Australia's Few. 7 August 1940: Gordon Olive

At Hornchurch, Gordon Olive, Jack Kennedy’s old flight commander and fellow cadet of Des Sheen and Pat Hughes, was in a spot of bother. He was leading 65 Squadron on an operation but, within minutes of take-off, his oxygen regulator caught fire. He had to bale, but did not have enough height. As the cockpit filled with smoke, he went into a vertical climb until he had reached an optimum bale-out height. He jumped but the parachute failed to open. He saw that the small pilot chute had caught in his flying boots. As he plummeted he managed to untangle it and force the main canopy out. The jerk as it opened rendered him unconscious. He came too and realised he was floating towards high tension cables and was in rifle sight of two home guards. As he tried to avoid the cables the canopy split, the keen home guarders fired and the potato field below appeared to be rushing to greet him. Happily, the canopy held out, the home guard were bad shots and the soil was soft. Safely back at Hornchurch, something suddenly hit him: he had not aired and repacked the chute since Dunkirk. It had been sitting in his cockpit, forgotten. No wonder it had failed. A cautionary tale. Interestingly, when the squadron diarist wrote up the day’s events, he noted that there was nothing of importance to report!

 

 

Hornchurch 1939, pilots of 65 Squadron. L-R: unknown, Gordon Olive, Norman Jones (shading eyes) George Proudham, Sam 'Fishy' Saunders, Jack Kennedy, Johnnie Welford and 'Chad' Giddings.

Australia's Few. 6 August 1940

At Aston Down, Ken Holland was very excited on 6 August 1940. Things were looking up in his training program. ‘SPITFIRES!! Rushed to flights and was sent off on a Spitfire and did two hours this day getting the feel thereof.’ After two hours of acrobatics and dog fighting practice on the 7th, he was allocated a Harvard for a session of blind flying on the 8th, during which he ‘was lousy as usual’. Formation flying was on the agenda the next day but things didn’t go as planned as his companion managed to get them lost. He landed to work out how to get home again while Ken circled above. Ken was enjoying his training but he did not like night flying in fact, it was ‘always something to avoid’. Even so, he was able to put up with it because ‘I like these Spitfires’.

 

 

Another review of Australian Eagles. The Sunday Tasmanian, 4 August 2013

The latest review of Australian Eagles appeared in the Sunday Tasmanian, 4 August 2013. Another good one: 'it is an important book ... comes fully recommended' by Tasmanian historian Reg A. Watson. They used my favourite photo too!

 

 

I first met the author, Kristen Alexander, at the unveiling of a plaque at Hutchins School to commemorate an old school boy, Stuart Crosby Walch.  Stuart was the only Tasmanian to be killed in the Battle of Britain.  With the annual ceremonies looming for that historic event mid September, the release of Australian Eagles is timely.

Kristen has listed and written on six Australians, they being Jack Kennedy, Dick Glyde DFC, John Crossman, Desmond Sheen DFC and Bar, James Coward and our own Stuart Walch.  The author is the Australian representative for the Battle of Britain Historical Society. The Battle was fought over the skies of England in the summer and autumn of 1940. Those pilots who participated were called by Winston Churchill “The Few”. Out of the 2940 who fought, 36 were Australians. Of Fighter Command, 544 airmen were killed, among them were thirteen Australians.

The Chapter on Stuart Crosby Walch is number two of six. Walch was born 16^th February 1917 in Hobart. He was of the prominent business family of the city. Outstanding at sport he was a well known figure around town in the mid 1930s and joined the RAAF early in 1936 and sailed to England to further his flying career. He was there when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain advised that “this country (England) is at war with Germany”. Stuart would never see Tasmania again.  Later he was posted to 238 Squadron based at Tangmeere as Flight Commander. It was in July 1940 that Stuart saw his first action. Flying a Hurricane fighter he began to get credited with kills (downing of enemy craft).  Within three months of joining 238, the 23 year old, became known as being the “father” of his squadron and took on the most dangerous jobs himself.  On the 11 August 1940 with Stuart leading the squadron, he encountered an enemy force of more than 150 aircraft.  It was his 55^th sortie. Undaunted by the overwhelming numbers they met the onslaught, but he and his section leader plummeted into the waters five or so miles south of Swanage.  He had accounted for two destroyed enemy aircraft, two shared destroyed, one unconfirmed shared destroyed and one damaged.  The lost of the young Tasmanian, naturally, was devastating for his family.

Like all airmen his name is recorded on the Air Force memorial at Runnymede (England).  He is also remembered on The Hutchins School’s Second World War Roll in the Chapel of St Thomas.  On 21^st September 2011 Hutchins was presented with a Battle of Britain Historical Society School Plaque to honour Stuart.  This was the first and to date, the only School Plaque presented in Australia.  Stuart’s status is being the only Tasmanian on the Battle of Britain Honour Roll in Westminster Abbey (London).

Kristen has produced a wonderful read.  It is an important book in that those six who served and died are now to be remembered more fully.  Tasmanians will be proud to know that one of our own paid the supreme sacrifice over the skies of Great Britain. Her research is good and her style is easily read.  Comes fully recommended.

Australia's Few. 5 August 1940

5 August was a red letter day for Dick Glyde. He had been on leave for a few days but on the 5th he, along with 87 Squadron’s CO Squadron Leader Dewar and fellow pilots Flight Lieutenant Jeff and Pilot Officer David, attended an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Dick was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation, which related to his service during the Battle of France, stated that he ‘showed great dash and offensive spirit and himself accounted for four enemy aircraft’. He was the first in his old school to receive the DFC and his home town papers trumpeted the news that ‘Perth Man Gets Flying Cross’ and ‘Verve in the Air. West Australian Awarded DFC’.

 

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/46719654?searchTerm=verve in the air&searchLimits=

 

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/79439410?searchTerm=perth man gets flying cross&searchLimits=

 

 

Australia's Few. 4 August 1940

4 August 1940. Pat Hughes had had little time to spend with his new bride. Almost as soon as they exchanged vows, he was temporarily assigned to 247 Squadron which had recently formed at Roborough, about 40 miles from St Eval. 247 had been declared operational on Pat’s wedding day and was allowed a fortnight in which to settle down and become familiar with its sector. Pat had been seconded there help set up the squadron.

 

 

Australia's Few. 3 August 1940

After hearing the less than delightful news that he was being sent to 6 OTU Sutton Bridge, John Crossman sold his Austin, bought a second hand Ford and was off first thing in the morning of 3 August. He almost didn’t make it to Sutton Bridge, however. He was going down a hill at about 65 miles per hour when he heard a ‘helluva clatter’. The Ford had been running without oil for some time and was now paying the consequences. He crawled along at 20 miles per hour and took hours to get to his new station. He wasn’t impressed with his new quarters. ‘We live in wooden buildings and have no hot and cold in our rooms which is most annoying’. In his opinion, Sutton Bridge was an ‘awful hole’ and to make things worse, the food was bad. But at least he could get stuck into Hurricane training and, when he stopped whining about the food, he spent 50 minutes in the air in Hurricane P3528.

 

Not P3528 but a model of John's Hurricane on 46 Squadron.

Australia's Few. 2 August 1940

On 1 August, Hitler issued Directive 17 which stated his intention to ‘intensify air and sea warfare against the English homeland’. Reichsmarschall Hermann Georing started implementing it on 2 August. Dubbed Adlerangriff—Attack of the Eagle—Goering intended to throw all his resources at the RAF. He would bomb their bases, lure their aircraft into battle, and attack radar installations. All he needed was time to lay his final plans and three days of good weather. Adlertag—Eagle Day—was originally set for 10 August, but then deferred to 13 August. In the interim, the Luftwaffe would continue its relentless air war in the Channel, though it did not seem like it to some of the Australian pilots.

 

John Crossman’s reprieve from operational training did not last long. On 2 August he discovered that there was no getting out of it. ‘I will have to go to No 6 OTU at Sutton Bridge for five weeks and when I get back will be operational. It’s a helluva nuisance but orders is orders and I guess I have to go.’ He sold his old car, bought a new one and started packing. He was off first thing in the morning.

 

At Acklington, Bill Millington was still on readiness, waiting for the phone to ring, drinking cups of tea, chatting with his friends and writing letters home. There was little action to be had. As Neddy Nelson-Edwards put it, ‘sadly the Luftwaffe ignored our Sector, except for an occasional lone intruder to break the monotony’.

 

Down at Warmwell, Stuart Walch’s Blue Section relieved Red Section on an uneventful early morning convoy patrol.