Royal Air Force recruiting links with the private flying clubs of the Malayan and Straits Convention states can be traced back to 1936 and the formation of the Straits Volunteer Air Force (SSVAF). The members of the SSVAF, apart from the RAF instructors and groundcrew, were civilians recruited from the Singapore Flying Club, together with a few volunteers from other clubs at Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang. After the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, the SSVAF was embodied into the RAF.
However, in June 1940, the Governor of the Straits Settlements decided to establish a government flying training school in Singapore to train local volunteers and revive the local volunteer air force. The Malayan Volunteer Air Force (MVAF) duly came into existence in August 1940 with personnel recruited from the flying clubs of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Perak, as well as the local airline company, Wearness Air Services. Personnel were all ineligible for service with the RAF due to age, physical condition etc., and so had not been called up when the old SSVAF was embodied, but all had considerable flying experience.
Among them were two young pilots of the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club, Henry and Cyril ‘Jimmy’ Talalla. The two brothers were the eldest sons of Hewage Talalla, a prominent Sinhalese businessman who had emigrated from Sri Lanka to Kuala Lumpur at the turn of the century and made a fortune from public sanitation. After he learnt to fly, it was perhaps inevitable that his sons would follow him into the cockpit as soon as they were old enough.
The Singapore MVAF training school had the task of training suitably qualified personnel for service with the RAF. The school was staffed by the MVAF, assisted by some RAF instructors, and the government of the Straits Settlements provided the necessary training aircraft - six DH 60s. RAF Far East Command assisted in the establishment of recruiting and selection machinery, and the aim was to recruit and train batches of 16 pupils every two months. Suitable volunteers were enrolled as cadets in the MVAF and lodged at RAF Kallang for the duration of the course. The school followed the standard RAF Elementary Flying Training School syllabus, and successful pupils were enlisted into the RAF on completion of the course before being sent to an RAF Service Flying Training School for Service training.
The first course commenced on 16 August 1940, and all 16 pupils passed out on 10 October; they were enlisted into the RAF on the 17th and sailed for Canada two days later to begin Service training. In all, some 110 pupils successfully completed air training at the Singapore school and went on to Canada, South Africa or Iraq for Service training before war broke out with Japan.
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| The two young pilots, Henry and Cyril - always known as Jimmy. |
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| The Talalla family with Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, Commander-in-Chief of Far East Command, and a press article on Jimmy's entry into the government flying school. |
Jimmy Talalla, aged just 19, left Kuala Lumpur on 10 January 1941 to train at the Singapore school. He was the first Malayan non-European to pass the demanding RAF medical test and enrol. Henry, the older brother, failed the test and had to spend several months gaining weight and fitness before he was admitted. As a result, Jimmy left for Canada in April 1941 whereas Henry only left in October. After the Japanese invasion of Malaya, they lost all contact with their parents.
The six-month delay between Jimmy’s and Henry’s departure for Canada was significant. Whereas Jimmy was sent to the UK soon after he completed his Service training, Henry only progressed to an equivalent stage during the massive 1942 expansion of North American aircrew training provisions, which created a desperate need for flying instructors. So Henry remained in Canada on instruction duties for another year. By the time he was finally posted to a front-line squadron in the UK as a Flight Sergeant, his younger brother had completed a full tour on Spitfires with 118 Squadron, gained a commission, and served as a section leader. He had also been awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
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| Jimmy Talalla in the cockpit of a 118 Squadron Spitfire. |
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| Jimmy and other Commonwealth aircrew being presented to The Queen. |
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| Henry Talalla: online sources state that this photo was taken in Canada. |
Henry was posted from No 1 Tactical Exercise Unit, RAF Tealing, to 182 Squadron at Marston, a satellite of Tangmere, near Chichester, on 19 November 1943. The squadron was led by Squadron Leader ME Reid and was part of 124 Wing, which numbered three squadrons of Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers and came under 83 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force. He arrived with three other pilots, two junior officers named Whitamore and Briscoe, and another Flight Sergeant named Sievwright. At Tealing, Henry would probably have flown Hurricanes; on joining 182 Squadron, he was not ready to fly operationally on the Typhoon, and he had to wait two months before he was cleared for combat duty.
The amount of operational flying was at this time limited. This was due partly to the winter weather and partly to the importance of training in the months preceding D-Day. Nevertheless, the Typhoons were dispatched on a bombing raid against a V1 site near the village of Audinghen in France the day after Henry’s arrival, and they mounted two more counter-V1 missions against Audinghen and Martinvast on the 25th. At this latter target, they got a hot reception, recording ‘solid flak’, but there were no losses. The operational importance of missions against the V1 sites is described in another Project Overlord blog.
The first half of December was entirely devoted to training, and there were no operational sorties until the 14th, when elements of 182 Squadron participated in a bombing attack on a V1 site at Bellevue. On the 15th, they suffered their first casualty since Henry’s arrival, when Flying Officer CG Richards was apparently hit by flak while crossing the French coast. German anti-aircraft defences along the Pas de Calais coastline were being strengthened in this period; to minimise their exposure to the enemy gunners, the Typhoon squadrons would typically cross the channel at very low level before rapidly climbing as they neared dry land. There was another casualty during the next operational mission on the 20th when two pilots collided near the target. One of them, Flying Officer Shields, managed to return safely to Merston, but the other, Australian Flight Sergeant Robert Wilkinson, spun straight down to the ground. If Henry lacked any awareness of the extreme risks involved in his posting to 182 Squadron, these early losses would have left him in no doubt.
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| Martinvast in October 1943. |
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| Bellevue, June 1944: the launch ramp and the non-magnetic building are visible at the top, and one ski-shaped building can also be seen. |
After further missions on the 21st and 22nd, the weather rendered Merston’s grass runway unfit for flying, and the Typhoon wing moved en masse to Odiham, where there was an all-weather runway, at the end of the month. They mounted one operational mission on 2 January but then received warning of a further move to Eastchurch for a programme of air firing, bombing and Rocket Projectile (RP) practice. This duly took place on the 4th and 5th, and the pilots were then immediately transported to the Leysdown range to view the targets and signal area and attend a lecture by the range officer. They were pleased to find themselves staying in mess accommodation, which had not been available to the squadron since March 1943.
On the 9th, 182 Squadron flew their first training sorties with RP. ‘This led to various arguments regarding methods of sighting and whether rails and sights are correctly harmonised.’ After more RP training over the following week, they returned to Merston, and they mounted their first operational RP mission on the 24th. The following day, Henry flew his first operational sortie against another V1 site, but extensive cloud cover prevented the Typhoon pilots from locating the target. They subsequently attacked gun positions on the coast but with uncertain results. One of Henry’s rockets hung up and he landed back at Tangmere before returning to Merston. The reason for this is unclear from the records, but Tangmere was presumably deemed a better airfield for aircraft in difficulties. Henry participated in one further mission during the month, but the Typhoons were forced back to base by poor weather.
