Hurricane I vs Bf 110: 1940 (Duel)

I "

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATORS TONY HOLMES has worked as Osprey's aviation editor since 1989, having previously served as an author/photographer for this publishing house in Australasia. He established the critically acclaimed and hugely popular Aircraft of the Aces series in 1994.

JIM LAURIER is a native of New England and lives in New Hampshire. He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1974-78, and since graduating with Honors, he has been working professionally in the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissioned to paint for the US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon.

HURRICANE I

Bfll0 1940

GARETH HECTOR is a digital artist of international standing as well as an aviation history enthusiast. Gareth completed the battlescene art

TONY HOLMES

INTRODUCTION Ir was nor all doom and gloom for Zerstorer crews in 1940, rhough. The Bf 110 ea ily ourgunned rhe Hurricane - and rhe Spirflre, for rhar marrer. Beflrring irs original role as a bomber-dew-oyer, rhe Mes erschmirr was armed wirh four 7.9mm MG 17

One in a sequence of pictures taken by legendary aviation photographer Charles E. Brown during a visit to

was

machine guns, wirh 1,000 rounds per weapon, in rhe nose, plus rwo 20mm MG FF

predominanrly rhe domain of single-sear rype such as rhe Spirflre lIlI, Hurricane I

cannon, each wirh 180 rounds per gun, in rhe lower forward fuselage_ A flexibly

and Bf 109E. However, flying alongside rhe larrer during much of rhe acrion over

mounred 7.9mm MG 15 machine gun was also provided for rhe rearward-facing

No. 601 Sqn Hurricane Is

wesrern Europe was rhe rwin-engined Bf I 10 Zerstorer. The Bf 1 10 was designed as a

navigarorlradio-operaror. [n conrra r, rhe Hurricane I was equipped wirh eighr rifle-

being fuelled [the aircraft

'bomber-dew'oyer' in rhe 1930s; however, during World War II irs primary rask was

calibre 0.303-in. Browning machine guns, and rhese ofren proved ro lack rhe

clearing a parh rhrough rhe enemy's defensive flghrer screen for Lufrwaffe bomber

desrrucrive punch of rhe cannon flrred ro rhe Bf 11 0 and Bf 109E.

Figh rer-versus-flgh rer

com bar

berween

March

and

ovem ber

1940

everrheless, rhanks ro rhe Hurricane 1's agiliry in com bar, berrer racrics and

Bf 110 'rwin' following irs successes over Poland and during rhe Phoney War had

evenrual srrengrh in numbers, by rhe early aurumn of 1940 rhe Hawker flghrer would

given rhe aircrafr almosr myrhical srarus wirhin rhe Lufrwaffe. However, in rhe Barrie

prevail in rhe skies over sourhern England. By rhis rime rhe inadequacy of rhe Bf 1I0's

of France rhe Zerstorer legend would be quickly sharrered by Allied single-sear fighrers.

defensive firepower - rhe single rear-facing gun - and of ir manoeuvrabiliry had been

opponenT. The Hurricane enrered ervice wirh rhe RAF in December 1937 as irs

cruelly exposed by RAF Fighrer

ommand, as had rhe aircrafr's poor a celerarion and

unsarisfacrory rop speed in combar condirions, parricularly ar low level.

this view shows a section of

to the left also appears to be having its magazines reloaded J before undertaking

formarions. By rhe spring of 1940 rhe propaganda surrounding rhe Messerschmirr

This volume considers rhe Hawker Hurricane I as rhe Bf II O's principal

Tangmere in early July 1940,

hampioned

a convoy protection patrol off the south coast of England. The unit seems to be relying on a towable bowser rather than the usually ubiquitous Albion three-point truck. Note also the belts of 0.303-in ammunition draped over the

flrsr monoplane flghrer. The Hurricane and rhe Zerstorer flrsr rraded blows during rhe

by Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring before rhe war, rhe Bf 1 10 rook a rerrible bearing

final weeks of rhe Phoney War, before engaging in bloody dogflghrs over France as

rhroughour rhe larrer half of 1940: rhe Zestorergruppen based in France and Norway

rhe Lufrwaffe supporred rhe Wehrmachr during rhe BLitzkrieg in rhe wesr from

losr an asronishing 223 examples during rhe Barrie ofBrirain. A good number of rhese

extinguisher just forward

10 May 1940.

aircrafr were claimed by Hurricane squadrons. The larrer did rhemselves suffer 10 ses

of the bowser and the fitter

The Hurricane I formed rhe backbone of RAF Fighrer Command for rhe flrsr

caused by Bf 110 unirs, bur in a far more favourable rario of four-ro-one. How rhe

18 monrhs ofrhe war, wirh no fewer rhan 1,715 examples equipping 36 squadrons

Brirish flghrer ramed rhe much-vaunred bomber-desrroyer, and rherefore helped rhe

during rhe Barrie of Brirain - only half rhis number of unirs flew Spirflres. Half rhe

RAF achieve masrery of rhe skies over sourhern England, is revealed in rhis volume.

weighr of rhe Bf 110 and highly manoeuvrable, rhe Hurricane 1 al

0

flat-loader trolley marked '601', the solitary fire

holding the radio access panel for the Hurricane I parked to the right of the phOto.

boasred a rop

speed of more rhan 300m ph and sound high-alrirude performance. However, rhe

Zerstorer wa no slouch eirher: ir was fasrer rhan rhe Hurricane I in level flighr in cerrain condirions.

everrheless, rhe big, heavy bomber-desrroyer was blighred by

sluggish accelerarion and poor manoeuvrabiliry, which made ir highly vulnerable when 4

'bounced' by single-sear flghrers such as rhe Hurricane I.

5

,. ... Directorate oHfechnical I

-.

- ...

.

.

.

evaluation by RLM r.ilots. aircraft is subse~uently. di the Zerstorer role after

.

HI re~uirements for

•

..

interim Junkers Jumo -

:

~.

.

.

:

-

.

secure official suppore for his proposal. Regardless, Hawker's board backed irs chief designer, giving him approval co press on wirh rhe aircrafr - dubbed rhe 'Fury Monoplane' - as a private venture. This did present Camm wirh some problems, as Hawker designer Dr Percy Walker recalled: As a private venrurc, the design from the beginning was subject to certain limitations, mainly owing to the need to concrol COSts. The firm was compelled to apply existing design techniques to their monoplane, and make use of existing machine tools and workshop methods. This meanr a structure composed mainly ofsteel tubes covered with fabric. The use oHabric for wing-covering produced a problem which was far from easy to resolve. By the standards of the time, the speed of the Hurricane was very high indeed,

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT HURRICANE The unsung hero of the Barrie of Brirain, rhe Hurricane could rrace irs lineage back ro 1912 and the esrablishmenr of the Sopwirh Aviarion ompany by leading pioneer aviacor Thomas Sopwirh. The firm soon esrablished an enviable repurarion for irself rhrough rhe producrion of aeroplanes such as rhe Tabloid, Pup, Camel, Dolphin and Snipe. However, Sopwirh was badly affecred by rhe massive reducrion in defence spending immediately following World War I, and rhe company was forced inco liquidarion. Determined co rare again, Thomas Sopwirh re-formed rhe company under the name of H. G. Hawker Engineering in recognirion of the work done by his Australian chief resr pilor Harry Hawker during World War 1. Hawker was killed pracrising for rhe Hendon Air Display in July 1921. In 1923 Sydney Camm joined Hawker a a senior draughrsman. During a relarionship spanning 43 years, amm would work on 52 differenr aircrafr rypes wirh producrion (Qralling 26,000 airframes. [n 1925 Camm replaced George Career as Hawker's chief designer; after this rime Camm concentrared on nearing milirary aircrafr for rhe RAF. Undoubredly his mosr famous products during rhe interwar period were rhe srunningly beauriful Hare rwo- ear bomber and Fury single-seat fighter, borh of which were powered by rhe Rolls-Royce Kesrrel inline engine.

8

In early 1933 amm began looking ar rhe feasibiliry of producing a monoplane fighrer. He believed rhe biplane formula adhered co by rhe RAF since World War 1 was deadlocked, and he hoped co break thar deadlock. Neverrheless, despire discussions wirh rhe Air Minisrry's Direccorare ofTechnical Developmenr ar this rime he failed co

much faster than any of its biplane predecessors. ever before had fabric wing-covering been subjecr to such speeds and loading for any lengrh of rime. Work on rhe Fury Monoplane scarred in earnesr in the spring of 1933, wirh Camm and his ream inirially producing a design rhar essenrially paired a Fury fuselage wirh a single low wing of 38ft span. The aircraft, fined with a fixed, sparred undercarriage, was powered by a 660hp Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine. Ir was esrimared rhar rhis engine would give rhe fighrer a cop speed of 280m ph. By com pari on, rhe Fury I biplane could achieve 207mph in level Aighc. In early 1934 Rolls-Royce announced rhar ir was developing a 12-cylinder, liquidcooled engine, designated rhe PV 12. The power-co-weighr rario of this powerplanr was significanrly bener than rhar of rhe Goshawk engine, and Rolls-Royce believed the PV 12 would produce ar leasr 1,000hp. Camm quickly realised rhar the PV 12 had co be incorporared inco his monoplane fighrer. This move meane significanr changes co rhe design were necessary, co rhe poine where rhe new aircraft's link co rhe Fury became renuous. Accordingly, rhe new aircraft was renanled the 'Hawker Inee rcepcor Monoplane'. In Occober 1934 Air Minisrry officials examined the Hawker design. They were so impressed wirh whar rhey saw rhar rhey in rurn issued Specification F.36/34 for a monoplane fighrer based on rhe company's projecc. The nexr month Hawker's Inrercepcor Monoplane, powered by the Rolls-Royce PV 12, became rhe Air Minisrry's 'F.36/34 Single-Sear Fighrer - High Speed Monoplane'. The PV 12 would eventually marure inco rhe mighry Merlin.

No.1 Sqn Fury lis cruise along in Aircraft Close Vic, Sections Close VIC formation for the benefit of the visiting Flight photographer in autumn 1938. At this time the unit was in the process of converting to the Hurricane I at RAF Tangmere, Sussex. Before the war, Fighter Command squadrons spent much of their time practising this kind of formation flying rather than focusing on modern fighter tactics and aerial gunnery.

On 21 February 1935 rhe Air Minisrry placed an order with Hawker derailing rhe crearion of the firsr procorype of rhe F.36/34 Single-Sear Fighrer - High Speed Monoplane. Although when building the new monoplane fighrer Hawker's designers were rempred co embrace such curring-edge rechniques as SCJ·essed-skin consrrucrion, rhe designers realised rhar rhe need co rapidly mass-produce rhe aircrafr would mean rhey would have co

9

OPPOSITE

rely on methods that had served them well since World War 1. More modern

This aircraft, part of the first

construction techniques would have required creating new jigs and tools for use on the factory floor, as well as retraining\he Hawker workforce. Consequently, the SingleSeat Fighter - High Speed Monoplane design was constructed using established concepts, modified to suit the requirements of the more modern aircraft.

production batch of 500 aircraft built Aircraft

b~

Gloster

Compan~

at its

Brockworth plant in Gloucestershire, was delivered new to No. 56 Sqn in

earl~

1940. Passed on

to No. 601 Sqn in

Ma~,

it was regularl~ flown b~ Pit Off J. C. U. B. McGrath from RAF Tangmere during the earl~

phase of the Battle of

Britain. Indeed, McGrath claimed ten victories with this aircraft between 11 Jul~ and 13 August, including three Bf 110s. However, P2690 was one of two No. 601 Sqn Hurricane Is lost on the latter date over Portland Bill, fellow ace Pit Off H. C. Ma~ers being forced to take to his parachute over We~mouth Ba~

b~

after his aircraft was hit

fire from a Bf 110 of

I.lZG 2. Ma~ers had claimed a Zersrorer probabl~ destro~ed

moments earlier.

The Hurricane fighter and Henley dive-bomber prototypes await their next flights at Brooklands [note the banked racing track in he background) in the summer of 1937. The powered

b~

Henle~

was also

a Merlin I engine

and featured Hurricane I outer wing panels. Just 200 of the type would be built and 10

used for target towing.

