To refine their accuracy in marking the targets, the Pathfinders used sophisticated navigational aids, one of which was Oboe. 109 Squadron, flying Oboe-fitted Mosquitoes, were often leaders in the bombing raids, and they had a number of star aircrew, including Group Captain H Bufton, one of Oboe’s pioneers. See our new page for Mosquito Week: Mosquito Squadrons & Oboe
Category: PFF Mosquito Squadrons
RAF Accident Report, Parlato and Orchard
This report is not only of great interest because of the men involved in this particular accident, but also because it shows us the type of report which was compiled on flying accidents by the RAF. Unfortunately, due to the post-war ‘slash and burn’ attitude of the British towards their RAF records, this type of information is extraordinarily hard to obtain on RAF aircrew and it is usually only by going to the Dominion records (if a Dominion airman was on that crew) that one can get information on what happened.
See our new page: RAF Accident Reports: Parlato and Orchard
Sid Parlato, Mosquito Pilot
In our two posts on Monday and Tuesday of this week, we gave some details of Sid Parlato’s time as a Mosquito pilot in the Pathfinders. Since then we have been contacted by Parlato’s great-nephew, Pete McGraw, himself ex-Air Force (RAAF), who has sent a photograph of Sid’s grave and other details of his great-uncle. Sid Parlato, Mosquito Pilot
The People’s Mosquito
Here is something well worthy of attention during our Mosquito Week.
The People’s Mosquito has a simple vision (and a great many highly qualified and enthusiastic people to back it up): to not only return a de Havilland Mosquito to the skies above Britain, but, for the first time in more than 75 years, build this iconic aircraft in the UK.
People with long memories may remember the crash at an airshow on 21 July 1996 of the last airworthy Mosquito in the world. Sadly both men in the aircraft were killed and the Mosquito itself was totally destroyed.
At the time it looked as if Mosquitoes would never again be seen flying in this country. And so this is where the People’s Mosquito comes in, a not-for-profit restoration project and registered charity.
They have an excellent informative website: The People’s Mosquito website. Of particular interest to me personally is this page featuring the entire film shot by Brian Harris, DFC, when he was a navigator on Mosquitoes with 627 Squadron in August 1944. 627 Squadron was one of the Pathfinder Mosquito squadrons ‘loaned’ to 5 Group in April 1944. 5 Group was always vastly more keen on PR and publicity than 8 Group. This is probably the reason why such a film was shot under Cochrane’s auspices, rather than Bennett’s.
The film shows Mosquitoes preparing and then flying on the raid on Deelen airfield in Holland at mid-day on 15 August 1944. This raid was took place as part of the preparations for Operation Market Garden, the operation to capture several Dutch bridges including that at Arnhem. Deelen airfield was used as a base for German fighters. Following several raids that month, the airfield was put out of commission for fighter aircraft.
One of the many fascinations of the film is seeing Mosquitoes and ground crew in colour, not to mention the historical landscape known so well to Bomber Command aircrew, including Cambridge colleges and Lincoln Cathedral.
JENNIE MACK GRAY
Illustrations: stills from the film.
Mossie Week, Continued
Further to yesterday’s post, which included photos of Dai Thomas and Sid Parlato, here is a page in Dai Thomas’s logbook, made when he and his pilot, Sid Parlato, were at 139 Squadron at Wyton during September to November 1943.
Mosquitoes relied on their speed and agility to get them out of trouble, but on 26 September the crew was unlucky. The first entry in the logbook page below tells of the aircraft being hit by flak, and the pilot (Sid Parlato) being injured. The corresponding entry in Sid Parlato’s logbook is believed to read: ‘Moderate flak. Aircraft hit including self.’
The deadpan factual nature of the comments is very striking. However, it is clear from the gap in the crew’s operations afterwards that something far from trivial had happened.
Looking up 627 Squadron’s ORB, we find a brief description of the incident, including the detail that Sid Parlato had been hit just above the left knee and that there had been considerable damage to the aircraft:
Perhaps on the same principle as you need to get back on a horse after a fall, Dai Thomas was flying the following day on an NFT (Night Flying Test) with a different pilot. Apart from one further NFT, his logbook does not show him flying again until 16 October, and then only on NFTs and Gee training, also with different pilots.
Finally, Sid Parlato rejoined him on 22 October, close to a month after the Homborn flight in which he had been injured. They flew an NFT together and then an operation against Frankfurt, after which the normal pattern of ops resumed.
Enormous courage and a strong sense of duty were what it took to be Pathfinders.
Logbook images courtesy of Michael Thomas.
Mosquito Week
We’re having a Mosquito week this week, inspired by the wonderful project The People’s Mosquito which we will be giving more details of in the coming days.
Below: article in an American paper, the Evening Post, 3 March 1945. Dai Thomas on the far left of the group. Courtesy of Michael Thomas.
Bennett on the PFF Mosquitoes
“The experts on the Air Staff who turned down the Mosquito as a type in the early days might be interested in the argument which subsequently became current to the effect that one Mosquito was worth seven Lancasters. For those mathematically minded, here is the exercise: A Mosquito carried a little over half the bomb load of a Lancaster to Berlin. Its casualty rate was about 1/10th of that of the Lancaster. Its cost was 1/3rd of the Lancaster, and it carried two people in its crew instead of seven.”
To read more, see our new Page: Bennett on the PFF’s Mosquitoes
How Did this Mosquito Land?
We have been sent some sensational photographs of a Mosquito that made it safely to the ground in what can only be described as a tattered condition.
To see these pictures and possibly answer the great mystery about what happened, see our new page: How Did this Mosquito Land?
Peter Drane, from Lancaster to Mosquito
Peter Drane was a 97 Squadron Lancaster pilot who, in a most unusual move, transferred to a Mosquito squadron, 139 Squadron, after completing his tour in August 1944. His navigator did not want to transfer with him, and Peter crewed up with another 97 Squadron navigator, Kenneth Swale, who also transferred shortly after Peter. It seems highly likely that Peter and Ken had agreed to fly together before their transfers.
Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending, and both were killed early the following year due to that old adversary, the English weather. Peter Drane, from Lancaster to Mosquito