Preface
Only a handful of squadrons serving within RAF Bomber Command can claim an existence as diverse as that of 218 Squadron during the course of the bombing offensive of WWII. The squadron’s activities cover almost every facet of Bomber Command operations from the “Phoney” war of 1939 to the massed attacks on Germany’s industry, communications and oil during the final two years. In between came the bloody annihilation of the Advanced Air Striking Force during the French campaign of May 1940 and the suicidal daylight operations with 2 Group while the Battle of Britain raged overhead. Transferred to 3 Group in 1941 it entered the strategic bombing war, serving on Wellingtons and later Stirlings, until the latter type’s vulnerability to enemy defenses saw it withdrawn from main force operations. By then 218 Squadron had been adopted by the Government and peoples of the Gold Coast, but in the United Kingdom it was known as “Weston-super-Mare’s Own.” The squadron’s battle honors include the Thousand Bomber raids in the summer of 1942, the campaigns against the U-Boat bases along the Atlantic Coast, the 1943 Ruhr offensive, Operation Gomorrah against Hamburg and the summer attacks on Berlin. It also participated in the raids on Italy and the attack on the V1 Rocket research and construction site at Peenemünde.
The inadequacies of the Short Stirling removed the squadron from the front line for the winter campaign of 1943/44, which included the ineffective sixteen-raid series against Berlin. However, 218 Squadron did not stand idle, committing extra effort instead to mining operations and selective raids on key industrial and transportation targets in France and Belgium. It also played its part in the secret war, by supplementing the efforts of the “moon” squadrons at Tempsford in their SOE and SIS operations to deliver arms and equipment to the resistance organizations in the occupied countries, and to drop agents. On D-Day Eve two squadrons carried out meticulously planned and executed spoof operations to deceive the enemy concerning the true location of the landings. One of the squadrons was 617, the other was 218 Squadron, and history can confirm the success of these unsung but vital contributions to the successes on that monumental day. The squadron was chosen to re-introduce the G-H blind bombing aid in early 1944, and its success with the device led to it marking some important targets for 3 Group. When the second Ruhr campaign began in October 1944, the success of G-H in 218 Squadron hands enabled 3 Group, when required, to operate independently of the main force and Pathfinders.
Away from the battles over Germany, the squadron’s ground crews were also active. Few are aware that they were instrumental in resolving a serious problem with the Mk XIV bombsight, the equipment employed by all front-line units. The squadron took great pride in the posthumously awarded VICTORIA CROSS earned by Flight Sergeant Arthur Aaron, DFM. Other awards gained by the squadron members include four DSOs, two bars to the DSO, 109 DFCs, 46 DFMs, two CGMs, twenty-five Mentioned in Dispatches, one Military Medal and finally one BEM. The squadrons of 3 Group went about their business without fuss, and generally attracted less publicity than other groups. Although veterans are fiercely loyal to the Stirling, there is no question that it restricted the ability of 3 Group to play a full part in some campaigns. The legendary Lancaster came late in the war to 218 Squadron, and thus without fanfare, but once on charge it allowed the squadron to operate in the vanguard for the final eight months of hostilities. There was no Gibson and no Cheshire serving within the ranks of 3 Group, but there were many of equal stature, whose names never became familiar to the general public. 218 Squadron boasted some of the finest airmen to grace the Command, and the names of many are contained within these pages. This book is humbly dedicated to them all.
No 218 Squadron bases 1937–1945
Chapter One
With the defeat of the Kaiser’s Germany the bloody slaughter of the Great War was finally over, 218 Squadron continued to occupy its wartime aerodrome of Reumont, although it would prove to be for only a matter of a few more days. By November 16th, just five days after the armistice, the squadron had successfully de-camped and moved to occupy Ver Galand aerodrome, where it quickly settled into its new peace-time routine. This was soon interrupted, however, in a way that no-one could have expected. A signal was received from Command HQ informing the squadron that there was to be an immediate change in leadership. The popular and highly respected Major Burt Stirling Wemp, DFC, was to be replaced, and this was a bitter blow to all squadron personnel, who, over the previous months, had taken to their hearts this rather strict and forthright Canadian. Bert Wemp was born near Tweed, twenty miles north of Belleville, Ontario, and graduated from the Curtiss Flying School in Toronto in 1915, from where he sailed to England and joined the Royal Naval Air Service. On January 10th, soon after relinquishing his command, Wemp was invalided back to England for a well earned rest, and for the next five months he convalesced at a rehabilitation ’Camp before returning to his native Canada. In February 1919 he was awarded the Belgian Chevalier, Order of Leopold. Post war returned to journalism and became mayor of Toronto.
