|
The Lincoln
Era - 1945 to 1954
In May
1945, 100 Squadron was a full strength Bomber
Squadron equipped for combat operations. The
size of the Squadron can be seen from the
photograph taken just after the cessation of
hostilities in Europe. Summer 1945 saw the
start of the contraction of the Royal Air Force
to a peacetime role. Hundreds of the faithful
Lancs were being gathered at bomber airfields to
be scrapped. At Elsham Wolds 100 and 103
Squadrons took part in Operation Exodus, the
repatriation of POW’s from Belgium, Germany and
Italy. Starting in the last week of April, this
effort continued into the summer of 1945.
Early
in December 1945, 100 Squadron moved to RAF
Scampton and began to re-equip with the Avro
Lincoln. The Lincoln was a larger and improved
version of the Lancaster with a maximum speed of
319mph, a ceiling of 30500 feet, and a range of
1470 miles carrying a bomb load of 14000
pounds. On May 8th 1946,
re-equipping and training over, the Squadron
moved again, this time to Lindholme, where it
would remain for only a short time until October
28th 1946.
From
Lindholme, the Squadron took part in two tours
to ‘show the flag’. The first of these tours was
the Prague Flying Display, where the new Lincoln
competed with the USAF B29 ‘Superfortress’. The
pilots of 100 Squadron demonstrated that the
Lincoln could shut down three engines and still
carry on flying!
The second
tour was to Valparaiso, Chile in October 1946.
The journey involved flights crossing the
Sahara, the South Atlantic, Copacabana and the
20000 ft peaks of the Andes Mountains. Three
Lincolns formed the detachment, led by Wg Cdr
Bell, the Squadron Boss, who was in operational
control of the tour. The purpose of the tour was
to take part in the inauguration of President
Gonzales Videla. Ground crews flew in the
aircraft, and spares were carried in the bomb
bays. Thousands of Chileans were shown over the
Lincolns, and the three aircraft provided an air
display over the Chilean and American fleets in
Valparaiso harbour. The three aircraft departed
on 12th October, arriving back at
Lindholme on 19th having flown 20000
miles in 80 hours flying time.
On 28th
October 1946, the Squadron completed yet another
move, this time to Hemswell, where it would
remain until March 1950. During the time that
100 Squadron was resident at Hemswell, it took
part in Group and Bomber Command training
exercises. These included cross-country flights,
astro navigation, bombing practice at various
ranges and fighter affiliation exercises mainly
for Meteor crews. Additionally, the Squadron
carried out exercises with the Royal Navy,
during which H2S was used to demonstrate that
naval vessels could be targetted using this
airborne radar. 100 Squadron also carried out
detachments to Malta and Shallufa whilst based
at Hemswell.
On 23rd
March 1950, 100 Squadron moved to Waddington. On
31st May, 3 Lincolns were detached to
Tengah, joining 57 Squadron to take part in
‘Operation Musgrave’ against the communist
insurgents in Malaya. At the end of July 1950,
Wg Cdr Ronnie Jell assumed command and the whole
Squadron then moved to Tengah to relieve 57
Squadron. 100 Squadron thus became engaged in
full time offensive operations only 5 years
after the end of World War II. Communist
insurgents were making raids against rubber
plantations and road and rail communications,
and were also carrying out ambush attacks
against British ground troops. The original
technique used to ‘flush out’ the insurgents was
to fly in box formation, with a lead aircraft
putting down smoke markers for the main
formation to bomb some two minutes later. Target
areas, selected by Army and Police, were
surrounded by troops during the bombing, so
pinpoint accuracy was essential. Wg Cdr Jell
improved on this method by instituting a timed
run from a precise pin-point of smoke provided
by the Hampshire’s and Green Jackets in forward
positions. This worked so well, that the lead
aircraft could also be loaded with high
explosives. Night operations were undertaken
using a vertical searchlight instead of the
smoke‘. This mode of bombing kept the
insurgents on the move, and the ground troops
took the action to the enemy by laying ambush
traps. Solo air strikes were also undertaken,
and Flt Lt Barnie Collen provides a description
of a raid that was undertaken to ‘destroy
anything that could be associated with the
enemy’. During this operation he dropped a
single bomb from minimum height, surveyed the
results and repeated the process. After running
out of bombs to drop, they carried out low level
strafing attacks.
The
Squadron also carried out nightly escorts of
trains from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, which had
been the target for insurgents. After daylight
sorties the Lincolns would return to Tengah at
low level ‘buzzing’ the homes of plantation
manager’s en-route as morale boosters. High
temperatures and thunderstorms made flying in
Malaya hazardous. On one occasion, Barnie
Collen’s port inner engine ‘died’ on take off,
but he managed to hold the aircraft level and
get airborne. He then went on to complete the
mission on three engines. The return was also a
problem, as he had to land in a thunderstorm
with the only available runway out of the wind.
