JET LAG! (23 page)

              Todd’s cheeks burned with embarrassment at the rebuke – so he tried to recover the situation.

              ‘I’d like you to remain behind for a few minutes to talk to our Met Man, Jim Charles. He has got something of interest to impart. I’ve asked Sir Peter to attend the meeting in my office. They should be waiting now – shall we go?’

              ‘I hope that this is not going to waste my time, Todd – I'm due back in London for 1400.’

              Todd sighed inaudibly and led his father to his office, where Sir Peter Andrews was chatting amiably to Jim Charles. All four men took a seat and Todd kicked off the discussion.

              ‘Jim, tell them what you told me last week.’

              The Met Man-come-historical-expert related his story to an increasingly interested audience and finished with the anomalies concerning the Me 262.

              There was a brief silence broken by the AVM.

              ‘Are you sure about this Charles?’

              ‘Absolutely sir. I’ve also obtained some reading from around the station and historical events leading up to this point in 1940 do not exactly match our own.’

              ‘For example, man?’ barked Sir Peter.

              ‘For example – what were the dates of the war Britain was involved in around 1914?

              Sir Peter did not hesitate.

              ‘As everyone knows, we declared war on the Kaiser in 1914, but it only lasted about fifteen months as he married one of King Edward’s daughters. The war stopped almost immediately – in 1915.’

              The other three men looked at each other with consternation.

              They indeed had another problem.

***

              The meeting ended and Jim Charles was ordered to keep his new knowledge absolutely confidential.

              The AVM and Sir Peter rose, turned and left the room. As they left, the AVM spoke quietly to Todd.

              ‘Wing Commander, I don’t need to explain the sensitivity or the potential issues raised by this man’s revelations. Keep this to yourself until we speak again. I will say no more at this point. I need to leave for Downing Street.’

For the first time since the arrival in 1940, Todd started to really understand the enormity of the task ahead. The future of the Western World depended on winning this battle. The history books proved that.

              Well, at least it appeared that
some
did!

If the Germans won this fight there was nothing to stop them from crossing the Channel and marching up Pall Mall. This wasn’t just an exercise – it was as tangible as it could get – and it was up to Todd and his team 1992 to make the vital impact which would change the course of the battle.

Whichever version that might be.

36

The Battle Begins in Earnest

25 July 1940

              The dogfighting over the Channel between the opposing forces had continued unabated – even though the weather continued to be unseasonably bad. Spitfires and Hurricanes would be launched to meet enemy Ju-88s and the Bf109s defending them.  Increasingly, the RAF was also starting to have greater success – so much so that the Germans were forced to launch float-planes into the Channel to rescue downed aircrew. It was a sign of increasing desperation that the Air Ministry issued an order that these aircraft should be shot down if found in areas of operation. Two had indeed been brought down in recent days – and the entire subject posed a question of morality which taxed many RAF pilots.

              On Sunday the twenty-eighth of July the weather improved dramatically and set the stage for some prolonged engagements. This was also the day when Todd had decided to risk some of his aircraft in daylight launches. The RAF were always outnumbered during these early raids, and many pilots claimed that if the German squadrons could be split up and scattered, the Spitfires and Hurricanes could easily match and defeat their German opposition.

              Therefore Todd consulted with his remaining two ADV  Tornados, and decided that they would set up a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the English Channel east of Lowestoft, and use their radar to search for and identify large formations of German attackers. They could also listen in to British radio transmissions to pick up information from the new early warning RADAR stations. The plan was, that when they found their German targets the Tornados would pass the ‘scramble’ message to the RAF Air Defence controller who would then launch his forces just in time to catch the Germans in disarray. The Tornados would attack the fighter force from a distance and from behind, making one devastating guns pass before zooming back to high level – and any cloud cover they could find – which was precious little unfortunately.

The idea was to confuse, scatter and frighten the enemy into breaking formation. Force 92 Tornados didn’t have enough missiles to shoot enough Germans down to make a difference. They needed to preserve their weaponry for more complex missions. If the RAF ground controller did his job properly, the British aircraft would arrive just in time to mop up the disoriented and disorganized Luftwaffe aircraft.

              There was some concern about casual spectators on the ground ‘identifying’ the Tornados. However, it was argued that the vast majority of civilians had little clue about aircraft types, and that one small dot far up in the sky was much like another to the untrained eye!

However, the Royal Observer Corps was a completely different matter. These people were well trained, enthusiastic and would identify the 1992 aircraft as ‘not known’ and therefore by default, the enemy. This would cause confusion, so an order was issued to fighter controllers to ‘ignore’ the ROC if they spotted an unidentifiable fast moving craft. It was a risk – as the aircraft sighted might well be an Me 262 – and this order would have implications for Purple Force in the future.

              ‘Seems simple,’ thought Todd. And so it was – for a few days. If the Tornados could distract the Germans for a few vital moments, the young and inexperienced RAF pilots could get in amongst them and thwart their plans.

