Chapter 8; Ten Million Miles of Sea

The Battle of the Atlantic is being fought over somewhat more than ten and a half million square miles of sea. The rough boundaries of this area are, to the North a line of latitude beyond the Arctic Circle, to the South the Equator, to the East the coasts of Western Europe and of part of Western Africa, to the West the Eastern coasts of Canada, Newfoundland, the U.S.A., the Central and certain of the South American States. Across this vast expanse of ocean, convoys carrying our vital supplies pass to and fro. They are escorted by ships of the Royal Navy and, in addition, as soon as they come within range, by aircraft of Coastal Command, which are the eyes of the ships and the arrows of the defence.

"Since the collapse of France," reported the Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command in July 1940, "the activity of main importance has been air and submarine attacks on shipping. Germany's ability to make use of air bases along the whole of the Northern coasts of France has rendered shipping routes in the Channel and Western Approaches extremely vulnerable to air attack and has resulted in drastic alterations in the routeing of convoys. . . . In Coastal Command the effect has been to change the main centre of convoy activity to an area off the North-West coast of Northern Ireland and to give prominence to our bases in that part of the British Isles."

Steps were immediately taken to increase the number of bases and to make more use of those already in operation. Their importance may be judged from the fact that at one base in Northern Ireland alone 25,591 hours were flown on patrol between July 1940 and November 1941. These bases form the Southern bastion of our Northern air defence. Its Northern bastion is elsewhere, in a foreign land whose shores, in places, cut the Arctic Circle.

It was realised that Scottish and Northern Irish bases alone would not be sufficient. Others had to be found from which to cover the North Atlantic. Coastal Command reached out and established itself in Iceland. That island, larger than Ireland, was occupied by British troops on 10th May, 1940. It was not, however, until 27th August that half a squadron of Battles landed near a little fishing village on its South-Western shores. The other half arrived on l4th September.

Their flight, though uneventful was none the less remarkable, if the limited endurance of this type of aircraft is remembered. It had been necessary to wait several weeks for favourable weather, for the endurance of a Battle would not permit it to cross the seven hundred odd miles of sea separating Scotland from Iceland unless there was a tail wind or no wind at all. They flew in twp groups of nine preceded and followed by a Sunderland to ensure that there would no navigational difficulties.

Before the eyes of the pilots as they drew near stretched a line of black bearing no trace of trees or vegetation. Save for an irregular pattern inscribed upon their dark flanks in streaks of yellowish-green moss.

Beyond, seemingly twenty but in fact some sixty miles away, the shapes of high mountains
and the foot of a glacier a hundred miles long were to be perceived, now dim and hesitant,
now clear cut and bold against a sky whose colour and texture were in constant movement.

On this land of savage yet delicate beauty the Battles alighted by the mouth of a river flowing through a desolate marsh of lava and grey tussocky grass which divides the dark hills from the sullen sea. They began at once to take their part in the fight, a part subsequently played by aircraft more suited to the purpose. Thus by September 1940 the Northern bases had been increased and reinforced.

In the West and South-West of these islands our bases have remained unchanged in number. Their activities, however, were intensified, so much so that in August 1941 the aircraft using them were. finding and attacking U-boats the rate of one every other day in addition to maintaining patrols off Brest and the other French ports on the Atlantic seaboard to watch for any surface raider seeking to break out.

Coastal Command presently moved much farther South, a two days' flight from England, and in the first months of 1941 established a base on the West coast of Africa with a port of call at Gibraltar, which has been an outpost for flying boats since October 1939. Here, in the mouth of a wide river fringed with mangrove swamps and palm scrub, Sunderlands were stationed.

By the spring of 1941, therefore, it will be seen that much had been done to counter the greatly increased striking power of the enemy. Aircraft of Coastal Command were established at various points along the Eastern boundary of the battle area from the hot South to the cold North.

Conditions in the North of this far flung battle line, which touches the Arctic Circle, differ appreciably from those in the South where it touches the Equator. At one station in Iceland the average temperature in December is 30 degrees Fahrenheit, falling sometimes to as low as minus 6 degrees, while at another in West Africa the average during the same month is 81 degrees in the shade, rising on occasions to 95 degrees. Yet the operational problem is the same at any point along this front of some 3,440 miles.

Come first to Iceland. It is of vital importance in the battle. Were it a base for enemy U-boats the toll which Germany would take of our North Atlantic convoys would be many times greater than it is. A glance at the map shows how convenient is its situation. It is, to quote the Admiral in command there, " the Clapham Junction of the North Atlantic." As such it is heavily garrisoned by American and British troops and -protected by units of the Navy and Air Force of both Allies. It is a strange country, warm and inviting in summer, at all other times stark and inscrutable. Within the whole circle of its coasts there is hardly a tree. In summer almost without darkness, in winter almost without light, it guards the secret of its sombre mountains, its still active volcanoes, its geysers and its glaciers, silent and aloof under the Northern Lights.

