Sqn Ldr HS Darley

Dunno. His logbook and Irvin were overrun by Japs (he had to pay for the Irvin on return too).

Thanks, Snapper. Wonderful stuff.

Does your contact with the family extend to knowing if they have any photos, documents or other memorabilia of his time specifically in India or Burma? I would be very interested, if they would be willing to share copies.

Regards

Snoopy

sure, pm me.

Sqn Ldr HS Darley

Snapper

Could I please ask if you would contact me off forum re the above

Many thanks

I have a personal interest in all of 609 Squadron – George is, to me, one of many – not that that lessens things in any way. Laughed my head off at his son’s letter in Flypast this week, you might want to check it out if you haven’t already. David (his son) is a friend of mine and a good laugh (good tonic too). Much of the information came from something he wrote a few years back with additional research added in by me from various sources. I hav an email today from David in fact and I quote:

“You’ve done very well for the old chap, Mark – thanks for that! Couple of things though – what is this ‘Dampers’ thing? Never heard of that before!

Dad was a bit prone to exaggerate. I know that the detailed biog was his own writing, but if he ever spoke more than 10 words of Arabic, I’d eat my hat! Also, he couldn’t boil an egg, so he never made breakfast at Warmwell for his pilots, but I reckon that he got in and stood by whilst someone else did that.

Loved the way that fuel c0ck had to become fuel ****!.”

I just skimmed through part of it and it’s unfinished…one day i’ll get around to adding in all the info from the ORB etc.

Key contributions in India

Snapper, this is marvellous information. If I may ask, where did you get the first, the more detailed biography, from? (The second one you’ve credited to the Daily Telegraph.)

Loved the bits about his contributions in Burma, at the famous 151 OTU and at Staff College in Wellington, in the Nilgiris. The Indian Staff College is still at Wellington, btw; and I am hoping to visit some time – will look for records of his name.

Regards

Snoopy

Sqn Ldr HS Darley

Snapper

Wow, thanks for that, can I ask if you have a personal interest in “George”?

No, there isn’t.

