Chapter 4 On from Grottagalie; Middle East Squadrons

ON FROM GROTTAGLIE

A TRANSPORT aircraft touched down on an airfield in southern Italy and trundled to a standstill. It was quickly followed by another, then came half a dozen more. Out of each of them tumbled a dozen or so sun-bronzed, slouch-hatted Australian airmen, carrying rifles and Tommy-guns, and wearing light-weight invasion packs.

The place was Grottaglie aerodrome, some fifteen miles south-east of Taranto. The date September 14, 1943. The occasion was the resumption, from Italian soil, of the great aerial invasion of Hitler's tottering European fortress.

Since that sunny mid-September day, hundreds of their fellow countrymen have followed that tiny vanguard of Australians into Italy. Many of them are doing grand work in Kittybombers; many are filling necessary but often irksome "stooge" jobs on the ground; some are making photographic reconnaissances, or carrying out fighter sweeps and patrols in Spitfires; still more are flying in heavy, medium, or light bombers; others, again, are engaged in the highly important and responsible duty of flying transport or communication aircraft. But, whatever may be the nature of their task, and whether they be performing it in a fighter or a bomber, within the confines of a mobile cookhouse, or at an improvised work-bench in a maintenance section, they are making an important contribution towards the defeat of the enemy in Europe.

The arrival at Grottaglie of that first airborne party of Australians had a big effect upon the stemming and turning of the receding Allied tide on the beaches south of Naples. Our ground forces who had landed in the Salerno area were being hard pressed by a desperate enemy, who was endeavouring to drive them into the sea. The nearest airfields from which our fighter-bombers were operating at that time were in Sicily. Our ground forces, therefore, were beyond the operational range of those aircraft which in past campaigns had eased a delicate situation by providing the Army with close support. A clever enemy was seizing every opportunity to turn this handicap to his advantage.

But a rude awakening was in store for the Hun, and one of the two Australian squadrons serving in the famous fighter-bomber wing of the Desert Air Force which had chased the enemy from El Alamein to the Straits of Messina was chosen to help administer that shock.

The wing was standing by for its transfer to the Italian mainland. But, to avoid the break in operational flying which would have occurred had the whole wing been transported by sea, it was decided to send by air an advance party consisting of just sufficient key men to keep the aircraft of two squadrons flying until the complete units arrived. No. 3 Squadron, R.A.A.F., and one R.A.F. unit were chosen as this advance striking force.

Service transport aircraft were loaded with bombs, ammunition, fuel, oil, food and other urgent supplies. The selected fitters, riggers, armourers, cooks, and other strictly essential ground personnel clambered aboard. The D.C.3s climbed into the Sicilian sky, and escorted by Kittyhawks, headed north-west. And, as one Australian remarked, the invasion of Europe proper was "right on".

Reaching Grottaglie, there was work-real work-for that small party to do. The transports were unloaded and sent back to Sicily for new supplies. While this was going on, the Kittyhawks were being prepared to take the air. Within half an hour every one of No. 3 Squadron's fighter-bombers had been checked over, rearmed, refuelled, and bombed up, and stood ready for the first take-off from Italian soil. It was a tremendous job, for everything. even fuel and bombs, had to be manhandled.

The men who did that job were to reap the reward of deep satisfaction the same evening, when our pilots returned- from their bombing and strafing of German mechanized transport on roads leading down to the beaches near Salerno. The success of that show was summed up by Squadron-Leader Brian Eaton, who was at that time in command of the squadron and later received the D.S.O. and D.F.C. When he returned from the mission he said that some 700 vehicles were bunched together into "beautiful targets". It was obvious, he added, that the Hun, unaware that the fighter-bombers had moved from their base in Sicily, had been caught by surprise.

