1942 - MALTA DEFENCE - Tony Lovell

1942: Into the blue

New Year 1942 opened with a ball in the Mess at Catterick. Tony attended, a gold silkworm badge on the lapel of his squadron leader’s uniform, denoting his membership of the Caterpillar Club (he was one of those who owed his life to the silken canopy of a parachute - his sister-in-law Alicia referred to the badge as a wiggly worm).

Alicia Lovell was at the ball as Tony’s guest with her new husband: Tony’s older brother Stuart, now a Pilot Officer with 263 Sqdn (Whirlwinds). The pair had married the previous September, and had spent Christmas in Northern Ireland at her family home of Cromore, Portstewart. [1]

It was a good party - she remembered leading the station C.O. in a conga line - and the following day Tony came to see her where she was staying at the Catterick Bridge Hotel; for despite her marriage to his brother, Tony still evidently looked upon Alicia as the confidante which she had been in their teenage years.

He now recalled how, on leave from Catterick before the war, he had bicycled over to Cromore from Portrush to see her. They had chatted for an hour in front of the big house, and he had been flabbergasted (he said) to realise that the girl he had grown up with was actually capable of holding a serious discussion.

In the Catterick Bridge Hotel, on New Years Day, the two talked about marriage; and Tony told his sister-in-law that he had been thinking about getting married. It was not, she felt later, a subject he would have bothered to raise on a purely speculative basis; he actually had marriage in mind.

No-one specific was mentioned, but she retained the impression of a pretty, dark-haired girl [2]:

He must have kept it very quiet. He knew it would hurt his mother’s feelings terribly.... how disappointed she’d be if he didn’t become a priest.

Tony was not as indifferent to female charms as some of his fellow-pilots and others believed; Norman Ryder and Bill Stapleton both thought that he was not the type to have anything to do with women (Stapleton making the point that Tony was not disinterested, just too moral). [3

Alicia knew that he was attracted to girls. She remembered one occasion when Tony’s Aunt Kitty (O’Neill) had rearranged the placement on a pre-war cinema outing in Portrush, to prevent what she had considered an unnecessarily-close Tony/Doreen arrangement in the back row. (Doreen, who hovered around the edge of “The Gang”, was not thought desirable by the forceful Miss O’Neill.) [4]

Meanwhile the war went on. On 19th January 1942, on an overcast day with a touch of fog, Tony fell in with a Ju.88:

S/Ldr A.D.J. Lovell, DFC., when on weather test, shot down a J.U.88 which crashed into the sea 25 miles East of Whitby. [5]

According to the Belfast News-Letter, which featured the story, the squadron leader had been carrying out a test flight “while resting from operational flying”. Another newspaper reported that “a DFC squadron-leader Spitfire pilot was carrying out a special practice flight” when:

a few miles off the coast he sighted a JU 88 travelling at a fast rate. He gave chase, and attacked from behind. The squadron-leader was closing in when the bomber burst into flames and dived into the sea.”

This was not strictly true. Tony was simply up on a weather test in a Spitfire VB, [6] and was some five miles east of Saltburn when he was vectored on to a bandit coming down the coast from just off Newcastle.

It was just after 1500 when he saw a plane two miles ahead of him flying east at about 2000ft, just beneath cloud base. He climbed 1000ft to cloud base to avoid being spotted, but in so doing lost sight of the enemy aircraft.

He lost height again and re-established contact from 1000 yards with what he now recognised as a Ju.88. Tony re-entered the cloud cover and emerged 700 yards away on the bomber’s port side, and about 300 ft above:

I turned towards him and with my sights well ahead opened fire with m.g. and cannon from about 500 yds. raking him from nose to tail with a 4-5 secs. burst. I passed behind his tail at about 30 yds. and saw his starboard engine burst into flames with bits flying off.

There was no return fire from the Ju.88, which continued in level flight as the fire in its engine gained hold, then turned and dived to starboard into the sea, and exploded:

I think I must have got him entirely by surprise. No wreckage or survivors were visible but there were flames and a big patch of green flourescine and oil on the surface. (Signed): ADJ Lovell, S/Ldr.

Tony promptly sent a telegram to his mother at Portrush:

+++ SCORE NOW 11½ LOVE TONY +++

The station commander at Catterick, W/Cdr Guy Wood, made a recommendation for the immediate award of a DSO in these terms:

Squadron Leader A.D.J. Lovell joined No:41 Squadron from F.T.S. in August, 1938. He served continually with that squadron until June 1941 when it was considered that he was due for a well earned rest.

His record of victories whilst with No:41 Squadron both at Catterick and Hornchurch is impressive. During the period from May 31st, 1940 until March 30th, 1941 he accounted for no less than six M.E. 109s, two J.U. 88s, one M.E. 110 and a half share in a H.E. 111. In the same period he was credited with the probable destruction of one M.E. 110, one M.E. 109, and with damage to a D.O. 215, a M.E. 109 and a half share in damage to an H.E. 111. [7]

On leaving No: 41 Squadron for a rest in June, 1941, he served with distinction as a Controller at Catterick until taking over command of No: 145 Squadron at Catterick on the 22nd October, 1941.

Although Huns in the Catterick Sector in day time are few and far between and very difficult to find, since taking over No: 145 Squadron, Squadron Leader Lovell has shot down two J.U.88s. The first of these victories took place on November 16th, 1941, thirty-five miles off the Yorkshire coast. The second J.U.88 he intercepted and shot down in extremely difficult weather conditions, twenty-five miles out to sea off the Yorkshire coast on January 19th, 1942.