Aerodromes have been built in the lava swamps on which the Battles landed in August 1940 and elsewhere. The runways have been made of concrete and lava dust laid on a bed of stones. The aircraft are protected from the fierce and sudden winds by " breaks " fifteen feet high built in the Icelandic fashion of lava faced with sods of turf. The crews and ground staff live in Nissen huts, their chief enemy in autumn and winter being mud, in summer lava dust which spreads over everything, causes sore throats, and severely shortens the life of clothing and boots. The roads, of the consistency of a hard tennis court after heavy rain, are vile. Yet vehicles contrive to average a thousand miles a month. Major repairs -the driver of a car and the officer with him once removed a broken back axle and fitted a new one, dropped from the air by parachute, with the aid of a hammer, chisel and three spanners- have often to be carried out by the roadside.

For recreation in the South of the island there is salmon and trout fishing, shooting in the marshes, duck, mallard and snipe for the most part, and hacking on sturdy Icelandic ponies, the most robust of the robust natives of the island. In the North such amenities are more rare. Football and other games are played, one strongly contested match which took place in winter lasting from dawn to dusk, a period of little more than an hour. The Army and the Royal Air Force exchange concert parties, and in the long, dark evenings of the Icelandic winter the men carve bracelets and rings from the perspex fittings of crashed aircraft. Officers and men do their own washing and darning, and all available packing-cases are turned into furniture for the huts.

The Battles were replaced by Hudsons in June 1941 for anti-submarine and convoy patrol. Sunderland and Catalina flying boats, Northrop float-planes, Wellingtons and Whitleys have operated from Iceland or are doing so. Their task ' is not easy, for weather conditions in and around that island are among the most variable in the world. It is almost possible to see the depressions off Iceland, in peace time so prominent and disheartening a feature of the daily Press. Fog is frequent and clouds will move down upon an aerodrome faster than a galloping horse.

Hacking on native ponies is a favourite recreation of Coastal Command airmen in Southern Iceland.

Above all there are the winds. These can reach more than gale force in a matter of minutes. At one aerodrome the wind once began to blow at 62 miles an hour. An hour later it was blowing at 76 miles and an hour after that at 89 miles an hour. The maximum velocity of the gusts reached 133 miles an hour. This hurricane turned the Guard Room on it's side, took the roof off the Flying Control Headquarters, and caused six Whitleys to move along the runway from their dispersal point, each dragging with it six 300-lb. concrete blocks. " A Nissen hut took off at 10.00 hours," says the report, " and reached an estimated height of sixty feet before crash-landing on an adjacent runway. At another aerodrome near by the anemometer broke down after recording a velocity of 90 miles an hour. . . . The propellers of Hudsons were seen to be turning although the engines were completely cold.- No aircraft was lost or damaged.

Despite the hostility of the climate the average number of hours spent each month in flying has been high. To ease the strain the time of patrols is reduced when possible. Other difficulties concern the behaviour of compasses, which vary often by as much as eleven degrees, and of wireless installations, which not infrequently fade out entirely. It is, moreover, difficult to divert aircraft if their bases are obscured by fog or ten-tenths cloud, for landing grounds are few and far between. Once a Hudson was diverted to an emergency ground near the shore and it was ten days before it could take off again. During that time the crew consumed ninety-two tins of meat and vegetable ration and on their return regarded bully-beef and biscuits with much the same feelings as the Israelites displayed towards the fleshpots of Egypt.

In addition to convoy and anti-submarine patrols and sweeps there is also the ice patrol over the Denmark Strait as far as Greenland and back. This is flown at frequent intervals in order to find out the extent and movement of the pack-ice. Fog is often troublesome and more than one pilot has seen an iceberg loom suddenly up on his port or starboard bow. Some of these are as much as seven hundred feet high. This patrol has of late been flown by our American allies, a detachment of whose air force has now been in Iceland for some time.

Their desire to learn the conditions governing war-time, as distinct from peace-time, flying is equalled only by the modesty of their bearing and their eagerness to engage the enemy. They have become in a very short space as close comrades of the Royal Air Force as are the pilots and crews of the Norwegian Naval Air Arm. These men-most of- them were once sailors-fly Northrop float-planes and have shown themselves to excel in the difficult art of navigation in Icelandic latitudes. The air forces in Iceland now form a separate group which works, as do all others in the Command, in close co-operation with the Navy.

