Terry Kearns.

[fwx]

I've just come across a fantastic, detailed interview with Terry Kearns held at IWM:

www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009092

Lots of info about his wartime service, and interesting anecdotes about 75 (NZ), 156 PFF and 617 Squadrons.

Cheers, Chris

[Dave Homewood]

Interesting stuff Chris. I never knew that NZ service personnel were paid tax free during the war.

[waynem]

Very interesting, thanks for the link Chris.

[Dave Homewood]

I'm listening to more of this interview. It's very interesting but Kearns waffles a bit. I'm confused how he is talking about what Guy Gibson was like as a boss on No. 617 Squadron as if from personal experience, considering he says he was posted in during September 1943 and Gibson had left the squadron the month before.

[Dave Homewood]

Great that he mentions flying with Ken Crankshaw and his bell!

[baronbeeza]

I think Terry was probably talking about the interview he had with Guy Gibson in March or April 1943.
It is mentioned on Tape 3 between the 14 and 16 minute marks.
It seems he met up with Len Chambers down in London shortly after Len had joined 617 and Len went back up to Scampton and mentioned Kearns' name to Gibson.
Terry said some of his crew went on to join the Squadron and go on the dams raid but he did not get released until a few months later.
He had met Gibson and knew fellow crew members that had been on the squadron during the Gibson era as well.

www.ebay.ie/itm/50th-Anniversary-SAS-cover-signed-Squadron-Leader-Terry-Kearns-617-Squadron-/111331610472

Due to the casualties suffered by 617 Squadron during the Dams Raid, May 1943, Kearns was one of several skippers drafted in to bolster the squadrons strength, 'it was a new squadron being formed for a special low level operation on an unknown target - all very Hush Hush. He [Len Chambers] passed my name on to the C.O. Guy Gibson - as a recruit - but I could not get my release from instructing at Westcott/Oakley until after the Dams Raid'.

50th Anniversary of the Special Air Service cover

Certified copy No 2 of 10

signed by
Squadron Leader Richard Stansfield Derek "Terry" Kearns DSO, DFC, DFM




Terry Kearns joined Royal New Zealand Air Force, December 1940; carried out Pilot training at No.1 E.F.T.S Taieri and No.1 F.T.S. Wigram, gaining his 'Wings', 26.7.1941; arrived in England, November 1941, and undertook a refresher course at No.1 A.F.U., R.A.F. College Cranwell.

Posted to No.11 O.T.U., Bassingbourn, for conversion to Wellingtons, March 1942. Whilst at Bassingbourn Kearns formed his crew of: Navigator W.J. 'Hone' Barclay, Wireless Operator M.W. (Maurie) Egerton, and the two Gunners A.J. (Jack) Moller and H.E.A. (Buck) Price; this crew were to carry out two tours of operations together, with Kearns and Barclay flying together for most of the war.
Whilst stationed at No.23 O.T.U. the crew flew on the first 'Thousand Bomber' raid to Cologne, 30.5.1942, quickly followed by the 'Thousand Bomber' raid on Essen, 1.6.1942.

75 (NZ) Squadron


Posted for operational flying to 75 (New Zealand) Squadron (Wellingtons), Feltwell, Norfolk , 17.6.1942; and carried out 25 operational sorties with the Squadron including: Emden; Bremen (3), including 25.6.1942, 'Attacked by Three ME 110s - Evasive Action Successful' (Log Book refers); St. Nazaire, 28.6.1942, 'Very Sticky Trip - 17 x 250lbs. 2 Runs on Target - Shot Down Both Times - Flak Very Accurate in Search Light Cone - Shot Up By 'E' Boats Off French Coast - Rear Gunner Slightly Wounded'; Frisian Islands (2); Wilhemshaven; Duisberg (4); Hamburg (2), including 26.7.1942, 'Load 9 S.B.C.s - Very Busy Trip - Bombs in Target Area - Brought to OFT By Flak and Searchlights & 7 Searchlights Destroyed and One Machine Gun Nest Silenced - Good Trip'; Saarbrucken (2), including 29.7.1942, 'Load 1 x 1000lb, 7 x 500lb, 2 x 250lb. Bombs in Target - No Searchlights - Flak Weak - One Ju 88 Encountered - Close Call'; Dusseldorf; Essen; Osnabruck (2); Mainz (2); Frankfurt, 24.8.1942, 'Load 9 S.B.C.s 9lb Incendaries. Flak Intense - Searchlights Poor. Attacked By F.W. 190 Evaded Successfully'; Kassel, 27.8.1942, 'Attacked By Two Enemy Fighters. Evaded Successfully'; and Nurnburg.

