Martyn Chorlton Articles
Scampton
The Lancaster Years
For Aviation Classics Issue 1 'The Lancaster' December 2009
Opened in November 1916 as Brattleby, this small but busy airfield was renamed Scampton by the middle of 1917. Initially home to 33 (Home Defence) Squadron for anti-Zeppelin patrols, by late 1917, the airfield was developing into a training station. The amalgamation of resident units, 60 TS (Training Squadron), 11 TS and 81 Squadron saw the airfield become 34 TDS (Training Depot Station) in August 1918. Post armistice, Scampton was rapidly wound down and, by December 1919, the airfield was closed. All buildings were removed and by late 1920 the site was back under the plough.
The site was selected as an airfield again in the mid 1930s, this time for use by bombers. Construction began on the large grass airfield in 1935 and was built to pre-war expansion plans. Four large C-Type hangars now dominated the skyline and permanent brick built technical and domestic buildings made this a very comfortable posting.
9 Squadron became the first unit to arrive, operating the Handley Page Heyford, on the 1st October 1936. 49 and 83 Squadron followed, both arriving on the same day equipped with the Hawker Hind, on the 14th March 1938. It was these two squadrons which took Scampton into the Second World War after re-equipping with the Handley Page Hampden. The latter's replacement was destined to be the Avro Manchester which, thankfully for both squadrons, was short-lived. These were quickly replaced by the Lancaster the first of which was taken on strength at Scampton with 83 CF (Conversion Flight) on the 11th April 1942. 49 CF followed on the 16th May 1942 and by May and June respectively, both squadrons were operational on the new bomber.
83 Squadron was selected as one of the founding Pathfinder Force units, moving into 8 Group territory at Wyton on the 15th August 1942. 83 CF moved over the border to Wigsley not long after, where it was disbanded into 1654 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit), another Lancaster unit. This left 49 Squadron on its own to continue operations at Scampton until it was joined by 57 Squadron on the 4th September, from Feltwell. 49 CF also disbanded into an HCU, forming ‘C' Flight of 1661 HCU, based at nearby Waddington. This flight continued to operate out of Scampton until at least the end of the year.
The first new squadron to be formed at Scampton was 467 (Australian) on the 7th November 1942, once again with Lancasters. Their stay at Scampton was short; they moved to Bottesford on the 24th November, becoming operational not long after. A legacy of this squadron was destined to appear on the main gate in 1958. ‘S' for Sugar, Lancaster I R5868 was no stranger to Scampton, having flown 79 sorties with 83 Squadron. This famous aircraft went on to complete 137 operational sorties and was only surpassed by ‘M-Squared' of 103 Squadron. Ear-marked for preservation by the Air Ministry immediately after the war, R5868 remained on the gate until 1970 when the Lancaster was moved to Bicester for restoration and then on to the RAF Museum in 1972.
By the time 49 Squadron made its own move to Fiskerton on the 2nd January 1943, the unit had served at Scampton for nearly five years leaving 57 Squadron as the sole tenant. However, it was not long before the station strength rose again with the formation of another Lancaster unit. This one was a little different being equipped with specially modified aircraft. 617 Squadron was formed on the 23rd March 1943 and with it's Lancaster III (Special), would achieve immortality with the famous Dambusters raid in May 1943.
By August 1943, 57 Squadron moved to East Kirkby and 617 Squadron to Coningsby, leaving Scampton empty. This was deliberate as the airfield's grass runways could no longer deal with weight of a fully loaded Lancaster. Three concrete runways were laid out in a traditional ‘A' Class bomber pattern. The work took over nine months and it would be another 14 months before another Lancaster unit returned.
1690 BDTF ((Bomber) Defence Training Flight) was the first unit to make use of Scampton's new runways from the 13th July 1944. The flight's Spitfires, Hurricanes and Martinets were used for fighter affiliation against bombers, providing valuable training. 1690 BDTF moved to Metheringham on the 27th September 1944 to be replaced by 1687 BDTF from Ingham on the 4th December. The latter remained at Scampton until the 2nd April 1945, moving to Hemswell.
153 Squadron arrived from Kirmington on the 15th October 1944 with its Lancasters and operated on its own until the 5th April 1945. Kelstern's early closure resulted in 625 Squadron being moved to Scampton and, alongside 153 Squadron, would see Scampton into peacetime. Both squadrons flew their last operational sorties side by side against Berchtesgaden on the 25th April 1945. They also remained reasonably active for many months after the end of the war. 153 Squadron disbanded on the 28th September 1945 followed by 625 Squadron on the 7th October 1945.
The airfields association with the Lancaster did not end there, because 100 Squadron moved in from Elsham Wolds on the 15th December 1945. The Lancaster made way for its replacement, the Avro Lincoln with 100 Squadron's departure to Lindholme on the 8th May 1946. The Lincoln would now dominate the airfield until the RAF entered the jet age with the English Electric Canberra. Four squadrons of Canberras flew from the airfield between January 1953 and June 1955 but it was 617 Squadron's return, with another Avro icon in 1958 that became synonymous with Scampton.
The unit reformed on the 1st May 1958 with the Vulcan B.1 and was destined to remain at the airfield until it was disbanded for a second time on the 31st December 1981. 83 Squadron also returned to Scampton in October 1960, reforming with the Vulcan, followed by 27 Squadron in 1961. 35 Squadron served from 1975 until disbandment on the 1st March 1982. 27 Squadron, now equipped with the Vulcan B.2 (MRR) became the last ‘bomber' unit at the airfield and the last significant squadron to serve at Scampton, disbanding on the 31st March 1982.
It was long time before Scampton finally parted with it's last Lancaster. As mentioned earlier, R5868 served as the gate guardian for many years. She was replaced by NX611 on the 25th April 1974. This aircraft, owned by the Rt. Hon. Lord Lifford, was actually on loan to the RAF and when this came to an end, the aircraft was open to offers. Fred and Harold Panton bought the aircraft which remained on the gate until 1989; She now performs at East Kirkby.
Scampton now became the playground for the Hawk T.1, namely in the shape of the Red Arrows who arrived from Kemble on the 1st October 1982. They moved to Cranwell in February 1996 only to move back again four years later. However, with the future flying operations looking less likely, the Red Arrows are set to move yet again, this time to Waddington in 2011.
At What Cost?
102 Lancasters were lost on operations and accidents from April 1942 to May 1945 which was comparatively light for a bomber station of this type. The fact that the airfield was closed between August 1943 to October 1944 would have had a marked effect on losses.
551 aircrew never came home and the brunt of these losses was taken by 57 Squadron. 53 aircraft were lost and 284 aircrew were killed, twelve were injured and 19 more became Prisoners of War. 617 Squadron's Operation Chastise was without doubt the costliest with regard to aircrew and aircraft from a single raid; Eight Lancasters were lost killing 53 aircrew.
Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth
16th July 1909 to 2nd August 1940
Limited Edition Flyer to Celebrate the 100th Anniversay of the birth of R O Shuttleworth. 2009
On the 16th July 1909 at Old Warden Park, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth was born to Colonel Frank Shuttleworth and to his wife Dorothy. His father died when Richard was only two and he was brought up by his mother to take over his inheritance at the age of 23.
As well as the large estates in Bedfordshire and great wealth, he also inherited good looks, a charming personality, good health and a very constructive brain. The latter he would exploit for the vast majority of his 31 years, applying it, generally, to the world of engineering and dynamics. He was fascinated from a very young age with any mechanical object, retaining his enthusiasm throughout his life for objects ranging from a new tool in the workshop to the operation of a supercharger on an aircraft engine. His wide interest in a variety of mechanical objects, and his collecting of them formed the nucleus of the now famed Shuttleworth Collection which already in his lifetime contained items from a Penny Farthing, to a Blériot Monoplane.
The people who were close to Richard expected him to follow the path of the new squire, which he did - in his own way. When Richard inherited the entire estate in 1932, his many tenants, servants and workers hoped that he would treat them as fairly as his father, Frank, had before him. They would not be disappointed, as Richard's enthusiasm was also directed at the estate resulting in his election to ‘President of the Bedfordshire Agricultural Society' in 1935.
Richard's education began in 1918 and continued in Eton College where he was ‘just' accepted in 1922. He only excelled in the College's School of Mechanics, struggling within the confines of the establishment. After leaving Eton prematurely, he attained the necessary qualifications via a ‘crammer' to join the army, like his father. After passing out at Sandhurst he joined the 16th/5th Lancers, taking with him many of his personal possessions including his beloved horse, ‘Spear Lass'.
Richard was a very keen and accomplished horseman, like his father before him. Between 1927 and 1932, he rode in the Oakley Club's Hunt, various Point-to-Points, Hurdles, Steeplechases and, in 1931, riding ‘Spear Lass' he won the Sulbatern's Cup.
On his inheritance, Richard left the army behind, hoping to join the RAF, but even at the tender age of 23, he was classed as too old to join. He profoundly stated, "Wait until there is a War, they will want me then."
By this time he had already begun to collect and restore vintage cars, affectionately known as ‘the old crocks', running all of them in the annual London-Brighton rally. He even encouraged Mrs Shuttleworth to enter all but one of the rallies that took place before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Wealth allowed Richard an almost unhindered ability to purchase and take part in any pursuit or sport he wished. The incredibly expensive and dangerous occupation of motor racing drew Richard in from 1931. He purchased and entered several racing cars, including Buggatis and an Alfa Romeo. In the latter, he took victory in his finest hour when he won the International Donington Grand Prix on the 5th October 1935. His racing career was shortly afterwards brought to an abrupt end when he crashed out of the South African Grand Prix in January 1936. Doctors treating him at the time did not expect him to survive but three months later, Richard was able to sail home to England accompanied by his mother, albeit still walking with crutches.
Aviation had snared Richard after his first flight in a de Havilland Moth in 1927. He went on to gain his licence, although he bought his first aircraft, also a Moth, for £300 before he had actually passed it. Within a year, accompanied by his friend George Stead, they flew a pair of Comper Swifts in an adventurous flight 6,000 miles across the world to take part in the Viceroy Trophy Race in India. His enthusiasm for restoration work continued with aircraft and this was put to the test after he acquired a wrecked Blériot and a Deperdussin from a local businessman. It is one thing to restore and put a car back on the road but to achieve it with a vintage aircraft was an amazing undertaking, one that we take for granted today. The Blériot is now the world's oldest flying powered aircraft. He went on to form his own aviation company and expanded his aircraft collection. He based the aircraft at his private airfield at Old Warden which he established there in 1932 within the grounds of the park.
As the clouds of the second Great War in his lifetime approached, Richard once again offered his services to the Air Ministry, particularly during the Munich crisis in 1938. While this was politely declined, he was accepted into the RAF Volunteer Reserve. His 1000 flying hours proved invaluable during his training and he was ‘cherry picked' by his friend Allen Wheeler (later an Air Commodore) to work in the Aircraft Crash Investigation Branch once he had completed his RAF flying training. Sadly, this was not meant to be, and only a few days before he was destined to begin his new job, the Fairey Battle in which he was flying crashed near to the RAF airfield at Benson in Oxfordshire, killing Richard instantly.
Richard's energy and enthusiasm held no bounds and his ability to ‘juggle' all of his interests, performing them to the peak of his ability was and still is an inspiration to all those who remembered him and to those who continue his work at the Shuttleworth Collection and the equally successful Agricultural College. From restoring a bicycle, winning a Grand prix and flying a vintage aircraft to the diversity of running a large, busy estate, he tackled all challenges with the same vigour and drive.
This same energy lives on within the Agricultural College which first opened its doors in 1946. The Shuttleworth Collection was made public for the first time in 1963. The Shuttleworth Trust founded by Mrs Shuttleworth in memory of her son, established the college which steadily grew from classrooms and dormitories in the house and in converted stables to the modern, vibrant campus that is there today.
The Collection is today of worldwide renown and the college a thriving institution and we have Richard to thank for sowing the seeds and his mother, Dorothy Shuttleworth, for her inspirational perseverance in creating and cultivating them into what we all enjoy today.
Airshow 2009
For the Best of British, 2009 (Full version)
All air shows are incredibly complex and challenging events to organize. As one show comes to end, a small army of people begin to prepare for the following year's show. Just about all factors can be taken into account, such as the timetable, who will attend, sorting trade stands, entertainment and catering. But one factor that is impossible to control is the weather and the 2008 display season was a classic example.
Last year must have been one of the worst on record for bad weather at air shows, resulting in many cancellations, disrupted programmes and an untold amount of, especially overseas aircraft, not even attempting to fly to the United Kingdom. The biggest casualty of the year was the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at Fairford last July. A large number of aircraft did manage to arrive on the Friday before the big event, but the appalling conditions, combined with the increasingly stringent health and safety policies, resulted in the entire weekend event being cancelled.
Inaccurate weather reports throughout the year also caused many people to stay at home rather than risk arriving at closed gates or seeing aircraft on the ground. This situation begs the question, why is the airshow season concentrated from May to October when equally good, if not better flying conditions, often occur during the autumn and winter months? Some smaller events do happen during the winter months; my favourite is the appropriately named ‘Brass Monkey' Fly-in at North Coates in early January. Living on a small island on the edge of the North Atlantic will always leave us vulnerable to unpredictable weather conditions and, without them, this really wouldn't be the British Isles!
All the big shows will be back this year, except for SBAC (Society of British Aerospace Companies) airshow at Farnborough which runs biannually. Last year, it celebrated 60 years at its Hampshire home, while 2009 is the 60th anniversary of the amazing 1949 event. This was probably the most important airshow for British aviation to date; landmark prototypes such as the Comet airliner, Shackleton & Canberra, to name a few set the tone. All of them served for decades to come and unbelievably the Comet still lives on in the RAF's latest version of the Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft which still has not entered service.
Shuttleworth, which also suffered badly because of last year's weather conditions (but always managed to fly something,) also celebrates an important anniversary this year. 65 years ago, Dorothy Clotilda Shuttleworth decided to place her entire estate into a charitable trust in memory of her son, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth, who was killed serving with the RAF in 1940. The collection first opened its doors in 1963 and its collection of aircraft, cars, motorbikes, bicycles and memorabilia is the envy of the world.
Duxford continues to celebrate its 90 year history since it was opened at the end of the First World War. Several First World War buildings still remain, including the impressive ‘Belfast Truss' hangars along the flight line. There were originally seven hangars but, unfortunately, although it was impressive, one was blown up for the making of the classic war film, ‘The Battle of Britain' in 1969, another anniversary in its own right! 2009 will see the four usual big airshows; the Spring, Flying Legends, the main Duxford and Autumn air shows plus many other events scattered in between.
RIAT will hopefully bounce back again in July, the main theme of this show will be a celebration of NATO's (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) 60th Anniversary. Those of us who like to see modern military hardware should be in for a treat with many, if not all, of the participants displaying some kind of special NATO motif or marking. Several NATO ‘Tiger' squadrons should also be taking part, adding a dazzling splash of colour with their orange and black stripes.
Last year's Waddington airshow, despite very poor weather conditions, enjoyed a record weekend attendance of approximately 140,000 people. We can safely say in hindsight that one of, if not the main reason for this amazing turnout was the arrival and subsequent display of the world's only airworthy Avro Vulcan. The aircraft performed impeccably on the Saturday and also made several flypasts with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's (BBMF) Lancaster, which was the icing on the cake. For all, especially those who had spent many years working on her, it must have been a memorable moment.
This also beggars the question ‘will the Vulcan be on the 2009 airshow circuit?' This well-publicized project has already cost £7 million pounds and a further £1 million will be needed to keep it flying for another airshow season. The last update on the ‘Vulcan to the Sky' website shows a total of nearly £200,000 and ‘rumour control' has the aircraft already grounded. If this is true, it was still a remarkable achievement to get such a complicated aircraft airborne since its arrival at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire after its retirement from the RAF in 1993.
Waddington 2009 will contain a good diversity of military aircraft, including a strong RAF turnout which will only be equalled by the RAF Leuchars airshow held in September (another victim of the weather last year). International visitors should be prevalent as well and a good selection of historic warbirds will also be attending. Local act, the BBMF, from nearby RAF Coningsby, along with the RAF Scampton-based Red Arrows will also display over the weekend. It was announced last year that the Red Arrows will be making Waddington its new home in 2010, with the closure of Scampton to flying.
Personally, my interest in aviation ‘revolves' around anything with wings or blades but another type of aircraft that will make me gaze skywards is a hot air balloon. An increasingly common sight over the fens, there are also no less than 21 different events this year which are either supported by or solely attended by hot air balloons. One event stands out every year where you see more balloons in one location than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. The Bristol International Balloon festival is spread over four days and is the second largest balloon festival in the world. The biggest is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with an average 700 balloons from all over the world attending. 2008 was the 30th Anniversary of the Bristol festival which, last year, was sadly disrupted by high winds but this year's event, spread over four days from Thursday 6th to Sunday the 9th August, promises to be bigger than ever. At least 100 balloons will be attending the event and I highly recommend you get there early in the morning, with the sun rising, to witness the amazing colour as the ‘mass launch' takes place. The festival is free to enter but the parking is not and the queues into the car parks get very long very quickly.
Once again, the year promises a good array of aeronautical events to visit, with something to cater for the ‘hardcore' enthusiast or the family who is stuck for something to do on a weekend. The average airshow is no longer just about aircraft and seeing them display. Back up entertainment is usually on hand for the little ones who quickly become completely disinterested in a Eurofighter on full reheat or with the spine tingling sound of a Merlin engine. While my last article on this subject stressed the use of sunglasses, sun cream and a floppy hat. This time I would also like to recommend a good pair of wellingtons, a raincoat and an umbrella, just in case!
RAF Elsham Wolds
A Tale of Two Airfields
For the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, 2008
The industrial importance of the Humber Estuary did not passed unnoticed by the Germans during the First World War. The new aerial threat in the guise of the feared Zeppelin began to make frequent visits over the area from 1916. Several Home Defence (HD) units were formed to defend against such attacks including 33 (HD) which was formed on the 12th January 1916. After several moves, the squadron settled its headquarters at Gainsborough on the 3rd October 1916. Several landing grounds were surveyed for its use throughout the county, including Manton (Kirton-in-Lindsey), Scampton and Elsham. The latter was located to the south west of the crossroads where Wold Road and Race Lane meet, effectively due east of the Second World War site.
Approximately 120 acres in size, facilities would have been limited, but it is known that at least one flight shed was constructed and this remained extant until at least the Second World War. A small practice bombing range was also set up on one edge of the landing ground. From early 1917, ‘C' Flight of 33 (HD) Squadron operating approximately eight RAF FE.2bs and FE.2ds occupied the small airfield. It is also possible that examples of the BE.2c, BE.12, BE.2e and BE.12a could have passed through Elsham up to September 1917. While Zeppelin activity was high and encounters frequent, none were shot down but several were claimed as being seen off. One notable pilot who served briefly at Elsham was Lt William Leefe Robinson VC. Whilst serving with 39 (HD) Squadron, Leefe Robinson claimed the first German airship shot down over Britain on the night of the 2/3rd September 1916. His victim was the wooden-framed Schütte-Lanz SL.11 airship, which in full view of thousands of Londoners was brought down at Cuffley, Hertfordshire. He was posted to France from Elsham to serve with 48 Squadron only to be shot down and captured on his first patrol in April 1917.
