╨╧рб▒с>■  ik■   h                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ье┴s ┐Ljbjb└ └ %ЮкkкkH      ]ЦЦЦЦЦЦЦ***** 6*ЫъVVVVVVVVXZZZZZZ,ЕЇyТЖЦVVVVVЖ╛ЦЦVVV╛╛╛VFЦVЦVXк@ъ@ЦЦЦЦVX╛Ъ╛XЦЦXJ Еo╗**Ь"X Chapter XVI - Peace We ride the heavens lightly, now Wotan's work is done. The dark passage of evening ended, by the light of a new day's sun. Now's the time to count the cost of man's unending wars. But, is the account yet closed? When yesterdays' enemies are your friends, And erstwhile friends . . . your foes. Jimmy James AG, 214 Squadron With the ending of the European war, the Squadron flew many trips over Germany, mainly the Ruhr, taking ground staff on the so-called Baedeker tours. These trips showed clearly the damage inflicted on German industry by our bombers, and the flights were much appreciated by Oulton's personnel. At the end of June, operation Post Mortem was started. This was to evaluate the enemy's defensive system, and the effects of counter measures used by 100 Group. The German radar and early warning network was remanned in Denmark and North Germany. Then a main bomber force, complete with pathfinders, window spoof forces, and jammers, carried out a number of attack exercises to simulate major bombing raids. The Squadron's navigation officer took part in these tests on July 4 and 5, flying with S/Ldr Davis, with many VIPs Ц Air Commodores and above Ц inspecting the plotting stations in Germany, Denmark, and Norway. George Fisher, navigator to Sgt Wilkinson, gave a rather humorous account of one of these exercises: "I remember on one occasion we took off in heavy rain and climbed through 10/10ths cloud to 21,000 feet. We broke through into bright sunlight and blue sky. Around us other aircraft were shooting through the cloud tops, much like dolphins surfing about a ship. One Lancaster formated on us, cut both starboard engines, then surged ahead, its crew giving us two fingers to remember them by." There is no doubt that 214's role as an electronic counter-measures unit was of vital importance in the last twelve months of the war. Although it is impossible to judge the complete effect the Squadron had on the disruption of the enemy's defences, without question Bomber Command's casualties dropped sharply once electronic counter-measures were introduced. No 214 (SD) Squadron ended its jamming role and was disbanded at Oulton on July 27, 1945. On the same day No 614 Squadron, based at Amendola, Italy, was renumbered, and a new No 214 Squadron resumed a normal bombing role in the Middle East. S/Ldr E.P. Landon DFC, later Group Captain but at that time a flight commander with No 614 Squadron, summarises the duties and composition of No 214 (FMS) Squadron during 1945/46: "The war had already stopped when our Squadron number plate was changed to No 214 (PFF) Squadron; the PFF role continued, as we were officially still a pathfinder unit. The new number was announced and remained in use whilst I belonged to it as Flight Commander, and from time to time as Squadron Commander as well. We were located at RAF Amendola, near Foggia, Italy from July 27 to September 2, 1945 and at RAF Einshemer, Palestine from September 3 to November 4, 1945. At both these bases we still retained our Liberator VIII aircraft, but changed to Lancaster IIIs in early January, 1946. We next went to RAF Fayid in the Canal Zone, Egypt, and were based there from November 5, 1945 until Feburary 28, 1946. We normally had some 20 Liberators, later Lancasters, on strength, and about thirty crews. On the Liberator, during the war, each crew consisted of nine members: captain pilot, flight engineer, navigator/plotter, navigator/radar set operator, extra visual bomb aimer, mid-upper gunner, rear gunner, and two waist gunners. Soon after the war, however, we reverted to a crew of six. "As the peace progressed, demobilisation took its toll. In an attempt to retain the best possible operational capability, many ad hoc crews had to be made up and they remained the backbone of all flying. As we were a mobile unit until we left Italy, the ground crew, always superb against all odds, numbered about 800 to 1000. A mobile squadron comparable to our equivalent in Britain would have seemed impossible. We had our own transport, cook, doctor, engineer officer, supply and radar officer, etc., and were able to move at a few hours notice, with spare tents, rations, and all the paraphernalia required for welfare and operations. Our standard of engineering had to be high, when one saw the crude equipment with which we had to manage. We had to practise our dual roles of PFF and bombing, although the former included