Part 1

The Martin
Baltimore

The RAAFs Forgotten

Bomber of World War II

While much has been written about the exploits of Australians

and RAAF squadrons in RAF Bomber Command and their famous
aircraft the Lancaster and the Halifax, virtually nothing has
appeared on the aircraft type, role and operations of the RAAFs
little known bomber the Martin Baltimore. This then is the story
of that remarkable light bomber aircraft. It was flown by two
RAAF squadrons in the Mediterranean Theatre and Italy in the
reconnaissance, bombing and maritime strike role. Here Mark
Lax describes the aircraft while in part two, he will cover the
story of 454 and 459 RAAF squadrons together with the other
non-RAAF Baltimore units.

y the late thirties, developments in

aircraft design and engine power
and reliability meant aircraft manufacturers, particularly in the US,
scrambled to offer their improved wares to
the rapidly expanding air forces around the
world. One such manufacturer, the Glenn
Martin Aircraft Company, founded by Glenn
L. Martin in 1912, had been working on an
all-metal twin engine light bomber to meet
the needs of the US Army Air Corps and
other international customers. The Air
Corps was transitioning from early model
monoplanes to a more modern aircraft fleet.
They held a design competition for a new
aircraft class A for attack and wanted a
twin-engine light bomber type to fill a void.
Competition was fierce and Martins XA-22
design (later to become the Model 167) was
not selected. Nevertheless, the French were
also in need of a light attack bomber with
the growing threat of Nazi Germany realised and the French bomber force found
wanting. They selected the XA-22, later
called the Maryland.
The Martin Maryland was specifically reworked to meet the French requirement,
including the addition of metric instru28 | F L I G H T PAT H

ments. The French wanted a light bomber

which could take it to the Nazis if required
and be able to hold its own against the Luftwaffe. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but
it was also certainly too little, too late. A total of 215 Mk.I Marylands were initially ordered and delivered by April 1940 just in
time to meet the German onslaught. With
France defeated, the remaining Marylands
were transferred to the RAF but not before
those captured were used by the Axis. This
gave rise to the odd situation where some
Vichy French units fought against the Free
French and RAF in Syria and North Africa,
both using the Maryland bomber to launch
their attacks. While all 150 later Mk.II Marylands ended up in RAF colours in the Western Desert, they were not enough to meet
growing Desert Air Force requirements.
By late 1940, the war in Europe was going
badly for the Allies and the British aircraft
industry was stretched to the limit. To fill
the need for a bomber aircraft for the Mediterranean Theatre, the RAF also turned to
the United States to supply a suitable aircraft under a special purchasing scheme.
Thus, in May 1940, the Anglo-French Purchasing Commission was established to

work around US neutrality laws. (This was

replaced in March 1941 by the Lend-Lease
scheme.) However, the British were not happy with the Marylands design, believing it
obsolescent by 1940. One bomber option
which caught their attention was a development from the Maryland, the Glenn Martin
Aircraft Companys XA-23 or model 187.
Unlike the Maryland, the Martin 187
was originally designed to meet a joint
French-British specification under an Anglo-French purchasing commission contract. The Dutch, who had previous experience with Martin designs, also showed some
interest in the 187 but an order was not
forthcoming. Although American designed
and built, the aircraft was never to serve
with the US Army Air Forces. (However one
was recovered from the RAF by the US Navy
in 1946 for aerofoil trials, but it was not used
operationally and upon completion of the
trials, was disposed of.)
Martin Aircrafts model 187 (later to be
called Baltimore, after the city where the
total of 1575 were built) used some design
features of the Maryland, including the
wings and cabin layout, but it had a much
wider fuselage, new tail and more powerful

A Mk V Baltimore over the Italian

countryside in late 1944. [RAAF Museum]

1600 hp (1190 kW) Wright Cyclone R-2600-19 (A5B) engines.

For the later Mk.V version these
were upgraded to R2600-29s.
The first production order of
400 was placed in May 1940, with
the Mk.I first flying in June 1941.
After the fall of France, the British subsumed the full contract
and after some re-negotiation,
added sand filters to the engines for desert
operations, fittings for the larger British
bombs and an upper turret. Despite their
cost of US $120,000 each being over half as
much again as the newer Martin B-26 Marauder just coming into production, further
batch orders for 575 and 600 aircraft soon
followed through the new Lend-Lease arrangements, and now under the USAAF
designation of type A-30. All were destined
for the Middle East and Italian Theatres, although 160 were initially earmarked for the
Far East before the fall of Singapore. Production ceased in May 1944.
Martin produced six versions of the Baltimore with the main difference between
marks being in defensive armament. The
original Mk.I was fitted with Browning .303

ABOVE: The navigator acted as

bomb aimer. Here in the Perspex
nose the navigator demonstrates
using the bombsight.
[Images via author unless otherwise noted]

ABOVE LEFT: Ground crews work

on one of the Baltimores R2600
engines. This aircraft is in the
white maritime patrol scheme.
LEFT: A close up of the Martin
250CE 0.5in upper turret as fitted
to the Mk IIIA models on.

