大象传媒

THE THIRD BOMBER. By L.R.Allwright.

This is a true and complete story of the only fighter aircraft ever to be based and to fly operationally from the Rock of Gibraltar.
Generally speaking the possibility of enemy air attack seemed to be taken with a complacent disregard on the "Rock" but as North Front began to look more like an airfield and not just a no mans land it occurred to our C/O that the place was probably very vulnerable to such enemy attack and it would perhaps be a good idea if some form of defence was to be provided in case such a thing should happen.
So some time in June-July 1942 about half a dozen shell firing Hispano automatic weapons were delivered to our flight office. These guns were duly set up in what was thought to be the best advantage points around our dispersal area with each one in its own sand bagged compound. Our dispersal area at North Front had by now more or less stabilised within an area to the West side of that huge rock face and outlined by the cemetery on the East and the road into Lalinea running along the West side thus putting the entrance about midway of the runway. Also delivered to us at about the same time were two brand spanking new Beau fighter aircraft.
Now Beau fighter aircraft were very useful machines to have around with a range of something like 1500 miles and a top speed of around 300m.p.h. they were built on the cabin style principle and could hold up to four airmen fairly easily although in normal use two would be the maximum. When used as a fighter attacker with only the pilot on board they no doubt would prove very effective against any enemy bombers likely to come the way of Gibraltar. The firepower of such planes was deadly with four cannons and one machine gun nicely placed right in its nose.
These two Beau fighters were attached to 233 Squadron our own Hudson pilots for the use of. A duty roster was drawn up so that pilots would become liable for stand by duty for the two aircraft with the idea that when and if the enemy made the attempt at a bombing raid or for that matter for any other reason that enemy planes got too near the "Rock" then it would become the duty of those pilots to deal with the attackers. Because we were so busy at the time with the work of keeping Hudson's flying those two Beau fighters never got to be marked with the usual ZS Squadron markings but flew only with the R.A.F coloured roundels and so short was the life of those two planes that they remained that way to the end as shown in the photograph taken as the Flt/Lieutenant was about to take off on the final flight.
As was usual in the R.A.F. in those days ground servicing personnel were expected to know all about Beau fighters even though most of us were seeing them for the first time. However even though our experience about such aircraft left much to be desired we took them under our wing and carried on. They were brand spanking new and should only require daily inspection and our usual four hourly pre-flight run up inspections and check.
On most days the stand by Hudson pilots would fly the Beau fighters as part of the familiarization process and whenever time permitted I went along with them and thoroughly enjoyed those trips out over the Mediterranean. Some of our pilots were well used to that type of aircraft and they sure showed what it could do when they got the chance.
It wasn鈥檛 long however before a bug showed up in one of those Beau fighters by way of an intermittent fuel pressure loss on the starboard engine. This of course put the aircraft unserviceable for flying until the necessary repairs could be carried out.
Due entirely to the fact that our main Job then at North Front was to keep the Hudson鈥檚 flying on patrols almost day and night a small thing like an unserviceable Beau fighter would only receive attention whenever time permitted and mostly the job became the lot of myself as engine fitter ably assisted by Andy Anderson the air frame fitter.
When it came to Hudson aircraft we could almost smell out a fault and put it right with our eyes shut but as far as Beau fighters were concerned the situation was quite different as while we had plenty of written workshop practice literature for Hudson's nothing was available as reference for Beau fighters.
It was a bit like working in the dark so that all we could do was to proceed slowly, carefully checking out and proving everything. We worked on in that fashion for something like three weeks and with everything thus checked it was decided to do a ground test run. Ground testing seemed to indicate that the fault had been cleared and so the aircraft was put serviceable for flight-testing.
The flight test was duly arranged and after seeing the pilot it was agreed that I should go along for the trip making three of us in all with an observer. As the time drew near for the test flight to begin I got myself prepared by donning a Mae West and was just about to climb up through the belly hatch when the pilot, a Flying Officer by rank, appeared saying he was sorry but he would have to asked me to stand down as a naval pal of his had expressed a desire for a trip in a Beau fighter. Not for me to argue, although with hindsight it can be seen that at that point things had started to go seriously wrong, so I just stepped aside to allow the Pilot, Observer and the Naval Lieutenant to climb aboard.
After starting the engines the Pilot then began the pre-flight run up and checks and seemed to spend much more time than was usual going through the motions as though there was something he was a bit unsure about. After a while however the Pilot seemed to be satisfied that everything was in order and signalled for Andy the airframe fitter to climb aboard to which Andy immediately responded and after getting the Pilots signature on the Form 700 Andy reappeared closing the hatch behind him. We then pulled the chocks away and the Beau fighter started to move off towards the Bay end of the airstrip for take off. As the aircraft moved away Andy came across to where I was standing and to my utter amazement told me that the Pilot had complained that on full power the RED light had shown up on the fuel pressure gauge indicating low pressure on the Starboard engine "but that he thought, it would be alright".
Now the very strict code of maintenance procedure that has always prevailed in the Royal Air Force made sure that such a situation just could not arise. An aircraft had always to be 100% serviceable before it flew and yet here was one being accepted for flying with a known fault. Here was an officer pilot breaking all the rules and although I knew that something ought to be done to stop the take off the fact that for the first time I was being faced with such a situation made me hesitate, pondering on the thought as per my service training, that if the officer says O.K then it has to be alright. And sad to say nothing was done to stop the Beau fight from taking off.

