No. 89 Squadron Malta Detachment, 1942

[Tom Semenza]

Hi Drew,

I was wondering if the info you have on the Shipard, Ross, Crombie and Gray reveal any aircraft codes that can be matched up to serial numbers? I, for one, would be very interested in that information. There are a few serial-code match-ups for 89 Sqn. found in Aces High and Malta: The Spitfire Year but many of the codes used remain, to me at least, unknown.

Thanks,
Tom

[niallc]

Hi Nick

In the absence of F540s/541s for 89 Sqn's Malta detachment for the period of interest, all's not necessarily lost: The ORB for Luqa gives a lot of useful, sortie-by-sortie data, and, even more useful are the Malta Daily IntSums (for this period in AIR22/392). These give a lot of detail on 89 Squadron's operations.

There are also a couple of other useful sources that you may already have seen:

Coastal Command file "Enemy interference with ASV" (AIR15/93) contains 2 reports from Malta from late '42 covering Malta's experience with jamming of ASV, AI, GCI and COL. One of them includes a day-by-day sortie report from 89 Sqn. Although the focus of these is supposedly ASV jamming, these might still be of interest as I get the impression from Ultra that a large part (possibly the majority) of Kommando Koch's effort around this time was ASV jamming. If you haven't already seen these PM me and I'll send copies.

Another interesting source relates to the deployment of AI Mk VII to Malta. 5 AI Mk VII aircraft were earmarked for Malta, but one crashed in the UK before delivery. Over succeeding months 3 more AI Mk VII aircraft were sent out as attrition replacements but all were lost en route.
The 4 that did make it to Malta were sent out with radomes and hydraulics (for the scanner) installed, but all of the radar equipment removed. These aircraft were taken from Fighter Command
inventory (one from each of the 4 Fighter Command squadrons that each had a flight of AI VII a/c). The radars and scanners went out separately in two 10 Sqn (RAAF) Sunderlands with a Flt Lt Willis, 2 Radio fitters and a hydraulic fitter (the latter for scanner maintenance). 2 of the 4 aircraft were crashed soon after arrival and the radars were recovered and installed in other Beaufighters. Willis (who I believe to be 60617 Frederick Robert Willis - ex TRE and also SSO on 29 Sqn) sent very detailed monthly reports from Malta to TRE. These are in a TRE file "AI Mk VII: Reports from operational squadrons" (AVIA7/884). Again, if you don't already have these PM me and I'll send em over.

Hope this helps
Niall

[AUS_RAAF]

Hi Tom,

Unfortunately Shipard, Ross and Crombie did not record aircraft identification letters in their logbooks, only serial numbers. All were light on mission details as well! I do not have a copy of Gray’s logbook only some correspondence. However, in the same AWM file there were some handwritten mission notes possibly by Lex McAulay (presumably from 89 Squadron’s ORB) from Jun 42 until Feb 43. The following are the listed Beaufighter tie-ups - cannot guarantee accuracy!

Regards, Drew

T T5165
B V8219
C V8220 Nov 42
F X7642
G X7642 Jul 42
J X7676
M X7694
S X7695
T X7702
K X7702 Jul 42
Z X7704
A X7716
H X7716
C X7748
A X7840 Aug 42
D X8012 Dec 42
U X8017

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by niallc

Hi Nick

In the absence of F540s/541s for 89 Sqn's Malta detachment for the period of interest, all's not necessarily lost: The ORB for Luqa gives a lot of useful, sortie-by-sortie data, and, even more useful are the Malta Daily IntSums (for this period in AIR22/392). These give a lot of detail on 89 Squadron's operations …

There are also a couple of other useful sources that you may already have seen: Again, if you don't already have these PM me and I'll send em over.

Hope this helps
Niall

Thanks Niall, these are things I'll follow up for myself at Kew shortly. I'd just cottoned on to searching for files with "Interference" in their titles, after exhausting "Jamming".

I get the impression from Ultra that a large part (possibly the majority) of Kommando Koch's effort around this time was ASV jamming

True. VHF R/T was also being jammed and both ground and airborne sources were blamed (ditto with ASV) and it doesn't seem there was enough capacity in the MTO at the time to definitely establish the source of each incident.

[Bruce Dennis]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

I'd just cottoned on to searching for files with "Interference" in their titles, after exhausting "Jamming".

Don't have my notes to hand but I recall 'countermeasures' had over 600 hits in the search just in the AIR series.

Bruce

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Bruce Dennis

Don't have my notes to hand but I recall 'countermeasures' had over 600 hits in the search just in the AIR series.

Bruce

Needles and haystacks spring to spring to mind — one can but persevere!

[Tom Semenza]

Drew, many thanks for sharing that list, most of which is new to me.

Nick, thanks for the source info.

According to the serial lists I've seen, T5161 and T5165 were Mark VIc Beaufighters. The note I have in my files says that the latter, at least, was on loan from 227 Sqn. I am away from home at present and so don't have access to my books but this may be from Malta: The Spitfire Years. This also may only be my interpretation based on the Air Britain serial number book.

Regards,
Tom

[SteveB]

Nick

Is this research going to get published somewhere?

Steve

[Zoran Petek]

Originally Posted by Tom Semenza

Drew, many thanks for sharing that list, most of which is new to me.

Nick, thanks for the source info.

According to the serial lists I've seen, T5161 and T5165 were Mark VIc Beaufighters. The note I have in my files says that the latter, at least, was on loan from 227 Sqn. I am away from home at present and so don't have access to my books but this may be from Malta: The Spitfire Years. This also may only be my interpretation based on the Air Britain serial number book.

Regards,
Tom

According to data I compiled from various sources T5107 (227 Sqn), T5153 (227 Sqn), T5161 (89 Sqn), T5163 (227 Sqn) and T5165 (89 and 227 Sqn) were left on Malta from 248 Sqn (Det) in Sep '42. T5165 was coded U in 227 Sqn.
Zoran