Part II of the story !

I tell you I can’t find or read enough about this dangerous low level mission: A tribute in my way of saying thanks to some very brave men ! It is amazing ..well at least to me that I have meet & talked to so many WW II pilots here..mostly Eighth AF…& of course 352nd FG men…who after they got out of the service never got behind the wheel or stick of a military aircraft again. No interest in pleasure flying as well.

We Will Remember !

BlueNoser352!

he Resistance movement had asked for British intervention to save the condemned men. Many had been arrested by the Germans for helping crashed Allied airmen get back through occupied France to Britain.

Fowler says the air crews had been briefed on the aim of the raid and were well aware of its purpose. The outcome, all agreed, was “highly successful”, as 258 prisoners escaped.

Some of the escapers were common criminals. Some were re- captured. Some prisoners died in the bombing. A few were shot by the Germans as they tried to get away. Fifty Germans were killed in the raid, as some of the planes targeted the quarters where they were having lunch. Two Mosquitoes and two fighter escorts were shot down.

If the raid had failed, more Mosquitoes were ready for a second attack with the aim of destroying the prison. It was said the Resistance fighters would rather die from British bombs than German bullets.

Kiwis played a big part in the raid, as Number 487 New Zealand Squadron was detailed to attack the eastern and northern walls of the prison. Number 464 Australian Squadron followed the Kiwis, bombing the ends of the prison and the German quarters.

This action was a giant step for Fowler, a former Stewart Island postmaster. He grew up on the family farm at Arrowtown, where his father died at a young age. He left Gore High School at 15 and worked in a Dunedin shop before joining the Post Office. He was manning the small Stewart Island office when war broke out.

A joyride in a plane at Frankton, near Queenstown, had sparked a desire to fly. The war provided his opportunity. At 21, he enlisted in the Air Force.

The Post Office transferred him to Kaitangata, near Balclutha, while he awaited his call-up, which came in late 1941. Following basic training, he was shipped to Canada, and then England.

Number 487 Squadron was flying Venturas before the new Mosquitoes became available. Fowler flew operations in Venturas but was on leave one day in May, 1943, when 10 of its planes were lost on a disastrous mission to Amsterdam.

“I could have been with them,” he says, with a distant look.

The Mosquitoes came soon after. They were faster, lighter and more manoeuverable – “a great plane to fly, a real pleasure after the Ventura, more like a fighter, with fingertip controls.”

Operations consisted mainly of low-diving bomb attacks on German rocket launching sites in France and the Low Countries. Fowler remembers also attacking key road intersections on D-Day, to hinder German military movements as Allied troops poured ashore in the Normandy invasion. In following days, he supported the Allied advance with attacks on roads and convoys.

Fowler enjoyed the strong feeling of comradeship in the squadron. The New Zealanders mixed well with men of other nationalities. His Ventura crew included a Canadian, an American and an Australian. His navigator in the two-man Mosquito was a Canadian, with whom he kept in touch for a few years after the war.

When he completed his “tour” he was offered release from active duty but was asked to carry on, which he did. However, on his 34th mission, a good mate was killed and Fowler decided “it was time to go”.

He did a course in gunnery, then trained new pilots in Spitfires, shooting at drogues (inflatable targets) towed by Wellington bombers. The best part was getting the chance to fly Spitfires, he says.

His love of flying was sated by the time war ended and he never flew again. Returning home in 1945, he missed his mates and brooded over the horrors of war. For nine months he stayed on the family farm to adjust to normal life.

12

Always Like The Gerald Coulson Print

http://www.aviationart.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_paint_info&products_id=40

and the Walls Came Tumbling Down.

Image size: 28″ wide x 18 1/2″ high.

FREE VIDEO WITH EACH PRINT

In March 1944, a combined force of RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and RCAF aircrew flew one of the most hazardous daylight bombing raids of WWII. In atrocious weather their Mosquitoes and Typhoons flew an ultra-low level mission to ‘spring’ French Resistance fighters from the Amiens prison, then under control of the Gestapo.

With snow still falling nineteen Mosquitoes – eighteen Mk VI fighter-bombers of 140 Wing and one Mk IV PRU took-off from RAF Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, at 1055 hours on 18 February 1944. Their job was the breach the walls of the Amiens Prison and free Resistance Leaders leading up to D-Day – the Allied invasion of Europe.

First to attack were the five Mosquitos of 487 Squadron led by W/C I S Black Smith. Their task was to breach the twenty-foot high, three-foot thick outer wall at both the eastern and northern sides of the prison.

Following closely were five Mosquitoes of 464 Squadron, and a sixth Mosquito from 487 piloted by G/C P C Pickard. Led by W/C Bob Iredale, their task was to breach the main building and destroy the guard’s quarters at the east and west ends of the prison. It was intended that the cell doors would be sprung open by concussion from the bomb blasts, allowing the prisoners to escape.

One of the RAF’s most celebrated airmen was overall Commander of the raid, G/C P C Pick Pickard. He was last over the prison – the exact moment captured in Gerald Coulson’s remarkable painting – just seconds before the delay fuse bombs exploded.

Resistance Leader Dominique Ponchardier sent this message to London in March 1944:

“I thank you in the name of our comrades for the bombardment of the prison. We were not able to save all. Thanks to the admirable precision of the attack the first bomb blew in nearly all doors and 150 prisoners escaped with the help of the civilian population. Of theses, 12 were to be have been shot on February 19. In addition, 37 prisoners were killed, some of them by German machine-guns, and 50 Germans were also killed.”

