Aircraft Down: Landings, Crash Landings and Rescues

by Alec Brew

  36. The rescuers; the fishermen who picked up the Croydon’s crew from the reef.

  CHAPTER 10

  Down in the Channel

  Since Hubert Latham failed to make the first flight over the English Channel in his Antoinette monoplane in 1909, there have been many pilots who have come down in that short stretch of water. Even pilots who survived the ditching have found that being so close to two shores does not always mean rescue is at hand, especially bomber crews flying on dark nights during the Second World War, in either direction. However, 31 May 1940 was a good day to ditch in the Channel, because on that day there was a stream of boats and ships crossing and recrossing those narrow waters on their way to and from Dunkirk. It was on that day that Eric Barwell’s Merlin engine stopped, and he had to put his Boulton Paul Defiant down on the water.

  At the time Barwell was a pilot officer with No. 264 Squadron, one of two Defiant squadrons then in existence, but the only one yet to see action. No. 264 (Madras Presidency) Squadron had been re-formed at Sutton Bridge on 30 October 1939, and was destined to become the first squadron equipped with the new Boulton Paul Defiant, though the first three did not arrive until 9 December.

  The Defiant had been designed to Spec. F.9/35, calling for a two-seat fighter with all its armament in a fully-enclosed power-operated gun turret, as a replacement for the Hawker Demon biplane. Boulton Paul Aircraft had designed an aircraft that was an excellent compromise between simplicity of construction and aerodynamic efficiency. More modern in construction than the fabric-covered Hurricane, and yet easier to build in simple sub-assemblies than the Spitfire, it was in some ways a shame it was designed for a specification that called for it to haul around 850 lb of gunner and gun turret, unlike the other two, similarly-powered, monoplane fighters being prepared for service with the Royal Air Force. Even with the turret its performance came remarkably close to that of the Hurricane, achieving in excess of 300 mph.

  37. Eric Barwell in 1941, the year after he ditched his Defiant in the Channel.

  Eric Barwell was a member of the RAFVR from early June 1938, doing his part-time elementary flying training at No. 22 E & RFTS at Cambridge. He was called up at the start of the War and went to No. 2 FTS at Brize Norton on 8 October 1939. He was commissioned as a pilot officer on 10 December and was advised that he was to be posted to No. 266 Squadron at Sutton Bridge, flying Spitfires. However that station was commanded by his brother, Wing Commander Phillip Barwell, and they both agreed that this was not a good arrangement and so his posting was switched to No. 264 Squadron, flying Defiants at Martlesham Heath.

  He drove to Martlesham Heath on 20 December and reported to Squadron Leader Stephen Hardy, who advised him that he ought to have more training first, possibly because of his RAFVR status. He went home for Christmas and reported to No. 12 Group Fighter Pool at Aston Down on 1 January 1940. He had a month of flying Harvards and then returned to No. 264 Squadron during the first week in February.

  He was taken aloft by Flight Lieutenant Nicholas Cooke, in command of A Flight, in a Magister. He then had two flights in a Fairey Battle, followed by a trip in the gun turret of a Defiant being piloted by Cooke. After that he was deemed proficient enough to be let loose on the Defiant, which he soon got used to and enjoyed flying. During his first month he flew about 8 hours, which included firing at targets in the Wash, formation flying and attack practices. During March Squadron Leader Phillip Hunter replaced Hardy. He set about devising tactics to use the unique features of the Defiant and to weld each two-man crew into a well-drilled team.

  During this period the Squadron could almost have been operating in peacetime, but their leisurely progress was rudely jarred when the Germans launched their invasion of Holland and Belguim. On 12 May Barwell, with his gunner Sergeant Quinnie, was one of six crews detailed to fly a mission to Holland in the company of six Spitfires from No. 66 Squadron. During the operation the Squadron shot down a Junkers Ju 88, and all returned successfully.

