WW2 100 – 8 August 1943 – ‘Thundering through the clear air’: Sergeant Charles Philip Southcott (1914-43) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 61 Squadron

Continued from 4 August 1943 - Thanks to a Canadian connection: SERGEANT JOHN STEPHEN HARRIS (1922-43)   

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Operational Training Unit (OTU) 42

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I did not understand at first why Charles is commemorated on Exmouth’s War Memorial as well as on Budleigh’s. 

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records both his mother, Jean, and his wife, Katherine, as from Budleigh Salterton. The Devon Heritage website’s war memorials listing tells us that he was born in the town in 1914.  

The Southcott family name certainly has a strong association with Devon.  In 1891 there were 199 Southcott families living in the county. This was about 32% of all the recorded Southcotts in the UK, giving Devon in that year  the highest population of Southcott families of any English county.

Probably the most famous English Southcott is a Devonian - Joanna, the self-described religious prophetess born in 1750 at Taleford, near Ottery St Mary. But Charles’ family origins seem to be outside the county. His grandfather, James Southcott, was a Police Constable and later a Sergeant, living in Surrey with his wife Caroline, and Charles’ father, George, was born in the town of Egham in that county. However the 1911 Census records that both George and his parents moved to Devon. George had married Jean, née McKay, at Honiton in 1909. By 1911, he was living at Colaton Raleigh. In the same year, James and Caroline Southcott are recorded as living at Harpford Hill, near Newton Poppleford.   

 

A postcard showing Knowle village c.1924. Image courtesy of Jan Oke. But where is or was Mount Pleasant Cottage?

When WW1 broke out, George Southcott joined the 2^nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Tragically for the family he died in Belgium on 21 June 1917, aged 34, leaving his widow Jean and three-year-old son Charles.  It seems from the CWGC record that at that time they were living in Mount Pleasant Cottage, at Knowle, but I have found nothing else about Charles’ early years.

Image credit: Geoff Hill and www.egs-reunion.org.uk

Except that I came across this photo of Exmouth Grammar School’s War Memorial for its ex-pupils who died in WW2. That Charles Southcott is surely our man. 

I learnt from the Exmouth Grammar School website at www.egs-reunion.org.uk that the memorial was previously situated in the School’s hall. When amalgamation of Exmouth schools took place at the end of the 1960s, the then headteacher decided that it was, perhaps, no longer apt for items referring to only one of the schools to be exhibited as such. Thanks to the work of former members of staff the memorial was liberated and now has pride of place in Withycombe Parish Church and is regularly maintained. 

   

RAFVR poster  Image credit: Imperial War Museums

CWGC records show that he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), which had been formed in July 1936 to support the preparedness of the Royal Air Force in the event of another war. Forces war records tell us that he enlisted at RAF Uxbridge between September 1939 and June 1940 as a Class F Reservist and was given the Service Number 921349.

 

WAAF plotters at work in the Operations Room at No. 11 Group RAF at Uxbridge, 1942. Royal Air Force official photographer, Flying Officer J.R. Watkins.  Photograph CH 7698 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

RAF Uxbridge is best known as the headquarters of No. 11 Group RAF, which was responsible for the aerial defence of London and the south-east of England during the Battle of Britain. A bunker, subsequently known as the Battle of Britain Bunker, was built nearby to house the 11 Group Operations Room, which controlled fighter squadrons operating within the group.

 

61 Squadron badge. The figure of the Lincoln imp associates the Squadron with the district in which it was re-formed in 1937 and where it spent most of its active days in WW2. ‘Thundering through the clear air’ is the translation of the Latin motto ‘Per Purum Tonantes’ and has been used in the introduction to this post.   Image credit: www.rafht.co.uk

However it was with a squadron in Bomber Command that Charles served.  No. 61 Squadron had started life in 1917 as one of the first three single-seater fighter squadrons of the London Air Defence Area intended to counter daylight air raids during WW1. The Squadron was re-formed on 8 March 1937 as a bomber squadron, and in WW2 flew with No. 5 Group, RAF Bomber Command.

