Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 7, 2022 22:43:12 GMT 12
THE “Y” SERVICE
ENEMY OPERATIONS
BRITISH ADVICE POSTS
N.Z. ACE’S EXPERIENCES
"There were five squadrons operating from our base at one period of the Sicily campaign, and, as you know, there are 12 aircraft in a squadron. Actually there are 18 planes in all assigned to a squadron, but six are retained on the ground as reserves,” stated Wing Commander Colin F. Gray, D.S.O., D.F.C. and two bars, New Zealand’s leading fighter ace, addressing Air Training Corps cadets of the Gisborne units at a parade last evening.
Wing Commander Gray was relating an incident which he declared would give some indication of the accuracy of the reports of the intelligence services which work behind the scenes and play a major role in bringing operations to a successful termination.
"We received word through what was known as the ‘Y’ service, which is a sort of secret service organised to gather information of impending enemy operations and which, incidentally, uses radio in a big way to collect this information, that a number of German Junkers J.U.52 transports were going to land at a point in the north of Sicily at a certain time,” he continued.
Flew in at Sea Level
‘‘We took off and I led the wing right round the battlefront on the island, never once crossing the line, and keeping out over the sea as we flew north to avoid giving our position away to the Hun radar stations. We swept over at sea level as we neared the predetermined position, a precaution which prevented the radar picking us up.
“We found the transports right enough just as we had been told. The boys sailed into them and shot the whole bunch of them down. I don’t know how many there were. We didn’t have time to count, but we reckoned up that there were more than 20 and every one went down, as well as a few of the escorts.
"That was an example of the efficient system of detecting enemy movements without them knowing of it,” added Wing Commander Gray. Explaining the value of low flying when in the vicinity of enemy radar stations, the speaker stated that keeping a minimum altitude over land and sea prevented the radar system registering, as at low altitudes the sets were rendered useless by the natural obstacles at ground level which were all recorded and which could not be disassociated from the registrations caused by low-flying aircraft.
Landing at Antwerp
“On the way home from on operational flight from England on one occasion when we were flying Spitfire IX’s, which have a safe endurance of 2¾ hours, we met a ’front’ of bad weather from ground level up to 28,000 ft.,” stated Wing Commander Gray, continuing his experiences.
“There was a 90 m.p.h. gale blowing at 30,000 ft., but as the hazards of formation flying in dirty, cloudy weather were not to be compared, I led my section above the ‘front ’ I called control for a ‘homing’ and they told me our position was at a point miles off the coast of Holland, the country to which our operation had taken us. I had 20 minutes more petrol left in my tanks. When I looked down through a break in the clouds I could see we were over the land when we had been told we were over the sea. Realising that there was nothing much we could do and thinking we had insufficient petrol to take us back to England, I followed the coast line and we hadn’t gone far when we flew over Antwerp.
“This we thought was O.K. so we went down and landed at the air station with only enough petrol for 5 min more flying. I went with the other pilots to the guard-house to see if we could get accommodation for the night and was speaking to the guard when suddenly he threw himself flat on his face. I thought this was pretty peculiar. He then got to his feet, looking rather sheepish, and offered to drive us to a place where we could put up for the night. We clambered into a car and set off down the road when a shell burst 30yds. in front of us and other to one side and closer.
“Noboby Told Us They Were Shelling”
“We realised then the reason for the guards behaviour, I told him to stop the car and I dived for the nearest shelter, closely followed by the rest of the boys. Nobody had told us that they were shelling Antwerp.
"On another occasion we had just landed on our field in England when word came through to take off immediately. We were not told what for or where we were to go and for a while just remained in our planes on the ground. I switched on my radio —a thing not usually done as it is too great a drain on the battery while you are on the ground, but I had devised a way of revving up the motor to a pitch to overcome this and still remain on the ground —and heard control, very excitedly, yelling for us to take off.
“That was good enough for me, and the others followed, all except one section of three of which Wing Commander Alan Deere was the leader. A young sergeant pilot had, on landing, parked his ‘kite’ dead in front of Alan Deere’s, preventing him from taking off.
