Manston’s role on D-Day, 6th June 1944
British troops are seen here landing on the beaches of Normandy, France on the 6 of June 1944.
On this day, 6th June 1944, known as D-Day, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline forming the largest amphibious attack in history.
“As with other fighter bases, Manston played its part in the D-Day landings of June 6th 1944. Typhoons from Manston proved a formidable enemy to the German army when it tried to move tanks and other vehicles to the front. Aeroplanes from Manston also took part in ‘divers’ patrols – attacking and destroying V1 rockets being fired at London.” from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk
In the build up to D-Day, squadrons operating from Manston took part in the campaign against German radar stations with Mosquitos of No.605 Sqn attacking anti-aircraft guns and searchlight positions.
Manston Station ORB:
DAY
A momentous day – the Station Commander announces over the tannoy that the long awaited second front has started; from now on we may expect greatly intensified activity on all sides.6 Beaufighters each of 455 and 489 Squadrons land here prior to an op., 2 from 489 and 6 from 455 land here again after the operation.
15 Mustangs also land after an op.
There are many non-operational landings, too, which include 2 Bostons and 12 Thunderbolts.
Many sorties are flown too, by aircraft of the Coastal Command Squadrons here.
Total number of landings during the day – 136.
NIGHT
Six operational visitors during the night – 3 Mustangs, 2 Thunderbolts, and a Mosquito of 410 Squadron, HUNSDON, which lands after an operational patrol short of fuel.605 Squadron carry out 10 Intruder operations over enemy airfields. They destroy a Ju.88, damage two unidentified enemy aircraft, and attack and damage two trains. Airfields are also bombed by the squadron.
Coastal Command Squadrons again engaged on patrols.
In spite of the very poor weather conditions prevailing, (cone is up for most of the night to assist aircraft in locating the airfield) – a constant stream of aircraft take off and land. A total of 45 landings are carried out.
At the time of the invasion, Hawker Typhoon 1Bs (No.137 squadron), de Havilland Mosquitos (No.605 squadron) and Bristol Beaufighters (No.143 Squadron RAF, No.455 Sqn RAAF and No.489 Sqn RNZAF) as well as a meteorological Spitfire were operating from Manston. As part of No.155 Wing, the Beaufighters were accompanied by Fairey Swordfish from No.816 Sqn Fleet Air Arm and Grumman Avengers from No.848 Sqn Fleet Air Arm. No.455 Sqn RAAF operated some of their Bristol Beaufighters from Manston as a detachment.
No.137 Squadron (Hawker Typhoon)
No.137 squadron was tasked with covering the landings in Normandy, protecting the left flank of the invasion fleet.
No.137 Squadron ORB (5th June 1944):
The usual shipping recce was carried out at 05.50 led by F/O R.A. Johnstone. The Typhoons consisted of 2 RP and 2 Fighters, and the patrol was carried out from Nieuport to Berck at deck level 3 miles from shore but again nothing was seen. All aircraft landed back at 06.58. Another A/G and RP Program during the day. Late at night the whole Squadron was called to readiness as from 04.30 on the 6th June.
No.137 Squadron ORB (6th June 1944):
Squadron at readiness. Usual “milk run” led by F/O I.C.Hutcheson from Gris Nez to Flushing. 2 RP Typhoons and 2 cannon Typhoons took off at of 04.53 and patrolled at 50 ft. about 1/2 miles off shore but saw no enemy shipping. About 6 MTB’s seen 8 miles off Cap Gris Nez on an aprox. course of 3500 at about 15 knots. This morning just after 06.00 the great invasion of Europe began. British, Canadian and American Armed Forces land by sea and air on the coast of Normandy. ‘D’ Day has arrived!!
The Squadron now maintains a state of RP Readiness of six Aircraft as “Channel Stop”
No.143 Squadron (Bristol Beaufighter X)
No.143 squadron were responsible for carrying out anti E-boat patrols on the eastern flanks of the naval corridor linking southern England to the D-Day beaches in Normandy. A Beaufighter from No.143 Squadron from Manston piloted by F/L John Anthony (Tony) Hawkey along with his navigator (name currently unknown) managed to sink two U-boats by aiming a bomb directly between them. They had been to the pub the night before, not knowing that they would be woken at 2am with a call to scramble.
No.143 Squadron ORB (5th June 1944):
No flying to-day. All aircrew standing by for special tasks. Weather fair, overcast all day with rain at night.
No.143 Squadron ORB (6th June 1944):
With the opening of the second front in France this Squadron went into action immediately and carried out operational flying all day and all night. 22 sorties over the French Coast were flown consisting of, 28 hours, day and 7 hours, night. Three ‘E’ Boats were sunk, and one of our a/c (LX 972) was badly damaged by flak. The navigator was indeed luck to escape injury.
