74 Squadron. Reality Check

[Bruce Lander]

Hi

I have just finished the new book on Peter StJohn "Salute to One Of The Few" and it made me think about the way things were presented in the early days.I first read about the merry scamps of 74 in Taffy Jones' book "Tiger Squadron" back in 1954 and as times moved along realised that while it was interesting in its own way that it really was very unreliable. Then along came "Sky Tiger" and "I Fear No Man" which while far more accurate still depicted the Squadron as a "Happy Ship". When Bob Spurdle's memoir came out in the 80's I began to see that his was not the case but as he seemed to be a prickly character maybe it was just his personal opinon. However recent books - "Hornchurch Scramble" "Tigers" and Johnny Freeborns "A Tigers Tale" underline what miserable unit it really was. The first C.O. White was held in contempt by his flight commanders (Malan especially) something which filtered down through the Squadron.Malan himself was determined to run 74 himself and his part in the Barking Creek episode leaves a nasty taste and led to his split with Freeborn. On the famous "Sailors August 11th" they overclaimed to an amazing degree,and Freeborn himself casts doubts on claims by Malan,Mungo-Park and Stephen who he obviously disliked intensely. As C.O. Malan's insistence on close formation flying seems to have led to several accidents and fatalities during training.
It also appears that the so called ragging (bullying)of junior pilots by Chesters and his gang was totally ignored by Malan who seems to have remained aloof from most of his men. Even St John had a lot of reservations about the state of things in 74 So all in all not a happy Squadron - all brave men but not a band of brothers.

Bruce Lander