The Imperial War Museum, in conjunction with the B.B.C., has graciously allowed the distributor of the unique Limited Edition print to reproduce the same limited number of video tapes of the original film taken by Plt. Off. Lee Howard of Operation Jericho. The video includes post-raid interviews with aircrew and escapees.

850 signed and numbered prints.

THE SIGNATURES:
Squadron Leader Wg Cdr I S Smith, Pilot: EG*R 487 Sqn.
Plt Off Maxwell N Sparks, Pilot: EG*T 487 Sqn.
Plt Off Arthur C Dunlop, Navigator: EG*T 487 Sqn.
Flt Lt B D ‘Tich’ Hanafin,Flight Leader Pilot: EG*Q 487 Sqn.
Plt Off C Frank Redgrave, Navigator: EG*Q 487 Sqn.
Plt Off D R Bob Fowler, Pilot: EG*J 487 Sqn.
Wg Cdr R W Bob Iredale, Squadron Leader Pilot: SB*F 464 Sqn.
Sqn Ldr A Ian McRitchie, Flight Leader Pilot: SB*T 464 Sqn.
Flt Lt Tom McPhee, Pilot: SB*V 464 Sqn.
Flt Lt Geoffrey W Atkins, Navigator: SB*V 464 Sqn.
Flt Lt D A ‘Buck’ Taylor, Flight Leader Pilot: YH*D 21 Sqn.
Flt Lt Arthur E C Wheeler, Pilot: YH*C 21 Sqn.
Flt Lt G Ian Mallett, Flight Leader Pilot: XP*R 174 Sqn.
Flt Sgt Frank E Wheeler, Pilot: XP*Y 174 Sqn.
Plt Off W Don Burton, Pilot: XP*C 174 Sqn.
Flg Off Harry V Markby, Pilot: XP*A 174 Sqn.
Flt Lt E B Ted Sismore, Navigator: 2 Gp Op Navigator

Andre Pache, Amien Prison escapee
Raymond Bonpas, Amien Prison escapee

Duxford would be the ideal location for this P-38

Without question Duxford would be an ideal site for this P-38 at the American Museum Hangar as a tribute to all who fought in WW II ! I am sure those with recovery expertise in UK could pull this off. Here is South Carolina in the city of Charleston they have a similiar site like that of the Mary Rose….. The recovery of the Confederate Submarine USS Huntley . Recovered a few years ago and sits in a salt water tank ..preserved for all to see and enjoy. Truly an international recovery project …. perhaps a project like this would be possible . It sad that there is no flying P-38 in the UK today. To think of all the ones melted down and destroyed after the war…. hard to even think about that. Just hope it can be recovered before to much longer !

BlueNoser352 !

http://www.thehunley.com/

Found a copy of The Gestapo Hunters !

Thanks for the recommendation on The Gestapo Hunters…found a copy on line from an Australian Publisher …………….looks like a great & well researched book. Hope the authors we able to track down some of the pilots who flew on the raid. Nothing like hearing from first hand sources. Lezza you also recommended ” Wings Of The Nigh”…thanks will check this out as well. After The Battle issue as well and I know its stories are well researched..with photos ! Would like for some of you fine WW II RAF experts to expand on your knowledege of ” Operation Fortitude ! Wonder if any of the pilots who flew the raid are still with us ?

Thanks for the great recommendations

Jericho 1946 French film

The story line & plot !

Henri Calef’s movie is thoroughly remarkable,one of the best films dealing with WW2 ever.Based on a true story.

1944:A train full of petrol (gasoline) has stopped in the station of Amiens.The German army , still occupying France ,fears sabotage.So they decide to take 50 hostages:if the resistant fighters attack the train,they will be shot.

Brilliant scenes: The sleepy town where people hide,afraid of the boots marching in the streets.

The city council,who has got to choose the hostages .”We’ve got to put our names at the top of the list ” says the mayor.But two members are frightened and they resign their mandate.

The scenes in the jail ,where a man (Pierre Brasseur) is so afraid of dying he’d do anything to save his life,even boots-licking .”I know where the commies and the Jews are ” he shouts at the soldiers.

The scenes involving the resistance fighters :some of them do not want to carry out their mission “My parents are there in town.Your family is away,they will be safe /Of course they will be safe:my father died in WW1 and my wife was taken to Germany and beheaded”.

But it’s the long sequence in the church were the hostages are imprisoned which climaxes the film.Calef avoids the usual cliché “All French people were brave resistance fighters” :among these 50 people ,some of them rebel,they are afraid to die,they cannot stand that dawn which is inexorably approaching.In the priest’ s pulpit ,Morin (Brasseur) has turned completely mad ,his terror knows no bounds.His attitude is in direct contrast to that of Simone who bravely enters the jail between two soldiers .She too is to be shot with the fifty men.

Calef’s strength is to involve the audience in his story.What would we have done?Would we have been the bravest of the brave?Or would we have been incapable of facing the last night,the last letters to the families (3 pencils for 50 men!)and the guns? Calef’s characters are men (and a woman) it’s easy to identify with :they are human beings of flesh and blood,not heroes a la Rambo,but hostages with their weaknesses ,their doubts and their fears which never go away.In the church ,some of them suggest games,songs ,nothing works.”Jericho” is a movie without real stars ,but it achieves the feat of introducing lots of endearing characters :the one-legged man(Pierre Larquey) coming down the stairs,under the soldiers ‘ watchful eye, epitomizes the victim of the conquerors’ Barbary .

The film begins with a famous German military march during the cast and credits but ends with “it’s a long way to Tipperary ” ,a tribute to the courageous fighter pilots of the British Royal Airforce .