Hi All, To make the most of RAF No. 245 Squadron's Operations Record Book (ORB) which I purchased recently from the UK National Archives for the '245 Sqd Typhoon 'MR-K' on ALG B-3?' thread, I have decided to go through the entire set of four PDFs making reference to anything of note for the months of June and July 1944. Below are the extracts for first four days of June; Form 540 (Summary) first... ,,,and then the companion Form 541: On the 2nd June, I note the loss of Flight Sergeant D.J. Lush made all the more poignant by the fact that he was seen alive in the Channel ‘7 or 8 miles N.N.W. of Cherbourg’ for over half an hour before a RAF Walrus seaplane arrived to rescue him. It seems strange that this aircraft had to depart before he could be picked up due to ‘damage from enemy shelling’. By the time a second Walrus arrives, the bailed out pilot is dead and slips out of his Mae West life jacket as his body is about to be brought aboard the aircraft. He is then lost to the sea. I was anxious to see the account of this incident from the ORB of the ASR squadron which operated the two Walrus aircraft and went digging to see if I could find who they were. It appears that No. 276 Squadron covered the western approaches to the Channel during this period and I therefore downloaded their ORB for June 1944. Strangely, there is no reference to this incident in their ORB entry for the 2nd June: However, by strange coincident on the same day, No. 276 did dispatch two Walrus aircraft to the aid of a Spitfire pilot downed in the sea '4-5 miles S.E. of Guernsey'. Can anyone confirm the RAF ASR squadron which would have had responsibility for the area of Flight Sergeant Lush's bale out 7-8 miles N.N.W. of Cherbourg in June 1944? Thanks, Pat
Hello Pat As far as I am aware 276 Squadron was the only ASR Squadron for the Western Approaches of the UK, operating both Spitfires and the Walrus - see http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn276-280.htm http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Nick-Time-Wartime-Experiences/dp/190395312X and http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/276_wwII.html and this photo from the IWM website http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205127060 also http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?f%5B0%5D=agentString%3ARoyal%20Air%20Force%2C%20276%20Squadron&query= However, the fact that the Spitfire pilot was picked up by a Walrus shows that it was not the same incident as F/S Lush, as that was in the morning, and Lush was in the afternoon. But this is not the first time that I have noticed an incident missing from an ORB. Allan
To Continue... Despite the loss of Flight Sergeant Lush, the War had to go on and the next day, 3rd June, No. 245 Squadron were again sent back to the northern Cotentin to attack radar sites. This work was now critical, with the planned invasion only two days away. The entry in the ORB for the 3rd June states that eight aircraft took off on a mission led by Squadron Leader Collins to attack the radar site at Jobourg on the north western tip of the Cotentin. I decided to have a look on Google Earth 'street view' to see if the radar site might be found. Below is the view looking north west from the crossroads in the village: Looking around the village, the scene is dominated by what I take to be some form of comms tower. Working on the assumption that a good site for a German radar station in 1944 would also be a good modern day site for communications, I done a 'virtual' walk up the road and got this second view of the site: Note the comms tower is now on the extreme left of this screenshot. The site is obviously much more that a mobile phone relay station...so walking quickly away I departed Google Earth's virtual world and had a look for NCAP cover of this site in 1944. First, here is the present day satellite view of the village: The dark line is the shadow of the comms tower, while the tower itself is the shorter white line. I found nothing on the NCAP web site for post attack cover, but I did find two very interesting pre attack sorties. The first is frame 4060 from sortie E_445 flown on the 30th October 1943 and to my mind shows the shadow of a 'Freya' radar antenna: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk Note how the P.I.s looking at this very print have spotted the structure and indicated it with a penciled arrow. It has obviously been marked down for attention. Five months later, the shadow is less obvious but still there on the extract below from sortie J_642, frame 3122 flown on the 17th March 1944: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk Note how there appears to have been at least one attempt to bomb the site during the winter of 1943/44. Can anyone confirm the location of the German radar station which was the target for this attack by the eight Typhoons of No. 245 Squadron on the 3rd June? Thanks, Pat
