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PART 3 of Neil Leybourne Smith's History ... 

WORLD WAR II. (Began 3 September 1939 – ended 15 August 1945)

1939 - 1940 ...

When war began, the RAAF were very aware that the Squadron would need to be considerably strengthened before it could participate in the coming conflict with Germany because the Squadron’s strength at the time consisted of only 9 operational crews and 12 serviceable aircraft.

As the Squadron had been assigned primarily to perform Army reconnaissance, bombing practice, photography, map reading and cross country navigation exercises became a part of the Squadron’s new training schedule in conjunction with the A.I.F. 

On the 24th of July, 1940, 3 Squadron’s 21 officers and 271 airmen of other ranks cleared Fremantle harbour on board the "Orontes". It was the first RAAF Squadron to leave for the front and it was under the command of Squadron Leader Ian D. McLachlan.

The Squadron arrived at Tewfik in the Middle East on the 23rd of August, 1940 about 2 months after Italy had joined Germany in the War.

They moved first to Ismailia then later to Helwan near Cairo. By mid September, Headquarters RAF, Middle East to whom the Squadron was attached, decided to equip the Squadron with two flights of Gloster Gladiators and one flight of  Lysanders but, before long, the Lysanders proved to be inadequate for reconnaissance missions due mainly to a lack of speed, armour and armaments.

 The only really safe way to operate them was found to be with fighter escorts or in areas free of enemy aircraft. So their use was limited although they were better than nothing during those first two months before Hurricanes were made available to the Squadron. England, of course, had been fighting for her life since the Battle of Britain began on the 2nd of July and every Hurricane manufactured by the Hawker factory in Weybridge was dedicated to protecting the English skies.

Like it or not, the Gladiators were the only work-horses available and their work started in earnest on the 19th of November, 1940 when the two flights of Gladiators were attacked by the enemy and officially started the Squadron's fight in the Western Desert, thus resuming combat for the first time in 22 years since the last bullet was fired at an enemy aircraft by a, now long obsolete, RE8 on the 10th of November, 1918. 

This time, however, the enemy took the form of nine Italian Fiat CR42's who attacked a flight of Gladiators carrying out a tactical reconnaissance mission. 

 At the same time, their escort flight of Gladiators was attacked by another nine CR42s. The Squadron lost its first pilot, Squadron Leader Peter Heath during the dog-fight that followed but three enemy aircraft were destroyed and another three probably downed through the collective aggressiveness of a few very brilliant Gladiator pilots. 

This first encounter also proved that these young 3 Squadron pilots flying in both Gladiators and  Gauntlets, which were similar type aircraft, could hold their own against a more experienced enemy flying faster aircraft.

Gladiators and Gauntlets were the last of the best of the biplane fighters ... they were descendants of Sopwith Pups, Camels and SE5As, all of which were developed to perform so effectively during the closing years of the first War. The little single-bay, all metal biplane was robust and highly manoeuvrable and therefore ideal for aerobatics which meant, in war time, good at dodging the enemy in a dog-fight. 

More importantly, it didn't have any bad faults once it had been correctly rigged. It was armed with four .303 machine guns ... two in the fuselage firing between the propeller blades by means of an interrupter gear and two in blisters under the wings. Its 840 horse power Mercury 8A engine propelled it at a maximum speed of 250 miles per hour at 15,500 feet and it could climb to this height in 6 minutes before reaching its ceiling at 32,800 feet. It cruised at 210 miles per hour and could land at 59 miles per hour. In all, an aeroplane that, whilst lacking some of the performance qualities of the sleek, fast enemy aircraft being introduced into the Western Desert, was still a regular little terrier which had quite a lethal bite.

During the early days of December, the Squadron carried out strafing and dive bombing attacks in the Sofafi area and continuous offensive patrols over Sidi Barrani and Halfaya until, on the 14th of December, they moved to a forward landing ground at Sidi Barrani for 9 days before moving to a location near Sollum, on the Egyptian border. 

Christmas and New Year meant a heavy work load providing reconnaissance reports for the 6th Division AIF. But there was still time to seek a good Christmas dinner.

1941 ...

Between the 3rd and the 5th of January, 1941, the battle for Bardia raged and 3 Squadron helped the 13th Corps win this first big victory of British General Archibald Wavell’s Libyan campaign by spotting for the Artillery and efficiently conducting its Army co-operation functions. Over 40,000 prisoners, 400 guns, 130 tanks and 700 motor trucks were captured during this campaign and the now disorganised Italian army was on the run, chased by the allies, including the Squadron who moved to Gambut, about 32 miles from Tobruk, on the 8th of that month. From there, many artillery reconnaissances of the Tobruk defences were made during the build-up and the actual taking of Tobruk by the Allied forces on the 21st of January, 1941. 

On this same day, the first of the Squadron's Hawker Hurricanes was released from a base maintenance depot to the Squadron's new advanced landing ground at Bir Hacheim. Flying Officer Gordon Steege (later Air Commodore, DSO, DFC MiD) was one of the first to fly the Squadron's Hurricanes.

The taking of Tobruk was a milestone in the Western Desert warfare because of its strategic shipping value and so it was a cause of celebration for both infantry and airmen alike. But this was only a temporary relief because the pace was quickly stepped up and the Squadron leapfrogged from one location to the next, covering Tmimi to Martuba while our forward troops were fighting in the Derna-Mechili areas of Cyrenaica.

The 6th Division, AIF, captured Derna on the 30th of January 1941 and that same day the recently promoted Squadron C.O., now Wing Commander I.D. McLachlan, received a Distinguished Flying Cross ... the first of many decorations to be won by 3 Squadron's personnel during the war years.

By early February, a few of the long awaited Hurricanes were operating and they helped to boost the morale of the pilots who were still making do with the existing outdated aircraft they were flying. Fortunately, the Italians were now in full retreat and the Squadron, like the infantry, had pursued them until, on the 7th of February the fight reached Benghazi and the enemy there surrendered. The Squadron again moved forward, this time to Benina about 12 miles from Benghazi.

Squadron Leader Peter Jeffrey, that same 1935 award-winning most efficient Air Cadet, was appointed the new C.O. on the 13th of February 1941. The Squadron operated from Benina for a little more than 6 weeks and during this time met the strength of the Luftwaffe for the first time. Flying Officer J.H. Saunders was the first in the Squadron to shoot down a German aircraft, a Junkers JU88 and he did it in his new Hurricane on the 15th of February.

A before-dawn low level air raid on the Squadron's aerodrome earlier that week by six JU88s lasted over an hour but, to the cheers of all being attacked, one of the German aircraft was brought down by ack-ack. The raid highlighted a difference that was to become more and more noticeable between the attacking styles of the Germans and that of their Italian allies both during air raids and in aerial combat. Whereas the Germans would come in at low level, the Italians generally worked from high-level during an air raid and, in combat, they'd use their CR42s to dive at, and then zoom away from, their target using the speed of the dive to regain lost altitude after each firing pass but the Germans would come in close and, whenever possible, stay in close. 

The Hurricane was up against a variety of enemy aircraft during the "Desert Stakes" as most of the participants called the fight in Western Desert. The main Italian fighter was the Fiat CR42 - a 1939 designed update of the 1933 CR32 which had been used in the 1936 Spanish Civil War. The CR42 was the best of a family of agile fighters that could fly at almost 300 miles per hour at 30,000 feet for over 450 miles. However, the German JU88 was a better aircraft, considered by many to have been the best light bomber the Luftwaffe had and comparable with the later developed RAF Mosquito. The JU88 was a more dangerous opponent than the CR42 because it was faster and it possessed better armaments.

The notorious JU87 Stuka dive bombers were also active in the area. This single engined aircraft with its screaming sirens designed to terrify anyone it was attacking on the ground, dive bombed very precisely. The pilot had a window in the floor so he could spot his target and lines were inscribed on the canopy from which he could gauge the angle of his dive. An experienced pilot could dive his Stuka vertically by using air-brakes which would slow down the dive so he could accurately aim his 1,100 pound bomb load. Unfortunately for the Germans, the bomb load was restricted to this maximum because of the Stuka's poor aerodynamic shape and its 232 miles per hour maximum air speed and it was this slow speed that helped 3 Squadron bring down 8 of the 12 Stukas they surprised on the 18th of February 1941 near Agedabia.

Another of the German aircraft operating in the Western Desert was the Messerschmitt ME 110, with its twin 1,270 horse-power Daimler Benz liquid cooled and inverted V12 engines. As a long-range fighter, its two 20mm cannons and four 7.9mm machine guns built into the nose together with the single 7.9mm machine gun operated by the observer, made it a formidable opponent capable of flying at a maximum 349 miles per hour, which was almost as fast as Britain’s fastest fighter, the Spitfire. It was certainly faster than the 310 miles per hour that the 1,030 horse power Rolls-Royce Merlin II V12 engine propelled the Hurricane along at, although its hand operated booster allowed it to fly at maximum engine power and higher speed but only for about a minute without seizing the engine. As a fighter, the strongly constructed, metal framed Hurricane was excellent. It could outclimb even the Spitfire, zooming 1,500 feet upwards in well under a minute. It had a ceiling height of 34,000 feet and a 460 mile range. Armaments comprised 8 adjustable .303 Browning machine guns which could converge 200 bullets a second into a target only 150 yards away ... although a 250 yard firing pattern was usually adopted.

The very first Hurricanes were manufactured in 1935 and they were used in the Battle of Britain with success so, thankfully, they were already proven performers well before 3 Squadron began using them for attacking-patrols during that triumphant February/March 1941 period when the Allied armies had the enemy well and truly on the run. Had the Squadron not been equipped with reliable and fast fighters during the terrible months that were to follow, the Squadron's personnel losses would have undoubtedly been enormous. As it was, the fighting was to be fierce and unparalleled to anything the Squadron had experienced until that time.

On the last days of March 1941, everything started to go wrong for the Allied forces in the Western Desert and historians attribute this to three happenings. The first was the decision by the Allied Chiefs of Staff to withdraw 47,000 troops from what seemed to them to be a now-secured area, to fight in Greece. The second was an incorrect assumption by General Wavell’s Intelligence Staff that the enemy weren't in a position to mount any counter attack or, in fact any major offensive at all in Cyrenaica before the middle of April or even May. But the third happening was probably the most critical. This occurred on February the 15th when Hitler approved Field-Marshal von Brauchitsch's choice of a General who was capable of commanding the German troops in Libya whilst helping the Italians to retain Supreme Command in North Africa and, specifically, preventing a British advance to Tripoli.

Von Brauchitsch's selected man was already a hero of the German people and was unquestionably a genius in planning and effecting battle tactics.

