Sniper of the Skies: The Story of George Frederick 'Screwball' Beurling, DSO, DFC, DFM
Page 20
Meanwhile, the Malta Spitfire Squadrons were concerned with their own air-battle. An enemy raid including Ju 88s and Bf 109s was picked up heading for Luqa during the morning of 10 August. In response, Nos. 185 and 1435 Squadrons were scrambled. No. 1435 Squadron’s Flight Lieutenant H.W. McLeod (flying V-J), Pilot Officer C.H. Lattimer and Flight Sergeant I.R. MacLennon each destroyed a Bf 109. The Squadron, however, didn’t have everything their own way and Flight Sergeant E.L. Mahar (flying AB526), having shot a Bf 109 off another pilot’s tail was hit by an unseen enemy. He crash-landed at base due to one tyre being shot to ribbons.
At 1125 hours, two of No. 126 Squadron’s Spitfires were patrolling when they sighted a Ju 88 flying northwards. Pilot Officer J.A. Smith (flying BR366) shot the bomber down, but was killed as a result of return fire. His was one of the three Spitfires claimed by I./JG 77. His brother, Pilot Officer R.I.A. Smith3 led the search.
Beurling (flying BP976 T-C), who had missed the previous days’ operations due to a reoccurrence of Malta Dog, was scrambled at 1410 hours on 11 August, the second of two uneventful section strength scrambles made during the day. Beurling’s lean spell continued.
Meanwhile, Operation Pedestal was steaming towards the besieged island, braving the enemy’s all-out assault. The first attack against the convoy was launched at 1315 hours (on 11 August), when a German E-boat managed to get to within range of HMS Eagle, hitting her with four torpedoes. Within twenty minutes, the aircraft carrier, which had delivered many of the Spitfires that had kept Malta out of enemy hands, was at the bottom of the Mediterranean.
A second carrier, HMS Furious, had sailed with the convoy and a total of thirty-two Spitfires managed to scramble off her deck, in Operation Bellows, with one having to ditch soon afterwards.
Among the pilots posted to No. 249 Squadron were:
Flight Lieutenant E.N. Woods, DFC (flight leader)
Pilot Officer R. ‘Bob’ Seed
Pilot Officer J.G.W. ‘Johnnie’ Farmer
Pilot Officer A.F. Roscoe, RCAF (USA)
Flight Sergeant J.G. ‘Sandy’ Sanderson, RAAF
Flight Sergeant E.T. Hiskens, RAAF
Flight Sergeant B.C. Peters
Sergeant E.F. Crosswell
Sergeant P. Carter, RCAF
Beurling would soon become reacquainted with his old pal Bob Seed.
Names of the remaining pilots who flew Spitfires off HMS Furious to Malta on 11 August 1942, included:
Sergeant R.C. Bolland
No.185 Squadron
Pilot Officer L. Cheek
No.185 Squadron
Group Captain Walter M. Churchill, DSO, DFC
(flight leader) (Deputy AOC)
Sergeant F.W. Clewley, RAAF
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant C.H. Cornish
No. 229 Squadron
Wing Commander A.H. Donaldson, DFC, AFC
(flight leader) (WC Takali)
Sergeant E.H. Francis
No. 229 Squadron
Sergeant L.P. Garvey
No. 185 Squadron
Flying Officer H.F. Gedge
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant L.R. Gore
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant D.G. Guy
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant J.H. Houlton, RNZAF
No.185 Squadron
Sergeant T.R.D. Kebbell, RNZAF
No. 1435 Squadron
Lieutenant K.C. Kuhlman, SAAF
No. 185 Squadron
Flying Officer A.I. Lindsay, RCAF
No. 185 Squadron
Pilot Officer A.R.H. Maynard
No. 185 Squadron
Flight Lieutenant E.P.F.L.T. ‘Dan’ Magruder
No. 229 Squadron
Sergeant J.E. Mortimer, RNZAF
No. 126 Squadron
Pilot Officer L.S. Nomis, RCAF (USA)
No. 229 Squadron
Pilot Officer P.A.J. O’Brien
No. 185 Squadron
Pilot Officer R.B. Park, RAAF
No. 185 Squadron
Pilot Officer D.P. Pollock
No. 1435 Squadron
Sergeant R.J. Roe
No. 1435 Squadron
Pilot Officer William T. ‘Bill’ Rolls, DFM
(flight leader)
No. 126 Squadron
Sergeant N.D. Sintetos, RCAF (USA)
No. 126 Squadron
Sergeant A.B. Stead, RNZAF
No. 249 Squadron
Sergeant L.H. Swain
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant J. Tarbuck
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant J.D. Vinall
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant W.R. Whitmore
No. 1435 Squadron
Flying Officer P.A. Woodger, RCAF (USA)
No. 185 Squadron
Sergeant J.F. Yeatman, RNZAF
No. 126 Squadron
Two uneventful scrambles were flown by No. 249 Squadron on 12 August. Meanwhile, No. 185 Squadron’s Pilot Officer N.J. Ogilvie (flying EP139) destroyed an He 111 of VI./KG 26, his unit’s 100th ‘Kill’:
‘I attacked from above, opening fire at about 200 yards, closing to point-blank range, with a five-second burst of cannon and machine gun; saw strikes along fuselage. I finished my ammunition and broke off attack.’
