 |
|
 |
|
|||||||
 |
|||||||
|
Flight Lieutenant RD Campbell 41373 RAF Flight Lieutenant Robert (Bobby, Bob) Douglas Campbell was born at Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand on 7 July 1918, son of a farming family. Today a University town and at 179,000 persons the third largest population centre in New Zealand, in the 1940s, Hamilton was an agricultural centre.
P/O RD Campbell El Daba late 1939 (Campbell collection via PA Wright) In New Zealand, Campbell learned to fly with the Western Federated Aero Club and was granted his 'A' licence on 1 June 1938. He was one of many from the Antipodes to take ship for the UK and RAF service in the last years of peace. Joining the RAF on 6 October 1938 at RAF Uxbridge, he was granted a Short Service Commission on 14 December 1938. Posted to the Middle East, Campbell completed his flying training at 4 FTS Abu Sueir in Egypt in early 1939.
Hawker Audax K5235 of 4 Flying Training School and painted in their style though without an individual aircraft letter. Fitted with the usual ring-and-bead gunsight for the pilot and Holt under-wing flare fittings for night-landing, but with no message hook in view (removal of the ‘ook being quite usual for FTS duties). A major RAF training facility, 4 FTS was based at Abu Sueir from 1921 until 26 Aug 1939, when it moved to Habbaniya in Iraq, there becoming 4 SFTS. K5235 was one of a batch of 56 Audax aircraft delivered to the RAF between January and April 1936. To the Packing Depot in the UK on 14 March 1936 for the Middle East, this machine arrived at the Aircraft Depot, RAF Aboukir, on 16 April 1936 for 4 FTS. Put to work, soon she suffered a fate common to many a training machine: a heavy bounce on landing 11 August 1936 sufficient to stall and then collapse the undercarriage at the next contact, but still fit to be repaired on site. At Habbaniya, on 26 February 1941 the aircraft was hit by Audax K3124 while parked (and again repaired on site). Believed to have been one of the decoy “Hurricanes” placed in view of the local insurgents during their siege of Habbaniya in May 1941, the aircraft was finally struck off charge on 14 June with 796 hours logged.
Bobby at the controls of Audax ‘T’ of 4 FTS, possibly on the ground. Here, the aircraft is fitted with both the standard ring-and-bead gunsight and the more accurate Aldis optical sight. The Aldis could be difficult if anything (leaking oil, for example) obscured the front lens element—hence retention of the standard sight. Clearly these two delightful shots are different aircraft, with differing "fit" and markings. There might be any number of reasons why a well-equipped unit like a large FTS would have aircraft with different fittings. The heavily vented top cowling of both aircraft is of interest. Given Campbell’s posting dates, the shots were probably taken quite close in time between January and July 1939 and certainly at 4 FTS Abu Sueir as the family records them. While the ‘T’ seems unusually small for an individual aircraft letter, it was indeed the style used at 4 FTS at that time as shown elsewhere in a more formal line-up of their Audax aircraft (The K File: The RAF of the 1930s J Halley, Air Britain 1995 p112). Posted to 211 Squadron in July 1939, he joined them at Ismailia, where they had recently re-equipped with Bristol Blenheims. In August, they deployed once more to their war station, El Dabaa in the Western Desert.
Three of the airmen still wear the old style cap, and one though wearing the newer forage cap is in puttees. Campbell was posted to the Middle East soon after his commissioning in December 1938. That, with these old-style uniform details, may suggest a date early in 1939 prior to his formal posting to the Squadron.
A fine and rare shot of the Squadron’s officers in the Western Desert. Campbell is standing, fourth from the left in the rear. Third from the left and next to him is certainly Allan Farrington. Far right, standing, seems likely to be “Jock” Davies, not to be confused with the Welsh Gerry Davies. Although Campbell himself apparently had a different view, Gordon-Finlayson sits third from the right in the front, next to the Squadron CO (almost certainly the Australian S/Ldr JWB Judge). An approximate date of the photograph is suggested by the chalked sign on the hut wall: “3 November 1939 Officers Mess!”. The group shows 14 of the Squadron’s complement of 21 officers around this time. Notable absences are Dundas, Edwards, and Boehm. Between June and October 1940, Campbell took part in 15 daylight operations against Italian forces in Libya. In a fine photograph from the collection of the late GA Riddle, he is shown with his crew and aircraft (see the Blenheim I page).
