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Those known to have served at RAF Ternhill during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Bhat Saravu Ramachandra. F/O.
- Reich Douglas Gordon. Flt.Lt.
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Want to know more about RAF Ternhill? There are:4 items tagged RAF Ternhill available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Flt.Lt. Douglas Gordon Reich Photographic 2 Operational Squadron Douglas Reich was a 17-year-old lad from Worsley, Manchester when war was declared. After volunteering for the RAF at 18, he was sailing on the Liberty Ship “The George F Eliott” in March 1942 when it was diverted to New York to avoid U. Boat attacks, so he took the train to Montreal.
He was posted to No 5 Elementary Flying Training School at Windsor Mills, Flying Fleet Finch Mk. 2. After 5 hours and 20 minutes duel instruction, he took his first solo flight and finished the course with 65 hours flying time. He was then posted to No 13 Service Flying Training School at St Huberts, 100 miles from Montreal, to fly Harvards. After 2 weeks, his instructor was badly injured and his pupil killed, so he got a new instructor F/O Thompson. Towards the end of the course, Reich belly landed the plane after the engine caught fire, but finished the course and was awarded his commission.
He returned from Canada in December 1942 with 220 hours flying time and then went to Tern Hill, Shropshire, England on refresher courses flying Miles Master and Kestrels.
In 1943 he went to an operational training unit at Hawarden, North Wales, to fly Mustang Mk I, - single seater fighter planes - and in May, was posted to No 2 Operational Squadron, an Army co-op squadron, at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, to fly low-level photography reconnaissance missions.
He photographed the French coast before D-Day, VI rocket sites and Pegasus bridge in Normandy to see if it could carry Allied tanks.
On June 15th 1944, at 08.00hrs he was briefed to lead a section to attack the ferry boats that were taking German troops across the River Seine. The ferry was allowing them to get to the beachhead much quicker than by road.
He took off from Gatwick Aerodrome about 8.40am to attack the ferry boats transporting troops across the River Seine. At a place called Caudebec, he saw a ferry on the bank and blasted it with his four 20mm cannons. He pulled up, turned and fired on another ferry on the opposite bank then turned back over the river. Doing well over 300mph and flying very low, he crashed in to the Seine at Caudebec.
He floated in the river for 5 hours before being picked up unconscious by a French fishing boat crew who handed him over to the Germans. Regaining consciousness in a French cottage hospital about 10 hours later, he awoke as a Prisoner of War. It was a miracle he survived with only bruising, concussion and a broken ankle, although he had also burst all the blood vessels in his eyes!
This is due to the fact that he had given his ‘Mae West’ inflatable lifejacket a few lungfuls of air before take-off. He had done this in case a crash ever burned his hands and he couldn’t hold and blow into his mouthpiece while in water. But the crash’s cause remains a mystery.
Says Doug: “The only thing I can think of is that I’d been flying too low, put a wing tip in the water and cartwheeled in.”
He spent weeks in hospitals and was interrogated in Frankfurt where his Scottish name had sparked confusion.
“When I was being interrogated in Frankfurt beforehand, the interrogator looked at my name, blue eyes and fair hair and thought I was German. I said ‘I am not! All my relatives come from the Glamis area of Scotland.’ Reich was probably misspelt in the 1700s.”
He was sent to Stalag Luft I in July 1944 on Germany’s Baltic coast at a small town named Barth, near to Stettin where he spent the last 11 months of the war. Its sister camp, Stalag Luft III, inspired the Great Escape film, although no one escaped from Doug’s camp while he was there.
Conditions in the camp were tough but inmates got Red Cross parcels from Britain and the US to stave off starvation. Under captivity, however, he did develop acute appendicitis. A fellow POW and doctor removed the organ by torchlight during an air raid.
Doug survived and prisoners learnt about the end of the war by listening to a secret hidden radio in the camp hospital. In May, 1945, Stalag Luft I was liberated by the Russians. The mood, of course, brightened with unexpected perks. He said: “A day or so later, a Russian Colonel visited our camp and decided we needed some fresh meat. So he sent a very drunk soldier who drove a herd of cows through our gate. It was very funny.”
On May 13, 1945, a fleet of American Flying Fortresses evacuated all RAF personnel. Doug returned to England left the RAF in 1946 and got a job as a newspaper photo engraver in Manchester. He married Sheila in 1948 and had a son and a daughter and currently (2009) have three grandchildren and a great grandchild.
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F/O. Saravu Ramachandra "Zozo" Bhat 57 OTU  The Legend of Skr "Zozo" Bhatt
In a distant corner (Alrewas Arbo) of a distant land (jolly good England) lies a simple elegant stone memorial (RAF Assos) in the name of Skr "Zozo" Bhatt (Saravu Kukkemane Ramachandra Bhat). Who was he?
On 28th December 1917 a third and final son is born into a Havayak Brahmin (migrated from Ahichhatra near Bareilly, N.India centuries earlier) family in Puttur village Karnataka India. He leaves clutching a government school leaving certificate and leaving behind good friends and coffee rewards for fixing anything from vehicles to watches and electro mech devices. Working his way to the then Mecca of Madras, he even slept in the open with iron determination.
A wartime emergency pilot cadetship in the fledgling Indian Air Force, saw him chucking up his watch repair job. By 5th April 1942 he had earned his King's Commission as a young fighter pilot with 80 hours on the Tigermoth at No 1 Elementary Flying Training School at Begumpet Hyderabad India with Sqn Ldr P.Apellis as the C.O.
