Whirlwind WW2 Fighter

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t was shortly after regaining

consciousness while driftingon his parachute towardsthe Luftwaffe fighter base at

Morlaix, in Brittany, that the words hisfather had uttered while heading intocombat 28 years earlier flashed throughthe mind of Westland Whirlwind pilotFlt Sgt George Wood. In his terracedhouse near Worthing, Sussex, 70 yearson, George remembers: “I hadn’t quite

worked out what was going on. Onemoment I was struggling to get outof the cockpit, the next I was fallingthrough space. Now, with German smallarms fire streaming up at me, all I couldthink of was my father’s reaction to thegunfire heading his way while goingashore with the Royal Sussex Regimentat Gallipoli in August 1915: ‘Thesebluebottles are a heck of a lot biggerthan those we get back home’.”

Fortunately, the German “flies” missedGeorge, as the Turkish ordnance had missed

his father during the First World War, and after

landing he scrambled out of his parachute,and sprinted towards the perimeter fence.“I couldn’t work out why nobody chasedme,” George recalls, “and then they gave upfiring. It turns out I was hot-footing it acrossa minefield. I guess they thought I would beblown up at any moment. I ran to a tree thathad fallen over part of the perimeter fence, andmanaged to shin up that, drop down the otherside and make my escape. Three near deathexperiences was enough for one day.”

But to add insult to injury, George hadactually been blown up by one of his own 250lbbombs. And all of this on his 13th operationalmission. Is it any wonder that George Wood

was one day to become an ordained minister?

Never heard of itGeorge Wood was flying Westland Whirlwinds

with 263 Sqn, a unit he had joined in March1943, six months prior to being plonked downinto the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 base at Morlaix.He reflects: “I had been flying Spitfires at 61

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ABOVE: Thehandling of

Petter’s designwas praised byeveryone thatflew it. But as

a fighter, it wasalways going to

be hamperedby the rather

disappointing 850h.p. output from

each of the Rolls-Royce Peregrine

engines. Theprotrusions under

the nose are forspent shell cases.

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TONY HARMSWORTH spoke to wartimeWhirlwind pilot Flight Sergeant George Wood

about flying this single seat, twin-enginedfighter in action

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2014 ww w.aeroplanemonthly.com 35

WhirlwindA

war

LEFT:GeorgeWood,seen on

November11 at hisdesk withhis SecondWorld Warlogbook.



OTU at RAF Rednall, and at the end of January1943 was issued with tropical kit and put ona troopship at Liverpool for the trip to North

Africa. But the ship had some engine problemsand we were disembarked, and given homepostings. Up until then I hadn’t even heard ofthe Westland Whirlwind, and during training wehad been operating under a singularly single-engined mindset.

“My first base with 263 was at RAFHarrowbeer, near Yelverton in Devon. After anhour in a Hurricane, I was shown round all thesystems and engine controls on the Whirlwind,and after familiarising myself with the rest ofthe cockpit, was then unleashed on the thing. Isuppose it was the only twin-engined aeroplane

you couldn’t go up in as a passenger to find out what it was all about. But I immediately fell inlove with the aeroplane. It may not have beenso pretty on the ground, but once the wheels

were up it looked lovely. It was docile, with

great handling, and with that raised cockpit, you had a fantastic view.”By this stage of the war, the Whirlwind, which

only served with two RAF Squadrons, was beingused exclusively on dive bombing and groundattack work. Although it was agile and rapidat low-level, at heights in excess of 15,000ftthe two 880 h.p. Rolls-Royce engines ran outof puff. Not ideal for a fighter, the role it wasoriginally intended for.

Designed to a February 1935 Air Ministry

requirement for a cannon-armed fighter by W.E.“Teddy” Petter, who went on to pen both theCanberra and Lighting for English Electric, the

Whirlwind boasted several advanced structuraland aerodynamic features. The airframe was ofstressed-skin duraluminium, with magnesiumalloy skinning on the rear fuselage. It had low-drag radiators in the leading edge of the wing,and Exactor hydraulic engine controls, whichcomprised a sealed oil-filled hydraulic controlsystem, removing the need for complicatedlong rod and cable controls between the cockpitand the engines. The streamlined airframe wastopped off with one of the first full “teardrop”bubble canopies, and the wings were fitted withlarge Fowler flaps. With four 20mm cannongrouped in the nose, it was the most heavilyarmed fighter aircraft of the time.

Unfortunately, the Rolls-Royce Peregrine V12engines that powered it proved troublesome,and in August 1939 it was decided that Rolls

would concentrate on development of theMerlin. With work on improvements to thePeregrine now discontinued, the future of the

Whirlwind – which hadn’t received a lot ofsupport from the Air Staff anyway – lookedbleak. Only 290 Peregrines were built, and thefirst production Whirlwind didn’t fly until May22, 1940, a full five years after the originalspecification had been issued.

The RAF got its first Whirlwind the followingmonth. The C-in-C of Fighter Command, Air

Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, thought thatthe Whirlwind might become very importantin the near future as an anti-tank weapon,perhaps contemplating what would be requiredif the Germans did get across the Channel. It

was, at that time the only British fighter thatcould stop a tank. But he conceded that it wasnot cost effective to order an aircraft that wasmuch more labour intensive to build than thesingle-engined machines. In theend, only 290 Peregrines

were built,

sealing

the fateof thisinnovativefighting aeroplane. Sadly,only 116 were ever built.

