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Letter Written to 46 Sqn Association Secretary by Sqn Ldr Cross from his hospital bed after being rescued |
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Gleneagles Hospital Auchterarder Perthshire
26th June 1940 My Dear Marchant, Many thanks for your letter, which has just reached me. As you see I'm hors de combat for the moment and Jameson is here with me, but I'll start at the beginning and tell you the whole story since we left Digby on the 9th May. At the beginning of May, I was sent for by the AM; and told that we should be going to Narvik as soon as an aerodrome could be prepared for us there. On the 9th May we got the signal and we left Digby as a formation of 18 Hurricanes (an impressive sight I was told) and landed at Abbotsinch near the Clyde. Next day we taxied through fields to a wharf where the Hurricanes were hoisted aboard barges two at a time and taken down the Clyde to HMS Glorious where they were hoisted aboard. By the grace of luck and little apples, none were bent though only inches saved us on several occasions. After one false sailing we got away in company with the Furious on the 14th May and a strong escort of destroyers. The Furious carried a Gladiator Squadron. We arrived in our position to take off on the 21st but received a signal that the aerodrome wouldn’t be ready until 26th May so we returned to Leaps to re-fuel. We turned to a point 60 miles off the Norwegian coast on the 26th and on receiving the affirmative signal from the General ashore we prepared to take off. This, of course, was the first time Hurricanes had ever taken off the deck of a carrier and though we were given figures by the A.M, things were complicated by the Glorious having a ramp two thirds of the way along the deck on which there was a distant chance of our touching the props if we weren’t airborne by then. However, we worked it out that with a 30 knot wind over the deck we should just be airborne at the top of the ramp which meant getting up speed over the first part and then easing the stick back enough to give prop clearance without losing forward speed. The Navy were perfectly splendid all the way out, they couldn’t do enough and the night we were in Scapa they threw a full dress guest night for us of which the main toast was “46 Squadron" and now the Commander Engineer himself took charge and despite a flat calm whacked the old Glorious up to the fastest she had been for years – 30.7knots! I had the doubtful honour of taking the first one off and, of course we needn’t have worried for the old Hurricane simply leapt off and I was very soon joined by the rest of the boys and we set off for Norway. Hit off our landfall O.K. and made for our aerodrome. The scenery was of such grandeur that it would be futile for me to try and describe it, but the mountains going up to five and six thousand feet straight out of the sea was a sight I shall never forget. The so-called aerodrome consisted of a strip of marsh on the edge of a Fiord~ which had been drained and covered with matting and wire netting. Of course, it would not stand the weight of the Hurricanes and after a couple of minor accidents we evacuated it and went to another one carved out of the forests and solid rock about 60 miles away. Even this was a bit tricky, but by constant care the boys never broke a thing. Next morning, of course, we -Here bombed but gave Jerry such a reception that we were never bombed again. The battle of Narvik started that night at eight and we kept a patrol over the beaches where the landings were made for the next 28 hours solid, and as none of the boys had had much sleep since they left the Glorious they were falling asleep as they got out of the cockpits. However, we had our reward with x Bosch shot down and the capture of Narvik. The gratitude of' the troops had to be seen to be believed for they. Poles, Norwegians, French and English, had been subjected to uninterrupted bombing for weeks past. By this time, of course, the Germans realised we were there and in our normal patrols over the line and the port of embarkation we had some stirring battles and though out numbed sometimes by as many as four to one we always managed to prevent them getting into their target. We came to the conclusion that they weren’t keen on fighting even when they had superior numbers. Everything went well for a bit, we lost ~ couple of chaps, Jackie Lydall who was at the last dinner was one. The poor lad waded into a formation of five J088's and was picked off from behind but not before he'd sent one down in flames himself. Banks was the other, and we never really found out how he went. Then came the evacuation, which was a damn shame as we’d forced the Germans, right back to the Swedish border and were all set to move south. However, things at home made it necessary and of course the Navy were using an awful lot of ships up there. I was told at the start that we would have to be the last to leave or the embarking troops would be bombed to hell, that was O.K by us but I insisted that there should be some method of us leaving when it was all over but of course this was difficult as they wanted us to guard the ships well out to sea. However, after a few wet suggestions like bailing out beside destroyers, etc, I heard that the Glorious was around and so asked if we might have a shot at flying on. I know the chaps on the Glorious would be full out and this was eventually arranged. Things were complicated by the Norwegian Army getting wing of things, and things weren’t at all comfortable as we were surrounded by five thousand of them at our aerodrome. However, we armed all the troops and by putting a bold face on things avoided that trouble. Well, we covered the evacuation for two days (there were 35,000 men) to be taken off remember, and on the third day (the last) Jerry really woke up to what was going on. The day started at 3a.m. with a raid on our aerodrome, which we deal t with in undress, our standby section having been ordered off to Narvik a few minutes before. Of course, it never got dark up there and it \vas as light at midnight as it was at mid-day. It was a Hell of a day but we managed to keep them off Narvik while they took the troops off and no ships were bombed. We knocked down 4 confirmed that day and hit 3 or 4 more that we weren’t able to get information about. At midnight, I called for volunteers for a shot at landing on the Glorious and of course the boys stepped forward to a man, so there was nothing for it but to pick the senior ten (we only had ten serviceable aircraft by this time, 4 having been lost by enemy action, only two pilots though, both the other two managing to get back, one by the use of his parachute, and the other four having been dismantled and shipped back (being unrepairable out there). |
