They Spread Their Wings (11 page)

For a few days after my return from leave there was lots of fog about and still no flying, what a bind. However, on February 25th, Johnny and Gally were first off and they got their long awaited first solos in the Mosquito. I waited, keyed up, all afternoon for an aircraft and was finally rewarded after tea. Well, having gone solo in the Mossie, maybe now we can get cracking. The next couple of weeks, in fact, livened up considerably as I spent the days and nights clocking up practice hours, NFTs and starting on the defensive patrol roster.

A dual-control Mosquito TIII, HJ866, as used to train No 25 Squadron pilots during conversion to the NFII. (J. Cheney Collection)

There was not much enemy activity on the patrols during March. We flew on the 6th in DD754 and on the 7th in DZ655, both under Roecliffe GCI, but spent the two-and-a-half-hour sorties doing practice interceptions which, in truth, didn’t go too well. The enemy sent a raid over on evening of March 9th and our squadron put up seven Mosquitoes between 19.00 and midnight. Easington Chain Home Low [CHL] radar station vectored Mike and I, in DZ688, towards an unidentified aircraft, which turned out to be a friendly. Later in our patrol we chased an enemy aircraft and Mike held a contact on our AI for about seven seconds but the target was going too fast to bring into range. We were put on to another EA [enemy aircraft] but could not turn that into a contact either. Only one of our crews managed to turn a contact into a visual on a Dornier Do 217 but were frustrated by searchlights. Mike and I did six more defensive patrols, in DZ655 and HJ914, during the first half of April but the Hun came nowhere near our patch so the patrol time was occupied in exercising with ground radar stations or searchlights.

The second half of April was quite different though. It saw the start of the offensive intruder operations, called Ranger, by No 25 Squadron, using Mosquito NFIIs with the AI radar removed and a Gee navigation set installed. Mike and I got our first taste of the action on the 20th. The sky was clear, with a brilliant moon. ‘B’ flight flew all their defensive patrols while three of ‘A’ flight’s Ranger aircraft – including mine – were active from Coltishall and made a great killing.

Fg Off Jimmy Wootton and his navigator, Plt Off John Dymock, were sent off first, to the Osnabrück area, then Mike and I went off at 22.40 on 20th April 1943. Manor 24 (our call-sign) was airborne from Coltishall in bright moonlight, with no cloud and visibility of four miles. We crossed the North Sea at 200 feet and after pin-pointing the island of Vlieland to starboard we climbed to 4,500 feet. I altered course for the Zuider Zee dam and crossed the mainland coast at Makkum where a prominent jetty made another good pin-point. From there Mike gave me a course for Assen and thence to Aschendorf, which was reached just before midnight.

We followed some railway lines to Papenburg and Leer, encountering moderate flak and searchlight activity on the way. A train was spotted entering Leer from the south and with a quickening of the pulse, I turned into the attack. Just as I did so, the Mossie was illuminated by the glare of three searchlights for about half a minute. Considerable light flak, again pretty accurate, was thrown up at us and I had to break off the attack with some violent evasive action.

Having succeeded in dodging the lights, we set course for Zwischenaur Lake, to the west of Bremen where, further along the same railway lines a fast-moving train was spotted. I pushed the stick gently forward and made a head-on pass at it, starting at 1,300 feet range and with Mike shouting out the altitude readings as I concentrated on the train, the gun sight and firing the guns. I kept my thumb on the button in a five second burst as we closed to 400 feet range and I could see cannon strikes all over the locomotive as I broke away and headed off in the direction of Cloppenburg.

Following the railway tracks south towards Quackenbruck airfield and Furstenau we soon came upon another train near Bippen. This time I attacked from astern and to starboard, opening up with a long, six-second burst. The slow-moving train was hit in a concentrated strike and the flash from the explosions was quite blinding. The locomotive became enveloped in clouds of steam and smoke, grinding to a halt and lit up by a vivid red glow.