A scoreboard hanging in the squadron's operations room made most satisfying reading at the end of three days' flying. Twenty-five mechanized vehicles completely destroyed, eighteen set on fire, and eighty-four otherwise damaged, four motor cycles and their riders wiped out, one goods train shot up and brought to a standstill, numerous enemy troops killed, wounded, or thoroughly frightened. ... That was the formidable list of successes achieved in only four missions in three days.

Meanwhile weight was added to the advance party's striking power by the arrival of the remainder of the fighter-bomber wing, including No- 450 Squadron, R.A.A.F.

In the days that followed, the enemy was allowed no respite, although targets became increasingly difficult to find as the enemy realized the need to camouflage more cunningly and disperse more widely. As the two Australian squadrons moved from airfield to airfield in pursuit of the retreating Germans, life on those mobile units was often hard, but seldom dull. While they were operating from Grottaglie, for example, there were practically no Allied troops ahead of our men. Another interesting sidelight is that the anti-aircraft defence of the aerodrome was in the hands of Italian gunners, whose new-found adherence to the Allied cause so far had not been tested.

With the steady advance up the eastern coast of the Italian peninsula well under way, our squadrons were presented with an ever-changing variety of targets. Smashing blows were dealt at fuel and stores dumps, concentrations of troops and tanks, shipping, gun positions, road and rail communications. But bombing and strafing attacks on road transport easily predominated, and some remarkable results were obtained.

No. 3 Squadron, for instance, had a real field day early in October, when it broke its record for the number of vehicles destroyed in any one operation. Attacking a convoy which consisted apparently of well-filled petrol lorries, it returned to base with the grand strafing score of twenty-five "flamers", three "smokers" and twenty-five damaged, with three destroyed petrol dumps thrown in for good measure. In addition, the squadron destroyed two motor vehicles with bombs, and also scored four direct hits on the road.

The leader of the formation was Squadron Leader Murray Nash, D.F.C. and Bar, who at that time was an undecorated flying-officer. His score for the outing was three petrol dumps and four motor vehicles destroyed, as well as one vehicle damaged. Flying-Officer Jack Doyle, who has since been promoted to the rank of squadron-leader and awarded the D.F.C. and Bar, bagged five "flamers" and one damaged on the same show. Every other pilot in the formation returned with something to his credit.

A day or two later the same squadron demonstrated how forcibly the fighter-bomber can affect the trend of battle when employed in close support of the Army. The Germans were known to be mounting a heavy counter attack in the Termoli area. To No. 3 Squadron was entrusted the ticklish task of bombing German troops massing less than a mile from our own forces, and of striking also at road transport bringing enemy reinforcements and supplies into the area.

So effectively did the pilots do their jobs that the Army sent the squadron a message stating that, largely due to its intervention, the counter-attack had been stopped. Eaton, then wing-commander, led the show. His bag consisted of one Tiger tank set afire, one armoured car and two motor vehicles destroyed. A fortnight earlier he had fractured a bone in his left hand. But, with the cockpit of his Kittyhawk modified to his own specifications to suit this disability, and with his hand and forearm encased in plaster, he continued to fly.

Meanwhile No. 450 Squadron was fully living up to the high reputation that it had earned in past campaigns for its skill in harassing the Hun. One October afternoon it had a highly profitable outing in the Pescara area.

First it bombed and strafed two motor transports, leaving one on fire and the other smoking. Then eight more mechanized vehicles, partly concealed beneath some trees, were bombed and machine-gunned, five of them being set on fire and the remainder damaged.

Next, a petrol dump in the same locality was set ablaze. Then, to round off the afternoon's work, our pilots strafed two stationary motor buses, damaging both of them.

That single mission typifies the "Desert Harassers' " determination to seek out the enemy in his hiding-places, and exact heavy toll of him whenever and wherever he is found.

Then there was the destructive blow which the squadron dealt to the enemy shipping at Manfredonia, a picturesque little shipping port tucked into the Adriatic shore.

