is
too strong'.
5
The
of the
tactic.
combine squadrons was
decision to
welcomed by advocates of the Big Wing
if
as a tacit
admission of the value
Several squadrons from Duxford led by Douglas Bader had
arrived to take part in the fighting of the 9th.
Once again they were slow
forming up and were low on petrol by the time they sighted the enemy.
They claimed little
was
to have destroyed nearly
twenty
but there was
aircraft,
evidence from ground observers or debris to support
was
certain
that five Hurricanes
were
lost in the
this.
What
encounter and two
pilots killed.
On
German
the 10th poor conditions kept
activity to a
The following day bomber formations managed
bomb
and
in the afternoon
the docks, but
and
fighters
ten
to penetrate to
when
running out of
fear of
bombers were
shot
down on
On
home. The next two days saw another daytime pause. 14 September, a
week
picked up again with
which did nearly
damage
little
fifty
after the first big blitz
random to
raids
any
London
withdraw they were harried by the
fuel forced the fighter escorts to British
minimum.
the
way
Saturday,
of London, the tempo
on south London and
significant target
but
coastal
towns
killed civilians,
of them in the tranquil suburbs of Kingston-upon-Thames
and Wimbledon. It
was
but the
The
a different story at night.
RAF
was not there
to
raiders returned again
meet them.
A
and
again,
night fighter, equipped
with airborne radar and capable of intercepting intruders, had yet to be perfected.
or
two
A handful
aircraft.
of patrols were dutifully mounted, each of only one
Their presence could only be symbolic. London would
have to rely on
anti-aircraft
doubled in the two days following the to
mount
a nocturnal defence
having to operate on another
was
blitz.
The
a blessing.
front, so
accelerating the rate of attrition.
preservation of Fighter
and the number of guns was
artillery,
The
Command.
It
inability
of the
air force
spared the fighters from
deepening their exhaustion and
great strategic necessity
Set against that, the
was the
bombing of
the
357
PATRICK BISHOP city
was
tragic.
But
in the
end
it
was
than the destruction
a lesser tragedy
of Britain's fighter strength. Unlike the soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk, Londoners seemed to accept the
RAF's
Tim
limitations.
down
Vigors shot
an
Me
on
109
September and was then shot down himself and crash-landed, unhurt,
9 in
He
an allotment plot in Dartford.
some
given
tea
and whisky by
salvaged his parachute and was
a friendly lady.
Hornchurch, he arranged to stay with
and
called a girlfriend,
Jill,
aunt
his
remembered
It
then he escorted
back to Tite
Street,
he had a
back to
her
was met with to be
at the
was over
it
relief.
back
first
rest
of the evening. They
Hundred Club
in Leicester Square,
and the
to the station
Jill
it
Tite Street
He met
He promised
morning and resumed enjoying the
spent an hour dancing at the Four
flat in
was only when
to call the squadron. His voice
His comrades had assumed he was dead. thing in the
her
at
to invite her to dinner.
Berkeley Hotel and took her on to supper. that he
Unable to make
last train
home.
On
way
the
of what Londoners were going
taste
through. 'Sirens were wailing. Searchlights were lighting the sky over to the East and the thuds of exploding anti-aircraft shells blended ominously
with the screech of the
sirens.
The drone of bombers could be heard
above the racket and then the bombs started to rain down. They
in
of three or four and one could judge from the explosions of the
sticks first
fell
two
in
each stick where the subsequent ones were going to
6
fall.'
Early the following morning, parachute slung over his shoulder, he set off for
Fenchurch Street to catch a
streets littered trains
train to
Hornchurch, passing through
with debris and lined with smouldering buildings.
were running but there was
for directions to the
a
bus
service.
He
asked two policemen
bus stop and they offered to show him the way. 'We
walked through the arch onto the road and there was a
hundred people lined up by the bus
of people started looking
one of the
leaders.'
at
As
stop.
we
a
queue of about
approached a number
us curiously. 'There's a bloody Hun!" said
The crowd surged forward and Vigors
realized
was happening. 'The blue /grey colour of my uniform was not to that
worn by
pilots
crop of light blond
358
No
hair.
of the Luftwaffe
My parachute,
.
.
.
My
what
dissimilar
head was covered by
helmet and flying boots made
a
me
FIGHTER BOYS look
somebody who had just got out of an
like
on each
side of
me, they had taken
me
aircraft.
With
a
policeman
German/ The
for a captured
three backed against a wall while the policemen yelled that the pilot
one of their own, but nobody was around us and those the leaders. their
I
homes going up
"What
myself.
a
way
scared.
The
RAF," them
.
there
were about
These wretched people
meant
in flames
who had
business. "Hell,"
I
for a fighter pilot to get killed: lynched
of East Enders/" But then those mistake.
'Now
at the front
of the
mob
.
.
then the reaction set
in.
I
was quickly hoisted on
me on
to the days of July, the fighting
with the relentless activity of the
realized their
to the shoul-
had been
hectic.
as
occupied as ever, but
many in
longed-for spell of semi-relaxation.
and even a small
respite
had
was the slackening of seemed
definitely to
were only token
raids
a
flew only 2,159.
the front line
The
pilots
on the
shifted.
RAF
bases.
Command
Some squadrons
were allowed
airfields.
Between
8
effect.
The
arriving
fit,
More welcome
Luftwaffe's atten-
and 14 September there
The work of repair could go
unmolested and unit rotations take place without the
newcomers would be
a brief,
were young, strong and
powerful restorative
attacks
have
on
it
Compared
the pace had
definitely slackened. In the six days before the blitz, Fighter
of a
bunch
the back/
week of September,
first
flew 4,667 sorties. In the six days after
tively
a
few of the front division and carried through the crowd with
Compared
tion
thought to
by
ferocious hatred in their eyes turned to horror. "He's
everybody cheering and trying to clap
still
seen
they yelled and started to try and push back the crowd behind
ders of a
were
forty
back of the crowd were pushing forward on
at the
was suddenly
listening.
was
and exhausted units leaving
rela-
fear that
in the
middle
raid.
Such was the
rate of pilot losses before the blitz
began that Dowding
had been forced to reconsider the system of rotation. Inexperienced squadrons arriving from the north were suffering heavy casualties
in
short periods that shattered their cohesion as a unit and forced their early
removal from the
line.
Dowding had
reluctantly devised a system to keep
seasoned squadrons for longer than he wished battle, replacing losses
at the forefront
of the
with veterans from other squadrons. Units were to
359
PATRICK BISHOP be divided into three categories. All those in sector,
were
classed as category 'A'
Group, the most important
1 1
and were kept up to strength with fully
trained pilots, as well as those units in 10 or 12 first
to be called in as reinforcements.
and up to strength and held
Group which would be
Squadrons that were
fully
equipped
'Q
J
were
as a second-line reserve
the
'B' class.
squadrons were those which had suffered the heaviest losses and were to
be kept out of the fighting while Veterans
who had
pilots rested
survived could, after recuperating, be posted
replace losses in squadrons in the
Dowding had
and new ones were
first
two
had spent most of the summer
in
skilful pilots in
Pembrey
arrived in Biggin Hill.
with two
Over the next few
pilots killed
home
Fighter
Command,
On
8
days, despite the
September
lull, it still
and two seriously wounded. Even
manned by experienced
pilots, the skies
England continued to be a very dangerous
arations
and
last
a landing
it
lost
for a
over south-east
place.
The diminished daytime presence of the Luftwaffe was assumed an indication that the
to
South Wales, and was
in
impatient to get properly to grips with the Luftwaffe.
well-rested unit,
away
categories.
held back a few strong assets. No. 92 Squadron,
of some of the most aggressive and
six aircraft,
trained.
to be
touches were being put to the invasion prep-
was imminent. Church
Germans were coming, had been
bells,
rung, mistakenly,
the signal that the
on
7
September and
Local Volunteer Reservists had gamely set off to their roadblocks to stem the
German
advance.
The
continental Channel ports were choked with
barges and boats and every night the invasion
Henry
is
expected any
'Chips'
moment
RAF
time during the weekend/
another revision.
On
In
to
bomb
them.
now,' wrote the politician and
Channon on Thursday, 7
went
fact
12 September,
Hitler's
plans
The
diarist
probably some
were undergoing
14 September, unpersuaded that the preparations
were complete, he decided
to put off his decision to give the order for
the invasion to proceed until 17 September. Before that could happen,
though, another great effort was required from the Luftwaffe.
The morning of Sunday,
15
September, was
fair in
contrast with the
thundery, showery and unsettled weather of the preceding days.
sun burned off the
360
light
A warm
haze hanging over the coast. Dowding assumed
FIGHTER BOYS
would mean
the change in the climate station a full
Weald
squadron was kept
Richard Barclay
He was
a
busy day and
at readiness
was woken
from
each sector
at
At North
first light.
with a cup of tea by an orderly.
at 4.30
sleeping with the rest of the squadron in the dispersal hut.
He
cold and he dressed quickly.
It
was
put on an Irvine flying suit over his
pyjamas, which acted as insulation against the
chill felt at
high altitude in
the unheated cockpit of his Hurricane, also a sweater, scarf and flying boots, and finally his yellow
window and saw
the
was
it
Mae West. He took down lovely
'a
autumn morning with
He wondered what
blue sky half covered with high cloud'.
from
the blackout a
duck-egg
he would be
doing in peacetime: probably preparing to drive over to a relation's estate to shoot partridge
now
a fine
and then
sit
sunny day meant
down
to a hearty lunch.
flying, flying, flying
and
reflected that
terrific
two perhaps, and someone not there
drinking in the bar that evening
5
tension
all
what wily Hun was
day, gazing endlessly into the burning sun to see
lurking there, a fight or
He
to join the
8 .
Outside he greeted Airman Barnes and Airman Parish,
ning up the engine of his Hurricane.
He
who were
run-
climbed into the cockpit and
glanced over his instruments, checking that the petrol gauge was showing
full
and the airscrew
set at fine pitch.
gloves were stuffed where he
helmet was
sitting
on the
knew where
reflector sight,
connected up, ready for a
fast
getaway.
'immediately became unconscious, as In
what seemed
with a
terrific start to
Mae Wests,
silk
"Dover, 20,000 still
like
gloves ...
in
when he switched on
I
them and
with the oxygen and
He
lay
down on
pairs of
that his
R/T
leads
the grass and
doped'.
moments he was awake
again.
'I
woke
The crew had
R/T
'not in the
He
ran,
already started the engine.
and tightened
Yellow Section and took his
on
could hear the telephone orderly repeating,
bottom of a birdcage from
morning and he was
to find
two
plus bandits approaching from SE."'
into the cockpit
No. 2
if
sure that
see everyone pouring out of the hut, putting
half asleep, to his machine.
into position
the
only a few
feet, fifty
They helped him
He made
his straps. off,
only
to hear the orders. His last night's party'. It
He
full
taxied out
waking up
mouth
was too
'was
like
early in the
mood'.
36i
PATRICK BISHOP
The
blips indicating a raid
first
Dover
stations near
at
had appeared on the screens of radar
about eleven o'clock. They represented a smallish
formation of twenty-seven Dorniers from a base near ance was passed on immediately to the control
Paris.
room
Their appear-
Uxbridge
at the
headquarters of No. 11 Group, which Winston Churchill, on a whim,
had decided
having had to re-form
Calais,
When
cloud.
fuel.
after scattering
They knew
Me
would
To
A further force
them and
It
two
possibilities. It
of twenty-
bombs, protected by
a similar
of the main force.
might be another major
now showing raid
aimed
at
could equally be simply a large group of fighters preparing a
hunt to lure up the
British fighters.
was the former, and decided
ately ordered
nine
that
carry out a nuisance raid that
the controllers, the force of a hundred-plus aircraft
London.
it
to overtake
distract the defenders before the arrival
represented
free
London meant
over target was further reduced and they were
109s equipped with underslung
was due
and wasting precious
that the extension of the raids to
operating at the outer reaches of their capacity.
escort,
while climbing through
for them, circling impatiently
their already limited time
one
late arriving at
they got there their escorts, three Gruppen of twenty 109s
were waiting
each,
The Dorniers had been
to visit that day.
all
his forces to bear.
two squadrons up from Biggin
more squadrons from
arranged in
to bring
Park judged, emphatically, that
pairs.
He
He immedi-
ten minutes
later,
the airfields around London, eight of
them
also requested a
Hill; then,
squadron from 10 Group to cover
the south-west approaches to London. Finally, he ordered five squadrons
from Duxford, massed the time they
in a Big
Wing,
to take off
and be
at 20,000 feet
were over Hornchurch. Thirteen minutes
by
after the first
scramble order, a second set of orders was issued ordering another ten
squadrons to climb to different heights in defensive positions around the capital.
167
By midday, there were
aircraft,
fifteen
squadrons of Hurricanes, totalling
and eight squadrons comprising 87
Park's responses
Spitfires in the air.
had been developed from nearly two months of
intensive decision-making while dealing with daily attacks
with the grim experience eight days previously of the
London. His plan was arranged 362
in three phases.
The
first
first
and refined
major
raid
on
bombers would
FIGHTER BOYS be attacked by to try
Spitfires shortly after
they crossed the coast in an attempt
and break up the formations before they got near the
Messerschmitts would then be expected to so,
though, they would be burning fuel
come
targets.
to the rescue.
The
By doing
four times the cruising rate in
at
high-speed chases, further reducing the time they were able to stay with their charges. After the first jarring
impact would come a relay of assaults
by Hurricane squadrons arriving
in pairs
from
all
squadrons would descend on what battered and demoralized as,
bomber
it
last
the remaining
was hoped would by then be and
force
out of ammunition and low on
The
directions.
when
phase would take place in the skies over London,
fuel,
a
a
dwindling fighter escort
the Messerchmitts broke off and
ran for home.
The advance guard of German after 11.30 p.m.,
fighters crossed the
Kent coast just
followed by the Dorniers. The Spitfires of 72 and 92
Squadrons were stationed on their right
flank, just to the
north and east
of Ashford, waiting for them. For once the pilots had the greatly desired
advantage of height. The early decision to scramble meant they had reached 20,000
feet. It
mer, and the cold silk gloves.
bit
was freezing up there even
of sum-
at the height
through sheepskin jackets and fur-lined boots and
The discomfort was
forgotten as the pilots looked
down
the Dorniers cruising westwards 9,000 feet below, then looked
check that the sky was clear of escorts. In 3,000 feet underneath.
John 'Pancho' line astern,
Villa
The twenty
fact the
Spitfires
of 72 Squadron.
He
German
were led by
down
were
Flight Lieutenant
then swung his machine over on to one wing and peeled off
by the
the British fighters galvanized the Messerschmitts,
another
to
ordered the two squadrons into
into a steep dive, followed, in a long chain,
them. The
fighters
up
at
Spitfires failed to
Spitfire unit,
three
Me
sight of
turned to meet
603 Squadron, which arrived to reinforce, shot
109s in the space of a
But the action had succeeded
flew on straight into the path of
who
who
The
break through to the bombers, although
in
few minutes.
drawing some of the German
away from the bombers they were supposed
501 and 253,
others.
attacked
to protect.
fighters
The Dorniers
two Hurricane squadrons from Kenley,
them head-on.
Two
of the bombers were shot
363
PATRICK BISHOP down,
damaged
a third so badly
Those remaining held
that
immediately turned for home.
it
their formation,
bunching up to maximize
moved westwards
formidable defensive firepower. As they
their
another
twenty-four Hurricanes from 229 Squadron and the all-Polish unit, 303
Squadron, joined the melee. The body of
aircraft
crawled across the sky
towards London. At the bottom were the bombers, plodding to their targets. ing, twisting
Above and around them darted
stoically
on
the rival fighters, wheel-
and plunging, scrabbling for an advantage that
it
was only
rarely possible to seize.
The sound of the
battle drifted
down
to the placid fields
to a population which, despite the expected invasion,
and
villages
were engaged
in
the old rituals of a Sunday morning: returning from church or preparing
the roast beef for lunch. distant violence
The
action looked far off and unreal. Yet the
would intrude from time
to time. Metal
descend out of the azure, bringing with Hurricane detached
itself
it
death. Just after
from the turmoil over the
and dropped, spinning earthwards. The Belgian pont,
midday
pilot,
George Doutrerising
and smashed into the green-and-cream painted railway
killing a
young
The formation butted refuel, four
the capital to block
their nerve.
on. As the
path,
tried to crash inside the
station,
first
village.
British fighters turned
more Hurricane squadrons moved
its
omin-
and severely wounding the station master,
ticket clerk
sending flaming debris flying through the
rearm and
some engaging
in
away
the escorts while the rest
bombers' ranks. Again the Dornier crews held
By now the Messerschmitt fighter-bombers had overhauled
bombs over the
The main body fighters Spitfires
to
from around
main body of aeroplanes and reached south London, and were
tering
a
village of Staplehurst
was dead. The machine roared down, the engine note
ously,
the
and flame would
who had
Victorian streets of Penge, Dulwich and
arrived a
few minutes afterwards. By
scat-
Norwood.
now the German
shepherded their charges through successive waves of
and Hurricanes were reaching the end of their reserves of petrol
and ammunition and were faced with the choice of crash-landing or running for their lights
364
lives.
As the
fuel
began to glow, they
gauges sank lower and the red warning
started to
swing away. By the time the
FIGHTER BOYS bombers arrived over
their targets, their formations
the phalanx protecting
-
The sky ahead,
sight.
were
intact
but
Through
the
still
alarmingly.
see an unexpected - almost unbe-
bombers could
Plexiglass canopies the
lievable
them had dwindled
was dotted with small
the air around,
shapes that were rapidly getting bigger. Having survived
some of
the
heaviest concentrations of British fighters they had ever encountered,
now
they were
more Hurricanes and
faced with a huge force of yet
Spitfires, fighters
which they had been
told
by
not
their superiors did
exist.
The
which had begun
anti-aircraft batteries,
bowl of south London, ceased
crossed into the great brick
approaching
for fear of hitting the
fighters.
bombers
to fire as the
their barrage
The Germans were now
in
the very unusual position of being significantly outnumbered. Six squad-
and
rons, Nos. 17, 41, 66, 73, 257
to the population craning Spitfire
necks below.
More were on
in a Big
the north
were
five
Sergeant Ray
'more or
less
took us
his leader,
CO
But our
went
at
them
Holmes discovered again
and
at that sort
attack, turn
for, if
lot
to engage.
first
The
fire
power
in a quarter attack
that
of
it
to beat off the fighters.
and more or
less
went
bit.'
was
aircraft.
of speed the
to their disadvantage. If
'surprising
how
We
travelling at 250, 300
were
air clears
quickly
very quickly.
you
lose
You make
round and come back again and you wonder where
everyone's gone. Then,
go
A
Squadron Leader John Sample,
which was
through them and spread them out a
your overall view of a
the
slap across the centre of the formation.
fly particularly tight,
they had done, they'd have had better
one
way.
Wing.
Holmes followed
Dorniers didn't
m.p.h.,
their
squadrons from Duxford,
The Hurricanes of 504 and 257 Squadrons were
who
city, a stirring sight
squadron, No. 609 from 10 Group, was stationed in the west.
And approaching from formed
its
were over the
504,
if
you're lucky, you see one or two that you can
you've broken them
bomber and began
firing.
up.'
9
He
fastened on to the rear of a
His windscreen was drenched in flying
oil.
By
had cleared he was on the point of collision and dived steeply
the time
it
to flash
underneath
its
belly.
The Dornier had been
hit
and turned
365
PATRICK BISHOP
home. As
desperately for again,
its
struggled out of London,
it
second engine
failed
and
it
was attacked
it
crash-landed in a field near
Sevenoaks.
Ray Holmes now turned on on. After a
few seconds
his
mined
to hold his course.
of the
bomber
a lone
bomber and
The
wing of the
left
what Holmes
later considered
fire.
He
was saved from
deter-
tail
wing
a surpris-
to break up,
two bombs and
a
tumbled into the gardens of Buck-
The bombs were not fused but on
it fell,
the incendiaries ignited,
Despite the apparent gentleness of the collision,
When
the controls of Holmes's Hurricane were gone.
he baled out.
was
Almost immediately the Dornier began
canister filled with incendiary devises
setting the lawns
from head-
and the
fighter
crashing to earth in front of Victoria Station. As
Palace.
it
ammunition was exhausted, but he was
struck with
ingly slight shock.
ingham
attacked
landed on a block of
serious injury
when
flats,
slithered
the nose dipped
down
the roof and
parachute snagged in the gutter-
his
ing and he found himself suspended a few feet above a dustbin.
With extraordinary determination,
bombing
their
releasing their
run,
bombs, the
Hurricanes and
Spitfires
The confusion was
other's
way
the Dorniers had persisted with
at the railway viaducts at Battersea. After
threw
pilots
manage and
turns they could
feet.
aimed
their
machines into the
tightest
tried to flee the fighters.
As they did
so, the
of the Duxford wing tipped
down from
25,000
total.
The
British fighters
were getting
in their determination to get a shot in,
in
and there was a
each real
danger of them shooting each other down. Richard Barclay turned to confront what he thought was an in time, as 'one
enemy
of those confounded
As the formation
fled,
the fighters
fighter,
only to identify
it,
just
Spitfires again'.
moved
in to pick off stragglers.
Rob
Bodie attached himself to a crippled bomber limping along with a dam-
aged engine. glide.
raked
He watched
the damage.
or
He
wounded
The for
it
with
fire
and
it
slipped into a long shallow
the gunner bale out, then flew alongside to inspect
pilot 'sat bolt upright in his seat,
he didn't even turn
his
and he was either dead
head to look
for a place to land, but stared straight ahead.
at
me, or watch out
Suddenly a pair of
legs
appeared, dangling from the underneath hatch. The other gunner was
366
FIGHTER BOYS
He
baling out. realized the
got out as far as his waist, then the legs kicked/ Bodie
man was
stuck and
'thought of the people
down
momentary spasm of
felt a
pity,
then
below, wives, mothers, kiddies, huddled in
their shelters, waiting for the "All Clear"/
The
But the sight disturbed him. 2,000 feet
above the cool green
legs
still
wriggled and thrashed,
trapped in a
fields,
doomed
ing down, a dead pilot at the controls. First one boot other.
