They Spread Their Wings

by Alastair Goodrum

  As part of his Norfolk Airways operations, Jim undertook pleasure flying from Clacton, Yarmouth and Cleethorpes beaches during the holiday seasons of the 1950s, and even flaunted regulations by landing at low tide on Scrooby sandbank off Great Yarmouth. He rented space at the former RAF airfield of Waltham (Grimsby), and between 1954 and 1958 offered summer pleasure flights from both the airfield and Cleethorpes beach, the latter using Austers, including G-AIBY, AJVT and AMSZ.

  As Jim’s own business grew it became necessary to find a more suitable base for the larger and greater quantity of aircraft needed. Norfolk Airways eventually moved to the former RAF airfield of Horsham St Faith on the outskirts of Norwich – later to become Norwich Airport. By 1969 his team of aircraft and pilots had notched up 1.5 million air miles, of which more than a third was flown on behalf of the Norwich Union Insurance Company, Jim’s biggest customer since 1962. Another regular customer was Anglia Television, for whom he undertook aerial filming sorties and flew filmed stories from all over the eastern counties back to the Norwich studio so they could be included in TV news bulletins and other programmes.

  Around 1965 Jim acquired a business partner – the well-known and colourful aero engineer Leslie ‘Wilbur’ Wright – who already owned his own air business called Anglian Air Charter, operating out of Great Yarmouth (North Denes) airfield. Together they embarked on a series of steps that, over time, revolutionised the air travel industry in the east of England. Initially, recognising the growth potential of the North Sea gas industry for their businesses, the two companies launched a joint-venture operation called Rig Air which ferried rig workers between the various gas operator bases (but not to the rigs themselves). In addition to continuing their established charter work, a DC–3 aircraft was acquired to move gas personnel around the UK and the Continent from what was then Horsham St Faith airfield. This business was so successful that Jim and Wilbur decided to merge the three separate businesses under the name of Air Anglia. This airline grew to carry in excess of 400,000 passengers a year, serving eighteen airports in the UK and the Continent with twenty aircraft and 700 employees. The company also included an executive air charter division, an engineering services division that looked after its own and other operators’ aircraft, and a separate inclusive holiday subsidiary called Anglia Holidays. In 1979 Jim and Wilbur sold 85 per cent of Air Anglia to British & Commonwealth Shipping and the airline was later renamed Air UK, with Jim and Wilbur remaining as non-executive directors for a time until they both retired. Later, British & Commonwealth sold Air UK to the Dutch airline KLM, who subsequently relaunched it as KLM UK.

  Post-war civilian pilot Jim Crampton in the uniform of Rig Air, with a Fairchild Argus. (Crampton Family Collection)

  Airline owners Jim Crampton (right) and Leslie ‘Wilbur’ Wright mark the addition of the first Fokker F28 jet to their Air Anglia fleet in 1979. (Crampton Family Collection)

  Jim continued to fly in his spare time as he remained fascinated by the continuing challenge and excitement of flying, even learning to fly a helicopter in his sixties. Much of his remaining personal leisure time was spent in renovating Oxnead Mill, on the River Bure in Norfolk, and turning its associated buildings into a home for his family in a most picturesque setting. The huge interior of the mill allowed him to install several theatre organs, which helped to satisfy both his engineering and musical passions. Jim Crampton died in Norfolk on 26 September 1987.

  Jim Crampton’s Operational Flights in the Second World War

  Date Target Role Notes

  20/21 April 1941 Rotterdam 2nd Pilot

  25/26 April Kiel “

  28/29 April Brest “

  4/5 May Brest “

  6/7 May Hamburg “

  9/10 May Mannheim “

  11/12 May Hamburg “

  2/3 June Düsseldorf Captain

  7/8 June Brest “

  11/12 June Düsseldorf “

  12/13 June Hamm “

  21/22 June Cologne “

  24/25 June Düsseldorf “

  27/28 June Bremen “

  2/3 July Bremen “ Aborted, engine failure

  7/8 July Cologne “

  9/10 July Osnabrück “

  14/15 July Bremen “ Shot down over target

  5

  Blitzed, Burned But Unbroken

  Squadron Leader Alan Kenneth Summerson

  When the German blitzkrieg rolled into France on 10 May 1940, a south Lincolnshire airman found himself in the midst of the chaotic air battle that followed. Pre-war Cranwell-trained apprentice LAC Alan Summerson’s survival story is a minor epic in its own right, epitomising the resilience and strength of his own character, as well as that of the Fairey Battle and Bristol Blenheim aircrews thrown into the path of the blitzkrieg, like chaff in the wind. Not only did he survive that ordeal, but he went on to see post-war operational service in two more conflicts, moving from the interwar biplanes of the start of his career to flying jet V-bombers by the end.

