BH-O of 300 Squadron being ‘bombed-up’ at Swinderby, 1941. (Peter Green Collection)
Sgts Smith and Jones, pilots of a 103 Squadron Wellington, in the aircraft cockpit. (Elsham Wolds Association)
Finally, on December 22, 1940, 1 Group became operational on the Wellington, 103 and 150 Squadrons, each sending three aircraft to attack Ostend. All the aircraft returned safely, with optimistic reports of targets hit and ‘extensive fires’ left behind. A longer trip to the port of Bremen followed on the night of January 1/2 1941, this time as part of a much larger force of RAF bombers and real damage was done this time with the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory hit. Crews from Newton reported severe cold en route to the target and in one aircraft the handle to an auxiliary oil pump broke as the crew tried to pump frozen oil into an engine. Conditions like this were to become familiar to bomber crews over the next few years and were to become one of Bomber Command’s greatest enemies. There were no Newton losses on the raid but two Wellingtons from Swinderby, both from 301, were lost, both crashing some hours apart south of Lincoln and initially were reported to have been shot down by German intruders. A search of Luftwaffe night fighter records show the first aircraft, piloted by S/Ldr S. Floryanowicz, was attacked by a Me 110 flown by Lt Rudolf Stradner of 1/NJG2 based at Gilze en Rijen, some 75Km east of Lowestoft, the Wellington finally coming down close to Digby airfield south of Lincoln. The second Wellington was attacked, again by a 110 of 1/NJG piloted by Uffz Helmut Arnold, 50Km east of Haisborough, and crashed near Wellingore, another Lincolnshire fighter airfield. As Digby and Wellingore were active airfields at the time it is likely both pilots were attempting to land their damaged aircraft when they crashed. There was just one survivor from the 12 men on board.
The damp demise of a 301 Squadron Wellington in a flooded field near Lindholme. (Peter Green Collection)
This 103 Squadron Wellington came to grief at Newton, making a wheels-up landing and ending in the station bomb dump. (Elsham Wolds Association)
Losses in those first few months were mercifully small. The fledgling Luftwaffe night fighter force was still finding its feet let alone finding bombers in the night skies over Holland and Germany. There were few tactics on either side. Sgt Rex Wheeldon, who flew Wellingtons with 12 Squadron at Binbrook, recalled: ‘We would be briefed on the raid we were to carry out, were given our bomb loads, fuel details and time of take off. The rest was up to us. We chose our own routes out, time over target and routes back again.’
A rare air-to-air shot of a 1 Group Wellington. PH-C was to be lost in 1942 while flying with 12 Squadron from Binbrook. (Wickenby Archive)
Navigation was the key to success and in these days was something of a black art. The only navigational aids available at this stage of the war were the sextant, compass, stop watch and slide rule. Later surveys were to find British bombing was wildly inaccurate, anything within five miles of the target being counted as a ‘success’. In that first dark, bitterly cold winter finding the right country to attack was hard enough, as was finding your way home again.
A second attack on Bremen (port targets were thought easier to find because of their distinctive coastline) came early in January, by which time winter grade oil had been fitted to the Wellingtons. This time the target was covered by cloud and the bombing was scattered. On the way home some of the aircraft were buffeted by a severe thunderstorm. One of those aircraft, a 103 Squadron Wellington with Sgt W. R. Crich and his crew on board, became lost. The radio packed up, the compass was erratic and the aircraft could not break through the thick clouds to get an astro fix. The navigator, Sgt Les Waern, was sure they were over England but not exactly where. Crich, who had survived a crash landing in a Battle in France in May 1940, spotted a gap in the clouds and once through the crew were surprised to find they were over snow-topped mountains and wondered whether the navigator was wrong and that they were over Switzerland or the French Alps. At that moment the engines cut as the fuel ran out and it took all Crich’s skill to land the aircraft in a field. As the aircraft came to a stop the crew jumped out only to find themselves surrounded by an excited crowd speaking a strange language. It transpired they had come down close to Abergavenny in South Wales. The six crew members were back at Newton three days later to find themselves down for ops the same night while their damaged aircraft was dismantled, taken away for repairs and later rejoined the squadron. This wasn’t to be the end of the adventures enjoyed by the redoubtable Sgt Crich and his crew.
