SHERLOCK’S SQUADRON
THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE UNSUNG RAF HEROES OF WORLD WAR TWO
STEVE HOLMES
WITH KEN SCOTT
Although you are no longer with us I am sure these words will somehow filter their way back to you. Wherever you are, this book is for you.
John, William and Sandra
‘My strength has now been reduced to the equivalent of 36 squadrons…we should be able to carry on the war single-handed for some time if not indefinitely.’
Sir Hugh Dowding, RAF Fighter Command May 1940
‘Air superiority is the ultimate expression of military power.’
Winston Churchill
‘Air superiority is a condition for all operations, at sea, on land, and in the air.’
Air Marshal Arthur Tedder
‘Anyone who fights, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy who dominates the air, is like a primitive warrior who stands against modern forces with the same limitations and the same chance of success.’
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
‘We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.’
Winston Churchill June 4, 1940
‘No enemy plane will fly over the Reich Territory.’
Hermann Goering
‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’
Winston Churchill on the Battle of Britain, August 20, 1940
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Postscript
Biographies
Roll of Honour
Plates
Copyright
There are many people I’d like to thank who helped me bring this book to life. I was lucky enough to stumble on a chance meeting with the author Ken Scott and we shared a few beers as I told him about my many years of research and the website I’d pulled together. It was Scotty who first suggested there may be a book in my father’s story. He had previously ‘ghosted’ two World War Two novels, one of which I’d read and had been suitably impressed. I liked his style, the way he brought the characters to life and somehow almost got inside their heads. By the end of the second beer I’d already made my mind up, I wanted to give it a shot.
Ken Scott worked with me for little over four months, I’d like to think we gave it more than a shot and I enjoyed every minute we spent together, especially the Tuesday afternoon ‘research’ lunches with his wife Hayley and his children Callum and Emily. He has taught me much about writing and the book industry and I am more than pleased at what we have produced. From the bottom of my heart Scotty, thanks for being patient and pulling it altogether… one of my lifetime’s achievements.
I would like to say a special thank you to my daughter Kayleigh Louise Holmes for her work and encouragement throughout my time working on this book.
There are many more people to thank and mention, far too many to call. I would however like to say a special thanks to everyone who gave me encouragement and my proof readers and critics too.
My research brought me into contact with the sons and daughters of the men who flew with my dad. It was a humbling experience and at times very emotional. They were more than happy to help with the finer details and character descriptions of their fathers. Judy Vanrenen, Steph Handley, Cathy (Jones) Cameron, Ros (Tammas) Flaxman and Russell and Bev Tickner. I owe you all so much and I’m just more than a little apprehensive that this book reads well to you all, particularly you Judy. Your father may not have appeared to have been the most popular member of the crew but I’m 100% certain he was the most respected and his crew wouldn’t have swapped him for his weight in gold. His skill in bringing that plane down on that final doomed mission undoubtedly saved everyone’s lives and well they knew it, well I know it. I will be forever in debt to ‘Van the Man’ for bringing my father back to Blighty in one piece and allowing me to build such a special relationship with him. I cherished every moment I spent with him… he was my best mate.
And finally to all my researchers, I hope you don’t mind me labelling you with that title. To John Reid, Bruce Gommersall, Bruno Lecaplain, Mike Stimson, Dave Coates, Warren Tickner, Johans Verhagen and Arie-Jan Hees, Sally and Richard Halon… enjoy, my friends!
It has taken me fifteen years to complete this book in memory of my late father Flight Engineer John Holmes and his comrades who flew with him and those on the ground who supported them. My father was fascinated by aircraft from a young age and I suppose as a chip off the old block I followed suit. It was when I discovered his exact role in World War Two that I concentrated on and fell in love with the aircraft he flew twenty four sorties in. The Stirling. My father never talked too much about the war and 196 Squadron or the brave men he came into contact with. I wish he had because I’ve spent literally thousands of hours on research, read over a hundred books and called upon the personal memories from the daughters and sons and nieces and nephews of those great men who are sadly no longer with us. However, a portion of this book has what we call poetic licence. Let me explain.
I wanted this book to be an accurate account of what happens when young men go to war. I wanted to capture not just the statistics and records of the sorties but the emotion, the camaraderie, the sense of fear and of pride and at times disillusionment. And I wanted so much more than that, I wanted this book to be a complete read, a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. We all know the beginning and we all know the end but how many of us are truly aware of what the middle was like? I wanted the sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of these men to pick up my book and read it like a novel but I wanted it to be real and I wanted it to be a fitting tribute to the men who fought against an evil regime hell bent on world domination so that