On December 29th Captain Adrian William Edmunds Reeves DFC assumed command of the squadron. Reeves was a distinguished pilot, who had flown on sixty-four bombing raids and had been credited with the destruction of four enemy scouts. Reeve’s command was brief and he was replaced on January 9th 1919 by Major W E Collison. Collison’s command like that of his predecessor was equally brief, and within three weeks he had been replaced by the squadron’s final commanding officer, Major Cecil Hugh Hayward, who took up his post on January 30th. On February 7th 218 Squadron’s long awaited return to England finally took place. Its new home was at Hucknall Aerodrome, located some six miles northeast of Nottingham. Safely back in Blighty the squadron continued to operate its D.H.9 bombers, but now in a less demanding and hostile climate. Throughout the spring of 1919 the squadron occupied itself with training, with an emphasis on formation exercises.
How it all began, an Airco De Havilland DH9 of 218 (Bomber) Squadron France 1918. The “Ninak” as it was known served the squadron well over the bloodbath of Belgium and France during 1918. Underpowered until the introduction of the DH9A 218 Squadron pilots notched up a number of kills over the more nimble and heavily armed German scouts.
It was soon apparent that a massive scaling down of the new Royal Air Force was required, and with systematic and ruthless determination over 380 squadrons were disbanded, putting more than 300,000 officers and men back into “Civvy” Street. On June 24th 218 (Bomber) Squadron was given the order to disband, and for the next nineteen years it existed only on paper.
The catalyst for the reformation of 218 Squadron in 1936 was an evil force spreading across Germany in the shape of the National Socialist Party under the leadership of German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s expansionist policies finally persuaded the British Government of the necessity to rebuild its armed forces, and this meant the resurrection of many of the Great War squadrons. On Sunday March 16th 1936, 218 (Light Bomber) Squadron was reformed from C Flight of 57 (B) Squadron at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire. At the time 57 Squadron was part of 1 Group and was equipped with the Rolls Royce Kestrel X-powered Hawker Hart day bomber. With the detachment of C Flight under the initial command of F/L Aldan Carey, 218 Squadron was officially reborn. Joining F/L Carey on the new squadron were other 57 Squadron transferees, P/O Alexander Olney, along with one flight sergeant, two sergeants, five corporals and nine aircraftsmen. Unlike its parent unit 218 Squadron was to be equipped with the new Hawker Hind biplane which was powered by a single Rolls Royce Kestrel V.
Initially 218 Squadron fell under the command of 57 Squadron’s commanding officer, thirty-nine-year-old S/Ldr F Reeve, and effectively served as a third flight to this unit. On March 27th, eleven days after its formation, 218 Squadron departed Upper Heyford and joined 57 Squadron at 2 Armament Training Camp at North Coates in Lincolnshire. This was one of a number of Armament Training Camps set up around the British Isles for the purpose of bombing and gunnery training. The course continued until April 25th by which time the two squadrons had dropped a total of 724 practise bombs and fired over 20,000 rounds of ammunition. The prestigious Armament Officers Trophy, known as ‘The Cock’, was an annual competition held between air gunners and air bombers drawn from all day-bombing squadrons. This year it was awarded to 57 squadron for the achievement of an average bombing error of only 67.3 yards during the long range bombing tests. Upper Heyford was opened to the public on Empire Day on May 23rd, when, among the dignitaries attending were A.D Cunningham CBE, a senior staff officer in the Air Defence of Great Britain, and the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) 1 (Bomber) Group, Air Commodore Boyd MC OBE. The BBC was also present and conducted a broadcast during the afternoon.