He had no
socks on, his feet were quite bare;
The bomber was down being cut in half cheese. 'In
my
got
to 1,000 feet. Bodie
when
spite of
The
button.
He made no
legs
were
still.
I
had an image of the gunner
body would
his
then the
was very pathetic/
like
he didn't deserve a death
The machine went
saw
I
pieces
didn't feel particularly jubilant/
David Cox, remaining
off,
on.
grated
like that.
who had
Me
sail
past
The
me
as
I
and pressed the
be,
pilot
was dead.
attempt to flatten out and land, but went smack into a
and the aeroplane exploded. head.
for,
on where
sights squarely
came
they hit the ground, scraped away
he stood
all
it
aircraft, glid-
I
field
flew low over-
10
arrived with 19 Squadron, engaged
some of the
109s but broke off to attack a fleeing Dornier,
which
escaped by ducking into a convenient cloud. Keen to shoot something
down, he carried on.
To my
We
right
I
saw
were always
'I
had plenty of ammunition and flew south a
six single aircraft
which
you shouldn't
told
fly
I
around on your
should always try and join up with any friendly
own and you The
aircraft.'
angle he
had been approaching from was deceptive. As they approached he ized they
were
Me
more of them. Of
109s.
Tour of them dived away and
the others, one climbed behind
The one behind
in front.
attacked and
carried straight
on
he was coming
at right angles
he went
The
down and
.
.
.
but the one
crashed/
I
were heading
for
I
saw nothing
and one climbed
turned very violently and he just
who had been
above
me
turned. As
fired a ninety-degree deflection shot
Me
back to
France.
me
real-
and
11
reluctance of the other
their desperation to get
I
bit.
thought were Hurricanes.
A
109s to engage
was an
their bases. All the
indication of
remaining raiders
Messerschmitt escort was waiting to
shepherd them home. Despite the great concentration of force and the
367
PATRICK BISHOP huge expenditure of ammunition, only
of the Dorniers had actually
six
been shot down. The remaining nineteen struggled back some way or another,
most of them sieved with
bullets, frozen air whistling
through
the holes in the Plexiglass canopies, their interiors stinking of cordite and petrol, the
wounded moaning
or unconscious, the dead slumped,
strapped in where the fighters' bullets had caught them.
damage
that
had been
survivors had to
was
inflicted that
their
was not the
It
was the
story the
tell.
The bomber crews were shocked ance,
significant. It
still
superiors
at
debriefed, another attack
at the strength
disbelieving.
first
of the British
resist-
While they were being
was already under way, bigger than the
last.
This time there were 114 bombers, Heinkels and Dorniers, which had taken off from bases in Holland and northern France to form up over
Cap
Gris Nez, half-way
the pebble
They
between Boulogne and
promontory of Dungeness,
arrived in
two waves.
In the
The second was
eight bombers.
Calais,
and
set course for
thirty miles across the
first
Channel.
were three formations of
two formations of
smaller,
bombers. Each formation had an escort of about
thirty
Me
109s.
sixty-
forty-six
Another
150 fighters cruised in a loose box around the core of the force, throttling back, swinging
from
side to side so as to
and not outstrip the bombers, with
on
sweep the way
either side to
this
clear.
Once
speed
stalling
number roaming ahead and
again the target
was London,
time the Royal Victoria and the West India Docks.
The
British pilots
briefed the crews
flopped
down
had landed, spoken
for a
few moments'
and the other 249
sitting
to their intelligence officers,
on the performance and needs of
checked, refuelled and rearmed. clay
remain just above
a similar
Many
rest fell
their
machines and
while their machines were straight to sleep. Richard Bar-
pilots 'had a rotten
lunch in our dispersal hut
on our beds'. The excitement of the morning had not subsided
before they were in the
air again.
At 2 p.m., Park ordered eight squadrons
off in pairs to patrol over Sheemess, Chelmsford, Kenley
and Horn-
church. Five minutes later he scrambled four more; then a further eight.
Reinforcements from 10 and 12 Group were defence of the capital, including a Big
368
summoned
Wing
to
come
to the
of five squadrons from
FIGHTER BOYS Duxford, comprising twenty-seven Hurricanes and twenty
The
Romney
clash took place over
first
Spitfires.
Marsh. As the Germans
crossed over land, the advance guard of twenty-seven fighters from 41, 92 and 222 Squadrons sailed in to the attack.
The
schmitts broke off to confront them. Pilot Officer
Bob Holland, 92 Squad-
ron's brilliant pianist,
watched him
slide
was shot up from behind. The German
back the canopy and step out into space. Park ordered 303
near Staplehurst.
unhurt,
scramble.
With
escorting Messer-
With outside reinforcements, 276 Hurricanes and approaching the enemy,
Spitfires
more than had been
slightly
landed,
and 602 Squadrons to
now
every one of 11 Group's units were
that,
He
pilot
engaged.
were facing or
in action in the
morning. This time, though, the odds were not so favourable. Their task
was
to stop the bombers, which,
if
they maintained their formations,
were capable of defending themselves
strongly.
To
get to
to break through a defensive screen of 450 fighters. British pilots escort.
had the
German
in to attack they
outriders, flying high
British fighter
commit himself to
as
line
first
wave of
of the sky.
saw
a
attacks, they
flew straight into them. Pilot Officer Paddy
and sending
Tom
as they
of defence, Hurricanes from 213
Stephenson of 607 Squadron was unable to avoid a into a Dornier
soon
to the
the dive.
were confronted with the second
who
were vulnerable
and wide to swoop
As the German formations breasted the
and 607 Squadrons,
height, the
advantage over those providing the close
tactical
But once they went
them they had
With
his
own and
collision,
smashing
the other machine spinning out
Cooper-Slipper, a nineteen-year-old pilot officer, after
being shot up while closing on another Dornier and realizing he would
have to bale out, decided to ram
it
before jumping. Appalled crews
saw him overhaul the bomber and turn
into
it,
knocking
it
into an
uncontrolled dive. Astonishingly, both Stephenson and Cooper-Slipper survived.
The German
force
London down an
air
was now arranged
corridor that took
widening mouth of the Thames
would swing
left
as
it
it
in three
groups approaching
past Maidstone, reaching the
flowed past Gravesend, where
it
towards Docklands. But before the bombers and
369
PATRICK BISHOP
way through
reached the targets, they had to fight their
fighters
and thickest
line
of defence, the squadrons
eastern approaches to the
now massed before
The bombers
city.
clammy grey of
towering stacks of cumulus that reared up from 2,000
away from
plunged into
was get
watch
detailed to
among
major
their third
the
bombing zone,
by four or before he
five
went
With no
the formation and
Hurricanes and
Spits'.
When
into cloud.
last
was
He I
wool
He
around.
told
.
.
fighters
still
in
tried to
'getting a hell of a plastering
'gave
it
saw him
a squirt for luck just his
wheels had come
followed him through
along with several of the other fighter boys wasping
.
me
nearby aerodrome/
squadron
threat apparent, he
bomber which had been
down and he was looking awful sick. My number 3 the cotton
the British fighters
for fighters while the rest of the
the centre group of Heinkels.
away from
feet. Just after
Bobby Oxspring with 66 Squadron
assault.
dived towards the action, where he found a chiselled
the south-
cruised on, in bright sun-
shine one minute, the next tunnelling through the
2.30 p.m., ten minutes
the third
afterwards they succeeded in making
12
The Heinkel put down on West
hot pursuit.
It
was
[it]
on
crash
a
Mailing, with the
to be claimed as a 'definite' in
numer-
ous individual combat reports.
The presence of
German
the
fighters
made such
behaviour extremely dangerous. Pilot Officer
Tom
Richard Barclay's in 249 Squadron, had just shot
been momentarily mesmerized by the legs as
two bodies flew
past
undeveloped parachutes
by
Me
.
.
.
my
I
down
a friend of
a Dornier
sight of 'spreadeagled
and
arms and
head, heavy with the bulges that were
the crew! Baling out!'
Then he was engulfed
109s arriving to take revenge. 'In a frenzy of self-preservation,
pulled and pushed and savagely yanked
ever
Neil,
unrestrained
caught sight of a wing or
my
a fuselage in
aircraft about, firing
my windscreen. They were
not sighted bursts, just panic hosings designed to scare rather than
and directed against
aircraft that
murderous, desperate interlude.'
were often within yards of
in steep dives
me
kill
... a
13
Such encounters imposed huge physical endured
I
when-
strains.
The crushing
G forces
induced blackouts so that in any combat a
pilot
might be unconscious for several seconds, then come to find he was
370
FIGHTER BOYS upside
down
or screaming towards the ground. At high speeds a fighter's
delicate controls
became
stiff
and leaden and
the stick so that after a fight the pilot's right
The
layers of
altitudes, the
warm
took
it
real strength to shift
arm would be
throbbing.
clothing needed against the intense cold of high
oxygen mask that enveloped half the
face,
became
horribly
restricting in the intense physical exertion of a dogfight and pilots
climbed out of the narrow cockpits soaked
even the Tubbys' and the 'Jumbos',
lost
in sweat.
Almost everyone,
pounds during periods of action.
Despite the vicious attentions of the fighters, the
German bombers
held their formations and pressed on doggedly through the flowing,
incandescent line of tracer and the foul black
and then ing,
machine would dip earthwards or
a
away from
the comforting
most of them were into their toria
bombing
still
there,
runs.
Docks were unable
bank of
West
a ripple
Ham
Now
at 2.40
p.m.
approaching London and preparing to go
to find the target,
They would have
bomb
for the Royal Vic-
which was hidden under and
to do.
a
clearly visible, lay
The
lead
bombers
doors opened and the crews behind
of white explosions race across the dingy townscape of
thousands of feet below. The second formation's target, the
Surrey Commercial Docks on the south side of the in cloud.
flak.
behind, engine cough-
embrace of the pack. But
cloud. Just beyond, though, to the north
towards them. The
watched
slip
The two formations aiming
railway lines and a gasworks. tilted
mushrooms of
Three Hurricane squadrons coming
was
also cloaked
in to intercept
watched the
river,
Dorniers swing into a right turn and head away, scattering
bombs
as they
departed over the suburbs of south-east London.
On
the
way back
they were harassed constantly by fighters and
The most vulnerable were
flak.
the strays, deprived of the reassuring crossfire
that a well-maintained formation could put up, reliant
on the protection
of any Messerschmitts which had noticed their plight and had sufficient petrol remaining to
cloud.
Some were
go to
their aid,
fortunate
enough
ducking wherever they could into to
meet up with
109s that arrived over the middle of Kent to help the
a force of fifty
Me
bombers home.
As the retreating bombers crossed the beaches of Kent, fringed with barbed wire, scored with trenches and sown with mines
in preparation
37i
PATRICK BISHOP for the invasion, the attacking fighters fighters
were coming
now
away. Everywhere
fell
During the ninety minutes of the
in to land.
the
action,
twenty-eight squadrons had been ordered off and every one of them had
been
in action.
Fighter entire
As the
reached for
pilots
Command was
summer. For the
and Park had thrown
potentially at first
man and machine
lit
up
cigarettes,
most vulnerable point
would have caught
at the airfields,
on the ground. Park had gambled
that the thunderclouds
fighter stations
1 1
would make
moments
it
very
One by one
passed.
The combined last
hours. In the
bomber
men were
action and 136
the worst day they had suffered so tively slight:
twenty-nine
twelve pilots
killed.
The
The
The
bomb
372
less
than
fields
and
two
streets
'All Clear'
had gone.
I
lost
was rela-
easily replaceable,
and
feel a sense
the order
villages, rivers
working, children
crater
It
five
had been
losses
came
of profound to return to
and towns,
away;
little
looked
black heads in the streets
my engine
was
I
at play, beside a red-brick school-
and looked up.
of workers in shops and factories, of stretcher-bearers and
hoped the
first sight-
flew to the coast and set course for
I
turning to white blobs as they heard
I
from
dead or missing.
RAF
could afford to
Rob Bodie was exhausted when
at labourers
house, a
pilots
far.
either
which were
aircraft,
day had been a year.
home. Passing low over
down
day,
over the coast, had lasted
trailing
to readi-
never came.
midday and afternoon engagements the Germans had
fifty-six aircraft in
satisfaction.
came back
the squadrons
main action of the
fighting of the
main
his
an accurate attack. The
difficult for
ness, waiting for another onslaught that
base.
A
the neighbouring sectors
in
which blessedly sprawled over nine tenths of the sky above
ing to the
fight.
Group and
almost every
anxious
in the
Dowding
battle,
immediate resources into one
second German raid now, aimed
defenceless
its
time in their handling of the
their
all
mugs of tea and
tired. I'd
done
ARP
I
thought
wardens.
my best for them.'
14
17
Autumn
There were many parties that night feeling of being in control of their
Sunset
as the pilots celebrated the
own
skies.
The next
presented 15 September as a great victory for the
most severe
had yet
defeats the Luftwaffe
German
hugely inflated figures of the
The following morning,
battle
was ebbing. There was had been
arations
RAF
and one of the
and they carried
much
of south-east Eng-
losses.
No
one yet
sign that the
little
by the
affected
day's newspapers
suffered,
rain clouds covered
land and the bombers stayed away.
unusual
felt,
though, that the
German
setback. In the
invasion prep-
Channel ports the
build-up of boats and barges continued, despite a nightly
RAF
bombard-
ment. Throughout the early autumn, tension remained high. Richard
on 25 September
Barclay wrote in his diary
expecting an invasion to break out at said that the
was concern
much
'the British
realize the
between the
people are
win
.
not a sort of flap or bluff .
.
at readiness at 5.50 a.m.' In his
.
it
was
that
1
German
.
.
is
that they
They haven't begun
have to give their
That the threat of invasion
.
.
squadron
On 29 September there was pilots. Among their conclusions
fast asleep.
still
power of our enemies and
well as the Forces, to
dictator
morning because
this
complacency.
at civilian
a rare political discussion
were that
was rather
Boche was sweeping the Channel of mines yesterday. Every-
one was therefore very there
dawn
that 'everyone
.
that
we need
nice, 2
dictatorial
Germans
is
to as
very real and
methods
are swine.'
all,
to fight
1
373
PATRICK BISHOP
The caution seemed
altitude
between German
up by
who
Park,
bombing
raid.
Park ignored the provocation, and
When
combats
Spitfires
Me
react.
At
its
core were
flown by inexperienced crews, drafted
small
109s appeared over Dover,
went on
it
later, a
bomb Chatham and
to
a third, larger force appeared, apparently
London, he had to
high
at
Five Spitfires were shot down,
waste of resources. When,
bombers heavily escorted by
Rochester.
several
bombers
and ninety Hurricanes and
fighters
a pilot killed, a pointless
force of
18 September, the
thought the formation showing on the radar
screens might indicate a
and
when, on
morning there had been
returned. During the
sent
justified
heading for
two formations of Junkers
in to replace the losses.
88s
Fourteen
squadrons went up to meet them. Geoffrey Edge, the master of the
head-on
was
attack,
to assemble six other pilots to a course position.
after
lay
back
the order
being released
came through, playing midday.
at
a
He managed
and they took off hurriedly to be vectored on
by the controller
They
when
Kenley
at
game of squash
post-lunch
them
that took
into an excellent attacking
in the sun, invisible to the
bombers and the
men
Me
109s flying closely
round them and overhead. Edge ordered
a diagonal line, a
wingspan apart and two aeroplane lengths between
them.
were
He
selected the
to try
bomber
to the left of the leader for himself.
and attack any bomber that had not been
of aircraft were
now
his
approaching each other
hit.
into
They
The two groups
at a closing
speed of 180 to
200 yards a second. Edge calculated that would allow five seconds of firing
time before he would have to drag back on the stick and
right to avoid collision.
He opened
'Almost instantly,' he wrote,
fire at
'his
roll to
1,000 yards.
cockpit starts to disintegrate. His
plane swerves towards his leader, crashing into the
tail
my
The bombers
guns
firing
on the port
breaking up and I
just left the
I
side of the formation.
have moved
guns
firing as
I
my
aim
aimed
the
to
at
my
plane.
I
leave are
starboard and at this range
one cockpit
after another.' Just
before a crash became inevitable, he pulled up, then threw his machine into a steep dive
and
felt
G
forces drain the vision
returned he saw dark shapes flashing past his wings. jettisoning their
374
bombs. He had seen no incoming
from
his eyes.
As
it
The Germans were
fire
from the bombers,
FIGHTER BOYS
who
appeared to have been oblivious to the attack until
it
was too
2
late.
Such encounters could not be endured repeatedly by the Luftwaffe without serious damage to morale. Seventeen forty-one
men were
dead or missing
Members of a bomber
flight that
had
aircraft
as a result
lost
were
and
lost
of the day's action.
four of its six aircraft in the raid
on London got drunk that evening in memory of their dead comrades and sang a defiant dirge, 'Es blitzen die stahlernen schwingen, Uns hat der
Tommy versehlt' ('The steel wings are flashing, the Tommies have missed us again'). But implicit in the song was the recognition that, despite the assurances of the commanders, the
bombers were bringing
the
seemed
to be leading
fire
plutocracy to fear and terror.
much vaunted Royal
are irreplaceable.'
3
British surrender.
If
the
The
was
far
from beaten. Each night
and death to London. But the violence
nowhere. Goering assured the crews that
attacks 'at the heart of the British
the
RAF
The
Empire losses
.
.
.
have reduced the
which you have
their
British
inflicted
upon
Air Force with your determined fighter combat first
assertion
second, they
was
true, there
knew from
was no
sign of a
harsh experience, to be
false.
The
pilots
and crews were
as patriotic as their British counterparts.
Their doggedness and determination were testimony to their conviction that they could win.
But that assurance was fading. 'At the beginning
we
weren't particularly taken aback at the resistance,' said Gerhard Schopfel.
'We thought more
wouldn't
it
surprised at
back down.'
how
last.
But
resilient
as
it
continued
they were and the fact that they didn't
4
By the time Goering delivered
his
morale-boosting address, plans for
the invasion had undergone further modification. decision
we became more and
was taken
19
September the
to postpone the issuing of orders for the final prep-
arations once again, this time without setting a to be reconsidered.
On
As the other
new
date for the question
service chiefs pointed out forcefully, the
Luftwaffe had failed to deliver the conditions necessary for a successful operation, and the
was even unable
Wehrmacht
to protect the transports waiting to carry
to England's shores.
The problems
facing 'Sea Lion'
were not
discernible to British pilots,
375
PATRICK BISHOP
who felt themselves to be in a limitless conflict. The desperation felt in the squadrons during the end of August and the eased, however. Aircraft production
first
week in September had
was booming and the new Hurricanes
and Spitfires were the more powerful Mark 1 1 models. By the September, almost every squadron in
1 1
Group had
a full
third
week in
complement of
Fresh pilots were arriving in the system in quantity, allowing the cre-
pilots.
ation of six
new fighter squadrons. Veterans of the fighting of the early part
of the summer, as instructors,
among them
who had spent the months from June to September serving now rested, were volunteering to return to operations, and
Killy Kilmartin
No.
his old
1
Squadron comrade,
Billy
who joined fighter squadrons in September and October.
Drake,
But even with the
slight relaxation, the pilots
September wore on the Luftwaffe began
quency of daylight bombing
raids
by
were
altering
still
tactics.
its
large formations
suffering.
The
As fre-
away, though
fell
they continued to be launched intermittently, sometimes with considerable success.
On
25 September a fleet of Heinkels devastated the Bristol
Aeroplane Co. factory
works
at
The following day
at Filton.
Production was
dis-
on the supply of machines.
On
Woolston, near Southampton, was
rupted, but there
was no
lasting effect
hit.
27 September there was a daytime raid by Ju 88s aimed
was beaten back with heavy
bombers and 200
losses
the Supermarine
on both
sides.
at
London which
Three days
100
later,
launched another attempt to reach London,
fighters
which again was forced back.
The Luftwaffe was circumstances had
adjusting to the fact that, since 15 September,
changed, significantly
with mass raids in daylight
it
would
and for the worse.
its
If it persisted
face devastating punishment. Instead,
Command was now increasingly having to contend with preattacks by Me 110s using their speed and their bomb-carrying
Fighter cision
capacity to hit important targets. At the beginning of October there a further
of
its
refinement
new
when
generation of
was
each fighter wing was ordered to adapt thirty
Me
109s to carry an underslung
bomb, thus
transforming them into Jabos or fighter bombers. The Luftwaffe com-
manders
also
took to sending masses of regular
sweeps over southern England.
376
In
his
Me
109s
on
high-altitude
previous, reduced condition,
FIGHTER BOYS
Dowding would have chosen not do
little
however, he decided to confront them
strength,
Fighter
on
to react. Fighters
their
own
could
damage except to other fighters. As his forces recovered their
Command's growing
As the days went by, the
Spitfires
of
control of British skies. pilots flew higher
each other in the search for altitude and the
Me
could get near the
in a further assertion
and higher, outbidding
tactical
advantage. Only the
109s. Flying at 25,000 and 30,000 feet in
an unheated, unpressurized cockpit meant
new
discomforts.
Pilots
experienced the illusion that their stomachs were inflating grotesquely.
They
intense pain in their elbows, knees and shoulders caused by
felt
The prolonged
tiny bubbles of gas in the blood.
created a burning sensation their
mouths became raw and
feet.
Above 20,000
feet
when
tender.
Most
pilots
was an absolute
it
sometimes rapture, then
oxygen supply pilots,
Sergeant
at great height often
meant
switched
necessity.
quickly developed anoxia, or oxygen starvation. giddiness, nausea,
inhalation of oxygen
they breathed and the skin around
It
on
at 15,000
Without
they
it
induced feelings of
A
insensibility.
death.
it
On
fault in the
10 October
two
Edward Bayley of 249 Squadron and Sergeant H. Allgood
of 253 Squadron died within a few minutes of each other in crashes that
were attributed
to unconsciousness brought
on by oxygen
Leave became more regular, but the hours
were
at readiness
and the yearning for rain and cloud that would
limit flying
failure.
that an English
with danger meant
autumn had
that,
sooner or
finally set in.
later,
Galland over the bale out,
Thames
becoming
92 Squadron
estuary
tested
was unfortunate
by
The
Edwards was found dead
a
forest. Similarly
tall tree,
decomposing
top of his head
a
week
Howard
blown
a spate
after he'd
Hill, after
meet Adolf
cannon
to
of casualties.
