Before I continue Frank’s story I have to make an apology. When I said that he put me to shame with his active life style I thought that he was 93. In fact he will be 98 this Summer and my shame knows no bounds.
When Frank arrived at Chivenor to join 272 Sqdn they were in the process of exchanging their Blenheim IVF aircraft for Beaufighters before flying out to Egypt. His friend George was selected to be the crew of the Squadron Leader and Frank was picked by one of the Flight commanders, Flt Lt Robin Campbell. He thinks that this was because they were the top two students from their course. One of his early flights with his new pilot was in a Blenheim when they were sent up to Bristol to pick up spares. They were entertained to lunch in the Directors’ dining room at the Bristol Aircraft Company, an interesting experience for a young man from the North East.
Before they were dispatched to the Middle East Frank was given his first real test as a navigator when the Squadron flew up to Sumburgh to escort a flight of Swordfish aircraft preparing to attack the Bismark which was rumoured to be sailing from Norway. It was here that Frank experienced more of what he saw as class distinction when he invited some of the Swordfish gunners, who were all Naval ratings, into the Sergeant’s Mess for drinks on the eve of the planned Bismark attack. When he argued against the objections of the resident WO’s that “these guys would probably all be dead by this time tomorrow”, they were allowed in. In the event, as history shows, this attack was cancelled when it was realised that Bismark had already left the area.
It is an interesting twist that, about 50 years later, Frank’s daughter married the son of a pilot who took part in the final Swordfish attack on the Bismark off Brest, when the steering was seriously damaged.
In April 41, after a trip to Bristol to pick up new Beaufighters, 272 Sqdn flew down to St Eval and then on to to Abu Sueir in Egypt, routing via Gibraltar and Malta. They had better luck than 252 Sqdn who had one of their aircraft force land in Portugal to be interned as well as one which returned to St Eval.
Once in Egypt, they were based mainly at Ekbu from where Frank took part in ground attack raids in North Africa as part of Operation Crusader. Occasionally he was detached back to Malta for raids on Cartegena Airfield in Sicily. On one trip to Cyprus he had Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Tedder on board as a passenger. He spent the trip teaching him how to carry out drift sightings. At this time, there were reports of a German U Boat in the Red Sea and Frank’s aircraft was sent to Hurghada to look for it, in vain as it turned out. At that time, Hurghada was like an American oil town and for the first time in his life he enjoyed their hospitality. The first time he had ever seen tinned beer. After this he was given a few days off and was flown to Cairo in an old Vikers Vimy. (NB. Looking at the records it was more likely to have been a Vickers Valentia, a development of the Vimy and operated as a transport by the RAF in the Middle East at that time)
During the first three days of Crusader, 272 destroyed nearly 30 aircraft, mostly on the ground but a few in the air. On July 24 1941 Frank’s aircraft shot down 2 Ju87s*. During one trip to Malta several Italian gunboats attacked Valetta harbour. One boat managed to escape and Frank’s aircraft was sent to catch it. This “soft” target was no match for the Beaufighter’s devastating fire power and it was completely destroyed. This left Frank “feeling a bit like a murderer” and with a growing perception of the total brutality of the war in which he was engaged. It is one of several experiences which have led to his reluctance to talk about his wartime experiences.
On November 26th 1941 on another Crusader attack on Jedabia airfield near Benghazi, Frank’s pilot Flt Lt Cambell was ill so Frank was standing in for Sgt Hobbs who had been slightly injured on the previous raid. Over the target their aircraft took a hit in one engine which burst into flames. His pilot managed to put it down on the same airfield and Frank was able to escape unhurt. Unfortunately his pilot, Sgt Price, had trouble releasing his harness and received severe burns to his hands and arms. He was eventually repatriated. Frank was carted off to a makeshift POW camp where most of his fellow guests were from the 8th Army. For him “ze war was over” except that, as the next episode will show, it carried on but in a very different manner.
• Some of these details were taken from the book “Beaufighter” by Chaz Bowyer, ISBN 0-7183-0647-3