His keenness for battle and qualities of leadership both in the air and on the ground have been an inspiration not only to his Squadron but to the Sector Controllers as well.

An immediate award of the D.S.O. is strongly recommended.

The AOC 13 Group did not agree. He wrote:

S/L Lovell is a gallant and skillfull S.S.F. pilot and an inspiring and capable Squadron Commander. I recommend, however, that, at this stage, he should be awarded a bar to the D.F.C.

A bar it was. Tony sent a succinct telegram to his mother on 27th January:

+ MRS LOVELL HIBERNIA DUBLIN = BAR LOVE TONY +

While Huns might have been hard to find in the Catterick sector, they were certainly being troublesome elsewhere - particularly in the Mediterranean. On the day that Mrs Lovell received Tony’s telegram in Dublin, Rommel - so recently pushed westward across Cyrenaica by the Eighth Army - pushed back, re-occupied Benghazi, and thrust on eastwards. The British forces reversed in some disarray in the direction of Tobruk.

At the same time the Western Desert Air Force, which had ably demonstrated the potential of action in tactical support of ground troops, was now at a double disadvantage of fully-stretched squadrons and a new adversary in the Me.109F-2/Trop, which outperformed all existing WDAF fighters:

The burden on the fighters was very heavy - no fewer than seven squadrons had to be withdrawn at the end of the year for lack of aircraft or to re-equip. Re-equipment was definitely due; Tedder had been inclined to believe at first that his fighters had laid the “bogey” of the Me.109F, but by the turn of the year he accepted that the Hurricanes and Tomahawks were still outclassed in speed and climb, and remarked, “One squadron of Spitfire Vs would have been worth a lot”. [8]

One squadron of Spitfire Vs was what Tedder, as AOC-in-C Middle East, was sent. Tony Lovell’s 145 Sqdn left Catterick by train on 11th February 1942 in snow and fog to embark for service overseas, while their aircraft were shipped separately to the Gold Coast, to take the 3700-mile route clear across Africa to Khartoum and Egypt.

Squadron personnel left the Clyde aboard the troopship Ormonde, and so began a difficult time for Tony. Behind it all was the clash of two RAF cultures.

On one side was the pre-war professional, heavy with implications of form, and a certain type of upbringing, and the notion that to be an officer was to be a gentleman - (although the reverse was not always true, for a gentleman might be a sergeant pilot, in the reserve or the AAF).

On the other side, now filtering through from the Flying Training Schools in ever-increasing numbers, were the raw pilots of whom many were neither temporary officers nor part-time gentlemen. Volunteers or conscripts, they came from a very wide range of backgrounds, and their reluctance to conform to the pre-war professional’s vision of Service life was often quite marked.

Sandwiched uncomfortably in between were those NCOs who as pre-war RAF tradesmen had volunteered for pilot training, had been trained, and had afterwards returned to their trades with the rank of sergeant and the right to flying pay.

Tony, himself a pre-war professional, had inherited on 145 Sqdn a small core of experienced pilots who had been with the squadron at Tangmere, and a larger number who were not that long out of OTU. [9] The experienced core had contained some five sergeant pilots, and it took Tony a little while to acclimatise to the fact.

The settling down period between Tony and most of the rest of the pilots was not always easy, said Frank Twitchett, who was of their number. (It was probably not helped by Tony’s youth - he was only 22 years old, and not a natural mixer anyway.)

The voyage to Egypt made things no easier. Two days out of the Clyde the troopship Ormonde ran into a full gale which added to the discomfort of the NCOs and other ranks whose accommodation - and food - left a great deal to be desired.

Seasickness was rife. The men slept in hammocks slung above the tables they ate on, and conditions generally were disgusting. It required a great deal of tact and patience to keep order; morale and discipline were maintained only with great difficulty. [9a]

Tony Smith, a sergeant fitter, described Tony Lovell as a C.O. who was popular with all ranks, and felt that this was amply borne out during the long and tedious voyage of the Ormonde. (Sgt Smith also said that Tony was “a great man for playing bridge”, and was a competent player). [10]

Ormonde’s first port of call was Freetown, where on 1st March a number of pilots disembarked en route for Takoradi and the ferry route to Egypt. There are indications that some three or four Spitfires set out on this 3700-mile journey guided by a Baltimore with which they had no radio contact, and a foul-up resulted. [11]

On 6th March 1942 the rest of the squadron sailed from Freetown for Durban, where they arrived on the 21st. The city made a strong impression on them:

The first sight of it was one which will ever be remembered by all members of the squadron. We docked about midday and everyone was soon in their visiting clothes. Leave was granted and Durban was taken by storm. [12]

The following day they entrained for Clairwood Transit Camp - a good place to be apart from the ‘huge’ mosquitoes, according to LAC George Dowden, who was there for 10 weeks - and spent a fortnight there. Leave was granted from midday each day:

The hospitality of the citizens was amazing and many lasting friendships were made.

The squadron did not look forward to resuming their journey up the east coast of Africa in Ormonde, and were relieved when in-the-know Durbanites told them not to worry because the last stage of their journey would be undertaken in the somewhat more salubrious Nieuw Amsterdam.