The attack was followed up by Pilot Officer F.J. Sherlock (Blue 4), who attacked the bomber when it was already a, ‘dead duck.’ He saw the Heinkel heavily smoking and finally crash. There were no survivors.
By morning, Operation Pedestal was sailing to the south of Sardinia, still well beyond the range of Malta’s Spitfires. Several attacks were launched throughout the day. The first to be hit was Deucalion, one of the merchant vessels, bombed by a Ju 88. Limping badly, she was escorted by HMS Bramham, but suffered two further attacks during the day and was lost.
Meanwhile, Ju 87s targeted Waimarama, with a bomber also hitting HMS Indomitable. German U-boats torpedoed the cruisers HMS Cairo, which had to be abandoned, and HMS Nigeria (which was equipped with sophisticated long-range radar, essential for plotting air strikes well in advance), along with the oil tanker, Ohio. Her crew bravely fought the fires which, with the help of sea water flooding in through the gaping holes, were eventually extinguished.
Following the convoy’s original plan, the main escort turned back for Gibraltar, leaving HMS Ashanti, HMS Manchester and HMS Bramham to defend the merchant vessels until they came under the protective umbrella of Malta’s air defences. During repeated attacks, a number of merchant vessels were hit, including the Empire Hope, Clan Ferguson (torpedoed by enemy U-boats), Glenorchy, Wairangi, Almeria Lykes and Santa Elisa (torpedoed by E-boats), while the Rochester Castle, Brisbane Star and the cruiser HMS Manchester were damaged by torpedoes launched by E-boats. Another merchant vessel, Dorset, was also hit by torpedoes and had to be abandoned.
With further attacks being launched, the next merchant vessel to be hit was the Waimarama, when it was bombed by two Ju 88s. Dive-bombing Ju 87s further damaged the Ohio, despite a stiff defence put up by the escorting HMS Ashanti. One Ju 87 was destroyed, the wreckage glancing the deck of the oil tanker.
A force of Italian warships was rapidly approaching the convoy as the light faded. The RAF despatched Wellington bombers to drop flares around the enemy vessels as though illuminating them for an air-strike. In a further bluff, the Controller directed a phantom formation of bombers towards the enemy fleet. As anticipated, the Controller’s directions had been monitored and in the early hours of the following morning (13 August), the Italians turned away on Mussolini’s personal intervention, following Kesselring’s denial of air cover.
Throughout the day, the carrier-based Sea Hurricanes, Fulmars and Martlets defended the convoy. The Fleet Air Arm pilots destroyed thirty-nine enemy aircraft, with several probably destroyed. They lost seven Sea Hurricanes, four Fulmars and two Martlets (eight pilots, one observer and two TAGs were killed). Despite their valiant efforts, they were unable to prevent
the loss of nine out of the thirteen merchantmen.
By first light on 13 August, the convoy was drawing close enough to Malta for her Spitfire Squadrons to provide air cover, although patrol time over the vessels remained limited. The first fighters arrived just as six Italian bombers were making their approach. One was destroyed and another damaged. Meanwhile, No. 249 Squadron made two uneventful section strength scrambles at 0810 and 1230 hours, but no enemy aircraft were encountered.
At 1350 hours, Flight Lieutenant L.W. Watts led four Spitfires on an interception patrol sighting two Sm 79s of 30° Gruppo south of Pantelleria. Watts (flying EP448 T-F) fired a burst at a ‘Fiat BR 20’, slightly damaging a 55a Squadriglia bomber.
