Squadron Leader L. C. Wade, Officer Commanding No. 145 Squadron RAF,
sitting in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire HF Mark VIII at Triolo
landing ground, south of San Severo, Italy, shortly before the end of his
second tour of operations in the Mediterranean area, where he had become the
top-scoring fighter pilot with 22 and 2 shared enemy aircraft destroyed.
WING COMMANDER LANCE WADE
Born in Texas, USA, Lance Wade joined the RAF in Canada in
December 1940. After completing his flying training he went to the Middle East
in September 1941, flying a Hurricane off the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal to
Malta, and continuing on to Egypt the following day by flying boat. Once there,
he joined No. 33 Squadron, flying Hurricanes, and gained his first victories on
18 November 1941, when he shot down two Italian Fiat CR. 42 fighters.
When his combat tour ended in September 1942 his score stood
at 12 enemy aircraft destroyed. He then returned to the USA for a few months,
but in January 1943 returned to North Africa and was appointed to No. 145
Squadron as a flight commander. Wade assumed command of the unit just months
later upon his promotion to squadron leader. In March the squadron exchanged
its Spitfire Mk Vs for Mk IXs, then in the following June re-equipped with Mk
VIIIs. Wade remained in command until November 1943, when he was promoted to
wing commander and moved to a staff appointment at Headquarters Desert Air
Force.
In January 1944, during a routine flight in an Auster, the
aircraft went into a spin at low altitude and crashed into the ground, killing
the fighter ace. At the time of his death Wade’s victory score stood at 22
destroyed (five while flying Spitfire Mk VIIIs or IXs) and two shared
destroyed, one probably destroyed and 13 damaged in the air, plus one destroyed
and five damaged on the ground. He was the top-scoring American-born pilot to
complete the whole of his combat career in the RAF.
NORTH AFRICA
`Spitfires made ten sorties acting as high cover to
Hurricanes. Flt Lt Sabourin and Sgt James attacked two ME 109s southwest of
Tobruk. One ME 109 destroyed.’ Thus, in the dry and prosaic language of the
handwritten Operational Record Book (ORB) of No. 145 Squadron for 8 June 1942
did the diarist record the first victory of a Spitfire over the Western Desert.
Joseph Sabourin, a 27-year-old Canadian who already had three victories to his
name from flying Curtiss Tomahawks with No. 112 Squadron, and his wingman,
Sergeant James, had shot down a Bf 109 over the desert some 15 miles southwest
of Tobruk.
With the Luftwaffe achieving a degree of ascendancy over the
RAF’s Hurricanes, Tomahawks and Curtiss Kittyhawks in North Africa by early
1942, the despatch of Spitfire-equipped squadrons to Egypt was seen as a matter
of urgency, despite demands elsewhere. Number 145 Squadron was an experienced
Fighter Command unit and in mid-February 1942 it had left for the Middle East
along with another experienced Spitfire squadron, No. 92. The end of April also
saw No. 601 Squadron arrive in Egypt, having come via Malta, and it too began
readying itself for renewed operations. By then, No. 145 Squadron had begun to
receive its Spitfire VBs at Helwan, on the Nile, south of Cairo, where it had
worked up as part of the Desert Air Force (DAF).
By May 1942, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel’s Afrika
Korps and his Italian allies had been steadily building up against the Allied
front in Cyrenaica that ran from Gazala south through Bir Hacheim. On 24 May
No. 145 Squadron had moved forward to Gambut, between Tobruk and Bardia, and
commenced flying defensive patrols. Two days later Rommel attacked Gazala, thus
beginning six weeks of violent fighting on the ground and in the air that
eventually resulted in a British retreat deep into Egypt.
The situation on the ground continued to deteriorate, with
the British suffering heavy losses at Knightsbridge, pre-empting a withdrawal
from the Gazala line, resulting in DAF squadrons `leapfrogging’ in an easterly
direction. No. 145 Squadron flew intensively throughout, completing some 22
sorties on 16 June. The unit’s diarist recorded the intensity of the air action
the following day, as the battle reached its zenith:
Standing patrols over
base were resumed and 18 sorties were made. Plt Off Weber encountered a Macchi
202 near Gambut and pursued it to Sidi Rezegh. Plt Off Hanley and Sgt Barker
attacked two ME 109s and Flt Lt Monk and Plt Off Malins attacked two others.