So it proved; the squadron diary recorded their departure “with heavy hearts” on 6th April, and the Lady in White sang her traditional farewell from the Bluff. They reached Port Tewfik 10 days later, and went by road via Kasfareet to Heliopolis, one of the five main RAF stations in Egypt (the others were at Aboukir, Ismailia, Abu Sueir and Helwan) and still a pukka establishment.

92 Sqdn, who had travelled out from the UK at the same time as 145 Sqdn and with them and 601 Sqdn were destined to form 244 Wing, stayed on at Heliopolis and worked up there; but 145 Sqdn were ultimately directed to Helwan, arriving on the last day of April.

They had no Spitfires. The ship bringing the aircraft out from the UK had been torpodoed, and all that could be spared to enable pilots to keep their hours up and their eye in were two Harvard trainers.

All this would have been intensely frustrating for Tony Lovell, and cannot have helped him with the discipline problem. Nor can the proximity of Cairo, with its bright social whirl, its restaurants and cafes and cocktail parties, all in absolute contrast to the blacked-out and blitzed Britain so recently left behind.

Smart Cairo at this time was agog to know what American journalist Clare Boothe Luce had written about the British military effort in notes discovered by the authorities as she returned home. Did General Ritchie really send his shirts back from the desert to the city for laundering? Had she really referred to the RAF as the flying fairies? [12a]

Neither the society atmosphere, nor the associated mass of gaberdine swine whose war was being fought from the security of a Cairo desk, can have been greatly to Tony Lovell’s taste - if indeed he even bothered to sample it. He will almost certainly have been aware that both the civil and the military situations in Egypt were anything but ideal.

It was not three months since the British ambassador, Sir Miles Lampson, had driven to the Abdin Palace with an escort of armoured cars to demand the abdication of King Farouk.

And now, in the midst of a ground-swell of anti-British feeling, Rommel was busy exposing the ineptness and lack of cohesion that bedivilled British ground forces in North Africa by briskly pushing them back towards the Egyptian frontier.

When the first four Spitfires were finally assembled for 145 Sqdn, they were hurried “up the blue” at the beginning of June to Gambut, east of Tobruk, to join the Western Desert Air Force as top cover for the fighter-bombers - the first Spitfires to go into action in this theatre.

By the time they had returned to the main body of the squadron at Helwan, Tony Lovell was no longer C.O.

The circumstances of his departure were not clear to the men on the ground. H.N. Maclean says that when the Spitfires finally made their appearance there were few spares or tools, and believes that Tony therefore refused point-blank to take the squadron up the desert:

Typical Air Force, he was posted and Flt Lt Overton was promoted to Sqdn Ldr to take the first Spitfire squadron to the desert. Needless to say we coped but with difficulty. [13]

Sgt Tony Smith has a different version, given to him - he says - by Tony Lovell himself. This bore on the fact that when 145 Sqdn took delivery of its first two Spitfires (? Harvards):

Reports were circulating that there would be some delay before further deliveries could be expected as they were now being transported to Takoradi before being flown across Africa.

With this in mind Sqdn/Ldr Lovell made quite clear to all pilots the importance of the two available aircraft, adding that any pilot being responsible for any damage would be grounded and posted from the Sqdn. Unfortunately a few days later he himself bent the propellor on landing. Although the damage was soon repaired and the A/C made serviceable again, he obviously made the judgment that he was at fault and shortly after this left the Squadron.... [14]

In point of fact, Tony Lovell seems to have had some kind of minor nervous breakdown, possibly brought on by the stresses involved in keeping squadron discipline, his difficulty in accepting a - to him - unorthodox team of pilots, and perhaps also by the frustration of inaction. [15]

He went to see the AOC Egypt in Cairo, Sir Keith Park, who had been AOC of 11 Group during the Battle of Britain and at the least would have known Tony by reputation, and asked to be relieved of the command of 145 Sqdn. [16] His request was granted, and F/Lt Teeny Overton, one of his flight commanders, took over.

Overton had found, as had many others, that Tony was not an easy man to get to know:

“Not stand-offish, but not at ease off-duty. We had a lot of admin problems - all these pilots and no aircraft - which got on top of him.... and he went very strange. Park called me in and said, ‘Lovell wants to be relieved.’”

Posted supernumerary to HQ Middle East Command on 22nd May 1942, Tony Lovell left 145 Sqdn on the 25th and was on controller duties with 252 Wing for a week before joining 13 Sector‘s operations room. [17]

252 Wing, which was based at Seagull Camp, Mex, near Alexandria, noted that Tony had been posted from HQ RAFME on 25th May for controller duties. If so, he may have arrived at Mex in time for the first excitement of the day:

At 1050 hours, a hostile track was plotted 15 miles North East of DABA, coming East. The Enemy aircraft came within 25 miles North West of ALEXANDRIA, probably recce’ing a Fleet exercise in that Area. It then turned North West, and went out at a speed of 300 m.p.h., fading 100 miles North West of ALEXANDRIA at 1127 hours. Four Hurricanes of 213 Squadron were airborne 1051-1210 hours, but no interception was made....

Tony Lovell was posted to 13 Sector operations room on 3rd June 1942 for operations duties, and on 21st July to HQ RAF Malta to command 1435 Sqdn. This was the successor to Innes Westmacott’s 1435 Flight, which had sprung the previous December from the somewhat unofficial Malta Night Fighter Unit (MNFU).

