Dickie Reynell, Black Saturday and eye-witness accounts

Flt Lt RC Reynell RAF (Shoreham Museum)

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I have written on a couple of occasions abour Flight Lieutenant Richard Carew Reynell RAF, an Australian pilot who died many thousands of miles from home, helping to defend London on 7th September 1940 during the Battle of Britain and who was shot down just a mile or so along the road from where I now live. As a result of my original piece back in February 2012 I was contacted by Andrew Rennie, a friend of the Reynell family back in Australia who is putting together a book on Dickie's life. We have kept in contact over the years and were finally able to meet in June 2013 when the Shoreham Aircraft Museum unveiled their monument to Dickie at Crown Point in Blackheath, not too far from the spot where his Hurricane crashed and where Dickie's body was discovered.

On Andrew's visit in 2013, he had gleaned information that perhaps Richard's body had been found at a different location to that originally reported in the Civil Defence Incident Log and seeing as this information came from what was thought to be a reliable source, we set about trying to piece together the latest threads of information. We were told that Richard's body had been found by a passer-by not at Kidbrooke Grove as shown in the Civil Defence records but in Dartmouth Row, on the opposite side of Blackheath and quite a considerable distance from the original recorded spot. The source shall remain nameless so as to avoid embarrassment but his information had supposedly been corroborated by an eye-witness. The location of the wreckage of Dickie's Hurricane V7257 had been spread across the heath, with the largest portions, including the engine, falling through the roof of St Ursula's Convent, so this much at least could not be disputed.

I have always had a great suspicion of "eye-witness" accounts and think that certain authors and researchers place a great over-emphasis on their importance. These accounts are all well and good if there are several of them and they broadly agree in their description of events. They are also generally reliable if they emanate from a trained observer, such as a Police Officer or a serviceman or woman but those written long after the event from someone whose memories may be faded have to treated with the utmost caution - these people sometimes tell one what one wishes to hear, or what they think might have happened but say it with great authority. Sadly, many of these "authentic" accounts prove to be unreliable to say the least and so it proved with the information given to Andrew.

The National Archives are in the process of gradually releasing the Casualty Branch enquiries into deceased airmen from the Second World War and when news of these became known to Andrew and myself, we anxiously awaited the release of the pack containing Dickie's details. The first batch was released in 2014 and infuriatingly for us at that time, only included details for casualties up to and including 31st August 1940 - so near and yet so far!

Almost three years were to elapse, with many enquiries as to their release dead batted away by the National Archives until the next tranche were finally released in July of this year and this time, we were not disappointed. The documents were ordered and a visit to Kew was made a few weeks ago. The file contained a great deal of correspondence, including copies of telegrams sent from the Air Ministry to Dickie's wife and family, letters from his employers the Hawker Aircraft Company enquiring about arrangements for obtaining a Death Certificate and most importantly from our point of view, a genuine eye-witness account, not from someone supposedly recalling events from thirty or so years' distance but from a Staff Sergeant Deeley of the Royal Army Pay Corps, who had been walking across Blackheath towards Shooter's Hill Road on 7 September 1940, when he witnessed the aircraft crashing and Dickie's partially opened parachute falling. After running for a short time, he commandeered a passing van and both he and the driver arrived on the scene of the incident at the same time as a Police Officer, PC Cochran from Lee Green Police Station.

This account, written by a trained observer, confirms that the original Civil Defence report was indeed correct and that Dickie's body was discovered in the garden at 3 Kidbrooke Grove, which was incidentally the residence of Commander HP Mead RN, who happened to be at home at the time of the incident. Dickie appeared to have been wounded in the chest and had crashed through a garden bench when he hit the ground. According to the report "Life was extinct and the body was removed to the Royal Herbert Military Hospital, Woolwich."

Andrew recently visited the UK once again, so on a rainy August day, we met in Blackheath and took ourselves to 3 Kidbrooke Grove and on the spur of the moment, in a fine display of Australian forthrightness, Andrew knocked on the door. We were greeted by the present owner of the house, Chris Richards, to whom we introduced ourselves and who was astonished to learn of the events of some seventy seven years ago in his back garden. Chris is a war gamer and has a keen knowledge of military history, so was fascinated to learn what had happened. Over a cup of coffee, Chris showed us his back garden and we were able to perhaps imagine what is must have been like in September 1940 with an air battle raging overhead, bombs falling and the terrible sight and sound of a fighter pilot's body suddenly arriving in one's garden.