What was to happen in the next few minuets was to prove just how wrong it was to gamble on an aircraft that was faulty as "being alright" to go flying with. I stood and watched as the Beau fighter sped along the airstrip on past our dispersal area towards the Blue Mediterranean and I was relieved to note that at that stage all looked well. It became airborne and had reached a height of something like fifty feet above the sea when suddenly the starboard wing started to dip and soon the whole plane had plunged, into the sea. I got to the sea wall as quickly as I was able, to find that miraculously the three occupants of the plane had escaped and were now to be seen hanging on for dear life to floating fuel tank. Luckily the starboard wing had gone into the seal first thus taking the full brunt of the crash and this in turn had torn clean away from the fuselage releasing a full fuel tank which had then floated like a raft to which the three bedraggled survivors were able to cling to until being picked up.
The worst had happened and it was obvious that due to the fault in the fuel system as the Beau fighter had gone down the airstrip on take off so gradually had the starboard engine become starved of fuel and finally had lost all power causing the aircraft to stall and crash. So we lost our first Beau fighter, fortunately with only a very little injury to the blokes on board and it was the poor Naval Lieutenant that copped it, namely, one broken nose.
They say that a good crash is the one you can walk away from and no doubt very little despondency was felt about one more crash at North Front but the subsequent repercussions of losing that Beau fighter would prove to have almost tragic results in events yet to be unfolded. Of course the quick answer would have been to have a replacement aircraft sent out as would have happened in the case of our own Hudson's but complacency still persisted about air attack and regrettably no action was taken.
The final result of my inaction on that day made me resolve that should similar circumstances ever occur again even if the pilot was a Group Captain I should move smartly to the flight office to have the plane stopped but it was the first and only time throughout the war.
By the end of August 1942 the build up for the North African campaign had, so it seemed to us the residents of North Front Gibraltar, reached the point of no return and was by then moving forward at an ever-increasing rate. Planes of all sorts were then passing through the airstrip at anything of up to forty a day. Wellingtons, Blenheim, Whirlwinds, Boston鈥檚 and Dakotas, etc and the congestion on the field at the end of a very busy day was such that the only space left available was the landing and take off area. It was imperative for aircraft that had just arrived to be away before the following day's intake to be sure of having enough parking space available and it would have taken only a small enemy bomber force to drop just one or two bombs at North Front during those days to have caused complete chaos.
What it would have meant to planes now flying out from England if on arrival at Gibraltar they were to find North Front out of action could clearly be imagined. The nearest other landing place was now one thousand miles away so the only other alternative to a landing at North Front would have been to ditch in the sea with all the dangers that would entail. It was certain that all those badly needed aircraft would have been lost but worse still many of the aircrews would have perished also.

It was to that sort of background that some time early September 1942 a report was flashed through to our operations room to the effect that three enemy aircraft were heading directly towards the "Rock". The duty roster showed a Flt/Lieutenant to be the Beau fighter pilot for the day and although his name now escapes me in my minds eye I easily recall the man's image. Age about thirty and one of our finest and most experienced captains, not one given to ceremony with a manor that seemed to display a deliberate snub to the trivialities of dress. Fate could not have found a' better man to uphold the traditions of the Rock Of Gibraltar.
The Flt/Lieutenant was quickly briefed for the part he was now about to play. The Beau fighter was ready and waiting so he wasted no time as he quietly climbed aboard, started the engines, signalled chocks away and moved out of dispersal for take off.
Here was a man of the highest calibre with a very extensive wartime experience about to move into his own moment in time. The Flt/Lieutenant had seen the full fury of war many times over as being a career airman he had flown Hudson's right from the start of war. He had done his full stint with operations ranging out over the North sea with raids into Norway when flying from Leuchars in Scotland then to the Battle of the Atlantic from Alder grove Ireland where "u" boat activity was so intense that 233 Squadron alone quite often dealt with as many as four strikes a day and then to the all important Brest patrols from St Eval.
He was one of the first men ever to land a modern twin engine bomber such as a Hudson at North Front Gibraltar and had gone on to play a full part in saving Gibraltar from the 鈥漸鈥� Boats. He was one of Joubert's airmen and I remember just how disgusted he told me he felt at the treatment his former Chief had received.
As he lifted into the air out over the Mediterranean its certain that his experience as a long standing Coastal Command Captain had taught him to quickly evaluate any situation and he no doubt was fully aware of the implications of that flight and the circumstances that events had seen fit to place him in but he was not dismayed. In fact, on thinking back to that time now, he was probably just a bit elated at the prospect of getting the opportunity at last to hit back at the enemy that had downed so many of his mates on their Hudson patrols over the Mediterranean.
Settling down after take off he no doubt cursed as he reflected on the need for the other Beau fighter at that moment and the sequence of events that had laid the ground for what seemed an almost impossible mission. First in that sequence was the failure of a new aircraft in service then the failure of ground crew to correct the fault coupled with the failure of a pilot to observe sensible test flight procedure ending with what was probably the worst failure the aircraft was not replaced.

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