32191 Squadron Leader Horace Stanley ‘George / Dampers’ Darley, DSO

Horace ‘George’ Darley, whose ancestry dates to the de Derle family which bred horses for the cavalry of William the Conqueror, was born on 3rd November 1913 in Wandsworth and educated at Emmanuel School on Wandsworth Common from 1926 until 1932, obtaining colours for rugby, rowing, and shooting at Bisley, and also representing the school at swimming and fives. He was also a member of the schools Officers Training Corps and received a ‘Certificate A’ on 10th November 1931 whilst in the Junior Infantry Division. George joined the RAF in 1932 and was commissioned as a Regular Officer in August aged 18. He was awarded his wings a year later after being trained at No.2 Flying Training School on Avro 504K and N aircraft as well as Atlases. In September 1933 he was posted to Bircham Newton in Norfolk flying Fairey Gordons with 207 Bomber Squadron, whose main task was ice accretion trials to determine its effect on bomb dropping, flying in open cockpits through freezing clouds, carrying dummy bombs and returning to drop them on our local bombing range. As Sandringham was nearby, the Duke of Kent often flew up from London piloted by “Mouse” Fielden and had tea in the Squadron Mess. In early 1935, having applied for a posting to Iraq, Darley was posted to No.8 Bomber Squadron in Aden, flying Fairey IIIFs (some with floats) which were used against Yemeni rebels, and medical flights in the rugged hinterland up to 6,000 ft . During this time he learnt to speak Arabic. On one occasion Darley flew the son of a local sheik to hospital in Aden. On their return, he was shown the value of such mercy flights by the joyous greeting that both received. Reliable maps were non-existent, so the pilots always flew in pairs to various landing grounds. No.8 later received the more reliable Vickers Vincent bombers, but found that its external bomb rack clogged up with sand whilst taxying, causing hang-ups. “On leading my flight on a small bombing raid with 4x 250 lbs bombs each, I saw that not all my formation had dropped upon my hand signal. My bomb-aimer confirmed that not all of ours had gone either. We dived and pulled up smartly to release by excessive gravity but to no effect so I told him to contact base by W/T for advice. The answer was “land well away from the hangars”! This we did with our fingers in our ears and as I landed three of my bombs dropped off, likewise the rest of us. We were not amused.” While stationed here he was detached in December 1935 to Burao at 3,000ft in British Somaliland, where a unit of two aircraft, one pilot, three Wireless Operators / Air Gunners and a small servicing party stayed, to assist Camel Corps border patrols after Italian troops had occupied Abyssinia. It was “a great relief from the Aden heat and humidity. We all greatly appreciated the kindness of the then Somaliland Camel Corps, drawn from various UK regiments, who hated parade grounds as much as we did. The constant financial conflict between the Air Ministry and the then Commonwealth Office as to which should pay for my activities did not arouse my interest but confined my flying hours.” Shortly afterwards the Italian-Abyssinian war broke out. The Camel Corps, then mechanised, manned the borders which were merely open dirt tracks based upon trigonometrical points, with several armed MT outposts. Darley received another pilot to reinforce him, along with two more Wop/AG’s and two more aircraft to defend Somaliland against possible Italian air attack and recconoitre the border for infiltration Italian-armed Askari tribesmen upon their own unarmed Somalis, and to report incidents to their base at Burao who passed them across to Camel Corps Headquarters, which notified their appropriate outposts. They also had the task of delivering supplies, mail, medical help and relieving personnel. He recalled: “We spent the nights at unguarded RAF strips with petrol dumped in 4 gallon cans. We both had an exhausting hour or so heaving cans up two ladders to refuel the upper wing tanks, after which we cooked supper. We erected our camp beds under the wings, pulling mosquito nets around us to keep at bay the lions roaming in the eastern patrol area. All good Boy Scout stuff!” Darley returned to his Squadron at Aden on 7 March 1936, becoming a Flight Commander and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant the same month. On one occasion bandits blocked the eastern coastal caravan route some 50 miles from Aden. After warnings were dropped with no effect, hewas ordered to bomb the area with his Flight of 4 aircraft. They took off before breakfast, dropped their bombs and returned for their meal, during which they were informed that the bandits had capitulated. During 1936 he was granted a permanent Commission and in November 1936 was posted back to the UK to Central Flying School at Upavon to take a Flying Instructors course in January 1937 on Avro Tutors and Hawker Harts. This was not without risk: “The Hart had a built-in fault in that the fuel **** had to be turned on to gravity feed before take-off (supply for 30 minutes) and then turned to main pressure tanks shortly after take off. The curriculum required some 30 minutes of quick solo night landings entailing a change of pilots after 30 minutes with the engine still running. I took off as the second detail and as soon as I began the circuit the engine failed and I realised the cause. Cockpit lighting on the daytime Harts being useless I turned the fuel **** around to no effect, except to myself. I had no wish to force-land in dark countryside, being too low to use my parachute, so I remained on the circuit with my dead engine and managed to land correctly on the proper place on the flarepath with no damage. I received an official rocket for failing to note that the previous pilot had not turned on to main tanks after his take off, plus unofficial congratulations on a successful landing.” This was followed by a posting to No.7 Flying Training School at Peterborough to give advanced training on Hawker Harts where he became a Flight Commander with five instructors and 20 pupils, his main task being to check their ability before flying solo. “Shortly after, during a night flying test of a pupil and awaiting take-off, there was a crunch behind me as another Hart chewed its way up my tail finishing within 3 feet of my head. Food for thought!” In May 1938 he became Adjutant/Flying Instructor of 602 (City of Glasgow) Bomber Squadron at Abbotsinch, Glasgow, where he was required to train new pilots from ab-initio on Tutors, through advanced training on dual Harts and finally squadron training on Hart