Our fuel state showed it was time to go home. The course took us over Lingen where considerable light flak came up from the town and from other isolated gun posts on the outskirts. Over the Zuider Zee, then across the Dutch coast at Ijmuiden and then it was down on the deck all the way across the North Sea. We made landfall at Great Yarmouth some thirty minutes later and touched down on Coltishall’s runway at 01.15. Despite attention from the German flak, my Mossie sustained no hits nor, for that matter, did any of the other Ranger aircraft that night. Thus ended my first taste of the real action. There was no great feeling of elation, just relief that it had gone off well and being pleased at having a crack at the Hun on his home ground. The four 20mm cannon in our Mosquitoes were each loaded with 250 rounds of a mixture of HE [High Explosive], incendiary, ball and armour-piercing rounds. Although, of course, the four. 303in Browning machine guns were also available, I had used only the cannon on this sortie as they were the more effective for these strafing runs. The two trains we attacked had been given a combined dose of 340 rounds.

Later that day it was back to Church Fenton and a routine of NFTs and defensive night patrols for the next three weeks but Jerry didn’t bother us much. Then the moon and weather became ideal for more Ranger activity so we could get to grips with the enemy once again.

On May 15th the defensive patrols were still having no luck, although both friendly and hostile contacts were being chased. Meanwhile, Mike and I were destined to be in the thick of the action again when we took off from our forward base at Coltishall at 23.10 to seek out more transportation targets on what was designated Long Ranger Route No 1.

A large convoy of ships was seen off Vlieland and I overflew them in a diving turn without stirring up a nasty greeting, before crossing the Dutch coast a few minutes later. We reached the familiar pin point at Makkum then headed for the Diepholtz area where I orbited the airfield looking for trade. After stooging around for ten minutes without any sign of life, Mike spotted a train entering the town from the south. I peeled off into a shallow dive from abeam and raked it with a three-second burst of cannon fire, breaking off at 500 feet with strikes being seen all over the coaches. It was essential for Mike to keep calling out the altitude during the diving attacks as it was quite impossible to concentrate on the gunsight and the target and watch our height all at the same time, for one could become quite mesmerised by the kaleidoscope of dials, flashes and explosions.

Turning away now towards Steinhuder Lake, lights could be seen at Lengenhagen aerodrome on the outskirts of Hanover but we were out of luck, for no aeroplane activity could be detected there. Two searchlights probed the sky from Burgdorf aerodrome in an effort to catch us but they did not illuminate our aircraft. Shortly after this, two trains were sighted near Gifhorn and I hammered both these one after the other in beam attacks using raking three-second bursts from the cannon only. Several strikes were observed on both locomotives and after the second pass, the sky was lit up by a satisfying red glow as we left them behind.

We pressed on towards Gardelegen airfield, only seventy miles short of Berlin and en route, surprised another train west of Fallersleben. I made two runs on this one, firing a short burst on the first pass from astern then whipping hard round and pouring a longer burst from all eight guns along the whole length of the train, watching the cannon shells hitting the coaches and loco on each pass. During the second attack there was moderate but accurate light flak coming at us from the nearby town, so we sheered off and set course for Salzwedel airfield. A few minutes later, yet another train was spotted near Wieren and I made two head-on attacks with the cannon, producing strikes on the locomotive both times.

Now we turned north in the general direction of Hamburg. A couple of minutes after passing over Ulzen a train hove into view at outside Unterlutz. I made a run in from astern this time, giving it a three-second burst from the machine guns only and I hung on so long in the dive that the Mossie was almost skimming the rear end of the train by the time I hauled the nose up. Good hits were seen on the leading coaches and the loco.

After this last attack the windscreen of the Mosquito misted over on the outside, which made navigation difficult so, since our ammo was just about finished, Mike gave me a course for base via the Zuider Zee at Aarderwijk and the Dutch coast at Ijmuiden. The return was uneventful and we touched down at Coltishall at 03.20 to claim in our four-hour sortie five locomotives and an unknown quantity of coaches on which I had expended 700 rounds of 20mm and 1,000 rounds of. 303in ammo. Two other Ranger crews also claimed a further four trains between them but No 25 Squadron’s two Intruder sorties to the Soesterberg and Deelen airfield areas each drew a blank. On the whole it had been a productive night though and I slept the sleep of the exhausted.