No.455 Squadron RAAF (Bristol Beaufighter TFX) – R.A.F. Station, Langham:
Six aircraft of No.455 Sqn RAAF along with six aircraft from No.489 Sqn off at 0810 hours from Langham armed with 2 x 500lb and 2 x 250lb M.C. Bombs each, and landed at Manston. There they stood by for operations.
No.455 Sqn RAAF carried out night patrols against enemy shipping including E-boats from Boulogne to Fecamp and the Dunkirk area. One aircraft, B/455 – NE202 sustained a burst tyre on take-off and was forced to jettison bombs and belly land at Manston – Aircraft Category “AC” – crew uninjured. The remaining five Beaufighters in company with three Beaufighters of No.489 Sqn, proceeded in formation to the Patrol Area, but deteriorating weather conditions and failing light caused the formation to split up. One aircraft, M/489 sighted and attacked eight “E” Boats without observed result, and called the other aircraft to the vicinity by V.H.F. but no further sighting was made and all the aircraft returned independently to Manston. Aircraft V/455 – NE774, whilst carrying out V.H.F. homing, received a fake vector from enemy territory, which, however, was recognised as such and ignored.
Simultaneously with the above operation, L/455, in company with one Beaufighter of No.489 Sqn., took off at 2300 hours on a Shipping Recce in the Dunkirk Area. No enemy shipping was sighted, and both aircraft landed safely back at Manston.
No.455 Squadron RAAF ORB (R.A.F. Station, Langham):
To-day is “D” Day – the Allies landed in France. It is estimated that over 4000 ships are running a shuttle service across the Channel, and that over 11,000 Allied planes are standing by. The following six aircraft, in company with six aircraft of No.489 Sqdn., took off at 0810 hours from Langham armed with 2 x 500lb and 2 x 250lb M.C. Bombs each, and landed at Marston (sic) in Kent – and are now standing by for operations:-
B/455 – NE202. AUS. 409593 F/O F.L.PROCTOR, 152420 F/O H.L.JONES (Nav).
D/455 – KW277. AUS. 415335 F/O R.W.KIMPTON, 1561448 F/Sgt KERR, G.T. (Nav).
L/455 – NE340. AUS. 420268 F/Sgt PAYNE, J.C. 1556546 F/Sgt RENNIE, J. (Nav).
X/455 – NE775. AUS. 414380 F/O W.M.BARBOUR, 152529 F/O F.G.DODD (Nav).
V/455 – NE774. AUS. 402379 S/Ldr C.G.MILSON DFC, 151833 F/O M.F.SOUTHGATE (Nav).
F/455 – NE348. AUS. 409954 F/O N.R.SMITH, AUS.419427 F/O F.McINTYRE (Nav)After standing by at one Hour’s readiness throughout the day, the cews of V, F, X, B and D/455 took off at 2200 hours to undertake an Armed Recce of the Boulogne to Fecamp Area – west of the Invasion Beach. Aircraft B/455 – NE202 sustained a burst tyre on take-off and was forced to jettison bombs and belly land at Manston – Aircraft Category “AC” – crew uninjured. The aircraft above, in company with three Beaufighters of No.489 Sqdn., proceeded in formation to the Patrol Area, but deteriorating weather conditions and failing light caused the formation to split up.
Aircraft M/489 sighted and attacked eight “E” Boats without observed result, and called the other aircraft to the vicinity by V.H.F. but no further sighting was made and all the aircraft returned independently to Manston. Aircraft V/455 – NE774, whilst carrying out V.H.F. homing, received a fake vector from enemy territory, which, however, was recognised as such and ignored.
Simultaneously with the above operation, L/455, in company with one Beaufighter of No.489 Sqdn., took off at 2300 hours on a Shipping Recce in the Dunkirk Area. No enemy shipping was sighted, and both aircraft landed safely back at Manston.
In addition to the operations from Manston on 6th June, 1944, a Shipping Recce of the Dutch Coast was undertaken by the following two crews from Langham. Take-off 2047 hours:-
J/455 – LZ402. AUS422749 F/O F.O.WILLIAMS, AUS.415828 F/Sgt ROACH, W.A. (Nav).
O/455 – NE326. 1435348 F/Sgt WALKER, R., 1323639 F/Sgt RABBITTS, T. (Nav).
No enemy shipping was sighted, and both the aircraft returned safely to base.
