General
616 squadron was formed at
Doncaster on 1 November 1938 as part of the Auxiliary Air Force, under
Squadron Leader the Earl of Lincoln (although he was still a Flight Lieutenant
at the time). The Auxiliaries were very
much the upper social set of the RAF. Tailor made uniforms with
silk linings, sports cars, inviting the chaps back to your
people's estate for a spot of shooting - some claimed these were all essential
requirements for making your mark in the Auxiliary Air Force.
The Squadron was initially a bomber squadron.
The advance party when the squadron was formed consisted of 19 airmen and 2 senior NCOs, the main party
arriving on the 10th November with a further 20 airmen and 6 senior NCOs along
with 6 Hinds, 2 Avro Tutors, and 2 Avro 504Ns.
By the time war had started the Squadron had
switched from bombers to fighters, and was equipped with Gloster Gauntlet
biplanes. They were gradually converted to Spitfires with the first batch of 3
coming from 66 Sqn at Duxford on 30 October 1939, and after the conversion was
complete moved south to take part
in Operation Dynamo, providing cover over the beaches of Dunkirk.
After Dunkirk they were based
in Yorkshire away from the front line. Of course, the concept of
a front line doesn't hold very well in air combat, and on 15 August 1940 616 found
themselves intercepting a 50 strong German bomber raid over the
North Sea east of Flamboro Head. The action took place at 15,000 ft, the German
force consisting of Ju88s and several Me110s. This was a notable success, destroying 8 Ju88s for no
losses. Other claims were 4 Ju88s destroyed (unconfirmed) and 2 Ju88s damaged.
The squadron flew at full strength for this
mission, as follows:
'A' Flight
Red section: Robinson, Hellyer, Smith, Westmoreland.
Yellow section: Bell, Brewster, Walker.
'B' Flight
Blue section: Gillam, Murray, Marples.
Green section: Dundas, Casson, Hopewell, Moberley.
During part of the Battle of
Britain 616 were based at Kenley. As with many squadrons they had
a hard time, losing many pilots in a short period. They were
eventually pulled back from the front line to RAF Coltishall
(Norfolk) to recover. Between August 22 and September 2, 616 had
suffered 4 killed (Westmoreland, Ridley, Moberley, Bell), 5
wounded (Dundas, Walker, St.Aubin, Copeland, Marples), and 1 POW
(Wareing), plus 12 aircraft. Shortly after, the squadron moved
again to Kirton-in-Lindsey in Lincolnshire, and it was during
this recovery period that 'Billy' Burton replaced Marcus Robinson
as the squadron commander.
When 616 were posted back
south it was to Tangmere (relieving 65 Squadron), where they formed
part of Douglas Bader's famous Wing. This consisted of 616, 145,
and 610 Squadrons. The usual Wing formation was for 145 to fly as
top cover, then 610 as medium cover and finally 616 at 20,000 ft.
(this was also the order in which the new Spitfire VB was
issued).
On the 9th May the squadron
moved to the satellite field at Westhampnett, with the squadron office being at
Shopwyche (a country house between Chichester and Tangmere) and
the officers billeted in Oving, at Rushmans.
There followed a period of
activity where the RAF carried out raids into occupied Europe,
trying to draw the Luftwaffe up and destroy them in combat. If
you intend doing further reading keep an eye open for references
to Rhubarbs, Circuses
and beehives.
Although the squadron started as a very English unit,
drawing its members mostly from Yorkshire, matters changed as the war progressed
(as they did for much of the RAF). By 1944 50% of the squadron's flying strength
was made up of men from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya and Belgium.
616 ended the war flying Meteors as part of 135 Wing in 2nd Tactical
Air Force - the other squadrons being 33, 222 and 274, all flying the Tempest.
The squadron was disbanded on 29 August 1945, then
reformed on 31 July 1946 with Mosquitoes before moving back to Meteors and
finally being disbanded again on 15 February 1957.
Circus 68
Circus number 68 on Monday 9th
August saw the Tangmere Wing flying Target Support. Wg Cdr
Bader's usual wingman Sgt Alan Smith (Dogsbody 2) was not
available that day. I've read that he had a cold, but also that
he was in London getting a new uniform as he was about to be
commissioned. The result was that his place was taken by Sgt Jeff
West. Flt/Lt Hugh Dundas flew as Dogsbody 3, with P/O Johnson
as Dogsbody 4. On this occasion 616 flew higher than usual at
28,000 ft to avoid being silhouetted against the cumulus cloud,
with 610 Sqn higher still.
