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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0168.PDF
166 No. 18 SQUADRON . . . W/C. H. G. Malcolm, V.C., whose excep- tional gallantry, with that of his air- crews, gave No. 18 Squadron—in the words of the A.O.C. North West Africa Tactical Air Force—"a special position of distinction in the Royal Air Force." kirk, was made by 11 crews. On the same day several of the officers and N.CO.s who had been operating from Malta returned to Wattisham. The squadron duties were now in the dual roles of bombing and intruder work by night and army co-operation by day. Air- craft were still Blenheim 4s. Each night four crews stood by for intruder work. Anodier change came in May, when the squadron moved up to Dundonald and later to Heathfield, Ayr, for com- bined operations training. Back at Wattisham later in May, night intruding was started again. The big job of the month came on the 30th when the squadron found 17 aircrews to carry out large-scale intruder operations as diversions to the terrific 1,000-bomber raid against Cologne, which gave the enemy a foretaste of even more terrible things to come. No. 18's targets were the airfields at Juvincourt, Venlo and St. Trond. All the aircraft returned safely. On die next night, the same number of crews were briefed for a similar operation, but the raid was cancelled owing to bad weather. Intruding was difficult and exacting work. The Germans were masters of the art of camouflage and decoy, but on a very high proportion of sorties No. 18's pilots were able to distinguish between the dummies and the actual airfields in use. For instance, on the night of June 1st all 17 aircraft found and bombed their primary targets in support of a second attack on Cologne. The Blenheims' standard loads on these trips were made up of 2x250 1b, 8x40 lb and 24x9 lb bombs, the two last-named sizes being incendiaries. That the attacks were effective is borne out by the reports of increased opposition at the airfields visited nightly. The last operations from England were flown on the night of August 17, 1942, after which the squadron went on embarka- tion leave in preparation for moving abroad. A move was made to West Raynham, and aircrews flew down to Filton to bring back Bristol Bisleys (Blenheim 5 s) in exchange for their Blenheim 4s. On November 1st the ground personnel left in the liner Arundel Castle from Glasgow and ten days later 18 Bisleys were detailed to fly from Portreath to Blida, North Africa. Of these 17 set course at 0130 hr and ten arrived at Blida without mishap at 0930 hr. The remainder had various adventures. One was de- layed with mechanical trouble but set course three hours later and arrived safely at Blida at 1130 hr. Another had wireless faults, and a third returned to Portreath because of a petrol leak. A fourth crash-landed shortly after take-off, and No. 5 ran out of fuel and crash-landed ten miles from Blida. The sixth lost its way and landed at Noisey, near Oran. Of the seventh, nothing was heard after take-off. Despite difficulties during the outward journey, die squadron was in operation within 17 hours of arrival at Blida. Six Bisleys were detailed to attack El Aouina airfield. This was the period shordy after "Torch," die invasion of North-West Africa, when the Allied front was too far away from our airfields to be given continuous fighter cover. It, therefore, devolved on the light bombers to attack the Luftwaffe on its airfields. Attacks were made by both daylight and night. An airfield which appeared frequently on the target list was Bizerta/Sidi Ahmed, and the report of a day raid on November 17th, 1942, gives a good impression of conditions obtaining at the time. Twelve Bisleys were detailed and the raid was pressed home in formation at heights varying from 15ft to 150ft, the approach to the target having been made at sea level. Despite flak and fighter resistance eight Bisleys attacked successfully, bombs be- ing seen to burst on hangars and sheds. Hundreds of rounds were fired at parked aircraft. Two Bisleys were seen to collide while approaching the target and crashed at Cap Serrat, and a further two were shot down by Messerschmitt Me 109Fs. It was be- lieved that the Bisleys shot down two Me 109s. One Bisley, ; ' FLIGHT, 10 February 1956 flown by S/L. Tucker, was hit by light A.A. during the run-in to the target and had its rudder shot away. It continued to the target and bombed but was eventually made to force-land at Djidelli after being chased by German fighters. On the last day of November the squadron moved up to Can- robert for close-support work. W/C. Malcolm was in command. They operated from the Souk-el-Arao forward landing ground and were engaged in die Chouigui area, where the First Army were holding on desperately. Casualties were very high, largely owing to die absence of fighter cover. On December 4th the squadron was virtually wiped out. After two attacks in the morning against an enemy landing ground ten miles north of Chouigui, W/C. Malcolm led a