The

Logbook

Magazine of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

Summer 2008

In this issue: Memories of RAF Tangmere, 1929-1930 An Acquaintance with “Bud” Day • The Water-Meadow

Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Trust Company

Patron: The Duke of Richmond and Gordon Hon. President: Duncan Simpson, OBE

Council of Trustees Chairman: Group Captain David Baron, OBE Keith Arnold Alan Bower Terry Bryant Bill Toozs-Hobson Phil Isaac Bob Nagle Ken Shepherd Joyce Warren

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

Management Team Director: Alan Bower Curator: David Coxon Works Manager: Keith Arnold Marketing Manager: Peter Allison

Shop Manager: Sheila Shepherd

Registered in and Wales as a Charity Charity Commission Registration Number 299327

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

2 The Tangmere Logbook The Tangmere Logbook Magazine of the Tangmere Military AviationMuseum

Summer 2008

Notes from My Logbook 4 Part 2 of an autobiographical memoir, Tangmere, 1929-1930 Air Marshal Sir Anthony Selway, KCB DFC

An Acquaintance with “Bud” Day, a Remarkable Man 12 Group Captain David Baron, OBE

The Water Meadow 15 An SOE flight that got stuck, conclusion Sir Robin Hooper, KCMG DSO DFC

Letters, Notes, and Queries 21 The Seletar Sunderland, Gordon Mitchell’s true story, our Tangmere gardeners, the National Service (RAF) Association, Argosy mishap, words of advice to American GIs, how the crew of the “Twentieth Century” dropped in for tea with Miss Cheney, the strange story of the Pagham Harbour Typhoon, and Photo Quiz

Published by the Society of Friends of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Tangmere, near Chichester, PO20 2ES, England Edited by Dr Reginald Byron, who may be contacted care of the Museum at the above postal address, or by e-mail at [email protected] Copyright © 2008 by the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Trust Company All rights reserved. ISSN 1756-0039

Notes from My Logbook

Part 2 of an autobiographical memoir, Royal Air Force Tangmere, 1929-1930

Air Marshal Sir Anthony Selway, KCB DFC

Alpha, Beta, and April

On March 3rd, someone, I forget who it was, came back and reported that he had seen a most remarkable thing. It was somewhere near Meonmarsh, which was just inland of Lee-on-Solent and he had been flying round in that area when he had spotted in large white letters in a garden the words “PLEASE STUNT”. These words seemed to be written on a lawn. Now in those days the word “stunt” was used instead of “aerobatics” and when he read this he felt the same emotional reaction that all red- blooded pilots should feel when they are invited to show off their skill, and not at all unwillingly he commenced to put on a show of low aerobatics. I need hardly say that low aerobatics were strictly forbidden as they so frequently led to nasty accidents.

4 The Tangmere Logbook Nevertheless he put up a show of loops, and the lunchtime interval each day rolls, slow rolls, half-rolls and in fact was always an interesting event everything he could remember. And because at that time the pilots used to then he saw that while he was doing meet in the Mess and exchange stories this three beautiful girls — or what about what they had been up to that could be estimated to be beautiful girls morning. One day someone came back at that height and speed, began to run and said he had spotted a most about in the garden and lay out white mysterious figure made in what he strips to form phrases such as “Good supposed was chalk on a hill side near Show”, “Nice Loop”, and “Again, Dorchester. He said that it was about Please”. He obliged to the best of his 100 feet high at least and, the figure, ability and then, realising that his fuel unmistakably a man, carried a club in was running short, had to make for his right hand and it was very home. noticeable that he was very well At lunchtime we were told about equipped below the belt. We express- this remarkable find. No one believed it ed much interest in this and the and we each decided that we must go following day some of us set off for off and have a look for ourselves. The Dorchester which was a town rather off news had spread around and when I our usual beat, in order to see this got to the Lee-on-Solent area the air was figure for ourselves. Sure enough there thick with Siskins madly doing their it was, as described, and he was well stunts at the lowest possible height. and truly camera gunned before we Not only Siskins either, for we observed left. We later learned that it was a very Flycatchers from the Navy and also a well-known figure which had been Fairey IIIF, which was a large fleet drawn on the ground at Cerne Abbas a spotter reconnaissance aircraft in which great many centuries ago and that it the pilot was heroically trying to was probably a fertility god of some emulate the feats of the fighter boys. sort. We weren’t at that time in our We must have been making a great deal lives very interested in fertility, in fact of noise and we observed that several rather the reverse, and so we left him gardens contained residents who were alone. not girls but middle-aged and older men and they certainly weren’t waving “Hucks!” but shaking their fists at us in a most uncomplimentary way. Alas youth I can’t help thinking that visitors to cares not and we went on our way Tangmere, or for that matter to any heedless of the concern felt by others. fighter station, must have been puz- Well this was a nine-day wonder and zled at a number of things and one of much of our time was spent over them was to observe pilots sitting Meonmarsh and later on we somehow quietly in their aircraft for a few min- got to find out who these girls were and utes and then letting out a very loud we met them. Alpha, Beta, and April shout of “Hucks!” Should there be no (surname of Hughes, I recall!). Two of apparent action resulting from this he them were twins and the other an elder would again shout “Hucks!” — not, of sister. All mad on flying and not bad course unconscious of the fact it could lookers either. be mistaken for another word, and then a strange motor vehicle would ap- Cerne Abbas Man proach from the tarmac and pull up in front of his engine. Life proceeded smoothly at Tangmere This was the Hucks starter and it

Summer 2008 5 consisted of a flat chassis and engine of on several types. He immediately a Model T Ford on which had been built joined the Navy and in 1941 he was an arrangement of pinions, pulleys and commanding a squadron of Swordfish chains ending in a toggle which the torpedo bombers in the . driver inserted into the boss of the It was during that command that he propeller and, on returning to his seat and his squadron played a vital part in he would rev up the Model T engine, the locating and sinking of the German engage the clutch and start the Bismarck and after the action aeroplane’s engine. I believe it was the Esmonde was awarded the DSO. invention of an early wartime aviator, But in February 1942 came the one B. C. Hucks. We had a number of famous “break out” of the Gneisnau, them and they were the only means of Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen from Brest. starting the engines in a reasonable These three Nazi capital ships were time. We had just begun to be fitted commerce raiders with a great nuisance with gas bottles which would mean that value in the Atlantic and other oceans our Siskins could then be started from and part of their function was to keep the cockpit. the British Navy busy stopping them from doing great damage to our vital convoys. One of these ships alone would have been able to sink a fifty- ship convoy in a matter of hours. At this stage in the war they had retired to the German-occupied port of Brest where they were bombed at regular intervals by the RAF. The RN and the RAF kept them under surveillance and substantial forces were available in case they should break out towards our vital shipping routes. But Hitler had other Eugene Esmonde, VC plans and wanted them back in . He did not want to risk sending them The only other thing of note to happen back round the usual route via Iceland that week was that a very young Pilot where they would have to fight and Officer arrived by the name of Eugene possibly suffer the same fate as the Esmonde. He was dark and small and Bismarck. So he decided on a Channel very quiet and turned out to be a very dash and made secret arrangements nice chap and we were glad to have him which unfortunately led our intel- as a messmate. He joined 43 Squadron ligence services to believe he would and used to come out with us on all our leave Brest at such time to let the ships parties. go through the narrow part of the Twelve years were to elapse before Channel in hours of darkness. This quiet, decent little Esmonde would would to some extent protect the ships achieve great glory in the air in a from large-scale daylight attack. Our desperate and gallant operation for he own plans were designed to assemble willingly and unquestionly gave his life. suitable forces so as to make a night When Eugene Esmonde’s short attack on the ships and Esmonde’s service career in the Royal Air Force Swordfishes were to be stationed at came to an end he became a pilot with Manston in Kent. Esmonde had agreed Imperial Airways and when the war that it would be possible for his started he was a full captain, qualified squadron to make night attacks on