For example, the steel-tube longerons that provided the main support for the fuselage were surrounded by a secondary structure of wooden formers and stringers that was in turn covered with fabric along the length of the fuselage from the tail to the cockpit. From the cockpit forward the fuselage was covered with light metal panels_ The fighter's ailerons were fabric-covered, but its split-edge trailing flaps boasted duralumin covering. The PV 12 - soon to be named the Merlin - was mounted on steel tubes. Initially, this state-of-the-art engine was used to drive a simple wooden two-bladed Warts propeller, as fitted to the biplane Fury 1. As with most monoplane fighter designs of this period, the Hawker aircraft featured a retractable undercarriage. Crucially, this retracted inwards, giving the undercarriage a wider stance when extended and making the fighter better suited to operations from rough fields. By October 1935 the prototype, bearing the serial number K5083, was nearing completion at Hawker's Kingston plant. In due course the airframe was delivered by road to the company's assembly shed at nearby Brooklands, and at month's end the complete aeroplane was rolled out. On 6 November Hawker's chief test pilot, FIt Lt P. W. S. 'George' Bulman, took K5083 on its maiden flight from Brooldands. Three more flights quickly followed. Fellow Hawker test pilot Philip Lucas made one of these early hops, later commenting: 'We found the aeroplane easy to fly, stable in flight and on the ground, and with a much better view than anything we had flown before.' Following three months of company flight trials, during which the aeroplane attained a speed of 325mph at 16,500ft, in February 1936 prototype K5083 was transferred to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Martlesham Heath for evaluation by RAF test pilots. The report issued at the end of these trials noted among other things that the aeroplane had a service ceiling of35,400ft. It also confirmed that K5083 was the world's first fighter capable of exceeding 300mph in level flight. In the wake of the favourable A&AEE report, Hawker's management became aware

\

of rumours that the Air Ministry was likely co recommend that the company's design be pUt imo volume production. Ben Tagg, a member of Hawker's production staff from I93S, recalled:

Another feature of early-production Hurricane Is was fabric-covered wings. This caused some problems for the fighter.

o. 11 1 Sqn in it early days with

nit pilot and future 1940 ace Pit Off Roy Dutton recalled

that 'at high speed the wing gun panels sometimes partially blew out and The Hawker directors demonstrated their confidence in the aeroplane by agreeing in

the wing fabric diStended like sausages between the ribs'. By 1939 stressed-

March 1936 that production should be initiated ahead or contract, with a policy to plan

skin metal wings were being manufactured, and these were considerably

tooling and racilities ror 1,000 aeroplanes. This early board de ision gave a lead or

lighter, stronger and stiffer in terms of bOth bending and torsion. Heating

considerable importance in the light or subsequent events.

units for the guns were also fitted within the wings themselves: at the time of the Munich Crisis in

Hiscorians have since argued that committing the aircraft co production at such an early stage in it developmem had the effeCt of disallowing further improvemems co

eptember 1938 it had been revealed that

Hurricane pilOtS were unable to fire their weapons at heights above IS,OOOft due to the guns' mechanisms being frozen.

the design that could have given the fighter a level of performance comparable with

By the time Germany invaded Poland on the morning of I September

that of itS fu tu re adversary, the Bf 109E. However, it is eSti mated that if the Hawker

1939, some 497 Hurricane [ had been delivered co 18 squadrons within

fighter had indeed been delayed so as co allow for future developmem - a fate which

RAF Fighter Command.

initially befell the Spitfire - then during the Battle of Britain 600 fewet examples would have been deliveted co the RAE This in turn would have almost certainly

Pilot had found the new machine a joy to Ay, as 19-year-old future ace Pit Off Roland Beamont fNo. 87 Sqn remembered:

allowed the Luftwaffe co achieve aerial supremacy on the Western From, arguably facilitating the invasion of Britain.

To a newcomer, rhe Hurricane was an immensely powerrul bur nor very

On 3 June 1936 the Air Mini try issued a contract co Hawker co build 600 examples

demanding aeroplane. Irs wide-track undercarriage, srable and responsive Aying

of the F.36/34 Single-Seat Fighter - High Speed Monoplane; later that same month the

characreristics and reliable engine and hydraulic system resulted in a general

design was officially named the 'Hurricane'. In July KS083 provided the public debut

atmosphere orconfidence on rhe squadron,

fot the new Hawker fighter when it panicipated in the Hendon Air Display.

to become apprehensive.

0

rhat the newcomer had no reason

Hawker's Kingscon and BrookJands facilities would not be able co cope with production on the scale requested by the Air Ministry. Fortunately, however, in 1934

The young men of Fighter Command, confident in the ability of their Hurricanes

the company had acquired the Gloster Aircraft Company, and this was charged with

to take the fight to Germany, would find themselves embroiled in a bitter struggle for

based at RAF Biggin Hill, Kent, fly over the North Downs at

volume Hurricane production from 1938. That same year, Hawker's brand-new

aerial supremacy initially over western France and then over southern England for

Langley plant also began delivering Hurricanes, which was JUSt as well considering that

much of 1940. Proving that both they and their aircraft were more than up to this

the company received a follow-on comract for 1,000 aeroplanes in

task, Hurricane pilots would emerge at year's end with four-fifths of the aerial kills

for press photographers aloft

credited to the RAF in 1940.

in an RAF Anson. This

ovember 1938.

By this time the problems KS083 had experienced with the Merlin 1 powerplant had been well and truly cured. This was also JUSt as well, for the issues of reliability

From 1941 the Spitfire began to dominate the ranks of Fighter

ommand.

medium altitude in Aircraft Close Line Abreast formation

particular shot was taken on B August 1939 during one of

regarding the Rolls-Royce engine had been so concerning that bOth Hawker and the

Nevertheless, the Hurricane remained in prodUCtion until eptember 1944, by which

Air Ministry had decided to wait for the improved 1,030hp Merlin Il before

time 12,780 examples had been built in the

commencing production of the Hurricane 1. The firSt example of the Hurricane 1,

The aircraft's appearance and performance altered remarkably little over seven years,

Messenger photographer.

LlS47, made its maiden Aight on 12 October 1937. This machine differed from

yet the soundness of Sydney Camm's original design had allowed the Hurricane to

Exactly 12 months later

KS083 not only in having the more powerful Merlin II, but it also had a revised and

remain a viable weapon of war right through to VJ-Day.

K and I,4S

J

under licence in Canada.

strengthened canopy, ejector exhaUSt stubs, and revised undercarriage doors. December 1937 it was delivered to

o. III Sqn at RAF

the last RAF peacetime Air Defence Exercises by a Kent

fighter pilots would be repeating the self-same routine several times a day,

LlS48 became the first Hurricane 1 to be issued to Fighter Command when on IS

although now they would be intercepting real Luftwaffe

ortholt, which had previou Iy

Sf 110

rather than a handful of

pitch Watts wooden propellers, but these were subsequently replaced by de Havilland

As this book will demonstrate, the Bf J 10 was thoroughly unsuited to dogfighting

with white crosses.

two-position three-bladed propellers and, finally, de Havilland or Rotol constant-speed

with the Hurricane, which it was called upon to do during the spring and summer of

been equipped with Gloster Gauntlet IIll biplane fighter. The unit was fully equipped by early 1938. Like tile prototype, the firSt Hurricane Is in service had two-bladed fLXed-

12

Hurricane Is of No. 79 Sqn,

aircraft in their hundreds,

Blenheim Is hastily repainted

units. However, aircraft equipped with Watts propellers did see combat in France in

1940. For a fighter to be successful in aerial combat, speed, acceleration and

May-June 1940; the final examples were not replaced until after Dunkirk.

mano uvrability were all required. The Bf I 10 possessed the first of these, but sorely

13

OPPOSITE

lacked the latter two. In its defence, the aircraft was never designed for a dogfighting

Ranking Zerstorer ace

role. Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) had created the Bf 110 as a long-range strategic Zerstiirerwhose primary job was to clear a path through the enemy's defensive fighter screen for Luftwaffe bomber formations. Such a concept was not new: in World War I the most successful aircraft of this rype had been the British Bristol F2 Fighter

Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Jabs flew several Bf 110[s marked 'MS+NP' during 1940. All wore ZG 76's fearsome 'shark's mouth' on the nose, and this particular aircraft, seen here in the markings worn in June 1940, bore six kill symbols on its fin to denote Jabs's successes during the Battle of France. The ultimate fate of this aircraft is unknown. Four Sf 110s pictured at

flown by the Royal Flying Corps and the RAE However, interwar fighter designers generally stuck with what they knew: singleseat biplanes with a high power-to-weight ratio and modest wing-loading. In the early 1930s the status quo was shattered. The monoplane revolution was made possible by the advent of monocoque fuselages, cantilever tail units, retractable undercarriages and stressed-skin single- or double-spar wings. The new breed of interceptors, like the biplane fighters before them, were still only modestly armed and equipped with barely adequate fuel tankage so as not to erode their speed and manoeuvrabiliry. Limited range was the order of the day. However, now air forces were demanding

the German civil registration

fighters with combat endurance that could accompany bombers on missions deep into enemy territory. The technology available to designers in the 1930s did not allow the production of a single-engined machine that could perform this role, hence the resurrection of the concept of the twin-engine strategic fighter. According to pre-

O·AISY. The remaining three

eminent Luftwaffe historian William Green:

Messerschmitt's Augsburg plant in spring, 1938. The third aircraft in line is the Bf 110 V4 prototype; it wears

aircraft are factory·fresh Bf 110Bs without armament. The V4 has been painted in

In essence, the strategic fighter was envisaged as a warplane embodying high performance

the light colour scheme

and heavy armamenr, coupled wirh sufficienr endurance to permit the escort of bombers,

synonymous with prototype

deep-penetration offensive sorties over enemy territory and the mainrenance of standing

machines of this period.

patrols at substantial distances from its base. Time was to prove that no enrirely successful

All aircraft also carry the

strategic fighter would emerge from the considerable effort devoted to the evolution of

pre-war red tailfin bands with a swastika in a white circle. The three Bf 110Bs were

this category of warplane in the years preceding World War II. Few less enviable tasks could have faced the combat aircraft designer of the 1930s

subsequently transferred to a

than that of evolving a satisfactory strategic fighter. Such a warplane had, of necessity, to

schwere Jagdgruppe in Barth,

be a compromise, and compromises are rarely good enough. Conflicting requiremenrs

on the Baltic coast, during the summer, while the V4 was

were inherenr in the concept, and one could only be fulfilled at the expense of another.

sent to the Rechlin test

The strategic fighter had to possess a performance higher than, or at least comparable

centre.

with that of the more specialised defensive fighters by which it was likely to find itself opposed, and if it was to succeed in fending off determined atracks on the bomber formations, which one of its primary

tasks

was

ro

protect,

manoeuvrability was a prime requIsite. Yet firepower, the fuel necessary ro arrain the desired range and suitability for a mulriplicity of auxiliary roles dreamed up by planning Staff, dictated a relarively large aircraft of twin-engined configuration. In 14

.

consequence,

some

sacrifice

manoeuvrability had to be accepted.

of

/

:

The

srraregic

flghrer

requiremenr

HI' J 10 ourperformed borh irs rivals, rhe Fw 57 and

formulared in Germany in 1934 called for rhe

lIs 124, in rhe Zerstiirer role, as rhe larrer aircrafr had

crearion of a Kampfterstorer - a mulri-role

brrn builr more as Kampfterstiirer rhan bomber-

aircrm whose primary mission was as a long-

drsrroyers.

range flghrer sweeping ahead of bomber

drmanded rhar BFW commence producrion wirhour

formarions. Many senior figures wirhin rhe

dday - rhe long-range heavy flghrer had srarred ro

hearing

rhis

news,

Goring

Lu frwaffe's Tech n ical Deparrmen r oppo ed rhe

figure mosr prominendy in rhe Luftwaffe's advanced

concepr on rhe grounds rhar rhe resulring

war planning.

aircrafr would be roo large and heavy, and

The flrsr producrion model, rhe Bf I lOA, was ro

rherefore slow and unwieldy, ro perform any

have been powered by rhe 986hp DB 600Aa.

On the outbreak of war, two of

one rask effecrively. However, rhe Lufrwaffe's commander-in-chief Hermann Goring

Ilowever, persisrenr problem wirh rhis powerplanr

the three Zerstdrergruppen

was convinced rhar Germany needed a long-range fighrer, and a direcrive was duly given

kd ro irs abandonment in favour of rhe uprared

with Bf 110s still had

ro me cffccr rhar dcvelopmcnr of rhc Kampfterstorer should proceed wirh grear hasre.

I)B 60], and cancellation of rhe Bf I lOA. The new engine also suffered a rroublesome

Jumo·powered B-models

The first Grllppe to be

The speciflcarion called for a rwin-engine all-mera] rhree-sear monoplane armed

grsrarion period, resulring in Messerschmirr being forced ro switch ro the interim

equipped with the Bf 110C,

wirh flexibly mounred cannon and fearuring an inrernal bomb-bay. Seven aircrafr

680hp Junkers Jumo 210Ga cngine for its production-series Bf I lOB. The first of

in late January 1939,

a Stukagruppe en route to

manufacrurers received rhe speciflcarion; rhey included BFW, which had jusr srarred

trn pre-production Bf I lOB-I s flcw on 19 April 1938, and production-standard

Warsaw on B September

work on rhe Bf ] 09 prororypes. Diplomingenieur ('academically qualified engineer')

machines slowly began ro reach 1.(Z)/LG I of rhe Lufrwaffc's LeIJr-Division in rhe

on strength. Here, 8ertas of

2.1ZG 1 are

1939

fl~ing

escort for

was operational trials unit I.(Z)/LG 1 based at Barth. There already appears to be a

Willy Messerschmirr and his chief engineer, Walrer Rerhel, also felr rhar rhe

.tutumn. The latrer unit was responsible for formularing tactics and techniques for rhe

problem with the port DB 601

Kampfterstiirerwould be a failure if designed according ro rhe official peciflcarion, so

projecred schwere jagdgruppen ('heavy fighter groups', redesignated Zerstiirergntppen

engine of 2. Staffel aircraft

rhey chose ro ignore many of rhe requiremenrs and focused insread on ulrimare

on I January] 939).

'11+A12' in the foreground.

performance. The proposals submirred by Focke- Wulf and Henschel followed rhe

Only 45 Bf 110Bs were built, a rhis version's performance was deemed inadequare

speciflcarions more closely, however, and rhey received rhree-prororype conrracrs from

f()[ combar tasks rhanks ro its Jumo 21 OGa engines. These aircraft did nevertheless

rhe ReichsLuftfahrtministerium (RiM). BFW appeared ro have mi sed our, bur

play an imporranr role because rhey let crews evaluate equipmcnr and armamenr and

influenrial World War I ace Ernsr

develop operarional rechniques.

der, who was a close friend of Messerschmirr,

broughr pressure ro bear on rhe RLM. Consequenrly, rhe company al

0

received a

conrracr ro build rhree examples of irs aircran, now de ignared rhe Bf I 10.

