by Gill Griffin
Summary for:– December 1944 1. Spitfire 6–45
Unit:– AFDS Wittering 2. Typhoon 1–55
Date:– Jan 1944 3. Mustang –50
Signature:– H.L. Thorne F/Lt
H.L. Thorne F/Lt, Acting S/Ldr
For O/C Flying AFDS
During the first week in December our CO, I believe it was Wing Commander Allan Wright, decided that a Unit dance, to be held in the hangar, was a good idea. As we now knew that we would be moving to Tangmere, the dance would be a farewell to Wittering. For some unknown reason, I was made responsible for arrangements. A sub-committee was formed from the NCOs and with a lot of help from F/Lt Simms, the Adjutant, things got underway. A dance band was borrowed from a nearby airfield, I believe it was Oakington; flags, bunting and Christmas decorations appeared by the cartload. Bars were set up in two corners, a raised platform was built for the band, refreshments were arranged from the various messes and the Tannoy was modified for the occasion. The bare hangar walls were covered in flags and overhead decorations hid the roof. A nominal charge of two shillings (10p) was made for admission. I only vaguely remember the actual dance but apparently it was a great success.
9
THE WIND-DOWN
YEAR 1945 AIRCRAFT Pilot or 1st Pilot 2nd Pilot, Pupil or Pass. DUTY (Including Results and Remarks) Flying Time Passenger
MONTH DATE Type No. Dual Solo
January 9th Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Formation flying −35
14th Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Air test −30
15th Mustang IV 704 Self Handling −45
Mustang IV 704 Self Handling −25
17th Tempest V EN529 Self GGS tracking −20
Mustang III 410 Self Comparative v. Spitfire 21 1–15
21st Tempest V EN529 Self GGS tracking −45
27th Mustang III 410 Self Comparative v. Spitfire 21 1–25
29th Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Sighting test −25
Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Sighting test −25
GRAND TOTAL TO DATE 1,119 hours 40 mins 3–30 11–20
60–00 1044–50 16–15
15 January: This Mk IV was the best version of the Mustang. It had the one-piece moulded canopy and, with the cut-down rear fuselage, gave truly all-round visibility. A modified tail unit greatly improved stability and with six .5-inch machine guns it was a formidable aircraft. With its 6-hour endurance it was certainly one of the most successful weapons in shortening the war.
29 January: It was in this test that the poor stability of the Mk 21 showed up most.
Summary for:– January 1945 1. Spitfire 1–55
Unit:– AFDS Wittering 2. Mustang 3–40
Date:– 3/2/45 3. Tempest 1–05
Signature:– H.L. Thorne F/Lt
H.L.Thorne F/Lt, pp S/Ldr
O/C Flying AFDS
During this winter period there was extremely cold weather with several heavy snow falls. This explains the lack of flying activity during December and January. There was one particular day when Wimpy and I had to use a car to carry out an inspection at Colley Weston and he demonstrated his complete recovery from his night flying fright. We were on the country road south of Wittering, Wimpy at the wheel, driving at high speed over ice-covered surfaces. I expected to end up in a ditch but we got away with it; the drive scared the pants off me worse than any flying experience. Wimpy at his best!
YEAR 1945 AIRCRAFT Pilot or 1st Pilot 2nd Pilot, Pupil or Pass. DUTY (Including Results and Remarks) Flying Time Passenger
MONTH DATE Type No. Dual Solo
February 1st Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Cine camera −35
3rd Spitfire IX JL359 Self Cine camera −25
4th Spitfire IX JL359 Self Cine camera −25
Mustang III FZ107 Self To Tangmere −45
Mustang III FZ107 Self To base −45
7th Spitfire 21 LA201 Self Cine camera −30
9th Spitfire IX BS552 Self To Boscombe Down −40
Spitfire IX BS552 Self To base −45
10th Spitfire IX MJ421 Self GGS tracking −40
14th Spitfire IX MJ421 Self GGS tracking −25
Tempest V EN529 Self GGS tracking −25
18th Spitfire IX RR228 Self (Cine camera) handling −35
Spitfire IX RR228 Self Handling −20
19th Spitfire IX PV295 Self Cine camera −40
Mustang IV 704 Self Target −35
21st Boston BZ363 Self Air test −20
Spitfire XIV 253 Self Gunsight test −15
24th Boston BZ363 Self To Tangmere −50
Anson ? S/Ldr Wade Self To base 1–00
Spitfire 21 LA201 Self To Tangmere −40
Anson Self F/Lt Cull To base 1–00
28th Meteor III EE263 Self Local −35
GRAND TOTAL TO DATE 1,132 hours 50 mins 3–30 11–20
60–00 1058–00 16–15
4 February: I had flown FZ107 on and off since December 31st 1943, completing the test programme and much flying purely for pleasure. It was with a sense of regret that I flew it for the last time. Goodbye to a friend.
