Flt Lt Dring, always at the forefront of things during this intense period, suffered his fair share of problems. He was obliged to make forced landings on 27 January, due to engine failure, and on 9 February when he could only get one wheel of the undercarriage down. He pulled off a successful one-wheeled landing, but caused category ‘B’ damage to Typhoon DN297; so that was another two aircraft missing for a while. He had engine failures on 18 and 26 February, managing to land intact on both occasions, but had to belly-land when his throttle seized up on 11 March.
By 25 February 1943, equipment and organisation had settled down and the squadron was put on a ‘war footing’. For No 183 Squadron there followed a highly mobile existence, in the form of ‘exercises’ involving carefully detailed moves of the squadron’s aircraft and ground support to new locations, from where it was to launch dive-bombing ‘attacks’ against other RAF airfields. This mobility was what Walter Dring’s air war was going to be all about from now on.
It began on 1 March when a convoy of lorries set off with the ground crews and support staff from the Yorkshire base, bound for RAF Cranfield in Bedfordshire, 150 miles to the south. At 08.20 the air component of twelve Typhoons made the transit in slick formation with the CO leading. Two days were allowed for all personnel to settle in and for the pilots to familiarise themselves with maps of the area. At 07.30 on the 4th, eight Typhoons, led by the CO, were despatched to ‘attack’ RAF Chilbolton, 4 miles south-east of Andover in Hampshire, a flying distance of about 75 miles. The ‘attack’ was deemed successful and all aircraft returned to Cranfield by 08.55. At 11.55 another eight aircraft were ordered off for a dive-bombing and machine-gun attack on RAF Ibsley, 2 miles north of Ringwood, Hampshire, this time about 100 miles distant. All aircraft returned to Cranfield at 12.30, having had a grand old time beating up all the buildings and the Spitfires and Hurricanes parked out on its airfield. There was no let-up and at 15.34 Flt Lt Walter Dring led a force of eight Typhoons to ‘attack’ RAF Stoney Cross, 4 miles north-west of Lyndhurst in the New Forest. This frantic war-game programme continued for a few more days until the squadron was moved to RAF Colerne, near Bath, during March 1943.
Little operational flying was undertaken from Colerne and on 8 March it was all change again, now to RAF Gatwick where a unit known as No 123 Airfield was based and No 183 was to join that organisation. No 123 Airfield was the slightly strange collective name given to encompass the three squadrons now based on the airfield. Such units were highly mobile and would act like a completely mobile ‘airfield’, moving from place to place in convoy, taking with them literally every facility that several squadrons could normally expect to find on a permanent airfield. In the midst of all this to-ing and fro-ing, with the help of a borrowed Hurricane, Walter flew from Colerne to RAF Peterhead to spend a precious, all-too-short couple of days with the love of his life, Sheila, who had been posted to that far distant corner of the land.
Meanwhile, back at Gatwick, there were no more ‘war games’. On 17 April No 183 Squadron’s war began for real. Ten Typhoons were bombed up and detached to RAF Ford on the Sussex coast for the first operation against a German target across the Channel, but bad weather delayed the operation until the 19th. Take-off was 07.50 and the target was the power station at Yainville, on a prominent bend in the River Seine west of Rouen. Eight Typhoons would make the attack, four armed with 250lb general-purpose (GP) bombs – these aircraft were now being referred to as ‘Bombphoons’ – and four Typhoons would act as close cover with their cannon only. The No 183 Squadron formation was escorted to and from the target by No IX (Spitfire) Wing from Kenley, led by the illustrious Wg Cdr J.E. ‘Johnnie’ Johnson. The attack went reasonably well, with the bombers diving at the target from the direction of the nearby town of Duclair and scoring near misses. They made their escape at low level. Two of the escorting Typhoons had a crack with their cannon at a train, while Walter Dring, during his one-hour sortie in DN273, attacked and damaged an army truck. No more offensive operations were mounted during the rest of April and most of the time was spent on more training sorties.
One of the last events the squadron undertook at Gatwick was to join in the celebrations on 1 May to mark the marriage of Flt Lt Walter Dring to Section Officer Sheila Coggins in Christ Church, Banbury. Most of the squadron were able to get to the ceremony and the subsequent party, the squadron diarist noted: ‘Judging by their appearance next morning, was a bit of a whizzer!’ While Walter and his new bride were on leave, the squadron moved to RAF Lasham, 6 miles south of Basingstoke in Hampshire, on 3 May.