To provide some wider background, I can do no better than include a slightly re-edited version of my original 2013 blog post which covered the day's events.

The raid on London of 7th September 1940 was what RAF Bomber Command and the US 8th Air Force would later call a 'Maximum Effort' raid. Goering deployed 348 bombers escorted by 617 Bf109 and Bf110 fighters. They were basically in one massive formation heading towards London at between 14,000 and 23,000 feet. It was no exaggeration to say that this huge force filled the skies and they must have presented an awe-inspiring sight to the defending Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of 11 Group, Fighter Command sent up to meet them. It was no wonder that Londoners were to dub this day 'Black Saturday' such was the intensity of the assault upon the capital.

43 Squadron Crest - Gloria Finis

The first two squadrons to intercept the attackers were the auxiliaries from 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron and the 'regular' 43 Squadron, known as 'The Fighting Cocks' from their squadron badge. Three of 43's Hurricanes went in against the fighters, whilst the other six, led by the Squadron commander, the Rhodesian Caesar Hull, along with Dickie Reynell and Pilot Officer Alan Deller, took on the bombers. The engagements lasted all the way from the Sussex coast and even after they had exhausted their ammunition continued to harass the bombers as best as they could by making mock attacks. Hull shot down two Dorniers but was eventually shot down by an escorting fighter and crashed in the grounds of Purley Grammar School in Surrey, whilst Dickie's Hurricane exploded over Blackheath and he fell to earth without his parachute having deployed. Deller too was shot down but managed to bale out out of his blazing Hurricane and lived to fight another day. When John Kilmartin, leader of the rear section that had attacked the fighters landed, he could only mutter the words "My God, My God!"

Although the RAF quickly recovered it's equilibrium, Black Saturday was arguably the closest that Fighter Command came to being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Air Vice Marshal Park of 11 Group had called upon the neighbouring 12 Group for assistance as per the well tried system within Fighter Command but as often happened, the 'Big Wing' took far too long to formate and to compound this delay, the leader of the Duxford Wing, Douglas Bader ignored the instructions of his controller and took his wing to patrol at 15,000 feet over North Weald instead of at 10,000 and whilst engaging a formation of bombers were 'bounced' by the escorting fighters which shot down or damaged six Hurricanes. The 'Big Wing' concept was unwieldy and on this day, was also hindered by communications breakdowns that slowed it's deployment still further. Despite all of this, pro and anti 'Big Wing' attitudes in the RAF would harden in the coming months.

The unveiled memorial stone

At the end of the day's fighting, the Germans had lost only fourteen bombers, or 4% of the attacking force but had lost twenty three of the escorting fighters, which had sacrificed themselves in protecting the bomber force. It had been a bad day for Fighter Command, losing twenty six fighters and more importantly six of their pilots. Despite this attrition, the odds still favoured the RAF; their pilots that survived being shot down were over friendly territory and were usually quickly returned to the fray, whilst the Luftwaffe pilots were either killed or taken prisoner. Furthermore, by switching their attention to London, the Luftwaffe were no longer attacking the RAF's airfields.

London had already suffered grievously and with the Luftwaffe returning under cover of darkness to re-stoke the fires, the coming of the dawn would see 412 Londoners dead, with a further 747 seriously injured. To add to the confusion, somebody had issued an invasion alert - the codeword Cromwell had been issued and the church bells in some areas had been rung. Fortunately, this was a false alarm and the fuss soon died down. From now onwards though, London would be the Luftwaffe's main target and would suffer by night. There would be one more attempt to mount a major daylight raid - this would come just over a week later and would result in a vastly different outcome, although this is another story.