By lare 1938 the problems with the 1,100hp DB 601A-I had at lasr been ironed OUt, allowing Messerschmirr ro tart producrion of the definitive Bf I 10 -I model.

oncerns over rhe viabiliry of rhe Kampfterstiirerflnally resulred in an alrerarion ro

rhis varianr differed from the B-model not only in having new engines, bur also in

rhar a dedicared Schneffbomber

the deletion of rhe deep radiaror bath beneath each engine and rhe addition of a

('high-speed bomber') was now specified. The demand for a Zerstiirer remained,

shallow glycol radiaror ourboard of the powerplanr on the underside of each wing.

however, rhe aircrafr now being exclusively a 'bomber-desrroyer'. The proposed

Small oil coolers were also incorporated inro the lower porrion of the engine nacelles.

Bf I] 0 fighrer was well placed ro fill rhe larrer role, since irs lean, sleek design allowed

Thc Bf J 10 production programme was now running way behind schedule, but

rhe RLM requiremenr in rhe spring of 1935,

0

an impressive rop speed.

from late 1938 it was given rhc highest prioriry. Ten pre-production Bf I IOC-Os were

Following sraric resrs and raxiing rrials ar Augsburg-Haunsrerren, rhe prororype

delivered to the Lufrwaffe in January 1939 for service evaluation, and by monrh's end

Bf I. JOY J performed irs flrsr flighr - wirh RudolfOpirz ar rhe conrrols - on 12 May

the fI rst prod uction Bf J lOC-I s had reached 1. (Z)/LG I. Del iveries ro l./ZG J and

1936. The poor reliabiliry of rhe rwin Daimler-Benz 600A engines hampered flighr

l./ZG 76 also began during thc spring and early summer. By 31 August 1939 rhe

resring, bur BFW pilors were able ro reporr rhar rhe flghrer had a marginal rabiliry

Luftwaffe had received J 59 Bf 110 s, with ongoing producrion under way ar

problem ar low ro medium speeds, bur essenrially good handling ar higher speeds.

Mcsserschmitr, Focke-Wulf, Gorhaer Waggonfabrik and M[A . The Bf J lOs in

AJso nored was rhe Bf] I O's weak accelerarion and poor manoeuvrabiliry, alrhough irs

service were flown by hand-picked crews mainly drawn from Bf 109-equipped units;

rop speed of 314mph in level flighr did omewhar offser rhese drawbacks. A rendency

all this gave the Zerstiirergruppen elite sratus. The aircrafr they used was shrouded in

ro swing violenrly during rake-off and landing was also reporred. [n facr, rhe aircran

an aura ofinvincibiliry generated by rhe German propaganda machine. Keen ro prove

would suffer from poor ground handling rhroughour irs long career.

the worrh of his 'Ironsides' - so named aner Oliver Cromwell' Parliamenrary cavalry

Ongoing engine problems meanr rhar rhe econd prororype, Bf 110 V2, did nor fly

of rhe 17rh cenrury - Coring reporredly ordered rhe Luftwaffe ro throw its enrire

ub equendy delivered ro rhe Erprobungssteffe

force of Zerstiirer (jusr 90 serviceable aircrafr) inro rhe assault on Poland. Would the

unril24 Ocrober 1936. This aircran wa

16

Upon

ar Rechlin on 14 January 1937 for evaluarion by RiM pilors. Unsurprisingly, rhe

Bf 1 10 live up ro irs elire billing?

17

As well as the change in powerplant, the production aircraft had a revi ed canopy with Internal trengrhening, a bulletproof windscreen (added in early 1939), simplified undercarriage door, an aerial masr, an enlarged rudder including .t

rrim tab and formation light on the trailing edge,

I.lnding lights in the wing leading edge and kidney' exhaust tubs. The latter were in turn rcplaced from mid-1938 by 'ejecror' exhaust stubs .,fter Roll -Royce discovered that by fitting these, lhc Hurricane I's maximum

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

peed could be

boosted by 5mph. The ejector stubs vented ga es to the rear instead of at right-angles III

the slipstream, as had previously been the ca e with the 'kidney stub '. The first 60 Hurricane Is also lacked the small StI'ake b neath the rear fuselage that

I.ltcr became standard for all example built from February 1938 - none of the first lhree units co re-equip with the Hawker fighter initially received modifi d Hurricane

h. rhe trake's addition wa found to aid high-speed spin recovery. As built, early Hurricane Is had a length of 3 J fi: 5in. and a wing pan of exactly 10ft. The entire forward quarter of the fuselage was taken up by the engine lompartment, containing the l\1erlin II. fmmediately behind this was an armour-

HURRICANE I (EARLY.BUILD)

either side of the fuselage centre section, while the eight 0.303-in Browning machine

Icttisonable). Two 33gal self-sealing fuel tanks were installed in the wing roots on guns were housed in either wing in clo ely grouped banks of four each, outboard of lhe undercarriage and sited so as to let them fire ourside of the propeller arc. With

29 August 1939, when he hit

prorotype, K5083. Although the latter had initially been flown without armament,

1110st equipment and sysrems grouped around the aircraft's central fu e1age and

an airfield obstruction at RAF

eight-gun wings were fitted co the aircraft in the summer of 1936 and the

forward quarter, the fabric-covered steel-tube-and-Iongeron rear fuselage was virtually

procotype made its first flight in this configuration on 17 August that year. As

lfl1pty. Irs sole purpose was to carry the tail secrion.

Cowley [Oxford

J. where this

No. 43 Sqn, L1732 went on to serve with Nos. 7 and 6 Operational Training Units

with Sf 110s from III./ZG 26 14 May 1940.

by Fit Lt Caesar Hull on

picture was taken. From

France, in late 1939. Pyne would lose his life in combat

with bulletproof windscreen and sliding canopy (the latter was subsequently made

The first 600 Hurricane Is delivered co the RAF differed very little from the solitary

repair to the Morris Works at

starboard wing magazine of his aircraft, at Etain.Rouvres,

HURRICANE I damaged while being flown

1939 the aircraft was sent for

loading a belt of 0.303·in ammunition into the

north of Vouziers on

was issued lO No. 43 Sqn

Tangmere. On 18 September

No. 73 Sqn keeps a weather eye on the two armourers

plated firewall, then the reserve fuel tank (with 28 Imperial gallons) and rhe cockpir, Early·build Hurricane I L1732 on 6 December 1938 and

Standing up in his cockpit, Sgt T. B. G. 'Titch' Pyne of

mentioned, the first production-standard Hurricane I, L1547, was fitted with the

Production of the first barch of Hurricane Is - 600 aircraft - ran from Ocrober

more powerful and more reliable 1,030hp Merlin JI engine in place of K5083's

)937 to October 1939. These machines were issued to

1,025hp Merlin C.

I. 43, 79 and 151 Sqns in 1938, and Nos. 213, 46, 501, 504 and 605 Sqns up to

os. 111,56,87,85,73,32,

~ September 1939. By rhe end of September the firsr examples from a follow-on order

for 300 Hurricane Is had started ro roll off the Hawker pI' ducrion line at Kingston.

and finally with No. 286 Sqn. The fighter was written off on 14 May 1943, while serving with the latter unit, after it hit high·tension cables and

By rhe starr of the Battle of Britain in July 1940, Fighrer

ommand unirs were

crashed at Torcross, Devon.

receiving definitive late-build Hurricane Is a amirion replacements for aircraft written

Clearly in 1939 nobody had

offin combat or flying accidents. Many of rhe upgrades seen on these machines were

heard of health and safety

also firted to early-build Hurricane Is ar RAF maintenance unir (MU) and civilian-

in the workplace, judging by the precarious jacking and trestling methods employed 18

HURRICANE I (LATE·BUILD)

here.

run repair depots when aircraft required overhaul or bartle-damage rectification. One of the first and most obvious changes to be made was the replacement of the big Watts wooden [\Vo-blade, fixed-pitch propeller with a three-blade meral or

19

composite unir. The Wans propeller had

late 1939, earlier-built aircraft were also modified, although Wans-equipped machines

been in widespread use within the RAF since

remained in the frontline inro the early summer of 1940.

the mid-1920s, and it had been adequate for frontline types as long as speeds - particularly

se of such wings had been considered by

in the dive - did not exceed 360m ph. Above

Hawker right from the start, but the Air Mini try had been keen to get the aircraft into

that speed the 'aircrafr drove the propeller';

service as quickly as possible. This in turn meant that virrually all the 600 aircraft in

tip speeds would near compressibility (the

the first production run and the first 80 in the second batch of 300 were completed with fabric-covered wings.

speed of sound) and the propeller would overspeed

pitch,

By late 1938 Hawker designers were busy working on the all-metal Tornado and

Veteran late·build Hurricane I

potenrially cau ing serious damage ro the engine. The Wans propeller's blade pitch

Typhoon fighters intended as replacemenrs for the Hurricane. The company was keen

P3886 of No. 601 Sqn being

angle had been selected as a compromise ber-ween requiremenrs for take-ott (when a

ro gain experience with stressed-skin consrruction techniques by introducing all-metal

serviced on the perimeter

fine pitch is most efficient) and combat (when coarse senings were optimal).

Hurricane wings, but the Air Ministry was anxious nor ro slow the flow of flo-hters so

dispersal at Exeter Airport in mid·September 1940. Note

In

relatively

coarse

b

The solution ro these problems was a variable-pitch propeller: one that could have

as ro allow their introduction.

evertheless, Hawker test-flew a set of metal wings on

the aircraft's natural-metal

its blade angles changed in flight by the pilor. The first succes ful design was produced

28

cowling over its reduction

by US company Hamilron Standard in the early 1930s. A three-blade metal propeller

built en masse. Having reviewed the flight performance data for the metal-wing

gear, which had been filled in

of 11ft diameter that allowed two pitch senings - 30.5 degrees fine and 42.5 degrees

Hurricane I, the Air Ministry agreed that the company should start production

coarse - was rrialled on Hurricane I L 1562 on 29 August 1938. However, although thi

straight away. However, these wings were initially ro be fined to damaged aircraft

the wake of an engine failure suffered by the fighter on

pril 1939, after which it fabricated a production-type jig ro allow these ro be

26 July. Once repaired, this

was an improvemenr on the Watts, it was far from ideal: the fighter's take-ott run was

rerurned to Hawker for repair. Srocks of new wings were then supplied ro M Us so that

aircraft enjoyed success

greatly reduced, bur its performance at a1tirude was litrle better than when fined with

fighters in srorage awaiting delivery ro operational squadrons could also be modified.

while being flown by No. 601 Sqn aces Sgt L. N. Guy (a Ju 88 shared on August lS) and Fig Off C. R. Davis [a shared Ju 87 and a shared

the wooden propeller. The Hamilron Standard propeller also failed ro cure the problem

An individual wing change rook little more than three hours ro complete, yet there

with overspeeding in a dive. Finally, being bracket-operated, the propeller (built under

were still many fabric-wing Hurricane Is in the frontline in 1940 (the last one having

licence by de Havilland) routinely sprayed oil onro the windscreen in flighr.

been a sembled at BrookJands in March), despite there being large srocks of metal

Forrunately, by late 1938 the British company Rorol had designed a usable

wings at Kingsron, BrookJands, Hucclecote and various M s.

constanr-speed propeller. This was 10ft 6in. in diameter and had a pitch range of

Additional armour plating was also fined ro late-build Hurricane Is. Initially, the

followed by a 8f 110 probable

23 ro 53 degrees. Ir was operated by the pilot via a pitch-conrrollever located in the

aircraft boasted JUSt a single piece of plating forward of the cockpit, but with the

this photograph of the aircraft was taken, both pilots had been killed in action.

RAF pilots were plagued by poor radio communication throughout 1940, as the

8f 109E on 18 August, on 31 August). By the time

cockpit alongside the throttle. The pilot could now vary the pitch of the propeller

advenr of the cannon-armed Bf J 090 a bulletproof windscreen was installed (despite

and select the best possible blade angle according ro the fighter's speed and power

objections by Cost-conscious Air Ministry officials). Following

requiremenrs. The Rorol propeller was conrrolled using a hydraulic constanr-speed

o. 1 Sqn's early

pre·war TR 9B equipment proved anything but reliable, and the TR 90 replacement was lillie beller. Here, radio fitters [note the 'electrical'

experiences in combat during the 'Phoney War', which led ro the unit fitting steel

flash sewn onto the right

unit ( S ), which prevenred engine overspeeding in high-speed dives. According ro

plating from a wrecked Battle ro one of its Hurricane Is in the field, additional armour

sleeve of their tunics) from

leading Hurricane historian Frank Mason, 'As well as improving the Hurricane J's rate

plating was inserted aft of the pilot's seat as standard equipmenr ro all RAF fighters.

of climb, the Rorol propeller enabled the aeroplane ro fly for endurance more efficiently and was regarded by many as one of the decisive facrors conrributing ro the Hurricane's brillianr combat success during the Batrle of Britain.' The Hamilron Standard/de Havilland propeller was bracket-operared, so there was

Both these vital modifications had been added ro all production machines by the spring of 1940.

found lacking both in range and audible clarity. This change required the introduction of a new aerial mast

modification. However, the Rorol propeller relied on hydraulic power ro change the

and lead in place of the original 'pole' type. Most of these changes began ro appear on newproduction

Hurricane Is con tructed by both

Rolls-Royce produced the modified Merlin III, which had a 'universal' propeller shaft

Hawker and Gloster from late Ocrober 1939. By

catering for all currenr and future types of propeller.

then the combined output from Hawker's Kingsron

Hawker began trials with the Merlin JlI and the Rotol propeller in late January

at RAF Tangmere.

