40 FLYPAST May 2015194019401940
“...EVEN IF, WHICH I DO NOT FOR A MOMENT BELIEVE, THIS ISLAND OR A LARGE PART OF IT WERE
SUBJUGATED AND STARVING, THEN OUR EMPIRE BEYOND THE SEAS, ARMED AND GUARDED BY THE BRITISH
FLEET, WOULD CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE, UNTIL, IN GOD’S GOOD TIME, THE NEW WORLD, WITH ALL ITS
POWER AND MIGHT, STEPS FORTH TO THE RESCUE AND THE LIBERATION OF THE OLD.” WINSTON CHURCHILLThe crews received a briefing
at which came news that the
evacuation of the BEF from the
beaches of Dunkirk had begun.
They were ordered to provide the
escort along with Swordfish from
825 Naval Air Squadron, as 22
Lysanders drawn from 2, 16 and 26
Squadrons dropped ammunition to
the garrison which was believed to
be still holding out at Calais.
“Our task was to fly three Hectors
each side of Calais and create as
much of a diversion as we could by
dropping our bombs and firing our
guns at anything we could see,” said
Plt Off Rowland. “We were also told
we were to act as an escort for the
Lysanders, but what use we would
be against Messerschmitt 109s I do
not know. Fortunately no enemy
fighters turned up.”DECOY TACTICS
The six Hectors set out and flew
across the Channel at 1,500ft on
a beautiful clear morning with
little cloud and light winds. On
arrival they were to divide into two
sections – Sqn Ldr Anderson’s trio
flew to the south side of the townwhile Flt Lt Weston led his section
to the north.
Plt Off Rowland, in Weston’s
section, recalled: “As we neared
the coast all seemed quiet, though
columns of smoke were rising in
places. However, there seemed to be
no enemy opposition.
“We started to fly around looking
for targets, but couldn’t see any.
So we dropped one of our bombs.
Then we dived down and fired our
gun. After about ten minutes larking
about and trying to make ourselves
as conspicuous as possible – and
using up all our ammunition, with
no stoppages fortunately – and
thinking that by now the Lysanders
had carried out their mission, I
decided to head for home, despite
not seeing any activity.
“I think the Germans who had
fired all the flak the previous day
had moved on up the coast towards
Dunkirk. We arrived safely back at
Hawkinge with two others. We had
a bullet hole in our upper port wing,
so somebody must have seen us.”
The Hectors of 613 had not
escaped unscathed: K9116 had been
hit by flak and, unable to maintain
height, had crashed into Shakespeare
Cliff, Dover, killing 25-year-oldLAC Reg Brown and seriously
injuring Plt Off Reg Jenkyns.
Paddy Barthropp recalled the loss
and considered it might have been
a victim of ‘friendly fire’, adding:
“Armed with two 120lb bombs and
machine gun firing through the
propeller, we approached France
with devastating ferocity! One
aircraft was lost, shot down by our
own navy; another force-landed
on a golf course and the remainder
returned to Hawkinge, holed and
shaken but unharmed.”
The Hectors were patched up
and returned to Odiham where the
following morning the flight stood
by at an hour’s notice – but no
signal to take off was received. They
were ordered forward to Hawkinge
on May 29 but again there was
no task and so they returned to
Odiham, unused.
No.613 Squadron remained on
daily standby until June 3 but the
obsolescent Hectors were not called
on again. Soon afterwards the unit
was informed the biplanes were to be
withdrawn; their last flights were made
on or around the 21st.
The Hector’s brief
call to arms was
over.AWARDS
FOR 613’s HECTOR FLIGHTNo.613 Squadron received a note of commendation from the AOC 22 Group and
awards of the DFC were announced for the CO, Sqn Ldr Alan Anderson, and
Canadian Plt Off Allen Edy.
The latter’s citation was a testament to all the crews who fl ew their antiquated
biplanes over Calais: “Plt Off Edy was a member of a formation of aircraft detailed
to carry out a dive-bombing attack on a heavy battery near Calais. He pressed
home his attack in the face of severe anti-aircraft fi re with the utmost courage.”
The citation concluded that Edy had “shown a complete disregard of personal
danger and has set a fi ne example by his keenness and magnifi cent spirit”.Seen pre-war, Hector K8127 was fl own on both Calais operations by Plt Off Edy. VIA R C B ASHWORTHThe crews received a briefing
at which came news that theAbove
On his fi rst ‘op’, Plt Off
John Rowland fl ew Hector
K8108, which had served
with 13 Squadron before
the war. 13 SQN RECORDSRight
Former Cranwell cadet Plt
Off John Rowland fl ew a
Hector to Calais on May
27, barely two weeks after
his fi rst fl ight on the type.
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