A Separate Little War

The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe 1944-1945

Andrew Bird

• Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9781909166707
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Every day for nine months from September 1944 to the end of the war, young British, Commonwealth and Norwegian airmen flew from Banff aerodrome in northern Scotland in their Mosquitoes and Beaufighters to target the German U-Boats, merchantmen and freighters plying along the coast and in the fjords and leads of southwest Norway, encountering the Luftwaffe and flakships every step of the way.This Scottish strike wing fought in some of the bitterest and bloodiest attacks of the war, all at very low level and at close quarters. Their contribution to winning the war was crucial and while the cost in precious lives and equipment was in the same proportion as Bomber Command, they inflicted far greater damage to the enemy in relation to their losses.With Group Captain The Hon. Max Aitken, DSO DFC as station commander, Banff was eventually to become the base for a total of six Mosquito squadrons (including 235, 248 and 143), together with B Flight of the elite 333 Norwegian Squadron, and would team up on missions with the nearby Dallachy Beaufighter strike wing (404 RCAF, 455 RAAF, 489 RNZAF and 144 Squadrons).A Separate Little War, then, is a well researched and detailed history of a microcosm of Coastal Command. Supported by many photographs, maps and charts, the vast majority never published before, the author has drawn on the personal accounts of, amongst others, British and Norwegian pilots, ground crew and civilians which augment the official sources, to give a compelling, accurate and fascinating depiction of an aerodrome at war.It is a subject which will be of great interest and value to the general reader and to those students of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, RAF and former Commonwealth Air Forces, the Polish Air Force and of maritime air operations during World War Two.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 7 Psalm 69: Verses 1-3 (With Map)
• Chapter 1 Operations Begin
• Chapter 2 RAF Banff Aerodrome
• Chapter 3 September 1944
• Chapter 4 October 1944
• Chapter 5 November 1944
• Chapter 6 December 1944
• Chapter 7 Mosquitoes Hit Leirvik on Boxing Day
• Chapter 8 January 1945
• Chapter 9 Wing Loses Five Mosquitoes in One Operation
• Chapter 10 February 1945
• Chapter 11 Austri
• Chapter 12 March 1945
• Chapter 13 The War Draws to a Close
• Chapter 14 What Happened to 'F' for Freddie?
• Chapter 15 U-Boats Run the Gauntlet
• Chapter 16 Mosquitoes Destroy German Aircraft from II and III/KG 26
• Chapter 17 May 1945 - The Final Days
• Chapter 18 Post War Banff
• Conclusion
• Poems
• Appendix 1 19 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1st September 1944
• Appendix 2 18 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1st January 1945
• Appendix 3 18 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1st April 1945
• Appendix 4 Loss List
• Appendix 5 Inventory of Aircraft
• Coat of Arms of the Banff Strike Wing
• Glossary & Abbreviations
• Bibliography and Sources
• Index