Number of Hurricanes ferried to Ceylon by Indomitable

[Graham Boak]

I did trace all 880's SH for an article on Pedestal, and there is no record of an addition RAF airframe beyond BD771. They went on to collect Sea Hurricanes from RN stores, re-equipping 800 Sq from Fulmars at Port Reitz, Kenya, and having enough spare to pass two over. 800 Sq's aircraft can be distinguished by lacking the Sky trim on spinner and
rear fuselage - except for E and F which moved over.

These aircraft can be traced through the records listed in Sturtivant's FAA A/c 1939 to 1945.

In Wallace's photo, the last four aircraft are 880's Sea Hurricanes, with their Sky spinners.

[Rob Stuart]

I've now received my copy of "Naval Fighter Pilot: Lt. Cdr. R. J. Cork DSO, DSC, RN", by A.H. Wren. On page 123 Wren has a quote from the 880 NAS record book entry for 20 February '42 which reads "One of the RAF Hurricanes Mk II which was left U/S had been converted into a Sea Hurricane was air tested by Lt Cdr Judd. This aircraft was taken over by the Squadron." Indomitable did not arrive back in Aden until 22 February, so it's quite clear that this aircraft was converted to a Sea Hurricane on board the ship. This was presumably BD771 but Wren does not say so.

Wren also quotes the Squadron Record Book as saying that 60 RAF Hurricanes were flown off on 6 and 7 March '42: "880 Squadron pilots acted as guides when the 60 aircraft were flown off in four batches at 0740, 1140 [6 March] and two further batches the following day. Lieut Cork (O/C B Flight) led largest group and gave them a guided tour of the island."


Cheers,

Rob

[jamtomorrow]

Hello All.
I'm Sergeant Whittaker's grandson, and I have a copy of his logbook. The incident of his impromptu deck landing on Indomitable has long since passed into family lore, and is commemorated in his logbook by a nice photo of his aircraft surrounded by Indomitable crewmen, and a comedic citation, lovingly rendered in illuminated lettering, which reads:

"By Thomas Trowbidge Esquire, Captain in the Royal Navy, Commanding HMS Indomitable on the East Indies Station.
By these Presents be it known that Sergeant Whittaker R.A.F., Pilot, did on the sixth day of March 1942, take off with his Squadron from H.M.S. Indomitable, And, whereas he developed a radiator leak causing himself and his windscreen to be covered with glycol, And, whereas he then returned to His Majesty's Ship, effecting an unarrested landing behind the Barrier, without damage to His Majesty's Ship, or his aircraft, And, whereas this proceeding was of a Highly Meritorious Order, and as a mark of our appreciation of his skill, He is elected an Honorary Member of The Fleet Air Arm, with the special rating of Deck landing Instructor, and is hereby authorised to Shoot a line, and give advice to any, and all persons he may select, and at any time.
T. Trowbridge, Captain
Witness: F(?).E.C. Judd, Lt. Cmmdr. 880 Squadron."

That was the 6th of March. The aircraft in question was the Hurricane II designated BG.887, and Sergeant Whittaker's next entry is for 13th of March, at which time he and BG.887 are in Colombo.

He was still flying BG.887 at the time of the big fight on April 5th, in which he claimed two probables and one damaged, and then was himself downed. What he thought were sparks from his engine turned out to be tracer from a Japanese plane on his tail; fortunately, the Japanese pilot opened up too early, so that his streams of bullets had converged and were diverging when they struck my Grandfather's aircraft, puncturing both petrol tanks but enabling him to make a controlled descent. He is next flying on April 8th, and unfortunately I can't read the aircraft number for that date, but it's not BG.887.

Hope this information is of some use.

[Graham Boak]

Lovely! AIR BRITAIN RAF Aircraft BA100-BZ999 has the following history for BG887

273/2 IAF soc 31.8.44

Which seems to have missed a lot of the fun, including an earlier allocation to a Java-based unit - assuming they were allocated before arrival on the island. There is a recent new edition of this book, which I don't have access too, but this series does not go into the detail available in Sturtivant's FAA book.

[Rob Stuart]

Hello jamtomorrow,

I'm highly interested to learn what you've shared with us. I had deduced that neither your grandfather nor his Hurricane (whose serial number was unknown to me) participated in the air battles of 5 April, and in fact I thought that his aircraft remained on Indomitable. Based on your information it is now my deduction that Indomitable ferried 58 Hurricanes to Ceylon, and not 59 as I previously estimated and not the 60 given by some sources.