On the 12th June 1918, 33 (HD) Squadron moved its headquarters to Kirton-in-Lindsey and the same month gained the capable Bristol F.2b Fighter. This was to be brief though, because by August both detachments at Scampton and Elsham were brought to an end as the Zeppelin threat had virtually diminished. By late August 1918 Elsham was abandoned and like so many other landing grounds was returned to agriculture. This early aeronautical use would ensure that any future conflict would see it back in use again as an airfield.
By the late 1930s, Europe was once again preparing itself for another world war and part of that process was the surveying of land for potential use as an airfield. Virtually all redundant First World War land grounds and airfields were visited first. The obvious criteria for the Second World War was the additional space needed for the aircraft of the era which were many times larger than those used during the First World War. Air Ministry officials visited Elsham in late 1939 and unlike many other old landing grounds, was deemed fit for expansion into an ‘A' Class bomber station. This would entail the requisition of at least 700 acres of land for the airfield site alone, with several hundred further acres for the siting of dispersed technical and accommodation sites making it one of the biggest airfields in 1 Group, Bomber Command.
Work began on the new airfield which was actually positioned west of the old landing ground in Autumn 1940. One minor road had to be closed because it was dissected by the last 100yards of the main runway which ran in a north west, south east direction. This runway was the traditional 2000 yards in length and was accompanied by two other runways at 1600 and 1400 yards in length respectively. 36 heavy bomber sized frying-pan dispersals later complimented by a handful of spectacle dispersals were built to accommodate two squadrons of aircraft. The Technical Site was located off the eastern perimeter track, fronted by a Type 518/40 Control Tower. Behind were a single Type ‘J' and a pair of Type ‘T2' hangars plus a plethora of technical buildings extending quite some distance behind. Accommodation, the SSQ (Station Sick Quarters) and a substantial second brick built SHQ and Operations block was built in and around Marshall's Covert to the south east of the airfield. A large bomb dump was positioned to the north east of the airfield, carefully positioned between the approaches of the two shorter, subsidiary runways.
Still far from finished the first RAF personnel, who were the advanced party for SHQ arrived from Binbrook on the 25th May 1941. It took until the 17th June before all SHQ personnel were on station, and with many roads still unlaid and buildings in partly constructed, the airfield still do not look ready to receive a squadron.
On the 20th June 1941, a pair of Miles Magisters from Derby being flown by Cadet Pilots Rouse and Shipurka became the first aircraft to land at Elsham, now known officially as Elsham Wolds, since 33 (HD) Squadron departed in 1918. Both aircraft force landed, either lost, low on fuel or due poor weather conditions without damage to their aircraft. The following day, a Fairey Battle flying from Carlisle (Kingstown) was not quite so lucky. The pilot carried out a forced landing, but damaged the undercarriage in process and the aircraft was destined to remain at the airfield until it could be repaired.
An indication of the airfields first permanent resident unit came on the 26th June 1941 when Wg Cdr W E Lowe, officer commanding 103 Squadron visited Elsham Wolds. First formed at Beaulieu, Hampshire, on the 1st September 1917, 103 Squadron was always destined to be a bomber unit. Serving on the Western Front with DH.9s, the squadron was disbanded in 1919. Reformed in 1936 with Hawker Hinds followed by the Fairey Battle in late 1938 and ultimately with the Vickers Wellington Ic in October 1940, having joined 1 Group the previous July. Having served with the AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force) in France from late 1939, the unit returned in July 1940 to Newton, Nottinghamshire.
Like so many airfields of the period, Elsham Wolds was far from finished when the first 103 Squadron Wellington touched down on the 11th July 1941. Despite this, the first operation took place only three days after the squadrons arrival on the night of the 14/15th July. The target was Bremen and six Wellingtons joined a further 91 aircraft on a successful raid, described by many crews like ‘the whole town was ablaze'. Four Wellingtons were lost but all of 103 Squadrons returned safely.
Being so close to the industrial area located along the north Lincolnshire coast and River Humber, the airfield was a tempting secondary target for the Luftwaffe. The first attack, by a pair of Junkers Ju88Cs of 4/NJG 2 took place in the early hours of the 24th July. Two sticks of bombs were dropped on the airfield injuring one airman but causing negligible damage. Unfortunately for one of the enemy pair, Ju88 R4+LM, a Defiant I night fighter from 409 (RCAF) Squadron, based at Digby south of Lincoln was operating in the area. The Ju88 was shot down only moments after dropping its bombs and crashed near the village of Bonby, only a mile and half to the west of the airfield perimeter, killing all four crew.
The airfield was to suffer the first of many losses during a major daylight operation against the German Capitol ships berthed in Brest Harbour on the 24th July. 100 aircraft from Bomber Command took part in the operations, led by three RAF Fortresses, who operating at 30,000ft were meant to draw up the defending German fighters. 18 Hampdens escorted by three squadrons of Spitfires were also meant to draw the fighters from the main force of 79 Wellingtons. Six direct hits were recorded on the Gneisenau but the amount of defending fighters was grossly underestimated and ten Wellingtons and two Hampdens were brought down. One of the Wellingtons, N2770 was from 103 Squadron, piloted by Sgt J S Bucknole crashed into the sea off Brest killing the entire crew of six instantly.
The squadron from the outset at Elsham Wolds always managed to dispatch no less than ten aircraft per raid and by the end of 1941 was averaging 16 to 17 per raid. Losses also steadily increased, not all of then attributed to enemy action. Plt Off W R Oldfield and his crew failed to return from a raid on Mannheim on the night of the 29/30th August 1941. It was not mechanical failure, flak or a night fighter that brought the aircraft down, but the weather. Wellington Ic R1213 was unluckily struck by lightning and crashed in the vicinity of Vlissingen in Holland. Only Plt Off Oldfield and his tail gunner, Sgt H Dunn survived to become POWs.
The squadron had a rough night on the 20/21st September when it joined a small force of 34 aircraft on a raid to Frankfurt. Not long after take-off the raid was scrubbed because of poor weather conditions but very few of the crews received the message and flew on. Two 103 Squadron Wellingtons were lost after bombing Berlin as a secondary target and two others crashed whilst trying to land on their return. Sgt A H rex in R1359 came down trying to force land near Holbeach while Plt Off K H Wallis and crew safely abandoned L7886 four miles NNW of Market Rasen. A month later Plt Off Ken Wallis (later Wing Commander and more famous for his Autogiros) force landed within walking distance of Elsham Wolds main gate, once again without injury to himself or his crew.
Now under the control of Sir Arthur Harris, Bomber Command began to gain cohesion and a more organised infrastructure from February 1942. It was time for accurate offensive bombing to begin and to make his point, Harris arranged for three huge 1000-bomber raids to show how Bomber Command could bring Germany to its knees. The first took place against Cologne and involved 1,047 aircraft seven groups including 91 and 92 OTU Group and even four Wellingtons from Flying Training Command. Experienced instructors flew all bombers from the training groups but the crews were still under training. 103 Squadron contributed 19 aircraft to this historic raid which was deemed a huge success. Sadly though, Flt Sgt W Onions the pilot of DV452 and his crew were all killed.
A sign of things to come took place at Elsham Wolds when 103 Squadron Conversion Flight (CF) was formed on the 2nd May 1942. The CF was formed to introduce the Rolls-Royce Merlin powered Handley Page Halifax II of which four arrived to equip the new unit. 103 Squadron was destined to become the first and only squadron in 1 Group Bomber Command to operate the Halifax. By July 1942 the Wellington was being phased out in favour of the Halifax which was not proving popular with the crews. Three aircraft were lost in short succession before the first operation with the four-engine bomber took place against Dusseldorf on the 31st July/1st August 1942.
Wellingtons continued to operate from Elsham Wolds throughout 1942 with at least two detachments of 20 OTU aircraft from Lossiemouth during July and October. A detachment of Airspeed Oxfords from 1503 BATF from Holme-on-Spalding Moor added a further diverse array of aircraft types from October 1942 through to January 1943.
It was quite clear that the Halifax was slightly out of place in 1 Groups inventory and 103 Squadron were not have an easy time with the type. The unit went on to fly 15 operational raids with the type losing nine aircraft in the process. This equated to an alarming loss rate, and even high for Bomber Command standards of nine per cent and morale on the airfield reflected this.
On the 10th October 1942, 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) was formed at Lindholme, Yorkshire from 460 Squadron and 103 Squadron CFs equipped between two flights with 16 Halifax and 16 Avro Lancasters. Morale rose dramatically when it was quickly realised that 103 Squadrons short and turbulent association with the Halifax was coming to an end and its replacement was to be the Lancaster I and III. 1656 HCU remained at Elsham Wolds until the 3rd November 1942 having introduced the Lancaster quickly and seamlessly into 103 Squadron service, the first front-line unit in 1 Group to receive the new type.
Within a few weeks 103 Squadron was ready to participate in its first operation with the Avro Lancaster. Six aircraft joined 24 others on a minelaying sortie around the Bay of Biscay ports from Lorient to Bayonne on the 21/22nd November 1942. The tempo quickly rose by the following night when twice as many Lancasters joined a force of 222 aircraft against Stuttgart. Both of these inaugural sorties resulted in no losses for 103 Squadron and the crews quickly became comfortable and confident with their new aircraft. By mid December 1942, nearly 30 Lancasters had arrived at Elsham Wolds. The unit entered 1943 with high spirits and compared to other 1 Group units still flying the Wellington, were enjoying a honeymoon period that was destined not to last.
The departure of 1656 HCU did not see the last of the Halifax at Elsham Wolds. From January 1943 newly formed 1662 HCU from Blyton operated its collection of Halifaxes and Lancaster from the airfield. Despite the busy operations of 103 Squadron, the new HCU used Elsham Wolds as a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) almost until the end of the Second World War.
Losses began to mount as the year progressed and the targets became better defended with both flak and the highly efficient enemy night fighters. Aircraft were replaced on a regular basis and one particular machine, ED888, without pomp or ceremony flew its first sortie with the squadron to Dortmund on the 4/5th May 1943. This was destined to be the first of 140 operations for ED888 which was more famously know as ‘Mike Squared' after hew code letter or to her many groundcrew as ‘Mother to Them All.' This incredibly lucky machine visited just about every significant target in Europe including 15 trips to Berlin and several operations in support of the D-Day landings which claimed many less fortunate Lancasters. Over 20 different aircrews flew with the aircraft which dropped over 700 tons of bombs on enemy targets. Often damaged, ‘Mike Squared' was awarded by the station commander the DFC after 50 operations and the DSO after 100 trips. By the time of her retirement she had gained a Bar to the DFC and had two confirmed enemy fighter kills to her credit. Initially serving with 103 Squadron she was transferred to 576 Squadron on their formation but returned to 103 Squadron in October 1944. By February 1945 she was damaged significantly enough to remove her from front line operations being transferred to 10 MU at Hullavington in August 1945. With over 950 flying hours under her belt and the title of most operations in Bomber Command attached to her, she was unceremoniously scrapped along with so many others in January 1947.
Even by late 1943, Harris still claimed to need more squadrons to carry the war to Germany. Many, if not all units during this period were formed from a resident squadron and the new 576 Squadron was no exception. The new Lancaster unit was formed from ‘C' Flight of 103 Squadron on the 25th November 1943 and within days they were in action. It was a baptism of fire for 576 Squadron because their first target was Berlin on the 2/3rd December 1943. It was rough night for all involved, 40 Lancasters, two Halifaxes and a single Mosquito failed to return, the majority brought down by night fighters. 103 Squadron lost three Lancasters with the loss of all 21 crew and on their first operation 576 Squadron also lost its first aircraft. Flt Sgt J M Booth RAAF in Lancaster I W4337 crashed near Münchengladbach with the loss of all onboard. All of this crew with the exception of the Flight Engineer was Australians. Very unusual for such a crew to be flying with a non-RAAF Squadron.
Coinciding with the formation of 576 Squadron, the organisation and maintenance of Bomber Command aircraft and its airfields began to improve. A servicing echelon (SE) was formed on the 25th November 1943 specifically for 576 Squadron aircraft. Known as 9576 SE, two days later 103 received its own, known as 9103 SE. Work was already underway on station in expanding maintenance facilities. The most obvious additions were three Type T2 hangars erected on the eastern edge of the airfield, bordering the First World War site. Elsham Wolds was destined to become a major servicing centre not only for its own squadrons but those based at Kirmington and North Killingholme as well. As part of the new base system, Elsham Wolds became the home of No.13 Base from the 1st December 1943 under the command of Air Cdre Constantine. The base also controlled the operations of 166 and 153 Squadrons at Kirmington and 550 Squadron based at North Killingholme.
In late April 1944, Air Cdre Constantine was posted to Group Headquarters. His replacement was Air Cdre R Ivelaw-Chapman who was one of many high-ranking planners of the forth-coming invasion of Europe. On the night of 6/7th May 1944, Ivelaw-Chapman joined Flt Lt J M Shearer RNZAF and his 576 Squadron crew on a sortie to bomb an ammunition dump at Aubigne in Northern France. The destruction of this bomb dump would have been one of many preliminary targets which need to be destroyed before the D-Day landings could take place. 52 Lancasters from 1 Group took part and only one aircraft was shot down on the sortie which was entirely successful. However, the Lancaster shot down was ND873 carrying the unlucky Air Commodore. Sadly six of the crew did not manage to bail out, but Sgt JA Ford RAAF and Air Cdre Ivelaw-Chapman escaped the crippled bomber. Sgt Ford managed to evade capture but Ivelaw-Chapman was taken prisoner. Senior staff back in Britain was desperately worried that the Gestapo would interrogate the Air Commodore and divulge many of the key planes for D-Day. Remarkably, the Germans never realised his importance and he came a POW until the end of the war.
On the 31st October 1944, 576 Squadron moved to Fiskerton leaving 103 Squadron to operate alone from Elsham Wolds until April 1945. On the 2nd April, 100 Squadron brought its Lancasters the short distance from Waltham (Grimsby) to see out the Second World War. Both squadrons flew their last operation of the war together on the 25th April 1945. Both units put up 16 bombers each to attack the S.S. barracks at Berchtesgarden; all but one 100 Squadron machine bombed the target and all returned back to Elsham Wolds safely.
Sadly though this was not the story for so many other Lancaster crews, by the wars end 103 Squadron had lost 135 aircraft in action. Lancaster sorties alone from Elsham Wolds by 103 Squadron totaled 4,536 over 317 bombing and 27 minelaying raids resulting in a loss rate of 3%. Unfortunately this was the highest percentage loss rate in all of the 1 Group Lancaster squadrons. To compensate for this figure 103 Squadron carried out more bombing raids in 1 Group than any other sqaudron and obviously paid the price.
Both squadrons flew ‘Manna' supply drops over Holland before VE Day and continued to be involved in POWs transportation operations such as ‘Dodge'. On the 25th November 1945, 103 Squadrons long association with Elsham Wolds came to end with its disbandment. The following day, the unit was renumber 57 Squadron at Scampton still operating the Lancaster I & III. Reformed at Gutersloh in November 1954, 103 Squadron went to operate the Canberra B.2, Sycamore HR.14, Whirlwind HC.10 and Wessex HC.2. Following numerous disbandments and reformations the squadron was finally put to rest on the 1st August 1975.
100 Squadron also moved to Scampton on the 15th December 1945 and unlike so many squadrons still exists today flying the BAe Hawk from Leeming, Yorkshire. The same day No.13 Base was disbanded and control of Kirmington and North Killingholme was passed to Hemswell. Elsham Wolds was then transferred to 23 Group Flying Training Command and on the 29th December 1945, 21 HGCU (Heavy Glider Conversion Unit) arrived from Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
21 HGCU was initially equipped with the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle glider tugs and Airspeed Horsa gliders and possibly the odd Waco Hadrian. Halifaxes from February 1946 supplemented the unreliable Albemarles, but by the end of the year 21 HGCU had moved to North Luffenham, Rutland.
Elsham Wolds's usefulness as airfield was rapidly drawing to a close and with 21 HGCUs departure it was placed under Care and Maintenance. In January 1949, 93 MU used the airfields expanse of runways, perimeter track and dispersal for the open storage of weapons. However, this new task was to be brief and the MU had moved out by the end of 1950.
The airfield was swiftly sold off during the 1950s leaving the hangars to be used for storage and the land returned to the plough. The T2 hangars were dismantled quite quickly leaving the more substantial J Type behind, which still survives in good condition today. During the early 1970s construction of a water treatment works began on the western side of the old airfield. AVM D G Evans CBE, the AOC of 1 Group on the 20th June 1975, officially opened this.
Not long after the RAF Elsham Wolds Association was formed and a single room was allocated to house a small museum. This has since expanded to two rooms, now housing a plethora of memorabilia, the majority of which belongs to Robin ?, one of the founder members of the association. Later, the Water Authority kindly made available a small area of land next to their offices for a Memorial Garden. Both 103 and 576 Squadron are remembered within it, as well as a separate memorial to all those and often forgotten airmen who took part in the highly successful Operation ‘Manna'. Viewing is strictly by appointment only but a warm welcome can be guaranteed by Robin and Roy, Alec and Ernie, all of whom are willing to show you around the museum and what is left of the airfield today.
The airfield remained relatively intact up until the late 1970s. A decision to construct a new bridge across the River Humber was destined to change it forever though. The new construction was to be the world's largest single span suspension bridge in the world and even today remains the largest in Europe. Work began on the Humber Bridge in 1973 and to take full advantage of the new crossing a new link road would have to be built. The airfield stood directly in its path and in 1979 the new A15 began to carve its way through the airfield. Opened in 1981 by the Queen, the Humber Bridge has since carried thousand of commuters every day and one wonders how many of them realise that over 60 years ago Wellingtons, Halifaxes and Lancaster traversed the same path.
Bomber County's Premier Air Show!
For the Lincolnshire Pride Magazine, RAF Waddington Airshow Brochure 2008
By the end of the Second World War, Lincolnshire hosted 46 active airfields, 24 were bomber stations, including RAF Waddington. Often overshadowed in military history by Scampton, a mere nine miles to the north, both airfields originally opened in November 1916.
Closed in 1919, but re-opened in 1926, Waddington's role in the fledgling Royal Air Force was primarily as a bomber airfield. A host of bomber squadrons passed through the airfield during the inter-war years. The first, 503 Squadron, was equipped with the Fairey Fawn light bomber, followed by the Handley Page Hyderabad and Westland Wallace. More biplane bombers continued to arrive during the 1930s but it was with 44 Squadron that the revolutionary Bristol Blenheim first arrived in late 1937. Destined to remain at Waddington until May 1943, 44 Squadron eventually re-equipped with the Handley Page Hampden which was followed by the Avro Lancaster. While the Hampden dominated during the early years of the Second World War, it was the Lancaster that Waddington became synonymous with, like so many other airfields in Lincolnshire.
The first unit to receive the Lancaster, 44 Squadron, was under the command of Wg Cdr R A B Learoyd, a Victoria Cross winner. He won the VC when serving with 49 Squadron at Scampton and in April 1942, the unit gained a second VC winner over Augsburg. Sqn Ldr J D Nettleton won his VC during the daring low-level daylight attack involving twelve Lancasters, seven of which did not return.
9 Squadron arrived from Honington in Suffolk in August 1942, converting to the Lancaster soon after. Upgrading Waddington's pre-war grass runways to concrete brought about a temporary closure during late 1943. It was now the turn of the Australians to operate from Waddington. Another Lancaster unit, 467 (RAAF) arrived from Bottesford in Leicestershire in November 1943 and was destined to remain until the wars end.