bombers. He transferred in December to 611 (West Lancashire) Bomber Squadron at Speke, Liverpool with the same role, and on 14th January 1939 he married Marjorie Knowles. “In May 1939, by a stroke of the pen in Air Ministry, most Auxiliary Squadrons were renamed fighter Squadrons. Soon afterwards a Spitfire landed before us, the ferry Sergeant-Pilot presented it to me and promptly flew off again in another aircraft, having told me that there were no flying notes on Spitfires. Two senior NCO’s and myself sorted out the knobs and switches so I started up and took off. After several landings and aerobatics I was duly impressed but typed out my own Spitfire notes for my pilots to study. Then a converted Battle arrived, intended to introduce pilots to the Spitfire, the rear cockpit confined to a throttle, control column and rudder and an airspeed indicator, but no instruction notes. So after some handling sorties and issue of my own notes the trainees became used to things which went up and down. Operational training for my converted Spitfire pilots was then provided at Digby, Lincolnshire, during weekends.” Darley was promoted to Squadron Leader on 1st April 1939 at the age of 25, “becoming eligible for marriage allowance then limited to those over 30 or Squadron leaders and above – excellent!”. He stayed with 611 until their mobilisation “A busy time, ranging from training pilots on ab-initio Tutors, Harts, Battles and Spitfires: often all types in one day. I enjoyed every moment.” With war declared, he was posted to the Catterick Operations room in September for a short time before taking over Fighter operations at Debden. In April 1940 he was posted to France where he became Controller at Merville with No.63 Wing Air Component, British Expeditionary Force until they lost their communications during the retreat. He was evacuated from Boulogne in June 1940 and Mentioned in Despatches. Following refresher training at No.5 OTU, his next posting was as a supernumerary Squadron Leader to 65 Squadron at Hornchurch where he learnt: “How NOT to command a Fighter Squadron”, never having flown before in a regular fighter squadron. After three operational sorties he was posted to Northolt to assume Command of 609 Squadron on 28th June 1940 and was to be their Commanding Officer throughout the Battle of Britain. The Squadron had suffered casualties at Dunkirk, and he closely questioned the pilots on how the losses were incurred. He felt it apparent that the main causes were too rigid a formation and no knowledge of deflection shooting, coupled with their previous CO not being capable of leading effectively. Therefore, with his flying instructor background, Darley considered these and other causes as yet another flying problem, which led him to examine all aspects of a fighter sortie from take off to landing. Thus he set about raising the standard of flying through individual tuition, teaching deflection shooting on a curving attack, in order to avoid the defensive fire from bombers and to aim for the cockpit. He stated “they thought that all the fighter had to do was to get behind a bomber and go bang-bang-bang. They forgot to tell us that there might be enemy fighters above and their bombers had rear-gunners.” Having several other deficiencies in accepted Fighter Command tactics he devised his own, beginning with reversing the order of take-off, placing himself last. “Having reversed the accepted order of take-off i.e. C.O. last instead of first, I put my 4 sections of 3 aircraft into loose line astern, stepped below their leaders. This allowed eleven pairs of eyes to seek for bandits, with an occasional glance to their leaders. I always detailed one section to maintain position some 500ft up sun from us to give warning of any imminent attacks from down sun, and they maintained this position by guidance from me whenever I changed course. I always led with a section of three, and by changing these pilots with other members of the squadron, I was able to train them all in my tactics. With the remaining two sections above me on each side, I was able to concentrate on map reading, to consider our courses given by our Operations Room, and to adjust them as I decided upon the probable target. Accounting for cloud cover, I would then adopt a sweeping curve of pursuit, if possible down sun, to bring us above and behind the bombers thereby arriving there “firstest with the mostest” instead of a squadron shamble. As the leader I regarded my primary role as that of breaking up the bombers before they reached their probable target. Spreading my section out, I took it straight through the whole formation from astern to ahead, firing as we went. Invariably we threw it into confusion, thereby splitting it into separate targets for the rest of my squadron.” Regarding other problems with the way the Squadron was being used, Darley said “when once ordered to patrol over Poole, we were ordered to hurry to Bristol where a bombing raid was already in progress. Arriving too low and too late, we were also fired on by our own forces. The resultant shambles made me protest to our Operations Room that we must not have our forces split between Middle Wallop and Warmwell. I also realised that by my leading the squadron off the ground, WW1- style, we wasted time in getting the top section into place above us, before setting off for the target.” Due in large part to his newly-developed tactics 609 claimed 85 enemy aircraft for the loss of seven pilots during Darley’s tenure, he himself claiming 3 Destroyed, 2 Probables and 3 Damaged. “Reconnaissance had revealed two Luftwaffe Commands facing us. One covered the area from Poole to the Portland Naval Base, and the other faced the Isle of Wight and Southampton. A Blenheim squadron near Poole, that trained air gunners, was apparently thought to be a proper bomber airfield by the Germans. I assumed that the aircraft factories at Southampton, Poole and Bristol, plus this airfield would be targeted by German bombers. Hence our airfield at Middle Wallop would be vulnerable, and a forward landing ground near Poole at Warmwell would be untenable. A section would fly to Warmwell before dawn, to wait at readiness. There being no facilities on the airfield bar a marquee, no food was available.” Short, pugnacious and known in 609 as ‘the little dynamo’ and ‘the John Wayne of the RAF’, Darley cared more for his men than for red tape: “The mess facilities across the main road were run by intransigent civilians, who kept strict hours, and would make no concessions to the pilots on the field. They were backed by an inflexible Station Commander. When reasoning failed, I organised an early break-in at the Mess, and ensured that my pilots were fed.” He himself rose at 3am and cooked bacon and eggs for the pilots on dawn patrol.” When carpeted by the Station Commander, I took my cause to the Officer Commanding No.10 Group, who persuaded the reluctant man to provide toilet and catering facilities.” When the Air Officer Commanding asked Darley if he wished the squadron to have a rest he declined. Instead, he asked for two more Spitfires so that new pilots from conversion units could be given operational training and to be checked out in 609’s tactics before being detailed for combat. His first successful combat happened on 8th August when he claimed a Bf110 Destroyed. In particular, on 8th, 11th, 12th and 13th, 609 were credited with the destruction of 30 German aircraft without loss to itself. On 13th August the squadron had its most notable success. 