On 1st April 1943, my Grandfather, F/O Howard Kelsey, a pilot in the RAF was posted along with his Nav/Rad F/Sgt Edward M."Smithy" Smith, to an operational squadron, 141 Squadron, stationed at RAF Predannack, Cornwall. 141 Squadron had been moved to Predannack in February 1943 to assist Coastal Command in operations over the Bay of Biscay and to undertake Intruder sorties over enemy occupied France.
Coastal command was not seen as the most glamorous branch of the service. Unlike the dashing fighter pilot, the grinding monotony of the bulk of Coastal activities were not exciting enough to feature in the newspapers. However, there were many brave men who served in Coastal command and indeed of the 32 VC's awarded in aerial operations between 1939 and 1945, 4 went to men of the maritime air struggle, 2 posthumously. The obvious danger of ditching in the freezing sea with little hope of rescue was a constant threat.
Frank E. Smith, a Radio and RADAR mechanic wrote this recollection of his time at RAF Predannack in his diary:
"The airbase was located on a flat remote area, near Lizard Point, the most southerly part of England. We were suprised to see palm trees growing in the area of Helston and Falmouth, our nearest built-up areas. The runways extended to the edge of the high cliffs, overlooking the North Atlantic and entrance to the English Channel. The coves and small fishing villages were accessed from the main road by narrow trails winding down to the sea. Some very picturesque and interesting areas awaited being explored on our time off duty. The weather that fall was warm and sunny and the presence of sun tans revealed the many hours some spent on the sandy beaches."
From here on in the pace of my Grandfather's wartime activities really started to pick up. In his "History of 141 Squadron" Don Aris writes;
"During the month of April 1943, 141 squadron had a busy time, they carried out 19 Ranger and Instep operations, scrambled 12 times to intercept enemy aircraft and carried out 21 Air/Sea Rescue searches. They shot up and damaged 3 destroyers, 3 E boats, 2 torpedo boats, 5 lorries and 6 trains. 2 air crew were missing believed killed and 2 were killed in a flying accident....During the month they also carried out GCI, Canopy, Beam Approach, Dusk Landings, Air Firing and Camera Gun practices. There were also Command Bullseye Exercises, Clover Exercises, Searchlight Co-operation Flights, Calibration Flights, Night Cross Country Flights and continued Map Reading training in the Oxford aircraft by W/O Edmond."
So, although this was a new and exciting time for my Grandfather, the risk to life and limb was ever present. As with his days as a Pilot Instructor and all through his training, the toll of death among his fellow pilots was constantly rising, quite often without ever encountering any of the enemy. How these young men dealt with this is difficult to know, the surviving pilots who gave interviews after the war said that they brushed it off at the time, because there was no time to stop and think, but it came back to haunt them later in their lives.
The missing crew, believed killed from 141 Squadron on 10th April 1943, were F/O John Nelson Shirley, aged 28 from Greenford Middx. and Nav/Rad F/Sgt William Reginald Sydney Gunn, aged 21 from Poulton Le Fylde, Lancs. The Beaufighter MK1f X7680 they were flying was hit by flak whilst attacking a German torpedo boat on an "Instep" patrol in the Bay of Biscay. The "Squadron Operations Record Book" records that "having attacked the leading torpedo boat from it's port beam...He is believed to have been hit by flak as he was last seen flying into cloud with his starboard engine on fire, and has not returned."
Both men are commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
The second 141 Sqn. crew killed this month were involved in a flying accident. The "Operations record Book" give the following account on 26th April 1943;
It was a good idea for a squadron leader allow new crews to go on Air/Sea Rescue patrols, to show the extraordinary efforts that will be made to rescue you if you end up in the drink, also known as "Ogsplosh". It's good practice also for the new crew as there is a great deal of co-operation involved with other services and squadrons, plus a test of navigation without any landmarks.
