ADVANCE INTO EUROPE
1944
The beginning of 1944 saw the emphasis of the Allies’ fight against the Germans continue with diversionary raids, to keep the enemy guessing where their main objective for launching a second front into mainland Europe would be. Many months of planning by the staff of Allied Supreme Headquarters had taken place and with it, the hope that by June, they would be ready to undertake such a large and formidable venture without considerable losses to the invasion forces.
For RAF Hornchurch, the coming year would see a considerable change in the aerodrome’s operational standing and the duties it would undertake. The 1st January 1944 saw dull weather and no offensive operations. Flight Lieutenant (Acting Wing Commander) Peter J. Simpson DFC was posted from Hornchurch to No.20 Fighter Wing as Wing Commander Flying. Various VIPs visited Hornchurch’s satellite airfield at Fairlop on 2nd January. Major Bigland of No. 115 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, arrived to discuss matters arising from an exercise in which No. 164 Squadron was to co-operate with the army. Other visitors were Captain E.C. Axe and Lieutenant W.C. Jenkins of the 52nd Battery Essex Home Guard, who made a routine visit to the station commander regarding airfield defence.
A large bombing operation was laid on for the morning of 6th January, which would have included the Hornchurch Wing, but this was cancelled later owing to unfavourable weather. However, six Ranger operations were planned of which four actually took place. Two by No.350 (Belgian) Squadron, one by No. 129, and the other by No.66 Squadron.
The first operation of the day ‘Ranger 3’ was undertaken by 350 Squadron. Four of their aircraft took off at 12.25 pm and crossed the Belgian coast near Nieuport, then to Renaux and Courtrai. Near Weveleghem, one Spitfire was attacked by a FW190, which was lost in cloud. This Spitfire returned home alone crossing out at Ostend, but the remaining three Spitfires carried on and sighted 25 German ‘E’ (motor torpedo) boats heading to Dunkirk from the Nieuport direction.
Before the Spitfires were able to initiate an attack on the boats, they were suddenly attacked by two FW190s, which did such tight turns that the Spitfires were unable to get on their tails. The FW190s disappeared into cloud, and the Spitfires, now low on fuel, headed for home. After refuelling at Manston they landed back at Hornchurch. Ranger 4 was also undertaken by 350 Squadron at 1.35 pm but was uneventful, and they landed at 3.45 pm.
At 2.30 pm, Squadron Leader K.T. Lofts led a section of four aircraft of No.66 Squadron on the next Ranger. The French coast was crossed at Dieppe/Le Treport, the weather was very clear so the section penetrated as far as Londinieres, searching for motor transport targets. One large motor transport vehicle was seen, attacked and damaged. The section then crossed out south of Le Treport and landed at Hornchurch at 4.05 pm.
Flight Lieutenant Hancock led the last section on the final Ranger mission of the day. Four aircraft of No. 129 took off and crossed the French coast, east of St Valery-en-Caux. A tugboat was seen towing three large covered barges, which they attacked diving from 3,000 feet down to 100 feet, observing many hits. Ten miles south, the section sighted two army service vehicles and they too were attacked. Strikes were again noted and the second enemy vehicle stopped and burst into flames. On their way out to the coast the Spitfires attacked further barges along the waterways. Thus ended quite an interesting, reasonable and profitable day.
On 11th January, the Wing led by Wing Commander Simpson was airborne at 10.35 am, when they flew up to Coltishall in Lincolnshire. There, they refuelled and acted as ‘withdrawal cover’ to 576 B17 Flying Fortresses and 165 Liberator aircraft, which were bombing targets in Germany. However, the weather was too bad to enable the Wing to take off. Later when it was possible to take off, the ‘Return Group’ insisted on the Wing remaining at Coltishall.
The Hornchurch Station Commander, Wing Commander David Scott-Maiden, DSO, DFC, was also flying with the Wing that day. He remembers his time at Hornchurch during this period:
When I went back to Hornchurch as Station Commander, most of my job was administrative, but I did do a little flying on the more exciting sorties, if Peter Simpson, my CO Flying, would allow.