The Germans were using the place as a supply point for their forces in the Foggia region. When two merchant ships-one of about 6,000 tons and the other of about 4,000 tons-steamed into the port, No. 450 was sent to attack them. The squadron made two trips, one as evening fell, the other next morning. In the first attack the 4,000-tonner was set alight, and on the second sixteen of the twenty bombs dropped by the Kittyhawks landed square on the ship or on the adjacent wharf.

Squadron-Leader J. Bartle, D.F.C., led his squadron on these two shows and, when the port fell to our troops some three weeks later, he and his pilots had the satisfaction of clambering aboard the burnt-out hulks and making a detailed examination of the damage they had wrought.

With organized resistance to the Nazi occupiers of Yugoslavia steadily mounting, the two Australian fighter-bomber squadrons, still operating from airfields in Italy, flew several times in support of Marshal Tito and his partisans. Then, when the severe Italian winter set in, and our front line became more or less static, they were diverted to attack enemy shipping plying along the Dalmatian coast. The pilots quickly adapted their bombing technique to give a high degree of accuracy in this comparatively new type of work.

No. 450 Squadron sank or damaged about 10,000 tons of shipping during that busy period. In three successive days in January it had this imposing list of successes to its credit: one 5,000-ton armed merchantman sunk, one ship between 3,000 and 4,000 tons and one 2,000-ton vessel left burning. Then, before the month ended, a naval vessel of 4,000 tons was sunk. The squadron capped its remarkable run of successes in mid-February, when four salvos of bombs sent a 7,000-ton motor vessel to the bottom.

Hand in hand with these attacks on large sized ships, harassing forays were made on launches, barges, E-boats, and Siebel ferries. Many were sunk or damaged.

While its companion unit was inflicting these damaging losses upon the enemy, No. 3 Squadron was far from idle. During the corresponding period it sank three vessels ranging in size from 2,000 to 5,000 tons, and damaged an equal number. In addition, it sank four schooners and damaged six more, and sent five Siebel ferries, three barges, one motor torpedo boat and one E-boat to the bottom of the Adriatic.

Flight-Lieutenant K. Richards, was primarily responsible for the destruction of two of the three large ships. It was he, too, who later scored a direct hit on the Pescara dam, smashing the sluice gate. Richards left the squadron at the close of the battle for Rome with a well-earned D.F.C.

That the courage and skill of individual pilots was officially recognized is shown by the awards made to members of these squadrons between the time of their arrival in Italy and the end of July 1944- In addition to those already mentioned as having been won by No. 3 Squadron, Flight-Lieutenant R. Susans, a former flight-commander, received a D.F.C., and Flight-Sergeant E. Hankey, a D.F.M.

Squadron-Leader K. Sands (then commanding officer of No. 450 Squadron) and his two flight-commanders (R. Hudson and C. Robertson) in one week each received the D.F.C. for anti-shipping strikes in the Adriatic. Sands had a bar added later. Distinguished Flying Crosses also went to Squadron-Leader Bartle, Flight-Lieutenant D. Davidson, Flight-Lieutenant R. Goldberg, Flying Officer H. Hannaford and Pilot-Officer R. Rowe, and to two "Kiwis" in the squadron Pilot-Officer T. Fourneau and Warrant Officer Gillard, since reported missing. Nor was the ground staff overlooked, for Warrant Officer W. Walker and Sergeant R. Archer were mentioned in dispatches for the splendid work they had done.

During the three weeks' battle which began at Cassino and ended at the gates of Rome, our fighter-bomber squadrons experienced possibly their busiest operational period since El Alamein. Daily our pilots ranged over enemy territory, blasting his gun positions, smashing his bridges, cratering his roads, dislocating his rail communications, destroying his mechanized transport. The first faint streaks of dawn found pilots strapped in their cockpits, ready for a first-light take-off. Night had almost closed in before the last of the Kitties had taxied back to its dispersal point. And from well before dawn until long after dark armourers, fitters, riggers, stores assistants, cooks, stewards, clerks, ground officers and those scores of others whose efforts are seldom headlined, worked at pressure to keep the aircraft flying.