Interestingly, this 50 year old General, by name Erwin Rommel, had won his Iron Cross Class 1, during the early months of the First War by consistently demonstrating his cunning, brave, untiring and decisive leadership when only a 24 year old Leutnant. Before the First War was over, he'd won the Pour le Merite (which is the equivalent of the British Victoria Cross) and attained the rank of Hauptmann (or Captain). He remained a professional soldier after that war and, like most professional soldiers in the armies of both sides, didn’t belong to any political party and, during his entire career, studiously avoided the Nazi element in Germany.

On the 31st of March 1941, within two weeks of arriving in Africa with his specially trained desert armoured division known as the Afrika Korps, Rommel launched a surprise attack on the Allied positions at El Agheila ignoring advice from the German General Staff to refrain from making any attack. 

At that time, 3 Squadron were still flying patrols from Benina but when the now-thin line of Allied troops could no longer hold against Rommel's fresh new forces, they withdrew to Got El Sultan, but it was only a few hours later before they were ordered to withdraw further back to Martuba. Aerial combat was hectic during the next weeks while the Squadron was protecting the retreating Allied army from heavy German air attack. Almost every day in early April, the ground crew was moving back by road while the Squadron's pilots were busy shooting down Stukas which were continuously striking at the ground forces in retreat.

On a single day, they brought down ten Stukas without loss to the Squadron. Unfortunately, twelve of the ground crew (among the last to leave Martuba when the Squadron was forced further back to Gazala East) were captured by the rapidly advancing enemy and several others were wounded by strafing Me110's. The Squadron's personnel were outstanding during those unfortunate days and nights which were spent fighting off the enemy whilst being forced to stay on the run. But they still managed to keep the Hurricanes flying in spite of many close shaves and fighting themselves out of so many tight corners that the AIF named them "The Phantom Squadron". 

They actually occupied 7 different airfields during 6 days in early April before they settled at Sidi Heneish which was about 50 miles inside the Egyptian border and only several hundred miles from the first airfields they had occupied nine months earlier before they started on their four hundred odd miles advance to the Benghazi area.

During those first weeks of April 1941, Rommel's Afrika Korps had driven most of the Allied forces right out of Cyrenaica back into Egypt with the exception of the English and Australian forces left isolated in Tobruk. 

The 9th Division and the remnants of a British armoured division had retreated there forming a 23,000 strong garrison but it was completely cut off from the rest of Wavell's army.

By then General Wavell had discovered he was no longer fighting a mediocre Italian army controlled by their chicken-hearted commander, General Graziani. He was fighting a determined and fresh new force whose commander was dedicated to conquering the Mediterranean area so Germany could control the Suez Canal, Gibraltar and the seaports of Northern Africa.

On the 6th of April, General Wavell stopped the 7th Australian Division from embarking for Greece, and ordered them to sail for Tobruk instead. On the following day, he ordered the 7th Armoured Division in Egypt to re-assemble. But these urgent new measures couldn't help the British forces who had already been driven back to Derna. 3 Squadron flew missions constantly to provide air cover for the hard-pressed British forces but sometimes the Hurricanes couldn't return to the airfield they'd left because the Squadron had retreated to another location while they were flying. Some moves were carried out during dust-storms, others at night.

Each move meant tremendous effort and danger for the ground crew often under enemy fire from the Me110s in the area. Several personnel were badly wounded and many transport vehicles were damaged.

Anything that couldn't be packed and moved, or was still unserviceable at the time of departure had to be destroyed. At one stage 48,000 rounds of .303 ammunition had to be sacrificed and only the skill of pilots like Pete Turnbull who took off in a Hurricane with a bullet-holed tyre filled with blankets and grass to harden it, saved valuable aeroplanes from being destroyed and abandoned.

Meanwhile, Tobruk was fighting off the Axis assault and needed all the air support they could get so, on the 16th, four of 3 Squadron's Hurricanes landed inside the Tobruk perimeter and remained there to assist the besieged Australian troops defending the garrison. About that time, 1 Gruppe, consisting of 3 Staffels of ex-Battle of Britain pilots attached to Jagdgeschwader 27, arrived at Am el Gazala with their single seater Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighters. 

One of those pilots was Oberfahnrich Hans-Joachim Marseille, a young man destined to become one of Germany's top fighter pilots and many 3 Squadron pilots were to fight against him and his Gruppe during the next seventeen months.

He was later to claim 17 victories on a single day and over 150 in total before, on the 30th of September 1942, he was killed in a freak accident which occurred when he, by then a Hauptmann with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds to the Knights Cross, was struck unconscious by the tail of his brand new Bf109 G-2 as he bailed out after it developed an engine fault and caught fire during its first mission.

The Bf109E's arriving in steady numbers, were considered superior to the Hurricanes in speed, rate of climb and armaments and their engines had fuel injection pumps instead of carburettors and therefore didn't cut out in 'negative-g' manoeuvres during critical moments of combat. But the limited range of the 109s was a disadvantage in the desert. Their glycol, radiator and oil coolers were vulnerable to attack from beneath so that became a favourite target area with 3 Squadron pilots. Nevertheless, their Daimler-Benz inverted V12 engines gave them a 360 mile per hour speed at 20,000 feet ... at least 50 miles per hour faster than the Hurricane and this was one of many reasons that influenced the Allied Command to recall 3 Squadron to Aqir, in Palestine on the 3rd of May for re-training and re-equipping with the relatively new American-produced Curtiss P40B, called the Tomahawk. 

Powered by an 1,150 horse power Allison engine, the Tomahawk's speed and performance was closer to that of the 109's and its two 1/2 inch Browning machine guns mounted above the engine plus four wing-mounted .30s gave the Squadron a better chance of matching the enemy's firing power. It was a fairly manoeuverable machine which performed well at low altitudes and eventually suited the Desert aerial warfare conditions quite well after some early teething problems were overcome.

By the 8th of June 1941, 3 Squadron were ready to fly again, boosted by a brief few days of leave in Aboukir, their new Tomahawks, a D.F.C. awarded to the C.O., Squadron Leader Pete Jeffrey for "courage, determination and devotion to duty" and the recent exciting news that Germany's 45,000 ton battleship, the "Bismarck", had been sunk 12 days before.

Their operations re-commenced in Syria against the Vichy French Armee de 1 'Air who flew rare, older Morane fighters, some Glenn Martin bombers and the more popular Dewoitine D520 fighters painted with the Vichy symbol which had a similarity to the British markings. The Dewoitine were small and underpowered and, consequently, underarmed with only a single 20mm cannon firing through the propeller hub and four light machine guns in the wings. The Squadron's Tomahawks, flying from their temporary airfield at Jenin, brought down many of these little Swiss designed fighters during their patrols which involved providing several escort missions for Blenheim light bombers sent out to destroy enemy convoys on the Damascus-Beirut road.

After the Blenheims dropped their bombs, the Tomahawk pilots guided them out of the area before returning to strafe the road which the French called "Nightmare Road" because of the intense, heavy low level strikes the Squadron made. By the 12th of July, the Vichy forces fighting in Syria had quit and their signing of a truce marked the end of the Squadron’s Syrian campaign, almost one year to the day since leaving Australia. The campaign had given the Squadron's pilots the opportunity of strengthening their teamwork while they were collectively destroying or damaging 31 enemy aircraft in that five week period.

Experienced pilots like Jeffrey, Turnbull, Jackson, Rawlinson, Perrin, Saunders, Bothwell, Wilson and Fischer all worked together to achieve these scores but, at the same time, they were initiating into aerial combat, new arrived pilots like Flying Officer Bobby Gibbes, a 5 foot 4 inch, 25 year old ex-salesman who'd joined the Squadron on the 14th of May 1941 ... who’d already brought down his first enemy aeroplane and who was destined to become one of the most popular and well known top scoring pilots in the 2 years he fought with 3 Squadron ... the Squadron that he was to eventually command during one of its most active periods.

On the 20th of July, the Squadron moved to Rayak and spent the next 7 weeks flying defence patrols in the now Allied-held Beirut area and these lighter duties gave an opportunity for many of the personnel to take leave. Then, in early September, orders came through to move back to the old base at Sidi Heneish to rejoin the desperate battle still raging in Egypt and Cyrenacia between Rommel's forces and Wavell's combined armies.

From the 13th of September until early November 1941, the Squadron used its twelve Tomahawks to patrol the Sidi Barrani - Mersa Matruh area and along the coast line as far as Tobruk until, during a heavy dust-storm, a Tomahawk exploded when Flying Officer Stratten slammed into an unmanned aircraft that an RAF pilot had stupidly left on the edge of the strip. Stratten's life was saved by Corporal Whittington who soaked himself in fire-fighting foam and dragged the unconscious pilot from the flames. For this heroic act, Whittington was awarded the British Empire Medal.

Replacement aircraft and newly posted pilots were arriving, some of whom were sergeant pilots and who, in an unprecedented idea initiated by the C.O., Peter Jeffrey, were invited to merge their sergeants' mess with the officers' mess so all pilots regardless of rank could share a common, friendly environment. Before long, most other Desert Air Force Squadrons followed 3 Squadron's lead to the betterment of pilot morale generally.

Of course the pace of the fighting with constant moving from place to place meant protective cover wasn’t always readily available for simple day to day activities and many of these had to be carried out in the open including church services which were held on a regular basis by the Desert Air Force Chaplains. 

The Squadron was blessed with the spiritual guidance from three most remarkable men: Bob Davies, an Anglican who, years after the war, eventually became Bishop of Hobart; Fred McKay, Presbyterian but later prominent in the Uniting Church and who was to become John Flynn’s successor to lead that marvellous Australian institution, The Australian Inland Mission’s Flying Doctor Service; Johnny McNamara, a Catholic priest. Known by all as "The Terrible Three", these unselfish men were an invaluable contribution to the smooth operations of the Squadron. Not only did they spread calmness that rubbed off on everyone, they became confidants to the men and the friendships that they made lasted lifetimes and well beyond the war years.

Worthy of note is how these three men blended together to blaze their spiritual trail through the unforgiving North African desert where men often made their temporary homes out of sand and sandbags and sometimes even out of old empty kerosene tins to shield themselves from both extreme weather conditions as well as enemy attacks.

In the early stages of the war they’d quickly made their decision together that, rather than each administering only to those of their own religion, each would, as they criss-crossed the gigantic desert in their roles of itinerant padres, administer to anyone in need regardless of the religion of any particular person. They decided to split up the entire desert area under occupation at any time into three sections and, with a driver and a truck each, administer a common Christianity to everyone in each area without worrying about the finer points of which religion believed what doctrines. They’d interchange areas on a roster basis so that , over time, each man would eventually get to meet a pastor from his own church. The system was an outstanding success and was responsible for both an interchange and understanding between men of all faiths of other religious beliefs and ceremonies.

