A Long and Demanding First African Assignment

Heroes Remember

A Long and Demanding First African Assignment

Transcript

A number of us were chosen to go down and fly across Africa. Take air planes across. So we went from Freetown to Takoradi, where the RAF had a base and where they were assembling air planes, Hurricanes and Blenheims. And these were being flown across to the Cairo area to get in to the battle in the dessert. You’re given a Hurricane to check out and get a few hours in with the long range tanks and then you took off. And a Blenheim was a, the mother ship because you would land it six or seven different places, several hundred miles apart across Africa. You’d cross over Tarzan’s country and then to the dessert country and then finally you end up in Khartoum and fly up the Nile to Cairo. But in the dessert, they... Italians had been pushed back and practically decimated. And then all the British and the Allies, the British at that time, were advancing and they had passed Tubruq and they were in the area of the south of Benghazi. And so when we, there were six or seven of us slated to go to this squadron and we took off in an old Bombay-type air plane. That’s a nice air plane but it’s an old, old vintage type. Twin engine, looked like a bit of a cigar. We left and we got up past Tubruq . Al ‘Adam was a base out there in the dessert. And you’d park there overnight and he was trying to find out where the squadrons were to take us to, you see. So they get the word that the squadrons were up south of Benghazi and this pilot had been around there before. So we took off the next morning. We flew right on the deck. You could just see the wheels just off... He said so he could land very quickly on the runway incase the 109's came. We landed at this field. We land there and there’s really nothing. You know, there’s a few tents, it’s all sand and brush and things like that. We get out of the air plane and (inaudible) two 88's come over the field and dropping the bombs on the runway. Interviewer: These are Junkers 88? Junkers 88, first ones I’d ever seen, you know, and the flak’s going off, they’re firing away, like a big noise. We’re standing there looking at them and somebody says, “Come on! Get out of here! Come on to the mess.” So we go in to the mess and by the air planes go away, apparently didn’t do much damage on the dry runway. We go in to the mess and we find out that here’s the remnants of the squadron. The CO, two flight commanders, and some pilots had all been shot down the day before by the 109's. These guys are flying Hurricanes, see. And the squadron’s in disrepair. They haven’t got many air planes left and it rained very hard, which is most unusual. It’s in January, though. That’s the rainy season. And the air planes that are on stand-by, the Hurricanes are on stand-by on the runway, can’t get off, see, because they’re up to their wheels in mud. Their wheels are buried in the mud. And I remember saying to the...asking this fellow “What are you doing down there if you can’t get air born?” “Oh, well we’re sitting in there, anyway. Feels better.” He says, “They can’t scramble us.” And they were in sad shape. A few days later, we were on the retreat. The Germans have broken through and they’re pushing us back now. So we haven’t got enough air planes to fly and we haven’t flown for a few weeks. So, we get in to the big trucks and we’re just another troop, and go back across the dessert, you know. It was pretty rough, bouncing and dusty and hot. We always retreat and then recuperate, see, and then depending on who’s the closest to their supplies will get sorted out and make the next attack, see. And we’re now at the...if the Germans get organized before we do, their next attack under Rommell pushes us out of the Tubruq area right back to the Allemagne area. And this took us a couple months.

Description

A true adventure story about the danger, anecdotes and woes of the pilots. Mr. Edwards takes us, step by step, through the many long months of action and inaction of his Desert Campaign.

James Francis Edwards

Mr. Edwards was born on a farm near Lockwood, Saskatchewan on June 5th 1921. His father, a First World War Veteran, kept horses until the depression forced him to move the family to Battleford where he became an insurance salesman. His mother had been a nurse during the First World War. In June 1940, Mr. Edwards enlisted in the Air Force. He was sent to the Brandon, Manitoba to do his Initial Training, then to Edmonton, Alberta for Flying School. After completing Flying School, Mr. Edwards was sent to overseas. He was assigned to 55 Operational Training Unit in Osworth, England where he flew Hurricanes. From there he was posted to Africa to take part in the Desert Campaign. Among many battles and operations, he took part in the El Alamein Battle (Egypt) and the Tunisian Campaign. In Egypt, he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. After a period in Cairo running a gunnery school, he was called back to combat in Italy. There he fought in the Battle of Ortona and Anzio and he was given his own squadron, the RAF 274. He was shot down on his first flight as squadron commander. Surviving, he and his crew were sent back to England to take part in D-Day. He would also fight in Holland and Germany. In total, Mr. Edwards served two tours of duty, flying over 360 missions. He had more than 19 confirmed kills. After the war was over he returned to Canada and continued service with the air force retiring as a wing commander.

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