No Place for Chivalry

by Alastair Goodrum

  February was equally non-productive for Gibson and the other pilots. They put in plenty of sorties but it was rare to come even within sniffing distance of a bandit. On February 4 he and his RO Sgt Richard James followed up an AI contact near Mablethorpe and found an enemy aircraft dropping flares, but though Gibson fired a burst at a dimly lit target, when the flares died he lost sight of it and James lost the AI contact. A second chase also ended inconclusively after Gibson had fired another burst at his target. He would no doubt have had some strong words for the armourers on his return as it was found that only one of his four cannon functioned properly during the sortie. One of the other guns fired at only half the normal rate while the remaining two wouldn’t fire because their cocking levers were left down. It seems there were a spate of these problems for next day Plt Off Victor Lovell could only use one cannon on a dawn patrol over a convoy off Skegness. He engaged a Dornier Do17 out after the convoy but it got away. Three of the four cannon stopped firing after a couple of rounds, each with a damaged round in the feed mechanism. It was Flt Lt E Parker’s turn to suffer next when he returned from an inconclusive engagement with a Ju88 on February 12 to find both inner cannon had been left on ‘safe’.

  Sunshine returned in March but inevitably brought with it mists in the early mornings and evenings which made take-offs and landings tricky. Fg Off Braham and his RO Sgt Ross were also having no success, losing two contacts, for example, off Grimsby on March 1. Of three patrols launched on March 3, only Sgt Robert Lilley, Plt Off Lovell’s RO, managed to get a contact. Lilley held it for six minutes before the bandit out-manoeuvred the Beaufighter and he lost the contact. After all that, because conditions had deteriorated at Digby, Lovell had to divert to RAF Kirton in Lindsey.

  Then there came signs that things were beginning to liven up.

  First, at midday on March 7 the Luftwaffe laid a stick of four 250kg bombs across Digby’s green sward, fortunately without causing casualties. Then, in mid-afternoon, Flt Lt Parker, patrolling from Skegness to Mablethorpe, got a squirt at a Ju88 about four miles off Donna Nook. He was still firing as both aircraft went into cloud and could not see if his gunfire was having any effect. Emerging from the cloud base, Parker saw what he thought was the result of bombs having burst on the surface of the sea but the bandit seemed to have got away – probably after dumping his bombs. Changeable weather – including everything from sun through low grey cloud and rain to snow showers – slowed down activity on both sides. One posting of note at this time involved the highly experienced Wellesley Munn. Newly commissioned as Pilot Officer Munn he was transferred away to 54 OTU, a night fighter operational training unit, having served with 29 Squadron with distinction for no less than six years.

  Patience was needed on the night of March 12/13 as success eluded the squadron again. It was a clear night for a change and the Luftwaffe came in strength, with over 300 bombers going for Liverpool. 29 Squadron put up eleven patrols in the Lincolnshire area that night and among these, Charles Widdows’ RO held two AI ‘blips’ for about two minutes each but the WingCo could get no visual on the targets. Fg Off Jack Humphries had a similar outcome on his patrol, while Guy Gibson and Dick James chased a contact near RAF Sutton Bridge also without success, possibly due to a faulty AI set. Last crew up in the early hours of the 13th, Sgts Alan Roberts and air gunner Victor Wingfield, had R/T failure and had to land at RAF Leeming. To cap it all Orby GCI station had been ‘non-op’ that night so although conditions were ideal for GCI procedure, the vital initial component for an effective interception was sadly missing.

  But success finally came next night, March 13/14, when the bombers returned to Liverpool and this time, Hull. Orby GCI was back on line and in top form and 29 Squadron got a slice of the action with two enemy aircraft shot down from nine patrols.

  With Sgt Ross at the radar set of R2148, a new cannon-only Beaufighter, Bob Braham was first to claim a Dornier Do17Z, one of the raiders bound for Hull. Two hours into their patrol at 12,000 feet over Skegness and The Wash, Orby GCI put Braham onto the course of a bandit and Sgt Ross very soon picked up a blip. With Ross quietly issuing small course corrections then telling his pilot when to throttle back, Braham peered ahead and saw a Dornier 500 yards in front and slightly to starboard, heading north. Closing smoothly to 250 yards range Braham opened fire. As he did so there was a short burst of answering fire from the Dornier’s ventral gunner, but this stopped under the onslaught of a hail of cannon shells lasting eight or nine seconds. There was the flash of a small explosion on the fuselage side but the bomber steadied and turned south. Keeping his quarry in sight and having expended all 240 rounds in the four magazine drums, Braham told Sgt Ross to leave his AI set – which had been switched off anyway when visual contact was made – and reload the cannon. Braham fired again at 200 yards range with just one gun in action but with no discernable effect. Ross reseated the drums again. Braham pressed the firing button – nothing! Ross tried again. Braham pressed again – still nothing! For the third time Ross sweated in the confined space above the guns trying to clear the weapons and this time Braham, from just sixty yards out, fired a three-second burst. No doubt about the result this time. The Dornier exploded in front of him, sending large chunks of metal flying in all directions and the blazing aircraft fell into the sea. U5+DA, of Stab/KG2 crashed about six miles off Wells-next-the-sea at 22.00 hours with its crew, Oblt H von Keiser, Lt B Meyer, and Fws Genahr and Rucker all killed.

  It took just 32 cannon rounds for Charles Widdows to despatch R4+GM, a Junkers Ju88C-4 that crashed at 03.30 hours on March 14 at Smith’s Farm, Tathwell, near Louth. This was actually a Ju88, wk nr 0604, from NJG2 modified as an intruder – no doubt looking for enemy targets just as Widdows was. But it was Widdows and his RO Sgt Derek Ryall who gained the upper hand, due in the main to the advantage that the GCI/AI combination gave the defending fighter. Wg Cdr Widdows began his patrol by providing protective cover over RAF Waddington but after working his way south chasing and losing several AI contacts he finally got on the tail of this Ju88. Firing from one hundred yards range he thought his first burst must have killed the pilot outright for it to crash so rapidly. The rear fuselage of the all-black intruder displayed substantial evidence of the effectiveness of a one-second burst from the Beaufighter’s 20mm cannon punch and its three crewmen, Gefrs Hans Körner and Karl-Heinz Spangenberg and Uffz Willi Gesshardt, were found dead in the wreckage.

  Next evening it was Guy Gibson’s turn, and it was not without its own share of drama. The Luftwaffe targeted Glasgow and Sheffield and flying Beaufighter IF, R2250, he caught up with an incoming bandit tracking north off the mouth of The Wash. Leutnant G Stugg of I/KG1 was in Heinkel He111H-3, V4+HK, wk nr 5683, heading for Glasgow. Orby GCI put Gibson onto the course of the Heinkel, Sgt Richard James got the AI contact and his precise instructions brought the target into Gibson’s vision at 400 yards range and slightly above. Closing gently to one hundred yards range, Gibson opened fire but his burst was cut short by an ammunition jam. In his book Enemy Coast Ahead, Gibson describes the incident thus:

  When the centre spot of the ring sight was right in the middle of the Heinkel I pressed the button… instead of a blinding flash there was nothing. The Heinkel flew on and I throttled back to avoid over-shooting; in doing so flames and sparks spat from my exhausts and I swore, anxiously hoping that he wouldn’t dive away. The next time I got into position, I pressed the button again. This time only one cannon fired and again nothing happened. There was no return fire, so I reckoned my first burst must have killed the rear gunner. The third time we got into position, no cannons fired. I began imploring Sgt James to get one going so that I could finish him off. But it was ten minutes before he was able to do so. The Hun, meanwhile, had turned out to sea and began diving for home. At last Sgt James got one cannon going and we aimed at the port engine. As shell after shell banged home there was a yellow flash. Sparks flew out and the engine stopped. Then we aimed at the port engine and this stopped within a f
ew seconds. Someone baled out and we followed it right down and watched it land in the sea off Skegness pier. When I first saw him I screamed over the R/T full of excitement. When he was gliding down completely helpless I felt almost sorry for him.

  The crew of the Heinkel, Uffzs L Auer, H Pauer and H Seidel, all died.

  The question of the drum-fed cannon had plagued many of the foregoing interceptions but the problems were found to be human as well as mechanically induced, as a memo from SHQ Digby to HQ Fighter Command makes clear. It reports the findings of an investigation into the cannon stoppages recently experienced by Guy Gibson.