The losses in men and machines suffered by fighter-bomber squadrons in the Italian campaign have been remarkably small, compared with the results achieved, and many of the pilots forced to crash-land or bale out over enemy territory managed to walk back, some to relate stories as enthralling as any to be found in books of adventure fiction.

Apart from our two fighter-bomber squadrons, the largest concentrated force of Australians now serving in Italy is gathered together in a Wellington bomber group which constitutes the most important R.A.F. section of the Strategic Air Force in the Mediterranean area. Every unit in this group has

Australians serving in it, and almost nightly they take the air to smash at factories, ports, shipbuilding yards, lines of rail and road communications, oil refineries and other targets in what Hitler once regarded as his European stronghold. Switching from target to target to suit the strategic demands of the moment, and ranging far afield when the occasion required, the Wimpies in which these Australians fly have kept up a relentless pounding and harassing of the enemy.

Bomber crews have also done grand work in smashing at targets much nearer home. Back in February, for instance, they were called to the aid of the ground forces battling on the hard-held strip of beach at Anzio. That assignment was the most intensive one handed to the Wimpies since El Alamein. In one week they flew 400 separate sorties, and scores of Australians went out on each operation, some of them carrying out two missions on the one night. Night after night the work went on, and all through the night. Road and rail junctions, concentrations of troops and transport, tents and huts, towns and villages in which the Germans were living-all were fair game for the night-prowling Wimpies.

Towards the end of June, an Australian captain of one of these Wellingtons showed airmanship, courage and endurance of an outstandingly high degree. The pilot, who was reported missing shortly afterwards, was Warrant-Officer G. Custance. With ten and a half feet sliced off the end of his port wing when he collided with another aircraft during a night attack on oil refineries at Budapest, Custance nursed his crippled Wimpy back to base, to make a perfect landing. He modestly disclaimed all personal credit for that remarkable flight of some 500 miles. "It would not have been possible," he said, "but for the assistance given by my second dickie, and by the other chaps in my crew."

Operating in close co-operation with the Wellingtons are Halifaxes and Liberators in which other Australians are serving. The arrival of the heavies in Italy marked one more step in the offensive being carried out on Hitler's fortress from bases in the under-belly of Europe, and they form the night counterpart of the smashing daylight attacks being made by Fortresses and Liberators of the U.S.A.A.F. on targets in Germany and the Balkans. Since their first operational assignment from Italian soil - the bombing of the big railway yards at Genoa - the "Hallies" and "Libs" have continued to hammer at vital links in the Germans' chain of communications in Italy and the Balkans, and important manufacturing centres also have been attacked.

MIDDLE EAST SQUADRONS

THREE years after its original members sailed through Sydney Heads aboard the Queen Mary, No. 451 Squadron, R.A.A.F., entered upon a new phase in its career. Equipped with fighters-the only Australian fighter squadron in the Mediterranean-it found itself in April 1944 based on Corsica,
a lovely island where the climate was more like that at home than any place the Australians had been in those three years. Magnificent mountains, verdant valleys, brooks of crystal clearness, were a welcome change.

Going immediately into operations over Italy, the squadron at once distinguished itself by its habit of shooting down enemy aircraft whenever they made an appearance. The pilots' only complaint was that there were not enough of these M.E.109s and F.W.190s. First blood was drawn on the first operation from Corsica.

At 4.15 p.m. on April 23, ten aircraft were airborne to escort a formation of Mitchells on a bombing mission over Italy-and returned with one M.E.109 to their credit. Ten F.W.190s and four M.E.109s were sighted, and the squadron went straight in to the attack. The enemy aircraft made off at once, and only one was intercepted. It was attacked by Wing-Commander E. J. Morris, D.S.O. - a South African C.O. of the wing to which No. 451 belonged - and then by Flying-Officer J. D. Wallis, who found himself on its tall.