It was a similar story during the first half of February: 182 Squadron were repeatedly dispatched against V1 targets, but weather or cloud conditions prevented them from fulfilling much of their tasking. Henry did not fly operationally until 12 February, when he participated in a patrol over Studland Bay during an Army exercise. On the following day, he joined a fighter sweep of the Le Havre area, which involved low-level strikes on barges and shipping on the River Seine, and he took part in another sweep over France two days later. The next casualty occurred on the 21st, when Flight Lieutenant PJ McGuire was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on Beaumont airfield; Henry did not take part in this mission. When he flew operationally again on the 25th, he was forced by engine trouble to return to base, but he took off once more the same day to attack another V1 target, which the Typhoons dive-bombed through a break in the clouds.
His final mission in February was a dive-bombing attack on Boulogne harbour, which was mounted on wing scale. The Typhoons initially transited to the north of Boulogne but then flew south before turning and bombing south to north, out of the sun. These tactics apparently surprised the Germans and delayed the inevitable flak response, which was intense when it eventually began. All aircraft nevertheless returned home safely.
In March, 182 Squadron received very little operational tasking. On the 2nd, Henry flew as a spare on an attack on a V1 site at a location named in their diary as La Longquille, and he took part in another mission two days later to provide area cover for Mosquitos operating in the Dieppe area. The Typhoons were targeted by medium flak as they flew along the coast between Dieppe and Le Tréport, but no aircraft were hit. On the 15th, he flew on a squadron-scale mission to provide close escort to Mitchell bombers attacking a V1 target near Abbeville. After joining the bombers over Beachy Head, they crossed the channel, the attack was executed as planned, and the Typhoons then escorted the bombers home. The next day, he flew an air-sea rescue sortie, but an extended search for downed bombers in the channel did not produce any sightings.
The squadron otherwise spent March training and familiarising themselves with the tactics, techniques and procedures that would be employed when the second front opened. The month was largely taken up with practice flying, dive bombing and rocketing, airfield attack, supporting beach landings, locating and attacking mechanised columns, and rapid scramble for escort duty. On the 26th, they learnt that they were to leave Merston on 1 April and relocate to Hurn, near Christchurch in Dorset. There, they would be living under field conditions; tents provided the only available sleeping accommodation.
In April, the weather continued to limit operational activity. As planned, the Typhoon wing moved to Hurn on the 1st, but such flying as was possible over the next two weeks was restricted to training, including low-level operations, formation flying, air combat and RP attacks on a range of targets. The four pilots who executed a strike on a gun position on the Cherbourg peninsula on the 19th did not include Henry. Two days later, the squadron carried out a practice interception, with the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, listening via R/T at the Group Control Centre. Exercise Jim Cooke, on the 22nd involved a cannon attack on motorised transport.
Henry had to wait until the 24th to fly operationally again. The mission plan involved a rocket strike on a railway bridge at Baupte, located at the base of the Cherbourg peninsula. Airborne at 1700, the squadron set a course from St Catherine’s Point and flew at minimum altitude until they were about 15 miles from the French coast. Then they climbed to 8,000ft. However, they found Baupte obscured by dense cloud, so they attacked a secondary target - a gun position at Ravenoville, which was not far from Utah beach. Some of the Typhoons ran into flak over the nearby town of Montebourg, but all aircraft returned to base safely.
The squadron saw action again on the 25th, but Henry’s next mission occurred the following day, when 182 Squadron flew with 181 and 247 Squadron. Their target was a road bridge near Hyenville, near to Normandy’s eastern channel coast, and again they flew low across the sea before climbing near the mainland. The attack involved dives from about 6,000ft down to 1,500ft and was apparently executed accurately, but one of Henry’s rockets failed to launch and he brought it back to base. It is not clear whether he took part in another operation against a V1 site on the 27th, but the squadron record confirms his participation in a further attack on the bridge at Baupte on the 28th.
While this was reportedly successful, the aircraft flown by Flying Officer Briscoe, who had joined 182 Squadron with Henry, was subsequently seen to be trailing black smoke. He confirmed over the radio that he was alright but reported soon afterwards that his oil pressure had fallen to zero. The squadron commander, Squadron Leader Reid, instructed him to head out to sea and bale out, after which recovery measures would be mounted, but he was about two miles beyond the coast when his engine stopped altogether and he announced his intention to turn back to make a forced landing. After one more distorted radio message, nothing else was heard.
Sadly, although he managed to reach the mainland, Briscoe was killed when the aircraft came down. He was a Typhoon pilot who died in action in Normandy on a mission clearly connected to D-Day, and he was buried in Normandy at the Commonwealth war cemetery at Bayeux, yet his name is not listed among the 182 Squadron pilots commemorated on the Typhoon memorial at Noyers Bocage. This apparently resulted from the decision only to include casualties on the memorial that occurred after 1 May 1944. The cause of Briscoe’s engine failure could not be established for certain, but he was probably hit by flak. Back at Hurn, Henry’s Typhoon was found to have sustained minor flak damage, and several other pilots reported seeing anti-aircraft fire over the target area.
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| Boulogne, November 1943: occupied flak positions are clearly visible on the quay. |
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| The railway and road bridges at Baupte on 9 May 1944: the railway had been cut by bombing and the bridge appears damaged, at the very least. |
On 29 April, the Squadron flew to RAF Predannack in Cornwall, presumably to take on fuel, and then received tasking to attack an enemy ship beached on a sandbank off Pontusval, Brittany. Airborne at 1655, they located the target and executed a successful RP attack, which started a large fire amidships.
Henry next flew an operational sortie on 2 May, when 182 and 181 Squadrons targeted a railway junction at Mesnil-Mauger in Normandy. Once again, they crossed the channel at sea level and then climbed near the coast. The attack was deemed successful, ‘the target area appeared to be well covered with bursts’, and there was no flak, but one of Henry’s rockets failed to launch. Having flown back to southern England, the squadron landed at Tangmere to refuel and then returned to Hurn.
The following day, 182 Squadron’s pilots received a late brief to attack a railway bridge at Touffreville-sur-Eu, between Dieppe and Le Tréport. After an aircraft unserviceability forced them to land at Tangmere, they took off again at 1925, but their attack on the bridge was unsuccessful. The pilots observed many near misses, but no hits. They encountered light flak in the Dieppe area, but no aircraft were damaged.