At the end of May both squadrons were affiliated to the Air Fighting Development Establishment based at Northolt. The purpose of this affiliation was to find the best method of formation flying for day bombers. With the dramatic increase in performance of both bomber and fighter aircraft at the time, a radical overhaul of formation flying techniques was required. Experimental formation exercises were carried out in conjunction with the Gloster Gauntlet biplane fighters of 111 (F) Squadron, and after a number of flights, a system known as the ‘Up and Down’ formation was devised. The five-aircraft formation would fly in an asymmetrical V at various heights, which, it was hoped, would give them “the maximum flexibility, manoeuvrability and defence”.
Over the ensuing months the squadron gradually built up its pilot strength. On July 13th two arrived from 7 Flying Training School while three more joined on August 24th from 11 FTS at Wittering. Within a week these officers were joined by others and September saw the arrival of F/O Terence Morton from 7 (B) Squadron at Finningley to assume the role of squadron adjutant. Pilot Officer Harry Daish was posted in from 3 FTS at Grantham on the last day of September to ultimately and successfully fill the role of A Flight commander. Harry Daish was a native of Sydney, Australia, and graduated from RAAF Point Cook Flying Training School as a pilot officer in June 1935. He was selected along with six other graduates for transfer to the RAF (UK) for a five year short service commission, travelling first class on the luxury liner Strathnaver. Harry would have a long and distinguished career in the RAF, rising through the ranks to reach wing commander by the 18th of June 1945. Harry was the first commander of 27 Squadron in India, which was equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter. He had a reputation for thoroughness and professionalism, and would survive the war. On the 4th of October F/L Cary relinquished command of 218 Squadron on posting to Calshott in Hampshire. On the same day 218 and 57 Squadrons returned to 2 Armament Training Camp at North Coates. Within two days of the squadron’s arrival and while performing a number of dive bombing exercises, tragedy struck Hawker Hind K5516. As the pilot attempted to recover from a dive-bombing simulation, both upper wings folded over Theddlethorpe bombing range in Lincolnshire. The ensuing crash killed both occupants, twenty-five year-old Sgt George Dodsworth and his observer, acting Sgt Walter Devoil. These were the squadron’s first fatalities since the Great War, and the loss of both airmen was keenly felt.
Following the accident training continued under restrictions that imposed limited dive-bombing practice on the Hinds. With the weather turning and high winds forecast both squadrons returned to Upper Heyford four days earlier than planned. Following F/L Cary’s departure, temporary command of 218 Squadron was given to F/L Arnold Louis Christian, who was posted in from Uxbridge. Arnold Christian was reputedly a descendant of Fletcher Christian, of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame, and had joined the RAF in 1930. Commissioned as a pilot officer on October 10th 1930, he spent the first four years of his career as a fighter pilot with the famous 54 Squadron. In 1935 he transferred to 207 Squadron, a bomber unit with which he spent a spell in the Sudan during the Abyssinian crisis.
Four days after Christian’s arrival 218 Squadron finally became independent of 57 Squadron, and from this date on all day to day training, administrative duties and activities would be undertaken solely by 218 Squadron staff. The squadron would, however, continue to share Upper Heyford with 57 Squadron. Flight Lieutenant Christian’s brief tenure as squadron commander came to an end on November 2nd 1936, when S/Ldr Francis Harbroe Shales arrived from 40 (B) Squadron at Abingdon. As for Christian, a period as an instructor with 5 EFTS and 13 OTU resulted in promotion to squadron leader and the award of a Mentioned in Dispatches. He would be killed while serving as the commanding officer of 105 Squadron on May 8th 1941 during an attack on shipping off Stavanger. At the time of his death he was one of 2 Group’s most respected squadron commanders.
With 218 Squadron’s independence came the inevitable official inspections. The first of these came on November 27th, when ACM Sir John Steel carried out a formal inspection. He was followed on December 1st by the A-O-C 1 Group, Air Commodore Owen Tudor Boyd, MC, AFC. Finally, to the relief of all, the round of inspections ended with a visit by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham on December 7th.
