2nd Tactical Air Force, Vol. 1: Spartan to Normandy, June 1943 to June 1944 PDF
Preview 2nd Tactical Air Force, Vol. 1: Spartan to Normandy, June 1943 to June 1944
o ACTICAL AIR FORCE Volume One Spartan to Normandy June 1943 to June 1944 Christopher Shores & Chris Thomas o ...........--- TACTICAL AIR FORCE Volume One Spartan to Normandy June 1943 to June 1944 / .I I''"IC ~.. o TACTICAL AIR FORCE Volume One Spartan to Normandy June 1943 to June 1944 Christopher Shores & Chris Thomas CLASSIC Animprintof IanAllanPublishing ChristopherShoresservedintheATCandRAPduringthe 1950sandproducedhisfirst book,AcesHigh, in 1966.ThiswasfollowedbyFightersovertheDesertin 1969,andthen bythe original2nd TacticalAirForce the following year. Sincethen he has produced an average ofone book ayear on aviation subjects, including a completely rewritten Aces High in 1994,plus manyarticles, aircraft monographs andsimilarworks. He and Chris ThomashaveworkedtogetherbeforetoproduceTheTyphoon andTempestStoryin1988. Byprofession acharteredsurveyor, ChristopherShoresworked in the commercial property market for more than 40 years. Retired in mid-2000, he continues to be a consultant, but is now able to devote much more ofhis time and energy to aviation researchandwriting. Heis marriedwiththree grown-up childrenandlivesinDorset,England. ChrisThomas worked for more than 30 years as a civilian Air Traffic Controller (at Manchester,NorthernRadar,Heathrow,WestDraytonand Swanwick).Retirementhas given him the time to collaborate again with Christopher Shores in assembling this work- alongheldambition. Heisthesonofa2ndTAPpilot,andismarriedwithtwo adultchildrenand agrandson (who already, at 20 months, shows apromisinginterest in aviation!). Heco-authored The Typhoon andTempestStorywith ChristopherShores following along-runningseriesinLeFanatiquede l'Aviation. An Air-Britain specialist on the two Hawker fighters for more than 20years, he has also written The Typhoon File, Warpaint No.5 Typhoon and Typhoon and TempestAces. Despite this specialisation, he has awider interest in militaryaviation and has provided illustrationsfor anumberofbooksandperiodicals,includingThe]G26Albumand Under theGunsoftheRedBaron,aswell as coverpaintingsfor morethantwentypublications. Firstpublished2004 ISBN1903223407 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeal}S, electronicormechanicalincludingphotocopyingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem withoutpermissionfromthePublisherinwriting. ©ChristopherShoresandChrisThomas ©Aircraftprofiles:ChrisThomas,2004 ProducedbyChevronPublishingLimited ProjectEditor:RobertForsyth BookandJacketdesignbyColinWoodmanDesign PublishedbyClassicPublicationsanimprintofIanAllanPublishingLtd,Hersham,SurreyKT124RG PrintedbyIanAllanPrintingLtd,Hersham,SurreyKTl24RG VisittheClassicPublicationswebsiteatwww.classic-books.co.uk Printed in England n o 2 - I rn 2 - I en Authors' Introductions 6 Acknowledgements 7 Foreword byAir ChiefMarshal Sir Harry Broadhurst 8 Foreword by Air Commodore C.D. North-Lewis 9 Glossary 10 '· I I FORMATION 11 I . March-November 1943 I I EXPANSION 48 November 1943-June 1944 • '. INVASION 122 .. June 1944 Index 190 Authors' Introductions CD Co.) o~ I LL «~ n the 35 years since work was undertaken to produce the first Because it has now been possible to gather details of all edition of2nd TacticalAirForce, much additional information operational losses and casualties, together with all claims made has become available to researchers and historians alike. A new during aerial combats, full listings of such matters are included ~ edition ofthe original book, which went out ofprint many years within the main text on a dailybasis. To deal in the narrative