When Hitler unleashed his V1 and V2 rockets on Great Britain in
1944, it was the first military attack on the British civilian
population without invasion. Innocent families were wiped out
without mercy and terror gripped the nation. Churchill and the
Crossbow Committee knew that widespread panic would soon ensue,
because the British public were becoming increasingly anxious about
the Nazis superior technology, which was destroying their lives.
But through important intelligence from Bomber Command, Naval
commandos, the French and Dutch Resistances in Europe, and the
precise plotting of V rocket activity in the Filter Room of Fighter
Command through air reconnaissance, a Top Secret plan was formed to
dive-bomb V rocket installations with Mark IX and Mark XVI
Spitfires. Craig Cabell is the writer and historian responsible for
bringing Operation Big Ben to world attention. He has studied the
original documentation since its release from the National Archive
in 2004 and interviewed veterans who took part in the operation,
such as Flight Lieutenant Raymond Baxter. Cabell's initial research
resulted in many accolades and now resides in the 602 'City of
Glasgow' Squadron Museum.But now, for the first time, Cabell has
put together the whole story of Operation Big Ben, showing the work
of the Crossbow Committee, intelligence Commandos under the orders
of Commander Ian Fleming, the French and Dutch Resistances, and the
brave men who flew the Spitfires of 124, 229, 303, 453, 602 and 603
squadrons. For the sake of accuracy and attention to detail, this
book concentrates on the day-to-day activity of Spitfires during
Operation Big Ben and the work of the various strands of British
intelligence before and during it. In this book Operation Big Ben
is separated from Operation Crossbow, (the anti-V1 operation) to
show how the British government stepped up its urgency to counter
the V2 threat. Although some of the detail could be considered
repetitious in places (many cuts of non-operational flying have
been made from the histories of each squadron in order to keep the
flow of the book thought-provoking and interesting), the focus is
on accuracy. The author has noted that in other publications that
touch on Operation Big Ben, specific activity has not been
documented correctly. This is because squadron histories haven't
been cross-referenced in the past.Each squadron history in this
book, mentions the work of other Big Ben squadrons (to report on
the filtering of intelligence, escort work for other larger
operations, or the details of the weather conditions experienced
and the plight of the Dutch people during the harsh winter of
1944-45) to create a fuller and more visual picture of what
happened. It is appreciated that aviation historians and
enthusiasts alike will analyse this volume for the details of the
Spitfires used. In a nutshell, Mark IXF Spitfires started Operation
Big Ben. These had elliptical wings to begin with and then
progressed to clipped-wing (pin-pointing exact dates has not always
been possible). The Mark XVI became the cream of the crop for the
most important squadrons (602, 603 and to a lesser degree 303; with
602 being the first to have them, followed by 303), Mark V's were
used for training purposes. For dive-bombing purposes, two 250 lb
bombs were used under each wing for balance, with a 500 lb bomb
under the fuselage.Occasionally just the 500 lb bomb was carried,
sometime just the two 250 lb bombs, depending on how far they had
to fly inland or the difficulty of the job in-hand (the greater
weight the more fuel used). Version 5 roundel was used and
Operation Big Ben insignia on either side of the fuselage.
General
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