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No. 211 Squadron RAF: Site Summary
Introduction
In 1998 our little book 211 Squadron RAF, Greece, 1940–1941: An Observer’s Notes and Recollections presented my late father’s narrative supported by my own material on the Blenheim and the Middle East campaign to 1941. Now out of print, all that material is included here, in much revised and greatly extended form.
This website aims to offer an accurate and coherent account of the operations and personnel of 211 Squadron throughout the World War II period. The content reflects a determination to provide a comprehensive and accurate account by careful research, analysis, interpretation, collation or transcription of the available source material (whether official or personal, original or published), while giving full weight to the individual narratives and photographs shared here with all the laconic candour and generosity so characteristic of the participants.
This summary gives a little background about the Squadron in explaining the order of the site. The links to the site’s pages built in to this discussion serve as a guide to order and content—a site map.
Site navigation
In this simplest possible website layout, each page is just one mouse-click away from every other page.
So on this site, the Home page has both useful content (briefly introducing the Squadron and the aim of making such a record) and the navigation menu: the long column of page-name links at top left of each and every page. All links (in the menu, to other pages, other parts of a page, or other sites) are always shown in the same way: in underlined blue. To go from one page to another, just pick a link and click.
The order of pages and their content is a sensible compromise between background, chronology, theatre, and individual narrative.
Squadron origins
The brief history of the Squadron in World War I includes a summary of operations, nominal rolls for casualties, commanding officers, flight commanders, gallantry awards, ground and flying personnel, and an account of the Airco DH9 in 211 Squadron service.
Squadron personnel
Over the years 1938 to 1946, several thousand men may have served with 211 Squadron. Over seven years of research it has been possible to identify perhaps 900 by name at least. While that count will slowly grow over time, with so much of the Squadron record lost in the trials of war, the list is unlikely ever to be complete.
Nominal rolls
Several pages include lists of Squadron members (nominal rolls, in the jargon of the military archivist). These rolls have been variously provided by participants from their own records, compiled by me from surviving official, personal and published records, or extracted from existing records by others. They are to be found on these pages:
- Honour roll of the Squadron’s war dead from 1939 to 1945
- Gallantry awards roll of awards to 211 Squadron personnel in World War II
- Personnel rolls of Squadron Commanding Officers, of aircrew personnel by station and date, of groundcrew from 72 OTU re-posted to 211 Squadron, and of Commonwealth aircrew of the Squadron: from Canada & the RCAF, from New Zealand and the RNZAF, from South Africa, and from Southern Rhodesia.
- RAAF personnel rolls of the 84 Australian or RAAF members of 211 Squadron throughout the war, from the UK period, in the Desert and Greece, as 72 OTU in 1941, and of Far East aircrew survivors and losses 1942 to 1945
- CFR Clark Aircrew in Greece: rolls of aircrew and losses in Greece and Syria, 1940 to 1941
- The Far East Tung Song evacuees from Java, and PoW losses and survivors, 1942 to 1945
- India and Burma aircrew losses and gallantry awards, 1943 to 1945
As the various rolls continue to grow, the task of reconciling them will continue. Further work always remains to be done and errors and omissions are, sadly, to be expected. Readers’ comments or additions to the rolls are always welcome.
The Australian contingent
The story of the Australian and RAAF part in 211 Squadron is discussed in RAAF Personnel. There are individual narratives for:
Squadron equipment
Squadron aircraft markings and codes are discussed in detail on their own page.
The Hawker Audax and Hind, their origins and their 211 Squadron service are discussed together. The Hind and Audax also figure heavily in An Airman’s Album and on the pages of Geoff Grierson.
The Bristol Blenheim Mark I, the Mark IV and their armament are each treated in rather more detail on separate pages, compiled and argued after much study of primary and reliable secondary sources. The Blenheim days are part of many pages from the Middle East period, in particular depth in the operational accounts of CFR Clark, KCVD Dundas DFC, JR Gordon-Finlayson DSO DFC, JG Sharratt and JB Keeping; and featuring strongly among the photographs of CFR Clark, G Checketts, EL Cooper, RJ Dudman, JE Fryatt, NH Oddie, M Sainsbury, JG Sharratt, HF Squire and R Wingrove.
The Bristol Beaufighter and the de Havilland Mosquito are discussed on separate pages, and then in the following Squadron and personal narratives: India and Burma, Burma Quintet, Alan Carter, J Carruthers, IAW Gilmore, RC Kemp, G Manderson DFC, D Marsh-Collis, JS Mitchell, JH Oblein, LE Ramsay, J Robertson, Peter Spooner and EL Wood.
The records of the Squadron’s complements of these aircraft have been very much amplified thanks to the logbooks of DA Spencer, TD Taylor, EL Wood and the diary of the late Corporal Arthur Goodinson (for the Beaufighter) and, for the Mosquito, to ME Walters’ photographs and DE Winton’s log and photographs.
Operational theatres
A brief account of the Squadron’s deployments to various Commands from 1937 to 1946 is included on the Home page. The Squadron movements page summarises these by date.
