| Squadron
Leader A M Charlesworth DFC joined the RAF straight from school just
before his 18th birthday in the summer of 1940 with the sole purpose
of becoming a fighter pilot. After training, at age 18, he was posted
to RAF Ibsley, Hampshire, to 118 Squadron, flying Spitfire 2bs. Here
he took part in his first scramble. After a month he was posted where
the action was thickest, to a II Group Station, RAF Kenley, where
he joined 602 Squadron. His Squadron Commander was Al Dere, by this
time a highly decorated ace; Al was 23 then and had already been shot
down nine times.
602 Squadron was equipped with the more advanced
Spitfire VBs which had two 20mm cannons, firing at 1200 rounds a
minute, plus four very useful Browning 50cal. machine guns firing
at an even higher rate per minute. Al Dere was eventually posted
to another squadron and Paddy Finucane took over - "possibly
the finest fighter pilot I came across", Max. Charlesworth
continues, " I remember him trying to get his 21st victory
before his 21st birthday and I often flew No. 2 to him. These were
twitchy and tiring days when three sweeps a day over occupied France
were the norm, to be met each time by several hundred Me109s and
Fw190s, at our maximum range, where hectic dogfights ensued. We
were normally outnumbered and a day could last from an early morning
call at 3:30am to the last landing at 10:30pm in the semi-dark of
the long summer of 1941. The average age of the approximately 30
pilots on the squadron was always about 19."
During this period they were scrambled to search
for and attack the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
(although they didn't know it at the time) which, with escorting
vessels had slipped up the Channel from Brest. The weather was awful
and Max flew straight across the German battle cruiser "Hipper"
thinking it was a Royal Navy cruiser. The "Hipper" opened
up at Max with guns blazing but was fortunate to escape with just
a hole in one wing.
In April 1942, Max was posted to a secret unit
called MSFU (Merchant Service Fighter Unit) where he flew Hurricanes
from catapults on merchant ships attached to convoys of anything
up to fifty merchant men at a time. The ships were mainly bringing
supplies from America and taking them to Murmansk and Archangel,
the hard-pressed Soviets and Gibraltar.
Max recalls this as a highly physical and uncomfortable
task, apart from also being very scary. The ships were constantly
attacked by U-boat packs and aircraft. When they were in range of
the latter, if they launched the Hurricane they knew they would
ultimately have to bail out and hope to be picked up by either a
friendly escort vessel or a sunken ships lifeboat.
"The North Atlantic route to Canada, north
of Iceland and down the Greenland coast at an average speed of six
knots in appalling seas was not out idea of a holiday cruise",
Max vividly recalls. Having survived this posting, Max was then
moved to 124 Squadron at West Malting, near Maidstone, Kent. The
squadron was equipped with the much more powerful Spitfire IXs.
Their task here was mainly escorting USAF and RAF bombing raids
into Europe. With long-range tanks fitted they were able to reach
Hamburg and Ludwigshafen; later on they were able to refuel from
liberated bases in France. These operations required them to fly
as 'Top Cover' at over 30,000 feet for up to three hours, where
it was so cold the pilots returned to base hardly able to climb
out of their cockpits.
On February 9th 1945, Max was the Senior Flight
Commander of 124 Squadron during their Cottishall. Here they adapted
the Spitfire IXs to dive-bombing. The Spitfires carried either a
500lb. bomb under the fuselage and 250lb. bomb under each wing or,
a 90-gallon fuel tank under the fuselage and a 250lb. bomb under
each wing. Their mission was to destroy V2 sites in Holland - mainly
situated in small parks near the center of the Hague. These V2 sites
were launching rockets on London in ever increasing numbers. As
well as attacking the V2 sites they were to destroy railway lines
used by the Germans to transport V2s into the area. These were dangerous
times as the V2s were heavily defended by 88mm guns down to 20mm.
"The flak was horrendous and we lost many" recalls Max.
As Senior Flight Commander, Max often led the squadron, though identifying
targets from 12,000 feet was difficult.
After the war, Max was one of the first pilots
to convert to the Meteor twin-engine jet, later to move on to Vampires
and Canberras. His flying career was completed in June 1961 when
he was posted to Warsaw, Poland as the Assistant Air Attaché.
He finally retired from the RAF in 1966.
Flight Lt. R.
H. Peter May was under training
as a pilot in the Civil Air Guard at Weston Super Mare on the 3rd
September 1939 and was immediately accepted for further training
with the RAF at Downing College, Cambridge. In June 1940 he was
posted to a holding unit at Hemswell, near Lincoln, from which Hampden
aircraft were employed in dropping leaflets over Germany. This aerodrome
was subjected to one of the first, possibly the first, bombing raid
on England by the Germans.
Peter went solo on a Magister monoplane at Kingsdown
Aerodrome, Chester on the 26th June 1940. On the 1st July he suffered
an engine failure over the Solway Firth, but managed to force land
safely. As a reward for this safe landing he was one of six fortunate
pupils on the Course of 52 to be selected for training as fighter
pilots.
His first solo flight in a Spitfire 1 at Hawardene
Operational Unit, was on the 10th December 1940. A few days later
flying over Liverpool in poor visibility, the engine failed. He
decided to pancake in the Mersey but fortunately at the last minute
he saw a field alongside. By using his emergency pressure bottle
to lower the undercarriage quickly, he managed to force land safely.
Spitfire 1 aircraft undercarriage had to be raised and lowered manually.