1435 Sqdn had been equipped with eight surplus Spitfire Vcs from the shipments which HMAC Eagle had been making to boost the Malta defences. During the months of June and July the carrier had delivered nearly 120 aircraft to the island, and it was with eight of these that 1435 Sqdn began operations on 23rd July under the command of

“a new arrival from Egypt - a most notable Battle of Britain pilot, Sqn.Ldr. A.D.J. Lovell, DFC and Bar; Tony Lovell already had a dozen victories to his credit and would prove to be a most welcome addition to Malta’s strength....” [18]

The squadron was based at Safi strip, a patch of dusty ground to the east of Luqa airfield. Pilots were accommodated at St Julians, in a requisitioned house by the sea, officers and sergeants sharing messes with 249 Sqdn.

One newly-arrived pilot on Malta was Ian Maclennan, posted to 1435 from 401, where he was rather volunteered by his CO after a rather unfortunate incident in which a couple of Spitfires were damaged taxying. He was interviewed by his new CO, "a handsome man with a lean face like that of an austere saint", and said later:

Wonderful guy, Tony Lovell, a patrician. Anglo-Irish. I tell him I am Roman Catholic. "Good, you can come to Mass with me in the mornings." So everybody else got up at 4 a.m.; he and I were up at 3.30 a.m. for Mass. When I arrived, 1435 Squadron was forming. Wally McLeod was flight commander of "A" Flight, and later I took over that flight... He witnessed and confirmed my first victory in Malta, so that put me in good standing with him... Tony Lovell said to us, "I can't get enough Canadians." He liked Canadian pilots. [18a]

To begin with there was little time for niceties, and in the first days the Operations Record Book was being written up in what looks like Tony’s own handwriting: [19]

Luqa Malta. 23.7.42. Squadron operated for the first time under the command of Squadron Leader Lovell, D.F.C. with bar. The Fighter Pilots are accommodated in the Officers Mess and the Sergeants Mess, both at St Julians.

26.7.42. 0850-0940 Sgt Hubbard shot up by ME109s and crashed on landing. Sgt Hubbard killed.

30.7.42 0755-0850 Sgt Wood shot down off St Pauls Bay. Pilot killed.

[Signed] A D J Lovell S/L

On 23rd July the squadron notched up a probable in the morning, and in the afternoon Tony Lovell, F/Lt Halford and Sgt R.A. Stevenson damaged two Ju.88s, part of a group of five which had raided Luqa.

On the morning of Sunday 26th July 126 and 1435 Sqdns were in action against a force of seven Ju.88s which bombed Ta Kali, Tony Lovell claiming an escorting Macchi C202 as damaged. In the afternoon he damaged an Me.109 over Luqa.

A group of three Ju.88s from II/KG77 was destroyed in the late afternoon of the 28th on the run-in to Hal Far, being intercepted by 185 Sqdn on patrol, and by a scramble of 1435 and 126 Sqdns.

Flying his first-ever combat sortie, in a Spitfire borrowed from 1435 Sqdn, W/Cdr George Stainforth, the 43-year-old CO of 89 Sqdn (who was visiting a detachment of his radar-equipped Beaufighter night fighters from Egypt), described his - and Tony’s - contribution:

“After climbing to about 16,000 feet approximately south of Kalafrana, CO (Sqn.Ldr. Lovell) turned and dived on a Ju88 which was then untouched, flying east, followed by the rest of the section. Several Me109s were about, but no other Ju’s.

Got left 200-300 yards behind on the outside of the turn. An Me109 turned in front of and below me allowing an easy quarter attack from close range. Did not see it go down as I went over the top of it and broke off to keep with my section.

After the Spitfire in front (Sqn.Ldr. Lovell) attacked the Ju88, I saw two occupants bale out and the starboard engine began smoking.

I made diving quarter attack on it (short burst), then did wide zig-zag to come back for second attack from astern and below. The Hun was flying level after turning north, smoke coming from the starboard engine, both engines running. Opened fire from 200 yards, kept the button pressed until passed a few feet over the top of it. Many strikes observed - fuselage burst into a mass of flames. Nobody else baled out. Did not watch or follow it down, but dived after a Spitfire chasing an Me109 - Sqn.Ldr. Lovell - joined up eventually.” [20]

The Ju.88 was apparently 3Z+HP, piloted by Uffz. Albert Führer; “after scattering a trail of debris as it crossed Marsaxlokk Bay in a north-easterly direction, the remains... crashed at Wolseley Camp, one mile north of Delimara in the south-east of the Island...”. [21] The crew who baled out were the radio operator, Uffz. Karl Bauer, and the gunner, Uffz. Gustav Frick.

In its first week of operations 1435 Sqdn lost two pilots. Sgt Don Hubbard, who had flown a Spitfire in from HMAC Eagle on 9th June, was killed while trying to force-land at Luqa on 28th July, having been shot up by Me.109s of II/JG53.

New Zealander Sgt Colin Wood, who had flown in with Hubbard, was shot down off St Pauls Bay on 30th July, probably by Macchis of 51o Stormo.

However by the beginning of August things were on a far more formal footing. The [neatly typed] introduction to a smart new operations record book, signed by New Zealander S/Ldr Ronnie Webb, “Squadron Leader commanding no.1435 Squadron, R.A.F.”, evidently wanted to leave no room for misunderstanding:

2nd Aug 0905 It was on this day in the summer of 1942 that no.1435 Squadron began its operational activities.