Walter was back with No 183 Squadron on 14 May, just in time to take part in the squadron’s second operational sortie. Led by Sqn Ldr Gowers, the target for eight Bombphoons was Triqueville aerodrome, south-east of the Seine estuary, and Walter Dring flew DN408 on this operation. The weather clamped in on the target and it could not be located, so the pilots dumped their bombs and returned to base. Plt Off Berrisford failed to return from this sortie and became the squadron’s first operational loss. The squadron moved back to Colerne on 30 May but was there less than a week before it was moved to RAF Harrowbeer, 6 miles south of Tavistock in Devon, on 5 June. It was certainly learning about mobility!
A page from Walter Dring’s logbook with a photo of him, his bride Sheila and their wedding party on 1 May 1943 pasted in between bombing sorties. (John & Susan Rowe, Dring Collection)
Four aircraft were bombed up on 15 June and at 05.30 were escorted by eight others for an armed shipping recco. They all returned due to bad weather but had another go at 09.30; this was also aborted. The weather improved so they were airborne again at 17.00, but since no target was kind enough to present itself they brought the bombs back to base. It was much the same result when four Bombphoons went looking for shipping the following day, but they dumped their bombs before returning to base.
Walter Dring scheduled a Bombphoon Rhubarb sortie for himself and Polish Fg Off Eugeniusz ‘Gott’ Gottowt on the morning of 17 June, but they had to abandon it when they reached the Sept-Îles off the north coast of Brittany because of insufficient cloud cover. Gottowt had to make a wheels-up landing back at Harrowbeer but he was uninjured. Walter and Gott tried again on the 19th with a bit more success. Making landfall on the Brest peninsula, they skirted the Brest balloon barrage and found two merchant ships anchored in the Goulet. They attacked both vessels in turn at mast-top height, scoring very near misses, believing one bomb to have actually struck one of the ships. One of Gott’s bombs failed to release and he was very annoyed that he had to bring it home.
July 1943 saw the Typhoon IBs of No 183 Squadron going out regularly from Harrowbeer on armed shipping recco sorties. These operations involved varying numbers of aircraft but Walter Dring flew always in JP402, which appears to have become ‘his’ aircraft. For example, on 2 July four Bombphoons, each carrying two 250lb GP bombs, set out for the Brittany coast looking for enemy shipping. Two more of the squadron’s Typhoons flew with six from No 193 Squadron which acted as their escort. They flew at sea level to Bréhat, turned west and along the coast to the Sept-Îles, flying at about 3,500ft, 3 miles offshore. Nothing was seen so they all returned to base an hour and a half later. This process was repeated on the 4th, 6th and 8th along the same stretch of the French coast but with the same result – nothing seen to attack.
Yet another movement order was received and on 2 August the squadron was busy packing up to move to RAF Tangmere on the Sussex coast. Walter Dring was given a spot of leave at this point and spent a precious few days with his new wife. He returned to Tangmere on the 8th, when fighter readiness was the pattern for the next couple of weeks, with just a few scrambles to lighten the constant routine of practice flying.
Things hotted up on 16 August, when No 183 Squadron took ten Typhoons, including Walter Dring in JP402, to RAF West Malling in Kent to take part in a Ramrod operation with Nos 197 and 486 Squadrons. Led by Sqn Ldr Gowers, take-off was at 17.10 and No 183 acted as top cover, but this wing
operation to the St Pol area was led by Sqn Ldr Desmond Scott of 486 (NZ) Squadron. A number of Fw 190s were seen but were not engaged by No 183 because of the commitment to closely escort the bombers. All of the RAF aircraft returned safely at 18.35.
Next day, in fine weather, the squadron, with Flt Lt Walter Dring in JP368, sent eight aircraft to bomb Poix aerodrome, west of Amiens. Along with Caen-Carpiquet, Poix aerodrome was just about the hottest spot on the Continent for flak at this time. No 183’s aircraft were armed with bombs and were covered by twelve fighters from No 486 Squadron. Take-off was at 12.05 and over the aerodrome they encountered considerable flak. Three aircraft sustained hits during the dive-bombing attacks, but two bombs fell on the runway, while the rest fell among the fuel dumps and parked aircraft. All aircraft returned safely.
The Typhoon wing made a fighter sweep under the command of Sqn Ldr Desmond Scott on the 19th and Walter Dring was flying JP368 with seven other aircraft from No 183. The wing made landfall near Trouville at 6,000ft but ran into 10/10ths cloud, so the wing flew back out to sea, then re-crossed the coast near Caen where the weather was clearer. The Typhoons made a wide orbit around Caen and flew down to Bayeux before re-crossing the coast outbound at 4,500ft near Ouistreham. No enemy aircraft were seen, nor was there any sign of flak during the whole of the sortie.
