Mosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-engine Wooden Wonder of World War II (52 page)

These low level attacks were made over inhospitable terrain and were often pressed home in the face of heavy ground flak and small arms fire. The dive bombing technique involved approaching from around 4,000ft and then diving to 1,000ft whilst aiming the bombs at the target. The bomb load varied between 2 x 500lb and 4 x 500lb loads, often fitted with instantaneous fused bombs, which gave little margin for error. From 3 January 1945 onwards it was a time of intense operational activity even though the weather at times was totally unhelpful because of the small monsoons. Jap airfields, especially Meiktila, were the primary targets for low-level bombing, strafing and night patrols. Road communication, railways and bridges got their fair share of attention too. On 8 January we made a dive bomb attack on Jap troop concentrations at Sagaing. On the 12th a Rhubarb
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was flown to Chindwin and the Irrawaddy to Sagaing and Jap installations at Konywa waterfront were bombed. A further ten ops were flown during the month and MT transport, railway installations, bullock carts and sampans were bombed and strafed. On the 16th there was a dawn strike on Meiktila and a Rhubarb on the Irrawaddy-Chank road. Jap ground fire hit the starboard spinner and main spar of the aircraft close to the starboard radiator. The outer fuel tanks were hit but the crew completed the op safely. Later inspection of the Mosquito revealed that the damage was superficial. On the 18th the Jap HQ at Koko was hit with four 500lb bombs and the following night ricer traffic was shot up between Sagaing and Yenang Yaung. We were despatched on a night attack on the 23rd to bomb either Heho airfield or Meiktila but the weather was duff and instead we dive bombed Myingyan with five 500 pounders fitted with instantaneous fuses. The round trip took 4 hours 20 minutes to complete. On the 26th a daylight attack was made on petrol dumps in Port Duffern and three MTs were shot up on the Mandalay road. On take-off next day our Mosquito developed a hydraulics fault and the operation had to be aborted. On the 29th a night attack was made on the Myitnge bridge. A considerable amount of flak was put up and this burst uncomfortably close to the aircraft. Jap stores at Ywabo were bombed on the 31st and transport was attacked along the Irrawaddy-Myingyan-Magwe road and railway. Some Jap ground fire hit the Mossie in the fuselage during this part of the operation.

On 10 February my navigator, Warrant Officer Orsborn and I were sent out as a single aircraft operation over the 8-10,000ft mountain range. It was an Army support operation to drop ‘Parafex’ containers (simulating hand grenade, mortar shells, machine-gun and rifle fire) in a predetermined spot on the Irrawaddy River to assist in an army crossing. Near the target we experienced a total electrics failure and believing we had dropped our ‘Parafex’ on target we endeavoured to make our way back to base without radio. Needless to say with no moon, flooding and swollen rivers and increasing high cumulus especially over the mountains we got hopelessly lost and were very low on fuel. We were almost at the point of baling out when, by a sheer stroke of luck, we spotted lights of a very small landing strip and made an emergency landing (downwind as it happened) on a short, forward landing strip at Onbauk near Mandalay. The plane overshot the lights and ploughed through a burnt out DC-3 and was badly damaged and because of the electrics failure we found the ‘Parafex’ still on board. Jap ground forces were all around and often attacked at night with mortar and machine gun fire. The next morning we got a transport to Imphal and then back to base.

Between 5–31 March 45 Squadron kept up a relentless and intense bombing and strafing campaign against the Japs. Road and rail transport was shot up at every opportunity and bridges were bombed. My bridge bombing efforts included Thamakan (missed), Thwatty (badly damaged), Sinthe (damaged) and Toungoo. By the end of the month we had notched up 64 hours day and 14.30 hours night operational flying. One of the best results was obtained on the 26th/27th when Salin was bombed at first light. Four 500lb bombs were dropped accurately on a Jap camp. The following day a Rhubarb was carried out on the railway and road between Kyaukpadauna and Pyinmana. Two locos were shot up and a 3-ton MT was set alight before the ammunition ran out!

Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) A.H. ‘Alf’Pridmore of 45 Squadron, whose pilot Flight Lieutenant Dick Campbell
RCAF
had been killed in the crash of a Mosquito on 10 October,
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adds:

March was a very active month indeed for 45 Squadron, which completed a record 287 day sorties and sixty-five night sorties. This shows the high operational activity of the Squadron. My pilot, Flying Officer Don Blenkhorne a Canadian from Nova Scotia and I completed a total of twenty sorties during the month, with only one abort. As the Japs retreated the Squadron used the forward airfield at Thazi. On 4 March we took off from Khumbirgram in north-east Assam on a 45 minute flight to Thazi at 16.20 in Mosquito HR332. After refuelling and taking a rest we took off again at 00.25 on the 5th to carry out an Intruder op. We bombed Pyinmana aerodrome and then did a patrol followed by a Rhubarb between Magew-Allenmyo-Myolalin. A sampan and a motor transport were attacked. The four-hour trip home was made with a short stop over at Kalemyo. A similar operation was carried out in a dawn operation on the 7th when Tennant aerodrome was hit and a locomotive was shot up.

On 15 March we took off for Yenanyang oilfield. Flying out of Khumbirgram we always had to cross the Naga Hills at about 10,000ft before heading for a distinctive bend in the Irrawaddy we called point ‘A’ and then setting course for our target area at lower levels. Final attacks were usually shallow glide-bombing where the pilot waited until the target passed under the nearside engine nacelle and immediately he would wing over and dive on the target. The Squadron approached the target line abreast flying flat out, over the treetops. Each aircraft carried short delay bombs and we released ours in the target area and then headed for home. The Japs put up a moderate amount of flak but did no damage. The operation lasted 3 hours, 20 minutes. Two days later the Squadron returned to the target area, bombing this time from high level. The bomb load carried was usually two bombs in the bomb bay and two more under the wings if drop tanks were not needed. Attacks on airfields could be dangerous but they were necessary, as it was important to try and keep the Jap aircraft on the ground. In March these operations were often carried out at night or timed for dawn, but in May we carried out ‘cab rank’ operations to keep a constant patrol over an airfield to prevent aircraft from taking off. Unfortunately this did not prevent the Japs from calling up aircraft from other fields and we did suffer some losses. However we must have been lucky for we never met a Jap aircraft and any damage was usually the result of ground fire. The general terrain we flew over was also a major threat as the Naga tribes were still headhunters at that time and our escape kit included ‘blood money’ in addition to revolvers and machetes. One of our major roles was to destroy supply lines ahead of our advancing troops. The XIV Army carried out a brilliant and speedy advance through Burma and the speed of their advance left many isolated pockets of Japanese still fighting. After the fall of Mandalay we overflew a column of British tanks out on the open road sweeping towards Rangoon, the crews waved to us from their tanks.
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Ben Walsh and Warrant Officer Orsborn’s last operation on Mosquitoes, their 40th in total, nearly ended in disaster. On the afternoon of the 4 April they took off for the advanced landing ground at Thazi,
en route
to Zinga. After an hour they landed to refuel, taking off again on the final l hour 40-minute flight to the target. On board were two 500lb bombs and two 5001b incendiaries. As the evening light began to fade they ran in to bomb Zinga village and as they left the target it appeared that it had been accurately hit. The return trip took three hours in the dark and after a time it became apparent that the fuel situation was not good. Estimates indicated there would be insufficient fuel to enable the aircraft to reach base. Ben Walsh called for an emergency homing to Monywa. Insufficient numbers of flares were laid, the Mosquito overshot having made a final approach from 5,000ft with very little fuel left and crashed through a gun position. The Mosquito was a ‘write-off‘. The crew sustained no injuries. After an overnight stay at Monywa they hitched a lift to Tulihall in a 221 Communications Squadron Warwick and waited for the Dakota mail plane to take them back to base the following day. This completed their operational tour with 45 Squadron and a short time later they were posted away from the squadron to take up non-operational communications, ferrying and plane-testing duties.

