The Logbook Magazine of the Tangmere Military AviationMuseum

Summer 2010

George Bennions, DFC — 4 One of “The Few” Brian Bridges

Tangmere, 16 8 The day Tangmere aerodrome was heavily bombed David Coxon

The Blitz 14 The city is defended by Tangmere’s fighter squadrons Graham Spiller

At Tangmere with No. 145 Squadron 18 How Tangmere’s mechanics and riggers kept them flying Eric Marsden

Seventy Years Ago . . . 30 Recollections of life on fighter stations during the Fred Pawsey, DFC

Photo Quiz 31 A Spitfire and a Hurricane

Published by the Society of Friends of the Tangmere Military Museum, Tangmere, near , West PO20 2ES, 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 © 2010 by the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Trust Company All rights reserved. ISSN 1756-0039

George Bennions, DFC Fighter Pilot

Brian Bridges

Squadron Leader George (“Ben”) Ben- His moment of reckoning came on nions, DFC was one of the earliest 1st October 1940 when, during a patrol members of the Club over , he spotted a squad- founded in 1940 at the Queen Victoria ron of Hurricanes above and slightly Hospital, , by aircrew ahead. Alarmingly, about 40 Messer- recovering from burns and similar dis- schmitt 109s were above them. Flying figuring injuries. As a Spitfire pilot and his usual aircraft coded EB-J, serial one of the famous “Few”, he saw action number X4559, George signalled to his in the Battle of Britain with No. 41 leader then flew ahead to indicate the (Fighter) Squadron operating out of position of the enemy. Turning right Hornchurch and before becoming a and taking up a favourable position for Guinea Pig had claimed twelve victo- attack he arrived at the Messerschmitts ries, five probables plus five damaged and suddenly realised he was alone. and been awarded the DFC. His companions had interpreted his

4 The Tangmere Logbook

signal as merely indicating the presence and flung it to George saying, “Have a of the Hurricanes and being already chair, old boy”. short of oxygen and fuel after patrolling Meanwhile, Mr Shepherd, the for some 90 minutes, had simply farmer who gave George first aid by dropped away to return to base. plugging his wounds with parts of his However, undeterred by the nu- parachute, decided to write to his merical superiority of the enemy, commanding officer, a letter which George went in alone to the attack. He George retained throughout his life. later reported, “I singled out a Messer- Dunstall’s Farm schmitt who I thought was at the rear. I Henfield, Sussex gave him two bursts and he fell away in 3rd Oct. 1940 smoke and flames but as he went down, Officer Commanding a cannon shell entered my cockpit and 41 Squadron, RAF exploded by my left side and face; there was a sharp pain and I was momentar- Dear Sir, ily blinded. Pain in my right arm and Pardon me for writing, but you may like to right leg suggested they had also suf- hear of one of your Pilot Officers. I think he fered serious injury. I cleared my right said his name was Bennions eye with my glove and found I was able DFC of the above squadron. to see vaguely. The hood and cockpit I was watching the air battle when your Pilot Officer shot down a Messerschmitt were shattered and the next thing I 109; then about 40 Germans dived on him knew I was pulling the Spitfire out of a and he was hit with a cannon shell. He steep dive and preparing to bale out; I must have been nearly blind when he baled managed to get clear, I couldn’t see but out, coming down about half a mile from managed to pull the rip-cord and im- the above address. I and others bandaged mediately lost consciousness. I landed him up as well as we could before he was in a field, part of Dunstall’s Farm, near taken to hospital at Horsham. He is a brave Henfield in West Sussex and coming to pilot and a credit to his Squadron and may for a few seconds, whilst lying on the God help him to get well as I being an ex- ground, gave my name and squadron RAF man am proud to think that we have number to a farmer who came to help such brave lads in the RAF. me. I passed out again and awoke Please forgive me for writing but I thought you would like to know. much later at the Queen Victoria Hospi- tal” (see note, page 7). I remain, sir, George had lost his left eye and part Yours faithfully, of his brain had been exposed, but C. J. Shepherd within two hours, Sir Archibald McIn- doe, the famous plastic surgeon and an George later wrote to Mr Shepherd, eye specialist, was operating to save his who replied to him in January 1941: life; his injuries included the loss of his Dunstall’s Farm left eye, facial disfigurement, a severed 22 Jan 41 median nerve and wounds in his right Dear Sir, arm and leg. He remained at the How pleased I was and surprised to hear “Queen Vic” a further five weeks and from you but I am very sorry indeed to hear recalled later that, being young, fit and you have lost your eye although I thought ambitious, he became extremely de- you would when I bandaged it up for you. I pressed until entering a ward one day, have been looking in the papers to see if you a young man in a wheelchair, seriously got a bar to your DFC as God knows you disfigured with burns to his face and should have, as many a pilot would have hands, picked up a chair in his teeth beat it for home when they saw they were

Summer 2010 5

outnumbered as you were that day as I have riage, Avis Bennions received notifica- seen since where a pilot went into 40 alone tion that George had been wounded: and he got the DFC. Still I suppose it was because only a few people saw it, had an officer in (the) Navy or Army seen it and (Casualty Branch) wrote as I did you would no doubt have got 73-77, Oxford Street W1 it, but thank God you are still alive as the Madam, Rev. H. O. Candole of Henfield asked us all I am directed to inform you that your hus- to pray for you in church the next Sunday. band, G. H. Bennions I hope you are quite well again now, and (43354), , is reported in- again thanking you for letting me know jured as the result of enemy action on the how you got on. 30th September 1943. He has been admit- I remain, ted to the 96th General Hospital, North Yours Sincerely, Africa suffering from shrapnel wounds in C. J. Shepherd the head and body. Any change in his condition or location George Herman Bennions joined the that might be notified to this department will be communicated to you as quickly as RAF as a Halton Apprentice at 16 years possible. of age in January 1929. Passing out with distinction as an engineer fitter, he I am, Madam, Your Obedient Servant, was recommended for Cranwell, where D. P. Ward he underwent basic flying training be- For Director of Personal Services fore qualifying as a Sergeant pilot at No. 3 FTS Grantham at 22 years of age. Posted in 1935 to Khormaksar, Aden, he joined 41 Squadron flying Hawker De- mons. They returned to the UK in 1936 to convert to Fury IIs and later to Spit- fires. George was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in April 1940. Following recovery from his wounds, George was necessarily grounded for a while. He became an operations officer, then senior controller and after a few weeks as acting station commander at RAF Catterick, he was promoted to Squadron Leader. Men- tioned in dispatches in January 1943, he later served in North Africa as a senior controller and liaison officer with an

American fighter equipped with Spitfires. He resumed flying duties A proud moment. George, after his recovery, with his wife Avis and their eldest daughter and, whilst permitted to fly on convoy leave Buckingham Palace following the award of patrols, was debarred from taking part his Distinguished Flying Cross, which had been in combat operations. In September gazetted on 1.10.40, the day of his crash. 1943, George commanded a ground control interception unit that was being Following his release from the RAF sent ashore at Ajaccio on Corsica, but in in 1946, he remained in the Catterick the act of leaving the landing craft he area and took up teaching technical was wounded by an enemy glide bomb. drawing, metal and woodwork at Rise- For the second time in their mar- dale School where he remained for the

6 The Tangmere Logbook

next 28 years. He claimed he “gave up one stage. “I really don't remember,” when it became no longer fashionable said George and with typical humour to enforce discipline in the educational he apologised for his uninvited intru- system”. Whilst other interests in- sion in 1940. cluded sailing and golf, he continued to fly long after the war when, as part- owner of a Tiger Moth with his life-long friend Bill Meynell, he gave displays at air shows around the country. George and his wife Avis married in 1935 and had three daughters. She died in 2000 and George, who passed way on 30th January 2004, is remembered by a row of houses at RAF Catterick, named in his honour. He was described by fel- low Battle of Britain pilots as one who had been a thoroughly dedicated and highly professional fighter pilot. At the excavation site, with a blade of X4559’s It was on 2nd November 1974, that I propeller, 1974. Left to right: the author, George and others, having located the crash site Bennions, and two other former Spitfire pilots, of George's aircraft, invited him to at- Jack Potter (also a veteran of the Battle of Britain tend the excavation. Interviewed later with 19 Sqn), and Jim Payne (of 41 Sqn from by a TV reporter he said, “I was 1942). Photo by the author. amazed when I received a telephone call in September. Somebody said, There is very little doubt that the ‘Would you like to see your old Spitfire man who fell to George’s guns on 1st again?’ I travelled down to Sussex from October 1940 was Uffz. Hans Bluder, my home in Yorkshire and with the born 27th December 1910 at Oschenit- help of a mechanical digger they dug sen, flying a Me109 of 4/JG.26. His air- through about 15 feet of Sussex clay to craft crashed vertically and at great uncover the wreckage. It brought all speed onto Balmer Farm, Falmer, near sorts of memories flooding back to me.” . Both aircraft and pilot com- After the excavation, I was privileged to pletely disintegrated in the explosion take George to meet Mrs Shepherd, and nothing was found of the latter now a widow, whom I found in her apart from his identity disc. George’s garden in New Hall Lane, Small Dole, aircraft crashed at Heatenthorn Farm West Sussex. Asked if she remembered near Henfield, West Sussex, and follow- the day in 1940 when a young airman ing the excavation the landowner, Mr parachuted onto her farm, she immedi- Plumer, named one of his racehorses ately recalled the incident and she said “Bennions’s Spitfire”. had often wondered what had become of him. He had been so badly injured Note: George was initially taken to Horsham she was sure he would not survive. Cottage Hospital but soon transferred due When I explained that he was outside to the nature of his facial injuries. He actu- in my car, the scene that followed ally landed on a neighbouring farm, in a would have done justice to any reunion field known as Pokey Lee (The Brooks), Brookside Farm, Henfield. shown on the one-time TV show, This Is Your Life. “We wrapped you up in your The sketch and photographs illustrating this article were given to me by George Ben- parachute and carried you up to the nions in 1974. — BB farm on an old gate,” she told George at

