Yanks in the RAF: The Story of Maverick Pilots and American Volunteers Who Joined Britain's Fight in WWII
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Yanks in the RAF: The Story of Maverick Pilots and American Volunteers Who Joined Britain's Fight in WWII
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633880238 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Prometheus Books |
| Publication date: | 06/02/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 281 |
| Sales rank: | 857,271 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
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Yanks In The Raf
The Story of Maverick Pilots and American Volunteers Who Joined Britain's Fight in WWII
By David Alan Johnson
Prometheus Books
Copyright © 2015 David Alan JohnsonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63388-023-8
CHAPTER 1
NONE OF AMERICA'S BUSINESS
Mike Kolendorski had a dramatic announcement for his family: he was going to England to join the Royal Air Force. It was a decision he had made by himself, without consulting any of his relatives. The reaction he received was predictable, considering the mood of Americans toward England in the spring of 1940.
His family told Mike that he was crazy—the war was England's worry, not his. As an American, he had no quarrel with the Germans. And as a Californian, he did not owe the British one damn thing. California was not at war with Germany and had never, not even in 1776, been a British colony. He would be much better off, he was told, if he stayed home and got a good job.
Besides, it looked as though the British had already lost the war. The British Army had just been chased out of France—what was left of it had been evacuated from Dunkirk, wherever the hell that was—and it looked like Hitler was going to invade England any day. Before the summer was over, the German army would probably be in London.
This was a popular point of view among Americans in the spring and summer of 1940, when Britain faced Germany and its vaunted Luftwaffe all alone. Even the American ambassador in London, Joseph P. Kennedy (father of future president John F. Kennedy), was telling anyone who would listen that the British were not only losing the war, but that they had no chance of winning it.
Many American reporters in Britain shared Kennedy's opinion that "chances now seem[ed] less than even that the British Isles [could] hold out" for six months "against intensive bombing followed by an attempted invasion." It was hard to understand why anybody would want to volunteer to join the air force of a country that was going to lose. Besides, the war was none of America's business.
The reasons for wanting to join the Royal Air Force were hard to express, even for a young Polish-American who knew all the answers. Hardly any of the American volunteers, in the RAF or any other branches of the British armed services, could explain their motives very clearly. This was partly because they were young and inarticulate, partly because their reasons were difficult to put into words, and partly because they did not really know the reasons themselves.
Mike Kolendorski did have concrete reasons for wanting to leave home and join the RAF. He and his family still had close ties with Poland, and they spoke Polish at home. Going into the British air force was the best way he knew to fight the enemy who had overrun his family's homeland. He had very strong feelings about this—so strong, in fact, that they would prove to be his undoing.
But most did not have such clear-cut motives. Some joined out of idealism; they had read Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and wanted to fight the Nazis like Hemingway's hero fought the Fascists in Spain. Others had the feeling that the United States would be in the war sooner or later and that their experiences in the RAF might prove useful later on in the US forces. Some were just restless and looking for a bit of excitement; one volunteer said that it was like running away to join the circus.
One American who volunteered to join the Royal Air Force, James A. Goodson, was just mad as hell at the Germans. He had been aboard the British ocean liner Athenia when it was torpedoed by a U-boat on the day that war was declared in September 1939. The idea of joining up occurred to him when he landed in Scotland with some other survivors. In Glasgow he happened to pass a recruiting station and asked one of the men on duty, "Can I join your RAF?" (He actually did not join until he recrossed the Atlantic and made his way to Canada to join the RCAF—Royal Canadian Air Force.)
American author Mary Lee Settle volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) of the RAF. She is not exactly sure why she joined. She puts it down to being romantic.
Another volunteer who went through Canada to join the RAF explained that he was twenty years old at the time, not going anywhere in particular, and brainless. He had heard that the British were looking for pilots to fight the Germans. Because he was young and stupid and interested in airplanes, he thought he might as well give it a try and join the RAF. In other words, it was a form of temporary insanity.
As an afterthought, he mentioned that all of his relatives tended to agree with him. They thought he was a goddamn screwball; it was bad enough to be drafted into the American army, but to volunteer—and with the British air force, at that—was something they just could not get over.
The idea to recruit American pilots for foreign forces first occurred to Colonel Charles Sweeny, a wealthy American businessman with family connections in London. His original intention was to send his recruits to France and l'Armée de l'Air, the French air force. This plan was modeled on the precedent of the Lafayette Escadrille, a group of Americans who volunteered to fly for France in the First World War.
Thirty-two of Sweeny's l'Armée de l'Air volunteers reached France in early 1940. But when France surrendered in June of that year, the Americans found themselves trapped by the advancing German forces. Four of them were killed; nine others were taken prisoner. Six of the group managed to escape to England, and five of these found their way into the Royal Air Force.
The young volunteers may have been vague about their reasons for joining, and sometimes did not seem to have any reason at all, but Britain's Royal Air Force had one solid reason for accepting the Americans—they were desperate for pilots.
After the British army had been evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940, the Luftwaffe began operating from airfields in northern France. With the Germans just across the channel from the beaches of southern England, the British Air Ministry had a dire need for trained pilots. Prime Minister Winston Churchill had already referred to the upcoming air battle as the "Battle of Britain." It was certain that RAF Fighter Command would be needing as many trained pilots as it could get.
American volunteers were not the only source for pilots—Fighter Command was scouring flyers from everyplace available. The Royal Navy transferred seventy-five of its pilots to the RAF, many of whom were only partially—and very hurriedly—trained to fly fighter planes. A few army pilots who flew unarmed reconnaissance planes were also pressed into service as fighter pilots.
Even more welcome were the combat-seasoned pilots from countries that were now occupied by the Germans: Belgians, French, Czechs, and Poles. There were very few of them, however—only twelve French pilots managed to escape to England, and just twenty-nine Belgians got away—and these pilots also had their drawbacks. Many were not used to advanced fighters like the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Most had flown planes with fixed landing gear. After giving an expert display of loops, rolls, and dives, they would sometimes wreck their planes when they forgot to put their wheels down before landing.
Language was another problem. The Polish pilots, for instance, were among the best and most determined in RAF Fighter Command, but they did not speak a word of English. They would address their squadron leader as mon commandant and the flight lieutenant as mon capitaine. They would have to learn the rudiments of Standard English, at least, before they could become operational. They would also have to learn basic flight jargon, such as "angels," "vector," "bogie," and "bandit." Without the ability to communicate with ground controllers, the Poles would be as good as useless, for all their experience and determination.
In an attempt to minimize the language barrier, Fighter Command asked permission to accept American volunteers. The Yanks might not have the combat techniques of the Poles, the French, or the Czechs, but at least they spoke a language that was roughly similar to English. They could be vectored toward an incoming enemy bomber formation by ground control and usually could be understood when they spoke.
And so, with the approval of the Air Ministry, American citizens were recruited to join the RAF. Advertisements were even placed in American newspapers. This notice appeared in the New York Herald Tribune:
LONDON July 15 [1940]: The Royal Air Force is in the market for American flyers as well as American airplanes. Experienced airmen, preferably those with at least 250 flying hours, would be welcomed by the RAF.
The article went on to advise candidates that to join the RAF they would be required to travel to Canada at their own expense and would also have to pass the physical examination. "For such volunteers," the notice went on, "there will be no question about signing or swearing an oath of allegiance to the British crown."
When George VI waived the oath of allegiance in June, it was an open admission of the historical prejudices between the two countries. The Air Ministry feared that the oath would frighten away any potential American volunteers, since no American would swear loyalty to the great-great-great-grandson of George III.
Occasionally, however, the oath did become a point of controversy. An RAF group captain, apparently not aware that the requirement had been waived, announced to eight incoming Americans that His Majesty would accept them as pilots as soon as they had sworn allegiance to him. It was a tense few minutes until the group captain was taken aside and corrected by another officer. Maybe it was because of what had been promised in the newspaper notice, or maybe it was because of George III and the Boston Tea Party and Bunker Hill—whatever it was, all eight of the American volunteers were ready to go home instead of taking the oath.
But the oath of allegiance was only one obstacle. A far greater problem was the three Neutrality Acts that had been passed by Congress in the 1930s.
The United States was a neutral country in the summer of 1940 and was determined to stay that way. One of the three Neutrality Acts made it a criminal offence to join the armed forces of a "belligerent nation"—including Britain. It was against the law for an American citizen to join the RAF. Anyone caught trying faced the prospect of stiff punishment: ten years in prison, a $20,000 fine, and loss of US citizenship.
Six potential volunteers found out about the Neutrality Acts the hard way. They had spoken with Colonel Sweeny and, in late 1940, headed for the Canadian border to join the RAF. Just before their train crossed the border and made its first stop inside Canada, the six young fellows were met by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI men gave them a choice: either go back home or go to prison. It was not a hard decision—the six went back home. But they did try again. On the second attempt they made it to Canada without any interference and, finally, over to England.
When James A. Goodson joined the RCAF, he was warned that he would probably lose his US citizenship because of the US Neutrality Acts. He understood that all other US citizens received the same warning from the RCAF and RAF.
The warning did not deter young Mr. Goodson. He also made the trip from the United States to Canada to England, where he flew Spitfires with 133 (Eagle) Squadron. Pilot Officer Goodson transferred to the US 4th Fighter Group in 1942, when the Eagle Squadrons (there were three of them by this time) were absorbed into the US Eighth Air Force. The Americans were very glad to receive such an experienced fighter pilot into their command. P/O Goodson was commissioned as a lieutenant (the equivalent US rank to P/O), and all warnings concerning loss of US citizenship were conveniently forgotten.