Meanwhile, in November 1944 Wing Commander W.E.M. Lowry
DFC
had assumed command of 684 Squadron. All Mosquito operations came to an abrupt halt on 12 November, however, when yet another signal to all units requited Mosquito aircraft to be grounded, pending inspection. The cause of the accidents was supposedly destruction by ‘termites’ and deterioration of glue. But the actual cause resulted from faulty construction of the wing spar. The number of aircraft available to 684 Squadron for instance, dropped from twenty-one in October to just four airworthy PR.IXs by 20 November. With the arrival of refurbished and replacement aircraft, the squadron soon had twelve Mosquitoes available for operations again and in January 1945 684 Squadron flew over seventy sorties, including 2,100-mile round trips to survey Phuket Island, which had been first covered on 30 December. Squadron Leader Newman and Flight Sergeant Williams obtained complete coverage of Phuket on 5 January during a round trip of 2,286 miles. No.1 Detachment at China Bay, near Tricomalee in Ceylon, made similar long-range sorties to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the tip of Sumatra, flying almost 1,000 statute miles across the Bay of Bengal. Each sortie lasted mote than eight hours.

The Japanese forces in Burma were always a difficult target because so much movement took place in heavily wooded or jungle territory. The weather was always a threat, particularly over the mountains rising to 10,000ft or so, which had to be crossed in all flights to and from base at that time. Charles Carruthers, a navigator on 82 Squadron flying out of Khumbirgram in the early months of 1945 in support of the 14th Army, recalls a Rhubarb flown on 24 February 1945. Their mission was to attack the road and railway NE from Mandalay to Lashio and then south along the road for more than 100 miles:

This was the most exciting trip yet. Warrant Officer Ron Murkin and I set course from base with Flight Lieutenant Dick ‘Mac’ Mackenzie
DFC
and his navigator Flight Lieutenant Ray Pears
DFC
leading. Arriving at Sadang we proceeded to detour around Mandalay, as there are very strong ack-ack positions there. Turning south we finally located the road and railway and proceeded to follow it. Everything was going quite well and I was keeping a wary eye on our tail for Oscars: those nasty little Jap fighters. After a quarter of an hour or so we spotted a loco in a bamboo hut (the Japs’ poor attempt at camouflage). This we strafed and saw dust and possible steam rising from it. Proceeding happily up the railway line, weaving from side to side, suddenly the sky was filled with little black puffs of smoke. They looked quite harmless, but having known what Bofors can do it caused us no little anxiety. Our nose went down immediately, throttles open, and we left with great speed. Having thought we were out of range I glanced behind and was shaken to see those little black puffs following closely on our tail. Luckily, however we got away with it. Mac thought he got hit as he told us over the R/T, so we turned for home. But apparently his aircraft was functioning OK so we carried on after a couple of minutes. There is no doubt that they had been waiting for us, as their fire was so accurate. I think it was because of the fact that we unconsciously flew right over their position without seeing them that it might have surprised them a little. Anyway, that was that and eventually we located the road leading south and started to patrol it. Then like a bolt from the blue, we heard Mac yell, “Bandits, for God’s sake open her out”. So once again down went the nose and throttles through the gate this time and we hurtled along at a steady 350mph right on the deck. It didn’t take us long to outrun them. Possibly they didn’t see us but there is nothing like ‘safety first’. They were probably sent up to intercept us as they were heading north along the road and we were coming south. However, once more we managed to avoid danger.

Seeing as there were enemy fighters in the vicinity we turned west for our lives. Thinking the danger was past we were more or less peaceful in mind. Then a further Oscar was sighted, which caused us great alarm, as he appeared to be turning in to attack us. This time it was not so easy because as we were flying at about 50ft, right in front of us was a range of mountains. Somehow we managed to top the rise and screamed down the other side approaching the 400-mph mark. The old Merlins were dragging at their anchorings and the whole kite was shuddering. This was the least of our worries and finally we reached our lines and set course for base. We landed OK after four hours of very exciting and nerve-racking experiences. While taxiing back to dispersal the groundcrew seemed to be taking undue interest in us. Imagine our surprise when we got out and saw part of the starboard wheel cover torn and bent by shrapnel. Peculiarly enough Mac thought he had been hit and hadn’t. We didn’t notice a thing at the time we were shot at and yet a stray bit of shrapnel had damaged us. Ignorance is bliss! The Intelligence Reports of 200 Jap fighters having been moved up into the battle area from Rangoon was causing some consternation. So far, bandits had amounted to practically nothing in the way of opposition.

Since December 82 Squadron was based at Kumbhirgram in India, to the west of the Manipur/Chin Hills, which rise to around 9,000ft. Gordon Thewlis, an Observer, remembers a flight he did with his pilot, Flight Lieutenant B. V. ‘Vic’ Hewes, an American from Atlanta, Georgia: