The

Logbook

Magazine of the Tangmere

Autumn 2013

Neville Duke Record-breakers of 1953 • RAF Astra Cinemas Pictures from the Past • Pranging Vampires

Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Trust Company

Patron: The Duke of Richmond and Gordon Hon. President: Duncan Simpson, OBE Hon. Life Vice-President: Alan Bower

Council of Trustees Chairman: Group Captain David Baron, OBE David Burleigh, MBE Reginald Byron David Coxon Dudley Hooley Ken Shepherd Phil Stokes Joyce Warren

Officers of the Company Hon. Treasurer: Ken Shepherd Hon. Secretary: Joyce Warren

Management Team Director: Dudley Hooley Curator: David Coxon General Manager and Chief Engineer: Phil Stokes Events Manager: David Burleigh, MBE Publicity Manager: Cherry Greveson Staffing Manager: Mike Wieland Treasurer: Ken Shepherd

Shop Manager: Sheila Shepherd

Registered in and as a Charity Charity Commission Registration Number 299327

Registered Office: Tangmere, near , PO20 2ES, England Telephone: 01243 790090 Fax: 01243 789490 Website: www.tangmere-museum.org.uk E-mail: [email protected]

2 The Tangmere Logbook The Tangmere Logbook Magazine of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

Autumn 2013

The Record-breakers of 1953 4 Four World Air Speed Records are set in a remarkably busy year David Coxon

Neville Duke as I Remember Him 8 An acquaintance with our late President David Baron

Adventures of an RAF Cinema Projectionist 11 Chance encounters with Astra cinemas at home and abroad, and one with Ava Gardner Phil Dansie

Pictures from My Father’s Album 19 . . . of some interesting historical moments Stan Hayter

Operation Beef 23 How to provoke official displeasure by pranging yet another pampered Vampire Eric Mold

From Our Archives . . . 26 Three famous photographs the pilots of “A” flight, 161 Squadron, in 1943

Letters, Notes, and Queries 28 Seafires on D-Day; More Vampire engine troubles; and Is it an Me210A or Me410?

Published by the Society of Friends of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Tangmere, near Chichester, West Sussex PO20 2ES, England Edited by Dr Reginald Byron, who may be contacted care of the Museum at the postal address given above, or by e-mail at [email protected] Copyright © 2013 by the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Trust Company All rights reserved. ISSN 1756-0039

The first prototype , WB188, pictured before the record-attempt modifications were made

The Record-breakers of 1953

David Coxon

Sixty years ago, on 7 September 1953, Group Captain Hugh J. (“Willy”) Wil- Neville Duke landed son over a three-kilometre course at back at RAF Tangmere having achieved Hearne Bay, Kent. The flight was led a world air speed record of 727.63 mph. by another group captain, E. M. The next day’s newspapers proclaimed (“Teddy”) Donaldson, who announced him to be the “Fastest Man on Earth”. his intention to the media to raise the He was not the only pilot to achieve record to at least 621 mph. Two other this description that year. pilots were posted to the flight to assist But, before we look at the speed Donaldson: Squadron Leader W. A. achievements of 1953, we need to go Waterton and Neville back to the summer of 1946 when the Duke. Based at Tangmere, the attempt RAF re-formed the High Speed Flight was to be made over a 3 km course off to make an attempt on the world air the Sussex coast at , near speed record set the year before by . The flight was provided

4 The Tangmere Logbook with standard line-production Meteor DH 110 being developed F4 aircraft with cleaned-up fuselages in the UK. and uprated Rolls-Royce Derwent en- However, the Americans were able gines. After a difficult summer waiting to prove convincingly that the F-86D’s for the weather conditions to improve, performance was no fluke and that its a break in the poor weather finally ar- performance possibilities were far from rived on Saturday 7 September and at being exhausted. On 16 July 1953, Lieu- 17.45 hours Donaldson took off from tenant Colonel William F. Barns, a Tangmere in EE549 to make the most of USAF test pilot on secondment to it. He landed back fourteen minutes North American Aviation, flying a pro- later having returned an average speed duction F-86D, achieved a new world of 615.78 mph over the course and a record of 715.69 mph. new world air speed record. The first to challenge Donaldson’s record was a Lockheed P-80R Shooting Star. On 19 June 1947 Colonel Albert Boyd, one of the USAF’s chief test pi- lots, became the first pilot to pass the 1,000 km/hour mark when he set a re- cord of 623.61 mph. This record was broken just over a year later, in August 1948, by Marion Carl USMC fly- ing a Douglas Skystreak research air- craft at a speed of 650.78 mph. In 1949 The North American F-86D was an all-weather version of the Sabre, with a nose. The Major Richard Johnson achieved 670.84 record-breaking example flown by William F. mph in a North American F-86A Sabre. Barns was F-86D-35-NA serial 51-6145. The interrupted any fur- ther American attempts to improve the In the early summer of 1953 the record. Company believed On 19 November 1952, an unmodi- that its new Hunter aircraft could re- fied North American F-86D Sabre took gain the world air speed record for Brit- off from Thermal, , and with ain and decided to modify the proto- representatives of the American Na- type aircraft WB188 for the attempt. tional Aeronautical Association and the Neville Duke, by then Hawker’s chief Fédération Aéronautique Internationale test pilot, would fly it. WB188 was fit- (FAI) present, flew over a measured ted with a streamlined “needle” nose, a course in the Salton Sea at an average of rounded front windscreen to the cock- 698.50 mph. The Salton Sea is a brack- pit and a Rolls-Royce reheat RA.7 (9,600 ish lake 15 miles wide by 35 miles long lb thrust) Avon engine. The aircraft some 235 feet below sea level in south- was painted a bright red to assist the ernmost California. The British aviation photographic time keepers from the industry considered this new record to National Physical Laboratory. be unfair because of the climatic differ- As it was Coronation year it was felt ences between California and Europe, that in spite of the climatic disadvan- particularly the temperature difference. tages the record attempt should be Also, the fact that the course was below made in Britain. The choice was the sea level gave an unfair advantage to established course already surveyed for the Sabre whose performance they the 1946 High Speed Flight attempts. claimed was no better than the Hawker The base chosen was again RAF Tang- Hunter, the Swift and the mere but unlike the full RAF support in

Autumn 2013 5 1946 of multiple course markers, air-sea lowed by a loud bang as the Hunter’s rescue Walrus and marine rescue craft port undercarriage door was forced with balloons flown at 300 feet to assist through the wing; this structural failure the pilot, the 1953 attempt only had caused the aircraft to invert and de- marker buoys to indicate the beginning scend. However, Duke managed to and end of the 3 km measured course. pull out of the dive 200 feet from the Assistance for the pilot was not a prob- sea and after diverting to Dunsfold was lem; as Neville Duke said afterwards, able to make a perfect two-wheel land- he had “. . . flown the course a couple of ing. hundred times already”. WB188 suffered only minimum All was ready by the end of August damage and after a lot of hard work the 1953 and on the 30th Neville Duke took repairs were completed and the Hunter off from Tangmere for the first record was ready to fly within a week. After attempt. Unfortunately, on the last of the attempt of 1 September the actual four practice runs the Avon engine be- record-breaking run was somewhat of gan to run intermittently after reheat an anticlimax. On 7 September Neville had been opened up and the attempt Duke was back at Tangmere after fif- was abandoned. The problem was teen minutes having achieved a mean found to be in the complex divided fuel average over the four runs of 727.63 system which supplied the engine si- mph; a new record. multaneously from two internal wing In the early 1950s, Hawker’s main tanks. The problem was solved by the competitor for the new RAF day inter- aircraft being flown initially on the tank ceptor aircraft contract was the Super- with the faster feed first, so that when marine Swift. The chief test pilot of reheat was put in both internal tanks Supermarine during the Swift’s devel- were full, giving balanced conditions. opment period was Mike Lithgow, who The next attempt was on 1 Septem- had joined the company in 1945 after ber when it was decided to take off at leaving the with the rank of dawn when calmer weather conditions lieutenant commander. Following were likely to be present. Shortly after Neville Duke’s success on 7 September take-off, as Duke switched on reheat, 1953 in the rival Hunter, Supermarine there was a surge of acceleration fol- was determined to prove its aircraft.