156 (Pathfinder Force) Squadron

Transferred to 156 (Pathfinder Force) Squadron (Wellingtons and later Lancasters), Warboys, September 1942.
Pathfinder Force had been formed in August 1942, and 156 Squadron was one of the four squadrons to form the nucleus of the new force.

Kearns flew in 31 operational sorties with the Squadron including: Bremen; Wilhelmshaven (2), including 19.2.1943, 'Load 1 x 1000lb M.C. - 4 X 250 T.I. Bombs - 6 x 500lbs H.E.T. - Vis. Good - Hit By Flak Over Target - Returned on 3 Motors - E A/C Encountered Over A. - A. Photos. Very Interesting Trip - W/Op's Final Op.'; Essen (4); Saarbrucken; Krefeld; Genoa; Hamburg (2); Turin (3); Stuttgart; Mannheim; Duisburg; Munich (2); Lorient (2); Dusseldorf; Cologne; St. Nazaire (2); Berlin; Keil; La Spezia; and Pilsen (raid on Skoda Armaments Factory), 16.4.1943.




Once Kearns had finished his second tour, 'I completed a Flying Instructor Course and was posted back to No.11 O.T.U. now located at R.A.F. Westcott. I was an Instructor on the satellite airfield - R.A.F. Oakley - converting pilots to Wellington Aircraft before they joined the remainder of their crew at R.A.F. Westcott for advanced training. I was recalled to Operational Flying with No. 5 Group in September 1943.

617 'Dam Buster' Squadron

'My Navigator Flight Lieutenant Barclay and I joined [C Flight] No. 617 Squadron as it moved to R.A.F. Conningsby. We formed a new crew and trained to the operational requirements in Low Level Flying and Specialist attack procedures. In addition when the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight (SABS) was introduced, we trained for the delivery of the 12,000lb Blast Bomb. This was replaced by the 12,000lb Tallboy and later by Grand Slam (22,000lb). Our best effort on the practice range was - I believe - never beaten. The average error of eight practice bombs dropped from 20,000ft on Wainfleet Bombing Range was 15 yards from the Aiming Point Peg.'

Due to the casualties suffered by 617 Squadron during the Dams Raid, May 1943, Kearns was one of several skippers drafted in to bolster the squadrons strength, 'it was a new squadron being formed for a special low level operation on an unknown target - all very Hush Hush. He [Len Chambers] passed my name on to the C.O. Guy Gibson - as a recruit - but I could not get my release from instructing at Westcott/Oakley until after the Dams Raid'.

He flew his first operational sortie with the squadron, now led by Leonard Cheshire, to the Antheor Viaduct, 11.11.1943; this was the first of 30 operational sorties flown with 617 Squadron, including to 7 Special Duties Targets over December 1943-January 1944 - a series of pin-point attacks against factories in France which were reluctantly working for the German war effort, where the object was ensure maximum damage with minimum loss of French lives; other operations included: the Gnome & Rhone Aero-Engine Factory, Limoges, 9.2.1944, when Cheshire tried out his newly developed low-level marking system for the first time on operations; Aircraft Factory at Albert, 2.3.1944; La Ricamerie, 10.3.1944 'To Ball Bearing Factory St. Ettienne - 1 x 12,000lbs - Good Raid - Factory Destroyed - Bombed 7,500 feet'; Aero-Engine Factory, Metz, 15.3.1944; Michelin Tyre Factory, Clermont-Ferrand, 16.3.1944, 'Direct Hit - 1 x 12,000lb. Factory Destroyed - Landed Conningsby'; Powder Factory, Bergerac, 18.3.1944; Explosive Works, Angouleme, 20.3.1944, 'Pouderie Nationale' Explosive Works - Angouleme - Southern France. Photo A/P Factory Destroyed - Wizard Prang'; Aero-Engine Factory, Lyons (3).

He converted to Mosquitos and returned to fly, as one of the squadron's four Mosquito markers, on operations over Juvisy Railway Sidings, 18.4.1944; Railway Marshalling Yards, La Chappelle, North of Paris, 20.4.1944; Brunswick, 22.4.1944 - the first time the squadron used its low-level marking method over a heavily defended German city; Munich, 24.4.1944; German Military Barracks, Mailly- Le-Camp, 3.5.1944.

