Australia’s War Diary

November 4-Aegean. 454 Squadron moves to Berka 111 near Benghazi. From here, it maintains its long range reconnaissance patrols over the Aegean. The squadron will suffer several losses in November, probably the victims of Bf 109s. A Baltimore flown by F/O Ryleton and crew is intercepted over the Aegean by four 109s fitted with long range tanks. He manages to return in his badly shot up aircraft with a wounded gunner aboard. Ryleton will later receive the DFC. November 5 – New Guinea. During a predawn takeoff on Kiriwina Island, F/Sgt Ian ‘Kid’ Callister of 79 (Spitfire) Squadron is killed and W/Cdr “Wolf” Arthur, CO of 75 (Kittyhawk) Squadron is badly burned when their aircraft collide. Just five days ago Callister had scored 79’s first kill by destroying a Tony north of the island.

November 7-Italy. No 3 Squadron, led by the CO, S/Ldr Brian Eaton, carries out an anti shipping strike on Split harbour on the Yugoslavian coast. A 4000 tonne ship is left sinking by the stern. A second vessel is bombed and a jetty and slipway is severely damaged. The squadron returns late in the afternoon, scoring a direct hit on a 4000 tonne vessel and two near misses on a 1500-2000 tonne ship.

November 9-Bay of Biscay. The Sunderland of F/OJ Dobson and crew of 461 Squadron sustains nine attacks by four Ju 88s before he can withdraw some 110km to the west and the enemy abandons the chase.

November 12 – Australia. The final raid on Darwin is conducted by nine Betty bombers in the predawn against Parap, Adelaide River and Batchelor. Searchlights help F/O J Smithson of 457 Squadron in destroying two. Smithson will receive a DFC for the action. In nine months of combat, the Spitfires of No 1 Fighter Wing have destroyed 65 enemy aircraft for the loss of 44 aircraft and 15 pilots in combat. Italy. After a lull because of poor weather, 3 Squadron Kittyhawks bomb and strafe the German aerodrome at Iesi, damaging several aircraft and motor vehicles.

November 13-Australia. RAAF Headquarters creates No 10 (Operational) Group consisting of 77 Wing (divebombers) and 78 Wing (fighters). The Group as a whole comes under the control of 9 (Operational) Group. November 16 Burma. Yellow Section of 615 Squadron intercepts a reconnaissance Dinah. F/O Kevin Gannon, in Spitfire MA338 shootsit down between the villages of Kalyandi and Senbig, some 80km northwest of Chittagong. Australia. A new Japanese airstrip has been found at Doka Barat in the Aru Islands. Because the RAAF’s PRU Lightning is out of action, Beaufighter A19-148 of 31 Squadron has its forward entry-escape hatch removed and a plate to mount a vertical F24 camera fitted in its place. Because the Beaufighter will operate at 25,000 feet (7600m), oxygen bottles are requisitioned and all armaments are removed to reduce weight. The sortie is flown by W/Cdr F Mann & P/O R Harber. Over Doka Barat they can see Taberfane and the trails of floatplanes taking off from the lagoon. The Australians assume that, like the Beaufighters, no floatplanes will be fitted with oxygen and an attack by aircraft at such a height is deemed unlikely, but they are wrong. Without guns for defence and finding it hard to breathe, Mann turns for Coomalie, weaving in and out of cloud chased by several Rufes. Fortunately, the enemy air- craft are kept out of firing range, so A19-148 returns after a 41⁄2 hour flight with a good set of photographs. Afterwards, Mann learns from his fitter that the flexible tube for the oxygen had been almost blocked by a wasps’ nest. Atlantic. No Allied ships are lost to U-boats in the North Atlantic during November but eight submarines are destroyed while waiting along the convoy routes. Five are the victims of naval escorts but today F/O J Bookless of 86 Squadron RAF, while patrolling around a convoy, sinks the U-280. Heavy AA fire cripples one engine and damages the Liberator’s port wing in the first of Bookless’ two attacks. The U-boat submerges on an even keel, apparently only damaged, but founders soon afterwards.

November 17-25-New Guinea. Australian troops fight for and finally take Sattelberg, north of Finschhafen. They pursue the Japanese along the coast of the Huon Peninsula, taking Bonga and Gusika on the 29th.

November 18/19 – Britain. RAF Bomber Command begins an all-out assault on Berlin. Sir Arthur Harris will be allowed, with only small exceptions, a completely free hand in pursuing this main objective for the next 4 months. Bomber Command will mount 32 major raids on Germany during this time, 16 on Berlin and 16 on other large cities. Tonight, 440 Lancasters and four Mosquitoes are dispatched and of these nine Lancasters are lost. A major diversionary raid is made against Mannheim. The German capital is completely cloud covered so both marking and bombing are carried out blindly. The campaign’s first RAAF casualties are F/Sgt J Gibson and crew of 460 Squadron in Lancaster DV341, AR-C2. 160’s W/O W Taggart collides with another Lancaster, causing heavy damage to his port outer engine and starboard wingtip, whilst P/O J English is hit by heavy flak. Both return safely.

November 19-Britain. Notification is received by 455 Sqn that it is to convert from Hampdens to Beaufighter Mk X aircraft. Torpedo carrying will still be their duty. This will involve a big change of personnel as Beaufighters carry only two crew members, a pilot and a navigator/wireless operator, instead of the normal Hampden crew of four. The Hampden has served well, but is no longer a first line weapon. The change of aircraft is accepted without regret. November 21-Australia. Six Beaufighters of 31 Squadron escort six Mitchells at Maikoor to act as top cover. Japanese fighter defence is active. Going to the aid of another Beaufighter, S/Ldr Reg Gordon attacks a Rufe head-on. It crashes 500 metres offshore. Another is shot down by F/Sgt D Ferguson & P/O R Blades in A19-16. Although all the Beaufighters return to Millingimbi to refuel, F/Sgt H Gaunt and P/OT Jones in A19-145 go missing without trace before reaching Coomalie.