The start of 1937 brought the arrival of new pilots, among them acting P/Os Charles Crews and Stewart Coutes-Woods and P/O Eric Arthur Hunt, all from 8 FTS, and P/Os William George Warren, William Newton-Howes, Anthony Beck who will feature in the squadrons subsequent history and Russell John Oxley from 18 (B) Squadron. February and March 1937 witnessed a considerable amount of activity in the form of training and postings, and a number of aircraft sustained minor damage in landing accidents. On April 24th the squadron proceeded north to West Freugh in Scotland to carry out a month’s training at 4 Armament Training Camp. West Freugh was a new camp situated five miles south-east of Stranraer. May’s highlights included the coronation of King George VI on the 12th, when P/O Daish represented the squadron in London, while the remainder turned out in best blues to parade at West Freugh. A month to the day after leaving Upper Heyford for Scotland, the squadron returned, and S/Ldr Shales was informed that his brief period in command was soon to end.
A flying display by the squadron over the aerodrome attracted thousands to Upper Heyford on Empire Day on May 29th. The squadron performed a series of bombing runs and formation flying passes over the enthralled crowds, the day went off without incident in fine weather conditions. On June 1st F/L Cunningham arrived as commanding officer elect, and was immediately promoted to the rank of squadron leader. Thirteen days later S/Ldr Shales officially handed over to him, and departed to take up administrative duties at 1 School of Technical Training (Apprentices) at Halton. Flight Lieutenant James Charles Cunningham already had command experience, having been at the helm of 49 (B) Squadron between February and July 1936. On June 8th P/O Russell Oxley was posted to XV (B) Squadron to continue a career that would take him to the command of 50 Squadron in 5 Group. Here he would be awarded a DFC in 1941 and a DSO in 1942, before ending his career as a group captain. To compensate for the departure of such a fine officer, five new pilot officers arrived during the last week of June. They were Thomas Brock, John Mahoney, David Devoil, Arthur Imrie and John Crump. These additions to the squadron were augmented by the arrival also of F/O Richard Seys, DFC on July 13th. This officer had been awarded the DFC while operating in Palestine during 1936.
An accident occurred on July 15th, when Sgt Pays was engaged in an Observer Corps calibration exercise in Hind K6630. He became separated from the remainder of the squadron in thick rain cloud over Leicestershire, and either while attempting to establish his position or make a forced landing, he collided with a tree in zero visibility near the village of Kirby Bellars. The aircraft was destroyed, but Sgt Pays and his unnamed observer survived with minor injuries. A more serious accident on September 16th resulted in acting P/O John Mahoney and his observer sustaining serious injuries. They had become lost during a tactical exercise, and in attempting a landing at Barnard Castle near Catterick, overshot and crashed into a stone wall writing off the Hind.
More new pilots arrived in the autumn and early winter, and the role of squadron adjutant was taken over on October 4th by the recently arrived F/O J Hughes. To date the squadron had fared relatively well in terms of accidents, sustaining just the two fatalities on October 6th 1936. Sadly, this was to change on November 26th, when P/O Eric Hunt and his observer, AC1 Joseph Thomas were scheduled to carry out a routine cross country flight. Emerging from clouds just off the Cambrian coast, Hunt turned towards the coastline at low level. With land only a matter of a few miles distant the aircraft’s Kestrel Mk V engine cut, causing a rapid loss of altitude. Eye witnesses reported that the aircraft turned steeply to starboard whereupon the lower wing touched the surface of the freezing waters of Moss Bay. The bomber cartwheeled into the sea near Wokingham and both crewmen drowned.
The remainder of the year was spent carrying out various training exercises, and there were no further accidents to report. Squadron Leader Lewin Bowring Duggan was appointed as the new commanding officer on January 4th 1938, succeeding S/Ldr Cunningham, who was posted to the Staff College at Andover. Duggan was originally an Army man, who had served later with some distinction in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the Great War. He finished the war as a 2nd Lt with 99 Squadron flying DH9s. The start of the New Year also brought the long awaited conversion from the biplane Hind to the monoplane Fairey Battle light bomber. The first Battle, Stockport-built K7647, arrived on squadron charge on January 17th, and over the ensuing three weeks a further fifteen aircraft arrived from the Fairey Aviation Company. This brought the unit’s total strength to sixteen Battles, allowing two flights of six aircraft each plus four in reserve.