Returning to Lancasters he flew in Operation Taxable, 5/6.6.1944, as part of the D Day landings, 'Tactical Operation Causing a Diversion to Cover the Initial Landings on the Cherbourg Peninsular. Ht. 3000! - Believed Very Successful'; two days later he flew in the attack led by Cheshire on the Saumur Railway Tunnel; this was the first occasion that Barnes Wallis' new 12,000lb Tallboy bombs were used and Kearns used it to very good effect, 'Bombing Very Accurate - Load 1 x 12,000lb Tallboy - Direct Hit Tunnel Mouth. Believed Very Successful Raid' (Log Book refers); a newspaper cutting adds the following detail 'Kearns... scored a bull's eye with his 'Tallboy' - a 12,000lb earthquake bomb. He was so accurate that he obliterated the squadron commander Leonard Cheshire's marking flare, preventing other Lancaster crews from seeing their target. 'Hold on chaps,' Cheshire said. 'I'll have to mark it again'; the operation was a complete success, the tunnel was destroyed, and a German Panzer division was prevented from reaching the Allied invasion beach-head that had been established two days earlier.




Four days later Kearns was part of the operation over the Submarine Pens at Le Havre, 'Blue Flight Formation Leader - 1 x 12,000T.B. Very Good Raid - A/B Claims Direct Hit'; the next day he attacked, with the same bomb load, the 'E' Boat Pens at Boulogne; he flew two abortive sorties on a V-Weapon site at Wizernes, Pas De Calais, before carrying out his final operational sortie of the war, 25.6.1944, 'Operation to 'Siracourt' Rocket Installation - 3 Direct Hits On Installation - Flak Damage - Cat A/C. Load 1 x 12,000lb T.B.'.

Posted as Chief Flying Instructor, No. 17 O.T.U., Silverstone, October 1944; towards the end of the war he was seconded to British Overseas Airways Corporation to fly transports on the Karachi route and on 28.5.1946 he piloted the '1st BOAC Service Out of London Airport' (Log Book refers); on 8.6.1946, he helped fly a Sunderland in ' 'V' Day Fly Past In London'.

Discharged in 1947, he returned to New Zealand to complete his studies before accepting a permanent commission in the R.A.F. in 1949; posted to 3 (T) Squadron at the start of 1949, he spent the following two years at No. 1. I.T.S., flying a mixture of aircraft including Vampires and Meteors.



Posted for operational service in Malaya to 60 (Fighter) Squadron (Vampires), Tengah, December 1952; he carried out numerous 'strikes', rocket attacks and jungle reconnaissance as 'A' Flight Commander; having spent two years at Tengah he was posted back to the UK, April 1954; returned to Tengah in the Summer, and continued to serve with the squadron over the Malayan jungle until the end of July 1955.

Having taken part in 49 'strikes' with the squadron he returned to Bomber Command, and was posted to R.A.F. Lindholm, followed by No. 231 O.C.U., Bassingbourn, where he converted to Canberras; Squadron Leader 1956; posted as Flight Commander to 139 (Jamaica) Squadron (Canberras), Binbrook, January 1956; the squadron took part in the Suez Crisis, and flying from Nicosia, Kearns' Log Book gives the following: 31.10.1956, '1st Strike Inchas Airfield'; 1.11.1956, '2nd Strike Luxor Airfield'; 2.11.1956, '3rd Strike Huckster Depot'; 5.11.1956, '4th Strike Port Said, Mkr. For French Para Drop'.

Posted to H.Q. Bomber Command Communications Squadron (Meteor Flight), April 1959, and subsequently held a number of appointments including as part of the operational control of the Thor Missile Programme; in 1963 he contracted tuberculosis and was forced to retire later that year; in civilian life he went on to work for Shell, before retiring in 1980

issuu.com/spinkandson/docs/12004

I think I saw mention somewhere amongst this that Len Chambers was crewed with Ken Crankshaw for at least one op during the 75 Squadron period also.

[pythagnav]

Re Terry Kearns Sqn Ldr D.S.O D.F.C.D.F.M.

I am a Kiwi ex RNZAF, RAF  I flew for two years with Terry on Canberra B6 with 139 (Marker) Sqn
based at Binbrook including operations during the Suez Affair in 1956.  We met at RAF Bassingbourne
and as we were Kiwis opted to form a two man crew. Late in 1957 I was posted to a Vulcan Sqn and
Terry took up a post in Air Ministry. We did meet briefly during 1959 when Terry visited RAF Finningly
where I was based with 101 Sqn at the time. I trust this may help Jamie. I also knew Len Chambers
D.F.C whos family resided at Browns Bay at the end of Ww11. Len then returned with his wife to the West
Coast and sadly as I understand he passed away not long after his return to trhe Coast. From what I have
since learned Terry and Len were friends during their time with Bomber Command. I flew for seven years
as a navigator with 40 and 41 Sqdns prior to joining the RAF in 1955. I am now 88 but still fondly recall
the halcyon days of my time in the two air forces.
Regards
Graham

[baronbeeza]

Welcome to the forum Graham. That is most interesting as many of us never knew of Terry until the last couple of years.

