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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0522.PDF
5i8 FLIGHT No. 207 Squadron W/C. H.N.G. Wheeler, D.S.O., O.B.E., D.F.C., Wing Com mander Flying at Marham. He served with No. 207 Squadron from 1937 to 1940. Another Lancaster on the same night was less fortunate. It crashed at Little Rissington, the present home of the C.F.S., and all its occupants were killed with the exception of the rear gunner. On the night before the Army's crossing of the Rhine on March 24th, 1945, No. 207 were part of the force attacking Wesel, one of the crossing points. The writer of this history, as Flight's war correspondent, watched the raid from close quar ters on the ground. The timing was perfect and the bombing most accurate and concentrated. Each photoflash as it went off illuminated the tight cluster of smoke-puffs left by previous flashes. Incidentally, there had been a daylight raid on the same target earlier the same evening, when your historian, through a bit of bad map-reading, had nearly found himself in the target area. The. daylight raid was by 77 air craft of No. 3 Group and the night operation by slightly more than 200 machines belonging to No. 5 Group. The target area was, however, so softened-up that the ground troops suffered only 30 casualties during the crossing; and it was safe for Mr. Winston Churchill to tour the area in an open car later the same day. No. 207's contribution to this attack was made with 16 Lancasters. During the last full month of the war—April, 1945—the squadron had 215 aircraft detailed for operations, but 100 of these raids were cancelled before take-off. No aircraft were lost. Ten aircraft took off on the morning of April 25th to bomb Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden, which was reached at approximately 0900 hr in good formation. The attack was considered by some crews a complete success, but others thought the effort somewhat scattered. Flak was bad, but no enemy fighters were seen. This trip to the Fuhrer's home, appropriately enough, proved to be the last operation No. 207 was called upon to do. From then on, the diary records only flights for transportation of prisoners- of-war and for purposes of training. Almost immediately fighting had ceased the squadron began to be broken down. On June 1st, 1945, Australian personnel were posted for repatriation and the Canadians followed a week later. Apparendy No. 207 was destined for the Far East "Tiger Force," for in July it was joined by seven volunteer crews from No. 44 Squadron. V.J.-Day came before the unit could get abroad and "Tiger Force" preparations were discontinued in favour of normal training. Flying hours gradually diminished until, in April, 1946, they were down to 52 for the month. The absolute bottom was reached in February, 1947, when flying times were down to 2 hr 48 min for the month. This, however, was due mainly to extremely bad weather conditions. The Arctic weather was eventually broken by a gale from the north-west; gusts of up to 85 kt were recorded and all the personnel were mobilized to sit in the aircraft to see that the control locks remained secure and the machines did not shift. By this time the squadron had made two moves—first to Methwold and later to Tuddenham. It was a very dull period, the weather taking pride of place in the squadron diary and the average number of aircrews available being down to three per day. Boredom was relieved by a further move—to Stradishall, in November, 1946. By February, 1947, squadron strength was down to 15 officers, 31 other ranks aircrew and 41 groundcrew. On strength were six Lancasters. The manning shortage was acute, necessitating the pooling of aircraft and groundcrews and aircrews on the station. It was felt that this loss of squadron identity would have a deleterious effect on the unit's esprit de corps. Even under the new arrangement there were rarely more than two Lancasters available. A welcome change came in July, 1947, when the first "Sunray" was flown; for four crews this meant a detachment to Egypt for 12 days. By this time, also, the worst of the depression had passed and slowly but surely No. 207 was on the upward move again. Training became more intense, with live bombing of Heligoland. By June of the following year things had improved sufficiently for the squadron to revert to the old arrangement, with their own aircraft and servicing crews. Under this arrange ment squadron spirit improved and ground staff showed more interest in their own aircraft. The re-equipping of the squadron with Lincolns was accom plished in June, 1949. So like their predecessors, the aircraft excited scarcely any comment in the diary. The aircraft were still a mixed bag of Lancasters and Lincolns in September, 1949, when Exercise Bulldog took place—the only big Bomber Command exercise previous to this year's "Jungle King." With the turn of the year the whole squadron—six Lincolns— left for the Canal Zone. Five made the journey non-stop and the sixth, held up with W/T. trouble, followed the next day. Flying times for the month were over 300—for the first time for a very long while. But this was but a flash in the pan, for in February, 1950, all flying was stopped pending the closing-down of the squadron. On May 29th, 1951, for the third time, No. 207 Squadron was re-formed. Under the present CO., S/L. G. W. O'Neil Fisher, it was equipped with Boeing B-29AS (designated Washingtons by the R.A.F.). Security requires a veil to be drawn over most of the unit's activities during the past two years, but the squadron has taken part in all of the publicized exercises—Pinnacle, Bullseye, Kingpin, (Continued at foot of page 519.) COMMANDING OFFICERS No. 7 R.N.A.S. Squadron, German East Africa Sqn. Cdr. E. R. C. Nanson April 1916 No. 7 R.N.A.S. Squadron, France Sqn. Cdr. C. L. Courtney ... Nov. 1916 Sqn. Cdr. S. W. K. Allsop 5-4-17 Sqn. Cdr. J. T. Babington, D.S.0 27-6-1 Sqn. Cdr. H. A. Buss ... 1-1-18 Sqn. Cdr. H. S. Adams ... 20-2-18 No. 207 Squadron, R.A.F. Maj. G. L. Thompson, D.S.C. 24-5-18 Maj. T. A. Batchelor ... 26-7-18 Mai. G. R. Elliott 7-8-1 Maj. M. H. B. Nethersole ... 5-6-19 S/L. A. W. Tedder 1-2-20 S/L. V. Gaskell Blackburn, D.S.C., A.F.C 6-8-28 S/L. J. B. Graham, M.C., D.F.C 28-2-26 S/L. E. A. Beulah 1-12-28 S/L. J. W. Woodhouse, D.S.O..M.C 23-4-31 S/L. J. L. Vachell, M.C 1-2-33 S/L. G. G. Dawson ... 29-9-33 S/L. P. A. Maitland, A.F.C. S/L. R. J. Rodwell S/L.J. W. Lissett S/L. J. N. D. Anderson ... W/C. N. C. Hyde W/C. C. J. F. Kydd W/C. J. N. D. Anderson, O.B.E W/C. K. P. Lewis W/C. C. Fothergill W/C. F. R. Jeffs W/C. F. G. L. Bain W/C. T. A. B. Parselle W/C. P. N. Jennings W/C. V. J. Wheeler W/C. J. F. Grey, D.S.O., D.F.C W/C. H. R. Black, A.F.C. S/L. L. McCracken S/L. G. W. Vowles S/L. P. J. S. Boggis, D.F.C. S/L. G. J. C. Hogan, D.F.C. S/L. E. J. Wicht, D.S.O., D.F.C S/L. G. W. O'Neil Fisher, O.B.E., D.F.C 9-8-34 6-2-35 18-3-36 6-8-38 1-11-40 8-4-41 30-4-41 21-5-41 10-10-41 28-5-42 7-12-42 26-12-42 30-5-43 26-2-44 23-3-44 16-10-44 18-4-46 18-6-46 17-3-47 9-3-48 10-12-49 1-6-51 The present CO., S/L. G. W. O'Neil Fisher, with his flight com manders, F/L. H. St. John Garland (left) and F/L. W. H. Adams. "Flight" photographs. In English winter sunshine: the present squadron against a background of its American aircraft. On the left is "A" Flight, with "B" Flight on the right.
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