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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