Plt Off Hanley and Sgt Barker provided a most inspiring spectacle as they
chased the two MEs at a low altitude away from the aerodrome. The standing
patrol was ended at 1705hrs. It is not possible to know how many enemy aircraft
were destroyed by the squadron. The moral effect of the squadron’s operations
was considerable, and it was felt respectively by the enemy and the units we
operated with against him. It was a new experience for Messerschmitt pilots to
have to look up instead of down!
Despite much gallant fighting, the enemy’s inexorable
advance continued, and on the 21st Tobruk, so long a symbol of dogged
resistance, surrendered. Its loss was a huge blow to Allied morale and prompted
Rommel to continue his advance into Egypt; eventually leading to his assault on
El Alamein, which saw heavy fighting.
Despite the ground fighting settling into an exhausted
stalemate, the air fighting continued through June and July, and into August.
On 1 August, No. 92 Squadron at last received its first Spitfire and became
operational on the 13th, flying its first Spitfire patrol the following day
when it ran into a big fight around a returning bomber formation.
Appropriately, it was the CO, Squadron Leader Jeff Wedgewood, who opened the
unit’s account in the desert by hitting the cooling system of the Bf 109 flown
by Leutnant Mix, who had to crash land and became a prisoner of war (PoW).
As the battle for El Alamein continued, aerial operations
intensified through August, and on 7 September Bruce Ingram of No. 601 Squadron
became the first Spitfire ace of the desert campaign. The decisive Battle of El
Alamein opened with a massive artillery barrage on a narrow front during the evening
of 23 October, and the three Spitfire units were out early the following
morning covering fighter-bombers and countering enemy air attacks as Axis
forces fiercely resisted the `push’.
In succeeding days the RAF was committed to preventing any
enemy attempt at concentrating forces and in interdicting supply lines, so
there were innumerable combats fought. For example, during the afternoon of the
25th a quartet of Spitfires from No. 92 Squadron attacked two Bf 109s, one of
which was shot down into the sea by Flight Lieutenant John Morgan for his sixth
victory. A short while later five more Bf 109s were attacked by a patrol from
No. 145 Squadron, allowing Flight Lieutenant Cecil Saunders to claim his
seventh, and last, success.
Finally, on 4 November, after further heavy fighting, the
8th Army began a general breakout and the race across the desert in pursuit of
the Afrika Korps began. The speed of the withdrawal was breath-taking as both
sides raced for Benghazi. Spitfire squadrons regularly moved forward during
this period, taking off from Egyptian airfields and returning to newly captured
landing grounds in Libya.
By the turn of the year the four Spitfire units had moved
to, or were soon to arrive at, the desert strip at Alem El Chel, some 30 miles
southeast of Sirte and deep into Libyan territory.
On 7 January, for the first time since El Alamein, No. 92
Squadron met enemy fighters in large numbers that stayed and fought, and two Bf
109s from II./JG 77 were destroyed. Climbing to 12,000ft, John Morgan claimed
his eighth, and last, success. The other victory went to former US `Eagle’
squadron pilot Flight Officer Leo Nomis, but two Spitfires were also lost.
Strafing attacks by Bf 109s and C. 202s were repeated the next day, the first
raid being intercepted at 8.15am by No. 145 Squadron and resulting in Flight
Lieutenant Bert Houle shooting down a Messerschmitt. It was the Canadian’s
first victory in a Spitfire, but it elevated him to ace status:
I got behind one which
flew straight into the sun and fired a few bursts at him. The pilot panicked
and turned down sun while diving for ground level. When he levelled out I was a
few thousand feet above him, and I used my height to close the gap between us.