Meanwhile at Binbrook heavy snow was adding to the miseries of those stationed there. Some local roads were reported to have drifts 12 feet deep and the airfield was officially declared ‘unserviceable’ for a period of 16 days. When possible Wellingtons and their crews were sent to Tollerton, the pre-war Nottingham city airport where the grass runways were at least usable. It was during this period that 12 Squadron lost its first Wellington, the aircraft stalling soon after takeoff and crashing near Cotgrave, killing the crew of six plus a member of the ground crew, AC1 Jim Boxall, who was just 18 years old. Among the others killed was S/Ldr Philip Lawrence, one of 12 Squadron’s senior flight commanders.
Sgts Coglon, Alan Mills and Whiting with a 103 Squadron Wellington. All were later to be shot down, Coglon and Whiting becoming prisoners of war while Sgt Mills escaped from the Vichy French. (Elsham Wolds Association)
Crashes also claimed the lives of men from 150 and 301 Squadrons although when two 300 Squadron Wellingtons crashed during training at Swinderby all on board walked away. Problems were being encountered at Swinderby in operating two full-strength Wellington squadrons and for a short period one of 301’s flights moved to the newly-built airfield at Winthorpe. It was to be a temporary occupation: Winthorpe was far from finished and was later to become home to a 5 Group heavy conversion unit (today it is the home of the Newark Air Museum).
In the meantime Sgt Crich and his crew were back on operations at Newton. On the night of February 11 theirs was amongst six aircraft from 103 which took part in a raid involving 222 bombers on Hanover. Crich and his crew were on their way home when an engine failed over Holland. Steadily losing height, he managed to nurse the aircraft some way over the North Sea with the crew throwing out everything possible in an effort to lighten the aircraft. Finally, when it was clear they were not going to reach the coast, Crich ordered them to brace for ditching which he managed successfully. It was clear the aircraft would not stay afloat for long and the dinghy was released but unfortunately it emerged from the Wellington upside down and most of the survival gear was lost. The crew managed to right the dinghy, dragging on board rear gunner ‘Jock’ Cameron, who couldn’t swim and had also suffered a broken collar bone in the ditching. They discovered what remained of the survival gear was just three partly-filled water bottles, a drogue, fluorescent dye and nine dinghy leak stoppers. Thankfully, the wireless operator, Sgt ‘Chick’ Layfield, had managed to get off an SOS with their approximate position just before the ditching. When daylight finally came all they could see were waves and an overcast sky. They were wet through, bitterly cold but managed to keep their spirits up by going through their repertoire of popular songs, helped by occasionally sips of water.
Air and ground crew with a 142 Squadron Wellington, Binbrook 1941. (Peter Green Collection)
Later in the day they spotted a pair of Blenheims in the distance and then a Wellington flying a grid pattern, clearly looking for them or at least another crew in their predicament. Imagine their despair when the searching aircraft passed within 1,000ft of the dinghy but, despite their best efforts to attract the attention of the crew, they were not spotted. Another night passed and the six men shivered in the bitter cold and from the effects of sea sickness. On the morning of the second day of their ordeal they tied their scarves together to make a rudimentary sail and used their flying boots as paddles as they headed hopefully in the direction of England. As dusk approached they saw three ships in the distance and, much to their relief, the third, the SS Tovelli, spotted t
hem. By this time Sgt Crich and his crew were in such a bad way that they were unable to scramble up the safety net onto the deck of the Tovelli and had to be hauled up by rope. They were later landed on the Isle of Sheppey and two of the crew required hospital treatment for the effects of their ordeal.
It was largely the result of their experiences that led to dinghies carried on RAF bombers to be adapted to include canopies to give downed airmen a better chance of survival. Crich and his crew were among the lucky ones. The North Sea was to claim the lives of countless bombers crews over the months and years to come. Another crew which did escape its clutches, however, was that of F/O Butkiewicz of 301 Squadron. His Wellington was on its way to Cologne when it was attacked by a Me110 40 miles off the English coast. The pilot took immediate evasive action while the rear gunner opened fire on the fighter. The Messerschmitt pilot was persistent and attacked again, setting fire to the Wellington. Both gunners managed to drive the 110 away but by this time the Wellington was in serious trouble with several fires blazing along the fuselage. The crew managed to get the fires out and the bombs were jettisoned in the sea but the undercarriage, flaps and emergency systems were out of action. But F/O Butkiewicz and his crew managed to get the badly damaged Wellington back to Swinderby where they made a successful emergency landing and were later commended for their actions by Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse.
