207 SQUADRON ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORY
Russ Jeffs, articles in the Association Newsletter
page to be completed
1995: 207 Squadron RAF Association Autumn Newsletter (1/3)
1996: 207 Squadron RAF Association Christmas Newsletter (2/3)
1997: 207 Squadron RAF Association's Summer Newsletter (3/3)Russ, the CO 207 got instead of Guy Gibson?
At 207 Events
from the 1995 207 Squadron RAF Association Autumn Newsletter
207 Squadron 1942
Wg Cdr FR ‘Russ’ JEFFS, AFC RAF(Retd), Commanding Officer 5/42-12/42I was transferred without respite from 50 Sqn to 207 Sqn after completing a tour on Hampdens and Manchesters. Fifty years later it may appear that my arrival on the Squadron coincided with the end of the beginning of the Bomber Offensive and the turning point of the war against the Axis. The hard pressed Russians were managing to hold the Wehrmacht at bay. The USAAF was close to joining in the fray.
In the Battle of the Atlantic the Allies were gaining the ascendancy over the U-Boat and in the Pacific the USN had routed Japan’s Imperial Navy.
In the European air war the Lancaster, the best of the heavy bombers, was at last in full production. The high explosive RDX, which until now had been the preserve of the Royal Navy and the Luftwaffe, was at last acquired by the RAF. New navigational devices made it possible to get us to within five miles of our targets, enabling the Pathfinder Force to be developed. At last, Bomber Command was all set to meet Churchill’s exhortation to Harris - ‘set Europe ablaze’.
Concentration of the bomber force over the target was now of the essence. The crucial factor in achieving this was timing. Concentration was essential to overwhelm the rapidly improving German defensive measures. Gone were the days of ‘beating up’ a German airfield to provoke some nervous nelly to disclose their ‘colours of the day’, or of dropping an empty beer bottle when coned in the searchlight belt in order to cause the German acoustic searchlights to track it to the ground.
The new strategy moved tactics more and more from the squadrons to the Groups. The onus fell heavily on the Flight Commanders to make the system work. They were the survivors who discussed at first hand the changing battle scene and passed on their skills to the new crews.
At this time 207 Squadron was replacing Manchesters with Lancasters. The success of this crucial transformation lay with the likes of Thos Murray, ‘Pat’ Pattinson, Dave Green, ‘Penny’ Beauchamp, Peter Ward-Hunt, ‘Babe’ Ruth, Jimmy Cliff, ‘Woody’ Woodhouse and their superb crews.
Despite the increasing centralisation of command, 207 had more than its share of individual sorties - Danzig, Le Creusot and the Tour d’Italie - all in daylight and with few casualties, which says much for the Squadron’s training and tactics.
These operations may have inspired the Squadron’s self deprecating ditty ‘Why, Oh Why, 207!’ or Pat Pattinson’s never to be forgotten rendering of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ in his inimitable low bass voice and with that irrepressible twinkle in his dark eyes.
from the 207 Squadron RAF Association Newsletter Christmas 1996
MORE RECOLLECTIONS FROM RUSS JEFFS
Russ Jeffs AFC, Pilot and Commanding Officer 5/42-12/42In those days, on 50 Squadron in 1941-2, operational briefing was reserved for pilots and navigators only - this was a slur on the rest of the crew. The approach to every target had to be worked out between the pilot and navigator and then explained to the rest of the crew, allowing for their input. It was important to keep the gunners informed of areas where special vigilance was necessary - one can’t be at full alert for hours on end.
The gunners expertise in identifying types of flak and the angle of ground flash from heavy flak batteries was a special skill. When one heard ‘Weave’, one knew that it meant more than an emotional reaction. The aircraft became a living entity in which its crew was its sensory system.
As crews became bonded operationally it was inevitable that we became bonded socially. To this end I sought to have all aircrew commissioned and I was generally successful. There was no room in those days for a ‘caste system’ in a large bomber. As Captain, my crews invariably ‘sirred’ me, but I felt that I was ‘Russ’ to them in mind and feelings as I too was on a first name basis with them. I encouraged all crews to emulate this.
Tactics, I felt, were the responsibility of the Captains and their crews to work out individually. The ‘target snaps’ spoke for themselves as to the success or failure of a mission. Before the war I had specialised in bad weather flying. In those days we had to turn south to climb through cloud in order to use the compass as a turn and bank instrument. I learned how topography affected local weather conditions and how in the worst of weather one could find patches of clear visibility. I divided the UK and the bomb lines of Europe into zones and noted the invariable weather changes just prior to a full moon and the days immediately following it. Later I was to appreciate this knowledge in sail-planing and cruising and ocean yacht racing in the Pacific NW of Canada and the USA.