Then
'First
Norman
Sergeant Eyles. Gus
gone missing,
in the
middle
three weeks, lodged in the top of
in his cockpit, his
off by a
to
pilots
insouciant spirit cultivated by
Hargreaves had gone,' wrote Tony Bartley.
of a
it
The prolonged contact
on 24 September and was forced
his fortieth victim.
was severely
when
even the most experienced
ran out of skill or luck. Birdy Bird- Wilson
long
was frequently
thwarted by the fine weather that annoyingly reappeared just
seemed
still
hands on the controls and the 5
shell.'
377
PATRICK BISHOP mother on
Bartley wrote to his
morale of the Fighter Boys
'the
force at
This
costs.
all
appeal for her not to worry. out.
I
am happy
September
'I
We
it/
am
a thoughtful but futile
for
whom
15 October, apparently
who
He jumped and
war
when he saw
Me
He
him down
made one his
if
in the air
him while
things.
I
was about
felt terrible
a
saw
pain in his right it
It
The
left
feeling for
378
happen
didn't
arm and
back one handed clarity that
'I
a
like that.'
German
cannon
fighter.
He
Then
shell hitting the
He found
leg. Blinded,
as his right
7
he could not he groped
arm was
useless.
at
So
seems to have flooded the thinking of
came
to his rescue.
He
undid the small
of the cockpit, tipped the machine to port and tumbled
the problem
the harness
his
one of the squadron, shoot
his bullets striking the
was getting the parachute
cord was on the right of the harness.
hand
for a
group of Hurricanes being pursued by some
pilots as they faced death
Now
him
to return to base with the rest of the
can and then get away."
his right leg.
out.
down on
shot
George Bennions had been patrolling
just try to attack the rearmost
attack and
hatch on the
Even
German who was on
attacking a
machine shuddered with the impact of
many
day'.
dived towards them and found he was on his own.
the canopy to push
was
just an inci-
either mistaken
right-hand side and exploding inside the cockpit. see and
seemed
when he was
who had
Spitfires
many
squadron
"I'll
by
hit
25,000 feet and
thought,
can't explain, but everyone
survived.
But survival meant
109s.
I
a great spiritual feeling
one unaffected by the searing events
'the
Kingcome's composure was disturbed
Messerschmitt or
and
which kept him occupied during the
dental interruption
at
predestined time runs
6
to Bartley that the only
was Brian Kingcome,
high
my
safe until
closer to one's friends,
men somehow.'
seems much better
tail.
air
He made
of comradeship and love envelops everyone.
seemed
German
hour but we are proud
and almost enjoying myself. In these times of danger
one gets drawn much
It
that, despite the losses,
will crack the
diciest
our greatest and
is
have the chance to deal with
to
19
is terrific.
it
He
and somehow grasped
between
his legs as the
to open.
The
release
reached around with his good it,
pulled and
felt
the kick of
parachute opened, then blacked out.
FIGHTER BOYS
He came
who
to in a field, told his rescuers
he was and lapsed into a
coma.
He woke up
in the
Queen
Victoria hospital, East Grinstead.
While he
was unconscious he had undergone preliminary operations performed by the plastic surgeon Sir Archibald
Mclndoe
for severe burns received dur-
ing his struggle to get out of the cockpit. Bennions
When
was burned.
An
he tried to open
awful depression descended.
couldn't hear very well.
body very I
felt
me.
close to
so deflated, just
I
his eyes
felt terribly isolated.
'I
that he
he thought he was blind. couldn't see.
I
couldn't recognize people unless
it
I
was some-
My wife came down and my mother came down. as though half of my life had been taken and the
other half wasn't worth bothering with.'
He was
told that he
had
lost the
one eye. To save the other, the damaged one would have to be
sight of
removed. Bennions flying
was unaware
life
He was
in the
this
would mean the end of the
end was forced
to agree.
extremely sorry for myself
'feeling
from another
knowing
resisted,
he loved, but
patient, a friend
who had
from school. He had badly burned
legs
when he
joined the
got a message
air force
with him
and asked Bennions to come and
see him. Bennions
was on crutches
at the time,
of a lot of struggle and
what life.
I
self-pity.
I
managed
As
I
His hair was burnt
off, his
You could just
off.
were just two holes
opened the door
who had been
were burnt.
struggle. This
I
this chair
down cried.
I
saw
in
my
eyelids
were
was burnt, there
were badly burnt. Then, when
looked
down
picked up a chair with his teeth.
the ward, threw I
have seen
off, his
chap started propelling a wheelchair
down he
I
I
3
at his feet also.
I
His
got through the door on the crutches with a bit of a
Half-way
old boy.'
I
see his staring eyes. His nose
in his face. His lips
Ward
in
badly burnt, really badly burnt.
eyebrows were burnt
looked down, his hands were burnt. feet
to get over there with a hell
can only describe as the most horrifying thing
[There] was this chap
burnt
but
it
alongside
thought, 'What have
then on, everything
fell
I
down
the ward.
Then he brought
me and
said:
'Have
got to complain about?'
a seat,
From
into place.
379
PATRICK BISHOP
The man was Sergeant Ralph
down on
shot
He underwent
16 August.
and eventually went back to For the burns the
Carnall of
1 1 1
who had been
Squadron,
a year of treatment
by Mclndoe
flying.
of having escaped death did not survive
cases, the relief
look in the mirror. Lying on the operating table shortly
first
after
being shot down, Geoffrey Page caught a glimpse of himself reflected in
He saw
the overhead lights.
had once been
met
gery, he
'a
hideous mass of swollen, burnt flesh that
Arriving at East Grinstead for reconstruction sur-
was
clad in a long loose-fitting dressing
The head was thrown back
the floor.
so that the
had ever
I
gown
Where normally two
were two
of raw
lint
large
bloody red
circles
A
eyes
to be
would
slots in
be,
each
pair of
hands wrapped in large
covers lay folded across his chest. Cigarette
smoke curled up from
that behind,
still
lay the eyes.
between the ghoul's
the long holder clenched
of the dressing
gown hung
evidently had a voice ...
bloody cripple!"
The
'
was back
turns
limply, lending the apparition a sinister it
was condescending
in tone.
air. It
"Ah! Another
to the
in
pub by two squadron
normal
life
me
stomach.'
until
friends.
For a
moment he
The poor dears, and them so young and all.
The barmaid
from the hospital
and a greeting: 'My
Heap
felt
at
he
he overheard the landlady's wife whispering
at the
Red Lion
in
Quite
Basingstoke, where
Park Prewett nearby would go for a drink,
was by contrast magnificently humane, welcoming burned
Edith
sleeves
9
loudly to her husband.
patients
The empty
teeth.
victims were acutely aware of the effect they had on others. Page
was taken
kiss
The
that trailed to
Horizontal
skin.
seen.
owner appeared
looking along the line of his nose.
showed
who had been
baled out into the sea on 3 September. 'Standing at the
bed was one of the queerest apparitions
foot of the figure
8
the other patients, including Richard Hillary,
down and
shot
tall
a face'.
darling,
how
lovely to see you.'
frequently encountered the ravaged faces, and
pilots
10
As
a
made
with a
Waaf, sure to
always look them, unflinchingly, in the eye. But the sight was desperately upsetting. In 1942 Richard Hillary visited an old comrade,
who had been manding 380
a sergeant in 603
Ron
Squadron with him and was
a fighter squadron. In other circumstances
it
Berry,
now com-
would have been
FIGHTER BOYS normal
for Hillary to
difficult
decision
I'm afraid
have been introduced to the
had
I
to
make/ Berry
said later. 'With
was
a
very
my young
flock
pilots.
'It
denied him the pleasure of going round the squadron ...
I
think one or
two of them would have
felt it
very
difficult to
As October wore on, the number of daylight bombing
stomach.'
raids
I
11
dwindled
but the fighter sweeps persisted, requiring the squadrons to maintain a high level of vigilance. The Hurricane units could do
No. 249 Squadron was
awaiting
still
its
Mark
II
little
against them.
replacements and
aeroplanes were showing their age. Most of them had developed that blotted out the windscreens after half an
hour
in the
its
oil leaks
On many
air.
patrols the pilots sighted the condensation trails of Messerschmitts high
above.
They were unable
On
ing down.
to reach
them but
the third trip of the day
noted that 'we had hundreds of 109s above Hurricane anyway ... an awful
trip as
lived in fear of
them swoop-
on 30 September, Richard Barclay us.
We were
we were
too high for the
quite helpless, just wait-
ing to be attacked.'
On
12
October the squadron was
up before
breakfast, climbing
Kent and south London.
were
said to
be below
floating about over
guarding our
tails,
and there was
to 23,000 feet
and patrolling
We were looking for some But no luck
us.
below
fifty
bottom rudder. The I
above.
which
us,
when I happened
to look
yellow nose pointed very
yards away.
I
once
for
We were
in the first hour.
to
back to the
much
in
be left
my
immediately took action to avoid his
quarter attack in the shape of a violent turn to the
spin.
109s
over
all
Dover with 257 Squadron, who were meant
a glistening
direction about
up
left
inevitable result at that height
and
was
lots
of
a flick roll
and
got out, had a good look around and saw three 109s 2,000 feet I
kept a good eye open for the 109s and rejoined the squadron.
Unfortunately
my
Nothing had gone that the pilots
No. 2 has not been heard of since
right.
On
were unable
this short
melee.
the second scramble a wireless fault to hear the controller
abandoned. The replacement
pilots
arriving
at
and the the
12
meant
sortie
was
squadron were
38i
PATRICK BISHOP proving slow to learn. Barclay complained that 'the of whom
we
have
all
in
took off
some time
the
trails
slowness ...
The new
he had
at the
it
was
tactic
Me
of the
were scrambled twenty minutes
duced
109
As usual
late!
it
would be. There were
new
and moving towards the
September.
He had
causes.
He
got his
comings of the new
to Group's
first
difficult to operate, as
flying formations to reduce their vul-
rotte
moving away from
the reliance
system of covering pairs used by the irritability in Barclay's diary
arrived at the height of the battle
proper break on 27 October.
pilots.'
Here and at the
there,
Thatch
of medal awards, a touch of sadness creeps of his friend Percy Burton he noted:
He
on
was, as he
'I
in in.
between the accounts of
Epping to celebrate a clutch After he heard of the death
am now
the only one
left
of the
Cranwellians of the squadron.'
Almost everyone had
lost a
dear friend by now.
Tim
Vigors spent
most of his evenings with Hilary Edridge. Their backgrounds were ent.
on
it.
beery nights in the mess and
five
we
Tm glad I've got some leave coming along,' he beforehand. Tm getting so intolerant of the short-
admitted, in need of
wrote a few days
was due
...
further frustrations as the brother
Germans. But the uncharacteristic note of
1
this
As we
of sending off squadrons in pairs that Park had intro-
squadrons tried to work out
had deeper
'a farce.
all.'
beginning of September was proving
known
to train
bombers over London
ridiculous taking off at
nerability to fighter attack, slowly Vies'
We've almost got
to sort out.
formation flying/ The third operation was also
we saw
sergeant pilots,
too many, didn't take off in their right sections, the
resulting chaos taking
them
new
differ-
Edridge came from Bath and was interested in music. Vigors was
steeped in the horsy traditions of the Anglo-Irish upper
meeting
at the start
class. But, since
of the year, they had become inseparable. Almost
every night they would drink beer and play darts with the locals in the
pubs around the base. Once or twice a week they went to London dinner and a tour of the nightclubs. shortly after they
had returned from
ors's other constant
companion,
the
morning of 30 October,
a trip to town, together with Vig-
his lurcher Snipe, they
from Hornchurch. They attacked 382
On
for
took off together
a formation of Dorniers
coming
in
FIGHTER BOYS north of Dover and were immediately bounced by
smoke engulfed Back rest
at
on Vigors's
a Spitfire
Hornchurch he 'waited
of the squadron were
had no appetite
right.
He knew no
in dread. Still
home
...
Me it
cloud of
must be Edridge.
sign of Hilary. All the
an hour passed and
and waited by the telephone
for lunch
A
109s.
no news.
still
I
At
at dispersal.
about 2 p.m. the news came through from Group Headquarters. The
wreckage of a
Spitfire
bearing Hilary's markings had been found in a
field
near Sevenoaks. The pilot was dead.' Vigors
felt
A wave
something he had never
of misery swept over me.
off the deaths of
had been
like
my
even
my brother
our hopes, thoughts and
felt
Up
till
before.
now had been I
close friends. But this
months.
for the past nine
my mind
down
airfield.
off
wagged
the
his tail
to accept I
it. I
tried to explain
was something wrong. I
my life.
I
sat
I
The fabulous summer
and
At Biggin
flirted
at
the
grown
up.
down on
I
the grass and he
had not experienced
flickered
Hill,
The days were
and
Nash, a much-loved
13
cooler and darker now.
died. Lightness of heart
was harder
92 Squadron fought hard and then drank, joked
White Hart or there
in
their
Roy Mottram
Waaf officer known by
Pembrey, with news of her
improvised nightclub
was melancholy behind the
the end of October, Pilot Officer
wounded
we walked
pulled myself together and suddenly a different
Southwood Manor. But
at
just
started to cry. Snipe
Cold, impossible to control, hatred.
Fighter Boys had
to sustain.
and together
I
what had happened, but he just
emotion took hold of me, an emotion which
The
was gone.
and didn't seem to understand. Then something
nuzzled up to me.
before in
We had pooled all
Now he
called Snipe
occurred which had not happened in years. realized there
different. Hilary
and had somehow managed to support
fears
each other through the trauma of those times. couldn't get
was
able to shrug
friends.
The
laughter.
at
At
sent a letter to Bunty
the squadron from
its
time
old gang were going; dead,
or posted away.
383
PATRICK BISHOP 92 has a
them
number of strange
faces these days [he wrote].
good types well up
are real
One
Wading
to standard! Bill
or
two of
rejoined us a
He
couple of days ago and everybody was pleased to meet him again.
seems
the worse for his experience, but has rather an ersatz
little
healthy look about his face - the result of his burns - but that will
vanish with time.
He
5
'black as he calls sights.
Alan
on
is
it,
simply itching to be back and wipe off the
is
and
I
feel sorry for the
sick leave at the
moment
famously, but the powers that be want to definitely objects in
next .
.
.
Hun
Brian
move him
he has
to Halton
no small manner. X has been having
time of it and his nerves have been in a pretty shattering time.
He came back today from
better.
He
seven days' leave and
a pretty rotten
some
state for
hope he
is
much
one of the
little
Watling was
things that
war
beyond the ken of the average layman who fondly
quite
is
is
believes the Fighter Boys can stand anything without
Bill
I
and he
took to the bottle in no small degree and quickly earned the
nom-de-plume 'Boy Drunkard'. That does and
in his
going on
is
months
killed four
when he was
following August,
later.
showing.
Mottram survived
down
shot
it
14
until the
over France. The Boy
Drunkard sobered up and survived the war.
The
was continuous, the German
strain
they lacked purpose or meaning. the course of the war.
The
The
attacks relentless. But
nightly blitz caused grief, misery and dis-
comfort, but never the 'mass psychosis and emigration' the desired. 'Operation Sealion'
remained technically
gales waiting to sweep the Channel made
New
least until the
Year.
now
daylight raids could never change
On
alive,
Germans
but the autumn
implementation unlikely,
its
at
12 October, Field-Marshal Keitel, the head
of the
O KW
effect
only as a means of exerting political and military pressure on
Britain,
,
informed the Wehrmacht that the plan would remain
though
its
or early summer.
execution would remain as a possibility for the spring
The
great battle faded.
discernible to the pilots.
climacteric
384
On
side lost a
Its
actual
31 October, though,
had been passed. For the
remember, neither
in
man
first
end was never it
seemed
clearly
that
some
time since anyone could
or an aeroplane in battle.
i8
Rhubarbs and Circuses
The
glorious
summer
mand changed
died and
autumn faded
into winter. Fighter
with the seasons. There were
25 November, as soon as
it
was
and the Deputy Chief of the Air
safe to
do
new
faces at the top.
for Trafford
Sholto Douglas, put in to replace
Staff,
the speed with
were
Group
1 1
Leigh-Mallory, his old antagonist and a
The departures were
detested.
expected, yet the pilots
which Dowding and Park were sent on
a distant, unconvivial pair,
felt
to
make
man
unhappy
summer
fighting,
had
won them
The
official
explanation was that they were tired and the circumstances of the
was given
Dowding went
a training
off
on
a mission to the United States.
command. Most
the victims of jealousy and intrigue.
'won the
It
was
in
It
1 1
Group
seemed
Battle of Britain but lost the battle of
the result that they true,
.
.
.
were
to Al
Now
air
war had taken
in
increasingly took the offensive. it
was
that the
British fighters escorting
The
roles
bombers
war Park
two were
Deere that they had
words
the end of the year, as Luftwaffe daytime activity
mand
felt
that followed, with
cast aside in their finest hour'.
though, that the
at
way. They
their
the admiration, even affection, of those they sent into battle.
altered.
he
but their dedication and decency, and
the intelligence of their handling of the
had
On
Dowding was removed
so,
him. At the same time, Keith Park was shifted from
way
Com-
1
a different turn.
From
away, Fighter
Com-
fell
were gradually reversed. to strike
German
targets
northern France, or wheeling provocatively over the Luftwaffe bases,
38 5
PATRICK BISHOP trying to tempt the Messerschmitts
of Jagdgeschwader free-hunt
The squadrons had of the original
Many now
when
celebrated at the
adaptation
contained only a handful
members who had been
Of
RAF's
to fight in the
tactics.
also changed.
started. it
up
there when who had been
the twenty-two pilots
White Hart
in Brasted
on
the serious fighting
with 32 Squadron
15 August, only four,
including Michael Crossley, remained at the end of the year. In between, at least a
Another
moved
dozen had been posted away.
six
were
battle
had been
out of the left.
killed.
When
Al Deere's squadron, 54, was
finally
who first went into further when the unit was
only four of the pilots
line,
character
Its
had been badly wounded.
Six
was modified
more experienced members were
designated as category 'C.
Its
off to stiffen front-line units
and Deere was given the job of training up
sent
novices.
The few were becoming many. The
men were
pilot shortage
pouring out of the operational training
units.
of July there had been forty-four Hurricane and
Command. By
Fighter
the end of 1940 there
were
as the
Squadron had States,
New
months
pilots
and it
it
a total
was
distilled a
that they
of seventy-one
aircraft.
Many
new
ith the slackening
spirit
its
of the
1941, 609
The most
ranks.
from the mix of nationali-
were often the most happy and
clear that the old intimacy
frantic conditions
squadrons in
came from abroad. During
Zealand and Rhodesia pass through
was noted
At the beginning
from Belgium, France, Poland, Canada, the United
cosmopolitan squadrons ties
passed,
Young
solved.
Spitfire
squadrons, with a secure supply of ever-improving
newcomers,
was
of the
crisis,
was
successful,
cooling,
military discipline, eroded
by the
of the summer, began to be reasserted. No. 92 Squad-
ron was only a year
old,
but in
its
brief
life it
had cultivated an
air
of
separateness and indifference to the rules that had been tolerated or over-
looked because of self-absorption
heavy
its
great success in destroying
German
aircraft.
Its
had been reinforced during September and October by
losses that
bound
the survivors together, darkened their
mood
and
increased their resentment of outsiders.
During much of the heavy 386
fighting, the
squadron had operated with-
FIGHTER BOYS out an effective permanent
who had
Sanders,
commanding
led the squadron
officer.
from the
Squadron Leader
relative quiet
Phillip
of Pembrey
into the heat of Biggin Hill at the beginning of September, set himself on fire
lighting a cigarette after returning, soaked in petrol,
the 15th.
He was
pre-war career
succeeded by Robert
officer,
who had
Lister, a
wounded and
war encased
in plaster
over he was shot down, badly
declared unfit for flying. Instead of choosing a successor
from the squadron's veteran the
on
a sortie
Cranwell graduate and
spent most of the
after a flying accident. Shortly after taking
from
summer and
went
inexplicably
enced outsider, Alan MacLachlan, reserve in 1930.
He
of
pilots, the authorities defied the lessons
for a relatively elderly
and inexperi-
who had been commissioned into the shot down and wounded
week before being
lasted a
and Brian Kingcome became the de facto squadron commander. The
recommendation was
made
finally
that he should take over. Before
it
could be implemented, Kingcome, too, was out of action, after being
wounded and
forced to bale out
Eleven days
Johnny Kent was
a Canadian,
licence at sixteen
and been an
been
work.
hair-raising
on
15 October.
new commanding
later a
On
an outstanding
RAF
time to turn
where he had been
it
into
out the officers of his joined
them without
wrote
later,
my
had
fly into
a Polish squad-
commander, helping
in a short
Command.
and the mess sergeant pointed
squadron, sitting together at one table.
them who he was. 'My
first
He
impressions/ he
'were not favourable and their general attitude and lack of
manners indicated to have
new
It
did to aircraft and
He came from
effective units in Fighter
Hill at tea time,
telling
gained his
pre-war years.
damage they
a flight
one of the most
Kent reached Biggin
who had
300 occasions he was required to
out devices for cutting through them.
ron, No. 303,
pilot
test pilot in the
barrage-balloon cables to calculate the try
officer arrived at Biggin Hill.
hands
a lack of control full/
and
discipline.
I
realized
I
was going
2
Kent was astute enough to understand there were reasons for the pilots' truculence.
Despite their impressive performance, they had suf-
fered shocking casualties
and were 'disorganized, undisciplined and
demoralized'. There was a
move
to post the squadron north for a rest,
387
PATRICK BISHOP which he
resisted,
arguing that
if this
was done
would be
it
fighting force. Instead, he 'begged to be allowed to keep
would
that
me
give
the chance
stigma of having "had
A few days
after
it"
I
needed
to get
at Biggin as
into shape
it
could not be attached to
- while the
it'.
he took over and was leading the squadron on
they encountered high-flying
Me
109s,
but several
pilots, instead
ing to face them, broke formation and headed for home.
