FlyPast 06.2018

TORPINGTONS!

June 2018 FLYPAST 53

I

t was October 26, 1942 on

the coast of Libya as the sun

dipped towards the horizon.

Flt Lt Lloyd Wiggins led off a

flight of three Vickers Wellington

torpedo-bombers on a mission that

sought to change the course of the

North African campaign. The aim

was to cripple the Axis Army of

Germany’s notorious ‘Desert Fox’,

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Three days earlier at 2140hrs at

El Alamein in Egypt, the British

Eighth Army had launched its

major offensive against Rommel’s

Panzerarmee Afrika (German-

Italian Panzer Army). The Axis

force was positioned behind

extensive minefields awaiting

further supplies. There was one

vital ingredient missing from

Rommel’s battle plans – fuel.

COULD THE AXIS FUEL

SUPPLIES BE CUT OFF?

Over many months, interdiction

of the Axis shipping supplies by

the Royal Navy and the RAF lay

at the heart of the Allies’ strategy

to defeat the Panzerarmee Afrika.

With the British-led attack at El

Alamein under way, the pressure

was acute to intensify the blockade

on Axis supplies. On the evening

of October 24, the RAF’s 38

Squadron planned two strikes by

Wellington torpedo-bombers on

enemy shipping consisting of one

merchant vessel and a destroyer.

For the first sortie two aircraft,

flown by Wg Cdr C V J Pratt in

EX442 and Sgt Price in HX517,

took off at 1800hrs from the

Shallufa airfield in Egypt’s

Suez Canal zone, in formation

with a special Wellington from

221 Squadron. The role of the

supernumerary aircraft was

reconnaissance and illumination

by flares of enemy ships. The two

bomber crews were briefed to

maintain contact with each other if

possible until the third Wellington

located the convoy, and then make

a moonlight attack.

Unfortunately, severe electrical

storms all along the coast forced the

two 38 Squadron aircraft to return

to base without reaching the target

area. In case of failure two other

Wellingtons and their crews had

been detailed to standby for take-

off at 2300hrs.

In the hope that storms may have

abated, and the general weather

conditions off the coast had

improved, the second strike force

took off, Sgt Taylor in Wellington

HF893 at 2304hrs and Australian

Flt Lt Lloyd Wiggins in HX472

16 minutes later. Wiggins was

unable to penetrate storms and

deteriorating weather and returned

after two hours. On landing at the

Gianaclis satellite airfield (some

40 miles southwest of Alexandria)

a tyre burst, causing the aircraft to

crash and incur serious damage.

Luckily, Wiggins and his screw

were unhurt. Meanwhile Sgt Taylor

found a break in the storm clouds

and reached the target area some

ten miles north of Derna, Libya.

Despite searching the inlets and sea

along the coast, Taylor and his crew

were unable to sight any shipping.

THE RETURN OF THE

DESERT FOX

One month earlier on September

23, Rommel had handed over

command to his deputy, General

Georg Stumme, and because of his

worsening health had flown back

to Germany for treatment. During

a brief stop en route in Rome he

had remonstrated with Mussolini

that his demands for supplies,

30,000 tons in September and

35,000 tons in October, must be

met as a minimum. Otherwise the

campaign in North Africa would

be lost.

Rommel’s recuperation was

disrupted on the afternoon of

“It was a p ivotal moment. Rommel’s last hope of fuel resupply hung

in the balance”

Far left

A 221 Squadron

Wellington making a

dummy attack on Hunt-

class destroyer HMS

‘Blankney’, off Malta,

on December 3, 1943.

WW2IMAGES.COM

Left

Groundcrew work on

the bomb bay doors

of a torpedo-carrying

Bristol Beaufort.

KEY COLLECTION

Below

Displaying the

‘stickleback’ aerials

associated with the

Wellington XIII is 221

Squadron’s HZ979 ‘2X’,

taken at an unspecifi ed

location in 1943.

WW2IMAGES.COM