| F/L Cecil S. Elliott (Navigator) volunteered for aircrew duties in 1940 and
received his call up papers in early 1942. He was first posted to
Newquay for ITW and billeted in two hotels, the Coniston and the Kilbourne,
just north of Newquay town. He drilled in the large car park area
adjacent to the Coniston.
The ITW course lasted three months, but with
a fortnight to go, two senior officers arrived to advise the trainees
that there would be a new category of aircrew - Navigator/W/T and
six of the intake were interested. They were posted to Trafford
Park where they stayed in a Nissen hut with no heating. In June
1943 they were sent to Cranwell on a 12-week course, where they
learnt the fundamentals of radio, and MORSE transmitting and receiving.
Unfortunately, Cecil failed the MORSE receiving test so he had to
stay on for another week, before being sent back to Trafford Park.
They then went by rail to Glasgow where they boarded the Queen Mary
and crossed the Atlantic in three to four days.
On arriving in New York they were each
given a small hand of bananas. What joy! They traveled by train
on a roundabout route to Quebec airport and started on No. 8 AOS
Ancienne Lorette course. During the three-month course, from December
1943 to February 1944, a Navigator/W/T was never mentioned again.
Elliott was very pleased with the exam marks and won the Navigator
Pennant for the course work. The passing out parade was on 5 May
1944 and he was only a sergeant for a few hours as he and five others
were offered commissions. The official RAF tailor was in Montreal
so they all went together to be fitted and were then posted to Debart,
Nova Scotia where they met the pilots with whom they would crew-up
at the RCAF No. 1 OUT. They were confined to the Officers' Mess
for 48 hours during which time they had to agree the crews. He was
fortunate as he crewed up with Dusty Rhoades, who was a professional
pilot in civvy street with Bowater Paper. They flew daytime cross-countries
and regular circuits and bumps. All those on this OUT returned to
the UK in a liner and landed in Glasgow, immediately traveling to
Thorney Island to join 21 Squadron. His service with 21 covered
three stations - Thorney Island; Rosieres near Amiens and Brussels
Maelsbrook where they celebrated VE Day.
His duties in 21 were classified as 'Intruders
Night operations'. They were given an area to patrol in which they
shot up and bombed road and rail transport. If they had not released
the bombs, they were given a target to bomb on the way out of an
area. By June 1945 they had completed over 25 operations.
'Dusty' was repatriated within 10 days of the
end of hostilities (one of the terms available to RCAF personnel
who volunteered for operations). Most of the crews were Canadian
pilots and British Navigators, so the number of guys in the Mess
almost halved by the end of June 1945. A serious thought to mention
here was the 'esprit de corps' and loyalty of the ground crews.
The aircrews would not have been able to produce the good record
without their superb backing. Cecil does not remember a Mosquito
ever being classed as u/s during his service with '21'. They normally
operated from 10 p.m. to midnight and returned 3 a.m. to 4 a.m.
The ground crew were always there enquiring whether everything was
OK.
Flight Lieutenant Maxwell
N. Sparks AFC RAF (Pilot) gained his pilots wings with the RNZAF
in December 1941. Posted to the United Kingdom he joined the newly
formed 487 (NZ) Squadron in September 1942. Equipped with the Lockheed
Ventura (a bomber version of the Hudson) the squadron was meant
for medium-level daylight "circus" operations, but after
losing 10 out of 11 aircraft and crews over Holland in March 1943
it was wisely decided to re-equip the depleted squadron with a different
type of aircraft.
In September 1943 the Squadron was again operational
with the new Mosquito Mk. V1 aircraft, attacking daylight pinpoint
targets such as V1 and V2 rocket sites and night intruder sorties
against enemy airfields. From D-Day on, 487 Squadron in company
with the 464 (RAAF) and 21 (RAF) was part of the 2nd TAF, operating
behind enemy lines day and night, searching out enemy road convoys,
railway troop trains, enemy airfields, etc. - all designed to cause
maximum disruption to the enemy forces. Flt. Lt. Max Sparks completed
42 operational sorties with the 487 Squadron and returned to New
Zealand in March 1945.
