Bomber Support - RAF Wittering - May 1943

Crome Court Estate - RAF Defford - Worcestershire

During May 1943, 141 Squadron continued to equip their Beaufighters with the new Airborne Interception device codenamed "Serrate". This required them to ferry the squadron 'Beaus' from their base at RAF Wittering to RAF Defford, the home of the Top Secret Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE). Here, amongst many other top 'boffins' in the field of electronics, such names as Bernard Lovell, who went on to pioneer radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank, John Cockroft, who later won a Nobel Prize and helped develop the UK's first nuclear weapons and Maurice Wilkes, who, after the war built the first general purpose stored-program computer at Cambridge, were all cutting their teeth on early radar systems.

In this film, Bernard Lovell explains the cavity magnetron for use in Air Interception in World War 2.

W.J. "Sticks" Gregory

Although my Grandfather's Log Book looks relatively quiet in May 1943 in terms of 'Ops' he flew, there was a good deal of behind the scenes preparation for the future Bomber Support activities of the squadron. The idea of Bomber Support was to escort the allied bombers on their raids over enemy territory and intercept the German night fighters before they had a chance of shooting down the bombers.  In this way the RAF hoped to reduce the bomber losses that were beginning to rise again due to the advances in technology in the German anti-aircraft and Luftwaffe forces.

Bob Braham's navigator, W. J."Sticks" Gregory explains more about this in reel 3 of his "Oral History" held at the Imperial War Museum. (Please click the link in the text)







The C.O. of 141 Squadron, W/Cdr "Bob" Braham , along with his Intelligence Officer, P/O 'Buster' Reynolds, flew back and forth to HQ Bomber Command and Nos. 5 and 8 Group headquarters to discuss how the squadron was to operate in amongst the bomber stream. Much concern was expressed that the allied bomber crews would target their Beaufighters at night in the heat of battle, mistaking them for the enemy, also that one squadron wasn't really enough to make much of a difference. But Braham assured them that his crews understood the risks of 'friendly fire' and were prepared to carry on regardless. He thought even one squadron could sow confusion for the enemy ground radar and create fear and uncertainty amongst the attacking luftwaffe nightfighters which could force them to abort attacks on the plodding, overladen bombers. Plus, if successful, hopefully other squadrons would be detailed for similar operations. This was the forerunner of 100 Group.

H.C. Kelsey Log book - May 1943

My grandfather, F/O H. C. Kelsey, seemed to spend quite a few days ferrying other RAF personnel and aircraft around this month, either to and from Predannack, or to and from TRE at Defford. A couple of times in the month he had the dubious pleasure of crewing the Station Commander, Sq/Ldr Vale, in a Master III to a local destination. Sq/Ldr Vale would introduce himself to new crews at briefings as "Vale The Bastard", so I presume that he would have chosen one of the better pilots to accompany him on these jaunts!

Miles Master III

Other training exercises my Grandfather and the squadron undertook this month were Ground Control Interceptions (GCI), air firing with cine gun cameras to check gunnery accuracy, lectures, clay pigeon shooting, Link Trainer and Morse training. In essence, the squadron was making full use of this time to hone their skills. The Beaufighters that were not equipped with 'Serrate" were still occasionally being sent on "Ranger" patrols over both Holland and Germany, looking for ground targets mostly such as trains or airfields to shoot up. My grandfather was scheduled for a "Ranger" patrol on 19th May but it was cancelled, probably due to adverse weather. Later in the month he started ferrying passengers to and from Defford to pick up "Serrate" equipped Beaufighters. On 31st May he ferried F/S Robertson and F/S Gillam to Defford, this crew were shot down by return fire from a Heinkel HE177 over France in August 1943 and ended up as POWs and members of the escape committee at Stalag IV B until the end of the war.

Heinkel HE177

There was however another tragedy for the squadron when Beaufighter IF V8370 crashed and burned up whilst coming in to land after a NFT. (Night Flight Test). The pilot, F/Sgt R. Judge and Nav/Rad Sgt F. D. Blower were both killed, they had been with the squadron since late 1942. The Operations Record Book gives details in an entry for 11th May 1943:

“Further cross country and navigation exercises... Weather still closing down of a night and at 21:30 F/Sgt Judge with Sgt Blower as Nav/Rad took off for NFT [night flying training] and Weather Test. At 21:45 the aircraft appeared to be making a perfect approach coming in to land. It suddenly swung to starboard and crashed into Burghley Park. Both aircrew were killed”.

Frederick Blower's death was registered at Peterborough. His body was returned to Great Crosby near Liverpool, the home of his wife, and was buried in St Luke’s Churchyard Section E grave 592. I cannot find out what became of F/Sgt. R. Judge.

