Page 24 GRASNAYA (MURMANSK) AND THE TURPITZ TRIPRoy Dewar reports that on September 15 they made their second trip, ( Len Limpert as Captain) landing at Grasnaya in Russia. Two days later they did a crossover patrol of the North Cape of Norway. The German Battleship Turpitz was holed up in a fjord on the northern tip of Norway. They were to watch the mouth of the fjord in case the battleship came out to attack a convoy that was en route to Murmansk from Britain. After they took off they spotted an aircraft astern just within visible range. They were able to identify it as a German Blom & Voss 138, a flying boat. It trailed until they arrived at the patrol area. When they found we were not going to a convoy, they left. |
On September 29, 1942, they left Grasnaya (Murmansk) for the last time, reaching Sullom Voe in twelve hours flying time. On this trip they had a passenger, a mystery man, said to be a member of the staff of the British Consul's office in Moscow. He spoke very little English. Spending most of his time on the bunk he did not bother them. Met at Sullom Voe by a V.I.P. aircraft, he was quickly whisked away! A day or two later the Russian Foreign Minister was in the newspapers as being welcomed to London! Roy Dewar received a medal from the Russian government later in recognition of his part in the Squadron trips to Murmansk. On the BBC Radio, the success of the air convoy was announced... the first squadron mission! |
TAKE FIVE MINUTES OUT FOR CANADAWhen the station moved to new Lough Erne quarters vacated by Squadron 119, the Squadron had 28% Canadian aircrew, 45% ground crew, and had flown 227 hours on operations. |
Then, without warning the choicest plum of Coastal Command, for a Canadian, was manoeuvred into #422 Squadron's lap...a trip back to Canada to ferry eleven Catalinas. The Command had a lot of Catalina crews fully trained and no Catalinas. But there were a lot of Catalinas rolling off the assembly lines in America with no trained crews to get them over. So forty-four persons (four for each aircraft), were detached, and left Lough Erne for Glasgow and in late September, 1942. They sailed for Canada on the Queen Mary (recently back in service after an accident with the Curacao Ack-Ack ship which had been cut in two with the loss of 338 lives.) The Queen Mary sailed with Dieppe soldiers going home, 2,000 aircrew trainees, 3,000 naval men to pick up U.S.-built escort ships, 600 shipwrecked Russian seamen and a few hundred wives going to join husbands then in Canada. It docked at Boston and buses whisked the crews off to the train where they boarded two special cars attached to the Boston-Montreal train. |