with ago, has long been planned, but the approach of the 60th each and every such entrywould require a great deal ofrepetition Anniversaries ofthe events dealt with therein provides a welcome andahugelyincreasednumberofwords.Consequently,readerswill opportunityfor the originalauthor once more to put pento paper findthatthenarrativeforeachdayinthemajorityofcaseshighlights andproduceacompletelyrewrittenandrevisedversionofthebook. the more interesting and significant actions and summarises other In this endeavour I am now joined by my good friend, Chris matterswhere appropriate.Onanumberoftheless significantdays Thomas, with whom I worked in happy collaboration when we no narrativeisprovided,butthelistingsarenonethelessincludedto produced'TheTyphoonandTempestStory'some 15 yearsago. providecompleteinformationfor thosewithspecialistinterests. Theoriginalbookprovidedatrioofoverviewchapters,followed Aword about the designation ofLuftwaffe aircraft mentioned byachapter on each major aircraft type usedby2ndTAF, and the within the text. When referring to Messerschmitt 109 and 110 units and personalitiesinvolved.Itconcludedwithasmallnumber fighters, we have adopted the official Luftwaffe descriptions of oflimitedappendices. Bf109andBf110 (BfindicatingBayerischeFlugzeugwerke);bythe This time it has been possible to commence at a somewhat time that the Messerschmitt 210 and 410 had entered production, earlier date- 1June 1943,when the TacticalAir Forcewas formed the manufacturer had become formally Messerschmitt, and hence within Fighter Command, rather than 15 November 1943, when the designations becameMe 210 andMe 410. 2nd Tactical Air Force became an independent command. The Theproductsofmostothermanufacturerswerereferredtobyatwo narrative is now arranged in a strictly chronological order, each letterabbreviationfromthenameofthebuilders.HenceHeinkel(He), chapterdealingwithallthe relevant units andaircraftinvolved. Junkers Ou),Henschel (Hs),Fieseler (Fi).Howevertwo manufacturers The much greater availability of information collected by, and had double names,andin these casesthe firstletterofeachnamewas availableto,theauthorsindicatedtheneedforaconsiderablygreater adopted, rather than an abbreviation. Therefore it appears correct for number ofdetailed- andhopefullyexhaustive- appendices. These Focke-Wulfto use 'FW', not'Fw', and for Blohm undVoss to employ mattershaveallconspiredtoproduceaconsiderablylongern~rrative 'BV',not'Bv'. In practice'BV'was always used,butboth'FW'and'Fw' section, whilst the very substantial number of illustrations now were employed - the latter more frequently. This is possibly due to available,inclusionofrelevantmaps,andofcomprehensiveindices, Focke-Wulf being a hyphenated name, unlike Blohm und Voss. have requiredthatthehistorynowbedividedinto threevolumes. Consequently,afterconsiderablethought,wehaveadopted'Fw'here. The first volume covers the period 1June 1943-30 June 1944, Whenreferringto Luftwaffepersonnelandunits,the German whilstthesecondandthirdvolumes,tofollow,willdealwithevents nomenclature has been employed, but for the sake of clarity, from 1July 1944-8May1945. when noting the decorations with which certain personnel had Becausethenarrativetextisconsiderablygreaterinthefirst two been awarded, we have translated them into English, thus volumesthaninthethird,alltheappendicesfortheentireworkwill referring to the Knights' Cross with Oak Leaves, rather than befound inthatfinalvolume.Foreaseofreference,aunitindexwill Eichenlaube zum Ritterkreuz. be included at the end ofeachvolume, but the personnel indexin itsentiretywillfeature inVolumeThree ChristopherShores,Dorset,England,October2003 T hroughout the production of this book, despite