The Eagle Squadrons
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Bettmann/Corbis photo In World War II, a handful of American fliers answered Britain’s call for help. The Eagle Squadrons By Tamar A. Mehuron, Associate Editor y Sept. 19, 1940, the Battle the expanding Army Air Forces pres- Bof Britain had depleted the ence there. The airmen then provided Royal Air Force. Its fighter pilots and an invaluable boost of experience to the airplanes were worn down and stretched green USAAF crews who soon began to the max. Responding to Britain’s call to arrive in England in large numbers. for more pilots, however, was a small “Those stout-hearted fellows who came group of American volunteers. from America to fight for us a year and In a brief ceremony that day at Church a half ago, still fight with us,” said Rob- Fenton, RAF Fighter Command stood up bie Robinson, Member of Parliament its first all-American fighter unit, No. 71 and first intelligence officer for No. 71 USAF Museum Squadron. This unit soon became known Squadron, in a speech thanking them to all as the Eagle Squadron, inspired on the BBC. by America’s national symbol. Within By the end of 1942, the former Eagle a year, they would be joined by two Squadrons, now comprising USAAF’s other Eagle outfits, No. 121 Squadron 4th Fighter Group, were the only US and No. 133 Squadron. fighter group selected to remain to The three squadrons valiantly de- defend England, as most of the forces fended Britain in combat against the transferred to Africa for the North Eight members of the first Eagle Nazis from Feb. 5, 1941, until Sept. 29, African campaign. It was a long road Squadron, No. 71, return from a train- 1942, when they were assimilated into getting to that point, however. ing mission in October 1940. 72 AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2007 For Vernon C. Keough, Andrew operation, but still channeled recruits diploma, a minimum of 300 hours of Mamedoff, and Eugene Q. Tobin, three to Britain, via Canada and then by sea certified flying time, a pilot’s license, original members of No. 71 Squadron, to English ports. and be single. the unit’s activation made reality of In this, he was aided by his nephew, The Eagles differed from their La- their push to fly the RAF’s hot mili- Charles Sweeny, a successful business- fayette Escadrille precursors in several tary fighters of the day, the Hawker man. Charles Sweeny got London’s areas. Many of the Escadrille pilots Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. authorization to establish an American were well-educated and had come from And they were convinced that, sooner RAF fighter squadron. He organized wealthy, prominent Eastern families or later, America would be drawn into the volunteers, sent by his uncle, who and tended to view flying as a hobby for the war. They wanted to get in on the were to form the nucleus of the first the elite. The Eagles, for the most part, action on their terms—as volunteer Eagle Squadron. And he created the had high school educations and held fighter pilots, not as infantry draftees Eagle flash, inspired by the image on blue-collar or working-class jobs. Far in the US Army. It was a sentiment felt his US passport. from treating flying as a lark, they had by many of the Eagles. The Sweeny operation was not the solid backgrounds in aviation. Carroll Those Americans—244 in all—who only recruitment effort. Another, even McColpin, for example, had more than formed the three Eagle Squadrons larger supplier of American volunteers 450 hours of flight time. found their way to the RAF by various was what was called the Clayton Knight All of them recognized that volun- routes, all of them chancy. One avenue Committee, which operated from April teering for the RAF was their ticket for volunteers was to enlist first in the 1940 to October 1942. Knight was a to fly fast military aircraft, and to get British or Canadian armed services, and World War I aviator, admirer of the into the war on highly exciting terms. then try to transfer into the RAF. This Escadrille, and an aviation artist. At the Some were so eager to get in the British was the route taken by Eagle William behest of World War I ace William A. air service that they embellished their Dunn. He came into No. 71 Squadron Bishop, Knight obtained British support logbooks, registering more flight time in early 1941. for an organization that could tap into than was actually the case. Several, including Keough, Mame- the large pool of American pilots. The Upon arrival in England, the vol- doff and Tobin, were assisted by Col. Knight Committee had considerable unteers were sent to an operational Charles Sweeny, a World War I Army reach as a result of a network of offices training unit