Walter’s next sortie came on the evening of 31 August when, flying JP402, he was one of eight Bombphoons that set out to attack Monchy-Breton aerodrome. The bombers were escorted by no fewer than eighteen Typhoons from Nos 197 and 486 Squadrons, but the formation ran into 10/10ths cloud at 4,000–6,000ft mid-Channel and as it stretched well inland, the operation was abandoned.
By way of a change, Walter Dring, in JP402, was one of eight Typhoons from 183 and two from 197 that flew a shipping protection sortie over the English Channel on 2 September 1943. The aircraft took off at 15.00 and flew at 1,500ft on a course of 100° until they reached the patrol line some 10 miles off Dungeness. They patrolled from there on a line taking them to 12 miles off Boulogne, with No 197 Squadron’s Typhoons ‘on the deck’ and the 183 boys at 3,000ft. No enemy aircraft appeared and the patrol was back at Tangmere at 17.00.
At 18.00 two days later, Walter, in JP402 again, and nine others of No 183 flew an escort operation to a force of eighteen NA B–25 Mitchell light bombers attacking Boulogne harbour. They made a perfect rendezvous with the bombers and despite encountering heavy, accurate flak the attack went according to plan and everyone returned safely an hour later. No 486 Squadron was also part of the same escorting force and Sqn Ldr Scott recalled: ‘The flak was murderous. When you can hear flak, then you know it is getting close!’
It was back to Bombphoon duty for Walter again on 6 September when he and seven other aircraft, escorted by Typhoons from Nos 197 and 486 Squadrons, dive-bombed the railway marshalling yard at Serquex, near Dieppe. They reckoned 80 per cent of the bombs hit rail tracks and locomotive sheds, at a cost of only one aircraft slightly damaged by light flak. Some aircraft from the other squadrons involved were shot down.
This was the last of the action for Walter in September, but there was always lots of non-op flying going on in the form of air tests, formation, dogfighting and bombing practice; there was no let-up in the quest to keep pilots sharp. The squadron was on the move again, this time to RAF Perranporth, a cliff-top airfield on the north coast of Cornwall. One of the more interesting aspects of this airfield was that if one landed towards the sea and ran out of runway there was no run-off area – just an 80ft sheer drop on to the beach below! With the onset of autumn the weather turned sour and curtailed flying activities.
On 3 October 1943, Flt Lt Walter Dring shot down his own and No 183’s first enemy aircraft. The weather had picked up and Walter, flying his trusty JP402 ‘S’ (now with ‘Sheila’ painted on the cowling), was leading eight Typhoons from No 183 as fighter escort to some Mosquito bombers that were attacking a target at Guerlédan, near Pontivy in central Brittany. Take-off was at 13.05 and No 183 Squadron was to act as forward cover to the Mosquitoes as they left France. While the attack was taking place, the Typhoons swept around the exit route then found the Mosquitoes, which were approaching the coast at 1,000ft. The Typhoons were on the port side and about 1,000ft above the bombers when they were engaged by six enemy aircraft (E/A). Walter’s combat report describes what happened next:
Flt Lt Walter Dring of No 183 Squadron standing on the wing of his Hawker Typhoon, R8884, RAF Gatwick, April 1943. (John & Susan Rowe, Dring Collection)
I was leading Jungle Green section on Ramrod 90 as forward cover to Mosquitoes. We had completed our sweep and were re-crossing the French coast at 6,000 feet, flying above cloud and diving gently to locate the returning bombers. On breaking cloud, I saw the Mosquitoes going west. As we were about to turn in order to form up on them, I saw Blue section being attacked head-on by six E/A, five Fw 190s and one Me 109. They made a zoom attack from the cloud base and climbed back into the cloud base again. Blue section positioned themselves on the port side of the bombers and about 1,000 feet above. I stayed on the starboard side and slightly above. After flying about a mile on a northerly course I saw Blue section being attacked by an E/A. I called Blue section to break and turned port into the attack. I saw an aircraft coming towards and above me. It then pulled into a climb and, in plain view, I clearly recognised it as an Fw 190. I opened fire with a one-second burst from 350 yards range with full deflection. The Fw 190 continued his climbing turn to starboard, enabling me to close in to line astern at about 500 feet altitude. I gave him 3 one-second bursts, closing from 300 to 150 yards as I did so. The final burst was a no-deflection burst in dead line astern. I saw what looked like black oil pouring from the aircraft. I then broke off my attack, as I knew there were more enemy aircraft behind. Suddenly I saw the Fw 190 dive steeply towards the sea and as it was about to hit the water I saw the hood fly off. It hit the sea and disappeared immediately. There was no sign of the pilot and I heard ‘Moocher’ Leader (Sqn Ldr Fokes of 257 Sqn) say that he had seen the E/A go in. I found myself alone and joined up with another Typhoon which proved to be Blue 4 and we returned to base as a section.
