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V1 K ILLE R S

THE

EXPENDABLES
For Royal Auxiliary Air Force unit No 501 Squadron with its new Hawker
Tempest Vs, the task was a stark one: destroy V1 ying bombs at any cost
WORDS: TOM SPENCER

n 13 June 1944, the

Germans fired the first of
their long-awaited secret
weapons against southern
England. One exploded in Bethnal
Green, east London, killing six people
and seriously wounding nine. The age
of missile warfare had begun.
The new menace was the Fieseler
FZG 76, usually called the V1 (V for
Vergeltungswaffe, or revenge weapon)
in enemy propaganda, and nicknamed
the buzz-bomb or doodlebug by the
British. The scale of the attack grew
quickly and became an overriding
priority for the Air Defence of Great
Britain, as the remnants of Fighter
Command left on home shores became
known in 1943. ADGB quickly reorganised its defences, deploying new
high-performance fighters. However,
with such large numbers of Allied
fighters across the Channel, there were
many ad hoc encounters with the
sinister weapon.
Based at Friston, near Eastbourne
on the Sussex coast, and flying Spitfire
Vs, No 501 (County of Gloucester)
Squadron under its New Zealand CO
Sqn Ldr Gary Barnett was engaged
in cross-Channel support for the
invasion. Its first encounter with a V1
came on 19 June, as Flt Lt Warren
Peglar recalled: While on coastal
patrol over the Dover area I was
vectored onto a buzz-bomb headed
for London. I caught up with it and,
just as I was about to fire, a Tempest
cut inside me and blew the wing off
it. Down it went and exploded in a
farmers field. A week later the CO
was airborne on an air test in Spitfire
Vb W3702/SD-M when he shot
down a V1 near Bexhill to open his
squadrons flying bomb account.
Among the units dedicated to
countering the V1 was the Fighter
Interception Unit (FIU), whose
Tempest Flight was forward-based at
Newchurch in Kent. It achieved some
spectacular successes, mainly at night,
albeit at some cost. Nonetheless, in
little over a month it had destroyed
more than 80 flying bombs, almost
half of them by Flt Lt Joe Berry. To
assist in such operations, trials of
the Monica IIIE tail warning radar
as a range indicator were carried out
during early July. Encouraged by
the results, the Telecommunications
Research Establishment at Defford
fitted Tempest V EJ535 with the
equipment for operational trials that
began in early August.
A further Tempest V unit was
now preparing for action. No 501
Squadron had moved briefly to
Westhampnett and begun to replace
its Spitfire Vs. Among the pilots was
Sgt Ben Gunn, who remembered
the first Tempest being delivered by
a somewhat slight female ATA pilot:
The CO looked at me and said, If she
can fly it, so can you. Get airborne.
Gunn noted in his logbook, This is a
real aeroplane AND HOW!

AEROPLANE AUGUST 2016

501 had its full complement of

Tempests by the 29th and moved
to Manston. Arriving on 2 August,
it was soon engaged on anti-V1
operations. Fg Off Bill Polley claimed
the squadrons first victory with its
powerful new mount on the evening
of the 5th and shared a second with
Flt Sgt Ryman. Polley remembered
the dangers of V1-hunting: Very
often we were too close to our targets
before we got the opportunity to
fire, and the big danger was getting
an air-burst. On one occasion I was
chasing a V1 too quickly, and I knew
that I was overhauling the bomb
too quickly and that I was very close
to the armoured balloons. I fired a
long burst and pulled up steeply to
starboard, almost above the V1, just
as it exploded. The blast caught my
left wing and tumbled the aircraft in a
series of snap rolls. After what seemed
an eternity the aircraft regained its
stability. As my gyros had tumbled it
was many ageing moments before I
realised that I was upside-down.
Fg Off Lulu Deleuze, a Free
French pilot, claimed another V1
two days later, but on 10 August
501 underwent a significant and
complicated change. Barnett and
many of his pilots moved across to
No 274 Squadron, which was being
re-equipped with the Tempest in the
day fighter role.

The experienced and elite FIU

Tempest Flight was absorbed into
what was effectively a new squadron
and Flt Lt Joe Berry was promoted
to squadron leader as 501s CO. He
brought with him Flt Lts Jackson
Robb and Cyril Thornton, Fg Offs
Lucky Lucas and Leo Williams, and
USAAF exchange pilot Flt Off Bud
Miller, all of whom provided an able
and experienced core. Some of the
original No 501 Squadron members
who were well-versed in night flying,

other units were grounded. Home

defence meant exactly what it said.
As the leading anti-V1 pilot, Berry
was instructed to attend a press
facility, where he said: Our chief
difficulty was that, though we could
see the bombs much further away at
night, we could not easily judge how
far [away] they were. All we could do
at first was to fly alongside the fairly
slow bombs and remember what they
looked like at lethal range. In this way
a very good interception system was
worked out before the new rangefinder was issued.
Plt Off Ron Bennett explained
the stark reality of the Ministrys

