GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
Firstly, the controlling radars could normally handle only one fighter at a time at night, and so we would go alone. Secondly, the rush to get airborne meant groping through the dark to find our aircraft, dazzled by many pin-pricks of lights from the torches waved by our ground crews trying to be helpful. Finally scrambling up the wing to settle down in the cockpit, adjusting the inadequate cockpit lighting and a final check around with our little hand-held torches before a flash outside to the ground crew for starting engines.... Then brakes off and taxiing out, sticking very carefully to the dimly lit taxiway to the end of the flare-path. A quick magneto check on both engines and then opening up both and peering ahead to try and pick out the faintly glowing Glim lamps that marked the runway ahead. As the flare-path lights fell away under the wing, propelled into the pitch-black void by the powerful thrust of the twin Mercury engines, there was nothing ahead but a dark unfriendly sky with no visual reference points, necessitating immediate reference to the blind-flying instruments dimly glowing in the cockpit. Having established a safe rate of climb one could then concentrate on following directions from the ground controller on the radio at the ground radar station, hoping that he would be able to bring us close enough to a raider for us to pick it up on our own radar - in the early days, unfortunately, a rare event. So for another hour or two we would probe every dark corner of the night sky in the hope of sighting a hostile aircraft, but it was a vast place of mystery and menace at night. Occasionally a combat would ensue, and this would alleviate our hours of frustration and be of tremendous boost to our morale. Whatever the outcome of our sortie, we still had to cope with finding our way back to base. Our airfield being located near London, the balloon barrage was always a constant threat and our own anti-aircraft guns a menace if we approached within the trigger-happy gunners’ range. After what would probably have been an exhausting sortie we were finally faced with making a safe landing, often in bad weather but always in the darkness of the blackout, on an airfield with the absolute minimum of lighting.’ (Ibid)
Haine was invested with the D.F.C. at Buckingham Palace, 19 July 1940, ‘both Kramer and I had been awarded the D.F.C. for our escapade in Holland and this was a very proud moment; we were almost overwhelmed with the splendour of the occasion and the magnificence of the palace.... The King’s handshake was very firm, but I remembered my brief, that one should not grip His Majesty’s hand too enthusiastically in return. He said one or two very kind words of congratulations that I appreciated.’ (Ibid)
600 Squadron moved to Redhill and started to re-equip with Beaufighters in September 1940. Having waited so long for a replacement for the antiquated Blenheims, Haine’s new experience was nearly all too brief, ‘I flew the first Beaufighter from Redhill on 17 September. After a few days’ leave I returned to Redhill, only to be nearly hit by a bomb! I had been scrambled for a night patrol in a Beaufighter, and as my aircraft was accelerating down the flare-path a stick of bombs was dropped down the length of the airfield, the last one falling only a few yards in front of me. The blast stopped both engines of the Beaufighter, blew in the two clear-vision panels of the windscreen and left the aircraft teetering on the edge of a large crater. A most upsetting experience, and followed the next night by a heavy attack of incendiary bombs on the airfield, which had all the crews rushing around with shovels and buckets of sand to try and save some of the wooden buildings that made up our mess and flight crew rooms.’ (Ibid)
In October 1940, it was decided to rest 600 Squadron and so Haine moved north to Northumberland and then on with a detachment to Drem in Scotland. He advanced to Flight Lieutenant and was posted to command B Flight of the newly re-formed 68 Squadron (Blenheims) at Catterick in January 1941. The squadron was designated to operate as a night fighter unit, and it became operational in April 1941. Haine moved with the Squadron to High Ercall, and helped with it’s conversion to Beaufighters. He was posted to HQ 9 Group at Preston in June 1941.
Haine returned to operational flying when he was posted to command 96 Squadron (Defiants) at Wrexham, in December 1941. He once again helped a squadron convert to Beaufighters, and continued to do so from May when the command was upgraded to Wing Commander rank and he had to revert to being a Flight Commander. In September Haine moved with his Flight to Honiley and carried out patrols over the West Midlands. His next posting was as Squadron Leader Night Training at HQ Fighter Command, Bentley Priory, in March 1943. This new posting was not operational, however, it did not stop Haine from using his position to fly in as many types of aircraft as possible on his station visits. He flew Spitfires, Vega Gulls, Oxfords, Beuforts, Beaufighters, Mosquitos, Leopard Moths, and Hurricanes.