The number “1435” originally belonged to a Hurricane night-fighter flight but with the appearance of a Beaufighter Detachment from North Africa this unit ceased to exist and the number was taken over by a Spitfire Squadron then forming. Although the Spitfires were employed as a fighting unit it was not until later that the Squadron was officially recognised and given status as such....

The list of pilots followed:

S/Ldr. LOVELL

P/Off MEJOR F/Lt J.R.S.HALFORD

P/Off A.R.STEWART F/Sgt J.E.McNAMARA

F/Sgt M.W.VINEYARD F/Sgt R.A.STEVENSON

Sergt C.L.BAXTER F/Sgt I.R.MacLANNAN

Sergt G.PHILPS F/Sgt J.A.PINNEY

F/Sgt J.B.CRAWFORD Sergt W.B.KNOX-WILLIAMS

Sergt R.A.BUNTINE Sergt W.N.SHEPPARD

At 0905 hours eight Spitfires were airborne; enemy aircraft were seen but no Combat ensued.

Even Tony’s flying leadership was to be shared, with the arrival on 11th August of the newly-appointed Luqa Spitfire Wing leader W/Cdr Peter Prosser Hanks, a Battle of France pilot who had commanded the RAF’s first squadron [no.56] to convert to Typhoons. [22] F/Lt Geoffrey Wellum had also just arrived in Malta, leading eight Spitfires in from HMAC Furious. [23]

Wellum was to write later [24]:

Tony Lovell I haven’t met before. Quietly spoken, he is very correct in everything he does and even after a day at dispersal in the dust and heat, his appearance is one of neatness and tidiness. There is nothing dishevelled about Tony, no matter what’s going on.

Every Spitfire that has ever been on Malta was flown in and with our arrival, so he tells me, we have an adequate stock of pilots. Therefore, he hopes to start a routine of one day on, one day off, especially if the enemy remains quiet. Most of our aircraft losses have been on the ground through bombing shortly after arrival. The Germans had seen them arrive on their radar. The squadron is due to fly the second wave to cover the convoy in the morning and I will be flying this mission.

‘Sorry about this, Wellum. I was hoping to give you a breather after today’s effort and a day or so for you to acclimatize but maxiumum effort is wanted for the morning.’.....

Prosser Hanks led the squadron in two scrambles on 11th August, at 1000 and 1625 hrs, but only one aircraft got as far as firing its guns.

At this time the squadron seems to have been operating Spitfire Vbs as well as Vcs, which would have been flown in from US and RN aircraft carriers in the preceding months. Photos of April/May show Vcs on the USS Wasp, and later at Safi, a Vc with one of its two pairs of cannon removed (either because the heating of the full set of 20mm Hispano-Suizas was not adequate except at low level, [25] or for shortage of ordnance or guns, or to save weight). Another Safi photo however appears to show the earlier Vb armament of two cannon and four .303 Brownings.

The second week of August saw the start of Operation Pedestal, a new attempt to re-supply the island of Malta by sea. Fourteen merchant ships escorted by two battleships, three large aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and 32 destroyers, passed Gibraltar on the 9th on course for Algiers.

Wellum reports a 1435 Sqdn patrol over the convoy on 12th August, at the end of which he is buttonholed by his C.O. Tony Lovell in the dispersal tent:

‘How did you get on, Wellum? Can’t keep calling you Wellum, what is your Christian name?’

‘Geoffrey, Sir.’

‘Right, Geoffrey, so how did it go?’

‘A nonentity, really... I saw what I thought was a cruiser and a couple of merchant ships and I heard some distant R/T about some Ju.87s but, although I turned in what I thought was the right direction, I didn’t see a thing.’

‘Nor did I. I heard the R/T but that’s about all....’ [26]

By the 13th of August eight of the merchant ships had been sunk, as well as HMAC Eagle and the cruisers Cairo and Manchester. The six remaining merchantmen were now however within striking distance of Malta, and fighter cover from the island against incessant German air attacks was now possible.

August 13th was a red-letter day for the squadron and for Tony Lovell, who shot down a Stuka and an SM.84:

Ten times Spitfires took off to provide escort to a convoy. At 1130 hours enemy aircraft appeared from the direction of PANTELLARIA and dived on the convoy. One Ju.87 destroyed by S/Ldr LOVELL. One Ju.87 damaged by P/O MEJOR. Two Ju.87 damaged by F/Sgt PINNEY....

Tony’s Ju.87, from 209a Squadriglia, crash-landed in the sea. The crew - pilot Sgt-Maj. Guido Savini and his gunner 1oAv.Arm. Nicola Patella - were thrown clear. (Incidentally the timing here cannot be right, as the Stukas had taken off from Castelvetrano at 0750hrs and were reported attacking the tanker Ohio at 0920. [27] The ORB entry should perhaps be timed at 0930hrs.)

The Italian airmen meanwhile were picked up more than two days later on the evening of the 15th, along with the observer from a downed Beaufighter of Sqdn, by a Dornier Do.24T flying-boat. To return to August 13th:

1040 Over the same convoy at this hour six ME.109s and an unidentified bomber were sighted. The bomber was destroyed by F/Sgt PINNY. At 1705 hours S/L LOVELL destroyed a SM.84....

The Italians reported the loss of two reconnaissance aircraft that afternoon: a Cant Z1007bis which took off from Chinisia in western Sicily at 1355hrs, and an SM.79 of 58a Squadriglia which left Castelvetrano at 1632hrs.

