FLT LT JOHN “PADDY” MICHAEL BRENNAN DFC

Time Line

1921 John Michael Brennan was born on 5th January 1921 in Ballylinin, Castlecombe, Kilkenny. His father, worked in the local coal mines and on the coming of the Irish Free State, he joined the newly formed Irish Army and was posted to Callins Barracks, Cork, where he served until his retirement.

1937

John with his sister Maureen moved into very sparse accommodation with little furnishings he used to hang his clothes on “Paddy’s nail” (the floor). His sister became very ill and died of meningitis. Two sisters, Katherine and Pauline joined the family.

In January John got sufficient money to buy a ticket to London. On the third week of that month he left home, and made his way to the dock and boarded a ferry which set sail for Fishguard.

On arriving in Paddington Station, his only possessions were the suit he stood up in and a few shillings in his jacket. On the platform, he saw a member of the Salvation Army and enquired of him regarding accommodation. He gave him the address of their hostel in Marylebone Road

John made his way to the rear of the Cumbernauld Hotel where he hoped to get a job. They weren’t taking anybody on that day so he made my way to Oxford Circus to the ABC restaurant where he was interviewed and got a job as a kitchen porter at 92p per week. The hours were from 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday and from 7am to 12 noon on Saturdays. He was instructed to report to the managers at their Victoria branch.

1937

1940

After a fortnight, he was transferred to their Cannon Street Restaurant. , he was given the job of pastry cook, which he enjoyed very much. He was then given the job of second cook with a wage of £2.50 per week.

His next job was at the Walls Factory in Acton.

1939 War is declared on Germany

11am., September 3rd 1939.

In January he went to the local recruitment office and volunteered to become a member of aircrew. John went before a selection board and was accepted for training as a wireless operator/Air Gunner.

By this time John had met Angela where he worked and they started going out together on 1st June 1940.

On the 4th of the following month John was called up and instructed to proceed to RAF Uxbridge where I was kitted out, given a railway warrant and instructed to report to the R.A.F training centre, Blackpool, where he did a month’s square bashing.

John was posted to RAF Brinbrook, Lincs for ground defence duties while awaiting training. He was put in charge of a 20mm cannon which was sited on the airfield perimeter.

The Battle of Britain had begun and one day a Dairier 217 dropped a stick of bombs on the airfield and caused some damage.

1941

In October John was posted to the RAF Yatesbury, Wireless School in Wilts to commence his wireless course. This involved learning the Morse code, the Q code for communications, procedures for sending a receiving messages and keeping log books.

After completing the course he was posted to RAF Silloth, Cumbria. There his duties involved communicating with local aircraft.

John was then posted to Porthcawl in Wales for his air gunnery course.

On the successful completion of the Air Gunners course John was entitled to wear the AG beret and the stripes of a Sergeant. The pay went up to 12/6 (62.5 P) a day. The 2 ½ pence included flying pay. He had at last achieved what he had set out to achieve to become a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.

John was posted to RAF Benson, it was there he was to be crewed up and commence operational training.

John had only been at Benson for about a week when he was posted to RAF Harwell and joins 148(SD) Squadron RAF.

John and Angela marry on 6th September 1941.

“We took off and set course for Malta. As I sat in the front turret, I beheld a cloudless sky and a shimmering sea below. As instructed we came down to deck level as we approached the danger area. But there was one there already waiting for us. It was a M109 and he kept making frontal attacks. I was blazing away as was the rear gunner. The pilot was throwing the aircraft all over the place. I had no idea how long it went on for. Jerry disappeared and it was some minutes before calm was restored. The pilot asked the navigator for a position, only to receive the reply “I haven’t got a bloody clue”. The pilot then asked for a course to steer and if I remember rightly it was 090 degrees. We eventually arrived at Malta about 5pm, only to learn that an air raid was in progress. The pilot asked for permission to land only to be told “didn’t he bloody well know that there was an air raid” The pilots reply was “I’ve only got ten minutes petrol left and I’m coming in to land” As we were approaching the runway and just before touching down, Jerry dropped a stick of bombs nearby which threw the aircraft on its back and was a complete right off. Fortunately for us, we were only badly shaken.”

The crew was eventually flown to Alexandria by Catalina flying boat. On arrival at Alexandria they went by train to the Canal Zone and from there the RAF transport to R.A.F Shalala.

John reported to the gunnery leader, who informed him that he was to be the front gunner on Plt Off Crossley’s crew.

1942

“In February 1942, we were detailed to drop a load of supplies to our troops who had been left behind in Crete and who were living in the mountains. The aircraft we had was an old Wellington, which used to have a mid under gun turret. This had been removed and a cover fitted over the hole. We were loaded up at Kabrit with blankets, clothing, bedding, medical supplies and food. We tool off for the landing ground and we were stuck there for 2 weeks before we got the all clear for take off. When we arrived above the dropping zone there were no indicator flares to be seen and in spite of circuiting the area for half an hour, nothing was seen and so we returned to the landing ground.