In the early stages of the war, Squadron 61 was based at RAF station Hemswell, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. Bomber Command had been formed in 1936, and on 31 December that year, Hemswell was opened as one of the first airfields within No.5 Group of the newly formed Command. 

No.144 Squadron arrived on 9 February and No.61 Squadron a month later on 8 March 1937, equipped with Avro Anson and Hawker Audax aircraft. Bristol Blenheim light bombers replaced these by January 1938 and they were completely re-equipped with Handley Page Hampdens by 20 March 1939.

 

A Handley Page Hampden Mark I, AT137 'UB-T', of No. 455 Squadron RAAF based at Leuchars, Fife, Scotland (UK), in flight above clouds, May 1942. Image credit: Imperial War Museums: Photograph COL182

This Hampden twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by the British firm of Handley Page Limited would have been the aircraft in which Charles would have flown from the start of the war until July 1941. It had a pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, radio operator and rear gunner. Conceived as a fast, manoeuvrable fighting bomber it was praised for being ‘extraordinarily mobile on the controls’. Pilots were provided with a high level of external visibility, assisting the execution of steep turns and other manoeuvres. But it was often referred to by aircrews with names like the ‘Flying Suitcase’ because of its cramped crew conditions.

 

The instrument panel and flying controls of a Handley Page Hampden.  Image credit: Handley Page photographer. Photograph CH 1207 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums/Wikipedia

‘I did my first flight and first tour on Hampdens,’ recalled former WW2 pilot Wilfred ‘Mike’ Lewis in a memoir published by the Bomber Command Association.  ‘A beautiful aeroplane to fly, terrible to fly in! Cramped, no heat, no facilities where you could relieve yourself. You got in there and you were stuck there. The aeroplane was like a fighter. It was only 3 feet wide on the outside of the fuselage and the pilot was a very busy person. There were 111 items for the pilot to take care of because on the original aircraft he had not only to find the instruments, the engine and all that, but also he had all the bomb switches to hold the bombs'.

Early missions for 61 Squadron focused on the North Sea. A detachment was based in late 1939 at RAF Wick at the north-eastern extremity of the mainland of Scotland, and the Squadron's first operational mission was on 25 December 1939, comprising an armed reconnaissance over the North Sea by 11 Hampden bombers.

The Squadron lost its first aircrew on 7 March 1940 when a Hampden Mk1 bomber crash landed at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire after returning from a patrol to attack the Luftwaffe base at Sylt, one of the German Frisian Islands.

 

 

A Heinkel He 59 seaplane. During the first months of WW2, the He 59 was used as a torpedo- and minelaying aircraft.  Such seaplanes were used by the ‘Seenotdienst’ (sea rescue service), a German military organization formed within the Luftwaffe to save downed airmen from emergency water landings  Image credit: www.military.wikia.org

The island was visited again a fortnight later on the night of 19 March, when 20 Hampdens from 61 Squadron were among the first Bomber Command aircraft to drop bombs on German soil during WW2. The target was the Hörnum seaplane base, in retaliation for the Luftwaffe’s attack on Scapa Flow earlier in the month.

Squadron 61 sent Hampdens on further regular missions during 1940, including, on the evening of 11 May, the first major bombing raid on the German mainland, when the target was Mönchengladbach.  This was in response to the invasion of Belgium, which had taken place the day before. The bomber crews were attempting to disrupt German troop movements on roads and rail lines in the area, especially the city's railyards.

 

 

Siemensstadt was the headquarters of the Siemens electrical company, where products like this 1940s searchlight were manufactured. As a leader in the German electrical industry, Siemens’ revenue – like that of other major companies – increased continuously from 1934 and reached its peak during the war years. Image credit: Siemens Historical Institute

The Squadron was also involved in the first bombing raid on Berlin during the night of 25/26 August 1940. Six of its Hampdens were among the 95 aircraft dispatched to bomb Tempelhof Airport near the centre of Berlin and the industrial district of Siemensstadt, in retaliation for the German bombing of London.

