Morlaix Disaster
A 92nd Bomb Group B-17E formation. On September 26th, 1942 this group attacked Cherbourg as a diversionary operation
(Photo: IWM).
In the end of September 1942 No. 133 (Eagle) Squadron
(further 133 Squadron) as a first out of these American units,
was re-equipped with new Spitfires Mk. IX. On September 26
133 Squadron pilots flew as a part of the escort of nineteen
B-17 Flying Fortresses belonging to 97th Bombing Group 8th
AF of the USAAF which were to raid the airport in Morlaix.
The bombers escort was provided by three RAF squadrons
operating out of three different hom bases: 64 Squadron out
of Hornchurch, 133rd Squadron out of Biggin Hill and Canadian 401st Squadron out of Kenley. The whole operation
was plagued by the series of unfortunate, and in some cases plainly strange events. During that period the process of
transferring the American Eagle Squadrons under the USAAF
command was under way and several squadron officers, including the commander Carroll McColpin, stayed at the USAF
8th AF Headquarters in London. Therefore the squadron was
led into combat by its British member and flight leader F/
Lt Edward Brettell. The whole fighter escort formation was
led by the 64th Squadron‘s commanding officer, Australian
S/L Tony Gaze. It’s interesting to note that the fighter escort
command had not been given to the senior officer, Kenley
Wing commander Brian Kingcombe who on this mission led the
401st Squadron. Before the mission all three units gathered
at the small airport Bold Head with unpaved runways located
on the south coast of Devon approximately one mile south of
the town of Salcombe. RAF Bold Head was a satellite airport
of the RAF base Exeter and featured two unpaved runways.
From there to the target, Morlaix in Bretagne, it’s some 110
miles by air, kind of „round the corner“.
Refuelling, briefing and fighter escort formation took place at
this airport. According to some sources the rendezvous with
the bombers was supposed to take place there as well but
it did not happen. Not only there, it did not happen at all
even though the 401st Squadron combat report states that the
contact with the bombers had been made. According to the
available information it seems that the mission preparation
was not too meticulous. The Americans as well as Canadian later stated that due to the inadequate airport equipment they
could not have fully refuelled all aircraft. Also the briefing
was supposedly rather sloppy, at least as far as the American
INFO Eduard - August 2021
is concerned since only F/Lt. Brettell with another pilot participated. The briefing was however crucial for the further
chain of events because the weather forecast warned about
35 knots headwind (17.5 mps, 65 kph). In reality, in addition
to 8/8 clouds coverage, the aviators faced 40 knots (20 mps,
74 kph) tailwind as per the Canadian combat report. The Americans reported even stronger wind, as high as 100 knots (50
mps, 180 kph) which is rather improbable.
At any rate, the current weather conditions caused the situation that the fighter escort never made contact with the
bombers. Those, due to the advert weather conditions, and
fighter escort recall, returned to the base. For some reason
the fighter escort commander Tony Gaze never received the
information about the mission cancellation so the fighters carried on in the effort to find the bombers. The strong tailwind
drifted them far to the south, below Brest over the Bay of
Biscay. The German sources state the Spitfires even reached
the Spanish coast and only then turned back. Now they were
returning with a strong headwind and 8/8 cloud coverage
without seeing the ground. Over Brest the American were running out of fuel and when they spotted the airport through
the gap in the clouds they decided to land under impression
they had already crossed the English coast.
They did not mind Tony Gaze‘s warning who shortly before
had requested the vectoring and received the message that
the formation is located approximately 160 miles south of
the English coast. This information would correspond to the
position above the south coast of Bretagne approximately 30
miles south from Brest. At that point in time all the squadrons
evidently still held the formation despite the strong headwid
and bad visibility. The airbase where 133rd Squadron was
attempting to land was Guipavas airport near Brest, nowadays
Brest Bretange Airport (BES), from where the German JG 2
operated. 8./JG 2 fighters scrambled at 18:46 and within next
fifteen minutes shot down six 133rd Squadron Spitfires.
Another three Spitfires were shot down by AA fire and two
more crash-landed having exhausted their fuel. Only one out
twelve pilots made it to the English coast, P/O Beaty who
crash-landed on the field near Kingsbridge and with serious
eduard
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