Solid work on that Beaufighter.
A great group idea for D-DAY +80. (Let's call it that) I'm in.
With your inspiration at hand, I'm thinking a Revell Beau and decals I've had in the stash for the North Coates Strike Wing. The decals I have are for Wing Commander Ken Gatward.
I think the following story shows he's more than appropriate:
Alfred Kitchener “Ken” Gatward was one of the outstanding personalities associated with the Beaufighter during the Second World War. Born in 1914, the son of a Police Chief Inspector, Ken Gatward joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1937 as a Sergeant Pilot. Commissioned a Pilot Officer in 1940, he spent 1940-41 flying low-level missions in Blenheim IV bombers with 53 Squadron. After completing his first tour, he volunteered for a second and was assigned to 236 Squadron in Coastal Command, newly-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.IC.
Ken Gatward flew into the history books on June 12, 1942, when he and his navigator, Flight Sergeant Gilbert “George” Kern, took part in Operation Squabble. The French Resistance had informed the Special Operations Executive that the German SS troops assigned to the Gestapo in Paris made a daily parade down the Champs Elysees between 12:15-12:45 p.m. SOE asked the RAF to help them give the SS some public grief with a strafing mission down the boulevard, dropping a French Tricolor atop the Arc de Triomphe and attacking the Gestapo HQ. Gatward was named for the mission given his experience with low-level missions over France. The first attempt was made on May 13, 1942, but bad weather over France forced an abort. On June 12, Gatward and Kern took off from Thorney Island in driving rain and 10/10 cloud cover. Once over France, the weather cleared to cloudless skies over Paris. Circling the Eiffel Tower, Gatward suffered a bird strike in his right engine but was able to fly on, dropping to an altitude of 30 feet as he roared down the Champs Elysees, heading toward the Arc de Triomphe. The German parade was late, but Kern successfully dropped the Tricolor directly on the monument. Turning to attack the Gestapo HQ, they did break up the parade that was forming late, and dropped a second Tricolor on the front entrance of the building. Arriving back at Thorney Island at 1:53 p.m., Gatward was awarded an immediate DFC and Kern the DFM. The mission of June 12 is still celebrated in France.
A year later, Gatward returned to combat, joining 404 “Buffalo” Squadron, RCAF, as a flight leader. The squadron was engaged in shipping strikes over Norway, and Gatward gained a reputation as a daring leader of low-level missions into the fjords. In March 1944, the squadron leader was lost on operations and Gatward was promoted to Wing Commander and given command.
In May 1944, 404 moved from northern Scotland to what they hoped would be better quarters on the “Cornish Riviera” in preparation for Operation Overlord. RAF Davidstow Moor turned out to be so grim that it was soon called “Stalag 404" by the men. They began operations along the Biscay coast.
On D-Day, three German Narvik class destroyers - Z32, Z24 and ZH-1 - were spotted headed toward the invasion beaches. 14 Beaufighters from 404 Squadron, armed with armor-piercing rockets, in company with 16 Beaufighters of 144 Squadron for flak suppression, and 8 Mosquitos from 248 Squadron as fighter escort, took off to intercept the German ships, where were finally sighted near Belle Isle off St. Nazaire. The Beaufighters attacked successfully with heavy damage inflicted. A second strike against these ships on June 7 with such heavy damage inflicted that the ships were forced to put into Brest. Z32 was beached.
Throughout the rest of the month the squadron and the rest of the Beaufighter strike wing went after German shipping on the Biscay coast. For his leadership in these missions, Gatward was awarded the DSO on June 11. At the end of June, they found a German convoy south of Brest and sank the cargo carriers and their escorts.
On July 5 the squadron moved to RAF Strubby on the east coast, where their assignment was to attack shipping off the Belgian and Dutch coasts. Over the course of July, they made four successful attacks against heavily-defended convoys. On August 7, Gatward landed his Beaufighter at Cherbourg, becoming the first Coastal Command aircraft to land in liberated France.
The squadron moved back to Davidstow Moor in early August and over the next three weeks made several dangerous attacks against enemy shipping. On August 14, Gatward led seven 404 Beaufighters, accompanied by seven more from 236 Squadron on an armed recce mission to the Gironde River. A group of German ships were found at the mouth of the river and attacked successfully. During the attack, Gatward’s Beaufighter suffered flak damage to the left wing and engine but brought the plane home despite heavy damage to the aileron. He was awarded a second DFC for this mission.
On September 5, the Beaufighter strike wing moved to Banff, where Gatward was promoted to Group Captain and placed in command of the wing. He led them in successful strikes in Norway until the end of the year when he was taken off operations.
