Australians in the Battle of Britain. 1 August 1940.

Pilot Officer Bryan Martin McDonough who was born in Ulverstone, Tasmania on 15 August 1916 is not one of the nine pilots I am writing about but the death of the second Australian in the Battle of Britain on 1 August 1940 cannot go unacknowledged.

Bryan’s family moved to Melbourne, Victoria at some point and he received his early education at a Christian Brother’s college. He applied for a short service commission in the RAF in Australia and sailed for England in March 1939. At the completion of his training he joined 236 Squadron in November 1939. At 12.50 p.m. on 11 July 1940, he gave chase to a Heinkel He 111H that had appeared on the scene, and damaged it. He was  the third Australian to shoot down and enemy aircraft. On 1 August, during an afternoon bomber escort operation to Cherbourg (taking off from 236 Squadron’s base on Thorney Island), Bryan’s Blenheim R 2774 was shot down either by the ground defences of Querqueville aerodrome or by Oberleutnant Dullberg of III/JG 27. Both Bryan and his gunner Sergeant Frederick Arthur Percy Head were reported missing.

Also killed that day, was 236 Squadron’s commanding officer, Squadron Leader Peter Edward Drew and his gunner Flying Officer Benjamin Nokes-Cooper. Flight Lieutenant Richard Maurice Power of Melbourne, who had trained at Point Cook with Des Sheen and Pat Hughes, assumed temporary command of the squadron until the new CO arrived on 4 August. On 30 July, Richard had been in an aircraft accident. While taking off from Carew Cheriton in bad weather, he hit an obstacle on the ground. Neither he nor his gunner was injured but the aircraft was a write off.

Pat Hughes would have had no knowledge of the recent fortunes of his old classmate. On 31 July, he was assigned to night flying duty again. After an abortive take off at 22.55 and landing five minutes later, he took off again at 23.25 and landed at 00.50. Despite his late night/early morning, on 1 August he was off like a shot to Bodmin, about 12 miles away from St Eval to meet Kathleen ‘Kay’ Agnes Broderick. Pat and Kay had met in February 1940 at the Beverley Arms while 234 Squadron was still at Leconfield. She had thought him a bit conceited at first, but soon warmed to him. When the squadron moved south she followed Pat and all they needed was a break in the ops schedule so they could marry. No friends stood up for them at the registry office as they exchanged their marriage vows.

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 31 July 1940

Over at Little Rissington, Ken Holland slept in until 7.00 after the big party the night before, then spent the last morning of July running around trying to get his clearance chit signed. At Biggin Hill, John Crossman thought he had gained a reprieve. He was told he would not have to go to an OTU after all, ‘which is a relief indeed’.

At Acklington, Bill Millington lined up with his squadron to welcome Air Commodore Nicholas and Wing Commander Reas-Jones who were visiting. They officially passed out 79 Squadron operationally and the boys celebrated by carrying out attacks and formation flying. Before they knew it, they would be on readiness. But would they be in action? Des Sheen, now happily installed at Acklington with 72 Squadron, found that life up north had been very quiet while he was away and, over the last weeks especially, when they had not been frustrated by poor weather, his confreres had just been on training flights and routine readiness with the usual sort of non productive convoy patrols. He quickly discovered that his friends were even a little (good-naturedly) envious of his experiences in the south of France.

Down south, 238 Squadron’s 16 Hurricanes proceeded to Middle Wallop’s satellite aerodrome at Warmwell after lunch. At 15.20, Stuart Walch led his section on a base patrol. He was later ordered to Ringwood, then Middle Wallop and thence to Bristol. No enemy aircraft were seen but he did, at one point, spot a condensation trail at 3000 feet.

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 30 July 1940.

At Biggin Hill, John Crossman had been ‘buzzing around a lot lately in the “Maggie” and now that I’m used to it find it a very good kite to fly and quite the acrobat’. He was pleased to note that Queenslander John Pain, ‘one of the original Aussies’ with whom he had sailed to England and trained with, had been posted to 32 Squadron after operational training. But John was not going to get a chance to spend much time with ‘Tiger’ Pain. ‘I learned today that I am to go away for five weeks to an OTU which is a helluva nuisance as I am just nicely settled here now.’ Which was a polite way of saving that his hopes of getting into action any time soon had been dashed.