Wallis closed range to 200 yards and fired a short burst from the port quarter, observing strikes on the wing root. Still closing, he fired another burst and saw more bursts about the cockpit. The M.E.109 then made off to starboard and Wallis fired a final burst from 150 yards which caused a flash of fire in the cockpit. The enemy aircraft rolled on its back, smoking, and crashed in flames.

On May 11 General Alexander launched his offensive in Italy which was to capture Casino, break the Adolf Hitler and Gustav lines and liberate Rome on June 4. No. 451 Squadron played its part in the Allied victory, escorting Mitchells and Marauders on bombing missions, strafing motor transport and trains north of Rome, and even a small ship on one occasion.

Late that month No. 451 had a real field day when its aircraft jumped four F.W.190s about four miles north of Rome, destroyed three and damaged the other. They swooped to the attack and a general dog-fight developed at 6,000 feet; the enemy, although taken by surprise, put up plenty of opposition. One made a head-on attack on Flying-Officer E. C. House, D.F.M., who held his own attack and forced the F.W.190 to break away. Within fifteen minutes three of the enemy fighters had been shot down - one each by House and Flying-Officers H. J. Bray and W. W. Thomas, and the other damaged by Squadron Leader E. E. Kirkham, No. 451's C.O. who was leading the formation. All four pilots had previously done an operational tour in the Western Desert.

Early in June, Wing-Commander Morris and Flight-Lieutenant R. H. Sutton between them destroyed a J.U.88 after chasing it for a quarter of an hour. Sutton was flying at 1500 feet when he saw the enemy aircraft at the same height, about ten miles away. Both he and Morris gave chase and got in bursts. Sutton closed with the J.U.88 very slowly and secured his first strikes from 600 yards. He closed to 400 yards, gave another burst, and saw the starboard engine catch fire. At 250 yards he fired a two-second burst; the Junkers banked and almost collided with his machine. It was then almost on the deck and burst into flames immediately on impact with the ground.

This victory was followed by another hat trick on the following day, in which Sutton also shared. Out on an armed recce twenty miles south-west of Florence, flying at 5,000 feet, No. 451's aircraft found three M.E.109s some 2,500 feet below. Within ten minutes the three enemy aircraft had been sent crashing down in flames, none of the pilots having a chance to bale out. They fell to the guns of Sutton, Flight-Lieutenant R. J. Robert and Flying-Officer T. H. S. James.

Robert and James had their fight in the same area. One M.E.109 made a head-on attack on Robert, apparently attempting to ram him, the guns of both aircraft blazing furiously. When they passed each other only a wing-span separated them. This plane was shot down by James, who chased it thirty miles at less than fifty feet from the ground. The sheet of flame resulting from the explosion almost reached James's machine.

Meanwhile Robert had turned his attention to the second M.E.109, getting in three bursts and causing it to go straight in and explode. Farther away, Sutton was dealing with the third enemy aircraft, which he chased for several miles until it turned right. He then cut it off and got in a burst from the front quarter, causing it to crash in flames.

Four days later a twin-engined M.E-410the German counterpart of the Mosquito as destroyed, this time by perfect team-work and precise timing by Flying-Officers G. R. Jones and R. J. Mercer. They were out before breakfast on a strafing sweep over northern Italy. About twenty-five miles north of Spezia they went down to strafe a truck, lost it among the trees and found the M.E.410 instead, only a hundred feet from the ground.

Both climbed quickly to 500 feet, and Jones made the first attack from 200 yards, getting in a six-second burst which blew away the rear end of the cockpit. Strikes were also scored behind the port engine. As the M.E-410 levelled out before attempting a crash landing, Mercer closed right in and got in another long burst. Another piece of the cockpit blew off and black smoke belched from the starboard engine. Then, just as the German pilot was holding off at about ten feet in an attempt to put his machine down, Jones came in and gave it a final burst. The aircraft hit the ground and was at once enveloped in flames and smoke.

