Bill Crawford Compton and 64 Squadron

[keith A]

According to his DSO citation

"Crawford-Compton was given command of No. 64 Squadron and quickly proved himself to be an outstanding Squadron Commander. During his term of command he brought his squadron to a high standard of fighting efficiency and, in addition, himself destroyed 3 more enemy aircraft and damaged another, before leaving the Squadron for a rest in March 1943"

AH and other sources however downgrade his victory on 20 January 1943 to "damaged".

Also I note that a "probable" victory is listed on 6 December 1942 but does not appear in Foremans Fighter command Victory Claims.

Comments, opinions welcome

[Chris Goss]

His probable on 6 Dec 42 was with 611 Sqn after which he took command of 64 Sqn. He was credited with Fw 190 dam 20 Jan 43, Fw 190 dam 15 Feb 43 and 2 x Fw 190 dest 8 Mar 43. It also says he had a Bf 109 damaged with 122 Sqn 13 Mar 43 but this was 13 May 43 when he was attached to the Sqn from Fairlop and he and Plt Off Hlado got separated and each damaged a German fighter

[keith A]

Cheers Chris. I have read his combat report on 20 January 1943 and here it is...

"While leading 64 Sqdn we were informed by Ops. of 2-3 enemy aircraft over ship off Calais. I dived down under a layer of cloud about 7,000 ft. and searched for the Enemy aircraft for 2 or 3 minutes. I could not see them so called up to say we would attack the ship. I had started my dive when I saw 7 F.W.190's about 2 miles away coming from Gris Nez. I pulled up sharply and managed to get above and behind without being seen. I fired a very short burst at the No. 4 but they went into the cloud and I saw no hits. I was attacked and broke away. 1 F.W 190 then closed in on my port and did not see me. I fired a second burst from slightly aside and below and saw hits on the fuselage and starboard wing root. I was using armour piercing incendiary which when they hit, left a streak of flame about 18" long. I fired another short burst and saw hits. The enemy aircraft caught fire and hit the water about 100 yards off shore ½ mile east of Calais. "

So it looks like he claimed a destroyed rather than a damaged. I wonder if it was downgraded later?

Your information about his claim with 122 Squadron makes sense of the details in the citation.

regards

Keith