In early November 1941, 3 Squadron and 112 Squadron, RAF, were paired up to form number 2 Wing with Peter Jeffrey appointed as Acting Wing Commander and newly promoted Acting Squadron Leader, Alan Rawlinson the replacement C.O. for 3 Squadron. 

Their first move westward was to Madelena and air combat in this new campaign commenced in mid November, 1941. The fighting was intense and November the 22nd became a black day in the Squadron's history when five pilots were killed and two taken prisoner after their Tomahawks had been shot down over the Bir Gobi and Bir Hacheim regions.

There had been several combats that day against Messerschmitt Bf109Fs, which were a much faster and slicker update of the older 109Es and, in some of these dog-fights, there were up to four 109F's to a single Tomahawk with one particular combat lasting for a record one hour and five minutes. 

Only dusk forced the enemy to withdraw leaving the weary 3 Squadron pilots to limp home with landing lights on, some force-landing short of the strip and others running out of petrol while taxiing in. 

However, the score wasn't all the enemy's way as six of their 109Fs were damaged, two destroyed and two probably destroyed.

By the end of November, however, the Squadron had taken their revenge for their losses by destroying or damaging 39 enemy aircraft in just a few flying days and this brought the Squadron's total of enemy aircraft destroyed to 106. 

That was good reason for a celebration but, due to shortages of supplies reaching their forward position, only a single bottle of whiskey could be found.

But it was nevertheless a celebration that every other squadron in the Desert Air Force heard about because 3 Squadron had become the first of the Desert squadrons to destroy 100 enemy aircraft and the third or fourth to reach their century in the entire war. And, in spite of that black day two weeks earlier, they had lost only 16 Tomahawks during the preceding three months.

During the time the Squadron had been fighting in the Syrian campaign, the Afrika Korps had maintained a continuous attack and they'd once again isolated Tobruk. Supremacy of the air was contested between nineteen Allied Squadrons each made up of twelve aeroplanes which were mainly Hurricanes or Tomahawks and a few Beaufighters, against a combined force of nineteen Italian Squadriglie each flying a mixture of nine MC 200s and MC 202s plus a force of nine German Staffeln each operating nine Bf 109Es and Fs plus some Bf 110s and Ju88s flying as well. In all, 228 Allied aircraft were fighting 258 Axis aeroplanes when the last day of November 1941 ended.

On that same day, a 109 flown by Oberfeldwebel Otto Schulz, attached to Staffel 2, JG27, crippled Sergeant Tiny Cameron's Tomahawk and this forced him to land behind enemy lines. Within minutes, Pete Jeffrey had followed him down, picked him up and taken off for home sitting on the lap of the 6 foot 3 inch pilot. This unselfish, heroic and no doubt uncomfortable act helped the Wing Commander win yet another decoration, the Distinguished Service Order.

Incidentally, Tiny Cameron was the 'parent' of a very cute little monkey which he'd named "Buzz" and who had quickly become the Squadron's beloved mascot from the time that Tiny had brought him back to the Squadron after a leave in Cairo. Buzz often, but unofficially, flew with Tiny in his aircraft on non-operational flights.

Early December, 3 Squadron had the honour of being the first in the Desert Air Force to be re-equipped with the new Curtis P40E Kittyhawk lA. Although they didn't fly that much faster than the Tomahawks, the lethal density of their six wing-mounted half inch machine guns certainly beat the Tomahawks' firing power. Like the Tomahawks, their robust construction was able to withstand a terrific amount of combat punishment and this factor alone made them ideal aeroplanes for Desert warfare particularly with experienced ground crews that could continue an already extraordinary record of maintaining and modifying the Squadron's aircraft to minimise the heavy engine and mechanical wear that the harsh desert conditions caused. 

Dust and sand, of course, were ever-present trouble-makers often responsible for destroying engines even after relatively short use. In the air, the Kittyhawks Mark 1 (P40D/P40E) could cope well with most of the enemy aircraft they met but their heaviness stopped them from being as fast in speed or climb as the Messerschmitt 109F-2s which were then appearing in the desert skies in increasing numbers. They could at least manoeuvre on equal terms with these 109F-2s in combat but generally, only the more experienced pilots could stay on top of the deadly 109F-2s.

December 1941 was also the month that Japan forced the U.S.A. into the war when Japan made a surprise attack on the 94 ships moored at the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbour at 7.55 am on Sunday the 7^th of December using 360 aircraft, with fighter cover, from six carriers. By 10am the battle was over and seven of the eight U.S. battleships had either been sunk or damaged. Over 2,000 Americans were killed and almost another 2,000 wounded.

In the Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur commanded the U.S. forces, further attacks by the Japanese Navy and Airforce began the next day and within two days, Japanese forces had made landings north of Luzon, at Kota Bharu, near Singora and at Patani. Malaya was being invaded. By the 20^th of December, the remains of MacArthur’s U.S forces had withdrawn to Darwin, Australia.

Disaster followed disaster for the Allies. Whilst Britain’s capital ships, the battleship Prince of Wales, which was fighting alongside Hood at the time Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck on the 24^th May 1941, and the battle-cruiser Repulse which had accompanied Hood to Australia in 1923, were assisting to repel the invaders on this newly opened front in the Far East, they were sunk by Japanese bombers by both bombs and torpedoes. Nearly 1,000 lives were lost. The strength and the obvious invasion intentions of this new enemy caused Churchill to take prompt steps to "reinforce Malaya with aircraft from Middle East" which thus helped to weaken the air forces fighting concurrently in Libya.

By then, many of the Squadron's pilots were battle-seasoned but there were always new arrivals like Australian Rugby Union International, Flying Officer Nicky Barr, destined to eventually destroy more aircraft than any other pilot in the Squadron. He started his unique record just a few days after joining the Squadron when he brought down a Messerschmitt 110 and the very next day he followed up with a second 110 and a JU88.

With the third Christmas since the start of the war approaching, the outlook for the Allies didn't look good at all in England and Europe and in both the Middle East and now, the Far East theatres of war. But there did appear to be one bright possibility which could help the desert war.

550 miles deep in Soviet territory, three separate German army divisions had been quite successfully executing the Hitler-planned "Operation Barbarossa" since the 22nd of June against Russia’s mighty armies who, until then, had been their allies. The Russians themselves and their armies were tough and generally unyielding in spite of their mounting losses and the pressures being place upon them under attack.

General von Bock’s Wehrmacht’s divisions had slowly been approaching Moscow since mid-October, following the footsteps and eventually the mistakes of Napoleon in 1812, and had already conquered many of the Russian cities on a 1,500 mile front from Leningrad to Kiev as they advanced eastward, capturing, killing and wounding an estimated six million inadequately prepared and equipped Russians for a preliminary loss of three-quarters of a million of their own troops. However, the ruthless, freezing winter which had just started, promised relief for the Russians and, it seemed, doom for the mostly summer-clad German troops gradually being entrapped without any regular incoming supplies or a chance to retreat no matter how much the German High Command tried to improve the positions of their forces. 

While ever that situation continued, it had the effect of diverting Germany’s limited supply lines away from the Middle East and, consequently, was giving the Allied forces time to regroup and re-equip, particularly now the Americans were manufacturing more and more aircraft, a lot of which were gradually finding their way to North Africa.

By Christmas Day 1941 in North Africa, the Squadron had split into two groups with the main base stationed at Gazala and an advance party in Msus. But, happily, pre-Christmas dinners were real morale boosters when the cooks at the main base shot a giant wild boar near an airfield at El Adem which the Squadron had just vacated. 

Roasted and garnished with German canned sauerkraut and Italian green peas, they served it with captured Italian Chianti, while, in Msus, the advance party cooked up twenty four plump roosters found in a crate that had obviously been dislodged from a passing truck on the Tmini road. 

So, in all, the Squadron ate well that Christmas and finished 1941 united again in Msus with Squadron Leader Dixie Chapman as their new C.O.

1942 ...
The early weeks of January 1942 were a grand start for the year with twelve enemy aircraft being shot down, another seven probably destroyed and six more damaged in the first eight days. Nicky Barr's personal score continued to rise and, on the 11th he shot down a G50 and two Me109F's before his Kittyhawk was hit and crash landed behind enemy lines. Disregarding a wounded leg, he spent the next five days disguised as a desert nomad and riding a camel past German motorised units all the while going out of his way to get vital information about enemy disposition whilst he was limping back to base. After he'd reported his observations, he was immediately awarded the D.F.C. for his incredible feat and his Intelligence contributions.

By mid January, the weather had turned sour, making flying and even living difficult with camp and runways flooded by heavy rain and blinded by piercing sandstorms. 

Rommel had commenced a strong counter attack by the 23rd and the Squadron's advance party which had moved to Belandah to set up a refuelling and servicing airfield, was almost destroyed when they awoke to find a semi-circle of Panzer tanks firing at them from only three or four hundred yards away. 

Corporal Lee, the NCO in charge of the party, ran to a truck 50 yards away, hurriedly started up and raced south collecting his men on the way as the Panzer's 75mm guns blew a nearby petrol bowser they had brought with them, to bits. Ground fog covered them and by jettisoning everything not screwed down to gain speed, they escaped.

Within the next month, 3 Squadron and another Kittyhawk RAAF Squadron, 450, who were to share many outstanding moments together before the war was to end, retreated further eastward to Gambut and continued to fly aggressive fighting patrols in conjunction with 112 "Shark" Squadron, RAF, giving the enemy a constant hammering but not without their own losses. Leutnant Hans-Joachim Marseille brought down two of 3 Squadron's Kittyhawks on the 15th of February killing Sergeant Reid who had, the day before, destroyed one, and shared a half, aircraft and damaged another, a fair contribution to the Squadron's total for that day of eight and a half destroyed and six damaged.

Bobby Gibbes, promoted to Squadron Leader, became C.O. on the 26th of February 1942 and arranged the Squadron's first escort assignment for some recently arrived Boston light bombers which commenced bombing the enemy at Martuba on March the 14th.  February 1942 was also the month that, back home in Australia, Darwin suffered its first air attack when 241 Japanese aircraft bombed this far northern shipping port and 243 people were killed as a result on the 21st of that month.

By the time the Squadron was given fourteen days stand-down effective from the 25th of March, they'd destroyed 68 & 1/2, damaged 59 and been credited with 16 probably-destroyed aircraft during a little over six months of fighting their 2nd Libyan campaign.

Many of the Squadron's personnel spent their leave on the nearby coastal beaches and they enjoyed relaxing in different ways. Swimming was a popular way to brush away the cobwebs of war and so too was fishing ... with some of the swimmers using a very scientific way of catching fish, evolved no doubt in consultation with the armourers. They simply threw hand grenades into the water and then scooped up the dead fish.

On the 7th of April, the Squadron reformed for three weeks of intensive training to prepare for a new campaign in which they'd been ear-marked to fly their Kittyhawks as fighter-bombers. This meant learning the techniques of dive-bombing to counter the ever increasing numbers of enemy in the desert who were already experts at dive-bombing.

