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Pilot Officer FC Joerin 82985 RAFVR Fed Joerin, of Swiss origin, joined the RAF in July 1940. During his RAF service as a Wireless Operator Air Gunner (WOp/AG) he kept remarkable logbooks, in which it was his habit to paste in photographs and news cuttings with the formal log entries to which they related. I was fortunate indeed to come by his remarkable record. It is so thanks to Brian Cull, author of Buffaloes Over Singapore, Hurricanes Over Singapore, co-author (with Shores and Malizia) of Air War For Yugoslavia Greece and Crete, and (with Shores) of Bloody Shambles Vol I and Vol II. Aware of my interest and efforts in recording the history of 211 Squadron, Brian simply offered me Fred Joerin’s first logbook, which covers his RAF service from entering in 1941 to his time as Officer Commanding 1530 Calibration Flight at Yelahanka in India during 1944, with some later memorabilia.
Training days From there, it was on to No. 1 Air Armament School Manby for training in the gunner’s craft. It was a brisk course, with frequent flying in Blenheims and Wellingtons starting on 16 April 1941, with a North Sea Patrol of 2:05hrs duration in a 46 Squadron Blenheim on 19 April for good measure. By 9 May the flying exercises were complete, with another 24:25hrs in the air. With course work and examinations satisfactorily completed, on 18 May 1941 he qualified as Air Gunner.
Joerin on the left in the front row. Now it was off to an Operational Training Unit to put it all together firstly at No 14 OTU Cottesmore, where he reported on 25 May 1941, and then on to 13 OTU Bicester. Confirmed as a Pilot Officer in July 1941, by late October 1941 he had achieved 110:55 flying hours and had been crewing with P/O ADE Devenish 45422 since the end of September.
P/O F Joerin WOp/Air Gunner with AG badge, fifth from the left in forage cap. Into action: Malta and 107 Squadron Their first attempt to depart, from Portreath on 6 December 1941, was thwarted when the W/T packed up 45 minutes out. After repairs, on 9 December they were off on the long 7:35hr leg direct from Portreath to Gibraltar. Their departure from The Rock on 13 December was another washout, with engine trouble, but early the next day they were off to Malta to arrive at Luqa after no less than 8:45hrs in the air (presumably with a ferry tank fitted in the bomb bay).
From Malta, 107 Squadron carried out low level shipping sweeps and raids against Tripoli and Sicily. Fred took part in three operations as WOp/AG to Devenish. It was now mid-December 1942. With 211 Squadron to the Far East At Helwan, their first task was to run the ruler over Z7521, their Blenheim IV for the move East. On 16 January they took the machine on an airtest around Helwan for 25 minutes. Perhaps, like Keeping, they made themselves busy collecting gear: in any event, with nothing wrong, it was 10 days before they flew again. As part of the third 211 Squadron flight, they took off from Helwan mid-morning on Tuesday 27 January 1942 in in Z7521.
W/Cdr RN “Bob” Bateson DFC and F/Lt JW “Brighteyes” Bright. Very civilized arrangements. The tablecloth is a floral pattern, the seats rattan. These, with the small European-style painting give little clue to place. The shot may be in the mess at Helwan before departure to the Far East: there is a packed suitcase behind Bateson, and both men look relaxed and cheerful. Still, it might be after arrival. In March 1942, as Len Abbs recounts, it fell to Bright to remain behind with the large group of 211s for whom evacuation was impossible and captivity inevitable.
Fred’s well-known photo of the ferry flight to the Far East, from the turret of Z7521. The flight to the East took them 41:30hrs over 10 days, arriving at P2 on 5 February 1942. There were a number of losses en route, two aircraft crashing, two others in forced landings, one reported ”lost” and others with serviceability problems. From Toungoo onwards they were “on operations”, in range of enemy forces. At Rangoon, and again at Pakenbaroe, there were air raids. Blenheim IV Z7521 Pilot F/Lt Clutterbuck . Gazettal of his promotion to Flying Officer, backdated to 26 August 1941, came on 3 February 1942. Joerin’s first operation in Sumatra was a 4:35hr shipping sweep n 10 February. The next night, 11 February 1942, in Z7521 Clutterbuck, Newstead and he took part in the disastrous night shipping strike which immediately came to grief on the ill-lit flare-path. Taking off heavily laden in the dark across the airfield, they hit trees just after take-off. Clutters and Newstead were dead. Joerin, in the rear turret, survived with broken ribs. Two other aircraft, one of 211 Squadron and one of 84 Squadron, also crashed: a full account is given on Hugh Clutterbuck’s page. Fred took no further part in 211 Squadron air operations. In all, he had flown 7 operations over 20 hours flying time with them, bringing his tally to 16 in all since 1941. In his log he carefully recorded his progress, evacuated firstly to Tandjong Enim on St Valentine’s Day, the next day by train to Oosthaven, then on 16 February he was in Batavia.
Somewhat recovered, he was back with the Squadron on 27 February at Poerwokerto, recording the event briefly: “Left groundcrews”. At some point in the last 2 weeks of February, Fred caught up with George Mockridge, with whom he had trained at Bicester and served with on Malta and in the Middle East. Then on 2 March 1942 he records “To Chillijat [Tjilatjap]. On board TSS Tung Song 500 tons”. The 26 Officers and 169 Other Ranks of various units in the last RAF party to be evacuated from Java included 64 aircrew and groundcrew of 211 Squadron. The Far East page includes a full roll of the 211s aboard. Among them were the CO Bob Bateson, Devenish, his ex-RA pilot from 107 Squadron, Mockridge (also ex-RA), and old hands from the Middle East like Bill Baird and Jim Fryatt. Very lucky men, they reached Fremantle safely on 12 March 1942. 60 Squadron and after In October 1942, Fred was able to write home to the family of George Mockridge, about the loss of George, with Don “Bruno” Brown (Bob Dagnall’s observer) and Australian ex-36 Squadron gunner Garry Hall, on the combined raid of 9 September raid on Akyab by 34, 60 and 113 Squadrons. 60 Squadron retained their Blenheim IVs in operations against the Japanese in Burma until May 1943. By then Fred Joerin had compiled 47 operations over the course of the war, in 192:15 flying hours. As the Squadron converted in late 1943 to a Hurricane fighter-bomber unit, he left them, tour expired at last. Promoted to Flight Lieutenant and Officer Commanding 1580 Calibration Flight at Yelahanka, he arrived with 380 hours in his logbook towards the end of November 1943. He found the flight in possession of a richly varied set of aircraft, including Ansons, a lone Fairy Swordfish, some number of Bisleys (Blenheim Vs), now mercifully being withdrawn from operational use, and a Vultee Vengeance. In all of these he flew.
The figure seated on the engine nacelle is the one who most resembles Fred Joerin, and appears to be of the right rank. As Flight OC, he now filled whole pages at the back of his logbook with photographs of his Far East service. By August 1944, his first volume was full. This he now had bound in full leather, embossed with the RAF Badge. 1580 Calibration Flight operated out of Yelahanka, St Thomas Mount, and latterly Cholavarum, ultimately disbanding there in October 1945. But Fred had already left them that July, posted first to a 225 Group Staff job at Bangalore, then on to other Staff jobs in India and Ceylon until December 1946 when he returned to the UK. In the peacetime RAF he found a number of interesting posts, including Search Officer with the Missing Research and Enquiry Unit in Europe, and Operations Officer at Hamburg and Berlin for the Berlin Airlift. In January 1954, after 14 years service in war and peace, FC Joerin transferred to the reserve and returned to civilian life. Safely home
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