The scarce 1940 'Coastal Command - Battle of Britain' D.F.M. group of six awarded to...

The scarce 1940 ‘Coastal Command - Battle of Britain’ D.F.M. group of six awarded to Blenheim fighter wireless operator/air gunner Sergeant W. Wilson, 235 Squadron, Royal Air Force, who flew with and shared in the victories of his pilot - Squadron Leader R. J. ‘Pissy’ Peacock, whose victories all achieved in 1940 ‘made him in the annuals of Royal Air Force Coastal Command the first and only pilot to ever achieve ‘ace’ status in a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV Fighter’

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (553328 Sgt. W. Wilson. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star, 1 clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, Atlantic; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, very fine (6) (6) £6,000-£8,000

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D.F.M. London Gazette 20 October 1940. The original recommendation states:

‘This airman has continually carried out the duties of Wireless Operator/Air Gunner in the aircraft flown by Flying Officer Peacock. He has at all times displayed the greatest coolness and has taken charge of the fire control for the rear gunners of his Section.

It is partly owing to his coolness in withholding fire up to the last second that his Section has been able to compete successfully when attacked by enemy fighters.’

William Wilson joined the Royal Air Force as a Boy Entrant in February 1939. He later re-mustered as an Airman u/t WOp/AG. After completing his training he joined 235 Squadron (Blenheims) as part of Coastal Command. The Squadron was tasked with fighter-reconnaissance duties, flying out of Detling and Bircham Newton. When the German invasion of the Low Countries began in May 1940, the squadron flew patrols over Holland and during the Battle of Britain was engaged in convoy protection and reconnaissance missions over the North Sea.

Wilson was crewed predominantly with Pilot Officer R. J. ‘Pissy’ Peacock as his pilot, he advanced to Sergeant, and flew numerous patrols over Dunkirk, May - June 1940. Detached to fly from R.A.F. Thorney Island, Wilson was with Peacock and Pilot Officer H. K. ‘Olly’ Wakefield when they flew a reconnaissance of the Zuider Zee, 26/27 June 1940. They were attacked by Me. 109’s, and managed to fight their way back, shooting down one enemy aircraft and shared damaging another in the process. Further detail is provided in Coastal Dawn by A. Bird:

‘As June 27 broached its eleventh hour members of A Flight 235 lounged at dispersal in an assortment of chairs and deck chairs. Lancaster and Pardoe-Williams played draughts, as the outside temperature rose and permission was granted to be on standby without tunics.... Just as the remainder of the squadron sat down for lunch in their respective messes they were interrupted by a call from an orderly: “All 235 A Flight aircrew report to operations room immediately”. Everyone dropped their irons [cutlery] and dashed out, arriving breathless. A 16 Group controller was asking for Squadron Leader Clarke. Clarke picked up the receiver and the clipped voice spoke: “Clarke, the British Army request a reconnaissance in the Zuider Zee area. Six aircraft are to take off immediately, this operation is of the utmost importance”.....

Flying Officer Peacock cast an apprehensive look around the room at the nonplussed airmen pulling up a chair. Except for the occasional scrape of clink of a cup, all was quiet. Clarke revealed that the trip would be to Amsterdam then to the southern coast of the Zuider Zee, looking for invasion barges and troop movement... Intelligence told the assembled crews, “if you encounter trouble you should turn south rather than go north where the Luftwaffe has the main concentration of fighters”. Observers unfurled and pored over maps, marking their route in pencil. “Our track would take us right over Schiphol aerodrome where ‘Jerry’ fighters were based”. Pilot Officer Hugh Wakefield takes up the tale: “fitters and riggers had got our charges in tiptop condition. Peacock, my pilot, did his preliminary checks and N3542’s engines roared into life and thus calmed our anxieties.” Clarke boarded N3541, with Pilot Officers Hugh Pardoe-Williams in P6958, Alan Wales in N3543, Peter Weil in P6956, and John Cronan in L9447 consecutively starting up.... With a quick check of the crosswind the six machines pulled off at exactly 13.00 hours... It would be a long and memorable day for Clarke and 235 Squadron.

There was not a cloud in the sky, scarcely a breath of wind on the sea and the heat in the cockpits was almost unbearable.... Maintaining their height at 5,000 feet the six crossed the Dutch coast. On the beach at Zandvoort bathers paused, heads glancing upwards as the six English bomber planes turned northeast towards Amsterdam. The clouds were slight and patchy, the anti-aircraft fire spasmodic and the Blenheims spread out to avoid the shell bursts as they sped over countryside, canals and the Schiphol aerodrome. Wakefield observed: “it is cluttered with German machines, bombers and fighters, some of which appeared to be taking off. Suddenly the ack-ack stopped.” The crews knew what that meant!

Contrary to intelligence it was not from Schiphol but from Rotterdam that the trouble came. Bf109E’s of II./JG54 had moved twenty-four hours earlier and completed two familiarization flights over the local area. The warning sounded at 15.02 local time, “Intercept formation of Blenheim bombers reported near Amsterdam”. Within seconds Austrian born Lt. Jochen Schypeck was airborne with his wingman, soon linking up with the Gruppen-kommadeur of I./JG54 Hubertus Von Bonn, who had taken off from Schiphol. Through the light cloud they quickly spotted the green/brown upper surfaces of the Blenheims despite losing them on occasion as they blended into the countryside. At full throttle they rolled away and dived. Lancaster watched as the fighters came in like a swarm of bees, while fellow observer Wakefield reported:

“The most stunning and frightening moment of my young life when the Bf109E’s shot out of the glorious sparse cloud in a head-on attack. It was a stupendous sight and lasted for two or three minutes as we found ourselves breaking formation and milling around the sky with 109’s as our dancing partners! We knew the Blenheim fighter could turn inside the 109E if we knew precisely when to do it. To this end, we had devised a system for when we were under attack. I moved up from the observer’s position, and opened the port side window behind the pilot, stuck my head out, looking back along the fuselage, and signalled to Peacock with my thumb exactly when and in which direction to turn.”

N3542, having survived a frontal attack, was almost hit a second time from the upper rear port side just south of Schiphol. The 109 closed in to around 400 yards, Wakefield signalled his pilot hard to starboard and the 109 overshot. Peacock automatically turned hard right and got a short burst in as the enemy fighter went away. Peacock made for the nearest cloud.’

The other Blenheims were not so lucky, with Pilot Officer Peter Weil’s aircraft being the first to be shot down. Pardoe-Williams was the next to fall, with Pilot Officer Alan Wales’s aircraft soon after. Pilot Officer John Cronan, a Kiwi, was the pilot of the next Blenheim to fall victim to the German fighters:

‘Peacock had managed to evade the Germans. Observer Wakefield reported:

“After the attack we decided it would be unwise to return the way we had entered, so we flew south to Amsterdam, photographed the harbour with no sign of German naval units, flew along the inner coast of the Zuider Zee and passed Hoorn to Texel where at 14.30 ...