There was no let up in activity during the post-war years. 57 Squadron, which operated the appropriately named Avro Lincoln, re-equipped with an American-built bomber in 1951. The Boeing Washington, the RAF's version of the wartime B-29 Superfortress was no stranger to Waddington. Several detachments from the USAF Strategic Air Command had been using the airfield since 1948, highlighting its importance during the early beginnings of the Cold War.
The airfield was now preparing for the jet age and in mid 1953, the airfield was closed again for reconstruction work. Jets had already flown from the airfield earlier in the year. The nearby Avro factory at Bracebridge Heath was where the Avro 707A and 707C were constructed. Like so many aircraft before, they were towed down the A15 and test flown from Waddington.
The first jet bomber squadron to be based at Waddington was 103 Squadron, equipped with the English Electric Canberra. Others followed but it was another iconic aircraft's arrival in July 1956, which we all associate with Waddington. The delta wing Avro Vulcan V-bomber was destined to remain in service until the last operational squadron was disbanded in March 1984. Both 9 and 44 Squadron were reformed at Waddington as Vulcan squadrons, the latter taking part in the Falklands War.
With the demise of the Vulcan, Waddington became the home of the mysterious Nimrods of 51 Squadron followed by the Boeing E-3D Sentry of 8 and 23 Squadron which are often visible today. The latest additions to the airfield are the Sentinels of 5 Squadron which will hopefully increase the RAF's capability in the battlefield and ground surveillance role. Once the long term operator of the Canberra, 39 Squadron are also based at Waddington, now operating the unmanned Reaper in the reconnaissance and observation role all over the world.
Waddington's future is one of the brighter ones in the current Royal Air Force. Supporting some of the most high-tech aircraft on inventory and housing facilities such as the Air Warfare Centre should secure Waddington for many decades to come.
International Air Show
During the immediate post-war period just about every operational RAF Station would have had its own airshow. Airfields have continued to close in response to a smaller air force ever since the end of the Second World War. While many RAF airfields have a families day and comparatively low key events, the annual Waddington International Air Show is by far the biggest single RAF-organised event.
For several years now, the airshow has drawn large crowds into the county from all over the United Kingdom. Attracting aircraft from all over the world, and with a diverse mix of aircraft and supporting equipment it appeals to an increasingly broader spectrum of the general public.
Fingers crossed for good weather this year!
The Red Arrows
It was recently announced, after much speculation, that the RAF's premier display team, the Red Arrows, will be staying in Lincolnshire. The team has been stationed in Lincolnshire since arriving at Scampton in 1983. A move to Cranwell followed in 1995 when Scampton closed, but within five years, the airfield was open again. While Scampton will probably remain open as an RAF station, it is looking quite likely that the airfeld itself may close to flying completely in a few years time.
With this in mind, RAF Waddington has been chosen as the Red Arrows, new home with a planned move date of 2011. By this time, only four RAF flying stations within the county's borders will still exist (hopefully), namely Barkston Heath, Cranwell, Coningsby and, of course, Waddington.
‘To Serve Was Their Highest Aim'
A brief history of RAF Ludford Magna
For the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, 2008
The demand for new airfields for of the three main Royal Air Force commands throughout the United Kingdom was incredible high during the first three years of the Second World War. Site upon site was surveyed by anonymous Air Ministry officials, many of them on the eastern side of the country and particularly Lincolnshire. One such survey took place in late 1940 to south of two small villages, known at the time as Ludford Parva and Ludford Magna. A large area of land, sandwiched between the Caistor High Street to the west and Girsby Lane to the east was where a triple concrete runway airfield was first planned. The main runway was planned at 1400yds with two subsidiaries at 1100yds each, perfectly adequate for fighter aircraft at the time but on the margin for a fully loaded Blenheim, Hampden or Wellington. Months and eventually years rolled by without any sign of a new airfield being built but in February 1942 Bomber Command received a new Commander-in-Chief. Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris was committed to reorganizing and expanding the capabilities of his new command and initially this meant more bombers, which equated to more squadrons which obviously needed more airfields.
Ludford Magna was chosen as one of these new airfields within 1 Group, Bomber Command and task of building it fell upon George Wimpey & Co. Ltd plus the usual plethora of sub-contractors. At 428 feet above sea level, Ludford Magna would become the RAFs highest bomber station during the Second World War. Work began in the summer of 1942 on the 650-acre site. The initial work resulted in the demolition of High Fields Farm, the uprooting of Harpgates Plantation, the removal of the top of a windmill north of Ludford Magna plus the removal of a variety of minor roads and footpaths which crossed the site. Three runways as originally planned where to be laid but a new standard Bomber Command specification was applied. This now meant that the main runway was 2000yds in length with the two subsidiary runways at 1400yds each, all connected by a single-track perimeter track. The main runway ran from north to side, one subsidiary ran from east to west and the third followed the line of Caistor High Street. Off the perimeter track were connected 36 Frying Pan and Spectacle dispersals and the usual maze of connecting roads. The main technical site was located on the northwestern side of the airfield; fronted by a Type 12779 control tower. One Type T2 and a single Type B1 hangar were behind, plus a clutch of technical and administration buildings. The main gate was located off Sixhills Lane, and just off this road was built a substantial brick built Operations Block, one of only few permanent constructions on the airfield. Only the Station Gymnasium, Education Block and Parachute Store were also made of brick, the bulk of the airfields buildings being of temporary Nissen hut design. Another major technical area was located on the western side of the airfield, south of Sixhills Walk Farm and across the Caistor High Street. Seven Frying Pan dispersals were also on the western side of the road, resulting in the road often closing while aircraft were either taxied or towed across. A further four Type T2 hangars were built on this spot which was officially know as the Base Technical Area. A single Type T2 on the eastern side of the airfield provided further hangarage and a substantial bomb dump was built on the southeastern edge. All personnel accommodation was constructed in ten dispersed Nissen hut sites positioned, inconveniently on the north side of Ludford Parva and Magna. Quite a distance for those airmen who worked in the bomb dump and a bike was fairly essential.
By late spring 1943 the airfield was ready for occupation, but as with so many other wartime build sites, many buildings were far from ready. Further north, at Holme-on-Spalding Moor in Yorkshire preparations were beginning for the departure of its resident unit, 101 Squadron. An advance party was the first RAF personnel to arrive at Ludford Magna on the 4th June 1943 followed by the main party, under the command of Wg Cdr Reddick AFC on the 15th June. Station Headquarters was quickly established and Ludfords first Station Commander, Gp Capt R S Blucke AFC was already at the helm. Over 1500 airmen flooded into the airfield, followed the same day by 26 Avro Lancaster Is and IIIs. 101 Squadron had been operating the Lancaster since October 1942 and it would continue to fly the iconic aircraft until August 1946. First formed as night bomber squadron back in December 1917, the unit saw considerable action before being disbanded a mere two years later. Reformed at Bircham Newton in 1928, once again as a bomber unit, the squadron operated the Boulton Paul Sidestrand and later the Overstrand before conversion to the relatively modern Bristol Blenheim. It was with this type that the squadron first saw action during the Second World War in July 1940 from West Raynham and detachments at Manston. Postings to Oakington, Bourn and Stradishall followed before the unit moved to Yorkshire.
Within four days of the main squadron arriving, the personnel strength was up to 1750 and an immediate lack of finished accommodation was proving to be a major problem. While domestic sites were being franticly finished off, airmen had to bed down in any building that was finished, such as the messes, sick quarters and education block.
Despite the uncomfortable living conditions for many airmen, the squadron was fully operational by the 18th June and 26 aircraft were made serviceable for the first Ludford Magna operation on the night of 21/22nd June 1943. The target was Krefeld with over 700 aircraft taking part in a very effective raid which 24 of 101 Squadrons Lancasters claimed to have bombed the primary target. Sadly it did not go without loss; 44 aircraft failed to return home including 101 Squadron Lancaster I ED650 which crashed near Mönchengladbach with the loss of all onboard.
Ludford became the parent unit of 233 Maintenance Unit based at Market Stainton on the 25th June. This Explosives Storage Unit supplied ordnance to several heavy bomber bases in the area, including Ludford. A large proportion of the unit's bombs were stored along the edge of Caistor High Street, reducing the risk of a chain of explosions if the unit should ever be attacked from the air or even sabotaged.
From that first Krefeld raid, 101 Squadron hit the ground running and took part in almost every significant major bomber raid including the beginning of the Battle of Hamburg attack on the night of 24/25th July. Nearly 800 bombers took part including 24 from Ludford on this ground breaking operation which used the effective but simple method of using ‘Window' for the first time. Made up of thin strips of aluminum foil and paper, ‘Window' when dropped in concentrated bundles played havoc with the enemies ground and air radar sets. It is a fair assumption that ‘Window' played a key part in the fact that only 12 aircraft were lost on this successful and all of 101 Squadrons aircraft returned back to Ludford safely.
While ‘Window' was very effective over the target, it could not deter the enemy night fighter threat for a long period of time. A new RDF (Radar Direction Finding) system, known as ‘Monica' was trialed with 101 Squadron in late July 1943. Fitted in the rear fuselage of three of the units Lancasters, the system was designed to give an early warning of a night fighter approached from the rear. Of the three aircraft fitted with ‘Monica', one was lost on operations and the other two initially suffered with a variety of technical faults. However, the crews soon got the measure of the equipment and found the system quite effective. But ‘Monica' was short lived simply because, the enemy night fighter crews became very efficient at tuning into the signals that the system was omitting. This was the problem with virtually all systems of similar design during the Second World War and would never be fully cured.
In an attempt to cure the problem with transmitting a signal, seven of 101 Squadrons Lancasters were fitted with another new defence system known as ‘Boozer'. The device was a receiver which could detect whether the aircraft was being held in the beam of a enemy night fighter or being plotted by a ground radar. ‘Boozer' depended upon a system of lights; a yellow light indicated an enemy fighter and a red lamp displayed a contact with a ground installation. The reality was that so many enemy transmissions were being emitted that both lights were virtually on all the time the aircraft was over enemy territory. Because of this most crews simply switched the sets off.
Continuing the RCM (Radar Counter Measures) theme, the boffins at the TRE (Telecommunications Research Establishment), Malvern were continually coming up with new ideas to combat the increasingly efficient enemy night fighter control systems. 101 Squadrons involvement with another new system began, indirectly on the Suffolk coast in late July 1943. A large jamming transmitter known as ‘Ground Cigar' was built at Sizewell and this operated 24 hours a day jamming the whole of the 38-42 MHz band known to be used German night fighters. While early signs were encouraging, the transmitter was not disrupting the enemy enough and it was quickly becoming obvious that the system needed to be airborne, where it was envisaged to be far more effective. A single Bomber Command squadron was to be allocated the new RCM role and would operate within the main part of the bomber stream. This highly responsible task was given to 101 Squadron and the new system was known as ABC or ‘Airborne Cigar'.
The ABC needed an additional crewmember (known as a Special Duties Operator (SDO)) to operate the system, and the area behind the main spar (emergency couch area) was converted to accommodate the new equipment. Externally, three aerials, approximately seven feet long were fitted to the aircraft, two along the spine and a third under the forward fuselage.
Commonly referred to as Specials, the German-speaking SDOs were unique to 101 Squadron and its eight-man crews. They commonly wore the ‘S' half wing on their tunics, similar to the later war-trained WOPAgs, but without the ‘sparks' badges above where NCOs would have their stripes. Their role was to jam the radio transmissions made by the German night fighters' ground-based controllers.
The ABC equipment consisted of a panoramic receiver and three transmitters. The receiver could pick up all 24 different frequencies being used by the (then) crystal-controlled VHF sets. Its eight crystals each covered the three wavebands (30-33 MHz, 38.3-42.5 MHz and 48-52 MHz) used by the German night fighter crews to receive the necessary information about the bomber stream's location. Once the SDO was able to use his German language skills to find an active controller frequency, he put down a key connected to one of his three transmitters, which broadcast engine noise on that frequency and effectively jammed it over a range of approximately 50 miles. He then repeated the process until he had his three transmitters jamming three German frequencies. In theory, eight of 101 Squadrons Lancasters could cover all 24 frequencies in use during the night, but there were usually more than eight of the squadron's aircraft in every stream.
Ex 101 Squadron F/Sgt WOPAg John Fletcher RAAF, recalled: "Our Special had escaped from Germany to Canada with his Jewish family in 1936, hence his RCAF status. He was 19 when he joined us and already spoke six languages. He needed his sense of humour when contemplating his particular fate had we been shot down. Those thoughts were uppermost one night when we were caught in a blue light master beam controlled cone of searchlights over Potsdam, his birth place, but luckily we escaped with a spiral dive from 20,000 feet to be flying straight and level at 500 feet...but that's another story."
It was on the night of the 7/8th October 1943 over Stuttgart that 101 Squadron used its ABC for the first time. A force of 343 Lancasters from 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8 Groups took part in the attack which also had the added protection of a Mosquito diversion operation to Munich. The raid was a success and only four Lancasters were lost, none of them from Ludford.
Ludford, as with virtually all bomber stations of the period was designed to accommodate two bomber squadrons. By the beginning of November 1943, plans to form a second unit were well under way. The new unit was to be 576 Squadron and the nucleus of its formation was to come from ‘C' Flight of 101 Squadron. Orders were received stating that the new squadron will be formed by the 25th November and additional equipment began to arrive on station throughout the month. In the end, 576 Squadron was actually formed at Elsham Wolds and all the effort and equipment that had been brought in was transferred further north. Ludford would never receive a second squadron during wartime but the size and capability of the airfield would steadily grow. The airfield did gain another unit on the 25th November in the shape of No.9101 Servicing Echelon formed out of 101 Squadron.
As units and airfields were on the increase during 1943, it was becoming more difficult to control all squadrons from a single group head quarters. To improve this situation a base system was introduced where a single airfield would control the operations of up to three other airfields and their squadrons. This task was usually handed to a prewar, well-facilitated airfield but Ludford broke this rule when it became the headquarters of No.14 Base on the 16th December 1943.
The Station Commander, Gp Capt R S Blucke was promoted to Air Commodore and appointed as base commander from the 1st January 1944. He was replaced by Gp Capt B J R King as station commander and several other senior staff officers were posted in to man 14 Base Headquarters. 14 Base was responsible for the operations of 300 Squadron at Faldingworth and 12 and later 626 Squadrons at Wickenby. On the night of the 20/21st January the Base Operations Room functioned for the first time. 46 Lancasters from 14 Base was despatched along with 723 other aircraft on a raid to Berlin. This well publicized raid actually resulted in an article on 101 Squadron in ‘Illustrated' magazine two weeks after this raid. Censorship at the time did not give away the fact that the aircrew, aircraft and airfield was in fact Ludford Magna but the mud alone gave the game away to many.
Ludford was also selected to be the first airfield within 1 Group to be equipped with FIDO (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation or Fog, Intensive Dispersal Of). The airfields new ABC role justified its existence but drainage problems and continuous flooding hampered the contractor's work. Monk Construction and Strong Arc Welding of Lincoln were moved to Fiskerton while Ludfords problems were rectified. Eventually, by January 1944 FIDO was up and running and was used operationally for the first time on the 10th March 1944 when several 50 Squadron Lancasters from Skellingthorpe were diverted to Ludford. As its name implies, FIDO was designed to move fog, but being well over 400ft above sea level, Ludford regularly encountered low cloud. Combined with the winds that were common to the Lincolnshire Wolds, FIDO was rarely effective.
By early 1944, the Battle of Berlin was drawing to a close and attention was being diverted from the German capital to targets elsewhere. A large raid on the night of 30/31st March 1944 against Nuremberg should have been cancelled if report from a Meteorological Flight Mosquito had been adhered to. A force of 795 bombers were assembled for the raid and with 26 aircraft taking part, 101 Squadron was ominously the largest contributor. While the Met Office at home predicted a layer of protective cloud, the Mosquito crew reported that it was unlikely to be present during the raid. Despite this the raid went ahead as planned as well as two smaller diversion raids. The latter operations failed to draw away any German night fighters and in the moon lit night, 82 bombers were shot down before reaching the target. 95 bombers were lost in total that grim night, 11.9% of the force which infamously became the biggest Bomber Command loss in a single raid during the entire Second World War. Seven of these aircraft were from Ludford and a five were shot down by night fighters, and a sixth was brought down by a Halifax outbound from the target. A seventh crashed trying to land at Welford in Berkshire with the loss of all-onboard. 47 aircrew were dead, six became POWs and one, Sgt D Brinkhurst managed to evade capture via Switzerland. The squadron was well used to losing the odd aircraft on a raid, but this high loss rate came as shock to all personnel who served at Ludford.
Focus began to turn towards the furture invasion of Europe and targets in Northern France were becoming commonplace. Daylight raids were on the increase and so was the demand for the ABC equipped Lancasters by other Bomber Command Groups. On many occasions when 1 Group was stood down, 101 Squadron would still be flying in support of others.
Although originally organised in January, No.14 Base Major Servicing Section (BMSS) was officially formed on the 15th April 1944. The units work ranged from full servicing, supply of reconditioned power plants, modifications and minor repairs. New aircraft that arrived for 101 Squadron and 300 Squadron at Faldingworth passed through Ludford first to make sure each aircraft was fully up to date with all current modifications. By July, the BMSS was handling all Wickenby based aircraft as well. On receipt of a new aircraft from the manufacturers for 101 Squadron, the BMSS personnel had to first remove the H2S equipment and then the aircraft was flown to St Athan in South Wales for the ABC kit to be fitted. New aircraft would on average spend two and half days in the BMSS and up to ten days at St Athan before entering squadron service.
The standard rear turret on a Lancaster was the Fraser Nash with four 0.303 inch (rifle calibre) machine guns. Since taking over Bomber Command, Sir Arthur Harris was always frustrated by the poor quality of his bombers defensive armament. When a new gun turret was designed by Gainsborough based, Rose Brothers it was wholeheartedly supported by Harris and many senior personnel of Bomber Command. The new Rose turret was fitted with to two heavy calibre 0.5 inch Browning machine guns, was easy to control, had more room for the gunner and better vision. Six aircraft of 101 Squadron were the first in Bomber Command to receive the new turret but frustratingly only 180 were built and installed in 1 Group Lancasters before the end of the war. The rear gunner of Lancaster SR-H, Sgt Trevor claimed the first kill on the squadron using the new turret by shooting down a Junkers Ju88 during an attack on Villeneuve on the 4/5th July 1944.
By late 1944, no new ABC equipped aircraft were to be allocated to 101 Squadron. The previous year, 100 Group was formed specifically with the task of performing the increasingly complex tasks of electronic warfare and radio countermeasures. It was to this Group that 101 were supposed to pass its commitment to, but the ABC/RCM role never left the squadron. The last raid the squadron provided ABC cover was over Bertchesgarden on the 25th April 1945; this was also the last offensive operation by the squadron during the Second World War.
The winter of 1944/45 was pretty tough for all personnel and keeping going in a freezing Nissen hut resulted in many resourceful activities. Ex-101 Squadron WOPAg, Flt Sgt John Fletcher RAAF, recalled how, for a short time in the worst of the very cold winter, some airmen had the comfort of a warm fire inside their normally freezing Nissen huts. On Christmas Eve, building contractors, using a Steam Roller on road work within the camp residential sites dumped a pile of coal near his hut. When the contractors returned to work on Boxing Day, ‘thieves' had struck! All their coal had vanished! The occupants of every hut in the vicinity had their bins, usually containing the far less efficient coke, now filled with coal, covered by a layer of coke for the benefit of the hut inspector's eyes. The stoves at the centre of each hut were far more efficient when burning coal rather than coke, bringing some welcome Christmas warmth to those living inside. ‘The powers that be' understood of the rigours of a winter on top of the Lincolnshire Wolds and no explanations as to the whereabouts of missing coal were ever sought.
