Si vis pacem, para bellum
'If you want peace, prepare for war'R.A.F
SEAX 604 Squadron
Born in the aftermath of the First World War and taking its title from the County of Middlesex
where it was raised and where many of its members were recruited, No.604 Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force was formed at Hendon on the 17th March 1930 as a light-bomber unit. In its twenty-seven years of service the Squadron served as a
day and night-fighter unit within Fighter Command, flying such types as the Hawker Demon, Bristol Blenheim, Bristol Beaufighter, the superlative de Havilland Mosquito,
the Supermarine Spitfire and the de Havilland Vampire and Gloster Meteor jet-fighters. The Squadron was one of the first to be trained for night-fighting and one of
only six who pioneered the introduction airborne radar prior to the Winter Blitz of 1940/41, during which it established its reputation as one of the RAF’s principal night-fighter squadrons. By the war’s end in May 1945, the Squadron’s score stood
at 132 enemy aircraft confirmed as ‘destroyed’, mostly by night, and had made a number of its pilots and radar operators, such as ‘Cats-eyes Cunningham’ and ‘Jimmy Rawnsley’, household names. Three of its former officers reached Air Rank
and many received awards and decorations for their work with the Squadron. 604 was reformed after the war as a day-fighter unit, before moving its headquarters from
Hendon to North Weald, Essex, in 1949, where it remained until disbanded in 1957. The Squadron was mobilised in the defence of the UK on three occasions; the Munich Crisis of 1938, the Second World War in 1939 and the Korean War in 1951
and was awarded the Esher Trophy for Auxiliary efficiency on three occasions. The victims of 604sqdn were often the aircraft of KG100 the Luftwaffe's premier pathfinder squadron and, by the end of 1941, the squadron had flown for 5,800 hrs,
with 56 enemy aircraft destroyed, 40 damaged, and had gained 2 D.S.O.'s, 10 D.F.C.'s and a bar, 8 D.F.M.'s and 1 bar, 3 B.E.M.'s, to the ground crews, and a
M.E.B. to S/L Brown for his part in Sopley GCI.
Up to this date the squadron had lost 4 aircraft, with 8 crew members dead, a sacrifice that should not be forgotten.
SQUADRON HISTORY AND AIRCRAFTS
604 Squadron came into being at Hendon on the 17th of March 1930 with F/L F.J Fogarty as adjutant and flying instructor,with a Warrant Officer and 19 airmen they formed the nucleus on which the new squadron of part timers would be built.
De Havilland DH9
AVRO 504
The first aircraft on strengh were a De Haviland DH9 ex 600 (City of London) sqdn, an Avro504K from 605 (County of Warwick) sqdn and another DH9 from601 (County of London) On the 11th of September the sqdn recieved its first operational aircraft, these were Westland Wapitis and in May, 9 of these aircraft took part in the great Hendon Air Pageant, one of the countrys largest pre-war aviation events
Westland Wapiti
604 were affiliated with 32.(f). sqdn followed by annual camp at Tangmere where they became a blueband bombing squadron. In 1932 the squadron was visited by Air Marshall HRH,The Prince of Wales, the occasion was to present the squadron with the coveted Esher Trophy for being the best all round squadron in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Headquarters were opened in 1934 at Heath Brow, Hampstead by Vicount Trenchard, and during that summer the role of 604 changed to that of a fighter squadron from the light bomber duties it had started as, this was most popular with all of the members!.
Hawker Demon
After his 5 year stint S/L Gore handed over to S/L Gabriel who was one of the first
weekenders to qualify as a pilot with 604 sqdn. In 1935 Hawker Demons replaced the ageing Wapiti's and four of these were detailed to take part in the annual Mildenhall air review. 1936 saw the commisioning of a certain John Cunningham and also the winner of the Esher Trophy and again in 1938 only this time presented by ACM Hugh Dowding, also in this year the Hendon pageant included 604sqdn and after summer camp the squadron was called up and based at its wartime home of North Weald, Essex.
In 1939 camp was held at Hawkinge, and on the 24th of August the sqdn was embodied into the R.A.F. as a bone fide fighter squadron and every single officer and airman was present for this special occasion! On the 1st of September 1940 the Sqdn flew into North Weald
equipped now with Bristol Blenheim two seat fighters.
Bristol Blenheim
After a period of night flying duties, such as checking factories for blackout effectiveness and AA gun affiliation exercises, 604 became officially a night fighter sqdn. F/O Cunningham was crewed with his A/G "Jimmy" Rawnsley by this time and in December of 1939 had recieved their first "radar" equipped Bristol Blenheim P4847. The sqdn moved to Martlesham Heath for extensive training and to provide cover for the merchant ships using the East Coast ports. A move to Kenley, Surrey, followed later that year to cover the B.E.F's leave ships from France and on the 10th of May they escorted Blenheim Bombers to the beaches off the Hague where they attacked JU52 troop transports destroying 4 and damaging 4 others, one of 604's aircraft crashing in Holland, but the crew escaped with aid from the dutch civilians nearby. This was the first blood to the sqdn! The first night victory fell to the guns of F/O Hunter, this was a JU88, and in September to the great delight of all, the sqdn recieved its first Bristol Beaufighter AI (radar) aircraft, the airgunners were dissapointed with the lack of a gun turret but most were happy to re-muster as radar operators, by this time John Cunningham was a F/L and with a temporary R/O he destroyed a JU88 and in order to conceal from the germans the existence of a functional radar system the ruse was put about that F/L Cunningham posessed exceptional night vision, hence the nickname of "cats Eyes" a name he did not enjoy! This man, with "Jimmy" Rawnsley, went on to become one of ,if not the most, succesful night fighter teams of the Second World War.
The victims of 604sqdn were often the aircraft of KG100 the Luftwaffe's premier pathfinder squadron and, by the end of 1941, the squadron had flown for 5,800 hrs, with 56 enemy aircraft destroyed, 40 damaged, and had gained 2 D.S.O.'s, 10 D.F.C.'s and a bar, 8 D.F.M.'s and 1 bar, 3 B.E.M.'s, to the ground crews, and a M.E.B. to S/L Brown for his part in Sopley GCI.
Up to this date the squadron had lost 4 aircraft, with 8 crew members dead, a sacrifice that should not be forgotten.
The career of 604 squadron continued throughout the Second World War being based at Exeter from the 3rd of May and quickly sharing success with No 307 (Polish) squadron, Flt/lt crew downing a Do217 over Cowes, Isle of Wight over Studland Bay S/L skinner despatched an He111 on the 24th of May another He111 was destroyed by a new crew to 604 P/O Foster and Sgt Newton.
July saw the departure of John Cunningham for a rest period after 6 years with the Squadron. It would be impossible to render an account of all 604's victories here the source of this information is best read in the excellent book "Twenty One Squadrons a Complete History of the Auxiliary Squadrons of the Royal Air force".
Detachments of 604 operated from many airfields in England, from Leeds to , Cornwall to Essex, the squadron was successful on so many occasions, from downing the first He 177 four engine Bomber over Sunderland to destroying an E-Boat in the English Channel, for instance on the 27th of July S/L Hoy and W/Officer Ray, intercepted "weather Willie" a fast moving Ju88 that radioed reports for the U-Boat's and for Lord Haw Haws broadcasts, but the Ju88 was forced to radio that he would not be returning to base as he hit the sea! another "weather Willie" was destroyed on the 22nd of august by Wing Commander Maxwell, Wing commander Maxwell scored the squadrons 100th kill, and Wing Commander, Desmond Hughes came into the squadron as its new C/O. He was a former Boulton-Paul Defiant pilot from the Battle of Britain, with a DFC and two bars for night fighting with 125
(Newfoundland) squadron, and 600 (City Of London) squadron, his navigator was Flt Lt Laurie Dixon DFC and Bar.
De Havilland Mosquito
Wing Commander Maxwell left for a staff job 604 became equipped with the Mosquito MkX11, and soon after the squadron was airborne over the Invasion Beaches of Normandy. part of the squadron was first based on French soil at A15 the allied tag for the
Cherboug-Maupertus aerodrome, the rest still based in the UK at Blackbushe airfield to protect the supply ports for the Allies in Normandy. A move to allied field A8 (Picauville) saw the whole squadron together, seven aircraft airborne that night, four aircraft destroyed, but with a loss to the squadron of one aircraft, Flt Lt Hooper and F/O Hubbard DFC were never found. By the 1st of september the airfield at A8 had deteriorated so much that the squadron moved to B6 and then to B17 (Carpiquet) near Caen, Flt Lt Miller cannoned two armed Trawlers near Jersey, the squadron moved back to Preddanack Cornwall on the 24th of September to rearm with the latest Mosquito variant with an advanced new Radar. Another move to Odiham Hantshire saw 604 waiting to move back to France, but while here they made patrols to Belgium and Holland and in emergencies were able to land at Brussels-Melsbroek as this was now in allied hands, they were under control of 147 wing.
Another move saw 604 based at Lille-Vendrille France, with F/officer Cross killing two JU87's that night. On the 1st of January, the Germans mounted their last fling against allied airfields in Belgium and Holland, 604 were not affected, but S/L Furze claimed a He219 over Munchen Gladbach and in three quick combats Flt Lt Foster shot down three Ju88's bad weather stopped operations for a while, with rare sightings of enemy aircraft, most nights were spent hunting V1 flying bombs heading for Antwerp and England, An Me109 was destroyed on the 24th of March 1945, with continued bad weather over the continent of Europe, 604 aircraft made landings in the UK and it was some time after, before it became known that F/Officer T.R. Wood having destroyed a JU88 in the early hours of the 27th of March, had scored the final 604 kill of the Second World War. Bad weather reigned over the continent and flying was at a halt, this allowed the squadron to throw a thank you party for the squadrons ground crew at the University Hall in Lille.
On the 18th of April the squadron disbanded, the aircraft going to 264 and 409 squadrons the latter a Canadian night fighter unit, so ended the wartime story of 604 (County Of Middlesex) Squadron with a record of second to none!. Recruiting opened again at Hendon on the 1st of June 1946, and again Group Captain Cunningham became Commanding Officer, reverting to the rank of Squadron leader.
Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire
Now 604 was equipped with Spitfire LFXV1e aircraft, in 1948 an Essex flight was established at North Weald, and soon the whole squadron was there, as Hendon was becoming unsuitable for fighter aircraft. John Cunningham's other job as a test pilot for DeHavilland took much of his time and S/Leader K.T. Lofts took over as commanding officer. 604 regained the coveted Esher Trophy in 1949, but suffered a loss when S/L Lofts was killed in a flying accident, S/Leader A.Deytrikh succeeded as the C/O and now saw his
squadron change over from the Spitfires to jets with the introduction of the De Havilland Vampire F3 these were received in 1951.
De Havilland Vampire
Gloster Meteor
Middlesex County council publicly honoured 604 for their achievements on the 27th
February 1952 at the Guidhall Westminster, the Gloster Meteor F8 was issued to the squadron as its mount, with S/L T.P Turnbull as its C/O and was flying these aircraft in the front line of defence when in March 1957 came the decision to disband the flying units of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. On the 28th of May 1960 in Whitehall Sir Frederick Handley-Page presented the Standard awarded By the Queen to Flt Lt Buckley a former 604 pilot, the Standard was laid up in the RAF church of St Clement Danes, a formal parade was held, and so ended part of Britains aviation history.
But some were not letting it end there! with a loan of £250, a Percival Proctor 111 was aqquired G-ALOK (formerly RAF LZ589) appeared as the mount of the County Of Middlesex squadron flying group, the rest of the cost of £525 was subscibed by members, known as "oscar kilo" the aircraft gave pleasure to many.
132 german aircraft were shot down by 604 squadron, a totall of 37 DFC's or bars, 9 DFM's 4 BEM's, 3 Norwegian War medals, and countless "mentioned in Despatches" were given to 604 squadron, the books "Cover of Darkness" by Roderick Chisholme and "Nightfighter" by C.F Rawnsley, John Cunninghams Radar operator are Very good reads.
Squadron Markings
Red and Yellow interlocking triangles carried across the top of the wings, and along the side of the fuselage, and the armorial bearings of the County Of Middlesex on the tail. the Wartime Squadron code was NG, post war they were RAK, but from 1949 they once again
became NG
The "sword" is known as a Seax and the motto in latin translates as, "if you want peace, prepare for war" .
SHOT DOWN FOR THE KING
King George VI stood in the darkened “Starlights” caravan behind Squadron Leader Brown. Together, they peered down at what seemed to be a fuzzy image on the radar’s cathode ray tube display. From his position on the ground, Sqn/Ldr Brown relayed headings and altitudes directly to the Beaufighter R while the King listened in the speaker system behind. He would guide it to within three miles, hoping to position it above and behind the target, a German night bomber. As the Beaufighter closed to within two miles of the target, he verified with Sergeant Rawnsley, the radar operator on board the plane, that he had a solid radar fix on his on his Airborne Interception (AI) equipment then he handed off the interception. If
everything went properly, the rest of the interception would be done by the pilot and radar operator in flight.
Suddenly, Sqn/Ldr Brown realized that the Beaufighter was directly above their site — the Sopley Ground Control Interception (GCI) station. He turned to the King and suggested they go outside to watch the interception. Stepping out into the moonlit night, the two men lifted their eyes upward, searching for any sign of the two planes — the German plane and the pursuing Beaufighter piloted by Squadron Leader Cunningham. A faint drone from the engines was all that could be heard — then they saw something that looked like a faint red glow.
Squadron Leader John Cunningham meets King George at RAF Middle Wallop that night.
Earlier in the Night
There was little warning of the King’s visit to with 604 Squadron at RAF Middle Wallop on Wednesday, May 7, 1941. Nonetheless, everyone managed to get the airfield and into a presentable state. Accompanied by Sir Sholto Douglas, the King dined in the Officers Mess and then inspected and talked to the flight crews. For a time, the King spoke with Squadron Leader John Cunningham and then as quoted in the 604 Squadron History, he “asked
Sergeant Rawnsley his score and on being told nine he commented, ‘Nine eh? Will you get one for me tonight?’ Rawnsley very much overcome by the occasion, promised to do his best. His Majesty then left to be shown around Starlight GCI at Sopley.”
It was 10:03 pm when Sqn/Ldr Cunningham and Sergeant Rawnsley boarded their
was fitted with the Airborne Interception (AI) Mk IV radar, a system that had been introduced in late September 1940 and had served the RAF’s night fighter squadrons well.
Armed with four cannon and six machine guns and with a top speed of 320 mph, the Bristol Beaufighter was a formidable night fighter, made even more so when integrated into the innovative British Chain Home radar network that looked out to sea and warned of any approaching German aircraft. The flaw with the radar network, however, was that it left a void inland. Once a German plane crossed the line of coastal radars, it disappeared into the unmonitored heartland. To address this gap, the Ground Control Intercept (GCI) radar system was developed based on a mobile system, the so-called “Starlight” caravans. The first mobile installation was established at Sopley in December 1940.
RAF Sopley’s Mobile GCI unit as seen from above on January 5, 1941. Sopley was the most effective GCI in Britain, ending the war with over 100 victories.
The Radar System
The GCI radar unit was based on an adapted Army Gun Laying tracker, known as a Type 8 Radar. This was serviced by two aerials that were aligned onto a target by two airmen, known as Binders, who would pedal a stationary tandem that operated a mechanical linkage to turn the aerials based on instructions from the operator looking at the screen. It was a crude system by later standards, but at the height of the early war period, it was the best there was.
Large Crossley trucks were used to mount the transmitter and receiver each connected to an aerial, while the operations room was housed in a Brockhouse trailer. In turn, this held the crew of three — a height finder operator, a fighter controller who sat in front of the Plan Position Indicator [PPI] scope, and a plotter. Curtained off from the other crew, the plotter calculated aircraft speeds, headings and tracks of targets using a map and a Dalton computer. Sopley was also equipped with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system that allowed quick identification of Allied aircraft.
The RAF Sopley Type 8 Mobile GCI Radar System, c. 1941.
Integrated Radar Coverage
The mobile unit did not stand on its own, however, as initial radar contacts were provided by the Chain High and Chain Low stations that looked across the English Channel for incoming German planes. Contact information included the range, bearing, speed and height of the contact. The GCIs accepted the transferred plot and took over as the enemy aircraft crossed the coastline — from that point onward, the job was in the hands of the RAF’s night fighter units.
A high degree of skill was required to co-ordinate height, course and speed data, particularly at night. Squadron Leader Brown had with the help of Edward Bowen, a major contributor to the development of radar who personally developed the necessary control techniques.
Ultimately, he would become probably the most successful GCI controller of the war.
Scopes supporting the Type 8 radar at RAF Sopley.
Even with the extraordinary capabilities of the ground-based mobile GCI system, the real action typically culminated on board the night fighter. Once brought within close range, the AI operator in flight would look through a leather visor at two luminous green cathode tubes, on which he could read the horizontal and vertical positions of his target. Once in range, the echo that bounced off the enemy aircraft would appear as a blip on both screens. The
operator would call instructions to the pilot, bringing the plane into visual range – from there, it was the job of the pilot to shoot down the enemy.
With Sergeant Rawnsley calling instructions to Sqn/Ldr Cunningham, the two men navigated in behind the enemy aircraft — just what type of plane it was would be a mystery until they got within visual range.
A Luftwaffe He 111 as seen flying during 1941, from a sister squadron to the KG27 aircraft that was chased that night, this one being from KG26. Source: German Federal Archives
The View from the German Side
The town of Rennes in northern France served as the home of 7 Staffel Kampfgeschwader 27 (Boelcke), which was part of Luftlotte 3 within Fliegerkorps IV. That night, one of the Staffel’s bombes, a Heinkel He 111P-2 (Werke Nr 1639 IG+DR), had taken off into the cold evening air. On board were a crew of four — Pilot Oberfeldwebel Heinz Laschinski,
Observer Feldwebel Heinz Shier, Wireless Operator Oberfeldwebel Otto Willrich and Flight Engineer Feldwebel Fritz Klemm. As with many in the Staffel, the men were an experienced night bomber crew.
Laschinski had joined the Lufwaffe in 1934 and had then flown for Deutsche Luft Hansa before being recalled to the new Luftwaffe for service in Spain as part of the Condor Legion. He served with distinction with 2nd Staffel Kampfgruppe 88 receiving amongst other awards the Spanish Cross with Swords, awarded for having taken part in combat missions against the Republican forces. He was then assigned as a ‘blind flying’ instructor until in 1939 when he applied for transfer to a combat group.
A Heinkel He 111P with KG27, the exact type and squadron of the aircraft that was chased that night.
A Luftwaffe Night Raid
The mission that night was his 121st operational flight over Great Britain. His target was the Liverpool docks. After take off from Rennes, they had come across the English Channel at 4,000 metres (12,800 feet). Once they had cleared the flak batteries on the south coast of England, Laschinski aimed his He 111 for the Bristol Channel, intending to fly between Cardiff and Bristol so as to avoid the aerial defences of both cities.
It was a clear night and he could see the reflection of the moonlight off the English Channel as he reached down and behind to his left and found the two fuel tank transfer controls. He began to transfer fuel from the outer tanks to the inner ones. It wouldn’t be long before they would reach the Liverpool docks and, after having dropped their bomb load, they expected to return to Rennes, arriving in the early in the morning of May 7th. At that moment, they had no idea that just two miles behind, an RAF Beaufighter was steadily approaching. The German crewmen were always alert, however, scanning the darkness for a telltale flash of an exhaust fire or the silhouetting of an enemy hunter against the moon’s reflection off the water. The radar operator on the Bristol Beaufighter, Sergeant Rawnsley, focused on the AI — his only picture of the surrounding skies amidst the darkness of night. Calmly, he called out instructions to his pilot, Squadron Leader John Cunningham, asking for a steady descent toward the target ahead. The Stopley GCI had vectored them in, setting them up perfectly above and behind the German airplane. He felt the plane accelerate slightly as Sqn/Ldr Cunningham carefully edged the control yoke forward to bring the plane’s nose down and edge closer toward the target. If the German bomber didn’t change course, it would soon come into visual range and even now, Cunningham was scanning the skies ahead intently. They would have to ensure that they weren’t overtaking at a too rapid pace or they might end up overrunning the target or worse, even colliding with it.
In the moonlight, they saw the German plane ahead. Sqn/Ldr Cunningham slowed and carefully came up behind. From behind, it looked to be a Heinkel He 111, another night bomber of the Luftwaffe. The Germans were on a course to navigate between Cardiff and Bristol and were heading over the Bristol Channel. Were they going beyond or dropping their bombs one of the nearer cities? It didn’t matter, as the outcome would be the same now. Seeking positive identification, Sqn/Ldr Cunningham began to line up his attack plan.
Setting up the Attack
To prevent the Beaufighter from being silhouetted against the glistening, moonlit sea, Cunningham waited for his quarry to be over land. As soon as it crossed the coast and was clear of the Bristol Channel, he moved in. Ahead, the Heinkel’s blue exhaust flames were clearly visible and gave him an ideal focal point for holding formation. With care, he
performed his customary identification check. He needed to be absolutely sure of the aircraft type — it would do no good to shoot down another Beaufighter. He knew that such errors could happen easily at night and with the excitement of the chase.
Flying underneath, he looked up at the wing plan form and confirmed his target was a Heinkel He 111 bomber after all. There was no doubt. Never taking his eyes off of the bottom of the enemy plane, he pulled back on the throttles slightly. Slowly, the Beaufighter fell back into trail as he carefully positioned himself for the attack. Night fighter tactics differed sharply from those of the daytime boys in their Spitfires and Hurricanes. They could get into a swirling dogfight, shooting at whatever targets passed before their guns, trying to make sense of the melee, pick a target and attack. In the night, however, it was very different. Stealth, patience and ambush were the best moves. Further, you had to kill from the first shot — usually from so close that you couldn’t miss. If you engaged from farther away, the enemy might be only lightly damaged and thus, he might turn away and flee into the cloaking darkness of midnight. Even with luck, it would be difficult or even impossible to relocate him.
The unique shape of the Bristol Beaufighter, one of the preeminent night fighters of the war. Source: WWII aircraft identification cards.
The Attack Begins
Sqn/Ldr Cunningham checked with Sergeant Rawnsley a final time to make sure he was prepared. He reconfirmed too that there were no other aircraft around. Except for the German He 111, they were alone. As described by Sergaent Rawnsley in his later book, “Night Fighter”, the encounter unfolded deliberately and slowly, despite the excitement of finding and engaging a German plane:
“We were right below our target, a great fat prima-donna of a Heinkel. John started pulling up behind it and the long, long wait was even more agonising than usual. But the enemy crew showed no reaction. We were right behind and there came the final moment of tension with the sharp little lurches as John brought the sight to bear. Still there was no response from the Heinkel. Then came the blessed relief of the crash of the guns and the sudden surge upwards to get out of the way of the hurtling wreckage. A wicked orange glow appeared inside the fuselage of the Heinkel and the wheels fell down in the most forlorn way. As we
flew alongside, watching, the glow burst through the skin and the flames took over. The whole aircraft trembles and broke into a violent pitching and with a plume of flames streaming out behind it, the Heinkel went down in a headlong plunge to earth.”
A Heinkel He 111, one of Germany’s best medium bombers.
From the German Side
From the first sounds of the bullets impacting into his Heinkel, Pilot Oberfeldwebel Heinz Laschinski was in shock. Moments earlier, he had been transferring fuel from the outer wing tanks to the inner ones, unsuspecting that the British airplane was already upon them. When he heard a rattling of gunfire, he saw his observer, Heinz Schier, collapse next to him,
obviously dead. Seconds later, fuel spilled onto the cockpit floor. In an instant, it ignited and the cockpit was engulfed in flames. He shouted to the two other crew to bale out as he reached through the flames to grab the handles of his own escape hatch. There was no saving the plane. It was just a matter of survival — to get out before the plane exploded or he was burned alive.
He grasped the handles of the escape hatch and felt a stabbing pain. Blinking through the fire, he saw his hands melting onto the handles. He withdrew them and for an instant looked at his twisted, ruined fingers, as held them up before his eyes. There was only one way out, however. He reached up again and managed to unclip and slide the escape hatch back, burning his hands yet more. He stood up through the inferno to climb into the cold rushing wind from the speed of the plane as it angled through the dark sky. Even then, he couldn’t free himself. His seat parachute caught on the exit hatch, trapping him half in the cockpit, half out. He couldn’t leap clear. As the flames were roaring at his feet and legs, in a panic he pulled the rip cord.
Whether he blacked out or blocked it out he would never know, but a second later he found himself drifting below the mass of his glowing plane, flaming as it careened onward toward its end. Then his parachute was snapped open and jerked him to a stop. The plane sped off into a fiery descent. Then he passed out once again.
Bristol Beaufighter Mk IIF night fighter of No. 255 Squadron RAF at Hibaldstow,
Lincolnshire, as seen on September 5, 1941, with its AI Mark IV interception radar. Source: Imperial War Museum
Survivors
Oberfeldwebel Heinz Laschinski came to lying on his back in a damp field. In spite of his very painful burnt hands, he managed to release his parachute. Years later in an interview with author Kenneth Wakefield, he told of how he had walked across a field until he came to a hedge. Then he followed that to a gate. There, he decided to hide his maps and pistol in a drainage pipe. It was pointless to hide himself or try to evade — he was in England, an island nation and his wounds needed immediate care. Through the gate, he walked along a lane to a farm house. It was nearing midnight when he knocked on the door and woke the elderly residents inside. In his best English, he asked them to call the police. He could no longer feel the pain of his burns. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the grass outside to await his fate.
Shortly afterward, the Home Guard, police and some local residents arrived with a number of vehicles. Laschinski’s Heinkel had come down near Weston Zolyand and the closet hospital was at Bridgewater in Somerset. He would be taken there to receive care for his wounds. Once at the hospital, his hands were heavily bandaged. He realized too that his face was badly burned. It would be a long recovery. In later years he remembered with gratitude the excellent treatment he received — even in wartime, the English provided the finest care. He was in turn well liked at Bridgewater and at the RAF hospital at Locking in Weston Super Mare to which he was transferred a month later on June 10, 1941.
Life as a POW
When he had recovered sufficiently to be discharged, he was sent first to the POW staging area at Swindon. From there, he was sent onward to a POW camp at Bury in Lancashire. Kindly, the British had told him that two of his crew members had been found alive near the wreckage of his Heinkel, but it was only when he met up with his wireless operator,
Oberfeldwebel Otto Willrich, that he found out more.
What he learned was that when Willrich had heard the order to bale out, he had climbed down into the ventral gunner’s position below the aircraft. There, he had found Fritz Klemm’s body. He had been killed by the guns of the Beaufighter — only one other, not two, had
survived. After leaving the aircraft, Willrich landed near a searchlight site between Durston and North Petherton, south of Bridgewater. Almost immediately, he was taken prisoner. As for their Heinkel He 111P, the aircraft had broken up in mid-air after the two men had escaped. The majority of the wreckage had come down at Andersea Farm in West Zoyland at 11:30 pm.
Sqn/Ldr John Cunningham, who would go on to complete the war with a total of 20 victories over German aircraft.
Aftermath
A year later in 1942, Sopley mobile GCI was upgraded with large permanent buildings and the latest radar technology and support systems. For the next 30 years there was continual development including the construction of an underground bunker. Subsequently, in the post-war period, it emerged as a regional control facility. What had started as a handful of mobile, truck-mounted radars, communications vans and control stations had evolved into a full-scale radar base. Decades later, with the centralization of air traffic control, the unit was finally closed. In September 1974, RAF Sopley was handed over to the Army. Later, the site was put up for sale. It was sold and removed from the Army’s installation list in 1993.
As for Heinz Lashinski, he grew a beard to cover his burnt face while he was in the hospitals undergoing burn treatments. After the war, he returned to Germany in 1947 with hopes of returning to flying as a commercial pilot. The long convalescence and the shattered state of the post-war German economy prevented him achieving his ambition, however. Instead, he found employment with the German Post Office. Finally, in the late 1970s, he made plans to visit England and meet the people who had helped and befriended him after he had been shot down. Sadly, just two weeks before his planned visit, he fell ill and died.
RAF Sopley had received upgraded radar by the end of the war; in the background is the control center bunker. Source: Imperial War Museum
Looking back on the engagement that night — May 7, 1941, which was today in aviation history — the attack and downing of Heinz Lashinski’s Heinkel He 111P was just one in thousands of such stories that combine into the history of the air war in WWII as we know it today. In a sense it was a special event because it was witnessed by the King of England. In another sense, however, it is just another of the many stories of war that are tragic, terrible and rarely glorious, even if often heroic. The scars of conflict are deep and memories are long.
We can only hope that we will never again experience a war of such terrible magnitude. We should give thanks too for what these brave men and women did in those hard years. They gave us the world that we enjoy today — one where we can fly in peace.
King George VI Presents Trophy To 604 Squadron Of RAF,
At Buckingham Palace
LS. King, George VI, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) and Princess Margaret walking out of Palace and to top of terrace steps.
MS. The Commanding officer of the 604 Squadron salutes and invites King to inspect parade.
King walk down steps and shake hands with the Commanding Officer.
MS. King and Commanding Officer inspecting the squadron. inspecting airmen, & SCU.
Queen Elizabeth talking to the squadron members and Princess Margaret follows behind.
MS. The King speaking at presentation ceremony –
'I am very glad to present the Lord Esher Trophy this year to the winning squadron 604 Squadron of the RAAF (Royal Auxiliary Air Force).
I congratulate all the officers and men who have raised to so high a level the efficiency of the unit. SCU. 'We realise that your efficiency has
been won at the cost of absence from your homes and families and we are glad to acknowledge the sacrifices which they, as well as you, have made to achieve it. In so honouring you, today, we are paying tribute to the whole of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Your Squadron, born 20 years ago, has a history of which it has every reason to be proud. Four times in the fourteen years, in which it has been awarded, you have won this trophy. It is given to the Squadron considered to be the most efficient
and judges by operational standards... (part missing) Squadron was well enough prepared to undertake night fighter operation and its score of well over a hundred enemy planes destroyed is a tribute to its
Officer walks up to receive trophy from King
the march past of the winning 604 squadron. MS. King and Queen and others watching march past,
the families of the men watching march past.
MS. The King, Queen and Princess Margaret chatting to families of men of 604 squadron.
Lawrence S. ‘Benny’ Goodman
former 617 (dambusters) squadron leader/pilot
To Benny from the boysLawrence S. ‘Benny’ Goodman 1920-2007
Goodman former 617 squadron leader volunteered for aircrew at 18 years of age and was called up in 1940. After basic training he went to RAF Abingdon - a Whitley OTU - for what
he was told would be straight through training. This did not materialise and he found himself in the role of a Ground Gunner. In 1941, a posting eventually came through to the Initial Training Wing followed by Elementary Flying School at Peterborough and an instructors course at Woodley, Reading; then to Clyffe Pyparde, a holding unit. A sea journey to Canada
followed and Service Flying Training School on Ansons. On completion he was posted to Kingston, Ontario, to instruct Acting Leading Naval Airmen on the Royal Navy tactics of the
time, e.g. jinking after take off, dive bombing, etc. Eventually he returned to the UK and OTU on Wellingtons at Silverstone and Heavy Conversion Bomber Unit at Swinderby on Stirlings, followed by a short course at the Lancaster Conversion Unit. He served in Transport
Command for some time flying Stirlings and later flew Hastings with No.51 Squadron. After an interview Benny and his crew were surprised and delighted to find they had been selected for dambusters 617 squadron - this was in 1944 and they had stayed till the end of the war.
He completed 30 missions. He was eventually posted to No.604 Squadron, which was equipped with the legendary Supermarine Spitfire. It was a complete joy for Benny who said
that ‘the Spitfire was the most beautiful, beautiful aeroplane to fly’.
One of the few notable raids L.S Goodman had
In the autumn of 1944, 617 Squadron joined 9 Squadron in attacks with 12,000 lb 'Tallboy' bombs on the German battleship Tirpitz moored in Norwegian waters. The first two attempts were inconclusive owing to cloud and smokescreens, but on 12 November they found Tirpitz with no protection. Sustaining two direct hits, the ship was shattered by an internal explosion
-Dropping the Grand Slam 22,000 bomb on the German Arnsberg Viaduct, 19th March 1945.
In the last months of the war, 617 Squadron made further successful strikes against the German rail and canal network, coastal defences and previously invulnerable U-boat pens, using 'Tallboys' and the monstrous new 22,000 lb 'Grand Slam' bomb which blew a 40 foot
gap in the targe
t
. Right to the end, 617 Squadron maintained its position as Bomber Command's ultimate precision bombing specialists.Benny remembers:
“I never had any concern, carrying a Grand Slam bomb on take-off, that it wasn’t going to get off the ground. It was a little but sluggish, but anything they put on, a Lancaster was capable of handling. It was slow in climbing, but we got to bombing height and joined the others and got over the target. My recollection was that we didn’t have to say ‘bomb gone’ because the aircraft went up like a rocket. But my flight engineer Jock said, not only did the aeroplane climb quickly, but he heard a hell of a bang; it may have been the release mechanism. It never got to the point where the whole squadron had Grand Slams, we always had a mixture with Tallboys. There were no complaints about the flying characteristics, despite the huge load.
-The attack on Berchtesgarten Htlers Eagles Nest, 25th May 1945.
The last operation for Benny with 617 squadron was the attack on Hitler’s famous mountain retreat - "the Eagle's Nest" - at Berchtesgaden.
By the end of the war Benny Goodman had completed 30 operational sorties.
The odds of survival whilst serving in Bomber Command were indisputably
against him, so to make it through a tour of duty unscathed is something Benny
attributes to pure luck. He remembers his last operational flight with the
Squadron:
“The last trip I ever did was Berchtesgaden, the Eagle’s Nest and they certainly had flak there I can tell you, but it was right at the end and I think it was more of a token trip than anything else really, to show people that we could do it.”
The Dortmund Ems Canal,
attack on The U-Boat pens at Brest and Lorient,
Urft Dam, Berchtesgaden, Ijmuiden, Arnsberg Railway Viaduct, Bergen, Bielefield, Poortershaven, Attack on shipping in The Oslo Fjord on 31st December 1944, the attack on Le Havre on the 14th June 1944, the Attack on the Weser Bridge at
Nienberg 22nd March 1945.
All these raids were carried out with 617 Squadron
Benny's Log Book & Tirpitz Raid entry
Major / Group-Captain / Lieutenant-Colonel
16/9/1882 - † 9/8/1953
Alan Dore was born in 1882, Highgate, Middlesex. He was educated at Mill Hill School , Hendon. He was commissioned in to the 1st Volunteer Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in 24th March
1906. He was promoted to Lieutenant and the 21st January 1907.
On the 1st July 1908 he was promoted to rank of Captain and joined the 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.
In 1915, with the rank of Major, he served with the 1/7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment as second-in-command, and landed with them at Boulogne , France during the night of 31st march 1915. However, after only a few months he was wounded on the 6th May 1915 and returned to
England to recover.
On the 24th March 1916 he was seconded for duty as an Observer with the Royal Flying Corps. Appointed Flying Officer on the 3rd November 1916.
He learnt to fly on BE’s with 13 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and then joined 43rd Squadron as a Flying Officer. He later took command of 43rd Squadron on the 6th March 1917 with the rank of Flight Commander, after Major Sholto Douglas was injured after hitting and killing a horse on take-off.
During his last few day in command of 43rd Squadron, September 1917, he shot down a German plane. In 1917 he was mentioned in despatches twice (London Gazette dates 04/01/1917 and 11/12/1917).
In 1918, he married Ciceley E. M. Maund (Hampstead, London ), daughter of Edward and Ealeanor Maund. Ciceley was born in Marhouseland , South Africa in 1896. Her father had been a tutor at Trinity College School , Oxford in the 1880’s.
Major Dore was Awarded the D.S.O. (London Gazette dated 1st January 1918) and appointed Temporary Lieut.-Colonel on the 11th March 1918.
On the 7th November 1918 he was restored to the establishment (Worcestershire Regiment) and on the 4th February 1919 he was transferred to the Army unemployed list.
On the 19th March 1930 Lieut-Colonel Alan Sidney Whitehorn Dore, D.S.O. raised and was the original commander of No. 604 ( County of Middlesex ) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force. He was given the rank of Squadron Leader (Honorary Wing Commander). He commanded this squadron until the 8th April 1935. This squadron later flew night-fighter Blenheims in the Battle of Britain. On the 1st June 1936 he was appointed to the General List in the rank of Wing Commander.
In 1949 he was awarded a C.B. (Order of Bath, third class) in the Kings Birthday honours (London Gazette 9th June 1949) and listed with the rank of Group-Captain . At the time he was Chairman of Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association of the County of Middlesex.
Lieut-Colonel Alan Sidney Whitehorn Dore, D.S.O. had tree children; Lola Miele Dore born 9th November 1919, Alan C. B. Dore born 1923 and John Bingham Whitehorn Dore born 22nd October 1924. Interestingly, Lola Miele Dore and John Bingham Whitehorn both qualified as pilots, in 1938 and 1948 respectively.
Group Captain John ‘Cats Eye’ Cunningham CBE
-DSO** - DFC* - AE – DL
Gp Capt Cunningham, from Croydon, south London, became interested in planes from an early age. He joined de Havilland as a trainee in 1935 and then enrolled with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force’s 604 Squadron. He was called up by the RAF as a nightfighter pilot at the outbreak of war, and served with his navigator Jimmy Rawnsley
His first ‘kill’ was on November 19, 1940 when he shot down a Junkers 88 bomber crossing the Sussex coast. He went on to destroy two Heinkel 111 bombers over the English Channel and over Lyme Bay and was almost immediately awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with bar. He downed two enemy bombers on the same patrol on April 8, 1941 and three in three patrols the following week. As a result he was awarded the DSO. The second bar award to the DSO came in July 1942 after he had claimed 16 kills and the third award in March 1944, by which time he was a wing commander in 85 Squadron and had claimed 20 kills. In October 1943 he had a near miss when a Junkers 88 opened fire at his Mosquito plane and shattered his windscreen. After the war Gp Capt Cunningham became the chief test pilot for de Havilland and went on to test the Comet, the world’s first jet airliner, and oversaw its development from prototype to production. He also broke the world altitude record in a Ghost Vampire jet.He later became a chief test pilot and executive director of British Aerospace and retired in 1980, having never married.
His medal group was made up of his CBE, DSO with two bars, DFC with one bar, the 1939-45 Star with Battle of Britain bar, the Air Crew Europe Star, the Defence Medal with bronze oak leaf, the Air Efficiency Award, the US Silver Star and the Russian Order of the Patriotic War.
Highly regarded, probably throughout the world, as an exceptional night-fighter pilot, which led to his nickname of ‘Cats Eyes’ Cunningham. During the Battle of Britain Cunningham served with No 604 Squadron, and went on to achieve a total of 20 destroyed, 3 probables and 7 damaged by the end of 1945.
Fighter John ‘Cat’s Eyes’ Cunningham downed at least 20 German bombers at over the English Channel . Up to 19 of these were shot down at night and he became a hero of the RAF for his ability to see in the dark and for his skill and bravery. Cunningham was the highest scoring night fighter in the Second World War.
Early life:
Cunningham was born in Croydon in South London, the son of the company secretary of the Dunlop Rubber Company. He first flew at a young age, while attending preparatory school at Sleaford. He was subsequently a pupil at Whitgift School, a public school in Croydon. After leaving school, he joined de Havilland Aircraft in 1935 as an apprentice. In the same year he also joined Royal Auxiliary Air Force and became a member of No. 604 (County of
Middlesex) Squadron; he made his first solo flight in 1936. Cunningham subsequently became a junior test pilot with de Havilland, working with light aircraft alongside Geoffrey de Havilland, the company founder's son. He famously destroyed one bomber without firing a single shot after he daringly dived down through cloud at great speed and drove the enemy aircraft into the ground. The secret to his devastating eyesight, Carrots!
The late Battle of Britain airman's insistence that it was the humble garden
root vegetable which kept his sight in tip top form convinced generations of
children to eat their vegetables. It has since been revealed that Group Captain
Cunningham’s ability to see enemy planes at night was more likely to be
down to top secret radar technology that he was one of the first to trial than
carrots. But the myth was snapped up by war time health ministers as a way
to encourage children towards healthy eating. Cunningham’s night fighting
skills were used as a ruse to encourage Britain children to eat more of the
humble vegetable
.And it is hoped his legacy will continue to inspire future
generations of young pilots.
The first flight, on July 27 1949, of the prototype de Havilland Comet airliner from Hatfield, north of London, was a technological leap over the rest of the 20th century; the pilot that day was John Cunningham, who has died aged 84.
The former Royal Air Force group captain launched civilian jet aviation, and gave the British industry what appeared to be a five-year lead over its American rivals, principally at Boeing. The de Havilland four-engined jet was almost twice as fast as any of its contemporaries, and not very much slower than most airliners of today.
The saga of the Comet was to end in tragedy and anti-climax. Its spectacular initial success gave Cunningham global celebrity, but within the confined, monochrome media of austerity Britain, Cunningham was already famous. In 1947 he had taken a de Havilland Vampire jet fighter to a then world record height of 59,460 feet, without a pressure suit; and during the second world war he had been the Royal Air Force's most celebrated night-fighter pilot, credited with shooting down 20 enemy aircraft.
The Comet was one of three airliners conceived in 1943 by the government's Brabazon committee to challenge the American domination of civil aviation; de Havilland, headed by the autocratic Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, began work on what became the Comet as the war ended. The company's chief test pilot had been Sir Geoffrey's son, Geoffrey, but in 1946 he was killed while flying an experimental Dh108 jet over the Thames estuary.
So Cunningham was offered the job of chief test pilot and the task of finding out, during 163 flights, why the Dh108 had crashed. The applied research that Cunningham conducted in the late 1940s on the Dh108's aerodynamics ultimately paid off in the wing design of a
succession of European aircraft, all the way through to the Airbus of today. During those three years the new chief test pilot, from his office in the corner of a hangar in Hatfield, lived with the Comet as it took shape; knew everybody who worked on it; tested the plane's
engines aboard Lancastrian converted bombers, Vampires and Dh108s; and flew American Lockheed Constellations to acclimatise himself to big airliners.
And then, in the late afternoon of that July day in 1949 - on what was his birthday and that of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland - Cunningham took the Comet to 10,000 feet over Hertfordshire. Late 1940s Britain generated icons of earth, air and sea, which implied that the country was emerging from austerity, indeed that it had a technological future. There were the Morris Minor and Standard Vanguard cars, Cunard's "green goddess" liner, the Caronia, and, above all, the Comet, a magnificent piece of design, which, with Cunningham at the controls, attracted crowds wherever it flew. It even co-starred in David Lean's 1952 film The Sound Barrier. That year, too, it entered passenger service.
But within two years a series of catastrophic crashes had grounded the aircraft. By the time the problem - pressurisation fatigue failure on the fuselage - had been solved, the Comet's lead had gone and the first generation of American jet airliners was entering service.
Cunningham was born in south Croydon, the son of an executive at the Dunlop tyre company, and educated at Whitgift School. He was fascinated by birds and aircraft - interests which remained undimmed eight decades later. By the mid-1920s he was watching aircraft flying at Kenley aerodrome, making elastic-powered models, and, together with his father, pacing Croydon airport. At preparatory school in Sleaford, he made his first flight in an old biplane. In 1935 Cunningham joined de Havilland as a three-year technical training apprentice. That year he also enrolled in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, learning to fly at Hendon, north London, with 604 County of Middlesex Squadron, going solo in 1936.
In the inter-war period, de Havilland was a maverick in a British aviation industry heavily dependent on military orders. The firm specialised in trainers, racers, civilian aeroplanes, small airliners like the elegant, fast - and wooden - Albatross that flew the Croydon-Le Bourget service. Cunningham recalled that in those days Sir Geoffrey de Havilland did not enjoy working with the Ministry of Supply "building great flying battleships" and as for the Air Staff, the entrepreneur thought them out of date. By the end of the decade Sir Geoffrey had given Cunningham a job in the light aircraft department, where he worked as a junior test pilot with the autocrat's son, Geoffrey, on the Moth Minor light aircraft.
Cunningham was called up as a nightfighter pilot in August 1939. The end of the Battle of Britain in autumn 1940 meant that the Luftwaffe focused on the Blitz, the night bombing of cities against which British air defences were hopelessly inadequate. The radar equipped nightfighter was the key weapon; the first squadron to be equipped with such aircraft (albeit lumbering, obsolete converted Blenheim bombers) was 604.
For the first time in air combat, Cunningham, using interception radar, shot down a Junkers Ju88 bomber crossing the Sussex coast on the night of November 20, 1940. Soon after, the squadron was re-equipped with the more effective Beaufighter. With Jimmy Rawnsley operating the radar, Cunningham shot down a clutch of bombers, including three Heinkels on one night.
Early in 1941 he was back at Hatfield to see another of de Havilland's wooden aircraft, the phenomenally fast prototype Mosquito. Until the advent of the Comet eight years later this was the plane most closely identified with Cunningham. In July 1942 Cunningham took over command of No 85 squadron, flying Mosquito NF11s.
Like the dam-busting bomber commander Guy Gibson, he had become a wartime media star. He was nicknamed "Cat's Eyes" - which he disliked - and his prowess at locating enemy planes in the dark was attributed to his consumption of carrots, launching a myth. Cunningham observed later that it was the top secret radar on the Mosquito, rather than vegetables, that accounted for his success. But the name stuck - he was still "Cat's Eyes" to neighbours outside Harpenden half a century on.
By 1944 he had risen to group captain night operations, number 11 group, and he was again called to Hatfield to assess a new aircraft - smooth, fast, "it was," he observed, "an absolute revelation." The machine was the Vampire, de Havilland's first jet. At the end of the war, he made up his mind. In December 1945, the group captain, aged 28, rejoined the company at Hatfield.
His working life was to revolve around that factory. After the Comet disasters he tested later versions, crucially the Comet IV which, in 1957, inaugurated the first transatlantic jet service, ahead of the Boeing 707, for the British Overseas Airways Corporation. From 1962, he was test pilot on the first three-engined jet airliner, the Trident, and on the HS125 executive jet. By then de Havilland had been swallowed by the mergers that swept the British aviation industry.
In 1978 he became a British Aerospace executive director, and two years later he retired. By the 1990s de Havilland at Hatfield was rubble. Yet Cunningham's beloved Comet survives in the shape of the RAF's Nimrods, usually far out to sea; for, despite additional bulges and blisters, the maritime patrol aircraft is recognisably the Comet design that he flew more than half a century ago
Cunningham was awarded an OBE in 1951, and made a CBE in 1963, two more honours amid a cluster of wartime medals - from Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union - and record flights. He never married; his mother said he was in love with the Comet. He did fall in love with a Norwegian in 1947. The engagement ended a year later.
In old age, Cunningham's demeanour was still that of the gentleman-hero, affable, modest, precise, the figure captured on black and white celluloid, stepping down from the Mosquito, the Vampire and the Comet.
After I had interviewed him in 1996, we contemplated a painting of the Comet 1 in the hall, then walked out to the front garden and stared out over the fields towards Luton airport. He said that one could see the airliners landing, unprompted, or at least their tail-fins."It was a huge effort," he observed, "making commercial jet aviation successful. It started with de Havilland's. I was fortunate." He was rather more than that.
· Group Captain John Cunningham, test pilot, born July 27 1917; died July 21 2002
Cunningham / Rawnsley became a household name in England after shooting down three HE 111s in one night
Cecil Frederick "Jimmy" Rawnsley 1904 – † 1965 DSO – DFC - DFM*
Flight Lieutenant, Cecil Frederick "Jimmy" Rawnsley 1904 – † 1965
Cats Eyes' Cunningham left & AI Operator Jimmy Rawnsley right
Flight Lieutenant Cecil Frederick "Jimmy" Rawnsley DSO DFC DFM was a British Royal Air Force night fighter observer radar operator during World War II. He flew many of his sorties with John "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham who was credited with 20 kills, of which 19 were
claimed at night.
Rawnsley initially served as an air-gunner but retrained to become a navigator/radar operator and was sent to No. 604 Squadron RAF flying Beaufighters. Using the new airborne interception (AI) equipment (an early form of airborne radar). Using this tracking device at
night, Rawnsley was able to guide Cunningham onto targets. Their first confirmed "kill" came on the night of 19 - 20 November, 1940, when they downed a German Junkers Ju-88
bomber over Oxfordshire.
On 4 April, 1941 he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) to which he added a Bar on 23 May of the same year. With mounting success he was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross (DFC) on 19 September 1941.
In January 1943, Rawnsley transferred to No. 85 Squadron RAF along with Cunningham. They now flew a Mosquito and within the year has downed four more enemy aircraft. On the
26 October 1943, after flying over 200 sorties with Cunningham and having been his radar operator during the downing of 17 enemy planes he was awarded a Distinguished Service
Order (DSO).
Rawnsley’s Medals / awards / news cuts
4 April 1941 - Sergeant Cecil Frederick Rawnsley, Auxiliary Air Force, No. 604 Squadron is
awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy:
Sergeant Rawnsley has shown great keenness both as an air gunner and radio operator and has materially assisted his pilot to destroy two enemy aircraft.
— London Gazette
23 May 1941 - Sergeant Cecil Frederick Rawnsley, DFM (804251), Auxiliary Air Force, No.
604 Squadron is awarded a bar to his Distinguished Flying Medal in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy:
This airman has continued to display the greatest ability and efficiency as wireless operator. He has assisted his pilot in the destruction of at least 7 enemy aircraft. He has been a splendid
inspiration to his fellow operators. — London Gazette
19 September 1941 - Pilot Officer Cecil Frederick Rawnsley, DFM, No. 604 Squadron, is
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy.
26 October 1943 - Flight Lieutenant Cecil Frederick Rawnsley, DFC, DFM (102089) Royal
Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 85 Squadron is awarded the Distinguished Service Order in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy:
As observer, Flight Lieutenant Rawnsley has participated in more than 200 sorties and his brilliant work is beyond praise. He has assisted in the destruction of 17 enemy aircraft, 16 of
them at night. In addition to his work in the Air, Flight Lieutenant Rawnsley has devoted much service towards the training of other members of aircraft and his efforts have been attended with excellent results. Flight Lieutenant Rawnsley has rendered invaluable service
— London Gazette
This photo, via J Popelka, shows pilots of 131 (County of Kent) Sqn. Colin is 2nd from left in the front row. He joined 131 Sqn at Westhampnet in December 1942, and when they went to
Scotland in January 1943, swopping with No 610 Sqn, he was granted permission to stay behind & join No 610 Sqn.
Collin Hodgkinson who died aged 76, lost both his legs learning to fly, but, inspired by the example of the legless fighter ace Douglas Bader, became an accomplished fighter pilot in the RAF. Although he called himself "the poor man's Bader" Hodgkinson had no cause to cast himself as an understudy. Such was his courage that he succeeded despite bouts of
claustrophobia and an admitted fear of flying and combat. He also had a horror of being forced to ditch in the Channel and stuffed his hollow legs with ping-pong balls, hoping that they would help to keep him afloat. Once, at 30,000 ft, he took violent evasive action before realising that what he had taken to be a clatter of gunfire was the noise of ping-pongballs exploding at that altitude. But his self-doubt was masked by the bluff, boisterous bonhomie that characterised not only his wartime career as a fighter pilot but also his postwar success in the competitive world of advertising and public relations. Hodgkinson was already beginning to be talked about as "a second Bader" when he joined No 611 squadron in June 1943. He flew Spitfires from Coltishall, Norfolk, under Wing-Commander "Laddie" Lucas, the hero of the Battle of Malta. One August morning Hodgkinson was part of an escort to 36 American B-26 bombers in an attack on Bernay airfield near Evreux, north-west of Paris. The wing was turning for home when more than 50 FW 190s appeared up-sun. The Luftwaffe fighter pilots fell upon the Spitfires. Lucas turned 611's Spitfires into the attack. There was a furious melee in which the squadron fought all the way back to the coast. Hodgkinson, remembering his father teaching him to shoot on the family's Somerset estate, shouted: "Swing with it" and. making a well judged beam-into-quarter attack, picked off a 190 and sent it spinning
earthwards just as it.was fastening onto Lucas's tail. Lucas recalled: "It was an uncommonly quick and accurate piece of shooting. Hodgkinson contributed handsomely to a total of five
190s destroyed against two Spit's. "In 12 rough and eventful minutes Hodgkinson had demonstrated that, despite his massive disability, he could match his skills against the best that General Adolf Galland and his JagdBeschwader 26 had to offer." It was Hodgkinson's second "kill". Earlier he had shot down a FW 190 just off the end of Brighton pier. Colin Gerald Shaw Hodgkinson was born at Wells, Somerset, on Feb. 11 1920. His father had been awarded the MC and Bar as a Royal Flying Corps pilot in the First World War, and was to serve as an intelligence wing-commander in the Second World War. Hodgkinson's earliest memories of his father were of a powerful man in hunting pink. As he learned later, he was an outstanding Master of Foxhounds with the Mendip, a big-game hunter and a fine shot. Soon in the saddle himself, the squire's son followed his father's country pursuits until, being judged difficult and unruly, he was condemned to the harsh discipline of a cadetship at the Nautical College, Pangbourne. In the summer of 1938 Hodgkinson spent an idyllic holiday riding with the French Cavalry School at Saumur, in the Loire, before being accepted for pilot training as a midshipman in the Fleet Air Arm. After training aboard the aircraft carrier Courageous, he had gone solo and completed 20 hours in a Tiger Moth biplane trainer when he collided with another aircraft. At the time, acconipanied by his instructor, Hodgkinson was practicing blind flying on instruments with a hood over his head. The Tiger crashed from 800ft at Gravesend, killing the instructor and so grievously injuring Hodgkinson that his legs were amputated. During a long period in hospital he encountered Sir Archibald McIndoe who invited him to his celebrated wartime RAF plastic surgery unit at the Queen Victoria
Hospital, East Grinstead, for some work on his face. Although he was a naval type,
Hodgkinson was welcomed into Mclndoe's Guinea Pig Club brotherhood of burned airmen. Such was their spirit that he determined to emulate Bader and to fly again. He set his heart on flying Spitfires and by the autumn of 1942 had wheedled his way out of the Navy and into the RAF as a pilot officer. He was briefly with No.131, a Spitfire squadron before moving on in the new year, successively to 610 and 510 squadrons. He learned his trade by flying sweeps over occupied France. The following March he was promoted Flying officer and in June joined 611, then in the famous Biggin Hill wing. After his August bomber escort exploit over France, Hodgkinson returned to 501 as a flight commander. In November, during a high altitude weather reconnaissance his oxygen supply failed, and he crashed into a French field. Badly mangled and minus one of his tin legs he was rescued from the blazing Spitfire by two farm workers. He was reunited with them in 1983, when they presented him with a part of his aircraft's propeller. He had not seen them since being stretchered away en route for a prisoner of war camp via a railway station where his guards abandoned him for some hours in a lavatory while they sheltered from air-raids. After 10 months Flt-Lt Hodgkinson was repatriated, being deemed of no further use to his country. Yet such was his irrepressible spirit, that after being mended again by McIndoe, he resumed flying, ending the war with a ferry unit at Filton, Bristol. This gave him, as he was to admit, the opportunity of indulging in some pocket-money smuggling, trading such "contraband" as nylons, utility cloth, tea and coffee for cases of brandy among other "imports". Once, he said, he carried gold in his tin legs. Although he was released from the service in 1946 Hodgkinson returned in 1949 as a weekend flyer. He became a jet pilot and flew Vampires with 501 and 604 squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force until the early 1950s. Civilian life presented fresh challenges, and he plunged enthusiastically into the postwar regeneration of advertising and public relations. From the agency Erwin Wasey he moved into PR, learned the ropes and broke away to establish Colin Hodgkinson Associates. With the drive and presson spirit he carried over from fighter days, Hodgkinson prospered, and attracted a mix of prestigious and solid industrial accounts. He also tried politics, standing as a Conservative in the safe Labour seat of South West Islington in the 1955 general election. He made an impressive debut and rediscovered his youthful boxing skills in a punch-up with Labour supporters. Articulate and a fluent
writer, Hodgkinson was briefly air correspondent with the fledgling ITN. In 1957 he
published "Best Foot Forward", an entertaining account of his life until then.
In 1986 he moved permanently to his holiday home in the Dordogne. He married first June Hunter, a former fashion model. After her death he married Georgina, a Frenchwoman, who survives him. Acknowledgements to the Daily Telegraph, London.
Frank Hodgkinson
After service as an official World War II artist, Frank Hodgkinson left Australia in 1947 to study and travel throughout Europe. During this period he took some lessons at S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris. He returned to Sydney in 1953. Then, after winning the inaugural Helena Rubinstein Scholarship in 1958, he took up residence in Spain; John Olsen was living nearby. On a number of occasions in the 1960s Hodgkinson returned to Australia for exhibitions. During a trip to Perth in 1969 he was invited to travel through the north-west of the state. The journey reawakened his need for the Australian landscape and resulted in his relocation to Queensland at the end of 1970.In 1971 Hodgkinson welcomed Clifton Pugh's invitation to visit him at 'Dunmoochin'. He joined Pugh and John Olsen at this artists' colony on the outskirts of Melbourne at Cottles Bridge. Pugh, who had recently returned from S.W. Hayter's school, was keen to experiment with the oil viscosity etching process, and his enthusiasm proved to be a major stimulus for Hodgkinson's printmaking. Within a short period he produced two suites of prints, Inside the Landscape and Landscape Inside, and, jointly with Pugh, a book of prints and the poems of Harry Roschenko, titled IS. In his figurative landscapes, time-worn lines become rich and sensuous - full of colour and texture in a joyous celebration of female and landscape forms. At the end of 1971Hodgkinson left the artists' colony to visit the Australian outback which has continued to fascinate him and stimulate his work.
The wreckage of Hodgkinson's Tiger Moth
The Tiger crashed from 500ft at Gravesend, and so grievously injured Hodgkinson that his legs were amputated. Although he was a naval type, Hodgkinson was welcomed into McIndoe's Guinea Pig Club brotherhood of burned airmen. Such was their spirit that he determined to emulate Baderand fly again. He set his heart on flying Spitfires and by the autumn of 1942 had left the Navy and went into the RAF as a pilot officer.
He was briefly with number 131 squadron, successively to 610 and 510 squadrons, then 611 squadron, then in the famous Biggin Hill wing. The RAF talked about him as "a second Bader" when he joined 611 squadron in June 1943 under Wing-Commander "Laddie" Lucas, the hero of the Battle of Malta.
