Vincent-Jones, Desmond (Oral history)

British officer served as observer with 821 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Ark Royal in North Sea and North and South Atlantic, 1939-1940; served with 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in GB, aboard HMS Illustrious in Mediterranean and on Malta, 2/1940-3/1941; commanded 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Formidable in Mediterranean, Lebanon and in North Africa, 3/1941-8/1941; served as operations officer aboard HMS Archer in United States of America and North Atlantic, 10/1941-8/1943; served as Fleet Air Arm Liaison Officer with Headquarters, Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches at HMS Eaglet, Liverpool, GB, 10/1943-2/1945

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as observer with 821 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Ark Royal in North Sea and North and South Atlantic, 1939-1940: background to joining Fleet Air Arm as observer, 4/1938; attempt to intercept German liner SS Bremen, 9/1939; composition and spirit of unit; duties flying in Fairey Swordfish; landing on aircraft carrier; German claim to have sunk aircraft carrier in Norwegian Sea, 25/9/1939; attack on aircraft carrier by submarine U-39 off Scotland, 14/9/1939; move to South Atlantic and reaction of crew to scuttling of German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee in River Plate, Uruguay, 17/12/1939; interception of German ship SS Watussi off South West Africa, 2/12/1939. Recollections of operations as observer with 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm in GB, 2/1940-8/1940: formation of unit; dive-bombing of Bergen Harbour in Norway from HMS Sparrowhawk, Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, 9/5/1940; opinion of Blackburn Skua; accidental loss of squadron aircraft to British fighters; arrest of squadron member as German parachutist; attacks on German bombers over English Channel, 5/1940-6/1940. REEL 2 Continues: navigational error which took his aircraft over German anti-aircraft fire over Calais, France; operations during Dunkirk Evacuation; opinion of Fairey Fulmar. Aspects of operations as observer with 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Illustrious in Mediterranean, 8/1940-1/1941: entering Mediterranean, 8/1940; Italian air attacks on aircraft carrier; role during Taranto Raid, Italy, 11/11/1940-12/11/1940; German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombing attack on aircraft carrier, 7/1/1941; raid on Tripoli, Libya, 12/1940. Aspects of operations as observer with 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm on Malta, 1/1941-3/1941: operations from RAF Hal Far; accidental shooting of his pilot by Maltese sentry; conditions during siege. Aspects of operations commanding 806 Naval Air Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Formidable in Mediterranean, Lebanon and in North Africa, 3/1941-8/1941: role covering evacuation of Crete, Greece, 5/1941; shooting down of aircraft off Crete, Greece, 27/5/1941. REEL 3 Continues: rescue by destroyer, 27/5/1941; duties during Syrian campaign, 6/1941; move to Aboukir, Egypt, 8/1941. Recollections of operations as operations officer aboard HMS Archer in United States of America and North Atlantic, 10/1941-8/1943: reception on arrival in United States of America, 10/1941; work supervising conversion of merchant ship into escort carrier, 10/1941-1/1942; convoying aircraft across North Atlantic for Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa, 11/1942; rescue of merchant seamen sunk by German commerce raider in South Atlantic; ditching of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress next to escort carrier, 1943; sinking of German submarine U-752 by Fairey Swordfish Mk II from ecort carrier, 23/5/1943. Aspects of period as Fleet Air Arm Liaison Officer with Headquarters, Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches at HMS Eaglet, Liverpool, GB, 8/1943-2/1945: memories of Captain Frederic Walker; opinion of Admiral Max Horton; detachment as Air Staff Officer aboard HMS Vindex during Convoys JW 59 and RA 59A in Arctic, 8/1944-9/1944; use of Ultra Intelligence. REEL 4 Continues: behaviour of Soviet Navy destroyers; loss of HMS Kite to German submarine U-344, 21/8/1944; ashore in Polyarnoe, Soviet Union; success against submarine U-394 during return Convoy RA 59A, 8/1944-9/1944; failure of some senior Royal Navy officers to appreciate the importance of air power; prior recollection of hearing news of Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attack on United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7/12/1941.