F L I G H T PAT H | 29

machine-guns, but these were not popular

with crews and lacked the heavy hitting power needed against modern enemy fighters. As
they were partially exposed to the airflow,
they also froze even above the hot desert
not good when you are being chased by Bf
109s. From the Mk.IIIA on, Martin fitted
0.5in guns, so by the arrival of the Mk V, the
aircraft carried four 0.5in guns in the wings,
and either two 0.5in or four .303in guns in
the upper turret, and two rear-facing Vickers
0.303s in ventral guns. These were fitted to a
flexible mounting on the underside of the fuselage and were difficult to operate. One
gunner, Flying Officer Bob Kidner, later recalled using this gun mount and found it was
not only uncomfortable in the cramped space
but also required a good head for heights:
The most frightening thing for the air
gunners was winding up the Perspex
window of the belly gun position in order
to mount the machine guns. In order to
lock it in position you had to put one foot
on the front step of the opening with your
other foot planted on the Perspex, while
leaning over the open space. You were
looking straight down into space!
Because of the relative success of the aircraft, Martin planned a Baltimore Mk.VI
with a production run of 900 intended for
sale to RAF Coastal Command. The Mk.VI
was to be a maritime reconnaissance version with a radome added to the nose above
the navigator station. A contract with the
RAF was signed but cancelled in April 1944
before production began.
Given high wartime demands, there were
the inevitable production delays at the Martin factory, so deliveries only began in October 1941 but continued to May 1944. However, not all Baltimores made it to RAF
operations as two transport ships carrying
41 Mk.III and Mk.IIIAs were
sunk on route from the US,
four aircraft crashed before
delivery and a number of
other aircraft were lost
during ferry flights
through the Baha-

30 | F L I G H T PAT H

mas, South America and on their West African transit.

For those technically minded, at 48 ft 6in
(14.8m) long and with a wing span of just over
61 ft 4 in (18.7m), the aircraft was in the light
bomber class. Take-off weight was 27,850 lbs
(12,633 kg). Bomb load was 2000 lbs (900 kg)
four 500 lb (226 kg) bombs or up to six 250
pounders (113 kg), the constraint being the
bomb bay space and rack design. A cruising
speed of 220 mph (354 km/h) increasing to a
max 320 mph (515 km/h) for a dash, service
ceiling of 24,000 feet and a maximum range
of around 950 miles (1530 km) meant it would
be of practical use in the desert and over the
Mediterranean Sea.
The crew complement was four a pilot,
navigator or observer, a wireless operator
who also manned the ventral gun and another gunner for the upper turret. Many of the
RAAFs 454 and 459 Squadron crews carried
two WOP/AGs making the positions interchangeable, but fuselage design limitations
meant it was very difficult, nay virtually impossible, for crews to swap positions in flight.
The pilot sat in a single-seat cockpit with a
clam shell canopy and climbed in over the
port wing. An unusual feature was the ring
and bead sight he had set on the fuselage in
front of him, presumably for gunnery. The
navigator also acted as bomb aimer and sat in
the fully Perspex glazed nose he had the
best view, and climbed in via a small ladder
under the nose. The gunners entered
through a crew door at the port rear.
The first production aircraft (AG685)
first flew on 14 June 1941. There was no prototype as such and therefore, no flight and
performance test program. The RAF began
receiving Baltimores ready for operations in
March 1942, and by then had earmarked all
for North Africa. Training at 75 OTU at

Gianaclis, Egypt began in April, using crews

experienced with the older Marylands. The
first to receive their Baltimores were the
RAFs 55 and 223 Squadrons.
Unfortunately, these new aircraft soon developed an unhappy reputation. It had a couple of vices a tendency to drop the left
wing on landing and a resultant swing to the
left once the wheels had touched down. If a
pilot was not careful, a ground loop would
occur which had the potential to collapse
the undercarriage, write off the aircraft and
injure the crew. As well as technical teething problems, early operational use by the
RAF in the Battle of El Alamein demonstrated the futility of flying unescorted against
modern enemy fighters. The RAF suffered
heavy losses as had their Maryland counterparts the year before.
The Baltimore had a narrow fuselage
which prevented movement between stations. This meant that once airborne, the
crew had to rely on the intercom for communication. The pilot was strapped into the
single-seat cockpit where he sat on his parachute and the single man K-type dinghy a
necessity if the aircraft ditched. The wireless
operator and gunner manned stations in the
back and for these crew members a bulkier
H type dinghy was fitted to the crew entrance door, but it was harder to release and
operate, especially if the crew were injured.
The navigator was physically separated from
the pilot (who sat behind and above him) by
the aircraft bulkhead and had
to scramble for the rear dinghy. Written messages could
just be passed between the pi-

lot and nav handy on numerous occasions

when the intercom failed. The navigator also
had an airspeed indicator and a stowed control column, which could be swung out and
used together with a backup throttle unit to
control the aircraft in an emergency, or give
the pilot a rest on the longer flights. A 454
Squadron doctor, Flight Lieutenant Karl
Basedow later recalled his test flight experience, describing what it was like in the
navigators compartment:
It was quite an experience in itself to
be sitting in that narrow space, nearly
surrounded by the Perspex nose, with the
engines and all the rest of the aeroplane
behind me. Cut off from the rest of the
crew, and with most of the noise blocked
out of my helmet, I seemed to be in a world
of my own I was fascinated. Though visibility through the Perspex was surprisingly distorted, the view was enjoyable.
As there was no pre-production test program, the fourth aircraft off the line
(AG688) was sent to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at
RAF Boscombe Down. Here a series of aircraft trials by the RAF were conducted. The
test crew recommended several improvements and upgrades. First, the Mk.I and II
Baltimore upper turret systems lacked
punch. As a result, a Boulton Paul A Type
Mk V turret was fitted to create the Mk.III
Baltimore variant. The new turrets had four
0.303 in machine-guns, but these too lacked
firepower. Eventually, Martin fitted the latter Mk.III production run (called the Mk.
IIIA) and the Mk.IV with their own 250CE
turret with twin 0.5in guns. The final model
Mk.V also replaced the ventral guns with
twin 0.5in, making twelve guns in all (four
wing, two upper, two
ventral and four
fixed rear). The
unusual fixed

LEFT: 454 Squadron

Commanding Officer Wing
Commander Mike Moore and
crew examine the 40 lb
bombs in the weapons bay.
BELOW: Mk V Baltimore K
FW839 Kuddlesome Kitty is
prepared for a sortie. This is
taken in the desert around
July 1944.

MARTIN BALTIMORE MODELS

Model

Martin
Model

Martin
Serials

Mk.I

187-B1

1427-1476

AG685AG734

50

Single Browning .303 machine

gun in open rear cockpit

Mk.II

187-B1

1477-1576

AG735AG834

100

Twin Browning .303 machineguns at rear.

1577-1826

AG835AG999
AH100AH184

250

Incorporated Boulton Paul Turret

with four 0.303 in guns. (AG859
to RCAF for trials, lost before
delivery.)

281

Lend-lease: USAAF Serials

41-27682 to 41-27962.Incorporated Martin 250CE turret with
twin 0.5in guns.
Up-rated engines Wright
R2600-19
Lockable tail wheel.

Mk.III

Mk.IIIA

187-B1

187-B2

3787-4067

RAF Serials

FA100FA380

Total
Built

Notes

Mk.IV

187-B3

4068-4361

FA381FA674

294

Lend-Lease: USAAF Serials

41-27963 to 41-28256.
Some to the Fleet Air Arm (eg
FA466) as Target Tugs.Improved
turret controls.Improved intercom.
FA187 to RCAF, then 21 SAAF.

Mk.V

187-B3

7295-7894

FW281FW880

600

Lend-Lease: USAAF Serials

43-8438 to 43-9037. Windscreen
improved for night flying.

F L I G H T PAT H | 31

The four 0.303 in machine-guns fitted to the Mk III

model shown here were not as powerful as the 0.5 in
fitted to later models.
rear-facing guns were controlled by means
of a foot switch if a target was below the tail
and behind.
The RAF test pilots also found other
faults. Cockpit noise was assessed as just
tolerable in one report and the fact that the
navigator had to enter and exit through a
door beneath the fuselage which necessitated crawling under the tail boom clearly annoyed the test navigator. He went on to write
that: entering the aeroplane in this manner
is difficult and is aggravated when the
ground is wet, a fact most navigators would
later attest in Italy in the muddy winter of
1944. Yet despite these small annoyances,
the RAF test crew found this American type
to have fewer vices than other types such as
the Hudson, Ventura and Marauder. In their
flying trials report, they stated:
The aeroplane is nice to handle in all
conditions of flight and at all loads. Its
manoeuvrability is good and evasive ac-

