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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0389.PDF
23 February 1950 261 MUSTANG t 194-1 SUPSKMAKIN£ SPITFIRE ffilS 194-3 HAWK£8 TYPHOON 194-4- DM. MCSQI/1T0 16 I 6 1944 nine pilots and aircrews. D.F.C.s were awarded to F/L. Campbell-Voullaire, F/L. Barton, P/O. Langley and Capt. Hill. L.A/C.s Allen and Drewitt both received the D.F.M. Within three days of arrival at Ringway, new equipment began to arrive and rifle-shooting practice started. When a move was made to Linton-on-Ouse on June 7th the transport problem was solved by the use of the Manchester Corporation buses. Then followed urgent anti-invasion exercises, with coastal patrols added to the intensive army co-operation work which they involved. On occasional invasion scares the squadron was alerted and all personnel recalled from leave. A detach- ment was sent to Manston for air/sea rescue duties and another Lysander (P/O. Empson and Sgt. Gethin) was lost while on this work. A variety of light aircraft were added to the Lysanders for cross-country work and for teaching army per- sonnel to fly. As it gradually came to be realized that Hitler's invasion was "off," the squadron settled down to what may be termed an intensive peacetime programme. But there occurred occa- sional excitements. Two days before Christmas the flying programme was curtailed owing to a red warning. Later, a Whitley returning from an operation—with a full load of bombs—struck a stationary Lysander. Both went up in flames, with bombs exploding every so often. A German bomber joined in the fun, but his aiming was so bad that he missed the airfield completely. The new year, 1940, began with another loss. P/O. Tennent, while ferrying a new Lysander to the squadron, flew into a hillside at Ilkley Moor during a snowstorm and was killed. A lot of work was done in attempting to keep the runways free from snow and one of the most successful methods was found to be spraying with brine from the air. Training with the Army went on, month in and month out, but on the operational side the A.S.R. Flight at Manston was still busy. A move was made to Clifton, York, and, by the spring of 1942, in the expectation of re-equipment with single- seat aircraft, the pilots were busy with cockpit drill and passing out on a Miles Master and a Curtiss Tomahawk. The first four North American Mustangs arrived from Speke on April 25th, 1942, and another five came three days later. Most of the beloved "Lizzies" were flown away to Elstree and the air gunners posted to Nos. 296 and 297 Squadrons. By July 2nd S/L. Saunders was leading squadron forma- tions of nine Mustangs and a little later, on Exercise Punch. the squadron role was for the first time fighter-reconnaissance. Low-level attacks against enemy establishments started in October, and detachments of flights came south to Gatwick and Detling airfields' for this work. It must have been a peculiar life for the pilots at this period, for they were play- ing with our armies in training, and flying on operations at the same time—trying to remember which was the "enemy" and which was the enemy. A number of operations were made against shipping off the Dutch coast. The commanding officer at the end of 1942 was W/C. G. E. Macdonald, a New Zealander, who was killed while on an operation over Holland. S/L. A. S. Baker has written the following account of one who was undoubtedly a great character: — "W/C. Macdonald was the most vivid and invigorating person who came to No. 4 Squadron in my time. When Mac first joined us in October, 1942, we were based at York but used to detach flights, for a month at a time, to Gatwick or Detling, to take pictures and, as a sideline, to beat up trains. Mac had little interest in cameras, except camera guns, and in his sudden visits to the detachment he set a splendid example of zeal and skill in finding Germans and killing them. One day he and C. T. P. Stephenson came upon a parade on Poix airfield, which they joyously attacked. The next day, Sunday, the picture papers bore the headline ''' We dismissed the parade," says Wing Commander.' In fairness to Mac, I should say that I believe this to have been an invention of the sub-editor. "Mac was a splendid pilot and shot and aa inspiring if impetuous leader. We were all the better for trying to live up to the standards he set us and achieved himself. His passion was guns. He loved using them, harmonizing them, talking about them, and, I have no doubt, dreaming about them. When off this one subject his mind ricochetted from topic to topic with a speed which left his audience speechless. His adjutant, ' Arty' Fischel, was the chief sufferer, and after a session of trying to get a decision on an administrative matter, ' Arty' would be quite distraught. One day a new pilot asked Mac how to go about shooting down a Hun. Mac's reply went like this: ' What, shoot down Jerries? Too easy. Go to the French coast, fly up and down slowly at 5,000ft for an hour or two. They'll come up. Shoot a couple down, come home. No trouble. Barman, a flock of beers.' All this was delivered with such a serious air that for a little while it was taken to be serious advice. "His death was spectacular and typical. He was on a ' Rhubarb' (low-level fighter-recce.) with Brian Slack (later- killed in a Typhoon in Holland) as his No. 2. Mac found some barges on a canal between Zwolle and Deventer. He opened fire at 1,000 yd. Instead of dropping his opening burst half-way, as most of us would have done, his first rounds were on the target. The barges were full of ammunition and as Mac arrived they exploded. "I was in the Ops. Room that morning, and when we heard that only one of this pair was coming back, we assumed we had lost Brian Slack, for to our minds Mac was inde- structible. We had cursed him often when he was with us, but missed him when he was gone. We yarned about him for years." July, 1943, found the squadron under canvas at Gravesend, and they were told that the Mustangs were to be changed for D.H. Mosquitoes. A month later the unit was back at its peacetime station, Odiham, with one Mk.2 Mosquito from No. 140 Squadron for practice flying—though, of course, operations with the Mustangs continued. At the end of November the squadron was at Sawbridgeworth, and shortly after Christmas Officers of the squadron in 1927 (the bell, a trophy brought back from Gallipoli in 1923, is now in Odiham parish church). Back row : P/O. E. F. Pippet, P/O. R. N. Smith, P/O. C. J. S. Dickins, F/O. Viscount Acheson, F/O. C. A. H. Erwu, P/O. D. P. D. G. Kelly, P/O. V. R. Oats »nd P/O. D. I. C Eyre*. Front row : F/O. A. H. Allen, F/O. C. G. Hill, F/L. M. C. W. Hint, M.C; S/L. E. J. Kingston-McCloughry, D.S.O.. D.F.C., F/.L. A. P. C. Hannay. M.C.. F/O. 1.1. T. WMoUter, »nd F/O. G. L. S. Griffith-Jones. Peel-off over Hampshire:^ Squadron perform fo "" light's estland Lysanders of No. 4 chtef photographer in 1939. tATTte
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