HISTORY
yed in cooperation, 2 aircrafts damaged and
2 destroyed on the surface in cooperation.
After the end of the war he became commander of the Schleswig and later Wunstorf
base. In 1946 he received the US Silver Star
and was appointed Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau by the Kingdom of
the Netherlands. He studied at the RAF Staff
College in Haifa in 1946 and retired in 1960
with the rank of Air Commodore. The legendary New Zealander died in his homeland on
1 October 1996.
Fotografie: IWM
In the preparation of this article I was assisted by Ota Jírovec, Martin Nademlejnský
and Matti Salonen.
Wing Commander Patrick Geraint Jameson.
The leading ME opened fire at me from my
starboard low while I opened fire on his
No. 2´s port bow who turned towards me
and had a short... also. No. 1´s fire passed
under my starboard wing and No. 2´s directly below me. No effect was noticed
from my fire.
I then saw one of the following ME´s turning
to get onto Sherwood´s tail so I attacked
him from astern and opened fire at 150
yards range. After about 2 second burst he
turned over on the wing and dived straight into the sea. Just before I opened fire
(ME 110 shot) a short burst at Sherwood
who was himself attacking another ME 110.
Sherwood very wisely used cloud cover.
This E/A is claimed as destroyed."
The two pilots and their Spitfires returned
to base at 16:40. Their machines were not
damaged. Jameson was credited with one
Bf 110 shot down and Dicks-Sherwood with
one as damaged. The latter pilot reported
seeing a bright flash in the enemy's cockpit.
Bf 110s belonged to the 5./ZG 76 from the
base De Kooy, whose commander was
the future Ritterkreuzträger Oblt. Walter
Borchers. However, none of the Messerschmitts were damaged and the encounter between the clouds was also misjudged on the German side as Ofw. Heinrich
Sauerwein claimed one downed Spitfire at
16.50 German time in area 37.7 (over the
sea west of De Kooy) at an altitude of 800
metres. In 1940 this fighter pilot scored two
victories during the Battle of France and
added two more during the Battle of Britain. It is possible that he later flew with ZG
101 and NJG 101, but it may have been another airman with the same surname.
Wing Commander "Pat" Jameson
Patrick Geraint Jameson was born on November 10th, 1912 in Wellington, New Zea-
INFO Eduard - June 2021
land. He first worked as a clerk, but his interest in flying became apparent very early
and he obtained his pilot's licence in 1933.
Three years later he set off on his own to
the UK and managed to join the RAF. After
completing his training he was posted to No.
46 Squadron in January 1937 and became its
commander in March 1939. His unit took part
in the campaign in Norway in the spring of
1940. It was transported there aboard the
aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and engaged
in combat from May 26th. Two days later,
Jameson and two colleagues managed to
destroy two Do 26 flying boats on the surface of a fjord. He achieved his first aerial
victory on May 28th when he attacked a Ju
88. However, the unit soon had to be evacuated from Norway and Jameson led it
on June 7th in a successful landing aboard
HMS Glorious. It was the first time a Hurricane type fighter had landed on an aircraft
carrier. Unfortunately, the ship was sunk
by German cruisers the following day and
Jameson was one of the only two RAF airmen to survive.
For his past combat activity he received
a DFC in July 1940 and in September became commander of No. 266 Squadron at
RAF Base Wittering. As soon as October he
received the Bar to the DFC. In August 1942
he commanded Wing 12 Group during the
Dieppe landings and in December that year
took command of the Norwegian Wing at
RAF North Weald. In early 1943 he achieved
his last victories in aerial combat.
During 1943 he began working in the command structure of No. 11 Group. In the same
year he received the DSO and the Norwegian War Cross. In July 1944 he became commander of No. 122 Wing, which flew on
Mustangs and later received Tempests.
Jameson's score was 9 aircrafts destroyed,
1 probably shot down and 1 probably destro-
Notes:
1) more information on the deployment of Bf 110 fighters in the
Battle of Britain can be found in
https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2020/info-eduard-2020-11cz.pdf
https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2020/info-eduard-2020-11en.pdf
2) Walter John "Farmer" Lawson, DFC hailed from Somerset,
he achieved 7 victories and was a member of No. 19 Squadron
from April 1940. Lawson became commander of the squadron
on July 17th, 1941. While escorting Blenheims attacking vessels
off Rotterdam, he was shot down by a Bf 109 from 6/JG 53 "Pik
As", his body was never recovered.
3) Birmingham native Arthur Frank Vokes, who was a veteran
of the Battle of Britain, was killed on September 6th, 1941 in an
air crash near RAF Langham, Norfolk.
4) In Spitzer's case, it was at least his fifth victory. For Drewes,
it represented his second victory. By the end of the war he had
added 47 more and was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak
Leaves. Fritz Hrachowina was originally from Czechoslovakia, and with Drewes he was later transferred to NJG 3 and
achieved the rank of Feldwebel. At the end of the war, on May
1st, 1945, he flew to Sweden in a Bf 110 G-4 "G9+AA" together
with pilot Uffz. Alexander S. Koenig, who was born in Tallinn,
Estonia. As Germans who came from territories then controlled or liberated by the Red Army, they feared that they would
end up in Soviet captivity. But both were considered civilian
refugees by the Swedish authorities. The machine belonged to
Kommodore of NJG 1 Obstlt. H. J. Jabs.
5) Legendary aviator Biggles also served in this unit, but in a
completely different place and on different aircraft!
Sources:
FOREMAN J.: Fighter Command War Diaries, Volume 2: September 1940
to December 1941
LISTEMANN P. H.: SQUADRONS! No.38 - The Spitfire Mk II - The Rhodesian, Dominion and Eagle squadrons
SHORES C., WILLIAMS C.: Aces High
SHORES C.: Aces High, Vol. 2
WOODS T.: O.K.L. Fighter Claims
bankofengland.co.uk: The Old Lady of the skies
rhodesianheritage.blogspot.com: No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal
Air Force
The National Archives, UK: AIR 27/253/15, AIR 27/253/16, AIR-27-155835, AIR-27-1558-36, AIR-50-105-33
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