John added: "For the short life of the coal supply, we were able to discard some of the five blankets per man we had mustered to supplement our issue three blankets. The extras having been acquired as crews went missing."
He went on to explain how, when the slightly warmer weather arrived in February, he and his friends ‘discovered' the village of Tealby, the setting for Lord Tennyson's poem The Brook.
"It was about six miles from Ludford," said John, "Well within cycling range, and about halfway between us and Binbrook, where our friends from 460 Squadron RAAF were based, so it was a good central place for us to meet up. Two ‘little old ladies' - sisters, although some claim they were mother and daughter, ran a tea house in the village where tasty snacks could be had for a reasonable price.
Despite the great emphasis on security and 'keeping a still tongue in a wise head for the enemy is listening' advice, these two could give up-to-date and detailed information on any number of your friends, along with their snacks. So much for security!"
"On a visit to Ludford for the 1988 Squadron reunion, I visited Tealby and although the King's Head pub was still there, I couldn't locate the welcoming tea room. It had been demolished and replaced with a modern bungalow. Those ‘little old ladies' probably never knew the pleasure they gave airmen far from home."
During the 1944 Christmas Day broadcast by the Station Commander, just to add to Johns comments he stated "Ludford is not the most delightful of health resorts, in fact it might almost be described as a joke in very bad taste by the Air Ministry at our expense!"
Before the war in Europe was over, 101 Squadron took on the role as transporters for Operation ‘Exodus', the returning of thousands of British POWs from Continent. The squadron also took part in the delivery of food sacks to the Dutch people during Operation ‘Manna'. With the war over, 101 Squadron could look back at its phenomenal contribution to Bomber Commands efforts including 2477 ABC sorties from Ludford, 298 bombing raids for 1 Group made up of 4,895 individual Lancaster sorties since first receiving the type in October 1942. As a direct result of being ABC equipped the unit flew more bombing raids in 1 Group than any other squadron. Sadly, from the beginning of the war the unit lost 171 aircraft of which 113 were Lancasters. 1176 men lost there lives, clearly aggravated by the ABC role which after the war it was discovered that the Germans had developed an electronic counter-measure, which allowed their fighters to home in on the ABC aircrafts' jamming transmissions. The constant noise going out from 101 Squadron aircraft was one of the reasons that the 101 has the unwanted distinction of having the second highest death rate of all Bomber Command squadrons.
101 Squadron left Ludford Magna on the 1st Oct 1945 for a short flight to Binbrook and this once bussling station fell as silent as it did a mere three years earlier. From December 1945 the airfield was taken over by various Maintenance Units including 61, 230, twice by 93 and also by 92 MU. Initially used as a Universal Equipment and a Barrack and Clothing sub-site, Ludford eventually settled into being an open storage area for surplus wartime explosives. It remained in this role until October 1958, when 93 MU departed. Still very much in Air Ministry hands, construction of strange large concrete buildings appeared in the centre of the airfield. Surrounded by a double wire fence with a string security presence, Ludford was to become the home 104 Sqn with the Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile from the 22nd July 1958 to 24th May 1963. After the departure of the Thor, Ludford Magna was quickly sold off in the summer of 1964 and by the early 1970s most of the runways had been lifted for hardcore.
Today, the almost unmovable Thor launch pads dominate the middle of the airfield while thin strips of runway and perimeter track still remain. The well-constructed base operations building concludes virtually all the remaining buildings on the old airfield site. However, many of those cold Nissen huts located to the north of the village still remain and are in use for a variety of purposes. A memorial to the many who lost their lives serving with 101 Squadron at Ludford Magna is in the centre of the village and a squadron role of honour is held inside the village church.
‘1080 Men for 1 Group'
A Snapshot of RAF Wickenby 1942 to 1959
For the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, 2007
During late 1940 and early 1941, the country and in particular the county of Lincolnshire was being explored for sites capable of facilitating the construction of an airfield. The sight of suited officials pondering open fields with maps laid upon the bonnet of a car was not uncommon.
It was during the winter months of 1941 that the Air Ministry surveyed land between the villages of Snelland, Holton, Fulnetby and Wickenby for a potential airfield for the use of Bomber Command. The command and in particularly 1 Group was desperate for more airfields as the amount of operational squadrons increased in an effort to carry the war to the enemy.
The land was quickly requisitioned and the road from Snelland to Holton had to be closed. Construction, by McAlpines began in late 1941 on the typical ‘A' Class bomber airfield. The requirement for such a standard of airfield was for a single 2,000 yard runway, a pair of 1,400 yard runways, 36 heavy bomber ‘pan' type dispersals plus a pair of Type T2 and a single Type B1 hangar. Other technical buildings included the construction of a Type 12096 Control Tower (designed for night fighter airfields) plus a large amount of temporary accommodation, capable of housing 1788 male and 287 female personnel dispersed in various locations around the airfield perimeter.
By the summer of 1942, the airfield was on the verge of completion and in preparation for the arrival of its first operational unit. The highly experienced 12 Squadron based at Binbrook arrived with their Vickers Wellington II and IIIs on the 25th September 1942. Originally formed at Netheravon, Wiltshire in 1915, the squadron had only endured a disbandment period of nine months from July 1922 before reforming again as a bomber squadron. At the start of the Second World War the squadron was equipped with the Fairey Battle light bomber. It was these by now obsolete machines that 12 Squadron entered France with on the 2nd September 1939. Serving as part of 76 Wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force it was the action of three aircraft and their brave crews on the 12th May 1940 that secured the first RAF VCs of the Second World War. The target was an enemy held metal bridge at Veldwezelt and it was Flg Off D E Garland and his observer Sgt T Gray who were credited with destroying one truss of the bridge. All three aircraft that attacked the bridge were shot down including Garlands aircraft, P2204. Garland, Gray and LAC L R Reynolds were all killed.
Virtually without interruption, the Wellingtons of 12 Squadron continued operations where they had left off at Binbrook. Several aircraft made the first operational sortie from Wickenby on the 25/26th September by mine laying (Gardening) around the Frisian Islands. While the first operation from their new home was carried out without loss the following evening set the tone for the future at Wickenby. 52 Wellingtons and 19 Stirlings were tasked to lay mines in the Frisians and off Denmark. Sadly, the only aircraft lost was BJ776 flown by Flg Off J S Ward RAAF and his all-Australian crew. The bomber and its crew were lost without trace. The squadron was destined to lose five more Wellingtons on operations during October 1942 before re-equipped with the much-anticipated Avro Lancaster. The majority of 12 Squadrons old Wellingtons were used to form the nucleus of 199 Squadron at Blyton. The last attempted to leave the airfield on the 18th March only to have an engine fail on take off; the bomber crash landing on the edge of the airfield.
The first Lancasters arrived at Wickenby on the 2nd November 1942 and over the next five weeks both air and ground crews quickly became familiar with their new aircraft. Though not officially recognised as existing, a 12 Squadron Conversion Flight was briefly formed. The flight was run by Sqn Ldr G D Graham and Flt Sgt F F Fahey from 460 Squadron at Breighton, Yorkshire who were trained and qualified as instructors for conversion to the Lancaster. Sqn Ldr Graham was awarded the AFC and Flt Sgt Fahey the AFM for their efficiency in converting the 12 Squadron crews to the Lancaster.
It is not clear when 12 Squadron flew their first operational sortie with the Lancaster. Some sources suggest that a few aircraft joined the 82 strong attack on Turin on the 11/12th December 1942. What is clear, to gain operational experience, 12 Squadron took part in several Gardening operations throughout December and into the New Year. It was on one such operation on the 8/9th January 1943 that 12 Squadron lost its first Lancaster. Sgt D C Marshall RCAF and his crew of seven in Lancaster I W4371 was tasked with laying mines in the ‘Nectarines' (Frisian Islands) region along with 72 other aircraft. Three Lancasters where lost that night including W4371. Marshall and his crew, where so often the case whilst operating over the sea, was lost without trace. Their names are now amongst the 20,389 which adorn the Runnymede Memorial.
It was the night of the 11/12th January 1943 when the squadron is confirmed as having taken part in the first major Lancaster raid from Wickenby. Led by four Pathfinder Mosquitoes, nine 12 Squadron aircraft joined with 63 Lancasters from 1 and 5 Groups on an attack against Essen. Details of the success of this raid, if any are sketchy but the only aircraft to be lost belonged to 12 Squadron. Flt Sgt F W Baker, the skipper of W4369 was hit by flak and crashed near Duisburg. Of the seven crew only Sgt L W Keating and J V Richards survived to spend the rest of the war as POWs.
The target of Berlin would send a shudder down the spine of all but the most hardened of aircrew. It was an important target which, was destined to receive the unwelcome attention of Bomber Command throughout the Second World War. 170 Lancasters and 17 Halifaxes took part in the attack on Berlin on the 17/18th January. The previous night over 200 aircraft had attacked the German capital. While the attack was not classed as a huge success, only a single 5 Group Lancaster was lost and only light flak defences were reported. On this raid though the planners unwisely sent the bombers down exactly same route as the previous evening and the attacking force would suffer the consequences. The German night fighters were able to find the bomber stream without difficulty and before the night was out 19 Lancasters and three Halifaxes had been shot down. Four of those Lancasters were sadly from Wickenby leaving 21 aircrew dead although the seven crew of W4368 managed to bail out and become POWs.
The frequency of operations began to increase as more ‘factory-fresh' Lancasters arrived on the airfield. Traditionally every RAF squadron was made up of Flights, usually labelled ‘A' and ‘B' Flight. By April 1943 the squadron had grown to such an extent that a third ‘C' Flight was also formed on the 9th April. With 27 Lancasters now on strength, a re-organisation of the rapidly growing amount of Bomber Command airfields was implemented from the end of April 1943. A Base system was introduced where a more established, usually a pre-war expansion type airfield controlled several other airfields within the vicinity. Administration of personnel, organisation of raids and intelligence gathering centres was the main reasoning behind the new system. For example, while every unit retained their own Intelligence Officer, their reports would be despatched to the Base Headquarters for analysis and then onto to 1 Group Bomber Command Head quarters at Bawtry in Nottinghamshire. The late comedian Michael Bentine was an Intelligence Officer for 12 Squadron during 1943 and 1944. To quote from his book ‘The Long Banana Skin' he recalled, "I could always tell those who were not going to come back.........There was a special look in their eyes...."
No.12 Base was formed on the 25th April in 1 Group at Binbrook where by now 460 Squadron was in residence. As well as Wickenby, 12 Base controlled 100 Squadron at Grimsby and 625 Squadron Kelstern.
The largest Gardening operation of the Second World War that took place on the night of the 28/29th April 1943 was also a grim night for 12 Squadron. A force of 207 aircraft, made up of Lancasters, Halifaxes, Wellingtons and Stirlings laid 593 mines off Heligoland, the River Elbe and the Great and Little Belts. While the planting of so many mines was a great success, low cloud forced many aircraft to fly low making them vulnerable to several light flak positions. This resulted in the greatest loss of aircraft during a mine laying operation. 22 aircraft where shot down, and tragically once again including four Lancasters from Wickenby with the loss of all 28 aircrew. This was the second time within a four-month period that the squadron had lost four crews in a single operation.
14 Lancasters were made serviceable for a large raid on Bochum on the 14/15th May 1943. The 442 aircraft involved in the raid caused considerable damage to the city but once again not without loss to 12 Squadron. As dawn broke on the 15th May, two Lancasters where missing from their dispersals. The two aircraft were W4366 skippered by Sgt F W Morgan RAAF and R5688 flown by Sgt C V Scott. When it was obvious that there was little hope of the aircraft returning a homing pigeon flew into Wickenby. A pigeon was carried on every flight and this one was from Sgt Scott's aircraft. A massive search of the North Sea was launched and remarkably after five days of searching all seven aircrew were found safe and well in their dinghy after ditching a mere ten miles off the Belgium coast. Rescued by a Royal Navy minesweeper the airmen were landed at Dover and treated for the effects of exposure. Thanks to that pigeon they all lived to fly another day.
Raids on the Ruhr were almost a daily event by the middle of 1943. Losses were expected by all squadrons on such trips but the raid on Düsseldorf was another blow to the morale of 12 Squadron. 24 Lancasters were prepared for the raid which totalled a force of 783 bombers led by Pathfinder Mosquitoes. The attack on the city was devastating with over 130 acres of the central area destroyed making it the worst attack since the start of war on Düsseldorf. This was balanced out by the loss off 38 aircraft including no less than five from Wickenby. Out of the 35 aircrew only three survived to become POWs. Two of them, Sgt W T Pingle & C W A Sparling both RCAF bailed out of Lancaster I ED357 over the IJsselmeer after a fatal attack by a night fighter. In 1964 during land reclamation work the wreckage of ED357 was recovered and one of the propellers now stands in front of the town hall at Dronten. This was by far the worse loss rate of 1943 for 12 Squadron and by the years end 66 crews had either been reported missing or had been involved in operational crashes.
By October 12 Squadron was of sufficient size to warrant the formation of another unit. So, 626 Squadron was born from ‘C' Flight of 12 Squadron on the 7th November 1943. Wile the core of the new squadron was made up of 12 Squadron personnel and aircraft, within days airmen fresh from training and postings from other bomber squadrons began to swell 626 Squadron. With so much experience already onboard 626 Squadron took part in its first operational only three days after forming on the night of the 10/11th November 1943. The target was the railway yards at Modane and all seven aircraft that took part returned back to Wickenby safely.
The same day 626 Squadron was formed the engineering activities on the airfield was also reorganised. No.9012 Servicing Echelon was formed specifically to look after 12 Squadrons Lancaster and 9626 Servicing Echelon performed the same function for 626 Squadron. These echelons remained in place until the 28th August 1944 when a centralised engineering wing system began to be introduced. The airfield as whole was also reorganised. Since the 1st October 1943, Wickenby had become sub-station of Ludford Magna. On the 16th December No.14 Base was formed with Ludford Magna as the controlling station and Wickenby along 300 Squadron at Faldingworth under its control.
From the night of the 18/19th November 1943 to the 31st March 1944, Sir Arthur Harris launched the unofficially titled Battle of Berlin. Over the next four and half months, Harris mounted 16 attacks against the German capital and 16 more on other large cities. Both 12 and 626 Squadrons would be involved in the majority of these raids and it was over Berlin on the 26/27th November that 626 Squadron suffered its first losses. Five Wickenby aircraft were lost or written off that night but only one, DV388 of 626 Squadron flown by Flt Sgt C J E Kindt RCAF crashed in Germany killing all seven crew. Two more 626 machines crashed in the Britain; DV295 undershot its approach into Marham killing all onboard and LM362 also undershot into Wickenby, crash landing near Lissington with no injuries to the crew. Two 12 Squadron aircraft were also written off at Wickenby on return with no injuries incurred to either crew.
During the intense Berlin raids period 12 Squadron lost 18 aircraft and 626 Squadron lost 12 aircraft whilst attacking the strategically important but costly capital of Germany. A further 13 aircraft were lost attacking other major cities including Stettin, Leipzig, Augsburg and Stuttgart.
The long awaited invasion of Europe was creeping closer and reluctantly Sir Arthur Harris switched his bombing campaign to targets in Northern France. Targets including railway yards, gun emplacements and troop concentrations including barracks. One particular large German military camp was singled out on the 3/4th May 1944. 346 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitos attacked Mailly-Le-Camp led by ‘Marker Leader' Wg Cdr L Cheshire. While approximately 1,500 tons of bombs were dropped with great accuracy on the target, initial disorganisation resulted in part of the attacking force lagging behind. This group was mainly made up of 1 Group aircraft including 12 & 626 Squadron which fell foul of a concentrated night-fighter attack. An alarming 42 Lancasters were lost, 11.6% of the force and this including four Lancasters from 12 Squadron and three from 626 Squadron. 42 aircrew lost their lives, two became POWs and a further six managed to evade capture. A further seven aircraft which managed to return to Wickenby were seriously damaged.
Wickenby's contribution to the war was significant by mid 1944. The two squadrons on average could boast no less than 36 Lancasters at a time being despatched on sorties. This total peaked on the 12/13th June when 42 aircraft were sent to Gelsenkirchen. The target, the first of a new oil campaign, was the Nordstern Synthetic-oil plant. 303 aircraft took part in the Pathfinder Mosquito led attack which was carried out with impressive accuracy. 17 Lancasters failed to return including Lancaster III PA986 of 12 Squadron with the loss of Plt Off A Williams DFC and his crew.
Sir Arthur Harris was tasked with showing Germany how the allied forces had gained supreme aerial superiority on the 14th October 1944. Operation Hurricane was designed to achieve, in the shortest possible time scale, the despatch of as many RAF and 8th Air Force bombers against various targets within the densely populated Ruhr. The raid was also to be carried in daylight, demonstrating to the increasingly demoralised German public how their chances of victory were slipping away. The RAF managed to despatch 1,013 aircraft to Duisburg and the Americans effort resulted in 1,251 bombers attacking targets in the Cologne area. Flying with Wg Cdr M Stockdale the commanding officer of 12 Squadron was the BBC's Richard Dimbleby who described the sight of Duisburg being bombers as "disappeared under a filthy billowing brown bulge of smoke." Enemy flak managed to bring down 14 bombers but the ten squadrons of escorting Spitfires resulted in no sign of the Luftwaffe. Wickenby lost four bombers on this daylight trip, three from 12 Squadron and one from 626 Squadron. One of the bombers lost that day was Lancaster I ME788 piloted by Flg Off C Henry. After take off an engine caught fire and after being refused permission to land back at Wickenby the bomber was ordered to drop its bombs in the North Sea and ditch the Lancaster off the Lincolnshire coast. Henry dumped his bomb load as instructed off Mablethorpe, a little too close for those residents whose windows were blown out by the blast! He then carried out a copybook ditching and all of the crew were rescued not long after, relatively unscathed. The same evening a further 1,005 RAF bombers were despatched to Duisburg again. This remarkable show of force resulted in nearly 9,000 tons of bombs being dropped on the city in less than 48 hours.
The beginning of a routine raid on Koblenz during the evening of the 22nd December 1944 resulted in the station being shook to its core. Lancaster I NG244 ‘UM-E2' with the call sign ‘Easy Two' of 626 Squadron was one of 19 aircraft joining a force of 168 aircraft on an attack against the Mosel railway yards. A few moments after take off, the pilot, Flg Off R R Preece suffered a port inner engine failure and he had no choice but to abandon the sortie. In deteriorating weather conditions Preece decided to return to Wickenby but was advised to divert to Leeming in Yorkshire instead. It was not long after this communication that an explosion shook the station and radio contact was lost with ‘Easy Two'. It is presumed that the heavily laden bomber stalled while turning over the airfield. NG244 crashed into dump bays on the very edge of the airfields main bomb dump and to quote from the ORB; ‘an enormous crater was made and the bomb dump was lucky not to have received a direct hit.' Ground personnel worked frantically to move as many bombs away from the crash scene and at one point it was thought that the surrounding villages would have to be evacuated. Because of the ferocity of the impact very little trace of all seven crewmembers were found. Today a single grave with single coffin is buried in Market Rasen cemetery simply title ‘An Airman of the 1939-1945 War'. As if to highlight how dangerous a place a bomb dump was. Three armourers were also killed in the Wickenby dump in January 1945 when a bomb prematurely exploded.