ABOVE: The rst V1

encountered by No
501 Squadron was
by Flt Lt Warren
Peglar, whose
attack was thwarted
by a Tempest! Here
he is standing in
front of Spitre V
BL688.
WARREN PEGLAR

Our expendability was brought home to

us on many occasions when we were sent
off in all sorts of weather conditions
such as Bill Polley, remained while
others were posted in.
Having formed his squadron
specifically for night anti-V1 duties,
Berry was summoned to London
where he was told bluntly what
was expected of it. What he briefed
on his return was chilling and
demonstrated the ruthless approach
to total war on the part of Britains
political leadership. He was told that
the squadron had to consider itself
expendable and thus must take off
to try to effect interception in any
weather conditions, even when all

instructions, particularly for a singleseat fighter unit: The patrols were

quite long two hours or more,
flying between searchlights which
marked the patrol boundaries. Our
expendability was brought home to us
on many occasions when we were sent
off in all sorts of weather, very often
with the real probability that by the
end of the patrol the airfield would be
covered in fog or low cloud. In fact,
on one occasion, I went off when the
met forecaster had predicted that the
only airfield open at the end of the
period would be Valley in Anglesey.

OPPOSITE: No 501
Squadron put up
this trio of Tempest
Vs in October 1944.
Nearest the camera
is EJ763/SD-X,
accompanied by
EJ599/SD-W (which
scored four V1 kills,
the nal one being
the squadrons
last ever) and
six-kill example
EJ589/SD-J. AEROPLANE

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Luckily the timing was wrong and I
managed to get back before the fog
rolled in.
The new 501 was, of course,
immediately operational. The night
after it re-formed it shot down
eight flying bombs, three falling
just before midnight to Flt Lt Cyril

the 12th he shot one down; the next

day he despatched two in daylight,
then another on the 14th, and two
more on the 16th. His marksmanship
was remarkable, so accurate that on
occasion he destroyed a V1 with the
expenditure of just 60 rounds.
Guns brought down the bulk of the

Having run out of ammunition, Snowy

Bonham claimed three V1s by tipping
their guidance systems with his wingtip

BELOW: The
rather primitive
surroundings
at Bradwell Bay
shortly after 501
and its Tempests
moved in. From
this aireld the
unit could more
effectively counter
He 111-launched
V1s and long-range
variants red from
the Netherlands.
AEROPLANE

Thornton. Bud Miller was also

successful: I was patrolling under
Watling control. The first diver was
seen at 00.17hrs coming from the
south-west at 1,000ft, 350mph, on
a course of 235. I fired three twosecond bursts from 50 yards and saw
pieces fall off, and the diver went
down and crashed eight miles east of
Tonbridge. The second diver was at
01.25hrs with the same height and
speed as the first. I fired from 100
yards astern. The diver crashed and
exploded a few miles north east of
Tonbridge... The third diver was
seen north of Sandwich at 8,000ft
on a course of 290 at 280mph. I
attacked and fired four two-second
bursts 500 yards astern. I saw the
diver explode on the ground at
01.35hrs, approximately 30 seconds
after my last burst.
Berry continued to harvest his
regular crop of flying bombs. On

flying bombs destroyed on the night

of the 19th, though 501s Monty
Burton flying Tempest EJ603/SD-M
got one.
Doodlebugs continued to fall
on London, albeit with significantly
reduced intensity. At Feltham, 11
people were killed in one explosion at
lunchtime on the 20th as they were
returning from Sunday worship. 501s
CO was up early, and flying over
central Kent at 06.30hrs he brought
down his penultimate V1.

The risks the pilots were expected

to take were brought home brutally
the following day. Having got
airborne in bad weather, Thornton
died when his Tempest hit the ground
near Woodnesborough in Kent while
trying to descend through thick fog, a
victim of 501s expendability.

With the coming of dawn on 24

August, the squadrons Tempests shot
down three V1s. Among the pilots
making claims was Deleuze, who
shared his second with Fg Off Bob
Stockburn. The latter downed two
more 48 hours later.
The bulk of the divers destroyed
on the night of 27 August fell to 501
most unusually, there was none
for its CO. The nights top honours
belonged to a young New Zealander,
Flt Lt Gordon Snowy Bonham. He
had been awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross when flying Brewster
Buffalos on operations over Malaya,
during which campaign he was badly
wounded. Patrolling around dawn
on the 27th, he brought down four;
most remarkably, having run out
of ammunition, three of them were
claimed by tipping the V1s guidance
system with his wingtip. This hattrick is thought unique. As if the
sortie had not been eventful enough,
Bonham then had to force-land, out
of fuel, and call Manston for some to
be brought over. Polley, meanwhile,
claimed another V1. Just before dawn
on the 28th, Snowy Bonham shot
down his fifth and last diver near
Rye, Sussex.
Although the campaign was
perceived to be running down, almost
100 bombs were launched against
Britain that day, of which just four
reached London. The activities were
witnessed by the ADGB C-in-C, Air
Marshal Sir Roderick Hill, who was
airborne in his personal Tempest.
He said: The whole was [as] fine