Finally, the original TR 9B radio was replaced by

no requiremenr for hydraulic powerlines running from the cenrral fu elage ro the hub

mounted at the fronr of the engine itself 1n order ro accommodate these changes

No. 601 Sqn tinker with the set fitted in Hurricane I P3886

the improved TR 90 in 1939, the former havinobeen b

via the shafr. This meant the propeller could be fined ro the Merlin 1I without blade pitch, which did require powerlines ro the hub. It also had a self-conrained CSU

20

The other major srrucrural change for the Hurricane I during this period was the introduction of stI'essed-metal wings.

and Brookland plants, as well as the

loster site at

1939, and from the second batch of Hurricane 1s onward either this combination or

Brockworrh, was five new late-build Hurricane I per

the Merlin 11I plus the de Havilland t'No-pitch propeller was fined as standard. From

day. One of the pilots ro be issued with such an

21

we still flew around at about 230mph. However, the Hurricane just did not have the legs of a Spit or its sprightly acceleration in a dive; moreover, at its best climbing speed of 140mph, though it wem up more steeply, it did so at a much slower speed. And- vety disappointingly - there was no rudder bias, which meant that on a full-throttle climb, the aircraft required a heavy right boot on the rudder and an even heavier left one when descending quickly. A thoughtless and irriraring omission, I always rhought. On rhe whole rhough, we were not disappoimed. Whilst it may not have had the refinements of a Spit, our recent acquisition was rock-solid and possessed an obvious ruggedness and strength. No shrinking violet, this! Furthermore, its reputation as a fighter was as impressive as its unbending roughness. Pit Off Neil's P36I6, then flown by Pit OffM. A. King, was subsequently shot down bya BflIO over Southampton at I355hrs on 16 August 1940. King was killed when his parachute collapsed.

aircraft was future ace Pit OffTom Neil of No. 249 Sqn, who de ribed the Hurricane I in detail in his book Gun Button to 'Fire:

Sf 110

A rare colour view of two Bf 110Cs from II.IZG 1 on patrol over the Baltic Sea in

My first Hurricane was brand-new, its number P3616 and h rdy ro bear the code

AJthough a handful of Bf 110Bs participated in the invasion of Poland from

the early spring of 1940. Note

'GN-F'. It had a constant-speed Rorol propeller, which was quite new t me. Also, it was

1 September 1939, by the time the RAF started to encounter the Zerstorergruppen

the Gruppe's unusual 'three-

tight and bouncy, like a new car, with the inrriguing smell of fre h paim. Very impressive.

in late March 1940 all units had been equipped with Bf llOCs. A small number of

wasps-above· cloud' emblem

D-models also saw action during the Battle of Britain.

on the noses of both

I was delighted. The Hurricane was little more rhan an updated version of the old Hawker Hart and Fury, with only one wing, of course. The family likene s was immediately evident, the

machines, the closest of which also features a single

Sf 11De

victory bar on its port tailfin.

and behind him. There were many more insrruments, narurally, but after my btief

This version of the Bf 110 was hastily put into mass production in late 1938 following

propeller spinner tips painted

experience with the Spitfire I the layout seemed bitty and the co kpit generally less well

the resolution of the powerplant problem that had plagued the Zerstorer for more than

finished. The thronle I especially disliked; after the Spit, a flimsy linle lever - very

a year. The construction of the Bf 110 remained the same from the prototype through

throughout the Zersrorer

the various operational variants, with some 6,170 examples being built by war's end.

force in the early war years.

cockpit being much the same with the pilot sitting in space and lot of darkness below

insignificam! The pilot sat a good deal higher in a Hurricane than in a pitflre and, through a hood that could be opened in stages, saw tathet more of what was going on. Al

0,

Both aircraft also have their in 5raffelcolours - a standard unit identification marking

there was a

feeling of solidity abom the aeroplane, the wings especially being much thicker and the wheels widely spaced so that it sat on the ground very firmly and in a no-nonsense way. Happily, roo, the radiaror was centrally placed so it caught the slipsrream when taxiing, and there was not the eternal business of couming the seconds before the engine boiled as with the Spitfire. In the air, the pilot immediately detected a feeling of steadiness. The ailerons were lighter than those of a Spit, markedly so at speed, but the elevaror was much less sensitive. The Hurricane couldn't be bem with one finger - with

twO

hands, even - but having said

that, there was no feeling of heaviness, the conrrols, if anything, being bener balanced than those of the Spitfire. If I was expecting the aircraft ro be noticeably slower than the Spit, I was ro be

22

pleasantly surprised. There was not much in it at the lower end of the speed range so that

23

This photo· reconnaissance

A head-on view of a 8f 110C-6

Bf 110C·5 of 4.(F)/14 was

fitted with 30mm MK 101

shot down by Hurricane Is

Kanonen in place of the

from Red Section of No. 238

standard 20mm MG FF

Sqn on 21 July 1940, the

weapons. Just 12 examples of

aircraft crash-landing

this 'up-gunned' variant were

virtually intact in a cabbage

built, and as this photograph

field at Home Farm near

shows, the lower forward

Goodwood, Sussex.

fuselage had to be heavily

It was quickly restored to

modified in order to

airworthiness by the RAF

accommodate the weapon.

using parts taken from a

The aircraft made its combat

Bf 110C from 9.1ZG 76 that

debut in the spring of 1940,

had been shot down by

with l.IZG 1 during the Battle

Hurricane Is ten days earlier.

Following the structural formula so successfully adopted for the Bf 109, Messerschmitt

The aircraft was then

built the Bf 11O's wing in halves. Each half was attached to the fuselage at the leading

extensively flown in a series of comparative tests against Spitfires and Hurricane Is.

of France.

edge and at the top and bottom main spar booms. The wing structure itself consisted of a single spar at 39 per cent chord, lateral stringers spaced 12in. apart and former ribs

Note the clear-view panel

at intervals of] Oin. The wing was then covered with stressed-metal skinning. Handley-

Like the Bf 1I0B before it, the C-model was armed with four 7.9mm MG 17

behind the MG FF cannon

Page automatic slots occupied 40 per cent of the outboard leading edge, while the entire

machine guns in the upper nose and cwo 20mm MG FF cannon in a weapons pack

ports for the Rb 50130

wing trailing edge was fitted with hydraulically operated slotted flaps and ailerons with

in the underside of the fuselage immediately beneath the radio operator/navigator's

camera to shoot through.

external mass balances.

position. The latter crewman could change the MG FF's ammunition drums in flight The oval-section all-metal stressed-

Hurricane I and Sf 110C-4 comparison specifications

Powerplant

three crewmen, with the pilot seated

mounting in the rear cockpit. Aside from the crucial engine change, the Bf J J OC also featured more angular

Hurricane I

Sf 110C-4

over the wing leading edge, the radio

1,130hp Merlin III

2 x 1,100hp DB 601A-1

operator/navigator immediately aft of

By the end of 1939, some 315 Bf 110C-ls had been built, allowing three

him and the rear gunner over the wing

Zerstorergruppen to be fully equipped with the aircraft. Production output surged from

trailing edge. In frontline service, a

26.25 Bf I 1OC- I s a month in 1939 to J02.6 th roughout 1940; th is in tu rn meant a

si ngle crewman usually performed both

rapid expansion of the Zerstorer component within the Lufcwaffe.

Dimensions Span

skin fuselage structure housed up to

as necessary. He also had a rearward facing 7.9mm MG J 5 machine gun on a flexible

40ft Din.

53ft 4.75in.

wingtips which resulted in a slight decrease in the fighter's wingspan and wing area.

and

In early J 940 the C-2 variant also began to reach the frontline, this version

gunner's roles in order to save weight.

featuring an improved high-frequency Lorenz FuG 10 radio in place of the original

the

radio-operator/navigator

Length

31ft Sin.

39ft 8.5in.

Height

13ft Din.

13ft 6.5in.

All cockpits were enclosed by a single

FuG lUaU. This change also prompted an overhaul of the central cockpit area

413 sq ft

large, transparent canopy. The aircraft's

occupied by the radio operator/navigator. A handful of Bf J 10C-3s appeared in the

rail

spring of J940, these aircraft being airframes that had been retrofitted with the

Wing area

258 sq ft

Weights Emptl,j

4,9821b

9,9201b

Loaded

7,4901b

15,3001b

Performance Max speed Range Rate of climb to 20,000ft Service ceiling Armament

328mph at 20,000ft 505 miles 8.1 min 34,200ft 8 x 0.303·in. Brownings

349mph at 22,960ft

t

I

530 miles 10.2 min

assembly

was

of

improved MG FF/M cannon. This let Messerschmitt remove the external breech

fins and rudd r. Both the main

fairing that protruded from the underside of the Bf 110. The C-4 was essentially a

undercarriage and tailwheel retracted

Bf 110C-2 with the improved MG FF/M fitted in place of the initial MG FE This

aft, with the former hued in the

variant also introduced nominal armour protection for both the pilot and gunner.

engine nacell . The cw

imler-Benz

The photo-teconnaissance optimised Bf 110C-5 entered service with the

DB 601 engines, driving three-bladed

Aufklarungsstaffiln in the early summer of 1940. This variant was externally identicaJ

variable-pitch prop II r , w r

to the C-4, but had the cwin MG FFs replaced by an Rb 50/30 camera mounted

by

cantilever

m uming

directly to the wing p 32,000ft 5 x ?92mm MG 17 2 x 20mm MG FF

cantilever

monoplane eype, fined with endplate

housed in four tan either side of the of the wing par.

fu

1',

,

arried attached

an I ue! was

above an aperture in the cockpit floor. The later C-5/

variant featured improved

1,200hp DB 601N engines.

pljt cwo on

The MG FF cannon were also replaced in the Bf 110C-6, but this time by a ingle

aft

30mm MG 101 weapon. Substantial reworking of the lower central forward fuselage

r and

was required to allow the Kanone to fit, and in the end only 12 aircraft were built

25

The enormous size of the

with 106 litres. This variant was issued primarily to

Bf 1100's ventral fuel tank is

view. The picture shows how drastically the Bf 110's otherwise relatively clean lines were altered by the ventral

Fuselage bomb racks had first been trialled by Messerschmitt In April 1940, and after the modification was evaluated at the Rechlin test centre the company was ordered to produce a version of the D-model fitted with ETC 250 bomb racks housed in a

fairing. It is hardly surprising that combat reports penned by RAF pilots who met these monstrosities on 15 August 1940 described them as 'Oornier bombers'! The aircraft,

rectangular fairing mounted on the centreline fuselage immediately beneath the cockpit.The Dackelbauch fairing was omitted. The first

from the Norway-based I./ZG 76, were engaged by

them were escorting bombers from Luft/atte 5, sent to attack

England. Seven Bf 1100s were lost, a number of them being claimed by Hurricane I pilots from Nos. 79,605 and 607 Sqns. In the wake of this disastrous foray across the North Sea, I./ZG 76 played no further part in the Battle of

This Bf 1100-0 of l.IErpr. Gr. 210, carrying two SC 500

examples were issued to the newly formed I./Erpr. Gr. 210 in July 1940. The Bf 110D-1 was a stillborn reconnaissance version of the D series, while the

Fighter Command when 21 of

targets in northeastern

-

I./ZG 76 in Norway in the spring of 1940, and saw limited action with the unit during the Battle of Britain. The Bf 110D-0/B was the first dedicated fighterbomber variant of the Zerstorer to reach the frontline.

well illustrated in this frontal

(utilising modified C-5 fuselages). The first examples of this variant were delivered to I./ZG 1 in the spring of 1940, and at least one was shot down while serving with I./Erpr. Gr. 210 during the Battle of Britain. The final Bf 110C variant was the C-7 fighter-bomber, which was fitted with two ETC 500 racks beneath the fuselage that allowed the aircraft to carry a pair of 500kg bombs. Powered by DB 601N engines, the Bf 110C-7 also boasted a strengthened undercarriage to allow it to cope with the increased bombload. The C-series was finally phased out of production in the spring of 1941.

bombs on ETC 500 racks housed within a rectangular

limited-run D-2 had two ETC 1000 racks fitted to allow it to carry a pair of SD 1,000kg bombs. The aircraft was also plumbed for wing-mounted auxiliary fuel tanks. Oberleutnant Victor Molders, brother of well-known ace Werner Molders, flew numerous versions of the Bf 110, and he related his feelings about the aeroplane to

fairing, is believed to be the aircraft flown by the unit's acting Gruppenkammandeur, Oberleutnant Werner Weymann, on 5 October 1940

Belgian historian Armand van Ishoven in 1979 for inclusion in the latter's book

when he and his 8ardfunker,

Messerschmitt Bf110 At war:

Unteroffizier Erwin HObner, were shot down into the Channel and killed. Although

The Bf 110 felt as if it had been tailored for me. lr was faster than any bomber, could

Britain.

only operating relatively few

stay in the air double the time of the Bf 109, and with the help of the wireless operator,

Bf 110s, Erpr. Gr. 210 achieved

one could approach one's target unseen in the clouds. It was heavily armed with its four

Sf 1100

some stunning successes-

machine guns and two cannon, and even if the wireless operator could do little harm witll

and suffered heavy losses-

The main external difference between the Bf 11OC- and D-models was the extended rear fuselage of the latter variant. This housed a dinghy and emergency supplies. The D-O

his sole machine gun, a rearward-firing observer gave a pilot a comfortable feeling.

with the aircraft during the

was initially conceived as a fighter with increased range, this being facilitated by fitting a large Dackelbauch ('dachshund-belly') fairing under the centre fuselage. Made of plywood and covered in fabric, this housed a fuel tank with 1,050 litres and an oil tank

The manoeuvrability and climbing speed of the Bf 110 compared badly with the Bf 109.

Battle of Britain.

Of course, there were drawbacks to the Bf 110 - one could not fly it like a Bf 109. Most enemy fighters were also bener suited to dogfighting - something proved beyond doubt during the Battle of Britain.

-0

.. •

-...

hiS

II

: I ·0

•

0

• ··1

......

o •

o

0·0

Iy installed into ttie

0

0

•

o -

•

..