“Ops” beginFrustratingly for George, it would be a long waitbefore he saw any action with 263 Sqn. “OurCO at the time, Sqn Ldr Geoff Warnes, didn’tlet me go on my first op until I had about 60hr.It was rather like being at OTU all over again!But Geoff developed the battle tactics we usedon the Whirlwind, which was later adopted forother fighter bombers. He really knew what he

was doing. Although it was the nicest aeroplane

I ever flew,” remembers George, “it had onemajor problem. It really was underpowered.”

The first op finally came on June 15, 1943, with an attack on minesweepers and armedtrawlers east of the Island of Sark. The

Whirlwind force comprised two pairs of twoaircraft, led by Plt Off Max Cotton, who hadtwice come back from missions with seriousflak damage over the previous three weeks.On both occasions his aeroplane was declaredCat B, and roaded back to Westlands for repair.George remembers: “Maxie had really masteredthe art of throwing bombs into vessels right atthe waterline, going in at wave top height fora beam attack and then leap-frogging over theships before getting out as quickly as possible.Two days before this mission, he had beenawarded the DFC.

“As we went into the attack, at mast height,I was a few yards behind him, in the secondsection, when tracers started skimming overthe top surfaces of my wings. It was likefirework night. Max dropped his two 250lb

I

I

36 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2014

The nose fairing, here being carefully fitted into place, contained four duralumin blast tubes tohouse the cannon. Note the radiators in the leading edge of the wing.

Resembling a late 1930s “boy’s own” cartoon image of what a fighter should look like – a la the Lockheed P-38 Lightning – the Whirlwind was anextraordinarily neat, streamlined and compact design. The unrivalled view from the cockpit was a major advantage for formation flying.



bombs, but then took a direct hit. I think aflak shell had penetrated the cockpit. There

was bright flash as the cockpit exploded, andthe aircraft went straight in. Max’s bombshit the minesweeper amidships, but then SgtKen Ridley, who was flying alongside me, alsotook flak hits, causing serious damage to thefin and rudder. Two of the Spitfire IXs thatflew an anti-flak screen ahead of us were alsoshot down.” Bombs from the four Whirlwinds,

which had five-second delay fuses, hit two ofthe minesweepers, and it is thought that one

subsequently sank, “but I didn’t hang around tofind out,” George commented. Sergeant Ridleygot his aeroplane backto Warmwell, but it

was also declared CatB. “That really wasa baptism of fire,”recalled George, with aslight shudder.

Before his next op,the rugged nature ofthe Whirlwind wasbrought home toGeorge. On July 12, SgtL.J. Knott stalled at about 80ft coming in to landat Warmwell, and crashed heavily. Although theaircraft broke up, the cockpit section stayed inone piece, and the pilot, although badly burned,

was rescued. “I went to visit him several timesat East Grinstead Hospital, where he wastreated by Archibald McIndoe. Happily, he wenton to make a full recovery.” At the beginningof August Warmwell echoed to the sound

of another Whirlwind crash, as Sgt Cooper,landing in a strong crosswind, cartwheeledhis aeroplane to destruction. Both enginesdeparted from the airframe, but it landedthe right way up, and Cooper got out of therelatively intact cockpit totally uninjured.

George’s second op had been on July 18,a shipping strike off the coast of Alderney.“There was moderate flak coming up, butthen I thought I saw an Fw 190. My R/T hadgone u/s, and suddenly there was this fightercoming straight for me. I loosed off a quick

burst with the cannon before pulling the noseup. When we got back, our CO, Sqn Ldr Reg

Baker, wondered why I had tried to shoot downthe Spitfire V that he had warned me about onthe R/T! After landing, I went to the armourerto find out how much damage I would havecaused. Nine 20mm shells were missing,equating to a 2/3 sec second burst, which was,thankfully, off target. Squadron Leader Baker

was a good sort, and didn’t make much fuss asmany COs would have done. But he did write

in my log book, should I ever forget, ‘Rottenshooting’!

Attacking E-boatsThe next mission wasn’t until August 11. Georgetakes up the story: “A Mosquito crew had beenflying high over the north coast of Brittany andspotted five E-boats entering L’Aber Wrac’hestuary, on the north-west coast of Brittany,and radioed the position back to base. Eight263 Sqn Whirlwinds were quickly prepared for a

low-level attack, with Reggie Baker, who had hisnickname Lochinvar painted under the cockpitof his aeroplane, in thelead. Each aircraft wasarmed with two 250lbbombs with a threesecond delay fuse.

“We took off in twosections of four – I

was in the second

section. Rendezvous with our Spitfire escort wasover the Needles, and we set off on course forL’Aber Wrac’h, flying as low as possible to avoiddetection. On nearing the target the secondsection of Whirlwinds dropped back until we

were ten seconds behind – this was to preventblowing ourselves up when the bombs of thefirst four exploded. It also gave us about sevenseconds to identify any E-boats that had notbeen hit by the first section. This meticulous “onthe hoof” timing, without a word being spoken,

was essential for the success of the operation,

as was flying an accurate course at wave-top height: only sea and more sea to see, no

landmarks to check you were on course,and after 40minhoping your landfall

would be bang ontarget. Otherwise,

you were up the creek without a paddle. Theslightest variationin wind speed ordirection over a40min flight at 200

m.p.h. would result in a wrong landfall, and you would end up having to search for your targetand lose the element of surprise.

