Shared by Geoff Raebel, Sydney, Australia
Janine,
One of your members in Western Australia (Stuart Borlase) slipped me an Association magazine, for which I am grateful. BCAA (Bomber Command of Australia) is an amalgam of Squadrons where there are so few Veterans to sustain individual Units, yet we continue to grow with about 350 paying members. You are now on my Complementary list for the future.
More on Secret Operations Against Night Fighters
A member has felt relieved of the Official Secrets Act and confessed to things not revealed under interrogation at Dulag Luft:
‘I was a Radio Operator on 214 Squadron F.M.S. (funded by the Federated Malay States). We were based at Oulton on the Norfolk Broads and operated Flying Fortresses.’
Bob Davies, 214 Squadron and crew
‘We actually carried three Wireless Operators; but in our case, we retained our bomb aimer who threw out the silver foil called ‘Window’ to jam the German radio reception and create a noise factor on their transmission services. It worked. The aircraft was fitted with 32 cathode ray tubes which we used to jam 32 German transmission frequencies. These were under my control as I had done a 3-month Course at Jurby on the Isle of Man. We had another special crewing-up with the Fortresses.
I did 49 trips altogether, 30 with my own crew, the other 19 when I flew with other crews as their 1st Operator. We commenced jamming after take-off and listened for German-controlled aircraft radio. They switched frequency regularly and would pass these over to the German-speaking Operator. He would give bogus information to the German pilots and it was a relatively successful operation.
B17 Fortress sprouting aerials
Often, we would fly just above sea level where we were not picked up by German Radar, then climb over Norway and Sweden where the German Radar would lose us. Then we would swoop down into Germany usually circuiting the target being bombed. We did this for 15-20 minutes and it was the most dangerous part of the mission. Usually two aircraft from the Squadron would accompany the bomber stream.
Often, we worked with special bombing raids, one I remember was when we accompanied 20 bombers on a special mission against eleven U-Boats anchored in a Norwegian Fjord. The first eleven got the U-Boats and the other nine bombed German installations on the way back. The whole crew were awarded the Norwegian War Cross.
Another memorable trip occurred when I went up to the Signals Briefing Office and found a WAAF Officer lady all attired in flying gear – she was to fly with us. She had picked up German info so B17 Fortress sprouting aerials that, when our German-speaking male Operator made his first contradiction, the Germans were to switch to lady Operators. So, she volunteered to fly with us. I said: ‘Does my Skipper know?’ Her answer was: ‘You are the third person to know – The Squadron Commander and I are the first and second!’
An amazing sequence of events, getting her into the aircraft hopefully undetected. As we passed through the RAF ‘Mandrel’ shield of electronic noise, I picked up the German Fighter Control. Switching over to the WAAF, she announced in German: ‘All fighters return to Base, inclement weather is settling. If you have not landed in thirty minutes, you will be diverted to Russia!’
No Fighters were seen and only two aircraft of around a thousand bombers were lost, those to flak. Air Marshal Harris greeted us on return, saying: ‘I’m disgusted with your Skipper for taking a woman over Germany, but I am proud of you as well’. He then pinned a DFC on her.
Thirty of my trips were done with my own crew. The other nineteen were with other crews whose No.1 Radio Operator was ill and could not fly. We were allowed to do our two tours of duty this way. Two tours would normally be 45 trips, but short trips were only counted as half a raid, which was a bit unfair.
Early on, eight Operators were needed in each aircraft, but by the time I did my first trip on 30 September 1944, my 21st birthday; we only needed three Operators. Like a lot of RAF crews, we were a mixed lot. The Skipper and Bomb Aimer were New Zealanders, the three Air Gunners were Canadians, the Navigator a Scot, the Engineer English, and myself an Aussie.
When 462 Squadron started, they were mainly tasked with flying up and down the English Channel jamming German radio and radar with noise. 214 had to fly all the way to the target and orbit overhead, watching out mostly for collision with other aircraft. I departed 100 Group and all its secret equipment to land in Dulag Luft. They had the fuselage of one of our Fortresses and a good idea of what we were up to. I was pressured and threatened when I pretended not to know how the equipment worked. It had to be tuned in the correct order to operate. It was not until we passed through ‘Mandrel’ that we knew it was working on the correct frequency.
WO John Mathews 428920
Courtesy:
Geoff Raebel
Secretary: Bomber Command Australia Association
Sydney, Australia
This article is from the Summer 2019 issue of Confound and Destroy