6 The Tangmere Logbook 6 these ships when they would not have past hundred years but I doubt the to contend with. Defend- whether any have occasioned such ing fighters could not attack targets mental torture as this. Esmonde must which were at only 50 feet off the water have known that the , the in the dark. Owing to the great care and Admiralty, the British public — secrecy with which the German navy especially — were had made their plans, it came as a shock all awaiting the outcome. He was when the first reports came in to say asked to make a cold-blooded decision that the ships had made their breakout to commit suicide, he and his crews. during the night of 12 February and And he said he would go. England were already up the Channel as far as expected that Esmonde would do his Cherbourg. Unless we could bring duty. He did. them to battle in a matter of hours they would escape and the chance to des- troy this menace would be gone. Such was the disarray that the British were in at this short notice that no forces were available except Es- monde’s Swordfishes and one squad- ron of fighters supplied by the RAF. Esmonde got the news at Manston and was asked whether in view of his volunteering to attack by night also meant that he would attempt a day- light attack with no proper defence against the very large force of Luft- waffe fighters that were continuously circling the ships. Those who were at Manston said afterwards that Es- monde’s face seemed drained of blood and a grey colour. A naval officer said afterwards that it was like talking to a man already dead. The odds were enormous and it was left to the un- fortunate Esmonde to make a decision. Lt Cdr Eugene Esmonde, RNR To his undying credit and also that of his six crews he said he would go. Eugene Esmonde’s body was re- The result is history. He led his squad- covered from the Medway some weeks ron at 50 feet into a hurricane of fire later. Between his waist and his head from the three ships, the attendant there were more than six wounds made destroyers and from a protecting wing from behind by a Luftwaffe fighter. I of German fighters. Esmonde’s squad- dwell on this heroic episode because ron was smashed to pieces and shot not only did I know Esmonde but I was down into the sea. Three survivors indirectly concerned with it for at the were picked up later and reported what very time when the great ships were they had seen. Esmonde was awarded escaping from Brest, I and my wife, an immediate but posthumous daughter, and a nanny were in a Cross and all the survivors were highly troopship making our way north- decorated. wards to the UK from Freetown in the There have been many VCs in the South Atlantic. This ship was the

Summer 2008 7 Oronsay and we had been detached considering replacements for the Siskin from our convoy at Cape Town in order and Gamecock and to make for home by ourselves. We wanted to bring into service the water- were told that we were “badly needed” cooled, or coolant-cooled engine, as it in Britain. Our conceit at hearing that would become to be known. The we were such a precious cargo was had been a great success dispelled when we learned that it was with No. 12 Squadron. The Fox was a our cargo of pure copper ingots which day-bomber with a crew of we had collected at Durban that were two, designed by Fairey’s and fitted what they were really waiting for. with an American engine, the Curtiss When we heard on the ship’s radio that D12, I believe. This was a V-12 the three German had left arrangement with a very pointed nose Brest for an unknown destination the and had a much better performance faces of the naval officers on board were than any existing RAF fighter of the not so cheerful as usual as they knew, time. and so did we, that if these ships turned There were two contenders for the south and after only two days steaming, RAF’s new fighter and they were the and ran into us, our chances of survival and the Hawker Hornet, were pretty slim. Happily, after 48 which would later be renamed the hours we heard they had gone up the Fury. The various test stages at Farn- Channel. borough and Martlesham Heath had The naval officers on board were the been passed by both fighters and the survivors of the sinking of the Prince of time had come for the to Wales and the Repulse off the coast of send the two test aircraft to a service Malaya only a few weeks before. It is a squadron for the ordinary squadron matter of interest that these ships were pilots to see how they liked them. sunk entirely by Japanese aircraft. The Tangmere had been selected and on 15 bombers attacked from high level and March they both arrived, along with a several wings of torpedo aircraft went team of test pilots to show the squad- in from both sides, with complete rons where all the taps were, etc. success. A lucky torpedo hit damaged The idea was to find out how the the propellers at the stern of the Prince squadrons would cope and whether the of Wales at the start of the action and the least-talented pilots could fly them efforts of the anti-aircraft gunners after without difficulty. The Hornet and the that were not sufficient to keep the Firefly looked quite like each other, Japanese torpedomen away. This was both having Rolls-Royce engines which a classic and never-to-be-forgotten had been developed from the engine lesson that navies in modern warfare fitted in the winning cannot hope to survive without air seaplane the year before. That sea- protection from above. The RAF had plane, the Supermarine S5, the fore- fighters available at Singapore but our runner of the Spitfire, designed by ships had gone outside the range of Mitchell, also held the world speed their protection and suffered the record which was at that time just over inevitable penalty. 300 mph. They were with fixed undercarriages, wooden propel- The Fairey Firefly and the Hawker ers, still no brakes (as far as I can Hornet remember though I am open to cor- rection on that point) and were not Well, back to Tangmere in 1930. The only very nice-looking but very de- Royal Air Force had for some time been lightful indeed to fly. Seton Broughall,

8 The Tangmere Logbook 8 Wincott, Fleming, Jimmy Adams, Ben- pilots, K. S. Brake, was up in the Hor- nett Baggs, and Jerry Sayer were the net and he encountered Heber-Percy of team that came to visit us. These were 43 Squadron in a Siskin. Battle was of- all household names to us and we had a fered and accepted and round and great party with them. (Much later on, round they went for a time, but the Jimmy Adams, who had gone to the turning circle of the radial-engined USA to test American aircraft, became Siskin was smaller and tighter than that the father of a girl who became Dawn of the Hornet whose engine was longer in the crankshaft and thus weightier in Adams, a very well-known screen the gyroscopic moment. And eventu- actress). But that is neither here nor ally they lost sight of each other but there, as they say. continued to keep pulling into their

turns until one of them smashed into the other. They were at about 5,000 feet and although Brake broke his arm in struggling to get out of the cockpit they both managed to pull their ripcords and arrived on the ground intact. Not so their aeroplanes of course. Down fluttered the Siskin, as many Siskins had done before, but the precious Hor- net lost its wings and plummeted at full speed into the Downs. When we

went to inspect the wreckage we could Fairey Firefly Y-17 of 3/II/2 Aé (Red Cocottes) Squadron in flight near Nivelles. Although the just see the fuselage at the bottom of a Firefly lost to the Hornet in the RAF very deep hole. So that was the end of competition, 90 examples were built for the the competition and also the end of Belgian Air Force in 1931. —Ed. hopes of being able to fly one of the grandparents of the Hurricane which And now I must relate the sad story was to come later. of why I never got the chance to fly either the Firefly or the Hornet. First, the Firefly, on which the Fairey Aviation Company had set its hopes. It was indeed a very nice-looking aero- plane with equally nice manners and everyone liked it, although subsequent reports said it was a tiny little bit trickier to land than the Hornet. At any rate, Jenkins of No. 1 The Hawker Hornet. The Hornet and the Fairey Squadron took it up but when he came Firefly were powered by the same engine, the into land he “spread it all over the Rolls-Royce F.XIS, which in later variants was called the Kestrel by the RAF. The contract for aerodrome” as they say. Actually he the development of this 12-cylinder liquid-cooled bounced and instead of going round engine was the Air Ministry’s response to the again he went on doing these bounces success of the American Curtiss D-12 in the until the undercarriage broke and it 1920s. —Ed. went down on its belly and smashed the propeller, radiator, bottom wings, etc. And the upshot was that the compe- and was thus very much out of the tition was eventually won by Haw- competition. ker’s and the Hornet was ordered for A short time afterwards another — I Air Defence Great Britain. The Royal am sorry to say — of No. 1 Squadron’s Air Force promptly renamed it the