  Born in the Lincolnshire village of Donington in 1920, Alan Summerson was educated at Donington Grammar School where he took his matriculation exams. Then, in February 1936, aged 16 and ‘mad keen on aeroplanes’, he joined the RAF as an apprentice. As airman 568963, he was one of a total of 148 young hopefuls on courses 8M12E (wireless electrical) and 8J12 (instruments) making up the thirty-third entry at the Electrical & Wireless School (later No 1 E&WS) RAF Cranwell. A member of class 8M12E, Alan embarked on a three-year trade apprenticeship in what was essentially a ground-based trade, often referred to as ‘Tech Sigs’, but his abiding aim in life was to fly. From the names of interwar aircraft he wrote in his later flying logbooks, it seems certain that Alan indeed took every opportunity to get airborne during his training at Cranwell. We find such evocative names as Atlas, Gordon, Hart, Overstrand, Sidestrand, Seal, Tutor, Victoria, Vincent, Virginia, Wallace, Wapiti, Wellesley, and Wildebeest, which could reasonably only have been ‘logged’ up to the date he joined No 52 Squadron in January 1939.

  Aircraftman Alan Summerson as a young Cranwell apprentice in 1936. (John Summerson)

  During his time at Cranwell Alan acquired a nickname by which he became universally known in the RAF and beyond. Cranwell was not more than 20 miles from his home in Donington and as soon as the passage of time, regulations and money allowed him to do so, Alan, although 6ft 3in tall, bought an open-top MG sports car that became his pride and joy. This gave him the freedom to visit his home quite frequently. His notion of driving, however, seemed to be based entirely on two speeds: ‘very fast’ and ‘stop’. This penchant for driving everywhere like a bat out of hell quickly earned him the nickname ‘Zoom’, which stuck with him for the rest of his days.

  He was a bright lad and displayed undoubted aptitude and skill in his trade, having passed his apprenticeship course as an Aircraftman First Class (AC1) wireless electrical mechanic in January 1939. Thoroughly schooled in the intricacies of radio equipment and how to operate it (truly living up to the motto of No 1 E&WS: ‘thorough’), with war clouds gathering he was able to seize yet another opportunity to fly by volunteering for aircrew training as a wireless operator/air gunner. In this he was successful and being highly qualified as a radio technician and operator already, Alan was posted to No 52 (B) Squadron based at RAF Upwood near Ramsey in Cambridgeshire to gain the other skills required by an air gunner.

  As part of the rapid expansion of the RAF, Upwood had reopened with full station status in January 1937 and its two units, No 63 and No 52 (B) Squadrons, had also been reactivated, during the spring of that year, with Hawker Audaxes and Hinds respectively. By the beginning of 1938, No 52 (B) Squadron received the first of the RAF’s Fairey Battle Mk Is into service, but the process of re-equipment was slow and still going on when Alan arrived a year later. Indeed, his logbook shows both the Hawker Hind and the Audax in the ‘Types Flown In’ list. At the beginning of 1939, No 52 changed its status to that of a training squadron – taking on a role similar to the later bomber OTUs – and
it was at that point, February 1939, that Alan arrived at Upwood for his air gunnery training. His logbook records that he qualified as an air gunner with No 52 (B) Squadron on 5 May 1939, so he could now proudly wear the new air gunner half-wing flying brevet on his tunic, to go with his ‘clenched-fist’ wireless-trade arm badge. He had at last achieved his boyhood dream.

  Alan remained with No 52 Squadron until early August 1939, getting to know his way round the Battle until – with the obviously deteriorating political situation – he was sent home on leave before the balloon went up. It is probable that, with his insatiable appetite for flying in anything he could get his hands on, it was during this period up to August 1939 that he ‘logged’ time in the turrets of a Boulton Paul Defiant and an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, which are also recorded in his book. It was during this leave period that he and many like him received urgent telegrams, in his case recalling him to Upwood. Back at the station he was ordered to report to No 150 Squadron, an operational Fairey Battle unit based at RAF Benson. On 23 August 1939 the CO of No 150 Squadron, Sqn Ldr William MacDonald, was ordered to mobilise the squadron on a war footing as a unit of the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF). One week later, on 3 September, war was declared and on that date the squadron had sixteen Fairey Battle aircraft on charge, organised into ‘A’ and ‘B’ Flights of eight aircraft each. Alan crewed up with Sgt George Barker, pilot, and Sgt James Williams, observer, in ‘A’ Flight and with just a few exceptions, Alan thereafter always flew with this crew. On Saturday 2 September 1939 AC1 Alan Summerson went to war.

