The memoirs of Sqn Ldr Rupert Parkhouse, recorded in 1995 – Part 9. The first post in this series is #9775 on page 489 of this thread.
THE NEXT big day was May 10 when the Blitzkrieg began. We were reinforcement crews for the Advanced Air Striking Force and on May 11 a list of postings to fly to France the following day appeared on the Mess notice board. My name was not on the list but my great friend Brian Moss was, so I went to the adjutant and said I wanted to go with him. He said I wasn't supposed to go yet because I was 19 and a half and one of the youngest on the list, but if I really wanted to go he would put me on. [It is not known whether Rupert was aware of the casualties, but the adjutant certainly was. On May 10 12 Sqn had despatched four Battles, only one came back; on May 12 they sent six Battles, one came back with tech trouble, the others were lost; on May 14 they sent six Battles, five were lost – Ed.]
So next day, May 12, we went by lorry from Benson to Hendon where we boarded an Imperial Airways four-engined airliner, crossed the Channel on a beautiful sunny day, and landed at Colombier in France where we were met by a very excited French officer who said we were fortunate not to have arrived 10 minutes previously when they had a visit from two Me110s. Without doubt we would have been shot down had we arrived sooner.
From Colombier we went by train to Nantes which was the base of 98 Sqn, the pool squadron where we did more cross-country training. We had bombing and gunnery practice, doing dive-bombing from 8000ft down to 3000ft which indicated a change in tactics. We weren't told about this change. Later my navigator on 12 Sqn told me what a shaker it was when on May 14 he had entered the crew room and of the 22 navigators and gunners who had come out to France, only he and another man remained.
The first batch of replacement aircrew went out about May 20 to make good the very heavy losses of the AASF during the first three days of blitzkrieg. The reason for the delay was that communications with the retreating squadrons had been lost, while the railways were in such chaos that our crews returned to Nantes after a few days. I remember Johnny Rothwell telling me what a frightening experience it had been, they had left the train and were lying on the side of an embankment as the bombs burst nearby. He said 'It really scared the s—t out of me, Rupert, and I'm just longing to return it in kind.'
On June 5 Brian Moss was again on a list of replacements and once again I asked the adjutant if I could go with him to 12 Sqn, which had carried out that very gallant raid on the Maastricht bridges. He said I was still too young to go but he reluctantly agreed, he gave me a little Serviceman's Bible, he shook my hand, and he wished me good luck.
We left Nantes by train on June 5 and arrived at Tours where we hung about in the park waiting for our transport to come the 26 miles from Souge. I remember seeing a beautiful French girl on a seat and thinking it would be wonderful if we could stay for another 48 hours.
NEXT POST: Rupert takes his first flight in a bombed-up Battle, to the great discomfiture of the flight sgt rigger who trustingly goes with him.