Summer 2008 9 Fury and it turned out to be a great suc- Well the result was that I went slap into cess and much of its biplane design was the back of him with an awful crash. incorporated in the Hurricane mono- There was a cloud of steam from the plane which was to follow and which radiator and a hiss of escaping air from was to bear the brunt of the Battle of burst tyres and a tinkle of glass from Britain, just ten years away. the headlamps and all that heart- sinking noise that some of us know so What I did to Teddy Corbally’s car well. I got out of the car and of course there was no damage to myself, and I While all this was going on I was very looked at the back of the Rolls. Not a busy trying to get around the country- scratch. I couldn’t see a mark any- side in other people’s cars in order to where and I wondered what I was go- have a bit of fun in the evenings but I ing to say to Teddy Corbally and what decided that it was about time that I he was going to say to his mother. myself had my own car. I couldn’t af- I found that the passenger in the ford one as I was quite penniless, so I Rolls had gone over to the men in the came to an arrangement with Teddy other Rolls and was talking to them. Corbally. Now Teddy had an old bull- There were two of them. One very tall nosed Morris with one of those round with a red face and they were all talk- brass radiators, one of the original ones ing very loudly and importantly to which are now almost priceless an- each other and seemed quite uncon- tiques. The car actually belonged to his scious of my plight. I hung about the mother and he said to me “Would you outskirts of this little crowd trying to like to go shares with me in the petrol attract attention but nobody wanted to and oil, and servicing?” Not that I re- know a scruffy young man in a very member any servicing in those days — ancient car. I was at a loss to know and I said that “Yes, I would”, and we what to do when I heard the conversa- did. So on 28 March I set off in it, to go tion turn to air matters, take-off times, to Farnborough, which wasn’t very far weather reports and the like. So I took away, for I was going there for the night a chance and chipped in with “Excuse at Girlie Leech’s invitation to a Guest me, but do any of you gentlemen hap- Night with the test pilots there. And I pen to be in the Royal Air Force?” At was going to drive back again the fol- which the large red-faced man turned lowing day. to me and said in a very unpleasant I was driving through Farnborough way “Why? Would you like us to be?” town in this Morris and I was following “No”, I said, “But I happen to be.” a very large Rolls-Royce with a chauf- Now at this statement a change feur and a rather expensive-looking came over the little meeting and they man in the back. And as I drove along asked me cordially what I was. “A the main road towards the Queen’s Ho- fighter pilot”, I said, and they asked tel another very large Rolls-Royce came where I was stationed. “At Tangmere” towards us, and these two spotted each said I, and at this news looks of intense other and hands were waved out of car interest came over the faces of the ques- windows and the Rolls in front of me tioners and the big red-faced man said stopped. Now a Rolls can stop when it to the man I had hit, “Look here, Daw- tries, very suddenly, but the brakes on son, I think you’ve been a bit hard on the Morris were perhaps less than aver- this young chap, smashing up his car age and as it was much smaller and like that — I really think you ought to lower than this Rolls I don’t suppose the see that he’s all right”, and so on. driver had even seen me in his mirror. And Mr Dawson took me over to a

10 The Tangmere Logbook 1 nearby garage and said to the head man and I had great hopes that my affection that he was to take my Morris and do a for it would strengthen day by day. complete repair job on it. He then Alas it did not. After a bit I began to drove me in his Rolls to the Mess at the hate it. And this was not surprising for Farnborough Aircraft Factory and be- it had a very serious defect to which by fore shaking my hand and saying good- some oversight the salesman had not bye he insisted that I should send him drawn my attention. I got as far as the bill and made many apologies for and as I pulled up at the the inconvenience I had suffered. crossroads a terrible grinding, judder- I went into the Mess and found ing noise came from the front wheels. Leech and told him the story and asked There was nothing to be seen so I pro- him who on earth my kindly benefac- ceeded cautiously to Tangmere at half tors could be. “I can tell you exactly speed. There is nothing like buying a who they are”, he said, “Dawson is one complete pup to put you in the dumps. of the top executives of Rolls-Royce aero Thirty-five pounds represented a for- engines and the big red-faced man was tune to me, and my long-cherished Richard Fairey, the Chairman and Chief ambition to drive my own car was de- Executive of the Fairey Aviation Com- molished, for expert opinion had it that pany and”, he added, seeing that I still there was something very wrong with looked puzzled “you of all people the whole car and repairs would cost should remember that the Fairey Firefly much more than I had paid for it. So I is in RAF hands at Tangmere at this had to get rid of it for what it would moment, being tested to see if we wish fetch. I hawked it around for a bit un- to place a large and lucrative order with til, I see from an old diary, that I sold it Fairey’s or not.” The penny dropped to a man called Barnard in . and I made a mental resolve that if I Possibly he was a naval officer; I can’t was to hit any more cars I must try to remember. I did make it plain to him choose those who belong to big execu- that the car needed a few things doing tives of aircraft companies. to it but as I was only asking £25, I didn’t think he ought to be too choosy. My own car So my first car venture had resulted in a loss of £10 in 10 days. £1 a day de- Well, Teddy Corbally was naturally preciation. Ho hum. rather upset about the car being Many years later when I was an Air smashed and his mother was even more Marshal in Washington I became a col- so. However when the bill came for the league of an Admiral Barnard, RN. I repairs, I sent it to Mr Dawson who sent often wondered if it was him! me a cheque and a nice little card and all was well. But this accident made me — Part 3 follows in the next issue of realise even more that I had to have a The Tangmere Logbook car of my own, so I started looking very seriously for one. I see that on 29 March We are grateful to Mr David Selway, Sir I was in and I bought my very Anthony Selway’s son, for making a gift to first car. This car was a Clyno and I the Museum of this previously unpublished wish I had it now as it would be worth autobiographical memoir and the accom- at least 1,000 times what I paid for it. It panying photographs from his father’s al- was made in 1926, a four-cylinder, 11 bums. horsepower, four-seater open tourer coloured red. I paid the princely sum of £35 for it. In a way it was like a tin bath

Summer 2008 11 An Acquaintance with ness and intelligence. Bud Day is one of the greatest men I have ever had the “Bud” Day, honour to know.” a Remarkable Man

Group Captain David Baron, OBE Chairman of the Museum Trust

In February, I was reading a press arti- cle about Senator John McCain, at that time seeking nomination as the Repub- lican Party’s candidate for the U. S. Presidential election later this year, when I came across a passage about his incarceration as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. As I read on, the odd name was mentioned and my thoughts were taken back many years to another time and another place. It was after his ejection from a U. S. Navy aircraft on 26 October 1967 that the then Lt. Cdr. John McCain III was deposited in a cell in the “Plantation”, a prison close to Hanoi, with two U. S. Air Force prisoners, Majors Bud Day So who was this man Day? George and Norris Overly. McCain was near to “Bud” Day was born in Sioux City, death; both arms were broken, his leg Iowa, on 24 February 1925. In 1942, he was broken, a shoulder had been left high school at the age of 17 to enlist smashed with a rifle butt and he had in the U. S. Marines and subsequently been stabbed with a bayonet. Day was served for over two years in the South also badly injured. These two fighter pi- Pacific. After the Second World War, lots soon became close friends. Initially, he qualified as a lawyer and, in 1950, Overly nursed both men but, in Febru- was commissioned as a lieutenant in ary 1968, he was released to return to the Iowa Air National Guard. He was the United States leaving Day and called to active service in 1951 and, af- McCain to fend for each other. A ter pilot training, served two tours as a month or two later, the prison guards fighter-bomber pilot during the Korean decided that, against all the odds, War. He remained in the U. S. Air McCain was not going to die and could Force thereafter and in 1966, now a ma- survive alone. The two were then sepa- jor, volunteered for Vietnam. In April rated but continued to come together on 1967, he was assigned to command a numerous occasions during their future detachment of F-100 Super Sabres at prison life. Many years later, Senator Tuy Hoa Air Base in the pioneer “Fast John McCain was quoted thus: “I don’t Fac” (Forward Air Control) role over know how many American prisoners of Laos and North Vietnam. war were heroes, but I do know Bud On 26 August 1967, he was direct- Day was one. In my life, I have never ing an air strike against a surface-to-air known anyone who better exemplifies missile site some 20 miles north of the the cardinal American virtues: compas- Demilitarised Zone in North Vietnam sion, guts, determination, resourceful- when his aircraft was crippled by