Kent concluded, of
'109-itis'.
the pilots himself
there
if
On
was
It
from the
a repetition.
A
few weeks
for the pilots' record in the
air,
later, a
Southwood House would have
parties at
guests out
and
by
p.m. Check
11
shirts,
to be scaled
old school
ties,
Kent reckoned
am
later that 'this action
many
sure
came of them and
dire threats
gradually
ron had become more
for their
own
it
I
was
theft of
to stop.
were made behind
my back,
and that perhaps
my
all
but nothing
that the squad-
had not been
tirade
was an unpleasant bastard but because
good'.
He
in the
appealed to
Tony
I
Bartley to help
had
him
in the air
fun at the White Hart hastened the process
of reconciliation, and by the time he was posted away a training unit,
The
down and women
win the squadron's cooperation. Bartley agreed. Kent's success and willingness to join
moved
made me even more unpopular
began to dawn on them
efficient
delivered simply because
command
were
suede shoes and pink
aviation petrol to fuel their uninsured, unlicenced cars
to
weaver
clothes.
pyjamas worn under tunics would no longer be tolerated. The
it
down
NCOs
but then he
to attack their conceit, indiscipline, drinking habits
done
a case,
accused of being slipshod and insubordinate. There were
some words of praise
I
of turn-
was
landing he threatened to shoot
This provoked another tirade. The senior
rear.
summoned and
and
patrol,
break up a formation of German fighters attacking the squadron
failed to
on
finished as a
it
he was held
six
months
in great affection
later
by most of
the pilots. It
was
clear,
though, that the days of informality were over and the
grip of convention it
seemed
that
little
was tightening on the Fighter Boys. From the had changed. Propagandists continued
pilots in the light-hearted Hill
became
a centre for
image they had
media
outside
to present the
created for themselves. Biggin
visitors. Sailor
Malan, Al Deere and Bob
388
I
'
FIGHTER BOYS
Tuck became
make
celebrities.
BBC
The
leant heavily
on
fighter pilots to
The
broadcasts harking back to the great events of the summer.
scripts
were mostly written
Hollywood-tinged
chiks, in a
them by Ministry of Information
for
style that
apparat-
sounded strange when spoken
in
the clipped line-by-line delivery the novice broadcasters invariably used.
A
was made
typical 'talk'
in
December 1940 by James Nicolson of 249
Squadron, describing the action in August in which he
won
mand's only Victoria Cross of the war. Speaking
in a public-school
accent, he described at
him when
I
The form was was
offset
The
by
first
how
he chased
saw him,
after his quarry, 'shouting
'Til teach
from which the Air Ministry
old reluctance to
promote
out loud
you some manners you Hun!"
to regard broadcasts as a line shoot'.
a fee,
Com-
Fighter
'aces'
Any embarrassment
insisted
on taking
had gone. Certain
its
cut.
were
pilots
pushed towards the newspapers. Paddy Finucane, the good-looking, slightly
gauche Irishman who, once the duffer of his training intake, had
gone on to become one of Fighter Command's most successful
became
him
a favourite. His crinkly hair, square
with
a favourite
women
autumn of
1941, he
jaw and faraway look made
readers. Recovering in hospital after acci-
dentally breaking an ankle while
the
jumping over
was inundated with
a wall in the blackout in get- well letters.
you've received tons of fan mail from hero-worshipping dames the country,' wrote a land girl turnips, Wiltshire'.
Another from
She signed
'an
who off,
gave her address
'Boy, don't
I
wish
I
know how
anxious you must be to get up there again.
The
wear
a nurse.'
very sorry and hope you will get well again soon
I
to carry or
been
read of your accident in the Daily
Herald and
good man down. Don't think this
over
all
'Amongst the
as I'd
guess
'I
Miss Rose Layton of Heathstan Road,
admirer',
Shepherd's Bush, began: 'Dear Paddy,
am
pilots,
this silly
horseshoe
I
am
They
of me Paddy but
sending you for
I
can't
would
luck.'
[as]
I
keep a
like
you
3
zenith of the Fighter Boys' fame coincided with a relative decline
in their military
importance. Heavy raids by the Luftwaffe in daylight
virtually stopped. Instead there
were fighter-bomber
raids
and
a continu-
ation of the night offensive. This lasted through the winter, killing 18,000 civilians in the first four
months of the new
year.
Some
pilots
were
389
PATRICK BISHOP diverted to flying night fighters, which slowly
became more
effective as
the radar needed to locate the raiders improved.
Having fought
Command
off the Luftwaffe
took on a secondary
and ensured
role.
From
own
its
survival, Fighter
the end of 1940
it
served as
an adjunct to the British bomber offensive being launched against Ger-
man
targets in northern France.
to defending them.
The
They were required
arrangements designed to shield Bomber to their targets, to cover attackers as they
went from
pilots
to
fit
attacking
bombers
complex
into
tactical
Command aircraft on their way
them while they
did their
work and
headed home. The missions were
to hold off
called 'Circuses'
and
could involve a hundred or more fighters, organized into wings, escorting small
numbers of bombers. Many
pilots realized
importance of these operations was ate targets: marshalling yards,
effort
the
was disproportionate
bombers
as
many
refineries
and the
the loads they delivered
any
as bait to entice the
aim of destroying As well
to
They were aimed
slight.
workshops,
number of bombers involved and
from the outset
The
results.
German
real
that the
at approprilike.
But the
meant
that the
purpose was to use
fighters into the air
with the
as possible.
as the escort duties, the pilots
were tasked
to fly 'Rhubarbs',
low-level attacks against targets of opportunity such as bridges, locomotives,
off
on
convoys, flak batteries and barges. Sometimes they were ordered anti-fighter sweeps,
to 'seek
with the hazy instruction from Leigh-Mallory
and destroy the enemy'. Some of the inspiration
had come from Trenchard, Fighter
Command,
still
a
for the offensive
brooding presence. Before taking over
Sholto Douglas had been informed of the old man's
view that the time had come to
'lean
4
towards France' with aggressive
flown by the
RFC
above the
Both Douglas and Leigh-Mallory had served with the
RFC
in the First
sallies
over the
enemy
lines like those
Western Front.
World War and were disposed whether the
likely casualties
to listen. Douglas
would justify
wondered
at first
the results. Leigh-Mallory
persuaded from the outset. Thus began a phase of fighting which
hundreds of
pilots for negligible results.
the end of 1941, nearly 470 pilots
390
was
killed
Between November 1940 and
who had
survived the Battle of Britain
FIGHTER BOYS were
The campaign got
killed.
off to a
poor
start
were 2,700
were
lost.
new
might have
initiative
during which fifty-one pilots
were claimed destroyed.
aircraft
had
fizzled out
in June.
prevent a transfer of the
offensive
The Circuses and Rhubarbs gained back
make
in
life
men and
while losing 411
claimed to have shot
The
itself.
northern France so
down
731
German
was 154 including
true score
assets
a
from
difficult
aircraft stationed there.
was stepped up. This time the balance seemed more
Command
Fighter
Inevi-
German
not been for the
it
ostensible purpose: to force the Luftwaffe to pull
the Eastern Front, or at least to as to
fighters,
was lower, probably about twenty.
on the Soviet Union
attack
by
Only forty-four German
tably, the real figure
The
sorties
official
Between January and June
arithmetic weighing in the Germans' favour. 1941, there
with even the
The
acceptable.
aeroplanes
51 losses uncon-
nected with British action. 'The combat balance sheet would thus appear to be about four to his classic history
sians
one
of the
Germany's
in
RAF
in the
be said to have benefited. The
favour,'
European war. 5 Nor could the Rusactivity
keep a force of fighters in France and the at
any time of about 260 single-engined
little
effect
For
on the fortunes of the war
many
veterans of the
judged John Terraine, in
persuaded the Luftwaffe to
Low
Countries. But
aircraft
it
consisted
which would have had
in the East.
summer
fighting of 1940, flying Circuses
and Rhubarbs was more nerve-racking than anything they had experienced during the Battle of
meant crawling along
Britain. Flying close escort to the
at their speed,
the exploding flak and waiting to be
Now
the British pilots
waffe counterparts had escort duty
bombers
rocking in the shock waves from
pounced on by the German
fighters.
were experiencing the same dread
that their Luft-
To Paddy
Finucane, close
felt
the year previously.
was 'murder'. The Rhubarbs were
less feared,
but were
still
regarded with apprehension. Al Deere later described them as 'useless
and hated'. At best they 'served only
as a
that [they] enabled pilots to fire their
not against some unidentified
Rhubarbs vehicles
in
target'.
means of
guns
in anger,
train
which
I
more
steam
in
often than
Deere confessed that on the few
which he was engaged he could not
and the
letting off
'truthfully say that the
attacked were strictly military targets'.
6
39i
PATRICK BISHOP
A
graphic account of the experience and the psychological aftermath,
who were by now being used to study who had been shot down and
written for the psychologists
aircrew personnel, was given by a pilot seriously
On
wounded
September
after taking part in fifty sweeps.
17, 1941, after
spot of confusion near feet,
left,
Me
Omer, two
St
wing during
began returning home alone
I
weaving hard and losing height gradually
Over the
Lille,
getting separated from the
keep
to
109Fs passed 1,000 feet above
going the opposite way.
the sun, intending to beat these
I
was then
two up
as
as
was
I
at 18,000
my speed up. me and slightly to
at 13,000 feet.
soon
a
I
climbed into
alone, but
I
soon ascertained just the opposite and immediately became the centre of a large gaggle, consisting of nine or ten
remember keyed up
...
I
took a
till it
began to look
there
was
steam
a terrific
hammer
don't think
hit
bang
move
a finger.
I
and something feeling
the back of the head and
quite unconscious, or
felt
myself fading away,
anaesthetic. There was nothing
my
right ear.
still
seemed
if
to be functioning, all it's
and
I
happened
always told yourself there's a
was
I
it
I
me
was only
like a
for
way
the strength to
move
a
six.
I
for a
hadn't the energy
though going under an
remember to
me
too
.
you
else,
thinking detachedly in .
.
it's
out of every scrape.
one, buddy, because
come
are quite blind and
muscle and you are diving
to
you who
But there's no
you haven't
down towards
the sea
of 109s which are ready to polish you off as soon as you show
any signs of revival.
392
as
knocked
but pitch-darkness and a pain behind
left
way out of this
lot
of
But a tiny corner of my mind, aloof from everything
the dark: 'So, after
with a
lot
could float about
I
few seconds, but complete darkness descended and to
and thoroughly
coast,
inside the cockpit
me on
was ever
I
though
as
don't
I
hit.
he neared the French
as
Spitfire.
of evasive action and the Huns did a
lot
afternoon without being
Then,
and one
feeling frightened, only highly interested
inaccurate shooting, all
MEs
FIGHTER BOYS 'So there!
explain
how
others.
And
I
it
wish
could have had a
I
the chaps, just to
happened, instead of simply vanishing
late for regrets
now.
almight holocaust as
no more pain
down by
bloody
a
Hun
can only be a few seconds
It
we
hit the sea;
in [the]
like so
goodbye
there are a lot of people I'd like to say
you're a clown to be shot
fear,
word with
many to
anyway. But
now
.
.
And
.
it's
too
one
just
.
.
.
then no more fighting, no more
back of the head. Just peace
.
.
.
God,
how
marvellous!'
At the
made
last
second he pulled out of the dive, shook off
his pursuers
a good landing at Hawkinge, despite a terrible head
and
wound and
the loss of one and a half pints of blood.
Convalescing in the Palace Hotel, Torquay, he was told that he would not be able to
I
fly for
three months.
pretended to be alarmed but was secretly very glad. For a couple of
weeks
I
slept
no more than an hour
at a time.
When
awful dreams such as being towed around the sky by
had been on leave
for a couple of weeks,
the night and ate fairly well.
of my
Then
little
boy took
with
settled
things off-
made me
were
did there
my
down,
foot slept
The kindness of my wife and
the sleeplessness and the dreams
would suddenly
I
I
.
.
.
After
I
most of
the loveliness
forget for quite long periods.
came back and while reading
see myself having to bale out of an aircraft.
I
I
shivered
fright.'
After a particularly harrowing night he reported his dreams to a doctor.
He was
referred to a
wing commander who reassured him he would not
have to go back to flying for several months.
better for a day or two.
Then
returned.
I
felt
I
should have to go on bombers and stick
Rather than that
I
will
seldom do more than fear
and could not
go back to a
fire a
it
my
it
I
began
night fighters
3-hour stretch. Supposing
gun or read
my
to think perhaps
out for eight or more hours.
special
I
now where we was
petrified
with
equipment instruments,
393
PATRICK BISHOP I
my C O my squadron, and my country down, and did not go back to my job am letting them all down and
should be letting
again
if
I
,
I
myself by being a coward.
Many
7
of the moral and material advantages the British pilots had enjoyed
the previous
summer had
disappeared.
flying over
and beaches within reach of rescuers, but ranging with
friendly fields
limited fuel into
hostile
where the Germans'
territory
increasingly
system gave plenty of warning of their approach.
efficient radar
them whether or not they took
up
to
to
and preserved
their resources.
tember onwards, the German arrival into service
of the
It
was
the bait. Frequently they chose not
The enemy then became
guns, which accounted for a large
clear,
They were no longer
number of
pilots
new Focke-Wulf 190s,
had the edge over the improved
The sky over northern France was
From
casualties.
became more
the light flak late Sep-
aggressive with the
which,
it
became
quickly
Spitfire Vs.
a very
dangerous place.
It
Fighter Boys' turn to experience the desolation of the journey
was
the
home on
drying tanks, the wind thrumming in shrapnel holes and the cold and
empty
sea below. Baling out
Britain usually
unharmed over land during
meant an unpleasant shock, rescue with
the defence of
a cup of tea or a
shot of whisky, transport back to base and the joyful greetings of friends.
Now
it
over.
The apprehension mounted
signalled the
end of the
line:
as the
the leader's voice crackling over the
ordeal with the words: 'Cork
Some were
in,
imprisonment
until the
war was
French coast approached and
R/T announced
the start of the
boys!'
pleased with the opportunity to go onto the attack.
Douglas Bader had had
a frustrating
summer
time during the
of 1940 and
took to the 'sweeps' with impatient energy. In March 1941, he was posted to
Tangmere
arrival the
to
command
a
wing of three
when
the weather
three sweeps. Bader's difficult personality
to
squadrons.
The
shift
from defence
was bad,
flying
was redeemed by
to offence
his
up
to
a gift for
might have been expected
weaken morale and motivation, but Bader created
394
With
pace of activity rose sharply. By mid June his pilots went to
France almost every day, except
leadership.
Spitfire
in his
wing
a spirit
FIGHTER BOYS of cheerful aggression and dedication. Cocky Dundas, a perceptive and
humane
There was
bond between
a close
knew each
all
Tangmere
the three Spitfire units at
summer,' he wrote. 'Bader welded the wing into
that
we
was seduced by the mercurial, unconventional 'DB'.
observer,
a single unit
and
other well, so that the losses sustained by the other
own/ And
squadrons were almost as painful as our
were
the losses
heavy. Between 20 June and 10 August, Dundas's squadron, 616, lost
twelve
more than
pilots,
the previous August, spirit,
when
a spate
'morale was sky high'.
Dundas found Tangmere where
place
of casualties dented the squadron
8
in the
high
summer
summer
evenings; of visits from Diana,
dine and dance in Brighton, or
sit
Bosham watching
the Old Ship Club at
tearing terror
when,
end
at the
me
hungry 109s curving era
came
end with Bader's
'I
When Dundas
he was dejected
knew
wrote
in
my
later. It
found myself alone with
I
and the Channel coast and the
fall.
dogfight with 109s between Boulogne and Le
ture,
shot
Touquet
early in
I
had
took an enormous
who
arrived at
'wasn't like fighting a battle pointless ...
it
was
was shot down on
August
enthusiasm for the prospect,' he
little
effort
of will to keep going.
Tangmere
later in the
on your home ground.
struggle.
summer, It
seemed
felt
same way
as
I
I
didn't enjoy
had
at the Battle
it.
I
Dennis that
it
to us very
a political, psychological exercise so that the
21
in a
returned from leave after Bader's cap-
could see British aircraft overhead. the spirit of it in the
down
thought of the endless fighting that lay ahead.
at the
heart that
He was
There was no disguising the changed nature of the Armitage,
the water and
in to pick off the straggler'.
to an
and taken prisoner.
moon on
beneath us and memories of
of a dogfight,
miles of hostile sky between
when
long on the balcony outside
the
listening to the tide lapping against the wall
The
of 1941 an enchanted
of 'sharp contrasts; of the pleasure of being alive and with
friends in the gentle Sussex
fifty
that, unlike
fear of death heightened the intensity of his joy at living. His
memory was
we would
Dundas found
half its establishment.
French
didn't enter into 9
of Britain.' Armitage
September while trying to keep the formation he
was leading on bomber
escort duty together.
He was
hit
by an incendiary
395
PATRICK BISHOP round, which set his tank and his oxygen supply on
managed
to bale out.
fire,
but he
somehow
The Germans were waiting for him when he landed
and 'horribly cocky'. As they stepped forward to
him they
arrest
announced, without apparent irony, that for him the war was over.
And
so
it
many
was, for Armitage, for Bader and for
them some of the outstanding was shot down Boulogne during
pilots
others,
among
of the previous summer. Bob Tuck
in
January 1942, not by fighters but by flak outside
a
Rhubarb, and spent the next three years in prison
before he escaped and after a dreadful journey reached the Russian
Paddy Barthropp had only been back on operations
when he was
a six-month spell instructing
for
down
shot
lines.
two days
after
near St-Omer,
baled out and was captured.
At
were
least
they were
alive.
to die in Circuses
1942. Like
Hundreds who survived the
Battle of Britain
and Rhubarbs. Paddy Finucane lasted
Tuck he was brought down by ground
from shooting up shipping and a
German
fire.
the
airfield,
On
the
until July
way back
wing he was
lead-
ing passed over the beach at Pointe
du Touquet.
who was
described how, as they flew over the
flying as his
number two,
Pilot Officer F.
Aikman,
beach, he saw a small machine-gun post perched on a ridge of sand.
were almost on the post before Paddy diers
opened up
was
fire
stopped.
he
hit
at
point blank range.'
and he prepared to bale
He knew what was
hit the sea in a curtain
realized
10
The
out.
coming. His
new
was
He was
last
there and the sol-
radiator of Finucane's Spit-
too low.
The engine
words over the R/T before
of spray were: This
Others were killed in the
it
'We
is it,
chaps.'
theatres opening up, in the Mediter-
ranean, North Africa and the Far East. Noel Agazarian volunteered for
duty in the Middle East and was shot desert in
May
was snuffed she said
1941.
The
life
out. His sister,
later.
'It
of the
down in his
man
his family
that
396
loved as 'Le Roi
was often the precursor
Denys Gillam.
12
I
Soleil'
didn't cry,'
11
folklore of the
to the chop.
one was not going to survive then the way
quick,' said
over the Libyan
Yvonne, was devastated. 'But
wasn't done.'
Death seemed very much closer now. The that acceptance
Spitfire
The
fatalism
'If
mess taught
one once doubted
downhill was pretty
was cumulative. After
his first
FIGHTER BOYS tour flying offensive operations, Al Deere was 'always confident that
would come through
all right'.
On
his
second one, 'although
less hectic, there
was always uppermost
would be
13
where to
my mind
in
killed'.
happen today or
it
was going
to
ops' repeatedly dragged safe
down
I
It
men who had
was
either going
14
compulsion to 'go back on
demonstrably done their
away
bit
and comfortable desk jobs and instructing posts and back into
the realm of danger. Richard Barclay, the earnest
graduate
far
the thought that
happen tomorrow/
Yet, despite the ever-shortening odds, the
from
was
Pete Brothers, later in the war, 'reached the stage
thought there was no question of surviving.
I
it
I
who
at the
kept a diary during the late
end of November
ankle and elbows and spent
summer of
1940,
He was wounded
that year.
two months
Cambridge economics
was shot
in his legs,
There was
in hospital.
a brief
spell as an instructor before he was back in action with 611 Squadron.
During land.
a
He
sweep over St-Omer he was attacked by escaped and met up with local
the line to the Pyrenees.
Embassy and made
British
eleven-week odyssey.
Once his
He was
soon agitating to be back in
was
resisters,
in Spain,
way back
he was dead, shot
Many
of those
down
who
his
who
passed
him down
he presented himself
at the
given a cushy headquarters job, but was
At the beginning of July 1942 he
action.
On
the evening of 17 July
while patrolling in the Alamein area.
died and those
embarking on the next phase of their engaged before
109s and forced to
to Britain via Gibraltar after an
Egypt commanding 238 Squadron.
in
Me
who
expected to die were already
lives.
Paddy Finucane had just got
death to Miss Jean Woolford, a typist
at the
Ministry
of Agriculture. Al Deere's anxiety to get back into the fighting was mixed
with tender thoughts about diary
is
his fiancee, Joan.
interspersed with wistful speculations about
enjoying the perfect
autumn days
if he
tired or
kept going.'
you
didn't like
it,'
said
how
was not waiting
what he was missing. But they went on. 'You were
Richard Barclay, whose
who
knew
didn't stop because
you
Denys Gillam afterwards. 'You
just
15
By the time the end came the Fighter Boys had long Those
he would be
at dispersal,
survived were scattered throughout the
now
since split up.
sprawling
RAF 397
PATRICK BISHOP empire.
The
others were dead, lying in English country churchyards and
mud
sun-baked military cemeteries, buried in estuary strands or long dissolved in the Channel tides.
fought in Fighter
were
killed.
1945, those
Command
who were
live the natural
them
as they stepped
knew
398
the air battles of the
left
were
summer
able to believe for the
span of a man.
or North Sea
the 2,917
Another 795 died before the war was over.
might
all
Of
Few had any
first
men who
of 1940, 544
On
15
August
time that they
idea of
what awaited
out into the mysterious world of the normal. But
they could never forget what they had
left
behind.