[a] spectacle of co-operation as any

commander could wish to see.
The most successful anti-V1 pilot
made his 61st and final claim on the
31st. Berry wrote: I saw a diver
in the Sandwich area at 3,000ft
and 250mph. I closed in to 3,000
yards dead astern and fired a short
burst, which knocked pieces off the
propulsion unit. I fired again from
150 yards and saw more strikes. The
diver exploded on the ground in the
Faversham area.
Missiles continued to be launched
against England, but the crisis had
passed. With the final break-out from
Normandy and the routing of the

Wehrmacht, the sweeping AngloCanadian advance towards the launch

sites in the Pas de Calais area saw the
evacuation of V1 units to new sites
in the Netherlands. As September

dawned, most Tempest and Spitfire

XIV squadrons joined the Second
Tactical Air Force on the Continent.
However, as a specialist unit No 501
Squadron remained with ADGB, and
on 22 September moved to Bradwell
Bay to cover the new threat axis for
V1 attacks.
The end of the main V1 assault
on England merely presaged a new
horror: the V2 rocket. The first of
these fell on London on 8 September,
and there was no obvious defence
except to attack the principal launch
sites in north-west Holland, which
remained in German hands until the
wars end.
The RAF was now aware of the
use of Heinkel He 111s for airlaunching V1s, and patrols to counter
them began during August. Regular
launches, while in no way reaching
the intensity of previous months,
kept the defences alert. Early on 4
September, 501s Flt Lt Keith Panter
and Fg Off Lulu Deleuze each shot a
doodlebug down.
There were only occasional
intercepts from then until the 16th,
when Bud Miller was airborne from
Bradwell Bay soon after dawn against
contacts reported north of Felixstowe:
I climbed to 7,000ft and saw a diver
coming in on a course of 285 at
2,500ft [and] 340mph. I dived down
on it and closed in from 500 yards
astern and opened fire. I saw strikes
on the tail unit. Control told me to
break off the engagement and I did
so. I saw the diver losing height and

ABOVE: A Tempest
V of No 501
Squadron is rearmed at Bradwell
Bay, Essex, during
the autumn of 1944.
AEROPLANE

ABOVE LEFT: With

over 60 destroyed,
the most successful
anti-V1 pilot by
some margin was
Flt Lt Joe Berry.
Initially he ew
Tempests with the
Fighter Interception
Unit, bringing down
his rst when he
shot down two
ying bombs on
the afternoon of 28
June 1944. He later
commanded No
501 Squadron.
NO 501 SQUADRON
ASSOCIATION

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ABOVE: One of 501s Tempests, possibly EJ538/SD-R, was stripped of its camouage in an attempt to gain some additional speed. In October
1944 it acted as a backdrop for a team shot. Rear, left to right: unknown, Fg Off Keith Panter (four V1s destroyed), Fg Off Josef Maday RCAF
(one-and-a-half), Fg Off Joe Johnson RCAF (four), Flt Lt Monty Burton (six), Fg Off Bob Stockburn, Fg Off Bill Polley (six), Fg Off Ron Bennett
(four), unknown. Front, left to right: WO Edward Wojczynski (three), Capt Payne, Flt Lt Jackson Robb (13), Flt Lt Horry Hansen RNZAF, Sqn
Ldr Alastair Parker-Rees (nine), Flt Lt Ollie Willis, Flt Lt Birks, WO S. H. Balam (one), Flt Lt Tony Langdon-Down (two-and-a-half), Fg Off
Jimmie Grottick (two), Fg Off Harte. NO 501 SQUADRON ASSOCIATION

crash and explode on the ground near

RAF Castle Camps 30 seconds after
my attack at 06.06hrs. Two minutes
later he spotted another V1 over his
home airfield and, firing from astern,
caused it to explode in mid-air.
Miller claimed his last V1 during
the early hours of 25 September.
Snowy Bonham had also scrambled
from Manston and was vectored out
to sea despite bad weather, but later
radioed that he had a compass fault
and was returning. Tragically the New

Fighters downed 19 V1s that

month, a quarter of them falling
to 501s guns. Through October,
when ADGB was re-designated as
Fighter Command, increased activity
by the Heinkels of KG 53s three
Gruppen and the firing of some
ground-launched long-range V1s
saw a marked spike in kills. Fighter
Command shot down 43 V1s, the
Tempests of 501 claiming 26 of them.
In an attempt to interdict the
V1-launching Heinkels, early on 2

I was far too close and the V1 exploded in

my face, with pieces hitting my aircraft.
I was completely blinded by the explosion
Zealander, flying Tempest EJ590/
SD-L, crashed in Essex and was
killed. He was acknowledged to have
been a superb pilot, but also had a
reputation for being mad as a hatter
and for having an almost cherubic
smile.