At the same time, Beurling (flying 130 T-D) took off on a ten minute air test. Despite his recent combat ‘draught’, Beurling resisted any temptation to go ‘hunting.’ This is contrary to the popular myth that Beurling acted as a ‘loner’, going off on unauthorised sorties.
Between 1400 and 1510 hours, a Section patrol was flown over the Ohio. Sergeant ‘Tommy’ Parks was slightly wounded when his Spitfire (BR246 T-J) was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the convoy’s escort and was forced to bail out. The rest of the Section orbited his dinghy until he was picked up by a destroyer. There was no time to land and Parks eventually sailed west to Gibraltar. Only then could he get a message back to his Squadron.
Two further convoy escorts were made between 1420 and 1605 hours, as the surviving vessels of Operation Pedestal drew agonisingly close to the island.
At 1740 hours, four Spitfires were scrambled to intercept an unescorted Ju 88 of 2 (F)/122 flying at 14,000ft fifteen miles east of Linosa, making a reconnaissance of the convoy. Pilot Officer F.E. Jones (flying EP448 T-F) made a head-on attack, hitting the nose and wings, with Sergeant Wynn (flying BR565 T-U) registering strikes along the fuselage.
Sergeant Beurling (flying EP135 T-Z), then made his attack, damaging the starboard engine. The Junkers 88 (F6+KK), piloted by Unteroffizier Hans-Joachim Schmiedgen, was seen to go down in flames, six miles north-east of Linosa. Two crewmen bailed out and the wounded Feldwebel Johann Brenner was later picked up by a Fiat Rs 14 floatplane. The observer and Schmiedgen were lost.
Beurling noted: ‘Georgia’s [Wynn’s] attack had put cannon shells into the fuselage, and Jonesy had peppered the nose and wings.’
Beurling made his approach from above and behind, diving down onto the Ju 88:
‘putting a two-second burst into the starboard engine as I went past.’ Beurling reported that he saw the engine come away as, ‘The bomber burst into flames and down it went.’
Beurling’s flight commander, Flight Lieutenant F.E. Jones, recalled that:
‘By the time we had finished that combat we had been flying a long time and had not much petrol left.
‘I told Beurling we had to return immediately to base. He complained bitterly that there was a large formation of Messerschmitt 109s 2–3000 feet below us. He wanted to go down and knock off a few.
‘I refused, and repeated that it was imperative we returned to base immediately. He argued a little and finally agreed to come home.
‘When we landed, I had five gallons of petrol in my tank, he had three.’
The Malta Squadrons were heavily engaged throughout the day, their victories and losses may be summarised (roughly in chronological order and by Squadron).
No. 126 Squadron’s claims:
Pilot Officer R.I.A. Smith, RCAF (flying AB465), one Sm 79
Pilot Officer F.D. Thomas, one Ju 88 damaged
Squadron Leader B.J. Wicks, one Ju 88 shared
Pilot Officer W.T.E. Rolls, one Ju 88 shared
Squadron Leader B.J. Wicks, one Ju 88 damaged
Pilot Officer W.T.E. Rolls (flying BP870), one Ju 88
Sergeant A.J. Tiddy (flying AB531), one Ju 88
No. 126 Squadron lost Flight Sergeant Tanner 4, RNZAF (flying EP472), who was shot down at 0930 hours.
No. 229 Squadron’s claims:
Flight Lieutenant G.W. Northcott, RCAF (flying X-L), one Ju 88 shared
Flight Lieutenant E.P.F.L.T. Magruder, one Ju 88 shared
No. 1435 Squadron’s claims:
Squadron Leader A.D.J. Lovell, one Ju 87
Flight Sergeant J.A.H. Pinney, RCAF, one Sm 84
Flight Lieutenant H.W. McLeod (flying V-J), one Ju 88 probable and one shared
Sergeant J.D. Harrison, one Ju 88 shared
Sergeant W.R. Whitmore, one Ju 88 shared
Pilot Officer J.G. Mejor, one Ju 88 damaged
Flight Sergeant J.A.H. Pinney, RCAF, two Ju 88s
Squadron Leader A.D.J. Lovell, one Sm 84
Flight Lieutenant H.W. McLeod (flying V-J), one Ju 88 probable
Pilot Officer J.G. Mejor, one Cant Z 1007
Flight Sergeant J.E. MacNamara, RCAF, one Sm 84 shared
Sergeant R. Hawkins, one Sm 84 shared
Flight Sergeant A.H. Scott, one Sm 84
No. 1435 Squadron lost Flight Sergeant Buntine5 (flying EP197).