I do remember that because Hornchurch was so close to London and very accessible, we were a target for a lot of foreign visitors of all kinds, and this was really one of the things that took up a lot of my time. There were all sorts of Arab princes who had given money for the war effort and they wanted to see the Spitfires named after them and so on. Fortunately at the time I had a Squadron Leader Administration named Watts Jones, who in peace time had been the manager of Fenwicks, the fur garment store in Bond Street, London. He masterminded the whole reception of these visitors, and the program, which he produced. We followed it for every visitor who was inspecting an aircraft, and then had a flypast and a ceremonial lunch. So all I had to do was meet the distinguished guests and hand them over to Watts Jones, who treated them as if they were coming in to buy an expensive fur coat from his store. This took a great deal of weight off my mind.
During the early hours of 22nd January at 5.00 am, an enemy raid took place in the vicinity of the airfield and lasted for about an hour. When it was light, it was learnt that four unexploded bombs of about 50 kilograms were lying in the south-east corner of the airfield; one being extracted was seen to be minus a fuse and had a cracked casing. The bomb disposal section officer considered that this bomb had failed due to sabotage. There were in addition two larger bombs, which exploded on impact causing a large area to be covered with phosphorus.
Two senior officers of the Brazilian Air Force, Colonel Fabio Sa Earp and Lieutenant Colonel Reynaldo Joaquim de Carvalho arrived on the station on 24th January, to gain information for the Brazilian Air Staff about the organisation and life of an RAF fighter station. The two officers stayed here for three days and were accompanied by an interpreter from 11 Group. During the afternoon, the Station Commander, Wing Commander Scott-Maiden gave a talk on the organisation of the station and its place in the chain of command from Air Defence of Great Britain.
Owing to the recent bombing, Air Training Cadets camp was cancelled at Hornchurch, on 29th January, but several cadets were given air experience during that Saturday afternoon. During the evening at 8.30 pm, an air-raid warning was given and at 8.50 pm, a number of incendiary bombs were dropped around the flying control building and the bulk petrol installation area. The station fire crew, under the direction of the Duty Fire Chief Officer, quickly dealt with two bombs which were burning on top of the petrol installation. The remaining bombs did not ignite and no damage was caused to any property in the area. The fire crew remained standing by throughout the night.
On the 30th, Squadron Leader Allcott, the No. 11 Group Press Relations Officer, visited the station. It was learnt from him that the Hornchurch Sector total for enemy aircraft shot down was to date recorded as 905 destroyed. During the month of January, it was recorded that 24 officers of our American allies belonging to the 8th United States Army Air Force passed through the station for training liaison duties.
At the beginning of February, Hornchurch played host to members of the National Fire Service, when they gave a demonstration on 3rd February, on the method of combating fires and rescuing personnel from crashed aircraft. The party of firemen came from the fire station at Ilford.
Wing Commander David Scott-Maiden, DSO, DFC, was posted away on 6th February, to No.84 Group, Mobile Control Unit for operations. He recalls:
It was at Hornchurch that No.84 Group, Mobile Control Centre was formed ready for the Allied invasion of Europe.
At the beginning of 1944, one of the mobile radar units, which were to be used for the proposed invasion of Europe, was formed on the airfield. We being the host station provided the entire administration etc, while all the rest of these people got all their lorries organised of the various sorts they were going to need. Their commanding officer was a chap named Group Captain Gerry Edge, who came to live at Hornchurch. He had to get all the mobile radar and the complete tented camp organised and ready to move. I thought at the time, this would be a far more interesting job than being left behind at Hornchurch once the invasion had begun.
So I suggested to him that he might need some wing commanders when he finally went across the Channel; he agreed to take me on, along with Alan Deere and Miles Duke-Woolley. So when all of this material of men and machines was ready to move and could be packed up and put on the road, it was sent down south to of all places, the Goodwood race course.
The day started bright on the 13th. The Wing led by Wing Commander Simpson left Hornchurch at 1.00 pm, to act as close escort to 36 B26 Martin Marauders bombing construction targets in the Neufchatel area. No enemy fighters were intercepted.
