Three’s Company by Jack T. C. Long

Author:Jack T. C. Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473819818
Publisher: Pen & Sword

“Aw, shucks!” Buck Feldman with DFC ribbon up. (Buck Feldman)

Hawker Tempest V JN 862 JF-Z at Newchurch in June 1944 with a pair overhead. The spinner has thin red/yellow/black bands. The aircraft was Belgian Flight Lieutenant Remy van Lierde’s mount. (IWM CH16095)

Hawker Tempest V on Diver scramble from Newchurch in June 1944. The background shows Spitfire IXs of 56 Squadron awaiting replacement by Tempest Vs. (IWM CH14096)

Next day was D-day. Lefty Whitman in JN743 ‘P’ and Morris Rose in ‘J ’ were two of many flying top-cover to troopships but No. 3 saw no action until 8 June, when three 109s were claimed, one falling to Lefty. Morris Rose also logged this on the 8th when he had over-speeding. He made a forced landing on the beachhead inland of Ouistreham and ran toward Allied troops, to be told: ‘You’re lucky, you’ve just run through a minefield!’ He came back by launch to Calshot on 9 June’. On the 10th, ‘Oxford HM179 F/Lt Wilson Gosport to base .30 (i.e. 30 mins) passenger’ – quite a busy forty-eight hours.

In ‘Buzz Bomb Diary’, Bob Barckley remembers:

I was stationed at Newchurch ALG with No.3 [F] Squadron during the V-1 campaign, our squadron having moved there from Bradwell Bay on 28th April 1944, and we remained there until 28th September, when we moved to Matlask in Norfolk preparatory to departing for Grimbergen, Brussels. Whilst at Newchurch, our Tempest Wing [comprising with ourselves No. 486 NZ Squadron and 56 Squadron] provided the main fighter defence against the V-1, shooting down 705 of which 3 Squadron accounted for 3 OS, and I am pleased to say I contributed a number to this score. I believe I was the first pilot to attack a V-1 in flight. The event occurred on 8th May 1944, on a night intruder operation, when I intercepted a V-1 in the neighbourhood of Evreaux and eventually attacked it west of Le Havre. It crashed into the sea in the area of Deauville. I would point out this was more than one month before the V-1’s were launched against England. At the time I was not aware that it was a V-1, and my log book refers to it as a ‘JET-SHIP’, which showed a degree of prescience on my part. Our period at Newchurch was particularly interesting as it attracted a considerable number of famous people who felt the need to visit us. These ranged from Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister, and Sir Trafford Leigh Mallory, the AOC and many other famous senior officers. It also brought many film stars, such as Edward G. Robinson and all the famous war correspondents. One, whose fame extended beyond the war, was Ernest Hemingway, who lived in a tent next to mine, and was the only war correspondent there who got up at dawn with us, and shared our meagre repast. I had many interesting talks with him, and whilst with us he certainly was not the bombastic hell-raiser of his popular image.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.