12 The Tangmere Logbook 1 37mm anti-aircraft fire. During the sub- bones together that they began to knit sequent ejection, Day’s right arm was In April 1968, as a “senior ranking broken in three places and he also suf- officer” in the POW hierarchy, Day was fered eye and back injuries. He was transferred to the “Zoo”, a punishment quickly captured and tortured by the camp for hard resisters where the ob- local militia but, after five days, escaped jective was to extract “confessions”. He from his captors and made his way sustained a harsh beating in June after south eating berries and frogs on the which he had new and continuous way. On the second night, a or problems with his vision. The torture bomb detonated close to where he was continued and intensified during a par- sleeping in thick undergrowth, leaving ticular three months from June to Sep- him bleeding from both ears and with tember 1969 when he was beaten with a shrapnel in his thigh. He nevertheless 30 in length of car fan belt three times continued his journey south and each day. In subsequent rounds, a stick crossed the Demilitarised Zone back and fists replaced the fan belt. He re- into South Vietnam. Unfortunately, af- ceived grievous injuries during this ter some 12-15 days’ evasion and when sustained period of maltreatment but within but two miles of U. S. troops he not a word against the United States, was captured again, this time by a Viet about escape plans, the orders given by Cong patrol, in the process of which he senior POWs or the communications suffered gunshot wounds in the leg and methods employed by the prisoners left hand. passed his lips. In June 1970, Day was Day was marched to Hanoi and en transferred back to Hao Lo. He contin- route tortured for military information ued to lead the resistance against his on a daily basis. He gave nothing away. captors. On a celebrated occasion in On arrival at Hao Lo prison, the “Hanoi 1971 when a forbidden church service Hilton”, he was suffering from malnu- was broken up and several POWs trition and his untreated wounds pre- taken away by guards, it was he who vented him performing even the most faced the fixed bayonets and began simple of tasks. The fingers on both his singing “The Star Spangled Banner” — hands had curled into fists through in- with the entire prison population, less jury. And injuries are a bonus for tor- the collaborators, progressively joining turers; twisting or pulling a broken in and continuing with patriotic songs bone causes excruciating pain. He ex- until their colleagues were returned to pected to die, but resolved that whilst them. Transfers between different still alive he would resist totally the prisons and periodic beatings contin- demands of his captors whatever they ued for Day until “Linebacker II”, the might throw at him, so that if by chance bombing of Hanoi by B-52s in Decem- he were ever to go home he would “re- ber 1972, forced change. At the behest turn with honour”. Norris Overly was of the North Vietnamese, the assigned to take care of him and in Oc- Peace Accords resumed in January 1973 tober of that year both were taken to the and moved quickly towards the proto- “Plantation” where Overly could also cols by which the POWs were released. look after John McCain. At the time of On 12 March 1973, the now Colonel Overly’s repatriation in February 1968, Bud Day and a number of his fellow Day’s right arm was misshapen and ul- POWs were taken by bus to Gia Lam cerated; his hand was out of alignment Airport, Hanoi, and one by one walked and the bones were not joined. It was up the ramp into the waiting American only when McCain wrapped the arm in C-141 Starlifter. After what seemed an bamboo and rags and squeezed the age, the aircraft taxied onto the runway

Summer 2008 13 and took off. A few minutes later, the were carrying out pre-flight checks, captain announced, “Gentlemen, we start-up and taxiing, and the subse- have cleared North Vietnamese air- quent recovery and shutdown, in am- space. Next stop Clark Field in the Phil- bient temperatures well in excess of 110 ippines.” After five years, seven months degrees F. He had been given many and thirteen days, Bud Day was going waivers by the medical authorities in home. And he was “returning with order to return to flying duties but was honour”. Three days later, he stepped still physically quite frail and the work- down from the C-141 at March Air load told on him. Should I report the Force Base, California, to be greeted by difficulties being experienced? A his wife, Doris, and their four children. USAF instructor would probably have Day was awarded the Congressional had to, but I was an RAF officer and Medal of Honor in 1976 to add to his not bound by the same conventions — Air Force Cross, the only U. S. Air Force or so I told myself. I said nothing, and recipient of both decorations. He is it occurred to me only later that per- cited as the most decorated U. S. mili- haps the perception that I wouldn’t tary officer since General Douglas was behind my squadron commander’s MacArthur. He holds almost 70 mili- odd reply. Be that as it may, Bud’s de- tary decorations of which more than 50 termination was manifest and he suc- are for combat. cessfully achieved his captaincy before And what has all this got to do with leaving for a flying appointment at Eg- me? Well, it all goes back to when I was lin Air Force Base in Florida. serving on exchange with the U. S. Air Some 10 years later, in retirement, Force at the F4 Central Instructors’ Bud and Doris visited the UK and we School, Luke Air Force Base in Arizona had lunch together at the RAF Club. in the early 1970s. From mid-1973, the Sadly, we then lost contact. But I shall Vietnam POWs began filtering through always consider it an honour and privi- the retraining process and, after a re- lege to have met and flown with this fresher course on the T-38 Talon, those truly remarkable man. destined for the F4 Phantom came our way. In June 1974 I was advised by my commanding officer that I was to be al- located a “rather special student” by the name of Colonel George Day, and that it was my task to see him through to qualification as a Phantom captain. I was well aware of this man’s back- ground and replied, “I feel honoured, but why me?” The rather curious an- swer I received was along the lines of, “Because I think he’ll be safe with you.” Given his badly damaged right hand, Bud and I first spent some time in the simulator developing techniques to cope with the switchery on the cockpit’s right wall and console and flew our first sortie together on 18 July. Whilst 90 minutes of manoeuvring a Phantom can be somewhat exhausting for the best of us, Bud was all of 49 years old and we

14 The Tangmere Logbook 1 . The Water Meadow

An SOE flight that got stuck, conclusion

Sir Robin Hooper, KCMG DSO DFC

161 Squadron Lysander pilots, 1943. Left to right: Robin Hooper, James McCairns, Peter Vaughan-Fowler, , “Bunny” Rymills, Stephen Hankey.

Part 1 of this story recounts how, on a mis- “reléve”, i.e., conscription for work in sion on the night of 16-17 November 1943, Germany. It had also made up its mind as a part of “Operation Scenery”, Robin that he was Jacqueline Bellot’s fiancé. Hooper’s Lysander became inextricably Since he had a wife and two children in mired in a French water-meadow and had to this used to cause a good deal be destroyed to prevent the aircraft falling of good clean fun in the household. into enemy hands. Hooper is being hidden Casual visitors like Jean passed without in a farmhouse by French SOE agents, much comment, but a new resident awaiting rescue. would have been noticed at once. I therefore didn't go out before dark on Life was complicated by the fact that the weekdays and only showed myself on farmhouse was in a village. The village Sundays, when I might reasonably be had accepted Albert as an evacuee from presumed to be on a visit. Not that Paris, or possibly as a dodger of the anyone was likely to give me away

