More memoirs from Peter Brett - Hawker Typhoon pilot
First can I add my best wishes for a speedy recovery to Reg. I found out that he was at the Liverpool Institute at the same time as my father. My dad was two or three years older, so they did not know each other. I think this school was also Paul McCartney's alma mater. TOW
Peter's story continues...
Another 'Noball' target on 14th March and then, on the 15th I was scheduled to take part in escort duty for another dive bombing operation not in HF-E, but flying HF-J. This was one of the few times that I turned back. Just after takeoff I realized that the aircraft was flying very left wing low. This was so bad that I was having to use considerable force to keep flying with wings level. This force becoming harder to hold as the airspeed increased. It would have been impossible to hold the aircraft during any high speed manoeuvres and I therefore turned back just after we crossed out over the English coast and the 'spare man' took over. I reported it as soon as I landed and the Flt/Sgt senior rigger decided to re-trim the ailerons himself. This re-trimming was somewhat crude since, as there was no manual lateral trimming device, the trim was effected by a small metal tab at the trailing edge of each aileron. If this was bent up it deflected the aileron down and thus tended to raise that wing.
Since I reported left wing low he bent the left wing tab up. Unfortunately he was a bit too enthusiastic and when I then flew an air test the aircraft was right wing low! It was very difficult for the ground staff to exactly judge the amount of trim needed since it was purely a subjective report on the part of the pilot and one pilot might say the aircraft was 'a bit' out of trim whereas another might fly the same aircraft and say it was 'a hell of a lot'. I duly reported this but I don't know if the next pilot had any trouble or not.
I never flew this particular aircraft again. In fact, for the next couple of weeks we all flew strange aircraft since, not only were we moved to Manston, but all our squadron aircraft were taken away for modification and we were flying aircraft lettered TP-, borrowed from 198 squadron.
My first operation from Manston was on 21st March when I flew No.3 to the C.O. on a 'Ranger' operation. We took off at dawn and headed out at low level across the North Sea towards Holland. The cloudbase was only about 1500 feet and, just before the Dutch coast, we started a battle climb to 20,000 feet. Almost immediately we were in cloud. Fortunately it was not too dense and it was fairly easy to maintain formation. Everything was going well until, still in cloud, we were passing about 10,000 feet. Suddenly my engine started running roughly and then cut completely.. A quick glance at the air temperature gauge and then at the wing leading edge told me the story. I was suffering from severe icing! I immediately switched on the carburettor heater, just before the C.O. called up and said 'All Bingo aircraft, switch on heaters, icing conditions." It was probably only ten or fifteen seconds before my engine started to pick up again but in the meantime I had lost a lot of airspeed and had to put the aircraft into a glide. As soon as the engine came back I resumed my climb but of course by then had lost sight of the aircraft on which I was formating. I continued the climb to 12000 ft but still had not reached clear air or seen any sign of the rest of the formation. There was only one sensible thing to do and that was to head back. I levelled off, still on instruments, and did a nice gentle 180 degree turn to head back home. I headed 270 degrees (West) and flew for about fifteen minutes until I was sure I was back over the North Sea. I then let down slowly, keeping a wary eye on the altimeter, waiting for the base of the cloud. At 2000ft I came out of cloud and looked down, expecting to see water. What I did see was a large city! Almost at the same moment I started to receive hostile attention from light AA. I whacked open the throttle and shot back up into the cloud. After a further few minutes I tried again and this time, sure enough, there was the sea. A quick look around to make sure that I was alone and I dived for the sea to keep below any unfriendly radar.
As I was not sure where I was, (I later worked out that I had come out of cloud right over the centre of Rotterdam), I then climbed up again to just below the cloud base and called up for a homing. I immediately received a very clear transmission from a station with an unfamiliar call sign which told me to steer 263 degrees. I was a bit suspicious of this so I fortunately ignored it. I continued steering 270 degrees and waited a further ten minutes. Trying again, I this time received a much weaker signal which told me to steer 274 degrees.
This I did and, after a further twenty minutes or so, saw the Kent coastline ahead. I called up Manston and told them 'I am flashing my weapon'. This was not as rude as it sounds since it was the code to tell them that I had turned on my IFF (Identification Friend and Foe) transmitter. This gave a special signal which appeared on the radar scopes and told the operators that I was friendly. Unfortunately it had no such effect on the coastal AA batteries, and, as I approached I was greeted by a hefty barrage of 20 and 40mm Flak.
Luckily the gunners were too enthusiastic and opened fire whilst I was still out of range which gave me a chance to turn parallel to the coast, waggle my wings and lower my undercarriage. This latter being a universal sign that the aircraft concerned was not hostile. The gunners responded correctly and, as I flew back over the coast I could see several of them waving to me! I landed back at Manston about an hour ahead of the remainder of the squadron. When they did return, I learned that my Flight Commander 'Pete' Raw had been shot down near Nijmegen and was missing
I reported the strange homing reply that I had received and was told that the Germans were occasionally trying to break in on our frequencies with misleading messages. Had I followed the course I was given I would probably have finished up running out of fuel over Belgium or Northern France This was the last operation from Manston and also the last operation I did in a bomber Typhoon. The squadron was posted from Manston to ThorneyIsland and our aircraft which had been taken away were now returned to us. They were no longer dive bombers, but were fitted with rocket rails! We were about to become 'RP' (Rocket Projectile) equipped.