The squadron added another two Germans to its bag a fortnight later, with yet another probably destroyed. Flying at 16,000 feet, they saw two F.W.19os and an M.E.109 which had just taken off from Bologna landing ground and were flying line abreast at deck level. The Australians lost height to 8,000 feet and then attacked, led by Flying Officer Bray, who fired three short bursts into an F.W.190 from 300 yards, causing it to weave twice and attempt a belly landing in a small field. It was destroyed.

The M.E.109 was attacked by Flight-Sergeant J. F. Vintner, burst into flames and exploded almost immediately, large pieces of the fuselage and wing falling off. It then crashed and burnt out. Flying-Officer E. J. Sidney fired a three-second burst from 250 yards into the second F.W.19o, from which black smoke poured. It was last seen heading north, still emitting clouds of smoke. Its destruction, however, could not be confirmed.

Soon after this, Wing-Commander Morris, leading a formation of No- 451's aircraft, destroyed another M.E.109, which was credited to the squadron's score, which then stood at twelve enemy aircraft destroyed in two months - a score all the more creditable because of the shortage of German planes ready for the picking in Italian skies.

The Kittyhawks of Nos. 3 and 450 Squadrons, R.A.A.F., since they first made their appearance in December 1941, played a notable part in the fighting in the skies of 4ie Western Desert, all the way from Alamein to Tunis, in Sicily and in Italy.

Although the history of each squadron goes back farther than their Kittyhawks-by Christmas 1944, No. 3 will have been overseas nearly four and a half years and No. 450 over three and a half years - they have fought together since February 1942, soon after the arrival of the Kittyhawks. Keen rivals always, each has a splendid record of achievement and a grim toll taken of the enemy.

These squadrons, as members of one of the most famous wings of the Desert Air Force, have chased the Germans the length and breadth of Italy. They have played an important role in all the major battles, from the initial landings in September 1943, the battle to break the Germans' Sangro River line in the following November, the Anzio beachhead in January 1944, the breaking of the Adolf Hitler and Gustav lines in May, the capture of Rome, and the campaign in the north. They have supported both the eighth and Fifth Armies.

The opening month of 1944 was one of the most successful in No. 450 Squadron's eventful history. Despite winter weather, which often meant unserviceable aerodromes or low cloud over the target, resulting in operations on only nineteen days - the squadron dropped the astonishing total of 1,751 tons of bombs. In that month its Kittyhawks began to carry 2,000 pounds of bombs at a time and they sank, left burning, or damaged 35,000 tons of shipping, including a 5,000-ton enemy naval vessel believed to be a cruiser.

These attacks on shipping, in which NO. 3 Squadron also participated, were made in the harbours of the Dalmatian coast and necessitated the crossing and recrossing of the Adriatic in single-engined aircraft. This shipping was being used by the Germans to supply their forces on both sides of the Adriatic, and its destruction helped the Yugoslav ,-artisans as well as our forces in Italy.

Within five days in January No. 450 Squadron received news of immediate awards of the D.F.C. to three of its pilots, all veterans of the Western Desert. The first award went to Flight-Lieutenant R. T. Hudson-soon afterwards to command No. 450 with the rank of squadron leader. Hudson had flown with No. 451 Squadron during the second Libyan push of 1941, doing army co-operation work. Subsequently he was with that unit in Palestine and Syria, and then in Egypt again. He had had an adventurous career. In May 1943 his aircraft caught fire over the Mediterranean and when he went to bale out he discovered that his parachute was on fire. He ditched his burning aircraft, which sank immediately, and was picked up within a quarter of an hour by an Australian sloop with the same convoy that he had been protecting.

In December 1943 Hudson was shot up by ack-ack on the Eighth Army front, but managed to land his aircraft on our side of the lines. He led an attack on a 5ooo-ton armed merchantman in Sebenik harbour, Yugoslavia, on January 14, scoring a direct hit on the vessel, which was sunk.