“Despite so many imponderables, amazinglyit all went like clockwork. For the past 45minthere had been absolute R/T silence, which

was suddenly broken as a frenzied battlecommenced. And then, within less than 2min,it was all over, and five E-boats had been

“After an hour in a Hurricane, I was shownround all the systems and engine controls on

the Whirlwind, and after familiarisingmyself with the rest of the cockpit, was

then unleashed on the thing”


ABOVE: At the time of its entry into service, the Whirlwind’s 20mm Hispano cannon made it themost heavily armed fighter in the world. These RAF armourers are placing the drum magazinesbehind the armour plate that protected the ammunition during an attack. George Woodremembers, “there wasn’t as much recoil from the cannon as you might expect.”

ABOVE: On the morning of September 9, 1943, George Wood flew a dive bombing mission againstenemy gun positions at Hardelot, seven miles south of Boulogne. The Whirlwind sorties that day were

part of Operation Starkey , a “fake” invasion force, which saw a motley fleet of 355 destroyers, cross-

Channel pleasure steamers, self-propelled powered Thames barges and other unlikely vessels sailingtowards France, in an effort to confuse the enemy. This not very successful deception saw the first use of

black and white “invasion stripes” on participating aircraft. ANDY HAY/FLYINGART© 2013



destroyed. There had only been light flak fromthe ships, but it was much heavier from theshore batteries.

“On leaving this mayhem we formed up overthe next bay, to the surprise of some Bretonfishermen, who cheered and waved their capsfrom the decks of their trawlers, although theymust have been wondering how their villagehad fared as they found themselves beingcircled at low-level by the eight Whirlwinds

which had caused the loud explosions, and the

ever-growing dark cloud of billowing smokearising from the estuary.

“This acclamation ofthe Breton fishermen

was the first of manyaccolades we received.

As recorded in theOperations Record Book(ORB), congratulationspoured in from theC-in-C, Sir TraffordLeigh Mallory, from theSecretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair,from the Board of the Admiralty, and variousothers. A few days later Movietone News

came down to our base and filmed us for thenational cinema circuit. When Reggie Baker wasinterviewed by the newscaster, he chortled, andtwirling his ‘wizard prang moustache’, replied‘It was a piece of cake – we caught them withtheir pants down’. Sadly, this piece of film nolonger exists.

“A few weeks after this euphoria, in earlySeptember 1943 Reggie received a Bar to hisDFC in recognition of his leadership. As he hadnot had a break for many months, he then wenton a well-deserved leave, which allowed me to

fly his personal Whirlwind, named Lochinvar .He occasionally invited me to do this, and so it

was that on September 23, 1943, I was one ofeight Whirlwind pilots who took off from BoltHead Aerodrome to dive bomb Ploujean Airfieldat Morlaix, Brittany.

“In cloudless, clear conditions, we were ledby Flt Lt John McClure DFC, RCAF. I was flying

Lochinvar , which was also Reggie’s callsign. MyNo 2 was Flt Sgt Iain Dunlop, who on his firstoperational flight, followed me into the attack.

We started the dive at 12,000ft, getting to a

45 degree angle, and reaching a speed of wellover 400 m.p.h. I had just released my 250lbbombs at about 5,000ft when the Whirlwind

just blew apart. The cockpit section was still inone piece, but the thing was spinning all overthe place. I was straining to reach forward androll the canopy back, but the centrifugal forcehad me pinned to the back of my seat and Icouldn’t reach the winder. One problem withthe Whirlwind was the lack of a canopy jettisonlever; no doubt if the aeroplane had undergonethe development it deserved they would haveput one in, but that was no good to me now!Sergeant Dunlop later reported: ‘One secondGeorge was there, and the next he just blew up

– and I remember thinking to myself, this job isbloody dangerous.’ A French fisherman who sawthe aircraft coming down said that there were somany bits falling from the sky, he at first thoughtthat two aircraft must have collided.

“When all seemed lost, I just shouted ‘God,get me out of this’ and must have passed out.Next thing, I came to, tumbling through the air,and grabbed the parachute D-ring.”

Nobody saw George depart from Lochinvar ,and, on return to base the 263 Sqn pilots

consoled themselves with the thought that,in the words of ReggieBaker, “George couldn’thave known what hit him.”Reggie Baker filled inGeorge’s logbook with whatlooked like being its finalentry “A grand pilot whoseloss we can ill afford.”

Just after the raid,a German R/T signalinstructing Luftwaffe pilots

not to return to the badly damaged airfield wasintercepted by the British Listening Service,confirming the success of the attack.

Escape and evasionGeorge explains what happened after he landed:“One thing they did find among the debris on theairfield was a piece of the fuselage of WhirlwindP7113 with the name Lochinvar emblazonedon it. This led the Germans tobelieve they had shot downa highly prized target, SqnLdr Baker. So they calledout 900 extra troops to bringhim in. I doubt if they wouldhave done that for a FlightSergeant! Fortunately, the

“When Reggie Baker was interviewed bythe newscaster, he chortled, and twirling

his ‘wizard prang moustache’, replied‘It was a piece of cake – we caught them

with their pants down’ ” spee o wee my 250 W r w non was st nn ng a over orwar a

tr uga rceseat an I

ro em w tcanopy ett sona u ergone wo aveto e now!