A nice forward shot of 454 Squadrons CO aircraft B for Barbara, named after his girlfriend at the time.

tion is easy. The aeroplane is extremely

good on one engine; maintaining height
with the greatest of ease on one engine
even with the propeller of the dead engine unfeathered. Baulked landing with
full flap presents no difficulties. As a light
bomber it should be satisfactory in operational duties provided that the aeroplane
is only used for short day duties. Because
of the reflection in the windscreen, the
aeroplane is most trying to the pilot in
night operation. The illumination for the
navigator causes bad reflections.
No aircraft is perfect and other problems
arise when you use them for purposes for
which they were not intended. Eventually,
over 100 modifications were made to the
type to better its utility, safety and performance including a new windscreen to stop
those bad reflections. According to one
wireless operator of 454 Squadron, Doug
Hutchinson, the Baltimores had another un-

MARTIN BALTIMORE OPERATORS

Squadron

Type

Operational
Dates

Royal Air Force & Royal Navy

Squadron

Type

Operational
Dates

728 Sqn,
RN Fleet
Air Arm

Mk IV, V (14
aircraft)

Sep 44 Nov 46

13

Mk IV, V

Jan 44 Oct 44

52

Mk IIIA
Mk IV, V

Jan 43 Feb 43
Mar 43 Mar 44

55

Mk I, II, III
Mk IIIA
Mk IV
Mk V

May 42 Mar 43
Mar 43 Oct 43
Jun 43 May 44
Jan 44 Oct 44

69

Mk I, II
Mk III, IIIA,
IV

Jun 42 Aug 43
Jun 43 Apr 44

75 OTU

Mk I, II, III,
IIIA, IV, V

Jan 43 Jun 45

162

Mk III

Sep 43 Sep 44

203

Mk I, II, IIIA,
IV

Aug 42 Nov 43

223

Mk I, II
Mk III, IIIA

Jan 42 Jun 42
Jun 42 Oct 43

249

Mk IV, V

Oct 45 Apr 46

Italian Air Force

500

Mk IV, V

Sep 44 Sep 45

680

Mk III, V

Feb 44 May 45

28 Gruppo Mk V
132 Gruppo

1437 (SR)
Flight

Mk I, II, III

Mar 42 - Oct 43

32 | F L I G H T PAT H

Royal Australian Air Force

454 RAAF

Mk III
Mk IV
Mk V

Feb 43 Dec 44
Jul 43 Dec 44
Dec 44 Aug 45

459 RAAF

Mk IV, V

Jul 44 Feb 45

South African Air Force

15 SAAF

Mk IIIA, IV,
V

May 43 Jul 45

21 SAAF

Mk III, IV

Aug 42 Jul 44

60 SAAF

Mk II
Mk III

Oct 42 Jun 44
Oct 42 Aug 43

Royal Hellenic Air Force

13 RHAF

Mk III, IV

Oct 43 Dec 45
Jan 45 - May 45

Free French Air Force

GB 1/17

Mk V

1945

fortunate problem when considering their

use for sea surveillance
The Baltimores were fine aeroplanes,
and were fast enough to outrun a Messerschmitt 109 fighter, but there was a snag.
Cruising at 180 knots they consumed 120
gallons of fuel per hour and an endurance of three and a third hours on the
four hundred gallons they carried. But
when opened up to full throttle, the two
engines used 370 gallons per hour, giving an endurance of not much over one
hour. This meant we could not open up
our throttles to get away from fighters because we would run out of fuel over the
Mediterranean on the way back."
Nevertheless, the Baltimore was used by the
RAF extensively in Africa, across the Mediterranean Sea and in Italy to the end of the war,
operating in ten squadrons with the RAF,
three with the South African Air Force and
two in RAAF units. Later in the war, these
workhorses also operated with the Greeks in
their 13 (Hellenic) Squadron, with Picardie
Squadron of the French Armee de lAir and in
two Squadrons of the Stormo Baltimore of the
Italian co-belligerent air forces. In late 1944,
the Allies transferred 71 aircraft to the Turkish Air Force for use in their 1st Bomber Regiment in the hope that they would join them in
the final push against the Germans, but that
was not to be. A Mk.III aircraft (AG859) was
loaned to the Royal Canadian Air Force in
Rockcliffe, Ontario for special project duties in
1942, most probably cold weather or ferry trials. It crashed before it could be delivered to
the RAF. A second aircraft Mk IIIA (FA187)
also went to the RCAF but to Suffield, Alberta
for six months for chemical weapons trials after which it went back to the RAF.
At wars end most were scrapped but the
RAF continued to briefly operate Baltimores until April 1946 with No. 249 Squadron for aerial mapping and locust spraying
in Kenya. As a post-war gesture in 1946, ten
Mk V Baltimores were gifted to the newly
re-formed French Air Force and a further
six to the Italian Air Force where they operated until 1947. Sadly for aviation enthusiasts, none survive today.
In Part 2, the story of the Baltimore with
No. 454 and No. 459 Squadrons will be
covered with a brief mention of the other
international units which operated this
amazing aircraft.

The RAAFs Forgotten

Bomber of World War II

The Martin Baltimore Part 2

A
In Part I, Mark Lax
described the Martin
Baltimore light bomber
aircraft and its features. In
Part 2 here, he covers the
story of RAAF squadrons
No. 454 and No. 459,
together with the other
non-RAAF Baltimore units.

20 | F L I G H T PAT H

lthough 1,575 Baltimore aircraft were

built by the American manufacturer,
the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company, the Baltimore was never operated
by the various American air forces. It was
used only in the Mediterranean and Italian
theatres and was flown by a number of allied air forces including the RAAF.
The RAAFs experience with the Baltimore was generally very positive. The aircraft could take a fair amount of punishment, unusually was overpowered, so it
could make a rapid escape from enemy
fighters, and was forgiving of the hot, sandy
desert conditions. In time, air and ground
crews alike got to like their Baltimores, once
the aircrafts vices had been mastered.

By mid-1941, RAAF aircrew training had

developed to the stage where new RAAF
squadrons could be raised for the war in Europe (as had been agreed by the Empire Air
Training Scheme [EATS] agreement signed
in 1939). Preceding the raising of these new
squadrons, 3 Squadron RAAF, a permanent
air force unit, had been sent to the Middle
East in 1940. Likewise 10 Squadron RAAF,
which had been in England at the start of
the war (collecting its Sunderland aircraft)
and simply remained, and 1 Squadron RAAF
which had been sent to bolster the defences
of Malaya. The RAAF was not able to support any further squadrons until the EATS
program was well underway. The first of
these EATS units was 450 Squadron RAAF

Baltimore Q-for-Queenie drops a

500lb bomb over a Po River
target, 1945. [Images via Author]

Wing Commander Pete Hender

son, 459
Squadron RAAF CO, in front of
his machine.

F L I G H T PAT H | 21

which was raised in February 1941 as a fighter squadron. As would be the case for all new
units that Australia sent to the Middle East,
at the start they were combined with a sister
RAF unit, in this case 260 Squadron, to help
assimilate to local conditions.
After four fighter squadrons had been
sent overseas, it was time to look at other
operational roles. Next in line, 454 Squadron RAAF, was allocated by RAF authorities
in London to be a bomber unit equipped
with Baltimore aircraft, but that it would be
deployed to the Far East. Then came a
change in plans - the RAF now needed a
transport squadron to move the troops
around the desert theatre, so No. 454 was
reallocated. This, however, did not suit the
Australian Government they insisted on
aggressive front line roles. As such, 454 sat
in limbo while other fighting squadrons
formed and departed. Eventually, after
much procrastination, it was agreed to form
454 Squadron RAAF in March 1942 as a
bomber unit and that it would be used in the
Western Desert.
With all this dithering, 454 would not be
the first to fly the Baltimore. That honour
went to 55 and 233 Squadrons of the RAF
that made up their 232 Wing. They received
their Baltimores in May 1942 and soon became operational. Next was 21 Squadron,
South African Air Force, who received their
Baltimores from July.
At this time Rommel was pushing the allies
back and the RAF was called upon to provide
as much support for the troops it could. The
Desert Air Force (as it became known) began
using the Baltimores and Bostons in a close
air support role, with a system called shuttle
bombing from around 12,000 feet. Targets
were the lines of Panzers, supply dumps, water and fuel depots, in fact anything that

