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Night Hawks by Philip West.
The ever-vigilant crew of this Mosquito night-fighter successfully intercept a
Luftwaffe Bf110 as it heads towards a bomber stream over target in Germany. |
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Night Hawks by Philip West
- The Signatures
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Wing Commander Branse Burbridge DSO* DFC*
Posted to 85 Squadron on night-fighters in October 1941, Branse Burbridge flew Havocs on his first tour, scoring just a single claim, but when he returned to 85 Squadron for a second tour - this time on Mosquitos, he was far more successful. During the period of the build up to the invasion of Normandy, and after, together with his radar navigator, Bill Skelton, he claimed 21 victories in a ten month spell. In June 1944 he also shot down three V-1s. With his final air victory, in January 1945, he passed the total set by John 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham to become the highest scoring RAF night fighter Ace of the war.
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Squadron Leader John Hall, DFC*
Squadron Leader John Hall, DFC and Bar (85 Sqn. Pilot) joined the RAF in 1940 and after gaining his wings, followed by operational training at Cranfield, near Bedford, he joined 85 Squadron, then stationed at Hunsdon, in the North Weald sector. At that time, 85 Squadron flew twin engine Havocs, a night fighter version of the American light bomber, the Boston, with the radar operator where the Boston’s gun turret would have been and 12 machine guns in the nose, in place of the Boston’s navigator. The radar then was the Mark 4, not very reliable, and with a very limited range. During 1942, the Squadron re-equipped with the much faster and more maneuverable Mosquito, with a scanner in the nose for the infinitely more effective Mark 8 radar and 4 cannon, [instead of the Havoc’s 12 machine guns] After a rest from operations, during which he taught budding night fighter pilots air gunnery, John Hall teamed up with John Cairns as his navigator/ radar operator and they joined 488 New Zealand Night Fighter Squadron at Bradwell Bay on the Essex coast, destroying three German bombers during the mini-blitz of early 1944. The Squadron flew over the D-day beaches from Zeals, and Colerne in Wiltshire, before moving at the end of 1944 to Amiens Glisy in northern France and then to Gilze Rijen in Holland, where it celebrated VE Day. During this time Hall shot down a further 5 German aircraft over France and Germany.
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