‘O e seconde ust ew up

. Just a ter t e ra ,, German R/T s gnanstruct ng Lu twa e p o

not to retur to t e a y amage a r e wasntercepte y t e Br t s L sten ng Servce,on rm ng t e success o t e attac .

down’ ”

Esceorge exp ns w at appene a ter e e :

“One t ng t ey n among t e e r s o tr e was p ece o t e use age o W r w

P7113 w t t e name Loc nvar em azonen t . T s e t e Germans toe eve t ey a s ot o wn g y pr ze target, Sqn

L r Ba er. So t ey ca e ut 900 extra troops t in m n. I ou t t o

ave one t ergeant! ortu ,,

38 ww w.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2014

RIGHT: This classicCharles E. Brown

study of a Whirlwindcaptures the svelte,pacey lines of this muchunderestimated design.

A formidable gathering of firepower. If the Whirlwind had been available during the Battle ofBritain, the concentrated cone of fire provided by the close coupling of the 20mm cannon in thenose would surely have taken a terrible toll of Luftwaffe bombers.



French Resistance found me first, and I washidden away while a wrecked fishing boat wasconverted into a seaworthy vessel. So, 39 dayslater, on October 31, we set sail from Carantec

with a crew of two brothers, Ernest and LeonSibiril, plus five other Frenchmen, all of us

wanted by the Gestapo.“A few days earlier, unbeknown to us, a fierce

Naval battle had been raging. The target wasthe MV Munsterland, a blockade runner whichhad slipped into Brest from the Far East witha precious cargo necessary for the German V2rocket project. The Munsterland, escorted byfive E-boats and six minesweepers, stole outof Brest Harbour on October 22, and in theearly hours of the next day was interceptedoff Les Sept Iles by the Royal Navy. Sadly, aBritish cruiser and a destroyer were sunk, and504 sailors perished. This took place in the waters which we needed to cross in our fishing

boat to reach Plymouth. Fortunately the

assailants had retired to their lairs to licktheir wounds, leaving us to traverse thesetroubled waters with little likelihood of

enemy activity.“The Munsterland quickly fled

the scene, arriving in thecomparative safety of

Cherbourg Harbouron October 24.

There it washeavily

attacked

by RAF Spitfires, USAAF North American B-25Mitchells and Hawker Typhoons, scoring nearmisses, until in the words of Heinz Wittman, aGerman flak gunner: ‘We saw eight Whirlwindsskimming over the external breakwater, flyingat such a low altitude that their propellersstruck up spray from the harbour basin. Our88mm guns were not very effective for low-level business and so our 20mm guns and twomachine-guns let off a torrent of fire’.”

This ferocious opposition was describedin the ORB as: “Difficult to give a picture ofthe flak without seeming to exaggerate. It

was extremely intense, of all calibres. Theair seemed filled with tracer and black puffs.Continuous gun flashes came from everyland-bound part of the harbour and from the11 ships that were seen there.” Flight SergeantBob Beaumont’s description was: “It was like ahorizontal hailstorm, painted red.”

An enormous tonnage of TNT was dropped. All fell within the target area, but only 500lbbombs – which 263 Sqn Whirlwinds werecarrying on this occasion – scored direct hits.It was very costly, as the surviving Whirlwindsthat managed to return to base were allrendered unserviceable by anti-aircraft fire.”

George Wood, now back in England, soontelephoned Sqn Ldr Baker to say he was stillalive, but also offered an apology. “I’m sorryI pranged your aircraft.” Baker’s reply wasinstant and very heartening remembers George,“Don’t worry about it, I would probably have

wrecked it myself by now! Get back over hereand we’ll have a party.” “When I got back tothe unit, which was then based at RAF Ibsley,

Reggie and the rest of the pilots from the Munsterland mission re-enacted the raid thatI had missed for me in the mess, using thesnooker table as the coast of France, and beerbottles as bombs. It all got a bit untidy.”

But Reggie Baker hadn’t given up on the Munsterland. He decided to have anothercrack at it with the four remaining serviceable

Whirlwinds. “It so happened it was the periodof the full moon, and as Whirlwinds flew atnight a few days before and after the full moon,Flt Sgt Denis Todd was briefed to fly low-level toCherbourg,” recalls George. “If the weather was

good, he would radio back to base “Orangesare sweet” – if it was duff: “Oranges are sour ”.On receipt of “sweet oranges”, Reggie Baker,

with a No 2 and No 3 (Flt Lt Dave Ross and FltSgt Iain Dunlop) would also fly at low-level toCherbourg Harbour. The No 2 and No 3 aircraft

would act as decoys, and as the harbour cameinto sight No 2 would climb and veer to theright, drawing the flak. Similarly, No 3 would dothis to the left, leaving Reggie to continue flyinginto the harbour and dropping his two bombsdown the funnel of the Munsterland.

As “Toddie” flew towards Cherbourg, herealised he had the fate of his comrades in hishands, for it was a suicidal mission. He foundCherbourg Harbour bathed in moonlight, andas he turned back to base he radioed ‘Orangesare sweet’ then added ‘but rapidly turningsour’. The raid was cancelled, much to therelief of Dave Ross and Iain Dunlop. Toddie keptthis secret to himself until long after the war.

