28th February 1943 was a big day for my Grandfather, F/O. H. C. Kelsey, because this was the day he crewed up with his Navigator, Sgt. E. M Smith, or "Smithy" as he is known in the folklore of my family. It may not be too strong to say that crewing up with "Smithy" may well be the reason that my Grandfather survived the War and therefore he holds a very important place in the lives of myself and all my Grandparents' descendants. He was a Yorkshireman and coined many phases in that no-nonsense, pithy way that characterises the denizens of God's own County. One such was during a rather "exciting" mission over enemy territory, he was heard to mutter "Eeee, flak" and this phrase is now used by members of my family when any situation is becoming a little out-of-hand! I met him only once, at my Grandparents' golden wedding anniversary, and wish that I had had the presence of mind to sit down with him and chat. After his illustrious wartime career, he joined BOAC and retrained as a pilot. He then went on to be a pilot for BA and retired in 1983. He passed away about ten years ago, and I was sad to see his medals up for sale on an auction site. A great man.
How wartime pilots and crews teamed up seems to have been achieved in rather a haphazard, but typically British way. According to Michael Allen DFC in his book Pursuit Through Darkened Skies, he was supposed to be crewed with one P/O, but another one, Harry White, met him on the way to the squadron barrack block, and after "chatting", they crewed up and stayed together throughout the war, becoming along the way one of the most successful British night fighting crews. Mike Allen continues,
"I had no possible way of being able to judge whether Harry was a good pilot or bad one! And, vice versa, he had no way of knowing whether I was going to make the grade as a navigator. If a crew survived this instant loyalty, in the main it lasted for ever."
Another wartime navigator, E. G. White, in his blog., Night Fighter Navigator, writes that the P/Os and the R/Os "where put together and left to sort ourselves out." Just the fact that he and Sgt. E A Lampkin were the two youngest in the room gave them something in common, which seemed good enough reason to crew up!
By late February 1943, my Grandfather was stationed at RAF Cranwell, but still training with 51OTU, I presume that he and "Smithy" must have hit it off in a similar manner because their partnership also lasted until nearly the end of the war.
It gets confusing here when describing what job title these Navigators/Radio Operators (R/O) had because the job itself developed during the war from gunnery in the early daylight fighter days to Navigator in the night-time role to Radio Operator once the new Radar sets were introduced. Indeed, the top brass continued to call them Navigators well into the war because they wanted to disguise the job that they were really doing which was intercepting enemy aircraft using onboard Radar and Telecommunications. Terribly hush-hush don'tcha know!
From my Grandfather's Log Book, the end of February 1943 was a difficult time, in which he only had five flights in eleven days, probably due to weather. The first flight, on 18th Feb., was a two hour trip in a Blenheim IV, with F/lt. Hobbis in the pilot's seat. The "Duty" column shows "Ex 1", but I think this is not Gunnery but Airborne Interception training as described in my previous blog. F/Lt Hobbis had already been awarded the DFC in 1941, but was destined to not survive the war. On 5th November 1943, promoted to Squadron Leader and 'A' Flight commander at 488 squadron, his port engine was reported to be on fire whilst on patrol near Bradwell Bay. He and his Navigator, F/Sgt O. L. R. Hills, baled out, Hills' body washed ashore some months later, but Hobbis's body was never recovered. Hobbies was 33 and he is remembered in the Runnymede Memorial.
On 25th Feb, my Grandfather flew with F/Lt Key in the pilot's seat in a Blenheim IV. The next day he almost had his first flight in a Beaufighter, a new aircraft to him and a real 'tank' of a plane, but the exercise was abandoned, "A/C (aircraft) U/S (unserviceable)". On 27th Feb. he flew with F/O Dixon and then from the 28th onwards, he flew almost consistently with "Smithy".
I presume these "Link" practices complemented his night fighter training in the real aircraft, but I haven't been able to find out exactly what the letters and numbers refer to. If you know, perhaps you could tell me, by leaving a comment at the end of this blog.
Lt Robert Denzel also made a claim for a second of the 14 aircraft that did not make it home that night. Lancaster ED431 (EA-M) of 49 Squadron was shot down west of Texel, Northern Holland, and crashed into the sea, killing all the crew. However, this claim was also made by Lt Rolf Bussman of 11/NJG1, so potentially this aircraft was attacked twice. The pilot, Sgt. James Myles Thom DFM, a popular Scotsman, was 29 when he died, and is remembered at the Runnymede Memorial. The rest of crew of "Lanc" 'M' for Mother killed that night are detailed in the aircrew remembered website.
