feature Audacious raid which rivalled the Dambusters It was a mission which, for audacity and sheer courage, rivalled the spectacular attack on the Ruhr dams. 70 years on, Steve Snelling charts the story of Operation Marlin through the eyes of a Norfolk bomber pilot who survived the epic sortie to Augsburg and back. he jet black hair was on primetime television and ‘Darkie’ was bleached snow white with one of a dwindling band of survivors age, rendering his nickname wheeled out to publicise the programme. redundant. Gone too was I remember then being struck by the the bushy moustache force of his personality, though for the which, though not quite of most part he seemed determined to play T‘handlebar’ proportions, had once made down his part in the drama. Much had his face instantly recognisable outside of been left unsaid and, coming away, I was a flying mask. But the same brave spirit painfully aware I had barely scratched that had carried him through one of the the surface. Another six years would pass toughest and most audacious missions of before I set about filling in the gaps. the second world war appeared undimmed ‘Darkie’ was then in his late 70s and by the passage of time. had settled into peaceful retirement in There was something of the bulldog Sheringham, just a few miles from his There was about Brian ‘Darkie’ Hallows. His home town of Holt. crumpled face gave him the slightly There, over the course of a memorable a lot of battered look of an aging prize-fighter. A afternoon, I was held in thrall by a man of strong opinions and even stronger succession of stories, some funny, heavy stuff personality, he spoke in a deep, foghorn some serious, from a life crammed with voice with a bluntness that bordered, incident. coming at at times, on the brutally frank about an We talked about his days growing up in experience so extraordinary that it all but Norfolk, of how his ambition to train as immense strengths or its limitations. ‘Darkie’, as was his wont, expressed his beggared belief. an RAF pilot had been initially thwarted us. It all Already acknowledged to be a great feelings in rather more blunt terms. “It More than half a century on, he still resulting in a none too successful spell weight-lifter, capable of delivering loads would be fair to say we did not expect that couldn’t help guffawing theatrically at working in the family’s laundry and dry looked of bombs impossible in any other aircraft all of us would be returning,” he said. the seeming madness of it all, a 1,250-mile cleaning business. We talked about his in RAF service, it was also relatively easy In fact, the target remained a closely round trip mostly across enemy-occupied decision to join the volunteer reserve and rather to handle and would, in time, prove the guarded secret until the last moment. territory to make a pinpoint, low-level his frustration at being held back in an safest of all bombers to fly. But all that lay Of course, the crews involved knew that attack in broad daylight on a single factory instructional role during the early part of alarming. in the future and there was, among senior something unusual was in the offing. in the heart of Nazi Germany. the war. But mostly we talked about one officers, an understandable Referring back to his flying “We just couldn’t believe it,” he boomed, day in April desire to find out just what logbook and the brief diary recalling his first glimpse of the wall- 1942 and his role in Operation Marlin, their latest weapon could he kept, ‘Darkie’ recalled sized briefing room map with a red ribbon the desperately brave but costly attack on and could not do. three days of rigorous stretching south across France, before Augsburg that Churchill described as an Augsburg would training in formation turning east towards the Swiss frontier “outstanding achievement of the Royal be the testing flying at extreme and then jutting north to the target, the Air Force”. ground and 12 low altitudes. Augsburg-based MAN plant that was one Seventy years have now passed since crews from 44 and “At that time,” of the main suppliers of diesel engines to that astonishing, headline-grabbing 97 Squadrons he said, “the the German submarine fleet. raid, a forerunner of the even more were chosen navy was always It all seemed too ridiculous for words, spectacular attack on the Ruhr dams, and as the guinea asking for help like some kind of sick joke. ‘Darkie’, along with most of the leading pigs. But even from the air force After all, everyone knew the RAF had protagonists, is no longer with us. But allowing for the to bomb German long since abandoned deep incursion, those growling recollections captured commanders’ battleships unescorted daylight bombing sorties as some 17 years ago survive as a ghostly echo undoubted faith such as the being far too costly. Surely it had to be not just of one of history’s most daring and confidence in Scharnhorst and someone’s idea of a prank. air strikes but of startling aeronautical the Lancaster the Gneisenau or the “We all started giggling,” said ‘Darkie’. debut made by an aircraft later hailed as mission selected Tirpitz. And our “We really did. We honestly thought “the finest bomber of the war”. was extraordinarily money was on that. it was a joke, but it wasn’t. The group The four-engined Avro Lancaster, which a m b i t i o u s a n d But, of course, we were captain was a bit cross. He stomped about had just begun reaching operational units appeared to fly in the face wrong.” the place and said: ‘If you’ll stop bloody in the winter of 1941-42, represented a of all the hard-won lessons One thing they were right laughing I’ll tell you all about it…’” massive leap forward for bomber crews learned in 2½ years of war. Or, about was the degree of hazards The story was a familiar one. The same compelled to wage war in aircraft that were as put another way by one of the RAF’s involved in their ‘special’ sortie. Even anecdote, told in much the same words, often out-moded and under-powered. But, most distinguished historians, Operation before discovering the truth about the had been recounted by ‘Darkie’ during by the spring of 1942, the Lanc’s potential Marlin, a daylight attack involving a round target they feared the worst. In his diary, our first brief encounter. A documentary was still unproven and commanders trip of 1,250 miles without escort, seemed ‘Darkie’ noted: “Plenty was said about chronicling the raid was due to be screened and crews had yet to discover either its to be “pressing fortune to its limits”. how important it was and all that stuff, so 6 EDP Weekend n April 21, 2012 Facing the media: Survivors of the Augsburg raid, including, second from the right with cigarette, ‘Darkie’ Hallows, and, on his right, Sqd Ldr John Nettleton, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for his part in the operation. what we thought was the correct course to up.” Following behind, the final section of pass near the fighter aerodrome, whereas three Lancs made its bombing run, losing we never saw a fighter the whole time. another aircraft over the town. This time But, there you are, that’s how the cookie there were no survivors. crumbles.” But another eight bombs had been added Bravely, in the circumstances, the two, to the 20 that had been dropped, of which shot-up 44 Squadron Lancs forged on to 18 had struck the target, five failing to reach and successfully bomb the target, detonate. though not without further cost. Roaring By then, ‘Darkie’ was in a bit of a low over the factory roofs to drop their quandary as he withdrew with Flying loads of four delayed action 1,000lb bombs, Officer ‘Rod’ Rodley for company. “We Nettleton’s partner, already bearing the had expected to bomb at dusk, so that the scars of its earlier combat, was set ablaze darkness would have come on quickly by accurate anti-aircraft fire. to cover us,” he recalled. “But by some Trailing flames and smoke from fuselage slight miscalculation it was still fairly and wing, the pilot managed to make a broad daylight. So we stayed fairly low crash-landing that spared the lives of all to keep out of people’s way and, then, but one of his gallant crew. as soon as it got dark we climbed up to And then it was the turn of 97 Squadron’s around 6-8,000ft, separated and found our formation. way back alone.” “By the time we arrived the place was In all, five variously damaged aircraft well and truly alerted,” said ‘Darkie’. “Up made it home, though in Nettleton’s case until then, we’d had a pretty uneventful it was only after a circuitous journey trip. We’d shot up a nice looking train across Britain and out into the Irish Sea about 25 miles short of Augsburg, but that that finally ended at Squires Gate near was all. Everything had gone pretty much Blackpool after 10 hours in the air. “It to plan as far as we were concerned. was quite extraordinary,” said ‘Darkie’. “During the run-in, from five to 10 miles He must have had serious navigational away, the thing was to stay exactly on problems, though what they were was course and on the track we’d planned to never made public.” come in on, which we duly did.