Supermarine Swift WK198 being refuelled, September 1953

6 The Tangmere Logbook Recognising that high air tempera- perfectly — turbulence didn’t bother tures would assist in achieving greater me a bit — I feel fortunate to have been speeds, a team from Supermarine and able to make the run.” Verdin’s record the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farn- flight was the last ever to be made at borough, travelled out to RAF Idris, low level under FIA rules and the last Libya for an attempt on the record. On to be set in the busy record-attempt 22 September 1953, the Swift F4 proto- year of 1953. type WK198 arrived in Libya after stag- ing through . The aircraft still retained its pale blue finish reminiscent of K5054, the Spitfire prototype, but with black bands around the nose and tail to assist the photographic observers who would determine the actual speed during the attempt. The selected course was the dead straight Azziza road in the desert some fifty miles to the south west of Tripoli. The record attempt was made on 25 September and commenced at Prototype XF4D-1 124586, one of two built, 14.30 hours when the Swift made four pictured aboard the USS Coral Sea. James B. Verdin flew its sister, 124587, to a new world runs that took the record to 737.3 mph. record on 3 October 1953, bettering Lithgow’s Lithgow managed to achieve this re- record set in Libya eight days earlier. cord at an air temperature of over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, despite The very last attempt to be made in the aircraft’s cockpit cooling system 1953, on 29 October, made by a YF- having failed! 100A Super Sabre flown by Lieutenant Lithgow’s record only lasted a few Colonel Frank K. Everest USAF, failed days. The decided when it reached only 755.15 mph, less to attempt the record using the proto- than the required one per cent increase type of the new Douglas F4D-1 Skyray. on the previous record. Trials with Lieutenant Commander Sadly, within ten years, two of James B. Verdin USN as pilot started 1953’s record-breaking pilots would be over the Salton Sea three-kilometre dead. On 14 , on a test course on 25 September, just a day after flight over the Mojave Desert in a the Swift had broken Hawker’s record. Douglas A4D-1 Skyhawk, James Verdin A few days later, a record attempt in radioed that he was bailing out at the Skyray had to be abandoned due to 30,000 feet. His body was found a week a faulty fuel gauge; on another day the later, his parachute unopened, after an aircraft produced an average speed of intensive search of hundreds of square just 742.7 mph, which was 1.6 mph be- miles of desert. On 25 October 1963, low the required one per cent increase Mike Lithgow was flying the BAC 1-11 over the previous record. It was there- 200 prototype airliner G-ASHG when it fore not eligible for consideration as a crashed in Wiltshire as a result of a new record. However, on 3 October the “deep stall”, a condition peculiar to T- Skyray, flying at between 100 and 200 tailed aircraft in which the turbulent feet above the lake level and piloted by wake of a stalled main wing blankets Verdin, went on to set a new record of the horizontal stabilizer, making the 753.4 mph. Verdin later told a news elevators ineffective and preventing the conference that “The plane behaved aircraft from recovering.

Autumn 2013 7

Neville Duke as I Remember Him

David Baron

I can’t recall the precise time that I first heard the name “Neville Duke” but it was in the very early 1950s. Having been born in 1941, my mem- ory dates back to the immediate post-war years and the way of life of those times when, to be aware of what was going on in the world be- yond one’s immediate neighbourhood depended on the wireless (re- member tuning in at 6.45 pm every evening for 15 minutes of “Dick Bar- ton, Special Agent”?), the daily newspaper and, on visiting the cinema, the inevitable Pathé and British Movietone newsreels.

The British population had lived through a time of heroic deeds by heroic people. Yes, there was now “peace” but the war heroes had to be replaced — and that responsibility fell to test pilots at a time when tran- sonic flight was at a highly experimental and extremely perilous stage. It might be difficult for today’s generation to understand, but they were the celebrities of the day; if comparison can be made, they were the pop

8 The Tangmere Logbook stars and footballers of the age. , Mike Lithgow, , Roly Beaumont, John Cunningham et al were household names as they took to the skies in arguably the most dangerous peacetime pro- fession known to man. And for so many of us, Neville Duke took pride of place; well, he certainly did as far as I was concerned.

My first memory of Neville was seeing him in newsreels flying a Hawker Hunter in resplendent red livery at air shows around the UK. Crowds turned out in their tens of thousands to witness him “break the ” in his beautiful WB188. I was aware that Neville was a wartime fighter pilot of exceptional ability, having destroyed 28 enemy aircraft in combat and been awarded a Distinguished Service Order and three Distinguished Flying Crosses by the age of 22, but it was his per- formance in the Hunter that so impressed me and was to have such a profound affect. My aim above all else was to join the RAF and emulate him.

My desire was strengthened, if that were possible, by the tragic events at the Farnborough Air Show in 1952 when John Derry’s de Havilland 110 broke up in mid-air killing the crew of two and 28 specta- tors as the wreckage ploughed into Observation Hill. Neville Duke was next on the flying programme. He had just seen his close friend die, was witness to the carnage on the ground and could quite justifiably have abandoned his display, yet he calmly started up WB188, taxied onto the runway and took off to provide an immaculate demonstration of his craft. By his actions that day, Neville showed that not only was he an exceptional aviator, he was also an exceptional man.

Some years later, my aspirations undiminished, I completed secon- dary education and was selected by the RAF to train as a pilot. At the end of flying training in mid-1962, six of the eight trainees awarded their “wings” were posted as co-pilots to the V-Force; the remaining two, of whom I was one, were posted to the Hunter, and my ambition became reality. I subsequently retired in 1996 after 36 years’ service of which some 21 were spent flying high performance aircraft.

It was in 2002, two years after my wife and I relocated to West Sus- sex and I was long-retired, that I joined the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum as a volunteer. A short time after my arrival, the Museum’s Honorary President, Neville Duke, and his wife Gwendoline came on one of their regular visits and I met my boyhood hero for the very first time — a momentous occasion. I came to know Neville quite well as time went by. I was fully aware of his reputed modesty but his shyness took me by surprise. He took pains to avoid the limelight and was self-

Autumn 2013 9 deprecating to a degree given his remarkable achievements. By way of example whilst viewing the Museum’s newly delivered Lightning one day, he was asked if he’d ever flown one, to which he replied, “Oh no. That was only for the big boys!” Never once did I hear him being rude or discourteous to anyone, even under great provocation. He was the archetypal English gentleman.

Neville continued to fly his own aircraft while living in perpetual fear of failing the annual medical examination required to retain his li- cence. Deaf in one ear and with only partial hearing in the other, he nevertheless kept going to the age of 85 when he was taken ill whilst airborne. He succeeded in setting his machine and Gwendoline safely on the ground, only then to collapse and die later that same day, 7th April 2007.

Neville Duke was arguably the most celebrated aviator this nation has produced; a king above men. He determined the direction of my life and that of countless of my air force contemporaries who were simi- larly influenced by him in those heady days of the early 1950s. It is a very great honour to have known him.

10 The Tangmere Logbook

The Brixton Astoria

Adventures of an RAF Cinema Projectionist

Phil Dansie

It all started when I was about thirteen the orchestra pit, and a stage show, years old and still at school. Before the which the Astoria was well equipped to Second World War, my father, Don deal with, having 42 rope hoists (lines) Dansie, worked as a junior engineer at on stage and a huge scenery dock! the Brixton Astoria Theatre, one of a After the war, my father returned to chain of four so-called “atmospheric” the Astoria, after serving in the Royal theatres in south London owned by Engineers, but now as chief engineer, Paramount and beautifully designed by and that is when my involvement with architect Edward A. Stone, having an that lovely cinema began. After school, interior resembling an open-air garden. I used to go to the Astoria to assist Dad It had the title “Theatre” because for during the changeovers, which were one’s ticket price, not only did one see the short intervals between films when the usual two films, shorts and news- the screen tabs (curtains) and stage reel, but was also entertained by an or- lighting were employed. This saved the ganist at one of two Compton organ boiler engineer from having to come up consoles, one on the stage and one in from the basement to render assistance

Autumn 2013 11 on stage. Sometimes I would close and lighting was out, as the picture was on open the screen tabs, which was hard what little of the screen was viewable. work for a young lad, because they Meanwhile Dad had gone up the stairs were hand-pulled, and sometimes work like a rat up a drain pipe to the gallery the big Berkeley switchboard on a gal- above the switchboard where the tab lery high above the stage floor, (which I motor and cable drum were situated. much preferred!) fading in the float, Then the stage corridor doors flew open batten and spot lights in a variety of and the manager, assistant manager combinations and colours. I felt really and a couple of the box crew rushed proud that my Dad trusted me to do onto the stage. The manager shouted these things in front (so to speak!) of a up to Dad, “What’s up, Don?” Dad live audience, although I was well replied, “Motor’s burnt out. Can you aware that even a minor error in such a give me a hand?” So they all went up lovely old theatre like the Astoria to the gallery and there was a yo-heave- would have brought shame on me, my ho session on the cables until the tabs father, and the theatre. were fully open. What a night that was! I recall one occasion, however, when When the time came to leave school, things did go badly wrong, though not having long nurtured an ambition to through any fault of mine. It happened join the RAF and fly Spitfires, I did just on the last performance of the week on that. Well, half of it! Due to the Luft- a Saturday evening. We were showing waffe having wrecked several schools I “Song of Scheherazade” with Brian attended in London resulting in a Donlevy, Jean-Pierre Aumont and rather low standard of education, and a Yvonne de Carlo. The situation: the medical classification of A4G1, meaning sales interval was drawing to a close, air grade 4 (unfit for aircrew) and house lights up and the magnificent ground grade 1 (OK for ground trades), brown and gold main tabs closed, with I had to be content with working on an amber float (or footlighting), which aircraft instead of flying them. showed the curtains to their best advan- My first posting was to Fighter tage. Dad was down on the stage, his Command Station RAF Horsham St hand on the tabs motor controller, me Faith, on the fringe of Norwich, in Nor- up on the switchboard, waiting. folk, but we’ll by-pass that one because BRRRRRR! The warning buzzer sound- being so close to Norwich, it didn’t ed and the red light flashed on! With have a cinema. In October, my squad- the main tabs closed, I could not see the ron, No. 263, moved to RAF auditorium, so bringing the house in , which did have one. The lights down was a slow and patient cinema was in an upstairs wing of the movement of the dimmer lever, but the airman’s mess and was quite small. box crew could see, so as soon as the After a few months, I saw a notice out- house lights were out, on came the side the paybox saying “Projectionist green light, Dad’s hand swung the mo- Wanted.” After helping Dad at the As- tor controller over, and I started to dim toria, I knew I could deal with tabs and the float. I heard the tab motor start up the complexities of a big Berkeley light- with its usual heavy whine and the ing switchboard, but projection? I had click, click, click of the bobbins along not a clue! However, the incumbent the rails as the tabs began to open. projectionist saw me looking curiously Then after a few seconds, when the tabs through the open door of the projection were open about ten feet, it all stopped! room one evening, and invited me in Making a unilateral decision, I con- for a look round. Hmm, I thought, this tinued dimming the float until all stage looks interesting. So I was taken on as a

12 The Tangmere Logbook trainee. After a few weeks, a chap from however, were capable of using 2,000 the Cinema Corpora- foot reels, so two 1,000 rolls needed to tion arrived and plied me with loads of be spliced together on the rewind questions, and watched me run that bench. In order to make a successful evening’s show. A week later, my, As- join, three-quarters of an inch of film tra Cinemas Projectionist’s Certificate has to be cut off, so each time a film is number 347 arrived and I was on my shown, it gets shorter by that amount! own! The showmanship I had learned It was also necessary while winding the at the Astoria came in good stead for film onto a reel to hold each edge of the my new job (part-time, evenings only, film between the fingers, to detect any of course!). Oh, I made mistakes, as one bad joins and torn perforations, which, does in the early days, but quickly if not found, could result in the film learned by them; an audience of ser- breaking during projection. Usually, vicemen is very unforgiving of errors! two projectors are used because a 2,000- The equipment was 16mm Bell and foot reel lasts only twenty minutes, ne- Howell model 601 projectors with a cessitating changing over from one ma- changeover box which included a chine to the other throughout the length monitor loudspeaker. The main loud- of the film. When watching an old film, speaker behind the screen was a Vor- perhaps on TV, have you noticed occa- texion, which gave very good sound sional small dots appearing for a few quality. The films arrived by post, usu- seconds in the top right-hand corner of ally a week before the show date as a the screen? package, the main feature, shorts and These dots occur near the end of either a newsreel or an Astra Gazette. each reel and mark the point at which In 1952, I was sent to RAF Melk- the reel of film runs out on the outgoing sham, in Wiltshire, for a six-week elec- projector, and changes over to the in- trical fitter’s course, where I was trans- coming machine. To facilitate this formed from a Senior Aircraftsman changeover routine, each projector is Electrical Mechanic (Air) into a Junior equipped with a dowser, which is a Technician Electrical Fitter (Air). I was metal plate which opens or closes, ena- delighted to find that the station had an bling the light source to enter the gate Astra Cinema, so asked if they wanted through which the film passes; a switch any help. Luckily, they did. I was to control the motor; a switch to deter- given a tour of the box, and discovered mine which machine the sound comes that the equipment was 35mm, with from; and a spring-loaded “Easyphit” Ross projectors. The manager and chief shutter that is placed in front of the lens were civilians, and the second a perma- on each machine, snapping open on one nent staff airman. So I started as re- machine and closing on the other in- wind/trainee third. This Astra was stantaneously. Two operators are many times larger than the 16mm one needed to do these actions. back at Wattisham, occupying part of Thus when the operator of no. 1 pro- an aircraft hangar. jector sees that his reel has only about As this cinema used professional inch of film left, he alerts the operator 35mm film, the films were delivered by on no. 2, who checks that the carbon a national film delivery company, Film rods in his arc lamp are long enough to Transport Services. I had to learn new last about half an hour. No. 2 then skills here because the films were deliv- touches the rods together, thereby strik- ered in cans containing a 1,000 foot roll ing the arc, and checks that the feed of film. This had to be transferred onto motor is working correctly (this slowly reels for projection. The projectors, draws the two carbons together, com-