52 Ju.87’s escorted by Bf.109’s and Bf..110’s were briefed to make landfall near Portland. 609 were scrambled and Darley, having decided correctly what was to be the likely target, manoeuvred the squadron so as to attack from the sun, below the escort, leaving his Section as top cover. He then flew his section right through the Ju.87s from stern to bow, firing as they went, with the desired result. “We were sent off from Warmwell because a big raid was coming in. Sure enough there was a gaggle of 40 or 50 Ju87s with Me109 fighters above. I attacked from down sun. I don’t think the 109s ever saw us. We shot 10 bombers down while they were still in formation and bagged three 109s too.” The next day was cloudy. Darley ordered sections of three aircraft at a time to maintain patrols around the airfield, and briefed them to expect a raid. As he expected a group of Ju.88’s arrived, destroyed one of 609’s hangars and killing three airmen; Corporal Bob Smith, and Leading Aircraftmen Henry Thorley and Ken Wilson, who were attempting to close the hangar doors to protect the aircraft inside. The raid was witnessed by three very senior German Officers in a nearby Heinkel, but they were unable to testify as moments later their aircraft was shot down by Sergeant Feary, and all of its occupants were killed. The next day, on the 15th Darley claimed a Ju88 Probably Destroyed, and a Bf109 and Bf110 Destroyed on the 25th. A month later on 25th September he Damaged a Do17 and a Bf110, and claimed a Probable Do17 and another Damaged the next day. On 27th September George was promoted to Wing Commander at the age of 26 and posted on 5th October to command RAF Station Exeter and its resident wing, comprising two day squadrons and one night fighter squadron along with the permanent staff, taking command on 5th October. He stayed off-base with his wife at the Rougemont Hotel in Exeter but spent most nights on the Station, where he initiated night dog patrols with the guards and with the support of the RSPCA it proved so successful that he was given official permission to take the dogs onto the ration strength! Whilst flying from here he also increased his claims to 5 enemy aircraft destroyed. On 22nd October he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the only DSO awarded for leadership in the Battle of Britain. The citation records “This Officer has led his squadron in a briliant manner during its recent successful operations against superior numbers of enemy formations. He has displayed determination and coolnessand, by his skill in action, he has contributed largely to the great successes obtained by his Squadron.” In May 1941 he was posted to Air Headquarters Far East in Singapore as Wing Commander, Fighter Operations. His wife then decided to join the Church Army canteen mobile service attending to the needs of small Army and RAF units scattered over Exmoor. “Before departure, I organised a local florist to provide Marjorie with flowers, once a week, whilst I was away. I did not return for three years and four months.” Arriving by sea via Glasgow and Durban, he was briefed with creating an air defence system for Singapore, Malaya, Burma and Hong Kong. “There was no operations room, no warning radar and no observer corps. At least there were AA guns. Paradoxically, all communications up country were via modern relay R/T stations, the previous telephone posts and lines being continually stolen. But the R/T stations had little or no speech security. A fellow officer originated a civil observer corps and equipped them with specially made W/T sets. We set up a fighter operations room in Singapore town using a large house, but incoming plots were scarce.” His new post also required liasing with the Americans in the Philippines and the Dutch in Sumatra. At the behest of the Governor of Hong Kong the AOC, Air Vice Marshal Pulford, gave him carte blanche to convert its Kai Tak airfield into a fighter base. “Having borrowed a Catalina and a Works Directorate officer, I arrived there to be kindly invited by the GOC to put me up. The next day we both attended a meeting with the Governor, who not only endorsed my AOC’s directives but also required the G.O.C. to establish and centralise air raid warnings. I borrowed a Wildebeeste from the local squadron, and, having warned the Chief of Police, I carried out different approaches to the airfield to the consternation of the office-bound tycoons in their cars. I finally decided that a police station and one hangar had to be demolished to provide an adequate approach lane and landing area.” Work began the same day, and was still under way when the Japanese took over and approved its completion to his design. “My main interest then became the construction of a proper air defence operations room near Rangoon in Burma and I wished the plotting table to be aligned with that of Alipore Air Opearations Room near Calcutta, so that aircraft plots could be exchanged. To my horror I found that the mapping experts of the border areas of India and Burma had never exchanged notes, so aircraft plots jumped 50 miles or more north or south on crossing in or out of the two areas. On return to AHQ Singapore I consulted my old friend, the navigation staff officer and he recommended a review of the various triangualtion points upon which maps of Burma were produced. We flew to Rangoon; I borrowed a Blenheim and off we went on a 3-day tour as far north as Lashia, including several airfields, and then south to Chittagong. The result was an amended plotting table in Burma and also in Alipore at Calcutta, which I eventually supervised.” He was then attached to General Claire Chennault’s American Air Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, at Toungoo in Burma, a fighter squadron formed US Army, Navy and Marine sources to assist China