By the Skin of my Teeth: The Memoirs of an RAF Mustang Pilot in World War II and of Flying Sabres with USAF in Korea

by Colin Downes

  A. O. C. at Group is very, very peeved –

  ‘Fifty thousand Smackers thrown down the drains,

  ‘Cause ten silly buggers didn’t use their brains!’

  In addition to the crumpled dress caps, the squadron pilots also affected a style of dress that left the top button of their uniform tunics undone to denote fighter pilots. Colourful scarves would replace the official black neck ties, and suede or desert boots often replaced the standard black shoes. This informality often produced rebukes and orders to leave the mess when confronted by the base commander, always referred to as the ‘Station Master’, or one of his senior officers. As far as the squadron pilots were concerned the only important function of the base headquarters, apart from the provision of food and billets, was the issue of the operational recreation gasoline allowance. The gasoline was essential for scouring the countryside for suitable hostelries, or for visits to London on stand-downs. The person responsible for issuing the gasoline coupons was the base assistant adjutant. This WAAF officer may not have been the most attractive of the WAAF serving on the base, who were usually to be found in the motor vehicle section, but she was without doubt the most popular of the WAAF with No. 122 wing. The squadrons competed in ensuring that the Assistant Station Adjutant did not lack in invitations to dine out or for a trip to London during her tour of duty with the wing, with an anticipated expectation of an extra coupon or two to their recreational allowance.

  The RAF Mustang III was fully camouflaged but early in 1945 No. 65 Squadron received the first P-51D or Mustang IV. These aircraft were unpainted with a bright polished metal finish. They also had a redesigned tear-drop canopy that resulted in a reduction of the dorsal fuselage to incorporate the sliding hood, and this created some directional instability. A dorsal strake or fillet attached to the fin empennage increased the keel surface and corrected the directional instability. The P-51D incorporated further external wing weapons attachment points, although we were not to use them. Similarly, the P-51D incorporated a tail warning radar device that sounded a warning bell in the cockpit when aircraft came within a 12 degree cone. The RAF disconnected the tail warning as unsuitable for our type of operations. The tail warning radar was no doubt welcomed by the photo-reconnaissance pilots. As a result of these modifications the Mustang IV weighed around 500 lb more than the Mustang III. In theory this gave the Mustang III a slightly better performance than the Mustang IV although this was not discernible. A clean Mustang IV with the Packard Merlin 68 engine of 1,790 hp had a top speed of 440 mph in level flight and with full fuel loads of 400 gallons (Imp.) in the inboard and outboard tanks a range of 2,000 miles. I personally preferred the Mustang IV finding the changes to my advantage, mainly with the better opening canopy and the better all-round visibility.

  During the final year of the war from 1944 – 45 a little known campaign, described by a participant as A sort of separate war, waged along the western seaboard of Norway and over the narrow straits of the Skagerrak, between the southern tip of Norway and the northern coast of Denmark. The German occupation of Norway offered a ready base for naval operations against Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. Beaufighter and Mosquito fighter-bombers of Coastal Command operating from the east coast of Scotland harassed the shipping of supplies from Germany to Norway and the iron ore from Norway to Germany. To counter the RAF activity the Luftwaffe maintained two fighter gruppen of 50 – 100 Bf-109s and FW-190s along the Norwegian coastline. Battle-weary but experienced Luftwaffe fighter squadrons and pilots were withdrawn from the air battle of attrition against the escorted raids of the 8th USAF on Germany, where the Luftwaffe was losing two or three pilots a day, for a rest in Norway. Many famous Luftwaffe staffels of Bf-109Gs, such as the famous ‘Ace of Spades’ staffel and their aces, rested on the airfields along the coast and the Lista Peninsula in particular on the southern tip of Norway. The prospects were some easy pickings from the Beaufighters and Mosquitoes attacking shipping and coastal targets in the fjords along the coast, and along the Skagarrak between Norway and Denmark. With the arrival of the Merlin Mustang it was possible to provide a fighter escort of equal performance to the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons intercepting the rocket and cannon firing Beaufighters and Mosquitoes.

  The first long-range escort by Mustang IIIs was in May 1944 and thereafter the shipping strikes were rarely without the benefit of Mustang protection. The airfield selected for the Mustangs was Peterhead, the most easterly airfield in Scotland from which the nearest point in Norway was over 300 miles away. Peterhead was a small fishing port 30 miles north of Aberdeen on Kirkton Head. Most of the shipping strikes were within a 500 miles radius of action from Peterhead involving a flight of four to five hours or more over water with half of it flown at very low level. Although the US Mustangs were regularly flying escort missions of up to 1,200 miles round trips lasting seven hours, there was a significant difference in these missions. The American Mustangs escorted the American heavy bombers of 8th Air Force at an altitude of 20,000 – 30,000 feet, whereas the North Sea strike missions to the Norwegian coast flew just above wave top height at 50 – 100 feet to stay below the radar warning horizon and to avoid alerting the Luftwaffe fighters.