Summer 2008 15 intentionally: but sooner or later some- when a complete stranger asked us to one would inevitably have talked and lend him a bicycle pump, I pushed on, my hosts would have been “for it”. We leaving Albert and René Bellot to cope. got quite a laugh one day out of an an- A few days later “Georges”, Albert nouncement in the local paper that sev- and Louis Michaud came in in high eral people had been shot for having spirits. They thought they had really sheltered Allied airmen “in hopes of a got something in the way of a ground. reward which they did not receive”. Louis (Petit-Louis) was an altogether Nor did I appear downstairs by day. remarkable person. The garage fore- The Ballots employed as a general la- man of the Ponts et Chaussées, he bourer a small boy who had his meals knew the department — in which he with the family, and it was thought un- had been born and bred — inside out: wise to overstrain his discretion. Any he knew exactly where to go for forged move outside the front door thus be- papers, ration-cards or a hide-out for came a party, and the complete absence an agent. Best of all, his job gave him of any sanitary arrangements at all — the use of a car (the famous Citroën) even the conventional privy — was al- and a cast-iron excuse for going almost most compensated for by the fact that anywhere. He probably ran more risks the alternative was a walk at least as far than any of us. As a local boy he was as the nearest haystack. working under his own name, and was One night we went out poaching for known to everyone. His boss, who was partridges. The technique is, one hopes, the complete “attentiste”, had a very peculiar to France. All you need is an good idea of what he was doing. The acetylene lamp, a large net on the end of dangerous position of a “contact man” a pole, and a game-bag. You light the between an organisation and the unini- lamp and beat up and down a large tiated public needs no explanation. He field. When you come to a sleeping had a mother and a sister in the covey of partridges, you keep the lamp neighbourhood, and lived with his wife on them, thus dazzling them and pre- and two children. Yet I never saw him venting them from taking off, and bang other than cheerful — in fact he was down the net. Monsieur Ballot operated one of the most consistently entertain- the net, his son Rene held the lamp, and ing people I have ever met. I had the game-bag. Albert hovered The car arrived next day to pick me uneasily in the background with an up and take me to see this ground. As automatic, in case the gendarmes were we drove through the town, “Georges” out for poachers. We later heard that nudged me. “Those are your first, ar- they were, and had caught Madame en’t they?” he said. They were. Two Bellot’s nephew doing exactly the same large and resplendent German officers, thing a few miles away. Our bag was walking along the opposite pavement. eight and a half brace. It was a curious thought that these Another minor excitement was a bi- were the first Germans I had seen in cycle ride in search of a ground. The the flesh in over three years of fairly ac- ground was a dud, but the ride was fun. tive service. We drove through the vil- We didn't see a single Boche — in fact lage where the prang had taken place. the only representatives of authority we We thought of visiting the field, but to saw in ten miles were two elderly my mind it savoured rather of the mur- “gardes-champêtres” to whom we po- derer who hangs around the scene of litely raised our berets. I was then less the crime. Besides, time was short and used to moving round France than I be- we had a long way to go. The fields, came later, and I am sorry to say that when we got to them, were completely

16 The Tangmere Logbook hopeless. Approaches obstructed, di- 40 miles. To my amazement, it really mensions too small, and surfaces doubt- was a practicable ground; rather short, ful to say the least of it. I began to real- but with perfect approaches and a good ise that although there was no lack of surface. We measured it out, making good will, it was amazing that “Geor- great play with a theodolite and vari- ges” had had only one accident. It was ous coloured poles, the property of the a delicate matter to turn the grounds French state, and returned to town. down without showing that I thought I The occasion was celebrated by an had been driven a 100 miles for no good enormous black market lunch at an ho- reason at all. It was a bitter disap- tel. The menu in the front room was pointment all round. We got home vegetable soup and boiled swedes; we tired out, soaked to the skin, and thor- boys in the back room were given oys- oughly depressed. In the evening we ters, partridge, beefsteak, chocolate discussed the possibilities of a sea op- cream and three kinds of cheese — all eration, which they thought would take excellent. The drinks were a Chablis two or three months to lay on. for our oysters, burgundy, a very good brandy. Afterwards, “Georges” and I went shopping. In a bookshop I bought a supply of books, of which I was get- ting rather short, and a diary. I also had a little quiet fun and made “Geor- ges” giggle by ostentatiously reading a volume entitled in huge letters “LES ANGLAIS SONT-ILS NOS AMIS?” Walking round the town, I was most impressed by the deterioration in the physique, bearing, and clothing of the German troops. It was obviously very The Citroën belonging to the Ponts et much of a back area; but even so, their Chausées that is mentioned in this story scruffiness was remarkable. Three sol- survived the war, somewhat the worse for diers came out of the Monoprix as we wear. Sir Robin (left) and Lady Constance passed it. They looked 16, and may Hooper, accompanied by “Georges” (Jean have been an undernourished. Their Depraetere), are seen with the car during a postwar visit. —Ed. overcoats, far too big for them, were faded and frayed, with threads dan- All this time the moon was getting gling down from the hems. An en- nearer and nearer, and we still hadn’t a couraging declension for the “super- ground. SOE offered to give me a seat men” of 1940. There were a lot of fairly on an op near Lyons, but it seemed a old gentlemen about, too, though I long and risky journey across the de- must admit that there was also a sprin- marcation line, which was still opera- kling of obviously A1 men, perhaps tive, and after much consideration we from the field army or units resting af- refused. Time got shorter, but in the ter a spell in Russia. end Petit-Louis and one of his col- We went back to coffee with Petit- leagues told us that this time they really Louis and his family — the two small were on to a good thing. I didn’t dare daughters showed me their toys and to believe them, but rather sceptically picture-books, while Petit-Louis and prepared for another outing in the Cit- “Georges” typed out lists of troops and roën. We drove off and arrived at our train movements to put in the next destination with only one puncture in “courier”. It was an odd little party:

Summer 2008 17 three agents: Petit-Louis’s sister, whose comment. A minor excitement was the husband had escaped from a German discovery, another day, that he had prison-camp, had made his way home, quite unintentionally won 600 francs in and now had to live in hiding, without the Loterie Nationale. (He couldn’t papers or ration-cards, and unable to do claim them, as his papers were not in anything for his wife and child; Petit- order). Louis’s mother and myself. Every now At last we got the signal that they and then a heavy step would go by out- were coming. After many farewells side, and someone would perhaps say, and much touching of wood we got quite unemotionally, “C'est un Boche”. under way in the faithful Citroën Still there was a noticeable tenseness which never let us down in a crisis in when anyone knocked on the door spite of its age, the fragility of its tyres, downstairs. Albert and I cycled home. gross overloading and filthy war-time The moon was getting quite high. I was “petrol” made of acetone, sugar-beet silly enough to fiddle with the l0-speed alcohol, and a little benzol. (One could gear on my very French, very sporting only get up a hill by pulling the choke bike, which caused a certain amount of out). We stopped by the roadside. Al- trouble. bert got out the wireless, connected it Life became a good deal more hope- to the car battery, hung our clothes-line ful from then on, though it was still not aerial in a tree and waited for the con- without its excitements. We had a long- firming signal. It came: we went on to distance wrangle with the Air Ministry, the ground, laid out the flare-path and who thought the description of our waited. It was a cloudless night and ground not all it might be as indeed it with brilliant moonlight, and how it wasn't at first. The weather was consis- froze! Between us, we drank a bottle of tently bad either in England or with us, M. Bellot’s home-made eau de vie, and and we were terrified that our ground felt neither warmer nor tighter. We would be too soft. Day after day we re- hung on until after 3 am, the last ETA, ceived the “not coming” signal, and then packed up and drove home very Jean, who had returned by this time and depressed. I was as disappointed as whose third moon of waiting this was, anyone but felt bound in loyalty to find began to get rather low. One night Al- excuses for the Squadron. I heard af- bert came home very late, pale, garru- terwards that they had started out, but lous from delayed shock, and thor- had had appalling difficulties with oughly shaken. He had been bicycling weather and a Gee installation which out to a farm to make a wireless contact deflected the compass thirty degrees when he suddenly saw all traffic every time it was switched on. Our re- stopped in front of him: two German turn chez Bellot was rather an anti- Feldgendarms were examining every- climax but we were too tired to mind. thing on the road. Turning back would The signal came through again the have excited their suspicions at once. next day, though to us the weather There was nothing for it but to go seemed none too good. This time we through and hope for the best. The were determined not to tempt provi- Feldgendarms looked at his papers: dence with too fervent farewells, so then one of them tapped the panniers firmly said a mere “Au revoir” to the over the back wheel in which he had his Bellots. We drove down to Petit- wireless set. “What have you got in Louis’s house, where we waited a little there?” “Milk for my children”, said and said “Au revoir” to Madame Albert. “OK. Move on”. “Il a loupé sa Michaud, who, not unnaturally, looked Croix de Fer, celui-la”, was Albert’s a little worried. We stopped as before

