| Warrant
Officer Harry Barrett flew
as a PR Mosquito Navigator for 17 months from October 1945 to April
1947. He volunteered for aircrew duties as a navigator in mid-1941,
and was selected and put on deferred service until August 1942. He
trained as a Navigator/Wireless Operator at Cranwell and in Canada,
qualifying in November 1943. He was on the night-flying staff at 3
(PR) AFU at South Cerney for nine months. He qualified as an airgunner
in May 1945 on the Isle of Man. On joining 540 Squadron at Benson,
he and his pilot ferried three Mosquitoes to the Middle East and were
then posted to 680 in Palestine, where it was more dangerous on the
ground than in the air. 680 then became 13 Squadron. Harry carried
out aerial surveys in Egypt and the Greek Islands, and then went on
the Nairobi. Nine of the 15 Mosquitoes Harry flew in came to grief.
W/O Francis
Joseph Baylis AFM C de G (Belg) Kings
Commendation volunteered in October
1941 and joined at ACRC Lords in March 1942. He completed an ITW
at Babbacombe and a Wireless course at Cranwell. He received flying
training at Port Albert, Ontario and Charlotte Town PEI and a General
Reconnaissance Course at Squires Gate, then OTU (PR) at Dyce. He
was posted to 544 Squadron, Benson in January 1944 and flew 63 ops,
finishing in April 1945. He was awarded the C de G with Palme and
also served on 13 (PR) Squadron at Fayid 1947-49 and awarded the
AFM. Finally, after ten months on 540 (PR) Benson he received the
Kings Commendation.
Flight Lieutenant Peter
G. Brearley DFC joined
the RAF in 1941 from Cambridge University Air Squadron. He obtained
his Wings in 1942, and then completed a navigation course at 3 School
of General Reconnaissance and after OTU joined 140 Photo Reconnaissance
Squadron in November 1942 until March 1944. The squadron was attached
to Army Intelligence revising maps and possible coastal landing
sites for the coming invasion. Targets also included flying bomb
sites in Pas de Calais area and other varied sectors of enemy activity.
At first Peter flew Spitfires and later Mosquitoes with F/O Leslie
W. Preston GM as navigator. He finished his RAF service as a flying
instructor on Mosquitoes.
Flying Officer Tom
Clark volunteered to join the RAF
in October 1941. On completion of training he spent 12 months flying
with Dominion and trained pilots at No. 15 (P) AFU. At No. 8 OTU
Dyce he crewed with Fl/Lt. (later Squadron Leader) W. R. Assheton
and was posted to 540 Squadron in May 1944. He completed 48 operations
and ceased flying duties in September 1945.
Flight Lieutenant Arnold
Cussons joined the RAF in July 1940,
but pilot training did not start until early 1941. After EFTS (DH82)
and SFTS (Oxford) he was told he must be an Instructor. FIS at Cranwell,
instructing at 14 SFTS Lyneham (then grass field!) then secondment
to RNZAF at Christchurch until he got back to the UK in September
1943. 8OTU (Dyce) then 540 Squadron, A flight, hours after it was
sunk by Lancasters. He returned to instructing in July 1945, first
as Flight Commander Mosquitoes at PRU's 8OTU then as CFI when Frank
Dodd left. Arnold then went to the Empire Central Flying School
as a Tutor. He left the RAF at end of 1949 after a time flying Hornets
with 65 Squadron, Linton-on-Ouse near York.
Flight Officer Ken
Ellis DFM joined the RAF in April 1942 for training as an Observer. He received
his wing as a Navigator in Canada and after subsequent OTU training
was posted to 540 Squadron (PR) at Benson in January 1944. His pilot
was F/Lt. Arnold Cussons DFC and after in excess of 60 missions
over Europe, Ken eventually left the Squadron in July 1945. He and
Arnold photographed the German battleship 'Tirpitz' within hours
of it being capsized on 12 November 1944 in Tromso Fjord.
