Royal Air force Coastal Command: A short history of the maritime air force which protected the United Kingdom's shipping during WW I and WW II

767 Pages·2013·5.83 MB·English

by  Campbell

Coastal
command
A short history of the maritime air force which protected the
United Kingdom’s shipping during World War I and World War II
John Campbell
Coastal
command
A short history of the maritime air force which protected the United Kingdom’s shipping during
World War I and World War II
MEREO
CIRENCESTER
Published by Mereo
Mereo is an imprint of Memoirs Publishing
25 Market Place, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 2NX
[email protected] www.memoirspublishing.com
Royal Air Force Coastal Command
All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2013 John Campbell
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or
retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the copyright
holder. The right of John Campbell to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 sections 77 and 78.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher
hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
ISBN: 978-1-909544-73-4
This book is dedicated to my wife Keeta, our son Jamie, our
daughter Fiona, our son-in-law Colin, our grandchildren
Rebecca and Dougal and to all air and ground crews of
Coastal Command, its antecedents and successors.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
1943
1943
P. 256
Chapter Twenty Two
1944
P. 372
Chapter Twenty Three
1945
P. 464
Chapter Twenty Four
1946
P. 492
Chapter Twenty Five
The Strike Wings
P. 498
Chapter Twenty Six
The Operational Training Units
P. 515
Chapter Twenty Seven Photographic Reconnaissance
P. 519
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Bibliography
Epilogue
The Fleet Air Arm squadrons
P. 523
The American squadrons
P. 525
Coastal Cold War
P. 537
Battleship Brigade
P. 1
The submarine and the aeroplane
P. 15
Early days
P. 22
First World War
P. 34
Reorganisation
P. 51
Maritime aircraft
P. 67
Navigation of coastal aircraft
P. 97
Coastal Command weapons
P. 110
Torpedoes
P. 121
Coastal convoys, patrols and searches
P. 126
Maritime Patrol operating areas
P. 130
Coastal search and patrol
P. 133
Coastal notes
P. 140
Radar and detection aids
P. 148
Coastal Signals Organisation
P. 159
Outbreak of war
P. 163
World War Two, 1939
P. 168
1940
P. 177
1941
P. 188
1942
P. 210
P. 550
P. 552
INTRODUCTION
In the decades after the Second World War I served as a
Coastal Command navigator and crew captain on
Shackleton aircraft in the Maritime Patrol role. Later, I
converted to Nimrods. I became an Intelligence Officer at
COMAIRNORLANT, finally retiring in 1984 after 31
years. Hence my desire to write this book. I hope it will
show the public the serious gap in this country's defence
originated by the Defence Review of 2010.
The work of Coastal Command was, and is, in
conjunction with the Royal Navy, to keep the sea lanes
clear. Its prime task in war time is to locate and destroy
enemy submarines and enemy surface vessels and a
subsidiary task is search and rescue, although Fighter
Command, in the Second World War, carried out some of
Command, in the Second World War, carried out some of
this work. During that War, photo reconnaissance came
under its jurisdiction.
To carry out this work the Command was equipped with
various aircraft. For antisubmarine work, flying boats such
as Saro Londons, Southamptons, Scapas, Short
Singapores, Rangoons, Stranraers and the land-based Avro
Ansons were employed. For antishipping work, Vickers
Vildebeeste torpedo bombers were used. In 1936 Coastal
Command had eight squadrons, increasing in 1937 to
fourteen, in response to the deteriorating situation in
mainland Europe. In 1938 there were another three
squadrons including the new Short Sunderland flying boat.
In April 1938 the British Purchasing Commission went to
the United States and ordered 200 land-based Lockheed
Hudsons. On 15 October 1938 the prototype Bristol
Beaufort torpedo bomber flew.
Coastal Command crews faced many problems during
their flights over the seas around the United Kingdom and
in overseas areas. Firstly, there was the weather. High winds
caused turbulence at the low altitudes at which the aircraft
flew. Fronts passing through the area brought the cloud
flew. Fronts passing through the area brought the cloud
base down to a low level and thus caused bad visibility.
High sea states made detection of the enemy very difficult.
In the winter there was snow and ice on the aircraft to
contend with and, of course, in the higher latitudes the
weather was much worse. Such weather caused airsickness,
although most aircrew could cope with this. Nevertheless,
it was tiring.
Further, enemy submarines were difficult to find in these
conditions, as submariners would find the calmer state
under the surface much more to their liking. While
generally the weather was much better in the tropics,
storms could be more violent and the heat brought its own
problems, both in terms of aircraft performance and
aircrew and ground crew fitness. Heat exhaustion, prickly
heat, malaria, dengue fever and other nasties were just
some of the illnesses affecting air and ground crew.
Preparation for take off was always a problem, in that there
was no air conditioning and the crews were invariably
pouring sweat and stripped to the waist.
In addition, in hot climates dangerous animals and other
creatures could be encountered.While most of these would