18 The Tangmere Logbook to get the confirmation. It came, though Both aircraft arrived over Tangmere it looked pretty dark and a few spots of within half an hour of one another. rain were falling. While we were wait- The visibility was down by then to 500 ing Petit-Louis gave us an account, far yards, if that. Stephen was sent off to funnier than anything in Chic Sale’s Ford, to try to get in there, and McB at- masterpiece, of the plumbing in the digs tempted a ZZ at Tangmere. We heard he had occupied as a student in Paris. him overhead once or twice, then he We got on to the ground a bit late. We began his approach. He seemed to be had found ourselves behind a lorry, ob- coming in all right: then the sound of viously black market. Thinking that his engine suddenly stopped. It was ours was a Government car, as indeed much too thick to see any sign of a fire. in a sense it was, the driver had refused Sofi (Group Captain Sofiano) and I got to let us pass. As soon as we arrived on into his car and started off for where the ground, a multi-engined aircraft we reckoned the crash to be. The passed over, and we hadn’t nearly fin- driver drove us slap into a five-foot ished unpacking the car when we heard trench, a relic of the 1940 station de- the unmistakable sound of a Lizzie. I fences, luckily without any serious con- told “Georges” to send the “delay” sig- sequences to her, us or the car, though nal while I laid out the flare-path. the car had turned on its side and the It was just as well that I knew from door was where the roof should be. I the night before exactly where to put climbed out and drove on with the Fly- the lights. We stuck them in in record ing Control Officer. time. Hodges made a dummy run over We drove out along the line of ap- the top of them, and then landed and proach and saw the crash two plough- taxied back. The arriving agent got out ed fields away. We ran to it. McB’s and shook hands with me. The courte- two passengers — a man and a woman sies of life are seldom neglected in — were wandering about a little dazed, France. I climbed up, followed by Jean. among the fire tender party. They had At the top of the ladder I was greeted tried to pull McB out, but without suc- with a broad grin by the Station Naviga- cess. It seems that he was pinned by tion Officer, Wagland, the legs. I got them into a van and who had come along to map-read. I drove them back to the Cottage to be crawled down to the bottom of the fuse- seen to by the doctor. When we got lage, and we took off. there we heard that Stephen had I was sitting right at the bottom of crashed into a hill near Ford. He had the aircraft and was not on intercom, so been killed, and so had our old friend; did not realise until we got out of the the other passenger died during the aircraft that Hodges had done an admi- night. There didn’t seem much point in rable ZZ landing with the cloud base at going to bed. I had a bath, shaved, ate not more than 230 feet. We went back some breakfast, and telephoned Ste- to the Cottage. All was set for a celebra- phen’s mother-in-law. Then Mac tion: the other two aircraft (Hankey and (Cairns) and I went down to see McBride) were on their way back, suc- Stephen’s wife. It was a harrowing cessful. Stephen Hankey had with him business, but I felt I couldn’t go home a very good friend of ours, an astonish- until it had been done. Then John ing old White Russian of whom we had Golding drove me and a girl agent always been particularly fond, and called “Little Ben” back to London. whom he had specially asked to bring The emotional shock of returning home. The weather got steadily thicker, from German-occupied France to the and the nightmare began. relative normality of wartime England

Summer 2008 19 was considerable. One had, of course, up Major Neave at M19. A rather dirty always realised the physical dangers of look from Sherlock on the other side of an agent's life; but this experience gave the desk; but he said yes. A dirtier look one a faint idea of the psychological and still when the call came through and I emotional strains to which they were said “Airey, for Christ's sake get me out subjected. Air Ministry bureaucracy of this dump. I've got to get back to did its best to remind me that I was in- work.” Just to show there was no de- deed back home. The morning after my ception, I handed the receiver to Sher- return to London, my wife and I were lock. It is a tribute to the personality woken up by the front door bell. which got Airey out of Colditz, and has Downstairs, I found a telegraph boy since taken him to the heights in poli- with a priority telegram for my wife. tics, that Sherlock actually rose to his We opened it. It read: “GLAD TO AD- feet and stood to attention. If he had VISE YOU THAT YOUR HUSBAND had a cap on, he would have saluted. I PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MISSING was out of that office in seconds, and ARRIVED IN THE home before anyone had time to TODAY.” Well, they’d done their best. change their minds. But it has always As the Air Ministry’s interest in me seemed ironical that the only time in seemed to have revived, I thought it the whole episode when I stood in any wise to go along and make my number. danger of arrest was after it was all I accordingly reported myself to Alan over, and in my own country! Boxer, who gave me the only bad advice I have had from him in nearly 40 years This episode concludes our story of Sir — namely, to go and clock in at the cen- Robin Hooper’s wartime adventure in oc- tre for returning escapers and evaders cupied France. in the Grand Central Station, Maryle- — Ed. bone. I went to that vast and dingy building and eventually found myself We are indebted to Mr Gavin Hooper, Robin Hooper’s son, for arranging permis- with a selection of returning heroes who sion to reproduce this previously published had forced their ways out of German account, presented here in edited form, prison camps, walked across France and from the late Hugh Verity’s book, We the Pyrenees, suffered under Spanish Landed by Moonlight: Secret RAF Landings in internment, and, in general, performed France 1940-1944 (Ian Allan, Ltd., 1978 and feats of courage and endurance in com- Crécy Publishers, 1995, 1998). The photo- graphs are from an album of Hugh Verity’s parison with which my de luxe return photographs given to the Museum by Mrs from Hitler’s New Order began to feel Verity. rather shaming. After a long wait, I was taken into a very scruffy office occupied by a very scruffy Intelligence Corps cap- Dear Sir, tain. This gentleman (only doing his job, as I am the first to admit) started to In Part 1 of “The Water Meadow” [The ask me a whole series of questions the Tangmere Logbook, Autumn 2007], the answers to which I was strictly forbid- author refers to my RAF pigeon, des- patched that morning in 1943 but den to give him. We soon reached an which never made it — a pity, as I had impasse, and I realised to my horror rather enjoyed composing the message. that he seemed to have every intention This was a common outcome. Most of of keeping the suspicious character he our carrier pigeons were shot and had caught for the night, and perhaps eaten! indefinitely, in Marylebone Station. In — Clive B. Glossop near desperation, I asked if I might ring

20 The Tangmere Logbook Letters, Notes, colours, a type that had not yet arrived in Singapore when I left in and Queries 1959. —Bob Hosking

The Editor welcomes your artwork, photo- graphs, letters, and contributions (long or A true story short) on any subject of interest to our read- ers. Original materials are preferred. Please note that material (including photographs) The first part of my five years in the previously published in newsletters, maga- RAF during the war was spent on Air- zines and books, as well as some materials Sea Rescue high-speed launches, but posted on the Internet, are normally subject when I read that the RAF wished to re- to copyright and cannot for legal reasons be cruit more commissioned officers in the reproduced in The Tangmere Logbook without the permission of the copyright owner and, meteorology branch, I decided to ap- possibly, the payment of royalties. ply. In due course I was accepted for If you have a question about a military intensive training for which I was bil- aviation topic that you think another reader leted in London and, incidentally, it or one of our volunteers might be able to an- was during this time that I met my fu- swer, please send it to the Editor. Your que- ture wife who was a nurse at the Mid- ries will be published at our discretion. The answer, or answers, will appear in the fol- dlesex Hospital! Somehow I eventually lowing issue, giving all our readers a chance managed to pass the course and after to respond. Test-your-knowledge questions an interval had my first posting to a and photo quizzes are also welcome! The bomber station. Editor’s addresses (postal and e-mail) are After a few months, I began to gain given on Page 3. confidence in my forecasts and plucked up the courage to suggest that it would be very useful if I could go on some flights to see at first hand how my fore- cast had materialised. To my surprise this was agreed and I duly went on a number of training flights with the crews. On this particular day, such a flight had been agreed and we were due to take off at 8 pm. We had the briefing at which I gave my weather

forecast to a crew whom I knew well, More on the Seletar Sunderland having flown with them before. Then, a few minutes before I was to board the Just to add a bit to John Land’s letter aircraft, a senior officer appeared, came [The Tangmere Logbook, Autumn 2007]. up to me, and said that he was sorry The Sunderland in the photo is indeed but I could not go on the flight. No rea- most likely RNZAF, and the photo was son was given and it was not for me to probably taken in the mid-1960s, defi- question the officer. nitely at Seletar. The small black dot That flight, which I should have under the shoreline [directly above the gone on, sadly crashed somewhere in starboard pitot head on top of the fuse- Wales with the loss of the entire crew! lage] is Perimbi buoy. The launch You will no doubt say that I was just shown is not, strictly speaking, a pin- lucky — but I wonder. nace but a 43’ Range Safety Launch in — Gordon Mitchell