'
The
Epilogue:
On
17
September 2000,
a chilly
Last Note
Sunday morning tinged with intimations
of death and winter, hundreds of guests
Westminster Abbey
through the west door of
mark
for a service of thanksgiving to
anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
RAF members
packed with
filed
of
all
The rows of hard, narrow
the sixtieth chairs
were
by
their
ages and ranks accompanied
wives, sons and daughters. After the readings the congregation rose. As the scraping of
stone and the coughing died
abbey.
Then
the Central
away
a
towering silence settled over the
Band of the Royal Air Force struck up the open-
ing notes of the Battle of Britain
March and down
men airmen who
slow dignity, came eight white-haired inscribed with the
wood on
names of the
the
aisle,
moving with
bearing the Roll of died in the
summer
Honour of 1940.
Pete Brothers lead the procession alongside Christopher Foxley-Norris,
Tom
with Paddy Barthropp and
They were escorted by reminder of the
was
over, the
cigarettes,
A
men
those following behind.
a phalanx of junior officers, slim
crowd stood
familiar noise cut
among
the survivors had once been.
making plans
Spitfire slid
Neil
and upright,
When
a
the service
for a while outside, greeting friends, lighting
for lunch or preparations for the
through the hubbub and
all
heads
journey home.
tilted
upwards.
A
out of the low, greyish murk, hung for a few seconds over-
head, then disappeared back into the cloud.
At the time about 300 veterans of the fighting were years later the
number had
fallen to 231.
There was
still
alive.
Two
a feeling that the
399
PATRICK BISHOP service
marked the
last
would remain moored
occasion
when
loosen the bonds of memory and
The created
Soon death and time would
would
slip into
The
its
The
outcome was decided,
Few'. Despite the
'Battle
the
was only when
it
was over
sions of the event they
of Britain' was his invention.
power of the
For most of the it
that they
had
came
to
in a historic struggle.
a
in.
deep personal
was the most important experience of their
or bad everything that
seem
rhetoric, the pilots
began to discern the epic dimen-
had been engaged
pilots the battle
it
men fighting it had been eulog-
have been only half-aware that they were involved
some
Churchill had
before the fighting had even properly begun and reinforced
it
Long before
It
the realm of history.
Fighter Boys had already passed into legend.
before the outcome was known.
ized as
it
commemorated
the event being
to the recent past.
afterwards. For
pation was a badge of honour that they
all
life,
significance.
shaping for good
of them, their
would wear
For
partici-
until they died,
arousing an admiration, respect and gratitude that took precedence over all
subsequent achievement.
The
great question of
what
to
do when
it
was
over was perhaps
all
harder to confront for the Fighter Boys than for any other serviceman. Staying on in the
remain dane.
on
RAF
gave the opportunity to carry on flying and to
in a familiar world,
Many
even
if it
had become more petty and mun-
chose to continue. Dutiful, conscientious Al Deere carried
for another
twenty-two years, ending up
as
commandant of
the
apprentice school at Halton, and retiring to live nearby until his death in 1995. Christopher Foxley-Norris finished with the rank of air chief marshal
and
a
knighthood. Birdy Bird- Wilson became an
Dennis David had
a
air vice-marshal.
long and satisfying career and was
air
attache in
Prague during the Soviet crushing of the 'Prague Spring' in 1968. Pete Brothers joined the Colonial Service and went to Kenya, but after a few years reapplied to the
RAF, commanded
Malayan emergency and ended dore. Billy
Drake held
a
400
bomber squadron during
his distinguished service as
number of staff appointments,
captain in 1963 and starting a
developer in Portugal.
a
new
life
an
air
the
commo-
retiring as a
group
as a restauranteur and property
FIGHTER BOYS But there would never be another
summer
of 1940.
the routines of peace-time service underlined. Sailor
words of
college for a year, then decided, in the 'the air
no longer held out anything
enthusiasm
.
.
He saw
.
now
turn flaccid
that
would
It
was
retain his interest
the challenge
was gone/ 2 He returned
to
South Africa
and two children to work for the Anglo-American mining
heir,
Harry Oppenheimer, bought a huge farm and plunged
left
England he made a
A
replica
down
brought in
last trip to
South
many
there
is
at last
Africa,
of the pilots
still.
White Hart
to unveil a
mem-
passed through the inn
disease.
moving on
company
Rob Bodie was
fifty-two, in 1963,
Michael Crossley also ended
where he grew tobacco before
British
His friend
who had
Malan died young, aged
by Parkinson's
did Robin Appleford, before
he worked for a Britain.
the
bar parlour, a blackout blind that had been signed in chalk,
over the years, by
up
briefly into
defending the constitution against Afrikaner extremists. Before
orial in the
door.
and
the magnificent combative spirit of the Air Force
his wife
he
to staff
his biographer, that
with
politics,
a truth that
Malan went
his
death in 1987. So
and Kenya, where
to Rhodesia
for fifteen years before returning to killed in a flying accident in
February
1942.
Some found manager
for
jobs in
BP, then took up an
comrade Max Aitken Daily Express.
He
to
Paul Richey was European area
civil aviation.
work
offer
as air
continued to
from
his old Fighter
Command
correspondent on the family-owned
live
an adventurous
life.
He
climbed
mountains, sailed racing yachts and went deep-sea diving with Jacques Cousteau.
To add
to the
broad row of decorations, there was a medal
Humane Society, awarded after he dived woman drowning in heavy seas off the Ligurian coast at from the Royal
was working on died in 1989.
moved
Hugh Dundas
He was
Portofino.
Anglo-French relations
also joined
He
when he
Beaverbrook Newspapers and
into television in the 1960s, ending
Television.
Tim
a definitive history of
in to rescue a
up
as
chairman of Thames
knighted in 1987 and died in 1995.
Vigors, after an extraordinary series of
narrow escapes, survived
the war. In peacetime he pursued the loves of his
life,
going into the
bloodstock industry and breeding some notable champions and founding
401
PATRICK BISHOP
own
his
for Shell
aviation
company. Douglas Bader
who awarded him
his
own
him
as a
some good use of
the
aeroplane.
BrickhilTs biography, Reach for the Sky,
established
left
in 1946 to
enjoyed
his
encouraging disabled people to believe that they
it,
September 1982 on
a film,
fame and made
could lead, as he had done, not a normal but an exceptional in
work
The appearance of Paul
which was turned into
He
post-war celebrity.
RAF
his
way back from
life.
He
died
a dinner in honour of Sir Arthur
'Bomber' Harris.
Roland Beamont became
a test pilot,
then an aviation executive.
Tony
Bartley also started a peacetime career as a test pilot before following his
Deborah
wife, the actress
studio in 1941. She
was
Kerr, to
Hollywood.
starring in a
flying stunts for The First of the Few,
inventor, R.
Mitchell.
J.
was among the asking
him
if
he could
which
They married
He
guests.
He had met her at a film He was doing the
costume drama.
told the story of the Spitfire's
in 1947.
Dowding, by
now
a peer,
alarmed Bartley's father during the service by
feel, as
he could, the presence of
his son's
dead
comrades. The marriage lasted until 1959, by which time Bartley had
launched into a career in
television.
He
died at his
home
in Ireland in
April 2001.
Brian
Kingcome found the
owed
ex-Cranwell cadet, he
it
commission, but was told
to his country to stay on. In
late nights
On leave,
in a sanatorium.
an American acquaintance
man
September
in a bar, deciding
who worked
for
what
He
to
do
management job to
spent three years next,
he ran into
Twentieth Century-Fox. The
commission the same day. Later he
his
in industry
assume that the
up with
at
commercial
home, life.
at
RAF
in 1958
tried to get a
but was disappointed. His mistake, he
ethical standards
school and in the
said,
and codes he had been brought
RAF
would apply equally
in
This misapprehension cost him a lot of money.
At one point Paddy Barthropp provided a solution.
402
lifestyle
asked Kingcome to be his assistant on the film he was working on.
Kingcome resigned
was
and irregular meals.
an
that, as
1950 he contracted tuberculosis, which he blamed on a bachelor
of steady drinking,
He
transition to peacetime service difficult.
tried several times to resign his
and used
his severance
money
to set
up
He had
left
the
a Rolls-Royce hire
FIGHTER BOYS
He
firm.
Kingcome
invited
to be
Kingcome wrote of
partner.
his
Barthropp, that 'underneath a facade of eccentric inanity there lurked
one of the kindest, most generous and warm-hearted of men, and every3
one sensed
it\
Kingcome's bachelor he
ing,
fell
in love
with
life
a
She was the daughter of
known
he had
came
young woman almost Sheila,
child.
RAF
sold to
it,
in 1958
trio.
had
started a chicken farm. After fifteen years
he had
who bought
Kingcome died
Dundas gave an address he
said,
happy mar-
leaving
Killy Kilmartin,
around Europe for more than
shifted
a long,
who on
Devon. With Barthropp,
convivial
They had
over a successful furniture business until they retired to
Devon. Their neighbours there included the
half his age called Lesley.
one of the beautiful Macneal twins, and
her since she was a
riage, presiding
end when, with forty approach-
to an
at
in 1994,
a
decade and then returned
a retreat locally, they
and Kilmartin
in 1998.
Kingcome's funeral. His four chief
were 'courage, determination,
formed
Cocky
attributes,
pomposity or
a total lack of
a
self-
importance and an everlasting lightness of heart and touch'. This approach to
'Why
Battle of Britain.
complained devalues the
was evident
life
word and
denigrates
face just as great odds as great,
It
was
you was far
s
attitude
B of B
towards the
always have to be heroes?
it
those others
all
who were
and whose contribution and
he once
pilots?' I
think
called
on
it
to
sacrifices are just
did
Dying
is
what's important, not the time and
4
it.'
a typically generous sentiment.
too
reverential work.
The
Even
tinker with the myth.
German
side,
air force general.
until learning
gation and
the time
film The Battle of Britain after this time,
The
it
was
was expressed
Adolf Galland. Galland had ended up
He
professed to
its
know
it
cinematic
a serious, almost
Hollywood was not prepared
technical advisers included
of them after the war.
went
By
change things. The event achieved
late to
apotheosis in 1969.
the
5
but whose exploits hadn't been pushed into the public eye by
Churchill's splendid oratory.
place
Kingcome
can't they just talk about
'Why does
in a letter.
in
to
Bob Tuck, and on a
much-decorated
nothing about Nazi atrocities
He was
to Argentina to help train
released after a long interroits air
force before returning
403
PATRICK BISHOP
Germany
to
First
and
to start an aviation consultancy. In his autobiography, The
which appeared
the Last,
in 1953,
amiable, apolitical professional soldier,
He was
to a nasty business.
whom
terms with Bader,
May
death in
marked
most
the
war
exciting
though they
still
him
at his
strongly. His
as the passing
many
pilots
own,
of a
were
married a doctor
in
with the suspicion that
and important passage of their existence was over, even
had most of
their lives left to run.
but they were divorced
after the war,
Denis's presence. 'Once,' she told me,
and suddenly there was Denis.
ing, it.
It
was
a lovely
warm
was equally
It
He
'I
bent
was
is
sitting
at
me
after five years.
convinced she has
down and
Then he smiled
feeling.
up
in bed, read-
kissed me.
in
pilots to escape the realization that
something
great.
The
cast
facing.
Fighter
Command
as
had
suf-
battle of attrition that the Luftwaffe
was
its
first
defeat they
future efficiency.
A
Luftwaffe
had marked
'a
turning point in the history of the Second .
.
.
World
was bled almost to death and suffered
which could never again be made good throughout the course of
the war.'
404
seems
it
Kreipe, later judged that the decision to try and destroy
War. The German Air Force losses
to the odds that Fighter
sixty years later
dealt Hitler's forces the
war began. The
Werner
RAF
made
More than
forced to fight had a profound effect on
the
historical
as ever.
fered since the
general,
underwent
These re-examinations have done nothing to dim-
inish the pilots' achievement.
remarkable
was
on the seriousness of the German
invasion plan and adjustments have been
Command was
it
5
they had been involved
Battle of Britain, inevitably,
Doubts have been
revision.
felt
I
and faded away.'
Despite their tendency to understatement and self-mockery,
hard for the
true
forgot Denis Wissler. She
Occasionally, during the intervening sixty years, she felt
February 1996, was
Good German.
left
some non-combatants. Edith Heap never
for
He was on good He was mushroom farm in Kent
after his capture.
near Bonn to go boar shooting. Tuck's
him
media
finished
an
widely accepted as such.
home
1987 affected
in the British
When the
his
as
brought a touch of chivalry
he had treated well
particularly close to Tuck, visiting
and inviting him to
who
he presented himself
6
FIGHTER BOYS
The
victory
was of colossal importance. 'Our
wrote Peter Townsend, 'but on western world.'
It is
But according to not need
way
the
his
and the
The
RAF
new
fact that neither
men and
their
them. The
time on the invasion plan.
would be
from the
cleared
would
skies,
opening
much damage
so
inflict
to seek terms. Either out-
dark age' that Churchill had foreseen.
came
was due
to pass
to the actions of 3,000
who
machines and the intelligence of those
balance of forces was not as uneven as the
controlled
version of the
first
manpower and
legend suggested, though there were periodic crises of
But the battle was not to be decided by resources alone.
aircraft.
one/
the end of effective resistance to the Nazis in Europe
of the
start
little
government would be forced
come would mean
a small
assessment of the likely direction of events he did
for a landing, or the Luftwaffe
that the British
was
outcome depended the fate of the
true that Hitler spent
Either the
to.
its
battle
It
was,
The
Fighter Boys'
thoughts were rarely darkened by the prospect of defeat.
'We knew we
in
the end, a question of character and morale.
had
wrote Townsend,
to win,'
certain that
we
could not
lose.
land. Miles
up
in the sky,
we
'but, I
more than
think
it
that,
we were somehow
had something
to
do with Eng-
more of England
fighter pilots could see
than any other of England's defenders had ever seen before. Beneath us stretched our beloved country, with tures
and
to have
villages, clustering
his unit, 41
of the
was
summer and
was nothing
was
area.
defend a
way
it
was
a help
badly burned
blinded in one eye, believed that it
was, 'would have fought on and
much
as
of
skill,
and the
They came from every
spirit
class
of the
and back-
Their values and attitudes were those of the
people they were defending. that her brother
who was
left'.
that of Britain.
ground and every
valleys, lush pas-
8
a victory of spirit as
Fighter Boys
and
round an ancient church. Yes,
Squadron, battered though
until there It
hills
England there below.' George Bennions,
in the last fighting
on
green
its
Noel and
It
his
seemed
to the teenage
comrades were
Yvonne Agazarian
sacrificing their lives to
of doing things, 'fighting with a real belief and dying mod-
erately cheerfully'.
They had taken
9
a
duty and turned
it
into a great act,
and done so with
405
PATRICK BISHOP a grace
and
style that
was almost
as significant as the
reflected the decency of their cause.
now. One by one the Their real
monument
last is
of the
The
Few
event
Fighter Boys are almost
are taking off
on the
to give thanks.
be remembered. Each September
Then they
will file outside
and
it
gone
final flight.
sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will
Abbey
all
Europe's enduring peace. But long after the
veteran has departed, they will
the
for
itself,
last
their
come
to
listen for the
pulsing tone of the Spitfire engine, like the note of a grand piano after a bass key has been struck, fading and swelling as
if it is
trying to
something, the most poignant and romantic sound on earth.
406
tell
us
Notes and References
The White Hart
Prologue: 1
'he
had recorded the events of the
Bob Ogley, 2
Mr
3
'wrote a
H.
J.
Biggin on the
day': 32
Squadron
unofficial diary,
quoted
in
Bump, Froglets Publications, Westerham, 1990.
Edgerton: quoted in Daily Mirror, 16 August 1940.
war
artist':
Cuthbert Orde,
Pilots
of Fighter
Command, Harrap, London,
1942, p. 10.
4
'would you lished
1. 1
like to
go
for a
flip?':
Charles Fenwick, Dear Mother, privately pub-
memoir.
Sportsmen and Butchers Gierson: quoted in Nigel Steel and Peter Hart, Tumult in the Clouds, the British Experience of War in the Air 1914-1918, Coronet,
quoted
2
Rabagliati:
3
Loraine: quoted in
4
Lewis: Cecil Lewis, Sagittarius Rising,
5
'Lewis wrote':
6
Albert
7
'He had but one
Ball:
hero
London, 1998,
p. 19.
in ibid., p. 31.
Andrew
Boyle, Trenchard, Collins, London, 1962, p. 95.
Warner Books, London,
1998, pp. 40-5.
ibid., p. 45.
Chaz Bowyer, Albert Hall VC, Bridge Books, London,
1994, pp. 32-5.
idea': ibid., p. 81.
and he looked the part
8
'a
9
'I
10
'the
11
'May evening': Lewis,
12
'we met Huns': The Personal Diary of Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock VC, introduced
.
.
.
do so want
too': ibid., p. 82.
to leave': ibid., p. 76.
topping day':
ibid., p. 111.
Sagittarius Rising, p. 174.
and annotated by Frederick Oughton, Neville Spearman, London, 1966, pp. 105 and 187.
Hun
13
'The
14
'one general reasoned': Alan Clark, Aces High, Cassell, London, 1999,
15
'to finish
crashed': ibid., p. 187.
myself: Mannock, The Personal Diary,
p. 70.
p. 166.
407
PATRICK BISHOP 16
'my
17
'All tickets please!': ibid., p. 190.
flamerino': ibid., p. 168.
first
don't
18
'I
19
'saw a flame':
20
'it
feel': ibid., p. 198.
ibid., p. 201.
gave me': Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Air
London, 1999, pp. 89 and 96. 21 'honoured the fallen': ibid., p. Manfred von Richthofen,
you were': Lewis,
Books,
94.
'The great thing': Peter KildurT, The
22
Fighter, Greenhill
Illustrated
Arms and Armour
Red Baron, The
Press,
London, 1999,
Life
and Times of
p. 49.
23
'so
24
'because he was': John Grider: quoted in Steel and Hart, Tumult in the Clouds,
Sagittarius Rising, p. 10.
p. 293.
Tu
25
'Ah!
26
'In
27
'little
28
'My system
29
'So
2.
es pilote!': Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, p. 75.
such an atmosphere,' black and
was
it
ibid., p. 60.
Mannock, The
was': Steel
Personal Diary, p. 119.
and Hart, Tumult
in the Clouds, p. 310.
over': Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, p. 255.
Fighters versus
1
tan':
Bombers
'Under Trenchard': H. Montgomery Hyde,
British Air Policy between the
Wars
1918-1939, Heinemann, London, 1976, p. 49.
prophet Jonah's':
2
'the
3
'the vital esential': ibid., p. 56.
make':
ibid., p. 49.
4
'to really
5
'less
6
'scene of grey corrugated': Royal Air Force Cadet College Magazine,
cause
1920, vol.
to':
1,
ibid., p. 61.
Andrew
No.
7
'Nothing that
8
'The
See
Tony
Mansell, 'Flying Start: Educational and Social Factors
Recruitment of Pilots of the Royal Air Force in the Interwar Years', History
of Education, 1997, vol. 26, No. 9
10
'The Cecil Committee': 'Air
Ministry
London
officials':
1,
p. 72.
ibid., p. 73.
E. B.
Haslam, The History of
RAF
Cranwell,
HMSO,
1982, p. 29.
11
'The curriculum':
12
'Fun was bruising':
13
'In
14
'The high standard': John James, The Paladins, a Social History of the
January
ibid., p. 28.
ibid., p. 27.
1921': Flight, 24
the Outbreak of World
December
1924.
War II, Macdonald, London,
15
'The policy meant':
16
'It
17
'Trenchard considered': Boyle, Trenchard,
18
'The squadron historian noted':
wanted':
RAF
up
to
1990, p. 208.
ibid., p. 113.
ibid., p. 142.
Tom
p. 519.
Moulson, The Flying Sword, The Story of 601
Squadron, Macdonald, London, 1954, p. 22.
408
September
1.
has': ibid.
first senior':
in the
Boyle, Trenchard, Collins, London, 1962, p. 361.
FIGHTER BOYS 19
John Terraine, The Right of the Line, The Royal Air Force Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1985, p. 50.
'before 1939':
European
War
20
'As early
as': ibid., p.
21
'the
22
'indicated the obsolescence': ibid., p. 23.
23
'Half an hour
in the
1939-1945,
only defence':
11.
ibid., p. 14.
Paul Gallico, The Hurricane Story, Michael Joseph, London,
later':
1959, p. 19.
24
of bloody
'the sort
silly
name': Len Deighton,
London, 1996,
Fighter, Pimlico,
p. 77.
25
'Everyone therefore started out the same': Montgomery Hyde,
British Air Policy,
p. 354.
26
3.
'I
cannot take the view':
ibid., p. 410.
'Free of Boundaries, Free of Gravity, Free of Ties'
1
Drake: interview with author.
2
Brothers: interview with author.
3
'as a special treat':
London, 2000,
Dennis 'Hurricane' David,
4
Sanders: interview with author.
5
Beamont: Imperial
IWM), 'an
7
'The
Autobiography,
Grub
Street,
War Museum Sound
Archive (henceforth referred to as
recording no. 10128.
RAF
6
My
p. 11.
biplane':
fact that
Bob Doe,
one was
Fighter Pilot, Spellmount, Stapelhurst, 1991, p.
now
overhead': Alan Deere, Nine Lives, Crecy,
3.
Man-
chester, 1999, p. 15. 8
'there
came
the drone': Brian Kingcome,
A
duced by Pete Ford, Tempus, Stroud, 1999, 9
'were boyishly 1999, p.
10
'In
one
Geoffrey Page, Shot
clear':
Willingness to Die, edited
and
intro-
p. 8.
Down
in Flames,
Grub
Street,
London,
9.
story':
Captain
W.
E. Johns, Biggies Story Collection,
Red
Fox, London,
1999, p. 40.
W.
E.Johns, The Camels are Coming, Red Fox, London, 1993,
11
'In another':
12
'the
13
Brothers: interview with author.