Summer 2010 7

Tangmere, 16 August 1940

David Coxon

On Thursday 15 August 1940, Prime pilots killed. Churchill, on leaving Minister was at Dowding’s HQ that evening, described Fighter Command Headquarters, Bent- it as “One of the greatest days of his- ley Priory, with Hugh tory.” Dowding, Air Officer Commanding In spite of the setbacks of the previ- (AOC) Fighter Command, observing ous day, the returned to the the progress of the enemy bombing attack on Friday, 16 August. At about raids. By the end of the day seventy- eleven o’clock in the morning, after the five German aircraft had been shot early mist had cleared, three small en- down — a real blow to the previously emy raids were seen to be approaching invincible German Air Force. The Kent. Believing the raids to be a feint, Luftwaffe always referred to this day as the AOC No. 11 Group, Air Vice- “Black Thursday”. Fighter Command Marshal , committed only a had lost thirty aircraft with seventeen few fighters to meet the raids. Two

8 The Tangmere Logbook

Staffeln (the German equivalent of was picked up by the RDF squadrons) of Junkers Ju88 bombers stations setting course towards the Eng- broke through and successfully bombed lish coast from Cherbourg. Between West Malling, one of No. 11 Group’s 1230 hours and 1245 hours eight RAF important sector stations protecting fighter squadrons were scrambled to . meet the threat. This enemy formation Shortly after noon, the Chain Home of about a hundred and fifty aircraft Radio (radar) system comprised a large formation of Junkers showed three large enemy formations Ju87 (Stuka) dive-bombers of Luftwaffe heading for the . This unit SG2, Ju88s of KG54 and escorting time, Park scrambled over eighty fight- Messerschmitt Bf109E of ers to intercept and many of the bomb- II/JG2 and Bf110s of III/ZG76. ers were turned back. About the same When the Stukas reached the Nab time, to the west of London, about a Tower, to east of the , the hundred and fifty enemy aircraft man- leading aircraft fired off signal flares aged to cross the coast unopposed be- and the force split into three groups; a tween Brighton and . When small group peeled off to attack the the defending Hurricanes and Spitfires Ventnor Chain Home station, a second reached them they were split up into group set course towards Portsmouth, small formations which dropped bombs where later they attacked Gosport, and on Farnborough and the London docks where sixty-six civilians were killed. the largest group headed for RAF Tang Two Junkers Ju88s managed to pene- mere. The Hurricanes of Tangmere’s trate as far as Brize Norton aerodrome, Nos. 43 and 601 Squadrons were scram- Oxfordshire, where in a short but very bled to meet the enemy force head-on accurate raid, two hangars full of Ox- over the Solent. No. 43 Squadron’s In- ford training aircraft were bombed and telligence Officer, Crid- forty-six aircraft destroyed. At noon a land, later reported what happened to third large build-up of enemy aircraft the squadron:

Summer 2010 9

Eleven squadron Hurricanes flown by Hamilton Upton had to make a forced Squadron Leader Badger, Carey, Woods- landing on the beach at . Scawen, Gray, Lane, Hallowes, Gorrie, Up- ton, du Vivier, van den Hove and Noble took off at 1245 hours and intercepted 50 to 100 Ju87s travelling north off Beachy Head at 1255. The squadron was at 12,000 feet and enemy aircraft were at 14,000 feet in flights of five [or] seven, in close vics, the vics stepped up. A head-on No. 5 attack was made at once; some turned straight back to France, jettisoned their bombs and the leading enemy aircraft was shot down by Squadron Leader Badger, who was lead- Tangmere’s No. 601 Squadron, led ing the squadron as Green 1 and two people by Flight Lieutenant Sir Archibald baled out. There were escorting Me. 109s at Hope, having been scrambled at 1225 17,000 feet but they took little part in the hours, was initially ordered to patrol engagement: some of the pilots never saw over the base but was soon vectored them at all. The squadron then returned towards Bembridge on the Isle of Wight and attacked from astern whereupon the and instructed to climb to 20,000 feet. combat developed into individual affairs Between Tangmere and the Isle of and lasted approximately eight minutes. Wight they saw the Stukas below them. Some of the enemy aircraft made no at- Hope ignored the controller’s instruc- tempts at evasion while others made use of tions to maintain height because of the their slow-speed manoeuvrability by mak- fighters above and turned to attack the ing short steep climbing turns and tight Stukas, now dive-bombing Tangmere. turns — at least one [Hurricane] pilot In the following engagements, the made use of his flaps to counteract this. squadron shot down three Stukas as they turned south to make their escape. Pilot Officer Frank Carey, later One Stuka was shot down by an , CBE, DFC and two American, Flying Officer Carl Davis, bars, AFC, DFM, U. S. Silver Star, the bomber crash-landing at Bowley summed up his part in the action: Farm, — both crew This was the first time that Tangmere itself members died. Another Stuka crashed was attacked — with considerable success by the roadside in Selsey and another too. We met the raid head-on over Selsey was shot down over Pagham. Bill. Due to our positioning, we were only Early in 601’s engagements with the able to fire on about the second wave, leav- Stukas, another American, Pilot Officer ing the leaders more or less undisturbed in William (Billy) Fiske was hit by one of their bombing. However, we were very the dive-bombers’ rear gunners. lucky that our head-on attack so demoral- Streaming glycol and on fire, he man- ised the Ju87s that they, and the successive aged to crash land his Hurricane back waves behind them, broke up. Some on Tangmere aerodrome just as the dropped their bombs into the sea in an effort Stukas commenced their dive bombing to get away. attack. Fiske’s aircraft came to a stop against the western boundary fence. No. 43 Squadron did not have it all Having earlier been warned of the their own way: Woods-Scawen was returning Hurricane returning with its slightly wounded and had to crash-land pilot injured, Dr Courtney Willey, the at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, and only medical officer present in the Sta-

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tion Headquarters, ordered the two an emergency sick bay and carried on nursing orderlies, Corporal George treating the seriously injured. When Jones and AC2 Cyril Faulkner to take arrived by ambulance, Dr the ambulance to collect the injured Willey climbed into it and found the pilot. In spite of the bombs dropping pilot conscious but badly burnt from around them, Jones and Faulkner ex- the waist down. Fiske was given a shot tracted the badly injured Fiske from his of morphine and, twenty minutes later, cockpit and returned him to the sick after the aerodrome roads had been quarters. cleared of rubble, he was rushed to the Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chiches- I saw one of 601s Hurricanes lying on its ter. For their actions that day, Jones belly belching smoke on the airfield after and Faulkner were awarded the Mili- coming in for its final approach. I taxied up tary Medal and Dr Willey was awarded to it and got out. There were two ambu- the Military Cross. Sadly, Pilot Officer lance men there. They had got Billy Fiske Billy Fiske died of his injuries the fol- out of the cockpit. They didn’t know how to lowing day. His death shocked his fel- take off his parachute so I showed them. low 601 pilots; Archie Hope had visited Billy was burnt about the hands and ankles. him in hospital on the evening of the I told him, “Don’t worry. You’ll be all right 16th and found him “sitting up in bed . . .” (Archie Hope, 601 Squadron) and as perky as hell”. Fiske was buried in the churchyard of Priory on the afternoon of 20 August, four days after he was shot down.