Next day Flight-Lieutenant C. W. Robertson received news of his decoration. He was another who dated his desert days from the time of the second Libyan campaign, and, when a member of No. 451 Squadron, was one of that unit's two pilots-Squadron Leader R. M. Achilles, D.F.C., was the other -to operate from besieged Tobruk for two months before it was relieved early in December 1941. The squadron kept two Hurricanes within the Tobruk perimeter whose presence was unknown to the Germans. From there they flew low out to sea and then made reconnaissances of enemy dispositions. On one occasion two wooden Hurricanes were left on the landing strip, whereupon the Germans promptly came over and dropped wooden bombs on them. The Australian pilots had the last laugh, however, for they immediately replaced the dummies with real Hurricanes, which the Germans left undisturbed.

Robertson led No. 450 Squadron in an attack on a 3,000 to 4,000-ton ship at Sebenik on January 15. Numerous direct hits were scored on the vessel, which was sunk. On the following day he led an attack on another 3,000-ton ship, which was also left sinking.

Earlier, on December 9, he had led three consecutive operations in close support of the Eighth Army during the battle for the Sangro River, locating and bombing targets with devastating effect.

No. 450's commanding officer, Squadron Leader K. R. Sands, was next to win a D.F.C. - to be followed in less than a month by a bar. In December 1941, in the Western Desert, he had destroyed an M.E.109, was himself shot down and spent two days and nights with Arabs behind the enemy lines. Then, when the battle had rolled on, he was picked up by armoured cars and rejoined his unit. It was Sands, then on his second tour of operations, who led No. 450 in the attack which destroyed the 5,000-ton enemy naval vessel in Zara harbour, Yugoslavia, on Jan 22. He also led the squadron in innumerable attacks on Army targets, requiring skilful navigation and precision bombing.

No.3 squadron pilots also received their share of decorations, Squadron-Leader R. N. B. evens, who was C.O. from early June 1943 rough Malta and the Sicilian campaign, received the D.F.C. and bar. Squadron-Leader M. Eaton, who succeeded Stevens as C.O. was awarded the D.F.C. in October 1943: and a DSO the following February.

Squadron-Leader P. M. Nash, who succeeded Eaton in command of No. 3, and Flight-Lieutenant (later Squadron-Leader) J. C. Doyle, one of the squadron's flight commanders, each won a D.F.C. and Bar as a result of long and successful operational tours with the unit-with which they flew in Tripolitania, Tunisia, Sicily and Italy.

One of No.3's sergeant-pilot D.F.M. winners, Sergeant E. Hankey, had a particularly unpleasant experience when he attempted to bale out north of Naples after his Kittyhawk had been hit by ack-ack. He went to bale out at 7,000 feet, but his parachute pack became jammed in the cockpit hood, which was not fully open, and it was not until he was 1,000 feet from the ground that he succeeded by frantic efforts in setting himself free. As his parachute opened he saw his bombed-up Kittyhawk blown to bits on contact with the ground. Hankey saw Germans rushing to the spot where they expected him to land, but by manipulating the cords of his parachute he touched down two hundred yards from them and made a successful dash for cover.

The beginning of 1944 found No. 458 Squadron based in Algeria, by the middle of the year it was in Sardinia; but in the meantime it had operated detachments from Corsica, Malta, and the foot of Italy as well, always on its job of protecting convoys and searching for lurking U-boats in the waters of the Mediterranean.

In the first three months of the year, No. 458 escorted huge convoys, sometimes, comprising as many as eighty-five ships, and this despite flooded aerodromes which sometimes compelled its Wellingtons to do their best to emulate flying boats.

It may have been the tempting target of three battleships, two aircraft-carriers and twelve destroyers which were passing through the Mediterranean in January, that drew the U-boats out in force. Early in that month No. 458 took part in a big and intensive hunt between the North African and Spanish
coasts for three enemy submarines. In five days its Wellingtons flew thirty-six sorties totalling 267 hours, made four sightings and launched two attacks. The hunt took place during a period of intensive activity by Allied shipping and prevented any interference.