Summer 2008 21 A tribute to our green-fingered ber constantly resorting to an inhaler in volunteers order that he could continue living. When we arrived back at the Mu- The Museum together with its outlets of seum we then with difficulty un- information seldom mention the dedi- loaded. A week later the start of the cated work our gardeners do for our paved area began. Grass seed and pleasant surrounds. The main of course flower beds were formed, and eventu- being the Memorial Garden, so I feel it ally in 1994, our patron the Duke of incumbent upon me to remind us all Richmond was invited to formally where it began. open the garden. During the cere- In 1993 with a great struggle from mony, the Duke was to be presented our then committee of leaders, it was with a “home-produced” memento decided to form a memorial garden plate but, when the plate was to be from the rubbish tip adjoining the handed to the Duke, our volunteer re- north-eastern side of the Museum, sponsible for its safekeeping forgot which by now was 11 years of age. The where he had put it. After five minutes majority of the land adjoining was of ribaldry between the Duke and the known as the “horse field” now but the Chairman, it was remembered where new houses were being built. It was the plate had been securely deposited then the land aforementioned became a and it was handed over with due cere- tip — old baths, cookers, fridges all be- mony to the Duke, who has been a con- came a part of our surroundings. The stant supporter of the project where to- owners of “the tip” were Chichester Di- day many stones of remembrance can ocesan Housing Society and we ap- be seen. proached them with our ideas for a gar- So thank all you green-fingered and den. helpers with the garden areas for all Those of us young and old immedi- you have done and hopefully will con- ately started a clear-up operation and it tinue to do so. was not too long before the land was — Nick Berryman fenced and the formation of a garden began. I, knowing little of the finer arts The National Service (RAF) Associa- of gardening, was despatched with tion about £20 to buy some suitable trees — by dint of a little skulduggery and lis- I should like to draw our readers’ at- tening to a few experts in garden cen- tention to this association, which was tres it would appear that the purchases formed some years ago by ex-National were successful as they may be seen to- Service personnel for the purpose of day in all their glory. drawing together former servicemen Then it was thought to be desirable who were called up and posted to the to create a paved area. Cost of paving? Royal Air Force. Impossible! A fortuitous conversation Lists are sent out with details of the with a Chichester councillor one day re- association’s members, including their sulted in a very hurried hire of a truck names, trades, postings to training es- and a quick visit to West Gate, Chiches- tablishments and stations. I have writ- ter, where the council were involved in ten to everyone on these lists who was a repaving project. Volunteers avail- at some stage stationed at Tangmere, able? Four only, including one female, and all have a tale to tell: some humor- and full of enthusiasm the four set off ous, some sad, and all but one appears for West Gate for the loading of at least to have enjoyed their time within the 40 large paving slabs, one of our num- gates of this famous station.

22 The Tangmere Logbook A reunion and parade of remem- propaganda opportunity and claimed brance is held each year at RAF Cos- that they had shot it down. ford. Details can be had from the presi- No. 131 MU was tasked with the dent of the association, Mr M. Crowe, 7 salvage of the aircraft. It was raised Heath Road, Lake, Sandown, Isle of and supported on pontoons and then Wight PO36 8PG or by e-mail at mike- towed round to the Marine Craft Unit’s [email protected]. harbour where my photograph was — Raymond E. Smith taken. After the outer wings and en- gines were removed, it was pulled on its wheels up the slipway onto dry Argosy mishap —can anyone help? land. It was then towed along the main road to Khormaksar and onto 131 MU’s From February 1963 to February 1965, I hardstanding where it was dismantled was stationed in Aden and served as a for shipment back to the UK to be re- fitter with the Electronic Repair furbished. Whether it was returned to Squadron of No. 131 Maintenance Unit service or written off as being beyond at RAF Khormaksar. It was during economic repair, I do not know. 1964, but I do not remember exactly If any readers have any details of when, that an Argosy of the resident this incident or know the fate of this No. 105 Squadron was involved in an aircraft [the serial 413 is visible on the unfortunate incident. vertical stabiliser], perhaps they would like to submit their account of events as I would be very interested to know ex- actly what happened. —John Hanmore

Advice to the GI Episode 5: Conclusion

BRITISH WOMEN AT WAR A British woman officer or non- commissioned officer can — and often What the cause of the incident was I does — give orders to a man private. cannot say, because as always seems to The men obey smartly and know it is happen in such incidents, the version of no shame, for British women have events starts off being reasonably close proven themselves. They have stuck to to fact but when passed from person to their posts near burning ammunition person gets dramatised and embellished dumps, delivered messages afoot after until it becomes total fiction. The ac- their motorcycles have been blasted count that I was given stated that a new from under them. They have pulled pilot just posted in from the OCU was aviators from burning planes. They doing continuation training and making have died at their gun posts and as an asymmetric approach on three en- they fell another girl has stepped di- gines when instead of starting the fourth he accidentally cut a second en- rectly into the position and “carried gine. I cannot vouch for the truth of this on”. There is not a single record in this account but I can confirm that whatever war of any British woman in uniformed the cause, the result was that the aircraft service quitting her post or failing in splashed down in the sea short of the her duty under fire. runway. Of course the local dissident Now you understand why British Arab groups took advantage of the soldiers respect the women in uniform.

Summer 2008 23 When you see a girl in khaki or air force “ It is always impolite to criticize your blue with a bit of ribbon on her tunic – hosts; remember she didn’t get it for knitting — It is militarily stupid to criticize your more socks than anyone else in Ipswich. allies.” From Instructions for American Servicemen in WASTE MEANS LIVES Britain, War Department, Washington, D.C., It is always said that Americans throw 1942. more food into their garbage cans than — David Baron any other country eats. It is true. Most British food is imported even in peace- Answers to Photo Quiz, Autumn 2007 time, and for the last two years the Brit- ish have been taught not to waste the Barely one month after the D-Day land- things that their ships bring from ings in France, on Tuesday, 4 July 1944, abroad. British seamen die getting the Flying Fortress in question came those convoys through. The British over the coast near Bognor Regis. It know that gasoline and food represent was in difficulty after a sortie over the lives of merchant sailors. And when France and was desperately trying to you burn gasoline needlessly, it will find a safe place to land. The pilot put seem to them as if you are wasting the the aircraft down in an open space be- blood of those seamen — when you de- hind Downview Road, Felpham. The stroy or waste food you have wasted aircraft smashed through three hedges the life of another sailor. and came to rest in the garden of a house called “Queechy”. It was 09.30. SOME IMPORTANT DON’TS — Clifford Smith Be friendly – but don’t intrude any- where it seems you are not wanted. The photograph was in all probability taken on 4 July 1944. The location is in You are higher paid than the British the back garden of number 18, Down- “Tommy”. Don’t rub it in. view Road, Felpham, at that time occu- Don’t show off or brag or bluster — pied by Miss Ethel Cheney. In July “swank” as the British say. 1944, I was a schoolboy living with my If you are invited to eat with a family, parents in Mead Lane, Bognor Regis, don’t eat too much. Otherwise, you and news of the forced landing was may eat up their weekly ration. soon circulated at school. Soon after Don’t make fun of British speech or ac- school that day my friend Peter John- cents. You sound just as funny to them son and I visited the scene via the Fel- but they will be too polite to show it. pham Bypass and fields to the rear of the property. The aircraft was as por- Avoid comments on the British Gov- trayed in your photograph and, not ernment or politics. surprisingly, the ball turret was at Don’t try to tell the British that America some distance to the rear of the ma- won the last war. chine. At the time of our visit the inci- NEVER criticize the King or Queen. dent had attracted a collection of sight- seers despite the fact that, sadly, the Finally, you will find yourself sight of downed aircraft was an all too among a kindly, quiet, hard-working familiar occurrence in those days. At people who have been living under a the scene we learned that the crew had strain such as few people in the world all survived. The sight of large forma- have ever known. In your dealing with tions of escorted American bombers at them, let this be your slogan: high altitude, setting out to attack tar-