Flying Officer C. B. I. Willey, MC RAFMS

Meanwhile, Dr Willey, on hearing the station Tannoy warning, “Take cover! Take cover! Stukas sighted coming towards Tangmere! Take cover!”, moved his twelve patients into a bomb-proof shelter. Shortly after the bombing started, the sick quarters received a di- rect hit and Dr Willey was buried up to his waist when the chimney breast col- AC2 Cyril Faulkner, MM RAFMS lapsed. Ignoring his injuries, he set up

Summer 2010 11

At Tangmere’s satellite aerodrome, badly damaged and auxiliary systems , the recently arrived No. such as the station Tannoy, power, wa- 602 Squadron with their Spitfire Mk Is ter and sanitation were put out of ac- and commanded by Squadron Leader tion. Six Blenheims, including those Sandy Johnstone, was finally scrambled flown by the Fighter Interception Unit just before one o’clock and ordered by (the unit developing aerial Tangmere’s sector controller, David interception equipment and tech- Lloyd, to orbit the base at two thousand niques), seven Hurricanes, and a Magis- feet. However, once airborne the Spit- ter aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Some forty vehicles were also fire pilots could see formations of Ju87 destroyed in the raid. Stuka dive-bombers approaching Tang- The Luftwaffe did not escape un- mere from the south. Findlay Boyd, a scathed; the returning fighters claimed No. 202 Squadron flight commander, twenty-five enemy aircraft destroyed, once airborne saw a Stuka pulling up including two Bf110s, five Bf109s and after dropping its bombs on Tangmere. eight Stuka bombers with a further He quickly shot the bomber down. The seven Stukas damaged. However, the other members of the squadron clawed real tragedy for Tangmere on that day their way into the air in an attempt to was the death of ten RAF personnel (all reach the escorting Messerschmitts but one were later buried in Tang- above. This they successfully accom- mere’s St Andrew’s churchyard) and plished with Johnstone, Urie and Webb three civilians. A further twenty per- all reporting, after landing, claims of sons were injured. One of the civilians enemy aircraft destroyed. who died was Henry Ayling, a civilian The German attack was not only builder; he was killed when the slit fought in the air. Second Lieutenant E. trench he was sheltering in received a P. Griffin of the Royal Engineers Con- direct hit from a Stuka bomb. He is struction Company based at RAF buried in Chichester Cemetery. His Tangmere, on hearing the air raid wife never remarried. warning, went to his battle position and Leading Aircraftman Maurice Haf- with his Lewis machine gun shot down fenden was an engine fitter with No. 43 a Messerschmitt Bf110. The aircraft Squadron and later described the day’s crashed three-quarters of a mile from events in a letter to his relations: the aerodrome, killing the three mem- [At] lunchtime at 1 pm the loudspeakers bers of its crew. A few days later his with a greater urgency than before sud- colleagues presented him with a car- denly appealed, “Take cover! Take cover!” toon entitled, “The Glorious 16th of Within three minutes of that warning I saw August 1940”. the first of the Junkers coming straight The Stuka attack on Tangmere aero- down on the ‘drome in a vertical dive. The drome had started at 1300 hours and leader was within 2,000 feet of the ground lasted only twenty minutes. The bomb- — long span — fixed undercarriage ing was extremely accurate with no — single engine — and then w-h-e-e-z . . . bombs dropped outside the aerodrome I went head first down a manhole as the perimeter. In that time, the Luftwaffe first bomb landed on the cookhouse. For destroyed or damaged beyond repair, seven minutes their 1,000-pounders were with the exception of one, all the pre- scoring direct hits and everything was war hangars, the station workshops, swept away by machine gun bullets. I stores and the water pumping station. never believed such desolation and destruc- The Officers’ Mess, the Y-Service hut tion to be possible. Everything is wrecked and many other buildings were also — the hangars, the stores, the hospital, the

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armoury, the cookhouse, the canteen — still rising from the shattered buildings. well, everything. Little knots of people were wandering about By special permission a Lyon’s ice cream with dazed looks on their faces, obviously fellow is allowed in the ‘drome. He always deeply affected by the events of the day. I stands just outside the cookhouse on the eventually tracked down the Station Com- square. He was last seen standing there mander [Group Captain Jack Boret] guarding his tricycle but now at the same standing on the lawn in front of the Offi- spot is a bomb crater thirty feet deep. But cers’ Mess with a parrot sitting on his there were quite a few casualties. In the shoulder. Jack was covered with grime and early evening they still were sorting out the the wretched bird was screeching its imita- bloody remnants of flesh and bones and tied tion of a Stuka at the height of the attack! them in sheets. The once immaculate grass was littered with personal belongings which had been Joyce Fryer (now Joyce Warren, the blasted from the wing which had received a Museum’s secretary) still clearly re- direct hit. Shirts, towels, socks and a port- members the sixteenth of August 1940. able gramophone — a little private world She was on school holiday that bright for all to see . . . Rubble was everywhere sunny day and was living with her and all three hangars had been wrecked. grandmother Pat Collins in Tangmere village. Her father was on Ford aero- Jack Boret later ordered that the fol- drome, helping to construct the run- lowing entry on the day’s events should ways and her grandfather was in be made in the Station’s Operational nearby Aldingbourne where he worked Record Book, giving special recognition in a nursery. When the air raid warn- to the fact that the station remained ing siren sounded at lunchtime she and fully operational throughout the day: her grandmother rushed to the dugout “The depressing situation was dealt her grandfather had built in the garden. with in an orderly manner and it was Her grandmother took with her a cook- considered that the traditions of the ing pan of boiled rice and some golden RAF were upheld by all Ranks. In con- syrup. Joyce remembers the screams of clusion, it must be considered that the the Stukas as they dived on the aero- attack launched on this Station by drome and the sound of the bombs ex- the enemy, was a victory for the RAF.” ploding. When the “all-clear” sounded On 16 August 1940, Winston Chur- they emerged safe from their shelter chill was again watching the outcome and could clearly see the smoke rising of the enemy air raids, this time with from the RAF station down the road. Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park at No. 11 Following the raid, the Hurricanes Group Headquarters at RAF Uxbridge. landed between the craters and were On leaving that evening, he was heard quickly refuelled and rearmed. On the to say, “Never in the field of human aerodrome, flags were placed to mark conflict was so much owed by so many unexploded bombs and the clear-up to so few” — the words he used in the work began. In the afternoon soldiers famous speech he made on the Battle of from nearby bases were drafted in to fill Britain in the House of Commons four in the craters and to clear the rubble. days later.

That evening, Sandy Johnstone ob- served: Photo credits: Pp. 8, 9, 10, Crown Copy- right, reproduced under licence; p. 11: I drove over [from Westhampnett] to Faulkner, Museum Collection; Willey, via Tangmere in the evening and found the Air Cdre Graham Pitchfork. —DC place in utter shambles, with wisps of smoke

Summer 2010 13

The Portsmouth Blitz

Graham Spiller Gosport Aviation Society

During the late afternoon and early was in its second day, and between this evening of Thursday 11th , day and 15th July 1944 there would be events unfolded which would link the 67 aerial attacks on the city, but today’s naval port of Portsmouth and the RAF was the first. station at Tangmere on the first of many At 27 Hercules Street, Mile End, occasions over the next four years. Portsmouth, a schoolboy, four days What General Weygand had called the short of his eleventh birthday, was ex- was over, what pecting this to be like any other Thurs- Winston Churchill had suggested day. Having got home from school and would be called the Battle of Britain had his tea, there would be time to play

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whilst waiting for his father to come tank alight. Another entered parachute home from work in the Royal Dock- pack. I left aircraft through the top on port yard. Just before 6 pm all this changed side. Parachute landing effected OK apart when the sirens sounded. from sprained ankle. Forty-five minutes earlier the Chain Almost as an afterthought he adds, Home radiolocation network had de- tected twelve He111s (which later Burns and shrapnel wounds sustained. turned out to be from 2 Staffel, I His aircraft came down in the gar- Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 55), with an den of a house in the village of Cran- escort of an equal number of Bf110s, as more near Yarmouth, IOW. Sgt Wool- they approached the Isle of Wight. The ley’s injuries kept him out of action for Germans referred to this phase of the three weeks, but he returned to flying war as (Channel struggle) and was in fact shot down twice more and the purpose was two-fold, firstly to during the Battle of Britain. Despite remove the threat posed by the Royal this he survived the Battle, was com- Navy to the forthcoming invasion of missioned and later transferred to the Great Britain and secondly to gain air Administrative Branch. I am particu- superiority by destroying the RAF in larly glad to be able to restore the repu- aerial combat. tation of 57 (Wessex) HAA Regiment At RAF Tangmere the twelve Hurri- Royal Artillery since my grandfather canes of No. 601 Squadron led for this had served with 214 Battery, which sortie by Flight Lieutenant Willie Rho- manned the guns sited on Southsea des-Moorhouse were scrambled to in- Common. 601 Squadron pressed home tercept and a running fight developed its attack and although they claimed over the Needles. 601 Squadron had seven aircraft destroyed they only man- already been in action this day having aged to inflict damage, leaving a size- been scrambled late morning to inter- able force to attack Portsmouth. cept a raid by Ju87s on Portland Har- This was not the first time the sirens bour and helping to account for three of had sounded in the city; indeed, there the escorting Bf110s, including one had been many false alarms largely due flown by Hermann Goering’s nephew. to over-cautiousness in the system and Published accounts of this combat record that in trying to evade the at- genuine reconnaissance flights which tacking fighters, two of the He111s col- had not led to hostile action. At the lided in mid-air and/or one Bf110 ex- meeting of the city’s War Emergency ploded so close to its neighbour that it Committee on 5th July, the Town Clerk brought that down as well, then the reported that the public were ignoring over-enthusiastic AA gunners of Ports- sirens and an instruction that the public mouth shot down one of our own Hur- must take cover was issued. In fact the ricanes. All of these so-called “facts” disruption caused by so many alarms are part of the myth that has grown up had given rise in mid-June to a change surrounding the Battle of Britain. There in policy by HQ Fighter Command was no collision and post-war analysis whereby the issue of warnings would of Luftwaffe records reveals that no be held back until a definite target area Bf110s were lost in this action. 601 could be determined, even though this Squadron did lose an aircraft but as its risked increased numbers of casualties. pilot Sgt Woolley recorded in his com- Back in Hercules Street, the small bat report, this was due to enemy fire: boy and his younger brother headed for One cannon shell entered my aircraft from the Anderson shelter in the garden. beneath the port wing and set the gravity Their mother, having collected the vital

Summer 2010 15

family documents, soon joined them posts with two refuge rooms was im- while their Granddad, who lived with plemented, to reduce the possibility of a them, went to turn off the gas supply at reoccurrence. the tap just inside the front door. Air- As the raid passed over its target, craft were heard overhead and there reinforcements arrived in the form of a was a sudden explosion: a bomb had further 12 Hurricanes from 145 Squad- fallen on a row of houses nearby. The ron guided towards the enemy by the blast had thrown Granddad the length bursts from Portsmouth’s anti-aircraft of the hall, but he was still able to join guns. Squadron Leader John Peel and the rest of the family in the shelter. his men were able to deliver the coup de gras and two of the He111s were shot More explosions ensued and it became down, Flight Lieutenant Dutton being obvious that Goering’s Luftwaffe were credited with the destruction of mounting their first air raid on Ports- G1+HK, which fell into the sea south of mouth. Their intended target was the Selsey with the loss of all five men on dockyard, but unfortunately the bulk of board and a second, G1+LK was shared the bombs missed and fell in the area by Pilot Officers Lord Kay-Shuttleworth around Kingston Crescent. The Rud- and Wakeham. This aircraft force- more gasholder was set ablaze, the Blue landed on East Beach at Selsey and Anchor pub was destroyed and a bomb burnt out with three of its crew becom- that failed to explode damaged the ad- ing POWs; the remaining two had been jacent White Hart Hotel. Houses were killed and were subsequently buried at damaged in Gamble Road, Portchester St Andrew’s Church, Tangmere. Road, Farlington Road and Lyndhurst Road. The most serious incident, how- ever, occurred at Drayton Road School, which was being used by the ARP as a first-aid post. This accounted for 12 of the 18 fatalities caused by the raid.

A further casualty of this attack was Squadron Leader Peel, who was shot down by return fire and ditched into the sea. He was found just over an hour later by the Selsey lifeboat but was still able to lead his squadron into com- Later, rumours would circulate re- bat on the following day. His ordeal garding the high number of casualties obviously had no ill effect on him since but a report by the Acting Medical Offi- he survived the Battle and the War, fi- cer of Health found that as the sirens nally passing away at the age of 92 in had sounded and staff started to make January 2004, having been a life-long their way to the refuge room there had supporter of the RNLI. been a direct hit in the corridor outside Both sides suffered one further the staff room door. As a result of this casualty: Pilot Officer Storrar of 145 tragedy a plan to provide all first-aid Squadron severely damaged a Heinkel

16 The Tangmere Logbook

which crash-landed on return to its base tion received from the Regional Com- near Paris with two of its crew missioner expressing appreciation for wounded; and Flying Officer Branch, the efficient manner in which the ARP also from 145 Squadron, suffered dam- staff had gone about their duties. Spe- age to his Hurricane which caused his cial mention was made of Mr Carmi- engine to seize as he landed back at chael, the General Manager of the Tangmere. Unlike so many of the later Portsmouth and Gosport Gas Com- combats in the Battle of Britain, this had pany, for his very efficient direction of been an even-handed affair: both sides fire-fighting at Rudmore. It was also had committed 24 aircraft, lost two and noted that the public took more notice had one damaged. of uniformed wardens and so all war- When the sirens sounded the All dens would now retain their uniforms Clear our family fortunately emerged at home and these would be replaced as from their shelter unscathed and the necessary using the General Rate, if no two boys rushed through the house to ARP grant could be obtained. The City help the ARP warden, Mr Head, to an- Engineer reported that the public shel- nounce the all clear by ringing his hand ters had coped well with the raid and in bell. one instance a bomb had exploded five yards away and the occupants had felt only a little shaking.

At this point I should declare an in- Portsmouth had survived its bap- terest in this story since the small boy in tism of fire, battered, bloodied but un- question would grow up to become my bowed. There would be worse to come, father. most notably the fire blitzes of January At a meeting of the city’s War Emer- and March 1941, but for now the city gency Committee on Saturday 13th July would tend its wounded and honour its the members reviewed the events of the dead. previous Thursday. The Chairman, Alderman L. N. Blake, and members My sources include John Bushby, Gunner’s Moon, Futura, 1974, pp. 41-42; Paul Jenkins, Lord Mayor Councillor D. L. Daley, Battle over Portsmouth, Middleton Press, Councillor J. F. D. Lacey and Councillor 1986, p. 30; National Archive file AIR50/ J. E. Lane expressed sympathy to the 165, p. 299. The photographs, taken in relatives of the ARP personnel who had Portsmouth in 1940 and 1941, are believed been killed and noted the communica- to be in the public domain. —GS

Summer 2010 17

At Tangmere with No. 145 Squadron

Eric Marsden

No. 145 Squadron, with which I served in his thirties). The change from Blen- during the summer of 1940, had con- heims to Hurricanes had caused the verted from Blenheims Is to Hurricanes removal of numbers of personnel, pi- just in time for the German Blitzkrieg in lots, and the remainder of the aircrew the , and was moving not required for single-seaters, as well from Croydon to Tangmere when I was as some ground crew. This had de- posted to it. At Tangmere, I was allot- ranged Chiefy Bannister’s duty rosters ted to B Flight, whose commanding of- more than a little, and he was still ficer was Flt Lt Adrian Hope Boyd working out what his new set-up was (“Boydy” to the squadron). Flt Sgt to be in the squadron’s new role, so for Bannister was NCO i/c, known inevi- the first few days during the work-up tably as “Chiefy” even to his face, once to operational status we ground crew one was accepted, and irreverently as had no definite aircraft to service, but “Jesus”, from his cherubic countenance worked on whichever kite Chiefy gave and halo of golden curls, albeit thinning us. This gave him the opportunity to somewhat with advanced age (he was get the measure of his flight: to sort out

18 The Tangmere Logbook

sheep from goats, workers from with a body on the tailplane to ensure scroungers, and the accident-prone that the kite would not tip onto its nose, from the bods upon whom he could opening the throttle to maximum boost rely. and revs, and switching off the port and Flying at this stage was organised by starboard magnetos in turn, to check Boydy; take-off times were known, and the amount of “mag drop” — the loss in there were no “panics”, so that we revs due to the cutting out of one of the worked what were almost office hours two spark plugs in each cylinder. — 8 a.m. at the flight, allotted kite for However, one could not be sure that Daily Inspection (DI), with, since I was these two particular plugs were always Engines, a Rigger as partner. We the source of the trouble, in which case worked together to check out the air- the usual diagnostic method employed craft according to our own trade sched- in B Flight required the engine to cool, ules: all cowlings off, and thorough in- then the mechanic would lie on top of spection of all fastenings, pipe joints, the exposed engine, head immediately etc., as well as levels of oil, fuel, coolant, behind the prop, whilst his partner, the and oxygen in the appropriate systems, rigger, would do a quick run-up and on topping up where necessary. a signal from the mechanic would shut Every Hurricane built was equipped down, whereupon the mechanic, frying with a special Hawker tool, a combined gently, would inch backwards along the tank cap key and screwdriver to fit the cylinder blocks touching each plug fasteners used on the cowlings and re- along the way; the defective plugs movable panels and fairings. Unfortu- would be cooler than those which were nately, they were pocket-sized and eve- firing correctly. ryone down the delivery chain from When all was done, everything manufacturer to squadron was con- checked, and the Perspex of the screens vinced that they had to have one — and and hatch were “gleaming, gleaming, did — so the poor mechanics who had gleaming”, we could sign the Form 700, to service the kites rarely had the the book in which all the details of each proper tool to open tank caps, whilst aircraft’s life was recorded: work done, the screwdriver in the standard RAF faults found, corrected, how and by toolkit was just loose enough in the slot whom, flight times, engine hours run, to slip and chew up the fastener head amount of fuel, oil, etc. put in. There unless you were lucky in your cowling was a column for Between Flight In- fit, and very careful. The top engine spections by the necessary tradesmen, cowling, and the extra thick cowl over and spaces for record of 30 hr., 60 hr., the fuselage tank immediately back of 90 hr., 120 hr. inspections and beyond, a the engine were stretched into place, book which recorded a great deal of and could be absolute pigs to replace — responsibility. The Form 700 signed up, fitting them was an art involving heavy your kite could be shown as S — ser- blows with the flat of the hand in just viceable— as distinct from U/S — un- the right places, mostly individual to a serviceable — on the blackboard show- particular kite, so that sometimes cowl- ing the flight state. ing up after a DI could take longer than Within ten days of my arrival at the inspection itself. Tangmere, somewhere about the 20th The “run-up” was simple enough, of May, events in France and the Low just a matter of starting the engine, Countries had created such pressure on running at the correct rpm to warm up fighter defence that the squadron was to the correct coolant and oil tempera- declared operational, and began patrol- tures, and then, properly chocked, and ling over the retreating BEF, or rather,