The single engine Battle light bomber was designed to specification P27/32 as a replacement for the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. When production of the Mk 1 began in mid 1937, the stressed skin monoplane epitomised the latest in aircraft design. The Battle was the first production aircraft to have the Rolls Royce Merlin as its power plant, and it also had an internal bomb load of 1000lb, which was carried in enclosed bomb bays located in the wings. On April 22nd 1938, 218 Squadron departed Upper Heyford and took up residence at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. This airfield had opened in 1917, initially as a training school for RFC pilots, but with the mass scaling-down of the RAF after the Great War, the aerodrome, which, by this time had acquired over fifty buildings, was closed in 1920 and returned to agricultural use. However, the need for a peacetime air force resulted in Boscombe Down being purchased in 1926 as part of the expansion programme. The airfield re-opened in 1930 as a bomber station in the Air Defence of Great Britain, the forerunner of Bomber Command.
The peace before the storm. A flight of Hawker Hinds are captured in the sunlight during the summer of 1937.
The squadron carried out a number of local familiarisation flights over the next week, including a tactical exercise with 11 (F) Group on May 10th, when the squadron participants were intercepted by four Hawker Furies. Flying as deputy leader on this occasion was New Zealander P/O Ian Richmond in Battle K7654, over the ensuring years he would become one of the squadron’s most experienced and accomplished pilots. On May 23rd the squadron carried out a mass formation demonstration along with 105 and 226 squadrons, when twenty-four Battles were routed over Harwell, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Monmouth, Hereford, Worcester, Kidderminster, Leamington and finally Banbury. The squadron was once again detached to 4 Armament Training Station at West Freugh in Scotland for the month of June. July saw a continuation of the daily training flights, the only departures from this routine coming on the 16th, when the squadron gave a flying display at the opening of Luton Airport, and on the 18th, when the squadron participated in a two-day Observer Corps exercise. In August a major air exercise was undertaken between the 5th and 7th in conjunction with 88 (B) Squadron, the other Battle unit sharing Boscombe Down. These sorties were under the auspices of the Air Defence of Great Britain. The ADGB was created in 1925 following a recommendation that the RAF should take full responsibility for homeland air defence, and the above-mentioned sorties simulated attacks on strategic and military targets, giving all commands the opportunity to test peace-time training under operational conditions.
New Zealander Ian Richmond was one of the squadron’s most able and courageous pilots. He served on the squadron between 1938 and 1941 operating almost continuously. He had reached the rank of squadron leader and was awarded the DFC by the time of his posting.
The growing international crisis in the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland during late August finally galvanised the Air Ministry and senior Air Staff to implement the partial mobilisation of a number of front line squadrons. This had an immediate effect on both 218 and 88 Squadrons, which would form 75 (B) Wing under the command of Boscombe Down’s Station Commander, Wing Commander Gerard Oddie, DFC, AFC. Oddie had won his DFC with 31 Squadron in Afghanistan flying Bristol Fighters in 1920. During early September orders from 1 Group HQ instructed 75 (B) Wing to proceed overseas and be ready for immediate active service as a component of the Advanced Air Striking Force. Up until this time the squadron had been allowing its personnel to take scheduled leave, but in the face of the worsening political climate this was cancelled on Saturday September 17th. On that day 1 Group officially ordered the immediate recall of all personnel and the cancellation of all leave. Further orders required ground crew to collect forty additional vehicles in preparation for the wing’s departure for France. All sixteen 218 Squadron Battles were re-painted during late September, and the peacetime practice of painting squadrons’ numbers on the fuselage and serials on the underside of the wing was ended when the new squadron code of SV was added. With the squadron now on a war footing, the families of the married officers and men were ordered to make ready for their evacuation. To the relief of all the period of crisis ended on September 29th, when Prime Minister Chamberlain and Frances Edouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement with Herr Hitler, which, in effect, transferred the Sudetenland over to Nazi Germany.