It would not be at all difficult to confuse a Z1007bis with an SM.79 or with an SM.84, especially if the first was the type which had a single fin instead of a double.

1435 Sqdn‘s claims for the day totalled one Ju.87 destroyed and three damaged; two SM.84s and one SM.79 destroyed; one Ju.88 probably destroyed and another damaged; one Me.109 damaged; and an unknown bomber destroyed. [28]

The stresses and strain of almost continual operations were beginning to tell on Tony (as indeed they told on many others). Eric Hughes of 126 Sqdn had a vivid memory of this particular day.

He had just flown in from Gibraltar, where he had been delayed from joining his squadron by a Court of Enquiry into a Belgian room-mate’s near-successful game of Russian roulette.

In the heat of the battle Eric Hughes found Tony Lovell seated wearily on a boulder, having returned from his third sortie of the day over the remnants of the convoy, with the damaged tanker Ohio limping towards towards Grand Harbour at a handful of knots:

The Intelligence Officer, who we called Spy, came rushing up and said ‘Tony, I understand you’ve just shot down a Ju.88?’ And Tony looked at him and said ‘What the Hell is the point of putting in a combat report? Don’t you realise the Ohio is on fire out there? And if she doesn’t make it we’ve got five days left?’ And he broke down.

By the evening of the 13th the Melbourne Star, the Port Chalmers and the Rochester Castle were safe in Grand Harbour. The following day the two remaining ships in convoy WS 21S continued to struggle towards Valetta: these were Ohio, with a cargo of some 11,500 tons of desperately-needed diesel and kerosene fuel, and the 12,800-ton Brisbane Star.

Ohio was already badly damaged and in tow. Now in mid-morning on August 14, while under escort by Sqdn and 1435 Sqdn, she came under attack from five Stukas of 102o Gruppo Tuff led by Capt. Antonio Cumbat, who was promptly shot down by Tony Lovell and his New Zealand wingman Sgt G. Philp. [29]

Reported Tony:

As we arrived I saw one Ju87 diving and went for it, overtook it rapidly, opened fire at 300 yards and broke away at 30 yards. I saw strikes all over the engine and fuselage. White smoke poured from both sides. He lost height, smoke stopped and he did a steep turn to port and flew west losing height. I turned back towards the convoy and saw the Ju87 crash into the sea. I claim half share with Sgt Philp.

Philp, as Blue 2, confirmed the details:

Blue 1 fired and smoke poured from the engine, and as I went in to fire enemy aircraft began to weave. I fired a four-second burst then broke. Looking back I saw the enemy aircraft turn sharply left, losing height, then crash into the sea.....

After ditching, Cumbat - who was C.O. of 239a Squadriglia - and his wounded gunner Michele Cavallo were able to take to their dinghy.

During the afternoon they were spotted by Beaufighters of 248 Sqdn, who took them for their own crew lost the day before - whose observer was at that moment floating elsewhere in the Med in the company of the Stuka crew shot down the previous day by Tony Lovell.

The 248 Sqdn aircraft flew off, leaving one of their number circling the Italians’ dinghy. This marker Beaufighter was then attacked by a number of Spitfires, so a second aircraft - with its own Spitfire escort - was sent out forthwith.

Meanwhile matters became complicated when at sunset a Dornier Do.24T air-sea rescue flyingboat of Seenotst 6 from Syracuse was seen approaching with an escort of half a dozen Macchi fighters. The latter however were at the limit of their range, and they turned back.

The German flyingboat spotted the overflying British aircraft too late to take evasive action, and instead indicated its intention to alight and pick up the ditched Stuka crew.

Under orders from Malta ops, where the sequence of events had been monitored on radar and the withdrawal of the Italian fighters noted, the escorting Beaufighter made no threatening moves and instead shepherded the Do.24T down to make its rescue.

On 19th August, for the first time, the Malta Spitfires went on the offensive when 1435 Sqdn, as the ORB said,

goes to town with its first fighter sweep over the S.E. coast of Sicily, but no enemy aircraft responded to the challenge....

Two days later, on 21st August 1942, Tony Lovell and Sgt Pinney took part in a formal rodeo sweep over the same area “but no joy resulted”.

Conditions at this time were tough, and rations were short; as the Siege of Malta progressed, ground crews at Safi supplemented their diet with five-shilling flour and water pancakes fried in Spitfire hydraulic oil. [30]

The aircraft however kept flying. On 26th August, 1435 Sqdn acted as high escort to a Hurribomber attack on Biscari and was over target for quarter of an hour at 18,000ft. No enemy aircraft appeared, and the AA “just didn’t”.

On 27th August a total of 26 Spitfires from 185, 229 and 249 Sqdns beat up the Sicilian airfields of Comiso, Biscari, and Gela, while 1435 Sqdn provided cover off the coast for the returning aircraft. Meanwhile

S/Ldr LOVELL and F/Off MCLEOD acted as contact between control and the main body of aircraft in an attack on Sicilian aerodromes. They climbed to 17,000ft and crossed the South coast South of RAGUSA. On returning to the coastline two small Z-marked boats were sighted and attacked. One was afterwards seen to have stopped.