As a result of their mauling on 7th September and earlier losses during the Battle of Britain, 43 Squadron was withdrawn from the action and sent to recuperate at RAF Usworth, near Sunderland in 13 Group, Fighter Command. The squadron had been decimated and could only muster thirteen pilots, of whom six were recent postings from the Operational Training Units. Of the survivors, only John Kilmartin had any significant experience, so although the withdrawal was a painful blow for this proud squadron to bear, it was undoubtedly the correct decision. 43 Squadron's time would come again, in November 1942 as part of the Desert Air Force and in liberated France in 1944, where they became known to the local French populace as Les Coqs Anglais. Moving into the jet age, the squadron operated Meteors and Hunters in the 1950s, Phantoms in the 70s and 80s, before receiving Tornados in 1989. The squadron saw service in both Gulf Wars before standing down in 2009 as part of one of the seemingly endless rounds of defence cutbacks. The squadron is earmarked to reform as a Eurofighter Typhoon squadron at some point in the near future but whether this actually ever happens remains to be seen.

The memorial stone before unveiling

The 2013 ceremony for Dickie Reynell was a simple but moving affair organised by the Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Kent, as part of their ongoing project to place a memorial at or near the site of every Battle of Britain pilot lost within a ten mile radius of the museum. The service was attended by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Cllr Angela Cornforth as well as many members of the Reynell family, representatives from the Australian Embassy, RAAF and the RAF and of course many volunteers from the Shoreham Aircraft Museum as well as a decent turn out of members of the local Blackheath and Greenwich public who braved the rain and who wished to honour this brave man who died helping to defend the city that we all love and the freedom that we enjoy today. 

Andrew Rennie tells us about Dickie's final mission

Family friend Andrew Rennie, whose book on Dickie will doubtless make fascinating reading, gave a moving account of Richard's last sortie and of the events of the afternoon of September 7th. The memorial stone was then unveiled by Monsignor Nicholas Rothon of St Mary's Church Blackheath, Wing Commander Tony O'Leary of the RAAF and by David Caillard RAF (retired), who is a great nephew of Dickie Reynell. Following the unveiling ceremony, David gave a moving and insightful speech about Dickie Reynell and of his family's continuing pride in his achievements, not only during the Battle of Britain but in his pre-war service with the RAF and also as a test pilot for Hawker's, in which he did much valuable work in perfecting the RAF's first monoplane fighter and which was the real workhorse of the Battle of Britain, along with it's more glamorous half-sister, the Spitfire.

Members of the Reynell family by the memorial

From all accounts, Richard Reynell was not only a brave man, he was fine pilot and a decent person too, who had a kind word of encouragement for all and who was widely liked by not only his family but by his extended family within the RAF, in Hawkers and in the aircraft industry. It was a sad twist of fate that he had been recalled by Hawkers on 7th September 1940 but had chosen to see out the day's operations before returning to his normal work as a test pilot.

The City that Richard Reynell died whilst defending

When reflecting on Dickie Reynell and his contemporaries within the RAF during the Battle of Britain, one can only echo the words of Winston Churchill - "Never was so much owed by so many, to so few."

Unpublished Sources:

National Archives - AIR81/3127 Air Ministry P4 Casualty Branch Flight Lieutenant RC Reynell 

Published Sources:

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay, Aurum Press 2000

The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster. Tri-Service Press 1990

Flight Lieutenant Richard Carew Reynell RAF

Dick Reynell (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

An early part of the process of researching a Blitz Walk is to go through the relevant local authority Civil Defence, or ARP Incident Log. Only by doing this, can we get an idea of what happened in any given locality, to see if there are any incidents, major or minor, that are likely to yield any personal accounts or photographs, or both, that are so vital in providing a series of 'stands' along the route of our chosen walk that make for what we hope will be an entertaining and informative experience for our walkers.

Sadly, in what today seems a remarkable act of cultural vandalism, some local authorities destroyed their Civil Defence records in the 1960s and 70s, perhaps at a time when Second World War history was of limited interest and when there were still plenty of veterans who could relate their experiences. Fortunately, these boroughs in London were in the minority and today when history is firmly back on the agenda, many of the London Boroughs have excellent archives and heritage centres where one can examine all manner of local history, not least amongst them being records from The Blitz.

