As it happened,
John Crossman didn’t ‘crack off’ on the 27th. The squadron ‘flew up to Acklington
in formation this afternoon. There was a raid coming over just as we left and
the last thing I heard before we left was from the loud speakers round the camp:
“All personnel not actively engaged in getting aircraft off the ground take
cover.”’
32 Squadron arrived
at Acklington late in the afternoon and John was not impressed. ‘It’s a lousy
place. Miles from anywhere and fearfully quiet. We’ll never see any action
here.’
Warmwell was
seeing some action of a different sort. Ken Holland was at readiness from 13.00–20.00
‘but all quiet on Dorset Front.’ 152 Squadron may not have been called to
action but ‘lots of incendiaries’ had been dropped in the area and ‘heath fires
raging all around N and NE of Warmwell.’
Ken Holland was
not the only Australian on 152 Squadron. As well as Carr Withall who was lost
on 12 August, Ian Norman Bayles had been posted to 152 Squadron and, as well as
the incendiaries, Ken noted that the ‘CO flew Bayles to town for his marriage
demain’. (Ken was apt to sprinkle his notes with the occasional French word or two.)
Ian Norman Bayles was born in Melbourne on 13 August 1918. His father,
Norman, was a prominent solicitor who served as representative
of Toorak in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for fourteen
years, retiring in 1920. Bayles senior was a great traveller
abroad and claimed to have covered 300,000 miles in a decade. His excuse for
his international roving was his son’s education at Winchester College. After a brief return trip to Australia in 1937,
Ian decided to read law at Oxford, planning to eventually practise in
Melbourne. He went up to Oxford in 1938 and, like Richard Hillary, was a member
of Trinity College. Ian joined the Oxford University Air Squadron on 19 October
1938, soon after commencing his studies. He would have a good career with 152
Squadron and a good war. He was awarded a DFC on 12 October 1945.
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