the vast more glamorous front line units possible. This was a matter of amount of detail it contains, it has been a constant concern available space and priorities; however, it is hoped that this latest thatonlythe peaks andtroughs of2ndTAF's endeavourshavebeen work will redress those oversights to some degree, although the recorded.Thedailytablesrecordthehighlightsandsummariesofair readerwillhavetoawaitthepublicationofVolumeThreewhichwill combat during 2nd TAF operations (and those ofits predecessor contain appendices dealing with the organisation of operational 'The Tactical Air Force' within Fighter Command) and although planningand control, Repair and Salvage units, the Group Support fighter, bomber, ground-attack and reconnaissance operations of Units,aswellas details ofweapons andtacticsemployed. note are recorded, the vast majority of such sorties have perforce Lossesandclaimslistedonthedailysummariesarebasedonthe been omitted, owing to their sheer volume and repetitive nature. '2nd TAF Log of Casualty Claims Assessment and Losses' and its Thisisinnowayintendedto devaluesuchoperations- farfromit predecessors, which detail losses and claims in the course of astheywereindeedtheverysinequanonofthe2ndTAF'sexistence. operations. Losses incurred during training, relocation, test flights, Earlierworksbytheauthors,the original2ndTacticalAirForcein etcarenotincluded. 1970and The Typhoon and TempestStoryin 1988made insufficient Ithas to be said that many relevant losses did not find their way reference to the supportorganisationswhich made the workofthe into the 2nd TAF Log; these have been added to our lists by careful searchthroughtheappropriateunitOperationalRecordBooks(Forms Serial numbers quoted for losses are not necessarily those 540 and 541), with the results cross-checked against the Aircraft quoted in the unit records (some of which are notoriously Movement Cards (Forms F.78). Occasionally aircraft losses noted as inaccurate),buthave been arrived at bycorrelation ofall available 'CategoryB'(i.e.beyondlocalrepairbyunitornearbymaintenanceor sources. Serialnumbers quoted for aircraft flown bypilots making repairunit) inthe2ndTAFLogwerelaterdowngradedto'CategoryAc' claims are taken mainly from the unit ORBs and therefore maybe (showninourlistsasCatB/Ac)whichwouldhaveexcludedthemfrom subject to some error; where this is suspectedthe serial number is the Log. Where appropriate details have been found these have been shown ininvertedcommas. :J retainedforthebenefitofthosewishingtoresearchfurther.Whereno Photographicselectionhasbeenmadewithabalancebetween ,-....-.+ damage category is given, the airframe was 'Category E' (i.e. written those which appeared in the original publication and the many o off), as a result of the incident. Occasionally damage was originally appropriate illustrations, which have since come to light. 0 C classified as 'category B' but was never actually repaired due to Similarly, there is a balance between high quality photos and CJ changingassessmentsorrequirements (shownasCatB/E). those of lesser quality, but of interesting (perhaps unique) ,...-+ Times have been given where possible. Where precise times for content. Full use has been made of the peerless Imperial War 0 :J an occurrence are not recorded in unit ORBs, estimated times, Museum collection and especially 'stills' taken from little-seen (J) usuallybased on take-offand landingtimes (ofother aircraftfrom film. Relativelyfew 2ndTAF air or ground crewmanaged to take thesame unitifthesubjectaircraftdidnotreturn) are given.These or acquire photographs during the campaign, but to those who areshownas,for example,'e1630'.Thetimes givenindicatethetime did, and have made their collections freely available to the ofloss,sowhereaircraftcrashedon return, thetimegivenis for the authors, we are indebted (seeAcknowledgements). crash,which (usually) causedthemajordamage,ratherthanforthe combat damage which initiated the incident. Locations given in bracketsindicatethebriefedtargetarea. ChrisThomas,Hampshire,England,October2003 Acknowledgements Aswithallventuresofthisnature,therearemanyindividualswithout Geoff Rayner, Graham Skillen, Bill Smith, Paul Sortehaug, whom itwouldnothavebeen possible,or at leastwouldhave beena AndyThomas,TerryThomas,LaurentVitonandEuniceWilson. lesserwork.Wewelcomethis opportunityto thankthemall. As always, the MODAir Historical Branch have been most Firstly,however,our heartfelt thanksto ourwives,Marionand supportive, and in particularwe thank Graham Dayfor his timely Wendy,whomustthink"perhapsitwillbedifferentthistime".Alas assistance. itneveris,buttheystillgiveustheessentialsupportthatonlythose ThestaffoftheImperialWarMuseumDepartmentsofFilmand whohavebeenthroughthisprocess canappreciate. Photographshavebeenever-helpfulandsympathetictooursearchfor WeareindebtedtoAirCommodorec.D.'Kit'North-Lewis,DSO, 'new' material, especially Ian Carter. Likewise the Canadian Armed DFC&bar,foragreeingtowritetheforeword; itwouldbedifficultto ForcesPhotographicUnit,Rockliffe (sometenyearsago).Wearealso find amore appropriate scribe.We owe much to the researches and extremely grateful to those who have given permission for us to writingsofourlong-termfriends and collaboratorsNorman Franks, reproducethosepersonalphotographs,thataddsomuchtoaworkof Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk and special thanks to Malcolm Scott this nature, or to quote from their correspondence, including Bill DFCforhiscontributioninthisvolume,theDinnerRaid. Bailey,BobBetts,LewBoucher,theBrayshawfamily,BillBurge,Denis Wearemostgrateful to ourPolish friendsWojtekMatusiakand Clarke,TonyCooper,DouglasCoxhead,JohnCaulton,BillCross,Air PiotrWisniewskiforprovidingphotographsandpassingonthefruits Cdre John Deall, Cecil Eckel,Air Cdre Jack Frost, Grp Capt Charles oftheir researches into the activities oftheir countrymen, as well as Green, BillyGrey, the Haabjorn family, TommyHall,Ian Handyside, theirspecialistknowledge ofSpitfiresand Mustangs.To KeithYoung BillHarkness,GrpCaptFrankJensen,TonyJonsson,MrsKidner,Stan and Robert Grudzien sincere thanks for initiating and encouraging Kirtley, Popeye Lucas, Harry Markby, Ed McKay, Robin McNair, the'prome'artist'sconversionfrom airbrushto Photoshop. Murray Morgan, the Nelson family, George Nimmo, Denis Oram, Many friends and fellow-enthusiasts have helped in tracking George Pyle, John Rook, Ladislav Sitensky, Wg Cdr Jas Storrar, Bill down those elusive bits of information or seldom-seen Stowe,PeterTickner,RowlandWilliams,NormanWilson. photographs, including Peter Arnold, The Baudru collection, Finallywe'dliketoexpressourgratitudetotheteamatChevron Dr Jean-Pierre Benamou, Peter Celis, Steve Coates, Eddie Creek, Publishingwhose enthusiastichelp,advice andprofessionalism has Chris Goss, Martin Goodman, Zdenek Hurt, Ashley Lamb, ensured this publication has matched the authors' vision of the Stein Meum, Dusan Mikolas, Peter Petrick, John Rawlings, finishedwork- no mean achievement! '""D o1-.. S Air ChiefMarshal Sir Harry Broadhurst GCB, KBE, DSO, DFC,AFC ill o1-.. LL W henChristopherShoresaskedmetowriteaforewordtohisbookonthe2ndTactical Air Force Iwas somewhat surprised to realise howlittle hadbeenwritten about the brilliant achievements of its squadrons in operations leading up to the landings in Normandyand thereafterto the Germansurrender. Isupposethereason isthat'Overlord'withitsvastAlliedsea,landandairforceswasso gigantic,thattheactivitiesoftheunitsinaparticularCommandtendedtobesubmergedin the drama ofthe totaloperation. Although the 2nd Tactical Air Force was a new Command, many ofits airmen were broughtbackfrom the MiddleEastto help in its formation andto feed in their experience ofcombinedoperationsintheWesternDesert,NorthAfrica,andtheinvasionsofSicilyand Italy. It was therefore well set up to support'Overlord' and the subsequent campaign, and this is well brought out in the book. Nevertheless, the lessons learned in these campaigns were sometimes forgotten and the tragedyofArnhem was asupreme example ofwhatcan happenifthe basicprinciplesofcombinedoperations are neglected. As one of the Group Commanders in the 2nd TacticalAirForceIsupposemymostvividmemoryofit all was the unbounded courage and enthusiasm ofthe individual pilots. Despite very considerable casualties, they never let up in their determination to smash the Luftwaffe and at the same time back up the ground forces. Whether it was air-to-air fighting, close support ofthe Army, or ground-attack against targets deep into enemy territory, they took it all in their stride with unflaggingenthusiasmto theveryendofthe campaign. IfoundthisbookofgreatinterestandIamsurethat some of the many chaps who served with the 2nd Tactical Air Force in those exciting and inspiring days willbedelightedtohaveanopportunityofreadingabout theirexploits. Normandy,June1944:AirViceMarshal HarryBroadhurst(centre) seenwhilstCommanderof83Group,2ndTAF,talkingwith AirMarshal SirArthurConingham(atthattimeCommanderof 2ndTAF)andAirChiefMarshalSirArthurTedder, DeputySupreme AlliedCommander This editedforewordwaswrittenoriginallyfor thefirstedition of '2ndTAP'(Osprey1970) -n a -... Air Commodore C. D. North-Lewis CD DSO, DFC & Bar ~ a -... D.. I am delighted to introducethis historyofthe 2ndTacticalAir Force,which replaces the original published in 1970. This newbook is an incrediblycomprehensive and detailed studyand will, undoubtedly, become the authoritative workon the 2ndTactical Air Force and on the decisive part it played in the successful Campaign of21stArmy Group from Normandyto thefinal defeatofthe Germans. Iam particularlypleasedto have been askedto write this Foreword as Iwas presentat what was the birth of 2nd TAF when the fighter reconnaissance Mustang Squadron, in which I was a Flight Commander, participated in Exercise 'Spartan' run by the newly formedZGroup,whichwas to develop intothe2ndTAP.Ayearlater,inMarch 1944,Iwas to join the Typhoon fighter-bomber force in 83 Group, 2nd TAF, first as a Flight Commanderin 182 Squadronthen asSquadronCommanderof181 Squadron,andfinally, inAugust 1944asWingLeaderof124Wing,apostIhelduntilthecrossingoftheRhinein March 1945 during which I was shot down. Thus I was in 2nd TAF for most of its operationallife. ThepartplayedbytheTyphooninprovidingcloseair-supportto21stArmyGroupwas largely ignored by military historians until Christopher Thomas and Christopher Shores published The Typhoon and Tempest Story. This is acknowledged as the authoritative reference bookon these aircraft, and it has shown that the Typhoon's contribution to the land battle was crucial, and at times, decisive. Similarly, thehistoryofthe 2ndTAFwillshowthe majorpartthat it played in the defeat ofthe German Army. Moreover, thelessonslearntby2ndTAFhaveformedsincethenthe basisofland/airoperations. This work will stand as a memorial to both the British,Alliedand Commonwealthaircrew,groundcrew andsupportingstaffwhoservedwithgreatdistinctionin: 2ndTAFandofwhomsomanygavetheirlives.Iamvery proud to have been one of their number. I can only congratulate Christopher Thomas and Christopher Shoresforunravellingthecomplexitiesoftheoperations, theworkand thelosses ofthevarious forces in 2ndTAF in such adetailedand readable fashion. Anyhistorian of this Campaignwillfind this workessentialreading. Glossary ill U l.- 0 A&AEE AeroplaneandArmamentExperimental Ramrod Bombingoperationwithfighter escortdesigned LL Establishment primarilyto destroyaspecifiedtarget l.- « ADGB AirDefence ofGreatBritain Ranger Fighter/fighter-bomber deep penetrationsortieto AFDU Air FightingDevelopmentUnit attacktargets ofopportunity CO .U ALG AdvancedLandingGround Rhubarb Shortrange low-leveloffensive operationby two orfour fighters incloudyweatherto attack +-' APC ArmamentPracticeCamp U targets ofopportunity ~ ARF AircraftReception Flight Rodeo fighter sweep ELS EmergencyLandingStrip -0 RAAF RoyalAustralianAir Force C FAA FleetAirArm RCAF Royal CanadianAir Force N FPU FilmProductionUnit RNZAF RoyalNewZealandAir Force Geschwader BasicLuftwaffe operationalunit RNVR RoyalNavalVolunteerReserve HDT Horse-DrawnTransport RP Rocket Projectile Jabo fighter-bomber SASO SeniorAirStaffOfficer Jagdflieger fighter pilot SLAIS SpecialisedLowAttackInstructors'School Jagdwaffe Luftwaffe fighter force SMT SquareMeshTrack MET MechanisedEnemyTransport Stab headquartersflight ofLuftwaffeGeschwader MT MotorTransport Staffel Luftwaffe unitroughlyequivalentinstrength Nickel Air-droppedpropagandaleaflet between an RAF flight and aSquadron;usually ORB OperationsRecord Book three or four StaffelninaGruppe, andthree or Popular shortrange low-levelphotographic four Gruppenin aGeschwader reconnaissancesortie StaffelkapiHin CommandingOfficerofaStaffel PSP PiercedSteelPlanking (aposition,notarank) Abbreviations (used in the Loss and Claims tables) Symbols used in the tables mean thefollowing: }after a name =sharedkill; {before Cause/Location ='ditto' (A) pickedupbyair-searescue eto crashedontake-off hbd hitbydebris rof ranoutoffuel serviceorshipping db damagedby hbf hitbyflak rpa rocketattack a/... attackingI...(shipping.MET, d/b divebombing hte hightensioncables rtb returnedtobase tanksetc) dla damagedinlandingaccident hyd/f hydraulicfailure r/w runway Adj Adjutant dog destroyedontheground (I) injured S/Ch SousChef a/f airfield Dol diedofinjuries (K) killed sdb shotdownby Af Airfield dpd destroyed,probably lIe lostcontact sdbea shotdownbyenemyaircraft Asp Aspirant destroyed,damaged Ilk lastknown sdbf shotdownbyflak AIT Alliedterritory dtd ditched lIs lastseen sdbsaf shotdownbysmallarmsfire bel believed E escapedlevadedandsafe 2/Lt 2ndLieutenant Sgt Sergeant bfo bombfelloff e/a enemyaircraft m nauticalmile(s) S/L SquadronLeader bhu bombhungup elf enginefailure MET mechanisedenemytransport SILt SubLieutenantorSous b/e ballooncable efta enginefailureontake-off n/e notconfirmed Lieutenant b/o baledout EIT enemyterritory ndea notdueenemyaction Sr Sector b/u blewup e/tr enginetrouble NFW NavalFighterWing stbea strafed byenemyaircraft eatAe categoryAcrepair exp exploded nk notknown tbl tyreburstonlanding eatB categoryBrepair f/l force-landed nr near tbto tyreburstontake-off eatnk (damage)categorynot F/L FlightLieutenant obs obstruction t/o take-off known FitOff FlightOfficer OG ontheground tpw telephonewires edl crashedduringlanding FlO FlyingOfficer o/s overshot u/s unserviceable Chnl Channel F/S FlightSergeant (P) prisonerofwar vis visibility ell crash-landed Fr FrenchlFrance pfto parachutefailedtoopen (W) wounded c1d collided ftr failedtoreturn PIO PilotOfficer W/C WingCommander enk causenotknown G/C GroupCaptain PR photoreconnaissance WIO WarrantOfficer esd crashed g/lk glycolleak psdbea presumedshotdownby w/u wheels-uplanding cst coast hbAf hitbyAllied anti-aircraftfire enemyaircraft wx weather
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