A Misnamed Battle …

***image1***The period from the mid-1930s to the beginning of World War II in 1939 marked some of the most rapid transitions in military aircraft history, and many aircraft that went into production in 1936 were hopelessly obsolete by the beginning of the war.

One of the most prominent examples of these was the RAF’s badly misnamed Fairly Battle, the light bomber successor to the Hawker Hart, a beautiful late-1920s biplane that set the standard for performance in the early 1930s.

The Battle was a large, graceful monoplane with a light alloy-stressed skin construction, and the test pilot’s found it easy and pleasant to fly. It also was the first aircraft fitted with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the engine whose subsequent development made it perhaps the finest power plant of the war.

The RAF requirements for the Battle – a light bomber intended for level bombing with a bomb load of four small 250 pound bombs and a top speed of 245 mph – seem extraordinarily low, and the requirement for a three man crew – pilot, radio operator/gunner, and bombardier/observer, all housed under a long, slender canopy – was to prove tragic for two reasons.

The screen designed to protect the gunner from the slipstream actually deflected the slipstream into his face, making it very difficult for him to aim his single .303 machine, and the third crewmember was patently unnecessary and served only to increase the number of personnel lost when a Battle was shot down.

The Battle also represented a choice made by the RAF – and the U.S. Army Air Corps – to use level bombers for area bombing rather than developing dive bombers like the German Stuka for ground forces support by making “point” attacks on small targets such as bridges.

By Sept. 1, 1939, when World War II began, the RAF had more than 1,000 Battles serving in their front line units and a Battle squadron, 226, was the first squadron to be sent to France as part of No. 1 Group, the first echelon of the Advanced Air Striking Force. Eight Battle squadrons were in place on May 10, 1940, the first day of the German assault.

Amid considerable confusion, 32 Battles were sent out to attack advancing enemy troops, but13 were lost to very heavy German anti-aircraft fire with few results, as the level bombing concept proved a complete failure. As the Germans poured into Belgium across the bridges over the Meuse River near Maastricht, Holland, the remaining Battles were sent in on low-level attacks – virtual suicide missions – in a desperate attempt to knock out the bridges. On May 12, a force of six Battles flown by volunteer crews were sent to attack the bridges; all were lost, but one burning Battle, flown by Flight Officer Donald “Judy” Garland, dove into one of the bridges and badly damaged it. Garland and his observer, Sgt. Tom Gray, were both awarded posthumous Victoria Crosses, Great Britain’s highest military decoration for valor “in the face of the enemy.”

During that day, the losses continued and by the end of the day, 62 percent of the Battles sent into combat had been shot down. On the afternoon of May 14, in a final attempt to destroy the bridges, 55 Battles were launched and 35 shot down.
After these abortive raids, for the next month the Battles switched to mainly night attacks, with lower losses, as the RAF contingent in France retreated in the face of the German breakthrough. Finally, on June 15, 1940, the surviving Battles were withdrawn to Britain. A few remained in front line service as an emergency force to help repeal a German invasion, but once that threat died in late 1940, the Battles were relegated to training and target towing duties after their crews had provided some of the most courageous sacrifices in the history of air combat.

For questions or comments, contact Dr. Michel at marshall.michel@ramstein.af.mil.