First Air Raid of WWII – 40

Personal Recollections

Late on the 16th the padre, Rossie Brown, eventually managed to pay Graham Hunter a visit in the military hospital in Edinburgh Castle. In a letter to S/L Jack written on 17 October he recounted events of the previous day:

This letter did not get posted yesterday owing to the excitement.  I was in the station car ready to visit Pilot Officer Hunter who was in hospital when the siren went.  Rushing to my machine-gun post I had a fine view of the Boche Dorniers dive bombing towards the Forth.

Also of shells bursting round them and our Spitfires attacking. It was a thrilling sight and when news came through that Patsy Gifford had got one down, we were all in great form.

Later on a crippled Boche flew along the railway line north of the Aerodrome at about 150 feet with two of our boys chasing him. Unfortunately, they hadn’t a bullet left, but the Boche came down all right in the Pentlands. When the show was over I visited Hunter and found him in wonderful form and very sorry to have missed the doings.

Returning to the Mess I found everyone very happy and Gifford, naturally, quite the hero of the hour. It was a great matter that, while not less than four and possibly six Boches were brought down, there was not one RAF casualty. I was particularly glad that Gifford should be the first Auxiliary Officer to have brought down a Boche.

When I again visited Hunter just after the raid I found three German airmen also in hospital.  They had taken part in the raid and had been picked up out of the sea by a fishing boat.  I chatted for a little to two of them in German and found them very decent fellows, although I was a little taken aback when one of them gave me the Nazi salute.

I must try to get this letter posted today whatever happens. I am now Mess Secretary, no one else was available [F/L Jack was the previous Mess Secretary]. Heaven help the Mess.

Why did you go to Oxford? I am afraid it will be a real mess if I have anything to do with it.

Ever yours

‘Rossie’

Whilst his recollections of the combat are inaccurate, the rest provides a little of the atmosphere of the occasion.

Patsy Gifford was interviewed by A. Scott Kennedy of The Scotsman. To the pilots at Turnhouse, Kennedy was a loyal friend. The article was reproduced in a booklet published in 1943 in aid of the inauguration of the 603 Squadron Benevolent Fund. By that time Pat had been killed and because the country was at war when the article was published, his name is left out:

Shortly after the excitement had died, I found myself congratulating the leader of the section of 603 City of Edinburgh (Fighter) Squadron who was responsible for shooting down the first raider in the first air raid on this country.

We had come upstairs to his bedroom in the Mess to escape from the banter in the ante-room. I was privileged to be the only journalist present, which was just as well, because it was a small bedroom with no chairs. Sporting gun-cases, a squash racquet or two, and some fencing foils filled the comers.  We squatted on the bed and talked.

Although in civil life a solicitor, and a particularly hearty solicitor at that, my young friend seemed to prefer that I should do most of the talking.  And that was just what I didn’t want to do. Then l remembered that ‘line shooting’ is not encouraged in the Air Force.  I think it was my ‘line’ that Edinburgh, Scotland, the whole country, the whole world in fact, Goering and all would like to hear something about it, that got us started.  Gradually I was able to piece the story together.

‘Well,’ he said, with that cheerful laugh, which alas, none of us will hear again. ‘Well, I’m glad for two reasons- a) for the Squadron’s sake, and b) I’ve won my bet.’

Red Section, comprising three Spitfires, had taken off at 14.30 hours. At 14.55 hours Red Section leader landed at his base with the first Nazi ‘in the bag.’  Twenty-minutes from time of take-off to landing and the job was done.

They were on patrol over East Lothian at 3,000 feet. Visibility was not specially good.  There was an autumn haze between them and the ground. ‘Things were shimmering a bit.’  Overhead were big patches of heavy cloud with clear sky lanes between. ‘Look-out, there’s a twin-engined job to starboard,’ he heard his No.2 [Ken Macdonald] call on the radio telephone. Almost immediately an enemy bomber, a Heinkel, appeared out of the cloud.  He was flying fast, and he was coming towards the Spitfires, head on! Evidently spotting them, the German swung off into a handy patch of cumulus, but not before his guns had attempted to rake the approaching fighters.

Red leader spoke a few words over the radio telephone and threw his machine into a stiff climbing tum. The others followed tightly. ‘He dived away, and I stayed above him long enough to make certain that he was a Hun. There was no doubt about his markings.  Then I went down in a stiff dive, came up under his tail. He filled the gun-sight, and I let drive before pulling out.  My other boys followed.

Before they’d finished, l had regained my height and position and went in again. Perhaps I was a bit too close, but there he was.  I gave him a long burst. He was responding with all his armament; tracers were shooting past me, and I got a glimpse of a gunner behind twin guns.

We went in again and gave him some more, and I saw he was hit forward. Bits of fabric were dropping off, and I thought I saw a red glow inside the fuselage. I broke away as the Heinkel’s guns flashed again.

At that moment one of my chaps came in at speed with his eight firing.  We were now over the coast and as the German sought a lower course, we simply sprayed him with bullets. I could see our fire furrowing the water.’·

Then came the end. The Heinkel was badly crippled. The rear gunner was silent. ·As soon as the Spitfire in front of me had broken away after giving him another burst, I went close in and gave him all I had. He flopped into the sea, and as we circled overhead we saw that he was sinking. One man was swimming, and some boats were approaching.

We returned to our station, and. after refuelling and re-arming, took off again.’ So first blood was drawn in the first air raid of the war by the Edinburgh Squadron.

There is no mention in the report by Kennedy of the fact that when Pat arrived on the scene the Ju88 was already under attack from Black Morton’s Spitfire and that he had flown between the German and Black’s aircraft in order to attack.

Black was further annoyed by Pat’s actions after returning to Turnhouse to re-fuel and re-arm. By the time Red Section touched down, Yellow Section were already down with the Spitfire of George Denholm stuck in the soft mud at the far end of the landing strip. He had come in too fast and had overshot into the boggy area and available ground crew personnel were attempting to drag George’s Spitfire free from the mud.  Sheep Gilroy’s Spitfire, L 1048, had been hit by return fire from a Ju88.  A round had passed through the top of the engine cowling and was being inspected by ground crew and pilots alike.  Although minor, this was the first Spitfire to sustain battle damage.

Black was a junior pilot and as a consequence, while waiting for his aircraft to be re-fuelled and re-armed, Pat Gifford’s section landed and demanded he was given priority over Yellow. This was carried out particularly efficiently with the ground crews working flat out as the exhilarated pilots swapped details of their own experiences. The intelligence officer hastily noted down what details he could gather from them.

Red Section took off again, leaving George, Black and Sheep annoyed and impatient to get airborne again.