14
Hancock: interview with author.
Foreword': Johns, Biggies Story
15
'Over tea his
16
Doe: interview with author.
17
'Deere
18
'David had his
19
'and
left
father':
Page, Shot
Down
in Flames, pp. 8-9.
Auckland': Deere, Nine Lives, first lesson':
was absolutely
p. 23.
David, iMy Autobiography,
thrilled':
p. 97.
Collection, p. 72.
p. 12.
Johnny Kent, One of the Few, Tempus, Stroud, 2000,
p. 8.
20 Doe: interview with author. 21
'put the Tiger Moth':
Wing Commander H.
R. 'Dizzy' Allen, Battle for Britain,
Corgi, London, 1975, p. 13.
22
'queasy feeling engulfed me':
Tim
Vigors, unpublished autobiography.
409
PATRICK BISHOP 23
'Deere was so impatient': Deere, Nine
24
'When
Lives, p. 26.
the cutters': Patrick Barthropp, Paddy, the Life and Times of
mander Patrick Barthropp, DFC, AFC, Howard Baker, London, 1990, 25
'To some ...
26
'Kingcome considered': quoted Street,
it
My Autobiography,
seemed': David,
London, 2000,
Wing Com-
p. 29.
p. 25.
Richard C. Smith, Hornchurch Scramble, Grub
in
p. 37.
27
'Deere lost his temper': Deere, Nine
28
'Kingcome enjoyed':
29
Brothers: interview with author.
IWM,
Lives, p. 28.
no. 10152.
30 Drake: interview with author.
IWM, no. 12137. IWM, no. 6799. Nicholas: IWM, no. 12405.
31
Sheen:
32
Banham:
33
'gone were the halcyon days': Peter Townsend, Time and Chance,
34
Associates,
London, 1978,
35
Doe: interview with author.
36
Sheen:
37
'Deere
38
'a
39
Gillam:
IWM, .
.
.
Book Club
p. 95.
no. 12137.
spent his
first
weeks': Deere, Nine Lives, p. 33.
school bully': Barthropp, Paddy,
IWM,
p. 20.
no. 10049.
40
'Kingcome was to deliver the opinion': Kingcome, A Willingness
41
Unwin: interview with author.
42
IWM, no. 12404. IWM, no. 11616. Haw: IWM, no. 12028. Berry: IWM, no. 11475. Foster: IWM, no. 12738.
to Die, p. 23.
Brown:
43 Johns:
44 45
46
47 Foxley-Norris: interview with author.
'Beaumont wrote':
48
S.
G. Beaumont, The Reminiscences ofS. G. Beaumont, privately
published, p. 143.
49
Barran: see Frank H. Ziegler, The Story of 609 Squadron, Crecy Books, Manchester,
50
'but
1993, p. 49.
slow
rolls
I
hated':
Hugh Dundas,
Flying Start, Stanley Paul,
London,
1998,
pp. 10-12.
Foxley-Norris: interview with author.
51
52
'Hillary
was
also a
London, 2000,
learner':
Yvonne Agazarian: interview with
53
4.
poor
The
Fatal Step
IWM, no. 12404. IWM, no. 10128. Foxley-Norris: IWM, no. 10136. Brown: IWM, no. 12404.
1
Brown:
2
Beaumont:
3
4
410
David Ross, Richard
p. 28.
author.
Hillary,
Grub
Street,
FIGHTER BOYS Dundas, Flying
5
'never a plane "so loved"
6
Quill:
7
Unwin: interview with author.
8
9 10
IWM,
':
Start, p. 19.
no. 10687.
IWM, no. 10152. IWM, no. 12405. Considine: IWM, no. 10961. Kingcome:
Nicholas:
11
'Kingcome judged': Kingcome, A Willingness
12
Drake: interview with author.
13
Deere:
14
'Half the pilots': Paul Richey, Fighter
IWM,
to Die, p. 64.
no. 10478. Pilot,
Guild Publishing, London, 1990,
p. 10.
15
'Deere wrote
16
Brothers:
later':
Deere, Nine
Lives, p. 36.
18
IWM, no. 10218. Hall: IWM, no. 10342. 'Kingcome recalled': IWM,
19
'Deere wrote afterwards': Deere, Nine
20
Winskill:
17
IWM,
no. 10152.
21
Townsend
22
Sanders: interview with author.
23
Hancock: inteiview with author.
24
'Quill
25
'Bartley decided to visit
also noticed':
wrote to
Lives, p. 36.
no. 11537.
Townsend, Time and Chance,
pp. 99-100.
his mother': letter in Quill family archive.
Germany': Tony Bartley, Smoke
Trails in the Sky,
William
Kimber, London, 1984. 26 Bowring: 27
'Hillary
millan,
IWM,
went
to
no. 12173.
compete
London, 1942,
Germany': Richard
in
Hillary,
The Last Enemy, Mac-
p. 23.
28
'At CranwelT: Journal of the Royal Air Force College, spring 1939.
29
Drake: interview with author.
30 Page:
IWM,
no. 11103.
was contemptuous':
Hillary, The Last
Enemy, pp. 28-9.
31
'Hillary
32
'old-fashioned patriotism?':
33
Deere:
34
'spent a lot of time': see Oliver Walker, Sailor Malan, Cassell,
35
'wrote an
36
'Kingcome was ordered': Kingcome,
37
'Townsend
38
'Brothers had to appear': interview with author.
39
'Vigors
40
'the inevitable, well lubricated games':
IWM,
Beaumont, Reminiscences,
RFC
veteran': Flight, 18
recorded':
March
Townsend, A
London, 1953.
1939.
p. 61.
Willingness to Die, p. 99.
on leave from Cranwell': Vigors, unpublished autobiography, Dundas, Flying
41
'what a party': Townsend, Time and Chance,
42
IWM, no. 12028. Walker: IWM, no. 10617.
43
p. 131.
no. 10478.
p. 117.
Start, p. 12.
p. 102.
Haw:
44
'one of the few to be surprised': Fenwick, Dear Mother, p. 36.
45
Down:
IWM,
no. 11449.
41
PATRICK BISHOP 'Kingcome was
46
5.
quoted
struck':
London, 2000,
Street,
in
Richard C. Smith, Hornchurch Scramble, Grub
p. 51.
Winter of Uncertainty Freeborn: interview with author.
1
'According to Eric Clayton': Eric Clayton,
2
Museum, Hendon,
ref.
'eighteen years old': in fact he
Deere:
5
'His biographer wrote': Walker, Sailor Malan. 'Al
7
Quoted
8
Maclean:
Henry Buckton,
in
IWM,
Lives, p. 41.
Birth of the Few, Airlife,
Shrewsbury, 1998,
p. 89.
no. 10788.
9
Townsend took part': Townsend, Time and
10
Bennions:
11
Paddy Finucane: archive,
RAF
Fall,
no. 10478.
Deere noted': Deere, Nine
6
Heavens
If the
was nineteen.
3
4
IWM,
What
34870.
IWM,
Chance, pp. 105-6.
no. 10296. Pilot Officer B. E. F. Finucane, letters, in
IWM,
documents
97/43/1.
ref.
RAF Museum, Hendon, ref.
12
Benson: Pilot Officer Noel Benson,
13
'told
14
Wissler: diary of Pilot Officer Denis Wissler in
Benson's father
Pilot Officer
Benson
in
letters in
133331.
correspondence and eyewitness account of death of
later':
IWM,
documents
archive,
ref.
IWM,
133332.
documents
archive,
ref,
91/41/1. Earp:
15
6.
IWM,
no. 11772.
Return to the Western Front
1
2 3
'wrote Paul Richey': Richey, Fighter
'Mould
felt
bad about
Pilot, p. 19.
his victory': see ibid., p. 24.
'Richey noticed': accidental brushes with death, distress to a pilot
than encounters with enemies
Eric Clayton, a corporal in the early spring
seemed, could cause more
on the 56 Squadron ground
of 1940
and highly experienced
it
who had
when
pilot,
staff,
set
out to
was
at
Flight Lieutenant Ian Soden, a
kill
them.
North Weald
much-admired
landed after practice formation flying with Flying
Officer Illingworth and Flying Officer Rose. 'Soden got out of the cockpit looking
white, released his parachute and leaned over the tailplane, clearly distressed. As the other pilots approached him, he said:
"My God
Illingworth!
Inspection revealed a large dent in the sternpost of the short,
cocky fellow, did not seem too perturbed and Rose was
What
surprised us, though,
displayed
Clayton,
little
What
4
Matthews:
was Soden's show of distress,
emotion, was rather If the
IWM,
Heavens
Fall.
no. 10451.
5
Paulette Regnauld: interview with author. 'the
7
'Gallagher wrote': in Daily Express, 28
main
for he
attraction
was the Roxy': Richey,
Fighter Pilot, p. 29.
November
1939.
You
hit
me."
Illingworth, a
slightly
was
distant, and, as events proved,
6
412
tail fin.
a
amused.
man who
very brave' -
FIGHTER BOYS 8
Foxley-Norris: interview with author.
9
'Richey pulled up violently': Richey, Fighter
10
'Beamont discovered':
11
Sanders: interview with author.
7.
The
IWM,
Pilot, p. 46.
no. 10128.
Battle of France
IWM,
no. 13152.
1
Parrott:
2
Drake: interview with author.
3
'four
4
'We took
farm hands had been working': Richey, Fighter off':
quoted
Twelve Days in May,
RAF
in Brian Cull
Grub
London, 1999,
Street,
Pilot,
pp. 69-70.
and Bruce Lander with Heinrich Weiss, p. 48.
5
'The
6
Brothers: interview with author.
7
'Richard Whittaker's report': Public Record Office, diary of 17 Squadron.
8
'Richey had been hurrying': Richey, Fighter
9
'He described': quoted in Cull and Lander with Weiss, Twelve Days
10
Drake: interview with author.
11
'Richey had to collect something': Richey, Fighter
12
'David received a
13
'Our nerves': Richey, Fighter
14
'Churchill
official
daily report admitted': ibid., p. 52.
David,
letter':
was woken':
Pilot, p. 75.
in
May,
p. 85.
Pilot, p. 86.
My Autobiography,
p. 26.
Pilot, p. 80.
see Terraine, The Right of the Line, pp. 135-40, for an
account of Cabinet discussions.
My Autobiography,
15
'met a column of Belgian refugees': David,
16
17
'When they retold the stories': Richey, Fighter Pilot, 'Matthews was sent one day': IWM, no. 10451.
18
'A pilot officer
19
'Richey wrote': Richey, Fighter
from "B"
interview with author.
Flight':
Squadron took over
Pilot, p. 108.
20
'No.
21
Brothers: interview with author.
22
Hancock: interview with author.
23
1
'He concluded that
it
p. 26.
p. 90.
a cafe': ibid., p. 112.
would be
''criminal''': see Terraine,
The Right of the Line,
p. 153.
IWM,
24
Beamont:
25
'David flew to their
26
'David,
no. 10128. airfield':
who had been
David,
shot up':
My Autobiography,
p. 28.
ibid., p. 29.
27 Drake: interview with author. 28
'Richey "noticed"
29
':
Richey, Fighter
Pilot, p. 129.
30
IWM, no. 12217. Hancock: IWM, no. 10119.
31
Dawbam:
32
Rosier:
33
'one Hurricane carried a passenger':
34
'No.
1
May,
p. 25.
Long:
interview with author.
IWM,
no. 10157.
Squadron
diary':
quoted
IWM,
in Cull
no. 10093.
and Lander with Weiss, Twelve Days
in
413
PATRICK BISHOP 8.
Dunkirk
1
'wrote Brian Kingcome': Kingcome,
2
'As Al
3
'Deere reported':
Deere pointed
'Deere agreed':
5
'Leathart
6
'Crossley noted': quoted in
.
Lives, p. 46.
ibid., p. 55.
promised':
.
Willingness to Die, p. 74.
ibid., p. 49.
4
.
A
Deere, Nine
out':
ibid., p. 59.
Graham
Wallace,
RAF
Biggin Hill,
Putnam, London,
1959, p. 116.
squadron chronicler recorded': Mounson, The Flying Sword,
7
'the
8
Kingcome:
9
Unwin: interview with author.
10
Unwin: interview with author. 'Leathart
11
.
IWM,
.
described':
.
London, 2000,
Street,
p. 51.
no. 10152.
quoted
in
Norman
Franks, Air Battle Dunkirk,
Grub
p. 27.
12
'biographer wrote': Paul Brickhill, Reach for the Sky, Collins, London, 1954, p. 170.
13
Kingcome:
14
'Malan found': Walker, Sailor Malan,
15
'When Deere
16
'Rosier
17
'Kingcome saw': Kingcome, A Willingness
18
Unwin:
19
'Malan said afterwards': quoted in Walker, Sailor Malan,
.
.
.
IWM,
no. 10152. p. 77.
explained': Deere, Nine Lives, p. 70.
told
IWM,
how
his wife':
IWM,
no. 10157. to Die, p. 77.
no. 11544.
24
IWM, no. 11086. Unwin: IWM, no. 11544. Nicholas: IWM, no. 12405. Dundas: IWM, 10159. Bartley: IWM, no. 11086.
25
'Vigors
p. 79.
20 Bartley: 21
22 23
9.
Doing
1
'At
.
.
.
went
off
on the
last patrol': Vigors,
unpublished autobiography.
It
Duxford aerodrome': Vigors, unpublished autobiography, contains the whole
account. 2
'Richey found': Richey, Fighter
3
'Kingcome found': Kingcome, A Willingness
4
Brothers: interview with author.
Pilot, p. 114.
5
Freeborn: interview with author.
6
'the release
from
7
Kingcome:
IWM
8
Unwin:
9
Parrott:
10 11
12
Walker, Sailor Malan,
p. 74.
no. 10152.
IWM, no. 11544. IWM, no. 13152. Rosier: IWM, no. 10157. Brown: IWM, no. 12404. 'I
in
414
tension':
to Die, p. 51.
was suddenly drenched': quoted May,
p. 123.
in Cull
and Lander with Weiss, Twelve Days
FIGHTER BOYS quoted
in ibid., p. 203.
13
'Just as':
14
'Dundas was to
15
'Richey
10.
Before the Storm
1
'Tim Vigors heard': Vigors, unpublished autobiography.
2
'Ministry of Information instructions': The Times, 19 June 1940.
3
'a
.
began to
.
.
newspaper
Dundas, Flying
find':
feel peculiar':
Start, pp.
2-3.
Richey, Fighter
Pilot,
pp. 80-81.
circulating in south-east England': Chichester and Southern Post,
22 June 1940. 4
'in
the
5
quoted
officials':
London, 1968,
in
Brian Gardner, Churchill in His Time, Methuen,
p. 65.
Brothers: interview with author.
6
'shortages
7
Haw:
were so
acute': see
Fenwick, Dear Mother.
8
IWM, no. 12028. Usmar: IWM, no. 10588.
9
'Beaumont's diary
10
'awareness of problems': Ziegler, The Story of 609 Squadron,
11
'The
first
entry':
Beaumont, Reminiscences.
12
'Deere was particularly proud': Deere, Nine
13
Bird-Wilson.
IWM, was
Fenwick, Dear Mother.
'Fenwick
15
Rosier:
16
Unofficial diary of 72
11. 1
The Channel Battle 'was now at': quoted in
2
'Deere narrowly escaped':
3
Foxley-Norris:
4
Quayle:
5
Drake: interview with author.
.
.
.
IWM,
in love':
no. 10157.
IWM,
IWM,
Squadron
in
RAF Museum,
Deere, Nine
no. 10136.
air force in Britain':
John Murray, London, 1995,
Brothers: interview with author.
8
Bartley,
9
'the
10
Unwin: interview with author.
11
Cox:
12
'Pilots
IWM,
Adam
were
no. 11086.
no. 11510. told': see
Brockhampton
IWM,
Anthony Robinson, Press,
RAF
London, 1999,
Fighter Squadrons in the Battle of
p. 31.
13
Page:
14
'courage, these days': quoted in Walker, Sailor Malan, p. 101.
15
'was said to have been able to spot': Allen, Battle for Britain,
16
'Page
17
'Beaumont
.
.
Zamoyski, The
p. 71.
109 carried the heavier punch': see Deighton, Fighter, p. 77.
IWM,
Britain,
Lives, p. 94.
no. 10609.
7
Me
Hendon.
ibid., p. 99.
'The leading historian of the Polish Forgotten Few,
Lives, p. 90.
no. 10093.
14
6
p. 99.
person to greet him:' Vigors, unpublished autobiography.
.
no. 11103.
confessed': Page, Shot .
.
.
was
told':
Down
p. 77.
in Flames, p. 63
Beaumont, Reminiscences.
415
1
PATRICK BISHOP 18
'Kingcome's feeling: Kingcome,
12.
The Hun
1
Bob Tuck's
'Milch chose
A
aircraft':
Willingness to Die, p. 99.
Larry Forester, Fly for Your
Life,
Frederick
Muller, London, 1956, p. 59. sent a thank-you
Haslam, The History of RAF Cranwell,
2
'Milch
3
'Kingcome's sardonic style wavered':
.
.
.
gift':
4
Becker: interview with author.
5
Schopfel: interview with author.
6
'his first
private meeting with Hitler':
Windrow
Biography, 7 8
IWM,
&
p. 62.
no. 10152.
David Baker, Adolf Galland,
Greene, London, 1996,
the Authorized
p. 43.
Foxley-Norris: interview with author. 'as
long as
I
Books, 1996,
Wick quoted
can':
in
Mike
Spick, Luftwaffe Fighter Aces, Greenhill
p. 73.
9
'to attach, to track': ibid., p. 128.
10
Galland,
1
Schopfel: interview with author.
12
'he told his biographer': Baker, Adolf Galland, p. 94.
13.
Hearth and
1
Brothers: interview with author.
2
Greenwood:
3
Elkington: interview with author.
4
Considine:
5
Foxley-Norris:
IWM,
no. 2791
Home letter to Dilip Sarkar, in
RAF Museum, Hendon
archives.
IWM, no. 10961. IWM, no. 10136.
and sweeping': quoted
The Story of 609 Squadron,
6
'circling
7
Page:
8
Constable Maxwell: diary of Michael Constable Maxwell, in
IWM,
in Ziegler,
p. 119.
no. 11103.
RAF Museum,
Hendon, Research Department. 9
Fink: interview contained in research papers of Alexander Strike
from
Sky - the Battle of Britain
the
RAF Museum,
Story,
New
McKee
1969),
now
10
'After
two months': Dennis Armitage, unpublished memoir.
1
Armitage: interview with author.
12
Gundry:
in
Officer
Pilot
(for his
book
English Library, London,
Hendon.
Kenneth Gundry,
letters
to parents,
RAF Museum,
Hendon. 13
'The attack was
14
'John
15
Dundas
.
.
led': Ziegler, .
wrote':
'the base's historian':
The Story of 609 Squadron,
p. 122.
ibid., p. 120.
Rocky Stockman, The
History of
RAF Manston, RAF
Station
Manston, pp. 35-44.
Group Captain Robert Deacon Hendon.
16
'None of us had
17
RAF Museum, Sheen: IWM, no. 12137. Bowring: IWM, no. 12173. 12 Squadron,
18
416
ever':
Elliot, Unofficial History
of
FIGHTER BOYS 19
Fiske: see
David Alan Johnson, The
Battle of Britain,
Combined
Publishing, Penn-
sylvania, 1998, p. 120.
20
'Deere wrote
21
Marjery Wace:
later':
Deere, Nine
IWM,
Lives, p. 142.
no. 2259.
14. Attrition 1
Foxley-Norris:
2
'Al
Deere
.
.
.
IWM,
no. 10136.
noticed': Deere, Nine Lives, p. 136.
IWM,
no. 10049.
3
Gillam:
4
Appleford: interview with author.
5
Usmar:
6
'Shown up
IWM,
no. 10588.
clearly':
quoted
Mason,
in Francis K.
Battle over Britain,
Aston Publi-
cations, 1990, p. 256.
7 8
9 10 11
12 13
IWM, no. 10152. IWM, no. 10128. Deere: IWM, no. 10478. Beamont: IWM, no. 10128. Gillam: IWM, no. 10049. Cox: IWM, no. 11510. Beamont:
Doe
14
'Bob
15
'Malan
16
Holden:
17
Armitage, unpublished memoir.
'the flick':
Kingcome:
noticed':
felt':
Doe: Fighter
Pilot, p. 36.
Walker, Sailor Malan,
IWM,
'Gleave, speaking
posium on the
p. 104.
no. 11198. later':
Gleave made
Battle of Britain
his
remarks
in a
paper delivered
Society and the Royal Air Force Staff College, Bracknell,
on 25 June
subsequently published in The Battle Re-Thought, edited by Air
Henry Probert and Sebastian Cox, 18
'He talked to me': Dundas, Hying
who had been
19
'Walker,
20
Gillam:
IWM,
21
Benson:
letters
sym-
at a
sponsored by the Royal Air Force Historical
Airlife,
Shrewsbury, 1991,
Start, pp.
1990.
It
was
Commander
p. 50.
41-2.
posted': William Walker, private account.
no. 10049.
of Pilot Officer Noel Benson in
RAF Museum,
Hendon. See
correspondence relating to the death of Pilot Officer Noel Benson
in
also
RAF
Museum, Hendon. 22
Brothers: interview with author.
23 Joan Lovell Hughes: interview with author.
24
Lamberty:
25
'601
letter to
Alexander McKee
in
RAF Museum,
Hendon.
Squadron's historian recorded': Moulson, The Flying Sword,
28
IWM, no. 10093. Kingcome: IWM, no. 10152. Winskill: IWM, no. 11537.
29
'The amazing thing':
30
'Armitage,
31
Unwin:
p. 89.
26 Bird- Wilson: 27
wounded
IWM,
Elliot, Unofficial History
in the left leg':
of 72 Squadron.
Armitage, unpublished memoir.
no. 11544.
417
PATRICK BISHOP 32
RAF
'The
bureaucracy
personal
listed
effects':
IWM,
Department of Docu-
ments, ref 97/43/1. 33
'described in a poem':
Royal Air Force,
Anthony Richardson, 'Because of These',
Hodder
&
in Verses of the
Stoughton, London, 1942.