With the threat of war now apparently replaced by a promise of peace, the recent lessons learned were, for once, not wasted on the Air Ministry and Air Staff. It was obvious to all that the RAF would have been in no position to go to war with Germany in the summer of 1938. Most importantly, the signing of the Munich Agreement allowed time for the RAF to rethink, re-equip and prepare. A new 218 Squadron adjutant was appointed on October 1st, when F/O Crews assumed responsibility for the role. 218 Squadron’s strength was increased on October 9th, when the total number of allotted aircraft per squadron was increased from twelve to sixteen with five in reserve. With this increase in aircraft numbers came a change in power plant, between October 10th and 13th all of the squadron’s Merlin I powered Battles were transferred to 105 Squadron. During the preceding weeks the squadron had gradually re-equipped with the Merlin Mk II powered Battle, which had been collected directly from Fairey Aviation at Ringway Aerodrome, Stockbridge, and from 185 (B) Squadron at Abingdon in Oxfordshire. October witnessed the departure of W/Cdr Oddie, DFC, AFC, the station commander at Boscombe Down, who was posted to HMS Nelson as Fleet Aviation Officer. He was replaced temporarily by 218 Squadron’s commanding officer S/Ldr Duggan.
A rare bird, pre Munich Crisis. Fairey Battle Mk.I adorned with 218 along the fuselage. Few photos remain of the Battles marked in this way, this poor quality photo was taken at Boscombe Down in May 1938.
Two important visits were received on the station during November. On the 1st the Inspector General, Sir Edward Ellington, GCB, CBE viewed the squadron, he was followed two weeks later by the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow Hewitt, KCB, CMG, DSO, MC, who spent the day with the crews of 88, 218 and 150 Squadrons. On December 6th the A-O-C of 1 Bomber Group, Air Vice Marshal P.N.L Playfair, CB, CVO, and MC, officially presented the squadron with the squadron crest, signed and approved by the King. The crest was in the design of an hourglass with the sand running out, and included the squadron motto IN-TIME. The significance of the design and legend was the squadron’s original formation in time to take an active part in the operations of the Great War.
A new Air Ministry policy at the start of 1939 allowed for all squadron commanders of medium bomber squadrons to be promoted immediately to the rank of wing commander. On January 8th the squadron proceed to 5 Armament Training Station at Penrhose in Caernarvonshire for a month’s air firing and bombing training. High and low level bombing exercises were undertaken almost daily, interspersed with both air to air and air to ground gunnery flights. On January 27th the squadron returned to Boscombe Down in formation, routed over St David’s Head and Cardiff. A series of wing exercises were undertaken during February, the one on the 6th, conducted in concert with 88 and 150 Squadrons, simulated an attack on Leicester with 218 Squadron in the lead. The three squadrons had assembled over Swindon before carrying out the raid on the city from 10,000 feet. A similar exercise on the 9th was thwarted by poor weather conditions when Falmouth was the intended target and 218 Squadron was again selected to lead. On the 16th a mass group formation exercise was carried out taking in Weston-super-Mare, Bristol and Guildford with 218 Squadron once more at the head. This was followed on the 24th by a further exercise, in which the three Battle units visited Bristol, Halton and Tonbridge Wells. Once again 218 Squadron was given the task of leading, a great honour of which the members were justly proud.
Ron Gill stands on the port wing of Fairey Battle K9260 after it overshot its landing at Boscombe Down on the night of April 11th 1939 with Pilot Officer R Balls at the controls. Ron Gill joined the squadron in 1938 after training at RAF Cranwell as a radio operator. He survived the bloodbath of May 1940 to convert to the Blenheim’s and then the Wellingtons. He completed over 30 operations before being screened in late 1941.
As a part of the Municipal Liaison Scheme the town of Weston-super-Mare was chosen to be affiliated with the squadron on March 1st 1939. The scheme was intended as a means of promoting regional affiliations between squadrons and towns and cities. This would provide the unit with a territorial ‘home’ and give towns and cities a more personal interest in the welfare of the squadron and the war in general, if and when it came. The reason for the choice of Weston-super-Mare is unclear, but a close bond quickly developed between the residents of this small Somerset town and the squadron.
The dark shadow of war once again loomed over the country and on April 3rd orders were received to prepare to mobilize. With the possibility of another world war looming ever closer the squadron continued its day-to-day activities, but now in a more urgent manner. May 5th was Empire Air Day, and the entire squadron carried out a series of flying demonstrations over a number of towns including Stockbridge, Winchester, Guilford and Kenley. Each town was visited in turn with the squadron flying in a twelve-aircraft diamond formation. With the continuing unrest the squadron was ordered to increase its existing two flights to three. Between July 3rd and 17th a further eleven new Battles were collected directly from the Austin Works in Birmingham, and the new flight raised the squadron strength to twenty-four front line aircraft with eight in reserve. A regional air exercise was undertaken on July 8th by both 88 and 218 Squadrons, and this took the formation to within three miles of the French coast.