Haine’s next posting was as Wing Commander, Officer Commanding Training Wing, at 54 O.T.U., Charter Hall in June 1943. He carried on in this capacity, until he returned to operational flying in January 1944.
488 (R.N.Z.A.F.) Squadron - Officer Commanding
Haine was appointed to the command of 488 Squadron (Mosquitos), Bradwell-on-Sea, in January 1944. The Squadron comprised of over 50% New Zealanders, including two Maori pilots. Haine was paired with Flight Lieutenant P. Bowman as his A.I. operator, and 488 Squadron met with success. He moved with the Squadron to Zeals, and then to Colerne, and very nearly added to his score on 14 May, ‘Scramble for Searchlights. Fired on Ju. 88 in vertical dive held contact for 10 mins then lost in very violent evasive action and ‘window’ (Log Book refers)
The German aircraft had probably been damaged, but Haine and Bowman could not obtain confirmation as the action had taken place over the sea. The following month the Squadron were to be engaged as part of the flying operations required over the beachead for the Normandy Landings. Haine led his squadron on a defensive patrol over the beachead in the Cherbourg area on D-Day itself:
‘The day broke fine and clear... after our usual night-flying tests the squadron provided maximum effort on regular patrols over Normandy and the beachead after nightfall. We had at least four night-fighter Mosquitos in the air every night under close control of our radar stations - some on the south coast, but one already at sea with the invading forces. Pete and I flew at least once every night, as did most of the other crews, and we maintained a very high flying intensity... On 13 and 14 June the squadron shot down five more Huns, and Peter and I did five more operational patrols... by the end of the month the squadron had shot down a further three aircraft.’ (From Fury to Phantom, Flying for the RAF 1936-1970. The Memoirs of Group Captain Richard ‘Dickie’ Haine, O.B.E., D.F.C refers)
Haine and Bowman finally opened their account for the Squadron on the night of 4 August 1944, north-east of Vire:
‘By the beginning of August my squadron’s victories had amounted to 41 German aircraft destroyed. On the night of the 4th while on my 112th operational patrol, Pete and I were flying over the beachead when ground control warned us of an unidentified aircraft six miles ahead and crossing from port to starboard. Pete picked up a contact on our radar and was able to put us in a perfect position to identify the aircraft as a Ju. 88. I closed in to 200 yards and opened fire with the aircraft firmly in my sights. A two second burst of the four cannon was devastating and started a fire in the port engine of the Junkers, and pieces began to fly off it and whistle over our heads. It then turned slowly to port and dived steeply down, and we saw it explode on the ground east of Vire in Normandy. Ground control soon put us onto another contact that we chased after, but in the end had to abandon, as we ran into heavy flak from Allied ships....
On the 9th, during another patrol, we had a visual sighting of a Ju. 88 but could not get into firing range when it took violent evasive action.... we had a far from dull patrol on the 26th. It was a bright moonlit night and we were given a patrol line that we followed for some time without incident. After an hour our controller called to say that we had a friendly aircraft in our vicinity that was showing an undue interest, and advised us to do a quick turnaround to shake it off. So I pulled around into a steep turn, and after straightening up we came under attack, with a burst of cannon shells hitting the Mosquito in the fuselage behind the cockpit. A bit shaken, and not knowing what damage we had suffered, I called up Colerne and reported the action and requested an emergency landing either at an airfield en route or back at base. I advised Pete to put on his parachute and be ready to jettison the escape hatch... We stayed on course for Colerne for twenty minutes, and with the airfield in sight I began to relax and we landed without any trouble. It transpired that the culprit was an American Black Widow night-fighter pilot who misidentified the Mosquito as a Ju. 88. On inspection after landing, our servicing crew found several 20 mm cannon shells lodged in the dinghy pack a few inches behind Pete’s head!’ (Ibid)
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