-0

...... 0-

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too

airman's (juty

00

III

0

0-

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o·

0

The end of rhe Polish campaign was followed by an eighrmonrh period known as rhe Sitzkriegor 'Phoney War', as ir was dubbed by rhe Allies. Aircrafr from borh sides would periodically venrure across rhe respecrive defensive borders (rhe Maginor Line in France and rhe WestwalL or Siegfried Line in ',ermany) on rentarive reconnaissance flighrs. Mosr action during rhis period rook place over rhe Dreilandereck (Threearions' Corner) on rhe northernmosr secrion of rhe Franco-German border, as rhis was rhe shortesr roure for Allied reconnaissance aircraft heading for rhe Ruhr. The Lufrwaffe used rhis relarively quier period for reinforcement and rapid expansion as ir soughr ro boosr ir srrengrh along rhe Rhine. All rhree Zerstorergruppen

THE STRATEGIC SITUATION

rhar had been commirred to rhe invasion of Poland were quickly transferred ro bases

applied ahead of I.(Z)/LG 1's 'woWs-head' emblem. Although the first viclOry bar

in wesrern Germany, and alrhough no new unirs were acrivared rhe opportunity was

is marked '1.9.39', none of

raken ro re-equip rhe seven original Gruppen srill flying rhe Bf 109 wirh Bf 11 Os.

the others is dated. Since no

The RAF also made rhe mosr of rhe 'Phoney \Var' ro prepare irselHor rhe inevirable onslaught. Following Brirain's declararion of war on 3 Seprember

J 939,

a long-

I.(Z)/LG 1 pilot achieved five kills in Poland, this would suggest either that one of

sranding agreemenr berween Brirain and France was invoked rhar saw rhe former

these claims was later

rapidly desparch Brirish Army and RAF unirs ro rhe Conrinent. From an RAF

disallowed or that the

srandpoint, rhis Brirish Expedirionat-y Force (BEF) comprised rwo di rincr element .

photograph was taken at

The flrsr of rhese was rhe Advanced Air Striking Force (AA F), made up of Fairey The Bf 110 was heavily involved in rhe opening acr of World War 11, reportedly on

A scoreboard in the making,

Barrie III medium bombers from Bomber Command's

o. I Group and, evenrually,

rhe direcr insrrucrions of Hermann Goring himself Keen ro see his bomber-

Blenheim IVs from

dem'oyers blooded in combar, Goring commirred all 90 of rhe Lufrwaffe's

bombing operarions, and inirially had no dedicared cover from Fighrer Command -

serviceable Zerstorer ro rhe invasion of Poland, wh ich began shortly before dawn on

rhe French Armee de L'Air was responsible for prorecring AASF assers.

a later date, on the Western Front.

o. 2 Group. These unirs were mainly rasked wirh srraregic

I Seprember 1939. The aircrafr were splir evenly berween L(Z)/LG 1, l./ZG 1 and

The second e1emenr, which was ro operare closely wirh BEF ground forces,

l./ZG 76, rhe Zerstorergruppen in rurn being deployed ar almosr equidisrant inrervals

comprised rhe whole of No. 22 ( rmy Co-operarion) Group, plus a quarter of

along Germany's common border wirh Poland. Each unir was posirioned so a ro be able ro lend maximal direcr suppOrt ro one of rhe rhree main axes of Wehrmachr advance. Providing f1ghrer escort for Heinkel He II I and Dornier Do 17 bombers, as well as Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers of rhe 1. and 2. Fliegerdivisionen and rhe Luftwaffi-

Lehrdivision, rhe Bf 110 Gmppen were rhe principal flghrer unirs involved in rhe campaign. The shorrer-ranged Bf 109 Geschwaderswere in the main held back for home defence purposes: ir was feared rhar French and Brirish bombers would arra k German iries upon rhose counrries' declararion of war in support of Poland on 3 eprember. The Zerstorergruppen claimed rheir final aerial victories of rhe Polish campaign on 15 eprember, by which rime rhe Bf 110 had indeed lived up to irs pre-war billing.

rews

Although staged for the press

enemy rerritory or providing bomber escorr, and the aircraft was also used effe rively in

corps at RAF Biggin Hill on

rhe ground-arrack role in support of rhe advancing Wehrmacht. Admirredly, the Bf 11 O's main adversaries were obsolescent Polish PZL P 11c flghrers; however, rhe PZ

28

'No. 79 Sqn, scramble!'

were credired with more than 40 aerial victories while flying independent parrol deep inro

'

B August 1939, this shOl nevertheless captures the atmosphere of the final

nimbleness came as an unpleasanr surprise to the Luftwaffe and r ulred in a number of

peacetime Air Defence

Zerstorer being 10 r in rerurn. Ground fire also inflicred some casualrie .

Exercises.

29

In May 1940, Bf 110 Zerstiirer N

units were mainly based along Germany's northwestern border with France and Belgium. From

,

DO

A

• Bf 110 Units in the West, May 1940 1. Niedermendig L/ZG 26 2. Krefeld III.1ZG 26 3. Kirchhellen I./ZG 1 4. Gelsenkirchen·Buer IL/ZG 1 5. Darmstadt·Griesheim L/ZG 2 6. Cologne·Wahn II.1ZG 76 7. Kaarst/Neuss IL/ZG 26 B. Neuhausen ob Eck I./ZG 52 9. Mannheim·Sandhofen V.(Z]/LG 1

.Duisburg

.......

L._r

...,-·....·':

• Dusseldorf

here they could range deep into the Low Countries in Kiiln

•

support of Luftwaffe bomber units charged with knocking out Allied airfields and other key military installations as part of the Blitzkrieg in the

•

Bonn

• Liege

.

West. As the Wehrmacht captured vast swathes of

Koblenz

BELGIUM

Frankfurt am Main

•

badly damaged that they subsequently crashed or crash-landed. The first clash between RAF Hurricane Is and Luftwaffe Bf 110s came shortly after noon on 26 March 1940, when three aircraft from No. 73 Sqn engaged 16 Zerstorerfrom V (Z)/LG 1 that were escorting a solitary Do 17P over the Franco-German border. Honours were shared, as a single aircraft from both sides was damaged in an inconclusive engagement. This action perfectly summed up Phoney War operations, with German reconnaissance and bomber aircraft and their fighter escorts probing Allied territory in restricted numbers, and British and French aircraft doing much the same thing in return . However, larger formations of German fighters began to appear as the weather improved in the early spring of 1940, as Fig Off Paul Richey of No. 1 Sqn recalled in his book, Fighter Pilot.

Allied territory the units would relocate to airfields in France.

of the German Bight', 11 bombers were destroyed and six more so

•

Wiesbaden

o G E R M

German fighters had previously shown reluctance to cross the Frontier or

ANY

to

.

Heidelberg Heibronn

Metz

•

•

/

j

;

,.1

Stuttgart

i

I

i ;

RAN c E

F

.) i

40miJes

-::::::c:~:r=::::I1 I 40km

Col~ar

I

./ I

(Frei~urg im Breisgau \

/

;

Hurricane I squadrons and two Blenheim I units formerly of No. 1 Group. Emphasising the air elements' designated close-support role, the bulk of No. 22 roup squadrons were equipped with Lysander lIs. The four Hurricane I units sent to France were Nos. 1,73,85 and 87 Sqns, and upon arrival between 9 and 15 September rhese became part of No. 60 (Fighter) Wing. Flying from airfields in eastern France near the borders with Belgium and ermany, aircraft from these units would be the first British fighters to encounter the Bf 110 during the laner stages of the Phoney War. By then both the Hurricane I and the Zerstorer had seen sporadic action against unescorted bombers sent t pI' be either

30

I

sides' defences. Undoubtedly the most spectacular of these inevitably one- ided lashes came on 18 December 1939, when I./ZG 76 anacked 22 RAF Wellingl n ent to anack targets in the pon ofWilhelmshaven. In what was later referred t , lh" Battle

.~

engage our fighters. They had evidently maintained a standing patrol on

their own side, only crossing to our side in small numbers and always very high. But

Fig Off Paul Richey claimed

now the German fighters came across in big formations: sometimes three squadrons of

eight and one shared victory

109s would do a sweep as Far as Metz and Nancy. The lIDs had made their first appearance at the end of March, in close squadron Formation and very high, only

during the Blitzkrieg, four of these against Bf 110s. He was also shot down twice by

engaging when pressed into it by our Hurricanes. It was obvious that the Germans were

Zerstiirer, on 11 and 15 May,

practising oFFensive tactics, and it looked as though the bust-up might come soon.

before being badly wounded

•

.,/,/ Strasbourg. ..' /

.

four days later after

Richey's reading of the situation was correct. On 10 May 1940 Germany's armed forces launched the invasion of France and the Low Countries. In a forerunner of what was to come in the Battle of Britain, practically the whole of the Luftwaffe's

Zerstorer strength was brought together for the Blitzkrieg in the west. In all, nine Zerstorergruppen flew missions from airfields scanered along the Westwall, these units being split between Luftflotten 2 and 3. More than 350 Bf 11 OCIDs and upwards of

despatching three He 111s in a matter of minutes. Richey is seen here following a spell in the American Hospital in Paris, posing with the fin of a Bf 110 at Chiiteaudun on 14 June 1940. He presented this 'trophy' to NO.1 Sqn

800 aircrew prepared themselves to gain control of the skies over western Europe.

following the unit's epic

The campaign itself had two components, code-named Operation Yellow and Operation Red. Operation Yellow would begin with an all-out attack on Holland and Belgium which, it was calculated, would cause the BEF and French northern armies to rush to the aid of the Low Counnies. With the Allies out of their prepared defensive

engagement with I.lZG 26 on 11 May. In Richey's left hand is his 'shooting' stick, with nine notches carved into it to denote his victories.

positions along the Maginot Line, the Wehrmacht would launch its primary offensive in the vulnerable rear of the Allied forces, with the main Panzer force sweeping around behind them and racing for the Channel. The Low Countries and Anglo-French divisions would be cut off from supplies and reinforcements, and quickly defeated. Operation Red would then swing into action, with German troops advancing west across the Somme into central France. During the opening round of the Blitzkrieg the Bf 11 0 units would be called upon to repeat the tactics they had employed so effectively in Poland. On the southern and central sectors of the new front, the bulk of the Zerstorergruppen flew long-range escort

31

This Sf 110C proudly

Parked in NO.1 Sqn's muddy

wears I.fZG 2's distinctive

dispersal area on the edge

blunderbuss-wielding

of Vassin court airfield,

'8ernburger Jager ['Hunter

Hurricane I N2358 is being

of Sernburg'] emblem below

refuelled from the unit's

the front cockpit. The most

Albion three-point bowser

successful fighter Gruppe

while its filler tinkers with

to emerge from the Polish

the engine. This aircraft was

campaign [where it had flown

coded 'Z' by the squadron

Sf 109s under the temporary

soon after arrival at

guise of JGr 102), I.fZG 2

Vassincourt in November

utilised the 'Phoney War' period to re-equip with the twin-engined Sf 110.

-

missions aimed at crippling enemy airpower, exactly as had been done in September

1939, and following brief '

1939. In France alone the LuFtwaFFe Struck nearly 50 Allied airfields. Taken by

Acklington it retained this

surprise, the deFenders oFFered scam resistance to the marauding German Formations.

10 May through to the start of the Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo) on

marking when it was passed

Over Belgium toO, where bombers were escorted by II. and IIl.IZG 26 during attacks

26 May, and although the Zerstorergruppen did on occasion inflict heavy losses on

on to No. 73 5qn at Rouvres

on Charleroi and Antwerp, Few Allied aircraFt were seen.

the Hurricane units, this was usually achieved through sheer weight of numbers. As the Polish P 11 cs had hown eight months earlier, in a one-versus-one dogfight a single-

sorties to soFten up Dutch airfield deFences prior to pararroop and glider landings. During

engined fighter like a Hurricane 1 could easily out-turn a cumbersome BF 110, and

or from maintenance units

these sweeps I./ G 1 claimed 26 aircraft destroyed on the ground. Those aircraft that did

as the latter rarely used the hit-and-run tactics Favoured by BF 109E units, the

and sent to Gloucester for

manage to get inro the air in a bid to oppose the German bomber Formations were quickly

Zerstorergruppen suFFered particularly heavy losse .

dealt with by the BF I09Es and BF 11 Os of the Jagd- and Zerstorergruppen (I. and III.lZG

evertheless, by the end of May the BEF was in the throes of evacuation back to

26 and I. and IUZG I) assigned to Luftlotte 2_ On 12 May, with the launching of the

England From Dunkirk, and much of northern France was in German hands. BF I 10

armoured thru t at the rear of the rretched Allied Forces, Ltifif/otte 3's units (lLlZG 26,

units had moved Forward into occupied territory to keep pace with the advancing ground

back towards the Channel coast in late May 1940.

Reacting quickly to rhe German invasion, the British governmenr ordered the

February 1940 to serve with the Finnish Air Force.

over the evacuation beaches along the Channel coast in late May and early June. The

hieF Marshal Sir

completion of Dynamo at midnight on 2-3 June signalled the end of the first part of the

Hugh Dowding, to send rhree more Hurricane units ( os. 3,79 and

campaign in the west. It had cost the ZelJtorergruppen more than 60 BF I lOs destroyed.

