Dropzone Issue 2
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VOLUME 4,ISSUE 2 THE DROPZONE SEPTEMBER 2006 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: WAR HEROINE, 93, GETS HER WINGS Pearl Witherington 1 AT LAST Flying Fortress 3 By John Harding Editorial 7 PEARL WITHERINGTON who was denied the Military Cross because she was a woman, sent back the MBE offered to her in recognition of her war- Obituary 8 time exploits in the SOE. Francis Cammaerts 9 A Resistance Story 10 Museum visitors 14 SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST: · Tom Reeves pays tribute to David Mace · Keith Taylor reviews the development of the B-17 Flying Fortress · Harold Watson recalls a mission to Denmark with a report from one of the recipients of the supplies Pearl Witherington as a young SOE operative Photo credits: Daily Telegraph During the war, the Nazis had placed a bounty of one million Francs on her head and a civilian honour was of no interest to a person who had com- manded 1,500 French resistance fighters. She was a real life Charlotte Gray* who risked all to serve her country and a small ceremony recently held *Charlotte Gray in France was a sign that it might never be too late to obtain a thank-you By Sebastian Faulks from ones country. A novel, set in Occupied Some 63 years after she had made what a parachute instructor called an France "almost recklessly low jump" from 300 feet into unfamiliar territory behind en- emy lines, she finally collected her parachute wings. Continued on page 2 PAGE 2 VOLUME 4,ISSUE 2 Pearl, now known as Pearl Cornioley, the Cornioley's long wait for her wings was over and widow of a resistance fighter she married after praised her outstanding bravery. He added that it was the second World War, felt that she should clear that her determination and selfless commitment have received her wings to mark her parachute contributed in no small measure to the success training before the drop into occupied France in gained by the Allies. 1943. Her case was, however, overlooked, probably because of the secret nature of the SOE to- gether with official reluctance to admit that women had undertaken such dangerous roles. However, in 2002 Squadron Leader Rhys Cowsill, a RAF parachute jump instructor saw her being interviewed on television and trav- elled to France to meet her and take up her cause. He joined Major Jack Lemmon of the Para- chute Regiment to present the wings at the re- tirement home where Mrs Cornioley now lives in Chateauvieux. Still spirited despite " a few rusty spare parts", Mrs Carioley said how thrilled she was to receive this belated ac- knowledgement. She said that she did not re- fuse the MBE because she considered it an insult, but the MBE is a civilian award and if you are going to do a job at all, do it properly. Mrs Cornioley was born in Paris to English par- ents and worked in the British Embassy. When the war began, she escaped to England and put her fluent French to use after joining what she did not realise at the time was the SOE. She was dropped from a RAF Halifax near Chateauroux in the southern Loire and joined the "Wrestler" resistance group of Maquis fight- ers until France's liberation. Pearl gets her wings The story of her exploits was published in 1997 Photo Credits: Daily Telegraph with the title of "Pauline" which was her French codename. She says that she knew she risked capture and that the training had prepared her and others to hold out and keep quiet for at least 48 hours to let others get out. Visitors The most awful things that she remembers are Since Easter, in addition to the weekend visitors, the actually travelling by unheated trains in the bit- museum has entertained 15 groups who made day or ter winter of 1943/1944. She blended in as evening visits. These included The Bentley Owners much as she could, carrying plenty of pro- Club, Rothwell Wine Club, Northampton Grammar German newspapers and being tall and her School, Ranger Scouts, Desborough Civic Group and hair in plaits like German women, she was various Local History Groups and Church Groups. never interrogated. There are four more bookings through September/ October. She admits that it was all very dangerous but she never regretted the experience. "It made We also had a visit by the curator of the museum at me very open minded and added great rich- Bruntingsthorpe. ness to my life". Congratulations go to him and his team for obtaining funding for the restoration of the Vulcan bomber. Don Touhig, minister with responsibility for vet- erans said that he