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| Sgt. Edward Smith |
"I had no possible way of being able to judge whether Harry was a good pilot or bad one! And, vice versa, he had no way of knowing whether I was going to make the grade as a navigator. If a crew survived this instant loyalty, in the main it lasted for ever."
Another wartime navigator, E. G. White, in his blog., Night Fighter Navigator, writes that the P/Os and the R/Os "where put together and left to sort ourselves out." Just the fact that he and Sgt. E A Lampkin were the two youngest in the room gave them something in common, which seemed good enough reason to crew up!
By late February 1943, my Grandfather was stationed at RAF Cranwell, but still training with 51OTU, I presume that he and "Smithy" must have hit it off in a similar manner because their partnership also lasted until nearly the end of the war.
It gets confusing here when describing what job title these Navigators/Radio Operators (R/O) had because the job itself developed during the war from gunnery in the early daylight fighter days to Navigator in the night-time role to Radio Operator once the new Radar sets were introduced. Indeed, the top brass continued to call them Navigators well into the war because they wanted to disguise the job that they were really doing which was intercepting enemy aircraft using onboard Radar and Telecommunications. Terribly hush-hush don'tcha know!
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| Log Book Feb./Mar 1943 |
On 25th Feb, my Grandfather flew with F/Lt Key in the pilot's seat in a Blenheim IV. The next day he almost had his first flight in a Beaufighter, a new aircraft to him and a real 'tank' of a plane, but the exercise was abandoned, "A/C (aircraft) U/S (unserviceable)". On 27th Feb. he flew with F/O Dixon and then from the 28th onwards, he flew almost consistently with "Smithy".
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| Blenheim IV in flight |
March 1943 continued where February left off, with F/O Kelsey and Sgt. Smith honing their night fighting skills in Blenheim IV aircraft. The exercises they were put through together included practise of N.F.T (Night Flight Test), G.C.I. (Ground Controlled Interception) and A.I. (Airborne Interception). These are all far better explained elsewhere, so please click on the links in the text if you wish to find out more.
At last, on 9th March 1943, my Grandfather flew as a passenger in Bristol Beaufighter no. 2189 and went on a "Test" with Cpl. Jones and F/O Dixon to see how he liked it. As it turns out, he liked it a great deal!
In between flights, he also kept the seat of the Link Trainer warm as it shows in this scan from the back of his Log Book.
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| Link Training record early 1943 |
Meanwhile, Bomber Command was still actively trying to knock out "strategic" targets in enemy territory. However, the accuracy of the night bombing raids was still poor and many civilians were being killed and injured. To try and increase accuracy, the Pathfinder Squadrons where developed. On 5th March 1943, "The battle of the Ruhr" begins, targeting the Krupps Factory at Essen, Germany,. This was the 100,000th sortie of Bomber Command.
At the same time the luftwaffe, equipped with their own onboard Lichtenstein_radar, was taking an increasingly high toll of allied aircraft and lives. From the 606 Squadron blog. I discovered that Lancaster W4847 OL-V from 83 (Pathfinders) Squadron, based at RAF Wyton, near St. Ives in Cambridgeshire was one of 14 aircraft lost out of 442 that took part in the bombing raid. The skipper was a 22 year old Canadian, Pilot Officer Henry Partridge. They took off around 7pm, but were intercepted by Messerschmitt Bf 110, piloted by Lt. Robert Denzel from 12/Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 at around 10.02pm at an altitude of 3500 metres east of Wieringen, Holland. The Lancaster was seen to struggle to make it to the Frisian coast but quickly exploded in mid-air and crashed into the Ijsselmeer near Hindeloopen, Netherlands. This was Denzel's second auschutt (victory), his first being a Halifax on 2nd March 1943. All the crew of the "Lanc" were killed. They were, Pilot Officer Henry A. Partridge RCAF, Flight Engineer, Sergeant Roy O. Fulton RCAF, Navigator, Flying Officer Leonard W. Sprackling, RAFVR, Sergeant Hayden Fell RAFVR, Air Gunner, Sergeant John M. Freshwater, Sergeant John L.Organ RAF, and Air Gunner, Sergeant Arthur Dinnis RAF.
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| P/O Henry Partridge |
The flight engineer, 21 year old Canadian, Sergeant Roy Oswald Fulton, and his crewmate, 23 year old RAF Sergeant John Lewis Organ, are buried at Hindeloopen. The navigator, 23 year old RAF Flying Officer Leonard Sprackling was buried at Workum (Spoordyk) General Cemetery and air gunner RAF Sergeant Arthur Desmond Dinnis, aged 21, at Makkum Protestant Churchyard. The remaining three crew members have no known grave and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
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| Photographed outside the NAAFI at RAF Wyton. Left to right - Roy Fulton, John Lewis Organ and Henry Partridge |
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