bentley priory - Spink

THE BENTLEY PRIORY BATTLE OF BRITAIN TRUST APPEAL CHARITY AUCTION
A Brief Interlude With de Havilland And The Mosquito
Prototype
Shortly after his first ‘Victory’ Cunningham was asked to see
Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff, at the Air Ministry;
having no idea what the meeting was about, ‘he was ushered
in and was very relieved to learn that his former boss, Captain
de Havilland, had asked Portal if he could have John’s
services for a day to fly his new machine - the D.H. 98
Mosquito - and make a judgement as to its suitability as a
night fighter.’ (ibid)
On the 2nd of February 1941 Cunningham flew to his old
stomping ground at Hatfield, ‘shortly afterwards he got his
first glimpse of the Mosquito. ‘I was overjoyed’, he said. ‘It
had a marvellous shape and was a typically elegant looking
D.H. aeroplane following the lines of the D.H. Albatross... It
was light on the controls, and lovely in the air’, he said. ‘Its
performance matched its elegance, and I was convinced that
it had great night fighter potential.’
Cunningham was the first Service pilot to fly the Mosquito,
and the aircraft was subsequently taken to the Boscombe
Down testing airfield for Service trials.
‘Cat’s Eyes’ - The Start Of A Legend
604 Squadron now altered their tactics and from December
onwards tried to make contact with the German bombers
whilst they were still out at sea; on the 23rd December
Cunningham took off with Phillipson on one of these patrols,
‘at five o’clock, when it was already getting dark on the
ground, they spotted a Heinkel 111 coming in about fifty
miles out at sea. At 15,000 feet, however, it was still daylight.
John calmly bided his time stalking the pathfinder, and then,
firing his cannons, hit him squarely in the bombload. The
Heinkel blew up like a gigantic firework display, with
coloured flares and burning incendiaries showering out as the
machine plummeted down in a near-vertical dive. Finally it
disappeared through cloud with three parachute flares, which
had fallen out, dramatically lighting the scene.
John’s first kill, the Ju 88 on 20 November, had generated
confidence amongst all those engaged in the night fighting
business. The long suffering public, who were enduring
constant bombing raids, needed some encouragement, and
the fact that our night fighter force was at last achieving
results was to become the subject of satisfying Press
comment, to lift morale. However, neither the public nor
even most of those in the Services knew anything about the
‘magic box’. It had to be kept secret. So a legend was created
which boosted the public image of the night fighter, and
effectively cloaked the secret.
The Press were allowed to publish pictures of John
Cunningham - the first night ace - whose night vision was
said to be so miraculous that it enabled him to see in the dark,
as with the eyes of a cat. Inevitably, from then on he was
known throughout the country as ‘Cat’s Eyes’ Cunningham’.
It was also said that he ate lots of carrots, whose Vitamin A
content helped to maintain his supposed extraordinary night
vision.’ (ibid)
Despite being unpopular with the man himself, who was
uncomfortable with being singled out from other pilot’s
achievements, ‘the branding of John as ‘Cat’s Eyes’
Cunningham, the ace night fighter, achieved its object in
making people aware that Great Britain actually did have a
night fighter force, which was rapidly becoming an increasing
deterrent to German night bombers. The public at that time
were under severe strain and ready to accept any news which
gave them a lift, such as the Cats Eyes and carrots
explanation! The Germans must have known from their
casualty figures - 604 Squadron destroyed thirty bombers in
one two-month period - that the RAF was either improving
its techniques or had something special. However it appeared
that the Cunningham press comment had effectively cloaked
the secret of the ‘magic box’.
The introduction on the South Coast of the local GCI
stations was also an important factor in starting to turn the
tide, ‘these enabled every night fighter to be vectored by a
Controller, who could follow the entire course of an
interception on a large cathode-ray tube, and who could
direct the fighter until he had brought it within a mile or so
behind the bomber’. (ibid)
Cunningham And Rawnsley - A Permanent Partnership
Up to this point in the War Cunningham had flown the
majority of his successful operations with Sergeant Phillipson,
and on 2.1.1941 they got another Probable, ‘Fighter Patrol
- Dusk Patrol - intercepted He 111 in Lyme Bay - Probable’
(Log Book refers); this was to be their last success together as
during the second week of January Rawnsley regained his
partnership with Cunningham as his radar operator, ‘his long
experience of flying with John from the Hawker Demon had
enabled him to understand John’s manner and style in the air.
John’s voice was even more brisk and economical while
flying, and there was never any casual conversation. John’s
patience and Jimmy’s honesty were essential ingredients in
establishing a natural co-ordination between them. Jimmy
always admitted liability for his mistakes, and did his best to
eradicate them, while some of the other operators covered up
by giving pseudo-technical reasons.’ (ibid)
It did not take long for the pair to find their feet, scoring a
He 111 damaged, 12.1.1941, before achieving their first
victory together over Poole Harbour, 15.2.1941, ‘they
reached their patrol point at 15,000 feet, some forty miles
south of Lulworth, and began going up and down the line.
Jimmy had his AI warmed up and tuned in, ready for a radar
search.... he looked intently towards the south-west, from
where the Heinkels would come.
Minutes later the Controller told them that the first bandit
was on its way flying at 12,000 feet, and right on his track.
Then began the cat and mouse came in which John excelled.
He dropped down to 11,500 feet into the misty obscurity
that lay shorewards, leaving the enemy silhouetted against the
luminous background. John made no move and continued
on his beat as the minutes ticked by... Then Jimmy suddenly
spotted the German visually high on the port quarter, a tiny
black speck still miles away but easily picked out against the
light sky.
When he reported the bandits position, John turned the Beau
smartly around on its wingtip.
The Heinkel was coming fast, and was soon high overhead,
and John kept vertically beneath it. He managed to stay in
position by keeping watch through the roof panel as the
bandit flew serenely on, blissfully unaware of what was
lurking below. For ten minutes or more the two aircraft
continued in company, while all the time night time was
approaching.
When the Dorset coast became visible the Heinkel started to
circle and John followed him, glancing up to the bomber and
down to his instruments. The German was biding his time,
waiting for the cloak of darkness before he crossed into
hostile territory. Round they went, with John maintaining
station until the curve of Lyme Bay was close ahead... The
night was descending fast when John pounced.
He increased power, and the Beaufighter rose towards its
quarry, so that the Heinkel grew ever larger above their
heads. Jimmy was filled with a ridiculous sense of the need to
go on tiptoe, as if he were stalking the enemy. He checked
the AI, the safety catches on the Hispano cannon, and the air
pressure in the firing circuit, and then he checked the sky
behind and below. He told John that he was ready, and there
was nothing behind.
‘Good’, John replied, ‘Here goes’. The Heinkel slowly sank
into the line of fire as Jimmy anxiously waited, expecting a
stream of tracer from a German gunner. Then John pressed
the gun button and released an avalanche of 20mm shells...
Then, just beyond the line of flame, there was an angry red
explosion and they knew that the Heinkel had gone in’. (ibid)
Cunningham piloted his Beaufighter like a predatory cat
stalking his prey - as a consequence it would appear that his
WWW.SPINK.COM