Kiwi pilot made first operational fighter night landing!

[Dave Homewood]

Here's a great little snippet of kiwi Fleet Air Arm history, from the New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25131, 19 February 1945, Page 4 (published 70 years ago today)

NAVAL PILOT'S FEAT

NIGHT CARRIER LANDING

OFFICER FROM AUCKLAND (Special Correspondent) (Recd. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON 7 Feb. 17

What is considered to be the first operational night landing on an aircraft carrier by a night fighter was made by Lieutenant A R. Burgham, R.N.Z.N.V.R.. of Kohimarama, Auckland. during a naval notion when a number of U-boats were routed in the Arctic, while an important convoy was taken safely to Russia and back. Lieutenant Burgham took off from the snow-covered decks of a wildly heaving carrier to. drive off a night attack made by a Junkers 88. "It- was a magnificent piece of work." states the naval report. No further details are available of Lieutenant Burgham's feat, which recalls the fact that a New Zealander was also one of the first pilots to land a fast, modern fighter on an aircraft-carrier in daylight. He was Group-Captain P. G. Jameson, of Lower Hutt. who landed a Hurricane on the deck of H.M.S Glorious off Norway early in the war
Lieutenant Burgham was mentioned in despatches in October, 1944, "for services in the air defence of a convoy."

[komata]

Thanks Dave

The article would seem to refer to Lt.-Cmdr Allen (not 'R') Burgham, DSC, MiD, RCNVR (Retd) (RNZNVR),

The following (copied and pasted from another site BTW), might be of interest:

'He was Senior Pilot of 835 Squadron,, flight commander of the fighter component of a composite squadron. He shot down a Junkers 290 in early 1944 near the Bay of Biscay during a return to England with a Gibraltar convoy, losing his Number Two in the fight. Later he shot down a Junkers 88 on a Murmansk convoy and set another Junkers 88 on fire, but did not see it crash. Records indicate that it did not get back to Norway

He became the first man in history to land a day fighter at night on the deck of an aircraft carrier after volunteering to repel a night attack on the convoy. That action also resulted in the loss of his Number Two pilot.

The Murmansk actions were flown in Wildcat IVs. The Gibraltar actions were flown in Hurricane IICs.'

The idea of landing a Wildcat on an aircraft carrier at night with a deck rising and falling as it would be doing, would seem to require a certain degree of resolve.

'Well done that man'.

Hope it's of use.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for that. Interesting stuff.

[flyjoe180]

web.archive.org/web/20030202224021/http:/www.navismagazine.com/demo/nicki/story_of_nicki.htm

He was probably lucky to survive this:

[flightcommander]

Feb 20, 2015 4:41:08 GMT 12 komata said:

Thanks Dave

The article would seem to refer to Lt.-Cmdr Allen (not 'R') Burgham, DSC, MiD, RCNVR (Retd) (RNZNVR),

The following (copied and pasted from another site BTW), might be of interest:

'He was Senior Pilot of 835 Squadron,, flight commander of the fighter component of a composite squadron. He shot down a Junkers 290 in early 1944 near the Bay of Biscay during a return to England with a Gibraltar convoy, losing his Number Two in the fight. Later he shot down a Junkers 88 on a Murmansk convoy and set another Junkers 88 on fire, but did not see it crash. Records indicate that it did not get back to Norway

He became the first man in history to land a day fighter at night on the deck of an aircraft carrier after volunteering to repel a night attack on the convoy. That action also resulted in the loss of his Number Two pilot.

The Murmansk actions were flown in Wildcat IVs. The Gibraltar actions were flown in Hurricane IICs.'

The idea of landing a Wildcat on an aircraft carrier at night with a deck rising and falling as it would be doing, would seem to require a certain degree of resolve.

'Well done that man'.

Hope it's of use.

[flightcommander]

Wildcat VI . Not Wildcat IVs. Thank you. It was a day fighter (not a night fighter). No radar. The second Junkers 88 he set on fire in February did get back to Norway (Bardufoss) but was too damaged to ever fly again.

Ian Burgham

[flightcommander]

Feb 23, 2015 15:24:16 GMT 12 flyjoe180 said:

web.archive.org/web/20030202224021/http:/www.navismagazine.com/demo/nicki/story_of_nicki.htm

He was probably lucky to survive this:

[phasselgren]

Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea by E.E. Barringer is available as e-book at Pen & Sword Books and kobo.com.

“This is the story of 835 Naval Air Squadron as told by one of its surviving officers. It tells the story of the outstanding fleets of flying and the importance of the Merchant Navy in the Second World War.”

Unofficial history of this unit by one of its commanders. Allen Burgham was Flight Commander of its fighter component (this was a mixed squadron with both Swordfish and fighters for convoy protection) and he is frequently mentioned in the book. There were also a number of other New Zealand pilots in this squadron.

Peter