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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1231.PDF
Officers of the squadron at Gambut in 1944: The known names are: (Back row) F/0. Woodier, , F/0. Hawkins, , F/0. Jenkinson and P/0. Sykes. (Centre) F/L Lowe, , , , F/L. Heide, , F/0. Scott. (Front) F/L. Rogers, F/L. Oddy (Adjutant), S/L. Pain, W/C. Foxley-Norris, S/L. Deck, , . W/O. Prentice says farewell to No. 603 when all airmen over SO years of age were sent home from the Middle East; he was nearly 60. On the left is W/C. Foxley-Norris; W/O. Prentice shakes hands with F/L. Oddy. THE QUEEN'S SQUADRON . . . 70-100 tons, was hit by both 25 lb and 60 lb R.P.s and left sink ing. The second, a larger, three-masted, ship of about 150-200 tons at Mykonos, received one direct hit with a 25 lb R.P. and numerous cannon hits. It was left with only one mast standing and in a badly damaged condition. Despite the fact that the squadron was under canvas in the Western Desert, Christmas 1943 was voted the best ever. Recon naissance aircraft reported no sightings and no operations de veloped. In the traditional style, turkey and plum pudding were served to the airmen by the officers and senior N.C.O.s. Beer having been conserved for some weeks beforehand, there was even a generous supply. Respite was short. On the next day nine Beaufighters went to Stampalia, where two caiques were sunk and the jetty blown up. At the opening of the new year, 1944, weather hampered operations a good deal; convoy patrols were flown, but very little offensive flying took place. There was a slight change in tactics, in that the Beaus now operated in pairs. On January 16th, two pairs were despatched to attack vessels seen in Khios harbour. Here the height of the buildings sur rounding the harbour made it almost impossible to hit the vessels, but one was seen to blow up. Beaufighter "N," F/L. MacDonnell, was damaged when flying through debris thrown up from roof-top hits and had to ditch near Panaghia Island. When last seen, the navigator, F/O. Piner, was in his dinghy and the pilot was swimming nearby. FLIGHT, 30 April 1954 The sinking of caiques became an everyday occurence, the rocket projectile being an excellent weapon for the job. Occa sionally an Arado 196 was sighted; but, generally speaking, very few enemy aircraft were encountered, either transports or fighters. On January 27th, however, a formation of three Junkers 52 floatplanes, accompanied by an equal number of Arado 196s, were sighted to the west of Mykonos. Four 603 Squadron Beaufighters attacked and in the fight all the Junkers were shot down, as well as two of the Arados. The rocket projectile of those days was not entirely reliable, as F/O. Smith found during a sweep over the central Aegean. While attacking a 70-ton caique he had both wings of his Beau- fighter badly damaged by premature bursts. On one side a rocket exploded immediately after launching, while on the other there was a detonation the instant Smith pressed the firing button. Despite the damage he was able to fly back to base. In March, night intruding became an added duty—mostly over Crete—and the commanding officer took to leading forma tions of six or more aircraft on long anti-shipping sweeps. On almost every occasion at least one ship was either sunk or badly damaged; but the most profitable day was March 19th, when five ships totalling 680 tons were either sunk or badly damaged in 37 individual attacks. In no way celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of the R.A.F. on April 1st, 1918, a firework display took place on All Fools Day in 1944; it was provided by red distress signals ignited by a fire which started in "A" Flight armoury tent. One of them totally destroyed the canvas orderly-room. Air attacks on the enemy's shipping had by this time (April 1944) become so serious that he was forced to use more northerly routes. To bring these within range, overload tanks giving a duration of eight hours were requested. The squadron was at the top of its form, taking on anything from anti-submarine attacks to night intruding; but at shipping strikes it excelled. Not a day or night went by without some addition to the scoreboard. A typical incident, or series of incidents, occurred on the night of May 8th, when F/L. Pringle, D.F.C., was on shipping search in the south-western Cyclades. First, north of Syros, he found a convoy of one Surose lighter, one E.M.S. craft and six auxiliary caiques. With cannon he attacked and sank the E.M.S., causing a violent explosion. Next a caique was set on fire and sunk, and another badly damaged. After calling other Beaus to the scene Pringle continued his patrol. Six miles north-west of Serephos he located another convoy, this time consisting of one large vessel and three torpedo boats; all were taking evasive action to reach the shelter of the coast. As a result of his attack the tail torpedo-boat was hit. Meanwhile a Canadian pilot, F/O. Soderland, reached the first-located convoy and attacked the Surose lighter with 60 lb R.P. A violent explosion resulted and all flak from the vessel ceased. The night's work was described in a congratulatory message from Air H.Q. Eastern Mediterranean as "an outstanding example of precision in attack and co-operation." This was a fitting end to W/C. Lewis's command of the squadron. He had then finished his extension to his second tour. W/C. J. D. T. Revell came from H.Q. Middle East to take over. He first went to Shallufa to take an R.P. course, actually taking over the squadron on June 15th. The remainder of May was a dull period. Sand storms held up flying, and days were spent in standing by for a big shipping strike. It eventually took place on June 1st (1944) and proved to be an exceptional operation, no fewer than 71 aircraft being involved in the attack against three ships of 1,500-2,000 tons, each flying balloons and protected by eight escort vessels. No. 603 Squadron supplied eight Beaufighters which formed the starboard anti-flak escort to the main R.P. strike force. In the action two of the ships were severely damaged (one very probably sunk), three escort vessels damaged, one each Arado 196 and Me 109 destroyed, one Arado claimed as a probable and two further Arados damaged. No. 603 squadron's share was two escort vessels damaged for the loss of one aircraft. The remainder of June was spent in training new crews; only one ship, a 150-ton schooner, was sunk. July was a bad month. Although there were successful attacks against shipping the price paid was very high. Six Beaufighters were lost, three of them in one operation on the 23rd. On this occasion S/L. Deck, D.F.C., led an offensive reconnaissance over the central Aegean. At 0850 hrs an Arado was seen ten miles east of Mykonos and the formation went into attack. It was shot down. Beaufighter "A" reported damage and was told to return to base with "N" as escort. Unable to maintain height, "A" was ditched, but both members of the crew—F/O. Bounevialle, D.F.C., and F/Sgt. Potter—were seen to get into their dinghy. Meanwhile the other four Beaus had found a convoy of some seven vessels. In the attack which followed, a corvette and an auxiliary sailing-ship were both damaged, but Beaufighter "H" was seen to break away with smoke coming from the starboard engine. It was put safely in the water and W/O. Sykes and F/Sgt. Foxley were seen to get into their dinghy. The pilot of
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