Talk:No. 57 Squadron RAF

57 Sqn during the Phoney War

Dear Sir,

Referring to your page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._57_Squadron_RAF , viz:

"At the outbreak of war the squadron was based in France equipped with Bristol Blenheims and was engaged in bombing and reconnaissance operations during the German invasion. The squadron operated from Rosières[disambiguation needed], then Poix and finally Crécy before returning to England in May 1940. After a brief stay at Wyton the squadron moved to Scotland to commence anti-shipping strikes against the coast of Norway."

Norman Franks says (p38) that a (surface) Advance Party went first to Roye on 24 Sep. Franks quotes Flt Lt Geoff Wyatt, OC A Flt, saying he flew out to "Roye/Amy" on 30th but Wyatt's Log Book actually says "Roye". The only village of that name in France . My father was then Sgt G L Cochrane and an Air Observer in B Flt; his Log Book says that he flew in Blenheim L1129 to "Amy" on 30th Sep; his pilot was Sgt Richardson.

My map of France shows there are 2 places called "Roye" :

1. a small village in Department 70, south-east of the town of Lure and about 100kms west of Basel.

2. a town in Picardy (Department 80), about 100kms north of Paris on the A1. About 5 kms south of this "Roye" is a village called "Amy" and about 10 kms to the north of this "Roye" is a village called "Rosieres-en-Santerre".

On 16th Oct, Flt Lt Wyatt's log book says he flew to Etain. On 17th, Wyatt set off from Etain on the recce of North West Germany (including Munster and Emden) for which he was awarded his DFC. Etain lay close to the Maginot Line in Lorraine (Department 55), some 21 kms east-north-east of Verdun; today, there is still an airfield outside the town of Erain. Perhaps this departure point was chosen because there was a Command formation near Etain airfield and Wyatt was briefed there, or because his route from there to Munster would take him east of the Siegfried Line.

Also on 17th Oct, my father flew from Amy to an airfield at "Lihons" in 20 minutes; on 30th Oct he flew a 1 hour sortie from Lihons to Etain and returned to Lihons later that day. A village called Lihons lies some 3 kms east of Rosieres-en-Santerre. On 5th Nov, my father flew from Lihons to Metz, about 50kms east beyond Etain; on 6th Nov, he set off from Metz on a recce which included Munster and Emden.

Both these recce sorties returned to France via several UK airfields; but Wyatt's log book says he landed first at Rosieres whereas my father's says he landed at Lihons. Wyatt continued to fly from, and return to, Rosieres and my father continued to fly from, and return to, Lihons - including when they both took their Blenheims for a static display in front of the King at Douai in early December. However, Wyatt then didn't fly for a month and then only once for a fighter affiliation sortie and doesn't mention from - or to - which airfield(s).

Wyatt's next flight was on 3rd March - to ferry a Blenheim from Lihons to UK. Only on 10th Mar does Wyatt mention Poix, and then only for ferry flights and some local night landings. On 7th Apr, Wyatt was back flying from, and returning to, Rosieres. He did fly from, and return to, Rosieres on both 18th and 19th, presumably to familiarise 2 different second pilots with several airfields, one of which Wyatt calls "Poix".

In early May, both Wyatt and my father logged 5 different Air Observation patrols at 23,000ft, without mentioning the airfields they took off from or returned to. My father may have been injured on his last patrol on 9th May because he didn't fly again until 17th. On 10th May, the Germans attacked Eban Emael and Wyatt was wounded in the shoulder during a low-level recce of the German advance. He returned to Rosieres and was evacuated to the UK in Hospital Ship Worthing.

The Germans crossed the Meuse into France at Sedan on 12th May. At 11.00hrs on 17th May, my father took off with Sgt Richardson piloting Blenheim L9182 on a bombing sortie "Cambrai to Le Cateau", then took off again at 12.30hrs to navigate from Poix to Lihons. Now Poix was well to the east in Lorraine (Department 51) so I think it more likely my father meant "Poix-du-Nord", 25 km east of Cambrai. They took off again from this "Poix" in Blenheim L9182 at 17.00hrs to recce Peronne, 25 kms south west of Cambrai. They then landed L9182 at "Poix" and took off again at 17.55hrs to navigate to "Sat". As there is no village of that name in France, I assume my father may have meant a satellite airfield next to Poix.

Late on 18th, he and Richardson took off in Blenheim L9182 to bomb "Landrecies to Avesnes". The village of Landrecies lies 25 kms east of Cambrai; there are 2 villages named Avesnes ("-le-Sec" and "-les-Auberts") about 10 kms northeast of Cambrai.

Before dawn on 19th, Sgt Richardson and my father took off in Blenheim L9182 from Poix and landed at "Crecy" an hour later. At 08.30hrs, they took off in Blenheim L9182 and landed at Abbeville 20 minutes later. They immediately took off from Abbeville and, 15 minutes later, landed at "Crecy Sat". That evening, they took off in Blenheim L9182 and landed at Lympne 35 minutes later. They took off at 16.00hrs the next day and got to Wyton in 1 hour 20 minutes.

May I suggest you reword the paragraph on your web page as follows:

"Shortly after the outbreak of war, 57 Squadron with its Bristol Blenheim IVs flew to France as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) of Bomber Command. From October 1939 until April 1940, it conducted strategic reconnaissance of German deployments from Rosières-en-Santerre and other airfields in Picardy and Lorraine. During the German invasion of the Low Countries and France in May 1940, the squadron also undertook bombing missions before returning to England on 19th May. After a brief stay at Wyton, the squadron then moved to Lossiemouth to conduct anti-shipping sweeps of the North Sea from July until October 1940. On 9 July, six Blenheims from 57 Sqn joined six Blenheims from 21 Sqn in a daylight raid on the Luftwaffe at Stavanger, Norway, with the loss of 7 aircraft."

N.B. The final sentence of which is from Graham Warner; the Complete history of the Bristol Blenheim (p242).

Best regards, Chris Cochrane — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.135.14.61 (talk) 22:02, 11 May 2015 (UTC)