34
'no point in brooding about death': Page, Shot
35
'Peter's towel': Ziegler,
Down
The Story of 609 Squadron,
in Flames, p. 69.
p. 103,
quoting David Crook,
Fighter Pilot.
with the paperwork': Armitage, unpublished memoir.
36
'left
37
'Dr Benson's grief: correspondence relating to the death of Pilot Officer Noel
38
Wronsky:
Benson
RAF Museum,
in
Hendon.
39
McKee in RAF Museum, Hendon. 'Townsend gave way to his emotions': Townsend, Time and
40
'Deere's
41
'he told Archie WinskilT:
15.
Brotherhood
.
letter to
.
.
confidence
.
.
began
.
IWM,
to falter':
IWM,
no. 11537.
1
'Kingcome remarked': Kingcome, A Willingness
2
Beamont:
3
Foxley-Norris: interview with author.
IWM,
to Die, p. 183.
no. 10128.
remembered': Bartley, Smoke
4
'Bartley
5
Dunning- White: interview with author.
6
'an unsentimental book':
Leader Hubert Allen
Trails in the Sky, p. 58.
Wing Commander
DFC
(eds.),
Atholl Forbes
Hutchinson: interview with Sophia Coudenhove.
8
Leng:
9
Page: interview with author.
10
Usmar:
11
'John Coghlan, a flying
12
Bowring:
IWM,
p. 79.
no. 10588. officer,':
Clayton,
What
If the
Heavens
Fall,
pp. 3-5.
IWM, no. 12173. IWM, no. 11510.
Cox:
14
Wellum: Geoffrey Wellum,
15
David: interview with author.
16
Foxley-Norris: interview with author.
First Light,
'To the ground crews he could
be': see
Viking, London, 2002.
testimony of George Reid, in Dilip Sarkar,
Bader's Tangmere Spitfires, Patrick Stephens, 18
David: interview with author.
IWM,
London, 1966,
19
Beamont:
20
'Orde describes him
21
'To Eric Clayton he was: Clayton, What If the Heavens
22
'practical
p. 51.
no. 10128. as':
Orde,
Pilots
of Fighter Command,
p. 19.
Fall, p. 5.
joking and ragging traditions': 73 Squadron unofficial diary,
Department of Documents, Box
IWM,
23
Beamont:
24
Brothers: interview with author.
25
'in
418
and Squadron
no. 12217.
13
17
DFC
Ten Fighter Boys, Collins, London, 1942,
7
IWM,
Chance, p. 111.
no. 10478.
102.
no. 10128.
Brian Kingcome's description': Kingcome,
A
Willingness to Die, p. 177.
IWM,
FIGHTER BOYS 26
Tony
Bartley recorded': Bartley, Smoke Trails in the Sky.
27 Holland:
Bunty Nash,
letters to
30
IWM, no. 11103. Winskill: IWM, no. 11537. Smith: IWM, no. 11754.
31
'records a dinner held': 73
32
'MacGeagh: Public Record
33
Haw: IWM.no.
28 29
RAF Museum,
Hendon.
Page:
Squadron
unofficial diary.
AIR
Office, ref.
considered himself an Irishman': Vigors, unpublished autobiography.
34
'Vigors
35
Dunning- White: interview with author.
.
.
.
71.
12028.
36 Hutchinson: interview with Sophia Coudenhove.
A
37
'Kingcome remembered': Kingcome,
38
'Armitage reported': Armitage, unpublished memoir.
39
Matthews:
40 Barclay: 41
'It
IWM, no. 10451. RAF Museum, Hendon,
was the
longest':
Doug
Willingness to Die, pp. 86-7.
Aviation Records Department,
ref.
B2173.
Stokes: Paddy Finucane, Fighter Ace, Kimber,
London,
p. 43.
42
'Malan
43
Bennions:
told':
Walker, Sailor Malan,
IWM,
p. 99.
no. 10296.
44 Constable Maxwell: Constable Maxwell diary. 45
Appleford: interview with author.
46
Devitt:
IWM, no. 10667. IWM, no. 12172.
47 Donaldson: 48
'One of George
49
'Brothers
50
Bird- Wilson:
51
Down:
52 53
54
came
Un win's
sergeant
across': interview
pilots':
interview with author.
with author.
IWM, no. 10093. IWM, no. 11449. Bird- Wilson: IWM, no. 10093. Donaldson: IWM, no. 12172. Gillam: IWM. no. 10049.
55
Brothers: interview with author.
56
Yvonne Agazarian: interview with author.
57
Bartley:
58
Drake: interview with author.
59
'Finucane wrote':
60
'Fenwick went to the
61
Wissler diary:
62
'Edith "got ever so apprehensive"
63
'he wrote': letter in possession of Edith
16.
'The Day
1
'switched on the electric
IWM,
no. 11086.
all
IWM, entries
Had Been
Department of Documents,
aid':
ref.
97/43/1.
Fenwick, Dear Mother.
from
IWM, ':
Department of Documents,
ref.
97/43/1.
interview with author.
Kup, nee Heap.
a Year' sight': letter
of Flying Officer R. G. A. Barclay,
RAF
Museum, Hendon. 2
'Fink remembered': letter to
McKee
in
RAF Museum,
Hendon.
419
PATRICK BISHOP McKee
RAF Museum,
Hendon.
3
'Weitkus: letter to
4
'wrote Richard Barclay': diary of Flying Officer R. G. A. Barclay in
in
RAF
Museum, Hendon. 5
'A signal
6
'a
taste
was
RAF
intercepted':
Campaign
Battle of Britain
Diary.
of what Londoners were going through': Vigors, unpublished autobi-
ography. 7
Channon:
Chips: the Diaries of Sir
Weidenfeld 8
'Barclay
9
Holmes:
&
Henry Channon, edited by Robert Rhodes James,
Nicolson, London, 1993, p. 265.
was woken
IWM,
at 4.30': Barclay, diary.
no. 2807.
bolt upright': see Forbes and Allen, Ten Fighter Boys, p. 77.
10
'sat
11
Cox:
12
'getting a hell of a plastering': see Forbes
and Allen, Ten
13
'spreadeagled arms and
Dr
IWM,
no. 1150.
legs':
quoted
in
Fighter Boys, p. 85.
Alfred Price, Battle of Britain Day,
Greenhill Books, 1999, p. 86. 14
'The day had been': see Forbes and Allen, Ten Fighter Boys,
17.
Autumn
1
Barclay: Barclay, diary.
2
Edge: Flight Lieutenant G. Edge, unpublished account,
3
'Goering assured the crews': quoted in Mason, Battle over
4
Schopfel: interview with author.
5
'The insouciant
6
'Bartley
Sunset
spirit':
wrote to
IWM,
Smoke
Bartley,
Bennions:
'Page caught a glimpse of himself: Page, Shot
9
'he
no. 10296.
the other patients':
Red
'The barmaid
11
Berry:
12
'Barclay noted': Barclay, diary.
at the
Down
in Flames, p. 81.
ibid., p. 98.
10
Doe, Nine
Lion':
Lives, p. 56.
no. 11475.
13
'waited in dread': Vigors, unpublished autobiography.
14
Mottram:
18. 1
Rhubarbs and Circuses 'It seemed to Al Deere': Deere, Nine
2
'Kent reached Biggin
3
Finucane
4
'Douglas had been informed': Terraine, The Right of the Line,
5
judged John Terraine':
6
'Deere confessed': Deere, Nine
7
'A graphic account': Public Record Office,
8
'Dundas, a perceptive and
9
Armitage:
and
420
Hendon.
Britain, p. 368.
Trails in the Sky, p. 46.
7
IWM,
RAF Museum,
his mother': ibid.
8
met
p. 78.
letters to
letters:
Bunty Nash
Hill':
IWM,
RAF Museum,
Hendon.
Lives, p. 172.
Kent, One of the Few,
p. 88.
Archive Department, 97/43/1. p. 283.
ibid., p. 285.
Lives, p. 211.
humane
79.
IWM,
in
no. 10049.
PRO
AIR,
ref.
149/357.
observer': Dundas, Flying Start, pp. 66-7, 70
FIGHTER BOYS 10
'Aikman described': The Times, 18 July 1942.
11
'His sister,
12
Gillam:
Yvonne
IWM,
5 :
interview with author.
no. 10049.
13
'Deere was "always confident"
14
Brothers: interview with author.
15
Gillam:
Epilogue: 1
IWM, The
Lives, p. 149.
no. 10049.
Last Note
Honour': the
'Roll of
Deere, Nine
':
and 280 of Coastal
roll carries
Command
the
names of 718 aircrew of Bomber Command
as well as those
of Fighter
Command who
died
during the period. decided: Walker, Sailor Malan.
2
'Malan
3
'Kingcome wrote of Barthropp': Kingcome,
4
'Kingcome's
.
.
.
A
Willingness to Die, p. 176.
attitude': ibid., p. xi.
5
Edith Heap: interview with author.
6
Kreipe: quoted in Terraine, The Right of the Line, p. 219.
7
'wrote Townsend': Townsend, Time and Chance,
8
Bennions:
9
Yvonne Agazarian: interview with author.
IWM,
p. 110.
no. 10296.
421
1
Index
I
Squadron
87, 99, 126-32, 136, 137-41,
72 Squadron 64, 66, 93, 230, 231, 278, 305,
307-8, 323, 363
142, 149, 150, 153, 156, 158, 160, 162, 163, 166-7, 170, 171-2, 173, 176,
73
Squadron
3
Squadron
10 II
Group Group
326, 330, 365
150, 152, 162, 169
111,
74 Squadron 88, 106, 108, 115, 183, 190,
316
12 13
221, 225, 238, 250, 317, 320, 326
112, 152, 181-2, 293-4, 316,
79 Squadron 63, 88, 115, 150, 153, 235,
362 1
Squadron 50
Group Group
237, 307, 308
85 Squadron 19, 128, 143, 146, 156, 158,
102, 112, 294-5, 316
169, 172, 174, 176-7, 217, 312, 314,
112
17 Squadron 84, 154-5, 176-7, 178-9, 193, 224, 228, 250-1, 289, 296, 304,
342 87 Squadron 128, 143, 147, 158, 164, 173-
322, 325, 344, 346, 365
19
128, 130, 134, 135, 150, 153,
157, 161, 162-3, 175, 176, 217, 320,
178, 179, 264, 280, 322
Squadron
4,
64, 71, 81, 85, 87, 90, 188-9,
191, 221, 244-6, 290, 294, 367
23 Squadron 62, 225
32 Squadron
2, 3, 6, 62, 90,
386
41 Squadron 72, 116, 220, 285, 321, 335, 365, 369, 405
43 Squadron 50, 65, 87, 94, 99, 115, 280,
Squadron
141
Squadron 249
72, 81, 83, 87,
386-8
279-80, 322,
380
145 Squadron 118, 206 151
Squadron 273, 330, 336
152 Squadron 91, 264, 267, 331
213 Squadron 267, 369
312
46 Squadron 124 54 Squadron 67, 72, 88, 110, 182-6, 189, 191, 235-6, 237, 238, 261-2, 265,
279, 282, 290, 386
56 Squadron
329, 360, 363, 369, 377, 383-4,
111 117, 153-4,
172, 186, 240-1, 291, 309,
208, 217, 289, 290, 324, 330
92 Squadron 187-8, 189, 217, 242, 304,
15, 105, 106, 107, 169, 246,
270, 311, 321, 329, 335, 337
65 Squadron 61, 65, 88, 109, 190, 191, 195, 261, 281
66 Squadron 285, 318, 319, 325, 365, 370
222 Squadron 190, 195, 197-201, 212, 224, 226, 305, 320, 369
229 Squadron 72, 178, 193, 229-30, 325, 364 234 Squadron 290 238 Squadron 86, 397
242 Squadron 176 249 Squadron 334-5, 349-50, 355, 368, 370, 377, 381-2, 389
423
PATRICK BISHOP 253 Squadron 168-9, 264, 286, 334, 363,
377
Allen,
Johnny 183-4, 261-2
Allgood, H. 377
257 Squadron 274, 338, 365, 381
Annette (Brothers'
263 Squadron 123-4
Appleford, Robin 285, 325, 336, 339, 341,
264 Squadron 248-9, 334
401
266 Squadron 271-3, 277, 309, 311, 334
Arenfeldt,
303 Squadron 334, 364, 369, 387
armament
310 Squadron 288, 342
Spitfire
501 Squadron 159, 176, 288, 291, 308, 309,
504 Squadron 172, 218, 219, 365
600 Squadron 95, 108, 354 601 Squadron 35-6, 88, 117, 187, 280-1,
Helen 175 221, 242-4, 246
244-5 gunnery; shooting
see also aerial
Armee de
337, 363
girlfriend) 102
l'Air
148-9
Armitage, Dennis 271, 272, 273, 287
266 Squadron 311
down 395-6
shot
Wilkinson 334
308, 309, 318
602 Squadron 113, 115, 369 603 Squadron 113, 119, 235, 300, 312, 363,
380
wounded 309 armour
plating 132
Ash, Robert 300, 334
605 Squadron 100, 304
Ashton, Dennis 272
607 Squadron 128, 143, 144, 146, 148, 152,
Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) 35-7, 75
162, 169,
369
Ayre,
Desmond
222
609 Squadron 75, 99, 222-4, 261, 267, 275, Bader, Douglas 190
311, 365, 386
610 Squadron
195, 236-7, 307, 308
3,
222 Squadron 198, 200
Wing
611 Squadron 397
Big
615 Squadron 128, 143, 144-5, 147, 162,
captured 395
Galland 157 leadership 202, 323, 394
395
post action see
combat 244
aerial
bombardment 38-9
aerial
gunnery 91-3, 132-3
armament; shooting
see also
Agazarian, Noel 79, 267, 286, 339, 396 Agazarian, F.
Yvonne
339, 396, 405
396
air righting 21, 187,
see also
war
career 402
Baker, Ronald 270
Raymond
Aeberhardt,
189
combat; dogfights; shooting
Balbo, Italo 49
Baldwin 39 Baldwin, J.E.A. 70 Balfour,
H.H. 145
baling out 207, 334, 394 Ball,
Albert 13-16, 23, 233
Ball,
G.E. 188
Banham, Arthur
64, 65
Barclay, Richard 361, 366
249 Squadron 334-5, 349-50, 355, 368,
aircraft
381-2
design 41-4 identification 109-11
crash landed 349-50
see also specific types
invasion threat 373
airman
pilots 34
Aitken,
Max
shot
117, 401
Albonico, Rennie 128, 141, 162, 174 Allard,
Allen,
424
357
character 323
172
616 Squadron 69, 77, 102, 194, 290, 297-9,
Aikman,
tactic 295,
Sammy Hubert
171
57,
318
down
397
'Barking Creek' episode 106-9 Barnes,
Airman 361
Barran, Philip 76-7 Barratt,
Arthur 136, 137, 138, 157, 165
FIGHTER BOYS Barthropp, Paddy 59, 65, 68, 396, 399,
Tony
Bartley,
strung-out pilots 338
Tuck 323
402-3 92, 95, 188, 194, 195
Wissler 343
92 Squadron 242, 388
Blayney, Jarvis 250
drinking 328-9
Bodie,
Malan317 war career 402
women
Battle
Bowring, Ben
339
von
322
95, 280,
'Boy Drunkard' 384 Brand, Sir Christopher Quintin 337
18
bombers 157
Battle of Britain
20
15,
Bouchier, 'Boy' 183
Barton, Robert 335 Bartrap,
'Bogle' 318, 325, 339, 341,
Oswald
Boelcke,
morale 378 post
Rob
366-7, 372, 401
Brickhill,
404-6
400,
5,
Paul 402
Broadhurst, Harry 71, 92, 144
Bay ley, Edward 377
Broke, Lord Willoughby de 100
Bayne, Flight Lieutenant 343
Brothers, Pete 49, 53, 62, 63, 65, 337
Beamish, Victor 324-5, 331
32 Squadron 172
Beamont, Roland
257 Squadron 338-9
50, 65, 68
87 Squadron 143-4, 217, 290
Churchill's speech 216
Dewar 324
combat 204
home 263 humour 326-7
Dunkirk 186
Hurricanes
foreign pilots 240, 241
engagement 102
81, 82
Lovell Gregg 289
Grice 328
morale 316 post
Hurricanes 82
war career 402
post
Beard, John 74 98, 99, 222,
249-50
wife 302
Brown, Mark
Georg 254-5
Bennions, George 72, 116, 335, 378-9,
'Hilly' 127, 132, 141, 142,
162
Brown, Ronald 71-2,
405
Benson,
90
thanksgiving service 399
war, attitude to 263
Beaverbrook, Lord 242 Becker,
career 400
tactical training
Beaumont, Stephen 75-6, 223,
war
survival 397
refugees 173
Dr 312
Benson, Noel 118-20, 300-1, 312
Bunny (Fenwick's
Berry, Frederick 128, 141, 162, 264
burns cases 379-80
Ron 74, 380-1 Wing tactic 294-5,
girlfriend)
229
Burton, Percy 382
Berry,
357, 362, 365, 368
Biggin Hill 62-3, 88, 100-1, 117, 307-8, 325, 329, 383,
207-8
Bulman, George 43-4
Berlin 295, 351
Big
81, 83,
Brown, Roy 22
387-8
Bushell,
Roger
108,
187-8
Butler, Winifred 342, 343, 344, 345, 346
Byrne, 'Paddy' 107
Bigglesworth, Captain James 52-3 Bird- Wilson,
17
Harold
'Birdy'
Squadron 228, 304
Caldwell, Keith
14, 18
camaraderie 67
baled out 377
Cameron, Margaret 344
fatigue 337
Cameron, Neil 322
friends 325
Camm, Sydney
post
war
career 400
42, 43
Campbell, Jack 158
425
PATRICK BISHOP Carnall, Ralph 380
crash landings 206
Carpenter, John 224 Cecil,
Lord Hugh
Chamberlain
see also
Crook, David 267, 311
98, 104
Channon, Henry
forced landings
crashing 209, 270
22, 31
'Chips' 360
Cross, Squadron Leader 124
Chesters, Peter 326
Crossley, Michael
Christine (friend of Appleford and Bodie)
Croydon
3,
2, 5, 6,
186, 386, 401
279
Crusoe, Flying Officer 162
341
Church Fenton 64
Cuthbert, Gerald 163
Clemmie 144 Churchill, Winston 8, 28, 11 Group HQ 362
Czernin, Manfred 177, 304-5, 322
Churchill,
31, 159
Daladier, Alain 166
1940 May: 159-60, 165-6, 173
Darley, George 223-4, 250, 275
Battle of Britain 400
David, Dennis 49, 57, 60, 61, 66, 68
Berlin 295
Bader 323
Biggin Hill 63
Dewar
Croydon 144
exhaustion 174
Mackworth 164 war career 400
Dunkirk 195 fighter losses 170, 179
post
speech June 18 1940: 214-16 territorial air force
324, 334
refugees 167 Davis, Carl
35
Raymond
'Circuses' 390, 391, 396
Dawson, Joe
Clayton, Eric 107, 321, 324
de Grunne,
Clisby, Leslie 127, 140,
163-4
Clowes, Arthur 'Taffy' 128, 130, 137-8,
223
76,
Comte Rudolphe de
Hemricourt 241 death 24, 54, 208, 309-13 accidental 100-1
162
Cobham, Alan 49
see also losses
Deere, Alan 50, 56, 59, 60, 61, 66, 67
Cock, John 143 Coghlan, John 321-2 Collet,
308
Dawbarn, Peter 178
thanks to pilots 339
54 Squadron 290, 386
George 261
combat 4-5,
1939 Sept: 108
154, 197-211,
286-8
1940 Aug: 279
head-on attacks 279-80, 304-5
crash landed 237-8
physical strain 370-1
Distinguished Flying Cross 228
psychological effects 392-4
shooting
enemy down
139, 204, 335
Dowding and Park 385 Dunkirk
182, 183-5, 190,
under attack 205, 210-11
Gribble 284
see also air fighting; dogfights; fighter
gunnery practice 92
pilots; losses;
commanding
shooting
officers 221
Considine, Brian 86, 264 Cooper-Slipper,
Tom
369
leadership 202, 317
Manston
Munich
282, 356
crisis
88
night flying 117
war career 400
Corbin, William 319
post
Cousteau, Jacques 401
publicity 388
Coward, James 244
Rhubarbs 391
Cox, David 245, 290, 323, 367
sandbags 99
crack-ups 24
survival 397
Cranwell 30
tactical training 90, 110
426
191-3
FIGHTER BOYS war, attitude to 98, 314-15
97
politics
war
career 400
Defiants 248
post
deflection shooting 93
return to operations 376
Demozay, Jean 'Moses' 178
training foreign pilots
Detling 276
women
239-40
340
Devitt, Peter 264, 331, 336
Drem
Dewar, Johnny 324, 334
drinking 23-4, 327-8, 331
117
Dibden, George 163
Drobinski, Boleslaw
dispersal 285
Drummond-Hay, Peter 76-7, 311 Duke-Woolley, Raymond 225 Dundas, Hugh 'Cocky' 77-8. 395
Doe, Bob
50,
55-6, 57, 66, 290-1
dogfights 154, 211
combat
see also
combat 209-11
Donne, Michael 155
Dunkirk
Dornier, Claude 255
games
194, 195
103
Douglas, Sholto 385, 390
Moberly 297-8
Douglas-Jones, E.A. 189
post
Doutrepont, George 364
Spitfires 83
war
career 401, 403
Dundas, John
106
4,
335
616 Squadron 297
Donaldson, Teddy 336, 338
Dowding
'Ski'
275
76,
1940 May: 165
Dunkirk 181-96
1940 Sept: 348, 349, 360, 372
Dunning- White, Peter 318, 333
'Barking Creek' episode 109
Dutton, Roy 206
Bartley's
wedding 402
Duxford
Channel
Battle 234, 236
Dymond, William 322
64, 84
character 238-9
Dunkirk
Earp, Richard 124
182, 187
France 126, 129
Edge, Geoffrey 374
headquarters 111
Edge, Gerry 304
Hurricane windscreens 132
Edgerton, H.J.
