12.14 The Illustrious Blitz and the defence of Malta.
The attack on the RN carrier Illustrious on the tenth of January during operation Excess has been very well detailed the official histories. The defence put up by the carrier’s air group especially the Follond Falcons has been of much scholarly debate as it was the first major test of RDF controlled carrier fighters against first rate fighters and competent dive bombers. However it is the effect of the arrival of the damaged aircraft carrier into the Grand Harbour on Malta late in the evening of the tenth and what subsequently became known as the ‘Illustrious Blitz’ which is relevant to this history.
Operation Excess had several objectives, these were to pass a major resupply convoy through the Mediterranean to Alexander so saving many weeks of shipping time, to run a supply convoy to Malta and retrieve empty shipping and finaly to cover a ‘Club run’ delivering replacement Hurricanes to Malta. In all these objectives the operation was successful. The result however of the need for Illustrious to seek refuge in Malta’s Grand Harbour to undergo emergency repairs prior to sailing for Alexandra was to make her the epicentre of the most intensive bomber attack yet experienced by the island and to tax the RAF fighter defences to their very limit.
Even before Illustrious reached the Grand Harbour from the moment she came in range of the islands Hurricane fighters a standing air patrol had been maintained over her and her escorts. One immediate problem discovered was that as Illustrious had not carried RAF fighters as part of a ‘club run’ she did not at that time have VHF radios on compatible frequencies with the Hurricanes from Malta. Once Illustrious steamed within coverage of the RDF/PPI station on Malta the effectiveness of the standing patrol was greatly increased.
Even before the carrier reached Malta the remains of her air group had. Due to damage to the flight deck landing on had not been an option and all the surviving aircraft that had been in the air at the time of the attack had to divert to Malta, a couple of the Folland Falcons had stayed to long defending their ship and had been forced to ditch short of the island. The, by now well practiced, air sea rescue organisation of the island had been able to pluck both pilots from the sea and deliver them safely back to the island. Of her original air group of forty two aircraft, only twenty three had made it to the Island. Seventeen Folland Falcons several of which were exhibiting the ferocious attentions of the Me 110’s were accompanied by two Fairy Albacore TBR aircraft and four Fairy Fulmar FBR aircraft. The Falcons would be a welcome addition to the islands air defences as would the Fulmars as long as they could be kept out of the clutches of the Me 109’s. Remarkably soon after Illustrious had made it into the Grand Harbour a steady but slow trickle of trucks started to arrive a Hal Far airfield carrying aircraft fitters and handlers to look after the refugee aircraft along with spare, stores and ammunition as it was salvaged from the wreck of the hanger and the surviving stowage and magazines. By morning there were sufficient stores to keep at least the undamaged Falcons flying for a few days and even the two damaged ones were being worked on in the expectation of getting them flying again.
For some reason unknown to the expectant islanders the Luftwaffe did not appear at dawn the next day to finish off the damaged carrier. Though there were spasmodic incursions when the weather permitted, that were met by the Hurricanes and on the most part thwarted in reaching the harbour area. It was not until the sixteenth of January that there was a major attack. Although not apparent at the time one reason for the delay in addition to the poor weather was the rough handling Fliegerkorps X had received at the hands of the FAA in their initial attacks on the tenth of January. Post war it was revealed that of the combined force of sixty He 111’s and Junkers Ju57’s no less than twelve had been destroyed over the fleet and a further six had ditched or crash landed, with more exhibiting various degrees of damage. Additionally three Me 110’s had been lost.
With the skies clearing on the Sixteenth a major attack comprising some seventy JU 57’s and JU 88’s with and escort of around thirty Italian Cr.42’s was detected by RDF as it assembled over Sicily. Having been expecting an attack for some time the Malta fighter defences were ready and primed. With only two squadrons of Hurricanes currently on the island the addition of twelve operational Falcons was very much appreciated. The Maltese Fighter Direction centre had radios capable of talking directly to the FAA fighters. The immediate response to the first indication of aircraft assembly over Sicily was to get the Falcons airborne, with their greater range and endurance they could climb for height and then meet the attack prior to it reaching the island. The FAA fighters had been instructed to attack and draw of the escorting fighters. The full squadron of Hurricanes that was scrambled would then concentrate on the bombers. The experienced Hurricane pilots on the Island had been very persuasive in their advice to the FAA Pilots flying their Falcons in combat with the very nifty and nimble Cr 42. The mantra was do not try and dog fight with the biplane, use height and power to gain positional advantage and your cannons will knock the hell out of the Italian aircraft.
So it was that the Ground controller got the FAA Falcons at height on the track of the Italian fighters, initially using the Null Node effect on the reception of the signal on the RDF system the Control was able to get a good estimate of the height of the incoming attack. The New GL RDF system used by the heavy AA batteries was now able to get an accurate height reading at greater range thereby making the controllers task easier as the attacking aircraft got closer to the island. In this attack with HMS Illustrious sitting in the Naval Dockyard like the bull’s-eye on a dartboard the objective of the enemy was not hard to discern so the controllers could place their fighters at advantage. Close co-ordination with the AA control was essential as the AA Barrage over the Harbour would be intense and indiscriminate of friend or foe.
The first swooping assault of the FAA Falcons scattered the Italian fighters like a flock of startled pigeons, send several wrecked aircraft plunging earthwards. Those FAA pilots who ignored the advice given to avoid dog-fighting the Cr 42 soon learnt that this particular pigeon had teeth and could bite. However applying the height and power tactics the Falcons were able to force the Italian fighters into defensive tactics rather than defend the Luftwaffe Bombers.
With the fighter escort otherwise engaged the Hurricanes swept in to attack the bomber formation concentrating on the Ju 87 dive bombers as they were considered the greater threat.
By the time the last enemy aircraft had departed the area around the dock and HMS Illustrious had been turned into a moonscape of Maltese stone rubble. An armoured piercing bomb had unfortunately penetrated an underground shelter resulting in the death of the fifty one civilians sheltering there. Though HMS Illustrious received some further superficial damage from near misses no direct hits were achieved. Work on repairing her steering gear and damaged hanger continued night and day.
Of the seventy German bombers and thirty Italian fighters committed to this attack the defending fighters and the combined AA barrage claimed no less than forty eight destroyed and a further dozen damaged. These figure were known to be impossibly optimistic and the intelligence officers of all three services attempted to sort out the multiple claims and achieve a realistic consensus figure. What was certain beyond doubt was that the RAF had loss four Hurricanes and one pilot and the FAA had lost two pilots and three Falcons. Counting wrecks on the island and confirmed crashes into the sea or the harbour still gave a base figure of twenty nine aircraft destroyed, even deleting the seven defending aircraft lost, that still left an impressive twenty two enemy aircraft destroyed as a minimum. Whilst Malta could not afford continue losing fighters at the current rate the consensus was that a loss rate which had to be greater than twenty percent the Luftwaffe would not be able to sustain the attacks either.
Urgent calls went out to the AM and British Government that reinforcements of fighters for Malta , and better ones at that, needed to be a priority.
The consensus on Malta was the sooner the Illustrious could sail the better, As she was a target the Luftwaffe could not ignore. Amazingly some of the RAF fighter pilots seemed please by this situation, one a veteran from Eleven Group had baldly stated that it was a good chance to gut the German Flieger Corps X currently flying from Sicily.