More Hawker Typhoon memoirs from Peter Brett
Part 24 of Peter's notes...
For the first two weeks in March 1944 it was 'Noball' business as usual interspersed with a fighter patrol at 14000 feet over St. Omer on the 5th and a shipping recco on the 11th. The 'Noball' target on the 4th was the one near Londinières again but this time we scored a direct hit on the bomb storage facility which resulted in a most gigantic explosion. The fighter patrol produced no results at all but the weather clamped down whilst we were out and we were diverted to West Malling on our return.
We had to change gear to a higher speed on the supercharger as we went up through 13000 feet. This always seemed to us to be a highly chancy operation since the supercharger was driven by a long shaft which ran from back to front of the engine on three bearings. The gear change was by means of a dog tooth clutch which went in with a bang! The net result was that the drive shaft had twisted through 180 degrees at the back end before the front end, with the supercharger attached, caught up!
This was demonstrated to us with pride by the engine makers when some of us visited the Napier works at Acton in London.
The test on the shaft consisted of twisting one end through 270 degrees with respect to the other, which was clamped, and then letting it go. It had to return to its original shape within 1/2 degree after five operations. It was obviously a very special piece of steel but there was still that moment of apprehension, when changing gear, that the shaft would fracture and the engine would stop! Fortunately this fighter patrol was one of only about three or four operations on which I had to change gear on the supercharger and I never experienced any trouble.
March saw a major change in 'my' Typhoon. My old HF-E was taken away and I was allocated a modified 'Tiffy' with the new sliding canopy hood. The difference was amazing. Instead of feeling 'boxed in' by the two side doors and the 'lid' one was suddenly practically out in the open. The 'bubble' hood gave unobstructed viewing in all directions, even behind, and the net result was to make you feel much more in control of the situation. Opening the hood prior to landing made the lookout much easier and consequently made it much simpler to put the aircraft down with more exact judgment of height. We soon found that the hood would close by itself at any speed over about 100 mph and all you had to do was release and lock out the pullout knob on the hood winding handle and the hood would roll shut. I think I was only the second or third pilot on the squadron to fly the new hood. The C.O. of course had the first one!
The shipping recce on the 11th was also non-productive but this led to me deliberately missing a target for the first and only time. We were being led on this operation by the Flight Commander of 'A' Flight, a Canadian, who was renowned for bending the rules.
We had strict Standing Orders that we were never to attack any targets of opportunity on the Channel Islands. However, since we had had no luck with shipping he decided that we would attack the airfield on Alderney. Despite being reminded by two or three of us that this was forbidden, he gaily went ahead with a low level bombing run. The airfield was just a grass field on the edge of the cliffs at the south west corner of the island. I recall only one 20mm gun opened up on us, and he was very inaccurate. I was flying number three and as we approached I decided that I would not drop my bombs onto the airfield. I selected the dropping switches but left the arming switches off so that, in effect, I was jettisoning the bombs.
I also made sure that I released the bombs very early. They hit the beach below the cliff and did not explode. No doubt the Germans removed them without too much trouble but I expect they assumed that they were delayed action and perhaps took a lot of unnecessary precautions. I did not mention any of this at the debriefing but just said that I thought that I had released too early and did not see where my bombs impacted. Our leader was reprimanded for disobeying Standing Orders but nothing further happened. As far as I know this was the only time that British aircraft attacked the Channel Islands!
More soon ==TOW