GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
Having then qualified as an instructor at the Central Flying School at Upavon - in fact as ‘the best pilot on the course’ - he was retained until September 1926, and won the Duke of York’s cup at the Hendon Air Display that year.
Back on operations by early 1928, he served in No. 30 and No. 55 Squadrons over the Southern Desert, Iraq, where his proficiency as a pilot was assessed as ‘exceptional’ (Medal & clasp), an assessment that no doubt led to his appointment to the High Speed Flight of the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, following time with No. 32 Squadron in 1930.
Boothman went on to complete at least 70 high speed flights, a fine record which culminated in his winning the Schneider Trophy outright for Great Britain on 13 September 1931, piloting Vickers Supermarine Rolls-Royce S.6B S1595 from the flying boat base at Calshot, his log book entry reading: ‘Good trip. Average speed 340 m.p.h., 100 Km. record 342.9 m.p.h.’ This was the year Lucy, Lady Houston, came to the rescue with a private donation of £100,000, the Government having withdrawn its backing and, with the French, German and Italian entrants having failed to ready their aircraft in time for the competition, it became an all-British affair. Boothman’s victorious flight is said to have been watched by around 500,000 enthusiastic spectators, a day made all the more memorable by virtue of team G.B. taking the trophy outright for it was our third successive victory of earlier wins in Venice in 1927 and Calshot in 1929.
He was awarded the A.F.C.
Moving to an appointment with No. 22 Squadron at Martlesham Heath, Norfolk, at the end of the year, Boothman went on to serve as C.O. of ‘A’ Flight of the performance testing section of the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment in 1934 and, shortly afterwards, attended the Staff College. He was advanced to Squadron Leader and posted to Singapore.
Returning to the U.K. in February 1939, he took command of No. 44 Squadron, a Hampden unit based at Waddington, Lincolnshire but, towards the year’s end, was posted to the Air Ministry as a Wing Commander (Fighter Operations), but not before flying operationally. In July 1940, he was posted to H.Q., Bomber Command, but never missed an opportunity to fly, a strike on Hamburg in October of the same year being a case in point. Added to which, during an eight-week goodwill and flight testing tour of the United States and Canada in late 1941, he flew the latest American aircraft. He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 1 January 1942 refers).
Next appointed to the command of R.A.F. Finningley, Boothman subsequently returned to staff duties at the Air Ministry but, in June 1943, he became operational as C.O. of No. 106 Wing (later Group) at R.A.F. Benson, and, between then and June 1944, flew numerous photographic missions in Mosquito aircraft - vital fact-gathering missions in support of the D-Day landings. And, as described by Alfred Price in Targeting the Reich, many of them were flown in co-operation with the Americans:
‘In August 1943 the U.S. 8th Air Force established its own photographic reconnaissance unit, the 7th Photo Group, at Mount Farm near Benson. From the start there was very close co-operation between them and the United States Army Air Force (U.S.A.A.F.) reconnaissance units, with much interchange of equipment and sharing of knowledge. Initially the 7th Photo Group flew F-5 aircraft, the reconnaissance version of the P-38 Lightning fighter. The aircraft was vulnerable to interception during deep penetrations into enemy territory, however, and it had serviceability problems. One squadron in the Group received Spitfire PR XIs, and operated these aircraft for the rest of the conflict.
Also in the latter part of 1943 the Mosquito PR XVI appeared, fitted with a pressurised cabin. It was an important innovation, which allowed its crews to remain alert and reasonably comfortable while flying for long periods at altitudes above 35,000 feet.
During the spring of 1944 the 654th Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the U.S. 801st Reconnaissance Group based at Watton in Norfolk, formed with Mosquito XVIs. This unit flew photographic reconnaissance missions for the remainder of the war.
The period of near-invulnerability to interception for aircraft powered by the Merlin 61 engine lasted until the spring of 1944. It ended when with the appearance of the first German jet fighter types, the rocket-propelled Messerschmitt 163 and the turbojet powered Messerschmitt 262. The reconnaissance Spitfires and Mosquitos, flying alone and unarmed, offered perfect targets for the German jet pilots to carry out practice interceptions. Yet again losses began to rise ... ’
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