Summer 2010 19

beyond them, trying to cut down the had to do it where they stood — one numbers of enemy aircraft which were long, straight line of target. Chiefy sent the retreating forces. For a over extra bods, and the Station Ar- while our pilots were able to land at moury Officer did his nut, since eight forward landing grounds at the end of hundred belts of ammo is a tidy lot of the first sortie of the day, returning to work. Eventually the whole hundred Tangmere late in the evening after a kites took off, formed up into a huge day of up to six or seven sorties against gaggle over the station, and set off for or in search of enemy aircraft. Our pi- France. A buzz came up a day or two lots were dog tired, and tended to crawl later which suggested that they had into their beds straight after debriefing. landed and lined up in exactly the same We got stuck in immediately to service way in France, and most had been shot and DI the kites ready for the morrow, up by German fighters — but you know working as long as necessary on repairs what rumours are worth. Strangely, where needed; badly shot-up kites were however, none of the histories record taken out of service, and the flight’s this mass flight although I read, many spare kites brought into use — when- years ago, a copy of a letter by Chur- ever we had them. It was a matter of chill in which he declared that he pride to have the maximum number of would not allow another hundred Hur- serviceable aircraft since this showed ricanes to go to France; a year or so up on the squadron strength board at later, in a different book, the word “an- Group, and bad serviceability reflected other” had been deleted, to give the badly on everyone in the squadron. As usual form in which this letter is re- the retreat continued, forward landing ported. grounds continued to be lost, so the I can’t remember whether we were squadron sent a detachment to Manston still Duty Flight in the same week, or to act as a forward servicing party with some time later, when I found myself in our aircraft operating from there during charge of dealing with a squadron of the day, although there were still Vought SB2U-1s — Chesapeakes (or squadrons operating from France. Vindicators, as they were called in the About this time we had the job of States; low-wing monoplane scout- providing Station Duty Crew, a weekly bombers) — from the French aircraft duty taken by each squadron in turn, carrier Béarn. I have no French, their providing a full crew of all trades to rather severe commanding officer had handle and service all visiting aircraft. no English, so I drew a diagram of an Just our luck: a huge mob of Hurricanes aircraft showing fuel tanks and oil tank, flew in (we were told 100, although we and listed the fuels alongside by octane had no opportunity to count) and were rating, 87 and 100. The Frenchman lined up, wing tip to wing tip outside wrote 92, whereupon I put a “?” by the the western perimeter track, near the 87 and 100, and he indicated that he road which comes through Tangmere would take the 87 octane, so we filled village. They were flown by a most them up with that. As for oil, it was motley assortment of pilots: ATA, plain Hobson’s Choice. Also during this pe- civvies, RAF and types of riod we had Potez 63s come in, and a all sorts. We had the job of refuelling, couple of what I believe to have been checking oil and coolant, and fully arm- Bloch 152s, still in grey undercoat, ing them, and despite our protests that straight from the factory. These kites they were parked in a particularly stu- were put into the MT hangar, an old pid fashion, where one pass by a couple hangar dating I think from WW1, near of Me109s could write the lot off, we the old Naafi — same vintage, covered

20 The Tangmere Logbook

in ivy and Virginia creeper. The hangar vantage. Hearing someone you like, in was also known as the FIU Hangar; be- deep trouble, can be quite distressing. ing used by the Fighter Interception Having analysed the flight tracks of Unit, who were helping to develop enemy aircraft from the known airfields what we spoke of in whispers as “RDF” in France, with regard to targets in Eng- or sometimes “AI” which we knew in- land, and taking account of the per- volved secret radio stuff, with oscillo- formance of the Merlin III Hurricane, scope-type viewing screens, on which with the DH variable-pitch prop, along sometimes it was possible to detect air- with the reaction time of Fighter Con- craft from a distance — indeed, we had trol, which depended upon the RDF an autogiro which called in occasion- chain along the coast, Boydy came to ally, with the job of flying out to sea the conclusion that the maximum time along fixed courses, to give a readily allowable for a possibly successful identifiable target for the Blenheim VIs scramble was two minutes. Our first of the FIU, and enable them to establish attempts to achieve this were pretty range checks. Since this hangar was poor — perhaps of intent, since Boydy semi-secret, it was also the hiding place had the pilots run from the crew-room for our flight’s car, an ancient bull- with seat-pack chutes clipped in place, nosed Morris tourer, owned by syndi- to climb into the kites, and then start cate within B Flight, and used by them up. chiefly for personal transport during a I have since thought that this was a unit move. Unhappily, all these air- deliberate ploy, to overcome the long- craft, a Blenheim or so, and the Morris, held belief in the sanctity of the para- were all crunched by a direct hit when chute at that time. Regulations for the Tangmere was bombed on August 16th. care and maintenance of parachutes in With the completion of the evacua- the RAF of those days were perhaps tion from , and the last with- even more stringent than for aircraft, drawals from further south in France, and each ‘chute had its own log book, there was a short lull during which time just like the aircraft. Every chute had to Boydy began to sharpen us up in the be unpacked at regular intervals, and business of what came to be known as a aired and checked for humidity in an Scramble — getting sections of aircraft, air-conditioned parachute store, re- held at Readiness, into the air as packed by trained packers, and issued quickly as possible. We began to learn on a signature. They tended to be ob- to live in one of three states: Readiness, jects almost of awe to some aircrew,

Stand By (with a time attached, from and were handled carefully. Others immediate stand-by, to 15 or 30 min- simply slung them in a corner until re- utes) to Released, or stood-down. At quired, and regarded them as more of a Readiness, everyone, from pilots to nuisance than of value. Nevertheless, general duties chaps, was on tenter- there was a general belief that the seat- hooks, waiting for the signal for furious type pilot parachute should be sat upon activity. In the other two states we only by the pilot, in flight, to reduce the were free to work like blazes on any possibility of the fabric sticking and unserviceable aircraft on the flight line. failing to open properly if needed, due Only when the kites were in the air to perspiration or humidity due to the could we sit still — if we could, since a warmth and moisture from the body. loudspeaker above the pilots’ crew- Anyway, the pilots soon got fed up room door allowed us to hear RT be- with waddling along carrying 22¾ lbs. tween our own squadron pilots in the of parachute clipped to their posteriors, air, sometimes a facility of dubious ad- and we experimented with various po-

Summer 2010 21

sitions where the ‘chute might best be replacing and fastening the fairing set to await the arrival of the pilot in a panel, about three feet by two feet, in scramble. It had already been decided the blast of the prop. From there he ran that the kites would be started up by to the starboard front of the kite, to be the ground crew, and we now had the in view of the pilot, until the mechanic somewhat dubious advantage of sitting who had been strapping the pilot in for hours in an aluminium bucket seat, place jumped down to the port front, to front edge biting into the underside of take the Chocks Away signal when the the thighs, awaiting a signal to start our pilot was ready — often this was done machines. with both mechanics by the leading Boydy had a general duties chap as edge already tailing on to the chock a duty phone operator, sitting in the ropes to pull clear without any waste of crew-room, with the job of switching on time. a large electric bell, fitted outside the Whilst sitting at Readiness a nice crew-room door, in the event of a balance had to be maintained between Scramble call. His own aircraft, usually keeping the engine warm enough for an K (being the first letter in the second immediate take-off, and running the half of the alphabet, for B Flight) sat engine occasionally to keep it warm immediately in front of the crew-room, without using so much fuel as to impair so that the bell, the general duties chap, the available flight time, as well as to and the crew-room door could be seen avoid the possibility of oiling up those in the rear-view mirror. Not until the two horrible plugs in the two rearmost parachute was kept in the aircraft’s cylinders. This system of starting for bucket seat, with all harness straps laid Scrambles had a big advantage in that out over the cockpit edge, so that the the people who were most used to start- pilot could be strapped into the kite, ing the kites, the ground crews, were with engine warm and running, could there to do it, instead of sometimes anx- we achieve the two minutes or less, ious or even nervous pilots who with a deal of team-work by the me- pumped the throttles too much, or chanic and rigger. Despite the different over-primed, with disastrous results. trades, most pairs would take turns in After a sortie it was customary to the cockpit, the second member sitting make a circuit of the field before land- on the starter trolley by the starboard ing, and our pilots soon developed a wing tip, ready to press the button of time-saving trick of their own on the the trolley-acc on signal from the me- first pass: they flew low over their own chanic in the cockpit, who could then parking place and ground crew to show press the aircraft’s starter button to spin us on the ground whether or not the the engine. Immediately the engine guns had been fired. As every plastic fired up, the mechanic on the trolley-acc modeller knows, the gun ports were had to run in to the nose of the kite, be- covered with fabric (when we had the side the leading edge of the wing, un- time) and were red doped, so that the plug the heavy-duty starter cable, and sight of tattered, blackened fabric was a fasten the flap covering the electrical signal for a quick dash to collect four socket: a screwdriver job, often in a pairs of ammo tanks. On the Hurri- worn slot. Retrieving the cable, and cane, re-arming was intended to be by pulling the heavy trolley-acc clear of the quick-change ready-loaded tanks, kite, he then had to run to the trailing rather than by tediously feeding indi- edge of the starboard wing, reach into vidual belts into separate containers. If the open bay in the fuselage behind the memory serves, each pair of tanks was pilot, and turn on the oxygen supply, held by quick-release pins. At any rate,

