To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day we republish the recollections of Squadron Leader John Kemp, and Ken Holliday, both of whom experienced the momentous occasion under somewhat unusual circumstances.
Squadron Leader John Kemp
15054 was a small mobile radar unit that landed on the Normandy beaches in early June 1944. Numbering just 50 personnel, all of whom had had Combined Operations training, plus half that number of assorted signal vehicles, the unit led the advance of ground units of 2nd TAF through France, Holland, Belgium and Germany.
It had been specially detailed to control fighters in defence of the Rhine bridges during the Arnhem campaign and fighter bombers during the Battle of the Ardennes.
Responding to a signal in the first days of May 1945 to take over the Luftwaffe Base at Travemünde on the Baltic, the unit set out with a small escort of RAF Regiment. It was a surprise to find that it was necessary to use a vehicle ferry to reach the base and an even greater surprise to find the base consisted of an airfield, a flying boat base, a research establishment, a Fokke Wolfe 190 assembly line and the largest flying boat stores in Germany.
The Russian Zone border split the stores area from the rest of the base, although Russian troops had not yet arrived there. There were about 2,000 Luftwaffe troops confined to their barracks and about the same number of German civilian and foreign workers of mixed nationalities. VE Day had been announced and in preparation a good supply of signal flares, maroons and Very lights had been collected together, with all our available drink including the unit rum ration.
At dusk, to our astonishment, there was the sound of aircraft and a three-engined HE 138 German flying boat circled and landed on the water. We took a motorboat out and with much difficulty towed the flying boat to a buoy and took off the German aircrew who had flown down from northern Norway to surrender. Our arrival back at the pier was made hazardous by the great pyrotechnic display that had started.
As might be expected our VE party was a riotous occasion and was recorded in the unit ballad written at that time:
Till at last they announced that the Germans were trounced,
And as many amongst us will tell,
Though the war they’d survived, they somehow contrived
To outlive VE-Day as well.
For with liquor imbued such fighting ensued
As never was seen before,
And with riotous feast now the battle had ceased
They drank to the end of the war.
There were a number of unusual problems that we had to solve: a 400-ton floating crane came adrift in a gale and the flying boats had to be lifted out of the water; a barge arrived full of German JU 52 aircraft spares, along with an urgent request for the return of the empty barge; the ferry connecting us with Travemünde ran out of fuel; and we had an urgent demand for tentage for refugees arriving from the East.
With so much equipment around we had unlimited scope for projects of our own. The first was to get the FW 190 aircraft assembly line going again. We found the German technicians among the POWs and organised a volunteer test pilot from the Luftwaffe barracks. It was a satisfying and unique occasion to be able to hand over to squadrons the first RAF Fokke Wolfe 190 to come off our assembly line.
Our interpreter ‘Hauptmann Fuhrer’ who, before the war, had flown the giant Dornier flying boats on the South American routes, was persuaded to take me up in a little bi-plane. On the far side of the bay, by the ‘Russian’ stores, we found a number of large motorboats and arranged for the largest and finest to be put into the water and moved to our side of the base.
The end of the war, the fine weather and the water were enjoyable in themselves, but we improved on life still more. Three sailing boats were ‘found’ and formed the basis of the unit Sailing Club, football matches were played with army units, a sports day was organised, the photographic laboratories opened up and the radio operators got the powerful base radio to work so that it swamped all the Group’s traffic.
It was all too good to continue. After four glorious weeks the Air Disarmament advance party arrived from the UK. We received our orders to move immediately to Leck near the Danish border, and our life of pleasure was over.
German Focke Wulf 190 with RAF roundels. Although similar to the ones built at Travemünde, this aircraft was captured and sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. ©IWM
Ken Holliday
On 5 May 1945, my aircraft, a Stinson Sentinel was due a service. I set off from a forward airstrip in the Arakan, Burma, to fly to my base in Chittagong for a change of aircraft. My passenger was Corporal Anderson, our travelling engine fitter.
We flew over the river at about 2,000 ft. For days I had been complaining about the engine running roughly, without being able to identify the problem. We were just off Sharpe Island, near Buthidaung, when, with a cough and a splutter, we lost power. Remembering that we had previously used an airstrip on the island, I was relieved to be able to execute an emergency landing on what was left of it.
The locals were mainly friendly, and the following morning I set off with some villagers in a dug-out canoe to find an Army unit to beg some rations. On my return, I saw a Dakota overhead doing all sorts of wing waving. Thinking that he was trying to tell me something, I switched on the aircraft radio. Not able to contact the Dak, I tuned in to Radio Delhi and heard an excited voice declaring: “The war in Europe is over!”
Eventually, Corporal Anderson shamefacedly announced that he had found the cause of our engine problem. As we were approaching the monsoon season, all aircraft fuel tanks had to be full of petrol to stop them filling with water. This had not been done, and we had water in the fuel. Fortunately, water sinks to the bottom and can be drained off. A quick solo flight to test the engine, and to get away from the red haired (and by now red-faced) Anderson, and soon we were able to set off again, three days after our forced landing.
We arrived back at the squadron base to find some still celebrating, but most nursing hangovers and not in the mood for another party!
Under the supervision of their engineering officer at an RAF Maintenance Unit personnel work on a Stinson Sentinel in the Arakan, Burma. ©IWM
VE Day scenes in London, where Winston Churchill was mobbed by the crowd at the Houses of Parliament after his victory speech. Churchill was president of both the RAF Association’s Ilford and Woodford branch and House of Commons branch. ©IWM