24 February: This was the start of our move to Tangmere. After D-Day this airfield was almost empty, all the operational units, aircraft and personnel had moved to the Continent. It was decided by the Air Ministry that various fighter test and experimental units would be merged into one organisation under the heading CFE (Central Fighter Establishment). Among the units was AFDS (now with squadron status), A & AEE (Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment from Boscombe Down), FLS (Fighter Leaders School), part of RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment from Farnborough) and others.
It was with great regret on all sides that Estelle and I left our rooms at Chain Cottage and started a search for new accommodation. With so many people moving to ‘Tangers’ this was not easy and we spent the first few weeks in one room in a council house at East Wittering with Mr and Mrs Kirby and their 12-year-old daughter. I remember only one feature of this house: in the front room was an Anderson air-raid shelter. We were pretty relieved to move into a furnished bungalow, near the seafront, in Bracklesham Bay towards the end of March. ‘Veronica’, a wooden bungalow just a stone’s throw from the beach, was very much a holiday home but ideal for us, with the spring and summer to come.
28 February: The Meteor Mk III, with more powerful engines, was a great improvement on the earlier version of the aircraft.
Summary for:– February 1945 1. Spitfire 6–55
Unit:– AFDS Tangmere 2. Mustang 2–05
Date:– 2/3/45 3. Tempest −25
Signature:– H.L.Thorne 4. Boston 1–10
5. Anson 2–00
6. Meteor III −35
Signed: T.S. Wade S/Ldr
O/C Flying AFDS
YEAR 1945 AIRCRAFT Pilot or 1st Pilot 2nd Pilot, Pupil or Pass. DUTY (Including Results and Remarks) Flying Time Passenger
MONTH DATE Type No. Dual Solo
March 1st Meteor III EE263 Self Air test −20
Meteor III EE263 Self Air test −25
4th Spitfire IX MJ421 Self Weather test −30
Spitfire 21 LA215 Self Gun platform −40
17th Spitfire IX PV295 Self Air test −25
Anson Self Sgt Leslie To Boscombe Down −40
Anson Self To base −40
22nd Mustang IV 204 Self Target −30
GRAND TOTAL TO DATE 1,137 hours 00 mins 3–30 11–20
60–00 1062–10 16–15
1 March: Fun and games on the first flight: the starboard engine suffered a flame-out and I had to make my first single-engine approach and landing in a twin. To my relief it turned out to be a piece of cake. A minor fault corrected for the second flight but I did not go far from the airfield.
Summary for:– March 1945 1. Spitfire 1–35
Unit:– AFDS Tangmere 2. Mustang −30
Date:– 2/3/45 3. Meteor −45
Signature:– H.L.Thorne 4. Anson 1–20
Signed: T.S. Wade S/Ldr
O/C Flying AFDS
YEAR 1945 AIRCR
AFT Pilot or 1st Pilot 2nd Pilot, Pupil or Pass. DUTY (Including Results and Remarks) Flying Time Passenger
MONTH DATE Type No. Dual Solo
April 3rd Spitfire IX JL359 Self Air test −30
4th Mustang III 890 Self Handling at 25,000ft 1–25
5th Mustang III 754 Self Air test −30
7th Auster I Self To Westcott 1–15
Auster I Self Westcott to base 1–00
14th Spitfire XIV JL356 Self Local −30
GRAND TOTAL TO DATE 1,141 hours 25 mins 3–30 11–20
60–00 1066–35 16–15
4 April: This was not really a test flight. Climbing all the way to the south coast, at 25,000 ft I could see across the Channel to Cherbourg and the last of the Normandy invasion shipping.