One such source of information is the excellent Greenwich Heritage Centre located at the old Woolwich Arsenal site and it was whilst researching the Incident Log and Photo Library for what was to become my first Blitz Walk in my own locality of Blackheath and Greenwich that I first chanced upon the story of Flight Lieutenant Richard Carew Reynell and how he met his end, almost on my doorstep, on Saturday 7th September 1940 - the first day of The Blitz.

There in the archives, I discovered a photograph of Richard - 'Dickie' to his friends and squadron colleagues - and wondered why the archives of a south east London borough contained a photograph of a rather dashing looking RAF Officer. I found the answer to my question almost immediately afterwards with the discovery of a couple of newspaper cuttings which began to give up the first shreds of the story. A few days later, when transcribing the Incident Log, I came upon one of the many entries made on 'Black Saturday', that fine late summer's afternoon that saw Goring's Luftwaffe hitting London hard for the first time. That entry simply reads "7th Sept 1940 - Incident 6A - 3- Kidbrooke Gardens - RAF Parachutist badly injured."

And that was it, no further detail, just a photograph, two newspaper cuttings and a terse entry in an Incident Log written hastily in the heat of battle some 70 years ago. The newspaper cuttings did tell us that Dickie Reynell had been alive when he fell to earth but had sadly died before he could be taken to hospital. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, as always provided invaluable information regarding Dickie's squadron, service number and his burial place. Further help came from the superb work of the Aircrew Remembrance Society who were able to furnish the details of the aircraft he was flying and some important background information. They also provided a link to Dickie's original obituary from 'Flight' magazine of October 1940, which told that Dickie was an Australian - apart from Britons, many of 'The Few' were from the Empire and Commonwealth as well as Allied countries conquered by the Nazis. All of a sudden, Dickie Reynell was not just a photograph of any one of the brave men of 'The Few' - he was a real person, undoubtedly brave, with an interesting past, who died doing the job he loved and who perished helping to defend my City and furthermore, defending my local neighbourhood.

Then last week, I was approached by that redoubtable local blogger, The Greenwich Phantom, who in turn had been approached by Andrew Rennie, an author in Dickie's native Australia, who is preparing a biography of the man and who is trying to piece together the final hours of his life. So, without in any way wishing to steal Andrew's thunder - in any case this blog can only scratch at the surface of a story like this - it now seems a fitting time to share with you the story of this brave man, one of some 510 RAF aircrew, British, Commonwealth and Allied, who gave their lives during the Battle of Britain.

Richard Carew Reynell was born in 1912, in Reynella, South Australia, where his family owned a large winery estate. Dickie's father was Lieutenant Colonel Carew Reynell, who had been killed at Gallipoli in 1915 whilst serving with the 9th Australian Light Horse. In 1929, Dick came to this country to study at Oxford but soon joined the Oxford University Squadron and having discovered his love of flying, abandoned his studies and joined the RAF in 1931, with whom he served in 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere. He was a natural flyer and in 1937, joined the Hawker Aircraft Company as a test pilot and thus was involved from an early stage with the Hurricane, one of the new generation of monoplane, eight gun fighters which, along with the Spitfire was to prove the saviour of this country during the Battle of Britain. His obituary in "Flight" Magazine describes how he demonstrated the Hurricane at the Brussels Air Show before the war to a distinguished audience, including General Erhardt Milch, at that time Secretary of the Reich Aviation Ministry, where his display was an amazing demonstration of the Hurricane's capabilities. Dickie was not a 'show off' pilot but was a consummate professional, who believed in doing everything well. He also possessed a great technical knowledge of his aircraft; in short he was the perfect test pilot.

Reynell continued to serve at Hawker's but in August 1940, had returned to 43 Squadron in order to evaluate the Hurricane's performance in combat conditions and to recommend modifications that could be made in the light of wartime experience. His touch had not left him however and by 7th September he had already been credited with shooting down one enemy aircraft as well as a number of 'probables' to his name. On the 7th September, he was scheduled to return to Hawker's to resume his duties owing to the death of another of the Company's test pilots but in the event, he opted to stay with 43 Squadron until the end of that day's flying.

Saturday 7th September 1940 dawned as a beautiful late summer's day. Some people were working in their wartime jobs, whilst others, seeking a measure of normality attended more traditional pursuits such as football matches in the limited wartime leagues that had recently resumed. A few bombs had fallen on the suburbs of London and on 24th August, some had even fallen on the City and north London as a result of a navigational error by a small number of bombers but until this day, the capital had escaped the worst attentions of the Luftwaffe.