Although the Luftwaffe's total air strength had been seriously diluted by their involvement in too many operational fronts at the same time, it didn't help the Allied situation in North Africa when Marshal Herman Goering took the risk of withdrawing much needed aeroplanes from the Russian front to double his airforce fighting in the Mediterranean areas. As well, an increase in enemy shipping activity which had been suffering heavy losses from both air and sea attack, heralded Rommel’s new major attack, soon to became known as the Battle of Gazala. 

He commenced it on the night of the 25th of May 1942 with intensive night bombing and strafing of the Allied forward landing grounds. His objective was to take Tobruk, consolidate at the Egyptian frontier while Malta was invaded, over-run Egypt, reach Cairo, and then move eastward to capture the Suez Canal. Rommel likened desert warfare to sea battles, where there were no trenches, no front line ... just a sea of worthless desert upon which both, always-mobile sides, sought to destroy the troops and equipment of the other ... and only the capture of a worthwhile strategic target decided a winner.

Rommel's assault started in earnest the next morning. With four Italian Divisions, plus the crack 15th and 21st Panzers and 90th Light Divisions, he attacked the Allied line from Gazala south to Bir Hacheim and so commenced one of the most difficult engagements the Squadron ever encountered. During the next weeks, every pilot flew two, and sometimes three and four, sorties a day from their constantly-bombed Gambut airfield, bombing and strafing the advancing enemy tanks, troops and every close Luftwaffe airfield.

Nicky Barr became C.O., on the 28th of May, replacing a hospitalised Bobby Gibbes who'd broken his leg and ankle after he'd bailed out from his blazing Kittyhawk. One unique blessing that Gibby had organised before his hospitalisation was the setting-up of a camp eight miles away on the Mediterranean coast, where pilots who were not rostered for flying until the next morning, could sleep at the beach camp after a cooling swim in the Med, followed by a meat and veggie stew served by an attending cook, and, when available, a bottle of beer sent up from Alexandria. This god-sent camp rejuvenated the weary-eyed, dusty and grim airmen returning from operations; and without doubt helped pilots avoid often-fatal fatigue-induced flying errors common to many of the over-stressed Desert Air Force pilots.

By June the 17th, Rommel’s forces had knocked out 230 Allied tanks and caused the Allied forces including the entire 239 Wing which was then made up of 3 and 450 RAAF Squadrons and 112, 250 and 260 RAF Squadrons, to retreat. 

The entire Wing had to leap-frog through five landing grounds eastward to Amiriya from their Gambut base, returning, for the third time, almost to the Squadron's first landing point in North Africa eighteen months earlier.

Not all pilots could fly back; that day Sergeant John Hobson Hooke was seen to go down near El Adem and the worst was expected but Hooke turned up later on foot after a long walk. 

Sergeant Donc Bray also went down that day and belly-landed in what turned out to be a minefield. As his Kitty skidded to a halt, he heard a loud explosion and when he looked around, he found that a mine had exploded and blown the tail off the aircraft.

Retreat provided one good moment for both 3 and 450 Squadrons when, at Sidi Omar, a departing Army supply unit who couldn't move out their food and beer stocks fast enough, turned a blind eye to a party of scroungers from both squadrons who just happened to be passing by with a few suddenly-empty trucks on their journey back east making the Squadron's arrival at Amirya considerably happier.

9^th Division and their British comrades had been successfully holding Tobruk for many months but they'd been ordered to hand the garrison over to South African Army troops who were eventually compelled to surrender when Rommel stormed Tobruk with his superior Panzer Divisions, on the 21st of June, 1942. The news of Tobruk's fall spread despondency throughout every Allied nation. By this time, the Afrika Korps had driven the Desert Air Force further east to airfields that were out of flying range of Tobruk so air cover for last desperate days of the battle became impossible.

Once Tobruk was secured, Rommel immediately decided to press on eastward without waiting for the planned German invasion of Malta ... an event which fortunately never took place for, had it'd happened, the outcome of the Mediterranean campaign would have been much different because Malta later proved to be a key base to the Allied control of the defence of the entire zone.

However, by the 26th of June, the allies had rallied and pressed Rommel back a little, enabling both 450 and 3 Squadrons to advance to Sidi Haneish and leaving the Army to begin forming a defence line at El Alamein.

That was also the day that the C.O., Squadron Leader Nicky Barr, DFC, parachuted, at 4,000 feet, badly burned, from his fatally damaged Kittyhawk into enemy hands to become a prisoner of war for the next nine months until, in March 1943, he eventually escaped to be subsequently awarded a Military Cross for his efforts which included the gathering of some extraordinarily valuable information concerning enemies dispositions, and his participation in partisan fighting, as he was fighting his way back to Allied lines after his escape. When he went down, he was flying his 84th sortie in the 119 operational hours since he joined the Squadron as a junior Flying Officer six months earlier and during this time he'd shot down a never to be equalled, Squadron individual-best, twelve enemy aircraft.

When Nicky Barr went down, Squadron Leader Bobby Gibbes, with his broken leg still encased in plaster, immediately resumed command of 3 Squadron.

But, at 2100 hours that same night, the Squadron started yet another retreat from the, once again, advancing enemy forces. They reached Amiyra, east of El Alamein two days later. 

From there, 3 Squadron, with the other 239 Wing squadrons, concentrated on supporting 8th Army’s newly formed El Alamein line already being reinforced by Australia's 9th Division who had arrived from Syria to fight against Rommel, now a Field Marshal, with his aggressive Panzer tanks of 15th and 21st Divisions and air protection by German Bf109s from 2 Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27, 3 Gruppe, Jagdgescwader 27 and Italian MC202s from 4 Stormo.

The assault was strong and, for a while, the outcome didn't look good for the allies. The Italians felt so confident of victory that their still-powerful dictator, Benito Mussolini, actually travelled to Derna in eager anticipation of a triumphal Italian march into Cairo after the British forces had been over-run.

But Mussolini soon found out that this wasn't to be although, for the next few critical weeks, the fight to hold off the enemy advance on El Alamein became a trying touch-and-go time for all Allied forces and particularly for 3 Squadron who were required to relocate their landing grounds six more times in the next twelve days during blinding dust storms. 

As well they had to fly their Kittyhawks on continuous operations escorting Boston light bombers from the South African Air Force's 12 and 24 Squadrons and Baltimores from 223 and 55 RAF Squadrons, to their targets. After the bombers had dropped their loads, the Kittyhawks would then dive-bomb and strafe the targets before escorting their charges home.

On the 22nd July, 1942, after drawing lots for the honour of being the pilot to drop the squadron's 1,000th bomb since the current offensive started nine weeks beforehand, Sergeant Keith Kidley dropped it with exact precision onto an enemy motor transport and, by so doing, established 3 Squadron as the top scoring Kittyhawk squadron in the Middle East for dropping the most bombs during the nine week campaign.

During those nine weeks, Tobruk had fallen and the entire Desert Air Force had been forced back almost 400 miles eastward. 

 The amount of sheer back-breaking work and organisation involved in retreating was enormous for, by now, there were at least twenty-eight RAF Squadrons, seven South African Squadrons and the two RAAF Squadrons, 3 and 450, operating a very diverse range of aircraft from a variety of makeshift landing grounds. 

Seven of these squadrons flew Kittyhawks, eleven Hurricanes, three had newly arrived Spitfires, one flew Beaufighters and another Tomahawks, whilst to bomb enemy positions, there were five Halifax bomber squadrons, four Wellington bomber squadrons, plus two squadrons of Bostons and two more flying Baltimores with another couple of squadrons making do with a mixture of aircraft, including some Fleet Air Arm Albacores.

Against this Allied Desert Air Force, the Luftwaffe flew the equivalent of about ten fighter squadrons of Bf109F and Bf109G plus Bf110s and about the same number of Stuka Ju87 dive bombing squadrons plus the equivalent of another seven or eight squadrons made up of Ju88 fighter-bombers, He111 bombers, and Ju52 bomber-transports. 

The Italian airforce added the equal of at least another ten squadrons of mainly Macchi MC202s, with some CR42 and Ju87 Squadriglia actively operating as well. In total, the number of squadrons on each side seemed to be quite evenly matched at this stage.

These were the opposing air forces which would be supporting their respective ground forces in a fight that would go down in history as being the greatest decisive battle of the African campaign, the outcome of which was to be a significant turning point of the entire war. It was to be become known as the Battle of El Alamein.

The build-up of forces really started early in July. If the Allies had known, at that time, that Rommel’s attacking force was backed by only 28 serviceable tanks with very little petrol to run them and an already accepted belief by Rommel's headquarters that the Allied Desert Air Force was well capable of defeating the Luftwaffe, General Claude Auchinleck, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of all Middle East Forces, would probably have moved with greater speed and confidence to drive Rommel back whilst he had a distinct advantage. But he failed to do this and, as a consequence, fell from favour and was replaced.

So, effective from the 15th of August, 1942, the British War Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill who was far from happy with the way things were generally developing on the front, appointed General Sir Harold Alexander as the new Commander of the Middle East Forces. Alexander, in turn, had agreed to the appointment of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery as the new 8^th Army Commander although Montgomery was not his sole choice.

Earlier that month, on the 7th, the very experienced, but battle-weary, Lieutenant-General "Strafer" Gott, who was being considered for the appointment, was killed as a result of an incident wherein a Bombay transport in which he was travelling from Burg el Arab to Cairo with 17 other passengers was forced down by two aircraft from 2 Gruppe, JG27. Unteroffizier Schneider flew one of the Bfl09s. Although Gott was not injured and had left the damaged and grounded aircraft, he chose to return to help others trapped inside. Whilst he was doing so, the aircraft blew up during a further attack by the enemy aircraft and all those still on board were killed instantly. His death of course provided Montgomery with his final appointment, which, in retrospect, proved to be a turning point for the entire war in the Middle East due to Montgomery’s outstanding leadership during the months that followed.

By the time 3 Squadron personnel resumed the fight on the 20th of August, they'd been recharged by a welcome three week stand-down which allowed many of the men to take a seven day leave break in either Palestine or Alexandria before starting a ten day intensive training program which included practice in formation flying and in precision bombing and firing.

The atmosphere in Cairo around this particular time, bordered on panic because there was a clear expectation that the advancing and newly strengthened enemy might have broken through the still-forming El Alamein defences and perhaps capture the city.

C.O. Bobby Gibbes's broken leg no longer prevented him from flying so he led the squadron back into action performing armed reconnaissance and bombing sorties within the El Alamein area.

Around about that time, General Montgomery had made it perfectly clear to all Allied forces that there would be no more retreating; his orders were that everyone to the last man, would hold their positions and keep on fighting until they dropped.