The key low level fliers that I was with were Malcolm Potts, Dicky Bamber and fledglings like Mick Martin, Charles Stone and others. I recall one full moon night trying to distinguish the real synthetic oil plant at Huls from the dummy - cruising around at a few hundred feet, along with Malcolm who in his attack hit a tree, part of which he brought back with him. He tried to raise cuttings from it, which gave an entirely new meaning to the term ‘gardening’.
from the 1997 207 Squadron RAF Association's Summer Newsletter
CONCLUDING THE SERIES OF RECOLLECTIONS FROM RUSS JEFFS
Russ Jeffs AFC, Pilot and Commanding Officer 5/42-12/42Life changed for me dramatically and unexpectedly when my CO Beatle Oxley (ex-207) called me into his office to meet Harry Satterly, SASO 5 Group. Harry told me that I was to take over 207 Squadron immediately. He took me aside and told me he knew that I should be rested and that I should not push myself - ‘lead from behind’ - he was always enigmatic.
I found 207 to be in excellent shape, with superb Flight Commanders and crews. Fothergill had certainly left a great team behind him. The tactics which I described in earlier Newsletters were by now obsolete as Bomber Command and the mighty USAAF (8th Air Force) commenced their long war of attrition against the German defences, in what became a form of ‘trench warfare’ in the air. A devastating battle bled Germany of its technical genius and the will to fight from its people - the blazing centre of the Reich was a beacon of hope to the subjugated people of Europe. When Galland was asked when the people of Germany realised that the war was lost, he replied ‘firstly Stalingrad, secondly Hamburg’. Goering said that the appearance of Mustangs over Berlin convinced him that the Allies would defeat Germany from the air alone.
After leaving 207 I was posted to North Africa, and there followed a number of flying jobs covering Africa, India and Burma. I served with the 82nd West African Division and encountered the Japanese in a couple of fearsome clashes.
After the European war ended, I returned to command Accra in what is now Ghana. Harry Satterly asked me to join him in Tiger Force, but the atomic bombs ended that. In 1946 I was posted to the USA to help found the All Weather Flying Division. In 1950 I was posted as Air Attaché to Copenhagen and in 1956 I retired from the RAF and emigrated to the States and did not set foot in Britain for the next 25 years. The contrast between the States and Britain was quite overwhelming - like coming into bright sunlight from a long dark tunnel. They had serenity and optimism, a deep religious sense of having been spared another great war in their land. Memories of the Civil War still haunted them at that time, as the Vietnam War was to haunt a later generation. I believe Hitler had said that the Second World War would end with one victor - the United States, one villain - Germany, and one hero - Britain. To the people of the States, we Brits were all heroes.
I was given the honour of escorting 54 Squadron on its flying tour of the USA. The F84s had a hard time keeping up with 54’s Vampires. These events brought Mick Martin and I together again, and Harry Satterly too. I was at Fulton Missouri when Churchill gave his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech. As the crowd and Trueman listened in deafening silence, one felt the mantle of world leadership fall upon the Americans.
On my final retirement I bought a house in Peru, and when the Falklands War broke out I flew to Buenos Aires to learn at first hand how it was to be on the other side. The Argentinians have always been pro-British and continued to be so even during that conflict. They felt we were fighting their hated Junta, and not the people. Their Spanish heritage of parochialism means that they will not fight for their country, but will fight to the death for their village.
My fascination for Peru reminds me of the Scots saying that there are only two types of people - Scots and those who would like to be Scots! Although I speak their language, one can only love them but never really feel that one can become one of them. I guess I feel something of the sort about my service with my much loved 207 Squadron - when I led from behind - I could never really become one of them.
from the 1995 207 Squadron RAF Association Spring Newsletter
GUY GIBSON - THE CO HARRIS WANTED FOR 207 SQUADRON
Frank Haslam, Newsletter EditorAfter Gibson completed his first tour, on 83 Sqn, he went to 14 OTU at Cottesmore, then 16 OTU at Upper Heyford. AVM Leigh-Mallory and AM Sholto Douglas were appealing to Harris, then AOC 5 Group, for picked night pilots to leaven their inexperienced night fighter pilots.
According to Guy Gibson, by Richard Morris (Viking, 1994), Harris obliged, sending them ‘a handpicked bunch, of which Gibson was the best.’ Apparently Harris promised Gibson that ‘when he had done his stuff on night-fighters’ he would give him ‘the best command in my power.’
By the time Gibson completed his tour with 29 Squadron on Beaufighters, Harris was no longer AOC 5 Group. Gibson was posted as CFI to 51 OTU Cranfield at the end of 1941. Not long afterwards, in February 1942, Harris took over as AOC-in-C Bomber Command. He was now able to make good his promise to Gibson.
Morris says the need for vigorous leadership at squadron level was high in Harris’s mind. On 22nd March 1942 Harris wrote to AVM Slessor, AOC 5 Group:
‘I am sending you almost immediately S/Ldr Guy Gibson. I understand that Fothergill who commands one of your Lancaster squadrons [207 Sqn, Editor], though a good organizer, is not a fire eater and I am sure you will agree that these fine squadrons ought as far as possible to have the absolute pick. Gibson has only been a S/Ldr a year, but I desire to give him acting W/Cdr rank and command of a Lancaster squadron as soon as he can convert.’
