bentley priory - Spink

September 6, 2012 - LONDON
the aerodrome, and that their CO was close behind. Once
again John was to be on stage for a big show. Naturally they
all rushed out, ears turning to pick up the sound of aircraft
engines from the south... until the aircraft drew closer and
their engine sounds blended into one.
This was John’s cue as he identified the 190 and briefly
touched the trigger. His guns coughed briefly and the bandit
reared up on its nose, flicked over, and dived straightin.
Those far below on the aerodrome heard the short bark of
cannon and then the increasing sound from the 190 engine
until it grew into a tortured scream, silenced by an exploding
red flash that silhouetted the trees to the west, followed by a
giant crump that shook the ground and rattled windows.
This was the second occasion that John had performed on
stage: for the King, he shot down a Heinkel, and then he
bagged a 190 with his Squadron in the stalls.’ (ibid)
On the night of 16.5.1943 Cunningham’s squadron
managed to shoot down four F.W. 190s destroyed and one
probable - these were the first 190s shot down; it was a good
day for the R.A.F. as earlier on the same day 617 Squadron
had undertaken the Dambuster Raid; both Squadrons were
sent congratulations from High Command for their
achievements.
Another Performance For A Captivated Audience
Cunningham’s new charges were starting to repay all his
efforts with them, however, on a personal front he ‘did not
crack his duck on the second tour until the night of 13th
June, when he and Jimmy had gone off on patrol up and
down the Channel off Dungeness just before midnight. They
were flying at 23,000 feet, having plenty of height to build
overtaking speed in a dive. ‘Sky-blue’, the Controller, tipped
them off that a fast customer was on his way in, and timed
their converging courses to perfection. Jimmy picked up the
blip scuttling across his cathode-ray tube only a mile and a
half ahead and well below them. John immediately opened
the throttles, and Jimmy brought him around in a tight
diving turn.
The Focke-Wulf was going full bore, hell-bent for London.
Thus, the range closed only very slowly, but the blip was as
steady as the Rock of Gibraltar... the stage was set as they
continued to creep up on the bandit.
Unknown to them, the Sector Controller had telephoned the
crew room to tell the chaps that there was a 190 approaching
Too Close For Comfort
The 8th of September brought about Cunningham’s 19th
victory in the shape of another FW 190; on the 1st of
October whilst returning to base he and Rawnsley had a too
close for comfort tangle with a new Ju 188, ‘he knew at once
that the bandit was very close, and told John that something
was coming in from the left.
Even while Jimmy was speaking, the bandit flashed past in
front of them almost at the same height. John turned tightly
to come in about 200 yards behind it, and dropped down
below it in his usual style. Jimmy put up his glasses and saw
it was one of the new Ju 188s. John pulled up the nose of the
Mosquito as the bandit began to sink into his line of fire. But
the enemy crew were alert and before he could open up, the
188’s under-gunner fired straight back into their faces. Three
big 13mm rounds came through the top-left hand side of the
windscreen close to John’s head, and the whole of that corner
was sagging. The windscreen was completely opaque, and
John fired blindly, waving the nose of the aircraft around in
the hope of getting a lucky hit. There was no sign of the
Junkers through the side windows as John throttled back to
reduce wind pressure, and headed towards land.
Jimmy had donned his chute in case the windscreen
collapsed, and John asked for an emergency homing. John
had collected a face full of little bits of glass, while Jimmy
could feel the powdered stuff working its way down the back
of his neck.
‘You’d better have my googles’, Jimmy said after taking
another look at the bulging windscreen.
‘All right’, John replied. ‘Stick them over my helmet. I think
there’s a piece near my eye, but I don’t want to disturb it.’
They crossed the coast and John, looking out from the side
window, did a curved approach and at the precise moment
straightened out for a smooth and gentle touchdown. A ring
of torches clustered around the ladder, everybody wanting to
know whether they were all right, what happened, did they
bag one John descended after Jimmy, smiling ruefully at the
anxious faces, and said ‘I was the victim of an unprovoked
assault.’
The Medics carted them off to Sick Quarters where the MO,
Flight Lieutenant ‘Rigor’ Mortimer, gently pulled the tiny
fragments of perspex from John’s face with a pair of tweezers.
One piece was embedded within a fraction of an inch of his
left eye and, although John had been very conscious of it, he
had refrained from rubbing it or touching it.’ (ibid)
Winter 1943 brought fresh problems for 85 Squadron;
despite the squadron notching up its 50th night victory in
November the Germans had now developed a new rearwardbeamed
radar and even faster aircraft in the shape of the
Me 410; the old approach of stealth no longer worked and to
make matters worse the squadron’s Mosquitos started to
show signs of fatigue themselves; by the end of December the
Squadron was equipped with new Mosquitos and had started
to get to grips with the new AI Mk X.
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