Andrew McPherson
Andrew McPherson was born at 5 Wood Street, Dennistoun on 16th December 1917.
Why his mother, Jean, was there is a mystery - as today, it is a block of tenement flats and the family's usual address was 16 Gibson Street in the west end.
On Andrew's birth record, his father, also Andrew McPherson, is a Captain in the 3rd Highland Light Infantry, which was a reserve battalion (I interpret to be a training battalion). He had been awarded the DSO the previous year when he was wounded three times in an action at Beaumont Hamel probably during the Battle of the Somme.
His sister Janet Elizabeth was born on 12th January 1920. She would grown up to be a medical student, a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Second World War and, after the war, to organise cervical screening into a programme in Aberdeen that served as a model for the rest of the UK. (She was born at 11 Lynedoch Terrace, away from the family home as was the case for Andrew.)
The family feature in the 1921 Census, in a flat at 17 Burnbank Gardens close to St George's Cross.
Social housing has replaced the south side of the gardens but black and white of the north side from the 1970s gives some idea:
Number 17 would probably have been a two-storey house because three families lived there. His father's occupation is as the Secretary to the Glasgow Battalion of the Boys' Brigade. Andrew has a younger sister, Janet. Also staying with them is his maternal grandmother, Janet, aged 80.
In 1923 his mother, Janet was diagnosed with phthisis pulmonalis, or tuberculosis, and on 16th April 1929, aged only 42, she died. She died at Craigton House, now demolished, which was on the right of the A809 after leaving Milngavie:
Around this time, the family moved to Chapelton House, 1 Chapelton Avenue, Bearsden.
Andrew was active in the Boys' Brigade, seen here on the steps of Wellington Church, University Avenue in 1936 (Andrew is holding the flag on the right):
His father was now a senior figure in the Scottish organisation, seen here visiting Belfast - he is the tall man, last-but-one from the right in the front row:
On leaving school Andrew joined the RAF and was commissioned as a pilot officer in 1937.
Probably in the summer of 1939 he became engaged to be married to Margaret Betty Bowley.
Margaret has proven an elusive figure despite my best efforts but her date of birth was almost certainly 28th August 1914 and in the 1939 Register she was a deaconess student at a Wesleyan College in Ilkley, Yorkshire:
This is the only official document I can find. Later in 1939 she was at what was described as The Friendly House (possibly the Friends House?) in Witney, Oxfordshire.
In 1939 a major British concern was that the German naval ships such as their well-publicised 'pocket battleships' could do heavy damage to merchant ships bringing food and goods to Britain if they could slip past the substantial Royal Navy presence in British ports. A bombing raid to sink or cripple them was a high priority.
War was declared at 11am on 3rd September 1939, and within an hour Andrew was taking off on a reconnaissance flight across the North Sea to the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven (marked with a small red circle, bottom-right of the map):
Their base was RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. The plane was a Blenheim, a twin-engine aircraft that (by 1939) was jack-of-all-trades but master of none. It played the role of fighter, light bomber and reconnaissance:
In the three-man crew, the pilot flew the plane (on the right above). Next to him was the observer/navigator (hence the map). These photos are contemporary and of Andrew's squadron - I rely on the judgement of readers whether they think the pilot is Andrew or not. The third crewman was in the turret in the fuselage as gunner but also wireless operator:
On this occasion, the observer was a Royal Navy officer, Commander Thompson (no doubt for his expertise in ship recognition) and the gunner was Corporal Vincent Arrowsmith. While they spotted German naval ships they could not get a message back to base because the radio set on his plane was frozen by the altitude.
Andrew repeated his reconnaissance on the following day and this seems to have taken place at low level because of the cloudier conditions. He returned to report, this time with clear photos of the ships. As a result, 15 Blenheims (in their bomber role) and 14 Wellingtons were sent to attack, subsequently known in the British media as The Kiel Raid (despite it being on Wilhelmshaven).
RAF crews showed great courage and skill, and reported bombs dropped on German ships. As news broke, they were hailed as heroes.
A number of medals were awarded, including a Distinguished Flying Cross for Andrew. The King (George VI) presented the medals on 2nd November 1939 at an RAF airfield somewhere in the Midlands of England:
In the lower photo the King is on the left and Andrew is next to him. One of the other men had attended St Alban's School and in celebration pupils were given a half-day holiday. However, Glasgow Academy declined to do so for their ex-pupil, saying, possibly tongue-in-cheek: "If we gave half holidays every time a former scholar is decorated there would be little time left for tuition. Many pupils were decorated in the last war." They added, "Andrew did his duty and probably thought nothing about it. We expect all pupils to do their best in whatever circumstances they are called on to undertake."
A slightly fictionalised version of the film is one part of the film "The Lion has Wings"
While the courage the men showed was very real, the reality of the raid was somewhat different:
- no ships were sunk - all the direct hits on ships by bombs failed to explode. The most damage done was by a doomed British plane crashing into one of the ships
- ten planes in total failed to find their target and one RAF navigator was so lost that his plane bombed the neutral Danish port of Esbjerg (marked on the map by the northern red circle)
- of the RAF planes attacking seven were shot down by anti-aircraft guns with 24 airmen killed.