A Wellington wireless operator in ‘the office’, 12 Squadron, Binbrook 1941. (Wickenby Archive)
This Wellington of 103 Squadron was shot down on the night of September 20, 1941 during a raid on Berlin. All six men on board were killed. (Elsham Wolds Association)
As the weather improved the pace of operations picked up but by now the main thrust of Bomber Command’s attacks was directed at the growing menace posed to Britain’s Atlantic life line by Germany’s U-boat and surface fleet. Numerous attacks were carried out on U-boat pens and port installations along France’s Atlantic coast in the spring of 1941 and 1 Group’s Wellingtons found themselves in the thick of it. An attack on the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau cost 103 Squadron two Wellingtons, both crashing on their return. One hit a tree attempting an emergency landing near Yeovil and the pilot, the squadron’s 32-year-old commanding officer, W/Cmdr Charles Littler, was killed. He had taken over the squadron a few months earlier after a staff posting at 1 Group HQ and was later buried in his home city of Liverpool.
Binbrook’s Wellingtons finally became operational on the night of April 9-10 when four aircraft took part in an attack on Emden and it was to cost 12 Squadron its CO, W/Cmdr Vivian Blackden’s Wellington being shot down by a night fighter over Holland, the aircraft exploding over the Ijselmeer after an engine caught fire. There were no survivors.
The Poles at Syerston also became operational at around the same time, three Wellingtons from 304 Squadron returning safely from an attack on Rotterdam. 305 were not so fortunate when they made their debut a week later, one of their aircraft falling to a night fighter over Emden, although four of the crew survived. These two squadrons were to lose nine more Wellingtons before a summer move to another temporary home, Lindholme in South Yorkshire. It is interesting to note that in an attack on Bremen on the night of May 8-9 each squadron lost an aircraft. The 305 Squadron Wellington was being flown by an RAF pilot while the aircraft lost by 304 Squadron had an all-RAF crew, an indication of how thinly spread were the resources of the Polish element within Bomber Command. Another 305 Squadron aircraft was lost in a tragic accident early in June when, during a training flight, it was hit by an Oxford of 25 FTS near Nottingham, at a cost of seven lives.
Wellingtons of 301 Squadron operated occasionally from Syerston in June and July and one of those operations, to Bremen on the night of July 3-4, an aircraft in which the Polish CO at Swinderby, G/Capt B. Stachon, was flying as second pilot failed to return, the third senior officer lost to 1 Group in a matter of weeks.
By now losses were mounting throughout Bomber Command as the intensity of the night bombing increased and German defences became ever more sophisticated. Hamburg, Brest, Mannheim, Kiel, Hamburg again, Cologne, Brest again, Mannheim once more, Bremen, Hanover, Cologne for a second time …. The targets came and went on the operations boards of squadrons throughout eastern England, and rare was the night when the BBC newsreader was able to announce ‘all our aircraft returned safely’.
This was also a period of more changes for 1 Group. Early June saw the opening of Elsham Wolds in North Lincolnshire, the first of the new wartime stations to be allocated to the Group. On July 1 103 moved its Wellingtons there, a move which was not at all popular with squadron personnel who liked the comforts of their Newton home, while 150 Squadron went to another brand new airfield, Snaith, just west of Goole in Yorkshire. These were the first of the new wartime-build airfields to be used by 1 Group and, while some work had still to be completed, each had three concrete runways which meant that no longer were operations dependent on the state of the grass strips. It also meant the Wellingtons could carry a bigger bomb load and more fuel, extending their range across Europe. It was to prove a hugely significant step for 1 Group and Bomber Command.
