Mosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-engine Wooden Wonder of World War II (42 page)

Three days after the crash John Pruis and Claude Moore took off again, this time on a Gray-Pea mission with three other Mosquitoes to escort a long, maximum-effort mission by B-17s of the 1st Air Division to Oberpfaffenhofen, a suburb 20 miles north of Munich in south-eastern Germany. The reconnaissance flight rendezvoused with the bomber formation prior to the IP, 28 miles from the target. At the IP they climbed 2,000ft above the bombers and began to dispense chaff. Cameras were activated as the Mosquitoes massed over the target area to obtain photo coverage before the bombing began. After passing over the target, the Mosquitoes orbited and followed behind the bombers to obtain pictures of damage to the target area. After the damage assessment circuit over the target Pruis still had unused film. They obeyed a duty-conscious impulse and flew over the target once again, taking more pictures of the damage. Their concern for good pictures distanced them far behind the other three Mosquitoes. They set their course on a 314° heading to catch and to make eventual contact with the Mosquitoes and return to base.

This was Pruis’ third Mosquito mission with the 25th Bomb Group. He had completed a tour in B-24 bombers. As pilot he was concerned with fuel consumption and, considering the distance of the mission, he had good reason. Though fuel consumption would be close, all concerns for engine and aircraft performance were minor. Flying at 20,000ft they could see three aircraft in the distance on a course toward England and presumed these to be their companion Mosquitoes. As they approached closer, however, they decided that the aircraft were P-51s but they were without American markings. The P-51s banked to the left and Pruis and Moore dismissed them from their thoughts. Some minutes later Moore was noting observations on his navigational chart or log when there was an explosion. With two engines running, an indication of an explosion was not so much a noise as a jolt. Not until Pruis slumped over the wheel did Moore become fully aware of the circumstances. He attempted to help Pruis but was unable to move him. The Mosquito began a right-hand spin with the right engine in flames. With the right-hand spin the flames from the right or starboard engine blazed across both the canopy and the bottom escape hatches. Black smoke poured from the right side of the nose between the cockpit and the nacelle. Still, Moore did not know what had happened. He had not seen any enemy aircraft from the back of their Mosquito.

Moore never wore a parachute on his missions. A seat pack placed him too high in relation with the canopy and the work table. A chest pack pushed him too far from the plotting table and was burdensome to work with. He stored his parachute pack on a small shelf behind the pilot. The centrifugal force from the spinning aircraft was formidable. Moore experienced a difficult time reaching for his chute behind the pilot. It took the strength of both arms to grasp the pack and pull it toward him. He then attempted to connect it to his harness but, due to the centrifugal forces, he managed to connect only one side. He had more trouble than he thought he should and later, in the hospital, he learned the reason for his awkwardness. He had shrapnel wounds in his left arm from aircraft cannon shells.

An exit from the bottom hatch would be normal but Moore was afraid the flames would rise into the cockpit. He wasn’t able to help Pruis but, if Pruis should regain consciousness and was able to do something for himself Moore did not want the flames coming into the cockpit. Thus, he released the canopy escape hatch and it flew off. Leaving the craft from the canopy escape-hatch was, of course, a high-risk endeavour. The probabilities of being struck by the vertical stabilizer were disturbing. Moore struggled through the hatch but he became entangled with the oxygen and communication cables inside the aircraft. He became stuck half in and half out of the top opening. He had been working without his helmet and wore no gloves. Flames lashed his upper body, seared his face and scalp and burned flesh from his hands and wrists. Fortunately he still wore his Rayban sunglasses as tongues of flame from the right engine lapped at him. Blood covered his left arm and the earth below swirled closer. He pulled himself back into the cockpit to remove the tangled cable obstructions that prevented his escape. Now, back in the cockpit the obstacles restraining his efforts alarmed Moore. It was enough to unnerve the less contrary.

Moore was weaker from the burns and wounds than in his first attempt to exit. The pain was driving through the tension to his senses. The centrifugal forces of the spinning aircraft became more intense by the second. There was no sensation of up or down, just the vision of an earth spinning closer on a collision course. He felt his first and only taste of discouragement. Perhaps Pruis was fortunate in finding peace in the sky. Pacific submission was out of character for Moore, however and his hesitancy was replaced with defiance. Pruis was dead or unconscious but Moore’s limbs still responded to his will. A reaction of rage against the obstacles thrust all thought of his frailties from his mind. With a profane utterance he made his utmost and final effort to climb through the hatch. As he pulled out he glanced at the altimeter. It read 1,000ft. He later interpolated that he left the aircraft at 800ft. He was not fully conscious when he pulled the ripcord. Moore was jolted heavily to consciousness by the opening of the parachute. He was swinging violently in circles as he descended, probably due to the right chest hook being unfastened. He attempted to pull the risers to get the chute buckle fastened but with the burns and injuries to his arms and hands he failed. It was then that he noticed the bleeding from his left upper arm and forearm.