Autumn 2013 13 pensating for the erosion on each as answer, Southampton! So another long they burn away). train journey back down south to board When no. 1 sees the first dot, he HM troopship MS Dilwara, which was shouts, “Motor!” Now all depends on alongside the opposite dock to the no. 2, who switches on the motor on his magnificent liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. machine and opens the dowser. After a What a sight that was, dressed overall few seconds, a second dot appears and and floodlit. Unforgettable. no. 2 simultaneously operates the Easy- We sailed at dawn, although by the phit shutter and sound switch. The time we had got up, washed and break- film now continues on no. 2 projector. fasted, England was just a shadow on No. 1 closes his dowser, switches off his the horizon and the Army sergeant ma- arc lamp, and when the last of the film jor in charge of troops began to allocate has wound onto the take-up reel, our tasks for the duration of the voyage switches off his motor and goes to the to , which was to last six rewind room to rewind his reel ready weeks. Then occurred an amazing co- for the next performance. incidence. I was to assist a merchant I really enjoyed my time at Melk- navy third officer in presenting the sham. A particular high spot occurred ship’s film shows on deck for the while an Ealing Studios team were film- troops, in the NCOs’ mess, and in the ing locally, shooting scenes for the film First Class lounge for the officers and “The Titfield Thunderbolt” using the their families. The idea was for me to station at Bath for the fictional film sta- help carry the equipment (Bell & How- tion of Mallingford. We were due to ell 621s) around the ship, but when the screen an Ealing film, “Where No Vul- officer learned of my experience, he left tures Fly,” so the manager and chief me to run the shows while he retired to invited some of the film crew to our the bar! Astra where they gave a very interest- One show has remained in my ing talk on stage about the film we were memory ever since. Remember “The showing and also about the “Thunder- Beast from 20,000 Fathoms”? The per- bolt” scenes they were currently shoot- formance was on deck for the troops, at ing. Afterwards they invited members night of course. It was a fairly dark of the audience to ask questions. The night with an occasional glimpse of the team consisted of director Charles moon when it broke through the Crichton, director of cinematography clouds. The sea was calm. The deck Douglas Slocombe and Paul Beeson, was crowded. Towards the end of the who was the Technicolor cameraman film, I became aware that the usual for “Where No Vultures Fly.” coughs, fidgeting movements, ciga- All too soon it was time to return to rettes being lit, etc. were strangely sub- Wattisham and the tiny 16mm Astra. dued. Looking round, I found that Then, towards the end of 1953, my most of the audience had disappeared! name appeared on PORs (Personnel I can only assume that the sight of an Occurrence Reports) to announce that I ocean-going Tyrannosaurus rex emerg- was to be posted to RAF Station But- ing from the sea in the film had been terworth, Province Wellesley, in far-off responsible for the lads deciding to Malaya! After a spell of embarkation have an early night! Spooky. leave came a long train journey to the On disembarking from the ship at transit camp at Lytham St Annes, just Singapore, we boarded a train and be- outside Blackpool where we were is- gan the long journey to Butterworth, sued with tropical kit. I asked if the and it was long too, thirty-six hours! ship left from Liverpool. No, was the After getting settled in at RAF Station

14 The Tangmere Logbook Butterworth, in the locale called Perma- Presentation System, on the Big tang Kuching, I discovered that there Screen”. Of course, it wasn’t really a was an Astra Cinema about half a mile big screen, it was just that the new down the road to the town of Butter- lenses now filled the old one! worth. The projectionist was due to It did the trick. On the first night, return to the UK in a few weeks, so the Astra was filled to capacity. I once again I had arrived at the right showed the shorts with the old 3-inch time. The manager, a very pleasant lenses, to give contrast, then opened RAF sergeant, checked me out and I “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” with the was back in the “box.” 2½-inch lenses. The response was grati- The building had been built by fying, even up in the box I could hear POWs during the Japanese occupation, the cheers and applause! for what purposes I know not, but its During a particularly severe mon- dimensions were ideally suitable for soon rainstorm, the airfield at Kallang, cinema use, having a high ceiling with a then Singapore’s International Airport, series of electric fans to keep the audi- became too waterlogged for aircraft ence cool. The seating was canvas on movements and several airliners were metal frames. The projectors were diverted to RAF Butterworth. To the 16mm Bell & Howell 621s with the delight of all ranks, and especially to changeover/monitor box and three- the occupants of the officer’s mess, who inch lenses. These gave a rather ama- entertained her, one of these aircraft teurish look to the projected picture, was carrying beautiful film star Ava because they left an approximately 18- Gardner! Luckily, having my camera to 24-inch gap between the fuzzy edge with me, I was able to get a quick pho- of the picture and the screen edge tograph of her just before she re- masking. The civilian service engineer, boarded her ’plane. a Chinese chap named Ghey Chong Keat, visited the Astra once a month to check the equipment and supply any spares that were required. On his next visit, I asked if anything could be done about the gap around the screen. After a careful look around, he said, yes, he would see to it. And he did, bless him! A week later, the next week’s films arrived from Singapore. There was a newsreel, a cartoon and the feature, “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” in Techni- color starring Gilbert Roland, Robert Wagner and Terry Moore, an almost new print, too. But the big surprise was carefully wrapped in tissue paper, a pair of 2½-inch projector lenses! Now, I was aware that the 35mm version of this film was in CinemaScope, so, see- ing the chance to exhibit a bit of show- manship, I spoke to the manager who, being a bit of an artist, produced a poster giving the show-date, film title My picture of Ava Gardner at RAF Butterworth and the blurb “In AstraVision, the New

Autumn 2013 15 Leaving the delights of Malaya in Just before Christmas in 1956, I was January 1956, it was back to the UK and ordered to present myself at the BOAC a posting to RAF Marham, equipped Terminal at Victoria at 9:30 pm on the with V- and 17th of December with all my RAF kit, English Electric Canberras. The station but dressed in smart civilian clothes. was also equipped with a 35mm cin- The terminal was a bit awe-inspiring; a ema, as befitted the RAF’s Number One beautiful Art-Deco building, it exuded station. It occupied a large part an aura of luxury. An officer then gave of an MT garage building. The chief us our newly acquired passports. Upon was on his own at the time I arrived, so looking through mine, I was amazed to was happy to take me on as second. I see that my occupation was written as stayed at Marham for less than a year “Government Official”. It was ex- due to the “bull” being a bit over the plained that some of the countries we top, resulting from a succession of vis- would be calling at for refuelling did its: the pre-Air Officer Commanding’s not allow foreign troop movements in inspection, the AOC’s inspection, Her their airspace. So not only am I now a Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Ed- member of Her Majesty’s Government, inburgh and finally, Marshal Bulganin but I was a foreigner, too! After check- and Premier Nikita Krushchev from the ing in, a BOAC bus took us to Heath- USSR. Enough already! So I volun- row where we boarded Flight EM 514, a teered for overseas service. gorgeous Qantas Lockheed Super-G There was only one amusing inci- Constellation, VH-EAM, named the dent at the Marham Astra. RAF sta- “Southern Spray.” My seat number tions have a PA system, with Tannoy was L1, a window seat. Great! loudspeakers situated everywhere, in- Our flight took us to Adelaide in cluding the auditorium and projection South Australia, via Rome, Karachi, room of the Astra Cinema. The film I Calcutta, Singapore and Darwin, stop- was showing that evening was “Strate- ping only for fuel for the aircraft and gic Air Command.” It was getting near fuel for us passengers. The whole flight the end of the film, the part where pilot took two and a half days, with no night James Stewart, suffering from an old stops! We were bussed to the Royal arm injury, was making a GCA Australian Air Force Base, Edinburgh (Ground Controlled Approach) landing Field, where I worked on Canberra air- at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, in craft in readiness for the UK’s first tests really filthy, foggy, rainy weather. Be- of our very own hydrogen fusion weap- cause of the arm injury, he couldn’t ons. There were no involvements with reach the throttles of his B-47 bomber, cinemas in Australia, so I will move on so his navigator was doing that for him. to April 1957, when our group were “Standby for jet penetration,” calls out loaded aboard a Hast- the ground controller rather dra- ings transport aircraft and flown to matically, as Jimmy Stewart strains his Christmas Island, which is three de- eyes to see the runway. At that mo- grees off the Equator, just about in the ment, the Tannoy loudspeakers burst middle of the Pacific Ocean. We night- into life: “Stand by for broadcast. Will stopped at Brisbane, Suva, (Fiji Islands) the Duty Crew report to Air Traffic and Canton Island. Control immediately, I say again . . . .” Christmas Island, or Kiritimati, as it But the repeated message was drowned is now called, is part of the Gilbert and out by the biggest, loudest roar of Ellice group of islands, or Kiribati as voices and stamping of feet I have ever named now. It is shaped like a crab’s heard from a cinema audience! claw and is the largest coral atoll in the