By the end of the month 1435 Sqdn had flown 496 operational hours in 388 sorties “for which the efficient work of the ground staff deserves high praise”. [31]

In September 1942 the number of sorties fell to 226. Various rodeos and offensive patrols were flown, and on the 10th Tony Lovell led a section of four Spitfires over Sicily to Mt Lavro, and with Sgt Shepherd flew at sea level to Cape Scalambria and searched the coast for approximately 30 miles east and west, but no sightings were made.

On 1st October Tony and Sgt D.C. Eva, on patrol near Cape Scalambria, spotted five Reggiane Re.2001s beneath them at 19,000ft and dived in pursuit. One of these Italian fighters was damaged by Tony.

Two days later he

led nine aircraft to intercept the intrepid Hun. No engagement took place....

and on the 6th, he led eight Spitfires against the same number of Me.109s at a height of 23,000ft. Results were inconclusive; one German aircraft was a probable, but a Spitfire was also damaged.

A big German air offensive against the island began on 10th October. On the 11th Tony damaged an Me.109 while leading four of his Spitfires in a joint action against a heavily-escorted German raid.

A day later, during the fifth major raid of the day, he led a scramble of eight 1435 Sqdn Spitfires against a force of nearly 60 aircraft including some half a dozen Ju.88s with a high escort of Me.109s. One of the bombers was shot down by Tony:

While closing in rapidly on the starboard bomber I fired a two-second burst from a range of 300 to 50 yards and large pieces flew off, and flames came from the starboard engine. I then broke away sharply. P/O Walton and F/Sgt Scott witnessed the aircraft on fire.

During the course of the day, apart from Tony’s Ju.88, his squadron claimed one Me.109 and one Re.2001, with an Me.109 and two Ju.88s as probables.

On the 17th - five days into what the AOC, AVM Keith Park, described as the second Battle of

Malta - Tony led four of his Spitfires head-on against the first raid of the day. A 50-strong force of Ju.88s and heavy escort was detected approaching the island at 0645hrs, and Tony’s group pitched in to the leading four bombers a dozen miles north-east of Zonquor. Tony himself attacked and damaged one of the Ju.88s, which then seems to have been poached by a pilot from 126 Sqdn and shot down.

On 22nd October 1942 he led the squadron in a head-on attack against a formation of 25 Macchi 202s as it approached St Pauls Bay, and two were damaged. That day Tony Lovell was awarded an “immediate” DSO, along with W/Cdr Peter Prosser Hanks.

A signal sent from Malta and received by AMCS on 23/10/42, attributed the break-up of the enemy attack on 12th October to Tony’s skill and leadership, and went on (incorrectly):

His score before arriving was 5 and half enemy aircraft destroyed and whilst flying from this Island he has destroyed 4 damaged 3 and half.

(This estimate was wildly out. Before he arrived in Malta Tony had already destroyed 13½ aircraft, and to these were now to be added a further four. He had also claimed two more as probables, and a further nine damaged.) The signal went on:

On a number of occasions during present operations he has broken up enemy Bomber formations by skillful interceptions thus creating opportunities for other Spitfire pilots to take heavy toll of Bomber.

He is an outstanding Squadron Commander who has played a major part in the defence of Malta since the enemy offensive commenced on 10/10. His determination and bravery are an example to his squadron Whose many successes can be largely attributed to his outstanding leadership.[32]

This text, with variants, appeared in The Times and other newspapers. Tony’s own signal to his mother - a telegram sent on the 22nd - was briefer. It said:

+ DSO LOVE = TONY LOVELL +

During the month of October 1942 no fewer than 36 pilots flew operationally with 1435 Sqdn. In the same month Tony Lovell flew seven different Spitfires: BS.161(U), AR.470(Q), EP.541(Q), EP.612(B), BR.591(R), BR.236(E) and EN.980(W).

On 7th December, returning with a section from half an hour of convoy patrol, he surprised a Ju.88 which had just jettisoned a torpedo:

Enemy aircraft chased at 0 feet by S/L Lovell who got bursts in and finally caused EA to crash into the sea in flames.

Ten days later Tony destroyed an SM.79 during a low-level attack by six Spitfires on the aerodrome at Lampedusa, led by Peter Prosser Hanks in his personalised Spitfire with its identifying letters “PPH”: his privilege as a wing leader.

NOTES

1. The Montagus were the leading landowners in the district [Pat Bryan, who knew them; pers. comm]; Alicia's great-grandfather was the Duke of Manchester.

2. Seems to imply that ADJL showed her a photograph. The girl was perhaps the WAAF Kathleen Mary Webster, a university graduate and Channel Islands refugee, who on 25th August 1941 had given birth to a boy – Lovell Webster – at a maternity home for unmarried mothers in Sevenoaks run by the Fellowship of St Michael and All Angels. At that time she gave as her address no.18 Hill St, St Helier, Jersey, the offices of leading Channel Island attorneys Bailhache & Bailhache. She may have been the girl who was flown out of the Channel Islands ahead of the Germans in a Hurricaane of no.17 Sqdn (that was possible) returning from Cherbourg at the beginning of June 1940, and who was spirited away in the dispersal van at Tangmere. Birdy Bird-Wilson, on the squadron at that time, seemed to know a lot about it; he also said he met her at a cocktail party later in the war, and that she was dark-haired (pers. comm.). In 1941 she gave as her English address as c/o Mr Lovell, 40 Naughton [Naunton] Way, Cheltenham, Glos. By 1943 she was apparently a WAAF serving at RAF Jurby, in the Isle of Man (adoption papers and guardian ad litem report, Giles Browne)..