  The following day B Flight flew a similar operation but were attacked by large numbers of Bf 109s. In a terrific battle the Defiants shot down three Bf 109s and four Ju 87s, but only one of their number made it back to Duxford. One of the Defiants made a belly-landing on Dutch soil, so that the Germans were able to examine the aircraft and find out all about its unique armament.

  The next day Barwell set off with A Flight on a similar mission, but they were recalled after take-off. Holland had surrendered.

  They then had a week of practice flying, including dummy attacks on a Wellington bomber. Barwell changed his gunner, and now had Pilot Officer JEM Williams, known as Bruce or Willie, who was an ex-stunt man, and had done over 500 parachute drops at air shows. Six replacement Defiants and replacement aircrew also arrived.

  From 23 May they flew to Manston, were refuelled and brought to readiness. Each day they flew two patrols along the French coast, and for the rest of the time were sitting on the ground ready to scramble. By 26 May the British Expeditionary Force was confined in the Dunkirk pocket, with the Belgiam Army to the North about to disintegrate.

  On 27 May No. 264 Squadron flew a patrol over the Dunkirk area, without Barwell, and intercepted a force of twelve Heinkel He 111s. They broke up the formation and claimed three shot down and two damaged. The Defiant had proven itself in the role of which it had been designed, as a bomber destroyer. The following day ten Defiants set off from Manston, but about halfway across the Channel they were attacked by around thirty Bf 109s.

  Squadron Leader Hunter adopted the defensive tactic he had devised and put the Defiants into a defensive circle. Three Defiants were lost, but they claimed five German fighters, and had shown that they could at least defend themselves against superior numbers of single-seat fighters.

  Eric Barwell’s next action was on the following day, the most auspicious in the history of No. 264 Squadron, and the Defiant. He and Williams were in one of the twelve Defiants that took off on the afternoon patrol. Immediately after take-off they could see the smoke billowing forth from the burning oil tanks at Dunkirk. The Squadron soon found itself in a fiece air battle over Dunkirk, and such confusion that it was difficult to remain in formation as battle took place all over the sky.

  38. Pilot Officer JEM ‘Bruce’ Williams, Eric Barwell’s gunner at the time of the ditching.

  39. A group of No. 264 squadron Defiant gunners at the time of Dunkirk. Pilot Officer JEM ‘Bruce’ Williams, Barwell’s gunner when he ditched, is seated fourth from the left in the front row.

  40. No. 264 squadron, A Flight, on patrol, just before Dunkirk.

  Barwell found himself amongst a number of Bf 109s. Williams fired at several, but they were only able to claim one as destroyed, which they saw going down trailing smoke and hitting the sea. The Squadron as a whole claimed eight Bf 109s, nine Bf 110s and a Junkers Ju 87, for the loss of just one gunner, LAC Jones, who had baled out, his turret having been hit. He had presumably mistaken his pilot’s violent evasive action for the aircraft being out of control. Not surprisingly, they were cock-a-hoop, and once the aircraft had been refuelled and rearmed they were chomping at the bit, anxious to return to the battle.

  41. No. 264 Squadron Defiant crew at the time of Dunkirk. Left to right ‘Bruce’ Williams, Kay, Hackwood, Whitley, Stokes, Squadron Leader Hunter (CO), Thomas, Hickman, Young, Lauder, Barwell.

  They were not sent over the Channel until the evening, however, and this time they were able to attack a large number of Junkers Ju 87s, which had just arrived to dive-bomb the beaches. Barwell attacked one, and it exploded as Williams opened fire. Barwell then joined up with two other Defiants and flew in rough line abreast through then gaps between four Ju 87s. All four exploded almost at once as the gunners poured fire into the central fuel tanks under the pilot and gunner.

  As a whole, the Squadron claimed eighteen Junkers Ju 87s and a single Ju 88 on the evening sortie, with no loss to themselves. This made a total of thirty-seven claimed for the day, with none of their own aircra
ft shot down, a record for Fighter Command.

