In the Spring of 1943, RAF Predannack was the launching point for many Air-Sea rescues in the Bay of Biscay and the North Atlantic. The allied convoys transporting goods and weapons from the USA were coming under increased attack from submarines and Focke-Wulf FW200 Condor long range bombers, as Hitler hoped to starve the British into submission. This conflict became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
Although the Beaufighter aircraft of 141 Squadron had limited range, they would be sent out in large numbers to scour the sea for other "downed" pilots, or torpedoed ships' crews, often more in hope than expectation of finding anyone. The navigation aids the RAF had were still very primitive, with only the system of "dead reckoning" and predicting wind shifts by looking at the sea surface, to help plot your course once you were beyond the range of the primitive, land based radar. Then, once the crew had reached what they thought was their search area, they had to try and pick out a small dinghy or individual person floating in sometimes very rough seas. Almost impossible you would think, but often surprisingly successful in rescuing stricken crews from "the drink".
RAF Predannack Memorial
My Grandfather, Howard Kelsey, took part in one such "search and patrol" on 18th April 1943 as he noted in his Pilot's log book. This was his 2nd "Op" (operation) as denoted by his red underlining and red number 2 in the right hand margin.
Log Book 18th April 1943
The ORB (Operations Record Book) for 141 Squadron, which is published on the Public Records Office website, tells us he took off on patrol in Beaufighter X7643 at 14.50 with his trusty navigator Sgt. E. Smith. They returned again at 17.25 after an "Unsuccessful Air/Sea rescue patrol"
18th April 1943 ORB Detail of Events
With the wonders of the internet, I found a photo of what the website claims is Beaufighter X7643, although I cannot see any identifying numbers.
They were part of an Air/Sea Rescue search group of 5 Beaus that were ultimately successful in pinpointing a Spitfire pilot, Sgt. G. F. Emes from 602 squadron who had been shot down 8 days before whilst on a shipping reconnaissance mission.
1. F/O H. C. Kelsey with Nav/Rad Sgt. E. Smith in Beaufighter 1F X7643
2. P/O/ A. C. Newton with Nav/Rad Sgt. V. G. McBurney in Beaufighter 1F R2149
3. F/lt D. C. Maltby with Nav/Rad F/O J. E. Watts in Beaufighter 1F X7805
4. S/L S. T. Beal ('A' Flight O.C.) with Nav/Rad P/O J. C. Hair in Beaufighter 1F X7552
5. F/O R. C. MacAndrew with Nav/Rad P/O L. Wilk in beau fighter 1F T4626
After being successfully spotted by the 141 Squadron Beaufighter crew of F/O R. C. MacAndrew and Nav/Rad P/O L. Wilk, they were able to direct a Walrus amphibious aircraft to the position to rescue the Spitfire pilot. He was picked up in his dinghy 50 miles SW of the Lizard but due to heavy seas, were unable to take off again so had to taxi for five hours all the way to Mullion Cove and the whole of 141 squadron "turned out to assist to pull it up onto the beach" (Braham). The pilot thankfully survived this ordeal. On this one day, 47 aircraft in total were used in Air/Sea Rescue searches by 10 Group. This level of commitment to rescue pilots was a huge morale boost and gave some reassurance to young men heading out over the sea with little to help them navigate home again.
18th April 1943 ORB Summary of Events
Walrus seaplane picking up downed pilot 1943- histomil.com
The pugnacious Beaufighter was not exactly a beautiful aircraft, which is perhaps why it got it's slightly ironic name. However, the pilot had a really good view of his surroundings through the huge glazed cockpit, with the only obstructions being the massive Bristol Hercules engines on either wing.
A Beaufighter pilot waves away the ground crew. - pinterest
The navigator, sitting half way back down the fuselage, also had really good all-round sight-lines through his perspex canopy, which made the Beaufighter an excellent aircraft for search and rescue patrols.
Beaufighter Navigator position - pinterest
During his time at RAF Predannack, my Grandfather and the other officers were billeted in the beautiful Mullion Cove Hotel, with it's panoramic views of the Atlantic.