"The Sea Shall Not Have Them" (Motto of the inshore Air Sea Rescue Service)
The one constant ray of hope afforded to any ditched crew was the certain knowledge that once reported missing from any patrol, they would immediately become the focal point of a vast effort by their comrades back home to rescue them if humanly possible. No effort was ever spared to retrieve a lost crew, other crews undertook often long and hazardous attempts to "bring 'em back alive." There are many stories of brave survival in open rafts of ditched crews and some of them make desperate reading. The extreme things people do to stay alive with no fresh water and rationing of barley sugar sweets for up to 11 days in the open sea are often shocking. The daily diary of Grp Capt. Roger Mead after his Halifax was hit by U-boat fire and ditched in the Atlantic was at the same time remarkable and common. It includes such information as trying to make a drink from octopi and using pieces of wound scabs as bait to try and catch fish. He and his crew were rescued by a destroyer and thus we are able to read of his ordeal. I recommend reading 'Coastal Command at War" by Chaz Bowyer.
The Battle of the Atlantic, which my Grandfather was a very small part of, and the Battle of the Ruhr, were not the only theatres of war that the RAF was involved with in April 1943. The main British Army was still engaged in North Africa and the RAF were continuing to support them by attacking ground and air targets. One such operation, during Operation Flax has become known as the "Palm Sunday Massacre" as a large number of German transport aircraft were shot down whilst evacuating Wehrmacht forces escaping the allied ground offensive in Tunisia. The effect of this was to sever Axis army logistical support, and along with the attempted airlift during the Battle of Stalingrad, inflicted such grievous losses on the German transport fleets that they were unable to recover.
Meanwhile the Japanese started building a new railway in Burma, using forced labour. It is said that by the time the railway was finished, one man had died for each sleeper laid.
Coastal command was not seen as the most glamorous branch of the service. Unlike the dashing fighter pilot, the grinding monotony of the bulk of Coastal activities were not exciting enough to feature in the newspapers. However, there were many brave men who served in Coastal command and indeed of the 32 VC's awarded in aerial operations between 1939 and 1945, 4 went to men of the maritime air struggle, 2 posthumously. The obvious danger of ditching in the freezing sea with little hope of rescue was a constant threat.
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| A Beaufighter attacking a German Flak ship - 1943 |
Frank E. Smith, a Radio and RADAR mechanic wrote this recollection of his time at RAF Predannack in his diary:
"The airbase was located on a flat remote area, near Lizard Point, the most southerly part of England. We were suprised to see palm trees growing in the area of Helston and Falmouth, our nearest built-up areas. The runways extended to the edge of the high cliffs, overlooking the North Atlantic and entrance to the English Channel. The coves and small fishing villages were accessed from the main road by narrow trails winding down to the sea. Some very picturesque and interesting areas awaited being explored on our time off duty. The weather that fall was warm and sunny and the presence of sun tans revealed the many hours some spent on the sandy beaches."
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| RAF Predannack from the air |
From here on in the pace of my Grandfather's wartime activities really started to pick up. In his "History of 141 Squadron" Don Aris writes;
"During the month of April 1943, 141 squadron had a busy time, they carried out 19 Ranger and Instep operations, scrambled 12 times to intercept enemy aircraft and carried out 21 Air/Sea Rescue searches. They shot up and damaged 3 destroyers, 3 E boats, 2 torpedo boats, 5 lorries and 6 trains. 2 air crew were missing believed killed and 2 were killed in a flying accident....During the month they also carried out GCI, Canopy, Beam Approach, Dusk Landings, Air Firing and Camera Gun practices. There were also Command Bullseye Exercises, Clover Exercises, Searchlight Co-operation Flights, Calibration Flights, Night Cross Country Flights and continued Map Reading training in the Oxford aircraft by W/O Edmond."
