Mosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-engine Wooden Wonder of World War II (27 page)

Flying Officer F.M. ‘Bud’ Fisher DFC, an American pilot from Pennsylvania, in front of his Mosquito DK337 GB-N
UNCLE SAM
. On 22/23 September 1943 Fisher and his navigator, Flight Sergeant Les Hogan DFM were one of twelve Oboe Mosquitoes that visited Emden as a diversion for the Main Force attacking Hanover. They crashed while flying Mk.IX LR506/E one mile north-west of RAF West Raynham and both men were killed. (
RAF Marham
)

Flying Officer Ralph Gamble Hayes DFM (left), navigator and (right) his pilot, Flight Lieutenant John ‘Flash’ Gordon DFC of 105 Squadron who were killed on the night of 5/6 November 1943 over Norfolk. They tried to land at Hardwick, an American B-24 Liberator base used by the 93rd Bomb Group, when at 21:10 hours, they crashed into a field at Road Green Farm, Hempnall, about 10 miles south of Norwich. (
RAF Marham
)

B.IVs of 105 Squadron taxi out at Marham. Left is DZ367 GB-J.

B.IV
POPEYE
veteran of 105 Squadron at RAF Marham.

139 Squadron at Marham. Wing Commander Peter Shand DSO DFC in white jacket stands before XD-G DZ421, which flew with the squadron from 31 December 1942 until it passed to 627 Squadron on 21 April 1944. It crashed at Wistow in Yorkshire on 25 July 1944 when it was being operated by 1655 MTU. Shand and his navigator Pilot Officer Christopher Handley DFM were shot down and killed over the Ijsselmeer on the night of 20/21 April 1943 by Oberleutnant Lothar Linke, Staffelkapitän 12./NJG1. DZ373 XD-B, next in the line, was hit by flak and caught fire before it crashed on the runway of Woensdrecht airfield and Sergeant Robert Pace and Pilot Officer George Cook were killed. Next in line are XD-T DZ423 and XDK DZ428.

B.IV DZ476 XD-S for Scottie (note the dog and the black spinners) of 139 Squadron normally flown by Flying Officer G.S.W. Rennie RCAF and Pilot Officer W. Embry RCAF. The Canadian pairing flew DZ476 as one of the ’shallow diver' crews on raids to the railway engine sheds at Aulnoye on 4 March 1943 (a flak burst during this trip hit the fuselage and severed the rudder control cables), to the John Cockerill Steel and Armament Works at Liège on 12 March and to the engine sheds at Paderborn four days later. In April 1943 Rennie and Embry were one of eleven crews posted from Marham to Skitten to form ‘A’ Flight within the newly created 618 Squadron. They finished their tour and returned to Canada on 8 August 1944. DZ476 remained with 139 Squadron until on 1 April 1944 this Mosquito swung in a crosswind and suffered undercarriage collapse at Upwood.

Wing Commander Hughie Idwal Edwards VC DFC, an Australian of Welsh ancestry was 26 years old when he took command of 105 Squadron in August 1942. He was only the second Australian to receive the VC (the first had been awarded to Lieutenant F.H. McNamara of the RFC in WW1) for his leadership on 4 July 1941 when he led 9 Blenheims on the operation to Bremen. On 10 February 1943 Edwards was promoted Group Captain and he became station commander of Binbrook. By 1944 he had taken up an appointment in ACSEA, and held the rank of Senior Air Staff Officer until the end of 1945. Edwards was awarded the CBE in 1947 and in 1958 he was promoted to Air Commodore before retiring from the RAF in 1963. He returned to Australia, was knighted, and in 1974 became Governor of West Australia. (
RAAF
)

On 4 September 1944 Flight Lieutenant Ken W. Watson RAAF (right) and Flying Officer Ken Pickup RAFVR of 540 Squadron were flying PR.IX LR429 when they were attacked over Nurnberg at 29,000 feet by Me 262s. For 15 minutes they evaded them before escaping at 1500 feet but not before hitting the tip of a Bavarian pine tree which shattered the nose perspex and filled the cockpit with pine needles, making it very cold, uncomfortable and draughty. The crew flew on through the Brenner Pass to San Severo, Italy, where they safely recovered. After repairs LR429 was written off the next day in a crash-landing after the crew tried to return to Benson. Both men were unhurt and they completed their tours. On 3 June 1954 following a test flight to Cuxhaven Watson was killed landing an RAF Canberra when a Night Photo Flash bomb exploded in the bomb bay. (
Pickup Coll
)

On 11 September 38 Lancasters of 9 and 617 Squadrons, accompanied by a PR XVI Mosquito to provide up-todate target information and weather report, flew to their forward base at Yagodnikonanislandinthe Dvina River near Archangel, in northern Russia to attack the
Tirpitz
.On15 September the attack, by 28 Lancasters, 20 of which were carrying Tallboys and 6 or 7 others, twelve 500lb ’Johnny Walker' oscillating mines, went ahead and considerable damage was caused to the battleship. Subsequent PR revealed that although badly damaged, the
Tirpitz
was still afloat.

On 17 October a detachment of four PR Mosquitoes of 540 Squadron was dispatched to Dyce to keep watch on
Tirpitz
. Information from the Norwegian resistance stared that the ship had left Kaa Fjord on its way south for Tromsø Fjord, where it was to be used as a heavy artillery battery. On 29 October 37 Lancasters (18 Lancasters each from 9 and 617 Squadrons plus the photographic aircraft from 463 Squadron) attacked the
Tirpitz
in Tromsö Fjord. Though no direct hits were scored a Tallboy near-miss by the stern caused considerable damage, distorting the propeller shaft and rudder, which flooded the bilges over a 100 foot length of the ship’s port side. The damage meant that the
Tirpitz
was no longer able to steam under her own power.