Mullion Cove Hotel 2018
View from Mullion Cove Hotel, Cornwall
Mullion Cove entrance
This, along with many other large hotels, had been requisitioned for the war by the Government. The 141 squadron C.O. , Bob Braham, also recounts from his book, "Scramble" that their time at Predannack coincided with some generally beautiful weather and on days off, they would take a group of officers in the squadron Oxford transport aircraft to the Scilly Isles. Here they would delight in the daffodil covered islands with their "almost tropical climate" and whilst drinking a beer in the warm sunshine, it was "difficult to imagine the war raging so close across the Channel". I hope my Grandfather managed to tag along on one of these trips. His wartime exploits in Cornwall were one of the few stories that he would readily tell me about with a smile on his face. With the freedom of the roads due to petrol rationing and the relatively long periods of time waiting to fly, he and his mates spent many happy days exploring the secluded coves, swimming and enjoying themselves. I'm pleased he had a chance of so much fun, having seen how busy his war was soon to become.
The war was indeed still raging just across the Channel. On 19th April 1943, the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw once again had an uprising, following an attempt by the German SS auxiliary forces to complete the deportation of Jews to the death camps. The uprising continued until 16th May 1943 when the Great Synagogue of Warsaw was demolished on the orders of SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop. 13,000 jews were killed during the uprising and of the remaining residents of the Warsaw ghetto, some 50,000 men, women and children, were shipped to concentration and extermination camps, principally Treblinka.
1940's night flying training recruitment advertisement
By 23rd November 1942, my Grandfather, F/O H.C.Kelsey, was back at RAF South Cerney, No. 3 (Pilots)Advanced Flying Unit to show off his new found Beam Approach skills. A week of night flying followed, including landings and one Overshoot with F/Sgt Bartram, x-country with P/O Phillips and Precision Flying with P/O Walsh. Plus nearly 6 hours of solo night flights. An Overshoot is were an aircraft was unable to land and had to go around again and line up along the flare path. This would involve turns at night which could be very disorientating. These were all very dangerous requirements of night flying training and there were many crashes and fatalities of wartime trainee crews trying to find that friendly flare-path in the dark to touch down safely on terra firma. I'm not saying that my grandfather would have witnessed these crashes, but there's little doubt that he would have been aware that this was going on. Two such training accidents at about this time are documented here;
On 9th Nov. 1942 at RAF Chipping Norton 6(P)AFU. Time:03:50 Aircraft, Airspeed Oxford, hit trees shortly after take-off and crashed to ground on a night training flight. Investigation found that a/c elevator trim wheel may have been incorrectly set for take-off. F/O (015144) H A KALLEND (Instructor) RAF - killed Sgt (1055351) James GREENALL (Pupil) RAFVR - killed "He rose on the wings of the morning to meet his heavenly Father"
On 11 July 1943 Airspeed Oxford HN781 of 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (3 PAFU) with the crew RCAF Flying Officer George Schrman and Sgt Joseph S. Southall, who were both killed when the aircraft crashed on take-off 1 miles west of Long Newton, Gloucestershire. Details of crew from Commonwealth War Graves Commission website SCHURMAN, GEORGE MAXWELL Flying Officer J/16809 11/07/1943 26 Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian Plot 6. N.C. Row C. Grave 13. CIRENCESTER CEMETERY SOUTHALL, JOSEPH SAMUEL Sergeant 1577584 11/07/1943 20 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve United Kingdom Sec. 3. Grave 3. WILLENHALL CEMETERY
Any internet search is littered with aircraft crash incidents involving Airspeed Oxfords on night flying training, which continued killing air cadets many years after the war. Indeed one course lost 6 aircraft in 14 nights, with many fatalities. The total blackout at busy airfields and lights out on the aircraft meant that there were also many mid-air training flight collisions. Added to this the occasional attacks by the Luftwaffe, attracted by the lights of the flare-path, and it is clear that my Grandfather was lucky to survive his training.
The wood and fabric covered "Ox-Box", did not fare well in a crash
Remains of an Airspeed Oxford after training accident
Despite all of the potential hazards, on 30th Nov. 1942, my grandfather qualified from 3(P)AFU, with his "Proficiency as a Pilot" assessed as "Average on Oxfords". He duly went home to London on leave to await news of his next posting.He arrived, no doubt, to a rapturous welcome from my Grandmother after an itinerant few months which had kept them apart. The reason why I am highlighting this leave is, not to make too fine a point of it, but my Mother was born almost exactly nine months later! The War in general at this time continued to throw up astonishing stories. Not least of which happened on 27th November 1942, when the french navy scuttle their ships at Toulon after the Germans invade unoccupied Vichy France. The first news of the mass murder of Jews also started to reach the allies.