Another air-raid alert was sounded at Hornchurch at 8.20 pm and lasted about 80 minutes. Gunfire was intense all around the local district and one enemy bomber, later identified as a Junkers Ju88, crashed in a meadow behind Havering Court swimming pool. There were only three in the crew, of whom two were killed and the other baled out and suffered a broken arm. He was taken for treatment to Oldchurch Hospital in Romford. Next day, he was interrogated, but he was very security-minded. Nevertheless the contents of the German’s pockets were emptied and found to be very interesting. He had been carrying a valuable list of call signs and a lecture book of data.
On Friday, 18th February, at 7.35 pm, the final order for the closure of the Hornchurch Sector Control Room was received. Wing Commander Ronald Adam, who had previously been Operations Room controller at Hornchurch, sent this from Headquarters Fighter Command at Uxbridge. The final order on Ops ‘A’ Line to Hornchurch Sector read:
Hornchurch Sector Operations Room, which has controlled Malan, Gray, Bader, Berry, Lock, Scott, Mungo-Park, Tuck, Kingcome, Wells, Gillam, Broadhurst, Freeborn, Stapleton, Denholm, Kingaby, Hugo, Esmonde, Stephen, Duncan-Smith, Scott-Maiden, Hesselyn, Beaumont, Walsh, Deere, Finucane, Gilroy, Compton, Stevens, Gribble and many others who have contributed to the total of 906 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed since the outbreak of war, will now cease to operate.
Despite 7 major daylight bombing attacks during the Battle of Britain and innumerable night bombings, Hornchurch Sector never allowed itself to become non-operational by reason of attack. Hornchurch Operations Room will now stand down and its personnel are released to their duties elsewhere. What of the future? Though the Sector no longer exists its unique spirit of comradeship lives on.
Per Ardua ad Astra
Not long after, the Operations Room at the Masonic Hall was stood down, and a farewell party was laid on for the personnel. Joy Caldwell was invited back as a guest. She remembers:
A large crowd of Hornchurch Ops, WAAFs and other Ops personnel attended. During the middle of the evening, the side doors opened and in stepped ‘Boy’ Bouchier, ‘Broady’ Broadhurst and Ronnie Adams. They had all had a real ‘skin full’ previously in the Mess; we clapped like mad when they appeared. Drinks and food were consumed in great quantities, then much to my embarrassment ‘Boy’ Bouchier came over to me and gave me a great big hug saying, ‘There’s one of my Battle of Britain girls.’ He wanted to know how I was, and where I was being posted to etc. I couldn’t believe he could remember me after three years, then I guess the Battle of Britain was a special time at Hornchurch. It’s hard to imagine now how closely we worked in Ops, during the summer of 1940. Rules, regulations and rank didn’t stand for much. When I worked at Biggin Hill Ops, it was never the same for me.
On 19th February, Squadron Leader R. Watt-Jones, who had been the Station Administrative Officer for nearly a year, took over command of the station. During the early morning of that day, an air-raid alert had been sounded at 12.30 am, when an estimated 90 enemy aircraft flew over and a large number got through to the London area causing quite a lot of damage.
The very next day the Hornchurch Wing carried out two successful escort missions. Taking off early down to Manston airfield, they landed and refuelled before taking off again at 10.00 am to act as ‘high cover’ to 72 B26 Marauders bombing Gilze Rijen. The sortie was uneventful and they landed back at Hornchurch at 11.30 pm. At 2.25, they took off again, this time to provide withdrawal support to a large force of Liberators and Fortresses returning from a raid deep into Germany. The bombers were met south-east of Brussels and escorted back to this country without incident. One of the B17s, which had been to Leipzig, landed at Hornchurch in a somewhat battered condition. Fortunately all the crew was safe and it was accommodated on the base.
On 22nd February, the Wing carried out one of the longest shows ever undertaken. Airborne at 9.45 am, they provided close escort to 72 Marauders on a raid to Soesterberg, near Utrecht. The distance exceeded 440 miles and the estimated duration was two hours. They all arrived back at 11.30.
An impressive ceremony took place in front of the Watch Office during the morning of the 23rd, when Monsieur Pierlot, the Belgian Prime Minister, arrived to decorate six Belgian pilots, to commemorate their 100th enemy aircraft victory. Among those present were Air Marshal R. Hill, Air Vice-Marshal Saunders, Air Commodore McEvoy of No.84 Group and Monsieur Gutt, the Belgian Finance Minister.
