A Very Unusual Air War (30 page)

4 April
: A bit of a leg pull here: Colley Weston and Wittering were one and the same, the latter to the east alongside the A1 main road and the former to the west about three miles away. Seeing the need for an emergency runway the Commanding Officer at Wittering cleared the land between the two airfields, creating an enormous ‘dumbbell' some three and half miles long. It was mainly used by bombers in trouble, particularly the American B17 Flying Fortresses that had been damaged in the daylight raids of 1943–45.

5 April
: At AFDU the operation machines, Spitfires, Mustangs etc. carried out their tasks fully armed and ready for action. I was about to take-off for a normal test flight when an enemy PRU JU86 was detected over the east coast. I was
immediately ordered by control to attempt an interception but, seeing me climbing to intercept, the enemy pilot dived to pick up speed and went home.

9 April
: My first flight in a Hawker Typhoon (known as the ‘Tiffie'). The Typhoon was the successor to the Hurricane but was a very different aircraft. It was much larger and heavier, powered by a Napier Sabre liquid-cooled engine of over 2,000 HP. At lower levels it was faster than most of its contemporaries but not ideal for close dog-fighting. Heavily armed with four 20mm cannons and later one of the first to carry RPs (Rocket Projectiles), it was able to take considerable punishment and came into its own as a tank buster.

12 April
: On this flight I acted as observer taking down the instrument readings, leaving F/O Corser free to do the flying but, as stated earlier, I still regret that I did not fly a Mossie as first pilot.

13 April
: I got a treat for my 23rd birthday, to fly a new type, the little Phoenix four-seat high-wing passenger plane.

As can be seen, for a few weeks we had frequent trips to Duxford to collect aircraft and maintenance personnel who were not able to move with the main group. We were sorry to lose the Americans, we enjoyed some of their mess treats and made many friends. Estelle and I had made one good friend in particular. One of the Squadron IOs (Intelligence Officers) was Captain Fergie Prince. He was a frequent visitor to College Farm, usually with a box of goodies for Estelle. In the main we got on well with those chaps, except on one or two occasions.

The Red Lion hotel at Whittlesford was a favourite watering hole but it took some time for the ‘Yanks' to get used to our licensing laws. One dark night in the late winter, the landlord called last orders at the usual time. One of the American pilots, a little chap, all of 5 foot nothing, was loath to drink up and had to be persuaded by his friends to leave. Out in the car park he showed his displeasure by drawing his revolver and firing several shots into the hotel wall. The civilian police were informed but failed to arrive before the Americans had returned to camp. The following morning a strong complaint was made by the police who demanded the name of the guilty officer. The American C/O called for the guilty party to own up and when he failed to do so all American flying personnel were confined to camp until further notice. Somewhat upset, some of his ‘friends' took the law into their own hands; that evening they caught him in the mess ante-room and stripped him naked. Before they could take further action, the youngster, enraged, stepped back, tripped on the large open fireplace and sat backwards on to the fire that burned therein. He suffered burns to his nether regions and spent some weeks in hospital. We never saw him again, so I assume he was posted back home in disgrace.

There was also some trouble over gambling in the mess, caused by some RAF officers being foolish enough to get involved in high stakes poker. The American boys could, in the main, afford their losses but the Brits could not. The British C/O wisely put all gambling in the mess out of bounds to RAF personnel.

17 April
: As these tests were done at medium altitude, I assume that 860 was an LF (Low Flying) version of the Mk IX, when the two-stage supercharger would have cut in at 12 and 18,000 feet.

18 April
: Another crack at a PRU JU86. These Luftwaffe machines had specially tuned engines for high-altitude flight. I saw it far away to the south, but it was the boys from North Weald who shot it down. I like to think he was watching me and failed to see them climbing up to the south into the sun.

20 April
: As early as this, the Germans were expecting a repeat of the Dieppe raid and possibly a full-scale invasion attempt. Their PRU aircraft came over most days, flying at heights above 35,000 feet but they usually turned for home as soon as they saw RAF fighters climbing up to intercept. They would go into a shallow dive to pick up speed and were most difficult to catch. So this was another one that got away despite my battle climb at full throttle. As AFDU included the latest version of Spitfires and Mustangs, in the hope of one day achieving success, the unit maintained at all times a flight of two Spitfire Mk IXs, a Mustang X and later, a Spitfire Mk XIV. The latter aircraft, with its superb climbing speed, had a real chance of catching one of the JU88s.

24 April
: The Spitfire Vc had a slightly different wing, to take two 20mm cannons on each side. The installation was never really successful and was not liked by the pilots. Despite this, many Spitfires came out of the factories with the ‘C' wing but the extra cannons were not fitted and the stub apertures were blanked off.

28 April
: F/Lt Simms (Simmie) was the Unit Adjutant and joined AFDU when it was first formed, as a civilian Civil Service clerk. He was commissioned into the service and remained as the adjutant until soon after the war ended, when he returned to the Civil Service. We became great friends and remained in contact for many years. Our final meeting took place when I paid a visit to the RAF Maintenance Unit at Hartlebury, where he was stationed. Shortly after, he was posted elsewhere and sadly we lost contact.

TOTAL FOR MONTH: 27 hours 45 minutes

Signed
J.H. Hallowes
Squadron Leader

O/C Flying AFDU