Despite the fact the war in Europe was drawing to close, the loss rate did not ease for Wickenby's Lancaster crews. On the night of the 16/17th March 1945 the last heavy Bomber Command raid took place on Nuremburg. The bulk of the raid was made up of 1 Group Lancasters and it was these aircraft that took the brunt of an efficient attack by German night fighters. 24 Lancasters were brought down including five from 12 Squadron and two from 626 Squadron. Another 626 Squadron Lancaster was lost over Nordhausen on the 3rd April and the operational bloodshed finally came to end on the 4/5th April 1945. One Lancaster from 12 Squadron and two others from 626 Squadron marked the end of Wickenby's high wartime loss rate.
12 Squadrons wartime record was remarkable. The unit carried out continuous service as a bomber squadron since war broke out but infamously also boasted the second highest percentage losses in Bomber Command, as well as the highest percentage losses in 1 Group. 626 Squadrons wartime record was also impressive considering it was young squadron. The unit flew 2,728 Lancaster sorties from Wickenby for the loss of 49 aircraft in 187 bombing and 18 mine laying raids.
Post war both squadrons were involved in Operation Manna, Exodus and Dodge. It was on the latter operation that Wickenby's final loss occurred on the 7th August 1945. Plt Off C R Chancellor and five crew of 626 Squadron were killed when their Lancaster I RF159 crashed at Carcassone near Toulouse in Southern France.
12 Squadron remained at Wickenby until the 24th September 1945 when it returned to Binbrook. The squadron went on to convert to the Lincoln, Canberra, Vulcan, Buccaneer and today still remains a bomber squadron with the Tornado GR.4. 626 Squadron was never destined to leave Wickenby during its entire existence and was disbanded where it started on the 14th October 1945. A few days later 109 Squadron operating the Mosquito XVI moved in from Woodhall Spa but only stayed until the 26th November when they moved to Hemswell. This was the military final flying chapter for Wickenby; 14 Base was disbanded and the airfield was handed over to 40 Group Maintenance Command.
The airfield was destined to spend a further eleven years as an RAF station. Firstly as a sub-site for 61 MU (Aircraft Equipment Depot) from the 21st December 1945 to 1st November 1949 and 233 MU, from the 4th September 1948 to the 1st December 1948. Wickenby then spent its remaining years handling thousands of tons of surplus wartime ordnance and so 93 MU (Explosives and Ammunition Holding Unit) was reformed at the airfield on the 1st January 1949. The main unit moved to Newton in January 1951 to make room for 92 MU and Wickenby became a sub-site until the 30th April 1956. 92 MU was reformed as an Explosives Storage Depot with a host of sub-sites at Faldingworth, Goxhill, Ludford Magna, Skellingthorpe and Woodhall Spa. This was to be the last military unit when it was disbanded on the 20th September 1956. Not long after the airfield was officially closed but the land was retained by the Ministry of Defence until the 1960s.
In 1963 aviation returned in the shape of the Links Air Touring Group operating a few Austers and Percival Proctors. New hangars were built in 1968 and the civilian airfield utilized two sections of the two shorter subsidiary runways north of the re-opened Snelland/Holton road. Renamed Wickenby Flying Club in 1972, the group was able to purchase the land being used and by mid-1973 the airfield was fully licensed and complete with maintenance facilities. Ever since civilian flying has steadily grown and the airfield supports several aviation related companies.
Several wartime buildings remain including a re-clad Type T2 and B1 hangar; both in use. The usual collection of Nissen huts are scattered around in various states of repair. Back in the 1970s the late Jack Currie filmed the BBC Lancaster Legend programme. One of the surviving Nissen huts on land owned by Martin Farley was externally in near perfect condition and was used as one of the props for the programme. Sadly like so many others, this particular building has succumbed to time and the elements.
Memories of the men who served at Wickenby will live on because of the effort made to preserve the control tower. It contains a superb museum to the men of 12 and 626 Squadrons and the Second World War atmosphere still lives on within the building. On entering the flying club a very striking memorial to those 1080 men who gave their lives flying from Wickenby has been also been erected.
JETSTAR!
Lockheed's Classic Executive
The World's First Dedicated Business Jet
For the Airliner World 2007 (Full un-butchered version!)
In today's fast moving corporate world of air travel, the business jet is something that is taken for granted. They are a common sight at all regional and international airports and provide a useful service (to those who can afford it) for travelling the globe without the hassles of a regular scheduled flight.
Personally, I compare the identification of the average ‘biz jet' in the 21st Century to cars; ‘they all look the same!' As a youth, like so many others, I could probably identify just about every vehicle on the road from just a glimpse of a tail light. This was also true of business jets which all had their own unique features but today seemed to be lumped under the same CRJ type and, to me, look very similar to each other.
Back in the mid 1950s, there were no such problems with identifying a business jet, simply because neither the term nor the aircraft existed.
Our story actually begins back in 1944 when Lockheed began design studies which looked into the possibility of airliners being fitted with turbojets. Various designs were considered and great emphasis was placed on the positioning of the engines. Power plant configurations included an under fuselage pod, wing-mounted pods, nacelles in the wing roots and there was even the radical proposal of engines mounted in staggered pairs on the rear fuselage. The company settled for a low wing design in 1951, designated the L-193. With its swept wings, engines mounted at the rear and maximum take-off weight of 268,000lb (121,565kg), on paper, the L-193 certainly looked impressive. Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of the company's sales team, no interest in the design let alone orders were attracted from the big airlines of the day and the project was filed away. However, the hard work which had gone into the L-193 would not be wasted.
Studies within the USAF in 1955 concluded that action needed to be taken to replace the aging fleet of utility transport and crew trainer aircraft. Virtually all of these aircraft dated from the Second World War and all were, significantly, piston powered. Jet power was the current and future option for aircraft of this type.
The Korean War had ended in 1953 and, like the previous conflict, proved to be costly not only in personnel and equipment but also financially. Post-Korea the USAF had no funds for the commissioning of prototype aircraft and aircraft manufacturers had to be approached in an economic way. All manufacturers submitting bids for a new aircraft would have to finance the design, construction and flight-testing. The incentive for the winner would be a guaranteed order of no less than 300 aircraft.
On the 1st August 1956, the USAF tendered a proposal, known as a RFP (Request for Proposals) for two specifications. One was for a Utility Trainer Experimental (UTX), the other for a Utility Cargo Experimental (UCX). While the UTX specification warranted a relatively small aircraft, the UCX requirement was for a bigger machine capable of carrying ten crew and at least ten passengers. It should also be capable of 435kts at an altitude of 45,000ft (13,716m) with a range of 1,500 miles (2,775km) and capable of attaining 2,200 miles with auxiliary fuel tanks. The UTX prize was eventually won by the North American Sabreliner, known as the T-39 in military service. It was the UCX that interested Lockheed the most and it would be pitching its bid at this specification.
Two other big American aircraft manufacturers also prepared bids in the UCX category. McDonnell Aircraft Corporation presented the 119/220; a low-wing design with four jet engines mounted in individual pods u
nderneath the wings. It was almost a scaled down version of the B-57 Hustler. The 119/220 achieved the UCX specification of two crew and ten passengers but could also be converted to carry as many as 26 passengers. The Fairchild Aviation Corporation entered the M-185 which was designed with a high wing and was the only entry not to leave the drawing board.
Lockheed's chief engineer Clarence Leonard ‘Kelly' Johnson led the team which would produce the company's attempt at winning the UCX specification. ‘Kelly' Johnson who was head of the company's special projects had already proved his design skills since joining Lockheed in 1933. The Lockheed 10A, P-38 Lightning and Constellation to name a few were already under his belt. Work on the new aircraft would take place in Plant B-6, Burbank, California later known as the ‘Skunk Works'. Work began on the new UCX on the 7th January 1954; the same day Johnson put up a large sign stating ‘First Flight 9am, 4th September 1957 - 241 days left'.
This confident forecast partly owed itself to the fact that the new UCX was based around a smaller version of the L-193 of which all the design work had already been carried out. This did not mean that other design options were not looked at. Podded engines incorporated into the leading edges of the wings were drawn up but eventually the same swept wing and rear mounted engines were favoured. The new aircraft was given the Lockheed designation CL-329 and later the friendlier name of ‘JetStar' was added keeping in tradition with the long list of ‘star' names. Johnson used to like to play around with aircraft designations and this latest machine was no exception. The ‘CL' was for ‘Clarence Leonard' and the ‘329' was the number of days from the drawing board to the day of the first flight.
Once the position of the engines were established and thrust/weight ratios were calculated it was soon realised that no American built engine would be available before the planned maiden flight. The Fairchild J83 and General Electric J85 were still being developed so Johnson had to look further afield for an engine. The Bristol Siddeley Orpheus with 4,850lb of static thrust was about to receive a USA manufacturing licence with the Wright Aeronautical Division of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. In the USA, the Orpheus was to be known as the TJ37 and with twice the power of the J83 and J85 only two would be needed to get the CL-329 aloft. Johnson commented at the time "The Orpheus was so good it was decided at an early date to make all JetStars from serial number two on up capable of using either two Orpheus engines, four J83s or J85s, or four Pratt & Whitney JT12As. The design flexibility of the fuselage pod mounting is so good that this could be done at a built-in weight penalty of only 35lb. Whenever any of the small engines are available, a four-engine JetStar can be built. The Orpheus version, however, is fully competitive in performance - except with one engine out - and will be offered to those who want its lower cost, simplicity and, at least for the time being, better reliability."
The first of two CL-329s, given the construction number (c/n) 1001, was rolled out of Plant B-6 on the 1st August 1957. Throughout August, c/n 1001 was put through a series of ground tests and engine runs to make sure everything worked as the designers had planned. When this work was completed, and still on schedule, the aircraft had its wings and tail unit removed for transportation by road to Edwards Air Force Base a few miles north of the Burbank factory. The CL-329 was reassembled at Edwards and readied for taxying trials which began a mere ten minutes after the crew seats were installed!
The factory-fresh, unpainted finish of the new JetStar was only marked with ‘Lockheed' above the cabin windows, ‘Experimental' under the cockpit windows and the registration N329J on the engine pods; the ‘J' standing for Johnson. At 0858 hours, on the 4th September 1957as planned N329J, with Ray Goudey at the controls, took off from Edwards, just two minutes ahead of the schedule set many months earlier. His co-pilot was Bob Schumacher with flight test engineer Ernie Joiner also on board. Accompanying the JetStar on its maiden flight was a Lockheed SeaStar chase plane with Lockheed Test Pilot Tony Levier at the controls and ‘Kelly' Johnson in the rear keeping a close eye on the performance of N329J. The first flight only lasted 39 minutes but this was enough time to establish that Johnson's team had designed another great aircraft.
All areas of performance exceeded the criteria set down by the original 1956 UCX remit. In a ‘clean' configuration, the aircraft reached Mach 0.92 (625mph) and a maximum altitude of 52,000ft (15,850m). The long range also demanded by the remit was catered for by two sets of external ‘slipper' fuel tanks capable of carrying 249 Imperial Gallons (943 Litres) and 583 Imperial Gallons (2,207 Litres) as optional extras. As their name implies, the tanks were literally attached with the wing passing through the middle of the tank, giving the aircraft a military rather than civilian appearance. Later variants, such as the JetStar II, had more traditional wing tanks, of the same capacity, fitted to the underside of the wing.
By early 1958, N329J had achieved over 300 hours of flight time when it was joined by c/n 1002, the second JetStar prototype. Given the registration N329K, this time the ‘K' stood for Kelly. The second aircraft was also fitted with a pair of Orpheus engines; the only four in existence were propelling the JetStar prototypes.
After a great deal of flight-testing, Lockheed thought they were in a good position to win the UCX competition. By late 1958, the USAF had a host of large budget cuts inflicted upon it and the procurement of the UCX was delayed. Despite this, out of the blue on the 31st October 1958, the Department of the Air Force announced that the JetStar had been selected for the UTX requirement, receiving the designation T-40A-LM. Never expecting to win the UTX contract, Lockheed's doubts became reality when the USAF changed their decision and opted for the North American NA-265, later known as the T-39 Sabreliner.
N329J went on to become Kelly Johnson's personal aircraft. The JetStar was called upon to fly Johnson to important Pentagon meetings and to take him to supervise the activities of the multitude of secret projects going on at the time. N329J continued flying until the 20th August 1982 when once again, with Ray Goudey at the controls, it was donated to the Pacific Vocational Institute at Vancouver in Canada. Onboard for that final flight was the now-retired Kelly Johnson. In late 2005, an agreement between Lockheed and the Canadian Government resulted in N329J being exchanged with a CP-140 Aurora. On the 28th April 2006, the JetStar was moved by road from Vancouver International Airport to Pain Field, Everett, Washington where it is now undergoing a full restoration to static condition.
Despite the apparent lack of military interest, the JetStar was still planned for mass production and a line was set up at the Marietta Plant in Georgia. Kelly Johnson's plan to offer multiple engine fits was shelved when the USAF insisted that the aircraft be fitted with four engines rather than the two Orpheus. The USAF also insisted that the aircraft should be powered by home produced engines, ruling out the foreign-built Orpheus. This was not such a difficult decision to make because the plan for Wright to licence-build the Orpheus had fallen through anyway. The new engines, which were first fitted to N329K, were the brand new Pratt & Whitney JT12A turbojets, each capable of producing 3,000lb of take-off thrust. N329K first flew with the new engines in January 1960 and the excellent performance achieved removed any further thoughts about a two-engine variant. The production version was fitted with the JT12A-6 engines, permanently fitted slipper tanks and officially named the JetStar 6.
After a successful commercial sales promotion in 1959, marketing the world's first private jet at a list price of one million dollars, orders began to come in. This was also the first time that a private aircraft of any kind had breached the magical one million dollar price while today an equivalent machine such as a Gulfstream IV will cost you $37.5 million! Twenty-nine civilian customers worldwide had placed orders by early 1960. They included Johnson & Johnson, the 3M Corporation, Superior and Continental Oil Company within the USA and overseas, Krupps in Germany, Italian based AGIP Oil, the Canadian Government and even the Shah of Iran. Other early orders were received from the Vanderbilt family and many more from ‘Fortune 500' companies included four to businesses owned by Howard Hughes.
Another well known recipient of an early JetStar was none other than the ‘King of Rock and Roll' himself, Elvis Presley. His personnel aircraft, c/n 5004/N777EP is preserved at Graceland's. Appropriately named ‘Hound Dog II', the aircraft is accessible by the public. Incidentally, the use of the name Hound Dog was already allocated to the USAFs nuclear standoff missile, hence the ‘II' added to Presley's JetStar.
The aircraft became a movie star in 1964 when it featured in the James Bond (Sean Connery) classic ‘Goldfinger' (Gert Frobe). In the scene, ‘Pussy Galore' (Honor Blackman), at the controls of N712, delivers Bond to Goldfinger's Kentucky Stud Farm near Fort Knox. While the exterior shots were great publicity for the Lockheed jet, the interior shots were shot on a sound stage. The mock-up used was of similar proportions to a Boeing 727! While the movie critics may chunter about continuity, Lockheed's new Biz-Jet was rapidly approaching iconic status in the aviation world.
The JetStar also featured in a large advertising campaign for the 1960 Lincoln Continental. The main depiction of the aircraft was as a getaway aircraft for a group of gangsters! Let's hope the advert was implying the aircraft was simply fast and not recommended to the criminal fraternity.
The USAF were moving the goal posts again in mid 1961, when they placed an order for five JetStars as navaid calibration and checking aircraft. Designated C-140A-LM, the aircraft were given the military serials of 59-5958 through to 59-5962. At the same time, the US Navy placed an order for a pair of personnel transports designated UV-1. Sadly, this order was cancelled not long after.
The first of many production aircraft made its maiden flight from Dobbins AFB, Georgia on the 21st October 1960. Given the construction number of 5001 and US registration of N9201R, the aircraft, after thirteen months of flight-testing received its FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) Type Certification on the 29th August 1961. Less than a month later, deliveries began to an increasing list of civilian customers. The FAA became the first recipient of a JetStar. They purchased N9201R and re-registered it as N1. This was a familiar callsign to air traffic controllers throughout the country who instantly recognized the callsign as ‘The Feds'.
While the civilian orders steadily increased, the USAF placed a further order for eleven JetStars. The first batch was for six VC-140B-LM VIP aircraft, given the military serials of 61-2488 to 61-2493. The 89th Military Airlift Wing (MAW) based at Andrews AFB in Maryland operated these aircraft. Their main task was the transportation of senior politicians throughout the country which obviously included the president himself. During their period of service, the VC-140Bs carried six US Presidents; they were John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. As per the norm, whenever the president was on board the call sign ‘Air Force One was used. However, the crews would often refer to themselves as ‘Air Force One-and-Half'!
The second order for the USAF was for five C-140B-LMs, allocated the serials 62-4197 through 62-4201. The last of this group was delivered to the USAF on the 3rd July 1963 and served for many years with the 1254th Air Transport Wing also based at Andrews AFB. By January 1966 it was transferred to the 89th MAW where it was allocated as Lyndon Johnson and the First Lady Claudia Taylor ‘Lady Bird' Johnson's personal aircraft. Redesignated a VC-140B in June 1972 by 1977 the aircraft was serving with the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing at Ramstein in West Germany. Reconfigured as a C-140B in early 1978 the aircraft was moved to the 58th Military Airlift Squadron also based at Ramstein. 62-4201 returned to the 89th MAW in March 1982 followed by another move in January 1987 back to the United States. There it served with the 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing and the 1467th Facilities Checking Squadron based at Scott AFB in Illinois. This was a very typical career for a military JetStar, all of which served in a variety of roles for a diverse group of units. The aircraft was retired prematurely in 1989 after a crack developed in a wing spar. Today the aircraft is being restored by the Hill Aerospace Museum in its original 1963 configuration.
NASA took delivery of two aircraft in 1964. C/n 5003 designated NASA 14 and c/n 5015 designated NASA 4. NASA 14 was later re-registered as N814NA and spent from 1964 to 1989 based at the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards AFB in California. Very little is known about the fate of NASA 4 other than it did not stay with agency very long and was re-registered N172L and today, is preserved in Seattle. However, N814NA was used on a variety of projects applicable to civilian aircraft. The aircraft was modified internally and externally throughout its career including acoustic characteristics of advanced design propellers, electronic variable stability flight controls and for training and support as part of the Space Shuttle programme to name a few. Today, N814NA is preserved outside the Production Flight Test Installation Plant at Palmdale, California.
While the USAF order fell far short of the planned 300, orders did come in from several overseas military customers. The Luftwaffe, Indonesian, Mexican and Royal Saudi Arabian Air Forces ordered several JetStar 6s. All of these early aircraft have been removed from service but several still survive in their respective countries aircraft museums.
Ninety-Seven JetStars had been built by the time the second production variant was introduced. Pratt & Whitney had now made a new up rated engine available known as the JT12A-8. Capable of producing 3,300lb of static thrust, the new aircraft was officially known as the JetStar 8. Another 66 aircraft were built before production came to a halt in 1973. This brought the total number of pure-jet versions to 164 including the two prototypes.
The same legislation that frowned upon the future operation of Concorde, also viewed aircraft like the JetStar as noisy and inefficient. In an increasingly ‘fuel usage conscious' world, several companies looked at the new efficient and quieter turbofan as the way forward. The Garrett Corporation had first introduced its turbofan; the 3,700lb static thrust TFE-731-1 in 1972. The engine seemed an ideal choice to replace the older JT12s on the JetStar fleet. JetStar c/n 5011 became the first aircraft to be refitted by the Garrett AiResearch Division with the new turbofans and first flew on the 10th July 1974. Appropriately named the JetStar 731, the first production aircraft, c/n 5053 N9219R, was rolled off the line in March 1976. Sixty-one JetStars went on to be converted by Garrett as ‘731s'.
