Terrence Kelley - Hurricane and Spitfire Pilots at War

By the same author

Novels

Properjohn

The Carib Sands

The Developers

The Genki Boys

The Blades of Cordoba

Play in a Hot Summer

Revolution on St Barbara

Fepow (Voyage Beyond Belief)

The Spy is Dead

Long Live the Spy

Carnival in Trinidad and other stories

Non-fiction

Hurricane Over the Jungle

Battle for Palembang

Hurricane in Sumatra

Living with Japanese

Nine Lives of a Fighter Pilot

Books in Paperback

The Genki Boys

Hurricane Over the Jungle

Hurricane in Sumatra

Voyage Beyond Belief

Plays

A Share in the Sun (with Campbell Singer)

Divorce in Chancery

Four Sided Triangle

The Genki Boys

Just Before Dawn (from Elleston Trevor's A Place for the Wicked)

Honest Tom

Carnival in Trinidad

Stella

The Masterminds

Revolution on St Barbara

Crackdown

First published in 1986 by
William Kimber & Co. Ltd.
Paperback Edition published by Arrow Books Ltd in 1988
Reprinted in 1991

Republished, in this format, in 2004 by

Pen & Sword Aviation
An imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street,
Barnsley,
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Terence Kelly 1986

ISBN 1-84415-064-X

ISBN 9781783400300 (epub)

ISBN 9781783400041 (prc)

The right of Terence Kelly to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A CIP record for this book is available from the Britih Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Printed by CPI UK

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail:
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

To all who fly
especially those who flew Hurricanes or Spitfires.

CONTENTS

Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, GCB, DSO, OBE.

Stanford Tuck after first engagement with Italian Air Force
(Chaz Bowyer)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris GCB, DSO, OBE.

By
Air Chief Marshal
Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris
GCB, DSO, OBE.

M any books, usually autobiographical, have been written by World War Two fighter pilots but, with exceptions such as Paul Brickhill on Douglas Bader, few have been written by professional authors consequently the literary skills of some authors have not always matched their exploits in the air and the real excitement and interest of their material.

Terence Kelly has adopted a different approach. Admittedly a part, perhaps the most absorbing part, of his book is based on his own experience as an opponent, later a prisoner, of the Japanese; but he has also picked the brains of a considerable number of well-known fighter pilots and, with their full and willing co-operation, has selected for retelling their most vivid and graphic recollections. His description of his own war reflects strikingly the style of most of the men he writes about; cynical, light-hearted, conversational, almost offhand, yet recounting performances and experiences which are sometimes almost beyond belief.

Herein perhaps lies the recipe of the success of these men, indeed of our national success in both World Wars. We managed, almost uniquely, to retain our sense of humour. War is not funny or enjoyable; but it does become more tolerable if you can keep your sense of humour and of balance and avoid self-glory. The protagonists of this book including its author typify this breed of men.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to all who have given help in the preparation of this book and especially to those who have provided contributions and parted, temporarily, with precious photographs. The number is large and it is difficult to know where to begin but I believe my first thanks are due to Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris who provided introductions to such an impressive list of one-time Hurricane and Spitfire pilots I had not known personally before. Thereafter I am chickening out by falling back on alphabetical order my thanks being due to: Wing Commander Dizzy Allen, Air Marshal Sir Alfred Ball, Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, Squadron Leader Ghandi Drobinski, Air Commodore Dutton, Group Captain Tom Gleave, Major James A. Goodson, Group Captain Bobby Oxspring, Wing Commander Geoffrey Page, Wing Commander Peter Parrott, First Lieutenant Steve Pissanos, Flight Lieutenant Robbie Robertson, Air Marshal Sir Frederick Rosier, Squadron Leader Allan Scott, Group Captain Duncan Smith, Wing Commander Bob Stanford Tuck, Edwin Dale Taylor and Wing Commander Innes Westmacott. In a somewhat different, and in its own way very special category, my thanks are due to those with whom I shared Far Eastern skies (and in some cases a Japanese prison camp) and without whose help the sections dealing with that distant part of the world could hardly have been completed, to Red Campbell, Ernie Gartrell, Bertie Lambert, Harold Maguire, Doug Nicholls, Bunt Pettit, Denny Sharp, John Vibert and Tom Young. I have been aided by being able to refer to a large number of other accounts and especial mention should go to Chaz Bowyer that incredible researcher of wartime statistics, to Yasuo Izawa for his Combat Diary of the 64th Sentai, Field Marshal Sir William Slim for his Defeat into Victory that marvellous account of the Burma campaign, the late Squadron Leader Donahue for his Last Flight from Singapore, Bobby Oxspring again for his Spitfire Command and Duncan Smith for his Spitfire into Battle, James Goodson that remarkable American fighter ace for his Tumult in the Skies, Hugh Halliday for his The Canadian Years and Paul Brickhill for The Great Escape. Especial appreciation is due to Flight Lieutenant J.H. Holloway whose research into the Battle of Britain has been so remarkable and who went to the same enormous trouble on my behalf as he has for so many hundreds of pilots who, unlike myself, took part in it. And finally, and by no means least, I am indebted to so many others, most of whom I never met, and many of whom lost their lives flying Spitfire or Hurricane, whose names are mentioned and whose stories are given a proper place in the pages which now follow.

T.K.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say, Tomorrow is St Crispian

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's Day.

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words

Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.