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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0167.PDF
10 February 1956 columns; the sorties were successful, but a further two Blenheims were lost. As soon as P/O. Whelan got over the target area his Blenheim was attacked by eight Me 110s, his observer, Set Mongey, being killed instantly. Subsequently the port engine was set on fire and, while trying to climb to allow the air gunner to bale out, Whelan lost control. He regained it just before hitting the ground and succeeded in making a belly landing, though he was badly burned and broke an arm. The air gunner, L.A/C. Brown, was unhurt. During the air fight Brown had noticed another Blenheim going down in flames and presumed it was F/O. Stuart and his crew, who were lost during the same action. On the same day, the squadron was ordered to move back to Guyancourt. Only two aircraft were left behind, and these were rendered unusable. The following morning six aircraft attacked enemy armour, and all returned safely; but later the same day came instructions to move to Crecy. By mistake the Blenheims landed—with the sole aid of two petrol-tin flares—at Abbeville. Three more unservice- able aircraft were left behind at Guyancourt. On May 19th the unit was told to proceed to England. Piloted by S/L. Rogers, F/L. Langebear, and F/O. Rees, the remaining three aircraft, one of which was really unserviceable, flew to Lympne, the ground crews following by boat via Boulogne. All vehicles proceeded to Cherbourg for embarkment. From Lympne the remaining Blenheims flew to Watton, Norfolk. Within 24 hours of leaving France No. 18 Squadron was again flying operational sorties. During the morning of the 21st, P/O. Light took off for a reconnaissance of the Douai-Arras-Amiens- Abbeville area, but failed to return. Later the same day three aircraft joined up with No. 82 Squadron to bomb armoured columns on the Abbeville-Boulogne road. One of these was lost also, shot down by our own fighters. And so the battle continued; almost every aircraft that left on a sortie was either lost entirely or returned in a badly shot-up condition with members of the crew wounded. On May 26th what remained of the squadron moved from Watton to Gatwick, and on the following day the convoy of road vehicles arrived safely from France under the command of F/O. Silk. Only one vehicle had been lost on the journey and that loss was caused by a mechanical failure. Records for June 1940 are scanty. A move from Gatwick to West Raynham, Norfolk, was made on the 12th, but there is no record of operations being flown until July 4th, when three air- craft took off individually to attack oil targets in Northern Ger- many; one machine failed to return. This was the first of many raids against such targets as ship- ping, harbours, canals and, of course, the concentrations of barges accummulated for the projected invasion of England. Losses suffered in this daylight bombing were very high, and instructions were eventually given to call off all raids in which good cloud cover was not available. No. 18 was now working as part of No. 2 Group. The effort was usually in the region of two or three sorties a day but occasionally this rose to as many as twelve. In August night bombing began; but, while the casualty rate fell steeply, there was great difficulty in locating targets or assessing results. Time and again reports speak of targets not being seen owing to cloud or searchlights or A.A. By the end of September it was customary to have about 12 aircraft operating on each suitable night, but occasionally some crews did two trips, so that a total of perhaps 18 sorties resulted. The squadron was now at Great Massingham, near King's Lynn in Norfolk. The Channel ports still formed the main targets, but by November enemy airfields were .high on the priority list in order to relieve Britain from incessant night bombing. Many bombs, however, were brought back or jettisoned in the sea. January 1941 found the squadron still at Great Massingham. A certain amount of day bombing was still in progress, but more operations were cancelled than there were carried out. Weather was the chief cause of cancellation: either it was too thick over base or too clear over the target; occasionally it was exactly the reverse; and pan of the time the aerodrome itself was unserviceable. Absence of operational flying was not for lack of effort. For instance, on February 4th eight Blenheims stood by and the C.O., W/C. Sharp took off in L9247 at 1752 hr and circled the airfield in a snowstorm to watch seven new crews safely off the ground. After one or two had taken the air, however, Sharp cancelled the projected operation. Squadron strength at this time was 18 aircrews, of which about 12 or 13 were usually available at any one time. „ By March the nature of targets had changed again: now German military installations and armaments