on a mercenary basis. None of these pilots had combat experience and so needed training in fighter tactics. Darley then spent some 14 days with them at Toungoo. “I was astonished to see many of them making approaches to the runway at some 120 mph, a number of whom then disappeared into the jungle unable to slow down after landing. Aircraft and spares were at a premium, so I demonstrated that an approach at 85 and 90mph was quite safe and less costly. After that they listened to me. It was no help that the three US air arms had three different views on fighter tactics.” In December 1941 he was again in Burma inspecting progress on the Operations Room, and on 8 December (Sunday) boarded an Imperial Airways flying boat for Singapore. The night stop was to be at Bangkok, but at mid-morning the captain announced that a Japanese invasion of Thailand precluded this, and he would return to Rangoon. The next day they changed aircraft for a longer-range flying boat heading to Singapore, refuelled in the Andaman Islands, spending the night at Sabang in North Sumatra. Taking off early on 10th December, they landed at Singapore at midday. “I hastened to the Fighter Operations Room, to find a Buffalo squadron taking off in response to a belated call for assistance for the Prince of Wales and Repulse off Kuantan. These had left Singapore in the evening of 9 December, without arranging for possible fighter assistance. After Japanese air detection, both ships turned south at 00:10hrs on 10th December. The first call for fighter protection was not received until 12:04 hrs from Repulse, although Prince of Wales was torpedoed at 11:44 hrs and Repulse at 12:23, sinking at 12:33hrs. Prince of Wales was abandoned at 13:10hrs. The fighter squadron took off at 12:26hrs arriving at 13:20hrs with little fuel. Naval radio silence and their lack of prior concerted plans frustrated earlier support from the RAF.” He was then posted to command an Australian Air Force base, Ipoh airfield in Northern Malaya which had only a few serviceable Buffaloes and little hope of repairing the remainder. They had no option but to withdraw south to Kuala Lumpur, which had been bombed on 21 December. The remaining Buffaloes were withdrawn to Singapore as maximum air cover was required for the arrival of transport shipping carrying Army personnel diverted from the Middle East. “On 10th January 1942 I made my usual morning visit to Corps Headquarters only to find that they had completely evacuated the area without any warning to me. Communications to AHQ at Singapore then being nil, I drove down there, some 200 miles, early in the morning of 11th January, and asked to be briefed on present and probable events, in particular when and how many Hurricanes were expected and their future location. This prompted me to advise my colleague in the Fighter Operations Room to warn his civilian outposts of Observer Corps of an impending withdrawal to Singapore and returned to Kuala Lumpur that evening after a 400-mile round-trip. I heard that the Japanese had crossed the Slim River on 7th January 1942, with an open road to Kuala Lumpur.” The next morning he informed his heads of section of his withdrawal plan and all personnel left the next morning by the airfields own transport. He retained a small group of armourers to attach fuse wires to the pre-positioned drums of gelignite in holes in the airfield surface which were demolished. They blew up the fuel installations, and then saw a steam roller used by a group of New Zealand Army engineers to construct aircraft shelters. “its pace was well below that of the Japanese advance! So we crammed it full of gelignite and surplus ammunition, lit the fuses and retired. The result was spectacular – no engine left but pieces then began to descend upon us as thunderbolts!”. They then departed, leaving a booby trap on the chain of his lavatory. With Central Malaya abandoned, Darley returned to Headquarters No.224 Group in Singapore before joining No.225 Group on 16th January 1942 in Sumatra, setting up an operations system at P.2 Airfield near Palembang, Sumatra. With the withdrawal from Singapore beginning on 27th January, Darley established a fighter operations centre in early February, tasking sorties with newly-arrived Hurricanes diverted from the Western Desert. “On 1st February 226 (Fighter) Group was formed at Palembang town and as the diverted Hurricanes became operational they flew in groups to this airfield, known as P.1. A few days later I was posted from Singapore to 226 Group arriving by sea and found as usual that I was expected to form a fighter operations centre for the third time from scratch, i.e. a house with one large empty room, no communications, no staff and in a foreign country. However, knowing that Palembang was a garrison town, I called upon the Dutch Army HQ for help which came at once. A vacated furnished house, trestle tables and maps, with telephones to my Group Headquarters and the fighter airfield. My urgent need was R/T communication with the few Hurricanes at airfield P.1 which had been flown from Singapore, where they had been depleted by being outnumbered from 6 – 1 to. 15 – 1. Our Dutch friends merely commandeered a civilian type receiver from the nearest shop. The transmitter was more of a problem until they realised that oil tanker convoys on the Moesi River, which connected Palembang oil refinery with the Banka Straits, some 50 miles north, were controlled to one-way traffic by R/T at the refinery. I obtained our R/T aircraft frequencies, found that the refinery control room could accept them and connected a telephone to them from my Ops Room. When I wished to transmit to our fighters, all I had to do was to ask for “transmit”, receive confirmation from control, and that is how we operated the air defence of the oil refinery urgently needed by the Japanese as part of their war objectives”. On the morning of 14th February following reports of an invasion fleet, Darley ordered the Hurricanes to patrol the Banka Straits, but low broken cloud prevented a sighting, but whilst returning to P.1 they were attacked by Zero fighters. “At this juncture I received reports of 200 paratroops descending on P.1, and over the R/T I ordered all P.1 aircraft not to land at base but at P.2. In the middle of this fracas 4 more Hurricanes from Java tried to land at P.1 without prior notice nor correct R/T frequencies. The ground crews at P. 1, alert to the situation told the pilots to go to P. 2 but some of them required refuelling. So more Hurricanes were lost. My telephone contact with P. 1 was then cut, and so I drove to HQ 226 Group in the town, collected another officer and two airmen with