“Reggie Baker lived another eight moremonths. By then he had become a Wing

e s ,e

o v y v esse .. o, a e , c , se r ar

ro , t

s, USAAF Nort Amer can B-2Hawker Typhoons, scoring ne t e wor s o He nz W ttman,nner: ‘We saw e g t W r w n t e externa rea water, y nt tu e t at t e r prope ers

y from the harbour basin. Ourre not very e ect ve or ow-

an so our 20mm guns an t et o a torrent o re’.”us oppos t on was escr e“Difficult to give a picture of t seem ng to exaggerate. It

ntense, o a ca res. T e w t tracer an ac pu s.

n as es came rom every rt o t e ar our an rom tere seen t ere.” F g t Serge

t’s escr pt on was: “It wasstorm, pa nte re .”s tonnage o TNT was roppee target area, ut on y 5002 3 Sqn W r w n s were

s occas on – score rect tt y, as t e surv v ng W r w n

to return to ase were arv cea e y ant -a rcra t re.”

, now ac n Eng an , soonn L r Ba er to say e was sto ere an apo ogy. “I’m sorry a rcra t.” Ba er’s rep y was y earten ng remem ers Geo

out t, I wou pro a y av e y now! Get ac o ver er a .”. “ When I got back to was t en e a A

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ar ssa y or e Germa ct.. T r u n te , escort y

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oy a Navy. Sa y, aLes Se I es y t eer were sun , anB r t s cru an a estro

ace n t e50 sa ors per s e . T s toon our s ngaters w c we nee e to cross

theboat to reach Pl ymouth. Fortunatel

cs ants a ret re to t e r a rs to set e oun s, eav ng us to traverse to waters w t tt e e oo oe e y t v ty .

“ Mu nsterland quickly flede cene, arr v ng n t e

arat ve sa ety oer ourg Har ouro cto er 2 .

Th re it wasav y

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ABOVE: Whirlwind P7062/HE-L of 263 Sqn. Thisaeroplane hit trees during a practice attack near Wroughton on

February 19, 1942, killing the pilot Flt Sgt George Hicks. A replacementWhirlwind, wearing the same code, was flown by George Wood.

A group of 263 Sqn pilots pose in front of a Whirlwind at Warmwell, with George Wood standing,second from right. VIA ROB BOWATER



Commander, and was leading his Wing ofTyphoons from Harrowbeer to attack animportant target soon after D-Day, when againhe met ‘a horizontal hailstorm painted red’.This time his aircraft was hit and went out ofcontrol, but Reggie stayed on board in order toradio a course for the others to steer away fromthe anti-aircraft fire and back home, before hecrashed at high speed and was killed.

“Within three months of the L’Aber Wrac’hraid, and as the acclamation of the Frenchfishermen reverberated across the Channel,little did we realise that within a short time the

wonderful Westland Whirlwind would be nomore. She had given her all for the war effortand her pilots. She had no vices, but, throughno fault of her own, could no longer be a forceto be reckoned with by the enemy.

Onto Typhoons After his return to the UK, George was given six weeks leave, returning to 263 Sqn just beforeChristmas. The Hawker Typhoon had replaced

the Whirlwind, and George spent a couple ofmonths in 1944 ferrying the few remaining Whirlwinds back to Westland factory at Yeoviland flying passengers in an Airspeed Oxfordhack. After a couple of familiarisation flightson a Hurricane, he made his first flight in aTyphoon on February 20, and was to fly thispotent, if temperamental type, on dozens ofmissions for the remainder of the war. “Nowthere is an engine that really caused problems,”remarks George. “If they had put as mucheffort into developing the Rolls-Royce Peregrineas they did the Napier Sabre, the Whirlwindcould have seen us through to the end of the

war. And I never felt as comfortable on groundattack missions with just

one engine upfront: those

Peregrines mayhave been short onpower, but if one wasdamaged, the other one would get you home.”

Post war, George’s old wingman, Iain Dunlop,flew the D.H Hornet, which is now widelyregarded as the apogee of that rare breed, thetwin-engine, single-seat fighter. He stated: “Well,the Hornet was certainly fast, but the controls

were not as light as on the Whirlwind. Withoutany doubt, the Whirlwind was exceptional fromthe handling point of view.”

After the war, George emigrated to South Africa, and in 1954 was ordained, becoming a

priest the following year. “I had often thoughtof that moment when I called out to the

Almighty for help as I was plummeting downtowards Morlaix in the cockpit of Lochinvar . Ittook a bit of time to get round to it though,”George continued, with a

glint in his eye, “but I just wanted to enjoymyself for a few years first.”

Chatting to George on November 11,Remembrance Day, heconcluded: “Ihave so much

affection for the Whirlwind, on which I have103hr 40min in my logbook. Looking back, as

we are today, I can see all the chaps that safelygot back home in Whirlwinds that had sufferedthe sort of damage that other fighters simplycouldn’t have sustained. It was a dependableold thing that would look after you. It is such a

shame there are none left. In next month’s Aeroplane we will featurean article on plans to build an authentic

reproduction of this long extinct type. GeorgeWood and two other Whirlwind veterans, 137

Sqn pilot Johnny Shellard and test pilot Eric“Winkle” Brown, will be signing books andWestland Whirlwind memorabilia at the Aviation

Bookshop at 31-33 Vale Road,Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 IBS

on December 14, 2013.

