25 Planes on Fire

A relaxed photo that gives no hint of anxiety

Jack’s base at Staplehurst lay some hundred kilometers across the Channel from Calais, France, on a direct path for German fliers targeting London.

Ground crews rarely saw enemy action, but they had to be prepared. They dug trenches, and they trained in marksmanship. Mostly they worked, nonstop, to keep their planes flying. They even used their ingenuity to arrange to sleep right down on the line where they were working. So totally focused on the job at hand, they were unprepared for danger when it actually appeared.

Belly Tank Beds on the Line

The belly [gasoline] tanks were shipped to us in plywood containers about six and a half feet long and two feet wide. We were working long hours, and some of us crew chiefs decided instead of going up to the tent area to sleep, we would put our mummy bags (a bag filled with straw to act as a mattress) in the belly tank boxes and sleep on the line. We turned the opening of the belly tank box away from where the planes would turn and possibly throw dust and dirt on our sacks. Even so, we still got dirt, rocks, and dust on our beds. We also had our rifles in the box.[1]

P-51s at the ready

Kellar, Derrick, and Winkler

Planes were going and coming, and inspections were off. We were fighting war! Consequently we were busy, and no one bothered us very much. We were more or less on our own to do what we wanted to do, go and eat when we wanted to eat, and sleep. No one checked your rifle to see if it was cleaned or if your clothes were pressed or anything like that. One night we found out what a bad idea that was.

A "plane on fire" over rooftops in England[2]

An Interrupted Midnight Dinner

A mess sergeant brought some food to us down on the line about midnight. As we continued to work on our planes, we heard an awful, loud drone. We went outside the engineering tent, and here was a plane at treetop level with flames shooting out of its tail. We thought at first when it came over that there was a plane on fire because of the big ball of flame that came out of the tail end of this thing. So naturally we thought, well, they must be enemies, and we’d go out and start firing the rifles. Only the rifles wouldn’t work because they’d been laying in the box, cleaned, in the belly boxes, with the planes swinging around, throwing all the dust and everything into there, and the rifles wouldn’t work. Nobody’s rifles would work.

It was a very, very confusing night. After the planes on fire started coming over two or three or four at a time, it was announced over the loud speaker system, “It’s been reported,” I’ll never forget this, “that enemy paratroopers have landed in our area. Do what you think best.” Oh boy, now what do we do?

 

V-1 in pre-launch[3]

Colonel Cloke, who was commanding officer of our group [363^rd] of three squadrons, came down on the line, and somebody challenged him. We didn’t know who he was. It was dark, and with the threat of enemy paratroopers, a guard challenged him. Colonel Cloke had been drinking that night, and what went on wasn’t a very pleasant scene. No one was court martialed for what was said because what did we know who it was?

Lt. Col. Marshall Cloke[4]

There were no paratroopers, and we found out these planes on fire were V-1 rockets called buzz bombs, pilotless airplanes with bombs on them. They started coming over daily, during the day or during the night. They were headed for London, the biggest part of them, but the engines could cut out at any particular time, which means that the thing fell, and the bombs went off. We started sending planes up after them. We sent one plane up, and it burnt its engine up right away trying to chase it, because it was going so fast. So they discontinued sending our planes up, and the AK-AK (artillery) went after them. They would shoot some down, but the biggest part of them got through. But at that time they had put up balloons with big cables on them to protect London. In other words, before the V-1s got to London they would hit the cables, and then they would go down and explode there rather than going on into London.

 

Barrage balloons over London, with Parliament in foreground[5]

That night was 13 June 1944, the first launch of the V-1 against London and a week after D-Day. While the invasion of France lives on as a major historical event, to Jack the real excitement of the month was the first experience of the V-1. The build-up to invasion turned out to be a letdown for the 363^rd.

To hear the V-1 as Jack heard it, click here (YouTube: “World War Two Live (Original) V1 Rocket Sound Recording”).

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[1] Jack J. Kellar, “Autobiography,” 1998; two ninety-minute cassette tape recordings; held and partially transcribed by the author. Also, Jack J. Kellar, interview about his first years after high school by Judy Kellar Fox, 12 April 1993; cassette tape recording and transcription held by the author. Excerpts combined and lightly edited.

[2] “View of a V-1 rocket in flight,” National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/ww2/photos/images/ww2-89.jpg

 : accessed 7 June 2018) > Research Our Records > Military Records > World War II Records > Photos > World War II Photos > No. 89.

[3] “V-1 vor dem Start” [V-1, pre-launch], photograph, 31 December 1943, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482824 : accessed 7 June 2018); Bundesarchiv [German Federal Archives], Bild [Photograph] 146-1975-117-26 / Lysiak / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

[4] “Black and White and Color Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessor Agencies Activities, Facilities, and Personnel - World War II,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/document/41557957/ : accessed 8 June 2018), NARA Reference Number 342-FH-3A17644-56037AC, “Lt. Col. Marshall Cloke,” detail.

[5] “Barrage balloons over London during World War II,” photograph, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barrage_balloons_over_London_during_World_War_II.jpg : accessed 8 June 2018); public domain photograph scanned from C.J. Finn, AP3003: A Brief History of the Royal Air Force (London: HMSO, 2004).