Who would have thought that, after 62 years, I would find myself distressed and having several sleepless nights, after reading I had been, in part, responsible for the failure of Operation ‘Market Garden’ and the loss of thousands of lives at Arnhem.
Where did I read this? Well, in a book entitled “Avenging In The Shadows” by Ron James.
I was stationed at RAF Oulton, with 214 Squadron of 100 Group, during the time of Operation ‘Market Garden’ in September 1944. 100 Group was a newly formed Bomber Support Group, the duties of which had, until 1976, been top secret. During September 1944 we were engaged in several operations code named ‘Big Ben’ . The Germans’ success with V2 rockets were of grave concern and believing these rockets to be radio guided, ‘Big Ben’ Jammer called ‘Jostle’, was used to block any such radio frequencies and cause the rockets to veer off course. ‘Big Ben Jostle’ was a huge transmitter mounted in the bomb bay of our B-17; the system was capable of detecting radio signals and blocking such signals.
Of course, at that time, the crew, including me, knew nothing about how this all worked or even what caused what to happen. There was an array of aerial fitted to the aircraft but as to which did what was kept from us. The left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing and this was possibly deliberate, so as not to risk information passing to the enemy should we end up as POWs.
Operation ‘Market Garden’ was launched on 17th September 1944. The day before, 16th September 1944, my flight HB774 conducted a day time ‘Big Ben’ Operation off the coast of Holland. After completing the Operation we headed back to RAF Oulton after five and a half hours of very tedious and boring work.
What did I read? Here it is in Ron James’ book: “Avenging InThe Shadows’, Chapter XIV – ‘Oulton’, page 135, paragraphs 3, 4 and 6 -
‘The eminent Dutch military historian, Dr. Tiemens, of Arnhem who researched the following incident, has spoken to the chief two protagonists involved. The story is based on their evidence. F/O J. R. Corke, the Pilot of the Fortress concerned, was later killed in a flying accident and all attempts to trace his crew have so far been unsuccessful.”
At 16.05 hours on September 16, 1944, a Fortress II, G for George, HB774, set out from Oulton, Norfolk, on ‘Big Ben’ patrol. This flight started off a train of events which may have had a major effect on the outcome of the battle at Arnhem, and was one of the biggest factors in the defeat of our airborne-forces. It was known by Bomber Command before the August 17, 1943 pre-emptive strikes on Peenemunde, that two types of V-weapons were being produced by the Germans.
When the first rockets fell on England during August, the Squadron had gone quickly into action, flying both day and night patrols off the Dutch coast. In daylight hours they were provided with a large Spitfire escort, and these special flights were code named ‘Big Ben’ patrols. Involved in the episode of September 16th were two German officers based near Arnhem at the time of the landings. One was General Major Walter Grabham, in charge of the 3rd Jagdivision, headquartered in a huge Schaarsbergen bunker, five miles north of Arnhem, and codenamed ‘Diogenes’. This JDiv was responsible for the air defence of Holland and the Ruhr area. The other officer was SS Major Sepp Krafft, Commander of the SS/Panzerausbildungshot, the SS Panzer Grenadier Training and Reserve Battalion.’
Then I read further, page 136, paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 -
‘In an interview with General Major Grabmann, Dr. Tiemens asked about events prior to the landings taking place and Grabmann had this to say: ‘That evening I had dinner with an old friend, SS Major Sepp Krafft. I told him that during the afternoon one single B-17, escorted by a large number of fighters, had circled above the Deerlerheide area. I also gave the opinion that it might have contained a Commander of airborne forces who had flown over personally to inspect the landing zone, and that this was a prelude to a full-scale invasion.
There is no doubt that this threat was taken seriously for Krafft quickly took action. This was later confirmed in a conversation between Dr. Tiemens and Sepp Krafft. At midnight Krafft alarmed his Unit, ordering them to take up positions in the area where, the next day, airborne landings were to take place. Late on Saturday afternoon, September 16, a B-17 with a strong fighter escort flew over Holland. Was it the B-17 from Oulton, flown by F/O Corke? It is reported that this was the only Allied Fortress over Dutch
airspace at that time.
What made this sortie different from the rest was that the Big Ben flights were normally over coastal areas around Zeeland, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Haarlem; but this one, over Eindhoven, Nijmegan and the over Arnhem, was unique. General Major Grabmann, who was familiar with ‘Big Ben’ flights, concluded that this was a special mission and forerunner to an airborne attack.’
Finally, page 137, paragraph 2 -
‘The mystery of the B-17 flight remains. Why were these most sensitive areas over-flown on the eve of the landings? Was the aircraft off course, since ‘Big Ben’ would not cross the coast? Or was there another reason for this venture, known only to certain high-ranking officers.’
The Flight of Fortress HB774 on September 16th, 1944 even had a map, shown on page 137.
With all this information, delivered and expressed with such conviction, little wonder I was so distressed. But, how could Ron James in his book on 214 Squadron have arrived at such a bizarre conclusion? Eventually I settled down and talked this over with my wife, Pauline and a friend. Was it possible to put the matter right?
Should I even try to? For some time I just wanted it all to go away and to forget I had ever read that book. I did not want to stir things up with the author or open wounds still unhealed since 1944. Thankfully, my wife and friends convinced me that the truth must be revealed and besides, I could not allow this erroneous account to tarnish the memory of my crew mates, especially F/O Johnny Corke, who was a great pilot and whose flying skill had saved the lives of his crew on the 24th/25th April 1944.
So, here is my account of what happened on the 16th September 1944.
Flight HB774, a B-17 Fortress ’G’, fitted with a Big Ben Jostle transmitter, took off from Oulton, Norfolk, at five minutes past four in the afternoon, on a routine daylight operation called ‘Big Ben – Holland’ . My log book entry shows that the Pilot was F/O Corke, I was Second Navigator and the flight took 4.00 hours daytime and 1 hour 35 minutes night time.
On that trip I was operating the ‘Big Ben Jostle’ Jammer. I had been told and instructed by a civilian Boffin what to do. A small oblong instrument dial, similar to an old fashioned wireless dial, had been fitted to a bench. When it was switched on, the pointer on the dial moved from one end to the other, fairly slowly then back again. The Boffin said it was scanning over a short range of frequencies. I was wearing headphones and the instruction was that, as soon as whistling was heard, I had to fine tune to the strongest frequency, then switch on the special switch. The ‘tale’, as I was informed, was that by doing this the V2 rocket, at it’s zenith, would be deflected by up to two degrees, which when it descended, could make miles of difference as to where it landed. I should say we took this as gospel. In 1976 the true facts came to life – none of the bloody rockets were fitted with any guiding device.
A 24 hour observation was set for our 100 Group aircraft. Each session was a four hour stint just flying up and down off the Rotterdam coast at 30,000 feet. The rest of the crew was alerted to physically look out for rocket launches and a few were observed. On this particular trip, after completing the four hours, our Skipper Johnny Corke (shown in picture above) executed a slow, descending turn back to our home base. We may have slightly crossed the Dutch coastline but it would have been no big deal.
From right to left:
Flying Officer Bill Foskett, Bomb Aimer/SD;
Flight Sergeant Len Roose, Air Gunner;
Flight Sergeant Fred Barber, Engineer;
Flying Officer Johnny Corke, Pilot.
My log book shows these ‘Big Ben’ trips normally took 5 hours, 30 minutes and we took this trip 5 hours and 35 minutes. So, we went walkabout for only five minutes, just slightly crossing the Dutch coast. Sunset on that day was about 1913 hours and we had logged 1 hour 35 minutes of night time flying. On this alone we could not have flown to Arnhem, there was just not enough time. The suspected flight route in the map above, would have added at least an hour or two to the flight time.
We were told we had fighter escort, but this didn’t mean they flew alongside us for four hours. In fact, we rarely saw them. The range of these fighters was nothing like the range of our B-17 and they would have had to refuel regularly. I do not know any details about our fighter escort, but perhaps their records would show what they did that day?
These are two reasons why HB774 could never have flown over the ‘Market Garden’ drop zones, but there are more. If this flight had carried a Senior Commander of our airborne forces, as proposed by General Major Grabmann, then I am sure my crew and I would have noticed such a special passenger.
Our B-17 (one of our B-17’s is shown below) was equipped with a very heavy ‘Big Ben Jostle’ transmitter, plus all the ancillary equipment, which made our loading as if we were carrying bombs. A reconnaissance flight would not appreciate such a burden, especially for a long flight over the front line.
Finally, there must have been a considerable amount of Enigma traffic going on at that time and if only I could get access to the Ultra files, then maybe we could all learn something that is more than supposition.
Bill Foskett now 85, but still knows where he flies!
All photographs are copyright Bill Foskett 2006.
This article is from the Spring 2007 issue of Confound and Destroy
