Free They Spread Their Wings by Alastair Goodrum Page A

Despite all this readiness routine though there was not much trade and the only excitement occurred during the night flying tests [NFT], when one could indulge in a spot of low-level work over the wide-open space of the Fens. I was warned off doing this after word got back to the CO about my regular aerial visits over my home in Spalding, which also happened to be just across the road from my old school. My mother – and of course the boys of the school – got an enormous kick from the sight of my big black Havoc thundering down the school road just above rooftop height. But it had obviously upset someone and they reported me!
    Shortly before the end of March the flight was re-equipped with Douglas Boston III aircraft to replace the lower powered Havoc Is. These new mounts were handled gingerly at first, in view of the extra power but when we got used to them they were found to be aces up on the old Havocs. Two new crews arrived from Cranfield on April 7 but sadly only one week later one of these was lost in an accident. Plt Off Jacques Henri Horrell [English father, French mother] and Sgt Samuel Capewell were on an NFT with Plt Off Frank Darycott BSc, the flight’s special signals [radar] expert also on board. An enquiry into the crash suggested that Horrell became aware that two unidentified Spitfires were diving on him from astern. It was surmised that he took violent evasive action and fell into a spin from which he could not recover, the aeroplane crashing at Aldwincle St Peters in Northamptonshire.
    Now that the weather was getting better, our thoughts turned to outdoor pursuits to relieve the waiting. Someone had the bright idea that we should take up sailing on the lake near dispersal, so a sailing dinghy was purchased from the aircrew fund. The first trips were made, a bit too daringly and in the strong April winds quite a few duckings followed, including Mike who tried to go solo too soon.
    Flying livened up a bit in May when mine was one of three crews detached for readiness duty at RAF Swanton Morley, Norfolk. Each day the detachment took off at dusk for Swanton and returned to Wittering at dawn the next morning. 151 Squadron had by now exchanged its Hurricanes for Mosquitoes so the flight was now co-operating with 486 (New Zealand) Squadron instead. Another change of scene occurred in the middle of this month, too, when I underwent a blind approach course with 1529 BAT Flight at Collyweston, Wittering’s second satellite. It was a pleasant change to fly a single-engine aeroplane again, this time the Miles Master II. Upon my return to the fold I continued to do readiness at Swanton but there was precious little doing because Jerry just didn’t show up much. Plt Off Gallagher got a scramble one night and chased an unidentified target until it was discovered to be a friendly aircraft. That was the only chase during the month but it did at least relieve the monotony of the continual waiting.

    Night-fighter crew member Mike Mycock, with Jack Cheney behind him, relaxing on Whitewater Lake, RAF Wittering, 1942. (J. Cheney Collection)
    Late in the month my pride and joy, Boston Z2184, went u/s [unserviceable] with a radio fault. It had only flown once with the flight and was practically brand new. It was, however, repaired by the 30th, just in time to fly Sgt Dave Glen to RAF Church Fenton to start his leave. I found that the station had changed considerably since my time there. The OTU had disappeared and night-fighter operations had taken its place with the return of 25 Squadron from RAF Ballyhalbert in Northern Ireland.
    Detached aircrews continued to go regularly to Swanton Morley well into June but there were no more scrambles. There was plenty of activity, though, on the night of the thousand bomber raid on Germany at the end of May. Both Swanton and Wittering were littered with our bombers coming back in one piece or in several pieces. At the end of the month our flying from Swanton Morley was washed out.