Meanwhile in the night skies over Germany, Luftwaffe ace Lt Robert Denzel was busy picking off British bombers at an ever increasing rate. On the night of 12/13 May 1943 the German city of Duisburg came under attack. Duisberg was a major logistical centre for the Ruhr area and a location of chemical, steel and iron industries. With good marking the force of 577 bombers destroyed the old town with 1,599 tons of bombs. An estimated 96,000 people were made homeless. 38 British aircraft didn't make it back to base. Robert Denzel was part of the Luftwaffe night fighting force of 12 Nachtjagd 1 waiting for the returning bombers. That one night he shot down a Lancaster W4762 of 50 Squadron, a Stirling BK705 of 218 Squadron and a Wellington HE398 of 196 Squadron for his 7th, 8th and 9th 'victories'. Rather shockingly, all the stricken crews were either killed or reported missing.

Crew of Lancaster W4762, including Pilot, P/O F. H. Huntley DFM - Aircrew Remembered

WW2 NJG 1 - Nachtjagdgeshwader 1 military patch

Events in the rest of the World, now that the Desert War had been won in Africa, were focussing on liberating Europe. The third Washington Conference (1943), attended by Churchill, Roosevelt and various heads of staff, was called to draw up the future strategy for Sicily, Normandy and the Pacific. Hitler on the other hand was building up weapons, troops and supplies for yet another attack on the Russians at Kursk. In a sign that the Battle of the Atlantic was being won by the allies, Admiral Donitz withdraws his U-boats from the Atlantic, due to unsustainable losses through advances in detection (Sonar) and attack by the allies.

"Little Black Box" & 4th "Op" SCRAMBLE! - 141 Squadron - RAF Wittering - May 1943

Bristol Beaufighters in formation 1943

At 14.10 hours on 30th April 1943, all 16 aircraft of 141 Squadron, bar one, which was out on an Air/Sea Rescue mission, were led off in formation by their Wing Commander "Bob" Braham from RAF Predannack, Cornwall. After a short cross-country flight, they landed at RAF Wittering at 15.40 hours. This was to be their new base and serve as home for the new and highly secret mission that their C.O. had volunteered them for. The rest of the ground crew personnel left by train and arrived a day later on 1st May, unless they were lucky and had managed to hitch a lift in one of the squadron aeroplanes. This is what must have happened to F/Sgt Mugleston, as he is noted as an extra passenger in F/O Howard Kelsey's Pilot's Log Book for the flight to Wittering in Beaufighter 4626, alongside his usual crew, Nav/Rad Sgt 'Smithy' Smith. I've no Idea what happened to Mugleston after this, but hopefully my Grandfather got a drink out of it!

W/C Braham was going to miss Cornwall and wrote in his book "Scramble";

" ...we took off from Predannack to fly to Wittering...I had a feeling of regret. At Predannack the squadron had rejuvenated and had lost forever it's sense of inferiority."

That sense of inferiority stemmed from the day 141 squadron had been removed from frontline duties during the Battle of Britain after being almost wiped out on one sortie. Since then, despite being moved to night fighter duties, 141 sqn. had been very much in the doldrums and a bit of a laughing stock, despite the bravery and sacrifice exhibited by individual crews, shuffling back and forth from one base to another with little future direction, until the arrival of W/C Braham.

John Randall Daniel "Bob' Braham

Braham had brought a new aggressive attitude and a desire to "get at the Hun", his personal mission being to inspire 141 Squadron to "become the best night fighter squadron in the RAF". This attitude and his mounting number of combat victories, he had already shot down 12 enemy aircraft, 11 of them at night, caught the attention of Air Vice Marshal Basil Embury, No. 2 Group Bomber Commander, and resulted in the rapid promotion of the squadron back to frontline action. Being the "new broom", Braham swept out many personnel, with the removal of those that were deemed not "made of the right stuff" and the call for new recruits who had the  drive to attack the enemy without hesitation. If you didn't make the grade, or showed a "lack of moral fibre" you were swiftly replaced. 

Charles Vivian Winn

It is perhaps for this reason a new Squadron Leader was drafted in to over take 'A' flight. Sq/Ldr Winn was a larger than life character and a friend of Braham from earlier days. He brought with him his Nav/Rad, F/lt "Scotty" Scott who was renowned for a facial twitch. When he was "ragged" about this by his new mess mates his reply was "What do you expect, if you have to fly with a clot like Winn".




RAF Wittering, the new base for 141 Squadron, was then in Northamptonshire, but after the boundary changes, is now in Cambridgeshire. It had been a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome during the 1st World War, and closed soon after. Then, during the late 1920's it was re-opened and a substantial number of hangars, barracks and concrete aprons were constructed. So this was a purpose built airfield and had already come under some concerted attack by the Luftwaffe, particularly in 1941.  The airfield had grass runways and had one of the longest landing runs in the country, consequently it was a popular diversion for bomber aircraft returning, damaged from raids over Europe.

RAF Wittering 1944

British AI Mk.IV Radar signal display

What was this highly secret "little black box" that 141 squadron had moved to Wittering to have fixed to all it's Beaus and be schooled in it's operation? Both British and German aircraft already had onboard radar systems (A.I. Airborne Interception) by this time which were rudimentary and didn't have a very long range. 