The enemy’s attack on the El Alamein line began at dusk on the 30th of August 1942 employing a greater number of troops than those of the Allied forces; strong divisions of Panzers were comforted with the promise of on-going supplies of petrol and other vital equipment and stores. Guarantee to maintain these supply lines were made by General Kesselring, Commander-in-Chief South and Rommel’s direct superior, and they boosted the Afrika Korps’ morale and encouraged the commencement of their offensive.

Rommel’s objective was to secure the Alam-el-Halfa Ridge before advancing north to the sea and capturing El Alamein but, within a few days, serious problems started to occur, the least of which was Rommel’s own illness from a bad nose infection and a swelling of his liver which prevented him from even walking. His illness was to eventually cause his hospitalisation back to Germany during the critical weeks ahead.

His attacking guns and armour were no better than those used by the quite well prepared Allied defence and, by then, the Desert Air Force clearly held air superiority with the arrival of new aircraft and squadrons including 57th Fighter Group of the United States Air Force who'd arrived with their own Curtiss P40s called Warhawks which were basically the same as the Kittyhawks. Mitchell B25 medium bombers had also arrived with the US Air Force and the increased air power allowed 3 Squadron to resume straight-out fighter work.

Days like the 8th of September were field days for the Squadron: three enemy aircraft destroyed, two probables and five damaged ... and all for the loss of a single Kittyhawk, the pilot of which was only slightly injured.

That was the day Sergeant Garth Neill earned his Distinguished Flying Medal by shooting down firstly a Stuka, then an Mel09, probably destroying another and finally chasing a third 109 over the tents of a German camp at ground level before it crash landed near the camp.

A little light diversion helped brighten the men during early September when several parties of nurses and V.A.D.s from 7th Australian General Hospital visited, followed by the girls from the South African "Ballyhoo" concert party. The girls' visits must have had some stimulating effect on the pilots at least, because the records show that, on the 13th of September, at one particular take-off, all aircraft were airborne within a record 3 minutes of call!

On the 14th, seven of the squadron's sergeant pilots were commissioned to the rank of Pilot Officer but the day after was a bad day for the Desert Air Force as a whole when eleven aircraft were lost during some intensive aerial combats. The German ace, Marseille claimed seven of these in the eleven minutes between 1751 and 1802 hours.

3 Squadron lost two Kittyhawks that day and two more were badly damaged. One of the ones who went down was Flying Officer Jackie Donald who became a prisoner-of-war but the other was Sergeant Scribner who was killed in action.

For the next five weeks, the fighting continued with losses chalked up on both sides including that of Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille and two fellow aces from his unit.

Rommel's illness had removed him from the fighting and General Stumme had been given command by the Fuhrer. 

On the 20th of October, 1942, Air Vice-Marshal Coningham, the Air Officer Commanding the Desert Air Force, notified all squadrons that General Montgomery’s ground forces would shortly be attacking the enemy and 3 Squadron's first task in the new attack was to provide close cover to Mitchell and Baltimore bombers which would be bombing the enemy airfields at El Daba.

At 10 p.m., on the 23rd of October, 1942, the Battle of Alamein commenced with more than 1,000 British guns releasing the greatest artillery barrage since World War 1.

Within 24 hours, Hitler had personally requested Rommel to leave his hospital bed at Zemmering in Germany to resume command of the Afrika Korps and replace General Stumme who had died from a heart attack when he and his aide, Colonel Buechting, in a light field vehicle driven by Corporal Wolf, ventured unescorted far too close to the Allied lines in an attempt to personally assess the battle position as it had developed late on 24 October.

Later reports show that an Australian contingent began rapid fire at the vehicle and killed Buechting. Wolf turned the vehicle instantly and retreated at top speed but Stumme, not a fit man, was flung sideways and whilst hanging onto the side, apparently suffered a heart attack and fell out. Wolf did not know this until he reached safety and Stumme’s body wasn’t found until the next day. It was a critical period of the battle and the incident caused a serious hiatus in the German chain of command.

By 8pm that evening, the still-ill Rommel was back and again in command but at this time his army was very short of fuel and under heavy attack; and to add to their misery, the promises and guarantees that had been made by the German High Command that they would ensure an adequate supply line, were simply not happening.

3 Squadron's Kittyhawks continued to provide regular bomber support and carry out attacking missions during the next week and, on the 28th October, 1942, C.O. Bobby Gibbes, flying a Kittyhawk Mark 3, shot down an Me 109. How exactly that happened was recounted by him but only after a few drinks in the mess that evening. He confessed that he’d actually been aiming at a 109 that was flying at least 100 yards away from the one he'd shot down. The other 109, flying astern of his target, had gone down instead much to his embarrassment!

This hit was first thought to have brought the count of enemy aircraft destroyed up to the grand total of 200 according to the tally written up in the on-the-spot records hastily maintained by the administration crew on their constantly moving field-table that served as the squadron’s administration and intelligence office at the end of each sortie.

And, as this event had appeared to happen less than eleven months after their first 100 enemy aircraft had been destroyed, it triggered special celebrations within the squadron’s base while congratulations kept flowing in from almost every other squadron in the Desert Air Force.

At the time, the Squadron appeared to have set another new record as being the first of the Desert Air Force squadrons to bring down 200 enemy aircraft; naturally, they celebrated this milestone accordingly.

(But the counting-records turned out to be slightly overstated. It was only in 1990 that several of the dedicated ex-3 Squadroners, including Peter Jeffrey, Alan Rowlinson and Bobby Gibbes, set about the re-construction of the records and squadron history, only to show that an incorrect count had inadvertently been made during those days when the squadron was moving regularly from one landing ground to another with the understandable difficulty of keeping their records intact and exact. In fact the revised count showed it may have only been its 175^th victory at that stage and not its 200^th).

The German defence was stubborn and the battle raged around Alamein for 10 days with both sides constantly attacking and counter-attacking. Together with the rest of the Desert Air Force Squadrons, 3 Squadron were flying almost non-stop. 

Heat, dust, time, lack of food or sleep didn't matter to the ground staff, especially fitters and armourers who invariably would have all the fighter-bomber Kittyhawks ready at dawn for their pilots to begin another day of non-stop strafing, bombing and escort missions. Quite often, their low level fighter-bomber attacks were met with deadly ack-ack and light-arms ground fire from the Panzers and the 90th Light divisions but the pilots continued to hit them back. 

At the time, these German Divisions were fighting against the famous Australian 9^th Division, led by Lieutenant-General Leslie Morshead, on the desolate desert sands below.

By early November, it was clear that Montgomery's tactics were working well and by November the 4th, the German front had been pierced forcing Rommel's armies into retreat with Monty's 8^th Army in hot pursuit.

Further west, in French North Africa, large Anglo-American invasion forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, later to become the 34^th President of the United States, were landing by sea at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers as part of the pre-planned and highly secret "Operation Torch" which called for this force to advance eastwards along the coast to Tunis and eventually link up with Monty's westward advancing 8^th Army, hopefully trapping Rommel's forces in the process.

3 Squadron advanced to Landing Ground 106 at Daba only hours after the Luftwaffe had fled leaving behind aircraft, equipment and personal effects.

 During the next few weeks of November, heavy rains restricted the Squadron’s missions but they didn't stop 8^th Army routing the retreating German forces as they pushed them towards the Egyptian border; they reached Tobruk on the 13th. By then the broken and ill Rommel has slipped through the fighting lines and moved his headquarters back again to El Agheila to plan his next move against Montgomery’s army although he had little more than 60 tanks, 43 serviceable Bfl09s and an estimated combined army of 25,000 Italian and 10,000 Germans left to fight almost 600 British tanks, 1,000 heavy guns and seven divisions of infantry.

In fifteen days, the Eighth Army chased Rommel's troops over 700 miles from El Alamein to Benghazi but not without suffering many losses from the hidden land mines laid by the retreating Germans. 

An ex-Adjutant of 3 Squadron, Squadron Leader Terry, then attached to the Kittyhawk Wing, was killed with two other Wing officers when their jeep drove over a mine, thus joining hundreds of others who were killed or injured in the same way.

Leaving their old Landing Ground 101 at Sidi Haneish, 3 Squadron moved quickly through Sidi Barrani, onto Mischeifa and then to the familiar dustbowl of Gambut where they captured a fully serviceable Messerschmitt 109 and painted it with 3 Squadron markings. 

Engineering officer, Flight Lieutenant Ken McRae, took it upon himself to secure and protect this prize for the squadron and was responsible for arranging for its serviceability.

However, when the Squadron reached Gazala on the 15th of November, Headquarters Middle East requisitioned this aircraft, much to the annoyance of the C.O., who often flew it and used it as a training vehicle to illustrate battle tactics to newly posted Squadron pilots. Happily enough, within a few days of losing that 109, the Squadron captured two more 109s at Martuba to make up for their previous loss.

Several bombing and strafing missions were carried out over the enemy-held Magrun airfield and the roads in the Benghazi area with 3 Squadron's pilots in daily air combat against German Me 109's still trying their hardest to protect their dwindling army. 

By the 19th November, Benghazi was in Allied hands but heavy rain started on the 20th forcing a lull in air operations so leave was given to pilots who spent a few days living it up in the Egyptian Delta area.

Ex-members of 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, sent a cable congratulating the Squadron on its achievements and this provided real inspiration for all ranks as they prepared to move forward firstly to Antelat  and later to Belandah where they were greeted by a night bombing attack that left a 500 pound unexploded bomb only a few feet away from the airmens' tent area.

By then, winter had started and chilling, biting winds added gloom to a shortage of food and water. Many of the ground staff grew beards and claimed they'd keep them on until they arrived in Tripoli.

 El Agheila remained the main target until the Squadron advanced beyond the bend of the Gulf of Sirte into territory they'd never occupied before. 

They occupied the airfield at Marble Arch which was infested with mines and booby-traps, one causing death to five of the squadron's Leading Air Craftsmen and serious injury to three others when it exploded just before repairs were to be started to the mine-pitted and ploughed-up runways.

Still shocked, all ranks worked in unison to complete the work and 24 hours later, the Squadron were again hitting the Germans in the Sirte area, scoring a valuable direct hit on four 88 millimetre guns, regarded by the Germans as their main defence weapon.

On the 21st of December, Squadron Leader Bobby Gibbes led a six Kittyhawk reconnaissance patrol over a German held airfield called Hun located 188 miles from Marble Arch. Parked around the airstrip was a mixture of twelve German and Italian aircraft and gliders. In two low-level passes, the Kittyhawks destroyed or damaged most of the grounded aircraft and on the third pass, hit more of them too but during this last attack, two Kittyhawks were hit by ground-fire. 

One belly landed in flames killing Sergeant "Stuka" Bee. 

The other, flown by Pilot Officer Rex Baily, managed to crash-land about a mile from the target airfield. 

