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Coastal Command |
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RAF Coastal Command was charged with the protection of allied shipping and the destruction of enemy vessels and submarines in English waters as well as those operating far into the Atlantic Ocean. Three RAAF Squadrons served with Coastal Command, Nos 10 and 461 Squadrons (Sunderland Flying Boats) and No 455 Squadron (Hampdens and later Beaufighters). Thousands of RAAF personnel served directly in RAF or other Commonwealth Coastal Command squadrons. These crews were responsible for the destruction of numerous German and Italian submarines. To protect their submarines, the German Air Force operated large formations of heavily armed fighters over the Bay of Biscay. Many of the poorly armed and slow-flying planes of Coastal Command were shot down. Despite heavy losses in aircraft and crews, Coastal Command helped break the German submarine blockade of England, and played a major role in Germany's final defeat. No 10 Squadron was formed at Point Cook, Victoria on 1 July 1939. A contingent of officers and airmen immediately proceeded to Great Britain to collect the Squadron's Short S25 Sunderland Mk 1 flying boats. The aircraft were to be used for reconnaissance duties along the eastern seaboard of Australia. After the outbreak of World War II, in response to a request from the Dominions Office, the Australian Government agreed to leave the contingent and its aircraft in the U.K. A further contingent of men was sent from Australia and, in November 1939, No 10 Squadron became the first RAAF Unit (and the first Commonwealth squadron) to commence active service in the war. The squadron operated from RAF Stations Pembroke Dock, Mountbatten and Plymouth until October 1945 when it disbanded. 461 Squadron formed in England in April 1942 around a nucleus drawn from No 10 Squadron. Patrols commenced in July, and by September eight German U-boats had been attacked with several of the submarines sustaining damage. By May 1943 a squadron Sunderland sank the first of what were to be many U-boats destroyed during the year. In a strange coincidence, Sunderland U/461 sank U-Boat U-461 on 30 July 1943. The threat posed to the slow flying Sunderlands by agile enemy fighters led 461 Squadron ground staff to modify their aircraft with twin gun nose turrets and galley mounted machine guns. These modified aircraft were known as flying hedgehogs by their German adversaries, and the changes were to prove so effective that they were later adopted throughout the RAF. On 2 June 1943 one of 461 Squadron's modified Sunderlands, commanded by Flight Lieutenant C.B. Walker, was attacked by eight Ju-88 fighters over the Bay of Biscay. In the battle that followed, three fighters were destroyed and the remainder forced to abandon the combat with damage. The bullet-riddled flying boat, with five wounded crewmen on board, limped to the Cornish Coast and made a force landing in the shallows. 1944 saw 461 Squadron operating in a new role - that of night strike using radar equipment and 'leigh' lights. As well as this role, anti-submarine patrols remained the most important activity, with the squadron sinking three more submarines in 1944. By 1945 the Sunderlands had been fitted with sonobuoy submarine detection equipment. 461 Squadron disbanded at Pembroke Dock on 20 June 1945. 455 Squadron was formed in New South Wales in May 1941, personnel sailed for England in June. The Squadron was equipped with Hampden bombers and commenced mine laying operations in French Coastal waters. These coastal operations were later supplemented with bombing attacks against German industrial targets. The Squadron was transferred to RAF Coastal Command in April and retrained in torpedo bombing. Despite their obsolescence, the squadrons' lumbering Hampdens maintained a high rate of effort and over time managed to sink or damage a number of ships. In September 1942, 455 Squadron deployed to the Soviet Union to protect an Arctic convoy that was expected to come under a German naval attack. This attack did not eventuate and after handing over their aircraft to the Soviets, unit personnel returned to England. After receiving replacement Hampdens the squadron continued anti-shipping and anti-submarine patrols until mid 1943. During this period the unit achieved significant successes, most notably the sinking of a 4,000 tonne vessel in January and 6,000 tonne vessel in May. After being re-equipped with Beaufighters in October 1943, 455 Squadron moved to Langham, where it and 489 Squadron formed one of Coastal Command's new strike Wings. 455 Squadron was to provide escort for the torpedo-carrying Beaufighters of 489 Squadron - a role that exposed the squadron's Beaufighters to intense anti-aircraft barrages as enemy fighters. Operating in the confines of the narrow Norwegian Fiords squadron losses were often heavy. In spite of these hazards many enemy ships were sunk. Following the squadron's move to Thornaby, 455 Squadron continued its campaign against German shipping in the Baltic Sea during the last stages of the war. On 3 May 1945, the Australian Beaufighters flew their last successful operation when they left two mine sweepers ablaze. 455 Squadron disbanded at Thornaby on 25 May 1945. |
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