Category Archives: Administrative

Sunday, 1 June 1941

The Air Ministry, London

Air Vice Marshal Norman Bottomley formally takes over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) from AVM Harris, who has already left for the USA as head of a mission to procure aircraft from a sympathetic but still-neutral country.

As DCAS, Air Marshal Harris had taken an unsympathetic view of the Special Duties Flight, mainly because the Whitley aircraft required for the Flight diverted front-line bomber aircraft from Bomber Command’s prime strategic purpose to carry the fight to the enemy, the bombing of German industry. The SD case has been poorly made by his opponents. Harris has done his best to foist the Handley Page Harrow, the Whitley’s predecessor as a bomber, on the SD Flight. If the Whitley is an imperfect vehicle for transporting agents, the Harrow makes the Whitley look good. The Harrow has a fixed undercarriage, it does not have self-sealing fuel tanks, and its defensive armament is rudimentary. It is even slower than the Whitley, and has a poor range.

Bottomley is less unsympathetic to SD operations than Harris, and is more attuned to the political nuances of the situation, especially regarding the Polish and Czechoslovak governments-in-exile. It is not long before the proposal to expand the SD Flight to a full squadron gathers momentum.

In theory two Harrows are being converted for SD operations at Tollerton, but with the departure of Harris the proposal is quietly shelved, and they are not heard of again.

Thursday, 22 May 1941

RAF Stradishall – RAF Newmarket Heath

1419 Flight is moved from RAF Stradishall to Newmarket Heath. The move will allow the SD Flight to operate in greater secrecy, as it no longer has to share its airfield with a front-line bomber squadron. Bomber crews get shot down; if captured, they are questioned: skilled interrogators have little difficulty in overcoming the ‘name, rank and serial number’ barrier.

Facilities are rudimentary at Newmarket. When the RAF originally took over the Rowley Mile part of the racecourse, some of the ‘erks’ found themselves sleeping in the open air, on beds placed on the terraces of the Centenary Grandstand. The Officers take over Sefton Lodge, one of Newmarket training establishments. (It has recently been bought by Martin Meade Racing.). The officers are lodged in the lads’ quarters and the stables, and in the main house which functions as their Mess they are waited on by out-of-work jockeys and stable-lads. The sergeants, with their natural aptitude for bagging a comfortable billet, establish themselves in the Jockey Club and its royal retiring rooms: they have running hot water, a luxury. When Sergeant Austin commissioned in August, it’s a bit of a come-down.

Fortunately for the historian, Newmarket comes under Stradishall for operational control, and its Operations Officer’s logbook continues to record the SD Flight’s activities right up until the move to Tempsford in March 1942.

Monday, 5 May 1941

German-occupied Europe starts Double Summer Time (GMT+3). In France, which has been forced to use German time, the day starts shortly before 8 a.m., but sunset isn’t until about half-past ten. It’s nearly Full Moon.