Tag Archives: Coghlan

F/O John Coghlan, DFC

Wednesday, 3 July 1940

France

After refusing an ultimatum to sail out of the reach of German capture, the French fleet is attacked by the British Mediterranean Fleet at Oran (Mers-el-Kebir). It sours relations with the French forces still in England. General de Gaulle finds it difficult to recruit French forces in Britain to the Free French cause. Most are returned to France under the Armistice.

No. 24 Squadron

Flying Officer Boris Romanoff, of the Russian royal family, cousin to the late Tsar, is posted to Ringway from No. 24 Squadron.

No. 56 Squadron

At 4 p.m. F/Lt John Coghlan is about 9,000 feet over Felixtowe with another Hurricane. They have been sent up to investigate an unidentified intruder, an ‘X-raid’. As Section leader, he has ceded control to Red 2 as his R/T is not working. A third Hurricane has become lost in the clouds, so they are now only two.
Over Orfordness Coghlan sights a Dornier 215 through a gap in the clouds and waggles his wings to catch the other’s attention. He loses sight of the Dornier in the clouds but spots it again in clear air. Coghlan attacks from the sun but can get in only a quick burst of two or three seconds; his approach speed is too great. The other Hurricane attacks while Coghlan does a loop to get back on the Dornier’s tail. This time he gets in a 10-second burst, again from 200 yards. As he passes ten yards away he sees the Dornier’s port engine and wing-root burst into flames about two feet long. Coghan enters cloud and sees the Dornier no more. His report says it may be linked to a mass of flames and a trail of smoke which crashed into the sea off Burnham at about 4.20. He claims an unconfirmed victory.

Monday, 27 May 1940: 4.15 p.m.

56 Squadron

At about 4.15 p.m. Squadron leader E.V. Knowles is leading the twelve Hurricanes of No. 56 Squadron on an ‘offensive patrol’ between St Omer and Ostend. It is the second day of the Dunkirk evacuation, and the squadron has temporarily moved base from North Weald to Manston, less than 50 miles from the action. As they approach Ostend they sight ten Heinkel 111s at 10,000 feet, indicated by bursts of anti-aircraft fire around them.

Knowles keeps one section of three aloft as protection, and leads the rest of the squadron in attacking the Heinkels from behind. He selects the left-most Heinkel and sets its port engine quickly ablaze; it peels away and down and eventually crashes. The other Heinkels jettison their bombs into the sea.

John Coghlan, now promoted Acting Flight Lieutenant and leading the second section, attacks the right-hand Heinkel. He gives it a five-second burst at 100 yards, then two more as he closes in. The fuselage is now on fire, but Coghlan has fired all his ammunition. Two other Hurricanes tear in to finish the job: P/O ‘Fish’ Fisher and F/O ‘Minnie’ Ereminsky. Fisher’s windscreen becomes covered in oil from the blazing Heinkel, which goes down and crashes. Coghlan breaks off and heads home to Manston.

Sunday, 19 May 1940

No. 56 Squadron, over France

At about ten minutes past three on a clear afternoon, ‘A’ Flight is on what Coghlan describes as a ‘flap patrol’ over Lille. He is at 6,000 feet, but seems to have become detached from his formation, which is somewhere astern at about 8,000 feet. He sees a formation of Hurricanes heading south-east, but then spots black anti-aircraft fire behind them — quaintly he calls it “archie” — and the Hurricanes resolve into a formation of fifteen He111 bombers flying in five vics of three. He approaches the bombers on a rapid climb.  Coghlan enagages the left-hand He111 of the rear vic.  By this time the other Hurricanes, having started their pursuit from 2,000 feet higher, have almost caught up.

The Heinkel’s lower rear gunner engages Coghlan with tracer, but Coghlan silences him with a burst to the fuselage at a range of about 200 yards. Coghlan then concentrates on the engines, closing to 150 yards: one burst to the port engine and another to the starboard. White smoke streams from both, and the Heinkel breaks away, turning to port in a slight dive. Coghlan disengages. He’s run out of ammunition. A Hurricane carries 2,400 rounds, giving only about 15 seconds’ fire. He claims the Heinkel as a ‘probable’.

Saturday, 18 May 1940

No. 56 Squadron, North Weald

‘B’ Flight of 56 Squadron has been detached to northern France since May 16. ‘A’ Flight remains at North Weald, but it also flies patrols over northern France. It soon finds itself in combat.

