[Peter Beardmore]

Re: Trying to find out more about 122 Squadron.
My father was a pilot in 122 squadron from the time the Mustang was introduced till early 1945. He died some years ago but I wonder whether something that he said and was involved in might shed some light on this issue. My understanding of what he said that three mustangs were taxying for take off (somewhere in france) . My father was flying one of those planes when a bomb fell off his Mustang scattering ground crew because they thought it may explode (if this sounds humorous it wasn’t)! I believe he also got out of his plane in a hurry. The two remaining plane took off and as they were climbing out they were bounced by a group of FW190’s both planes being shot down and both pilots (I understand) being killed. I do not know the date of this event but it did happen in France. I know my father was shocked and extremely upset by this event As an aside the Mustang 111 was fitted with Bomb racks which had a maximum bomb load of 2x500 lb bombs, but a simple mod was made to up this to 1000 lb (they changed the maximum load plate on the bomb racks, nothing mechanical was done at all). Also at the time of” Operation Market Garden” 122 squadron was in the area of the bridges (i.e. the Netherlands) because when we first watched the film “A Bridge too far” Dad commented that he was amongst a flight of Mustangs sent to verify whether (this is from my memory of that conversation) that the Arnhem Road Bridge was still standing. He rarely commented on operations just the flying and his love of flying. As far as the Mustang 111 went his plane (which I believe he shared with another pilot) had the bulged canopy (the Malcolm canopy?) but he always felt very lucky to be posted to Mustangs and was quite blunt in saying that it was the best allied fighter (although he loved the Spitfire which he said was faster in a dive and the Tempest V which was faster in a straight line). The FW 190 gave them a few frights and he had great admiration for that plane. He did do some Bomber escort but unlike some USAF squadrons they would escort them part of the way to Germany and would often meet the same formation coming back. He had great respect for those crews. I hope this information helps; I know it is a bit sketchy but the conversations took place a while ago and also I do not want to embellish them with what may be my interpretation of the conversations. Also there is a book the “2nd Tactical Air Force” that gives details of the movements of 122 wing and also has a colour plate of a 122 Squadron Mustang. I will try and locate that book and post its publisher in this thread. Another point I know the squadron was in Belgium I assume late 1944 because Dad came of Ops at that time and was in a Mustang involved in the training of bomber crew gunners by making mock attacks on the bombers. But in Belgium I believe they were trying to find mobile V2 sites, because they found one just as it launched. I remember his description of the launch vividly he said “it was just sitting there on the pad with and he knew it was launched and all of a sudden it went straight past his nose and was gone”.He said it gave him a bit of a fright to say the least.

Peter