for two to four weeks of throughout the United States. initial flight training in Miles Master Although Britain supported both trainers, Hurricanes, and Spitfires. This the Sweeny and Knight operations, the was an important step in establishing a Knight Committee supplied more than common baseline of flight training in 80 percent of the pilots for the RAF’s fighters. When the volunteers completed Eagle Squadron No. 71 member Eagle Squadrons. Out of nearly 50,000 this training phase, they usually were William Dunn is shown wearing both Americans who signed up, the commit- assigned to an RAF squadron. the RAF brevet and the US Army Air Forces pilot wings. tee took 6,700 to become RAF pilots. There, the American volunteers were inculcated with the RAF cultural norms, A Passion for Flying military conduct, operations, and flying The Americans who volunteered were methods. The RAF approach was simple: mostly men under the age of 25. They If one could fly an airplane, one could came from a wide variety of both blue- fly all airplanes. veteran and admirer of the successful, collar and middle-class jobs. With the RAF Fighter Command divided legendary Lafayette Escadrille. In his nation just emerging from the poverty Britain into geographic sectors called post-Great War life, he was a daring, of the Great Depression, they lacked groups. Each group contained major cit- flamboyant promoter, who in the late money for college. Some of them had ies and RAF bases, several of which were 1930s and early 1940s publicized to taken jobs in aviation or aviation-related used by the three Eagle Squadrons. Americans the French and British need industries. Thus, No. 11 Group included the cities for fighter pilots. His aim was to form All of them, somehow, were bound of London, Uxbridge, Dover, Southamp- an American squadron of fighter pilots, by their experience in or passion for ton, and Portsmouth, as well as the Eagle reprising the Escadrille. aviation. They came from all over the Squadron bases of North Weald, north of Sweeny carried out his recruitment United States, with many from Califor- London, Biggin Hill, south of London, efforts in the face of stringent US Neu- nia, which was at the time the center of the coastal bases of Martlesham Heath trality Acts, which forbade Americans American aviation. Many lacked the and Southend-on-Sea, and Debden and to travel on the ships of combatant education and physical requirements to Great Sampford. nations or travel in a combat zone. get themselves into the coveted Army No. 12 Group, to the north, included Violators were supposed to be subjected Air Corps training schools. The stipula- the cities of York, Manchester, Liv- to stiff fines and other legal sanctions. tion of two years of college and 20/20 erpool, Birmingham, and Coventry, Sweeny’s recruitment activities in 1939 eyesight shut the door to many worthy and housed the Eagle Squadron bases and 1940 thus earned him the ire of the candidates. of Church Fenton, Kirton-in-Lindsey, US authorities. The RAF had less stringent standards. Colly Weston, Coltishall, Fowlmere, Still, he was successful in finding There was no college requirement, and and Duxford. volunteers. After the calamitous fall a prospective pilot’s eyesight could be No. 13 Group covered the north, as of France in June 1940, the US halted 20/40 if corrective lenses could pro- well as Scotland and Northern Ireland, prosecution of violators of the Neu- duce 20/20 vision. Applicants had to which housed the sole Eagle Squadron trality Acts. Sweeny pared down his have a birth certificate, a high school base of Eglinton near Londonderry. AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2007 73 Staff Illustration by Zaur Eylanbekov Maj. William Daley brought with him this Spitfire Mk VB No. EN853 AV-D (shown as it appeared in November 1942), into the USAAF’s 335th Fighter Squadron. On May 14, 1941, the RAF stood up to 30-minute alert. In this situation, the to meet up with a force of bombers the second Eagle Squadron, No. 121, pilots could be in their quarters or the in midchannel between Bolthead and in Kirton-in-Lindsey, with a core of mess, spending time reading, writing, Morlaix. Once airborne, however, the experienced pilots and headed by an playing cards or pool, but they had to pilots flew in heavy overcast and were RAF veteran of the Battle of Britain be prepared to dash to their airplanes, unknowingly blown far south of their as squadron leader. After two months most often to replace an alert crew that rendezvous point by 100 mph northern of training in Hurricane Is, the unit had already been scrambled. winds. They lost radio contact with switched to Hurricane IIBs, and was Great care was taken not to grind down ground control in England.