Catalina over Arctic Oceans

Anti-Submarine and Rescue Flying in World War II

John French, Anthony Dyer, Anthony Dyer

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781473813014
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

John French first took up flying in 1937 with the University of London Air Squadron and in 1938 joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. His early war years were spent instructing newly recruited RAF pilots on Airspeed Oxfords and Avro Ansons. When the end of this posting came through he was designated to 210 Squadron at Sullom Voe in the Shetlands to fly the Catalina flying boat. In November 1942 the squadron was ordered south to join 202 Squadron at Gibraltar.Here they flew sorties in support of the North African landings Operation Torch. These were lengthy flights out into the Atlantic approaches to Gibraltar or Eastwards into the Mediterranean. He flew fifteen sorties in this short period before returning to Pembroke Dock. He was then instructed to report to Felixstowe to collect Catalina IB FP 222 and to ferry it up to his new base Sullom Voe.From this northern base the flying boats flew thirty hour patrols out into the Northern Atlantic searching for enemy ships and U-boats. On 8 September he was ordered to execute an extended search of the Norwegian coast where it was thought that the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst were seeking shelter. Having unsuccessfully searched the entire coastline at low-level they finally touched down on the Kola Inlet after a flight of over twenty-two hours.As February 1944 came towards its end he was detailed to cover a Russian convoy, JW57, far up to the north of the Arctic Circle. Shortly before his ETA with the convoy they got a radar return. They dropped down below the cloud to find a rough angry sea and spotted the wake of a ship. However this was not a ship but a surfaced U-boat. As they flew into attack they met a hail of 37mm and machine-gun fire John dropped to attack level and came in from the stern dropping two depth charges. Thus came the demise of U-601.On 18 July 1944 a Liberator of 86 Squadron was seton fire during an attack on a U-boat and was forced toditch some 100 miles west of the Loften Islands. Eightmembers of the crew took to their dinghies. A Catalinawas despatched on a search and rescue mission thefollowing day but failed to find the victims. However on20 July they were resighted. A volunteer crew washastily formed and took off at 0130 on the 21st. Someexcellent navigation brought the survivors into view atETA. John decided to attempt a sea landing to effect therescue. He came in low, into wind and across the swellat 65 knots. His crew soon had the stranded airmanaboard, somewhat bedraggled after their sixty-two hourordeal. They landed back at Sullom at 1410.After the war John stayed in the RAF and spent much ofhis time behind the Iron Curtain.

Contents

Introduction

Original Introduction

List of Plates

Glossary of Terms

1 How it all started

2 Learning to Fly – Northolt

3 Hullavington – Jurby – Upavon (CFS)

4 Instructing – Little Rissington and South Cerney

5 Aerobatics, small fields, low flying and more South Cerney

6 Squires Gate, Gibraltar and Invergordon

7 Shetland – anti-submarine patrols

8 Spitsbergen and North Russia

9 Winter 1943–1944

10 Operations in 1944

11 Flying a desk

12 Paris and Poland

13 Poland – Some reminders of the War and Faith

14 Poland – The Air Force Scene

15 USSR Revisited 1955–1956

16 Off to Norway – Svalbard revisited – RAF (Retired)

17 Civil Servant – The World of Customs and Beyond

Index

Introduction

It is now almost twenty-five years since my Grandfather died. To us, his grandsons, he was known as Bandad (when children, we could not say Granddad!) and he was taken from us at far too young an age – sixty-seven years old.

To me, he was my personal hero; an instructor teaching bomber pilots to fly, followed by operations on RAF Catalina flying boats. He was a quiet, modest man, a superb cook and a loving Grandfather. On the day he died, I was coming home from University and was met at the train station by my Dad. He never usually picked me up, usually it was Mum, and so I knew immediately something was wrong. Bandad suffered from a hole in his heart throughout his life. When the murmur was first found during a pre-war aircrew medical, the doctor simply asked if he ever got tired or puffed out, as he did not, nothing else was said. In the 1960s his medical condition was properly identified and he had to leave service flying, which was a terrible blow. The doctor suggested that he should not get too excited – as Bandad’s life to that point had been full of excitement this did amuse him! In 1986, the condition caught up with him. Bandad is always in my thoughts and my memories and I feel his presence around.

Several years before he died, he had finished his memoirs, but they remained unpublished. I have always wanted to share his story and some of his extensive photograph collection with others. I have not changed his words, only edited them and added notes where an explanation may help the reader, or where details from his diary have been added.

I dedicate this book to Bandad, Beatrice (his first wife) and their lovely daughter Valerie (my Mum!) and Nana (his second wife).

I would like to thank the family for encouraging me and my friends for their support.

Like Bandad, I hope you enjoy his memoirs and learn about one of this country’s unsung heroes – my hero!

Tony Dyer, July 2012.

Original
Introduction

This is an account of some events of my life which may be of interest to others (typically modest nature of my bandad!). They cover mainly flying and Eastern Europe over the last fifty years or so. The reader should not expect anything extraordinary, anything deeply analytical, but I hope that as he or she goes along, it will be found that we have something to share and enjoy together.

A lot of the book is about my friends but by no means about all of them. There have been and are so many, men and women, young and old, different races, different colours, different creeds, different positions in life; some of them I did not even know their names. Others could not stand the sight of some of the others – which presents a problem that must tax God himself, who loves all his creatures and creation, regardless of what they might think of one another.

With many of these friends I have lost touch – some still and always very dear to me; others have or may have died; others are very much alive. It is to all of them that I dedicate this book with love, in the sure hope and belief that we shall all meet again. But if one out of the company is to be named to represent the rest, then it is Bill McGuinty.

John French, 1980

List of
Plates

1Supermarine Stranraer Mk1 K7290 at Felixstowe. This aircraft later served with 240 Squadron and sank on the 21 November 1940 at Stranraer. Pictured from the author’s boat

2MAEE Felixstowe in the mid 1930s from the author’s boat

3HP42 Heracles in the winter’s slush in 1934

4Hendon Air Display 1936

5Spitfire prototype K5054 at Hendon Air Display 1936, New Types Park

6Hawker Hart at University of London Air Squadron (ULAS) summer camp

7Early Hurricane Mk1 of 111 Squadron photographed at RAF Northolt in 1938

8Aerial View of RAF Upavon 1939

9The wreckage from the Heinkel He11 bomber rammed by Sgt Hancock over RAF Windrush 18 August 1940

10Wreckage of Hancock’s Anson

11Sally and John French in Great Rissington 1940

12The bomb damage at RAF Brize Norton on 16 August 1940 that destroyed over forty aircraft

13John French in Link Trainer

14Airspeed Oxford in a winter scene

15Catalina on patrol

16Catalina releasing a depth charge

17U601 after being attacked by the author’s aircraft

18U601 sinking after the attack

19Signal about U-boat U601 sinking

20Liberator Crew awaiting rescue

21Citation about Liberator rescue

22Bee (John French’s wife) and a souvenir German incendiary bomb!

23Catalina at Spitsbergen

24Bee and Valerie (John’s daughter and the editor’s Mum!) with Mosquito in 1947

25Excerpt from J French Log book covering sinking of UBoat

26Excerpt from J French Log book covering rescue of Liberator crew

27Letter from Liberator crew’s Officer Commanding

28Catalina flying back from Spitsbergen

29The start of another long patrol

30Khrushchev’s visit to the UK in 1956 with the Author

31Wing Commander John French’s medals. The small case includes his watch – this was almost lost when he was wiping the outside of the screen and the strap came undone – the only thing that stopped it going overboard was a wrist hair! Also in the case is his lucky cat and parts of the Oxford aircraft that crashed near Bibury.

32The silk flying scarf (worn during long Catalina patrols), a recognition model painted as his aircraft, a Catalina control yoke and his Catalina Pilot’s Notes. John French was an avid collector of souvenirs! Also shown, is a side cap and two trench art badges – a U Boat with the letter F (for his nickname ‘Froggie’) and a catalina.

Glossary of Terms

A&AEE	Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment
AE	Air Efficiency Medal
AFC	Air Force Cross
AFL	Air Force Liaison
AOC	Air Officer Commanding
APA	Accident Prevention Advisor
APD	Accident Prevention Directorate
ASI	Air Speed Indicator
ASV	Air-to-Surface Vessel
ATA	Air Transport Auxiliary
ATS	Advanced Training School
AW23	Armstrong Whitworth 23 (type of aircraft)
BABS	Blind Approach Beam System
BEA	British European Airways
BEM	British Empire Medal
CFI	Chief Flying Instructor
CFS	Central Flying School
CO	Commanding Officer
D/F	Direction Finding
DFC	Distinguished Flying Cross
DH110	De Havilland 110 (type of aircraft)
DSO	Distinguished Service Order
EEC	European Economic Commission
ENSA	Every Night Something Awful
ETA	Estimated Time of Arrival
FTS	Flying Training School
GCS	Ground Control System, approach.
HP42	Handley Page 42 (type of aircraft)
HQ	Head Quarters
ITS	Intermediate Training School
LNER	London and North-Eastern Railway
MAEE	Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment
MAP	Ministry of Aircraft Production
MC	Military Cross
MG	Morris Garages (type of car)
MO	Medical Officer/Orderly
MT	Motor Transport
MTB	Motor Torpedo Boat
NAAFI	Navy Army Air Force Institute
NATO	North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCO	Non Commissioned Officer
OBE	Order of the British Empire
OTU	Operational Training Unit
PBY	Patrol Bomber – the Y is the Consolidated designation
PC	Political Correctness (not around between AD to 1990s!)
PLE	Prudent Limit of Endurance
PR	Photo Reconnaisence
PRU	Photo Reconnaisance Unit
QFI	Qualified Flying Instructor
QMC	Queen Mary College (University of London)
RAAF	Royal Australian Air Force
RAeS	Royal Aeronautical Society
RAF	Royal Air Force
RAFO	Royal Air Force Officer
RAFVR	Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
RCAF	Royal Canadian Air Force
RFC	Royal Flying Corps
RN	Royal Navy
RNVR	Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
R/T	Radio Telephone or Receiver/Transmitter
SASO	Senior Air Staff Officer
TAF	Tactical Air Force
TMPFFS	Trim, Mixture, Pitch, Fuel, Flaps and Sperry
TO2	Training Operations/Organization
UB	Polish non uniformed police
ULAS	University of London Air Squadron
UN	United Nations
USAF	United States Air Force
USSR	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VC	Victoria Cross
VCAS	Vice Chief of Air Staff
VIP	Very Important Person
VTOL	Vertical Take-Off and Landing
V1	Vengeance weapon, Nazi, doodlebug
V2	Vengeance weapon, Nazi, rocket
WAAF	Womens Auxiliary Air Force
WO	Warrant Officer
WRAF	Womens Royal Air Force
WW1	World War 1
WW2	World War 2

CHAPTER ONE

How it all started

The flying bug bit me early in my life. One of my earliest memories is being in the garden of our house at Tadworth in Surrey – at the age of about four – noticing an ‘airliner’ on its way to Paris from Croydon, which had opened in 1920. So I set to work to construct an aircraft which had a very long fuselage made from an old trellis, and a rather precarious meat skewer strutted wing made of two planks. The tail surfaces were rather similar. The whole lot was mounted on a convenient inverted metal bowl. At this time, possibly more fun was obtained from the cut-out models on postcards, including seaplanes. Later, after we had moved to Felixstowe in 1925, I was to convert an unsatisfactory pedal car into a more satisfactory aircraft. Felixstowe provided plenty of aviation inspiration, for not only was there the air station – The Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE), where all seaplanes were tested, but only nine miles away was Martlesham Heath. This was the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) which performed the same function as MAEE for all land planes.

Odd bits of old seaplanes and flying boats were scattered in dumps around the town and one dump, right in the centre, had several old hulls in it. It was not long before I cut my knee on one of these and I still have the scar to this day! This would have been on a piece of a Southampton, or something earlier. Down at Felixstowe Ferry were other hulls, including that of the Fairey Atlanta, which was to last as a houseboat until the 1950s/60s, when it was burnt out. The Southampton hull now exhibited in the RAF Museum originated from the ferry.

Felixstowe certainly provided plenty of interest and excitement; the Schneider Trophy – a famous trophy awarded over many years to the fastest seaplane – teams trained there and there was a continual stream of new flying boats and seaplanes; big ones such as the Iris, Perth, Sarafand, the Empire Boats, Sunderland and Mayo Composite Experiment; and medium size Southamptons, now metal; Scapa, Stranraer, London and various other seaplanes. Just before the war came the Lerwick and the original PBY which led to the Catalina. Events such as the Beardmore Inflexible flying over from Martlesham, the R100 airship looming out of the clouds one morning, and the Graf Zeppelin later on, made life one continual parade of aviation development. An exciting sight one morning was the Fitzmaurice Junkers flying low over the town back to Germany, after its first abortive attempt in ...