Mike, a new Association member, shares his article which he wrote for DEHS (Defence Electronics History Society) members. It means we’re reaching a wider audience, and that can only be good, especially this year. He says his aim was to ‘convey the feelings, kindred spirit and aura that binds everyone together’ after sharing his first May Reunion with us.
Blessed with fine weather, the RAF 100 Group Association’s commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of 100 Group, looked set to mark the three days of activities with warmth and light, in more than one sense.
Members of DEHS will probably be familiar with RAF 100 Group, so I will skip the Group’s activities and concentrate on the Association’s commendable effort to keep the memory alive for Veterans, families, friends and interested parties around the world.
Each year, the Association commemorates 100 Group’s support of Bomber Command and the determination to win the ‘cat and mouse’ fight for ECM supremacy against a formidable enemy. It is estimated 100 Group saved about 1,000 Bomber Crew lives in the short time 100 Group existed. Disbanded in November 1945, there are no young veterans!
Group photo of Sterling Crew, 199 Squadron, assembled under their a/c “Jolly Roger” taken in 1943
Because of the type of work 100 Group carried out, and the attendant security concerns, to my knowledge it was 33 years later that public access to the “Electronic War in the Air” was revealed in the form of Martin Streetly’s book, aptly named “Confound and Destroy”. Since then more information has surfaced, some of which has come from the fair hand of Janine Harrington herself, Secretary and very hard-working Editor of the Association’s Newsletter – ‘Confound and Destroy’.
Anyone researching individual air crew, or any other personnel related to 100 Group would do well to join the Association which in turn has a close link to our American friends who carried out the same task in WW2. There are many enquiries from families tracing loved ones, and once again because of the prevailing circumstances, there is often little information to go on. The Association may provide that all important break, through the “brick wall”.
The veterans, few in number but stout in resolve, gather each year, along with their families and friends to commemorate, and greet all who come to join them in the common act of remembering those who never flew home, those who are no longer present, and those who are working tirelessly to keep the memory of 100 Group alive.
I began my journey to Norwich on the Thursday in order to visit the RAF Radar Museum at Neatishead (Thursday being one of their open days). I can recommend this Museum, lots to see, well laid out, and conducted tours, a day can easily be spent looking at the exhibits.
Arriving at the Premier Inn close to Norwich Airport (Horsham St. Faith) and the City of Norwich Aviation Museum, is a good base, along with the Holiday Inn, almost next door, to cover all 3 days, or part of, depending one’s circumstances etc. Membership of the Association provides free entry to the CNAM, where one will find a 100 Group display of information and artefacts.
Friday 18th May kicked off a busy 3 days of visits, meetings, commemorations, wreath laying, and evening meals. Being a global membership, there are visitors from America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Last year, 2017, members were also joined by veterans of the U.S. 8th Air Force's 36th Squadron who flew combined operations with RAF 100 Group in wartime, living and working alongside them in Norfolk. Many friendships were forged between airmen and villagers with whom they stayed. The 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron based at Eglin airfield still operates today doing similar work. Known affectionately as the ‘Gremlins’, they too attended last year with their Lt Col Tom Moore, and maintain regular contact as members of the RAF 100 Group Association in their own right, committed to carrying on the joint wartime legacy into the future.
The many airfields used during the War are listed for attendees to visit these places should they wish.
The Church services were particularly evocative, there seemed to be a lot of grit getting in people’s eyes. A shaft of sunlight falling on a flag, a bright glint from a row of medals!
Meeting up with old friends and Association organisers is all part of the experience. I personally have no family connected with 100 Group but received such warm and genuine hospitality, not just from fellow Members, but also Norwich Aviation Museum, and villagers I met, who out of their own pockets provided refreshments on a grand scale. To see photographs of aircrew placed in cottage windows was real evidence of the deep affection still felt after all these years.
The above is just a ‘snap shot’ of the 75th Commemoration, but I hope it will convey to the reader the effort put in by many who are working in the background to make it all happen. My thanks to Janine Harrington, Editor of the Magazine (‘Confound and Destroy’) for her kind permission to use material from the Summer Edition of the magazine.
Mike Baker
This article is from the Winter 2018 issue of Confound and Destroy