However, this was not to last; as a result of the bombs falling on 24th August, Churchill had ordered a retaliatory raid on Berlin and although the damage caused had been miniscule, the loss of face had caused Hitler to fly into a rage and to pledge that British cities would be wiped from the map. So it was then, at 4.45 p.m. on Saturday 7th September that the air raid sirens sounded their mournful wail over London and the fighter squadrons of the RAF, hitherto used to defending their own airfields and shipping in the Channel, were vectored to intercept the raiders as they crossed the coast and headed towards the sprawling capital.

For this first, daylight phase of the attack, Goring had deployed some 348 bombers escorted by 617 fighters from Luftflottes II and III commanded by Albert Kesselring and Hugo Sperrle respectively. As the sirens sounded, Fighter Command had all of the 21 squadrons within 70 miles of London either in the air or at readiness. The first two RAF squadrons to intercept the raiders were 602 Squadron and Dickie Reynell's 43 Squadron, both from Tangmere. As they broke through the haze at 16,000 feet, somewhere over Beachy Head, the sight that encountered them was something that the RAF pilots had never seen before. A seemingly endless array of bombers and fighters, against which stood some 20 Spitfires and Hurricanes.

After harrying the enemy through to the south-eastern suburbs of London, Dickie got into a tangle with a Bf109 and at about 6 p.m., over Blackheath, his Hurricane, serial number V7257 was blown into several pieces; the engine fell through the roof of St Ursula's Convent, starting a fire. The main bulk of the aircraft fell on the area of Blackheath known as Crown Point, whilst Dickie himself was blown out of the aircraft and fell, without deploying his parachute at Kidbrooke Grove on the other side of the heath, where he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Incident Log, written in the heat of the moment described the scene of his death wrongly as Kidbrooke Gardens.

Thus passed Richard Reynell, like so many casualties of war a victim of circumstances; if he had decided to return to Hawker's that morning he could well have survived the war and gone on to an even more illustrious career as a test pilot. Dickie left behind a widow, Enid Marjorie as well as a baby son and his death was part of what proved to be a day of heavy losses for Fighter Command; 18 Hurricanes and 10 Spitfires were lost and more importantly than the machines which could be replaced were the men who could not. Apart from Dickie, another of those killed was his close friend and 43 Squadron Commander, Sq/Ldr Caesar Hull of South Africa, who died when his Hurricane was brought down in the grounds of Purley High School.

The daylight raiders wreaked a terrible price on the ground; large swathes of the East End, the Surrey Docks and the Woolwich Arsenal were ablaze with the fires lit acting as a beacon for a further 247 German bombers from Luftlotte III returning in a second wave to stoke the inferno. By dawn, some 400 British civilians were dead. The raids were not without cost to the Luftwaffe - they had lost some 37 aircraft together with their crews killed or captured but considering the size of the attacking force, this was the Luftwaffe's day (and night). Retribution was to follow but for now, the RAF and Londoners had to lick their wounds.

Richard Reynell is buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, far away from his native Australia but as mentioned earlier, Andrew Rennie is planning a book which will commemorate his life and achievements. If anyone reading this blog has any information on Richard Reynell, either through family recollections or perhaps as an eye witness of his final moments, albeit perhaps as a small child watching on Blackheath, then please get in touch as Andrew is anxious to tie up as many loose ends as possible in tracing the last hours of this brave man.

Watch this blog for an announcement in due course as to when Andrew's book is to be published; this writer, for one will be certain to purchase a copy.

Printed Sources:

Backs To The Wall - Leonard Mosley, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1971
Flight Magazine - October 31st 1940
The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay, Aurum Press 2000
The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster, Tri Service Press 1990

Internet Sources:

www.thegreenwichphantom.co.uk
www.cwgc.org
www.aircrewrembrancesociety.com
Unpublished Sources:

Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich Civil Defence Incident Log - Greenwich Heritage Centre
Greenwich Heritage Centre Photo Library
Andrew Rennie's (so far) unpublished work