After a training exercise with the Army on the 4th, 182 Squadron rose early on the 5th for a briefing to attack a railway junction at Motteville, inland from Le Havre. The Typhoons achieved multiple hits on the target, stopping a train in the process, but the pilots also recorded intense light flak in the area. This was Squadron Leader Reid’s final mission in command of 182 Squadron; he subsequently handed over to Major DH Barlow of the South African Air Force.
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| 182 Squadron at Hurn in May 1944: Henry is in the back row. |
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| Mesnil-Mauger railway junction, photographed in June 1944. |
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| Motteville railway junction, photographed in September 1944. |
Although grounded by poor weather on the 6th, 182 Squadron struck another target near Le Havre on the 7th with aircraft from 181 Squadron - a canal bridge at Cape du Hode. Descending below cloud and attacking in a 10-15 degree dive, they noted that their RP seemed to be undershooting and veering slightly to the right. Although a number of rockets impacted close to the target, there was only one direct hit. Crossing the coast, they ran into flak; one aircraft from each squadron sustained damage but they returned to base safely.
Henry was apparently promoted Warrant Officer that day and was listed as such in the squadron record of his second sortie, when he joined eight other aircraft to make a follow-up strike on the Mesnil-Mauger railway junction. The pilots again recorded multiple rocket strikes in the target area as well as flak.
On the afternoon of 9 May, after a day of training, nine 182 Squadron Typhoons took off with other wing aircraft and the commander of 124 Wing, Wing Commander Haabjoern, on a long-range sweep. Due to an engine failure, Haabjoern was forced to bale out over the Channel, and three aircraft were detached from the main formation to circle the area until he was rescued. The other Typhoons continued to a point north of Rheims without encountering any Luftwaffe opposition. During their return, they attacked a marshalling yard at Abancourt after coming under anti-aircraft fire.
Henry spent the following week flying training sorties including RP practice at Chesill Bank range. It was not until the 20th that he participated in another operational mission involving a morning attack on railway yards at Formerie, inland from Dieppe. After following their normal practice of transiting the Channel at ultra-low level, the Typhoons crossed the French coast north of Dieppe, located their objective, and executed a successful attack: all rocket salvoes struck railway sheds in the northern area of the target. The squadron subsequently reformed and returned to Tangmere, before heading back to Hurn. Two aircraft were reportedly damaged during this mission, but there is no mention of flak in the records.
After another training day on the 21st, 182 Squadron attacked what was described as a ‘military target’ at Ault, which lies on the coast north of Le Tréport and well outside the Normandy landing area. This might have been a cover mission against German coastal defences or possibly a strike on a radar site. The attack was apparently successful, and the only aircraft damaged by flak returned safely to Hurn. Henry and one other pilot flew back via Tangmere. Late the following afternoon, 182 Squadron was tasked to attack German flak positions while 143 Wing Typhoons targeted a Giant Würzburg radar on the Cherbourg peninsula. The attack was again successful, and no aircraft sustained serious flak damage.
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| Ultra-low oblique photo of Ault, May 1944: note the fire control tower at the top of the slope, with a communication or radar pylon on top or possibly behind it. |
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| The remains of the same facility today (Google Earth). |
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| Freya and Würzburg radar systems on the Cherbourg peninsula. |
On 25 May, the wing paraded at 0925 to meet the AOC 2nd Tactical Air Force, Air Marshal Coningham, who delivered an address explaining what was expected of the Typhoon squadrons in the forthcoming campaign. Next day, the squadron was released, and most personnel headed off to Bournemouth. Shortly afterwards, 124 Wing was warned of the imminent arrival of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force commander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who wanted to see all pilots. Fortunately, the majority returned in time to meet their illustrious visitor.
Late on the 27th, Major Barlow led a strike on a Normandy radio facility at Lisieux/Le Theil-Nolent. Refuelling at Thorney Island (to ensure that they had enough fuel to fly straight back to Hurn in daylight), they located the target and successfully executed the attack. On the 29th, Henry participated in another strike on a railway target at an undisclosed location - his last operational mission in May. The pilots recorded many hits on the junction and on railway trucks.
And so we reach June, and the month began with training sorties involving more RP practice. Henry flew his first operational mission on the 3rd, when 182 Squadron targeted a Giant Würzburg and a Coast Watcher. One rocket scored a direct hit on the Coast Watcher and other bursts landed well within the target area. There was a strong but inaccurate response from German anti-aircraft gunners around the radar site and in three boats moored in a nearby harbour. After local flying on the 4th, the Typhoons spent much of the following day on patrol about 10 miles south of the line Portland Bill to Bournemouth. The goal was to prevent any German air observation of the Allied invasion convoys as they formed up and set out to sea. Henry patrolled with a Flying Officer Strong in the period 1230 to 1405.
For the RAF’s Typhoon squadrons, D-Day was a day of enormous expectation but also some anticlimax. Very few squadrons executed tasking in support of the beach landings for reasons I have provided elsewhere on this site.
182 Squadron were not tasked until mid-afternoon, when they mounted an armed reconnaissance between Bayeux and Caen. The aim was to attack any German forces moving towards the beaches, but no enemy transport was observed and they landed back at Hurn at 1740 without incident. Henry did not fly on the squadron’s second D-Day mission, which destroyed an armoured car and several other vehicles, but he was airborne again at 0800 on the 7th for a patrol between Caen and Falaise. In all, 10 aircraft were involved, of which two were configured as fighters. They attacked a tank and six vehicles at a location recorded as Bretteville (two villages in the area share this name).
The very next day, Flying Officer Jimmy Talalla joined 122 Squadron at RAF Funtington, another airfield near Chichester. He was assigned to ‘B’ Flight. After his tour with 118 Squadron, flying Spitfires, Jimmy was now transferred to Mustang IIIs, which functioned in the Normandy campaign in both the air-to-air and air-to-ground combat roles. 122 Squadron was one of the three squadrons of 122 Wing (83 Group), the other two being 19 Squadron and 65 Squadron.
The Mustang III was a formidable fighter, boasting excellent speed, climb and manoeuvrability, and better endurance characteristics than the Spitfire, but it was also regularly loaded with 500lb bombs for fighter-bomber duties. Typically, 122 Squadron would be dispatched to attack specific targets, which were normally located well beyond the immediate battle area. However, if, during the mission, they encountered German fighters, they would jettison their bombs and intercept. In June 1944, the squadron was commanded by Squadron Leader Ernest Joyce, a New Zealander and an accomplished fighter pilot, who had destroyed his ninth enemy aircraft just a few days before Jimmy arrived. ‘B’ Flight was commanded by Flight Lieutenant Alan Pavey.
