A BATTLE WELL FOUGHT is the story of a very brave young man who risked his life for his country, yet for the rest of his days reproached himself because he felt he should have done more.
Posted to France aged only 19 and little more than a year out of school, Rupert Parkhouse was the pilot of a Fairey Battle, the obsolete light bomber which was 100 mph slower and virtually defenceless against German fighters. The Battle squadrons — and the flower of the country’s highly-trained youth — were cut to pieces by flak and fighters before being withdrawn.
Inexperienced, separated from his comrades, nervous in his first bombing attack, Rupert decided to climb back into cloud rather than heading home at low level as fast as he could go. As his Battle struggled upwards it was easy meat for German fighters, which set his aircraft on fire. His crew baled out but Rupert was trapped in his cockpit by a serious fault which had been highlighted by RAF test pilots three years before.
He successfully belly-landed the blazing Battle, but he would spend the rest of his life reproaching himself for his ‘mistake’ in climbing. In captivity he would further reproach himself for not making greater efforts to escape, and his pleadings to remain flying with his POW comrades in the post-war RAF led him into situations beyond his capabilities. As he said later: “If I did not return ... I would never lay the ghost of that awful mistake, which I think engendered a basic underlying fear of flying.“
Five years in a German prison camp ... on the left, Rupert celebrating his 20th birthday in Stalag Luft I, on the right celebrating his return to England in 1945.
After a close shave training on the famous but difficult Mosquito Rupert was given command of a Sunderland flying-boat and flew many sorties on the Berlin airlift until his gremlins pounced again on a night takeoff and this modest and self-effacing man quit the cockpit to become a successful and well-liked staff officer.
Rupert spent his closing years with vascular dementia which at last brought peace from his personal demons. Before this, in June 1995 he recorded these memoirs for the Imperial War Museum. As my own father served with 142 (Battle) Squadron in France during those few terrible months, I feel humbled by the sacrifices made by men such as these and it was my privilege to transcribe his recordings and to post them a few years ago as a series in Prune’s matchless Brevet thread, now a sticky in the Military Aviation thread.
A couple of years ago we produced
In with a Vengeance, the memoirs of Brevet’s much-loved contributor Danny 42C, the RAF’s last dive-bomber pilot, which continues to attract the occasional request for copies. Now Rupert’s son Richard and I are pleased to offer
A Battle Well Fought in e-book format. Please PM me, Geriaviator, with your email address (essential as Prune can’t do attachments) and I’ll send you a copy. In exchange we ask you to make a £10 (at least!) donation direct to the RAF Benevolent Fund.
EDITED TO ADD: As many requests for Danny's book came from outside the UK, rather than incur bank charges please make your donations to the charitable fund of the Air Force or aviation Service of your country.
Squadron Leader Rupert Parkhouse coaxes his Sunderland onto the step with five tons of salt for the citizens of blockaded Berlin, 1947.