Bob Campbell marked the grave (left) as that of “Bill Windsor”. Initially the absence of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry under that name in 1939 or 1940 left this an enigmatic shot. Further searching uncovered the accidental loss of NZ 2 Div Cavalry Regt despatch rider, Trooper William Winsor, shortly before 211 Squadron left the Dabaa area. The NZ troops were manning airfield defence for 211 Squadron. On 18 October 1940, Bill Winsor of Waitara, Taranaki, died in a head-on collision with the car of the Commander Royal Engineers, Western Desert Force. Campbell and Winsor were both from the North Island of New Zealand. See NZETC Loughnan Divisional Cavalry (Historical Publications Branch 1963). The only 211 Squadron man known to be laid to rest at Dabaa was Sewell, whose burial on 1 August 1940 was photographed by Wingrove. With the Squadron move to Greece in November 1940, Campbell and co carried out further raids against the Italians in Albania. By January, Campell was a veteran of 25 raids, but his luck had now run out. Shot down over Valona in Albania on 6 January 1941 with Sgt Beharrel (Observer) and Sgt Appleyard (WOp/AG) in Blenheim I L1487 (The Maestro), Campbell was held in PoW camps at Fieri in Albania, and in Italy at PG78 Sulmona and PG47 Modena. In captivity he made a number of unsuccessful attempts to escape, before succeeding in what sounds like a “blitz” escape from Modena on 23 October 1943. He reached Allied lines near the River Biferno, east of the Apennines in Southern Italy, early in December 1943. He transferred to the RNZAF and was repatriated from Egypt around February 1944. Narrative Report on Return to Egypt After being commissioned at Uxbridge in 1938 I was post to Abu-Suier, Egypt to complete flying training. In July 1939 I was posted to 211 Sqn Ismailia and in August moved out into the Western Desert with the Squadron to El Daba. On the 10th June, 1940, the Italians declared war and the squadron commenced operations the following day. I completed fifteen day-light raids on Libya and was forced down after a solo raid on the sea-plane base at Bomba. On November 1940 [sic] the Italians declared war on Greece and with this event 211 Sqn was posted to Athens. In Greece I carried out ten more day-light raids mainly on the port of Valona and the oil wells at Berat. I was shot down during a day-light raid on Valona port by a G-50 fighter. The port motor was hit over the target and lost 800 rpm. I went down to sea level for belly protection and fought it out with the G-50 until the starboard motor caught fire which forced me to crash land into the sea. I broke my leg when we hit the water and owing to the dinghy being shot up, had to swim about a mile and a half to the shore. The rear gunner [Sgt Appleyard] was shot twice in the head but survived. The navigator [Sgt Beharrel] was rescued by an Italian destroyer. On reaching the coast I crawled four thousand feet and finally collapsed on the top of a ridge. I was found by Albanians and during the night captured by Italian Alpini troops. I was tied to a donkey and after an all night ride arrived at a small hut where two officers took charge of me. The following night I arrived at a first-aid post and my leg was set. During the night I arrived at a Naval hospital, Valona, where I was interrogated. I was not fed until later. They offered me wine and bread which was then taken from me in an effort to break down my spirit. After fainting during during this questioning a doctor put me to bed and I was given food. A day later I was shifted to a military hospital at Tirana where I spent a month and a half. Conditions here were shocking especially for the Greek prisoners. After leaving Tirana I was shifted to a concentration camp at Fieri in southern Albania. Although it might have been possible to escape from Fieri, I was unable to attempt it because of my leg. The Greeks were treated as dogs at this place. After ten days I was moved to Italy via Valona and Brindisi by boat and was finally taken to Sulmona in Abruzzi. I made several attempts to escape here by digging tunnels, all of which were discovered before completion. We found here that no help could be expected from the outside and lack of clothing, food, money and maps made it very difficult to escape prepared for a long journey. In February 1942, in a very weak condition from lack of food, I was moved to Poppi near Florence. I pretended to contract T.B. and after being admitted three times to the camp infirmary succeeded with the help of two British doctors in getting myself admitted to a civil hospital at Arrexxo. By injecting a substance under the skin on my chest, I thought a shadow might show and this would enable me to have a few weeks in which to plan for an application. The application of mercury ointment also proved a