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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1404745/Wing-Commander-J-G-Sandy-Sanders.html Wing Commander J G 'Sandy' Sanders 19 August 2002
Wing Commander J G "Sandy" Sanders, who has died aged 88, was an RAF fighter pilot credited with destroying at least 16 enemy aircraft, several of them during the Battle of Britain.
When fighter pilots' scores were assessed after the war, Sanders's tally was almost certainly underestimated - because he had lost his log book and because of an absence of records during the confusion that surrounded the fall of France.
Sanders could not have had a more propitious start. After receiving a short service commission in November 1935 and completing his flying training, he was posted after a year to No 111 (Treble One) Squadron, which was equipped with Gloster Gauntlet biplane fighters.
Treble One was destined for a niche in RAF history as the first squadron to be re-equipped, in 1938, with the modern eight-gun monoplane Hawker Hurricane; it was in a Hurricane that the squadron's commander, "Downwind" Gillan, achieved the then unthinkable feat of averaging more than 408 mph in a flight from Turnhouse (Edinburgh) to Northolt (London).
After Squadron Leader Gillan and one other officer, Sanders was only the third squadron pilot to fly the Hurricane; but his experience on the type was interrupted early in 1939 when he incurred the wrath of Harry Broadhurst, then Treble One's leader and later Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst.
Sanders, who was always very much his own man, disliked what he saw as Broadhurst's bragging about his aerobatic skills, particularly his roll off the top of a loop after take-off in a specially modified aircraft.
When Sanders executed brilliantly the same manoeuvre in an unmodified Gauntlet, Broadhurst ordered his arrest. Sanders was marched in front of his air officer commanding (AOC) and posted, in October 1939, from the prestigious Treble One to fly biplane Gloster Gladiators with No 615 (County of Surrey), an Auxiliary squadron.
The blow was softened by Sanders's appointment as a flight commander, and he very soon demonstrated that his skills and airmanship could to some extent compensate for the obsolescent biplane's performance.
As it happened, Winston Churchill was No 615's honorary air commodore. In November - when he was still First Lord of the Admiralty - he inspected the squadron, taking special interest in the machine guns of Sanders's Gladiator.
As her husband stood in front of the aircraft, Mrs Churchill climbed into the cockpit and was starting to toy with the aircraft's firing mechanism. Sanders, realising that the guns were cocked for instant take-off and combat, averted a tragedy that could have altered the course of history.
Sanders first fired his guns in anger during the "phoney war" of the winter of 1939-40. On December 29, he achieved the extraordinary feat, in a Gladiator, of damaging, possibly even destroying, an He 111 over the Franco-Belgian border. Hit by return fire, he crash-landed near Valenciennes, and was badly concussed.
When the Germans began their blitzkrieg towards the Channel on May 10 1940, 615 Squadron - recently re-equipped with Hurricanes - found itself being evacuated from one airfield to another; they occupied four different airfields in 10 days.
In one engagement, Sanders was forced down in his Hurricane near Bethune, and was obliged to make his escape from the advancing Germans by train.
When the train was attacked he leapt out with his parachute on his back; he dumped the parachute in a ditch, and hitched a lift with a passing RAF truck to Abbeville, where he found an abandoned Blenheim light bomber which was overloaded with escaping groundcrew stowaways.
Although it was night, and he had never before flown a two-engined aircraft, Sanders took off in the plane and, at 3.15am, reached Northolt near London. Informed by a Waaf telephone operator that the station commander could not be woken until 8am, Sanders kicked up such a fuss that the next day he was marched in front of the AOC.
For the second time he was downgraded to Gladiators, but, after leading a flight of the biplanes from Manston, Kent, in operations over Dunkirk between May 23 and May 30, Sanders managed to engineer a return to 615.
James Gilbert Sanders was born at Richmond, Surrey, on June 19 1914. He was educated in Genoa, Italy, where his father, a wealthy archaeologist and dilettante had settled. As a schoolboy, young Sanders developed such a dislike of fascism that, aged only nine, he objected to singing the stirring slaves' chorus from Verdi's opera Nabucco with the school choir in front of Mussolini himself.