It is convenient at this point to explain the work they do at all flying-boat stations. Engineers on flying boats keep a diary of the behaviour of the engines. Thus there is available at any moment a complete picture of an engine. Its cylinder temperatures, pressures, petrol consumption-all are recorded, and any fault is at once dealt with by the N.C.O. in charge of the " gang," acting under the Engineer Officer of the unit. The engine inspection is carried out by fitters standing on a platform fifteen inches wide slung some twelve feet above the surface of the water.

They do their work in all weathers without protection from rain or wind, and in winter it is often necessary to relieve them every hour. There is no " lee " side to a flying boat, for when moored it will always ride into wind. They must be very careful to hold on to their spanners and other tools ; if they drop one it cannot be retrieved.

While the engines are being overhauled the riggers are busy inspecting wings, hull, tailplane and the more remote parts of the boat. To avoid overcrowding, and therefore loss of efficiency, everyone works in turns according to a schedule. Thus the electricians will test all the bomb circuits before the armourer puts the load of bombs and depth-charges into position ; the instrument repairers will check the instruments in the cockpit while the rigger is at work elsewhere. When they have finished he takes their place and inspects the pilot's controls.

The " gangs " must be, and are, ready to cope with any sudden emergency. Once a Sunderland taxi-ing to moorings struck an uncharted rock. The pumps were started ; the "gang" bailed with anything they could find and the boat was successfully beached just before she became waterlogged. The split in the hull was caulked with plasticine and pitch, and the boat was refloated and subsequently made serviceable. On another occasion a Sunderland was successfully prevented from sinking by lashing empty herring barrels to the hull. On the efficient performance of their duties by the maintenance " gangs" everything in the last resort depends.

In all this ground activity the part played by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force must not be forgotten. Passing references to their work have been made. Here, described by one of, them, is some account of their many duties in Coastal Command.

"Just before he left the R.A.F., in a letter dated 4th January, 1935, AC 1 338171 T. E. Shaw, better known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, wrote to a friend telling him that he had originally enlisted in the R.A.F. because it was the nearest modern equivalent of going into a monastery in the Middle Ages. That "as right in more than one sense. Being a mechanic cuts one off from all real communications with women. There are no women in the machines-in any machine. No woman, I believe, can understand a mechanic's happiness in serving his bits and pieces. Had he survived his road crash a month later and returned to his old Station to-day he would have found over 300 W.A.A.F. there, accepted by the R.A.F. as a normal part of Station life.

The specific operational duties carried out by Coastal Command affect the work of the W.A.A.F. employed as Special Duties Clerks, in the Signals branches, and in the Intelligence branches.

The part played in the staff side of operations is considerable. In a large and lofty room in the Command Operations Block a W.A.A.F. officer sits at a long table writing and making calculations. She is the Operations Room Plotter and she receives a constant stream of signals covering patrols, convoy escorts, reconnaissance flights and U-boats warfare. At her elbow are a number of large-scale charts covering the wide area over which Coastal Command operates. As the signals with coded map references pour in she translates the data into plots in latitude and longitude. Using compasses, parallel rulers and protractor, she pinpoints the chart, drawing pencil lines which lay off courses and bearings of ships and aircraft and indicate areas to be patrolled. The part may be a complete picture of the Battle if the Atlantic or other Coastal activities kept up to date minute by minute, showing the latest movements of ships and aircraft.

Teleprinters are used to send and receive signals. When operating them the W.A.A.F. have to be absolutely accurate. One letter wrong in a coded signal can make the difference of several miles in direction finding -the difference between the crew of a Sunderland , which has come to grief over the sea being lost or saved. Station signals are sorted and checked in the Traffic Room, where sit two airwomen whose job it is to log all Station signals and to see that all incoming signals are delivered to the right people with the minimum of delay. In the Command Operations Room are also to be found the W.A.A.F. Wireless Operators. They receive and transmit Morse messages to and from the aircraft.

" There are many additional duties. The care of maps and charts is one of them. The W.A.A.F. clerk will produce those required by a crew for the operation they have been detailed to carry out. She has been selected for her knowledge of geography. She must know the quickest route, the most dangerous, or the safest to any part of the world. Relief maps used by air crews are coloured in gradations of purple. It is the easiest colour to see in the dim light of a cockpit.

" On a number of Coastal Stations the Code and Cipher officers have been made responsible for giving the air crews their code books and identification signals before they take off on operations. The Waaf's attitude to air crews with whom she may come in direct contact at moments like these is rather like a nurse's attitude to a young surgeon about to perform an operation - a kind of clinical good humour.

"The Post Office has proved that, as a general rule, a woman has a better telephone voice than a man. They have found this in the R.A.F. too. Hence the W.A.A.F. Radio Telephonists who speak to the pilots and radio operators of air-borne craft and give them their bearings and landing directions.