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| Ernest Joyce, who was OC when Jimmy joined 122 Squadron. |
On D-Day, 122 Squadron had been heavily tasked, flying escort to Beaufighters on anti-shipping duties, patrolling over convoys en route to Normandy, and, in the evening, escorting the gliders and tug aircraft of the second British airborne lift, Operation Mallard. During this final mission, they spotted four German aircraft, one of which was attacked and damaged. On the 7th, after another anti-shipping operation, the squadron flew three missions targeting German transport south-east of the beachhead and claimed multiple vehicles destroyed. One pilot, the Scottish Flight Sergeant Alexander Neish, was shot down by flak and killed near Livarot.
Over 6 and 7 June, Joyce led his squadron no fewer than seven times. On the 8th, therefore, they were twice led by their wing leader, Wing Commander Johnston, and once by Flight Lieutenant Pavey. Again, they were chiefly tasked on armed reconnaissance south of the beachhead. After the final mission of the day found no German targets, they flew on and bombed marshalling yards at Domfront, destroying or derailing an estimated 50 trucks and demolishing railway buildings.
Deteriorating weather was enough to ground 122 Squadron the day after Jimmy’s arrival, but Henry participated in another morning patrol south-east of Caen; the Germans were now responding in more strength to the Allied landings, and the pilots attacked a number tanks and other vehicles, claiming three tanks, an armoured car and two trucks destroyed. On the 10th, Henry flew on a mission over Varaville, east of the Orne estuary. A concentration of German troops had been reported there, confronting the British airborne. None were observed from the air, but the Typhoons nevertheless attacked the village.
That evening, 182 Squadron committed 11 aircraft to the attack on the headquarters of Panzer Group West at La Caine, which is described at the following link:
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| Varaville, 15 June 1944: the most visible craters were caused by USAAF VIII Air Force long bombing early on D-Day. |
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| La Caine, 24 June 1944, showing the chateau to the left of the road. |
Airborne at 2100, they saw fires from the target on their arrival and launched their rockets accurately into the target area. Henry flew in Typhoon JR300, which we will encounter again later. They landed back at Hurn at 2220.
After his arrival on 182 Squadron the previous November, Henry, had had to wait more than two months to fly his first operational sortie. By contrast, with 122 Squadron, Jimmy had a breathing space of just four days. He flew his first sortie on 12 June, participating in another armed reconnaissance that attacked a train at La Queue-les-Yvelines, west of Paris. Henry also flew that day, targeting what was described as a railway gun train. Around 50 rockets reportedly landed on target, and the ammunition trucks blew up. On the 14th, Jimmy was involved in a dive bombing attack on a train on the Dreux-Évreux line, which was believed to be carrying ammunition. Again, the train exploded, and secondary detonations were still occurring as the Mustangs left the scene.
Meanwhile, the airfield construction units had been hard at work in the Normandy lodgement area, together with the suppliers, the Servicing Commandos, and the RAF Regiment, and the first Allied aircraft began landing at Bazenville airfield (numbered B-2) on 9 June. 182 Squadron first operated from B-2 on the 14th, using it for rearming and refuelling. Henry landed there early the next day, having participated in a mission against transport on the road from Villers-Bocage to Caen. The commanding officer, Major Barlow, sustained flak damage that grounded his aircraft until the end of the day, when he returned to Hurn.
Meanwhile, Henry was airborne again at 1750 for an armed reconnaissance south of Cabourg. The squadron spotted and attacked tanks and motorised transport before landing back at Bazenville at 1830. His final mission that day involved another task against tanks that had been reported south-west of Falaise. One was spotted, attacked and claimed destroyed. The Typhoons reported heavy and light flak south-west of Caen.
Most of the squadron aircraft subsequently returned to Hurn, but Henry needed more fuel and landed back at Bazenville. He flew back to Hurn the next day. At some stage on the 15th or 16th, he was photographed at Bazenville by an official RAF photographer. 122 Squadron meanwhile moved from Funtington to Ford airfield, from where Jimmy flew on an armed reconnaissance on the 16th. The Mustangs eventually attacked a marshalling yard at Champnes.
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| Henry at Bazenville in June. |
On the 17th, Jimmy remained on the ground, while the squadron mounted three more armed reconnaissance missions, the first two of which were led by Joyce. The second formation attacked a train but was then bounced and dispersed by a force of Me 109s. One of the German fighters was destroyed, but the Mustangs meanwhile lost contact with Joyce and he did not return to Ford. He had been shot down and killed, his aircraft crashing between Chartres and Dreux.
On the 18th, 182 Squadron deployed to their future home, Coulombs airfield (B-6) for the first time, but Henry’s only mission, flown in the evening, braved intense flak to no avail: the pilots could not locate their target. During that day, two other squadron pilots mounted the first post-D-Day Close Air Support (CAS) operation in conjunction with a Visual Control Post (VCP) on the ground. On landing, they were debriefed by the AOC 83 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Broadhurst. On the same day, Joyce was replaced as OC 122 Squadron by Squadron Leader JT Shaw, who led his first mission with the squadron on the evening of the 19th with Jimmy and ten others. Their task was to attack a V1 site, the first V1s having been launched against southern England a few days earlier.
On the 20th, 182 Squadron flew out to Coulombs again with the intention of remaining there. However, the airfield was too close to the front line and was repeatedly shelled, and the squadron was forced to withdraw to the safety of England on the 22nd to await further developments in the ground battle. Henry flew just one further mission in June, which involved an attack on a railway siding at Les Boissons. This can only have been a period of intense frustration for the Typhoon pilots.
Jimmy meanwhile saw rather more action. On the 20th, his armed reconnaissance formation attacked railway trucks in a yard at Rambouillet, and he was airborne again the same evening, striking rail targets in the Seine valley. There were further railway attacks near Châteaudun on the 22nd and at La Loupe on the 23rd. On the 24th, he was involved in another railway bomb strike when his formation came under attack from Fw 190s, one of which he shot down. The Mustangs landed at B-7 airfield (Martragny), which was about 2 km west of B-6, and flew two further armed reconnaissance missions that day before returning to Ford. The following day, the squadron deployed forward with the remainder of their wing to B-7. The move was completed without incident.
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| The Advanced Landing Grounds east of Bayeux. |
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| Châteaudun marshalling yard, 9 June 1944. |
After cloud cover complicated a morning ground-attack mission on the 27th, Jimmy flew with Flight Lieutenant Pavey on a 10-aircraft patrol without bombs in the evening and encountered Fw 190s in the Caumont area. After a chase, Pavey shot down two of them; another was claimed as damaged, and two more were driven off near Évreux. Two days later, the weather rendered Jimmy’s final June mission completely abortive.