In his late teens, Sanders was arrested and charged after using newspaper pictures of Il Duce as lavatory paper. This incident convinced him that war was inevitable, and despite studying Marine Archeology at an Italian university, he resolved to join the RAF.
In the early summer of 1940, Sanders resumed with 615, and was heavily involved in the Battle of Britain as it raged across the south of England. He was in his element as he encountered wave upon wave of enemy bombers and fighters attacking Biggin Hill and other No 11 Group airfields which had the responsibility of defending London.
Even now, Sanders managed to upset his station commander who, observing Sanders's Hurricane in a slow roll at the edge of the airfield, called him to account. Sanders, who had been testing the aircraft for a suspected problem, was maddened at being reprimanded at this critical time.
He told the group captain what he thought of him, and suggested that he might like to climb into a Hurricane and see some action. Not surprisingly, he was arrested and kept under guard for a night.
August 18 saw some of the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Britain, and Sanders was repeatedly scrambled. He destroyed two, and possibly more, enemy bombers. On one sortie he was climbing towards Biggin Hill when bombs from a Dornier 17 passed only a few feet from his Hurricane.
On the same sortie Sanders sighted a Ju 88 immediately in front of him. He aimed at the cockpit to kill the pilot and saw the bomber dive into woods and blow up at Ide Hill, near Chartwell, Churchill's home in Kent.
When, at the end of August, 615 was withdrawn to rest in Scotland, Sanders volunteered to stay on at Kenley, south of London, to help 253, the squadron's successor, settle in. This was because he had become smitten by a local girl, Joan Barley, and he wanted to marry her.
Staying put also gave him the opportunity to try some experimental night fighting; and this led, in the New Year of 1941, to service with No 255, which was forming as a night fighter squadron equipped with the turret-gunned Boulton-Paul Defiant. In this aircraft he achieved three kills.
Towards the end of the year, he began a series of training appointments followed by station commands and a spell at Shaef (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force), finishing his RAF career at Rangoon in charge of flying at Mingaladon airfield.
Sanders returned home in 1947. While he could have remained in the RAF, he opted to leave the service to join the Mayfair office of the insurance company Crown Life of Canada.
Meanwhile, he indulged his lifelong love of music; and he managed one of the most splendid family boxes at the Royal Albert Hall, together with adjoining boxes belonging to Caius College, Cambridge, and to Earl Spencer. Sanders was a frequent attender at the Proms.
He was awarded the DFC in 1940, and in the same year married Joan Barley. They had two sons, one of whom served in the RAF as a Jaguar aerobatic display pilot. The marriage was dissolved, and in 1949 Sanders married Josephine King-Farlow; they had a daughter.
James Sanders | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | 'Sandy' |
| Born | 19 June 1914 Richmond, England |
| Died | 12 August 2002 (aged 88) London, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1935–1947 |
| Rank | Wing Commander |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
James Sanders, DFC (19 June 1914 – 12 August 2002) was a British flying ace who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He is credited with having shot down sixteen aircraft.
Born in Richmond, Sanders joined the RAF in 1935 and following completion of his flying training, was posted to No. 111 Squadron.