Gathering information about the number and frequency of missions undertaken by 61 Squadron it’s impossible not to be overwhelmed by a sense of awe at the conditions in which Bomber Command airmen like Charles operated – and indeed airmen of every nationality who took part in these grim missions.  A total of 57,205 members of RAF Bomber Command or airmen flying on attachment to RAF Bomber Command were killed or posted missing in WW2. Six Hampdens from 61 Squadron alone with their four-man crews were lost on missions over Europe just in the four weeks of June 1940.

Enemy losses were just as shockingly high. The World War II Database records that 424 of the Luftwaffe’s 1,380 bomber aircraft were lost on operations between July and September 1940. A total of 216 Luftwaffe airmen were killed just in June 1940.

Many books have been written about life for members of RAF Bomber Command in WW2.  For an overall picture which covers a multitude of details – everything from the types of aircraft used to the issue of so-called ‘lack of moral fibre’ – you could look here

 

Kiel Harbour was a target for Allied bombing raids throughout WW2. This photo of 19 May 1945 shows the German cruiser Admiral Hipper which was in dry dock at Kiel when the harbour was captured by the Allies. Both the German attempts to camouflage her and the damage caused by Allied bombers can be seen.   Image credit: Imperial War Museums

Further operations in 1941 for 61 Squadron during its time at RAF Hemswell included a raid with 46 other aircraft on 26 June targeting the German naval base of Kiel, and an 83-aircraft raid on Nazi headquarters at Aachen on the night of 9 July.    

From July to October 1941, 61 Squadron was based at RAF North Luffenham, in Rutland. The station had been built as a training airfield, opening in 1940, and had been taken over by Bomber Command’s 5 Group as a heavy bomber base. From the new base the Squadron launched raids on a multitude of targets, mainly in Germany.

A further move for the Squadron, from October 1941 to May 1942, was to the nearby RAF Woolfox Lodge.

 

 

Avro Manchester Image credit: Wikipedia

The Squadron converted in July 1941 to the more modern Avro 679 Manchester aircraft, a twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by the Lancashire-based Avro company.

However, many problems had been experienced with this aircraft by Bomber Command. On 13 April 1941, all Manchesters had been temporarily grounded due to a higher than expected number of engine bearing failures. On 16 June 1941, a second grounding of the type was ordered due to continuing engine troubles. The unserviceability of the Manchester’s Vulture engine had forced squadrons to make use of obsolete bombers such as the Handley Page Hampden in its place.

For 61 Squadron alone, the figures are alarming. Between 16 January and 7 April 1942 eight Manchesters were lost, including four which crashed for unexplained reasons or engine failure. A total of 38 crew were killed in that period.   

On 5 May 1942, a further move for 61 Squadron came when it was relocated to RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire, where it would remain until November 1943.  The station had been built as part of the bomber expansion in the late 1930s, but did not open until 1 December 1940. The first aircraft were Vickers Wellingtons crewed by Polish flyers who had joined the RAF. In July 1941, they were replaced by members of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), flying Handley Page Hampdens. From December 1941 until 5 May 1942, the base was closed whilst a concrete runway was built with two T2 hangars. When it re-opened, it became part of No. 5 Group. Later in 1942, No. 61 would be joined by Nos 106 and 207 Squadrons from the Group.

 

 

Lancaster Mark II of 61 Squadron at RAF Syerston. This particular aircraft, DS604, later joined No. 115 Squadron RAF and was lost over Frankfurt on 10/11 April 1943. Photograph ATP 12118C from the collections of the Imperial War Museums

All three squadrons were now flying the Avro Lancaster, the four-engined heavy bomber which had been developed from the ill-starred Avro Manchester. A long, unobstructed bomb bay meant that the Lancaster could take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the 4,000 lb (1,800 kg), 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) and 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) blockbusters, loads often supplemented with smaller bombs or incendiaries. With a crew of seven, the ‘Lanc’, as it was known colloquially, became one of the most heavily used of the WW2 night bombers.