He went on ‘If you prefer to put Gibson in place of any of your other squadron commanders that is for you to say, but in your absence today I gathered from Jackson Taylor, without divulging my reasons, that the replacement for Fothergill seems to be the most suitable move. Please let me know your views. Gibson is being made available at once and will take a week or so to convert before he gets going.’
Morris says that although Harris hoped that Gibson would go to 207 Squadron or one of the other units in 5 Group already equipped with the new Lancaster, Slessor took him at his word about his discretion to decide otherwise. Gibson was given command of 106 Squadron, which flew Avro Manchesters and Hampdens but would shortly convert to Lancasters.
Noble Frankland says in his foreword ‘Richard Morris emerges as an historical biographer of the first order, who has definitively set Guy Gibson in an abiding place, which legend and rumour might otherwise have ultimately denied him.’ Incidentally, a 207 Squadron Wireless Operator, Ron Winton (yes, our [now former - FWH] Membership Secretary) is quoted by Morris as having heard Gibson’s last message to the Main Force before he was killed.
But what of Wg Cdr Charles Fothergill? He was the Squadron’s first CO at Bottesford. He took over from Wg Cdr Lewis on 10th October 1941, and was succeeded by Wg Cdr FR Jeffs AFC on 1st June 1942. One view might be that after 5 months and with a new aircraft arriving to replace the wearisome Manchester, a new CO might well have been under consideration; Harris’s letter to Slessor was written at about the same time that the Lancaster reached the Squadron in March 1942. Remember too that it was during part of Fothergill’s period that Churchill effectively stood down Bomber Command during the Winter of 1941/2 in order to prevent further losses, the ‘conservation’ order going out on 13th November 1941.
Slessor, and AVM Coryton who became AOC 5 Group on 25th April 1942, evidently felt no pressing need for change as Wg Cdr Jeffs did not take over 207 until June 1942 [error, 28 May 42]. What recollections do those who served under Wg Cdr Fothergill have of him? What was his career before and after 207 Squadron? And how might 207 Squadron’s history have changed had Wg Cdr Gibson become its CO?
from the 1995 207 Squadron RAF Association Autumn Newsletter
THE 207 SQN CO ‘BOMBER’ HARRIS WANTED GIBSON TO REPLACE
Frank Haslam, Newsletter EditorEditor: In the last Newsletter I drew attention to Sir Arthur Harris’s wish that Guy Gibson be appointed CO of 207 Sqn, in place of Wg Cdr Charles Fothergill, who he thought was good organiser but not the ‘fire eater’ that he felt 207 Squadron deserved.
Russ Jeffs (Pilot & CO 5/42-12/42) took over the Squadron from Fothergill a couple of months after Harris had wanted Fothergill replaced. He writes: In 1939 I was in the Advanced Air Striking Force with 18 Squadron and learned to fly low, very low. I joined 50 Sqn in the Autumn of 1941. Life changed dramatically for me when my CO, Beatle Oxley, called me into his office to meet Harry Satterly, SASO 5 Group. Harry, who always was enigmatic, told me I was to take over 207 Sqn immediately. Then he took me aside and said ‘I know you should be rested - don’t push yourself, lead from behind’. I found 207 Squadron in excellent shape, with superb Flight Commanders and crews. Fothergill certainly had a great team behind him.
Peter Ward-Hunt (Pilot 8/41-5/42) writes: Wg Cdr Fothergill was promoted Flt Lt on 24.3.39. He was not a fire-eater and was quite a bit older than most of us. He took over a difficult command - the move, from a very fine station at Waddington to Bottesford (which was a dump), did nothing for morale. I do not remember him doing much flying, but then the winter of 1941/42 was a low point in Bomber Command’s activities. I thought Richard Morris’s book on Guy Gibson was excellent.
Goldie Goldstraw (Observer 5/41-6/42) writes: I completed my tour on 207 at Bottesford in June 1942, with the rank of Warrant Officer. Therefore I had no experience of Wg Cdr Fothergill’s social life, nor of what his brother officers thought of him. My only contact with him was in April-May 1942, when my pilot Dave Green had completed his tour and left me with one more trip to complete, which I did on 1st June 1942 with F/O Huntly-Wood. From 29th April to 20th May 1942 I flew as navigator with Wg Cdr Fothergill on eight low-level formation exercises, which I found out later were for the eventual Le Creusot daylight raid. On one of these he flew the aircraft through the tree tops, bringing back air intakes full of leaves and twigs. As far as I am aware he never flew on operations, though he may have done so after I left the Squadron.
At 207 Events
Dedication of 207 Sqn Tree at National Memorial Arboretum 2005
http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/arboretum/207's 2006 Reunion – last photo
http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/2006_reunion/207derby06_photos.htmPresentation of New 207 Standard, Russ meets Prince Andrew
http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/207SP251103/SP03_official.htm