Thursday, 14 November 1940

Morlaix, Brittany

F/O Oettle (as skipper) and F/Lt Keast fly the first RAF insertion operation for SOE (or SO2 as it is known for several months after its formation).

Whitley T4264 is airborne from Stradishall at 21.00. Its target is near the town of Morlaix, in Brittany. The agent comes from de Gaulle’s Free French, from what will later become known  as SOE’s ‘RF’ (Republique Française) Section.

The Whitley arrives over the target, but when it comes to the moment for the agent to jump, he refuses. He certainly isn’t the last, but he is the first. Later refusals are sometimes for valid reasons, such as snow on the ground, which would reveal the agent’s tracks leaving the DZ, but the reason for this refusal remains unknown.

The crew has no choice but to return to base. The agent is returned to staff duties. In his SOE in France, Professor MRD Foot saw no reason to identify the agent, saying that he later ‘did well’. Foot was an SAS parachutist himself, dropped into France in 1944, so he knew what he was about.

Saturday, 26 October 1940

RAF Abingdon

The October moon period ended two days ago. F/O Keast is scheduled to fly Whitley P5025 to Abingdon at 14.45, landing at 15.30. The purpose is probably for routine maintenance of the Whitley: Stradishall was a base in No. 3 Group, which operated Wellingtons, and lacked the equipment and trained personnel to service Whitleys. Abingdon is home to No. 10 Operational Training Unit (OTU), which prepares crews for bombing operations with No. 4 Group. 4 Group’s bases are north of the Humber, in Yorkshire.

The Stradishall Ops Officer’s log notes that the aircraft is not expected to return today.

Tuesday, 22 October 1940

RAF Stradishall

F/O Jack Oettle is awarded the DFC. This is almost certainly for his tour of bomber operations with No. 51 Squadron which he had completed in the summer. One of these had been a reconnaissance which took in Vienna and Prague. The operation and the crew made the newspapers. Of his other operations, he was forced to bale out over England on one occasion, and was involved in a serious crash on another.

Monday, 21 October 1940

RAF Connel

At about 7 a.m. Farley and Schneidau are considering what to do – they have no idea where they really are – when they see two men running towards them, who tell them that they are near RAF Connel, about eight miles north of Oban, in Scotland. They are taken to the nearest house, from where they telephone Connel for transport and a guard for the wrecked Lysander. Once they have convinced a sceptical duty officer and Station Commander of their identity, they signal the Air Ministry and Tangmere as to their whereabouts, and are then allowed to sleep.