Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - RAF slang

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RAF slang - "Camel Corps"

Hi all,

I would like to ask for help in one unusual matter.

When one RAF airmen got killed in suicide attack with lonely Beaufort against Gneisenau in Brest his fellow make a note into his diary:
"He found his death precisely like we expected it from the Colourful head of our “Camel Corps”."

Can anybody explain me the meaning of terms "Colourful head" and “Camel Corps” as I am not English native speaker.

I suppose it will be reflection of RAF Staff or the commanders who planned the operations which killed his comrade but I would like to know the exact meaning of these phrases.

TIA

Pavel

Re: RAF slang - "Camel Corps"

Pavel, some may answer more precisely but iirc Harris was in the mid-East during the 30s?

Re: RAF slang - "Camel Corps"

Pavel

There was an Army Unit officially known as the Camel Corps in WWI.

I don't think there is any special significance in the words "colourful head". "Colourful" usually means that somebody is flamboyant; somebody who is often the centre of attention in a group. That possibly describes the airman as the "head of our Camel Corps". "Camel Corps" is likely to be slang possibly for a sub-section of the unit concerned.

Can you provide any more information about your airman? It might help to identify what trade he was?

Steve

Re: RAF slang - "Camel Corps"

Hi Steve,

sure I can provide details about him but unfortunately I am pretty sure it is not connected with him.

He was a navigator of Beaufort who captain got the VC:

The London Gazette of 13th March 1942 published the citation to the Victory Cross award to F/O Campbell:
Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell was the pilot of a Beaufort aircraft detailed to attack an enemy battle cruiser in Brest Harbour at first light on the morning of the 6th April, 1941. The ship was in a position protected by a stone mole bending round it, and rising ground behind on which stood batteries of guns. Other batteries clustered thickly round the two arms of land which encircled the outer harbour, while three heavily armed anti-aircraft ships moored nearby guarded the cruiser. Even if an aircraft penetrated these formidable defences it would be almost impossible, after attacking at low level, to avoid crashing into the rising ground beyond. Knowing all this, Flying Officer Campbell ran the gauntlet of the defences and launched a torpedo at point-blank range, severely damaging the battle cruiser below water-line, so that she was obliged to return to the dock whence she had come only the day before. By pressing home the attack at close quarters in the face of withering fire, on a course fraught with extreme peril, this officer displayed valour of the highest order.