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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2012 17:00:33 GMT 12
Just looked it up, when Bill arrived by ship at Freetown, Sierra Leone on being posted to Africa, he was assigned there as CO of No. 250 Squadron with the task of taking the newly arrived squadron across to Cairo.
They went by Pan Am DC-3 to Takoradi, and it seems the squadron were to pick up their fighters there and head to Cairo. Bill had no confidence in the Dakota crew and wanted out of the whole deal. He managed to offload himself to a new role when he heard there was a force-landed Hurricane in the bush in Nigeria so he left the squadron and drove out with a couple of others and they fixed it up and he flew it onto Kano where it went u/s again so he grabbed another Hurricane there and carried on. On arrival at Cairo he was then posted onto No. 229 Squadron.
So that is his very brief leadership of No. 250 Squadron, as a transit CO and nothing else.
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Post by errolmartyn on Feb 3, 2012 17:53:02 GMT 12
Just looked it up, when Bill arrived by ship at Freetown, Sierra Leone on being posted to Africa, he was assigned there as CO of No. 250 Squadron with the task of taking the newly arrived squadron across to Cairo. They went by Pan Am DC-3 to Takoradi, and it seems the squadron were to pick up their fighters there and head to Cairo. Bill had no confidence in the Dakota crew and wanted out of the whole deal. He managed to offload himself to a new role when he heard there was a force-landed Hurricane in the bush in Nigeria so he left the squadron and drove out with a couple of others and they fixed it up and he flew it onto Kano where it went u/s again so he grabbed another Hurricane there and carried on. On arrival at Cairo he was then posted onto No. 229 Squadron. So that is his very brief leadership of No. 250 Squadron, as a transit CO and nothing else. 250 Sqn was never in West Africa and Kain's name does not appear on its list of COs, so it seems that his memory may have been at fault? Errol |
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Post by baronbeeza on Feb 3, 2012 18:27:12 GMT 12
If Dave is right with his notes I would be thinking the Squadron was to form in Cairo. First they had to travel to West Africa to pick-up the aircraft and then ferry them.
There was a term for supernumerary and between posting stuff though, was it something like ..... Admin, not on establishment ?
Establishment not effective ? I am sure I will be corrected soon.
He could have been posted to the CO position wef some time in the future, but was not there to take the appointment.
I have been posted to a position that I never actually took up. The posting must have been changed sometime after my posting notice but as I was overseas I was never informed.
As it was to a better a job I never queried it.
I think Bill may have thought he was posted to the CO job but he would possibly have never appeared on the establishment.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2012 18:37:13 GMT 12
Bill had been in the RAF a long time (since 1934) and had a fair bit of influence by this stage. he was good mates with Trafford Leigh Mallory and other bigwigs, so getting out of a posting if he hadn't wanted it shouldn't have been too hard for him compared with other officer I guess.
He kept stacks of his posting orders and also squadron and station DRO's, etc, which i have photocopies of. I am going through them to see if there's anything mentioning No. 250 Squadron. There's things like an order to kill all mice and rats on the unit when he lead No. 64 Squadron, and all sorts of stuff probably never in any archive!
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Post by errolmartyn on Feb 3, 2012 19:09:40 GMT 12
If Dave is right with his notes I would be thinking the Squadron was to form in Cairo. First they had to travel to West Africa to pick-up the aircraft and then ferry them. There was a term for supernumerary and between posting stuff though, was it something like ..... Admin, not on establishment ? Establishment not effective ? I am sure I will be corrected soon. He could have been posted to the CO position wef some time in the future, but was not there to take the appointment. I have been posted to a position that I never actually took up. The posting must have been changed sometime after my posting notice but as I was overseas I was never informed. As it was to a better a job I never queried it. I think Bill may have thought he was posted to the CO job but he would possibly have never appeared on the establishment. 250 Sqn was reformed (it had previously been a WWI sqn) at Aqir, Palestine, from 'K' Flight on 1 Apr 41. According to Air-Britain's RAF Flying Training and Support Units since 1912 'K' Flight had been "Reformed 31.8.40 from B Flt No.112 Sqn at Port Sudan (dett 2 a/c at Gedaref); by 11.40 [at] Summit [also in Sudan] with 12 Gladiator/Hurricane (dett Marsa Taclai by 26.3.41); Formed nucleus of 250 Sqn at Aqir 1.4.41." Tomahawk- (and later Hurricane and Kittyhawk) equipped 250 Sqn moved to Maryut, Egypt, on 25 May 41 and flew only from various bases throughout North Africa until Jul 43, when it moved to Malta, and later to Italy. Errol |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2012 21:28:17 GMT 12
I have been through all of Bill Kain's paperwork and found that “250 Sqn” is clearly written into his Record of Service in the back of one of his logbooks, dated “Jan 1942-Feb 1942 Pt Said, Egypt”
I now deduce that what actually happened was he was CO of No. 46 Squadron and his last flight with them was a “Rhubarb Hesdin” according to his logbook, on the 17th of December 1941. He boarded a troopship on 22 December and was appointed the Commanding Officer of RAF Draft “Piccadilly”, obviously the draft of Air Force men going to Africa. I have copies of orders he had on the ship, such as the list of Orderly Officers, Orderly Sergeants and Censors each day of the voyage; which men were to report for aircraft recognition classes; the Christmas Day programme; details of mail on the voyage; Messing NCO's; fitness aboard the ship, laundry, photography on the voyage, etc.
They arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the 3rd of January. He was there till the 6th of January when he boarded the Pan American Airlines DC-3 for Takoradi. His logbook notes “Bloody awful trip, miles off course. Saw a few big game.”
January 7th saw the DC-3 take him to Accra. He noted “Landed after 3 attempts, was terrified.”
January 8th was Accra to Lagos in the DC-3, “Arrived with cloud at 300 feet, 3rd “slot” down. Frightened to go on!” It was from Lagos next day he parted company with the DC-3 and took his chances driving hundreds of miles into the bush to find and fix a Hurricane so he could fly himself the rest of the way to Cairo.
He landed at Cairo on the 20th of January 1942. I reckon at this poitn he must have reported to no. 250 Sqn and been attached or something similar for Mess reasons perhaps, till being given command of No. 229 Squadron in February 1942 (first flight with them not noted by date, his logkeeping lapsed often, amazingly poor for a Regular RAF man. But then, he was the boss. He simply has “Feb and Mar” on the first page of his 229 Sqn flights, 20 in all in that month).
So it seems he was not CO of No. 250 Squadron as I'd thought, sorry, he was CO of Piccadilly draft then he joined No. 250 Squadron for a matter of weeks, non-flying, probably as a matter of paperwork only.
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Post by errolmartyn on Feb 3, 2012 21:50:56 GMT 12
Thanks for checking and providing these details, Dave.
Interesting to read those comments about his hair-raising DC-3 flights. He was probably able to relax again when he got back to combat flying!
Errol
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2012 21:59:59 GMT 12
The DC-3 crew were completely lost and in the end he and I think another RAF pilot did their navigating for them!
Bill's story is an amazing one, flying Gladiators in the No. 73 Squadron display team with Cobber Kain, and fighting alongside Cobber in France in Hurricanes, then combat in Britain, North Africa and Malta. He was in charge of Idku for a while where he had his own modified Mk V Spitfire, and also flew a lightened special spit for chasing the Ju86's. In 1944 he was back in the UK in charge of Predannack and he flew on D Day watching the Allies going back to France four years after he left. He had lots of adventures. I am slowly piecing it all together form an interview we did long ago, his documents, his photos and other sources.
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Post by angelsonefive on Feb 7, 2012 10:13:37 GMT 12
Regarding 486 (NZ) Squadron.
John Iremonger was an Englishman from Wiltshire.
Source : Tempest Pilot by S/L C.J. Sheddan DFC, RNZAF with Norman Franks.
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Post by angelsonefive on Feb 7, 2012 10:51:42 GMT 12
S/L John Greville Clouston 40218 RNZAF, of Wellington.
John Clouston was posted to No.41 Sqdn RAF ( Spitfire Mk XIIs, Tangmere) on 8/11/43 as Supernumerary Squadron Leader and left on 12/1/44.
On D-Day, 6/6/44 he was shot down over France and taken prisoner.
A truck he was being carried in was strafed by Allied planes and he was seriously wounded, and died on 21/6/44.
He was with No.165 Sqdn, RAF at the time and was, I presume, the OC.
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Post by errolmartyn on Feb 7, 2012 12:48:54 GMT 12
S/L John Greville Clouston 40218 RNZAF, of Wellington. John Clouston was posted to No.41 Sqdn RAF ( Spitfire Mk XIIs, Tangmere) on 8/11/43 as Supernumerary Squadron Leader and left on 12/1/44. On D-Day, 6/6/44 he was shot down over France and taken prisoner. A truck he was being carried in was strafed by Allied planes and he was seriously wounded, and died on 21/6/44. He was with No.165 Sqdn, RAF at the time and was, I presume, the OC. Clouston did not command either 41 or 165 Sqn. Errol |
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Post by angelsonefive on Feb 8, 2012 11:01:14 GMT 12
Thank you for the information, Errol.
I was aware that S/L Clouston did not command No.41 and I take it he was there to get experience, under supervision, in leading a squadron operationally as he was newly promoted from Flt-Lt.
I wonder what his role in 165 Sqn was then ?
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