Another raid had taken place on London and surrounding districts during the early hours. About 150 enemy aircraft made landfall of which 80 reached London. At the start of the raid the barrage was intense and only slackened off shortly before the ‘All clear’ had been sounded. It had easily been the heaviest attack in the district for some time. A stick of three bombs had been dropped on the south-east corner of the airfield and eight Spitfires of No.504 Squadron were completely destroyed.
The windows in the new Watch Office were all blown in and three dispersal huts were damaged. Three airmen were injured, two seriously. It was estimated that the enemy aircraft had been flying at approximately 8,000 to 10,000 feet and had made a deliberate attack. The National Fire Service had responded quickly to the request for help at Hornchurch and by 2.00 am all the fires had been extinguished. By 4.00 pm, several new aircraft had arrived to replace those that had been written off.
Robert Ballard remembers:
D-Day was looming and it was noticeable that not so many Spitfires were around: that they had all moved to forward advanced landing grounds on the south coast in April 1944, was not generally known. They were just not such a familiar sight, there was of course plenty of general air activity, but not directly related to stuff flying into and out of Hornchurch, but with one exception. Miles Martinet and Vultee Vengeance target towing aircraft were now a regular sight intermingled with the odd Spitfire.
By now I was a member of the local Air Training Corps, 106 Orsett Hundred Squadron, as we were known.
On 5th March, North Weald assumed control of the Hornchurch Sector. A visit was made to Flying Control and Intelligence Section and the squadrons visited by the following officers; Flying Officer H.J. Crooks, Pilot Officer R. Mirams, Staff Officer B. Kenyon and Staff Officer J. Arthur.
No.349 Belgian Squadron flew into Hornchurch from Friston on 11th March for a brief stay, and while here undertook several operations before being moved down to Selsey on the south coast of Sussex on the 11th April.
At 12.50 am on 22nd March, most of the station personnel were kept awake by the heavy local gunfire as another German raid came over. Flares were dropped north-east of the aerodrome and two incendiary bombs dropped near the Sergeants’ Mess, but were quickly dealt with. Another raid over the night of 24th/25th March between 11.45 pm and 1.00 am near Fairlop aerodrome, saw two enemy Junkers Ju88s shot down. One crashed in Redbridge Lane, Ilford, the other at Chigwell Row, Essex. The tail unit of one fell on the runway at Fairlop. Three of the German crew were reported to be at large somewhere in the area, but they were eventually captured and taken into custody at Barkingside Police Station. The five other crewmen had all perished, and arrangements for their funerals were made between RAF Fairlop and Hornchurch.
The defences at RAF Hornchurch were again tested during exercise ‘Paradrop’ on 14th April. The defence exercise started at dusk and continued until 11.59 pm the following night. Troops involved included No.2718 Squadron, RAF Regiment and the station’s anti-aircraft flight and support flight, while the enemy troop’s role was played by the men of the 20th Battalion, Essex Home Guard and Sector School personnel.
Another two new squadrons arrived to operate from Hornchurch on 24th April 1944. These were No.229 Squadron who had returned from Sicily, led by Squadron Leader N.F. Harrison and No.274 commanded by Squadron Leader J.F. Edwards. William Bird was a flight mechanic with No.229 Squadron when they were sent to Hornchurch, and recalls:
I had previously visited RAF Hornchurch in 1940 as an air cadet with No. 106 Orsett, One Hundred Squadron. My second contact was as a LAC flight mechanic.
We had spent a two-week sea journey from Naples and arrived at Gourock, Scotland before being transferred to a troop-train to travel down to Hornchurch, with only one short stop at Preston. We arrived late in the evening at Hornchurch and were given a satisfying hot meal. The WAAFs had made our beds, the little angels, and were told that morning parade would be at 11.00 pm. These little girls in blue made us feel very important, as did everybody else on the station.
The next morning we sung and hummed our squadron song as we serviced our Spitfires.
(Sung to Lili Marlene)
We are the fighting 229
When we’re not saluting, we’re on the blessed line,
We fight your battles anywhere,
from Malta to Trafalgar Square.
We are the 229, the fighting 229.
We are the 229, the fighting 229.