22 | F L I G H T PAT H

could hamper the German advance. Each sortie consisted of a box of up to a dozen or more
aircraft in a stepped Vic formation. They
soon became known as Tedder boxes or
Tedder carpets (after the bombing pattern),
so named after the theatres air commander,
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.
By September 1942, Rommel was back
where he started, the result of the combined
efforts of the Desert Air Force and the 8th
Army. However, it was the Battle of El
Alamein in late October which was the beginning of the end for the Afrika Korps. Flying almost non-stop day and night raids, the
Baltimores and Bostons took their toll of the
Germans and certainly contributed to Rommels defeat. Yet there was still no Australian Baltimore squadron.
Following in-theatre training on Blenheims in Iraq, by January 1943, 454 was finally
ready for conversion to the Baltimore and
was moved to Gianaclis in Egypt. The
Squadron was to be employed on convoy patrol and anti-submarine duties under the
RAFs 201 (Naval Cooperation) Group. Not
quite the bomber squadron everyone expected. 454 Squadron RAAF would spend
the next thirteen months with the Group.
The first sorties, a pair of back-to-back antisubmarine patrols, were launched on 4
March 1943. Although nothing was sighted,
the squadron had finally entered the war.
Within a month, the squadron made a
move to Gambut III and soon found it had begun a nomadic lifestyle. Tents and shacks
were both accommodation and maintenance
hangars. While naval cooperation was important, it was not the action the Australians
sought. A call for a special operation over
Crete, a German stronghold, tweaked everyones enthusiasm, only to be dashed when
instead of bombs, the payload turned out to
be propaganda leaflets. It seemed ridiculous
to the crews to send a bomber over a heavily
defended territory only to drop toilet paper!
Perhaps in frustration, or perhaps to make a
statement, the wags on the squadron loaded
empty beer bottles as well as leaflets. These
whistled on the way down making a sound
like a falling bomb. Good for morale, it was
also a good way to get rid of the empties.
The squadron learned another lesson a
few days later when Flight Lieutenant Mick
More on patrol sighted a U-boat just under

the surface. The crew dropped

two 250 lb (113 kg) bombs, but
no damage was done. Had they
carried depth charges, the result might have been different.
The lesson: dont carry bombs
on anti-submarine patrol.
Although the squadrons
primary role was maritime patrol, the changing nature of
the war meant the boring
over-water flights would soon
cease. All innocence was
shattered on 23 July, with the
squadrons first real bombing
raid on Crete. One hundred
and twenty Allied aircraft
would take part in this raid to destroy the
enemy air defences. Eight crews were selected for two box formations of four aircraft apiece. Each aircraft was loaded with
six 250 lb bombs.
The raid was a disaster. Five aircraft were
lost and one crashed on return. Six airmen
who survived became POWs. Flight Sergeant Ray Akhurst, a Brit in the squadron,
crashed his badly flak damaged aircraft in
the surf, just a few miles from base. He and
his crew survived after nursing their Baltimore back almost 230 miles (370 kilometres). He was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Medal for his action.
As such, 23 July 1943 would go down as
the squadrons darkest day and the heaviest
loss of Baltimores from any squadron for the
war. The inevitable post-mortem found a
number of costly errors, the main being the
massive fighter escort arriving much earlier
than expected and alerting the defences.
While the fighters could manoeuvre and escape, the slower bombers could not. Never
again were massed low-level bombing raids
planned over German island defences.
By August, the squadron was back on anti-submarine duties, but for this a new secret device ASV or Air-to-Surface-Vessel
(radar) was installed. By early September,
Wing HQ also decided a daily reconnaissance of a nominat-

ABOVE: A Baltimore on its delivery ferry light, at 9,000 feet above a blanket of clouds.
The long-range ferry tank gave the aircrafts sleek proile a distinctly pregnant look.
[VIA Jones Family Collection]

RIGHT: A raid on Fiume harbour on 5 November 1944.

ed Greek island was warranted prompting

some wag in the mess to comment: This
wars getting too bloody dangerous. It necessitated the fitting of 300 gallon (1,136 litres) long-range tanks which stretched the
Baltimores endurance to six hours. The
problem was, no bombs could be carried.
On 3 September Italy capitulated and this
would mean a change of circumstance for
the Desert Air Force and the squadron.
While some in the squadron expected a recall to Australia, none expected the dogged
German resistance up the spine of the Italian mainland. With this, sorties into the Aegean began in an effort to squeeze German
supply, and plans were laid for a campaign
against the outposts on the Greek Dodecanese Islands another of
Churchills great ideas.

