This is something I've been meaning to post for a while ever since reading Charles Lamb's War in A Stringbag. So here goes (with excerpts from the book). First a bit of background. By the time of the Greek campaign in early 1941, Lamb and his fellow HMS Illustrious pilots had been operating in the Med, survived the dive bombing attack on the carrier (Lamb was shot down in his Swordfish and picked up by a destroyer) which limped into Malta and had operated briefly in North Africa. With the redeployment of 30,000 soldiers to Greece, the remnants of the Illustrious squadrons were sent as well, reformed as 815 Sqn. Initally based at Maleme airfield in Crete, the 'fish performed daylight anti-submarine patrols. While the Germans were not officially at war with the Greeks, Maleme was a daily target (interception was provided by "Lt Cdr Alan Black, and his Brewsters (!!!!) and Fulmars...and the RAF Hurricanes from Heraklion..."). Eight days after the Germans invaded Bulgaria on March 2, 1941, the Swordfish crews moved to Eleusis, the Athens airport. Here begins the snippets from the book: Page 160: Shortly after we landed, J, Jago, Caldecott-Smith, Torrens-Spence and Sutton were whisked away in a chauffer-driven car to meet AVM John D'Albiac, the Commander of all British forces in Greece. Page 161: When Jago and the others returned the whole squadron was mustered behind closed doors in one of the hangar offices...Jago told us that we were to fly to our forward base in the mountains two days later, on Wednesday, 12 March, for an attack on enemy shipping in Valona harbour the following night. Then he outlined the various aspects of the move, which were fascinating. "I'm afraid that we shall have to leave most of the ratings here," he said, "because our base is right up in the mountains, well into Albania, on enemy territory. It can't be got at by road, so it's inaccessible except by air, and when we fly there we shall have full crews, and the aircraft will all be carrying a torpedo, so not only will there be no room for you in the back, but the aircraft will be overweight if we tried to take you too. We may be able to take one or two of you up there later. "There are two RAF squadrons already there, a Blenheim squadron and a Wimpey squadron. They have been bombing enemy positions for some weeks, and the Italians are trying hard to find out where they are based so that they can return the compliment. It is vital to keep the wherabouts of the base a secret...Althought the Italians have tried very hard, and have searched the mountains daily with reconnaissance aircraft, they haven't yet been able to find it, and from the directions we have just been given on how to get there I'm not in the least surprised! It's going to be difficult enough to find even though we have been told where it is." The crews had to fly up the Gulf of Corinth and then out to sea through the Gulf of Patras, and up the west coast of Greece to the island of Corfu. "From the southernmost tip of Corfu we set course due east, and fly to the Albanian coast, a distance of ten or so miles. But...if we are sighted by fighters we are to turn back at once. In no circumstances are we to lead them to the base, which is called the "Valley of Paramythia"." The AVM was very forthright on this point; he said that it would be better to lose the entire...squadron than give away the position... "When we fly towards Albania from Corfu we should be able to see a huge range of mountains on our starboard hand. The whole country is a mass of mountains...It's the third on the right as we fly into Albania! When we get closer to it we should be able to see a wide dry river-bed at its foot. This points to the north and all we have to do is follow it all the way to Paramythia. Apparently it is clearly visible from the air, but it curves like a snake so don't be surprised if we keep altering course. It...leads us through a gap in the mountains surrounding the valley. The gap is wide enough for the Blenheim squadron so it must be wide enough for us, but just in case one of you isn't looking where he's going we'll get into line astern when we cross the Albanian coast. "The valley...is ten miles long, and three thousand feet deep, surrounded by mountains...which are six thousand feet high. Since the valley is three thousand feet above sea level, when we take off to do the attack we shall have to climb at least another three thousand feet before we set course for Valona. With torpedoes, our speed when climbing will be reduced to about 70 knots... On taking off we shall have to circle, inside the valley, before we are clear, and that's what is worrying the AVM. It's pretty grim territory for flying...the Blenheims and Wimpeys won't fly at night. They argue...they would never be able to find the river-bed in the dark. I have explained that we are a night-attack squadron and that we would rather take the chance of hitting the mountains than attack...in daylight...we pointed out that we can time our attacks so that we approach the valley at dawn...as a compromise...we [will] only fly...when there is a moon... Torpedo re-arming would require a flight back to Athens so the squadron was split into flights with one always ready to attack. After flying up there, Page 164: I was quite overcome by the incredible beauty of it all. It had been very aptly named by generations of Albanians...in their own tongue they called it "The Valley of Fairy Tales". The AVM had told Jackie Jago and he had pulled our legs about it, saying that no doubt some of us would feel doubly at home there. Page 165: Food presented no problem in the mountains...The local Albanians came down from the mountains several times a week, bearing huge carcasses slung from a pole between their shoulders...I learned that they had disliked being under the domination of the Italians ever since Mussolini had caused his armies to descend on them on Good Friday in 1939. Page 166: When we arrived at Paramythia the land fighting was well to the south of us and, officially, we were on enemy territory... The squadron left Paramythia on April 17 and, I think but can't find the reference, that the airfield was eventually bombed by the Germans. The whole point of posting all of this was that I had never heard of this secret airfield and have found little reference to it. Have found it fascinating. Fuel had initially been supplied by Bostons as well so it is all very intriguing (even the RN use of Brewsters in Greece which was new to me)!