  The Squadron landed at Manston, refuelled, and then took off to return to their base at Duxford. En route, Squadron Leader Hunter heard that the weather was not too good at Duxford, and as it was getting late, ordered a return to Manston. Coming in to land, Barwell realised that he was overshooting, but being exhausted both mentally and physically by the day’s efforts he decided not to go round, but to try and land, believing there was enough runway beyond the top of Manston’s hill. Just over the top there was a road, and he went straight over this and ended up in a potato field with a bent undercarriage strut. To compound matters he had left his radio on ‘transmit’, and so could not hear Hunter trying to tell him to go round again.

  That night Barwell stayed at Manston, and the next day flew a Miles Master back to Duxford, the Squadron having been released from operations for the day.

  On 31 May they flew to Manston and were brought to readiness while the aircraft were being refuelled. At around lunchtime they were ordered to patrol over Dunkirk docks. Barwell was the leader of Green Section, and he saw a great deal of activity on the ground and in the air. Hunter led the squadron to attack around twenty He 111s approaching from the southeast, with an escort of about seventy Bf 109s, but as they attacked the Heinkels turned and ran, and the Bf.109s swept in to attack the Defiants.

  Barwell saw his number two, Pilot Officer Hickman, shoot down a German fighter, but Hickman’s plane was then hit, and fell away with smoke pouring from it. Both Hickman and his gunner, LAC Fidler, managed to bale out. Williams called ‘Fighters astern!’, and tracer shells shot past Barwell’s port side. He turned violently to starboard, and Williams opened fire at the attacking Bf 109. After a short burst the German aircraft caught fire and fell into the sea.

  The sky was full of twisting aircraft, and Barwell watched in horror as a Defiant dropped in four pieces: the centre-section, turret, aft fuselage and tail. The aircraft was that of Pilot Officer Young and his gunner LAC Johnson, who had just shot down a Bf 109, and were then hit by the violently turning Defiant of Pilot Officer ‘Bull’ Whitley and his gunner LAC Turner. Whitley’s propeller cut off the tail of Young’s Defiant, which caused it to disintegrate, but he was able to crash-land his own aircraft at Dunkirk, and was soon back with the squadron.

  The Squadron flew back to Manston and were soon back on readiness. Barwell’s gunner, Williams, accidentally inflated his Mae West from the CO2 bottle, and forgot to replace the bottle, something that was nearly cost him his life a few hours later. In the late afternoon they were sent back over Dunkirk, where they found the sky full of German bombers and fighters. Barwell had a couple of fleeting engagements with fighters, and then came upon a solitary Heinkel He 111, which he attacked. Williams gave it a long burst of around 100 rounds, which entered the underside of the cabin, after which the bomber dived away towards the sea, and they saw two parachutes.

  They then attacked a Vee formation of three Heinkels. They again fired into the underside, but this time with no apparent effect, apart from return fire from the bomber’s gunner. Suddenly, there was a ‘whoosh!’ and the cockpit filled with steam. Barwell concluded that a round had hit the coolant system, and he throttled back. Williams gave another 30-round burst at three other Heinkels that came into range. Barwell jettisoned the cockpit canopy to clear the steam and headed for the Kent coast, trying to maintain their 7500 feet altitude on minimum revs. However, it seemed unlikely that they would make it back to dry land.

  Barwell asked Williams whether he thought they should bale out or try and ditch, but the gunner left it up to his pilot, which was perhaps surprising in view of his extensive experience as a parachutist. Barwell decided to ditch, as there was a constant stream of boats below them, which would be more likely to pick them up if they ditched alongside, than if they drifted any distance under their parachutes.

  Slowly the oil temperature went off the dial, and the engine began to slow down until it was only going at a fast tick-over despite the throttle being fully forward. Barwell examined the various boats below, trying to decide which to choose. There were pleasure cruisers, but they seemed rather small. There were fishing boats, but he decided not to choose one of those as he thought they would be rather smelly. He was very lucky to be able to make such an irrelevant choice, many an airman ditching in the Channel over the next few years would have been more than a little grateful to be able to put down alongside any sort of boat!