7 April: Many items of food, including eggs, were still rationed. The flight was one of a number that I made to collect a crate of 12 dozen eggs from my sister’s farm, for the Officers’ Mess.
On April 20th the European war came to an end and our work at AFDS came almost to a standstill. Like many servicemen, our own futures were in doubt and CFE in general and AFDS in particular were swamped by an influx of officers from Europe. The new CFE set-up was still being organised and a commanding officer had yet to be appointed. Wing Commander Douglas Bader, recently returned from his POW days at Colditz Castle, paid an escorted visit to Duxford and hoped to get the post. I was told that he was very disappointed to be passed over. Wing Commander Ronald (Razz) Berry, a hero of the Battle of Britain and the siege of Malta, was appointed commanding officer.
Summary for:– April 1945 1. Spitfire 1–00
Unit:– AFDS Tangmere 2. Mustang 2–10
Date:– 30/5/45 3. Auster 2–15
Signature:– H.L. Thorne
Signed H.L. Thorne, F/Lt Acting S/Ldr
O/C Flying AFDS
I was going through a bad time, worried about the future and stale from 4½ years of flying. In the absence of a commanding officer, O/C Flying (Wimpy) had already gone to become chief test pilot at Hawkers, Langley and with so many pilots returning from the hard fighting in Germany, I had many extra duties with which to cope. I received much help from the adjutant, F/Lt Simms and his staff but towards the end of April I asked for a transfer to other non-flying duties. For the rest of the month and until early July I was appointed range instructing officer at the bombing and firing ranges between Bracklesham and Selsey Bill. I still paid regular visits to Tangmere in my now nominal position of Flight Commander. I did several days as Duty Officer and, surprisingly, I was appointed Officer for the Defence at a Court Martial.
Aircraft parked overnight had locking toggles placed to prevent wind damage to the control surfaces, i.e. ailerons, rudder and tail plane; these had to be removed before flying. The Court Martial followed a fatal accident involving two Typhoons. The first had taken off and, the pilot realising something was wrong with the controls, immediately managed to go round for an emergency landing. Meanwhile a second Tiffie had taken up position ready for take-off and the first plane landed on it, killing both pilots. The station’s senior engineering officer, a wing commander, was held responsible and charged with negligence. He could have had a civilian defence counsel but elected to take his chances with me. He was found guilty but got off lightly with an admonishment, so perhaps I did some good.
So, from mid-April to July I became range instructing officer, telling senior officers of the Fighter Leaders School what they were doing wrong when carrying out ground attacks. In dive bombing it was essential, in order to achieve reasonable accuracy, to dive at or near 70° and this took a lot of determination and practice.
Fortunately I did not know the rank of any particular officer and they did not know that they were being bawled out by a mere Flight Lieutenant. The range control tower was a 60-ft-high open scaffolding tower with facilities such as radio, sight screens and plotting at different levels. The control room was on the top platform and you got there by open ladders from level to level. It was some weeks before I overcame my fear of heights and being shamed by the ground staff boys before I made the climb with my eyes open.
From our bungalow in Bracklesham Bay there were two routes to the range control tower. The first was by road, a long way round through Earnley and including some tortuous lanes, back to the farm where the tower was situated. An easier and nearer way was by foot and bicycle along a path which followed the coast, a distance of about two miles. Near the control tower a tidal brook ran inland but it could be crossed by a plank bridge about 15 inches wide. I usually used my bike and did not dismount for the plank but just gave the handlebars a lift and sailed straight across. One morning the handlebars pulled out and I went sideways into the very stagnant and weed-filled brook. I rescued the bicycle and went on to the farm, looking like the old man of the sea and stinking worse than the farm dung heap. When the lads at the tower could stop laughing, they hosed me down under the farm pump while one of them went by road in the Jeep to collect my No. 2 uniform. Luckily no one had a camera handy, so my mishap was never recorded on film and was known only to the control tower staff and Estelle.