nickname
Edridge, Hilary 200, 212, 382-3
Norway pilot
'Stuffy'
238
4
Edwards, Gus 377
123
Edwards -Jones, Humphrey 85
numbers 288
Polish pilots 242
re-forming Fighter
Elkington,
Command
216-18
replaced 385 Spitfire
3,
Elliot,
armament 244-5
Tim
5,
264
Edward 41 Robert Deacon 308
Ellington, Sir
England, seen from
air
405
squadron rotation 356, 359-60
entertainment 102-3, 117, 329-31
strategy 159, 166, 265, 293, 355
escort duties 390, 391
Dowding, Derek 238
Evershed, Pilot Officer 237
Down,
Peter 105, 337-8
exhaustion 171, 211, 284, 314, 337
Drake,
Billy 49, 55, 64, 65,
94
1940 May: 149-50, 160-1
eyesight 201 Eyles, Sergeant 377
Arenfeldt 175
"The Father of the Royal Air Force"
character 128
combat
141, 149-50, 160-1, 172
convalescence 218
fear 209, 336-7, 338
Frankenberger 131
Fenwick, Charles 105, 229
Munich
Ferriss,
crisis
88
see
Trenchard
Henry 279
427
PATRICK BISHOP The
Dowding 239
Few' 400
Fighter Area Attacks 90
boys
fighter
4,
exhaustion 284
400
Galland 257
Hurricanes 82
see also fighter pilots
Fighter
Command
111-12, 216-18, 293,
390 see also losses;
RAF
thanksgiving service 399
fighter pilots 4-8, 13, 60
breakdowns
see
training 137
crack-ups
war, attitude to 264
German 253-62
wife 302
image 97
numbers
France 126-46 Frankenberger, Arno 131
234, 241-2, 288, 386
Fredman, Lewin 147
Polish 239-40, 242, 334, 364 successful qualities
247-8
Freeborn, John 107-8, 183, 204
combat; fighter boys; sergeant
see also
'finger four'
formation 305-6
Fink, Johannes 233-4, 271, 273,
Don
Fullard, P.F. 152
351-2 Gallagher, O.D. 136, 252
72
Finucane, Paddy 99, 118, 335, 340, 389,
207
1940
Fiske,
William Meade
Fisser,
Johannes 267
fitting in,
squadron
'Billy' 99,
life
280
Geoffrey 335
Fleming, Robert 355 Flinders,
John 107 48-50
flying 6-7, altitude
Jul: 261,
377
262
Bird- Wilson 377
early career
65-7
Flanagan, Sister 23 Flavell,
Galland, Adolf
1940 May: 158
391, 396, 397 fire
Freeman, Wilfred 85 friends 325, 382
pilots
Finlay,
Malan317 war career 400
post
256-7
Luftwaffe 259
Moelders 258
war
post
career 403-4
promotion 293 Schopfel 260 strategy 292
Gamelin, Maurice 157, 166
formation 90
Garton, Pilot Officer 237
Hurricanes 82-3
George V, King
learning 57-61
George
night 116-17, 249-50
Gifford, Patsy 113, 114, 169
Spitfires tactics
85-7
89-91, 305
see also training
VI,
15
King 216, 228
Gilbert,
John 222
Gillam,
Denys 68-9, 284-5,
338, 396, 397
John 188
Flynn, Errol 53
Gillies,
Focke-Wulf 190s 394
Gleave,
forced landings at sea 270
Gledhill, Geoffrey 289
see also crash landings
foreign airmen 239-42, 386
formation flying 90
Tom
286-7, 295
Gleed, Ian 208
Goering,
Hermann
Foster, Robert 74
1940 Sept: 348
Foxley-Norris, Christopher 74, 78, 79
Channel
Battle 233
numbers 216
Bader 323
fighter
Deere 317
Galland 257
428
148, 181
1940 Aug: 271, 276
290, 298, 299,
FIGHTER BOYS London
Heap, Edith
295, 351, 354
5,
341, 342, 343-7, 380,
404
losses 283
Luftwaffe morale 375
Heinkel, Ernst 255
plans 260, 292-3
Hemingway, John
going
in
'Paddy' 156
Higgins, William 6
209
Gossage, Air Vice-Marshal 144
Higginson, Taffy 247
Grade, Jumbo 246-7
Hill,
Howard 377
Graham, Ted
Hill,
John 172
Gravesend 117
Hill,
Roderic 14
Gray, Colin 182
Hillary, Richard 78-9, 96, 98, 380
Great
War
231, 278
10-26
Hitler 40, 113, 181, 232, 257, 265, 295, 351
Samuel 35
Greenwood, John 264
Hoare,
Grey, Colin 261
Holden, Eustace 291-2
Gribble, Grice,
Holland, Bob 329, 369
George 185-6
Douglas 'Grubby'
5
Grice, Richard (Dick) 102, 216, 277, 308,
Holmes, Ray 365-6
Hood, Hilary 321 Hoppe, Victoria 146
325, 328
Grider,
Sir
Homchurch
John 23
61-2, 67, 99
Grierson, Sir James 9
Houghton, Oliver
Grosvenor, Lord Edward 35
Howell, Jack 158
ground crews
69, 179, 281, 321
groups 111-12 10 11
Group Group
13
Hughes, Joan Lovell 302 Hull, Caesar 104
111, 316
Hulton-Harrop, Cyril 155
112, 152, 181-2, 293-4, 316,
Hulton-Harrop, Montague 107
Hunt, Douglas 319
362 12
6
Group 102, Group 112
112, 294-5, 316
Hurricanes 43-4, 87, 303, 381
armour 132
Gundry, Kenneth 274-5
flying
guns, range 132-3
France 128-9, 179
Halahan, P.J.H.
publicity 83
82-3
propellers 134-5
1
Squadron
'Bull'
127, 141, 166, 174
1940 May: 158
service, first in 81, 83
Hutchinson, Ian 320, 326, 333
character 133
combat
IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) 110
153, 158
Donald 19-20
crashed Heinkel 173
Inglis,
Hurricanes' armour 132
Inskip, Sir
publicity 136
invasion threat 213, 232, 360, 373, 375
Hall,
Roger 91
Halton Park
46
Irwin, C.A. 189
30, 72
Hancock, Pat
54, 65,
94-5, 173, 176
Hanks, Peter Prosser 127, 141, 142, 163, 174, 208
Hargreaves,
Thomas
Norman
jargon 327 Jeff,
Robert Voase 143
Jefferies, Jerrard
377
Jodl,
342
General 351
Harvey, Len 219
Johns, George 72, 325
Hastings, Sir Patrick 108
Johns, W.E. 52-3
Haw, Charlton 73, 104, 218-20 Hawker Aircraft 42-4
Jones, Ira 19
Joyce, Frank 164
429
PATRICK BISHOP Ju 87s (Stuka) 160, 283
Hugo
Junkers,
Leathart,
255
James 'Prof
183, 184, 185-6,
189, 228, 237, 238
Lee, Dickie 156 Kain, 'Cobber' 135-6, 137, 175-6, 228 Kain, Judy 228
Leigh-Mallory, Trafford 102-3, 294, 295, 385, 390
Keitel, Field-Marshal
384
Leng, Maurice 175, 320
Kendal, John 319
Lesley (Kingcome's wife) 403
Kent, Johnny 57, 387-8
Lewis, Cecil
Kerr,
Deborah 402
12, 13, 16, 22, 24,
Kesselring, Field-Marshal 265, 274,
Lincoln, Earl of 76, 77
Linney, Anthony 193
355 Kilmartin,
John Ignatius
'Killy' 99,
131
Lister,
Robert 387
confession 155-6
Lloyd George
early career 127
Lock, Erick 220
France 134, 140, 141, 162, 174
OTU, Aston Down post
218
war career 403
Don
319
Kingcome, Brian
51, 60,
15,
London 282-3,
28
295, 350-3, 356, 357, 365,
368, 371
Longcroft, C.A.H. 32
return to operations 376
Kingaby,
26
Lewis, David 100
lookouts 140 Loraine, Eustace 11
61-2, 68, 69
92 Squadron 304, 387 1939 Sept: 109
Lorimer, Lawrie 140, 163, 164 losses 217, 248, 276, 293, 314, 354, 372,
390-1, 398
accidental deaths 101
266 Squadron 309
Channel
501 Squadron 308, 309
Battle 250
character 322-3
601 Squadron 308, 309
combat
Channel
202, 203, 205, 287
battle 248
dead German 333-4
Dunkirk 196
Dunkirk
exaggerated 313
182, 188, 189, 190, 193
Hurricanes 87
France 163, 169, 180, 217
leadership 202
Luftwaffe 196, 275, 279, 292, 313, 354,
Macneal twins 328 post
war
career 402-3
down
Lovell,
Tony 335
Lovell Gregg, Terence 288-9
shooting 203 shot
372
Lossiemouth 121
morale 316
378, 387
Lovett, Reggie 330
332-3
Spitfires 86, 87
loyalty
Stukas 254
Luck, John 155
tactical training 91
Luftwaffe 140, 148, 232-4, 255-6, 277,
war, declaration of 105 Kitty (Vigors' girlfriend) 102
Klipsch, Paul 188
292, 375, 376 losses 196, 275, 279, 292, 313, 354, 372
Lyne, Michael 189
Korda, Alexander 121 Kreipe,
Werner
234, 404
MacGeagh, Foster 331 Mackworth, Chris 164
Lamberty, Rudolf 302-3
MacLachlan, Alan 387
Lane, Brian 'Sandy' 221
MacLean, Hector 114-15
Langley, Gerry 220
Macneal twins 328, 403
Layton, Rose 389
Mais, S.P.B. 33
430
1
FIGHTER BOYS Malan, Adolph
'Sailor' 93,
98-9, 107,
Mottram, Roy 383-4 Mould, Peter 'Boy'
108-9
129, 163, 167, 174
74 Squadron 317
Mould, Tony 320
combat
Mounsden, Mark 311
205, 225, 335
Distinguished Flying Cross 228
Mumford, William 133
Dunkirk
Mussolini 94
191, 194
exhaustion 315 fighter pilot qualities
247-8
Nash, Bunty 383
Tom
370, 399
Moelders 258
Neil,
new
pilots 291
Neuville 129, 133
post
war
Newall, Sir Cyril 165, 173
career 401
Nicholas, John 65, 86, 194-5, 281
publicity 227, 388
Malan, Jonathan 225
Nicholson, James 389
Malan, Lynda 225
night flying 116-17, 249-50
Mannock, Edward 'Mick' 17-20,
21, 23,
Niven, David 53
North Weald 324
24, 25
Manston
266, 277, 282, 356
Marples,
Roy 298
Norway 123-4
marriage 101-2
Matthews, Peter
131, 138, 168,
Maugham, Somerset
334
Observer Corps
1 1
officers 29, 319,
320
commanding
213
221,
324-5
Maxwell, Michael Constable 270, 335-6
Olding, Flying Officer 101
McAdam, Johnny 220
operational training units
McArthur, James 'Butch' 267
McCudden, James 22-3, 25
operations
Mclndoe,
Oppenheimer, Harry 401
Archibald 379, 380
Sir
(OTU)
rooms
111, 112
McKellar, Archie 113, 114
Orde, Cuthbert 128, 317, 324
McLean,
orders 112
Me
Sir
Robert 44
109s 131, 137, 138, 141-2, 170, 184-5, 242, 376
Me
218,
338
Osterkamp, Theo 233 Overall, Pilot Officer 116
Overton, Charles 223
110s 137-8, 170, 376
medals 228, 258-9
Owens, Jesse 63
Merlin engine 43
Oxford University Air Squadron (OUAS)
Mermagen, Herbert 'Tubby' 197-8 Messerschmitt
see
Me
109;
Me
Messerschmitt, Willy 141, 255
110
78, 98,
100
Oxspring, Bobby 318, 370
oxygen 377
Meyrick, Nancy 77 Milch, Erhard 253-4
Page, Geoffrey 52, 55, 65, 68
Mitchell, E. 237
burns 380
Mitchell, R.G. 44, 84
car 310-11
Mitchell, Richard 325
combat
Moberly, George 297
drinking 329-30
Molders,
Werner 257-8, 305
Moira (Macneal twin) 328 Molders,
Werner
137
Monks, Noel 175 Moore, George 280 morale 238, 313, 316
247, 248
Gracie 246 politics
97
sergeant pilots 320-1
shot
down 268-9
Palmer, Cyril 'Pussy' 127, 130-1, 134, 138, 140, 174
431
PATRICK BISHOP Pamela
(friend of Appleford
and Bodie)
parachutes Parish,
fighter
numbers
216, 234
recruitment 54-6
341 19, 58,
207
Fighter
see also
RAF
Airman 361
Park, Keith 181, 191, 236, 238, 239
Command;
RAFVR
1940 Aug: 296, 307
(Royal Air Force Volunteer
Reserve) 45-6, 73-4, 218
1940 Sept: 348, 362, 368, 369, 372, 374
Rathbone, Basil 53
replaced 385
Raven, A. 237
squadron rotation 356
readiness system 99
strategy 265, 270, 293, 355, 357, 382 Parrott, Peter 148, 205,
Parrott,
Tim
206-7
Regnauld, Paulette 133
Renaud, Paul
165, 166
Rhodes-Moorhouse, Willie 308
155
Pavey, Charles 154
'Rhubarbs' 390, 391, 396
Peacock, Michael 169, 217
Richardson, Anthony 310
Peake, Harald 75-6
Richardson, Ralph 121
Pease, Peter 79
Richey, Paul 88-9
1940 May: 146, 150-1, 155-6
Pemberton, David 176 Persse-Joynt, Phillips,
Dudley
76,
222
attacked by French 129
combat
Joyce 228
202, 204
Pinckney, Colin 79
confession 127, 155
Pinkerton, George 113, 114
convalescence 218
Pinkham, Philip 221, 244, 245-6
Drake 161
Pittman, Geoffrey 325
exhaustion 164-5
Pniak, Karol 240
Fighter Pilot (book) 128
Polish pilots 239-40, 242, 334, 364
food 172
Portsmouth 266-7
post
Preston, Kath
refugees 167
328
Teddy 328
Preston, Prior,
2,
John
war
career 401
reinforcements 170-1
Roxy, Nancy 134
George 301
Proctor,
losses
(Royal Air Force) College 30-3
shoots
6
propellers, variable-pitch 82
shot
Me 109
down
138-9
175
Richthofen, Lothar
publicity 136, 389
von
Richthofen, Manfred
Deere 388 Halahan 136
16
von
15, 17, 18,
Wolfram von 234 Marmaduke 297, 298
Hurricanes 83
Richthofen,
Malan
Ridley,
227, 388
Tuck 389
Roe, Valcourt 163
Wissler 250-1
Rose,
Tommy
107, 170
Rose-Price, Arthur 288
Pyne, Basil 163
Rosier, Fred 101, 178, 193, 207,
Quayle, Elizabeth 239
Rouvres 128
Quill, Jeffery 83-5, 95
Royal Air Force
see
229-30
RAF
Royal Air Force College 30-3
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Rabagliati, C.E.C. 10
radar 41, 110-11, 149, 234, 236, 266
(RAFVR) 45-6, 73-4, 218
Raeder, Grand Admiral 232
RAF
(Royal Air Force)
10,
apprentice schemes 69
432
20-2,
25
27-9, 37, 45
Salmon, Harold 'Sammy' Sample, John 365
135, 167
FIGHTER BOYS Sampson, George
Stephen, Harbourne 250
107, 108
Sanders, James 'Sandy' 49, 94, 144-5
Stephens, Mike 152
Sanders, Phillip 387
Stephenson, G.D. 188, 189, 221
Sandys, Margueurite 301
Stephenson, Paddy 369
Sassoon, Sir Philip 36
Sterbacek, Jaroslav 288
Saunders, James 65
Stratton, Bill 127, 137-8, 141, 162, 174
Schopfel, Gerhard 255, 260, 375
'Stuffy' see
Dowding
sergeant pilots 34, 69, 319, 320, 322
John 163 Summers, Mutt 84
Shaw, Robert 135
Supermarine
sea, forced landings in
Desmond
Sheen,
270
Sullivan,
42, 44, 83, 84
Swinton, Lord 45
64, 66
Sheen, Despond 278 Sheila (Macneal twin) 328, 403
tactics 25, 140, 189, 224,
shock 338
Big
shooting 93, 139, 203, 204, 335 see also aerial
gunnery;
305-6
training 89-91, 305
Tangmere 63-4,
scarves 201
104, 280,
65, 88-9, 99, 100, 101,
394-5
Tedder, A.W. 45,
Simpson, John 104
George 155
55, 56, 73
Slessor, Sir John 37
John 391 Thorley, Harry 281
Smith, Bob 281
Tomlinson, George
Smith, Irving 330
Townsend, Peter
Slee,
Terraine,
154, 155
65, 94, 100
85 Squadron 217, 314
Smith, Lance 169
Smythe, Rupert 241
accidental deaths 101
Soden, Ian 170, 310-11
corpses 208
Solomon, Neville 289
England from
Soper, Frank 128, 131, 174
German bomber
armament 244-5
tactics
Hugh
Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) 35, 36
109s 184-5
early career 10-11
operational time 190-1
Halton 34
service, first in 81
influence 390
squadrons
pilots'
commanding fitting in life
RAF
officers 221
65-7, 326
in 61-7,
visited 72
Starr,
Harold 334
257 Squadron 338 298
Distinguished Flying Cross 228
Galland 257
station
commanders 324-5
Milch 253
Steere,
Frank 325
post
Steere,
Harry
publicity 389
71, 85
58, 65, 93,
189, 194
see also specific squadrons
77, 103, 297,
Squadron 230
Tuck, Robert Stanford (Bob)
rotation 356, 359-60
Aubyn, Teddy
deaths 24
organization 27-9
retirement 37
317
morale 238, 316
St
89-91, 305
Trenchard,
85-7
Me
and
shot 115-16
training 29-34, 59-61, 218
303
development 83-5 flying
405
air
war, declaration of 104
Sperrle, Field-Marshal 265, 355 Spitfires 44, 129,
303-4
294-5, 357, 362, 365, 368
'finger four'
air fighting;
armament; combat silk
Wing
war career
403, 404
433
PATRICK BISHOP Tuck, Robert Stanford (Bob) shot
down
cont.
396
Webster, John 321 Weitkus, Paul 352
successes 323
Wells, Pat 355
Wellum, Geoffrey 323 university air squadrons 75, 78, 98, 100
White, Francis 'Drogo' 183, 184, 221,
Unwin, George 69-71
320
combat 205
Whittaker, Richard 154, 342, 343
Wieck, Helmut 258
death, attitude to 309
Dunkirk
193-4
188, 189,
Wilkinson, Rodney 311, 334
friends 325
Williams, Cedric 305
Wilson, Ken 281
gunnery practice 92 Spitfire
armament
Spitfires 85, 87,
244, 245
wings, receiving 61
Winn, Godfrey 251
337
Winskill, Archie 92-3, 305, 330
tactical training 90, 93
Usmar, Frank
73, 220, 285, 321
Wissler, Denis 120-3 17
Vigors,
Tim
Squadron 176-7,
1940 May: 155
57-8, 66, 102
combat 211
222 Squadron 212
combat 197-201,
209, 211,
226-7
crash landing 358-9
exhaustion 171 friends 325
Dunkirk 195
Heap 342-6
friends 382
publicity 250-1
loyalty 332-3
post
war
shot
career 401
war, declaration of 104 Villa,
John 'Pancho' 363
von Richthofen
179, 224
85 Squadron 146, 174
Viek, Carl 292
see
Richthofen
down 346-7
Wlasnowalski, Boleslaw 240
women
23, 102,
see also
229-30, 340-7
Waafs
Wood, J. 237 Woods-Scawen, Charles 312-13
Waafs5,
111, 325,
341-2
Woods-Scawen, Patrick
172, 312
Wace, Marjery 282-3
Woolaston, Flying Officer 101
Walker, Peter 'Johnny' 127, 137-8, 141,
Woolford, Jean 397
Wootten, Ernest
168, 174
121, 122
Walker, William 104, 298-9
Worrall, John 291
war, declaration of 103-5
Wronsky, H.M. 313-14
Wading,
Bill
384
Watson, 'Watty' 188
Young, Flora
15
Watson-Watt, R.A. 41
Weaver, Percy 270
434
Zamoyski,
Adam
240,
jN public library
s&
....iiiilii"""
(continued from front
pilots
knew
•'
it.
Under unimaginable pressure,
those nineteen- and twenty-year-old heroes
down
brought air
most powerful
world's
the
force and saved their nation
— and
the
free world.
PATRICK BISHOP,
associate editor at the
Daily Telegraph (London), the
television
The
series
is
the originator of
Irish
Empire and
the author of the highly acclaimed Provisional IRA.
A
book The
foreign correspondent
who
has covered the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, Bishop has also written books about the Falklands conflict lives in
and the Gulf War. He
London.
Jacket photograph
©
Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
m
NG
A meml 375
Hu
.111
Group (USA)
New
Inc.
York, N.Y. 10014
penguin.com ired in U.S.A.
mating
.
.
.as a vivid chronicle
were, what motivated them, Fighter Boys
'This
is
is
unsurpassed.
of who the Battle of Britain
and why they were ultimately
successful,
— DAILY
"
TELEGRAPH
not a tactical history. The thorny questions of military
one side
—the
pilots
strat-.
maddening ambiguities on
egy are wisely
left
to
German
and
the evergreen question of the true scale of both
sides' really
strategy
combat
losses. Instead, this
is
about individuals.
.
were heroes: of the 2,917 pilots who fought
Command during the Battle of Britain, 544 the survivors were also
were
killed,
.
.
And
Fighter
in
while 795 of
dead before the Second World War
finished.
— THE
SCOTSMAN
'Though there are more detailed
histories
portrays so intimately the
the experiences, the emotions
fates
of the pilots as
this
lives,
of the Battle of
they
Britain,
and
tht
powerful yet restrained, at times almost
unbearably touching, narrative.
— EVENING
STANDARD