  Then he saw two destroyers steaming in opposite directions and about a mile apart. He decided that if he ditched between them, one of them would have the decency to pick them up. He then had to decide how he was going to ditch. The standard instructions for a single-engined aircraft like the Defiant was to keep the flaps up, to stop the nose digging in, and for the pilot to have his straps as tight as he could so as not to be thrown against the instrument panel and windscreen and rendered unconcious.

  Barwell decided against the latter, as the Defiant only had a Perspex windscreen, not bullet-proof glass, and no gunsight on which to hit his head, of course, so he was fairly confident that his head would survive any collision. He therefore undid his Sutton harness and parachute straps, and told Williams to point his guns forward and open the doors of his turret, which was standard procedure for Defiant gunners when landing or taking off, in case of accident. He also told him to sit on the fuselage with only his legs inside, which definitely was not standard procedure.

  Barwell then sat on the back of his seat, and bent forward to hold the stick, which in the Defiant was actually attached to the seat, making this rather easier. He flew the aircraft with just one hand on the stick, the other was on the top of the windscreen, bracing him. Luckily, the sea was smooth, though this made height judgement difficult. The engine seized up completely and he glided down to make a wheels-up landing.

  Suddenly he found himself deep underwater. Although he had remembered to put a few puffs of air into his Mae West, he had to swim upwards for what seemed ages before he broke surface. He looked round for Williams, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then he suddenly recognised an object floating nearby as the rear of a parasuit, the special low profile parachute worn by Defiant gunners on their backs. Barwell turned Williams the right way up, and found that he was unconcious, with a deep gash on his head. His buoyancy vest did not work, because of the empty CO2 bottle.

  Just then a landing wheel from the Defiant bobbed up alongside them, showing that the aircraft had broken up. Both destroyers seemed to be stopping. Barwell started to swim towards the nearest one, towing Williams behind him. After a while as he looked round he saw that both destroyers had apparently now completely stopped a little way off, so he aimed for one, which was to turn out to be HMS Malcolm. Because the parasuit on Williams’ back was interfering with his legs, Barwell could not use the traditional method of life-saving and had to swim on his side, holding Williams by the front of his parasuit.

  As both their heads were constantly going under water he tried to blow some more air into his Mae West, but he did not have enough ‘puff’. He was getting near the end of his tether, when he saw one of the destroyers moving slowly towards them. He tried to shout ‘Why the bloody Hell don’t you lower a boat!’ but it came out as little more than a whisper. As he got near the bows, a sailor made a wonderful dive into the sea, and relieved him of Williams. He made his way to the stern where there was a scrambling net, but was too weak to climb it unaided, and the crew had to tie a rope around him and haul him up.

  He was astounded that one of the first people he saw on the deck was Mike Young, whose Defiant he had seen break up earlier in the day. They had all thought he was dead. In fact, Young had taken some time to get out of the cockpit of his stricken plane and his parachute did not open until he was quite low. He had landed in a bomb-crater unhurt except for a sprained ankle, and was able to catch the first destroyer home, which happened to be HMS Malcolm. He had had a grandstand view of Barwell’s ditching, and was able to tell him th
at he had stalled when about 15 feet up, unable to judge his height because of the very smooth water.

  When Williams came round the first thing he saw was Mike Young standing in the doorway with the setting sun behind him. For a moment he thought he was meeting Young in the flames of hell!

  One of the destroyer’s officers lent Barwell a shirt and some trousers, and when he assessed his injuries he found only bruised knees and a bruised left arm, and a cut on the lip caused by the oxygen mask. After a long wait at Dover they were returned to RAF Hawkinge and later to Duxford, where he was grounded for seven days and given 48 hours’ leave.

  In fact, the whole Squadron, after its massive effort over Dunkirk was given the chance to recover at Duxford, and to receive replacement aircraft and crews, ready to play its part in the Battle of Britain. During this battle they were to shoot down nineteen more German aircraft for the loss of eleven Defiants. They were then reluctantly transferred to night-time operations, as the Defiants were the best British night-fighters available to counter the Luftwaffe’s switch to night bombing.