They Gave me a Seafire by Crosley DSC RN Commander R 'Mike'

Author:Crosley DSC RN, Commander R 'Mike'
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027140; Bic Code 1: HBWQ; HISTORY / Military / Aviation
ISBN: 9781473839991
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

HMS Implacable

By September 1944 we were more than ready to embark in the huge Implacable; but first she was to have her baptism of Seafires from 24 Wing (Lt/Cdr Wiggington, DSC, RNVR) with 894 and 887 Squadrons. They, and 1771 Squadron of 14 Fireflies, raided the Norwegian leads near Bodo. They sank U-1061 on the way. One Firefly was hacked down. (It was recently dug up and placed in a Norwegian museum.) During this operation, Implacable’s new flight deck party (the 50 ratings organised by Lt/Cdr (Flying) responsible for the movement of aircraft on the flight deck) had had their first Seafire ‘incident’. It had made them nervous. One of 887 Squadron’s Seafire LIIcs had leaped the barrier and had landed full toss into the forward deck park of 20 other aircraft. In the resulting fire, its 20 mm cannon ammunition had ‘cooked off and shot up several more aircraft. There were many casualties. Number 24 Wing flew south after this work-up operation and finally embarked in their own ship on 30 October, bound for the Indian Ocean, Palembang (January) and Okinawa (March 1945).

We ourselves embarked on Implacable (Captain Charles Hughes-Hallet, who had just relieved my old Eagle Captain, Mackintosh of Mackintosh) on 8 November, and received a superb welcome. My diary records: “Made a reasonable show except for the start-up at Skeabrae. We had to do this ‘pilots only’ as our crews had already gone aboard and the RAF were unable to help. We had to unlash and push out, of course. The main trouble was having only one ‘trolley-acc’ (a half-ton, twelve-volt accumulator on wheels) amongst 14 aircraft. However, Red (mine) and Blue (Simpson’s) Flights landed on without fuss in three minutes and 20 seconds, which is very nearly a record. Norman followed with the six remaining aircraft, also without a hiccup. Unfortunately in their second practice sortie, 801 managed to prang our ‘D’ and their ‘R’.” This was very unpopular as squadrons did not like using each other’s aircraft. Luckily, we again had no accidents and managed to land 12 aircraft in five minutes flat. The third range of the day was cancelled, as Implac’s windshield hydraulics ‘went for a Burton’ and also some of the arrester wires would not reset.

Commander Charles Evans, DSO, DSC, RN, our Commander (Flying) had recently returned from Quonset, USA, where he had been organising the workup of new Fleet Air Arm F4U Corsair squadrons for the Pacific. He may have been a little disconcerted to find that his new ship, Implacable, was to have such a large number of Seafires. However, he soon made it clear to us that he thought we were the best in the world — or shortly would be, under his guidance. He always appeared to be in command even when the Captain was on the bridge and particularly when flying was in progress. He would brook no criticism by non-flying Admirals. He would reply to their signals (which were usually asking pointed questions such as

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