The main outposts of Cos, Leros, Crete and

Rhodes became popular targets and their
supply shipping in particular. In effect, the
Dodecanese campaign was a trivial side
show that did not warrant the effort the RAF
and RAAF put in. With this offensive, the
squadron received its first Mk Vs with which
the Unit Historian recorded that the differences appear to be mainly superficial, but
the drivers office now looks more like a
Wurlitzer organ keyboard than ever. 52
switches somebody said!
A German reinforcement of the Dodecanese in October put paid to an easy Allied retaking of the islands.
As island recces
and patrols continued, so the losses
mounted. Five aircraft were lost in
November with all
crews killed; another
three
a
month later. Nev-

ertheless, Greek island attacks continued

throughout early 1944, culminating on the 1
June big strike. The squadron provided three
Baltimores for a 72 aircraft strike on a massive enemy relief convoy heading for Crete.
The raid was a complete success with the
Germans losing their capability to resupply
their garrisons. Five squadron members received the DFC for this action.
The raid would be the last major Mediterranean operation for 454. In July they moved
to Pescara on the Italian mainland to support the allied push north. Here the squadron would be used for day and night bombing and army support. After flak, the main
danger for the squadron was now the weather. Gone were the clear desert days and
Mediterranean haze. Italy was wet and when
winter set in, freezing and snow driven. AirA Mk IIA Baltimore in USAAF colours,
probably at the factory. FA105 crashed in
Nigeria on its ferry light and was written of.

F L I G H T PAT H | 23

fields turned to mud and life became difficult for all. In the final push towards the
German border, the squadron concentrated
on the Po River bridges, as cutting them prevented the German escape. With the end of
the war in Europe, the squadron remained
in situ until officially disbanded on 20 August 1945. Their Baltimores were returned
to the RAF and the men headed for home.
As for the other RAAF Baltimore squadron, 459, it was a different story. Preceding
their sister unit to the desert by three
months, 459 was set to be another naval cooperation squadron to concentrate on the
Eastern Mediterranean. Originally operating Hudsons, then Venturas, the squadron
would claim a U-boat sunk in June 1943.
Flying against shipping convoys supporting
Rommel, 459 achieved a number of significant enemy ship and destroyer sinkings.
It was not until July 1944 that the squadron began to receive its allocation of Baltimores, the Mk IV and Mk V versions. These
were the long-range variants given over by
454 Squadron when they moved to Italy.
However, unlike 454, 459 would remain in
the Mediterranean theatre. Operating out of

afte
FW475 of 459 Squadron RAAF

24 | F L I G H T PAT H

r a forced landing at Kastelli

Berka III in Cyrenaica, a program of ASW,

armed reconnaissance and bombing commenced. Eventually, and with little enemy
shipping left, the squadron concentrated on
land targets on Crete, Rhodes and other
smaller islands. There was little excitement
even on the bombing missions with the exception of a six aircraft strike against a radar
installation on Crete on 25 August 1944. So
hard was the target to see, that even at low
level, none could guarantee they had hit it!
With the war in the Mediterranean coming
to an end, a final massed raid on Melos, one
of the few remaining German outposts, was
planned for 30 October 1944 in preparation
for allied landings. There would be a follow
up the next day. Led by the CO, Wing Commander Pete Henderson, eight squadron
aircraft attacked the Melos gun emplacements from different heights and angles. After considerable damage was noted, the Unit
Historian recorded: There is some hope that
we shall not have to attack the island again,
as our forces have reported to have taken the
island and to have contained the enemy.
With the Aegean cleared, the remainder
of 1944 was spent dropping propaganda

Pediados on Crete Novemb

er 1944

leaflets, not bombs. Called nickelling

these operations were not popular as
crews still ran the chance of being shot
down. By February 1945, operations had
ceased and the unit prepared to move to
Devon to convert to Coastal Command
Wellingtons, but the end of the war put a
stop to these plans and on 10 April 1945,
the squadron was disbanded.

The British Baltimore Squadrons

It was RAF squadrons that were the mainstay of the Baltimore, with ten active squadrons, two operational training units and a
strategic reconnaissance flight all equipped
with various marks. With aircraft arriving
from March 1942, the RAF began to replace
the obsolete Ansons and Blenheims that
had been operating in that theatre since the
start of hostilities. 1437 (Strategic Reconnaissance) Flight and 223 Squadron were
the first to convert. However, it was not until January 1943 that a formal program of
conversion at 70 Operational Training Unit
(70 OTU) in Kenya was established as the
need for formal crew training increased.
As the Desert Air Force grew in strength,
so too did the number of RAF Baltimore units. Number 69 Squadron received a flight of Mk II models in August 1942 and by February the
following year, it was an all Baltimore
unit based in Malta. Together with
sister squadron, 55, they were the
only units to operate all six Baltimore variants.
Given the success of the Baltimore
as an anti-submarine platform, it is
perhaps not surprising that the British Fleet Air Arm showed interest in
them for post-war patrols of the Mediterranean. While German U-boats
were no longer a threat, the growing
might of the Soviet Navy appeared so.