Thanks Alan, I missed you reply when I was prepping my second post. It looks therefore like No. 276 was indeed the Squadron which attempted to rescue Flight Sergeant Lush. Just glancing through the newly downloaded ORB for this Squadron, it looks like ASR work was no easy task. Their exploits read like a 'Commando' comic I think another dedicated thread is called for... Regards, Pat
Hello Pat A (slightly early) Happy Christmas to you and the other forum members. As 276 Squadron was operating from Portreath in Cornwall, so ideal for Western Approaches cover, perhaps the station ORB might fill in the blanks regarding F/S Lush and the damaged Walrus? I have looked in my copy of "Devon and Cornwall Airfields in the Second World War" (Graham Smith), and although it reports briefly on some incidents unfortunately this was not one of them. However, an index search for 276 Squadron reveals this from Bolt Head "B Flight of No. 276 (A/S/R) Squadron plied its trade from the airfield. It was equipped with six Spitfire LFVBs and six Supermarine Walrus IIs. The Spitfires normally operated in pairs mainly for their own protection". 275 squadron were also in the area at Warmwell - so perhaps you need to check their ORB as well? Nice work on the radar station at Jobourg by the way. Allan
Hi Alan, The ORB search page on the National Archives site seems to be down just now so I'll try again over the Christmas break. I appreciate your time on this and Merry Christmas to you also! Regards, Pat
Thanks for the link Niels, The map they have here seems to confirm the antenna location. Page 3 of this PDF has a map which shows the site was used early in the War as a radio direction beacon to guide German bombers over England. This, I presume, was in the per-radar days of the site. The page also confirms the present day site as a French Coast Guard base. Regards, Pat
5th June 1944... The Squadron is up again; this time the target is just under 4 Kms from Jobourg to the north west near the village of Auderville: The Form 540 (Summary) of the Squadron ORB relates: Following a bit of digging, I have discovered that this whole area around the village was a huge strong point known as Stp 351. At first I assumed that the primary purpose of this site was to repel invasion of the mainland but on further searching, I discovered that the Germans had a misplaced preconception that Churchill would not allow the Channel Islands to be occupied and would attempt to retake them early in the War. Hence, Stp 351 was as much about preventing a landing on the island of Alderney as it was about repelling a landing on the Cotentin coast. The complex was so big that its difficult to know for sure if 'the RADAR station at AUDERVILLE' as described in the text of the ORB was an integrated part of it or a stand alone location. Extensive research has already been done on this strong point such as that which appears on this web page, so I am going to confine my efforts to tracking down the location of No. 245's target for the 5th June. The two photographs below are well know in aerial reconnaissance 'family circles'. They were taken on the 22nd February 1941 by RAF Pilot Officer Manifould and show clearly, for the first time, two Freya radars at Auderville: The only air I could find in the NCAP archives was all from pre 5th June cover such as Sortie E_0445, Frame 3065 flown on the 30th October 1943: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk There appears to be two separate complexes with the larger one to the south being Stp 351. The smaller, northern site has caught my eye and the red rectangle is zoomed to below: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk The layout does appear to match the 1941 photos -the two positions run parallel to the road here and also in the P/O Manifould oblique pair above. However, there could easily have been many changes to the antennae location during the intervening two years and eight months between the two sorties, so it may be a completely different location. What is interesting though is that the relative orientation of the two antennae to each other, if indeed antennae are what we are seeing in the 1943 photo, seems to be the same in both sorties. All that appears to be remaining today, at least above the briars, is the concrete roofed rectangular structure lettered 'A': I could be as far out as the proverbial 'lighthouse' as seen above so, as always, comments and corrections are welcomed and appreciated. Regards, Pat