At these heights they had to
carefully avoid getting so high that condensation trails were
formed, as ground control had reported 20-plus bandits in the
area. Roy Marples (Blue 3) spotted the 109s first - "Three
bandits coming down astern of us". Then "Eleven of them
now". From Ken Holden with 610, more 109s coming up from
below. By this point ground control had reported over 70 bandits.
Ignoring the Spitfires on escort duties, this gave 616 and 610
odds of 3:1 against.
At this point Bader took
Dogsbody Section down to attack the 109s below, followed by Blue
Section. As they dived in, Pt Off Hepple (Blue 2) spotted more
109s coming down behind and shouted a warning. Sqn Ldr Holden
brought his Spitfires down to assist. At this point Marples saw
even more 109s coming down. By now things were very messy;
'Johnnie' Johnson's recollections were of "an absolute mass
of aeroplanes just 50 yds apart, it was awful ... I didn't think
about shooting at anything after we were bounced ourselves; all
you could think about was surviving."
Both 616 and 610 managed to
withdraw, using cloud for cover. It was on reforming that the
realisation came that Bader was missing. To compound matters,
'Buck' Casson got separated on the way home and fell victim to
Hauptmann Gerhard Schöpfel of III/JG26.
Technical
Starting the war with the Gloster Gauntlet, the
squadron soon converted to the Spitfire I, and they
had the Spitfire IIa by June 1941, although these were being
replaced by the Vb.
616 were the first unit to receive the
Mk.VI Spitfire on 22nd April 1942.* This
was not a very popular choice as it had a sealed cockpit intended
for use at high altitude (40,000 ft) and a warm air heater.
Naturally, 616 were put on low-level convoy escort duty and the
pilots suffered from flying in a greenhouse!
On July 12, 1944 two Gloster
Meteors were delivered to 616. Operational clearance was received
on July 27, the first V-1 being destroyed on August 4. Apart from
V-1s the Meteor never flew in air combat during WWII, unless you
include an encounter with an unarmed Storch. They did fly on
ground attack missions, their first such operational sortie being on
April 16, 1945.
It was surprisingly different to the German Me262
in handling characteristics, with better turning capability and
acceleration, but anything up to 50mph slower. Compared to piston-engined
aircraft there were notable differences. Top speed was at low altitude whereas
propeller driven aircraft flew faster higher up. This may be explained by limits
placed on aircraft performance for safety reasons. For example, early engines
were prone to surging if pushed to the limit. Acceleration from low speed was
worse than a piston-engined aircraft, but better at high speed (300 mph+). The
natural result of this is to cruise at high speed, resulting in reduced
endurance. When the Mk.III became available (the Mk.II being virtually non-existent)
it was found to have considerably better acceleration then the Mk.I.
The RAF Flying Review (Vol XV, No
3) describes the Meteor as very responsive and a fine aircraft for aerobatics.
One of the first pilots to convert to the Meteor was surprised at how easy it
was to fly, having no torque problems and excellent visibility - although it
shares the tricycle undercarriage of the Me262, the pilot sits much further
forward.
It is fascinating to think
that 616 started and ended the war flying Glosters - biplane
Gauntlets in 1939 and twin-engined jets in 1945.
Code letters - 616 were
allocated the letters 'QJ' in April 1939. This resulted in a
problem, as 92 Sqn were given the same code! It wasn't until 25
June 1941 that 616 were given the new code of 'YQ'. Post-war Meteors and Mosquitos carried the code 'RAW'.
Click on this link for a list of dates and locations for
616 squadron.
Notes
An article in the August 2000
edition of FlyPast magazine about the Battle of Britain Memorial
Flight's Spitfire II says:
"Often referred to as the
'Baby Spit' or 'P7' by the engineers and pilots of BBMF, the
aircraft entered service with the RAF on September 6, 1940, with
266 Squadron at Wittering, Northants (as was), just in time to
see some action in the Battle of Britain. Moving to Hornchurch,
Kent, it joined 603 (County of Edinburgh) Squadron in mid-October
and was involved in combat with Messerschmitt Bf 109s, getting
shot down in the process.
This Category 'B' accident
caused P7 to undergo repairs at a Civilian Repair Unit, after
which it was issued to 37 Maintenance Unit at Burtonwood,
Cheshire, just 3 weeks after the incident. Joining 616 (South
Yorkshire) Squadron at Tangmere, Sussex, in March 1941, it did
not stay long, for the following month it was back at Hornchurch
with 64 Squadron."
Presumably because it was with
616 for such a short time (March 18 to April 10), this Spitfire
has never been painted in 616 markings whilst with the BBMF.
Sqn Ldr Paul Day (Officer
Commanding the BBMF) says "the Mk.II is a much more pleasant
aircraft to fly" than the Mk.IX or PR.XIX.