He then went to No 1 Service Flying Training School, Ambala where he flew the Hart and Audax till 26th September 1942 when he gained his wings with a total of 250 hours under Flt Lt J Woodroffe and CO Wg Cdr HP Simpson. He then moved onto Bhopal to the Armament Training Unit on the Audax for air to ground firing from 12th October 1942, followed by two sorties on 6th and 7th November on the Hart for air-to-air firing. Again, on 21st and 23rd January 1943 he flew two sorties on the Hart.
With 210 hours under his belt, he reported and started flying the Havard and Lysander in 151 Operational Training Unit, Risalpur from 21st February 1943. He probably went on leave in between before reporting to OTU.
He started maintaining a diary with accounts, mainly from 1st April 1943 then Air force day (IAF day is now on 8th October every year). By 5th April 1943 he had 250 hours under his belt. On 6th April he went to Delhi (HQ probably). On 12th April after buying a pistol case for 5 rupees, he left for Bombay, Pune,leave, Mangalore, Puttur and on 25th April went back to Bombay. On 7th May 1943 he, along with fellow 12th course Plt Offr D Subia (late Air Marshal) and 11th course IH Latif, boarded the SS Straithead "chocka block full as per Air Chief Latif for Durban, S Africa.
He was seasick. Years later his fighter pilot son would experience the same airsickness his dad had. (A vestibular system genetic interpretation?). They arrived at Durban on 18th May 1943. Lunch at Benny Singh's (father of African boxing) house on the 19th (Tea Room 12 Wills Road, tel 20625). Idris Latif sees evident aparthied in a chemist and barber shop forcing him to go underground to a giant black guy with a scary big chopper!! On the 21st lunch at Esther's place and a dance arranged by the mayor and departure on the 22nd by the Ile De France via Rio and Freetown to avoid German U Boats arriving finally at Greenock/Gurock in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland on 20th June 1943 to an extraordinarily warm welcome by the Brits as per ACM IH Latif. 22nd eve left ship for Helensburg (built on a love story) arriving at 7 personnel Reception Centre, Harrogate at 1 pm on the 23rd. On the 27th there was a picnic at Fountains Abbey and on the 29th to London, Sir Arcot Ramaswamy Mudalair's lunch at Shafi - a well known muslim hotel (Sir Arcot was Dewan of Mysore and in Churchill's war cabinet).
Back to Harrogate on the 2nd of July 1943. On 4th July to Fountains Abbey with Bill and Mrs K.S. Chaffer, 20 Hookstone Drive, Harrogate tel 83100 (Ursula's aunt). Visited Knaresborough (next door) and Leeds with four National Fire Service gals.
On 7th July 1943 promoted to Flying Officr and changed the stripe (co's nowadays slip 'em on). On 10th July visited Ursula Groth in Bedford (a mini German population there). Ursula later married Ludwig Chicken the Alpine Doc Mountaineer Dehra Doon POW whose escaped colleague was the Star of seven yrs in Tibet! On 12th July sailing with Barbara and Yetni in Knaresborough river. On the 18th dinner and saw their film in Lady Bommanji's house (seen with Zozo and Princess Mary (youtube.com/elsonicsanto). Lady Bomanji 2 no more house sold. A lot more outings with friends in the river, films, lunches and tea. 30th July at Bedford, Ursula fell into the river, he also got wet so spent the night at her parent's place. On 2nd August visit to York cathedral and tea with the mayor. On 20th August saw drama Othello in Harrogate. On 2nd September film at St James with Gerder followed by dinner and coffee at her place (repeat of 23rd August programme). 2 September good friends Ogdens Goldsmiths give case in silver for Goddess Saraswathi (goddess of Wisdom) idol. 6th September 1943, goodbye to everyone (the party is over!).
7th September 1943 left Harrogate at 0810 hrs and arrived at RAF Calvely (near Nantwich near Chester) at 1505 hrs to fly the Miles Master from 15th September 43.(Friends the Sutliffes and Allins who moved to Canada). 10th Oct 1943 bought Exelsior 250 NCV motorbike for 9 half pounds including license (lapse on 13th October 1944, he died on his self assembled 12 hp red indian chief on 14th October 1960). 2nd November nNntwich Rotary Club and his lecture (lecture not known, add 'Time Like This' poem by him). 3rd December to Blackpool for overnight, probably for sea survival course. 28th Ocotber commenced night flying.
All along in 17(P)Advanced Flying unit, 21 group RAF. Total 320 hours including 36 by night.
22nd January 1944 in 5(P)AFU Ternhill close to Market Drayton home of Robert Clive. (13th to 16th January in Burton On Trent hospital, near Alrewas, for throat ache). On 17th February replaced motorbike with a BSA for fifteen pounds. By 24th March 1944 completed 352 hours including 8 on the Hurricane 1.
On 27th March 1944 transferred to RAF Eshott, 57 OTU, Spitfires, Northumberland, near Morpeth (home of Peggy William Dixon). 18th May to Boulmer nearby on the coast (famed for Harry Potter's castle and used as a decoy airfield later in the war) where Peggy once looked gorgeous by the sea in a flowing white gown! D Day - 6th June 1944 back to Eshott, all op training on Spits done and total of 416 hrs with 48 hrs on the Spit. 7th June to Gourock. 10th boarded SS Muloga. 12th 5 pm Port Said, Egypt. 28th left Suez. 2nd July Aden. 10th July Bombay.
Onto War 9 Sqn IAF Hurricanes (wing break after Jap Boat strike, successful landing with 2 minutes' petrol - 'God saved me'). Then 8 RIAF Spits (30th August had narrow escape from Banzai Japs!) Looking for descendents of friends Allins, Sutcliffes, etc.
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