Four nights later Mike and I were off again, this time allocated to Ranger Route No 19. We were second away, after Fg Off Davies who went to the Drentewede area. Keeping low over the North Sea, then climbing to 4,500 feet to cross the coast at Terschelling at midnight, Mike gave me a course for Assen, Aschendorf, Syke and Drackenburg and skirting round the hot spot of Bremen. Searching in a north-east direction we sighted a train a few miles east of Visselhovede and I immediately dived at it head-on, letting go with a three-second burst of cannon. This hit the locomotive which promptly rolled to a stop emitting lovely dense clouds of smoke and steam. One down! We turned away for Soltau then headed east to Ulzen, attacking a southbound train near Bevensen. This loco was hammered with cannon fire and it, too, was left stationary, in clouds of steam lit up by a dull red glow.

We took time now to patrol up and down the Ulzen to Hannover railway line looking for ‘trade’. Our luck was in since, before long, we were rewarded by the sight of no fewer than
three
trains near Celle. No time to dither. I hit the first loco with cannon fire in a head-on attack and the second, a few miles behind it and travelling in the same direction, was given the same treatment. Quickly hauling the Mossie round in a tight turn I overtook the third train from astern and raked its whole length with a four-second burst from the combined fire power of the cannon and Brownings. This loco was hit and ground to a halt, erupting in large clouds of steam and smoke.

This area was proving very fruitful as yet another train was observed five miles away puffing serenely towards Celle. I dived on this one from head-on, firing at it with machine guns only and hits seemed to pepper the loco and set fire to some of the coaches, which were burning furiously as the train came to a halt.

Having stirred up a hornet’s nest Mike, always on top of our position, gave me a course to steer for base. As we flew over Steinhuder Lake, sadly low on fuel and ammunition, some ten miles or so to the north could be seen what appeared to be an aerodrome with signs of a visual Lorenz lighting system. However, keeping on track we came across another train on the outskirts of Lemforde and with some ammunition to spare it was too good a target to overlook. I dived straight at it and let fly a concentrated burst with the remaining Browning ammo, which produced the usual clouds of steam and a satisfying red glow. Time to go home.

The rest of the flight back had to be by dead reckoning as the compass packed up after the last attack. We must have wandered off course a bit near Utrecht because the aircraft was suddenly coned by about twelve searchlights. They held us for a couple of minutes before I could throw them off with violent evasive action. The lights were followed up by a barrage of intense and pretty accurate light flak but we emerged unscathed. Ten minutes later, as we crossed the Dutch coast, we were picked up by two more searchlights on the island of Overflakee. They held us for about a minute and it was only by more violent manoeuvres and then diving full pelt to the deck that they were shaken off. I kept down low over the North Sea and we landed at Coltishall at 03.35 after another four hours of working up quite a sweat. This time our claim was for seven locomotives and an unknown number of coaches set on fire. [Seven locos by one crew in one night sortie was a squadron record and remained unbeaten by any squadron.]

Wing Commander Simon Maude – squadron CO since March – was one of the other Ranger crews that night. He had been busy in the Bremen area, claiming one train and starting fires in a factory and rail yard during his sortie. In contrast, Sqn Ldr Brinsden saw no activity whatsoever and his description of his own sortie was highly original, in that he became the first pilot to complain of boredom on a Ranger operation!

During the next few days the weather remained warm and although visibility decreased and Ranger operations were cancelled, the full night defensive programme was still flown every night and Mike and I were detailed to do our share of this. We actually got a bit of excitement on the 23rd when, flying DZ655, we were vectored onto a contact and pursued a retreating Hun two thirds of the way to Holland but sadly were unable to bring him into range.