We got the all clear to go again the next night, as we approached the coast of Crete one of the engines caught fire. Each engine had a fire extinguisher fitted inside the engine covers, this was operated by the pilot and although the fire was extinguished, there were still a lot of sparks coming from the engine. As the engine was now useless, the pilot feathered the propeller; this prevented the propeller from rotating and thereby causing a drag on the aircraft. As we were slowly loosing height, we had no alternative but to set course for base. The pilot instructed me to start jettisoning all loose equipment. I started with the blankets and other items such as medical supplies, clothing etc. The pilot already jettisoned the supplies that were stored in the bomb bays. I next got rid of the guns and ammunition, the oxygen bottles and our flying clothing, parachutes. We were still loosing height until we eventually crashed in the sea. I was already prepared for this. I had removed the astrodome and when we hit the water, I made a dive for the dinghy which was already inflated and attached to the wing by a long cord. I made a dive for the dinghy and missed. The dinghy was already half full with water. The rest of the crew managed to get out. As we sat in the dinghy, the aircraft was nearly submerged and it was only then that we realised that the aircraft was dragging us down with it. Someone asked if anyone had a penknife and it so happened that the wireless operator had one. He had just managed to cut the long cord when the aircraft disappeared. We discovered that someone had stolen the emergency supplies; all we had left was one paddle and a heliograph. As dawn came, we saw some coastal tankers on the horizon and the pilot got us to wave our vests and shout, “Ship ahoy” of course this made no difference. After about ten hours we saw an air sea rescue launch in the distance, coming towards us.”

John and the crew join the elite Goldfish Club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish_Club

1942

July was to see the advance of German army orchestrated by General Erwin Rommel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign

John had completed 30 operations and was posted to personal disposal centre and be shipped back to the United Kingdom, but due to the desert war escalating he was posted to 78 Sqn. RAF and completed a further 11 operations flying in Halifax bombers.

With the Germans only a few miles away his aircraft with a newly fitted engine (that needed to be air tested before his flight) managed to stagger off the ground.

John was ordered to report to GHQ Cairo. “When I arrived there, I was given a passport application to fill in and then taken downstairs to a court yard where I was given a civilian jacket and a photograph was taken of me. The next day I was instructed to report back where I was handed a passport as a government official. That night I stayed at a hotel in Cairo and the following morning I was taken to the landing berth where a flying boat of Imperial Airways was awaiting passengers. We took off and headed south and landed at Khartoum, some hours later the following morning we took off and landed on the inter at Stanleyville, Belgium. We spent the night there and the following day we took off for Leopoldville, still in the Belgium Congo. Our next leg was from there across south West Africa to Freetown, where we spent the night. We then flew north to Lagos. Our next leg was to Lisbon, where we were met by an official from the British Embassy. On arrival at the Embassy, we were warned not to speak to anybody as the place was full of spies. We were given £5 spending money and taken to a hotel where after checking in we went to see the sights of Lisbon. We spent two days there and then took off and Landed on the River Shannon, in Ireland. There we had breakfast and took off where we landed in Poole, Dorset. We then went by train to London where I was reunited with Angela and her family.”

John was being posted to RAF Kinloss, in Morayshire as a wireless instructor.

1943

John is commissioned as a Pilot Officer of the Royal Air Force and returns back to Flying duties.

1944

In April John and Angela have twin girls. One child is still born and Angela and baby Angela are very ill with septicaemia.

John is ordered to fly a double sortie. On the second mission was to end in the aircraft crashing into the Grampian Mountains due to pilot error.

The crew all survived with minor injuries.

In May, John is posted to HCU ( Heavy Conversion Unit) at RAF Riccall in Yorkshire and crews up with Sqn Ldr Hyland-Smith and operates in Halifax’s of 4 Group Bomber Command.

Operations were now concentrating on targets in Germany.

“My duties entailed dropping strips of ammunition as soon as we reached 3 degrees east and this continued throughout the operation. These strips were about 9 inches long and about 2 inches wide. They were in bundles with a string down one side. You filled the string and then pushed the bundle down a chute. This had the effect of releasing the strips, the idea was to black out the German Radar screens so that they could not give instructions to their fighter pilots.”

It was decided to start daylight raids on Germany.

“We took off on a raid to Germany; it was a glorious sunny day, not a cloud

in the sky. I was in the astrodome keeping an eye out for other aircraft, when the

rear gunner reported that two of our aircraft were only feet away from our tail.

Smithy eased our aircraft away and up from them, just as they collided. I watched

them falling to the ground from 2,000 feet, like autumn leaves. It took a hell of a

time to hit the ground. Not one member of the crews got out, fourteen killed.”