further formation of ten Bisleys against the same target at 1515 hr, with no fighter escort. A report written at the time says that, on arrival over the target at 1,000ft, dicy were attacked by between 50 and 60 fighters. It goes on: "Only three crews survived the attacks of the fighters. Of these, three officers and one N.C.O. were injured and each of the three aircraft was shot down and destroyed; they came down in our own lines and the crews were saved. A fourth plane was also shot down in our own lines, all die crew being killed, while the remaining five are missing. Several fighters were definitely destroyed by the Bisleys and a number damaged." As a result of this action W/C. Malcolm was awarded the Victoria Cross. The citation reads: "This officer commanded a squadron of light bombers in NorthAfrica. Throughout his service in that theatre his leadership, skill and daring were of the highest order."On November 17th, 1942, he was detailed to carry out a low-Uvel formation attack on Bizerta airfield, taking advantage of cloud cover.Twenty miles from the target the sky became clear, but W/C. Malcolm carried on, knowing well the danger of proceeding without a fighterescort. Despite fierce opposition all bombs were dropped within the airfield perimeter. A Junkers 52 and a Messerschmitt Me 109 were shotdown; many dispersed enemy aircraft were raked by machine-gun fire. Weather conditions became extremely unfavourable and, as a result, twoof his aircraft were lost by collision; another was forced down by enemy fighters. It was due to this officer's skilful and resolute leadership thatthe remaining aircraft returned safely to base. "On November 28th, 1942, he again led his squadron against Bizeitaairfield, which was bombed from a low altitude. The airfield on this occasion was heavily defended and intense and accurate anti-airciaftfire was met. Nevertheless, after his squadron had released their bombs W/C. Malcolm led them back again and again to attack the airfield withmachine-gun fire. "These were typical of every sortie undertaken by this gallant officer;each attack was pressed to an effective conclusion, however difficult the task and however formidable the opposition."Finally, on December 4th, 1942, W/C. Malcolm, having been detailed to give close support to the First Army, received an urgentrequest to attack an enemy fighter airfield near Chouigui. W/C. Malcolm knew that to attack such an objective without a fighter escort—whichcould not be arranged in the time available—would be to court almost certain disaster; but, believing the attack to be necessary for the successof the Army's operations, his duty was clear. He decided to attack. He took off with his squadron and reached the target unmolested, but whenhe had successfully attacked it his squadron was intercepted by an over- whelming force of enemy fighters. W/C. Malcolm fought back,com:oilinghis hard-pressed squadron and attempting to maintain formation. One by one his aircraft were shot down until only his own aircraft remained.In die end he, too, was shot down in flames. "W/C. Malcolm's last exploit was the finest example of the valourand unswerving devotion to duty which he constantly displayed." At the time of his death he had commanded the squadron for nearly three months. The Malcolm Clubs are named after him. To replace W/C. Malcolm as commanding officer, S/L. Tucker was promoted to the acting rank of wing commander. The remain- ing operational aircrews were sent back to Serif to rest. The squadron was, however, out of action for only ten days; and December 27th found them back at Canrobert on night inter- diction, the use of Bisleys (Blenheim 5 s) for daylight operations having been more or less discontinued. By January 1st the strength of No. 18 was 14 aircrews and six aircraft—one of which was a Blenheim 4. Very effective work was put in on moonlit nights, mostly against transport on the roads leading to Sfax and Tunis. Casualties were low, but the squadron was unlucky enough to lose its second commanding officer within six weeks: after a take- off at 1818 hr on the evening of January 18th, nothing further was heard of W/C. Tucker or his crew, F/L. Docherty and F/Sgt. Bartley, An extract from the squadron diary gives an excellent impression of the effectiveness of the squadron's work; this is but a portion of one report out of very many: "Bisley Q (F/L. Eller, P/O. Browne and Sgt. Coughlan) off 1945,landed 2225 hr, patrolled from 2040 to 2115 and in the shadows of the trees along the road N.E. of Mornaghia saw a stationary convoy of30 to 50 vehicles. Four 2501b bombs and four 40 lb bombs were dropped from 1,000ft and direct hits were observed on the transports, a cloudof smoke rising. The aircraft then went down to 50-100ft and swept the convoy with machine-gun fire. Three miles W. of Sebkret-es-Sedjoumi a nest of six or seven light guns opened up and were fairly accurate up to 1,200ft; one of the guns ceased firing when attackedwith 200 rounds from l,000-500ft."
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