Over at Little Rissington, Ken Holland was in trouble. He had returned there after his leave with Toby and now, with his flying training completed, he was just waiting to receive his final clearances and posting to an operational training unit. He went rifle shooting, in the morning ‘of which I made a balls’. Then, after a ‘great hunt..after cameras and photos’, he got caught with his album and put under open arrest! Happily, it was later relaxed so he could attend the farewell binge for the instructors. There was a lot of ale flowing and it was all ‘rather good fun.’

While Ken was enjoying his binge, over at Exeter, Dick Glyde was on night flying duty. It would be his last time in the air for almost two weeks: he was going on leave, and he had a very important function to attend on 5 August.

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 29 July 1940.

At Middle Wallop, Stuart Walch sat down to write to his family. He had been busy on convoy patrols and had already notched up a number of successes over the last two weeks, including on 26 July the destruction of a 109 25 miles south of Portland. Not that he knew anything of it, but the 109 was that of 2/JG 27’s Fw Günther Bör who was killed that day. Now, he wanted to tell his family a little of those last few busy days, playing down the danger and commending the men in his flight for their actions, rather than his own: ‘Some of the combats I have been in have been rather wild while they lasted. So far I seem to have been in the show with my section only (not a terrific support against the odds we have met from time to time). Still, my boys are damn good and have proved themselves very reliable supporters, as you can imagine, ‘cause once we (the three of us) met thirty and got a couple. Once my flight (six of us), which I was leading, met eighty, and again when I was on my own I got mixed up with fifteen. You have got to work hard for a few hectic minutes on those occasions.’

Meanwhile, Des Sheen finally received the good news that he could return to 72 Squadron. Over the last few weeks with the newly renamed Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, he had carried out a number of reconnaissance flights over Germany and Holland but was now very happy to return to his old squadron which after a brief stint at Gravesend but was now back at Acklington.  

Cordelia. My Furry BFF (besides David)

Air Commodore James Coward

Vale James Baird Coward, 19 Squadron during the Battle of Britain.

Tich Palliser: They Gave me a Hurricane

Charles 'Tich' Palliser: They Gave me a Hurricane. From Fighting in the Battle of Britain to the Defence of Malta and Sabotage in South Africa

 

I am now well into Tich Palliser's memoir and it is a mighty good read. All who were involved in putting it together should be proud. A real testiment to Tich. His voice is clear, as are his descriptions of aviation-related matters. Simply ...the best description of training I have read. Naturally I was pleased to see references to some of the Australian Battle of Britain pilots but this stands on its own as a good read and excellent WWII aviation memoir. Recommended.

 

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/They-Gave-Me-Hurricane-Charles-Palliser/9780956269683

Welcome to my new blog

Welcome to Australia's Few. My blog about the Australians in the Battle of Britain.

I have been researching the Australian pilots of the Battle of Britain since 2008. The idea first came to me in a busy Crows Nest cafe. I had recently handed in the manuscript for Jack Davenport Beaufighter Leader to my publisher and had been indulging in a little break, a chance to catch up with friends and reading. I had recently finished H.E. Bates’ lyrical and moving account of the Battle of Britain, A Moment in Time, and was full of the romance, tragedy and heroism of sixteen brief weeks in British history. I wondered if there had been any Australians in that long ago conflict and how they’d fared. I discovered there had been and their stories too were full of romance, tragedy and heroism. As the August sun shone on my back, with the glorious blue of a Sydney spring morning above, I decided I would like to tell their story.

Almost four years later, I have narrowed my focus and, instead of telling the story of the ’30 or so’ pilots, I am concentrating on eight Australians who fought: Pat Hughes, Des Sheen, Stuart Walch, Jack Kennedy, Bill Millington, John Crossman, Ken Holland, and Dick Glyde. Peter and Des were the only ones to survive the Battle. Peter died in battle in 1942. Des was the only one to survive the war.