Simultaneously, Lockheed saw an opportunity to re-launch the Jetstar with its own turbofan fitment. Using the Garrett TFE-731-3-1F, the company subtly redesigned existing JetStar 6s and 8s into the new Jet Star II. The new engine offered an improvement in range of up to 3,189 miles and the noise level decreased still further compared to the slightly older TFE-371. Maximum take-off weight also increased to 44,500lb making the aircraft the heaviest Biz-Jet on the market. The cockpit of the JetStar II was given a modern facelift; the cockpit windows were rearranged and the most significant physical change was new fuel tanks. As mentioned earlier, the new tanks fitted flush to the under side of the wing, rather than being centered on it.
The prototype JetStar II, c/n 5201/N5527L first took to the skies on the 19th August 1976 from Marietta with Ray Goudey at the controls. Lockheed went on to produce 40 JetStar IIs between 1977 and 1980. The last aircraft, c/n 5240 registered YI-AKF went to the Iraqi Government on the 23rd April 1980, to join the five others they had already received. Their fates since the first Gulf War in 1991 is unknown.
One final attempt was made by American Aviation Industries (AAI) based at Van Nuys in California to re-engine the JetStar. The proposal was to replace all JetStar 6, 8 and 731s with a pair of General Electric CF-34-1A turbofans. The two engines produced an impressive 9,150lbs of static thrust each; more than enough power to replace the four-engine configuration. Despite being very fuel efficient, promising an even greater range combined with less noise, no orders were received for the aircraft. Known as the AAI Fanstar, a single JetStar 8 was converted. C/n 5131/N380AA first flew from Van Nuys on the 5th September 1986 but, sadly was used very little after its initial flight.
Today, out of the 204 JetStars built, many are still flying. In 2007 a ‘ball park' figure of approximately 30 civilian airworthy JetStars are still in use. Many of their owners apply the logic that four engines are better than two! Only Mexico still operates a single JetStar in a military capacity; c/n 5144 serialled as ‘3908' was still flying in May 2007. A large number are preserved including the first two prototypes and many early production models. Out of the 16 USAF variants built, approximately ten still survive; their condition ranges from fully preserved to hulks in a bone yard.
Personally, I think the JetStar is one of the most attractive ‘business' type jets ever designed. Kelly Johnson's team, using only pencil and ruler and a wealth of aircraft design experience produced an aircraft that only shows slightly its mere 50 years of pedigree compared to its modern counterparts. I feel confident that several will still be airworthy for its 60th Anniversary as well.
I would like to thank Bob Bogash for helping with photography for this article. I wish him and the restoration team of N329J at Paine Field the very best of luck.
.jpg "7_N329J & N329K(1)")
The two JetStar prototypes, N329J and N329K formate for the camera. Painted in one of at least six different colour schemes this photo is also unique because the only four Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus are airborne together. (Lockheed via Jim Goodall via Bob Bogash).
RAF Fiskerton
Spirits in Flight
For the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, 2007
A late starter within the organisation of Bomber Command, Fiskerton made its presence felt very quickly within the network of bomber airfields in Lincolnshire. Work began on a new airfield between the villages of Reepham and Fiskerton in early 1942. With Lincoln only fives to the west, the site was only an average of 45 feet above sea level and close to the River Witham, therefore susceptible to fog. Located within the heart of 5 Group Bomber Commands territory, there was no doubting what Fiskerton's role would become.
Built in a traditional ‘A' Class bomber airfield style; the 630 acre site consisted of one main runway of 2000 yards with two 1400 yard long subsidiary runways all joined by a single perimeter track. Off this track was built 36 ‘Pan-Handle' dispersals, plus access roads to a pair of Type T2 and a single B1 hangar; the latter was not built until early 1945. One of the T2s was built on the northern perimeter (using up one of the pan-handles), whilst the other two hangars where on the southeastern side north of the airfields main technical site. The latter was accessed from Long Close Lane and living accommodation, communal sites and the SSQ was spread around Fiskerton village in eleven different dispersed locations. Construction involved a variety of contractors including F G Mintee Ltd and Constable Hart & Co Ltd.
Ready for occupation in November 1942, the airfields first front-line squadron did not arrive until the 2nd January 1943. 49 Squadron from Scampton, equipped with the Avro Lancaster I and III since June 1942, quickly filled Fiskerton's dispersals, with ‘A' Flight on the north side and ‘B' Flight on the south.
49 Squadron under the command of Wg Cdr L C Slee was already a well-established squadron within Bomber Command, having been reformed at Bircham Newton in 1936. Initially equipped with the Hawker Hind, a move to Scampton 1938 coincided with a change to Hampden's. A brief spell with the Avro Manchester followed and the squadrons leading role in the epic dusk attack on the Schneider armament and locomotive works at Le Creusot, rightfully placed them as one of the most experienced within Bomber Command.
The squadron resumed operations against Germany within hours of arriving at Fiskerton, but it was not until the night of the 30/31st January 1943 that the first of many casualties fell. The target was Hamburg, with 148 aircraft taking part, led by Pathfinder Stirlings and Halifaxes. The raid was also the first H2S attack of the war but unfortunately was not particularly effective on this occasion. Whilst over the target, Flt Sgt Cole RAAF in Lancaster III ED428 was hit by flak. Cole appeared to have the situation under control and along with his colleagues returned to Lincolnshire and prepared to land at Fiskerton. Sadly, within site of the airfield, the bomber clipped some trees and crashed at Reepham Crossing killing six of crew, but amazingly the rear gunner, Sgt E Phillips survived.
Targets attacked by the squadron included Essen, Berlin, Duisburg and Koln to name a few. If there was a big raid, 49 Squadron would usually be involved and the long-range attack on an Italian target proved to be another record breaker. Recently captured airfields in North Africa had opened up the opportunity for bombers to attack targets such as Friedrichshafen and La Spezia. The bombers rather than making the dangerous return flight across northern Europe would continue to the relatively safe skies of North Africa. On the 13/14th April, 208 Lancasters attacked the dock area of La Spezia with only four Lancasters lost, none of them from 49 Squadron.
In attempt to improve on the efficiency of Bomber Command airfields a base system was introduced in early 1943. The idea being, that a single, usually more permanent pre-war station controlled a clutch of airfields. Everything from operations down to individual personnel administration would be controlled from a central point. In Fiskerton's case, the airfield and 49 Squadron came under Scampton's control from the 10th May 1943, within 52 Base. Dunholme Lodge and 44 Squadron, almost within spitting distance of Scampton was also part of 52 Base.
The squadron took part in another significant raid on the night of the 17/18th August 1943. The target was the German research establishment at Peenmünde on the Baltic coast. It was imperative that the V-2 rocket programme was destroyed or its development seriously disrupted. 596 aircraft took part, made up of Lancasters, Halifaxes and Stirlings all led by Master Bomber Gp Capt J H Searby of 83 Squadron, 8 (Pathfinder) Group. The raid was classed as an unmitigated success although 40 aircraft, 6.7% of the main force was lost but deemed acceptable considering the importance of the target. It was not a good night for 49 Squadron who were in the last of three waves to bomb the target and the most vulnerable to night fighter attack. It was the first time that German night fighters were equipped with upward firing schräge Musik twin cannons; these being employed with great effectiveness. Fiskerton lost four aircraft that night which equated to 23 dead and five others becoming Prisoners of War.
Work began on a strange installation along the length of the main runway in late August 1943. Fiskerton had been chosen as the third of 15 locations for an ingenious device known as FIDO (Fog Investigation Dispersal Operation). As early as 1941, Bomber Command was quite aware of how many aircraft they were losing during landings in fog and the flying hours they were losing because of it. In September 1942 the Petroleum Warfare Department was given the task of finding a solution to Bomber Commands problem and so FIDO was hastily born.
The first airfield two received FIDO was Graveley in Huntingdonshire in October. A remarkable three weeks after the FIDO project was initiated. The device consisted of a raised pipe on a stand with burners evenly placed along it. Petrol was pushed along the pipe by five pumps, which were capable of delivering 1500 gallons per minute at 75 psi. Initial trials were reasonably successfully, the biggest issue being the amount of smoke emitted which by increasing the alcohol content of the fuel was later reduced.
Work on building the system at Fiskerton was handled by Messers A Monk and on-site assembly was carried out by Lincoln based firm, Strong-Arc Welding Co. Fiskerton's 2000 yard runway was straight forward to equip with FIDO because at least 1300 yards was uninterrupted before a subsidiary runway intersected. The remainder of the runway, at the western end, had staggered burners installed. Approaching from the eastern end (known as the funnel end) a lead in box was constructed from burners 250 yards out from the end of the runway and 170 yards wide, the main pipe work was 50 yards either side of the runway. Four fuel storage tanks were built at the very eastern edge of the airfield next to Long Close Land as well as the pump building.
Whilst FIDO was being installed an opportunity arose for other work to be carried out on the airfield. Whether it was an indication of how many sorties 49 Squadron were flying, or poor workmanship is open to debate. But by the end of August 1943, Fiskerton's runways were already in a poor state and repairs were needed quickly. On the 13th September 49 Squadron temporarily moved to its sister airfield at Dunholme Lodge and Fiskerton was suddenly covered in even more civilian contractors.
49 Squadron returned to Fiskerton on the 24th October just in time to see the first test light of the FIDO on the 27th. At 15:15 hours the order was given, and once the smoke had cleared from the burning grass, FIDO was burning brightly. At this stage only half of the system was operable, but it still, even in daylight helped several aircraft land. One of those was Lancaster E-Easy with flight engineer J S Mason aboard; he recalls, "On arriving, the runway seemed to be in flames from end to end, but instructions over the R/T were to carry out a normal approach and landing. Looking down at the funnel end we could see bars of flame running across the entry and thought ‘this can't be right'; so we made our approach from the other end". It turned out that Masons crew actually landed on the wrong runway, landing from a westerly rather than easterly direction. Boffins later quizzed them on what they thought of the system.
Test burns continued through November until the 21st when the first night landing trials began. The weather was perfect for the trial, with visibility down to 120 yards and advection fog from 50 to 900ft deep. One 49 Squadron ground crewman by the name of Sid Finds remembers the first night trial, "We were on stand-down but the emergency services were not warned what to expect. I was cycling towards Lincoln, for or no fog, when I met the entire fire brigade heading for the airfield. It appeared that the local inhabitants got so scared at being enveloped in the thick black smoke that the fire brigade was inundated with 999 calls. By the time they arrived FIDO had been turned off. The firemen's thirsts were subsequently quenched in the NAAFI!" This must have been the same night that local girl Sheila Wright remembers when she lived on a farm overlooking Fiskerton; "During the middle of the night I was woken with a start by my father who was shaking me by the arm. ‘Get up, get up and put your coat on!' he said anxiously. Something had obviously frightened him, and that frightened me. As I lay there in shock for a moment he moved over to my younger sister and woke her in the same way. He turned round to look at me again and could no doubt see the disbelief on my face. ‘The Germans have set fire to the airfield' he said nervously, adding, ‘There may be Gerry paratroopers around, so get your coat on and let's get moving.' In seconds the whole family was wrapped up in their coats outside the front door. It was very cold and foggy and sure enough there were flames leaping high above the ground across the airfield. As we stood there staring at this amazing yet terrifying sight and wondered what to do, we heard the sound of aeroplane engines. Soon afterwards we saw the silhouette of a Lancaster touching-down between the lines of flames. That made us realise that everything must be okay, so we went back inside and eventually back to bed, but I couldn't get back to sleep. Later we would come to know what FIDO was, but that first sight of it in action really frightened us."
FIDO was now ready for use and it was not long before it benefited the Lancasters of 49 Squadron. On the night of the 26/27th November 1943 a force 443 Lancasters and seven Mosquitos attacked Berlin. The attack caused colossal damage to the German capitol as well as thousand of civilian causalities. Well organised German night fighter tactics hit the attacking force hard with 28 shot down over enemy territory including W/O R Brunt and his crew in Lancaster III JB362 of 49 Squadron. On return to Fiskerton, radiation fog was deep and visibility was down to 450 yards. FIDO was lit 00:15 hours and within ten minutes the first aircraft landing without difficulty. Others followed but sadly, Sgt R J Richardson RAAF on his first operation in Lancaster III JB235 crashed short of the runway within the flames of the end box. It was only when Richardson's crash was reported by another Lancaster on approach that Flying Control realised that a Lancaster was down within the flames of the FIDO. The surviving twelve Lancasters all landed safely, every crewman glad to see Fiskerton so vividly marked out within the fog.
Eight Airspeed Oxfords of 1514 BATF (Beam Approach Training Flight) made a small corner of Fiskerton their home from the 2nd January 1944. The small unit arrived from Coningsby and as its name implies, the BATF trained pilots the art of following a beam in poor visibility for a safe landing. 1514 BATF remained at Fiskerton until there disbandment on the 9th January 1945.
FIDO saved the day for an American pilot in a Douglas C-47 operating from Fulbeck on the 16th January 1944. The weather deteriorated quickly that day and Fiskerton received orders to light the FIDO for ten C-47s in trouble. Only Lt Jacobi arrived over Fiskerton and after several hairy attempts to land he became the first American to use FIDO. The system not only proved a lifesaver for 49 Squadron but also many other bomber squadrons based in Lincolnshire. In the early hours of the 17th March 1944, 21 Lancasters from 106 and 617 Squadron were safely guided into Fiskerton. When the last aircraft landed the fog was so thick that when the FIDO was turned off the dispersal van could not find the aircraft! The Station Commander actually sent a report to Winston Churchill saying that the fog was so thick that the aircrews could not be taken to the dispersed sleeping huts, one and half miles away and slept in the mess instead.
Fiskerton's Lancasters made up joint a force of over 1000 aircraft to bomb the coastal batteries along the Normandy coast on the 5/6th June 1944. Ten batteries were attacked, 49 Squadron was tasked with La Pernelle, which was successfully damaged to cause only a minor hindrance to the attacking allies on Utah Beach. Only four aircraft were lost, and over 5000 tons of bombs were dropped; the greatest tonnage in one night so far in the war.
The raid on the synthetic-oil plant at Wesseling on the 21/22nd June 1944 would be remembered as the worst, from a loss point of view in the squadron's history. 49 Squadron along with two other squadrons, 44 and 619 lost six aircraft out of a total of 37 Lancasters lost. Out of a force of 133 Lancasters, this represented a staggering 27.8% loss rate. Included in the losses that night was the demise of the officer commanding 49 Squadron, Wg Cdr M Crocker DFC & Bar. Outbound to the target, Crocker in Lancaster I LL900 was shot down by a night fighter with loss of all eight aircrew onboard. This experienced crew was well decorated with four DFCs and two DFMs between them.
Attacks on V-1 launch sites followed including one on St-Leu-d'Esserent on the 7/8th July 1944. This particular site was storage dump for the V-1 inside a group of tunnels. Bombs were accurately dropped into the mouth of the tunnels and approach roads, blocking all access to the site. While the bombing was a success, German night fighters were prevalent, claiming 29 Lancasters and two Mosquitos. 49 Squadron lost two aircraft over the target, with the loss of all on board. A third machine, Lancaster III PB207 with Flg Off L McCracken at the controls managed to stave off a determined attack by a Messerschmitt Me 210. McCracken managed to get his aircraft back to Fiskerton but after an inspection, the German night fighter had inflicted so much damage that the Lancaster was deemed beyond economical repair.
Fighter affiliation practice was an important ongoing part of a bomber crew's existence. Simulated attacks by allied fighters gave air gunners and the crew as whole a good opportunity to practise defensive techniques. On the 11th August 1944, a detachment from 1690 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight arrived at Fiskerton from Scampton. The unit's main equipment was the Spitfire IIa, IIb and Hurricane IIc, IV plus a variety of support aircraft. The Flight did not stay long, the detachment returned to Scampton on the 21st September.
Merlin power of a different form descended upon Fiskerton on the 4th September, with the arrival of a detachment of de Havilland Mosquito VIs of 141 Squadron from West Raynham in Norfolk. This distinguished night fighter unit was instrumental in the development of the Serrate device for detecting and engaging German night fighters.
On the 7th October 1944, a reshuffle of units resulted in Fiskerton coming under the control of 1 Group Bomber Command based at Bawtry in Nottinghamshire. The same day 52 Base became 15 Base with Scampton still as the controlling airfield with the addition of Hemswell as a third sub-station.
49 Squadron was destined to remain within 5 Group virtually for the entire war. To achieve this the squadron would have to move to another 5 Group airfield, which they did on the 16th Oct 1944; Fulbeck becoming their new home. During the squadrons stay at Fiskerton, the unit lost 89 Lancasters and 474 aircrew killed.
The first unit to arrive under the new management of 1 Group was 576 Squadron, also operating Lancasters from Elsham Wolds. A relative newcomer to Bomber Command, the squadron was formed at Elsham Wolds on 25th November 1943, from ‘C' Flight of 103 Squadron. Fiskerton hosted the re-formation of 150 Squadron on the 1st November 1944, also flying Lancasters. This squadron originally flew Battles as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force in France, converted to Wellingtons and moved to the Middle East were it was disbanded in September 1944. 150 Squadron was only destined to remain at Fiskerton for a few weeks during its working up period. On the 22nd November, the squadron moved to Hemswell were it remained until disbandment came again, in November 1945.
576 Squadron flew many major raids from Fiskerton during the last few months of the Second World War. Targets included Dresden, Duisburg, Munchen, Wiesbaden and Nuremberg with losses suffered attacking them all. The latter was by far one of the toughest attacked by the squadron, particularly bad on the night of the 16/17th March 1945. Once again the German night-fighters wreaked havoc by getting in amongst the bomber stream. 576 Squadron lost three aircraft, the single worst raid for the unit whilst based at Fiskerton and the last heavy Bomber Command raid on Nuremberg.
576 Squadron increased in size on the 5th April when it gained a third flight at Fiskerton. ‘C' Flight of 625 Squadron based at Kelstern moved to Fiskerton to form ‘C' Flight of 576 Squadron, thus increasing the size if the squadron by a third.
With the end of the war finally in sight, 576 Squadron carried out its last operational mission on the 25th April 1945. For many aircrew it was the raid they had been waiting for because the target was Berchtesgaden and Hitler's ‘Eagle's Nest. 23 Lancasters from Fiskerton took part, all returning home safely. 576 Squadron now became involved in humanitarian tasks, firstly Operation Manna - the dropping of food supplies to the Dutch. It was during Manna with VE Day only hours away that 576 Squadron lost its last aircraft of the war. Lancaster I NN806 piloted by Flg Off G L Scott swung off the runway during take-off, collapsing the undercarriage in the process and only injuring one member of the crew. 28 other Lancasters from Fiskerton successfully dropped food supplies to the Dutch near Rotterdam. The loss of NN806 is recorded as the last aircraft to be written off in Bomber Command during the Second World War. Peacetime missions also included Operation Exodus - the repatriation of POWs to England and later Operation Dodge - the transporting of British troops home from Italy.
Operation Post Mortem was also flown from Fiskerton. This was an ongoing exercise to test the efficiency of captured German early-earning radar. Another task for 576 Squadron was the dumping of surplus bombs from the ammunition dumps into the North and Irish Seas.