"On another part of the Coastal Command Station, probably near the Operations and Crew Rooms, is the Ration Store. Here air crews collect their rations, which are prepared and issued by W.A.A.F.

"On all operational Stations in Coastal Command there is a parachute packing section. Parachutes are packed in a room like a squash court. They are hung from the ceiling for several hours to remove creases before packing -60 yards of white silk. The R.A.F. Corporal in charge says that parachutes can be packed in half an hour, but no one is encouraged to do this in under forty minutes. The airwomen "on the job" half sit, half lie on the long, polished tables, and do not smoke or talk while they work. If a parachute is packed incorrectly or carelessly it might not open properly when the rip-cord is pulled.

"One of the strangest jobs that W.A.A.F. do in Coastal Command is pigeon-keeping. Homing pigeons are used for emergency messages from aircraft and a W.A.A.F. must be able to train and handle the birds and also to instruct the air crew how to manage them and care for the equipment on Service flights.

"In the Photographic Interpretation section of Coastal Command there are W.A.A.F. Intelligence Officers who examine all photographs taken. Their interpretation is a very specialised job, and the officers must have a comprehensive knowledge of maps, charts and geographical plotting. From almost microscopic bird's-eye views they build up accurate reports on the enemy's armed forces, communications and industry.

"When the Station is situated on the sea and there is a Marine section you will find the
W.A.A.F. employed in the direction of the launches and pinnaces that ply between flying boats and the land. At night they are responsible for the movement of the dinghies that are used for the water flare-path.

" In the hangars are W.A.A.F. Charging Board Operators, whose task it is to charge the accumulators in the sheds or in small caravans which may be moved from hangar to hangar. These girls must be robust, as the accumulators are heavy.

" Fabric Workers spray the camouflage paint on aircraft, stitch the wing fabric, make new parachute cases, and generally do most of the patching, making and repairing that is to be done on a Station.

" Finally there are the Sparking Plug Testers. Who can see them at work w ithout appreciating how well these W.A.A.F. understand a mechanic's happiness at serving her 'bits and pieces' ? "

African villages, huddling between surf and jungle, were a familiar sight to Coastal Command.

Of these there is one where the bond between the Royal Navy and Coastal Command is especially strong. On the waters of its harbour Sunderlands ride at their buoys where the "Golden Hind - dropped anchor, where Admiral Montague landed after the Glorious First of June, and where - Ajax "
and " Exeter " were acclaimed after the battle of the River Plate. From this base patrols have been maintained since the early days of the war over what was then known as the Western Approaches and into the Atlantic as far as the coasts of Spain.

The pilots and crews stationed at other bases in this area, flying Hudsons, Blenheims and Beauforts, know the Western and South-Western coasts of France as intimately as those of Devon and Cornwall. For many of them the battle means constant patrols off France and close acquaintance with the Bay of Biscay.

Maintenance work at the West African bases, owing to the climate and the difficulty of getting spare parts, taxed all the ingenuity of the ground crews.

So much for the centre of the long line. At its extreme Southern end there are the West African bases of the Command.( These have recently been transferred to another Command.) On the way there is Gibraltar, where a flying-boat base was established within the first month of the war. It is a useful and important port of call, and many patrols are still flown from it. Sunderlands first arrived in West Africa in the spring of 1941. They were joined by Hudsons in the middle of June.

The crews and ground staff lived in tents till one night these were washed away. They found refuge in a church. In the rainy season water penetrates everywhere, even through the hulls of the flying boats. Malaria and mosquitoes are ever-present and eager foes. From the first, difficulties of maintenance, though severe, were not allowed to retard or hamper operations.

The Sunderlands began the work of convoy escort immediately. They were badly needed. The main difficulty in those days was to obtain sufficient quantity of spare parts to keep the flying boats serviced. Much ingenuity was shown. Oil for the hydraulic gear was obtained from ground-nuts packing-box nails took the place of split-pins brown paper was used to pack pipe-line joints, toilet paper for oil filters.

The Hudsons also carried out many patrols. They flew the first of them twelve days after their arrival, and in less than a fortnight the crews and ground staff had constructed a base out of what was little better than a tropical wilderness where the grass was eight feet high and the inhabitants mostly aggressive and hungry mosquitoes. Their flight to West Africa was in itself a remarkable achievement, for they had had to cover more than 1,800 miles without alighting.

In a hundred and fifty-four days they carried out a hundred and forty-one patrols. In October one of them scored a hit on the deck of a U-boat trying to crash-dive. It disappeared leaving a trail of oil and bubbles and was considered destroyed.

The natives are friendly.