264 Squadron News
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264 Squadron News H M Armed Forces We Defy Jan. 2017 We Defy Issue 1/17 Editor: Geoff Faulkner, 8 Rosamond Avenue, Shipton Gorge, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4LN. 01308 897275 Email: [email protected] May we wish you a Happy, Healthy and rewarding ew Year Reunions: Facebook or Twitter: As yet I have had only two replies to my query as to I wonder if I missed a trick by not using this internet tool. whether you would like a reunion in 2017 at the Union In fairness, I’m a bit of a dummy regarding this and have Jack Club, so I must assume that there is little enthusi- only just joined facebook and still have reservations asm for it, either because of age, health, distance or ex- over it. It seems that much of it concerns the most inane pence, so I guess we let it slide. No one has suggested articles that are of no use to man nor beast. However, it any ‘get to together’ for the North of England either, alt- can be useful and indeed is used by the Musical Direc- hough we could easily arrange one for the South and tor of the Choral Society I belong to to play music that indeed have talked about it. The thoughts at the moment he wants us to familiarlise ourselves with, prior to a re- is possibly a Premier Inn or similar and book a restaurant hearsal. or maybe hire a room at a decent pub for a meal, it’s a bit Now I don’t know if any of you are members of Face- early to deal with specifics yet. book or Twitter (I haven’t a clue on the latter!), but I have just put on (with help) a note which I think , (again, Health I’m told) will go nationwide. But I have asked if anyone served on 264 RAF Night Fighter Squadron to contact The Bodens me. In honesty, I haven’t had any replies, which wasn’t Please see page 3 encouraging, but I can hope. If any of you can sort something out, I would be very Wrights grateful and it could keep the Squadron Association go- I heard from Peter Wright our President around the 10th ing a bit longer (or as long as I do!). November to hear that Lindsy, his wife had had a fall in their home and broken her femur. This necessitated her Our March being hospitalised and a new hip replacement joint and repair to the femur. At the time of writing this Lindsay is Sadly nothing to report on it’s progress with other bands home and I’m told she is being careful (that’ll be the day!) and although I have tried to get something moving on Peter is a bit up and down, but overallI think he is pretty publishing it, to date no reaction. But I shall continue to positive. try to make it a popular March. The Faulkner’s My throat operation with the third partial thyroidectomy I have also tried to get the unpublished book of dear and removal of two tumours was a great success and I Eric Barwell written by Mark Woodruff an ex American am now singing again in both choirs. The only downside Marine Vetnam veteran, for possible inclusion into the is that the thyroid has caused damage to my right eye’s Squadron News, but sadly haven’t been able to contact muscles and I’m struggling a bit with double vision, alt- him in Texas. I will try to chase that up as well. hough I am under a consultant for this and am keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t loose my driving licence. Our Website: Now hopping around following foot operation! Well there is no doubt that the decision to get a Squad- ron Website was a really good idea. I have lost count of the number of messages I have received, enquiring The Andersons The last time I spoke to Clyde and Val, I understand about the Squadron and usually wanting details of their Clyde had had a heart attack and Val was still having relations who served on it. trouble with her eyes. We hope they are feeling a bit bet- I think that about 50% of these enquiries I am able to ter! help in some way. Recently I was able to send some details to a gentleman, whose Mother was Sqdn Leader The Long’s Hunter’s wife (ex-CO 264 and KIA in 1940) and which I haven't heard from tem since before the reunion, but do we have some pictures of in the Squadron Archives. hope that Pauline is getting better and that Brian has got The latest was, to help an ex-German Nurse meet a over his knee replacement WingCo who was the only survivor of a Valletta crash, To all those who have been poorly or are struggling, we that killed a football team (no not the Manchester United wish you better health and the patience to deal with one) although the co-pilot was an ex-264 pilot. Through your problems. 1 The Story of our first 264 Squadron Aircraft: It’s great that there is inter-service rivalry with the usual banter between the services. So it might come as a bit of a shock to know that we are the offspring (awful isn’t it, will we ever live it down?) The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918 by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service and was controlled by the British Government Air Ministry which had been estab- lished three months earlier. The Royal Flying Corps had been born out of the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers and was under the control of the British Army. The Royal Naval Air Service was its naval equivalent and was controlled by the Admiralty. The decision to merge the two services and create an independent air force was a response to the events of World War I, the first war in which air power made a significant impact. The creation of the new force was based on the Smuts Report prepared by Field Marshal Jan Smuts for the Imperial War Cabinet on which he served to emphasize the merger of both military and naval aviation in the new service, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as flight lieutenant, wing commander, group cap- tain, and air commodore.The creation of the RAF removed all aircraft and flying personnel from the Navy, although the Admiralty remained in control of aircraft carriers. On 1 April 1924, the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was formed under Air Ministry control. It consisted of those RAF units that were normally embarked on aircraft carriers and fighting ships. The Chief of the Air Staff, Lord Trenchard, his air staff and his succes- sors argued that "air is one and indivisi- ble" and hence that naval aviation was properly the responsibility of the RAF. The Short 225 seaplaneas was one of the most widely used types in the entire short series during the Great War. The S184 was originally designed in 1914 to carry a torpedo slung between the main floats and was a pioneer of the tor- pedo carrying seaplane. If the original S184 had a 225 hp Sunbeam engine and a crew of two, a later modification known as the type ‘D’ was a single seater and carried nine 56 lb bombs in the fuselage ahead of the rear cockpit. A model of the S225 used in 1916 had a 240 hp Renault- Mercedes motor and the 1917 model, of which most were built, had a 260 hp Maori motor. A still further model was fitted with a 250 hp Rolls- Royce motor instead of a Sunbeam. Although mainly operated from the East coast of Britain, a number of ‘ detached’ flights flew from ba- ses around the east of the Mediterranean, ours from Suda Bay in Crete. the squadron was formed from the amalgamation of two flights of the RNAS, namely Numbers 439 and 440. Two prototype aircraft were embarked upon HMS Ben-my Chree , which sailed for the Aegean on 21 March 1915 to take part in the Gallipoli campaign.On 12 August 1915 one of these, piloted by Flight Commander Charles Edmonds, was the first air- craft in the world to attack an enemy ship with an air-launched torpedo. However, the ship had al- ready been crippled by a torpedo fired by the British submarine E14. However, on 17 August 1915, another Turkish ship was sunk by a torpedo of whose origin there was no doubt. On this occasion Flight Com- mander Edmonds torpedoed a Turkish transport ship a few miles north of the Dardanelles. His formation colleague, Flt Lt G B Dacre, was forced to land on the water owing to engine trou- ble but, seeing an enemy tug close by, taxied up to it and released his torpedo, sinking the tug. Without the weight of the torpedo Dacre was able to take off and return to the Ben-My-Chree . 2 The performance of the Type 184 in the climatic conditions of the Mediterranean was marginal, it being necessary to fly with- out an observer and carry a limited amount of fuel, and the 184 was therefore used either as a bomber, carrying two 112 lb bombs, or for reconnaissance and gunnery observation. A Short 184, aircraft number 8359,was the only British aircraft to take part in the Battle of Jutland.