  Flying in the rear seat of K9380 Alan made a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Benson to Challerange in France as part of No 74 Wing of the AASF. With the arrival of the squadron’s Miles Magister P2394, flown in by Fg Off R.A. Weeks on the 4th, the whole squadron had fully relocated to Challerange, a town located 25 miles east of Reims, where they set about preparing for operations. At 14.35 on 10 September, the squadron’s first war operation was a three-hour reconnaissance by three aircraft from ‘A’ Flight led by Sqn Ldr MacDonald. On 12 September, having sorted themselves out and with all personnel and equipment having arrived, No 150 Squadron was ordered to move to an airfield at Écury-sur-Coole, near the River Marne south-west of Challons and 20 miles south of Reims. Alan Summerson made this short flight with Sgt Pay and Sgt Leitch in Battle L5225.

  Alan’s own first op came on 18 September. It was a reconnaissance of the Franco-German border with his usual crew, Barker and Williams, in K9380, but they were not airborne for very long before bad weather forced them to return to base. Next day the weather improved and Alan completed a two hour forty minute recco of the same area in K9379. He was on ops again on 25 September. This time it was a high-level photo reconnaissance along the Franco-German border by six aircraft led by the CO of No 74 Wing, Wg Cdr Allan Hesketh. Alan Summerson flew on this operation with his regular crew of Barker and Williams in K9380. The formation was flying well inside German territory when they encountered some accurate enemy anti-aircraft fire in the vicinity of Zweibrücken, and, after the Wingco’s aircraft L4948 was hit by shrapnel, they had to take a little evasive action, although the damage sustained was slight. A similar operation was carried out over a different sector by three more aircraft later that same morning.

  Alan’s next sortie came on Saturday the 30th; it was another photo-recco op and he flew again in K9380. Six aircraft, led by Sqn Ldr MacDonald, took off just before 11.00 and spent the next two and a half hours inspecting well over the German side of the border once again. Alan’s aircraft was one of a separate section of three that took off shortly after the other six, to look at a different sector of the border. It turned out that Alan was very fortunate indeed to be in this smaller group because the first formation ran slap bang into eight Bf 109 fighters and was decimated.

  No 150 Squadron’s first encounter with enemy fighters came as a rude awakening indeed, but sadly it was a portent of what was to come. The vulnerability of the Fairey Battle, though tacitly accepted by pretty much everyone in command, had not yet been tested in combat and naturally the crews themselves just got on with the job. Today was the day it would all be tested. One of the six Battles developed engine trouble and returned to base – it was the lucky one – leaving the five remaining aircraft to carry on with the operation. When they crossed the border into the Saarland region to recco the area from Metzig to Saarbrücken, German flak batteries put up a barrage but no damage was sustained and the formation flew steadily on.

  Irritated by these almost daily incursions into German territory, the Luftwaffe decided to challenge the RAF. At around 11.45 a formation of eight Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighters from the 2nd Staffel of I Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 53 (2/JG 53) known as the Pik-As (Ace of Spades) Jagdgeschwader (fighter-wing), based at Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, arrived to patrol the same piece of sky and the two formations clashed. A short, sharp air battle took place and inside twenty minutes the 109s had torn into the unescorted Fairey Battles and shot down all bar one.

  Flying Bf 109 ‘Red 1’, the staffelkapitan, Spanish Civil War ace Oberleutnant (Oblt) Rolf Pingel, led his formation in a diving attack on the Fairey Battles and scored the first kill at 11.50 by sending K9484 down to crash to the west of Saarbrücken. The pilot, Plt Off John Saunders (aged 20), and WOp/AG AC1 Donald Thomas (19) died but the observer, Sgt G.J. Springett, baled out over German territory and was made a POW. Three minutes later Stabsfeldwebel (Stfw) Ignaz Prestele shot down N2093 flown by Flt Lt Laurence Hyde-Parker, with his observer, Sgt William Cole (19), and WOp/AG AC1 D.E. Jones. This aircraft crash-landed near Metzig with the loss of Sgt Cole. Flt Lt Hyde-Parker escaped unhurt and his air gunner Jones was injured. By now the Fairey Battle formation had broken up in total confusion. It was every man for himself and survival seemed to lie in diving hard in the general direction of home. K9387, flown by Fg Off Fernald Corelli with Sgt L.B. Webber and AC Kenneth Gray, was cut off and badly shot up by Unteroffizier (Uffz) Franz Kaiser. It was this fighter pilot’s first air victory and Corelli and Gray were killed in the hail of bullets. Observer Sgt Webber managed to bale out and descend safely into friendly hands. That was at 11.57. The fourth Battle, N2028, flown by Plt Off M.A. Poulton with Sgt T.A. Bates and AC1 H.E.A. Rose on board, was attacked by Uffz Hans Kornatz in ‘Red 5’ at about 12.05. This crew was fortunate to escape injury but their Battle was so badly damaged that there was no hope of reaching base and all three airmen baled out. This left the CO’s aircraft, K9283, alone in the sky – but not for very long. After the shock of the first attack, Sqn Ldr MacDonald put the nose down and dived hard for the deck chased by several 109s, including that of Stfw Prestele. All the air gunners had found the fighters hard to hit but the CO’s gunner, AC1 Alexander Murcar, managed to get a bead on Prestele’s machine and ‘draw blood’. Stfw Prestele’s 109 was damaged, forcing him to break off the fight and return to base. Yet another 109 bore down on the CO’s aircraft as he crossed the border. It was piloted by Uffz Josef Wurmheller, who was also seeking his first victory. Now twisting and turning at treetop height, Wurmheller pressed home his attacks and hit his target hard – later reports spoke of more than forty holes found in MacDonald’s aircraft – slightly wounding the observer Sgt Fred Gardiner and AC1 Murcar. With his victim close to the ground and streaming smoke as he broke away, Wurmheller believed he had done enough to claim his first kill, but, despite all the damage, Sqn Ldr MacDonald was able to limp back to base. Lowering the undercarriage, he brought his battered Battle in to land but one of the wheels was shot up and the aircraft ground-looped, collapsed and burst into flames – so Wurmheller’s claim indeed turned out to be valid.