Waddington, Lincs. It is initially manned by an entire flight, Lancasters and all, from its sister unit, 467 Squadron, also based at Waddington.

November 26-Germany. At Insterburg, East Prussia, Adolf Hitler sees a demonstration of the prototype Me 262 jet fighter. He orders it to be mass produced as a bomber! Mediterranean. An Hs 293 glider bomb hits the British troop-ship Rohna off Bougie, Algeria. 1115 are killed. November 26/27-Britain. 443 Lancasters and seven Mosquitoes attack Berlin and a diversionary force raids Stuttgart. 28 Lancasters are lost, and 14 more crash in England. 460 Sqn loses F/Sgt E Stone and crew. Most bombs fall northwest of the city centre on semi industrial suburbs. 38 war industry factories are destroyed and many more damaged. The Berlin Zoo is heavily damaged. Several dangerous animals – leopards, panthers, jaguars, apes – escape and have to be hunted and shot in the streets. In what must be a record, six Lancasters from 463 Squadron take part in the raid, just one night after the unit’s inception as a part of 5 Group. By way of an introduction to operations, one of its Lancasters fails to return but another crew claims a Ju 88 destroyed. Burma. In spite of bad weather, 13 Wellingtons of W/Cdr Dereck French’s 215 Squadron RAF raid the marshalling yards of Rangoon. They score hits and encounter light AA fire over the target. On returning, one Wellington crashes 3km from base, killing the captain and bomb aimer. Two Australians in the crew, W/O J Stevens and Sgt J Pritchard, escape with slight injuries.

November 28- Iran. The Teheran Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin discuss the Second Front. New Guinea. F/Sgt Archie Moore of 79 Squadron in Spitfire UP-E destroys a Dinah on reconnaissance approaching November 29 – Bay of Biscay. Appalling bad weather has Kiriwina island. hampered 461 Squadron’s anti submarine patrols throughout the autumn and into the winter. No U-boats have been en- countered. Today, marauding Ju 88s find Sunderland JM676/ November 22/23-Britain. Berlin is the target for 764 air-2-P and shoot it down. Lost are D Howe and crew. craft, the greatest force sent to Berlin so far and the last weather. Led by S/Ldr Eaton, six aircraft of 3 Sqn patrol Italy. First air operations since the 22nd because of which Stirlings are sent to Germany (5 out of 50 are lost). over forward areas to provide close support for the 8th Army. Bad weather grounds most German fighters. 26 bombers are lost. This is, in fact, the most effective raid on Berlin of the The Kitty hawks bomb and strafe two gun emplacements with a network of trenches. F/O Raffen’s Kittyhawk is struck by AA fire and he crashlands behind Allied lines. He will return to the squadron on the 30th. Meanwhile, 450 Sqn is re-equipped with Kittyhawks Mark IVs. Although considerably lighter than the Mark III, it is capable of carrying 900kg (2000lbs) of war. A vast area of destruction is created from the central districts westwards to the separate suburb city of Spandau. Several firestorms generate a smoke cloud 6000m high. Most of the crews of 460 Sqn report a particularly large orange explosion through the clouds. F/Sgt A Lynch’s Lancaster is attacked by a Fw 190 over the target, but his two gunners, P/Os D Alexandratos and L Lawler, drive it off after a sharp ex- change. A Lancaster of 467 Sqn suffers engine failure while taking off and crashes through a brick building. Only three crew members are injured but bombs and wreckage are scattered over an area adjacent to the Waddington bomb dump. Ignoring the igniting incendiary bombs and the possibility of the fuel tanks exploding, P/O W Fishburn, 467’s armament officer, defuses the main bombs and with an emergency squad prevents the flames from reaching the bomb dump. November 23/24-Britain. 383 aircraft continue the attack on Berlin. German controllers make an early identification of Berlin as the probable target and gather their single engined fighters over the city. 20 aircraft-all Lancasters-are lost, two of them from 460 Squadron, F/Sgts R Brown and M Freeman and their crews. On his first operation, F/Sgt C “Pop” Fulloon’s Lancaster is hit by heavy flak in both wings and fuselage, but he brings his aircraft back to base safely. Many crews aim their bombs through the cloud at the glow of major fires still burning from the previous night.

November 25-Britain. No 463 Squadron RAAF is formed at bombs, the same capacity as a twin engined Boston. November 29/30- Britain. Due to bad weather, 464 Squadron flies no operations until the third week of November when two detachments of four aircraft from the Squadron begin night Intruder sorties over France, Holland and Belgium, from RAF Stations Ford and Bradwell Bay. Four airfields are bombed on separate occasions without loss but tonight Mosquito LR258 (P/O A Barry & F/Sgt D Walsh) is seen to crash into the sea off Bognor Regis. November 30 – New Guinea. No 22 (Boston) squadron has now completed 12 months in New Guinea. It has carried out 133 bombing missions totalling 638 sorties, dropped 328 tonnes (725,2301b) of bombs and expended 606,550 rounds of ammunition for the loss of 12 aircraft on operations with 13 aircrew killed, 10 missing and six wounded. In view of the fact that the squadron has never had more than 12 aircraft, with a maximum of nine serviceable at any one time, the number of operations carried out has been highly satisfactory. Maintenance facilities have been meagre, parts scarce, and no new aircraft had been made available to the squadron for the first ten months. Ground crews have done well to keep so many of the Bostons fit for operations for so long.