They Spread Their Wings (6 page)

Fg Off Clark was airborne on patrol on 5 February, when convoy ‘Tow’ was picked up off Ras Beddad and escorted into Tobruk harbour, and again on 11 February when convoy ‘Funnel’ was contacted 8 miles north of Ras Beddad and handed on 15 miles north of Sidi Bu Amud. Although enemy subs shelled various convoys, No 6’s air patrols still made no contact with the enemy. At dawn on 15 February, in an effort to find some action, the CO launched a squadron sweep with ten Hurricanes, but despite spotting two Italian Savoia 79s late in the operation about 100 miles north of Salum, which were chased towards Crete, they could not be brought to close action. The CO and Plt Off Freeland managed to get within 700 yards and fired a few squirts at the enemy before the Hurricanes had to break off due to low fuel levels. They both landed at base with just 10 gallons of petrol remaining. These interception ‘sweeps’ were a slight relief from the more mundane convoy patrols and Howard flew his last of this latter type on 18 February when he was part of the continuous air cover flown over convoy ‘Roman’ between 13.00 and 19.00.

Strange as it may seem, things began to look more promising when a signal arrived declaring the squadron non-operational with effect from 20 February. Orders were to fly twelve Hurricane IICs back to LG 237 (or Kilo 40) Jebal Hamzi, an airfield on the Cairo to Alex road 20 miles west of Cairo. Officialdom seemed to be having a field day again, shuffling Hurricane IICs and IIDs around like a pack of cards. The big news this time was that it was all to happen on 21 February and twelve Hurricane IIDs were to be collected in exchange for the IICs. A further nine IIDs would be collected from LG 237 in due course, giving the squadron a total of twenty-one IID aircraft. At 08.00 that day the overjoyed pilots began flying their IICs back to Cairo and morale rose skywards with anticipation. Fg Off Howard Clark was one of those involved and he duly set off in HL610. However, after thirty minutes in the air the engine failed and he had to force-land in the desert. He was unhurt but the Hurricane suffered Cat B damage to its airscrew, radiator, engine and port wing tip:

I had a high speed supercharger blow up on me in the air the other day and I had to do a forced landing with the wheels up in rather rough country, but I was quite OK, although the aeroplane was knocked about a bit.

He was picked up and returned to Sidi Bu Amud, from whence he took another IIC and set off again, this time successfully. The pilots picked up the IIDs but while they were airborne the weather deteriorated and they were told that back at Bu Amud it had developed into a fierce sandstorm, so some turned back to Heliopolis, while others put down at Alexandria for the night. Howard wrote:

I took my aeroplane down to Alex the other day and got stuck there owing to bad weather, so instead of staying one night I had to stay three, which was quite fun. It is getting a long way back there now, even flying. We are on the move again.

In fact, the sandstorm persisted for two whole days, but by 08.00 on 24 February all twenty-one IIDs had been successfully flown to Sidi Bu Amud.

In the meantime everyone was keen to return the squadron to the fray and were packing furiously so that the ground party and transport could depart on the long journey forward as soon as possible. Having drawn rations from stores in Tobruk for seven days and arranged for three more days’ reserve rations to be available at Benina/Benghazi, the ground convoy departed Sidi Bu Amud at 08.00 on the 24th – destined for Castel Benito airfield. Pilots and aircraft ground crew remained at Bu Amud and, while they awaited the arrival of the support convoy like the return of old friends, the Hurricane IIDs were serviced and air tested. Later, armoury personnel checked over and harmonised the 40mm weapons ready for action. On the 27th they tested the Browning guns on knocked-out tanks that littered the former ‘Cauldron’ battlefield area around Bir Hacheim, then on 3 March pilots tested the ‘S’ guns against more derelict tanks and assorted vehicles strewn around the old battlefields of Knightsbridge and Acroma.

