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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 2188.PDF
Vassincourt, France, 1940. Some of the officers of the squadron : JUf to right) F/O. Drake, F/O. Clisby, F/O. birimer f[L Hanks, P/O. Mou/d, S/L. Ho/ohon (CO.), M. Oetnozay (Interpreter), F/L. Wo/ker, F/L. Brown (Doctor), F/O. Richey, FjO. Kilmartin, FjO. Stratum, FjO. Palmer. eve nty ears to 150 yards astern and attacked with two one-second bursts.A large piece of metal flew off the starboard engine and, after two further bursts, the Heinkel dived straight into the sea." No. I'S train-ibusting efforts were equally successful, and bythe time it moved from Tangmere to Acklington in September, 1942, there were 60 trains to its credit.At Acklington the squadron was re-equipped with Hawker Typhoons, and on its first operation with the new aircraft scored yet another first. F/O. Perrin and P/O.Bridges destroyed the first two Messerschmitt 210s to be shot down over Britain. During the whole period that elapsed between the end of night bombing in 1941 andD Day in June, 1944, in addition to the high-lights which have been described, No. 1 Squadron performed almost every operation which the wit of Higher Command coulddevise. Turbinlights, Roadsteads, Ramrods, Rhubarbs and Rodeos are but a selection and as D Day approached the tempo rose accordingly. On one Roadstead operationalone, against the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prim Eugen, the squadron lost a com- plete section. Eight days after D Day two pilots from the squadron (F/O. Stuart andF/O. Marsh) scored yet another first by being the first aircraft to land on the emergency airstrip laid just behind the newly won beachhead. A few days afterwards there was a hurried move to Detling for Divers (V.i) patrols.By this time the Typhoons had given place to Spitfire 9s, and by using fuel of 150 octane and running their Merlins with + 25 lb boost, the pilots were just able to inter-cept the flying bombs. F/O. Bridgman was the first pilot of No. 1 to be successful- he shot one down 12 miles south of Tonbridge. Judged by his A.S.I., the flying bombwas doing 360-375 m.p.h. By June 30th, 1944, the pilots were more adept—No. I got seven V.is in that day alone. F/Sgt. Hastings finished one attack on July 5th on thefringe of the London balloon barrage. He fouled one of the cables, which took off his starboard wing-tip and two airscrew blades. Despite this he managed to landhis aircraft intact at Gatwick. Altogether No. 1 Squadron destroyed 39 flying bombs. By the middle of August, 1944, the A.A. guns largely had the measure of the flyingbombs, and No. 1 Squadron, now with Griffon-engined Spitfire 21s, took on more bomber-escort work on daylight raids. Frequently two shows a day were being put in,and this duty was carried on right up to the close of hostilities in Europe. After short stays at various locations, No. 1 again found itself back home at Tangmereand, in October, 1946, was re-equipped again, this time with Gloster Meteor 3s. On May 1st, 1947, the squadron went to Lubeck for air exercises, and on its return atthe end of June S/L. T. R. Burne. D.S.O., A.F.C., the present CO., assumed command. Then in August, last year, came a bombshell, and here follows a quotation from thesquadron "Line Book." "And then alackaday Very Terrible Things Happened. In all haste we point out that S/L. Burne was not responsible for them. Our role as Thefighter squadron came to a shuddering halt. Our Meteors and aircrews were given to Nos. 222 and 266 Squadrons, and we were re-equipped with Harvards and Oxfords andtold to teach all the squadrons in No. 11 Group 'How to Fly on Instruments'." . In June of this year, however. No. 1 happily reverted once more to its famous roleof The fighter squadron and was re-equipped with Gloster Meteor 4s. > Eight-gun, twelve-gun and four-cannon Hurricanes were all used by No. I Squadron in the from April 1939 to September 1942. This Hurricane 2c was flown by Sgt. Scott. in a game of cards in the crew-room of aNight school, dispersal hut : (Left to righj) Sgt. Prideoux-Brune, Sgt. Travis, Sgt. Smith, F/L. Crabb, PjO. Corbett, S/L Maclachlan. At Vassincourt, in 1939, the local French air force unit presented the squadron with a bottle of rum. The idea, a French practice in the 1914-18 war, was that any successful pilot should help himself to a tot and enter his victory. The top entry records the destruc- tion of the first German aircraft to be shot down in France—a Do 17 by f»/0. Mould. lrborne
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