The Neutrality Acts did not prevent other young Americans from joining the RAF, either. Colonel Sweeny was responsible for recruiting many of the volunteers. Some made their own way to England. They either went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, or they booked passage to England as "reporters" or under other false covers. A Wall Street banker told the customs official in Boston that he was going to Canada "for some shooting."
The official records of the Royal Air Force list only seven Americans as having served with RAF Fighter Command in the summer of 1940. But there were many, many more than this. Because it was against the law to join, any number of Americans would not divulge their true nationality when signing their enlistment papers. Nobody knows exactly how many pilots, "officially" listed as Canadians or as Commonwealth citizens, were actually American. Especially suspect are those with Anglo-Saxon names like Johnson, Little, or Mitchell. Air Ministry records list them as Canadian, which is no proof that they really were. Many of them were "American Canadians."
One such American pilot in Fighter Command is mentioned by Pilot Officer Donald Stones of 79 Squadron. P/O Stones recalled a Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Davis, "an American who had been commissioned in the RAF before the war." According to Stones, Jimmy Davis was shot down and killed on the same day that King George visited Biggin Hill, 79 Squadron's base, to award decorations. Davis was to have received the Distinguished Flying Cross on that occasion. The king asked about the remaining DFC on the table and was told about the expatriate American. Stones thought the King was "quite moved."
As it turned out, Stones had his names confused, although his facts were correct. The American pilot he remembered was named Davies, not Davis. (No one named Jimmy Davis is listed in any official records as belonging to any RAF fighter squadron during the Battle of Britain.) Jimmy Davies certainly was an American; he was born in Bernardsville, New Jersey, in 1913. He came to Britain in the early 1930s and was commissioned in the RAF in 1936. He is credited with shooting down one of the first German airplanes of the war—a Dornier Do 17 on November 21, 1939, which he shared with a British flight-sergeant named Brown.
By the time Flight Lieutenant Davies was shot down and killed on June 25, 1940, he was officially credited with six enemy-aircraft destroyed. That would make him the first American "ace" of the Second World War.
Nobody really knows how many "secret Americans" served in the Royal Air Force in the summer of 1940, or how many Canadians were actually "American Canadians," and there are few clues. The only traces that remain of their true nationality are nicknames, buried in the war records—"Tex," or "America," or "Uncle Sam."
One American who made no secret of his citizenship was Billy Fiske. Chicago-born, William Mead Lindsley Fiske III was the son of an international banker and attended Cambridge University. After leaving Cambridge, he enjoyed a life of wealth and leisure, became a champion toboggan sledder, and entered society when he married the former wife of the Earl of Warwick. Fiske settled in England, where he did weekend flying during the 1930s. With his influential friends and family connections, he had no trouble at all getting into the RAF Auxiliary in 1940.
In July, Pilot Officer Fiske was posted to 601 Squadron. Auxiliary squadrons, including 601, were made up mainly of wealthy young men of social standing. In prewar days, pilots were selected for the Auxiliaries because of their school, their club, and their social connections rather than for their talent for flying. These units have been referred to as associations of snobbery and class prejudice.
Number 601, nicknamed "the millionaire's squadron," was no exception. "They wore red linings in their tunics and mink linings in their overcoats," according to Mrs. Fiske. "They were arrogant and looked terrific, and probably the other squadrons hated their guts."
Billy Fiske was highly thought of by the other members of his squadron. His commander, F/Lt. Archibald Hope called Fiske "the best pilot I've ever known ... natural as a fighter pilot. He was also terribly nice and extraordinarily modest. He fitted into the squadron very well."
During the Battle of Britain, 601 Squadron was based at Tangmere. The Tangmere wing was responsible for the defense of southern England against the German bomber fleets. In July and August, the Germans did their best to destroy Fighter Command and its airfields in preparation for the pending invasion of England. Operational fighter squadrons, including 601, saw combat nearly every day.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Yanks In The Raf by David Alan Johnson. Copyright © 2015 David Alan Johnson. Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface: From Belligerent Allies to the Special Relationship, 9,Chapter One: None of America's Business, 13,
Chapter Two: Historical Prejudices, 41,
Chapter Three: A Very Odd Assortment, 59,
Chapter Four: Failures to Communicate, 75,
Chapter Five: Conflicts and Rivalries, 89,
Chapter Six: Colorful Characters and "Old School Tie Boys", 109,
Chapter Seven: No More Bloody Yanks!, 125,
Chapter Eight: Belligerent Allies, 137,
Chapter Nine: Yankee Doodle Goes to Town, 159,
Chapter Ten: Like a Great Sustained Roar, 175,
Chapter Eleven: A Most Democratic Army, 193,
Chapter Twelve: More English than the English, 207,
Chapter Thirteen: You're an American, I Believe, 231,
Acknowledgments, 241,
Appendix A: Equivalent Ranks, 245,
Appendix B: Pilots Who Served with the Three Eagle Squadrons, 247,
Notes, 257,
Select Bibliography, 271,
Index, 277,