I see you mentioned Len Chambers in your editing. You can edit by just adding to the thread itself. You can simply type in the new text or remove or whatever.
The reason block is just an option you can use to tell us what you have edited, if you wish.

[pythagnav]

May 25, 2015 15:08:47 GMT 12 pythagnav said:

Re Terry Kearns Sqn Ldr D.S.O D.F.C.D.F.M.

I am a Kiwi ex RNZAF, RAF  I flew for two years with Terry on Canberra B6 with 139 (Marker) Sqn
based at Binbrook including operations during the Suez Affair in 1956.  We met at RAF Bassingbourne
and as we were Kiwis opted to form a two man crew. Late in 1957 I was posted to a Vulcan Sqn and
Terry took up a post in Air Ministry. We did meet briefly during 1959 when Terry visited RAF Finningly
where I was based with 101 Sqn at the time. I trust this may help Jamie. I also knew Len Chambers
D.F.C whos family resided at Browns Bay at the end of Ww11. Len then returned with his wife to the West
Coast and sadly as I understand he passed away not long after his return to trhe Coast. From what I have
since learned Terry and Len were friends during their time with Bomber Command. I flew for seven years
as a navigator with 40 and 41 Sqdns prior to joining the RAF in 1955. I am now 88 but still fondly recall
the halcyon days of my time in the two air forces.
Regards
Graham

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome Graham, it's very nice to have you on the forum. I am sure I'm not the only one here who'd love to hear more of your memories of your days with the RNZAF and RAF.

Are you living in New Zealand now?

[pythagnav]

Hi  Dave

Thanks for your comments I now live in Bright Victoria near my daughter

Graham

[baronbeeza]

[fwx]

Fantastic!! Well found ...

[Dave Homewood]

Great! That is Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' flying in the clip, then named 'Guy Gibson'

[reeftonbear]

Hi. I stumbled across your website & saw all the talk about Terry Kearns.
If it's not too late - the last post being 2015 - maybe I can help.
I live in Reefton & know the Kearns family. I also knew Len Chambers wife, Lil (who has passed away.)
So please, ask me & I'll do what I can to help.
Claire.

[baronbeeza]

Hi Claire and welcome to the forum. You must have been surprised to see so much about Terry Kearns here. I know Sue would have referred her mother, Lil, to the site.
There are a couple of West Coast members here but our association with the Kearns family is limited. In my case my father mentioned he may have played badminton in club competitions with two of the girls. That would have been mid to late sixties though.

I am guessing I may have bought a gas fire from you about 10 years ago, I am not sure who else in Reefton may have known Lil... oh the Grants would have.

[reeftonbear]

Thanks for the welcome.

Lil & Len Chambers lived in Karamea not Reefton.

You'd not have bought a gas fire off me - coal fire only of course! But do you know me & do I know you in some way?

You say your father played badminton with 2 of the Kearns girls? So you're a coaster?

I can go and see Lew Kearns tomorrow & ask him about his family & Terry. He's probably got photos.

[baronbeeza]

Yep, we're from Karamea originally. That is what got me wondering about people in Reefton that may have known them.
I am sure there will be others here that would be very interested to see anything related to Terry Kearns, he had quite a history.
I see my father did say he played against the two Kearns girls and their mother, it would have been inter-club competitions.

[reeftonbear]

When did you leave Karamea? Born & bred there? Where do you live now?

Marg Kearns was Lews wife, & mother of the 2 girls. Marg died a few years ago.

And what's this about a gas fire? Or are you pulling my leg?

I heard Len Chambers had a Lanchester car in rather good nick in his garage in Karamea. I wonder what happened to it?

My Mum & her 2nd husband lived in Karamea from the early 80's for a few years & Mum was great friends will Lil. Len had died by that stage, so Mum never met him. Mum lives in Reefton now.

[baronbeeza]

I am now Westport based but being coasters am related to Len, my father's cousin on their mothers' side.
I did buy a gas fire in Reefton, and yes there were coal heaps outside houses on the street. The fire went to a ChCh house though and to replace a log burner.

Len and Lil did have a Daimler Lanchester but I never saw the car after the late 60's possibly early 70's.

From memory it was very similar to this one. I know I was fascinated by the pre-select gearbox feature, probably before I encountered the first automatic.

Of the four daughters I would think one or two would be reading this forum. Sue certainly is showing an interest in the wartime history but I see Sheila reply on forums at times also.

The Westport RSA has little in the way of display memorabilia for both Len and Terry Kearns but I know the current President is keen to follow up with something.