Consequently, 728 Squadron FAA acquired

fourteen Mk IV and Mk V Baltimores which
they operated out of Malta from September
1944. At least one aircraft was stripped back
to bare aluminium giving it a striking appearance. With the post-war armed forces rationalisation, the FAA retired their Baltimores in
November 1946, with some being simply
stripped of useful equipment and pushed off
the cliffs at Hal Far aerodrome.

Other Users
As well as the RAF and RAAF, there were
also a number of other allied air forces who
flew this aircraft.
The first were the South Africans. Like
the RAAF, the SAAF was unprepared for
the war and like the RAAF underwent a
rapid and massive expansion. By 1941,
enough crews were available to support the
British in the Western Desert and North Africa. Between April 1941 and May 1943, the
SAAF contributed eleven squadrons, three
of which operated Baltimores. The first to
be allocated the Mk III was 21 Squadron
SAAF which had formed in Nakuru, Kenya
in May 1941. Initially flying Marylands, the
Baltimores arrived in August 1942 and were
no doubt a welcome change.
This unit was soon followed by 60 Squadron SAAF which received the earlier Mk II
and Mk III models in October. Their task
was mainly photo reconnaissance and survey of German positions, but the Baltimore
proved too vulnerable for this role and they
soon converted to Mosquitos. By August
1943, all the Baltimores had been returned.
The last and longest serving SAAF Baltimore unit was 15 Squadron. They received
their first Baltimore Mk IIIA in May 1943,
replacing their Marylands, and continued to
operate the later variants in Italy till the
wars end. It and 454 Squadron often operated together and were fierce rivals, each

trying to outdo the other in number of bombs

dropped, missions flown and targets hit.
Greece had been invaded in 1941 and the
few Greek airmen who had escaped were
keen to take the fight back to the enemy occupying their homeland. Their first fully operational squadron to serve in the Middle
East was 13 (Hellenic) Squadron of the Royal
Hellenic Air Force. Previously flying Ansons
and Blenheims in the anti-submarine role
with 201 Group, the squadron re-equipped
with Mk III Baltimores in late 1943. With
their better performing aircraft, the Greeks
now added photo-recces, offensive sweeps
and bombing to their mission lists. In the
first three months of operations, the Greeks
could boast over 1,300 sorties, an excellent
record commended by Allied air HQ. By
1944, the squadron concentrated on bombing, and moved to Italy in May having added
the Mk IV Baltimores to their inventory.
In Italy, the squadron operated with the
South Africans 3 Group, where they contributed to the Allied bombing offensive against
transportation centres, enemy strongholds
and military installations. From June, they
transferred to the RAFs 245 Wing which was
undertaking operations into Yugoslavia and
Albania. These missions were particularly
dangerous because of heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire. With Greece liberated, the squadron ceased offensive operations in November
1944 and returned to their homeland. By December 1945, the last of the Greek Baltimores
had been retired and scrapped.
With the Italian capitulation in September 1943, it would only be a matter of time
before Allied Italian Air Force squadrons
would form. The Italian Air Force (Regia
Aeronautica) was formed in 1923 under the
fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. They
took part in the Ethiopian and Spanish Civil
Wars of the thirties and supported the Luftwaffe from the beginning of World War II.

The main theatre of operations was the

Mediterranean and North Africa, but after
the Allied invasion of Italy the Regia Aeronautica was disbanded and a new air force,
the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force or Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI) was
formed in support of the allies.
The ACI established two Baltimore bomber squadrons from January 1945 under what
became known as Stormo Baltimore. Both
28 and 132 Gruppo operated the Mk V out
of southern Italian bases against targets in
Yugoslavia and Albania. While operations
ceased in May 1945, the units retained their
aircraft until 1947.
Perhaps the least known Baltimore
squadron was the Free French Air Forces
GB 1/17. The Groupe Bretagne had formed
in January 1942 with Maryland aircraft that
the French had originally ordered in the
late 1930s but had been subsumed by the
RAF when France fell. By July 1943, the
various parts of the Free French Air Force
had been consolidated into the Arme de
lAir with their headquarters in Algiers. It
was not until 1945 that the French received
their Mk V Baltimores, but these were used
in various supporting roles.
At the end of the war, light bomber types
such as the Baltimore, Boston, Marauder
and Hudson had become obsolescent in the
post-war era. The world was entering the jet
age and the cold war where nuclear bombers
would be the norm. Baltimores were no
longer needed and scrapped. Sadly, none remain today.

In the next issue, we will feature the

personal memories, specially written for
Flightpath, of an RAAF pilot who lew
Blenheims in the Middle East and
Baltimores in the Mediterranean.

Mk IV Baltimore FA425 at Berka III.

Note the wind in the trees behind
necessitating a rudder lock.

F L I G H T PAT H | 25