Hi All, I found two photos from a B-26 Marauder strike on Stp 351: I have marked the small sea-side village of Goury and the Cap del la Hague Semaphore Station for orientation. The aircraft have invasion stripes on the top surface of their wings so this mission must have been flown sometime in the date window of 6th - 25th June when orders were issued to remove the strips from top surfaces so as to deny the Germans their use as aiming points when shelling the ALGs in Normandy - unless of course these orders only applied to aircraft using the strips in France - these guys seem to be returning to England. Anyone know the date of this strike or the USAAF squadron/wing? Regards, Pat
Just wondering... Is one of the two photos from the 22nd February 1941 sortie flown by RAF Pilot Officer Manifould flipped horizontally? Don't have access to my beloved Photoshop just now so I'll have to wait until tonight to check. In the meantime, if anyone has an image editor with the ability to flip photos, please feel free to have a go. Regards, Pat
Hi All, Having looked again at the 'two' photographs of the twin Freya site from the low level sortie flown on the 22nd February 1941 by RAF Pilot Officer Manifould, I think they are in fact one and the same shot with the wider angle version being flipped incorrectly right to left. Here they are again as found on the web: I flipped the top, wide angle shot, back left to right in Photoshop and got this: The closeup is just a zoomed extract if I am not mistaken. The location now looks much better for the site just west of Auderville as indicated by my ties on the Bing Map extract below: Note how the present day corner where Freya D was located has not been cultivated like the rest of the field - perhaps just not worth the effort of clearing concrete foundations :dodgy: Cannot be sure of course, but to my eye, there are several good ties. So, was this small part of strong point Stp 351 the target for 245 Squadron on the 5th June? Regards, Pat
Hi All, To continue... The raid on the Auderville radar station on the 5th June was to cost the Squadron two Typhoons lost, though both pilots were picked up from the Channel by ASR Walruses after some difficulty due to the rough seas. The first to bale out was F/O W. Smith, whom we have already met in the '245 Sqd Typhoon 'MR-K' on ALG B-3?' thread as the first pilot after the D-Day Invasion to do a wheels down landing in France on the 10th June - just five days after his bailout on the Auderville raid! His aircraft had been hit by flak and began leaking the critical engine coolant glycol. He headed for home at 7,000ft but about 30 miles from Cherbourg, his engine stopped. He had no option but to bail. Squadron Leader 'Jack' Collins, who was leading the eight aircraft on the raid, circled overhead while Smith clambered into his dingy in the heavy seas. Accompany the orbiting Squadron Leader was 'Red3', Flight Lieutenant W. E. Reynolds who soon noticed that his aircraft's engine was showing signs of overheating with the result that he too had to bailout. A second MAYDAY was sent by Collins seeking ASR assistance, which duly arrived with Spitfire cover. It was only with extreme difficulty that the Walruses effected the rescue of both pilots, with the second seaplane having to taxi back to the Isle of Wight on the surface, being unable to get airborne due to the weather. Various sections were scrambled from 245 to give air cover as the second Walrus made the long journey back to England. With both pilots finally safe, the Squadron was brought to readiness for the 'Great Day' and flew a number of shipping patrols until dusk. I found the records of both pilots in the Forces War Records database but there is nothing of note therein for either man. Googling further, I found a request for information on F/Lt Reynolds posted on the RAF Commands Forum here when he went missing while attacking gun positions at La Forge a Cambro, south of Caen on the 13th July 1944. It's an old post going back to 2007 and nobody appears to have been able to answer the call. We are very fortunate to have as a member here on the Forum, Mike Collins who is the son of No. 245's C.O., Squadron Leader J R 'Jack' Collins. I see Paul has uploaded a very moving video of Mike speaking at the inauguration of the monument to his father who was killed leading his men near Cintheaux on the 11th August 1944. Mike and Paul, I hope you don't mind me embedding the video here for reference: <iframe width="700" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YHsW8mYZa7k" frameborder="5" allowfullscreen></iframe> A very moving tribute Mike; well done indeed :exclamation: In the next post, we come to the ORB entry for D-Day. Regards, Pat