Early life
[edit]James Gilbert Sanders was born on 19 June 1914 at Richmond, in England. His father, an archeologist, lived in Genoa in Italy where Sanders was educated. He also attended university in Italy, studying marine archeology. Despising fascism and believing in the likelihood of war, Sanders joined the RAF on a short service commission in 1935, commencing his initial training in November of that year.[1][2]
Commissioned as an acting pilot officer in January 1936, Sanders commenced flight training at No. 10 Flying Training School at Ternhill the following month.[2][3] In August 1936, having completed his pilot training, Sanders was posted to No. 111 Squadron.[4] His new unit was stationed at Northolt and equipped with the Gloster Gauntlet biplane fighter.[5]
In November 1937, No. 111 Squadron was the first unit in the RAF to receive the Hawker Hurricane fighter, working to prepare the aircraft for operational service. In February 1938 Sanders was landing his Hurricane at Tangmere to demonstrate the fighter to the pilots based there and its undercarriage collapsed. With the assistance of ground crew, he was quickly able to restore the undercarriage to its wheels-down position and return to Northolt. The issue was an airlock in the hydraulic system and warning signage was added to the cockpit to act as reminder to pilots to ensure the undercarriage was locked in place before landing.[6] He subsequently worked on fighter tactics, being attached to the Air Fighting Development Establishment and the Air Fighting Development Unit during his time with the squadron.[7]
Second World War
[edit]Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Sanders was disciplined by Squadron Leader Harry Broadhurst, the commander of No. 111 Squadron, for performing unauthorised aerial acrobatics and was placed under arrest. Thanks to the influence of Air Vice Marshal Leslie Gossage, who was a friend of the family, his punishment was a posting away to No. 615 Squadron as one of its flight leaders.[8][9] The squadron was stationed at Croydon and flew Gloster Gladiators biplane fighters. In November it was sent to France with the RAF component of the British Expeditionary Force. It served, firstly at Merville and then Vitry, alongside No. 607 Squadron as part of No. 60 Wing.[10][11]
Battle of France
[edit]The squadron saw little activity for the next few months although on 29 December, Sanders was taking his Gladiator on a weather check when he engaged and damaged a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber. His own aircraft received counter fire from the He 111 and was damaged, necessitating a crash landing at Valenciennes.[2][4] In April 1940, the squadron began reequipping with Hawker Hurricane fighters.[10]
From 10 May, when the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries, No. 615 Squadron was extensively engaged in patrols and bomber escort missions for several days.[10] During this time Sanders shot down two German aircraft although details are lacking. On 17 May, he destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber but his Hurricane was damaged in the engagement and he force-landed at Bethune. He was able to board a train ahead of the advancing German army but partway through the journey it was fired upon. Abandoning the train, he was picked up by a passing RAF truck making for Abbeville. There he found a Bristol Blenheim light bomber with RAF ground crew but no pilot. Despite his lack of experience in flying multi-engined aircraft, under the cover of night he flew the Blenheim, carrying several ground crew as passengers, for England. He landed at Northolt in the early hours of 18 May.[1][4] In the meantime the squadron was ordered to evacuate France and returned to England on 20 May.[10]
While No. 615 Squadron went to Kenley, on 23 May Sanders was appointed a flight commander and given charge of six Gladiators which were attached to No. 604 Squadron at Manston. For the next week, he flew operations to Dunkirk, providing coverage for the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches there. He returned to No. 615 Squadron at the end of the month. His services during the previous few weeks saw him awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[2][4] Gazetted on 4 June, the published citation read:
This officer has led his flight well and has personally shot down three enemy aircraft.
— London Gazette, No. 34864, 4 June 1940[12]
After a period of recovery, No. 615 Squadron returned to offensive operations in mid-June, flying to France on bomber escort missions in aid of the elements of the BEF still remaining in France after Operation Dynamo.[10] Sanders shot down one Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter and damaged a second, both near Rouen, on 22 June. He ran low on fuel as a result of the engagement and, unable to return to Kenley, had to land on the Isle of Wight. He destroyed a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter on 30 June but this was unable to be confirmed.[4]
Battle of Britain
[edit]On 16 August, Sanders damaged a pair of He 111s near Brighton. Two days later, on what is now known as The Hardest Day, he destroyed a He 111 to the south of Kenley, and then a Ju 88 near Westerham. The latter aircraft crashed near Winston Churchill's house at Chartwell. He also damaged a Ju 88 near Sevenoaks.[4][13] Sanders also flew occasional sorties at night; on the night of 24 August, he caught and destroyed a Ju 88 near Hastings. He also damaged a He 111 in the same vicinity. A rare nighttime aerial victory for the RAF at the time, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, commander of No 11 Group, sent congratulations to Sander by telegram.[4][14]
Sanders was promoted to flight lieutenant in late August.[15] No. 615 Squadron was rested at the end of the month and went north to Prestwick in Scotland. It was replaced at Kenley by No. 253 Squadron, with Sanders volunteering to be attached to the unit. A factor in his decision was his girlfriend, Joan Barley; the couple married later in the year.[1][16] Like its predecessor, No. 253 Squadron flew Hurricanes and was heavily engaged throughout September, being regularly scrambled two or three times a day before the Luftwaffe reduced the intensity of its operations.[17] Sanders still flew on night fighter duties, and on the night of 23 September, shot down a He 111 near Chobham.[4]
A few days later Sanders was attached to No. 66 Squadron, at Gravesend, where he was a foundation member of No. 421 Flight. His experiences operating at night subsequently saw Sanders being called upon to work at the Fighter Interception Unit on fighter techniques using radar.[2] [18] In October, he was given command of No. 422 Flight at Shoreham.