“When we went to the briefing room and they uncovered the map of the target, we

got quite a shock. The target was Magdeburg, well inside Germany and North West

of Berlin. To crown it all, we were not allowed to fly above 1,000 feet. As we were

first to leave, we had to do a dog leg to the coast and back until all the squadron

had taken off, which took a half an hour. As we were doing our dog leg, we were

surrounded by aircraft on all sides. Shortly after setting course from Flamborough

Head on the Yorkshire coast and when our navigation lights were switched off, two

aircraft near us collided and blew up. As it turned out, the trip was uneventful”

“A brand new Halifax was delivered to us and as with all new aircraft; it had to be

air tested. This involved a four hour cross country trip to check out the handling of

the aircraft, the navigational aids, the radio and transmitter and the flight engineers

instrumentation. Smithy decided to take her up and during the briefing by the met

officer before we took off he warned us of cumulus nimbus cloud near

Peterborough. This is a dense mass of cloud which usually forms in thunderstorms

and can reach a height of 30,000 feet. If an aircraft spends any length of time in

these clouds, ice builds up on the wings and fuselage and it will also cause the

instrument to freeze up. The aircraft thus becomes unmanageable, stalls and

descends out of control. Smithy informed us that we were entering this cloud, but

said that he would keep climbing until we got above it. He next said that we were

at 20,000 feet and that we were still in it. He no sooner said this when we went into

a spiral dive. He ordered us to bale out. I was pinned under the table; I tried to raise

my right arm to unclip my parachute but could not move it. I just thought, well this

is it and waited for the end. By the time we had descended to 2,000 feet, the ice

had melted and Smithy was able to regain control of the aircraft. We arrived back

at Breighton, Yorks and the following day the engineering officer reported that

some of the wing bolts and engine mountings had been sheered off. The fuselage

and tail fins were twisted. The aircraft was declared a write off and it was later

scrapped.”

In March John completed his second tour of operations.

1945

Prisoners of war (POW) were being released from the Stalags in Germany and were

being flown back to Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war

John was posted to Breighton where these ex prisoners were being received.

“I was a member of the reception committee. The soldiers entered one end

of the hanger where they were de loused, when they reached us, we took their

particulars and escorted them on to transports, where they were conveyed to army

reception camps.”

At the beginning of May John was posted to RAF Credenhill in Hereford

on an administration course

Angela gave birth to a daughter, Karen on 30th May 1945

On completion of the course John was posted as adjutant to a newly

formed airfield Construction Squadron at Gosfield nr Alysebury. He

was responsible for getting the squadron organised with

administration. The officers were all civil engineers and when the

NCOs arrived, were qualified in construction work.

At the beginning of August, we were informed that we were

being posted to the island of Okinawa, the nearest Island to Japan.

We were to construct airfields for the final assault on Japan. On our

way to Southampton the atom bomb was dropped, when we arrived

we were instructed to return to our base. A short time later, the

squadron was disbanded.

John is then posted to RAF Methwold, in Norfolk as assistant

adjutant, he was responsible for all forms of discipline, where there

were minor breaches, and John usually dealt with them.

In November John is awarded the DFC for courage and dedication

to duty.

1946

John is posted to RAF Wyton as Station Adjutant in the early part

of the year.

1947

In June, John is posted to Canal Zone in Egypt and attached to Middle East

Headquarters.

A few months later (November) posted to RAF Deversoir as Station Adjutant.

1948

John is posted to 9BAD (Base Ammunition Depot) at Abu Sultan, canal

Zone.

“This was an Army Depot where ammunition and shells were stored. We

were a lodger unit there and the main problem we had was security.

The perimeter went for miles and it consisted of two fences of barbed

wire with a gap of about thirty feet in between. On one particular day

we received a consignment of ammunition by train. We had heard on

the grapevine that a robbery was planned for the following night, the

plan was to send in dogs across the gap in the wire and then they would

follow from behind. An ambush was set up and about 1am in they came.

We waited until they were actually on top of the trucks and then let

them have it. Two were killed, two were wounded and three of them

got away.”

On the 4th August, Angela gave birth to Maureen (Named after the

Doctor who attended the birth)

1950

Return to England in January and posted to RAF Henlow

In September John resigns his Commission

Starts civilian life working at Smart & Browns, London Rd,

Sandy as a stock controller

1952

On 5th February, John and Angela fourth child, Norma is born

at the Limes, London Road.

1954

August 24th moved into their own house in Biggleswade

1956

Takes up employment with Weatherly Oilyear

Made redundant from Weatherly Oilyear

1975

1976

John got a job at British Aerospace, Stevenage as a design

office librarian.

Retires in January 1986.

1986

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/reports/2010/halifaxshadow.php

2009

Reunion of 78 Sqn RAF - Exercise Halifax Shadow

When I was growing up my Dad lived abroad and wasn’t a big part of my life so Grandad filled that gap. He taught me

to tell the time, took me on long walks across fields and countryside and explained about wildlife, birds nesting and

nature. I grew up hearing his stories about Ireland and the war and was captivated by his quiet manner, patience and

steely reserve (and of course, his wicked sense of humor)

He is much more than just a Grandad to me. He is the most honest, hardworking, modest man I know and still finds it

baffling that complete strangers come up and shake his hand, or buy him a drink in the pub.

He has been a devoted husband to my 92 year old Grandmother and up until recently was her full time carer, cook, cleaner

and gardener.

I am extremely lucky and very proud to have him in my life and love him very much.

Comments:

by Laura Brennan…(grand-daughter)

Customer Contact Team Leader, Customer Service Centre.