A Very Unusual Air War by Gill Griffin Read Free Book Online Page B

test
 
−20
 
 
20th
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Air test
 
−45
 
 
21st
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Squadron formation and climb
 
1–05
 
 
22nd
Spitfire
F
Self
 
Night flying. Army co-operation
 
−55
 
 
 
Spitfire
F
Self
 
Night flying. Army co-operation
 
−40
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Camera gun attacks on Spinning
 
−55
 
 
23rd
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Army co-operation
 
1–10
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Cloud flying and Spinning
 
1–05
 
 
24th
Spitfire
C
Self
 
To forward base (Thornaby)
 
−25
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Return to Catterick
 
−15
 
 
25th
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Army co-operation
 
1–15
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Authorised ‘beat-up’ of Gun posts at Leeming
 
−25
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Formation and cloud flying
 
−50
 
 
26th
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Squadron formation
 
1–00
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
To forward base
 
−10
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Return to Catterick
 
−10
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Catterick to Redhill
 
1–15
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Operational sweep
 
2–00
 
 
28th
Spitfire
C
Self
 
‘Flap’, an operational Scramble
 
−30
 
 
 
Spitfire
C
Self
 
Redhill to Catterick
 
1–15
 
 
29th
Spitfire
D
Self
 
Aerobatic
 
1–05
 
 
30th
Spitfire
D
Self
 
To forward base
 
−10
 
 
 
Spitfire
D
Self
 
Return to Catterick
 
−10
 
 
 
Spitfire
D
Self
 
Flap Scramble
 
1–00
 
 
 
Spitfire
D
Self
 
Flap Scramble
 
−55
 
    11 June : I do not remember firing at a towed drogue target; we just pointed the aircraft’s nose and fired out to sea.

    12 June : The letters DF stood for direction finding, in this instance by a short radio transmission (we usually counted up to 10 but some chaps used their own variations, ‘Mary had a little lamb’ being popular). This was my first experience of calling control for a homing to base.
    15 June : At Catterick our Squadron Leader was Donald Finlay, a time serving regular airman who had trained as an engineer at Halton near Aylesbury. Donald was a natural, enthusiastic athlete and a member of the pre-war British Olympic team as one of the hurdlers. As can be seen from the logbook entries he worked us hard at Catterick and when not flying there was plenty of PT with cross-country runs in the fields adjoining the airfield.

    16 June : This really was my only experience of firing at a towed drogue target. I presume that I must have hit it, as the exercise was not repeated (or perhaps I hit the towing aircraft).

    17 June : My night flight was as a target for searchlight units carrying out radar calibration. In anticipation of our brief visit to Redhill we flew to Leeming Bar to exchange our Spitfire Mk 2s, with the original armament of only 8 x .303 machine guns, for Spitfire Mk Vs, which had two x 20mm cannons in addition to the four machine guns.
    The squadron commander decided that we would show off by arriving at Leeming in squadron formation and land in pairs. My section leader made his final approach too low over an earth bank (due to the runway being under construction) and when concentrating on maintaining station, I hit the earth bank, leaving my wheels stuck in the top. I made a wheels-up (belly) landing on the grass with surprisingly little damage.

    18 June : In addition to the improved armament, the Spit. Mk Vb had other improvements. The much more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 engine gave a higher speed and a service ceiling close to 40,000 feet. Another great improvement was the introduction of TR9 radio, which was very clear and covered our flights well into France and Belgium.

    21 June : About this time I was introduced to the use of oxygen. It was a standing order that, when we intended to fly above 15,000 feet, we breathed pure oxygen through our face masks. If we operated above 25,000 feet we had to go on to oxygen from ground level upwards.

    22 June : On these army co-operation exercises we flew fully armed, ready to be vectored