An Airspeed Oxford with the yellow triangle livery of the Beam Approach Training Flight.
RAF Feltwell Station Crest - Vires Acquirit Eundo - Gains Strength As it Goes
On 14th November 1942, after a week without flying, at least flying that is recorded in his Pilot's Flying Log Book, my Grandfather, Flying Officer Kelsey, was sent to RAF Feltwell to take a course with No. 1519 Beam Approach Training Flight.
The course ran for seven days and included 12 hours flying time as well as 5 hours 15 minutes on the Link Trainer. Please read my previous blog regarding the link trainer.
A Beam Approach Trainer photographed in 1942
It's slightly amazing how rudimentary the tech. was in 1942 to help pilots land safely in poor visibility. With even the most bog standard cars now having Sat. Nav. and parking sensors, the front-line RAF pilot in the War still had to rely on mostly visual aids, such as flares and paraffin lamps, to guide them to an airfield. With the poor British winter weather conditions and high casualty rate of pilots returning from raids, but then crashing when trying to land, something had to be done.
Ironically, the RAF turned to the German Lorenz system to help them locate and land safely at military airfields. This system had been used successfully by the Germans as the Knickebein, or "Crooked Leg" beam to help them bomb very accurately at night during "the Blitz". The Knickebein system is focussed on in the series called The Secret War (TV series). "The Battle of the Beams" episode deals with the use of beams for navigation and the countermeasures the British 'boffins' used.
Diagram of Beam Approach System
My Grandfather obviously knew nothing of this at the time and had his own troubles trying to get the hang of the Beam Approach System. Put simply, the beam approach (sometimes known as Blind Approach) system relied on two audible signals, Morse A (dit dah) and N (dah dit) which originated from differing parts of the airfield, which was "divided" into four quadrants. Listening to the signals, the pilot knew which side of the airfield he was flying in from. When he started hearing both signals of different strengths, he was aware of how close to the centre line he was. When both signals merged and became a continuous sound, he knew he was "on the beam". Ancillary signals enabled the pilot to land in very poor conditions. This is a huge simplification of what was in fact a complicated set of learned instructions involving many changes of direction and height as well as swift calculations of orientation in response to the audible signals you were receiving. Not easy!
System for Beam Approach landing
I have to thank the following website for much of this information; An Ordinary Crew
My Grandfather took his first Beam Approach flight on 14th November with Sgt Miller as instructor. Subsequent flights were instructed by P/O Neill, S/L Burrell, W/O Driscoll, P/O Jones and finally Sgt. Nicholls. I haven't been able to find any further information about these men. During these flights, the aircraft were kept in the air at controlled heights of 2000, 2500 and 3000 feet. It was a most demanding course, mostly consisting of taking off up to 100ft or so, at which point the instructor pulled a screen over the trainee's side of the cockpit blacking out everything. From then on flying was by instruments only, guided by the radio beam system until on the final stage of the approach for landing, when the instructor removed the screen. The "DUTY" column shows the various exercises the pupil would be put through, but I cannot find any reference to what the different numbers mean.
Although this system was basic by today's standards, it was a great leap forward for the time, and undoubtedly saved many lives of the crews who had got lost on their way home from raids over Germany.
RAF Feltwell from the air 1942
The Beam Approach system was undoubtedly a boon to safer landings, but apparently by 1942 not many military airfields were equipped with it and, if conditions we're foggy, the crews would just be diverted to another fog-free airfield!
Inside the cockpit of an Airspeed Oxford
The wider War at this time can be characterised by Churchill as the "end of the beginning". With the British advances in Morocco, the German attacks stalling at Stalingrad and landings of the Americans in West Africa, it looked as though the allies were turning the tide against the Nazis. In celebration, on Sunday 15th November 1942, church bells were rung up and down the country for the first time since 1940.
So, seventy three years ago, my Grandfather H. C. Kelsey, was nearing the end of his training course at South Cerney airfield. The training was accomplished in twin engined Airspeed Oxford aircraft and having been trained in this type, the trainee pilot would usually go on to join either a night-fighter or a bomber squadron. My Grandfather had his sights set on night-fighters.
