RAF Luqa, Malta

Three Wellingtons arrive from Egypt. They have attempted, but failed, to find their pinpoint in Yugoslavia, where they were to have dropped an agent and several containers. Jackson’s report states:

Instructions arrived from HQ Middle East that the Wellington Captains were to transfer their loads to the Whitleys who were to attempt the operation.

My orders from D.D.I. (Deputy Director of Intelligence) before leaving England were that I was not to carry out operations other than those for which we had been sent toMalta to do without permission from Air Ministry. I ascertained from Army H.Q. at Malta that the Wellington operations had nothing to do with us, but that the equipment and personnel for our operations would arrive that night by flying boat and submarine. I informed the Station Commander and the S.A.S.O. of the above facts, and they decided that I was to await the arrival of the flying boat and submarine.

This gets Jackson, a junior officer up against some very independently-minded seniors, out of a tricky spot. In any case, as he points out, there is not enough time to transfer the loads from the Wellingtons and re-pack the containers. Not to mention that, if the Wellingtons’ loads were to be dropped in the Whitleys’ containers, Jackson’s own operation would have to be scrubbed.

Sources

TNA AIR 20 / 8334, encl. 103A