When well within range, I pressed the firing button and two cannons and four
machine guns started to register hits…
On 16 January Rommel issued the order to pull back, and as
his forces headed for the Tunisian border they were constantly harassed by the
DAF and advanced elements of the pursuing 8th Army. On the 22nd the last German
troops evacuated Tripoli, leading to a curtailment of DAF operations.
Tunisia
As axis forces retreated from El Alamein westwards across
Lybya, the sea off Algiers harbour on 9 November 1942 was covered with a forest
of ships. Small boats and landing craft were shuttling back and forth with
troops, tanks, vehicles, and other equipment and supplies of war. High above
the ships a Ju88 reconnaissance bomber probed daringly into the Allies’
airspace. Two Spitfires quickly found the enemy intruder, and sent it into a
smoking dive into the waves. The fighters’ interception would prove to be too
late.
As twilight gathered later that day, three waves of Ju88s
and Heinkel He111s began their bombing runs over the anchored invasion fleet
and above Maison Blanche airfield. Spitfires from No. 81 Squadron RAF and
Hurricanes from No. 43 Squadron RAF scrambled to intercept. More Spitfires from
No. 242 Squadron RAF, who were escorting two B-17 bombers flying US General
Mark Clark from Gibraltar across to Algiers, were also called on to attack the
enemy raiders.
The Luftwaffe bombers were soon in disarray. Pilots of 242
Squadron claimed their first victories, Sergeant Mallinson an He111, Pilot
Officer Goulding and Sergeant Watling a Ju88 each, while Flight Lieutenant
Benham and Pilot Officer Mather shared a Ju88 kill. Five other pilots claimed
half-kills and damages on the German aircraft.
Squadron Leader ‘Ras’ Berry, Commander of 81 Squadron, and
his section shot down an He111 over Maison Blanche airfield, and fellow pilot,
Canadian Flight Lieutenant James Walker, did the same for a Ju88. Having
achieved two previous victories in the skies of UK and Russia, it was Walker’s
third kill, and perhaps a unique record in those three theatres of air warfare.
#
The Spitfires’ engagement with the Ju88s came a day after
Allied landings in North-West Africa.
At around midnight on 7/8 November 1942, Operation TORCH,
the first major Allied operation of the Second World War invaded Morocco and
Algeria. Only a few days after the start of the third battle at El Alamein on
26 October, the Anglo-American invasion fleets had sailed from the east coast
of USA and the west coast of Scotland. The enormous task force was in excess of
100 ships, and over 107,000 troops.2
Although the battle of Stalingrad was an immense distance
from the Middle East, the German Army’s struggle to overcome the Russians’
stubborn and desperate defence was not immune to the impact of Eighth Army’s
victory at El Alamein, nor to the Operation TORCH invasion. Despite their
defeats on the Russian Front, the Germans felt forced to transfer their
Luftflotte II (Air Fleet) to Italy and Tunisia. If Rommel, or any others in Hitler’s
Reich, still harboured dreams of dominating the Mediterranean, and occupying
the oilfields of the Gulf, Iraq and Persia, they were now collapsing.
Operation TORCH was made up of three invasion fleets – the
Western, Central and Eastern Task Forces. The Western Task Force, commanded by
Major General Patton, and under the protection of the US Navy, sailed from east
coast USA to land at Casablanca. US Navy aircraft carriers, off Casablanca and
Oran, provided the air cover with ship-borne fighters. The Central Task Force,
with some British but predominantly American troops, set out from Britain under
the command of Major General Fredendall, heading for the port of Oran on the
north-west Algerian coast.
The US Army’s Twelfth Air Force, commanded by the already
legendary Brigadier General Jimmy Doolittle, also provided air cover for the
Oran-bound fleet. General Doolittle had commanded the first US air raid on
Japan after Pearl Harbor, when B-25 Mitchell bombers took off from aircraft
carriers, without sufficient fuel to return. After releasing their bombloads
over Japan, the B-25s flew on westwards to land at friendly bases in China.