July 11th saw the aircraft of 218 Squadron actually flying above the fields of France. A series of low-level flights over French towns and cities had been organised to try and put to rest growing fears in France that a war with Germany was imminent. These flights were arranged to show the French people that the RAF was ready to meet any potential threat, but in truth, it was little more than sabre rattling. Boscombe Down’s two squadrons were joined by aircraft of 103 Squadron from Benson, and thus a total of eighteen aircraft flew over the towns of le Treport, Orleans and le Mans and finally Barfleur, before returning to Boscombe Down after a flight of over five hours. A similar exercise was carried out on July 25th.
A number of Home Air Defence exercises started on August 8th and continued until August 11th. At around noon on Friday August 11th 218 Squadron suffered a fatal flying accident. It happened on the final day of a major low-level Home Defence Air Exercise, when the squadron was employed as part of the attacking force. Two Battles, flown by F/O William Kinane and P/O Max Freeman, were operating at low level and heading towards Carlton in Bedfordshire from the north. Approaching Carlton K9328’s port wing hit the top of an eighty-seven foot high electricity pylon, breaking off the topmost steel girder and bringing down two cables. With its wing ablaze the stricken aircraft hurtled towards the ground with flames trailing behind, colliding with an elm tree close to a cricket pavilion before somersaulting on in a manner which precluded any chance of survival. Two local residents, a Mr Bevington and his son, were the first on the scene, and they courageously pulled clear the injured wireless operator, AC1 Ivor Roberts. A further attempt was made by the Bevingtons to extricate the remaining trapped crew members, and they were assisted on this occasion by a local farm labourer. Unfortunately, however, the starboard fuel tank exploded, and the ensuring fire made any further attempt impossible. Circling less than 150 feet above, P/O Max Freeman saw the tragedy unfold below him. His subsequent report stated:
“I was flying in a formation behind the other aircraft, and slightly higher. We were carrying out exercises in connection with the home air defence. At mid day we came over Carlton Training School and I saw a high tension wire and pylon a second before I saw the other plane fly into them. There was a blue flash and the machine immediately burst into flames and crashed. I circled around and later landed at Cranfield aerodrome, where I reported I had noticed nothing wrong with the other machine and it seemed to be flying normally. But as I was flying slightly higher I could not see exactly what he (Kinane) was doing.”
Another witness was fourteen-year-old Ray Holmes:
“I was walking up the school lane when I saw two aircraft coming towards me about ¼ mile away, both were flying very low. Both aircraft were flying from an east to west direction one behind the other. The rear aircraft was slightly higher than the other, the next thing I saw was a mass of flames falling earthwards straight into a row of mature elm trees directly in front of the school farm house. Both wings had sheered off due to the impact with the trees. The other aircraft circled low over the crash site, I have often wondered how this crew must have felt. Some time after the bodies had been removed we were allowed to see the wreckage of the bomber. The wreckage was in two halves, the front of which was facing in the direction from which it came. The rear section was most effected by the fire, and in a field near the pylon I found the windscreen with the ring sight still attached. I gave it to a RAF guard.”
William “Bill” Kinane was 18 when he and two other young Aussies were selected from over 700 candidates to join the RAAF in 1936. A champion athlete he held a number of records while attending the Christian Brother College, Perth. He was just 21 when killed in the tragic but avoidable collision.