Vincent Arrowsmith, the gunner in Andrew's plane, was killed in September 1940
Two people died in Esbjerg, Denmark.
From September 1939 Britain and France were nervous of provoking Germany into a land war or retaliatory bombing of non-military targets, aware that they lagged behind; they were also daunted by the way the German army and air force had defeated Poland in three weeks. As a result, the period became known as The Phony War (in the sense that we were at war but no shots were fired, no air raids took place that the public noticed, etc) so in the absence of genuine news media coverage included sending a sketch artist to army and RAF bases to produce cartoons of the men he met. By good fortune, 139 Squadron was one place he visited:
The squadron moved to France in December 1939 and by May 1940 they were based at Plivot on the Marne in France.
This photo is of a 139 Squadron Blenheim at Plivot. The winter of 1939-40 was severe and training opportunities were limited; the net is for camouflage.
On 10th May the Germans invaded the Netherlands, heading for Belgium and France. By the 12th the situation was already becoming desperate and the Germans had passed Maastricht and were advancing into Belgium. 139 Squadron's Blenheims were ordered to bomb advancing German troops (possibly 4th Panzer Division) on the road to the west of Maastricht at Tongeren.
This photo is of 139 Squadron Blenheims, presumably on a training flight prior to 12th May
The caption describes this as 139 Squadron pilots relaxing at Plivot, but to me they look pretty tense. I tentatively identify the 2nd from the left as being Andrew Lee who was killed in the raid of 12th May
Nine Blenheims were scheduled to take off at 5am. One of the planes was "delayed taking off, but proceeded independently to the target, bombed and escaped unscathed." (This information from Martin's Aviation Pages, an amazing website documenting planes shot down in this period.)
The squadron flew in three sections of three planes - we know Wing Commander Dickens led one and Squadron Leaders Scott and Tideman probably led the others.
The target was spotted and the planes began dive bombing, starting at an altitude of 6000 feet and releasing their 250 pound and 40 pound bombs at 3000 feet. There is no record of what damage they caused. However, soon after German fighter planes arrived: nine Bf109s and four Bf110s attacked the leading section, the numbers attacking the other sections is not known but the RAF planes would have been heavily outnumbered. The Blenheims were slower, with only basic armament for self-defence and seven of them were shot down.
This map uses the information from Martin's Aviation Pages to indicate roughly where six of the Blenheims crashed, using the pilots surname to mark the approximate site. Maastricht is in the top right hand corner and Tongeren is in the middle of the map so the German troops on road between these two places was the target for the British attack
Andrew's plane "crashed alongside the River Maas at Smeermaas, Lanaken" (this paragraph is based on Martin's Aviation Pages), with no survivors.
This is a Google Earth image of Smeermaas (nearest the camera) with the River Meuse running from centre-right to top left
"The crew were buried together at first at the crash site. Sometime later local people reburied them as ‘Unknowns’ in Lanaken Communal Cemetery. This crew was re-interred in a collective grave in Heverlee War Cemetery at Leuven (Louvain) in March 1951 and identified from serial numbers recovered from the elevators of their aircraft and an identity tag bearing the name ‘Gregory’."
His crew were Sergeant Francis Wynell Gregory and Leading Aircraftsman Hubert Frank Over:
The cemetery is at Heverlee, Louvain:
Was the mission accomplished? The only account I have found says yes: "Allied air activity was a thorn in the side of the advance elements of the XVI. Armeekorps and the corps war diary recorded how the columns were ‘attacked by enemy bombers, causing considerable delays.’ ... The leaders of 4. Panzer-Division had to be re-supplied by air and about 20,000 litres of fuel were air-dropped to them near Lens-Saint-Remy on the morning of May 12." (From Pallud, Jean Paul. Blitzkrieg in the West: Then and Now (p. 467). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.)
This is a copy of the telegram sent to Andrew's father on the day Andrew died:
It is not easy to read but says he is missing in action and further information will be provided. In October, the ministry wrote to say that as there was no notification he was a prisoner of war, it had to be presumed he as dead. This must be the hardest letter a parent could write:
Andrew is commemorated on two stained glass windows in New Kilpatrick Church. One is called 'The Children's Friend':
The window was presented by Andrew's sisters and the Boys' Brigade to commemorate both Andrew McPhersons, father (who died in 1946) and son. The second is a window to all members of the congregation who were killed in the war. (Thank you to Margaret for this information.)
Footnote: 139 Squadron casualties
Seven Blenheims were shot down. Four complete crews died, and three others died in two other crashes, giving a total of 15 dead.
As described above, McPherson, Gregory and Over died at Smeermaas near Lanaken
Squadron Leader William Scott, LAC William McFadden and Sergeant Thomas Davis died at Rekem, near Lanaken
Sergeant Phillip Gray and Sergeant Cyril Taylor died when the plane flown by Flying Officer Guy Smith also crashed at Rekem
Sergeant Tom Harrison, Sergeant Norman Jones and LAC Harold Garbett died at Vroenhoeven, south-west of Maastricht
The plane flown by Flight Lieutenant Andrew Lee was not seen again, and is missing believed crashed - Sergeant Joseph Keegan and LAC Charles Child were the other crewmen
LAC John Rooney died when Acting Squadron Leader Thomas Tideman's plane crashed at Hertel, north-east of Liege
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