The fact that your grandfather's next flight was on 13 March suggests that he disembarked from Indomitable on 7 March at Trincomalee and travelled overland to Colombo and Ratmalana with the rest of the 30 Sqn advance party carried by Indomitable. BG887 might have been repaired on board Indomitable and flown off it by another pilot or it may have been lowered from Indomitable on to a lighter or barge after the carrier arrived at Trincomalee, repaired at China Bay (the RAF station at Trincomalee) and flown from there to Ratmalana.

Does his log say the time at which your grandfather took off from Indomitable?

The certicate your grandfather received for landing back on Indomitable was known as a "Line Shooting Certificate". I think the idea was to give the recipient humorous proof to present to disbelievers of his future recounting of the exploit in question. The Indomitable's captain was Capt Thomas Hope Troubridge (see http://www.uboat.net/allies/commanders/commanders.php?cID=28 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hope_Troubridge). Lt-Cdr Judd's initials were F.E.C. and 880 Squadron was Indomitable's Sea Hurricane unit. (Judd was killed in August 1942 during Operation Pedestal, the big convoy to Malta.) I'd guess that 880 Squadron prepared the certificate and that Judd persauded the captain to sign it too.


Cheers,

Robn

[Graham Boak]

The Spitfire pilot who landed back on the USS Wasp (one of the Smith brothers) in Calendar apparently received a set of USN wings for the achievement. I've heard of no such award given to the Spitfire pilot who landed on Indomitable during Pedestal: I do hope it wasn't just forgotten during the understandably greater events that followed.

[Rob Stuart]

Graham,

Concerning our previous exchanges about whether Indomitable had two or just one Hurricane II, I have found additional evidence. On 8 April 1942 Admiral Somerville, in a report to the Admiralty, noted that the "State of fighter aircraft in the Fleet now is: Martlet 6, Fulmar 8, Hurricane I 10, Hurricane II 1." This report, plus the confirmation from jamtomorrow that Sgt Whittaker's Hurricane II was not retained aboard Indomitable, shows that your information that BD771 was their only Hurricane II was correct.

Cheers,

Rob

[jamtomorrow]

Hello all; I did mention that there was a memoir written by my grandfather (Fred Whittaker) & that I'd post it. I've now done so (thread title something obvious like "Memoir of Fred Whittaker"), if any are interested to read it.

[jimlucas@btinternet.com]

Hi
My father's flying log book shows the following entries...
27.01.42 (0950) Batavia - operation opponent - Returned because of bad weather.
28.01.42 (0800) Repeat operation - Intercepted carrier - Sent back by captain
28.01.42 (1330) Operation completed.Escorted 19 Hurricanes to Base (Batavia)
30.01.42 (1125) Escort duty - 19 Hurricanes - Batavia to Pellembang P2.

Blenheim IV Z7515 - Pilot S/ldr Barnley - 34 Squadron "A" flight

Regards

[Rob Stuart]

jimlucas,

Thanks for your interesting post. Operation Opponent was the first of Indomitable’s two Hurricane ferry runs. She left Port Sudan on 15 January 1942 with 48 (or possibly 50) disassembled Hurricanes of 232 and 258 Squadrons. Numerous sources say that the Hurricanes were flown off in three batches on 27 and 28 January from about 100 miles off Java and not far from Christmas Island. “Bloody Shambles”, vol. 2, says that “A pair of Blenheims of 34 Squadron had been sent from Batavia to lead the Hurricanes in, but bad weather and low cloud prevented them from finding the ship; similarly, a second pair from the same unit also failed to make contact, and not until shortly before 1600 did the guides arrive in the form of two 84 Squadron Blenheims, flown by Flt Lts Wyllie and Holland”. The book, which says there were 16 Hurricanes in each batch, goes on to say that the delay meant that only one batch flew off on the 27th, so two batches were dispatched on the 28th.

In post #10 in this thread I allude to a photo taken on 28 January of 22 Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes lined up on Indomitable’s flight desk, and in #11 Graham Boak confirms that the four at the rear are Sea Hurricanes. That would make 18 Hurricanes rather than 19, so if the batch your father escorted in the afternoon had 19 as noted in his log, then the picture is of the batch which flew off in the morning.

Cheers,

Rob