Our Spitfires were clipped wing Mark IXs, which we rode on to assist the pilot when taxying. One of the pilots did manage to put his aircraft’s nose down into the allotments at Sutton’s Lane, adjacent to the airfield. Contrary to expectations, it happened in the best of squadrons; ‘prangs’ were not that uncommon. Most certainly against the rules and regulations, was the occasion when one of our pilots flew over Hornchurch’s hangars with flaps down. How foolhardy can one get? Although I have to admit at the time, we enjoyed this dangerous spectacle.
Another station defence exercise also took place on 29th April, code-named ‘Solus’. A taxying accident occurred at 1.50 pm on 10th May, when an Avro Oxford which was about to take off for Lasham hit the windows of the Watch Office with its starboard wing tip. The aircraft’s aileron was damaged, but no one was hurt.
No.274 Squadron fitted one of its Spitfire aircraft with bomb-racks on 15th May, and the pilots proceeded to try their hand at some bombing practice on the Rainham and Purfleet Ranges with four small smoke bombs.
No.80 Squadron flew into Hornchurch on 17th May, for refitting and reorganisation, before proceeding to Detling airfield for operational duties before passage to the Italian Front.
On 21st May, the station received four armoured Morris Reconnaissance Cars to add to the Station Defence Armoured Flight and given an operational role. No.274 Squadron carried out more practice bombing on the Purfleet Firing Ranges until around midday. A practice formation takeoff was also tried out, and all twelve aircraft were airborne within 30 seconds.
During the early evening a fighter sweep was carried out by the squadron along with No.229, led by Wing Commander E.R Wells. This was in support of a bombing operation by 24 Boston aircraft on the Douai marshalling yards. The weather was fine with no clouds, but the enemy was not tempted up to interfere with the raid.
As the build up to the D-Day operation continued, the south-east of England was now looking like one giant army camp. At Hornchurch it was no exception. John Cox recalls:
Where I was living at the time, near Upminster Bridge, every road seemed to have army lorries or tanks parked on one side. They seemed to stretch for miles, obviously they were going to be sent to Tilbury or other ports, to be taken over to France. One of the roads near the aerodrome, Station Lane, also had vehicles lined up ready for the invasion. I remember doing the odd errand for the American soldiers who were in the area at the time; one in particular would get me to pass messages onto his girlfriend, for this he would give me chewing gum.
The Station Commander made a special announcement during the morning of 6th June 1944. His message over the Tannoy system relayed the news to station personnel that the invasion of Europe, D-Day had started, ‘Operation Overlord’ had begun. The Allies now had a foothold into Europe. The hope of all the people of the free nations was that very soon they would be able to undo the tyranny and unshackle the chains of Nazi Germany from the countries in Europe that had been overrun in 1939/40.
The German response a few weeks later to the invasion of the Allies at Normandy heralded a new and threatening age of weaponry. The new German wonder weapon was named Vergeltungswaffe or VI. The weapon was an unmanned flying bomb, which carried a high explosive warhead of 850 kilogrammes. Launched from long firing ramps, the rockets were guided by a pre-set directional compass and a gyroscopic unit, which sent signals to the elevator and rudder controls in flight. On the night of 12th/13th June 1944, the first reports of an unidentified object with flames pouring from the tail were received. The flying bomb continued its flight over Gravesend and once its jet pulse engine stopped, it crashed to earth and exploded on open ground at Swanscombe. There were no casualties.
For the next nine months, a total of 9,251 of Hitler’s new vengeance weapon would rain down on the civilians of London and the south-east of Britain. The people of Britain who had endured so much hardship and pain during the blitz in 1940/41, were again to suffer considerably from the ‘Doodlebug’ menace, as it was now to become known. Over 5,500 civilians would perish.
An air-raid alert was sounded on the station during the early hours of the morning that the first hostile unidentified flying bomb was heard and seen. They were afterwards identified as pilotless flying bombs. During the evening of the 23rd June, an ENS A show was interrupted briefly by a flying bomb that exploded a few hundred yards from Hornchurch aerodrome. A few windows were broken in the Station Cinema and other buildings on the Sutton’s side of the drome. At 7.07 am, a VI flying bomb exploded on the flightpath of the aerodrome leaving a rather large crater, which had to be filled in later in the day. One VI also exploded in Elm Park causing many casualties.