 After sizing up the area and calling on the three remaining pilots to provide air cover, Bobby Gibbes found the closest spot he could land and radioed Baily to make his way to the spot. Throwing away his parachute and manually disconnecting and dragging away his half-full petrol drop-tank, Gibbes took 300 paces and marked out a possible take off point by tying his handkerchief to a bush then, when Baily arrived, sat him in the cockpit seat and climbed in onto his lap.

Gibbes started the engine, brought it up to full power with his brakes hard-on, then released the brakes and shot off down the tiny 300 yard slope towards a deep and unavoidable wadi with ridges on both sides. Just as the Kittyhawk became airborne, the port wheel smacked into the first ridge and, to his horror, Gibbes observed the whole wheel assembly falling off. By skilful flying, Gibbes cleared the remaining ridges by inches and reached Marble Arch airfield, bringing the Kittyhawk in by landing the aircraft on the single remaining wheel as they came in cross-wind. He held the port wing up-wind with the aileron and, as speed fell off, turned the aircraft slowly to port throwing the weight out. When it neared a complete stall, he kicked on hard port rudder and the aircraft, swinging harder to port, remained balanced on the starboard wheel until it lost almost all forward speed. Only the port flap and the wing-tip was slightly damaged. For this feat and other extraordinary similar acts, Bobby Gibbes was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The A.O.C. at the time, A.V.M. Harry Broadhurst actually recommended Gibbes for a Victoria Cross for this rescue, but somehow the recommendation was down-graded to a D.S.O.

Christmas 1942, like the previous Christmas, saw the Squadron split again. C Flight were preparing the landing ground at an airfield called Gzina well ahead of the main army forces while the rest of the Squadron remained at Marble Arch. However, the Squadron cooks didn't forget C Flight; they sent them a truck loaded with turkeys, hams, plumb pudding, sweets and beer, all part of some special supplies flown up from Alexandria. In Marble Arch, a big combined Army-Air Force church service was held and attended by General Alexander and General Montgomery, who read the lesson.

Several American Air Corps Squadrons had joined the Desert Air Force including 66 Squadron, United States Army Air Force, with their P40 Warhawks which were almost identical to the British Kittyhawks. Being attached to the same Wing, 3 Squadron and 66 Squadron men spent quite a few happy hours socialising and flying together while the Wing was advancing towards Tripoli where the enemy forces were now gathering and the Luftwaffe tried to maintain air cover as best it could.

1943 ...

On New Year's Day, Flight Lieutenant Dave Ritchie had a lucky escape after an air combat with five Mel09s. He shot one down but was forced to crash land his Kittyhawk which hit the ground at an estimated 350 miles per hour, probably the fastest crash landing in the Desert in which the pilot survived. The aircraft was split in two so the remaining Mel09's didn't strafe the wreck as they usually did as they obviously thought the pilot had been killed in the crash. But Ritchie not only survived, he hired a donkey from some Arabs and covered the 40 miles back to the Squadron, riding the donkey through the army's front lines.

In mid January 1943, the Luftwaffe launched a full-scale effort to protect their forward landing ground at Bir Dufan using new and newly repaired aircraft flown by newly arrived pilots. On the 14th of January, more than twenty Mel09s attacked a formation of Boston light bombers which 3 Squadron were escorting to bomb Bir Dufan and, by the end of the day, six of the Squadrons aircraft had failed to return including the C.O., Squadron Leader Bobby Gibbes. 

Later, it was learnt that three of the pilots had been killed, one had been taken prisoner, one was captured but broke away ten days later and the last one, the C.O., made his way back after a few hectic days living in enemy territory.

During Bobby Gibbes's absence, Flight Lieutenant Ron Watt was appointed C.O. but a few days after his promotion, he disappeared without trace during a bombing mission.

The pilots in ‘B’ Flight were the first in the Desert Air Force to land at Castel Benito in Tripolitania and they were quick to claim the best quarters at this quite modern airfield. Compared to their quarters in the desert, Castel Benito was paradise with grass, trees and a windmill-pumped flow of cold water. After they 'd settled in and other Desert Air Force Squadrons had arrived, several grass areas were marked out as football fields and inter-squadron games of Australian Rules, Rugby and Soccer were played.

An Italian Caproni Ghibli had been left by the retreating enemy so it was quickly commandeered by the Squadron as an ideal people and beer carrier because of its 700 mile cruising range at 110 miles per hour with a load of twelve people (or the equivalent in beer) inside. A Caproni 164 trainer with dual controls was also secured, allowing some of the Squadron's administration officers to log up some flying hours.

Tripoli had been captured; so a lot of the Squadron travelled the twelve miles into town hoping to see, buy, eat or drink some of the long awaited exotic Italian pleasures reputed to lie inside this supposed oasis in the desert. But it was only a dream; for there was very little in Tripoli to interest the thousands of 8^th Army and Desert Air Force personnel who roamed the streets on leave.

But it was to Tripoli that Winston Churchill quickly travelled to personally congratulate the victorious 8^th Army and the Desert Air Force and his presence was welcomed and respected.

Pilots of the United States Army Air Force who'd provided air support for the newly formed front at Algeria, began calling at the Squadron’s base in their very unusual Lightning P38s. By then, General Eisenhower had been given control of the entire Allied forces and his team included General Alexander who directed all army operations and Air Marshals Tedder and Coningham who commanded different areas of Allied Air Force operations.

The combined Allied Air Forces worked well together, hitting hard at the retreating enemy boxed up in Tunisia. Air Force Command knew that the Axis were destined for doom once their shipping supply line, emanating from the still-strong Fascist and Nazi strongholds in Sicily and Italy, had been cut.

So shipping strikes were ordered and 3 Squadron began flying regular missions over the Mediterranean Sea and in particular, off the coast near Ben Gardane and in Zarzis harbour. And so began the Squadron's score of shipping targets which grew substantially during the months to come. But, towards the end of February, the Squadron was moved forward again, this time into southern Tunisia from where they conducted low-level airfield blitzes behind the Mareth line.

Rommel renewed his attack between March the 5th and the 8th ... foolishly pitting the tanks of his 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions which had been awaiting their orders in the Medenine hills, against a well prepared anti-tank screen manned by Montgomery’s 8^th Army. 52 of the 140 German tanks were lost without the British incurring the loss of a single tank. Rommel knew his forces could never recover from this battle loss so he voluntarily returned to Germany a few days later to request Hitler to capitulate in North Africa to save the lives of the remaining German troops.

Hitler refused outright calling Rommel a coward and linking any talk of capitulation in North Africa to the surrender only five weeks earlier, of the near-dead nintey thousand sick and frozen German troops surviving from General von Pau1us’s mighty 6^th Army still trapped in the Stalingrad areas. Hitler forbade surrender and refused Rommel the right to return to the desert, appointing General von Arnim in his place. Thus, for a period, Germany fought on in North Africa.

3 Squadron had moved to Nefatia where they and other nearby squadrons in the Wing, were asked to help the Fighting French force of General Le Clerc in tank-busting operations against German convoys of tanks, armoured cars and supply trucks. And so 3 Squadron’s score of enemy vehicles destroyed began to mount while German air opposition became noticeably less. However, on the 21st of March, the Squadron moved to Medenine, only ten miles from enemy front, to escort Bostons and Baltimores bombing the still-German-held Mareth Line. The Squadron operated from here, under shellfire from German 88mm guns, for several days.

The air power generated by the combined Desert Air Force during the battle of the Mareth Line was enormous. They provided constant protection to General "Tiny" Fryberg’s New Zealand Corps which consisted of 27,000 men and 6,000 vehicles and guns moving to penetrate the enemy’s south flank of the Mareth Line and attack the Tebaga gap at El Hamma, near Gabes.

It took the New Zealanders twenty-three days to achieve this hard fought objective with considerable loss of life and equipment. ‘C’ Flight moved forward to El Hamma landing ground on the 30th March, to assist in the attack on the Axis rearguard stand at Waki Akarit where the German 15th and 21st Panzer and 90th Light Divisions fought tenaciously. On the 7th of April, Montgomery’s 8^th Army attacked Wadi Akarit while Alexander simultaneously directed 1^st Army into attack along the Medjerda valley, further north. 3 Squadron flew 46 sorties that day, destroying many enemy vehicles and fortifications.

By the 10th of April, 8^th Army had overcome the immediate enemy resistance and captured Sfax with the Squadron helping out by providing fighter escort to Wellington bombers flying over Sfax Harbour delousing mines using their attached mine-degausses.

Still the enemy held Tunis. The Squadron moved to El Djem and, for a few days enjoyed the beauty of this southern Tunisian garden paradise blooming in spring. They flew sweeps of the Tunis and Cap Bon areas in search of enemy shipping and aircraft but, strangely, saw very little enemy activity during that April in 1943.

On the 19th of April, after 274 operational sorties taking almost 472 flying hours, Bobby Gibbes officially handed the Squadron over to the new C.O., Squadron Leader Brian Eaton, and left several days later under orders to report to Headquarters in Cairo for new assignment. He’d finished his second tour to become the Squadron’s second highest scorer of enemy aircraft brought down plus ten and a quarter destroyed, five probables and nine damaged.

During the rest of April and the early days of May, the Squadron continued shipping patrols and damaged several enemy destroyers and other vessels.

Finally, on the 7th May 1943, the enemy in Tunis surrendered to the original "Desert Rats", the 11th Hussars of 7th Armoured Division, 8^th Army, and by the 12th of May 1943, General Graf von Sponeck had formally surrendered to General Freyberg ... and the Desert War was officially over.

3 Squadron was the only squadron in the Desert Air Force to have fought through every campaign of the Desert War and they were the top scoring Squadron for destroying enemy aircraft within the Desert Air Force.

To celebrate the end of war in the desert, two three-ton trucks were dispatched from the Squadron’s airfield in Kairouan on a 530 mile trip to Algeria to scrounge as much beer, wine, tobacco, chocolate and any other luxuries that could be bought with £400 cash that had been collected from the men.

On the day the trucks were to return, a Peugeot, one of the many cars recently captured by the Squadron from the retreating enemy, was entered in the "Grand Prix of Kairouan". This sensational eight mile car race around the scrubby desert was a big affair organised by the South African Wing.

3 Squadron’s Peugeot was hot favourite but it broke an oil pipe and didn’t finish, much to the bookies delight. Nevertheless the Squadron still did well when Murray Knox in a tiny under-powered Fiat came in second to a fast front-wheel drive Citroen driven by the C.O. of 450 Squadron, Squadron Leader Jack Bartle.

The Squadron, with all the other Wing members who lived-it-up that night at the gigantic party 3 Squadron threw as soon as the "grog" convoy arrived, claimed that the party was a milestone in the entire Desert War and gave their unanimous agreement that it was the exceptional catering talents of the mess staff that made the party so successful.