The Jeep is another story. The range not only had orthodox flat and angled targets but also had lines of vehicles arranged nose to tail to imitate an enemy convoy. Crashed vehicles – cars, pickups and lorries – which were damaged beyond repair, were brought from all over the country on ‘Queen Marys’, low loading vehicles. Usable equipment such as batteries was salvaged and fuel and oil was supposed to be drained from tanks and engines. The vehicles were placed on the range as targets for ground attack. It happened that one of the range officers was a skilled car mechanic and he rescued a Jeep that was not too badly damaged. With spares from other machines he rebuilt the Jeep to provide the boys with unrecorded and unlicensed transport to get around the lanes to country pubs. Petrol, which was strictly rationed, was always to be found in newly delivered, written-off transport.
The range extended along the coast for some two or three miles and inland from the beaches for about 1½ miles. It was, of course, strictly out of bounds to all civilians and unauthorised service personnel. I always thought that wild mushrooms were only a late summer or autumn crop but some fertile areas of the range abounded with them that spring. We used to take square sheets of balloon fabric, of which the targets were made, and fill them in the early morning before flying commenced with newly gathered mushrooms. Our local pub, the Bracklesham Bay Hotel, was always good for a bottle of whisky or gin in return for a large bag of mushrooms.
Meanwhile the ranges were being extensively used. Although the Germans had been defeated, the Japanese were still fighting with their usual fanaticism. It was vital to keep up the pressure on land where General Slim and his ‘forgotten’ army were pushing the Japanese out of the Malayan peninsula. Likewise, the Americans and some units of the Royal Navy were island-hopping towards Japan. The pilots at the Fighter Leaders School were trained to the highest possible standard of bombing, gunfire, rockets and napalm dropping before being posted to the Far East. Inevitably, there were a number of accidents and particular care was necessary when using Typhoons and Tempests for dive-bombing. These aircraft accelerated quickly to speeds in excess of 500 mph and it was vital to effect the recovery from the dive in good time with height to spare. I well remember with sadness the one fatal accident that I witnessed; I believe the aircraft was a Typhoon. The pilot left it too late to pull out of the dive and went straight into the ground. He was, of course, killed and all efforts to recover the aircraft failed because it continued to sink into the sandy foreshore faster than a digger could dig down.
The spring that year (1945) gave us some very good, warm weather. Baby Gill loved the beach but needed careful watching as she was apt to run straight into the sea fully dressed! We were very popular with family and friends and our spare bedroom was in constant demand. For most it was their first seaside holiday for six or more years. Among our visitors was Mrs Simms, the adjutant’s wife. I made frequent
trips to Tangmere to work with ‘Simmy’ in the affairs of AFDS but in truth he and Peggy Snashall did most of the work. I sometimes put in an appearance at the FLS debriefing but was careful not to let them know what my function was at the range. It was an interesting experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Estelle and I paid weekly visits to Selsey village and got to know the brave fishermen who went out to gather the fruits of the sea, particularly shellfish. The shellfish were kept alive until the day of the week when crabs and lobsters were cooked, ready for delivery to the markets in Chichester. I had a standing order for these items, for delivery to the Tangmere Officers’ Mess and for one or two of the officers who lived out. Among them was Wing Commander ‘Razz’ Berry, who I came to know very well. On one of the Selsey trips I went on a no-cooking day and so bought half a dozen live and very lively crabs in a wooden box, which I placed in the annex of the bungalow while I boiled a large pot of water. Unfortunately, the crabs got loose and were running around happily. In my frantic efforts to catch them I was lucky not to lose one or two fingers!
I made friends with Mr Dormer, who opened his small butcher’s shop in East Wittering on two days a week. We did quite well for meat, which, of course, was strictly rationed. More mushrooms and an occasional petrol coupon worked wonders! Friday was a special day. Estelle walked to West Wittering to the baker’s shop, to collect her allowance of the finest jam doughnuts I ever tasted. Each member of the family was allowed just four each week.
By and large I really enjoyed this interlude in my service but it could not last. At the end of June a professional instructor was posted in and I returned to AFDS normal duties. I still spent most of the time with administration, with just one flight on June 30th in my favourite plane, the Mk IX Spitfire, No.JL356. I spent 50 minutes firing rocket projectiles.