141 Squadron left Fiskerton on the 3rd July 1945, returning to West Raynham and re-equipping with the Mosquito XXX. 576 Squadron contributions to Bomber Command came to an end at Fiskerton on the 19th September 1945 when the unit was disbanded. The squadron lost 20 aircraft and 88 aircrew during wartime operations from Fiskerton. 15 Base was wound up on the 20th October and on the 20th November 1945; Fiskerton was handed over to 40 Group, Maintenance Command. The same day 61 MU took over the airfield as one of many sub-sites from the main Universal Equipment Depot based at Handforth in Cheshire. Also on the 20th November, 255 MU used Fiskerton as sub-site for the Equipment Disposal Depot at Fulbeck. It is not how long 61 MU used Fiskerton for but 255 MU had left by the 30th November 1948. The same day, 93 MU took over using the airfield for open storage of bombs and various explosives. An exact date to their departure is unknown but is most likely that they had cleared out by the early 1950s.
Retained for several years by the Air Ministry, the airfield was eventually sold off to farmers in the mid 1960s and today has been mostly returned to agriculture. The Ministry of Defence retained one small part of the airfield. Opened in 1960, the Lincoln, Royal Observer Corps 15 Group HQ & UKWMO Midlands Sector HQ was built on where the southern perimeter track is crossed by the Reepham Road. The HQ remained open until 1992 and today is used for Police training.
Today, a memorial to the crews of 49 and 576 Squadron has been erected beside the Reepham road next to the remains of one of the subsidiary runways. What survives if the airfield is to the eastern side of the road and with permission access can be gained. Large sections of the runways and perimeter tracks still exist as well as the bases to two hangars and the gun butts are utilised as part of a shooting club. Roads and rubble can still be found on the old technical site and several dispersed buildings still stand around the edge of Fiskerton village.
‘Skelly'
Lincolns Own
A Brief History of RAF Skellingthorpe
For the Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, 2006
It has always been easy to overlook Skellingthorpe's existence on the wartime map of airfields in Lincolnshire. Its location today has been virtually erased by housing, shops and schools. However, from a historical point of view this 5 Group airfield played a huge role in the Second World War Bomber Command offensive. Today, thankfully with memorials and a museum now in place its position in Lincolnshire's aviation heritage is firmly sealed.
Located just three miles west from the heart of Lincoln, construction began on the airfield at Black Moor in mid 1940. The airfield gaining its name from the village of Skellingthorpe positioned 2 ½ miles north. Not the most obvious of places for such a development as it was surrounded by woodland as well as a network of disused, water filled quarry pits.
Skelly was being built to be part of 5 Group Bomber Command whose headquarters at the time was at ‘St Vincents' in Grantham. However before the airfield was completed the first unit to make use of it was a Coastal Command OTU. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit had recently arrived at Cranwell from Chivenor and space was limited. 3 OTUs Wellingtons and Whitleys used Skelly from August to November 1941 before moving onto Bottesford and making room for the airfields first operational unit.
Built as a satellite for Waddington, Skelly was constructed in a typical ‘A' Class three runway layout. Rather than the traditional 2,000-yard main runway being laid for some reason, a slightly shorter one of 1,650 yards was built. The two subsidiary runways were standard length at 1,400 yards each. A pair of T2 and a single B1 hangar was erected plus the usual collection of technical buildings, the bulk of which were located on the north side of the airfield near Stone's Place fishpond. Nissen hut accommodation for 1850 officers and airmen was also provided in preparation for supporting at least two heavy bomber squadrons.
The advanced party of 50 Squadron arrived in October 1941 followed by the main squadron and its Handley Page Hampdens on the 26th November. Having re-formed in May 1937 at Waddington, the squadron had been operating the Hampden since December 1938. The squadron departed Waddington in July 1940 to Hatfield Woodhouse (later named Lindholme) and then onto to Swinderby twelve months later. By the time of there arrival at Skelly, 50 Squadron has seen a lot of action and were rapidly becoming one of the most experienced squadrons in Bomber Command.
455 (RAAF) Squadron also operating the Hampden joined 50 Squadron from Swinderby at the end of 1941. Swinderby was having hard runways laid and was effectively closed to any kind of flying operations. Built to a higher specification than Skelly, the accommodation at Swinderby was brick built ‘H' Type blocks and unsurprisingly the bulk of 455 Squadrons personnel remained billeted at their home airfield.
Both squadrons flew side by side on operations over Germany, which also included several mine laying sorties, both units suffering increasingly high losses with their ageing Hampdens. 455 Squadron left Skelly in February 1942 for Wigsley just over the county border in Nottinghamshire. Meanwhile 50 Squadron prepared for an exciting new replacement for the Hampden, the infamous Avro Manchester. The Manchester promised greater range, a larger bomb load, more defensive armament and more comfortable and practical crew positions. In reality, the aircraft was tragically let down by completely inadequate power plants which barely dragged the aircraft of the runway and gave crews little chance of making it home on a single engine.
In the two and half months that the Squadron operated the Manchester, only 120 sorties were flown with the loss of 14 aircraft. Despite this, the only VC gained by a Manchester crewman went to a 50 Squadron pilot named Flg Off L Manser. On the night of 30/31st May 1942, during the famous 1000-bomber raid on Cologne, Manser's aircraft, L7301 was seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire over the target. Manser was determined to bring his crew home but the situation rapidly deteriorated once the bomber was over Belgium. Control of the aircraft became difficult so Manser gave the order for his crew to parachute to safety. The Manchester then rolled onto its back and crashed into a dyke near Bree, 21 km from Genk. One of the crew became a POW while the rest managed to evade capture relaying Mansers bravery and becoming instrumental in his posthumous award.
Skelly became a short term home for 14 (P)AFU in April 1942. Operating the Airspeed Oxford the unit arrived from Langar and then moved to Wigsley after only a few weeks.
A taste of the future arrived at Skelly on the 16th May 1942 when 50 Conversion Flight was formed with a pair of Manchesters and a pair of Avro Lancasters. The latter gave the squadron an idea of things to come and hopes were high that better results could be achieved with the four-engined younger brother of the Manchester. 50 CF was moved to Swinderby on the 17th June followed by the main unit on the 20th June. Skelly was having its runways upgraded, which would include a standard 2000-yard runway being laid to cope with the larger Lancaster.
With the latest airfield construction barely completed the Lancasters of 97 Squadron CF arrived from Coningsby on the 23rd September 1942. Their stay was short, they were moved to Swinderby on the 16th October and at the same time 50 Squadron returned to Skelly. Now fully operational converted onto their new aircraft, 50 Squadron operated alone for over twelve months on many major Bomber Command operations. However they were joined briefly at Skelly by the Wellingtons and Martinets of 1485 Flight from the 23rd August 1943. The flights Wellingtons provided air gunner refresher training while the Martinets towed aerial targets specifically for 5 Group aircrews.
1485 Flight departed for Syerston in Nottinghamshire on the 12th November 1943, changing positions with another Lancaster unit. 61 Squadrons arrival at Skelly meant that up to 36 Lancasters could be seen on the airfield resting from night operations. Two days later 53 Base was formed at Waddington and both Skelly and Bardneys Lancaster squadrons came under its control.
While 50 Squadron stayed put, 61 Squadron was moved to Coningsby on the 12th January 1944 so as to reduce the aerial congestion around the Lincoln area. Despite this reason for their move 61 Squadron returned to Skelly on the 15th April 1944 because Coningsby had become the home of HQ of 5 Group's Special Marker Force, the Pathfinders.
Although accidents involving aircraft were fairly common place on and around airfields other dangers lurked. On the 19th May 1944, a tractor towing a bomb trolley with 23 1,000lb bombs on board exploded. The resulting detonation killed two airmen and caused substantial damage to a hangar with minor structural damage to almost every building on the airfield. Amazingly though, not a single aircraft was damaged and no disruption to operations was caused.
50 and 61 Squadrons fought together until the wars end achieving successes on many raids during the Normandy campaign and the continued offensive against Germany itself. Both squadrons flew their last operation of the Second World War side by side on a raid against the Vallo oil refinery on the 25/26th April 1945. They also flew their last missions from Skelly ferrying ex-POWs home to the UK on Operation Dodge.
50 Squadron alone flew over 4,700 Lancaster sorties with the loss of 112 aircraft. The squadron also carried out the most bombing raids in 5 Group and in Bomber Command heavy squadrons. They also flew the most Lancaster sorties in 5 Group and most overall sorties in 5 Group and third highest number of sorties in Bomber command. The squadron also dropped approximately 21,000 tons of bombs, a figure that is believed to be the fourth greatest tonnage in Bomber Command. 61 Squadron also achieved an impressive war record by flying more raids that any other Lancaster squadron in Bomber Command and achieving the second highest number of bombing raids, overall, in Bomber Command.
Both squadrons departed for Sturgate on the 16th June 1945 and for the first time in five years Skelly fell silent. Not for long though, as the sound of merlins descended upon the airfield again on the 1st July. As a direct result of the reorganisation for the RAF's new Tiger Force, which was intended for operations against Japan, two Australian units moved into Skelly. 619 (RAAF) Squadron arrived from Strubby only to be disbanded on the 18th July, followed two days later by 463 (RAAF) Squadron Waddington. Skelly itself became involved in the Tiger Force on the 7th August when 383 MU arrived from an overcrowded Strubby. VJ Day arrived before the Tiger Force was needed and 383 MU was disbanded on the 15th September. 463 Squadrons disbandment came on the 25th September 1945 with a parade and salute taken by AVM Constantine, AOC 5 Group.
15 Lancasters belonging to 463 Squadron were flown out to 22 MU at Silloth in Cumbria by crews from Waddington on the 8th October 1945. The station flight Oxford became the last resident aircraft to be disposed of on the 26th October to 12 MU at Kirkbride also in Cumbria.
Skelly gained its own MU on the 15th November 1945 when 58 MU moved in from Lincoln Road, Newark. The unit's main task was repair and salvage and the remnants of many once proud Bomber Command aircraft and current serving types could be seen around the airfields perimeter.
Lancasters briefly returned to Skelly in 1946 from 1660 HCU at Swinderby which had been resident their since its formation in October 1942. The airfield would have been purely used for circuits and bumps and by November when the unit was disbanded all military flying activity ended at Skelly.
58 MU left the airfield for Newton in Nottinghamshire on the 1st April 1947 and Skelly languished for several years without an occupant or purpose. On the 1st September 1952, 92 MU was reformed at Wickenby as an Explosives Storage Depot. These type of MU's always needed several sub-sites and Skelly was one of five wartime airfields selected, that were scattered across Lincolnshire. Skelly's runways, perimeter tracks and dispersal were now covered in neat stacks of redundant wartime bombs and incendiaries while they were being prepared for disposal. Skelly was used for this purpose until the 16th December 1955 when, not long after the airfield was disposed of.
A lifeline was thrown to Skelly in the 1950s when it was suggested that it could become a Municipal airport for Lincoln. Plans were drawn utilizing shorter versions of all three of the original runways and many of the wartime buildings. Sadly, the plan never came to fruition and the growing city used the land for a large housing development, which occupies the old airfield today.
In recognition of the Flg Off L Mansers bravery an extension of Birchwood Middle School, built in 1980 was dedicated after the VC winner on the 28th April 1981. Two memorials and a heritage room are also in place making sure that the local residents and future visitors will not forget Skellys place in aviation history.
Spanhoe, the 315th TCG
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D-Day
For Flypast D-Day Special June 2004
Locally known as Wakerley or Harringworth, Spanhoe was the last military airfield of the Second World War to be constructed in Northamptonshire. Although, like so many others, it was originally constructed for the use of Bomber Command, by the time of its completion in late 1943, a new role was in the planning..
Spanhoe's location lent itself perfectly for its allocation to the 9th Troop Carrier Command and, more specifically into the Northern Carrier Group, which was made up of ten other Troop Carrier airfields.
The airfield officially opened in early January 1944 and gained the title Station 493. It was not until the 7th February that the first aircraft arrived, initially only a limited number. Two squadrons, the 34th Troop Carrier Group (TCS) and the 43rd TCS of the 315th Troop Carrier Group (TCG), under the command of Colonel Hamish McLelland, brought only a handful of C-47, C-53s, a few Waco CG-4As (which were never used on operations) plus a couple of Airspeed Oxfords. The bulk of the unit had been on detachment in North Africa, they did however return on the 11th March, bringing another 21 C-47s with them.
The 315th was still two small to be an effective unit and, to remedy this, two more squadrons was requisitioned from a US based unit, namely the 309th and 310th TCS which bolstered the group to well over 60 aircraft. After some intensive training, the group was now in a position to take part in the forthcoming invasion of Europe.
During the last week in May, an indication that the invasion was drawing near was the arrival of hundreds of gallons of black and white paint. All four squadron engineering sections received instructions that, on the 3rd June, three white and two black stripes were to be painted around the rear fuselage and the tops and bottoms of each wing. These ‘invasion stripes' were crucial in identifying ‘friend or foe' in the potentially busy skies over northern France.
The same day, 864 paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 82nd Airborne Division arrived at Spanhoe from Quorn near Leicester. Security was now at its highest state, no one was allowed to leave the airfield, passes were cancelled and all telephone calls were strictly against the rules.
‘Escape kits' were issued to all of the 315th TCG crewmembers who were to take part in the operation. These contained special instructions, linen maps and a small amount of French francs. Also issued was a set of unpleasant strong smelling coveralls, which were supposed to offer protection against a potential gas attack, although whether these uncomfortable garments were ever worn on the actual mission is in doubt.
On the evening of the 4th June, General Eisenhower received an unfavourable weather report, which postponed the invasion for at least 24 hours. The 6th June would be the new date for Operation Overlord, the advance units departed from England on the evening of the 5th June.
At 13:00 hours on the 5th June, all senior officers, pilots, co-pilots and navigators assembled for the all-important briefing for the mission ahead. This complicated operation warranted a separate briefing for the crew chiefs and radio operators of each aircraft. Also present at the briefing was Major General Matthew B Ridgeway, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who was to join the 505th on their jump into northern France.
A curtain was swept back revealing a large map on the wall, exposing the onlookers to the whole Allied invasion plan. The 315th TCG were allocated a drop zone northwest of the French town of St Mere Eglise. The 505th PIR's initial objective was to capture this town and then secure at least two different crossing points over the Merderet River. 48 aircraft were scheduled to take part, loaded with 844 paratroops, plus up to six parapacks of equipment, which was fastened to shackles under the wings; the latter amounted to 41,236lbs.
After a final briefing, which did nothing to change the mission, aircrews and paratroopers began to congregate around their designated aircraft. For one group of men at Spanhoe that evening, the dangers of warfare arrived sooner than expected. A paratrooper, who was allocated to Flight Officer Harper's aircraft (43rd TCS), accidentally dropped a grenade; the resulting explosion killed two instantly and another succumbed to his injuries a few hours later. Fifteen men were wounded, including Harper's radio operator. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and took no part in the mission, spending the rest of its days as a ground trainer at the airfield. As the engines of the remaining aircraft began to fire up, the handful of uninjured paratroopers dashed to other aircraft, determined not to be missed from the largest invasion of all time. The men killed at Spanhoe that evening became the first American D-Day casualties.
With only a few minutes of daylight left, the 315th TCG, led by Colonel McClelland began to taxy their aircraft towards the end of Runway 26. At 23:06 hours, the Colonel opened the throttles and began his take off run. He was followed every five seconds by the rest of group, who then formatted into tight ‘V' formations before making a 1200ft pass over the airfield, setting course for the first checkpoint, 20 miles west of Birmingham.
The group settled into to its mission behind the 316th TCG with 314th, 313th, 61st and 442nd TCGs following close behind, all carrying paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division. The entire 52nd Troop Carrier Wing (Northern Carrier Group) was now airborne and full of expectation and hope that the Pathfinder aircraft from North Witham would manage to mark their drop zones.
The weather that evening was clear over England with reports of only scattered cloud over northern France. Beacons had been set out at thirty-mile intervals along the formations route, so navigation was very straightforward. The giant formation continued to fly south-east, until it reached the Severn Estuary, where it changed course to the south. It was at this point that the other two Troop Carrier Wings, the 50th and 53rd also joined the formation, increasing this incredible aerial force to well over 800 aircraft.
The aircraft crossed the south coast at Portland Bill and descended to 500ft to avoid German radar. With twenty minutes to run from the drop zone, the jumpmaster on each aircraft was signalled to prepare and the formation began to climb up to 1500ft. It was at this point that a bank of cloud along the French coast, unexpectedly appeared. The Pathfinder crews had already encountered the cloud, but would have had to break radio silence to warn the main force.
Despite a change of course and altitude to avoid the natural obstacle, the beacons placed by the Pathfinder troops came into view. The group reduced their airspeed to 110 mph and, with only four minutes before the drop, the red lights came on in the fuselage informing the jumpmaster to order the paratroopers to stand up and hook their parachutes to the static lines.
On this final run to the drop zone, a 309th TCS aircraft was hit by machine gun fire which wounded the co-pilot; another aircraft from the same squadron was hit by flak. The C-47, piloted by Lt. Rodney Bemis was hit in the fuselage, seriously wounding three paratroopers and minor injuries to several others. Both aircraft had to drop out of formation, eventually landing in southern England where medical attention was given.
Meanwhile, at 02:03 hours, the remaining aircraft successfully dropped 816 paratroopers onto the drop zone three miles north west of St Mere Eglise. The 315th dropped to 200ft and below to escape the ever-increasing flak and small arms fire, staying at this height until they were clear of the Cherbourg Peninsular.
45 aircraft were safely back on the ground at Spanhoe by 04:40 hours, although at least a dozen aircraft had received scars from the enemy.
The 315th TCG performance had been impeccable during the operation, raising their profile significantly and putting Spanhoe on the map. The group remained at Station 493 until March 1945, taking part in Operations Market and Varsity but unfortunately would not be let off so lightly by the enemy as they had been over Normandy.
The ‘M6’ code letters gives away these aircraft as belonging to the 309th TCS based at Spanhoe. (USAAF via Martyn Chorlton).
North Witham, the Pathfinders
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D-Day
For Flypast D-Day Special June 2004
Station 479, more familiarly known as North Witham, tentatively opened on the 15th December 1943, even in the early part of its short wartime career, its role was in question and although originally constructed for 5 Group Bomber Command, by the time it was ready for use, the tide of the war meant that the RAF no longer needed it.
Back in September 1943, the Headquarters 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command (TCC) arrived at RAF Cottesmore. This was the start of a huge influx of US forces that would eventually make up the Northern Carrier Group. On arrival, the HQ staff immediately set about checking the area for appropriate airfields for the task ahead, the invasion of Europe. A Flying Control Officer inspected North Witham on the 29th Oct 1943 and considered the airfield suitable as a satellite. Little did he know that North Witham would become the most significant airfield within the whole wing and possibly the entire Troop Carrier Command (TCC).
The first unit to officially arrive at North Witham was the 1st Tactical Air Depot (TAD), whose many responsibilities included the servicing of Douglas C-47 and C-53s, the mainstay of the TCC. Crucially important radar development and conversions were also carried out as well as the modification of a Northrop P-61 Black Widow. Maintenance personnel stripped the aircraft of all guns and radar, installed a plexiglass nose, with special radios and seats. During the first few days of the invasion, an Admiral and an Army general occupied these seats and relayed the action on the beaches to General Eisenhower's command post in England.
