大象传媒

621 Squadron was formed in late summer 1943 to carry out coastal Command general Reconnaissance work over the East African area of the Indian Ocean to counter the expected increase in the enemy submarine activity consequent on the reopening of the Mediterranean and Red Sea route for use by Allied Shipping destined for for the olifields of the Persian Gulf, India and the Far Eastern theatre of war.

The various crews drafted to form the squadron flew their aircraft (Wellington Mk. XIII) out from the UK to East Africa and operated originally from Mombasa (Port Reitz) and Mogadishu in Somalia, with majour servicing facilities being supplied by the RAF compontent at Eastleigh Airpost, Nairobi. With the increased shipping through the Arabian sea, the Squadron Main Base was moved after 4 months to Aden, and used as detachments (from which most of the flying was done) two small airfields in the Horn of Africa, Bender Kassim and Scuscubian, and an airstrip on the Island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean

I was a navigator on one of the crews forming the squadron (Captain F/O R.H Mitchell). After O.T.U and Ferry training Unit in the UK we flew our aircraft out to East Africa.

On 15th september 1943 during the morning, we left Talbenny in Wellington HZ 956 and flew in formation with two others to Hurn, 3m north east of Bournemouth, at that time a briefing and despatch airfield for aircraft flying out to N. Africa. We landed at Hurn and the next day were given a briefing for the whole trip out. It was quite exciting to be provided with plotting charts and maps for a journey across North Africa to Cairo and down the Nile valley to Khartoum and Nairobi. After a sleep in the late afternoon and evening we attended for the final briefing and the latest meterological forecast before taking off. At the last minute our desutination was changed from Fez to Rabat on the coast. because of the possibility of interception by German fighters, we took off in the dead of night in order to cross the Bay of Biscay in darkness. It was planned that we should be off to Portugal when it came light, and this was indeed how it worked out. We left Hurn at 2am local time (probably midnight by G.M.T as I believe that during the war we had 'Double British Summertime' in order to make maximum use of daylight).
We flew some miles westward in order to give the Brest area a wide berth and then turned south to skirt the Bay of Biscay. The navigation of the flight was planned on the wind directions and speeds as forecast by the meterological staff just before we set off, and I have to say that in th event they were very accurate (including a complete change round of win in the area of cape St. Vincent), and I had no need to make other than minor adjustments to the flight plan as worked out last thing at Hurn. When we should have been approaching Cape Finisterre I asked the ASV operator to put on the side aerials for a couple of minutes - the first time there was no return, but five miinutes later he was able to report a land return at about 40 miles on the port side. We only had the set on for a couple of minutes at the most as there was a suspicion that the Germans were able to detect the transmissions and home in on them.
We were probably off oporto when dawn broke but land was not visible due to the concave curve in the Portuguese coastline. However later, it edged into sight and due to the same curve, by the time we were level with lisbon it was no more than 10 miles away. We altered course slightly and after an hour Cape St. Vincent was discernable, and I've no doubt that we fixed a position from this before turning onto our final course for Rabat.
The airfield at Rabat was American controlled and I think we were one of the first crews to use it on the way out. we had five days there waiting for bad weather over the Atlas mountains to clear and during this period were able to go into Rabat, a French colonial town, on two or three occasions. Once, several of us had an interesting hour of so in the Arab quarter. A few days later this was, for reasons of personal safety, 'out of bounds' to RAF personnel and so we were lucky to get in and out. Eventually it was considered safe for us to climb over the Atlas Mountains and we were able to take off for Tripoli (23.9.43). After passing these mountains, due to the featureless nature of the landscape (the outer edge of the sahara) I decided to navigate as if over the sea using the 'Coastal Command Navigation Drill', a technique whereby one measured the aircraft's drift on several 'headings' at least once an hour to calculate wind speed and direction. This worked alright and we had a good position check when we flew over the large oasis of Biskra, which I noticed had an airfield alongside. One of 621 Sqdn. Transit aircraft had to land there for some reason and stayed the night. My informant, one of the crew, said that several of them had their kit stolen.
late afternoon we landed at Castel Benito airfield near Tripoli and the next morning (24/9) set off on the leg to Cairo. We had been told to get a reasonably early start in order to reach there before dark. I can't remember anything particular about this flight. C.C. Nav Drill was again used and an hour or so before reaching Cairo we were over one of the dried up salt lakes in that area, and making our final approach to the city over the picturesque pyramids. we landed at Cairo west, a large transit airfield and sure enough, soon afterward it was dark. Due to some maintenance being done on our aircraft we spent a fortnight at Cairo West and this allowed us to get into the city. One day I was able to go out to the pyramids and have a closer look at them. A guide took me into one of the larger pyramids, in fact I had the guide to myself. How much quieter it was then than the TV pictures show of the crowds of tourists there today.
When standing in front of the Sphinx it was a sobering reflection that Napoleon's cannoneers had stood there as I did, and looked upon it's antiquity, and shot it's nose off, likewise the Roman soldiers had gazed upon it , even to them a 'wonder of the ancient world'.
We eventually left Cairo (10/10) en route for Khartoum. Three aircraft took off together and after gaining height and setting course, the other two aircraft gradually floated away on each side. No more was seen of them until on the approach to Khartoum when they both floated back into orbit and we all landed over a space of a few minutes. During this flight it was of great interest to see the harsh country over which Kitchener's force to relieve Khartoum had to be transported. In fact rumination about the problem caused me to read up at a later date about the logistics of this expedition. A short time after arrival a visit to the aircrew mess introduced us to the tall and dignified Sudanese race who acted as waiters.
The next morning (11/10) we had an early start for the flight to Nairobi, being routed over Kosti and Malakal (having relief landing grounds) to juba where we landed by arrangement to have a meal. During this flight the land surface had changed from the desert conditions round Khartoum to to the appearance of small, scrubby trees which over the next 200 miles or so changed yet again to lush greenlands. Whilst having the meal at Juba we were all intrigued to see several chameleons scuttling up the walls and over the tables, no doubt smart enough that there would eventually be some crumbs about.
The afternoon flight took us over the eastern part of Uganda and the lush part of east Africa into Kenya with Mt. Elgon on our left. After just touching the N.W tip of Lake Victoria we went over the rather exclusive settles area known as the 'White Highlands' to Nairobi where we landed ar eastleigh Airport with considerable satisfaction. The RAF Station there was 621 Sqdn.'s depot for majour servicing during the first four months of it's existence.
In the next day or two the whole crew visited Air Headquarters East Africa to be debriefed about the whole flight from the UK, and no doubt then I handed in all my navigational logs.
After w week at Eastleigh, we took an aircraft to Mombasa on the coast, where the squadron was officially formed, and from there with several ground staff as passangers, we flew up the coast to Mogadishu, the capital of Italian Somaliland. 'Mog', as we called it, was then a fine Italian colonial town with some impressive buildings, and there must be former 621 Squadron members from it's early days who know look sadly at the present TV news reports of the social and physical devastation of that once pleasant town.
We used the former Italian airfield on the south side of the town as a base for three months until the squadron was transferred to Aden for aircraft over-hauls in the large peacetime RAF station of Khormaksar.
After carrying out convoy escorts in the area of about 250 miles north and south of Mogadishu and taking HZ 956 to Nairobi for a major service in December, with the removal to Aden we never came so far south again.

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