  The element of surprise in attacking shipping and coastal targets was vital. The flight across the North Sea was a hazardous affair during the long summer days, and was doubly so during the short winter ones. The Mustang pilot’s life depended on the smooth running of the single Merlin engine, for if it quit there was insufficient time or height in which to bale out of the aircraft. To bale out of a Mustang was a difficult procedure, requiring the aircraft to be flying relatively slowly and on an even keel. Under ideal conditions and the canopy successfully jettisoned, the pilot released his many and various attachments to the aircraft and attempted to stand on the seat and dive towards a wing tip. The only other possibility of baling out without hitting the tail of the aircraft was to drop out inverted with as much negative G as possible. The chances of successfully ditching a Mustang could be assessed as nil and I know of none who succeeded. Even with the calmest sea, and the North Sea was seldom calm especially during winter, the engine radiator located behind the pilot acted as a scoop and ensured the aircraft nosed in when it touched the water. A theory postulated but never demonstrated, suggested that if the Mustang touched the water first with a wing tip the immediate drag at the wing tip would skid the Mustang around on top of the water like a skipping stone.

  The North Sea, named the German Sea before the First World War, evolved from an ancient inland sea and is a shallow and notoriously rough and unreceptive sea even during the summer months. It is also a cold sea and with normal flying clothing and a Mae West life jacket a pilot’s expectation of survival in the sea was a question of minutes. During the winter and spring months our doctors calculated a swimming pilot succumbing to hypothermia within four to five minutes. Such was the prospect for the sailors on the Murmansk convoys if torpedoed. If a pilot baled out and got into his one-man K-type dinghy successfully, with any sea running the dinghy would capsize and climbing back into the dinghy would soon exhaust even the strongest swimmer. We practised this under ideal conditions in the swimming pool and it was not easy dressed in flying clothing. But allowing that everything occurred according to the book with the pilot secure beneath a spray cover, the prospect of rescue miles from land was doubtful. The RAF high-speed rescue launches operated close to the coast from Fraserburgh. The only chance of survival and rescue many miles into the North Sea lay with the airborne lifeboat carried by a converted version of the Wellington bomber called the Warwick.

  The Coastal Command strike wings were based on the North Aberdeenshire coast of the Moray Firth. The Beaufighter Mk Xs, powered by two Bristol Hercules radial engines of 1,770 hp, operated from Dallachy; and the de Havilland Mosquito Mk VIs, powered by two Rolls Royce Merlin engines of 1,460 hp, operated from Banff. Both the Beaufighter and the Mosquito aircraft carried a crew of two. The Beaufighter Mk X had a maximum speed of
300 mph and a range of 1,500 miles. The armament consisted of four 20 mm cannon in the nose, six 0.303 inch machine-guns mounted in the wings, with one defensive dorsal mounted machine-gun operated by the navigator. The aircraft could carry one 500 lb bomb under each wing and some were modified to carry one 2,000 lb torpedo under the fuselage. The Beaufighters carrying torpedoes were renamed ‘Torbeaus’. The Mosquito Mk VI, a fighter-bomber version of the multi role aircraft, had a maximum speed of 400 mph and a range of 1,500 miles. The armament was normally four 20 mm cannon and four 0.303 inch machine-guns in the nose. The Mosquito could carry a bomb load of 2,000 lb in the bomb bay. One interesting variant of the Mosquito Mk VI was the Tsetse Mk XVIII with a 57 mm Molins gun mounted in the nose in place of the cannon and machine-gun armament. This gun was the equivalent of a six pounder naval gun with an automatic feed mechanism to give a rate of fire of forty rounds per minute. The Molins gun had considerable recoil when fired and the crew could feel and count the rounds as the gun fired. Flames from the muzzle blast enveloped the nose, and fumes from the burnt charges entered the cockpit. The vibrations from the gun caused dust and dirt to float around the cockpit and the instrument panel would bounce on its anti-shock mounts, making it difficult to read the instruments. The feed mechanism for the shells occasionally jammed; but the Molins gun was a very effective weapon when used against the anti-aircraft batteries, ship superstructures such as the bridge or the conning towers of U-Boats caught cruising on the surface. A Molins gun attack was usually made while in a 20 degree dive from a height of around 2,000 feet, and opening fire in short bursts from 1,000 yards range.