was delighted that Mrs PAGE 3 THE BOEING B 17 FLYING FORTRESS By Keith Taylor To-day the name of Boeing is synonymous with model 299 had only totalled 14 hours, so far it had the successful production of civil airliners, despite been an outstanding success. Immediate production strong opposition from Airbus Industrie in Europe. orders were rumoured. Yet times have not always been so good. For the latter part of the 1920s and 1930s Boeing was The Model 299 was powered by four Pratt and Whit- struggling to survive. ney R-1690E Hornet engines of 750 h.p. giving it a cruising speed of 236 mph at only 63% power. One of William E. Boeing was born in Detroit on 01-10- its safety features which had been designed to protect 1881, the son of a wealthy timber merchant. His the aircraft, ironically led to its demise. Due to the fascination with aviation began with a flight in a large area of the flying control surfaces, elevators, ai- Curtiss seaplane from Lake Washington in lerons and rudder, which might have been damaged July,1914. He struck up a friendship and an infor- by high winds when at rest on the ground, control mal partnership with a U.S. Navy Officer, Com- locks had been fitted. These were operated by a sin- mander G. Conrad Westervelt. They produced gle pushdown/pullup lever situated next to the tail- their first aircraft, the B & W Model 1 (B & W from wheel lock in the floor between pilot and co-pilot seats, their names) in 1916. having the same effect as a steering lock fitted to cars. The entry of America into the first World War in Shortly before completion of the final tests, the model 1917 gave Boeing its first production order. 299 was well ahead of its competitors, the Douglas Peacetime, however, heralded lean times for Boe- DB1 and the Martin B10. The pilot, Major P.O. Hill, ing, the P26 "Peashooter" of the early '30s was a took off with the lock engaged. Tragically the aircraft life saver, as was the Boeing 247 which provided entered a steep climb, stalled and crashed killing Major the company with much needed revenue, some of Hill. Observer Lee Towers died two days later. Co- which funded the model 299 (later called the B17). pilot Putt and the other crew members all survived al- though they were seriously burned. Since the model In May, 1934 the U.S. Army Air Corps announced 299 could not complete the required tests it was dis- a competition for a new multi-engined bomber qualified. Douglas won the contest and secured an (which in the 1930s included twin engined aircraft). initial order for 133 B18s which were essentially a All entrants had to be built and flown to Wright bomber version of the DC2, a forerunner of the famous Field, Ohio for evaluation in late 1935. Boeing's DC3 Dakota. Model 299 combined features of the 247 and the as yet unbuilt XB -15. It was rolled out on the 17th All was not lost however. The 299 had made a lasting July,1935 and its first flight was made on the 28th impression on the evaluation team and in January, July. 1936 a contract was awarded for 13 aircraft (one static A reporter for the Seattle Times, Dick Williams for tests and 12 flying machines) worth US $ 3.824 mil- wrote ”The model 299 was a "flying fortress" due lion, thus saving Boeing's financial bacon. The 299 to its size and the number of guns it carried". Boe- had cost, including insurance after the loss, U.S.$ ing used the capital Fs and the name "Flying For- 500,000. These 13 aircraft were given the designation tress" was copyrighted and adopted by the A.A.F. YB17. These YB17s were externally very similar to the On the 20th August, 1935 the model 299 flew from 299 but under the skin they featured many changes. Seattle to Wright Field in the record time of 9 hours The major change was the fitting of more powerful en- and 3 minutes at an average speed of 233mph to gines, 1000 hp Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone nine cylin- cover the 2,100 miles. Although test flights on the der single row radial engines. Flying the Boeing flag, goodwill missions were flown to Argentina and Brazil, breaking all existing records. Despite this, politicians and the U.S. Navy were unsure of it and the role of bombers generally and were op- posed to anything which might threaten their supreme position. Amongst its supporters, however, were Brigadier General Frank Andrews and Lt. Curtis Le- May. These two men sparked off a huge row between the Air Corps and the Navy. Three YB17s of the 2nd B.G. intercepted the Italian liner "Rex" some 700 miles out to sea. Continued on page 4 The Boeing Model 299.