Air Fronts: Theaters of Operation - European Theater of Operation: Hubert Griffith - R.A.F. in Russia - 8. Diary (September)
R.A.F. IN RUSSIA; by HUBERT GRIFFITH; DEDICATED TO WING-COMMANDER H. N. G. ISHERWOOD, D.F.C., A.F.C., Order of Lenin, and MAJOR - GENERAL KUZNETSOV, Red Air Force ; to the Fighter-Boys of No. 151 Wing, R.A.F. and to their Soviet opposite numbers. LONDON 1942.
CHAPTER VIII - DIARY
September 19th onwards
September 19th
Dud day. " One patrol - nil combats, nil casualties."
September 20th
Dud day. " Two patrols - nil combats, nil casualties." Wing airmen getting air-raid shelter trenches dug about the camp ; fire-fighting squad organized. A party in the officer's Club-house at Vianga by the neighbouring Russian squadron, to celebrate their Squadron receiving the Order of the Red Banner. Invited as guests : - Our C.O., the two squadron-leaders, our own two officer-interpreters, and Group-Captain Bird, up with us from the Embassy Staff in Moscow.
September 21st (Sunday)
Very dud day again. No flying at all. It seems to have been quite a bit of a party last night, with a concert, two suppers (one before the concert, and one at half-time), dancing, and endless mixed drinking. The Russians have been at their tricks again, trying to deceive their innocent guests as to the alcoholic potency of vodka. The C.O.-usually the world's early riser - does not appear at breakfast, neither do the two squadron-leaders. (They have all no doubt woken, cocked their eye at the weather - the pilot's first instinct on waking - and decided that as it is impossible operationally, they might as well lie in.) Other members were still counted unserviceable after lunch. (It may be remarked that these periodic parties seem to be endemic rather than epidemic - that is to say, that when there is due cause for one, a party is organized, and conviviality has a free hand. But they are not frequent. They are usually taken in periods of bad weather, with flying impossible. On normal days the routine of all squadrons is so rigid as to be almost teetotal.)
Russian baths in the village for most of the Wing officers, particularly those who have been guests at the party the night before. These baths are becoming an institution with the Wing. They are a normal feature of village life, and have not been built especially for us. They have been made free to our airmen on four afternoons a week, and to our officers on two evenings a week. They occur in a brick-built bathing-house. The establishment is clean and well run. One goes in and takes off all one's clothes (and revolver) and deposits them in a locker-room. One then passes to another room, the shower-bath room. Freezing-cold and scalding-hot water gushes down from sprays, and one soaps and washes oneself. Then the steam-room, where they turn on the heat at full pressure. One sits there dripping with perspiration for anything up to half-an-hour, then returns to the hot and cold shower-baths ; then, if one wants, returns to the steam-room, before finally cooling-off and dressing again. The sensation experienced is of being extraordinarily refreshed, in an ecstasy of cleanliness - several pounds lighter and feeling, if not looking, ten years younger.
The attendants at the baths are women, middle-aged, almost like Esquimaux in their flat-nosed, high-cheekboned countenances. Long habit has made them absolutely indifferent to wandering about in a roomful of naked men. Not so, apparently, some of our own airmen. One of our Corporals, a tall, lanky, diffident youth, was so embarrassed that he turned away when one of the women came through the other afternoon. The woman, amused at his embarrassment, smacked him smartly on the behind as she went past him, and went away roaring with laughter. " Autres pays, autres moeurs " seems to be the right comment on the matter.
The Russians keep strange hours. The Russian General commanding the district, a Russian Fleet Air-Arm man, who is the immediate superior officer responsible for the Wing, has taken to sending for our own C.O. for operational conferences at ten o'clock at night onwards. The other night he (Gen. Kuznetsov) happened to be in the middle of a steam-bath - so our own Winko went and had a steam-bath with him and a conference at the same time.
September 22nd
Snow - the first snow, though certainly not the last - and quite a lot of it. The Russian General is supposed to be coming to make his first flight in a Hurricane this afternoon - but the weather is impossible, and he will probably have to postpone it.