Later war service
[edit]In early 1941, Sanders was posted to No. 255 Squadron.[2]
In June, Sanders was assigned to instructing duties at the Operational Training Unit (OTU) at East Fortune. Promoted to temporary squadron leader in September 1941, he was then appointed 'officer commanding, flying' at the OTU.[2][19] In May the following year, he was made 'wing commander, flying' at the OTUs at Llandow and then Rednal, piloting the Mustang IV fighter.[4]
He was promoted to temporary wing commander in July 1944.[20] Later in the year, his substantive rank was made up to squadron leader.[21]
Later life
[edit]Sanders returned from India in 1947. By this time his marriage to Joan Barley had foundered and wanting to please his new partner, Josephine King-Farlow, he left the RAF. He commenced work for an insurance company, Crown Life of Canada, being based in its Mayfair office. He had three children; two sons with Joan Barley, and a third, a daughter, with Josephine King-Farlow who he married in 1949 after the dissolution of his first marriage. One of his sons also served with the RAF. His wife having predeceased him some years previously, he died at his home in London on 12 August 2002.[1][22]
There is some uncertainty regarding the number of aerial victories claimed by Sanders. The records of No. 615 Squadron for its operations during the Battle of France are incomplete and Sanders also lost his logbook in the campaign. Military aviation historians Christopher Shores and Clive Williams credit him with having destroyed 16 German aircraft although there are no details for eight of these with another one shared. In addition he is credited with one aircraft probably destroyed and six damaged.[4][22]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Obituary: Wing Commander J G 'Sandy' Sanders". Telegraph. 19 August 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Airmen's Stories – F/Lt. J G Sanders". Battle of Britain London Monument. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
- ^ "No. 34252". The London Gazette. 4 February 1936. p. 737.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shores & Williams 1994, pp. 530–531.
- ^ Rawlings 1976, pp. 236–238.
- ^ Bungay 2015, p. 75.
- ^ Bungay 2015, p. 250.
- ^ Bungay 2015, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Bishop 2003, pp. 144–145.
- ^ a b c d e Rawlings 1976, pp. 503–506.
- ^ Caffrey 1990, p. 14.
- ^ "No. 34864". The London Gazette. 4 June 1940. p. 3353.
- ^ Bungay 2015, pp. 225–226.
- ^ Bungay 2015, p. 270.
- ^ "No. 34945". The London Gazette. 13 September 1940. p. 5489.
- ^ Bungay 2015, p. 275.
- ^ Rawlings 1976, p. 357.
- ^ Bungay 2015, p. 354.
- ^ "No. 35270". The London Gazette. 9 September 1941. p. 5220.
- ^ "No. 36618". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 July 1944. p. 3398.
- ^ "No. 36776". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 November 1944. p. 5026.
- ^ a b Bungay 2015, pp. 401–405.
References
[edit]- Bishop, Patrick (2003). Fighter Boys: Saving Britain 1940. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-257169-2.
- Bungay, Stephen (2015) [2000]. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-78131-495-1.
- Caffrey, Kate (1990). Combat Report: The RAF and the Fall of France. Swindon: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-85223-564-0.
- Rawlings, John (1976). Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: MacDonald & James. ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
- Shores, Christopher; Williams, Clive (1994). Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-8-9869-7000.