Coastal Command's Air War Against the German U-Boats

By Norman Franks

This book summarises the story of how RAF Coastal Command overcame the German U-boat danger during the Second World War and how the escalation of the U-boat war promoted the development of anti-submarine warfare, leading to victory over this menace in the Atlantic.At the start of the war, RAF Coastal Command had virtually no real chance of either finding or sinking Germany's submarines, but within a short period of time, new methods of detecting and delivering deadly ordnance with which to sink this underwater threat were dreamt up and implemented. It took the men of Coastal Command long hours patrolling over an often hostile sea, in all types of weather, but their diligence, perseverance and dedication won through, saving countless lives of both merchant and navy seamen out in the cold wastes of the Atlantic and contributing much to the final victory over Nazi Germany. This new addition to the Images of War series serves as a tribute to these men, recording their exploits in words and images.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781473841116

Norman Franks

Norman Franks is a respected historian and author. Previous titles for Pen and Sword include InThe Footsteps of the Red Baron (co-authored with Mike OConnor), The Fighting Cocks, RAF Fighter Pilots Over Burma, Dogfight, The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain (with Nigel McCrery) and Dowdings Eagles. Over the course of his career, Frank has published some of the most compelling works on First World War fighter aviation, being one of the worlds leading authorities on the subject. He lives in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.

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First published in Great Britain in 2014 by

PEN & SWORD AVIATION

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd,

47 Church Street,

Barnsley,

South Yorkshire,

S70 2AS

Copyright © Norman Franks, 2014.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78383 182 1

eISBN 9781473841116

The right of Norman Franks to be identified as Author of this Work

has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – The Cinderella Service

Chapter 2 – No. 19 Group Over the Bay in 1942

Chapter 3 – No. 15 Group – and Iceland, 1942

Chapter 4 – Air Headquarters Gibraltar, 1939-42

Chapter 5 – No. 15 Group, 1943

Chapter 6 – Iceland, 1943

Chapter 7 – Conflict over the Bay, 1943

Chapter 8 – D-Day and the Final Months

Photographs:

Over many years of study about the air war waged by RAF Coastal Command against Germany’s U-boats, and having written several books on the subject, I have accumulated several hundred photographs. In the main these came from members of RAF aircrew engaged in the anti-submarine war, I having met many and corresponded with dozens all over the world. Others came from correspondence with German U-boat men. Several came from the late Chaz Bowyer’s collection, a friend and fellow author, who was himself engaged in many aspects of Coastal Command’s history. It is not surprising that almost all former RAF aircrew had kept copies of official photos taken by their aircraft cameras during and after attacks. These men often flew hundreds of hours over empty seas, so if they came into contact with a U-boat it was something to remember and have recorded. Any number took their own personal cameras along and would be able to snap events, certainly after the attack, being free from danger if the U-boat was going down or being abandoned. We historians are ever grateful for their youthful enthusiasm for recording such events.

Introduction

This book summarises the story of how RAF Coastal Command overcame the German U-boat danger during the Second World War and how the escalation of the U-boat war promoted the development of anti-submarine warfare, leading to victory over this menace in the Atlantic.

At the start of the war, RAF Coastal Command had virtually no real chance of either finding or sinking Germany’s submarines, but within a short period of time, the boffins came up with new methods of detection and of delivering deadly ordnance with which to sink this underwater menace.

It took the men of Coastal Command long hours patrolling over an often hostile sea, in all types of weathers, but their diligence, perseverance and dedication won through, saving countless lives of both merchant and navy seamen out in the cold wastes of the Atlantic, contributing much to the final victory over Nazi Germany.

Chapter One

The Cinderella Service

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the three major RAF commands, Fighter, Bomber and Coastal, had all been victims of the inter-war years of cuts and reduced development. However, in the final years of peace, some improvements had been made and others planned, but priority had been focused on Fighter and Bomber Commands. Coastal Command was last in the ‘food chain’, so, in September 1939, it was a small and largely obsolescent force with aircraft that, in today’s terms, would be viewed as ‘not fit for purpose’.

Coastal Command’s main function was to patrol and defend the seas around the British Isles, and off Britain’s base on Gibraltar while also safeguarding the passage through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. As the war at sea intensified, Coastal had squadrons based on Iceland and, later, on the Azores. There were, of course, other maritime units further afield, but this book is concentrated on the exploits of the men of Coastal who found themselves adversaries to Germany’s submarine force of Unterseeboote – the U-boats.

