1956-11-24 — Page 6

Page

D

CHALLENGER

the Focke-Wulf 190

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1956;;

was greying out... the 190

was on my tail.......I dived

down to the sea...

MY ESCAPE

AT

ISCOURAGE the presence of wives that was a lesson I learned during my first sum- mer of intensive air fighting.

marriage and war.

I saw too often the ill effects of mixing I remember the wife of one particular officer-rather older than the rest of us- who was missing from a fighter sweep over France.

10

* ON

t, ་ ༥

For weeks

hud we TIEW'S of him

And day after day his wife. 1 WOMAN with fial,

A happy voice, tek phoned turned up in person to sk for news. I suppose we were a callous lot, but we came to dislike and, resent the sound and sight of her.

HARROWING

Squadron

DIEPPE

Leader in August 18, 1942, the day at the 19 anul clumsily

bined operati

אר 10

011-

or

agazrd Dieppe.

Out Phors were lenty at written to wives and After that affair,

were gulevalla. Jetters Parents

IN Morrow and harrowhя

Ansikty

unfortunate woman wore down our palienet. Her continued presence on the fringe of our squadron life had a lowering effect on murale,

When I was appointed command a aqundrous I soon found that I was to be involved in the agony of bereaved wives and parents, whether they lived el an at hauri for away.

to

all

huda shurp introduction Into the most disagreeable of duties faced by a commuunding ofcer in wartime that of writing to the next-of-kin of missing pilots The writing of those letters was often a soul rearing business. My first major

Power tlines

land 610 And

Squadron into the fight the opening round was the most savage and punishing of AL

לזרייה

In the cold, grey early morn ing we look uft frum West Malling, in Kent, lying as 3 wing of 30 planes, Wing Com- munder Pat Jameson, New Zealander, was

Lender. The other two sundron were 411 (Canadian) Squndron arted 485 (New Zealand) Squadron,

It was the last time that day we could nister 36 planes between uur.

TOP COVER FOR the greater part of our

joarney across the Channel Jameson held us just above the choppy sen. About 10 miles from Dluppe we began the elind to our allotted height of 10,000 feet. My squadron was cover for the wing.

is

It is 1942, Johnnie Johnson, top- scoring Allied fighter pilot of the war, is given command of a squadron--and ordered to lead them into the "ill-conceived,

on executed" attack clumsily

A heavy pall of black smoke hung over Dleppt. As we went leader heard some wing

his

shouting

to instructions

Flahi your way out now. Get oul Watch there 1998 above 14, 1 El aircraft-get out, get

WEN

--BAFFLED

HEAD of us Spithres, Mesm

serschmitt

Focki Dict Wulfs milled about the sky. It for tro carly to search opening, since the 100s had the height on us, and my task was to keep the squadron to- gether as long as possible and Kaard the rest of the wing below.

13

and we

Dieppe.

"Good shooting. Johnnie,"

and The

Messerschmitis

us Focke-Wulls cute down on k: 1

Banks, the astern and They were full of fight, and for could think of tline we nothing but waxinu and staying ully. During a steep lumt chicht n

glimpse of a strong

11

formation of cremy ighters

hruding towards Dieppe fron

inland, and I called a warning since, for we ha

for their fighting To the wing leader:-

"Jamle, strong

rely the air, entity forcements coming in About

Over." 50-pl

ALONE....

Wo

saw

well

le regard

qualities in

Feeling certain of victory. 1 forgot the vulnerability of a lone Spitäre and lightened my Item to get on his talt.

1

With wide-open throttle held the Spitfire in the Ughtest of shuddering vertical turns. was greying-oul, and where was this Itailan, who should, accord- ing to my reckoning, be king my gumsight? I couldn't sec him, and Ittie wonder, for the bruto was gaining on me and in another couple of turns have me in his sight.

would

WE DODGED

The was hurd JAMHE

at it. enlle 1 Grmup to ask for esklanet. During o Jull in the a:lacks my own setion, 1.0W reduce.t to

aircraft. My senior fight commander,

three

+ soiltary to Denis

fastened call-

1913 Crowley-Miling,

It and ESTL 11 break

swung Messerschmill round together to find the 190s aplaning down, Then they came at our

own level in pairs and at us again. Later we esimated

ove 100 fours, and seemingly baffled by that our move. A 190 pulled up in enemy fighters. front of my own section and I Three Spitfires from my gave

him

long burst Q

fron

down were Equadron

shot maximum range, Surprisingly already. I saw my own wing- the enemy plane began To man, the

to

Australian sergeant HE over-confidence of bu: moke, the wheels dropped ant pilot "South" Creagh, planing

seconds before It fell away to the sea.

Crow

streaming white glycol had already given way trazamitted, his voice as cheer-

from his engine. It was imposto Irritation at losing my tul is ever!--

alute to protect him, for if we oppontni. And irritation was took our eyes off

the enemy quickly replaced by a sickening

would apprehension. Į naked fights for a recond they

the πίνε

aw the

trealment. Spitfire for all she'd got in the Sunke They're bound to finish him off turn, but the 100 hung behind he Lurses hiv cripplet en contxued to gain, it could Splitre. I thought,

only be a question of time, und not much of that!

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413

I still had one Spitfire along- Aldo, but I lost him when we

1001 broke in opposite directions,

Then I was alone in the hostlie sky.

THE

A

Lew

Stick over and well forward, I plunged Into a near-vertical dive a dangerous manoeuvre, for the 100 was more stable and faster than my Spitfire in such a descent, but I had decided on a possible method of escape,

At ground-lev I pulled into The wing roother

sleep turn. and

Ranging from ground-level to 20,000 feet and having a dia- meter of 20 or 25 malies, the air baltle drifted and eddled over the coast and Inland,

had long lost its cohesion, but we carried out our task by fight- ing single or in pairs and fours, and so achieved some concen- tration in the target urea,

I

w'as

AN ITALIAN?

SPOTTED a soiltary alecraft Over the town I ensed

I gauged

R

slammed the nose down ard cased out a few feet above the Fea

I broke hard to the left and searched for the 190, but he was no longer with me. Either the flak had put him off or, better at, had nalled him. I made off at high speed to West Malling. glud to bỏ sfill #live. .

Other pilots of the wing came home singly and in pairs. But many planes were missing. As the day wore un and sortie followed sortle, the strength of the wing was sadly depleted.

Fighter command bested

the Luftwaffe that day. We lost two planes for every

enemy destroyed-a fair indication of the all-round superiority of the Focke-Wulfs over our Spitfire V's.

Wie

"Fighter Command was bested by the Luftwaffe that day our losses were

gria

DRAWING BY OLIPHANT

I have already written of my, {. They were not bad days at all. firm conviction thét wives and But they did not last long." The air fighting do not mix well C-in-Cat Fighter Commbad, A together, of my Arm resolve Marabala Si Sholto Doules did that serious affairs of the heart not forget the promise he had should wait until after thé war, But that was before I met the beautiful Paula Ingate.

She was working in the Nor- wich operations room of the Auxiliary Fire Service,. 'We began to see a lot of each other. We fell in love. We became engaged,

The wedding took place in Norwich in November. flown down from Scotland and

OUT OF THE SUN: PART THREE

by JOHNNIE

JOHNSON

Group Captain J. E. Johnson, D.S.O. & 2 bars, D.F.C. and bar

the height and watched the rooftops I caught a glimpse of the promenade, of stationary tanks, of the white casino and a deserted beach.

towards him and recognised the enemy fighter as a Focke- Wult 100-the new typo German fighter which was to come close to regaining air superiority for the Luftwaffe during the next 18 months. This

41 my first meeting with breed which I quickly learned

respect and fear. For once Σ was not harried and

The 190 was still behind, and yawed

wed my Spitare cover the blind spot behind me. for a few seconds we dodged But these movements attracted round the spires and columns of confused

novane the attention of the enemy

smoke. Then I made my bid to pliot and he snaked towards throw him off. me, almost head on. We both

to

model when I had protested personally, to him about à our posting North. He honoured that promise when, ir. January 1643, 610 Squadron received orders to move back to the battle gren.

And so, once again, I found myself based at Tangmere.

EXAMPLE

I had IT

TT was almost two years since

Doulas Bader had begun to lead the Tangmero Wing from the same altfeld, and, curious- ly enough; other legless pilot now joined the squadron.

Colin Hodgkinson lost both his legs after a crash when serving with the Fleet Air Arm. but by following Bader's example and showing the same Indomitable spirit he few operationally, and soon proved to be a valuable and 'aggressive member of our small team."

sve

Soon after our arrival gave a party in our quarters, Woodcote Form, and Invited stayed with Cocky, who was my perhaps 80 or 70 officers from best man. He was commanding the other squadrons, and the a Typhoon squadron at nearby station. After all the gurals had Matlask, There was a pro departed, a few of us sat among longed partly to mark my last the debris, chatting about hours as bachelor. and I evening and drinking a last half remember that rather a lot of pint of beer. Hodgkinson made cars got bent including the his excuses and clumped across

Commandant's ground Camp

vintage the stone flags of the hall arti Bentley in which I deft a road up the stairs and ended up in aploughed fleld.

The Dieppe rad must be regarded as a complete failure, for none of its stated objectives were achieved in full measure. It was a story of poor security, of faulty intelligence. of inadequate communications' be- tween air' and ground of in

ant bloody situation over which central control could not be exercised.

turned hard to the left and A short distance off-chore I ·It was also a story of great whirled round on opposite sides could see a destroyer surrounded gallantry and heavy loss of life. of what seemed to be an ever- by a cutter of smaller ships, The record of the (Canadian)

Essex We had been carefully briefed decreasing circle.

Scottish, who brought The 190 bore strange markings not to fly below 4,000 feet over back 52 men, of whom 28 were on the side of its fuselage just the shipping, otherwise

out of a starting they wounded below the cockpit. This painted would open fire. But that was strength of 553, gives some in- crest looked very similar to the a minor consideration, compared dication of the desperate situm markings of the Italian Air with this 190 on my tail. Force, and I thought, "This pilot is an Balion!"

I rammed

the throttle, info the emergency

position, broke off my

turn, and at sen-lovel headed straight at the destroyer,

MY MISTAKE

WE had not seen them since

dion on the ground.

Soon after this there Iwo developments

creer

Suddenly there

the

was a loud

crash when the Jegless pilot After the wedding Pauls and stumbled against the banistera and fell to the flagstones 10. I set out for the honeymoon in feet below. We rushed into the my little Morris two-seater. The floor. I hurried over to see if he years stretched ahead into in was badly hurt. Unity and like many others, snatched some happiness we while we could. We agreed that so long as I remained on ops she should continue to live at

HEAD ON!

were home. I had seen too much of sat up and rubbed his...

my

neither of which con- formed at all with my planned scheme of things..

the camp followers.

、

In Scotland we trained hard, and established local record for the mumber of bullets des Flak and tracer came straight. I got married. And my patched at air and ground tor they had received some at me from the destroyer, and squadron, instead of moving gets. We found that Caithness sovera treatment' over the more; slower tracer from the 190 further south, was posted for contained far more than sheep Themes Estuary towards the passed over the top of the cock the winter to Castletown, the and we felt under the spell of end of the Battle of Britain. We plt. At the last moment I pulled most northerly' nirfield on the Rs wild beauty and the warETA had been looking for them ever over the destroyer, then British mainland.

hospitality of Hs inhabitants..

MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN.

NO 'NEW'NEIGHBORS

IS EMPTY--LOOKS

LIKE IT HAS BEEN

FOR YEARS.

HERE, NARDA, HOUSE

DON'T UNDER-

STAND-

HOW YOU COULD

FORGET-

"PROCESSED FOREVER FROM HIS MEMORY-THE SPACE SHIP RAY RINO, THE 'ROBOTS THE MASTER OF MARS

FORGOTTEN TOO, THE MARTIAN'S LAST, WORDS→→

By Lee Falk and Phil Davis

***OTHER VEOPLETM FROM MARS ON EARTH}}/ QUITE A DISGUISED AS PANTY FEW IN EARTH PEOPLET ALMOST

EVERY

IN ANY. STREET~~ANY TOWN--A HAPPY FAMILY--THEY LOOK ORDINARY--BUT ARE THEY MAYBE YES-MAYBE” MARTIANST

head. "That was 'a bell of

drop," I said. “Are you all Tight? Calin?".

about your legs,

sir

What

"Oh, they're quite all right,

he answered.

“Are you sure? Perhaps we'd

better call the doc?" I suggested. "No, thank you, sir, You see, 1 fell on my hoodi

(Continued on Page 7, Col, 1)'

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