On 27th June, no less than 59 VI flying bombs had been logged on record by Hornchurch Flying Control on that day. The Station Commander received a letter of appreciation on 12th July 1944 from the residents of Hacton Lane, Hornchurch. Hacton Lane was the scene of a flying bomb incident on 23rd June. RAF Hornchurch organised rescue squads and first-aid parties to help at the scene. A cheque for £7 15 shillings was donated by the residents for the RAF Benevolent Fund.
A conference was held at Hornchurch’s Station Headquarters on 10th July, to discuss the formation of No.55 Maintenance Repair Unit at Hornchurch. Officers present during the meeting were: Group Captain Moore, Air Defence of Great Britain, Group Captain H.W. Evans, Officer Commanding No.55 Repair Unit, Squadron Leader Harkness, also of No.55 RU and Group Captain Lowe of Headquarters No. 11 Group.
A full Station Church Parade was held on 16th July, led by the massed bands of the Air Training Corps (Hornchurch Wing) who also played in the church for hymn singing. A short musical interlude was also introduced at the cinema. This was very well received, the film being Jane Eyre.
On 20th July, the old cookhouse, which had been used as a gymnasium for some time, was re-opened as a dining hall. No.2 Mess Hall was now completely taken over by No.55 Repair Unit detachments, which had been arriving at Hornchurch for the last couple of days.
A summary of VI flying bomb activity in the local vicinity for July recorded that 215 were seen by Flying Control, 55 were heard, but not seen, while 19 crashed into the London barrage balloons. Two crashed approximately 100 yards outside south-west of the ‘drome, four were seen to crash 300 to 400 yards outside the aerodrome. No operational squadrons were now located at Hornchurch or at Fairlop, which had been reduced to a Care and Maintenance basis.
During August, there was no change of policy laid down for RAF Hornchurch; the station continued to be used as a Holding Establishment and as a Forward Station in the North Weald Sector. No.55 Repair Unit was located here. The function of the unit was to repair the property in London, that had been damaged by enemy flying bombs. The areas to be covered by the unit from Hornchurch would be Deptford under the command of Warrant Officer Kelly, Hackney (under Warrant Officer Watson), Lewisham (under Warrant Officer Horner), Leyton (under Warrant Officer Castle), Walthamstow (under Warrant Officer Caley) and Wanstead and Woodford (under the command of Warrant Officer Bailey).
Harry Bullock served with No.207 Flight, Maintenance Unit, No.55 Repair Unit, and recalls:
We were an all volunteer unit formed with people with building trade experience and were formed at RAF Hornchurch. I was then with No.25 Squadron at RAF Coltishall, where they operated Mosquito night-fighters. I was a very fed-up young airman at the time, for all of my friends had gone to Normandy. They would not let me go because of my dental problems, so I volunteered for the London job.
I was a joinery apprentice, so was, I suppose acceptable. I would think we were over 1000 strong. We were then formed into flights, mine being No.207. Each flight was issued with a Bedford QL troop carrier and a truck something like a pick-up. The Ministry of Works supplied tools and materials. Hornchurch airfield resembled a large builder’s yard.
Every morning we left Hornchurch at about 7.00 am, and it was quite a sight to see all these vehicles leaving the camp. Our destination for the first few weeks was Wandsworth, which was quite a run from Hornchurch. Although we were up to a point under the Ministry of Works, we were still very much in the RAF and subject to RAF discipline. Because of the hazardous nature of the job, we were given a 48-hour leave pass every four weeks. And hazardous it certainly was. We did a 12-hour day and there was very little sleep at night with the VI flying bombs coming over most of the time. Narrow escapes were many and we did suffer casualties.
The worst of these I seem to remember was at a lunchtime when some of our chaps were in a Woolworth’s store in New Cross. A flying bomb hit the store and casualties were high. It was very upsetting having to dig people out of piles of rubble, many dead and badly injured, men, women and children. The unit stayed at Hornchurch until around the middle of December, we were then moved to Kew in London.