only three crews when I left in Feburary, 1946. Standard day and night training had to be completed in navigation, bombing, gunnery and general flying of all kinds. "In the early days, but reducing considerably towards the end, we transported thousands of British, South African and other prisoners of war to the UK, South Africa, or wherever appropriate. Our parish extended from South Africa in the south to India in the east, and UK via Italy in the north. These, to me, were the most interesting flights, since in nearly every case we were transporting people home who might not have seen their own country or family in years. Sometimes, arriving at an airfield in England in pouring rain, it was quite impossible to get our passengers to stand under the wing for protection! "We also occasionally had special unofficial arrangements. For example, we had an understanding with the Army's Air Observation Post (AOP) Flight at Ein Shemar; on occasions we would take one of them to the UK and back, perhaps picked up by a later aircraft to give him a break, in exchange for trips from Ein Shemar to, say, Beirut or Damascus and return for one of us or a friend. Under this scheme, all passengers were, for safety reasons, properly manifested. It was simply that we avoided giving Group HQ staff officers extra worry and work by asking them for authority. Most of these flights were of about seven to eight hours each way, and to a variety of airfields and countries. They provided excellent training, especially for the new crews, the members of which had to learn to act independently, as we had to do in the past, in the Western Desert, Italy, and elsewhere. "The unusual always helped to stave off boredom, something which has never attacked me in my fairly long and varied flying career. I still remember with great glee flying at minus 200 feet over the Quattara Depression, and down the Dead Sea at minus 1000 feet! Many years later my crew and I dropped several practice bombs from about 46,000 feet on GH when I asked my observer if he could work out the co-ordinates for 55,000 feet for which we had no reference in the bombing manual. He thought he could cope so over we went at 55,000, but on releasing the bomb, to avoid any excitement on the ground, I gave our height as 46,000. Our error was not bad, at about 350 yards, according to the Range quadrants. "There were occasions when life had to be different. One of our aircraft carried the AOC's pigs to the Canal Zone when he moved from Italy. The crew had no idea what non-flying pigs would do in flight, and should have laid a large tarpaulin below several inches of hay. Urine and pig excreta are not the best anti-corrosives for aeroplanes, nor are these things easily and pleasantly cleared up later! "One flight I particularly enjoyed was taking my future Station Commander to Ein Shemar, dropping off at Araxos and spending a very enjoyable, if short, night in Athens. On a subsequent flight I flew down the Corinth Canal to make sure that the Liberator would fit. I had of course checked the width of the canal from a schoolboy's atlas before take-off. Buffetting winds made that part of the trip quite exciting. "In general, Squadron life was fairly routine but, owing to de-mob there was considerable turbulence amongst both air and groundcrews. Naturally the experience level dropped markedly, even by 1946, when I left Fayid for a brief enforced ground job prior to posting back to the UK. "214's Liberator VIIIs were replaced in November, 1945 by Lancaster IIIs. The Lanc was more like a bomber pilot's aircraft, without the Lib's ash-trays and carpets. Neither of these amenities made the Lib manoeuverable. This could only be achieved by low cunning and brute force. Later we would be equipped with the Lincoln which was more powerful than the Lanc, and in every way superior. But it was not a Lanc with the same splendid behaviour." On April 15, 1946, the Squadron was re-numbered No 37, and for a short period of time No 214 FMS Squadron became defunct. On November 4 it was reformed as a bomber squadron at Upwood, Hunts, flying the Lancaster BI FE, under the command of S/Ldr J.H.L. Blount DFC. These Lancs had originally been on allocation for Tiger Force, a unit which was scheduled for service in the Far East in the war against Japan. When the war ended, these aircraft were still in the UK. They were easily recognisable, having all their top surfaces painted white. Based at Upwood from November 1946 to December 1954, 214 sent many detachments abroad and at various times crews were stationed at Luga, Malta; Shallufa, Egypt; Karachi, India; Idris, Libya; Negomgo, Ceylon; and Eastleigh, Kenya. Don Morley, who served as mid-upper gunner to S/Ldr Clementi, OBE, Squadron CO from 1947 to 1949, was stationed at Shallufa in 1948. Don recalls, "We carried out quite a few exercises in the desert at this time. One in particular, codenamed Sun Ray, was to test our weapons against captured German material. I remember standing with German POWs watching Tempests making rocket attacks against tanks and armoured vehicles in the vicinity of Shallufa aerodrome, and a spectacular sight it was too. The German prisoners were ex-Africa Corps men and worked on the drome during the day, but at night were confined in a compound on the camp." By the end of 1949, the Squadron's Lancaster I (FE) became obsolete and a conversion to Lincolns started. The old aircraft, which had done sterling service, were flown to MU's at Kemble, Hullavington, and Wroughton, for breaking up. At this time No 214 was under the command of S/Ldr Brain DFC, AFC, who, as CO for the next two years, arranged aircrew training schedules, flying the new bombers and sending out detachments to various parts of the Commonwealth. At the beginning of 1952 S/Ldr E.P. Landon returned to the Squadron as its CO. His narrative concerning this period of his office follows: "The proper title of the unit was No 214 (Federated Malay States) Squadron. I found that we were entitled to fly the FMS flag as our own ensign, and had a mast erected outside my office in No 1 Hangar. During the war the Malay States paid for most of the Squadron's aircraft. In the post-war period the RAF assumed that responsibility. I was fortunate that, after the war, HQ Bomber Command tried to give command of its squadrons to those who had belonged to them before. So, in early January of 1952, I took over 214 again after a separation of some six years. This time we were equipped with Lincolns, which were still a comparatively new aircraft. In those days, squadrons had been reduced to eight aircraft plus a reserve or two. We should have had about ten or twelve crews, but to start with I had about twenty. Some of these had to be posted to other squadrons, as there was insufficient flying time available to keep all people in proper trim. During my time, we never had more than 70% of the ground crew to which we were entitled, however the flying task was never reduced in keeping with our strength. I was lucky to have few misfits, and morale was satisfactorily high, but, just as in every other unit, this remained something that one had to work at. "With my Pathfinder background it seemed only common sense that our primary training should be blind bombing on H2S; and owing to shortage of flying time, I accepted that this would have to be at the expense of other aspects of training. Because of this priority, we were always the best in this role amongst the four squadrons at Upwood, all of which took part in a monthly competition set up by the Station Commander. The only time we did not win was the occasion when I decided to put in a nominal effort only, the intention being to encourage the remaining squadrons to do better. In no sense was this meant as a snub to others, rather it was my intention that in the end it would make us work harder than before. "I never believed that weather conditions should be considered a factor when deciding whether or not to fly a blind-bombing exercise. The exception was when the conditions were such that flying was either dangerous or stupid. Thus, while we achieved a fairly high standard in blind-bombing, our success involved some hard flying in bad weather. With the consequent hard servicing work, something had to give. That 'something' turned out to be visual bombing and gunnery, where we were good, but no better than average. "We took our turn to be duty squadron and to fly off on detachment. At all times we had spares, back-ups, etc., ready, and rotated the contents in case they became unserviceable through neglect. Hence, when there was a flap in Egypt on Colonel Nasser coming to power and locking up General Neguib, we had to reinforce the Middle East and went to Shallufa in the Canal Zone in the summer of 1953. This was an excellent change for us and gave most of us an opportunity to use our own initiative more frequently than was possible at home. "Her Majesty the Queen reviewed the Royal Air Force at Odiham on July 15, 1953. A huge static display was arranged of both aircraft and equipment and the flypast during the afternoon included the most advanced aircraft in the world Ц the new era heralded in by the jet. I had the privilege of leading 54 Lincolns at the head of 214. This, and the numerous