The weather continued to hamper operations over the next few days. It was not until the evening of 3 July that Jimmy participated an another mission, which involved dive-bombing a river bridge near Saint André-sur-Orne. The bridge was destroyed, and the Mustangs also bombed a railway bridge and a railway line despite medium and heavy flak over the target area.
Also on the 3rd, improving weather and the elimination of German artillery within range of B-6 finally allowed 182 Squadron to complete their move to the base. Henry flew his next operational mission the following day, attacking a chateau at Authie, north-west of Caen. The two brothers were now operating from adjacent airfields and doubtless saw plenty of one another when they were not airborne.
Jimmy’s next mission occurred on the afternoon of the 5th, and involved a patrol in the area Alençon-Laval-Flers without bombs. They destroyed one Me 109 north-west of Paris after a long chase involving Jimmy, Pavey and one other pilot. He flew two further armed reconnaissance missions on the 7th, which were largely uneventful.
On the same day, 182 Squadron was released from operations for maintenance, but Henry was in action again on the 8th, targeting a strongpoint at Cussy, near Bayeux. Three tanks were spotted during this mission, so the Typhoons were quickly rearmed and refuelled back at B-6 before returning to the area and attacking a staff car and several armoured vehicles. Also on the 8th, Squadron Leader Shaw flew his last mission as OC 122 Squadron. On the 11th he was relieved on grounds of operational fatigue and replaced by Squadron Leader RL Stillwell, formerly a flight commander in 65 Squadron.
The weather again intervened on the 9th, forcing a 182 Squadron armed reconnaissance back to base; however, 122 Squadron, including Jimmy, flew a mission in the evening in the area Vire-Chartres-Le Mans, and Jimmy also flew on Stillwell’s first mission with 122 Squadron on the 12th. The Mustangs bombed a railway siding and trucks east of Le Mans and strafed transport east of Alençon, but the aircraft of Flying Officer H. St John Smith developed a coolant leak and he was forced to bale out.
Henry was airborne again the following day to attack gun positions near Soliers. However, dense cloud cover prevented the Typhoon pilots from locating their target, and further thick cloud stopped all flying on the 14th. Jimmy flew on the evening of the 14th and the morning of the 15th, when 122 Squadron once more attacked railway targets deep in enemy territory, while Henry took part in a 182 Squadron CAS mission against a tank concentration at Orbois, between Bayeux and Villers-Bocage. The pilots spotted the red smoke used by the ground forces to mark the target location and heavily rocketed the area. They were less successful the following day because their target, a mortar position near Préaux, was obscured by cloud, and on the 17th, because of the primitive nature of early CAS techniques. Tasked against tanks and infantry south of Esquay, the Typhoon pilots were again expecting the target area to be marked by red smoke, but no smoke was seen and they returned to base.
Meanwhile, 122 Squadron had moved with their wing to a new airfield further south: this was B-12, at Ellon on the Tilly-Bayeux road. That same night, the Germans shelled the airfield, where there had been no time for personnel to dig protective trenches or dug-outs. One pilot was slightly wounded and several aircraft were hit by shrapnel, but only two of 122 Squadron’s sustained damage. One shell hit a tree next to a tent occupied by the OC and two flight commanders, sending wood splinters tearing through the canvas, but they miraculously emerged uninjured. The following day, released from operations, personnel spent the day digging ‘funk holes … designed to withstand anything short of an earthquake’. Some 12 aircraft were flown to B-9 in the evening in case the shelling resumed, but none materialised.
On 18 July, Montgomery launched Operation Goodwood, referred to by 182 Squadron as The Great Push. Aspects of the operation are covered in the following blogs.
The squadron were turfed out of bed at 0545, and took off at 0815 to attack gun positions south-east of Troarn. However, after flying late the previous day, Henry was not involved, and aircraft availability reduced the number of pilots participating in later operations. The first two missions went broadly to plan despite a fair amount of flak, but the third mission, an armed reconnaissance, was more eventful. The squadron encountered light flak across the battle area, and one of their flight commanders, a South African named Captain Kaufman, went down in flames. Another pilot, Flight Lieutenant Flood, was also hit; he baled out safely but was taken prisoner. Like Henry, Jimmy did not fly that day.
Henry flew his next mission on the 19th, by which time the weather was again deteriorating. An armed reconnaissance of the Saint-Sylvain area between Caen and Falaise, it resulted in a single strike on a bridge at Mézidon. The weather kept Jimmy on the ground until the evening, when an armed reconnaissance led to an attack on German transport.
On the 20th of July, Henry should have flown again, but his aircraft became unserviceable before take-off. And then the weather clamped. The 182 Squadron diary reads:
21 July: Rain, rain and more rain. Flying impossible.
22 July: More bloody rain. Everything and everybody covered in mud.
23 July: The day was overcast with little prospect of aerial activity. This state continued throughout the day, and no flying took place.
24 July: A better day but plenty of cloud and poor visibility … The squadron was called to readiness 30 minutes at 1530, but no flying took place.
It was much the same story for 122 Squadron.
And so finally we reach 25 July, when the weather cleared. The importance of Operation Cobra, in the American sector, that day, has caused operations on the British and Canadian front to be neglected by historians. Their significance lay precisely in the fact that Cobra was being mounted in the west: the Allied aim was to maintain pressure on the Germans right across Normandy. Early in the morning, Canadian troops launched an attack between the River Orne and the Caen-Falaise road, with a further thrust directed on the village of Tilly-la-Campagne. German resistance was stubborn in the extreme. By 0830, they had been driven out of Verrieres and May-sur-Orne, but this second village could not be held.
For the fighter-bomber wings of 83 Group, it was a day of heavy tasking. Indeed, they operated from dawn until dusk in support of the ground offensive, 1,188 aircraft mounting 197 missions. Some squadrons were assigned to armed reconnaissance, others to CAS under the control of a VCP. But they paid a grim price: 13 aircraft failed to return while others sustained damage, overwhelmingly from flak. For 83 Group, 25 July was one of the most costly days of the Normandy campaign and perfectly illustrated the limitations of the fighter-bomber as an offensive support weapon. Fighter-bombers could restrict or even prevent enemy movement, assembly or manoeuvre, but their effectiveness against hull-down tanks and prepared defensive positions was far more limited. Moreover, their continuous and eminently predictable use on a low-level close support task over a restricted area throughout the day exposed them to high (arguably excessive) risk.