While the TAD was settling in at Station 479, a new unit was formed at RAF Cottesmore in February 1944. The 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command Pathfinder School, under the command of 33-year-old Colonel Joel Crouch, was a very specialized outfit. The main role of the School was to provide Pathfinder training to aircrews of the 9th Troop Carrier Command. They would also train and deliver British and Polish Airborne forces in this role. The main task, though, was to train and work closely with 82nd and 101st Airborne Division Pathfinders who would potentially be dropping into France. These parachutists would be the advanced party of an airborne assault and would set up portable radio signal devices to guide in the main force to the drop zones. The unit also trained aircrews in the use of their special radar aids. Initially equipped with only seven C-47s, of which five were fitted with SCR-717 and two with "GEE", it would grow to be made up of four squadrons, 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Pathfinder Squadrons (PF Sqn). The unit would become one of the most significant ever formed within the 9th Air Force. This has been played down to such an extent that it has almost disappeared in the history of the Second World War.
Cottesmore was a very busy place. The resident 316th TCG had 50 aircraft and over 3,600 personnel on station. This resulted in the Pathfinder School looking for a new home, preferably not too far away. North Witham was the obvious choice and the school's C-47s departed on the 22nd March 1944 for the short flight.
The School set up shop on the South Eastern side of the airfield on the technical site behind the Control Tower. Their T2 hangar still survives today and is in good condition, although it has been extended and modified over the years.
The intense training programme began immediately with twenty crews reporting for duty. The crews were provided by TCGs all over the country, and were the ‘pick of the crop'. Not a single aircraft or crewman was on permanent strength with the unit. Both aircraft and men were on assignment and would return to their resident units when the School tasks were complete.
The role of the Pathfinders was critical here and must not be overlooked. The Pathfinder School was formed as result of numerous meetings held in Comiso, Sicily between senior American and British commanders after the heavy losses incurred during the airborne landings there.
It was clearly established that the use of assigned drop zones, marked in advance of the arrival of the main body of airborne troops, would improve the chances of a successful attack. In addition, the idea was that, even if the Pathfinders missed the zones by a small margin or the zones were improperly marked that at least the main body of the paratroopers would be dropped together.
Specially selected troop carrier crews and airborne troops were trained for specific Pathfinder duties. The Rebecca-Eureka radar transponder system was utilised as a navigational aid for incoming troop carrier serials. Eureka was a portable responder beacon that was placed on a drop zone or landing zone on the ground. After it was activated, it indicated its approximate location on a receiver, called Rebecca, in the cockpit. Army Air Force navigators also relied on GEE, a primitive electronic navigational system that worked to a degree, but was complex and time-consuming to use. It required special training and many crews found it awkward in combat. Some crews however did use it successfully.
The Pathfinder training, which had to be carried out with the 9th Air Force crews, was a small part of the whole story and should in no way be confused with the special training of the airborne pathfinder troops. They learned the correct way to operate their special equipment, including long-wave radio, Rebecca-Eureka sets, smoke signals, holophane lights at night, fluorescent panels by day for marking landing areas and wind direction in the form of large "T"s laid out on the ground.
The paratroops learned to jump with all this equipment and how to set it up once on the ground (all of this in 15 to 30 minutes in the dark) before the incoming serials began arriving. The Army Air Force Pathfinders were only a means of transportation and delivery.
The big day arrived early for the Pathfinders, it was the evening of the 5th June 1944 and the weather was good enough to go. The first part of their mission was named "Albany" and involved eleven aircraft carrying the Pathfinders of the 101st Airborne. Captain Pedone was Crouch's co-pilot and remembers clearly sitting in the moonlight-filled cockpit waiting to go. Like everyone else on the airfield, Pedone was looking at his watch and waiting for the signal to go.
Colonel Crouch and Captain Pedone taxied the first aircraft out and at 21:54, along with two others, took off from North Witham. They had unknowingly made history by becoming the first Troop Carrier Command aircraft and USAAF base to be involved in the D-Day operation. Five minutes later at 21:59, three more departed, followed by two more at 22:01. The final three aircraft left at 22:20 with their precious cargo.
Whilst Crouch led his group of C-47s over the south of England, the second part of the Pathfinders force assembled. The mission named "Boston" involved the 82nd Airborne Division Pathfinders. At 23:02, followed by three more aircraft left North Witham, three at 23:20 and three at 23:29. The intensive training was now at an end and all their focus was concentrated on the mission ahead.
As Crouch's group led the way across the channel, they descended to 500ft, and lower, flying above the waves to avoid the German radar. As they neared the French coast, "Window" (foil strips) was also thrown out by the crew chiefs in order to confuse the German radar.
Captain Pedone said "As we neared the English Channel, I remember turning the planes lights off. We stayed dark until we hit the drop zones and were heading back for England".
At this point, disaster struck for the lead C-47 in the second group of three. The port engine failed. Being so low and heavily loaded, with 18 troops and crew, there were no options. Lt. Dwight Kroesch was flying behind the aircraft at the time and nearly collided with it. The pilot made a copybook ditching in the water, four miles off the west coast peninsular. The C-47A was a good aeroplane to ditch in; no one was injured and everyone on board was rescued a few hours later. They were picked by HMS Tartar, transferred to an Air Sea Rescue Launch and returned to England.
Colonel Crouch crossed the enemy's fog bound coast at Carteret, on the west shore of the Cherbourg Peninsular, at 00:06 hours 6th June- D-Day.
Their drop zones were near St. Mère Eglise and St. Marie du Mont. At precisely 00:16 on the morning of June 6th, the red signal illuminated the fuselage of the lead C-47 flown by Colonel Crouch. Captain Frank Lillyman, of the 101st Airborne Division, knew he would jump in a few seconds. He stood up with his parachute "static-line snap fastener" linked to the anchor-line cable across the top of the cabin. With little time left, he briefly looked at the group of twenty paratroopers ready to exit. The red light turned to green, and at the command "GO!" Lillyman leapt into the darkness of the night. At this moment, Lillyman would have been the first man to be dropped over Normandy. However, another Pathfinder beat him to the ground from the same aircraft!
The first groups of Pathfinders were on the ground within two minutes and immediately set to task. At 00:25, four more aircraft dropped their troops at DZ "C" and at 00:46 the final three C-47s of the "Albany" had "mission accomplished".
Pathfinder C-47s swept in over their targets so fast that, at first, the Germans thought they were fighter planes. Surprised by the suddenness of the attack, the Germans missed their opportunity to shoot down many of the aircraft. Pedone remembers seeing explosions and streams of tracer bullets all around his aircraft. "Many of our transport pilots worked in the airlines before the war, up until D-Day they'd never seen combat before," said Pedone with a trouble look. "You have no time to think about the big picture-D-Day," he said, "You think about the people in your plane and do your job. There's no time to be scared. Only when you get back and sit down can you be scared and say what the hell happened?" After Pedone and Crouch finished their pathfinder mission, they were ordered back to London. "We reported to Eisenhower and told him the pathfinders did their job, and explained what we saw," Pedone said.
Dwight Kroesch was flying one of the aircraft that dropped at DZ "C" near Caen. Dwight recalls "At 12:25 am, June 6th, we dropped our paratroops at 800ft near Caen. I then spotted enemy fire, thought I saw a German night fighter, and headed for the coast at 210 mph, top speed for the C-47." Dwight was diverted to Gatwick to be debriefed with his co-pilot at Eisenhower's HQ, while being served hot coffee by the brass, a great feeling for two Lieutenants!
They returned to North Witham 12 hours after take off, where their anxious ground chief had spent the night pacing up and down, believing the C-47 had crashed.
"He was so excited to see us, he jumped into the airplane and hugged the whole crew. It was very heart warming."
Three aircraft were damaged by small arms fire (including Dwight's) with another hit by flak as well. All ten made it back home to various locations in England.
The "Boston" group reached the French coast with no problems; the first three aircraft dropped their 82nd Pathfinders at DZ "O" at 01:18. The second dropped at DZ "N" at 01:38. The final part of the Pathfinder School operation was completed at DZ "T" at 01:44. Two C-47s during the "Boston" operation were hit by small arms fire, with two more struck by light flak.
Private Bob Murphy was a member of the 505th PIR. He rolled over on landing and found himself in a small garden. The owner was a sixty year-old French schoolmistress who rushed outside to see what all the noise was about. The 19-year-old paratrooper presented a very intimidating sight, all blacked up and laden down with kit. The teacher was frozen to the spot, as Murphy raised a finger to his lips to ensure ‘silence' before he slipped quietly away.
The missions were classed as a total success. 357 Pathfinder Paratroops were flown from North Witham. All but the 18 troops who ditched on the way, were delivered to the correct DZs at exactly the right moment.
Crouch reflected after the mission that he thought unhappily "that he was 400 to 500 yards off the middle of his drop zone"-not the several miles out suggested by historians many years later!
Colonel Joel Crouch poses with his crew after their return from Normandy. Back row, Captain W Culp (Navigator), Colonel J Crouch (Pilot), Sergeant Laurendeal (Crew Chief), Captain V S Pedone (Co-Pilot). Front Row, Captain E E Cannon (Flight Surgeon) and Corporal H E Conrad (Radio Operator).
"Operation Glimmer"
For Flypast D-Day Special June 2004
In May 1944, while Allied forces were finalizing their plans for the forthcoming invasion of Europe, high-ranking Bomber Command officers were preparing for the ultimate ‘spoof' operation.
The chosen location on the Normandy and Cherbourg peninsula for the forthcoming Operation Overland had been set in stone for almost six months. The Germans had resigned themselves to the inevitability of it occurring, but still had lingering doubts as to its exact location. The majority of senior German Officials were convinced that the impending invasion would occur between Dunkirk and Dieppe, both of which were all too familiar locations to Allied forces. Bomber Command would exploit this confusion.
The first of two meetings was held at RAF Woodhall Spa on the 7th May 1944 to discuss a proposed Radio Counter Measures operation by the RAF's elite 617 Sqn who were operating the Avro Lancaster. Chaired by Air Com L Dalton Morris, those in attendance including Air Commodores Constantine and Sharp, A/C Ops H.Q. Bomber Command and 54 Base Commander respectively. O/C 617 Sqn, Wg Cdr G L Cheshire plus five other senior officers and civilians from Headquarters Bomber Command (HQBC) were also in attendance.
The meeting discussed the feasibility of a group of aircraft producing a simulated convoy on German radar screens, to dupe the German forces into thinking that the invasion was happening somewhere else. It was suggested that this could be achieved by flying a very disciplined flight plan and combining the use of Gee and the dispensing of WINDOW at specific times and positions.
A host of suggestions was put forward by Cheshire, including the provision of a second navigator, a second Gee set and relief pilots and the fitment of new improved US made Honeywell Minneapolis Auto Pilots. A second WINDOW chute would have to be fitted plus additional crew to dispense it as well as additional ground crew who would have to be drafted into the squadron for maintenance and servicing. On top of all that, 617 Sqn had only until the 16th May to carry out training and tests on the feasibility of such an operation in time for the impending invasion.
The squadron was withdrawn from front line operations immediately and training began the following day off Flamborough Head in conjunction with a mobile radar station which was set up at nearby Bempton. This exercise was carried out under the watchful eye of Dr. Cockburn, later Sir Robert Cockburn from the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), based at Malvern.
Since early 1943, the TRE had been heavily involved in designing a range of airborne equipment to protect Bomber Command aircraft from the more sophisticated German radar defences. It was common knowledge that an Allied invasion was going to be carried out in 1944 so Cockburn and his team set to work on the design and planning of a ‘spoof' invasion.
The operation would depend on the use of WINDOW and a device called MOONSHINE. The latter expanded and modulated a single received pulse so that it gave the impression on the German radar screens that it came from a much larger group of aircraft. German fighters took off to confront this larger force only to discover that they had been misled and that the real attack was still to follow. By this time the German fighters had to refuel and the main force continued to the target avoiding an early firefight. It was only a matter of time before the Germans got wise to this decoy but as a one-off it was highly successful.
Early in 1944, Cockburn put forward the plans for a ‘spoof' invasion, which were welcomed with open arms by the invasion planners. Cockburn was given a Top Secret clearance, which allowed him to know the exact date and all anticipated Allied movements within the first week of the fighting. Cockburn was invited to Norfolk House, which housed the planning staff and was led into the map room. A Colonel unfolded two panels under which was a map illustrating the entire invasion plan. ‘I was frightened out of my life that I might inadvertently let slip some vital fact, or even talk in my sleep'.
Cockburn arrived at Woodhall Spa to brief Gp. Capt. Cheshire and his crews as to what exactly was required of them. He explained directly to Cheshire that his aircraft would have to fly an orbit six miles long over a front of six miles progressing at an apparent speed of six knots. WINDOW bundles of various sizes would be dropped at a variety of locations within the orbit. The bundles had to increase in size as the simulated convoy moved nearer to the coastline.
The Type II radar was the nearest equivalent to the German Wurzburg system and the WAAF operators were not briefed on what to expect. 617 Squadron began their disciplined orbits over the North Sea and dropped the bundles of WINDOW as briefed by Cockburn. The operators began to see large blips on their screens and when briefed after the exercise, all agreed that they had seen a very large convoy. Dr. Cockburn was suitably confident that aircraft could produce a ‘ghost fleet' and this would deceive the German radars.
As 617 Squadron continued to train in readiness for their part in the Allied invasion it was agreed via HQBC that a second squadron would be needed to divert attention from the true location of Normandy. A second convoy would be simulated approaching the French coast between Boulogne and Calais, from the German point of view the most popular location for an invasion. The only problem with this area was that the use of Gee was impracticable, but aircraft equipped with the G-H/Gee systems would be able to perform the task. The obvious choice of unit was the highly experienced 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron stationed at Woolfox Lodge in Rutland. The squadron was highly proficient in the use of both systems and at that time the only operational bomber squadron equipped and trained to use it.
Formed as a bomber squadron in the twilight years of the First World War, 218 Squadron had been a bomber unit since it's formation. It started the Second World War briefly at Oakington in Cambridgeshire flying Blenheims, then moved to Marham in Norfolk where it converted to the capable Wellington Ic followed by the Stirling which would see it through the middle years of the war. A move to Downham Market, Norfolk in July 1943 followed and it was from here that Flight Sergeant Arthur Aaron was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after receiving appalling injuries while on a raid to Turin on the 12/13th August 1943. The aircraft crash-landed in North Africa and Aaron died of his injuries nine hours later.
The squadron had been operating the Short Stirling Mk.I and later the Mk.III since January 1942 and, despite having been removed from front line Bomber Command operations late in 1943, the type continued to operate on mining and short-range operations. Generally the aircraft was quite popular with crews and despite its lack of altitude was very pleasant to fly and if pushed could perform almost fighter-like manoeuvres.
It was not until a second meeting was held at HQBC on the 17th May that Wg. Cdr. R Fenwick-Wilson, Officer Commanding 218 Squadron became one of the attendants. By now, the operations had gained the names TAXABLE for 617 Squadron and GLIMMER for 218 Squadron. Once again the meeting was chaired by Air Com L Dalton Morris and Wg. Cdr. Cheshire presented the results of the squadron's feasibility study which they been performing over the previous nine days.
Both operations were approved without further delay and despite the fact that 218 Squadron had only two weeks in which to practice, all parties exuded confidence that they were up to the task.
The official signal from HQBC to begin training for GLIMMER was received by the squadron on the 19th May. Eight crews were selected, all of whom were highly experienced and also very keen to take part in an operation that did not involve mine laying! In the limited time scale available, the crews managed to complete 119 sorties in all weather conditions. During this period the crews had no idea what they were training for, with this in mind the aircrews were instructed to record ‘Special Local Flying' in their logbooks.
Training flights continued right up to the very eve of D-Day, the final equipment test being carried out on the afternoon of the 5th June. The crews were ready, fully practised, all equipment was functioning properly, they easily exceeded the Air Ministry's faith in them.
Eight Stirlings, two of which were in reserve, would be involved in the operation, each carrying a complement of thirteen - 2 pilots, 3 navigators, 1 wireless operator, 1 flight engineer, 2 air gunners, 2 Window droppers, and 2 replacements.
At 21:00hrs the participating crews for Operation GLIMMER received their main briefing, it quickly became apparent to those participating how important this operation would be. At 23:39 hrs the wave of aircraft began their take-off run from Woolfox Lodge. Flt. Lt. R Chaplin in his Stirling Mk.III LJ522 HA-N led the way and by 00:43 hrs on the morning of the 6th June 1944 all eight aircraft were airborne.
The small contingent of Stirlings flew south and six of the aircraft began to assemble south of Newhaven. The two spare aircraft would loiter over the south coast and be on hand to take over if any problem occurred within the main group.
The six Stirlings began to fly elongated orbits perpendicular to the coast, aiming at Boulogne. During each of the orbits WINDOW would be discharged at a rate of 12 bundles per minute, which required very precise flying in order to convince the enemy that a large convoy was steaming towards them. The timing called for an advance of 18 miles at a speed of 7 knots; this involved the front line aircraft, totalling 23 orbits. To achieve the desired effect of a convoy, the second line of aircraft came in 8 orbits later than the first, these were required only to fly 18 orbits. The flying time for the first line was 2 ¾ hours, for the second line it was 1¾ hours. There were 3 aircraft in each line. For nearly 3 hours the crews flew these disciplined orbits, steadily closing on the French coast. This complicated operation would, if the WINDOW were discharged on schedule, produce an imaginary convoy, which in turn would be picked up by the German Freya Radar.
German reaction to GLIMMER was almost instant. Searchlights came on and guns opened fire on the non-existent convoy. Night-fighters and E-boats were also diverted to the area, but searched in vain, the latter would have caused serious damage to a slow moved convoy. Throughout the mission, as far as 218 Squadron were concerned, everything went without a hitch. The only enemy activity that was noted by the crews was the muzzle flashes from German coastal batteries. The first aircraft home were the reserves, followed by the remaining six Stirlings, which returned safely to Woolfox Lodge between 05:02 and 05:12 hours.
It is worthy of note that 617 Squadrons operation was deemed as successful but unlike GLIMMER received no attention from German forces. Avro Lancasters of 101 Squadron and Fortress Mk.IIs from 214 (SD) Squadron performed impeccable ABC and RCM jamming throughout both operations. The latter units caused so much havoc to enemy radar, Dr. Cockburn was worried that they would obliterate the enemy radar that was meant to pick up the ‘spoof' convoys!
A signal was later received from the Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command, Sir Arthur T Harris on 7th June, which congratulated the squadron on its success. It reads:
" It is already established that operations on which you engaged on the night of 5/6th June were very successful and it may well be when the full facts are known it will be found that you achieved results of even greater importance than can be known at present. This can only have been brought about by intensive training and attention to detail as a result of which the crews concerned acquitted themselves admirably. The Naval Commanders have expressed their great appreciation of the support of No.218 & No.617 Squadrons, and it is now disclosed that the patrol carried out by No.101 & No.214 Squadrons succeeded together in delaying the enemy's appreciation as to the actual point of assault, thereby assistance the measure of tactical surprise gained for our main assault forces."
GLIMMER was an excellent swan song for the squadron's Stirlings that had served them well for two and half years. Within weeks the unit began to convert to the Avro Lancaster; the last Stirling operation was flown from Woolfox Lodge on the 2nd August 1944, ten aircraft attacking a V-1 site in daylight at Mont Candon. Two days later, 218 Squadron moved to Methwold in Suffolk bringing an end to Bomber Command operations at Woolfox Lodge.
The role 218 Squadron played in the whole D-Day landing plan has often been overlooked. But as you can see from this plan, GLIMMER was crucial in tying up a significant amount of German forces east of the actual landing area.