The climax of the night was a terrific football scrum which came close to collapsing the huge pi1ot’s mess that had been specially built from three huge captured German tents, fastened together.

During the weeks that followed, leave was given to many of the Squadron’s members who visited Tunis and other places of historical interest. Flight Lieutenant Tom Russell was able to commandeer an American sedan and, with a few mates, enjoyed his last few weeks doing just that, but suffering a few inevitable breakdowns.  

But it wasn’t long before the Squadron had new orders ... proceed to Zuara in Tripolitania for a rest and training period.

Here, on the 20th June, Flight Lieutenant Reg Stevens was appointed Acting Squadron Leader for a short period when Brian Eaton became ill.

By early July, in the almost unbearable heat of the Tripolitanian summer, part of the Squadron had moved again ... this time under secret orders. The war in Europe had intensified and only a few days before, the Allied forces had begun a sea and airborne assault on the island of Sicily as a stepping stone to a landing in Italy.

By the 19th July 1943, a section of the Squadron had travelled by sea directly to Pachino in Sicily to join up with the rest of the Squadron who had arrived via Malta with some of the latest Kittywawk IVs. These aircraft were also called P-40N Warhawks and many pilots described them as being the best of all the Kittyhawk models they'd flown. The aircraft were 350 pounds lighter than the previous models with a top speed of 378 miles per hour at 10,500 feet. They were armed with 6 guns and could carry a 500 pound bomb under each wing. As well, a completely redesigned cockpit canopy had greatly improved pilot's visibility.

At this stage, there were seven Australian squadrons attached to the various R.A.F Wings operating from six widely spread bases in the Mediterranean area and they flew six different types of aircraft. Three had single engine Kittyhawks and Hurricanes and the others had Wellington, Baltimore, Hudson and Halifax bombers. Another nine Australian squadrons were based at R.A.F. stations in the United Kingdom, making a total of sixteen Australian squadrons poised for an intended attack on German dominated territories including Italy.

The Squadron flew their first twelve operational sorties in the Sicilian campaign on the 24th July by bombing enemy gun positions around Catania. Bombing attacks were continued for weeks after until the Squadron moved north to Agnone where the Germans were still holding on strongly.

During these sorties, the Kittyhawks constantly ran into heavy anti-aircraft fire and when Sergeant Howell-Price's aircraft was hit, he crashed into the sea. Much later Squadron Leader Reg Stevens sighted him swimming a half a mile off shore. Stevens flew over him until an Air Sea Rescue Walrus arrived but the enemy’s deadly 88mm gun fire prevented the seaplane from a rescue-landing to pick up Howell-Price. 

So Stevens attacked and silenced the gun but in doing so his aircraft was hit and he was forced to crash-land. However, both pilots survived their ordeals and they had rejoined their Squadron by nightfall.

While the Allied armies were fighting through Sicily, the Fascist regime collapsed on the 25th of July 1943. After 22 years of dictatorship, Mussolini was dismissed by King Victor Emmanuel and imprisoned; the Germans soon rescued him but towards the end of the war he was captured again and executed by Italian partisans. The new Prime Minister, Marshal Badoglio, immediately began negotiating for an armistice with the Allies.

The Germans however were still entrenched in both Italy and northern Sicily and they began regular day and night bombing of most of the Allied occupied towns and aerodromes. 3 Squadron and the other squadrons in 239 Wing didn't escape the bombs.

 On the night of the 11th of August, a lot of their aircraft were destroyed on the ground but the Squadron's personnel casualties were slight although over 80 airmen elsewhere in 239 Wing were either killed or injured during that raid.

The Squadron spent the next and final week of the Sicilian campaign on anti-shipping operations over the Straits of Messina and the last air battle fought by the Squadron in this campaign was against a formation of Macchi 202s attacking Allied shipping in the Straits. One 202 was destroyed and several were damaged. Incredibly, the leader of that Italian formation, Major Marioti together with several other Italian pilots who flew in the dog-fight, were destined to become firm friends with many of the 3 Squadron pilots after Italy eventually changed sides and declared war on Germany some months later.

Meanwhile, by the 17th of August 1943, enemy resistance in Sicily had slowed to a halt and Italy was negotiating for a general surrender. Montgomery’s 8^th Army was ready for the next stage: the invasion of Italy and, from his headquarters in a luxurious palazzo high on the cliffs of Taormina, Montgomery looked directly across the Straits of Messina to the Italian mainland while he planned his strategy.

On the 3rd of September, exactly four years after the war against Germany had commenced, 300 landing craft containing 8,000 8^th Army British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Divisions left the eastern harbours of Sicily and crossed the Straits to land without much resistance on the Calabrian shore.

3 Squadron continued to operate out of the Agnone landing grounds in Sicily, attacking enemy transports and supporting the landed forces until, on the 14th of September, an advance party from the Squadron moved to a new airfield at Grottaglie near Taranto on the heel of the foot of Italy.

5^th Army had already landed on the Western coast about 200 miles north-west at Salerno but they encountered heavy resistance and requested air support. So, from the moment they landed on Italian soil, the small advance party of 3 Squadron pilots and ground staff joined together to service and load the Kittyhawks and within an hour, they 'd taken off to begin the first of many bombing and strafing operations against the German defenders at Salerno. This flight, led by Brian Eaton, was the first Allied air formation to operate in Italy ... another "first" for 3 Squadron.

Motor transports on the roads around Foggia down to Barletta were constantly targeted by the squadron and other squadrons of 239 Wing and there were some days when twenty-four sorties were flown in twenty-four hours. 

On the 22nd of September, a Squadron advance party moved 50 miles north to Bari which 8^th Army had captured the day before but no sooner had the rest of the Squadron moved up to Bari than the entire Wing was relocated further north to a badly damaged aerodrome at Foggia.

Again the Squadron was on the attack, bombing and strafing enemy transport supply lines, tanks, gun positions and troops around Termoli, flying on occasions at only 500 feet. Although two Squadron Kittyhawks were shot down during these missions, their pilots managed to either bail out or crash-land in German held territory. 

With great courage and ingenuity, they evaded German soldiers who pursued them. The fugitives were helped by friendly Italian farmers who held a strong dislike for their ex-allies ever since their new leader, Marshal Badoglio, had declared war on Germany and Japan on the 13th of October, 1943.

In spite of heavy rains during October, armed reconnaissance of the area between Pescara and Termoli continued, involving many attacks on rail and motor transports until, on the 24th of October, orders were changed and the Squadron began the first of a series of anti-shipping operations over the Adriatic Sea using long-range fuel tanks fitted onto the Kittyhawks. Shipping around the Lagosta Islands and German fortifications in Yugoslavia were common targets set by the Eighth Army controllers working in two-way communication with individual patrols.

This communication system was a well developed ground-to-air radio network operated by forward ground-control units often composed of pilots from 239 Wing who'd finished their "tour". They'd use the call-sign "Rover" to direct 3 Squadron aircraft formations who they call-signed "Shabby", onto targets and give the pilots progressive reports on their hit-accuracy and any further instructions.

The next airfield to be occupied by the Squadron together with the rest of 239 Wing was at Melini where they had to operate from under canvas in intensely cold weather with frequent rain that made living difficult and flying even more difficult. But still a dozen or more sorties a day were made, some against German shipping in Yugoslavian harbours ... until, by mid November, gales had slowed most activity although it didn't prevent a team from 3 Squadron beating their mates from 450 Squadron by eighteen points in a slippery game of Australian Rules.

Towards the end of November, 8^th Army overcame strong German resistance and crossed the Sangro River to establish a bridgehead but bad flying conditions prevented the Squadron from helping in the offensive until the weather cleared during the last days of the month. Wet weather had made Melini airfield unserviceable so a bomber landing strip 2 miles away at Celone was used instead. 

But that meant squadron personnel had to travel by truck through shocking conditions with mud so thick that it bogged many of the transports. Yet all aircraft unfailingly took off on schedule which is a tribute to the determination and persistence of the armourers and other servicing personnel who suffered a long week of personal hardships to perform their duties.

The Allies' plan was to liberate Rome as quickly as possible but the strongly defended "Winter Line" as it was called, that the Germans had established on an east-west axis temporarily stopped 8^th Army. Violent weather and another enemy defence line south of Rome which was known as the Gustav Line, slowed down 5^th Army also trying to get to Rome to join up with 8^th Army. For the first time since Italy was invaded, the Luftwaffe became active, bombing Allied lines but trying to avoid tangling with any Allied aircraft.

3 Squadron spent December dive-bombing and strafing enemy fortifications and carrying out raids across the sea on German targets in Yugoslavia. 

 Christmas Day was cold and wet but it didn't dampen the Christmas spirit during an excellent dinner served by the officers as their traditional way of saying "thank you" to the airmen for their vital support.

1944 ...

New Year 1944 brought rain, hail, snow and a gale to greet a Squadron advance party who had travelled to Cutella, near Termoli, to prepare for the Squadron's arrival. But the weather cleared and bombing operations recommenced.

After 239 Wing Leader, South-African Lieutenant Colonel Wilmot, had test-flown a Kittyhawk carrying two 500 pound bombs under its wings plus a 1,000 pound bomb under the fuselage, totalling the bomb-load of a Boston bomber, 3 Squadron began bombing with 1,000 pounders.

Flight Lieutenant Jack Doyle had the honour of dropping the Squadron’s first ‘big’n’ and his direct hit was the first of many scored by the Squadron with thousand pounders.

As January 1944 ended, the Squadron was bombing targets closer to Rome as part of the new offensive to capture the city. Areas close to Cassino and Anzio which were heavily concentrated with German troops and tanks, became targets for all 239 Wing's squadrons of Kittyhawk fighter-bombers and particularly near Anzio where reinforcement Allied troops had landed.

February saw the Squadron resume long-range bombing runs over the Adriatic to Split Harbour in Yugoslavia and attacking and sinking enemy vessels along the way. 5^th Army requested a bombing attack on the Monte Cassino Benedictine Monastery which had been taken over by the Germans and was being used as an artillery-spotting headquarters.

On the 16th of February, the four squadrons from 239 Wing set out for the target but the shocking weather conditions made crossing the Apennines difficult and all aircraft except those of 3 Squadron were forced to turn back. 3 Squadron pressed on by themselves and bombed the target with excellent results and, the next day, they flew back again to continue the bombing although this almost impregnable fortress continued to withstand the punishment.

On the 22nd of February, Brian Eaton D.F.C. now a Wing Commander, was appointed Deputy Sector Commander for 1 Mobile Operations Radio Unit, Desert Air Force. Squadron Leader Murray Nash, D.F.C. replaced him as the Squadron Commanding Officer and he remained C.O. until the 11th of April when his tour of duty ended.