  The reason for the stoppages of the guns is due to the following contributory causes:

  (1) A foreign body jammed between the trigger release mechanism and the lever of the port outer gun. This foreign body was a brass union from the oxygen apparatus probably carried in the breast pocket of the overalls of a mechanic, which had probably fallen out unobserved and been vibrated into the lowest position of the gun nacelle.

  (2) Both starboard guns (particularly the starboard outer) excessively lubricated with unsuitable lubricant.

  (3) Firing button giving intermittent contact.

  The morning of March 15 dawned sunny and warm and after the whole squadron had been ‘available’ and had flown operations on three consecutive what he called ‘blitz nights’, Wg Cdr Widdows considered his crews needed rest and sleep so he directed that “all pilots should sleep as long as possible.” Fortunately the weather became foggy during the next three nights and ops were scrubbed anyway. This inactivity and fog appears not to have been much to Guy Gibson’s liking, though. When fog descended for the fourth evening Gibson, having decided the weather was quite good enough for him to fly a night patrol, had to be ordered not to take off by the station commander himself. In fact the weather remained poor with little operational activity in the sector during the rest of the month. But NJG2 showed it was still operating and could hit hard, too.

  On the night of March 17/18 Lt Pfeiffer of NJG2 caught Wellington R1474 of 149 Squadron on its final approach returning to base at RAF Mildenhall at the end of a sortie to Bremen, and shot it down. The RAF bomber crashed near Beck Row with the loss of all on board.

  Fw Hans Hahn is believed to have been responsible for shooting down Wellington Ic, R1470 of 115 Squadron at Terrington St Clements, near King’s Lynn at 00.30 hours on April 4. This Marham-based aircraft was part of a large force of bombers despatched to attack the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau warships in Brest harbour. Of the six crew, five died: Sgt C M Thompson, pilot; Sgt H Y Chard, co-pilot; Plt Off S S Barnett, nav; Sgt J S C Sherman wireless op; Sgt E Keetley, front gunner. Although badly injured, rear gunner Sgt Russell survived the crash. Next night Fw Hahn was also thought to have shot down a Hampden, P2092 from 14 OTU at Cottesmore, to crash on the main railway line at Little Bytham near Bourne, Lincs. Sgt Holborrow’s crew had just finished a practice bombing exercise on Grimsthorpe Park range when the Hampden was hit by gunfire. It caught fire over the village of Holywell before crash-landing on the railway line. Home Guard soldiers succeeded in stopping trains and dousing the fire but Sgt Holborrow and two of his crew died.

  Returning from a raid on Mannheim on the night of April 29/30, Wellington T2721 of 99 Squadron, based at RAF Waterbeach, was shot down into The Wash with the loss of all six crew. At about 03.00 hours Sgt F Hewitson, pilot, radioed that he was under attack by a night fighter. The Wellington was not seen or heard from again after that ‘mayday’ call and is believed to have fallen victim to NJG2’s Ofw Sommer. Others in the crew were Sgt N O Bennett, co-pilot; Sgt W P James, wireless op; Sgt E C Stevens, nav; Sgts S J Holt and R R Thomas, air gunners. Quite by chance research among some wartime Lincolnshire Police records turned up a curious item that could be linked to this last incident.

  On the evening of June 22 1941 a pilot of the inland waterways reported he had discovered the wreck of an aircraft in The Wash at the mouth of the Welland river at map ref F8657. Believed to be a Wellington, the wreck is deeply embedded in sand and is submerged except for twenty minutes at low tide. Two metal component plates were removed from the wreck:

  1. Wellington serial FL/VACH/1515 model numbers P50 P161 P168 P226 P27- P298 P32-.

  2. Folland A/c Ltd Hamble serial FL/VACH/1515. Date 20/1/40. Drg No 40816/Sht 5 issue F. Insp FL18 AIDG 09.

  This wartime map reference places the wreckage on Black Buoy Sand about two miles out from the sea bank at Holbeach St Mark’s, and with the wreckage embedded in the sand it suggests it may have been there for some time.

