bentley priory - Spink

September 6, 2012 - LONDON
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Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur
‘Bomber’ Harris’s Final Log Book
Pilot’s Flying Log Book, inscribed on front cover in Sir
Arthur’s hand ‘A.C.M. Sir A.T. Harris’, the inner page
similarly named; the entries on the following pages
state: ‘July 1944’ [Aircraft Type] ‘Stinson Sentinal
45’, [Pilot or 1st Pilot] ‘Sir A.T. Harris, A.C.M.’;
[Duty] ‘HQBC Lacey Green - Air HQ Bentley Priory,
return daily’; [Total Hours] ‘17:10’; with similar
entries for ‘August- 17:05’; ‘September- 2:00’; and
‘October- 0:45’- on this last occasion a ‘Messenger
M38’ was used.
£600-800
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers
‘Bomber’ Harris, Bt., G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C., was born at
Cheltenham in 1892, and served in South West Africa as a
Private with the Rhodesia Regiment on the outbreak of the
Great War. Returning to England in 1915, he learned to fly
at Brooklands, earned his licence, and joined the Royal Flying
Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served in France and returned
to England in 1918 to command a Home Defence Unit
where he pioneered night fighting, and received the Air Force
Cross later that year.
Granted a permanent commission after the War as a
Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force, Harris was given the
command of No.3 Squadron in India in 1921, before being
appointed to command No.45 Squadron in Iraq. In 1925 he
was appointed to command No.58 (Bomber) Squadron, and
was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in
1927. Employed on staff duties in the Middle East from
1930, in 1932 he commanded the R.A.F. long distance flight
from Cairo to East Africa and back. During these early days
he always took the opportunity to advocate the use of aircraft
for aerial bombing thus displacing the historically based
warship for defensive purposes.
On the advent of the Second World War Harris commanded
No.5 Bomber Group until being appointed Deputy Chief of
Air Staff in November 1940. In May the following year, now
advanced to Air Marshal, he led the R.A.F. Delegation to the
United States of America and in February was appointed head
of Bomber Command- now was the time for Harris to test his
theories. His first initial objective was to organise the 1,000
Bomber Raids on Germany, the first being on Cologne, the
second on Essen, and the third on Bremen. Each of these
raids caused varying destruction and dislocation of the
German Military, Industrial, and Economic systems, and
assisted in the undermining of the German people.
In just under a year Bomber Command, under the leadership
of Harris, almost destroyed seventeen towns and cities, and
severely damaged an equal number. Harris was created a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1945, and
was advanced to Marshal of the Royal Air Force in January
1946. It may be stated that Bomber Command’s
contribution to the War effort under Sir Arthur Harris
considerably hastened the end of the Second World War.
During April 1944, Bomber Command was diverted from its
strategic bombing offensive over Germany to support the
preparations for the D-Day landings in Normandy, a role that
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir A.T. Harris
it shared with the USAAF 8th Air Force. Overall
responsibility for the air campaign in support of the landings
in France was Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory,
the Air Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Air
Force.
Planning for the air aspects of D-Day operations was carried
out at Bentley Priory, the Headquarters of Air Defence of
Great Britain (Fighter Command). The various air
commanders of the participating commands met regularly
during the planning phase. These meetings became
increasingly frequent as D-Day approached and in the period
following the invasion. To allow easier, and more secure,
travel an airstrip was constructed in the grounds of Bentley
Priory which could accommodate light communications
aircraft such as the Auster, Stinson, and Messenger.
The nearest airfield to HQ Bomber Command was some
distance away so some agricultural land was commandeered
at Lacey Green, just a few hundred yards from Harris’s
headquarters. Over the next few weeks he made regular
flights from the strip to the various Allied Headquarters in
the south-east of England, in particular to Bentley Priory.
One report stated, ‘The usual procedure was daily flights with
a 10.30 am take off, returning about 1 pm with ACM Sir
Arthur Harris at the controls of his personal aircraft, which
was a Stinson high wing mono-plane’. In mid-September,
Bomber Command was formally released from control by the
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force when it
reverted to Air Ministry control.
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