A salvo of eight rocket projectiles being fired over the North Sea by Bristol Beaufighter TF Mark X, NE543 ‘UB-E’, of No. 455 Squadron RAAF based at Langham, Norfolk. IWM (MH 5117)
No.489 Squadron RNZAF (Bristol Beaufighter)
No.489 Squadron RNZAF ORB June 1944 (extract):
On 6th June the invasion of Western Europe by the allied forces began. The function of the Langham Squadrons in this operation has been to provide cover for our seaborne forces against attack by enemy naval forces. As from 5th June the Squadron had standing at immediate readiness 6 A/C armed with 2 x 250 lbs and 2 x 500 lbs bombs by day and 2 x 500 bombs by night in addition to their normal cannon armament.
No.489 Squadron RNZAF ORB (6th June 1944):
Operating from Manston 5 A/c on anti E boat patrols between Flushing and Fecamp. A/C “?“(TBC) (F/L F.K. Moynihan, D.F.C.) attacked with bombs 8 probable E boats south of Boulogne – no results observed.
No.605 Squadron (de Havilland Mosquito VI)
No.605 squadron’s brief included the attacking of enemy searchlight and anti-aircraft positions prior to the mass parachute drops early in the morning. 605 put up a total of eighteen aircraft, most of which left Manston just before midnight, slipping away into the night with their individual targets.
Peter Rudd, a pilot with 605 Squadron, intruding with Mosquito Mark VIs and operating from Manston, recalled:
‘I flew on the night of D-Day and the next two nights and my main recollection is about the weather. We knew nothing about the postponement – we went to the airfield for briefing on the afternoon of the 5th to do our night flying tests and still knew nothing. It was only later, when we got airborne and saw the shipping, that we realised it was happening. There were so many ships we could have walked across! We were not aware it had been postponed, and only when we landed did we realise it was actually on for that night, and we were confined to camp.
Reading from my log-book it says for the night 5/6, ‘weather not so good in patches; cloud 10/10ths in places’ – remember we had no navigation aids, it was all map reading and visual recognition – ‘weather poor en route, 10/10ths, rain nearly the whole way.’ On the third night, returning from Chartres, cloud was 10/10ths at 1,000 ft. This sort of thing continued through June, as we heard this morning. But for the invasion we would not have flown. The cloud was 800 ft at Manston, which was like Piccadilly Circus when we came back.’
F/L John Anthony (Tony) Hawkey, courtesy of http://aircrewremembered.com
Mosquito FB.VI NT122 crewed by pilot F/L Arthur Whitten-Brown (61490) RAF and navigator F/L Victor George Brewis (116962) RAFVR crashed into the Ijsselmeer, 200 metres east of Scharwoude at 02:00 hrs on the 6th June. They were on an intruder mission to Leeuwarden airfield, a German nightfighter base in Holland.
Both are buried in Hoorn General Cemetery. The exact cause of the crash is not known. Brown was the son of Sir Arthur Whitten Brown KBE, who was the navigator on the first successful transatlantic flight along with Sir John William Alcock K.B.E. D.S.C. in 1919.
No.605 Squadron ORB (Night of 5/6th June 1944):
Night Flying – Night of Nights! At 01.30 hours on 6th June the first landings by airborne troops took place near CAEN in Northern France. 605 Squadron had 18 aircraft airborne in support of this – “D” DAY. Three aircraft were seconded for Special Duties – to patrol the small area around CAEN and deal with all flak positions and S/L’s – shoot them up and so make way for the airborne troops to land. This was very effectively carried out by the following crews who were right in at the start – S/LDR. CARVER & F/LT. BURRELL and F/O. REID & F/SGT. PHILLIPS and F/LT. GARNER & F/O. DUNCAN. Bombs were also dropped by these aircraft with excellent results – on S/L and gun emplacements. Fifteen other aircraft were airborne on Intruder sorties. The first enemy aircraft to be destroyed after the opening of the Second Front was credited to 605 Squadron. This was an ME 410 shot down near EVREUX by F/O. LELONG & SGT. McLAREN. 1 Train destroyed and 4 damaged in BREMEN area by F/O. WILLIAMS, DFC, & F/O. HATSELL. F/LT. A. WHITTEN-BROWN & F/LT. V.G. BREWIS missing from “Flower” to LEEUWARDEN.
Other 11 patrols uneventful. Bombs dropped on LAON, FLORENNES and VENLO.
We will expand these details as more information and records are found.
First published: 6th June 2017.
Last Updated: .
By Photo: MOD/MOD, OGL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33080569
Hi
I’m trying to research Norman Carr who flew Beaufighters from manston with 143 squadron.
He later moved to Banff as part of the coastal command with the same squadron. If anyone has any information about Norman Carr then please contact me
Also mine, Rob’s my brother 😊
He’s my grandad!