62 www.aeroplanemonthly.com

October Sqn Ldr Berry led a trio of

501s Tempests to attack them at their
bases. However, during the return
flight his aircraft was struck by light
flak over Holland and he crashed to
his death. It was a tragic blow for the
squadron to lose its charismatic CO,

who was by some considerable margin

the RAFs most successful anti-diver
pilot. He was replaced by Sqn Ldr
Alastair Parker-Rees.
Operations continued, with Fg
Off Johnny Johnson bringing down
a single flying bomb on the evening
of the 5th, and Deleuze doing so on
the 6th. The next day, Flt Lt Leo
Williams at the controls of Tempest
EJ590/SD-L shot down his fifth V1,
adding two more on the successive
nights of the 11th and 12th. Four
other V1s were destroyed on the
latter night, one by Flt Lt Jumbo
Birbeck, who got another later that
month. One of the FIUs and 501s
most successful V1-hunters was Flt Lt
Jackson Robb, who on the night of 25
October shot down his 13th and last
flying bomb.
With night fighters active against
the He 111s, 501s Tempests
continued to knock out many of
the V1s that they launched. Early
in November came another increase
in activity, seven being downed. Flt
Lt Monty Burton scored a further
pair on the 22nd and 23rd. He wrote

AEROPLANE AUGUST 2016

of the latter success: I particularly

recall the one on 23 November. That
night it was very dark with thick low
cloud. I tracked a V1 at 700ft and
eagerly watched the light centring
on the glass gadget; when the light
became a central unit, I fired. Of
course, I was far too close and the
bomb exploded in my face, with
pieces hitting my aircraft in various
places. Worst of all, I was completely
blinded by the explosion and couldnt
see my instruments, so at 200ft I was
flying at great speed, not knowing if
I was going upwards, sideways or
downwards! Eventually my sight
returned and I went back to base.
Despite his traumatic experience,
Burton landed safely.
KG 53s Heinkels launched 15 V1s
on the evening of 5 December. Of
the seven that reached the English
coast, four were shot down by
fighters one went to 501s CO,
Alastair Parker-Rees, while Burton
and Johnson claimed two others.
Two nights after that, a pair of 501s
Tempests in the hands of Flt Lts
Porter and Langdon-Brown were
scrambled from Bradwell Bay to go
after an inbound diver they shot
it down between them. Their French
colleague Deleuze notched up his
eighth and last flying bomb kill on
17 December, with Flt Lt Lilwall and
WO Balham adding further V1s that
night. These were the squadrons last
victories of 1944.
Langdon-Brown opened 501s V1
account for the new year on the night
of 13 January 1945, but heavy losses
and a critical shortage of fuel saw
KG 53s Heinkels being withdrawn
from operations two weeks later.
There was thus a marked reduction
in flying bomb activity, and while

some long-range V1s from the Dutch

launch sites continued to be fired at
London, the campaign was largely
over. The squadron did not find
another V1 until 7 March when
Fg Off Johnson spotted one at
4,000ft near Chelmsford. Opening
fire from about 300 yards, he saw it
come down near North Weald.

Appropriately, the last V1 claimed

by Fighter Command fell to its
so-called expendable unit, as Flt
Lt Jimmie Grottick recalled: My
second V1 was shot down on the
night of 26 March 1945, when I was

operating out of Hunsdon. It was an

interesting kill, both for myself and
No 501 Squadron. The V1 crashed
and exploded near North Weald,
and as far as I can ascertain was the
last scored against an intruder over
Britain.
The terrifying V1 threat had gone.
Of approximately 10,000 fired at
England, almost 2,500 reached
London and other cities, killing more
than 6,000 people and seriously
wounding nearly 18,000 more.
No 501 Squadron had been at the
very forefront of the campaign,
during which it shot down 84 V1s
and possibly as many as 95 at
a cost of four pilots killed.

ABOVE: USAAF
pilot Bud Miller
shot down his ninth
and last V1 when
ying this Tempest
V, EJ558/SD-R, from
Bradwell Bay. It
carried his score
under its cockpit.
VIA C. H. THOMAS

BELOW: A Tempest
V from 501 between
sorties at Bradwell
Bay, with another
taxiing in the
background.
AEROPLANE