Arctic Airmen: The RAF in Spitsbergen and North Russia, 1942

219 Pages·2014·4.36 MB·English

by  Schofield

For Tim
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful for the help given to us, when researching the material
for this book, by officials and staff at the following organisations:
Aeroplane Monthly, International Publishing Corp., Sutton.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Maidenhead.
Forsvarsmuseet, Oslo.
General Dynamics, Convair Division, California.
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth.
Ministry of Defence, Air Historical Branch, Holborn.
Ministry of Defence, Naval Historical Branch, Fulham.
Public Record Office, Kew.
Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon.
Royal Geographical Society, Kensington Gore.
Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceaux.
Royal Norwegian Embassy, Pall Mall.
Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.

Our thanks are also due to those who generously contributed their detailed
recollections of the events related in this book:
Sir Alexander R. Glen, KBE, DSC.
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Martin, RAFVR.
Squadron Leader Reginald W. Witherick, RAFVR.
Flight Lieutenant George W. Adamson, RAFVR.

We should like to express our gratitude to Mrs Jean Podlipny and Mr Brian
Healy for contributing their recollections of the early life of their brother, Flight
Lieutenant Dennis E. Healy, DSO.
For the accounts of the German weather airmen in the Arctic, we have drawn
on the research and writing carried out by Herr Franz Selinger, and we are very
grateful to him and his colleagues for authorising us to make use of records and
photographs.
For translation from Norwegian and German records, we have benefited from
the assistance kindly given by Mrs I. Moorcraft and Mr N. Wajsmel, and by the
staff of Forsvarsmuseet in Oslo.
Mr Harry R. Moyle was most generous in letting us have the results of his
researches into the fates of the Hampdens of 144 Squadron during their flights to
North Russia.
We should also like to thank Mr Gordon Railton and Mr Michael H. Nesbit
for assistance with copying and improving old photographs, and Mr Peter Nesbit
for designing the cover.
Crown copyright material in the Public Record Office is reproduced by
permission of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Finally, we should like to express our gratitude to families and friends for
their tolerance and help while we were engaged on writing this book, in a period
when unexpected problems caused long delays.
Contents
Title
Dedication
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Sir Alexander Glen, KBE, DSC
Authors’ Note

1 Reluctant Volunteer
2 Sullom Voe
3 Spitsbergen
4 On Our Own
5 Operation Fritham
6 Catalina ‘P for Peter’
7 Turning Point
8 Operation Gearbox
9 Consolidation
10 The North Pole
11 Operation Orator
12 Tragedy
Epilogue

Appendices
I Correspondence with Headquarters, Coastal Command
II The Flight Made by Flight Lieutenant G.G. Potier
III Polar Navigation
IV Decorations
Bibliography and Sources
Copyright
List of Illustrations
Flight Lieutenant D.E. Healy (B. Healy)
Pilot Officer E. Schofield (E. Schofield)
Pilot Officer Ronald Martin (R. Martin)
Flight Lieutenant Healy’s crew (E. Schofield)
Catalina flying boat (Aeroplane Monthly)
Amphibian PB-Y Catalina (General Dynamics – Convair Division)
Twin Vickers machine guns in cupola (Imperial War Museum)
Single Browning machine gun in cupola (Imperial War Museum)
Sergeant T.R. Thomas at radio desk (Imperial War Museum)
Bunk compartment in Catalina (Imperial War Museum)
Pilot Officer R. Martin in navigator’s compartment (Imperial War Museum)
He 111 and Ju 52 being loaded (W. Schwerdtfeger via F. Selinger)
He 111 at Longyearbyen (W. Schwerdtfeger via F. Selinger)
Longyearbyen and Advent Bay (F. Selinger)
‘Bansö’ near Longyearbyen (//. Moll via F. Selinger)
Ice edge (E. Schofield)
Drift ice (E. Schofield)
Longyearbyen (Sir Alexander Glen)
Longyearbyen (Dr Teich via F. Selinger)
Ju 88A at Banak (Dr Pabst via F. Selinger)
He 111 at ‘Bansö’ (Dr Teich via F. Selinger)
Kröte weather station (Dr Pabst via F. Selinger)
Kröte weather station (W. Glenz via F. Selinger)
Longyearbyen (R. Martin)
Green Harbour Fjord (Sir Alexander Glen)
Icebreaker Isbjørn (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Icebreaker Isbjørn and sealer Selis (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Bombs exploding on Isbjørn and Selis (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Isbjørn sinking (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Selis sinking (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Survivors scattering across ice (Dr Daser via F. Selinger)
Model of Catalina ‘P for Peter’ (R. Martin)
He 111 damaged at Advent Bay (H. Zeissler via F. Selinger)
He 111 damaged at Advent Bay (F. Selinger)
He 111 in ice hole (Sir Alexander Glen)
Wireless aerials at Hjorthamn (H. Pilchmair via F. Selinger)
Cape Heer (E. Schofield)
Survivors waving from hut (Sir Alexander Glen)
Western coastline of Spitsbergen (E. Schofield)
Horn Sound (E. Schofield)
Paddling ashore in dinghy (R. Martin)
Fending office floes (Sir Alexander Glen)
Cape Heer (E. Schofield)
Cape Borthen (E. Schofield)
Cape Linné (E.Schofield)
Lieutenant Commander A.R. Glen and Flight Lieutenant D.E. Healy (R. Martin)
Lieutenant Commander A.R. Glen (E. Schofield)
Wing Commander H.B. Johnson (E. Schofield)
Cape Brewster (Sir Alexander Glen)
Catalina at Reykjavik (R.C. Nesbit)
Ju 88 under gunfire (Sir Alexander Glen)
Wreckage of Ju 88 in 1984 (F. Selinger)
Captain E. Ullring (Sir Alexander Glen)
Dr Etienne and Leutnant Schütze (Dr Teich via F. Selinger)
Drift ice (Sir Alexander Glen)
Wreckage of Hampden (R. Kugler via F. Selinger)
Flying Officer R.W. Witherick (R.W. Witherick)
Pilot Officer G.W. Adamson (G. W. Adamson)

Maps and Diagrams
Operational Area from Sullom Voe
Spitsbergen
Icefjord in Spitsbergen
Operations in North Russia
Polar Zenithal Equidistant Chart
‘GH A’ to ‘G’ Correction Chart
Foreword
by Sir Alexander Glen, KBE, DSC
For many centuries, the Arctic Seas had known only peace. True, skirmishes
between Dutch and English whalers troubled the Spitsbergen bays in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these were limited local affairs and
strategic war was unknown.
The Second World War brought abrupt change. The sinking of Hood by
Bismarck in the Denmark Strait was the first act in the opening of a new and
bitter theatre of operations. Then came the build-up of German naval and air
power in northern Norway. When the German onslaught on Soviet Russia took
momentum, it might have seemed that the gate was closed on any western
attempt to supply her new ally by the Northern Seas.
The Allies took a little time to recognise the new strategic situation.
Information on the Arctic Seas was scant enough and almost non-existent about
the sea ice, particularly in the narrow and vulnerable channels between North
Cape of Norway and Spitsbergen. Flying had been restricted to some four
exploratory flights. In any case, the RAF had no aircraft capable of reaching the
higher latitudes until it began to receive delivery of the Catalina flying boats.
Most important of all, the fortunes of war in 1941 and 1942 were such that
survival more than occupied the minds of most. There was little to encourage
long-term gambles, or indeed anything beyond the problems of the day.
A few highly placed officers thought differently. The Assistant Chief of Naval
Staff, Rear Admiral E.J.P. Brind, and the Director of Operations Division
(Home), Captain J.A.S. Eccles, were at one with the director of Naval
Intelligence, Rear Admiral J.H. Godfrey, in assessing the appalling problems the
northern sea route would pose. In Coastal Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir
Philip Joubert, ably backed by an outstanding Senior Air Staff Officer, Air Vice
Marshal G.B.A. Baker, had already perceived the contribution that the new ‘very
long range’ Catalinas might make.
If the Falklands campaign was fought at long range, just as extreme were the
air and naval operations of 1942/3 over the Arctic Sea. The most critical sector
passed through enemy air space and. indeed, what could have been enemy-
dominated sea space. The channels between North Cape, Norway, Bear Island