It was noted that there was a lack of adequate bathing facilities for the personnel of No.55 Repair Unit, who were employed in some of the worst slum areas in London, and this was causing some concern. It was therefore decided to install communal showers in the laundry of the Sutton’s Institute, situated near the station. This was approved by Headquarters, Air Defence of Great Britain, and was put into effect immediately.
At 3.30 am on the morning of 6th August, a flying bomb cut its engine over the aerodrome and glided over the Officers’ Mess crashing onto houses next to the railway line at Elm Park. Considerable damage was done. The commanding officer immediately despatched the station ambulance to assist in the evacuation of any casualties. No warning of flying bomb activity had been passed from the Operations Room B at North Weald and the civilian alert had been late in sounding.
During the last four days in August, the following movements of units to and from Hornchurch took place.
On the 26th, No.5516 (Works Flight) moved from Lashing to Hornchurch for employment at Fairlop to repair the living quarters that had been damaged by flying bombs. An advance party of 200 personnel of No.24 Balloon Centre arrived on the 28th, and then departed for Fairlop, where a Balloon Centre was to be located concerned with the deployment of the Anti-Diver Balloon Barrage to counter the threat of the flying bombs. The main party of this unit would arrive on 3rd September. On the 29th, No.93 Embarkation Unit left the station for Fairlop.
A heavy explosion was heard at 8.20 am south-west of the aerodrome on 12th September 1944. Dagenham police reported that the Heathway Special School had been struck, and that Mr Ingliss of estate agents Messrs Kelsey and Hayes had witnessed the object that struck the school. He described the weapon as being cigar-shaped with a burning light glowing from one end, falling vertically. This was the start of the V2 rocket campaign.
The V2 rocket was the next giant step up from the VI flying bomb. Designed by German rocket engineer Dr Werner von Braun, it was 46 feet in length and had the power to climb to an altitude of 50 miles, where no Allied aircraft could intercept as they could with the VI. The rocket travelled at up to 3,600 miles per hour and carried one ton of explosive in its warhead. Because of its incredible speed, there was no warning and no defence against this super weapon; it took just over five minutes from taking off to reach its target in London. In reality, this was the first intercontinental ballistic rocket. Between September 1944 and March 1945, 1,115 V2 rockets were launched against Britain, with some 2,824 civilians killed.
After the war, Werner von Braun was taken to the United States of America and during the 1950s and 1960s he was heavily involved with America’s rocket development, which finally led to the space programme and the landing of a man on the moon on 20th July 1969.
RAF Southend ceased to be a satellite of Hornchurch on 27th September and was transferred to Balloon Command on occupation of No.951 and 958 Squadrons. On 6th October 1944, Hornchurch’s dummy airfield ‘Q’ site ceased to operate and was permanently withdrawn.
At 7.30 pm on 10th October, an Avro Anson endeavoured to land and attempts were made to home it in on searchlights. Unfortunately on landing the aircraft ploughed into No.3 hangar. The pilot was very seriously injured and two of his passengers suffered shock and minor abrasions.
The alert was sounded over the aerodrome at 1.42 pm on 15th October, when a Doodlebug flying bomb passed over travelling west-south-west, pursued by one of our fighter aircraft which was firing at it. It finally crashed four to five miles away.
At 12.40 am on 5th November, a V2 rocket fell approximately 100 yards off the south-east corner of the aerodrome. The explosive stores were damaged by the blast, some of the walls being badly wrecked and the steel doors blown in or blown open. The explosives were re-located to other storage buildings. ‘A’ Flight of No.278 Squadron, arrived at Hornchurch on 7th November. The squadron was here to carry out Air-Sea-Rescue duties.
On 14th November, a detachment of No.765 Squadron, Naval Cooperation, Fleet Air Arm, led by Lieutenant D.H. Coates arrived on the aerodrome with its Vickers Wellington aircraft, to liaise with No.567 Squadron to record the efficiency of radar installations, calibration, target towing and gun-laying.
At 4.25 pm on the 15th, a Vickers-Armstrong Warwick aircraft of No.278 Squadron crashed at Toothill near North Weald, ten minutes after taking off. The port engine had caught fire because of a defective petrol pipe. The pilots, Flight Lieutenant Garden and Flight Sergeant Evans, were seriously injured; the remainder of the crew suffered from shock and bruises. The aircraft completely burnt out.