501 Sqns) to France immediately. Dowding had Fought Whitehall

On 21 June came the eFFective end of the RAI~'s operations in France, when the very

ommand, Air

shipped to Finland in late

Forces, leaving them ideally placed to participate in the bitter aerial battles that took place

II./ZG 76, I./ZG 52 and V(Z)/LG I) at last joined in the action too. ommander-in- hieF of Fighter

plucked out of the frontline

refurbishment before being

'Sharks mouths' revel in their as Allied forces are pushed

in early 1940. N2358 was one of 12 Hurricane Is hastily

Simultaneously, to the north over Holland, ZG I was carrying Ollt ground-attack

A Kerre of II.fZG 76 mastery of the French skies

service with No. 43 5qn at

politicians throughout the Phoney \V'ar to Stop more of his pre ious

last battle-weary fighters oFNo. 501

squadrons being dispatched to France, despite repeated reque t From

Just 66 Hurricanes returned to Britain Following the BEF's withdrawal. Fighting in

the French governmenr since September 1939. Some 452 Hurricane Is

France conrinued as parr of Operation Red unril a ceaseflre was agreed on 25 June.

qn departed the

hannel Islands For Croydon.

had been committed to the Battle of France by 21 June. Aside From the units permanently based in Fran e (more arrived as the battle progressed), Hurricane I squadrons based in southea t England also started to send large Formations of aircraFt on patrols across the Channel. They would often reFuel at airfields in France in mid-mission, continue with their patrol and then return to their ba e in the UK. Hurricane I units were quickly told to target German b mbers rather than provide fighter escorrs For the Battles and Blenheim of the AASF. The Hurricanes proved to be very successful in the b mb r-destroyer

German Armistice of 25 June 1940, and it made an ideal backdrop for this propaganda shot showing a Schwarm of V.[ZI/LG 1 machines overthe Arc de Triomphe [bottom left).

role, but this deployment also meanr that Hurricane I unit r minely ran

A wartime censor has tried to

into the LuFtwaFFe's own dedicated bomber-destroyer, th BF 110, as this

doctor this photograph, but

was heavily tasked with escorting Do 17s, He 11 I and Ju

32

Paris was declared an open city following the Franco-

8. Indeed,

despite the BF 109E being the numerically dominanr

erman fighter

throughout the Blitzkrieg, the BF 110 encounrered the

lurricane I Far

more Frequently. The types Fought each other on a near-daily basis From

has only partially obliterated the individual aircraftlellers. The Gruppe badge and otherwise full unit codes are still clearly visible.

33

OPPOSITE On 10 May 1940 the RAF had nine Hurricane I squadrons based in northeastern France supporting the BEF and AASF.

By then a number of the Bf 110 units that had played such a key part in the success

N

A

in the West had returned to Germany to rest, recuperate and refit in preparation for an all-out attack on Great Britain, while others settled into their new bases in northern France and made good their losses.

I

ENGLAND

r'

i

i i"·

'-L"..,._..

BELGIUM

Virtually all these units were attacked on their airfields

ENGLISH

during the early stages of the Battle of France, forcing them to evacuate these sites and

CHANNEL

UNIT ORGANISATION

•

Amiens

pull back to airfields further west.

As with the Blitzkrieg in the West, Luftflottenkommando 2 and 3 would again be at the forefront of the fighting during the Battle of Britain, controlling most of the Bf 110 units assigned to the offensive through the offices of Jagdfliegerflihrer 2 and 3 and VIII. Fliegerkorps. The odd unit out was I./ZG 76, assigned to Luftflottenkommando 5 in Stavanger, Norway.

• Le Havre

•

Reims

Paris

Unlike British fighter squadrons at the time, which only officially formed into wings as the RAF went on the offensive in 1941, German fighter and Zerstorerunits had been grouped together since before the war. The Jadgwaffi equivalent to a typical 12- to 16aircraft squadron in Fighter Command in 1940 was the Staffil which consisted of nine aircraft (rising to as many as 16 as the war progressed). A Staffilwas led by a Staffilkapitiin of Oberleutnant or Hauptmann rank, who in turn controlled a further 20 or more aircrew and 100 or more groundcrew. Staffiln were usually numbered 1,2,3 and so on.

•

FRANCE

o

f=&:::q

o

40 miles

I

40km

Le Mans

•

o

•

Hurricane I Units in France on May 10, 1940

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Vassincourt Rouvres/Etain Lilie/Seciin Senon Vitry·en·Artois

NO.1 Sqn No. 73 Sqn No. 8S Sqn No. 87 Sqn No. 607 Sqn

6. 7. 8. 9.

Le Touquet Abbeville Merville 8etheniville

July and early August 1940, witll some 315 Bf 110s in France by 13 August. Opposing them were 29 squadrons of Hurricanes, totalling 462 aircraft. As mentioned, the RAF units were not organised into air fleets or groups as per the Luftwaffe model. Instead, all

Gruppenkommandeurwas usually a Hauptmann or Major, and he led between 35 and 40 pilots and more than 300 groundcrew. Gruppen were usually numbered I., 11., III. and

fighters in Great Britain were centrally controlled by Fighter Command, headed by Air Marshal Dowding.

Two complete Zerstorergeschwaders flew Bf 110s during the Battle of Britain, but only ZG 26 had all of its aircraft based in France. Assigned to Luftflottenkommando 2 in the Pas-de-Calais, it operated alongside Stab, II. and III.lZG 76, with I./ZG 76 being based in Norway. Luftflottenkommando 3 in Normandy and Brittany controlled Stab, I. and II.lZG 2 (there was no III. Gruppe), as well as V(Z)/LG 1. Additionally, Bf 110C/D fighter-bombers were flown by Erpr. Gr. 210 within Luftflottenkommando 2. Assigned some 90-95 aircraft when fully equipped, a Geschwader was usually led by a Kommodore of Major, Oberstleutnant or Oberst rank. The Zerstorergeschwaders were in turn locally controlled by Jagdfliegerflihrer (those involved in the Battle of Britain were also numbered 2 and 3), which issued operational dire tives to the frontline flying units. The Jagdfliegerflihrerwere in turn part of the larger, locally based Fliegerkorps, which were ultimately subordinated to the Luftflotten ( f which the Luftwaffe had four in 1940). These were self-contained organisati n, ea h with its own fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, ground-attack and transport unit.

No. 61S Sqn (A Fit] No. 61S Sqn (8 Fit] Nos. 3 & 79 Sqns No. 501 Sqn

-------------1

In 1940, typically, three Staffiln and the Stab (headquarters flight) would be assigned to a single Gruppe, which was the Luftwaffe's basic flying unit for operational and administrative purposes. Normally, one complete Gruppe occupied a single airfield, and this was usually the case during the Battle of Britain, with linked Staffiln being spread among austere sites in the Pas-de-Calais, Normandy and Brittany. The

so on. The Geschwaderwas the largest Luftwaffe flying unit to have a ftxed strength ofaircraft.

34

•

Rauen

The Zerstorergruppen slowly began to return to the Channel coast in strength during

'~

All three Gruppen of ZG 25 were heavily involved in fighting over southern England during the Battle of Britain. Here, Hauptmann Ralph von Rettberg,

Gruppenkommandeur of

II.1ZG 25, briefs his assembled crews for the next mission. The unit's 'clog' emblem is prominently displayed on the pennant that was always 'flown' outside Gruppe HO, in this instance at Lille.

35

Fighrer Command had been Formed in L936, as one of Four commands, when rhe flying srrengrh of rhe RAP was broken up by rhe Air Minisrry, mainly in response to German rearmamenr. Wirh irs HQ ar Bendey Priory, Fighrer Command inirially

Radar of dlis period could nor rrack aircrafr overland, so once German Formarions crossed rhe Brirish coasdine rhe Observer Corps would rake over responsibiliry For rracking rhem. The observers would pass plor inFormarion via a landline to rheir

conrrolled rhree groups creared by Dowding to deFend Grear Brirain: o. L1 Group was charged wirh prorecring me Sourheasr, No. L2 Group rhe MicUands and o. 13 Group rhe orrh and Scodand. On 8 July L940, Following rhe Fall of France, o. LO Group was

own group HQ, which in rurn relayed derails to Fighrer Command's Filrer Cenrre For onward rransmis ion.

esrablished to cover porenrial German rargers in rhe Sourhwesr. Each Group was splir up inro Sectors which were given lerrers For idenrificarion purposes, alrhough ulrimarely rhey would be known by rhe name of rheir sector srarion - rhe airfield conrrolling dlem. DeFending London and rhe Sourheasr, o. 11 Group

operarions rooms, rhe fighrer conrroller guiding rhe squadron unril irs pilors visually sigh red the enemy. Ar mis poim rhe Formarion leader would call 'Tally ho!' over rhe radio, signalling to rhe comroller rhar he needed no £Urrher help From him. By rhe summer of 1940 Fighrer Command squadrons were moroughly Familiar wirh ground-based fighrer

would be rhe viral organisarion in Brirain's deFence in 1940. Irs HQ was ar Uxbridge, nor Far From Bendey Priory, and irs sectors (cenrred on London) were lerrered A, B, C, 0, E, l~ and Z, conrrolled From Tangmere, Kenley, Biggin Hill, Hornchurch, Norrh Weald,

Once airborne, a fighrer unir remained under me radio conrrol of one of the Secror

conuoloperarion , having regularly exercised widl rhis sysrem beFore rhe war. According ro nored Barde of Brirain historian Dr AlFred Price, 'in rhe Forrhcoming air acrions over Brirain, rhe ground comrol sysrem would be Fighrer ommand's ace of rrumps'.

Debden and orrholr, respecrively. Hurricane 1 unirs based ar rhese srarions, and nearby smaller sarellire airfields, consrirured rhe 'reerh' of Fighrer ommand in 1940. Typically, each squadron would have up to L6 aircraFr, widl a similar number of pilors, usually splir up into lWO flighrs, labelled '!\ and 'B'. Each flighr was led by a flighr commander of flighr lieurenanr rank and in overall command was a squadron leader. Large airfields such as Biggin H ill or Kenley would be home to three or Four fighrer unirs, while smaller sarellire fields could This picture of an armourer from S.lZG 26 may have been staged for the photographer's benefit, as the ammunition for the MG 17s was carried in a box in the lower nose and fed up to the gun breech.

only handle a single squadron. During rhe summer of 1940 Hurricane I pilors relied on orher assers wirhin rhe

one shared destroyed, two

For dle second and lasr rime in the warrime Luftwaffe's history, rhe Barde oFBrirain would

shared damaged). Fig Off

see virrually rhe enrire Frondine srrengrh oFBF 110s concenrrared in one area - along rhe Channel coasr. Once again, rhese aircraFr would be charged wirh achieving aerial

shared destroyed, one

pro babies and one and one

below 5,000Fr, however, so in lare 1939 rhe RAP inrroduced Chain Home Low (CHL) srarions rhar could derecr aircrafr flying ar 2,000Fr some 35 miles From rhe Brirish coasdine. HL sires were inrerspersed berween H towers. A complex nerwork of landlines linking rhese various sires wirh Fighrer

up, complere widl irs own dedicared BF I 09E escorr. Alrhough no Zerstorergruppe was

rhi order was given early enough ro allow rhe fighrers ro ger up ro rhe 36

raiders' al rirude.

D. Crowley-Milling (four and

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Hisrorians have splir rhe Barde of Brirain into Four phase, commencing in early July widl rhe Kana/kampf During dlis period, German aircraFr arrempred to deny rhe English Channel ro Brirish shipping by arracking coasral convoys and porr Faciliries on England's sourh coasr. To rhis end, a pecial mixed-Force bardegroup of Do L7s and Ju 87s was ser

appearing on rheir siruarion maps also. The fighrer conrroller ar rhe group HQ rasked wirh deFending rhe area rhar appeared ro be threarened by rhe 'hosrile' plor rhen ordered his unirs ro 'scramble'. Ir wa crucial rhar

[note the squadron leader's pennant beneath the cockpit)

men are, from left, Pit Off

easr coa rs of England and in Scodand. Codenamed Chain Home ( H), rhe srarionsrhere were 18 bervleen Porrsmourh and Aberdeen - were able to derecr and rrack enemy air rafr approaching From medium or high level ar disrances of more rhan LOO miles. The equipmenr proved unable to rrack aircraFr flying ar alrirudes

rhe plor had been classified 'hosrile', ir was passed to rhe Operarions Room and nored as a marker on rhe siruarion map. This inn rmarion was also relayed ro relevanr fighrer groups and secror operarion rooms,

Douglas Bader's Hurricane I

at RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, in

command to effecrively rake rhe fighr to rhe Luftwaffe. Undoubredly rhe mosr imporranr of rhese was the chain of radar srarions builr during rhe lare 1930s along rhe SOUdl and

derecred by radar, rheir grid posirion, alrirude and esrimared srrengrh were passed via land line to rhe Filrer enrre ar Fighrer Command HQ. Once

flying clothing, No. 242 Sqn pilots pose in front of Sqn Ldr

late September 1940. The

supremacy as rhe German Kampf and Stukageschwaders suove to knock our Fighrer Command in prepararion For rhe seaborne invasion of sourhern England, codenamed Operarion Seewwe (' Sea/ion').

Command HQ and group and secror operarions rooms was anorher asser rhar proved viral during rhe Barrie of Brirain. When enemy aircraFr were

Exhibiting a vast array of

H. N. Tamblyn [five and one probable and two damaged; killed on 3 April 1941), Fig Off

P. 5_ Turner [ten and one shared destroyed, three unconfirmed destroyed, one probable and eight damaged). on the wing, Sgt J. E. Savill (one destroyed). Pit Off N. N. Campbell (one and two shared destroyed; killed 17 October 1940). Pit Off W. L. McKnight (17 and two shared destroyed and three unconfirmed destroyed; killed on 12 January 1941). Sqn Ldr D. R. 5. Bader (20 and four shared destroyed, six and one shared probables and 11 damaged); Fig Off G. E. Ball (six and one shared destroyed and three damaged); Pit Off M. G. Homer (one damaged; killed on 27 September 1940); and Pit Off M. K. Brown (killed on 21 February 1941). Tamblyn, Bader and McKnight claimed 13 Bf 110s destroyed between them in 1940.