“When all seemed lost, I justshouted ‘God, get me out of

this’ and must have passed out.Next thing, I came to, tumbling through

the air, and grabbed the parachute D-ring”

40 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2014

ABOVE: With flaps and undercarriage down,the Whirlwind would stall at 98 m.p.h. The

relatively high landing speed limited the numberof airfields the type could be operated from.

ABOVE: The “Whirlibomber” usually carried one 250lb bomb under each wing, but on somemissions two 500-pounders were carried. These heavier loads were found to overstress the wingsduring spirited manoeuvring.BELOW: A purposeful looking pair of Whirlwinds, getting airborneto take the fight to the enemy in the English Channel.



ABOVE: The Westland Whirlwind was theRAF’s first single seat, twin-engine, cannon-armed fighter. The aircraft depicted here bythe renowned aviation artist Philip E. West,serial P7094, flew operational sorties with137 Squadron before being allocated to 263Squadron, where it carried the codes HE-T.For more information on this painting, or onthe various prints that are available, pleasetelephone The Art Studio on 01747 828810 orvisit Philip’s website at: www.aviationfineart.co.uk

REAPING

THE WHIRLWIND

26 AUGUST 2013

It was faster than a Spitfire and carried heavier armament. As a result, much was expected ofthe Westland Whirlwind, especially following its first engagement with the Luftwaffe which took

place at the end of December 1940.Squadron, which was reforming at RAFGrangemouth following the disastrousNorwegian campaign. Indeed, the firstproduction Whirlwind was delivered tothe squadron by its CO, Squadron Leader

Harry Eeles, on 6 July 1940, thoughsubsequent aircraft were slow in arriving.Despite this, with increasing Whirlwind

availability at the end of November 1940,263 Squadron relinquished its remainingHurricanes and moved to Exeter tocommence operations. After a briefsettling in period, the Whirlwind recordedits first operational sorties on 7 Decemberwhen Squadron Leader Eeles (in P6974),with Flight Lieutenant Smith (P6975) andPilot Officer Hughes (P6976), flew a patroloff the South Coast.

Just over a week later SquadronLeader John Munro arrived as CO andsoon afterwards, on 23 December, the

Whirlwind first encountered theLuftwaffe

when Flight Lieutenant Smith, in P6970,sighted a Junkers Ju 88 during a patroloff Start Point, Devon. The Junkersdisappeared into the thick cloud beforeSmith could attack.

The New Year opened promisingly

when, on 2 January 1941, Flying OfficerDavid Crooks and Sergeant Mortonscrambled after a plot of a Ju 88 andalthough they did not make contact itwas, however, damaged by a Spitfire from

234 Squadron. It was not long, however,until the Whirlwind was blooded.On 12 January, whilst on detachment

at St Eval on the north coast of Cornwall,Pilot Officer David Stein, at the controlsof P6972, with Sergeant Mason in P6968as his No.2, took off at 09.40 hours fora patrol. The pair was soon forty milessouth-west of the Scilly Islands, as hesubsequently described in his combatreport:

During the summer of 1940,263 Squadron was partially re-equipped with the RAF’s exciting

new fighter, the twin-engine WestlandWhirlwind. With its very heavy

armament, excellent all-round visionand good performance, the Whirlwindwas eagerly anticipated, thoughteething problems, particularly with itsRolls-Royce Peregrine engines, initiallyrestricted its operational use. TheWhirlwind was capable of 360 miles perhour, it had a range of 800 miles and,significantly, it was armed with four20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannongrouped together in the aircraft’s noseto produce an immensely powerfulconcentration of fire.

The development of the Whirlwindcame from Air Ministry specificationF.37/35 in 1935. Though the Whirlwind

promised to be a superior aircraft tothe Hurricanes and Spitfires whichwere already far advanced in theirdevelopment, it was not until 1938that the first prototype was flown. Twoyears later, the first squadron to be fullyequipped with the Whirlwind was 263



“After approx. 10 mins flyingintercepted one J.U. 88. I chased theE.A. and eventually came at him fromfront quarter. As attack developed intofull beam, I opened fire and gave him afour sec. burst. The enemy top gunneropened fire simultaneously, but stoppedimmediately. I saw my shells hit top offuselage about distance from tail and aminor explosion occur. The E.A. went into

a spiral dive into cloud – which was 10/10– and, though I searched above & below, Idid not see him again.”

Stein claimed a “probably destroyed”.This seemed to be confirmed whenradio intercepts later indicated that theGermans were trying to contact the

aircraft. In recording this incident, thesquadron log noted: “The combat isnoteworthy as being the first occasion onwhich the Whirlwinds drew blood.”

The following day, the 13th, PilotOfficer “Kitch” Kitchener, took off inP6988, with Pilot Officer Thornton-Brownin P6972, from RAF St Eval. They werepatrolling about twenty miles south ofLand’s End at 19,000 feet when they

spotted a Heinkel He 111 slightly abovethem and some miles ahead. The twoWhirlwinds immediately gave chase:

“South of the Scillies, Pink 2 [Kitchener]found himself short of petrol, accordingto his petrol gauge, and opened fire fromastern, firing a 4 to 5 second burst. The

Enemy Aircraft took violent evasive actionand Pink 2 closed to 300 yards but hadonly two shells left in the magazine andhad to break off the engagement. The

ABOVE LEFT: Westland Whirlwind HE-Nphotographed at Tern Hill in October 1940.It is believed that this was P6972, this beingthe aircraft flown by Pilot Officer Stein whenhe made the first claim for the type on 12January 1941. (Reg Findlay)

ABOVE RIGHT: Whirlwind P6976/HE-Xcrashed on landing whilst being flown by PilotOfficer Thornton-Brown after an interceptionpatrol on 13 January 1941. Earlier in the dayit had flown a similar patrol in the hands ofSergeant Cliff Rudland. This image providesa clear view of the Whirlwind’s characteristicarmament. (263 Squadron records)

AUGUST 2013 27



TOP: The Whirlwind’s first confirmed victorywas achieved on 8 February 1941 by PilotOfficer Ken Graham, who was flying thisaircraft, P6969/HE-V (pictured here during apatrol over the West Country). He shot downan Arado Ar 196 but was apparently hit byreturn fire and also shot down. (P.H.T. GreenCollection)

ABOVE LEFT: An informal picture of FlightLieutenant Cliff Rudland DFC. As a Sergeant,Rudland was the first pilot to spot the Aradofloatplane which became the Whirlwind’s firstvictim, but was unable to fire on it in the badweather. (64 Squadron records)

ABOVE RIGHT: Pilot Officer “Kitch” Kitchenerclaimed several Junkers Ju 88s damagedwhilst flying the Whirlwind but was seriouslyinjured in a crash after his last engagement.

(H.H. Kitchener)

28 AUGUST 2013

Enemy Aircraft did not open fire.“Pink 1’s petrol was also running low

and he fired a short burst from astern at800 to 500 yards range. Enemy Aircraft,which had been diving, now entered

a patch of cloud at 3,000 feet, flyingsouthwards. Towards the latter end ofthe engagement one of the Enemy

Aircraft’s rear gunners fired tracerineffectively. Pink 1 followed EnemyAircraft down into the cloud with 440m.p.h. showing on the clock. He leveledout and came out of cloud base atapproximately 2,000 feet.”

The German bomber escaped, withthe two Whirlwinds returning to baseseemingly low on fuel. As it transpiredthe fuel gauges were faulty. Suchproblems aside, more concrete successwas not long in coming.

On 8 February 1941, Blue Section,comprising Flying Officer Hughes inP6991 and Sergeant Cliff Rudland inP6989, took-off from Exeter at 08.40

hours for a practice flight. After twentyminutes Hughes and Rudland werediverted to investigate a plot detected byradar and designated as Raid 139.

The pair was vectored over the seaand was orbiting twelve miles south ofStart Point when Rudland spotted thedistinctive shape of an Arado Ar 196low-wing reconnaissance floatplane.The enemy aircraft then went into cloudbut was spotted again by Hughes about1,000 yards to his left. He immediately setup a beam attack and opened fire with afive-second burst at 450 yards, closing to200 yards, but without any visible result,before the Arado disappeared into the

murk once more.Meanwhile, Red Section, comprisingFlight Lieutenant David Crooks in P6968and Pilot Officer Ken Graham in P6969,had been scrambled from St Eval andvectored to Dodman Point south of thetown of St Austell and further west from

the original sighting of the Arado. Atabout 09.40 hours Crooks ordered themto split up, with him flying above thecloud and Graham below.

Seeing nothing above, David Crooksdescended and as he emerged from thecloud he spotted Ken Graham’s Whirlwindheading west. He consequently did agentle left turn to follow his colleague –only to find that he had disappeared.

Two minutes later Crooks then spotteda floatplane diving out of the cloud andgetting ever lower until it hit the waterinverted with the floats uppermost andthe black crosses clearly visible. At thesame time the local Coastguard reported

the sighting of two aircraft crashing intothe sea three miles south of DodmanPoint, one of them in flames. Sadly,20-year-old Ken Graham did not return.He was, however, posthumously creditedwith destroying the Arado.

The Whirlwind’s first “scalp” was



burst as E/A was approaching thick bankof cloud. I saw damage to port wing justoutboard of the engine. It was as if a mathad been blown up by the wind. I cannot

describe it more accurately. I imagine thatan HE shell exploded in the wing. E/Athen entered thick cloud.

“When I emerged, E/A was five milesto starboard still diving. At 200 ft itlevelled off. I gave chase and within 5minutes closed to 350 yds. I gave fiveshort bursts exhausting all my ammunitionand saw E/A go down appreciably andturn for home. I noticed that he turnedvery gently and took no evasive action.I think this may have been due to thedamaged wing.”

Six days later on the 11th Kitchenerwas scrambled once more and took offin Whirlwind P6985 at 16.40 hours. He

was ordered up to 23,000 feet and sentover the sea to the south of the LizardPeninsula where an hour after taking offhe spotted an aircraft.

Many years later he described thesubsequent events: “Coming up fromthe area of the Scillies was a Ju 88 again,similar to the one that I had chased a fewdays earlier. He must have spotted me tooas his nose went down and he opened upto full throttle with me diving flat out afterhim. At about 10,000 feet I had closed toabout 400 yards and opened at the sametime as his rear gunner did.

“Just before he went into cloud I firedanother burst and saw pieces coming offthe top just behind the canopy. I couldn’tfollow as his fire had hit my port enginewhich was streaming glycol and so Ihad to feather it. I headed back towardsPredannack flying on my starboard enginebut this too must have been damagedbecause as I approached the airfield Isaw that it was on fire and it eventuallystopped just before the runway and I spunin and crashed.”

Kitchener was badly injured, suffering

ABOVE: Whirlwind I P6984/HE-H of 263Squadron seen at RAF Exeter. During thesummer of 1940, 263 Squadron lost many ofits personnel in the sinking of HMS Glorious .In the months that followed Squadron LeaderHarry Eeles supervised the introduction of

the Whirlwind, using a few experienced 263Squadron Norway veterans as the core ofthe unit. Some were soon posted out, butone that remained was Sergeant H.H. “Kitch”Kitchener who had achieved a number ofvictories against the odds flying the Gladiatorbiplane in Norway. (263 Squadron records)

BELOW: A 263 Squadron Whirlwind, P7113,being rearmed with a 250lb bomb. Thehistorian Philip J.R. Moyes made the followingobservations on the type’s armament:“The basic feature of the Whirlwind was itsconcentration of firepower: its four closely-grouped heavy cannon in the nose had arate of fire of 600 lb./minute – which, untilthe introduction of the Beaufighter, placedit ahead of any fighter in the world.” (263Squadron Records)

AUGUST 2013 29

an Arado Ar 196A of 5/BordfleigerGruppe 196, Flown by the Staffelführer , Oberleutnant Adolf Berger, the aircraft

was coded 6W+ON.*Later in the month Squadron Leader

Arthur Donaldson took over as CO of263 Squadron. Throughout the followingmonth its Whirlwinds regularly skirmishedwith the Luftwaffe over the WesternApproaches.

On 1 March, for example, Pilot OfficerThornton Brown, flying P6989, wasleading Kitch Kitchener (in P6996) ona morning patrol. When about twentymiles off Land’s End they spotted a Ju 88ahead. The Luftwaffe crew was equallyobservant; the bomber turned and fled. Along chase then ensued during which the

Ju 88 was damaged.The same two pilots were involved inthe next incident on the morning of the5th. They had left RAF Predannack, Kitchleading in P6989 with Thornton-Brown inP6991. Once again they spotted a Ju 88to the south, which was flying at 19,000feet, but Thornton-Brown got lost in cloudwhilst positioning to open fire. Havinglost his No.2, Kitchener closed upon theenemy alone:

“I approached for a port quarterattack but when I was within 300 yds E/Adived slightly towards cloud. I followedimmediately astern at full throttle.Although E/A was kept in sight and the

chase was started approximately overLand’s End it was not until we reached theScillies that I was able to close to 400 yds.

“There was light cirrus cloud all theway down to 4,000 ft a slight break at4,000 ft but below this there was a thickblack rain cloud. At 5,000 ft I gave a short



TOP: One of 263 Squadron’s Whirlwinds atRAF Exeter in the spring of 1941, this timepictured taxiing towards the photographer.Despite the relatively small number ofWhirlwinds that entered service with theRAF, the type remained operational, virtuallyunmodified, for a remarkably long time. (263Squadron Records)

ABOVE LEFT: A shot of a 263 SquadronWhirlwind, HE-Q, in a sandbagged dispersalpen at RAF Warmwell during 1942. (263Squadron Records)

ABOVE RIGHT: Another view of a 263Squadron Whirlwind at RAF Warmwell during1942. (263 Squadron Records)

BELOW: This atmospheric image of a 263Squadron Westland Whirlwind was takenin the snow at RAF Exeter on 3 February1941. Note the aircraft’s black and skyundersurfaces. (263 Squadron Records)

30 AUGUST 2013

a fractured skull and a broken arm andwas dragged from the blazing wreck

just before it exploded. He spent a longperiod in hospital before returning toservice, but his flying days were over. He

left the RAF after the war and passedaway aged 95 on 7 July 2010.

The last of the claims in this earlyperiod of Whirlwind operations came on1 April when Arthur Donaldson, in P6998,and Flight Lieutenant David Crooks, inP6989, flew an evening patrol, taking offat 18.35 hours.

North of the Lizard they spotted aDornier Do 215 that Donaldson attackedand damaged. Sadly, David Crooks’Whirlwind crashed in flames near Helston.Although Donaldson had not heard himcall that he was attacking, it was assumedthat he too attacked the bomber but washit by return fire and shot down. The 28-

year old Canadian from Toronto was laid

to rest near Redruth in Illogan churchyard.*

Whirlwinds continued to experiencesuccess, being used to escort BomberCommand raids into Europe as well as

conducting their own Mandolin (attackson enemy railway transport) and Rhubarb missions across the Channel. It was ideallysuited to such operations as in addition toits powerful cannon the Whirlwind couldcarry two 250lb bombs or a single 500lbbomb. It was on 29 November 1943,that 263 Squadron flew its last Whirlwindmission, following which the aircraft wereretired from service.

Only one other squadron, 137Squadron, received Whirlwinds, the totalnumber of aircraft built for the RAF being

just 114. When first devised the Whirlwindwas a highly advanced aircraft and hadits introduction into operational service

not been delayed by engine problems it

might have been available for the Battleof Britain and its fame would have beenensured. As it transpired this magnificent

aircraft has largely been forgotten.

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Whirlwind WW2 Fighter