The closest landing to the Tunisian border, by a convoy
despatched from the Clyde in Scotland, was to be made by the Eastern Task
Force. Although it carried a small number of US troops with designated officers
to assist negotiations with the Vichy French authorities, this invasion force
comprised elements of the British First Army under command of Lieutenant
General Kenneth Anderson. While the Royal Navy escorted both the Oran and
Algiers invasion fleets, air support for the Algiers landings was provided by
the RAF Eastern Command. To strengthen air support at Algiers, on 6 November
two DAF squadrons, the Beaufighters of No. 272 Squadron RAF and the
torpedo-carrying Wellington bombers of No. 221 Squadron RAF, flew from Egypt to
Malta.
One of those pilots in 221 Squadron was Australian Flying
Officer William ‘Bill’ Stocks from Sydney. After a period in the Empire
Training Scheme in Canada, Bill had arrived in Britain in November 1941 and,
after training on Wellington bombers, in April 1942 he joined No. 221 Squadron
at Sidi Barrani. In one anti-shipping operation with 221 Squadron, at a height
of around 500 feet, Stocks made two severe hits on an enemy vessel. In another
interdiction flight his wireless transmitter, rear turret and petrol gauges
became unserviceable. Despite great difficulties he continued and completed the
operation successfully. In what seems so typical of so many bomber pilots,
Stocks’ leadership, coolness and efficiency would in due course see him become
a squadron leader in No. 28 Squadron RAF, and be awarded the DFC.
Despite the widest dispersal of troop landings over 130
miles north and south of Casablanca, General Patton’s US Western Task Force
encountered the stiffest resistance. The Vichy French were alert to the
invasion. At approximately 0700 on 8 November their naval air force,
Aeronavale, had their Dewoitine fighters strafing the landing beaches. However,
in three days the Vichy French lost 119 aircraft out of 200, as well as having
their airfields put out of action. The US Army Air Forces lost only forty-four
aircraft out of 164, and all the US Navy aircraft carriers remained intact.
Early on 11 November the French Commander in Casablanca surrendered and signed
an armistice.
At Oran in Algeria at 0100, also on 8 November, the US 1st
Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions went ashore. Before dawn the Royal Navy’s
aircraft carriers, HM Ships Furious, Biter and Dasher, launched ten Seafires,
eight Albacore torpedo-bombers, and twelve Sea Hurricanes. During 8 and 9
November considerable air combat ensued with the Aeronavale over Oran’s la
Senia and Tafaraoui airfields.
This provided cover for American tanks to capture Tafaraoui on 9 November, which then enabled a Hurricane squadron and some Spitfires from the USAAF’s 31 Fighter Group to fly in from Gibraltar. When one Spitfire was shot down on its landing approach by a Dewoitine fighter, a quick response claimed three of the French fighters. The surviving French aircraft at la Senia took off and escaped to Morocco.
Later, when the Tafaraoui airfield came under fire from an approaching column of the French Foreign Legion and its artillery battery, the Spitfires were again called up. Their strafing attack blew up a truck carrying troops, spattering one Spitfire with body parts, and causing the French to withdraw quickly. By the end of the day on 9 November the French authorities declared a cease-fire to end any threat to the la Senia and Tafaraoui airfields.
#
31st Fighter Group
During the summer of 1942, the 307th and 308th Fighter Squadrons of the 31st Fighter Group went to Biggin Hill and Kenley respectively for temporary attachment to RAF fighter wings where they could receive an introduction to combat. The 309th FS went to Westhampnett, and by August 5, all three units were operational.
6th June, 1942
The first pilot fatality of the 8th Air Force in the European Theater of Operations is suffered when First Lieutenant Alfred W Giacomini of the 31st Fighter Group crashes a Spitfire while landing at Atcham, Shropshire, England.
19th August, 1942
Their baptism of fire came on August 19, when they flew air support for the Dieppe Raid, losing eight Spitfires and seven damaged, with one pilot killed and another made prisoner; two Fw-190s were claimed destroyed, with three probables and two damaged.
