The Airmen's Stories - S/Ldr. G L Denholm

Group Captain (Squadron Leader during the Battle) George Denholm commanded No 603 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, one of the most successful units in the Battle of Britain. At 32, Denholm was considered somewhat ancient for the task by the bright young pilots, some still in their teens, under his command - though they revered him as "Uncle George".

One of Denholm's pilots was the 21-year-old Richard Hillary whose memoir ‘The Last Enemy’ (1942) reflected the esteem in which Uncle George was held. Although no one would have suggested it to Denholm, some believed his being shot down twice in the Battle of Britain owed something to his advancing years. But Denholm had seven years experience behind him as a weekend flier with 603 in the Auxiliary (later Royal) Air Force and the young men - the "chicks" as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding dubbed them - realised that they were lucky to have such a wise squadron commander.
Himself an outstanding example of the dashing pilots of the Auxiliary Squadrons Denholm expected high standards in the air and exemplary behaviour in the mess. Never forgetting that the squadron originated in Glasgow, Denholm insisted that 603's officers drink Drambuie, rather than port, after dinner. Yet he never discouraged his young pilots high spirits, provided this did not impair their fighting efficiency. For their part Denholm's pilots knew that he had been credited, shortly after the outbreak of war, with a half-share of a He111 bomber over the Firth of Forth. This was the first enemy aircraft to be shot down over Britain.

After Denholm had led the squadron south to reinforce Dowding's hard-pressed squadrons of 11 and 12 Group he shared a Ju88 bomber (on July 3rd) and destroyed a Me109 fighter (on August 28th ).
On August 30th he was shot down for the first time in combat with Me110 twin-engine fighters over Deal in Kent. He bailed out of his Spitfire which crashed at Hope Farm, Snargate and rejoined his squadron. After shooting down a Me109 fighter on September 15th he attacked a Do17 bomber only to be hit by return fire. Bailing out he parachuted in at Guestling Lodge, near Hastings, where he learned that his Spitfire had crashed nearby at Warren Farm.

When Italy, expecting the defeat of Fighter Command, momentarily entered the fray over Britain, Denholm relished the prospect of easy pickings. Rallying his pilots with the cry of "Wops ahead", he led the squadron in the slaughter of eight "Eyetie" aircraft.

George Lovell Denholm was born on 20th December 1908 at Bo'ness, West Lothian, the son of an importer of props for coal mines. After Fettes and St John's College, Cambridge, where he read Economics, he served briefly in the Territorial Army before switching in 1933 to the Auxiliary Air Force. He trained with 603, then flying biplane DH9A’s. He took command of 603 in June 1940 while it was still stationed in Scotland.

When in August the squadron was ordered south to join the Spitfire wing at Hornchurch in Essex, Denholm had to recall Hillary and other pilots from the shooting lodge of the Duke of Hamilton, who happened to be a station commander.

After the Battle of Britain the squadron returned to Scotland. It had lost 16 of the 24 pilots who had flown south that summer. From April 1941 Denholm was rested in the Turnhouse operations room where he was on duty the night that Rudolf Hess landed in Scotland.

Subsequently Denholm was posted to command 1460 Flight, which was forming at Acklington with Turbinlite Havocs. Denholm's task was to execute one of Churchill's less practical schemes, using the Turbinlite airborne searchlights to pick out enemy bombers for RAF night fighters.
From August 1942 Denholm commanded No 605 Squadron, flying American-built Boston light bombers and Mosquitos on sorties over Europe and Norway, where he helped to receive the German surrender.

Afterwards he resumed the family business and seldom spoke about his war. He was happiest sailing and restoring his cottage at Port Appin.

Denholm was awarded the DFC in October 1940 for his actions during the Battle of Britain. He was mentioned in despatches in 1945.

He married, in 1939, Betty Tooms. They had two sons and two daughters. He died on 15 June 1997.

For an account of a visit by his daughter Hilary to the monument click here

With acknowledgments to the Daily Telegraph

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'Winged Words'

It has been possible to attribute the following to S/Ldr. Denholm, it has been taken from a book ‘Winged Words’ published by Heinemann in 1941 and composed of transcripts of BBC radio broadcasts made by RAF airmen between December 1939 and February 1941. The airmen were not identified by name but their rank and background was given and with hindsight it is quite easy to make an identification.

The broadcasts seem by today’s standards quite ‘gung-ho’ but this is in keeping with the spirit of the time.

December, 1940
A SQUADRON LEADER DESCRIBES HIS SQUADRON'S BATTLE WITH THE ITALIANS

The commanding officer of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Auxiliary Fighter Squadron, who gives the following account of his most successful day, has fought with the squadron right from the beginning of the war. When the first raiders appeared over British soil in 1939, his squadron was the first to go into action and he himself was one of the first to open fire on enemy aircraft over this country. He was a Pilot officer then. Now he has been in command for several months - months during which the squadron has added over 100 victims to their previous score.

In this particular battle I was largely in the position of a spectator, so I can tell you all about it. I was leading the squadron when my engine began to misfire and splutter. So I called up one of my flight-commanders and told him to lead while I broke away and tried to clear my engine. By diving and roaring the engine, I managed to make it run smoothly again and then took up position at the rear of the squadron. We had taken off at about eleven-forty that morning. It was a sunny day with a slight ground haze which developed into mist from 18,000 feet up to about 26,000 feet. We were on a routine patrol with another squadron and after patrolling for forty or fifty minutes we were ordered to go here and there to investigate various raids which were reported over land and near the coast.

While we were climbing through some cloud we lost touch with the other squadron. We carried on alone and were on a southerly course approaching Dover, when we were warned to look out for a formation of Italian aircraft. Every man was immediately on the alert. By this time I was at the back of the squadron and I heard the formation leader suddenly report aircraft dead ahead of us. At
the same time someone else reported unidentified aircraft to the east, but the leader wisely held our course to fly towards the aircraft he had already seen. After a couple of minutes we saw the enemy aircraft flying south-west down the Channel. They were still some distance away and were 1,000 feet below us. They were Italian fighters - CR42’s - and were well over the sea flying at about 20,000 feet.

When I first had a good look at them they gave me the impression of a party out on a quiet little jaunt. There were about twenty of them, flying along quite happily in good formation. When the leader gave the order to attack and told us to sweep round and down on their tails, we were in a very advantageous position. Our machines must be about 100 mph faster than the Italian fighters and it was dead easy to overtake them and blaze away. They were flying in a sort of wide fan-like formation and when we went to attack each of our pilots selected his particular target. You can imagine how effective the first few dives were when I tell you that one of our pilots at one time saw six Italian fighters either on fire or spinning down towards the sea. The Italians looked quite toy-like in their brightly-coloured camouflage and I remember thinking that it seemed almost a shame to shoot down such pretty machines. I must have been wrong, for the pilot who saw six going down at the same time said afterwards that it was a glorious sight. But I must say this about the Eyeties: they showed fight in a way the Germans have never done with our squadron. It is true, though that they seemed amateurish in their reactions. By that I mean they were slow to realise that we were anywhere near them until it was too late. Another thing, they kept their formation very well, but it didn't save them.
After a short while the Italians were dodging this way and that to escape our aircraft as best they could. One of them broke formation and turned towards France. I chased him and fired at him several times. I believe I hit him, too, and would have finished him off if my engine hadn't begun to splutter again when I was half-way across the Channel. So I left him to limp home while I turned towards the English coast to find the rest of the battle. It had vanished by this time, so I came home. The whole fight lasted only ten or fifteen minutes.

END