Deere’s Narrow Escape
“Realising his position, the sergeant taxied away and Deere was about to take off when a stick of bombs landed right across the field. Deere taxied into a shell hole, and the other aircraft was thrown over on its back. Both pilots were unhurt, but nothing was seen of the young sergeant until he came strolling across the field, half-an-hour later with his parachute still packed and unused. We had thought he must have taken off as there was not a sign of his aircraft. When we doubtfully asked him what had happened he told us his plane had been blown two or three paddocks away and he had had to walk back because the tail was blown off. Miraculously he, too, was unhurt.
"Another unusual incident occurred when a pilot took off with his tanks full and a 90-gallon reserve tank slung under the fuselage. When he came in to land he had not jettisoned the tank and on hitting the ground he bounced about 160 ft in the air and at that height tried to “land.” He pulled on the stick and the aircraft turned on its back and a wing came off as it crashed to the ground.
“When we pulled the wreckage away he crawled out unhurt and with only one slight scratch.”
His First Dog Fight
Asked to describe his feelings when he shot down his first aircraft, Wing Commander Gray said that he only shared in the first kill and that was where the half, credited in his score, came from.
“People get worried over the half," he said. “They don’t believe me when I tell them it came about when the pilot baled out and the aircraft got away.”
Explaining the circumstances of his first fight, Wing Commander Gray said that after he and another pilot shot the plane down he saw the pilot bale out and was relieved and mentally congratulating him on his escape, when he heard bullets striking his aircraft. The plane was badly hit and lost altitude. The German, apparently thinking he was done for, drew away and he succeeded in getting back to base safely.
On one occasion, during the Battle of Britain, he was "tearing about the sky shooting at everything and hitting nothing” when he heard someone calling base for a “homing.” Thinking he would be able to guide the pilot back without troubling control he climbed and saw an aircraft flying in the opposite direction. He chased it and on closing saw that it was a “Jerry” Messershmitt 109. It was a sitting shot as he was right on its tail.
GISBORNE HERALD, 7 SEPTEMBER 1945
ENEMY OPERATIONS
BRITISH ADVICE POSTS
N.Z. ACE’S EXPERIENCES
"There were five squadrons operating from our base at one period of the Sicily campaign, and, as you know, there are 12 aircraft in a squadron. Actually there are 18 planes in all assigned to a squadron, but six are retained on the ground as reserves,” stated Wing Commander Colin F. Gray, D.S.O., D.F.C. and two bars, New Zealand’s leading fighter ace, addressing Air Training Corps cadets of the Gisborne units at a parade last evening.
Wing Commander Gray was relating an incident which he declared would give some indication of the accuracy of the reports of the intelligence services which work behind the scenes and play a major role in bringing operations to a successful termination.
"We received word through what was known as the ‘Y’ service, which is a sort of secret service organised to gather information of impending enemy operations and which, incidentally, uses radio in a big way to collect this information, that a number of German Junkers J.U.52 transports were going to land at a point in the north of Sicily at a certain time,” he continued.
Flew in at Sea Level
‘‘We took off and I led the wing right round the battlefront on the island, never once crossing the line, and keeping out over the sea as we flew north to avoid giving our position away to the Hun radar stations. We swept over at sea level as we neared the predetermined position, a precaution which prevented the radar picking us up.
“We found the transports right enough just as we had been told. The boys sailed into them and shot the whole bunch of them down. I don’t know how many there were. We didn’t have time to count, but we reckoned up that there were more than 20 and every one went down, as well as a few of the escorts.
"That was an example of the efficient system of detecting enemy movements without them knowing of it,” added Wing Commander Gray. Explaining the value of low flying when in the vicinity of enemy radar stations, the speaker stated that keeping a minimum altitude over land and sea prevented the radar system registering, as at low altitudes the sets were rendered useless by the natural obstacles at ground level which were all recorded and which could not be disassociated from the registrations caused by low-flying aircraft.
Landing at Antwerp
“On the way home from on operational flight from England on one occasion when we were flying Spitfire IX’s, which have a safe endurance of 2¾ hours, we met a ’front’ of bad weather from ground level up to 28,000 ft.,” stated Wing Commander Gray, continuing his experiences.
“There was a 90 m.p.h. gale blowing at 30,000 ft., but as the hazards of formation flying in dirty, cloudy weather were not to be compared, I led my section above the ‘front ’ I called control for a ‘homing’ and they told me our position was at a point miles off the coast of Holland, the country to which our operation had taken us. I had 20 minutes more petrol left in my tanks. When I looked down through a break in the clouds I could see we were over the land when we had been told we were over the sea. Realising that there was nothing much we could do and thinking we had insufficient petrol to take us back to England, I followed the coast line and we hadn’t gone far when we flew over Antwerp.
“This we thought was O.K. so we went down and landed at the air station with only enough petrol for 5 min more flying. I went with the other pilots to the guard-house to see if we could get accommodation for the night and was speaking to the guard when suddenly he threw himself flat on his face. I thought this was pretty peculiar. He then got to his feet, looking rather sheepish, and offered to drive us to a place where we could put up for the night. We clambered into a car and set off down the road when a shell burst 30yds. in front of us and other to one side and closer.
“Noboby Told Us They Were Shelling”
“We realised then the reason for the guards behaviour, I told him to stop the car and I dived for the nearest shelter, closely followed by the rest of the boys. Nobody had told us that they were shelling Antwerp.
"On another occasion we had just landed on our field in England when word came through to take off immediately. We were not told what for or where we were to go and for a while just remained in our planes on the ground. I switched on my radio —a thing not usually done as it is too great a drain on the battery while you are on the ground, but I had devised a way of revving up the motor to a pitch to overcome this and still remain on the ground —and heard control, very excitedly, yelling for us to take off.
“That was good enough for me, and the others followed, all except one section of three of which Wing Commander Alan Deere was the leader. A young sergeant pilot had, on landing, parked his ‘kite’ dead in front of Alan Deere’s, preventing him from taking off.
Deere’s Narrow Escape
“Realising his position, the sergeant taxied away and Deere was about to take off when a stick of bombs landed right across the field. Deere taxied into a shell hole, and the other aircraft was thrown over on its back. Both pilots were unhurt, but nothing was seen of the young sergeant until he came strolling across the field, half-an-hour later with his parachute still packed and unused. We had thought he must have taken off as there was not a sign of his aircraft. When we doubtfully asked him what had happened he told us his plane had been blown two or three paddocks away and he had had to walk back because the tail was blown off. Miraculously he, too, was unhurt.
"Another unusual incident occurred when a pilot took off with his tanks full and a 90-gallon reserve tank slung under the fuselage. When he came in to land he had not jettisoned the tank and on hitting the ground he bounced about 160 ft in the air and at that height tried to “land.” He pulled on the stick and the aircraft turned on its back and a wing came off as it crashed to the ground.
“When we pulled the wreckage away he crawled out unhurt and with only one slight scratch.”
His First Dog Fight
Asked to describe his feelings when he shot down his first aircraft, Wing Commander Gray said that he only shared in the first kill and that was where the half, credited in his score, came from.
“People get worried over the half," he said. “They don’t believe me when I tell them it came about when the pilot baled out and the aircraft got away.”
Explaining the circumstances of his first fight, Wing Commander Gray said that after he and another pilot shot the plane down he saw the pilot bale out and was relieved and mentally congratulating him on his escape, when he heard bullets striking his aircraft. The plane was badly hit and lost altitude. The German, apparently thinking he was done for, drew away and he succeeded in getting back to base safely.
On one occasion, during the Battle of Britain, he was "tearing about the sky shooting at everything and hitting nothing” when he heard someone calling base for a “homing.” Thinking he would be able to guide the pilot back without troubling control he climbed and saw an aircraft flying in the opposite direction. He chased it and on closing saw that it was a “Jerry” Messershmitt 109. It was a sitting shot as he was right on its tail.
GISBORNE HERALD, 7 SEPTEMBER 1945