By 5 March 1943, the ground convoy had completed its long, hot, dusty trek to Castel Benito aerodrome near Tripoli. All Hurricanes were flown in a couple of days earlier and the squadron stayed at the base for a few more days until the rear echelon of ground crew caught up; then it was off again to a new operational airfield located at Sorman, where No 6 Squadron took up residence on 7 March. This former Italian Air Force base was a relatively attractive, palm-fringed aerodrome with two hangars, built on a hard-surfaced salt lake. It was located on the coast, halfway between Tripoli and Zuara, not far from Tunisia’s eastern border with Libya. The AOC, AVM Harry Broadhurst, sent a signal to the CO advising him that: ‘the Air Ministry desired to discover the effectiveness of the “tank-buster” in modern warfare and it was to be expected that as many targets as possible would be found for the Squadron.’

Under the control of No 244 Wing, operations from Sorman commenced on 9 March with Sqn Ldr Weston-Burt and six pilots flying over the Tunisian border to take up a standby position at an advanced landing ground called An Naffatiyah, located near the main coastal highway halfway between Ben Gardane and Medenine. This turned out to be a disappointment and the detachment returned to Sorman later the same day. Something was in the offing, though, for a telephone call came through from no less a person than AVM Harry Broadhurst ordering Sqn Ldr Weston-Burt to have twelve aircraft at readiness on Hazbub satellite airfield at first light on 10 March. The CO was also briefed about the target to be attacked. Hazbub was also in Tunisia, south of Medenine and some 20 miles north of Tataouine. Howard’s view of these parts was: ‘we are in rather nice country now, absolutely wizard after the desert. I have been swimming again and the sea is getting warmer every time we go and bathe.’ When dawn broke next morning the CO and eleven pilots, including Fg Off Howard Clark, were at readiness on Hazbub as ordered. The background to this new deployment is as follows.

Rommel’s Afrika Korps was being squeezed into Tunisia and, in mid- February 1943, was sheltering behind the Mareth Line defences near the border with Tripolitania (Libya). Rommel was receiving supplies and reinforcements through the ports and airfields around Tunis but was in danger of being rolled back to the sea. On 19 February he tried to break out through American lines around the Kasserine Pass in an effort to capture a large Allied supply depot at Tebessa. The attack was initially successful but the advance ground to a halt due to increasing resistance and severe weather. When the bad weather cleared, Hurri-bombers wrought havoc on German vehicles and the Afrika Korps was pushed back to its original position. General von Arnhim then began an offensive in the northern Tunis sector on 26 February, aiming for Beja. This attack was also contained and eventually ground to a halt.

Howard Clark and No 6 Squadron’s ‘Flying Tin-Openers’ badge. (Clark Collection)

The Eighth Army prepared for an attack on the Mareth Line but on 6 March Rommel tried to disrupt these preparations by launching a thrust against Medenine. This battle took place before No 6 Squadron had reached Sorman. Good intelligence information forewarned Montgomery, however, and his forces withstood the German attack. By good use of artillery, they destroyed a large quantity of German tanks for very little loss on the British side. The German forces were now hemmed in.

Rommel turned his attention to the southern sector around Ksar Ghilane. Here Gen Jacques Leclerc’s Free French force, having crossed the Sahara with great difficulty, was now positioned to support Montgomery’s flank for the push against the Mareth Line. Attacked on 10 March by a strong Panzer Group, Leclerc’s force called in air support and the Hurricane IIDs of No 6 Squadron were on readiness at Hazbub to respond.

At 10.05 on the 10th, Sqn Ldr Weston-Burt led a formation of six IIDs to a target of tanks and mixed armoured and soft-skinned vehicles threatening Free French positions east of Zamlet el Hadid. He led the Hurricanes down and for nearly an hour they made run after run against the enemy until, out of ammunition and low on fuel, they returned to Hazbub, landing at 12.55 without having sustained any casualties.