The station was visited by one of its old commanders on the 19th, when Air Commodore Cecil Bouchier CBE, DFC, arrived to spend a few happy hours talking to various personnel on the base. At 11.00 am on 23rd November, a Hawker Hurricane LF577 of No.567 Squadron (No.70 Group) crashed at Detling, and the pilot Flight Sergeant Daniel, was killed.
A very heavy explosion was heard at 11.02 am, west of the aerodrome on 26th November. A rocket had exploded near Cherry Tree Lane, near Rainham. A few windows and very slight damage was done by the blast to the aerodrome buildings.
An important conference had been held at the Air Ministry on 24th November, which Hornchurch’s station commander and administration officer both attended. It was held to decide action to be taken to transfer the major part of No.55 Maintenance Repair Unit to Regent’s Park and to form the ‘Marshalling Area’ at Hornchurch. It would consist of a Concentration Area, at present at Old Sarum, Wiltshire. The Marshalling Area would be known as ‘S4’, operations to start from 14th December 1944. It would be used to accommodate a large number of vehicles, ready to transport the large amount of incoming service personnel and equipment coming back from Europe.
On 27th November, two further conferences were simultaneously held on the station. The first conference included representatives from the Air Ministry Department of Organisation and Works, Headquarters Fighter Command, No. 11 Group and the Superintendent Engineer of the General Post Office. The chief points of the conference were as follows:
Accommodation: In view of the stipulation by the Air Ministry that accommodation must be based on a 32-square-feet basis as a minimum, it became apparent at Hornchurch that the eight Army huts located in Sutton’s Lane would have to be brought into use. Once this accommodation was available, it would be possible to house 900 senior NCOs and men in the Sutton’s Institute, and leave sufficient accommodation to house the transit personnel in the remainder of the institute.
The static staff of the Marshalling Area section would be accommodated in the main camp. It was agreed that senior NCOs and officers in transit should not use the station messes.
Motor Transport: It was agreed that a Marshalling Area should hold up to 400 vehicles and that they would be set up in the side roads of Maybank Avenue, near the main station entrance. In this connection, it would be necessary to provide suitable roadside latrines.
Catering: It was agreed that No.2 Mess should be set aside for the transit personnel and the repair unit detachment.
Entertainment and Welfare: It was agreed that the entertainment and welfare of transit personnel was of paramount importance, and to this end, the Entertainment’s Officer provided on the establishment of Old Sarum airfield was to be transferred to Hornchurch. A 24-hour service would be required in the NAAFI allocated to the use of transit personnel.
The second conference, at which the same representatives as the first attended, prepared a new station establishment, to meet the additional commitments.
A signal was received at Hornchurch on the 28th, that the whole of No.55 RU would be transferred from Hornchurch, thereby leaving sufficient accommodation for the Marshalling Area within Sutton’s Institute without taking over the army huts.
On 1st December 1944 at 12.15 pm, Biggin Hill Control reported that a pilot of No.567 Squadron was in trouble. Unable to contact him over the R/T, it was later learnt that the aircraft, Hurricane LF584, had crashed and that Flight Sergeant M.L. Williams had been killed. It was also on this day that Group Captain R.J. Clare-Hunt was posted from Headquarters No. 10 Group to command RAF Hornchurch.
A Miles Martinet of No.567 Squadron force-landed on the 6th December at Linford, Kent. Fortunately the two-man crew of Flight Sergeant Brees and Sergeant Lawes escaped uninjured. At 4.50 am on the 9th, an enemy rocket landed in the centre of the north/south flightpath, but by 5.30 pm that evening the damage had been repaired. Group Captain R.J. Clare-Hunt assumed command of the station from Squadron Leader R.S. Davies on the 11th December.
The Marshalling Area duly commenced the transit of service personnel to and from Europe on the 14th. Between 14th and 31st December 1944, 1,532 personnel were passed outwards through the base and 270 inward. Two ENSA Shows and one Gang Show were held during the month. Henry Hall broadcast from the Station Cinema at lunchtime in a ‘Break for Music’ programme on 24th December. There was a special all ranks invitation dance on Christmas Day and a programme of varying entertainments was arranged to the end of the year, culminating in a New Year’s Eve Dance.