Just an addition... The location of the monument to Mike's father is shown centred in the live IGN map below: <iframe width="700" height="450" frameborder="5" scrolling="no" marginheight="2" marginwidth="2" src="http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/embed/visu.html?c=-0.3043955814594388,49.065629196476905&z=0.0000013411045076580043&l=ORTHOIMAGERY.ORTHOPHOTOS::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS(1)&permalink=yes" allowfullscreen></iframe> Live Map - Press F5 to Reset Note - as of today's date, neither Google Earth nor Bing Maps have the required up-to-date satellite cover to show the site. Regards, Pat
Continuing the story (6th June)... D-Day had finally arrived for the Squadron and the extract below from the Form 541 (Record of Events) shows that 22 sorties were flown during the 'Great Day', spread over three patrols: The first patrol of eight aircraft was 'up' at 0715 hours, led by Wing Commander Charles Green, C.O. 121 Group (photo below): The entry above for the first patrol reads: The target at Tailleville, 3 kilometers behind Juno Beach, is described as 'gun positions' I initially took this phrase to mean a battery of field guns or coastal artillery. However, after a bit of digging, it seems there was a hard fought battle by the Canadians to clear the hamlet on D-Day, and the final objective for the ground troops appears to have been a 'fortified radar station' close by to the south east which did not fall for a number of days. I could be wrong but I think the 'gun' positions' target was not the radar station but the chateau at the north end of the hamlet. This house was the HQ of the German 736th Grenadier Regiment. Apparently the grounds were heavily defended with machine gun positions in the wall, part of which had been reduced to create hull down positions for self propelled guns. At another section of the wall, concrete had been used to reinforce a field gun position. The chateau itself still looks to bear the scars of battle as seen in this GE 'street view' of the north side. I had a look for NCAP cover and found a number of sorties covering the hamlet in the database. Frame 3076 from sortie 16/0064, flown on the 24th April 1944 is particularly sharp and shows what I take to be a zig-zag mine field in front of the chateau at upper left and what I also assume is the radar station at lower right. Less clear, but none-the-less very interesting is frame P_0049 of sortie US7GR_1733 flown by Major Norris Hartwell, 7th PRG, USAAF, in what appears to be a troublesome F5. The extract below from this frame has my thoughts marked thereon - north is at bottom: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.ncap.org.uk No sign of any 'hutted camp, but I wonder are we seeing No. 245's rocket craters at centre-right? Probably not The other two patrols, 'up' at 1730 hours and 2035 hours respectively, seem to have been strafing runs in the Caen area with nothing of note being recorded either above in the Form 541 (Record of Events) extract, nor in the Form 540 (Summary of Events) below - apart from some 'flamers' seen amongst the vehicles attacked: The only casualty of the day appears to have been Flying Officer R. A. Gordon who suffered head injuries when his canopy was hit by flak during the Tailleville patrol. Considering the day that was in it, the Squadron came through it remarkably lightly. Far worse days lay ahead. Regards, Pat
Hello Pat Thanks for the updates - indeed a moving tribute. The interpreter is Joss Leclercq, who has done considerable work in Northern France with regard to this type of memorial. Although I had been in contact with Joss for years I finally met him in December 2012, at the RAF Club in Piccadilly, for the book launch of the 41 Squadron history by Steve Brew as we had both been helping Steve. See above Flight Officer R A Gordon - Flight Officer is a Warrant Officer type of rank in the USAAF at the time, and not RAF, we have discussed this rank in another part of the forum, and it should be Flying Officer in this piece as he is RAF. With regard to F/Lt Reynolds - his loss is covered off in 2TAF Vol 2 - Breakout to Bodenplatte - July 1944 - January 1945. He was flying Typhoon 1B MN748 and was lost approx. 17.50 - it mentions the sky being quite full of Typhoons "...Wg Cdr Baldwin had led three 197 Squadron aircraft on an armed reconnaissance south-east of Cabourne, while Sqn Ldr W C Ahrens led a 257 Squadron formation to attack the Verneuil rail yards. Both formations were 'bounced' by Bf109s of III./JG1 and I./JG5, but although outnumbered, Baldwin and Flt Sgt A Shannon of 257 Squadron each claimed a Bf109 shot down, while five more were claimed damaged by pilots of the latter unit..... (it then gives a personal description of the action and continues)...An aircraft from 245 Squadron seems also to have blundered into this engagement. Flt Lt W E Reynolds being shot down near Forge-a-Cambro, and killed...." regards Allan