3. Albert Rawlings of Portrush (pers. comm.) has referred to Tony Lovell's "aversion" to women, and comments that "his distinct character and behavioural pattern would not permit (an) indiscretion". He wonders whether Tony's seven days' leave from Hornchurch in December 1940 might have been a not-uncommon retreat for meditation.

4. Kitty O'Neill was secretary of the Royal Portrush Ladies' Golf Club, a tireless collector on flag and flower days for such causes as the Hopefield Cottage Hospital, and was the Queen Bee of Portrush amateur dramatics. With her dominant personality she ruled the roost in the Lovell household: "very few of us ever crossed Auntie Kitty" (John McConnell, pers. comm). Local journalist Hugh McGrattan has also referred to her dominant personality, of which he became aware while collecting from her the results of the Ladies' Golf at Royal Portrush - "although she was always most helpful, and woe betide me if I got the names or scores wrong!" She was also secretary to Dr Martin of Portrush [via John Bell].

5. ORB, 145 Sqdn, PRO. S/Ldr Chris Goss suggests (pers. comm.) that this aircraft may have been a Ju.88A of 3(F)/122, coded F6+PL.

6. The squadron had exchanged its Spitfire 2Bs for the more powerful Spitfire V with 300 more h.p. The Va was armed with eight .303 Browning machine guns, which was the armament with which Tony fought in the Battle of Britain; the Vb mounted two 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannon and four machine guns.

7. From this description it seems that one of the two Dunkirk He.111s originally claimed as destroyed was later downrated to only damaged.

8. "The Right of the Line", John Terraine.

9. This appraisal from former 145 Sqdn pilot Frank Twitchett.

9a. For a good description the miserable conditions in troopships on this run at this time, see the second volume of Sir John Colville’s diaries: “our [RAF] quarters on G deck would be condemned by the R.S.P.C.A. for cattle...” etc.

10. Sgt A.A. Smith to Pat Swannell, and pers. comm.

11. Ibid.

12. ORB 145 Sqdn.

12A. For wartime Cairo see Cairo in the War 1939-1945 (Artemis Cooper), To War with Whitaker (Hermione Ranfurly), Mo and Other Originals (Charles Johnston) etc. For Clare Boothe Luce see Rage for Fame (Sylvia Morris), Clare Boothe Luce (Stephen Shadegger), Hugo Vickers on Cecil Beaton etc. I had a friend who once drove a Dinkum Digger into Lady Ranfurly's swimming pool high up in the Chilterns, but that's neither here nor there. He was also good with steam-rollers.

13. H.N. Maclean to Pat Swannell.

14. Sgt A.A. Smith to Pat Swannell.

15. Discipline in Egypt was anyway so lax that Park's successor as AOC RAF Egypt, AVM W.A. McClaughty, wrote to all his C.O.s the following month: "There has been a material slackening of discipline in units of this command.....Commanding officers are to avail themselves more of their powers under KR and ACI 1138 (2) C., which authorises them to award a forfeiture of pay for any period not exceeding 28 days. This is a very effective punishment which does not entail the services of the Service Police....." Slackness of dress in the streets of Cairo, and failure of senior NCOs to salute officers, were two examples given. Commanding officers were directed to give Straight Talks to parades about these matters, although "not to exceed 3 minutes". (PRO, AIR 24/482)

16. S/Ldr Teeny Overton (pers. comm).

17. Thereby just missing the honour of commanding the first Spitfire squadron to go into action in the desert war.

18. "Malta: the Spitfire Year 1942" by Shores/Cull/Malizia (Grub Street 1991). Much of the operations information in this section comes either from this book or from 1435 Sqdn's ORB.

18a. Aces, Warriors and Wingmen, Wayne Ralph, pub. Wiley 2008. etc. Illustration of code letters used by pilots: E for Luqa, H for Ta Kali, G for Grand Harbour, P for Carry Out Recco, A for How Much Cloud? etc.

19. AIR 27/2342, PRO. The Form 540 is however headed "1435 Flight", the word 'Flight' apparently being added by a hand other than Tony Lovell's.

20. Stainforth had taken the world air speed record at Calshot in 1931 in a Supermarine S6.

21. Battle over Malta, Anthony Rogers, 2000

22. "Hawker Typhoon and Tempest" (Francis K Mason).

23. Wynn, op.cit.

24. First Light, Geoffrey Wellum, Viking 2002.

25. "Spitfire”, Jeffrey Quill.

26. Wellum was invalided back to the UK shortly after: 'I go and see Tony Lovell and apologize because I consider I have let him and the squadron down. It is all I can do to prevent tears.... He is very kind,tells me not to be bloody silly and is so charming that I can't wait to join the transport taking me up to the airfield. I am near to breaking point.'

27. Shores/Cull/Malizia op.cit.

28. At about 1800hrs F/Sgt McNamara and Sgt Hawkins of 1435 Sqdn claimed an S.84, and F/Sgt Scott the S.79.

29. Sgt G. Philp had arrived on Malta on 15th July, one of 31 pilots who flew in with new Spitfire Vcs from HMAC Eagle.

30. "Besieged on Malta", LAC Hows (in "Spitfire", Alfred Price).

31. ORB, 1435 Sqdn.

32. Serial no. X9680, ref. P538 22/10. Copies to S.10.A. for action, P.R. and A.I.6.