To list in detail the number of missions undertaken by 61 Squadron from its various bases, including Syerston, would be of limited help in understanding Charles Southcott’s role. But he must have been involved in many, and must have proved his efficiency and resilience to be promoted to Sergeant. While researching 61 Squadron’s activities I came across an article posted as a tribute to one of the Squadron’s WW2 veterans. He was a resident of the village of Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.     

I remember Bleadon only because of participating in the Bleadon Hill Sports as  a teenager many years ago. I still have the hunting horn which I think I won as a prize for keeping up with my elderly labrador Bramble in the dog race. Bleadon is a fairly small village, and the tribute to Flight Lieutenant Leonard Robert Say DFC, DFM, an air gunner with 61 Squadron is remarkable for its length. Posted on the village’s community website it’s truly worth reading for the immense amount of research undertaken by the author. The article gives you an idea of how tough these Bomber Command airmen were. The link is  here 

 

 

A Lancaster pilot at the controls, left; the flight engineer sits next to him Image credit: Wikipedia

As far as we know, Charles was never an air gunner. He is recorded as flight engineer on his last mission, and it was a post of some responsibility, requiring a high mechanical aptitude. The role was introduced in 1942 as the new four-engined heavy bombers required seven-man crews. The flight engineer, usually a sergeant, like Charles, controlled the aircraft's mechanical, hydraulic, electrical and fuel systems. He also assisted the pilot with take-off and landing. He was also the reserve bomb-aimer and helped to look out for enemy fighters. On the ground, he also liaised with the ground crew, who were responsible for servicing and maintaining the aircraft.

Charles, as flight engineer, would have sat beside the pilot and assisted him particularly at landing and at take-off. During the flight he monitored the engines and vitally the fuel efficiency, pumping fuel between the tanks as required; in an emergency, he would be needed to give accurate fuel calculations. It was not unusual for these airmen to be a little older than their colleagues, and to have had prior mechanical experience.  Most aircrew were aged between 19 and 25, and Charles was 29.

 

 

The air and ground crew of Avro Lancaster B Mark I, W4236 'QR-K', of 'A' Flight, No. 61 Squadron RAF, grouped by the nose of the aircraft at Syerston, Nottinghamshire, after it had completed 70 operational flights. Air crew, (standing) left to right: Flying Officer F L Hewish, air bomber; Pilot Officer W H Eager RCAF, pilot and captain; Sergeant F R Stone, wireless operator; Sergeant L S Vanner, rear gunner; Sergeant H T Petts, navigator; Sergeant F R Sharrard, mid-upper gunner; Sergeant L Lawrence, flight engineer. Ground crew, (sitting) left to right: Leading Aircraftsman W A Long, flight mechanic (engines); Corporal C Bowyer, fitter; Leading Aircraftsman J Blackwood, flight mechanic (airframe).  Image credit: Imperial War Museums 

Perhaps there is a photo like this showing Charles with his air crew.  

In the summer of 1942 No. 61 was twice loaned to RAF Coastal Command for anti-submarine operations in the Bay of Biscay. It was detached from its base to St Eval in Cornwall, and on the very first occasion that it operated from there, 17 July, a crew captained by Flight Lieutenant PR Casement (Lancaster I R5724) became the first Bomber Command crew to bring back irrefutable evidence that they had destroyed a U-boat at sea, in the form of a photograph showing the U-boat crew in the water swimming away from their sinking vessel.

That mission was a success. But a month later, on 19 August, Lancaster IR 5605 of 61 Squadron took off from St Eval aerodrome to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. It was later recorded that the seven missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.

 

 

 

Pictured are two aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) in the skies above Lincolnshire, photographed on 29 September 2018.  Top left is Hurricane LF363, painted to represent 249 Squadron Battle of Britain Hurricane ‘GN-F’ on its port side. GN-F was the aircraft flown during the Battle of Britain by fighter ace Wing Commander Tom Neil DFC and Bar AFC AE LdH. 'SD-A' code letters on LF363's starboard side are the code letters of the 501 Squadron Hurricane flown by Paul Farnes DFM also during the Battle of Britain. Also shown is Lancaster PA474 wearing 460 Squadron (RAAF)'s AR-L on her portside and 50 Squadron VN-T on her starboard side. Image credit:  www.defenceimagery.mod.uk         

A notable raid in which Squadron 61 took part was against the Schneider Works at Le Creusot in southern France. The target was a plant that produced steel, rails, locomotives, artillery and other armaments and was largely viewed as the French equivalent of Germany's Krupp Works. Known as Operation Robinson, the mission was undertaken during the daylight hours of 17 October 1942. It was assigned to No. 5 Group because of its conversion to the new Avro Lancaster. The aircraft’s large lift capacity and high speed gave reason for optimism that the raid might succeed. 

Ninety-four Lancasters from eight squadrons took off in mid-afternoon and formed up before heading south and over the Bay of Biscay at 1,000 feet, then turned 90 degrees, dropped altitude down to 100 feet and headed in towards France, racing toward their target over the 300 miles of French countryside at tree-top height.  

Eighty-eight of the aircraft were committed to the main target, while six were to fly on to nearby Montchanin to knock out the coal-fuelled transformer station located there, which supplied electrical power to the plant. Returning crews reported a successful attack, although Bomber Command's Operational Research Section later concluded that bombing had been inaccurate.  Nonetheless, production at the Schneider Works was halted for three weeks, and repairs continued on the plant for eight months. The navigator responsible for the Group maintaining the route and reaching the target on time was Pilot Officer Anthony Stanley Grant, of the Royal Australian Air Force, who served as the navigator in the lead aircraft. To accurately navigate such a long distance over water, with no landmarks for position, and then over land at extremely low altitude was a considerable achievement for which Grant was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). 

 

 

 

Martin Middlebrook in his book The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943 (2006) described the raid as one of the most sophisticated and successful undertaken by the RAF during World War II

Another major bombing raid involving the Squadron was Operation Hydra on the night of 17/18 August 1943. This was an attack by RAF Bomber Command on the German scientific research centre at Peenemünde. Hydra began Operation Crossbow, a campaign against the German V-weapon programme. The RAF lost 215 aircrew, 40 bombers and killed several hundred enslaved workers in the nearby Trassenheide labour camp. However prototype V-2 rocket launches were delayed for about two months, testing and production was dispersed and the morale of the German survivors was severely affected. Two leading V-2 rocket scientists were killed in the raid.  

 

Buildings destroyed in Milan after the August 1943 bombings. Milan Cathedral is in the background. Image credit: Alberto Albertini/Wikipedia  

But Charles was one airman who did not take part in Operation Hydra. Ten days earlier, on the evening of 7 August, his Lancaster Mark III (Serial Number LM339) took off at 9.02 pm from RAF Syerston. The aircraft was one of the 197 bombers which took off from bases in England to carry out a simultaneous bombing of Milan, Turin, and Genoa.   

As the main economic and industrial centre in Italy, and the country's second largest city, Milan had been subjected to heavy bombing during WW2, being the most bombed city in Northern Italy. Throughout 1943, Italy had suffered a series of military disasters, and its dictator Benito Mussolini had been replaced by General Pietro Badoglio. At the beginning of August 1943, the Allies decided to start a series of heavy bombings on the main Italian cities to persuade the Badoglio government to surrender.  