September 23rd
Snow again, and plenty of it. There are bright intervals, when the sunlight looks extraordinarily beautiful falling on the snow-covered surrounding hills and on the yellow-and-green leaves of the silver-birches in our own plantation. But most of the time the sky is grey, and heavy with more snow-clouds. The sandy surface of the 'drome itself is terribly bumpy, and full of puddles as large as small lakes. The typical autumn weather of the district - snow, mud, and rain in equal proportions - is upon us. Good flying-days will probably be numbered - experts say as an outside estimate half-a-dozen to a dozen a month.
September 24th
A fine morning ; then more snow, followed by rain, sleet, and general filth. One patrol flown, an escort to Russian bombers. These apparently both climbed and flew at a rate that astonished our boys considerably. The Hurricanes found that in an operation that lasted as long as an hour they had to go all-out to keep station with them. (The Russian type is known as P.2.) The Russians expressed themselves very pleased with the Wing's escort.
September 25th
A really filthy morning, light snow, heavy rain turning to sleet, driven crooked by a lot of wind. The camp with its puddles, mud-roads, and leaves shedding down from the trees, looks desolate beyond belief. No operational flying of any sort. The Russian General takes off in his Hurricane successfully. He has been down to the aerodrome several days in succession to get instruction. He has a girl-interpretress (an ex-schoolmistress) who has written down all the cockpit-drill, and gives him examinations in it exactly as if he were a school-pupil. When he was fully satisfied that he knew what was what, he took off successfully and made a couple of beautiful landings. He is a very experienced pilot, with thousands of flying-hours to his credit. He is a spare-built man, with close, greying hair - but only about thirty-eightish. Now henceforward, all the Russians will be wanting to fly the Hurricanes. The O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) - which is what in effect the Wing will become, can now get going.
September 26th
Cloudy and dull, getting a little better towards mid-afternoon. No flying in the morning.
For the afternoon there is an operation impending - 81 Squadron to escort Soviet bombers in a raid in the Petsamo district in the afternoon. A magnificent sight at the take-off. First, " A " Flight, 81 ; then Soviet fast dive-bombers ; then " B " Flight ; then a flight of Soviet heavy bombers. The sky above the vast sandy aerodrome becomes full of aircraft taking station.
They are all back in just over an hour, after a brilliant action on the part of " B " Flight - perhaps the best thing that the Wing has done out here yet. " B " Flight was properly " jumped " by 6 Me. l09's - as is always liable to happen to a flight when doing escort-duty with a lot of cloud about. When it happens, the flight that has been jumped is usually doing pretty well if it gets away without loss to itself or its charges. " B " Flight, however, did better than this - they turned into the Me's, more or less each to each, getting in bursts as and when opportunity offered after the first evasion of the " jump " ; shot three of them down-all confirmed later as " certain " ; and got back to the aerodrome without a single bullet-hole in any of our own machines. By this action the Soviet bombers did their work unmolested. Telephone-message of thanks from the Russian General.
September 27th
Short return of good flying-weather ; clouds few and high. Another bomber-escort flown this morning, No. 81 Squadron again coming in for it. Another fight. Another two Huns, one certain, the second confirmed by lunch-time.
An accident on the aerodrome, two airmen killed, and one pilot (F/Lt. Berg) seriously injured in a taking-off crash during a scramble to get every available machine into the air when some Huns were overhead photo-graphing the aerodrome. The surface of the aerodrome is notoriously bad, especially just outside the dispersal bays where the aircraft are kept at readiness. It is customary for two airmen to hang on to the tail of each aircraft to steady it while the pilot is taxying it through the preliminary puddles. The accident occurred either through their not getting his signal to get clear, or through the pilot, imagining that they were already away, not giving the signal. In both cases it was combative zeal to get the craft as quickly off the ground as possible, and into action-but, nevertheless, tragically regrettable. (The first and last incident of its kind during the Wing's stay.)
The Finns claim over the wireless that they have captured Kandalaksha. (A glance at the map will show that if this claim is true it completely cuts off the Wing from all rail-born sources of supply from Archangel.)