This was a splendid demonstration of crew
courage and devotion to duty very much in
keeping with the 100 Squadron culture to ‘keep
it going.’
During
the six months in Malaya, 100 Squadron flew 376
operational sorties, including 11 night
operations. Additionally 252 photo
reconnaissance sorties were flown. 2106 tons of
bombs were dropped, and just under 67000 rounds
of ammunition were expended in ground strafing
attacks. Wg Cdr Jell paid tribute to the high
morale of the Squadron at Tengah, and he was
particularly proud of the average serviceability
rate of over 98%. He praised the ground crews
for achieving this very rate in an adverse
tropical climate despite being far away from UK
main servicing support.
The
Squadron returned to Waddington in January 1951,
and photographs of 100 Squadron appeared in a
special edition of ‘The Tatler’ Magazine. Wg Cdr
Jell received a Mention in Despatches for his
work in Malaya.
In May
1952, 100 Squadron was sent overseas again to
take part in ‘Operation Alacrity’. This time the
Squadron was detached, initially for three
months, to Shallufa in the Canal Zone. King
Farouk had been overthrown in a military coup
led by General Neguib. Egypt became politically
unstable, and Neguib was making threats against
British occupancy of the Canal Zone. 100
Squadron arrived at Shallufa to find conditions
somewhat primitive with no NAAFI, no medical
facilities, runways covered in sand, no support
facilities with the control tower having a pack
R/T set operated by an officer and an air
traffic assistant sent to see the squadron in.
The immediate task for Wg Cdr Jell was to
maintain morale. He realised that everyone
needed to be kept busy. He organised flights to
collect mail from BFPO and set up an ‘aircraft
cleaning competition’ in an effort to win the
endless battle against the sand. This was so
successful, that on return to Waddington, 100
Squadron had the cleanest aircraft on the base!
100
Squadron were briefed to provide air cover for
the Second Infantry Brigade should military
operations occur. Under such conditions, the
Squadron were to take out any resistance points
and an Egyptian Army Barracks in the path of an
Army move on Cairo. The detachment was extended
to five months, and the Squadron flew many
training flights and made dummy runs on the
barracks at Heliopolis and the gun emplacements
at Alexandria. This was something of a re-run of
the ‘Yo-Yo Club’ at Waltham, in that bombs were
unloaded after a trip to Heliopolis, and then
winched up again for a visit to Alexandria. The
recreational facilities at Shallufa were
minimal, and to break the monotony, a trip to
Cyprus was arranged. Aircraft were ‘loaded to
the gunwales’ with groundcrew for this trip.
The
Squadron returned to Waddington in October 1952,
and the final duty of Wg Cdr Jell, before he
handed over command to Sqn Ldr Alexander, was to
select the Battle Honours for the Standard.
However, it would be another four years before
the Squadron would be presented with its
Standard. On 15th July 1953, six 100
Squadron aircraft led the fourth formation of
Lincolns in the Queen’s Birthday Fly past at RAF
Odiham, and in August 1953, the Squadron moved
to Wittering.
January 1954 saw a further detachment. ‘A’
Flight was sent to Eastleigh in Kenya, for
operations against Mau Mau. During this
two-month detachment, 100 Squadron would fly 53
attack missions over heavily wooded country in
which the Mau Mau groups took refuge. Two
Lincolns would rendezvous with a marker
aircraft, which would pinpoint targets 1 and 2.
The first Lincoln would drop 10 500-pound bombs
on each target. The marker aircraft would then
mark targets 3 and 4, and the second Lincoln
would repeat the process. After the bombing had
been completed both Lincolns would carry out low
level strafing attacks using both nose and tail
gunners. ‘A’ Flight returned to Wittering early
in March 1954, and on 22nd March
1954, the Squadron said goodbye to its Lincolns,
to commence the re-equipment with Canberra B2
aircraft. The piston-engined age was over, and
the jet age had arrived.
In the
8 years since the end of World War II, 100
Squadron had been in offensive action in both
Malaya, and in Africa. Yet again, 100 Squadron
had been called upon to undertake missions under
a war footing, and true to the tradition ‘had
kept it going’. 100 Squadron had yet again
given splendid service under conditions of peace
and war. The Squadron had undertaken offensive
action in Malaya, and had performed well under
difficult conditions, superbly led by Wing
Commander Ronnie Jell, DFC, AFC. The fact that
100 had returned to the scenes of its bloody
defeat in 1942 had laid the ghosts of World War
II to rest.
100 Squadron had been selected to carry out the
dangerous offensive missions in both Malaya and
Africa. This selection was a testament to the
regard with which 100 was held by Bomber Command
as a premier Squadron. The Squadron had been
selected to re-equip with the new Canberra
aircraft in order that it would continue to
contribute during the 1950’s and beyond. Our
journey now moves into the ‘jet age’.
Click here to
go back to the History Page |