In the early afternoon over Mauberge, F/O Coghlan sees a group of eight Me109s approaching on the flank of his formation. He is flying as No. 2 in the section. He tries to warn the others but his R/T (radio-telephone) doesn’t work. The sky breaks into a confused melee. He makes a head-on attack against a 109 attacking another Hurricane, giving it a 2-3 second burst. He then sees three Me109s attacking another Hurricane: he engages the rearmost 109, giving it a 10-12 second burst at 100 yards. The 109 flips over and disappears. He climbs through cloud and sees five of the eight 109s re-forming. His combat report doesn’t say what happens next, but he’s used about 2,400 rounds, and must be almost out of ammunition. He claims the Me109 as a ‘probable’.

Sources

TNA AIR 50/22, Combat reports for No. 56(F) Squadron

Thursday, 9 May 1940

A Flight of Hurricanes of No. 56 (F) Squadron, North Weald, April 1940

A Flight of Hurricanes of No. 56 (F) Squadron, North Weald, April 1940, ©IWM (HU 104757)

Norway

The Allies — the British, the French, and the Polish forces in exile — are fully engaged with the German invasion of Norway: Denmark has already fallen, and southern, central and western Norway are now under German control. An Allied expeditionary force had landed in the north on 14 April at Harstad, near Narvik. They are having local successes, but are hampered by divided commands, conflicting orders, and poor battlefield control.

Lt Colonel Colin Gubbins is in command of Britain’s ‘Independent Companies’, a forerunner of the Commandos. With the French forces, Lieutenant André Dewavrin is an intelligence officer, and Maurice Duclos is a tall artillery officer rehabilitated after serving a prison sentence for membership of the Cagoulards, a radical anti-Communist secret movement in pre-war French politics.

England

At 13.45, Flying Officer John Coghlan of No. 56 (Fighter) Squadron is at 16,000 feet, leading a patrol of three Hurricanes – Red Section, ‘A’ Flight – flying eastwards above the Essex coastline near Clacton. Coghlan had joined the RAF in January 1936 at the age of 21 on a Short-Service engagement. He’d served with Nos 1 and 72 Squadrons before being posted to 56 Squadron on the outbreak of war. The other two pilots in his section are Sergeants Cooney and Baker.

Coghlan spots an aircraft about ten miles away. It is flying on a south-westerly course but it’s much higher at about 25,000 feet. Coghlan turns sharply to climb in pursuit. The other two Hurricanes make to follow, but are left behind. When Coghlan gets to about three miles behind the enemy and 1,000 feet below, the enemy spots him. It stall-turns, and dives to pass Coghlan to port, about 700-800 yards away.  Coghlan turns to pursue, with the other Hurricanes forming up line astern, following the prescribed method of Fighter Command tactics.

They dive to about 16,000 feet, but the enemy’s accumulated dive speed makes it difficult for Coghlan’s Hurricane to catch it. From the single pointed fin, long engine nacelles and high speed the aircraft appears to be a Ju88. Coghlan gets to within about 600 yards when the Ju88’s rear gunner opens fire with tracer, which passes harmlessly beneath the Hurricane. Coghlan gets to within about 500 feet of the Ju88 when he realises that he is no longer gaining. He opens fire in one long burst. One of the Hurricane’s eight guns jams after a few seconds, but he keeps firing for about 16 seconds, knowing this will be his only opportunity.

Coghlan throttles back, his ammunition spent, his Hurricane now impotent. The other two pursue the Ju88 down to 6,000 feet, but they never get close enough to engage. They are now 50 miles out to sea; if they engaged boost in an attempt to catch it they might not have enough fuel to make it back.

At some point during his time with 56 Squadron, according to Eric Clayton, one of his ground crew at the time, Coghlan acquires the nickname ‘Nine-gun’, though Clayton wasn’t clear about when. In one combat after his ammunition has run out, Coghlan pulls back his cockpit canopy and fires his service revolver at the enemy. In most combat circumstances this would have been implausible, but against a lone enemy reconnaissance aircraft in the clear skies above the Channel, during the last hours of the ‘Phoney War’, it sounds at least possible.

Sources

 

  • Combat reports No. 56 Sqn: TNA AIR 50/22
  • Eric Clayton, ‘What if the Heavens Fall?’ (Wye College Press, 1993)