September 28th (Sunday)
Good flying-weather. Kandalaksha claim denied by Russians in the morning ; re-announced (as rumour only) by British wireless at lunch-time.
Four patrols flown, escorting Russian bombers. Nil combats, nil casualties.
First issue of ration-rum to airmen of the Wing in the evening - the weather is suddenly getting much colder, and the Wing-Commander in consultation with his senior Medical Officer thought that it would be a good move. But it involved as much work as a large-scale Movement-Order on the part of the Wing staff. For days past my note-book has been jotted with notes about drawing the rum, diluting the rum, getting exact noggins made to measure out the regulation 1/2-gills of rum, neither more or less, detailing sergeants to supervise the dishing out of the rum, etc., etc.. (The paramount aim of all this supervision is, of course, that no airman shall, by doing a deal with another airman who " don't drink the stuff," be able to get two tots per evening, or alter-natively drink his tot neat. Ration rum is extremely powerful and comforting. The Navy have a traditional method of diluting it and dishing it out. We have to improvise our own arrangements.) However, all goes off successfully - none of the five hundred airmen tight - which would have brought the Camp under a charge of rowdiness, and the rum-issue itself into disrepute.
An interesting Orderly-Room colloquy this morning The C.O. had up in front of him a little assistant-carpenter (an ex-Air-Gunner in Whitleys) who had drifted off, with no official sanction, and done an operational-raid over the Lines as air-gunner in a Russian bomber. (How he had got the trip was a story in itself. He had been before the war in the Merchant Service, and had then made contacts at Archangel - which contacts he had immediately renewed as soon as the Wing landed. From these he had obtained introductions to the Russian squadrons at Vianga. Anyhow, he had got the trip, strictly, of course, contrary to all English disciplinary orders.) How would the C.O. treat this strange offence - one of the few offences quite unbudgeted for in King's Regulations ? His discourse in the Orderly-Room was sharp and to the point. He said, in his clipped New Zealand utterance : - " Personally, I admire your spirit. Personally, I think it a bloody good show. But all the same, if you had got shot down you'd have put me in the soup, see ? Now get out ! " Exit little Corporal Flockhart. At least, no one can accuse Camp life here of lacking variety. . . .
September 29th
Dud day. No. 134 do some flying as bomber-escort.
It was about this time that there occurred an amusing demonstration of Soviet bomber-flying, that was only told me later by one of our pilots. He said :-" The other day we were coming back off bomber-escort, and as we headed for home, after the Soviet bomber-boys had done their stuff; we thought for fun that we'd show them some of our formation-flying. Their bombers were flying back in fairly wide formation, so a couple of our Hurricanes closed in on each of them, and began flying back absolutely wing-tip to wing-tip with them. The Soviet pilots saw that something was up, so they thought that they'd show us a bit of their formation-flying ! So all their bombers closed in on one another - and there were the whole lot of us, tucked in tight together, in the sort of wizard formation-flying you used to get in the old Hendon Pageant days - with their rear-gunners leaning out of their turrets, and holding up their thumbs at us, and grinning."
It is a pleasant picture, almost idyllic in its craziness, of the two Nations coming back, at peace and in gaiety and mutual understanding, from one phase of the conflict. . . .
September 30th
No flying. Signal of congratulation from Sir Archibald Sinclair to the Wing ; also from Air Vice-Marshal in Moscow. From Sir Archibald :-" The destruction by your squadrons of 12 German aircraft for the loss of only one of your own is a brilliant achievement ; it is a source of particular pleasure and satisfaction to us here that you are working so closely and so successfully with the Russian Air Force. Good luck to you, 151 Wing."
Wing " Daily Routine Orders " re-publish the signal - but then Daily Routine Orders have to publish every-thing that concerns the life of the Camp. In the same daily issue there is a threat against an unknown airman who has committed a public nuisance on the landing of one of the barrack-blocks, and the promise that if he is caught doing it again " severe disciplinary action will be taken."
End of the first month's work.