As Moore descended fighter planes circled him. They were P-51s with the roundel markings of the Free French Air Force. These Mustangs circled only minutes then left the vicinity. Moore had not seen the aircraft that had fired at their Mosquito but he knew that the shells entered the fuselage diagonally from the left rear side. He knew that Pruis and the starboard engine had received the brunt of their effects. He also remembered that three P-51s, flying ahead of them, had banked to their left and had flown past them to their rear. Moore turned his attention to the ground where he could see the impacted Mosquito. The fire was confined to the right engine and had not spread to the rest of the aircraft. Its nose and the forward part of the fuselage were intact. At that moment a gust of wind swept his Rayban glasses from his eyes. He was fortunate that they had shielded his eyes from the flames as he exited the escape hatch. Below him Moore saw evergreen trees with tall spindling trunks and an abundance of weak, flimsy limbs. He attempted to guide the parachute to smaller fruit trees nearby but failed in the short drop. The parachute caught in the top of a tall green tree, leaving him hanging by the risers 50 to 75ft above the ground.

There were several armed German soldiers near the base of the tree where he was hanging. They seemed to be contemplating his plight but did not seem concerned. He passed out soon after hitting the trees and when consciousness returned the German soldiers were gone. Moore unfastened the harness of his chute but with difficulty. His hands were burned raw; his arm was bleeding and his face felt like it was on fire. His first-aid pack, attached to the parachute harness, had been torn off as he ploughed through the branches. He attempted to climb down the pine tree but the limbs would not support his weight. Suddenly the branches were snapping and he was falling. He fell straight down in an upright position. Moore attempted to stand but the pain was intense. His back, left ankle, knee and foot were injured. He thought of using a limb for a cane to get to help. Physically, it was hopeless. Moore looked at his wristwatch and, except for the rim around the dial, the face was burned. It said 17.45 hours. The forest was beginning to darken. He needed medical attention. He could hardly see. He decided that he had to take his chances. Moore always carried a whistle attached to the zipper-pull of his pocket. This was an RAF custom that he had appropriated. He blew the whistle and heard the rustle of twigs and brush. He blew again and a soldier appeared holding his rifle at the ready across his body. Luckily they were soldiers of the 103rd Infantry Division. They took off their shirts and jackets, gathered two large tree branches and made a stretcher to carry Moore down a hill to two jeeps. They placed him diagonally on the flat platform of one of the jeeps and held him closely to prevent jostling on the bumpy ride. He was carried to a first-aid station located in a commandeered German home.

Moore remained in hospitals for the better part of two years. For several months after his arrival at the hospital in Reims the doctors concentrated on his broken back, a ruptured cartilage in his knee, an injured ankle and the shrapnel wounds in his arm. He was then transferred to two burn centres in England where his hand, face and scalp received skin grafts and other attention. Later, he was transferred to the States where he received attention at two more hospitals. When married, years after the mission, he was still wearing a body cast. Pruis is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, France.

On 12 April President Roosevelt passed away in Warm Springs, Georgia. His son was relieved of his command and a recommendation for a Presidential Citation for the 25th Bomb Group was discarded. Requests for awards for the 325th Photographic Wing, signed by Elliott Roosevelt, were returned, stamped ‘Denied’. After 3 May 1945 Redstocking missions became an all-492nd Bomb Group operation. Animosity between Upham’s bomb group and OSS reached a peak and negotiations at the highest level were held in London to resolve the matter. The outcome was that the 492nd Bomb Group extended its B-24 operations to include central Germany and beyond. And, as Lyon had proved unsuitable for Carpetbagger operations, new bases were established at Bron Field, Dijon in France and at Namur, Belgium. The OSS was anxious to despatch their growing number of anti-Nazi agents to Germany. Carpetbaggers flew eleven Redstocking missions (and twelve communications missions from England, only, two of which were successful). Between 19 March and 28/29 April 1945, thirty-one successful Joan-Eleanor missions and forty-seven unsuccessful Redstocking sorties were flown.

The 25th Bomb Group expected to be sent to the Pacific, but soon orders arrived to return their Mosquitoes to the RAF Lieutenant Warren Borges wrote: ‘We came home…after flying our beloved Mosquitoes into a field (‘Boondocks’…the grass was two feet high!) in Scotland; what a sad day!’

Quietly, without ceremony or flag-waving, the Americans’ involvement with the Mosquito was over.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Reich Intruders

F
rom 1943 to 1945 Mosquito FB.VI (and later NF.XII and NF.XIII squadrons) in 2nd Tactical Air Force intruded over the Reich, bombing and strafing German lines of communication and
Luftwaffe
airfields. In 2nd TAF the FB.VI is probably best remembered for daylight precision operations, particularly pinpoint raids on Gestapo buildings in occupied Europe. No.2 Group had been transferred to 2nd TAF on 1 June 1943. Air Vice Marshal Basil Embry replaced Air Vice Marshal d’Albiac at HQ, Bylaugh Hall with the task of preparing 2 Group for invasion support in the run-up to Operation Overlord: the invasion of France. Embry was an excellent choice for the newfound role. He successfully fought off an attempt to re-equip 2 Group with Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers and saw to it that his Lockheed Ventura-equipped squadrons were re-equipped with the Mosquito FB.VI, which was armed with four cannon for night Intruder operations. Re-equipment began in August 1943 with 140 Wing at Sculthorpe, when 464 (RAAF) and 487 (RNZAF) Squadrons exchanged their obsolete Lockheed machines. No.21 Squadron closely followed them in September, all three squadrons moving to Hunsdon in December 1943. On 15 October 138 Wing at Lasham began operating FB.VIs when 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron joined 2 Group. In December they were joined by 305 (Polish) Squadron converted from the Mitchell and in February 1944 107 Squadron converted from the Douglas Boston. It was planned to transfer 138 Wing to airfields in France when the outbreak from the Normandy beachhead came. As part of the newfound offensive, the main work for the FB.VIs of 138 and 140 Wings was Day and Night Ranger operations and Intruder sorties from England.
²¹³

In 2nd TAF the FB.VI carried out precision attacks, often on individual buildings, by day and night. Probably the most famous of these was Operation Jericho, which went ahead on 18 February 1944 after snowstorms and thick cloud had led to several postponements. In January information had been received in London that over 100 loyal Frenchmen, among them Monsieur Vivant, a key Resistance leader in Abbeville, were being held in captivity in Amiens prison. Several attempts by the Resistance had been made to rescue them but had failed. Dominique Ponchardier the leader of the local Resistance requested an urgent air strike to break open the prison walls. There would be casualties, but better to die from RAF bombs than be shot by a German firing squad. A dozen prisoners were due to be executed on 19 February. The prison was built in the shape of a cross and surrounded by a wall 20ft high and 3ft thick. To help identify the target area a model of the prison was prepared, as Embry recalled:

When called upon to destroy that kind of target, we constructed a model of it and also of the town. We then placed the town model on a table and examined it at eye level, obtaining exactly the same oblique view, in miniature, as if we were flying over the town at a height of 50 feet. We then selected a combination of easily recognisable landmarks, such as church spires and factory chimneys, which we adopted as navigational markers to define our approach route to the target. At the start of the approach the landmarks might be as far as two miles apart, but the distance between markers would be gradually narrowed down until eventually it was as if we were flying down a visual beam of approach. On the town models we marked the known positions of all light flak guns and took these into account when selecting the approach route. We used the target model to help the crews to recognise their objective and to decide aiming points, especially if the attack was being made by more than one sub-formation of six aircraft. Sometimes the models were photographed and copies issued to crews at their briefing which they took with them in the air to help in their final approach and identification of the target.

The plan was to breach this wall by using 11-second delayed action bombs dropped by five FB.VIs of 464 Squadron RAAF led by Wing Commander R.W. ‘Bob’ Iredale and six of 487 Squadron RNZAF led by Wing Commander Irving S. ‘Black’ Smith. The concussion from the bomb explosions should open the cell doors to give most of the prisoners a chance to escape. Wing Commander ‘Black’ Smith was pleased to be going on this mission:

After four years of war just doing everything possible to destroy life, here we were going to use our skill to save it. It was a grand feeling and everybody left the briefing room prepared to fly into the walls rather than fail to breach them.

If the first two waves of Mosquitoes failed, six FB.VIs of 21 Squadron led by Wing Commander I.G. ‘Daddy’ Dale had orders to flatten the prison complex. Embry was forbidden to go on the raid because of his previous exploits in France and Group Captain Percy C. Pickard
DSO DFC
, CO 140 Wing was in overall command of the raid. He and his navigator Flight Lieutenant John Alan ‘Peter’ Broadley
DSO DFC DFM
flew in F-Freddie (HX922), a 487 Squadron Mosquito and flew with the 464 Squadron formation. (Pickard, a brave and revered leader, as a Flight Lieutenant he and Wellington F-Freddie had appeared in the British wartime film,
Target for Tonight
.) Flight Lieutenant Tony Wickham, in DZ414/O, a specially equipped Film Photographic Unit Mosquito IV with a cameraman, Pilot Officer Leigh Howard, would film the bombing operation. Typhoon IBs of 174 (Mauritius) Squadron and 245 (Northern Rhodesia) Squadron at Westhampnett were detailed to provide the Mosquitoes with escort cover.

The formation of nineteen Mosquitoes took off from Hunsdon at 10.55 hours with snow falling and headed for their rendezvous with the Typhoons over Littlehampton. Over the Channel the weather improved but by then Flight Lieutenant E.E. Hogan and Flight Sergeant D.A.S. Crowfoot and Flight Sergeant A. Steadman and Pilot Officer E.J. Reynolds, in 21 Squadron were forced to return. Two Typhoons in 245 Squadron aborted with fuel problems and 174 Squadron failed to make the rendezvous at all. About 10 miles from the target Flight Lieutenant B.D. ‘Titch’ Hanafin and Pilot Officer C. Frank Redgrave of 487 Squadron RNZAF were forced to abort 10 miles short of the target because of an engine fire. They extinguished the fire and flew home on one engine. Hanafin was again hit by flak, which paralyzed one side of his body. He was met and escorted home by ‘Black’ Smith and he made a perfect landing at a forward airfield in England. The remaining Mosquitoes descended to 100ft and they pressed on at no higher than tree-top level, avoiding power lines and known flak batteries. The formation swept around to the south of Albert and the crews picked up the long, straight tree-lined road to Amiens. Descending to 10ft their propellers swirled wispy snow clouds in their wake. The poplars on the road ended abruptly and a mile in the distance the prison stood out in fresh snow. The Mosquitoes split up and attacked in four waves from two directions at 12.01 hours precisely as the guards were eating their lunch.

The first bombs were dropped on the outer walls on the east and north sides of the prison by the four 487 Squadron FB.VIs led by Wing Commander ‘Black’ Smith. The five FB.VIs of 464 Squadron and Pickard’s Mosquito closely followed them. Their target was the main building and the guards’ quarters at the east and west ends of the prison. Eight Typhoons of 174 Squadron provided escort over the target while six Typhoons of 245 Squadron covered Wing Commander I.G. ‘Daddy’ Dale’s four remaining 21 Squadron Mosquitoes, which orbited 10 miles to the north, ready if needed. The first bombs blew in almost all the doors and the wall was breached. Wing Commander R.W. ‘Bob’ Iredale said later:

I pinpointed the guards’ quarters, let go my bombs so that they would skid

right into the annex, with the sloping roof of the prison inches from the

belly of my plane as I climbed over it.

Flight Lieutenant Tony Wickham made three passes over the ruined jail, which was now disgorging smoke and flame and fleeing men and Pilot Officer Leigh Howard filmed the flight of the prisoners.

Pickard was the last over the prison and after dropping his bombs he circled the area at 500ft to assess the results. Satisfied that the Mosquitoes had done their work, the success signal ‘RED-RED-RED’ was radioed to ‘Daddy’ Dale so that they could return home. Almost immediately Fw 190s of II/JG26 attacked the Mosquitoes and took on the Typhoons.
Feldwebel
Wilhelm Mayer
²¹⁴
singled out F-Freddie and sent it crashing in flames and Pickard and Broadley were killed.
Leutnant
Waldemar ‘Waldi’ Radener of 7./JG26 shot down a 174 Squadron Typhoon flown by Flying Officer J.E. Renaud north of Amiens and the pilot was taken prisoner. Squadron Leader Alexander Ian McRitchie and Flight Lieutenant R.W. ‘Sammy’ Sampson’s Mosquito in 464 Squadron RAAF was downed by flak. The Australian second flight leader was wounded in twenty-six places and he crash-landed at over 200 mph near Poix. McRitchie survived and was taken prisoner but Sampson was dead.
²¹⁵
Pilot Officer Maxwell Sparkes and Pilot Officer Arthur Dunlop of 487 Squadron suffered a flak hit in an engine and they were escorted home by ‘Black’ Smith. Sparkes put down safely at a south coast airfield in England. Foul weather over the Channel claimed another 174 Squadron Typhoon, flown by Flight Sergeant H.S. Brown. (Group Captain Peter Wykeham-Barnes
DSO DFC
* became the new 140 Wing commander). In March 1944 Dominique Ponchardier sent the following message to London.