22 The Tangmere Logbook

Boydy made sure that we had sufficient given to organisation of servicing and tanks for our kites and we flight me- turn-round of aircraft, he had also de- chanics and riggers gave our spare time signed, and had made (under the Old in the station armoury helping out by Pals Act) an improved cockpit hood for gauging rounds, making up belts, and the Hurricane, and naturally kept it for in any spare time after that, loading his own kite, SO-K, so that we had the Lewis and Vickers “K” guns — the job of changing it over whenever he Vickers drums for the FIU. changed to a new machine. Since the The mix was made up of plain ball, aircraft were essentially individually armour piercing, tracer, and soon De hand-made, and not assembled with Wilde. Some pilots would not use the same precise interchangeability as tracer, believing that the trails might modern motor cars, that could be a show an enemy that he was being fired fiendish job, taking all night. The hood on, and there was also a wide belief that was the same shape as the original, but tracer didn’t fly true — probably as a in one piece, with no internal frames, result of seeing the Cazoux Effect, in and along each side there was a stream- which rotating rounds, especially in a lined blister, large enough to take a cross airstream, tend to follow a spiral man’s head, so that the down and rear course. I believe that Cazoux is the view with the hatch closed was greatly name of a French WW1 air station at improved. However, the Air Ministry which this phenomenon was first ob- could not agree that the gains were served. worth the costs, since at that time such The De Wilde ammunition was re- an item had to be hand made, and mass puted to be both incendiary and at least production would have been almost semi-armour piercing. One or two of impossible, in terms of available skilled our pilots refused to use it because of its people. incendiary properties — others gaily There was an enormous amount of grabbed their share, and carried a heav- make-do in the Service at this time, and ier proportion in their belts, despite the for some time to come. Tools were in rumour that it wore out gun barrels short supply, even simple things like very rapidly. De Wilde was quite dis- rags, etc., for cleaning. Like many big tinctive, having gold-coloured bullets in organisations, the RAF during the years the usual .303 cartridges. When fired, of peace had created an efficient stores the path of the bullet could be followed system, but unfortunately it tended to as a bright pink dot racing across the be manned all too often by people who sky; at least, that is what it looked like believed that stores was an end in itself, from the gun — what was seen in side rather than a means of keeping aero- view I don’t know. I borrowed a couple planes in the air. I was once refused the of rounds and fired them from my Lee issue of a spare part needed to make a Enfield when I was on guard one eve- kite serviceable, on the grounds that ning at the Lavant end of what is now there was only one in stock, and the the Lavant Straight of the Goodwood minimum stock level specified by the racing track. It was then, before a pe- Stores Schedule was one item. Most of rimeter track was laid, the B Flight us bought our own sets of BA spanners flight line, RAF Westhampnett. Boydy and small screwdrivers, since the stan- was quite happy to double up on De dard tool kit wouldn’t have looked Wilde in his loads: anything which amiss on a farm tractor. Curiously would help to bring down EA suited enough, the kit contained a try-square him fine. and files, but to make a part could place In addition to all the thought he had you in danger of being put on a charge.

Summer 2010 23

An opposite number of mine was sent speck in the right-hand corner of the out to work on a Lysander which had front screen, “I’ve had the flight chasing force-landed in a field some distance that damned mark all over France!” He away and had magneto trouble. He tore a proper strip off us, but when found a broken contact breaker spring, Chiefy explained the stores situation, he and made one from the appropriate vanished in the direction of Main thickness blade in his set of feelers. Stores, where presumably be expressed You’ve guessed it: they flew the kite his opinions in such fashion that from back, inspected it, and he was charged thenceforward there were no shortages with fitting unauthorised parts and of these essential materials. One of damaging Service property, to wit, one those often repeated cases of “For want set of feelers. Fortunately the Engineer- of a nail . . . .” ing Officer was an engineer and not a As part of our preparation for the paperwork man, and the charge was mass attacks which we all expected fol- scrubbed. I suppose the only legitimate lowing the fall of France, Boydy had the reason for the files etc. was in cutting squadron’s Sergeant Armourer run an and cleaning up skin patches — apart, instruction course on re-arming the of course, from making brooches and Hurricane. This included the general rings from Perspex from crashes, Hurri- duties chaps whose normal jobs were canes and Spits from folded pennies, running the petrol bowser and similar and cigarette lighters from .303 car- work. This left our trained armourers tridge cases. I swaged a cartridge case free to run down the lines of aircraft out parallel as the cylinder for an oscil- using their cleaning rods on fired guns, lating steam engine made from scrap, and concentrating on loading the which I sold for five shillings! As an Brownings correctly, fastening the LAC Flight Mechanic, I think I was then breeches, and cocking the guns by haul- on three shillings and sixpence per day; ing the breech blocks back by means of I remember our pay in 1939 as RAFVR a piece of looped cable with a wooden Fitter IIs U/T was 3/6 per day, and that toggle handle. The guns could not be some weeks after the war started we cocked mechanically in the air, so if this were told that we had been re-mustered were not done, the pilot would take off to Flight Mechanics U/T at 2/-, and unarmed. Since we were short of petrol would have to repay the difference bowsers, refuelling was the chief source from September 2nd in deductions, so of delay, which meant that the me- that for some weeks we got only 1/6 chanic and rigger on each kite had time per week, the Service minimum upon to speed up the turn-round by taking which it was reckoned we could clean part in other essential jobs. Changing shoes and buttons! It made you glad to the oxygen bottle was technically the be a volunteer, and not a conscript. instrument basher’s job, but there were To return to shortages, we couldn’t not enough of them to cope under these get soft cloths or Perspex polish for the circumstances, so whilst it became offi- Perspex and glass on the cockpits, and cially a rigger’s job, we engine mechan- we had to use our own Bluebell or ics would also muck in. By these Brasso, and ·whatever rags we could means, we eventually got our flight scrounge up. One day, a few days after from “down” to “up” in eight minutes, we had gone operational, Boydy came a creditable time even by today’s stan- back in a towering rage, and instead of dards and, I imagine, a time impossible getting down out of the kite, ordered for a Spitfire squadron at that date. the rigger and me up onto the wing. Speaking for myself, I became so condi- “Look at that!” pointing to a small tioned by the sound of the Scramble