Of the two brothers, Jimmy was first to take off with 11 other Mustangs. However, their target was obscured by cloud, so they attacked yet another rail target and road transport spotted in a wood. Ominously, they encountered intense heavy flak just south-east of Caen. Later in the morning, Jimmy took part in another bombing mission on a marshalling yard, where numerous petrol or ammunition trucks were destroyed. Over Saint-Léger, the Mustangs were bounced by a large formation of German fighters but emerged from the engagement without casualties and with two more Fw 190s claimed destroyed. Jimmy landed at 1205, by which time his brother was already flying his final sortie. Jimmy did not fly on the last 122 Squadron mission that day, which involved another major dogfight with Fw 190s, two of which were claimed destroyed and two more damaged. One Mustang was shot down, but the pilot, Flying Officer Hargreaves, baled out and managed to avoid capture until the Germans withdrew from Normandy.
For 182 Squadron, the plan that day involved consecutive missions by sections of four 182 Squadron Typhoons, which took off to operate under the direction the ground VCP. However, the first formation received no instructions from the supported unit so they attacked an alternate target - a gun position near Bretteville-le-Rabet, east of the Caen-Falaise road. They ran into intense flak over the target, and the Typhoon of the squadron commander, Major Barlow, was hit on the starboard wing, which burst into flames. Barlow baled out successfully but came down behind German lines. The second mission flown that morning received similar tasking but again received no direction from the ground unit and attacked the same gun position. All aircraft returned safely to B-6, but the pilots reported that they had frequently come under heavy anti-aircraft fire.
It was the same story where the third and fourth formations were concerned. No tasking was provided by the VCP, and the Typhoons were confronted by formidable flak barrages when they attacked their alternate targets. Henry flew as Number 3 on the fifth mission in Typhoon JR300; they took off at 1145. This time, the four aircraft received tasking from the ground and attacked tanks at Fontenay-le-Marmion. The results were obscured by smoke and debris, but the Typhoons encountered intense light and heavy flak in the target area.
After the strike, they reportedly ‘set course for Caen at zero feet’:
F/O Pattison, flying as No. 4, was hit by flak and called up P/O Rutherford Section Leader and informed him that he was going to make a forced landing. W/O Talalla flying as No. 3 seemed unaffected by flak and was seen heading N.E. And from the time of F/O Pattison calling up to say he was making a forced landing, Section Leader called up W/O Talalla three times … but no reply was received. Nothing further has been seen or heard of W/O Talalla who has consequently been posted as missing.
The Typhoon of the No. 2, Flight Sergeant Whicker, also sustained flak damage, but he emerged unscathed.
Almost certainly, Henry was hit at the same time as Pattison, and his aircraft was probably out of effective control when it was last seen. It was completely off-course. It crashed about 14 km from Fontenay, slightly north-east of Airan (now in the commune of Valambray), which lies south-east of Caen. The crash site was well behind enemy lines, and no word of his fate was subsequently received from the Germans, so Henry’s status as ‘missing’ endured for the remainder of the war. He was not presumed dead for official purposes until November 1945.
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| A Typhoon rocket attack on Rocquancourt, immediately next to Fontenay-le-Marmion, on 25 July 1944. |
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| Henry's crash site, photographed in June 1944, next to the road that now bears his name. |
Predictably, strands of disinformation have crept into the story of Henry’s sad demise. One, that he was last seen under attack by a German fighter, is contradicted by both the 182 Squadron Operations Record Book and the Air Ministry casualty file. Neither source makes any mention of Luftwaffe aircraft, and there is no reason to suppose that he was brought down by anything other than anti-aircraft fire from the ground.
Another, that the crash site and Henry’s temporary grave were only located by his father when he journeyed to Normandy after the war, is also disproved by the official sources. British ground forces found the crash site and the grave at some stage after the conclusion of the Normandy campaign. The grave was located just west of the road from Airan to Pédouzes and was marked with a rough wooden cross inscribed with the words ‘Unknown British Airman’. There is nothing in the official record to indicate whether he was buried by the Germans or the French.
Henry’s remains were exhumed by 21st Army Group’s No. 48 Graves Concentration Unit on 10 August 1945 and reburied at the new British war cemetery at Banneville-la-Campagne (Plot III, Row E, Grave 18). The exhumation report provided the Typhoon engine number but not the tail number, and otherwise contained no information that might have assisted identification.
Then, in March 1946, an officer from the RAF’s No. 1 Missing Research and Enquiry Unit was led to the crash site while conducting a systematic search of the Bourgébus area south of Caen. Nearby, he found the Typhoon’s tail, numbered JR300. Clearly, this information promised to allow the pilot to be identified, but there was at first some difficulty locating the exhumation records. The ‘Unknown British Airman’ was only matched to the aircraft tail number in June, and this information was not finally passed on to Henry’s father until September. He did not visit Banneville or the crash site until 1948.
Hewage Talalla subsequently paid for a memorial to be erected at the crash site, and Henry’s name is also inscribed on the Typhoon Memorial at Noyers-Bogage. Fittingly, the road from Airan to Pédouzes is now named the Route Henry Talalla.
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| Graves concentration report form dated 10 August 1945: Henry was shown only as an unknown airman. |
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| The memorial that now stands at the crash site. |
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| Henry's grave at Banneville-la-Campagne. |
While 122 Squadron’s move to B-12 had placed Jimmy at an airfield further away from B-6 than B-7 had been, it is likely that they remained in close contact and that Jimmy would have learnt that his brother was missing almost immediately. Online sources maintain that Jimmy flew a solo sortie in search of the crash site, but, if so, it is not recorded in the squadron diary. The same sources report that, at a date unknown, an Allied Special Operations unit in the Far East got word to Henry’s family that he had been posted missing, but the official file does not record any attempt to inform them until the Air Ministry received enquiries from his father and mother after the Japanese surrender in 1945.
Jimmy did not fly on the 26th and so missed another confrontation with Fw 190s, which resulted in claims of at least six destroyed and others damaged. One Mustang was shot down, its pilot baling out and being taken prisoner, and another was forced to crash-land behind Allied lines. The following day, the Mustangs ran into an even larger Luftwaffe formation in the Pont-l’Évêque area, jettisoned their bombs and turned to attack. The ensuing dogfight led to the destruction of two more FW 190s and damage claims against several others, but Flight Lieutenant Pavey was shot down and killed barely two weeks before word reached the squadron that he had been awarded the DFC. Another Mustang sustained severe damage but somehow limped safely back to B-12.
Jimmy’s first mission after his brother’s death occurred on 28 July and involved an evening armed reconnaissance without bombs in the usual area between the Normandy battle zone and the Seine. This resulted in an attack on a German column north of Chartres. However, while he also flew on two bombing missions on the 29th, both were largely frustrated by thick cloud cover in the target areas. His last two missions in July, on the 30th and 31st, both involved attacks on railway targets.