No doubt the thinking at the War Office, the Admiralty and the Air Ministry, was that the main danger was likely to come from German bombers flying against Britain, and the need to have a reasonable force to strike back. Unless things changed dramatically, Coastal Command would still be able to continue its primary role of reconnaissance in support of the Royal Navy, while its ships would be able to contain to a large degree any submarines that tried to exit northern German ports. In this they would be aided by Coastal Command aircraft which would search the seas off places such as Bremen or Wilhelmshaven, and direct RN surface vessels onto them.

This was fine in theory, but Germany had been successful in evading British warships during the First World War and had taken a great toll of Allied shipping in that conflict. Exactly how the Navy and the RAF were going to do this twenty years on, with a reduced number of ships and aircraft that were little improved from 1918, is not clear. In the Great War RNAS and then RAF coastal aircraft were mainly large seaplanes such as Curtiss H4 and H12 flying boats, the Felixstowe F2A flying boats, or the Short 184 floatplanes, for reconnaissance and anti-U-boat work. In 1939 the RAF still had large flying boats for reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols, such as the Saro London, Short Singapore III and even a few obsolete Supermarine Stranraer flying boats.

Fortunately Short Brothers had introduced their Empire flying boats in the 1930s for passenger flying and this proved an ideal long-range aircraft for Coastal Command – renamed the Sunderland. They had entered RAF service in 1938 and when war was declared there were three Sunderland squadrons in operation, and the type was to remain on active service throughout the war, gaining much success and reputation against the U-boats. Apart from this, there were a few landplanes pressed into maritime service, such as the Avro Anson for reconnaissance, but more widely known as a training machine, and also the Lockheed Hudson, the first American-built aeroplane to see operational service with the RAF in the Second World War. The Hudson proved a maid of all work, but also found a niche in anti-submarine work, not only with Coastal Command but with other maritime organisations in the Middle and Far East, and East Africa.

The main problem, however, faced by the crews of anti-submarine squadrons whatever aircraft they flew, was (a) how to find a U-boat and (b), if they did, how to sink it. By their very nature submarines are often underwater and therefore out of sight. Occasionally, if one was lucky enough to fly over a submerged boat, certain conditions might allow sight of it, but a vigilant airman had to be right above it and be looking in the exact spot, and this was generally only for a fleeting moment. At this early stage of the war there was no air-to-surface radar. Another piece of luck was if the submarine captain happened to raise his periscope at just the wrong moment, and again a vigilant airman might spot it among the white horses of wave-tops, always supposing again he was looking in the right direction. Submarines often sailed on the surface of the sea – for two main reasons. One, they had to come up to re-charge their batteries and suck in fresh air for the crew. Two, a boat could sail faster on the surface than below it, and if there was no apparent surface danger, a captain would choose to cover more ground in the hope of locating enemy shipping. If again, the aircraft spotted this surfaced sub quickly and its captain reacted equally quickly, an attack might be attempted. However, on the surface the U-boat would have several men on look-out duty and their lives depended on their keen eyesight. As soon as the alarm was sounded, the men in the boat’s conning tower rapidly went down through the hatch, even as the boat was making a crash-dive below the waves.

Meantime, the lucky crew who had spotted either a boat just under the surface or making a hurried dive to safety, had still to inflict harm on it. All the RAF aircraft had do so were contact bombs, and the chance of hitting a comparatively small and narrow target such as a U-boat, whether on the surface or diving, was virtually pure luck. If one bomb actually hit the boat there was a chance, but it was far more likely that all bombs would miss, either narrowly or by a large margin. The bombs were either of 100lb, 250lb or perhaps 500lb and, even depending on the size of the aeroplane, not many were carried, so a single attack was probably all that could be achieved, which was either on target or close, but more than likely, neither.

During the winter of 1939-40, there were very few sightings of any description and, therefore, no attacks of any significance. The Royal Navy continued patrolling the North Sea and Coastal Command flew observation sorties, but little happened. Coastal Command HQ had Groups around the UK. No.18 Group’s area covered the north, running right around Scotland and down the North Sea