  Another outcome of this disastrous encounter can be found in the following citation from The London Gazette, dated 14 November 1939:

  The Medal of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, For Meritorious Service. 517540 Sgt Frederick Gardiner RAF.

  In September 1939, the aircraft in which Sgt Gardiner was air observer
was attacked by enemy aircraft and severely damaged. Two petrol tanks were punctured and despite the fumes and bleeding from a slight gunshot wound over the right eye, this airman continued his duties and succeeded in setting an accurate course to the base. The aircraft caught fire on landing and although his clothes were alight, Sgt Gardiner commenced to extinguish the burning clothing of the wireless operator by rolling him on the ground and beating the flames with his hands. Not until his efforts were successful did he attend to his own clothing.

  Sgt Gardiner and AC1 Murcar were whisked off to a hospital in Chalons to have their wounds and burns treated. Fred Gardiner’s medal was presented to him on Plivot airfield by HM George VI in person, during his battlefield tour in December 1939. Even later, on 20 February 1940, The London Gazette announced awards of the DFC and DFM to Sqn Ldr William MacDonald and AC1 Alexander Murcar respectively, for their actions on that fateful day, 30 September 1939. In their cases no citations were published. Of the fifteen young airmen – many just 19 or 20 years old – in the five aircraft, eight made it back to Écury airfield by one means or another, six died and one was captured.

  What is also interesting is that the two protagonists – No 150 Squadron and JG 53 – were destined to meet again in a far bigger battle before too long.

  * * *

  As a further consequence of the losses from the incident on 30 September and similar experiences in other squadrons, HQ AASF ordered that Fairey Battles were no longer to be used for daylight reconnaissance flights into enemy territory; this duty would be handed over to the Blenheim squadrons. It was not until March 1940 that No 150 Squadron recommenced operational flights over enemy territory, with some ‘Nickel’ (dropping propaganda leaflets) night raids, and Alan, now promoted to LAC, made his first of these leaflet-dropping ops on 25 March. He was with his usual crew in K9380 and they took off from Écury at 21.35 with a load of what many airmen regarded as ‘free toilet paper’ destined for Mannheim. However, they ran into bad weather quite soon and were forced to abandon the sortie, landing back at base at 22.10. Almost a month elapsed before Alan flew another Nickel raid, this time on the night of 21/22 April. Operational order 71/0/25/40 received from HQ 71 Wing required four aircraft from No 150 Squadron to drop Nickel on specified targets along the Rhine and to carry out reconnaissance along various parts of the river. Battle K9380, with Sgt Barker, Sgt Williams and LAC Summerson, was first up from Écury at 21.00 and flew to Worms via what was designated as Route No 3. Nickel was dropped over the town from a height of 10,000ft and the remainder of the op took in a recco of the River Rhine between Worms and Mannheim. This op was successful and Sgt Barker landed back at 23.30. The other three aircraft took off at intervals: K9369 with Fg Off Blom was airborne at 21.20, Nickelled Mannheim and recco’d the River Necker from Mannheim to Heidelberg, landing back at 00.10 hours. Next, K9379 was airborne at 22.00 with Fg Off Beale in command; he flew to Heidelberg, which was Nickelled from 10,000ft, and the Rhine was surveyed from 5,000ft between Mannheim and Speyer, before the return to base at 00.45 hours. The final aircraft, K9390, left at 22.30 with Flt Lt Parker at the controls, bound for Speyer. Nickel was dropped on the town from 10,000ft before descending to 3,000ft to carry out a recco of the Rhine between Speyer and Germersheim, then returning to base at 00.55. Similar operations were mounted by other crews on subsequent nights.