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Operational Record Book from the start of World War 2 until the End of the Battle of Britain. |
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The Operational Record Book
No 46 (Uganda) Squadron Royal Air Force
September 1st 1939 to the end of the Battle of Britain. The Squadron was issued with its first 4 cannon armed Hurricane I ((V7360) PO B) and on the 5th of September 1940
The page covers the period when they were based at RAF Digby, Lincolnshire in the early part of the war when they were mainly engages on patrolling the Humber Estuary and Coastal shipping. The campaign in Norway and the return to reform at Digby before moving to Stapleford Tawney, RAF North Weald, into the thick of the Battle of Britain
1/9/39 Digby 1/9/39 The Squadron was ordered to mobilise P/O AYERST and P/O HARDACRE arrived on posting from No. 73 Squadron. Local flying training carried out. 2/9/39 The Squadron was accommodated under canvas while on duty by the aircraft. Local flying training carried out. 3/9/39 1100 Hours War was declared on Germany The Squadron was commanded by SQUADRON LEADER P.R. BARWELL and consisted of 20 officers 6 airmen pilots and 121 other ranks. The Squadron was equipped with 21 Hawker Hurricane Single Seater Fighter Aircraft. Two air raid warnings were sounded during the night and “A” flight was ordered into the air. Aerodrome defence posts were fully manned. The “All Clear” signal was sounded in each case without any attacks being carried out. P/O HARDACRE was posted to No. 504 SQUADRON. Local flying training carried out 4/9/39 One airman pilot arrived on posting. Local flying training carried out by day and by night. 5/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 6/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 7/9/39 F/O H.R. HAMILTON was posted to No. 611 Squadron. Local flying training carried out by day. 8/9/39 P/O AYERST was posted to No. 73 Squadron. One airman pilot arrived on posting. Local flying training carried out by day. 9/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 10/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 11/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 12/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and a little by night. 13/9/39 One airman pilot arrived on posting Local flying training carried out was nil. 14/9/39 The Squadron affiliated with No. 144 Squadron. Both flights took advantage of gaining considerable valuable experience in attacking various formations. F/O M.C.F. MEE was posted to No. 610 Squadron. 15/9/40 Local flying training carried out by night. 16/9/40 “A” Flight affiliated with No. 144 Squadron and gained further experience in attacking various formations. Two airman pilots were posted to No. 504 Squadron One airman pilot was posted to No. 611 Squadron Local flying training carried out at night. 17/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. 18/9/39 “B” Flight affiliated with No. 61 Squadron and carried out attacks on various formations. Local flying training carried out by night. 19/9/39 “B” Flight affiliated with No. 61 Squadron and gained further experience in the methods of attack. Local flying training carried out by night. 20/9/39 Local flying training carried out by night and a little by day. 21/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. 22/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. 23/9/39 Local flying training carried out by night. 24/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. 25/9/39 The Squadron affiliated with No. 144 Squadron and made several attacks on various formations. Local flying training carried out at night. 26/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. The Squadron co-operated with the ground defences by night. Extensive use was made of the searchlights. 27/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. Practice interceptions and attacks were carried out by night on an aircraft supplied by No. 213 Squadron. Co-operation was also carried out with the OBSERVER CORPS and the SEARCHLIGHT BATTERIES. 28/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 29/9/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. Further practice interceptions and attacks were carried out at night. 30/9/39 Local flying training carried out by night. Practice interceptions and attacks were again carried out by night with the co-operation of the OBSERVER CORPS and the SEARCHLIGHT BATTERIES. The Squadron now consisted of 16 officers 6 airman pilots and 154 other ranks.
1/10/39 A/P/O JOHNSON was posted to No.1 PILOTS POOL The Squadron consisted of 15 officers 6 airman pilots and 151 other ranks. Local flying training carried out by night and interceptions and attacks were practiced on an aircraft supplied by No. 213 Squadron with the assistance of the SEARCHLIGHT BATTERIES. 2/10/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 3/10/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. Interceptions and attacks were again carried out on an aircraft supplied by No. 213 Squadron. 4/10/39 Local flying training carried out by day and by night. Further training carried out in interceptions and attacks. 5/10/39 Local flying training carried out by night. The Squadron co-operated with SEARCHLIGHT BATTERIES. 6/10/39 Squadron was warned that it may have to proceed overseas to FRANCE. No local flying was carried out. 8/10/39 P/O R.W. GOSSE arrived on posting as Squadron Adjutant vice F/O W.T. SCOTT. No local flying was carried out. 9/10/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 10/10/39 Local flying training carried out by day. 13/10/39 “A” Flight was ordered to proceed to a forward aerodrome on the EAST COAST of the sector. Led by Sq/Ldr P.R. BARWELL, the flight proceeded to NORTH COATES aerodrome and operated from there on the protection of CONVOYS at sea. 14/10/39 The Squadron carried out air-firing practice at SUTTON BRIDGE and gained experience in the different technique of handling the aircraft with the guns in action. 15/10/39 The Squadron was ordered to proceed to a forward aerodrome on the EAST COAST of the sector. The Squadron proceeded to NORTH COATES aerodrome for the protection of CONVOYS. No patrols were carried out so the Squadron returned to DIGBY. 16/10/39 Local flying training carried out. 17/10/39 The Squadron proceeded to NORTH COATES for the protection of CONVOYS; and was ordered on patrol. During the course of this patrol, the Squadron was fired on by the Naval A.A. guns. Though the fix was uncomfortably close, no casualties were sustained. No enemy aircraft were sighted so the squadron returned to its home base. 18/10/39 Local flying training was carried out. 19/10/39 A section of three aircraft from “A” Flight carried out a practice low-flying attack on an out-station for the purpose of testing the ground defences. 20/10/39 Local flying training was carried out by day and by night.
FIRST ENGAGEMENT WITH THE ENEMY
21/10/39 The Squadron was ordered to NORTH COATES FITTES, and at about 1415 hours “A” Flight was ordered on patrol. This flight consisted of the following pilots:- Red Section (1) S/LDR P.R. BARWELL (2) P/O P.J. FROST (3) F/Sgt E. SHACKLEY
Yellow Section (1) P/O R.M.J. COWLES (2) P/O R.P. PLUMMER (3) P/O P.W. LEFEVRE
The flight was controlled by radio telephony from the operations room at DIGBY, assisted by an R/T tender situated at NORTH COATES. After various patrolling positions had been given, the Flight was in position over SPURN HEAD at 5000 feet at about 1450 hours. At about 1455 hours an order was received, “Twelve enemy float planes approaching convoy from the SOUTH EAST at 1000 feet. Intercept.” The convoy at this time was about 5 miles EAST of SPURN HEAD and it was in sight. S/LDR BARWELL immediately led the Flight to the EAST of the CONVOY, at full speed, decreasing height to 2000 feet. On arriving in this position, he ordered the aircraft into search formation and very shortly afterwards, he was told by R/T by one of the pilots that an aircraft could be seen on the port beam. Just after this S/LDR BARWELL saw a formation of aircraft approaching from the E.S.E., at about 4000 feet. At this time they were about four miles from “A” Flight and just after they had been seen they were fired at by anti-aircraft fire. The enemy formation then did a right hand turn and proceeded to fly away from “A” Flight, who turned towards them and gained height. No difficulty was experienced in catching the enemy aircraft and the Flight managed to get into position slightly above them, with the sun almost behind. By this time S/LDR BARWELL had ordered the formation into “Aircraft astern”, and on approaching he gave instructions for a No. 5 attack. He attacked the left hand aircraft of the formation telling the other pilots to pick their targets, in order, from the left. The enemy formation was ragged and unevenly spaced; there were eight or nine aircraft. As “A” Flight proceeded to attack from above, the markings on the upper surfaces of the enemy’s main planes could be clearly seen. They consisted of a black cross on a white background. The SQUADRON LEADER opened fire on his target at 400 yards. His rate of approach was rather high, and as one of the enemy aircraft was rather far behind his own formation and almost abreast of the SQUADRON LEADER, the latter did not throttle back. He broke away under the tail of his target at a distance of about 30 yards from it, having seen flames from the starboard engine. After breaking away he turned back and saw this aircraft diving to the water, where the pilot apparently tried to alight. Just after he touched the water, the starboard wing folded back. RED 2, PILOT OFFICER P.J. FROST, had attacked the aircraft which was almost abreast of the SQUADRON LEADER during his attack. He saw flames from the port engine of this aircraft and watched it crash into the water. ……RED 3, FLIGHT SERGEANT E. SHACKLEY, apparently attacked the same aircraft as Red 2, due to the enemy aircraft changing formation during attack. After the main attack, the enemy formation broke up and just after seeing his target crash onto the water, the SQUADRON LEADER noticed one of the enemy aircraft diving in a southerly direction. He followed it and fired the remainder of his ammunition, which was about one-third of his full amount, from a range of about 300 yards. The aircraft continued to fly and it was then attacked by three other Hurricanes, piloted by PILOT OFFICER R.M.J. COWLES, FLIGHT SERGEANT E. SHACKLEY, PILOT OFFICER R.P. PLUMMER. The SQUADRON LEADER watched them attack and it appeared that they were firing from rather long range, so he called up on the R/T and told the last aircraft that he saw attacking to get closer. This he did, and after a repeated attack he saw the enemy aircraft crash and turn upside down in the water. This was PILOT OFFICER R.P. PLUMMER. After the main attack, PILOT OFFICER P.J. FROST and PILOT OFFICER P.W. LEFEVRE followed and attacked one of the enemy aircraft which tried to evade them by flying in and out of cloud. After chasing him for some time and carrying out repeated attacks, the enemy aircraft came to the end of his friendly cloud-layer, when, after a final attack, he was seen to alight on the water, apparently intact, but with both engines stopped. The enemy aircraft were first sighted at about 1502 hours, when they were approximately 25 miles due EAST of SPURN HEAD. The main engagement took place between 1506 and 1508 hours, about 30 to 35 miles EAST of WITHERNSEA. The formation flew back towards the coast and was ordered to return to DIGBY to re-fuel and re-arm. On the way, the whole formation re-formed and the two sections arrived intact over DIGBY at about 1535 hours. During the engagement very little return fire was noticed and it is thought that the initial attack was a surprise. After landing, it was found that one aircraft had four bullet marks. Two had glanced off the leading edge of the port plane, making a slight dent; one had just missed the airscrew boss and had bent the cowling just behind the airscrew; the fourth had dented the fairing on the side of the fuselage. The under-fairing on one other aircraft had been grazed by a bullet. The type of enemy aircraft was Heinkel 115, twin-engined float plane torpedo bomber. [NOTE. Prisoners have been captured from some of these aircraft and the AIR MINISTRY have stated that not more than five of a formation which started as twelve, returned to GERMANY. The same formation had been attacked before our engagement, by SPITFIRES. |
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This version of the ORB was developed from one compiled by . Please see his excellent web sites at which shows, amongst other things, the graves of those pilots of 46 Squadron who were killed in the Battle of Britain. Photographs of the original Forms 400 and 401 can be found |