In January 1941 with only 20 hours experience
on Spitfires he was posted to Sailor Malan's 74 Squadron based at
Biggin Hill and later at Manston. The squadron was engaged in protecting
the Channel convoys, the south-coast radar stations and the Lysanders
on rescue missions over the North Sea. Returning from operational
patrol over the Channel on the 21st April 1941, Peter crash-landed
at Manston Aerodrome. He was taken to Margate General Hospital suffering
from a concussion and a broken leg.
During the latter part of 1941 Peter was appointed
Aerodrome Control Pilot at Manston and recommenced flying non-operationally
in December 1941. In June 1942 he moved to No. 1 Squadron at Tangmere,
flying Hurricanes and mainly engaged in sweeps over France. In July
it was decided to convert No. 1 Squadron into a Night Fighter Squadron.
As Peter's night-flying experience was limited. He was sent on a
Beam Approach Course at Watchfield.
Peter was commissioned in 1943 and in
1944 was appointed C.O. of a Communications Flight on the island
of Orkney. In July 1945 he joined 286 Hurricane Squadron at Weston
Zoyland, Somerset, flying mostly at night. He completed his flying
career as Naval Liaison Officer with 667 Squadron at Gosport, flying
Spitfire XV1s. Peter amassed 1687 flying hours, including 110 in
Spitfires and 55 in Hurricanes. |
|
Flight Lieutenant Michael Penny's war
service began in October 1940 at I. T. W. Newquay. On completion of
his training he was posted to No. 24 E.F.T.S. Luton. After 11 hours
dual flying he first flew solo in a Miles Magister. After forty hours
instruction he was posted to No. 9 S.F.T.S. Hullavington for advanced
flying on Miles Masters and Hurricanes.
On completing this course he was presented with
his "Wings", having now flown 62 hours. His next posting
was to No. 66 O.T.U. at East Fortune where he converted to B &
P Defiants. "The Defiant was a very unpleasant aircraft to
fly, very heavy and I did not like the idea of becoming a night
fighter in this aircraft" said Michael. He was then posted
to No. 153 Squadron in Northern Ireland; after only a few days the
Squadron was disbanded and he was given a chance to convert to Beaufighters
or stay on 'singles'. Michael requested training for Spitfires but
was informed that there were no vacancies at that moment in time.
He then asked if he could fly Lysanders until January 1943 when
his posting came through to 58 O.T.U. Grangemouth.
He completed 50 hours on Spitfires and was posted
to 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron 124 Airfield, Lasham. Michael
recalls, "Although we were operational, we were now in 2nd
T.A.F. and most of our flying was done in cooperation with the Army
and Tank Corps. This involved continual very low flying and demanded
very strict air flying discipline - this held me in good stead as
time went on". In May 1943, the Squadron moved to 121 Airfield
Fairlop where he flew his first operation over occupied Europe on
a fighter sweep over Rouen, followed by an escort operation with
Ventura bombers to Zeebruger; this was his first experience of enemy
anti-aircraft fire. Various escort and fighter sweeps followed.
There followed a series of moves to various airfields in Sussex
and Kent. In early 1994 the Squadron, then stationed at Ford, had
bombs fitted to our aircraft for dropping on V1 launch sites. "We
began our dive at about 10,000 feet and released our bomb at 5000
feet - a most unpleasant experience. This brought us into range
from all kinds of anti-aircraft fire, but fortunately we suffered
very few direct hits," Michael recalls. After completing over
120 operations, Michael was posted "tour expired" by the
Air Commander and went on to become a Spitfire flying instructor.
He was demobilized in November 1945.
Warrant Officer Peter
Wall joined the RAF at the Air Crew
Reception Center at Lords Cricket Ground, London in 1941 and after
Initial Training Wing at Clare College, Cambridge, found himself
en route to the USA to take part in the "Arnold Scheme",
being trained to be a pilot by the South East Army Corps in Florida,
Georgia and Alabama.
After 200 hours of training Peter graduated
at a ceremony where he was given the silver wings normally awarded
to the American cadets - the RAF wings came later out of a cardboard
box! On return to the UK and after six weeks at the Advanced Flying
Unit at Bodney, Norfolk, he was posted to target towing at 61 O.T.U.,
Rednal and West Felton, flying Westland Lysanders and Miles Martinets,
towing drogues for the Spitfire pilots to shoot at. After six months,
he joined a Spitfire course and after completion, Peter was sent
to Hawkinge, Kent to join No. 41 Squadron who were flying a new
Spitfire, the Mark 12 with the Griffon engine developing nearly
2,000 horsepower.
The task there was to protect the bombers returning
from raids in Northern France. From there the Squadron was sent
to Beachy Head to deal with the "hit and run" raiders
attacking Eastbourne and other South Coast towns. Up until then
it had been forbidden to take the aircraft over to the continent
but the policy changed and the Squadron joined up with 91 Squadron
to from a Wing acting as escort cover to the bombers trying to destroy
the V1 and V2 sites. Returning from one of these operations he had
an accident on landing and was sent to Training Command as an Instructor!
After converting to the twin engine Oxford he taught trainees at
Southrop Advanced Flying Unit for a further six months when he was
selected to be an instructor at Lulsgate Bottom teaching ex-operational
Bomber pilots to be O.T.U. instructors. Whilst there, he gained
an A2 instructing category. As not so many instructors were then
required, the Unit was closed down and he then went to Church Lawford
where he taught Naval Officers to fly on Harvards without any preliminary
training on simpler aircraft - quite successfully. |