This, in combination with the land based Radar (G.C.R. Ground Controlled Radar) on home soil would give a pretty accurate picture of the direction and size of enemy raids at night over Britain. But what were the RAF going to do now they were on the offensive over the Reich? Another problem the RAF had was A.I. Radar was no good at identifying the difference between allied bombers and enemy night-fighters in the crowded night skies over German cities during a bombing raid. Sadly there were numerous reports of so called "friendly fire" where British crews had shot down aircraft from their own side. To try and aid confirmation of friend or foe a way of tuning into the Lichtenstein radar frequencies of the German night fighters had been developed. 

Messerschmitt Bf110G displaying Lichtenstein radar aerials.

Diagram of Serrate signal display top and AI Radar signal below

If there was an enemy aircraft within range and it had it's FuG 212 Lichtenstein radar set turned on, the new British device made it possible to detect it and "home in" on the radar signals it was sending out and set course to intercept it. Once close enough, the navigator would switch back to the A.I. radar system to close in on the target, in the safe knowledge it was definitely the enemy. Well that was the theory anyway. The name of this new device was called 'Serrate' because of the jagged signal it gave in the cathode ray tubes on the set the Nav/Rad would sit and operate. 






The development of radar by the British boffins is explained in much better detail in this rather wonderful BBC series "The Secret War". Well worth a watch if you can find it. (https://dai.ly/x123k8x)

I'm not sure how well my Grandfather understood the workings of this radar technology, later in life he was very sceptical when I tried to explain to him how a microwave oven worked, perhaps he wasn't very "clued up" about radio waves. Perhaps even his Nav/Rad Sgt. "Smithy" Smith didn't know exactly how it all worked, but he certainly became expert at how to make sense of the flickering, jagged lines on his 'Serrate' homing box and to combine that with his radar set to pinpoint where the enemy were in the blackness of the night sky. 

One thing I am fairly certain of is that on 4th May 1943, my Grandfather went on leave for 7 days, as noted in his Log Book, and flew back to Predannack. 

F/O Kelsey Log Book May 1943

Now this leads me to believe that perhaps my Grandmother, Audrey Victoria "Vicky" Kelsey, who was now 6 months pregnant, had been billeted in Cornwall somewhere, and he was going back to see her? If this is so, I hope they had a lot of fun exploring the small coves and beaches of deepest Cornwall. Most wartime RAF aircrew wives were kept in blissful ignorance of what their husbands were up to, and this was doubly so with the invention of this new top secret "Little Black Box". 

He returned to duty on 11th May to find a very busy squadron getting packed up ready to move to RAF Drem in Scotland for further "serrate" training. It was thought that Wittering was a bit too close to the enemy coast and the radio and RADAR signalling during training flights may be picked up. Sadly this date held the some tragic news with the loss of another crew, F/Sgt Judge  and Sgt Blower, as detailed in my last blog post.

On the 12th May the first 6 aircrew of "A" flight flew from Wittering to Drem to begin training in their "Serrate" equipped Beaufighter 1Fs. Drem was home to 1692 (Radar Development) Flight which flew Defiants equipped with transmitters that could imitate the German Lichtenstein AI radar and would serve as 'bogeys' for the 141 squadron navigators to practice on.

On the night of 13th May my Grandfather's Log Book details a "Scramble" as his 4th "Op", with no further comment. This probably means that they encountered nothing and after 'tooling about' in the night skies for an hour and five minutes they returned to base none the wiser.  There is no mention of this in the detailed "History of 141 Squadron" written by Don Aris. 

Meanwhile, the RAF were maintaining the bombing offensive on industrial and urban targets on the Rhine and the Ruhr. On the night of 4th May, 596 aircraft were sent to bomb Dortmund, 30 didn't return. Severe damage was caused in central and northern parts of Dortmund. It was reported that 1,218 buildings were destroyed and 2,141 seriously damaged including the Hosch and Dortmund Union steel factory buildings and many factories in the dock area. At least 693 people were killed, 200 aircrew were taken prisoner and 1,075 people were injured. Luftwaffe pilot, Lt. Robert Denzel of 12 Nachtjagd Geschwader 1 shot down his fourth and fifth allied aircraft on this night. The first, a Short Stirling III BF505 of 218 Squadron, captained by F/Lt. Wilbur L Turner, crashed at Murmerwoude, Holland, killing Turner and four of his crew mates, three others were taken prisoner.

Crew of Stirling III BF505 - F/Lt Turner back row, second left.

The second was a Handley Page Halifax MKII HR667, of 102 Squadron, captained by S/Ldr J.B. Flowerdew. It crashed at Vooreg, east of Westergeest, Holland. Sadly, all the crew were killed, but only two bodies were found in the wreckage. A third was apparently found dead in a nearby canal by a fisherman, but he left it there to sink below the water, without reporting it to the authorities. The families of the other five missing men never found out what happened to their loved ones. A memorial was laid for them by the Dutch people in May 2015.

Events in the wider World War were starting to edge in favour of the allies. The Battle of the Atlantic was still raging, however May 1943 was known after the war as "Black May", as it was a turning point with technological improvements leading to a greater number of U-Boats destroyed and a decline in numbers of allied shipping being sunk. In Africa, the remaining German Africa Korps and Italian troops surrendered,  the allies took over 250,000 prisoners of war. And the famous "Dambusters Raid" is judged a success.