COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
their very first op. Allan seemed to feel that he had let them down. But
it was no fault of his and I was very pleased to have him on my flight.
His first show with us was particularly satisfying - destroying a
train which been reported south of Hamburg. We found it exactly as
described at briefing, sitting in a little country station, the engine
billowing smoke. Butch set up a copybook attack and we blew the
whole thing to bits.
Once again Butch had shown that he could lead a very effective
operation in straightforward circumstances. Yet that show was
followed immediately by another, which was an utter shambles, and
resulted in my last and most violent clash with him.
It was low level against an SS Battalion HQ, directed by 'B' Flight's
Bunny Austin, who was doing a spell as a VCP Controller. Bunny drew
our attention to the Y shaped drive leading to the target and it was
clearly visible as Butch led the way with his section of four. As I
prepared to follow, their cannon shells exploded around an adjacent
farmhouse, and it was obvious that they were not going for the right
place.
I aborted my own attack, and another argument ensued with Bunny
supporting me strongly. Butch insisted that he had bombed the correct
target and that my section must attack it as well. In the end, as with
the napalm at Arnhem, he left me with no alternative except to obey
his orders.
This time it was too much. I organised an air test and came back
with a set of photographs. These showed that we had attacked the
wrong target and the undamaged house, with its Y shaped drive, was
unmistakable. Butch knew that he had no control of my photo recce
activities, for which I was directly responsible to the Wingco, and that
I would do the same again if the need arose. After that he left me to
lead my own shows. And he never held it against me. It was one of the
nice things about him.
Two other episodes marred my time at Drope. The first happened,
landing back, after Ben Lenson had been hit in the radiator and forced
to bail out in the battle area. I was worrying about him as we returned
to base and failed to register a warning that there was an aircraft stuck
on the grass runway. After touchdown, rolling fast, the wingtips of a
Spitfire suddenly appeared very close on each side of the nose. Too
late to do anything except brake hard and cut the switches. The
Typhoon ran on, propeller chewing up the Spitfire's rear fuselage,
pitching slowly up on its nose until I was looking down the engine
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