24 The Tangmere Logbook

bell that for years I jumped and looked nising, we saw our drivers and armour- round for something to do whenever I ers with the pattern boards for the new heard an electric bell. and the old systems, and to most of us I suppose it was somewhere about ground crew the patterns on both ap- the end of June that we received orders peared to be irregular, random ar- to repaint the undersides of our kites in rangements, so that we wondered what the new “sky” colour, specified as a was the purpose of these curious scat- mixture of so many parts matt white, so ters of aiming points. The harmonising many parts an unremembered blue, and distance was changed as a result of the so many parts yellow, with the aim of analysis of ciné camera results which producing a somewhat duck-egg blue. showed that most pilots were opening However, here again, Stores played fire far too early. Boydy had already their usual part — not enough of the shown his preferred range by nudging right blue, not enough of the right yel- a Heinkel’s rudder with his spinner low, so we had to use what we could when he opened fire — unfortunately it get. In addition, we were painting air- also put “K” out of action for several craft which were black on one wing, hours, because the engine and hydrau- and white the other. This, together lic oil from the EA sprayed back all over with the fact that the paint was being the Hurricane so that it took two of us mixed in limited quantities (fixed by the some hours to clean it down with petrol sizes of the containers we had available, and paraffin. Boydy’s pleasure in his resulted in a flight line where the kites victory was also somewhat marred by varied in colour from a strongish light the complete ruination of a good uni- blue to a distinct duck-egg green, and form. He’d taken off in tunic and mostly with a darker port wing, where slacks, not the new battledress, and the black showed through. Some of the without coveralls or flying jacket, and kites coming in as replacements from when his screen blacked out with oil, he the MUs and Repair Units had been had to pull his cockpit hatch back and painted over the old black and silver stick his head out, without goggles, to underside scheme and showed different get back to the station with his own again. It was quite a long time before prop blowing the oil off the front cowl- we achieved anything like a uniformity ings back into the cockpit. The He111 of colour. came down at Selsey, nearby, and the June and July were marked by a con- fin and rudder were brought back to tinuous flying effort, a steady drain on the flight and set up by the wall of the our original set of pilots, the introduc- crew-room as a trophy. I remember tion of the Rotol 35º variable pitch, con- that we all remarked on the excellence stant speed airscrew; Polish, RN, and of the paint finish, which seemed to be Australian pilot replacements; and two superior to that on our kites. A maker’s technical sources of controversy: a new plate from this He111, which I kept for harmonising arrangement for the guns, many years, showed that this particular and the “Big Wing Theory”. The Jablo- aircraft had been built — if I remember bladed Rotol props were regarded as correctly — in 1936, and, bullet holes the best thing since sliced bread, giving apart, I remember that we remarked on better climb and better engine control; how little sign of weathering the fin in fact the edge they gave over the DH showed; in fact the fin and rudder VP was regarded by many pilots as the looked like new. difference between success and failure One of our Polish pilots, Flt Lt — and the difference between being a Pankratz, turned out to be a very good pilot and an old pilot. As to the harmo- pilot, but before he became thoroughly

Summer 2010 25

used to the Hurri, he caused some lins droning, and all those Hurris in one amusement, not unmixed with a touch great mass! of acrimony, by opening up too quickly Our pilots were taking considerable for take-off, and standing his kite on its interest in German equipment at this nose — twice — naturally costing a time. It was generally considered that prop each time, and a DTI check on the the Luftwaffe-issue Mae West was a far prop shaft, before fitting the new prop, better job than the standard RAF issue, so that the kite was u/s for some hours and they were highly regarded as le- on each occasion. I think he felt very gitimate prizes. PO Weir was so keen badly about both incidents, and was to get his that he landed in a field distinctly touchy for some time. We alongside one kite he shot down; this ground crew had a good relationship was the day on which he got three EAs, with our pilots — not of the “Hi, Mac!” so he wanted a memento. Boydy spent variety as with US squadrons in later a good deal of time stripping and exam- days — but they did take the trouble to ining German ammunition, pyrotech- know us by name, and we could and nics, and guns and drew his own kit of did converse about the war, the squad- tools from Stores for the job. It was no- ron affairs, and the daily round. This ticeable that he had few companions relationship was rare with our Conti- whilst engaged in these endeavours, nental friends; later we were to have and a fair amount of elbow room. two or three , who were very About this time the oil-catcher be- much on their dignity, so that we had to hind the prop was introduced as a behave in a somewhat, to us, artificial modification: a half top-hat section, riv- way, in order not to upset them. eted to the top cowling immediately The “Big Wing” idea cut right across behind the spinner, which caught the Boydy’s ideas of the right way to tackle flecks of oil and grease flying out from the interception problem. He gave a the prop shaft to become smears on the talk to the whole flight on the subject, windscreen. Boyd had already added and we gathered that Park, CO of 11 home-made pieces of quarter-inch Group, was not impressed either. But, boiler plate to the seats as extra armour, we were told, Leigh Mallory had bent security of the family jewels playing no ears in important places, and it had to small part in the confidence of the indi- be tried out. So, one day, instead of the vidual pilot. All aircraft by this time squadron taking off and vanishing rap- had rear-view mirrors as standard, idly into the blue, we were treated to faired off with a small folding of light the sight of circling Hurris, waiting for alloy, where a couple of months previ- other squadrons to form up, until fi- ously the mirrors were a motley collec- nally, 120 aircraft formed a huge wing tion of all sorts of car mirrors, all rec- and set off to do battle. It took 11 min- tangular, but varying from plain to utes to form up. Unfortunately, by the convex and simply stuck up in the time they got to where the battle was breeze, so that some vibrated badly, supposed to be, it was somewhere else, creating a fuzzy image with the engine and Boyd (for one) came down in a running. fairly evil temper at the wasted effort. The new windscreens, which we had It was the only time to my knowledge fitted in May, soon proved their worth. that the Tangmere squadrons were in- Nearly an inch and a half thick, they volved in that approach up to the time stopped enemy machine gun rounds we went north on rest in the middle of without splintering into the cockpit, August. Perhaps not very effective, as and we’d had several bullet-embedded interceptors, but what a sight: 120 Mer- screens to prove it — it was just a pity

26 The Tangmere Logbook

that the framing necessary to hold the ting-out due to over-cooling on the new screen looked such a horrid after- glide path. On a few occasions we lis- thought, sticking up square to the air- tened to chases up to thirty-odd thou- stream at the base, and projecting in sand feet on the altimeter, if not in fact, angular fashion above the top. But it and the loss of co-ordination after a saved lives and aeroplanes. Within time at height showed up on some pi- days of being fitted, one aircraft (was it lots while others seemed to be quite Dunning-White’s?) came back with a 20 unaffected, as was evidenced by their mm projectile stuck in the screen. June ability to curse a rapidly disappearing and July also saw us fitting the exhaust Dornier or Ju88 which, nose down, had glare shields used for night flying, the heels of the Hurri at those levels. which, we discovered, accounted for In July a party of us were told off to the otherwise inexplicable ¼” BSF crew for some Spits which were due to hexagon-head set-screws projecting come in to Tangmere; these turned out from the heavy top cowl behind the to be a detachment of No. 602 City of engine. The shields were about 6” Squadron, who were going to wide, maybe 8 gauge metal, cut back at get clewed up in readiness to be our 45º front and rear, painted matt black, replacements when we pulled out for and were intended to mask the line of “rest” for our pilots. Happily, we were sight between the pilot and the ejector free of this duty within two or three exhausts. Boydy missed the opportu- days. Westhampnett being declared fit nity to be the first to score at night by for occupancy and operations, we were cat’s whisker. Scrambled to find an in- taken there by lorry, with all our per- truder, we could see him coming up sonal gear, kit bags and all, and behind a twin of some kind, right over dumped unceremoniously in the corner Tangmere, when some helpful brown of a large field, containing, as far as we type struck up a searchlight and fixed could see, three unfinished Nissen huts the Hurricane spot-on. We heard the and little else. Approaching the hut Jerry pilot open up and go flat out for allotted to us, we got evidence of the the coast in a shallow dive — he was no curious mentality of the administration great height to begin with — and over staff: the huts had been built with a the RT speaker above the crew-room door and two windows in each end, door we heard Boydy’s yell, requesting and the windows, metal framed, were the extinction of that rose-coloured glazed, and had then had the glass light, and sundry other imprecations. It painted black for black-out purposes, was a distinctly jaundiced pyjama-clad which was of little relevance, since pilot who climbed out of SO-K a few there were no light bulbs supplied, nor minutes later, and the rigger and I took was the electricity connected up. There the “least said, soonest mended” was no furniture of any kind, and the course, and kept mum. concrete floors were just set, but not yet The pilots were discovering new dry. It was no good thinking of our aspects of flight: that, for instance, at new, comfortable barrack blocks at high altitude the radiator could freeze Tangmere; a certain rapidity of action up, even though the engine was run- was required, and a few of us made ning flat out, and that therefore close tracks for the pile of aircraft servicing attention to the radiator flap was re- stores which we had unloaded, and quired all the time to maintain the cor- grabbed the rigging mats which Hurri rect engine temperatures, just as earlier squadrons still carried for use on the they had to learn to close the rad on older fabric-bashed wing types. Rig- approaches, to avoid misfiring and cut- ging mats are rather like the tambour