37

Eight Zestiirergruppen occupied a series of sites in

•

Sf 110 Zerstorer Units, August 1940

northwestern France during

1. 2_ 3. 4. s. 6. 7_ 8.

Yvrench-st Omer Crecy-st Omer Barly-Arques Abbeville-Yvrench Laval Caen Caen-Carpiquet Guyancourt

June and July 1940 in preparation for Operation

See/owe ('Sealion'). Units based in the Normandy region primarily encountered RAF

o

G

D '------'==='--'. •

•

Pas de Calais were routinely

CHANNEL

•

•

....

:

• ....

@Filton

..

....

•••• ••••

•

....

C E

Rennes

Le Mans

•

o

40 miles

~

o

I

40km

·. ·.. . ·.·

•

~

@

.:ut •

~

~• @Warmwell

~

Bournemouth

~

S

~

'.t"@NorthWeald

..

~

hampton

Portsmouth •

@

Martlesham Heath

@ •• Kenley·..

E

@Stapleford Tawney

@Hendon·"C!t;

'. Iit:"@ Biggin Hill

A

••

-"" •• -

Heathrow@: Hornchurch; • •••••••••••••••••••• ~~ Croydon .......... ..:......@Gravesend

. •• Middle Wallop

•• .'

.... ,...

~~~

.-

••• -

/.. ..

/

.

Boscom~e Down

...."

.

, .,.,. . •••

No. 11 Group,'@'oebden

Northolt @

:

y

F

Castle Camps @

~

•

Z

•

•

.:

.Bristol

Paris

•

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attached to this command, Bf 110 operations were often flown in conjunction with and in support of its activities_ The Zerstiirer thus spent the last three weeks ofJuly 1940 over the Channel and England's south-coast harbour towns.

RAF Fighter Command sector

The KanaLkampf would last until 12 August, and although Fighter Command

second phase of the Battle of Britain: the sustained campaign against RAF airfields, radar

and fighter airfields in

succeeded in matching the Luftwaffe in trying circumstances, it suffered significant losses

stations and other key military targets such as airctaft and aero-engine factories. The

southeast and southern

- including 48 Hurricane Is destroyed and many more damaged. A number of these

bombers sent to strike at these targets were well escorted by both Bf 109Es and Bf 110s,

aircraft had been claimed by Bf 110s conducting freie ]agd (,free-hunt') sweeps

and during 11 days ofheavy raids, which saw both sides suffer terrible losses, the Luftwaffe

combat over Portland Bill.

independently of the bombers, seeking out RAF fighters; other RAF losses had occurred

began to assert its dominance through sheer weight of numbers.

During this period the aircraft

when the Zerstiirergruppen were called on to defend bomber formations. The Bf 110 units

was used mainly by Australian-

had also suffered heavy losses during this period, with 34 aircraft downed. Most fell victim

Fighter Command airfields and aircraft factories, with growing success. The RAF would

to Hurricane Is including some of the 16 Bf 11 Os destroyed on 11 and 12 August during

later call this 'the critical period' of the Battle of Britain, as it found it ever harder to

Gloster-built Hurricane I R4218 served with No. 601 Sqn from

is August to 7 October 1940, when it was written off in a forced landing following

born ace Pit Off Howard Mayers, who used it to claim two Do 17s destroyed and one damaged on

large-scale raids on the naval base at Portland, Dorset.

and a half-share in a probable

Indeed, the Bf 110 Zerstiirergruppen had been so badly affected (with 93 aircraft destroyed

Bf 110 on 4 September and a

between 13 and 31 August) that the role they would play in the rest of the campaign would be significantly teduced.

damaged on 25 September.

On 7 September, believing Fighter Command to be finished, Reichsmarschall

R4218 when it was hit in the

Hermann Goting ordered his forces to target London instead in an effort to bring more

glycol tank by return fire from a

RAF fighters into the air. Thus, the final, critical phase of the Battle of Britain

bomber while engaging German raiders targeting the Westland aircraft factory at Yeovil on the afternoon of 7 October.

of Britain.

replace losses. Yet despite suffering serious casualties - 217 Hurricane Is were destroyed in August alone - Fighter Command was still inflicting heavy losses on German forces.

Mayers was at the controls of

England during the Battle

In phase three, between 24 August and 6 September, German bomber units targeted

31 August, a Do 17 destroyed

Bf 110 destroyed and a Do 17

38

The Luftwaffe dubbed 13 August AdLertag (,Eagle Day'). It signalled the start of the

commenced. Eventually the capital would be attacked both by day and night, culminating in two massive daylight raids on 15 September - immortalised thereafter by the British as Battle of Britain Day.

39

~ ,;

A war photographer captured the activity at a forward base occupied by I.lZG 52 as the

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unit prepared to take off on

'I'

another mission during the

~

Battle of France. Here,

1. Sraffers 'A2+BH' appears to be the lead aircraft.

By now the Zerstorergruppen were forbidden to fly their favoured freie jagd sonies. Instead, Reichsmarschall Goring ordered them to provide close-formation escort for the

THE COMBATANTS

bombers, which had suffered growing losses to the seemingly indeStructible RAF. As if to prove that Fighter Command did indeed still have plenty of fight left in it, on 15 September both waves of bombers were met by close to 300 Hurricanes and Spitfires. The Bf 110 units played little part in the raids on this day, however, due to the horrendous los es they had suffered during the previous month. Indeed, only three aircraft were lost on 15 eptember. However, the month was topped and tailed by heavy casualties on 4

The vast majority of the British and German fighter pilots who faced each other in

The Bf 110 represented a huge

and 27 Septcmber when 16 and 19 Bf II Os were lost, respectively. At least 16 of these

1940 were among the best-trained aviators to see combat in World War II. This was

step up for pilots coming from

aircraft were downed by Hurricane [s.

particularly true in the case of crews within the elite Zerstorergruppen; many had served

the pedestrian Fw SB and Ju S2/3m [which was also

September had seen Fighter Command endure a similarly high ca ualty rate as the

with the Luftwaffe since its formation in the early 1930s and had been hand-picked

Battle of Britain reached its climax, with some 210 Hurricane Is being destroyed in the

to fly the new Bf 110. A number of these men came from single-seat}agdgeschwaders,

students streamed onto multi·

air during the defence of southern England.

and some had seen combat in Bf 109s during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).

engine types). Consequently,

On 30 September the last massed daylight raids on London and the Southwest were

Fighter tactics trialled and perfected in action against Spanish Republican aircraft

flown, but the battered Bf 110 ZerstorergeschUJaders were barely involved in the day's

influenced the way the German fighter and Zerstorerforces trained and fought during

activities. Fighter Command was far from beaten: it inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe

the early years of World War I!.

formations, and on 12 October Operation Sea/ion was shelved. Five day earlier the

Although the pilots of RAF Fighter Command had no such combat experience to

used as a training aircraft for

this was a scene repeated with monotonous regularity at training bases across occupied Europe. Having possibly ground· looped either on take·off or landing, this

Bf I 10 had participated in their last major action over England when II. andllI.lZG 26

draw on, they were very well trained nevertheless thanks to constant drilling and

were hard-hit while escorting]u 88s that had been sent to attack the Westland aircra.ft

exercises. As detailed in the previous chapter, the ground-control ystem in place in

works in Yeovil. Seven Zerstorer were downed by a mixed fighter force of Spitfires

Britain was unmatched anywhere in the world, and fighter pilots were thoroughly

Zersrorerschule at Prague·

and Hurricanes.

trained in working with it.

Rusin, Czechoslovakia.

The Battle of Britain officially ended on 31 October, by which tim 223 Bf 11 Os had

Bf 110C·4 was damaged on 12 September 1940 at the

With respect to the quality of the aircrew reaching

been lost in combat out of the 315 that had been committed to t11e campaign. The myth

the frontline, Fighter Command - as with the

of the invincible bomber-destroyer had been graphically exposed to the point where

jagdwaffi- only really began

Zerstorerwould never again venture over Britain in such numbers.

the latter stages of the Battle of Britain. At this point,

to feel the pinch during

heavy losses forced Training Command to cut corners in order keep units operational. By late 1940 the pilot supply crisis was over within the RAF, and training schemes in the

K and overseas - in South Africa,

outhern Rhodesia, Australia, thc USA and Canadaen ured that Fighter Command would never agatn

40

suffer from a lack of personnel.

41

However, the same could not be said for the Jagdwaffe, as the war progressed, it struggled to replace lost aircrew. Although losses incurred during 1940 were swiftly made good, poor organisation of its training units eventually resulted in serious pilot shortages from 1943 onwards.

GERMAN PILOT TRAINING This rear view of the Bordfunker's position shows to good effect the centrally mounted MG 15 extended and ready for action, as well as the fully kitted-out Bordfunker. This airman would also operate the aircraft's radios, serve as navigator and change the ammunition drums for the MG FF cannon in flight_ The Bordfunker had two seating locations in the Bf 110. In the fixed position forward, he could aid the pilot during combat by informing him of the status of the ammunition in the forwardfiring guns and changing the MG FF drums when ammunition was expended. The rear seat was on a swivel, which allowed the Bordfunker to function as an all-round observer, radio operator, navigator and rear-gunner.

Prior to the official creation of the Luftwaffe, all air activity in Germany had been geared towards training due to the ban on military flying under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Several quasi-military aviation organisations were formed in Germany during the late 1920s and early 1930s, functioning under the cover of civilian activities. Although the restrictions stalled the development of both combat aircraft and tactics, when the Luftwaffe was formed the focus on flying training provided it with plenty of military-trained aircrew. Men came from Lufthansa, gliding clubs and, until 1936, the Wehrmacht. However, the latter was expanding rapidly too, and eventually its senior officers forbade the Luftwaffe from recruiting from within the army. From then on, conscripts and volunteers would make up the numbers. In Germany, pilot recruitment and training was strongly influenced by Prussian military tradition. Initially, future officers and NCOs alike could all expect to undertake six months of labour service, organised in a paramilitary fashion, with the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Those who were particularly air-minded chose service with the Partycontrolled Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps instead, flying gliders. However, with the Luftwaffe desperately short ofpersonnel, labour service was reduced to just three months. After induction into the Luftwaffe, all recruits spent between six and 12 months undertaking basic infantry training at a Flieger-Ersatzabteilung ('airman replacement battalion', FIErsAbt). Once recruits were deemed to be effective infanttymen, all were reviewed for possible advancement as pilots. Likely candidates were sent to a FlugAnwarterkompanie ('aircrew candidate company', FlAnwKomp) for evaluation in a series of tests in basic aviation theory. For the next two months the applicants were tested on general aeronautical subjects, their instructors constantly assessing their suitability for possible advancement to a pilot training centre. Those recruits deemed unsuitable for pilot training were redirected to a FliegerAusbildungsregiment ('airman development regiment', FlAR) for selection and introductory training in a branch more suited to their skills. In the case of the Bf 110 aircrew, these men may have reached the frontline as wireless

42

operator/navigators and/or gunners. By

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One of the key training types

following this process, the prospective aircrew candidate had already experienced some

for would-be Bf 110 pilots was

eight monrhs of rraining prior ro enrering flight school.

the humble Focke-Wulf Fw 58

Those selected for further rraining as potential aircrew then underrook the standard

Weihe, which was a true workhorse for the Luftwaffe.

selection process within a FlAnwKomp, whereby the rest of their basic training,

Designed as a six-seater civil

conducted over a period of three ro four monrhs, was completed alongside aircrew

transport and flown for the

evaluation test. The tests involved a more detailed examination of the candidate's

first time in the summer of

abilities, including rigorous physical exerci es (possibly using oxygen apparatus and a

1935, it was quickly adopted

cenrrifuge) and progressively more challenging aeronautical theory. Indeed, the srudent's

by the Luftwaffe and used in

classroom work had ro be of the highest standard or he would be scrubbed from the

a variety of roles including aircrew trainer. This particular

course and tran felTed ro a FIErsAbt ro complete his basic training, after which he would be allocated ro another branch of the Luftwaffe. Having got through initial induction and assessmenr, the Flugzeugfiihrer-Anwiirter

pilots flying more advanced types. An elementary Kf Kunstjlug(,stunr-flying') aerobatics

Kampffliegerschulen 4 at

course was also included in the larrer phase ro provide all pilots with a good understanding

Thorn [Toru ), Poland, in 1940.

aeronautics in a biplane trainer such as the Bucker BLi 131, Arado Ar 66 ,Heinkel

of rudimentary evasive manoeuvres (barrel rolls, loops and formation splits). This phase

The Weihe provided pilots with

He 72 Kadett, Gorha Go 145 or Focke-Wulf FW 44 Stieglitz. Up ro 60 circuits with

also allowed insrrucrors ro identify any potential fighter pilots anlong their students;

an insrrucror was usually sufficient before the trainee was cleared ro make his first flight.

thereafter, these candidates would receive more flying time than their fellow students.

assessed for advancemenr throughout this phase, and those displaying the required

climbing aboard their machine

aptitude would then be sent ro Flugzeugfiihrerschule AlB ('flight training school NB')

using the aircraft's built-in

as soon as a space became available - typically twO months after arriving at the

retractable ladder are dressed

FlAnwKomp. Here, flight training proper would be undertal<en.

in summer-weight

It was at this point that new aviarors would be categorised for service on single- or

At such schools studenrs passed through four principal levels of instruction, with

he would undergo intensive training for his allotted type. Tho e who showed ufficienr

The system of licences, which were earned over a period of six ro nine months, explain

mastery of twin-engined training aircraft such as the Fw 58 Weihe would be advanced

pilots wore seat-pack

the naming patterns of these flight schools. The Af-Schein ('AI licence') inrroduced

ro a ftugzeugfiihrerschule C for an additional 50-70 hour on heavy aircraft over the

Sirzfallschirm 30-15-24B

students ro basic practical flying in dual-conrrolled training aircraft, with instrucrors

next IWO ro six monrhs. Such pilots would ultimately serve with bomber, rransport,

teaching recruits how ro take off and land, recover from tall and attain a solo flight

recon naissance or heavy-figh ter ('desrroyer') un its.

here is the fact that Zerstiirer

parachutes while Bordfunker were equipped with the backpack-type

