What follows has all come from the squadron operations logs from 12 July 1944 when the first Meteors were delivered. On some of the detail I've quoted verbatim from the logs, the rest is a summary of the days events. There are some noteworthy occasions, of particular note being 4 August 1944 and 19 March 1945. A brief word on spelling; continental place names are given as written in the operations logs, so are not necessarily correct.
Moelsbrock = Melsbroek
Neiuport = Nieuwpoort
Nemejegen = Nijmegen
Quackenbrucke = Quackenbruck
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During the afternoon the two Meteor aircraft arrived from Farnborough (EE/213/G and EE/214/G). Security measures were taken and the aircraft were guarded. The arrival caused much interest. | ||||||||
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Squadron moved to Manston. Meteor and Spitfire dispersals were together, although the Meteors were under cover in hangars. | ||||||||
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Spitfire and Meteor
pilots billeted in separate huts. The Spitfires were Mk VIIs. W/Cdr McDowell put on a show with a Meteor when Harold Balfour, Under Secretary of State for Air, visited. The first Meteor Flight consisted of these pilots:
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5 more Meteors from Farnborough arrive. | ||||||||
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"History is
made!" First operational flight of the Meteor by F/O MacKenzie (RCAF) patrolling for V1s. Note that these are referred to by the RAF as 'Divers', not 'buzzbombs'. S/Ldr Watts intercepts a 'Diver' near Ashford but has gun trouble. F/O Dean also has an opportunity. "F/O Dean sighted one 'Diver' and
followed in line astern at 405 mph. He closed in to 1000 yards on 'bomb' estimated flying
at 390 mph when he was turned back by Control owing to proximity of balloons." |
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Two more Meteors delivered. | ||||||||
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W/Cdr Wilson flying
on an engine test sighted a 'Diver' at 3000 ft near Rye, opened fire but was out of range
and lost it in cloud. P/O Clerc (France) sighted 3 'Divers' at 2000 - 4000 ft. He was unable to engage owing to a Mustang attempting to shoot them at extreme range. Throughout the above period the Spitfire pilots have been carrying out a variety of weather reconnaissance flights over Northern France (Paris, Abbeville etc.) |
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The Meteor flight now has 6 operational a/c and two prototypes. Patrols continue. | ||||||||
| Graves sighted a 'Diver' between Ashford and Tenterden at 2000 ft. No difficulty overtaking, fired 2 sec burst at 400/500 yards, result unobserved. Graves was emphatic that a Mustang attacking at the same time stopped him from getting the first kill. | |||||||||
| A big day for
the squadron, so the following is a full extract of the reason why. "F/O Dean took off from Manston at 1545 to patrol inland
area under Kingsley II (Biggin Hill) Control. At 1616 hours a Diver was sighted at 1000 ft
near Tonbridge on course of 330°, at speed of 365 IAS. Dean dived down from 4500 ft at
speed of 450 mph, and attacked from dead astern; his 4 x 20mm cannons failed to fire owing
to a technical trouble now being investigated, so flying level alongside the bomb, Dean
maneuvered his wing tip a few inches under the wing of the flying bomb and by pulling
upwards sharply he sent the bomb diving to earth four miles South of Tonbridge. F/O J.K.Rodger sighted a Diver at 1640 hrs. near
Tenterden on course of 318° at 3000 ft speed 340 mph. Attacking from astern Rodger fired
2 bursts of 2 seconds and saw the Diver crash and explode, 5 miles N.W. of Tenterden. The Squadron now thrilled at the first two kills
are ready for more." |
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2 more Meteors delivered. | ||||||||
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'Dixie' Dean gets another V1 near Horsham at 0620, using up all his ammo on it. | ||||||||
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Dean gets another V1 near Ashford. | ||||||||
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The last of the
Spitfire VII goes, although the squadron seems to have kept at least one Spitfire V for
ferrying pilots. F/Sgt D.A.Gregg killed trying to land at Great Chart airfield after abortive attempt to fly to High Halden. |
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F/O McKenzie brings
down a V1 (shot the wing off). F/O Mullender (Belgium) claims a V1. |
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F/O Ritch, W/O Woodacre, and F/Sgt Easy each claim a V1. | ||||||||
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F/O Hobson and F/Sgt Watts each claim a V1. | ||||||||
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F/O Hobson and F/Sgt Epps share a V1 kill. | ||||||||
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F/O Miller destroys
a V1 SW of Sittingbourne. W/Cdr McDowell crash landed 3 miles South of Manston. His a/c is badly damaged but McDowell escapes with a few cuts. |
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5 pilots and 4 Meteors move to Debden as part of a training exercise so bombers and escorts can determine tactics to use against jets. | ||||||||
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Exercise involving 140 B24s and 40 Mustangs & Thunderbolts against 4 Meteors | ||||||||
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Practise dogfights
between 3 Meteors and 20 American fighters. These sessions are rated as being very successful. |
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Similar exercise
against Lancasters and Spitfires. "Lancasters proved easy targets in their
straggling formation for Meteors while Spitfire escort offered no serious
opposition". |
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The first delivery of Meteor IIIs arrives. | ||||||||
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Another 3 Meteor IIIs from Moreton Vallance are delivered. | ||||||||
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A soccer match between pilots and groundcrew (the groundcrew won) then Officers and NCOs serve Christmas dinner in the Airmen's Mess. | ||||||||
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616 transferred to Colerne (I only know of one Colerne, and that's near Bath). | ||||||||
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The squadron is incorporated into the 2nd Tactical Air Force (84 Group). | ||||||||
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Another historical occasion when the first British jets arrive on the European mainland. Four Meteors fly to Brussels/Moelsbrock B.58. Although I've read that these first Meteors were painted white (and seen the photos), there is no reference to this at this point in the operations log. The idea was that Allied anti-aircraft gunners would not open fire on them, but it seems the gunners were not all informed. | ||||||||
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Three more Mk.III
Meteors arrive from Moreton Vallance. Flying takes place within an area bounded by Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, Hulst Kenzen, and South of the Scheldt to Neiuport and Calais. The purpose is for local aircraft and ground gunners to improve their recognition of the Meteor. |
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It was announced by
the BBC in a News Bulletin that "British Jet Fighters" were in action against
the Luftwaffe. Note that lousy weather throughout most of February put a stop to much of 616s flying. |
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At last a full
announcement is made in all daily newspapers about the Meteor. This wasn't the first publication regarding jets though. The Midlands Air Museum has a newspaper on display from early 1944 telling the public about Allied jet development. |
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Two more Mk.III Meteors delivered. | ||||||||
| A raid takes place
against Moelsbrock airfield. Coming out of heavy cloud at 6000 ft, enemy aircraft drop 6
fragmentation bombs in front of the squadron hangar, only one of which goes off. This
caused some minor splinter damage to one Meteor. What enemy aircraft managed to penetrate Allied airspace with so little warning? They were identified as two Arado 234 jet bombers! If you are prepared to allow a pretty broad definition of the term, this is the first ever jet v jet combat. |
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Detachment at Melsbrock (sic) moves to B.77 (Gelze-Rijen). | ||||||||
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17 Meteors leave
Andrews Field for Melsbrock on 31 March, refuelling at Manston. By midday on 1 April nine
of them arrive at B.77. The enemy lines are only 10 miles to the North. The first "Scramble" is at 16:50. F/Lt M.Cooper (Kenya) and F/O T.D.Dean patrol Brussels at 15,000 ft. It is an uneventful sortie as the plots turn out to be friendlies. |
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Fired at by AA over Nemejegen. | ||||||||
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Fired at by AA over Eindhoven, both these occasions it is Allied AA that is firing. | ||||||||
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Pink section is scrambled, but their take off is delayed by a/c from 149 Wing being on the runway. P/O E.George takes off and after reaching 24,000 ft reports seeing a smoke trail at 30,000 ft (in 1940/41 'smoke trails' was the term used when referring to vapour trails. I guess the same applies here). He is too far behind to see the a/c and cannot intercept. 84 Group later report that this was thought to be an enemy jet. | ||||||||
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F/Lt M.Cooper (Kenya) attacks a large M/T near Ijmuiden; strikes are observed and the vehicle is seen to swing off the road and stop. | ||||||||
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An active day,
claims being; F/Lt Cooper - one M/T destroyed west of Woerden. W/O G.Wilkes - one staff car destroyed at Woerden. F/Lt J.K.Rodger - one staff car destroyed at Utrecht. Plenty of flak is seen at their height, but because of the speed of the aircraft it always falls well behind. |
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Flying in sections
of two, more ground attacks take place; F/Lt Cooper - armoured car near Gouda. He only had two guns working, but even so saw the turret fly off when it was hit. F/Lt G.Hobson & F/Lt J.F.Kistruck - share a M/T destroyed near Hoogewaard. |
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First British jets to land in Germany at Quackenbrucke. | ||||||||
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Armed recce and a
"beat up" of Nordholtz Airfield; W/Cdr A.McDowell - one Ju88 damaged, one M/T destroyed. F/O I.T.Wilson - two railway petrol tankers. F/Lt T.G.Clegg - one truck full of troops. |
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S/Ldr L.W.Watts and
F/Sgt B.Cartmel are missing. Spitfire pilots report hearing Watts order Cartmel to close in as they are entering cloud (this was standard practice), shortly followed by a large explosion. |
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Another airfield
"beat up", this time at Schonberg. One Storch, two Ju87, two He111, one Me109
are all destroyed on the ground. The excellent New Zealand Fighter Pilots web site records that of these the BF 109, one He III
and one Ju 87 were claimed for W/Co Schrader, who took command of the squadron on 1 May. This is the last action of the war for 616 Squadron. |