I thank you in the name of our comrades for the bombardment of the prison, we were not able to save all. Thanks to the admirable precision of the attack the first bomb blew in nearly all the doors and 150 prisoners escaped with the help of the civilian population. Of these, twelve were to have been shot on 19 February. In addition, thirty-seven prisoners were killed; some of them by German machine guns and fifty Germans were also killed.

On 15 February George Murray and Harry Batt and Gordon Bell-Irving,
²¹⁶
Bert Hott, Flight Lieutenant J.L. ‘Les’ Bulmer, navigator and his pilot Flight Lieutenant Ed McQuarrie
RCAF
had joined 21 Squadron at Hunsdon. This was a surprise to them for having completed the Night Intruder course at 60 OTU High Ercall they expected to join one of the three Intruder squadrons: 418, 605 (both in the UK) or 23 in Malta. Les Bulmer remembers the move:

When we joined, 21 Squadron’s principal occupation was attacking V-1 (Noball) sites at low level. We had no experience of low-level navigation so we spent all February practising low-level cross-country and formation flying. On 18 February we watched all three squadrons of the wing take off in a snowstorm for what we later discovered was the Amiens prison raid. The only time I saw the 140 Wing CO, Group Captain Charles Pickard, was in the Mess the night before the raid. The whole squadron was sworn to secrecy when we heard he was missing in case he had got away but it was not long before we received news that he was dead.

Flight Lieutenants Les Bulmer and Ed McQuarrie
RCAF
flew their first 21 Squadron operation, a Night Intruder, to the airfield at Montdidier on 2 March.

Although we were new boys, because we’d been trained as Night Intruders we had more night-flying experience on Mosquitoes than the old hands. We took off at 19.55 and returned at 21.55. It was uneventful. I was not sure what to expect as we crossed the French coast but I rather imagined it would be flak and searchlight all the way in and all the way out. Instead there was just total darkness, with the odd glimmer of a light and nobody seemed to be interested in us at all; or was a night-fighter creeping up on us? I kept constant lookout rearwards. The night was very dark and Gee was jammed once we crossed the coast, so navigation had to be by dead reckoning. We were somewhere in the area but could not locate the airfield and the Germans would not co-operate and put on the lights for us, so we returned home somewhat disappointed.

No.2 Group Mosquitoes tried various techniques in attacking Noball sites. The normal method was to go low-level all the way but this had resulted in aircraft sustaining damage by 20mm flak when crossing the coast. On 4 March we were one of four aircraft to attack two sites. Our target was near Esclavelles and we took off at 08.10. Noball targets were far too small to get four aircraft over them within 11 seconds, which was the delay we had on the 500lb bombs. The squadron CO, Wing Commander I.G. ‘Daddy’ Dale, led with ‘A’ Flight Commander Squadron Leader Joe Bodien as his No.2. As a ‘sprog’ crew we were to stick with Flight Lieutenant Mike Benn, who was one of the squadron’s most experienced pilots.
²¹⁷

We crossed the Channel at low level and climbed as we reached the coast to about 3,000ft to avoid the flak. There we split into pairs for our respective targets and got down on the deck. Not long afterwards I noticed a red glow on the edge of a wood on the starboard side. This became several red balls that travelled rapidly towards us. It was then that I realised what flak looked like from the wrong end. The stream of 20mm appeared to be heading along the wing and into the cockpit, so Mac and I instinctively ducked. Luckily it passed overhead and we went thankfully on our way.

At briefing we had arranged to fly beyond the target, turn and attack on the way out. We arrived at the turning point but nothing happened. There was strict radio silence so we couldn’t ask Mike and his navigator, Flying Officer W.A. Roe what they were doing. We just had to stick with them and hope that they knew where they were. Eventually they did start to turn and all hell broke loose. In fact, Roe had missed the turning point and when he did eventually start to turn he led us into a real hornet’s nest. Everything happened so fast but we suddenly found ourselves in a valley with a railway in the bottom and rows of huts up the valley sides. I don’t know what the area was but they obviously objected to our presence and the sky erupted in 20mm flak from all directions. Mike Benn started to climb out of harm’s way and we followed behind but were surrounded by streams of tracer and we had an uncomfortable few seconds when flak intended for Mike was crossing in front of our nose, while that for us was crossing just behind the tail. Mac said, “Sod this, I’m going down” and shoved the stick forward. As he did so there was a loud bang. I checked to see if we were on fire or losing fuel but everything was normal.