Here are some pictures: RJ Dudman and a details on these sites which I've been meaning to post for a while: The Greek PZL fighters Air War
Thanks Kyt, I found the last link particularly valuable but the photos and the artwork of the other two links are magic. Makes me wonder if anything is left at Paramythia these days given its apparent inaccessability. I'm sure it is regularly visited by helicopters!
One of the chaps I'm researching (Wing Commander Paddy Coote) arrived at Paramythia on 19 Feb 1941 to set up an Advanced Operations Wing. He was killed in action on a terrible day for the RAF, 13 April 1941 when 6 Blenheims were shot down in 4 minutes.
Hello guys, I am bringing back this very special subject after long time of no update, as I am searching elements related to this airport. The reason? I am from Paramythia, I grew up in this small town and I love aviation. Furthermore, I have the advantage to know a lot of elder people who used to work to the "airport" during 1941 and as a result I got a lot of "first-hand" information that cannot be found in the books. Of course I also search clues and historical facts from books and the internet. My goal is to write the full history of our old airport, which would be the very first try of something like this. I would like to ask you whether you have got any pages in your books, with chapters refering to this airport or having any kind of photos from there. Specifically, I am searching clues or information about the German use of the airport, which was at peak during September 1943. I have absolutely no clues about it, except some italian documents which show that the airport was in use by the Germans, bombing the Ionian Islands during this period. Any help would be great! Thanks in advance! Cheers, Themis PS As this is my very first post and I am newbie in this forum, if you think that I could post my request in another place of the forum, please let me know! Thank you!
Welcome to the forum Themis. First things first I think you need to sit down with all the older generation and record their stories and memories. Multiples for each individual as each time you talk they will tell you something new. This is the most urgent thing, researching books is secondary right now. Second, put some of those stories up here!
Hi Themis Kitty is right. The books will always be there but the older people won't be. However, putting up requests like this means you can spend your time interviewing people and anyone with books you might not have can do some research for you.
Hello friends and thank you for your answers. You are right about the people an the interviews, that's exactly what I try to do. But, there is a small detail: whatever someone tells you (except fot personal views) you have to check out to find if it's true or not. And this is achieved through bibliography. We have to consider that most of the people who lived the years of the airfield, were about 10-14 years old. So the memories are probably good, but the information according to aircrafts and operations, might be wrong. For example, in the last interview that I had with an old man, I noticed a confusion between English, Italians and Germans. It is normal that someone is not able to know the air forces that used the airport, and this is the point where I have to put the information in order. Anyway, having interviews with old people who lived during this years, is something fascinating for someone who searches for the history of this airfield. The main impression that is common among the people with whom I talked, apart from personal points of view, is that the worst people that came to the area, was the English. I am really sorry to tell something like this, but all of them agree on this point. This impression came by the fact that the RAF used them, and put them under mandatory work under very bad working conditions as well as the attitude and the behaviour of the Englishmen was awful. Anyway, this is just a piece of all these impressions that these people shared with me, just to show that (as you already mentioned) interviews give you something that you can never find in books. Thank you for you help and assistance. I hope to continue interviewing people.
afraid the RAF can be like that. Keep up the interviews as you say, and then I am afraid you will probably need to travel for the amount of research you will need to do. If you know which squadrons operated from the airfield then contact the squadron associations if they are still active (many have now folded due to dwindling numbers of members) and ask for their help through newsletters etc and their own records, and then you will need to access the Operational Record Books (ORBs) at The National Archives in Kew, London. It seems that due to the amount of research you will need to do that others can only supply you with bits and pieces.
Can anyone give me an accurate Latitude and Longitude to the airfield used by the Swordfish during WW2. I have followed the directions indicated in Charles Lambs book with uncertain results.
