COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
them from the air.
The Wing reacted with a number of fighter sweeps and there were
a few encounters with 20 and 30 plus 109s. However our main role
continued to be that of ground attack directed increasingly towards the
escape routes back to the Seine.
As the ground battle went mobile 146 Wing's 'Bomphoon 1
squadrons expected an instruction to change over to rockets. There
were two important advantages. Drop tanks could be carried in
addition to RPs, which increased the radius of action, and the rockets
themselves were considered to be more effective against targets -
particularly armour - on the move.
Johnny Button and Allan Smith of 197 Squadron fought against the
idea - arguing that the Wing must be able to respond instantly, with
bombs, even under the most fluid battlefield conditions. The
Luftwaffe's re-appearance was further justification for retaining some
Typhoons with bomb racks as they were faster, and more
manoeuvrable, than those fitted with rails.
While the two Squadron Commanders were making and winning
their case, I was briefed by the Wingco to accompany him on an armed
recce.
In the cockpit and five minutes to go. Five minutes to run through
the familiar drills, deep breathing on oxygen, feeling the tension that
stems from the challenge of a compelling and deadly sport, its
excitement and its uncertainty - the very essence of operational flying.
And this sortie had an extra twist. My number one was the top scoring
Typhoon pilot with thirteen and a half kills.
Johnny Baldwin seemed such an unemotional man, so very
different from his colourful predecessor, yet his skill and his unruffled
confidence was an inspiration to all around him. In the air you sensed
an exceptional and considerate leader. A veray parfit gentil knight.
How, I wondered yet again, had I come to be flying with him
alone? Perhaps as a belated comeuppance for an indiscretion on a
fighter sweep south of Paris. Sprog of the lot I had been first to answer
his question on the radio. Identifying a bunch of impossibly distant
specks with the words "Mustangs Bigshot" - and then having to sweat
it out!
Whether that was the real reason was of no importance at all.
What mattered most, as Jimmy Simpson put it bluntly:
"If you're flying with the Wingco on his own - you'd better have
your finger well and truly out!"
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