The Airmen's Stories - P/O W A A Read

William "Russia" Read, who has died aged 81, helped the Soviet Air Force to form five squadrons of Hurricane fighters at Kineshma, north-east of Rostov, in the winter of 1941-42. Read had previously fought as a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. He set sail for the White Sea port of Archangel aboard the ‘River Aston’ in September 1941 accompanied by RAF groundcrew and a cargo of crated Hurricanes. Read's operation was code-named ‘Shallow’. It arrived in Russia in the wake of No 151, a Hurricane wing led by Wing Commander Ramsbottom-Isherwood which was already operating near the Arctic port of Murmansk. Ramsbottom-Isherwood and his pilots fought alongside and instructed the 72nd Regiment of the Soviet Naval Airfleet before handing over 39 Hurricanes and returning home in November. Read and his party had a narrower brief and were ordered south to Kineshma where Read tested each assembled aircraft. ‘Shallow’ was completed in the New Year of 1942 and Read returned home, where he was awarded an AFC. He resumed flying duties as an instructor with No 51 Operational Training Unit. Following Ramsbottom-Isherwood's and Read's missions, more than 2,900 Hurricanes were crated and dispatched. Although many were sunk during attacks on the Arctic convoys enough survived to perform a crucial role in Russia's struggle on the Eastern Front.

William Albert Alexander Read was born at Palmers Green,London on August 11th 1918 and was sent to Mill Hill. After school, as a junior publisher's assistant, he worked on Richmal Crompton’s ‘Just William’ proofs which appealed to his sense of humour. In 1938 with the likeliehood of war growing, Read volunteered and in 1940 he was awarded his wings and commissioned into the RAFVR. In June he was posted to No 236, a Spitfire squadron at at Grangemoutb, Stirling, and the next month to No 603 (City of Edinburgh) an Auxiliary Air Squadron at Dyce. After damaging a He111 over Aberdeen, in late August Read was ordered south with 603 and fought with the celebrated Hornchurch Spitfire Wing. He was lucky to survive. By September 6th the squadron had lost 16 Spitfires.

Following his Kineshma interlude Read joined No 29, a Beaufighter night fighter squadron at West Malling in March l942. He then converted to Mosquitos and in May moved to Bradwell Bay, Essex.
In September 1943, Read’s superb flying skills earned him a posting to the intensive flying development flight at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where he tested the Westland Welkin, a fighter type which was subsequently abandoned and never flew operationally.

Read transferred to the fighter development unit at Wittering in February 1944. There he flew a range of aircraft as testbeds for rocket projectiles until he was seconded to the British Overseas Airways Corporation in Cairo. After flying Lodestars on the Istanbul and Nairobi routes and Ensigns to Calcutta, Read was released from the RAF in 1946. He became a BOAC Captain and flew Constellations to Sydney and later, Comets.

On a visit to Alice Springs in 1951, Read met Mary Hellyer, who was taking a holiday from her farm in Herefordshire. They were married in 1961 and after Read’s retirement in 1963 they settled in Somerset.

With acknowledgments to the Daily Telegraph