rifles (only one man in twelve had one due to an acute shortage) and we set off to P.1 to ascertain the situation. Soon after turning off the hard road to the dirt track through rubber plantations to P.1, we were fired on, plus grenades. To avoid this ambush we returned to the main road where we met a Dutch army unit. We warned them and returned to Group HQ where we were told that it was in retreat to P.2, and where I was to organise the remaining fighters. Intending to retrieve some essential kit from my quarters, I had to pass by the ferry which was the only link across the river that split Palembang in half, linking it with southern Sumatra. There was absolute turmoil; lorries full of personal kit, crowds of airmen, but no officers. All P.1 staff, except for some pilots, were, of course, ambushed there. I stopped, fired two revolver shots in the air and produced peace. I called all senior NCO’s forward, told them to form squads of 10 men each with rifles (again a shortage) and at once put them as guards on the ferry bridge, deck and engine room preventing the crew from deserting. Then, to my horror, ambulances began to arrive without warning, full of patients. I saw no doctors or other officers. I ordered all lorries to be emptied, replaced by patients and for them to be ferried across and thence down the road to P.2. I also told another armed guard to take over the rail terminus on the far side of the river serving the south to prevent any trains from leaving.” As the ambulances emptied, he sent them back to the hospital for more patients and extra bedding until none were left. In the meantime he transferred the unarmed airmen to the far side, to look after the patients and occupy vacant space on the tyransport to P.2. “In the evening I, still a solitary officer, and a handful of men, were left on the wrong side of the river by ourselves; we crossed by the ferry, thanked the crew for their help and the men joined a lorry whilst I sat in the front of an ambulance to direct the driver to P.2. A few miles down the road one patient asked for his position on his stretcher to be altered so we stopped to help him. Whilst doing this a panic stricken Dutchman in a car hit us from behind; the patient was saved but the rest of us suffered minor injuries, mine being a sprained ankle. I explained to the driver in explicit English what I thought of him.” Arriving at P.2, darley went to the Operations Room and took over the briefing and control of the remaining fighters. The next morning saw Japanese sea activity 50 miles from Palembang. Weather prevented fighter sorties but as it cleared and more reports came in it was evident that a convoy of troop landing launches was on its way towards the town’s oil refineries with the assistance of the previous days paratroops. The convoy was bombed as the weather cleared and Hurricane sorties were directed against it, although the weather was still unsettled with low cloud. “The first sortie took off about 11:00 hrs, found open barges full of troops in a column some two miles long moving up river. They wreaked immense casualties with their eight guns without guns without any Zero fighter opposition, probably due to the weather. On landing at P.2 the Hurricanes were serviced, taken over by fresh pilots which resulted in another sortie of carnage without air opposition. It was of some satisfaction to all of us at P.2 that we had in some small part avenged the surrender and capitulation of Singapore on those two days 14th and 15th February 1942.” Warned by the Dutch that Palembang town could not be defended P.2 was evacuated. All serviceable aircraft were flown to Java, and personnel were moved by rail and road to Oesthaven in southern Sumatra, where the SS Yoma had arrived with now unwanted military supplies. Having embarked all personnel, she set sail north through the Soenda Straits between Sumatra and Java to Batavia, where RAF reviews decided upon the numbers of aircrew and groundcrew required to maintain existing aircraft in Java, together with the Dutch forces. The remainder were allocated to ships in the harbour or sent to a port in south Java, all destined for Australia. “We then heard that a British and a Dutch warship had been attacked and sunk in the Java Sea so a safe passage was doubtful. I was destined for Australia.” And so he left Java. “On re-embarking in the “Yoma” I found a motley collection of all three services, detachments of their Nursing services, elements of the BBC and many women with their children. All the deck crew and part of the engine room staff had deserted, and the ships master asked for assistance. Scratch crews were soon forthcoming and just enough steam was raised for the ship to limp out of port, being barely able to maintain steerage. We passed back through the Soenda Straits but then to my astonishment she turned to the west and not the east. In reply to my query the captain stressed that he and his crew had not seen Glasgow for many a long year, and that going to Australia did not appeal to him (nor me, preferring the Middle East war). So that was that, and I turned my attention to creating some law and order among the passengers. Later I heard that many of the ships bound for Australia were sunk by Japanese naval action at the cost of many women and children.” As senior Officer aboard, Darley assumed command of all service personnel. “I then realised that I was sadly lacking in clothing, not being able to retrieve my kit in Palembang and could only buy underwear in Batavia. So at night I rinsed out my one shirt and one pair of shorts, and hoped they might be presentable by morning; somehow I was presented with spares to preserve my dignity.” Eventually the ship reached Colombo, whereupon they were directed to Bombay and moored in the harbour from where George hired a launch to Ballards Quay and a taxi to the Bombay Army embarkation officer “to discover our future, giving him details of my passenger list. He promised to send a party by launch at 09:00 hrs the next day to clear us medically and then to sort out my complicated problem. I was thus able to re-assure all passengers on my return. The next day after two hours of embarkation staff indolence, I hired all launches around us, filled them with furious women, ushered them into taxis, drove to the Embarkation Office, ascended the stairs, poured them into the C.O.’s office, shut the door and listened outside – most enlightening! A somewhat distraught Army Colonel finally emerged demanding to know who sent them in. I pointed to my rank markings saying “remember me from yesterday? Or do you wish me to refer this matter higher?” The next morning the ship was medically