Trying to identify Capt Pierre Nicole SAAF 12 Sqn WW2 Incident

[paulmcmillan]

from Google Books


Per noctem per diem: the story of the 24 Squadron, South African Air Force
Eric N. Tucker, ‎Peter M. J. McGregor - 1962 - ‎Snippet view

"
During this raid an aircraft, believed to be a Ju 88, was seen to go down in flames.
Later there were no signs of it, but a Hurricane of 73 Squadron R.A.F. was shot down.
The pilot, F./Sgt. Johnson, though wounded, successfully baled out and was
found by Captain Pierre Nicole, of 12 Squadron, whose own Bostons,
incidentally, took off without lights in the middle of the raid. One was holed while doing so."

Can anyone provide a date for this incident. I am trying to find when Captain Pierre Nicole would have been on 12 Sqn

Thanks

paul

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

The event took place on the 28th/29th August, 1942. The aircraft shot down, was that of S/L George Robert Arthur McGarel Johnston RAFVR (Hurricane BN538), CO of No.73 Squadron, reportedly shot down in error by NZ40770 W/O Ernest Leslie 'Nipper' Joyce DFM RNZAF.

Well, that's what Chris Shores et al, in; A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945, Vol.2. pp.315-6, have to say.

The date is confirmed in the full entry (pp.55-6), of Per Noctem Per Diem, and in Joyce's bio in Aces High/Shores pp.365-6.

Col.

[paulmcmillan]

Col

Thanks for that I have looked in AIR 54-5 for No. 12 Squadron August 1942 and can't a Nicole on it (even Flying Hours Rosta for August 1942) . I wonder if they have got right Sqn in book

Paul

[paulmcmillan]

Context:

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22594, 5 December 1936, Page 17

SAVED BY PARACHUTE

YOUNG PILOT'S ORDEAL [from our own correspondent] JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 6 A young pilot struggled desperately at the controls of his blue monoplane as it spun earthward at a terrific speed in Johannesburg recently. When the machine came' within 600 feet of the ground the pilot jumped and landed safely by a parachute. The aeroplane struck the ground 20 yards in front of him and was smashed to matchwood. The pilot, Mr. Pierre Nicole, probably owes his life to the fact that the parachute was of the type which opens automatically when the pilot jumps and is not released by the pulling of a cord.

Mr. Nicole's only injuries were a sprained ankle and a bruised heel.


Ryan Sky News

The popularity of flight courses at the Ryan School of Aeronautics (California) is shown by the large number of Ryan students who have recently completed their Transport or Private pilot's instruction. Transport graduates include: Pierre Nicole. Johannesburg, South Africa.

Pierre Nicole, transport graduate of the Ryan School, wrote from England to report that he now is employed by the Imperial Airways System. He was graduated from the Ryan School in August, 1935.

I am trying to identify him and perhaps the incident referred to I newspaper article

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

Closest incident l can find in South Africa, is the following:

D.H.85 Leopard Moth (c/n.7099) ZS-AET. (J.L. Westaway/Grahamestown) - Crashed 2-11-1936

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZS-html

http://www.dehavilland.co.za/DH85_Leopard_Moth.html

There was definitely a Captain Nicolle serving with No.12 Squadron, SAAF.

http://www.cegesoma.be/docs/Invent/A...niauxFranz.pdf (control + F search - Nicolle)

And we have this:

It was not only African and Coloured attached personnel who gave rise to problems of administration in 1944. Two Frenchmen serving with the SAAF, Capt C. P. P. Nicolle and Lt J. R. Lorraine, received a general instruction during the year to rejoin the French Army.

Eagles Victorious/Martin & Orpen p.210

All supposition, but not much else to go on!

Col.

[paulmcmillan]

Col

I think we are getting somewhere! Thanks

D.H.85 Leopard Moth (c/n.7099) ZS-AET. (J.L. Westaway/Grahamestown) - Crashed 2-11-1936

Would look good, (I think I have it as a maybe) but Grahamestown is a long way from Johannesburg. But who knows if he was flyin g from A to B date is a bout right as is the description 'monoplane' of which not may in South African at time


Just need to sort out Capt Niciolle, Pierre Nicole, Pierre Nicolle, C. P. P. Nicolle etc

If he was a Frenchman in 12 Sqn maybe that's why I can't find him in rota/ORB. prob need to go through it line by line

[paulmcmillan]

D.H.85 Leopard Moth (c/n.7099) ZS-AET. (J.L. Westaway/Grahamestown) - Crashed 2-11-1936

I actually think "J.L. Westaway" is "Reg J Westaway " and the pilot of this aircraft was William (Bill) H. Pidsley who crashed near Cookhouse, Somerset Mountains near Grahamstown. From

Open Cockpit Over Africa
Victor Smith - 1992

I arrived at Grahamstown to find Reg Westaway, owner of the charter company, very upset as he had just heard that Bill, flying from Johannesburg with two
passengers, had crashed in the mountains north of Somerset East.
A doctor was loading his gear into Reg's car, with blankets and folding stretcher, as I walked in, and it was suggested that I should go along on the 1 10-mile drive to see what could be done. We found the remains of the DH Leopard against a hillside and, as invariably happens in this sort of crash, almost at the top. According to the passengers, who were not badly hurt, Bill had descended through a gap in the clouds to find himself trapped in a hollow, with the cloud obscuring the hill-tops.
He had tried to climb out on instruments - with the almost inevitable result. Bill was still unconscious and being cared for by a doctor, at a nearby farm.
at a nearby farm. The doctors recommended that he be taken to hospital in Grahamstown as soon as possible. He never regained consciousness,
and died soon after being admitted. Bill was my closest friend after Carson, and I would have been even more distressed if I had known that I was also to lose Carson a few years later, during the war.

[paulmcmillan]

Mr. Pierre Nicole

is Mr. Pierre Emile Nicole born 1911 Johannesburg who became an American citizen upon marriage in Dec 1942

Still do not know what aircraft he was supposed to have bailed of

[Nipper1940]

Hello. Not S/L Johnston shot down by Joyce, it was Sgt Johnson who had strayed into Joyce's night fighting patrol area. There is no mention of Joyce thinking it was a Ju88... he had shot down 3 Ju88s previously at night and the chances of him seeing a single seater as a Ju88 was nearly zero. He wrote a report claiming a 'single-engine aircraft', no mention of a Ju88. Shores et. al. are error-ridden in Joyce's write-up and seem to have plucked S/L Johnston's name and mention of Joyce identifying the aircraft as a Ju88 out without having checked the 73 Sqn ORB. I have a large amount of Joyce material including significant documentation and the Shores et al resume of Joyce is inconsistent.