              Consequently, on this summer afternoon, two Tornado ADV crews found themselves on CAP high above the English Channel. They estimated that they could remain on patrol for over two hours before having to return to base. The first days play went exceedingly well. At about 2pm, on their second patrol of the day, Squadron Leader John Hortin and his navigator, Flt Lt Jon Holliday were leading the other ADV, which was piloted by Captain ‘PJ’ Proby with Squadron Leader Rick Hill in the back. They didn’t have long to wait. Rick Hill spotted a force of forty plus aircraft on his radar. They were well below and heading for Dover. Rick passed the information on a discrete radio channel to his colleague, and in turn John Hortin passed the details to the fighter controller on the ground. The operator sitting by his Radar set did the mental arithmetic in order to calculate when to attack, in order that the Tornados would scatter the Germans about thirty seconds before the scrambled Spitfires reached and engaged the bewildered enemy, and thus passed the exact TOT (Time on Target) to the ADV crews.

              The Tornados continued to monitor the enemy aircraft from high above – just tiny specks to the Germans below if they had bothered to look up – and waited for the TOT to arrive. At precisely the correct moment, both aircraft armed their guns and rolled in towards the enemy fighters. They approached from a very steep angle and from about thirty degrees off the tail  - at high speed – around five hundred knots. The German formation continued towards Dover, just below a wispy blanket of cloud – not imagining that the enemy could ever approach from behind. They were scanning ahead and above for the RAF fighters coming from English airfields. They certainly weren’t expecting what they got.

              The effect was shattering. Both Tornados opened fire simultaneously – running right across the bomber formation. The Germans didn’t know what hit them. The powerful large calibre explosive rounds tore into the aircraft with no warning. Seven of the Bf109s just exploded. Five others suffered fatal damage and careered hopelessly towards the sea below. A further eight took multiple hits and would return immediately to base. Twelve were involved in mid-air collisions. The rest just scattered – totally confused and terrified.

              Both Tornado pilots made the standard post-attack call:

              ‘Fox-One!’  - a coded confirmation of a guns kill.

              The German crews didn’t even see the Tornados, which pulled up  - now above cloud - and climbed steeply to thirty-thousand feet and immediately recovered to Middle Fleckney to refuel. It was at this point that the RAF Spitfire and Hurricane pilots arrived on the scene. They couldn’t believe their eyes. German aircraft scattered all over the sky, some plummeting towards the sea – pilots in parachutes – complete mayhem. It didn’t take long for the RAF boys to mop up the shambles dropped in their laps by the Tornados. Eight more German aircraft were shot down by the RAF fighters whilst the remainder just ran for home.

              It was the most successful day of the conflict so far. And the beauty of the situation was that no-one on either side could work out what had happened.  The 1940s RAF pilots were as bemused as their German counterparts, and as a result many false and highly exaggerated kill claims were made at RAF debriefs. The Germans were perplexed. Thirty or more aircraft missing – presumed destroyed - without explanation was of great concern to the High Command, and Goering was personally involved in the investigation. This was a catastrophic day for the Luftwaffe and Goering determined that his Air Force would suffer no more of these humiliations.

It was time to use the ‘Blaue-Tod’ for all-out attack.

***

Herr Professor Willy Messerschmitt had been a busy man.

Since he had been granted the licence to develop the Me 262 in the mid-thirties, his entire life had been taken over by this ‘Projekt’.

He had been transferred to Kretinga in Lithuania in 1937 and was eventually given as much technical support as he required. Labour was not an issue – the Nazis had an endless supply of that – and engineers were recruited from all over the Reich and it's enslaved neighbours.

Every now and then Hitler would take his eye off the ball, and distractions like invading the Sudetenland would occupy his mind to the detriment of the new jet development. But he kept returning to it, nudged by Goering, Milch and Galland who had a vested interest in bringing the Me 262 into service as quickly as possible.

After the success of Adolf Galland’s flight in an early prototype and when Hitler himself witnessed the test at Kretinga, resources were stepped up markedly. Hundreds of engineers and labourers were shipped in and the engine manufacturers – BMW and Jumo (Junkers) – were pressed to deliver the product that Messerschmitt insisted upon. In fact conventional aircraft production suffered markedly as a result.

Nevertheless, by 1939, four variants of the Me 262 were under development – the ‘Interceptor’, the ‘Fighter-Bomber’, the ‘Reconnaissance’ and most importantly – the ‘Night-Fighter.’

There were rapid improvements in radar, engine-power, flying range, operating altitude, weaponry and handling skills – even superior and experienced pilots had to go through nine stages of flight training to enable them to master the complex operating and handling skills.

However, one problem could not be fully reconciled – until mid-1940. There were problems with producing the alloys for jet-engine construction due to the high temperatures involved. Luckily, a Czech engineer collaborating on the project made a significant breakthrough, and as a result many more improved engines were beginning to come off the production lines in Germany.

The initial batch of thirty Me 262s were built and delivered – ten Interceptors, ten Fighter-Bombers, five Night-Fighters and five Recce-jets. Many more were under construction by late July 1940  - and would soon be needed, as losses were beginning to mount.

Nevertheless, the Herr Professor was extremely pleased with his work – as were Hitler and Goering.