Airborne at 11.50, Flt Lts Anthony Bluett and A.E. Morrison-Bell led two more flights, each of seven IIDs, to overlap with the CO’s returning flight and to keep up pressure on the enemy. Fg Off Howard Clark was part of this second wave, flying in HW251, and the attack was without doubt an ordeal of fire. He came through it unscathed, as did all his compatriots, who together had played havoc with the enemy’s armour. The enemy retreated and it may well have been the first time that an armoured force was turned back in its tracks solely by air action. The tally for the day was: six tanks, five half-tracks, thirteen armoured cars, ten lorries, a gun and a wireless van, of which Howard Clark’s share was two armoured cars. No Hurricanes were lost, although the flak barrage had been intense. The CO’s aircraft returned to base with its main spar almost shot through and two other aircraft were damaged but the squadron was rightly elated with its return to the fray. It should be added that there were other RAF units, including Hurri-bombers, involved in this rout of the enemy but the particularly close-quarter action by the ‘Flying Tin-Openers’ of No 6 came in for the most praise. Congratulations flowed in from recently promoted Air Marshal Coningham, General Montgomery and a much-relieved General Leclerc. Next day, a flight of six aircraft was sent to Bou Grara airstrip on the coast where they stood by for action in case the enemy had another go, but there was no more action for a while and the squadron moved westward once more, this time to Senem airfield, 10 miles west of Medenines – well inside Tunisia.

Preceded by several days of squally rain and high winds – Howard, writing on what he described as ‘captured Italian note paper’, said: ‘It is blowing like the very devil at the moment and my tent is due to go airborne at any moment’ – Montgomery began his offensive against the Mareth Line on 20 March and met with stiff resistance. The ferocity of the air to ground battle was already being felt, as first the losses of aircraft then pilots began to mount.

On the morning of the 24th Howard Clark, flying HW251, was back in action as one of twelve Hurricane IIDs that set about a formation of twenty enemy tanks and other assorted vehicles near El Hamma. It was not all one way this time. Two Hurricanes were shot down: one pilot, WO Mercer, was found safe by New Zealand soldiers, but the other, Flt Sgt Frank Harris, was killed, his grave being found later by the squadron. During that afternoon seven more Hurricanes went after the same target with some success, but lost two more aircraft, this time to Bf 109s from I./JG 27 that penetrated the top cover. In addition to the deadly light flak barrages encountered, Bf 109s and Macchi 202s of the German and Italian Air Forces were hotly contesting the intense Allied fighter and ground attack operations by Spitfires, Airacobras, Kittyhawks and Hurri-bombers against the Mareth Line and any movement in its vicinity.

Howard did not fly during the following day when ten IIDs attacked a force of fifty tanks near Kebili, destroying eleven and damaging six, but again the price was heavy. Six IIDs were shot down by flak and the pilots had to crash-land. All six aircraft were Cat B damaged but miraculously only one pilot was slightly wounded. Next day, with top cover provided by twenty-one Kittyhawks from Nos 3 (RAAF) and 250 Squadrons, the CO led eleven aircraft on a hunt for tanks near Djebel Tebaga, but only derelict vehicles were seen. Two Hurricane IIDs were shot down but both pilots escaped to NZ army lines. Although pilot losses were light, No 6 had lost no fewer than sixteen IIDs in the past five days of operations from Senem. The co-operation between Allied tanks, infantry, artillery and aircraft worked well and on 27 March Montgomery’s forces breached the Mareth Line in the Djebel Tebaga and Djebel Melab areas. By the end of the month they were advancing on Gabes. In the meantime, No 6 had to replace its heavy losses before it was able to re-enter operations, so it had IIDs flown in from Helwan.

On 3 April, with the Eighth Army pushing the Germans back towards the sea, No 6 Squadron moved forward to Gabes airfield, sharing it with No 601 and No 40 (SAAF) Squadrons. Next day was taken up with a visit by the ‘top brass’: ACM Tedder, AVM Broadhurst and Lt Gen Carl Spaatz of the USAAF. Tedder spoke at length with the pilots and assured them that when it came to ‘tank-busting’, No 6 had proved its value, and that of the role, and the squadron would be equipped with any new anti-tank air weapon or aircraft that might be developed. He said that the objective of present operations was not to frighten the enemy out of this zone but to trap him in the area and completely destroy him. It would take two or three months yet. On 5 April Howard wrote to his parents: