Pursuit of Passy Read online

CHAPTER I

  ABOVE THE AMIENS ROAD

  BY the 22nd May, 1940, the German tanks were past Amiens and racing on for the Channel ports. Together with the Luftwaffe they seemed an irresistible combination and, as our C.O. remarked, “they went through France like a dose of salts.” Nobody ever looked like stopping them.

  In the air it was much the same story. The day of the Luftwaffe had come with a vengeance and it ranged far and wide over France in tremendous strength, bombing, machine-gunning, causing alarm and confusion that had to be seen to be believed.

  In short, the situation that day was grave and rapidly becoming desperate.

  Early the same morning, in the first light of a perfect dawn, we emerged from the mess at Hawkinge, fortified by an ample breakfast of tea, bacon and eggs, and waited on the steps for transport to take us down to dispersal. Over in the east the sky showed light above the trees, and the fields around Hawkinge lay covered in patches of white mist. From the aerodrome I could hear the deep crackle and roar of our Spitfires being warmed up. It was very cold and we shivered and stamped our feet to get warm, despite our Irvin jackets, flying boots and unshaven chins which always seem much cosier than clean shaven ones.

  A rumble in the lane announced the arrival of the lorry. “Here comes the bloody tumbril,” said somebody, and we laughed automatically though really it didn't seem very funny at that hour of the morning. We scrambled into the back and the lorry rattled and jolted its way round the aerodrome and stopped by the line of aircraft.

  I jumped down and walked across to my Spitfire. The fitter was just getting out, having run up the engine.

  “3,000 revs. sir,” he said. “She’s fine.” There had been a heavy dew and I wiped carefully all the moisture off the windscreen and perspex and then checked over everything in the cockpit. Oxygen, air pressure, petrol, reflector sight—it all seemed perfect. I closed the hood again and went across to join the others. There were no orders for us yet and apparently the C.O. didn't know any more than we did, so it was just a case of waiting as patiently as we could.

  The sun was up now, and the sky was that deep hazy blue which foretold yet another brilliant day. Anderson looked at it appreciatively. “It’s going to be good,” he said, “but we'll have to keep our eyes skinned for those damned Me. 109s in the sun.” He turned to me. “You’ll be leading Green section, Peter. Keep in close, keep your eyes open, and tell your Number Three to weave like hell.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Do you hear that about weaving, Johnny?”

  He grinned. “Watch me,” he said, “I've developed a special eye in the back of my head.”

  “You’ll need it,” said Hamilton amiably. “You’re at the back so there's not much future for you if we get jumped by any Huns.”

  “Thanks awfully for reminding me,” retorted Johnny sarcastically. “I’d never thought of that you know. Gives me an added interest in my work.”

  Backchat of this nature is rather difficult to maintain so early in the morning and we lapsed into silence and lit another cigarette apiece.

  Now and then we could hear the distant mutter of the guns in France and I kept wondering how things were going over there. Pretty grim, probably.

  Just after nine o'clock the field telephone rang and everybody stiffened suddenly. The C.O. picked up the receiver.

  “C.O. 473 Squadron here,” he said. “Yes.” He listened intently and started to scribble on a message pad. “Yes, I understand, sir, thank you. Goodbye.” He hung up and looked round at the group of expectant faces.

  “We’re on our way,” he said. “A force of Blenheims is going over to attack a Hun tank column on the Amiens-Abbeville road and we're escorting them in. We take off at 09.50 and rendezvous at 10.00 over Folkestone. Group think we may run into a spot of trouble as the Hun is doing his damnedest to get these tanks through to the coast and they have a big fighter cover available for it. Our job is to see that the Blenheims get to the target at all costs”—he paused slightly—“and whatever the cost. Remember to keep in close if we're attacked and watch your tails, particularly in the sun. Absolute R.T. silence on the way out. Any questions?”

  Nobody spoke. It all seemed quite clear—a bit too clear I thought. I didn't much like that bit “the Hun is doing his damnedest… they have a big fighter cover for it.”

  Oh hell, why worry anyway? We're obviously going to have a terrific fight over the target, we shall outnumber the Hun by at least one to ten (Fighter Command's stock joke in those days) and anyway, twelve Spitfires led by a good C.O. are capable of doing quite a bit of damage. The “trouble” won't be all on one side.

  In any case, if you're going to be killed in this war you might just as well be killed today and forget about it, and if you're going to survive there's nothing to worry about anyway.

  I've always found fatalism quite useful if taken in reasonable doses, and it worked now. I suddenly felt quite calm and confident, though I still had that horrible empty feeling in the tummy which no attitude of mind could shake off.

  It was nearly time to go. I threw my cigarette on the ground, stubbed it down with my heel and moved across to my aircraft. It all seemed so unreal, so fantastic; around Hawkinge the green landscape of Kent lay bathed in brilliant sunlight, and a couple of miles away the Channel would be lapping gently on the beaches where last year the children played and ran about. And now, instead, we had to leave “this green and pleasant land” and fly across to fight in France, to shoot and be shot at, to kill or be killed. Oh God, why do we have wars?

  I fastened on my Mae West, put a couple of lungful’s of air into it and then settled down in the cockpit and glanced round at Hamilton and Johnny who were both flying in my section. Ham put his thumb up, meaning all O.K. and I looked round at Johnny who, irrepressible as ever, stuck two fingers up at me (this was before Mr. Churchill adopted it as the V sign) and shouted, “So long, Peter, don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes.”

  “O.K.,” I shouted, “and you weave like hell.” One by one the line of Spitfires started up and began to taxi out to our take off point. I pressed my starter button and the prop. turned slowly with a groaning noise from the starter. She coughed once or twice and a long tongue of flame played round the exhaust and then she started with a roar. I opened the throttle and moved out into position. Johnny and Ham close behind like a couple of faithful terriers.

  The C.O.'s section was taking off. I opened the throttle and we tore across the aerodrome after the rest of the squadron, gathering speed with a tremendous rush and then we were in the air and sweeping across the far boundary of the aerodrome. Change hands on the stick, undercarriage up, arm cautiously back to draw the hood forward without getting your shoulder dislocated by the slipstream, and then pull the constant speed control gently back till the engine revs. drop to 2,350.

  Ham and Johnny dropped out of sight behind me as they went into line astern and we swung hard left to catch up the C.O. who was circling the aerodrome. The whole squadron was now in position and we started to climb swiftly over Folkestone. At 5,000 feet we levelled out and continued to orbit the harbour in gentle turns waiting for the bombers to arrive.

  The Channel seemed very busy and off Dover several destroyers and merchantmen were steaming out towards the French coast which was only just visible through the haze.

  The Blenheims arrived almost exactly on time, five little dots away to the north that grew rapidly in size as they approached. Five Blenheims. God, I thought, things must be in a pretty bad way if we can spare only five bombers for this job! It's so vital to stop these tanks that fifty bombers would be insufficient and yet we can send precisely—five Blenheims.

  We joined up with them, flying rather above and behind, and the whole formation set course for the French coast. We were throttled right back in order to keep our speed down to that of the Blenheims and at first it seemed strange to be moving so comparatively slowly in a Spit.

  We altered course when a mile or two off Boulogne and I saw th
e harbour with its long funnel-like entrance pass behind on our left as we flew down the coast about a mile out to sea. We turned inland somewhere near Le Touquet and I pulled the mixture control back into “Rich.” The time for petrol economy was past now when at any moment we might need absolutely full power for a fight. I started to “rubberneck” energetically and searched the sky for enemy fighters, but none appeared.

  A big forest (presumably Crecy) passed below and then a town with a railway and river running through. That must be Abbeville and the Somme.

  The bombers turned slightly left and continued steadily on. Below us I could see a main road crammed with traffic which here and there was overflowing and making detours in the adjoining fields. That must be the Amiens road and a little further on was our target, but I couldn't see anything happening yet.

  I glanced round at the squadron. All twelve Spitfires were still in position keeping very good station and the men in each section were busy weaving behind and guarding our backs. Below us the Blenheims were bunched together, apparently quite unperturbed. Perhaps they've done this sort of thing before, I thought. They certainly seem pretty cool customers because if we run into a pack of Huns they're going to be the main target and they know it. Thank God I'm not a bomber boy. We must be very close now. I switched on my reflector sight, turned the gun button on to “Fire,” slipped the constant speed control fully forward to increase the engine revs. to 3,000 r.p.m. and finally “pulled the plug” and operated the automatic boost control cut-out which allows the engine to develop emergency full power.

  Suddenly a cluster of black smoke puffs appeared in front of the Blenheims. They materialised so suddenly that it took me an instant to realise that it was enemy flak. We must be over the target now. The Blenheims started to turn left—they must have spotted the German tanks and were turning before running up to bomb. We started to turn also and at that instant an urgent voice said on the R.T., “Hallo, Goblin Leader, look out, very many bandits above us on the right.” I whipped round and saw, almost directly in the sun and about four thousand feet above us, a very big formation of Me. 110s. The front sections were just starting to dive on us. Above them and well beyond I saw a quick flash as yet more wings caught the sun. Those must be the Me. 109s. Now we're for it. These Huns have everything—height, numbers, position and sun.

  The C.O.'s voice broke in on the R.T., clear and very cool. “Goblin Leader calling, turning left, turning left, look out behind,” and at the same time we started to turn very steeply to the left. I caught a quick glimpse of the Blenheims below, moving swiftly across the green chequer board landscape as they ran up to the target and then glanced back again over my shoulder. I can never forget it—the sun, the deep blue sky, and then that great mass of enemy fighters diving down hard on us.

  In an instant we were mixed up in a raging dog fight and the whole squadron was split up, every man for himself.

  I kept turning left and at the same time pulled the nose up to try and get a bit of height. I saw two Me. 110s in line astern coming after me, obviously having picked me out as their victim. The leader came round after me in a steep turn and over my shoulder I saw him open fire. There was a red flicker from the muzzle of his cannon and a lot of wispy grey trails shot past behind me with here and there the red spark of incendiary bullets.

  He hadn't allowed enough deflection and the whole lot passed just behind my tail. I breathed a frantic desperate exclamation and tightened up my turn to the limit. I knew I could out-turn him. The Spit shuddered violently but did not spin and I saw that I was starting to turn inside him and would soon be on his tail. He saw it too and suddenly broke away and dived down in the opposite direction. I turned to follow him. All round us a terrific fight was in progress and the sky seemed full of aircraft diving and turning madly after each other. I never dreamed that anything could be as hectic or as fast moving as this. In front of me a Spitfire was spinning down apparently out of control and with a lot of black smoke trailing out behind. An instant later it burst into flames. I didn't see anybody get out. The main fight seemed to be rather above me on the left and two Me. 110s fell away towards the ground burning furiously while above them there was a large puff of black smoke hanging in the air with bits of wreckage falling away where apparently two aircraft had collided. I didn't see the unfortunate Blenheims anywhere.

  I dived after my Me. 110 on full throttle and started to overhaul him rapidly. The speed was now over 400 m.p.h. but he kept on diving and was evidently determined to get down to ground level and shake me off there. A Me. 110 is no match for a Spit in a dog fight and he knew it.

  I think we were down to about 1,500 feet now and I was almost in range. I opened fire and immediately he turned violently to the right. I went round after him rapidly closing the range till I could see every detail of the aircraft, the black cross on the fuselage and the dirty mottled grey effect of the camouflage paint. I had another burst, but didn't allow enough deflection and missed. Now for it! I pulled the stick back and tightened up the turn till the red dot of my sight was well in front of him. The strain was terrific and I nearly blacked out, but just managed to see him through a sort of grey mist. I pressed the trigger again. This time the whole terrific burst hit him fair and square. The cockpit cover shattered in and he turned over on to his back and went straight down with a long streamer of smoke trailing from his starboard engine.

  I eased off the turn and watched him. He never pulled out of the dive and an instant later he crashed into a small wood and exploded in a sheet of flame.

  That's my first Hun, I thought. Both dead, too. I watched the flames licking up through the trees with a sort of fierce satisfaction, and then turned round hastily to see what was happening. Now to re-join the others.

  I began to climb up again, searching the sky which now seemed more or less deserted, though a few miles away to the north there were a few aircraft milling round, so I turned towards them.

  I had reached perhaps 3,000 feet and was just about to look down at my petrol gauge when I saw the sudden flash of tracer going past my left wing and immediately afterwards there was a blinding orange flash and a terrific explosion somewhere in the bottom of the cockpit.

  I sat there stupidly, half stunned and wondering what had happened, but just managed to collect my wits sufficiently to dive away. I never saw the Hun that got me. Perhaps he thought I was finished when he saw the Spitfire fall away in a dive.

  The cockpit was full of smoke and I wrenched the hood open as I thought she was on fire, but there was no height in which to bale out as I was now almost at ground level. I pulled out of the dive and flew along at nought feet, all the while glancing fearfully over my shoulder to see if the Hun was still on my tail. To my great relief the smoke seemed to be decreasing, but I could see the cockpit was a shambles. A 20 mm. shell must have come up between my legs and burst in the instrument panel which was absolutely shattered. My left leg felt numb and there was blood on my trousers though I didn't feel any pain—just a sort of dull-feeling that I'd had enough for the moment and if anything else happened I couldn't cope with it. My first instinct was to land immediately in the nearest big field because the engine was getting very hot and I suspected the radiator had been hit. Well, that gave me perhaps a few more minutes before she packed up, and with luck that might be enough to get me back over friendly territory.

  I hadn't the faintest idea of my position and the compass was smashed but I steered roughly north by the sun. Fortunately no Hun fighters appeared or they would have found a fairly easy victim especially as most of my ammunition had gone.

  A moment later a river loomed up ahead. I reckoned this would be the Somme and I flew along parallel to it until I saw the roofs of a town ahead. This is probably Abbeville. I left the river and skirted north of the town and then to my intense relief saw the aerodrome ahead. There were a lot of bomb craters on the landing area and several burnt out aircraft but I put the undercarriage down and corkscrewed in between them, not giving a dam
n whether I landed up or down wind. All I wanted was to get two feet planted firmly on Mother Earth again.

  I dropped heavily on to the grass and slowed down, swerved to avoid another ragged bomb hole, and switched off the engine. She stopped with an ominous grinding noise and a thin trail of black smoke drifted up from the engine cowling. She had just got me back and no more.

  I climbed out painfully and looked round.