By the afternoon, the convoy was within sight of Malta and an escort sailed out to meet them. At 1825, the Rochester Castle entered Grand Harbour, followed by Port Chalmers and Melbourne Star (The Brisbane Star limped into port the following day). The remainder of the convoy was still out at sea, including the oil tanker Ohio, under Captain W. Mason, which, despite being given a standing fighter protection of sixteen Spitfires, was hit once more during the day.
Her boiler fires extinguished by a bomb-blast and her rudder jammed hard to port, Ohio was unable to power herself and remained stranded. A 1,000lb bomb had cracked her hull in two. A plan was hatched by Captain Bains, whereby HMS Bramham was lashed to one side and MHS Penn to the other. The two vessels would haul the Ohio slowly into Grand Harbour, as Beurling recalled:
‘a couple of destroyers picked the Ohio up, just about the time the skipper was deciding to abandon ship. When we came along, damned if they hadn’t lashed the poor old tanker between the two warships and were limping together into port. And they made it!’
Throughout 14 August, No. 249 Squadron provided a standing patrol over the crippled Ohio, the first eight Spitfires taking off at 0700 hours. There was a clear sky over the island, making it difficult for enemy bombers to remain undetected. Beurling recalled:
‘we went out to meet a torpedoed tanker and, once again, I sat around marvelling at the guts of the guys who go to sea. She was the US tanker Ohio and when they’d caught her, out west of Sicily, they’d blasted the hell out of her from the air, then plunked a torpedo into her belly for luck, and left her to sink. She’d lost her escort. She’d lost the convoy. The tanker was making three knots.’
Meanwhile, Beurling and the rest of the Squadron extended their patrol over the harbour:
‘We flew over the merchantmen in Valetta maintaining constant patrols.’
Beurling (flying BR565 T-T) was on the Squadron’s dawn convoy patrol over the Ohio on 15 August, as she was powered the last few miles into port. Beurling, still suffering the effects of Malta Dog, found that while using oxygen he could shake-off some of the drowsiness:
‘Once up in the air I’d feel all right, and sucking in oxygen would give me a temporary pickup.’
It took HMS Bramham and HMS Penn until 0800 hours to bring the Ohio into Valetta Harbour, which was surrounded by crowds cheering and waving as the oil tanker arrived. In the end, only five merchant vessels made it, landing 55,000 tons of supplies. But they provided a vital life-line. Most significantly, the RAF now had sufficient fuel to keep their Spitfires and bomber force in the air.
Stories persist that Beurling, despite his illness, celebrated the arrival of the Ohio by making a low-level inverted pass over the harbour. The official response to the deliverance was more restrained.
The Times of Malta’s leader was dedicated to the ‘Convoy Heroes’. The main article read:
‘Through the mercy of Providence and the courage of our seafarers, Malta has been given succour i
n an hour of need borne by people and garrison alike with fortitude and an abiding faith in the justice of our cause. Daring all, braving all, and succeeding against all attacks delivered by the Axis, ships of the merchant navy escorted by units of the Royal Navy, and of the FAA, and assisted by the shore-based aircraft of the RAF, have smashed through the barrier which the enemy had directed across the Gibraltar-Malta route. Ships of the convoy, bearing a precious argosy of supplies and war cargoes, have reached the island. They are now in harbour. The full story of convoy work has yet to be written. The world had yet to learn fully of the matchless gallantry which our Navy and mercantile marine have displayed in maintaining sea communications in the face of a ruthless foe.’
‘Today is the feast of St. Mary, the celebration of the assumption of our lady into heaven. Santa Marija is a day of thanksgiving to God through our lady, for the mercies received and of prayer for added strength to resist the material powers of evil, and also a day of rededication to the cause which we are convinced is sacred and just.’
Further patrols continued throughout the day, as the oil tanker sat in port. At 1445 hours, a flight strength scramble was flown. One Bf 109 was seen streaming glycol while over Takali, but not claimed by No. 249 Squadron. The Spitfires were diverted to join a flight of No. 126 Squadron’s Spitfires on an escort for a captured Cant Z 506b floatplane now in RAF colours, with Wing Commander Satchell at the controls. Later, they made a search for a downed Beaufighter, lost while giving protection for the convoy. All but one of the escort departed to deal with Bf 109s. Flying Officer D.G. Newman, Flight Sergeants L.G.C. de l’Ara and Hogarth made an attack, but their windscreens had iced-up, and consequently their aim was inaccurate.