August witnessed a pronounced change for 122 Squadron. On the 3rd, an 83 Group intelligence summary noted that considerable concentrations of German barges had been seen on the River Seine between Mantes-Gassicourt and Elbeuf. ‘The barges are stated to contain Army stores and this form of transport is used faute de mieux.’
Over the next few days, the true extent of this traffic became apparent. A major intelligence failure had occurred. Since June, Allied reconnaissance aircraft had been photographing barges tied up on the banks of the Seine, and others on the river between Rouen and Paris. Only now was it realised that those on the banks were being used at night to ferry troops and equipment across the river, while those moving downstream were delivering supplies from Paris to the depots serving German forces in Normandy. A reconnaissance sortie on the 4th captured imagery of a barge on the south bank of the river loaded with five tanks, either Panthers or Tigers.
By the 7th, the intelligence picture had expanded further. The Germans were transporting supplies by rail to the Paris area or to points on the Seine south of the city, after which they were transferred to barges at several transhipment points. The main unloading locations were at Elbeuf and Rouen, but there were others too. A count of the barges photographed on the river between Vernon and Harfleur on 1 August had totalled no fewer than 104.
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| Barges photographed on the Seine east of Rouen on 6 July 1944. |
It was against this background that 122 Wing began a barge-bombing campaign that endured for much of August. Jimmy’s first mission against Seine water transport on the 1st was aborted by visibility conditions, but the Mustangs later struck enemy road transport, destroying four vehicles. Jimmy flew with two more formations attacking Seine barges and tugs on the 2nd, and with two more on the 3rd. The new task was by no means straightforward. Some strikes were obviously successful and produced reports of sinking barges, but the results were not always so readily observable, and the river craft were by no means easy to hit. The squadron nevertheless persevered.
Without Pavey, 122 Squadron needed a new flight commander. Jimmy, as a Flying Officer, was in line for promotion. From 4 August, he is listed in the squadron record as Flight Lieutenant Talalla. On that day, he flew on another mission over the Seine, which this time employed 1,000lb bombs in dive-bombing attacks on the river craft. He first led his flight as an independent formation on the 5th to provide cover for Lancasters withdrawing from a raid over Bordeaux.
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| Loading 1,000lb bombs on to a Mustang at B-12, Ellon. |
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| Bombs successfully loaded. |
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| Signs of barge bombing at Saint-Pierre d'Autils, 8 August 1944. |
On the 6th, 122 Squadron mounted some 23 sorties against Mézidon marshalling yard. Jimmy flew with the second Mustang formation, which bombed accurately and caused considerable destruction. On the 7th, as the Germans launched their final desperate counter-offensive towards Mortain, 122 Squadron doggedly maintained their strikes against the Seine barges and armed reconnaissance between the river and the battle zone. Jimmy was airborne from 1240 to 1415 and from 1820 to 2010. The Luftwaffe was notable only for its absence; the surge in evidence during the last days of July had not been sustainable.
On the 8th, the squadron was predictably switched to armed reconnaissance, looking out for ground formations moving into Normandy. They observed little movement, and Jimmy’s single mission that day only claimed one AFV and one motor vehicle as damaged. On the 9th he again took part in two missions against the Seine barges, which were followed by uneventful armed reconnaissance patrols. On the 11th, Jimmy led the squadron for the first time; while their diary compiler slavishly repeated that another boat-bombing mission had been ‘led by S/Ldr Stillwell DFM’, the accompanying Form 541 mission record makes no mention of Stillwell and places Jimmy at the top of the pilot list.
On the 12th, it became clear that the Germans were withdrawing their ground forces from Normandy through the Falaise-Argentan gap - another subject covered by an earlier blog:
That day, Jimmy was twice airborne on armed reconnaissance duty over the German escape route between Falaise and the Seine. On a similar mission on the 13th, the Mustang pilots spotted movement in the Falaise Pocket, but they did not attack as it was impossible to be sure that the observed ground forces were hostile. They also witnessed a series of explosions along roads, suggesting that fuel dumps were being blown up. On the 14th he took part in another armed reconnaissance, which again witnessed only limited movement between the Falaise Pocket and the Seine crossing points. Despite multiple reports suggesting the abuse of the red cross by retreating German forces, the Mustangs did not attack ambulances spotted in their patrol area, and their only targets were dispatch riders.
On the 15th, Jimmy flew with two more formations of 11 aircraft, and both missions were more eventful. During the first, while attacking road transport, another of 122 Squadron’s flight commanders, Flight Lieutenant JR Falconer-Taylor, was brought down by flak. He force-lanced in enemy territory and was taken prisoner. The second, a midday sweep between Chartres and Paris, was confronted by a large formation of German fighters, and Jimmy subsequently claimed one Me 109 damaged during the ensuing air combat, which also led to the destruction of another Me 109. One of the Mustang pilots, Flying Officer Walker, did not return to B-12 and was posted missing. Jimmy led a third mission that evening, but it was aborted due to thundery weather conditions.
Poor weather hampered 122 Squadron operations for the next two days. On the 18th, their missions were once more divided between attacks on river craft (which were now being used to convey escaping German forces across the Seine) and on road traffic fleeing from the Falaise Pocket. Jimmy led his section that evening on a patrol over Vimoutiers, which attacked several German vehicles. A similar mission early in the afternoon of the 19th was uneventful, but some ground targets emerged when he led two other aircraft back to the Falaise area later. There were further strikes on road transport in the Bernay area on the following morning, but Jimmy’s second mission - an armed reconnaissance flown in the afternoon - did not locate any targets.
For 122 Squadron, the battle of Normandy was now drawing to a close. When the weather allowed Jimmy to fly again on the 22nd, his patrol penetrated as far north as Amiens, and patrolling north of the Seine soon became the norm, as British and Canadian ground forces advanced through France towards the Low Countries. On the 31st, he participated in an evening mission that ventured as far north as the Albert Canal. As the campaign developed, Jimmy showed an increased propensity to adopt particular aircraft. After piloting a number of different Mustangs in August, he settled for FB187 and continued flying it throughout September.
By 9 September, after brief stops at two other airfields and a short break during bad weather to visit Paris, 122 Squadron was operating from B-60, Grimbergen, just outside Brussels. Stillwell’s tour as OC came to an end that day, and the squadron began patrolling up to Arnhem, Appeldoorn and Zwolle. The Mustangs were soon targeting rail and river transport in the eastern Netherlands in an attempt to isolate more western areas, a task that grew in importance after the first V2 launches against the UK on the 8th. On the 10th, they lost one of their older hands, American Pilot Officer Neale Thorne, who was shot down by flak near Arnhem. This would have been another major blow to Jimmy, for the two pilots had flown together on no fewer than 46 missions since his posting to the squadron. On the 15th, the new OC, Squadron Leader JK Porteous, arrived.
