COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER FOUR TYPHOON
But Bill was still very much in the land of the living. He had fallen
into the trees, not far from the burning remains of his aircraft, his
parachute opening in the nick of time. Concealing himself as best he
could despite a broken leg, which he strapped with his dinghy thwart,
Bill survived in the middle of a major battle. He was picked up
eventually by our advancing troops, still alive, by which time Jimmy
Simpson had taken over the flight.
As the enemy fought to extricate his forces, after their failure at
Mortain, the occupants of the orchard at St Croix sur Mer were
involved in a battle of a different sort. The log which straddled the
crudely screened trench behind ops was crowded with miserable
figures cursing and groaning. Fortunately there was plenty of Kaolin
and some lucky chaps seemed to remain immune. As a result we were
able to keep going, near enough at full strength, although the same
could hardly be said of our physical state.
Pride of place in the story of Normandy dog must go to Doc Horn
who organised a supply of sanitary towels. Stockpiled at B3 they were
to be used for a purpose which their designer, even in his wildest
dreams, could never have foreseen. It amused us hugely to imagine the
enemy reaction had they ever captured and examined a pilot equipped
with one of Doc's secret weapons!
Speed was of the essence and they were delivered immediately
thanks to the 'beer run', a well established service with origins of a
different nature.
Dust on the beachhead landing grounds in the early days had
caused a spate of engine failures. Yokes produced a simple carburettor
air intake filter and an emergency modification programme was put in
hand. Units based in France flew their Typhoons back to England, a
few at a time, and these were soon returning with two firkins of beer
apiece on their bomb racks.
The beer run continued, long after its primary purpose had ceased
to exist, by the simple expedient of fostering an aircraft on a round trip
to Tangmere at regular two day intervals. Pilots changed over at the far
end, giving each the benefit of a short leave in England, and the
obligatory barrels were loaded up for the return flight.
Doc's sanitary towels travelled by the same route packed into the
gun bays of our beer barrel bombers.
The enemy forces trapped in the Falaise pocket fought desperately
to escape and there was a brief resurgence of German fighter activity
in an attempt to stem the savage losses which were being inflicted on
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