Two of the sightings and the two attacks were made by Pilot-Officer J. Markey. He launched his first attack early one morning, when he caught a U-boat in the act of submerging, with only the conning tower visible. Six depth charges straddled the target, and an oil patch appeared, the remaining depth, charges being dropped ahead of it. Soon afterwards a U-boat with deck awash and conning, tower visible was sighted by Flight-Sergeant D. A. Anderson (since killed in operations) sixty miles from the Spanish coast, but by the time his aircraft, - which was three miles from its prey, had reached the scene the submarine had submerged and no attack was made.

Markey made another sighting and attack early next morning.

He saw the U-boat's conning tower and periscope in the moonlight about two miles away, and brought his target into the moon path, making a beam attack from fifty feet with six depth charges and straddling the target.

It was highly probable that the U-boat was damaged. The fourth sighting was made by Warrant-Officer J. Christianson that same evening, but the U-boat was eight miles away and had submerged before he could get into position to launch an attack.

In February the squadron's detachment in Corsica was given a new job. There was then considerable activity by small enemy vessels -such as barges and coastal tankers-between Leghorn and the south of France.

This shipping was usually spotted at night by reconnaissance squadrons and reported to No- 458, who went in search of it with bombs, alternative targets such as bridges and marshalling yards on the Italian coast being provided.

Numerous attacks were made on enemy shipping in the Gulf of Genoa, and on three occasions the attacking aircraft was hit by flak. It was obvious that the enemy was coming to have an increasing regard for No- 458's efforts to disrupt his shipping at night in this area.

Through detecting the presence of an enemy submarine No. 458 prevented an attack on a big westbound convoy of fifty-six merchant vessels and their escorts late in March.

Early in May the squadron's Wellingtons took part in a search for a U-boat which had made an attack on a west-bound convoy. The submarine was finally depth charged to the surface by destroyers and sunk by shell-fire. In the middle of that month, No- 458 had another U-boat hunt south-west of Sardinia, which resulted in the sinking of another two U-boats by destroyers. During this hunt Flying-Officer 0. J. Helyar attacked a submarine with depth charges and Flight Lieutenant R. G. Knight straddled the track of another, which he probably damaged.

The role of No. 458 Squadron in 1944 might well be described as unspectacular but necessary and effective. It might not have sunk many U-boats, but it played its part in hunting them to destruction, or preventing their attacks on the continuous stream of Allied shipping ploughing its way east and west through the Mediterranean. And that was its job and its intention.

Created from two R.A.F. squadrons in September 1942, and becoming the first Halifax unit in the Middle East, No. 462 Squadron, R.A.A.F., ceased to be Australian in constitution eighteen months later, when it was reborn into the R.A.F. and given an R.A.F. number. In that eighteen months to March 1944, No. 462 Squadron gave a good account of itself.

When the invasion of Italy was launched, No. 462 Squadron from its base in CyrenaiC2 blasted aerodromes, marshalling yards, road junctions and communications generally in Italy. Then it turned its attention to aerodromes and ports in Greece and Dodecanese Islands. It remained in Cyrenaica until February 1944, when a move was made to southern Italy. There it ceased to be R.A.A.F.

Australian ground crews began to leave No. 462 Squadron just before Christmas, 1943, and the last of them had gone by mid-February. The squadron's war diary spoke of a "spirit of comradeship and respect which will be very hard to replace" and added: "Everyone in the squadron will miss them very much."

But though no longer R.A.A.F. in name or number, the squadron which was once 462 still does not lack Australians in its ranks. Pilots, navigators and gunners who wear the dark blue of the R.A.A.F. still keep Australia to the fore as they do in innumerable other R.A.F. squadrons wherever there is a battle front.

SQUADRON-LEADER STAN SUMMERS