  Both the Beaufighters and the Mosquitoes carried four 3 inch free-flight rocket projectiles (RP), with 25lb solid heads, mounted on rails under each wing. The 3-inch rail mounted rocket projectile had a large circular error of probability (CEP) and this gave a wide spread when fired in salvo; and they were usually fired in ripple. Efforts were made to harmonize the alignment of the rails to be in line with the anticipated attack angle of the aircraft. The 25 lb solid head replaced the 60 lb high explosive head on the shipping strikes as it was not only more accurate but also more effective in penetrating a ship’s hull both above and below the water line. The RP attacks were usually initiated from a height of 2,000 feet in a 45 degree dive angle. Cannon fire commenced at a height of 1,000 feet, with the rockets fired at a height of 500 feet.

  The shipping strikes on the convoys along the Norwegian coast and on ships sheltering in the deep fjords protected by high mountain cliffs were hazardous and stressful for the strike crews, with many factors opposing the strike aircraft. The first imponderable factor was of course the vagaries of the Scottish, North Sea and Norwegian weather. This could cover every facet from poor visibility due to mist and fog; rain squalls and continuous heavy rain; to snow storms from gales sweeping across the North Sea; and usually there was a low, thick cloud base. Many of us flying across the North Sea to Norway during the winter months were conversant with an old proverb – A Scottish mist will wet an Englishman to the skin. And many of us after two hours of formation flying at low level above a cold, angry and unforgiving sea before meeting the opposition could empathise with Robert Browning’s words – To feel the fog in my throat: The mist in my face. Waiting to greet the strike aircraft when they arrived in Norwegian waters was heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire from either the shore or ship anti-aircraft batteries, with guns ranging from multiple 20 mm and 40 mm cannon up to the deadly 88 mm AA gun. The efficient German Kriegsmarine manned the ships and there were also heavily armed flak ships. Another daunting weapon thrown up at the attacking aircraft were rockets that on reaching their apogee released a parachute with a steel wire deployed from the descending rocket head to which was attached an aerial mine. This presented a slowly descending protective curtain of wire and explosive to entangle the propellers and wings of the attacking Beaufighters and Mosquitoes. Finally, Bf-109 and FW-190 fighters from Luftwaffe staffels based along the coast waited to intercept the incoming strike aircraft and their escorts. The strike force could be as many as forty aircraft with a squadron of twelve escorting Mustangs, therefore, if the strike force was intercepted the Luftwaffe fighters usually had a numerical advantage over the escorting Mustangs. The German fighters would also have a morale advantage in fighting over their own territory, and they had a combat advantage of height with an operational advantage of being able to out-accelerate and out-climb the Mustang at low altitude. However, adverse weather conditions often dictated whether the fighter interceptions were successful. The strike aircraft suffered considerable battle damage from the anti-aircraft fire, with the loss of many aircraft and their crews. As the task of the escorting Mustangs was to protect the strike force from intercepting fighters, they were usually above and out of range of the defending guns. For all the surviving aircraft there was the long return flight back to Scotland with a possibility of ditching in a rough sea when the only chance of survival came either from the German air-sea rescue service, or the presence of patrolling Warwick aircraft equipped with the airborne lifeboat and Lindholme dinghies.

  In January 1945 No. 65 Squadron relieved the Polish Mustangs of No. 315 Squadron at Peterhead. Squadron Leader Ian Strachan led the squadron on the 400 miles flight from Andrews Field in Suffolk to Peterhead giving an indication of the average distance for a strike mission to Norway at low level. No. 19 Squadron, commanded by Squadron Leader Peter Hearn, DFC, arrived at Peterhead later in the month to form a Mustang wing under the command of Wing Commander Peter Wickham, DFC. This gave the Mosquito and Beaufighter strike wings at Banff and Dallachy some added protection from the Luftwaffe. Interestingly, No. 19 Squadron while at Peterhead had two pilots who became post-war sporting personalities: Flight Lieutenant Alan Sheriff played cricket for England and Flight Lieutenant Bob Weighill captained the England rugby XV. Squadron Leader Strachan was shot down at the end of January and Squadron Leader Ian Stewart took over command of 65 Squadron only to be shot down in March. Squadron Leader John Foster then became the commanding officer of No. 65 Squadron. Johnnie Foster was an experienced pilot and at the age of twenty-three he was not much older than me, and younger than his two flight commanders. However, he had maturity and a sense of leadership far beyond his years. I served under several squadron commanders and certainly Johnnie Foster rated number two in my experience.