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shutters of a roll-top desk, about 30” as “written off” already — it didn’t af- wide, slats about 1½” x ½”, and backed fect their attitude to flying and fighting, with about a ⅜” thickness of felt. Laid but they had no hope of survival for on two long timbers snitched from the themselves. It was a grievous time for fence or hedgerow, set on bricks, they us, for we could do little to help. We made excellent beds. As for those couldn’t take their places, though most unlucky enough not to think of this ex- of us would have given anything for the pedient, they spread groundsheets and chance. It might not be incorrect to say blankets on the damp concrete, and that our respect and liking for our pilots spent the first few nights in horrid dis- almost became love at this time — and comfort, with the chore of hanging we had to watch them — indeed help blankets to dry every morning, from the them to take off to go and die in ones considerable condensation which de- and twos, until the core of experienced, veloped under their “beds” during the battle-trained men became dangerously night. small. We had “good” days, like the Our washing facilities were two one on which the squadron claimed, I boards laid along the existing farm think, 21 victories, 11 going to our horse trough about four hundred yards flight. Whatever may have happened along the field — about where the tun- as result of analysis of records and nel is under what is now the Good- claims, and consequent adjustment of wood Motor Circuit. The Dining Hall, scores, our blokes honestly thought at first shared by all ranks, was an they’d knocked down that many EAs, open-sided wagon shed, in which an and we were credited with them and acute sense of geography was well given a day’s rest by no less than Sir worthwhile to avoid being the recipient Archibald Sinclair himself, who came of any of the rain of swallow and swift down to see us, accompanied by a news droppings from the ancient timbers film unit, who took shots of wholly un- above, not that there was much oppor- real “Squadron Scrambles”: all aircraft tunity to make meals a social occasion; in neat vics of three, dressing by the like most things, including our days off, right, etc., all nice and tidy, nothing like we did everything at a run, so that the untidiness of the real thing, when “Scoff” became a truly accurate name the kites belted off straight from their for our food. The Naafi, we discovered dispersal point, regardless of wind di- eventually, was a marquee on the east- rection, and formed up in the air. This ern side of the field, nearer to the A was the period of the heavy attacks on Flight dispositions, with a few trestle the Channel convoys, and Boyd, by tables and folding benches, and an at- now considerably decorated, and I mosphere of dampness and gloom. think a Squadron Leader, was prevailed Few of us used it much, even given the upon to make a broadcast on the BBC opportunity. Luckily we soon had describing these attacks and the result- regular daily visits from either a Naafi ing battles as our fighters attempted to or a WVS van dispensing the inevitable drive off the enemy. Perhaps he read a tea and wads (wads were buns or script prepared by BBC or Ministry of cakes), and even occasionally chocolate Information script writers, for in that and cigarettes. broadcast he mentions his canopy and The tempo of the air war steadily goggles being damaged and lost as re- increased in late July and early August. sult of a passing bullet — an incident Our pilots were getting distinctly which was a part of his being shot frayed around the edges, and I know down a day or two later by cross-fire that one or two considered themselves from a Spit when both he and the Spit

28 The Tangmere Logbook

pilot opened up on a Dornier 17, SO-K ron to its limit before taking it out of the having been hit in a series of vital line for rest. We were moved up to places: Pesco pump (instruments), main Drem, near Edinboro’; the lucky ones engine oil compound relief valve, glycol amongst us flew up in a Sparrow from header tank, air compressor, as well as the transport squadron at Finningley: shattering his special canopy. By the kit bags, tool boxes, the lot. We had to time he got back to Westhampnett he wait hours for our take-off, because of was half blinded by oil and glycol, the repeated Condition Reds: the sky above kite was streaming trails of white glycol was criss-crossed with contrails, and vapour and oil smoke, and seemed Me 110s were being chased all over Sus- likely to brew up at any time. His un- sex, though we didn’t even see the one dercart was u/s so he belly-landed reported as passing overhead — it was along the edge of the field by the flight ducking from cloud to cloud, and being line, and promptly hopped out, yelling chased by one of our kites. for a screwdriver, with which he Arriving at Drem, we were greeted jumped back into the kite, to salvage by the Station Master in person, Batchy the clock as souvenir of his first crash. Atcherly no less; doubtless he was At any rate, he was quite apologetic chewing his nails to the quick at being for the embellishments to his story shut off out of the way in , and when we congratulated him on his was determined to do all he could to broadcast. The truth was that we very make us welcome on his station. At rarely saw a kite with bullet holes. I least one of our main party, following imagine that those pilots who got in up, Tangmere having been bombed for front of unfriendly guns were those the first time by now, played up to this, who came back by train; certainly, up to wandering around the station with a the time of the Spitfire incident, we’d vacant look, and muttering to himself, had no serious damage to any of ours. I and was shot off on 14 days’ sick leave don’t know to what extent this may at Batchy’s orders — and the perisher have been the experience of other units, hadn’t been on station when the bomb- but it was true of B Flight, 145 Squad- ing took place, he’d been on day off! ron. This account of the convoy attack, Peter Parrott later told me that all the broadcast, and then printed in “authori- squadron’s surviving pilots at this time tative” reference works, is just one ex- had begun operations at Tangmere in ample of the way in which “history” May. The pilots killed since then had becomes slightly bent away from actu- been new chaps. This was all too com- ality; in this case quite a minor incident, mon, and a sobering thing to think but sometimes involving displacement about. of events through a fair period of time, especially at a time when the keeping of Eric Marsden, who died in 2007, was a vol- diaries might be frowned upon. Even unteer at the Museum for several years fol- the official squadron diaries are not lowing his retirement from a career as a immune to these influences, sometimes history teacher. He was also a well-known being doctored to preserve reputations. designer and builder of vintage, scale, and By the end of the second week of unusual free-flight models. This article is based on a typescript he deposited in the August we could no longer put up a Museum‘s collections, written in the 1980s, full squadron on Readiness, and our describing his experiences at Tangmere and pilots were pretty well worn out; the Westhampnett from May to August 1940. people running Fighter Command must The leading photograph is reproduced un- have had remarkable powers of judge- der Crown Copyright licence. — Ed. ment in this matter, using each squad-

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Seventy years ago . . . sultation, the Rolls-Royce representa- tive said that the engine must be dis- Fred Pawsey, DFC mantled to examine the bearings. A small team that included me set to in Picture a lovely morning in July 1940. the afternoon to take the engine from A Hurricane with its cowlings removed the aircraft, place it on a stand and is framed in the open doors of the han- commence to dismantle it. We worked gar and I am searching for an air leak. through the night to expose the crank- Nothing exciting is happening and I am shaft bearings, which were indeed totally absorbed. Suddenly I become showing signs of breaking up, where- aware of the noise of a diving aircraft so upon the representative said the engine I slide off the mainplane to see a Ju88 must be reassembled and crated to be release its bombs. I break into a mad sent to Derby. dash away from the hangar just as the By mid-morning, the best part of 18 bombs explode and all I suffer are some hours later, I could at last go for food grazes from a close acquaintance with and sleep. On my way down the road- the concrete. There is considerable way from the hangar, there stood the damage to the hangar, and to some of CO — a Group Captain — with the Sta- the ground staff. tion Warrant Officer and I was beck- On another day I am directed by a oned over to them. The CO, who I am sergeant to carry some out work on an sure was recalled from retirement, de- aircraft and just after I remove the cowl- manded an explanation of why I was ings, inspected and assessed whatever walking about the station unshaven and was needed and made a start with my rumpled. I explained and after a glance team, along comes another NCO. at the SWO, I was told to proceed. I “Leave that job,” he says, “Go over and had recognised the SWO as being pre- inspect the Spitfire over there — the viously a Flight Sergeant at Halton, and pilot says there is something wrong a man who very rarely raised his voice. with the controls.” So over you go and Life was hectic but I never experi- a quick examination reveals the aileron enced anything chaotic. Naturally controls have been hit and was it some- laundry was not done, letters were not thing we could repair or not? written, leave, if granted, was often The air raid alarm is sounded again; cancelled or you were recalled. As a some of the anti-aircraft guns have al- youngster you were confident in such a ready opened fire as you seek some sort team as the RAF and even took part in a of shelter. During — or perhaps better football match between locals of the to say immediately before and after the Army versus locals of the RAF. In fact I incident — meals are still being pre- remember running up an engine al- pared, and all the necessary things are ready changed for the match. Every so still in progress. Aircraft are being in- often there was a calm evening, a pint spected and all casualties seen to by the was available in the Naafi and perhaps medical staff. The poles with red flags a friend would teach me a little more are still standing to mark the unex- about chess. ploded bombs from a previous raid. Even during the Battle of Britain some aircraft would be flying with ex- Fred Pawsey was a fitter during the Battle of Britain on fighter stations that included perimental modifications. One that I Tangmere, North Weald, Middle Wallop, remember had a Merlin engine with and Martlesham Heath. He later qualified crankshaft bearings of a different metal, as a pilot, and now lives in retirement in and an examination of the oil filter . Our Letters, Notes, and Queries showed signs of this metal. After con- pages will return in the next issue. —Ed.

30 The Tangmere Logbook

Photo quiz For each picture, name the squadron, the place, and the approximate date. Clues are in the stories in this issue of The Tangmere Logbook. For bonus points, name the pilots to whom these aircraft were likely to have been assigned at the time.

Cover Illustrations Our cover illustration is from a work newly commissioned by the Museum, entitled “In Defence of Tangmere” by Paul Couper, depicting the events of 16 August 1940. The painting may be seen in the Battle of Britain Hall, adjacent to Poets’ Corner. Inside cover: digital copy from the National Archives in the Museum Collection. This page, upper, public domain; lower, Crown Copyright, reproduced under licence.

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