failure, so my stay there was short. I managed to get out via a lavatory window on the roof and could find no place to tie my sheets. After two hours I went back the way I came out. I had previously lavished soap, chocolate and coffee on my guards and some of the doctors. They were scared to report me because they had taken bribes. I was moved then to Modena in north Italy and worked on an escape plan which would take me to Swiss territory. I had been learning Rumanian and intended travelling by train as a Rumanian electrician. I planned to escape by passing through the gate dressed as an Italian sentry. Just prior to this attempt the Allies landed in southern Italy and the camp was occupied by Germans. Believing we would be taken to Germany, three other officers and I escaped by climbing the wall at the rear of the camp and crawling through the barbed wire. A German sentry shot at several officers who followed us and I know three were wounded. We ran for about two miles and were hidden in a patch of corn by three Italian girls. We had planned on going to the East coast, but decided after we had established the exact position of our landings to attempt to walk to the south of Italy and connect with the 8th Army, a distance of about 400 miles. We walked for four days dressed as Italian farm workers and passed Bologna. During this period thousands of Italians were trying to return to their homes in south Italy, so we went to a small station and during the night scrambled on to a train going south. I managed to hang on to the bumpers between trucks and the other three clung on wherever they could. We stayed there for eighteen hours and finally arrived at Pescara where a large British bombing had just taken place. This enabled us to pass through the station where we counted seven trains destroyed. The Italians were looting these German supply trains and complete havoc was the order of the day. We then caught a small train going inland from St. Vito where there was a German block. When Germans passed near us we tried to look cheerful and smiling said "buon giorono". They usually looked at us with scorn and walked on. German control of bridges, road junctions, stations, etc was becoming tighter, so we decided to abandon the rail and take to the hills. We left the small train at Perano and found a small coal shed in a vineyard. We stayed there closely surrounded by Germans who were building fortifications and were fed by friendly Italians. We joined a band of partisans, but as they usually ran when Germans approached, we left them and decided to do our own collecting of information. We managed to get gun strength and disposition also located what turned out to be the main petrol supply dump for the southern-eastern sector. The Germans put a price of thirty pounds on our heads and brought pressure to bear on the Italians, making it extremely dangerous to stay longer. We left one night at midnight and walked for sixteen hours. At this stage friendly Italians were scarce and Germans becoming more numerous. We found it difficult to establish the exact position of the front line as Germans controlled all radios, telephone and the press and Italian information was usually 100% incorrect. We discarded everything except bare necessities in the way of food and clothing and set off to cross the Bifferno river about forty miles away. We walked solidly by night and carried out reconnaissance by day. On the fourth night we reached a point in the hills overlooking the Bifferno river and watched the artillery duels between the Allies and the Germans. From this point we established the exact position of our troops and decided we could reach then in one night. The last two miles before crossing the river, we were lucky to have a patrol fighting on either side of us, so we crossed the river while the Germans in the immediate vicinity were otherwise engaged other than trying to stop us crossing. We stripped off and our white skins blended with the rocks of the river bed. Once across we were safe. The journey lasted forty-one days. Three hours climbing brought us into contact with the British patrol and after identification we were sent back to Foggia. From Foggia I was flown to Egypt where I gave a report of purely intelligence to RAF Headquarters. This report does not contain personal experiences such as narrow escapes from capture nor methods of obtaining food and information as these aspects have already been covered in previous reports. Aotearoa I am indebted to Errol Martyn and Colin Hanson in New Zealand for access to their various manuscript accounts of Campbell’s service history and escape report, and to son Paul Campbell and son-in-law Peter Wright who kindly shared a number of his few remaining—but highly significant—photographs.
www.211squadron.org © DR Clark & others 1998–2008 |
|||||||
