Hey all, I'm halfway through doing Fields' backstory and I've decided to change it; he's a pilot of a Bristol Beaufort in the Mediterranean and wins his DFC & Bar there while on anti-shipping and bombing raids. Could I create a Beaufort squadron that is based in the Med for this? Did they do any missions besides anti-shipping and bombing?
Beauforts were also used for Recon However, it is highly unlikely for a Beaufort pilot to end up as a BC pilot, or command a BC, especially a Pathfinder, squadron. On transfer back to the UK, someone with experience of Beaufort operations in Med (which were predominantly anti-shipping) would have been assigned Coastal Command duties, probably with one of the Beaufighter/Mosquito Strike Squadrons that ventured across the North Sea and the Channel to hit enemy ships.
Well, I guess I might have to put in that he gets posted to fly Beaus in CC, then he tries time and time again to get posted to BC, but they'll post him to the SOE, with Lysanders, then they finally give in, and finally give him command of 522 Squadron. Or is that too much war in too shorter period Kyt?
It depends upon what type of story you want to write. If you want to write a Biggles-esque type story then anything is possible (and I'm not dismissing Biggles as loved the books as a kid). However, if you want it to be historical fictionthen it maybe a bit much, going from the Med to CC to Special Ops to BC to Pathfinders.
So, what if Fields has his heart set on a Med posting, but gets sents to flying Blenheims, wins the DFC & Bar, goes to the SOE, gets the DSO, gets a Bar for leading 522, and gets his dream posting to the Med, but gets shot down on a mission while flying as the captain of a Bristol Beaufighter on an anti-shipping raid somewhere near Malta. No one survives. Hmm, I might change it to 1943, since that's when the bombing offensive got underway, and that might give me more room to put more of my ideas in.
That is still a bit of twisted route. he might have flown Blenheims in the early bombing raids which makes him BC, but he would not have served for SOE but in clandstine Flights who carried out the flights for SOE. I would suggest that you read Vol 5 of the RAF Historical Society, as two of the most famous members of the Clandstine flights, give a account of the buld up and operations. To command a Bomber Sqdn, you had to be a Wing Commander, which would make it a strange for him to sent to a Beaufighter unit in the Med, because by the time he made it to Wingco status, he would be due a staff post because of specialist knowledge rather than another flying job.
To give Field's story more credence I think he should do an earlier tour within Bomber Command on Wellingtons, Whitleys or Hampdens
He might be more suited to AI2c who were the people who liased with SOE about their requirements and drafted the oders to the various units. SOE never gave orders directly to operational units.
David, so how does a tour on Blenheims and Whitleys sounds for Harry Fields? Morse, is there anything on the internet about AI2c? So I can look it up?
More than likely his sqdn would have converted to Whitley or even the manchester. As for AI2C, there is only a breif mention in the RAFHS journals, nothing much else.
James, Kyt's right about the Beauforts. Can't let that torpedo training go to waste! If you've got your heart set on a posting to the Med and want to link it to a future BC posting, do as DL suggested and have him flying Wimpey's over North Africa...sometimes doing two raids per night on airfields etc.