123 Spitfire Mk Vs of the US VIII Fighter Command support the raid on Dieppe.
The Spitfire-equipped 31st Fighter Group of the USAAF flew combat sorties over Dieppe during Operation Jubilee. The Biggin Wing had a brush with Focke-Wulfs and Lt. Junkin of the 307th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Group flying a Spitfire Mk V, scored the first USAAF kill in the European theatre of operations.
With this, the 31st was considered blooded, and was reunited as a group at Westhampnett, while the 2nd and 4th Fighter Squadrons of the 52nd Fighter Group took their places at Biggin Hill and Kenley.
Before either group could have more effect, they were transferred to the XII Air Force that September, as the North African invasion loomed; by late September, both units had left England to enter combat in the Mediterranean.
During the opening day, 8 November 1942, of Operation Torch, Major Harrison Thyng, CO of the 308th FS, shot down two Vichy D.520s to open the unit’s score in the Mediterranean Theatre. In December and January, the 52nd Fighter Group entered combat in defence of the port of Bone. On January 13, 1943, 1st Lt. Norman Bolle shot down 114-victory experte Leutnant Wilhelm Crinius of II/JG-2.
On February 4th, their luck was reversed when 12 Spitfires of the 4th FS escorting ground-strafing P-39s were hit by Kurt Buhligen and Erich Rudorffer of II/JG2, the two experten taking down 3 of the Spitfires for no losses. Throughout this period the Americans found themselves frequently outclassed by the experten of JG2 and JG77, sent to counter the North African invasion.
By March 21, the Americans had adopted the more aggressive tactics of the RAF’s Western Desert Air Force, and 36 Spitfires of the 31st FG ran across 17 Ju-87D-3s of III/St.G.3, escorted by Bf-109s and Fw-190s of JG77 and JG2. While the 307th FS held off the fighters, the 309th shot down 4 Stukas and claimed another 4 as probables, for one loss; the following day the 52nd FG claimed 5 Bf-109s, 2 Fw-190s and 2 Ju-88s for one loss – a crash-landing due to flak damage. The two Spitfire units had come into their own.
During April 1943, Captains Norman MacDonald and Arthur Vinson of the 52nd FG became the first USAAF Spitfire aces, though Vinson was lost immediately after shooting down his 7th victim.
By the time of the Axis surrender in Africa on May 13, the 52nd FG claimed 86 victories and had added a third ace – Lt. Sylvan Field – while the 31st FG claimed 61, and two aces, Lt Col. Thyng and Major Frank Hill. Hill would become the top US Spitfire ace of the war with 7 victories.
#
Farther east along the coast near to Algiers, also in the
early hours of 8 November, the troop landings of the British First Army went
ahead. Operation TORCH gambled on a land spearhead that in the main comprised
only 11 and 36 Brigades of the 78th Battleaxe Division, some light tank units
of Blade Force, and an American field artillery battalion. The task force,
under command of 78th Division, was being used in an urgent but risky drive to
occupy Tunis.
While all three landings were equally important in order to
occupy northwest Africa, in the short term those at Algiers were critical. A
proposal to land farther east at Tunis had been rejected because of the threat
of Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica attacks from their bases in Sicily. Yet the
immediate goal of the Allies’ ground forces was to squeeze the Axis armies in a
pincer movement between Operation TORCH and Montgomery’s Eighth Army. A rapid
advance was planned to gain control quickly of the major port of Tunis before
German forces could be landed there, and before the start of winter and the
rainy season in late December.
The decision not to land at Tunis itself, or even the
Algerian port of Bone near the Tunisian border, was driven by a fear of enemy air
attack. Axis bombers based in Sicily could easily reach both Bone and Tunis
with fighter escorts, whereas the British and American air forces could offer
little support to any landings there. Even after air bases were established at
Algiers and Bone, Allied fighter aircraft would be at the extremity of their
range to reach Tunis, which would allow little time over the battlefield to
support ground forces. In the event the capability of the Germans to react
quickly and transport well-equipped troops, tanks, guns and aircraft to Tunis,
was grossly underestimated by the Allies.