16 The Tangmere Logbook Pacific, being 35 miles long by 24 miles cockpits to detect radiation levels. One wide. The land is concentrated around of these aircraft returned to Christmas its coastal regions, the interior being with a faulty sampling container, which mostly occupied by lagoons. It is very I had to repair, getting heavily con- low-lying, the highest points being only taminated with Alpha particles, Beta, ten feet above sea level. and Gamma radiation in the process! The general view of an island such That’s another story. as this is commonly as a luxury desert But, hurrah, there was a cinema! An island holiday venue, a gentle turquoise open-air one with seating made from sea washing up on a golden sandy driftwood and pieces of old packing beach, just a few steps away from the cases. The box was similarly con- veranda of a five star hotel with gour- structed and a bit ramshackle. It con- met food brought at the wave of a hand tained Bell & Howell 16mm equipment As the popular saying has it, “Yeah, which was new to me: model 609 right!” That may be true of some is- mechs, B & H arc lamps and anamor- lands, but not Christmas! OK, the sea is phic lenses for ‘Scope. The bad news turquoise in colour, but there the com- was that it was run by the AKC (Army parison ends. The beach is composed Kinema Corporation) and they had a of fine, flour-like coral dust, as is all the full crew, so no room for me. solid (?) ground on the island which is However, there came a time when very tiring to walk on because one’s all the army duties had been carried feet sink deeply into it making every out, and almost all of them returned to step an extreme effort. the UK, including the AKC contingent. The island is surrounded by a jag- But before they went, the nearest ged coral reef close inshore with a fierce RAFCC (Royal Air Force Cinema Cor- irresistible undertow, so it is not possi- poration) representative was asked to ble to swim there. On the other side of visit the island to see if it would be vi- the reef lurk sharks and barracuda. A able to take over the cinema, and also to hotel? No, row upon row of tents made find staff to run it. This was Mr J. to house four men each but actually Chapman who had to come all the way containing six men sleeping on camp from Singapore, and whom I had had beds only six inches off the ground, dealings with when I was at the But- enabling the hordes of land-crabs to terworth Astra in Malaya. He OK’d me crawl over one’s face during the night. as projectionist, and ordered the bits Drinking water (warm!) supplied in a and pieces I would need. One thing he mobile tanker truck within the tent would not agree to, though, was to con- lines; washing and bathing water was tinue showing ‘Scope films, so when seawater, so one had to use a specially the AKC left, they took with them the made seawater soap because ordinary anamorphic lenses and the 2.5:1 ratio soap will not lather in salt water, and screen! As an added bonus, I was able everywhere millions of flies! to move into a large tent previously I was attached to AWRE (Atomic occupied by the AKC chief and had it Weapons Research Establishment). My all to myself! Sheer luxury. duties including carrying out modifica- As a matter of interest, after I re- tions to the 76 Squadron Canberras turned to the UK, I received a letter which had to fly through the mush- from the RAFCC asking me to visit room cloud after the hydrogen their headquarters in London and tell had detonated in order to collect air- them about running a cinema on a Pa- borne dust particle samples. These cific coral atoll. I obliged, and they mods were to fit survey meters in their were very interested in what I had to

Autumn 2013 17 say, but raised a question: Why did we ground! We were loaded directly from not chop down some palm trees to im- the aircraft door onto a bus, in which prove the seating in the “auditorium?” two USAF policemen patrolled up and The reason, of course, was for one down the bus with drawn pistols, mak- thing, palm trees are not at all like ing sure we did not try to take photo- wood used in carpentry, but are fi- graphs of the base. As we were not brous. The other thing is that all the permitted to spend the night at the palm trees on the island are privately base, we were bussed into downtown owned by a company who produce Omaha and stayed at the Regis Hotel, copra, and would be somewhat dis- whose motto was “250 Rooms, 250 pleased if we had tried to chop down Baths.” Next stop was Goose Bay, in their trees! Labrador. I have never, before or since, Whilst on the island, I had the good experienced such cold! Then across the fortune to be a member of a party to be Atlantic to Prestwick for breakfast, and sent on a ten-day detachment to Hick- finally RAF Colerne in Wiltshire. ham Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii. Home at last; quite a tour! Our duties were to do turn-round ser- I was then posted to 115 Squadron vicing on the Hastings transports which (Vickers Varsities) partnered with 245 staged at Hickham on their way to Squadron (English Electric Canberras) Christmas Island carrying spares mail on a Signals Command station, RAF and fresh food. But this work only took Watton in Norfolk, but as it was within a couple of hours every other day, so walking distance of the town, there was the rest of the time was our own! How- no cinema. In August 1958, the two ever, the wonderful opportunities for squadrons were moved down south to entertainment and enjoyment in Hono- RAF Tangmere, which had had a cin- lulu were strictly limited by the amount ema, but it was now the unit’s radio of cash our RAF pay could be spared to station. change into dollars. Good fortune In September 1959 I was demobbed smiled upon me once more, though, at Tangmere, so there ends my tale as because one evening in the base bowl- far as working in Astra Cinemas is con- ing alley, I was befriended by a USAF cerned, but there is a postscript. While master sergeant, Bob Thorn, who took getting in some glider flying at the Kent me home to his married quarters for Gliding Club at Challock, I came across dinner and to meet his family, who all a Bell and Howell 16mm projector and welcomed me and insisted I treat their loudspeaker in a storeroom, which had home as my own! They took me out been used to show training films. It several times, Bob to the offices of the was a model 655 TQ 1, “Filmosound.” I Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, where asked the club secretary if they were I saw their city desk, often seen in old willing to part with it and was told to Hollywood movies; and Jeanette, his take it away, the club had no further wife, together with the children Barbie use for it, a very welcome free gift! So I and Robert junior to Waikiki’s Keehi am keeping my hand in with a small beach for swimming and sailing. Bob film library accumulated from events even allowed me to use his superb 1956 like the British Film Collectors’ Conven- Ford Fairlane Sunliner car. tion film fairs in Ealing. My return to the UK was by Hand- I now use my projector to give ley Page Hastings, via Honolulu lunchtime film shows, featuring now- (again!) San Francisco, and Omaha, Ne- historic aviation-related films and Astra braska. Omaha’s Offutt AFB is SAC’s shorts, which I enjoy doing, and the HQ. Our feet literally did not touch the lads enjoy watching!