Milan was attacked by 72 aircraft which dropped 201 tons of bombs, mainly incendiaries. Large parts of the city centre were set ablaze; 600 buildings were destroyed, with 161 victims and 281 wounded among the population. The only factory that was damaged was the Pirelli plant. The headquarters of the Corriere della Sera were hit again and partly destroyed. Among the public and historical buildings that suffered heavy damage were the Sforza Castle, the Natural History Museum, the Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte and the Palazzo Sormani. The Pinacoteca di Brera museum was also hit.  

 

 

The Monte Rosa cliffs, Northern Italy Image credit: Maximilian/Wikipedia

It seems that LM339 never reached Milan. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off from Syerston and it failed to return to base. Other aircraft on the same mission reported good weather en route, with light flak and ineffective searchlights. In 2001, information was obtained that a Lancaster had crashed on the Monte Rosa cliffs, near the village of Issime, Italy, in early August 1943. With no other losses recorded that match the criteria given it is assumed that LM339 is the Lancaster in question, and that it crashed on Sunday 8 August. 

Along with Charles, the following crew members were killed: Sergeant Douglas Brown (1317926 - Mid Upper Gunner); Flying Officer Eric Filmer (132872 - Air Bomber/Bomb Aimer); Pilot Officer Henry Halkier (149519 – Pilot); Flight Sergeant Edmond Rhys Smart (417006 - Rear Gunner); Sergeant David Wilkie Thirsk (1512169 - Navigator; Sergeant Frank Edward West (1331511 - Wireless Air Gunner).

 

 

Image credit: State Library of South Australia Photo B 64375

All were members of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve apart from Edmond Rhys Smart who was a member of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He is seen in the above photo, far right, back row, along with other members of Course 22 at No. 4 Initial Training School (ITS), Royal Australian Air Force, at Victor Harbour, South Australia. I wonder whether there is a similar photo somewhere, showing Charles Southcott.    

As has already been mentioned, Charles’ mother, Jean, suffered a double tragedy when she lost both her husband and her son in two wars. I noticed that a similar tragedy had befallen the parents of Flying Officer Eric Filmer, the bomb aimer on LM339. Two years earlier, on 13 October 1941, they had lost a second son, Flight Sergeant Francis Filmer, when his Blenheim light bomber had been shot down at Sherington in Buckinghamshire.

 

 

Charles Philip Southcott’s grave  

Image credit: www.findagrave.com                

Along with other members of LM339’s crew, Charles is buried in Milan War Cemetery, and is remembered at the Runnymede RAF Memorial in Englefield Green, near Windsor.

 

 

Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Most of the graves in Milan War Cemetery, pictured above, were those of prisoners-of-war or airmen and were brought in from the surrounding towns and villages after the war. Milan War Cemetery contains 417 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 27 of them unidentified. There are also six war graves of other nationalities.

So far I have not been able to locate any members of Charles’ family. The Devon Remembers website, which was set up to mark the centenary of WW1, notes for George Southcott that ‘the family do not seem to have stayed in the area’.  But I did wonder about the Mrs Southcott mentioned in the online local history document entitled 'The first hundred years of the Budleigh Salterton Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club'. She was apparently the new Stewardess at the Club in April 1945, but difficulties arose when it turned out that she was not prepared to work on Sundays and voluntary helpers had to be recruited. And then, in the following month, May, she resigned. Could she have been Charles’ mother, I wondered? 

Or even his widow, Katherine? However, as pointed out by Exmouth researcher Carol Fogg, Katherine was living in Exmouth rather than Budleigh Salterton at this time. The Western Morning News of 17 August 1943, noting that Charles had been ‘reported missing while on active operations’, gives her address as 18 Madeira-villas, Exmouth.

So many questions about this terrible time in the world’s history!

The next post is for MARINE JOHN PHILIP RICHARDS (1924-43), who died on 6 September, 1943, at Dalditch Camp, near Budleigh Salterton. 

You can read about him at   

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