Walter Dring’s victory was confirmed as a Fw 190 destroyed for the expenditure of 120 rounds of 20mm cannon ammunition. Post-war research by aviation historian Chris Goss revealed the Luftwaffe aircraft to be Fw 190 A–5, Wk Nr 7288, from II./JG 2, based at Cormeilles airfield and flown by Lt Johann-Heinrich Achenbach.
Fg Off J.E. Mitchell of ‘A’ Flight also claimed a Fw 190 as destroyed and although that was confirmed at the time, post-war research shows it did not actually crash. All in all, it had been a good day for the squadron and a grand celebration was held at The Stork pub that evening where the CO split a prize of £5 – promised for the first E/A destroyed – between Dring and Mitchell.
Ramrod and Circus operations were being mounted almost daily by the RAF over occupied territory and No 183 Squadron was called upon from time to time to provide high cover to the participating bombers. On 8 October Walter Dring led eight Typhoons as high cover to Boston bombers and their close escort. Take-off from Perranporth was at 14.50 and, setting course from the Lizard, they joined the formation ten minutes later as it crossed the French coast at 18,000ft, east of Ushant. They were over the target of Poulmic at 15.33 and after completion of that action the wing followed the bombers out, crossing the coast at Plouescat, near Roscoff, at 13,000ft. No enemy air activity was seen and everyone returned safely to Perranporth by 16.15. A similar operation was mounted next day as high cover to Mitchells from No 10 Group for Ramrod 92. Walter was flying his usual JP402, one of eight Typhoons from No 183 Squadron. They met up with eight more Typhoons from No 257 Squadron and set course from Start Point to the French coast at Lesneven, west of Morlaix. After cruising around the target area of Brest/Guipavas airfield, for about eight minutes without sighting either the bombers or the enemy, the Typhoons withdrew and flew back to Perranporth.
By 14 October the squadron h
ad moved again, this time to RAF Predannack on the Lizard in Cornwall. The first operation from the new base was an early morning shipping strike mounted that day to the Goulet estuary at Brest. Led by Flt Lt McAdam, three fighters, including Walter in JP402, and four Bombphoons took off from Predannack at 07.23 and flew in formation to the target area. Two small ships were found off Pointe de St Mathieu in the Iroise and Walter and the other two fighters immediately attacked these, raking them with cannon fire. As the fighters broke away, one pair of bombers dived on each ship and scored several near misses with their 250lb bombs. Two Typhoons were slightly damaged by light flak but no one was hurt and all the aircraft were safely back at Predannack by 08.35.
Enemy light flak was by far the biggest menace for a fighter-bomber pilot and it was inevitable that the more sorties one did, the greater the risk was of being hit. Walter Dring’s flying career took another major turn on 24 October as the result of an attack on the blockade runner Munsterland, laden with tungsten ore, in Cherbourg harbour. During this one-hour operation No 183 Squadron suffered its most serious losses to date. The CO, Sqn Ldr Arthur Gowers DFC, flying JP396, was seen to go down in flames just outside the mole of the harbour, while Fg Off Gerry Rawson and Fg Off P.W.B. Timms did not return either. One of the latter was seen to bale out but Gowers was posted as missing in action. ‘Gus’ Gowers had been with the squadron since its formation and the high morale prevailing was due to his excellent leadership and example. Gerald ‘Gerry’ Rawson was later posted as missing in action, while ‘Timmy’ Timms was the one who baled out. He was picked up by the Germans and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in Stalag Luft I. Fg Off Munrowd’s aircraft also took a bad flak hit in the tail and he had to nurse the Typhoon back to England where he made a perfect belly landing at RAF Warmwell. The heavy flak encountered, together with the general melee, had split up the squadron and aircraft landed back at various airfields: Warmwell, Ibsley and Tarrant Rushton. It took the whole of the next day to get them all back to Predannack.
They Spread Their Wings Page 11