Following the belated entry of Italy as a World War II belligerent in the Middle East and Africa, 211 Squadron was about 12 months continuously on operations (June 1940—June 1941), initially in the Western Desert, then in Greece (where on Easter Sunday 1941 the Squadron suffered the loss of 6 aircraft in a single raid), and finally in Palestine and Syria, before being withdrawn to Wadi Gazouza for training operations and the later formation of 72 Operational Training Unit (OTU).
Transferring to the Far East in January 1942 following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the Squadron saw brief intense action from February to March 1942 in Sumatra and Java, suffering heavy losses and dispersal in the field leading to evacuation or captivity.
Re-formed in India from August 1943, they were heavily engaged in the second Far East campaign in Burma for 17 months from January 1944 to May 1945, operating the rocket-equipped Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter X in the long-range strike fighter role. Converting to the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB VI from June 1945, the Squadron was deployed to Thailand from November 1945, disbanding there for the final time in March 1946.
The Middle East and Far East theatre notes were compiled by the author from analysis of a variety of original and secondary sources, including the contemporary narratives and later recall of Squadron members. Across the Styx is transcribed from Wisdom’s Middle East Parade article of 1941. The Sumatra and Java material is transcribed from RAAF Casualty Section Reports while the India and Burma campaign notes were originally compiled by Peter Spooner as Squadron Adjutant Officer.
Squadron operations: personal and other narratives
Personal and other records of 211 Squadron operations are here grouped chronologically by theatre and more or less alphabetically within theatre (while the navigation menu is more broadly theatre by name). There are personal narratives for some 60 men at present. Each page clearly indicates its origins, as the compiler’s analysis, as a transcript of original records, or a transcript of a personal contribution.
- the period from re-forming at home in 1937 to the outbreak of war in the Middle East
An Airman’s Album, ART Barnes, RD Campbell, WH Edwards DFC, AL Farrington, JE Fryatt, JR Gordon-Finlayson DSO DFC, G Grierson, GL Hoyes, M Sainsbury, JG Sharratt, RC Wingrove
- in the Western Desert and Libya against the Italians, from June to November 1940
LW Abbs (Letter 3), ART Barnes, ARG Bax, RD Campbell, CFR Clark, EL Cooper, RJ Dudman, KCVD Dundas DFC, AL Farrington, JE Fryatt, G Grierson, JR Gordon-Finlayson DSO DFC, GL Hoyes, JR Marshall DFM, M Sainsbury, JG Sharratt, HF Squire, W Stack, R Wingrove
- in Greece against the Italians and the Germans, from November 1940 to April 1941
The Sphere, Return Journey Across the Styx, LW Abbs (Letters 1, 3), ART Barnes, W Baird, RD Campbell, G Checketts, CFR Clark, JDWH Clutterbuck, EL Cooper, G Davies, RJ Dudman, KCVD Dundas DFC, Embros, AL Farrington, JE Fryatt, JR Gordon-Finlayson DSO DFC, WP Griffin, CN Hansford, JR Marshall DFM, M Sainsbury, JG Sharratt, HF Squire, WB Stack, Tatoi today
- against the Vichy French in Syria in May and June 1941
CFR Clark, KCVD Dundas DFC, JG Sharratt, WB Stack
- resting as 72 OTU, June to December 1941
CFR Clark, W Baird, EF Cole, A Conrad KCVD Dundas DFC, JG Sharratt, RAAF personnel
- in Sumatra and Java, February to March 1942
RAAF personnel, Sumatra and Java, LW Abbs (Letter 2), W Baird, JDWH Clutterbuck, EF Cole, WR Cuttiford, KCVD Dundas DFC, TWS Fisher, JE Fryatt, F Joerin, JB Keeping, GA Mockridge, NH Oddie, JS Robertson
- in India and Burma and Thailand from August 1943 to November 1945
India and Burma, Burma Quintet (W Dickinson, D Harris, S Spicer, S Woodhouse, AB Wythe DFM), J Carruthers, Alan Carter, RN Dagnall, IAW Gilmore, MJC Haakenson, RC Kemp, JF Luing, G Manderson DFC, D Marsh-Collis, BB Mearns, JS Mitchell, JH Oblein, LE Ramsay, J Robertson, DA Spencer DFC, Peter Spooner, TD Taylor; ME Walters, DE Winton, EL Wood.
- In Thailand from November 1945 to March 1946
RC Kemp, D Marsh-Collis, LE Ramsay, DA Spencer DFC, Peter Spooner, TD Taylor, ME Walters, DE Winton.
Help pages
The Glossary covers service terms and abbreviations used throughout the text. My contact details are on the Enquiries page with hints about viewing, navigating, printing and contributing to the site, while the Do it yourself page offers some basic hints on research. Relevant source notes are included on each page, consolidated on the Sources page. The Sites & Links page covers a wide range of related Internet resources. Details of recent and planned updates are shown on the Site updates page. The Site search page offers a Google text box to search all pages of the site (or the Web).
www.211squadron.org © DR Clark & others 1998–2008
Site created 15 Apr 2001, last updated 31 Jul 2008. Page created 28 Jul 2002, last updated 31 Jul 2008
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