rehearsals, made us work extremely hard. Apart from full formation practice down the whole route, just under four hours each time, all formation leaders and their deputies had to cover the same route many times over to get the timing and navigation absolutely right. In 214 we were determined to be spot on! "As the leader who could make or mar the Lincoln effort, and with the Squadron's reputation publicly on display, I had to make up my mind about weather limits and just how dicey I could allow flying to become, bearing in mind that there were a lot of flying people involved Ц say about 350, including passengers. Therefore, when weather seemed marginal, I nearly always insisted on carrying on. This could be hair-raising in bad visibility and low cloud and flying below our given height to get through, knowing that succeeding formations had to tuck in behind as we flew over their bases with only about 200 feet to spare. This exercise was extremely good for those aircrew who needed to lose weight! I was told that on the day, despite heavy turbulence, our formation was faultless. I have always been grateful to Headquarters Bomber Command and Headquarters No 3 Group for not interfering with the day-to-day responsibility which in the main had to be mine, backed up by my station commander and wing commander flying. "In 1952 the Mayflower Film Co. requested and obtained the co-operation of Bomber Command HQ in producing a film about the bomber effort during the war. A decision was reached to use RAF Station Upwood for this purpose and I, being an ex-Lancaster pilot, was given the job of OC by the Station Commander. I duly picked up a Lancaster with minimum aids inside, and the other three squadrons were given one each after I had shown them the ropes. There were no problems with any of the pilots and engineers, who appreciated the fact that they were at last actually flying the legendary Lanc. 'Appointment in London' was always something we enjoyed watching, although it never became a big box-office attraction. The flying, most of which I did, showed Dirk Bogarde front face, and me when only the back of the pilot's head could be seen. "The Station had to remain fully operational, and still cope with this very time consuming job. It was enjoyable, though, and the people we worked with could not have been more friendly, generous, and well behaved. Diana Sheridan was a super woman star. Aubrey Baring, who provided the money, was a 6'6" ex-Spitfire pilot. He allowed me to try getting his Bentley up to 100 knots by the end of the runway! Others, too, were excellent people, not the least that splendid man, John Wooldridge, who had been on Lancs himself, was married to Margaretta Scott, and who died at a tragically young age many years ago. "The Station was thus disorganised for six weeks in mid-1952, but remained fully operational all the time, despite the wives, who played the part of extras, as did many officers and airmen, risking their cars in frantic drives across the airfield, simulating meeting returning crews, or going out in a flap to help rescue crews who had come to a grinding halt in a feigned accident. Happy days!! "Whilst we worked fairly hard, other aspects of Squadron life were not neglected. On the social side, I had to remember that there was not enough money around to be used freely. Nevertheless we held parties, 100 percent voluntary attendance, for which we hired rooms in pubs, all-ranks dances in a hangar, parties in our aircrew/briefing room decorated with bunting, flowers, etc., provided by the Squadron wives. There were dining-in nights in the mess when we gave a good account of ourselves in post-dinner activities. We fought hard at games and sports. All in all, we were an active, friendly Squadron in which everyone, including wives, stood by each other and gladly helped with personal problems. We enjoyed life in comradeship. "At the end of the statutory period of service with No 214 I handed over command to S/Ldr Bowhill. The Squadron remained operational for some time after, serving in Africa during the Kenya troubles, and eventually re-formed on Valiants at Marham under the leadership of W/Cdr Len Trent VC." One of the many ex-members of 214 Squadron who wrote to me whilst researching this book was N.J.Spear, who served as a navigator between 1952 and 1962, and paid this tribute to S/Ldr Landon: "He was the best CO I ever served under during my many years of service. He was 'one of the lads' when off duty, and 'Sir' when on, without being patronising on the one hand, or losing any respect on the other." 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