Bouncer's Battle: A Battle of Britain adventure (Gus Beaumont Aviation Thrillers Book 1) by Tony Rea

Author:Tony Rea [Rea, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2024-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

PART THREE: THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

CHAPTER 14

Gus had a hand in his cousin’s re-posting. He took advantage of a meeting with Peacock at the RAF Club to raise the subject. Squadron Leader Taylor was, as Gus predicted, also present.

“Look,” he said, “Pilot Officer Rosen is an experienced fighter pilot. He fought in Poland and downed a number of superior German aircraft. He also downed a Dornier in France.”

Peacock looked unconvinced. “Stuffy doesn’t rate the Poles,” he said.

Taylor looked confused.

“Stuffy Dowding, the boss,” Peacock clarified. “At a top-level meeting a few weeks ago, he stated that regardless of their previous experience, all Polish pilots would be most useful if transferred to Bomber Command.”

“Does the Air Marshal need to know?” asked Taylor.

Peacock frowned at the Polish officer. “Stuffy isn’t stupid. Far from it. He is well aware that British factories are now in full swing turning out more and more Hurries and Spits by the week. Our young pilots are being pushed rapidly through the training regime. Soon the Luftwaffe will be in the skies over southern England, and the RAF will be in action fighting them. Fighter Command will inevitably begin to suffer aircraft losses and pilot casualties. So, how to utilise the Polish and Czech pilots recently arrived from France? He considers all this. Only the other day the Air Marshal travelled to Eastchurch, where a group of Polish pilots were billeted. He told me he wasn’t looking forward to it because the Poles had a poor reputation. Their air force was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in a matter of days last September.”

“That’s totally unfair, Sir Alex,” said Taylor. “Our planes were caught on the ground, just as the French were in May.”

“Besides Pilot Officer Rosen being a top fighter pilot,” said Gus, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand, “his English is excellent. He’ll fit in well with a British squadron, sir.”

It was probably Staś Rosen’s near perfect English which clinched his posting to a Spitfire squadron based at RAF Biggin Hill in Kent, British command being wary of pilots who didn’t speak English.

Staś saw action in the early days of the great air battle which was beginning to unfold. In July, he and Gus had a bit of leave and had arranged to meet in London. Staś sat before his cousin, looking smart in an RAF uniform with the Polish Air Force eagle as his cap badge and a ‘Poland’ flash on his shoulder.

“How is it going?” asked Gus.

“It’s frantic. Bloody frantic.”

“Start at the beginning, hey?”

“Following some pretty basic training in ground control and navigational equipment, we started combat training. It’s so bloody frustrating,” said Staś. “I sat in a classroom and was indoctrinated into RAF practices by a training officer called Nielsen, a thirty-something-year-old who I suspect had never seen action. The RAF is bound by its own regulations and fly-by-the-book procedures. When we took off, it was in a very tight V formation. When we fought it was the same, close Vs with leader and wingman.

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