Airspeed Oxfords in starboard echelon
During the second week of Nov. 1942, the training consisted of formation flying. This was a high precision form of flying but it had become an integral part of R.A.F. flying since the First World War, when larger and larger numbers of aircraft started to be sent out over the enemy lines.
From his Log Book, we see that the main formations were Line Astern, Echelon and Advanced Formation. There's also a reference to R.T.A and R.T.A.A., which I'm not sure the meaning of. I presume it's something to two with R/T (Radio Telephony) between aircraft so the formations can be formed and tightened up. The trainees would have to be very proficient flyers to be able to move easily between these formations, but my Grandfather had 1,240 flying hours by this time, so he certainly knew how to handle an aeroplane.
Two Airspeed Oxfords flying in very close formation
I haven't found a lot written about this area of the training course apart from the fact that the trainees were now allowed to fly without instructors on board. Indeed, my Grandfather's Log Book shows that after a flight with P/O Fisher on the 6th and P/O Tattersall on the 7th Nov., he flew the next three formation flights on his own. However, without the presence of an instructor, the exuberance of youth meant that the trainee pilots would often try to show off to each other in the air by attempting to touch wings or frighten the living daylights out of their pals flying with them.
Airspeed Oxfords in Line Astern
A crowded sky with Trainee pilots in formation flying.
Inevitably, mucking about in the air whilst forming up lead to some serious accidents. Here are just a couple that I found, but there must have been many more;
On 14 September 1941 two RAF Airspeed Oxfords collide during formation flying near RAF South Cerney, one crashed in flames.
On 19 May 1942 two RAF Airspeed Oxfords collide while formation flying, one aircraft crashes near RAF Driffield.
Thankfully, my Grandfather came through unscathed and on 14th Nov. he was sent to 1519 B.A.T. Flight at R.A.F. Feltwell to take a Beam Approach Course.
At this time in the War, the British forces were still mostly fighting at El Alamein in North Africa. With Operation Torch, the most amazing fact is the British were actually fighting against the French in Morocco. The failure of the French to defend this allied invasion triggered the German occupation of Southern France on 11th November 1942. We now characterise the French forces as Vichy French, but the fact is that they were the French Army and Navy.
The RAF in Europe was at the mercy of the weather, which was apparently ghastly in November 1942, so bombing raids were very rare. At the same time, the Luftwaffe was putting all it's efforts into the Eastern front, leaving Britain relatively unscathed. In fact, until January 1944, the number and intensity of Luftwaffe raids on Britain dropped dramatically and it became known after the War as "The Lull".
After two days leave, on 14th September 1942 my Grandfather, H.C. Kelsey, was posted to No. 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (3(P)A.F.U.) at South Cerney, Gloucestershire. This posting would require the mastery of a tricky, twin-engined, aircraft called an Airspeed Oxford. And the new instructor putting him through his "sequence of instruction" paces, as noted in the "Duty" column, was F/Lt. Chance.
Airspeed Oxford with "trainer" paintwork
Furthermore, the posting would mean that he would no longer be an instructor, but instead return to training, in preparation for an operational posting. But did it also mean that my Grandparents would be split up after a year of fairly normal domestic bliss? I can't imagine that Flying Officers were given married quarters during the War. Perhaps my Grandmother had to go back to London and live with her parents? So a lot of changes all at once.
Flying in the Airspeed Oxford, or "Ox-box" as it was fondly known, with it's distinctive yellow-belly trainer markings, was eloquently recounted in his autobiography by F/Lt. Chance, or John Newton Chance as was his full name. He was a novelist who became a flying instructor during the War.
With novelists and pianists as well as poets and artists among the men rubbing shoulders with my Grandfather in the RAF, they must have had a huge influence on this young man's attitude to life. After all, my Grandfather was still only twenty one years old at this time. The War had forced together a very diverse and interesting group of people from all corners of the world and I think this is why that generation seems to have been "special".