f actories were being attacked. At the end of the month W/C. C. G. Hill, D.F.C., from No. 139 Squadron took over command from W/C. Sharp. His first opera- tion was against Hanover, just before the squadron moved to Oulton, near Norwich. . . t From the new airfield the Blenheims were sent mostly on day- light anti-shipping patrols. Losses mounted again but the crews 165 Now the Station Commander at R.A.F. Upwood, where No. 18 Squadron is based G/C. G.C.O. Key. O.B.E., D.F.C. (right) commanded the unit in 1941. With him is W/C. P. Dobson, D.S.O.,D.F.C.,A.F.C, Wing Commander Flying at Upwood. were at least seeing, and occasionally hitting, their targets. It is not surprising that casualties rose; the squadron diary records that sometimes these attacks against shipping were made from as low as 30ft. After a long period of difficulty and frustration No. 18 was obviously on its toes again—the war against shipping was being pursued with zest. Operations were not always from Oulton; some were made from Chivenor, in North Devon, and it was while on the way back from one of these trips that the Blenheim flown by S/L. Lindsaye was fired on by one of our own convoys off Start Point. There was a certain amount of justification, for the convoy was actually being bombed by the Germans at the time. A few days later S/L. Lindsaye and his crew got a direct hit on a 7,000-ton enemy vessel and left it with a 35-deg list. There were plenty of targets available; on almost every sortie a ship or convoy was attacked. Another station from which sorties were made was Portreath, Cornwall, where, on the night of May 5th, a number of the squadron's aircraft were rendered unserviceable as a result of an enemy raid. W/C. G. C. O. Key, D.F.C., was now in command. F/L. Langebear, one of the original pilots of the squadron at the outbreak of war, was lost during May. Sgt. Burns, on Blenheim L1829, put in what must have been the lowest of low-level attacks when, on May 5th, he collided with the mast of a 1,000-ton ship. According to his subsequent report, "damage to the starboard wing and aileron control made it impossible to observe the results of the bombing." The Blenheim was coaxed safely back to base, but it collided with two other aircraft while landing. Shipping strikes were interspersed with fighter-protected "circuses" to try to bring the Luftwaffe to action, but more day operations were cancelled than were performed. As the shipping attacks became more and more effective the Germans reacted strongly. Convoy escorts became larger and a number of fighters were encountered. Yet still the 50-ft low- level attacks went on, despite the loss of one aircraft for every ten or so sorties. In July came a short move to Horsham St. Faith, Norwich, but the role of the squadron remained the same—anti-shipping patrols interspersed by circuses and the occasional daylight raid —assisted by cloud cover—on N.W. Germany or the Channel ports. The stay at Horsham was very brief, for the middle of the next month found No. 18 at Mansion, Kent. This latest move was clearly the outcome of good work over the Norm Sea, for enemy convoys along the French coast constituted the new targets. On August 19th six aircraft took part in a "circus" against a power station at Gosnay, but low cloud prevented bombing of the target. On the way a call was made at St. Omer, to drop to W/C. Bader—who had been shot down shortly before—his artificial legs. After this trip every aircraft bore traces of anti-aircraft fire, and one observer had been wounded. The crew who actually dropped the legs were Sgts. Mickleson, Meadows and Pearson, flying in "F" (Blenheim 4 R3843). By the end of August the unit was back at Horsham St. Faith, flying innumerable "beats" over the North Sea once more. But this was soon to end. On September 30th the squadron was testing "tropical" Blenheims in preparation for a detachment of the aircrews to Malta. The move started on October 10th, when 15 aircraft under W/C. Smythe left for Portreath, en route for Gibraltar. Each Blenheim took one passenger in addition to the crew of three. Meanwhile the remainder of the squadron were at Oulton, and later (December 10th) moved to Wattisham. While the aircraft and aircrews were away the ground crews were employed as a maintenance unit and for ground defence. That records concerning the work of No. 18 in Malta are non-existent is not surprising when conditions at the time are considered. By March most of what was left of the squadron had been absorbed into other units in the Middle East; and at Wattisham on March 4th, 1942, No. 18 started to re-form once more with new crews from operational training units and four crews from No. 107 Squadron. W/C. Newberry was now in command. Intensive training absorbed the squadron s whole effort until April 26th, when the first operation, against the docks at Dun-
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