Thanks Allan, I have corrected the typo above. Without disclosing it here, do you know if the crash site location of Squadron Leader Jack Collins is known? I spotted something last night on an extract from a frame which was being used on another forum to discuss the never ending 'Who got Whittman' story. Apparently the German tank ace was killed not far from the site of the new monument to Mike's father... ...and before anybody goes to dust off the old metal detector, the object I am looking at is nowhere near the monument I'll open a thread in the Green Room tonight. Thanks, Pat
Hello Pat Thanks for correcting the text on Flying Officer Gordon. With regard to Jack Collins you probably need to find the MREU (Missing Research & Enquiries Unit) report for the exact crash location, if it was ever traced and noted by them. If his body was buried in a cemetery nearby, and not moved, it would of course still be there, but as it has been moved to a concentration cemetery the CWGC might have records of the original burial location. The CWGC website shows his burial location now as Ranville cemetery http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2847813/COLLINS,%20JOHN%20RUSSELL so you can work out the distance from there to Bretteille/Bretteville - but my guess is that he could have crashed within our lines, but the situation was fluid at that time - see the moving map on http://www3.sympatico.ca/angels_eight/campaign.html which shows the ground situation on 11 August, although I fully expect you are aware of where the 21st Army Group forces were on that day. I have visited Ranville CWGC Cemetery and Churchyard, way back in 1991, to see the grave of Private Aubrey Sharp of 1/5 Welch Regiment, who died in a VC action on 16 August 1944, for his family - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasker_Watkins - sadly Aubrey was one of those who did not return after the order to scatter, he is also commemorated on the war memorial in Swansea, I understand that he was the unit cook. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1562637/Sir-Tasker-Watkins-VC.html Den Brotheridge - the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D-Day, part of Operation Tonga (he died at Pegasus Bridge on Operation Deadstick) is also buried there, in the churchyard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_Brotheridge TNA files on MREU are mostly policy not individual cases. A list of all holdings is given here http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Missing_research_and_enquiry_service I have, and can recommend, the original book, now out in paperback MISSING BELIEVED KILLED: Casualty Policy and the Missing Research and Enquiry Service 1939-1952 by Stuart Hadaway. http://www.amazon.com/MISSING-BELIEVED-KILLED-Casualty-1939-1952/dp/1848846592/ref=sr_1_3/182-0170249-4471566?ie=UTF8&qid=1431702566&sr=8-3&keywords=missing+believed+killed - the piece about the book, and the one customer review, give you a good idea of the hard work that was put in to this very important task post-war with 42,000 people missing. This link gives you the benefit of a look inside the kindle version of the book. The piece from 2TAF Volume 2 is in the public domain, so I see no harm in quoting from it here. "...Sqn Ldr 'Jack' Collins, the long-serving commanding officer of 245 Squadron, was also lost on this date. Apparently hit by Flak north of Bretteille, his engine burst into flames and he baled out immediately. Unfortunately, his parachute caught on the tail of his crippled Typhoon and failed to open properly. This had been intended to be his last sortie before going on rest." Also - e16.15 Typhoon 1B MN933 hbf b/o pfto 2 ml N Bretteville (note Bretteille in the text, Bretteville in the loss notes). Hope this helps? Allan p.s. I am not on an ego trip :angel:, but I have a "reputation" of 0 and a "warning level" of 0%, whilst I appreciate that I haven't done anything to warrant a warning what does "reputation" mean?
Thanks Allan, I know Ranville Cemetery quite well; been there twice on tours. When I took out the Irish group last year to Normandy, I made sure to have our guide Dale take us there. The location of Sq/Ldr Collins's crash site is described as "north' of Cintheaux" in this DDay-Overlord. com page. I don't want to pursue it here in case it encourages some to go traipsing all over the place with metal detectors. TNA MREU index page is saved in my browser favorites folder since last year when I purchased a copy of Stuart Hadaway's book - just before I went to Normandy as it happens. Absolutely no idea Allan what it means - I went 'under the hood' just now in the all powerful Control Panel and found how to turn off the feature (at least I think I did!) I hope to post that recon photo in the Green Room tonight but I need to geo-position it first and do up a GE finder chart. As this is Friday night and I have just had a couple of glasses of red, this might take longer than usual Regards, Pat