 Squadron Leader Jack Doyle took over the Squadron temporarily before his posting as C.O. to 450 Squadron.

Acts of courage and instances of outstanding service were happening regularly in the day to day routine of the Squadron and many of the pilots involved were decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Two D.F.C.s awarded in March were quite typical of the Squadron's style in action. 

The first was awarded to 24 year old Flying Officer Ken Richards who'd neatly dropped his bomb down the funnel of a 3,000 ton vessel destroying it completely and within a few weeks, he'd split a 6,000 ton ship in two with another direct bomb hit. 

The second D.F.C. was awarded to 26 year old Jack Doyle who'd dropped the Squadron's first 1,000 pounder and continued his strong leadership on many occasions particularly when attacking 88mm gun emplacements and ammunition dumps a few months earlier.

Courageous acts weren't limited to action in the air. On the 29th of April 1944, an American pilot flying a P-47 Thunderbolt mistakenly strafed Cutella airfield obviously thinking it was a German base. At the time, L.A.C.s S. Reginald (Slim) Moore and K. M. Harris were servicing a Kittyhawk in the dispersal bay next to two other Kittyhawks that already had bombs loaded. Bullets from the P-47 set one of the Kittyhawks alight but before the flames spread, these two men, ignoring the possibility of the bomb exploding, unshackled it and rolled it clear of the burning aircraft. Then they taxied the other two Kittyhawks away from the fire. By doing so they may have saved a fire-holocaust in the dispersal area. Sadly, the distraught American who'd made the mistake, committed suicide the following day by deliberately crashing his aircraft shortly after he'd left the Squadron where he had attended with his Commanding Officer to make formal apology for his action.

3 Squadron formed part of the Allied Armies' air support during the last weeks of March when they made their third attempt to capture Cassino in an effort to open up the way to Rome. But the enemy was too firmly entrenched in the caves and rocky terrain around Cassino, so the attack was abandoned and it was the 12th of May before another attack was tried. On that day, the Squadron's Kittyhawks carried 2,000 pound bomb loads and made several attacks on enemy gun emplacements in the Cassino area and on long-range gun emplacements in Atina.

Already the Squadron was quite experienced in dropping two 500 pounders and a 1,000 pounder in a single bomb load as their first 2,000 pound raids had been carried out a month earlier when they and the rest of 239 Wing breached the iron sluice gates of the Pescara Dam in a low level attack which had the effect of temporarily destroying a major Italian source of hydro-electric power being used by German forces, as well as flooding the town and area surrounding German occupied Pescara. 

This took place about the same time that Squadron Leader Rex Bayly, D.F.C. relieved Jack Doyle as C.O. in anticipation of his posting to Mobile Operations Radio Unit where, shortly after, Doyal and five others survived the blast of a time bomb which killed fourteen others and destroyed the chateau that they were using as a high observation post. Doyal’s escape from death was miraculous as he fell several stories from the tower to the ground when the bomb went off.

Eventua1ly, on the 18th of May, the monastery at Cassino was captured by the Al1ies in a tremendous battle against crack German troops who had fought fanatica1ly to hold this strategically important gateway to Cassino, and therefore to Rome.

After spending five months at Cutella, which was the longest period the Squadron had ever spent in one place, 239 Wing moved inland across the Apennines to San Angelo on the West Coast of Italy and here they found far more picturesque surroundings. The pilots flew out of Cutella on the 24th of May and, on the way to San Angelo, bombed the Roccagroga area but one of the twelve Kittyhawks, flown by Warrant Officer Jennings, went down. For Jennings, this was the start of an extraordinary adventure during which he was disguised by some Italians and spent five long days dodging Germans until he walked back to the Allied front line.

At last, on the 25th of May, the enemy began to evacuate Rome after their much-vaunted Adolf Hitler Line, formed outside the city, crumbled under the onslaught of the now linked forces of 5^th and 8^th Armies. 3 Squadron flew constant sorties for the next week against the retreating enemy on the roads around Rome and they had a field day on the 30th when they found 200 transports jammed nose-to-tail and three wide on a road south of Subiaco. The end result of the day, after other Squadrons from the Wing joined them, was a long charred column of wrecks.

On the 3rd of June, H.M. Knight was carrying out his duties as a fitter in 3 Squadron's dispersal area when a Kittyhawk loaded with two bombs caught fire. With only a few seconds to spare, Knight jumped into a Kittyhawk sitting alongside and taxied it to safety before the other Kittyhawk blew up. For his courage, Knight was awarded the British Empire Medal.

During the 4th and 5th of June, the Allies marched into Rome and, a week later, the Squadron moved to Guidonia, which was little more than an hour's drive to Rome. During the next ten days, many of the men in the Squadron took the opportunity of visiting this famous city but, during the same time, they still flew 48 sorties against enemy transports and gun positions.

Then, on the 23rd of June the Wing again moved, this time to Falerium. Day after day, the Wing provided air support for the ground troops as they advance northward chasing a retreating German army. The pace stepped up and on some days the Squadron flew 36 sorties as far north as Florence and Rimini.

Again the Wing advanced northwards ... to a town called Crete only 70 miles from Florence in very pleasant surroundings except for the close proximity to the enemy. In fact, the German front line was so close that when the Squadron first took off at 1920 hours on the 8th of July, only two hours after they'd arrived, the ground staff could see the Kittyhawks peeling off to make their bombing and strafing dives from where they stood on the airfield.

Even one week later, the distance to the front line was so close that aircraft could drop their bombs and fire their bullets in less than 45 minutes before coming in to land. Then they'd be rearmed and they'd take off again to carry out another sortie.

By the 15th of July, the enemy had retreated north past Arezzo ... but they didn't retreat from Florence and it took almost another month before Florence could be liberated. During that month the Squadron continued to provide air-support for the attacking 8^th Army and still managed to carry out many shipping and rail strikes. It was during that same month that King George VI visited the Wing and spent a little time discussing operations with some of the pilots.

There was another highlight too when Brian Eaton, D.S.O., D.F.C. was promoted to the rank of Group Captain and given command of 239 Wing from the 3rd of August. He was one of the official party to accompany Winston Churchill and General Alexander when they called at the Wing’s new landing ground at Iesi on the east coast. It was from here that 3 Squadron spent the rest of July, August and the first ten days of September attacking the enemy fortifications around Pesaro and Rimini. They flew so hard and well that, in the month of August alone, the Squadron received five official congratulatory messages for their work.

The Luftwaffe was rarely seen in the sky but the German anti-aircraft gun crews almost made up for them with their dangerously accurate shooting against the attacking Kittyhawks.

In the twelve months between the 5th of September, 1943 when Warrant Officer R.E. Percival died of wounds after crashing and the 6th of September, 1944 when Warrant Officer Hedger's Kittyhawk blew up while landing with bombs still attached, it was thought that at least five other 3 Squadron pilots were shot down and killed by anti-aircraft fire and two more pilots were killed at different times when their aircraft malfunctioned and went down before they could bail out.

The Squadron moved west on the 11th of September to Foiano and they continued their attacks on gun and mortar positions and railway communications lines in very wet weather which continued for the rest of the month. By the 20^th, they had rejoined the rest of the Wing at Iesi when Foiano landing ground became waterlogged and inoperable.

Then, early in October, leave was given to the Squadron allowing groups of fifteen to twenty at a time to visit the artistic city of Florence where the Hotel Berchielli was renamed the Hotel Australia to make the Aussies feel more at home.

Those not on leave continued to work hard and Verona and Mensa were targets for bombing and strafing missions. Flight Lieutenant Ian Roediger became temporary C.O. when Rex Bai1y completed his 2nd operational tour and went on leave on the 21st of October. On the 29th, Murray Nash returned to start his 2nd tour and resumed command as Squadron Leader.

In early November the Squadron moved into more comfortable living quarters close to the village in Iesi. From there they attacked shipping across the Adriatic in the Fiume Harbour and, on the 5th, sent a corvette to the bottom in less than a minute with a direct hit from a thousand pounder.

The Squadron was the first R.A.A.F. unit to be equipped with North American P-5l Mustang III and between the 13th and the 15th, they received five of these new fighter bombers. A few days later, operations were suspended while pilots and ground staff trained on their new aircraft and before long, most were saying that the Mustang was quite an improvement on the faithful old Kittyhawk.

The pilots found that its steady, smooth diving capability gave them more accurate bombing results and its speed, rate of climb and range were far better than the Kitty's. 

It could in fact fly at 430 miles per hour (which is just on 700 kilometres per hour) at 30,000 feet (or 9,144 metres) and reach that height in about twelve and a half minutes. With a long range fuel tank attached, it could fly for five to seven hours and cover almost 2,500 miles (or nearly 4,000 kilometres). It could carry two 1,000 pound bombs or a single bomb plus the long range fuel tank which could be dropped before the start of a bombing dive. The Mustang had only four .5 calibre machine guns and carried 250 rounds of ammunition less than the Kittyhawk but still provided adequate fire power.

The last operational flight of twelve 3 Squadron Kittyhawks took off from the Squadron's new landing ground at Fano on the 22nd of November 1944. After completing an attack on gun targets in the Faenza area, they were handed over to the Maintenance Unit for transfer to other squadrons as required. 

On the 22nd, the Squadron's first operational flight of six Mustangs escorted a Lysander on a special mission over northern Italy. Incredibly, during the journey, a 12^th U.S. Air Force Mustang mistook the slow-flying Lysander for an enemy and shot it down before the Squadron escort could do anything to prevent it but subsequently the Squadron's six pilots were cleared of any blame whatsoever.

Early in December, it was so cold and wet that the Squadron was stood down from operations for several days. 

When flying did resume, the weather was unpredictable. On the 6th, ten-tenths cloud closed in on a flight of 3 Squadron Mustangs returning from a strafing run over Yugoslavia and one, flown by Warrant Officer R.E.R. Fountain, disappeared without trace. Another six of the ten aircraft from 5 Squadron, South African Air Force that were flying on the same mission, also disappeared in heavy cloud that day so perhaps, if the very experienced Flight Lieutenant Ian Roediger hadn't been leading the 3 Squadron flight, the squadron's losses could have been much worse that day.

 Since mid September, three other pilots had been killed, two going down after being hit by anti-aircraft fire and the third never returned from a solo strafing run.

Christmas 1944 was the 5th Christmas that the Squadron had spent overseas. By then the Allied armies had the upper hand but German resistance was still very strong throughout Europe. One of the weapons that'd been developed by the Allies to inflict as much damage as possible on enemy positions was the Napalm Bomb. 

1945 ...

This 750 pounder was an incendiary containing specially treated 100 octane petrol which ignited and spread when the bomb exploded and intensified the resulting fire into mammoth proportions. 3 Squadron received orders to begin dropping them in the new year and their first target was an enemy pocket near Alfonsine. 

Six Mustangs went in first a