So, although this was a new and exciting time for my Grandfather, the risk to life and limb was ever present. As with his days as a Pilot Instructor and all through his training, the toll of death among his fellow pilots was constantly rising, quite often without ever encountering any of the enemy. How these young men dealt with this is difficult to know, the surviving pilots who gave interviews after the war said that they brushed it off at the time, because there was no time to stop and think, but it came back to haunt them later in their lives.
The missing crew, believed killed from 141 Squadron on 10th April 1943, were F/O John Nelson Shirley, aged 28 from Greenford Middx. and Nav/Rad F/Sgt William Reginald Sydney Gunn, aged 21 from Poulton Le Fylde, Lancs. The Beaufighter MK1f X7680 they were flying was hit by flak whilst attacking a German torpedo boat on an "Instep" patrol in the Bay of Biscay. The "Squadron Operations Record Book" records that "having attacked the leading torpedo boat from it's port beam...He is believed to have been hit by flak as he was last seen flying into cloud with his starboard engine on fire, and has not returned."
Both men are commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
The second 141 Sqn. crew killed this month were involved in a flying accident. The "Operations record Book" give the following account on 26th April 1943;
According to the C.O of 141 Squadron, Bob Braham, in his book "Scramble", he had already given a warning to the Australian pilot, F/Lt Stuart, for "shooting up" or flying low over the airfield, on a previous occasion. Braham had been lenient with Stuart, because he too had been guilty of the same offence in his early RAF career. But this warning had been ignored and the subsequent crash had killed both F/Lt Stuart and F/Sgt T. B. Blackburn, who was Braham's own navigator. It could have been even more disastrous as the wing tip of Beaufighter X7751 they were flying in had hit a Nissen hut with many airmen inside it. Both men were buried at Heston Cemetery. Braham goes on to write:
"I suppose I should have sorrowed over the death of the pilot but all I felt was anger. He had been given one chance for a serious low-flying offence, but as soon as my back was turned he had let the squadron down again."
The next day Braham had to inform Blackburn's wife that her husband had died in an accident, but she had already heard that he had been killed due to the foolish bravado of his pilot, so when she was told that Blackburn would receive a posthumous DFM for gallantry, she replied, "What good will that do now?"
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| Pilot's Log Book - April 1943 |
From my Grandfather's Log Book, it certainly was a busy time with 23 flights in 25 days in this one month. He took part in G.C.I's (Ground Controlled Interceptions) from both G.C.I. stations at Newford and Treleaver including Head on Interceptions. He undertook Air To Air and Air To Ground Firing exercises. Also "Bullseye" exercises (simulated night bomber attack), but most importantly he went on three "Ops"(Operations) which are underlined in RED.
The first "Op" he calls a "Search on Sea", but this was really an "Air/Sea Rescue". The Squadron operations book has the following entry:
"The Sea Shall Not Have Them" (Motto of the inshore Air Sea Rescue Service)
The one constant ray of hope afforded to any ditched crew was the certain knowledge that once reported missing from any patrol, they would immediately become the focal point of a vast effort by their comrades back home to rescue them if humanly possible. No effort was ever spared to retrieve a lost crew, other crews undertook often long and hazardous attempts to "bring 'em back alive." There are many stories of brave survival in open rafts of ditched crews and some of them make desperate reading. The extreme things people do to stay alive with no fresh water and rationing of barley sugar sweets for up to 11 days in the open sea are often shocking. The daily diary of Grp Capt. Roger Mead after his Halifax was hit by U-boat fire and ditched in the Atlantic was at the same time remarkable and common. It includes such information as trying to make a drink from octopi and using pieces of wound scabs as bait to try and catch fish. He and his crew were rescued by a destroyer and thus we are able to read of his ordeal. I recommend reading 'Coastal Command at War" by Chaz Bowyer.
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| A Beaufighter heading out from Predannack 1943 |
Meanwhile the Japanese started building a new railway in Burma, using forced labour. It is said that by the time the railway was finished, one man had died for each sleeper laid.
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Beaufighter V1f running up engines 1943
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