Aircraftsman Roberts was rushed to a hospital at nearby Cranfield Camp, where the doctor in charge, Dr Thomas, a flight lieutenant serving in the RAF, was initially hopeful that Ivor might recover despite his extensive burns. However, around midnight on the Saturday his condition worsened, and Roberts died of his injuries at 04.30hrs, thirty-six hours after the crash. The body of the observer Sgt Peter Aitkin, a twenty-eight-year-old married Scotsman from Farnborough in Kent, was buried with full military honours on Wednesday 16th at Farnborough Churchyard. His body was carried on the back of an RAF lorry to the churchyard, where his coffin bearers were drawn from fellow sergeants from 218 Squadron. Alan had served in the RAF for ten years and had recently been stationed at Biggin Hill, also in Kent, where he had met and married Lily Parker. In a sombre twist to this tragic incident, the day of the crash was the very one on which Peter was to return home to Farnborough to collect his wife and eight-month-old baby to move them to the married quarters at Boscombe Down. As for the pilot, F/O William ‘Bill’ Kinane, a twenty-one year-old Australian, the official post crash investigation report records in a rather impassionate style that he was “flying below minimum authorised height, not culpable, excess zeal on the part of the pilot”.
At precisely 23.59hrs on August 23rd 1939 orders were once more received from the Air Ministry that 75 Wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force was to form at Boscombe Down. All 218 Squadron and station personnel were ordered to return immediately, while Boscombe Down’s defence posts were manned. In addition 250 class ‘E’ Reservists were called upon to report to Boscombe for duty with the squadron on its departure to France as a part of the AASF. On August 24th, W/Cdr Duggan instructed S/Ldr G Warrington, second in command, to oversee the re-painting of the Battles, this time with their wartime code of HA.
Mobilization continued throughout the next three days, on August 28th the 3 Group A-O-C, Air Commodore Arthur Thomson, MC, AFC, made an unscheduled landing at Boscombe Down in a Wellington of 115 Squadron. It was the culmination of an unsuccessful test flight to evaluate a special type of live bomb at Larkhill range. Faulty bomb release gear had brought an end to the test, and once on the ground the air commodore clambered out of the Wellington to inspect the offending device. It was while he was under the bomb-bay that a bomb accidentally released causing Thompson instinctively to step backwards and come into contact with the rotating propeller. He received severe injuries, including a compound skull fracture and fatal brain injuries. He was immediately rushed to the Tidworth Military Hospital, but so great were his injuries that he died in the ambulance on the way.
The squadron strength on August 28th 1939 stood at twenty-five pilots spread among A, B and C Flights, and on this day the squadron records show the following pilots under the command of W/Cdr L B Duggan.
On September 1st, with the European situation at a critical point, 1 Group issued instructions for the immediate departure of the forward air and ground parties of the AASF to the continent. On September 2nd, Group Captain Archibald Wann, commanding officer of Boscombe Down, addressed all ranks of 75 Wing prior to their departure. The following day G/C Wann and a number of NCOs embarked on an Imperial Airways Ensign to France, the same day that the forward sea party of Wing HQ personnel proceeded to their embarkation points on the south coast. At 11.10hrs on the 3rd the squadron operational records book records that Great Britain declared war on Germany. At 1600hrs aircraft from the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) aircraft began to arrive at Boscombe, and in all, thirty-five aircraft were dispersed around the airfield that night. A number of civil aircraft were employed to carry key squadron personnel and equipment to France over the coming days. A total of sixty-five tons of essential parts, including replacement Merlin Mk II engines, were crated up and loaded onto sixty-five vehicles ready for departure on the 11th, this party comprising two officers and 122 other ranks. On the 16th the main party of twelve officers and 150 airmen left by train for France under the command of S/Ldr E Routh. The squadron had acquitted itself well in undertaking such an enormous move at relatively short notice and all those involved could be justly proud that, despite the complexities and logistical problems, all had gone well.
For the squadrons charged with going to war in the Fairey Battle, the coming months would test their courage and professionalism to breaking point. The air crews of 218 Squadron, although supremely confident in their own ability, were aware that their Battles were woefully under-armed and vulnerable, but these shortcomings were shrugged off with an unflagging optimism. The crews carried out flight tests in an atmosphere of anticipation and excitement, for now it was time to put their training into practice. With the departure of the squadrons to France the base adjutant recorded the simple entry “The End” on the last page of Boscombe Down’s record book. 218 (Light) Bomber Squadron’s association with its last peace-time base was over. These “golden” years would prove to be formative in producing extremely well-trained and courageous airman for the impending conflict, and their character, especially of those destined for the Battle squadrons, would be tested to breaking point in the coming months.