  Often it was a dull, grey overcast day at Peterhead as the Merlin engines started up and thirteen Mustangs taxied to the runway for take-off. Whereas a wing commander commanded a bomber squadron, a squadron leader commanded a fighter squadron. The squadron’s unit strength was sixteen aircraft, operating twelve in the air in three flights of four aircraft with one reserve aircraft. The pilot strength could vary between twenty and thirty commissioned and non-commissioned pilots, divided into ‘A’ and ‘B’ flights, each commanded by a flight lieutenant. In the air the wing leader, or a squadron commander or a flight commander, led the leading flight. The flight commanders scheduled pilots from their flights so that senior pilots led flights or sections, leaving the junior pilots as the wingmen; the responsibility of the wingmen being to protect the tails of the section leaders. To quote an old adage – A full belly neither fights nor flies well. Despite eating a full breakfast the stomach would feel empty when lining up at the end of the runway for the engine and take-off checks. The chill of a Scottish mist seemed to enter the heated cockpit and penetrate the body as each pilot hoped nothing occurred to make the Mustang abort the flight; with a suspicion of ‘lack of moral fibre’ (LMF). As all aircrew were volunteers, cases of LMF were rare. If everything was satisfactory the twelve Mustangs and the reserve aircraft took-off and the squadron formed up at 1,000 feet in loose squadron formation of three flights and headed for the rendezvous with the strike force of Mosquitoes or Beaufighters over Fraserburgh near Kinnaird Head.

  A frequent target was the shipping in Alesund Fjord, between Bergen and Trondheim, some 500 miles from Peterhead and the extreme range of the
Mustangs. The squadron would settle down at low level on one side of the strike force and ease down to a height of 50 feet above the waves. The rotation of the fuel tanks was the first airborne check to ensure that all the tanks fed correctly. If one aircraft experienced some fuel flow problem the reserve Mustang took its place before returning to Peterhead. Flying close to the wave tops often resulted in sea spray breaking over the aircraft and a salt layer built up on the windscreen, causing the formation to increase height. The Mosquito leader of the strike force took care of the navigation while maintaining strict radio silence. The Mustangs only concerned themselves in maintaining visible contact, while often flying through low scud and driving rain. While flying low level over the sea through the line squalls in open squadron formation there could be a momentary flood of fear as the loosely formating aircraft disappeared from sight, resulting in an instant decision to either concentrate on course, height and airspeed and hope to emerge in contact with the others without a collision, or to pull-up and lose contact with the formation with a possible return to base and scathing condemnation. Obviously, the first course was the selected choice and momentarily even nonbelievers placed their destiny with The Deity.

  The low level portion of the mission to Norway lasted about two hours and it was possible to succumb to a sense of monotony to dull anticipation of things to come, although flying formation at wave top height entailed full concentration. As a safeguard against errors in concentration most pilots trimmed their aircraft in a slight nose up attitude to avoid flying into the sea, which required a constant forward pressure on the stick. The Mustangs cruised to the target area with the fuel mixture control leaned off, the propeller pitch coarsened and a medium to high manifold boost in order to achieve maximum range and endurance. Instead of cruising revs at around 2,100 rpm, the revs were reduced to 1,800 rpm at around 30 inches of manifold boost. However, with the reduced rpm and lean fuel mixture the notorious Merlin plugs soon began to carbon or lead up. Flying low level to Norway made each participating Mustang pilot an instant expert in detecting the slightest change of engine note, with an instant response before the Merlin engine began to splutter. As a precaution against this problem every fifteen minutes the engine revs were increased to 2,100 rpm, together with an increase in boost for up to one minute, to burn off the lead or carbon deposit on the plugs before resuming the cruise settings. While carrying out these engine checks the flow and balance in the fuel tanks was checked before once again settling down and hoping no seagull found its way into the radiator or the carburettor and supercharger intake in the nose. The Mustangs took-off on the fuselage tank and, after fuel flow checking all tanks, flew the outward leg of the mission on the drop tanks. With a total of 480 US gallons the aircraft did not handle well until lightened considerably of fuel. The stability of the Mustang was not at its best with a full load of fuel, and the aircraft did not respond to its full combat potential until the fuselage tank became half full and the aircraft cleared its drop tanks. The overload tanks were dropped as the strike force approached the target area or on sighting enemy aircraft and they then flew on the fuselage tank before switching to the wing tanks. Tangling with Bf-109s and FW-190s with the drop tanks on was like entering the boxing ring with one hand tied behind the back. In dropping the external tanks it was necessary for the aircraft to be flying straight and level and the tanks released with some positive ‘G’ to ensure a clean release. There was a danger otherwise of a tank curling around the wing tip and damaging an aileron.