24 The Tangmere Logbook gets in occupied Europe and in support with its wingtip six feet from her back of the Normandy landings was a regu- door. All the crew got out, cheering, lar experience at that stage of the war. dancing, and singing with joy. Only Some later returned at low level, show- two were hurt: one had a dislocated ing signs of battle damage. Doubtless shoulder, and another had slight shrap- Miss Cheney’s uninvited visitor was in nel wounds. Miss Cheney invited them the latter category. in for a cup of tea, and the occasion de- I suspect that your photograph was veloped into an impromptu Independ- an example of the work of renowned ence Day celebration when someone Bognor Regis photographer Frank went back into the aircraft and began to L'Alouette. The pilot of the B-17 was set off its remaining supply of flares Mayo R. Adams, who paid a more or- and on Miss Cheney’s back thodox return visit to Miss Cheney lawn. twenty-five years later on Independence The B-17’s crew were taken to Tang- Day, 1969. mere later that day and then ferried — Ron Bishop back to their base at Kimbolton. The next day, a crew of nine men from the The aircraft shown in the picture was USAAF’s No. 2 Strategic Air Depot ar- with the 397th Bomb Group, 524th rived and started to dismantle 42- Bomber Squadron, based at Kimbolton, 32000; they were billeted in Bognor Re- Cambridgeshire. My records show it as gis and stayed about three weeks. The being a Douglas Long Beach-built B- parts of the dismantled aircraft were 17F-35-DL from the serial number transported to the unit’s base at Little group 815/8164 and not a B17G as men- Staughton, Cambridgeshire, and al- tioned in the caption. Although I can though no official record of the air- trace a couple of numbers either side of craft’s final disposition appears to have 42-32000 I have not succeeded in find- survived, it is assumed that it was not ing out when and where this aircraft reassembled as 42-32000. Some parts of was officially declared stricken from it probably were scrapped and others service. reclaimed for use as spare parts. — David Burleigh — Tony Cream (Information from Roger Freeman’s books, This aircraft was known as the “Twenti- The Mighty Eighth War Diary, Arms and eth Century” because of her number, Armour Press, 1990; and The B-17 Flying 42-32000. It was a pathfinder and led a Fortress Story, Sterling Publishing Com- pany, 1998) mainly untroubled life until 4 July 1944 when, on returning from a raid on France, flak put two engines out of ac- Replies to Claire Drew’s query about tion. The pilot, Lt. Mayo R. Adams, Jr., the Pagham Harbour Typhoon managed to nurse it back across the Channel on two engines, but then a In their book Bombers over Sussex 1943- third engine lost power and he was 45 (Middleton Press, 1995) Pat Burgess forced to put the aircraft down in fields and Andy Saunders wrote: “The story just behind some houses in Downview of the Typhoon which crashed into Pa- Road, Felpham. Miss Ethel Cheney, of gham Harbour on 19 June is a fascinat- number 18, was looking out her kitchen ing though sad one. The story revolves window and was horrified to see and around its pilot, P/O Kenneth Clift. hear the aircraft sliding and slewing on Taking off from his base on 19 its belly straight toward her amid thun- June, Clift was designated to conduct derous noise. The aircraft came to rest an air test of Typhoon DN293. Shortly

Summer 2008 25 after becoming airborne he spotted a phoon: he was shot down by one of our Mosquito transiting the area and en- coastal AA batteries and ditched or gaged it in unauthorised low-level baled out (sources vary) in Pegwell mock combat. During this ‘sport’ some- Bay. He did indeed walk ashore. The thing went horribly wrong and Clift’s date was 31 October 1942. An article Typhoon was seen to spiral into the on the background to the Pagham crash harbour after conducting a loop. Clift was published in Flypast in June 1984. I was killed instantly, and the young pilot wrote the historical part. was later buried at Chichester. How- I attended the recovery operation ever, his gravestone reveals an intrigu- and took a lot of colour photos. After ing mystery and shows his real identity an exciting day which started at 4 am to be Thomas Barker, an Australian who for me and ended with a hurried re- had served with the RNZAF as Kenneth treat to rubber boats, I showed the re- Clift. Why this subterfuge? Research in covery crew what few photos I had of 1983 revealed that Barker had ‘bor- 245 Squadron Typhoons. “Where is rowed’ the identity of his friend, Ken ours?” they cried. I explained that Clift, and fled to New Zealand in 1937 since there were over 3,000 Typhoons after matrimonial problems and a ‘. . . built — 245 alone used more than 160 little local difficulty’ with the taxman! — the odds were not good for finding Joining up when the war started, he one of DN293. Photos from the earlier trained, served and died as Kenneth days of Typhoon operations were par- Clift — the story being revealed by the ticularly hard to come by. real Ken Clift who survived, his friend I arrived home in Wokingham early with the ‘nomme-de-geurre’ he lent in the evening a spotted and interesting him.” package among the junk mail; it was Other sources confirm that DN293, a from Bill Smith whom I had helped Typhoon 1B of 245 Squadron, spun into with a photo of New Romney several the ground while attempting to out-turn months earlier. He had promised to a Mosquito at Pagham Harbour, Sussex keep an eye open for anything on Ty- on 19 June 1943 and that 245 Squadron phoons so I had high hopes when a was stationed at Selsey from 2 June to small pile of old photos slipped out of 31 August 1943. It would therefore the envelope. Among them were two seem highly probable that the aircraft strips of contact prints from 35 mm film involved was DN293 of 245 Squadron and I instantly identified early Ty- and that it crashed in Pagham Harbour phoons — with MR codes — 245 on 19 June 1943. A check of the aircraft Squadron! The hair began to rise on accident card (held at the RAF Mu- the back of my neck and I knew it was seum) and/or the Squadron Opera- going to happen. Even with the naked tional Record Book (held at the National eye I could see MR-C had a serial num- Archives, Kew) would probably con- ber ending in 93 and a magnifier soon firm the identity of the pilot. confirmed it was indeed the aircraft I — Martin R. Sutton has seen raised that day! Bill Smith had no idea of my involvement in the The quick answer to Claire Drew is that salvage operation, or indeed that it was this Typhoon came down on 19 June happening at all. 1943 and the pilot was Kenneth Clift, I have never managed to identify but that was a nomme de guerre. His real the pilot in the photo but despite what name was Thomas Barker and he was it says in the caption in the article, I killed in the crash. Roy Payne was not don't think it is Clift/Barker. the pilot of the Pagham Harbour Ty- — Chris Thomas

26 The Tangmere Logbook

— Museum Collection Photo Quiz, Number 1 (1) Where, and approximately when, was this picture taken? (2) What are the aircraft, and to which squadron do they belong? (3) What is the story behind this photograph?

— Source withheld until next issue Photo Quiz, Number 2 (with thanks to David Burleigh) (1) Identify at least nine of the aircraft in this picture. (2) Name the place, the occasion, and the approximate date.

Cover illustrations Front cover: Our cover photograph depicts Hurricane IIc PZ865 of the RAF Memorial Flight. This aircraft is currently painted to represent BE581, “Night Reaper”, the aircraft flown by Flt Lt of No. 1 (F) Squadron during night intruder operations from Tangmere in 1942. Crown Copyright image, reproduced under licence from the Crown Copyright Office. Back cover: RAF recruitment poster. Public domain image.

Summer 2008 27