Sgt Kellaway at the controls of a 12 Squadron Wellington during an air test, Binbrook, 1941 (Wickenby Archive)
Early in July the four Polish squadrons were on the move, 300 and 301 to Hemswell and 304 and 305 to Lindholme. Hemswell had been in the front line of the bomber war since September 1939 and been used by Hampdens of 5 Group before its transfer to 1 Group. Lindholme, too, had been a 5 Group airfield and had also been used for the formation and training of the Canadian 408 Squadron. However, unlike Elsham and Snaith, both Hemswell and Lindholme still had grass runways which were to restrict their operational use in bad weather.
At Elsham, in the meantime, the early arrivals were in for something of a shock. G/Capt Hugh Constantine had been appointed the first station commander there and when he arrived he discovered that the hastily erected buildings were still without running water and electricity, other buildings and many of the roadways were still unfinished. Constantine, at 33 one of the youngest station commanders in the RAF, didn’t stand on ceremony with the contractors and by the time 103 Squadron arrived Elsham was both operational and habitable. Constantine was to become a leading figure in the wartime history of 1 Group, something of an Elsham Wolds legend and left an abiding impression on all those who met him. He played rugby for both the RAF and Leicester and believed in keeping the men in his charge fit, often leading straggling lines of reluctant airmen on tough cross-country runs on non-flying days.
It wasn’t just the cross-country running that came as such a shock to the men of 103. Newton had been a comfortable place from which to conduct their war but now they found themselves on a windy Lincolnshire plateau, some miles from the nearest pub and even further from the closest public cinema or dance hall. There was no central heating, their living quarters were rudimentary and everything seemed such a long way away, and that was just on the airfield. But nothing stood in the way of operations and on July 14, just three days after the squadron arrived, six aircraft left to attack Bremen, two later returning with mechanical defects.
The squadron’s first operational loss from Elsham came ten days later when six Wellingtons took part in a daring daylight raid on the 26,000-ton pocket battleship Gneisenau which had recently arrived in dock at Brest. The attack involved a force of 79 Wellingtons drawn from 1 and 3 Groups and they bombed from 15,000ft from a cloudless sky. Despite attempts to draw off the fighters by two separate groups of Fortresses and Hampdens, the Wellingtons had to face determined opposition from both fighters and flak and 10 Wellingtons failed to return, among them Sgt John Bucknole and his crew from 103. 12 Squadron also lost a Wellington in the raid, Sgt Harold Heald and his crew disappearing without trace off the French coast, one of four aircraft lost from Binbrook in a busy month for the crews of 12 and 142.
Wellington aircrew outside one of the camouflaged buildings at, Binbrook, 1941.
(Wickenby Archive)
One of those flying that day was F/Lt Doug Gosman, a Fairey Battle veteran, and his 142 Squadron crew. His wireless operator Sgt Les Frith later recalled: ‘Up to that point in the war I had never seen so much flak and, as we approached across the Cherbourg peninsular, the sky was one mass of thick black smoke. How on earth we were supposed to fly through that goodness only knows.
‘Then it came to our turn to go in, flying straight and level with bomb doors down, the most dangerous time of all. Flak was bursting all around and, no sooner had we dropped our bombs, than the leading aircraft, flown by the CO, suddenly rose in the air sharply, having sustained damage under the front of the fuselage.’
The radio in the CO’s aircraft was out of action and Sgt Frith had to take on communications for the formation but found he couldn’t use his own aircraft’s trailing aerial. It was only when they returned to Binbrook that he discovered it had been shot away. Every aircraft that returned to Binbrook that day had been damaged by flak.
That month also saw 304 and 305 Squadrons begin operations from Lindholme. One aircraft failed to return from a raid on Emden at the end of the month and a week later a second aircraft piloted by one of 305’s flight commanders, S/Ldr Scibor, came down in Belgium. Three of those on board managed to escape and two of them later made it back to England. There was a poignant moment at Lindholme on the afternoon of August 17 when the carrier pigeon which had accompanied a 305 Squadron crew on an attack of Cologne the night before arrived back at the make-shift pigeon loft on the airfield. Of the Wellington and its six-man crew there was no trace, although later it was reported that four bodies of the crew had been found in the North Sea. At that stage of the war carrier pigeons were an integral part of a bomber crew’s safety equipment and were intended to carry messages back to England when aircraft ditched in the sea. On this occasion there was no message, simply a very fortunate pigeon. The use of carrier pigeons was finally phased out at the end of 1943.
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