So what was it like to fly an Airspeed Oxford? From what I have read, it seems that the first thought many trainee pilots had when first confronted with the large, complicated frightening monster called the Oxford was "I'll never manage THIS!" It certainly was a huge jump from a diminutive Tiger Moth, to the 53 feet 4 inches wingspan of the "Ox-box" with it's two large engines providing 750 horsepower, compared to the Tiger Moth's 130 horses. However, my Grandfather had the advantage of a great deal more flying time than the usual trainee, and knowing him , no doubt he would have been far more excited than frightened. He was a very self-confident man and would probably have started telling the flying instructor how to fly the plane within minutes of starting up!
These recruitment drawings make training in the Airspeed Oxford seem a cozy affair!
In terms of design, the Airspeed Oxford is the first aeroplane that my Grandfather flew which related more to the 2nd World War than to the 1st World War. It had a fully enclosed cockpit for a start, although apparently the glass panes often didn't fit well and a "bracing" breeze could be felt through the gaps! Secondly, the cockpit instruments were arranged well and easily seen, rather than just haphazardly bolted in as an afterthought. However, the "Ox-box" was regarded as tricky to fly well, and deliberately designed so. The theory being that if you could fly the Oxford, then you could fly pretty much any multi-engined aircraft, therefore making it ideal for training. It seems that it was on take-off that the Oxford could have a mind of it's own, as a wartime trainee at 3(P)A.F.U called Stephen Johnson recalls in a blog called Ken Fenton's War;
"After our Tiger Moths, the Oxford seemed a very powerful machine. You had to learn to control the swing on take-off by opening one engine or the other a little more. I had managed to go solo in an Oxford after about two and a half hours dual and felt quite confident about it. We were thrilled by our Oxford’s power when we first started flying them, as they went much faster than Tiger Moths and had all sorts of new gadgets, like retractable wheels which usually went up and down when you pressed a lever and flaps which did likewise." He continues,
"There was no electrical intercommunication in Oxfords or Tiger Moths in those days. We used a system akin to those tubes you find in the walls of very old houses. Down these you had to blow at first and this blew a whistle incorporated in a plug at the far end; this in turn summoned a minion from some distant basement. In an Oxford you had a flexible mouthpiece which you tucked into the front of your parachute harness; the other end was plugged into the pupil’s helmet. If you blew into it it made his eardrums pop. This was seldom necessary however as pupils were unlikely to go to sleep while flying.’
Another trainee at the time, called Peter Mayhew recounts in this same blog another quirk of the Oxford, "The Oxford was a good deal more exciting to fly having one or two vices, such as dropping a wing when you stalled it. A week or so after going solo we did our first night flying." As usual, these men are very understated about the difficulties they experienced in mastering the foibles of the Oxford. In fact stalling an Airspeed Oxford, which, as we know, was part of the training schedule ( See my earlier blog here), was rather hit or miss. Some would stall "straight", whilst others would have a pronounced wing drop, but you would never know for sure which one, so counteracting this before the aircraft started "spinning" required a good deal of pilot skill. Nobody could say flying the Oxford was a "piece of cake", it behaved itself when handled well but tended to bite fools!
Airspeed Oxfords at South Cerney 1942
So with the added difficulties of flying this aircraft, the usual British weather and the relatively busy skies around the airfield, not to mention the fairly frequent raids by the Luftwaffe, the casualties and deaths of young RAF personnel were a serious concern. The average percentage of deaths whilst training was 3%, but this does not include serious, life changing injuries. In the book"Bombing Hitler: One man's war with Bomber Command", T.I. Steel's Grandfather Bernard Steel, was one of the trainers at 3 (P)A.F.U in 1941/2. This passage tells us of his last day at South Cerney;
"As it turned out Bernard's last day at 3 (P) A.F.U. would be 17th October 1942 as he would take a week's well deserved rest before joining his new unit. His final pupil at South Cerney was a Sergeant Heath who, after a fifty minute flight, helped take Bernard's flying time to 832 hours and thirty minutes. Unfortunately October was unable to give the unit a fatal free month. The last man to be killed in a flying accident at 3 (P)A.F.U. while Bernard served there was Sergeant S.F. Smith, who was killed in Oxford AP401 after losing control during a night-time overshoot at Bibury relief landing ground. The aircraft was destroyed by fire after crashing. He was the thirtieth young airman to die at 3 (P) A.F.U. during Bernard's year at South Cerney."
I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like if just one person died where I worked, let alone 30 in one year! And this without getting anywhere near the enemy, just during training. Thirty deaths at just one unit in just one year through occupational accidents... how did they handle this pressure? I know that F/Lt. Chance eventually snapped and had to be invalided out of the service in February 1944.