  Flt Lt Gibson’s own flying career was almost brought to an equally abrupt end. He was on finals to land at Digby after a patrol in the Manchester area during the evening of April 8 when a German intruder got on his tail. At fifty feet over the boundary hedge, navigation lights on, flaps and wheels down, he was a sitting duck. The intruder pilot fired, but luckily the majority of his rounds missed the target. Most damage was done to Gibson’s RO, Sgt Bell, who was shot in one leg. Gibson got the Beaufighter down on the ground but it careered across the airfield, probably because the brakes had been hit, too, and crashed into trees. Both airmen escaped without further injury. It is believed crews from NJG2 made several claims for damaging RAF aircraft around that time but it is unclear which Luftwaffe pilot very nearly cut short the career of one of the RAF’s most charismatic pilots.

  Intruders were at large again on April 16/17 when Gibson got a whiff of the action in the small hours of the 17th. He chased a target south of Digby for about fifteen minutes but could not catch it. His final flourish in this region came on April 23/24 during a large raid.

  Having gained and lost something like ten ‘blips’, at about 01.00 Sgt Dick James was finally able to bring Gibson into visual range of a Dornier 215 near Boston. Closing to 150 yards Gibson fired but was greeted with accurate return fire. He broke away then lined up for another attack and this time his burst of fire hit the enemy aircraft fuselage. But the rear gunner was still on the ball and his fire was too close for comfort so Gibson broke away again. This time he could not regain contact and returned to Digby at the end of his last sortie from that station. Guy Gibson was destined to stay with the squadron for several more months before returning to bomber operations.

  The change from Blenheims to Beaufighters marked a key point in the fortunes of 29 Squadron during its time in the Digby sector. At the end of April 1941, the squadron moved south to RAF West Malling in Kent where it continued to operate in the night fighter role, reinforcing air defences on the southern approach to London, and as we shall see later, it fell to 25 Squadron to enter this arena to help carry on the fight.

  CHAPTER 5

  Airborne Searchlights

  In earlier chapters reference has been made to the Turbinlite Havoc in its night fighter role, and operations involving this aeroplane began in early 1941 and continued until the end of 1942. Because it is an intriguing subject and as there is also a particular human-interest story relating to the region under discussion, it is proposed to deal with this topic in more depth in this chapter.

  In October 1940, eighteen-year-old Jack Cheney began the transition from sixth-form schoolboy at Spalding Grammar to night fighter pilot in the RAF and in 1941 his first operational posting brought him to RAF Wittering. He spent a substantial part of his operational career in the night sky above The Wash region and had first-hand experience of the Turbinlite era. Flying Officer Cheney kept a diary that survived after his untimely death in air combat in June 1943 and this chapter describes his experiences while training to become a night fighter pilot, and then his involvement with one of the more unusual aircraft to be created in the quest for supremacy of the wartime night sky. This is his story.

  After three glorious weeks of leave at home in Spalding, looking up old friends, putting my feet up and sampling home cooking with my mother and three sisters, I was summoned to 54 Operational Training Unit at RAF Church Fenton in Yorkshire. This was to be the last pa
rt of my training as a night fighter pilot and I arrived at the station on August 3 1941.

  I was not immediately impressed by what I saw of the base but later that day, I met up with ‘Tosh’ Bramley, Jimmy Smith, Arthur Howard and ‘Hammy’ Hamilton, all of whom had been with me on 22 Course at 7 Service Flying Training School, Kidlington (Oxford airport). Life, it seemed, would not be quite so bad after all.

  Church Fenton was considered to be the crack night fighter OTU in the country but we soon discovered it had also earned a reputation as a killer station.

  Now designated as 11 Course, we were obliged to do some day flying in Airspeed Oxfords just to get our hand in again. However, before being permitted to fly at Church Fenton at night we first had to go to RAF Catterick and do a few hours at night in Tiger Moths. We were at Catterick for only a week and flew from a satellite landing ground called Forest Farm. What a week that was! It was really great fun being back in the old Tiger again. All too soon though it was back to the serious business at Church Fenton, where night flying dual was carried out in the Oxford, augmented by day solo flights in the ropey old Bristol Blenheim.

  September saw the arrival of our observers. For this seemingly important event, the actual teaming up process was, in fact, pretty informal. We were all assembled in a large room and told to get on with it. A fair-haired fellow, calling himself Sgt Mycock, made the first approach to me. He was about my own age and we seemed to hit it off from the word go and from that day he became and still is, my observer. His name is James Kenneth Mycock but from that first day I met him I called him Mike and so it remained.