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| Pilot Officer Neale Thorne. |
Jimmy flew two sorties on 17 September, the first day of Operation Market Garden, but there was no combat with German aircraft, and the Luftwaffe was not encountered in any numbers until the 25th, when Jimmy shot down another Me 109 - one of three ‘destroyed’ claims made by the squadron that day. He led another formation on the 26th but without incident - his last sortie flying FB187.
On the 28th, 122 Squadron was recalled to England at the request of the AOC-in-C Bomber Command to fulfil escort duty for Bomber Command daylight raids over Germany. At first they were based at RAF Matlaske in Norfolk, but they moved to Andrews Field in Essex on 14 October. During the month, they mounted 15 missions of which Jimmy flew on 11, mainly using FZ148; he led the squadron four times. The new escort role involved longer sorties exceeding three hours. There was little sign of the Luftwaffe, but the Mustang pilots regularly reported flak over target areas.
In November Jimmy flew on 15 missions out of the squadron total of 16, leading on one occasion, on 1 November. The extended missions (with their long North Sea transit) exposed the Mustangs to greater technical risks, and Jimmy himself experienced engine trouble that day, which forced him to land at Eindhoven. One pilot, Flying Officer Keith-Thomas, died on 6 November after returning to base early and crashing as he attempted to land, and several other forced landings at continental airfields are recorded in the squadron diary. After 1 November, Jimmy did not fly FZ148 again. On the 16th he first piloted FX917, and all his remaining 122 Squadron sorties were flown in this aircraft. On the 29th, a new commanding officer, Squadron Leader KH Osborne-Young, took over from Porteous.
In December, 122 Squadron mounted 12 missions; Jimmy took part in eight and led two. The Mustangs joined combat with the Luftwaffe just once, claiming one aircraft destroyed. Jimmy flew his final operational sortie on Christmas Eve, leading a formation of 12 aircraft that took off at 1300 to escort a formation of Halifax bombers attacking a Luftwaffe base at Essen/Mulheim. The escort mission went according to plan and the target was accurately bombed, only one bomber being lost to flak. During the return transit, the weather threatened to close Andrews Field, so Jimmy made his last operational landing at 1600 at RAF Bradwell Bay.
In April, he received a Bar to his DFC. The citation read:
This officer has participated in a very large number of varied sorties. He has displayed the greatest keenness to engage the enemy and has invariably pressed home his attacks with determination. Among his successes is the destruction of four enemy aircraft.
The story of the Talalla brothers in the northwest European campaign is fascinating in its own right, through the insight it provides into the impact of total war (and more specifically the air war) on a single family in a country that could hardly have been more remote from the European theatre of operations, where Henry and Jimmy ultimately fought. It is a story of human endeavour, extreme bravery and ultimate sacrifice; a story that has left an indelible mark on Normandy but which perhaps deserves more recognition in both the UK and Malaysia.
It is also a story which, at the tactical level, illustrates the reality of service on RAF fighter-bomber squadrons in the campaign - a reality that still differs so much from the popular tank-busting mythology and which emerges with particular clarity from Henry’s experience. It all began with his delayed entry into the RAF, leading to his late departure from Singapore and ultimately a year in Canada on instructional duties.
Even when he finally reached the front line, he had to spend two months on 182 Squadron without clearance to fly on operational Typhoon missions, and he was confronted by multiple obstacles to flying thereafter in the form of poor weather, technical malfunctions, aircraft limitations and wider tactical and operational factors. Then he had also to face the rising tension and expectation of the pre-D-Day build-up, followed by the anti-climax of the day itself. Subsequently, tactical air support plans were disrupted by the desperately slow progress of the ground campaign, which compelled 182 and the other 124 Wing squadrons (and many others) to fly from southern England and reluctantly accept the numerous constraints that this imposed on their operational contribution.
Yet even their deployment to Normandy in July only partially improved the situation. As we have seen, they were grounded by the weather for almost a week after Operation Goodwood. It is easy to imagine the Typhoon pilots’ relief when they were finally cleared for battle on the 25th and their eagerness to get airborne. Such was the context for Henry’s final sortie; the circumstances could hardly have been more cruel.
However, we should not forget his achievements - particularly the impact of counter-V1 operations, the vital importance of strikes on German radar before D-Day, and the deadly attack on HQ Panzer Group West on the evening of 10 June. For all the delays and frustrations that characterised Henry Talalla’s RAF service, ultimately, his rockets still hit home.
Jimmy Talalla’s experience was very different. His route into active service was far more direct, so that he ultimately completed two demanding tours over a period that witnessed the Allies progress from broad air parity with the Luftwaffe to overwhelming air superiority; two tours that saw his squadrons endlessly grinding out sortie after sortie, as the Allied air forces steadily gained the upper hand; two tours that provided him with ample opportunity to demonstrate skilled airmanship and leadership qualities in two outstanding fighters, qualities recognised in his double DFC award.
But Jimmy’s experience was also punctuated by loss: by levels of pilot attrition that we struggle to grasp today, reflected in the deaths of such trusted comrades in arms as Squadron Leader Ernest Joyce, his first 122 Squadron OC, in a dogfight with German fighters on 17 June; of Flight Lieutenant Alan Pavey, Jimmy’s flight commander, last seen diving headlong into a group of enemy aircraft on 27 July; of his wingman, Pilot Officer Neale Thorne, who was brought down by flak while attacking German transport in the Netherlands on 10 September.
That losses such as these were a fact of life on a fighter-bomber squadron in the summer of 1944 cannot have made them easier to bear. However, for Jimmy, there was much more. Beyond all the hardships and pressures of the front line, three years after they left their homeland, there was the experience of service virtually shoulder-to-shoulder with Henry in Normandy and of the acutely personal tragedy of losing him.
Yet Jimmy barely flinched. In spite of the dangers involved, he went searching for his brother, and he climbed back into the cockpit of his Mustang to fly operationally again just three days after Henry was killed, and the day after his flight commander was killed. He was captured by the official photographer apparently smiling and happy at B-12 in August 1944, when the reality must have been very different. And then he continued to fly at intensive rates after the Allied victory in Normandy. Over Arnhem. Over Germany. When he climbed out of the cockpit on Christmas Eve, 1944, to complete a rather ignominious return to Andrews Field in an open-topped truck, no one could possibly have disagreed: Jimmy Talalla had done his duty.