Airspeed Oxford "Trainer" at Duxford
What of the War in general at this time? Stalingrad is now completely surrounded by the Wehrmacht. Food supplies to the civilians are dwindling and the people are starving to death, with some reports of cannibalism. The fighting is becoming bogged down in house to house attacks, and the casualties on both sides are horrendous. One of the worst battle sites was at Mamayev Kurgan, a strategic high point overlooking the City centre. Originally captured briskly by the Germans on 13th September 1942, the very next day it was the site of a huge Soviet counter-attack from 13th Guards Rifle Division. By September 16th, the Russians had recaptured the hill, but the cost was almost all of the 10,000 Soviet troops who had attacked two days previously.
Since putting in a request for a transfer to "nightfighters" in June 1942, the wheels at the M.O.D. had been slowly turning and by September 1942, it looks like my Grandfather would be moving to pastures new. From his Log Book, I see that the last day my Grandfather, F/O H.C. Kelsey, served as a Flying Instructor at 21 E.F.T.S., Booker, Marlow, was 11th September 1942. On that day he flew a 'solo' test in a Miles Magister R6445 for thirty minutes, followed by a training flight in a Tiger Moth T7845 with LAC Kidd for an hour and that was that.
Tiger Moth taxying at Booker
In his final assessment, after a year and three months service, his C.O., S/Ldr A.J."Jackie" Hicks commented that my Grandfather was of "Average" proficiency as a Pilot and "Inclined to over-confidence". I think that we can sense that there may not have been a great deal of love lost between these two men! I'm not sure how seriously these comments would be taken by his future Commanding Officer, but I do know that many fledgling pilot's careers where blighted by comments made in their Log Book.
However, I have read many recollections from RAF pilots of their early days as a flying trainee and nearly all of them echo this sentiment from LAC Stephen Johnson in his book "A Kriegie's Log";
‘Everybody has a tremendous respect for the man who teaches him to fly an aeroplane. You have a lasting sense of gratitude and admiration for your first Flying Instructor. It is unlikely that you will forget entirely your first girlfriend but you don’t remember her with anything like the same affection and respect as you do the man who says, ‘Well off you go,’ on your first solo flight.’
My Grandfather would have been really proud of all the trainees he had helped to "go solo". He would also have enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life, both in the RAF and the Army, as well as volunteers from Commonwealth Countries such as Canada and South Africa. I don't know how many of these men would have survived the war, but of the names on this scan of his Log Book alone I know that F/Lt Appleby was killed in a bombing raid over Berlin in 1944 and Corporals Potts and Saunders flew a glider in the capture of the bridge over the River Orne on D-Day.
But most importantly he had mastered the controls of two different aircraft and amassed 1094.15 valuable flying hours. Through many hours of practise, he was becoming a very good pilot. On his final moments in a Tiger Moth, in full view of the control tower, he would have performed some aerobatics, closed the throttles and glided towards the airfield in text-book manner. By side slipping expertly to reduce speed and judging the effect of the wind to perfection, he would softly land in the first third of the airfield, taxy smartly across to the hangars, switch off, jump out and not look back. A 'Piece of Cake'!
Eric Ravilious 1942
The wider World War held some brighter news for a change for the allies. During the Battle of Alam el Halfa, RAF air superiority helps to hold back Rommel's final attempt to encircle the British 8th Army under the command of Montgomery. In South-East Asia, the Japanese land forces suffer their first defeat at the Battle of Milne Bay, when Australian and U.S. forces combined to push them back, easing the threat to Australia. However, darker news was coming in from Russia with the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, heralding some of the worst hand-to-hand fighting of the war as well as the starvation of many Russian civilians. The RAF was still sending large numbers of bombers over to bomb Germany. On 10th September 1942, they target Dusseldorf, with 360 aircraft dropping 700 tons of incendiaries and using a Pathfinder target marking force. This caused terrible fires and massive damage. Many German civilians were killed and 30 RAF bombers didn't make it back.
Aerial photo over the centre of Dusseldorf Sept. 1942, showing ack-ack tracer and smoke from the fires caused.