rating. Before the war and until early] 941, instrucrors would have been assigned four

Ruckenfallschirm-1Z8.

trainees each; however, the number ro e as the conflict progressed. For the A2-Schein, cadets were required ro learn flight theory, including aerodynamics, meteorology, flying procedures and aviation law, as well as the practical application of aeronautical engineering, elemenrary navigation,

Training at a Flugzeugfiihrerschule Cincluded an introduction ro instrument flying and direction-finding apparatu on aircraft such as the Ju 52/3m transport. From here, pilots were split off and ent ro appropriate specialist schools, with those selected for Bf I lOs arrending Zerstorerschule for t\l'vO ro three months of gunnery and target work. Once at

the

Zerstorerschule pilots would be paired up with wireless

wireless procedure and Morse code. In the air, they gained more flying

operaror/gunners, with whom they would continue service. This practice was

experience on larger single-engined two-seat aircraft.

maintained until the blood-letting of the Battle of Britain; at this point, a number of

The next level of training, aimed at attaining the Bf-Schein, saw pilots

Gruppen (including Ill.lZG 76) began splitting up new replacement crews upon

progress ro high-performance single- and twin-engined machine typically

arrival at the frontline so that inexperienced pilots or wirele s operaror/gunners could

fitted with a retractable undercarriage. If pilots were destined ro fly fighters,

fly their first few missions with 'old hands'. In training, Zerstorerschule crews would

at this stage older types of combat aircraft uch as early-variant Bf 109s would

attend blind-flying chool, then underTake an advanced instrument navigation course

be flown for the first time. Precision landing, night flying and night landing,

that included instrument flight, landing practice and advanced direction-finding

and cross-country flying were all tested during this phase. The studenr pilot

techniques. Finally, having flown a rotal of some 220-270 hour in a multitude

would also have ro complete at least 50 flights in a Bf-category aircraft. Upon

of aircraft types during a 20-monrh training course, the pilot and his wireless

gaining the Bf-Schein - having accumulated 100 ro 150 hours of flight time

operaror/gunner would finally join a frontline Zerstorergruppeas a reserve crew.

over the previous 14 ro 17 monrhs - studenrs would undertake training

44

Upon completion of the B2 phase, the cadet would finally be granted hi

each requiring qualification for its own licence before advancing ro the next stage.

The point of interest illustrated

aimed at acquiring the final B2- chein.

their first taste of flying a twin-engined type.

Luftwaffeflugzeugfiihrerschein ('air force pilots' licence'), accompanied by the highly prized Flugzeugfiihrerabzeichen ('pilot's badge') - his 'wings'. After an average of ten ro 13 months at a Flugzeugfiihrerschule A/B, he was now a fully qualified pilot. multi-engined aircraft, with each individual assigned ro a specialist flying school. Here,

Kombination K 50/34 overalls.

assigned to Grosse

('pilot candidate') would receive insrruction in basic flight theory and rudimenrary

Those who failed ro solo by 80 circuits were returned ro a FIAR. Candidates were These ZG 76 crewmen

example is an Fw 58B

The A-licence course generally rook three months ro complete, with the B phase seeing

By 1940 the realities of war, with escalating attrition among aircrew, had led the Luftvvaffe ro modify the final stages of the training syllabus by creating Ergiinzungs

45

(Zerstorer) Staffil (' [destroyer] operational training schools') for teaching tactics and for further familiarisation with frontline types. In the Jagdwaffi, such units were directly linked to and controlled by operational Geschwaders. The intention with these new units was to let new aircrew gain precious operational experience before being hurled into combat. Like their pilots, the wireless operator/gunners in the Zerstorergruppen in 1940 had also received exhaustive training before being sent to an operational unit. Most had failed to make the grade as pilots but had shown enough aptitude to be sent from the FlAnwKomp to a Beobachter-, Bordfunker, Bordmechanik- or Bordschiitzenschule ('observer', 'wireless-operator', 'flight-engineer' or 'air-gunner school', respectively). A Bordfunker in a Bf 110 was expected to be able to operate the radios, navigate proficiently and fire the rear-facing MG 15 machine gun effectively; he was therefore a skilled crewman. Indeed, by the time he reached the frontline he would have completed the nine-month basic wireless communication skills course at a

Luftnachrichtenschule ('air communications school') that saw students attain a Morsecode speed of 100 letters a minute (for both reception and transmission), as well as master elementary navigation. Bordfunker also attended schools for actual flight practice and navigation, map-reading, tadio-direction training and elementary aitcraft engine instruction. Finally, they joined an ait-gunnery school fot a five-month course covering ground-based machine gun and other small-arms training, camera-gun practice aboard light trainer aircraft and air-to-air gunnery. After 16 to 18 months of hard graft during this gruelling course the successful Bordfunker would graduate, then be sent to a

Zerstorerschule to team up with their new pilots and undertake two to three months of familiarisation training on the Bf 110. Only then wete they deemed ready for combat.

BRITISH PILOT TRAINING .0

Between 1919 and 1936 the RAF was blighted by a lack of funding. However, .0

eventually the overt re-arming of Germany prompted the government of the day to

0

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pay for the expansion that would be required to let the air force function effectively in a modern war. Central to this process was re-equipment, including the purchase of

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new single-seat monoplane fighters in the shape of the Hurricane and Spitfire. A large An instructor from NO.8 EFTS ~ 0

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Middlesex, before joining NO.8 EFTS. The machine was

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46

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Woodley on 10 August 1940.

Hydraulic hand RumR

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number of pilots would be needed on the frontline to fly these aircraft. It was obvious

caughr some pilors unaware. The Hurricane was far less rob'anr of faulry handling, and

that the omput of existing flying training schools (for short-service officers and airman

a mistake ar low alrirude could be faral. There were certain problems wirh rhe Merlin

pilots) and the RAF College at Cranwell (for permanent officers), at around 400 pilots

engines roo, as we occasionally experienced a phenomenon known as 'surging',

a year, was grossly inadequate.

accompanied by a sudden loss of power. This problem, and orhers, was quickly cured,

As part of the shake-up of the RAF instigated by the Air Ministry in 1936, which saw

however, and we soon came ro know ourselves and our Hurricanes berrer. There grew in

four specialist commands created in place of tile Al'ea Commands that had previously

us a trusr and an affecrion for them and rheir splendid Merlin engines, rhoroughbreds and

existed, Training Command was established. Three years before this the RAF had already

srayers which changed our fearful doubrs of the Munich period inro rhe certainty rhar we could bear all comers.

taken steps to improve the flow of trained pilots by setting up a handful of civilianmanned elementary and reserve flying training schools (E&RFTSs), equipped witll de

All our Aying ar rhis time was designed ro gird us for war, which was bound ro come;

Havilland Gipsy Motlls, DH Tiger Moths and Blackburn B2s. That sanle year it had

barde climbs ro 30,OOOfr, where rhe engine laboured and the controls were sluggish and we

also set up a standardised training programme for future officer pilots at the RAF College.

inhaled rhe oxygen which c..1.me hissing into our face-masks from a black steel cylinder

Coinciding with the establishment ofTraining Command, the Air Ministry created the

behind rhe armoured bulkhead; air drill and pracrice arracks and firing our guns into dle sea,

RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) with the aim of training 800 pilots a year. This scheme

where dley raised a jagged plume of foam. The recoil of rhose eighr Brownings could slow

was open to aU comers, no matter what their flnallcial or social status, and it proved so

the aircraft in a climb by 40mph; cloud Aying and nighr Aying, which no one really enjoyed.

popuJal' that by 1940 a third of Fighter Com malld's pilots had originally joined as RAFVR

Quick refuelling and re-arming pracrice gave groundcrews rhe sleighr of hand which

members. A considerable number joined frontline units as sergeant pilots. Before this, all

speeded rheir rasks and gained precious seconds. Between rhem and rhe pilors exisred an

recruits would enter either as permanent or short-commission officers and

COs, or via

understanding on which our lives depended. The slighresr grumble from an engine, or any

the Auxiliary Air Force. The latter, created in 1925, mirrored the Territorial Army in that

odler fimcrionaJ defecr - ir mighr occur five miles above the ground or ren miles from d,e coasr

units consisted of groups of men from particular geographical areas who would train

- had

together at weekends. These squadrons quickly ended up being manned by wealthy

the rerms and nuances of rheir rechnicaJ language. We could provide rhe clue bur we relied

gentlemen, who set the tone for the auxiI ial·ies into the early stages of World War II.

implicitly on rheir vigilance, skill and devorion ro keep our machines free of defecrs which could cosr us our lives.

By late 1938, close to 30 E&RFTSs had been established, setting student pilots on

to

be explained

to

our firrers or riggers, or ro rhe armourers and radio mechanics, in

the path to obtaining their wings through training on Tiger Moths, Miles Magisters and Blackburn B2s. An element of advanced training had also been introduced at these schools through the provision of Harts, Battles and Avro Ansons. Pilots already serving in Fighter Command wirh operational units equipped with Gloster Gauntler, Hawker Fury or Gloster Gladiator biplanes made the switch to the

had been successfully completed, the student was accepted into the RAE Towards the

Hurricane or Spidlre at squadron level witllout tlle support of all operational conversion

end of this three-month period pilots where asked to mal<e a choice as to whether they wanted to fly bombers or fighters.

unit, since before the war such things did not exi t. Initially, replacement of biplane fighters in the frontline proceeded at a leisurely pace due to production difficulties.

Following graduation from the E&RFTS, pilots destined to be commissioned then

However, the conversion process was dramatically speeded up following the Munich

spent two weeks undergoing officer training at RAE Uxbridge, where they were fitted

Crisis of September 1938. Had the latter escaJated into war, tlle RAF's frontline fighter

wirh uniforms, before heading to a flying training school (FTS). At the FTS students

force wOLL!d have struggled to defend SOUtllerIl England from attack by the Luftwaffe. The

would rypically fly Hart biplanes in their junior term, and on completion of this phase

Air Ministry, determined to rectifY this situation as quickJy as possible, now implemented

they were awarded their pilots' 'wings'. Fury fighters - at that time still very much in

'Master Plall M', which gave top prioriry to re-equipping Fighter Command. No. 43 Sqn was one unit that made tile transition from Fury I to Hurricane I during thi period, as future ace Fig Off Peter Townsend recalled in his autobiography, DueL o/EagLes. The 'catching-up' process started on 29 November 1938 with the arrival of Hurricanes Ll725 and L1727 at Tangmere. By mid-December we had our full inirial equipment of 16 aircrafr. The Fury had been a delighrful plaything; the Hurricane was a thoroughly war-like machine, rock solid as a plarform for irs eighr Browning machine guns, highly manoeuvrable despire irs large proporrions and with an excellenr view from the cockpit. 48

For those trainee aviators who entered the RAP's revised pilot training system in

1938, the first steps on the way to achieving one's wings usually took the form of an ab initio flyi ng cou rse at an E&RFTS, wh ich rypically lasted th ree mon ths. Once th is

Ar first rhe Hurricane earned a bad repurarion. The change from rhe lighr and agile Fury

Hurricane Is of No. 8S Sqn in tight battle formation over Kent during the Battle of Britain. The rigid adherence to such unwieldy tactics by Fighter Command throughout 1940 saw Hurricane I and Spitfire units sustain heavy losses to both Bf 109Es and Bf 110s conducting their favoured ·dive·and·zoom' attacks from superior altitude.

49

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rejoined No. 43 S~n as

Born In Dundalk in what is now Eire on 8 July 1913,

He claimed his final

when Kilmartin was just nine years old, and he was duly

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joined No. 43 Sqn at Tang .1

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before travelling through EurofJe for almost a decade.

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vanous p'ositions of command, including CO of No. 249 S~n

.

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, I •

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23 November 1939, a Bf 109E on 2 AfJril1940 and a Ju 88 18

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3 in tlie aefence of Hamourg.

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bloody clashes of 15

months later. He claimed a half-share in a Do 17. on

.• II

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.,

Commander OfJs of No. 84 Wing in late 1943. Commanding

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504 Sqn in 1943. Promoted t led the Hornchurch Win '

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ZG i'6, taking his tally to 20,

iginally trained to fly the " I

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No. 136 Wing at Normandy in 1944, he finished t

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month, Kilmartin held

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supernumerary to help' for

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FTS at Netheravon. Havin Qai

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Cross the following ..

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claim one more kill flying witli

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included serving as CO of NI .1

was accefJted into the RAF. in . ,

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aestroying five Hurri

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years until in 1936 he saw an advertisement fo~ short..... I . " .. .. ...

Is. P.romoted to s~uadron

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SeRtember when he

dep'artment 0

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Kilmartin was one of eight children. His father, a forester, died

Shanghai, Chi

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tne Hawker fignter. Ooerleutnant Hans-!Joachlm ~aos ana

been transferred to No. 43 S~n.

a cattle station in New South five years in the early 1930s. After joining an aunt In

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and 5 OTUs until August 1940, when lie

'Big Brother'. Once old enoug

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the final victory coming on 6 Sep.tember after Kilmartin had

ship'p'ed to Australia under as

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