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No 46 (UGANDA) NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON, ROYAL AIR FORCE GAMBUT DETACHMENT -- NORTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER 26TH until OCTOBER 10TH 1944
The following describes an attack by No 46 (Uganda) Night Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force, against German forces occupying the Aegean Islands during World War II. The attack was mounted over several nights, starting toward the end of September 1944. The names and exploits of the members of No 46 Squadron are factual, as are dates, and details of our aircraft. They were all recorded in newspaper articles and Intelligence reports obtained from the Public Records Office in London. Having this information has allowed me to be very precise with times and weather conditions etc…. something I could not otherwise have done after a period of nearly 60 years. Roy T. Butler Spring Hill, Florida USA July 24, 2003
IDKU
In September 1944, No 46 (Uganda) Squadron (we had been ‘adopted’ by the country of Uganda) was headquartered at Idku, Egypt, an airfield situated on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea about forty miles east of Alexandria. No 46 Squadron flew Bristol Beaufighter Mark VI aircraft equipped with Mark 10 radar. The Beau's armament consisted of four 20 mm. Hispano cannon mounted in the fuselage nose, with a combined rate of fire of 2,400 rounds per minute and six .303 in. Browning machine guns in the wings, with a combined rate of 7,200 rounds of fire per minute. This gave a total combined weight of fire of 780 lbs. per minute and made the Beaufighter the most heavily armed fighter in the world at that time. The MK 10 radar was state-of-the-art and very accurate up to a range of ten miles with very little ground return interference. These combined elements made the Beau the most lethal night fighter in the world and on the cutting edge of 1944 technology. The Beaufighter carried a crew of two, a pilot and a radar/navigator. |
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Warrant Officers
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