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Wing Commander B. E. 'Dick' Hogan (Pilot) transferred from the Army to the Royal
Air Force in May 1941 and was trained as a pilot on Tiger Moths at
Brough on Humberside and on the Air Speed Oxfords at Grantham, Lincs.
After qualifying in December 1941, he served
at several flying stations in the UK, before being posted to Army
Cooperation at Old Sarum, Salisbury, as a Flying Instructor. It
was here in the Officers' Mess one night after dinner, that he first
met the legendary Group Captain Charles Pickard DSO, DFC who had
recently assumed command of 140 Mosquito Wing in 2 Group. Group
Captain Pickard was on the lookout for suitable pilots to join his
wing, and was personally recruiting likely chaps in his travels
around the flying stations and at the RAF Club in Piccadilly, London,
as casualties had been high and replacements too slow coming from
the Mosquito Operational Training Unit.
After a late night drink Group Captain Pickard
asked Dick Hogan two questions. "Have you flown 1000 hours
and also twin-engine aircraft?" After receiving an affirmative
reply, he wrote Hogan's name on the back of an envelope and left
the Mess.
At the time it was every pilot's ambition to
fly the Mosquito, particularly the Mark V1 Fighter Bomber on low-level
operations. The competition was fierce and Hogan's expectations
were none too high after this informal late-night encounter with
Pickard.
However a few days later he was posted direct
to 140 Wing at Sculthorpe, Norfolk where, on arrival, he found great
activity on the Wing as they were preparing for the first low-level
raid on the V1 Flying Bomb sites in France.
The first attack was to be led by Air Vice Marshal
Basil Embry, DSO, DFC, AFC the Air Officer Commanding 2 Group. His
navigator was to be Francis Chichester the famous navigator and
yachtsman. Soon after this raid the Wing moved to a new airfield
at Hunsdon just north of London. Here Hogan was able to complete
a couple of conversion flights and was teamed up with navigator
Alan Crowfoot, a splendid, imperturbable Australian.
After 10 training flights they were launched
into "Operation No Ball" - the code name for the systematic
low-level bombing of all the known flying bomb sites, located mainly
in the Pas De Calais area.
It was tree and wave top flying to keep under
the German radar. On approach to the target the boxes of 4 Mosquitoes
would climb to about 400 feet, then a shallow dive followed at approximately
50 feet with the bomb release by the pilot of 4 x 500 lb. 11 second
bombs. (The pilot's stick head had four separate controls for the
operation of: (1) 4 x 20mm canon (2) 4 x .303 machine guns (3) VHF
transmit button (4) bomb release button.) In the heat of the moment
errors could occur!
Following 140 Wing's raid on the prison of Amiens
on 18th February 1944, low-level raids were phased out and the Wing
tried high-level bombing with a lead aircraft from the Pathfinder
Force, followed thereafter by night interdiction. The Germans had
re-calibrated their gun sights and the low-level daylight strategy
was now too expensive.
In the spring of 1944 Hogan spent some months
in RAF Hospital, Ely before being returned to duty with a limited
medical category. Then followed ground appointments at the Central
Fighter Establishment, Tangmere and Air Ministry, London, before
being posted overseas to the British Military Mission in Budapest
in 1946. This was the beginning of a series of Special Duty assignments,
which were followed by attaché posts at the British Embassies
in Baghdad, Bonn, Berne and Rome.
Hogan also flew Wellingtons, Lancasters and
the earlier post-war jets and qualified from the Central Flying
School in November 1955 as a jet instructor. From there he took
over the University of Birmingham Air Squadron and then as C.O.
RAF Staging Post at Hickham AFB Hawaii, the support unit from the
atomic test base on Christmas Island.
In August 1973 he was recruited by the International
Red Cross to coordinate the medical and relief aid in Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos. Wing Commander Hogan retired from the RAF after 33 years
of service. |