cleared and Yoma was berthed to a quay. They soon set sail again and docked in Karachi in mid-March 1942 where Darley left the ship. Here he was told that he had been posted to command RAF Colombo. “It was clear to me that Colombo would not be bombed again and therefore any officer of my rank would suffice for this post. So, as I was qualified as a flying instructor and with fighter experience, I pressed for a more suitable post.” Thus in April 1942 he was sent to command No.151 OTU at Risalpur, 30 miles east of Peshawar. Here the Indian Air Force was being converted from their Harts, via Harvards, to Hurricanes. “Following this conversion programme we began to receive new Indian pilots from Ambala, with their wings, also for conversion to Hurricanes. So 151 OTU, after my tuition, expanded to now require a CO in the form of a Group Captain in February 1943. Not pleased at becoming a No. 2 at my own developed station, I applied for a posting to Middle East, to actively re-enter the war. Instead I was posted to 221 Group, Calcutta, a mixed bomber and fighter group, operating over Burma and also defending India, based at Alipore, near Calcutta.” He was now Wing Commander Operations, in charge of fighter and bomber Operations over Burma and in the defence of India: “I had an interesting job, detailing bomber operations whilst keeping an eye on providing radar warning stations for Calcutta. To my great satisfaction, I found that the discrepancies in mapping between India and Burma, which I had discovered in late 1941 by a navigational survey over Burma, had been rectified. I kept “my hand in” by being invited by the Officer Commanding. Alipore Fighter Station to his weekly station conferences, and also by taking his job over when he was on leave. In the meantime, I flew into all our bomber bases in Burma to discuss any snags in the pipeline.” In June 1943 Darley was promoted to Group Captain and again assumed command of No.151 OTU at Risalpur. In early 1944 he moved 151 OTU from to Peshawar, some 30 miles west, which had a permanent runway. Here he was invited to become a committee member of the prestigious Peshawar Club, possessed of a long military history. In early June his three-year tour overseas had ended, and he embarked on a troopship for the UK, arriving at Liverpool in July and taking command of No.62 OTU at Ouston near Newcastle in August after a rest. On one occasion 62 OTU were due to play rugby against a local RAF Station who failed to turn up. On returning to the mess they were asked by the WAAF netball team if they would help them train. Whilst jumping for the ball together with a WAAF, Darley fell awkwardly and severed his achilles tendon. An operation and a month in hospital followed, as did a return to duty with a plaster cast and crutches. Shortly afterwards it was discovered that Marjorie was pregnant, and George was selected for a course at the new RAF Staff College at Bracknell. Due to delays in opening, Darley was instead posted to command RAF Cranfield in June which was filled with troops from the Dominions awaiting repatriation. In August 1945 the Staff College opened. Marjorie moved to her mothers in London and George I rented a house in Sunningdale. Their son David was born on 2nd November 1945 and in due course they all settled at Sunningdale. The course finished by the end of February 1946 and he was subsequently posted as Senior Air Staff Officer to No. 12 Gp of Fighter Command located at Watnall. While here he was instrumental in finding a nearby modern station with an airfield within another Command was to be vacated. He inspected it and recommended that 12 Group HQ and its transport wing be moved there, which was done. He was then posted in October 1946 to command RAF Wittering with squadrons of Hornets and Spitfires as a Wing Comander. “The reason given was, being only 33 I was too young to be a Group Captain and occupy such a senior post, in spite of my longer experience than many of my named successors.” Once at Wittering he acquired a full grand Beckstein piano, the playing of which he was rather accomplished at. Here he improved the catering by borrowing a German cordon-bleu chef from a Prisoner of War camp and served vegetables from another inmate. He then moved to command West Malling on 2nd February 1948 in the same role as the future of Wittering was in doubt. In July he was posted to India to set up a Staff College at Wellington before returning in May 1950 to command RAF West Malling, whose CO had just been killed in a crash from 12th June, where he supervised the transition to Vampires and Meteors of four Squadrons, also becaming Controller of the Metropolitan Fighter Sector, operationally responsible for the performance of all fighter and radar stations in Kent and Essex. In July 1952 Darley was posted to the Air Ministry to initially devise and supervise air traffic control over Southeast England with Civil Aviation, and then as Deputy Director Overseas Operations in which role entailed overseas visits to Germany, dealing with Mau Mau troubles in Kenya and Communist insurgency in Malaya. In June 1954 he was posted to No.4 Flying Training School at Middleton St George (now the Teeside Airport) operating Gloster Meteor F4’s and T7’s and later Vampires, which he regarded as the “best job in the RAF; supervising the tuition of young men into competent combat pilots.” With it’s closure in June 1956 he was posted as Chief Intelligence Officer Far East in Singapore. Here he became Sub-Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee Far East and also the UK intelligence representative on the South East Asia Treaty Organisation, which entailed frequent visits throughout the Far East, the Pacific and Australia. Group Captain Darley resigned his commission in June 1959. Returning to the UK via Southampton he went once more to West Malling until his resignation was completed, officially resigning on 15th June 1959. He then attended a three-month course at Woolwich Polytechnic with other ex-officers, and was then offered a position by a major motor dealing company which proved pleasant but unrewarding. He then received an unexpected invitation from the Air Ministry to be considered for a new intelligence post in the Retired Officer category. He was accepted by the board and began 14 years service in Whitehall. Here he was eventually responsible for covering Russia, after his intelligence work in the Far East, which had included China. He retired on his 61st Birthday. During his 27-year service career Darley had flown 65 different types of aircraft and commanded 11 RAF Stations. On 21st February 1988 Marjorie died, George living until 9th November 1999.

