Fly Past

70 FLYPAST April 2018

1918 2018

behind enemy lines.

Temmeran made a request to be

relieved of his Military Intelligence

Section 9 (MI9) task and be returned

to SAS HQ. [MI9 worked with local

resistance groups in escape and evasion

operations - ED]

A communiqué dated February

6 from an SAS unit confirmed the

collection of two panniers in Holland,

proving just how important bicycle

tyre inner tubes were to the Dutch.

One resistance courier, a 17-year-old

teenage girl, would cycle up to 100km

a day. If she got a flat tyre in a strange

town, the inner tube could only be

inflated at a garage. Inner tubes sent

by the British had a different valve

system to continental ones so she

could only hope the garage owner was

not sympathetic to the Germans.

FEBRUARY 7

“This was our one and only bombing

trip. We dropped 24 x 500lb bombs at

10-second intervals through the clouds

from 7,000ft. They were aimed a mile

ahead of the Allied position using a

navigational bearing from Gee.

“This raid was more for the

psychological effect of increasing

enemy fatigue rather than any

destructive purpose. Nine aircraft took

part, five bombing Weeze and four on

Udem. Only light flak encountered

over Udem.”

FEBRUARY 24

Stirling ‘652’. Rae noted that this

was the only Special Operations

Executive (SOE) drop in Holland:

“24 containers, 1 agent and 7

packages. Very good trip.”

Churchill received a copy of a secret

report from the senior operations

officer from 38 Group commending

him and his crew: “The field

acknowledges the safe arrival of the

man and the materials.”

MARCH 24

Operation Varsity, in Stirling

‘652’. This was the Allied airborne

daylight assault of the River Rhine

at Wesel by the US 17th and the

British 6th Airborne Divisions.

More than 16,000 men were

dropped by 1,500 troop-carrying

aircraft and gliders. The logbook

read: “Best airlift and release ever.

The glider crew survived again.”

APRIL 4

DZ: Necking ll, Stirling ‘652’. “Low

cloud and poor visibility prevented

supplies being dropped to Dutch

resistance.”

logbook for the 18th was annotated:

“Not so good; bad visibility.”

Rae’s logbook summarised the

19th: “Shaky; holed. Bill hit. George

unserviceable.” Churchill explained:

“George was the nickname given to

all autopilots. A bullet hit something

in the system. Bill, one of my glider

pilots, got a bit of shrapnel across his

hand and his only comment was that

he would get a wound strip for that!”

For the 21st: “Shaky, but no

damage.” He expanded on the

note: “Shaky meant I could see

‘flak’ exploding above and below us

but nothing hit us. We were flying

between 1,500 and 2,000ft.”

OCTOBER 21

DZs: Dudley 3 and Evert 3, in

northern Holland. On October

7, both 295 and 570 Squadrons

relocated to Rivenhall in Essex.

“Here we dropped 13 containers and

8 packages. The containers were in

the bomb bays and the bomb aimer

dropped them. The packages were

bulky items that could not fit into

containers, such as furniture. I heard

another plane dropped a complete

dental office one time.”

There were handshakes and hearty

congratulations from the crew on

December 29 when Plt Off Churchill

was promoted to flight lieutenant.

FEBRUARY 3/4, 1945

DZ: Fabian 23, Stirling ‘652’ –

almost certainly Mk.IV LJ652. “This

was a re-supply mission. We were

detailed to drop two Special Air

Service troops and five containers and

two wicker baskets called panniers

into Holland.”

One of the two SAS men was a

Belgian, Jean Temmeran who was

being sent as a relief radio operator

for another Belgian, Dirk Kragt (also

known known as Frans Hals) who was

an operative in the area.

Kragt was working under the

direction of Captain Fabian King

(who also used the name Gilbert

Sadi Kirschen) who was involved

in organising the escape of airborne

soldiers left north of the Rhine when

the main body of troops was evacuated

on September 22 from the disastrous

Arnhem battle.

This was Temmeran’s fourth attempt

to be dropped and after waiting 45

minutes for the ‘go’ order only to be

returned to base yet again, he had had

enough. Under the circumstances,

who could blame him? Kirschen

and his radio operator Molyse finally

returned to England after six months

could only hope the garage owner was

trip. We dropped 24 x 500lb bombs at

10-second intervals through the clouds

Right

A D-Day striped

Horsa under tow,

caught from a similar

machine with the port

access door removed.

KEC