18 The Tangmere Logbook

Pictures from my Father’s Album

Stan Hayter

In the top photo, Dad is shown in the uniform of an Air Mechanic, RFC, sometime before 1 April 1918. By the time the lower photograph was taken, he was on overseas service with the Middle East Brigade at Salonika (modern-day Thessaloníki in Greek Macedonia), where a number of RFC/RAF units were stationed from 1916 to 1919, and he is now wearing corporal’s tapes on an RAF uniform (he is standing, third row from front, third from left).

Autumn 2013 19

His next posting was to Le Bourget, where he is seen carrying mail and diplomatic despatches destined for the British Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, which concluded five interna- tional treaties between January 1919 and January 1920.

Off duty at “Bue”. Note the disused field kitchen on wagon wheels in the background.

20 The Tangmere Logbook

After his release from the RAF, Dad worked at Croydon Airport, or the London Terminal Aero- drome, as it was then called. Here he is pictured (far left) with fellow employees of the Instone Air Line. Instone operated a passenger service from Croydon to Le Bourget from 1921 to 1924, when the company became part of Imperial Airways. The aircraft is G-EARO, a DH.18.

This photo, taken at Croydon probably in 1921, is a bit of a mystery. The inscription in Dad’s album says “The first lady pilot to fly the Channel just before starting on the return journey.” However, the history books say that Harriet Quimby was the first woman to fly the Channel nine or ten years earlier, in 1912, in a Blériot monoplane. Can anyone help?

Autumn 2013 21

Another mystery. Dad’s inscription says, “A French double-decker which crashed during its trials”. Note that there are two more engines on the upper plane. There are no visible markings, but its whale-like appearance is quite distinctive. It is not clear whether this picture was taken at Croydon, or when. Does anyone know what it is?

Airship R33, built for the Admiralty in 1919, is moored at Croydon in 1921, where she remained only a few months before being moved elsewhere and mothballed. Of equal interest are the air- liners on the ground, belonging to Instone, KLM, and perhaps others.

22 The Tangmere Logbook Operation Beef topographical map and good eyesight. In fact you only really needed the map Eric Mold for the detailed stuff. The geographical features of that part of the world are so The 19th of August 1952 was a splendid well defined most of us could go practi- day. A huge anticyclone had been sol- cally anywhere without a map. idly entrenched over northwest Europe With only a four-channel radio you for a week or more making the 19th one couldn’t talk to many people even if more of those gorgeous lazy, hazy, you wanted to. There weren’t many summer days. I was flying Vampires people to talk to anyway. Very little in with 67 Squadron at the time. We’d just the way of air traffic control. Just give moved from Gutersloh to the brand- Sector a call when ‘coasting in’. A new NATO airfield at Wildenrath and quick call to Tangmere for a radio bear- were in the process of settling into our ing or two, for it was still buried in the new quarters. After the met. briefing haze, somewhere up ahead, beneath the that morning, Willie Wilson, my flight nose. The Vampire glided like a bird, commander, came up to me and said, almost silently. I have actually gained “OK, Eric, jump into your kite and nip height in a Vampire at idle power, soar- over to Tangers and bring back the ing in a standing wave over one of boss’s.” In those days we were as- Germany’s famous gliding ridges. signed our own planes. Mine was F for The Isle of Wight passed under the Freddie; the boss’s was Q for Queenie. nose. Soon Tangmere came into view. At the time, all of our kites were go- Careful, don’t confuse it with the air- ing through Operation Beef. We were field at Ford — it’s been done before. A taking them to Tangmere, where a crew call to the air traffic control tower. of civvy technicians were replacing the “Downwind, three green lights, final.” old four-channel VHF radios with new I kiss the tarmac with a typically perfect nine channel sets (Wow! — nine chan- touch-down. I taxi over to the hangar nels, a big deal in those days). It was F where they are doing the modifications. for Freddie’s turn to get hers. Queenie was sitting there so I parked A few minutes later I was on my alongside her, shut down and got out. way, climbing out from Wildenrath. A civvy greeted me; he was one of The countryside of Holland and Bel- the working parties that were doing the gium unfolding below was soon re- modifications. He told me that Queenie placed by the Friesian islands and the was ready to go. I dumped my para- North Sea. The sun reflecting off of the chute and helmet on her wing and said, sea seemed to pierce the haze like a “I’ll just pop down to the mess for a bit flaming steel rapier. of lunch and be right back.” On a sub- Soon, the Channel narrowed down sequent visit to Tangmere in the late to the Dover Strait with Kent and the 80s, I was distressed to find the station Thames estuary to starboard and Cap deserted and that lovely old and his- Griz Nez to port. I pulled back on the toric officers’ mess completely vandal- throttle and started to ease down to- ized. wards my destination. After a quick soup and sandwich I Back then, flying a peppy little jet strolled back to my kite. Little did I like the Vampire, was one of the most know that my glorious day was about wonderful things a chap could do. Un- to come to an abrupt end. I signed the complicated, simple, very few gadgets Form 700, did a walk-round check, put to mess around with, to go wrong or to on my parachute and climbed aboard. try to figure out. All you needed was a Securely strapped in, I started the en-

Autumn 2013 23 gine and a few seconds later waved squadron, in a mass of shreds in some chocks-away and then taxied out to the poor farmer’s field. Since I had nothing duty runway. I asked for and received to do but wait, I decided to go home to take-off clearance so rolled to the take- see my dad who lived in London and off position and opened up the throttle. knew nothing of this. The Vamp, on hot days like that, espe- The next evening I tapped on his cially when fitted with drop tanks, was door. Surprised to see me he said, not what you would call quick out of “What are you doing here?” “Oh, I just the box. I was well past the half-way had a prang down at Tangmere,” I re- point on the runway before she lifted plied rather nonchalantly. “Are you all off. Then it happened. About 10 feet in right?” he asked. I assured him I was the air, going like the clappers, rapidly and he said, “Well you’re bloody lucky, running out of runway, the engine Harry Brooks went out over the North seemed to stop. Wow! Suddenly the Sea last night and so far they haven’t world stood still. I slammed her back come back.” I was shocked. Harry, my on the ground, squeezed the brakes as brother-in-law of nine weeks, was a hard as I could and tried, successfully navigator on Vampire Mk 10s operating thank God, to miss a revetted dispersal out of Coltishall. In June he had mar- pen that I was heading directly into. I ried my 19-year-old sister who was a bounced across the grass, through a fighter controller, also based at Coltis- hedge, down a bank, across a little river hall. What’s more, there was a honey- and ended up in a field on the far side. moon baby on the way. Phew! That was a close one. To my I had only met Harry once, at my astonishment the engine was still run- sister’s wedding. Nick, his pilot, was ning so I closed the high-pressure cock, there as well; he was the best man. turned off the switches and jumped out. Apparently, they were practising low- Almost immediately the Wing Com- level intercepts at night. They must mander Flying and a couple of other have become disorientated and went bods came running up, soaking wet straight in to the drink. No trace of after wading across the stream. “Are them or their plane was ever found. you OK?” he shouted. I assured him I I spent a few melancholy days mop- was and I tried to explain what had ing around my dad’s apartment and happened. eventually got a message to report back By this time a Land Rover had ar- to Tangmere, to give my evidence to the rived in the field where I ended up and court. I was pleased to learn that they gave us a ride back to station headquar- had pretty well determined that I did ters. I was a bit mystified as to what indeed have an engine problem. had caused the problem. I was sure it Having given my evidence I was was nothing I had done or had omitted free to go. A couple of days later Curly to do. The wingco didn’t know much Winter came over to get me in the Me- about Vamps so could not contribute teor Mk 7. When I got back to the very much. However, after a few squadron everyone was very sympa- phone calls I was told that I would have thetic. Not just about my own prang to stick around for a few days because but also the news, or rather lack of it, of they were going to hold a court of in- Harry and Nick. quiry. I can hear my boss, S/L David Giles, I had no way of getting back to saying it now: “Come on, old chap, Germany anyway and I was not anx- cheer up, you’ve had a rough few days ious to face my boss after leaving his so take MLB (our , Mike plane, which was the queen of the LaBas’s kite) and do a nice low-level

24 The Tangmere Logbook cross-country trip.” We all liked low- I pleaded, “It was the engine, the level cross-countries. engine.” No one believed that the same MLB was the queen of the wing; she thing could happen to the same person was hangared by our squadron, and we on two consecutive trips. Accidents looked after her. She had all of the lat- just didn’t happen that way. I was est modifications, beautiful paint job, pretty upset. J. E. J. added, “It had DFC-painted tail; she was immaculate. bloody well better be the engine or else We looked upon it as a special treat to you’ve had it.” I was kind of sent to have the chance to take her up. So, try- Coventry for the next few days, only ing to shake some of the gloom of the putting in appearances when sum- last few days out of my head, I jumped moned to testify before another court of into MLB and headed out to the duty inquiry. runway. Cleared for take off, I taxied Slowly the word came out. It was into position and let her rip. another technical fault. In fact we were I couldn’t believe it — about 10 feet in for a whole epidemic of them. Ap- off of the ground the engine RPM parently a barometric device which was dropped back to idle. This must be designed to gradually reduce the en- some kind of horrible dream. I gine speed in the climb, to prevent slammed her back on the ground, overheating the tail pipe, had failed. jammed on the brakes and this time The result was that it suddenly, regard- managed to come to a stop before I ran less of the throttle lever position, bled out of . Phew! I can’t believe off the engine RPM to idle, just enough this. The same problem on two con- to taxi. secutive trips. A bit shaken up, I taxied I was completely exonerated of any slowly back to the squadron, where Sgt blame for both accidents. I could hold Russell was waiting to marshal me in. my head up high once more and start Suddenly the brakes failed completely. going to the morning met. briefings No one had thought to tell me that my again. The first morning, J. E. J. jumped wheels were on fire! up and grabbed me and gave me a big The plane rolled on but without the hug and christened me “Pranger”, a differential brakes, I couldn’t steer it. I name which stuck for a while. After all, screamed at Sgt Russell. “Get out of the I was probably the most experienced way! I can’t stop the bloody thing!” person at pranging Vampires. Any- Later he thanked me for saving his life. thing you want to know about prang- In the meantime I was heading directly ing Vampires, ask Pranger. for the hangar wall. Crunch! MLB en- The funny thing is that when all of tered the hangar the hard way, through these shenanigans were going on, time her own custom-made hole. Thank seemed to slow down very signifi- God those German hangars were rather cantly. All seemed serene and there Jerry-built (joke)! was plenty of time to do things. The Suddenly everyone was around me. aircraft speed also seemed to slow Group Captain Johnny E. Johnson, our down drastically as well. Why is that? station commander, went red-faced and screamed. “You’re grounded! You’ll We thank Eric Mold (who now lives in Vancou- never fly any of my kites again!” Mike ver, British Columbia) for this story, which is an extract from his memoir entitled Oh! What a LeBas, looking forlornly at his newly Life, soon to be available as an e-book through trashed pretty little plane, didn’t say Kobo Books and Amazon. – Ed. much, but then he never did. The only person that was nice to me was Sgt Rus- sell.

Autumn 2013 25 From our Archives . . .

Thanks to Christopher McCairns, who recently gifted to the Museum a collection of medals, photographs, and documents that belonged to his father, James Atterby (“Mac”) McCairns, the Museum now owns the original glass-plate negatives of three famous, often-reproduced photographs shown here unaltered and full size. They depict the pilots of “A” Flight, No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron, the Lysander flight which used Tangmere as a forward base during full-moon periods in 1942-43. All three photographs include Mac McCairns, , Peter Vaughan-Fowler, and Bunny Rymills. P. C. “Pick” Pickard, squadron commander from October 1942 to May 1943, is shown in two of them. Stephen Hankey, who was killed on 16 December 1943 — the tragic night that Tangmere became fogbound and two Ly- sanders returning from operations across the Channel were lost — is shown in the third photograph. Also shown is Robin Hooper, whose story of the French water-meadow was told in The Tangmere Logbook in 2007-08. Before joining 161 Squadron, Mac McCairns had flown with 616 Squadron, which was then part of ’s Tangmere Wing. On 9 July 1941, during a daylight intruder sortie, McCairns’s Spitfire was hit. He crash-landed near Gravelines and was taken prisoner. Among the papers gifted to the Museum is his account (which we plan to publish) of his daring escape from Stalag IXC. His epic journey across Europe took him from Bad Sulza (northeast of Weimar) to ; from there he was helped to reach Gibraltar by the Comet escape-line organisation. — Ed.

From left to right: Mac McCairns, Hugh Verity, P. C. Pickard, Peter Vaughan-Fowler, and Bunny Rymills.

26 The Tangmere Logbook

The same five men in a different pose.

Robin Hooper is at far left, and Stephen Hankey at far right.

Autumn 2013 27 Letters, Notes, and were issued with one egg per month. The admiral blushed at this offer. An- Queries other said, “You appear to be doing a lot of flying today,” and with that the The Editor welcomes your artwork, photo- BBC announced the D-Day landings. I graphs, letters, and contributions (long or mention the above to illustrate the secu- short) on any subject of interest to our read- rity of this operation. My third sortie ers. If you have a question about a military started at 10.00 and when crossing the aviation topic that you think another reader or one of our volunteers might be able to French coast Metcalfe was hit; his tail- answer, please send it to the Editor. Test- plane was at right angles, but he man- your-knowledge questions and photo quiz- aged to get back and ditched near zes are also welcome! The Editor’s ad- . dresses are given on Page 3. In the afternoon sortie, Coulthurst was my no. 2. Next day, Buster came as my no. 2. The next few days, apart Seafires on D-Day from strafing and attacking gun out- posts, were uneventful. On Day 8, I The author of this story, now 92, was a volun- found about 50 German tanks and di- teer sub-lieutenant in the South African Naval rected ships’ gunfire onto them. This Forces who flew Seafires with 885 Naval Air Squadron. His squadron was part of 3 Naval was part of our operation, bombard- Wing based at Lee-on-Solent, under Tangmere ment spotting, and when we lost pilots Sector command in the run-up to the invasion they were not replaced. This action was and the weeks following. — Ed. most intensive, apart from being fired Three Wing was a special unit which on by the tanks, German troop fire and was designed to carry out bombard- being attacked by Fw190s, I had ex- ment spotting, which entailed locating pected my no. 2 to protect my rear, but targets and their positions, then direct- he had returned to base and I was left ing ships’ fire. Sometimes it was neces- on my own. I eventually returned to sary to fly at 500 feet and, at others no base with my aircraft full of holes and a more than 1,000, so we were a sitting shell wound in my left leg, and as I target. Apart from about six of us the crossed the perimeter I ran out of fuel. other pilots appeared to be mainly slow On arrival at debriefing I was told that and steady types. my no. 2 had reported me as having Our briefing took place from 18.00 to been shot down. 21.30, then followed by individual About this rime, Tiny was shot briefings. We took off for at down but landed in the sea (shot down 04.50 and had to be back before 07.00 by an Fw190). From this point on, Tiny when the bombers and parachutists and I flew together and then came the took over. On my second trip over, radio message which used my call sign, about 07.40, I saw Bassett suddenly instructing us to meet at a point which dive to his death having been hit. I ar- was a German airfield with heavy rived at the dining room at 08.50 and German gunfire and being attacked by found three admirals, air commodores Fw190s. What a hoax! About a week and a couple of captains and group cap- later, I had to make an emergency land- tains on a shortened table, so I sat with ing because of engine failure. I landed them. I used to fly without rank or at A12, an advanced American strip wings and one of the admirals said, and Tiny joined me there. We were “Your rank, sir?” The stewardess saved given an American sergeant and Jeep the day by saying, “Would you like and told to go to B10 which was a Brit- your egg today?” Operational aircrew ish strip which operated Spitfires and

28 The Tangmere Logbook see if we could get spares. Our journey craft. It was a very nice display; I’d took us through the village of St Lo seen them practising over our home which I had destroyed with ships’ gun- base. fire. We eventually found our way to I was down among the crowd Bayeaux where we received a tremen- watching the show. Johnnie was in the dous welcome from the French. We royal box or control tower; he was ex- found B10 and the required parts and tremely popular with everyone and returned to Lee and arrived about could charm his way in to anywhere. 22.30. Eventually it was the RAF’s turn and Only Buster Hallett, Tiny and myself our six Vampires led by Des Blake came were decorated for the D-Day and Bat- storming in to view. They were in two tle of Normandy operation. In Septem- very close ‘V’ formations one behind ber, we were disbanded and four the other. Their first sequence was a squadrons became two, and then ap- loop in this tight formation of six aero- pointed to aircraft carriers where we planes. When they were upside-down operated in the Far East against the on the top of their first loop the leader’s Japanese islands of Ashigaki Jima, My- plane seemed to almost stop and the ila Jima, and Shakishima Guntu. Keith whole formation came unglued. Couthurst and I were the only ex- Johnnie Johnson’s voice boomed out members of 885 who were posted to the over the public address system. Indomitable where we served until the “F****** hell, Des, what’s gone wrong?” end of the war. The majority of 885 Apparently he’d grabbed the wrong were on Ruler and formed part of the microphone. Des managed to land his supply train. plane; apparently he had had a similar On D-Day, 3 Wing, 885, 886, 897 and type of engine failure to that I’d experi- 808 flew 153 sorties over France. In the enced twice. The second section of first 25 days of this operation we flew three completed their part of the show 2,533 sorties and lost 12 pilots. but it wasn’t particularly spectacular so — R. G. S. “Butch” Chamen the RAF didn’t win that day. via Mrs Gwendoline Duke To round off the air show a forma- tion of Fairchild Packet transport planes rumbled overhead and a couple of More Vampire engine troubles hundred paratroops leapt out of them. This event took place the time I went They were supposed to land on the air- down to Evere, near Brussels, with field and put on some sort of mock bat- Johnnie Johnson to see one of the first tle but most of them landed in the car big post-war air shows. One of the park. events was a competition between the That evening Johnnie took me in to formation aerobatic teams of the vari- Brussels to meet Mookie and Adrienne. ous air forces from the Western Union Mookie ran a pub in one of the older Defence Organisation (NATO’s prede- parts of Brussels. Adrienne had a res- cessor) nations. We’d never seen any- taurant next door. Apparently the form thing much like this before. The teams was to buy one’s meal in “Chez Adri- came in and did their stuff one after enne” and carry it next door to another until it was the RAF’s turn. We Mookie’s for one’s Stella Artois. As we were going to stun everyone. Our dis- entered Mookie’s I noticed a middle- play consisted of six Vampires first do- aged, rather robust lady sitting at a ta- ing sequences as six and then splitting ble playing card with three men. When and doing co-ordinated formation she saw Johnnie walk in she jumped up as two sections of three air- shouting “Johnnie!” grabbed him and

Autumn 2013 29 planted a big kiss on his lips. When he Answer to Photo Quiz, Summer 2013 introduced me I was victim of the same Congratulations to John Hanmore and treatment. The walls of her establish- Mel Williams, both of whom sent in ment were covered with beer mats near-perfect answers, scoring 32 out of autographed by the dozens of Allied 33. Each missed one: photo number 14 soldiers and airmen that had passed was NX802, the second through during WWII. Fury prototype; and number 19 was an By the time I first went to Mookie’s Me210 (Bundesarchiv photograph 101I- it had become a well known watering- 363-2270-18 via Wikipedia). Both John hole to airmen of all stripes. My wife and Mel noticed our mistakes: no Vera and I went back a couple of years Me410 was mentioned in the article, yet subsequently and had such a wonderful number 16 is the Me410 displayed at evening we left forgetting to pay our RAFM Cosford, and the Meteor IV we bill. We’d driven about 30 miles in our showed as number 35 should have been little VW before we realized what we’d a Meteor III as mentioned in the text. done. So we turned around and went We apologise for these editorial slip- back. Everyone was surprised to see us ups and have discounted these two pic- again so soon. I don’t think they even tures in our final tally. realized that we’d left previously with- out paying. The Next Photo Quiz The last time we were in Brussels we tried to find these two establishments Can you shed any light on the story again but to know avail so I would wel- behind either the photo of F-ABEX on come any ‘intelligence’ anyone might Page 21, or the unidentified whale-like have on the matter. aeroplane on Page 22? All contribu- — Eric Mold tions will be most welcome. There are no right or wrong answers to this one!

Friends of the Museum — New Membership Rates

The Museum's regular supporters, the Friends of the Museum, are offered unlim- ited personal free entry to the Museum for a period of 12 months, a copy of our magazine The Tangmere Logbook (published twice annually) and invitations to or- ganised events. Given that there has been no change to the cost of annual Friends membership since 2011 and that it has been necessary to increase standard admission prices to the Museum during the intervening period, an associated increase in the Friends' subscription is regrettably unavoidable. Accordingly, with effect from 1st Janu- ary 2014, membership will be priced at: Family (2 adults & 2 children) £35, Single £25, Senior (over 60) and Student (under 16) £15. We hope that all Friends will agree that these new prices still constitute ex- tremely good value for money. — Joyce Warren, Secretary

30 The Tangmere Logbook

Our New Book is Now Available The Museum’s new 328-page hardback book, published in association with Grub Street, is now available through the Museum’s shop to in-person callers. Price £25 A 20% discount will be offered to Volunteers and Friends of the Museum calling in at our shop with their staff name-tags or membership cards.

Photo Credits not otherwise Mentioned Front cover: Museum Collection. Pages 4 to 8: Public domain. Page 10: Museum Col- lection. Pages 11, 15: Phil Dansie. Back cover: Both items dating from 1955, Museum Collection.

Autumn 2013 31