Rmventuri
REPLY TO RMVENTURI
Apparently, in 1942, Bomber Command was under pressure from the Navy to release aircraft for anti-submarine patrols. 51 Squadron, with several other Whitley and Wellington squadrons were already operating from airfields in the south west. 51 was at Chivenor but due to return to 4 Group. Reluctant to give up whole squadrons, Bomber Command decided some Whitley OTUs could send crews to a new unit called 10 OTU Detachment at St Eval for a short time, before going on to bomber squadrons. My crew was one of the first chosen, as I have recently described. Wing Commander Don Peveller took over from W/C Pickard, and he ran the unit until it was closed in July 1943. Some years before he died, Don told me at a 51 re-union at Wyton, that he believed most of the casualties were from engine failure. All operations were in daylight across the Bay of Biscay down to the coast of Spain, and the idea was to keep U-boats submerged as long as possible on their outward and inward journeys , burning up fuel and shortening their operational patrols. My trips ranged from 9 hours to 11 hours and mostly without a second pilot.
I operated over the winter of 1942/43 and I had left St. Eval by the end of January. fredjhh