171 SQUADRON
171 Fighter Recce Squadron
No. 171 Squadron was formed in Gatwick in June 1942 as a tactical reconnaisance unit of Army Co-operation Command. Its Commanding Officer was W/Cdr Hadfield. It began operations in October 1942, flying along the coast of France
F/O Len Bennett is 4th from the left in this picture of 171 Squadron taken at Gatwick in late 1942 in front of a Mustang Mk 1 aircraft. He was posted to 171 sqn from 41 O.T.U. on 23 September 1942 just 15 days after his 20th Birthday. Other members of the Squadron can be identified from another picture taken – during “Clampers”, or when weather was unfit for flying – shown below. Tressider is standing on the far left in the picture above and Mitchell is 9th from the left. with his face partly obscured by the pilot in front. Alec Brees, DFC, is standing 7th from the left next to the Army officer with the beret
"Clampers"
During times when the weather was unfit for flying, pilots had little do but sit around
Here the five are identified from the left as “Kiwi”, Tressider, “Mitch”, Les Glover and Len Bennett
“Mitch” is in fact R J F Mitchell DFC who also trained at 41 OTU and flew with 171 sqn. He joined the squadron on 21 October 1942. You can read his full RAF history here
171 Squadron
No.171 Squadron went through two relatively short lived incarnations during the Second World War. The first lasted from June-December 1942, and saw the squadron operate as a tactical reconnaissance unit of Army Co-operations Command. The squadron was disbanded on 31 December 1942 and its aircraft passed on the No.430 Squadron, RCAF.
The second incarnation of No.171 Squadron formed on 8 September 1944 from C Flight of No.199 Squadron as a bomber support squadron in No.100 Group. Its role was to drop “Window” in an attempt to jam German radar. Although not as effective as when first used over Hamburg, “Window” remained in use to the end of the war, and is still in use to this day, although is now known as “chaff”.
Aircraft
June-December 1942: Curtiss Tomahawk I, IIA
September-December 1942: North American Mustang IA
September 1944-January 1945: Short Stirling Mk.III
September 1944-July 1945: Handley Page Halifax B Mk.III
Location
15 June-11 July 1942: Gatwick
11 July-25 August 1942: Odiham
25 August-10 September 1942: Gatwick
10-20 September 1942: Weston Zoyland
20 September-7 December 1942: Gatwick
7-31 December 1942: Hartfordbridge
8 December 1944-27 July 1945: North Creake
Squadron Codes: 6Y
Duty
June-December 1942: Tactical Reconnaissance, Army Co-operation Command
September 1944-May 1945: Bomber Support, No.100 Group
F/O Bennett perched on top of a North American Mustang IA
Len Bennett and Alec Brees discussing tactics beside a Mustang P-51. Brees would go on to earn the DFC
Day to Day Operations
Len joined 171 squadron on 23rd September 1942. At that time sorties consisted of training flights and operational patrols over the South Coast began on 3rd October 1942. As probably was the norm P/O Bennett’s first sortie with his new squadron, on the 11th Oct 1942, was with a senior officer of the squadron. S/L Wheller flew a P-51 Mustang 1 AG364 and P/O Bennett flew Mustang AG184, both carrying out interceptor patrol duties. The sortie lasted from 06.35 until 8.05 am and was described as “uneventful”. Source Operations Record Book (ORB) Form 541. Detail of Work Carried Out , AIR-27-1102-2
Pilots were used to being assigned the different aircraft within the squadron and over a period of time would get used to the quirks and foibles of each aircraft
On Oct 15th S/L Wheller flew AG441 whilst P/O Bennett flew AG555. This was another dawn interceptor patrol of the south coast lasting from 06.45 to 7.15 am. AG441 had been flown on patrol the day before before whilst AG555 had been flown two days previously
For the next 9 days patrols were carried out daily, mainly of the south coast. Patrols over the coast were uneventful but this wasn’t the case when photographic reconnaissance sorties were flown over France. On Oct 20 1942 at 15.22 hr, AG545 and AG579, flown by P/Os Draper and Skirrow, took off for the French Coast. ORB reports “that some machine gun fire was encountered from the ground. P/O Skirrow fired at dump in a wood but did not observe the results. Light flak encountered and P/O Draper’s aircraft was struck in both wings. Aircraft landed safely at Redhill, 16.30 hrs”
On Oct 22 Skirrow and Draper were again missioned with photographic reconnaissance of France. Setting off at 10.25 hrs they would reach the French coast approximately 25 minutes later. “Both engaged machine gun posts without observing results” (ORB)
P/O Bennett didn’t fly in any more sorties during October. His next sortie was on Nov 7
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