Despite putting in a transfer request to "nightfighters", the summer months of 1942 found my Grandfather, H. C. Kelsey, still training pilots in Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters for 21 E.F.T.S. at Booker, Marlow. However, the eagle eyed amongst you will have seen something interesting in this scan of his Log Book....
In brackets after the name 'Brown' is the word (Cpl). Cpl refers to Corporal and there wasn't and still isn't a rank of Corporal in the RAF. So what's going on? Well, this is all about a new initiative in warfare for the British army. Following the Germans' airborne attack on Crete with Parachutists and Gliders, Churchill decided to copy the idea and set up a British Army Air Corps. One part of this Army Corps was the Glider pilot regiment, which was inaugurated on 24th February 1942 and made use of the RAF (Brylcreem Boys) to train army recruits (Brown Jobs) to fly.
So it looks like my Grandfather was caught up in this new idea and for the next few months he put the following army personnel through their paces:- Cpl Brown Cpl Flodman Cpl Percy Cpl Owen Cpl Bence Cpl Wood Cpl Prince Cpl Urquhart Cpl McMillen 2/Lt Cairns Cpl Potts Lt Anderson Cpl May Cpl Watson Cpl Bland Cpl Evans Cpl Berry Cpl Tilling Cpl Binnington Cpl Wright Cpl Travis Sgt Sinclair Cpl Purcell Cpl Martin Cpl Ryans Cpl Baglin Here's a group photo I found on Google of a Glider Pilot force being trained at 21 EFTS in July 1942, but there are no names attached, unfortunately.
Initially, these squaddies were delighted to be part of this new Regiment, with one recruit, Staff Sgt Victor Miller, writing in his book "Nothing is Impossible", that the food was excellent compared to normal army food, time off was given ungrudgingly and most weekends were free. On top of that, being trained at 21 EFTS at Booker was "easygoing and fascinating" as well as being the closest to the London nightspots of all the training aerodromes. The motto of this Regiment was "Nothing is Impossible", but the trainees that were under my grandfather's tutelage were destined for a very tough war. Of the men in the list above, I have discovered that Lt Cairns was awarded a posthumous VC in the Second Chindit Expedition. Having landed by glider behind the Japanese lines in Burma in 1944, Lt Cairns was involved in a hand-to-hand battle on "Pagoda Hill" when, despite having his arm hacked off by a Japanese officer, he shot his attacker at point blank range, picked up the sword which had severed his arm and leading his men on, proceeded to slash at every Japanese soldier in reach. The other men in the list whom I have found mention of on the internet are Cpl Binnington and Cpl Bland, who took part in Operation Market Garden, the famous 'Bridge Too Far' balls-up at Arnhem in May 1945. The Glider Pilot Regiment suffered 90% casualties at Arnhem, so you can imagine that not many of the trainees my Grandfather dealt with made it through to the end of the war.
All these heroics are in the future, strange to think of 1944/5 as the future, but in Summer 1942 my Grandfather knew nothing of the death and carnage that was about to hit his trainees. Although his life as a pilot trainer was not without hazard. Indeed, casualties at all British RAF airfields during training were running at about 3%, this included both trainees and flying tutors. However, RAF Booker seems to have escaped relatively lightly. That's not to say there were no casualties and it seems that Cpl Brown, who lead me into this story of RAF and Army co-operation, was not to survive his time training at 21 EFTS. On the 4th Sept 1942, whilst "going solo", Corporal P. E. Brown's Tiger Moth swung on take-off, stalled and spun into the ground, killing the pilot. The date is marked in my Grandfather's Log Book with just a break of two days, by 7th Sept. everyone at the base was back to work as usual. "Keep Calm and Carry On" 1942 was another bad year for the British and her allies. With the retreat in the face of the Japanese and the fall of Singapore, the fall of Sevastopol and the loss of Tobruk, combined with the shortages due to sinking of ships of the Atlantic convoys, the Brits at home would have been forgiven for thinking they may not win this War. In fact, on July 2nd, Churchill faced a vote of "no confidence" in the Commons due to his handling of the War. He only survived this vote by talking up the "steady resistance" of the Russians. But July 1942 was also an important date for the War, when on the 4th July, United States Army Air Force (USAAF) bomber crews, flying RAF Boston aircraft from RAF Swanton Morley, took part in operations in Europe for the first time attacking enemy airfields in Holland.
