orders, decorations, campaign medals and militaria - Spink

November 22, 2012 - LoNdoN
Kennett, Sgt. Waghorn Killed. P/O Mortimer & Sgt.
Deacon & P/O Whitney Forced Down.’; his last victory with
the squadron came on the 29th April, ‘Shot Down One Of
Six Ju 88s Bombing Harbour. Shared With AA And Rest Of
Section. P/O Dredge Probable 109.’
Just Up The Road To 185 Squadron
Due to losses 261 Squadron was forced to disband at the end
of April 1941; the remaining aircraft and crews, including
Eliot, were drafted to 185 Squadron to form up at Hal Far;
Eliot, as “B” Flight Commander, was now operating against
almost incessant Axis raids, 1.5.1941, ‘Interception - Jumped
By Six Me 109s At 22,000ft. Sgt. Walmsley Bailed Out. P/O
Innes Forced Down Wounded. Jumped Again 10 Minutes
Later But No Damage. No Enemy Shot Down. Sgt. Ottey
Crashed And Was Killed’ and 16.5.1941, ‘Interception -
Large Formation of Me 109s Dropping Bombs And Also Me
109 Fighters. Self Attacked By Two. No Damage’; despite
the pressures Eliot wrote home to his mother thus,
20.5.1941, ‘Well the weather here is fairly settled now and of
course air activity is getting very frequent. We have many
difficulties to contend with here but none the less we are
getting along all right. On the whole I should say that France
wasn’t a patch on this. So I leave the rest to you.
I had a fairly narrow escape some weeks ago when a “small”
bomb burst about eighteen yards from where myself and
another fellow had flung ourselves. No damage was sustained
as there was a small stone wall between us and the bomb! It
might have been worse!’; in September he returned to the
UK, where he was awarded the D.F.C.
Wing Commander H.W. Eliot
21
255 Squadron - North Africa
Eliot was very briefly posted as a Flight Commander to 242
Squadron, Digby, before being posted as a Flight
Commander to 74 Squadron (Spitfires), Llanbedr, October
1941; with the latter he mainly flew convoy patrols until
posted as Commanding Officer of 3 Delivery Flight, High
Ercal, 1.4.1942; converted to Beaufighters at No. 54 Night
Fighter O.T.U., August 1942; posted to 255 (Night Fighter)
Squadron, Honiley, September 1942; he flew with the
Squadron to North Africa in November of the same year; the
Squadron got off to a disasterous start when three days after
arriving, ‘Maison Blanche Bombed. F/O Wyrill Killed 12 a/c
Written Off’; the surviving aircrew, including Eliot, returned
to the UK to re-equip and arrived back in Algiers with their
new Beaufighters, by 5.12.1942; they were immediately
operational and their Beaufighters were now fitted with A.I.
radar; crewed with Flying Officer Lewis, Eliot was to
experience the usual technical difficulties that plagued
Beaufighters fitted with A.I.; enemy activity died down at the
start of the New Year leading the Squadron to undertake
intruder and convoy patrols in April 1943; 16.4.1943,
‘Intruder Patrol - Shot Up M.T. On Road. Sardinia’; in
August 1943 Eliot became Commanding Officer of 255
Squadron and took them to Sicily; 255 Squadron took part
in the Salerno Bay Landings as part of the Allied invasion of
Italy, 8.9.1943, ‘Patrol Salerno Bay. Covering Allied Landing
Craft’; Eliot achieved success in his Beaufighter at last,
9/10.9.1943, ‘Patrol Naples - Salerno. Me 210 Destroyed.
Crashed In Flames’; flying intruder patrols over the Italian