Group Captain George Darley
Winner of the first DSO of the Battle of Britain who improved on the official tactics of Fighter Command

GROUP CAPTAIN GEORGE DARLEY, who has died aged 86, won the first DSO of the Battle of Britain after shooting down a string of enemy aircraft.
Although officially credited with destroying three enemy fighters, Darley’s true score was almost certainly much higher. His inspiring leadership of No 609 squadron resulted in 85 victories between June and October 1940, with the loss of seven pilots.
As a young squadron leader, Darley had noticed the deficiency of Fighter Command’s rules of combat. “They thought that all the fighter had to do was to get behind a bomber and go bang-bangbang,” he recalled. “They forgot to tell us that there might be enemy fighters above and their bombers had rear-gunners.”
After devising his own tactics, Darley achieved notable results with his mixed bag of pre-war weekend fliers of No 609, an Auxiliary Air Force Spitfire squadron.
He took charge of 609 on June 28 1940. Though just 26, as a regular officer he was vastly more experienced than the parttime lawyers and bankers under his command, and he set about raising their standards with individual tuition. He taught them the art of deflection shooting on a curving attack, to avoid the fire of bomber rear-gunners and to aim at the “front office” where the pilot was.
Darley reversed the accepted order of take-off by placing himself last. He deployed his Spitfires in sections of three in loose line astern, with a fourth section behind and above.
The day of August 13 1940 was among 609’s most successful. “We were sent off from Warmwell because a big raid was coming in,” Darley recalled. “Sure enough there was a gaggle of 40 or 50 Ju 87s (Stuka dive-bombers) with Me 109 fighters above.
“I attacked from down sun. I don’t think the 109s ever saw us. We shot 10 bombers down while they were still in formation and bagged three 109s too.”
Short, pugnacious and known in the squadron as “the little dynamo”, Darley cared little for red tape. When a stuffy station commander barred meals outside set hours, Darley rose at 3 am, got the kitchen going, and served eggs and bacon for pilots on dawn patrol.
Horace Stanley Darley, always known as George, was born, in London on November 3 1913, and educated at Emanuel School, Wandsworth Common, where he excelled at rugby, rowing, swimming, fives and shooting at Bisley. He traced his
ancestry to the de Derle family, which bred horses for the cavalry of William the Conqueror.
After obtaining Certificate A in the Officers’ Training Corps, Darley was commissioned into the RAF in 1932. The next year he was posted to No 207, a bomber squadron with Fairey Gordon biplanes at Bircham Newton in Norfolk.
In 1935 he joined No 8, a Fairey 111F Squadron in Aden soon re-equipped – to Darley’s relief – with the Vickers Vincent biplane bomber, a more reliable aircraft for patrolling the rugged terrain.
When Italian troops occupied Abyssinia, Darley was detached to Somaliland to assist Camel Corps border patrols. He recalled: “We spent nights at unguarded RAF strips, sleeping on camp beds under our wings, pulling mosquito nets around us and hoping to keep roaming lions,at bay. All good Boy Scout stuff!”
Darley returned home at the end of 1936, qualified as an instructor, and served successively as adjutant and instructor with Nos 602 (City of Glasgow) and 611 West Lancashire Auxiliary Air Force squadrons.
At the outbreak of war, Darley was a fighter operations controller at Debden, Essex, moving in April 1940 to a similar post at Merville in France with No 63 Wing of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force.
Evacuated after the fall of France, he flew three sorties with the Spitfires of No 65 Squadron, based at Hornchurch, Essex, before taking command of No 609, defending London at Northolt.
After the Battle of Britain, Darley, not yet 27, was promoted wing commander to take charge of the fighter station at Exeter. In May 1941 he was posted to Air HQ, Far East, in Singapore, with the brief of creating an air defence system for Singapore, Malaya, Burma and Hong Kong, as well as liaising with the Americans in the Philippines and the Dutch in Java.
He was returning from a Burma inspection aboard an Imperial Airways flying boat on December 8 when the captain announced that Japan had invaded Thailand.
Unable to refuel at Bangkok, the flyingboat returned to Rangoon, where Darley and his passengers transferred to a longer range flying boat bound for Singapore. They arrived there as Japanese aircraft were sinking the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse off Kuantan, Malaya.
On January 7 1942, Darley organised an RAF withdrawal from Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, to Singapore in the face of the advancing Japanese. After arranging destruction of the airfield, he attached an explosive booby trap to the chain of his office lavatory.
When the withdrawal from Singapore began on January 27, Darley established a fighter operations centre at Palambang, on Sumatra, and organised Hurricane sorties until Palambang became indefensible.
After surviving a road ambush, Darley boarded a merchant ship, which though ordered to Australia, altered course for India at the whim of her master, who explained that he and his crew had been away from their home port of Glasgow for far too long. In mid-March, en route for Scotland, the master put Darley ashore at Karachi, from where he was posted to command No 151 Operational Training Unit at Risalpur on the North West Frontier. The next year he was appointed Wing Commander Operations at No 221 Group, responsible from Calcutta for fighter and bomber activities over Burma and defending India.
In June 1943, Darley returned to Risalpur as a group captain; he was delighted to find that his chief ground instructor, serving as a squadron leader, was the former Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Smith-Barry of the Royal Flying Corps, father of flying instruction in the RAF. Darley returned home in the summer of 1944 to command No 62 OTU at Ouston near Newcastle. The next year he moved to command RAF Cranfield and afterwards to the new RAF staff college at Bracknell. There followed appointments as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at No 12 Group Fighter Command and station commander at Wittering, Hunts, where he improved the food by unofficially borrowing a German PoW cordon bleu chef from a camp and serving vegetables grown by another PoW.
In 1948, after briefly commanding RAF West Malling in Kent, Darley was seconded for two years to the Indian Air Force to establish a staff college at Wellington near Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills.
He returned to West Malling to supervise the transition of four fighter squadrons to Vampire and Meteor jets.
In 1952 Darley was appointed deputy director of overseas operations at the Air Ministry. He was busily involved with measures and overseas visits to deal with Man Man troubles in Kenya and Communist terrorism in Malaya. In 1954 he was appointed commander of No 4 Flying Training School, returning to what he regarded as “the best job in the RAF: supervising the tuition of young men into competent combat pilots”.
Finally, he was posted to Singapore as chief intelligence officer in the Far East Air Force, returning in 1956 to be re-employed as a retired officer handling intelligence in Whitehall. He married, in 1939, Marjorie Knowles, who died in 1988. They had a son.”
Daily Telegraph. Obituaries. 25th November 1999