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Flight Officer Eric
Hill DFC DFM joined
the RAF in 1941 and crewed up with F/Lt. Frank L. Dodd AFC in January
1944. He joined 544 Mosquito PRU Squadron (detached from RAF Benson
to Leuchars) in March 1944. They did all their 53 operational flights
together, including flying diplomatic mail to Churchill at the Big
Three Conferences in Moscow, Athens and Yalta. They photographed
the battleship 'Tirpitz' at anchor in Alten Fjord (north Norway)
in July 1944 having lost their cockpit cover moments before. In
other sorties, they survived a half-hour chase by two Me262 jets
over Magdeburg and a Me109 attack while on one engine over the same
city. Frank Dodd stayed in the service as a pilot after the war,
finally retiring as Air Vice Marshal, CBE DSO DFC AFC *** AE LRPS.
W/O S. F.
(Paddy) Hope joined the RAFVR in
July 1940 and trained as a WOP/Nav. at Blackpool, Yatesbury, Torquay
and Staverton, joining 236 Squadron, Coastal Command at Carew Cheriton,
S. Wales in October 1941 on Blenheims. After 3 operations, he converted
to Beaufighters Squadron before moving to Wattisham, where he did
3 operations on Beaufighters over the German Bight. Paddy then transferred
to PRU Benson on Mosquitoes in May 1942. He completed 20 more ops.
with F/O F. McKay (N.Z.) before bailing out over Belgium in December
1942 after engine failure. After evading for one month, he was captured
at the Spanish frontier with Comete Line leader (A deJongh) and
held by the Gestapo for questioning for four months. He was made
a POW in Germany until returning home on 11 May 1945.
Flight Lieutenant Walter
Le May DFC joined the RAF in 1941 and trained as an Observer in Canada, joining
140 Squadron, Army Co-operation Command at Hartford Bridge (now
Blackbushe). The squadron, engaged on photo-reconnaissance, was
unique in that one flight was equipped with Spitfires while a second
flight, converting from Blenheims to Lockheed Venturas, was used
for night operations. In June 1943 the squadron became part of the
34 Wing 2nd Tactical Air Force, and later converted to Mosquito
1X & XV1. Mainly involved in night operations, he, with his
pilot, F/Lt. Ray Batenburg DFC, RNZAF, crossed the French coast
a few minutes after midnight on D-Day, and took photographs of key
points, followed by nearly 2 hours of low-level visual reconnaissance,
at heights down to 200 feet. After operational flying he was appointed
Night Ops. Controller 34 Wing, and afterwards, Ops. Controller at
HQ 2 Group, Gutersloh.
Flight Lieutenant Tom
Pratt DFC joined
the RAF in 1940 and after initial training in Paignton, Duxford
and Hidlington he was posted to West Freugh. He left there in 1943
and went to Squires Gate for navigational training, and then to
Dyce for conversion to Mosquitoes. He was posted to 544 Squadron
at Benson and stayed until the war was over. Tom says, "I flew
68 sorties and was fortunate to be chosen to fly to Moscow, when
Churchill attended the Yalta Conference, and had an extremely pleasant
few days entertained by the Russians!" Tom finally left the
RAF in 1946.
Flight Lieutenant Mike
Randles volunteered as a Wireless
Operator in 1941, but on callup, immediately re-mustered for aircrew.
His lengthy training as a navigator/wireless-op/photographer culminated
in joining 540 Squadron at RAF Benson. With his pilot, Flight Lieutenant
Guy Trevor, who sadly lost his life in a flying accident shortly
after the end of the war, he completed 35 PR operations from Benson,
Dyce (Aberdeen) from which they concentrated on Norwegian targets,
and Coulommiers in France. Their longest operation of over 1500
miles took over six hours to photograph 18 targets in Norway in
November 1944. Mike claims he was a lucky one, having been shot
at only twice and escaping interception by German jets over Prague,
Arnhem and Osnabruck.
Flying Officer Joe
Townshend DFM joined the RAF in February 1942 and after a wireless course at Cranwell
went to Canada for Navigation, GR and an OTU on Torpedo Hampdens
on Vancouver Island. He returned to England for an OTU on Mosquitoes
at Dyce where he teamed up with F/Lt. H. C. S. (Sandy) Powell DFC.
After four ferry trips to Rabat in Morocco, he joined 540 Squadron
in May 1944 and completed 50 Photo Reconnaissance operations over
Europe, including finding the Tirpitz at Tromso for the Lancasters
to sink in November 1944. |
